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The Ballad of Wallis Island April 7, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen When The Barenaked Ladies performed their song “If I Had $1,000,000,” they mentioned that they would use the money to buy a house, a K-Car, a fur coat, exotic pets, and expensive ketchup. But what about a whole island? Well, that’s exactly what Charles (Tim Key) does in The Ballad of Wallis Island . Of course, you’d need a little more than a million dollars to do that. That’s no problem for Charles, as he won the national lottery not once, but twice. Yes, this slightly oafish man is one of the luckiest people in history. The proceeds from the first win were spent traveling the world with his wife Marie. The money eventually ran out, but not before they filled their fridge door with magnets and postcards from every place on Earth. Charles decided to be a little more fiscally responsible with the second lump sum, buying a small, secluded island in the middle of nowhere and hunkering himself there. Charles is a massive fan of the folk duo Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden) & Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan). Unfortunately, the pair broke up nearly a decade ago, with McGwyer embarking on a solo career and Mortimer staying out of the music industry together. But there isn’t a problem time (and a lot of money) can’t fix. Charles separately books them to perform on his island under the guise of an intimate private event for just a few fans. Like Lindsay Lohan’s parents in The Parent Trap , this comedy of errors leads Herb and Nell to reconcile the past and the present. However, this isn’t a Disney movie where everything works itself out in the end. The romantic ballads of Herb and Nell’s past came out of a real infatuation between the two. Basden and Mulligan are great together, the former putting up a tough exterior to hide the pain he feels for being a has-been, and the latter laying it all out on the table. There’s a constant will-they-won't-they dynamic at play, although the presence of Nell’s husband Michael kind of puts a damper on that. This feature is based on the 2007 short film The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island , which Basden and Key both starred and wrote. The duo wrote the feature as well, bringing the original short director James Griffiths along for the ride. There’s a calming reassurance that permeates through the whole thing that could only be bought from nearly fifteen years of care and affection by the creatives. Cinematographer G. Magni Ágústsson provides a warm texture to this charming run-down slice of paradise. Time has also been a double-edged sword for the creatives, with some poor ideas possibly not being killed simply because they had stuck around so long. Charles is lovable, yet has a habitual need to fill any moment of silence with words. It’s a humorous tick at first but the fact that it’s trotted out nearly a dozen more times makes it immediately annoying. I wish more time had been spent on the dynamic between Nell and Herb, as their brief isolated moments are easily the most interesting parts of this story. Basden wrote nearly two dozen songs for the feature, a mixture of folk and rock. They aren’t exactly memorable, but there’s a soothing quality to them that invites you to agree with why someone like Charles would just want to live a quiet life with them as his soundtrack. The Ballad of Wallis Island is kind of like those songs, beckoning you to relax by the fire and gently search your soul. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

A Man Called Otto January 11, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen In the realm of professional basketball (NBA), there’s always a bit of controversy surrounding the award for Most Valuable Player (MVP). There are no clear-cut criteria for how the award should be given to a player, begging the question: how do you define the term “most valuable”? For some people, “most valuable” means the most impactful player on a great team (people want to vote for winners). For others, it simply means the player who played the best during the season, no matter if their team is good or bad (Russell Westbrook averaged a historical triple-double during the 2016-2017 season, despite his team barely making the playoffs). And for the real purists, “most valuable” should always go to the player that would hurt their team the most if they didn’t play. Objectors to this mindset claim that LeBron James would then just win every year, as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost 40 more games in both of the seasons after he left the team. All of these mindsets can also be extended to the acting Oscar races, specifically this year’s race for Best Leading Actor. Voters that think Best Actor should go to the best performance in a great movie will likely side with Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin . The voters that think the award should go to the best performance, regardless of the film’s quality, will likely be split between Brendan Fraser in The Whale or Austin Butler in Elvis . And I suppose the purists that think the award should go to the actor that saves their film the most might be inclined to look toward Tom Hanks in A Man Called Otto because no one else in that titular role would have been able to make something out of nothing like Hanks does. Thinking of Tom Hanks, a.k.a. America's dad, as a grumpy old widower sounds like an impossible endeavor. After all, this is the same man that preached simple goodness in Forrest Gump , spread childlike wonder in Saving Mr. Banks , and literally played Mr. Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood . But Hanks has no trouble shifting towards the side of bitterness and resentment. Of course, this old grump still has a heart of gold tucked underneath a cold exterior, so it’s not like Hanks is going totally outside his comfort zone. Otto serves as the unofficial meter maid, recyclable sorter, grievance giver, and overall Debbie Downer of the little row-house development he inhabits with his neighbors, who all try their best to stay out of his way in fear of being berated. Someone that won’t just roll over like the rest is Marisol (a wonderful scene-stealing Mariana Treviño), who just moved into the neighborhood with her husband and two kids, with a third on the way. Marisol’s good nature and excellent cooking chip away at Otto’s gruffness over time, and an unlikely relationship begins to form. The way in which A Man Called Otto goes about its business should come as no surprise to any viewer. Screenwriter David Magee (pulling off triple duty this year with this and The School for Good and Evil as well as Lady Chatterley’s Lover ), takes an overzealous approach to using a sander to smooth out the dark edges within the bestselling novel and 2016 Swedish film A Man Called Ove . There are a few cloying moments meant to tug at the heartstrings, and some heavier themes that are mentioned rather than examined. Director Marc Forster tries to rationalize Otto’s behavior with frequent flashbacks to his younger days, where he’s played by Tom’s real-life son Truman. The physical resemblance might be there for Truman, but the acting chops certainly are not, making the connection between the younger and older versions of Otto fuzzy at best. A Man Called Otto is a family affair for the Hanks clan, with Rita serving as producer and dishing a few songs on the radio. Even wild Chet gets a cameo with his “White Boy Summer” blasting from the car of a trashy side character. It’s doubtful that any family watching A Man Called Otto will get as much out of it as the Hanks’, but I also doubt any family will also be harmed by it either. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Alien: Romulus August 14, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen With each passing year, the meeting scene from The Matrix Resurrections gets more and more prescient. Focus group research, marketing trends, brand imaging, and keyword association are the tools of the trade nowadays, especially when you’re working with a franchise as long in the tooth as Alien . It’s not hard to imagine what was yuppied around the 20th Century corporate office when devising the concept for Romulus , which essentially serves as a grab bag of all the recognizable (and liked) aspects of the previous movies. It had to have a Xenomorph skulking around the pitch-black corridors of a steel trap spaceship. It had to have a face hugger, which would eventually lead to someone’s chest bursting open. While people weren’t generally fans of Prometheus or Alien: Covenant , they did enjoy Michael Fassbender’s portrayal of a calculating android companion, so that also has to be an element. There also needs to be a woman in a tank top running around with a gun, and a bunch of crew members that become more expendable as the movie goes on. However enthusiastically co-writer/director Fede Álvarez goes about ticking off all these boxes on his studio-mandated to-do list, there is always the feeling that he’s bowling with the bumpers on. It’s hard to truly appreciate a strike (or, in this case, a modest spare) when the risk of rolling a gutter ball was never there to begin with. But after quite a few missteps in the nearly forty years since the original Alien and Aliens , the thought of “playing it safe” should come as no surprise. There are also no surprises in the methodology Álvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues employ to move our central characters into the claustrophobic spaceship housing the most terrifying life form in the universe. Five young individuals have been born and raised in a mining colony, none of them ever laying eyes on the sun. Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her android brother Andy (David Jonsson) have been continually denied permission to leave the planet on account of corporate greed and malfeasance. When a deserted station is found floating right above their heads by some of her fellow poverty-stricken friends, Rain reluctantly sees it as the escape opportunity she’s always been denied. From there, we discover that this station was not abandoned willingly, but taken over by force by an unknown killing machine. Production designer Naaman Marshall does an excellent job of recreating the cold interior through practical means, complete with enough tech to identify the extraterrestrial foe, but never enough to put it down for good. The leisure pacing of the initial half instantly ramps up once blood and guts start spilling, with Álvarez leaning on his visceral skills from his 2013 Evil Dead remake to make you squirm in your seat. Bones crunch loudly as limbs become unattached, and creaks and groans occupy every corner of the ship as the aliens lurk around waiting for the perfect moment to strike. The thought of this original being planned for a Hulu release is almost as sickening, as no home could compare to the sensory-deprived fear you get from the cinema. For both good and bad reasons, “for the fans” would be the correct way to define the energy that Álvarez instills within every moment. Homages, callbacks, and blatant winks occupy much of the foreground and background, creating an unavoidable stench of desperation as the studio hopes your Pavlovian responses kick in at the sight of franchise favorites. A certain famous phrase is reintroduced for climactic effect, although the context of the moment instills more groans than cheers. The young cast hold their own against the decades-old trapping they’re up against. Spaeny has become one of the most dependable young actresses working today, with her work in Civil War marking quite the impressive double bill this year. While androids don’t figuratively possess a soul, Jonsson brilliantly finds the compassion necessary for Andy. He is, without a doubt, the highlight of the film, fully living up to the robotic work that Ian Holm and Michael Fassbender previously did within the franchise. Romulus doesn’t have the benefit of being ambitious, which is why it can count itself lucky for executing well on its surface-level objectives. Ridley Scott’s last two ventures into this universe may have been better for its overall health, but this provides the much-needed steroid for it to continue at all. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Nitram July 16, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen Nitram had its World Premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. IFC Films will it in theaters on March 30, 2022. The career of Australian director Justin Kurzel, still very much in an early phase, has been one filled with drastic ups and downs. Kurzel broke onto the scene in 2011 with his feature debut, The Snowtown Murders , which played as part of the Cannes Critics Week. That film’s success immediately gave him the confidence to helm a much more violent and haunted adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth , with Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in the lead roles. He also was given the promotion of competing in the main competition of Cannes. After that film’s critical success, Hollywood came knocking as he was offered, and accepted, to direct the big-screen adaptation of the popular video game franchise Assassin’s Creed , which allowed him to reteam with Fassbender and Cotillard. However, Kurzel wasn’t able to make the leap into studio filmmaking, as the film was a critical and commercial bomb. He tried to recompose himself a few years later by going back to his roots with the Australian true-crime-thriller The True History of the Kelly Gang . The relative success of that film didn’t prompt Kurzel to return to the big studios, instead, he has doubled down on his newfound career path with Nitram , which premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The film tells the life story of Tasmanian native Martin Bryant, who eventually was responsible for the largest massacre by a single person in Australian history after he killed 36 people at Port Arthur in 1996. From the very start, Bryant was beset with mental problems that made him act aggressively towards others and hold little concern for human safety. After he was sentenced to life in prison (where he remains to this day), Bryant was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome and deemed to have an IQ of 66, roughly the same as an eleven-year-old. The title of the film (which is Martin spelled backward) comes from the nickname Bryant was given by childhood bullies, further hindering him from forming any human connections. American Caleb Landry Jones plays the titular character with brilliance, showcasing how far someone can go down the rabbit hole. Jones has made a small name for himself by playing supporting parts as sleazy weirdos in films such as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Get Out . In his first major leading role, he has knocked it out of the park. He produces the fear one gets from a horror movie villain while still bringing enough authenticity to fit the film’s grounded tone. His win for Best Actor at Cannes was well deserved, and some Oscar buzz should be in order. Also within the cast is frequent Kurzel collaborator Effie Davis, who plays Bryant’s much older companion Helen, who lives alone in a rundown mansion with fourteen dogs and several dozen cats. Bryant and Helen formed a connection based on their status as social outcasts, which Jones and Davis are able to explore. Their interactions together are awkward and fractured and never answer the question of exactly what kind of relationship they share. Anthony LaPaglia and Judy Davis, both of whom are superb, portray Bryant’s parents, who have differing perspectives on how they should keep their son safe. LaPaglia prefers to give Bryant a bit of freedom in hopes that he will figure out the world for himself, while Davis feels that he is incapable of doing such a thing and must be kept on a short leash. Making a biopic about a country’s worst human offender brings with it a lot of trap doors, such as vindicating the perpetrator or glorifying the harm that they caused. Thankfully, Kurzel avoids those errors as he approaches the film with a matter-of-fact style that only wants to illustrate how this event was allowed to happen. Abandoning the flashy style he is known for, Kurzel lets the actors and simple camerawork tell the story. I was reminded of Gus Van Sant’s Elephant while watching the film at its world premiere. There is not one singular grand answer as to why this happened and how it could have been stopped, simply because there isn’t a one-size-fits-all response. All we can do is look back on what happened and see what can be done for the future, which Kurzel doesn’t seem to have much hope for as his postscript explains how the gun laws enacted as a result of Bryant’s actions have not been properly enforced, opening the possibility of this happening again. Justin Kurzel’s Nitram was one of the best films of the Cannes Film Festival as it explores a real-life tragedy with both grace and severity. While my body hated the experience of watching the film because of the stiff muscles I was left with due to the intensity, my mind was left with a better understanding of this dark chapter in human history. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Misericordia March 27, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Misericordia screened at the 2025 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival. Janus Films will release it in theaters on April 18th. If nothing else, Misericordia is about the dangers of being the hottest person in a small town, and that nothing good happens after 2:00 am. It all starts when Jérémie (Félix Kysyl), now in his mid-30s and living in Toulouse, returns to the village that he grew up in. Shot from the backseat of his car looking through the windshield, his arrival is marked by wandering stares by the locals standing on the street corners. He's here for the funeral of his former boss and supposed lover, the local baker who now leaves a void in the community. Left behind are the baker's widow Martine (Catherine Frot) and adult son Vincent (Jean-Baptiste Durand). The former is happy to see Jérémie in her time of mourning, the latter icy based on some implied fallout during the boys' youth. Jérémie's initially planned short stay quickly turns into multiple days, allowing for the polite indifference from Vincent and some of the other locals to erode and be replaced by festering rage. The exact nature of Jérémie's game is hard to define. Just like Claire Mathon's rain-soaked cinematography, writer/director Alain Guiraudie keeps us in the fog throughout much of the runtime. Jérémie doesn't seem to have much to return to in Toulouse, nor can he hope to gain much in this village. But that won't stop him from trying, with his greatest asset being his skill as a flirt. For as much as boiling anger seems to permeate through each scene, Guiraudie finds the humorous absurdity of all this backwardness. Everyone seems to simultaneously want to sleep with each other, the rotation also including Vincent's friend Walter (David Ayala) and the village priest Father Philippe (Jacques Develay). Something that Jérémie isn't good at is covering up a murder, which he commits against someone in the village. He plays a game of two lies and a truth with everyone, including the local police. The truth makes the lies seem a little more credible, although he always has the same look on his face as a little kid who sweeps all of his trash under the bed instead of throwing it out as his parents told him to. Guiraudie captures every side-eye glance and judgmental stare of the supporting cast as Jérémie continually tries to dig himself out of this mess. There isn't tension and suspense in the traditional form, mostly a curiosity about how this web will get even more tangled. The performances are all well-done and understated, keeping things on a glacially paced path. Things don't go as you would expect, nor do they resolve themselves in a clean fashion. At only 100 minutes, it's watchable and entertaining enough, although it perpetually stops just shy of being great. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Twin Cities Film Fest 2022 Preview October 19, 2022 By: Hunter Friesen After partaking in this year's Sundance, Cannes, and Toronto Film Festivals, I'm glad to be finishing off with one close to home. This year's edition of the Twin Cities Film Festival promises to be a great one with it's mixture of high-performing indie titles and awards hopeful studio projects. Here six films that I'll be seeing over the next week. Look forward to a review of each one shortly! Till Till is a profoundly emotional and cinematic film about the true story of Mamie Till Mobley’s relentless pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, who, in 1955, was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi. In Mamie’s poignant journey of grief turned to action, we see the universal power of a mother’s ability to change the world. My Policeman A tale of forbidden romance and changing social conventions, My Policeman follows the relationships between three people - policeman Tom (Harry Styles), teacher Marion (Emma Corrin) and museum curator Patrick (David Dawson) - and their emotional journey spanning decades. Aftersun At a fading vacation resort, 11-year-old Sophie treasures rare time together with her loving and idealistic father, Calum (Paul Mescal). As a world of adolescence creeps into view, beyond her eye Calum struggles under the weight of life outside of fatherhood. Twenty years later, Sophie's tender recollections of their last holiday become a powerful and heartrending portrait of their relationship, as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn't, in Charlotte Wells’ superb and searingly emotional debut film. She Said Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan star as New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who together broke one of the most important stories in a generation— a story that helped propel the #Metoo movement, shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood and altered American culture forever. Women Talking A group of women from a remote religious community deal with the aftermath of sexual assault perpetrated by the colony’s men. A film of ideas brought to life by Polley’s imaginative direction and a superb, fine-tuned ensemble cast—including Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Frances McDormand, Ben Whishaw, and Judith Ivey— Women Talking is a deep and searching exploration of self-determination, group responsibility, faith and forgiveness, philosophically engaging and emotionally rich in equal measure. The Inspection In Elegance Bratton's deeply moving film inspired by his own story, a young, gay Black man, rejected by his mother and with few options for his future, decides to join the Marines, doing whatever it takes to succeed in a system that would cast him aside. But even as he battles deep-seated prejudice and the grueling routines of basic training, he finds unexpected camaraderie, strength, and support in this new community, giving him a hard-earned sense of belonging that will shape his identity and forever change his life. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Till October 22, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen Till screened at the 2022 Twin Cities Film Fest. United Artists Releasing will release it in theaters on October 28. One of the most prominent things that creeps through the first act of Till is the sense of impending doom. We open on Mamie and Emmett Till shopping in a department store in 1955 Chicago. They’re buying the necessary things so that Emmett can visit his distant family down in Mississippi. He’s pleading with his mom to buy him a nice wallet to show off to his cousins, who’ve never had much contact with the big city, something that Emmett exemplifies with his effortless charm and nice clothes. At face value, these scenes are full of the usual joy and innocence that would come with any scene where a parent lets their child spread their wings and fly out into the world. But co-writer/director Chinonye Chukwu knows that context is key, as history tells us that Emmett would be kidnapped and lynched by two white men only one week into his visit to Mississippi. So while everything is light and joyful on the surface, there’s a biting feeling deep inside preparing you for what’s to come. Emmett’s murder would become one of the most publicized and important moments of the American civil rights movement. Knowing that his tale would be swept under the rug just like any other story of white-on-black violence, Mamie had her son’s beaten and bloated body put on display so that millions could not forget what had been done. It was a controversial move, but one that has kept Emmett’s legacy alive decades later, and shined a brighter light on the issue of lynchings in the American south. Even if she doesn’t fully illustrate the viciousness inflicted upon Emmett (a long shot of the scene of the crime with distant screams is all we get), Chukwu doesn’t shy away from the aftermath. The body is put on display to both the characters and the viewers, with the first sight of it sending shivers down the spine. But the appearance of the body creates a divide, as it seems to come from a much rougher film than what this ultimately becomes. As time goes by, the glossy biopic trappings begin to set in, most annoyingly present when Abel Korzeniowski’s mismatched score barges its way in. Things are played by the book, stretched across a 130-minute runtime filled with the usual rage-inducing courtroom scenes and a few odd winks to other moments within the movement. Fortunately, with Danielle Deadwyler front and center, much of those negative thoughts drift away. Given a lead role after years in much smaller ones ( The Harder They Fall , HBO’s Watchmen ), Deadwyler delivers a performance that is both heartbreaking and uplifting. With several long takes gifted by Chukwu, she displays powerful courage in the face of danger. She’ll deservedly be a force to be reckoned with come this Oscar season. If only she was served in a better film that followed through on its early promises of nuance. But even with its late-act shortcomings, Till remains an important retelling of history that is, sadly, just as relevant in the present as it was in the past. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

The Taste of Things October 29, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Taste of Things screened at the 2023 Twin Cities Film Fest. IFC Films will release it for an Oscar-qualifying run in December, followed by a limited release on February 09, 2024. Is there a more perfect way to wake up in the morning than to the smell of sizzling eggs, crackling bacon, and onions soaked in butter? It’s what Dodin (Benoît Magimel) has awoken to every day over the past twenty years, the aroma of the fresh ingredients crawling its way from the kitchen all the way to his grand bedroom within the vast manor. “This is the best moment of the day,” he thinks as he flies down the stairs, ready to be embraced by the food and woman that he loves. Eugénie (Juliette Binoche) has always been the head of her kitchen domain, crafting famous meals with quiet determination. She too is in love with Dodin, yet she always refuses his proposals for marriage on the grounds that matrimony will only complicate the good thing they have going for them. He’s always disappointed in her rejections, and yet he also slightly agrees with her. Together they are unstoppable; him the mastermind of intricate recipes and menus, and her the hands-on artist who brings those ideas to life. If you were to eliminate all the scenes of cooking within The Taste of Things , you would be left with maybe thirty minutes of “plot.” I put that last word in quotations because those extended sequences of cooking tell just as much, if not more, of the story as the scenes filled with dialogue. Cooking is an intimate process for the central pair, a time when they communicate without saying a word. A scene early on sees Dodin entertaining guests with Eugénie preparing all the courses downstairs. Once it is over, all the men congratulate Eugénie and ask her to dine with them next time. She happily says that would be redundant as “what I say is already in the food.” Writer/director Tran Anh Hung (winner of the Best Director prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival) entrances you in this process of creation. There’s a sweet harmony in witnessing the journey of the garden to the plate. The camera swerves around the kitchen, capturing the in-process cookery with sumptuous detail. Meat sizzles, water boils, spoons clank against the brass pots, the doors of the woodfire oven creak open, and the bread cracks when cut open. It’s a total ASMR experience, one that fully earns the simplistic description of “food porn” that has lovingly been bestowed upon it. There’s little drama or stakes within The Taste of Things , which is one of its best features. There are plenty of movies ( Burnt ) and television shows ( The Bear ) that showcase the anxiety-inducing highwire act that cooking can be. There is great skill under pressure here, but Anh Hung is more interested in the slowly drawn method and how it all comes together when you are comfortable in your element. Time seems to stand still, your body and mind totally connected as one. It’s like a conductor guiding a symphony, every note being hit perfectly with reassuring calmness. The scenes outside the kitchen are just as sumptuous as the food itself. The warm cinematography makes the gardens and fields feel like Eden. The seasons are picturesque in their beauty, leaves turning from vibrant green to bright orange, replaced by a freckling of snow. Binoche and Magimel are an electric pair within their surroundings. They project a consistent feeling of serenity, both of them aware that their love for each other is intertwined with their craft. You know what they say, the quickest way to a person’s heart is through their stomach. There continues to be a need for stories that reflect the increasing bleakness of this world. But that means there’s more room for projects that remind us of the beauty in the timeless things we all experience and often take for granted. The Taste of Things is one of those films as it illustrates both the simplicity and complexity of sustaining ourselves through food. Just make sure to plan your meals carefully before and after seeing it. You owe your stomach (and other senses) that much. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

A Different Man October 9, 2024 By: Button Tyler Banark A24’s latest black comedy, A Different Man, is an intriguing psychological drama that takes viewers on a thought-provoking journey through themes of identity, transformation, and obsession, with Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, and Adam Pearson leading the way. Directed by Aaron Schimberg, the film follows the story of Edward (Stan), a man grappling with his appearance and sense of self after undergoing facial reconstructive surgery. He then becomes fixated on an actor (Pearson) portraying him in a stage play based on his life, setting the stage for a tense exploration of how outward changes can impact one’s internal world. At its heart, A Different Man is about the fragility of identity and the fact that everyone should know any one thing doesn’t define their worth. Edward’s surgery is intended to offer him a fresh start, a way to shed the physical features that have made him feel ostracized and alienated. However, instead of finding peace or comfort in his new appearance, he spirals into a dangerous obsession. This core premise taps into something universally human—the desire to be seen and accepted and how external perceptions shape our sense of who we are. Yet, the film twists that premise into something unsettling, as Edward’s fixation on the actor blurs the lines between admiration, envy, and self-loathing. Stan delivers a layered performance by portraying a character who undergoes not just a physical transformation but an emotional and psychological unraveling. His ability to convey Edward's internal turmoil without falling into melodramatic traps is commendable. Much of Stan’s performance relies on subtle facial expressions and body language, especially given the fact that Edward, post-surgery, is someone who is literally and figuratively hiding behind a new face. His restraint in portraying Edward’s growing obsession feels measured and controlled, making it all the more unsettling to watch his character descend into a darker state of mind. Supporting Stan are Reinsve and Pearson. While the former is minor to the plot, her role adds a layer of emotional complexity to the film. Much like her breakout role in 2021’s The Worst Person in the World , Reinsve’s character is drawn into Edward’s world, and her interactions with him reflect his internal struggles. There’s an awkwardness and tension in their exchanges as she, too, becomes entangled in the surreal situation. The chemistry between the actors is notable, though the film is less interested in romantic entanglements and more focused on the psychological dynamics at play. Then there’s Pearson, who has neurofibromatosis, playing both Oswald and a version of Edward’s former self in the play. This duality is fascinating, as it forces Edward to confront his physical past and the psychological baggage that comes with it. Pearson’s performance is captivating in its own right—he adds a rawness and authenticity that grounds the film’s more surreal elements. Visually, A Different Man creates an unsettling, almost claustrophobic atmosphere. The strange cinematography is critical in this as it uses shadows, muted colors, zooms, and close-up shots to evoke a sense of unease. The film is not overtly a horror film, but it borrows many elements from the genre, particularly in how it builds tension and atmosphere. The way Edward is often framed—isolated, detached from his surroundings—reflects his emotional and psychological state. The more he ponders why Oswald isn’t shunned by society because of his appearance, the more he becomes the monster he thinks people thought of him pre-surgery. The film’s pacing, however, may prove divisive for viewers. Schimberg deliberately takes his time unraveling the plot, and the film’s slow-burn approach can either work as a meditative exploration of identity or feel too sluggish for those looking for more immediate thrills. While the slow pacing helps to build a sense of dread and inevitability, it also means that certain plot points feel stretched or repetitive. Furthermore, the film raises many intriguing questions about identity, self-perception, and the nature of obsession, but it doesn’t always provide satisfying answers. There is a deliberate ambiguity in how Schimberg handles the themes, which some may appreciate as a way to leave the film open to interpretation. However, the lack of a clear resolution may be a missed opportunity for others. A Different Man excels at creating a world that feels almost dreamlike in its disorientation. The blend of psychological drama with subtle horror elements allows the film to hover in a unique space, even if it doesn’t fully commit to one genre. The film’s use of the stage play as a central device is also practical, as it mirrors Edward’s internal journey. Watching someone else portray him on stage becomes a metaphor for the way Edward is distanced from his own identity. Schimberg’s previous work often centers around characters on the fringes of society, and A Different Man continues that trend by offering a protagonist who feels out of place in his own skin. Edward’s journey is one of isolation and alienation, and the film’s depiction of his struggle to reclaim his sense of self is haunting and poignant. A provocative look at identity and worth, A Different Man sees Sebastian Stan at his best while Adam Pearson gives a statement performance that should resonate in today's industry loudly. While it does ponder a bit and makes the audience question its intentions, it never ceases to commit to its goal. Schimberg’s direction shows a clear vision, even if the film doesn’t always reach its full potential. It’s a haunting and unsettling piece of cinema that, despite its flaws, leaves a lasting impression. You can follow Tyler and hear more of his thoughts on Twitter , Instagram , and Letterboxd . More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Lee September 26, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Lee had its World Premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Roadside Attractions will release it in theaters on September 27, 2024. There are a lot of famous actors in Lee - Kate Winslet, Alexander Skarsgård, Marion Cotillard, Noémie Merlant, Andrea Riseborough, Andy Samberg, Josh O’Connor are just a few - but only one of them is playing a character. Everyone but Winslet, who also spearheaded the project and serves as producer, seems to be playing WWII dress-up. The same can also be said for screenwriters Liz Hannah, Marion Hume, and John Collee, and director Ellen Kuras, the latter being the most disappointing considering her impressive career as a cinematographer, aiding the creations from visionary auteurs such as Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Jonathan Demme, and Michel Gondry. Things open in 1977 as a young journalist (Josh O’Connor) interviews Elizabeth ‘Lee’ Miller (Winslet in dodgy old age makeup, also a hindrance for Andrea Riseborough) about her life. Lee never fakes putting on a friendly persona, believing that all interviews are investigations and that no one can understand the whole truth. But she goes on, recounting her younger days. By 1940, she was at a crossroads in her life, too old to remain the pinup supermodel she was in her 20s, and not taken seriously as a photographer and journalist because she didn’t have a Y chromosome. When World War II breaks out across Europe, Lee finds herself a job at Vogue , although she’s forced to stay and photograph the home front instead of being on the frontlines like she wants. But that opportunity comes soon enough, putting her down a charging path around wartorn cities and landscapes with LIFE photographer David Scherman (Andy Samberg). As the only woman in a sea of dead and dying men, Lee offers a different perspective on the carnage, taking pictures of the civilian women who are just as beaten and battered, as well as the normalities of past lives that have become extinct. Kuras mentioned during the TIFF introduction that Winslet started pushing for the project in 2015 during the afterparty for The Dressmaker (also premiering at TIFF). The eight years of grueling work to get to this moment are evident on the screen, with Winslet delivering a movie star performance full of glamor and depth. She carries the entire emotional weight of the film, doggedly wearing it as she trudges deeper into hell. The culmination comes as she and Scherman are some of the first Americans to witness the atrocities of Buchenwald and Dachau. Kuras treats these moments with sensitivity and poise, reigning in Alexandre Desplat’s score, allowing the silence to do the talking. But apart from that moment, much of Lee is as flat and uneventful as a North Dakota landscape (trust me, I’ve driven through my fair share of those). Kuras or the script offer Winslet any aid in giving an inside look at Miller, instead opting to follow the conventional Wikipedia model for a biopic. We get the who, what, when, and where of Miller’s life, but rarely do we get a satisfactory answer to why. Lee Miller lived a life worthy of a Kate Winslet performance, but she also deserved a movie that captured her story with the same level of interest. It’s neither good nor bad, just plainly forgettable. And with a subject like this, that’s probably the biggest sin to commit. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

BlacKkKlansman August 27, 2018 By: Button Hunter Friesen Spike Lee has always been one of the most outspoken directors for African-American rights. His no holds barred mentality put him on the map in 1989 with Do the Right Thing and again in 1992 for his epic biopic Malcolm X . However, the last decade has been rough for Lee as his films have been of lower quality, and struggled to click with the mainstream crowd. Fortunately for Lee and moviegoers, his new film, BlacKkKlansman , is a return to form as he delivers a thrilling crowd-pleaser that also isn’t afraid to attack race in American society. Taking place in 1979 Colorado Springs, the film follows the real-life story of Ron Stallworth, who has just become the first black cop in town. His hiring is met with hostility among the white officers, mostly ones that like to create trouble for the fun of it. As a hot-headed rookie looking to make his mark and bring a little change, Ron decides to go after the local Ku Klux Klan chapter. Luckily for him, the Klan runs full ads in the paper to draw in recruits. Ron picks up the phone and disguises his voice to sound like a white man in order to get information. His disguise works and he sets up a meeting with a recruiter. Obviously, Ron himself won't be able to go, so he sends white officer Flip Zimmerman to play his white self. From this point on, the story follows Ron and Flip running a tag team operation as they try to bring down one of the most hateful groups in America. Over the past decade, we’ve gotten so used to Lee being overly loud and thunderous that it now feels a bit weird to see him show a decent amount of restraint when it comes to the volume of the message. He also paces the film really well for its 135-minute runtime. Action, comedy, and drama are interspersed, allowing the film to flow with great energy and rhythm. Although Spike shows some restraint, he doesn’t fully commit. At times he falls back into his old over the top habits. One moment of this is at the beginning when we are shown a fictional Klan propaganda film that serves no real purpose other than to make you hear endless racial expletives. For a script that has four credited writers, one of which is Lee, the writing never feels fragmented. Right off the bat, the biggest compliment to the script is that it never is too preachy with its message. We do hear a lot about racism in America, but it never feels overdone. One thing that the writers struggle to do is blend together two different plots. We have the main investigation plot with Ron and Flip, but we’re also given a smaller romantic subplot between Ron and Patrice, an activist leader for black rights. Even though their romance does serve the purpose of highlighting racial tension in America, at times it feels shoehorned in and out of place. Another minor thing that comes up periodically throughout is the writing for the Klan characters. Each one of them is one-note and are treated as cartoonishly evil. It makes them entertaining to watch, but it also makes it hard to take them seriously when real-life or death stakes are presented. The best part of the film is its characters and the actors that inhabit them. John David Washington, son of frequent Spike Lee collaborator Denzel Washington, gives one of the best leading performances of the year (so far). Just like his father, John carries a sort of charisma that makes his character feel authentic. He realizes his role is quite serious, but he also takes plenty of time to have fun with his character. It makes him very entertaining to watch, especially when he’s playing “White Ron” over the phone. Adam Driver does exceptional supporting work as Flip. Just like Washington, Driver takes things seriously but also partakes in the fun every once in a while. He also gives his character a lot of depth, who is a lapsed Jew that is now starting to wrestle with his religious identity. Lastly, Topher Grace of That ‘70s Show fame is great as infamous real-life Klan leader David Duke. Grace brings a weasel-like attitude to his demented character and shares great chemistry with Washington as they engage with each other over the phone from time to time. Just like last year’s breakout hit Get Out , BlacKkKlansman is one of the rare occurrences where a film is both entertaining and able to send a powerful message about racism in America. Whether it be Spike Lee’s powerful directing or the captivating performances, there’s a lot to like here. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

The Iron Claw December 18, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen One of the most surprising things about The Iron Claw is how unbelievable this true story feels. Six brothers were born from Fritz and Doris Von Erich: Jack Jr., Kevin, David, Kerry, Mike, and Chris. Five of them would die before their 35th birthday, with Kevin being the only surviving member of that generation. Each of them was relentlessly driven to dominate the wrestling scene in the 1980s, and almost all of them did. They were a force to be reckoned with, just as fortunate in the ring as they were unfortunate outside of it. All of this starts with Fritz (real name Jack Barton Adkisson Sr.) as he’s greeted by his wife and two young sons outside the wrestling arena he just performed at. He tells his kids that nothing will ever stop them if they are fully dedicated to their craft, and tells his wife that winning the world championship will solve everything for them. It’s immediately clear that this will never be the case; as winning the belt won’t quench his undeniable thirst for more, and never getting it will send him into a downward spiral of self-destruction. But everyone believes what he says, especially Kevin (Zac Efron), who sees himself as the family’s best opportunity to rise to the top of wrestling history. But while Fritz is all pent-up rage and overt masculinity, Kevin and his brothers are more open and caring thanks to their ability to lean on each other. Efron, Jeremy Allen White (Kerry), Harris Dickinson (David), and Stanley Simons (Mike) produce one of the best ensembles of the year. Even though their dad openly admits which sons are his favorite and always expects them to compete for his favor, the brothers are always there to lend a hand and play off each other. Efron is a golden god, an almost dead ringer for Alexander the Great as he struts around the ring with his perfectly bronzed muscles and bleach-blonde hair. Dickinson is the more outgoing brother, the one who serves as the mouthpiece during the more theatrical moments of the bouts. White is probably the most athletically gifted of the group, while Simons’ brother is the least qualified and interested for the ring. Writer/director Sean Durkin finds both the light and (incredible) darkness in this tale of an American dynasty. Any and all semblances of happiness have been a foreign concept to Durkin throughout his first two features of Martha Marcy May Marlene and The Nest . Even a scene such as the wedding between Kevin and Pam (Lily James) is tinged with the haunting seeds of what’s to come. And once the gates open, there’s no stopping the flood waters. The guide to this story is Kevin as he often unfairly finds himself sidelined to his brother’s successes, and has to endure the unimaginable pain of seeing them go away one by one. But that isn't to say this story is solely a one-way trip of depression. There are intermittent stops to bask in the glory of this era for wrestling. Cinematographer Mátyás Erdély keeps things tight and unbroken as he and Durkin show off the physicality needed by these gladiators. It might all be for show but nothing about what is required is fake, with intermittent moments of unbearable pain and agony. Almost everyone knows that achieving your dreams isn’t just based on being the toughest, fastest, or strongest. There is such a thing as luck, or a curse in the case of the Von Erichs. Fritz was blind to that fact, which Durkin taps to uncover this tragic story of nature and nurture. At the end of the day, the Von Erich name has been etched in the history books, but not fully the way they intended. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen