Posts tagged Column
EDITORIAL: 19 films to watch for the 2019 Oscars

In what has become an annual day-after-hangover and post-Oscars tradition, I have this editorial that closes the book on one awards season and declares the next one open for competition.  Each year, I pull out the crystal ball and look into the murky future to prognosticate which films coming in 2018 will we be applauding for at this time next year for the 91st Academy Awards.  Here are 19 films to watch for the 2019 Oscars.

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EDITORIAL: Post-Super Bowl Challenge

The wild use of the word "expectations" is another soapbox for a different day (and soon), but I long for a day when the repetitive spoiler blathering could go away, allowing patience to create real hype, not the over-marketed variety we have now, to create a higher form of anticipation.  With that hope in mind, I have a challenge for all of you.

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EDITORIAL: The 10 best Irish-themed films

I felt obligated to update an editorial list I made five years ago in 2012 of the best Irish-themed movies in time for celebrating St. Patrick's Day.  It was due for a dusting with two new additions.  For this list, I opened the field to either movies set in Ireland or those that feature notable Irish characters or stories outside of the Emerald Isle.  That possibilities spanned movies both foreign and domestic.  Pour the Guinness, heat the corned beef, and enjoy my list of the 10 best Irish-themed movies!

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EDITORIAL: 18 films to watch for the 2018 Oscars

When one Oscar ceremony ends (and then is stopped and ends again), the race for next year's trophies have already begun.  Next year will be the historic 90th Academy Awards and I expect Hollywood to spare no expense (especially in the accounting department) to ensure a banner event.  For my fifth year in a row now, I have made it a tradition the day after the Oscars to gaze into the crystal ball and lay out some deep prognostication.

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EDITORIAL: Final 2017 Awards Tracker and Oscar Reactions

Between the prestigious Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday and the Academy Awards on Sunday, here are the final tallies for the 2017 Awards Tracker and my overall Oscar reactions in each category.  Enjoy and see you this November when we fire all of this up again for the 90th Academy Awards!

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2017, Column, Editorial, SPECIALDon Shanahan2017, 2016 films, 2017 Awards Tracker, 2017 Academy Awards, 2017 Oscars, 2017 Oscar Predictions, Oscar talks, Oscars, Oscar bait, Oscar hopefuls, Oscar nominee, Oscar nominations, Oscar race, Oscar contenders, Oscar, Oscar Checklist, Oscar Predictions, Oscar surprises, Oscar snubs, Oscar winners, #OscarsSoWhite, 89th Oscars, 89th Academy Awards, Best Picture, The race for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Actress, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Song, Best Original Score, Best Documentary Short Subject, Best Musical Score, Best Live Action Short, Best Live Action Short Film, Best Animated Feature, Best Animated Short Film, Best Animated Short, Best Short Film, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Best Documentary, Best Documentary Feature, Best Directing, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Makeup and Hair-Styling, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Foreign Film, Best Visual Effects, Best Screenplay, Awards Tracker, Awards Talk, Awards seasons, Awards, Award Prediction, Awards Predictions, Academy Awards, Academy Award winner, Academy Award nominees, Academy Award nominee, Academy Award nominations, Academy Award, Awards bait, SAG Award, Editorial, Column, Don Shanahan, Donald Shanahan, Every Movie Has a LessonComment
MEDIA APPEARANCE: New regular guest blogger for Feelin' Film

Matching my signature niche, I pitched the Feelin' Film website on writing a weekly column on the serious and farcical life lessons learned each week from either the current film releases or the prevailing movie industry trends of the moment.  Since mid-January 2017, that idea has become the column "What Did We Learn This Week."  My weekly column features commentary and content I don't post anywhere else, not even here.

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COLUMN: 16 hidden gem films from 2016

Even with my access to more-than-most with festival coverage and press credentials, I can’t see everything.  What I can do is prop up some hidden gems that I was lucky enough to see and review.  Here are 16 under-seen winners from 2016.  The qualifier for the list was title earning less than $1 million at the box office.  They are ranked from highest-scoring review to least.

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COLUMN: The 10 Best Films of 2016

I’ll have you know that this is the latest this website has ever posted a “10 Best” list in its six-plus year history.  I want to say that 2016 exhausted me, but it didn’t.  “Every Movie Has a Lesson” published a personal-best 114 film reviews in 2016.  Even after a record year, there is part of me that sits here and knows there was room for more.  The to-do list of recommended films and overdue titles is never empty.  

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COLUMN: Vampire movies and "Underworld: Blood Wars"

"Underworld" is an action-horror movie series based on the eternal struggle between vampires and werewolves. The same old formula has been used and abused over and over again on the big screen, and even "Twilight" – a franchise belonging to the romance/fantasy genre – has tapped into the centuries-long skirmish between the two undead clans. 

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COLUMN: New Year's Resolutions for the Movie Industry in 2017

Plenty of regular everyday people make New Year's Resolutions, but I think bigger entities, namely movie makers and movie moguls, need to make them too.  Annually, including this sixth edition, this is my absolute favorite editorial to write every year.  I have fun taking the movie industry to task for things they need to change.  I'm sarcastic, but I'm not the guy to take it to the false internet courage level of some Twitter troll.  This will be as forward as I get all year.  

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EDITORIAL: The Best of 2016 (so far)

Many of my personal most-anticipated picks and my crystal ball Oscar prognostications are still coming, but I have been lucky enough to see over 50 film films in the first half of 2016.  Since it's only been a half-year, I'll split a year-end "10 Best" list into a Top 5.  True to this website's theme, I present you my picks for the "Best of 2016 (so far)" coupled with their best life lesson from my full reviews. 

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COLUMN: Newly updated BAG website and platform for "Every Movie Has a Lesson"

Back in January, I introduced you to my involvement on BAG Movies as one of their "PRO" critics and contributors.  In April, I was one of their inaugural "Critics of the Month."  As of today, I've logged over 650 reviews on their site.  I am happy to report that BAG Movies has gotten a massive facelift making it even more organized, personalized, and interactive than before.  Their new-and-improved website just launched here in June 2016.  

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