Author Archives

Daniel Barnes

Co-host of the Dare Daniel and Canon Fodder podcasts and a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle.

“The Breadwinner” Movie Review by Daniel Barnes

The Breadwinner (2017; Nora Twomey) GRADE: B- By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, December 1, at the Landmark Opera Plaza in San Francisco and the Landmark Shattuck in Berkeley. The Secret of Kells co-directory Twomey makes her solo feature debut with this animated story of an Afghanistan family barely surviving under […]

“LA 92” Movie Review by Daniel Barnes

LA 92 (2017; Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin) GRADE: A- By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, November 17, at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. The best documentary of the year so far, a harrowing, sweeping, intelligent, dynamic and elegantly constructed montage about the Los Angeles riots of 1992. LA […]

“God’s Own Country” Movie Review by Daniel Barnes

God’s Own Country (2017; Francis Lee) GRADE: C+ By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, November 10, at the Landmark Opera Plaza in San Francisco and the Landmark Shattuck in Berkeley. Postcard-worthy slow cinema from actor-turned-auteur Lee, a bruising but underwhelming love story set amongst Yorkshire sheep farmers.  With his friends […]

“Brimstone & Glory” Movie Review by Daniel Barnes

Brimstone & Glory (2017; Viktor Jakovleski) GRADE: B By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, November 3, at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. A color-saturated, visually stimulating, razor-thin documentary about the National Pyrotechnic Festival that takes place in the Mexican municipality of Tultepec, a national center for fireworks production.  There […]

“Tragedy Girls” Movie Review by Daniel Barnes

Tragedy Girls (2017; Tyler MacIntire) GRADE: C By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, November 3. Appealing newcomers Brianna Hildebrand and Alexandra Shipp headline this ghoulish and unfunny horror satire.  They play high school cheerleaders and lifelong “besties” with an unhealthily active interest in serial killers. In an attempt to expand […]

“Rat Film” Movie Review by Daniel Barnes

Rat Film (2017; Theo Anthony) GRADE: B- By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, October 27, at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. Director Anthony makes his feature debut with this unconventional documentary about the persistent rat problem in Baltimore, as well as the connections between the thriving vermin and the […]