Dann Gire
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'The Hill' celebrates time-tested formula for dad-and-son baseball dramasAug 24, 2023 11:00 am - “The Hill” - ★ ★ ★ “The Hill” is alive with the sound of sports movie cliches, yet, this fact-based drama oozes with such sincerity and respect for its characters that ...
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Canine comedy 'Strays' both puerile and tastelessAug 17, 2023 6:00 am - “Strays” - ★ ½ Hey, I'm up for a hilarious assault against good taste any time. Give me the films of John Waters, the Farrelly brothers, even Peter Jackson (who directe...
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Action, Tom Cruise enliven thrilling 'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning'Jul 09, 2023 1:00 pm - “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1” - ★ ★ ★ In his seventh impossible mission on the silver screen, Tom Cruise saves Hollywood (again), saves the world (again,...
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Fun-challenged, bloated 'Destiny' can't keep up with the earlier JonesesJun 27, 2023 9:30 am - “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” - ★ ★ Dr. Henry Jones Sr. would have a stroke, if he weren't already deceased. He'd be incensed that his son Junior (Harrison Fo...
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Wes Anderson's stylized, star-stuffed comedy 'Asteroid City' big on both spectacle and dramatic inertiaJun 22, 2023 6:00 am - “Asteroid City” - ★ ★ ½ “Asteroid City”? A fun, nostalgically retro place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there for a full 104 minutes. By now, the dazzling visua...
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Bold, bawdy 'No Hard Feelings' blends laughs with lessons in forgivenessJun 22, 2023 6:00 am - “No Hard Feelings” - ★ ★ ½ I went into a press screening of “No Hard Feelings” expecting something crass and bawdy. After all, the story concerns a young woman who acce...
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Timing is key to mastering animated characters, 'Elemental' star Wendi McLendon-Covey saysJun 18, 2023 6:00 am - Actress Wendi McLendon-Covey burst on to the media scene with a breakout performance in the 2011 comedy film “Bridesmaids” before landing a dream job playing family matr...
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Pixar scores a modest marvel in romantic, opposites-attract comical fantasy 'Elemental'Jun 15, 2023 5:00 am - “Elemental” - ★ ★ ★ Charming. Delightful. Spectacularly stunning. “Elemental” clearly belongs on Pixar's periodic table of animated features, right down to the bubbling ...
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'Boogeyman' an atmospherically overwrought, suspense-challenged collection of easy scares, moldy clichesMay 31, 2023 6:00 am - “The Boogeyman” - ★ ★ “The Exorcist” director William Friedkin famously observed that the scariest thing in a horror film is a closed door. The scariest thing in Rob Sa...
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Overly long 'Little Mermaid' remake is far less fun than its 1989 animated originalMay 24, 2023 6:00 am - “The Little Mermaid” - ★ ★ Just wondering: Why do all the superbly detailed underwater scenes with CGI production designs look like outtakes from “Avatar: The Way of Wa...