For better or worse, Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin is an unrelenting emotional tussle of stubbornness among men. Your tolerance level for such behavior will undoubtedly mix feelings and inform your experience. Some will relish in its afflicted dark humor while others will be ready to throw their hands up and beg for the clashing characters to get over themselves. No matter if you are engaged in the tailspin or irked by the whole ordeal, you will find plenty to be impressed with in this pitch black comedy and surefire awards darling.

MOVIE REVIEW: Till

Till is a heartbreaking and meaningful film presented almost entirely through a mother’s point of view. Any mother of any background will tell you that one of, if not, the most ever-present emotions is worry. Debilitating considerations and worst case scenarios often percolate and betray otherwise happy thoughts and sweet moments. All too often, it’s a mental gear that cannot be easily turned off. One of those flustering pauses begins the film and an agonizing tone for Till is set right away.

2022, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanOctober 16, 2022Till, Danielle DeadwylerComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Don't Worry Darling

Now, the varnish swirls with the dreamy deja vu vibes that are all over that old standard. In many ways, those two main verses of “Where or When” tell you all you need to know about the encroaching mystery to come. By the time Don’t Worry Darling calls back to “Where or When” again during its kaleidoscopic end credits, a smoky aftermath is exhaled from the intoxicating effects of the song and the film.

2022, 4 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanSeptember 20, 2022Don't Worry Darling, Olivia Wilde, Florence Pugh, Chris Pine, Harry StylesComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Woman King

Of all the subjective or objective metrics that get bandied about when rating a film, one of the more powerful traits that can make up for shortcomings is a movie’s inspirational effect. An impassioned audience with stirred emotions is very forgiving. Many large and small aspects about Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King could be debated or exposed as flaws. In the end, they will not matter. The story being told and the dedication collected to tell it carry weight greater than the art or craft.

2022, MOVIE REVIEW, 4 STARSDon ShanahanSeptember 17, 2022The Woman King, Viola Davis, Lashana LynchComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Confess, Fletch

So much of Confess, Fletch feels like a wiser-than the norm throwback against the hefty audience quadrant that will always prefer the louder, action-ified punch of the James Bonds and Jason Bournes of the world over a journalist gumshoe. If that crowd can slow down for a smaller and smoother ride, they will find mental thrills equally clever to the pop of blockbuster stunts that fade as quickly as they explode.

2022, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, Streaming, 4 STARSDon ShanahanSeptember 13, 2022Fletch, Confess Fletch, Greg Mottola, Jon HammComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul

Through impressive performances from Support the Girls star Regina Hall and This is Us Emmy winner Sterling K. Brown, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul has caricatures so believable that they transcend the winking-at-the-camera trope with vivid potency. There’s another level of “commitment to the bit.” We, the audience are not normally supposed to believe what we see from the characters but, with these two, we buy it.

2022, 4 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanSeptember 2, 2022Honk For Jesus Save Your Soul, Sterling K. Brown, Regina HallComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Breaking

It would be really easy for a movie like Breaking, tip-toeing in the Dog Day Afternoon direction, to turn up the brightness of the pariah spotlights and crank up the volume on the injustice pulpit loudspeakers. That’s not so here. Director Abi Damaris Corbin resists the temptations to pound messages and shout showy monologues. He and his screenwriting partner Kwame Kwei-Armah uphold the simple and poignant principles that were at hand with this true story and on the central figure’s mind during a fateful July day in 2017.

2022, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, Streaming, 4 STARSDon ShanahanAugust 25, 2022John Boyega, Breaking, Nicole Beharie, Michael K. WilliamsComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Fall

Sometimes, the simplest premises are all you need, and Scott Mann’s thriller Fall has that going for it in spades. Long has the subgenre of survival thrillers flourished in this area. By ascending a 2,000 foot antenna in the desert (masterfully so in its own perfect teaser trailer), Mann and his co-writer Jonathan Frank have picked a unique and uncomplicated setting. The film’s characters and camera explore its peculiarity and scale. True to its name, Fall’s plot exploits mortal fears and gets creative with the desperate measures people reach to keep kicking and screaming with life.

2022, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanAugust 11, 2022Fall, Grace Fulton, Virginia GardnerComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Prey

There is no star-fueled preening on this no-name cast. The body count is patient, yet raised to a frightful level. The kills are often quick and brutal. Prey stays precisely locked into the relentless gear and exciting pace this legendary movie monster threat has long deserved.

2022, 4 STARS, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, TelevisionDon ShanahanAugust 5, 2022Prey, Predator, The Predator, PredatorsComment

MOVIE REVIEW: DC League of Super-Pets

With its buoyant humor and stellar energy, DC League of Super-Pets is the finest pampering treat we’re going to get and it’s a welcome one, even if a treat like this is a tad on the unhealthy side. With no apologies to Joss Whedon, Zack Snyder, or anyone else, it took bringing in a bunch of animal characters, the writers of The LEGO Batman Movie, and shifting to animation to give us the best theatrical Justice League movie we’ve had to date.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Gray Man

Both men are stupendously deadly in their own ways. Seen and unseen pushers and handlers with unreliable agendas have tied hands, and forced ones too, for the repercussions to come. Pit these two men and their motives against each other, and the unpredictability ignites itself in The Gray Man. Wall to wall, the Russos have unleashed what may stand as the best pure action movie of 2022.

MOVIE REVIEW: Press Play

Press Play rightfully roots for our approachable lovers. She’s not a superficial stunner, he’s not an empty stud, and both actors are believably playing their ages, breaking a trend for the usual “summer of young love” subgenre. Clara Rugaard plays this woman, challenged by emotional loss, with a mature strength beyond what is too often the default setting of weepy helplessness. Not to be outmatched, Lewis Pullman balances her with an understated, yet effectual charisma.