MOVIE REVIEW: One Life

With a different approach, One Life could have very easily veered into horn-tooting hero worship or some kind of indulgent salve applied to reduce the horrors of the Holocaust. That’s not the case with the work of director James Hawes and screenwriters Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake to depict this history with little to no extra flamboyance. The film’s style and attitude matches the central figure who never put the glory first. The history speaks for itself and needs no assistance for heft.

2024, 2023, 4 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanMarch 14, 2024One Life, Anthony HopkinsComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Knox Goes Away

Leaning on this hastened and rapidly emptying hourglass, Michael Keaton has formed a dramatic backbone in Knox Goes Away that is simultaneously blunt and poetic. Composer Alex Heffes (Mamma Mafia) floats a muted trumpet score cue that shapes a grim and fittingly noir vibe between the soft scene-to-scene camera fades. That said, as insightful as it strives, this is still a dive into the spine of a faithless killer, a person distant from the complete sincerity of a hero.

2024, 3 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanMarch 12, 2024Michael Keaton, Knox Goes Away, Suzy NakamuraComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Kung Fu Panda 4

Kung Fu Panda 4 is indeed a mildly maligned fourth movie going up against the aforementioned poor track record. While Kung Fu Panda 3’s culmination involved Po becoming a Grand Master of kung-fu and chi across the Spirit and Mortal Realms, no one is ranking the 2016 movie next to Toy Story 3 or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in the pinnacle department, meaning a fourth movie should be reasonably welcomed without any sacrilegious blowback

2024, 3 STARS, Animated Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanMarch 7, 2024Kung Fu Panda, Kung Fu Panda 4Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Dune: Part Two

Even still, so much of the Dune: Part Two dialogue (a noted dislike of the director) that could be winning hearts and minds is delivered in hushed platitudes. It’s positively wild than one of the loudest movies possible utilizing the biggest film screens the industry delivers can move someone so little where it counts. The crazy part is, Villeneuve and Dune still aren’t done. What began and was sourced from one interminably written ordeal could quickly become an interminable cinematic one as well.

MOVIE REVIEW: Ordinary Angels

Alas, potential viewers of the film are going to see the faith-centered creative team (The Case for Christ director Jon Gunn and notable producers Dave Matthews and the Erwin Brothers) highlighted by the marketing efforts and assume this is some kind of cinematic religious extortion. They would be way off. The presented cause to believe in greater than some fancy church in Ordinary Angels is a sick little girl. Nothing more is necessary.

2024, 2023, 4 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanFebruary 21, 2024Ordinary Angels, Hilary Swank, Alan Ritchson, Nancy Travis, Kelly Fremon CraigComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Taste of Things

The moving experiences come from sharing the expressed gastronomical artistry. The art of those fears is in unique masterful cooking. The cooking comes from the two-decade partnership between Eugénie and Dodin. Their partnership has blossomed to a long-term love of understanding and freedom that has avoided the culminating step of marriage. Simply put, food is merely the setting of shared quality time for the rest of life.

MOVIE REVIEW: Adam the First

For Adam to approach these strangers with his “I’m looking for my father” story and burning questions, it takes a sit-down. That kind of talk can’t be rushed and Franco lets those opportunities fully breathe. Moreover, each of the important exchanges create their own emotional transitions for Adam. He needs every springboard he can get from these talks, and so does Oakes Fegley playing the character.

2024, 4 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanFebruary 14, 2024Adam the First, Oakes Fegley, David Duchovny, T.R. Knight, Irving FrancoComment

SHORT FILM REVIEW: Ghosted

It doesn’t take a long time to leave a first impression. That understanding statement can be said in the film world as well as in the universe of relationships. From tiny human stories to the biggest blockbusters, most often the first five minutes of a movie set its tone. You can feel if you’re going to like the time you’ve committed to spend. The same can be said for the real-life “Meet Cute” moment of a first date. The short film Ghosted from writer-director Keith Black presents a first impression in both those areas.

2024, 2 STARS, MOVIE REVIEW, SHORT FILMS, StreamingDon ShanahanFebruary 9, 2024Ghosted, Keith BlackComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Restore Point

Ideas are cool, but they need more expanse to really mature. Solid screenplays creating potent implications or gripping conflicts must execute that demand. Restore Point lays out such boosts, but drives more around the bigger picture rather than through it. Be that as it may, the intriguing neo-noir mystery at its core remains worth the effort and attention you can give.

2024, 3 STARS, Foreign Film, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanFebruary 8, 2024Restore Point, foreign film, Czech RepublicComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Upgraded

Far too much of Upgraded is hampered by all of the pretentious insider business schemes sullying romantic potential. After fits and spurts, our two would-be lovebirds don’t get a proper date night adventure until the 75-minute mark and– for an R-rated movie rife with F-word slingers– it’s a lukewarm one at best in the sparks department.

2024, 2 STARS, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanFebruary 8, 2024Upgraded, Archie Renaux, Camila Mendes, Carlson YoungComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Zone of Interest

The Zone of Interest doesn’t go there, and it wasn’t going to. The cold and taciturn performances from Freidel and Hüller are designed to not create sympathy for the subjects, which is perfectly fine. Rather this film was just going to sit there and listen. That’s the experience it was aiming for, and, in doing so, it participates in a layer of its own “how could they.” The trouble is, like the Nazis portrayed in the film, the answers to that question are “quite easily” and “quite comfortably.” Because their needles don’t move, neither do yours against its painful pace.

MOVIE REVIEW: Molli and Max in the Future

Without looking, you would think the two titular romantic prospects were strolling through autumnal city parks wearing cozy knit sweaters and sipping cups of hot or cold refreshment. It’s when you open your eyes that perspectives radically change for Molli and Max in the Future because there’s not a tree or stitch of wool in sight. Instead, the last three words of the film's title come into play. Our two will-they/won’t-they lovebirds are two intergalactic citizens crossing spacefaring paths in a future stocked with aliens, demigods, and advanced technology.

EVERY MOVIE HAS A LESSON

by Don Shanahan

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