Matching the changing weather and seasons happening in much of the world during the time of its illustrious release, Wicked For Good requires more than one firm temperature check, if you will. This bookend finale asks a great deal of its audience with a decidedly different mood, as the plot leaps five years ahead in time from the events of last year’s Wicked. Much of the bright, sunny, and friendly school-aged singing and dancing has evolved to power ballads that emote the traumatic heft of current circumstances.

MOVIE REVIEW: Blue Moon

Richard Linklater, through thick and thin over the years, has never sunk as low as where Lorenz Hart finished his life and career, partially because he, too, has the same inextinguishable zest to challenge and create, and puts it on screen every chance he gets. Keep going, Richard. We’re here for it.

MOVIE REVIEW: Roofman

You couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried, and even if you could, how many people would believe you? Better yet, how many folks would offer the classic exclamatory reaction of “They need to make a movie about that!” Well, your wish has been granted for a zany tale such as this by the unpredictable, unshy, and uncompromising Roofman, starring the newly middle-aged Channing Tatum in one of the most entertaining yarns in recent memory.

2025, 4 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanOctober 11, 2025Roofman, Channing Tatum, Derek Cianfrance, Kirsten DunstComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Smashing Machine

Still, how many times have we written Dwayne Johnson off? How many times have folks rolled their eyes at another beefy piece of blockbuster cheese with his name at the top of the poster? Well, those days are hopefully over. A corner has been turned with The Smashing Machine, and the trust granted to him by Benny Safide to make this character piece and hoist his talent to a higher plane.

MOVIE REVIEW: Eleanor the Great

Thanks to a strong third act monologue from Ejiofor speaking on approaching loss as the “inevitable outcome of the love that unites us all,” we want what we he wants and have to remove cynicism to accept that outcome from Johansson’s film with warmth. There’s plenty for the new director to be proud of and a high value to being a mouthpiece for human connection as this film intends.

2025, 4 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanSeptember 26, 2025Eleanor the Great, June Squibb, Rita Zohar, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica HechtComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Highest 2 Lowest

Between his signature stylistic flourishes and incendiary thematic infusions, Spike Lee’s flair of exceptionality is what makes him one of the best and boldest storytellers of his generation. Dare him to take a run at Akira Kurosawa, return the incomparable Denzel Washington to his call sheet, and watch his cup, and ours, runneth over with Highest 2 Lowest.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Knife

The Knife’s suspense stirs from the thoroughness on display inside and outside of the film’s events. Getting involved with every character, Melissa Leo is granted an excellent showcase, prying truths from lies and pushing this plot along, proving, once again, her sizable screen presence in the right role. For her detective, specifics and details matter, and the screenplay from Asomugha and prolific writer/actor Mark Duplass masks them in a taut and efficient movie

MOVIE REVIEW: She Rides Shotgun

She Rides Shotgun puts these two through hell with slivers of hope pushing them to carry on. The connection built through the close quarters performances of Ana Sophia Heger and Taron Egerton to lift that sense of drama is exceptional. The camera rarely leaves Heger, making the point of view one of fragility, callousing over with experiences of toughness.

2025, 4 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJuly 30, 2025She Rides Shotgun, Taron EgertonComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Naked Gun

The true crispness in The Naked Gun, ensured with no hesitation, relies on the actors hitting their marks. Verbal choreography becomes just as important as the physical variety. Director Akiva Schaeffer found two fantastic lead vessels for this type of precision in Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson.

MOVIE REVIEW: Eddington

The preposterous worst of people and actions emerge and threatens to undercut the message movie ambition of Ari Aster and his quality compilation of intermingled buzz points, especially when a lengthy coda of weary comeuppance tries to hammer them home one last time. You may, like the surviving characters, be left asking how did we get here and is it all worth it.

MOVIE REVIEW: F1

Right on down to frequent fireworks that reach a Blow Out level of enveloping, spectacular dazzle, the athletic and moviemaking muscles are flexing in tandem to a stupendous degree in F1: The Movie. Goodness gracious, you could bottle this movie’s testosterone and outsell Nugenix and burn the publishing presses of Men’s Health to the ground with its vigor. Through it all, there Brad Pitt is, glowing like a lithe, tanned, and tattooed demigod putting everyone else to shame.

2025, MOVIE REVIEW, 4 STARSDon ShanahanJune 25, 2025F1, Brad Pitt, Kerry Condon, Ehren Kruger, Joseph Kosinski, Javier Bardem, Claudio MirandaComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Familiar Touch

Filming for Familiar Touch was done in collaboration with the residents and staff of Villa Gardens Continuing Care Retirement Community in New York. Backed by casting agent Betsy Fippinger (Eighth Grade and Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret), 67 residents, 13 staff members, and 12 caregiving and geriatrician consultants were credited for their involvement in making the movie, granting a tangible and uplifting authenticity that we’re being shown a positive standard of care and not an entirely sugarcoated movie version, just to perk up a plot with conflict.

EVERY MOVIE HAS A LESSON

by Don Shanahan

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