PODCAST: Episode 26 of "The Cinephile Hissy Fit" Podcast

For our 26th episode, 25YL film critics, ill-informed dads, and svelte school teachers Will Johnson and Don Shanahan team up on another "Deep Cut" discussion on the legacy of another celebrated performer. Suggested by Will Johnson, the duo compared their love/hate takes and viewing recommendations for the unlikely chameleon that has become Woody Harrelson, one of the hardest working actors of this generation. They work around the easy and obvious to peer further down the career resume.

Cinephile Hissy Fit, Podcast, 25YL, Media AppearanceDon ShanahanSeptember 29, 2021Woody HarrelsonComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Martin McDonagh’s new film puts prickly in the pastoral glazing its country charm with absolute acid every chance it gets. Part stern crime drama and part small-town chicanery, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri displays the next level of McDonagh’s talent and potential. Always the sharp storyteller since his roots on the Irish stage, McDonagh’s writing prowess elevates a premise that would fall flat as pure farce in other hands

MOVIE REVIEW: The Glass Castle

Mulling over the many layers and events of Destin Daniel Cretton’s film adaptation of Jeanette Wells’ memoirs The Glass Castle, I keep coming back to the same essential question: "Who am I to judge someone else's life story or life choices?" If the real Jeanette Wells is able to make peace with the events of her childhood, how can I, or anyone, tell her she's wrong? The answer is we can’t (and shouldn’t) and that’s a hurdle not everyone has shown to be prepared for or able to separate from critique.

MOVIE CLASSROOM: War for the Planet of the Apes

It's time to call the prequel trilogy of Planet of the Apes one of the best movie trilogies of all-time. It's time to give serious Oscar consideration to Andy Serkis as Caeser. It's time to see what is, so far, the best film of 2017. Hear those thoughts and more in my "Movie Classroom" interactive whiteboard video review for War for the Planet of the Apes as it appears published on the Every Movie Has a Lesson YouTube channel. See this film immediately.

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

MOVIE REVIEW: Triple 9

The latest film from director John Hilllcoat is a deadly game of cops and robbers. The rub in "Triple 9" is that the cops are the robbers. Painted with thick coat of fictional grit capable of kicking in our audience doors, the director's sixth feature aims to be a new "Heat" for this era. Boasting a stellar top-shelf cast of dedicated, yet mismatched parts, "Triple 9" does its best to battle treacherous flaws.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 2

With all honesty, this writer has never been a fan of "The Hunger Games." Dystopian worlds and brassy films about them are always fascinating, but kids-killing-kids-for-sport isn't a cup of tea fitting of endorsement. It is easy to be intrigued but admittedly hard to be entertained by such a thing. With the profit-milking complete from "Part 1" last November, "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 2" ties together its loose ends with reasonable quality. To this critic, the series has always come down to your tolerance of overwrought melodrama, your acceptance of illogical hang-ups, and your stomach for grim fictionalized massacre with a high body count being pushed on kids. It's hard to be a fan of that bleakness.