Dann Gire
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Nostalgia trumps originality in ghost-flustered 'Afterlife'Nov 18, 2021 5:00 am - “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” - ★ ★ ½ Eleven years ago at the Hollywood Blvd. in Woodridge, I asked Dan Aykroyd when we could expect to see the next, highly anticipated...
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Pluck of the Irish: Kenneth Branagh's 'Belfast' an insightful, delightful domestic dramaNov 11, 2021 5:00 am - “Belfast” - ★ ★ ★ ★ Writer/director Kenneth Branagh's most jubilantly personal movie yet, “Belfast,” begins as a classic horror film and ends where a classic immigrants...
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Style, substance at heart of infectiously cinematic, sensational shocker 'Last Night in Soho'Oct 28, 2021 6:00 am - “Last Night in Soho” - ★ ★ ★ ½ The less you know about this gleeful, supercharged masterpiece of movie manipulation, the better. One spoiler can be allowed because...
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Suffering characters hang on for deer life in handsomely mounted creature feature 'Antlers'Oct 28, 2021 6:00 am - “Antlers” - ★ ★ ½ Don't get all excited just because freaky creature feature filmmaker Guillermo del Toro produced one of the scary movies playing this Halloween w...
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Do horror movies have value? 13 horror fantasies that will open your mind this HalloweenOct 27, 2021 11:00 pm - Horror movies have been popular ever since the dawn of cinema. But of what value can they possibly be? I posed this question to George Romero, creator of the modern zomb...
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Denis Villeneuve directs a highly visual, empathy-challenged, almost too-faithful adaptation of Frank Herbert's 'Dune'Oct 20, 2021 6:00 am - “Dune” - ★ ★ ½ Hey, at least this spectacular, fervidly anticipated adaptation of Frank Herbert's densely packed 1965 science-fiction novel “Dune” fares better than Dav...
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Bonding experience: Daniel Craig's richly layered performance in 'No Time to Die' just might attract Oscar's attentionOct 05, 2021 1:15 pm - “No Time to Die” - ★ ★ ★ “No Time to Die” might be the closest that James Bond ever gets to becoming a Shakespearean figure. In his fifth and final role as Agent 007, Da...
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'Dark Shadows' doc reveals the man behind the fangsOct 05, 2021 6:00 am - “Dark Shadows and Beyond: The Jonathan Frid Story” - ★ ★ ★ ½ He was to TV soap operas what Boris Karloff was to horror movies. When Canadian actor Jonathan Frid joi...
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Coldly computer-animated 'The Addams Family 2' hits a creative wallOct 01, 2021 8:00 am - “The Addams Family 2” - ★ ½ “The Addams Family” creator Charles Addams wouldn't just spin in his grave after seeing the cinematic abomination “The Addams Family 2,” he'...
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St. Charles native crafts Netflix's bawdy 'Chicago Party Aunt' as 'love letter' to the citySep 15, 2021 5:30 am - Netflix unveils its new animated comedy series “Chicago Party Aunt” on Sept. 17, and it's a double-doozie for local audiences. The irreverent and downright bawdy comedy ...