Any murder, at its garden variety face value, should be frightening enough, but A Haunting in Venice twists the knife further. Narrative and cinematic infusions of supernatural elements and implications not found in Hallowe’en Party are the film’s largest dramatic improvement from the source text. They turn what would merely be posh and intriguing in an ordeal far scarier in design and risk. Starting with that munched bird cold open and developing later with hallucinations of ghostly imagery, there is an unmistakable level of extra bite and edge.

3 STARS, 2023, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanSeptember 12, 2023A Haunting in Venice, Kenneth BranaghComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Dreamin' Wild

Dreamin’ Wild comports itself unlike many other musical biopics. This one is not trying to strap a rocket to the back of its subjects and launch them to superstar heavens in front of massive crowds shining a barrage of spotlights and flashbulbs. That’s not the Emersons’ story whatsoever. As hinted at before, these songs, characterized, again, as a “dream-like symphony to teenhood,” came from an emotional place beyond what was captured on vinyl. Fragile care was needed.

2023, 2022, 4 STARS, Independent Film, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanSeptember 2, 2023Dreamin' Wild, Casey Affleck, Noah Jupe, Walton GogginsComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Pod Generation

Instead of tail-spinning into potential wickedness and thornier debates, The Pod Generation remains focused on the fluid drama held by its two extremely solid actors. In lesser talented hands, the idea of watching a pair of performers like Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor trying to lug around a strapped prop, emote parental feelings to a big egg-shaped device, or explain themselves to narrating AI would be ludicrous and even laughable. Instead, these two are up to the task.

2023, 3 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanAugust 17, 2023Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Shortcomings

Many romantic comedies skew heavily to presenting the female perspective. Most of those movies are built to follow a woman’s plight to get away from the wrong partner and find the right one. We side with her, cheer on her actions, and sneer at the suitors. In a unique way, Shortcomings is different. This one stays on the bad partner and, for that, it has a little extra engrossment going for it.

2023, 3 STARS, Film Festival, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanAugust 9, 2023Randall Park, Justin H. Min, Sherry Cola, Ally Maki, ShortcomingsComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Suzie Searches

One of the best tricks a caper movie can pull is getting its viewers to root for the criminal. Typically, we’re pining for the righteous downfall, not a lucky escape, from the long arm of the law. Thanks to a very clever and uncommon twist that drops early on, Susie Searches has you, for a good while anyway, shaking your pom-poms and crossing your fingers for the guilty party. Riding that scandalous plot wave makes for an entertaining yarn of dark comedy.

2023, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, Independent FilmDon ShanahanJuly 27, 2023Suzie Searches, Kiersey ClemonsComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Oppenheimer

Even with all of its impressive pomp and noise, nothing dramatically radioactive is going to ping your internal Geiger counter higher than a nominal level. And that, like Dunkirk and Tenet before this, is another missed opportunity from one of the best filmmakers in the industry. There’s a pair of lines offered to our main character in Oppenheimer that mirror some of the pushback analysis to Nolan’s good standing. They read, “Don’t alienate the only people in the world who understand what you do. You may need them.” The Brit has his hardcore devotees, but he might be losing more of the rest with each exhausting effort.

MOVIE REVIEW: Belle

Belle is a striking new interpretation of Beauty and the Beast that presents that type of barren simplicity to a tale as old as time. With a rustic storytelling scythe, Silicon Beach writer-director Max Gold chops down the tall grass of finery and strips away the usual imperial accouterments. Melding the intimations of fantasy and horror, Belle gets down to the nitty-gritty of the classic saga’s dramatic center and its truthfully terrifying undercurrents.

2023, 3 STARS, Foreign Film, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJuly 20, 2023Belle, Max GoldComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Barbie

Speaking of colors and style, I’ll leave you with this little tidbit of snazzy advice from the movie that mixes with the philosophical slant of Barbie itself. Pink goes with everything. Taking that further into color psychology, pink is said to be a contradictory color associated with innocence, calmness, sensitivity, and optimism as much as it’s the standard bearer for femininity. Those listed qualities are the fluttering feelings of Barbie worn with pride, and that’s a radiantly beautiful thing.

2023, 5 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJuly 18, 2023Barbie, Greta Gerwig, Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Noah Baumbach, Kate McKinnonComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Biosphere

Our main actors, the film’s only two and ambitious pairing at that, step to the occasion to address this microcosm with a sliding range of bravery and humor. While playing pretty aligned to their types, Duplass and Brown both generate and confront their fair share of WTF moments playing off each other during the compounding crisis. Naturally, viewers will be waiting for cracks of composure to arrive.

2023, Home Media, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJuly 9, 2023Biosphere, Sterling K. Brown, Mark DuplassComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Joy Ride

Wonderfully conceived by Lim and former Family Guy writers Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao, Joy Ride’s heartfelt backbone of friendship unites what could have been a very disorganized string of skits and gags with no emotional backing. We know the predictable arc of momentary friendship failure and necessary relationship-healing forgiveness is coming, and yet we find ourselves unashamedly rooting for that just as hard as the mess.

2023, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJuly 6, 2023Joy Ride, Ashley Park, Stephanie TzuComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

After nearly 30 years, we are locked in and present for all that these dire missions entail– consequences and all, hope and all. We’ve made our choice and signed our own oath of fandom to chase our own tails and hang on every clue. Give us one more adventure, Tom. We’re as ready and committed as you are.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Lesson

When all the created entanglements and questions start to topple over in the labeled Part III of The Lesson, the calamities come to a head for a proper mystery. Smartly and economically with both budget and time in a very strong debut feature, MacKeith and Troughton avoid the gaudiness of involving other external factors like the press or police. Stepping through the stale air, playful woodwinds of Emma. composer Isobel Waller-Bridge’s score, and the skeleton-filled closets of the idyllic Sinclair property is all this film needs to squeeze nerves and keep viewers guessing where the comeuppance is coming.