Karen Gillan

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review on “Dual,” the latest film from Riley Stearns (THE ART OF SELF DEFENSE, and featuring Karen Gillan and Aaron Paul. In select theaters on Wednesday, April 15th, see local listings for theaters and show times.

CHICAGO – “Guardians Of The Galaxy” is a gleeful Star Wars knockoff dressed up in Marvel Comics clothing. It occupies the same universe as Marvel’s other properties, but its tone is decidedly sillier. It has a spirit more akin to the later joke heavy installments of the Star Trek franchise or low budget exploitation mogul Roger Corman’s “Battle Beyond The Stars” than the ponderous pontificating of “Thor.”

CHICAGO – Films in general are knocked for being knockoffs of something else. Horror films in particular have it especially hard in the “new” department because we’re so quickly annoyed when we’ve “seen it all before”.

CHICAGO – The affect of horror works in five basic ways. There’s the sense of Dislocation where the lead character suddenly loses bearing, becomes unsure of what where or even who they are. Next is Dread, which is the sense that something awful is coming.

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 40 pairs of advance-screening movie passes up for grabs to the new horror film “Oculus” from the producer of “Paranormal Activity” and “Insidious”!

CHICAGO – The good doctor is back in the TV office as “Doctor Who” returns tonight, September 1, 2012 for a five-episode run in which two characters will say goodbye and we will transition into the next phase of one of the most influential sci-fi shows of all time.

CHICAGO – The sixth season of “Doctor Who” made the biggest waves stateside, in no small part due to a marketing blitz tied into the fact that the program was, for the first time, premiering in the U.S. at the same time it was in the U.K. (For years, the series would air in its home country and be imported later.) It also became a very divisive season. Do a Twitter search and you’ll find ecstatic love and pure hatred for this season.

CHICAGO – Are you loving the Starz import of the great “Torchwood” into the pretty-good “Torchwood: Miracle Day” and wondering where the heck Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) came from? Do you already know about one of the best sci-fi series of the last decade? Either way, the gorgeous HD box set for “Torchwood: The Complete Original UK Series” is spectacular and you might as well keep your BBC fix going with the strong “Doctor Who: Series Six, Part 1,” both released this week on Blu-ray.

CHICAGO – BBC America has been blanketing major markets with advertising for tonight’s premiere of the new season of “Doctor Who,” debuting for the first time on the same weekend as it does in the United Kingdom.

CHICAGO – Two of the more beloved and acclaimed properties in the 2010 BBC output were released on Blu-ray this month and both should be near the top of holiday wish lists for genre fans. The simple fact is that BBC is doing fantasy, science fiction, and even thriller better than anyone right now and one need look no further than “Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series” and “Sherlock,” two sets brimming with greatness.