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: Summering

There is incomplete depth all over the place in Summering. Examining the relationships between these girls and their loyal mothers, the many absentee male examples, and the legitimate anxieties accompanying the apprehensive change between elementary and secondary school are heavy obstacles not easily healed by pouring on literal or figurative warmth. So much is glazed over for sunny rays, amateur detective aimlessness, and scary sideshows.

2 STARS, 2022, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanAugust 14, 2022Summering, James Ponsoldt, Madalen MillsComment

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: Alone Together

The premise of Alone Together may suggest serendipity that is too easy. If this was Nancy Meyers, the threads of this movie would all end in laughs. Instead, the dramatic difficulties fleshed out by Katie Holmes and her cast prove otherwise. The direction and storytelling grace of Holmes’ results are very praiseworthy, especially during this continuing pandemic.

2022, 3 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJuly 18, 2022Alone Together, Katie Holmes, Derek Luke, Jim SturgessComment

MOVIE REVIEW: My Old School

Combining Cumming’s lifting presence, snippets of archival TV coverage, and the animated sequences, My Old School has beguiling charm mirroring the fascinating central figure and the wry smiles on the faces of the Bearsden alumni telling their yarns. Viewers will absorb this tall tale and ask how much fraudulence is either acceptable or too much in a true-life “fake it until you make it” story. There is an irreverent delight to be had measuring that scale person-to-person and case-by-case.

MOVIE REVIEW: Relative

If Relative was trite, the plain circumstances or external vices would make everything turn out easily and conveniently. While family and good friends are the real answers for what makes matters of life easier, the effort of all involved to get there is hard. Smith understands that greatly, creating a relatable emotional obstacle course of cobwebs and intact skeletons in closets that promise to linger for future growth behind the credits.

MOVIE REVIEW: Both Sides of the Blade

The drama of Both Sides of the Blade teeters on the prompted conversations of control mutually requested by Sara and Jean. Equal and patient communication among spouses is a must. It puts internal monologues on the record before the wrong ideas fester. Talk clears the air, even when truths are shared and lies are dropped. In Both Sides of the Blade, the line of “no need to worry” is a repeated conversation killer that dooms Sara and Jean. When those alarming thoughts are present, that’s precisely the time for more talk, not less.

MOVIE REVIEW: Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On is emphatically wholesome to no end. Revealing so much wonderment in plain domesticity, this movie decorates the micro-ordinary in wildly unique ways worth celebrating. It may not be your children’s shiny new favorite movie for endless replay, but, when absorbed with receptiveness and appreciated for its singularity, Marcel the Shell With Shoe On will become a charming and formative right of passage experience held dear and passed down for generations to come.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Forgiven

Pedigree meets purpose with The Forgiven, the newest film from notable director John Michael McDonagh. Throughout his career, the Englishman has switched back-and-forth with a specialty for embedding foreboding darkness within settings of comedy (The Guard, War on Everyone) and drama (Calvary, Ned Kelly). Contributing his first feature film in five years since the buddy cop comedy War on Everyone, it’s drama’s turn.

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.

2022, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, Streaming, 4 STARSDon ShanahanJune 25, 2022Press Play, Lewis Pullman, Clara Rugaard, Lyrica OkanoComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

Where some viewers will immediately implode with pearl-clutching outrage hellbent on voicing warped decency and unfair determinations, others will be ignited by the possibilities of this premise and the talent involved. Alas, once again, the key of Good Luck to You, Leo Grande remains the rich conversation. More viral potency comes from the shared verbal exchanges than any “afternoon delight.”

SHORT FILM REVIEW: Amongst the Ashes

Amongst the Ashes is unshy to place this candid-yet-meaningful conversation in a location many will find morbid and backs the walk-and-talk with a serene electronic score from Murmur Studio. In doing so, writer and director Matthew Weinstein challenges the audience to find their heart-to-heart mojo from a darker place, no matter the lush sunshine and exquisite wide shot selections captured on camera by director of photography Austin Vinas. Thanks to patient reveals of mindsets among the two actors and the shared time to see their interplay bond further, the finished short film succeeds in dramatic pull.