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
Rising Above Cancer in the Teen Dream ‘Hope Springs Eternal’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 18, 2018 - 1:16pm Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The topic of cancer is rarely heroic, and as we know mostly concludes tragically. But the new teen comedy “Hope Springs Eternal” turns the Big C on its ear, and features up-and-coming young actor Mia Rose Frampton to take it on. The film is light and breezy, with nods to John Hughes, absurdist teen indoctrinations and the celebration of music in life.
Stylish ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ is a Bit Too Soap Opera
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 16, 2018 - 7:19am Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Crazy Rich Asians” is not meant to be anything but glitzy fun, but in the midst of the glamour, excessive wealth and beautiful people, there is a plot that ventures into Soap Opera land, and eventually becomes a distraction for the reason an audience goes to this show… to fantasize about living large.
Revealing ‘Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 13, 2018 - 1:38pm Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Any “secret history” inevitably reveals some totally human trait that somehow counters a delicately constructed facade. Show business is no stranger to those histories, and the new documentary “Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood” is a doozy. Ex-Pimp to the Stars Scotty Bowers reveals all.
‘The Meg’ is a Proud $150 Million Dollar ‘B’ Movie
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 12, 2018 - 9:27amRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – From their golden age from the 1950s to the 1970s, the infamous “B” movies – usually the third feature at the drive-in, or playing in the crumbling old theaters – were targeted to teens. In the modern era, these films are now given $150 million dollar budgets and wide releases. Case in point, the shark movie called “The Meg.”
‘BlackKkKlansman’ is a Spike Lee Joint That Burns
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 10, 2018 - 10:51am Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Director Spike Lee has hit the motherlode in good timing of the kind that says “Everything Old is New Again.” His overview in the true story of a black man that went undercover within the Klu Klux Klan in the 1970s nicely mirrors our current president’s divisiveness in the incendiary “BlacKkKlansman.”
‘Generation Wealth’ Tells Us What We Already Know
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 8, 2018 - 10:00amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – When it comes to really being rich, what do we already know? Money doesn’t buy happiness. Family and friendship connections are more important than accumulation. Yet those simple lessons keep being broken up by the excess of more, the values of which are in the documentary “Generation Wealth.”
‘Christopher Robin’ is a Story That Should Have Remained Untold
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 3, 2018 - 5:05am Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Yeesh. Who woulda thunk that the fine people at Walt Disney Studios would throw the “legend” of Winnie-the-Pooh into a live action “sequel,” with absolutely no life… including the computer generated dead-eyed stuffed machinations of the famous animals. Yet, here we are with “Christopher Robin,” featuring Ewan McGregor in the title role.
‘The Spy Who Dumped Me’ Didn’t Need the Spy Part
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 2, 2018 - 9:39pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a film completely stolen by a supporting character, but Kate McKinnon in “The Spy Who Dumped Me” managed to do just that… which was fortunate because the “spy” part of the story is a seen-it-before kill and gun fest that felt like the first draft of a James Bond knock-off.
Fun and Uproarious ‘Teen Titans Go! To the Movies’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 28, 2018 - 11:14am- Batman
- Beast Boy
- Cartoon Network
- Cyborg
- Flash
- Greg Cripes
- HollywoodChicago.com Content
- Hynden Walch
- James Corden
- Jimmy Kimmel
- Khary Payton
- Kristen Bell
- Movie Review
- Nicolas Cage
- Patrick McDonald
- Patton Oswalt
- Raven
- Robin
- Scott Menville
- Starfire
- Superman
- Tara Strong
- Teen Titans Go! To the Movies
- Warner Bros.
- Will Arnett
Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – If a good laugh is golden, then “Teen Titans Go! To the Movies” is worth its weight. Although the meta-make-fun of superhero movies have already been done almost to death (Deadpool?), the Titans have been doing it on the Cartoon Network since 2013, and take it to a new level in their movie adventure.
Tom Cruise Outruns Time in ‘Mission Impossible: Fallout'
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 27, 2018 - 7:16amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – By any reasonable account, Tom Cruise should be entering into a phase in the “Mission Impossible” series not unlike the latter James Bond films of Roger Moore… appearing in closeups and letting the stuntmen do the rest. However, Cruise continues to outrun the ravages of time, and his stunts only seem to get crazier in the sixth film, “Mission Impossible: Fallout.”
The Artist’s Obsession in ‘Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 24, 2018 - 5:54pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The art masters, and the masterpieces they have created, become a background culture in our lives… even if we don’t necessarily know the artist. Paul Gauguin is one of those painters-as-cultural-influencer, and a vital point in his artistic life is told in the film “Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti.”
Awkward & Difficult is Played Out in ‘Eighth Grade’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 22, 2018 - 3:22pmRating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – We’ve all been there. Depending on what school structure you lived through, everyone had issues in “Eighth Grade.” Writer/director Bo Burnham puts those universal issues in a modern context (social media, online video), and portrays them through a girl struggling to belong while navigating the choppy waters of adolescence. It’s difficult, awkward and representative.
Director Eugene Jarecki Crowns Elvis Presley ‘The King’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 20, 2018 - 12:07pm Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Elvis Presley, besides being one of the most famous entertainers of the 20th Century, does symbolize to an extent what can happen to icons when they turn towards certain directions in a career. Director Eugene Jarecki has created an amazing documentary about Elvis called “The King,” that uses his rise and decline as a symbol for the American Dream.
