MOVIE REVIEW: War for the Planet of the Apes

A significant shift in attention and investment has occurred in this series. Our hearts and allegiances swayed from rooting for the madness of our own mankind to the superior traits of humanity exhibited by Caesar and his ape brethren. A transformation of empathy like that is downright miraculous. War for the Planet of Apes is a full-bodied epic of glory and pain that matches and then exceeds the moving importance and heart this rebooted franchise has established in two previous knockout films.

2017, 5 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJune 27, 2017ShowPlace ICON X at Roosevelt Collections2017, 2017 Summer Movies, Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, War for the Planet of the Apes, Best of 2017, Andy Serkis, Caesar, Pixar, Toby Kebbell, Woody Harrelson, Ty Olsson, Terry Notary, Karin Konoval, Amiah Miller, Steve Zahn, Spartacus, Jurassic World, Michael Giacchino, Jerry Goldsmith, Lost, Matt Reeves, John Williams, Mark Bomback, Michael Bay, Transformers, The Batman, The Lord of the Rings, Gollum, Toy Story, Star Wars, The Godfather trilogy, Christopher Nolan, Peter Jackson, Special Achievement Oscar, Special Achievement Academy Award, Academy Award, Academy Award hopeful, film review, movie review, movie commentary, film commentary, life lessons, life lessons from film, life lessons from movies, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Star Wars trilogy, Movie trilogies, trilogies, superior sequels, sequels, reboot, remake, Reimagining, Donald Shanahan, Don ShanahanComment

DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: Score: A Film Music Documentary

This writer is an unabashed film music lover. I owned more film score CDs than ones of popular music back in the day and that ratio hasn’t changed with digital media. Hell, I wrote a long-form editorial three years ago proclaiming film music as an improvement of the Mozart Effect for babies and children which led to a playlist afterwards that I still use to this day. I am a mark for what Score: A Film Music Documentary was selling and many of the names and talents featured in the film are found on that personal playlist.

2017, 4 STARS, Chicago Film Festival, DOCUMENTARY REVIEW, Film Festival, MOVIE REVIEW, Video on DemandDon ShanahanJune 15, 2017Music Box Theatre2017, documentary review, Documentary filmmaking, documentary, documentary commentary, Score: A Film Music Documentary, Score, Matt Schrader, Hans Zimmer, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Nine Inch Nails, Danny Elfman, James Horner, Alfred Newman, Bernard Herrmann, Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire, Max Steiner, King Kong, Charlie Chaplin, James Cameron, David Arnold, James Bond theme, James Bond films, Heitor Pereira, Despicable Me 2, Despicable Me, Smurfs, The Smurfs, Marco Beltrami, 3:10 to Yuma, Brian Tyler, Marvel Films, Marvel Cinematic Universe, John Debney, The Passion of the Christ, Leonard Maltin, John Burlingame, Mozart Effect, Ultimate Playlist of Movie Music Lullabies, film music, Film music, film scores, movie scores, Movie music, Chicago Critics Film Festival, 5th Chicago Critics Film Festival, life lessons, life lessons from film, life lessons from documentaries, film review, movie review, film commentary, movie commentary, Every Movie Has a Lesson, Don Shanahan, Donald Shanahan, 2017 Summer MoviesComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Great Wall

"The Great Wall" is an imposing creature feature that stands as a three-headed glamour project. You have an A-list star venturing overseas for international credibility and a splashy director landing his official English-language debut. Aiming higher in aspiration is a production company hoping to open a new and profitable pipeline of investment between Hollywood and China. Visually splendid from top to bottom, this epic adventure squeaks by on its looks and spares no expense to make sure of that.

EDITORIAL: My picks for the greatest movie scores

Here's my official list of my top 10 movie scores with three unbreakable ties. I can't call them the "greatest," but I'll put my list next to anyone's and defend my choices. My friends and followers kind of poked the bear and encouraged me to make and rank my own list. Well, I love a good challenge and I knew this one would be easy. Movie scores and I get along.

SPECIAL, Editorial, 2014, ColumnDon ShanahanNovember 14, 2014Editorial, The Shawshank Redemption, Jaws, Hans Zimmer, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Batman, Interstellar, Ennio Morricone, Gladiator, film music, Dr. Zhivago, Star Wars trilogy, Column, Nino Rota, Elmer Bernstein, Star Wars, The Good Bad and the Ugly, Out of Africa, John Barry, James Bond theme, Rudy, James Horner, Howard Shore, The Dark Knight, Up, Legends of the Fall, John Williams, Superman, Movie music, Michael Giacchino, Gone With the Wind, Vertigo, Bill Conti, Danny Elfman, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, The Good, Titanic, Braveheart, Bernard Herrmann, The Magnificent Seven, Dances With Wolves, Indiana Jones, Psycho, Schindler's List, Jerry Goldsmith, The Godfather, The Mission, Rocky, Lawrence of Arabia, Itzhak Perlman, Thomas Newman, film scores, The Lord of the Rings Comment

COLUMN: The Ultimate Playlist of Movie Music Lullabies

I hope this big post and 200-song playlist finds you and serves you well. It's been quite the passion project for me to build, on and off, over the last year and a half. Thanks for letting me merge sounding like a parenting blogger and a movie in one post. Please share this column with your friends with kids. It's all not just for babies either. If you like this kind of music, it works great in the car or at the office as well. As a school teacher, I used to play this in my elementary school classes all the time. It's excellent music for creativity and focus for all ages. Enjoy!