CHICAGO – With a Chicago tradition that goes back four decades, the Goodman Theatre presents their holiday chestnut ‘A Christmas Carol’ for 2019, and it is simply stellar.
Bill Camp
‘The Kitchen’ is Once Upon a Time in New York City
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 8, 2019 - 10:31pm Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It’s the ladies turn to harken back to the badass 1970s, more precisely 1977 in Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City. In an adaptation of a DC Vertigo comic series, “The Kitchen” features Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss finding their destiny in taking over mobster duties.
‘Vice’ Proves It’s Okay to Laugh at Dick Cheney
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 27, 2018 - 5:46pm Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Vice” is an occasionally very funny attempt to demystify the life and legacy of former Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney. Using some of the same gimmicks and narrative trickery he employed to great effect in “The Big Short,” writer/director Adam McKay goes deep into the weeds to try to explain how Cheney made it to the second highest office in the land.
‘Hostiles’ with Christian Bale is a Big Bad Bore
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 5, 2018 - 8:49am Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Hostiles” is an exercise in prestige western boredom. It’s competently made, but its as lifeless as a scalped corpse on the prairie. It’s long on pretty western locales and impressive facial hair, but short on story, characters, or much of anything else to help keep your eyelids from closing.
Aaron Sorkin’s Directorial Debut in ‘Molly’s Game’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 26, 2017 - 12:55pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – High stakes poker are for folks who prefer to get their rush of adrenalin from the turn of a card rather than other life risks. The positives, the negatives and everything in between are in “Molly’s Game,” the feature directorial debut of Aaron Sorkin (“The West Wing” creator). Let’s walk and talk.
American Legal System is Put on Trial in ‘Crown Heights’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 1, 2017 - 9:38amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There is no justice for the poor. That should be carved in stone on courthouses beside all the platitudes of American “equality” and “law.” In an eye-opening narrative film based on a true story, “Crown Heights” explores just how an impoverished individual can be found guilty and imprisoned unjustly for years.
Matthew McConaughey is All That Glitters in ‘Gold’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 27, 2017 - 11:19am Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The relish that Matthew McConaughey displays in creating his latest character in “Gold,” a Willy Loman-type mining exec who is looking for his biggest score, is most of the reason to experience the film. However, there isn’t exactly a motherlode when it comes to the story.
Matt Damon is Fighting Mad in Tense ‘Jason Bourne’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 30, 2016 - 6:02amRating: 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.”
Gemma Arterton Displays Luminosity as ‘Tamara Drewe’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 22, 2010 - 8:42pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There are some movies that are gut level great because of plot, atmosphere and pacing, and then there are movies like “Tamara Drewe,” which rely on the elusive star power of the performer to drive its engine. Gemma Arterton portrays the title character and lights up the screen with a vivid presence in the simple story of a woman’s homecoming.
