The messages wrapped up by this movie’s soft spirit may be achingly sympathetic and predictable simple. Things are better when the many Milne stories and adaptations of this wonderment can still offer timeless reminders very suitable and highly beneficial for both the parental and youthful generations of filmgoers today that could use a little slowdown and imaginative play. Foibles aside, Christopher Robin is an unapologetic heart-melter. Earnestness comes easy and there is a place and, even better, a need, for this in the cinema marketplace.

2018, 3 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanAugust 3, 2018AMC River East 21Comment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: "Connecting With Classics" Episode 7: "Vertigo"

Aaron White and I have been circling Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo for months, ever since it officially celebrated its 60th anniversary on May 9th. Next to Casablanca, it’s probably the highest regarded film “Connecting With Classics” will present in this series during this inaugural year of 2018. We here dive into the AFI’s Top 100, but Vertigo sits atop "The 50 Greatest Films of Time" as voted on by the British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound magazine. Ladies and gentlemen, they don’t get much better than this.

2018, Media Appearance, MOVIE REVIEW, Podcast, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanJuly 29, 2018VertigoComment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Returning to "Black Panther" as a guest on the "Kicking the Seat" podcast

About six months ago, the unofficial "Comics Council" guest dais of Ian Simmons' Kicking the Seat podcast sung the praises of Ryan Coogler's Black Panther. We knew then during that episode that we just watched something special that was going to explode and resonate with audiences beyond the multiplex. Sure, enough we were right. Ian, David Fowlie of Keeping It Reel, Emmanuel Noisette of E-Man's Movie Reviews, and myself made a pact then to revisit the film and expand on our first discussion. Welcome to our returning second spin, this time collected via Skype, with the Wakandan King and all his victorious results.

MOVIE REVIEW: Mission: Impossible - Fallout

The wow factor will always bring eager action junkies to a Mission: Impossible film. This one earns your admission price and then some with some of the best set pieces, fight sequences, and chase scenes in the franchise’s history. It’s all pure finesse. Impressiveness notwithstanding, it’s the intelligent cleverness of each entry as a spy flick that keeps audiences coming back for seconds. This series has only gotten stronger thanks to the healthy spacing of releases, trajectory of continuity, and established character anchors started by J.J. Abrams 12 years ago.

ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEW, 2018Don ShanahanJuly 25, 2018Comment

FANTASIA 2018 REVIEW: The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot

You will color yourself impressed by the unexpected power of this independent to subvert expectations with such cunning dexterity. No matter if it’s zero budget devil-may-care freedom or a nine-figure open blockbuster checkbook, few movies on any level could ever dream a way this damn good to marry and blend stoic manliness and a whimsical romance on top of the lurid exploits its title advertises. The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot punches with pulp and grinds gravitas rather than gore.

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Minisode podcast guest for "Feelin' Film" to review "Eighth Grade"

Host Aaron White of the Feelin' Film podcast brought me in for a chat about rookie director Bo Burnham’s new feature film Eighth Grade. The film is currently generating a lot of buzz and most everyone who has seen this darling indie has loved it - us included. You can count on it making our year-end list conversations. Director/Writer Bo Burnham is most known for his stage comedy routines so humor was definitely a big part of the film, but it has an amazing amount of heart and life lessons (my favorite) for us to discuss, as well.

2018, CAPSULE REVIEW, Film Festival, Independent Film, Media Appearance, MOVIE REVIEW, Podcast, Social MediaDon ShanahanJuly 21, 2018Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: En el Séptimo Día

If you didn’t know it, you would think this film is a slice-of-life documentary, giving the film similar striking authenticity and power as Chloe Zhao’s celebrated spring film The Rider. En el Séptimo Día presents an empathetic and beautifully rendered microcosm of the American Dream. Between the recent World Cup and our country’s ever-present immigration debate, a tender and compassionate allegory such as this could not be more soothing cinematic balm and satisfying experience.

2018, 2017, 4 STARS, Foreign Film, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJuly 20, 2018Gene Siskel Film CenterComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Equalizer 2

Turning 64 this year, Denzel Washington’s eyes may be heavier and his body might be softer than before, but it’s what’s between his ears and trumpeting out of his mouth that are truly ageless. For The Equalizer 2, all four years has done is make this man-of-action more methodical and calculating with this ass-kicking punishment and sin-correcting righteousness. This twisty sequel takes the temperature and weight of the cold lead hammer that is Denzel and heats it with anger and stakes to match the hot lead being shot around him.

MOVIE REVIEW, 4 STARS, 2018Don ShanahanJuly 18, 2018Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Eighth Grade

Dropped jaws, bashfulness, winces, worries, and all, this dynamite film needs to be required viewing for the teens out there, especially girls, of these complicated and confusing present times. And the people that should be joining them in the next closest seats are their parents who need their eyes and hearts opened as well. Adults, this Eighth Grade may not be your plight or a mirror to your own middle school experience, but you can engage and empathize easily with its challenges.

MOVIE REVIEW: Skyscraper

When you see Dwayne Johnson wipe his sweat, furrow his brow, clench his muscles, and fixate his eyes of indomitable resilience at each obstacle in Skyscaper with the sole goal of rescuing his wife and two kids from a 225-story burning building, you immediately feel completely inadequate as a man and especially a father. You want a dad like The Rock. Johnson is the ultimate winning answer to every playground banter battle of “my dad is tougher than your dad.” His screen children don’t know how good they have it, but we sure do enjoying another glossy, ballsy, and brawny summer blockbuster from the most dependable and bankable action star in the world.

2018, 3 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJuly 15, 2018Classic Cinemas North Riverside 7Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Ant-Man and the Wasp

Pun not intended, but Ant-Man and the Wasp is where Marvel goes to get small, and not in the obvious sense of the heroes’ sizes. The narrative and scope gets smaller. Amid the mega-powered showdowns and high stakes elsewhere, it is encouraging to know that Marvel can still make local-level superhero stories and not make everything so overpopulated, globe-trotting, and cataclysmic in importance. Smaller is what the source comic books used to be. Smaller is still fully-formed and, most of all, smaller is welcome.

2018, 3 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJune 27, 2018AMC River East 21Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Sicario: Day of Soldado

Luckily, this cinematic cactus retains the nectar at its core underneath the lesser spiny exterior. Sicario: Day of Soldado still has dynamic screenwriter Taylor Sheridan scripting the suspense and the twin returning brutes of Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin to shoot and punch the lights out. Following his Oscar nomination for Hell or High Water and his superior directorial debut of Wind River, Sheridan is on a hot streak and pens a worthy follow-up to what should have been his first Oscar nomination a year prior to the one he received.

2018, 3 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJune 26, 2018Comment