What We Learned This Week: April 9-15

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LESSON #1: THE WORD “GENIUS” IS THROWN AROUND TOO MUCH— After hearing Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins label his much-maligned “Transformers: The Last Knight” director Michael Bay a “genius” and a “savant” recently, I’m prepared to add “genius” to a list of overused words of hyperbole that include “epic” and “great” when talking about all things movies.  All three words are used too much and not truly earned.  I’ll grant that Michael Bay is a successful driver of spectacle and cheese.  His movies make a ton of money, but I don’t see the deeper wherewithal of the craft to make him the first dictionary definition of “savant.”  I see more the second definition that dives into mental disability, but he is tone-deaf and one-dimensional.

LESSON #2: CHRISTIAN AUDIENCES DESERVE BETTER FILMS— Alcohollywood podcaster Clint Worthington, a film critic colleague from mine here in Chicago, wrote a dynamite piece for Crooked Scoreboard entitled “Calling Christian Movies to Repentance.”  The editorial examines the recent rise of a certain brand of films specifically made by and targeting sympathetic Christian audiences.  He talks about message, film quality, and more.  Go read the piece yourself and measure where your taste lies.  Clint nails the faults of this trend and I agree wholeheartedly with this lesson’s statement.    To truly and triumphantly serve a purpose and engage wider audiences, better thoughts and better films need to be fostered.  Well done, Clint.

LESSON #3: LET KIDS BE KIDS— Marc Webb’s “Gifted,” starring Chris Evans arrives this week and I cannot help but share this leading life lesson from my review.  It’s too good not to echo.  The film represents this lesson perfectly and in an unpretentious way.  Allow “Gifted” or this school teacher right here tell you and show you that too much academic pressure is placed on school-aged children these days.  They take too many high-stakes tests and spend too many hours doing rote and mindless homework.  College prep can start in high school, but leave it off of seven-year-olds.  Even geniuses can cultivate being well-rounded.  Let them go outside, skin a few knees, build something, and find activities they enjoy.  Feed those brains with experiences and not just book-based knowledge. Need ideas?  Here’s just one list of many things to do instead of homework.

LESSON #4: YOU’RE GOING TO LIKE JOSH BROLIN— In a casting news surprise that dropped Wednesday, Josh Brolin signed a four-picture deal to play the pivotal role of Cable for “Deadpool 2” and beyond.  Brolin has the qualities you’re looking for.  I promise you that.  He’s the right age and has perfect masculine features chiseled from granite.  Tell all the “but he’s already Thanos” cry babies to stop.  Fox and Disney/Marvel are different worlds right now.  If Chris Evans can be readily accepted as Steve Rogers after playing Johnny Storm, then Brolin can go from an off-screen voice/performance capture role as Thanos to putting his face out there as Cable with a different tone and timbre.  Most importantly, Brolin has the right temperament to play the grizzled warrior.  His mature resume of renaissance from the last ten years speaks for itself in terms of talent and huge range to play just about anything you want, from showy to reserved.

 

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 President 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 We Learned This Week: April 2-8

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LESSON #1: THE FIRST STEP TO FIXING A PROBLEM IS RECOGNIZING YOU HAVE ONE— True to the quoted mantra of this lesson, a major movie studio did something I don’t think I’ve ever seen in recent memory.  They cited and accepted blame on an actual fault that the rest of us in the general public have known for months and could have told them the first moment it began.  After a dismal third place finish at the box office and parallel to the horribly tone-deaf Pepsi advertisement this week, Paramount Pictures exec Kyle Davies admitted that the “conversation regarding casting impacted the reviews” for “Ghost in the Shell.”  He wasn’t going to call it “whitewashing,” but we can read between the lines.  Maybe “Ghost in the Shell” becomes the public blemish example that pushes studios to change the way they do business.  One can only hope, but it was going to take a showy financial loser that stung someone’s bottom line before anyone noticed.

LESSON #2: HAVE A SCRIPT BEFORE YOU MAKE A MOVIE— Two little news nuggets about stories and screenplays pinged on my radar this week.  One was positive, in my opinion, and one was negative.  On the plus side, renowned and polarizing filmmaker Terrance Malick stated in an interview that he is “backing away from that style” of making movies without scripts.  He elaborated that “there’s a lot of strain when working without a script because you can lose track of where you are.”  You don’t say?!  Anyone who has seen “The Tree of Life,” “To the Wonder,” “Knight of Cups,” and “Song to Song” knows what I’m talking about.  As beautiful and experiential as those films are, they are absolute disorganized messes.  On the other end, “Transformers” steward Michael Bay revealed that 14 (yes, 14!) future “Transformers” movies already written.  Compared to Malick, way to be prepared.  Still, can someone light that shoebox of cocktail napkins written in crayon on fire and save us the future misery?

LESSON #3: THE MTV MOVIE AWARDS ARE STILL A JOKE AND WILL ALWAYS BE A JOKE— This year, MTV is merging their TV and movie award shows together into shared categories.  Here is the complete list of categories and nominees.  What’s the result of that?  All I see is compressed crap.  I think TV and film are two entirely different mediums of artistry and performance that shouldn’t be compared together, but what would I know?  I’m over the age of 24, have a full-time job, and don’t have a man-bun.  There’s a place for fan-centered awards, certainly, but stay fun and don’t pretend to be important.  The Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards get it right.  I’m more shocked that the MTV Movie and TV Awards actually have a Best Documentary category than their usual silly categories like Best Kiss.  I know I’m stepping to #getoffmylawn territory, but 90% of the Millennials watching MTV haven’t seen a single one of those nominees.  Stop already.  Shows like this feel like a slap in the face to recognizing real talent and real quality.

 

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 President 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 We Learned This Week: March 26-April 1

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LESSON #1: BRETT RATNER IS FULL OF SUGAR-HONEY-ICED-TEA— Formerly prolific film director Brett Ratner, who’s been cleaning it up as a producer of Ratpac Entertainment, stepped out late last week to pontificate to Entertainment Weekly that “the worst thing that we have in today’s movie culture is Rotten Tomatoes” and added “I think it’s the destruction of our business.”  You can read his full thoughts, but I don’t buy his logic.  Rotten Tomatoes is too big and combines too many diverse critics for a film to be held down.  If you want better RT scores, make better movies.  It’s that easy.  Brett is full of it and, if you’ve seen his films, as I have, you probably already knew that.

LESSON #2: WARNER BROS. IS GOING ALL-IN WITH POTENTIAL COURSE CORRECTION ON THE DC EXTENDED UNIVERSE— Pack your bags when you’re done with “Justice League,” Zach Snyder.  New talent is coming.  Warner Bros. already poached James Wan of “The Conjuring/Insidious/Saw” fame for “Aquaman” two years ago and last month Chris McKay of “The LEGO Batman Movie” was tabbed to direct a solo “Nightwing” movie, joining “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” helmer Matt Reeves jumping on “The Batman.”  This week, news broke Thursday that “Avengers” and “Firefly” mastermind Joss Whedon has crossed party lines to direct a standalone “Batgirl” movie for Warner Bros.  Now that is the coup of coups and a perfect director to deliver a legitimate female superhero film.  When “Kingsman” and “X-Men: First Class” director Matthew Vaughn puts ink to paper for “Man of Steel 2,” the shift from Total Snyder will be complete and it looks outstanding.

LESSON #3: IF YOU THINK THE “BEAUTY AND THE BEAST” RE-IMAGINING IS HUGE, JUST WAIT FOR “THE LION KING” ONE IN A FEW YEARS— Unlike the opinions of many skeptical haters, “Beauty and the Beast” destined to be a smash.  Bill Condon was a different class of director and the casting was incredible before the cameras ever rolled.  Sure enough, it has raked over $750 million worldwide in just two weeks and should cross the $1 billion mark with ease before it’s run is done.  Watch “The Lion King” do even better in a few years.  Jon Favreau nailed “The Jungle Book,” “The Lion King” has an ever larger following than “Beauty and the Beast,” and the rumors of potentially casting Beyonce as Nala to join Donald Glover’s Simba and a returning James Earl Jones  as Mufasa would be colossal.  Place that bet right now that “The Lion King” will make even more money.

LESSON #4: WATCH FEWER TRAILERS THAN YOU THINK YOU NEED— A conga line of trailers for 2017 wannabe blockbusters arrived in the last two weeks and, I, for one, wish I didn’t see a single one of them.  Trailers these days are showing too much.  Between “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “Justice League” to “War for the Planet of the Apes” and “Alien: Covenant” and more, I felt like I was inundated with too many clues and potential spoilers.  Frankly, I’m beginning to avoid trailers altogether and have been recommending others to do the same.  Why?  Ask yourself this cardinal question: Do you really need to be convinced from any footage to see some of these slam-dunk-must-see films?  Because I don’t.  These no-doubters are getting my money regardless on resume and presence alone.  Avoid the easy and rote trailers and let yourself be surprised.  Even though I know this isn’t going to happen, I hope Disney doesn’t show a single second of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”  They don’t need to and, in a roundabout way, not releasing a trailer would be such a huge and unprecedented “less is more” statement proving that you can sell a movie on reputation alone.  A boy can dream.

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 President 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 We Learned This Week: March 19-25

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LESSON #1: SEE A MOVIE BEFORE YOUR JUDGE IT— I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t hear as many “Beauty and the Beast” ranters this week as I heard and read the week before the film came out.  Too many people can work themselves into a lather over the smallest sample size of an actual film generating by a film’s marketing.  It was very encouraging for me to see the film itself and its monster box office debut silence a large majority of its false haters who judged from clips and trailers before seeing the entire film.  I know we operate in a news cycle where stepping out with a hot take or being first in clickbait gets traffic and eyes, but so much of that buzz sours to silliness when a film finally comes out and proves people wrong (not everyone but most).

LESSON #2: WHEN A FILM DOESN’T SCREEN FOR PRESS, THAT IS NEVER A GOOD SIGN— Aaron and I, on this website, have active press credentials and get to see films ahead of time for review.  It’s rare when a film doesn’t screen for critics and it’s normally never a good sign.  Fire up the disaster siren warning for “CHIPS” this week.   Buyer beware and run for the hills!  Proceed at your own risk.

LESSON #3: PAY ATTENTION TO THE SXSW FILM FESTIVAL— I’ll echo advice I gave in January on the Sundance Film Festival and turn my spotlight to Austin, Texas.  The trendy SXSW Film Festival is quickly gaining attention, buzz, and notoriety as not just a good time with flashy red carpet premieres, but a legitimate film festival with quality offerings.  Keep an advance Oscar eye on the SXSW award winners, beginning with Grand Jury narrative winner “Most Beautiful Island” and documentary winner “The Work.”

LESSON #4: TERRANCE MALICK IS ONE OF THE MOST POLARIZING DIRECTORS WORKING TODAY— Speaking of SXSW, “Song to Song” arrives in theatrical release this week after its Austin premiere.  Any new Malick film brings out the worshippers and haters from all directions.  There are staunch critics who, more often than not, refuse to downgrade the man and his extremely experimental and non-traditional work.  Mark me down in the column of people that refuse to bow at his altar.  While I really do get what he’s doing, I find the man’s work lost and tirelessly repetitive even if it’s absolutely gorgeous from a visual style.  You get to be your own judge because there are not many film experiences more rigorous than a Terrance Malick film.  Best of luck.  Let’s compare notes afterwards.

LESSON #5: WOULD YOU PAY A LITTLE MORE MONEY TO SEE THEATRICAL NEW RELEASES AT HOME?— This lesson paraphrases a headline from a provocative topic presented by /Film this week that put a few fingernails to heads for itch-scratching.  Over the last 10-15 years of HD capabilities possible in home entertainment technology, this is not the first conversation from studios to consider digital access at home.  VOD platforms have continued to evolve, leaving price point as the one tricky and crucial factor in play.  How does $30 sound to watch, say, “Beauty and the Beast” at your leisure on the couch this weekend?  If movie tickets are $12 and you have a family of four, spending $30 compared to $48 before travel and concessions is beyond tempting.  You’re trading saving money for the incomparable experience of the big screen with a captive audience.  How do you feel about that?

 

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 President 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 We Learned This Week: March 5-11

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LESSON #1: THE SUCCESS RATE OF INDIE DIRECTORS STEPPING TO BLOCKBUSTERS IS IMPROVING— Other than Marc Webb stepping up from “(500) Days of Summer” to the ill-fated “Amazing Spider-Man” double bill and “Moon” director Duncan Jones bombing on “Warcraft,” the recent push of larger studios’ farming of indie directors to helm blockbusters have gone pretty successfully.   All of the greats started small (take Christopher Nolan going from “Memento” to Batman), but the trend is swelling lately.   Colin Treverrow turned “Safety Not Guaranteed” into “Jurassic World” and J.A. Bayona will be moving from “The Impossible” and “A Monster Calls” into the dinotastic sequel.  “The Kings of Summer” director Jordan Vogt-Roberts cashed up to “Kong: Skull Island.”  This list goes on and on, and 2017 is full of more.  Rian Johnson flips “Looper” for “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and Taika Waititi goes from “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” for “Thor: Ragnarok.”  Jon Watts of “Cop Car” hopes to not pull a Marc Webb with “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”

LESSON #2: BIGGER IS BETTER— Speaking of “Kong: Skull Island,” the head honchos at Legendary Entertainment found the easiest and most irresistible route to selling a new Kong film: Make him bigger.   The powers that be have smacked an invisible label on the cinematic Cheez Whiz jar that reads “now bigger than ever,” jacking up the normally and plenty-imposing 25-foot gorilla into a gigantic 100-foot bipedal behemoth.  That changes everything when it comes to the monster’s capacity for destruction and man’s impossible chances of opposition.  Go see the film.  It’s a blast.

LESSON #3: KEEP AN EYE ON THE SXSW FILM FESTIVAL— For nine days and 125 features this month, Austin, Texas becomes the center of the independent film scene with the annual South by Southwest Film Festival that is starting to rival January’s Sundance Film Festival for exclusive films and a Hollywood-level red carpet.  This year, you’ll get the premieres of the latest films from Edgar Wright (“Baby Driver”), Terrance Malick (“Song to Song”), and Ben Wheatley (“Free Fire”).   SXSW’s merger of the arts is becoming a hot ticket with good gets.

LESSON #4: THE WHITEWASHED CASTING OUTRAGE IS STARTING TO SMARTEN STUDIOS UP— I think the combination of warranted complaints,  butthurt rants, and internet courage-fueled protests are starting to work.   Movie news reported this week that director Guy Ritchie will seek Middle Eastern lead performers for Disney’s live-action “Aladdin” re-imagining and Niki Caro looks to be doing the same for “Mulan.”   If you look past the animated curtain and beyond all of its inherent entertainment value, “Aladdin” is one of the worst perpetrators in film history for white-washing.  I’m intrigued to see something different and call these active attempts an initial victory towards improved diversity.

LESSON #5: LET’S MAKE UP A NEW WORD: “BRITWASHING”— Piggybacking from Lesson #4, race relations also have a national vs. international bend to them from time to time.  Samuel L. Jackson just stepped out in an interview to criticize the casting of black British actor Daniel Kaluuya to play an American African-American guy in “Get Out” and wonders about missed opportunities.  Honestly, the man isn’t wrong and, as I coin the term, “Britwashing” has been a quietly unsettling trend when you see the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis, Christian Bale, Henry Cavill, Andrew Garfield, Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, and David Oyelow playing real and fictional American heroes.  One has to wonder if there is a talent gap between the Brits and the Americans.  What do you think?  How do you feel about foreigners playing American figures and heroes?

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 President 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 We Learned This Week: February 19-25

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LESSON #1: THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH GOING TO NETFLIX— I don’t know where the stigma came that Netflix is where losers go to get work.  It’s probably because of the current career chapter of Adam Sandler being housed there.  Many auteur feathers were ruffled by the news that Martin Scorsese’s long-awaited reunion film “The Irishman,” starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Harvey Keitel, and the long-lost Joe Pesci, was heading to Netflix instead of a wide theatrical release via Paramount Pictures.  This is a business decision, plain and simple, and Netflix has come to play.  They want to get into the prestige film business and have the resources to do it and exclusivity to offer.  I can completely see Paramount’s end of it too.  As deeply loved and respected (to death) as “Silence” was, the opus was a flop for Paramount’s bottom line, earning back a scant $7 million and change against a $40 million budget.  Also, let’s look at marketability.  What was the last marque hit headlined by De Niro or Pacino as legit leads?  Face it, they are legends mired in decline.  I don’t care how many people love the old days of “Goodfellas.”  If the modern stars of “The Wolf of Wall Street” can only mildly top the $100 million plateau after an Oscar push on a $100 million budget, “The Irishman,” bearing the same $100 budget and likely R-rated genre, doesn’t stand much of a better chance with old has-beens above the title.  Any junior marketing intern can show Paramount that math.

LESSON #2: DIRECTOR GORE VERBINSKI IS BROKEN AND NEEDS FIXING— Discerning movie audiences were stoked at the proposition of director Gore Verbinski going back to his “The Ring”-esque horror/thriller roots with “A Cure for Wellness” after five Johnny Depp films (three “Pirates” movies, “Rango,” and “The Lone Ranger”).  Gaudy results or not, the man has talent.  Audiences didn’t bite and the film debuted in a distant 11th place.  “A Cure for Wellness” should have been just what the doctor ordered.  He needs some career rehab now.  He needs something different and has to resist the temptation to go back to the Depp well for a weak commercial hit to stay on the radar.

LESSON #3: AWARD WINNERS ARE ALLOWED TO GET AS POLITICAL AS THEY WANT IN ACCEPTANCE SPEECHES— I’m going to put this out there in advance.  It’s called freedom of speech.  They earned their 45 seconds of mic time before the orchestra plays them off and it’s their choice to use it however they want.  If you don’t like it, turn the channel.  Go to the kitchen for a snack.  Take a bathroom break.  Problem solved.  It’s that easy.  I’ll forward the internet meme rant here: You lost the right to bitch about this when you elected an unqualified reality TV show host as the President of the United States of America.  Enjoy your TV dinner of hypocrisy and butthurt feelings.

LESSON #4: FOR EVERY OSCAR-WINNING FILM THIS WEEKEND, THERE ARE 10 OTHER NON-NOMINATED FILMS OF BURIED TREASURE WAITING FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT— Let’s say this too in advance before Sunday’s 89th Academy Awards.  The Oscars are a pinnacle for a politically-voted process of taste and preference.  Their taste can inform, but will never replace and should not solely dictate your taste or your barometer of preferences.  You get to like and shower the films you love with praise.  Fly your own flag and love the movies you love.  The amount of excellent films that will never win an Oscar is larger than those that will.  Dig deeper and find your own buried treasure.  If you need some picks from last year, here’s a list of 16 hidden gems from 2016, all making under $1 million at the box office.  Only one of them, the documentary “Life, Animated” was nominated for Sunday.

 

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 President 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.