CHICAGO – Excelsior! Comic book legend Stan Lee’s famous exclamation puts a fine point on the third and final play of Mark Pracht’s FOUR COLOR TRILOGY, “The House of Ideas,” presented by and staged at City Lit Theater in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. For tickets/details, click HOUSE OF IDEAS.
Nick Allen
Film Review: ‘Veronica Mars’ Wishes it Was Still on TV
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 14, 2014 - 10:06amCHICAGO – A TV movie for the silver screen, “Veronica Mars” is a historical film that was Kickstarted into existence by the will of 91,585 backers. Now, it stands like a crossroads in the intersection between TV and film, showing that what may work in TV doesn’t necessarily make for a great film.
Blu-ray Review: ‘George Washington’ Re-Release Recalls Introduction of Great Director
Submitted by NickHC on March 13, 2014 - 11:18amCHICAGO – Before “Snow Angels”, “Prince Avalanche”, or even “The Sitter”, director David Gordon Green flexed his film school muscles in his unabashed inauguration, “George Washington”. Eying its body, the 2000 film shares qualities other first-timers huff when trying to be taken seriously by the arthouse crowd. Especially with the films that were assuredly motivated by Green’s work like 2012’s “Beasts of the Southern Wild”, “George Washington” celebrates storytelling instruments like whimsical young voiceover, shots that are equally distinct & questionable, and the raw potential of non-actors.
DVD Review: ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ Sings Again on DVD
Submitted by NickHC on March 13, 2014 - 10:47amCHICAGO – “Inside Llewyn Davis” shows the strength of the Coen brothers’ authorship, and the vitality their vision gives to different time periods, locations, and life experiences. This freewheelin’ bildungsroman of destiny? coincidence? trails a scraggly singer/songwriter (Oscar Isaac as the title character), daring to spread olden tunes in a period of American artistry that is pre-Dylan.
Blu-ray Review: Even Villainous James Franco Can’t Save Dull ‘Homefront’
Submitted by NickHC on March 12, 2014 - 11:03amCHICAGO – Jason Statham has become an amorphous blob in the action genre, but an amorphous blob who is his own archetype, nonetheless. With the “Expendables” movies he began to take the genre torch from Sylvester Stallone, and now working from a script by Stallone in “Homefront”, his Americanization is nearly certified. That being said, watching Jason Statham tattoo a bald eagle on himself might be more enjoyable than his latest addition to a bloated filmography, “Homefront”. That, or staging a debate with Stallone and Statham about gun control.
Film Review: World War II Gets the ‘300’ Treatment in ‘Stalingrad’
Submitted by NickHC on March 1, 2014 - 10:48amCHICAGO – It does not take even a high school history class to understand the liberty used in “Stalingrad’s” presentation of its title siege. Boasted as the highest-grossing Russian movie ever, this IMAX 3D event is the country’s own adaptation of the hero glorification seen in “300”.
Film Review: Documentary ‘Kids for Cash’ Shares Multiple Viewpoints
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 1, 2014 - 8:20amCHICAGO – The funny thing about documentaries is that any goal of truly replicating reality, or the truth, is impossible. Unless a documentary film were to convey an experience with 360 degrees and 24/7 coverage (AKA life), it will always be a subjective endeavor. Documentary storytellers are always creating a point of view, simply by choosing where to point a camera, and where to cut a sequence.
Film Feature: HollywoodChicago.com 2014 Oscar Predictions
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 28, 2014 - 6:11pm- 12 Years a Slave
- 2014
- 86th
- Academy Awards
- American Hustle
- Best Actor
- Best Actress
- Best Adapted Screenplay
- Best Director
- Best Picture
- Best Screenplay
- Best Supporting Actor
- Best Supporting Actress
- Brian Tallerico
- Dave Canfield
- David Fowlie
- Entertainment News
- Film Feature
- Gravity
- Her
- HollywoodChicago.com Content
- Nebraska
- Nick Allen
- Oscars
- Patrick McDonald
- Wolf of Wall Street
CHICAGO – Get your scorecards and pencils out, because this is the last stop you’ll need for all your 2014 Academy Award predicting needs…except for the 10 million other media outlets in the age of information. Why is HollywoodChicago.com better? Because our experts have insider information that we completely make up!
Film Review: Love is Impossible in Alluring Period Horror ‘In Secret’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 23, 2014 - 8:19pmCHICAGO – If stories of Prince Charmings and the liberation from wicked stepmothers are fairy tales, than “In Secret” is the stuff of nightmares, where marriage is not just a prison sentence, but an unlucky life is as well. Based on the novel “Therese Raquin” by Emile Zola as published in 1867, this film’s element of ownership may be considered an artifact in 2014. But thankfully this adaptation earns its own pertinence, as a dark period thriller with real doses of hormonally fueled bad decisions.
Film Review: ‘Winter’s Tale’ Freezes in Cheesy Movie Hell
Submitted by NickHC on February 14, 2014 - 5:10pmCHICAGO – The poster for “Winter’s Tale,” after promising that “It’s not a true story, it’s a love story,” makes a large demand from its viewers at the bottom: “This Valentine’s Day, Believe In Miracles.”
Film Review: ‘That Awkward Moment’ Another Dishonest Rom-Com
Submitted by NickHC on January 31, 2014 - 2:49pmCHICAGO – “That Awkward Moment” posits its cheeky hashtag of a title concept as one relating to when Friday night flings yield from becoming Saturday daytime couplings (to paraphrase Woody Harrelson’s wisdom in “Friends with Benefits”).