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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

Bardo November 25, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen No one can ever blame Alejandro G. Iñárritu for not trying hard enough. Be it the juggling of multiple storylines across multiple languages in Amores Perros and Babel , the one-take trickery within Birdman , or the on-location shooting in frigid temperatures for The Revenant , Iñárritu has never been one to take the easy road. With Bardo , another entry in the ever-growing and possibly soon-to-be fatigued genre of director autobiographies, the two-time Academy Award winner for Best Director rivals only Charlie Chaplin and his fellow countrymen Alfonso Cuarón in terms of how many facets of production he has fingerprints all over. Serving as the director, writer, producer, editor, and composer, and basis for the entire narrative, there isn’t a single moment where Iñárritu’s presence isn’t front and center, resulting in the year’s most technically accomplished and uber-pretentious (you decide the connotation of that term) piece of filmmaking. Bardo , or Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths as it's officially called (here’s hoping Iñárritu stops with these elongated titles, Birdman was enough), marks Iñárritu’s first feature film since 2015. Of course, who can blame him for wanting to step away from it all after the immense logistical pressures of constructing Birdman and The Revenant ? But more than just returning to making films, Bardo also represents the Mexican director's return to his native country since his 2000 debut of Amores Perros . Unlike most directors, like Kenneth Branagh with Belfast or Steven Spielberg with The Fabelmans , Iñárritu’s view of his personal life isn’t through rose-tinted glasses. The character named Silverio Gama serves as the Iñárritu stand-in. He’s one of the most revered journalists and documentary filmmakers in Mexico and the United States. But fame in both lands is a double-edged sword, with many of his critics, himself included, finding him too gringo for Mexico, and too Latin for America. “Success has been my biggest failure,” Silverio claims as he prepares to accept an honorary award that will surely churn that existential divide even more. Just as it is within other memory-based films like The Tree of Life or 8 1/2 , the plot within Bardo isn’t really all that important. Much of the film is told out of chronological order, looping around in a circle as aspects from early scenes get reworked into later ones. And much of it isn’t literal either, with plenty of symbolic moments, such as a reenactment of a 19th-century battle or a newborn baby asking to be put back in the womb because “the world is too fucked up” (yes, you read that right), used as grand representations for personal turmoil and existentialism. Is any of it really that deep or insightful? No. And should I have a ton of sympathy for an ultra-successful celebrity that’s going through a glorified midlife crisis? Also no. But there is great beauty within Bardo’s falseness. Replacing regular DP Emmanuel Lubezki (who went off to help David O. Russell make his first feature since 2015 in Amsterdam ) is the equally legendary Darius Khondji, doubly present this year with James Gray’s Armageddon Time . Iñárritu and the Iranian cinematographer concoct some of the most mesmerizing images of the year, taking inspiration from Terrence Malick’s insistence on natural lighting. Many of the most stunning moments are told in Iñárritu’s signature long takes, with the highlight being a dance sequence where the camera weaves around a sea of people as it follows Silverio letting loose. On a technical level, this often feels like Iñárritu’s most ambitious film yet, which obviously is quite the statement. But just like Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front , this must-see theatrical experience will be mostly limited to television screens as Netflix holds the distribution rights. Bardo is a work of staggering beauty, looping around in circles as it makes you ask questions about how we got here, what's going on, and what's going to happen next. Fans (such as myself) will latch on to this singular vision and ponder the meaning behind it all, while detractors will immediately turn it off on account of its obtuse pretentiousness. And, like any great work of art, both sides will be correct in their stances. 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

Paris, 13th District July 15, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen Paris, 13th District had its World Premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. IFC Films will release it in theaters on April 15, 2022. A call center representative, teacher, real estate agent, and online webcam model somehow find their lives coming together in the new Jacques Audiard film, Paris, 13th District ( Les Olympiades ). Audiard has taken a special interest in the lives of resilient people set within his native country. The films Dheepan and A Prophet don't showcase France at its best, instead, they shine a light on the many problems Audiard sees. After taking a detour into the English language for the unfairly ignored The Sisters Brothers Audiard (along with co-writer Céline Sciamma of Portrait of a Lady on Fire fame) once again sets his sights on modern French society, this time through the gaze of not one, but four main characters. Our protagonists (or antagonists depending on your viewpoint) all reside within the titular district of Paris, a highly populated sector known for its mixture of modern and traditional architecture. Émilie is a phone operator at a cell phone service call center who is stuck in a rut both professionally and romantically. She’s a disappointment to her Taiwanese immigrant parents, who often call to tell her about her sister’s experience as a doctor in England. Luckily, her romantic prospects improve with the arrival of Camille, a lonely schoolteacher who is inquiring about the vacant room in her apartment. Carnal feelings impulsively take over their relationship, something Émilie prefers as she lives by the motto “fuc* first, talk later.” At the same time, Nora is a real estate agent trying to reinvent herself by going back to school, despite being a dozen years older than her fellow students. Further compounding her misfit status is her striking resemblance to famous webcam model Amber Sweet. She soon receives the unwanted attention of lustful boys, forcing her to retreat from academic prospects. With morbid curiosity, Nora decides to meet her doppelganger and see if they share anything besides just looks. Like Paul Thomas Anderson in Magnolia or Robert Altman in Short Cuts , Audiard acts as a puppet master, crossing and pulling the strings of his characters. Being that there are only four main characters compared to dozens within Anderson and Altman’s films, the interactions are more frequent. Audiard is interested in exploring the idea of opposites attracting, which brings out both the best and worst in each other. These characters carry a lot of baggage with them, which often gets saddled onto their partner in an acrimonious fashion. Audiard and Sciamma take an authentic approach to these moments, with characters getting in heated arguments that sometimes lead to break-ups, and sometimes lead to sex. The film is quite sexually explicit, with each actor bearing it all for the black-and-white screen. Except for the exceptional Noémie Merlant, the cast consists of relative unknowns, a fact that never crossed my mind as they have the chops of veterans. Speaking of black-and-white, the grainy cinematography by Paul Guillaume strips down the film to its rawest form. Like Sam Levinson’s Malcolm & Marie , the lack of color works to center our focus on the actors and their condensed surroundings. While the beautiful cinematography could be guessed from still images, what is most surprising is the great electronic score by French musical artist Rone. Mixing pop beats with fluttery strings, the score embodies the clash between modernity and tradition that is present within the characters and the city itself. Not without its problems, Paris, 13th District often gets too attached to the trio of Émilie, Camille, and Nora, leaving Amber with a lower supporting status, despite her having the only sequence of the film shot in color. Frustratingly, Jehnny Beth’s great work as the most interesting character isn’t given the attention that most surely deserves. As filled with millennial insight as it is filled with nudity, Paris,13th District is a lighter affair from the dependable Jacques Audiard. Barring a few small setbacks within the script, the film is an arthouse delight that will connect with younger viewers, possibly more than they want it to. 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

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera January 10, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen January has never been a month known for quality when it pertains to the yearly cinematic timeline. While everyone's eyeballs are trained on the artier Oscar contenders, the studios dump their unwanted offspring into the multiplexes (this time last year featured such "classics" as Nightswim, I.S.S., Founders Day , and Miller's Girl ). Every once in a while you get a better-than-expected gem like my beloved The Beekeeper , an indulgent slice of junk food that hits the spot after months of vegetables. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera , the sequel to the 2018 crime film that has amassed a decent following over the years, aims to be that greasy burger you hate yourself for loving, although it leans a little too close to gas station quality rather than fast food. Donnie Wilson (O'Shea Jackson Jr.) has moved up in the world since we last saw him, graduating from the banks of Los Angeles to the diamond district of Europe. "It's the most secure building in continental Europe," says the concierge to Donnie as he goes undercover as a diamond seller to provide surveillance for his crew, a line that tells us all that we need to know about the outcome of this heist. 'Big Nick' O'Brien (Gerard Butler), on the other hand, is pissing his life away (both literally and figuratively) since Donnie outsmarted him. His divorce has been finalized and his job security is hanging by a thread, giving him enough of a reason to embrace the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" mantra and become part of Donnie's crew. Sequels are about doing more than the original, which Pantera does in a literal sense. The locations are swankier, the stakes are higher, and the plan is more complicated. However, all the supporting details are less valuable than before. The cast is less interesting and the plot is less comprehensible, leaving you yawning throughout the first half of this 148-minute beast. The only thing there's more of in those departments is the clichéd elements of previous heist films: people standing around the blueprint table explaining their roles, then later leaning over a balcony giving their backstory for why they got into this line of work. Those missteps can be slightly forgiven once the sun sets and the black ski masks are donned. Writer/director Christian Gudegast showed some remarkable chops as a first-time director of set pieces with the 2018 predecessor. He levels up his game here, trading in the loud bangs of gunfire for the silence of a job that goes according to plan. There's a great amount of tension as the crew shimmies across rooftops, moves through rooms undetected by security cameras, and places barriers at just the right angles to avoid motion detectors. Of course, things still go boom. Fast cars and machine guns become the weapons of choice, making this a gnarlier version of a Fast & Furious movie. Jackson Jr. and Butler match that brute explosiveness fairly well, although their chemistry works much better as antagonists as opposed to reluctant allies. All of this felt a little outdated in 2018, making it straight-up ancient in 2025. But that creakiness is part of the charm, flooding in rose-tinted memories of the heist movie of yesteryear. And as long as Michael Mann keeps taking his sweet time to deliver Heat 2 , these retrograde knockoffs are the best we're going to get, so we might as well be content with 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