CHICAGO – The funny meter of Netflix went off the scale last week, as the animated series “Chicago Party Aunt” made its debut on September 17th. What began as a Twitter account by comic actor Chris Witaske (who also provides his voice talent) has morphed into the cartoon adventures of Aunt Diane Dumbowski, her nephew Daniel, and an array of familiar Chicago-isms and characters.
Alison Brie
Past Will Arise! On-Air Review of ‘Promising Young Woman’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 31, 2020 - 5:42pm Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on December 31st, 2020, reviewing the new film “Promising Young Woman,” which opened on Christmas Day and is now in theaters.
Memory! On-The-Air Reviews of ‘The Rental’ and ‘Cats’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 27, 2020 - 7:15pm- Alison Brie
- Cats
- Dan Stevens
- Dave Franco
- HollywoodChicago.com Content
- Ian McKellan
- Idris Elba
- IFC Films
- James Corden
- Jennifer Hudson
- Jeremy Allen White
- Joe Swanberg
- Judi Dench
- Movie Review
- Patrick McDonald
- Razzie
- Rebel Wilson
- Sheila Vand
- Taylor Swift
- The Rental
- Toby Huss
- Tom Hooper
- Universal Pictures
- VOD
 Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on July 23rd, 2020, reviewing the new Video-On-Demand film “The Rental” and the infamous 2019 film, “Cats” (Digital & DVD).
‘The Post’ Illuminates the Skills of Meryl Streep
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 4, 2018 - 11:45am Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – For all the films Meryl Streep is privileged to make – which is remarkable considering the industry’s attitude toward older actresses – she has even admitted that the audience may be tired of seeing her. But as publisher Katherine Graham in ‘The Post’, she nails yet another great performance.
Funny ‘The Disaster Artist’ Takes Us Back to ‘The Room’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 1, 2017 - 11:44amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “The Room” is a post-millennial cult movie that plays the midnight and college movie circuit, entertaining audiences with its sheer badness. Its story is told in the “The Disaster Artist,” featuring James Franco as the director of “The Room,” and he also directed the film. Very meta.
Despite One Premise, Laughs Are Plenty in ‘The Little Hours’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 14, 2017 - 11:01amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It occurred to me in assessing “The Little Hours” that the basic premise is somewhat like “The Beguiled” – a man is taken in, rooster-like, into a henhouse where there are women with “needs.” Except this time, instead of a girl’s boarding school, it is a 14th Century nunnery. Get thee to it, if thou wants to laugheth.
Shapeless ‘How to Be Single’ is Dreadfully Unfunny
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 13, 2016 - 3:04pm Rating: 1.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Rebel Wilson’s raunchy and vulgar schtick is now way past its freshness date, but she’s the only one able to elicit any chuckles in this otherwise woebegone women-behaving-badly, anti-romantic comedy, “How to Be Single.”
‘Get Hard’ is Less Than the Sum of Its Parts
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 27, 2015 - 7:07pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Will Ferrell is a funny guy. Kevin Hart can be a funny guy. But the prison buddy comedy “Get Hard” is woefully less than the sum of its comedic parts. It fires buckshot of lame jokes at its audience, but precious few come anywhere near their targets as it squanders nearly every comic opportunity that comes its way.
Big Laughs Await in Sly, Fun ‘The LEGO Movie’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 7, 2014 - 10:31am Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The funniest movie in a long while features no human beings, just animated bland faces among interlocking plastic bricks, the toys which inspired the film. “The LEGO Movie” never takes itself seriously, which means huge laughs for the audience.
In Youth, It’s Good to Be ‘The Kings of Summer’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 7, 2013 - 3:57pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Real summer movies shouldn’t be about superheroes or overwrought science fiction, it should be about long days working that trigger in the animal soul that awakens a sun-warmed spirit. Writer Chris Galletta and Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts crown “The Kings of Summer.”
Darkly Comic Jason Segel in ‘The Five-Year Engagement’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 27, 2012 - 7:29amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There are some major laughs in “The Five-Year Engagement,” good old fashion you-can’t-breathe laughs. But it is also dark and serious at times, and makes some surprising contemporary statements regarding coupling. Jason Segel and Emily Blunt portray the engaged couple.
