MOVIE REVIEW: Landline

If the Windy City can show us anything, it’s that die-hard Chicago Cub fans come in all shapes, sizes, and ages. More so, fans come from different walks of life, waving flags of different colors, including, best of all, the rainbow-colored variety. “Landline,” from local do-it-all filmmaker Matthew Aaron, is a fun-loving LGBTQ+ comedy merging ardent North Siders with snappy musings on our societal obsessions with technology, all in proximity to the heavenly palace that is Wrigley Field.

2017, 2 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, Video on DemandDon ShanahanMarch 26, 2017Music Box Theatre2017, Landline, Matthew Aaron, LGBT, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ, Chicago, Chicago films, Ryne Sandberg, Chicago Cubs, Hall of Fame, Jim O'Heir, Tom Arnold, Chicago premiere, VOD, Video on Demand, Video On Demand, Music Box Theatre, Nick Searcy, Parks and Recreation, Breaking Bad, Patrick Hartigan, Chad Michael Singer, Betsy Brandt, Justified, Castaway, Wrigley Field, Lagunitas, Garnier, film review, movie review, independent films, indie film, Chicago filmmakers, film commentary, movie commentary, life lessons, life lessons from film, life lessons from movies, Life lessons, Every Movie Has a Lesson, Facebook, Facebook page, Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan Comments

MOVIE REVIEW: Life

You’ve seen bits and pieces of this human buffet and interstellar peril before in the likes of superior films like “Alien,” “Gravity,” and more. To its credit, the dour tone frames “Life” as a straight-shooting creature feature trading camp for tension and thrills, plenty of which elicit sly pleasures. Nonetheless, what separates the spectacular from the mediocre in this science fiction subgenre is the monster and the creative uses by which it is employed. This one goes derivative.

MOVIE REVIEW: T2 Trainspotting

To everyone who has seen “Trainspotting,” let’s ask the most obvious question right up front. How are these characters still alive?! One drub rehab website tells me rampant heroin addicts like “Rent Boy,” “Spud,” “Sick Boy,” and “Franco” should be dead by now. Not a chance of that in “T2 Trainspotting” with those tough bastards. Academy Award-winning director Danny Boyle brings us back to our favorite non-gentrified parts of Edinburgh for a spirited sequel to his landmark sophomore feature.

SHORT FILM REVIEW: The Debt

2017 Chicago Irish Film Festival: Short Program II

Kids not only say the darndest things, but do the darndest things too. “The Debt” is a highly charming short film illustrating a child’s view of courtship and love. The romantic ways of the world are foreign to the young, so they make up their own ideas. Engaging and well-acted by youth performers, this short film will charm you to pieces.

2017, 4 STARS, Chicago Film Festival, Film Festival, Foreign Film, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, SHORT FILMSDon ShanahanMarch 19, 2017The Logan Theatre2017, 2017 Chicago Irish Film Festival, Chicago Irish Film Festival, film festival, Festival review, Festival coverage, The Debt, Susie Power, Lee O'Donaghue, Eabha Last, Helen Flanagan, Denis Clohessy, Short Film, short film commentary, short film review, short films, Short films, Ireland, Irish-themed films, Irish, Irish films, Irish American films, independent films, foreign film, foreign films, Foreign films, life lessons from film, life lessons, life lessons from movies, life lessons from short films, life lessons from foreign films, life lessons from films, film review, movie review, film commentary, movie commentary, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, Every Movie Has a LessonComment

SHORT FILM REVIEW: More Than a Barbershop

2017 Chicago Irish Film Festival: Shorts Program II

In the world of poker, they say all you need is a chip and a chair to play and be a factor. For a musician, all you need is a time and a place. Your voice and instruments can do the rest. Not every concert needs to be in front of hundreds or thousands of adoring fans powered by a stadium’s worth of light and speakers. A singer and a microphone can fit just about anywhere. Well, how about a barbershop, and not the quartet variety?

SHORT FILM REVIEW: Blackbird

2017 Chicago Irish Film Festival: Shorts Program I

Diverting from the other short films in this program at the Chicago Irish Film Festival, “Blackbird” leans to the existential and experimental. The abstract feel and weighty themes are in place to knock one’s socks off. However, in an ironic fashion, this is a short film that feels too short.

MOVIE REVIEW: Lift

Six very different people are stuck in an elevator, or “lift” if you will, as it is called across the Atlantic in Dublin. One of the occupants just beat lumps into a security guard and the rest are stuck fearing for their safety. This isn’t the most ideal place to find comedy, yet “Lift” fires a few quips at the expense of this predicament.

MOVIE REVIEW: Beauty and the Beast

Bill Condon’s “Beauty and the Beast” stands firmly on its own merit. True to Disney’s recent trajectory, its goal is to “reimagine” a previous animated classic into the live-action medium for a new era and audience. Unlike the recent treatments of "Cinderella" and "Malificent," this "Beauty and the Beast" stays a full-blown musical. Imitation, emulation, and homage are all part of that process, but so is reappraisal and reinterpretation. Those later two actions are what drive this new fantasy film to soaring and successful heights.

2017, 4 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanMarch 15, 2017AMC Navy Pier IMAX2017, 2017 Spring Movies, Beauty and the Beast, La Belle et la Bete, Christophe Gans, Bill Condon, Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellan, Guga Mbatha-Raw, Emma Thompson, Luke Evans, Josh Gad, Kevin Kline, Oscar nominee, Best Picture, Disney classics, Disney, animated films, live-action, remakes, Reimagining, Jeanne-Marie Leprine de Beaumont, Hattie Morahan, Kevin Kline Moustache Principle, Audra McDonald, Sarah Underwood, Katie Spencer, Atonement, Sherlock Holmes, Jacqueline Durran, Tobia A. Schliessler, Peter Berg, IMAX, IMAX 3D, Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Evan Spiliotopoulos, Hercules, Tim Rice, Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Evermore, Josh Groban, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Beast, Hugh Jackman, Controversy, La La Land, Screen Junkies, Honest Trailers, YouTube, Gaston, life lessons from film, life lessons, life lessons from films, life lessons from movies, Life lessons, movie review, film review, movie commentary, film commentary, review, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, Every Movie Has a LessonComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Kong: Skull Island

“Kong: Skull Island” taps into the same definition of “spectacle” that applies to “Jurassic World” nearly two years ago. This ain’t your old “King Kong.” This is “go big or go home.” If you’re looking for the version steeped in awe and wonder, go watch the 1933 original. To expand the original’s wonderment with the best of today’s special effects, go watch Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake. If you want a rip-roaring roller coaster with no strings, rules, or heavy gravitas attached, you’ve come to the right place in 2017.

MOVIE REVIEW: Get Out

To come right to the point, “Get Out” is an 104-minute living embodiment of a slow-burning WTF moment that just keeps growing with every new detail. And it’s glorious for being that very thing. More psychological thriller than the spattered horror it’s being billed to be, Jordan Peele’s directorial debut is subversively edgy and devilishly clever.

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the "CinemaJaw" podcast #315

This past week, I was honored to be a guest on the CinemaJaw podcast, hosted by Matt K. and "Ry the Movie Guy" and ran by the "Best in the Biz." Since 2009, the Chicago-based trio of Matt Kubinski, Ryan Jagiello, and engineer Eliaz Gonzalez have put together one of the best and entertaining movie podcasts in this or any city. I'm a big fan of their work and you should be too.

SHORT FILM REVIEW: Incoming Call

2017 Chicago Irish Film Festival: Shorts Program

“Incoming Call” has a dynamite premise that would make for a fascinating nugget of science fiction. The possible latitude one could take with the idea of warning the past about the future is endless. This film keenly distills and scales that down to microcosm level of a single person and the matter of picking up the phone.

EVERY MOVIE HAS A LESSON

by Don Shanahan

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