Feel free to contact me any time with any comment, suggestion, question, information request, story or review requests, media contact, advertising information, or other inquiries.  My inbox is always open.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Don Shanahan is the creator/founder/blogger of Every Movie Has a Lesson. Don is a K-8 technology teacher in the city of Chicago who is a regular credentialed member of the Chicago press pool of film critics. With that background in education, Don stands by the mantra that has become the title of his website. He writes his reviews with the goal of teaching life lessons, from the serious to the farcical, found within every film. The primary goal of “Every Movie Has a Lesson” has been to offer in-depth, professional quality film reviews with the hook of education in mind for as many current mainstream and independent releases as possible each year.

Don is also one of the founders and directors of the Chicago Indie Critics, an second, emerging, and recognized awards-voting body here in Chicago.  Our members' mission is to bring our wide-ranging experiences, backgrounds, tastes, diversities, and target audiences together across both print and online platforms and publications with the push to share our personal assessments, commentaries, passions, and creativity in the vigilant effort to highlight the greatness and diversity found in both independent and mainstream films.  Don also has memberships in good standing with the Critics Choice Association, Hollywood Critics Association, Online Film Critics Society, North American Film Critics Association, Internet Film Critics Society, Independent Film Critics of America, Online Film and Television Association, and Celebrity Film Awards. Since 2018, Don is an approved Tomatometer critic on Rotten Tomatoes.

As of June 2019, his film reviews for theatrical releases and Netflix offerings are published on the entertainment website Film Obsessive, part of 25YL Media. His movie reviews are also published in the Southland Voice, a free community newspaper based in Crete, Illinois that serves southern Cook and eastern Will County communities, and on the social platform Medium.  Don has also been a guest contributor on the Feelin’ Film Podcast as an occasional podcast guest where he formerly published “What We Learned This Week,” a weekly column putting life lessons to industry news items, current releases, and topical movie trends. From 2010 to 2016, Don was published as a Chicago Film Examiner for Examiner.com before its closure. Outside of reviews, he also presents his own voice and unique take on movie trends, film commentary, and more through website and social media features, columns, and editorials ranging from film discussions, awards talk, “best of” lists, and seasonal previews. He happily resides in Elmwood Park, Illinois with his tremendous wife Thanh and their two children, Molly and Sam.

PRIVACY POLICY

Thank you for choosing to be part of our community at Every Movie Has a Lesson (“company”, “we”, “us”, or “our”). We are committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy. If you have any questions or concerns about our policy, or our practices with regards to your personal information, please contact us at everymoviehasalesson@gmail.com.

When you visit our website www.everymoviehasalesson.com and use our services, you trust us with your personal information. We take your privacy very seriously. In this privacy notice, we describe our privacy policy. We seek to explain to you in the clearest way possible what information we collect, how we use it and what rights you have in relation to it. We hope you take some time to read through it carefully, as it is important. If there are any terms in this privacy policy that you do not agree with, please discontinue use of our Sites and our services.

This privacy policy applies to all information collected through our website and/or any related services, sales, marketing or events (we refer to them collectively in this privacy policy as the “Sites”).

Please read this privacy policy carefully as it will help you make informed decisions about sharing your personal information with us.

1. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

PERSONAL INFORMATION YOU DISCLOSE TO US

In Short: With our newsletter and subscription center, we collect personal information that you provide to us such as name, address, contact information, passwords and security data, payment information, and social media login data.

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when registering at the Sites expressing an interest in obtaining information about us or our products and services, when participating in activities on the Sites (such as posting messages in our online forums or entering competitions, contests or giveaways) or otherwise contacting us.

The personal information that we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us and the Sites, the choices you make and the products and features you use like the newsletter. The personal information we collect can include the following:

Name and Contact Data: We collect your first and last name, email address, postal address, phone number, and other similar contact data.

All personal information that you provide to us must be true, complete and accurate, and you must notify us of any changes to such personal information.

INFORMATION AUTOMATICALLY COLLECTED

In Short: Some information – such as IP address and/or browser and device characteristics – is collected automatically on Squarespace when you visit our Sites.

We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use or navigate the Sites. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Sites and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Sites, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes.

2. HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?

In Short: We process your information for purposes based on legitimate business interests, the fulfillment of our contract with you, compliance with our legal obligations, and/or your consent.

We use personal information collected via our Sites for a variety of business purposes described below. We process your personal information for these purposes in reliance on our legitimate business interests (“Business Purposes”), in order to enter into or perform a contract with you (“Contractual”), with your consent (“Consent”), and/or for compliance with our legal obligations (“Legal Reasons”). We indicate the specific processing grounds we rely on next to each purpose listed below.

Deliver targeted advertising to you for our Business Purposes: We may use your information to develop and display content and advertising (and work with third parties who do so) tailored to your interests and/or location and to measure its effectiveness.

Request Feedback for our Business Purposes: We may use your information to request feedback and to contact you about your use of our Sites.

To protect our Sites for Legal Reasons: We may use your information as part of our efforts to keep our Sites or Apps safe and secure (for example, for fraud monitoring and prevention).

For other Business Purposes. We may use your information for other Business Purposes, such as data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Sites, products, services, marketing and your experience.

3. WILL YOUR INFORMATION BE SHARED WITH ANYONE?

In Short: We only share information with your consent, to comply with laws, to protect your rights, or to fulfill business obligations.

We only share and disclose your information in the following situations:

Compliance with Laws. We may disclose your information where we are legally required to do so in order to comply with applicable law, governmental requests, a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process, such as in response to a court order or a subpoena (including in response to public authorities to meet national security or law enforcement requirements).

Vital Interests and Legal Rights. We may disclose your information where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding potential violations of our policies, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person and illegal activities, or as evidence in litigation in which we are involved.

With your Consent. We may disclose your personal information for any other purpose with your consent.

4. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?

In Short: We keep your information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this privacy policy unless otherwise required by law.

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting or other legal requirements). No purpose in this policy will require us keeping your personal information for longer than the period of time in which users have an account with us.

When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize it, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

5. HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE?

In Short : We aim to protect your personal information through a system of organizational and technical security measures.

We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, please also remember that we cannot guarantee that the internet itself is 100% secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our Sites is at your own risk. You should only access the services within a secure environment.

6. DO WE COLLECT INFORMATION FROM MINORS?

In Short: We do not knowingly collect data from or market to children under 18 years of age.

We do not knowingly solicit data from or market to children under 18 years of age. By using the Sites or Apps, you represent that you are at least 18 or that you are the parent or guardian of such a minor and consent to such minor dependent’s use of the Sites. If we learn that personal information from users less than 18 years of age has been collected, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data we have collected from children under age 18, please contact us at everymoviehasalesson@gmail.com.

7. WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?

In Short: You may review, change, or terminate your account at any time.

If you are resident in the European Economic Area and you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection supervisory authority. You can find their contact details here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/dataprotection/bodies/authorities/index_en.htm

PROMOTIONS

Every Movie Has a Lesson may run promotions on our websites that require submission of personally identifiable information by participants. Every Movie Has a Lesson may use the information collected in the aggregate so we can determine, for example, how many visitors to our website participated in the promotion. Promotions are subject to change without notice.

DISCLAIMER OF RELIABILITY

Every Movie Has a Lesson makes no representations or warranties regarding the condition or functionality of this website, its suitability for use, or that this web service will be uninterrupted or error-free.

DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES

By using the Every Movie Has a Lesson website, you assume all risks associated with the use of the site, including any risk to your computer, software or data being damaged by any virus, software, or any other file that might be transmitted or activated via the Every Movie Has a Lesson website or your access to it. Every Movie Has a Lesson shall not be liable for any damages of any kind (general, special, incidental or consequential damages, including, without limitation, lost revenues or lost profits) resulting from the use or misuse of the information contained in the Every Movie Has a Lesson website.

DISCLAIMER OF ENDORSEMENT

Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by Every Movie Has a Lesson. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of Every Movie Has a Lesson, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.

COPYRIGHTS AND TRADEMARKS

All material on this website is copyrighted by Every Movie Has a Lesson, except for some material that is copyrighted by others and used here by permission. Copyrighted material may not be copied, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without the written permission of the copyright holder. This site also contains some trademarks, which may not be appropriated by persons other than the trademark owner and may not be used contrary to trademark law. If you wish to request permission to use materials in a manner otherwise prohibited herein, please send an email to: eveyrmoviehasalesson@gmail.com.

NEWSLETTER ACCOUNT INFORMATION

If you would at any time like to review or change the information in your account or terminate your account, you can:

Contact us using the contact information provided.

Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, some information may be retained in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our Terms of Use and/or comply with legal requirements.

Cookies and similar technologies: Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies. If you choose to remove cookies or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or services of our Sites.

Opting out of email marketing: You can unsubscribe from our marketing email list at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the emails that we send or by contacting us using the details provided below. You will then be removed from the marketing email list – however, we will still need to send you service-related emails that are necessary for the administration and use of your account.

REFUND POLICY

Online Giving Return Policy

No refunds are allowed when a contribution is made through Every Movie Has a Lesson's online giving process.

8. DO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS HAVE SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS?

In Short: Yes, if you are a resident of California, you are granted specific rights regarding access to your personal information.

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the “Shine The Light” law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below.

If you are under 18 years of age, reside in California, and have a registered account with the Sites or Apps, you have the right to request removal of unwanted data that you publicly post on the Sites or Apps. To request removal of such data, please contact us using the contact information provided below, and include the email address associated with your account and a statement that you reside in California. We will make sure the data is not publicly displayed on the Sites, but please be aware that the data may not be completely or comprehensively removed from our systems.

9. DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS POLICY?

In Short: Yes, we will update this policy as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws.

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated “Revised” date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy policy, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy policy frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

10. HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS POLICY?

If you have questions or comments about this policy, you may email us at everymoviehasalesson@gmail.com.