ANNUAL UPDATE: I'm here for an editorial on the anniversary of 9/11 to showcase a few movies, both serious and not-so-serious, that speak to that day whether as a tribute, remembrance, or example of how life has changed since that fateful day. Enjoy!

Column, Editorial, SPECIALDon ShanahanSeptember 11, 20169/11, 9/11 films, 9/11 movies, Films based on 9/11, Movie based on 9/11, Films affected by 9/11, Movies affected by 9/11, 9/11 anniversary, War on Terror, Ghostbusters, Independence Day: Resurgence, Independence Day, The Walk, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Godzilla, Star Trek Into Darkness, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Man of Steel, Olympus Has Fallen, White House Down, Patriots Day, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Sully, American Sniper, Captain America: The First Avenger, Live Free or Die Hard, We Are Marshall, Hitch, National Treasure, Miracle, Million Dollar Baby, Ladder 49, Elf, Gangs of New York, Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 2, We Were Soldiers, Black Hawk Down, Behind Enemy Lines, The Last Castle, Pearl Harbor, The Patriot, Air Force One, Rambo III, Charlie Wilson's War, Jarhead, Courage Under Fire, V for Vendetta, The Sum of All Fears, Fight Club, Arlington Road, Munich, Syriana, The Dark Knight Rises, The Siege, True Lies, Pushing Tin, Turbulence, Executive Decision, Passenger 57, Airplane!, Cloverfield, War of the Worlds, Watchmen, Deep Impact, Armageddon, The Day After Tomorrow, King Kong, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Superman, Boyhood, The Fifth Estate, Snowden, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Source Code, Bridesmaids, Iron Man, Harold and Kumar Escape Guantanamo, Snakes on a Plane, Soul Plane, Anger Management, The Terminal, An Inconvenient Truth, Fahrenheit 9/11, 25th Hour, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, 13 Hours, Good Kill, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, A Most Wanted Man, Lone Survivor, Zero Dark Thirty, Act of Valor, Restrepo, Green Zone, Dear John, The Lucky One, Brothers, Taking Chance, The Messenger, Stop-Loss, Body of Lies, In the Valley of Elah, Lions of Lambs, The Kingdom, Rendition, Grace is Gone, The Hurt Locker, Home of the Brave, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Remember Me, Reign Over Me, World Trade Center, United 93, Big Trouble, The Time Machine, Serendipity, Zoolander, Men in Black II, Sidewalks of New York, City by the Sea, Collateral Damage, The Glass House, Hardball, Rock Star, Soul Survivors, The Musketeer, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Ocean's 11, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, New York, New York City, The Pentagon, Afghanistan, Iraq, Editorial, War movies, film commentary, movie commentary, social commentary, SPECIAL, ANNUAL, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, Every Movie Has a LessonComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Independence Day: Resurgence

The advent of computer-generated visual effects in the 1990s raised the scope of what and how much disaster movies could destroy on screen. No better film encapsulated that new era than the raucous and wildly successful “Independence Day” from 1996 with aliens laying waste to world monuments and making a star out of Will Smith. In the twenty years since, the evolution of CGI filmmaking of bigger and more opulent destruction has elevated the craft to the moniker of “disaster porn.” Returning with the grand ambitious sequel “Independence Day: Resurgence,” the former standard-bearer enters a present day where audiences have been desensitized by asteroids, comets, natural disasters, monsters, Transformers, and superheroes dozens of times over. What was awesome the first time isn’t jaw-dropping anymore.

MOVIE REVIEW: The 5th Wave

Thanks to the "Harry Potter," "Hunger Games," and "Twilight" series, we have had an over-flooded movie market of young adult novel adaptations with more forgettable failures than winning successes. Because we have reached an oversaturation point, the questions necessary for any new entry looking to get a piece of the pie are: What can you offer that is different and what makes you necessary? Though it tries, "The 5th Wave" cannot answer the bell with convincing responses.

EDITORIAL: My 16 most anticipated films for 2016

2016 looks decidedly less spectacular that 2015 on paper. I think there is still plenty to love, but I don't think we'll get another pair of $500 million-plus earners like "Jurassic World" (over $600 million) and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In an annual tradition, here are the sixteen movies I'm most looking forward to for 2016. I'm a ranker kind of guy, so let the first countdown begin. Enjoy!

MOVIE REVIEW: Edge of Tomorrow

Go ahead and continue Tom Cruise's solid streak one more movie with the very entertaining "Edge of Tomorrow" opening this week. The funniest thing is Tom is essentially playing the opposite of his usual macho self and it still works. We're used to the take-charge man-of-action characters out of him, not the wimp and coward he plays here. Because of that, there's a certain unexpected humor coming out of "Edge of Tomorrow" that boosts its doom-and-gloom alien invasion setup.