CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio review for the doc series “Charlie Hustle & the Matter of Pete Rose,” about the rise and bitter fall of the major league legend, the MLB’s all-time hits leader, only to be banned from the sport because of gambling. Streaming on MAX and on HBO since July 24th.!—break—>
HollywoodChicago.com Movie Reviews
Diane Lane’s ‘Untraceable’ Plagued With Predictable, Connect-the-Dots Plotline
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on January 25, 2008 - 1:01amCHICAGO – Gregory Hoblit’s “Untraceable” is a predictable thriller that takes us into the masterminds of cybercrime in Portland. Diane Lane plays FBI agent Jennifer Marsh and heads up a cybercrime department that’s chasing an Internet killer.
History-Making ‘U2 3D’ Feature-Length Film Redefines Concert Experience
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on January 22, 2008 - 4:33pmCHICAGO – Shot with more digital 3D cameras than any other film project, the feature-length “U2 3D” film production revolutionizes the concert experience on the big screen.
Star Power Can’t Save ‘Mad Money’ From ‘Thelma & Louise’ Writer Callie Khouri
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on January 18, 2008 - 2:56pmCHICAGO – Whenever there’s stunt-movie casting with divergent generations of Hollywood “stars,” there’s bound to be trouble at the multiplex.
Akin to ‘Match Point,’ Woody Allen’s ‘Cassandra’s Dream’ Expressly Hitchcockian
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on January 18, 2008 - 1:35pmCHICAGO – Woody Allen – the most prolific American writer/director of the last quarter century – has a desire for a particular expression in this last part of his epic career.
Attempted J-Horror ‘One Missed Call’ Instead Grudgingly Makes Us Laugh
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on January 5, 2008 - 6:06pmCHICAGO – Hello, J-Horror. Please hang up and dial again. In fact, the message “please hang up and dial again” should have been given to director Eric Valette before accepting Takashi Miike’s remake “One Missed Call” as his American directorial debut.
‘Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story’ Taps Best of Must-See TV Kings of Comedy
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on December 21, 2007 - 12:41pmCHICAGO – The makers of “Scary Movie,” “Date Movie” and “Epic Movie” should be kicking themselves right now for never thinking to make “Musical Bio-Pic Movie”.
On ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’: Alviiiiiiiiiiiiiiin? More Like Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch!
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on December 14, 2007 - 5:38pmCHICAGO – Thanks to live action and computer-generated animation, we’ve brought to life “Underdog,” “Transformers,” “The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle” and both “Scooby-Doo” and “Garfield” twice.
‘The Mist’ Stars Scribe Stephen King, Marcia Gay Harden in Supporting Role
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on November 21, 2007 - 1:38pmCHICAGO – It’s just a twist of fate, of course. I know the CGI wizards at The Weinstein Co. can’t command the weather in the real word, too. But – wow – what providence.
With Music its Star, Whole of ‘August Rush’ Greater Than Sum of Parts
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on November 21, 2007 - 11:23amCHICAGO – When you look at films critically, you sometimes spend too much time examining the pieces of the whole without stepping back from the picture and taking it as a complete work.
‘Southland Tales’ Starts With Bang, Ends With Sensory-Overloading Whimper
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on November 17, 2007 - 5:50pmCHICAGO – Unlike the world, “Southland Tales” starts with a bang but ends with a whimper. Richard Kelly’s opus of a film is little more than sensory overload meant to look like a political statement on the state of privacy, the war, news, entertainment and celebrities.
‘Love in the Time of Cholera’ Searches Soul, Comes Up Half Full
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on November 17, 2007 - 5:10pmCHICAGO – In 2000’s “High Fidelity,” John Cusack mused: “I’ve read books like … ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’ and I think I’ve understood them. They’re about girls, right?”
‘Beowulf’ in IMAX 3D Affords Break For Big Actors to Improve Even Themselves
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on November 15, 2007 - 1:14pmCHICAGO – It’s all the rave today to exhume an epic from long, long ago and bring it back on the monster screen bigger, better and with more grandeur than ever fathomable before.
‘Wristcutters: A Love Story’ Inventively Imparts Life’s Story After Death
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on November 2, 2007 - 6:15pmCHICAGO – The vision of life after death varies between the religious and the non-religious, the optimists and the pessimists and the believers and non-believers. There are few after-life stories, though, as unique and humorous as the one in “Wristcutters: A Love Story”.