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
Authentic Coming-of-Age in Expressive ‘Lady Bird’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 13, 2017 - 1:30pm Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In one of the best American films of 2017, Greta Gerwig went behind the camera to write and direct an autobiographical overview of her Senior Year in high school, within a directionless town and family. The result is enlightening truth, told with laugh-out-loud directness and connective empathy. The film is a total winner.
Mustache Has More Than ‘Murder on the Orient Express’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 10, 2017 - 12:36pm- 20th Century Fox
- Daisy Ridley
- Derek Jacobi
- HollywoodChicago.com Content
- Johnny Depp
- Josh Gad
- Judi Dench
- Kenneth Branagh
- Leslie Odom Jr.
- Michael Green
- Michelle Pfeiffer
- Miranda Raison
- Movie Review
- Murder on the Orient Express
- Mustache
- Olivia Colman
- Penelope Cruz
- Spike Walters
- Tom Bateman
- Willem Dafoe
 Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Murder On The Orient Express” is a movie that is never quite as interesting as the main character’s mustache. Kenneth Branagh directs and stars as Agatha Christie’s most famous detective, Hercule Poirot. While it is a departure from the source novel, Branagh sports silver streak facial hair of audacious eccentricity.
‘Novitiate’ Goes Inside the 1960s Catholic Church
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 3, 2017 - 1:08pm Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In a “mystery of faith” narrative disguised as a feminist statement, the new film “Novitiate” goes inside a nunnery in 1964 America, just as the Catholic Church was about to make some radical changes to their procedures. How it affected the church is how it affected the nuns, and the intriguing insider story is full of back room shocks.
‘LBJ’ is Important American History Brought to Light
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 3, 2017 - 9:22am Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The circumstances surrounding the John F. Kennedy assassination on November 22nd, 1963, put a man into the presidential spotlight who never thought he would get there… Lyndon Baines Johnson. The story of that strange time and the man who “would be king” is told in ‘LBJ.’
‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Shatters the Hammer, But Maintains the Mold
Submitted by JonHC on November 1, 2017 - 2:04pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Any blacksmith will tell you that their job is much more than the brute action of slamming a hammer onto steel. There is some finessing and an attention to detail that needs to take place in order to make something truly notable. With Taika Waititi manning the hammer, he takes the “Thor” franchise out from the Dark Ages and into the technicolor light.
Energy of Visual Cinema is the Power of ‘Wonderstruck’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 31, 2017 - 11:02amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In one of the coolest visual films of the Fall Season thus far, “Wonderstruck” is another winner from director Todd Haynes (“Carol”), who adapts a Young Adult graphic novel by Brian Selznick (who also wrote the screenplay). The wonder of it all, baby.
‘Suburbicon’ is the Cinematic Equivalent of a Soccer Mom
Submitted by JonHC on October 27, 2017 - 2:20pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Having lived in both the suburbs and in major cities throughout my lifetime, I can say without hesitation that the suburbs tend to be dull, boring and bereft of creativity. To be fair, it’s not their fault since they’re built for efficiency and with placidity in mind. “Surburbicon” is made in much the same way, becoming the one thing a film shouldn’t be: boring.
Stellar Cast & Director Fail to Build ‘The Snowman’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 22, 2017 - 8:43pm Rating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The biggest mystery in “The Snowman” is what in the world talented actors like Michael Fassbender, Chloe Sevigny, Toby Jones, and Val Kilmer are doing here in the first place. Fassbender’s character’s name alone should have sent off alarm bells. This is based on a series of detective novels featuring detective Harry Hole, and characters have voluminous opportunities to repeat it, although with nary a snigger.
Dull Origins in ‘Professor Marston & the Wonder Women’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 17, 2017 - 8:01pm Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – For a film that has free love, lie detection, bondage, the origin of a great comic superhero and 3-way carnality, “Professor Marston & the Wonder Women” still comes out rather flat… quite a achievement. Wonder Woman is the comic hero, and this is the rest of her story.
No New Frights in Store for ‘Happy Death Day’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 13, 2017 - 7:22pmRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Happy Death Day” has a “Groundhog Day” gimmick, but that’s about it, offering essentially an ‘80’s style slasher flick with the hope that with a little cosmetic window dressing will help it appeal to an audience in 2017… Live, Die, Repeat. That’s all this film offers with precious few improvements to justify its existence.
Cautionary ‘Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 7, 2017 - 12:30pm- Bernstein
- Bruce Greenwood
- Deep Throat
- Diane Lane
- HollywoodChicago.com Content
- Liam Neeson
- Mark Felt - The Man Who Brought Down the White House
- Marton Csokas
- Movie Review
- Noah Wyle
- Patrick McDonald
- peter landesman
- Richard M. Nixon
- Sony Pictures Classics
- Tom Sizemore
- Washington Post
- Watergate
- Woodward
Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Everything old is new again, in the 1970s story of the infamous “Deep Throat” – the source in the FBI who tipped off the Washington Post about the issues surrounding Watergate scandal – who revealed himself in 2005. He is now the subject of a new film, and is portrayed by Liam Neeson, in “Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House.”
Thin Story a Contrast to Visuals in ‘Blade Runner 2049’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 5, 2017 - 9:36pmRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It comes down to compelling an audience with a story riff that’s a hook. “Blade Runner 2049” doesn’t possess either the riff or the hook, but what it does do is create a dystopian world that is beautiful in its bleakness, and unsettlingly weird in its twists and turns.
History by Rote in Formulaic ‘Victoria and Abdul’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 30, 2017 - 10:56amRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There have been 155 TV/Movie depictions of Queen Victoria, who ruled England from 1837 to 1901. The “Victorian Era” continues to fascinate filmmakers, and who is perfect to portray Queen V. towards the end of her life? Get me Dame Judi Dench on the Skype!
