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‘Shrek the Third’ is Foxy Flirt Between Kid’s Play, Adult Wit
CHICAGO– To thwart his fate of being royally screwed (“mommy, what does that mean?”), the ornery ogre who smells like the shallow end of a swamp has unwavering resolve to crown someone else as proxy...
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Lazy, Uninspired ‘Shrek Forever After’ With Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz
Rating: 1.0/5.0CHICAGO– The laziest big budget film of the year, “Shrek Forever After” is the worst kind of family entertainment in that it relies solely on the goodwill engendered by the hit movies...
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‘Puss in Boots’ Coasts Through Familiar Animated Antics
Rating: 3.0/5.0CHICAGO– Animated family films have made a pact with their audience. For our participation – and extra 3D glasses fee – they deliver the latest in computer generated eye candy, familiar...
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Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor in Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Haywire’
Rating: 4.0/5.0CHICAGO– Steven Soderbergh is one of the few directors who can do whatever the hell he wants. Whatever genre, whomever he casts, whichever story he chooses to tell – he pulls it off. He...
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Zoe Kazan Illuminates Fascinating Fable of ‘Ruby Sparks’
Rating: 4.5/5.0CHICAGO– Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris return to the spotlight this week with their first film since the award-winning “Little Miss Sunshine” and they completely defy the sophomore...
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‘Machete Kills’ So Over the Top, it Has No Bottom
Rating: 3.5/5.0CHICAGO– You gotta love director Robert Rodriguez. When other filmmakers are slogging through their important films, he’s out convincing big stars to blow off cinematic fireworks,...
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‘The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water’ Squeezes Out More Fun
Rating: 3.5/5.0CHICAGO– “The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water” squeezes another big-screen adventure out of America’s favorite undersea fry cook, and introduces some tantalizing comic possibilities...
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‘The 33’ Adds Depth to the Trapped Miners of Chile
Rating: 4.0/5.0CHICAGO– In the art of film, the best way to approach a based-on-truth story – where the outcome is well known – is to create a point-of-view vision for the narrative. The story of “The...
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Terence Malick’s Feverish Dream in ‘Knight of Cups’
Rating: 3.5/5.0CHICAGO– I’ve been quoting Martin Scorsese over the years, that he said “movies are a psychotic’s feverish dream on display.” In searching for those words, I found he never said it. He...
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Wive’s Tale! On-Air Review of ‘HItman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’
Rating: 3.5/5.0CHICAGO– Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on June 17th, 2021, reviewing the new film “Hitman’s...
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Say Hello to Your Mother and Kid! On-Air Review of ‘Uncharted’
Rating: 1.5/5.0CHICAGO– Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on The Eddie Volkman Show on WSSR-FM (Star 96.7 Joliet, Illinois) on February 18th, 2022, reviewing the new release,...
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Face Off Faces! Audio Film Review of ‘Official Competition’
Rating: 5.0/5.0CHICAGO– Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review on “Official Competition,” a new Spain/Argentina film about a trio – two actors and a director – trying to get a film...
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The Holidays Are Granted in ‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’
Rating: 4.0/5.0CHICAGO– The Shrek franchise, which had been showing signs of creative exhaustion dating all the way back to “Shrek The Third,” gets an unexpected dose of new life with this belated –...
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Indy the Fifth in ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’
Rating: 3.5/5.0CHICAGO– By all accounts the Indiana Jones series had nowhere to go but up after the woebegone “Crystal Skull.” But “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” manages to clear that...
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Trip to the Stable! On-Air Review of ‘Journey to Bethlehem’
Rating: 3.5/5.0CHICAGO– Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Ben Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on November 9th, 2023, reviewing “Journey to Bethlehem,”...
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