Fast & Furious

CHICAGO – The “Fast & Furious” franchise of films has probably one of the strangest evolutions in action history. What began as a rebellious street race movie, has morphed into a sort of superhero saga. “Furious 7” amps up that element of it, creating a mythic and magical “Kingdom of F&F Cars.”

Paul Walker, star of the “Fast & Furious” movies, has passed away at the age of 40 after being involved in a fiery car crash, according to TMZ. Reports are vague but the actor reportedly died in a single-car crash in Southern California on Saturday afternoon when the Porsche he was driving in lost control and slammed into a tree.

CHICAGO – In our latest action/crime edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: DVD, we have 10 DVDs up for grabs for the home entertainment release of “Fast Five” starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson!

CHICAGO – In our latest action/drama edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 100 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the new film “Fast Five” with Vin Diesel, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Paul Walker!

CHICAGO – The Blu-Ray release of Universal’s “Fast & Furious,” also now available on DVD, is a tough one for a critic who hated the film when he had to review it in theaters. “Fast & Furious” is not a good movie, even when judged against the relatively low standards of this lackluster franchise. But the Blu-Ray? It’s pretty great.

Video Game Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Vin Diesel should stick to making video games. After headlining last month’s “Wheelman” and this month’s “The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena,” I have to admit that I like the actor more as a video game hero than I do as a movie star. “Athena” gives fans the most bang for their buck of anything the actor has been involved with in years.

CHICAGO – Midway’s “Wheelman” is my guilty pleasure game of the season. I know the game has some serious design flaws, but like an action movie you watch over and over again, the flaws are easier to forgive in the name of old-fashioned fun.

Rating: 1.0/5.0

CHICAGO – It took eight years to reunite the cast of the original “The Fast and the Furious” - Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, and Michelle Rodriguez. What’s changed in that time? The franchise lost two articles and gained an ampersand. Maybe the next film will simply be called “F F”. I can think of one word that starts with ‘F’ that certainly applies to the latest film - failure.

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(L to R) Paul Walker and Vin Diesel reteam as agent Brian OConner and fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto for the ultimate chapter of the franchise built on speed

CHICAGO – This 38-image slideshow contains the press images for Universal’s “Fast & Furious,” starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, John Ortiz, and Laz Alonso. Written by Chris Morgan and directed by Justin Lin, the film opens on Friday, April 3rd, 2009.

CHICAGO – While Al Michaels and John Madden may have been talking about the incredible play of Santonio Holmes and Larry Fitzgerald in the 2009 Super Bowl, audiences around the world were bombarded with previews for big movies for the summer of 2009 by studios hoping that their films would be the real subject of post-game conversation.