GUEST COLUMN: Best Business Movies of the Decade

by Kevin Gardner

The past decade has been an excellent one for movie lovers. Many films have been released that are sure to become classics that will be watched over and over for years to come. There have been movies in all genres that people have loved, from science fiction to superheroes. One category that has seen a number of great movies is business movies. In addition to being fun to watch, these movies can be instructive for business owners and students. Viewers can learn things to do (and not to do) and can come away with ideas to improve their businesses, like marketing strategy small business ideas.

2021, Column, Editorial, GUEST EDITORIAL, Home Media, StreamingDon ShanahanApril 12, 2021Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Voyagers

This is going to get confusing, but critiquing Voyagers calls upon several illustrative conflicts. First off, science fiction is the realm of high-minded concepts of fantasy, and yet organic humanity creates and drives each and every great idea in the genre. In the same regard, you have homage versus originality in applying prototypical themes to the luster of new settings. Lasty, you have an audience’s subjective aim to project any number of thoughts out of a movie while the work was created with certain objectives in mind that may not be seen or readily interpreted. All three of those dichotomies clash in Neil Burger’s new film with mixed results.

2 STARS, 2021, Home Media, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanApril 9, 2021Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Thunder Force

This is the fifth husband-and-wife/director-and-star collaboration between Ben Falcone and Melissa McCarthy. Sure, the Frank Sonnnenberg saying of “If work isn’t fun, you’re not playing on the right team” applies to this ensemble. Everyone’s clearly having fun but the “because I’m fun” lines aren’t enough this time. Once again, we’ve seen these “think before you act” and “don’t get carried away” manchild pleadings too much outside of superhero costumes to be duped into enjoying them just because they’re now clad in muscular leather and special effects.

1 STAR, 2021, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanApril 9, 2021Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Tunnel

The genre of disaster movies loves to take the well-worn “Murphy’s Law” of “anything that can go wrong will go wrong" as pseudo-logical permission to get excessively creative with their hazards and menaces. There’s most certainly spectacle to be generated but also overindulgence. Just ask Roland Emmerich. The new Norwegian dramatic thriller The Tunnel from director Pål Øie is somewhere wisely in between.

2021, 3 STARS, Foreign Film, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanApril 8, 2021Comment

GUEST COLUMN: Top 4 Sports Films of All-Time

by Kevin Gardner

A good movie can evoke a variety of emotions. Comedies produce tears of laughter, action movies promote suspense, and horror flicks can scare even the bravest of audiences. Sports films win the hearts of their viewers by generating feelings of affection, dedication, and camaraderie. While countless sports movies have graced the big screen over the years, a select few remain forever in the hearts of their viewers. Read on to learn more about the best sports films of all-time.

2021, Column, Editorial, GUEST EDITORIAL, Home Media, StreamingDon ShanahanMarch 30, 2021Comment

GUEST EDITORIAL: How to Safely Stream Movies Online

by Kevin Gardner

It has become incredibly easy to access a plethora of movies and television shows online, with almost endless options for where to watch them. But some streaming sites are less safe than others, and some are downright dangerous. Here are a few tips for identifying which sites are legitimate, and staying safe along the way.

Column, Editorial, GUEST EDITORIAL, Home Media, StreamingDon ShanahanMarch 30, 2021Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Godzilla vs. Kong

Punch up the peril. Amplify the spectacle. Turn the big boys loose. That’s it. Should it really be that hard, especially when you pair the two most popular monster properties in cinema history? They’re billed as ancient enemies of a never-ending rivalry. Would it really be that difficult to stand back in Godzilla vs. Kong and “let them fight?” Evidently, it still is. Apparently, monsters are still dragged down by convolution and pesky people.

2021, 2 STARS, MOVIE REVIEW, Home Media, StreamingDon ShanahanMarch 29, 2021Godzilla, Kong, King Kong, MonsterVerseComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Zack Snyder's Justice League

Give the determined and reinvigorated 300 and Watchmen director four-hours, extra millions, and full creative control and you get this kind of beefy result. Zack Snyder’s Justice League builds the saga both the audiences and characters deserved four years ago. Nearly every artistic and technical layer moves with a different beat and flourish. Even with the problematic precedent this whole odyssey set into motion from a fan outrage/support standpoint, this new result is a positive testament to what this second attempt means for and earns both the creators and the consumers.

4 STARS, 2021, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanMarch 15, 2021Justice League, Zack SnyderComment

GUEST COLUMN: 7 Immensely Informative Cannabis Documentaries You Can Look For

by Crystal M. Wilson

Watching documentaries is a different kind of fun. Filmmakers intend something more than just entertainment when they make documentaries. That is the reason why documentaries are informative, eye-opening, and in many cases, thought-provoking. When you like watching stories of real people in their own words, you enjoy watching documentaries. They describe the stories of things in very real and raw form making them very appealing to the crowd.

2021, Column, Documentary, GUEST EDITORIAL, Home Media, Editorial, StreamingDon ShanahanMarch 15, 2021Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Cherry

Cherry feels like the cinematic embodiment of the expression “throw everything at the wall to see if it sticks.” The Collins Dictionary defines that to mean saying something “that is not believable but hoping that what is said will be acceptable as truth.” For the movie, it’s about the performers and filmmakers piling on every trope and trick they can to try and get noticed for praise. To that end, Cherry is trying way, way too hard.

2 STARS, 2021, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanMarch 14, 2021Comment

SHORT FILM REVIEW: Batman: Dying is Easy

The medium of movies fits the swelling urge to be big and loud. They are sensory explosions we love, but that only goes so far in that endless style vs. substance debate. No matter the noise or spectacle, in this critic’s opinion, story and character are what secure success the most. The crowdfunded Batman: Dying is Easy is precisely that example. The short film from Sean and Aaron Schoenke of Bat in the Sun Productions nails its characters without overplaying spectacle. That’s likely a lecture that we may very well revisit this very week with a certain hotly anticipated director’s cut fanning all the fanboy flames in sight.

2021, 4 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, SHORT FILMS, Social Media, StreamingDon ShanahanMarch 12, 2021Batman: Dying is EasyComment

GUEST COLUMN: 5 Must-See Weed Documentaries On Netflix

by Crystal M. Wilson

Netflix documentaries are much in the limelight in today's time. They are informative and entertaining that can provide you with a lot of consummation as a viewer. From non-readers to non-movie, bugs are getting a lot to learn from it. Due to the various benefits of vaping cbd, people remain curious to know more about it and hence there are multiple documentaries. This piece will focus on the top five documentaries to enjoy on Netflix. Enjoy the information-loaded Netflix documentaries, and feel free to look up for top cannabis seeds in the USA online for medical purposes or a recreational break. Take a quick look.

2021, Column, Documentary, Editorial, Home Media, StreamingDon ShanahanMarch 9, 2021Comment