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Russell Crowe Goes Hitchcockian in Taut ‘The Next Three Days’
Rating: 4.5/5.0CHICAGO– The suspense thriller is a delicate art that depends on situational realism and unlikely circumstances cohabiting in a heart-pounding plot. The Master of the genre was Alfred...
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‘Les Misérables’ Paints Emotion in Widescreen Colors
Rating: 5.0/5.0CHICAGO– Tom Hooper’s “Les Misérables,” the best movie musical in over a decade, is what a musical like this should be – unabashed, unashamed emotion painted in vibrant, broad colors...
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Crime Thriller ‘Broken City’ Fictionalizes its Crime Without Most of its Thrill
Rating: 2.5/5.0CHICAGO– Rife with corruption and injustice, the setting for “Broken City” could have been picked from a litter of U.S. metropolitans. Said star Mark Wahlberg in a recent red-carpet...
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‘Man of Steel’ Soars Visually But Lacks Humanity
Rating: 2.0/5.0CHICAGO– From the CGI-heavy attack on Krypton that opens Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel” to its soaring finale, I had the same reaction -– where’s the “Man half? Snyder’s attempt to reboot...
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‘Man of Steel’ is Strong, But Not Completely Heroic
Rating: 3.5/5.0CHICAGO– Place the Superman legend into the hands of director Zack Snyder (“Watchmen”) and storyteller/producer Christopher Nolan (“Dark Knight”), and old Supes is bound for a makeover...
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‘Winter’s Tale’ Freezes in Cheesy Movie Hell
Rating: 1.5/5.0CHICAGO– The poster for “Winter’s Tale,” after promising that “It’s not a true story, it’s a love story,” makes a large demand from its viewers at the bottom: “This Valentine’s Day,...
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Daring Vision of Darren Aronofsky’s Epic ‘Noah’
Rating: 4.0/5.0Darren Aronofsky’s controversial “Noah” exists somewhere between the sentimental, straight-faced versions of biblical tales that Hollywood has been producing for decades and more...
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‘The Mummy’ is a Marvel of a Muddled Mess
Rating: 1.5/5.0CHICAGO– Universal Studio’s “Dark Universe,” which is centered around its stable of classic movie monsters, isn’t a bad idea. But in the darkly inauspicious debut feature called “The...
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‘Boy Erased’ Thrives On Empathy, Lacks Overall Conviction
Rating: 3.5/5.0CHICAGO– America is facing a confusing time of crisis, again. There are giant groups of people who are ready to hate other people for biological traits that can’t—and don’t need to—be...
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Thunder Struck! On-Air Film Review of ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’
Rating: 3.5/5.0CHICAGO– Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on July 7th, reviewing “Thor: Love and Thunder,” the...
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