Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on Wbgr-fm on May 9th, reviewing “The Last Stop in Yuma County,” a throwback noir and the director debut of Francis Galluppi. In select theaters and available for digital download on May 10th.
Rating: 5.0/5.0
“Last Stop …” begins with a knife salesman (Jim Cummings) stuck at a last-chance-for-a-hundred-miles gas station/diner with an empty tank, and has to cool his heels at the diner to wait for a delayed fuel truck. A second pair of men walks in (Richard Brake and Nicolas Logan) for the same reason, after having robbed a ban. They assert themselves by taking the salesman and diner owner Charlotte (Jocelin Donahue) hostage, when they become aware that Charlotte is married to the local sheriff. As more folks filter in for the same empty tank reason – and Charlotte and the knife salesman have to...
Rating: 5.0/5.0
“Last Stop …” begins with a knife salesman (Jim Cummings) stuck at a last-chance-for-a-hundred-miles gas station/diner with an empty tank, and has to cool his heels at the diner to wait for a delayed fuel truck. A second pair of men walks in (Richard Brake and Nicolas Logan) for the same reason, after having robbed a ban. They assert themselves by taking the salesman and diner owner Charlotte (Jocelin Donahue) hostage, when they become aware that Charlotte is married to the local sheriff. As more folks filter in for the same empty tank reason – and Charlotte and the knife salesman have to...
- 5/11/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Get out your flapper dresses and raccoon coats as Facets Chicago goes back to the early talkies and so-called “pre-code” films, paired with a cocktail bar at their new “Speakeasy Cinema,” programmed by Raul Benitez. The first film is “The Doorway to Hell” (1930) on Saturday May 11th, starting at 6:30p. For ticket info and more details, click Speakeasy.
Facets invites film lovers to leave their troubles at the door, grab a prohibition-era cocktail, listen to some jazz, and make their way through the secret back entrance to an intimate cabaret-style screening room showcasing underrated gems from the Golden Age of Hollywood. From trailblazing pre-code cinema to classic gangster fare, series programmer Raul Benitez has curated a lineup of films to be presented within their historical context, yet appreciated through a modern lens.
Speakeasy Cinema at Facets Chicago
Photo credit: Facets.org
“The Doorway to Hell” involves Louie Ricarno...
Facets invites film lovers to leave their troubles at the door, grab a prohibition-era cocktail, listen to some jazz, and make their way through the secret back entrance to an intimate cabaret-style screening room showcasing underrated gems from the Golden Age of Hollywood. From trailblazing pre-code cinema to classic gangster fare, series programmer Raul Benitez has curated a lineup of films to be presented within their historical context, yet appreciated through a modern lens.
Speakeasy Cinema at Facets Chicago
Photo credit: Facets.org
“The Doorway to Hell” involves Louie Ricarno...
- 5/11/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on Wbgr-fm on May 9th, reviewing “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” the fourth installment of the current iteration of the franchise. In theaters on May 10th.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
Many generations after the events of the last film, the society left behind means apes now rule, and humans are the sub species. Noa (Owen Teague as a full CGI ape) is part of a tribe who raise birds for hunting and lives in peace. That peace is upended by Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), King of the Coastal Apes, who accumulates power by destroying other tribes and using the human’s old war technology against his species. When Noa’s tribe becomes victims of destruction, the young ape seeks his revenge with the help of a evolved human named Nova (Freya Allan).
”Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes...
Rating: 3.0/5.0
Many generations after the events of the last film, the society left behind means apes now rule, and humans are the sub species. Noa (Owen Teague as a full CGI ape) is part of a tribe who raise birds for hunting and lives in peace. That peace is upended by Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), King of the Coastal Apes, who accumulates power by destroying other tribes and using the human’s old war technology against his species. When Noa’s tribe becomes victims of destruction, the young ape seeks his revenge with the help of a evolved human named Nova (Freya Allan).
”Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes...
- 5/10/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – The Midwest Film Festival of Chicago is on the road this weekend and heading north to Milwaukee to screen writer/director Brittani Ward’s award-winning “Single Car Crashes” at the historic Oriental Theatre on May 11, 2024 (11am). For details and tickets for this road show event, click Mff Road Trip.
Ten years after a devastating car crash took his best friend Zach’s life, Sean (Trevor Morgan), still lives small town where he grew up, struggling with his survivor’s guilt. When Zach’s sister Kendall (Lindsey Morgan) – who also was Sean’s first love – returns to town to marry someone else, Sean is forced to confront his failure to launch and the impact it’s having not only on his own stunted life, but on his now nine-year-old son.
’Single Car Crashes’ at the Midwest Film Festival in Milwaukee
Photo credit: five two one films
Writer/director Brittani Ward...
Ten years after a devastating car crash took his best friend Zach’s life, Sean (Trevor Morgan), still lives small town where he grew up, struggling with his survivor’s guilt. When Zach’s sister Kendall (Lindsey Morgan) – who also was Sean’s first love – returns to town to marry someone else, Sean is forced to confront his failure to launch and the impact it’s having not only on his own stunted life, but on his now nine-year-old son.
’Single Car Crashes’ at the Midwest Film Festival in Milwaukee
Photo credit: five two one films
Writer/director Brittani Ward...
- 5/9/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Closing Night for the 2024 Chicago Critics Film Festival (Ccff) is Thursday, May 9th, and the final film centerpiece is “Ghostlight,” directed by Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson. For the full schedule, info and tickets, click Ccff Closing Night. For individual films, click titles below.
Ghostlight
Writer/Co-Director Kelly O’Sullivan (inset) of ‘Ghostlight’
Photo credit: ChicagoCriticsFilmFestival.com
Dan (Keith Kupferer) is a middle-aged construction worker grieving a family tragedy, and has cut himself off from his devoted wife Sharon (Tara Mallen) and talented but troubled daughter Daisy (Katherine Mallen Kupferer). Through an accidental circumstance, Dan finds comfort and community in a misfit company of amateur actors. While performing for the first in a low-rent production for one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies, Dan is forced to confront his buried emotions.
Capsule Review: The premise has sitcom-like plot drivers to get the reluctant Dan on stage, but the path...
Ghostlight
Writer/Co-Director Kelly O’Sullivan (inset) of ‘Ghostlight’
Photo credit: ChicagoCriticsFilmFestival.com
Dan (Keith Kupferer) is a middle-aged construction worker grieving a family tragedy, and has cut himself off from his devoted wife Sharon (Tara Mallen) and talented but troubled daughter Daisy (Katherine Mallen Kupferer). Through an accidental circumstance, Dan finds comfort and community in a misfit company of amateur actors. While performing for the first in a low-rent production for one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies, Dan is forced to confront his buried emotions.
Capsule Review: The premise has sitcom-like plot drivers to get the reluctant Dan on stage, but the path...
- 5/9/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – “Dandelion” was the centerpiece film at the 2024 Chicago Critics Film Festival (Ccff) on May 6th, and featured an appearance by the actor portraying the title character, KiKi Layne (“If Beale Street Could Talk”). Ms. Layne walked the Red Carpet at Chicago’s historic Music Box Theatre.
Dandelion (KiKi Layne) is a struggling Cincinnati singer-songwriter in a downward spiral, takes a last-ditch-effort gig at a motorcycle rally in South Dakota where she meets Casey (Thomas Doherty), a guitarist who walked away from his dream long ago. As Dandelion joins Casey’s nomadic group of struggling musicians, the kindred spirits make music together and strike up a whirlwind romance.
KiKi Layne at the 2024 Chicago Critics Film Festival
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com
KiKi Layne is an ascending actor after making her feature film debut in “If Beale Street Could Talk” in 2018 as Tish Rivers. She also...
Dandelion (KiKi Layne) is a struggling Cincinnati singer-songwriter in a downward spiral, takes a last-ditch-effort gig at a motorcycle rally in South Dakota where she meets Casey (Thomas Doherty), a guitarist who walked away from his dream long ago. As Dandelion joins Casey’s nomadic group of struggling musicians, the kindred spirits make music together and strike up a whirlwind romance.
KiKi Layne at the 2024 Chicago Critics Film Festival
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com
KiKi Layne is an ascending actor after making her feature film debut in “If Beale Street Could Talk” in 2018 as Tish Rivers. She also...
- 5/7/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – The 2024 Chicago Critics Film Festival on Day Six – Wednesday, May 8th – screens a feature film director debut about a hiking trip and the scattered remnants of disconnected people. “Good One” is by India Donaldson, and she will appear on behalf of the film For the full schedule, info and tickets, click Ccff May 8th. For individual films, click titles below.
Good One
Good One
Photo credit: ChicagoCriticsFilmFestival.com
17-year-old Sam (Lily Collias) embarks on a three-day backpacking trip in the Catskills with her dad, Chris (James Le Gros) and his oldest friend, Matt (Danny McCarthy). As the two men quickly settle into a gently quarrelsome brotherly dynamic, airing long-held grievances, Sam, wise beyond her years, attempts to mediate. But when lines are crossed and Sam’s trust is betrayed, she is confronted with her dad’s emotional limitations and experiences the universal moment when the parental bond is tested.
Good One
Good One
Photo credit: ChicagoCriticsFilmFestival.com
17-year-old Sam (Lily Collias) embarks on a three-day backpacking trip in the Catskills with her dad, Chris (James Le Gros) and his oldest friend, Matt (Danny McCarthy). As the two men quickly settle into a gently quarrelsome brotherly dynamic, airing long-held grievances, Sam, wise beyond her years, attempts to mediate. But when lines are crossed and Sam’s trust is betrayed, she is confronted with her dad’s emotional limitations and experiences the universal moment when the parental bond is tested.
- 5/7/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – The 2024 Chicago Critics Film Festival Day Four – Monday, May 6th – presents a film about music dreams and a documentary on a music store. “Dandelion” is written and directed by Nicole Riegel and “Flipside” by Chris Wilcha are the centerpiece screenings. For the full schedule, info and tickets, click Ccff May 6th. For individual films, click titles below.
Dandelion
Dandelion
Photo credit: ChicagoCriticsFilmFestival.com
Dandelion (KiKi Layne) is a struggling Cincinnati singer-songwriter in a downward spiral, takes a last-ditch-effort gig at a motorcycle rally in South Dakota where she meets Casey (Thomas Doherty), a guitarist who walked away from his dream long ago. As Dandelion joins Casey’s nomadic group of struggling musicians, the kindred spirits make music together and strike up a whirlwind romance.
Capsule Review: This is a passionate meditation on young love and the sensitive artist trying to interpret it. The love is as much about the...
Dandelion
Dandelion
Photo credit: ChicagoCriticsFilmFestival.com
Dandelion (KiKi Layne) is a struggling Cincinnati singer-songwriter in a downward spiral, takes a last-ditch-effort gig at a motorcycle rally in South Dakota where she meets Casey (Thomas Doherty), a guitarist who walked away from his dream long ago. As Dandelion joins Casey’s nomadic group of struggling musicians, the kindred spirits make music together and strike up a whirlwind romance.
Capsule Review: This is a passionate meditation on young love and the sensitive artist trying to interpret it. The love is as much about the...
- 5/6/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – The excellent new film “Babes,” which screened at the 2024 Chicago Critics Film Festival (Ccff) on May 4th, was the feature film director debut from a familiar name … Pamela Adlon (“Better Things”). Ms. Adlon walked the Red Carpet at Chicago’s historic Music Box Theatre.
Pamela Adlon at the 2024 Chicago Critics Film Festival
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com
“Babes” is a hilarious riff on women friendships/bonding and an unexpected pregnancy. Eden and Dawn (Michelle Buteau) are besties, having grown up together in New York City, and are now firmly in different phases of adulthood. When carefree-and-single Eden finds herself pregnant after a one night stand, she decides to have the baby on her own, and her friendship with Dawn will face its greatest challenge. “Babes” is a hilarious and heartfelt comedy about the bonds of friendship and the messy, unpredictable challenges of being adult and becoming a parent.
Pamela Adlon at the 2024 Chicago Critics Film Festival
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com
“Babes” is a hilarious riff on women friendships/bonding and an unexpected pregnancy. Eden and Dawn (Michelle Buteau) are besties, having grown up together in New York City, and are now firmly in different phases of adulthood. When carefree-and-single Eden finds herself pregnant after a one night stand, she decides to have the baby on her own, and her friendship with Dawn will face its greatest challenge. “Babes” is a hilarious and heartfelt comedy about the bonds of friendship and the messy, unpredictable challenges of being adult and becoming a parent.
- 5/5/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Nashville – I recently had the extraordinary opportunity to attend a performance at The Listening Room Cafe, where I was treated to an unforgettable evening featuring the “Next from Nashville” lineup. The showcase was nothing short of exceptional. Amidst this lineup of talent, one performer truly stood out to me … Zandi Holup.
Zandi Holup and the other performers had acoustic guitars in hand and standing microphones as their sole companions, inviting the audience into their world of music with nothing but their instruments and voices, bridging the gap between performer and listener. All the performers sang original music, effortlessly captivating the audience with soul-stirring melodies and heartfelt lyrics.
Zandi Holup
Photo credit: ZandiHolupMusic.com
Zandi’s profoundly felt vocals carried an aura of authenticity that immediately drew me in. With a style characterized by raw, unfiltered storytelling, Zandi’s music seemed to flow effortlessly from a deep well of personal emotion and introspective thoughts.
Zandi Holup and the other performers had acoustic guitars in hand and standing microphones as their sole companions, inviting the audience into their world of music with nothing but their instruments and voices, bridging the gap between performer and listener. All the performers sang original music, effortlessly captivating the audience with soul-stirring melodies and heartfelt lyrics.
Zandi Holup
Photo credit: ZandiHolupMusic.com
Zandi’s profoundly felt vocals carried an aura of authenticity that immediately drew me in. With a style characterized by raw, unfiltered storytelling, Zandi’s music seemed to flow effortlessly from a deep well of personal emotion and introspective thoughts.
- 5/5/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – The 2024 Chicago Critics Film Festival is off and running, and the third day – Sunday, May 5th – screens and the 30th Anniversary of a modern classic and a highly anticipated upcoming release. “I Saw the TV Glow” by Jane Schoenbrun and “Little Women” (the 1994 version) anchor a full day of cinema heroics. For the full schedule, info and tickets, click Ccff May 5th. For individual films, click titles below.
30th Anniversary, Little Women
Little Women
Photo credit: ChicagoCriticsFilmFestival.com
Based on the classic 1868 novel about love, family and the female spirit, Louisa May Alcott tells the domestic saga of the March family in post-Civil War America with a cast that includes Winona Ryder, Susan Sarandon, Clare Danes, Christian Bale, Kirsten Dunst, Gabriel Byrne, Samantha Mathis, Eric Stoltz and Trini Alvarado.
Capsule Review: Greta Gerwig’s 2019 re-imagining aside, the 1994 version – directed by Gillian Armstrong – of the oft-filmed classic combines the elements...
30th Anniversary, Little Women
Little Women
Photo credit: ChicagoCriticsFilmFestival.com
Based on the classic 1868 novel about love, family and the female spirit, Louisa May Alcott tells the domestic saga of the March family in post-Civil War America with a cast that includes Winona Ryder, Susan Sarandon, Clare Danes, Christian Bale, Kirsten Dunst, Gabriel Byrne, Samantha Mathis, Eric Stoltz and Trini Alvarado.
Capsule Review: Greta Gerwig’s 2019 re-imagining aside, the 1994 version – directed by Gillian Armstrong – of the oft-filmed classic combines the elements...
- 5/4/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Doc10, the annual Chicago documentary film festival, highlights a cautionary note for its 2024 Closing Night film on Sunday May 5th, at Chicago’s Davis Theater. ‘War Game’ is a look into a consequence exercise with expert participants playing roles, regarding a “what-if” the insurrection that occurred on January 6th, 2021 would escalate into a more coordinated attack … including the use of extremists within the military for the potential coup. Click War Game for information and tickets.
The participants who took roles in the exercise … and all will appear at a Q&a on Doc10’s Closing Night … include former Montana Governor Steve Bullock, former North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp, retired Major General Linda Singh and National Security Expert Elizabeth Neumann. Also appearing will be CEO Janessa Goldbeck of the VetVoice Foundation, the organization that expedited the war game, and the filmmakers of the “War Game” documentary, Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber.
The participants who took roles in the exercise … and all will appear at a Q&a on Doc10’s Closing Night … include former Montana Governor Steve Bullock, former North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp, retired Major General Linda Singh and National Security Expert Elizabeth Neumann. Also appearing will be CEO Janessa Goldbeck of the VetVoice Foundation, the organization that expedited the war game, and the filmmakers of the “War Game” documentary, Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber.
- 5/4/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Ben Thompson on Wbgr-fm on May 2nd, reviewing “Unfrosted,” featuring Jerry Seinfeld as lead role, co-writer and his debut as director. Streaming on Netflix beginning May 3rd.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
The year is 1963, and Seinfeld is Bob Cabana, product developer at the Kellogg’s cereal company in Battle Creek, Michigan. He reports directly to company owner Edsel Kellogg III (Jim Gaffigan), and lives the prototype early 1960s American Dream life with John F. Kennedy, Walter Cronkite, Tony the Tiger and daily milk man deliveries. Kellogg’s rival is Post Cereals, also in Battle Creek, owned by Majorie Post (Amy Schumer). Kelloggs is facing off with Post … with the help of food developer Donna “Stan” Stankowski (Melissa McCarthy … to be the first to create a toaster pastry for America’s breakfast tables. The race is on.
”Unfrosted” is streaming on Netflix beginning May 3rd.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
The year is 1963, and Seinfeld is Bob Cabana, product developer at the Kellogg’s cereal company in Battle Creek, Michigan. He reports directly to company owner Edsel Kellogg III (Jim Gaffigan), and lives the prototype early 1960s American Dream life with John F. Kennedy, Walter Cronkite, Tony the Tiger and daily milk man deliveries. Kellogg’s rival is Post Cereals, also in Battle Creek, owned by Majorie Post (Amy Schumer). Kelloggs is facing off with Post … with the help of food developer Donna “Stan” Stankowski (Melissa McCarthy … to be the first to create a toaster pastry for America’s breakfast tables. The race is on.
”Unfrosted” is streaming on Netflix beginning May 3rd.
- 5/3/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Ben Thompson on Wbgr-fm on May 2nd, reviewing “The Fall Guy,” featuring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt in an adaptation of an 1980s TV series. In theaters on May 3rd.
Rating: 2.5/5.0
Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers, a stunt man for the movies, particularly doubling for famous action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). As the film begins, it’s established that Colt has a relationship with Jody (Emily Blunt), but the relationship is severed after Colt breaks his back with a stunt gone wrong. After a year goes by and he’s healed, Colt gets a call from Movie Producer Gail (Hannah Waddingham from “Ted Lasso”), hiring him back to work on a film that Jody is directing. When a murder occurs and Colt is framed for it, he suddenly involved in more than just stunts
”The Fall Guy...
Rating: 2.5/5.0
Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers, a stunt man for the movies, particularly doubling for famous action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). As the film begins, it’s established that Colt has a relationship with Jody (Emily Blunt), but the relationship is severed after Colt breaks his back with a stunt gone wrong. After a year goes by and he’s healed, Colt gets a call from Movie Producer Gail (Hannah Waddingham from “Ted Lasso”), hiring him back to work on a film that Jody is directing. When a murder occurs and Colt is framed for it, he suddenly involved in more than just stunts
”The Fall Guy...
- 5/3/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for the “The Idea of You,” adapted from the popular novel by Robinne Lee, directed by Michael Showalter and featuring Anne Hathaway. Streaming on Prime Video beginning May 2nd, 2024.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Anne Hathaway is Soléne, a woman on the cusp of her 40th birthday who birthed a daughter when she was in her early twenties, and is now divorced from her ex Daniel (Reid Scott). Through a series of wacky circumstances, she meets a boy band singer named Hayes (Nicolas Galitzine), who is s member of August Moon, a favorite of her now high-school-aged daughter Izzy (Ella Rubin) … when she was in seventh grade. Hayes is now 24, Soléne is decidedly older, but they instantly connect and begin a relationship. When it takes a turn to serious love, social media and the clickbait press takes notice, and the love connection starts to disrupt everyone’s lives.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Anne Hathaway is Soléne, a woman on the cusp of her 40th birthday who birthed a daughter when she was in her early twenties, and is now divorced from her ex Daniel (Reid Scott). Through a series of wacky circumstances, she meets a boy band singer named Hayes (Nicolas Galitzine), who is s member of August Moon, a favorite of her now high-school-aged daughter Izzy (Ella Rubin) … when she was in seventh grade. Hayes is now 24, Soléne is decidedly older, but they instantly connect and begin a relationship. When it takes a turn to serious love, social media and the clickbait press takes notice, and the love connection starts to disrupt everyone’s lives.
- 5/3/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Opening Night at the 2024 Chicago Critics Film Festival (Ccff) on May 3rd will include the last film of popular South Korean (Sk) Actor Lee Sun-kyun, entitled “Sleep” (click here for tickets) The world was rocked on December 27th, 2023, when the report came through that that actor – who had a prominent role in the 2019 Oscar Best Picture “Parasite’ – had died at age 48 from an apparent suicide in Seoul (Sk), months after his appearance in Chicago during the Asian Pop-Up Cinema.
“Sleep” follows newlyweds Hyun-su (Lee Sun-kyun) and Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi), whose domestic bliss is disrupted when Hyun-su begins speaking in his sleep, ominously stating, “someone’s inside.” From that night on, whenever he falls asleep, Hyun-su transforms into someone else, with no recollection of what happened the night before. Overwhelmed with anxiety that he may hurt himself or their young family, Soo-jin can barely sleep because of this irrational fear.
“Sleep” follows newlyweds Hyun-su (Lee Sun-kyun) and Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi), whose domestic bliss is disrupted when Hyun-su begins speaking in his sleep, ominously stating, “someone’s inside.” From that night on, whenever he falls asleep, Hyun-su transforms into someone else, with no recollection of what happened the night before. Overwhelmed with anxiety that he may hurt himself or their young family, Soo-jin can barely sleep because of this irrational fear.
- 5/2/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – The Closing Night of the 2024 Cinema Femme Film Festival will be the short film showcase, based on letter writing themes, as the “Sincerely, Yours” block will start at 7:30pm, and “P.S.” will begin at 9:30pm. Both programs will be at Chicago’s historic Music Box Theatre. For more information and tickets, click Sincerely or P.S.
Presented by Cinema Femme Magazine, the film festival emphasizes the importance of supporting emerging female and non-binary filmmakers, and connects those filmmakers to their Breaking Down Walls mentorship and retreat. The letter writing themes will include locally produced short films by Linh Tran (“Video Funeral”), Krista Kane (“Except”), Alison Torem (“Road Head”), Bridget Francis Harris (“Places of Worship”) and Lua Borges (“Madonna”).
Cinema Femme Short Film Festival
Photo credit: CinemaFemme.com
Festival Director Rebecca Martin Fagerholm is also the Managing Editor of Cinema Femme magazine. She founded the publication and began...
Presented by Cinema Femme Magazine, the film festival emphasizes the importance of supporting emerging female and non-binary filmmakers, and connects those filmmakers to their Breaking Down Walls mentorship and retreat. The letter writing themes will include locally produced short films by Linh Tran (“Video Funeral”), Krista Kane (“Except”), Alison Torem (“Road Head”), Bridget Francis Harris (“Places of Worship”) and Lua Borges (“Madonna”).
Cinema Femme Short Film Festival
Photo credit: CinemaFemme.com
Festival Director Rebecca Martin Fagerholm is also the Managing Editor of Cinema Femme magazine. She founded the publication and began...
- 5/1/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Doc10, the annual Chicago documentary film festival, opens on May 2nd, 2024, with a new documentary about the famous avant garde rock band entitled “Devo,” directed by Chris Smith. who will appear live, with the band participating via Zoom. Click Devo for more information and tickets.
This spirited and irreverent portrait of the legendary new wave ban Devo charts the unlikely rise of the musical innovators from Akron, Ohio. From Kent State radicals in the 1970s, galvanized by political unrest, to unlikely icons of the 1980s, featured in Honda Scooter commercials and mainstays of the early days of MTV … they are not men, they are Devo. The film is directed by Chris Smith, known for his breakout debut “American Movie,” and goes beyond the typical bio-doc to channel the absurdity and edginess of the sonic provocateurs of Devo, with the help of their own bizarre and hilarious archival materials. “Whip it,...
This spirited and irreverent portrait of the legendary new wave ban Devo charts the unlikely rise of the musical innovators from Akron, Ohio. From Kent State radicals in the 1970s, galvanized by political unrest, to unlikely icons of the 1980s, featured in Honda Scooter commercials and mainstays of the early days of MTV … they are not men, they are Devo. The film is directed by Chris Smith, known for his breakout debut “American Movie,” and goes beyond the typical bio-doc to channel the absurdity and edginess of the sonic provocateurs of Devo, with the help of their own bizarre and hilarious archival materials. “Whip it,...
- 4/30/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – The 2024 Chicago Critics Film Festival (Ccff) kicks off on Friday, May 3rd, with “Sing Sing” and continues through May 9th with an amazing cinema week featuring the best of the winter/spring bold face film fests, special guests, revivals and surprises! Click on 2024 Ccff for tickets and schedule.
The 11th Ccff
Photo credit: ChicagoCriticsFilmFestival.com
In “Sing Sing,” Divine G (Colman Domingo), who is imprisoned in New York State’s infamous Sing Sing prison, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other men who are incarcerated. The story uses actual incarceration actors alongside Domingo and the other professionals, and the guests for Opening Night includes director Greg Kwedar, and actors Clarence “Divine Eye’ Maclin, Paul Raci and Sean “Dino” Johnson.
Capsule Review: The redemptive power of pretending to be something else is on display in this remarkable tale, filtered through the intense experiences of both society’s...
The 11th Ccff
Photo credit: ChicagoCriticsFilmFestival.com
In “Sing Sing,” Divine G (Colman Domingo), who is imprisoned in New York State’s infamous Sing Sing prison, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other men who are incarcerated. The story uses actual incarceration actors alongside Domingo and the other professionals, and the guests for Opening Night includes director Greg Kwedar, and actors Clarence “Divine Eye’ Maclin, Paul Raci and Sean “Dino” Johnson.
Capsule Review: The redemptive power of pretending to be something else is on display in this remarkable tale, filtered through the intense experiences of both society’s...
- 4/30/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – The Midwest Film Festival (Mff) presents “Impact Shorts Night” on April 29th, 2024, and a big part of the new programming and direction for the longtime film networking fest is their new Operations Director Nk Gutiérrez. For tickets and info, click Impact.
“Impact Shorts Night” is an evening of films that make a difference … powerful shorts that not only tell compelling stories but also tackle important societal issues. The line-up features “Teacher of Patience” by Carmen Vincent, “Queer” by Ariana Alejandra Vargas, Sure as the Wind by Mike Ambs and Greg Shewchuk, plus The Inside Singers by Daniel Kolen. The evening begins at 6:30pm with a Networking Reception, followed by a Community Spotlight (details below), the short film screenings (with filmmaker Q&As) and an After Party at the Emerald Loop Bar & Grill in Chicago’s Loop.
April 29th, 2024, at the Gene Siskel Film Center
Photo credit: MidwestFilm.com...
“Impact Shorts Night” is an evening of films that make a difference … powerful shorts that not only tell compelling stories but also tackle important societal issues. The line-up features “Teacher of Patience” by Carmen Vincent, “Queer” by Ariana Alejandra Vargas, Sure as the Wind by Mike Ambs and Greg Shewchuk, plus The Inside Singers by Daniel Kolen. The evening begins at 6:30pm with a Networking Reception, followed by a Community Spotlight (details below), the short film screenings (with filmmaker Q&As) and an After Party at the Emerald Loop Bar & Grill in Chicago’s Loop.
April 29th, 2024, at the Gene Siskel Film Center
Photo credit: MidwestFilm.com...
- 4/29/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – The late playwright August Wilson left a gift to the world in the form of his “American Century Cycle,” a series of plays each individually set in a decade of the 20th Century, focusing on the black experience. Chicago’s Goodman Theatre presents Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” now through May 19th, 2024 (click here).
Play Rating: 5.0/5.0
“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” is set in the 1910s, only a couple generations past slavery, regarding a group of black folks at a boarding house, both living in and representing their era. The house is run by Seth and Bertha (Dexter Zollicoffer and TayLar), and contains semi permanent residents Bynum (Tim Rhoze) and guitar-playing Jeremy (Anthony Fleming III). One day, a stranger named Loomis (A.C. Smith) and his daughter Zonia (Kylah Jones) take a room. Their mission is a journey to find Loomis’s wife and the mother of Zonia,...
Play Rating: 5.0/5.0
“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” is set in the 1910s, only a couple generations past slavery, regarding a group of black folks at a boarding house, both living in and representing their era. The house is run by Seth and Bertha (Dexter Zollicoffer and TayLar), and contains semi permanent residents Bynum (Tim Rhoze) and guitar-playing Jeremy (Anthony Fleming III). One day, a stranger named Loomis (A.C. Smith) and his daughter Zonia (Kylah Jones) take a room. Their mission is a journey to find Loomis’s wife and the mother of Zonia,...
- 4/28/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Ben Thompson on Wbgr-fm on April 25th, 2024, reviewing “The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed,” In select theaters on April 26th. See local listings.
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Joanna Arnow (also writer and director) is Ann, a nebbishy middle of the road type that lives in New York City and works for a bland we-don’t-know-what-they-do marketing company that is in the midst of a merger. Meanwhile, through dating apps, Ann indulges her kink as a submissive in her online hook ups, including her main man Allen (Scott Cohen), who in his “master” role is completely dismissive of her or her needs. As she cycles through other men she lands with Chris (Babak Tafti) who takes a romantic shine to her. Is the feeling that the time for doing something have passed, or is that feeling misjudged?
”The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed...
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Joanna Arnow (also writer and director) is Ann, a nebbishy middle of the road type that lives in New York City and works for a bland we-don’t-know-what-they-do marketing company that is in the midst of a merger. Meanwhile, through dating apps, Ann indulges her kink as a submissive in her online hook ups, including her main man Allen (Scott Cohen), who in his “master” role is completely dismissive of her or her needs. As she cycles through other men she lands with Chris (Babak Tafti) who takes a romantic shine to her. Is the feeling that the time for doing something have passed, or is that feeling misjudged?
”The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed...
- 4/28/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Ben Thompson on Wbgr-fm on April 25th, 2024, reviewing “Challengers,” a new tennis themed film involving mixed doubles, featuring Zendaya. In theaters on April 26th.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Zendaya is Tashi Duncan, a world ranked tennis player who suffers a career ending injury right before she was about to turn pro. In flashbacks, while competing at the junior-to-collegiate level she meets Patrick (Josh O’Connor) and Art (Mike Faist), two promising male tennis players … she creates young-tennis-players in love connection with both. Fast forward to the present, Tashi is married to Art, and has coached him to a wealthy professional level. When Art starts to fade in the Wimbleton-level circuit, Tashi suggests a club challenge, where old buddy/flame Patrick reappears .. and while facing off against Art, volleys again for Tashi’s loyalties.
”Challengers” is in theaters beginning April 28th. Featuring Zendaya,...
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Zendaya is Tashi Duncan, a world ranked tennis player who suffers a career ending injury right before she was about to turn pro. In flashbacks, while competing at the junior-to-collegiate level she meets Patrick (Josh O’Connor) and Art (Mike Faist), two promising male tennis players … she creates young-tennis-players in love connection with both. Fast forward to the present, Tashi is married to Art, and has coached him to a wealthy professional level. When Art starts to fade in the Wimbleton-level circuit, Tashi suggests a club challenge, where old buddy/flame Patrick reappears .. and while facing off against Art, volleys again for Tashi’s loyalties.
”Challengers” is in theaters beginning April 28th. Featuring Zendaya,...
- 4/26/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for the newly released “Indigo Girls: It’s Only Life After All,” the rise and evolution of the singer/songwriter duo Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, also know as The Indigo Girls. In select theaters and through digital download since April 10th.
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Vera Drew (she/her) wrote, directed and stars as a transgender male-to-female eventually named Joker the Harlequin. She moves from Smallville to Gotham City to find her identity and get away from her oppressive mother (Lynn Downey), and wants to establish a comedy career. With another oddball nicknamed The Penguin (Nathan Faustyn), they open a comedy club, with a goal to get a shot on Gotham’s most popular comedy show Ucb Live, produced by Lorne Michaels (voice of Maria Bramford). With the rogues gallery of lowlife villains in Gotham, plus the overhang of The Batman, they is no...
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Vera Drew (she/her) wrote, directed and stars as a transgender male-to-female eventually named Joker the Harlequin. She moves from Smallville to Gotham City to find her identity and get away from her oppressive mother (Lynn Downey), and wants to establish a comedy career. With another oddball nicknamed The Penguin (Nathan Faustyn), they open a comedy club, with a goal to get a shot on Gotham’s most popular comedy show Ucb Live, produced by Lorne Michaels (voice of Maria Bramford). With the rogues gallery of lowlife villains in Gotham, plus the overhang of The Batman, they is no...
- 4/26/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Haroula Rose has made a mark on creative culture as a filmmaker, musician and performer, and the Cinema Femme Short Film Festival will acknowledge her on the April 25th Opening Night with a Special Tribute to Haroula, beginning at 7pm at Chicago’s Music Box Theatre. For more information, click Rose.
Presented by Cinema Femme Magazine, the film festival emphasizes the importance of supporting emerging female and non-binary filmmakers, and connects those filmmakers to their Breaking Down Walls mentorship and retreat. This year’s festival features short film programs with a letter writing theme, a spotlight feature film “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” a screenwriting workshop and a panel on post-production. The panelists will be all female and non-binary people from notable post production Chicago companies …Optimus, Periscope Post & Audio, Noisefloor, and Anachrony Post. Virtual online events will also take place on April April 29th, 30th and May 2nd.
Haroula...
Presented by Cinema Femme Magazine, the film festival emphasizes the importance of supporting emerging female and non-binary filmmakers, and connects those filmmakers to their Breaking Down Walls mentorship and retreat. This year’s festival features short film programs with a letter writing theme, a spotlight feature film “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” a screenwriting workshop and a panel on post-production. The panelists will be all female and non-binary people from notable post production Chicago companies …Optimus, Periscope Post & Audio, Noisefloor, and Anachrony Post. Virtual online events will also take place on April April 29th, 30th and May 2nd.
Haroula...
- 4/23/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – The Dallas International Film Festival Opens on Thursday, April 25th and runs through May 2nd, 2024. On April 26th, director Quin Mathews will screen his documentary “City of Hate: Dallas and the Assassination 60 Years Later.” For more tickets and more information about the Dallas International Film Fest, click Diff.
The doc “City of Hate” is not about Dallas now, but the reputation it had several years before and immediately after November 22nd, 1963, the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated during a motorcade parade through the city. It is directed by former Dallas TV journalist Quin Mathews, who as a 13-year-old was there to greet JFK at Love Field, as Air Force One touched down. By a stroke of luck, the president acknowledged Mathews in the enthusiastic throng, as he was perched eight feet away from the fateful open air limousine. “City of Hate” is part history, part reflection and Dallas-centric,...
The doc “City of Hate” is not about Dallas now, but the reputation it had several years before and immediately after November 22nd, 1963, the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated during a motorcade parade through the city. It is directed by former Dallas TV journalist Quin Mathews, who as a 13-year-old was there to greet JFK at Love Field, as Air Force One touched down. By a stroke of luck, the president acknowledged Mathews in the enthusiastic throng, as he was perched eight feet away from the fateful open air limousine. “City of Hate” is part history, part reflection and Dallas-centric,...
- 4/23/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Rebecca Martin Fagerholm has built the Cinema Femme Short Film Festival from online beginnings to primary in-person events, and the 6th festival will open at Chicago’s Music Box Theatre on April 25th, 2024, with a tribute to filmmaker Haroula Rose. For details and program information, click Cinema Femme.
Presented by Cinema Femme Magazine, the film festival emphasizes the importance of supporting emerging female and non-binary filmmakers, and connects those filmmakers to their Breaking Down Walls mentorship and retreat. This year’s festival features short film programs with a letter writing theme, a spotlight feature film “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” a screenwriting workshop and a panel on post-production. The panelists will be all female and non-binary people from notable post production Chicago companies … Optimus, Periscope Post & Audio, Noisefloor, and Anachrony Post. Virtual online events will also take place on April April 29th, 30th and May 2nd.
Cinema Femme Short Film Festival
Photo credit: CinemaFemme.
Presented by Cinema Femme Magazine, the film festival emphasizes the importance of supporting emerging female and non-binary filmmakers, and connects those filmmakers to their Breaking Down Walls mentorship and retreat. This year’s festival features short film programs with a letter writing theme, a spotlight feature film “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” a screenwriting workshop and a panel on post-production. The panelists will be all female and non-binary people from notable post production Chicago companies … Optimus, Periscope Post & Audio, Noisefloor, and Anachrony Post. Virtual online events will also take place on April April 29th, 30th and May 2nd.
Cinema Femme Short Film Festival
Photo credit: CinemaFemme.
- 4/23/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – The spotlight and excitement was at the Final Weekend of Season 18 for Chicago’s Asian Pop-Up Cinema (Apuc). The buzz was for Apuc Bright Star Awardee Carlos Chan. The respect was for Hong Kong legend Rebecca Pan, who received Apuc’s Lifetime Achievement Award, all during Hong Kong Cinema Showcase.
The 2024 Season 18 Closing Night on April 20th included a Red Carpet event for the honored Hong Kong attendees, which included Carlos Chan and his director Benny Lau for “We Are Family.” Director Isabel Wong represented her documentary featuring Rebecca Pan, “Pai Niang Niang: The Last Osmanthus Blossom.” Director Mo Lai Yan Chi was there for her musical “Band Four” and director Kelvin Shum returned to Chicago to represent his horror epic “It Remains.”
Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com was there, and got the following Red Carpet Podtalk reactions from the attendees.
Bright Star Carlos Chan (in Green) Struts Down...
The 2024 Season 18 Closing Night on April 20th included a Red Carpet event for the honored Hong Kong attendees, which included Carlos Chan and his director Benny Lau for “We Are Family.” Director Isabel Wong represented her documentary featuring Rebecca Pan, “Pai Niang Niang: The Last Osmanthus Blossom.” Director Mo Lai Yan Chi was there for her musical “Band Four” and director Kelvin Shum returned to Chicago to represent his horror epic “It Remains.”
Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com was there, and got the following Red Carpet Podtalk reactions from the attendees.
Bright Star Carlos Chan (in Green) Struts Down...
- 4/21/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – The annual CineYouth Festival for 2024 is on tap beginning Friday, April 19th, presenting 66 short films across 10 programming blocks featuring everything from comedy to animated shorts to highlights from the Chicago region. Plus, CineYouth features two workshops focused on accessibility tools and good collaborative practices, live filmmaker Q&As, and more.
The whole event will be conveniently located in at Chicago’s Facets multimedia cinema, in the DePaul University neighborhood. Plus, all the tickets and all events are free and open to the public. For more info and schedule of events, click Cineyouth.
CineYouth Festival 2024
Photo credit: Cinema/Chicago
The presenter of the CineYouth Festival is Cinema/Chicago, a year-round non-profit cultural and educational organization dedicated to fostering better communication between people of diverse cultures through the art of film and the moving image, which will culminate in 2024 with the 60th Chicago International Film Festival (October 16th-27th).
The 2024 CineYouth...
The whole event will be conveniently located in at Chicago’s Facets multimedia cinema, in the DePaul University neighborhood. Plus, all the tickets and all events are free and open to the public. For more info and schedule of events, click Cineyouth.
CineYouth Festival 2024
Photo credit: Cinema/Chicago
The presenter of the CineYouth Festival is Cinema/Chicago, a year-round non-profit cultural and educational organization dedicated to fostering better communication between people of diverse cultures through the art of film and the moving image, which will culminate in 2024 with the 60th Chicago International Film Festival (October 16th-27th).
The 2024 CineYouth...
- 4/19/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on Wbgr-fm on April 10th, 2024, reviewing “Hard Miles,” a new sports-inspirational film set featuring veteran actor Matthew Modine. In select theaters on April 19th, see local listings.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Greg (Modine) is a beleaguered social worker at a Colorado juvenile correctional center with a passion for bicycle adventure rides and a revelatory idea for rehabilitation …rounding up an unlikely crew of incarcerated students to complete a transformative 762-mile cycling challenge from Denver to the Grand Canyon. To achieve their goal, the mentor and his teen pedal pushers will battle heat stroke, mountain inclines/speedy descents … and most of all each other to come together as a unified team.
”Hard Miles” is in select theaters beginning April 19th. See local listings. Featuring Matthew Modine, Sean Astin, Jackson Kelly, Leslie David Baker and Cynthia Kaye McWilliam. Written by R.J. Daniel Hanna and Christian Sanders.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Greg (Modine) is a beleaguered social worker at a Colorado juvenile correctional center with a passion for bicycle adventure rides and a revelatory idea for rehabilitation …rounding up an unlikely crew of incarcerated students to complete a transformative 762-mile cycling challenge from Denver to the Grand Canyon. To achieve their goal, the mentor and his teen pedal pushers will battle heat stroke, mountain inclines/speedy descents … and most of all each other to come together as a unified team.
”Hard Miles” is in select theaters beginning April 19th. See local listings. Featuring Matthew Modine, Sean Astin, Jackson Kelly, Leslie David Baker and Cynthia Kaye McWilliam. Written by R.J. Daniel Hanna and Christian Sanders.
- 4/19/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – The Season 18 Finale of Chicago’s Asian Pop-Up Cinema (Apuc) is the Hong Kong Showcase from April 19th-21st, 2024, featuring a Lifetime Achievement Award for the legendary Rebecca Pan, Hk filmmakers/actors and current Hong Kong cinema.
In March 1972, Rebecca Pan self-financed the production of the first ever Mandarin musical, “Pai Niang Niang,” and performed it 60 times at the Princess Theatre (in Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui district). This is a piece of Hk art and cultural history, and an important milestone of Rebecca’s long career. This work used the Broadway musical model to adapt the famous myth “Legend of the White Snake,” and brought together Eastern and Western theatrical styles for the first time.
Apuc Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient Rebecca Pan
Photo credit: AsianPopUpCinema.org
It’s all in the documentary “Pai Niang Niang: The Last Osmanthus Blossom” on April 20th at AMC Newcity at 5:...
In March 1972, Rebecca Pan self-financed the production of the first ever Mandarin musical, “Pai Niang Niang,” and performed it 60 times at the Princess Theatre (in Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui district). This is a piece of Hk art and cultural history, and an important milestone of Rebecca’s long career. This work used the Broadway musical model to adapt the famous myth “Legend of the White Snake,” and brought together Eastern and Western theatrical styles for the first time.
Apuc Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient Rebecca Pan
Photo credit: AsianPopUpCinema.org
It’s all in the documentary “Pai Niang Niang: The Last Osmanthus Blossom” on April 20th at AMC Newcity at 5:...
- 4/18/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – There was once a Chicago housing project called Cabrini Green, and its legacy was a damning testament to Chicago’s mismanagement of housing for the poor in general. It’s gone now, the victim of gentrification, but its memory lives on in “We Grown Now,” a new release from writer and director Minhal Baig.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
The film is set in 1992, rightly called the beginning of the end for the massive high-rise Chicago Housing Authority complex. Malik and Eric (Blake Cameron James and Gian Knight Ramirez) are best friends and neighbors at Cabrini, idling between school and imaginative play. Malik’s mother Dolores (Jurnee Smolett) and his grandmother Anita (S. Epatha Merkerson) keep body and soul together for their family, along with Eric’s father Jason (Lil Rei Howery). When a fellow child 7-year-old resident Dantrell Davis is killed in a gang related shooting, Dolores takes steps to move out,...
Rating: 4.0/5.0
The film is set in 1992, rightly called the beginning of the end for the massive high-rise Chicago Housing Authority complex. Malik and Eric (Blake Cameron James and Gian Knight Ramirez) are best friends and neighbors at Cabrini, idling between school and imaginative play. Malik’s mother Dolores (Jurnee Smolett) and his grandmother Anita (S. Epatha Merkerson) keep body and soul together for their family, along with Eric’s father Jason (Lil Rei Howery). When a fellow child 7-year-old resident Dantrell Davis is killed in a gang related shooting, Dolores takes steps to move out,...
- 4/17/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – The journey of a thousand miles begins … in the case of “Hard Miles” starring Matthew Modine … with a single pedal. “Hard Miles” joins the pantheon of cycling movies, in this case with Modine portraying a social worker who teaches his life lessons through a bicycling journey with his youthful charges.
The based-on-truth story features Greg (Modine) as a beleaguered social worker at a Colorado juvenile correctional cente, with a passion for bicycle challenges and a revelatory idea for rehabilitation … rounding up an unlikely crew of incarcerated students to complete a transformative 762 mile ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon. To achieve their goal, this determined mentor and his disgruntled teenage squad will battle heat stroke, speed wobbles, mountainous inclines, and most of all each other to come together as a unified team.
Matthew Modine in Chicago, October of 2023
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com
Matthew Modine was born in California,...
The based-on-truth story features Greg (Modine) as a beleaguered social worker at a Colorado juvenile correctional cente, with a passion for bicycle challenges and a revelatory idea for rehabilitation … rounding up an unlikely crew of incarcerated students to complete a transformative 762 mile ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon. To achieve their goal, this determined mentor and his disgruntled teenage squad will battle heat stroke, speed wobbles, mountainous inclines, and most of all each other to come together as a unified team.
Matthew Modine in Chicago, October of 2023
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com
Matthew Modine was born in California,...
- 4/16/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Monday, April 15th is the annual fundraising concert for Chicago’s Porchlight Music Theatre. As part of “Chicago Sings Broadway Pop II,” the company will confer its “Guy Adkins Award” to the award winning actor and musical director, Roberta Duchak. For more information and tickets, click Porchlight.
For more than ten years, Porchlight Music Theatre celebrates an individual who has made an exceptional and lasting contribution to the Chicago music theatre, with the prestigious Guy Adkins Award. Guy Adkins was an award-winning Chicago actor who passed away in 2010, with a number of roles at Chicago Shakespeare, The Goodman, Steppenwolf and more. The Award commemorates Adkin’s spirit and life, in addition to celebrating the many gifts he gave Chicago’s theater community and the world.
Chicago Sings Broadway Pop II
Photo credit: PorchlightMusicTheatre.org/Brett Beiner for Roberta Duchak
The Guy Adkins Awardee Roberta Duchak is an industry-recognized music director,...
For more than ten years, Porchlight Music Theatre celebrates an individual who has made an exceptional and lasting contribution to the Chicago music theatre, with the prestigious Guy Adkins Award. Guy Adkins was an award-winning Chicago actor who passed away in 2010, with a number of roles at Chicago Shakespeare, The Goodman, Steppenwolf and more. The Award commemorates Adkin’s spirit and life, in addition to celebrating the many gifts he gave Chicago’s theater community and the world.
Chicago Sings Broadway Pop II
Photo credit: PorchlightMusicTheatre.org/Brett Beiner for Roberta Duchak
The Guy Adkins Awardee Roberta Duchak is an industry-recognized music director,...
- 4/15/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for the newly released “Indigo Girls: It’s Only Life After All,” the rise and evolution of the singer/songwriter duo Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, also know as The Indigo Girls. In select theaters and through digital download since April 10th.
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Amy Ray and Emily Saliers first met as high schoolers in Decatur, Georgia, and came together in their love for guitar playing and music. They both ended up at Emory University in Atlanta, where the Indigo Girls were born in the 1980s. After releasing singles and the album Strange Fire independently, they had major label success with the self titled Indigo Girls, containing their masterpiece song, “Closer to Fine” (used to great effect in last year’s “Barbie” movie). From there they have released 13 studios albums and four live albums, and have become ardent activists for many causes. The...
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Amy Ray and Emily Saliers first met as high schoolers in Decatur, Georgia, and came together in their love for guitar playing and music. They both ended up at Emory University in Atlanta, where the Indigo Girls were born in the 1980s. After releasing singles and the album Strange Fire independently, they had major label success with the self titled Indigo Girls, containing their masterpiece song, “Closer to Fine” (used to great effect in last year’s “Barbie” movie). From there they have released 13 studios albums and four live albums, and have become ardent activists for many causes. The...
- 4/13/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Campbell, CA – The Pm Theater of New York City will bring a touring production of their Off-Broadway hit “A Star Without a Name” to the Starbright Theater in Campbell, California on April 13th and 14th, 2024 (click here for tickets/info) The following is a review from last weekend’s show (April 7th) in Chicago, Illinois.
“A Star Without a Name” is pure theater, as the Pm stage company weaves a charmer almost cinematically, with distinct/excellent performances, clever production design and an on-stage musical accompaniment that is witty and energetic. Translated from ‘Steaua Fără Nume” by Mihail Sebastian with all of its appeal intact, the melodramatic comedy was adapted and set into English by Ilya Eckstein, and directed by Gera Sandler, also a cast member and award winning actor, featured on Netflix’s “Unorthodox” and “Transatlantic.”
April 13-14, 2024, at the Campbell, California, Starbright Theater
Photo credit: PMTheater.com
The setting...
“A Star Without a Name” is pure theater, as the Pm stage company weaves a charmer almost cinematically, with distinct/excellent performances, clever production design and an on-stage musical accompaniment that is witty and energetic. Translated from ‘Steaua Fără Nume” by Mihail Sebastian with all of its appeal intact, the melodramatic comedy was adapted and set into English by Ilya Eckstein, and directed by Gera Sandler, also a cast member and award winning actor, featured on Netflix’s “Unorthodox” and “Transatlantic.”
April 13-14, 2024, at the Campbell, California, Starbright Theater
Photo credit: PMTheater.com
The setting...
- 4/12/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for the U.S. release of “The Beast,” a science fiction film about the inherent psychological/emotional carriage within us all, co-written and directed by Bertrand Bonello. In select theaters now (see local listings). At Chicago’s Music Box Theatre on April 12th.
Rating: 5.0/5.0
The film involves a woman named Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux) who in 2044 is about to embark on a “DNA cleansing” to take away the trauma her past lives had endured. While going through the process she meets Louis (George MacKay) who gives her a sense of deja vu. It turns out that this couple has been together in a 1910 sense (Belle Époque Paris) and a 2014 sense (in Los Angeles). As the story of those three encounters play out within her cellular energy, the evolution of Gabrielle seems to have something to do with her connection to Louis.
”The Beast...
Rating: 5.0/5.0
The film involves a woman named Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux) who in 2044 is about to embark on a “DNA cleansing” to take away the trauma her past lives had endured. While going through the process she meets Louis (George MacKay) who gives her a sense of deja vu. It turns out that this couple has been together in a 1910 sense (Belle Époque Paris) and a 2014 sense (in Los Angeles). As the story of those three encounters play out within her cellular energy, the evolution of Gabrielle seems to have something to do with her connection to Louis.
”The Beast...
- 4/12/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on Wbgr-fm on April 10th, 2024, reviewing “Arcadian,” a new horror film set during a post apocalyptic event, featuring Nicolas Cage. In theaters on April 12th.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Nicolas Cage is a Dad named Paul in this post apocalyptic world. The invasion that is leading to the destruction of the humanity is a highly mutant race of aliens that are born under the earth and attack the above ground habitants from within that position. This affects the twin boys Joseph and Thomas (Jaeden Martell and Maxwell Jenkins) and they are reluctant survivalists, with Joseph being particularly jealous of a bunkered and wealthier family down the road, where the lovely teenage Charlotte (Sadie Soverall) resides. Can the few survivors continue to exist in such a world?
“Arcadian” is in theaters on April 12th. Featuring Nicolas Cage, Jaeden Martell, Maxwell Jenkins and Sadie Soverall.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Nicolas Cage is a Dad named Paul in this post apocalyptic world. The invasion that is leading to the destruction of the humanity is a highly mutant race of aliens that are born under the earth and attack the above ground habitants from within that position. This affects the twin boys Joseph and Thomas (Jaeden Martell and Maxwell Jenkins) and they are reluctant survivalists, with Joseph being particularly jealous of a bunkered and wealthier family down the road, where the lovely teenage Charlotte (Sadie Soverall) resides. Can the few survivors continue to exist in such a world?
“Arcadian” is in theaters on April 12th. Featuring Nicolas Cage, Jaeden Martell, Maxwell Jenkins and Sadie Soverall.
- 4/11/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on Wbgr-fm on April 10th, 2024, reviewing “Civil War,” a new film by writer/director Alex Garland. In theaters on April 12th.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
The film is set through the point of view of journalists, including photographer Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst), reporters Joel (Wagner Moura) and Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and just-out-of-college photographer Jessie (Cailee Spaeny). The foursome take a journey to the hot point of the battles in Washington, DC, and along the way encounter the ramifications of this second war between the states.
“Civil War” is in theaters on April 12th. Featuring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Jesse Plemons, Nick Offerman and Stephen McKinley Henderson. Written and directed by Alex Garland. Rated “R”
Click Here for Patrick McDonald’s on-air review of “Civil War”
Civil War
Photo credit: A24
Click Here for Patrick McDonald’s...
Rating: 4.5/5.0
The film is set through the point of view of journalists, including photographer Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst), reporters Joel (Wagner Moura) and Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and just-out-of-college photographer Jessie (Cailee Spaeny). The foursome take a journey to the hot point of the battles in Washington, DC, and along the way encounter the ramifications of this second war between the states.
“Civil War” is in theaters on April 12th. Featuring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Jesse Plemons, Nick Offerman and Stephen McKinley Henderson. Written and directed by Alex Garland. Rated “R”
Click Here for Patrick McDonald’s on-air review of “Civil War”
Civil War
Photo credit: A24
Click Here for Patrick McDonald’s...
- 4/11/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – The 20th Century crisis that was World War II resulted in a bloodbath for virtually all of European and Allied countries … except in “neutral” Switzerland. Veteran writer and director Laurent Négre, a Swiss native, pokes the holes of truth into that overinflated neutrality in the imported feature film “A Forgotten Man.”
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Set in 1945 at the final days of World War II, the story involves Heinrich Zwygart (Michael Neuenschwander) … the Swiss Ambassador to Germany … returning home to Geneva with wartime Ptsd and a cache of secrets about the relationship of “neutral” Switzerland to the just-defeated Nazi regime. Thinking he would have a cakewalk in his homecoming, especially with the dirt he has on the Swiss leadership, he is greeted with indifference from his government, wife Clara (Manuela Biedermann), daughter Helene (Cléa Eden) and Helene’s boyfriend Nicolas (Yann Philipona), who pursues the truth for the “school paper.” The past...
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Set in 1945 at the final days of World War II, the story involves Heinrich Zwygart (Michael Neuenschwander) … the Swiss Ambassador to Germany … returning home to Geneva with wartime Ptsd and a cache of secrets about the relationship of “neutral” Switzerland to the just-defeated Nazi regime. Thinking he would have a cakewalk in his homecoming, especially with the dirt he has on the Swiss leadership, he is greeted with indifference from his government, wife Clara (Manuela Biedermann), daughter Helene (Cléa Eden) and Helene’s boyfriend Nicolas (Yann Philipona), who pursues the truth for the “school paper.” The past...
- 4/10/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Objects are about to leap from the screen starting Friday, April 5th, and running through Thursday, April 11th, 2024. Chicago’s historic Music Box Theatre will be the setting for “Triple Threat! A 3-D Series,” a showcase of old and contemporary 3-D films presented in a new digital 3-D system that has to be experienced to be believed. If you’re a fan of 3-D, this is the new frontier. For details, showtimes and ticket information, click 3Rd Dimension.
The Music Box Theatre just installed a brand-new Digital 3D system and are launching this week-long series showcasing the magic of 3D cinema, from contemporary animation (Toy Story 3), auteur cinema, Hollywood classics, horror and sci-fi, and the unclassifiable (Jackass 3D). We even threw some Three Stooges in the mix.
At Chicago’s Music Box Theatre
Photo credit: MusicBoxTheater.com
Manufactured by XpanD, the 3-D system now at the Music Box...
The Music Box Theatre just installed a brand-new Digital 3D system and are launching this week-long series showcasing the magic of 3D cinema, from contemporary animation (Toy Story 3), auteur cinema, Hollywood classics, horror and sci-fi, and the unclassifiable (Jackass 3D). We even threw some Three Stooges in the mix.
At Chicago’s Music Box Theatre
Photo credit: MusicBoxTheater.com
Manufactured by XpanD, the 3-D system now at the Music Box...
- 4/5/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on Wbgr-fm on April 4th, 2024, reviewing “Monkey Man,” a new film by co-writer, director and lead actor Dev Patel (“Slumdog Millionaire”). In theaters on April 5th.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Patel portrays Kat, a mysterious man who wrestles in the underground pits of Yatana (a fictional Mumbai). His wrestling character is based on the Hindu god Hanuman, a half monkey/half man protector. His weird persona is not without a plan, as he uses his underground contacts to infiltrate the VIP room in a private club, where he seeks revenge on the corrupt lawman who aided a religious leader in a takeover of his childhood home, brutally killing his mother. Kat continues to train as the Monkey Man to exact a specific revenge.
“Monkey Man” is in theaters on April 5th. Featuring Dev Patel, Pitobash, Sharito Copley, Vipin Sharma and Sikander Kherr.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Patel portrays Kat, a mysterious man who wrestles in the underground pits of Yatana (a fictional Mumbai). His wrestling character is based on the Hindu god Hanuman, a half monkey/half man protector. His weird persona is not without a plan, as he uses his underground contacts to infiltrate the VIP room in a private club, where he seeks revenge on the corrupt lawman who aided a religious leader in a takeover of his childhood home, brutally killing his mother. Kat continues to train as the Monkey Man to exact a specific revenge.
“Monkey Man” is in theaters on April 5th. Featuring Dev Patel, Pitobash, Sharito Copley, Vipin Sharma and Sikander Kherr.
- 4/5/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – One of the heralded auteur filmmakers of the recent decade is Alice Rohrwacher. The Italian director joins her cinema forebears like Pier Paolo Pasolini and Federico Fellini, both of which she’s been favorable compared to, in creating unique and personal stories that resonant beyond their narrative. Her latest, opening at Chicago’s Music Box Theatre on April 5th, is “La Chimera.”
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Based on her memories as a child of Italy, the term “La Chimera” represents a pursuit that individuals have in the back of their minds and their lives that they somehow find elusive. Rohrwacher puts this in the context of a petty thief and English-speaking expatriate named Arthur (Josh O’Connor), out of jail but reverting back to his skill as a tomb raider for ancient Estrucian artifacts … in the 1980s this was a mania in Italy. His gang is looking for a quick score, but he...
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Based on her memories as a child of Italy, the term “La Chimera” represents a pursuit that individuals have in the back of their minds and their lives that they somehow find elusive. Rohrwacher puts this in the context of a petty thief and English-speaking expatriate named Arthur (Josh O’Connor), out of jail but reverting back to his skill as a tomb raider for ancient Estrucian artifacts … in the 1980s this was a mania in Italy. His gang is looking for a quick score, but he...
- 4/5/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for the newly released “Wicked Little Letters,” a based-on-truth story featuring Olivia Coleman and Jessie Buckley, set in England right after World War One. In theaters on April 5th.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Coleman is Edith, a mousey British woman who lives with her parents and espouses Christian values as her facade. Her neighborhood is disrupted when a saucy war widow named Rose (Jessie Buckley) moves in with a daughter and lover, and espouses a filterless and authentic cussing-like-a-sailor persona. When Rose begins to charm the neighborhood, it coincides with a number of poison pen letters Edith begins to receive, using swear-word language similar to the rhythms of Rose’s speech. Edith’s Dad Edward (Timothy Spall) has Rose arrested, and everyone assumes her guilt except for a handful of neighbors and a woman police officer named Gladys (Anjana Vasan). As the trial approaches,...
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Coleman is Edith, a mousey British woman who lives with her parents and espouses Christian values as her facade. Her neighborhood is disrupted when a saucy war widow named Rose (Jessie Buckley) moves in with a daughter and lover, and espouses a filterless and authentic cussing-like-a-sailor persona. When Rose begins to charm the neighborhood, it coincides with a number of poison pen letters Edith begins to receive, using swear-word language similar to the rhythms of Rose’s speech. Edith’s Dad Edward (Timothy Spall) has Rose arrested, and everyone assumes her guilt except for a handful of neighbors and a woman police officer named Gladys (Anjana Vasan). As the trial approaches,...
- 4/4/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for the newly released “Wicked Little Letters,” a based-on-truth story featuring Olivia Coleman and Jessie Buckley, set in England right after World War One. In theaters on April 5th.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Coleman is Edith, a mousey British woman who lives with her parents and espouses Christian values as her facade. Her neighborhood is disrupted when a saucy war widow named Rose (Jessie Buckley) moves in with a daughter and lover, and espouses a filterless and authentic cussing-like-a-sailor persona. When Rose begins to charm the neighborhood, it coincides with a number of poison pen letters Edith begins to receive, using swear-word language similar to the rhythms of Rose’s speech. Edith’s Dad Edward (Timothy Spall) has Rose arrested, and everyone assumes her guilt except for a handful of neighbors and a woman police officer named Gladys (Anjana Vasan). As the trial approaches,...
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Coleman is Edith, a mousey British woman who lives with her parents and espouses Christian values as her facade. Her neighborhood is disrupted when a saucy war widow named Rose (Jessie Buckley) moves in with a daughter and lover, and espouses a filterless and authentic cussing-like-a-sailor persona. When Rose begins to charm the neighborhood, it coincides with a number of poison pen letters Edith begins to receive, using swear-word language similar to the rhythms of Rose’s speech. Edith’s Dad Edward (Timothy Spall) has Rose arrested, and everyone assumes her guilt except for a handful of neighbors and a woman police officer named Gladys (Anjana Vasan). As the trial approaches,...
- 4/4/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Season 18 of Chicago’s Asian Pop-Up Cinema moves to Week Three on April 4th and 6th with screenings in Evanston (Illinois) at the Block Museum of Art and the Apuc screen headquarters at conveniently located AMC Newcity in Chicago. There will be a director appearance, with meet/greet opportunities and post screening Q&As. For more information and tickets, click Japan for tickets.
On Thursday, April 4th, first time director Yutaka Tsunermachi will appear at the Block Museum screening on behalf of (click title) ”Drifting Flowers, Flowing Days” with Apuc presenting the North American Premiere. On Sunday, April 6th, a Japan double feature will take place at AMC Newcity, with (click) ”Takano Tofu” at 2:30pm and ”Out” at 7pm. Professor Ron Falzone of Chicago’s Columbia College will moderate the Q&a panels and post films.
Left: ‘Drifting Flowers, Flowing Days’ .. Center: ‘Takano Tofu’ .. Right: ‘Out’
Photo credit: AsianPopUpCinema.
On Thursday, April 4th, first time director Yutaka Tsunermachi will appear at the Block Museum screening on behalf of (click title) ”Drifting Flowers, Flowing Days” with Apuc presenting the North American Premiere. On Sunday, April 6th, a Japan double feature will take place at AMC Newcity, with (click) ”Takano Tofu” at 2:30pm and ”Out” at 7pm. Professor Ron Falzone of Chicago’s Columbia College will moderate the Q&a panels and post films.
Left: ‘Drifting Flowers, Flowing Days’ .. Center: ‘Takano Tofu’ .. Right: ‘Out’
Photo credit: AsianPopUpCinema.
- 4/4/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – The heralded Off-Broadway play from 2023 is on tour and headed for Chicago. “A Star Without a Name,” a melodramatic tragicomedy translated from Mikhail Sebastian’s “Steua Fare Nume” will be performed at the Chopin Theatre on April 6th and 7th, 2024. For details and ticket information, click Pm Theater.
The setting of the play is a provincial town in Romania, situated along the popular train route from Bucharest to Sinaia. By sheer chance, an express train makes a quick stop a the town’s only train station, leaving behind a sole passenger: a mysterious young redhead named Mona. Her beauty strikes right through the heart of a simple school teacher, who’s captivated by astronomy. Will their improbable love survive past its cosmic conception or will it combust like so many nameless stars in the sky?
April 6-7, 2024, at Chicago’s Chopin Theatre
Photo credit: PMTheater.com
Presented by New York City’s Pm Theater,...
The setting of the play is a provincial town in Romania, situated along the popular train route from Bucharest to Sinaia. By sheer chance, an express train makes a quick stop a the town’s only train station, leaving behind a sole passenger: a mysterious young redhead named Mona. Her beauty strikes right through the heart of a simple school teacher, who’s captivated by astronomy. Will their improbable love survive past its cosmic conception or will it combust like so many nameless stars in the sky?
April 6-7, 2024, at Chicago’s Chopin Theatre
Photo credit: PMTheater.com
Presented by New York City’s Pm Theater,...
- 4/3/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on Wbgr-fm on March 28th, 2024, reviewing “DogMan,” a new film by director Luc Beeson (“The Fifth Element” “Lucy”), in wide release on April 5th, see local listings.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
The DogMan is Doug (Caleb Landry Jones) and as the movie begins we see him busted by New Jersey law enforcement, where they find several dogs in his truck, and he’s also in drag as Marilyn Monroe. Wanting to get into his motivations, they put their psychiatrist Evelyn (Jojo T. Gibbs) on the case, and she begins to unravel the DogMan’s life, which includes childhood abuse, paralysis and Shakespeare. He also has a psychic connection to the dogs he keeps, using them as an army to protect and do break-ins for him. Finally, because of all these circumstances, he lands a job as a drag queen,...
Rating: 4.0/5.0
The DogMan is Doug (Caleb Landry Jones) and as the movie begins we see him busted by New Jersey law enforcement, where they find several dogs in his truck, and he’s also in drag as Marilyn Monroe. Wanting to get into his motivations, they put their psychiatrist Evelyn (Jojo T. Gibbs) on the case, and she begins to unravel the DogMan’s life, which includes childhood abuse, paralysis and Shakespeare. He also has a psychic connection to the dogs he keeps, using them as an army to protect and do break-ins for him. Finally, because of all these circumstances, he lands a job as a drag queen,...
- 4/2/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Chicago is acknowledged as one of the great comedy cities in the world mostly for The Second City influence. However like other cities, there is an ebb and flow regarding stand-up comedy, and during the late 1980s/early 1990s there was a stand-up boom in the Windy City, chronicled in the film “Out of the Loop.” Producer Scott Perlman provides the context behind the documentary, now available for free on Plex and Tubi, and for download on various platforms.
“Out of the Loop” is familiar documentary form, but there are several twists in the story that occur, exposing the uniqueness of Chicago … one of the main ones being the great divide between Black and White comics, also divided geographically between South and North sides. The truth, in this case, set several comics free and emphasized the lost legend of the late Bernie Mac. Featuring well know and lesser known...
“Out of the Loop” is familiar documentary form, but there are several twists in the story that occur, exposing the uniqueness of Chicago … one of the main ones being the great divide between Black and White comics, also divided geographically between South and North sides. The truth, in this case, set several comics free and emphasized the lost legend of the late Bernie Mac. Featuring well know and lesser known...
- 4/1/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on Wbgr-fm on March 28th, 2024, reviewing “Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in 2 Pieces,” a history of the Wild & Crazy Guy in Then and Now. Streaming on Apple TV+ on March 29th.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
The two part doc is split into two sides of his career. In Part One (“Then”), the development and story of how Steve Martin took comedy to the rock and roll level from the mid-1970s to his abrupt “walking away” from his act in 1980 … at the height of his fame. In Part Two (“Now”), it’s the rest of the story, mostly his film career, but also a unique glimpse of an icon looking backwards through a prism of – given his admittedly shy personality – true satisfaction.
“Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in 2 Pieces” is streaming on Apple TV+ beginning March 29th. Featuring Steve Martin.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
The two part doc is split into two sides of his career. In Part One (“Then”), the development and story of how Steve Martin took comedy to the rock and roll level from the mid-1970s to his abrupt “walking away” from his act in 1980 … at the height of his fame. In Part Two (“Now”), it’s the rest of the story, mostly his film career, but also a unique glimpse of an icon looking backwards through a prism of – given his admittedly shy personality – true satisfaction.
“Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in 2 Pieces” is streaming on Apple TV+ beginning March 29th. Featuring Steve Martin.
- 3/29/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
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