Author Archives: Dann Gire

The Illinois International Film Festival runs Friday, October 23 through Sunday, October 25 at the Arcada Theater, 105 E. Main St., St. Charles. One Friday night film, “Michael Morlock’s Supernatural World,” was directed by Elgin filmmaker John W. Norton . (His “Not Another B Movie” played at last month’s Elgin Film Festival.) Tickets can be […]

Little Max (Max Records) says a tearful goodbye to his pals in Spike Jonze’s “Where the Wild Things Are.” The problem with filmmakers taking an extremely short children’s story and expanding it into a full-length feature film is that they’re taking an extremely short children’s story and expanding it into a full-length feature film. Bo […]

A sociopathic avenger (Gerard Butler) examines evidence from an investigator (Jamie Foxx) in “Law Abiding Citizen.” Take Charles Bronson’s vigilante architect from Michael Winner’s semi-classic “Death Wish” and mix him with Tobin Bell’s insanely creative sociopath Jigsaw from the “Saw” movies, you’d roughly have the anti-hero of F. Gary Gray’s conscience-slapping, MENSA-powered thriller “Law Abiding […]

It’s more than its cliched title would suggest. In fact, it’s the best basketball sports doc since “Hoop Dreams.” Kristopher Belman’s impressive film traces basketball phenom LeBron James and his teammates from their humble beginnings in an Akron, Ohio, gym to their amazing national high school championship nine years later, coached all along by one […]

“The Damned United” is not a romance, but it’s still a real love story. It’s between legendary, egomaniacal soccer coach Brian Clough (Michael Sheen) and his quiet assistant, talent spotter Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall) whose invisible but crucial support is only appreciated after the arrogant Clough drives him away. Clough spent a whole 44 days […]

Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 drama introduced modern Japanese cinema and changed the vocabulary of the movies around the world. This story about the tenuous nature of perception – a rape and murder are interpreted differently by four witnesses – has probably been remade and ripped-off as much as “Psycho.” A restored version of Kurosawa’s classic opens […]

In a perfect world, this anthology film would receive 10 separate reviews of the 10 short stories told by 10 directors, each given two days to shoot and one week to edit his/her segment. “New York, I Love You” is the second HD-shot film in the so-called “Cities of Love” franchise that began with 2006’s […]

Ernest Borgnine won the Oscar for playing the lead character in 1956’s “Marty,” but people remember him mostly as the cop married to Stella Stevens in the pivotal 1972 disaster thriller “The Poseidon Adventure.” Borgnine will introduce both films in person! Bo Hopkins, who starred with Borgnine in Sam Peckinpah’s masterpiece “The Wild Bunch,” will […]

Two free screenings of Usama Alshaibi’s documentary on Iraq will be held at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Friday at the Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. A naturalized American citizen from Iraq, Alshaibi shoots and narrates this video diary about his return to his native land in 2004 and finds it to be […]

More than 260 movies from 40 nations will be shown at the 26th annual Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, cranking up next Thursday, October 22 and running through November 1 at venues throughout Chicago. Opening night is a series of shorts hosted by “Broken Hill” star Luke Arnold at the Thorne Auditorium, 375 E. Chicago […]