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
M. Night Shyamalan Returns, Full of Personality in ‘Split’
Submitted by JonHC on January 23, 2017 - 4:29pm Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – M. Night Shyamalan is a complicated filmmaker whose work seems to reflect a variety of different sides to the artist. “The Visit” marked a return to a new, yet familiar side of Shyamalan that most of us thought blew away with “The Last Airbender.” It seems “Split” marks the return/re-emergence of the too-long departed Shyamalan that we thought was buried in the past.
‘xXx: Return of Xander Cage’ is Action as Phantasm
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 20, 2017 - 11:23am Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The true miracle of “xXx: Return of Xander Cage” – besides constantly breaking the law of physics – was making the sonorous line readings of Vin Diesel almost palatable. This over-the-top action fantastic turns up every implausibility dial to the red zone, but satisfactorily entertains.
Gravity of Poetic Dreams Carry Weight in ‘Paterson’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 20, 2017 - 11:08am Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – What is more ordinary than a man alone with his thoughts, and then applying those thoughts to paper in the form of poetry? “Paterson” is a celebration of such ritual, and other dreams in the working class. It never panders, it never makes the “hero” that heroic, but it does challenge him in an ordinary sense, to work it out as meaningful poetics.
Michael Keaton is a Man with a Brand in ‘The Founder’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 19, 2017 - 8:52pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Michael Keaton is the real reason to see “The Founder” – it’s a movie that probably wouldn’t work at all without him. Keaton portrays Ray Kroc, the man who turned McDonald’s into a multinational fast food behemoth. But “The Founder” is an origin story of both the man and the brand…and Kroc is not the genius of American business he’s been made out to be.
‘Monster Trucks’ May Be One of the Weirdest Films Ever
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 18, 2017 - 7:02pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – A four year old walks into a room with a great idea for a movie, and unfortunately his father is president of a “motion picture group.” Millions of dollars and four years later, this child’s idea became “Monster Trucks,” one of the strangest movies ever conceived.
Boston is Strong Again in Reliable ‘Patriots Day’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 13, 2017 - 3:48pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In the context of history, and the way information is consumed these days, the Boston Marathon Bombing in 2013 seems both like yesterday and a long time ago. Director Peter Berg’s “Patriots Day” is the first film account of that horrid week, and features Mark Wahlberg.
Ben Affleck Shoots Nothing But Blanks in ‘Live by Night’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 12, 2017 - 11:11pmRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Movies released in the first weeks of January are invariably either awards hopefuls trying to gain momentum or studio dreck being buried in the dead of winter, and quickly forgotten by Valentine’s Day. “Live By Night” aspires to be the former, but ends up being the latter.
‘Silence’ is an Overwrought View of Religious Faith
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 11, 2017 - 11:21am Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – For gosh sakes, someone call the Vatican and make Marty Scorsese an honorary priest. He is overtly fascinated – in this work and his other films – with the notion of religious faith, particular within his Catholic roots. He approaches the subject again in the intense “Silence.”
Fantasy & Feelings Comingle in ‘A Monster Calls’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 6, 2017 - 7:41pm Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The nature of dying, especially in process with a close loved one, is a testing ground for unwieldy and alien emotions. When, why and how we’re challenged does not have a timetable, nor a convenience. All of this is played out as fantasy in the vital “A Monster Calls.”
‘Neruda’ Turns the Biography Film Into Fine Art
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 4, 2017 - 8:27amRating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “In me nothing is extinguished or forgotten…” is a single line from a poem by Pablo Neruda (“If You Forget Me”), and succinctly describes the film tribute to him, written by Neruda’s fellow Chilean countryman Guillermo Calderón, and directed with grace by another Chilean, Pablo Larrain.
‘Lion’ Can’t Quite Tame Audience’s Hearts
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 30, 2016 - 12:02pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Lion” is the kind of inspirational-triumph-over-insurmountable-odds and adversity stories that’s bound to appeal to grandmothers and Academy voters, and it does offer plenty of material to tug at the heartstrings. But it’s a movie that only gets the job half done, and unfortunately loses its way once Nicole Kidman comes into the picture.
‘Assassin’s Creed’ Has Odd Breeding for a Movie
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 26, 2016 - 5:30pmRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – I’m not a gamer, but of course I’ve heard about “Assassin’s Creed.” The film based on the video game is a wild and undisciplined attempt to expand that particular universe, but does succeed in creating an oddball science fiction that has implications in geo-religious power and control.
Brainiac Fulfillment is the Key to ‘Hidden Figures’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 25, 2016 - 10:00amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In America, there is the history we have, and the history that we want to have happened. “Hidden Figures” falls into the second category, but it’s presented in such a way that it fulfills the goal – tell an amazing story about a group of African American women who helped launch men into space.
