MOVIE REVIEW: Paint

There was a measure of true cleverness possible in inserting a throwback maverick character into the present day. Paint wanted to bend a vibe with fiction and flexed too far, to a place where its main character would not survive personally or professionally in the first place. The surrounding characters chipping away at the fraud underneath Carl Nargle– an arc amusingly not all that different from the esteemed Oscar-nominated TAR when you really think about it– exposed nothing we could not already see for ourselves.

2 STARS, 2023, Film Festival, Independent Film, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanApril 7, 2023Paint, Owen Wilson, Michaela Watkins, Brit McAdamsComment

SHORT FILM REVIEW: Herman

Like the GTFO fight-or-flight speed and freak happenstance of real-life, Herman delivers precisely that exhilarating sense of urgency. There are no shouted demands from a pursuing criminal that pretend to describe motive or what the encounter all means. Likewise, no wimpy and waffling “Wait a second. Can we talk about this?” pleads are attempted in return. Herman stays a mystery through the very end.

MOVIE REVIEW: When You Finish Saving the World

When You Finish Saving the World stops right when an interesting alignment of merits could possibly begin. That ambiguous final moment of discovered courage and acceptance ends the journey at the point it should have begun. What you’re left with is that same decision mentioned earlier of deciding between bearable and unbearable feelings about incensed and outspoken people. Too often, the latter impression wins out.

MOVIE REVIEW: Alice, Darling

The latitude was there in Alice, Darling to have characters become completely destroyed in more shocking and titillating fashions. Many movies circling abuse go straight to stiffer physical variety with bolder and wilder narratives. Mary Nighy and Alanna Francis took on a more unique challenge to expose the coercive side that lacks tawdry bloodshed. Their result hurts plenty in its own right and succeeds to seek higher healing.

2023, 2022, 3 STARS, Film Festival, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJanuary 16, 2023Alice Darling, Anna Kendrick, Kaniehtiio Horn, Wunmi Mosaku, Mary NighyComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Empire of Light

To press that feeble aesthetic further, the dramatic soap of Empire of Light is that everyone is cleansed when lovely cinematic journeys push viewers and servants alike to go out and get the life they want. Movie theaters are indeed an oasis of culture, a safe haven for friendship, and a shared glue of communal experiences. Can movies unlock repressed emotions for Hilary or improve her attitudinal state? Maybe and maybe not, but it’s quaintly nice to think so.

2022, 2 STARS, MOVIE REVIEW, Film Festival, Chicago Film FestivalDon ShanahanDecember 7, 2022Empire of Light, Sam Mendes, Olivia Colman, Micheal WardComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Banshees of Inisherin

For better or worse, Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin is an unrelenting emotional tussle of stubbornness among men. Your tolerance level for such behavior will undoubtedly mix feelings and inform your experience. Some will relish in its afflicted dark humor while others will be ready to throw their hands up and beg for the clashing characters to get over themselves. No matter if you are engaged in the tailspin or irked by the whole ordeal, you will find plenty to be impressed with in this pitch black comedy and surefire awards darling.

MOVIE REVIEW: Stay the Night

Stay the Night plays out smarter than the usual rom-coms or “one wild night” movies of thrust-together strangers. Like its lead woman, it is reserved and far more realistic with its urban sauntering. In different and disinterested hands, the floozy-plus-dreamboat formula would be in full effect. There would be some zany impossibility or preposterous monkey wrench thrown into the narrative for excitement’s sake. All the conflict you need is right here–between its ears, in its beating heart, and within the held hands–of this gratifying and understated film.

2022, 3 STARS, Film Festival, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanOctober 5, 2022Stay the Night, Andrea Bang, Joe ScarpellinoComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Blonde

The controversial new film Blonde swirls surreal cinematic brushstrokes meant to express the hushed nightmares beyond the celebrity dreams of Norma Jean Mortenson and compose a reminiscent and heartbreaking portrait of the legendary star. The audiences’ applause of adoration is replaced by cries of anguish and pain often unseen by anyone. It is those tears that paint this film. For better or worse, those tears are what you now remember more than the smiles when it comes to Marilyn Monroe.

2022, 5 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Film Festival, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanSeptember 23, 2022Blonde, Ana de Armas, Andrew Dominik, NetflixComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On is emphatically wholesome to no end. Revealing so much wonderment in plain domesticity, this movie decorates the micro-ordinary in wildly unique ways worth celebrating. It may not be your children’s shiny new favorite movie for endless replay, but, when absorbed with receptiveness and appreciated for its singularity, Marcel the Shell With Shoe On will become a charming and formative right of passage experience held dear and passed down for generations to come.

MOVIE REVIEW: That Night

That Night may buzz around the living spaces and late-night haunts of the Windy City on a path to sunrises, but every pitfall or bit of good luck comes back to our main leads with karma and consequence. Through the boozy haze, Stacey and Lily confronting their uncertain futures is the locked core of the movie. Montenegro and Gester demonstrate excellent chemistry in their shared conversations where will-they/won’t-they cliches are challenged every step of the way.

2022, 3 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Film Festival, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, EVENTDon ShanahanApril 26, 2022That Night, The Logan TheatreComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Marvelous and the Black Hole

Serendipitously so, the opposite becomes the case. That line, among many others that follow, could sneakily summarize the FilmRise Sundance darling Marvelous and the Black Hole. Little wonders and big feelings percolate, intersect, smear, and overwhelm a collection of very unique yet relatable people in this film, and the effects could not be more touching and soul-stirring. For folks willing to seek it out in limited theaters, a rewarding hidden gem awaits you.

MOVIE REVIEW: Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Daniels writing and directing team of Daniel Scheinart and Dan Kim (Swiss Army Man) apply surrealism that zips and zings to an extreme level in creating a very domestic multiverse movie that subverts superhero motifs. All the dazzlement laid before the audience funnels levels of familial love more connective and invincible than any costumed paragon from a bigger movie. To absorb this exhilarating and passionate flurry, you will need far more than 10% of both your brain and your heart.

EVERY MOVIE HAS A LESSON

by Don Shanahan

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