Posts tagged dogs in peril
MOVIE REVIEW: Wiener-Dog
MOVIE REVIEW: Wiener-Dog

Commonly, there are only two general reactions to witnessing an elaborate intentional joke of dark comedy.  You either admire the effort to relish the measured malice or you are appalled and disconnected to the sense of humor being exploited.  There will be very little gray area between those reactions for Todd Solondz’s “Wiener-Dog.”  Make no mistake.  For lack of a better term, this is a filmmaker being an asshole on purpose because he can and he doesn’t care.  You will either champion or loathe that supposed brilliance and brashness.  Buyer beware, honest and true dog lovers need to stay far away from this film.

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2016, 1 STAR, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanLandmark Century Center Cinema2016, Todd Solondz, Wiener-Dog, Black comedy, Dark comedy, satires, Tracy Letts, Julie Delpy, Greta Gerwig, Kieran Culkin, Keaton Nigel Cooke, Danny DeVito, Ellen Burstyn, Zosia Mamet, Michael Shaw, Edward Lachman, Misery, DeBussy, Clair de Lune, Happiness, dog movies, dogs in peril, movie commentary, film commentary, movie review, film review, life lessons from film, life lessons from films, life lessons from movies, life lessons, Life lessons, independent films, art-house films, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, Every Movie Has a LessonComment
MOVIE REVIEW: The Dog Lover
MOVIE REVIEW: The Dog Lover

It is entirely fair to grant that, out of the many animal breeders in the world, operations exist that are completely on the up-and-up with proper care and humane treatment of animals.  No argument there.  Not every dog breeder is a cruel and incensed perpetrator of animal slavery any more than not every Muslim is an ISIS terrorist or not every German was a Nazi.  Advocating for such a truth is fine and dandy when the message is composed in a fair and balanced way.  A film like the “The Dog Lover” is not the way to correct that message.

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2016, ZERO STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanAMC South Barrington 302016, The Dog Lover, AMC South Barrington 30, independent films, James Remar, Lea Thompson, Sherry Stringfield, Allison Page, Jayson Blair, Christina Moore, A Time to Kill, PETA, dog movies, dogs in peril, ZERO STARS, animal cruelty Comment
MOVIE REVIEW: Independence Day: Resurgence
MOVIE REVIEW: Independence Day: Resurgence

The advent of computer-generated visual effects in the 1990s raised the scope of what and how much disaster movies could destroy on screen.  No better film encapsulated that new era than the raucous and wildly successful “Independence Day” from 1996 with aliens laying waste to world monuments and making a star out of Will Smith.  In the twenty years since, the evolution of CGI filmmaking of bigger and more opulent destruction has elevated the craft to the moniker of “disaster porn.”  Returning with the grand ambitious sequel “Independence Day: Resurgence,” the former standard-bearer enters a present day where audiences have been desensitized by asteroids, comets, natural disasters, monsters, Transformers, and superheroes dozens of times over.  What was awesome the first time isn’t jaw-dropping anymore.

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2 STARS, 2016, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanAMC Yorktown Premium Cinemas2016, Independence Day: Resurgence, Independence Day, Science Fiction films, Disaster films, Jeff Goldblum, Will Smith, William Fichtner, Liam Hemsworth, Jessie Usher, Maika Monroe, Mae Whitman, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Vivica Fox, Judd Hirsch, Burj Khalifa, summer blockbusters, dogs in peril, life lessons from film, Sela Ward, Travis Tope, Angelababy, Bill Pullman, disaster porn, movie review, movie commentary, life lessons from films, life lessons from movies, life lessons, Life lessons, film review, film commentary, Every Movie Has a Lesson, Don Shanahan, Donald ShanahanComment