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: Pre-Fall Festival Season Predictions September 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Final 2026 Academy Award Predictions March 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen Oscar Nomination Predictions Last Updated: 03/12/2026 Next Update: N/A 1 The Odyssey 2 La Bola Negra 3 Wild Horse Nine 4 Dune: Part Three 5 Fjord 6 The Debut 7 Project Hail Mary 8 All of a Sudden 9 Elsinore 10 Ink Best Picture 1 Christopher Nolan (The Odyssey) 2 Los Javis (La Bola Negra) 3 Martin McDonagh (Wild Horse Nine) 4 Cristian Mungiu (Fjord) 5 Ryūsuke Hamaguchi (All of a Sudden) Best Director 1 Wild Horse Nine 2 The Debut 3 Fjord 4 Club Kid 5 Elsinore Best Original Screenplay 1 La Bola Negra 2 Ink 3 The Odyssey 4 All of a Sudden 5 The Invite Best Adapted Screenplay 1 Matt Damon (The Odyssey) 2 John Malkovich (Wild Horse Nine) 3 Andrew Scott (Elsinore) 4 Robert Pattinson (Primetime) 5 Ryan Gosling (Project Hail Mary) Best Lead Actor 1 Julianne Moore (The Debut) 2 Inde Navarrette (Obsession) 3 Virginie Efira (All of a Sudden) 4 Sandra Hüller (Rose) 5 Renate Reinsve (Fjord) Best Lead Actress 1 Paul Giamatti (The Debut) 2 John Leguizamo (The Odyssey) 3 Sam Rockwell (Wild Horse Nine) 4 Guy Pearce (Ink) 5 Steve Buscemi (Wild Horse Nine) Best Supporting Actor 1 Anne Hathaway (The Odyssey) 2 Penélope Cruz (The Invite) 3 Mariana di Girolamo (Wild Horse Nine) 4 Olivia Colman (Elsinore) 5 Tao Okamoto (All of a Sudden) Best Supporting Actress 1 The Odyssey 2 La Bola Negra 3 Wild Horse Nine 4 The Debut 5 Obsession Best Casting 1 The Odyssey 2 La Bola Negra 3 Dune: Part Three 4 Fatherland 5 Werwulf Best Cinematography 1 The Odyssey 2 La Bola Negra 3 Wild Horse Nine 4 Disclosure Day 5 Project Hail Mary Best Original Score 1 TBD (The Debut) 2 By Any Means (By Any Means) 3 La Nieve (La Bola Negra) 4 How to Write a Song (Without You) (Power Ballad) 5 Runway (The Devil Wears Prada 2) Best Original Song 1 La Bola Negra 2 The Odyssey 3 Wild Horse Nine 4 Project Hail Mary 5 Ink Best Film Editing 1 The Odyssey 2 Dune: Part Three 3 Project Hail Mary 4 La Bola Negra 5 Disclosure Day Best Sound 1 The Odyssey 2 Dune: Part Three 3 Werwulf 4 La Bola Negra 5 Project Hail Mary Best Production Design 1 The Odyssey 2 La Bola Negra 3 Werwulf 4 Sense and Sensibility 5 Dune: Part Three Best Costume Design 1 Digger 2 Werwulf 3 Clayface 4 Dune: Part Three 5 Wicker Best Makeup & Hairstyling 1 Dune: Part Three 2 The Odyssey 3 Project Hail Mary 4 Whalefall 5 Godzilla Minus Zero Best Visual Effects 1 Wildwood 2 Toy Story 5 3 Ray Gunn 4 Iron Boy 5 Forgotten Island Best Animated Feature 1 La Bola Negra (Spain) 2 Fjord (TBD) 3 All of a Sudden (Japan) 4 Fatherland (TBD) 5 Possible Love (South Korea) Best International Feature 1 Once Upon a Time in Harlem 2 American Doctor 3 Rehearsals for a Revolution 4 To Hold a Mountain 5 14th 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 Onslaught September 2, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mayday September 2, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Awards Button Button Awards Update: Pre-Fall Festival Season Predictions September 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Final 2026 Academy Award Predictions March 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen 1 The Odyssey 2 La Bola Negra 3 Wild Horse Nine 4 Dune: Part Three 5 Fjord 6 The Debut 7 Project Hail Mary 8 All of a Sudden 9 Elsinore 10 Ink Oscar Nomination Predictions - Best Picture Hunter Friesen Lists MSPIFF 2026 Preview April 6, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Top 50 Films of the 2020s February 23, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen

Mayday September 2, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen If the comparisons between Mayday , the newest mass-appealing action film in the Skydance-to-Apple TV pipeline, and Top Gun seem a little too easy and immediate, it’s because they weren't accidental. Each hallmark of the 1986 Tony Scott-directed film - Navy white uniforms, a kitchy ‘80s setting, fighter jets, braggadocious pilots with one-word callsigns - is directly referenced here by the writer/director duo John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. Ryan Reynolds, as Lieutenant Troy Brennan, swoops through the air in one of those jets, modeling himself after Maverick. Too bad he looks a lot more like plastic in the cockpit, another victim who tried and failed to replicate the practical madness of Tom Cruise digitally. Released in the final days of the Cold War, Top Gun was more than just popcorn entertainment. Intentionally or not (most likely the former, as the U.S. Navy had the highest application rate in years upon release), it was powerful propaganda for American exceptionalism. For those behind the Iron Curtain, it showed a glamorous and prosperous side of an inaccessible world, one that rewarded greatness in those willing to risk everything. This was especially true for Nikolai Ustinov (Kenneth Branagh, sporting an identical accent to his Russian baddie in Tenet ), who obtained one of the very few bootleg copies of the film in the Soviet Union. After decades as a KGB black ops soldier, he’s lost faith in his government and has defected to the other side. His days are now spent in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere, shunning the desolate world he helped create. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om5Un9X720M This is all good news for Troy, whose daring stunts in the face of danger get him recruited for a covert reconnaissance mission over Russian soil. He’s quickly shot down, uttering the titular line several times as he ejects into the tundra. Luckily, the first person he comes into contact with is probably the only ass-kicking, English-speaking, American-loving Russian in all of Siberia. Because Troy’s mission doesn’t technically exist, the United States cannot acknowledge his existence through a rescue operation. With Nikolai’s aid, he has to traverse thousands of miles to reach the American embassy in Moscow, with the whole Red Army on high alert. Along their buddy journey, each character displays how much they are a product of their systems, fed lies as to how the other operates. On one cold night in a downtrodden village, Nikolai knocks on the door of a poor family and asks if he and Troy can stay the night. Despite having little food and a single bed, the family immediately grants their hospitality. Troy can’t confidently say that an American family would do the same out of the goodness of their heart. How much better is our exponentially richer society if we’re incapable of sharing it? Nikolai also needs to warm his frostbitten heart, embracing his daughter Anna (Maria Bakalova), whom he left behind many years ago. Maybe it’s because we don’t know when to stop talking, but Americans always speak their feelings. Some gentle nudging by Troy turns Nikolai into a father again, with Branagh and Bakalova sharing some pleasantly gentle scenes. It’s too bad Bakalova’s role is so thanklessly minuscule, quickly pushing her aside once the hijinks need to resume. Granted, those hijinks are pretty entertaining to watch. Francis and Goldstein recapture that caper energy from Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves , moving with a sense of kineticism. Just a simple camera trick here and there makes for a drastically more enjoyable experience, with some panache matching the charisma of the lead pair. It’s no surprise that Reynolds plays a selfish and quick-witted character who wisens up to what really matters in the world. Maybe he was on his A-game, or that Goldstein and Daley supplied him with better material than he usually gives himself, but Reynolds feels much more reigned in and precise with his jokes. Branagh matches that American banter with deadpan Soviet literalism, creating a fun dynamic of fire and ice. They may not individually fly as high as Maverick, but they can be each other’s wingman anytime. Apple TV will release Mayday on its streaming service on September 04th. More Reviews Onslaught September 2, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mayday September 2, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Tony August 18, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen During the waning days of the press tour for The Odyssey , Christopher Nolan gave a surprisingly in-depth and frank interview with Chinese podcast host Zhong Shu. As part of the discussion, Nolan expressed one of his annoyances with modern film criticism: the tendency to gamify the experience of watching a film. Many audiences have an insecure need to be one step ahead of the story, as if knowing what's going to happen before it happens is the mark of an intelligent viewer. And if we're smarter than the movie, then it means the movie isn't pulling off its trick of illusion. "Because to be able to identify the mechanism does not invalidate the mechanism...” he said. "Because people have this idea that, ‘Because I can understand why the story affects me the way it is, therefore, it didn’t work." Apart from maybe superhero films, Nolan's grievance finds its greatest home in the biopic genre. Whether it’s the fact that they're (somewhat) based on true stories with rigid parameters for what can and can't happen, or that it’s simply what sells lots of tickets, biopics have some of the most recurring and recognizable traits in all of cinema. Throughout my time as a film critic, I've written ad nauseam about films like I Wanna Dance with Somebody , Back to Black , Bob Marley: One Love , and Bohemian Rhapsody . Just as they all presented the same cadence of trials and tribulations for their central figures, I wrote the same critique of having to sit through the formula again and again. Perhaps my fixation on the routine story beats prevented me from digging deeper into the juicier thematic material. Of course, like Nolan's view, my critique of those subpar films was not solely based on the innate fact that they followed the formula. Plenty of great biopics followed the Rosetta Stone to the letter just as much, such as A Complete Unknown , The Aviator , and Nolan's own Best Picture-winning Oppenheimer . What creates a feast out of a famine is the combination of all facets of the production. Bob Marley: One Love and A Complete Unknown both feature transformative performances (Kingsley Ben-Adir and Timothée Chalamet, respectively) at the center of their conventional stories, but only the latter featured the craft and unspoken warmth that kept me fully invested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1MVnzd2aVc All in all, this brings us to Tony , the origin story of Anthony Bourdain (going by “Tony” here) before he became the bad boy of the culinary world with his Kitchen Confidential book and travelogue shows. Granted, he was always a bad boy, as evidenced by the opening quote (also prominently featured on the film’s poster): “I was – to be frank – a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout.” In his eyes, his roguish charm comes from his cool wordplay, with lies spun with such a bragging nature that he wholly believes everyone hangs onto his every word like it is gospel. It’s why he’s telling everyone he’s going to get a summer writing fellowship grant from Vassar only a few minutes after coming out of the interview. It’s not much of a coincidence that the two people who see right through him are women: his stern mother Gladys (Dagmara Domińczyk) and Nancy (Emilia Jones), an older classmate he has a crush on. Unfortunately, the script by director Matt Johnson, as well as Todd Bartels, Lou Howe, and Matthew Miller, does not support these women as anything beyond functions for Tony to become Anthony Bourdain. They are uninterested in him when he needs to be at his lowest, and then interested in him once the story requires it. The double whammy of their initial disinterest is what sets Tony on his course of self-discovery. Inevitably, he doesn’t get the writing fellowship. Instead of admitting this fact to his parents and friends, he steals all the cash from his dad’s wallet and hops on a bus. His destination is the seaside Provincetown, where he’ll repair his broken ego by wooing Nancy at her summer job. On his first night in town, he’s thrown out of a restaurant for drunkenness, losing all his cash and bumming on the street. The restaurant’s owner and head chef (Antonio Banderas), who simply goes by “Chef,” takes pity on Tony, giving him a dishwasher job in exchange for the couple of bucks he needs to get back home. In the kitchen, Tony meets the salt and brine of the working class, filled with cursing, inappropriate jokes about coworkers' mothers, and the high stakes of surviving a lunch rush during the height of tourist season. It’s put up or shut up, with Tony unable to talk his way out of his inadequacy. As he did a few years ago with BlackBerry , Johnson has crafted an ode to outcasts, those who sweat over a hot stove all day, then throw away their apron to sit around a fire on the beach while throwing back a few (too many) beers. There’s a rambunctious rhythm to the chaos of the kitchen, the staff’s mismatched personalities merging into a found family. It’s admirable that Johnson focused most of his efforts on that aspect, because the biopic-y nature of this story is rather shallow, overrelying on our already established understanding of Bourdain. His ignition for cooking is rather absent here, with only a small handful of scenes featuring meals being served. For a movie about a chef, there was not a moment when my mouth watered, nor did I feel very educated about how a master chef starts his journey. What I did feel connected to was Dominic Sessa’s lead performance, a natural extension of his revelatory debut work in The Holdovers a few years back. It’s his time to come of age, to figure out the person he truly is instead of the person he keeps telling everyone (and himself) who he will be. Banderas is also quite incredible in a role that could have used just a little more padding. He’s found his oasis in the desert, secure enough in his dreams and ambitions to extend a helping hand to Tony, whose greatest life lesson was getting punched in the face as he was thrown on that first night. Even when you think you can’t eat anymore, a great chef will bring something out that makes your stomach find a new level of appetite. Even with a talent like Johnson, Tony didn’t do that for me, more or less just being another stage in the endless course meal that is the biopic genre. It’s appetizing to look at and has a smooth flavor, but little nutritional value. A24 will release Tony in select theaters on August 07th, followed by a nationwide expansion on August 21st. More Reviews Onslaught September 2, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mayday September 2, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen Featuring the world's second most popular dinosaur (second only to the T-Rex from Jurassic Park ), Barney & Friends was a flagship educational program on PBS for a generation of kids, myself included. The purple anthropomorphic dinosaur sang and danced as he taught children lessons about growing up, usually with help from his pals Baby Bop, BJ, and Riff. Everyone who grew up during the show's run has the "I Love You" song stuck in their brain, and the perfectly whimsical sets elicit a sense of nostalgia. But what happens when that perfect world gets a little… imperfect? That's the question writer/director Casper Kelly asks with his feature directorial debut, Buddy . It extends his fascination with twisting previously comforting media into something absurdly creepy. His 2014 short film, Too Many Cooks , deconstructed the family sitcoms of the '80s, while Adult Swim Yule Log 2: Branchin' Out takes that iconic Christmas image and adds a murderous element. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mil0YgOtu8 Taking almost complete inspiration from Barney, the titular Buddy (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key) is a magical orange talking unicorn mascot who interacts with children in his imaginary park. The children follow along to Buddy's every whim, singing and dancing whenever he politely instructs them to. That is, until one day when a child decides that he doesn't feel like dancing. Buddy doesn't handle rejection well, his cheery disposition replaced by a bloodthirsty rage still masked by his stitched-on smile. That disobedient child is never seen again, leaving behind his favorite book stained with blood, which Buddy laughs off as red paint. Back in the drab real world is Grace (Cristin Milioti), a mother who can't help but feel that something is missing or wrong with her life. Her lame husband (Topher Grace) doesn't believe her, leading to arguments where she gets to spout such cliched lines like "You're not listening to me!" For as much as the children's television segments really commit to the bit through impressive production details and performances, the middle chunk of the film outside of that is an absolute bore. Kelly may have (potentially) beaten A24 and Ayo Edebiri to the punch on riffing on Barney's cultural legacy; there is also the fact that YouTube has largely mined this twisted take for all its worth. I can recall several evil Barney animated videos I watched behind my parents' back, as well as the Don't Hug Me I'm Scared puppet series. Buddy's descent into a murderous rampage is a one-joke premise that is buoyed by a bigger budget and sense of craft than those archaic internet shorts. The child performances are remarkable, balancing the poppy educational showmanship with the terror of a slasher film. Delaney Quinn - who starred as the unseen child from hell in last year's If I Had Legs I’d Kick You - plays the protagonist Freddy. Buddy teaches her early on that you gotta be scared to be brave, something she learns through much more terrifying methods later on. Too bad Kelly wasn't brave enough to fully push his vision into fresher territory. Roadside Attractions will release Buddy in theaters nationwide on August 28th. More Reviews Onslaught September 2, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mayday September 2, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Colony August 26, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen Ten years after the smash hit Train to Busan (and six years after the extremely disappointing and forgettable sequel, Peninsula ), South Korean writer/director Yeon Sang-Ho returns to the land of the living dead with Colony . Just like they were on that speeding train, these zombies are extremely fast, aggressive, and agile. They love to leap after their prey, pulling off some acrobatic moves that would catch the eye of a few gymnastics coaches. It all starts rather simply at a biotech conference. Kang (Kim Jong-tae), the CEO of a leading bio company, is giving a presentation on a new bioengineered mold that communicates through a hive mind. He describes it as an "organic semiconductor," capable of adapting itself and everything connected to it in an instant. Of course, that all sounds fine and dandy as long as it's used responsibly. Seo Young-chul (Koo Kyo-hwan), a former employee who feels he's been cheated out of recognition for his discovery of this organism, decides to weaponize it. He injects the CEO with the mold, violently turning him into a bloodthirsty zombie whose sole mission is to bite and claw at people to spread the infection. One zombie becomes two, then four, then eight, and so on and so on. Within an hour, the whole building has been locked down to contain the hundreds now infected, with a few survivors trying to make their way out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je122ZNo6uw "Imperfect communication is the source of all tragedies" is Seo's reasoning for starting this chain reaction. How many horrible events throughout human history can be attributed to poor communication? How many lives have been lost? How much progress has been erased? The infected communicate through a shared brainwave, cutting through the walls put up by the complexity of language. They are a new version of humanity, all equal in the knowledge they possess. Think of the hive mind from Pluribus , with everyone being a lot gooier and more violent. Learning to communicate is a cohort of survivors, each fitting a specific archetype within a disaster movie. There's a nice old man who possesses more skills than meets the eye, a rude middle-aged business executive, annoying teenagers, a police officer who takes charge, and a conflicted main character who often provides the voice of reason. Most of them make dumb decisions that put themselves in further peril, usually stumbling around just as they're about to escape to safety. If not very fresh or interesting, Sang-Ho at least uses these characters to move us from one thrilling set piece to the next. The zombies undergo a logical evolution of their mental and motor skills. They learn that cardboard model cutouts aren't human, and that people have a distinct smell to them. The same tactic can't be used twice, leading to many different sequences where the survivors must use their wits to move past the growing horde. Eventually, it does start to get a little repetitive, with false flags being waved around too many times for us to believe in their trickery. Seo's role as an outright villain is a refreshing take, with Koo consistently playing him with a devilish grin. The scope enlarges once the army gets involved, focusing on the debate about how much attention should be paid to a few survivors when the outbreak could easily snowball to envelop the entire country. It's that mixture of brains and brawn that keeps Colony interesting from beginning to end. In our relentless pursuit to eliminate all that makes us different, we threaten to rid the world of uniqueness, creating a monoculture where a single way of thinking reigns supreme. In essence, we would all become zombies, doomed to walk the same path without an individual thought. Well Go USA Entertainment will release Colony in select theaters on August 28th. More Reviews Onslaught September 2, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mayday September 2, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Onslaught September 2, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen A little war never hurt anyone, right? Historian Victor Davis Hanson described the United States of America as having been “born through war, reunited by war, and saved from destruction by war.” Yes, we seem to be at our very best when there’s someone in our sights, the full might of militaristic capitalism unleashed in a fit of rage. We get bored of peacetime, creating conflicts around the globe to keep ourselves preoccupied with blaming someone else for our woes instead of looking inward. This cycle of violence stops for no one, not even the person with their hand on the wheel. In an effort to get a head start on the Cold War and collect the best secrets for ourselves, America conducted Operation Paperclip, a covert extraction program that brought over one thousand German scientists - many of whom were former Nazis - to the mainland after the fall of Berlin. Unbeknownst to the populace, this virus became part of our country’s DNA, steering our space and military programs to the present day. They built our space shuttles, developed new missiles, and anything else we needed to satisfy our unquenchable thirst for world domination. In the American Southwest, a third-generation paperclip by the name of Hans Kammler (Dan Stevens) is secretly developing the perfect super soldier. Resurrected from the corpses of the worst of the worst, these soldiers don’t have an off switch, being unstable and unstoppable as they kill anything that crosses their path. The initial three test subjects are each essentially Michael Myers, masked and mute, withstanding all that comes their way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L24CYVpQ-LI Of course, things don’t go as planned, with these flesh-covered heat-seeking missiles breaking free from containment and being unleashed on local civilians. One of those people is Celeste (Adria Arjona), a veteran who’s buried herself and her past in the desert. But the world comes knocking as her young daughter gets dropped off on her. Her parenting skills are severely lacking compared to her skills with a weapon, and her desolate trailer home is littered with the alcohol and basic canned food of someone who’s given up on life. Before taking an extended detour into the world of skyscraper-sized gorillas and lizards in Godzilla vs. Kong and Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire , director Adam Wingard got down and dirty with low-budget features like You’re Next and The Guest . They were filled with trashy violence, overpumped with blood, and winking at their ludicrousness. Onslaught attempts to return to that mode, with a heavy dosage of ‘80s VHS sleaze for good measure. The desert air is filled with smoke-like dust, and the full moon illuminates the hunter’s eyes as they descend on their prey. Dan Stevens sports the smoothest bald cap money can buy, with the brightest overhead lamps shining directly onto it and his white lab coat pulled directly from Star Wars . These stylizations offer a lot of flavor, both for the eyes and ears. It all looks and sounds the part of a video store bargain bin find. Twisted visuals are matched with a thumping soundscape that rings every gunshot throughout the theater, organs splattering on impact. Except those movies were also never that good, containing paper-thin characters and plot beats functioning mostly as loose stitching between scenes of pulpy violence. Onslaught mostly has that problem too, with Celeste being just another wounded lone wolf who has to protect her cub, and the perfect killing machines miss their shots anytime they aim at the main character. There is also an unavoidable sickness that’s felt when witnessing civilians being gunned down by their own government. A scene of a gas station being turned into a bloodbath becomes a little too raw and real for comfort. On its own, that kind of visceral reaction should net points for Wingard as a filmmaker. But when assessed against the cheap thrills of the rest of the film, that moment feels like crass exploitation. Also exploited in this cast are Drew Starkey and Rebecca Hall, two talented performers given absolutely nothing to do. Starkey is introduced as a swaggering government mercenary, his nice suit implying he’s more than just your average soldier. Yet his only order is to stand down, staying two steps behind the killers as Celeste takes them on. Hall smokes a few cigarettes and speaks a few lines of German, offering no substance as a character. It’s those puzzling choices that make Onslaught an overall mildly frustrating experience. Making an homage to past works does not grant immunity from making the same mistakes. It seems forty years of separation wasn’t enough for Wingard to figure out how to improve on telling this generic story. Actions speak louder than words, but that doesn’t mean they also speak with intelligence. A24 will release Onslaught in theaters nationwide on September 04th. More Reviews Onslaught September 2, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Teen Sex & Death at Camp Miasma August 12, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen Slasher movies are about teenage sex and death, almost always in that order. It is a simple formula, but one that has proven remarkably durable: put a group of attractive young people somewhere they shouldn't be, give them enough privacy to make increasingly poor decisions, and wait for the killer to arrive. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma understands this formula intimately, but its real subject is the strange relationship between horror movies and the people who make, watch, commodify, and overanalyze them. The film begins with the mythology of Camp Miasma , a fictional slasher franchise that has somehow become a cultural institution. Its history follows the familiar trajectory of many real horror series. The original becomes an immense box-office success, religious groups protest its content, and increasingly watered-down sequels pile on convoluted lore until the once-simple premise becomes almost incomprehensible. Razzies fly in left and right, with only the weird diehard fans left to even notice when a new film comes out. Eventually, nostalgia takes over. Feature articles dissect the franchise's hidden meanings, conspiracy theories emerge around its mythology, and Hollywood decides it is time for a reboot, one that promises to be more "elevated." Naturally, the studio sees this as an opportunity to make money. Queerness and political correctness become marketing language, themes to be packaged and propagated across merchandise and streaming rights rather than artistic ideas worth exploring. Into this corporate machine steps a wunderkind fresh out of Sundance, who actually wants to use queerness as part of the film's art. The studio, unsurprisingly, isn't nearly as interested in that version of the movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dimCiC_hdoA At the center of this production is Kris (Hannah Einbinder from Hacks ), a timid young woman who appears to have spent most of her life on the outside looking in. She is starstruck by Gillian Anderson (honestly, who wouldn't be?) as Billy Presley, the original film’s final girl, but her fascination with the actress reveals something deeper about her own isolation. Kris keeps her arms tucked inside her sleeves, only pulling them out to fix her glasses as she stutters through her words. Love and sex seem almost completely foreign to her, something she desperately wants but has no idea how to approach. She becomes an obvious stand-in for writer-director Jane Schoenbrun's own relationship with those feelings, giving the film's awkwardness a distinctly personal quality. Schoenbrun has explored queerness and gender identity throughout their previous films. We're All Going to the World's Fair used online horror culture to explore teenage alienation and the search for identity, while I Saw the TV Glow more directly connected its supernatural imagery to the repression and realization of a transgender identity. In both, horror becomes a language for feelings that their characters struggle to articulate. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma continues that exploration while turning its gaze toward the industry itself, questioning what happens when something deeply personal becomes another marketable commodity. Presley, meanwhile, is the director of the relationship, giving orders to the timid Kris and assuming control over their interactions. Her philosophy toward horror is similarly reductive. People, she argues, take these movies too seriously. They're just works of "flesh and fluids." It's a funny sentiment, but Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma keeps asking whether art can actually be taken too seriously. And, perhaps more provocatively, whether slashers can be called art when its story is merely an 85-minute excuse to provide five minutes of softcore pornography and a series of increasingly elaborate kills. Schoenbrun's film provides its own answer. This is unquestionably a work of art, and its artificiality is essential to that argument. The world of Camp Miasma feels less like a physical location than a memory reconstructed from fragments: fake snow, matte paintings, and plastic effects combine into an intentionally dreamlike production design. Spot-on recreations of the original Camp Miasma are interspersed throughout, while 35mm cinematography and crackling sound give the images the texture of something simultaneously ancient and newly unearthed. Even Little Death, the franchise's iconic killer, looks like a warped cousin of Pyramid Head from the Silent Hill series, except with a cube for a head. It's ridiculous, sinister, and unmistakably artificial, the embodiment of a movie that wants to expose the machinery behind horror while still believing in its power. The result is a fascinating collision between slasher convention and personal expression. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma knows that horror can be reduced to sex, death, flesh, and fluids. But it also knows that those things can become something more when an artist is allowed to put themselves inside the formula. The real horror isn't necessarily the killer waiting in the woods. Sometimes it's the studio deciding exactly what your art is allowed to mean. Mubi will release Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma in select theaters on August 07th. More Reviews Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Babygirl September 12, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen To make a film, you must have a question. Writer/director Halina Reijn has several questions on her mind within Babygirl , each of them even more sexually charged than the previous one. For those who thought the provocation of Catherine Breillat would stay outside of America’s borders, you’re sorely mistaken. To pull off her highwire act of tone and impurity, Reijn has enlisted the help of one of the bravest A-listers around: Nicole Kidman. If there’s anyone who can get this project over the finish line, it’s the star who’s worked with Stanley Kubrick, Lars Von Trier, and Yorgos Lanthimos. Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut would be an apt comparison here, based on the surface-level story of an affair during Christmas and the underlying layer of promiscuity and power. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8Sx6U6Ou0Q “They did a bad, bad thing” would be the hook that plays over the relationship between Romy (Kidman) and Samuel (Harris Dickinson). She’s the CEO of a leading artificial intelligence company, and he’s the fresh-faced intern. But their paths first cross before they enter the office building, with him calming down a dangerous dog about to lunge after Romy. He can tame the beast while also unleashing it by asking forward questions and making criticisms about Romy’s coffee habits. Romy may spout the usual HR-approved speeches about the CEO being a collaborative leader of a family, but that all ends in the bedroom. She’s the dominator when having sex with her husband, Jacob (Antonio Banderas), and when trying to parent her angsty teenage daughter (Esther McGregor). There’s something about Samuel’s brashness that turns her on, even when it should be cause for an immediate dismissal. An innocent kiss becomes a string of flirtatious text messages, which becomes a secret meeting in a hotel room, which becomes a passionate game of hide and seek around the office. Reijn never proposes to have all the answers for why such a powerful woman would engage in something so destructive. Jacob is a perfect husband, and he’s obviously quite handsome. She’s passionate about her job and is looked upon highly by her assistant (Sophie Wilde) as a titan in a male-dominated industry. But there’s a darkness within her, a need to unravel everything. She’s too scared to take the plunge on her own, which is why someone like Samuel is so irresistible. She can only tame her desires for so long, and it always bites back ferociously. It’s no surprise that Kidman won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival, with her dedication to the film’s twists and turns being unmatched. She bares all, both literally and metaphorically, navigating the challenges of the corporate world and a teetering domestic life. There’s real passion in her scenes with Dickinson, and the practice with Zac Efron over the years in The Paperboy and A Family Affair is surely paying off. Dickinson is a frat boy who finally gets what he’s been bragging about all these years. Now that he has it, he doesn’t know what to do with it. There’s an emotional immaturity to his actions, which makes him a time bomb ready to explode if he doesn’t get what he thinks he wants. Reijn supports women’s rights, and also women’s wrongs. Everything is wrong with Babygirl , with those unsatisfactory feelings being just what the erotic subgenre needs. It’s a dirty film with a dirtier message, perfect for release during the Christmas season. This review was originally published from the North American premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. A24 will release Babygirl in theaters nationwide on December 25th. More Reviews Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Teen Sex & Death at Camp Miasma August 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Asteroid City June 12, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen By far the strangest movie in his eclectic filmography, Asteroid City is Wes Anderson’s return to America in over a decade, having spent time in fictional Eastern Europe for The Grand Budapest Hotel , Japan for Isle of Dogs , and well… France for The French Dispatch . The fanciful writer/director takes us into the scenic deserts of the 1950s American southwest, specifically the titular sleepy tourist town that serves as the meeting point for all of the eccentric characters. The half-built town, complete with the stereotypical bar-stool diner and motel, is the destination for those attending the annual Junior Stargazer / Space Cadet convention. It’s a place where the best, brightest, and most awkward kids in America show off their new inventions, including a jetpack, raygun, and overhead projector for the moon, which, in one of many hilarious throwaway lines, is said to have huge potential in the future of interstellar advertising. Arriving in a putter under the beaming sun is Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman), a war photographer with a genius son and young triplet girls. This event is only a brief stop on his way to see his father-in-law (Tom Hanks, proving as always to be a wonderful addition to any cast), who’s the only other person that knows of Augie’s wife’s recent demise. Also in attendance is a group of other precocious children and their host of parents (Scarlett Johansson, Liev Schreiber, Steve Park, Hope Davis, etc.) Eventually, this event designed to look up at the stars comes in contact with something from there, which reshapes how our characters interact with each other and themselves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FXCSXuGTF4 As I said in the opening sentence, this is Anderson’s weirdest movie to date, always keeping your eyebrow in a raised position. To avoid spoiling events beyond what is shown in the trailer, I’ll only mention that Anderson’s screenplay (written in conjunction with his usual partner Roman Coppola) emulates a certain Christopher Nolan movie that has to do with dreams. How else are you going to be able to fit in all the names within this all-star cast, including regular players Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright, Willem Dafoe, and Jeff Goldblum? The term “this is the most Wes Anderson movie Wes Anderson has ever made” has been used to describe nearly every new entry in his filmography. That cycle doesn’t stop with Asteroid City , as the traits you’ve come to love (or hate) are all here: symmetrical framing, varying aspect ratios, color and black & white cinematography, and steady camera movements. Anderson’s usual designer, Adam Stockhausen, once again creates a doll-house world filled with too many sights and sounds to be absorbed in one viewing. Sure, there may now be umpteen TikTok and A.I. generated videos replicating Anderson’s distinct style, but all of them contain just the window dressing of a Wes Anderson movie, and not the emotion. Just as his box of tricks has constantly evolved, so has Anderson’s ability to find the heart in his richly defined characters. While on their methodically placed tracks, each character veers off in different directions, exploring the fear of death, finding connections in a barren land, cutting through the messiness of life, and paying homage to those kitschy B-movies you grew up watching late at night on the public access channel. At this point in his filmography, you’ve probably made up your mind about Wes Anderson. I’m somewhat of an apologist, with those instantly recognizable production qualities and whimsical tones being music to my ears (and eyes). Asteroid City is another healthy dose of what I’ve come to love, with the bonus of seeing an auteur continue to find new ways to channel what they do best. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Focus Features will release Asteroid City in select theaters on June 16th, followed by a nationwide expansion on June 23rd. More Reviews Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Teen Sex & Death at Camp Miasma August 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Poitier and Hoffman: The Dueling Kings of 1967 Hollywood February 23, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen In all the years that cinema has been alive, 1967 is undoubtedly one of the most pivotal. After years of jealousy towards the European model of thinking, America finally opened itself up to a new wave of filmmaking, one heralded by auteurs who subscribed to the ideas of new sentimentality. Films such as Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate spoke to the younger audience of American cinema, offering exploration into forbidden topics such as sex, violence, and social change. Even though these films made their mark both critically and financially, it did not mean the death of old sentimentality in film, quite the contrary. In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner both were nominated for Best Picture that year, with the former taking home the prize. These two films appealed to the older generation through their use of star power and production values. What’s most striking about the dichotomy between these two sets of films is the leading men at the center of them. On one side sits Dustin Hoffman; a short (only standing 5’5”) aloof brown-haired boy. On the other side is Sidney Poitier, who stands tall at 6’2” and is both exceedingly handsome and elegant. Both of these actors represented different generations of cinema and were hugely important in the turning point of 1967. Dustin Hoffman had no screen presence before being cast in The Graduate . He had no major previous roles and did not possess the classic movie star looks such as the blonde hair of Robert Redford and Paul Newman or the towering charisma of Warren Beatty. Hoffman was of Jewish descent, which could be easily discerned from his looks, making him even more of an outsider to his contemporaries. Director Mike Nichols saw something in Hoffman, an opportunity to use Hoffman’s “flaws” to tell a more authentic story to a younger audience growing tired of Hollywood perfectionism. In The Graduate , Benjamin’s detachment from every aspect of life is something that connects with younger viewers. In 1967, the Vietnam War was still raging, and the American optimism that had been so prevalent since World War II had started to wane. Kids didn’t have their entire futures planned out and were starting to see the flaws within American society. Because of Hoffman and The Graduate , no longer does the main character have to have a goal to achieve or a lover to swoon over. Instead, they can be aimless and enter into an adulterous relationship with an older woman. This performance spurred Hoffman’s career further, with equally down & dirty roles in Midnight Cowboy and Straw Dogs just a few years later. Sidney Poitier, on the other hand, was, through his involvement in the projects, a proponent of old sentimentality in Hollywood. Where Hoffman’s popularity was beginning to boom, Poitier’s reached its peak and would soon come crashing down. His roles in both In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner shined a light on race relations within America but did it through the old lens of conventionalism. Of course, a black man leading a Best Picture winner and garnering acclaim for his performance isn’t something to shortchange. But Poitier played by Hollywood’s rules, playing stoic, calm, and poignant men that appealed to a generation that stood for professionalism and the status quo. In the Heat of the Night has Poitier play Virgil Tibbs, who solves a murder case in the deep south and confronts the town’s ideals through his merit as a detective and ability to withstand undeserved ridicule. In Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner , Poitier is John Prentice, seemingly the world’s greatest doctor who rests the solution to his marital problem in the hands of Spencer Tracy, one of the great screen legends of the past. While both these roles allowed Poitier to address social change in intermittent radical ways, such as his retaliatory slap against Endicott and his fiery speech about thinking of himself not as a colored man, but just a man. Both of these movies portrayed the white savior narrative that had grown out of favor among the younger generation. Unlike Hoffman, Poitier’s appeal was, ironically, only to the people that had been holding him back all those years, and not to the people who were looking to create change within the nation and Hollywood system. This is why Poitier never stayed at the same level post-1967, as New Hollywood emerged and the old conventions started to die off, both literally and figuratively. Both Dustin Hoffman and Sidney Poiter were exciting actors for an exciting time in American cinema. Through their physical and personality traits, they appealed to different sets of ideals within the American psyche at a time when both sides came to a crossroads. More Reviews Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Teen Sex & Death at Camp Miasma August 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

TIFF24 Dispatch #2 September 15, 2024 By: Button Tyler Banark All of the films were screened at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Click here for additional full reviews and dispatches. Select films below will receive separate full-length reviews at a later date, most likely in connection to their public releases. Bird Hot off his polarizing and career-best turn in last year’s Saltburn , Barry Keoghan gives another all-timer performance in Andrea Arnold’s Cannes hit Bird . A coming-of-age tale that takes a turn no viewer will see coming, Bird follows 12-year-old Bailey (newcomer Nykiya Adams), who lives in a rundown high-rise with her deadbeat dad (Keoghan), soon-to-be stepmother, and sister. Things change for her when she meets an awkward man who calls himself Bird (Franz Rogowski). Overall, Bird is a good outing for Arnold that sees her struggle with what the aesthetic of the film should be (i.e., ever-changing aspect ratios, use of Lofi music that feels thrown in at the last minute, etc.). These three strong performances by Keoghan, Adams, and Rogowski counter these missteps and make the movie worthwhile. Bird may fly (no pun intended) under the radar altogether, but it at least justifies its means to an extent. (3.5/5) Harbin A historical Korean spy thriller from acclaimed filmmaker Woo Min-ho, Harbin follows a group of Korean soldiers looking to assassinate Japanese leader Itō Hirobumi. Suspicions rise when one is deemed to be a double agent, resulting in everyone questioning who they can trust. Woo Min-ho makes it clear that he knows how to make a film of this scale as it’s well-planned, but the story does falter in its pacing and predictability. To make up for this, Harbin sprinkles in an intense sequence once every few minutes to rope audiences back in. Ranging from action to suspense, each sequence would get audiences on their toes only to put them back in the dust. When the assassination attempt scene does come around, the movie is full throttle until the end. The cast wasn’t anything too special, but Harbin would’ve been more worthwhile if there was at least one noteworthy performance. (3/5) The Assessment Fleur Fortune’s sci-fi drama is also a thriller about a couple going through a week-long test to see if they can be parents. The leading trio of Elizabeth Olsen, Himesh Patel, and Alicia Vikander stand out as the couple in question and the test assessor, respectively. Olsen and Patel capture the whirlwind their characters go through via Vikander’s assessor. The latter puts them through the wringer as she psychologically torments them through uncomfortable situations. She gives a very physical performance that should be discussed just as much as Emma Stone in last year’s Poor Things . Aside from the actors, nothing else within the film rises above being just average. By commenting on how chaotic parenting can be, The Assessment makes for a numbing display of this topic, even if it ties itself into knots to make it make sense to audiences. (3/5) The Order Gripping and shocking until the very end, Justin Kurzel’s The Order is an intense look at neo-nazism rampant in 1983 Pacific Northwest. Leading the cast is Jude Law, Tye Sheridan, and Nicholas Hoult in his darkest role yet as a leader of a neo-nazi group. He’s scary, manipulative, and flat-out the best aspect of this movie alongside the action sequences. Ranging from shootouts to bank robberies and car chases, Kurzel doesn’t waste a second crafting an action set piece that’ll keep viewers on their feet. It helps that Zach Baylin pens the script to adapt Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt’s book The Silent Brotherhood , and makes everything just as straightforward. The Order is a film with an important message that’s story should be learned by viewers everywhere. (4.5/5) You can follow Tyler and hear more of his thoughts on Twitter , Instagram , and Letterboxd . More Reviews Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Teen Sex & Death at Camp Miasma August 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen