MOVIE REVIEW: Emerald City

I know it’s the clickbait haven of Buzzfeed, but this list of jobs well-known celebrities had before they hit it big is pretty humbling and eye-opening at the same time. Once the millions roll in and we see the red carpets and flash bulbs, we forget the lucky breaks and hard work it took to get there, and that for every one of those matinee idols a thousand never make it. Upon seeing Emerald City at the 3rd annual Irish American Movie Hooley, I’ll gladly raise my glass in hopes that Colin Broderick’s minimum wage days are over.

2017, 2016, 4 STARS, Chicago Film Festival, Film Festival, Independent FilmDon ShanahanOctober 3, 2017Gene Siskel Film CenterColin Broderick, Emerald City, Buzzfeed, Irish American films, Irish American Movie Hooley, Irish, Irish-themed films, Irish films, 2017 Irish American Movie Hooley, 2 Gingers Irish Whiskey, Gene Siskel Film Center, Siskel Film Center, John Keating, Boardwalk Empire, John McConnell, The Departed, John Duddy, Hands of Stone, Rachel Broderick, Jacqueline Kealy, independent films, independent film, foreign film, foreign films, CIFCC, movie critic, film critic, Movie Hooley, 3rd annual Irish American Movie Hooley, Mike Houlihan, film reivew, film review, movie review, film commentary, movie commentary, life lessons, life lessons from films, life lessons from movies, life lessons from film, hardscrabble, New York City, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, Every Movie Has a Lesson, Hibernian TransmediaComment

MOVIE REVIEW: American Made

You know the drill of the typical “so unbelievable it has to be true” cinematic crime biography of a roguish anti-hero. The self-narrated humble beginnings give way to the zeal of daring accomplishment leading to wealthy illegal success, a rise to power, a peak of over-inflation, and the long arm of the law catching up to cause a fall from grace and comeuppance. However, the propeller that makes this jet-set ride swoop with showmanship is the dashing presence of Tom Cruise.

2017, 4 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanSeptember 28, 2017Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Stronger

Diametric to its title, the core of Stronger’s life after trauma chronicles a venerating angle applied to the “Boston Strong” nature with little melodrama. This is director David Gordon Green’s best film to date, easily surpassing the fad success of Pineapple Express. Stronger’s touching tone carries unmistakable courage and inspires an unshakeable stir of appreciation.

2017, 4 STARS, Film Festival, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanSeptember 22, 2017Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Battle of the Sexes

Reflecting on the past, Battle of the Sexes recounts a tremendously positive turning point in women’s sports. Drawing parallels to the present, the film also stands tall as a pertinent message film where one can compare the amount of progress towards gender equality in 44 years. Injecting earnest drama and profundity into the tried-and-true sports movie formula, directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton have crafted a gratifying yarn packed with contagious enthusiasm.

2017, 4 STARS, MOVIE REVIEW, Film FestivalDon ShanahanSeptember 21, 2017Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Crown Heights

Director Matt Ruskin’s Crown Heights presents a true story incarceration as it happened to an innocent man. Just when you think two undue years awaiting trial are shameful enough, it turns into twenty over the course of four presidencies and 99 tidy minutes. To tell the story of Colin Warner is to tell a story shared by too many thousands of other wrongfully incarcerated people within the U.S. prison system.

SHORT FILM REVIEW: The Other Place

Dashes of kink and horror mix within Lee Amir-Cohen to create moments of shock and heat shared with Amanda Maddox in the short film The Other Place. The star, who also writes and directs this short, has crafted something creepily captivating in front of and behind the camera. Contracted properly as a short film that leaves you wanting more, this shot glass of venom is a properly measured jolt.

MOVIE REVIEW: Logan Lucky

The buzzing North Carolina public within the film Logan Lucky dub the central robbery a “hillbilly heist” and an “Ocean’s 7-11” perpetrated by “redneck robbers” and “Hee Haw heroes.” With diegetic puns like those being thrown around, how could you not be entertained by Steven Soderbergh’s first feature film in four years? It’s almost an invitation to pile on. How does “clodhopper caper” sound? What about “Podunk pilfering” or “backwoods buffoonery?” I’ll settle for “hayseed hijinks.”

MOVIE REVIEW: Wind River

Through every snowflake and gunshot, Taylor Sheridan cuts to the marrow and keeps Wind River firmly on track with its layered stages of discovery. Tighter than Hell or High Water and more humane than Sicario, this film creates a tone of toughness balanced adroitly by human realities occurring in a dangerous place with a different set of rules. The end result is a highly engrossing mystery with the edge we have come to appreciate and admire from Sheridan.

MOVIE REVIEW: Detroit

For a film like Detroit with difficult content thrust upon audiences to endure, this is not a place to seek entertainment or joy. Instead, Detroit is a challenge of cementing respect and achieving an empathy deeper than basic sympathy. Step into a beyond-cautionary tale of history that school books skipped or have forgotten. Let Detroit stir and inspire conversations. Let the emotions, good and bad, come and talk about them.

2017, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJuly 28, 2017ShowPlace ICON X at Roosevelt Collections2017, 2017 Summer Movies, Detroit, Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, Long Hot Summer of 1967, Jackson State, Los Angeles, Ferguson, Baltimore, blind pig, George Romney, Algiers Motel, The Algiers Motel incident, Jason Mitchell, Algee Smith, Jacob Latimore, Hannah Moore, Kaitlyn Dever, Anthony Mackie, Will Poulter, Jack Reynor, Ben O'Tooel, Austin Hebert, John Boyega, Barry Ackroyd, Captain Phillips, Unbroken, Jacob Lawrence, Migration series, cautionary tale, race relations, Life Lessons, life lessons from film, life lessons from movies, historical drama, real-life events, real-life people, 1967, movie review, film review, movie commentary, film commentary, film critic, movie critic, Don Shanahan, Donald Shanahan, Every Movie Has a Lesson, Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle, CIFCCComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Spider-Man: Homecoming

Spider-Man: Homecoming counts as a clean slate for Peter Parker’s web-slinger. Now nestled into the established Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tom Holland is a true teenage Spider-Man, one that was never successfully conveyed by two previous franchises and their over-aged actors. Aiming to please and bursting with effervescent zest at every flip, swing, and turn, John Watts’ Spider-Man: Homecoming succeeds as a brand new jumping off point for a character that badly needed course correction.

2017, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJune 29, 2017AMC River East 212017, 2017 Summer Movies, Marvel Films, Marvel Comics, Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sony Pictures, Sony Entertainment, Dolby, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Tom Holland, Robert Downey Jr., Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Iron Man, Avengers, The Avengers, John Watts, Cop Car, Michael Keaton, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Kurt Russell, Batman, Beetlejuice, Donald Glover, Bokeem Woodbine, Logan Marshall-Green, Michael Chernus, Hannibal Buress, Martin Starr, Mac Gargan, Kenneth Choi, Michael Giacchino, Steve Ditko, Deadpool, John Hughes, Captain America, Captain America: Civil War, Marvel Studios, Christopher Ford, Horrible Bosses, Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, The LEGO Movie, Jacob Batalan, Tony Revolori, Zendaya, Laura Harrier, Aunt May, Vulture, Shocker, movie review, film review, movie commentary, film commentary, comic book movie, comic book films, Comic Book Guy, comic book movies, film franchises, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, life lessons, life lessons from movies, life lessons from film, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, Every Movie Has a Lesson, Jon WattsComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Baby Driver

The films of Edgar Wright pulse with a signature flair for visual comedy built on wildly imaginative stylings in the areas of music, framing, camera movement, sound effects, and editing. His creative trickery wins for looks, but it also constantly advances the storytelling at hand. For that and so much more, Baby Driver is first-rate example of a kinetic film and joins the top ranks of Wright’s filmography.

2017, 4 STARS, Film Festival, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJune 26, 2017AMC River East 212017, Baby Driver, Edgar Wright, Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James, Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm, Eiza Gonzalez, Jon Bernthal, Kid Koala, Barry White, Queen, Premium Rush, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, kinetic movies, Kinetic Movies, visual comedy, 2017 Summer Movies, Cinderella, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Cornetto Trilogy, Danger Mouse, Sky Ferreira, Kirsten Lane, Bradley Farmer, Ryan Heffington, Bill Pope, Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss, Robert Nagle, Smokey and the Bandit, Days of Thunder, Fast and Furious series, Song-Database, LyricFinder, film review, movie review, film commentary, movie commentary, life lessons from film, life lessons from movies, life lessons, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, CIFCC, Every Movie Has a LessonComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Lost in Paris

Lost in Paris is an exceedingly charming ditty of a comedy from the writing, directing, and starring duo of Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon. Three overlapping character-coded chapters follow a wayward character’s pratfalls and screwups through the course of their fateful intersections. Lost in Paris weaves its yarn with clever panache. It’s a surreal jaunt that juggles the cheekily uncouth with the innocently sweet inside its ever-present sense of whimsy.

EVERY MOVIE HAS A LESSON

by Don Shanahan

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