Michael Shannon Movies Blog

  Death By Lightning at the IMDb   More up to date Shannon now, albeit one set in the past. This is a 4 part mini series that you can find on Netflix and I would recommend that you do. Shannon plays James Garfield, a lesser-known American president who was shot by an assassin three months into his presidency and who died of complications from the wound a few months later. His story is not well known, at least to myself, but it was an engaging and entertaining historical drama which was sumptuously staged and well-acted, by a stellar cast. The first episode opens in a contemporary warehouse as an old box splits open and out rolls a jar containing a human brain. This is labelled ‘Charles Guiteau: Brain’ and the series then dissolves into the past to see how we ended up at the brain storage facility. We meet Shannon’s Garfield as a young senator working his farm. He has the familiar trait of being a poor woodworker – we know his talents lie elsewhere! He has a long-suff...

  Nuremberg at the IMDb Up to date Shannon once again and I have to confess that I gave up the chance to see this in the cinema in favour of ‘The Running Man’. My choice wasn’t great, but it wasn’t 148 minutes either! Three hours including trailers is too much and I think this film was better served over three sittings on streaming. The film is a historical drama which closely follows the events in Nuremberg following the war when a group of Nazis were tried for war crimes. This was a new idea with the victors previously just killing all of the vanquished on the quiet. This time the Allies plan to send a message that war crimes will be tried and punished in all conflicts going forward. Whether that has done any good is up for debate, and some of the shady dealings on show suggest that the victors weren’t that virtuous in any event. Shannon has one of the three main roles in the film and shines as Justice Robert H Jackson. He has the job of prosecuting the Nazis alongside his Br...

  After a brief hiatus we’re back! The remaining films on my list have remained elusive but this latest release from Mr Shannon got us back in the saddle. It’s always good to see the big man, but I’m afraid this one left me saddle sore and somewhat bored. It’s a pity as the premise of a family surviving 20 years in a bunker following an environmental disaster sounded interesting, but I have to say I had my doubts when I read it was a musical.   The film is set wholly within the wealthy family’s bunker, which was created within a salt mine. The specifics of the disaster are kept somewhat vague, but it’s made pretty clear that Shannon’s character ’Father’ was one of the instigators, given he used to control an oil company. This led to more alarm bells going off – will this be a parable about looking after the environments and pointing fingers at likely polluters? Yes, it is! The film sets its stall out early on with the ‘Son’ character starting a tuneless song in which he’...

  Hot off the press Shannon now as his latest offering comes to the fore. To be honest, it’s a glorified cameo and he’s in a single scene only, but he gets a credit as ‘Himself’, so let’s have a look. Sebastian Stan a.k.a. ‘The Winter Soldier’ stars as Edward, a man who has severe facial disfigurement. The cause is not mentioned but a childhood photo shows him without the affliction, so it’s safe to assume it’s a disease or genetic problem that’s caused the issue. We watch him struggle through his life with people gasping at his appearance. Things look up however when a new neighbour moves in and they soon hit it off. Edward is however too self-conscious to act on his feelings for Ingrid who is an aspiring playwright. Edward takes part in a new treatment trial and, as you’d probably guess it’s a roaring success, with his face being transformed overnight into that of heartthrob Stan. This helps Edward get on in life and he renames himself as ‘Guy’ and takes on a real estate job....

  I saved my rewatch of this film to the end of my quest as it was my favourite Michael Shannon project going in. Having now watched 90 other Shannon productions it still retains the crown. It’s just such a wonderful, mesmerising and immersive experience. The film opens with some narration and a description of “a monster who wanted to destroy it all” – and you know they aren’t talking about the guy with the gills! Sally Hawkins excels as Elisa, a mute cleaner who lives a lonely and routine life. We see her daily rituals of getting up, having a good time in her bath before making lunch for herself and her gay artist neighbour, Giles.   Elisa cleans at a secret marine research facility which is run by Michael Stuhlbarg but overseen by security chief Strickland, in a never bettered showing by Mr Shannon. Elisa and her co-worker Octavia Spencer encounter Strickland as he has a piss and he explains to them his handwashing regimen. Shortly thereafter they see him in a corridor...

  Shannon gets joint top billing in this 6 parts miniseries along with Alexander Skarsgard, but I think that’s down to those actors’ higher profile as this is really the Florence Pugh show.   She is the titular ‘little drummer girl’ a vague titled explained in passing by Charles Dance who laments about not being able to break a fanatical little drummer boy in a previous conflict, so what chance did he have with the elite terrorists?   The show is set in the late 70’s and opens with a pretty girl dropping off a bag of ‘music records’ at a diplomat’s house. She doesn’t attract suspicion, but we soon learn that the bag was a bomb when the diplomat’s house explodes.   Shannon runs an anti-terror Israeli unit and is charged with bringing down the Palestinian cell who caused the outrage. Short of a good plan of his own he decides to copy the terrorists and recruits a pretty young woman to infiltrate the cell. He picks Frances Pugh who is an actress touring with...