Dann Gire
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Just as Spielberg's life story 'Fabelmans' finally starts rolling, it endsNov 23, 2022 5:00 am - “The Fabelmans” - ★ ★ ½ This should have been a real-life superhero origin movie with youthful stand-ins serving as early versions of Steven Spielberg before he evolved...
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'Devotion' a handsomely produced, anti-white savior dramaNov 22, 2022 5:00 am - “Devotion” - ★ ★ ★ Ever since I began writing about Hollywood's white savior syndrome in 1986, I have seen only one movie that rejected the genre's implicit white suprem...
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On 'The Menu,' black comedy, conformity and death blend in a sumptuous cinematic stewNov 17, 2022 5:00 am - “The Menu” - ★ ★ ★ ★ By now, we can assume that the majority of America's film critics have exhausted all the truly clever, extremely good and moderately mediocre food ...
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'She Said' a fact-based journalism drama with a distinctive, strong feminine voiceNov 16, 2022 10:00 pm - “She Said” - ★ ★ ★ ★ Maria Schrader's “She Said” belongs among the top three fact-based journalism movies showcasing investigative reporters, but with a significant dif...
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Lack of fun, exaggerated visual effects ding the drama in anxiously awaited 'Black Panther' sequelNov 07, 2022 10:00 pm - “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” - ★ ★ The anxiously awaited sequel to 2018's critical and box-office hit “Black Panther” provides a textbook example of what happens whe...
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Fact-inspired abortion drama 'Call Jane' well-acted but dramatically inertOct 27, 2022 6:00 am - “Call Jane” - ★ ★ ½ Maybe, just maybe, operating an illegal, secret, underground abortion ring in 1968 Chicagoland might have been just as routine and dramatically iner...
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Mega star power of Clooney and Roberts brightens formulaic 'Ticket to Paradise'Oct 20, 2022 6:00 am - “Ticket to Paradise” - ★ ★ ½ If your idea of a good time at the movies only requires that two charismatic veteran stars trade passive-belligerent barbs for an hour, go ...
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All-star cast succumbs to convoluted story in muddled screwball comic thriller 'Amsterdam'Oct 05, 2022 6:00 am - “Amsterdam” - ★ ★ A meandering, muddled mixture of manic movie manipulations, David O. Russell's ambitious “Amsterdam” refuses to find its film footing until Robert De N...
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Derivative, jump-scary horror tale not much to 'Smile' aboutSep 29, 2022 10:00 am - “Smile” - ★ ★ Normally, a starless, derivative, overly long, jump-scare-saturated horror movie like “Smile” would be sent directly to streaming on a digital platform a...
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Eye-popping social thriller 'Don't Worry Darling' has everything going for it - except a compelling screenplaySep 22, 2022 6:00 am - “Don't Worry Darling” - ★ ★ Let's be charitable to Olivia Wilde's ambitious, carefully crafted (and already critically skewered) second directorial project, the enigmat...