Paramount

CHICAGO – The horror genre gets a bad rap but in many ways, they’ve earned it. That’s not to say that every horror film is inherently bad, but at the smallest sign of financial/critical success, the studios will try to franchise it like it’s an IHOP. For example, let’s look at the cautionary tale known as the Saw franchise, which recently released a film that likely none of you saw.

CHICAGO – Cada semana, HollywoodChicago.com le traerá las criticas de las películas que hemos visto y que están saliendo esa semana, pero en español. HollywoodChicago.com ESP no sólo representa HollywoodChicago.com Espanol, sino también Esta Semana en Peliculas. Esta semana, vamos a una misión de venganza y terminamos salvando el mundo (“American Assassin”), luego nos vamos de viaje a visitar algunas universidades mientras tenemos un colapso mental (“Brad’s Status”), y luego nos transportan a una casa que significa mucho más de lo que parece (“mother!”).

CHICAGO – The title of Tom Cruise’s second Jack Reacher adventure has almost prophetic ring to it – but we all would have been better off if the writers, and director and star of Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” had heeded the advice. This film seems more like one of those bargain-bin-just-barely-released thrillers than a major studio action movie.

CHICAGO – It’s kind of a light week at the Blu-ray and DVD store (do they still have those now that Blockbuster has closed?). As studios prep a lot of major releases for holiday season, a few titles have been released on Blu-ray, DVD, and streaming services this week that we wanted to highlight, including a decent animated flick, a great foreign one, and a bunch of movies that may interest you but that you should probably avoid.

CHICAGO – HollywoodChicago.com is launching a series of calendars – starting with the release of a Blu-ray schedule – complete with links to pre-order the titles you just can’t wait to own!

CHICAGO – Ken Burns is one of the most important, influential, and talented filmmakers alive. His long-form documentaries for PBS — “Baseball,” “The Civil War,” and “Jazz” — are all must-sees (and he’s working on pieces on “The Dust Bowl” and “Vietnam”). One of his most accomplished works, “The War,” has been released on Blu-ray just in time for Father’s Day and would make a perfect gift for anyone interested in World War II.

CHICAGO – Are you a movie buff that considers Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather” to be one of greatest movie ever made? Are you too young to have seen it in theaters when it was released in 1972, or missed your chance to see it in theaters? Well, you are in luck my friend, because Cinemark and Paramount Pictures are teaming up to bring “The Godfather” back to the big screen.

CHICAGO – The morning after the 84th Annual Academy Awards comes with news of one of the winningest films in Oscar history. “Titanic” (which is tied with “Ben Hur” and “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” for most Oscars won by a single film with 11) will be having sneak previews of its new, re-mastered, and 3D look in early April.

CHICAGO – Thank God Beavis and Butthead are back. I’ve been lucky enough to speak to Mike Judge a few times in my career and I always got the impression that he not only wanted to bring back his legendary characters but felt, as I did, that the world needs Beavis and Butthead…now more than ever. What would Beavis think of Twilight? What would Butthead say about social media? And how would they react to “Jersey Shore”? Now we know.

CHICAGO – By today’s standards, “Wings” would be more expensive than any movie ever made. That’s what an undertaking this legendary film was for Paramount in the ’20s. The biggest studio in the world set out to make the biggest film in history, presenting viewers with things they had never seen before and pushing the boundaries of what was capable on celluloid. Sadly, “Wings” has somewhat become an answer to a trivia question and the remarkable quality of the film itself has been underappreciated by time. This glorious Blu-ray restoration should help fix that oversight.