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19 articles
Film Review: Mystery of Stanley Kubrick Explored in ‘Room 237’
23 hours ago
Chicago – Every film buff remembers the first time they laid eyes on director Stanley Kubrick’s memorable horror classic, “The Shining.” In the film, Scatman Crothers’ character warns young Danny, “There ain’t nothing in Room 237…so stay out.” Filmmaker Rodney Ascher has ignored that warning in his documentary, “Room 237,” and takes us inside one of the most analyzed films in cinema history.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
“Room 237” in the film “The Shining” is that room in the Overlook Hotel where everything seemed to happen, and the documentary takes the same approach in revisiting the film. Director Ascher has gathered some of most interesting theories regarding the messages that director Stanley Kubrick hid behind the strange narrative of a scary hotel, the breakdown of a writer and a little boy who can see the evil there. With the digital age – including the ability to stop a film frame-by-frame on a »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
Interviews: ‘Soup Nazi’ Larry Thomas, Director Robert Alaniz, Cast of New Film ‘You Don’t Say!’
5 April 2013 10:34 PM, PDT
Chicago – The “Soup Nazi” is in Chicago. Actor Larry Thomas – who memorably portrayed that character on two episodes of “Seinfeld” – has a role in the new Chicago-based independent film “You Don’t Say!” directed by local veteran filmmaker Robert Alaniz. “You Don’t Say!” premieres on Saturday, April 6th, at the historic Patio Theater in Chicago, with a red carpet and after-film Q&A.
“You Don’t Say!” is Robert Alaniz’s sixth feature film, all independently produced through his Sole Productions company. It’s a comedy about a female corporate climber (Julia Chereson) who gets a mysterious necklace from her boyfriend (Gary Gow), and unknowingly begins to tell the unvarnished truth during a delicate merger between her office and another company. Larry Thomas plays Mr. Melendez, the head of the other company.
On the eve of the red-carpet premiere of “You Don’t Say!” HollywoodChicago.com interviewed Thomas, Director »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
Film Review: ‘Blancanieves’ Contributes to Silent Film Art
5 April 2013 1:57 PM, PDT
Chicago – The silent film, which was revived by the 2011 Best Picture Oscar winner “The Artist,” is honored again in the new film “Blancanieves.” This artful re-imagining of the Snow White story – set in Spanish bullfighting rings – cherishes the feel of silent film, and features clever composition.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
The story in “Blancanieves” is not as strong as “The Artist,” and the Snow White reworking is heavy handed, but director Pablo Berger adds his own outrageous camera work and point-of-view, imbibing the film with both a smart aleck “wink” at the camera and an example of silent film if Orson Welles had been directing back in those days. “Blancanieves” is a passionate night at the movies, unfolding in the clean lines of old time aspect ratio (square rather than rectangular) and mood music that approximates emotions in a varied and expressive way. This is a must see for admirers of the silent film era, »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
Blu-ray Review: Learn a Lesson by Not Seeing ‘Parental Guidance’
5 April 2013 1:34 PM, PDT
Chicago – “Parental Guidance” is embarassingly bad. Why on Earth Billy Crystal chose this anemic, cliched comedy to essentially come back from retirement is something I’ll never understand. Maybe the star of “City Slickers” and Oscar legend thought this would be his “Meet the Parents”. It’s not.
Rating: 1.0/5.0
What really baffles me about “Parental Guidance” is not the predictable comedy that’s basically about as fresh as a stand-up comedian who does a bit about his dad leaving the Vcr blinking on 12:00 but the emphasis on gross-out humor. At one point, a kid pees on an X Games half pipe being skated by Tony Hawk. I think this is officially the moment that skateboarding becomes no longer cool. If the lame jokes weren’t bad enough the lessons about parenting and generational gaps are just embarrassing. Subplots about imaginary friends and speech therapy are handled in ways that Nick Jr. »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
Film Review: ‘Evil Dead’ Gets the Blood But Misses the Pulse
5 April 2013 9:20 AM, PDT
Chicago – When the trailer for Fede Alvarez’s remake of the Sam Raimi classic “Evil Dead” hit the net, horror fans giggled with glee. A gore fest with no CGI made in the spirit of the flick that made Bruce Campbell a star? Sign me up. With the weakened state of the genre overall (last year was a rough one for horror fans), we were kind of banking on this one. And that hope for a creative spark has allowed audiences to overlook the notable flaws of Alvarez’s film. I get it. I want to love it too. But there are times where it’s so hard to do so.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
“Evil Dead” sets out to rattle you from the very beginning. A group of terrified people tie an equally-shattered girl to a wooden beam in the basement of an old cabin. She screams, she cries, she begs the »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
Film Review: Crime, Fatherhood Intersect in ‘The Place Beyond the Pines’
5 April 2013 6:49 AM, PDT
Chicago – Derek Cianfrance’s masterful “The Place Beyond the Pines” is a complex, epic piece of storytelling about the ripple effect of crime through families and across generations. Drastic action does not exist in a vacuum. It influences generations below and those impacted by their parent’s decisions. When motorcycle stuntman Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling) meets the child he didn’t know he had after a fling with the lovely Romina (Eva Mendes), it sets in motion a sequence of events that has the Shakespearian feel of the inevitable. More thematically dense and ambitious than any crime film you’ll see this year and with an incredible ensemble, “The Place Beyond the Pines” is the kind of daring, adult drama that critics bemoan doesn’t get made nearly enough.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Luke and Romina slept together the last time he was coming through Schenectady on his carnival road show. Romina has a man (Mahershala Ali) now, »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
Film Tribute: In Appreciation, Roger Ebert is Why I’m Here
4 April 2013 4:11 PM, PDT
Chicago – When I first walked into the Chicago film critic’s screening room in January of 2008, Roger Ebert was sitting there, in the seat where he always held court. I had met him only a couple times earlier, as just a film buff and his admirer. It was the first time I was to join him as a fellow film critic, and it didn’t seem possible.
The film was Woody Allen’s “Cassandra’s Dream,” as I was playing out my own dream. After the film was over, I went over to Roger Ebert, knelt down – as if to be knighted – and said, “This is my first professional screening as a film critic, and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.” He looked up and squeezed my hand, as by that point cancer had taken away his ability to speak. It is impossible to communicate »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
Film Tribute: Remembering Roger Ebert, Memories from the Screening Room
4 April 2013 3:05 PM, PDT
Chicago – Roger Ebert may have left this world today, but he did not die. He is alive in every moviegoer he guided toward a cinematic epiphany and in every writer who believes that big ideas can be conveyed to and embraced by the masses. The following is a column I wrote five years ago for my college paper, The Columbia Chronicle.
Everyone at Columbia has a hero they look to for artistic inspiration. These could be the deceased artists whose work has influenced generations long before ours. They could also be living legends who can’t go out in public without being followed by 20 burly bodyguards. I consider myself incredibly lucky that my hero is still alive, lives in my town and joins me at a screening room on Lake Street each week.
I think I was about 10 years old when I first began reading the film reviews of Roger Ebert. »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
Breaking Film News: Film Critic Roger Ebert Dies at 70
4 April 2013 1:39 PM, PDT
Chicago – The Chicago Sun-Times has reported that Roger Ebert, beloved and influential film critic at the Chicago Sun-Times, has died today at age 70, of complications due to cancer. Ebert is an icon of film criticism, having won the Pulitzer Prize and creating the popularity of television film critique via the many incarnations of his shows “Sneak Previews” and “At the Movies.”
Ebert was born in Urbana, Illinois, to Walter H. and Annabelle Ebert in 1942. He moved to Chicago in 1966, after graduating from the University of Illnois at Urbana-Champaign. Intending to do graduate work at the University of Chicago, he also took a job at the Chicago Sun-Times, and was named their film critic in 1967.
Roger Ebert, Film Critic, 1942-2013.
Photo credit: Chicago Sun-Times
After taking a year off from his Sun-Times job in 1969 to write the screenplay for Russ Meyer’s cult classic “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls,” Ebert »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
Film Tribute: Legendary Film Critic Roger Ebert Passes Away at 70
4 April 2013 1:35 PM, PDT
Chicago – On Thursday, April 4, 2013, the film industry lost a titan as Roger Ebert succumbed to his long battle with cancer. Far more than just an icon in the film industry, the first film critic to ever win a Pulitzer Prize became so much more than a writer to those who knew him, worked with him, and felt inspired by his unimaginable courage and incredible way with words. Everyone who was inspired by him (which is pretty much everyone who’s ever written a movie review) is shaken to the core today but encouraged by the lasting lessons he taught us all. The movie theater is a little darker tonight.
To many, Roger Ebert will be most remembered as the man who invented, with Gene Siskel, the “thumbs up, thumbs down” way of viewing film but that was only a small part of his legacy. At a time when film critics »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
Interview: Director Rodney Ascher Opens the Door to ‘Room 237’
4 April 2013 10:53 AM, PDT
Chicago – The mystery of Stanley Kubrick is one of his great attributes. He directed a scant 12 major films in a forty year career, each with its own genre-busting stamp. His work has inspired an overall passion for films, numerous analytical studies and a new documentary about the theories behind his 1980 masterpiece, “The Shining.” Rodney Ascher directs this strange and compelling film, “Room 237.”
“Room 237” highlights both the theories of interpretation regarding “The Shining,” and the obsessive nature of film buffs and human beings in general. We are all blessed with a perspective based on our experiences, and “Room 237” (which is the room number in the film’s Overlook Hotel that no one should go into) celebrates those perspectives, by indicating how far we can crawl inside a work of art – to dissect the meaning and what that meaning can tell us. “The Shining,” besides being a spectacularly crafted 1980 “horror” film, »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
TV Review: NBC’s ‘Hannibal’ is Smart, Creepy, Adult Thriller
4 April 2013 8:14 AM, PDT
Chicago – NBC’s “Hannibal” is the best new network drama of the 2012-13 season. It’s a smart, creepy, atmospheric piece of work that perfectly gets the Thomas Harris universe that gave us one of the most memorable villains of all time. Bryan Fuller (“Pushing Daisies”) has proven yet again that he knows how to make engrossing, brilliant television. My only concern is that struggling NBC may not be the best home for it. Don’t make me beg you to watch it. Network TV needs more programming this impressive.
Television Rating: 4.5/5.0
Fans of Harris’s “Red Dragon” (also made into a film as “Manhunter” by Michael Mann), will recognize the complex dynamic between Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen). This is where it began. I hate to use that dreaded word, “prequel,” since it doesn’t really capture what’s going on here. Sure, Fuller and »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
Blu-ray Review: Terrence Malick’s ‘Badlands’ Joins Criterion Collection
3 April 2013 5:15 PM, PDT
Chicago – Any list of the most influential films of the ’70s that doesn’t include Terrence Malick’s brilliant “Badlands” is incomplete. It’s one of those cinematic works that’s so important to its era and how it influenced filmmakers that saw it that it’s hard to put into reviews in a brief review such as this one. It is iconic in the way Malick took the familiar (it’s based on a true story that was well-known at the time) and made it artistic. It’s also a great selection for The Criterion Collection, joining Malick’s “Days of Heaven” and “The Thin Red Line” in the most important series of Blu-rays ever released.
Rating: 5.0/5.0
On the surface, “Badlands” could have been another take on “Bonnie and Clyde,” star-crossed young lovers united and divided by violence. And it would have been a beautifully made film with great »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
Interview: Fede Alvarez Brings His Bloody Vision to ‘Evil Dead’
3 April 2013 1:47 PM, PDT
Chicago – Since that first preview hit the net through to the horror-loving fans embrace of the movie at South by Southwest, Fede Alvarez’s “Evil Dead” has been one of the most anticipated horror flicks in years. The writer/director of the remake of the movie that gave Sam Raimi & Bruce Campbell their careers gave us a call last week to talk gore, the limitless potential of “Evil Dead 2,” and what his movie has in common with “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” and “The Omen.”
Hollywoodchicago.Com: How did you convince the MPAA to give you an R for something so bloody and violent?
Fede Alvarez: I’ve heard the horror stories about the MPAA having people recut and recut and not knowing [what to cut] but it wasn’t like that for us. They were very helpful. The first cut they saw, they said would be Nc-17. They told us if we »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
TV Review: ‘How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life)’
3 April 2013 8:40 AM, PDT
Chicago – How do so many talented comedians end up making such an awful sitcom as ABC’s “How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life)”? The show is proof that the writer is still the king of television and that even a cast this notable can’t save cliched, poorly-written comedy.
Television Rating: 1.5/5.0
“How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life)” almost plays like a spoof of a comedy within a smarter show. It’s that cliched. And there should be a law against the number of jokes about a missing testicle as there are in the premiere. With echoes of “Meet the Fockers” and a long-gone era of situation comedy, “How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life)” just isn’t funny. And that’s coming from someone who has absolutely adored some of the work done »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 30 Pairs of Passes to ‘The Place Beyond the Pines’ With Ryan Gosling
2 April 2013 10:58 PM, PDT
Chicago – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 30 pairs of movie passes up for grabs to the advance screening of the highly recommended “The Place Beyond the Pines”!
“The Place Beyond the Pines,” which is rated “R,” stars Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta, Craig Van Hook, Olga Merediz, Anthony Pizza, Mahershala Ali and Ben Mendelsohn from “Blue Valentine” director Derek Cianfrance.
To win your free “The Place Beyond the Pines” passes courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just get interactive with our unique Hookup technology below. That’s it! This screening is on Thursday, April 4, 2013 at 7 p.m. in Chicago. The more social actions you complete, the more points you score and the higher yours odds of winning! You must be 17+ to win this “R”-rated Hookup.
Before entering, make sure you allow pop-ups.
If viewing this on your phone, click »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
Interview: Joshua Sasse, Leah Gibson of New TV Show ‘Rogue’
2 April 2013 4:17 PM, PDT
Chicago – One of the characteristics of the expanded TV spectrum is new programming from unlikely sources. Directv is debuting a new series for their subscribers, a street drama called “Rogue.” The series features Thandie Newton as a conflicted undercover cop, and co-stars Joshua Sasse and Leah Gibson.
Sasse and Gibson were in Chicago recently to promote the show, and they didn’t want it characterized as a “police drama.” The police element is just part of this gritty and cinematic looking series, which the actors define as more of a family drama. Sasse and Gibson are part of the crime family that Newton’s character infiltrates, and on her personal side she deals with a crumbling home life. The action and the emotion are in the red zone, with all threatening to go “rogue.”
Leah Gibson and Joshua Sasse as Cathy and Alec Laszlo in ‘Rogue’
Photo credit: Directv
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
Interview: Derek Cianfrance Sheds Light on ‘The Place Beyond the Pines’
2 April 2013 7:21 AM, PDT
Chicago – The first image that surfaced of Derek Cianfrance’s “The Place Beyond the Pines,” was that of a bleached blonde, tattooed Ryan Gosling seated on a motorcycle. For many viewers, that would be enough to earn their ticket, yet Cianfrance’s brooding epic is bound to give them far more than they bargained for. Some may feel betrayed, others will be hooked.
With the exception of “Brother Tied,” a 1998 effort Cianfrance dismisses as an “exercise in egomaniacal hubris,” the director’s first major feature film was 2010’s “Blue Valentine,” a shattering drama that juxtaposed the dawn and dusk of a relationship between two lost souls (played by Gosling and an Oscar-nominated Michelle Williams). “Pines” unspools an even more ambitious narrative structure, exploring the impact of violence on two generations of men in purely linear fashion. Each segment in the film’s three-act structure is self-contained, shifting the audience’s »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 15 Pairs of Family 4-Packs to ‘Jurassic Park in 3D’ From Steven Spielberg
31 March 2013 6:59 PM, PDT
Chicago – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 15 pairs of family movie 4-packs up for grabs to the advance screening of the highly anticipated “Jurassic Park in 3D”!
“Jurassic Park in 3D,” which opens on April 5, 2013 in IMAX and 3D and is rated “PG-13,” stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Samuel L. Jackson, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, Joseph Mazzello, Ariana Richards, Bd Wong, Wayne Knight, Gerald R. Molen and Miguel Sandoval from director Steven Spielberg and writer Michael Crichton based on the novel by Michael Crichton.
When you enter to win below, make sure to answer whether you’d prefer two or four tickets! To win your free “Jurassic Park in 3D” passes courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just get interactive with our unique Hookup technology below. That’s it! This screening is on Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at 7 p.m. in downtown Chicago. »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
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