MOVIE REVIEW: mother!

There is extreme thematic and visceral content in mother! that will rattle even the toughest souls. Metaphorical imagery and symbolism are everywhere, and the number of literal and figurative interpretations of what is implicitly or explicitly transpiring can kill as many brain cells as it multiplies. The film begs endless questioning. Surviving and absorbing the film becomes a maddening experience. In the end, what is evident to celebrate is also categorically impossible to fully condone.

MOVIE REVIEW: Colossal

To come right out and say it, this is more than a monster movie, and you will relish seeing why. To that degree, so little about “Colossal” is conventional, an appealing and commendable trait in today’s movie landscape. Satire and dark comedy do more damage than any kaiju stomping cities. Vigalondo and company are aiming for creative perversion and subversion of multiple genres. Peculiarity rules over spectacle with minimal loss of entertainment.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Family Fang

The core of the dysfunctional family at the center of Jason Bateman's "The Family Fang" invokes a particular curiosity. Do weird parents raise and make weird children? Name your odd occupation and examine that question yourself. For example, what are the kids of two circus clown parents like? Do they grow up with the same sense of humor or performance? Do they relish that irregular environment because that was their preeminent example or do they rebel and long for something more typically normal?

MOVIE REVIEW: Sicario

"Sicario" is a raw labyrinth of grit and surprises. This film is a python of suspense. Just when you think the film can't squeeze you any tighter, it chokes you even more. It resets the bar as the best and finest film on drug warfare that Hollywood has ever attempted. "Sicario" is steely, seedy, scary, and jarring in its underlying social and political commentary to bore that out. It's the kind of film that will make you never want to visit Mexico or live in Arizona or Texas.

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.

SPECIAL EVENT GUEST CRITIC: Toronto Film Festival

In this special edition of my "Guest Critic" series an old college friend and fellow student newspaper veteran had the wonderful opportunity to attend this year's Toronto International Film Festival. Inside are her reviews of "Rosewater" and "Map to the Stars." Enjoy!

EVERY MOVIE HAS A LESSON

by Don Shanahan

BRINGING YOU MOVIE REVIEWS AND MORE SINCE 2010

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