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‘Michael Clayton’ is Adult Antidote to Torrent of Monotonous Gobbledygook
CHICAGO– Don’t be fooled by its formulaic, Hollywoodspeak tagline.“The truth can be adjusted” is the “Michael Clayton” way of saying this film has rammed in a whole hell of a lot more than you might...
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Despite Stylistic Inconsistency, George Clooney’s ‘Leatherheads’ Feels Good
CHICAGO– George Clooney’s latest film, “Leatherheads,” brings light-hearted, screwball antics and slapstick blunders to the screen with a romantic tale that tells how professional football came to be....
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Steven Soderbergh’s ‘The Informant!’ Puts Matt Damon on a Wire
Rating: 3.5/5.0CHICAGO– Behind every great fortune lies a great crime, as the saying goes. In director Steven Soderbergh’s “The Informant!,” he and Matt Damon carve out a satire where the “crime”...
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Oscar-Worthy ‘Up in the Air’ Gels With Shrewd Script, Fresh Faces,...
Rating: 4.0/5.0CHICAGO– Director Jason Reitman is becoming like a fine wine. He’s maturing with age, tasting newer with each sip and leaving an aftertaste that makes you think you’ll savor what’s next....
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George Clooney Does it Italian Style in Excellent ‘The American’
Rating: 4.5/5.0CHICAGO– What if the most dangerous and pursued assassin in the world began to develop a flaw in his delivery, due to the vulnerability of simple human contact? Where does religion,...
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Ryan Gosling, George Clooney in ‘The Ides of March’
Rating: 3.0/5.0CHICAGO– George Clooney’s “The Ides of March” is a star-studded political thriller of the variety that was made much more commonly in the ‘70s and would therefore seem like a perfect...
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George Clooney Stars in Stunning ‘The Descendants’
Rating: 5.0/5.0CHICAGO– If one looks solely at the central male characters, it can seem remarkably easy to classify Alexander Payne’s movies under the subgenre heading of “mid-life crisis comedies”:...
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Alfonso Cuaron’s ‘Gravity’ Rekindles Wonder of Cinema
Rating: 5.0/5.0CHICAGO– There used to be a stronger sense that films could take us someplace new. From the days of audience members screaming at the train coming at the camera because they didn’t...
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‘Gravity’ is a Visionary Expansion on Our Humanity
Rating: 4.5/5.0CHICAGO– Space looks like a vast, dark ocean in the new film “Gravity,” with the sparkling blue orb of our planet Earth beckoning the voyagers on that ocean homeward. Co-writer/director...
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‘The Monuments Men’ Has Been Drained of Personality
Rating: 1.5/5.0George Clooney’s “The Monuments Men” is processed cheese. It is a film that has been rewritten, edited, and refined until it has lost all sense of purpose or identity. There’s no flavor...
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Awe Factor is Sorely Lacking in ‘Tomorrowland’
Rating: 2.0/5.0CHICAGO– For a movie all about the awesome power of inspiration, innovation and wonder, “Tomorrowland” has precious little of its own. “Tomorrowland” the title promises a kind of retro...
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‘Hail, Caesar!’ is Coen Bros. Excellence for Movie Lovers
Rating: 5.0/5.0CHICAGO– Writer/directors Joel and Ethan Coen love the movies, and that love is magnificently played out in “Hail, Caesar!” As they riff on religion, geopolitics and 1950s morality,...
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‘The First Monday in May’ Confirms That Life is Beautiful
Rating: 5.0/5.0CHICAGO– The moral of the story of “The First Monday in May” definitely is “there is heaven on earth if the right angels come together.” The film is stunningly beautiful, as it...
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Approach of ‘Money Monster’ is Pure Fraud
Rating: 1.0/5.0CHICAGO– In our society there is one eternal truth…the rich will ALWAYS win, that’s one of the reasons that they are rich. So when “Money Monster” attempts to take them down a peg with a...
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‘Suburbicon’ is the Cinematic Equivalent of a Soccer Mom
Rating: 2.0/5.0CHICAGO– Having lived in both the suburbs and in major cities throughout my lifetime, I can say without hesitation that the suburbs tend to be dull, boring and bereft of creativity. To...
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Spaced Out! On-Air Review of ‘The Midnight Sky’
Rating: 3.0/5.0CHICAGO– Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on December 17th, 2020, reviewing the new film “The...
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Pack Your Bags! On-Air Film Review of ‘Ticket to Paradise’
Rating: 3.0/5.0CHICAGO– Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on October 20th, 2022, reviewing “Ticket to Paradise” an old...
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