CHICAGO – Excelsior! Comic book legend Stan Lee’s famous exclamation puts a fine point on the third and final play of Mark Pracht’s FOUR COLOR TRILOGY, “The House of Ideas,” presented by and staged at City Lit Theater in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. For tickets/details, click HOUSE OF IDEAS.
Brian Tallerico
Adam Sandler, Kevin James Act Like Children in ‘Grown Ups’
Submitted by BrianTT on June 25, 2010 - 10:56amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It may be called “Grown Ups,” but too much of the new Adam Sandler ensemble comedy feels like it was written by an eight-year-old boy. The believable friendship chemistry that Sandler has with co-stars Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, and Rob Schneider significantly ups the entertainment value, but “Grown Ups” could have and should have been much better.
‘Toy Story 3’ is a Perfect Play Date For the Entire Family
Submitted by BrianTT on June 18, 2010 - 2:35pmRating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Very few recent films are as purely entertaining or thematically satisfying as Pixar’s “Toy Story 3,” not only one of the best movies of the year but one of the best in the history of animation. Brilliantly tying up the two films that came before in a way that so many sequels fail to do, the geniuses at Pixar have done it again. It’s another masterpiece.
Russell Brand, Jonah Hill Rock in Very Funny ‘Get Him to the Greek’
Submitted by BrianTT on June 4, 2010 - 10:31amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Taking a character who was created as an obnoxious supporting one and giving him his own spin-off movie sounds like a recipe for disaster. Despite generally liking its stars and enjoying “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” I was dreading the quasi-sequel “Get Him to the Greek”. There were just too many screenwriting pitfalls in which the film could have and should have fallen in.
Lazy, Uninspired ‘Shrek Forever After’ With Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz
Submitted by BrianTT on May 21, 2010 - 1:52pmRating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The laziest big budget film of the year, “Shrek Forever After” is the worst kind of family entertainment in that it relies solely on the goodwill engendered by the hit movies that came before to not only get audience members in seats this weekend but to sell them toys, video games, and tickets to amusement parks.
Vanessa Redgrave Shines in ‘Letters to Juliet,’ But Romantic Leads Bore
Submitted by BrianTT on May 14, 2010 - 2:46pmRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – I want to live in the alternate universe where Vanessa Redgrave’s Claire is the lead of “Letters to Juliet” and the two vapid dorks who trail her on a journey of lost love can learn a lesson or two but never take the spotlight. Sadly, such is not the case with this Amanda Seyfried and Christopher Egan vehicle, a romantic drama entirely stolen from its young stars by a timeless actress.
Catherine Keener Shines in Nicole Holofcener’s Rewarding ‘Please Give’
Submitted by BrianTT on May 7, 2010 - 12:37pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Writer/director Nicole Holofcener (“Lovely and Amazing,” “Friends With Money”) has an amazing ability to write characters that immediately feel genuine. It helps to have an actress as free of artifice as Catherine Keener as your regular lead but we shouldn’t diminish Holofcener’s rare ear for dialogue that actually sounds like it wasn’t created by a screenwriting machine.
‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ Remake Plays Like a Bad Dream
Submitted by BrianTT on April 30, 2010 - 2:55pmRating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Samuel Bayer’s remake of Wes Craven’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street” may be about repressed memories coming back in horrific ways, but it ironically ends up one of the least memorable films of 2010 to date. Not as abrasive as the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” remakes and not as dumb as “The Amityville Horror,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street” is merely forgettable; something never said about the influential original.
Australian Noir Hit ‘The Square’ is Riveting Directorial Debut
Submitted by BrianTT on April 30, 2010 - 8:45amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – A spectacular alternative to the glut of blockbusters about to dominate the marketplace, Nash Edgerton’s “The Square” heralds the arrival of a major new talent on the international movie scene. A riveting tale of a small group of people doing very bad (and pretty dumb) things, “The Square” works from beginning to end and stands as one of the best feature debuts of the year to date.
Wildly Entertaining ‘Kick-Ass’ Lives Up to Its Title
Submitted by BrianTT on April 16, 2010 - 8:07pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – With a half dozen superhero movies every year that feel as if they were created by a Hollywood blockbuster machine, it’s so refreshing to see one with its own distinct, subversive personality like Matthew Vaughn’s “Kick-Ass”.
Touching ‘The Greatest’ With Carey Mulligan Transcends Melodrama
Submitted by BrianTT on April 9, 2010 - 10:16amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The surprisingly good “The Greatest” opens and closes with two very different car rides — one silent and mournful and one loud and full of laughter; one on the way from death and one on the way to life. They are bookends for a well-performed tearjerker of the kind that mostly transcends its melodramatic set-up to become something genuinely moving.