It’s a pleasure to watch the reunited Ocean’s series co-stars work together again. Admittedly, the two screen legends are more fun when they are at each other’s throats early on in Ticket to Paradise than later when they are cuddled closer together by rekindled circumstances. You root for the competitive one-upmanship more than the softening comeuppance their characters have coming. For a while, there is a sizzling and infectious comedic burn to their verbal clashes and invasions of personal space that wane with time. Who knew getting nicer would sap a little of the enjoyment?

2022, 3 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanOctober 21, 2022Ticket to Paradise, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Kaitlyn DeverComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Till

Till is a heartbreaking and meaningful film presented almost entirely through a mother’s point of view. Any mother of any background will tell you that one of, if not, the most ever-present emotions is worry. Debilitating considerations and worst case scenarios often percolate and betray otherwise happy thoughts and sweet moments. All too often, it’s a mental gear that cannot be easily turned off. One of those flustering pauses begins the film and an agonizing tone for Till is set right away.

2022, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanOctober 16, 2022Till, Danielle DeadwylerComment

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: The Greatest Beer Run Ever

Like other semi-casual Vietnam war movies that have come before it, the action comedy journey of Oscar winner Peter Farrelly’s The Greatest Beer Run Ever streaming on Apple TV+ reaches a momentum where it has to switch gears. Inevitably, the happy-go-lucky circumstances have dissolved away to the honest truths and horrors of war. That’s a hell of a shift to pull off. The success of the movie boils down to when and how it executes or fails that course correction.

2022, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanSeptember 30, 2022The Greatest Beer Run Ever, Peter Farrelly, Zac Efron, Russell CroweComment

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: Don't Worry Darling

Now, the varnish swirls with the dreamy deja vu vibes that are all over that old standard. In many ways, those two main verses of “Where or When” tell you all you need to know about the encroaching mystery to come. By the time Don’t Worry Darling calls back to “Where or When” again during its kaleidoscopic end credits, a smoky aftermath is exhaled from the intoxicating effects of the song and the film.

2022, 4 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanSeptember 20, 2022Don't Worry Darling, Olivia Wilde, Florence Pugh, Chris Pine, Harry StylesComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Woman King

Of all the subjective or objective metrics that get bandied about when rating a film, one of the more powerful traits that can make up for shortcomings is a movie’s inspirational effect. An impassioned audience with stirred emotions is very forgiving. Many large and small aspects about Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King could be debated or exposed as flaws. In the end, they will not matter. The story being told and the dedication collected to tell it carry weight greater than the art or craft.

2022, MOVIE REVIEW, 4 STARSDon ShanahanSeptember 17, 2022The Woman King, Viola Davis, Lashana LynchComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Confess, Fletch

So much of Confess, Fletch feels like a wiser-than the norm throwback against the hefty audience quadrant that will always prefer the louder, action-ified punch of the James Bonds and Jason Bournes of the world over a journalist gumshoe. If that crowd can slow down for a smaller and smoother ride, they will find mental thrills equally clever to the pop of blockbuster stunts that fade as quickly as they explode.

2022, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, Streaming, 4 STARSDon ShanahanSeptember 13, 2022Fletch, Confess Fletch, Greg Mottola, Jon HammComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul

Through impressive performances from Support the Girls star Regina Hall and This is Us Emmy winner Sterling K. Brown, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul has caricatures so believable that they transcend the winking-at-the-camera trope with vivid potency. There’s another level of “commitment to the bit.” We, the audience are not normally supposed to believe what we see from the characters but, with these two, we buy it.

2022, 4 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanSeptember 2, 2022Honk For Jesus Save Your Soul, Sterling K. Brown, Regina HallComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Samaritan

Even now at 76 years old, long past his own peaks and valleys, Sly remains a proven talent and beloved favorite. Nothing will probably break that or ever take that away. Nonetheless, this writer feels like “You still got it!” respect towards Stallone, as a complete performer, is still worth acknowledgment. Thanks to the Rocky and Rambo series, most go straight to the muscles. The special thing is Samaritan shows how much Sylvester Stallone still offers as an actor that has nothing to do with the ripped physicality that made him famous.

2022, 3 STARS, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanAugust 28, 2022Samaritan, Sylvester StalloneComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Breaking

It would be really easy for a movie like Breaking, tip-toeing in the Dog Day Afternoon direction, to turn up the brightness of the pariah spotlights and crank up the volume on the injustice pulpit loudspeakers. That’s not so here. Director Abi Damaris Corbin resists the temptations to pound messages and shout showy monologues. He and his screenwriting partner Kwame Kwei-Armah uphold the simple and poignant principles that were at hand with this true story and on the central figure’s mind during a fateful July day in 2017.

2022, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, Streaming, 4 STARSDon ShanahanAugust 25, 2022John Boyega, Breaking, Nicole Beharie, Michael K. WilliamsComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Beast

Anyone who’s watched an MGM movie for a century has heard the majestic pop of a lion’s roar. That’s all well and good, but the part that’s even better is the growling lead-up. The guttural purr of a lion is all-natural, distinctive, and menacing. The sound is an evocative draw and an arresting warning at the same time. It’s a precursor to danger. You hear it and your human instincts go off like fireworks because, as a wise character in Beast says, if it’s between you and the lion “it is not a fight you are designed to win.”

2022, 3 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanAugust 20, 2022Beast, creature featureComment