CHICAGO – It is Chicago where New York City native Harry Wood is debuting his first play, entitled “Roast,” through The Comrades theater company at the Greenhouse Theater Center. The comic drama, about a gathering of stand up comics and relatives to “roast” – rather than eulogize – a deceased fellow comedian, is a World Premiere that runs through August 18th, 2019. For tickets and more information, click here.
Maya Rudolph
‘The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part’ is Flat Out Funny
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 8, 2019 - 4:48pm Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There are two things I love as a film observer. The pretty colors of modern animation … and to laugh. I got both in the appropriately titled “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.” Picking up where the first first left off, the gang of Lego brick figures, including Emmet, Wyldstyle and Batman, have a new adventure.
‘The Happytime Murders’ Shoots Its Wad Too Early
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 24, 2018 - 3:46pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The most noteworthy feature of the puppet-noir comedy “The Happytime Murders” is its use of felt and fluff for nefarious ends, and while that’s not exactly new, there’s no reason it shouldn’t work. But the movie shoots its wad early, and doesn’t have much imagination after that beyond turning silly string into a bodily fluid.
Melissa McCarthy is the Charming ‘Life of the Party’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 11, 2018 - 2:06pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Melissa McCarthy is a comedic force to be reckoned with, able to wring laughs improbably out of the stingiest of material. She always manages to find the funny, which helps elevate everyone around her, and so she slips easily in the durable friendly constructs of the campus comedy in “Life Of The Party.”
‘The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature’ is in the No-Fun Zone
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 10, 2017 - 10:30pmRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Anyone showing up to the “The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature” will know exactly what they’re going to get… it’s a late summer sequel to an animated movie you may be surprised was successful enough to warrant a sequel at all, much less a theatrically released one.
Blissful Anarchy in ‘My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 5, 2017 - 10:33am Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In animation, the real innovators who evolve the artform are the risk takers who stamp their own inspiration on those cartoon images. Director Dash Shaw is one of those breakthroughs, who creates a work of anarchistic art in “My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea.”
Beyond Being Trippy, ‘Inherent Vice’ is a Difficult Trip
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 9, 2015 - 10:18am Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Interpreting the ambling and sonic prose of author Thomas Pynchon has eluded filmmakers until now. Director Paul Thomas Anderson takes a whack at “Inherent Vice,” and although much of the film has his usual eminent vision, as a whole it makes for difficult sledding.
‘Big Hero 6’ is Sorely Lacking the Charm Component
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 8, 2014 - 10:38am Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Big Hero 6” is a dark revenge thriller masquerading as a kids movie. Walt Disney Studios takes a few pages from its corporate cousin Marvel, while creating this new animated adventure. It has its moments, but not quite enough of them to make this anything more than a minor entry in the Disney legacy.
B-Level Story Sinks Finely Animated ‘The Nut Job’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 17, 2014 - 5:58pmRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It feels like when any studio besides Disney or Pixar does an animated film with celebrity voices, there is a little less lacquer on it. What the other two remember, and others forget, is that it starts with a script. All the toon landscapes in the world can’t fix a dull story.
Light, Speedy ‘Turbo’ is a Great Race for Kids
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 17, 2013 - 10:03amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Summer vacation means summer animated movies, and nothing will give the kids more of a break than rooting for a snail that becomes as fast as an Indy race car. Why not put him in the Indianapolis 500? Ryan Reynolds is the voice of that miracle mollusk named “Turbo.”
‘Grown Ups 2’ is the Worst Comedy Since 2010’s Loathed ‘Grown Ups’
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on July 11, 2013 - 7:59pm Rating: 0.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There’s a time and a place where overacting is acceptable – musicals, children’s plays, Broadway – but there’s nothing worse than using it all the time in every wrong place.
