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M:I - The Final Reckoning May 14, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Although the title would give you that impression, everything and everyone connected to Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning has been extremely coy about this eighth installment in the franchise being the capper. Even the opening to the film - a hall-of-fame induction montage of all highlights across the previous seven films - provides yet another mythological introduction for what we infer to be the final mission (should he choose to accept it…) for Ethan Hunt. How long can one man continually double down at the blackjack table until he inevitably gambles away everything? And by extension, how long can the sixty-two-year-old Tom Cruise expect to perform these death-defying stunts until he inevitably fails to defy their definition? Of course, going out in a blaze of glory for our entertainment is probably Cruise’s preferred way to go out, just as long as it’s caught on camera. Those lines of questioning propel the strategy behind The Final Reckoning , which is to go big or go home. Even the opening studio logos fly by at an unusually accelerated pace. That sense of urgency never ceases across the nearly three-hour runtime, with every loose end needing to be tied up. It makes the creation of a few more loose ends all the more puzzling, with the earlier mostly standalone entries now being connected to the events of this film through some convenient retconning. Jason Bourne may share his initials, but Ethan Hunt is the American James Bond. And just like the Daniel Craig era of 007, the sum of every previous adventure has led to this moment for Hunt. The story jumps immediately from the end of Dead Reckoning Part One (the “ Part One ” has more or less been dropped at this point), with Ethan and his team in a race against time to find the downed Russian submarine that contains the kill switch source code for the supervillain articial intelligence known as The Entity. It’s already taken command of most of the world’s nuclear warheads, and has beaten Twitter at its own game by fully dismantling the line between fact and fiction by altering what everyone sees online. The world has been plunged into anarchy, with a common enemy that can’t be dealt with through traditional means. To complete this mission, Ethan will need the full cooperation of the US government, a body that’s put a bounty on his head more times than someone can count on one hand. This leads to the introduction or return of several cast members, such as Angela Bassett as President Sloane, her cabinet (Nick Offerman, Holt McCallany, Charles Parnell, Mark Gatiss, Janet McTeer), Hannah Waddingham as a US Navy ship commander, and Tramell Tillman as a submarine captain. Of course, there’s also the more notable characters played by Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Ving Rhames, Shea Whigham, and Esai Morales. To accommodate a cast like this that would make Wes Anderson blush, co-writer/director Christopher McQuarrie doles out the exposition like a dealer at a poker table. Thankfully for them, there’s plenty to go around, as each hopscotch to a new location means a plan has to be devised, broken, and improvised. Everyone sits in a circle and waits their turn, one sentence at a time. It’s an amusing, overdramatic cheat to get around the “boring” parts, although it gets quite distractingly repetitive the more time goes on. McQuarrie and Cruise also overplay their hand at the sentimentality of this adventure, cramming several reminders of how much Ethan cares for his friends. More is more is obviously the mantra of this franchise, but less would have been more in this case. The more you insist upon something, the less genuine it becomes, especially when it’s coming from someone like Cruise. He’s not a normal person with normal emotions, which makes him both an incredible movie star and unable to be fully empathized with. Words and emotions are not the weapon of choice for this franchise, with its visual arsenal being just as stocked here as it has been in the previous few entries. Each setpiece would be considered the showstopping climax in any other action franchise. Here, they’re just one piece to this extremely kinetic puzzle. A clear highlight would be Ethan’s solo descent into the submarine to retrieve the source code. It’s an almost wordless extended sequence, with panicky editing and heightened sound design playing on our fears of being at the bottom of the ocean. Oh, and there’s also a moment Ethan/Cruise dangles from a biplane thousands of feet from the ground. It’s astounding that within the context of this franchise, that statement seems pretty tame. But it’s anything but in practice, the wind whipping as one finger separates Ethan from the plane and the ground. The Final Reckoning will play significantly better later once you’re able to watch like a kid again and skip all the talking bits. Then again, this movie should also never be seen on anything less than an IMAX screen. Anything less would deserve the same level of vitriol that David Lynch has for telephones. My cynicism leads me to believe that this isn’t the end of this franchise, and that Ethan Hunt will return one day. But, for the sake of argument, let’s say this is the end. In that case, mission accomplished. 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

Cyrano February 24, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Great Musical War of 2021 has come to an end With the late-breaking Cyrano being the last extension of this trend The famed wordsmith's tale of forbidden love Has been told so many times before that it is as worn as an old glove Between José Ferrer, Gérard Depardieu and Kevin Kline on the stage and the screen Many have given performances of the character that are oh so fine Now it is time for Peter Dinklage of Game of Thrones fame to take on the role And give it all, with both heart and soul You may wonder why I am speaking in rhyme To that, I say it is to keep my mind as sharp as a dime Because after writing over seventy reviews for films both small and big My brain has become brittle and could snap like a twig But I also speak in rhyme as a way to honor good Cyrano Who can mold words to his liking as a baker does with dough So this is a fair warning to all readers who oppose rhymes As you will want to lock me up for my crimes Now with that out of the way, let's get on with the review For a film that has assembled quite the cast and crew Our story begins in the time of old When men were told to be soldiers and bold Cyrano is a man full of charm and wits Whose only downfall is that he stands as tall as a man when he sits His lack of stature is what keeps him away from his love, Roxanne Who’s skin and voice is as soft as a dove Much to Cyrano’s dismay, Roxanne loves another His name is Christian, Cyrano’s new army brother Christian loves Roxanne as well but hasn’t got a tongue As the words he speaks have the same effect as potent dung So Cyrano comes up with a plan so that he will act as Christian’s voice Writing letters to Roxanne, making her rejoice, even if it isn’t by choice However, this love triangle gets complicated as time goes on As the snooty Count de Guiche forces Roxanne’s hand in marriage as part of a con Chrisitan and Cyrano must tell Roxanne the truth of their ruse Or her forced marriage to the Count will forever give her the blues Directing this film adaptation of Cyrano is Joe Wright Whose past works of Pride & Prejudice and Atonement are an absolute delight Lately, he’s been in a bit of a rough patch As Pan and The Woman in the Window failed to hatch No matter, here is where Wright once again flexes his skill With imagery captured with the camera with such thrill Scenes play out in extended takes lasting minutes at a time Allowing for the sets, costumes, and music to be sublime “Someone to Say” is my favorite tune of the soundtrack to exist As it now has a permanent spot in my Spotify playlist The technicals and craftsmanship is so wonderful And so is the cast, made up of actors quite colorful Dinklage’s charm brings a certain panache And he should have dived into the Oscar race with a splash His height may limit his character on the screen But it’s never stopped him personally from chewing the scene And while Haley Bennett as Roxanne may not be up to his level Their chemistry often makes scenes quite the revel Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Chrisitan brings might As he aptly plays the knight that cannot write But surprisingly, it is good Ben Mendelsohn who steals the show With his face caked in posh makeup, white as snow Of the musicals that came out this past year Cyrano places third in the upper-tier What films are ahead of it you request? It’s West Side Story and Annette of course, whose set pieces are the best But even in third place, Cyrano is a treat So go out, buy a ticket, and save your seat I’ll be on my way now, making haste to my next story When it comes to picking my next film, I can do any category And if you thought this poem came to no amount My only defense is to say that it is why I studied the art of the account More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

A Complete Unknown December 10, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Featuring no less than two documentaries by Martin Scorsese ( No Direction Home, Rolling Thunder Revue ), an inspired-by-the-life biopic by Todd Haynes ( I'm Not There ), and countless other portrayals and parodies, much of cinema has devoted itself to telling the story of Bob Dylan. The sum of it all could lead a person to wonder what's left to be mined. But that's not really the question being asked in the production offices in and around Hollywood. The real question is what audiences are left to hear this story. For all their critical acclaim, documentaries and experimental biopics can only reach a relatively low viewership ceiling, leaving the vast majority of the moviegoing public untapped. That's where A Complete Unknown comes in, a straightforward studio biopic featuring all the trimmings that have defined this cornerstone genre of the industry for decades. And in a year where more than one of these ventures down the Wikipedia page has landed with a sour note ( Bob Marley: One Love , Back to Black ), there's a comforting feeling to seeing the old reliable go off without a hitch. It's out with the old and in with the new at the start of the story, although the old was never really born to begin with. Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) finds himself the elder statesman of folk music in the early 1960s, a minuscule subgenre in desperate need of revitalization after decades of weary tales inspired by the Dust Bowl and other rural hardships. Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), Pete's best friend and closest contemporary in terms of star power, sits in a New Jersey hospital unable to speak from the then-unknown Huntington's Disease. During one of Pete's visits, a Minnesota-born drifter named Bobby Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) walks in to perform a song he wrote for Woody. The rest is history from there; a quick rags-to-riches story where the price of fame crashes down on our humble hero. While all of that is more or less true within veteran screenwriter Jay Cocks and director James Mangold's script, Bob Dylan is not humble nor the virtuosic hero of this story. What Mozart is to classical music in Amadeus , Dylan is to folk music in A Complete Unknown . He's a bit of an asshole, denying people common social courtesy and always looking to rebel against the status quo. Luckily for him, everyone else in America is starving for a shakeup to the system. Thanks to his politically active girlfriend at the time, Sylvie (Elle Fanning), Dylan found himself at the forefront of the culture wars. How much this shift in national ideology influenced his early music isn't fully explained, a deft decision by Cocks and Mangold to retain Dylan's titular persona. The constant pouring of musical genius from Dylan lends itself to nearly fifty music sequences, all of them featuring Chalamet vocals and hands on the guitar. Mangold never lets us forget that fact, keeping his camera steady on the target and the editing to a minimum. It allows the performances to breathe, matching the more mellow wavelength that folk songs operate on. The frames often remain beautiful without the melodies, the cinematography by Phedon Papamichael, and the production design by François Audouy illuminating with the warm hues of the decade. Chalamet fits the rest of Dylan's persona with ease. It'd be easy to label the voice, mannerisms, and chainsmoking as overacting, but that's just the kind of person Dylan was. Often up on the stage with him is Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, the pair creating a wonderful harmony. Both she and Sylvie have to experience The Bob Dylan Show at all hours of the day, the mixture of half-truths and tall tales breaking down any hope of a lasting relationship. The only one who gets a portion of a rosy experience is Pete, with Norton surprising in a cuddly performance after several thorny decades. Boyd Holbrook makes a few appearances as Johnny Cash, an almost meta decision considering Mangold's helming of the singer's 2005 biopic Walk the Line . Mangold has learned a thing or two since then, trusting his audience a little more and painting around his protagonists just as much as he does within the lines. Those brushstrokes are big and broad, creating a rich experience that soothes our eyes and ears. 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

Wolf Man January 15, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen If a person dies in the forest and no one is around to hear it, did they really die? That’s a question at the heart of co-writer/director Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man , the second of his Universal Monster reboots after 2020’s “much better than it had any right to be” The Invisible Man . The opening prologue finds a young Blake taken on a hunting trip by his stern father (Sam Jaeger), the scars of the presumed death of his wife perpetually showing through his drill instructor demeanor. But instead of being the predators, the pair become prey as some beast stalks them throughout the Oregon wilderness. Thirty years later, Blake (Christopher Abbott) lives with his wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) and daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth) in San Francisco. A letter comes in the mail legally confirming the death of Blake’s dad, although his body was never recovered. All Blake knows is that he went into those same woods and never returned. There’s no logical explanation for his disappearance, leaving Blake’s mind to wander toward the conclusion that that thing is at the center of it all. But before that prologue, we’re treated to a quick close-up of a hornet engorging on an ant. Dozens of other ants try to intervene, but they’re helpless to stop this cruel act of nature. Blake also can’t stop himself from returning to his childhood home despite the painful memories and generational trauma it possesses. Nature is cruel in this part of the world, with no electricity or modes of communication, making the act of survival a deliberate task rather than a basic given. Even the things that don’t kill you still give off a feeling of dread. The wood on the trees crackles as it sways from the wind, and the leaves fall like bombs against the deafening silence. Whannell expertly used the power of sound to convey the threat of an invisible assailant in The Invisible Man . Here he repeats the lesson that hearing nothing is much scarier than hearing something. However, it’s hard to appreciate a sharp tool when it’s used to construct an overall lackluster product. Those drops in sound come during the dime-a-dozen moments when time stops just before a jump scare. The prey during those moments is Charlotte and Ginger, with Blake as the predator after he’s scratched by a beast. The infection slowly consumes him, altering his vision and heightening his sense of smell and hearing. The cycle of running and hiding ensues, the single location setting being stretched way past its effectiveness. Granted, it’s not hard to appreciate the practical makeup effects used to gruesomely illustrate Blake’s transformation from human to wolf. His fingernails are easily ripped off in favor of claws, his facial bones crunch as they accommodate his new set of teeth, and his skin becomes a sickly greyish-yellow. Whannell credited David Cronenberg’s The Fly as visual inspiration for his monster, both in the literal execution of the effects and the emotional toll it takes on the victim. There is a case to be made that all the weight and seriousness heaped upon these modern remakes strips away the B-movie charm these concepts were born and long appreciated for. The Invisible Man was able to toe that line rather well, but Wolf Man leans too far into the “dark and gritty” territory to be as fun or interesting as it should be. At least Robert Eggers just covered Dracula with Nosferatu and Guillermo del Toro is handling Frankenstein’s Monster for Netflix later this year, giving Whannell and Blumhouse enough time to go back to the drawing board before they embark on their next dark adventure. 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 Irishman December 9, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen Sprawling fifty years and dozens of features, director Martin Scorsese has crafted one of the finest filmographies in cinematic history. Over the decades, there appear to be two sides to the revered auteur’s style of filmmaking. One side is filled with fast-paced and violent storytelling in films such as Goodfellas, Casino , and The Wolf of Wall Street . On the other side is a more slow and quiet study of the human condition that can be found in The Last Temptation of Christ , Kundun , and Silence . Now after years of being disjointed, these distinct styles have finally melded together in the director’s newest Netflix film, The Irishman . Telling the true-ish story (it’s still hotly debated whether any of it is true) of mob hitman Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, the film places its main character at the forefront of American history in the mid-twentieth century. Over the years, Sheeran became increasingly attached to mob life, eventually leading him to the infamous teamster Jimmy Hoffa, whose fate is still unknown to this day. But as Frank rises the ranks within the mob, we watch as he slowly descends into a life of violence where the riches are short-lived and damaging effects are ever-lasting. The first thing you’ll probably notice when looking up the film is its massive 209-minute runtime, which makes it the longest mainstream movie released in over a quarter-century. That amount of length may be daunting on paper, but Scorsese makes every minute of it glide by with ease. His usual style of kinetic editing and pacing are masterfully employed and keep the film entirely thrilling throughout. By the time the film has finished, you feel as though you have lived a life with these characters rather than just watched it. Another production facet that the film carries is a revolutionary new technology that digitally de-ages its main cast so they’re able to play their characters over multiple decades. Admittedly, the gimmick doesn’t work perfectly as the 76-year-old Robert De Niro never convincingly looks like his thirty-year-old self. But even with its missteps, the technology is never a bother and seamlessly works its magic in the scenes where the characters are closer to the actor's age. Adapted by Steven Zaillian from the book “I Heard You Paint Houses”, The Irishman is a dense (maybe too dense) and depressing crime epic. Scorsese’s trademarked main character narration is here in its entirety as Sheeran tells his life story while in a nursing home near the end of his life. Even though Scorsese implements his usual gangster style within the script, its use here is for an altogether different purpose than in previous films. Instead of showing the often joyous life of criminals with smugness, the script fully exposes us to the doom and gloom that a life of crime brings to someone. Frank is the main character in our story, but within his story, he’s always off to the side as he gets caught up in the everlasting destruction around him. By the time the third act reaches and the characters are reflecting on their past, their sad nature is fully exposed. All the acts these characters committed were paid for in death and despair, with the reward being even more of the same. Teaming up with Scorsese for their ninth collaboration, Robert De Niro does his best work in decades in the titular role. His performance as Frank is closed-off and internal, further highlighting that Sheeran had little control over his life. The further the story progresses, the more haunting De Niro becomes as he can more clearly see where the road will take him. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, Al Pacino plays the infamous union boss Jimmy Hoffa. We’ve always known that Pacino has fervor in his acting repertoire. His only problem over the years was how to effectively channel it to the right performance. Fortunately, there seems to be a method to Pacino’s madness here as his boisterous fire perfectly counters De Niro’s coldness. Playing against type is another frequent Scorsese collaborator in Joe Pesci as mob boss Russell Buffalino. Even if it may be his quietest role to date, Pesci instills fear through his menacing delivery and stares. Rounding the ensemble cast is Harvey Keitel, Bobby Cannavale, Ray Romano, Jesse Plemons, and Anna Paquin; all of which do great work in their supporting roles. Proving that the two sides of Martin Scorsese work better together than separately, The Irishman is a crime classic on par with the greats before. Its extensive tale of remorse and sorrow is worth every minute you put into it. If you only see a handful of movies a year, make sure this Netflix epic is one of them. More Reviews 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

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 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 Wedding Banquet April 18, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Wedding Banquet screened at the 2025 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival. Bleecker Street will release it in theaters on April 18th. Remaking Ang Lee’s 1993 film The Wedding Banquet in 2025 doesn’t make much sense. For starters, gay marriage has been legalized and is more widely accepted than it was then, and the idea of needing to marry is no longer as prescient. However, director Andrew Ahn, co-writing with the original film’s writer, James Schamus, doesn’t let those obstacles get in the way of updating a story that is much more universal than it is specific. Shifting the story from Manhattan to modern-day Seattle, Ahn also doubles the trouble by expanding the central conceit of a gay man going through a sham marriage to ward off his suspecting parents by adding a lesbian couple into the mix. Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) and Lee (Lily Gladstone) have been unsuccessfully trying to have a family through IVF treatment. It’s taken a toll on both the emotional and financial stability of their relationship. Living in their garage is the gay couple of Chris (Bowen Yang) and Min (Han Gi-Chan), the former sitting indecisively at a crossroads in his life, and the latter scrambling to find a way to stay in America before his visa expires and he’ll have to move back home to Korea to work in the family conglomerate business. The simple solution would be for Min and Chris to get married, but Chris can’t pull the trigger and Min’s family is still in the dark about his homosexuality and wouldn’t take too kindly to it. So Min proposes to Angela instead, offering to pay for her IVF treatment out of his trust fund in exchange for faking a heteronormative wedding so that he can obtain a green card. Even more so than it did back then, this plan makes no sense. Min is obviously loaded with cash and has been best friends with Angela and Lee for years, so why has he never offered to help out before? How far do Min and Angela expect to take this charade? Min’s grandmother (Youn Yuh-jung) is very adamant about him getting married, so I’d assume grandchildren are also part of her plan. A green card gotten through marriage is conditional for two years, meaning Min and Angela would need to legally stick together for at least that long. There are about five more holes I could poke, but you get the idea. For as much as these gaps sink the boat of logic, they also highlight key societal struggles. The challenge of starting a family is no longer about the fear of public perception, but its financial viability. Gay marriage and homosexual relationships may be fine in this generation and in parts of the world like Seattle, but members of the older generation like Min’s grandmother aren’t as open to the idea. Even Angela’s mother (Joan Chen), while a proud lesbian ally now, was very much against the idea of her daughter not following the traditional path of marrying a man. Ahn and Schamus are always precise with the emotional stakes of the story. There are plenty of moments to laugh, cry, or a bit of both. This is also a movie that serves its cast extremely well, all of them performers who have largely never been given the spotlight that they deserve. Any combination of characters, either one-on-one, in pairs, or in a group setting, makes for a sensational scene. The clear standout is Youn Yuh-jung, whose character adds yet another layer when she reveals that her marriage was arranged and that she never got the option to fall in love. If not for her recent Oscar win for Minari , I’d mount a serious campaign for her this year. Then again, the Academy has clearly become more open to awarding performers with multiple Oscars, so anything is possible. There’s a threading of the needle with all of this, melding the charmingly broad implausibility of a studio rom-com with the more serious-minded grounded indies. Which flavor you’re more inclined to like, Ahn has a slice of it waiting for you. 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

Last Night in Soho November 1, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen Zippy editing, deadpan comedy from Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and a killer soundtrack. These are the characteristics that have come to define the filmography of Edgar Wright. The world first got a glimpse of those three things in 2006 with Wright’s feature debut, Shaun of the Dead . Other features followed, such as the cult classics of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Baby Driver , giving Wright a dedicated following of fans that will always be itching to see what the stylish British director does next. For his next trick, Wright has done away with two of those three trademarks. He’s keeping the soundtrack, but trading away the duo of Pegg and Frost for Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy, as well as trading in humor for horror. The title of Last Night in Soho refers to the famous entertainment district located in London’s West End. From nightclubs to pubs to other seedier establishments, there’s always something to entice your interests. For Eloise Turner (McKenzie), that’s the London College of Fashion. She has big dreams to be a designer like her late mother, but her outsider persona doesn’t mesh well with her urban classmates. Eloise finds solace in her antique off-campus apartment, where she's free to play her 60s music and dream about a better time. Her dreams quickly become reality, as Eloise magically gets transported back to 60s London, where she is mysteriously linked to the life of up-and-coming singer, Sandie (Taylor-Joy). These nighttime adventures allow Eloise to live the life she’s always wanted. But the honeymoon period doesn’t last for long, as these dreams gradually devolve into nightmares. The question of what is reality and what is dream begins to get muddled, and the glamorous white lights begin to run red with blood. Coincidentally, 2021 has been the year of nostalgia for 1960s London as both this film and Disney’s Cruella prominently feature the setting. But while the dalmatian-laced feature carried tacky set pieces and a soundtrack that felt like someone just pressed shuffle on a “Best of the 1960s” Spotify playlist, Wright’s film has much more reverence for the era. The dream-like sections of the film reinvigorate your love for cinema, as Wright displays some inventive camerawork throughout his extended tracking shots that weave their way throughout some of London’s historic establishments. The glittering lights and costumes are candy for eyes, and the hits of “Downtown” and “Got My Mind Set on You” serenade the ears. From a production standpoint, this is Wright’s most accomplished work. Eloise and Wright seemed to be linked to the same fate, as the moment her fortune begins to darken also marks the same point where Wright begins to falter. Once you take away that swinging style, the film topples over as it doesn’t have any legs to stand on in terms of substance. For some people, that may not be a bad thing as Wright’s style goes a long way. But it often feels like empty calories that don’t equal the sum of their parts. Wright, along with co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns ( 1917 ), makes a statement about sexism and toxic men. But specific ideas are scarce and it all plays as more of a generalized blanket observation on the unfair inequality of gender, something any woman learns at some point (hopefully not first-hand). There is no central villain to this story, with Sandy’s pimp and abuser, Jack (played by the handsomely sinister Matt Smith), being too surface-level to be perceived as an actual person, just an idea. For a while, the villains are the ghoulish spirits of controlling men. But our fear of them diminishes each time they appear, which happens much more than it should, a common problem within this 116-minute film that feels every bit as long as it is. Eventually, there are so many twists and turns that you, as well as Wright, don’t know how to feel about these characters, ending the film on a confounding question-mark rather than an exclamation point. Last Night in Soho gloriously indulges in the technical eccentricities that have come to define Edgar Wright. For fans of his work, it is quite a treat to see how far he has come as a craftsman. But all that glitter is not gold, as there's not much underneath the sheen to make this feel anything different than a mild disappointment. 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

All Quiet on the Western Front October 15, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen French New Wave film critic and director François Truffaut ( The 400 Blows ) always lived by his statement that “there’s no such thing as an anti-war film.” Considering the films produced around this time, it’s easy to see why Truffaut would have that opinion. Henry Fonda and John Wayne starred in The Longest Day and The Green Berets , which depicted strong, strapping men leading their troops into heroic battles to topple tyranny. Those movies made kids want to be soldiers, as reality was replaced with spectacle. Unfortunately, Truffaut died in 1984, just before Oliver Stone had his one-two punch of Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July , and Steven Spielberg (one of his dear friends, who he starred for in Close Encounters of the Third Kind ) delivered the definitive American World War II film in Saving Private Ryan . Most audiences and critics would agree that those films are anti-war, even if the action in them is a sight to behold. And I feel confident in saying that Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front will be added to that venerable list. As a director, Berger combines many different elements from some of the best films within the genre. The large-scale and gruesomely detailed battles harken back to Saving Private Ryan . We see more mud than blood as the soldiers fight for nothing more than to survive another second. The major drawback of this being released by Netflix is that the large majority of viewers will not experience the film in a theater, where the distressing sound effects ring throughout the room as shells and bullets blow by. And Volker Bertelmann’s (aka Hauschka) masterful score plays a similar role to Hans Zimmer’s in Dunkirk , creating an anxiety-inducing and haunting experience even during peaceful moments. This is not a remake of the 1930 American film version, which was awarded Best Director for Lewis Milestone and Best Motion Picture at that year’s Academy Awards. Instead, this is a readaptation of the 1928 novel by Erich Maria Remarque about his experiences during The Great War. Our story begins and ends with 17-year-old Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer, exceptional in his first screen role). He joined the German army along with his friends in the name of patriotic duty. But dreams quickly turn to nightmares once they reach the Western Front in Northern France, where the promise of a brutal death is more of a guarantee than the sky is blue. As a slight departure from the source material, writers Berger, Lesley Paterson, and Ian Stokell juxtapose the scenes of carnage with those of the “fat pigs” that wield power. One is played by Daniel Brühl, who is on his way to sign what would become the Armistice of 11 November 1918, which, along with the subsequent Treaty of Versailles, set such harsh terms on Germany that it’s believed to be one of the main causes for World War II. The French negotiators are not seen as heroes here, as they let their upper hand corrupt their morals. Going back and forth between this and Paul’s storyline, we get the sense that this war did not involve winners and losers. Everybody was a loser as they lost something mentally, emotionally, spiritually, or physically. And in the end, there was no point to any of it. In the film’s harrowing opening sequence, we follow a coat worn by a German soldier. The man dies in battle, and the coat is plucked off his corpse. It’s then shipped back to a factory to be washed of the blood, mended, and given to a recruit. It’s moments like this, of which there are many, where Berger masterfully illustrates the futile self-fulfilling cycle of death that war creates. All Quiet on the Western Front is not just the best film of the year, it’s one of the best of its genre. 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

TIFF24 Preview September 1, 2024 By: Hunter Friesen Between the pandemic, dual SAG-WGA strikes, and a downturn in the sponsorship market, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has had its fair share of problems over the years. Even with these obstacles, the festival has continued to make every edition of its star-studded festival a memorable one, always brimming with headliners and under-the-radar gems. Still, there has been an unspoken agreement amongst festival goers that TIFF hasn’t been able to replicate its peak form that occurred between 2014 and 2019. That nagging feeling has seemingly subsided with the finalization of this year’s lineup, which, on paper, might be the best one ever assembled by CEO Cameron Bailey and his programming team. Considering that all three take place within the same relative time frame, the competition between the Venice International Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, and TIFF has always been strong. With Venice beginning in late August, Telluride over Labor Day weekend, and TIFF the week after, the Canadian festival has always been at a disadvantage in obtaining world premieres. The festival tried to leverage its enormous Oscar influence to sway some Venice and Telluride-bound projects over to TIFF, but that tended to backfire and keep projects out of the lineup. In several interviews, Bailey has stated that the programming team has loosened their restrictions on premiere statuses over the years, saying that, although a North American/International/Canadian premiere wasn’t as juicy, it was better than holding firm on world premieres and missing out on stuff altogether. This year’s lineup vividly illustrates that mindset, with almost every glitzy premiere at Venice and Telluride making their way over to TIFF immediately afterward, a welcome strategy shift for someone like me. Why spend thousands of dollars to fly to Italy or the Colorado mountains to get just an appetizer for the fall festival assortment when you can have the whole buffet in Toronto a few days later? Venice titles that will be making their North American premieres at TIFF include Pedro Almodóvar’s English-language debut, The Room Next Door , Luca Guadagnino’s Queer , Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist , Justin Kurzel’s The Order , Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here , and Halina Reijn’s Babygirl . Each of these films has a firm place on my schedule, especially The Brutalist , which I had little faith that TIFF would include considering its 215-minute runtime and dour subject matter. Thankfully, I won’t be seeing either of the Opening Night premieres ( Nutcrackers and The Cut ), so I can go to bed early and be energized for that 9:00 am press screening. Immediately after that screening, I’ll be hitting a trio of world premieres within the famed Visa Screening Toom at the Princess of Wales Theatre. First up will be Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl , starring Pamela Anderson. Then there will be a double bill consisting of Mike Flanagan’s starry The Life of Chuck and John Crowley’s We Live in Time from A24, featuring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh as star-crossed lovers. The next morning will feature two of the biggest titans of world cinema over the last few decades: Pedro Almodóvar and Mike Leigh ( Hard Truths ). Ron Howard’s Eden , the film with the starriest cast of the festival, will premiere that evening in Roy Thomson Hall, followed by Marielle Heller’s gonzo Nightbitch . It’ll be a double Ralph Fiennes day on Sunday as I catch Conclave and The Return . The former is the highly anticipated follow-up from director Edward Berger after the wild success of All Quiet on the Western Front , and the latter is an adaptation of the myth of Odysseus that marks the reunification of Fiennes and his The English Patient co-star Juliette Binoche. Sandwiched between those screenings is The Order , a film I’ve had my eye on for quite some time as Justin Kurzel has produced some of my favorite films of the past decades ( Macbeth , Nitram ). The next few days follow that same cadence, with the remainder of the Venice and Telluride holdovers making their northern premieres. While everyone else will be experiencing the madness of Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis in Roy Thomson Hall on Monday night, I’ll be across the street seeing Queer . Then, the next night, I’ll see The Piano Lesson and Babygirl , with Wednesday’s headliners being Saturday Night and The End . Also on Wednesday are two under-the-radar Venice titles that I’m extremely intrigued by: Harvest and April . From there, my schedule will become more fluid throughout. There’ll still be plenty of screening opportunities for stuff like The Fire Inside , Unstoppable , Without Blood , The Shadow Strays , and The Friend , as well as other titles not on my watchlist that receive great buzz. Woman of the Hour was one of those films last year, as I didn’t secure a ticket for it until after many of my friends raved about it. All in all, I plan to see around 30-35 films throughout the ten-day festival, with a few of them likely to become some of my favorites of the year. There’s nothing like indulging in so much good cinema in such a short amount of time, all while mingling with friends and colleagues from around the world. I’ll be publishing full reviews for select titles, with others being condensed into dispatches and my post-festival recap. You can take a look at the full slate of festival titles on the TIFF website . 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

Ballerina June 4, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen A franchise needs to reach a healthy stage of maturity before it can begin to produce spinoffs from the main feed. It took Star Wars seven episodes before it sidestepped with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Solo: A Star Wars Story . It took until the ninth installment of the Fast & Furious series to get the buddy adventures of Dwayne Johnson's Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw in Hobbs & Shaw . Besting both behemoth franchises is the John Wick series, which has produced its first spin-off (we're not going to count the short-lived Peacock series, The Continental ), Ballerina , after only four mainline entries. Franchise creator Derek Kolstad, director Chad Stahelski, and star Keanu Reeves are nowhere to be found here except during the end credits as part of the long list of producers. It's a testament to the world they've created that their physical absence doesn't fully knock over this tower of cards. It is perpetually teetering, as the trio has set such a high bar over the past decade that no newcomer could and should be expected to flawlessly meet or exceed it. Director Len Wiseman, finally given permission to grace the silver screen after a decade-long banishment to low-tier television after the calamity that was 2012's Total Recall reboot, does just that, giving us more of the same through slightly inferior methods. The production qualities are all still top-tier, with the sets and atmosphere beckoning us to dig deeper into its history and importance. But while we, the audience, see it all as decorative eye candy, the characters experience it as just lipstick on a pig being sent to the slaughterhouse. Violent actions breed violent consequences, which is what John Wick has had to reckon with since those goons decided to kill his puppy back in the first film. Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas) had that choice forced upon her at a young age when her father was murdered by The Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne) right in front of her. The Ruska Roma organization took her in and gave her the skills to transform from a victim to a victor. Vengeance lingered in her mind for all those years, acting as the fuel for her rageful fire. Through the inanimate nature of a bullet and the two sides of a coin, the analogy of choice is presented to Eve while she's working through her origin story. Revenge won't bring her father back, and will very likely lead her down a darker path of self-destruction. Returning from the previous two John Wick entries, writer Shay Hatten tries to use this conflict to instill tension over where Eve will fall on the spectrum of good & evil. The nuance becomes almost entirely lost when an abducted child becomes involved, and Eve must protect her from The Chancellor. No studio would allow their tentpole blockbuster to contain a scene of the hero being apathetic toward the mistreatment of a kid, so we know Eve will do the right thing and keep her safe. I’m not a sadistic freak, but just once I’d like a film to fully subvert this tiring trope. Apart from that stumble, the other concepts relating to the action are decent. Eve is physically weaker than her opponents, which means she has to be more resourceful when it comes to establishing an advantage. The combination of hand grenades thrown like snowballs and a military-grade flamethrower makes for some exciting set pieces. There's also the usual hand-to-hand and gun play, which de Armas handles well. Her acting may not be up to par, a common problem for any actor who tries to tackle the stilted dialogue they're given in this franchise. But she has the raw physicality and star presence to carry the lengthy fight sequences. Going back on what I said earlier, Reeves does appear as Wick in a cameo that likely acts as a teaser for a team-up movie down the line. I wouldn’t mind seeing de Armas and Reeves work together again in this series, as long as Stahelski is back at the helm. Each of the successive entries in the John Wick series has successfully improved upon the previous one, both in terms of scope and scale. Ballerina is the first to take a step back, a minor one nonetheless. But there are still certain aspects that are promising, so I’ll treat this like one of the lesser entries in the MCU that are meant to be connective tissue for the large-scale Avengers films. 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

Creed II December 3, 2018 By: Button Hunter Friesen The first Creed film was an entertaining surprise that was able to be both fan service to the Rocky franchise and a great standalone story filled with rich characters and relationships. The new sequel, Creed II , goes bigger than the first as the return of Ivan Drago reignites a rivalry thirty-three years in the making. Viktor, Ivan’s son, challenges Adonis Creed to a match that will determine who will be the heavyweight champion of the world. Accepting the challenge, Adonis fights for his name and takes revenge against the son of the man who killed his father. Now that Ryan Coogler has moved on to Black Panther and its sequel, the director mantle now falls to Steven Caple Jr.. He tries to imitate Coogler rather than put his own stamp on the franchise. This technique more or less works, but only because Coogler supplied a proven template that could easily be followed. The film stays smoothly slow throughout as Caple Jr. allows his cast to freely take reign over the material. Sometimes this proves to be too slow and tedious, but mostly it makes the story more character driven. The staple of the Rocky franchise is the fight scenes and Caple Jr. does an alright job with the two major ones. The first one doesn’t make much of an impact as it comes and goes with little originality or flair. The second one, however, really comes alive as the sound of bones crunching and the whipping of the camera lends itself to a visceral experience. The original " Gonna Fly Now" theme is even thrown in to cap off the grueling bout. From a script by Stallone and Juel Taylor, Creed II is serviceable enough in the writing department despite being wholly unoriginal. The overall plot is a beat-for-beat recreation of Rocky IV . Revisiting that story is great on a nostalgia level, but on a storytelling level, it takes away from the suspense. The final fight even takes place in Moscow just to rub it in a little bit more. The one area that the film truly excels is its handling of the relationships and interactions between characters. The conversations between the main core feel authentic and help grow the connection the audience shares with them. The importance of family pops up more than once as Adonis begins his life as a father and Rocky tries to reconnect with his distant son. These include some beautiful moments of tenderness that provide a great counterweight to the stone-cold fights. The one character that gets the short end of the stick is Viktor, who really doesn’t have any reason to be in the movie except for name recognition. In a franchise full of great opponents, this one falls to the bottom of the barrel as Viktor’s development as a character is given little thought and brushed aside for more scenes of him beating guys up. With the Creed series and his role in Black Panther , Michael B. Jordan is on a hot streak right now. He brings his natural talents to the screen and more than delivers on the physical and emotional demands of the character. He also has that bit of charisma his onscreen father possessed all those years ago. Watching him in the ring is a sight to see as he rolls with the punches and is able to fledge out his character without any dialogue. Another standout performance comes from Sylvester Stallone his most iconic character. For two films now Stallone has naturally been able to play Rocky as the wise elder to the young prodigy. His scenes with Jordan are excellent and really lend to the emotional heart of the story. Tessa Thompson does a good job as Bianca. She proves to be Adonis’ rock as she and him further their relationship into parenthood. Lastly, Dolph Lundgren and Florian Munteanu do a fine job as father and son combo Ivan and Viktor Drago, respectively. Lundgren can be a bit over the top at times, but he does well at being both menacing and vulnerable. Munteanu physically is more gorilla than human as he towers over his competition and stokes fear through his muscles. Led by powerhouse performances from Jordan and Stallone, Creed II is able to deliver on the expectations of its predecessor. While it does fall into Rocky IV -esque melodrama at times, Caple Jr.’s film finds the right balance and knows when to strike and when to let back as it sports some thrilling fight scenes along with some touching human moments. 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