CHICAGO – It began with a boy and his dream (nightmare?). John LaFlamboy, to be exact, as he took an idea he had in college and made it his life’s work. He owns and operates the HellsGate Haunted House in Lockport (Illinois), which was designed, built and put together by Haunted House experts expressly for the spookiest month of the year. For info on how to purchase tickets, click HellsGate.
Stephen Lang
Blue Xmas! On-Air Film Review of ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 15, 2022 - 2:14pm 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 December 8th, 2022, reviewing “Avatar: The Way of Water,” the highly anticipated sequel to the 2009 original, directed by James Cameron. In theaters beginning December 16th, with 3D and IMAX screen options.
‘Hostiles’ with Christian Bale is a Big Bad Bore
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 5, 2018 - 9:49am Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Hostiles” is an exercise in prestige western boredom. It’s competently made, but its as lifeless as a scalped corpse on the prairie. It’s long on pretty western locales and impressive facial hair, but short on story, characters, or much of anything else to help keep your eyelids from closing.
‘Don’t Breathe’ is a Terrifying Sensory Experience
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 27, 2016 - 6:18pm Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The horror genre can be a complex creature. The great films can show you the difference between ‘horror’ and ‘terror’. Some horror is all shock and no substance, while terror can be all fear, but no shock. The difference between them is so nuanced that only a skilled director, like Fede Alvarez, can show you the difference in his latest film, “Don’t Breathe.”
B-Level Story Sinks Finely Animated ‘The Nut Job’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 17, 2014 - 5:58pm Rating: 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.
Bar is Set Low in Retread of ‘Conan the Barbarian’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 19, 2011 - 7:33amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Sword and sandal epics are almost expected to have wooden acting and absurd dialogue. The new film “Conan the Barbarian” meets those expectations, and doesn’t offer any action or originality to counteract the anticipated flaws.
