Michael Shannon Movies Blog

  When the titles tell you the film you are about to watch is directed Werner Herzog and is produced by David Lynch you know that you are in for something a bit offbeat. The film starts conventionally enough with police detectives, Willem Dafoe and Michael Pena, on the way to a murder scene. When they arrive they push through the crowd and we briefly see Michael Shannon who pushes by with his coffee in a ‘razzle dazzle’ mug. ‘Razzle Dazzle’ says Shannon who is clearly using the old ‘mug/script’ technique. The cops find a dead woman in the house, who has been killed by a sword. They get a few details and realise that Shannon’s character Brad was the killer and he’s slipped through their fingers. He hasn’t gone far however and had taken over an adjacent house and claims to have two hostages. So begins a long stand off which lasts for the rest of the film. To keep us entertained we get plenty of flashbacks to show how Brad ended up killing the woman whom we learn was his ...

  This is another film that I had previously watched for another blog, obviously in this case it was the ‘W’ Movie Blog. Looking back at my review I see that this contained the first reference to the Michael Shannon Blog that you are now reading. Back in February of 2020 when the original review was written I noted I’d no time to pursue the dream of watching every Michael Shannon film – how times have changed! I’ve reused the summary from the previous blog below but having watched the film through again I think my initial interpretation was a bit off – of course the injury was deliberately inflicted! The ‘wolves’ of this film aren’t of the full moon variety, but the name of a high school basketball team. There's probably a metaphor in there too - 'wolves at the door', ' a pack of wolves', you get the idea. We follow the fortunes of their star player, Anthony, who dreams of a scholarship at Cornell University, where Andy out of ‘The Office’ went. His Dad, M...

  I watched this Christmas film in August so I may not have been totally in the Christmas spirit at the time of viewing. It was OK, with a couple of laughs but I think Seth Rogan’s stoner persona is getting a bit old. The film opens with a book opening and a lot of rhyming couplets giving is the backstory of the three main characters. For a horrible moment I thought the whole film was going to be in rhyme but thankfully that was reserved for the preamble only. Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s parents are killed in a car accident and following their burial on Christmas eve his friends Seth Rogan and Anthony Mackie take him out. This becomes a tradition (the going out, not the burying the parents) and we get a trip through the ages as the lads have good festive fun in Christmas jumpers. One year they hear of ‘The Nutcracker Ball’ an exclusive and secretive party. They want to go but as the years pass they never get close to the fabled event. We then hit the present day with Mackie a late bloom...

  Some young adult wish fulfilment now as a bunch of high school youths take on the school administration, man! The film opens in sepia tone with Michael (credited: Mike) Shannon punching in a bunch of windows and then being found in a janitor’s closet. The sepia represents the past and we get plenty of these flashback clips throughout the film. It’s now the present day and Maddox isn’t happy with the school administration. He doesn’t like the creepy gym teacher or the nasty history teacher who rips up his pal’s drawing just because it had insurrectionist symbols on it. No way! Maddox rallies his motley crew of friends to start a covert battle against the school bosses, who all seemed quite nice to me. They start with a flyer campaign and stick up posters outing teachers for their indiscretions. They take their lead from the legendary John Stanton who also stuck it to the man before he cut himself up in the opening sequence and was sent to a mental institution. In ...

  Like our earlier watch of ‘Loving’ this is another ‘based on a true story’ film of a battle to right a civil wrong. It stars Julianne Moore as Laurel Hester a gay New Jersey cop who in 2002 has to stay in the closet due to the macho demands of her job. She’s partnered with Michael Shannon and the film opens with them covering each other’s backs during a drug bust. At a volley ball game Laurel hooks up with Stacie, played by the now Elliot Page. The romance goes slowly at first but eventually the pair buy a house and get a civil partnership. They come out to their friends, including a bemused Shannon, but tragedy strikes when Laurel develops cancer. As the disease takes hold, she writes to the Freeholders of the county to ask that her pension benefits be transferred to Stacie. Of course they refuse (otherwise we don’t have a film) and the fight is now on to secure the benefits that will allow Stacie to live in their home forever. Much of the film deals with the various co...

  I’ve cobbled this review from my earlier definite article blog review as there’s no point in rewriting my plot summary when it’s still the same 4 years later. New Shannon notes added for this re-watch! It’s a brave choice to have a convicted paedophile as your protagonist especially when it’s a self confessed one like Walter, who still has the urge. Walter has zero degrees of Kevin Bacon and we meet him as he’s discharged from prison from a 12 year stretch for child molestation. He picks up his old job at a woodworking factory with his former boss’s son letting him know he needs to keep it zipped up. Walter also checks in with his therapist, our favourite Michael Shannon, and gets visited by slow talking cop Mos Def, who doesn’t believe that Walter, or indeed any kiddie fiddler, is capable of being reformed. The woodworking shop seems a great place to work, as the creepy Walter quickly gets two ladies coming onto him. He rebuffs the first’s offer of a chi...

   The IMDb page for this film records that I had awarded this film a 6/10 rating. To be honest I don’t recall having seen it and having now seen it a second time that rating is maybe a point too high. It’s a pity as it has a great cast, but the film is just a bit lazy and self knowing to be fully enjoyed. Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd star as a couple having dinner with Bill Hader and Ellie Kemper. They share stories of how they met each other with the film dissolving to show the genesis of the Poehler / Rudd relationship. The film revisits the couples at the table periodically as some of the plot points are discussed and explained. Poehler runs a New York sweet shop and Rudd works for a large corporate candy firm. There is mild peril as the big company looks to drive Poehler out of business, but this aspect isn’t really explored. It is stated from the off that the relationship is like a romantic comedy movie and as such lots of cliches and tropes of that genre are trotte...