Author: Dan Gardner

Gamer This movie would certainly have experienced a horrible, bloody, disfiguring death at the box office if it weren’t for Gerard Butler lending a hand to save it. But though he saved it doesn’t mean the movie survives in perfect health. Far from it. If this movie were embodied in human form it would be…

All About Steve I must confess that one of the reasons I enjoyed All About Steve is that Mary’s character – played by Sandra Bullock – is a lot like my wife. So I’ll admit that I have a bit of a prejudice for the film. That aside the film was rather bland. There was…

Extract Since Extract billed itself as the funniest movie of the summer I think I have grounds to demand a refund based on false advertising. I think The Hangover wins that title hands down, or is that hands together? 🙂 I’m not saying Extract was a bad movie. It just didn’t quite get over the…

Taking Woodstock To me one of the most important aspects of a film is the pacing. Ang Lee is a masterful director and you can see his handywork here. I can’t think of another film that used pacing as a part of the story so effectively. The movie is very slow to get started. But…

Bandslam Bandslam reinforced a lesson that I’ve learned many times: never judge a movie based on it’s genre. I’m not a fan of horror movies but I’ve seen many horror movies that I love. And I’m not a big fan of cop/gangster movies yet I think some of the movies in that genre are great.…

District 9 You can tell from the previews that District 9 is slightly atypical. Much of the movie is shot as a documentary. Especially the first 10-15 minutes. After that it begins to stray into a more conventional filming style while retaining a hint of the documentary camera style. The director Neill Blomkamp finds a…