Michael Pena

Blu-Ray Review: ‘Battle: Los Angeles’ Falls Well Below Expectations

Battle Los Angeles

CHICAGO – With “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” about to hit theaters and get the adrenalin flowing for major city destruction from another planet, you may be tempted to catch up with Jonathan Liebesman’s “Battle: Los Angeles” for a similar dose of macho male escapism. Don’t fall for it. This is an annoying movie that fails on nearly every level.

Film Review: Will Ferrell Seeks Recovery in ‘Everything Must Go’

Everything Must Go

CHICAGO – Alcohol mixed with the American Dream sometimes becomes a destructive chemistry. With every individual’s reaction to ethyl alcohol like a fingerprint, the general image of the party animal can easily morph into what John Cheever called ‘The Sorrows of Gin.” These sorrows are explored through Will Ferrell in “Everything Must Go.”

Film Review: Matthew McConaughey Nearly Saves Problematic ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’

CHICAGO – Proving yet again that he can deliver when he avoids horrendous romantic comedy cliches, Matthew McConaughey does his best work in years in “The Lincoln Lawyer,” but the film doesn’t quite come together like one wishes that it would due to the common traps that befall big screen adaptations of best-selling thrillers.

Film Review: Loud, Annoying ‘Battle: Los Angeles’ Fails in Spectacular Ways

Battle Los Angeles
HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 1.0/5.0
Rating: 1.0/5.0

CHICAGO – It used to be an insult to say that a loud action movie reminded a critic of a video game. The fact is that most recent video games feature better storytelling and more entertainment value than the horrendous “Battle: Los Angeles,” an annoying movie with such inept direction that it’s not even fun on a visceral level. Even the explosions are boring.

TV Review: HBO’s Daring ‘Eastbound & Down’ Returns For Second Season

CHICAGO – There’s no more daring performance on television right now than what Danny McBride does on HBO’s hilarious “Eastbound & Down.”

‘My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done’ Inspires Genuine Head-Scratching

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?
HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 2.5/5.0
Rating: 2.5/5.0

CHICAGO – When David Lynch came to Chicago for an “Inland Empire” screening back in 2007, he offered memorable advice to a moviegoer baffled by his work. He said that his audience should meditate not on the “intellectual experience” provided by his films, but the emotional ideas that they conjure. Meditating on anything else would prove useless because, as Lynch put it, “If you meditate on buttermilk, you’ll end up going to the dairy.”

Blu-Ray Review: Seth Rogen, Anna Faris in Hilarious ‘Observe and Report’

Observe and Report

CHICAGO – All of you DVD and Blu-Ray buyers who lament the neverending flow of slapstick comedies that basically all feel and look the same owe it to director Jody Hill and star Seth Rogen to rent or buy “Observe and Report,” one of the best comedies of the year to date and one of the most daring movies of the last several years.

Seth Rogen Delivers in Controversial, Hilarious ‘Observe and Report’

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 4.0/5.0
Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – The hysterically misleading TV spots for Jody Hill’s “Observe and Report” make it out to look like another broad comedy that might even have a cute romance between stars Seth Rogen and Anna Faris. There’s nothing cute or predictable about “Observe and Report”. And that’s precisely why it works.

DVD Round Up, Feb. 3, 2009: ‘Cheers,’ ‘Lucky Ones,’ ‘RocknRolla,’ ‘The Gene Generation’

Cheers

CHICAGO – Another week, another edition of HollywoodChicago.com’s legendary Round-Up. Any TV fans out there? Lovers of sci-fi action movies? Afficionados of Rachel McAdams? If you still like Guy Ritchie, raise your hand. Now, all of you, step up to the Round-Up.

Interview: Writer, Director Neil Burger Follows Iraq Soldiers on Leave in ‘The Lucky Ones’

CHICAGO – In his short career as a writer and director, Neil Burger has taken on the John F. Kennedy assassination in “Interview with the Assassin” and the mysteries of magic in “The Illusionist,” which starred Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti and Jessica Biel.

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TV, DVD, BLU-RAY & THEATER REVIEWS

  • Manhunt

    CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.

  • Topdog/Underdog, Invictus Theatre

    CHICAGO – When two brothers confront the sins of each other and it expands into a psychology of an entire race, it’s at a stage play found in Chicago’s Invictus Theatre Company production of “Topdog/Underdog,” now at their new home at the Windy City Playhouse through March 31st, 2024. Click TD/UD for tickets/info.

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