CHICAGO – The Steppenwolf Theatre of Chicago continues to provide different viewpoints on the American stage, and their latest “Little Bear Ridge Road” is no exception. Featuring ensemble member Laurie Metcalf, it’s the resonate story of a family at the crossroads. For tickets/details, click LITTLE BEAR.
HollywoodChicago.com Movie Reviews
Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes Make ‘The Reader’ a Worthwhile Adaptation
Submitted by BrianTT on December 25, 2008 - 10:52am Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Two of the best actors working in film today, Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet, offer enough to make “The Reader” a cinematic book worth reading, even if it’s not the masterpiece it could have been with a few different choices by its director and writer.
Clint Eastwood Idles With Caricature Over Character in ‘Gran Torino’
Submitted by BrianTT on December 19, 2008 - 10:33am Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – With his second film in just a few months, Clint Eastwood makes one of his biggest missteps of his illustrious career as one of the more esteemed American directors in the history of the medium.
‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ With Keanu Reeves Falls Flat in Every Way
Submitted by BrianTT on December 12, 2008 - 10:36am Rating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “The Day the Earth Stood Still” is about an alien visitor’s decision to wipe out the human race. And, if an interstellar race actually gets to see this film, it would be hard to blame them for wanting to clean house on planet Earth.
Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Ensemble Save ‘Frost/Nixon’ From Soulless Direction
Submitted by BrianTT on December 12, 2008 - 10:23amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Peter Morgan’s play “Frost/Nixon” was a searing portrait of two men trying their best to change their image and their future. It was a head-to-head battle between a celebrity interviewer whose reputation was on a steady decline and the man credited with bringing shame to the White House.
‘Nothing Like the Holidays’ Does Nothing to Stand Out From Christmas Movie Crowd
Submitted by BrianTT on December 12, 2008 - 10:10am Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – When it was still called “Humboldt Park” and was probably more closely related to Chicago’s thriving Hispanic neighborhood, Alfredo De Villa’s “Nothing Like the Holidays” was probably a lot more interesting than the cookie-cutter dramedy that ended up on the big screen.
Despite Smothered Direction, ‘Doubt’ Brings Out Best in Performers
Submitted by Dustin on December 12, 2008 - 1:01am Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The inherit drama of a Catholic priest accused of molesting an African American boy during the 1960s would be enough to make for an interesting film on its own. In “Doubt,” this is one of the less-explored themes writer and director John Patrick Shanley examines.
Sean Penn’s Oscar-Possible Harvey Milk Puts Face to Gay Rights in ‘Milk’
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on November 27, 2008 - 11:03amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Just as Tom Hanks put a face to AIDS in 1993’s “Philadelphia,” Sean Penn has now put a face to gay rights as Harvey Milk in the new Gus Van Sant true-story film “Milk”.
‘Australia’ With Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman Gets Lost in Own Cinematic Outback
Submitted by BrianTT on November 26, 2008 - 9:51amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and newcomer Brandon Walters star in Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia”: a sweeping, grand epic in the tradition of “Gone With the Wind” that gets away from its talented director, the writers he worked with and the team he hired to film his passion project.
Robert De Niro, Director Barry Levinson Wade Through Hollywood’s Mud in ‘What Just Happened?’
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on October 17, 2008 - 12:27pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In his long and distinguished career, Robert De Niro has probably seen it all when it comes to Hollywood excesses and quagmires. Given that experience, he seems the perfect choice to portray an aging film producer and power broker whose influence is on the decline.
Like a Bad ‘Law & Order,’ ‘Righteous Kill’ With Al Pacino, Robert De Niro Lacks ‘Heat’
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on September 12, 2008 - 3:13pmRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Last fall, Francis Ford Coppola made the comment that Al Pacino and Robert De Niro (along with Jack Nicholson) had lost their ambition. Coppola essentially said they have been phoning in their performances and picking safer movies. “Righteous Kill” could be the case study to that argument.
In Purely Exploiting Gratuitous Violence, Paul W.S. Anderson’s ‘Death Race’ Remake Kills All Comedic Value
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on August 22, 2008 - 2:23pmRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – While 2008’s “Death Race” makes no secret about being a remake of 1975’s “Death Race 2000” with David Carradine as the title character Frankenstein and Sylvester Stallone as his archrival Machine Gun Joe Viterbo, what’s perhaps less obvious but still clear is how the film steals from others.
Death-Defying Audacity Walks Between the Twin Towers in New Documentary ‘Man on Wire’
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on August 18, 2008 - 10:00pm Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Where have all the true eccentrics gone? Where are all those people who achieve a Zen purpose just because the challenge is there?
“Man on Wire” is a documentary that tells of such a challenge 34 years ago in another place and time.
Hit-or-Miss Mastermind Woody Allen Recaptures Genius With Eccentric ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on August 15, 2008 - 12:01amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – While legendary writer and director Woody Allen can’t always be equated with sheer genius these days and is more accurately described as a hit-or-miss proposition, the sorely undermarketed and film-festival touring “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” serves as unquestionable retribution for his recently questionable work.
