Articles filed under Gire, Dann

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  ‘MIB 3’ light years better than last sequel May 24, 2012 12:00 AM
  Director Barry Sonnenfeld re-teams with Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith for the fleet and entertaining "Men in Black 3," an engaging 3-D action romp that boldly ventures into "Terminator" territory while retaining the basic buddy/cop appeal of the first "MIB" movie from 1997. The real lapel grabber here is Josh Brolin's performance as a 29-year-old version of Jones' crusty, laconic Agent K.
  

   
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  'Hysteria' interesting, but doesn't quite hit the spotMay 24, 2012 12:00 AM
  Dann returns from a New York vacation to discover that a few of his readers aren't all that happy with him. They take him to task over politics, Ted Nugent and his reviews of Johnny Depp's "Dark Shadows" and "Marvel's The Avengers." Dann also reviews former Long Grove resident Tanya Wexler's new period movie "Hysteria," all about the invention of the electric vibrator in Victorian England.
  

   
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  Lebanese filmmaker: 'I made this film because I've had enough' May 17, 2012 12:00 AM
  Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki came to Chicago recently to promote her comic battle-of-the-sexes movie, "Where Do We Go Now?" opening at the Century Centre in Chicago. I had five questions for her about this comedy, only her third feature motion picture, which depicts both Muslim and Christian women banding together to keep the hot-headed menfolk from starting yet one more religious war.
  

   
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  Too much is too much in crime-inspired 'Bernie'May 17, 2012 12:00 AM
  Things end badly when a mortician befriends the most hated woman in town in "Bernie." Jack Black plays the title mortician, and Shirley MacLaine cranks up the crank as the awful Mrs. Nugent.
  

   
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  Hollywood falls back on familiar franchises for summer May 11, 2012 12:00 AM
  This summer we've got the usual mix of sequels and remakes, animated adventures, comedies and scary horror tales. Even fall-season fixture Meryl Streep pops in with her AARP romance "Hope Springs." Here's the suburbs' most comprehensive preview to mainstream summer films. Just remember the release dates are good only for today, because studio execs like to move stuff around.
  

   
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  'God Bless' satirizes what's wrong with AmericaMay 10, 2012 12:00 AM
  Dann reviews three movies: Bobcat Goldthwait's blood-soaked satire "God Bless America," the enigmatic cult expose drama "Sound of My Voice," and Patrick Wang's cliche-free gay-dad-fighting-for-his-rights drama "In the Family." Plus, Dann recounts when he saw original "Dark Shadows" vampire Barnabas Collins, Jonathan Frid, in "Dial M For Murder" at the downstate Little Theater on the Square.
  

   
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  'Mother's Day' wastes a chilling performance by Rebecca De MornayMay 3, 2012 12:00 AM
  "Mother's Day" could have been a gripping hostage drama, but it's just a gory, exploitative horror tale afraid to pass beyond the safe confines of an R rating. "A Little Bit of Heaven" is a morally skewed movie that should offend anyone afflicted with cancer, anyone who loves anyone afflicted with cancer, and anyone who believes in a religious afterlife.
  

   
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  ‘Pope' a tale of a PR crisis in the making Apr 26, 2012 12:00 AM
  Dann reviews two new films: the Cuban zombie comedy "Juan of the Dead" and the Vatican comedy "We Have a Pope." Plus, it could be the most disastrous show Dann & Raymond's Movie Club has ever presented. "The Great Disaster Films," with clips from "Airport," "The Poseidon Adventure," "The Towering Inferno," "Earthquake" and 10 films that shook our world, flooded cities and fried landscapes.
  

   
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  Poe mystery thriller thwarted by silly implausibilitiesApr 26, 2012 12:00 AM
  James McTeigue's period mystery thriller "The Raven" offers nothing to suggest Edgar Allan Poe's literary genius or intellect, something that might have been cleverly employed as a way for the writer to profile the serial killer using his stories as inspirations for his crimes. That's hardly an issue in this implausibly silly whodunit unwilling to play fair with clues to its absurd crimes.
  

   
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  Heart-felt ‘Lucky One' can't fully commit to romantic message Apr 19, 2012 12:00 AM
  There are times in Scott Hicks' movie "The Lucky One" that conjure up intimate moments from "Jerry Maguire," right down to a moral hero bonding with the precocious son of a deserving single mother. Yet, "The Lucky One" is a perplexing romance riddled with a tentative mix of fate and true love, a drama unwilling to confirm that a higher power has thrown together two highly compatible strangers.
  

   
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  Beautiful ‘Lady' plods along Apr 19, 2012 12:00 AM
  The last thing you might expect from super comic-book-inspired action director Luc Besson would be an airless, ponderous, historical drama in which bloodshed and political upheaval yield all the emotional impact of a grade schooler's book report. Yet, that's what Besson (“The Fifth Element”) gives us in “The Lady,” a gorgeously photographed, inert drama based on Burmese political juggernaut Aung San Suu Kyi.
  

   
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  Funny 'Damsels' is a slightly absurd look at campus lifeApr 12, 2012 12:00 AM
  Dann reviews Whit Stillman's new comic college campus movie "Damsels in Distress," plus gives mini-reviews of two offerings at the upcoming Chicago Fear Fest at the Muvico Theaters Rosemont 18. One of the panelists, "Hatchet 2" director Adam Green, tells Dann about the horror film's bumpy ride to the public. Green also will appear at the Fear Fest with his new FearNet cable sitcom "Holliston."
  

   
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  Director says 'Cabin in the Woods' will surprise audiences Apr 12, 2012 12:00 AM
  Ask Drew Goddard about his upcoming horror film "The Cabin in the Woods," then stand back. "The last half-hour of our movie goes particularly insane!" he said. "We do things that have never been done before on screen, and that's a very satisfying thing. It's always my goal to give the audience something new, something they haven't seen before. And I feel confident that we did with this movie."
  

   
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  Five elements about ‘Hunger Games' still bother DannApr 5, 2012 12:00 AM
  Dann Gire pontificates on the five weirdest elements that bothered him about "The Hunger Games." He also laments how trailers and TV commercials continue to stomp all over the surprise factor in upcoming movies. Plus, he and Raymond Benson return with a look at cult films during Dann & Raymond's Movie Club at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library.
  

   
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  'Goon' gritty, yet surprisingly sweetMar 29, 2012 12:00 AM
  Dann reviews "Goon" and "Musical Chairs" and reveals what students at Palatine's Fremd High School thought about his presentation on what it's like to be a film critic at the annual Writers Week event. (One wrote: "When I think of a Daily Herald movie critic, the first thing that pops into my mind is an old, stuck-up evil man who lives alone in a dark house and never smiles.")
  

   
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  ‘Delicacy' a French delight Mar 22, 2012 12:00 AM
  Dann reviews two movies ("Delicacy" and "October Baby") plus answers Jeff of Lombard's email attacking his negative review of the science-fiction thriller "John Carter." He also suggests Dann cease criticizing movies for their use of "white savior" heroes, white characters who help, protect and save poor, inferior minority characters. "Sometimes, an adventure movie is just an adventure movie."
  

   
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  Male ego the true star of painfully human drama ‘Footnote' Mar 15, 2012 12:00 AM
  Dann reviews two new movies: the comic academic Jewish drama "Footnote" and the shockingly unpredictable British terror film "Kill List." Could Dann be a sexist pig masquerading as the Daily Herald film critic? A reader thinks so and has evidence from his review of "Silent House" to back it up.
  

   
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  'Viral Factor' not lacking in actionMar 8, 2012 12:00 AM
  Dann reviews three new movies (including an exclusive showing of a Hong Kong action thriller at the South Barrington 30 Theaters), plus whips up comments from his interview with Michel Hazanavicius, the Oscar-winning director of "The Artist," to settle a reader's dispute over whether the movie used nearly seven minutes of Bernard Herrmann's music from Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 classic "Vertigo."
  

   
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  Popular approach wins Oscar for ‘Undefeated' Mar 1, 2012 12:00 AM
  Had Chicago's crack team of documentary makers of “Hoop Dreams” produced the Oscar-winning sports doc “Undefeated,” it would have followed the bumpy, conflicted roads traveled by the black teens playing football for the Manassas High School in North Memphis. Instead, directors Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin opt for a market-friendly approach: They follow the super-noble white coach who sacrifices everything to help the woeful Manassas football players better their game.
  

   
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  Kinnear walks on 'Thin Ice' in neo-noir homageFeb 23, 2012 12:00 AM
  Greg Kinnear's tragic eyes alternating gushes of hope and desperation become the real stars of "Thin Ice," a poor man's homage to the Coen brothers' neo-noir classic “Fargo.” And if you're going to an Oscar party this weekend, these movie facts will have you ready to break any ice.