CHICAGO – In anticipation of the scariest week of the year, HollywoodChicago.com launches its 2024 Movie Gifts series, which will suggest DVDs and collections for holiday giving.
HollywoodChicago.com Movie Reviews
‘Imagine That’: Eddie Murphy’s Family Fare Predictable as Sunrise
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 12, 2009 - 1:22pm Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Nobody expects an actor to maintain the ambitions of their early career. The manic energy of Eddie Murphy from “Raw” or “48 Hours” is as gone as an ‘80s hairdo. But the numbing sameness of family-friendly Eddie is a direction that is stultifying, and does no favors for him or the audience.
‘Away We Go’ From Sam Mendes a Slightly Bumpy Trip Worth Taking
Submitted by Ebeth on June 12, 2009 - 12:41pm Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Has life always been this difficult? Doesn’t anybody ever stay together anymore? Have the pressures of modern times turned the majority of us into screw-ups?
“Away We Go” is a chronicle of couple – Burt and Verona (John Krasinski of NBC’s “The Office” and Maya Rudolph of “Saturday Night Live”) – attempting to resolve just that.
Denzel Washington, John Travolta in Average ‘The Taking of Pelham 123’
Submitted by BrianTT on June 12, 2009 - 10:26amRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Tony Scott’s remake of “The Taking of Pelham 123,” starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta, is likely to meet sun-drained audience expectations for a straight-forward, adult-driven action film this season but the overly stylized and not-so-thrilling train ride is ultimately merely average at best and will disappoint fans looking for anything more.
‘The Hangover’: All the Fun of Inebriation, No Next-Day Headache
Submitted by Ebeth on June 5, 2009 - 12:44pm Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Those who seek out “The Hangover” will do so wanting a good laugh. Those who see this film will occasionally be struck with the feeling that they shouldn’t be laughing. But laugh and laugh often they will as “The Hangover” will whirl you through all the fun of inebriation without the consequence of the nasty, next-day headache.
‘Land of the Lost’ With Will Ferrell Should Never Be Found
Submitted by BrianTT on June 5, 2009 - 10:27am Rating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Land of the Lost,” starring Will Ferrell, Danny McBride, and Anna Friel, is horribly conceived, almost entirely laugh-free, and with absolutely no personality of its own. It’s one of the most inert, dull, and dead-on-arrival major summer films in a very long time with no target audience likely to be satisfied by it.
Sam Raimi Returns to Horror Genre With Thrilling ‘Drag Me to Hell’
Submitted by BrianTT on May 29, 2009 - 11:49am Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The gleefully gory Sam Raimi who made “Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn” and “Darkman” is back in close to prime form with this week’s thoroughly enjoyable “Drag Me To Hell,” a horror thrill ride almost certain to satisfy any audience member willing to choose a movie with “Hell” in the title over the latest Pixar offering.
Moving on ‘Up’: Disney, Pixar Score Another Masterpiece in 3-D
Submitted by Ebeth on May 28, 2009 - 11:28pm Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There is an art to music. There is an art to writing a story and an art to telling that story. There is art in a great drawing, a great painting and a great photograph. There is an art to communication. And it may only be a matter of time before museums expand to include a whole new category of modern art: the animated film from Disney and Pixar.
‘Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian’ is Predictable, Clustered Drivel
Submitted by Ebeth on May 22, 2009 - 12:30pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The sequel “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” is, presumably, an effort by director Shawn Levy (“Night at the Museum” in 2006 and “The Pink Panther”) and writers Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon (who both wrote the first film) to weave together an exciting and educational film.
Christian Bale, Sam Worthington in McG’s Disappointing ‘Terminator: Salvation’
Submitted by BrianTT on May 21, 2009 - 10:02amRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – McG’s loud-and-annoying “Terminator: Salvation” with Christian Bale and Sam Worthington continues the summer of non-Trek disappointments, delivering nothing but a bloated exercise in CGI overload. With awful dialogue, a ridiculous plot, and mostly uninspired performances, the interesting human element has been drained from the franchise. The machines have won.
Tom Hanks, Ron Howard Misfire With Ridiculous ‘Angels & Demons’
Submitted by BrianTT on May 15, 2009 - 9:31am Rating: 1.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Ron Howard’s “Angels & Demons,” the sequel to “The Da Vinci Code,” is an absolute mess, a film that tries hard to break free from the dull tone of its predecessor but ends up even more ridiculous, frustrating and generally worthless.
Pure Summer Entertainment Lives on in J.J. Abrams’ ‘Star Trek’
Submitted by BrianTT on May 8, 2009 - 9:52am Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It will be a stunning surprise if the summer of 2009 produces another slice of movie entertainment as satisfying and well-made as J.J. Abrams rollicking “Star Trek” reboot, a film that not only delivers on high expectations but shatters them by clicking on every single level.
Hugh Jackman Rocks in ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine,’ But Movie Falters
Submitted by BrianTT on May 1, 2009 - 10:57amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – How did Wolverine get to Northern Alberta, Canada, where he makes his first appearance in a bar cage match in Bryan Singer’s “X-Men”? And what about all those flashbacks to his dark past and the experiments that turned him into a legend?
Matthew McConaughey’s ‘Ghosts of Girlfriends Past’ Overdone, But Relatable
Submitted by Ebeth on May 1, 2009 - 12:01amRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” is the cinematic blending of two familiar formulas: the “love, lose and then love again” framework of most romantic comedies with the idea of transforming ghosts from the classic “A Christmas Carol”. The result: an overdone yet relatable story of a man coming to terms with his true desires.
