Podtalk: Dacre Montgomery & Cary Elwes on 'Stranger Things 3'
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 3, 2019 - 6:07pm
Patrick McDonald
The Duffer Brothers
CHICAGO – Season Three of "Stranger Things," one of the hottest TV series in the last couple of years, is launching on Netflix on July 4th, 2019. The series is going back to the world of Indiana and the "Upside Down," and joining the cast – which includes Dacre Montgomery as Billy Hargrove – is veteran actor Cary Elwes.
Film Review: Truth Upstages Fiction Again in 'Three Identical Strangers'
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 6, 2018 - 10:03am
Bobby Shafran
Nuture
Phil Donahue
Tom Brokaw
CHICAGO – The eternal debate of what affects human development more, our nature or our nurturing, opens up again in the wild story of "Three Identical Strangers," a new documentary about triplets who were separated at birth, only to discover each other by chance and uncover some difficult truths about that separation.
Film Review: Tom Cruise in 'American Made' Never Gets Off the Ground
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 29, 2017 - 10:27am
Domhnall Gleason
Iran Contra
Sarah Wright
Spike Walters
CHICAGO – Tom Cruise was once a Top Gun, but his newest film "American Made" never really takes off. It wants to be a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction kind of satire where commercial airline pilot Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) winds up getting involved in the Iran Contra Affair and the Medellín drug cartel, but it never creates an enthralling place or story.
Film Review: Matthew McConaughey is All That Glitters in 'Gold'
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 27, 2017 - 12:24pm
TWC-Dimension
CHICAGO – The relish that Matthew McConaughey displays in creating his latest character in "Gold," a Willy Loman-type mining exec who is looking for his biggest score, is most of the reason to experience the film. However, there isn't exactly a motherlode when it comes to the story.
Interview: Director Steve Chan Hits a Home Run with 'Weeds on Fire'
AMC River East 21
Asian Pop-Up Cinema
Kai Chi Liu
Sing-Pui O
Sophia Wong Boccio
Tony Wu
Weeds on Fire
CHICAGO – The most American game of baseball gets a new spin in the film "Weeds on Fire," directed by Steve Chan. The story explores a youth team in the 1980s whose exploits coincided with a renaissance in Hong Kong. The film is screening on Sep. 21st, 2016, at the AMC River East 21 in Chicago, part of the Asian Pop-Up Cinema series (details below).
Film Review: 'Everybody Wants Some!!' Gets Lost in Misty Nostalgia
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 1, 2016 - 2:06pm
Everybody Wants Some!!
Juston Street
Will Brittain
Zoey Deutsch
CHICAGO – When the first strains of "My Sharona" by The Knack come out of the car speakers of a dude going to college in 1980, as "Everybody Wants Some!!" began, my do-you-remember-when sense tingled. The film's story, unfortunately, could not match that feeling of nostalgia.
Interview: Comedian Barry Crimmins of 'Call Me Lucky' at 2015 Chicago Critics Film Festival
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 6, 2015 - 4:40pm
Barry Crimmins
Bobcat Goldthwait HollywoodChicago.com Content
CCFF
Chicago Critics Film Festival
Kevin Meany
Margaret Cho
Music Box Theatr
CHICAGO – One of the more emotionally stunning screenings at the Chicago Critics Film Festival (CCFF) was a film about a comedian. Barry Crimmins is a beloved comic, with a stable of famous friends. But he also had a secret in his past, and it's all explored in "Call Me Lucky," directed by fellow comic traveler Bobcat Goldthwait.
Interview: BADASSS Winner Julien Temple at 2015 Chicago CIMMfest
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 19, 2015 - 2:39pm
Absolute Beginners
Chicago International Movies & Music Festival
CIMMfest
Earth Girls Are Easy
The Filth and the Fury
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
The Sex Pistols
CHICAGO – In receiving the official BADASSS Award at the 2015 Chicago International Movies & Music Fest (CIMMFest), legendary rock documentary maker Julien Temple simply said, "Badass is not a phrase we use in England. I've never been called a badass, I prefer 'enfant terriblé,' with a hope toward 'monstre sacré.'"
Interview: Teen Queen Debbie Gibson is All Grown Up
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 10, 2014 - 9:37am
Foolish Beat
Hollywood Show
Joe Arce
Shake Your Love
CHICAGO – Debbie Gibson was the youngest recording artist – at 17 years old – to write, produce and perform a number one hit ("Foolish Beat" in 1988), and her songs were the soundtrack to that era's teen generation. HollywoodChicago.com caught up with the candid Ms. Gibson at the "Hollywood Show" Chicago.
Film Review: Philip Seymour Hoffman Lives Again in 'God's Pocket'
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 20, 2014 - 11:37am
Caleb Landry
God's Pocket
Joyce Van Patten
CHICAGO – Watching Philip Seymour Hoffman perform, now that he has passed on, is a bittersweet reminder of his ability and power to embody his deeply felt characters. He does it again in one of his last roles, adding his special brand of acting to the messy story within the gritty noir drama, "God's Pocket."