Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
As Galileo Galilei once described it, the sun is as spotty as a teenager. And the general audience gets a chance to see the sun in all its magnificence and fury in “Solarmax”–the latest giant-screen IMAX film to screen at the Museum of Science and Industry’s Omnimax Theater.
A couple of words about Dogstar. No, Keanu Reeves doesn’t sing. And yes, the band can play. At a free, 45-minute concert at the House of Blues Monday night, the three-man group rocked hard onstage, lending a punky edge to the material. Much of Dogstar’s set list was culled from “Happy Ending,” its newly released U.S. debut album.
“The Watcher,” America’s No. 1 film, isn’t the the only project where Keanu Reeves shuns top billing.
He’s been doing it for years in the rock band Dogstar. The star of “The Matrix” is very aware that his status as an actor will overpower anything that his formidable band Dogstar accomplishes.
Just when it looked like the “Scream” franchise and “Scary Movie” had pretty much had their way with spoofing the horror film genre, along comes “Psycho Beach Party” attempting to horn in on the territory. Unfortunately, it’s the little movie that can’t.
“Autumn in New York” is a movie built to tug at our heartstrings. But with its rote story line, the film proves to be little more than pretty eye candy in the form of stars Richard Gere and Winona Ryder. Will Keane (Gere) is a 48-year-old womanizer who owns a hip New York restaurant. Celebrating her 22nd birthday at his restaurant, Charlotte Fielding (Ryder) catches his wandering eye.
At the end of “I’m the One That I Want,” Margaret Cho declares, “I’m gonna stay here and rock the mike until the next Korean-American, fag hag, shit starter, girl comic, trash talker comes up and takes my place!” Any takers? This film version of Cho’s savagely funny one-woman show is true to the tour she took on the road last year.
If you think that cute guy you saw heading into Tempo last week looked a lot like Keanu Reeves, there’s a good chance that it was. Reeves has returned to Chicago to film “Hardball.” He first made his presence in the Windy City known four years ago when he shot “Chain Reaction.” You can bet that he’ll be out and about in the city this time around, too.
The animated Imax 3-D film “Alien Adventure” is about a lot of things, but plot isn’t one of them. Sure, it has a premise: A small tribe of space gypsies called the Glagoliths roam the universe in search of a new home. The leader of the Glags – a sadistic Jabba the Hutt type – sends out a team to evaluate a potential new home. But instead of landing in a real city, the soldiers encounter “Adventure Planet” – a high-tech amusement park not yet open to the public.
Following on the multi-legged heels of Dreamworks’ often dark and somber computer animation debut “Antz,” “A Bug’s Life” is Disney’s colorful follow-up to its mega-blockbuster “Toy Story.” While it doesn’t have the wit or great performances of “Toy Story,” it’s amusing in its own right and the animation by Pixar is even more astounding.
“Fatty Drives the Bus” sure sounds odd enough to be the followup to the Annoyance Theatre’s best known production, “Co-Ed Prison Sluts.” But the feature – which hits video stores today – actually marks the Chicago-based improv troupe’s first foray into film.
There are so many things wrong with “The Hungry Bachelors Club” that it’s easy to overlook some of the actors’ fine work. It’s unfortunate that they’re stuck portraying one-dimensional characters who make the “Melrose Place” crew appear deep.
The premise for “The Bachelor” probably looked great on paper. Get Chris O’Donnell and Renee Zellweger to star in a romantic comedy. Throw in a plot line about a $100 million inheritance if he marries before his 30th birthday, and add in a thousand extras dressed as brides.
According to the Olympic creed, “the most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part.” Try telling that to the managers and sports agents who are counting on the athletes to upgrade their medals into deals with the likes of Nike, Gatorade and McDonald’s. That’s a cynical view of the Olympics. The latest Omnimax film, “Olympic Glory,” presents a purer version of the Games.
For those unfamiliar with the 19th century children’s book of the same name, “A Dog of Flanders” is a cryptic sounding title for a movie. The film is less about a dog than it is a tale of goodness and honesty that – as many of these tales do – revolves around a sweet, orphaned boy determined to better himself.
Barefoot and clad in a pair of sweats that have seen better days, Viggo Mortensen walks over to introduce himself. His hands and arms are covered with names and phone numbers he has scribbled on himself after checking his answering machine. And his hair is tousled and flecked with tiny bits of paint. None of this can hide Mortensen’s deadly good looks.
Janusz Kaminski has a brother for 5-year-old Oscar. His name is . . . Oscar. The Columbia College graduate won his second Academy Award Sunday night for best cinematography for “Saving Private Ryan.”
There’s a certain cruelty to these type of contests that the filmmakers don’t address. It’s easy to understand why poor people would want to win a car. But why do sponsors feel the need to humiliate and torture them this way? Surely there must be a better, more humane way to get themselves publicity and give away an automobile.
Three years ago, Wes Anderson was an unknown writer-director winning praise for his charming, offbeat feature film “Bottle Rocket.” These days, he’s traveling on a bright yellow tour bus promoting his latest picture, “Rushmore,” which opens Friday. (Anderson prefers not to fly.) And check this out. The soft-spoken Anderson has groupies.
Viggo Mortensen is relating a tale that involves Vince Vaughn, a butcher knife and the threat of bodily harm. But, oddly enough, the actor isn’t describing the shooting of his latest film, “Psycho.” He’s remembering a country music concert. “Vince and I went to see Buck Owens one night after we had finished that day’s shoot [for “Psycho”],” Mortensen said during a call from his Los Angeles home. “I had gotten one of the `Psycho’ knives to give to Buck as a present ’cause it was his birthday. They wanted us to give it to him on stage that night. “So we bumbled our way through our speech to Buck. He opened the box and saw the knife, and the fiddler started making the “eek eek eek” [noise from the shower scene]. Buck got all excited and started posing as a damsel in distress. Then he began chasing Dwight Yoakam all around the stage with the knife. I don’t think he realized it was real.”
The three-dimensional Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaurs in “T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous” look like they could throttle the dickens out of the ones depicted in “Jurassic Park.” The visuals in “T-Rex” are so amazing that a story line isn’t even necessary. But the screenwriters came up with a plot that – while not totally original – works as an effective tool to educate viewers as it entertains.