Mack Bates

It’s hard to believe that its been 10 years since actor Zach Braff took the indie film scene — and the rest of Hollywood, for that matter — by storm with his well-received, award-winning feature directorial debut, Garden State, co-starring Oscar winner Natalie Portman (Black Swan) and Peter Sarsgaard. In Garden State, Braff played a struggling young, single actor at an existential crossroads who has a fundamental disagreement with his father, played by Ian Holm. In his sophomore directorial effort, Wish I Was Here, Braff plays Aidan Bloom, a struggling, married 35-year-old actor with kids at an existential crossroads who…

For the ninth year in a row, Marcus Theatres will again serve as host to the “Kids Dream Summer Film Series,” in collaboration with American Family Insurance. During the eight-week summer program, which runs June 15 through August 13, select Marcus Theatres throughout the country will showcase a new kid-friendly film per week.  New films screen every Sunday at 10 a.m., with additional weekday screenings at 10 a.m. every Monday and Wednesday.  Affordable and kid-friendly, individual tickets for each showing are just $2! You can also pick up two FREE tickets from participating American Family Insurance agents throughout the state to use…

Chuti Tiu on the set of Pretty Rosebud  Milwaukee native and actress-screenwriter, Chuti Tiu, is  in town tonight to screen Pretty Rosebud, a micro-budget feature film she not only stars in but also wrote.  Tiu has made the pilgrimage back to Southeastern Wisconsin along with her actor-director husband Oscar Torre (The Hangover Part III) in order to screen Pretty Rosebud, a long-gestating passion project of Tiu’s that also serves as Torre’s feature film directorial debut. The screening is tonight, 7:30, at the Marcus Majestic.  Torre also plays a supporting role in the film which is centered around Cissy (Tiu), an unhappily-married woman…

Ladies and Gentleman, the 86th Annual Academy Awards, hosted by comedienne and Emmy-winning daytime talk show host Ellen Degeneres, air this Sunday on ABC starting at 7 p.m. CST. For the past five weeks, Moviegoers bloggers Mack Bates and Tom Fuchs have cast their votes for supporting actor and supporting actress races, the original screenplay and adapted screenplay races, the best director and best animated feature races, and in the best actor and best actress races. Four short days before the festivities get underway at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Mack and Tom will cast their vote for the big prize of the night: best…

We’re less than two weeks away from the 86th Annual Academy Awards, hosted by comedienne and Emmy-winning daytime talk show host Ellen Degeneres. The 2014 awards season has been one of the most nail-biting in recent memory. Did 12 Years a Slave peek too soon? Will Gravity pull off a major upset victory for best picture over perceived frontrunners 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle? Will Amy Adams snag best actress over the seemingly unstoppable Cate Blanchett? Has Leonardo DiCaprio’s year finally arrived? For the past two weeks, Moviegoers bloggers Mack Bates and Tom Fuchs have cast their votes for who they would vote for this year…

The Twitter profile of recent UWM graduate and emerging local filmmaker Michael Viers proudly states: “Filmmaker, horror fan, wrestling addict, Virgo, and a guy who loves a good book.” It’s an apt, though tongue-in-cheek description of a young filmmaker who experienced quite the watershed year in 2013. So game changing in fact, that if it were the plot for a work of fiction, some would question its likelihood. For starters, he completed production on two well-received short films that both debuted on the festival circuit in 2013: his senior film project From the Darkness Theatre, which he both wrote and directed,…

Fellow moviegoers, it’s hard to believe, but the 86th Annual Academy Awards telecast – hosted by comedienne and daytime talk show host Ellen Degeneres –  is just two short weeks away. For the past two weeks, Moviegoers bloggers Mack Bates and Tom Fuchs have cast their votes for who they would vote for this year in the supporting actor and supporting actress races as well as in the original screenplay and adapted screenplay categories. This week, they cast their votes for best director and best animated feature. Best Director Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave Alexander Payne for Nebraska David O. Russell for American…

This week, Moviegoers bloggers Mack Bates and Tom Fuchs take on the best original screenplay and best adapted screenplay races. For those of you wondering, this feature was directly inspired by “Siskel & Ebert’s” annual televised Oscar special that featured the late reviewing duo decked out in tuxedos announcing who they would vote for, based on that year’s pool of nominees, if they were members of the Academy. Check out last week’s inaugural entry. Best Original Screenplay American Hustle – Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell Blue Jasmine – Woody Allen Dallas Buyers Club – Craig Borten and Melissa Wallack Her – Spike Jonze…

When nominations for the 86th Annual Academy Awards were announced live two weeks ago by new Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs and actor Chris Hemsworth, this year’s race got a little more difficult to call. A good deal of people who everyone thought were shoe-ins failed to land nominations, including Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson, Oprah Winfrey, Forest Whitaker, Robert Redford and the Coen brothers. And there were some dark horse candidates that landed nominations, like Blue Jasmine’s Sally Hawkins and Nebraska’s June Squibb in the supporting actress race, and The Wolf of Wall Street’s Jonah Hill for supporting actor. Starting today,…

Last year with less than an hour to go before the Target on Brown Deer Road was due to close on Christmas Eve, a middle-aged man approached me for help about what he should get his teenage son and pre-teen daughter for Christmas in the home entertainment section of the store. Thankfully, I was there to just pick up some batteries. I figured I would probably witness some last-minute hijinks; little did I know that my years of expertise would come in handy for a desperate dad looking to score brownie points with his kids. Under the gun and with…