Co-host of the Dare Daniel and Canon Fodder podcasts and a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle.
Little Men (2016; Ira Sachs) GRADE: B- By Daniel Barnes With this melancholy number and 2014’s autumnal Love is Strange, the films of Ira Sachs are becoming the cinematic equivalent of rustling leaves. I’m sure that I don’t mean that as a compliment. While Little Men is a […]
Miss Sharon Jones! (2016; Barbara Kopple) GRADE: B By Daniel Barnes The 1960s soul revival band Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings built a worldwide reputation primarily on their electric live shows, gaining a devoted following without ever recording a hit song. At the center of the Dap-Kings sound […]
Phantom Boy (2016; Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol) GRADE: B By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday at the Landmark Opera Plaza in San Francisco and the Landmark Shattuck in Berkeley. The New York-based independent distributor GKIDS is becoming as sure a sign of quality animated cinema as Pixar or […]
Microbe and Gasoline (2016; Michel Gondry) GRADE: B- By Daniel Barnes A lo-fi, low-stakes charmer from Michel Gondry, light years removed from the insufferable manic quirk of Mood Indigo. Unfortunately, it’s also a tonally disjointed effort just barely tethered to a meager narrative. Bullied misfit artist Daniel (branded […]
Three (2016; Johnnie To) GRADE: A- By Daniel Barnes The best film of 2016 so far. Fresh off a failed raid, a hard-boiled Hong Kong cop (Louis Koo) brings a wounded prisoner (Wallace Chung) into the hospital for emergency surgery and an illegal frame-up. They get tended by […]
White Zombie (1932; Victor Halperin) GRADE: B- By Daniel Barnes From its first shot of a Haitian burial ceremony undulating under the opening credits, Victor Halperin’s 1932 indie horror film White Zombie establishes an eerie and unusual atmosphere. The corpse in question is getting buried in the middle […]
