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
Morris Chestnut, Taraji P. Henson Keep ‘Not Easily Broken’ From Falling Apart
Submitted by BrianTT on January 9, 2009 - 10:07am Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Stars Morris Chestnut and Taraji P. Henson do their best to make Bill Duke’s “Not Easily Broken” a genuine domestic drama instead of the cluttered melodrama that it easily could have been with two lesser actors in the lead roles.
Great Performances Wasted in Sterile ‘Revolutionary Road’
Submitted by BrianTT on January 2, 2009 - 10:50am Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April Wheeler (Kate Winslet) refuse to believe that they’re like everyone else in the 1950’s suburbia of Sam Mendes’ frustrating “Revolutionary Road”. They may go to the same jobs and travel in the same social circles, but, unlike the bored housewives and husbands around them, they haven’t given up on their dreams.
Bryan Singer’s ‘Valkyrie’ With Tom Cruise Mistakes Morose For Intense
Submitted by BrianTT on December 25, 2008 - 11:05am Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Tom Cruise can be a powerfully vibrant actor in the right material but he’s horrendously miscast in Bryan Singer’s “Valkyrie,” a decision amplified by poor direction that drains this true story of an assassination attempt on the life of Adolf Hitler of its inherent power.
Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes Make ‘The Reader’ a Worthwhile Adaptation
Submitted by BrianTT on December 25, 2008 - 10:52am Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Two of the best actors working in film today, Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet, offer enough to make “The Reader” a cinematic book worth reading, even if it’s not the masterpiece it could have been with a few different choices by its director and writer.
Clint Eastwood Idles With Caricature Over Character in ‘Gran Torino’
Submitted by BrianTT on December 19, 2008 - 10:33amRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – With his second film in just a few months, Clint Eastwood makes one of his biggest missteps of his illustrious career as one of the more esteemed American directors in the history of the medium.
‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ With Keanu Reeves Falls Flat in Every Way
Submitted by BrianTT on December 12, 2008 - 10:36am Rating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “The Day the Earth Stood Still” is about an alien visitor’s decision to wipe out the human race. And, if an interstellar race actually gets to see this film, it would be hard to blame them for wanting to clean house on planet Earth.
Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Ensemble Save ‘Frost/Nixon’ From Soulless Direction
Submitted by BrianTT on December 12, 2008 - 10:23amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Peter Morgan’s play “Frost/Nixon” was a searing portrait of two men trying their best to change their image and their future. It was a head-to-head battle between a celebrity interviewer whose reputation was on a steady decline and the man credited with bringing shame to the White House.
‘Nothing Like the Holidays’ Does Nothing to Stand Out From Christmas Movie Crowd
Submitted by BrianTT on December 12, 2008 - 10:10amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – When it was still called “Humboldt Park” and was probably more closely related to Chicago’s thriving Hispanic neighborhood, Alfredo De Villa’s “Nothing Like the Holidays” was probably a lot more interesting than the cookie-cutter dramedy that ended up on the big screen.
Despite Smothered Direction, ‘Doubt’ Brings Out Best in Performers
Submitted by Dustin on December 12, 2008 - 1:01am Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The inherit drama of a Catholic priest accused of molesting an African American boy during the 1960s would be enough to make for an interesting film on its own. In “Doubt,” this is one of the less-explored themes writer and director John Patrick Shanley examines.
Sean Penn’s Oscar-Possible Harvey Milk Puts Face to Gay Rights in ‘Milk’
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on November 27, 2008 - 11:03amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Just as Tom Hanks put a face to AIDS in 1993’s “Philadelphia,” Sean Penn has now put a face to gay rights as Harvey Milk in the new Gus Van Sant true-story film “Milk”.
‘Australia’ With Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman Gets Lost in Own Cinematic Outback
Submitted by BrianTT on November 26, 2008 - 9:51amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and newcomer Brandon Walters star in Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia”: a sweeping, grand epic in the tradition of “Gone With the Wind” that gets away from its talented director, the writers he worked with and the team he hired to film his passion project.
Robert De Niro, Director Barry Levinson Wade Through Hollywood’s Mud in ‘What Just Happened?’
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on October 17, 2008 - 12:27pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In his long and distinguished career, Robert De Niro has probably seen it all when it comes to Hollywood excesses and quagmires. Given that experience, he seems the perfect choice to portray an aging film producer and power broker whose influence is on the decline.
Like a Bad ‘Law & Order,’ ‘Righteous Kill’ With Al Pacino, Robert De Niro Lacks ‘Heat’
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on September 12, 2008 - 3:13pmRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Last fall, Francis Ford Coppola made the comment that Al Pacino and Robert De Niro (along with Jack Nicholson) had lost their ambition. Coppola essentially said they have been phoning in their performances and picking safer movies. “Righteous Kill” could be the case study to that argument.
