Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) takes abuse from Mom (Mo’Nique) in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.” It only takes a few scenes into the bleak, but hope-filled drama “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” to realize you’re in the presence of two commanding actresses whose courageous, uncompromising, full-bore performances rank among the […]
Author Archives: Dann Gire
“Dann and Raymond’s Movie Club” outing
“007’s license to thrill” Join Dann Gire (film critic of Chicago’s suburban newspaper THE DAILY HERALD, as well as the founder and president of the Chicago Film Critics Association, and adjunct instructor at Aurora and Harper Colleges in Illinois) and Raymond Benson (novelist, author of 20 books, former official author of James Bond books, film […]
3-D animated ‘Christmas Carol’ scary, not in a good way
Scrooge (Jim Carrey) watches Belle (Robin Wright Penn) share a moment with his younger self in “Disney’s Christmas Carol.” PTiny Tim looks like one of the malevolent young aliens from “Village of the Damned.” Bob Cratchit looks like one of the innocent bystanders you accidentally shoot during a Wii action video game. So does Scrooge’s […]
Clooney and company milk ‘Goats’ for laughs
Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) practices his paranormal powers to kill goats in “The Men Who Stare at Goats.” It takes a quick 93 minutes for “The Men Who Stare at Goats” to dump a load of satirical napalm all over the U.S. military in a story so comically outrageous that when it cautions us, “More […]
‘Fourth Kind’ fragmented and frivolous
Residents in Alaskan cities report seeing a mysterious owl late at night just before a tragedy strikes in “The Fourth Kind.” Prepare to feel slightly conned by “The Fourth Kind.” Every time something mysterious is about to happen on so-called “archival” video footage, the image goes haywire at just the second it promises to show […]
Reeling ’09 for real
Thirty-three features, lots of docs, shorts and discussions will highlight Reeling: The 28th annual Chicago Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival, running from Thursday, November 5 through Sunday, November 15 at four Chicago locations. Go to reelingfilmfestival.org for details.
All M*A*S*H-ed up
Major Thorn (Faye Dunaway), left, lectures Captain Murphy (Amy Acker) about discipline in the indie “21 and a Wake-Up.” “21 and a Wake-Up,” the first American-made Vietnam War movie shot where the conflict happened, could pass as an ambitious, rookie student film with its amateurish performances, cornball dialogue and possibly the worst editing job outside […]
No-commercial Catlow
I couldn’t believe my eyeballs, but there it was in the Daily Herald movie ads buried in fine print: “No commercial ads shown before feature.” What? The Catlow Theater in Barrington doesn’t show commercials before movies as other suburban movie houses do? This I had to check out. I got on the phone and asked […]
‘Omen’ overload? Had it up to here with ‘Halloween’? Try these nine
A mysterious fog leads to horror in “The Mist,” a tense thriller worth checking out this weekend. Right about now, you probably want to scream when someone suggests another scary movie you can rent, buy or watch for the impending Halloween weekend. We all know the standard horror classics don’t we? Let’s see: “The Exorcist,” […]
Willem Dafoe embraces controversial role in ‘Antichrist’
A grieving father (Willem Dafoe) takes his wife to a cabin in the woods with disastrous results in the controversial “Antichrist.” Most people probably know Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin from the first blockbuster “Spider-Man” movie. But the two-time Oscar nominee is also a star of what will certainly be the most controversial, polarizing […]