Movies starring Dan

Pretty Persuasion opens with more promise than it closes with. It doesn't take long for the cattily satirical tone to become monotonous as the characters refuse all attempts at development and the plot treads water into the shallows. The film tri...

Watching Pride & Prejudice and Zombies, I was overwhelmed with a desire to re-watch the definitive 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. That’s because this new horror/romance mashup provides just enou...

For many centuries, those producing mass entertainment have recognized the inherent drama and majesty in the story of the Hebrew exodus from Egypt. The tale has inspired countless plays, a renowned oratorio (Handel's "Israel in Egypt"), and one of...

For many years, Walt Disney and his army of crack artists dominated the world market for feature-length animation, bringing forth unforgettable classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Sleeping Beauty, and Pinocchio. Even today, many North ...

Whodunits are rarely a good playground for Hollywood films. The average mystery, whether a stripped-down Agatha Christie-esque tale or a more complex endeavor, is too demanding for the structural constraints of a motion picture. As a result, when o...

The career aspirations of Mathilda (Natalie Portman) aren't those of the average 12-year old girl. Instead of wanting to be a doctor, fashion model, teacher, lawyer, or nuclear physicist, Mathilda has decided to follow in the footsteps of her best...

There’s something distinctly off-putting about Johnny Depp’s dying-from-cancer movie, The Professor (original title: Richard Says Goodbye). It has to do with the idea that someone, once given a death sentence resulting from metastatic lun...

The moral of this story is: No matter how trustworthy he may be, never leave a teenager home alone while you go away for the weekend. Project X purports to offer a new twist on a very old tale: the out-of-control house party. Variations of this ...

Spoilers, I suppose… Sony is releasing Prom Night under their "Screen Gems" imprint. Gems? More like turds. By its nature, the slasher film is not a terribly deep or complicated effort. To be successful, all such a movie needs is a sympath...

It is said that revenge is a dish best served cold. The Proposition illustrates that, extending the metaphor, revenge is more often bitter than sweet. Gritty to the point of being disturbing, The Proposition examines the revenge thriller not as t...