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Wide Release of Divisive Film ???Postal??? From Controversial Director Uwe
2008-05-16 03:13:00
CHICAGO ??? In response to our negative review of the divisive new film ???Postal ??? from controversial director Uwe Boll, Boll e-mailed us with these simple words: Uwe Boll wrote:???You should ask yourself: Who gave me my moral rules? Question yourself. Too bad you didn???t like the movie.??? Uwe Boll’s ???Postal???.Photo credit: MovieSet We responded requesting an interview and he???s amenable. Before we had the chance, Boll at 7:43 p.m. on May 15, 2008 issued to us a statement announcing the cancellation of his film???s wide theatrical release by U.S. theater exhibitors. Unless the boycott lifts, Boll says it???s his latest film that many audiences won???t see at most theaters. ???Theatrical distributors are boycotting ???Postal??? because of its political content,??? Boll said in the Thursday statement. ???We were prepared to open on 1,500 screens all across America on May 23, 2008. Any multiplex in the U.S. should have space for us, but they???re afraid.??? Boll conti...
More About: Film , Controversial , Wide , Release

?The Mark of Zorro? Nails Swordsman, Markedly Complicates Cast, Botches Dia
2008-05-15 08:33:00
CHICAGO ? Sometimes less, of course, is more. Live theater often knows that better than anyone. That?s exactly the shrill reminder Chicago ?s Lifeline Theatre needed in Katie McLean ?s adaptation of the beloved Zorro book by Johnston McCulley. With 13 actors on stage and 19 additional among management and tech, it?s admirable to see so many components attempt to tick soundly together. Unfortunately, this decision didn?t yield an idyllic symphony. Instead, the choice revealed patently weak links. Zorro (James Elly, top) teaches Captain Ramon (Robert Kauzlaric) a bloody lesson in ?The Mark of Zorro?.Photo credit: Suzanne Plunkett ?The Mark of Zorro? would have been exceedingly enhanced by replicating the talent of James Elly ? who in his Clark Kent-like mode played Don Diego Vega and then played Zorro when it was time for Superman ? as well as Rosa de Guindos as Lolita. His no-romance attempts to woo her were surprisingly comical. Her disenchanted response to his worldly goods is wh...
More About: Hollywood , Content , Cast

Star-Crossed Lovers Create Road to Ruin in ?Before the Rains?
2008-05-14 05:37:00
CHICAGO ? By its very nature, colonialism is bad karma waiting to happen. You are a sovereign nation with weaponry and a desire for treasure. While you invade and take over a country with that treasure, it also comes with a society you don?t understand. You stir in religious dogma, native slavery and the defiling of lands and create an evil stew that?s ripe to boil over. The country of India was a prime example of this scenario. The British got their bad karma handed back to them as depicted in the new film ?Before the Rains?. Read Patrick McDonald?s full review of ?Before the Rains? in our reviews section.View our full, high-resolution ?Before the Rains? image gallery. Set in 1937, the film begins with a British spice baron named Henry Moores (Linus Roache) who?s surveying a mountain upon which he plans to build a road. His right-hand man, T.K. Neelan (Rahul Bose), is a native of the surrounding Indian territory who lends his support to the outsider project by recruiting villag...
More About: Star , Lovers , Ruin , Road , Create

Interview: Chiwetel Ejiofor on American Samurai Journey ?Redbelt? From Mind
2008-05-14 01:04:00
CHICAGO ? Chiwetel Ejiofor (pronounced choo-ih-tell edge-o-for) has been a stalwart film actor ever since his dramatic debut in Steven Spielberg ?s ?Amistad?. Since then, he has been a go-to character actor for directors as diverse as Spike Lee, Woody Allen and Stephen Frears. His latest film is ?Redbelt,? which is written and directed by the great Chicago playwright David Mamet. Ejiofor plays Mike Terry: a jujitsu master caught between his passion for the martial art discipline and the outside forces that want to exploit his talent for commercial means. Chiwetel Ejiofor (left) and John Machado in ?Redbelt?.Photo by Lorey Sebastian | © The Redbelt Company | Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics Mamet weaves a compelling tale that?s set in modern Hollywood . It mixes the movies, an emerging new spectator sport and the men who desire the power associated with ownership in both media. Cyril Takayama in ?Redbelt?.Photo by Lorey Sebastian | © The Redbelt Company | Courtesy of Sony Pict...
More About: Journey , Interview

Chicago?s ?Shout! The Mod Musical? an Infectiously Groovilicious, Estrogen-
2008-05-12 06:17:00
CHICAGO ? Meg Ryan, eat your heart out. Since ?When Harry Met Sally,? the salacious Danielle Plisz as Green Girl in ?Shout ! The Mod Musical ? takes Ryan?s infamous restaurant eruption to a whole new level on stage. ?Shout! The Mod Musical? in Chicago .Photo credit: Ben Strothmann Blue Girl (Lauren Fijol), Red Girl (Megan Long), Yellow Girl (Maggie Portman), Orange Girl (Amy Steele) and Amanda Danskin in the ensemble match Plisz?s energy in a performance that flips through the 1960s like a musical diva songbook. All cast members of the Chicago production are local talent. The musical is the story of five fab women in London being liberated as children of the swinging 60s with the hair, heart and soul of the twist-and-shout generation. Though you miss Mike Myers as the seminal 1960s Austin Powers character, there?s plenty of sass and sauce in this exclusive estrogen stew. The performance is replete with feel-good tunes you?re sure to recognize (regardless of your age) including ?The...

Interview: ?Son of Rambow? Director Garth Jennings Unleashes Power of Child
2008-05-09 18:41:00
CHICAGO ? A preacher delivering a sidewalk sermon followed by a boy?s inventive doodles and drawings are the opening images that launch ?Son of Rambow?. This sets the tone for the unyielding power of childhood imagination that the filmmakers unleash upon moviegoers. Set in the 1980s, two boys obsessed with the Rambo film ?First Blood? are on a mission to make their own home video for a BBC screen test titled ?Son of Rambow?. A hilarious and touching story ensues about cultural differences, friendship and boyhood dreams. Will Poulter (left) and Bill Milner in ?Son of Rambow?.Photo credit: Paramount Vantage In the Hollywood Chicago .com interview with ?Son of Rambow? director Garth Jennings (director of 2005?s ?The Hitchhiker?s Guide to the Galaxy?) and producer Nick Goldsmith, these two have exposed not only their heart and soul in creating this feature but they have also touched on experiences from their own childhood adventures. After learning that Jennings based some of its stor...
More About: Power , Interview , Content

?Speed Racer? Condemns Franchise Dignity, Delivers Sensorial Explosion
2008-05-09 08:45:00
CHICAGO ? While Hollywood slapped ?PG? on the hotly anticipated ?Speed Racer? to line its pocketbooks with the widest hodgepodge of people (ahem: kids) everywhere, those same kids will leave the theater with that lollipop nearly sucked to the stick but then yanked away with confusion. Rather than the ?go!? marketing hype, this is a stop-and-go proposition. Chicago brothers Larry Wachowski and Andy Wachowski are ultimately wrangling with a clear identity crisis of who this film is meant for. Is it the 1967 crowd who adored the American anime version following the Japanese manga creation? Is it for today?s children who didn?t grow up with the franchise but will magically identify with it from scratch because it?s on the big screen? Perhaps it?s for ?The Matrix? crowd who slobber over the Wachowski?s sensory orgy? Read Adam Fendelman?s full review of ?Speed Racer? in our reviews section.View our full, high-resolution ?Speed Racer? image gallery. A slathering of all of the above wil...
More About: Movie Review , Christina Ricci , Gowan

Interview: ?Standard Operating Procedure? Director Errol Morris Discusses E
2008-05-07 07:39:00
CHICAGO ? Here is the legendary documentarian Errol Morris on the infamous 2003 photographs taken at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, which are the subject of his new film entitled ?Standard Operating Procedure?: There was another bad thing about the photographs. They led into a kind of weird dogmatism: ?Oh, I know what is in that photograph. I understand what is in that photograph. [Sic] you. It means this or no it doesn?t it means that. Whatever.? You can?t just do that. Investigation is therapy. You have to investigate. You have to make an effort to find out (not once and for all) but you have to ? to the best of your abilities ? ascertain what was going on. Director Errol Morris on the set of ?Standard Operating Procedure?.Photo credit: Nubar Alexanian | © 2007 Max Ave Productions | Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics This latest film is an intense and sorrowful examination of the morality behind these infamous digital pictures. Most of them depict American soldiers conducting ...
More About: Hollywood , George Bush , Chicago , Dick Cheney , Interview

?Iron Man? Sits Indisputably in Club of Highest-Rated Superhero Movies Ever
2008-05-02 18:53:00
CHICAGO ? Move over, Superman. This lush, high-octane playboy never tasted so good. Robert Downey Jr. fittingly opens ?Iron Man? with a cocktail in hand and all the arrogance in the world. As the story goes, his conceit is indeed respected as Earth is his oyster both for the playing and for the taking. With the American marketing machine in full effect for 2008?s first summer blockbuster, the inaugural one lives up to the buildup. ?Iron Man? has already not only etched itself the mark of the first indisputable blockbuster of 2008 and one of the best-reviewed films so far in 2008 but also one of the highest-rated superhero movies of all time ? yes, of all time. The film deserves every million it makes. Read Adam Fendelman?s full review of ?Iron Man? in our reviews section.View our massive, high-resolution ?Iron Man? image gallery. Even before he?s Iron Man, Downey Jr. is authentically transformative as the lush, cash-flushed, comedic, all-powerful and all-knowing Tony Stark. Even...
More About: Hollywood , Movies , Gwyneth Paltrow , Jodie Foster , Chicago

Chicago?s Political Machine Runs Relatively Swimmingly in Strawdog Theatre?
2008-05-01 15:52:00
CHICAGO ? As a testament to its set design, it wasn?t immediately clear if certain structures were naturally part of the Strawdog Theatre space or if they were fabricated specifically for the ?Old Town? production. It turned out to be the latter as this story of Chicago ?s political machine unfolded with song, dance, wit, a relatively large cast and a 10-piece live band. In double-sworded fate, this relatively large cast turned out to be both a blessing and also its burden. The story?s set at a fictional hotel on election night where the Weltz dynasty wrangles with the Chicago voting public. Despite characters galore, Kat McDonnell as Cindy Weltz ? the daughter of the man who?s currently running but just can?t cut it ? melts nearly everyone else away. Karen Mosher (Shannon Hoag, left) digs up a scandal between the Cook County president?s daughter (Cindy Weltz) (played by Kat McDonnell, center) and campaign manager Daniel Deering (John Ferrick, right) in Brett Neveu?s world-premiere...
More About: Political , Machine , Runs

Uwe Boll Pukes Out Another Opus of Insufferable Screen Time in ?Postal?
2008-04-30 08:08:00
CHICAGO ? At the Chicago screening of ?Postal ? for critics, director Uwe Boll introduced his new film as a personal ?The Kentucky Fried Movie? attacking the heart of America. Boll ? a German national ? has produced several ?B?-grade movies in both Germany and the U.S. However, ?Postal? is his first attempt at writing and directing within the American market. Including ?Postal,? his last few films have all been notorious cinematic adaptations of controversial video games. Boll?s opening rant prior to the ?Postal? screening offered his personal disgust for this forced and depraved genre. Poking fun at himself and his filmmaking, this charismatic director expressed his political angst and outlandish humor to the audience and had them laughing and commiserating before the screening even began. Read Allison Pitaccio?s full review of ?Postal? in our reviews section.View our full ?Postal? image gallery. I initially took this as a good omen and my previous notions of ?B? cinema began to...
More About: Screen , Time

Sobering Documentary ?At the Death House Door? to Premiere in Chicago From
2008-04-27 08:36:00
CHICAGO ? The Texas ?killer burger? is literally sold right across the street from a state-mandated death house that brings convicted felons to their legal demise. While the death penalty is believed by many to serve a sort of justice to the guilty the majority of the time, what happens when the wrongly accused fall prey, too? Moreover, is it ultimately right to even treat the guilty with such eye-for-an-eye repercussion? The documentary ?At the Death House Door? from ?Hoop Dreams? filmmakers Steve James and Peter Gilbert will have a one-week engagement in Chicago at the Gene Siskel Film Center beginning on May 10, 2008.Image credit: The Independent Film Channel The United States has wavered back and forth in its stance on the death penalty. Advocates for and opponents against it are large and fervent on both sides of the fence. Some 18 years later, Chicago Tribune reporters Steve Mills and Maury Possley in 2005 began investigating inconsistent evidence in the case of Carlos De ...
More About: Hollywood , Documentary , Content

Pie Maker, Loony Boy Steal Rightful Spotlight From Sweeney Todd in Chicago
2008-04-25 23:17:00
CHICAGO ? While Johnny Depp ?s portrayal of the demon barber of Fleet Street in the 2007 film iteration sells you on his fiendish ways, actor and singer David Hess in the musical bobbles more in purgatory rather than living hysterically in hell. In the musical thriller ?Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,? which has a two-week Chicago engagement now through May 4, 2008, two other supporting characters ? the pie-making Mrs. Lovett and the batty Tobias ? rise above to take top presence prizes. The musical ?Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street?.Image credit: The Marketing Group While Hess doesn?t underwhelm and is a sound selection for the lead role, neither does he overwhelm in the ferocious way he needs to. The production with only 10 actors and musicians, which began in 2005 by British director John Doyle as a financial necessity, stayed that personal in future productions as an artistic choice. ?It?s a positive way at looking at smallness and intimacy,? Do...
More About: Hollywood , Content , Helena Bonham Carter

New Poster Surfaces For ?The Dark Knight?: ?Welcome to a World Without Rule
2008-04-25 05:49:00
CHICAGO ? The Joker played nice on Thursday and delivered new fan fruit for ?The Dark Knight?: a movie poster sporting the new statement ?welcome to a world without rules?. He used his popular viral site WhySoSerious.com to unleash the award. Feast your eyes on the new poster below. View a high-resolution version here. View our full image gallery here for ?The Dark Knight?. Read our extensive ?The Dark Knight? coverage here. Stay tuned for another marvel in four days, too, which is speculated to be a new trailer. This new poster for ?The Dark Knight? was revealed on April 24, 2008 from a WhySoSerious.com viral marketing campaign. View a high-resolution version here.Image credit: Warner Bros. ?The Dark Knight? from Warner Bros., which features Heath Ledger , Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal , Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy and Anthony Michael Hall, is scheduled to hit theaters everywhere on July 18, 2008. By ADAM FENDELMANEditor-in-Chief...
More About: Hollywood , World , Chicago

Tepid Con Job Spoils Sexual Intrigue in ?Deception? With Ewan McGregor
2008-04-25 05:48:00
CHICAGO ? Despite its timid title, ?Deception? has all the right ingredients for a decent tale of mystery: a strong premise, sound acting and the famous femme fatale. It even starts with a promising conviction: How does a background player in life deal with initiation into a secret society? The real mystery is why this strong beginning led to a such weak and conventional conclusion. Ewan McGregor portrays Jonathan McQuarry: a mousy accountant who specializes in corporate audit assignments. His life is long hours, ever-changing clients and little social reward. Read Patrick McDonald ?s full review of ?Deception? in our reviews section.View our full ?Deception? image gallery. The List is a sex club that allows anonymous coupling with no strings attached. It?s used by power brokers who presumably have no time for relationship entanglements. McQuarry is let in on The List when he accidentally switches phones with Bose and the encounters start ringing him up. One such encounter ? the ...
More About: Hollywood , Chicago , Movie Review , Content

John Cusack is Mad Scientist?s Hunchbacked Lab Assistant in Animated ?Igor?
2008-04-25 03:49:00
CHICAGO ? Chicago?s John Cusack will play a mad scientist?s hunchbacked lab assistant in the animated feature film ?Igor ? from The Weinstein Company. Igor?s greatest aspiration is to win a first-place prize at an annual evil science fair. The film also features voice talent from Jay Leno, Arsenio Hall, Eddie Izzard, Molly Shannon, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Jennifer Coolidge and James Lipton (who plays himself). ?Igor? is slated for release on Sept. 19, 2008. The official teaser poster for the film was released on Thursday and can be viewed below. Our interview with Cusack on the film ?Grace is Gone? can be listened to here. Teaser poster art for ?Igor? with John Cusack from The Weinstein Company. View a high-resolution version here.Image credit: The Weinstein Company By ADAM FENDELMANEditor-in-ChiefHollywoodChicago. comadam@hollywoodchicago.com
More About: Scientist , Animated

Hookup: 25 Admit-Two Run-of-Engagement Passes For ?Young@Heart? in Chicago
2008-04-24 08:14:00
CHICAGO ? Following our recent interview with ?Young@Heart ? director Stephen Walker, choral director Bob Cilman and choral member Dora Morrow, we?re now announcing a new Hollywood Chicago .com Hookup: Film that you?re guaranteed to win so long as you reply in time. These free, admit-two passes can be used in Chicago throughout the run of the film. RELATED READING?Young@Heart? interviews (April 18, 2008)?Young@Heart? audio interview (April 20, 2008)RELATED IMAGE GALLERYView our full ?Young@Heart? gallery As these are run-of-engagement passes, they can be used any time Monday through Thursday for complimentary admission to regularly scheduled screenings at Landmark?s Century Centre Cinema (2828 N. Clark St.) in Chicago. Since these are movie theatre-approved passes that must be printed on specific paper, winners will need to supply us with your physical mailing address so they can be mailed to you via postal mail. The film documents the true story of the final weeks of rehearsal for...
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?Deal? is No Big Deal as Career of Burt Reynolds Fades Away
2008-04-24 07:22:00
CHICAGO ? Poor Burt Reynolds. As the No. 1 box-office star from 1978 to 1982, he revived his film career in 1997 with ?Boogie Nights?. Since then, he has had the long, slow decline of ?B? movies and bad remakes. Reynolds even tainted his own legacy by participating in the horrible 2005 redo of ?The Longest Yard?. Will he ever get the one last script that will return him to glory? The film ?Deal? isn?t it. Reynolds plays Tommy Vinton: a mysterious stranger who begins observing young poker hotshot Alex (Bret Harrison). Read Patrick McDonald?s full review of ?Deal? in our reviews section.View our full, high-resolution ?Deal? image gallery. Alex is from the Internet age and won an online contest to get to the World Series of Poker. Tommy is an old-school, professional poker player from the 1970s whose luck ran out shortly thereafter. He hasn?t played in 20 years on a promise to his wife. Tommy sees something in the Internet hotshot, though, and on the sly begins to coach him and ban...
More About: Hollywood , Shannon Elizabeth , Chicago , Movie Review , Content

Considering Sore Subject Matter of ?Chapter 27,? ?Why?? is Only Plausible R
2008-04-22 05:07:00
CHICAGO ? As a contemporary of the John Lennon assassination in 1980 and an ardent admirer of the late Beatle, I had a hard time figuring out the reasons for making the film ?Chapter 27?. Over the years, it has been difficult if not impossible to forgive Mark David Chapman for his wasteful act of murdering Lennon. So why relive the agony through an oblique film exercise and reference to ?The Catcher in the Rye,? which is the novel Chapman was reading when captured by police after the shooting? Read Patrick McDonald?s full review of ?Chapter 27? in our reviews section.View our full, high-resolution ?Chapter 27? image gallery. Chapman is portrayed by Jared Leto . The film begins with the journey from his home in Hawaii to New York City. He?s there because he harbors a delusion that he is John Lennon and the real individual has no business still roaming the Earth. He seems a man without a country or a functioning brain cell. He sets himself up outside The Dakota, which is a famously...
More About: Hollywood , Lindsay Lohan , Chicago , Movie Review

Paramount Pictures Releases Flood of New Production Stills For ?Iron Man?
2008-04-21 20:40:00
CHICAGO ? Paramount Pictures on Monday released a flood of new production stills for the highly anticipated film ?Iron Man? with Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow , Jeff Bridges, Samuel L . Jackson, Hilary Swank , Leslie Bibb and Stan Lee. Directed by Jon Favreau, the film opens on May 2, 2008. While we have several of the new, high-quality production stills below, you can view our massive new photo gallery here in full. Click ?Original? on each photo for high-quality versions. In our updated gallery, photos 19 through 40 are all new from Monday. We last published the release of new ?Iron Man? production stills on Feb. 4, 2008. View our massive, high-quality ?Iron Man? photo gallery. By ADAM FENDELMANEditor-in-ChiefHollywood Chicago. comadam@hollywoodchicago.com

?The Visitor? Works Out America?s Demons Following Sept. 11, 2001
2008-04-21 06:07:00
CHICAGO ? ?The Visitor? is a subtle film. Created by the unique talent of writer and director Thomas McCarthy ? who also generated the equally subtle world of ?The Station Agent? ? this new work explores the nature of who belongs where. It?s outside the artificial borders of countries and city states and more toward the intuitive virtues of the emotional state that bonds us to each other. Richard Jenkins ? best known as the recurring dead father on ?Six Feet Under? ? plays the role of a lifetime as Walter Vale: a burnt-out professor of economics at a Connecticut university. Read Patrick McDonald?s full review of ?The Visitor? in our reviews section.View our full, high-resolution ?The Visitor? image gallery. His wife ? a reputable concert pianist ? has recently died. The emptiness of the new circumstance is etched upon his soul. Forced to attend a conference in New York City, Walter opens up an apartment he owns there only to find squatters living inside. Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) is ...
More About: Hollywood , America , Chicago , Movie Review , Content

Full Audio Interview: ?Young@Heart? Director Stephen Walker on Documentary?
2008-04-21 05:00:00
CHICAGO ? Following up on our ?Young@Heart? interviews in text form, we now publish our full audio interview with ?Young@Heart? director Stephen Walker. He recently spoke with Hollywood Chicago .com critic Patrick McDonald about his journey to make the documentary including his decisions about the look, character and essence of the senior-citizen choral group members profiled in the film. Listen to our full audio interview with ?Young@Heart? director Stephen Walker. ?Young@Heart? director Stephen Walker.Photo credit: Wright State University
More About: Audio , Documentary , Interview

Interview: John, Brad Hennegan Project Passion For Ponies in ?The First Sat
2008-04-18 22:42:00
CHICAGO ? What are you doing the first Saturday in May? Whether the answer is you?re watching the Kentucky Derby on its traditional date or if it?s anything else, the new film ?The First Saturday in May? will satisfy both responses. Barbaro.Photo credit: Bill Denver at Equi Photo This is a passionate documentary about the behind-the-scenes trainers and workers who push day in and day out for the elusive goal of getting their 2-year-old racehorse in the Kentucky Derby. It?s accessible enough to charm even non-fans while being comprehensive enough for rabid followers of the sport. Brad Hennegan in Dubai in March 2006.Photo credit: Truly Indie ?The First Saturday in May? follows six horses and their training staffs from preliminary races to the big day. Statistics show that only 20 make the derby of 40,000 eligible horses bred per year. The 20 are determined by purse totals in the preliminary races and each training group the filmmakers chose to profile has a shot to make it. H...
More About: Hollywood , Chicago , Project , Passion , Interview

?Zombie Strippers? an Intentionally Killer ?B? Movie That Loves the Skin It
2008-04-18 18:00:00
CHICAGO ? As the title implies, ?Zombie Strippers? has everything and more. How many films about strippers who are zombies also quote the bible and Friedrich Nietzsche? This film is loads of fun because it has loads of everything. Like nudity? Like bodily gore? Like sly political and military commentary? Love Robert ?Freddy Krueger? Englund? Yeah, it?s all in ?Zombie Strippers?. The film begins in a shadowy lab corporation where an experiment has gone awry. In the not-too-distant future, the fourth term of the Bush administration (certainly the scariest concept in the film) has engendered perpetual war. Read Patrick McDonald?s full review of ?Zombie Strippers? in our reviews section.View our full, high-resolution ?Zombie Strippers? image gallery. With the army spread too thin, experiments with a chemical virus to raise the dead have the potential to establish a zombie army. The regenerative effect, though, has been released in the lab. A special unit of military defense is calle...
More About: Hollywood , Movie , Skin , Jenna Jameson , Chicago

Judd Apatow Again Fashions Gimmick Into Gold in Uproarious ?Forgetting Sara
2008-04-18 18:00:00
CHICAGO ? After being blitzed by an onslaught of attention-demanding advertising that begged the question ?who is Sarah Marshall?? even before you realized it?s a film, anticipation was ravenous. It became nothing short of voracious upon learning it?s backed by producer Judd Apatow of ?Superbad,? ?Knocked Up,? ?Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,? ?The 40-Year-Old Virgin? and ?Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy? fame (also with high hopes for his ?Pineapple Express,? which opens on Aug. 8, 2008). Read Adam Fendelman?s full review of ?Forgetting Sarah Marshall? in our reviews section.View our huge ?Forgetting Sarah Marshall? image gallery. Through his Apatow Productions company, Apatow has made beaucoup bucks and a mountainous name by banding together the same stooges time and time again. In ?Forgetting Sarah Marshall,? we?re treated to the return of Bill Hader and Jonah Hill (both in Apatow?s ?Superbad? and ?Knocked Up? together). While it?s still early in the year a...
More About: Hollywood , Kristen Bell , Chicago , Movie Review , Gold

Blueberries Meet Luscious Taste Buds in ?My Blueberry Nights? With Jude Law
2008-04-18 16:01:00
CHICAGO ? We see sensual close-up shots of blueberry pie overflow with aqueducts of vanilla ice cream in Wong Kar-Wai?s opening sequence of ?My Blueberry Nights?. This dreamy scene sets the tone of the latest film from the famous Chinese director as he confronts the West with his unique cinematic style. Split into three separate stories, the film begins in a bohemian New York café owned by Jeremy (Jude Law ) where Elizabeth (Norah Jones) discovers that her boyfriend has left her for another woman. Distraught, she leaves her keys with sympathetic Jeremy and hopes her ex will pick them up at the café and be out of her life forever. Elizabeth seeks comfort in Jeremy?s companionship and accepts his advice over leftover blueberry pie. Still, her heart is broken. Elizabeth decides she must go on a journey to reinvent herself. Read Allison Pitaccio?s full review of ?My Blueberry Nights? in our reviews section.View our full, high-resolution ?My Blueberry Nights? image gallery. She travel...
More About: Hollywood , Natalie Portman , Chicago , Rachel Weisz

Interview: If You Should Survive to a Hundred and Five, You Can End Up ?You
2008-04-18 09:12:00
CHICAGO ? At the base of its premise as a documentary, ?Young@Heart ? seems like a can?t-miss proposition. Take a senior-citizen choral group and have them sing rock ?n? roll. But what really emerges is an essence and poignancy that goes beyond the black and white of just singing the rock songs. As the ?Grateful Dead? once sang: ?In every silver lining there is a touch of grey.? Director of the ?Young@Heart? chorus Bob Cilman.Photo credit: Brandy Eve Allen Hollywood Chicago .com recently interviewed three of the major components of ?Young@Heart?. For starters, there?s the amazing persona and life of one of the key choral members: the 86-year-old Dora B. Morrow. Next, there?s eclectic choral director Bob Cilman. Finally, there?s the British director who brought all the elements together to create the whole picture: Stephen Walker. ?When I first saw them,? said director Walker, ?and I start the movie with this, there was Eileen Hall. She?s a 92-year-old woman who tottered up to the m...
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Interview: Boisterous Morgan Spurlock on Latest Film ?Where in the World is
2008-04-15 06:57:00
CHICAGO ? Morgan Spurlock wants to change the world. The creator and filmmaker who took on fast-food giant McDonald?s in his first film (?Super Size Me?) is now taking on the current global war on terror and the image of the most wanted terrorist in his new film ?Where in World is Osama Bin Laden?? Traveling to the ?hot spots? in the Middle East including Afghanistan, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, Spurlock talks both to the leaders and people of the regions. Morgan Spurlock in his new documentary ?Where in World is Osama Bin Laden??.Photo credit: Daniel Marracino, The Weinstein Company RELATED READINGRead more news about ?Where in World is Osama Bin Laden??Read more film reviews from critic Patrick McDonald Not only does he light-heartedly search for the elusive Bin Laden but he also tries to promote understanding about why a harmful byproduct like terrorism can emerge from religious and political movements. HollywoodChicago.com recently interviewed Spu...
More About: Film , Interview , The World

Ellen Page?s ?Smart People? Only as Scholarly as Zealous Senior in High Sch
2008-04-11 09:30:00
CHICAGO ? I?m flummoxed. I know ?Smart People ? was supposed to be comedic drama with a splash of romance. Instead, I have been misled. It?s not a comedy. It?s not a tragedy. It?s not even a tragicomedy. ?Smart People? is a blandly scripted ?poor me? with an attempt at a plot and some glitzy Hollywood names thrown in for good box-office measure. While I know this was no ?Juno,? I couldn?t help cursing first-time writer Mark Poirier for not taking a much-needed page ? or a full-fledged course of mentoring ? from Oscar-winning ?Juno? inker Diablo Cody. Read Adam Fendelman?s full review of ?Smart People? in our reviews section.View our full ?Smart People? image gallery. ?Smart People? is also a product of another newbie: first-time director Noam Murro. Since her ?Juno? stardom in 2007 ? and actually her big-screen break out even before that in 2005?s ?Hard Candy? ? 21-year-old Ellen Page has righteously warranted her way on Hollywood?s ?A? list. My draw to ?Smart People? was Page an...
More About: Senior , High

Interview: Blind Man, Teens Literally Scale Mountains in Awe-Inspiring ?Bli
2008-04-10 09:42:00
CHICAGO ? Set in the humbling peaks of the Himalayas, the Robson Entertainment documentary ?Blindsight? redefines the true meaning of inspiration. East confronts West in this film that captures the journey of six blind Tibetan teenagers led by blind mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer to a place higher than anyone could ever imagine. Erik Weihenmayer (left) and Tashi in ?Blindsight?.Photo credit: Robson Entertainment Filmed among the highest peaks in the world, director Lucy Walker examines the Weihenmayer?s pursuit ? the only blind man to have climbed Mount Everest ? along with teacher Sabriye Tenberken (the founder of a Tibetan school for the blind) in their pursuit toward solidarity. RELATED IMAGE GALLERYView our full, high-resolution ?Blindsight? image galleryRELATED READINGRead more film reviews from critic Allison Pitaccio Together they lead six blind teenagers toward the 23,000-foot peak of Lhakpa Ri, which is next to Mount Everest. The team faces altitude sickness, end...
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