Olympics

CHICAGO – High stakes poker are for folks who prefer to get their rush of adrenalin from the turn of a card rather than other life risks. The positives, the negatives and everything in between are in “Molly’s Game,” the feature directorial debut of Aaron Sorkin (“The West Wing” creator). Let’s walk and talk.

CHICAGO – We have arrived at point where yesterday’s trash TV has become today’s critical darling of the film festival circuit. As the trailers proclaim, “I, Tonya” desperately wants to be the “‘Goodfellas’ of Figure Skating,” but one of the biggest problems I had is that it’s just trying too hard.

CHICAGO – When Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Comcast Senior Executive VP David L. Cohen gather the press corp to represent the company’s “Internet Essentials,” it’s sure to become a benefit for the City of Chicago. The Essentials program seeks to close the “Digital Divide” – the gap for web access in poorer communities – and bring the internet to everyone’s home.

CHICAGO – The 2016 Rio Olympics Opening Ceremony is Friday, August 5th, and the the following two weeks of top athletic competition and drama will be more accessible than ever, for TV customers who currently have the Comcast Xfinity X1 platform. The X1 will offer over 6000 hours of live, on-demand and online streaming content for the 2016 Olympic Games, “Rio Experience on X1.”

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Hugh Jackman is Bronson Peary in the new film, ‘Eddie the Eagle.’

CHICAGO – The film “Eddie the Eagle” soared at the box office this weekend, and one of the huge stars in it is Hugh Jackman, the Australian-born movie and theater icon. He was in Chicago on February 16th, 2016, to walk the Red Carpet for the film, and HollywoodChicago.com was there to both do video interviews and photograph the event.

CHICAGO – In the history of America, there are moments when champions rose above their societal status and circumstance. And so it came to pass that African American Jesse Owens – during one of most difficult times in America for blacks – won medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, representing America and striking a blow against Adolf Hitler, four years before WWII. Owen’s story is told in the new film, “Race,” and he is portrayed by actor Stephan James.

CHICAGO – In the memorable film “Barton Fink,” the title character is asked to write a wrestling movie for Wallace Beery. If Fink had isolated himself long enough, he might have come up with “Foxcatcher,” demonstrating once again that a true story is much stranger than fiction.

CHICAGO – Kristi Yamaguchi has parlayed her Olympic-level Gold Medal figure skating career into multiple successes, including finishing first on the popular TV show “Dancing with the Stars.” She was in the Chicago area recently greeting fans and signing her new children’s book, “Dream Big, Little Pig.”

CHICAGO – Johnny Weir is the showiest celebrity in the showiest sport ever concocted: figure skating. Last month, he made an appearance in Chicago at Borders on State Street for his new book “Welcome to My World”. HollywoodChicago.com got these exclusive photos by Joe Arce on Weir’s tour bus.

CHICAGO – One of the recent stellar events in Chicago was the More Magazine “Reinvention Convention,” a gathering of the magazine’s readers to meet and hear speakers. The featured speaker was actor Dana Delany [“Desperate Housewives”]. Signing her book at the event was Olympic Swimmer Dara Torres.