PREVIEW: 7th Annual Irish American Movie Hooley

Folks, it’s been a year, but fortunes and health are looking up enough to maybe get back to some good old fun. As the Irish say, when a party gets rowdy, they call it a “hooley.” For movie fans, I think it’s high time we mix a little whiskey with our night out. As the Irish like to say, when a party gets rowdy, they call it a “hooley.” With that vibrancy in mind, the 7th annual Irish American Movie Hooley returns to the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago this weekend. This resident Chicagoan with Irish roots has you covered.

2021, Column, Chicago Film Festival, Documentary, Foreign Film, Independent Film, Film Festival, SPECIALDon ShanahanSeptember 22, 2021Comment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Quoted on Urban Parks discussing Boston movies

I was approached recently for my third collaboration opportunity with Quality Comix, a successful comic sales website which puts out their own editorial content alongside their marketplace. Working for a tangent website of Urban Parks, the edutosr there were looking for the best Boston movies. From a big list of possibilities, I picked out a good five to contribute to their list: Good Will Hunting, The Thomas Crown Affair, The Verdict, The Town, and Spotlight. They came to the right place. Check out your boy!

2019, Chicago Film Festival, EVENT, Independent Film, Media Appearance, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanJanuary 24, 2021Quality ComixComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Nomadland

That said, this odyssey has highs and lows for Fern living among the saguaros, grasslands, or rocks across the American West. No matter how much she has learned to take care of herself, painful solitude creeps in. Self-reliance only fulfills so much enterprising spirit. Courage can only stave off so many endangering risks faced by a woman her age alone. In many ways, Chloe Zhao’s film, her follow-up to The Rider before going Marvel with The Eternals, has the same range of stamina and lethargy. Unvarnished prestige too has its limits.

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Quoted on Redfin Blog Talking Home Theaters

My website was approached recently by the home buying website Redfin and their blogging area through writer Mike Cahill. They were looking for contributors to offer some insights on home theater setups to be included in a collected piece. Funny thing is, I’m not fancy. I don’t own a single 4K device or even a big screen TV either. What I do have is a 1080p-enabled DLP projector and a big blank white wall. That setup makes a 120-inch picture that costs half as much as a super-nice TV half that screen size. Call me a home cinema MacGyver because I’ll take that kind of look and savings. I impart a little of that recommendation in Redfin.

2019, Chicago Film Festival, EVENT, Independent Film, Media Appearance, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanOctober 11, 2020Quality ComixComment

FESTIVAL COVERAGE: Drive-In features come to the 56th Chicago International Film Festival

The 2020 edition of the Chicago International Film Festival will bring several of their Gala and World Premiere presentations to socially distant audiences from the comfort of their automobiles. The Chi-Town Movies Drive-In location in the trendy Pilsen neighborhood hosts the Opening Night documentary Belushi, the Closing Night Nomadland, and six more films in-between. Tickets are available only through online advance sales. The full festival runs from October 14-25.

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Quoted on Quality Comix discussing superhero diversity through "Black Panther"

I was approached recently for my second collaboration opportunity with Quality Comix, a successful comic sales website which puts out their own editorial content alongside their marketplace. They were working on a long-form article on the challenging history of superhero diversity. The people at Quality Comix enjoyed my perspective last time on Joker and wanted a contribution on Black Panther in respond to the passing of star Chadwick Boseman for their collected piece. I was happy to oblige speaking about that movie’s vast importance. Check out your boy!

2019, Chicago Film Festival, EVENT, Independent Film, Media Appearance, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanSeptember 23, 2020Quality ComixComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Truth

To pull off holding court without reducing matters to the preening or showy variety, the performer must have screen presence. Deneuve, the ageless ingenue, “frigid femme fatale,” and “grandes dame” of French cinema, has wattage for a thousand cameras, even now in her mid-70s. With that stature, compelling shockwaves come at will. The acting awe within The Truth is that Deneuve’s prestige is matched moment-to-moment by Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche, a contemporary, if you will, every bit as powerful as the senior. Their pairing as an estranged mother and daughter in the celebrity world writes cinematic scripture.

2020, 2019, 4 STARS, Chicago Film Festival, Film Festival, Independent Film, Foreign Film, MOVIE REVIEW, Streaming, Home MediaDon ShanahanJuly 20, 2020Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Short History of the Long Road

The title of The Short History of the Long Road is plain, simple, and true. This is but a small jaunt of a bigger journey for this broken family. The flashbacks are just that: flashed for mere seconds. They show enough to throb the heart and that’s plenty. Any extended testimonials and cherished memories come out in small talk and stay small talk without a grand speech in earshot. What’s personal is personal and not for crowds. Big and lofty is the sky above it, not the grounded individual. Once again, that’s the wavelength: plain, simple, and true. Those are fitting and admirable qualities.

MOVIE REVIEW: Clemency

All the while, here is Alfre Woodard staring holes through the most leaden armor. If the Oscars were to come calling, and they should if they had any sense, it would be Alfre’s first nomination in 37 years (Cross Creek) and her first leading one. Her hefty performance steps deeper into the accumulating difficulties that have come to beset the unflappable leader she portrays. Her character has to show collapse, but the performer never falters her requirements. Alfre is beyond compelling in taking on all of the destructive darkness this character envelopes around us all.

2019, 2020, 4 STARS, Film Festival, Chicago Film Festival, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJanuary 10, 2020Clemency, Alfre WoodardComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Just Mercy

There is a certain steadiness to Destin Daniel Cretton’s new film that pushes back those gaudy tendencies. Its central real-life figure Bryan Stevenson is not the firebrand type most legal movies typically adore and request. Played by Michael B. Jordan, in a fitting and matured leading role for the muscled actor, Stevenson is not made to be something he is not. His real-life story and iron will principles are not smudged just to show a little pizzazz for the sake of pizzazz.

MEDIA APPEARANCE: "Marriage Story" Spoiler Lounge content for "CinemaJaw" podcast #450

Here’s some newly-released follow-up bonus content my recent guest appearance on the CinemaJaw podcast, hosted by fellow Chicago Indie Critic members Matt Kubinski and Ryan Jagiello. When we recorded our reviews of Marriage Story a month before its Netflix debut, we entered spoiler territory for a segment to save for later. Well, later is now with Marriage Story going strong in its award season. In this new episode of CinemaJaw recorded at the glam headquarters of Cards Against Humanity, come for the Jumanji and Star Wars talk and stay for the Marriage Story “Spoiler Lounge!”

MOVIE REVIEW: Marriage Story

There is an old adage used by married people, kind of passive-aggressive burn really, that says “you can’t tie your shoes without me.” In a pithy way, the saying speaks to the symbiotic relationship between the partners for even the smallest things. While it may not always come down to shoelaces, there is a given and even understood level of dependency in marriage. That is until such dependency becomes harmful. In one of the finest films ever on the matter of divorce, Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story challenges the breakdowns of resiliency and vulnerability that push this painful process.