Tammy Blanchard

CHICAGO – Using sports, especially baseball, as a metaphor for life can get dicey – sometimes the symbolic pieces don’t fit universally for everything. But “Moneyball, ” starring Brad Pitt, hits a grand slam with this old allegory, and educates regarding the true nature of modern large dollar sports.

CHICAGO – We weren’t kind enough to “Rabbit Hole.” Sometimes it takes years to realize when a film has fallen under the critical radar. Sometimes it’s only a few months. With the press assault for films like “Black Swan,” “True Grit,” and “The King’s Speech,” one of the absolute best films of 2010 fell under the radar.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

CHICAGO – John Cameron Mitchell’s “Rabbit Hole” tells a story not uncommon to cinema in its exploration of the emotional minefield that comes after the loss of a child but it does so with such restraint and humanity that it sets itself apart. With some of the best performances of the year from Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, and Dianne Wiest, this is one of the strongest dramas of the awards season.

CHICAGO – In our latest drama edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 15 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the new film “Rabbit Hole” with Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart and Dianne Wiest.