CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio review for the doc series “Charlie Hustle & the Matter of Pete Rose,” about the rise and bitter fall of the major league legend, the MLB’s all-time hits leader, only to be banned from the sport because of gambling. Streaming on MAX and on HBO since July 24th.
Vincent D’Onofrio
Everything That Rises! Audio Film Review of Ethan Hawke’s ‘Wildcat’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 22, 2024 - 3:24pm Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for the “Wildcat,” co-written and directed by Ethan Hawke and featuring his daughter Maya as 20th Century writer Flannery O’Connor. Currently in select theaters since May 17th. See local listings.
Bunch of Smart Ass-ets: On-Air Film Review of ‘Dumb Money’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 28, 2023 - 9:50am Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on September 21st, 2023, reviewing “Dumb Money,” featuring Paul Dano as Keith Gill, a rogue stock trader. Opening in theaters everywhere September 29th.
Vigilante Overkill Defines Ultra-Violent ‘Death Wish’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 2, 2018 - 10:22am Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Man, talk about bad timing. With the Stoneman Douglas shootings still making news, America will now entertain itself with a vigilante doctor shooting anything he sees? Yeesh. Bruce Willis is game in the watchable-but-ultra-violent “Death Wish.”
‘The Magnificent Seven’ is How the Western Was Lost
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 23, 2016 - 6:16pm Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The appeal of Westerns was mostly lost on me when I was younger. The tales of these hypermasculine wanderers, answering every problem with a gun, never appealed to me. When I got older, I discovered their messages of honor and self-defense against corruption. The genre proved it could be more than one-liners and shootouts, but “The Magnificent Seven” set out to be only that.
Inauthentic ‘The Judge’ Guilty of a Stale Confrontation
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 11, 2014 - 6:17pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Here comes “The Judge,” here comes “The Judge.” That 1960s catchphrase gets new meaning in the film featuring Robert Downey Jr. and veteran Robert Duvall, in a angry generational face-off that makes little sense and provides a stiff courtroom drama that felt like bad TV.
Two Old Dogs Prove Very Entertaining in ‘Escape Plan’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 18, 2013 - 5:51pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Great action movies have one truth in common – they mix their face-offs with a psychological battle, which complements the pyrotechnics of invincible super humans. “Escape Plan,” with grizzled veterans Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, is true to that form.
