SHORT FILM REVIEW: Ghosted

It doesn’t take a long time to leave a first impression. That understanding statement can be said in the film world as well as in the universe of relationships. From tiny human stories to the biggest blockbusters, most often the first five minutes of a movie set its tone. You can feel if you’re going to like the time you’ve committed to spend. The same can be said for the real-life “Meet Cute” moment of a first date. The short film Ghosted from writer-director Keith Black presents a first impression in both those areas.

2024, 2 STARS, MOVIE REVIEW, SHORT FILMS, StreamingDon ShanahanFebruary 9, 2024Ghosted, Keith BlackComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Restore Point

Ideas are cool, but they need more expanse to really mature. Solid screenplays creating potent implications or gripping conflicts must execute that demand. Restore Point lays out such boosts, but drives more around the bigger picture rather than through it. Be that as it may, the intriguing neo-noir mystery at its core remains worth the effort and attention you can give.

2024, 3 STARS, Foreign Film, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanFebruary 8, 2024Restore Point, foreign film, Czech RepublicComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Upgraded

Far too much of Upgraded is hampered by all of the pretentious insider business schemes sullying romantic potential. After fits and spurts, our two would-be lovebirds don’t get a proper date night adventure until the 75-minute mark and– for an R-rated movie rife with F-word slingers– it’s a lukewarm one at best in the sparks department.

2024, 2 STARS, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanFebruary 8, 2024Upgraded, Archie Renaux, Camila Mendes, Carlson YoungComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Zone of Interest

The Zone of Interest doesn’t go there, and it wasn’t going to. The cold and taciturn performances from Freidel and Hüller are designed to not create sympathy for the subjects, which is perfectly fine. Rather this film was just going to sit there and listen. That’s the experience it was aiming for, and, in doing so, it participates in a layer of its own “how could they.” The trouble is, like the Nazis portrayed in the film, the answers to that question are “quite easily” and “quite comfortably.” Because their needles don’t move, neither do yours against its painful pace.

MOVIE REVIEW: Molli and Max in the Future

Without looking, you would think the two titular romantic prospects were strolling through autumnal city parks wearing cozy knit sweaters and sipping cups of hot or cold refreshment. It’s when you open your eyes that perspectives radically change for Molli and Max in the Future because there’s not a tree or stitch of wool in sight. Instead, the last three words of the film's title come into play. Our two will-they/won’t-they lovebirds are two intergalactic citizens crossing spacefaring paths in a future stocked with aliens, demigods, and advanced technology.

MOVIE REVIEW: Cold Copy

All that frost and frost is precisely the sordid tone and temperature of Cold Copy. The drama at hand is not seeking comfort or heroism within the championed profession. It’s a duel of who prods enough to get the last word or final competitive undercut. While plenty interesting, Cold Copy may or may not be the kind of seedy dive you are willing to embrace.

2024, 3 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJanuary 31, 2024Cold Copy, Bel Powely, Tracce Ellis RossComment

MOVIE REVIEW: I.S.S.

Forging this more mature path, Ariana DeBose and Masha Mashkova become the invaluable and cautiously wise characters willing to contemplate risks before acting on them. They are welcome and instantly engaging presences for discerning science fiction audiences. Still, those more casual crowd arriving to I.S.S. thirsty for spectacle will wish– and not be entirely wrong in doing so– the movie set off more incendiary moments higher in the sky than the ones far away on the ground.

2024, 3 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJanuary 26, 2024I.S.S., Ariana DeBose, Chris Messina, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Bleecker StreetComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Origin

The movie is here to make people feel by beautifying truths, creating kindred spirits, and it does so without losing or skimping an ounce of the subject’s powerful commentary smoldering with fire-branded parallels spanning the globe. One now exists to enhance the other. Origin can and should be a door-opener to Wilkerson’s work and the immense amount of testimonies, reflections, and avenues of learning that do not fit in a single film or book. Few movies generate as much library homework as tissue boxes to replace, but here we are, lifted better in our lives for receiving both assignments.

2023, 5 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanJanuary 20, 2024Origin, Ava DuVernay, Aunjanue EllisComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Which Brings Me to You

As Jane and Will’s mutual chapters get closer to their as-yet-unrevealed thirtysomething present situations, the chemistry between the actors increases. More importantly, the maturity of the romantic risks involved also increases. For a movie that started as hot-and-bothered as it did, the pendulum swing to dramedy heaviness of what’s really going on with these two in Which Brings Me to You is welcome and precarious at the same time. Like the leap the characters need to make to be better together, the 24-hour shorthand and 98-minute rush to pull it off is challenging and you miss the challenging humor.

MOVIE REVIEW: Society of the Snow

Society of the Snow is what this writer calls a “thank your lucky stars” movie. It depicts the kind of true story experience that is frighteningly unfathomable to comprehend. You watch it constantly trying to determine what you would do in the characters’ places and reach an overwrought point where all you can do is, hence the nickname, “thank your lucky stars” you didn’t have to go through what you saw on-screen echoing history. The survival you watch fuels and trumps your own.

2023, 4 STARS, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanDecember 28, 2023Society of the Snow, J.A. Bayona, Netflix, Michael GiacchinoComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Somewhere, originality died. Somewhere, someone in charge (disappointing if it’s James Wan with his perceived taste and clout) said “to hell with it” and “what do we have to lose.” By the time this movie ends with a global press conference of Jason Momoa aping Tony Stark with an “I am Aquaman” mic drop, the answer of what is lost is dignity. Go ahead and put a pile of “Road Closed” barricades all over the end of this road.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Boys in the Boat

Nonetheless, that’s where The Boys in the Boat, the latest satiny period piece directed by George Clooney, hopes to rekindle old pride, honor, and excitement. Boosted by inspirational history and adapted from Daniel James Brown’s 2013 bestseller, Clooney’s film cannot push back the entire predominant stereotype described earlier, but it can offer a scrappy team of bourgeoisie to root for and showcase the dauntless fortitude to perform the marginalized sport itself.