Co-host of the Dare Daniel podcast and member of the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle.
I was not able to make it to the first night of the 37th annual Mill Valley Film Festival, which opened with the Tommy Lee Jones-directed western The Homesman, introduced live by star Hilary Swank. Although I had already screened about a half dozen films that will […]
The Zero Theorem (2014; Terry Gilliam) GRADE: C+ By Daniel Barnes In the opening shots of Terry Gilliam’s cheeky sci-fi dystopia The Zero Theorem, a bald, naked, future man studies the churning menace of a black hole on a large computer screen in an abandoned church. All the […]
Dodes-ka’Den (1970; Dir.: Akira Kurosawa) GRADE: B By Daniel Barnes Made in 1970 during a period of intense personal and professional turmoil, the ramshackle Dodes’ka-Den is a strange anomaly in the Kurosawa filmography. It was his long-awaited return to filmmaking after a string of high-profile projects withered on […]
Law Abiding Citizen (2009; F. Gary Gray) GRADE: D- By Daniel Barnes I graduated from college a little over a decade ago, but judging by a cursory Google News search, one of the most annoying and frustrating aspects of my campus experience continues to this day – the […]
Little Richard (2000; Robert Townsend) GRADE: D By Daniel Barnes *NOTE: This review was originally published on The Barnesyard in 2006. “Gentile, Quasi-Inspiring Treatment” Hollywood biopics are less filmed biographies than they are hagiographies. There is an assumption that every story should be “inspiring”, even if the subject […]
Against All Odds (1984; Taylor Hackford) GRADE: B- By Daniel Barnes The first few notes of synth-bass on the soundtrack and the fire engine red color of the opening credits unmistakably announce Against All Odds as a product of Reagan/Orwell’s 1984. However, the film’s roots lie in the […]
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