What We Learned This Week: December 25 – Final Edition

Posted on December 25, 2020 by everymoviehasalesson.

WHAT I LEARNED WRITING THIS COLUMN FOR THREE YEARS

LESSON #1: TAKE PEOPLE BEHIND THE CURTAIN— The entire goal of “What We Learned This Week” was to present, distill, translate, and, plenty of times, mock the wacky business side of the film industry. From tracking movie trends, showing off awards buzz, or flat-out following the money, I know I learn new things myself, even as a credential critic, every week about inner-workings of the competitive and petty Hollywood landscape and I hope you have too. I hope you’ve looked past the optics and into the dealings that make these entities and people tick.

LESSON #2: THIS IS A BUSINESS FIRST AND AN ART EXPOSITION SECOND— One of my favorite mantras to say also matches the heart of “What We Learned This Week.” I know it’s not all that nice to admit, but movies are a business first and an art exposition second. It’s been that way since they started selling tickets. Top to bottom, no one is in this industry for free. If they give something away for “free,” there are either strings attached to it or cache that will lead to spent money coming there way eventually. Personally, I’m here for the art, first and foremost. That puts me firmly in the “separate the art and the artist” camp where you’re never going to see me join a cancel culture movement for anyone or any entity. If Neo-Nazis or kitten butcherers make the best picture of the year, I’m going to watch it with open acceptance and consideration. I’m here for the movies, period, but I do the homework connected to this weekly column of following the trends and all those dealings to understand how and why the art is being made. To me, that’s being a discerning consumer as much as a lover of the medium. You can be and do both, and I hope I conveyed that well here in three years.

LESSON #3: CREATIVE BANKRUPTCY IS REAL— In seeing the volume of Hollywood news and trends over the years, I don’t want to report this lesson as true, but it’s really feeling that way, especially in this pandemic year where originality had a chance to shine with all the blockbusters scared away. For every Parasite there is a franchise sequel or remake that beats a dead horse. I get it. That stuff sells better than the risk-taking original stuff, but at some point that bubble is going to burst, if it hasn’t already with the diminishing returns of many franchises. There is always originality out there and buried treasure to find. I will always look further to see it, but I know dozens won’t. I just want to strap those people to a couch and show them something better than the junk they’re always buying.

LESSON #4: FAN SERVICE IS PART OF THE POINT— The hard part about Lesson #3, once again, is that that familiarity works and makes money. That kind of thing has come to be called “fan service” and it’s getting a bad name. In some cases, the cheap namedrops and blatant theatrics rightfully earn those groans and eyerolls. They’re lazy and reek of Lesson #3. There are some times, however, where fan service is precisely the point. If the creators aren’t connecting what is meant to be connected, then they’re doing some of their work wrong. It’s not that I can readily defend “fan service” after years of it, but more that I accept it as par for the course, so to speak. I know it’s coming and I’m over pissing and moaning about it. It makes people happy and it sells tickets, so it’s working.

LESSON #5: TRAILERS ARE HORRIBLE— From the consumer advocacy side of “What We Learned This Week,” I have chosen a few hills to die on and this is one of them. More trailers ruin a future movie experience than help it. I am convinced of that. The joy of complete, unspoiled, and unprimed discovery makes for a better movie experience every damn time compared to that mountain of BS expectations people start building thanks to overhyped and overcooked trailers. I posed a “no trailers” challenge to Feelin’ Film readers, listeners, and followers two years in a row and I hope I swayed a few people to watch less of those damn things. I promise you will like movies MORE.

LESSON #6: “EXPECTATIONS” ARE THE WORST— I will double-down on that matter of “expectations” from Lesson #4 to say this lesson title next. Expectations are not a movie’s fault. They are YOUR fault. Thanks to trailers, click bait social media, advance rumors, and behind-the-scenes scoop stories, you are allowing all of those very manufactured items to steer your tastes further than necessary. We have reached a place where we know too much about a movie before it comes out or, worse, the snark buries something before it even has the chance to try. Secrets are becoming more and more impossible to contain and clickbait feeds too much false news to go with it. Push yourself away from that trough, especially #FilmTwitter. Lower expectations on everything. Detox that junk out of your life, especially Twitter, and let a movie’s riches come to you.

LESSON #7: THE DIFFERENT DEFINITIONS OF “MASTERPIECE”— While we’re talking about hills to die on, I will reflect on what has become my most notorious one. “Masterpiece” was and still is an overused term by critics and fans alike, no matter how you define it, be that something of excellent quality or the single best work of an artist. It’s a word dropped too quickly and too carelessly. Some of that hyperbole for the sake of hyperbole then goes on to fuel some of those warped expectations from Lesson #5. Please do less of that. Reserve the term because it’s supposed to be important. You do that by having some f’n patience. Let a film breathe and age. Let it stand the test of time and build a legacy like a real masterpiece should. I’m going to keep being me and the kind of guy who will wait for an entire career to close before handing out masterpiece feathers. I hope you can too. Throughout my rants on this hill, which have subsided greatly since Dunkirk, if I have gotten any of you reading this to pause and think before using the word “masterpiece,” then that’s a mission accomplished for me. That’s the beginning of the necessary reflection. That’s classic “think before you speak” territory.

LESSON #8: PHYSICAL MEDIA IS UNBEATABLE— Take pride in those shelves at home, folks. The marketplace may be shifting to digital fronts and portability, but there will always be a place for physical media. Just like every vinyl record fan out there will tell you, movies look and sound better where you’re not chasing buffering or peak internet speeds. There will always be a place for physical media for the quality and their educational special features. A good audio commentary can be as spellbinding as the movie itself. You don’t get that watching a movie on your phone with earbuds. On a side note for this Feelin’ Film crowd. Thank you #DammitJacob Neff for making me buy more of it. Keep the wallet-destroying deals coming.

LESSON #9: THEATERS WILL BE FINE— Make no mistake, it’s been long enough in 2020 to finally admit that theaters are in the toilet right now. It’s not looking good and I feel like I have had to cover some type of bad news for movie theaters every week here in “What We Learned This Week” since March. Things may not get better soon or every next year, but theaters are going to be fine. They’re going to come out of this pandemic. There may not be as many. They may be built different or be owned by different entities than before, but they’ll be fine. All of these 2020 blockbusters continue to delay because theaters are still the #1 place to make the most money and also because that’s where movies will always look and sound their absolute best. The theater experience isn’t just a novelty. It’s the original recipe that isn’t going away. They’ve survived wars and recessions before. They’ll survive this one too.

LESSON #10: STREAMING HAS A GREAT DEAL TO OFFER— While you’re waiting for theaters, there is plenty to be consumed in the growing streaming wars happening between media giants. Someday adding all of the possible a la carte platforms may equal an old cable TV bill, but, for now, this is working splendidly. Streaming has become the top place for indie films, classic films, documentaries, and foreigh films to reach their widest possible audiences. Netflix and Disney are becoming the leaders, but Apple and Amazon will continue to grow their services. Watch also for the growing HBO Max footprint and whatever the controlling ownership of Disney does to Hulu. This bubble of collective affordability may burst someday, but it won’t be anytime soon.

LESSON #11: HOW TO BE A BETTER TALKER— Alright, those first nine lessons were the industry/trends stuff in the spirit of the column. I’m going to close with the personal learning experiences and they start here with talk. I want to thank Aaron White and Patrick Hicks for not only giving me this column space but for the opportunities to come on the mic for the Feelin’ Film programs. I bought my first Blue Snowball microphone because of this site and it’s been a boon for my skills. I still talk too fast and stumble plenty, but I’m better than I when I first started out.

LESSON #12: HOW TO BE A BETTER LISTENER— For those that don’t know, by day I’m a school teacher. That’s a profession where a teacher needs to damn near control everything about their classroom for the sake of management and authority. In that way, I can be a bulldog that steamrolls and does all the talking or typing. Hanging around in FF has made me a better listener. That’s another layer of “think before you speak.” It’s not that I’m unaware of divergent opinions. Quite the contrary. I hear them all the time, but seeing where they’re coming from is important. Any and all of us can use some practice in that department.

LESSON #13: HOW TO BE A BETTER CRITIC— Become a better talker and a better listener here in FF among a bunch of other fellow film critics has, without question, improved my professional work as a film critic. While working here, I cracked into Rotten Tomatoes as an approved critic, scoring a bucket list item I didn’t was possible. It is also here where I learned and then often shared that dynamite list of film review cliches from Letterboxd. I have vowed to avoid those tropes and the pull-quote hyperbole that comes from that bush league level of writing, even if that’s unpopular. I’ve gotten feedback that I’ve inspired a few others to do the same or even enter this official fray. In pausing on masterpiece labels, skipping trailers, lowering expectations, and bringing over the educator’s lens that works in a world where everything is evaluated to some degree, I’ve tightened by grading and rating tendences for the better. I have happily championed the prevailing notion that there are legitimate objectives to be found and recognized in all this art. I don’t buy that “art is entirely subjective” cop-out for one second and never will. I have also grown to feel obligated to stand for the best that my role as a film critic can be, especially in a consumer setting that questions their value anymore. That old adage that “anyone is a critic” fills social media and Letterboxd alike with a ton of voices. I have learned to do more, work harder, and aim to be better than the hot take artists. Sometimes that’s going to make me a film snob to some or, worse, just another white male in the groupthink, but I have sharpened myself to be consistent and produce work with integrity, even if it goes against the majority. I seek that with every review I write. I hope you can see that in my work.

LESSON #14: HOW TO STAY A MOVIE FAN— Oddly enough, the hardest part I have found about being a movie critic is trying to stay being a movie fan as well. If you sit back and ask, “Don, how could that happen when you see all the stuff you do.” That answer is good, old-fashioned work-life balance, and that’s another curtain I know I’ve peeled back here in “What We Learned This Week” from time to time. 90% of movies I watch are essentially “for work” as movies where I have a contingent press obligation to provide coverage. Sure, it’s cool that I get to see things early and for free. That access never gets old. But, believe it or not, doing this can become a grind and take up the time commitment equivalent to a second job, and one that doesn’t really pay. Being around the good folks here at Feelin’ Film has reminded me to still be a movie fan. The people in here got me to join Letterboxd and tackle blind spots, lists, and challenges together. They inspire me to make sure I still watch casual movies for fun without the notepad or laptop. Churning out reviews “for work” every week, I can forget to do that and being among fellow fans keeps me inspired.

LESSON #15: THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “FAVORITE” AND “BEST”— The last occupational hazard I’ll speak of here probably also counts as another one of those hills I’m prepared to mount a tombstone on. Like Lesson #2, I echo this lesson sentence often because I’ve reached a point where being a film critic and a movie fan have their limits of being hand-in-hand. Being both isn’t always the same stance or energy. Some of this goes back to subjective vs. objective, but giving five stars to Schindler’s List and five stars to Top Gun are two different things and it can be a challenge of consistency. I hope you can understand, but I HAVE to separate favorites from bests. It’s how I make sense of the world wearing both hats as a critic and aficionado. I like to say “favorites won’t always be the best movies and vice versa, but when something is both, that’s when you have found something special.” That’s my kind of poster or poetry. If you get that, then you get me and I thank you for that.

LESSON #16: GIVE GOOD ADVICE— With each edition of “What We Learned This Week,” I made it a point to always end with recommendations in some shape or form. I’ll save my most personal one for this ending. I may be a writer, critic, teacher, and a movie fan, but I am also a husband and a father above all of that. Calling back to that work-life balance, every night away attending a movie out is a night I miss dinner and bedtime at home. Those are tough choices where I cannot say yes to every event and opportunity. The perks still follow me home. In these last three years, I’ve had my own two children (7 and 6) become true movie watchers who are starting to build their fan interest. I get to open those doors for them and I love it. I’ll be the guy that says, for as much as a good parent should read to their kids, educate them in movies as well. Sit with them. Chat with them after. Engage in those conversations. With my last recommendation, if you’re a new parent now or someday in the future, start the “Mozart Effect” of film scores in the crib, move to silent movies early, or follow this essential list charted by age from Entertainment Weekly. Be purposeful. Don’t just put your kids in front of a movie and leave to get a break. Go ahead and be The Onion article of that dad getting your kids to love uncool and out-of-date media.

DON SHANAHAN is a Chicago-based and Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic writing on his website Every Movie Has a Lesson. His movie review work is also published on 25YL (25 Years Later), Horror Obsessive, and also on Medium.com for the MovieTime Guru publication. As an educator by day, Don writes his movie reviews with life lessons in mind, from the serious to the farcical. He is a proud director and one of the founders of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle and a member of the nationally-recognized Online Film Critics Society. As a contributor here on Feelin’ Film now for over two years, he’s going to expand those lessons to current movie news and trends while chipping in with guest spots and co-hosting duties, including the previous “Connecting with Classics” podcasts. Find “Every Movie Has a Lesson” on Facebook, Twitter, and Medium to follow his work. (#150)

What We Learned This Week: September 15-21

Posted on September 20, 2019 by everymoviehasalesson.

LESSON #1: JUST BECAUSE A FILM PRESENTS A MAN WITH STRONG FEELINGS DOESN’T MEAN IT’S AUTOMATICALLY A SLICE OF TOXIC MASCULINITY— I’ll share a little inside chatter as a film critic who watched a closed screening of Ad Astra with just critics, no public audience. Even though we all will go home and hope to write our slice of brilliant and engaging criticism, we all still talk shop. Color me crazy as, admittedly, a white middle-aged male, but I was surprised and even a little rubbed the wrong way when I heard a few peers vehemently drop the toxic masculinity card on Ad Astra. Sure, parental issues can be overplayed in movies. When that happens, I look to the approach it took before I label and curse. For me, I saw a movie that showed the stresses saddled on men. I don’t go too deep on that tangent in my own review, but I highly recommend my Chicago peer Leo Brady’s review of Ad Astra on AMovieGuy.com. He hits the topic hard and pushes back. When you see the movie, I’d love to read or hear your take and vibe.

LESSON #2: NO AUDIENCE MEMBER WANTS MORE ADVERTISEMENTS— After a recent Hollywood Reporter poll revealed the majority of moviegoers want fewer trailers before a movie, a nearly universal declaration, a story arrived this week of two theater companies adding even more pre-movie advertisements. The Regal and Cinemark chains are proposing to add business advertising before the already excessive trailers. AMC, the nation’s top chain, is staunchly against it. I get that advertising pays the bills for these studio-squeezed theater chains that lose more and more of the windfall cut each year, but the top loser here is still the consumer. No one needs more of this stuff. This only creates more incentive to come into movies late and not spend your concession dollars on site.

LESSON #3: DIGITAL PERFORMERS HAVE RIGHTS— I love, love, love what Lord of the Rings and Planet of the Apes performance capture star (and future Venom 2 director) Andy Serkis is stumping for. Serkis is rallying for compensation and renumeration for reusing digital performances, especially those that are no longer with us. His core questions were: ““When your performance becomes data it can be manipulated, reworked or sampled, much like the music industry samples vocals and beats. If we can do that, where does the intellectual property lie? Who owns authorship of the performance? Where are the boundaries?” He went further to talk about actors being unethically used against cultural sensitivities since they can be replaced and manipulated with other imagery. Top to bottom, Andy brings up an outstanding issue that deserves attention. I look forward to seeing where this story goes and who steps up to listen.

LESSON #4: YOUR OPENING DAY MENU OF DISNEY+ IS IMMENSE AND AMAZING— The full list of content starting on Day 1 of Disney+ is obscene. Click on this link for the whole list and put on a football helmet with a chin-strap. The buttoned up strap will hold your jaw and the helmet itself could stave of a concussion when you fall from wherever you’re standing or sitting reading that list.

DON SHANAHAN is a Chicago-based and Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic writing on his website Every Movie Has a Lesson. His movie review work is also published on 25YL (25 Years Later) and also on Medium.com for the MovieTime Guru publication. As an educator by day, Don writes his movie reviews with life lessons in mind, from the serious to the farcical. He is a proud director and one of the founders of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle and a member of the nationally-recognized Online Film Critics Society. As a contributor here on Feelin’ Film now for over two years, he’s going to expand those lessons to current movie news and trends while chipping in with guest spots and co-hosting duties, including the previous “Connecting with Classics” podcasts. Find “Every Movie Has a Lesson” on Facebook, Twitter, and Medium to follow his work. (#116)

Episode 176: 2019 SDCC Reactions

Posted on July 22, 2019 by Aaron White.

It’s a non-traditional episode this week for us as we forego a film discussion in favor of sharing our reactions to movie and television trailers as well as news that came out of last week’s 2019 San Diego Comic-Con International. Learn about what’s coming and what will be worth our time and why.

Movie Trailers – 0:04:20

TV Trailers -0:24:36

Other News – 0:55:01

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What We Learned This Week: April 7-13

Posted on April 13, 2019 by everymoviehasalesson.

LESSON #1: MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR NOVEMBER 12TH WITH PIXIE DUST AND MOUSE EARS— Circle the 12th of November on your calendar for the debut of Disney+, the entertainment giant’s new exclusive streaming service we’ve been hearing about for the better part of a year. And, man oh man, did they announce a menu of old and new content that looks like the binder you get at The Cheesecake Factory. The list is jaw-dropping. And that’s not even the best part. See Lesson #2.

LESSON #2: PRICE POINT ALWAYS WINS— The best part is the price. It’s a cool $6.99 per month with no ads and the future ability to bundle ESPN+, Hulu, and more. $7 is a game-changing price. Even better, if you buy the whole year at once, it’s $69.99. That’s $5.83 per month. Excuse my language, but the smell and thundering rumble you hear is Netflix sh-tting bricks and staring down an $8 billion market value drop. They just announced a price hike a few months back and now will be playing chicken against the company they relied on the most for top content. Watch their member numbers begin to drop with the financials, but they knew this had to be coming. Their shift to developing their own unique branded content is how they will stand out. No matter what, folks, I’ve been saying this now for years in this column. The price tag is always the biggest mover of an audience.

LESSON #3: STAR WARS WILL NEVER LET YOU FORGET ABOUT STAR WARS— Maybe this lesson should read: “Disney isn’t done because they’re never really done.” In the words of Steve Jobs, Disney did their own “one more thing” this week with the head-exploding title reveal and first trailer for Episode IX at the Star Wars Celebration Convention in Chicago on Friday. Now officially called Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the gates are now open and the levees are broken for every theory, reaction piece, and clickbait column imaginable. I get it. Grab those web traffic pennies where you can, publishers.

LESSON #4: [INSERT OBLIGATORY “TRAILERS ARE MANIPULATIVE” LECTURE FROM THE MOVIE CRITIC]— I’ve been saving this informational video for a while for a choice teachable moment. The Rise of Skywalker is the perfect time.

Admittedly, much of this video doesn’t apply to Star Wars, but the misdirection and overhype have been proven before in this franchise. You know me. I’ll always say less is more. Not just for trailers, but be a discerning news-and-trends consumer. Don’t overthink a movie before it gets here, especially one still eight months away. If you want homework, go backward instead of forwards. Hop on the ambitious canonical rewatch schedule that is already in progress. Let history get you hyped instead of silly theories.

LESSON #5: THE SLOW DEATH OF PHYSICAL MEDIA CONTINUES— Through all this one-upmanship in the streaming world, the marketplace of discs has continued to fade. We’ve reported in this column in February how companies like Samsung are halting the manufacturing of Blu-ray players, but we’ve never seen hard numbers of the perceived decline. This week, the MPAA hit us with those statistics in a wide-ranging report. Physical media sales are down a steep 50% in the last five years and the new 4K upgrades account for only 5.3% of business. That’s a niche, not a replacement the way DVD was to VHS a generation ago. The kicker is that home entertainment spending was up 16% last year. That’s digital sales and subscription services.

LESSON #6: LEARN SOME BETTER SCIENCE FICTION— Don’t let your science fiction taste and acumen stop at Star Wars and other big names. Dive into some headier things (and still plenty of blockbusters) with high critical regard. Pick away at this Top 100 list from Business Insider and find some new films for your to-do list. Heck, maybe you’ll even watch one on a disc from a library.

DON SHANAHAN is a Chicago-based and Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic writing on his website Every Movie Has a Lesson and also on Medium.com for the MovieTime Guru publication. As an educator by day, Don writes his movie reviews with life lessons in mind, from the serious to the farcical. He is a proud director and one of the founders of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle and a new member of the nationally-recognized Online Film Critics Society. As a contributor here on Feelin’ Film now for over a year, he’s going to expand those lessons to current movie news and trends while chipping in with guest spots and co-hosting duties, including the special “Connecting with Classics” podcast program. Find “Every Movie Has a Lesson” on Facebook, Twitter, and Medium to follow his work. (#98)

What We Learned This Week: New Year’s Resolutions for the Film Industry for 2019

Posted on December 31, 2018 by everymoviehasalesson.

Image by Muharrem Aner for Getty via The Daily Beast

Plenty of regular everyday people make New Year’s Resolutions, but I think bigger entities, namely movie makers and movie moguls, need to make them too. Annually, including this eighth edition, have fun taking the movie industry to task for things they need to change, even if I get to do it every week in a different ranting way on “What We Learned This Week.” My cadence hasn’t changed. I have no false internet courage to be a Twitter troll. As always, some resolutions come true while others get mentioned and reiterated every year. A great deal of last year’s list is still relevant. Enjoy this year’s hopes and dreams.

#1: Don’t stop supporting minority voices.

2018 has been a banner year for indie film featuring themes, stars, and filmmakers of gender and racial diversity. This list is impressive: Searching, If Beale Street Could Talk, Blindspotting, The Hate U Give, Sorry to Bother You, Roma, The Rider, Revenge, Crazy Rich Asians, Madeline’s Madeline, BlacKkKlansman, Burning, Roxanne Roxanne, Nappily Ever After, We the Animals, Private Life, Widows, You Were Never Really Here, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Border, Support the Girls, Minding the Gap, Shoplifters, Destroyer, RBG, Hearts Beat Loud, Boy Erased, The Favourite, Bohemian Rhapsody, Collette, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Love Simon, Disobedience, Blockers, and many many more. Upvote your favorite films directed by women in 2018 on this Ranker. Hollywood, keep these doors opening. Don’t just do this for tokenism. The audiences will come.

#2: Disney, take your time with Fox properties you bought from Marvel.

A recent Kevin Feige interview became click bait when he said that Fox’s Marvel properties, mostly the Fantastic Four and X-Men universes, could be in their control within six months. Everyone (well, expect me) got out their abacuses and calendars to calculate how fast those new incarnations would arrive. My advice and resolution preached patience. Don’t just make these films because you can. Take your time and get them right. Fantastic Four has had two failed attempts. X-Men has had its soft reboot too and is already slipping. I have no doubt those characters are in the right place, but Marvel needs to hold off.

#3: Speaking of Disney, slow down with your own releases.

Have you seen the Disney release calendar for 2019? It’s insane. Their dominance, as if we already didn’t know, is unquestioned and it shows. I think it’s too much. When big releases are on top of each other like this, they feel more run-of-the-mill instead of special. I remember a time when there was only animated Disney film a year. It was huge, important, and it mattered. It’s hard to multiply care when there are a half-dozen or more between Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and their own house brand choices. Space them out. Build them up. Make them matter because they don’t come around all that often.

#4: Don’t show us another second of Avengers: Endgame

Those of you who follow my weekly column and the “soapbox specials” know that I’ve sworn off of trailers and have been encouraging people like a cinematic cult leader to do the same. I’ve simply seen too many and oversell their products and create unreasonable expectations which create the butthurt fans we have come to hate. Avengers: Endgame would be the perfect trailblazer. That movie doesn’t need a second of marketing to get our money. How awesome would it be if they stopped cold right now after the first trailer? Our frenzy of anticipation off of the small sample would create more buzz than any new footage. At the same time, the studio could pad their bottom with the reduced need to throw money into marketing, as well as merchandise too. Don’t even release an action figure until after the screaming and parent-tugging kids see the movie in April. Don’t hope for a frenzy. Create one.

#5: Vet your hosts and spokespeople

In the Twitter meltdown wake of James Gunn, Louis CK, Kevin Hart and more this past year, studio heads and showrunners need to do a better job background checking their hires. It shouldn’t matter as much as it turns out, but we’re seeing it does. Big outfits and corporations have too many PR employees and interns at their disposal to miss the large problems they have this year. When those flags come up, talk it out and have a plan before making final decisions and public comments.

#6: If you’re a celebrity, it’s time to get off Twitter

I think we’ve reached a point where we have to ask what the gain is from Twitter. Sure, it’s fun to see trends and maybe catch breaking news, but that’s for us anonymous people of the general public. If you’re a big star, do you really need the scrutiny just for a small PR and promotional bump that comes from social media accessibility? I don’t see the value if you’re an established celebrity or brand.

#7: Repackage the Oscars a better way

Speaking if Kevin Hart, the embarrassing panhandling for a new host and poor attempts to shoehorn new and silly categories creates the need for this resolution. I say don’t do even have a host at this point. Reduce the bits and focus on the awards. Here’s some perfect and generous math even with a host. Give the 24 categories 5 minutes each (3 to introduce it gracefully with deeper montages than mere quick mentions and 2 full minutes for each winner’s speeches) and that’s 120 minutes. Tack on 5 minutes to open with a welcoming monologue, 5 minutes to close with a thankful prologue, 3 minutes for the annual dead people roll call, and 30 minutes for required commercials to pay the bills. Easy peasy! You’re well under three hours, the awards are given rich room to operate, and nothing is forgotten except another hare-brained skit. As far as categories go, Best Casting and Best Stunt Work deserve inclusion. If you want to trade those for some technical awards being moved to the separate Science awards night, so be it, but don’t even try to devalue the whole show with a dumb and patronizing Popular Film award. Leave those awards for MTV.

#8: Respect Netflix

Speaking of the Oscars, much is being talked about on a perceived bias and beef the Academy has with Netflix films. They need to put it aside with tolerance for a new and viable distribution outlet that isn’t going away, especially if they keep landing high pedigree films like Roma and The Irishman. Movie moguls need to arrive at the learning curve television and their Emmy Awards have already put behind them where cable and streaming shows have equal footing and respect as network shows. Welcome the new guy better than you are.

#9: Netflix, please choose quality over quantity

Speaking of Netflix, you might need the same resolution as the one Disney got earlier. We get it. You have money and are spending it. You can freely drop films and splash any and every pot with them. The trouble is you have more bombs than winners. For every Roma and Bird Box, you have a dozen that never get attention because there are too many choices. I know, right? Who would have ever thought too many choices was a bad thing. Netflix, I see your strengths. You are revitalizing the midrange budget film market studios haven’t been making since the 1990s. You give indie films wider and better chances for visibility than they would at the shrinking number of arthouse screens. You have long championed documentaries. Do all that with a discerning eye and refined taste.

#10: Keep repackaging Adam Sandler

Speaking of quality over quantity, if you don’t count his voice work in Hotel Transylvania 3, 2018 was the first year in a long time without a theatrical release from Adam Sandler. That alone made 2018 a glorious year answering one of this column’s longest repeating annual resolutions to stop that man’s redundantly bad career. I say that while still being happy Adam Sandler’s recent unbound and R-rated Netflix comedy special has done so well. Give us that grown-up Adam Sandler. Bury the man child. Since Netflix is writing him checks, it’s up to them to remake Adam Sandler. Someday, we’ll be glad he’s back in the spotlight as a new man. The fear will always be him slipping back to the boorish slacker type that made him rich.

#11: Price point will always be the greatest trigger and hurdle simultaneously

This goes for all of the current streaming services out there and all of the ones still coming, especially Disney+. Each streaming service’s standalone price makes it highly affordable compared to the price of theater tickets for the whole family year-round or a bloated cable TV subscription. The devices like AppleTV, Roku, Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire, and more are all wonderfully affordable too. The hard part is if/when you feel like you need to have 4-5 streaming services in addition to the steadily increasing costs of high speed internet to make it all work. Then that number balloons. At some point, the overabundance of services and higher prices will break a common person’s budget. The services have to make sure they don’t reach that point.

What We Learned This Week: September 30-October 6

Posted on October 5, 2018 by everymoviehasalesson.

LESSON #1: NOT WATCHING TRAILERS HAS BEEN WORTH IT— When I presented my no-more-trailers challenge to the Feelin’ Film group after the Super Bowl in February, I took it upon myself to lead that charge. Even as a busy critic consuming an insane volume of films, I have my personal anticipation list too just like any fan. Damien Chazelle’s First Man topped that list for 2018, and I avoided every piece of footage before seeing it early this past week. I have to say seeing it fresh as possible made for an incredibly rich experience, a fulfilling sensation I’ve grown to enjoy with all films since quitting the trailer habit. I’ll echo the challenge again to say pick one film and try it. You won’t be sorry.

LESSON #2: YOU CAN’T HAVE VENOM WITHOUT SPIDER-MAN— I’m going to sound like the Comic Guy on The Simpsons wearing his flag of toxic fandom, but if you’re going to make a Venom movie to introduce the Eddie Brock villain starring a beefy Tom Hardy that looks and moves like the monstrous Spider-Man opposition he should be, you have to start with Spider-Man as well, period. Thanks to blind studio and creative hubris, an incredible character is being pushed down audience throats too soon and with zero connection. The new film fails is a disservice to a minor icon, a missed corrective opportunity, and a damn shame for the present and future of Sony’s Spider-Man franchise potential.

LESSON #3: BRADLEY COOPER CAN DO ANYTHING— The stories behind the many talents and performances of Bradley Cooper are going to fill books one day. The four-time Oscar nominee and Master of Arts graduate from the Actors Studio Drama School has abstained from alcohol for 14 years and counting speaks fluent French. Those are mere footnote nuggets compared to role preparation stories of workouts and training for The A-Team and American Sniper, dance lessons for Silver Linings Playbook, and character embodiment for The Elephant Man on stage. His latest career chapter of A Star is Born might be his most impressive effort yet, directing for the first time and diving into 18 months of vocal training and guitar lessons. The guy’s commitment and craft are becoming off the charts. Someday soon with some successful arm-twisting and endearment, I have a feeling we’re going to call him the best active American actor working.

LESSON #4: FAKE REVIEWS DO NOT WORK TO DETER AUDIENCES— Two oddball stories about fake film reviews floated across the wire this week. The first goes with A Star is Born where there are reports of Lady Gaga fans pushing fake negative reviews of Venom to chop down its box office competition. The second is even stranger with the findings of an academic study suggesting that 50% of the online hate traffic for Star Wars: The Last Jedi originated from Russian trolls and non-human bots. I know I probably shouldn’t, but I find both of these stories to be absolutely hilarious for two reasons. First, the lengths people will go for their fandom is staggeringly silly. Second, it’s funny that those participants actually think these schemes will work. If anything, the opposing diehard fans against them will only work harder to clear their good names and prove the hate wrong. In the end, all you get is a whole bunch of digital squawking and dumb hashtags.

What We Learned This Week: July 29-August 4

Posted on August 4, 2018 by everymoviehasalesson.

LESSON #1: THIS PRESENT CULTURE OF HEADLINE NEWS NEEDS TO SLOW DOWN— Feelin’ Film Facebook Discussion Group member Joseph Hamrick penned an outstanding editorial recently on his website Article Asylum entitled “We Need to Talk about the ‘We Need to Talk About’ Headline Culture.” Joseph discusses the wayward directions and lack of due diligence taken in entertainment news nowadays where too many so-called discussion pieces are reactive rather than reflective, defeating the purpose and wearing out that headline trope. James Gunn and even Chris Hardwick are recent examples where patience could have gone a long way before vilification and over-inflation. I know I see this all the time researching for this weekly column and Joseph nailed it. Kudos and my compliments on a great piece!

LESSON #2: TROPES ARE SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN IN THEIR EFFECTIVENESS— The concepts that we all call tropes become tropes because they are successful to a nearly automatic level more than not. I greatly enjoyed an article in The Guardian this week that reported on findings compiled by a behavioral economics and data science team at the University of Birmingham. They combed through over 6,000 scripts to show which story arcs made the most money at the box office. The winner was the “man in the hole” arc, which might as well be your classic underdog story. Enriching stuff! Give it a read.

LESSON #3: TRAILERS TOO HAVE BECOME AN EFFECTIVE SCIENCE— Speaking of effectiveness, trailers know exactly what they are doing to get audiences to desire the product they are advertising. The top trailer-makers have studied and refined the craft of provoking emotions and evoking the senses right down to the algorithms and triggers. As you know I’ve ranted in this soapbox space before, they have still become formulaic with their own troublesome tropes in my opinion and should be avoided, or at least tempered. Still, the entire addictive draw and the creativity behind the craft is fascinating. Enjoy this interview and examination video from Vice News:

LESSON #4: EVEN MONUMENTAL BLOCKBUSTERS BECOME “LITTLE ENGINES THAT COULD”— It has taken six months after its huge February debut and spring box office dominance, but Marvel’s Black Panther, thanks to one final tickle of $15,000 becomes only the third film to earn $700 million or more domestically. It joins Avatar ($760 million) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936 million). To be the highest grossing MCU film was already achievement, but to hit that benchmark is both impressive and special. Congratulations to Ryan Coogler and company!

LESSON #5: NEED A LAST MINUTE HOT SUMMER BEACH READ? CONSIDER A SCREENPLAY— Are you a movie fan that wants to dive in and relive some classic stories? Then get to read between the lines with their scripts. Sure, they might have zero pictures and whole bunch of extra framing words, but I bet they’re better than another trashy hit-or-miss novel off the rack. Last year, Script Reader Pro collected 50 of the greatest film screenplays of all-time and released them for free available downloads. In July, Shore Scripts added 45 more, also completely for free. The combined selections are extraordinary. Search by genre in either stack and revisit some cinematic gold in its purest creative form.

DON SHANAHAN is a Chicago-based film critic writing on his website Every Movie Has a Lesson and also on Medium.com where he is one of the 50 “Top Writers” in the Movies category. As an educator by day, Don writes his movie reviews with life lessons in mind, from the serious to the farcical. He is a proud director and one of the founders of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle. As a contributor here on Feelin’ Film now for over a year, he’s going to expand those lessons to current movie news and trends while chipping in with guest spots and co-hosting duties, including the special “Connecting with Classics” podcast program. Find “Every Movie Has a Lesson” on Facebook, Twitter, and Medium to follow his work.

What We Learned This Week: July 15-21

Posted on July 20, 2018 by everymoviehasalesson.

LESSON #1: EVERY AMERICAN TEENAGER AND THEIR PARENTS NEED TO SEE BO BURNHAM’S EIGHTH GRADE— Dropped jaws, bashfulness, winces, worries, and all, this dynamite film needs to be required viewing for the teens out there, especially girls, of these complicated and confusing present times. And the people that should be joining them in the next closest seats are their parents who need their eyes and hearts opened as well. Adults, you can engage and empathize easily with its challenges. It goes both ways to mend a “we don’t know them/they don’t get us” valley of separated understanding between parent and child. A wise and willing audience for Eighth Grade knows and accepts two truths. First, that social challenges in real life could be, and often are, worse than a movie shows, and, second, those same apprehensions absolutely have the ability to get better for all involved with maturity and, again, efforts towards engagement and empathy. That’s where the conversations about this movie need to go. There are life lessons for days out of this movie.

LESSON #2: DENZEL WASHINGTON IS THE BEST TEACHER OF MANNERS – When Denzel Washington is involved, you know one powerhouse speech is coming every movie. Unlearned critics of the actor say he plays the same altruistic anti-hero in every film lately. If they say that, those amateur tone police officers only hear Washington’s volume and aren’t listening to his words or read his actions in between the speeches across the many different shades of characters he plays, from football coaches and disgraced cops to failed fathers and this vicious vigilante. In The Equalizer 2, Washington reels off a topical and poignantly corrective rant for the ages about manhood, gangs, and guns. If the aggressive theatrical combat didn’t already amp you up, soul-rattling and truth-telling moments like that one will rouse you in the best possible way.

LESSON #3: ALL EYES THIS WEEKEND ARE ON SAN DIEGO— Newswires buzz with headlines as long as the lines to get into Hall H on a Saturday at the annual Comic-Con in San Diego. Disney/Marvel might be playing it low-key this year with its post-Infinity War radio silence and deep-down desire to do their own convention for their own earnings, but that doesn’t mean there will be a shortage of breaking news, new trailer drops, and the building of buzz. As the resident “No Trailer Guy” of the site, this is a blessing and a curse of great news and tantalizing temptation. We should have a great deal more to talk about this time next week.

LESSON #4: THE COMPETITION HAS BLINKED AND VICTORY IS A MATTER OF TIME— Word came through Thursday that Comcast retracted its counteroffer to buy 21st Century Fox, leaving Disney’s bid competition-free for approval. Comcast’s exit puts all those fanboy dreams (combined Marvel properties), tears (the death of a major brand and its history), and fears (streaming takeovers and squashes) one step closer to reality. This has been quite the story to watch and it’s going to get bigger as things progress.

LESSON #5: REPRESENTATION IS GOING TO KEEP MATTERING— Last week, it was the Scarlett Johannson vs. the Transgender Community throwdown s–tstorm. On a smaller and less noisy level, IndieWire had an interesting counterpoint piece written by Jenna Marotta recently about actors with disabilities being able to play their own parts instead of putting the likes of Joaquin Phoenix in a wheelchair for Gus Van Sant’s Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far on Foot or removing one of Dwayne Johnson’s legs with CGI for Skyscraper. The slippery slope gets more slippery. On one hand, the article presents its point solidly in that greater and truer representation through casting is absolutely beneficial. In the other, artistic vision, freedom, and integrity for filmmakers to make the movies they want with the people they want, especially for the business and marketing ends, will be challenged. Compromise must be sought because this push for representation isn’t going away.

LESSON #6: YOU KNOW, MY BIRTHDAY IS RIGHT AROUND THE DATE OF THE 75TH VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL— If anyone wanted to know a little something to get their favorite Feelin’ Film columnist (and like fourth favorite film critic) for his upcoming 39th birthday, I know just the thing. That would be a plane ticket to Venice and pass to see the newly announced world premiere of Damien Chazelle’s First Man. The director’s La La Land follow-up should fire up the Oscar season and, by going to the prestigious Venice International Film Festival, it will get the jump on the vaunted Toronto International Film Festival by a few months. Smooth move, Damien, and a please, please, pretty please to those with deep pockets and a giving heart to hook your guy up.

What We Learned This Week: April 29-May 5

Posted on May 4, 2018 by everymoviehasalesson.

LESSON #1: YOU NEED TO START FOLLOWING OUR GUY JACOB NEFF— This week, Feelin’ Film debuted its newest contributor Jacob Neff and his weekly “You Should Be Watching” column. Pulling from Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Filmstruck, Jacob presents a curated list of winners that I highly recommend. The calendar portion of his column alone creates the perfect priority list. Let his discerning taste, curious spirit, and stellar research help you get the most from your free entertainment time. Follow him on Letterboxd as well!

LESSON #2: MARTIN SCORSESE IS WISE— Legendary director Martin Scorsese recently made some comments about the state of film criticism being marginalized by the aggregation and shallow examinations from sites like Rotten Tomatoes becoming the norm. He called it the “devaluation of cinema,” and he’s not wrong. This isn’t old-and-out-of-touch-man syndrome. This is a true expert and historian for the medium. I shared this story link in the FF Facebook discussion group and set off an excellent discussion any and all interested should check out.

LESSON #3: TRAILERS ARE FULL OF SUGAR-HONEY-ICED-TEA— Shocker! A two-minute sizzle reel designed to market a film and sell tickets edited by different people than the original filmmakers turns out often to be a manufactured and even inaccurate portrait of the finished product. You don’t say?! The Ringer recently put out a dynamite PSA editorial on this topic of lying trailers. Welcome to another of many reasons why I, for one, do not much stock into trailers anymore. I don’t feel sorry anymore for folks that build unrealistic expectations off of these marketing ploys. The so-called think pieces called “trailer breakdowns” might just be even worse because they double or even triple the wasted energy to dissect something that is misdirection. As always, I preach patience. Let the movie stand for itself and come to you. In the meantime, I hope the folks at Disney/Marvel take the advice of this Forbes article and don’t give us a shred or second of marketing between now and the untitled Avengers 4.

LESSON #4: JAMES CAMERON NOW CAN’T HELP HIMSELF— Last week, it was pining for superhero movie fatigue to help his own Avatar films down the road. Now that the spotlight came over, more tape recorders and cameras are running in front of James Cameron. This week, he’s dropping the hot take that 2001: A Space Odyssey lacks “emotional balls.” Well, on some level (like Scorsese), he’s not wrong to a degree. It’s all in a matter of how you say it and present it. Louis Plamondon, a burgeoning film editor friend of mine, said it best:

“A tell-tale sign that artists have reached the end of their product life cycle in terms of pop culture relevance is whenever they desperately feel the need to drop attention-seeking controversies whose timing is meant to coincide with something they have to sell.”

Cameron is clinging to relevance with a new AMC series to sell, biding time on Avatar sequels, and it shows.

LESSON #5: THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL HAS BECOME A HOTBED FOR MORE THAN JUST PRESTIGIOUS FILM AND FANCY FASHION— The hoitiest and toitiest of the cinema world descend on the French Riviera beginning on May 8 for the Festival de Cannes. The slate of high-profile films being screened both in-competition and out-of-competition is impressive (including Solo: A Star Wars Story). What’s making more headlines than the lineup is what is NOT being allowed to join the competition. Festival leaders have stated they will not accept Netflix films at the fest, which feels hypocritical when other TV platforms like HBO (Fahrenheit 451) have films there. In a roller coaster of posturing and power plays, Netflix ended up going from threatening to withhold to flat-out skipping the Cannes Film Festival for consideration. It’s good to see snobbery is still in full swing. At least Netflix is self-aware, stating that they want to get in less fights this week with festivals, Oscar voters, and theater companies. Someone or something needs to broker a compromise.

LESSON #6: WE WILL SEE IF “FIRST TO THE MARKET IS ALWAYS IMPORTANT” REALLY MATTERS— Mixing with the world of television and eager to beat Disney to the punch, Warner Bros. and DC Comics publicly finalized their plans to launch their own exclusive streaming service, named DC Universe, later this year, winning the #f1rst troll award. Offerings will include exclusive new Titans, Swamp Thing, and Harley Quinn series. DC, in my opinion, has been superior to Marvel in the animated department (both film and television), but I will be curious to see how much film content makes the channel, since that’s where the big bucks are. This is either going to be a benefit of being first or the set-up to being one-upped by the next guy who can now scout and ahead see what they have to beat.

LESSON #7: THE ACADEMY IS CONTINUING ITS PERSONAL IMPROVEMENT TO TAKE THINGS SERIOUSLY— First it was #OscarsSoWhite and now it’s been the #MeToo movement. The old standards and blind eyes over at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences needed every bit of the criticism and urgency to modernize and change that it’s received the last few years. The news this week that the Academy has expelled Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski from their membership is an encouraging sign that intolerance is becoming an expectation and new standard. Coupled with saddness and disappointment at the errors of these men (and Polanski’s call for due process), this effort to re-vet the books is still overdue cleanup and I hope it lasts longer than spring and two men.

DON SHANAHAN is a Chicago-based film critic writing on his website Every Movie Has a Lesson. As an elementary educator by day, Don writes his movie reviews with life lessons in mind, from the serious to the farcical. He is a proud member and one of the founders of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle. As a contributor here on Feelin’ Film, he’s going to expand those lessons to current movie news and trends. Find “Every Movie Has a Lesson” on Facebook, Twitter, and Medium.

What We Learned This Week: April 16-22

Posted on April 21, 2017 by everymoviehasalesson.

LESSON #1: THE “FAST AND FURIOUS” FRANCHISE HAS BEEN FOR REAL FOR A LONG TIME— I was amazed this week how many casual movie fans (and uppity critics) were surprised by the record-breaking international success of “The Fate of the Furious.” I wonder what rock they’ve been under because “Furious 7” was a $1.5 billion worldwide smash two years ago and each film of the four films since 2009 has surpassed the gross of the previous one. The franchise has cross-gender and cross-racial appeal on multiple levels. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.

LESSON #2: OVER-ANALYZATION TAKES AWAY FROM ENJOYMENT— After a month of incredible trailer debuts for blockbuster after blockbuster, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” came in this past week and dropped its own microphone. In my opinion, Episode 8 didn’t need to share a single second of footage to be hotly anticipated and successful. The problem has been the endless mountain of clickbait websites and posts filled that have tried to analyze every second of the trailer since. I get that pageviews and visits move the needle and anything “Star Wars” sells, but diving into every little theory and poorly educated guess is destined to take away the enjoyment of the future finished product. Pump the brakes and just enjoy the hype. Don’t buy into the rumor mill.

LESSON #3: THIS YEAR’S CANNES LINE-UP WILL BE SPECIAL— The hoity-toity-est of international film festivals celebrates 70 years this May with a killer lineup of potential future Oscar contenders. New films premiere from Sofia Coppola, Noah Baumbach, Bong Joo-Hoo, Michael Haneke, Todd Haynes, Yorgos Lanthimos, Francois Ozon, Mathieu Almaric, Taylor Sheridan, Arnaud Desplechin, and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. That’s some pedigree. Take a trip to Europe. I’m bet the plane tickets to the French Riviera and hotel prices are more than affordable. Hit up United. I’m sure they’ll have room.

LESSON #4: FILMS CAN ADD AS MANY POST-CREDITS SCENES AS THEY WANT— 50/50 cheers and jeers of “that’s so awesome” and “good Lord, WTF” rained down from social media keyboards when Marvel Films and director James Gunn announced that “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” would have no less than FIVE post-credits scenes. These stingers have been a signature staple for Marvel Cinematic Universe films. They are both entertaining and functional to solidify the continuity of their film franchises. You know you were staying anyway. What’s a few more? Enjoy the film’s kicking soundtrack, power back on your phone, and have a little patience. If you don’t like it, go to the lobby, pee, and leave. No one is stopping you or forcing you to stay.

DON SHANAHAN is a Chicago-based film critic writing on his website Every Movie Has a Lesson. He is also one of the founders and the current directors of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle. As an elementary educator by day, Don writes his movie reviews with life lessons in mind, from the serious to the farcical. As a contributor here on Feelin’ Film, he’s going to expand those lessons to current movie news and trends. Find “Every Movie Has a Lesson” on Facebook, Twitter, Medium, and Creators Media.

WHAT I LEARNED WRITING THIS COLUMN FOR THREE YEARS

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#1: Don’t stop supporting minority voices.

#2: Disney, take your time with Fox properties you bought from Marvel.

#3: Speaking of Disney, slow down with your own releases.

#4: Don’t show us another second of Avengers: Endgame

#5: Vet your hosts and spokespeople

#6: If you’re a celebrity, it’s time to get off Twitter

#7: Repackage the Oscars a better way

#8: Respect Netflix

#9: Netflix, please choose quality over quantity

#10: Keep repackaging Adam Sandler

#11: Price point will always be the greatest trigger and hurdle simultaneously

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