If, from here on out, the Thor series is going to stay in Taika Waititi’s control, so be it. Let him own it and be all things Thor. Hemsworth’s natural charisma and self-deprecating personality, put on blast in Thor: Love and Thunder (buns and all) more than it’s ever been in that shiny armor, match the zany route Waititi has taken with this character. Going back to the bold spirit of Branagh’s mythic origins seems difficult, if not damn near impossible, where Waititi and company would be better off sticking with the fluffy cheese and not even trying. For better or worse, this is Thor now. Maybe at least, even in sideshow comedy mode, this character will finally have consistency.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Princess

No matter how tough some stunt training makes Joey King look in this action romp, she looks like the cherubic California kid from The Kissing Booth Netflix movie series trying to play dress-up. Add in a rough script requiring her to deliver lines with one of the worst attempts at a breathy European accent of etiquette this side of Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: The Prince of Thieves . Because King is the lead, compared to those supporting role examples, her failings are enough to sink the whole movie.

2022, 1 STAR, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanJuly 2, 2022The Princess, Joey KingComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Forgiven

Pedigree meets purpose with The Forgiven, the newest film from notable director John Michael McDonagh. Throughout his career, the Englishman has switched back-and-forth with a specialty for embedding foreboding darkness within settings of comedy (The Guard, War on Everyone) and drama (Calvary, Ned Kelly). Contributing his first feature film in five years since the buddy cop comedy War on Everyone, it’s drama’s turn.

MOVIE REVIEW: Press Play

Press Play rightfully roots for our approachable lovers. She’s not a superficial stunner, he’s not an empty stud, and both actors are believably playing their ages, breaking a trend for the usual “summer of young love” subgenre. Clara Rugaard plays this woman, challenged by emotional loss, with a mature strength beyond what is too often the default setting of weepy helplessness. Not to be outmatched, Lewis Pullman balances her with an understated, yet effectual charisma.

2022, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, Streaming, 4 STARSDon ShanahanJune 25, 2022Press Play, Lewis Pullman, Clara Rugaard, Lyrica OkanoComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Elvis

Processing such delirium for 159 minutes from what could have been 240, Elvis is an opus of exhaustion. Luhrmann’s fever dream veers from campfire fable to therapy session and is as gaudy as its subject. You don’t just succumb to the Aussie filmmaker’s trademark visual and aural excessiveness. You submit to it, because, goodness gracious, it’s Elvis Aaron Presley and the stature of his legend on this display is indomitable.

2022, 3 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJune 21, 2022Elvis, Baz Luhrmann, Austin Butler, Tom HanksComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

Where some viewers will immediately implode with pearl-clutching outrage hellbent on voicing warped decency and unfair determinations, others will be ignited by the possibilities of this premise and the talent involved. Alas, once again, the key of Good Luck to You, Leo Grande remains the rich conversation. More viral potency comes from the shared verbal exchanges than any “afternoon delight.”

MOVIE REVIEW: Spiderhead

In both keen and ineffective ways, mood confusion is the slant of choice for Joseph Kosinski’s Spiderhead opening on Netflix this week. Targeting both the narrative characters and us in the voyeurs’ seats, purposeful choices are made to set a certain vibe. That curated atmosphere is meant to cloak and subvert a more impactful identity underneath. The clinchers for Spiderhead’s engagement as a thriller are how tantalizing the constructed mood is and how provocative is the hidden truth.

MOVIE REVIEW: Lightyear

There is a tremendous dichotomy of thought and talk amid Pixar’s Lightyear. Within the movie, we are granted a dramatic hero truer than the memorable action figure caricature we have come to cherish playing alongside other toys. This beefier Buzz Lightyear may still be narrating to himself, but his talk expresses strong emotions and virtuous desires more than push-button quips. He is his own man, not a packaged program of settings and market research.

2022, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJune 13, 2022Lightyear, Toy StoryComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Jurassic World Dominion

Much like the God-playing antagonist characters of the movie, no one has learned anything since 1993, both in the movies and in the Universal Pictures writing room. Scientists are still screwing with forces they cannot control, and the big corporation everyone thinks is well-meaning shows their true, greedy colors to earn a violent comeuppance in the denouement. No smart screenwriter has broken that narrative loop to do something daring or different.

2022, 2 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJune 9, 2022Jurassic World, Jurassic Park, Jurassic World: Fallen KingdomComment

SHORT FILM REVIEW: Amongst the Ashes

Amongst the Ashes is unshy to place this candid-yet-meaningful conversation in a location many will find morbid and backs the walk-and-talk with a serene electronic score from Murmur Studio. In doing so, writer and director Matthew Weinstein challenges the audience to find their heart-to-heart mojo from a darker place, no matter the lush sunshine and exquisite wide shot selections captured on camera by director of photography Austin Vinas. Thanks to patient reveals of mindsets among the two actors and the shared time to see their interplay bond further, the finished short film succeeds in dramatic pull.

2022, 4 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, SHORT FILMSDon ShanahanJune 2, 2022Amongst the Ashes, Matthew WeinsteinComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Time Capsule

Injecting science fiction into a story can be a bit of a magic wand. Slick futuristic plot devices can make a few “what if” and “would-coulda-shoulda” dreams come true with a figurative wave of a hand or taps on a screenwriter’s keyboard. Nevertheless, that kind of intellectual escapism in movies will always tantalize. Embracing a quaint romance with heady consequences, The Time Capsule flicks its wrist for a little magic without sacrificing the seriousness of its premise’s implications.

2022, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, 4 STARSDon ShanahanMay 30, 2022The Time Capsule, Brianna Hildebrand, Todd GrinnellComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Top Gun: Maverick

This gravity of consequence, importance, muscle, and heritage permeates every airspace of Top Gun: Maverick. Updated for a contemporary environment, the raw machismo is remodeled to match the progressive excellence and fortitude demanded of pilots today. The days of Marlboro Man-level cowboy pilots are virtually over– all save one: Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, played by, as many are calling “the last real movie star,” Tom Cruise.