GUEST EDITORIAL: Best Tips and Tricks to Promote Hollywood Movies Using Instagram

by Josh Mathew

Filmmaking has evolved much down the years, primarily when it comes to the personal branding of Hollywood movies. The photo-sharing app Instagram is more than just posting selfies today and more about promoting your movies on the platform to garner more likes, comments, and boost user engagement. The social media experts say that Instagram is the perfect channel to promote feature films for directors, cinematographers, or for that matter, any professional related to visual arts.

2021, Column, Editorial, GUEST EDITORIAL, Social MediaDon ShanahanMarch 24, 2021Comment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the "Kicking the Seat" Mission Report for Episode 1 of "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

The gravy train of creative offerings from Marvel Studios shows no signs of stopping and neither win the efforts of “Earth’s Mightiest Critics” led by Ian Simmons, host of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel. Welcome to the first “Mission Report” for this squad covering The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series on Disney+. Enjoy Ian, myself, David Fowlie of Keeping It Reel, and Mark Krawczyk of The Spoiler Room Podcast. The new team-up of Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan had us all very impressed to see where this is going.

Media Appearance, Podcast, Social Media, SPECIAL, 2020Don ShanahanMarch 20, 2021AMC River East 21Kicking the Seat, WandaVisionComment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the "Kicking the Seat" YouTube podcast "Zack Synder's Justice League"

Smashed between Marvel TV shows came the hotly anticipated Zack Snyder’s Justice League from the DC side of comic books and movies. The outpouring of fan ranting masked as support made this happen and the resulting four-hour new take makes a great deal of capital improvements that won over some of “Earth’s Mightiest Critics” and missed for others. Enjoy host Ian Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast on his YouTube channel bringing together myself, David Fowle of Keeping It Reel, and Mike Crowley of You’ll Probably Agree to talk all about his new HBO Max epic. Sorry for my late arrival!

Media Appearance, Podcast, Social Media, SPECIAL, 2020Don ShanahanMarch 20, 2021AMC River East 21Kicking the Seat, WandaVisionComment

GUEST CRITIC #62: Pieces of a Woman

by Lafronda Stumn

As busy I get from time to time, I find that I can't see every movie under the sun, leaving my friends and colleagues to fill in the blanks for me. As poetically as I think I wax about movies on this website as a wannabe critic, there are other experts out there. Sometimes, it inspires me to see the movie too and get back to being my circle's go-to movie guy. Sometimes, they save me $9 and you 800+ words of blathering. In a new review series, I'm opening my site to friend submissions for guest movie reviews.

GUEST CRITIC, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, Social Media, Foreign Film, 2021Don ShanahanMarch 20, 2021Comment

GUEST EDITORIAL: How Do Movies Portray Casino Gambling?

The movie business is a big business. And many great and popular movies have been made on the silver screen. There are some really bad ones, too, but that's just part of the appeal. Casino gambling is big business, as well, and it's easy to see why.

2021, Column, Editorial, Social MediaDon ShanahanMarch 15, 2021Comment

GUEST CRITIC #61: Hoodlum

by Lafronda Stumn

As busy I get from time to time, I find that I can't see every movie under the sun, leaving my friends and colleagues to fill in the blanks for me. As poetically as I think I wax about movies on this website as a wannabe critic, there are other experts out there. Sometimes, it inspires me to see the movie too and get back to being my circle's go-to movie guy. Sometimes, they save me $9 and you 800+ words of blathering. In a new review series, I'm opening my site to friend submissions for guest movie reviews.

GUEST CRITIC, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, Social Media, Foreign Film, 2021Don ShanahanMarch 15, 2021Comment

SHORT FILM REVIEW: Batman: Dying is Easy

The medium of movies fits the swelling urge to be big and loud. They are sensory explosions we love, but that only goes so far in that endless style vs. substance debate. No matter the noise or spectacle, in this critic’s opinion, story and character are what secure success the most. The crowdfunded Batman: Dying is Easy is precisely that example. The short film from Sean and Aaron Schoenke of Bat in the Sun Productions nails its characters without overplaying spectacle. That’s likely a lecture that we may very well revisit this very week with a certain hotly anticipated director’s cut fanning all the fanboy flames in sight.

2021, 4 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, SHORT FILMS, Social Media, StreamingDon ShanahanMarch 12, 2021Batman: Dying is EasyComment

GUEST CRITIC #60: Get On Up

by Lafronda Stumn

As busy I get from time to time, I find that I can't see every movie under the sun, leaving my friends and colleagues to fill in the blanks for me. As poetically as I think I wax about movies on this website as a wannabe critic, there are other experts out there. Sometimes, it inspires me to see the movie too and get back to being my circle's go-to movie guy. Sometimes, they save me $9 and you 800+ words of blathering. In a new review series, I'm opening my site to friend submissions for guest movie reviews.

GUEST CRITIC, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, Social Media, Foreign Film, 2021Don ShanahanMarch 7, 2021Comment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the "Kicking the Seat" live YouTube recap for "Wandavision" Finale

The finale of Disney+’s WandaVision did not disappoint the team of “Earth’s Mightiest Critics.” The spectacle was there, as well as the depth, closure, and little springboards for the future. For the past two months every Friday night, host Ian Simmons of Kicking the Seat led a live WandaVision “wecap” on YouTube. This week, he welcomed myself, Emmanuel Noisette of E-Man’s Movie Reviews, David Fowlie of Keeping it Reel, and Mark "The Movie Man" Krawczyk of the The Spoiler Room Podcast for all the talk. Enjoy me, the painted up Albino Vision fool. See you all again in two week for Ian’s “Mission Report” YouTube series to cover The Falcon and The Winter Solider.

Media Appearance, Podcast, Social Media, SPECIAL, 2020Don ShanahanMarch 6, 2021AMC River East 21Kicking the Seat, WandaVisionComment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the "Kicking the Seat" live YouTube recap for "Wandavision" Episode 8

The penultimate eight episode of WandaVision took us into the literal and figurative basement of our two female magic-using witches for a deep dive into their origins and motives. This is the last volleyball bump-and-set for a spike of an anticipated finale next week. Every Friday, Ian Simmons of Kicking the Seat hosts a live WandaVision “wecap” on YouTube. This week, Ian brought in myself, Emmanuel Noisette of E-Man’s Movie Reviews, and David Fowlie of Keeping it Reel as the “Earth’s Mightiest Critics” stable to talk about all the theories and implications. One more to go! Catch us every Friday at 8:30pm CST! Here’s our chat for Episode 8:

Media Appearance, Podcast, Social Media, SPECIAL, 2020Don ShanahanFebruary 27, 2021AMC River East 21Kicking the Seat, WandaVisionComment

INFOGRAPHIC: Motor Movies and Their Real-World Motoring Offenses

Cinema is the perfect escape from reality. The appeal is obvious, especially right now – why wouldn’t you want to swap our overcast skies and countless hours indoors for exotic locales and ridiculously addictive action sequences? And yet, at the same time, we want to know exactly how these movies would work in the real world; could James Bond really get away with being undercover every time, despite looking exactly the same and doing it for the best part of a century? We can’t answer that one, but we can tell you just how impractical – and illegal – the most exciting motor-related movies and their car chases are. Roughly.

2021, Column, Editorial, Home Media, Infographic, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanFebruary 27, 2021Comment

INFOGRAPHIC: 8 Film Characters Who Can’t Afford Their Cars

We have all been there, we are watching that famous film and idealising over driving that plush car in it and soon had a reality check that its way over our budget. Well believe it or not but according to Moneyshake’s recent study, 8 famous film characters can’t actually afford their iconic motors. Their research reveals that this cost-savvy approach simply wouldn’t work in fiction. Explore our findings below to see the 8 motor movie stars who couldn’t afford their cars. We also spoke to expert Ron Hay, President & CEO of Mod Bargains to see how much their performance mods would cost.