When it comes to entertainment value versus artistic value, much can be forgiven about a film when its heart is in the right place. Beginning as a romantic comedy, The Sound of Violet has a beginning premise that veers very much into a cloying territory. Once the drama of its chosen realities thicken and the laughs no longer come easy, its sense of correction can feel quite heavy-handed. Normally, such an imbalance would be the death knell for a movie. Somehow, the openly hemorrhaging sweetness of The Sound of Violet grants a few critical pardons.

2 STARS, 2022, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanApril 27, 2022The Sound of VioletComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood

Written and directed with a galaxy’s worth of love by Richard Linklater, Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood may be one of the most rich and endearing “back in my day” yarns you will ever find. The proud Texas filmmaker has long embraced time capsule motifs and his suburban upbringing throughout his career. Bringing back his layover rotoscope animation style, Linklaker presents the point of view of a pre-teen daydreamer during 1969, one of the most influential years in American history.

GUEST COLUMN: Top 8 Most Popular Movies To Stream On Netflix Now

by Alisha Jones

If you are new to the platform, you need to start with the most popular movies to stream on Netflix. Don’t worry, we are here to help you out and provide some best movies to stream on Netflix in this article. Make sure to go through the list of all these movies to find out all the details.

2022, Column, Editorial, GUEST EDITORIAL, Home Media, StreamingDon ShanahanApril 12, 2022Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Deep Water

The cold hearts, jealous places, and mental battles of Deep Water slip into near despondency without a resonating grip. When it’s all said and done, the movie is not violent enough for HBO, not sexy enough for old school Cinemax, not polished enough for a major studio release, and not shocking enough for Netflix’s water cooler buzz desire to ensure a subscriber spike. That’s an embarrassing end result of mediocrity.

1 STAR, 2022, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanMarch 17, 2022Deep Water, Adrian Lyne, Ben Affleck, Ana de ArmasComment

Best TV Shows On Netflix To Watch Right Now

If you have been a part of Netflix’s legacy, these are some TV shows you must watch. We have recommended a few of them here so that you can get started on your Netflix March watchlist right now. There are recommendations from mixed genres, so if you need more details on them, ping us below.

2022, Column, Editorial, StreamingDon ShanahanMarch 17, 2022Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Fresh

Maybe Fresh’s exotic menu is not a good place for that “no thank you bite.” However, please, please, pretty please with sugar on top, only apply that very fair dismissal to the controversial cuisine on display and not the actual movie. You would be missing a very interesting movie, one you might laugh at or become scared to death to experience. That sensation is worth its morsel of escapism.

2022, 3 STARS, Film Festival, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanMarch 15, 2022Fresh, Sebastian Stan, Daisy Edgar-JonesComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Adam Project

In other movies of this type, the whizzy sci-fi often becomes the place where all money, effort, and speed was spent, shortchanging any balance of patience to highlight characters or create tangible emotions. Going back to the likes of Real Steel, Date Night, the Night at the Museum series, and Free Guy on his resume, Shawn Levy has established a proven forte at producing shining and human sources of wonder next to the dashing delights. He’s made another crowd-pleasing and heart-filling winner here with The Adam Project.

2022, 4 STARS, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanMarch 10, 2022The Adam Project, Shawn Levy, Ryan ReynoldsComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Turning Red

The good storytellers at Pixar take all the possible cringeworthy “red” jokes and mask them through creatively conceived metaphors that soften the obligatory embarrassment with heart, humor, and courage. After all, to the Chinese culture on display in Turning Red, the potentially frightening shade of crimson counts as a lucky color of vitality, success, and happiness. Leave it to the ever-reliable Pixar to swim freely within that intrinsic good fortune as they so often do.

2022, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanMarch 7, 2022Turning Red, Pixar, Pixar PunchComment

AWARDS: Winners of the 1st Annual Celebrity Film Awards

This past year, I was invited to join the new international group of the Celebrity Film Awards. Founded by Walter Nicoletti, this fine group completed their first awards cycle announcing their winners in a streaming YouTube presentation. I was among the enlisted award presenters. The video package is excellent and I’m both proud and excited to represent Walter’s organization. Enjoy!

2022, AWARDS, Streaming, SPECIAL, Social MediaDon ShanahanMarch 7, 2022Celebrity Film AwardsComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Family Squares

While Family Squares is respectfully dedicated to all those who have lost someone during this awful pandemic, Laing’s movie allows us some much-needed, profanity-laced laughs. Playing out a dramedy fitting and formed by our current plight, the movie can be seen as a future time capsule for our shared mini-era. Not all the tangents work or are worthwhile, but the salute to collective solidarity is there.

3 STARS, 2022, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanFebruary 26, 2022Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: I Want You Back

Charlie Day and Jenny Slate are both very calibrated when it comes to self-deprecating humor. He has his plucky fluster and she has her Debbie Downer magnetism and their mutual resumes before this movie are full of that specialty. When they’re together, the two best actors and characters are bouncing emotions off each other. Their comedic cadences click for their future foregone conclusion of “will they” or “won’t they.”

2022, 2 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanFebruary 14, 2022Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Minamata

Minamata reminds us what Johnny Depp’s charisma can do outside of his fantasy wheelhouse and Tim Burton security blanket. Pushing through aging makeup, a potty mouth, and other curmudgeon behavior, Depp channels a unique and dour bluntness as W. Eugene Smith. True to the usual inspirational movie path, the heart of this dire story helps reduce the quirk factors and allows the actor to pleasantly play something straight and affecting.