Posts tagged courtroom drama
MOVIE REVIEW: Marshall
MOVIE REVIEW: Marshall

Can you learn about a popular band by listening to their B-sides instead of their greatest hits?  Can you get a sense of the brilliance within a writer from their early drafts and not their published masterpieces?  Can you spot the traits of a future Hall of Fame sports legend solely by their work in college or the minor leagues before the professional ranks?  The answer to each is quite likely the same: sometimes, but not always.  Tally one in the sometimes column for  Reginald Hudlin’s Marshall and its biographical podium choice.

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4 STARS, 2017, Chicago Film Festival, Film Festival, MOVIE REVIEWDon Shanahan53rd Chicago International Film Festival53rd Chicago International Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, CIFF, CIFCC, #StandUpForSomething, Marshall, Biopics, Biographical films, lawfare, NAACP, Reginald Hudlin, Hidden Figures, Serving Sara, Boomerang, dramatic license, drama, legal drama, courtroom drama, Supreme Court, U.S. Supreme Court, E-Man's Movie Reviews, Eman, Eman's Movie Reviews, Emmanuel Noisette, Chadwick Boseman, Black Panther, Mr. Biopic, Joseph Spell, State of Connecticut vs. Joseph Spell, White Savior, white savior, Josh Gad, Dan Stevens, James Cromwell, Sam Friedman, Sterling K. Brown, 42, Get On Up, Kate Hudson, Opening Night Film, Opening Night Gala, Brown vs. Board of EducationComment
MOVIE REVIEW: Loving
MOVIE REVIEW: Loving

With a minimalist style and unadorned simplicity to reflect on racial intolerance, Jeff Nichols crafts “Loving” as a reminiscence of history without the histrionics.  Devoid of soapboxes, speechifying, and manufactured swells of forced emotion seen in far too many historical dramas, “Loving” cuts a different cloth, trading in Hollywood glamor for blue collar truthfulness.  Nichols brilliantly lets the honesty and grace of Richard and Mildred Loving stand on their own without an unnecessary pedestal.  Cite this film as proof that “tell it like it is” does not require bombastic noise and volume.

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2016, 5 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanLandmark Century Centre Cinema2016, Cannes Film Festival, 2016 Cannes Film Festival, Loving, Jeff Nichols, Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga, Richard Loving, Mildred Loving, Caroline County, Virginia, Martin Csokas, Bill Camp, Nick Kroll, Jon Bass, Grey Villet, Michael Shannon, LIFE magazine, courtroom drama, Romantic dramas, U.S. Supreme Court, Civil Rights Movement, ACLU, Midnight Special, David Wingo, Adam Stone, Biopics, film review, movie review, film commentary, movie commentary, Oscar contenders, life lessons from film, life lessons from films, life lessons, Life lessons from movies, Donald Shanahan, 2016 Holiday Movies, Every Movie Has a Lesson, Don ShanahanComment
OVERDUE REVIEW: Woman in Gold
OVERDUE REVIEW: Woman in Gold

In a new subset of movie reviews on my main website, I am circling back to see and review reasonably recent films that I either missed during their main theatrical runs or saw later then their window of mainstream prominence.  As a guy with a traveling day job and a new father of "two-under-two," I can't see everything every week and I have to choose my spots to head out to the theater.  These are my educational-themed "OVERDUE REVIEWS" and the life lessons are still in full effect.

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2 STARS, 2015, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanClassic Cinemas Lake TheatreRyan Reynolds, Helen Mirren, Woman in Gold, Adele Bloch-Bauer, Gustav Klimt, Austria, Supreme Court, Simon Curtis, My Week with Marilyn, Antje Traue, Katie Holmes, Daniel Bruhl, life lessons from film, life lessons from films, life lessons from movies, life lessons, Movie review, movie commentary, film review, film commentary, courtroom drama, Don Shanahan, Donald Shanahan, Every Movie Has a Lesson, 2015 Spring MoviesComment