MOVIE REVIEW: Jackie

Mesmerizing describes the film as a whole and its incomparable lead performance from Academy Award winner Natalie Portman playing First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in the immediate hours and days following her husband's 1963 assassination. Far from a biopic and more of a psychological examination, Portman and Larrain sear the screen with emotion and imagery that is as captivating as it is difficult. It is astonishing that it takes a foreign director to create the most empowering portrait of American history put to film in years.

2016, 5 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Chicago Film Festival, Film Festival, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanDecember 9, 2016Chicago International Film Festival2016, 2016 Holiday Movies, Jackie, Jackie Kennedy, Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Robert Kennedy, Greta Gerwig, Chicago International Film Festival, 52nd Chicago International Film Festival, Special Presentations, Best of 2016, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actress, JFK, Pablo Larrain, No, Neruda, Billy Crudup, Max Casella, John Hurt, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy Jr., Caroline Kennedy, Movie presidents, First Lady, Camelot, movie review, film review, movie commentary, film commentary, film festival, Festival review, Festival coverage, life lessons from film, life lessons from movies, life lessons from films, life lessons, Life lessons, life lesson, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, Every Movie Has a Lesson, Jacqueline Kennedy, Jean Rabasse, Halina Gebarowicz, Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe, Broadway musical, Mica Levi, Noah Oppenheim, Madeline Fontaine, Mac Casella, Jack Valenti, John Carroll Lynch, Lyndon B. Johnson, Casper Phillipsom, Theodore H. White, LIFE magazine, Hyannis PortComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Hunter Gatherer

The micro-budgeted indie film “Hunter Gatherer” is the directorial debut of art director Josh Locy. The filmmaker has cut his teeth creating the visual palettes of independent fare such as an art director on David Gordon Green’s “Prince Avalanche” and Peter Sattler’s “Camp X-Ray.” His film, led by a charismatic performance from Andre Royo, shows the egotistical plight of a recently released con trying to reinsert himself in his old South Central Los Angeles neighborhood.

2016, 3 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Chicago Film Festival, Film Festival, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, Video on DemandDon ShanahanDecember 8, 2016Chicago International Film Festival2016, Hunter Gatherer, Joshua Locy, Josh Locy, Andre Royo, Chicago International Film Festival, 52nd Chicago International Film Festival, U.S. Indies, independent films, micro-budget film, Ashley Wilkinson, George Sample III, Adam Robinson, Jon Aguirresarobe, X-Ray, Prince Avalanche, The Wire, Kellie Stewart, life lessons, life lessons from film, life lessons from movies, life lessons from films, life lesson, movie review, film review, movie commentary, film commentary, Every Movie Has a Lesson, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, VOD, Video On Demand, SXSW Film Festival, 2016 SXSW Film Festival, Best Narrative Feature, Best Actor, Camp X-RayComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Doctor Strange

Now in its third phase, Marvel continues to take C-level and D-list comic book characters and titles, breath cinematic life into them with top-notch talent in front of and behind the camera, and turn the obscure in newly minted household names and merchandising windfalls. "Doctor Strange" continues the studio's blueprint of Midas Touch success while jubilantly kicking down the door for magic and mysticism in the MCU. You may not know him yet, but Stephen Strange is a major player and huge addition to an already-loaded heroic panorama.

2016, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEW, 3 STARSDon ShanahanNovember 1, 2016Regal City North Stadium 14 IMAX2016, 2016 Holiday Movies, 2016 Fall Movies, Doctor Strange, Benedict Cumberbatch, Scott Derrickson, Kevin Feige, C. Robert Cargill, Jon Spaihts, Steve Ditko, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Mads Mikkelsen, Tilda Swinton, Benedict Wong, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benjamin Bratt, Scott Adkins, Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., Marvel Comics, Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Films, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Phase 3, Marvel, Disney/Marvel, Disney, Sinister, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Ben Davis, Michael Giacchino, Kathmandu, Nepal, Kaecilius, The Ancient One, Stephen Strange, Christine Palmer, Karl Mordo, Mordo, Dormammu, Eye of Agamotto, Cloak of Levitation, film commentary, film review, movie commentary, movie review, comic book movie, comic book films, The Avengers, Infinity War, Thor, Thor: Ragonark, life lessons from films, life lessons from film, life lessons from movies, life lessons, life lesson, Life lessons, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, Every Movie Has a LessonComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Certain Women

Spareness and simplicity can either be a fountain of nuance and austerity or it can be a vacuum of plainness and lethargy. Filmmaker Kelly Reichardt is a celebrated torchbearer of the minimalist film movement and her newest feature, “Certain Women,” boast three strong female leads in Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, and Kristen Stewart. Despite that base of acting forte and the patronage of Todd Haynes as an executive producer, the void outweighs any wellspring.

SHORT FILM REVIEW: Endless Waltz

People will speak with dueling dichotomy and similarity that nothing is more simple, and yet more complicated, than life and death. The plainness comes in the inevitability of the outcome no matter the the journey, while the complexity lies in the individual beauty of each life’s path. In a symphonic microcosm of eight minutes, the short film “Endless Waltz” paints its portrait of beauty giving way to finality with utter perfection.

2016, 5 STARS, MOVIE REVIEW, SHORT FILMS, Video on DemandDon ShanahanSeptember 21, 2016Crescent Beach2016, short film review, Short Film, short film commentary, Short films, Best Live Action Short, Best Live Action Short Film, Endless Waltz, Zac Richardson, Erika Forest, Looking Death in the Eye, Crescent Beach, British Columbia, Best Documentary Short Subject, Documentary Short, Kevin Lee Graham, Luis Miguesl Villarreal, Infinito non Finito, Vaughn Lowell Swenson, Victoria Raskin, YouTube, Zachary Richardson, Shelley Janze, Mona Hassamen, Sarah Bryn Malladaine, Zoe Law, Sahara Forest, Naomi Hughes-Hall, Ken Godmere, Nicole Norikowa, life les, life lessons, life lessons from films, life lessons from movies, life lesson, life lessons from film, life lessons from documentaries, movie commentary, film commentary, movie review, film review, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, Every Movie Has a LessonComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Bridget Jones's Baby

Tongues are inserted into cheeks at a rapid-fire pace in “Bridget Jones’s Baby. The euphemisms, drollery, puns, wild physical gags, and self-deprecating farce originate from all directions and target anyone with eyes and a smile. The writing is harebrained in the most smart and witty ways possible and, trust me, that is a compliment. Better yet, when it needs to, the movie turns off the jokes and hits you with the necessary heart to make all the silly stuff enormously endearing.