Movies starring Dan

The majority of this review is taken from what I wrote in 2009. I have tweaked and edited it to update it for 2022. Following the main review are a few new comments written following my re-watching of the film on September 23, 2022.Avatar has been d...

It’s finally here. After years of missed release dates related to postproduction issues, James Cameron’s oft-delayed sequel to 2009’s Avatar has finally arrived. Was it worth the 13-year wait? Unquestionably. It’s difficult to overstate ho...

Minimal spoilers. There are some vague references to things that happen and the usual discussion about plot elements available via trailers and pre-release clips, but I have tried to remain as “spoiler-lite” as possible. As always, however...

Sometimes movies don't have to be complicated. They don't have to "say" anything or espouse a particular philosophy. There doesn't have to be a deeper meaning beyond exploring slices in the lives of several unpretentious characters. Such is the c...

It may be fair to consider Away We Go as Sam Mendes' penance for Revolutionary Road. The director's late-2008 Winslet/DiCaprio reunion was an immersion in bile - an acidic trip underneath the placid exterior of mid-20th century suburbia to a rot t...

At first glance, a movie about the adventures of a piglet who thinks he's a sheepdog doesn't appear to be the perfect entertainment recipe for those beyond puberty. However, through a mixture of imaginative storytelling, impressive animatronics, a...

The 1995 release, Babe, scored big with audiences and critics alike, proving that a movie doesn't have to be marked with Disney's imprimatur to succeed with families. During its theatrical run, the film made almost $70 million domestically, and we...

For Rodney Dangerfield, the stand-up comedian whose catchphrase was “I don’t get no respect,” Back to School provided an opportunity to get more than his share of praise and adulation. The crowd-pleasing comedy grossed $91M, making it th...

In recent years, few things have been more certain than the guarantee of something delicious from director Pedro Almodóvar. Almodóvar has become like a trusted brand name - reliable and consistent. Unfortunately, with his new effort, called Bad E...

Those wacky Coens are at it again. And those serious Coens. And those loquacious Coens. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, a paean to pre-revisionist Westerns, allows the Oscar-winning brothers to try out nearly every weapon in their considerable ...