We saw the Ides Of March opening for Herman's Hermits at the Paramount theater - an old and beautifully-restored Vaudeville theater. It was a phenomenal concert in an intimate venue. The front man for Ides Of March was also the lead for 38 Special and Survivor. (Yeah, Eye of the Tiger) Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits was doing a fantastic comedy routine, and even more phenomenal songs. Way, way fun! 10/10
Dan
Stay away from the light! No, seriously...this film is big and dazzling. Leonardo DiCaprio fits the bill perfectly with his odd mix of call resolve and obsessed intensity. Tobey McGuire seems so enthralled that you almost think his character is in love with J. Gatsby. Carey Mulligan is dazzling as Daisy, the ultimate in passive-aggressive female manipulation. She's a strange twist between"deer -in-headlights" vapidity and elven princess torn between two lovers. The parties, OMG, the parties!! Amazing cinematography. 9/10
Vacation primer that's made right here in Chicago. Beautiful amber beer with a nice hint of citrus. Vacation is two weeks away and I'm already ready! 9/10 Cheers!
Dan
Far and away the best Iron Man yet.
Robert Downey's T. Stark is an incredible mix of childish, brilliant, capable, arrogant, and vulnerable.
Gwynneth's Pepper Potts is totally hot, and brilliantly Tony's grounding circuit, with a hint of all-America-girl-next-door who is way more than meets (sweetly) the eye.
Tony's ex-fling is pretty smokin' too.
Don Cheadle's Robbie Rhodes is fantastic.
The Mandarin is going to blow your mind, and there's this really cool kid in Tennessee, and it's wonderfully funny while brilliantly and subtly multi-layered.
Saren loved it, but thinks it's all a dream.
MUST-SEE for Marvel fans!
10/10 - they blew it out of the park supersonic. (And duh, yeah, stay through the credits!)
Dan
Saren & Bill and I had a fantastic time! Some of us guessed who the killer was. We had a fantastic dinner, and we met some fun and interesting people. I think both of us would do this again. 9/10
Buzz Lightyear...I mean Jack Harper...I mean Tom Cruise...actually did a decent job acting here. There's a story with some pretty good depth, and both female leads (yup, two) are really good. There's a taste of Matrix-ness, a touch of Mad Max...and dammit, he should've been #42. I love the sky pool, and Maverick...er, Jack Harper can really fly that thing. I'm left with quite a few questions, and wishing I could read it as a hard sci-fi novel to get the story's depth and background. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. However, like almost every sci-fi flick in recent years, it makes me feel like a broken Star Wars droid, stuck repeating one phrase over and over: "Post apocalyptic... Post apocalyptic.. Post apocalyptic.. Post apocalyptic.. Post apocalyptic.. Post apocalyptic..." 8/10
Dan
Perfect movie for Easter Sunday. This flick has what the other critics rating it clearly need a lot more of; love and kindness. Maybe it's just the breath of fresh air of a sci-fi movie that isn't awash in complete darkness and destruction, but I and several others I know loved it. Yes, there are a couple of big holes in the story; how did they take over in the first place, and a "healed environment," but the cars and trucks and aircraft all clearly run on some type of liquid fuel... All the same, definitely worth seeing, and the young romance isn't so bad, either. 8/10
Dan
I'm not that thrilled with what I'm seeing out of HTC right now.
I currently run a one-year-old HTC Amaze. Other then the battery/charging acting a bit flaky at times - mostly due to a broken wire in my USB/Micro-USB cable, I love it. It does everything I could want, with a replaceable battery, great music, phenomenal 8mp camera, HD video, decent audio recording, up to 32gb micro-SD card slot, GPS, and Android Ice Cream Sandwich, I'm not budging.
The newer HTC One has a non-replaceable battery, a 5mp camera, no SD slot I think...it's a step backward.
Talk to me when you actually make a better phone than the Amaze, HTC. So far it's the pinnacle of your "phonesmanship."
Dan
Cool place. I'll have to go check out the new digs once they open.
Dan
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Horrorbles | 6729 w. Roosevelt Rd. | Berwyn | IL | 60402 |
Coming of age without the amorous romance, but with a romantic's view of the past. This story explores the paradigm of good vs. evil, religion and superstition, and ways of passing knowledge that are ancient and timeless. The cycles of life and time feature strongly here, as do destiny, emnity, friendships, and family. The most heartening thing for me was the clear reverence for the Earth, Nature, and family farmers who hold the land that sustains us in trust. Not everything here is easy or pretty by a long way, nor is the movie perfect, but in its way it's timeless. 7/10
Old-school charm and story-telling meet good people torn between tough choices, philosophical wrangling, soul-searching, and the ever-American argument of Green-or-Greenback$. There's a good twist & sweet romance. 7/10
Awww! Sweet for Valentine's Day, as long as semi-rotted flesh, dead cannibals, and face-smearing zombie-goop doesn't gross you out. At first the lead zombie's nostalgia reflex surviving rigor mortis seems odd, but his OCD as a collector of things that hint at love are what keeps some life in those strange ol' bones, and if any zombie can collect on a hot crush, it's our boy, Rrrrr. For a dead Romeo, he really lives it up! His driving instructor is some hot stuff, too. Will he thaw, or will he gnaw? 7/10
Two worlds in beautiful chaotic collision, coming of age, young love, elders all fighting each other, ancient meets ancient in a temporal pocket just a stone's throw back from modernity. Trust me, Romeo really is a good guy, and Juliet is all hot and magic. The story's as old as dirt, but the circumstances are cool enough to bust the bible belt. More lively and fun than Twilight, but not as dramatic, with half the saccarine content. 8/10
Dan
Everything can be blown up, you can bet on it. Parent-child relationships, friendships, buildings, vehicles, aircraft, anything. If you can't blow it up, you can shoot it. Violence is a joke, a cliche, a salve. It's even cute now. Plus, there's a great new Rolling Stones song during the credits. Go, cool Bruce! 6/10
Dan
Intense...but how could a tsunami that killed 250,000 people not be? Granted, it focused on the - true, non-fictional - story of a white european family in an Asian disaster, but the people doing much if the heavy lifting are locals. This story shows the fragility of modern society...and the pull-togetherness of most of humanity in the face of disaster. I think if an apocalypse happened, even in the gun-nut USA, people would mostly leave the guns in the water and help each other. People are better than what the "news" outlets and Hollywood portray when it comes to the real-life hard times. The only thing I would change about this film would be to show more of the local folks' stories. 8/10.
Cosmic, cool as all get-out, beautiful, beautiful cinematography, wonderful acting, brave, surprising, questioning, philosophical. MUST-SEE. However, there is no way in Hades a starving tiger wouldn't have munched Mowgli. Best. CGI. Tiger. Ever. 9.9/10
Wow, Gandalf, that cool! Awesome in IMAX 3D, this does total justice to the story. I loved everything about it, yesss, Preciousesss! 10/10
Wonderfully-done. As rough as the story is, love's triumph over oppression and elitism is a beautiful song for Christmas. The acting, cinematography, and singing were spectacular. I would just rather that an English Cockney accent not be substituted so freely for a French accent. 9/10
Dan
Classic love story by Tolstoy set in Russia in the North. Great acting, fantastic cinematography, but odd transitions from scene-to-scene, with greatly-exaggerated "life is all a stage" effect. 7/10
Merry Christmas!
Dan
