Michael Shannon Movies Blog

  Bulls at the IMDb Oh, this one is a shocker and definitely the lowest tier of Shannon you’ll find. I’m guessing he lost a bet to be in this or owed the director a favour, because it is a risible effort that even falls short of being entertainingly bad. The film opens with a caption: ‘Greater Manchester 1975'.  A young boy is disturbed from his darts playing to watch the World Championship of Darts final. Despite its celebrated title, this world championship seems to be taking place in someone’s basement with no crowd – maybe it was an earlier, forgotten, Covid epidemic event? Anyway, from the shadows steps up Shannon whom the commentator tells us is Alistair Whitlock, the best player in the world. He makes an arse of his first two darts and had an impossible shot for the bull to win, which of course he makes. He addresses the camera and greets the boy before disappearing for the rest of the film. We now must endure the remainder of the movie, Shannon free, with him havin...

  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’...

  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...

  As I near the end of this worthy endeavour the films get harder to find. This one required a £3.49 rental on Amazon! Oh, the humanity! It was a good watch though and I’m just glad the majority of Shannon’s work is easily available. There are a few that still escape me on all platforms, so we’ll just have to keep our eyes open.   This is a strange kind of movie with dark and comedy elements sitting side by side. In some senses it’s a film noir but in others it is a straightforward mystery drama.   Shannon plays a stereotypical private eye, almost in the Bogart style, but in 2009. He lives in a rundown apartment next to the train track and he likes booze, smoking and voiceover narration. We meet him in bed, rudely awakened by a 5am phone call. The news is good however, as it’s a job, and clearly one that he needs. He is tasked with taking a train so that he can follow a man and a child. Amy Ryan from the new employers is soon at his door with tickets and a pile of...

  This one opens with several short scenes of Rachel Weisz carrying out various occupations such as a nurse and a magician’s assistant. You may be forgiven for thinking you’ve stumbled onto a new celebrity reality show, but there is more if you hang around.   Meanwhile Michael Shannon is preparing for his birthday party. He starts out with a strange accent, but this is quickly dropped. He has problems of his own however – the bakery has put the wrong name on his birthday cake. There are also fissures appearing in his relationship with his exotic wife who has the option of a two-year jewellery making course and she wants Shannon to come with her to California.   Weisz shows up at the party with a colleague of Shannon’s with whom she'd engineered a meeting. We know he has no chance really as he’s a bit fat and he is destined to be in the friendzone forever. Shannon has a long doubletake at Weisz whom he knows as ‘Jenny’ but who now goes as ‘Alice’. He gets her alone...

  Here’s another film that I had previously reviewed for my Definite Article Movie blog. I’d forgotten I’d seen it and even went so far as buying a DVD of the film from eBay as I couldn’t find it on any of my other resources. About 20 minutes in it dawned on me that I’d seen Pierce Brosnan’s terrible gurning before. I did watch it through again however, it was £1.49 after all, and my reaction to it was much the same the second time around.   This film opens with Kick-Ass getting it on with Carey Mulligan - enjoy this happy scene as it’s the last bit of joy you’ll get for another 90 minutes, as a dysfunctional family deals with the loss of their son. Kick-Ass you see may be ‘the greatest’ in bed but isn’t so hot on his driving. He stops in the middle of the road to profess his love and is killed by Michael Shannon’s truck for his trouble.   His mother Susan Sarandon is devastated, and his father Pierce Brosnan is a bit upset too. His brother is mostly stoned and th...

  I always disliked the punny title of this film – oh it’s a current war and also about electric currents! Maybe raisins are involved too? I’m sure a better title would have helped, but I did enjoy this film despite some eccentric direction and some miscasting.   The film opens on some figures surrounded by mist. It’s not clear what’s happening but we soon dissolve into 1880 where electricity is starting to be developed. In the lead is Thomas Edison whose direct current is the market leader. It does however require a lot of wire and substations, but he is fixated on making it work. He’s assisted by Tom Holland who looks about 14 with a stick-on moustache. The pair later team up to greater effect as Dr Strange and Spider-Man in the MCU.   Edison’s rival is George Westinghouse , played by our Mr Shannon with a slightly more believable moustache, and he’s all about alternating current. He made his fortune in train brakes and sees electricity as the way to light up th...

  Another TV miniseries now and probably one that I was putting off. I’m not a big fan of country music so this six-episode bio-pic of George Jones and Tammy Wynette didn’t really appeal. It was however really enjoyable and, although some of the music could have been trimmed a bit, the two leads were excellent.   I was familiar with Tammy, but hadn’t previously heard of George. It seems that he was quite the big deal though, and even today he has twice the Spotify plays as Tammy, despite them both now being dead.   The programme starts in 1968 but the timeline does jump about a bit. Tammy is an aspiring singer whilst George, played by our Mr Shannon is the big star. Tammy has a herd of kids and a husband, but George takes a shine to her and whisks her away after an eventful dinner at her house. ‘Which kids are yours?’ he asks as they run off with George having overturned the table – well he won’t be asked back.   There is a ‘Star is Born’ vibe going on as...

  I thought I’d seen this one before but having sat through it I don’t think I have, but I’m not sure. There was something similar to this that I watched on Netflix but there is so little to distinguish this film from many others in the genre that I can’t be sure. It was decent enough though, although I doubt I’ll remember it when it next appears on my watchlist.   The film opens with a montage of various terrorist atrocities committed against the USA by Bin Laden, culminating in the 9/11 attacks. The military has had quite enough and decides to send troops to Afghanistan. Rather than use current soldiers they get recent retirees Chris Hemsworth and our friend, Michael Shannon to head a team being sent to support the Northern Alliance. The Alliance is ostensibly the good guys and the Americans need to assist them in stopping the Taliban and Al Qaeda taking over the country before the Americans can gain a foothold.   They get to base and boss William Fichtner, who ...

  We’re nearly up to date with this offering which came five years after the original Waco miniseries, which I have previously reviewed. This one is a bit leaner at five episodes compared to the predecessor’s six, and is less satisfying too.   The series takes up the story straight after the end of the Waco siege and we get various threads that show us the origins of the Branch Davidians as well as the fall out in the FBI and the consequences of their actions, which the series suggests gave rise to more Patriot style militias who were distrustful of the government.   There are three main threads with the origins of the cult getting the most attention initially with a courtroom drama then playing out along with Shannon’s character trying to work out what the promised ‘Payback’ will take the form of – spoiler – it’s the Oklahoma City bombing.   We see the cult in its early days in 1981, with Koresh joining under his original name of Vernon. The cult is led ...

  Here’s another relic from my fabled ‘W’ Movies Blog. Michael Shannon has provided many offerings for both this and my other ‘Definitive Movies’ blog and for that I thank him. I think it was my exposure to these random films of his that set him up as the candidate for my next blog, the one that you are reading here. As with the others I’ve ported over my plot synopsis from my earlier blog but have added a few extra Shannon focused lines too. The film is a family drama about the onset of Alzheimer's in the elderly mother. Don’t run away - at least that’s what they should have told the old girl who goes for a wander in the middle of the night in a Chicago snow storm. Her husband Robert Forster calls his local bar owing son Michael Shannon who in turn calls the daughter Hilary Swank. They manage to find the old lady but realise that they have problems to address. Shannon wants the old bird moved into a home as he bears the brunt of looking after his age ing parents and is...

  Time for a dysfunctional relationship now as the titular couple fall in and out of love on a regular basis. The film opens with a sex scene with the couple teasing each other as to whether they should save themselves for later. Michael keeps his pants on but Imogen Poots is more devoted to her art. We get various out of sequence snapshots of the couple’s relationship including an awkward meeting with Lola’s mother. Frank (Shannon) is a talented chef but is a bit jealous and overbearing towards the younger Lola. He gets upset when Justin Long chats her up in a bar as he looks on, and more so when he offers her a fashion design job. He’s nothing but nice, and a bit miscast, and even helps Frank to get a leg up by suggesting him to head a new Las Vegas restaurant. The relationship hits the rocks when Lola gets caught out having slept with another man. Frank leaves her but later reconciles with her when she reveals that she was raped by a man who was wooing her mother. S...

  I watched this show when it came on Amazon TV last year. I wasn’t going to re-watch all 8 episodes for the purposes of this blog as I wasn’t that impressed by it, but I did skip through the series again to refresh my memory. The series starts with a pile of fruit and ice in a blender which then switches on. It’s reasonable to assume that this serves as a metaphor for what is to come. The blender in question is a tranquillity retreat, run by Nicole Kidman’s character, Masha. She takes in the titular group of strangers with the plan being to aid them with their own struggles. As you’d likely have guessed they all have secrets and the invitees are not as random as you’d been led to expect. The first guests we meet are Michael Shannon and his family. He plays a high school teacher called Napoleon, and he and his wife Heather are struggling following the death of their son. They bring along their daughter Zoe, who is a twin to the dead boy. The rest of the group are a col...

  This is another film that I’d previously reviewed for my Definite Article Movie Blog. I’ve adapted my summary below and added some additional Shannon thoughts based on my re-watch. I enjoyed it more the second time around with my IMDb rating soaring from a 6 to a 7! ‘ The Iceman’ isn’t a spin off from ‘Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends’ instead it’s a bio-pic of mob hit man Richard Kuklinski, splayed by this blog’s subject Mr Shannon. It has a ‘Based on a true story’ caption at the start so it’s certain that some things have been added to the tale we’re being told. The film opens with an aged and beardy Shannon being asked if he has any regrets. Before he can answer the film morphs back to 1964, with a younger Shannon on his first date with soon to be wife, Winona Ryder. She admires his tattoos and slow drawl, and even believes his story of being employed as a voice actor for Walt Disney. In fact he has a slightly seedier job copying porno films. He later plays pool for ...