ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW: The Imitation Game

This year, the annual Weinstein push will be given to "The Imitation Game." The film checks all of those boxes of "Oscar bait" qualities. You have a war-time period story of great significance, a central biographical figure, and a top-notch cast of revered pedigree. Most important of all, "The Imitation Game" checks the box about being worthy in the first place. The film is tailor-made for awards season and borders on greatness. "The Imitation Game" is better than "The King's Speech" from three years ago and deserves every single over-indulgent and self-glorifying piece of shameless Oscar campaigning that it is going to put out there. This one is worth the hype, folks.

MOVIE REVIEW: Foxcatcher

"Foxcatcher" was a passion project for Bennett Miller that he immersed himself into for over two years since 2012. He spent the better part of 2013 and 2014 solely editing this very meticulous film. What results, in my opinion, is a flawed sculpture where the artist spent so much time whittling over the immensity of the project and its details that he lost sight what the piece represented. Without a doubt, the effort and the talent is there in front of and behind the camera, but, somewhere, this film drowned itself out and lost the core of what really mattered.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Homesman

We men can’t resist a good western. On paper, the new film opening in Chicago this week, “The Homesman,” starring and directed by Tommy Lee Jones could sell tickets to us men just by his presence alone. His gruff persona is perfect for the genre in every way. The “guy film” potential and exterior stops there at Tommy Lee Jones. “The Homesman,” adapted from the novel of the same name from notable western writer Glendon Swarthout dives deeper, darker, and fervently towards a different perspective.

EDITORIAL: My picks for the greatest movie scores

Here's my official list of my top 10 movie scores with three unbreakable ties. I can't call them the "greatest," but I'll put my list next to anyone's and defend my choices. My friends and followers kind of poked the bear and encouraged me to make and rank my own list. Well, I love a good challenge and I knew this one would be easy. Movie scores and I get along.

ADVANCE GUEST CRITIC: Dumb and Dumber To

The point man on this advance "Guest Critic" review is her Tina's oldest son, Kerrick. He and his family reside in Bloomington, Indiana. He is 12-going-on-30, so you can imagine the kind of pre-teen handful he fashions himself to be for my friend Tina. He is too smart for his own good, but he backs it up. Kerrick is a band geek, an honor student, and probably types better than both Tina and I combined. I like his style.

MOVIE REVIEW: Big Hero 6

For the creative merging of Marvel and Disney to work right, they needed the right story and set of characters from the Marvel catalog. To get the best animated hit, Disney needed something new and fresh, yet clever and approachable for a kid-aged audience. They needed something that can be just theirs and not something shared with the adults. Disney and Marvel have done just that and struck gold with “Big Hero 6.”

COLUMN: 2014 Holiday Movie Preview

The holiday movie season of November and December is what really starts and decides the Oscar race every year and this year's schedule of films is no different. There are some real contenders here looking to make people forget about "Birdman" and "Gone Girl." Let's see what happens. Here is my complete "Holiday Movie Preview" for 2014. Enjoy!

MOVIE REVIEW: Interstellar

MY 300TH REVIEW: Like all truly ambitious science fiction of the highest order, "Interstellar" pushes the limits for personal interpretation of both the science and the fiction. Both genre elements are wildly heightened to a bold and epic scale to address the internal opposites between logic and spectacle, science and sentiment, and brains and emotion. Each of those ideals have their soaring high points and matching low points across the board in "Interstellar." It all comes down to your taste, which makes "Interstellar" easily the most polarizing film of the year. You will either love it to the core or hate it to the bone with very little room for a middle ground.

MOVIE REVIEW: Nightcrawler

"Nightcrawler" is the cinematic equivalent of not being able to look away from an impending accident. This is the movie on that test that stops and watches for even more peril. In a movie like this, our own voyeurism and curiosity takes over and we find ourselves enraptured in what we see, even if it is wrong and against our usual likes, dislikes, morals, or beliefs. Movies that do that and still entertain are rare.

2014, 4 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanNovember 2, 2014Nightcrawler, Jake Gyllenhaal, Dan Gilroy, James Newton HowardComment

CHECKLIST: 2014 Holiday Movie Calendar

Here is the master calendar for the upcoming holiday movie season releases for November and December of 2014. Be sure to check ahead at theaters because release dates shift all the time. Print this out, pin it, or put it on the fridge for the next two months. Enjoy your holidays and enjoy these movies!

MOVIE REVIEW: Whiplash

A movie like "Whiplash" shouldn't do all of what it succeeds at, but it does. Before you even read what it's about, be assured that this film is a delicious piece of entertainment from top to bottom. This is a rare treat combining remarkable acting, music, energy, and twists that will follow you out of the theater. As of the calendar turning to November, this is the best film this writer has seen this year. This is the new film to beat, as unexpected as that sounds.

MOVIE REVIEW: Birdman

When Keaton's perfection is combined with the film's bracing, topical, and strong social commentary on Hollywood, Broadway, acting, fame, and celebrity for this different modern world, "Birdman" becomes even larger of an achievement for Mexican director and Academy Award nominee Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Subtitled "The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance," this new film will earn a high place on many year-end lists for one of the year's best.

EVERY MOVIE HAS A LESSON

by Don Shanahan

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