AWARDS: 7th Annual Chicago Indie Critic Windie Award Nominations

Celebrating their seventh year, the Chicago Indie Critics have announced the nominees for their newly-named film awards. Welcome to the era of “The Windies.” The voting film critic members completed ballots this week to select Windie nominees in 25 categories. The CIC members will commence a final round of voting ending on January 13, 2023. The 2022 Windie winners will be announced on the evening of January 21, 2023, during their annual Awards Party event held at the Music Box Theatre Lounge in Chicago.

2023, AWARDS, CIC, EVENT, NEWS, SPECIALDon ShanahanJanuary 9, 2023Chicago Indie Critics, CIC, CIC Awards, The WindiesComment

AWARDS: Nominees for the 2nd Annual North American Film Critics Association Awards

On Saturday, January 7, 2023, the North American Film Critics Association announced its nominee slate for the 2022 film season. Now in its second year, the group’s nominees represented 56 different films over 25 different categories. Yours truly, flying the Every Movie Has a Lesson and Film Obsessive flags, is a new member of the NAFCA. I participated in the live nominee announcement show:

2023, AWARDS, EVENT, NEWS, Streaming, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanJanuary 8, 2023NAFCA, North American Film Critics Association, AwardsComment

COLUMN: My 10 Best Movies of 2022

Closing a year, as usual, means getting out the scorecard and making a “10 Best” list. This one didn’t take much agony and neither will my second year of voting for the Critics Choice Awards and Hollywood Film Critic Awards and seventh year with my own Chicago Indie Critics group with many of these movies in mind. I’ve had this list up on Letterboxd and presented them on TikTok, but the homebase deserves its annual post.

Best Films, Column, Editorial, LIST, SPECIAL, 2022Don ShanahanDecember 26, 20222022, Best of 2022, 10 Best, 10 Best Films of 2002, ListComment

20 YEAR RETROSPECTIVE: The best of the rest of 2002

In an annual series, Every Movie Has a Lesson is going to look back twenty years to revisit, relearn, and reexamine a year of cinema history to share favorites, lists, and experiences from the films of that year. When measuring back as far as twenty years or more, I feel like “favorites” that have stood the test of time have aged to become some level of “best.” I feel like a bunch of those populate my reflective look back at the best of the rest of 2002.

Column, Editorial, Retrospective, SPECIAL, 2022, Best FilmsDon ShanahanDecember 25, 20222002Comment

20 YEAR RETROSPECTIVE: The 10 Best Films of 2002

In an annual series, Every Movie Has a Lesson is going to look back twenty years to revisit, relearn, and reexamine a year of cinema history to share favorites, lists, and experiences from the films of that year. When measuring back as far as twenty years or more, I feel like “favorites” that have stood the test of time have aged to become some level of “best.” I feel like a bunch of those populate my reflective look back at the best of 2002.

Best Films, Column, Editorial, LIST, Retrospective, SPECIAL, 2022Don ShanahanDecember 25, 2022Saint Joseph's College2002, 10 Best, 10 Best Films of 2002Comment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the Kicking the Seat YouTube roundtable talking "Avatar: The Way of Water"

While not all of us on the dais look like Gloria Stuart who said, “It’s been 84 years…” in James Cameron’s Titanic, it has been a long 13 years since the 3D watershed of Avatar. Ian Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel gathered myself, David Fowlie of Keeping It Reel, Mark Krawczyk of Special Mark Productions, and Jeff York of The Establishing Shot to discuss the hotly anticipated sequel and holiday hitter Avatar: The Way of Water. We sure talked until a few of us were blue in the face (and tardy from technical difficulties as I was).

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on "Cinema Royale" Podcast talking "Babylon"

This week, I was honored to be invited as a guest on the Cinema Royale podcast presented by Punch Drunk Critics hosted by Travis Hopson. The Washington, D.C.-based film critic and site founder is a fellow member of the Critics Choice Association. I had the distinct pleasure to talk to Travis (on the road, so to speak, at my school library during a break period) about Damien Chazelle’s Babylon. Even in a quick conversation, we found the movie to be a bottomless pit of style and talking points.

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on "Manly Movies" Podcast talking "Casablanca"

Surfing among the fans and fellow creators of the Feelin’ Film podcast Facebook group, I’ve come to break internet bread with a gentleman by the name of J.B. Huffman. He’s a voracious movie fan who has a temperament for examining and celebrating all forms of masculinity. As a fellow father, those stories and archetypes grab him the most to the point where he decided to make a podcast series dedicated to the movies that hit us dads. Welcome to Manly Movies! Like all good men, he doesn’t do anything half-ass. I was honored to participate as J.B.’s guest to talk about Casablanca.

Media Appearance, Podcast, Social Media, SPECIAL, 2020Don ShanahanDecember 14, 2022AMC River East 21Podcast, Manly Movies, Casablanca, J.B. HuffmanComment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest for "Feelin' Film" FF+ podcast on Hidden Streaming Gems for 2022

This week, I was invited to join fellow film critic and longtime collaborator Aaron White on an FF+ episode of the Feelin’ Film Podcast. The topic was presenting unheralded hidden gem movie recommendations that people could stream at home to close out 2022. Over the years, the digital storefront has grown cinema in many directions, and there are some excellent films waiting for audience discovery. Aaron and I each presented five picks. These are sure to fill your watchlists!

Podcast, Social Media, Media Appearance, SPECIAL, 2022Don ShanahanDecember 8, 2022Media Appearance, Podcast, Feelin' Film PodcastComment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel talking "Casablanca"

Both Ian Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel and I have been lucky enough to be enjoying the fruits of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The two of us are on the press list to receive advance copies of the studio’s new disc releases. That physical media parade will include new films and classic titles arriving on 4K for the first time. Ian called me in to celebrate the latter for, as fate would have it, my all-time favorite movie: CASABLANCA! Arriving for the first time on 4K, it was easy to gush about a movie I adore that much!

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the Kicking the Seat's 800th episode talking "RRR"

Ian Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel recently celebrated his 800th show and I was lucky enough to be invited to join the party. Also flanked by Ian’s longtime top wingman David Fowlie of Keeping it Reel and Mark Krawczyk of Special Mark Productions, Ian picked a special movie for the occasion, a film he calls straightaway his favorite of 2022 so far: Netflix’s international smash hit action film RRR. The appreciation for both the movie and all things Kicking the Seat was shared across the roundtable and by, what turned out to be, thousands of streaming views.

Media Appearance, Podcast, Social Media, SPECIAL, 2020Don ShanahanSeptember 7, 2022AMC River East 21Kicking the Seat, RRR, Netflix, Ian SimmonsComment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: PART 5- Guest on the "Marvel Movie Minute" Podcast talking "Captain America: The First Avenger"

PART 5- Recently, Will Johnson and I, representing our Cinephile Hissy Fit podcast were invited to participate on the Marvel Movie Minute podcast hosted by Pete Wright and Andy Nelson and sponsored by TruStory FM. Their format is very arduous and unique. They break down a Marvel film one minute at a time. You would think only talking about a single minute would be easy or not generate much talk, but, I assure you it’s the opposite. Will and I recorded a week’s worth of five shows covering the 16th-20th minutes of Captain America: The First Avenger. Enjoy these wonderful conversations all week!

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