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Every Movie Has a Lesson

Every Movie Has a Lesson is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Don Shanahan.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
2/5
OBEX (2025) Don Shanahan It is a course that regrettably shrinks the contagious wonder the premise of this daring jaunt could have generated.
Posted Jan 13, 2026  Edit critic review
3/5
Anaconda (2025) Don Shanahan Raising the stakes and, thereby raising the snakes, means camp more than chomp whirling through the slimy special effects.
Posted Dec 23, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
Hamnet (2025) Don Shanahan A reaction-inducing climax and conclusion like that could only come from an equally important effort to establish the beautiful and challenging humanity of the people going through their ordeal.
Posted Nov 26, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025) Don Shanahan With each new bite at the Benoit Blanc apple alongside his muse of Daniel Craig, Rian has scripted his own grand narratives that demonstrate how diverse the murder mystery genre is.
Posted Nov 25, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Rental Family (2025) Don Shanahan With those glowing and disarming traits, the lovable Oscar winner could capture the hearts of the most bulletproof and armored tickers of any crowd.
Posted Nov 22, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025) Don Shanahan Rose Bryne has a vibrance beyond the stress, where levity can be found to break the futility.
Posted Nov 01, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Roofman (2025) Don Shanahan These split tugs of adoration and desperation create one of the best—if not the very best—complete performances of the 45-year-old’s career.
Posted Oct 11, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
John Candy: I Like Me (2025) Don Shanahan Whatever fond memories you had of him are deepened and enriched by this cathartic film, now that you know more about the man behind the laughter.
Posted Oct 08, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Eleanor the Great (2025) Don Shanahan There’s plenty for the new director to be proud of and a high value to being a mouthpiece for human connection as this film intends.
Posted Sep 26, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
One Battle After Another (2025) Don Shanahan You have one of the best filmmakers of his generation using all of his prowess and technical acumen on large-format film to make something utterly absurd into a woolly opus that is wildly compelling and intoxicating to watch from every angle.
Posted Sep 25, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Swiss Army Man (2016) Don Shanahan The polarizing “Swiss Army Man” kills us with weirdness. This film lets its WTF freak flag fly and encourages you to do the same.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Super 8 (2011) Don Shanahan What can be said is how sharply calculated "Super 8" is as an amalgamation of what both Spielberg and Abrams separately do best.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Sunset Song (2015) Don Shanahan Brought to life with moments of 65mm grandeur, his sumptuously crafted and carefully refined film adaptation is another jewel in the filmmaker's crown, though one not without its source material's difficulties.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Sunset (2018) Don Shanahan Director Jamison M. LoCascio’s sophomore feature film is a semi-”bottle film” that powerfully pings this automatic life lesson of empathetic choice.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Sully (2016) Don Shanahan The recreations have enough harrowing quality to bring you to the edge of your seat, clutch that armrest, and feel the beat of your throbbing arteries and internal fears.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Suicide Squad (2016) Don Shanahan “Suicide Squad” is a case of two hemispheres of tone and purpose that become problematic in cohesion and comprehension.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Sucker Punch (2011) Don Shanahan You've witnessed why Zach Snyder's movies never become revered ground-breaking classics: the stories can never live up to the visuals.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
Suburbicon (2017) Don Shanahan The most dazzling trait of "Suburbicon" is the inanimate. Anything living and organic is witless and half-baked.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Submission (2017) Don Shanahan "Submission" escalates a shameful tailspin of risks that are never outweighed by the rewards.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
The Stranger (1946) Don Shanahan "The Stranger," while built on a clever and timely post-Nazi regime premise for 1946, boils down to an Edward G. Robinson hero piece and a somewhat strained role for Orson Welles directing himself.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Still Alice (2014) Don Shanahan The balance of heartbreak and hope for everyone is extremely compelling.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
Steve Jobs (2015) Don Shanahan The film triumphs just as the pioneer himself as one of the most redemptive examples of hamartia in the history of the business world and popular culture.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) Don Shanahan "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" takes its mountain of hype and shoves it away to make something nonconformist and wholly compelling in quite possibly the richest and most expressive entry of the storied franchise.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) Don Shanahan With great pleasure and a nearly pitch perfect blend of innovation and reminiscence, J.J. Abrams promised, and now has delivered, all that anyone could hope for with "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) Don Shanahan Even if all of those ridiculous lens flares annoy the film snob deep down inside, you have to agree that J.J. Abrams has a nose for action and eye for spectacle.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Star Trek Beyond (2016) Don Shanahan “Star Trek Beyond” pushes a stellar and steady progression of shiny and modern blockbuster filmmaking with the right salutes to beloved nostalgia that warm from within.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Stalingrad (2013) Don Shanahan No matter what you think of Russia or what you know about the Battle of Stalingrad, this often impressive film can play in the big boy's pond.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
St. Vincent (2014) Don Shanahan “St. Vincent” is extremely sentimental and conveniently sweet to the point of cinematic syrup, but so what. Thanks to Bill Murray, it all becomes worth it.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
Spy (2015) Don Shanahan "Spy" feels like one of those movies that is funny the first time and lasts for that one dose, but won't be something you'll revisit and likely something you'll regret you really liked five or ten years down the road.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
Spotlight (2015) Don Shanahan This ensemble is flawless at every level. Not a single performance is preening or misaligned with the central cause to respect the stern roots of the actual history.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) Don Shanahan Aiming to please and bursting with effervescent zest at every flip, swing, and turn, Jon Watts’ "Spider-Man: Homecoming" succeeds as a brand new jumping off point for a character that badly needed course correction.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Spectre (2015) Don Shanahan The most crucial and effective answer "Spectre" provides to combat the ominous expectations before it is talent.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
The Spectacular Now (2013) Don Shanahan "The Spectacular Now" dives as deep and as real into a high school romance as we've seen in a long time.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
The Space Between Us (2017) Don Shanahan For as much as there is a place for the heady and heavy in science fiction, there should be room for the simple as sweet too.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
Southpaw (2015) Don Shanahan "Southpaw," starring a ripped-and-raging Jake Gyllenhaal, as entertaining as it tries to be, sadly brings nothing new to the table. This is disposable repetition at its best and worst.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
Source Code (2011) Don Shanahan What unravels and untwists in its repeated eight minute episodes, makes for an extremely compelling, original, and thought-provoking thriller.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Soul Surfer (2011) Don Shanahan You can try to call it formulaic and attempt to single out the expected cliches of being a comeback sports movie, but "Soul Surfer" is definitely something special and unique.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) Don Shanahan Succeeding frequently with several exciting and well-conceived action sequences and a bevy of rich supporting characters to enjoy, "Solo: A Star Wars Story" still has an inescapable ceiling.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
The Social Network (2010) Don Shanahan The Social Network, with this flashback storytelling, becomes a compellingly watchable film that delivers on its massive hype.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
Snowpiercer (2013) Don Shanahan In the end, the vague weirdness and bad performances outweigh the the film's ambitious singularity, style points, and heady fiction.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
Snowden (2016) Don Shanahan The volume of the pedestal-placing and monument-building is terribly effusive.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Skyscraper (2018) Don Shanahan The unmatched appeal of The Rock makes everything better, transforming this outlandish knockoff into something thrilling and satisfying with a dose of daddy feels for good measure.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
Skyfall (2012) Don Shanahan The result has been a no nonsense, driven, incredibly flawed, and actually wound-able James Bond compared to the invisible caricature of decadence he had become a generation prior.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
The Skeleton Twins (2014) Don Shanahan The clear chemistry between these two former television co-workers crosses over nicely into serious drama.
Posted Jul 31, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
She Rides Shotgun (2025) Don Shanahan It’s in this shared time on the road between an imperfect father and an impressionable daughter that "She Rides Shotgun" truly unfolds into an impactful drama with a strong familial streak.
Posted Jul 30, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
The Naked Gun (2025) Don Shanahan Every now and then, there’s an uncorked zinger that will blow right by an off-color line, and the fact that we relish it as much as we absorb the unplanned shock is a testament to the patience of it all and how much they downright nailed it.
Posted Jul 30, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
Sisters (2015) Don Shanahan Even a go-for-broke, R-rated potty-mouthed jolt from two of our favorite, and normally buttoned-up, comediennes can't save this film.
Posted Jul 28, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
A Single Shot (2013) Don Shanahan "A Single Shot" attempts some key moments to further the suspense, but they are short and not all that captivating.
Posted Jul 28, 2025  Edit critic review
1/5
Sing (2016) Don Shanahan Sing five, heck, even ten songs well instead of 86 at random and indiscernible quality.
Posted Jul 28, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) Don Shanahan The inspired comic recreation looks outstanding once again and the purposeful contrast levels are spot on to enhance the necessary atmosphere.
Posted Jul 28, 2025  Edit critic review
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