Movie reviews of Don Shanahan

The laughs are few and far between and stay in the cringe territory. Review

While no one is going to shatter a racket on the ground in frustration for getting more melodrama to play with, there’s about three twists too many, even if you’re hanging for every one of them. Review

Even granting The Absence of Eden reflective patience to flesh out a multi-pronged saga, that final intersection of the two leads occurs too late, is insufficiently brief, and not impactful enough to satisfy or resolve the double narrative. Review

During the time when the knock down-drag-out spectacle finally shows up at its fever pitch peak for Civil War, the dispassionate stances and reactions consume it all. You will exhale air of resigned consolation more than inhale breaths of moving eminence. Review

Much like the reactive public of Littlehampton, viewers of Wicked Little Letters may find themselves having to choose a side between Colman or Buckley. There’s no need for that whatsoever. The movie wins with either one of them. Review

Because Monkey Man exudes those three qualities of dedicated power sought by Patel, the result is a hungry dark horse movie never satisfied by anything basic. Review

Plenty can't and won't stomach this type of sentimental movie, leaving it for the dreamers and romantics out there more than ready to drop a needle and be swept away. Review

All of those recognizable ensemble members, as well as plenty of the lesser-known folks under them, should have been able to contribute thicker substance. Review

Steve Buscemi and Alessandro Camon understand that life is haunted and twisted enough not to require those exploitative tropes. The Listener exemplifies their restraint to tell something contemplative, powerful, and not preposterous. Review

While it may not overtake the likes of The Goonies or Stand By Me in the pantheon of big screen rascals, Weston Razooli has found the right infectious ambition to grab our attention and join the cult following. Review

Drew and Free Time ultimately unravel because he doesn’t have a leg to stand on, so the script from short film director-writer-editor Ryan Martin Brown has to manufacture a few for sympathy’s sake. Review

When everything is a question mark and very little is worth rooting for in Sleeping Dogs, the result can be, in the end, uninteresting. Review

There’s more than enough crowd-pleasing flair to let this Road House have its shot to slap us in the face and draw our blood of amusement. Review

The Animal Kingdom has veritable ambition, yet its emphasis on alarm and intolerance only dares to answer the larger provocations and heavier subjects at hand. Review

When done right, as One Life is, these positive historical movies are not vaunted “savior” movie narratives. Instead, they are evidence for and inspirations of hope that always exist. That’s a story worth telling every time. Review

Leaning on this hastened and rapidly emptying hourglass, Michael Keaton has formed a dramatic backbone in Knox Goes Away that is simultaneously blunt and poetic. Review

Despite its subpar story and the thinner ensemble of familiar voices, the stoutest barrel of panache and muscle holding up Kung Fu Panda 4 is Jack Black. Review

Everyone else is cemented is moored stoicism. So much of the Dune: Part Two dialogue that could be winning hearts and minds is delivered in hushed platitudes. It’s positively wild than one of the loudest movies possible utilizing the biggest film screens the industry has to offer can move someone so little where it counts. Review

Their script carried a wise prudence tempering the propensity to lay struggles and positive responses so thick the central cause is lost in showy actions. The family priority remains highest, creating a moving experience for the heartful rather than the heartless. Review

That very journey of the human condition is paced like the plates of one meal to the next. Review

Even though Adam the First may look and feel like a meandering melodrama without a specific date marker to declare its present day, nothing about the time it spends feels wasted or aimless. Review

Maybe it’s due to budget constraints or maybe not, but the film left some ambition on the screenplay treatment page. Review

Akin to something like Netflix’s hit show Emily in Paris, if Upgraded intended its imbalance towards careers hawking the finer things, some solid pieces are in place. Review

To stay on the ground and within the domestic sets, Żal masterfully utilizes long takes, dolly track movement, and precise long-shot framing to maintain an arm’s length, hallway’s length, or lawn’s length of observational voyeurism captured with complete precision. Review