MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the Kicking the Seat's YouTube Live Talking "Deadpool and Wolverine"

The Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel hosted by Ian Simmons had the makings of a Fight Night this week with its livestream show for the hotly anticipated Deadpool & Wolverine. The smash hit is the kind of thing that has been right up the alley of Ian’s dais of “Earth’s Mightiest Critics.” But, we didn’t account for Ian himself. For those of you who follow the show, Ian’s had a moratorium for comic book movies before and, even in returning to the genre, he has not been moved or impressed. I was there for the possible brawl alongside Annie Banks of We’ve Got This Covered, Mike Crowley of You’ll Probably Agree, Cati Glidewell of The Blonde in Front, and Mark Krawczyk of Special Mark Productions. Could we slash and stab some sense into him?

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the Kicking the Seat's YouTube Live Talking "Inside Out 2"

The Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel hosted by Ian Simmons returned from a contentious show last week with “Earth’s Mightiest Critics” on Godzilla: Minus One to a movie that is even more universally loved in a shorter amount of time. Celebrating all the feelings and emotions hopping around our noodles, the spotlight movie was Pixar’s instant smash Inside Out 2. Joining Ian and me were Annie Banks of We’ve Got This Covered, Mike Crowley of You’ll Probably Agree, and Cati Glidewell of The Blonde in Front.

MOVIE REVIEW: Turning Red

The good storytellers at Pixar take all the possible cringeworthy “red” jokes and mask them through creatively conceived metaphors that soften the obligatory embarrassment with heart, humor, and courage. After all, to the Chinese culture on display in Turning Red, the potentially frightening shade of crimson counts as a lucky color of vitality, success, and happiness. Leave it to the ever-reliable Pixar to swim freely within that intrinsic good fortune as they so often do.

2022, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanMarch 7, 2022Turning Red, Pixar, Pixar PunchComment

SHORT FILM REVIEW: Not Yet

For a while now, I have long wondered how someone could bottle that signature Pixar-level lightness for dramatic heft and pour it into a live-action piece with the same welcome whimsy. Pixar's animated feature films and shorts consistently have a special way with conveying humor within the most difficult emotions I might have found the closest attempt yet in Chad Hamilton’s lovely short film Not Yet.

MOVIE CLASSROOM: Cars 3

The "Pixar Punch," as I like to call it, is alive and well in the vast franchise improvement that is Cars 3. Progressive with diversity and delivered with top-shelf computer animation, Cars 3 will earn your appreciate and change your mind about the series after Cars 2. Here is my newest YouTube "Movie Classroom" video review using the ShowMe iPad app and iMovie. Enjoy!

MOVIE REVIEW: Cars 3

Wendy's founder Dave Thomas once said: “It all comes back to the basics. Serve customers the best-tasting food at a good value in a clean, comfortable restaurant, and they'll keep coming back.” Apply that telling quote of ease and simplicity to Cars 3 as a perfect parallel. The savvy creators at Pixar know how to package a quality product of with clean and clear values that gain brand loyalty from wide audiences. Returning to its Americana roots, Cars 3 rediscovers the franchise’s successful foundation of wholesome heart.

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.

2016, Column, Editorial, SPECIALDon ShanahanDecember 31, 2016New Year's Resolutions for the Movie Industry, New Year's Resolutions, Column, Editorial, 2016, 2017, New Year's Eve, Adam Sandler, Seth McFarlane, Michael Phillips, MTV, Donald Trump, Felicity Jones, Natalie Portman, Jessica Chastain, Jackie, Miss Sloane, Emma Stone, La La Land, #OscarsSoWhite, Moonlight, Fences, Hidden Figures, Mahershala Ali, Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Naomie Harris, Octavia Spencer, Ava DuVernay, 13th, The Birth of a Nation, Southside with You, The Fits, Kicks, LGBT, Disney/Marvel, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Sony Entertainment, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Homecoming, X-Men: Apocalypse, Deadpool, Doctor Strange, Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Geoff Johns, Denis Villeneuve, Dwayne Johnson, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Prisoners, Enemy, Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, Ridley Scott, Alien: Covenant, Jumanji, Baywatch, Kicking the Seat, Pixar, Pixar Punch, Sing, The Secret Life of Pets, The Angry Birds Movie, The Emoji Movie, Pete's Dragon, Mark Wahlberg, Deepwater Horizon, Patriots Day, Transformers: The Last Knight, Jason Statham, Saturday Night Live, Ghostbusters, Damien ChazelleComment

SHORT FILM REVIEW: Borrowed Time

This website and writer has long celebrated the “Pixar Punch,” the animation studio’s uncanny ability to absolutely destroy our hearts with raw and simple emotionality in perfectly calculated amounts and moments within their feature films. In quicker chunks of time, Pixar’s animated shorts are no slouch at hitting the same body blows. Their settings have always been warm and sunny family films, long begging the question of what would more adult fare look like in the same creative boxing gloves. “Borrowed Time” is a striking glimpse into such a possibility