CHICAGO – There is no better time to take in a stage play that is based in U.S. history, depicting the battle between fact and religion. The old theater chestnut – first mounted in 1955 – is “Inherit the Wind,” now at the Goodman Theatre, completing it’s short run through October 20th. For tickets and more information, click INHERIT.
HollywoodChicago.com Movie Reviews
‘Dancing Across Borders’ Documents a Man’s Bittersweet Triumph
Submitted by BrianTT on April 16, 2010 - 8:19pm Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It’s rather serendipitous that the new film “Dancing Across Borders” will have it’s Chicago premiere at the Gene Siskel Film Center, which is literally around the corner from the Oriental Theater’s production of “Billy Elliot.”
Wildly Entertaining ‘Kick-Ass’ Lives Up to Its Title
Submitted by BrianTT on April 16, 2010 - 8:07pm Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – With a half dozen superhero movies every year that feel as if they were created by a Hollywood blockbuster machine, it’s so refreshing to see one with its own distinct, subversive personality like Matthew Vaughn’s “Kick-Ass”.
David Duchovny, Demi Moore Can’t Keep Up With ‘The Joneses’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 16, 2010 - 7:00amRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Introduced with one of the easier movie pundit headlines ever, “The Joneses” indeed cannot keep up with itself, despite a sharp script and the plausible efforts of David Duchovny and Demi Moore.
Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence Are Stiff in Tepid ‘Death at a Funeral’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 16, 2010 - 6:38amRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – When some of the funniest comedians in the business – Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Tracy Morgan – can’t deliver a absurdist comedy about family secrets, then there truly is “Death at a Funeral.”
‘The Eclipse’ Blends Human Drama With Spooky Horror
Submitted by BrianTT on April 15, 2010 - 7:13pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – I often find that the most interesting characters in a ghost story are not the ghosts themselves, but the humans who encounter them. Ghosts are reflections of a past we are unwilling to depart from, even if it halts us from entering the future. It’s a consolation for us to believe that our departed loved ones view us as their “unfinished business.”
‘My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done’ Inspires Genuine Head-Scratching
Submitted by BrianTT on April 14, 2010 - 10:58am Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – When David Lynch came to Chicago for an “Inland Empire” screening back in 2007, he offered memorable advice to a moviegoer baffled by his work. He said that his audience should meditate not on the “intellectual experience” provided by his films, but the emotional ideas that they conjure.
Annoyingly Inept ‘After.Life’ Bores Audience to Death
Submitted by BrianTT on April 9, 2010 - 10:34am Rating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “After.Life” is one of the first truly awful films of 2010. Its aggressive solemnity combined with its head-slapping silliness will cause most viewers to simply laugh it off the screen. There’s at least two possible ways to interpret its murky story, and they’re both ludicrous.
Touching ‘The Greatest’ With Carey Mulligan Transcends Melodrama
Submitted by BrianTT on April 9, 2010 - 10:16am Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The surprisingly good “The Greatest” opens and closes with two very different car rides — one silent and mournful and one loud and full of laughter; one on the way from death and one on the way to life. They are bookends for a well-performed tearjerker of the kind that mostly transcends its melodramatic set-up to become something genuinely moving.
Steve Carrell, Tina Fey Go Dutch on the Laughs in ‘Date Night’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 9, 2010 - 6:39amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In this schizophrenic film, Steve Carrell and Tina Fey portray a “normal” couple from New Jersey who somehow become Steve Carrell and Tina Fey once they go on-the-town in New York City during “Date Night.”
‘Clash of the Titans’ Bores More Often Than Thrills
Submitted by BrianTT on April 2, 2010 - 10:40am Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The unjustified remake of the ’80s camp-fest “Clash of the Titans” may have been re-purposed for the trend of 3-D but its performances are still tragically 2-D and its plot practically see-through.
‘Mid-August Lunch’ Pleasant, Tenderly Tasty Trifle
Submitted by BrianTT on April 2, 2010 - 9:57amRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Not much happens in “Mid-August Lunch.” It’s as uneventful and often benign as the title suggests, though that’s not to say it’s dull. Some films are primarily about plot, while others are about behavior, and this quietly observant international crowd-pleaser certainly fits in the latter category.
Nothing is Real With Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies on ‘City Island’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 2, 2010 - 2:51amRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – A blue collar worker father who has a secret Marlon Brando obsession (gasp!), a son with an improbable fetish and a daughter who quits college to…strip, this is a normal day-in-the-life in the new film “City Island.”
‘The Most Dangerous Man in America’ Honors a Patriotic Whistleblower
Submitted by BrianTT on March 31, 2010 - 6:20pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Is the Iraq war merely a continuation of Vietnam? In both cases, were we led to war under false pretenses, with the assurance that we were preserving democracy? Viewers on both sides of the political spectrum will be arguing about these questions long after this documentary, and the current war itself, is over.
