CHICAGO – If you’ve never seen the farcical ensemble theater chestnut “Noises Off,” you will see no better version than on the Steppenwolf Theatre stage, now at their northside Chicago venue through November 3rd. For tickets and details for this riotous theater experience, click NOISES OFF.
CBS Films
‘The Sense of an Ending’ Ponders a Vague Mystery
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 17, 2017 - 10:56am Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “The Sense of an Ending” is a highfalutin title, automatically putting most folks into book club mode. It is adapted from a novel, and the narrative has the same page turning-type rhythm. An old man, portrayed by Jim Broadbent, is encountering his past, while his current situation remains untenable.
Boston is Strong Again in Reliable ‘Patriots Day’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 13, 2017 - 3:48pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In the context of history, and the way information is consumed these days, the Boston Marathon Bombing in 2013 seems both like yesterday and a long time ago. Director Peter Berg’s “Patriots Day” is the first film account of that horrid week, and features Mark Wahlberg.
An Unnatural Approach to Romance in ‘What If’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 8, 2014 - 6:02pm Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “What If” is a really bad title, but that is the least of the film’s concerns, apparently, as the old can-man-and-women-be-friends canard rears its indecisive but predictable head (snicker). This time it’s interpreted through Harry Potter and Elia Kazan’s granddaughter, if this is to be believed.
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.”
Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt Flounder in ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 9, 2012 - 4:59pmRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Often when novels with quirky titles get made into films, all that is left of the quirk is the name on the cover. That is exactly what has happened to “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen,” a tome authored by Paul Torday, and reduced to torpid blandness by director Lasse Hallstrøm.
Vanessa Hudgens, Alex Pettyfer Wallow in Aptly Titled ‘Beastly’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 4, 2011 - 1:44pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The main problem with “Beastly,” a modern high schooler retelling of “Beauty and the Beast,” is that the outcome is known (Beast will learn lessons, become handsome again). That leaves only the way it gets to that end for creating story. This film cannot find its way.
Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton Are Redemptive in ‘Faster’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 24, 2010 - 9:14am Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The Action Film is getting a bit creaky, relying more on computer generated eye candy than character or plot. It is refreshing to experience a film like “Faster,” featuring Dwayne Johnson and Billy Bob Thornton, because it is an action film that means something, and puts its inhabitants on a path to their own salvation.
