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TIFF24 Dispatch #3 September 16, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen All of the films were screened at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Click here for additional full reviews and dispatches. Select films below will receive separate full-length reviews at a later date, most likely in connection to their public releases. April Georgian writer/director Dea Kulumbegashvili made a splash with her sophomore feature, netting the Special Jury Prize from the Isabelle Huppert-led jury at this year’s Venice Film Festival. She taps into the haunted stillness of Béla Tarr and Michael Haneke, mixing abstract visuals with real-life horrors. Its treatment of the central conflict surrounding abortion in a rural village will test your patience and comprehension, with the reward being much worth the effort. (4/5) On Swift Horses With a cast comprised of no less than Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi, Will Poulter, Diego Calva, and Sasha Calle, On Swift Horses already had a lot going for it before the cameras were even rolling. Unfortunately, nothing else materialized once things got off the ground, with the lyricism of Shannon Pufahl’s novel being lost in Daniel Minahan’s competently flat direction and Bryce Kass’ screenplay. It’s fun to see the cast interact with each other, mostly because of the guilty pleasure of having them mix and match as bedding partners (poor Will Poulter is the only one who doesn’t get to have any fun). But we’re always seeing the actors, not the characters. (2.5/5) Relay Save for some extremely embarrassing moments of dialogue (most of which are housed within the first few minutes), David MacKenzie’s first feature film since The Outlaw King is a kinetic piece of work. It’s an unambitious and entertaining corporate espionage thriller, with Riz Ahmed starring as a broker who acts as the middleman between corporations and whistleblowers. Lily James becomes one of those whistleblowers in need of help, with Sam Worthington leading a team looking to silence her. The first line of dialogue from Ahmed doesn’t come until the midpoint, a challenge that he and MacKenzie pass with flying colors. The late-night score by Tony Doogan provides a smoky cool atmosphere. Saying that a film should go to streaming is usually a derogatory statement, but this one would certainly uplift a genre that streaming has repeatedly tried and failed to serve. (4/5) The Fire Inside Rachel Morrison, acclaimed cinematographer of Black Panther and Mudbound , crafts a solid directorial debut with this biopic on famed Olympic champion boxer Claressa 'T-Rex' Shields. Greatly aided by a script by Barry Jenkins, Morrison unearths the triumphant and tragic story of Shields’ upbringing in Flint, Michigan, and how her life remained constant despite achieving so much. The visual and structural similarities to other boxing films, specifically the Creed films, cannot be ignored. That’s not a bad thing on its own, more of a quibble considering what could have been accomplished. Ryan Destiny and Brian Tyree Henry have a wonderful relationship together as the athlete and the coach, respectively. A solid crowd-pleaser for the holiday season. (3.5/5) 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

2025 Golden Globe Awards Nomination Predictions December 7, 2024 By: Hunter Friesen Buoyed by interesting nominees and big-name winners, last year's Golden Globe Awards was a major success in the rebirth process for the once-disgraced awards body. The group formerly known as the HFPA will be looking to keep that ball rolling this year, although they'll have a tougher time finding the same level of notoriety amongst the contenders. This year's crop is much more independent-focused than in years past, which could lend the Globes more influence in this chaotic Oscar race. With nominations set to be announced on Monday morning, here are my predictions on what names will be called in each category, complete with a full breakdown detailing the seemingly endless combinations. Best Motion Picture - Drama Conclave The Brutalist Dune: Part Two Nickel Boys Sing Sing A Complete Unknown Last year's nomination in this category for The Zone of Interest lends strength to the equally challenging and universally acclaimed Nickel Boys . Something like A Complete Unknown would have been a slam dunk under the previous Globes regime, which makes it a little vulnerable to being subbed out for more esoteric titles like Queer and Babygirl . Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy Anora Emilia Pérez Wicked A Real Pain Challengers The Substance The top three films are virtually guaranteed to receive Best Picture nominations at the Oscars, and A Real Pain has continually risen in its stock. That leaves Challengers , The Substance , Saturday Night , and Hit Man as the four likeliest titles jockeying for the final two slots. Challengers and The Substance have been two of the buzziest and most acclaimed films of the year, so it would be surprising for them to be left out. Best Director Sean Baker (Anora) Jaques Audiard (Emilia Pérez) Brady Corbet (The Brutalist) Edward Berger (Conclave) Denis Villeneuve (Dune: Part Two) Coralie Fargeat (The Substance) The Directors branch at the Academy tends to favor more arthouse sensibilities as opposed to the Globes, which is why it wouldn't be a surprise for an Oscar contender such as RaMell Ross ( Nickel Boys ) snubbed for someone like Ridley Scott ( Gladiator II ). The Globes have also been kinder to female contenders, giving nominations to Maggie Gyllenhaal ( The Lost Daughter ) and Celine Song ( Past Lives ) when the Oscars didn't. Coralie Fargeat will be that nominee this year, with Denis Villeneuve representing the blockbusters. Best Screenplay Conclave Anora A Real Pain The Brutalist Sing Sing Emilia Pérez The funneling of both original and adapted screenplays into one category makes it impossible to have confident predictions. Deserving contenders will be left off this list come nomination morning, and there's rarely a correlating factor that gives us a clue about what this group likes. The best strategy is to replicate the nominees from the Best Director category, and then swap out 1-2 based on how writerly they are. The narratives behind Dune: Part Two and The Substance have been very director-focused, which is why bigger writing contenders like A Real Pain and Sing Sing will likely slide in. Best Lead Actor - Drama Adrien Brody (The Brutalist) Ralph Fiennes (Conclave) Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown) Colman Domingo (Sing Sing) Daniel Craig (Queer) Jharrel Jerome (Unstoppable) It's pretty much all chalk within this category, with my currently predicted five for Best Lead Actor at the Oscars being represented here. It's already hard enough to fill out five slots, so adding another one doesn't help the guessing game. Sebastian Stan is hurt by the poison that surrounds The Apprentice , and Paul Mescal didn't have that many positive notices for Gladiator II . I'm going to reach a little bit and give the edge to Jharrel Jerome for Unstoppable , a very physical performance from a crowd-pleasing film that has been campaigning nonstop since its TIFF premiere. Best Lead Actress - Drama Nicole Kidman (Babygirl) Angelina Jolie (Maria) Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths) Saoirse Ronan (The Outrun) Fernanda Torres (I'm Still Here) Kate Winslet (Lee) This category is surprisingly thinner among Oscar contenders than in most years, which is a testament to the increased competition within the Comedy/Musical category. Last year's nomination for Alma Pöysti showed that the Globes will consider a foreign-language performance that isn't firmly in the Oscar race like Sandra Hüller was, which bodes well for Fernanda Torres in I'm Still Here . I can't decide between Tilda Swinton or Julianne Moore for The Room Next Door , so I'll leave both of them out. Kate Winslet in Lee would have been a lock years ago, and I think there's still enough of that voting body left for her to nab the final slot. Best Lead Actor - Musical or Comedy Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain) Glen Powell (Hit Man) Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) Sebastian Stan (A Different Man) Hugh Grant (Heretic) Jesse Plemons (Kinds of Kindness) Jesse Eisenberg and Glen Powell sit comfortably at the top competing to win the trophy. Michael Keaton as the uber-successful and iconic character in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice feels like a safe bet, as does Hugh Grant in Heretic and Sebastian Stan in A Different Man after idiosyncratic nominees like Joaquin Phoenix ( Beau Is Afraid ) and Nicolas Cage ( Dream Scenario ) last year. That vibe leads me to pick Cannes Best Actor winner Jesse Plemons ( Kinds of Kindness ) for the final slot over more conventional contenders like Gabriel LaBelle ( Saturday Night ) and Ryan Reynolds ( Deadpool & Wolverine ). Best Lead Actress - Musical or Comedy Mikey Madison (Anora) Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez) Cynthia Erivo (Wicked) Demi Moore (The Substance) Zendaya (Challengers) June Squibb (Thelma) This is pretty much a repeat of the Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical category, sans A Real Pain for obvious reasons. I've got June Squibb nabbing that last slot in a surprise upset over eight-time nominee (and two-time winner) Amy Adams. It's not the smartest move on paper, but the buzz for Nightbitch and Adams' performance has been nonexistent, at least in comparison to her previous work. That might not matter for someone so beloved as her, but I think Squibb is much more deserved and makes for a better narrative. Best Supporting Actor Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) Denzel Washington (Gladiator II) Guy Pearce (The Brutalist) Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing) Stanley Tucci (Conclave) Yura Borisov (Anora) Two of the best narratives this year have been the rise of previously unknown performers Clarence Maclin and Yura Borisov. Maclin has been firmly in the Oscar conversation for months, while Borisov has seen a quick rise over the past few weeks. That might be too short of a window to get him in here, especially with an established player like Edward Norton ( A Complete Unknown ) right on his tail. Best Supporting Actress Zoë Saldaña (Emilia Pérez) Ariana Grande (Wicked) Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson) Felicity Jones (The Brutalist) Margaret Qualley (The Substance) Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Nickel Boys) I'm feeling pretty confident in the first five slots. The final slot could easily go to Selena Gomez for Emilia Pérez . She's been loved by the television side of this group, being nominated for the previous two seasons of Only Murders In The Building , which will likely continue with the fourth season. There's the possibility of Saoirse Ronan fulfilling the promise of a double nomination morning with Blitz , although that film has faltered at every step so far. I have confidence behind my choice for Nickel Boys in Best Motion Picture - Drama, so I'll reverse engineer my way into predicting Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. Best Foreign Language Film Emilia Pérez (France) All We Imagine as Light (India) The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Iran) I'm Still Here (Brazil) The Girl with the Needle (Denmark) The Count of Monte Cristo (France) The Globes have far fewer restrictions on this category as opposed to the Oscars, which is why we could get two nominees from France despite Emilia Pérez being the official submission. There's bound to be an outlier choice within the final two slots, so I'm hoping my roll of the dice will generate at least one correct guess. Best Animated Feature Film The Wild Robot Inside Out 2 Memoir of a Snail Flow Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl Moana 2 I'm going with the currently predicted lineup at the Oscars, with Moana 2 following the same trajectory as Wish last year of being a namecheck nominee. The former has slightly better reviews and a vastly better box performance than the latter, so that's a good enough reason to crawl in. Best Original Score Conclave The Brutalist Dune: Part Two Emilia Pérez Challengers The Wild Robot This category is stacked with heavy hitters across the Drama and Comedy/Musical categories. The outlier amongst the group is The Wild Robot , which shouldn't have any problems considering the Globes nominated two animated films ( Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and The Boy and the Heron ) in this category last year. Best Original Song El Mal (Emilia Pérez) Mi Camino (Emilia Pérez) Kiss the Sky (The Wild Robot) I Always Wanted a Brother (Mufasa: The Lion King) Piece by Piece (Piece by Piece) Never Too Late (Elton John) I'd consider it a success if I get 3/6 correct in this category. Some wild picks were made last year with "Peaches" and “Addicted to Romance," both of which featured big stars behind their campaigns. I'm going to run with that theme in my nominees this year, predicting people such as Elton John, Pharrell, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. They'll be joined by two of the popular numbers from Emilia Pérez . Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Inside Out 2 Deadpool & Wolverine Wicked Dune: Part Two Moana 2 Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Despicable Me 4 It Ends with Us Introduced as the "Barbenheimer" last year, this category serves as a last resort for the Globes to feature movies that the casual audience will recognize. That means I'm working my way down the domestic box office charts, including the films that got at least decent reviews. I don't have much respect for this category, so I won't have any pride in how many I get right or wrong. 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

Awards Update: Final Pre-Festival Predictions August 26, 2024 By: Hunter Friesen Welcome to an ongoing series where I cover the 2024/2025 awards season. On a regular basis, I will update my Oscar predictions, taking into account the new information that has been received since the last update. Full predictions in every category can be found on the Home and Awards page. The runners have taken their positions on the starting block. All that can happen now is for the gun to be fired to commence the next phase in the awards race. Save for Telluride, which won’t reveal itself until the day before the festival commences (although hints from Venice Artistic Director Alberto Barbera and premiere designations by both TIFF and NYFF have pretty much confirmed every title that will appear in the mountains), every fall festival has unveiled their slate for the year. I did a piece a month ago analyzing these lineups and what they mean for the Oscars. But that was done before TIFF added 20+ new titles a few weeks ago, and NYFF finalized their Main Slate and Spotlight section, which calls for a refreshed look at how everything stands just before the onslaught commences. Between his two features as a director, The Childhood of a Leader and Vox Lux , Brady Corbet has steered far away from the Oscar conversation. Most of the information we have on his new film, The Brutalist , seems to fall in line with that same trajectory. It carries a 215-minute runtime, is said to be nightmarish at times, and has ambitious swings. It also doesn’t have a North American distributor at the moment (Focus Features holds International rights). But the sight of it going to Venice, TIFF, and NYFF does project a lot of confidence, and there’s been more than a few rumors that it’s an absolutely gorgeous masterpiece. I don’t have it any of my predictions at the moment, but I’ll be the first to slot it into more than a few categories if those rumors turn out to be true. Of course, a good start at the festivals is only one step of the journey, and I’m skeptical about its prospects outside of the critical establishment. I’ll be seeing it early in the morning on my second day of TIFF, and it’s by far my most anticipated film of the festival. Other films on the bubble in terms of my predictions are Saturday Night , Hard Truths , and Nightbitch . Also recently announced to be making the trek from Venice to TIFF are The Room Next Door and Queer , with both venturing to NYFF a few weeks later. The trailer for Pedro Almodóvar’s English-language debut looked stunning, hinting at a sumptuous score by frequent collaborator Alberto Iglesias and performances by Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. I feel confident in at least two of those three being nominated for their work, with Almodóvar possibly making his way into the ever-crowded field of Best Adapted Screenplay. Two films that will be premiering at Telluride are Nickel Boys and The Piano Lesson , both adaptations of lauded source material. Oscar-nominated documentarian RaMell Ross co-writes and directs the former, with a cast that includes Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Hamish Linklater, and Daveed Diggs. Its selection as the Opening Night film at NYFF bodes well for its chances in many above-the-line categories, the same areas that The Piano Lesson will also be vying for with its all-star cast. The Netflix film will be stopping in Toronto after Telluride, a smart play to get the crowds behind a long-overdue Oscar campaign for Samuel L. Jackson. Good reviews, sympathy for Danielle Deadwyler’s snub a few years back, and the backing of Netflix could make this film a worthy contender. Just as we have to entertain the possibility that one or more currently heavily predicted awards players will flounder, we also have to consider that there’s a hidden gem buried somewhere. For a film I hadn’t heard about until a few weeks ago, the Telluride-TIFF-NYFF journey that The Friend will be taking has certainly piqued my interest. TIFF also has two underdog sports dramas in Unstoppable and The Fire Inside , both repped by Amazon MGM and slated for release in the winter. Likely half of my predictions will be proven wrong or right within two weeks, meaning this is pretty much the last time to try and hope-dict stuff into reality. I’ll be on the ground at TIFF for all ten days, seeing almost every film mentioned in this article. Stay tuned for reviews, recaps, and a new slate of predictions immediately afterward. 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

Longlegs July 12, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) reads a letter at her desk that’s been mysteriously put there without her knowledge. The door to her kitchen is open, with the flickers of light from the porch lights interrupted by a figure passing them. Or were those gaps of light just pieces of our imagination, a symptom of the descent into madness that this story requires? Whether it's from a door, window, or any four-sided structure, every frame is a gateway to hell in Longlegs . They often tend to be a frame within a frame, as writer/director Ozgood Perkins’ camera claustrophobically narrows in on its target, forcing you to project your worst fears onto the tightly restrained information it drips. It’s no surprise that every shot is perfectly composed, each dim corner beckoning you to peel it back, if you dare. Despite a semi-limited sample size of a filmography, Perkins has displayed a mastery of his craft from the director’s chair, holding his audience captive through slow-burn tension (most audiences would rather use the word “tedious”) and dazzling imagery. One of the minor unfortunate side effects of the pandemic was Perkins’ “Better Than It Had Any Right To Be” Gretel & Hansel failing to find another life in everyone’s homes after it floundered in theaters. Something that is surprising is that all those shots come from first-time feature cinematographer Andres Arochi. The framing is always spot-on, obscuring just enough of Nicolas Cage’s titular character for us to beg for more. Old-school polaroids and grain are the methods of choice when Perkins and Arochi display the gruesomeness that’s going on in this story. Many of these scenes have been sporadically used throughout the viral marketing campaign, which, fortunately, hasn’t diluted their effectiveness in the final product. A 911 call where a father breathes heavily while cryptically explaining how he’ll kill his family sent long-lasting shivers down my spine. The decomposed bodies of other families forced all popcorn munching in my audience to immediately stop. The prime suspect in all this suburban death goes by Longlegs, a ghostly pale freak who loves to leave behind coded messages that spread his Satanic gospel and taunt the ever-frustrated law enforcement. Harker’s procedural work to catch him mixes a blend of Zodiac and The Silence of the Lambs , both aspects kept tightly in check as each clue gradually reveals how the puzzle pieces fit together. That is until Perkins decides to hurriedly finish it all for us near the end through an expositional monologue. This is a story where the natural dissatisfaction of the loose ends is actually what’s so satisfying about it. Tying everything up with a nice ribbon feels more like a move by Perkins to win back the mainstream crowd after his previous features got battered by CinemaScore. Monroe is sensational in her lead role. She communicates the insular nature of her character flawlessly, keeping us both on the inside and outside. Perkins sets up her unclear psychic premonitions early on, her first vision identifying the house of a serial killer despite no other evidence. While that trait goes largely undeveloped from there, Monroe keeps the mind games going as she gets closer to the man who mentally torments her. Cage is an odd presence for this movie, his star power being too powerful to be effectively shrouded for so long, and his trademarked Cage-isms, including spontaneous singing and screaming, provoking laughter rather than menace. It’s still one of his better modern performances and continues his run of being interestingly employed by genre filmmakers ( Pig, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent , Dream Scenario ). There are a lot of similarities, both technically and thematically, between Perkins’ film and The Black Phone from a few years back. The promise of the happy nuclear family of the mid-20th century was not all it was cracked up to be, with evil lurking within the voids. Both may not have been great enough to wholly grip you as much as they intend to, but there’s definitely enough going on to burrow in your head and go home with 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

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga May 21, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Since the relative conclusion of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s been an increasing urge to claim that a certain film “needs to be experienced on the biggest screen possible.” While it is true that no television can match the sharpness and brightness of a theatrical projection (if handled well, which is becoming more of a rarity these days), the notion that every movie with a budget over $100 million needs to be seen in the cinema does water down the uniqueness of the ones that truly push the medium forward. I can tell you for a fact that Argylle wouldn’t have been harmed had it bypassed its theatrical release and gone straight to Apple TV+. I can also say the inverse of that towards Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga , and that anyone who chooses to experience George Miller’s newest extravaganza outside of the cinema deserves the same amount of ire that David Lynch has for phones . The screen pops and the sound system roars with each successive introduction to a motorcycle. But it’s not done as an act of fetishization for the aesthetic of the machinery, it’s about the newfound importance of bikes in the wasteland. Along with bullets, they are just as much a part of the hierarchy of needs as food and water. The world is now a desolate desert of nothingness, with none of its inhabitants possessing the survival skills of Arrakis’ Fremen population from Dune . Murder and thievery is the new name of the game. But hidden away from all the destruction amongst the sand is an oasis of abundance called “The Green Place.” Furiosa and her family escaped the ravaged land to live there, but their paradise is encroached on by a biker gang who kidnap Furiosa to take her back to their leader Dementus (Chris Hemsworth donning a wild set of fake teeth and nose prosthetics). A relentless chase across the desert ensues, one whose consequences will shape Furiosa’s outlook on the world. But from there, things slow down. True to the subtitle, Miller and co-writer Nick Lathouris treat Furiosa’s journey as a saga, complete with chapters. Each contains its own set piece and three-act structure, but this is not the non-stop onslaught of action that Fury Road was. This is a prequel, after all, so time is well spent on introducing (and reintroducing) the elements and characters of this universe. Gas Town, Bullet Town, and the Citadel are back; and so is Immortan Joe (now played by Lachy Hulme) and his War Boys. Even with all its operativeness, Miller still indulges in the silliness of the world and concepts, such as Joe’s sons Rictus Erectus and Scrotus. And let’s not forget Pissboy, whose weapon of choice is exactly what you think it is. It’s that combination of grit and goofy that has marked the high points of Miller’s nearly five-decade-long career. You only have to look for a few seconds on his IMDb page to notice that Happy Feet Two and Mad Max: Fury Road are squished right next to each other on the timeline. The carnage is gruesome and the body count is quite high as Miller takes an almost Biblical approach akin to the world just before God’s flood. There’s still a popcorn-munching delight in the carnage, not out of guilt, but out of the pleasure of seeing the process executed by masters of their craft. Margaret Sixel’s (and co-editor Eliot Knapman's) editing is just as propulsive as it was before, with the rhythms of the action likely to be matched by your heartbeat. Junkie XL’s booming score beckons closely to his work on Fury Road (not a bad thing!), most noticeable during the show-stopping “Stairway to Nowhere” sequence. If there is to be one complaint - a minor one nonetheless - it is the price of a bigger scale in the form of a slight overreliance on visual effects. A few backdrops and ragdoll effects look a little questionable, although never to the extent the first trailer led us to believe. It’s also hard to be too overly critical, as Miller’s flawless mixture of practicality and technicals on Fury Road raised the bar so high that no one might be able to clear it going forward. Simon Duggan’s photography isn’t as sweeping as John Seale’s on Fury Road , but he gets across the finish line with some angles and movements. Anya Taylor-Joy solidifies her blockbuster chops in the titular role, her eyes even more striking when surrounded by grease paint. Miller takes a similar stance on dialogue as Denis Villeneuve, opting for his actor’s expressions and camera to do much of the talking. However, that strategy doesn’t apply to Hemsworth, who chews up the scenery each chance he gets. The pristine IMAX visuals do make his prosthetics quite glaring, but that phoniness is one of the leading characteristics of his messianic figure. While they don’t have their names on the poster, Alyla Browne and Tom Burke are exceptional as Young Furiosa and Praetorian Jack, respectively. Furiosa may not surpass Fury Road , but I don’t think that was ever the intention, at least not directly. At the very least, it’ll be regarded as the best pure action film of the year, and be another be another notch for Miller’s claim to be the best to ever do it. So, what does the 79-year-old Australian do now that he’s conquered the desert twice? Go and do it again, of course! 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

Pain Hustlers October 24, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Pain Hustlers had its World Premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Netflix will release it in theaters on October 20, followed by its streaming premiere on October 27. GMP: “Grey Matters Productions, how may I help you?” N: “Hello, this is Netflix, we worked with you guys on The Laundromat and Yes Day a few years back and wanted to see if you were interested in partnering up again?” GMP: “Oh hi Netflix! I gotta say I’m a little surprised you called since… well, let’s be honest, those two movies didn’t exactly pan out the way we planned.” N: “I know, but we’re in the business of hitting quotas and churning out as much content as possible. Quality is a little lower on the hierarchy of needs. Plus, the third time is the charm, right?” GMP: “I guess you’re right when you put it that way. So, what do you have in mind?” N: “We’d like to make a movie about the opioid epidemic — a takedown of Big Pharma.” GMP: “Hasn’t that already been done to death over the past few years? Hulu had that show Dopesick that won a couple of Emmys a few years ago, and Laura Poitras’ All the Beauty and the Bloodshed just won the Golden Lion at Venice last year for her story about Nan Goldin and the downfall of the Sackler family. It seems like the market is overly saturated and the bar has been set relatively high. Wait, didn’t you just release a show called Painkiller a few months ago about the Sacklers?” N: “I’ll admit, we got beat to the market in this area. But we’re Netflix, we never let being late to the punch stop us from getting in on the action. Remember Red Notice ? We did that after everyone was already getting sick of Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Gadot. And we still gave Joe and Anthony Russo hundreds of millions to make The Gray Man after Cherry . No one else on the planet would do that besides us.” GMP: “You do put your money where your mouth is, I’ll give you that. And at least you’re not Amazon. People actually watch the stuff you pour generations' worth of wealth into, even if they don’t like it. Speaking of the Russos and Amazon, did you see Citadel , supposedly the second-most-expensive show ever produced?” N: “No, of course not! But we are giving them another $200 million to make another action-adventure movie starring Chris Pratt.” GMP: “I don’t think you know what irony is. Whatever, alright, we can do this Big Pharma movie with you. We’ve got this book we bought the rights to called The Pain Hustlers about these two charismatic young people getting caught up in illegal pharmaceutical selling.” N: “Awesome! Who should we get to direct this? We need it to be fun and palatable enough so people will look up from their phones on the couch. But we also need a simplistic message about how all of this is bad.” GMP: “Okay, so you want something that’ll make it on your top 10 list on its opening weekend and then never to be talked about again? N: “That’s our specialty!” GMP: “Let’s see, Martin Scorsese did The Wolf of Wall Street a few years ago and that was a big success. You guys just worked with him on the The Irishman . Is there any chance you get him back? Or maybe Steven Soderbergh? I could get him on the phone and see if he’s interested.” N: “No, those guys were expensive and wanted full control of their work. We’re moving towards directors that are just big of a name to be on the poster, but not big enough that we can still tell them exactly what to do.” GMP: “[flipping through the rolodex] Well, there’s this guy called David Yates that’s available. He just came off the Fantastic Beasts trilogy so you can get him on the cheap. But he doesn’t have a discernable style, so he wouldn’t be a good fit for this angle you want.” N: “Ehh, that doesn’t matter. We’ll take him! I think we can make up for it by having a couple hundred ChatGPT bots watch some Scorsese movies and then edit the film.” GMP: “I don’t think that’s how that works, but it’s your money. Well since we cheaped out on the director, can we at least spend some decent money on the stars? After all, you have built your brand around paying ungodly amounts of money to movie stars. How about Emily Blunt and Chris Evans? Both charismatic actors and Evans checks off your obligatory Russo box.” N: “That sounds good. Blunt will be great in the role. Can we make Evans do a vague Boston accent even though he’s terrible at it? Oh, and can we make this whole thing a mockumentary? All the kids love those!” GMP: “I’ll let Evans do the accent because it would be fun to see him fail. But I don’t think the mockumentary angle is a good idea since that’s also been overplayed.” N: “Well, The Office was too much of a success on our platform so we have to do it. Hmmm. Alright, we’ll just do half of it. Like, we’ll lean on it heavily in the opening and then drop it for an hour before abruptly bringing it back right at the end.” GMP: “That seems a little haphazard and might mess with the tonal balance. But I get what you’re saying. You don’t want to mess with the algorithm. Alright, so I’ve got you down for the film rights, Yates, Blunt, and Evans. Your total will be $58 million, plus a few extra $10 million payments for marketing.” N: “Wow, only $58 million?!? I guess this is what it feels like to be making indie movies?” GMP: “Are you doing cash or card?” N: “Can you just put it on my tab? I’ve already got $14 billion on there right now so it just makes sense to keep adding to that. Don’t worry, we’ll pay it off eventually.” GMP: “I really shouldn’t since you still owe me for those other two movies, but what the hell, why not? Alright, we’ll have that order ready for you in October.” N: “One more thing! Can you have it ready by September? I want to debut it at the Toronto International Film Festival and start the buzz rolling early.” GMP: “Sure thing! We’ll just have to trim around the edges a little bit. You’ll probably lose about 10% in quality from what we already planned, but that doesn’t matter since we’re already making a movie no one will care about anyway!” 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

Top 10 Films of 2021 January 24, 2022 By: Hunter Friesen In the movie world, 2021 was a year to be thankful for what we have because sometimes you never know how much you appreciate something until you’ve lost it. This year brought back a slight return to normalcy, with theaters reopening and new films of all shapes and sizes demanding your attention. And while not everything that came out this year was a slam dunk, there are some truly incredible films that deserve some special praise. So, after seeing nearly one-hundred new films in 2021, here are the ten best in my eyes. Some of these films I expected to be on this list, while others came out of left field. It goes to show that you can experience something truly incredible if you dig a little deeper. Honorable Mentions The Dig Licorice Pizza A Hero Belfast The Tragedy of Macbeth 10. Pig I’m as surprised as you are that a Nicolas Cage film appears on this list. But Pig is something special, a film that truly subverted my expectations. Along with Cage’s outstanding performance, equal credit should go to first-time feature writer/director Michael Sarnoski for taking the film down a different path. It only makes sense that in the year 2021, the best film about regret and grief would also be about the search for a lost truffle pig. 9. The Worst Person in the World Norway’s The Worst Person in the World packs a richly emotional story fitting to its title. With a killer soundtrack and an amazing performance from Renate Reinsve, writer/director Joachim Trier is able to balance tone and time to deliver something equal to more than the sum of its parts. A perfect piece for anyone dealing with the crisis of not knowing where they are in life. 8. The Power of the Dog Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog is one of the most violent films of the year – and of the Western genre – all without featuring a gun, knife, or fistfight. Instead, the violence that the film harbors is purely emotional and under the surface, carrying far more damaging effects than any external wound. And with a career-best Benedict Cumberbatch and a surprise turn by Kodi Smit-McPhee, it makes this film the equivalent of fine wine, as it’s near-perfect at the moment, and will only get better with age. Full Review 7. Swan Song Can a clone – even the most perfect one imaginable – seamlessly take the place of a human? And is it better to lie to your loved ones to protect them from grief than to leave them with the ugly truth? These are the weighty questions at hand in Benjamin Cleary’s film, which features Mahershala Ali in dual roles. It’s a slow burn with a lot going on behind the scenes. It buries itself in your head while watching as you wrestle with it in the moment and continue to interact with it long after it’s over. Full Review 6. The Father Like Schindler’s List and Requiem for a Dream , The Father is a superb film that you will only want to watch once. Its subject matter may hit too close to home for some viewers, or be an introduction for others. No matter your familiarity, the film’s take on dementia and the toll it places on everyone involved is so incredibly well done that it demands to be seen. Full Review 5. Judas and the Black Messiah Debuting all the way back in January, this is an all-powerful work from director Shaka King and the two leads of Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield (both Oscar-nominated, with the former winning). It’s both historical and timely, with the tragically short life story of Fred Hampton delivered with spine-chilling moments that educate and entertain. Full Review 4. The Last Duel Bolstered by spectacle and substance, Ridley Scott’s (who also had House of Gucci this year) medieval tale of betrayal is one of his finest films. It was one of the few films to exceed my already lofty expectations, and one of the few blockbusters of the modern age to be propelled by collaborative artistry, rather than preconceived properties and overblown budgets. Full Review 3. Annette From the visionary minds of The Sparks Brothers and director Leos Carax comes a rock musical of pure boldness. Stars Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard grab onto that boldness and run with it, creating several musical numbers that need to be seen to be believed. With Carax’s output being irregular, each of his features is something to treasure, especially when they’re this good. 2. West Side Story With The Great Musical War of 2021 coming to a close, Steven Spielberg has emerged as the predictable winner. Perfectly melding the work of Bernstein and Sondheim with the newfound talents of Ariana DeBose, Mike Faist, and Rachel Zegler, this new West Side Story makes the case for why some remakes should be allowed to happen. Because sometimes, they can meet (or surpass) the original, such as how this one does by bringing classic cinema into the modern world. Full Review 1. The French Dispatch A visual masterpiece bursting at the seams with talent both on and off the screen, The French Dispatch is a film by a filmmaker working at the absolute height of their powers. And while I’m not a proponent of rewatching films, I’ve seen this specific one three times in as many months, and will surely be watching it on a regular basis for the foreseeable future. I worry about how Wes Anderson will be able to top this with his next film (which is due this year). But until then, I’ll stay in the present and be thankful that something this magical is allowed to exist in a world that only seems to get bleaker. Full Review 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

Spaceman February 28, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen If you were to close your eyes and envision an Adam Sandler movie about a Czechoslovakian cosmonaut, you’d probably come up with some sort of Happy Madison production filled with lots of zero-gravity toilet humor and slightly offensive accents. And if I were to ask you to predict who would voice the giant CGI spider (we’ll get to that later); you’d say Rob Schneider, Kevin James, David Spade, or anyone else in the Sandler crew. Luckily for us, we at least live in a good enough timeline where a film where Sandler is a Czech cosmonaut does exist, but none of those other things are true. Chernobyl director Johan Renck is at the helm with a cast rounded out by Carey Mulligan, Paul Dano, and Isabella Rossellini, all of whom go the Ridley Scott route of maintaining their natural speaking for their Eastern European characters. But for all those right ingredients on paper, Spaceman grounds the Sandler dramatic winning streak, proving that the simple sight of the comedian in a lower register isn’t enough to cover up an oversimplified love story with liberally borrowed plot points. We first find Sandler six months into his solo journey to the outer reaches of the universe. Jakub Prochazka is the pride of Czechoslovakia, an invulnerable explorer who will answer our long-held questions. But that description is just what the populous is fed through the space program’s PR campaign. In reality, Jakub is nearing his mental abyss due to a mixture of isolation, a spacecraft that makes the Millennium Falcon look pristine, and his wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan) refusing to speak to him. Reality quickly begins to bend when a giant spider (voiced by Paul Dano) appears on the ship. Is this a real alien or just a figment of Jakub’s imagination? Either way, it has the ability to replay Jakub’s buried thoughts to help him through his unresolved emotional stress. If the plot synopsis of an emotionally detached astronaut working through their feelings sounds familiar to you, it’s because it is. Ironically, the final frontier has been the location for our Earthy problems several times before; most notably in Gravity , First Man , and Ad Astra . That last example gets extra points since both it and Spaceman feature eerily similar romantic situations and scores by Max Richter. But Renck and Sandler aren’t able to mine what director James Gray and Brad Pitt did with their 2019 film, settling on beats that come across more as conceptual ideas than lived-in moments. The back-and-forth bleeding of Jakub’s earlier memories with Lenka always stays on the surface, never answering the question of how and why these two fell in and out of love. They stare and kiss each other from time to time, yet never have a meaningful conversation. That banality is at least pretty to look at, with the camera swirling around Sandler with a boxy frame. What is sometimes annoying is the gimmicky use of excessive film grain for scenes set on Earth, as well as the fisheye distortion for the memories. The spider, named Hanuš, is created convincingly enough to scare any arachnophobe. Its eyes dart in different directions, and its legs dangle as it traverses around in zero gravity. Sandler has always been a very watchable performer, so the ability to pay attention is not diminished when half the scenes solely feature him. Unlike his dramatic work in previous films like Punch-Drunk Love and Uncut Gems , he’s not delivering his usual Sandler-isms in a different key. This is an entirely different performance altogether, stripped of anything you’ve come to expect. He’s perpetually glum and reserved, never saying or doing anything that could be inserted into a future YouTube compilation. There’s no denying the fact that he’s still one of the industry’s biggest stars if he can keep you glued to the screen without doing much of anything. Dano is a great piece of casting in his voice-only role, serving the melancholic curiosity that keeps the plot moving. Mulligan, on the other hand, is wasted in a doting role ripped straight out of a poor man’s version of a Terrence Malick film. She stares solemnly into the sky several times over, yet the emotional pull is as barren as the fields that surround her. It’s these scenes that epitomize the film as a whole: a pretty picture without much of a story to tell. 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

Monkey Man April 4, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Dev Patel’s Monkey Man lives and breathes in a world of action. Everyone is unruly and agitated, the mirrors are perpetually broken, the harsh lighting bathes everything in shadows, the TVs are always tuned to the exposition news channel, and the fans are dramatically spinning above everyone’s heads. Patel has openly expressed his influences for his first directorial feature; ranging anywhere from Bruce Lee, Korean action films such as Oldboy and I Saw the Devil , and the John Wick series. There’s a little bit of everything mixed into this killer cocktail, which is finished off with some Indian mythology and political commentary. The biggest inspiration for Monkey Man is, of course, the legend of Hanuman, the Hindu monkey deity. It serves as the opening prologue, given by the mother of Patel’s character, named Kid, as a younger child. She speaks of a great avenger who fights for the people against their abusers, leaving no villain left standing. Kid takes that message to heart, with the moral of the story being further burned into his psyche after his village is destroyed and his mother is murdered at the hands of the power hungry Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande). With the ball passed to his side of the court throughout his entire adult life, Kid rises through the ranks of the criminal underworld to get closer to his targets. There’s no room for anything in his life besides revenge, which he will get at any cost. Patel lays on a thick layer of brutality to every image and interaction within Monkey Man . There is no light at the end of this tunnel, nor is there one at any of the stops along the way. There are multiple instances where Kid gets swept up in his rage, often caused by flashbacks to the night where he lost everything. And when he does let out the beast, the results are gnarly. The choreography is rougher around the edges than the John Wick films, with the camera pulled in tight and tumbling around with the actors. It’s a little bit closer to the Raid films from Indonesia, always daring you to ask how no one was severely injured performing these stunts (Patel did break his hand and toes). But like its mostly silent main character, Monkey Man is a better film when it opts for action over words. Co-writing with Paul Angunawela and John Collee, Patel infuses brushes of social commentary into his tale of bloody violence. I’ll admit, I’m not well-versed in the culture of India, so there may have been a few (or several) ideas that went over my head. But much of it also feels surface-level, churning out a very similar story of the poor underdogs versus the rich aggressors. Baba Shakti isn’t much of a compelling villain, nor are his underlings Queenie (Ashwini Kalsekar) and Rana (Sikandar Kher). Yes, the action covers most of these problems, but there comes a point in a two hour movie where there needs to be something else to chew on. That fact goes double once you realize that there’s fewer action set pieces than you would think. Thankfully, Patel does deliver the goods whenever they’re promised. The final twenty-ish minutes rattles your senses with its propulsive camerawork and bone-crunching sound work. Producer Jordan Peele saved this film from the clutches of Netflix, giving audiences the proper way to experience it in a crowded theater. Hopefully Peele’s investment in Patel leads to more collaborations down the road, specifically with Patel behind the camera. Monkey Man is a solid first outing, with only some minor recalibration required for everything to click just right. Patel has been continually linked to the role of James Bond since Daniel Craig's retirement. Maybe he’d become the first 007 to also direct an entry in the franchise? I kind of like the sound of that. 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

Argylle January 31, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, and behold one of the unexplained mysteries of the universe! What I present to you on the screen is a cat. But it’s also not a cat. It walks like a cat, talks like a cat, and has the overall presence of a cat. And yet, any time you look into its eyes, you are unable to detect any semblance of a soul. How can this be, you ask? The foremost scientists of our time have been unable to determine that answer, nor have they been able to ascertain an answer for why it exists. Did the producers of Argylle not think that cats already exist, and can be trained? Did they recently watch Tom Hooper’s Cats and think that they could go even further down the uncanny valley? Or are they modern Robin Hoods and decided to waste millions of dollars of Apple’s money on something so monumentally stupid? I leave all these questions up to you, ladies and gentlemen. But be warned, the journey to acquire the knowledge that you seek will not be as fun as the marketing would have you believe. A fully CGI cat is only one of several frustrating peculiarities within the freak show brought to us by the “twisted mind” of Matthew Vaughn. At this point, I’d suggest replacing “twisted” with “childish” or “immature.” “Edgy” would also be a good substitute, but only in the context of a twelve-year-old who thinks of themselves as edgy when they tell their first joke that involves swearing or sex. “Original,” however, is a word I would not use for Vaughn or Argylle , no matter how much they try (and let me tell you, they try A LOT ) to make you think they’re one step ahead. In an opening almost ripped straight from Austin Powers in Goldmember (we’re really stealing from the cream of the crop here); we see Henry Cavill sporting one of the most hideous hairstyles in modern cinema, right up there with Taylor Lautner’s flowing locks from Twilight and Nicolas Cage’s from Con Air . He’s on the trail of Lagrange (Dua Lipa), but his role gets flipped to prey once she catches him in a trap. With the help of his two sidekicks (John Cena, Ariana DeBose), Argylle escapes and gets one step closer to solving the ultimate conspiracy. But scratch all that, as Agent Argylle is only a story within a story. The topmost layer has Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) the author of Argylle’s adventures, a series in a long line of successful spy novels. For some reason, almost everything that Elly writes comes true, leading to her life being in danger once a rogue spy syndicate decides to silence her. The only source of help to keeping Elly safe and finding out the full truth is a good spy named Aidan (Sam Rockwell), who claims to know more than he lets on. It’s not that the plot of Argylle is confusing, it’s more that it never registers as interesting or sensical. There’s a lot of moving pieces, but the thread that connects them all together is embarrassingly thin. Before you have time to raise your hand and question why anything is happening, writer Jason Fuchs takes a hard pivot for another “out of this world” twist. The unpredictability of everything becomes tiringly predictable, and even more annoying. What’s also predictable is Vaughn’s staging of the action, which contains no fewer than five set pieces queued to clichéd 60s tunes. To give him credit, one of those scenes contains some nice visual flourishes and choreography. But the rest are bogged down by either horrendous CGI or excessive editing. I’m sure with $100+ million at his disposal, there wasn’t much from Vaughn’s imagination that couldn’t be filmed. But the real question was if he should, not if he could. And the vast majority of this shouldn't have left the brainstorming session. 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

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