Besides the obvious cardinal importance of chemistry, every great romantic comedy film has to have one other element that rises it above the usual formulaic and terrible contenders that try all call themselves romantic comedies. That #2 element is "layers." If your romantic comedy main characters are caricatures or one-dimensional archetypes, then your audience won't identify with them, fall for them, or root for them. You've got to have something more than chemistry and two pretty faces. That's where the layers come in.

"2011", "4 STARS", "Friends with Benefits", "Movie Review"Don ShanahanJuly 25, 2011 Comments

MOVIE REVIEW: Captain America: The First Avenger

The Captain America character stirs your patriotism in the audience as a guy you really root for to save the day and get the girl. For all that, Captain America: The First Avenger is, far and away, the best comic book movie this summer and acts as an outstanding final springboard piece to Marvel's mega-event Avengers team-up next May.

2011, MOVIE REVIEW, 5 STARSDon ShanahanJuly 22, 2011Comment

DOUBLE FEATURE MOVIE REVIEW: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Parts 1 and 2

Beyond all that, the real progress that made the movie series tick is the dual-growth of Harry, Hermione, Ron, and the three actors that played them. The classic aspects of teenage coming-of-age storytelling have always been present in the Harry Potter series, but on two distinct fronts. As the characters, they have grown to find their skill, importance, and desires as to what really matters in the grand scheme of all that has transpired around them. As actors, Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint have gone from unknown cute-faced children playing borderline stereotypes to mature and capable performers we genuinely care about and root for through this decade within their characters' shoes and robes.

2011, 2010, 5 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJuly 15, 2011Comment

EDITORIAL: The Best of 2011 (so far)

While I missed making a "Best of 2010" list in my blog's first year, I'd like to change that and start here with a first-half "Best of 2011" list from "Every Movie Has a Lesson." In keeping with the blog's theme, each member of the list will be backed up by its best life lesson of the typical three from each review.

"Best of 2011", "Editorial", "Top 10 list"Don ShanahanJuly 2, 2011 Comments

MOVIE REVIEW: Transformers: Dark of the Moon

As was explained before, the "cool" factor normally outweighs the Michael Bay implausible and incoherent ingredients in most of his other movies. There's plenty of cool for sure here, but, as sorry yet unsurprising as it is to say, the cool in Transformers: Dark of the Moon is not enough to outweigh the other two. The implausible behaviors and plot, coupled with the incoherent violence and eye-rolling moments, are too much.

"1 STAR", "2011", "Movie Review", "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"Don ShanahanJuly 2, 2011Comment

EDITORIAL: My top 10 movie robots and their lessons

In honor of the third Transformers movie coming out this weekend, there's been a lot of chatter about the best movie robots and where Optimus Prime and Bumblebee rank all-time. I figured, much like my recent editorials on movie fathers, father-figures, and teachers, that I might as well take my shot and put my two cents on the topic. The criteria that I rank my robots is by their coolness and impact in the movie(s) they're in.

"Best Movie Robots", "Editorial"Don ShanahanJuly 1, 2011Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Bad Teacher

The comparisons to Bad Santa are quite fair. Any attempt to be like other teacher movies and make memorable students roles to go with the lead teacher takes a backseat to focusing on an evil Cameron Diaz and her rocking bod. Diaz runs with the chance to play a bitch of a character instead of the usual bubbly-and-ditzy routine that has made her a star.

"2011", "4 STARS", "Bad Teacher", "Movie Review"Don ShanahanJune 30, 2011Comment

ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW: Larry Crowne

The fictional story of Larry Crowne is not unlike millions of other and more real American stories. People are downsized, budget-cut, and let go at alarming rates in our present day. People are taking extra and odd jobs just to make ends meet and the housing foreclosure crisis is unprecedented in our country's history. The story and lesson here is how to bounce back and roll with the punches. How do we best downsize our life when we ourselves are downsized?

MOVIE REVIEW: Cars 2

Unlike those last four Pixar movies, Cars 2 is not trying to be taken seriously and shouldn't be put on that pedestal.

3 STARS, MOVIE REVIEW, 2011Don ShanahanJune 25, 2011 Comments

MOVIE REVIEW: The Tree of Life

While I'm not an experienced renaissance man of film like DeNiro or anywhere near the critic Ebert is, but, forgive me, I didn't see a single shred of a point behind The Tree of Life. Don't get me wrong, I'm an open-minded guy and savvy enough to see the artistic point of cinema. Knowing the metaphor the title alludes to, I can tip my hat to a creative filmmaker tackling something that deep and ambitious, but that's it. I can pay attention to just about any slow or extreme movie you put in front of me, but I couldn't stop looking at my watch to wonder when the brain-draining torture was going to end.

"1 STAR", "2011", "FUNNY", "Movie Review", "The Tree of Life"Don ShanahanJune 22, 2011Comment

EDITORIAL: My top 10 movie teachers

Well, as a teacher who just happens to write a movie review blog where the hook is discussing the life lessons anyone of any age can learn from any given movie, I felt obliged to make my own list, especially in honor of Bad Teacher coming out this Friday.

"Best Movie Teachers", "Editorial"Don ShanahanJune 21, 2011 Comments

EDITORIAL: My top 10 movie father-figures and their lessons

Here's my official blog list of the top 10 movie father-figures. Again, true to this blog's hook of life lessons, each example is listed with an important lesson they instilled in their respective film.

"Best Movie Father-Figures", "Best Movie Fathers", "Editorial", "Top 10 list"Don ShanahanJune 19, 2011Comment