Movies starring Dan

While watching Dear Evan Hansen, I was reminded of the 1994 film I’ll Do Anything. Originally designed as a musical (with eight songs by Prince), the decision was made in the editing room to release the Nick Nolte vehicle as a straight drama...

Death at a Funeral addresses the question of whether a British comedy featuring a bunch of white guys can translate into an American setting with a group of (primarily) black characters. Since the answer is "yes," this says something about the fle...

Death Sentence is Death Wish for the 2000s. However, in place of the slow-burn intensity of Charles Bronson, we have the guilt-riddled stylings of Kevin Bacon. It's easy enough to guess at what director James Wan was trying for with Death Sentenc...

For Krzysztof Kieslowski's North American followers, Decalogue has attained an almost-mythical status. Kept out of theaters because of a distribution faux pas (the North American distributor refuses to allow the films to be shown), Decalogue has r...

Christmas movies like this are enough to turn one into a Grinch or at least make one wish that the filmmakers would get a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Future. Why it is so hard to make a decent Christmas comedy? Not every movie has to be on ...

For some reason, the Nazis are popular during the holiday season of 2008. They occupy central positions in Valkyrie and Good, flitter around the periphery of The Reader, and are rarely seen but very much present in Defiance. Edward Zwick's adapta...

History has labeled Susan Seidelman’s Desperately Seeking Susan as “a Madonna film” but a more accurate descriptor might be “a Rosanna Arquette film.” Indeed, at the time Seidelman was casting the film, Madonna was a footnote in the musi...

Seen in standard (non-IMAX) 3-D. 2010 has not been a vintage year for movies in general, but it has been an uncommonly good year for animated films. With Toy Story 3 leading the way, the latest crop of big screen animated fare has emphasized th...

Despicable Me 2 feels like a opportunity to get together with some old friends, hang out, and discover what they've been up to. The movie lacks the high voltage wit of its predecessor but the breezy charm is still in place and, especially for kids,...

Despicable Me 3 is an example of how even the most promising animated franchises can hit a wall if allowed to continue too long. One can understand why Universal greenlit this film. The previous two (or three if you count the spin-off Minions)...