Movie reviews of Don Shanahan

He knows the true nucleus of this story lies between the ears and between the ribs. Clench your own heart and mind tightly in welcoming one of the best films of 2021. Review

Dana Canedy’s unassuming story is the kind of soulful stimulus that one should bring back to their own lives as they leave the audience. Review

Within these hefty performances within the magnificent confines, the original play’s themes and motifs are still as deadly as a heart attack and substantial enough to fill volumes of lectures and examinations. Review

The same compliments can be given for Zachary Levi’s very appealing lead performance. We all know he can swoon anyone and anything with his smile and charm. Review

The illustrious star never overplays it. Each moment of easygoingness and smooth dialogue is matched by another he evokes with soothing or bracing honesty for the hardships at hand. That’s where Affleck and The Tender Bar glow towards some rare exceptionality. Review

Without naming names or describing specifics, each ensemble member sharing one or more of those impressionable activities with Holland adds to the compelling luster and valuable esteem radiating from this movie. Review

Like him and his movie or not, with its Dr. Strangelove-ian and Network-ish vibes, Adam McKay raised his pantheon level for farce and had the filthy courage to shock as many faces as possible to get there. Review

Put it all together and Ansel’s Tony does not sell us on the knee-buckling intensity necessary to woo game-changing love or thwart community strife. That’s the top glaring weakness in an otherwise triumphant achievement from one of cinema’s true greats flexing his powerful intent to honor something he adored as an aspiring filmmaker. Never doubt Steven Spielberg. Review

There’s true slow-burn with promise and then there’s this overly slight and insubstantial tension. Review

The movie warms you with mirth and destroys you with punch, just as a proper Irish creation should. Review

Even if the movie is too long in its gradual sculpture of its future stars, the movie means to inspire and has the perfect popular subjects for celebration to do just that. Review

That’s the kind of vibe longtime fans and new folks alike are coming for, and the merriment of it all is damn enjoyable. Review

Through it all, there’s still the unconvincing Kristen Stewart. She just cannot transform into this icon. Review

Such heady motivations, coupled with heroism, is a lovely core away from the usual costumed good vs. evil throwdowns, but it’s very, very profuse, complete with all of the intergalactic gibberish in between. Review

A level of extra oomph and shock is missing for the viewer. What was sensationally painted to linger doesn’t get the fullest chance to stain and sear more than just pretty clothes. Review

The Harder They Fall brims with as much flair you’ll see in a western this side of Sam Raimi’s flashy The Quick and the Dead from 26 years ago. Review

Either Jimmy and Annie are too good for this movie or the movie failed around them. The latter seems more precise. Review

While Scott’s film may follow the charted multiple perspectives of Jager’s well-researched novel, folding its painful and triggering trauma three times makes for an exorbitant and unsettling movie experience. Review

Daniel Craig has earned this culmination, one that challenges the film’s very title. Review

We’re stuck with the immature, cussing adolescent version that’s funny for five minutes and dismissed in the next five. Review

Simply put, Surge and its Joseph are more petrifying when you cannot assign labels or explain them away with diagnoses. That is a maddening and riveting draw to behold. Review

That’s a pie-in-the-sky stretch in real-life where consequences and risks are more difficult, but I call that a welcome, escapist hope to strive for and celebrate in a movie that can give it earnest treatment. But sure, gripe about weird age picadilloes instead. We see your callous pettiness. Review

Lingering on after the public fall, Chastain’s Tammy Faye gives her “The sun will shine again” sendoff cry of unbroken spirit, but does such absolution deserve to rise for both her and her crowd? Review

A plucked indie director, a strict critical darling heavyweight crossing the Pacific after decades to make his Hollywood debut, a raucous comedienne dialing it down, and a host of fresh faces, including a charismatic lead, came together to adapt a very non-household comic book property with all the winking wuxia love in the world. The result is a fully realized success. Review