CHICAGO – The Steppenwolf Theatre of Chicago continues to provide different viewpoints on the American stage, and their latest “Little Bear Ridge Road” is no exception. Featuring ensemble member Laurie Metcalf, it’s the resonate story of a family at the crossroads. For tickets/details, click LITTLE BEAR.
Alicia Vikander
Alicia Vikander Has a Case of the Runs in ‘Tomb Raider’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 15, 2018 - 5:13pm Rating: 1.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Movies based on video games are almost never good… even the best ones only ascend to the level of “barely watchable.” By that measure, “Tomb Raider” can be considered a modest success since it didn’t make me want to claw my eyes out. I have to confess I never saw either of the first two films with Angelina Jolie, but after watching this I’m not actually clamoring at the bit to catch up.
Strong Cast Turns on ‘The Light Between Oceans’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 2, 2016 - 1:27pm Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In the early 1970s, “Love Story” was all the rage, with its catchphrase “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” Just as sudsy, and with its own catchphrase, is “The Light Between the Oceans.” The film, set in the early 20th Century, salvages a by-the-numbers tale with fine performances.
Matt Damon is Fighting Mad in Tense ‘Jason Bourne’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 30, 2016 - 7:02am Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – To come back to a character that everyone thought he had left behind, Matt Damon needed the right creative team. He got it again in co-writer (with Christopher Rouse) and director Paul Greengrass, and together they fashioned a paranoid spy tale in the rat-a-tat “Jason Bourne.”
‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’ Just a Big Screen Bore
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 12, 2015 - 2:04pm Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Director Guy Ritchie’s big screen version of the 1960’s spy show “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” is a colossal waste of time for all involved. The original show was never all that good to begin with, but this film is never able to clear that admittedly low bar, or even replicate any of the TV show’s small pleasures.
There are Future Consequences in ‘Ex Machina’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 19, 2015 - 11:21pm Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The title “Ex Machina” is a play on Deus ex machina, the stage/scenario term meaning god from the machine, or the basic happy ending. By cutting out the “Deus” in the phrase, the film is left with just the machine, and the humans.
Social Evolution with a Twist in ‘A Royal Affair’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 9, 2012 - 4:05pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – European history is – in a sense – our history, especially as it relates to the “Age of Enlightenment,” the intellectual movement in the 1700s that anticipated the Declaration of Independence. One of the quirks in that timeline is passionately explored in the new Danish/French film, “A Royal Affair.”
