CHICAGO – What is one of the greatest survival instincts of the pandemic? Creativity. The Zoom web series “What Did Clyde Hide?” is the result of a creative effort from Executive Producer/Show Runner Ruth Kaufman, Producer Sandy Gulliver and Director Sean Patrick Leonard. Kaufman and Leonard talk about the series, naturally, via Zoom.!—break—>
Warner Bros
Mint Condition! On-Air Review of ‘Wonder Woman 1984’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 25, 2020 - 3:45pm![]() Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on December 24th, 2020, reviewing the new film “Wonder Woman 1984,” in select theaters and streaming on HBO MAX on December 25th, 2020.
Now On VOD: 'Birds of Prey' Is No Lame Duck and Soars Beyond Expectations
Submitted by JonHC on March 26, 2020 - 6:41pm![]() Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Comic book fatigue is real, and not just because there is an embarrassment of riches in screened content available, but because more than a few of them take the same predictable approach. That’s what sank films like “Justice League” and “Suicide Squad”, and used to threaten the future of the DC cinematic universe, but no longer. I’m happy to report that “Birds of Prey” is no lame duck.
"Chapter 2" Lacks crucial "IT" factor
Submitted by JonHC on September 6, 2019 - 4:14pm- Andy Bean
- andy muschietti
- Bill Hader
- Bill Skarsgard
- Chosen Jacobs
- Finn Wolfhard
- Gary Dauberman
- HollywoodChicago.com Content
- Isaiah Mustafa
- Jack Dylan Grazer
- Jaeden Martell
- James McAvoy
- James Ransone
- Jay Ray
- Jeremy Ray Taylor
- Jessica Chastain
- Movie Review
- Sophia Lillis
- Spike Walters
- Stephen King
- Warner Bros
- Wyatt Oleff
![]() Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “It Chapter 2” has some of the same problems as its source material, and the previous adaptation of the Stephen King spine-tingler. It has a great beginning, but the ensuing story never tops or reaches the same level as that first scene. So in Chapter 2’s slog on to an ultimately unsatisfying ending, we are witnessing a yarn literally unraveling before our very eyes.
‘The Kitchen’ is Once Upon a Time in New York City
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 8, 2019 - 10:31pm![]() Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It’s the ladies turn to harken back to the badass 1970s, more precisely 1977 in Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City. In an adaptation of a DC Vertigo comic series, “The Kitchen” features Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss finding their destiny in taking over mobster duties.
Horror is Worth a Visit in 'Annabelle Comes Home'
Submitted by JonHC on June 26, 2019 - 5:48am![]() Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There is such an unnerving quality to older dolls, which is why they lend themselves so perfectly to horror stories. There’s just an unsettling feeling when looking at their static expression, usually plastered with a permanent smile that gives me terrible flashbacks to when I worked retail. Oddly enough, “Annabelle Comes Home” similarly elicits familiar feelings of terror but channels it through an 80’s horror homage.
Sandra Bullock & Heist Crew Con Us in ‘Ocean’s 8’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 7, 2018 - 11:40pm![]() Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In “Ocean’s 8,” a diamond necklace at the Met Gala isn’t the only thing getting ripped off. This all female knock off provides a reasonable facsimile of a facsimile of the original’s suave swagger, but doesn’t have anything else to go on. “Oceans 11” is a movie that never should have gotten a sequel, much less become some kind of a franchise.
Melissa McCarthy is the Charming ‘Life of the Party’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 11, 2018 - 1:06pm![]() Rating: 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.”
There Are Just Enough Reasons to Go Ape Over ‘Rampage’
Submitted by JonHC on April 12, 2018 - 11:37am![]() Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO - As a whole, we have a fascination with watching destruction in front of us. It provides a catharsis from our heavily stressed lives, especially in the Trump era. It provides a necessary release of aggression, the same way video games do for people. “Rampage” scratches that itch, but only if you aren’t also looking to be intellectually stimulated or care about plot coherence.
For Better or Worse, ‘Ready Player One’ is Nostalgia at its Purest
Submitted by JonHC on March 29, 2018 - 11:19am![]() Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Just in time for Easter, there’s a film filled with enough Easter eggs to drown a small country. “Ready Player One” is a “Where’s Waldo” of mostly 80’s pop culture references that are meant to trigger our (and especially filmmaker Steven Spielberg’s) sentimental, nostalgic cores by bombarding us with reminders of our childhood. These trips down memory lane are fun until they’re not.
‘Everything, Everything’ Offers Close to Nothing, Nothing
Submitted by JonHC on May 21, 2017 - 6:24pm![]() Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – I’ll be the first to admit that I am not the target audience for these stock young adult romance novels. Aside from the odd fascination and romanticization of teenage death and terminal illness, these stories feel trite and much closer to fantasy than anything real or plausible. This is what the film “Everything, Everything” brings to the table, which essentially translates to Nothing, Nothing.
