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Havoc April 24, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen A generic petty drug deal goes wrong in a generic city run by a generically corrupt mayor who was just saved from generic charges brought by the district attorney. The generic Christmas lights glisten in the night as the generically crooked cops chase after them. The apex is reached once the criminals reach the lair of the generic Chinese triad, only to find themselves involved in a shootout that frames them for the murder of everyone inside. The generically gruff police detective with a generically dark past named Walker (Tom Hardy) gets roped into the case, his past being used as blackmail by the mayor to sweep this whole thing under the rug due to his son being one of the criminals. This dime-a-dozen cops-and-robbers story has been a VOD and Redbox staple for decades, but the technological advancements of our time have shifted its importance to streaming. It's the kind where the detectives - one a grizzled veteran, the other a fresh face looking to do things by the book - roll up to the crime scene saying "What'd ya got for me today?" Walker's troubled past is given the generic summation line of "You live in this world, you make choices," right off the bat. His choice caused the fracturing of his relationship with his wife and young daughter. The former repeats the specifics of their breakup as if recapping the previous episode of a long-running television series, and the latter exists as a prop to be reminisced about from a distance as she colors in her book or plays tea with stuffed animals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6txjTWLoSc8 All these valid complaints make it seem as if Havoc is one of the worst movies of the year, just another streaming exclusive designed to appear momentarily on the most-watched of the weekend list and then fade into the overpopulated land of obscurity. No, Havoc never threatens to plunge to those levels. But with a script that might as well be from the stack of rejected episodes within the CSI writer's room, it's damn near impossible to muster any emotional or intellectual reaction. Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans directs from his own script. He's the creator behind the formerly cult classic, now insanely popular, Indonesian action films of The Raid: Redemption and its sequel, The Raid 2 . Both spawned a new wave of intricately choreographed, hyper-violent crime films (see Headshot , The Night Comes for Us , and The Shadow Strays ) that placed Indonesia at the forefront of modern action. Plot is merely a formality for these projects, a boilerplate connector for the bone-crunching action setpieces. Viewing Havoc through those lenses, the final product starts to look a little rosier. American action films have never been as brutal as things are here. Sure, the John Wick series may pile bodies for a mile in each direction, but there's a pristine sharpness injected into the choreography and set decorations. No such luxuries exist here, with the nicest location being the initial few minutes within an underground EDM dance club before it gets bathed in bullets and blood. Every character is just as grimy as the spaces they inhabit, with their only penance being the edge of a blade or the last bullet from a seemingly bottomless gun. In one of his few non-Venom lead roles since he took over the character in 2018, Hardy dives headfirst into the sweatiness. He still carries a lot of Eddie Brock-isms with him, likely from the fact that this film was shot in 2021, right between the first and second Venom films. He may not be as physically gifted as Iko Uwais or have a contract that allows him to get as bruised up, but he carries himself like a bulldozer. And, like every American, he always carries a bigger gun than his foe. For Evans, this is still a slight disappointment. Perhaps it's because the American studio system doesn't allow for as much freedom to innovate, or because its comparatively boundless riches make it too tempting to take the easy way out. The opening car chase is infested with snow and debris to hide the extensive visual effects, the camera swirling around at impossible speeds. The theatrical realism Evans has been known for was immediately stripped away, with a few glimpses throughout the rest of the film. Something is still better than nothing, which is what we usually get in this subgenre. Netflix will release Havoc on its streaming service on April 25th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Better Man December 26, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen You know what they say: when in doubt, add a monkey. The producers of Better Man , the new biopic on Robbie Williams, certainly took that often parodied advice to its most literal form, supplanting the famous British pop star with an anthropomorphized CGI ape. Yes, you read that correctly, for nearly 150 minutes, which includes his time as a little boy growing up in Stoke to his later days topping the charts, Williams ditches our flesh and blood for the fur of a primate. One may think that that's enough of a gimmick to differentiate this film from any of the multitude of musician biopics we've gotten over the years. Unfortunately, you'd be wrong, although I will say that the sight of an anthropomorphized monkey doing cocaine and getting a handjob at a club does go a long way in making this a unique experience. Blame it on my American DNA as to why I was fully unfamiliar with Robbie Williams before Paramount Pictures scheduled this for a Christmas Day release. "Don't you have to be famous to get a $100 million biopic made about you?" I asked as I read the headlines. It turns out that the level of blindness is something that almost all North Americans suffer from, something we might need a university study on, considering that British stars have invaded the American music landscape on several occasions before. A quick scan of Williams' extensive Wikipedia page opened my eyes, and a few ventures down the Spotify rabbit hole attuned my ears. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVeH5T4wxkE For once, I was going into a biopic having not already known the complete story of the titular subject. You can only do so much engagement with a journey where you know every sight along the way, and exactly when you'll see them. So, what did I learn about Robbie Williams after sitting through Better Man ? Well, not much that the Wikipedia page couldn't have told me, or any other musician biopic has already given me the impression of. At some point, I have to ask: How special are these singers if they all have the same life story? Young Robbie is constantly picked on at school, always chosen last on the playground, and told he's a freak. But it's not because he's a monkey, as no other character seems to notice that they're interacting with an extra out of the Planet of the Apes films. His life at home isn't much better, as his father has just left the family after determining that his wife and child were holding back his chances of being famous. Along with his mother and grandmother, Robbie still has his Sinatra records in his corner, and they're enough to help him realize his destiny as a singer. Fame comes quicker than he thought in the form of Take That, Britain's most sensational '90s boy band. From there, it's the usual rapid rise and fall filled with sex, drugs, and pop music. Williams' explanation for his appearance as a monkey, which Paramount was pragmatic enough to use in the film's first trailer and create a whole featurette around, is that he's always seen himself as a little less evolved than everyone around him. He's been a trained monkey since his teenage years, both on the stage and in the tabloids. The effect isn't as jarring as you would expect, most likely due to the fact that we've become accustomed to seeing human and CGI apes sharing the screen in the recent Planet of the Apes films. The same WETA visual engineers from that series worked on this film, and the results are full of the same vibrancy and expressiveness. Jonno Davies dons the motion-capture suit for the majority of the runtime, with Williams voicing the role near the adult years. It's a concept that's all well and good on paper, and even a few times in execution. But as the central conceit that distances the project from being just another genre copycat, it's too thin. Every person who gets a biopic made about them feels that they're different than everyone else, so seeing it literalized is putting a hat on a hat. What often breaks this film free from its formulaic trappings is director Michael Gracey's desire to claim the titular title that he bestowed upon Hugh Jackman's P.T. Barnum in his directorial debut, The Greatest Showman . Just as you'll never see him in public without his trademarked beanie (seriously, see how long you have to scroll through Google Images until you see him without it), you'll also never catch one of his scenes lacking in energy. I can bemoan the problematic nature of The Greatest Showman all I want, but I'll never deny that it wasn't extremely entertaining to watch. That same vibe runs through every moment of Better Man , the doldrums of a cliched story perpetually being papered over by visual splendor. “Rock DJ” blasts from every window as Take That celebrates their success with a flash mob dance in the streets, the whole thing captured in one (very digital) take. And “She’s the One” serenades Williams and Nicole Appleton as they seal their love. As someone who didn’t know anything about Williams and was ready for another boring biopic, I walked away from Better Man with quite a few of his songs in my Spotify playlist and a higher-than-expected urge to see it again. Paramount Pictures will release Better Man in select theaters on December 25th, followed by a nationwide expansion on January 10th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Last Duel October 18, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen At 83 years old, Ridley Scott is quite the inspiration. With a directorial career that spans nearly 2,500 commercials and countless films - such as Alien , the Best Picture-winning Gladiator , and The Martian - no one would blame him for hanging it all up and retiring to the countryside. But Scott has never known the definition of the word “break” and has tasked himself with increasingly tougher work the more he ages, with 2021 seeing the release of two major tentpole films in The Last Duel and House of Gucci . The latter of that pair bows at Thanksgiving, with the former hitting theatres this past weekend. In an extended prologue surrounding the titular bout between Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) and Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver), The Last Duel sets up what to expect, such as the grey dourness of the setting and story, lensed exquisitely by Scott’s longtime cinematographer Darius Wolski. Atop both of the knights is the petulant King Charles VI, who is more than giddy for some bloodshed. And standing between the duelists is Marguerite de Carrouges (a terrific Jodie Comer), whose fate is linked to the outcome. Before any of the men meet their maker, we flashback sixteen years prior, to a time when they were dear friends. Broken up into three chapters, the film follows the unique perspectives of the three central individuals as it tracks the events that led to the duel. This Rashomon- inspired structure is where Scott, along with Damon and Ben Affleck, in their first credited screenplay since Good Will Hunting , show off their brilliance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgygUwPJvYk The first chapter is “The truth according to Jean de Carrouges.” In Jean’s eyes, he’s a righteous knight who has been wronged by those who deserve less than him. Despite his proud military record, his squire Jacques is shown favor by Count Pierre (a bleached-blond Affleck), who gifts Jacques with a vast piece of land once promised to Jean. The growing resentment between the two reaches a tipping point when Jean’s new wife, Marguerite, accuses Jacques of rape. But “The truth according to Jacques Le Gris” sees things differently. Jean is headstrong and foolhardy, easily leading Pierre to favor Jacques’s worldliness. Jacques feels that Jean is wasting the sophistication of Marguerite and that he is the only person who truly appreciates her. Therefore, his sexual act cannot be classified as rape, since the two of them are meant for each other. Not that it’s much of a spoiler of what the actual truth is, but “The truth according to Marguerite de Carrouges” displays the words “the truth” for an extra couple of seconds before fading away. This chapter is written by the talented Nicole Holofcener, as Damon and Affleck felt they were unqualified to write from a female perspective. Marguerite’s truth sees both Jean and Jacques as squabbling children using the pretexts of duty and honor to mask their cruelty. The rape scene is played again, this time amplifying the excruciating horror of the act, prompting a necessary, uncomfortable feeling within the viewer. Her accusation against Jacques is met with hostility from both Jean and the rest of France, as rape is not considered a crime against a woman, but a property matter. The greatness of the film’s structure is that it creates a puzzle where the pieces are constantly shifting in size and placement. Even a simple act, such as a handshake between Jean and Jacques, is seen from three angles, each eliciting a different response. It’s fascinating to watch as the web of lies and truth becomes increasingly difficult to parse, with Scott supplying the necessary inertia to keep the film moving at a great pace. And the final duel more than lives up to expectations, especially when compared to the high bar Scott has set for himself within his filmography. There have been only a handful of final battles that weren’t already decided by the plot before they begin, and this is one of them. There’s an exciting amount of tension as the knight's exchange blows in agonizing brutality. Bolstered by spectacle and substance, The Last Duel is one of Ridley Scott’s finest films. It’s one of the few films in 2021 to exceed my expectations, and one of the few blockbusters of the modern age to be propelled by collaborative artistry, rather than preconceived properties and overblown budgets. 20th Century Studios will release The Last Duel in theaters nationwide on October 15th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio December 4, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen Like humanity’s search for the missing link or the cure for cancer, filmmakers have endlessly sought to adapt Italian author Carlo Collodi’s 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio . Of course, Disney practically cornered the market with their 1940 animated musical version, which still haunts children to this day thanks to the Pleasure Island sequence. Decades would pass, with Robert Benigni - hot off the immense international success of Life is Beautiful - writing, directing, and starring in a 2002 live-action adaptation. The film would be a colossal critical and financial failure, practically locking Benigni in filmmaker jail for the rest of his career. But it didn’t stop him from appearing in another version later in 2019, this time solely in the role of Geppetto for writer/director Matteo Garrone’s version (which received two surprise Oscar nominations for its costumes and makeup). We also can’t forget the adjacent stories, such as Stanley Kubrick/Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence , or the projects that never got off the ground, such as ones from Sam Mendes and Paul Thomas Anderson/Robert Downey Jr. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od2NW1sfRdA Now in 2022, we have two more adaptations, with Robert Zemeckis’ live-action Disney+ version following the same disastrous fate as Begnini’s, and Guillermo del Toro’s stop-motion animated Netflix, sticking closer to the original text. All this is to say: After so many Pinocchio adaptations, how much can del Toro’s version reinvent the wheel and stick out from the crowd? Well, for starters, this version of Pinocchio might look appealing to children on the outside, but inside it harbors themes of loss, regret, fascism (a del Toro specialty), and mortality. Of course, it still carries a PG rating, so things never cross the line where you have to shield the eyes of the younger ones. But everybody has at least one or two memories of an animated film scaring the hell out of them, so why not let this be one of those times for today’s children? We are first introduced to Geppetto at the foot of his son Carlo’s grave. Through some flashbacks, we understand why he loved his son so much, and how he feels betrayed by God for taking him away. In a drunken stupor, he makes a wooden puppet, which is then granted life by the Wood Sprite, a terrifying version of the Blue Fairy. Pinocchio has a never-ending thirst for knowledge, which leads him to often disobey his papa’s commands. He soon gets conned into joining the circus by an evil carny and his pet monkey (with Cate Blanchett providing the primate noises), and also is recruited into the Italian army by a Nazi leader after it's discovered he’s incapable of dying. Already experienced at guiding live-action directors into the world of animation after doing so with Wes Anderson on Fantastic Mr. Fox , co-director Mark Gustafson aids del Toro in blending the macabre with the cheerful. The attention to detail is immaculate, with the painstakingly crafted sets and character movements given their time to shine. Also crammed into this slightly overstretched 120-minute version is a handful of songs, which often raises the question of whether or not this is a musical. None of the musical moments deserve to be remembered, even though they are delivered capably by the talented voice cast. Del Toro’s love for the material is always present, and so are the influences he has taken throughout his filmography, particularly Pan's Labyrinth and The Shape of Water . That adoration can sometimes be infectious, even if this is well-worn material that probably didn’t need another retelling. Netflix will release Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio in select theaters on November 9th, followed by its streaming premiere on December 9th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Landscape with Invisible Hand August 16, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Aliens have invaded Earth! They came from the sky, descending upon our mortal world after sensing our weaknesses. We are no longer the dominant species of our world, usurped by these higher-dimensional beings. Except that this event was nowhere near as exciting or terrifying as it sounds. It was more like a corporate buyout, as their alien technology was too advanced for us to compete. Every object, process, and idea became obsolete overnight, rendering the entire human race to be managed over with the cold smile of Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta. One of those humans was Adam Campbell (Asante Black), a Rhode Island teen with a lawyer mom (Tiffany Haddish) who has been unemployed since the takeover, and a younger sister (Brooklynn MacKinzie) who doesn’t see any light left in the world. Her feelings are pretty much shared by everybody, especially the teachers, most of whom have been laid off as they “have been underbid by the little boxes on your foreheads.” Adam sees a bit of sunshine in the form of his new classmate Chloe (Kylie Rogers), whose family has been homeless nomads for the past few months. The two develop romantic chemistry quickly, using their happy feelings for each other to escape their downtrodden circumstances. Luckily for them, those feelings can be monetized, as the aliens don’t have the physical capabilities to feel love and will pay top dollar to witness it firsthand through something called a “Courtship Broadcast.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAD81wjRnL8 As many Gen Xers would know, putting something online lessens the spontaneity of a feeling. You can’t fully be genuine when you’re trying to be genuine. Adam and Chloe run into this problem after the honeymoon phase dissipates rather quickly. That aspect of social media and modern love is only one of the handful of scattershot ideas within writer/director Cory Finley’s screenplay, adapted from the book of the same name by M.T. Anderson. There are also themes about consumerism, broken families, class divides, immigration, emigration, teenage angst, social norms, life’s purpose, and the value of art. It’s a classic case of too many cooks in the kitchen, with none of the “lessons” being all that insightful. You might not have seen it with these types of characters in these situations, but you can see these plot developments and themes coming from a mile away. Finley’s previous efforts of Thoroughbreds and Bad Education were able to thread the tonal needle with supreme confidence. There’s even a moment within Thoroughbreds where a character explains that the worst thing to be is indecisive. Finley seems to have forgotten that lesson in his third outing, as he loses that edge that made him such a phenom. Every image feels less than the sum of its parts, and you’re left with less energy than you came in with. But all is not totally lost. The cast is quite good. Black and Rogers are nice together, and Josh Hamilton often shines as Chloe’s father, who bends so far backwards to not be a failure that he ends up becoming more of one. Tiffany Haddish rises above her thinly written character. There’s also Michael Abels’ (a frequent Jordan Peele collaborator) synth score, instilling that extra drop of sci-fi kitschiness. Landscape with Invisible Hand finds Finley stretching himself thinly across too many ideas and too many characters. It’s respectably ambitious, but never sticks the landing. Ultimately, it’s more of a misstep than a failure, as I expect him to find his footing again, hopefully, sooner rather than later. Amazon MGM Studios will release Landscape with Invisible Hand in theaters nationwide on August 18th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen In the world of law enforcement, a “rip” is a seizure of criminal assets, typically money, weapons, or drugs. Like its namesake, it’s a fast-moving operation whose main objective is to get in and get out with as much stuff as possible before trouble explodes. Of course, criminals don’t find much humor in the irony of being robbed, so the job requires the toughest and bravest (“foohlhardy” would be the more correct word) from the police force. During those raids, adrenaline is pumping, and alluring substances are being grabbed. Add a ticking clock on top of that, and you never know what exactly is going to go down. Director Joe Carnahan’s The Rip boasts the tagline: “Count the money. Count it again. Count on no one.” The money is located in a stash house in Hialeah, a city just northwest of Miami, graced with bullet holes on each of its welcome signs. A tip came in to Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Matt Damon) about $150,000 being hidden for the cartel by a girl named Desi (Sasha Calle). But once Dane and his team - JD (Ben Affleck), Mike (Steven Yeun), Numa (Teyana Taylor), and Lolo (Catalina Sandino Moreno) - make their way through the house, they find out that $150,000 hasn’t been stashed, but $20 million. What was once a routine bust-up on a Friday afternoon before a well-earned weekend has become an all-night standoff. This unit is a family, but even a bond within a family can be tested by that amount of money. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeR5bcbRPak Carnahan got his start with seedy cops and criminals with 2002’s Narc , a theme that has continued in the two decades since with Smokin’ Aces and Copshop. He was also part of the screenwriting team for Bad Boys for Life , also a Miami-set story of cops getting in way over their heads. But instead of living the lives of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as they exchange one-liners while cruising down Ocean Drive, Damon and Affleck are being pitted against each other under the guise of ulterior motives and opportunities. Aflfeck’s character was in a relationship with the police captain, whose unexpected murder left a vacant job opening that Damon took. Now with $20 million on the line, questions that were left unspoken are now being asked out loud. This is a story (loosely) inspired by true events, something that Carnahan and co-writer Michael McGrale use as an opportunity to highlight the moral complexities within police work. As part of the murder investigation over the captain’s murder, everyone is brought in for questioning. Feathers get ruffled as silent accusations are made as to how this was allowed to happen. Add in the fact that this job also requires a willingness to be shot at on a daily basis, and you could understand the temptation to want a little more. After all, is it illegal to steal from criminals? It’s not like they earned this money through honest work, and definitely won’t use it to pay for medical bills, mortgages, and everything else that makes life an everyday grind. With a cast full of Oscar-nominated talent (or soon to be in the case of Taylor) and a director who tends to lean into the grunge, it’s interesting to watch this whodunnit yarn unspool across the humid night. As expected, Damon and Affleck carry a natural ease with each other, a forty-year friendship that’s been through thick and thin. The former is sporting a bit more grey than usual, possibly a bit of foreshadowing for the journey he’s about to take for Christopher Nolan in this summer’s The Odyssey . The latter gets a brief moment to show off his chiseled torso, perhaps a leftover element from his time as The Caped Crusader. Everyone else feels a bit underserved, stock characters that move from one room to another. It all gets too big and silly for its own good, relying on “Gotcha!” reveals to piece every loose thread together. It probably won’t hold up to any sort of scrutiny, but that’s not the kind of thing Netflix wants to serve, even going so far as to replay portions of earlier scenes and repeat important details so that no viewer can be totally lost. All of the actors and characters made a lot of money for this, but I don’t feel much richer from the experience. Netflix will release The Rip on its streaming service on January 16th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Blonde September 28, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen Maybe we, as a society, have been too harsh on Netflix? Sure, they spend an exorbitant amount of money on cinematic trash that they’ll claim broke viewership records, yet will never make a cultural impact (*cough* Red Notice & The Gray Man *cough*). And yes, they may have created a culture that’s more focused on constant consumption than finely tuned tasting. But while all of that was (and still is) true, they’ve also financed some of the finest works from our best filmmakers. They stepped in and supplied Martin Scorsese with $150 million to bring The Irishman to life, and also gave Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma a much grander life than any arthouse film has ever had before. They also ushered in the grand return of Jane Campion to the feature film landscape with The Power of the Dog , which was undeservedly robbed of a Best Picture win by their rival Apple TV+’s CODA . And with Andrew Dominik’s Blonde , the paradoxical streamer has added another feather to its cap. To be fair to Dominik, he did have to fight Netflix tooth and nail to release his cut of the film, which runs at a hefty 166 minutes and is saddled with the infamous NC-17 rating. One can’t wholly blame the distributor for trying to demand cuts to make the film a bit more “mainstream,” while at the same time ridiculing them for not fully understanding who they were getting into bed with. “Mainstream” never has, nor will it ever be, a word used to describe Dominik’s filmography. This is the man who brought us not one, but two films starring Brad Pitt at the height of his stardom that bombed at the box office. That’s not to say the films deserved it, though. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Killing Them Softly are both modern masterpieces that use their big-name stars for much more than good looks. The same goes for Blonde , which luckily won’t have to deal with the unneeded baggage of box office returns. Dominik uses star Ana de Armas to perfection, making her first solo leading role a mesmerizing experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WYYyZ75yO0 Telling the story of Marilyn Monroe, or Norma Jeane as that was her real name, Blonde has much more in common with David Lynch’s Inland Empire than it does with any biopic. A line by Monroe about one of her movies may as well have been planted by Dominik to describe his film: “You never know when the dream ends and the nightmare begins.” Working as a fever dream, Blonde interweaves between reality and fiction as it tracks Marilyn’s troubled upbringing to her untimely death. None of it happens in chronological (or just plain logical) order, with Dominik throwing the viewer, as well as Marilyn, through the wringer of her memories. The frames endlessly jump around as well, from a boxed-in sharp black-and-white that would even make Pawel Pawlikowski blush, to vivid widescreen Technicolor. Through this, Dominik traps you in Marilyn’s world, never knowing what the next moment will bring, always looking ahead with a sense of unease. As Monroe, de Armas finds that vulnerability that made her such an enigma of a public figure. How could such a beautiful and tempting bombshell be so broken? It’s a physically and emotionally demanding role, with de Armas going for broke with unnerving fearlessness. If not for the film itself being so off-putting, Netflix should make a serious push for her in this year’s Oscar race. Of course, some viewers (mostly the ones who stumble upon this because they press play on whatever fills the home screen on Netflix) will cry foul at the liberties Dominik has taken with Monroe’s story. One enemy he’ll surely have is Oliver Stone, who presumably will take great umbrage at the film’s vitriolic portrayal of President Kennedy. But is Dominik’s film, and by extension the novel by Joyce Carol Oates, any more or less “true” than other biopics such as this year’s Elvis or Bohemian Rhapsody , which also took great creative liberties with a person’s life? Blonde does better than those films because even with inaccuracies towards details, it delivers a cinematic experience that relates us more to the figure than we did before pressing play. Just as The Northman did for Robert Eggers, Blonde illustrates why Andrew Dominik deserves all the money and creative freedom that any studio can afford. Fortunately for him (and us), Netflix indulged in his fantasies, allowing for a nightmarish and surreal experience that highlights the beautiful tragedy that was the life of Norma Jeane. Netflix will release Blonde in select theaters on September 16th, followed by its streaming premiere on September 28th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Paris, 13th District July 15, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen 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.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_viLDiyPfMI 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 it 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. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. IFC Films will release Paris, 13th District in select theaters on April 15th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Talk to Me July 26, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen The horror genre has been experiencing a small renaissance as of late, with more than a handful of fresh-faced directors announcing themselves to the world through the art of the scare. Robert Eggers ( The Witch ), Jordan Peele ( Get Out ), Ari Aster ( Hereditary ), Jennifer Kent ( The Babadook ), and Julia Ducournau ( Raw ) are just a few who have risen to the top of the game in the last few years. To use a term that has become a meme at this point: They elevated a genre that has historically been disrespected. Now, with the pandemic forever shifting the theatrical landscape, it seems that horror movies are the only things that are guaranteed to put butts in seats. Add in the rise of technology, and it’s never been easier to enter the business. Australian YouTube sensations Danny and Michael Philippou, a.k.a RackaRacka , have done just that with Talk to Me , an exceedingly well-crafted, albeit slightly shallow, debut feature. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLAKJu9aJys A drug is storming through the streets of Australia, hooking in teens with unprecedented potency. It’s not heroin, cocaine, or even some other narcotic you’ve ever heard of. It’s actually a sick game where the contestant holds onto a ceramic scrawled with illegible writing. Uttering the words “talk to me” conjures up a dead spirit that can only be seen by the person touching the hand. An even greater high can be achieved by saying “I let you in,” which allows the spirit to take control of the person’s body. But be warned: Holding the hand for more than ninety seconds will allow the spirit to remain in the host forever, essentially rendering them a puppet of the undead. Mia (Sophie Wilde) is a teenager riddled with guilt and trauma from the semi-recent, unexplained suicide of her mother. She’s become the sad sack of her class, a status she would like to turn around. The best way to do that is to get in with the cool kids, who are all about the hand. Mia quickly becomes addicted to the feeling of dissociating from this mortal world. “I don’t feel alone anymore” is her foolproof excuse to her protective friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen), who feels like this thing is snowballing into dangerous territory. Jade is absolutely right, as with any regular drug, the good times eventually fade out, and the darkness begins to take over, only this time in the form of unholy entities wreaking havoc on your body and soul. There’s a social undercurrent relating to young people’s unquenchable thirst to become viral sensations throughout much of the horror. An exciting opening tracking shot sees one of the victims of the hand executing the wishes of the damned, with a crowd of teens recording the whole thing. Earning tens of millions of views through their YouTube channel, the Philippou brothers are adept at commenting on seeking online attention. They’re not as adept at handling the topics of grief and loss, however, as Mia’s relationship with her deceased mother and distraught single father never feels more than anything we haven’t seen in several other “smart” horror movies. And while it is a little refreshing to have a movie with a simple premise and rules, there is a desire for more information to be supplied regarding the perpetrators. The craftsmanship on display is quite remarkable. When people talk about the theatrical experience, they mostly mention the size of the screen and how it adds unparalleled scale to already mammoth productions like Oppenheimer and Avatar: The Way of Water . But the thing that theaters do best is suppress your senses, keeping you locked to the moment, and focusing only on what’s in front of you. Talk to Me will surely not play as well at home, where the bone-crunching sound design and crisp cinematography by Aaron McLisky won’t be able to take over ears and eyes to its full effect. The reaction from you and the audience during the wince-inducing moments is what keeps Talk to Me alive, pushing it to be a cut above the rest of the pack. The Philippous seem to be fast learners when it comes to filmmaking, and I’m excited to see what the future holds in store for them. A24 will release Talk to Me in theaters nationwide on July 28th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Die My Love November 4, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Die My Love is a film that made me angry. Perhaps it’s what director Lynne Ramsay wanted me to feel, a connection to the spiraling headspace of its protagonist, Grace (Jennifer Lawrence. She seems to be suffering from a bout of postpartum depression, a trendy topic among the motherhood subgenre that also includes recent films like Tully, A Mouthful of Air , and Baby Ruby . Die My Love would have you believe that postpartum depression involves walking around the house with a knife or a shotgun, having an uncontrollable urge to kill your annoying dog, and violently bashing your head through every pane of glass you come across. None of it seems to be grounded in reality, mostly a showcase for its lead star to cut loose and be praised with adjectives like “raw” and “fearless.” I’d prefer to label it as self-indulgent, overwrought, and just plain bad. Ramsay drops her two leads in the middle of the Montana wilderness. Grace and her partner Jackson (Robert Pattinson) have inherited the farmhouse of his recently deceased uncle, a remote paradise for them to cut loose. And, boy, do they ever. Sex looks and sounds like two animals fighting, the pair writhing around on the floor, scratching and biting. Music is constantly blaring, the floorboards chip and squeak as they’re jumped on without a care in the world. What breaks up this hedonistic cycle is the introduction of a third wheel: their newborn son. Responsibility isn’t exactly a word they’re looking for at a time like this, which makes its forced placement drive a wedge between their relationship and Grace’s connection to reality. “I’m stuck between wanting to do something and not wanting to do anything,” is an explanation she blankly offers to a nosy party guest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jzXHW6Qe70 Ramsay isn’t a filmmaker interested in straightforward methods of communication. Words are often replaced by images, jarringly photographed by Seamus McGarvey and stitched together by Toni Froschhammer. Everyone is lost in their own little world, illustrated through ultra-shallow focus, the background a swirling blur. Everything feels jagged, with danger lurking in every piece of hellish soundscape and dingy production design. On their own, each of these facets is serviceable, albeit a bit disappointing considering the talent. Together, spearheaded by Ramsay’s vision, they’re incredibly off-putting and obvious. In attempting to capture the inexplicability of Grace’s state of mind, a bright, neon sign is brandished in the corner of every frame, perpetually telling us exactly what we’re supposed to feel. That kind of shagginess leaves its star out high and dry. Lawrence’s performance is exactly that: a performance. She’s walking around all fours in the fields, licking windows, barking at the dog, and constantly complaining about not having sex with Jackson. It’s all so painfully “edgy,” seemingly stemming from a constant need to prove something, as if making faces and flailing around is what it means to be a “serious actor.” It beats me to assume what needs to be proved, as Lawrence has more than solidified her chops as a movie star and actor. Hell, she already played a stand-in mother married to a shitty man in a remote house in Mother! , a film that matched its madness with inquisitive substance. While Lawrence gets plenty (too much) to do, the rest of the cast just kind of stand around and watch. Pattinson’s character is woefully underdeveloped and uninteresting, the prototypical movie husband who is unwilling to communicate when the going gets tough. Sissy Spacek plays his mother, Pam, who is also dealing with a sudden change after the death of her husband, Harry (Nick Nolte). The veteran acting pair are the lighthouses in this densely fogged-up narrative, with the ship repeatedly crashing without ever reaching its destination. It’s best not to explain LaKeith Stanfield’s presence as a wordless seducer that certainly should have been fully excised from all aspects of the project. This is the kind of arthouse film that gives the genre a bad wrap, a movie destined to receive an F CinemaScore and be another small catalyst in the rapid decline of risk-taking from the average moviegoer. If this is the kind of stuff that we’re risking our hard-earned dollars and time for, then what’s the point? The point is to be given an experience you’ll never forget, enlightened in ways that other art forms can’t quite achieve. Granted, that is true about Die My Love , just in the exact opposite ways everyone hoped for. Mubi will release Die My Love in theaters nationwide on November 07th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Red Rocket July 16, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen American indie darling Sean Baker has always worked on the ground level when making his films. He often casts non-professional actors and plants his audience in the ironically unglamorous parts of America, such as the dingy Magic Castle motel located next to Walt Disney World. Baker’s budgets are small, with The Florida Project carrying a total cost of $2,000,000, which is roughly the amount spent to have Arnold Schwarzenegger speak one hundred words in T2: Judgement Day . Now in 2021, Baker is back to shine a light on lower America with Red Rocket , which debuted in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Opening with the catchy rhythms of NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye”, former pornstar Mikey Saber has returned to the deadbeat town of Texas City. Mikey had been at the top of the porn scene for several years, but eventually found his way out the door with some questionable career moves. With nowhere else to go, he begs and pleads his way into crashing with his former pornstar ex-wife Lexi, who, like him, was a shining star that has fallen back to the ground and lives with her poverty-stricken mother in the middle of nowhere. Mikey is a guy who always has a plan, but never a way to execute it. He does have a plan to get back to Los Angeles and revitalize his career, but it requires him to reconnect with some characters from his past who hate his guts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfndmy-6e28 Both literally and metaphorically, Red Rocket is a ballsy movie. Baker has always found a fascination with the seedier side of America, which is the side that is often unauthentically portrayed in Hollywood (I’m looking at you, Hillbilly Elegy ). His characters are often complicated and morally ambiguous, such as Halley from The Florida Project . But Baker doesn’t wallow in their pain and use it as a ploy for sympathy (again, looking at you, Hillbilly Elegy ). Instead, he wants us to understand their desperation and see how so many people in this situation can rationalize their actions. Red Rocket doesn’t break from that developmental mold when it comes to his supporting characters. In Mikey’s journey back to the top, he rekindles with a weed queen who sees her business as a safety net for her family. Lexi and her mother are both addicted to opiates due to her mother’s medical condition and the distracting peace that the drugs bring from the painful world. With these characters on the brink of society, Baker uses their situation to subtly explain the unforeseen popularity of Donald Trump in the run-up to the 2016 election. Characters are often seen slumped at home in their couches with the television set to Fox News and its never-ending coverage of the Republican candidate and his “mass appeal”. Baker’s illustration about the allure of Trump doesn’t try to be a grand statement for America itself, which turns out to be a good thing, as the message comes together cleaner than the hamfisted ones found in mainstream media. But while Baker respects his supporting cast, his relationship with Mikey is more complicated. Mikey is the cinematic combination of Dirk Diggler and Howard Ratner. He’s a person that you love that you hate and hate that you love. You find yourself intrinsically drawn to him because of his drive and charm. But as the film progresses and Mikey’s grand plan comes closer into view, your attitude towards him starts to waver. Much of that emotional response comes from Simon Rex’s brilliant performance, whose most prominent role up until now has been a recurring supporting part in the Scary Movie franchise and some pornographic solo scenes in a series of straight-to-video gay porn releases. Almost as if he has lived the life of Mikey throughout stretches of his career, Rex seems to instinctively know how to play this type of sleazy charmer. While it does contain perfect casting, Red Rocket is not a perfect movie as a whole. With a runtime of 124 minutes, the film contains enough material for a tighter 90-minute story. The middle hour is the victim of this bloatedness, with long stretches given for light material. Still, the overly fatty meat on this movie’s bones does give Rex and the cast more than enough to chew on, resulting in an emotional rollercoaster that couldn’t be replicated by bigger productions. Slotting in nicely with Baker’s filmography and that of distributor A24, Red Rocket is one hell of a ride from beginning to end. There may be some potholes along the way, but they’re not enough to stop this film from reaching its satisfying destination. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. A24 will release Red Rocket in select theaters on December 03rd. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Nightbitch September 8, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen “Motherhood is a bitch” reads the tagline for Nightbitch , the feature film adaptation of author Rachel Yoder’s much-raved 2021 novel. It comes as a warning to us all, but not in the form that the overzealous marketing (including an incredibly divisive trailer ) would have led us to believe. Motherhood can be a trapdoor for some people, with the promises of the beauty of fertility and providing for others being switched out for restless nights, little appreciation, and the slipping sense that you are your own person. It turns women into a primordial version of themselves, a state where self-preservation triumphs over self-actualization. And in the case of Nightbitch (both the novel and the film), motherhood being a bitch is also a warning that there may be a slight chance you start turning into a dog after having children. Only slight! It first starts with patches of fur and a heightened sense of smell for our unnamed Mother (Amy Adams). Her newborn boy is now a two-year-old, and those very long two years have worn her down. When she sees a friend in the supermarket, they ask her if she loves being a mother. In one of several instances of writer/director Marielle Heller’s comically tuned editing, Mother goes into a long tirade about its pitfalls, akin to America Ferrera’s speech in Barbie . But once she’s gotten that off her chest, we cut back to reality, and at the start of the initial question, only for Mother to answer with a simple “I love it!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=918prRymA-U This exchange represents the heart that Heller is digging for in the next 90-ish minutes. There is so much about motherhood that cannot be discovered until it is experienced, with society not allowing women to talk about what they have to go through every day. Or, if someone does lend an ear, it’s usually in the form of her husband (Scoot McNairy), who, while always having a loving interest, never gives the full attention and consideration required. Both of them just float through their existence, one shouting into the void and the other turning the other way. Once the breaking point is reached for Mother, that’s when her animal instincts come out. In a page out of the Animorphs book series, Mother transforms into a red husky at night, running with a pack of dogs doing all sorts of canine things. She comes back to the human world covered in leaves and smelling of blood, and also with a sense of freedom that could only be achieved by fully cutting loose. Is this transformation literal, or just a metaphorical representation of postpartum depression and body changes? The clues lead to it being literal, but Heller never dives enough into the deep end for it to be conclusive. There are more than a few moments of kookiness (the ones promised in the trailer) where this movie could distance itself from the many other stories about womanhood and maternity, but there’s a refusal from Heller to really throw us for a loop. Her intentions and emotions are authentic, something that shouldn’t be a surprise considering her filmography, which includes Can You Ever Forgive Me? and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood . Someone who does cut loose is Adams, devouring the meat of this performance with gusto. Her character fears becoming invisible, but it’s impossible not to see what Adams is bringing to the table, which ranges from soulfully teary monologues to devouring rabbits on the front lawn. Backing her up is an enigmatic performance from Jessica Harper as the local librarian and a trio of neighborly moms (Zoe Chao, Mary Holland, and Archana Ryan) that provide some excellent moments of comic relief. They often say less is more, but in the case of Nightbitch , more would have been more. A little more zaniness here and a little more directness there would have lifted this well-meaning story out of the crowded category labeled “just fine.” A woman turning into a dog isn’t exactly doing just fine, and neither should a film with such promise as this. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Searchlight Pictures will release Nightbitch in theaters nationwide on December 06th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen