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5/5
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Titanic
(1997)
|
Don Shanahan
|
The film brought the old legend to life and stoked an emotional windfall that has never been seen in movies before or since.
Posted Dec 25, 2022
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5/5
|
RRR
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Employing vibrant creativity to add shine to the legend of two important revolutionary figures from his own country, S.S. Rajamouli packed every emotional and artistic fiber he could to move his audience.
Posted Dec 25, 2022
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4/5
|
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
We have a mirthful movie that dares to dangle introspective yarn balls of fear, mortality, trust, friendship, and more towards our devil-may-care feline and the movie’s eager audience.
Posted Dec 22, 2022
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4/5
|
Avatar: The Way of Water
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
James Cameron knows precisely how to slow the roller coaster down, loosen the perilous seat belts, and exit its riders with wobbly legs of emotional exertion.
Posted Dec 13, 2022
|
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3/5
|
Something from Tiffany's
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Characters with tangible messiness are pausing to think with their heart and head equally. That relatability brings about romantic possibilities that spark with stronger potential connections than bursts of superficial fireworks based on mere looks.
Posted Dec 12, 2022
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4/5
|
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
As it turns out, the answers fill a cornucopia with oxymorons. "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" is awfully good at making its small crowd of pretty ugly people and terrific liars stand out amid open secrets and loyal opposition.
Posted Nov 28, 2022
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|
4/5
|
Devotion
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Dillard composes a cinematic testament shaped by the pillars of its chosen title more than boilerplate patriotism.
Posted Nov 23, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Marvel films already get likened to a circus enough, but the feeling and urgency matching the old saying of "the show must go on" are very much present with "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever."
Posted Nov 08, 2022
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4/5
|
Till
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
"Till" is a mother’s story through and through and rarely ever leaves the lead actress’s pendulum of steadiness and trembles.
Posted Oct 17, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Stay the Night
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
All the conflict you need is right here–between its ears, in its beating heart, and within the held hands–of this gratifying and understated film.
Posted Oct 06, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
"Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul" has caricatures so believable that they transcend the winking-at-the-camera trope with vivid potency.
Posted Sep 03, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Samaritan
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
The special thing is "Samaritan" shows how much Sylvester Stallone still offers as an actor that has nothing to do with the ripped physicality that made him famous.
Posted Aug 29, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Breaking
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
"Breaking" resists the temptations to pound messages and shout showy monologues, favoring the work to uphold the simple and poignant principles that were at hand with this true story.
Posted Aug 25, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Beast
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
That instinctually unnerving lion's snarl revs the cardiovascular pulse of "Beast."
Posted Aug 20, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
Summering
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
It’s as if "Summering" finishes its point by saying (and literally showing) that everything’s OK if the girls have each other, do cartwheels, and dance.
Posted Aug 15, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Fall
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
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.
Posted Aug 11, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
Easter Sunday
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
When your “character” is essentially “you,” the bar is not set very high whatsoever for performance challenges.
Posted Aug 05, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
DC League of Super-Pets
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
With no apologies to Joss Whedon, Zack Snyder, or anyone else, it took bringing in a bunch of animal characters, the writers of "The LEGO Batman Movie," and shifting to animation to give us the best theatrical Justice League movie we’ve had to date.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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3/5
|
Nope
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
The entirety of "Nope" adds up to a sometimes wobbly balance of consequential and inconsequential outcomes because of the suspiciously selective and disproportionate points of focus.
Posted Jul 20, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
My Old School
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
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.
Posted Jul 18, 2022
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3/5
|
Alone Together
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
As a writer, Katie Holmes has struck a very steady and appealing balance between the character-reinforcing pain present and the desire to celebrate the fragile possibilities of love derailed by our pandemic lockdown.
Posted Jul 18, 2022
|
|
5/5
|
Relative
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
The casual conversations that started "Relative" to reveal little bits of individual and family history turn serious and soul-baring addressing the disintegration of family.
Posted Jul 15, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
The Gray Man
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Wall to wall, the Russos have unleashed what may stand as the best pure action movie of 2022.
Posted Jul 14, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Both Sides of the Blade
(2021)
|
Don Shanahan
|
The thematic staging of which beds are empty and which ones are occupied, and by whom, carries legitimate intrigue.
Posted Jul 08, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
Thor: Love and Thunder
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Since more and more of this character and his journey have become a dunderheaded joke, any substantial peril has reached a point where it feels merely temporary or, worse, flaky and flimsy.
Posted Jul 05, 2022
|
|
|
Giant
(1956)
|
Don Shanahan
|
It’s an important step in the completion and appreciation process because you see best what could have been with James Dean and denser material.
Posted Jul 03, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
Spiderhead
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Try as it may, a few too many of the movie's deceptive infusions and faulty outcomes miss their possible peak.
Posted Jun 14, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
The Time Capsule
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Embracing a quaint romance with heady consequences, "The Time Capsule" flicks its wrist for a little magic without sacrificing the seriousness of its premise’s implications.
Posted May 30, 2022
|
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4/5
|
Top Gun: Maverick
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
In true, rugged fashion as a legacy sequel aiming for the pinnacle of performance on and off camera, the movie exerts the very same pressure of gravity on us as we find ourselves glued to our seats with every flyby and bead of sweat.
Posted May 24, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Chip 'n' Dale: Rescue Rangers
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Every nostalgic note or easy joke is cleverly wrapped with a candy-coated shell of self-awareness and a lingering implication of something bigger afoot that may not be as sweet as the outside.
Posted May 20, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Senior Year
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Rebel Wilson has a commitment-to-the bit similar to Ryan Reynolds where her saucy signature personality and quick wit always follow her physical comedic bravery.
Posted May 14, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Foxhole
(2021)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Causes and legacies, right and wrong, and life and death are shaped by those precarious actions presented by Jack Fessenden in a very spellbinding picture.
Posted May 13, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Along for the Ride
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Alvarez has created a lush space safe for the expression and supportive healing of personal emotions heavier than the usual wants and needs of youth.
Posted May 05, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
For this one, you're going to need a Ouija board, a witch doctor, a semester's worth of Disney+ homework, and either a giant Ambien or the PASIV machine from "Inception" to join the dream party.
Posted May 03, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
The Sound of Violet
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Once the drama of its chosen realities thicken and the laughs no longer come easy, its sense of correction can feel quite heavy-handed.
Posted May 01, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
John Grisham's The Rainmaker
(1997)
|
Don Shanahan
|
With its fair share of southern charm and old school filmmaking ingredients, "The Rainmaker" floats like morning mist compared to the thunder-and-lightning storms of other Grisham films.
Posted May 01, 2022
|
|
5/5
|
Singin' in the Rain
(1952)
|
Don Shanahan
|
That iconic imagery of Gene twirling, tapping, stomping, and splashing around lamp posts, puddles, and sidewalks while crooning is fixed in Hollywood legend, but "Singin in the Rain" has a lot more going on than just that one song-and-dance number.
Posted May 01, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Marvelous and the Black Hole
(2020)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Little wonders and big feelings percolate, intersect, smear, and overwhelm a collection of very unique yet relatable people in this film, and the effects could not be more touching and soul-stirring.
Posted Apr 20, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Booty Call
(1997)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Yet, here in 1997 came "Booty Call" and all its many desirable pleasures preaching, of all things, safe sex over multiple movie orgasms of conquests and comedy.
Posted Apr 13, 2022
|
|
5/5
|
Everything Everywhere All at Once
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Just when you cannot see yourself comprehending worlds with hot dog-length fingers or the silliness of sticky googly eyes, the brimming humanity underneath bubbles through with geysers of cathartic empathy.
Posted Apr 09, 2022
|
|
1/5
|
Deep Water
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Know who are cuckolding. If he looks like Ben Affleck, turn and run away.
Posted Mar 17, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Fresh
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Both its face value middle fingers and underlying moral deconstructions are tough sells made endlessly provocative.
Posted Mar 15, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Turning Red
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
"Turning Red" allows young characters with literal and figurative inner beasts true beauty amid all of their messy exterior and interior traits.
Posted Mar 07, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
The Batman
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
"The Batman" has the teeth to impress any of the opposition and eat their hearts out in the process.
Posted Feb 28, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Family Squares
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
Playing out a dramedy fitting and formed by our current plight, the movie can be seen as a future time capsule for our shared mini-era.
Posted Feb 26, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
The Desperate Hour
(2021)
|
Don Shanahan
|
The lead character is in an unfathomable position where shes allowed to make some irrational choices in a live moment. Alas, the movie cannot afford to do the same playing with an all-too-real agony that preys on tragic headlines.
Posted Feb 21, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Strawberry Mansion
(2021)
|
Don Shanahan
|
The movie extends a coy and welcome hand to join its descent into weirdness while still spinning plenty of heady oddities to rattle cages of normal sensibilities. Go ahead and take this movies leap into the surreal.
Posted Feb 17, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
I Want You Back
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
The breakup pursuits of "I Want You Back" do not carry the same charm as the happenstance that got it all started.
Posted Feb 14, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Minamata
(2020)
|
Don Shanahan
|
"Minamata" reminds us what Johnny Depps charisma can do outside of his fantasy wheelhouse and Tim Burton security blanket.
Posted Feb 13, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Marry Me
(2022)
|
Don Shanahan
|
"Marry Me" is a kinetic collection of romantic, comedic, and musical moments that amount to more than enough appeal to create a pleasant journey and viewing experience.
Posted Feb 10, 2022
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