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
Sequel Surprisingly Surpasses the First Film in ‘Happy Death Day 2U’
Submitted by JonHC on February 14, 2019 - 4:40pm Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – At some point, we’ve all experienced deja vu. Sure, it could just be because we lead a monotonous, predictable life, but I’d personally welcome the idea of something supernatural at play over the more practical explanation. That’s exactly what “Happy Death Day” introduced, and it was a hilarious slasher take on “Groundhog Day”, and luckily the sequel, “Happy Death Day 2U”, adds to the experience.
The James Cameron Touch Creates ‘Alita: Battle Angel’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 14, 2019 - 11:15am Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The creation of new worlds has always been a mainstay of the cinema, virtually since it was invented. And whether you love or are indifferent to the films of James Cameron (“Titanic”), he remains one of the prime movers in advancing the creative tools of films. His influence is all over “Alita: Battle Angel.”
Something for Everyone in Delicious ‘Isn’t It Romantic’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 13, 2019 - 4:36amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Isn’t It Romantic” knows exactly what it is, and what it wants to be. It is simultaneously for people who love Romantic Comedy, and those who profess to hate them … but may secretly love them. It’s an amusing trifle that’s about as surprising as a heart shaped box of chocolates, but sometimes that’s what you want.
Childhood is a Major Theme in 2019 Oscar Nominated Live Action Short Films
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 12, 2019 - 4:20pm Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There are four films among the five Oscar-nominated Live Action Shorts for 2019 that have childhood in their theme, and they all are telling about situations in the more in-your-face dark circumstances of life today (or in the case of one film, 25 years ago). The Landmark Century Centre Cinema in Chicago are currently showing all the shorts in one program. Click here for more information.
‘The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part’ is Flat Out Funny
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 8, 2019 - 4:48pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There are two things I love as a film observer. The pretty colors of modern animation … and to laugh. I got both in the appropriately titled “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.” Picking up where the first first left off, the gang of Lego brick figures, including Emmet, Wyldstyle and Batman, have a new adventure.
Windy City Romance We’ve All Been Waiting for is ‘Rendezvous in Chicago’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 7, 2019 - 5:25pmRating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In the 30 odd years I’ve lived in Chicago, and in the 10 years I’ve done the Chicago Film Tour, I know Chicago movies. The problem was that most of them didn’t understand the Windy City vibe, especially in the relationships that develop here. Well, writer/director Michael Glover Smith gets it exquisitely right, in his three story anthology called “Rendezvous in Chicago.”
World War I Comes to Life in ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 1, 2019 - 5:58pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The First World War took place (1914-18) in conjunction with the early days of film, with enough cameras available to actually capture it. For years, that dusty and silent celluloid was used in documentaries, but never has it come to life the way that director Peter Jackson presents it in “They Shall Not Grow Old.”
A Boy’s Adventure in ‘The Kid Who Would Be King’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 25, 2019 - 5:01pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The marketing of this film keeps mentioning the 1980s cult film ‘The Goonies,’ but this British based “school mates” adventure is rooted more in King Arthur and “The Sword in the Stone.” A boy’s grand adventure plays out with themes of what is at stake in a delightful “The Kid Who Would Be King.”
Too Much Wasted Time in M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Glass’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 18, 2019 - 5:15pm Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Maybe inside filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan’s head, his latest film “Glass” works… all the elements of what we need to know about this sequel to MNS’s previous films “Split” and “Unbreakable” are within. However, what works inside the director’s head may not work for the audience, especially in the first half of the film.
Unsettling View of Evil in Lars von Trier’s ‘The House That Jack Built’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 14, 2019 - 5:04pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – With director Lars von Trier, who is a mad f**king genius of a filmmaker, it’s always make or break (or both). He breaks in his latest, “The House That Jack Built” which is all too much of evil everything, until it morphs into a last act that has an intriguing and unsettling sense of weird purpose. The story of a serial killer and the meticulous realizations of his killings is like a sound meter that is constantly going into the red zone, until the damn thing shatters.
‘The Upside’ Works Because of Kevin Hart & Bryan Cranston
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 11, 2019 - 11:48amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In 2011, there was a notable French film called “The Intouchables,” based on the true story of quadriplegic Phillippe Pozzo di Borgo and the relationship with his caregiver. Leave it to the U.S. film industry to get its sticky fingers on the story, and seven years later Bryan Cranston portrays “Phillip” and his caretaker is portrayed by Kevin Hart. Instead of story, this version relies on its lead actors.
De-Glamorizing Nicole Kidman Can’t Save ‘Destroyer’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 11, 2019 - 10:19am Rating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – If you are in a particular frame of mind you can kinda see why someone thought “Destroyer” would be a good idea. It’s got an Academy Award winner, doing a physical transformation, and has a hard-boiled detective story. All of these elements in the right hands could have added up to awards show adulation.
‘Bathtubs Over Broadway’ Revives a Forgotten Art Form
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 8, 2019 - 2:08pm- Bathtubs Over Broadway
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 Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There are cultural heroes, and then there is comedy writer Steve Young. Through sheer happenstance, he began a journey that ended up with a rediscovery of an art form that without Young’s intervention would have died. The U.S. corporation Broadway-style “industrial musical,” which highlighted products or sales meetings in a song and dance presentation, were at its peak popularity from the 1950s through the ‘70s. “Bathtubs Over Broadway” is Young’s documentary of appreciation for those shows and and his intervention to revive them.
