Author Archives: Dann Gire

One of many Terminator units sets out to kill humans for the evil Skynet machines in the sequel “Terminator Salvation.” The apocalyptic “Terminator Salvation,” the first entry in the popular “Terminator” science-fiction series not to be rated R, envisions 2018 Earth as a desolate, color-bled world under constant assault by explosive violence, a place where […]

Sue (Jennifer Aniston) takes a joy ride with Mike (Steve Zahn) in the opposites-attract romantic comedy “Management.” “Management” is a whimsical, quietly comical romance about two people who you would never, ever think could fall in love with each other. Not seriously, anyway. But they do. (Read more…)

Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), third from left, makes a disturbing discovery in “Angels & Demons.” What a pretentious pile of populist pablum. “Angels & Demons,” Ron Howard’s frantic and superficial follow-up to his talky 2006 hit “The Da Vinci Code,” races from one formula Hollywood cliché to the next, hoping that blinding narrative […]

Leo (“Scrubs” star Donald Faison) accidentally screws up a big drug delivery in the action comedy “Next Day Air.” Let’s consider Benny Boom’s “Next Day Air” one more piece of hard evidence against ever letting rock video directors handle narrative features. (Read more…)

Palatine theater and film director Jeff Greene chats with an actor at the Lake County Film Festival. His new indie film “Off-Loop” premieres Saturday. It began as an ambitious, nine-part television miniseries starring all Northwest suburban talent. Then, as key actors defected to paying jobs in Los Angeles and other places, director Jeff Greene realized […]

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 7:30pm Arlington Heights Memorial Library “DIRECTOR’S SHOWCASE–Steven Spielberg” 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 […]

THURSDAY, MAY 7, 7:30pm Schaumburg Township District Library “GOING THE DISTANCE–The Greatest Sports 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 […]

Dr. “Bones” McCoy (Karl Urban) and Captain James Kirk (Chris Pine) behold the newly constructed USS Enterprise in “Star Trek” the reboot. J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” reboot beams a fresh set of dilithium crystals into a science-fiction film franchise that has been eking by on cinematic life support since 1991’s “The Undiscovered Country.” (Read more…)

Chicago hit man Frank Logan (director Michael Keaton) falls for Kate Frazier (Kelly Macdonald) in “The Merry Gentleman.” Who would have guessed that Michael Keaton – who burst into the movies as a manic, ADD-styled comedian – could have directed the subtle nuances of an impressive, virtually all-Chicago independent production like “The Merry Gentleman”? (Read […]

Des Plaines native Tom Bastounes produced and also stars in “The Merry Gentleman.” To hear Tom Bastounes tell it, making his new movie “The Merry Gentleman” sounds easier than cutting cake. Ron Lazzeretti, a Chicagoan who wrote and directed Bastounes’ last movie, “The Opera Lover,” had written another script called “The Merry Gentleman.” (Read more…)