MEDIA APPEARANCE: David Ehrlich's IndieWire Critics Survey on October 15, 2018

Notable and notorious IndieWire film critic David Ehrlich recently put out a social media call for film critic peers to join a weekly survey to discuss movie topics, answer questions, and highlight their work. Representing Every Movie Has a Lesson, I, along with over 50 other emerging and established film critics including some of my fellow Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle members, accepted the invitation to participate. I'm honored by the opportunity, and I hope my responses are chosen each week.

2018, Independent Film, Media Appearance, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanOctober 17, 2018David Ehrlich, Ethan HawkeComment

CAPSULE REVIEWS: The 54th Chicago International Film Festival

For the fifth year in a row and the fourth with press credentials, I am proud to represent Every Movie Has a Lesson and Medium.com to cover the ambitious slate. No single critic can see it all, but I’ll take my swings to find some buried treasure and films to explore when they come to your city or streaming platforms at home down the road. Here below are my collected capsule reviews from the 54th Chicago International Film Festival, ranked in order of highest to lowest recommendation.

MOVIE REVIEW: Beautiful Boy

This is not your typical feel-good factory product. Beautiful Boy is bracingly honest with its turns and barriers built by emotional whallup. The remarkable performances of Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet deserve the credit for that impact, fashioning a touchingly stout drama that is braver than most films on the subject. One of the best films you will ever see examining the breadth of drug addiction

Independent Film, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, 5 STARS, Film Festival, 2018, MOVIE REVIEW, Chicago Film FestivalDon ShanahanOctober 11, 2018Comment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: David Ehrlich's IndieWire Critics Survey on October 8, 2018

Notable and notorious IndieWire film critic David Ehrlich recently put out a social media call for film critic peers to join a weekly survey to discuss movie topics, answer questions, and highlight their work. Representing Every Movie Has a Lesson, I, along with over 50 other emerging and established film critics including some of my fellow Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle members, accepted the invitation to participate. I'm honored by the opportunity, and I hope my responses are chosen each week.

2018, Independent Film, Media Appearance, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanOctober 11, 2018David Ehrlich, Ethan HawkeComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Loving Pablo

The overarching challenge remains making romance out of a villain, enough to soften the depravity of the historical truth. Matching Vallejo’s own findings, Loving Pablo defines that Escobar’s darkness cannot be diluted, making much of this film a difficult and treacherous viewing experience. To its great credit, the merciless edge of Loving Pablo rejects forced cinematic sugar-coating overused in other crime films to romanticize its leviathans.

2017, 2018, 3 STARS, Film Festival, Foreign Film, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, Video on DemandDon ShanahanOctober 9, 2018Comment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the "Kicking the Seat" podcast talking "Venom"

Kicking the Seat’s Ian Simmons sounded the horn and the “comic council” of film critics have convened again! Our heroic dais scratches their heads and wrestles a handicap match with Ruben Fleischer’s Venom. Enjoy myself, Ian, David Fowlie of Keeping it Reel, and Emmanuel Noisette of Eman's Movie Reviews as we step into the black symbiote ink to get dirty with the dirty of Tom Hardy and company. Enjoy our extremely entertaining back-and-forth chat!

2018, Media Appearance, Podcast, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanOctober 6, 2018AMC RIver East 21Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Venom

For the purpose to sell tickets, this proper villain is touted to be an response to the world having enough superheroes. The resulting film debunks its marketing by reducing Venom into a do-gooder and carnival attraction opposite of that claim. Never once does your heart pump a little quicker from tension. Never once do any hairs stand up in fright in the presence of what should be a complete badass. Those deficiencies shouldn’t happen with Venom.

2 STARS, 2018, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEW, PodcastDon ShanahanOctober 4, 2018AMC River East 21Comment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: David Ehrlich's IndieWire Critics Survey on October 1, 2018

Notable and notorious IndieWire film critic David Ehrlich recently put out a social media call for film critic peers to join a weekly survey to discuss movie topics, answer questions, and highlight their work. Representing Every Movie Has a Lesson, I, along with over 50 other emerging and established film critics including some of my fellow Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle members, accepted the invitation to participate. I'm honored by the opportunity, and I hope my responses are chosen each week.

2018, Independent Film, Media Appearance, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanOctober 3, 2018David Ehrlich, Ethan HawkeComment

MOVIE REVIEW: First Man

Unlike the popular space race films that have come before it, not a millisecond of First Man feels like typical hero worship celebrating astronaut and aeronautical engineer Neil Armstrong. The music or soundtrack doesn't announce his entrances or achievements. The camera doesn't bathe Armstrong in light and genuflect in his presence to make him seem larger than he really is. What is not trumpeted as heaps of grandiose praise by Academy Award-winning La La Land director Damien Chazelle is instead honed into a poignant and resolute testament of honor.

2018, 5 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Film Festival, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanOctober 2, 2018AMC Navy Pier IMAXComment

MOVIE REVIEW: A Star is Born

Cooper simmers with swagger before Gaga’s vocal force boils the cauldron over, taking everything to another level. Songs emerge and what was cauterized by charged passion is now frozen in alluring amazement of the talent on display. With this fourth version of A Star is Born, you will find yourself captivated watching the expressive performances, both sung and unsung, no matter if it is for an audience of thousands or just merely one.

2018, 5 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Film Festival, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanOctober 1, 2018AMC River East 21Comment

EDITORIAL: Four modern movies begging for the MST3K treatment

Watching quality cinema is all well and good, but sometimes a bad movie is even better. Giving a movie the full Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment can be a blast. Now that actually good projectors cost under $500 and are affordable enough for anyone, you can even do it on a big screen right in your home (since heckling in the theater is generally frowned upon). Old movies make great fodder for mockery, but there are movies coming out all the time that strike that perfect balance of patently ridiculous and super fun.

2018, Column, Editorial, LIST, SPECIALDon ShanahanOctober 1, 2018Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Sisters Brothers

From “spaghetti,” “meat pie” and “ostern” to “curry” and “charro,” there are reasons for the good ole’ U.S. of A. to feel jealous and intrigued to realize that some of the best westerns being made today are coming from foreign directors and sources. After The Salvation, look no further than The Sisters Brothers from French director Jacques Audiard. Call it a “baguette,” “crepe,” or “foie gras” western, but the Rust and Bone and Dheepan filmmaker has genuflected to make a proper addition to this movie discipline.

2018, 3 STARS, Film Festival, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanSeptember 28, 2018Landmark Century Centre CinemasComment