MOVIE REVIEW: 1945

The end of a large war is always a turning point that trickles down from the front lines and the soldiers at arms to the home front with those that maintained their respective communities when their fighters were away. Wars benefit some community members while tragically redefining others. 1945 is a small and intense microcosm of that dichotomy demonstrated over the course of one fateful day in the aftermath of World War II. Shot in bracing black-and-white, this film exudes strong themes of guilt across several points of view.

2018, 3 STARS, Film Festival, Foreign Film, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, Video on DemandDon ShanahanApril 4, 2018Landmark Renaissance Place CinemaComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Journey's End

Journey’s End recounts the British side of a climactic four-day span from March 18-21, 1918 in the stalemate “No Man’s Land” trenches of Aisne in northern France in the lead-up to Operation Michael. Every month, each British company is required to serve six days on the front line where casualties are gravely high. Gambling with death sentences, both trooper and officer alike pray that their six days are not the ones where an offensive is being amassed or defended.

2017, 2018, 3 STARS, Foreign Film, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, Video on DemandDon ShanahanMarch 22, 2018Landmark Century Centre CinemaComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Death of Stalin

Hot damn, you know your satire is magma-level hot when you offend the powers-that-be of a country enough to ban your film from playing on their soil. Labeled as “extremist” and a “provocation” enough to spark tabloid headlines like “the film Hitler could have made,” Armando Iannucci’s The Death of Stalin wears a giant badge of pride next to a tiny medallion of shame on its cinematic uniform on being banned in four nations: Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan.

2018, 3 STARS, 2017, Foreign Film, Independent Film, Video on DemandDon ShanahanMarch 18, 2018Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Colors of the Wind

The melodramatic preposterousness of Colors of the Wind is two-fold. The first layer is good old-fashioned stage magic, everything from card tricks to disappearing acts. The second comes from the notion of doppelgangers, the fanciful term for doubles, ghostly counterparts, and alter egos that have been a storytelling trope before in film. Both elements create spirited and soapy intrigue in the film when combined with the romantic destiny of star-crossed lovers.

EDITORIAL: 19 films to watch for the 2019 Oscars

In what has become an annual day-after-hangover and post-Oscars tradition, I have this editorial that closes the book on one awards season and declares the next one open for competition. Each year, I pull out the crystal ball and look into the murky future to prognosticate which films coming in 2018 will we be applauding for at this time next year for the 91st Academy Awards. Here are 19 films to watch for the 2019 Oscars.

2018, Column, Editorial, Foreign Film, Film Festival, Independent Film, LIST, SPECIALDon ShanahanMarch 5, 2018Oscar nominee, Oscar contenders, Oscar bets, Oscar hopefuls, Oscars, Oscar talks, Oscar nominations, Oscar winners, Oscar snubs, Oscar Predictions, Oscar surprises, Oscar bait, Oscar Checklist, Oscar race, Oscar, 2019 Oscars, 2019 Academy Awards, 91st Academy Awards, Academy Awards, Academy Award nominees, Academy Award nominee, Academy Award, Academy Award nominations, Academy Award hopeful, Academy Award winner, Awards Predictions, Awards Tracker, Awards bait, Awards seasons, Award Prediction, Awards, First Man, If Beale Street Could Talk, A Star is Born, Widows, Backseat, Mary Queen of Scots, Bohemian Rhapsody, Where'd You Go Bernadetee, Where'd You Go Bernadette, Mortal Engines, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Burden, Beautiful Boy, The Women of Marwen, Boy Erased, White Boy Rick, Won't You Be My Neighbor, Chappaquiddick, The Front Runner, Mary Magdelene, Every Movie Has a Lesson, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, Column, Editorial, 2018, 2019, 2018 films Comments

MOVIE REVIEW: November

Some films that cross our eyes are an exercise of the art form. They trade tidy entertainment for a celebration of craft. There are clear pluses and minuses to such an undertaking. Stripping away conventions left and right to make something wholly unique and downright peculiar, November was Estonia’s 2017 entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. The experimental foreign film brims with allegory and is strikingly shot. However, the film’s compelling qualities never seem to match its obscene effort towards the art

2017, 2018, 2 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Film Festival, Foreign Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanFebruary 20, 2018Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: A Fantastic Woman

Audiences will need to go beyond “brave” to describe and complement the shattering performance of Daniela Vega starring in A Fantastic Woman. Searing the screen with moments of serenading song and ever-present fortitude, the openly transgender Chilean actress and model seethes with uncommon determination. Saying “good for her” is not enough praise.

MOVIE REVIEW, 2018, 3 STARS, 2017, Foreign Film, Independent FilmDon ShanahanFebruary 9, 2018Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Bilal: A New Breed of Hero

Some causes and plights are universal to the heroism within the human condition no matter the era or culture. Comporting itself with admirable respect for the ennobling experience of its chosen history, Bilal: A New Breed of Hero portrays such heroism for film audiences. This animated feature film presents common themes and intrepid messages within a folklore not often given a Western stage. Named the “Best Inspiring Film” on Animation Day at last year’s prestigious Cannes Film Festival, Bilal: A New Breed of Hero earns a great deal of that praise.

2015, 2018, MOVIE REVIEW, 2 STARS, Social Media, Foreign FilmDon ShanahanFebruary 1, 2018Comment

CAPSULE REVIEWS: The 53rd Chicago International Film Festival

The 53rd Chicago International FIlm Festival brings over 1,000 films of all genres and sizes to our fair city. There are premieres aplenty, between those making their world, North American, or Chicago debuts. Opening with a red carpet premiere of Marshall, peaking with the centerpiece of Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird, and closing with the Oscar contender The Shape of Water from Guillermo del Toro, the 53rd CIFF fills the AMC River East 21 for two weeks. For the fourth year in a row, Every Movie Has a Lesson has been granted press credentials to cover the CIFF and here are my capsule reviews.

2017, CAPSULE REVIEW, Chicago Film Festival, Film Festival, Foreign Film, Independent Film, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanOctober 24, 2017The 53rd Chicago International Film Festival2017, Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle, Chicago International Film Festival, 53rd Chicago International Film Festival, 53rd CIFF, CIFF, #CIFCCattheCIFF, Opening Night Gala, Opening Night Film, Special Presentations, U.S. Indies, City and State, World Cinema, Cinema of the Americas, Shorts, Marshall, Eman's Movie Reviews, Emmanuel Noisette, Chadwick Boseman, Sterling K. Brown, Jussie Smollett, Marina Squerciati, Reginald Hudlin, red carpet, red carpet coverage, MovieMob, Goodbye Christopher Robin, Simon Curtis, Blueprint, Daryl Wein, Jerod Haynes, Chasing the Blues, Scott Smith, Kevin Guilfoile, Liquid Truth, The Shape of Water, Lady Bird, Caroline Jabor, Daniel de Oliviera, Night Shift, Tunde Adebimpe, Gold Hugo, Gold Hugo AwardComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Liquid Truth

The discolored and dingy tile grout at the bottom of a swimming pool and the imagery effect of rippling water seen under the surface bending the images above perspective starkly symbolize the many warped dimensions of Liquid Truth. The truth in the title is as slippery as the water in director Caroline Jabor’s simmering social commentary. The film may be foreign from Brazil, but it typifies all too many social media ills that would explode in a parallel fashion here in this country.

2017, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Chicago Film Festival, Film Festival, Foreign Film, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, Social MediaDon ShanahanOctober 23, 2017The 53rd Chicago International Film Festival2017, Brazil, Liquid Truth, helicopter parenting, WeAreTeachers, Dr. Carolyn Daitch, Lucas Paraizo, Best Narrative Film, Rio International Film Festival, Aos Teus Olhos, Audience Award, Malu Galli, Stella Rabello, Luiz Felipe Mello, Marco Ricca, Facebook, Instagram, Luisa Arraes, Daniel de Oliviera, 53rd Chicago International Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, World Cinema, Cinema of the Americas, Caroline Jabor, film review, movie review, foreign film, Foreign films, foreign langugage film, foreign films, life lessons from foreign films, movie critic, film critic, CIFCC, CIFF, #CIFCCattheCIFF, social commentary, social media platform, social media, life lessons, life lessons from movies, independent film, independent films, films of Brazil, film festival, Festival review, Festival coverage, festival preview, movie reviews, movie commentary, film commentary, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, Every Movie Has a Lesson, Lisa TrifoneComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Loving Vincent

The filmmakers promised Loving Vincent to be nothing you’ve ever seen put to film and they were not lying. The sheer artistry is miraculous where even folded shirts look as dramatic as emoting faces. To call the biographical drama a work of art and astonishing technical achievement would be shameless understatements. The best part of all is the massive wellspring of creativity was thankfully applied to an engaged narrative worthy of the artistry and the legend cast by Vincent Van Gogh

2017, 5 STARS, Independent Film, Foreign Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanOctober 18, 2017Landmark Century Centre Cinemas2017, 2017 Fall Movies, animated films, Best Animated Feature, Loving Vincent, Vincent Van Gogh, Canon D20 camera, Robert Gulaczyk, Auvers-sur-Oise, Dr. Paul Gachet, Jerome Flynn, Saoirse Ronan, Marguerite, Marguerite Gachet, Chris O'Dowd, Douglas Booth, Romeo & Juliet, Lukasz Zal, Ida, Tristan Oliver, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Justyna Wierszynska, Dorota Kobiela, Clint Mansell, The Fountain, Hugh Welchman, Jacek Dehnel, poet laureate, film critic, movie critic, movie review, film review, CIFCC, movie commentary, film commentary, life lessons from animated films, life lessons, life lessons from movies, life lessons from film, life lessons from films, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, Every Movie Has a Lesson, Lara BogenreifComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Young Offenders

The banter and B.S. traded back and forth between Alex Murphy and Chris Walley is as hysterical as it is pleasurably uncouth. It’s an absolute wonder to realize that The Young Offenders is mutually their first on-camera film roles. Alex and Chris’s chemistry through sarcasm and shared shenanigans feels and looks effortless. Flabbergasted energy blasts out of both of them and it’s a hoot to watch. Seeing the two young actors operate these over-the-top losers with reckless abandon while still injecting a little coming-of-age heart for good measure, makes the film highly entertaining.