Movies starring Dan

I think most people remember eighth grade, although rarely (I imagine) with a great deal of fondness. The blessing (and curse) of Eighth Grade is that writer/director Bo Burnham remembers it too. With this film, he accomplishes two things: cand...

Elf is being hailed in some quarters as the next great Christmas classic. The people making such a pronouncement must have seen a different cut of the movie than the one shown to me. Elf is a feather-light motion picture that embraces the Christm...

Long story short: Elio is a good film for kids, maybe not so great for adults. That doesn’t sound like Pixar, which has developed a reputation for the “two tiered” approach: movies capable of engaging children while reaching their parents on...

The reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England began in 1558, when, at the age of 25, she succeeded her half-sister, Mary. Over the course of the next 45 years, Elizabeth established herself as one of the most popular and successful monarchs ever to ru...

Wim Wenders' The End of Violence offers the same type of experience one could expect from sitting through a David Lynch film with a reasonably-coherent narrative (unlike, for example, Lost Highway). Arguably Wenders' most disjointed film to date, ...

Michael Apted is one of those rare, versatile filmmakers who can make mindless Hollywood blockbusters and thoughtful independent productions with equal aplomb. Apted's resume is as impressive as it is diverse, and has included a handful of critica...

[This review could be considered “spoiler-ish.” No specific reveals, but a lot of general hints.]For roughly the first 75 minutes of Escape Room, I thought I had uncovered the rarest of rare finds: a good January movie. Alas, the film isn’...

It has been nearly 15 years since the last time Will Ferrell was funny (Stranger than Fiction) and about a decade since the last time he has starred in anything worth watching (his surprisingly effective dramatic turn in 2010’s Everything Mu...

Evening, based on the 1998 bestseller by Susan Minot, is an example of a well-told familiar story. There are no surprises during the course of the film, which transpires across two time frames (1954 and 1998), but the strength of the screenplay an...

As their careers develop, many comedians yearn to cross over into serious dramatic roles, if only on occasion. This has happened with John Cleese, Steve Martin, Robin Williams, Tom Hanks, Jim Carrey, and Adam Sandler. Some are more successful than...