Academy Award

Rating: 5.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for “All That Breathes,” one of the five nominees for Best Documentary Feature at the upcoming 95th Oscars, directed by Shaunak Sen. On HBO and streaming on HBO Max beginning February 7th.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for “Close,” one of the five nominees for Best International Feature at the upcoming 95th Oscars, written and directed by Lukas Dhont. In wide theater release in the U.S. beginning February 3rd.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on The Eddie Volkman Show with Hannah B on WSSR-FM (Star 96.7 Joliet, Illinois) on December 9th, reviewing the worldwide sensation from India “RRR,” an action movie featuring love and country, currently streaming on Netflix.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on February 10th, reviewing the release of “The Worst Person in the World,” the 2022 Norwegian Oscar contender for Best International Film, now in theaters.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin), reviewing the new film “My Octopus Teacher.” The film just won Best Documentary feature at the 2021 Oscars, and is currently streaming on Netflix.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – GEORGE BAILEY: “Hey, you look good. That’s some dress you got on there.” VIOLET: “This old thing? I only wear it when I don’t care how I look.” That is how actress Gloria Grahame (as Violet Bick) was introduced in the classic “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Now she is portrayed by Annette Bening in “Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool”.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Leave it to the Europeans to inject some realistic drama into the art of animation. The recently Oscar nominated “My Life as a Zucchini” is opening in Chicago this weekend, and tells the story of parental abandonment, orphanages and finding family. Co-produced by France and Switzerland, it uses a familiar claymation stop-motion style for more emotional resonance.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – If the 2016 Oscar nominations are examined a bit more closely, some real gems can be found. In the Best Animated Feature Category, beyond the familiar nomination of “Inside Out,” there is an offering from Brazil entitled “Boy & the World.” The Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago is screening “Boy & the World” through February 11th, 2016.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Chicago is one of the cinematic cities that has the privilege to see two categories of Academy Award nominations on the big screen that are often not exhibited – the Live Action and Animated Short Films. In two separate programs, the Landmark Century City Cinema – 2828 N. Clark Street in Chicago – are screening the ten nominees.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – The Oscar nominated, Golden Globe winning Best Foreign Language Film is a another trip into the well of horror that was the Holocaust. After over 100 movie treatments, director László Nemes finds a more personal story to tell, and it all unfolds in “Son of Saul.”