Some films are half-baked from the start and never get around to fully developing what could be a worthy premise. Jaume Collet-Serra’s The Shallows certainly falls in that category as it leaves the audience, as well as its main character, stranded with no where to go. Nancy (Blake Lively) is the damsel-in-distress as she sets […]
Chuck Koplinski
Writing for Illinois Times since 1998, Chuck Koplinski is a member of the Critic's Choice Association, the Chicago Film Critics Association and a contributor to Rotten Tomatoes. He appears on WCIA-TV twice a week to review current releases and, no matter what anyone says, thinks Tom Cruise's version of The Mummy is a woefully underrated film.
Posted inArts & Culture
“Resurgence” A Bloated Piece of Nothing
As far as I know, there was no great demand for a sequel to “Independence Day” and what with the many financial successes in his past, I can’t imagine that its director Roland Emmerich is in need of money. Which leaves me asking, “Why was “Independence Day: Resurgence” made?” It’s likely that you’ll be asking […]
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Yates’ Tarzan a rousing, moving success
Alexander Skarsgard as Tarzan in The Legend of Tarzan. PHOTO COURTESY Warner Bros. Legendary film producer Darryl Zanuck once said, “The secret to success in Hollywood is giving the public what it wants before it knows it wants it.” In the spirit of that statement and in an effort to keep you ahead of the […]
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Johnson, Hart generate vital chemistry in Intelligence
Kevin Hart as Calvin Joyner and The Rock as Bob Stone in Central Intelligence. One of the most surprising developments in American popular film over the last decade is the emergence of Dwayne Johnson as a major star. Using his popularity in the WWE as a foundation – and successfully putting it behind him, as […]
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Magical Dory helps us find ourselves
Dory voiced by Ellen DeGeneres in Finding Dory. There’s no question that Pixar Animation radically changed the way big-screen cartoons were created, as well as what audiences should expect from them. These brightly told morality tales weren’t just for kids, as they spoke to concerns that touched upon not only childhood issues and trauma but […]
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Deft, Wry “Love and Friendship” a Comic Delight
Without question, Lady Susan is a woman to be reckoned with. Sly, coy, flirtatious, gorgeous, she’s a master manipulator, adept at playing the victim whenever it suits her; she has no problem exploiting the chivalric mores of her age, willing to be saved from any of her many dilemmas. However, any man who comes to […]
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Wan Returns to Frighten Once More with “Conjuring 2”
His considerable talent wasted on Furious 7, director James Wan is back in familiar territory with The Conjuring 2, an effective if overlong thriller that contains many of the elements that have become hallmarks in the filmmaker’s work. Just as in the Insidious series and the previous entry in this franchise, a family is in […]
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“Lobster” Humorously Challenges Our Notion of Love
By its very nature, falling in love is a transformative act. The newly besotted tends to look at life, themselves and others in a myriad of different ways when Cupid’s arrow finds its mark. Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster takes this in an intriguing new direction as it looks at our perception of love […]
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Popstar takes no prisoners as it skewers modern pop
Andy Samberg as Conner in Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. To be sure, Andy Samberg is an acquired taste. However, with his brilliant work on the cop show parody “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” he’s shown himself to be a comic with not just crackerjack timing and the willingness to look the fool but an uncommonly smart writer […]
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Singer Continues to Entertain, Challenge with “Apocalypse”
Having already brought in $103 million overseas, Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse hits the states with a full head of steam at the box office and, curiously, a myriad of middling reviews. Why this is so is a bit of a mystery as the film, as we’ve come to expect from anything helmed by Singer, is […]
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Summer movie preview 2016
If Hollywood knows one thing it’s, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Actually, the phrase is “If we got a hit, let’s run it into the ground.” This practice is never more apparent than during the summer movie season, the three months out of the year where the studios make most of their money. […]
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Fairy tale Me Before You surprisingly effective
Sam Claflin as Will Traynor and Emilia Clarke as Lou Clark in Me Before You. PHOTO COURTESY Warner Bros. Many times in life, we often let our hearts overrule our minds. Such is the case with Thea Sharrock’s Me Before You, a slick piece of treacle that manages to charm as it flirts with insulting […]
