Author Archives: Dann Gire

Hartman (Thomas Hayden Church) feigns surprise as Mary (Sandra Bullock) puts the moves on Steve (Bradley Cooper) in “All About Steve.” I’m not sure exactly when I decided that “All About Steve” must be the stupidest romantic comedy I’ve seen in the past three months. It might have been when Sandra Bullock’s character, Mary Horowitz, […]

“An Elephant in my PJs” 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, […]

It starts with a rocky, dramatically undermined setup and ends with a strained baptism/rebirth metaphor. But in the middle, Bobcat Goldthwait’s sharp black comedy pokes us in the eye with a scathing sendup of our tendency to mythologize and capitalize on undeserving martyrs. Rated: R (for drug use). 99 minutes. (Read more…) Now playing at […]

Three generations of a Japanese family gather for an annual dinner to honor an elder son who drowned while saving a child. Kore-eda Hirokazu’s plotless domestic drama is a painfully empathetic experience that laments how family members cheat themselves out of love and familial bonding by allowing superficial concerns to dominate their relationships. Not rated […]

Joe (Andy Griffith) goes looking for romance but falls for the already-attached Rose (Doris Roberts) in “Play the Game.” What? Sheriff Andy Taylor discussing alternate sexual practices with a woman sans her dentures? Say it ain’t so, Andy! What’s next? Aunt Bea in a G-string? Opie doing opium? Gomer Pyle starring in a porn flick? […]

In Jennifer Steinman’s online documentary “Motherland,” six American women go on a mission of mercy to South Africa where they work with hundreds of children orphaned by poverty, pestilence and rampant AIDS. But that’s not the real reason they have come. They have come to these remote South African villages seeking solace and healing. Not […]

Elliot (Demetri Martin), right, gets sidetracked on his way to the big show by a couple of happy LSD campers in the fact-based “Taking Woodstock.” “Taking Woodstock,” Ang Lee’s hippy trip down memory lane to the biggest block party in the Age of Aquarius, offers a clever running gag about the young man responsible for […]

“Off to see the Wizard: Fantasy Goes to the Movies” 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 […]

Anyone who loves electric guitars, anyone who’s played electric guitars, heck, anyone who’s even played electric air guitars will appreciate Davis Guggenheim’s fresh documentary about rock’s premiere instrument. Guggenheim interviews Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White, who eventually get around to making a slice of history with a jam session. Rated: PG. 98 minutes. […]

Part biography, part concert movie, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s “Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love” is a meandering, journalistically one-sided look at Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour, whose album “Egypt” was branded blasphemy by his countrymen for presenting the Islamic faith in pop music. Rated: PG. 102 minutes. (Read more…) Starts Friday, Aug. 28 at the […]