DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: Music by John Williams

With every chapter, Music by John Williams defines and stamps the maestro’s brilliance, even if the running time could be doubled or tripled to peel back even more “how does he do it” storytelling and clinical breakdowns from film to film and era to era. Plenty of cinephiles would love to see all that, but only so many nuanced moments fit alongside the big ones in one feature-length documentary. Even comprised as the parade it is, the Disney+ film is a fitting biographical tribute to the artist who could have rested on his laurels a quarter-century ago and still been an all-timer worthy of nonfiction hero worship.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Fabelmans

Extending its fervent love of filmmaking, The Fabelmans begs the question of how magicians find their magic. It assuredly posits that the answer will be a humble origin born from the nuclear home, especially for the most commercially successful movie director of all-time. Through this very personal film, director Steven Spielberg puts his pants on one leg at a time like everyone else to show how one legendary magician remembers and treasures their own story. Since it is Spielberg after all, permission was granted to go ahead and tell that tale with a little magic of its own.

2022, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanNovember 22, 2022Steven Spielberg, The FabelmansComment

PODCAST: Episode 44 of "The Cinephile Hissy Fit" Podcast

For their 44th episode, 25YL film critics, immigrant dads, and finger-snapping school teachers Will Johnson and Don Shanahan find themselves dancing in the podcast streets to Steven Spielberg’s new incarnation of West Side Story. The musical is big and loud, but will either host pull any switchblades to knife the other’s joy or the movie’s Oscar chances? Grab your dancing partner and find out.

Cinephile Hissy Fit, Podcast, 25YL, Media AppearanceDon ShanahanJanuary 15, 2022West Side Story, Steven SpielbergComment

MOVIE REVIEW: A Monster Calls

J.A. Bayona’s film, based on the 2011 novel of the same name and adapted for the screen by the author himself, Patrick Hess, operates with a similar dichotomy and balancing act with its genre. “Fantasy” and “genuine” are two words that do not normally mix together. “A Monster Calls” creates an engrossing tale of allegory and myth and still roots it in a setting of stark reality filled with family and flaws.

MOVIE REVIEW: Nocturnal Animals

The leap for every filmmaker is translating their creative eye to the cinematic medium. Hitchcock’s feverish writing fed his mise-en-scene and attention to detail. Spielberg grew his outdoor sense of adventure to the highest possibilities and beyond. With an eye for the cultured human form and colorful finery, Tom Ford saturates every edge of his films with ornate style. The man is never boring and neither is one iota of “Nocturnal Animals,” Ford’s second feature film and a cage-rattling psychological thriller.

VIDEO: Post-film reactions to "The BFG"

Four of the esteemed members of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle were lucky enough to catch a very early advance screening of "The BFG" from director Steven Spielberg. It did not go well. Here are their immediate post-movie reactions. Enjoy the hot takes from myself, El'Ahrai Stanek and John Robinson of "The Harvey and Bob Show," and Jim Alexander of "The Movie Blog."

MOVIE REVIEW: The BFG

Faithful and imaginative as “The BFG” may be, the proceedings lack contagious inspiration that should come from a film of this intended caliber. Other than “whizpopper” humor, the slivers of cuteness present are ineffectual and the intended themes on dreams are lost in yawns. The silliness misses any chance at meaning. The film is too ridiculous to be approachable and too bizarre to be endearing. Meet Steven Spielberg's worst film.

MOVIE REVIEW: Midnight Special

In the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the adjective form of "special" can be defined as "held in particular esteem" and "readily distinguishable from others in the same category." For a film to earn that distinction it has to do more than have the word in its title, as is the case with the Jeff Nichols film "Midnight Special." It has to possess exemplary qualities to revere that enable it to stand out from its peers. As one of the most striking, imposing, and spell-binding original science fiction films in recent memory, "special" is fitting trademark for "Midnight Special."

COLUMN: Predicting the major 88th Academy Award nominations

The 88th Academy Award nominations will be announced tomorrow morning, January 14, 2016, hot off of the weekend's 73rd Golden Globe awards. I've been following the full awards season over on my Awards Tracker page. Using that data as the tea leaves and a truckload of hunches, I'm going to attempt to closely predict the Oscar nominations for the "Big 8" categories for the third year in a row.

MOVIE REVIEW: Bridge of Spies

Sewn with care to document an unopened storybook file on little-rememberd, forgotten Cold War heroics and theatrics, "Bridge of Spies" is the kind of historical drama that Steven Spielberg can make in his sleep. In a way, this is Spielberg's throwback answer to "Argo," three years after Ben Affleck's film swept the top Oscars away from Spielberg's own "Lincoln." He doesn't need that one-upmanship for his ego. "Bridge of Spies" is more a reminder that the master is still capable of making a winner with ease.

ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW: Pan

Like all of the failed live-action fairy tale remakes, the two largest missing components are restraint and charm. The timeless stories being attempted by films like "Pan" have no idea how to let a good narrative flow build or a poignant moment breathe before stepping to the next unrelenting set piece. The original written sources of these films have that restraint and quality. Blasts of action and sound have replaced subtle imagery and brevity. "Pan" lacks any and all charm to enamor the audience into what made Barrie's tale lovable and enchanting. Charm is replaced by dissonance and pandering.

MOVIE REVIEW: Jurassic World

Spectacle defines "Jurassic World" perfectly. Just as the dictionary definition states, the blockbuster is unusual, notable, and entertaining in an eye-catching, dramatic, and very public way. It is loud and dumb, but, hot damn, it sure is fun. More discerning tastes will definitely gravitate to the "object of curiosity and contempt" version of the definition and they wouldn't be wrong in doing so. In the end, the simple definitions seal "Jurassic World" too. It is an very impressive monster movie and it will indeed attract attention and shock.

EVERY MOVIE HAS A LESSON

by Don Shanahan

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