CHICAGO – It began with a boy and his dream (nightmare?). John LaFlamboy, to be exact, as he took an idea he had in college and made it his life’s work. He owns and operates the HellsGate Haunted House in Lockport (Illinois), which was designed, built and put together by Haunted House experts expressly for the spookiest month of the year. For info on how to purchase tickets, click HellsGate.
Cheech Marin
Woody Harrelson Guides a Basketball Team in ‘Champions’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 10, 2023 - 12:40pm Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Champions” is a predictable and formulaic, but it’s ultimately a good natured trip into a world of sports comedy clichés. It’s never particularly laugh out loud funny, but its heart is in the right place, which makes it hard to root against the film.
Senior Moment! On-Air Review of ‘The War with Grandpa’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 11, 2020 - 7:34pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on October 8th, 2020, reviewing the new live action film “The War with Grandpa,” featuring Robert De Niro.
Visual Excellence Aside, ‘Coco’ is Just So-So
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 22, 2017 - 2:56pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Coco” bears all the visual hallmarks of the Pixar Studio at its best, however its story bears the more recent symptoms of creative exhaustion. In this story, a young boy named Miguel (voice of Anthony Gonzalez) aims to follow his heart and pursue music, but toe tapping tunes have been strictly forbidden in his home.
‘The Book of Life’ Has Uninspired Tale to Tell
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 16, 2014 - 11:52pm Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Unfortunately you can’t judge “The Book Of Life” by its cover. The movie draws on the fertile imagery of the Mexican “Day Of The Dead” to create its own animated world. The animation is excellent and the wooden characters seem to spring to life – but those performances are as wooden as a board. Which also describes my feelings for most of this uninspired journey…bored.
Following a Perfect 1994 Release, ‘The Lion King 3D’ a Money-Hungry, Manipulative Exploitation
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on September 17, 2011 - 5:59pm Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – While “The Lion King” is one of the best Disney movies of all time, “The Lion King 3D” is a manipulative exploitation to bring paying parents back with their kids merely through the sexiness of today’s 3D fad.
Robert Rodriguez’s ‘Machete’ Pushes Excess Past Breaking Point
Submitted by BrianTT on September 3, 2010 - 12:29amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Not everything should be filet mignon. Sometimes you just want a greasy, delicious cheeseburger. Now imagine eating ten of those cheeseburgers in a row. Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete” starts as a wonderful gore-fest but falls victim to its creator’s inability to realize he doesn’t need to answer to every violent vision he can dream up. The film is proof that even extremely over-the-top films can be monotonous in that their one tone is “ARGH!”
‘The Perfect Game’ Proves That Baseball Fiction is Duller Than Truth
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 19, 2010 - 1:43pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The 1957 Little League team from Monterrey, Mexico, was the first non-U.S. team to win that league’s World Series. That is a fact. “The Perfect Game” creates a story based on that fact that is as improbable as a team from Mars winning the big game.
