MOVIE REVIEW: Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man who wouldn’t see his 40th birthday and played by The Golden Glove’s Jonas Dassler, was many things that the movie’s marketing campaign wants to emphasize by using the extra titling of Pastor. Spy. Assassin. However, the more apt descriptor for him would be a dissident. Resistance starts with disagreement before action. Bonhoeffer chronicles how Deitrich Bonhoeffer came to his dissident positions and how he would put those principles into service to honor of his beliefs and the greater good.

2023, 2024, 3 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanNovember 23, 2024Bonhoeffer, Jonas Dassler, August Diehl, Todd KomarnickiComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Gladiator II

At the same time as they contorted historical accuracy, Craig and Scarpa pile on a greater amount of revelations, double crosses, and ancient paternity tests that would make Maury Povich blush on syndicated daytime television. Those overbaked and confounded conveniences were not necessary to dramatically revisit a successful legend such as this one, which already had adrenaline and spectacle on its side on its face value alone.

2024, 3 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanNovember 21, 2024Gladiator, Gladiator II, Paul Mescal, Denzel WashingtonComment

MOVIE REVIEW: You & I

Altogether, Summer Shelton has composed a pungent expanse of reflective maturity with You & I that puts honesty on the “what if” sliding doors many viewers may feel when comparing their own histories of love. The entirety of this film’s course exudes thoughtful reflection and a wise restraint borne from the romantic predicament on screen. You & I is passionate without being overtly explicit, yet the reverberating echoes of those instinctual feelings are intense and even morose in their own way.

2023, 2024, 3 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanNovember 16, 2024You & I, Summer Shelton, Clayne CrawfordComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Here

In spite of this, some of us will crack our shells of disenchantment, swell with whimsy, and make the most of the cathartic reflection that comes from this grand journey. They will see the holes and seek to fill them with goals of betterment for themselves and, hopefully, others, especially after watching plenty of aspirations in Here not turn out positively for all involved. Here may not be the fully judicious beacon it fashions itself to be, but the thoughtfulness and plenty of poignant care it attempts with its lyrical finesse is still worth welcoming and appreciating.

2024, 3 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanOctober 30, 2024Here, Robert Zemeckis, Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Kelly Reilly, Paul BettanyComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Your Monster

By expanding her own 2020 short film of the same name, Lindy has struck indie film gold creating a wholly original genre amalgamation with these two fresh leads. The mashup of Your Monster works any way you slice it, from a rom-com or behind-the-scenes theater yarn all dashed, slashed, and splashed with a surprise of crimson hemmorage. When this movie says it’s putting on its “happy face,” it’s one crowned by smiling fangs. In doing so with its extremely comedic slant, Your Monster turns growls into howls.

2024, 3 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanOctober 25, 2024Your Monster, Caroline Lindy, Melissa Barrera, Tommy DeweyComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Apprentice

The answer to how to make an appealing biopic about an unsavory character is to have a hell of an actor or actress embody them. After that, The Apprentice strives strongly in its quest to expose and air out a few dirty laundry chapters of Donald Trump’s past. Very few punches are pulled, creating a– needless to say– a purposefully unflattering portrait of the recent President in his virile younger days. It’s easier said than done to divorce the external politics and take this in as only a movie.

2024, 3 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanOctober 7, 2024The Apprentice, Ali Abbasi, Jeremy Strong, Sebastian Stan, Maria Bakalova, Donald TrumpComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Lee

Matching the shared praise shown within the journalism realm from that heart, there’s an automatic level of respect demanded and earned by Kate Winslet. Her clout as an actress equals her commitment to the difficulty of this role in Lee. Knocking on the door of 50 years old, Winslet nevers wastes a scene of this plum opportunity. The very same can be said of the moral foil and intrepid shadow portrayed by Andy Samberg as Scherman. The frequent funnyman capably uncorks his first dramatic film role with absolute reverence for the true and vigilant representation his character involves and embodies.

2023, 2024, 3 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanSeptember 30, 2024Lee, Kate Winslet, Andy Samberg, Marion Cotillard, Noemie Merlant, Josh O'Connor, Lee Miller, David Scherman, biopicComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Secret Art of Human Flight

The Secret Art of Human Flight hovers on perilous edges with this premise and its trappings, shot in a claustrophobic Academy ratio. At many moments, there’s humor to be found in a bespectacled Ben getting whipped into airborne shape by Mealworm’s unorthodox methods for doing so. Grant Rosenmeyer and Paul Raci share several scenes of poignant soul-baring talks forming the character reclamation project taking place.

MOVIE REVIEW: A Family Affair

If everything and everyone fell into place at the same time, we wouldn’t have a rapturous movie to enjoy, meaning the patience for that chase of schedules is part of the romance genre’s whole appeal. Directed by a returning professional in the department of silver screen love, Richard LaGravense, A Family Affair understands these principles well and bends them to its will and modern sensibilities.

2024, 3 STARS, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanJune 27, 2024Joey King, Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, A Family AffairComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Daddio

Therein lies the real key to unlocking a memorable conversation higher than chit-chat: Mood. Two people– not just one– have to want to talk. One person can have all the wisdom in the world or be a fountain of entertainment, but the other will never know it if genuine curiosity and investment aren’t reciprocated. Daddio doesn’t lose a second introducing a pair of differing dispositions prime for participation and initiative.

2024, 3 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJune 27, 2024Daddio, Sean Penn, Dakota JohnsonComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Midas

Midas writer-director TJ Noel-Sullivan, making his feature-length debut after an award-winning early career in shorts, is savvy to realization and has formulated a slick new heist film fit for modern times. Noel-Sullivan also knows that today’s Robin Hoods are not going after miserly members of royalty hoarding all the proverbial gold. The current people of the highest wealth and power control companies, not countries. They are the despised new targets.

MOVIE REVIEW: Ezra

That is the imperfect and crooked road taken by Ezra helmed by actor/director Tony Goldwyn (The Last Kiss, Someone Like You). The sincere film dives into the complicated dynamics within the extended family of the titular young boy. Embodied by pre-teen neurodiverse actor William Fitzgerald in his feature film debut, Ezra is diagnosed with autism and is indeed the kind of apple where the tree that bore it demands its own attention.

EVERY MOVIE HAS A LESSON

by Don Shanahan

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