CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.
HollywoodChicago.com Movie Reviews
Plan Comes Together For Entertaining Action of ‘The A-Team’
Submitted by BrianTT on June 11, 2010 - 10:31am Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Overkill is underrated.” So says Col. Hannibal Smith (Liam Neeson) near the end of Joe Carnahan’s “The A-Team” and it clearly was the operating principle for not just the characters but the entire production. With its tongue firmly in its steroid-induced cheek, “The A-Team” is not designed to break any rules or change the action world, merely to offer summer entertainment for two hours and it does precisely that.
‘The Little Traitor’ Succumbs to Shameless Manipulation
Submitted by BrianTT on June 11, 2010 - 9:41am Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “The Little Traitor” is a story so sweet and so well-intentioned that it practically dares you not to like it. It’s mighty tempting to give it a pass purely on the basis of its premise, which is vital, timely and quite moving. If this story were told by a filmmaker less intent on yanking audience’s heartstrings until they snapped, it may have provided the foundation for a great and important film.
Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith Are Kickin’ it in Remake of ‘The Karate Kid’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 11, 2010 - 7:12amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Despite any resistance that must have been felt in remaking the quasi-classic 1984 film “The Karate Kid,” veteran Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith put their best kicking feet forward and spin some new cloth out of the old material. In resetting the location and putting in some surreal modern touches, this remake mostly succeeds.
Inferior Sequel ‘OSS 117: Lost in Rio’ Mostly Falls Flat
Submitted by BrianTT on June 10, 2010 - 12:58pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It’s no mystery why the appeal of spy satires transcend the boundaries of time and culture. Clueless detectives with a bloated sense of self-importance are great comic punching bags. Everyone loves seeing a doofus get his head slammed in a door, whether that doofus be Inspector Clouseau or Lt. Frank Drebin or countless other law officers who could easily blend in with the Keystone Kops.
Russell Brand, Jonah Hill Rock in Very Funny ‘Get Him to the Greek’
Submitted by BrianTT on June 4, 2010 - 10:31amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Taking a character who was created as an obnoxious supporting one and giving him his own spin-off movie sounds like a recipe for disaster. Despite generally liking its stars and enjoying “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” I was dreading the quasi-sequel “Get Him to the Greek”. There were just too many screenwriting pitfalls in which the film could have and should have fallen in.
Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley Are Scientists Creating a ‘Splice’ of Life
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 4, 2010 - 4:43amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The science of existence gets trickier everyday, and it doesn’t help when humans start creating their own competition. The new film “Splice,” featuring Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley, explores the current trend of genetic research, while at the same time paging Dr. Frankenstein.
‘The Complete Metropolis’ a Must-See Movie Event
Submitted by BrianTT on June 3, 2010 - 12:05pm Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Not since the restoration of Orson Welles’s “Touch of Evil” has a butchered cinematic classic been brought to such startling new life as “The Complete Metropolis.” Though Fritz Lang’s 1927 masterpiece “Metropolis” may never be restored to its original cut, this latest theatrical re-release is as close as film preservationists have ever gotten to recreating the legendary science-fiction epic in its entirety.
‘City of Your Final Destination’ Isn’t Worth a Visit
Submitted by BrianTT on June 1, 2010 - 10:20am Rating: 1.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Although “City of Your Final Destination” is not the latest installment of the Rube Goldberg-inspired splatter series, it does seem to be populated with the walking dead. The only similarity shared between the “Final Destination” franchise and this picturesque drama is an overwhelming abundance of tedium, generated by a plot that often seems as stagnant as its listless characters.
‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’ is Perfect Background Noise For Making Out
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on May 29, 2010 - 11:06amRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Historically, video game adaptations are recipes for disaster when translated into film. While “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” with Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton has a blockbuster opportunity to buck the decades-old trend, we’re just subjected to more of the same soul-deadening time drain.
One Sequel Too Many For Sarah Jessica Parker, ‘Sex and the City 2’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 27, 2010 - 7:31amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Sex in the City 2” has very little sex and even less city. That is the least of its sins. This bloated, directionless semi-narrative take the familiar foursome – Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis – into unfamiliar geographic territory, but with no dramatic arc there is simply nothing there.
Annette Bening, Naomi Watts Lack the Connection in ‘Mother and Child’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 23, 2010 - 3:28pm Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Mother and Child,” with an all star cast of Annette Bening, Naomi Watts, Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits and Kerry Washington, is mindful of its subject matter, that rare and elusive connection between a mother and their offspring. However, the film has difficulties when the characters become inconsistent with their past backgrounds after that connection is introduced.
Lazy, Uninspired ‘Shrek Forever After’ With Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz
Submitted by BrianTT on May 21, 2010 - 1:52pm Rating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The laziest big budget film of the year, “Shrek Forever After” is the worst kind of family entertainment in that it relies solely on the goodwill engendered by the hit movies that came before to not only get audience members in seats this weekend but to sell them toys, video games, and tickets to amusement parks.
Love Story of ‘Kites’ Soars as a Marvel of Modern Moviemaking
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 21, 2010 - 4:18am Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – One of the most provocative and unusual films this year, or any year, is an amazing production from India entitled “Kites.” American director Brett Ratner (”Rush Hour”) was so taken by this film, that he agreed to edit the original (or remix) for the U.S. presentation. Both versions will be will be in the marketplace for a limited release.
