Lamb (2016; Ross Partridge) GRADE: B- By Daniel Barnes *Now playing at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. Journeyman actor Ross Partridge writes, directs and stars in this restrained but discomforting drama. He plays David Lamb, a middle-aged man stuck in a downward spiral. Into his life comes […]
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (J.J. Abrams) GRADE: B By Daniel Barnes “Tangible and Dimensional” “Luke Skywalker has vanished.” With those four words, strategically chosen by director J.J. Abrams and his co-screenwriters Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt to begin the opening crawl of Episode VII, […]
Tab Hunter Confidential (2015; Jeffrey Schwarz) GRADE: B- By Daniel Barnes A 1950s heartthrob sold to the public as “six feet of rugged manhood” and chaste, Dobie Gillis-like heterosexuality, Tab Hunter remained “very closeted” away from the cameras. Now 84 years old and still the embodiment of sun-kissed […]
Welcome to Leith (2015; Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K. Walker) GRADE: B+ By Daniel Barnes Welcome to Leith looks at the panic that overtook the citizens of a tiny North Dakota farming community when white supremacists sought to take over their town. A barren city of a […]
Experimenter (2015; Michael Almereyda) GRADE: C+ By Daniel Barnes *Opening tomorrow at the Landmark Opera Plaza in San Francisco, the Landmark Shattuck in Berkeley and the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael. Now available to rent on VOD. Peter Sarsgaard stars in this intriguing but […]
Partisan (2015; Ariel Kleiman) GRADE: B By Daniel Barnes I’ve come to realize that I am abnormally fascinated by movies about cults, whether in the form of documentary (Jonestown: The Life and Death of People’s Temple), dramatic non-fiction (Patty Hearst), fiction loosely inspired by fact (The Sacrament), or […]
