MOVIE REVIEW: Southpaw

If you've seen one boxing movie, you've seen them all. They are their own formula, cliche, and sub-genre of sports movies. If you've seen one rags-to-riches triumph or riches-to-rags-back-to-riches redemption, you've seen them all. If you've heard one trash talking villain or one sage mentor/trainer/coach jaw on their own, you've heard them all. If you've seen one smoothly-edited training montage that leads to the big, loud and predictable ending fight, you've seen the all. "Southpaw" sadly brings nothing new to the table.

MOVIE REVIEW: Terminator Genisys

As flashy as it is with tremendous and eye-popping special effects, "Terminator: Genisys" has created an extremely convoluted mess of merged timelines and revisionist storytelling that treads all over what made the 1984 original and superior 1991 sequel so great. This is more of an attempt of retcon than of homage. Even if you find yourself entertained by the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger to his signature franchise, you may be asking, maybe even screaming in outrage, why this revision exercise was even necessary.

MOVIE REVIEW: I'll See You In My Dreams

Not too many films come along tailor-made for the senior demographic, and even fewer romances. It's a shame too because none of that talent over the age of 40 has gotten worse. If anything, they've honed their craft and waited for the right time to blossom once again. For the lost-lost, 72-year-old Blythe Danner, the new film "I'll See You in My Dreams," an audience favorite from the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, is a chance for her to emerge behind the "mom" roles from films like the "Meet the Parents" series of TV's "Will and Grace."

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.

MOVIE REVIEW: While We're Young

Folks, I have to come right out and warn you that this going to more of a blog post than a movie review, but it will count for both. I just watched Noah Baumbach's new film "While We're Young" and I learned a lot about myself, but not all in a good way. Through the title of this website, I say that "every movie has a lesson." That's my hook and that's the lens I see movies with and I stand by it. Seeing this film tonight was the kind of challenging and humbling experience I need as an amateur movie critic from time to time.

MOVIE REVIEW: Mr. Turner

As beautifully presented as Mike Leigh's "Mr. Turner" is at telling the story of English Romanticist painter J.M.W. Turner, too much of it is uninteresting, familiar in tone, and predictably in execution. What normally can save a film about an artist is the subject's life beyond his or her work. An interesting person can make up for the uninteresting content. Though led by a invested performance from character actor Timothy Spall, "Mr. Turner" can't muster enough of that to separate itself as something special.

COLUMN: My Worst Films of 2014

Here are three lists of the worst movies of the 2014, as ranked by Every Movie Has a Lesson and fans of the website. Enjoy and Happy New Year! Let's turn the page to a new year.

MOVIE REVIEW: Young Ones

"Young Ones" is set in a not-too-distant future where drought has ravaged the land and broken down society for several years now. Water is the top commodity and resource. Newer technology is mixed with cruder scraps and styles of the past for a unique world. The middle and lower class tenuously eek out meager survival among bandits and thieves in the rural areas. Beyond those outskirts, there is an unseen richer demographic of cities and a government presence that maintains a more normal society, pulls the strings, and delegates who and where gets the precious remaining water.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Drop

It is of great surprise that, for me, all I kept thinking about during "The Drop" was Michael Madsen's response-begging question from Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" as Mr. Blonde: "Are you going to bark all day or are you going to bite?" For too much of "The Drop," a seemingly record number of bushes are being beaten around. Don't get me wrong. A dialogue-driven and slow-boiling premise can work and has worked, worlds over, but it has to deliver at some point. "The Drop" does have a sly ending in mind and at play, but it doesn't match or make up for the tedious lead-up. Considering the talent involved, I expected more.

MOVIE REVIEW: Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

After taking in "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For," the second collaboration between legendary graphic novel creator Frank Miller and virtuoso technical filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, I feel like coining a new term. "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" is a "genre-buster," meaning that it is a film that pushes far beyond the boundaries of its generally assigned category. In my opinion, to be a genre-buster, you have to break the confinements of at least three genres. Two isn't enough. Two is an "action comedy," "romantic fantasy," or etc. and those are plain as day and too easy. You've got to mix three and do it well.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Expendables 3

I can’t get away with the same review re-write gag for “The Expendables 3” that I did for “The Expendables 2.” I know it’s a stretch to say this, but Stallone went back to the drawing board, even if it’s an Etch-A-Sketch, to actually formulate *GASP* the semblance of an actual plot. It’s not a pretty one, but the third film, for the most part, departs from the hearty rerun missions of the first two films.

MOVIE REVIEW: Happy Christmas

Joe Swanberg steps in front of the camera and retains the mega-popular and former Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick for "Happy Christmas." The film premiered this past winter at the Sundance Film Festival and now finally opens this weekend for a limited nationwide theatrical release. It is also concurrently available on Video On Demand platforms for digital viewing at home.

EVERY MOVIE HAS A LESSON

by Don Shanahan

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