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The Fabelmans September 10, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Fabelmans had its World Premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Universal Pictures will release it in theaters on November 11. From the opening scene of his most personal film yet (that’s quite the statement), Steven Spielberg lays all his cards on the table. Done in a single take, we find the young Spielberg stand-in (named Sammy Fabelman) scared to see his first movie: Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth . His father pulls him aside and attempts to explain the entire machination process of how films are projected onto the screen. This tactic doesn’t go over well, so Sammy’s mother takes him to the other side, and simply explains that “movies are dreams that you never forget.” In the end, the mother wins out, with Sammy’s reaction to the film being a combination of unexplainable terror and wonder. Through this scene, we get a thesis statement on Spielberg’s approach to filmmaking. He’s a born storyteller, pouring his mother’s heart into every frame. And he’s also a master craftsman, leaning on his father’s engineering mindset to construct fantastic sequences that defy belief. The more The Fabelmans tell its story, the more that thesis becomes clearer. We learn how one man could be attracted to making movies about a killer shark, a world-traveling archeologist, friendly and unfriendly aliens, the Holocaust, American presidents, World War II, and even modern-day dinosaurs. Seeing The Greatest Show on Earth , specifically the train crash scene spurs, something in Sammy. He feels compelled to recreate the memory with his own camera and train set, which he does to his mother’s amazement. A passion is quickly born, one that often gets caught in the crossfire of the distraughtness of the Fabelman family over the subsequent years. Just as he’s done with every genre (except for Westerns, which he claims to be interested in doing for his next project), Spielberg conquers the recent trend of directors making their autobiography about how they fell in love with cinema. You can feel the pure joy Spielberg has in recreating his early 8mm films. Janusz Kaminski’s exquisite Capra-esque lighting and Michael Kahn’s (who's been with Spielberg since Close Encounters of the Third Kind ) editing provide that extra needed touch to every moment. And John Williams’ uncharacteristically sneaky score always finds its way into your heart. Of course, being a Steven Spielberg film means that The Fabelmans contains an overabundance of emotion. But fret not all of you that are allergic to the Spielbergian touch, because here it’s used to tell a much more layered story. With the help of his Munich and Lincoln screenwriter Tony Kushner, Spielberg also shines a retrospective light on his parent’s marriage, something he never understood as a child. Michelle Williams and Paul Dano both do wonderful work as Mitzi and Burt, respectively. It’s easy to see how these opposites attracted to each other, and how that opposition eventually won out in the form of divorce. Newcomer Gabriel LaBelle plays the part of Sammy for the large majority of the film. Hopefully, his great performance here will be the first of many to come. Two other performances of note are Seth Rogen as the unofficial Uncle Benny and Judd Hirsch as Sammy’s maternal great-uncle. Both urge Sammy to continue his moviemaking passion in their own way, with Hirsch stealing the show in the two scenes he has. The Fabelmans is a collection of Spielberg's greatest hits, all delivered to their greatest effect. There’s laughter, tears, and wonder in this story that is much more than the sum of its parts. If Spielberg climbs the Dolby Theatre steps to collect his third Best Director Oscar, then it will be one of the few long overdue wins that came at the right time for the right project. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One July 5, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen It’s been close to four years now since, while on a press tour for his newest film The Irishman , Martin Scorsese expressed his opinion about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “That’s not cinema” is one of the lines he said, equating the ever-expanding franchise of films to a theme park. It was a statement that spawned a million clickbait articles, a follow-up op-ed by Scorsese in The New York Times , and caused an uproar amongst the fans of the superhero genre. While those who are likely to don Batman’s cape and cowl and Superman’s red tights for Halloween may have tossed a few darts toward a Scorsese-framed board since then, the fans of the Mission: Impossible franchise would be ecstatic to hear the world’s preeminent filmmaker label their favorite films as theme park rides because that’s exactly what they are. The seats shook violently and the sound system endlessly roared as I sat to watch the seventh and newest entry in the now thirty-year series: Dead Reckoning Part One . The only thing that prevented my hair from sticking up like I had just gotten off a roller coaster was that I don’t have enough of it on my head, to begin with. But the one thing I did walk away with was a smile on my face and a sense that I had been dazzlingly (and smartly) entertained on a hot summer night, which is a reward that seems to be coming at a premium this year (cue the camera pan over to the dumpster where The Flash sits surrounded by flies). The beginning of this thrill ride starts in the past as a Russian submarine carries onboard a super-powered artificial intelligence program known as The Entity. It makes trillions of computations per second, using past data to predict the future with unprecedented accuracy. Just as the laws of screenwriting would dictate, something that smart can only be caged for so long. The machine eventually gains sentience, sinking the ship and unleashing itself onto the entire global network. It essentially becomes the HAL-9000 on steroids, unable to be stopped by anything except the conjoined halves of the key that originally powered it on. The mission to find those keys in the present, should he choose to accept it, lies upon the shoulders of Ethan Hunt. He still has his core team of Luther (Ving Rhames), Benji (Simon Pegg), and Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson), with a new addition in a pickpocket named Grace (Hayley Atwell) who gets tangled in the web of interested parties, which also includes a mysterious figure from Ethan’s past known as Gabriel (Esai Morales) and the various agencies of the US government, who always seem to have a reason for wanting to arrest Hunt. Very few movies can attempt to go from the Bering Strait to Yemen to Amsterdam to Venice within their first hour. Dead Reckoning does it with ease as writer/director Christopher McQuarrie propulses the story with a bit of visual and written flair. There’s always an amount of giddy wit involved in the movement of a scene, just like it’s a dance to one of your favorite songs. The ultimate kineticism of the previous entry, Fallout , may not be surpassed, but it is closely reached on a few occasions. No one does a chase scene better than Cruise, with a last-minute one in Venice being a clear highlight because of the sheer athleticism involved and Lorne Balfe’s hard-charging score. These Mission: Impossible movies aren’t the kinds of films you get pumped for because of the performances, but they’re still better than average here. The character of Ethan Hunt may not stretch Crusie’s acting chops like Magnolia (I’m contractually obligated to myself to mention his brilliant performance and Oscar snub for PTA’s best movie), but there’s a strong dramatic core that goes along with every physically death-defying stunt. This is all still a vanity project for him, which makes it a little hard to buy each of the several times he speechifies about how much he cares about his friends and family. Humility does not serve Cruise well, which has made him a questionable person and a fantastic movie star. There are also several speeches - some extremely overly theatrical ones - that are littered throughout the movie so it can properly explain what The Entity is and how big of a threat it poses. To be honest, I’m still not exactly sure what the limits of its power are, as many of the twists it employs on the characters feel like they were just made up on the spot. That’s not really a hindrance to the overall enjoyment since this franchise is built upon pretty silly stuff and pulling one over within the blink of an eye. And when you get to witness another incredible setpiece like the highly publicized motorcycle jump, the complications around the motivations for the action don’t matter that much anymore. All that matters is what’s in front of you at that exact moment, which is usually quite a sight to behold. Not many franchises and movie stars can boast about getting better with age, especially when you start entering into the third decade of their existence. Tom Cruise and these Mission: Impossible movies have continued to push the envelope not just in terms of action filmmaking, but just plain filmmaking altogether. Dead Reckoning Part One has placed the ball on the tee with gusto, and I’m looking forward to the latter part to blast it away. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Drive-Away Dolls February 23, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen It may only be a sample size of one movie a piece; but between The Tragedy of Macbeth and Drive-Away Dolls , it’s becoming quite clear to see what skills and fascinations each of the Coen brothers brought to their decades’ worth of conjoined works. It wouldn’t be a far-fetched theory to envision Joel winning most of the arguments for the relatively darker No Country for Old Men and The Man Who Wasn’t There ; while Ethan held a tighter grip for Intolerable Cruelty , The Ladykillers , and Burn After Reading . This isn’t to say that one was right and the other was wrong, as almost all those movies listed are a masterclass in balancing tone and homage ( No Country for Old Men and Burn After Reading are my personal favorites). It’s more of an explanation of why the brothers have parted ways these past few years, each breaking away from the time-old shackles and experimenting with their newly unfiltered vision. However, that last part about “unfiltered” is only somewhat correct. Joel’s departure saw him saddle up with one of the most well-known dramas in the English language, with Ethan teaming up with his wife, Tricia Cooke, to co-write and co-produce a lesbian road trip comedy. The results here are a bit scatterbrained, sort of touching on a few too many Coen trademarks with only half the potency they used to have. One thing Drive-Away Dolls doesn’t lack is brevity. At a crisp 84 minutes when factoring in the credits, this crime caper moves at the same pace as the racing dogs featured near the Tallahassee-set climax. A flurry of B-movie transitions; including whip pans, spinning frames, and wipes, never allows you to lose sight of the kitschy influences. There are a few sequences, specifically some psychedelic drops and neon-infused frames, that tip the scales too much in the wrong direction, but it’s never enough to ruin the whole trip. Things start in Philadelphia on the eve of the 21st century. Jamie (Margaret Qualley) is a free spirit who finds herself broken up with by her cop girlfriend (Beanie Feldstein) after a few too many actions without thought. She and her uptight friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) need a temporary change of scenery, which is the perfect excuse to earn some extra cash by performing a driveaway service to Florida. Except, this particular car contains a mysterious briefcase inside, one that holds powerful secrets that a group of bumbling goons (led by Colman Domingo) are after. A few other actors show up in bit parts/cameos. Pedro Pascal stars in the cold open and experiences the alternative use for a wine opener, Bill Camp is the droll car dealership manager, and Matt Damon plays the head honcho after the briefcase. Everyone is having fun in their roles, especially Qualley with her Texan accent and delightfully vulgar views on life. It’s their energy and charm that gets most of the material across the finish line, as the Coen/Cooke script often feels stuck in the realm of “just okay.” “Just okay” would be an accurate statement to use for the whole film, which isn’t as bad as it sounds. It’s hard to complain about something being “just okay” when it’s this zippy and kooky, even if the headliner name of Ethan Coen would make you believe you were in for something a little more special. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Thunderbolts* April 30, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen At this point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I often ask why I even bother. Why put up with the casting announcements, release date changes, rumors, and debates? Why sit through the endless credits for a small tease of what’s to come next, which, at this point, will likely be less than what it advertised? Why drift over to Disney+ to watch the required supplemental material? That’s a task I quickly gave up on after WandaVision vastly overstayed its welcome. I’ll tell you why. Because, like every Minnesota sports fan who's lived through countless seasons of agony and deep soul searching, there comes a time when the clouds lift and you feel as if you’ve been placed upon the highest mountain. The release of Thunderbolts* (no, that asterisk is not a typo) marks that time for the MCU. Of course, as any Minnesotan will tell you, the vast majority of those peaks still came just short of a championship. Thunderbolts* is also not a championship-worthy film for the MCU, more akin to the new era of the Minnesota Timberwolves after the doldrums of the early 2010s (I’m writing this analogy while doped up on the adrenaline of a 3-1 opening playoff series lead over the evil empire that is the Los Angeles Lakers). It’s also a movie that made me wish I was less forgiving of Captain America: Brave New World just a few months ago. I wrote that that movie was “a semi-comforting reminder that it’s okay for a movie to be just fine and forgettable.” Now I’d recalculate that allocation much more in the latter’s camp than the former. After some gloomy studio logos, everyone’s favorite raised-from-the-womb assassin, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), speaks that “there’s something wrong with me… an emptiness… a void.” She’s going through the motions, completing missions and erasing targets with nothing more than a blank stare. Thankfully, director Jake Schreier doesn’t share her sentiments when it comes to manning this $200 million behemoth. The helmer of the Netflix series Beef gives the opening proceedings a more flavorful edge, opting for a much-marketed practical skyscraper jump and longer-take in-camera fight choreography. In Yelena’s world, there is no such thing as loyalty, so a chance encounter between her, John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) in the belly of a secret underground bunker housing the secrets of CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is definitely not a pleasant coincidence. Everyone’s supposed to kill each other, leaving no more loose ends for the impeachment trial that’s digging up all of their involvement in Valentina’s off-the-book endeavors. Since they all realize that they have a common enemy, the loners decide to team up to increase their chance of survival, which, in this case, just means that they’d like to prolong the inevitable delay until their fate catches up with them. But unlike the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, this ragtag group does not consist of heroes looking to strengthen their commitment to protecting humanity or lovable misfits who just needed a chance to do good. These are all bad people, leaving miles of bodies in their wake. They’re also characters that don’t immediately scream that they’re all that interesting. Walker and Valenita are from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier , a show I never watched. Ghost and Taskmaster respectively appeared as the antagonists in Ant-Man and the Wasp and Black Widow , two films I’ve completely memory-holed. Yelena did make an impression in Black Widow and her successive appearances in the MCU, much of that coming from Pugh’s innate charm and pathos. Much credit goes to the performers, as well as co-writers Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo, for making these less-than-desirable characters into compelling people. The quips have been dialed back, and the ones that do stick around land at a much more consistent rate. David Harbour’s Red Guardian does throw off that balance on a few too many occasions, with the character’s lovability being sabotaged by an overwhelming eagerness. There’s also the presence of Bob (Lewis Pullman), a Valentina-sponsored human experiment who has the power to make those that he touches relive their worst nightmares. With the aid of the A24 veteran duo of cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo and production designer Grace Yun, there’s a more natural balance to the emotional depth of these characters. That “Absolute Cinema” trailer touting the indie credentials of all the talent involved may have reeked of cinemaphile desperation, but the final product illustrates that the marketers weren’t lying about the goods they’ve assembled here. The theme of the film is recovering from driftlessness through finding a purpose alongside friends and family. For as much as a gun or a fist can accomplish, some nice words and a hug can do a lot more. To be talking about ideas and themes instead of easter eggs and cameos is a breath of fresh air for the MCU, one that I dubiously hope that they’ll maintain as they wade into the titans that are this summer’s Fantastic Four: First Steps and next year’s Avengers: Doomsday . More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Unstoppable December 30, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen As someone born in central Iowa and has spent his entire life cheering for Iowa State athletics - including attending dozens of basketball and football games - the sight of Anthony Robles fawning over Iowa Hawkeye wrestling within Unstoppable was enough to make me sick. Luckily, I was sitting in the back of the theater, so the other audience members didn’t notice the metaphorical birds I was flipping to the screen. It was also a Saturday in the fall, so I was naturally donning an Iowa State sweatshirt and quickly checked the football score before and after the screening. How many Olympic gold medals does Iowa have in wrestling? Six. How many does Iowa State have? Also six. Never mind that Iowa has 24 National Championships and Iowa State only has 8. All kidding aside, the sarcastic look of disgust I had on my face was not caused by the film itself. It’s a standard sports drama pitched (or, in this case, pinned) down the middle, complete with enough compelling performances and authentic emotion that you can easily forgive the clichéd elements that I thought we would have moved past at this point in cinema history. One of those groan-worthy moments comes right at the top when a pair of girls in the crowd make fun of Anthony’s missing leg (he was born without his right leg) and wonder if it was some sort of DEI decision for him to compete. I guess they were blind to the fact that they’re spectators for the NHSCA High School Nationals and that Anthony was coming into this event with a 96-0 record during his junior and senior years. Anthony dominates the match, which he hopes will attract the scouts at Iowa. The Hawkeyes pass him by, leaving his collegiate options to a full ride at Drexel or a walk-on position at his local Arizona State. It’s an easy decision on paper, but not so much in reality when you factor in that Anthony’s mother (Jennifer Lopez) is stuck in an abusive relationship with the toxically masculine Rick (Bobby Cannavale) and has to raise four other younger children. Anthony can’t in good conscience move away to Philadelphia for four years, so he takes the challenge of earning his spot as a Sun Devil. It’s extremely commendable to see Anthony’s determination to do the right thing, especially when a scan through his Wikipedia page proves that screenwriters Eric Champnella, Alex Harris, and John Hindman hardly embellished any of the facts. There have been obstacles placed before him since birth, many of which would be classified as insurmountable by most people. And yet he always perseveres, earning the respect of everyone around him. In times like these, a few extra degrees of warmth hit my heart. Jharrel Jerome is exceptional as Anthony. An Academy Award nomination would be well-deserved to go along with his Emmy award for the 2020 miniseries When They See Us . The digital effects to erase his leg are near perfect, and so is his physical commitment to the performance. But it’s also the quieter moments that illustrate his status as one of our finest rising stars. His scenes with his high school (Michael Peña) and college (Don Cheadle) coaches show the burning pride he has for what he accomplishes daily. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon serve as producers on this story through their production company Artists Equity. They made their debut under that banner with last year’s Air . The editor of that film, and several of Affleck’s directorial efforts, was William Goldenberg, who makes his debut in the director’s chair here. The glass-half-full approach would be that his workmanlike production doesn’t overshadow the quality performances he gets out of his cast. The glass-half-empty version would say that it’s rather flat, leaving everyone else to pick up the slack. The editing around the wrestling sequences is predictably solid, yet they lack the get-up-off-your-seat verve that many other sports dramas have been able to deliver. In the end, it’s all still done well enough to honor someone who deserves their story to be told on this scale, just not well enough to be as memorable as it should be. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

All of Us Strangers October 23, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen All of Us Strangers screened at the 2023 Twin Cities Film Fest. Searchlight Pictures releases it in theaters on December 22. Being alone isn’t solely confined to the physical world within writer/director Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers , an adaptation of the 1987 novel Strangers by Taichi Yamada. The recluse at the center of this story is Adam (Andrew Scott), a middle-class screenwriter who relentlessly keeps himself holed up in his semi-decent London flat. But things aren’t all bad as Harry (Paul Mescal) shows up unannounced at Adam’s door. They seem to be the only two residents alive within this ghost town of an apartment complex, making their interaction feel almost like destiny, especially considering that both of them are queer. Despite Harry’s casualness, Adam isn’t someone who’s able to open himself up to other people. He’s been alone almost his entire life as both his parents died in a car crash when he was twelve. He’s working on a script based on his closeted childhood, but the words just can’t seem to form on the page. Somehow he’s able to do research by going back to his old childhood home outside of London, where both of his parents (Jamie Bell and Claire Foy) still reside as if they never died or aged a day since their demise. Both they and Adam are aware of this fantasy, yet they do not speak of it, almost as if keeping it unspoken retains its power. Aligning with Yamada’s novel, Haigh never commits to fully explaining this illusion. Is Adam crazy? Is he time-traveling? Is he just dreaming? Is this a manifestation of his script? All of those explanations are equally valid in the moment, yet none of them are important enough to warrant in-depth examination. To borrow a line from Christopher Nolan’s Tenet : “Don’t try to understand it. Feel it.” The only thing that matters here is the ethereal pull of Adam’s experience and how it offers an examination of life then and now. For all the warmth that comes with nostalgic memories of your past, there is also the cold, sobering rush of reality. Even in Adam’s fantasy, coming out to his parents doesn’t go over smoothly. Both of them have their mindsets trapped in the 1980s AIDS epidemic. Adam explains that there are no problems with being queer in modern society, and yet his and Harry’s story would indicate otherwise. Haigh elevates his craft with visual flourishes that aid the dreamlike nature of the film. Mirrors and reflections, both in their literal and metaphorical form, play an integral role in Adam’s journey between the worlds. There’s a gentle flow between the scenes, with frames dissolving and fading into each other. Cinematographer Jamie Ramsay recreates magic hour photography everywhere he aims his passive 35mm camera. That absorbing visual palette aids the performances of the core quartet. Scott reaches for a healthy dose of tears and pent-up regret, which balances nicely with the strategically outward pain from Mescal. Bell and Foy are affectionate as the enigmatic parental figures, always feeling like real characterizations of people that once lived and loved. All of Us Strangers is a ghost story that invites the viewer to project themselves onto the story just as much as it tells its own. There’s nothing easy about letting go of the past, and there’s nothing easy about what comes after. It’s not an uplifting message, but it’s an endearing one that we’ve all come to find truth in. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Women Talking October 30, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen Women Talking screened at the 2022 Twin Cities Film Fest. United Artists Releasing will release it in theaters on December 23. Do nothing, stay and fight, or leave? These are the three options presented to the women of a modern-day Mennonite colony. Many of them have been drugged and raped for years by their male counterparts, who insist upon their innocence and place the blame on devilish spirits and “wild female imagination.” After a few of the men are caught, they are taken to a nearby police station. The rest of the men are on their way to post bail, leaving the women enough time to debate their options. The pros and cons of each choice are listed. The proponent of doing nothing is Scarface Janz (Frances McDormand, also a producer), an elder woman who heeds the men’s warning that any woman who does not forgive their attacker will not be allowed to enter the kingdom of heaven. Salome (Claire Foy) fervently opposes this option. She’s on the side of staying and fighting, which she has already illustrated by injuring one of the perpetrators with a scythe. The rest of the women are more inclined to leave, even though none of them know how to read or write, nor know anything of the world outside their farmstead. Taking the minutes of the meeting is August (Ben Whishaw), a recent college graduate who has returned to the colony after his family was previously excommunicated. Women Talking definitely lives up to its name. Writer/director Sarah Polley, her first narrative feature since 2011’s Take This Waltz , stages much of the film inside a hayloft with the hodgepodge of women. Their debate rages on endlessly, taking the form of an Aaron Sorkin production as each character/actress gets their own Oscar clip monologue. Some make fine work of their moment (the ever-underappreciated Judith Ivey) and some take it a little too far (Claire Foy), but there are no weak links within this sizable, yet intimate cast. The central pair of Rooney Mara and Whishaw are the clear standouts, with their repressed feelings for each other slowly unraveling over the course of the film. Major Oscar campaigns should be in order. There are also excellent performances from the younger actresses, with their characters representing the straightforward ethical approach of right vs. wrong. Much of the debate is philosophical in nature, with questions about how and why all of this was allowed to happen in the first place, and what can truly be done to solve it, if that’s even possible. Will running away actually make a difference? The men surely won’t be able to survive on their own, so will leaving them be an indirect method of murder? What is to be done about the male children, who are innocent? Should they be punished simply because they are male? A second watch will surely be on the table, as a lot of subtle details fly under the radar because of the rapid-fire arguments. To combat the inherent staginess of the material (which is still quite present, in both good ways and bad), Polley incorporates some flash cutting to the aftermath of the abuse, while still never showing the attacks themselves. It often provides a needed breather from the extended takes centered around the main topic. And one couldn’t leave without mentioning the ultra-desaturated cinematography, a far cry from the brightly colorful work that Polley and DP Luc Montpellier have put out in the past. Should it have been used in the first place? Probably not. It’s incredibly jarring initially but becomes more natural as the morally gray narrative unwinds. Sarah Polley has returned to feature filmmaking with a weighty and timely narrative that begs for deep discussion afterward. It's tackling of the material may not always be perfect, but, just like the women at the center of this story, it has its heart and mind always in the right place. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Cannes 2023 Preview May 15, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen The Cannes Film Festival is one of the most prestigious film events in the world, attracting movie buffs, critics, and industry professionals from across the globe. Each year, the festival showcases some of the most captivating and thought-provoking films, ranging from indie productions to big-budget blockbusters. As a film enthusiast, I am excited to once again attend this year's festival and share my thoughts on some of the films I'll be watching. The lineup promises to deliver a diverse range of stories and perspectives. In this article, I'll be taking you through some of the most highly anticipated films that I'll be watching at the festival, giving you a glimpse of what's in store for cinema lovers this year. *All film descriptions and pictures have been supplied by the festival program* The Old Oak (dir. Ken Loach, United Kingdom) The Old Oak is a special place. Not only is it the last pub standing, it is the only remaining public space where people can meet in a once-thriving mining community that has now fallen on hard times after 30 years of decline. TJ Ballantyne (Dave Turner), the landlord, hangs on to The Old Oak by his fingertips, and his hold is endangered even more when it becomes contested territory after the arrival of Syrian refugees who are placed in the village. In an unlikely friendship, TJ encounters a young Syrian, Yara (Ebla Mari) with her camera. Can they find a way for the two communities to understand each other? So unfolds a deeply moving drama about loss, fear, and the difficulty of finding hope. Black Flies (dir. Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, United States) Ollie Cross (Tye Sheridan), a young paramedic in New York, teams up with Rutkovsky (Sean Penn), an experienced EMT. Facing extreme violence, he discovers the risks of a job that every day shakes his beliefs about life… and death. Cobweb (dir. Kim Jee-Woon, South Korea) In the 1970s, Director Kim is obsessed with the desire to re-shoot the ending of his completed film ‘Cobweb’, but chaos and turmoil grip the set with interference from the censorship authorities and the complaints of actors and producers who can’t understand the re-written ending. Will Kim be able to find a way through this chaos to fulfill his artistic ambitions and complete his masterpiece? Kidnapped (dir. Marco Bellocchio, Italy) In 1858, in the Jewish quarter of Bologna, the Pope’s soldiers burst into the home of the Mortara family. By order of the cardinal, they have come to take Edgardo, their seven-year-old son. The child had been secretly baptized by his nurse as a baby and the papal law is unquestionable: he must receive a Catholic education. Edgardo’s parents, distraught, will do anything to get their son back. Supported by public opinion and the international Jewish community, the Mortaras’ struggle quickly take a political dimension. But the Church and the Pope will not agree to return the child, to consolidate an increasingly wavering power… A Brighter Tomorrow (dir. Nanni Moretti, Italy) Giovanni, a renowned Italian filmmaker, is about to start shooting a political film. But between his marriage in crisis, his co-producer on the verge of bankruptcy, and the rapidly changing film industry, everything seems to be working against him! Always on the edge, Giovanni will have to rethink his way of doing things if he wants to lead his little world toward a bright tomorrow. May December (dir. Todd Haynes, United States) Julianne Moore and Charles Melton star as a married couple whose 20-year relationship inspired a national tabloid obsession at its offset. Now preparing to send their grown children off to college – as Melton reconciles with empty nest syndrome in his mid-30s – an actress (Natalie Portman) embeds with the family to study them for an upcoming film where she’ll play Moore. The couple buckles under the pressure as Portman probes as deeply as she can for an honest performance. About Dry Grasses (dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey) Samet, a young art teacher, is finishing his fourth year of compulsory service in a remote village in Anatolia. After a turn of events he can hardly make sense of, he loses his hopes of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in. Will his encounter with Nuray, herself a teacher, help him overcome his angst? La Chimera (dir. Alice Rohrwacher, Italy) Everyone has their own Chimera, something they try to achieve but never manage to find. For the band of tombaroli, thieves of ancient grave goods and archaeological wonders, the Chimera means redemption from work and the dream of easy wealth. For Arthur, the Chimera looks like the woman he lost, Beniamina. To find her, Arthur challenges the invisible, searches everywhere, and goes inside the earth – in search of the door to the afterlife of which myths speak. In an adventurous journey between the living and the dead, between forests and cities, between celebrations and solitudes, the intertwined destinies of these characters unfold, all in search of the Chimera. Anatomy of a Fall (dir. Justine Triet, France) Sandra, Samuel, and their 11-year-old visually impaired son, Daniel, have been living far from everything in the mountains for a year. One day, Samuel is found dead at the foot of their house. A suspicious death investigation has been opened. Sandra is soon charged despite the doubt: suicide or homicide? A year later, Daniel attends his mother's trial, a true dissection of the couple. Firebrand ( dir. Karim Aïnouz, United Kingdom) In the bloodstained England of the Tudors, Katherine Parr, the sixth and last wife of Henry VIII, is appointed Regent during his military campaigns. With this provisional role, Katherine tries to influence the king's advisers towards a future based on her Protestant beliefs. On his return from combat, the king, increasingly paranoid and ill, accuses a childhood friend of Katherine of treason and sends her to the stake. Horrified by her act and secretly bereaved, Katherine fights for her own survival. Conspiracies ensue within the palace walls and the court holds its breath – will the Queen misstep and Henry have her executed? With the hope of a kingdom without tyranny, will she be able to submit to the inevitable for the good of king and country? Monster (dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan) When her young son Minato starts to behave strangely, his mother feels that there is something wrong. Discovering that a teacher is responsible, she storms into the school demanding to know what’s going on. But as the story unfolds through the eyes of the mother, teacher, and child, the truth gradually emerges. Palme d’Or winner and internationally acclaimed director Hirokazu Kore-eda returns with a delicate, powerfully moving story of love, duty, social conflict, and secrets. Asteroid City (dir. Wes Anderson, United States) In 1955, students and parents from across the country gather for scholarly competition, rest, recreation, drama, and romance at a Junior Stargazer convention held in a fictional American desert town. Writer/director Wes Anderson further plants Cannes as his home with this star-studded whimsical comedy. The Zone of Interest (dir. Jonathan Glazer, United Kingdom) The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp. Writer/director Jonathan Glazer returns to feature filmmaking after a ten-year absence with this highly original story of love in the darkest of places. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Tron: Ares October 8, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen It’s either brave or foolish of Disney to consider Tron a viable franchise after only offering three entries across its forty-three-year existence. Then again, Top Gun is now one of the most lucrative series despite being comprised of two films with a thirty-six-year gap in between. Disney hoped that the director of Top Gun: Maverick , Joseph Kosinski, would make his return to this franchise after getting his Hollywood career started with Tron: Legacy . But he was busy with F1: The Movie , so the director’s chair was handed over to Joachim Rønning, a familiar face to the studio with a resume that includes Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales , Maleficent: Mistress of Evil , and Young Woman and the Sea . He’s a steady hand who understands the assignment, which is why this is a well-assembled, yet mildly forgettable blockbuster. Humans going into the digital world is old news, with digital creations coming into our world being the new craze. Rival corporations ENCOM and Dillinger Systems are in a race to be the ones to pioneer that technology, with the former promising medical breakthroughs and unlimited resources for humanitarian aid, and the latter selling super soldiers to the highest bidder. And if you still can’t tell who the bad guys are, Dillinger’s headquarters is in a top-secret air hangar perpetually bathed in red lighting. The final piece to this digital puzzle is the permanence code, which fixes the bug that limits the lifespan of any creation to just twenty-nine minutes. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and the promise of that power is enough to push Dillinger CEO Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) to print his cyber soldiers and order them to kill ENCOM CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee). As Blade Runner and A.I. Artificial Intelligence have taught us, it’s that robots have a desire to understand the human condition. Why a perfectly engineered specimen would want to join the plight of humanity at this exact moment is an unanswered question, one of many within Jesse Wigutow’s by-the-numbers script. For Ares (Jared Leto), the feeling of rain (but not tears in rain) and a sense of empathy from Eve are enough to convince him that Julian can’t be trusted. Endless chase scenes ensue as the pair avoids capture from Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith), Julian’s other unstoppable digital assassin. If that scenario sounds like a perfect excuse to pump the action full of light cycle greatness, then you’d be absolutely correct. Those beaming bikes are on full display in their shiny metallic glory, speeding along streets and cutting objects like a hot knife through butter. A hacking sequence is visualized like a neon-soaked version of the ending of Zero Dark Thirty , which I’m sure is still more accurate than what they did on NCIS . The whole thing looks and sounds incredible, with DP Jeff Cronenweth (not seen in movies since 2021’s Being the Ricardos ) concocting some dazzlingly sharp images. Speaking of sound, the techno score by Nine Inch Nails frontmen Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross offers the propulsive push this stale story needed. It sits right next to their Challengers score as the best rave music produced in the last few years. I staved off the inevitable question of “am I getting old?” by not being bothered by how ungodly loud the speakers were blasting in the IMAX theater. It’s a shame that Disney was able to hire David Fincher’s cinematographer and composers for this, but not the man himself. Jared Leto is perfectly cast as a robot, both because of his stilted mannerisms and delivery, and his insane ability to look this good at the age of fifty-three. He’s come full circle in the artificial life cycle, first playing the creator in Blade Runner 2049 , and now the created. Good as he is here, one outing with this character is all that I need, especially if it frees Greta Lee to pursue something more worthy of her immense talents. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 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 Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Room Next Door September 7, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Room Next Door had its North American Premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Sony Pictures Classics will release it in theaters on December 20. The unmistakably romantically sumptuous music of Albert Iglesias once again draws open the curtains for a film by Almodóvar. Although this is their 14th feature collaboration as composer and director, The Room Next Door marks the first time the strings have been used to reinforce dialogue in the English language. The story, one of the few not to be an original idea by the famed auteur, comes from Sigrid Nunez’s 2020 novel What Are You Going Through . New York City serves as the backdrop, with it never looking more beautiful as the seasons and towering buildings always casting perfectly symmetrical lines. Even down to the smallest of spaces, such as Martha’s (Tilda Swinton) junk drawer, the colors pop with radiance. Unfortunately, the neverending revolving door of serenity is perpetually tinged with the darkness of reality, as Martha lounges in her perfect surroundings riddled with the cancer that will most likely kill her. Rushing to her aid once she hears the terminal news is Ingrid (Julianne Moore), a longtime friend of Martha, although they haven’t spoken in a few years on account of their busy careers (Ingrid is a famous novelist, while Martha hurries to the next battle as a war correspondent). While time has been no barrier in the rekindling of their relationship, Martha has not been so successful with her daughter. They’ve been estranged nearly all their lives, neither of them being exceptional at fulfilling their parent-child duties. Ingrid now finds herself trying to mend that bridge before it’s too late, a timeline that’s being hastened by Martha’s decision to forgo treatment. The closer people get to death’s door, the more honest they become about the life they’ve lived. Swinton, reunited with Almodóvar for the second time after marking his unofficial English-language debut in 2020 with the short film The Human Voice , is the active member of the actress pair, delivering a cascade of monologues about her past, a few of them supplemented with flashbacks. While Google Translate was clearly not used based on Almodóvar’s consummate professionalism and prowess as a screenwriter, quite a few moments get lost in the translation. Swinton and Moore navigate the pitfalls with relative ease, biting into the high drama with gusto. There are more than a few moments of unintentional hilarity that pivot from us laughing at the movie to laughing with it solely based on the delivery of the lead pair. The younger cast doesn’t fare nearly as well, with their handful of scenes leaving them stranded to exchange lines that could have used a little more proofreading. It's these intermittent eyebrow-raising moments, many of them swept away before their intention can be deciphered, that keep The Room Next Door at a medium temperature. There’s always a feeling that Almodóvar could reach his trademarked boiling point of melodrama, but his confidence in the material just isn’t there. It’s still a remarkable improvement from The Human Voice and his most recent English-language short, Strange Way of Life , so there’s plenty of hope that, if he were to continue working outside his native language on such projects as his abandoned A Manual for Cleaning Women , it would reach the lofty heights we expect of him. That bar also means that a disappointing feature from Almodóvar is still very much worth the investment. There’s still no one who serves actresses better than him, with a nice supporting turn from John Turturro (mostly interested in sex and the hopelessness that climate change has brought) thrown in there for good measure. Here’s hoping he continues to challenge himself, bringing along A-list talent looking to rise to a new level. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Substance June 3, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Substance had its World Premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Mubi will release it in theaters on September 20. “And the Oscar for Best Sound goes to… The Substance !” In a perfect world, that’s a phrase we should be hearing in about nine months. Of course, we live in a cruel world where the most prominent placement that phrase will have is in my dreams. But I’ll keep praying, because if something as traditionally anti-Oscar and deserving as The Zone of Interest can win this award, why can’t something equally great such as this? And just like The Zone of Interest , you will not be able to get the same kind of visceral experience the movie delivers outside of the cinema. Too many bone-crunching, squirm-inducing, and ooey gooey that’ll have you regretting that buy one, get one chicken wing deal you splurged on just before sitting down to watch this. But if there’s one thing writer/director Coralie Fargeat’s sophomore feature hates more than attached limbs and unspilled blood, it’s subtlety. The obsessive and borderline inhumane treatment Hollywood (and the public at large) has towards aging actresses is material that’s been mined several times before. Fargeat understands this and the assignment in front of her. If you’re not going to be first or the most insightful, then you might as well make damn sure you’re going to the most audaciously unforgettable. This is where Demi Moore’s casting comes into play, with the metatextuality of her rise within The Brat Pack in the 80s followed by the sexually charged fall from grace in the 90s aiding the immediate characterization of Elizabeth Sparkle. Although she’s still in great shape, her age has recently forced her to host a fledgling home workout TV show that shares the same production qualities as Jane Fonda did in the 80s. Her boss Harvey (again, subtlety is for cowards), secretly wants to boot her from the show for someone younger. A coincidence at the doctor’s office a few days later has Elizabeth talking to an eerily beautiful young physician, who gives her the information for an underground procedure called The Substance. The mysterious organization running the operation doesn’t ask for anything in return, just that you respect the rules. In exchange, the drug Elizabeth injects will force her body to give birth to a much younger and anatomically perfect version of herself. This new body, named Sue (Margaret Qualley), has Elizbaeth’s brain and memories, but none of the cellulite. The one big rule is that Elizabeth must alternate between each body one week at a time, or decomposition will occur. In true Gremlins fashion, this rule is at first followed, only to be bent, and, then, fully broken. Elizabeth and Sue might be the same person on the inside, but they each have different desires and the means to acquire them. Fargeat showed a penchant for blood and guts in her 2017 debut Revenge , something that The Substance takes to whole new levels. Cannes audiences may have thought they had already grown slightly accustomed to this through Titane and Crimes of the Future , but this is a different beast altogether. The underground dwellers that worship at the altar of Frank Henenlotter and Society finally have something that represents them on the biggest stage. The high-quality production is not just reserved for the grotesque makeup and piercing sound design. The fish-eye lenses Yorgos Lanthimos used to capture his off-kilter versions of England in The Favourite and Poor Things have found a new home in Hollywood, capturing everything from the male audience’s gazing on Sue’s revealing buttocks to Harvey spewing shrimp tails out of his mouth. Neverending monochromatic hallways line the studio, creating a candy-colored maze from corporate hell. The only thing bolder than those colors is Moore and Qualley’s dual performances as Elizabeth/Sue. Moore maintains a headstrong presence even as things get increasingly deranged, fully trusting in Fargeat’s vision. Qualley balances her physical schoolgirl perfectionism with her demented inner self as Elizabeth tries to maintain control of the situation. And then there’s also Dennis Quaid as Harvey, delivering a gonzo performance that very well could be his best in decades. It makes you yearn to see him tackle more roles like this, while also fully acknowledging that his personal statements (recently saying that he would vote for Trump again on Piers Morgan Uncensored ) have limited his prospects. Based on the relatively weird vibe of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, it seems only fitting for Fargeat to out Cronenberg David Cronenberg himself only a day before he premiered his new film The Shrouds (the less said about that, the better). With Julia Ducournau and Fargeat rising through the ranks of international cinema, the no-holds-barred corner that they occupy is looking like a mighty fine place to camp out for a while. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen