Author Archives: Dann Gire

The eighth annal “Flashback Weekend” starts Friday, October 23 and runs through Sunday, October 25 at the Wyndham O’Hare, 6810 N. Mannheim Road in Rosemont. Horror file celebrities scheduled to appear include Robert Englund (“Freddy Krueger”), Lance Henriksen (“Near Dark”, “Aliens”), Jenette Goldstein (“Near Dark”, “Aliens”), Tim Thomerson (“Near Dark”) and many more. The event […]

Actor Lance Henriksen, star of “Aliens,” is part of a “Near Dark” vampire reunion at this year’s Flashback Weekend. I know all about the sacrifices that Mike Kerz made to turn his dream of a horror convention into a reality. I met Mike when he was a manager at One Schaumburg Place Cinemas, and he […]

A cute robot with a punked ‘do saves a planet from corrupt politicians and android slavery in the animated “Astro Boy.” This movie had me at “What? I’ve got machine guns in my butt?” The slick, computer-animated action film “Astro Boy” will probably not please fans of Tezuka Osamu’s original 1952 Japanese “manga” comic book […]

Darren (Chris Massoglia), left, takes on his pal Steve (Josh Hutcherson) as puppet master Mr. Tiny (Michael Cerveris) watches in “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant.” When you come out of Paul Weitz’s comic horror film “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant,” you don’t feel like you’ve watched a real movie. It’s more like the […]

Already this year, I’ve seen two movies about whiny, inferiority-complexed women who seek personal validation by writing blogs about their put-upon lives. First came “Julie & Julia” featuring Amy Adams as a blogger out to cook up all of Julia Child’s French recipes. She was cute, despite being shallow and irritating. Now comes Katherine Dieckmann’s […]

It would be easy, and a cop-out, to simply dismiss Lars von Trier’s eyeball-blanching, conscience-searing psychosexual horror experience “Antichrist” as obscene, evil or just bad movie-making. I prefer to think of “Antichrist” as a metaphor-choked adult Grimms fairly tale gone horribly awry. Like Peter Greenaway’s movies – especially his “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife […]

The Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema cranks up the projectors for a week and a half of international moviegoing running Thursday, October 29 through Sunday, November 8. “Shiva – The Seven Days” opens the fest at AMC Loews 600 North Michigan 9 theatre in Chicago. The fest jumps over to the Wilmette Theatre at 1122 […]

The After Hours Film Society presents “The Cove,” a muckraking documentary directed by National Geographic magazine photographer Louie Psihoyos, who chronicles the brutal, unrestrained and very legal slaughter of dolphins off the coastal town of Taiji, Japan. It starts at 7:30 p.m. Monday, October 26 at the Tivoli Theater, 5021 Highland Ave., Downers Grove. Rated: […]

Boris Karloff’s daughter Sara, 70, and Lon Chaney Jr.’s grandson Ron, 54, where scheduled to appear at screenings of the seminal Universal Studio monster movies “Frankenstein” (1931) and “The Wolfman” (1941). The screenings scheduled for Friday, October 23 and Sunday, October 25 at the Hollywood Palms theater in Naperville and Saturday, October 24 at the […]

The 26th annual Chicago International Children’s Film Festival continues through Nov. 1 at Facets Multimedia, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago. (Read more…) Go to cicff.org for details. Facets Multimedia 1517 W. Fullerton Ave. Chicago