MOVIE REVIEW: Good Bad Things

The lead actor of Good Bad Things making his feature film debut is Danny Kurtzman. He lives with muscular dystrophy which diminishes most of his physical capabilities. His weakened legs and limited arm strength calls for outside assistance and the required use of a motorized scooter to get around. To say this his and, by extension, his character’s life has challenges is an understatement. Rather than entirely dwell on or define a man by those debilitations, Good Bad Things pleasingly creates a narrative where success and vivacity are not only desirable, but deservedly attainable.

DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: War Game

Sometimes documentaries require homework, where a deeper dive into sources and background information is needed to grasp the chosen subject. On other occasions, the documentaries are precisely the curated homework one needs to get a fuller picture of a topic at hand. Springboarding from the alarming and infamous historical events of January 6, 2021 with an eye towards improvement, the new documentary film War Game can fit both of those inquires characterizing homework.

2024, 4 STARS, DOCUMENTARY REVIEW, Documentary, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanAugust 8, 2024War Game, documentaryComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Instigators

Consequently, The Insitigators comes off like an unbalanced buddy comedy trying to chirp jokes during a grizzled crime thriller. Sure enough, it’s wonderful seeing Casey Affleck shuck the morose persona he’s been leaning on for the last decade across films to play the loquacious rascal. Unfortunately, he’s all by himself. With known charisma and ability in either of those aforementioned subgenres, Matt Damon feels like a waste of talent to play the unlaughing and tame Rory next to Casey’s Cobby.

2 STARS, 2024, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanAugust 1, 2024The Instigators, Apple, Apple TV+, Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Hong ChauComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Peak Season

Underneath all of Peak Season’s natural grandeur is an existential simplicity spun by the two fetching leads. The scenarios and dialogue shared between Restrepo and DeBlasis play out in an unrushed and principled fashion. The kinship between them fleshes itself out sweetly and reverently. In different hands, the Peak Season narrative is a lusty paperback romance. Instead, a cooling and appreciable reality keenly replaces any preposterous whimsy or the temptation to ratchet up unearned or unnecessary torrid passion.

MOVIE REVIEW: Sing Sing

That personal effect achieved through casting is a hell of a thing and one expanded throughout Sing Sing’s storyline. Unlike outside actors trying on characters they’ve researched for a few months in hope of doing them justice, Sing Sing laminates its dramatic license with layer of authentic courage. We’re watching formerly incarcerated men relive experiences from painful years with invigorated expression. By sharing them with the world now through a tribute film, their honor and liberation is multiplied.

2024, 5 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJuly 30, 2024Sing Sing, Colman DomingoComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Deadpool & Wolverine

But, here’s the craziest part with that Hollywood hubris and wounded pride. Marvel addresses their overall commercial arrogance and vanity by–get this–using the most arrogant and vain character in their library as a means to go against just about everything they’ve ever done with their branded image. Miraculously, they found their jolt with the gloriously gaudy Deadpool & Wolverine.

MOVIE REVIEW: Before Dawn

In Before Dawn “c’est la guerre” constitutes defeatism because, more often than not, war cannot be helped by the grunts in the dirt holding or pushing a line. These young men who are uttering the phrase halfway around the world from their homes and families have learned the futility of their actions. They say it knowing they are trapped in what they thought would be a heroic quest and a patriotic cause.

MOVIE REVIEW: Twisters

The first-rate visual effects are what folks are paying to see, and they look sharp and incredible with a quarter-century’s advancements in digital capacity. Even greater, the audio mix is what really pins you back, nailing the personified growl and howl given to these fingers of God. Taken together, the swagger and bluster of Twisters returns us back to that sense of stamina and vigor for enduring all things windy. The exhilaration is there if you can take it.

2024, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJuly 17, 2024Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Daisy Edgar-Jones, David Corenswet, Lee Isaac Chung, Twister, TwistersComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Dandelion

We feel that tingling levity as Dandelion’s audience and cannot help but be swept away all the same. Dandelion peaks and then teeters on the ramifications of this new union. More songs equals more potential to changes that artistic label from “starving” or “troubled” to “successful.” The bonding brings more sparks, and the increasing clashes of romantic entanglements add the risks of trust, reliance, and commitment.

2023, 2024, 4 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJuly 11, 2024Dandelion, KiKi Layne, Thomas Doherty, Nicole RiegelComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Cottontail

With that domesticated and relatable-beyond-borders quality, Cottontail is creating a greater journey, one venturing beyond any map charting the route to Akiko’s destined lakeside. Completing one’s final wishes is a quest of closure. You are answering a soul beyond the grave to finish something they could not. Yet, that course has branching paths of unsettled grievances, corrected connection, overdue forgiveness, and fulfilled promises.

MOVIE REVIEW: Space Cadet

However, at some point, Space Cadet has to realize they are planting this character in a profession that demands high qualifications for a reason. For all the wonder surrounding being an astronaut, it’s a job that has life and death risks and consequences. Real astronauts busted their tails and became experts in their field legitimately. Space Cadet asking us to swallow their narrative with Rex besmirches that revered history and belittles the importance of program to a borderline disrespectful level.

1 STAR, 2024, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanJuly 6, 2024Space Cadet, Emma RobertsComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Secret Art of Human Flight

The Secret Art of Human Flight hovers on perilous edges with this premise and its trappings, shot in a claustrophobic Academy ratio. At many moments, there’s humor to be found in a bespectacled Ben getting whipped into airborne shape by Mealworm’s unorthodox methods for doing so. Grant Rosenmeyer and Paul Raci share several scenes of poignant soul-baring talks forming the character reclamation project taking place.

EVERY MOVIE HAS A LESSON

by Don Shanahan

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