MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the Kicking the Seat's "What If He Doesn't Survive?" The Mandalorian S3E1

This marks a triumphant return to Star Wars content coverage for Ian Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel. The Book of Boba Fett didn’t go over so well. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor have come and gone. Season 3 of The Mandalorian bring back Ian and “Earth’s Mightiest Critics” to the exploits of our favorite babysitting gunslinger. Enjoy Ian, myself, Annie Banks of Chuck Load of Comics, David Fowlie of Keeping It Reel, and Jeff York of The Establishing Shot talking all things The Mandalorian.

AWARDS: Winners for the Inaugural HCA Creative Arts Awards and the 6th Annual HCA Film Awards

The Hollywood Critics Association announced this weekend the complete list of winners for their Inaugural HCA Creative Arts Awards and the 6th Annual HCA Film Awards. The HCA Creative Arts Awards and the HCA Film Awards were held at The Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA, and comedian Tig Notaro hosted the latter ceremony. Yours truly is a proud member of the HCA.

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the Kicking the Seat YouTube roundtable talking "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania"

MY 100TH GUEST APPEARANCE ON KICKING THE SEAT PROGRAMMING!

As many of you loyal followers may know, friend-of-the-page Ian Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel has been on a year-long moratorium from comic book movies and shows. It has spanned since last May with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. At many times since then, I can’t blame him and envy him. His one caveat was watching things his son wanted to watch. That’s what brings him to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Oh, the woes of being a good parent and a cool dad!

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on "Manly Movies" Podcast talking the manliest movies of 2022

J.B. Huffman is a voracious movie fan who has a temperament for examining and celebrating all forms of masculinity. As a fellow father, those stories and archetypes grab him the most to the point where he decided to make a podcast series dedicated to the movies that hit us dads. Welcome to Manly Movies! Like all good men, he doesn’t do anything half-ass. I was honored to participate as J.B.’s guest to share our Top 10 lists of the manliest movies of 2022.

Media Appearance, Podcast, Social Media, SPECIAL, 2020Don ShanahanFebruary 15, 2023AMC River East 21Podcast, Manly Movies, J.B. Huffman, Best of 2022Comment

AWARDS: Winners of the 2nd Annual North American Film Critics Association Awards

The second year of the North American Film Critic Association winners are here. On Monday, January 9th, the team got together and voted LIVE on The Drive-In Podcast YouTube channel to determine who would take home the biggest prizes of the year. Yours truly is a new voting member of the NAFCA, and it was a pleasure to be a part of the wild banter of this live voting party.

2023, AWARDS, EVENT, NEWS, Streaming, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanJanuary 16, 2023NAFCA, North American Film Critics Association, AwardsComment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest for "Feelin' Film" FF+ podcast for Bold 2023 Predictions

Aaron White of the Feelin’ Film podcast and I relish competition and appreciate a challenge for any kind of bragging rights. He had the idea of laying down some bold predictions for the coming year as “bets” to win a prize between us. So, we each took turns to research and document six measurable claims for the upcoming year across industry trends and box office projections. The critic with the most predictions right this time next year wins. Enjoy the show!

Podcast, Social Media, Media Appearance, SPECIAL, 2022, 2023Don ShanahanJanuary 13, 2023Media Appearance, Podcast, Feelin' Film Podcast, Aaron White, 2023Comment

AWARDS: 7th Annual Chicago Indie Critic Windie Award Nominations

Celebrating their seventh year, the Chicago Indie Critics have announced the nominees for their newly-named film awards. Welcome to the era of “The Windies.” The voting film critic members completed ballots this week to select Windie nominees in 25 categories. The CIC members will commence a final round of voting ending on January 13, 2023. The 2022 Windie winners will be announced on the evening of January 21, 2023, during their annual Awards Party event held at the Music Box Theatre Lounge in Chicago.

2023, AWARDS, CIC, EVENT, NEWS, SPECIALDon ShanahanJanuary 9, 2023Chicago Indie Critics, CIC, CIC Awards, The WindiesComment

AWARDS: Nominees for the 2nd Annual North American Film Critics Association Awards

On Saturday, January 7, 2023, the North American Film Critics Association announced its nominee slate for the 2022 film season. Now in its second year, the group’s nominees represented 56 different films over 25 different categories. Yours truly, flying the Every Movie Has a Lesson and Film Obsessive flags, is a new member of the NAFCA. I participated in the live nominee announcement show:

2023, AWARDS, EVENT, NEWS, Streaming, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanJanuary 8, 2023NAFCA, North American Film Critics Association, AwardsComment

COLUMN: My 10 Best Movies of 2022

Closing a year, as usual, means getting out the scorecard and making a “10 Best” list. This one didn’t take much agony and neither will my second year of voting for the Critics Choice Awards and Hollywood Film Critic Awards and seventh year with my own Chicago Indie Critics group with many of these movies in mind. I’ve had this list up on Letterboxd and presented them on TikTok, but the homebase deserves its annual post.

Best Films, Column, Editorial, LIST, SPECIAL, 2022Don ShanahanDecember 26, 20222022, Best of 2022, 10 Best, 10 Best Films of 2002, ListComment

20 YEAR RETROSPECTIVE: The best of the rest of 2002

In an annual series, Every Movie Has a Lesson is going to look back twenty years to revisit, relearn, and reexamine a year of cinema history to share favorites, lists, and experiences from the films of that year. When measuring back as far as twenty years or more, I feel like “favorites” that have stood the test of time have aged to become some level of “best.” I feel like a bunch of those populate my reflective look back at the best of the rest of 2002.

Column, Editorial, Retrospective, SPECIAL, 2022, Best FilmsDon ShanahanDecember 25, 20222002Comment

20 YEAR RETROSPECTIVE: The 10 Best Films of 2002

In an annual series, Every Movie Has a Lesson is going to look back twenty years to revisit, relearn, and reexamine a year of cinema history to share favorites, lists, and experiences from the films of that year. When measuring back as far as twenty years or more, I feel like “favorites” that have stood the test of time have aged to become some level of “best.” I feel like a bunch of those populate my reflective look back at the best of 2002.

Best Films, Column, Editorial, LIST, Retrospective, SPECIAL, 2022Don ShanahanDecember 25, 2022Saint Joseph's College2002, 10 Best, 10 Best Films of 2002Comment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the Kicking the Seat YouTube roundtable talking "Avatar: The Way of Water"

While not all of us on the dais look like Gloria Stuart who said, “It’s been 84 years…” in James Cameron’s Titanic, it has been a long 13 years since the 3D watershed of Avatar. Ian Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel gathered myself, David Fowlie of Keeping It Reel, Mark Krawczyk of Special Mark Productions, and Jeff York of The Establishing Shot to discuss the hotly anticipated sequel and holiday hitter Avatar: The Way of Water. We sure talked until a few of us were blue in the face (and tardy from technical difficulties as I was).

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