Granted, messy people and their messy lives make for messy stories, especially here in the medium of narrative film. Not everyone can hold their noses to other peoples’ messes on display. Their pity or empathy levels have limits. Tolerance comes from the talent and the trueness coming together for the given story. Filmmaker Drake Doremus presents another striking, bare, and brave movie in the form of Endings, Beginnings. If you have the capacity to wallow along, you will be impressed. Plenty won’t and that’s too bad.

2020, 2019, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Film Festival, Independent Film, Streaming, Video on DemandDon ShanahanApril 16, 2020Comment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the "Kicking the Seat" YouTube channel talking "Trolls World Tour"

Well, movie fans, we’ve reached the point during this industry shutdown and pandemic where digital is the fallback lifeboat. With Universal Pictures caving to drop Trolls World Tour for day-and-date rental release on Amazon Prime, we are welcoming our first mainstream studio film of consequence in years to take this streaming settlement. Ian Simmons of Kicking the Seat invited me to his YouTube channel to talk music references, sequels, and the state of VOD and movie privacy. Enjoy this new video podcast episode!

COLUMN: Top Engaging Netflix Movies and Educational Shows for Students

Netflix movies are now an important past-time activity for people who are now on a stay-at-home quarantine amidst the global pandemic. Most residents around the world are now enjoying the luxury of using online media as a way to entertain and help student write their dissertations at services like Custom Essay Order. Netflix is now taking advantage of offering movies for all residents who want to maximize the comfort of their homes. One interesting part of staying at home is to watch your favorite movie via Netflix to include when writing their dissertation. Here are some top engaging Netflix movies and educational shows for students at home.

2020, Column, Editorial, Home Media, Social Media, SPECIAL, StreamingDon ShanahanApril 14, 2020 Comment

GUEST EDITORIAL: How Nepotism Has Stormed into Hollywood

by Claudia Jeffrey

Hollywood is known for its films, glitz, and glamour and, of course, the movie stars. Hollywood celebrities are some of the richest in the world. And some of them are even more influential than some of the presidents the US would have seen. The celebrity persona, lifestyle from what they say to what they eat, and what they wear, everything associated with them becomes a benchmark that the general public looks up to and wants to follow it to the point.

2020, Column, Editorial, GUEST EDITORIAL, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanApril 13, 2020Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Trolls World Tour

Adding more weight from the original movie’s message of finding internal happiness and not changing for others wouldn’t take much. With equal simplicity and symbolism, the felt of this dreamy universe for the sequel Trolls World Tour is upped to include heavy quilts, denim, leather, satin, velour, vinyl, and more. The multiplication of said textiles matches an appreciated boost in weightier themes. What is ready and primed to delight can also move body parts other than your hips and toes.

2020, 4 STARS, Animated Film, MOVIE REVIEW, Video on Demand, StreamingDon ShanahanApril 11, 2020Trolls World TourComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Love Wedding Repeat

I am starting to become convinced that there will never be a movie wedding that goes off without a hitch, as they say. It’s cinematically impossible not to have something, anything, or everything go wrong. But, that’s the fun of all those movies, including the new Netflix film Love Wedding Repeat. There is always comedy to be had when a springboard event of enduring love can survive in every cringe, surprise, fumble, flub, and fail executed by the doting newlyweds on down to the drunk ne'er-do-wells.

COLUMN: Amazon Prime UK: The Best Upcoming Movies & Shows To Watch

There’s no better time for you to binge movies than the summer of 2020. With many people stuck at home due to the recent lockdowns and self-quarantine methods because of the COVID-19 pandemic, movies are what will save us from being bored out of our minds, which is probably why there’s been an increased interest in streaming as of late. Because of this, I find now the perfect time to go over the best upcoming movies this summer coming to Amazon Prime.

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the "Kicking the Seat" YouTube channel talking "Coffee & Kareem"

When Netflix is the one studio with an open and busy storefront, movies like Coffee & Kareem are what we get. Stuff like that is going to have to suffice, both for general audience as us film critics who haven’t seen a new theatrical film in a month. Ian Simmons of Kicking the Seat invited me to the streaming sidelines to ride along with the buddy copy comedy from the director of Stuber and Take Me Home Tonight and starring the dolt of Ed Helms and the potty-mouth of Terrence Little Gardenhigh. I chose to crush a beer over enjoying this cinematic coffee. Enjoy this new video podcast episode on his YouTube channel!

Media Appearance, Podcast, Social Media, SPECIAL, 2020Don ShanahanApril 6, 2020AMC River East 21Kicking the SeatComment

COLUMN: How to Throw the Ultimate Backyard Movie Night

If you asked around a bit, you’d be surprised how many people don’t have a backyard although they want one. If you’re lucky enough to have a spacious backyard, you should use it for leisure activities. We’re not only referring o lounging in a hammock or playing sports but throwing an outdoor movie night. There is no need to watch movies in summer alone and slouched in from of your laptop, as you have all preconditions for the ultimate backyard movie night. And did we tell you that there is a list of movies to watch at the end of the text?

2020, Column, Editorial, Home Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanApril 6, 2020Comment

COLUMN: 3 Movies That Used Instagram Marketing and the Way They Did It

by Sujain Thomas

As far as marketers are concerned, they are trying to diversify and build useful strategies to pique audience interest in innovative ways. In this article, we are going to walk you through some of the film industry examples that leveraged Instagram to take their messaging and information delivery to the next level. The photo-sharing social app could be perceived as an initial and final level of interaction with cinema. It could be a customer viewing a post in pre-production, follow the channel, and offering a community for the movie fans after release.

2020, Column, Editorial, GUEST EDITORIAL, Social MediaDon ShanahanApril 6, 2020Instagram Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Coffee & Kareem

Those posters clearly catch the eye, but once Coffee & Kareem attempts to evoke the promotional notion that it is worthy of standing next to classic giants like those three films as a homage or even as an lesser riff, it’s asking to bomb. When you fail, even intentionally, you become one more shitty cop movie from a generation ago. Does someone get an award somewhere from some lofty agency of aficionados when you make a shitty cop movie precisely as shitty as the old shitty cop movies this shitty cop movie emulates and remembers? Is that a Razzie or something else?

COLUMN: 3 Tips for Making Custom Movie Posters

Are you a fanatic of movies or series? Do you feel like you want to get closer to your favorite actors and actresses? There is a way for you to do that. It will not matter if you are creative or not. We are all independently unique hence ensure that you bring your brains to the table. You can come up with amazing posters that you can hang in your room alongside many other places of choice. The incredible thing about making them is that you can show off all your creativity. The points that follow show the tips for showing off your favorite movie posters.

2020, Column, Editorial, SPECIAL, Social MediaDon ShanahanApril 1, 2020Comment