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Rebel Ridge September 5, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen To say that writer/director Jeremy Saulnier had to traverse quite the bumpy road to bring Rebel Ridge , his first film in five years, over the finish line would be quite the understatement. John Boyega was initially slated to star in the leading role, with things progressing far enough for a material amount of the film to be shot in 2021 before he mysteriously backed out . Fresh off roles in Old , The Underground Railroad , and Brother , Aaron Pierre came in as the substitute (a welcome upgrade, which I’ll talk about later) and filming resumed almost a year later. A series of reshoots and pickups followed, with the budget ballooning from the originally reported $25 million to nearly $40 million. Even with all those bad omens, the less-than-stellar release strategy, and not seeing a single frame of the finished product, I knew there was no way that Saulnier would deliver a worse Netflix film with “rebel” in the title than what Zack Snyder has done with his four (two original cuts and two director’s cuts) Rebel Moon features. I realize that that statement doesn’t indicate much praise, so let me be clear: Rebel Ridge will be one of the better/best films that very few people are going to talk about in 2024. I also would like to mention that I intend no disrespect to Boyega and what he would have delivered in this role, as his previous performances outside the Star Wars universe ( Breaking , The Woman King , They Cloned Tyrone ) have their merits thanks to the physicality and emotional depth he brings. However, I also don’t think Boyega would have ever been able to match what Pierre is putting on the table here. Saulnier was spoiled for choice, and he landed on the better of two good options. Pierre plays Terry Richmond, an ex-Marine who finds himself in a small Louisiana town posting bail for his cousin. He’s blasting his heavy metal playlist on his ten-speed bike when he’s driven off the road by a pair of local cops looking to get their daily power trip. Through a convenient loophole in the local justice system, any property seized by the cops under suspicion becomes police property, which means the $36,000 in cash in Terry’s backpack now stays within precinct walls. It doesn’t matter if Terry has receipts for how he acquired it, as the process for fighting the accusation will take months of paperwork that he doesn’t have. Everyone within city hall is either oblivious, complicit, or scared by the corruption. The local sheriff (Don Johnson, continuing his streak of playing conservative scumbags) and his goons keep a tight leash on everything going on within the community, going so far as to threaten and blackmail. But Terry isn’t just any ex-Marine, he’s a martial arts and survival expert who isn’t afraid to chase down a prison bus on a highway with his bike. He doesn’t take a hotel room during his impromptu layover, instead opting to camp in the woods and catch fish with his bare hands. Terry is destined to be the new star of every “alpha bro” account on TikTok, with his ease in kicking ass and taking names being just the sort of thing that attracts the crowd that identifies as lone wolves. But Saulnier doesn’t paint Terry in that light, which has been done so many times before, often poorly. He is one man fighting against a corrupt system, but violence isn’t going to change the entire culture suddenly. Saulnier’s signature visceral violence is still fully on display, only this time with a little more restraint compared to Green Room and Hold the Dark . Bones still snap with furiosity and broken noses gush with blood. But it’s a lot easier to justify murdering Nazis and rogue bounty hunters than boys in blue, no matter how much they’ve turned themselves into a profiteering militia. While Terry does the dirty work, up-and-coming lawyer Summer (AnnaSophia Robb) digs into the litany of paperwork that’s been created to cover up this mess. She and Terry find a connection through what this town has taken from them, and what they must do (and not do) to make things right again. Rebel Ridge is as much a Rambo audition for Pierre and Saulnier as anything that’s come out over the past few years. But both of them have a little more on their mind than just musclebound carnage, leaving us with something both entertaining in its action and engaging with its ideas. 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

Americana August 17, 2025 By: Button Tyler Banark Some movies collapse under the weight of their ambition, while others barely get off the ground because there was never much to hold them up in the first place. Americana , Tony Tost’s much-hyped directorial debut ensemble piece starring Sydney Sweeney and Paul Walter Hauser, somehow manages to do both. It struts onto the screen like a swaggering outlaw with a stolen six-shooter, only to trip over its boots before it can fire a single meaningful shot. The result is a hollow exercise in wannabe coolness: a movie so desperate to look like it belongs in the realism of Tarantino or the Coens that it forgets to tell a coherent story worth caring about. The film’s premise is ripe with possibilities. A stolen Lakota Ghost Shirt—a sacred relic with historical and spiritual weight—sets off a violent chain of events in rural South Dakota. On paper, that’s a potent setup. In execution, it’s a tonal mess. Instead of treating the material with care or edge, the film reduces everything to quirk and coincidence, as if cultural exploitation, grief, and bloodshed could all be softened by a few smirking chapter breaks and some thrift-store outfits. At the center is Sydney Sweeney as Penny Jo Poplin, a waitress with a stutter and a dream of singing country music. The stutter is supposed to lend her vulnerability, but it feels pasted on, a screenwriter’s shorthand for “fragile dreamer” rather than an authentic trait. Sweeney is better than this, but the character is underwritten, little more than a pile of quirks masquerading as depth. It’s less a role than a branding exercise, one of which I wasn’t a fan of. Paul Walter Hauser fares only slightly better as Lefty Ledbetter, Penny Jo’s overeager suitor whose solution to every problem seems to be proposing marriage. Hauser has a gift for making pathetic characters oddly likable, but here the script leaves him stranded. Lefty isn’t sympathetic or tragic—he’s just an annoying yet timid man in a movie full of cartoonish characters. By the time he staggers into the blood-soaked finale, you’re not invested in his fate so much as waiting for the credits to roll. The supporting cast—Halsey, Zahn McClarnon, and Eric Dane—have brief flashes of hopeful energy, but they’re all swallowed by the film’s incoherence. McClarnon, in particular, is wasted, his gravitas smothered by the film’s refusal to let any storyline breathe. Visually, Americana does its best to trick you into thinking it’s a better film than it is. The cinematography is slick, the lighting moody, the costumes dusty. For a moment or two, it looks like a country-noir worth settling into, but the polish only highlights the emptiness beneath. Beautifully shot nonsense is still nonsense, and no amount of golden-hour sunsets or headlights shining in the dark can disguise the fact that this is a movie without a pulse. Worst of all, Americana is tonally confused as to what it wants to be. Tost wants to juggle weighty themes—colonial trauma, the emptiness of the American dream, the commodification of culture—while still indulging in ironic flourishes and forced eccentricity. The whimsy undercuts the seriousness, and the seriousness drains the whimsy. Scenes that should sting collapse into awkward comedy, while moments meant to be funny die on the vine. By the time the film lurches into its bloody climax, it feels more like a director throwing up his hands and saying, “Well, at least people will remember the third act” (I know that’s what it was for me). The truth is, they won’t. What people will remember is Sydney Sweeney, straining to sell a character built on clichés. They’ll remember Paul Walter Hauser, gamely mugging his way through another scene where his desperation is supposed to read as charm. They’ll remember the empty gestures toward something profound. And then they’ll forget the movie entirely. Americana could have been something—a tense small-town crime saga, a sharp cultural critique, a star vehicle that allowed its cast to do something meaningful. Instead, it’s a patchwork of borrowed ideas, cheap quirks, and wasted potential. It may have eccentric noise from its premiere at South by Southwest…in 2023. Aside from that, there’s not much to Americana, and it doesn’t help that a film starring an actress such as Sweeney isn’t getting much fanfare. For all its dusty vistas and bloody showdowns, it leaves behind nothing but the faint scent of ambition gone sour. 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

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 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

Fountain of Youth May 22, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Guy Ritchie is a very busy man. Since 2020, the British writer/director has released five feature films ( The Gentlemen , Wrath of Man, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre , The Covenant , and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare ) and directed multiple episodes of The Gentlemen and MobLand for Netflix and Paramount+, respectively. He's also got two more feature films already in the can ( In the Grey , Wife and Dog ), and recently signed on to direct the sequel to the Jake Gyllenhaal starring Road House reboot and a Sherlock Holmes origin story television series for Amazon Prime. The only stone left to acquire in his streaming service Infinity Gauntlet is Apple TV+, which is where his newest film, Fountain of Youth , comes into play. And just like the Avengers had to suffer for Thanos to get his final stone in Infinity War , so do we across the 125-minute lifespan of this ultra-bland adventure film. I'm a fan of Ritchie, with his swaggering, self-assured brand of filmmaking being effortlessly entertaining. There's a slickness to everything he does, usually just a cut above what a standard director would produce. Based on his blitz of output over the last half-decade, I could almost forgive him for coasting a little bit here. Everyone needs a break, or has an off day where they just didn't have their head in the game. Except I don't think Ritchie had his head within the vicinity of the stadium for this project, let alone near the court. Take, for instance, the cookie-cutter opening chase scene set within the alleyways of Bangkok. We're meant to feel like we've been dropped right in the middle of a chaotic situation, except there isn't an ounce of energy to pull us in. The overcooked editing seems to be a symptom of the need to hide the stunt performers, their presence being quite obvious anytime the camera catches their face. The motivation for this chase stems from Luke Purdue (John Krasinski) having stolen a piece of artwork from a notorious gangster. Except he didn't take it for the money, just the clue hidden on its backside. Once he finds the other five paintings and puts together the pieces of the puzzle, he'll unlock the location of the mythical Fountain of Youth and possess all the treasures it promises. But just like he doesn't care about the value of the artwork he has to steal, Luke also doesn't prioritize the pot of gold at the end of the journey. The journey is a big enough reward by itself, and there's never been a bigger and more thrilling one than this. His sister Charlotte (Natalie Portman), on the other hand, finds herself on a journey towards divorce. She left her high-flying life with Luke a decade ago to raise a family, although everyone knows she hasn't been nearly as happy since. Almost like destiny, her job as the curator of an art museum housing one of the paintings Luke needs brings the siblings together again. Krasinski and Portman are both good actors, but they're ill-suited for this type of film. For Krasinski, he's going way overboard with his Indiana Jones audition/impression. Harrison Ford was effortlessly charming, and Krasinski seems to never stop trying here. And the more you try to make something happen, the less it will. Portman has always been a performer who loses her edge once the budgets for the projects creep into eight figures. She's someone who thrives on making big, risky choices for assured directors like Todd Haynes ( May December ) and Pablo Larraín ( Jackie ). Ritchie doesn't possess that skill, leaving Portman lost at sea. To the actor's defense, there isn't much within James Vanderbilt's script to lift them out of the depths. Everything feels designed to be viewed through the prism of a streaming service. New locations and set pieces are introduced every fifteen minutes, and characters speak only in plotlines. Luke and his team even have a fancy PowerPoint presentation pre-made for Charlotte, themselves taking turns explaining the history and importance of their mission. It's the bare minimum to keep you from turning it off, but never enough to keep you interested in what's happening next. That mantra might as well be extended to the whole project, although I'd recommend not even bothering to begin with. 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

25 Most Anticipated Films of 2024 January 15, 2024 By: Hunter Friesen Here we are at the top of the year with nothing to do but look ahead to what awaits us. As always, there’s so much on paper that looks appetizing, with just as many more still unknown. Some of the movies on this list should have come out last, and some of these still might not come out until 2025. The double WGA-SAG strikes have put a dent in the normal flow of business, with the only remedy being time. Everything is a guessing game, a fun one nonetheless. This takes us to the first ground rule for this list, which is that there must be some sort of verifiable evidence that a film is going to be released this year. It either must be in production, post-production, completed, or even mentioned in a reputable article that it’s on its way. We also won’t count films that have already been seen in public, whether that’s at festivals or theatrical releases in other territories. Join me as I delve into the most anticipated movies of 2024, each poised to leave an indelible mark on the cinematic landscape. Get ready to navigate the sea of upcoming releases that promise to redefine the art of storytelling and captivate audiences worldwide. Honorable Mentions C’est Pas Moi (dir. Leos Carax) Juror #2 (dir. Clint Eastwood) In the Hands of Dante (dir. Julian Schnabel) Civil War (dir. Alex Garland) Wolfs (dir. Jon Watts) Emanuelle (dir. Audrey Diwan) 24. Rebel Ridge Writer/director Jeremy Saulnier reteams with Netflix for another tense and violent thriller. Aaron Pierre ( Foe ), Don Johnson, James Badge Dale, and James Cromwell lead the cast in this small-town conspiracy actioner that follows an ex-marine taking on a group of dirty cops. Saulnier’s last film was Hold the Dark in 2018, with his earlier films, Blue Ruin and Green Room , netting him some serious acclaim. Expect this to hit the fall festivals. 23. The Shrouds Even at the age of 80, David Cronenberg hasn’t lost an ounce of energy. He’s recently finished production on his follow-up to 2022’s Crimes of the Future , with the most likely landing spot being this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Diane Kruger will feature in three roles, with Vincent Cassel starring as a wealthy widower who builds a machine to connect with the dead. 22. The Rivals of Amziah King Writer/director Andrew Patterson made one of the best directorial debuts of the past few years with 2020’s The Vast of Night . He’s both writing and directing his follow-up, which is a crime thriller starring Matthew McConaughey as the titular character. The plot is still under wraps, with filming finishing last year in Oklahoma. Kurt Russell and Rob Morgan also star. 21. Voyagers Andrew Garfield and Daisy Edgar-Jones reteam after Under the Banner of Heaven for this biopic directed by Sebastián Lelio ( A Fantastic Woman, Gloria Bell ). Garfield will play Carl Sagan, with Edgar-Jones as Cosmos filmmaker Ann Druyan. Before the pair married, they worked together on The Golden Record, the ultimate message of humanity to extraterrestrial life for the 1977 NASA interstellar probe. 20. Here Robert Zemeckis is in desperate need of a hit, and this reteaming with Forrest Gump stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, as well as writer Eric Roth, seems to be his best chance yet. Based on the graphic novel of the same name, this ambitious yet intimate drama “covers the events of a single room and its inhabitants spanning from the past well into the future.” And it wouldn’t be a Zemeckis film without some sort of technical wizardry, with generative A.I. providing face swap and de-aging technology for the actors. 19. Horizon: An American Saga Kevin Costner is going the Matrix and Rebel Moon route by releasing both parts of his Western epic within the same summer. Costner co-writes, produces, directs, and stars, with Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, and many more rounding the sizable cast. It’s been 20 years since Costner last directed (2003’s Open Range ), so here’s hoping he’s still got the magic from Dances with Wolves in him. 18. Eden Ron Howard has assembled one of his finest casts yet for this sprawling story of several people leaving society to converge on the Galapagos Islands. Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby, Ana de Armas, Sydney Sweeney, and Felix Kammerer comprise the group, with Tetris writer Noah Pink penning the script. Distribution is still up for grabs, with the best possible scenario being that it doesn’t go to Amazon after they executed an insulting release for his excellent Thirteen Lives just a few years ago. 17. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga My faith in George Miller is enough to overcome the lackluster trailer for this Mad Max prequel. The 77-year-old Australian director is fearless when it comes to the desert, with Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth venturing out with him. The film will likely repeat the path of the 2015 film, bowing at Cannes before making a scene in theaters. 16. Gladiator 2 Ridley Scott is on a bit of a period-piece hot streak (I guess it depends on who you ask) between The Last Duel , House of Gucci , and Napoleon . He’s previously done the sequels for the Alien and The Silence of the Lambs franchises, and now he’s returning to one of his most famous properties: Gladiator . Paul Mescal plays the nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus, with Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal lending their movie star names to the cast. 15. Untitled Mike Leigh Film After his last two films were period pieces ( Mr. Turner and Peterloo ), famed British director Mike Leigh is “returning to his ongoing exploration of the contemporary world with a tragicomic study of human strengths and weaknesses.” The film was originally set to film in 2020 before being delayed by the pandemic, finally starting and wrapping this past summer. Leigh has been a Cannes staple over the past several decades, so expect him to try and make a grand return to the Croisette. 14. Havoc Writer/director Gareth Evans is the mastermind behind the two The Raid films, both of which have a legitimate claim to be the best action movie of the past decade. Shot in 2021 and supposedly set to come this year, his latest action feature stars Tom Hardy as a “bruised detective who must fight his way through the criminal underworld to rescue a politician's estranged son, unraveling a deep web of corruption and conspiracy that ensnares his entire city.” Evans’ latest film was 2018’s Apostle from Netflix, and he’ll team up with the streamer again for distribution. 13. Mother Mary As one of the first films to secure a production waiver during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, David Lowery’s Mother Mary should be all set to bow this year. Anne Hathaway stars as a musician as we follow her relationship with a fashion designer, played by Michaela Coel. Hunter Schafer also stars in this A24 epic pop melodrama, with an original score and songs by Daniel Hart and Charli XCX. 12. Maria Pablo Larraín concludes his biopic trilogy consisting of Jackie and Spencer by moving further east to Paris, specifically in the 1970s. Angelina Jolie stars as Maria Callas, one of the world’s greatest opera singers, during her final days in The City of Light. Spencer scribe Steven Knight returns to pen the script, and El Conde cinematographer Ed Lachman will stay behind the camera. 11. Mickey 17 Not much explanation is needed for the reason behind the hype for Bong Joon-ho’s follow-up to Parasite . The South Korean writer/director has been patient ever since hoisting the Academy Award for Best Picture, finally returning to Hollywood for an adaptation of Edward Ashton’s sci-fi novel. Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, Steven Yeun, and Naomi Ackie are the on-screen talent; with Jung Jae-il (composer), Darius Khondji (cinematographer), and Jinmo Yang (editor) headlining the crew. 10. The Order Assassin’s Creed aside, Australian director Justin Kurzel has crafted one of the most underrated filmographies of the past fifteen years. His striking visuals and bold direction lifted both Macbeth and Nitram into my Top 10 of their respective years, and that grittiness will only continue with his newest film. Nicholas Hoult plays an FBI agent tracking down a group of domestic terrorists robbing banks in the Pacific Northwest who are led by Jude Law. Kurzel has bowed his films at both Cannes and TIFF in the past, so a glitzy premiere at either location seems to be in the cards. 9. Nosferatu Between his first three features, Robert Eggers has proved himself to be a master of gothic horror, so it makes sense for him to tackle one of the most famous gothic characters in cinema history. A great cast comprised of Emma Corrin, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgård, Lily-Rose Depp, and Willem Dafoe has already featured in some kick-ass first-look images. With a planned Christmas Day release, here’s hoping for this to become the feel-bad movie of the holidays. 8. Dune: Part Two While I respected and appreciated the first part more than I actually liked it, there’s never a moment where I’m not excited about a new Denis Villeneuve film. It also doesn’t hurt to have new cast additions in Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Léa Seydoux, and Christopher Walken. Will this be the conclusion of Paul’s story, or be the second chapter in a trilogy? Either way, there’s so much to look forward to here. 7. Blitz After detours into television ( Small Axe ) and documentaries ( Occupied City ), director Steve McQueen is returning to feature filmmaking with a drama set during The Blitz bombing campaign of London in early WWII. Saoirse Ronan, Harris Dickinson, and Stephen Graham lead the ensemble cast. Cannes boss Thierry Frémaux presumably let it slip last year that the film was going to premiere at the 2024 edition of the festival, along with the fact that Apple will be making it their top awards priority. 6. Conclave I only need to read the logline to know that this film will be right up my alley: “It follows Cardinal Lomeli as he oversees the group of Cardinals responsible for selecting a new Church leader while trying to uncover a secret from the late Pontiff.” Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rosellini pack the cast, with All Quiet on the Western Front director Edward Berger at the helm, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy scribe Peter Straughan writing the screenplay. 5. The Brutalist Brady Corbet made one of the most divisive films of 2018 with Vox Lux , which turned out to be one of my favorite films of that year. His next feature has been stuck in development limbo for years, finally breaking last year with a cast led by Adrien Brody as an architect who moves to America after WWII to rebuild his life and career. Felicity Jones plays his wife, with Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn, and Raffey Cassidy also part of the cast. Based on Corbet’s previous works, there will definitely be more under the surface that won’t be revealed until the projectors start churning. 4. Joker: Folie à Deux In a similar vein to Dune , the original Joker wasn’t one of my most beloved films of 2019. And yet; bringing back Joaquin Phoenix while adding Lady Gaga, and crafting this sequel in the form of a Liza Minnelli musical is too irresistible to ignore. While the majority of comic-book movies are cookie-cutter and forgettable, here’s something that sounds like it’s going to challenge its audience. 3. The Way of the Wind Terrence Malicks’s upcoming film about the life of Jesus Christ makes its fourth consecutive appearance on this list (They shot this movie in 2019!). And to be honest, I’d say it’s more likely than not that it’ll be here again next year. Religion has always played a large role in Malick’s filmography, so the prospect of him going straight to the source will make for an unforgettable spiritual experience. 2. Megalopolis Sure, Francis Ford Coppola hasn’t made a decent movie in over 25 years. But when you’re the director of The Godfather trilogy, The Conversation , and Apocalypse Now , you get a free pass for life. He’s poured over $100 million of his own money into his likely final film, with a script he’s been trying to film for almost four years. Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Fishburne, Forest Whitaker, Giancarlo Esposito, and Shia LaBeouf lead the cast. Driver supposedly plays the lead, an architect looking to rebuild New York City after a disaster. For better or for worse, this will be an experiment that any self-proclaimed cinephile has to witness. 1. Kinds of Kindness Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone aren’t letting the success of Poor Things slow down their collaborative process one bit, with the pair having already shot their third feature together this past year. Poor Things cast members Willem Dafoe and Margaret Qualley star alongside Jesse Plemons, Hunter Schafer, Hong Chau, and more. Lanthimos co-wrote the screenplay with his usual partner Efthimis Filippou, their first collaboration since The Killing of a Sacred Deer . Three separate stories will be told, with the cast playing different characters in each one. 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

Mickey 17 March 7, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen It’s been nearly six years since South Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, which, little to our knowledge at that moment, would be just the first of many victorious spots for the lauded social satire. The culmination of that journey would be at the Academy Awards, where the film made history by being the first foreign language feature to be awarded the prize for Best Motion Picture. Of course, with that much success comes the raising of the bar, and the inevitable questions of what’s next for a filmmaker who’s earned himself a blank check for whatever his heart desires. $120 million was the amount of cash that Warner Bros. plunked down to lure Bong back to the United States for this third English-language film, the first two being Snowpiercer and Okja , respectively. And while no follow-up to Parasite could possibly live up to the incredibly high standards placed upon it, Mickey 17 is an extreme disappointment no matter how you slice it. Between Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk’s continuous efforts to commodify space, the stars we all share are beginning to lose their shimmer. The final frontier is now merely another capitalist hellscape to run away from your problems on Earth, which is exactly what Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) does after he gets in some deep water with a loan shark with an unhealthy obsession with dismembering the people who fall into his debt. With no special skills to differentiate him from the overcrowded employment lines, he signs up to be an “expendable,” where his memories and body schematics will be downloaded so that he can be reprinted/cloned whenever he dies. It’s only fitting that the most advanced technology that the human race has ever wielded is mostly used to more efficiently exploit the working man. The title comes from the fact that the iteration we become accustomed to is the seventeenth version of him, the previous sixteen dying in the name of “science” as the crew of his spaceship tries to colonize the icy planet Niflheim. Mark Ruffalo plays the ship’s commander, Kenneth Marshall, in one the laziest and most exhaustive Trump / corrupt egotistical politician impressions we’ve been inundated with over this past decade. Bong already reared his head around this territory with Tilda Swinton’s awkward corporate head honcho in Okja . These results are much more simplified, even down to the red hats that Marshall’s supporters don and his constant need for approval. Pattinson’s nasally narration is very much in “tell, don’t show” mode, rendering several scenes in need of the mute button. At the very least, it would allow for Jung Jae-il’s score and Darius Khondji’s cinematography to be more appreciated, the former reconfiguring the intense piano rhythms of Parasite into something a little more fluttery. There are so many ethical questions and dilemmas that Bong’s script, and adaptation of the Edward Ashton novel, could have investigated further or with more precision. Instead, everything is painted with the broadest brush possible, arming the satire with the same weight as a cold open from Saturday Night Live . Pattinson’s commitment to the role in all its eccentricities is what keeps the ship from capsizing sooner. That goes double when he gets preemptively reprinted for the eighteenth time, leaving everyone seeing double. Naomi Ackie plays his lover Nasha, although there really isn’t much to say about her. It’s one of the few times that the line “I don’t know what she sees in me,” can be shared by both the character and audience. There is one ingenious moment when they initially meet, and we don’t hear the conversation they share. All we see are their mouths moving, the gleeful expressions on their faces, and the joyous thoughts running through their heads as they realize they each found the person right for them. Bong has long held compassion for his characters, even if his view of humanity is never the rosiest. If only he shared some of that compassion for the audience’s intelligence for this go around. 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

Blitz November 1, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Blitz screened at the 2024 Twin Cities Film Fest. Apple TV+ will release it in theaters on November 01, followed by its streaming premiere on November 22. Blitz opens with a crew of London firefighters fighting tooth and nail to put out a house fire. The heat and smoke are almost too much for any man to bear, with wooden beams and piles of brick crumbling down upon them. They eventually start to get a handle on the blaze, although there isn't much cause for celebration as they must now begin their recovery operation for those who are dead or wounded. A moment of silence bridges those tasks, interrupted by the hissing of another Nazi bomber flying overhead. More bombs rain from the sky, signaling another beginning to the cycle of death and destruction that Hitler has inflicted upon England's capital. Lasting for nearly nine months between 1940 and 1941 and known as The Blitz, it comes as no surprise that a big screen adaptation of this iconic moment in British history has been commissioned and released during the thick of this year's Oscar race. What comes as a surprise is that the visual artist turned filmmaker Steve McQueen is responsible for telling the story, as the likes of Sam Mendes, Joe Wright, and Tom Hooper (before Cats ) would have probably topped the betting odds. Despite being a recipient of the Oscar for Best Motion Picture (the first black filmmaker to be awarded) for 12 Years a Slave , McQueen has always steered at least a few steps away from the stuffier material that follows that kind of success. Even something like his recent World War II documentary, Occupied City , defies the prestige trappings with its 240-minute runtime and ruminative nature. While that opening scene and a few others that follow certainly find themselves akin to many of the viscerally demanding moments littered throughout McQueen's filmography, Blitz marks his most radical departure from form to date, opting for a more classical story filled with the sights and sounds that have come to define this genre for almost a century. That's not an inherently bad thing, as no artist should feel threatened to seclude themselves in a single box. I'm also not accusing McQueen of pandering to the awards bodies. But there is a feeling that the more typical McQueen approach would have given this film the little extra provocativeness it needed to be anything more than just politely good enough. Anchoring this sprawling story is Rita (Saoirse Ronan) and her nine-year-old son George (Elliott Heffernan). With the frequency of the bombings reaching their peak and inching their way toward their street, Rita decides to send George away to the countryside, much to his reluctance. He rebels by jumping from the outward-bound train, dodging the authorities as he makes the trek back to London. Several other side quests emerge along his way in the form of a trio of delinquent brothers, a Nigerian immigrant police officer just trying to preserve cool heads amongst the shellshocked masses, and a group of bandits led by their bipolar chief (Stephen Graham). It all feels out of a Charles Dickens novel, although some of these branches certainly feel as if they were planted from entirely different films. McQueen mounts a directorial showcase with each vignette, delivering several stunning sequences set across the spectrum of carnage and beauty. Moments that capture the macroeconomic scale of London during this moment have an awe-inspiring terror to them. People bang on gated stores as explosions rattle only a few blocks down, parents in a daze on the street as they call out for their missing children. The scale and production detail are immaculate across every department, especially Adam Stockhausen’s production design and Yorick Le Saux's cinematography. Similar to his work in Greta Gerwig's 2019 adaptation of Little Women , Le Saux invites us into each frame with warm hues and gradually cools down as the sun begins to set and the sounds of engines pierce through the sky. It's when things start to get a little more microscopic that McQueen fumbles. George may be able to run away from those pursuing him, but he can't escape the fact that he's a mixed-race boy during a time of rising xenophobia and intolerance. It's alluded through flashback that his father was forcefully removed from the country, a practice that a majority of the white Londoners seem to support. And even in a time when all of England should be gathered together against a common enemy on their front doorstep, many still view their neighbors as less than themselves. McQueen has always been a blunt filmmaker when it comes to his themes, yet he always found a way to weave them into the narrative tapestry seamlessly. Things are much more segmented this time around, with several moments overplaying their hand and grinding the action to a halt. No actress can escape the Hollywood demand that they play a doting mother, with Ronan making her debut in that role here. And similar to anyone of her high caliber who's been placed in this scenario, she rises far above what she's been provided. She's always the best in show amongst this cast, with Heffernan coming into his own the more the film progresses. Many of the performers don't have that luxury of time, leaving them in a hurried state of needing to act as much as possible. Although he manages to make a good impression, Harris Dickinson gets the brunt of that treatment, appearing so seldomly that one is forced to assume that this 120-minute film is the result of a lot of pruning. McQueen has certainly earned himself the right to an extended runtime, and this conceptually grand story liekly would have benefitted from it. A good film is still a good film, although it still tastes a little bitter when you know it could have easily been better. 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

Sharper February 9, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Writers Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka pray that you haven't done two things before you watch their new film Sharper on Apple TV+. The first is that you snubbed the marketing team and didn't watch the trailer, as it immediately spoils the film’s chronological order, deflating almost all of the tension that the writing duo and director Benjamin Caron have tried to instill. The second thing is that you’ve never watched a movie with a twist (sorry Shyamalan), as experiencing just one in your lifetime will over-prepare you for what happens here. "If you're going to steal, steal a lot," says billionaire Richard Hobbes (John Lithgow) to Max (Sebastian Stan) after he tries to shake him down for a mere $1,000 through a fake police bust. Little does Richard know that Max has been taking his advice the whole time, as this charade was only one step in a larger plan to swindle unfathomable amounts of money. Part of the act is Madeline (Julianne Moore) cosplaying as Max's doting mother and a new romantic partner for Richard. Also in the mix is Richard's only son, the book-loving and hopeless romantic Tom (Justice Smith), and too-good-to-be-true new girl Sandra (Brianna Middleton), who's been brought into the fold and taught every trick of the trade by Max. Nothing is what it seems to be on the surface with these five characters, with double, triple, and quadruple-crosses being a personal and professional hazard. Sharper may mark the feature directorial debut of Caron, but he's been a veteran of the stage by helming several Shakespeare projects for Kenneth Branagh's theater company and received two Emmy nominations for his directorial work on The Crown . Star Wars fans also appreciate him for his handling of the season finale of Andor last year. Because of this resume, it's no surprise that Sharper often packs the emotional punch of a stage production and looks as pristine as a prestige drama. A Quiet Place cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen shoots in crisp low-lighting, with Caron intimately blocking the actors within the luxurious sets as if he was still with Branagh's company. As shown in the opening title card, the term sharper is defined as "a cheat, one who lives by his/her wits." It is perpetually bizarre that these characters seem to have world-class offensive skills with their wits, but are horrendous at defense, allowing themselves to be caught off guard despite us, the audience, being able to spot everything from a mile away. Coincidences and instances of exclaiming "Oh come on!" run rampant, almost as if Gatewood and Tanaka kept writing themselves into a corner and were too far in to start again from scratch. The transparency of the twists doesn't do favors for the nonlinear structure, broken down into chapters told from a new perspective. Much of the whole puzzle has already been revealed by the final chapter, making it pretty easy to guess what the complete picture will be. Still, the actors are having fun with the chewy material. Between last year's Pam & Tommy and Fresh , Stan continues his streak of trashy scumbags. Moore, continuing her relationship with Apple after the quickly forgotten Lisey's Story television adaptation, gets to play both confident and vulnerable, which she unsurprisingly does with ease. But the real standout has to be Smith, delivering his best performance to date. Granted, the bar for that has been set quite low due to his work on the Jurassic World sequels and Detective Pikachu , but I also can't fully blame him for having to deal with the awful material provided to him. If you're a person who doesn't like for a movie (or its characters) to be smarter than you, then Sharper will be right up your alley. It’s mindless fun delivered with some class, occasionally teetering towards parody due to its overly serious ambitions. 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

Polite Society April 18, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Polite Society screened at the 2023 Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Film Festival. Focus Features will release it in theaters on April 28. With its chapter structure and font, mariachi-infused soundtrack, and kung-fu action sequences, it’s easy to see the influence of Quentin Tarantino all over writer/director Nida Manzoor’s feature debut Polite Society , which is making its way into theaters after the world premiere at this past January’s Sundance Film Festival. Of course, Mr. QT doesn’t have a monopoly on those stylings, but there’s about as much Kill Bill here as there was in the actual Kill Bill . The Bride in this case is Ria Khan, a British-Pakistani teenager who has dreams of becoming the world’s greatest stunt woman. With her parents and everyone else expecting her to be the stereotypical middle eastern doctor, Ria’s only supporter comes in the form of her sister Lena, who’s losing ground on her dream of being an artist. It’s always been the two of them against the world, making it that much tougher when Lena becomes smitten with the pretty boy son of a family friend. But can this love actually be real? Ria doesn’t think so, as someone as intelligent and creative as Lena would never give up on their dreams for a man. But this man is also a pediatric geneticist, an Olympic-level athlete, and a world-class charmer, so it’s not that far-fetched for any woman to be interested in him. All those perfect qualities only further bolster Ria’s defiant stance, and it seems that it'll be up to her alone to stop the impending marriage. Ria’s Ocean’s Eleven- sized plan leads to many hilarious hijinks, including her breaking into a mansion like a ninja and donning a fake mustache in the men’s locker room. It’s all infectiously fun, boosted by the overwhelming sense of sisterly affection and womanhood that Manzoor includes within her script. Things grind to a halt for a while during the middle portions as Ria endlessly yells “You have to believe me!” (how many times have we heard that one before?) to everyone that can’t understand why she isn’t happy about her sister’s marriage. The antics only get crazier as time goes on, with wirework stunts and zippy editing by Robbie Morrison propelling the chaotic nature of the situation. The action set pieces are Street Fighter meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , with a sprinkling of comedic wit. Priya Kansara, who, like Mansoor, is also making her feature debut, is a triumph in the central role. She has a wide-eyed wit about her, heightening any scene no matter the requirement. Polite Society is an impressive debut from all those involved, as it’s only slightly undone by minor problems that are symptoms of its ambitions. It’s both a takedown and love letter to the works of Jane Austen, making a delectable time out of having its cake and eating it too. 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

Ambulance April 14, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen A funny thing happened before my screening for Michael Bay’s newest film, Ambulance . During the pre-trailer commercials, a TV spot for Ambulance came on the screen, claiming that it has the highest Rotten Tomatoes score of Michael Bay’s entire filmography. Except in their claim, the advertisers neglected to mention what the numerical value was. Knowing that it couldn’t be a coincidental error that they left it out, I quickly did my research and found that the score was 66%, which is a fine score, but nothing to brag about. But when you look at Bay’s other films, which include the dismal Transformers: The Last Knight at 15% and Bad Boys II at 23%, it becomes clear that the bar was really, really low. And with that bar being set to the floor, Ambulance is able to haphazardly clear it as explosions and lens flares go off in the background in true Michael Bay fashion. Michael Bay does not have the time or mental capacity to deliver human drama. Luckily, after years of trying to do just that in Armageddon and Pearl Harbor , Bay has finally thrown his arms up in the air and decided to triple down on giving the people what they want: pure adrenaline-filled mayhem (better known as Bayhem). Ambulance has a plot as thin as a dryer sheet. If this were like 99% of the other films, that would be a major problem. But Bay is that 1% where it doesn’t matter what the story is, as it will almost assuredly be bad, as it still is here. Will Sharpe (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is a decorated war hero whose wife needs experimental life-saving surgery. His insurance won’t cover it, and he’s desperate for money. In his time of need, he looks to his adopted brother Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal), who’s followed in their father’s footsteps by becoming a career criminal. He’s looking to make one last score that could net them $32 million from a Los Angeles bank. Despite his reservations, Will agrees to help out in return for a portion of the cut. Of course, things don’t go as planned and the brothers are forced to take an ambulance hostage that also has an EMT (Eiza González) onboard who’s trying to save the life of a wounded police officer. By using addition by subtraction, Bay has cut out the usual fat in his films and delivered one of his leanest films to date. The whole setup for the heist takes less than five minutes, with the rest of the runtime devoted to the action. But just as the advertisers should include an asterisk when claiming this as Bay’s best-reviewed movie, I also need to use an asterisk when calling this Bay’s leanest film since it still comes in at a bloated 136 minutes. Nearly 20-25 minutes could have been shaved off without much detriment to the final product. There are still the usual Bay fetishes here with explosions coming from every angle, guns going bang, and the American military being given the best recruitment commercial they could ever ask for. Bay has even found a new fascination with the drone camera, as he uses it to whirl and whizz around the action with dizzying effect. There’s no time for your brain to comprehend much of what’s going on as Bay takes your senses for a joyride. Along with the carnage, what helps keep your eyes glued to the screen is Jake Gyllenhaal’s bonkers performance. His diet might as well consist of Red Bull and sugar every morning as he’s bouncing off the walls with manic energy, screaming nearly every line as he toes the line between being purely psychotic and a charming anti-hero. Abdul-Mateen II and González provide a nice fold to him as they try to keep things under control. When Bay’s previous films have contained performances like Ben Affleck’s in Armageddon and uh… Ben Affleck’s in Pearl Harbor , it’s truly something to see decent work here. Just like the roller coasters at amusement parks, every theater showing Ambulance should have a warning stating that people with medical conditions should not see this movie. And if you are up to the challenge, make sure to grab your free T-shirt that says “I survived Michael Bay’s Ambulance and all I got was this lousy shirt” on your way out. 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 Super Mario Bros. Movie April 4, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen While every genre has its share of highlights and lowlights, video game movies have always seemed to have a lot more low-quality content compared to everyone else. It doesn’t take a genius to see that year after year of films from the Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, Hitman , and Street Fighter series really poisoned everyone’s appetite for stories that spawned a controller. Japanese gaming company Nintendo (probably the only gaming company every mother knows) at least had the smarts to quit when they were behind, shutting almost all film adaptations of their properties after the disaster that was 1993’s Super Mario Bros . Now exactly thirty years later, and with the help of Universal and Illumination, the studios behind the Despicable Me and Secret Life of Pets films, Nintendo is bringing Mario back to the silver screen in animated form for The Super Mario Bros. Movie . The Mushroom Kingdom is under attack by the evil Bowser, with Princess Peach and Mario being the only heroes capable of stopping him. Both Peach and Mario have dedicated their lives to helping others, whether it’s the entire population of Toads within the Mushroom Kingdom, or Mario’s more timid brother Luigi, who’s been captured by Bower. Their journey takes them to other worlds, which will delight longtime players of the Mario franchise. Whether it’s in the form of karts, platforms, or brawling arenas, there are plenty of callbacks, almost as if you’re wielding a controller and guiding Mario on his heroic journey. And while that exact statement has ruined so many video game movies in the past (who wants to watch a game rather than play it?), the filmmaking on display here turns that liability into an asset. The camera moves with Mario, with lots of tracking shots as our characters traverse through the levels in both 2D and 3D sequences, with the sound effects all ripped straight from the games. Brian Tyler’s fun score features many of the iconic motifs, with the added bonus of quite a few needle drops, none of which are all that imaginative or above ultra-literal, but they get the job more than done in the moment. The voice cast is above the punching bag they were made out to be when they were initially announced. Chris Pratt is still as likable as ever, and at least doesn’t commit too hard to the Italian accent for it to be embarrassing. Anya Taylor-Joy and Charlie Day are commendable as Peach and Luigi, respectively. Jack Black is probably the most inspired choice with Bowser, being both menacing as a villain and entertaining as a character with some laughs (and songs) along the way. It may not exactly be as super as its title states, but The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a vastly superior version compared to the last time the plumber brothers were in theaters. It doesn’t matter if you lean towards either the classic or the modern games, there’s something for all fans, with the added bonus of future occasions to level up. 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

El Conde September 6, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Whether it’s Jackie Kennedy regaining her composure and building her husband’s legacy after his assassination, Diana Spencer trying to survive a haunted house and its demonic inhabitants over a holiday weekend, or Pablo Neruda being hunted down like a dog, Chilean director Pablo Larraín has repeatedly brought his own unique vision to the biopic genre. His protagonists are not 100% mimicries of their real-life counterparts (that’s not to discredit the outstanding performances of Natalie Portman and Kristen Stewart), instead, they’re distillations of their spirit and persona, allowing room for interpretation and speculation. It’s what makes them feel so real, as they’re not tied to the track of traditional biopic storytelling. El Conde (translating to “The Count”) is Larraín’s most radical form of interpretation as it theorizes that the person with the darkest heart in all of Chilean history, dictator Augusto Pinochet (Jaime Vadell), actually was a creature of the night. More accurately: a vampire. He was born to unknown parents during the French Revolution, witnessing the beheading of Marie Antoinette and even stealing her disconnected head and keeping it as a trophy all these centuries later. Over time he traveled around the world and rose through the ranks, landing in Chile (“a country without a king” says the mysteriously contemptuous narrator) and enacting a coup d’état. He was eventually thrown out of power, forcing him to fake his death, which sees just as many people salute his casket as those who spit on it. Now he’s a literal walking corpse living in a rickety old compound, one where the wind is always howling and his only company is his idiotic children, bored wife, and loyal butler, all of whom wait impatiently for him to die and bequeath them their inheritance. Larraín takes the metaphorical violence within Jackie and Spencer and turns it into literal violence in El Conde . As all vampires must do, Pinochet feeds on the living, following a regiment that involves slicing victims’ throats, ripping open their ribcages, and plucking out their still-beating hearts. And then he places those hearts in a blender and drinks every last drop. Still keeping a modicum of a metaphor, these victims are usually the working-class people of Chile, those unlucky enough to be in the path of the charging bull of history. These acts of brutality have an unsubtle and morbid humor to them, with the joke eventually running just as thin as the premise. Beating that dead horse is the introduction of an outsider to the family, a nun (Paula Luchsinger, sporting a haircut and eyes that make her a dead ringer for Maria Falconetti from The Passion of Joan of Arc ) who intends to be a catalyst for the familial backstabbing and drive a literal stake through the heart of the beast. She talks to each of the adult children as if they were toddlers, speaking down to the audience as she recounts the horrible acts the family has committed, including nothing short of murder and corruption. It borderlines on pandering like Adam McKay on his worst day, and becomes quickly redundant as Pinochet literally sucks the blood out of the country. Cinematographer Edward Lachman, a frequent collaborator with Todd Haynes, breathes the necessary life into the film by draining it of its color. The monochrome black-and-white cast big shadows, with the blood of the innocent painting around those dark corners. A baroque score ties the final knot in the film’s impressive gothic details. This could be considered Larraín’s most impressive production. El Conde doesn’t have as much bite as its fangs might suggest, but Larraín packs just enough passion and wit into his material to make it pop. He’s just announced his biopic trilogy capper, Maria , starring Angelina Jolie as the famed opera singer Maria Callas. I look forward to seeing the possibility of the heightened nature of this satire melding with his previous work. 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