Rotten Tomatoes
Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes
Critics list

Don Shanahan

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

Don Shanahan is a Chicago-based film critic serving Film Obsessive as the Editor-in-Chief and Content Supervisor. He also writes for his own website, Every Movie Has a Lesson, and is one of the hosts of the Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast on the Ruminations Radio Network. As a school teacher by day, Don writes his movie reviews with life lessons in mind, from the serious to the farcical.

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Monument (2026) 3/5 EDIT “Monument finds itself in that very uncertain rut, both between the central architect and his important project and, externally, the storytelling yield of Bryan Singer.” – Film Obsessive Mar 19, 2026 Full Review Jamarcus Rose & Da 5 Bullet Holes (2025) 4/5 EDIT “This wide-eyed and eager young man with his whole life in front of him is on the borderline of becoming a statistic. The question is whether he will be a positive one or a negative one in this bold short film.” – Film Obsessive Mar 16, 2026 Full Review The Optimist: The Bravest Act Is Truth (2023) 94% 4/5 EDIT “Eschewing his hardass tendencies, Stephen Lang uses his square jaw, piercing blue eyes, pressed wrinkles, and silvered buzzcut to play a pillar of empathy, doing his best to wring himself of excruciating and unhealed fear. ” – Film Obsessive Mar 16, 2026 Full Review Project Hail Mary (2026) 95% 5/5 EDIT “Glowing with a galaxy-sized heart and the highest praise possible, "Project Hail Mary" is the kind of instant classic offering an undeniable sense of spirit and satisfying entertainment that will make someone fall in love with science fiction.” – Film Obsessive Mar 10, 2026 Full Review Storm Rider: Legend of Hammerhead (2026) 45% 3/5 EDIT “Measured ambition is the key for "Storm Rider: Legend of Hammerhead" in creating mythology from scratch and within its own limits.” – Film Obsessive Mar 9, 2026 Full Review For Worse (2025) 76% 3/5 EDIT “When that clarity is found in For Worse, it’s treated more as confirmation than a delayed epiphany, which plays truer to life than orchestrated movie moments that plant those revelations in grandiose gestures and climaxes. ” – Every Movie Has a Lesson Mar 6, 2026 Full Review In the Blink of an Eye (2026) 17% 2/5 EDIT “The theme of parental pride across three eras was sitting right there, and they missed it for earthy granola symbolism set to a slight Thomas Newman musical theme we feel we’ve heard before in a half-dozen other films. ” – Every Movie Has a Lesson Feb 28, 2026 Full Review Last Ride (2026) 3/5 EDIT “This is a keen balance in a film that is rightly not trying to create pitfalls to rattle cinematic seismometers for the action junkies because the wisening emotions displayed are more than enough. ” – Film Obsessive Feb 23, 2026 Full Review How to Make a Killing (2026) 43% 4/5 EDIT “Skipping the larger lectures, "How to Make a Killing" hovers at the amusing level more than a firebranded one. Not everything has to be a societal wrecking ball or message movie.” – Every Movie Has a Lesson Feb 18, 2026 Full Review Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die (2025) 82% 2/5 EDIT “The messy hodgepodge of it all feels random for randomness’s sake, and the character behaviors too often match that ridiculousness rather than win you over.” – Every Movie Has a Lesson Feb 15, 2026 Full Review Wuthering Heights (2026) 57% 4/5 EDIT “While it may be blackly moody and garish for pruder crowds, this "Wuthering Heights" is precisely the big-screen escapade ornately fashioned to fluster the hot-and-bothered in all the best ways.” – Film Obsessive Feb 9, 2026 Full Review Dracula (2025) 53% 2/5 EDIT “Moving to the beat of that aforementioned tiny music box and not something deeper, Besson’s Dracula, and its selection of emphasized overtones and reduced undertones, are misaligned to become a lullaby from what could have been grander results.” – Film Obsessive Feb 4, 2026 Full Review Islands (2025) 94% 2/5 EDIT “At some point, the scenery cannot become more interesting than the characters, especially in a would-be thriller.” – Film Obsessive Jan 30, 2026 Full Review Remember the Titans (2000) 72% EDIT “One of those movies that should be shown to every sports team and coach in the country.” – Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast Jan 24, 2026 Full Review Atropia (2025) 41% 2/5 EDIT “In Atropia’s type of satire, where war—and all its ugly realities—is being practiced as a performance for misplaced dominance, more than one mouthpiece is needed. Shawkat’s oppositional firebrand is not enough.” – Film Obsessive Jan 24, 2026 Full Review Signing Tony Raymond (2025) 75% 3/5 EDIT “Clever comeuppance is not the same as legitimate consequences, and that’s where the stiff reality of real-life outside the dramedy movie crashes the party. ” – Film Obsessive Jan 20, 2026 Full Review OBEX (2025) 96% 2/5 EDIT “It is a course that regrettably shrinks the contagious wonder the premise of this daring jaunt could have generated. ” – Every Movie Has a Lesson Jan 13, 2026 Full Review Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) 54% EDIT “Jet Li, in his American introduction for many, adds imposing clout and an entirely new threat than any of the previous films. Leave it to Chris Rock to steal his scenes too.” – Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast Jan 13, 2026 Full Review Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) 61% EDIT “The addition of Rene Russo add so much to this already-classic dynamic.” – Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast Jan 13, 2026 Full Review Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) 82% EDIT “This adrenaline-injected sequel flirts with being bigger and better than the original.” – Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast Jan 13, 2026 Full Review Dead Man's Wire (2025) 92% 4/5 EDIT “Because "Dead Man’s Wire" is candidly presents the positive and negative facets of those caught up in this frenzy, the even-handed movie grants intelligence to rub your chin, perk your ears, and question whether judgment or justification can be granted.” – Film Obsessive Jan 10, 2026 Full Review The Dutchman (2025) 64% 2/5 EDIT “The movie never had to leave the train or the topics unleashed there. The originally intended inescapable struggle is demystified the moment it treads away from it.” – Film Obsessive Jan 3, 2026 Full Review Anaconda (2025) 48% 3/5 EDIT “Raising the stakes and, thereby raising the snakes, means camp more than chomp whirling through the slimy special effects.” – Every Movie Has a Lesson Dec 23, 2025 Full Review Brian's Song (1971) 86% EDIT “"Brian's Song" gets to the heart of true men in the most touching way without dwelling on unnecessary external conflicts.” – Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast Dec 21, 2025 Full Review The Housemaid (2025) 73% 4/5 EDIT “When things get harsh and dicey, and the roasting commentary on privilege becomes more apparent, Paul Feig still varnishes with a suave coolness that is undeniably appealing.” – Film Obsessive Dec 21, 2025 Full Review
No Reviews Yet
Load More