Nearly every artistic element of Pieces of a Woman holds a fixation with its lead Vanessa Kirby and rightfully so. Co-stars encircle her aura hoping to get closer. They are met by a lithe posture contorted in guarded torment that holds back their approaches. Her icy blue eyes, arched by her dark eyebrows, hold dry from tears, hang open while lost in thought, and project stares when attention is gained. Of all the points of focus captured by director Kornél Mundruczó, Kirby’s hands are purposefully watched the most. Historical quotes keenly remind us “idle hands are the devil’s workshop” and “nothing good comes from boredom.” Pieces of a Woman finds places to condone those vices.

MOVIE REVIEW: Soul

Since Monsters, Inc., Up and Inside Out director Pete Docter doesn’t directly hide his envoys of empathy anymore. Honest-to-goodness people are once again front-and-center in his newest film, Soul, coming to Disney+ on Christmas Day. Its people may get magically spun into spectral vessels moving through a very uniquely manufactured system of the heavens, but they’re still humans being human. That said, with Soul, Pixar finally goes all the way with its streak. They evoke existentialism head on.

2020, 4 STARS, Animated Film, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanDecember 22, 2020 Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Sylvie's Love

A skeptical label Sylvie’s Love might receive is being called anachronistic. Such a descriptor is a compliment not a hindrance. In fact, it would be disappointingly out of place if Sylvie’s Love was anything less than properly rooted right where it is as a pseudo-time capsule. Ashe isn’t trying to insert a progressive modern agenda with revisionist history for current appeasement. The desire was a period romance with sweep, ambiance, and gloss. The look of the era and the look of love are all there.

2020, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanDecember 19, 2020Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

The narrative scope of playwright August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a setting of Black performers sharing their collective experiences in life that now go into their music. There is a precarious pendulum of friendly diatribes and combative challenges between the traveling band members of the titular “Mother of the Blues.” Their forum may be a lowly basement rehearsal room, but the expanse of their descriptive histories reaches generations farther than mere geography.

2020, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, Streaming, Video on DemandDon ShanahanDecember 16, 2020Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: News of the World

News of the World feeds off those carefully selected extra points of emphasis. You have Tom Hanks in his first western, and playing his true mid-60s age no less, for a change. He portrays a character who speaks with a keen sense of dramatic effect for his listeners. The actor and character occupy a movie that strives well to stay natural with believable aesthetics that are never gaudy. It’s grit without grittiness, and there’s a place for that in the western genre where not everything has to kick like 100-proof frontier whiskey.

2020, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanDecember 11, 2020Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Mank

Sports fans like to say “game recognizes game” when youngblood contemporaries hat-tip the greats in their presence or those that came before them. Thanks to The Social Network ten years ago diving into the not-so-nice history of Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook, David Fincher knows this Welles-Mankiewicz territory all too well. He put a bullseye on an emerging institution and enlisted the wily Aaron Sorkin to help him light the fuse. The masterful director returns with a stylish tribute to courage that came before him. He gets it. Call Mank “balls recognizing balls.”

2020, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, Streaming, Video on DemandDon ShanahanNovember 29, 2020Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Superintelligence

As dippy as all of this in Superintelligence may sound and transpire, there are undeniable streaks of kindness bigger than terabytes. Not all that far removed from the likes of George Bailey or Walter Mitty, the imagination to root for hope and love in people with laughs along the way feels good. Such a sincere sweetness cannot be discounted or denied. Once again, simplicity earns that kind of vibe. Welcome that to your viewing coach this season. We could use it this year.

2020, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, Streaming, Video on DemandDon ShanahanNovember 25, 2020Melissa McCarthy, SuperintelligenceComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Run

The keys to the balance on the table are patience and precision. Suspense films with the composure of choosing its show vs. tell spots resonate better than smash-and-slash roller coasters and talkative bores. Chaganty and Ohanian came to Run with a strong premise that had depth of question marks to present behind it. Too many other thrillers never make it past their single starting idea. The duo slow-plays their escalating premise in a film that never seems to run out of constricting connections.

2020, 4 STARS, Independent Film, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, Streaming, Video on DemandDon ShanahanNovember 21, 2020Run Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey

Soaring higher than any fabric or falsetto are the uplifting themes of this rich fable written and directed by David E. Talbert. “Revolutionary” is the adjective it aims for and achieves. Seeing all the STEM skills and encouragement on display, some school teacher out there (OK, maybe this one) is going to love this movie and slap a “Growth Mindset” stick on it. Go right ahead, educators. A movie like this is squeaky clean and classroom-ready for repeat enjoyment and pertinent talking points. Yoke its energy and foster that creativity!

2020, 4 STARS, MOVIE REVIEW, Streaming, Video on DemandDon ShanahanNovember 15, 2020Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Glorias

Unfiltered regrets, debated wisdom, and long-held dreams replace the microphone soundbites and the picket signs. Those scenes carry genuinely serene and affecting moments of reflection. They may be shot to look whimsical, but they reach to gild exposed and admitted personal flaws within the central figure. Call this respectful hero worship and the most traditional or packaged film Taymor’s ever made if you must. However, what’s left (political pun intended) is well-earned pride.

MOVIE REVIEW: Mulan

It all goes back to encapsulating deeper virtues over surface-thin traits. Women are beyond capable of such independence and profundity, if not more so, than their male counterparts. The women, young and old, who stand to be inspired by Mulan are the true “girls worth fighting for.” No song is required. Noble commitment accomplishes far more.

2020, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanSeptember 3, 2020MulanComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Lake Michigan Monster

Every braided shoestring of DIY indie filmmaking on Lake Michigan Monsters swings a proverbial kitchen sink of derring-do flair on the end of it. Editor and animator Mike Cheslik of Netflix’s The Get Down (the MVP of this film) splashes buoyant pacing and endless layers of light visual effects that have creativity and energy to spare. Each sink of eye-popping detail is wielded like a medieval flail used to dispatch dragons of snobbery and doubt. Never ever look down on this class of movie because this is where you find true commitment.