CHICAGO – Society, or at least certain elements of society, are always looking for scapegoats to hide the sins of themselves and authority. In the so-called “great America” of the 1950s, the scapegoat target was comic books … specifically through a sociological study called “The Seduction of the Innocent.” City Lit Theater Company, in part two of a trilogy on comic culture by Mark Pracht, presents “The Innocence of Seduction … now through October 8th, 2023. For details and tickets, click COMIC BOOK.
Open Road Films
What is it Good For! Audio Film Review of ‘Kandahar’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 28, 2023 - 10:52am Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for the new feature “Kandahar,” with Gerard Butler teaming up for a third time with action/thriller director Ric Roman Waugh. In theaters on May 26th.
Black-Eyed Blonde! On-Air Film Review of ‘Marlowe’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 17, 2023 - 7:37am Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on February 16th, 2023, reviewing “Marlowe,” featuring Liam Neeson as the famous private eye Philip Marlowe. In theaters beginning February 15th.
You’ll Be Counting the Minutes Until You Too Can Be ‘Home Again’
Submitted by JonHC on September 10, 2017 - 12:17pm Rating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Seeing so many films on a daily basis, you would think that I would grow tired of them. I don’t. Instead, I begin to notice the same formulas in films, like the one in “Home Again”. Unfortunately for “Home Again” you’ll spend most of the film wondering just how much longer before you can be the same.
Lack of Cohesiveness, Intrigue Stymies ‘The Gunman’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 20, 2015 - 10:59pm Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – If you’re going to see a Sean Penn action movie, I guess “The Gunman” would be appropriate. As he and the filmmakers inject some reality in the usual motivations, the puzzle pieces don’t connect well and in the end are not that interesting. That is not to say that the film is bad.
Disturbingly Refreshing, Jake Gyllenhaal in ‘Nightcrawler’ is an Anti-Hero You Can’t Stop Watching
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on October 31, 2014 - 5:20pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “No one talks like that,” I kept thinking to myself about this noir thriller. But that said, “Nightcrawler” is driven by just about the most entertaining dialogue from one person I’ve seen all year.
Jon Favreau’s Anti-Popcorn Project ‘Chef’ Still Mild
Submitted by NickHC on May 16, 2014 - 6:06pm Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – By the time of his 2011 box office blitzkrieg otherwise known as “Cowboys & Aliens,” the product that indie director-turned-Hollywood habitue Jon Favreau had been hocking as a “popcorn salesman” had gone stale – to use a showbiz term from Nicholas Ray’s” In A Lonely Place.”
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.
Ashton Kutcher Portrays the Ethereal Hero in ‘Jobs’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 16, 2013 - 5:33pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The revolution in technology, that has allowed the world to change completely in just two generations, was led in part by dreamers in a garage. One of those “Edisons” was Steve Jobs – the creator of Apple Computers – portrayed with an inventor’s instinct by Ashton Kutcher.
Despite Sci-Fi Intrigue, ‘The Host’ Favors Teen Romance
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 29, 2013 - 8:00amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Author Stephenie Meyer can’t help herself. Despite breaking out from the “Twilight” saga and creating science fiction in her latest novel, it still features angst-ridden teen romance, which becomes less important versus the bizarre other worldly infiltration in the film adaptation of “The Host.”
Horror Spoof ‘A Haunted House’ is Pretty Horrible
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 11, 2013 - 6:52pmRating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There is one funny line in “A Haunted House,” the new horror spoof starring Marlon Wayans. It’s “my foot has a cramp, don’t touch it.” The rest of the film is stunningly without humor, relying on a series of flatulence, sex and failed jokes to dauntingly fill the long, long 95 minutes.
