Injecting science fiction into a story can be a bit of a magic wand. Slick futuristic plot devices can make a few “what if” and “would-coulda-shoulda” dreams come true with a figurative wave of a hand or taps on a screenwriter’s keyboard. Nevertheless, that kind of intellectual escapism in movies will always tantalize. Embracing a quaint romance with heady consequences, The Time Capsule flicks its wrist for a little magic without sacrificing the seriousness of its premise’s implications.

2022, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, 4 STARSDon ShanahanMay 30, 2022The Time Capsule, Brianna Hildebrand, Todd GrinnellComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Top Gun: Maverick

This gravity of consequence, importance, muscle, and heritage permeates every airspace of Top Gun: Maverick. Updated for a contemporary environment, the raw machismo is remodeled to match the progressive excellence and fortitude demanded of pilots today. The days of Marlboro Man-level cowboy pilots are virtually over– all save one: Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, played by, as many are calling “the last real movie star,” Tom Cruise.

2022, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanMay 24, 2022Top Gun, Top Gun: Maverick, Tom CruiseComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Foxhole

By observantly depicting three wars from three different centuries using the same troupe of actors, Foxhole filmmaker Jack Fessenden holds a multi-faceted mirror up to the humanity and mortality of war. His sophomore feature film questions if the causes have or have not changed when it comes to those two pillars. The way he measures that is within the soldiers themselves when placed in their most confined circumstances.

2022, 4 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanMay 13, 2022Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Marvelous and the Black Hole

Serendipitously so, the opposite becomes the case. That line, among many others that follow, could sneakily summarize the FilmRise Sundance darling Marvelous and the Black Hole. Little wonders and big feelings percolate, intersect, smear, and overwhelm a collection of very unique yet relatable people in this film, and the effects could not be more touching and soul-stirring. For folks willing to seek it out in limited theaters, a rewarding hidden gem awaits you.

MOVIE REVIEW: Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood

Written and directed with a galaxy’s worth of love by Richard Linklater, Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood may be one of the most rich and endearing “back in my day” yarns you will ever find. The proud Texas filmmaker has long embraced time capsule motifs and his suburban upbringing throughout his career. Bringing back his layover rotoscope animation style, Linklaker presents the point of view of a pre-teen daydreamer during 1969, one of the most influential years in American history.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Adam Project

In other movies of this type, the whizzy sci-fi often becomes the place where all money, effort, and speed was spent, shortchanging any balance of patience to highlight characters or create tangible emotions. Going back to the likes of Real Steel, Date Night, the Night at the Museum series, and Free Guy on his resume, Shawn Levy has established a proven forte at producing shining and human sources of wonder next to the dashing delights. He’s made another crowd-pleasing and heart-filling winner here with The Adam Project.

2022, 4 STARS, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanMarch 10, 2022The Adam Project, Shawn Levy, Ryan ReynoldsComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Turning Red

The good storytellers at Pixar take all the possible cringeworthy “red” jokes and mask them through creatively conceived metaphors that soften the obligatory embarrassment with heart, humor, and courage. After all, to the Chinese culture on display in Turning Red, the potentially frightening shade of crimson counts as a lucky color of vitality, success, and happiness. Leave it to the ever-reliable Pixar to swim freely within that intrinsic good fortune as they so often do.

2022, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanMarch 7, 2022Turning Red, Pixar, Pixar PunchComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Batman

Not to sound like a barista at a coffee shop, but we’ve reached a point after 83 years of character history across innumerable pages and screens that one has to ask, “How do you take your Batman?” Do you need emblematic cream, sugar, ice, extra caffeine, froth, or some similar fancy twist? If you take it black, filmmaker Matt Reeves has a trenta special called The Batman with your name on it.

MOVIE REVIEW: Death on the Nile

In his second screen appearance as the famed private investigator Hercule Poirot, both the camera and our eyes are magnetized to Kenneth Branagh. There are drop dead gorgeous and expressive characters gallivanting all around, and we can’t pull away from the diminutive observer with that prominent mustache and those impeccable suits. Watch him in character.

2022, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanFebruary 7, 2022Death on the Nile, Kenneth BranaghComment

MOVIE REVIEW: A Journal for Jordan

For all intents and purposes in telling the memoir of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dana Canedy, Washington has a movie that encircles patriotism, duty, the War on Terror, gender politics, Black love, colourism, the plight of military spouses, substitute fatherhood, legacies, and more. Each is treated in an ultra-respectful fashion. Even with heavy emotions in play, none of those issues are shouted at with either favoritism or admonishment. In standing firm as it does, there’s a heap of bravery across many people and places to be found in A Journal for Jordan.

2021, 4 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanDecember 28, 2021A Journal for Jordan, Denzel Washington, Michael B. Jordan, Chante AdamsComment

MOVIE REVIEW: American Underdog

That’s why American Underdog carries the kind of story we may never see again. Kurt Warner is a special individual and, as history shows, more than his athletic prowess. Fewer stories this past quarter-century were riper for cinematic celebration and fewer hero worship subjects were more deserving. Go ahead and lionize this man. He’s the real deal and he earned it.

2021, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanDecember 22, 2021American Underdog, Kurt Warner, Zachary LeviComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Spider-Man: No Way Home

The successes spring forth from the roller coaster of crowd reactions between cheers and tears that you yourself will undoubtedly witness (or share) at your own theater visit. Imagine if everything you eventually see was a protected surprise and that measurement goes through the multiplex roof even further. Top to bottom from a production standpoint and crowned with a smile from ear to ear, this is what big screen escapism and dream fulfillment looks like at the highest level.