Monthly Archives: November 2009

If you’ve never seen “The Wizard of Oz” on the big screen, now’s your chance. To celebrate the film’s 70th anniversary, “Oz” returns to local theaters for one night only, 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 17. For theaters, check the Daily Herald movie ads or log on to FathomEvents.com. Or you can follow the yellow […]

Norman Reedus and Sean Patrick Flanery reprise their roles as the vigilante killers in “The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day.” Troy Duffy’s long-awaited sequel, “Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day,” concocts the same insane blend of gun fetish, inverted religious invocations, bloody killings, giddy stunts, cool sunglasses and ridiculous tattoos as his comical cult […]

Don’t worry if you haven’t seen the horror hit “Paranormal Activity.” I will not reveal the ending here. However, I will say that I hated the last 15 seconds, because the cheesy jolt ending was completely out of sync with the well-mounted. “Blair Witch”-like realism of the movie up to that moment. The 2007 movie, […]

In the sequel “Twilight Saga: New Moon,” actor Kellan Lutz plays vampire Emmett Cullen to Nikki Reed’s Rosalie Hale. If you don’t know who Kellan Lutz is yet, you’re not a screaming fan of last year’s hit vampire movie “Twilight.” Lutz is the 24-year-old South Dakota-born actor who plays Emmett Cullen, one of the vampire […]

Baby sitter Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) prepares for the worst in the self-descriptive thriller “The House of the Devil.” Samantha, the cute college student, takes a baby-sitting job at a creepy old Victorian house in the boonies, and when she arrives, discovers the weird couple living there doesn’t even have a baby. Run, Samantha! The lady […]

Jackson Curtis (Chicago’s own John Cusack) races against certain death in Roland Emmerich’s disaster movie “2012.” Collapsing skyscrapers! Gargantuan tidal waves! Crashing airplanes! White-knuckle escapes! Bad acting! Dogs that never die! Eardrum-busting dialogue! Roland Emmerich’s epic doomsday thriller “2012” packs in everything anyone could ever want in a vintage 1970s disaster movie crammed with second-tier […]

Carl (British heartthrob Tom Sturridge) dillydallies with a dollie (Talulah Riley) in Richard Curtis’ music-stuffed “Pirate Radio.” If you go to see Richard Curtis’ comedy “Pirate Radio” expecting to see something as heartfelt, profound and witty as his phenomenal directorial debut “Love, Actually,” you will likely be disappointed. “Pirate Radio” (not much of an improvement […]

Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) takes abuse from Mom (Mo’Nique) in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.” It only takes a few scenes into the bleak, but hope-filled drama “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” to realize you’re in the presence of two commanding actresses whose courageous, uncompromising, full-bore performances rank among the […]

“007’s license to thrill” Join Dann Gire (film critic of Chicago’s suburban newspaper THE DAILY HERALD, as well as the founder and president of the Chicago Film Critics Association, and adjunct instructor at Aurora and Harper Colleges in Illinois) and Raymond Benson (novelist, author of 20 books, former official author of James Bond books, film […]

Scrooge (Jim Carrey) watches Belle (Robin Wright Penn) share a moment with his younger self in “Disney’s Christmas Carol.” PTiny Tim looks like one of the malevolent young aliens from “Village of the Damned.” Bob Cratchit looks like one of the innocent bystanders you accidentally shoot during a Wii action video game. So does Scrooge’s […]