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.
Spike Walters
Something for Everyone in Delicious ‘Isn’t It Romantic’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 13, 2019 - 4:36amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Isn’t It Romantic” knows exactly what it is, and what it wants to be. It is simultaneously for people who love Romantic Comedy, and those who profess to hate them … but may secretly love them. It’s an amusing trifle that’s about as surprising as a heart shaped box of chocolates, but sometimes that’s what you want.
De-Glamorizing Nicole Kidman Can’t Save ‘Destroyer’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 11, 2019 - 10:19amRating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – If you are in a particular frame of mind you can kinda see why someone thought “Destroyer” would be a good idea. It’s got an Academy Award winner, doing a physical transformation, and has a hard-boiled detective story. All of these elements in the right hands could have added up to awards show adulation.
‘Vice’ Proves It’s Okay to Laugh at Dick Cheney
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 27, 2018 - 6:46pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Vice” is an occasionally very funny attempt to demystify the life and legacy of former Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney. Using some of the same gimmicks and narrative trickery he employed to great effect in “The Big Short,” writer/director Adam McKay goes deep into the weeds to try to explain how Cheney made it to the second highest office in the land.
Multi-Dimensional ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 15, 2018 - 6:53amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – This animated take on Spider-Man gets a little stuck in a web entirely of its own making. Digging deeper into the weeds of the extended mythology of the comics, “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” presents not one but at least seven different versions of the character.
‘Anna and The Apocalypse’ is UnDead on Arrival
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 8, 2018 - 8:59amRating: 1.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Arriving a few years too late after the great movie mashup craze, “Anna and The Apocalypse” is a zombie Christmas musical. The signature (and only) joke is that teens are dancing and singing amid the blood, guts, and gore spurting in gushers around them. But it’s less a feature film and more akin to a late run episode of “Glee,” when its creators had clearly run out of any ideas.
‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’ Goes Deeper into Harry Potter World
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 16, 2018 - 1:43pmRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” is like the “Joey” of film franchises, a spinoff which only exists because of its tangential connections to a better (and more beloved) property. But since this is our only current filmed connection to the “wizarding world of Harry Potter,” it’ll have to do.
Rebooted ‘Halloween’ Sequel Offers Nothing New in 2018
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 19, 2018 - 12:47pmRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – At this point, the “Halloween” franchise is looking as tattered and tired as Michael Myers old William Shatner mask… fraying around the edges and on the verge of falling apart. The 2018 “reboot” sequel brings back former scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, along with original Michael Myers, Nick Castle.
‘Night School’ Can’t Get to a Passing Grade
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 28, 2018 - 8:09amRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Night School” is the latest undistinguished product to come off the Kevin Hart assembly line. If you’re a fan of Hart’s motormouthed and hyperactive small time schtick, you’ll find that this will just barely passed the test. But if you’re not, this movie won’t change anyone’s mind.
‘The House With a Clock in Its Walls’ is Movie Magic
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 20, 2018 - 11:43pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “The House With The Clock In Its Walls” is a surprisingly restrained and endearing haunted house pic for kids just getting rid of their training wheels. It’s all a spooky atmosphere with cobwebs galore, creaking doors, a stained glass window which changes on its own, and a library of books which at times resemble the avifauna predators from the Hitchcock classic “The Birds.”
‘The Predator’ is the Best Sequel Reboot of the Series
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 13, 2018 - 4:11pmRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – By the standards of Predator sequels, “The Predator” is easily the best of the bunch. But that’s a depressingly low bar to clear… kind of like saying you got the nicest looking “Yugo” on the lot. Coming 31 years after Arnold Schwarzenegger battled the original “one ugly mother f**ker,” this reboot brings the space alien with the heat seeking vision to the suburbs.