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Dive into our expert Oscar predictions and analysis, staying ahead of the curve on the films and performers destined for Hollywood glory. Awards Button Button Awards Update: The First Oscar Predictions of the Season June 13, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Final 2025 97th Academy Awards Predictions February 28, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen Oscar Nomination Predictions Last Updated: 06/13/2025 Next Update: 08/22/2025 1 Frankenstein 2 Sentimental Value 3 Jay Kelly 4 Marty Supreme 5 Sinners 6 One Battle After Another 7 Wicked: For Good 8 Bugonia 9 After the Hunt 10 Is This Thing On? Best Picture 1 Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another) 2 Guillermo del Toro (Frankenstein) 3 Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value) 4 Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme) 5 Noah Baumbach (Jay Kelly) Best Director 1 Sentimental Value 2 Jay Kelly 3 After the Hunt 4 Is This Thing On? 5 Sinners Best Original Screenplay 1 One Battle After Another 2 Frankenstein 3 Bugonia 4 Wicked: For Good 5 Wake Up Dead Man Best Adapted Screenplay 1 Jeremy Allen White (Deliver Me from Nowhere) 2 George Clooney (Jay Kelly) 3 Oscar Isaac (Frankenstein) 4 Jesse Plemons (Bugonia) 5 Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme) Best Lead Actor 1 Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value) 2 Julia Roberts (After the Hunt) 3 Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) 4 Jennifer Lawrence (Die, My Love) 5 Laura Dern (Is This Thing On?) Best Lead Actress 1 Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value) 2 Adam Sandler (Jay Kelly) 3 Sean Penn (One Battle After Another) 4 Andrew Garfield (After the Hunt) 5 Stephen Graham (Deliver Me from Nowhere) Best Supporting Actor 1 Elle Fanning (Sentimental Value) 2 Gwyneth Paltrow (Marty Supreme) 3 Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Sentimental Value) 4 Emily Blunt (The Smashing Machine) 5 Ayo Edebiri (After the Hunt) Best Supporting Actress 1 Wake Up Dead Man 2 Frankenstein 3 Marty Supreme 4 Sinners 5 After the Hunt Best Casting 1 Frankenstein 2 Sinners 3 Marty Supreme 4 Wicked: For Good 5 Nouvelle Vague Best Cinematography 1 One Battle After Another 2 Frankenstein 3 Sinners 4 Hamnet 5 After the Hunt Best Original Score 1 TBA 2 TBA 3 TBA 4 TBA 5 TBA Best Original Song 1 Sentimental Value 2 Frankenstein 3 Marty Supreme 4 Is This Thing On? 5 Jay Kelly Best Film Editing 1 F1: The Movie 2 Wicked: For Good 3 Sinners 4 Avatar: Fire and Ash 5 Frankenstein Best Sound 1 Frankenstein 2 Wicked: For Good 3 Marty Supreme 4 Sinners 5 Hamnet Best Production Design 1 Wicked: For Good 2 Frankenstein 3 Bugonia 4 Sinners 5 Kiss of the Spider Woman Best Costume Design 1 Frankenstein 2 Wicked: For Good 3 Sinners 4 The Smashing Machine 5 Bugonia Best Makeup & Hairstyling 1 Avatar: Fire and Ash 2 F1: The Movie 3 Wicked: For Good 4 Frankenstein 5 Superman Best Visual Effects 1 Zootopia 2 2 Scarlet 3 The Bad Guys 2 4 Elio 5 The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol Best Animated Feature 1 TBA 2 TBA 3 TBA 4 TBA 5 TBA Best International Feature 1 TBA 2 TBA 3 TBA 4 TBA 5 TBA Best Documentary Feature

The Cinema Dispatch is your one-stop-shop film review website that also offers lists, awards updates, and essays relating to the world of cinema. Reviews 28 Years Later June 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen F1: The Movie June 17, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen How to Train Your Dragon June 14, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Materialists June 11, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Awards Button Button Awards Update: The First Oscar Predictions of the Season June 13, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Final 2025 97th Academy Awards Predictions February 28, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen 1 Frankenstein 2 Sentimental Value 3 Jay Kelly 4 Marty Supreme 5 Sinners 6 One Battle After Another 7 Wicked: For Good 8 Bugonia 9 After the Hunt 10 Is This Thing On? Oscar Nomination Predictions - Best Picture Hunter Friesen Lists Cannes 2025 Recap May 27, 2025 By: Tyler Banark MSPIFF 2025 Recap April 16, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Essays Button Button Tyler's Takes: Why I Love 'How to Train Your Dragon ' So Much June 9, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Tylers' Takes: 'Ghost Protocol' is the Pinnacle of the M:I Franchise May 16, 2025 By: Tyler Banark

Explore a captivating collection of must-watch films on our curated list page. Lists Cannes 2025 Recap May 27, 2025 By: Tyler Banark MSPIFF 2025 Recap April 16, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Cannes 2025 Lineup Predictions April 3, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen MSPIFF 2025 Preview April 1, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen 2022 Losers Button 2023 Losers Button 25 Most Anticipated Films of 2022 Button 25 Most Anticipated Films of 2025 Button A Brief History of Presidents' in Film Button Cannes 2022: 50 Films That Could Premiere Button Cannes 2023 Predictions - Part 2: Hollywood Makes a Splash Overseas Button Cannes 2023 Predictions - Part 4: The Irregulars and Up-and-Comers Button Cannes 2023 Recap Button Cannes 2024 Predictions - Part 3: The Loyalists Button Cannes 2025 Lineup Predictions Button Every Spider-Man Movie Ranked Button MSPIFF 2023 Recap Button MSPIFF 2025 Preview Button Movies That Made More Money Than You Think Button Ranking the Films of Adam McKay Button Ranking the Films of Christopher Nolan Button Ranking the Films of Michael Haneke Button Ranking the Planet of the Apes Franchise Button Sundance 2023 Recap Button TIFF23 Recap Button TIFF24 Recap Button The Best Cinematographers Working Today And Where To Find Them Next Button The Best Military Movies for Veterans Day Button The Great Musical War of 2021 Button The Most Successful Directors at Cannes Button Top 10 DreamWorks Animated Movies Button Top 10 Films of 2019 Button Top 10 Films of 2021 Button Top 10 Films of 2023 Button Top 10 Films of 2024 Button Top 10 Martin Scorsese Films Button Top 10 Pixar Films Button Twin Cities Film Fest 2022 Preview Button Twin Cities Film Fest 2023 Recap Button Tyler's Favorite Musicals Button 2022 Winners Button 2023 Winners Button 25 Most Anticipated Films of 2024 Button 36 Most Anticipated Films of 2023 Button Cannes 2021: All The Films That Could Premiere Button Cannes 2023 Predictions - Part 1: The Festival Masters Button Cannes 2023 Predictions - Part 3: The Festival Mainstays Button Cannes 2023 Preview Button Cannes 2024 Predictions - Part 1: The Question Marks Button Cannes 2024 Predictions- Part 2: The Regulars Button Cannes 2025 Recap Button MSPIFF 2023 Preview Button MSPIFF 2024 Preview Button MSPIFF 2025 Recap Button Omaha Film Festival 2024 Recap Button Ranking the Films of Bong Joon-ho Button Ranking the Films of James Cameron Button Ranking the Mad Max Franchise Button Sundance 2023 Preview Button TIFF23 Preview Button TIFF24 Preview Button TIFF24: Tyler's Time at the Festival Button The Best Hollywood Screenwriters of All-Time Button The Biggest Flops in TIFF History Button The Greatest Irish Filmmakers Button The Worst Cannes Premieres Ever Button Top 10 Films of 2018 Button Top 10 Films of 2020 Button Top 10 Films of 2022 Button Top 10 Films of 2023 (So-Far) Button Top 10 Films of 2024 (So Far) Button Top 10 Oliver Stone Films Button Top 10 Steven Spielberg Films Button Twin Cities Film Fest 2023 Preview Button Twin Cities Film Fest 2024 Preview Button

The Irishman December 9, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen Sprawling fifty years and dozens of features, director Martin Scorsese has crafted one of the finest filmographies in cinematic history. Over the decades, there appear to be two sides to the revered auteur’s style of filmmaking. One side is filled with fast-paced and violent storytelling in films such as Goodfellas, Casino , and The Wolf of Wall Street . On the other side is a more slow and quiet study of the human condition that can be found in The Last Temptation of Christ , Kundun , and Silence . Now after years of being disjointed, these distinct styles have finally melded together in the director’s newest Netflix film, The Irishman . Telling the true-ish story (it’s still hotly debated whether any of it is true) of mob hitman Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, the film places its main character at the forefront of American history in the mid-twentieth century. Over the years, Sheeran became increasingly attached to mob life, eventually leading him to the infamous teamster Jimmy Hoffa, whose fate is still unknown to this day. But as Frank rises the ranks within the mob, we watch as he slowly descends into a life of violence where the riches are short-lived and damaging effects are ever-lasting. The first thing you’ll probably notice when looking up the film is its massive 209-minute runtime, which makes it the longest mainstream movie released in over a quarter-century. That amount of length may be daunting on paper, but Scorsese makes every minute of it glide by with ease. His usual style of kinetic editing and pacing are masterfully employed and keep the film entirely thrilling throughout. By the time the film has finished, you feel as though you have lived a life with these characters rather than just watched it. Another production facet that the film carries is a revolutionary new technology that digitally de-ages its main cast so they’re able to play their characters over multiple decades. Admittedly, the gimmick doesn’t work perfectly as the 76-year-old Robert De Niro never convincingly looks like his thirty-year-old self. But even with its missteps, the technology is never a bother and seamlessly works its magic in the scenes where the characters are closer to the actor's age. Adapted by Steven Zaillian from the book “I Heard You Paint Houses”, The Irishman is a dense (maybe too dense) and depressing crime epic. Scorsese’s trademarked main character narration is here in its entirety as Sheeran tells his life story while in a nursing home near the end of his life. Even though Scorsese implements his usual gangster style within the script, its use here is for an altogether different purpose than in previous films. Instead of showing the often joyous life of criminals with smugness, the script fully exposes us to the doom and gloom that a life of crime brings to someone. Frank is the main character in our story, but within his story, he’s always off to the side as he gets caught up in the everlasting destruction around him. By the time the third act reaches and the characters are reflecting on their past, their sad nature is fully exposed. All the acts these characters committed were paid for in death and despair, with the reward being even more of the same. Teaming up with Scorsese for their ninth collaboration, Robert De Niro does his best work in decades in the titular role. His performance as Frank is closed-off and internal, further highlighting that Sheeran had little control over his life. The further the story progresses, the more haunting De Niro becomes as he can more clearly see where the road will take him. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, Al Pacino plays the infamous union boss Jimmy Hoffa. We’ve always known that Pacino has fervor in his acting repertoire. His only problem over the years was how to effectively channel it to the right performance. Fortunately, there seems to be a method to Pacino’s madness here as his boisterous fire perfectly counters De Niro’s coldness. Playing against type is another frequent Scorsese collaborator in Joe Pesci as mob boss Russell Buffalino. Even if it may be his quietest role to date, Pesci instills fear through his menacing delivery and stares. Rounding the ensemble cast is Harvey Keitel, Bobby Cannavale, Ray Romano, Jesse Plemons, and Anna Paquin; all of which do great work in their supporting roles. Proving that the two sides of Martin Scorsese work better together than separately, The Irishman is a crime classic on par with the greats before. Its extensive tale of remorse and sorrow is worth every minute you put into it. If you only see a handful of movies a year, make sure this Netflix epic is one of them. More Reviews 28 Years Later June 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen F1: The Movie June 17, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen How to Train Your Dragon June 14, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Materialists June 11, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Zone of Interest June 4, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Zone of Interest had its World Premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. A24 will release it in theaters on December 15. “The banality of evil” is a term that has been (over)used to describe the lens that Jonathan Glazer uses to dissect the Holocaust in The Zone of Interest . The term was coined nearly fifty years ago by the German-born writer/philosopher Hannah Arendt during the post-war trial of Adolf Eichmann, one of the highest-ranking Nazi figures behind the Holocaust. Eichmann showed no remorse for his inhumane actions, nor did he have hatred toward the people that he had been ordered to eradicate. He plead not guilty to his crimes, as he was just doing his job as part of the Nazi machine. Arendt viewed Eichmann as an ordinary cog who refused to think for himself. He was simply motivated by career advancement and didn’t want to disrupt the order of things. That banality would become one of the most dangerous things within the new Nazi regime, as indescribably heinous acts were committed with the same complacency as an everyday person doing their chores. Glazer hones in on that concept with his radically departing adaptation of Martin Amis’ (who tragically died just one day after the Cannes premiere) 2014 novel of the same name. There is no vilification of the main characters within Glazer’s story, which are the commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), and his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller). They have five young children and are trying to create the perfect home to raise a family. When not working, the family spends their time swimming in the nearby lake, tending to their garden, or playing games in the house. They seem like a perfect unit, with the only reminder of their underlying beliefs being the concrete wall that separates their yard from the inner workings of Auschwitz. There isn’t a single moment that takes place within the infamous camp, but its presence is always felt. The family will be sunbathing in the garden when a faint gunshot goes off on the other side of the wall. Both you and the characters know what that sound means, but only you care about the implications of it. For the family, those gunshots are just as much a part of everyday life as the birds chirping in the trees above. They go about their daily lives without a hitch, leaving you stranded in the fear of your imagination. This provocation through absence is in such stark contrast from other works within the Holocaust subgenre that it sometimes makes you question the approach other filmmakers took. Did Steven Spielberg’s stylizations within Schindler’s List lessen the impact of the horrors, or did it make it palatable enough so that it could be used as a teaching point for a mass audience? A more extreme version of that argument would be Roberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful and the lesser-known Robin Williams-starring Jakob the Liar . Glazer is on the exact opposite end of the spectrum as Spielberg. His absolute refusal of stylization towards the pivotal acts is based on your preconceived knowledge of Auschwitz. You’ve seen the photos, learned the class lessons, and most likely seen Schindler’s List . Seeing what’s going on lessens its impact, as the horrors you infer in your mind are much scarier than anything within the frame. You want to look away, except there was nothing you were looking at to begin with. Grand stylizations do emerge from time to time, most notably a pitch-black prelude overture of Mica Levi’s incredible score, and black-and-white negative vision that follows a young girl on a secret mission. Paweł Pawlikowski’s regular cinematographer Łukasz Żal captures the action in staged wide shots, with much of it taking place within the house. Glazer and Żal positioned ten fixed cameras within the various nooks and crannies, operating by remote control similar to surveillance cameras within a mall. They give off a feeling of detachment and unimportance, with Glazer refusing to view the characters going about their daily lives in anything but a neutral light. Friedel made a name for himself as a burgeoning Nazi in Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or winner The White Ribbon back in 2009. While his commandant position would infer that he’s a radical supporter of the ideology, he is the film’s Eichmann, devoted to his role as a means to support his family and get ahead in life. The same can be said for Hedwig, with Hüller - having a wonderful Cannes with both this and Anatomy of a Fall - only breaking from her sternness when she finds out the family may need to move away from the camp. Sickening in the most calculated way possible, The Zone of Interest is Jonathan Glazer's ode to Stanley Kubrick. He answers the question of how evil can exist unchecked, holding all of your senses in a sterilized vice. Be sure to soak it all in during your first watch, because I doubt you'll ever want to view the world this way again. More Reviews 28 Years Later June 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen F1: The Movie June 17, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen How to Train Your Dragon June 14, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Materialists June 11, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Killer October 27, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Killer is a descent into bloody madness told by a director in complete control of their craft. Every frame is perfectly lit, every cut perfectly placed and executed, and every piece of sound is perfectly engineered to rattle your bones. It’s a pulpy uncomplicated story about revenge being a dish best served cold. For anyone who enjoys the Hitman video game series and laments the two laughably bad movie adaptations, this is the answer to all your prayers. Grant, Jefferson, Malone, Cunningham, Madison, Kincaid. These are the names The Killer (Michael Fassbender) goes by as he travels the globe trading corpses for cash. Anonymity is the name of the game, along with a cold “I don’t give a fuck” attitude. But for all his self-described ruthlessness, The Killer is a master of discipline. “If you’re unable to endure boredom, then this line of work just isn’t for you” he narrates in the middle of his week-long stakeout of his victim’s apartment. He’s developed a rudimentary philosophy to get him through the doldrums of contract killing, one that involves yoga, breathing exercises, and an understanding of how people go about their daily lives. 168 hours of waiting have passed, replaced by the 10 seconds of action that will make or break the mission. The Killer raises his rifle, squares it on his target… and misses. He’s never missed before, and there’s no telling if another chance like this will ever come again. An uncompleted job doesn’t get you a reprimanding like any other, it gets you a bullet to the head. The predator is now the prey, but there’s still time for those tables to be turned back. The Killer must retrace his past, tying up all loose ends by whatever bloody means necessary. Director David Fincher reteams with his Se7en screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, and the results are just as morally grubby as they were almost thirty years ago. Contract killing has become a gig economy, with The Killer reserving his hideouts through Airbnb (well, not anymore as Superhosts have too many cameras), getting lifts to and from the airport through Uber, and ordering his supplies off Amazon. The Killer is a flawed intellectual, a loner who watched too many Paul Schrader or Nicolas Winding Refn films but never understood the full picture. The cracks in his code immediately begin to show once his perfect structure is disrupted. The only thing that can fill those voids is anxiety and uncertainty. Is that person tailing him? Is this seat on the plane too exposed? Does he look too suspicious? Even with this inner turmoil, The Killer is still extremely sharp and dangerous. Fincher perfectly engineers each of the six chapters this story is told in, flawlessly setting the stage in locations such as Paris, the Dominican Republic, New Orleans, New York, and Chicago. A slow-burn tension is felt throughout, much of it supplied by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ electronic score. Mank cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt shoots everything in a gleamingly cool color palette, and editor Kirk Baxter keeps things moving with propulsive pacing. It’s an incredibly satisfying cycle, climaxing with a terrifyingly brutal hand-to-hand encounter between The Killer and a much larger opponent. Michael Fassbender shows that he hasn’t lost a step after a four-year acting hiatus to go race cars. He’s often mute, maybe monotone when he’s at his chattiest. But he’s always compelling, creating a character that is both restrained to practicality and capable of committing acts of the utmost cruelty. It’s best that he often crosses paths with characters with a little more personality, such as Tilda Swinton’s rival in the same line of work, or Arliss Howard’s crypto billionaire client. The Killer is Fincher at his most surface level, playfully cutting loose from ambition and delivering his best film to date (yeah, I said it). Don’t expect to learn any life lessons, or have your perspective changed on an issue. Just sit back and be entertained. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing a straightforward process being executed with pinpoint precision, and both our protagonist and Fincher accomplish their mission to outstanding results. More Reviews 28 Years Later June 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen F1: The Movie June 17, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen How to Train Your Dragon June 14, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Materialists June 11, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

How to Train Your Dragon June 14, 2025 By: Button Tyler Banark I love the How to Train Your Dragon animated trilogy (especially the first one, in case you couldn't tell here )! It was a pillar of my childhood, and the sequels were excellent additions to my high school and college years. When the news broke that a live-action remake was in the works, hesitancy ran amok in my head. The trilogy's losses against Disney each year at the Oscars, along with the fact that director Dean DeBlois was directing, assuaged some of those fears. My expectations were through the roof, and I am happy to report that this live-action remake of a classic animated film is well done and worthy! Remaking an emotionally rich and visually iconic animated classic like How to Train Your Dragon is no small feat. Thankfully, the 2025 live-action adaptation doesn’t merely repackage the story with real actors and computer-generated dragons. Instead, it reimagines the saga with breathtaking scope, grounded performances, and a sincere reverence for the heart of the original. The result is a soaring, stirring film that stands tall on its own, deepening the emotional resonance of Hiccup and Toothless’s bond. The core story remains the same: Hiccup (played with quiet charisma by Mason Thames) finds himself at odds with his warrior culture—and particularly with his hulking father, Stoick the Vast (a gruff yet tender Gerard Butler, reprising the role from the animated film). What sets this remake apart is its willingness to embrace the rawness and realism of live-action without losing the story’s fantasy charm. The CGI work on the dragons is, put simply, extraordinary. The creatures no longer have the soft, rounded cartoon aesthetic, but a sleek presence ranging from intimidating to adorable. They, and Toothless in particular, are still expressive, but are now imbued with weight, texture, and astonishing realism. Toothless’ eyes communicate volumes, and the animators’ restraint in giving him human-like qualities works to the film’s advantage. His every motion—from defensive snarls to playful twitches—feels lifelike, yet magical. The cast is uniformly strong. Thames brings vulnerability and inner conflict to Hiccup, capturing his intellectual curiosity and emotional insecurity. He could’ve easily gone the safe route and done his best Jay Baruchel impersonation. Nico Parker is equally compelling as Astrid, giving the character more agency and emotional layering. She’s not just a tough fighter, but someone slowly drawn toward Hiccup’s way of thinking, with a believable arc of skepticism turning to admiration. To be honest, I didn’t think it would work, but the more the script develops her, the more I was put at ease. Meanwhile, Gerard Butler brings a sense of world-weariness to Stoick, portraying him not as a caricature of macho leadership but as a father struggling with grief, fear, and hope. Audiences can tell he’s attached to the character and had no hesitation saying yes to coming back. The production design is nothing short of stunning. Berk has been realized with gritty detail—windswept cliffs, smoky mead halls, moss-covered training arenas—all giving the village a lived-in, immersive quality. Toothless’ hideaway, deep in a forested ravine, becomes a place of awe and quiet beauty, where his and Hiccup’s friendship is born. Cinematographer Bill Pope captures the rugged isolation of Viking life and the transcendent wonder of flight with equal grace. And the flying scenes? They’re as breathtaking as ever. With IMAX-ready visuals (the aspect ratio changes are an unexpected idiosyncrasy), swooping camera work, and John Powell’s iconic score—re-recorded with a live orchestra and expanded with new themes—the film's aerial sequences deliver a true cinematic rush. Having shepherded the franchise, DeBlois wisely avoids over-explaining or retooling what already worked. Instead, he leans into the emotional core with greater intimacy. There’s a quieter, more naturalistic tone this time around. It’s as if he knew the risk of adapting his beloved golden child was massive, and ensured it was handled with as much care as possible. The film trades much of the animated humor for nuance. But it’s not joyless. The bond between Hiccup and Toothless is more tactile, and Hiccup and Astrid’s relationship is more grounded. Everything is respectfully layered, adding even more power to the movie as a whole. Still, the film isn't without a couple of missteps. Some supporting characters, such as Gobber (Nick Frost) and the other dragon trainees, aren’t as fun as their original counterparts. As much as I like Frost and love what he and Simon Pegg did in the Cornetto Trilogy, he felt like a step down compared to Craig Ferguson. There was also a subplot involving Snotlout gaining his father’s approval, which the movie brushes over. Much like the animated movies, his subplot hints that he and Hiccup are related, but it’s never fully confirmed. However, these are small quibbles in an otherwise lovingly crafted film. What the 2025 remake excels at is reminding audiences why this story still matters. In an era of spectacle-heavy fantasy films that often mistake noise for emotion, How to Train Your Dragon still flies on the strength of its heart. It’s a story about breaking cycles of fear, choosing empathy over violence, and forging identity between expectation and desire. Watching it unfold in a new, photorealistic context gives the tale fresh weight. The dragons may look different, and Hiccup may no longer be animated. But the magic remains. This live-action remake isn’t just a cash-in or a nostalgia play—it’s a heartfelt retelling that understands what made the original special and dares to grow with its audience. For fans of the franchise, it’s a rewarding return. For newcomers, it’s a welcome invitation into one of the most emotionally resonant fantasy worlds ever created. More Reviews 28 Years Later June 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen F1: The Movie June 17, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen How to Train Your Dragon June 14, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Materialists June 11, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Materialists June 11, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Materialists opens during the Paleolithic period of the Stone Age. A caveman brings tools and flowers to the woman he loves, hoping it’ll be enough to earn her affection. We may think that love gets purer the further you go back in time, but there has always been a business angle. Dowries, negotiations, and aligning kingdoms are the old ways of forming a union. Now there’s an algorithm for that, loaded with statistics like height, income, and political views. And for those that are more serious (or desperate) and have the funds to do so, there are services like Adore, which will assign a personal matchmaker to search for you. Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is one of those matchmakers, and a damn good one to be specific. She’s responsible for nine marriages, salvaging the most recent one by spinning the bride’s cold feet confession that part of the reason she’s marrying the groom is because it makes her sister jealous into a lesson about finding value and feeling valued. The key to her success is to treat dating as a business venture, using the same calculating mindset you’d find on Wall Street. “Market forces,” “competitive advantage,” and “strategic skills” are her phrases of choice. The results speak for themselves, and there’s no denying that this is the path that the dating landscape is rapidly progressing along. It’s natural and odd that after writer/director Celine Song tenderly explored the concept of destiny and love in Past Lives , her follow-up takes a cold, hard look at the facts. There isn’t going to be a Prince Charming waiting in the wings, or a Cinderella that perfectly fits the glass slipper. Dating is a trial-and-error endeavor, with adaptability and compromise being the most important qualities. Song makes sure there are a lot of laughs to be had with all this nonsense. Lucy’s customers are demanding, neurotic, and impatient. A potential match must be this tall, be in this age range, like these certain songs/movies, and make at least this amount of money. Living in the Midwest all my life certainly didn’t prepare me for the astronomical figures that people expect to receive on the East Coast. But all of this is funny because they’re saying the quiet parts out loud, and deep down, we all know we do it too. The eternal bachelorette who has a knack for helping others find love is a trope as old as the romantic dramedy itself. Song may know how to reexamine it in the ways I just described, but she also knows how to harness its extremely potent traditional qualities. She also knows how to best steer the performers on all sides of this love triangle. Yes, Lucy gets more than she bargains for when she simultaneously finds affection in two separate places. Johnson is perpetually on a pendulum swinging back and forth. And after the swing (and miss) that was Madame Web , she was due for a major slide to the lighter side. We meet Pedro Pascal’s Harry as he charms his way through his brother’s wedding reception. He’s also obscenely rich, tall, and handsome. He’s what Lucy refers to as a “unicorn” in her line work - the man of every woman’s dreams. John (Chris Evans) has some of those qualities, but definitely not the financial ones. He’s your usual struggling actor with a part-time catering job who lives in a shitty apartment. But he’s real, and there’s a reason Lucy and he were together for five years before they broke up. We’ve seen characters with these archetypes before, but here they’re steeped in enough authenticity so you can’t just immediately pick a side. Materialists can also be too honest for its own good. There’s a darker element that gets introduced later in the story that drives part of Lucy’s decision-making about her personal life. Song handles it to the best of her ability, but its inclusion is habitually distracting from the other excellent qualities. Honesty is still the best policy, and Song continues to show that she’s a master of telling us how it is in the ways we want to hear it. More Reviews 28 Years Later June 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen F1: The Movie June 17, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen How to Train Your Dragon June 14, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Materialists June 11, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

28 Years Later June 19, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen The only moment that could be considered “light” in 28 Years Later , the third fittingly titled entry in the famed zombie franchise after 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later , is the logo treatment for Columbia Pictures. Even the opening image features the Teletubbies, the little devils that simultaneously entertain and steal people’s souls. After that, it’s a non-stop train down to hell. But there’s still a melody to the morbidity, much of it coming through the strong performances and delicate tonal balancing from returning director Danny Boyle. That shouldn’t be a surprise for the revered British auteur, considering he’s already performed this trick with the electrifying provactivness of the original Trainspotting , which turned into the wiser, sadder T2 Trainspotting . Time was a valuable asset for that series, and so is it here. No longer is agonizingly immediate dismemberment the top-of-mind threat, but the slow, trodden wait for time to outpace mortality. The ending of 28 Weeks Later , with the zombies now spreading through mainland Europe, has been retconned back to the British Isles. The world’s governments aren’t going to make the same mistake twice, so the United Kingdom has been permanently sealed off, leaving any and all human survivors to fend for themselves. Even for the people of Holy Island, who have formed a quiet, secluded community away from the infected, there’s a lingering feeling that everyone else on the planet is just waiting for them to die off and for all this to be done. As the title alludes, enough time has passed since the rage virus first appeared. There are now generations that don’t know what the world was like before all this. iPhones, the internet, plastic surgery, and pizza delivery. Those are all foreign concepts to twelve-year-old Spike, played by the brilliant newcomer Alfie Williams. His lifestyle has reverted several hundred years, his dad (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and he being the hunter-gatherers of the community. There are now variations of the infected, some slower and others brawnier and more intelligent, known as “Alphas.” A natural plot would create an antagonistic relationship between Spike and the Alpha, with his coming-of-age reaching its climax by slaying the beast. Screenwriter Alex Garland (recently helming the A24 military duo of Civil War and Warfare ) and Boyle have different ideas. As opposed to his worn-down traditional father, Spike’s concept of masculinity comes from his devotion to his sick mother (Jodie Comer), with the only hope for a cure being from a supposed insane doctor housed deep in the forbidden mainland. Like all promises of relief in this franchise, the answer is never what you want to hear. But instead of being a blunt beating, Spike’s realization about the natural order of things comes with precise catharsis. A bald and red-painted Ralph Fiennes plays the mad doctor, offering sobering wisdom from someone who sees past the us vs. them division of the living and the dead. His appearance is greatly welcomed, and his work with Williams and Comer tugs at the heart, a surprising occurrence from a franchise whose first instinct with organs is to violently rip them out. This is also a franchise where every terrible happening is caused by unbelievable stupidity, so the higher-minded philosophy still has a pretty low ceiling. The thematically correct sloppiness of the previous entry’s cinematography is replicated here through wide-angled and anamorphic iPhone cameras. At times, there’s a jarring beauty to it, providing an unvarnished view of the world. In other moments, it’s an uncanny valley, my mind instinctively rejecting cell phone cameras from the silver screen. That unfiltered view also prevents the unsightly CGI from being masked. A highly questionable ending, certainly a teaser for the already-shot sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple , dampens a lot of the goodwill built up to that moment. This is only supposed to be the start of a new trilogy, with original cast member Cillian Murphy expected to return. The brief sample has me questioning what the full course is going to be, but there are still enough unique ideas ready for us to sink our teeth into. More Reviews 28 Years Later June 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen F1: The Movie June 17, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen How to Train Your Dragon June 14, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Materialists June 11, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

F1: The Movie June 17, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) is the kind of driver they don’t make anymore. He races on instinct and adrenaline, pushing aside the fancy gadgets and gizmos. He doesn’t care about fame or money; just the thrill of the ride and where it will take him next. He’s also crashed every kind of car there is, doesn’t play well with authority, and is just a general pain in the ass. He’s a has-been, or, depending on who you’re asking… a never-was. That combination of salt and pepper makes him the perfect Hail Mary pass for the fledgling Apex Grand Prix team, owned by his friend and former racing buddy Ruben (Javier Bardem). He’s got a raw talent in Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), who needs a bit of mentoring before he can start thinking about being the best of the best. The familiarity of that plot doesn’t just stem from its similarities to several other films in the sports subgenre, but also from that of Top Gun: Maverick , also directed by Joseph Kosinski. Sonny is Maverick, Joshua is Rooster, the race team is the other pilots, and the F1 season is the battlefield. It’s as simple as that. One could claim that Kosinski is just playing the same notes, almost becoming a cover version of himself. Others will say that he knows his strengths and what his audience wants. Both sentiments are true on a spectrum, with me leaning closer to the former. There’s plenty of spectacle to go around, all bought and paid for through the combined war chests of producer Jerry Bruckheimer, studios Apple and Warner Bros. Pictures, and the International Automobile Federation. The reported $250-300 million budget is lavishly presented in every crisp image and roaring piece of sound. If Top Gun: Maverick was a not-so-subtle commercial for U.S. Navy aviation, then this is an unabashed love fest for F1 racing. Characters make speeches about growing up with dreams of being here, and real-life famous drivers like Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton (also a producer) make appearances. Just as they did in Top Gun: Maverick , Kosinski and cinematographer Claudio Miranda combine practical driving with convincing visual effects. They avoid the clichéd mantra of “just drive faster,” opting to really dig into the nuts and bolts of racing strategy. When are you going to make a pit stop? What tires are you going to use? When are you going to switch them out? What positioning are you hoping to grab on this next turn? These are the decisions that the drivers have to make in a split second, all while strapped to a glorified 200 mph rocket. It’s thrilling, even if it all follows a pretty similar pattern as we travel across the globe as the team competes just to stay afloat. All that spectacular showing is what makes the telling especially grating. Kosinski and co-writer Ehren Kruger can’t be faulted for wanting to hold the hands of audience members unfamiliar with this world. But having the announcers commentate on every single move was several steps too far. I’m either being told what’s about to happen or what just happened, neither of which I wanted or needed. What’s the point of building suspense through the intricate visual language when you’re just going to tell me everything right before the big reveal? This might sound like just a nitpick, but it’s one of those game-breaking bugs that would infinitely enhance the experience with its removal. There’s also not as much humility to grapple onto either. Those supposedly thorny but lovable characters are just a bit annoying, never fully earning our respect and admiration. Every character talks about how they just want to hear it straight, which just means they want to hear whatever the plot needs them to. Pitt is still at his most assured coolness, the movie star magic never fading even as he’s fully immersing into the “I’m gettin’ too old for this shit” phase of his career (see last year’s Wolfs ). Kerry Condon gets the blockbuster she deserves after The Banshees of Inisherin , although her interesting individuality gets sidelined for a traditional only-in-the-movies romance with Pitt. Without a thoroughly compelling story and racing scenes that needlessly keep themselves on cruise control, F1: The Movie can only be met with a polite shrug. It’s good enough to be summer escapism, and will likely have you driving home with a bit more lead in your foot. Let’s just hope that doesn’t cause as many crashes as there were in the film. More Reviews 28 Years Later June 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen F1: The Movie June 17, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen How to Train Your Dragon June 14, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Materialists June 11, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Echo Valley June 9, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Echo Valley opens at the bottom of a lake. A wrapped-up dead body is adrift, the details as murky as the ethics of the person who put it there. How and why that body got to where it is is the central mystery that will be solved, unraveled, and resolved within the next two hours. It starts on Kate's titular Pennsylvanian horse farm (Julianne Moore). Due to her wife's tragically sudden passing earlier in the year, the farm is just downtrodden as Kate's emotional state. Doing the bare minimum to keep the place at least somewhat presentable is the only thing that gets her out of bed in the morning, which takes a little longer to accomplish with each subsequent day. A barn roof collapse doesn’t make matters any easier, forcing Kate to beg for the $9,000 to repair it from her ex-husband Richard (Kyle MacLachlan), who now has a much younger wife and daughter. The two of them share an adult daughter named Claire (Sydney Sweeney), who's been in and out of rehab several times over and is relatively estranged from her parents. While Richard has stuck to the pledge they made in family therapy that they wouldn't interact with Claire until she got better, Kate can't completely go cold turkey. A few days later, Claire shows up at the farm. She still has a shitty boyfriend, but things seem to have drastically improved. That is, of course, until it's revealed that she has gotten involved in a drug debt and has no one else to turn to except for Kate. I'll stop the plot synopsis there to preserve the cover of who that dead body is, and how they got to be there. The script comes from Brad Ingelsby, who most recently created and wrote every episode of Mare of Easttown , alongside films Out of the Furnace , The Way Back , and American Woman . The pervasive themes of strained familial relationships within a crumbled America are present here, just in a frenzied manner. Stories like this have become dime-a-dozen streaming miniseries at this point, and there are more than a few instances here where that route would have lent to a more methodically structured story. Twists and turns come at a pretty rapid rate, leaving little time to question what's going on and how we should react. Then again, it's nice to watch a story dole out multiple swaths of information in minutes rather than chunking it out over several hours. Having great actors like Moore and Sweeney at the helm helps make it all go down more easily. There are years of melancholy in each of Moore's choices, grounding the highwire choices she has to make as a parent. Despite not being present for large stretches, Sweeney makes the most of her opportunities. The frenetic energy she brought to her character in Euphoria is replicated here. A harrowing confrontation between mother and daughter becomes the standout scene, as each character unloads years of baggage on the other. The subsequent busyness of the plot loses focus on that raw emotionality, almost as if Ingelsby doesn't trust himself to reach the audience without a tried-and-true murder plot. Director Michael Pearce, the main discoverer of Jessie Buckley with Beast back in 2017, shoots this story with a gloomy palette. There are moments where it feels as if he didn't know that the final product would be watched on Apple TV+, with the overall darkness of the imagery requiring a pitch-black cinema to make out any of the details. On one hand, I blame myself for watching this on a summer afternoon, the sun being too powerful for my curtains. On the other hand, I lay some blame on an artist for not being considerate of his audience. It's that kind of dichotomy stretched across each department keeping this film from lifting itself out of the realm of being respectably average. More Reviews 28 Years Later June 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen F1: The Movie June 17, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen How to Train Your Dragon June 14, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Materialists June 11, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

You People January 25, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen In a recent interview she did with Indiewire centered around the world of You Hurt My Feelings at the ongoing Sundance Film Festival, star Julia Louis-Dreyfus had an astute observation about the power of film editing: “...when it comes to timing, both for drama and comedy but specifically for comedy if it’s not in place, it can be a butchery. It can be total nails on a chalkboard if you’re not with the right person.” If only she had shared that wisdom sooner with You People editor Jamie Nelsen and director Kenya Barris… Barris, co-writing with star Jonah Hill, makes his feature directorial debut with this film. He’s already spent years on television as the creator of the hit ABC sitcom Black-ish (along with its subsequent spin-offs Mixed-ish and Grown-ish ), as well as the Netflix series #BlackAF . Much of that sitcom energy spills into You People , with almost all of the scenes playing out as individual components that are awkwardly stitched together to deliver a less-than-compelling narrative. You People is essentially an unofficial remake of 1967’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner , except with none of the seriousness and intention to actually make a difference. The story, while believable in concept, is delivered with such simplicity that it might as well be titled You People Have Got to be Kidding Me?!?!? Things start off sweet as the white, Jewish Ezra (Jonah Hill) and the black, Muslim Amira (Lauren London) fall in love despite their many outward differences. Standing in the way of their love fully blossoming into marriage are their parents, namely Ezra’s mother (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Amira’s father (Eddie Murphy), who both can’t get over the fact that their child is marrying someone of a different race. Much of the “humor” within You People is that the characters don’t want to outwardly offend others by bringing up what they're really thinking, so they dance around the subject with endless rambling. It’s as if you’re binging five episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm where Larry David gets himself into a bad situation and makes it worse by trying to talk his way out of it. Except here there are no Larrys as Barris and Hill don’t outwardly vilify their characters, keeping the conflicts superficial. All you get is an excessive amount of second-hand embarrassment and little first-rate sense of stakes or personal investment. If any of the characters sat down for more than five minutes and talked honestly, then none of this would be a problem. It seems like that was the intention that Barris and Hill had with their script, to show that all these racial problems could be solved with some understanding and truthfulness. But if Green Book erroneously taught us anything a few years ago, it’s that this problem doesn’t just go away with a quick heart-to-heart as it does here. Even Eddie Murphy, who can usually be depended on to spin comedy gold out of straw, can’t salvage what he’s given here. He’s given a movie star entrance as James Brown plays overhead, but then just sits back and bemoans about Ezra being white for the next ninety minutes. Louis-Dreyfus is probably worse served as she’s forced to recycle the same “older white woman who’s not in touch with today’s racial climate” bit on and on until it almost becomes offensive to comedy. You People tries way too hard to do way too little, becoming a “film for everyone” that no one will enjoy. Barris abruptly exited his $100 million multi-year deal with Netflix in 2021 for another lucrative pact over at Paramount. Somewhere in a Hollywood bar right now there are two executives, one from Netflix and the other from Paramount drinking together, except one is downing shots much happier than the other. More Reviews F1: The Movie June 17, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen How to Train Your Dragon June 14, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Materialists June 11, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Echo Valley June 9, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen