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.
Justin Theroux
‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ Returns to Tim Burton Form
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 6, 2024 - 9:21amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice” is a return to the practical effects playfulness of Tim Burton’s earlier work and thankfully doesn’t try to be a note-for-note remake of the largely flawless original, although there are callbacks a plenty. The film is one of director Tim Burton’s better late period films but when you consider his output from the last 20 years or so, that’s not exactly high praise.
A Heroic Ruth Bader Ginsburg in ‘On the Basis of Sex’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 26, 2018 - 11:48amRating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Many heroes of America toiled long behind the scenes to break the chains of oppression. For every Susan Anthony or Martin Luther King Jr. there were the activists, legal experts and volunteers who sought the justice denied to them by the archaic patriarchal society. One such hero is Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the film “On the Basis of Sex.”
‘The Spy Who Dumped Me’ Didn’t Need the Spy Part
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 2, 2018 - 9:39pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a film completely stolen by a supporting character, but Kate McKinnon in “The Spy Who Dumped Me” managed to do just that… which was fortunate because the “spy” part of the story is a seen-it-before kill and gun fest that felt like the first draft of a James Bond knock-off.
‘The Girl on the Train’ is a Book Club ‘B’ Movie
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 6, 2016 - 7:28pmRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “The Girl On The Train” is a decent enough “Book Club” movie potboiler – it passes the time away, but never quite rises above the pulpiness of its source material. It desperately wants to recreate the suburban upper-class ennui and tone from last year’s “Gone Girl.” But while that film had David Fincher behind the camera, this one has Tate Taylor, the director of “The Help.”
‘Zoolander 2’ Continues Silly, Surreal Hilarity
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 12, 2016 - 9:42amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Humor is subject to the receiver, of course, and what is funny is as distinct to each individual as a fingerprint. Having said that, I found “Zoolander 2” to be hilarious, as it delivered again what made the first film work – tweaking the self-importance of fashion and celebrity.
Paul Rudd, Jennifer Aniston Take Funny Trip to Hippie Nirvana in ‘Wanderlust’
Submitted by BrianTT on February 23, 2012 - 5:59pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – David Wain’s “Wanderlust” is a deeply flawed movie. The female lead is woefully underwritten and the script pretty much falls apart at the end as characters do things they wouldn’t do and it rushes to its credits to wrap everything up in an awkward montage. But here’s the thing – it’s also DAMN funny.
Danny McBride, James Franco Falter With Dreadful ‘Your Highness’
Submitted by BrianTT on April 8, 2011 - 2:10pmRating: 1.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Your Highness” just makes me sad. Rarely have so many talented people been sucked into such an unfunny disaster as what will surely be one of the biggest disappointments of the year.
Despite Some Superfluous Story, ‘Iron Man 2’ Delivers Hollywood Oomph
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on May 7, 2010 - 12:42pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Iron Man 2” with returner Robert Downey Jr. and newcomer Scarlett Johansson does what it can within the confines of what it has to do. The Hollywood machine has trained us to have certain expectations for blockbuster sequels and “Iron Man 2” neither deviates nor blazes new territory.