CHICAGO – Got an act? Got a camera phone to record it? Then YippieFest wants you! The fourth annual Theater, Music, Film, Comedy and Performance festival is doing what all the hep cats are doing, going online and virtual to keep everyone safe (details closer to the actual dates of YippieFest, August 14-16, 2020).
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
‘Miss Sloane’ Thrills Politically, But Drags Narratively
Submitted by JonHC on December 9, 2016 - 7:27pm Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Nothing says the holiday season like a film about lobbying and politics. If you read that sarcastically, you’d be wrong. “Miss Sloane” offers a female spin for an otherwise male dominated political landscape. Most of you are trying to tune out politics after the elections, but this film builds off of that momentum by reminding us how we arrived to that point.
Social History is Revitalized in ‘Free State of Jones’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 24, 2016 - 12:57pm Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The United States is still fighting the Civil War, which ended in 1865. The rebellious South has never completely given away its anger and sorrow for the changes the war has wrought on them. These larger themes are examined historically in the new film, “Free State of Jones.”
‘Concussion’ Can’t Quite Tackle its Difficult Subject
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 25, 2015 - 6:53am Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Concussion” suffers from what I call the “Moneyball” problem – it’s got an interesting subject matter, but it doesn’t seem to know what to do with it. It doesn’t have enough faith in its own material or its audience, so it stocks up on a lot of off-the-shelf melodrama in effort to avoid digging into what makes the story interesting in the first place. It’s also a movie that chickens out at the end and seems afraid to pick a fight.
‘Jupiter Ascending’ Might Cause Attention Descending
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 5, 2015 - 5:07pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Jupiter Ascending” is certainly one of the oddest and densest of sci-fi movies, this side of “Dune,” and has some of the most laughable acting and dialogue seen in a major film in awhile. But the worst offense is that the film is dull, and practically without emotion or human empathy.
‘Beyond the Lights’ Has a Respect for Storytelling
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 14, 2014 - 7:10pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Writer/Director Gina Prince-Bythewood, the creator of the cult favorite “Love & Basketball,” is back with another original story that she created, an intimate and romantic perspective on a singer on the path to nowhere, despite superstar-level fame. Gugu Mbatha-Raw stars as that singer in “Beyond the Lights.”
Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts Seek to Repurpose ‘Larry Crowne’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 1, 2011 - 6:13amRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Movie stars need certain types of films to keep their star power safe and audiences expect certain things from them, with limitations, to create summer movie comfort. Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts fill the bill in “Larry Crowne.”
