Universal Home Entertainment

CHICAGO – In our latest comedy edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: DVD, we have 5 DVDs up for grabs in advance of the highly anticipated home entertainment release of the “R”-rated comedy “Bridesmaids” starring Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Rose Byrne!

CHICAGO – It’s safe to say Kevin Macdonald is a filmmaker more skilled in documentaries (“One Day in September,” “Touching The Void”) than he is in scripted narratives (“The Last King of Scotland,” the forgotten “State of Play” remake). His experience in nonfiction work is certainly reflected in the realism of his production design, but it doesn’t translate to his stories, which often take a shallow approach to real-life subjects.

CHICAGO – If “Avatar” stood as a reminder of James Cameron’s undying popularity with audiences, “Sanctum” stands as proof that Cameron’s name alone can’t always sell a picture. Though the filmmaker merely served as executive producer of this murky thriller, the screen overflows with his signature tropes: underwater landscapes, 3D photography, hokey characters and pedestrian dialogue.

CHICAGO – Sofia Coppola’s films are intriguing in a way that’s often difficult to put into words. I often find my attention drifting during my initial viewing of them, and yet they somehow manage to linger in my mind long after others have faded. Her problematic costume drama, “Marie Antoinette,” has become one of my favorite films to leave on in the background of a room, simply for the pleasure of dwelling in its subtly nuanced atmosphere.

CHICAGO – Magical nannies, dancing animals, great gusts of wind, lyrical life lessons and cute kids in need of a father. You don’t need to be practically perfect in every way in order to find these ingredients a trifle familiar. Robert Stevenson’s 1964 masterpiece “Mary Poppins” used these elements better than anyone has before or since, resulting in what is unquestionably the best live-action Disney film ever made.

CHICAGO – “He’s totally cute…like James Dean,” sighs a swooning cashier as tween heartthrob Zac Efron enters her shop. Efron may be many things, but Dean he is not. This line has been wisely axed from the final cut of “Charlie St. Cloud,” after inspiring a great deal of derisive laughter during the trailer’s theatrical run.

CHICAGO – Couples making plans to start a family may get a kick out of “Babies,” the lyrical new documentary from French filmmaker Thomas Balmès. Everyone else may find themselves bored stiff. The film is an intriguing experiment with varying degrees of success. It’s as tedious as it is compelling and as annoying as it is insightful.

CHICAGO – Erase from your mind every preconception you may have about a film entitled, “Robin Hood,” and you may find yourself enjoying, or at the very east admiring, Ridley Scott’s loose yet literalistic depiction of the legendary outlaw. No film will ever top Michael Curtiz and William Keighley’s 1938 classic starring Errol Flynn, which remains one of the all time great screen entertainments.

CHICAGO – Here’s one of the saddest casualties of the recent writer’s strike. Tim Kring’s sci-fi series, “Heroes,” came on like gangbusters when it debuted in 2006. It intriguingly fused the formulas of “X-Men” and “Unbreakable,” as it followed a colorful assortment of earthlings who discover that they have powers unsettlingly akin to those seen comic books.

CHICAGO – “Paying homage” and “ripping off” are not the same thing. A picture like Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” gathers fragments of our collective cinematic memories, and places them in an entirely fresh dreamscape of the mind. Miguel Sapochnik’s “Repo Men” assembles pieces of other movies and claims them as its own creation. The film opens like “Blade Runner,” ends like “Brazil,” and looks suspiciously like plagiarism.