CHICAGO – Excelsior! Comic book legend Stan Lee’s famous exclamation puts a fine point on the third and final play of Mark Pracht’s FOUR COLOR TRILOGY, “The House of Ideas,” presented by and staged at City Lit Theater in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. For tickets/details, click HOUSE OF IDEAS.
HollywoodChicago.com Movie Reviews
Margot Robbie in ‘I, Tonya’ Can’t Stick the Landing
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 23, 2017 - 11:52pm Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – We have arrived at point where yesterday’s trash TV has become today’s critical darling of the film festival circuit. As the trailers proclaim, “I, Tonya” desperately wants to be the “‘Goodfellas’ of Figure Skating,” but one of the biggest problems I had is that it’s just trying too hard.
Matt Damon in ‘Downsizing’ Offers Few Small Pleasures
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 22, 2017 - 10:51am Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Downsizing” is an interesting premise that doesn’t ultimately go anywhere interesting. Part of the problem is that writer/director Alexander Payne doesn’t seem to know what kind of a movie he wants it to be… it’s part cerebral Woody Allen futuristic comedy, part sci-fi social satire about Midwestern malaise, and winds up failing at both.
‘All the Money in the World’ Has a Soft Landing
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 21, 2017 - 1:52pmRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – A bitter and old rich man won’t take responsibility for the co-opting of something he is directly connected to. Is this the Trump administration or “All the Money in the World”? Christopher Plummer portrays mogul J. Paul Getty, trying to steer clear of his grandson’s kidnapping.
Delightful ‘Ferdinand’ Keeps it Simple & Funny
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 17, 2017 - 5:44pm Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Like the repeat tenets of real estate, good animated films come down to story, story, story. And ‘Ferdinand,’ an older children’s tale adapted to modern audiences, combines a gentle source narrative with palatable visual and cartoon jokes. It’s fun for the whole family!
Ethereal ‘The Shape of Water’ Forms Cinema Magic
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 13, 2017 - 2:44pm Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – This breathtaking morality and love story, set in a backward age, takes all of its major themes – passion, tolerance, symbolism and thrills – to the highest level. Writer/director Guillermo del Toro has created a masterwork that is part fairy tale, part adult desperation and all cinema magic.
‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Turns Up the Volume
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 12, 2017 - 5:46pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Everything that could be thrown into the Stars Wars legend – and the official story – is present in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” With three concurrent stories converging into an amped-up climax, all manner of Star Wars-mania and fan satisfaction can be realized in Episode 8.
Woody Allen Has Run Out of Ideas with ‘Wonder Wheel’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 10, 2017 - 9:03am Rating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Woody Allen emptied out his junk drawer of discarded script ideas and somehow managed to convince Kate Winslet to star in it. That’s the gist of the latest “serious Woody” entry in the Oscar winner’s long running career. Woody Allen has had some timeless triumphs, but lately he’s been more about quantity than quality.
Funny ‘The Disaster Artist’ Takes Us Back to ‘The Room’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 1, 2017 - 11:44amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “The Room” is a post-millennial cult movie that plays the midnight and college movie circuit, entertaining audiences with its sheer badness. Its story is told in the “The Disaster Artist,” featuring James Franco as the director of “The Room,” and he also directed the film. Very meta.
Art & Real World Taken to Task in Angular ‘The Square’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 23, 2017 - 1:50pm Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Recently, the record for highest bid ever on a work of art was shattered – $450 million for Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Salvador Mundi’ – and the ownership of a canvas, for the price of supporting a small country, calls into question the meaning of art and collecting. All of this, and everything more, is generated in the cinematic rendering of “The Square.”
Visual Excellence Aside, ‘Coco’ is Just So-So
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 22, 2017 - 2:56pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Coco” bears all the visual hallmarks of the Pixar Studio at its best, however its story bears the more recent symptoms of creative exhaustion. In this story, a young boy named Miguel (voice of Anthony Gonzalez) aims to follow his heart and pursue music, but toe tapping tunes have been strictly forbidden in his home.
Charles Dickens is ‘The Man Who Invented Christmas’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 22, 2017 - 11:48am- A Christmas Carol
- Bharat Nalluri
- Bleecker Street Media
- Britain
- Charles Dickens
- Christopher Plummer
- Dan Stevens
- Ebenezer Scrooge
- Holidays
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- Justin Edwards
- Les Standiford
- Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day
- Morfydd Clark
- Movie Review
- Patrick McDonald
- The Man Who Invented Christmas
- Victorian
- Xmas
Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The story of Ebenezer Scrooge, as told in Charles Dicken’s classic “A Christmas Carol,” seems to be the one constant that survives the commercialization of the holiday season. The story of Scrooge’s creation is told with expressive sentimentality in “The Man Who Invented Christmas.”
‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ Examines Our Violence
Submitted by JonHC on November 20, 2017 - 9:12pm Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Film is often an expression of our society, either as a depiction of how it really is or how it should be. Few films are as daring as Martin McDonagh’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” which isn’t afraid to show us the state of our society and offer a realistic solution through a grim drama that is as humorous as it is devastating.
Up Up & Away for ‘Justice League’ From DC Comics
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 15, 2017 - 8:09am Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In the America of truth, justice and comic book movies, the DC brand – featuring hero icons Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman – has lagged behind their rivals at Marvel Studios. “Justice League” fills that gap admirably, after the slam-bam summer of Wonder Woman.
