Awards Update: The Eye of the Hurricane November 9, 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. We're in the eye of the hurricane now; after the flurry of the fall and regional festivals, and before the onslaught of guild and critics awards that will commence in December. Granted, we've still got some awards buzz in the form of the Gotham Awards, and some rumors/reactions from screenings for upcoming titles. It's not much when you put it in the context of the whole season, but it's definitely part of the process that gets the snowball rolling down the hill. The Gothams are an esoteric bunch with their tiny and segregated nominating committees, and now unwritten rule that all eligible films must have some sort of independent quality to them. Can we say that Challengers is firmly an Oscar contender because the five-person nominating committee put it in the Best Feature Category (and nowhere else)? No. But we can always glean a few things from this list, such as the fact that Anora and Nickel Boys continue to be the critics' favorites that they were during their respective festival runs. Those two films, along with The Brutalist , are the ones I expect to get the most love from the top critics groups like NYFCC, LAFCA, and NSFC. Anora will be especially strong if it continues the outstanding box office run it's been on. Nickel Boys and The Brutalist don't release until December, so they'll need all the love they can get to boost their financial prospects when it comes time for the Oscars to weigh in. There were also nominations given to films like A Different Man, I Saw the TV Glow , and Good One . They'll likely repeat some level of that success at the Independent Spirit Awards and a critics group here and there, but this will likely be the end of the road for them. Moving from the little to the big fish, both Wicked and Gladiator II ("Glicked" if you're tuned into the forced marketing campaign) have been seen by a wide enough sample of people for us to make some assumptions. The reactions to Wicked have been almost all glowing, with many saying that it's much better than they expected. The combination of several craft nominations (with possible wins), good enough critic scores, a big box office haul, and fervent fan support have convinced me to slot it into my predicted Best Picture lineup. We're also in a year that's leaning very indie, especially when you compare it to the behemoths that lined the Best Picture category the past two years. I think there's a want by people and voters to get another blockbuster in along with Dune: Part Two . Gladiator II could very well be that additional big player instead of Wicked , although the reactions haven't been as enthusiastic and Ridley Scott isn't exactly an Oscar-favorite. Plenty of craft nominations will be in order, and a strong box office may let it sneak its way into the final Best Picture slot. At the moment I'm predicting that it will follow a nearly identical path to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever , another sequel that had the daunting task of following--up an unexpected Oscar juggernaut. Denzel Washington will once again be an Oscar contender, and he could win one of the televised precursor awards. One film that didn't fare so well from reactions is Steve McQueen's Blitz . I was extremely high on the film going into this season, the combination of McQueen's visceral filmmaking and the classical story being undeniably potent. I liked the film when I watched it at this year's Twin Cities Film Fest, although there's a lingering feeling that it could have been so much better. That seems to be a common opinion and is why I've considerably scaled back its prospects. I still think Apple can use its heavy hand to keep it in the race, but it'll be difficult to sustain that needed level of momentum when everyone walks away from the film with a half-hearted shrug. The BAFTAs might be the place where it gets a new lease on life or dies with a whimper. Even though I've just spent three paragraphs using reactions to influence my predictions, I won't be doing the same for Emilia Pérez . There's usually one film per year that is met with disdain amongst the social media crowd once it becomes publicly available. Maestro was that last year, and Don't Look Up two years before that. It's the Netflix special at this point, and we need to learn that the echo chamber of social media doesn't reflect the industry's opinion. The film has been successful at every festival stop it's made, and the cast has been warmly received. Don't be surprised if it ends up being our nomination leader, especially as it has the benefit of multiple original songs and a virtually guaranteed slot in Best International Feature as France's selection. A Complete Unknown and Nosferatu remain as the only contenders that have gone unseen so far. I'm still holding strong on James Mangold's Bob Dylan biopic, and less so on Robert Eggers' adaptation of the famed Gothic tale of vampirism. Things could turn out the opposite, which I would be totally supportive of as long as the quality is there. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen

The Killer October 27, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Killer is a descent into bloody madness told by a director in complete control of their craft. Every frame is perfectly lit, every cut perfectly placed and executed, and every piece of sound is perfectly engineered to rattle your bones. It’s a pulpy, uncomplicated story about revenge being a dish best served cold. For anyone who enjoys the Hitman video game series and laments the two laughably bad movie adaptations, this is the answer to all your prayers. Grant, Jefferson, Malone, Cunningham, Madison, Kincaid. These are the names The Killer (Michael Fassbender) goes by as he travels the globe trading corpses for cash. Anonymity is the name of the game, along with a cold “I don’t give a fuck” attitude. But for all his self-described ruthlessness, The Killer is a master of discipline. “If you’re unable to endure boredom, then this line of work just isn’t for you,” he narrates in the middle of his week-long stakeout of his victim’s apartment. He’s developed a rudimentary philosophy to get him through the doldrums of contract killing, one that involves yoga, breathing exercises, and an understanding of how people go about their daily lives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S7FR_HCg9g 168 hours of waiting have passed, replaced by the 10 seconds of action that will make or break the mission. The Killer raises his rifle, squares it on his target… and misses. He’s never missed before, and there’s no telling if another chance like this will ever come again. An uncompleted job doesn’t get you a reprimand like any other; it gets you a bullet to the head. The predator is now the prey, but there’s still time for those tables to be turned back. The Killer must retrace his past, tying up all loose ends by whatever bloody means necessary. Director David Fincher reteams with his Se7en screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, and the results are just as morally grubby as they were almost thirty years ago. Contract killing has become a gig economy, with The Killer reserving his hideouts through Airbnb (well, not anymore, as Superhosts have too many cameras), getting lifts to and from the airport through Uber, and ordering his supplies off Amazon. The Killer is a flawed intellectual, a loner who watched too many Paul Schrader or Nicolas Winding Refn films but never understood the full picture. The cracks in his code immediately begin to show once his perfect structure is disrupted. The only thing that can fill those voids is anxiety and uncertainty. Is that person tailing him? Is this seat on the plane too exposed? Does he look too suspicious? Even with this inner turmoil, The Killer is still extremely sharp and dangerous. Fincher perfectly engineers each of the six chapters this story is told in, flawlessly setting the stage in locations such as Paris, the Dominican Republic, New Orleans, New York, and Chicago. A slow-burning tension is felt throughout, much of it supplied by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ electronic score. Mank cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt shoots everything in a gleamingly cool color palette, and editor Kirk Baxter keeps things moving with propulsive pacing. It’s an incredibly satisfying cycle, climaxing with a terrifyingly brutal hand-to-hand encounter between The Killer and a much larger opponent. Michael Fassbender shows that he hasn’t lost a step after a four-year acting hiatus to race cars. He’s often mute, maybe monotone when he’s at his chattiest. But he’s always compelling, creating a character that is both restrained by practicality and capable of committing acts of the utmost cruelty. It's best that he often crosses paths with characters with a little more personality, such as Tilda Swinton’s rival in the same line of work, or Arliss Howard’s crypto billionaire client. The Killer is Fincher at his most surface level, playfully cutting loose from ambition and delivering his best film to date (yeah, I said it). Don’t expect to learn any life lessons or have your perspective changed on an issue. Just sit back and be entertained. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing a straightforward process being executed with pinpoint precision, and both our protagonist and Fincher accomplish their mission with outstanding results. Netflix will release The Killer in select theaters on October 27th, followed by its streaming premiere on November 10th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Freud's Last Session December 12, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen September 03, 1939, was an unlikely day that featured an unlikely meeting between two unlikely intellectual leaders. Dr. Sigmund Freud (Anthony Hopkins), famed psychoanalyst living out his sickly final days in London, is greeted at his door by C.S. Lewis (Matthew Goode), Christian literary scholar and eventual author of The Chronicles of Narnia . The topic at hand is the existence of God, with the Austrian a staunch denier and the Brit a firm believer. The weight of that subject is paralleled with the events of the day: Nazi Germany has just invaded Poland, and the British government is declaring war. It only took twenty years for “the war to end all wars” to be usurped by an even bigger global conflict. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPJM9lEMyV4 Adapted from Mark St. Germain’s 2009 off-Broadway play of the same name, Freud’s Last Session opens up the action from within the confines of Freud’s study. Director Matthew Brown ( The Man Who Knew Infinity) , who also co-wrote the screenplay with St. Germain, has these two titans interacting with average Londoners as the panic of Nazi bombings starts to set in. It’s in a cramped bomb shelter that inklings of Lewis’ PTSD from World War I start to bubble up to the surface. But rather than allow Goode and Hopkins to tell their own character’s backstories, Brown rashly splices in flashbacks to their youths. None of them match the energy of the central duo, nor do they communicate anything interesting, both narratively and visually. Take, for instance, the perfunctory scene where Freud, as a child, is scolded by his father to “never pray for him,” or a scene where Lewis, as a child, sees God through the beauty of nature. Never would I think historical figures such as these would have the same broad origin stories as superheroes. There’s also the inclusion of a subplot involving Freud’s daughter Anna (Liv Lisa Fries), who would go on to become a highly respected child analyst in her own right. Sigmund’s inoperable jaw cancer causes him unbearable pain and bleeding from the mouth, which often causes him to lash out in anger. Despite the pleas of her partner, Dorothy (Jodi Balfour), whom Sigmund disapproves of on the grounds of lesbianism being a symptom of a bad relationship with one’s father, Anna stays devoted to her father. Fries is steadfast in her role, but she’s left on an island by Brown, only interacting with Hopkins and Goode briefly in the first act before being shunted off on a B-story. Hopkins and Goode make good (sorry, I couldn’t help myself with that pun) on the material, which is surprisingly more muted than one would expect a debate about God would be. Both of them are polite in their stances, obviously reverential of the work the other has done. The early stages take the form of a drawn-out fencing match where one person takes a slight jab, analyzes the opponent’s reaction, and then retreats. Hopkins (who played Lewis in the 1993 film Shadowlands ) is experiencing one of the high points of his career with roles in The Two Popes , HBO’s Westworld , The Father , and Armageddon Time . He’s exceptionally playful with his dialogue here, always prepped with an answer even when he knows he’s wrong. Goode never wavers in the face of confrontation, keeping his guard up through his charming wit and intelligence. The final, and fatal, blow to the movie comes in the postscript, which reveals that this meeting may never have happened. Its inclusion isn’t meant to be a plot twist, as the play is very forward with this information and labels itself as a possible work of fiction. But in a film such as this that has lacked so much energy and memorability, it evokes the same feeling as a college professor who has given a tiring lecture and ends it by saying none of it will be on the test. It’s hard to care when you’re told you don’t have to. Sony Pictures Classics will release Freud's Last Session in select theaters on December 22nd. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

MSPIFF 2025 Recap April 16, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen There’s nothing like a film festival to rejuvenate one’s passion for cinema, especially after the first quarter of 2025 provided a less-than-stellar sampling of theatrical releases. One of the oldest film festivals in the country, the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival (abbreviated as MSPIFF, and pronounced “EM-spiff”) was a mini oasis, providing a vast lineup that stretched across every continent. The festival opened with the documentary Free Leonard Peltier , a close-to-home story about the titular Native American activist who was wrongly imprisoned for nearly five decades. While I personally did not attend the screening, those who did relayed many positive remarks to me in the subsequent days. My experience began on the first Saturday with a triple feature starting with the A24 title The Legend of Ochi . Writer/director Isaiah Saxon opened the film with a video message stating how he made the feature for children and that their intelligence deserves more credit than they normally get. Because I had just seen the overly juvenile A Minecraft Movie the weekend prior, those words greatly resonated with me. The film itself didn’t walk the walk as much as Saxon talked the talk, but it still deserves credit for its impressive technicals and willingness to explore adult themes. It’ll be released in theaters nationwide on April 25th. Following that was co-writer/director Andrew Ahn’s remake of the 1993 Ang Lee film The Wedding Banquet . The original premise of a gay man and a straight woman going through a fake marriage out of convenience has been shifted to modern-day Seattle and expanded to include two homosexual couples. The logicality behind the necessity for a fake marriage is even weaker now than it was thirty years ago, but Ahn is always precise with the emotional stakes and moments of humorous levity. The clear MVP was Youn Yuh-jung, the recent Oscar winner for Minari who makes a strong case for deserving a second trophy. It’s out this weekend in theaters. Capping off the night was a Midnight Mayhem screening of what will quite possibly rank as the funniest film I’ll see all year: Friendship . Tim Robinson brings the same laugh-out-loud absurdity from his Netflix sketch show I Think You Should Leave to the big screen in this story of a loser suburban dad getting in way over his head when he tries to win the approval of his cool new neighbor (Paul Rudd). Several jokes were drowned out by the roaring laughter from the soldout crowd, which I recommend seeing it with when it releases in theaters on May 9th. There were not just remakes of Ang Lee films at the festival. No, the director himself was present on the first Sunday to give a brief masterclass. He gave great insight into his transition from Taiwan to English-language films, and why he chose to hop across several genres throughout his storied career. Later that night he introduced a twentieth-anniversary screening of what is likely referred to as his magnum opus: Brokeback Mountain . After sentencing it to years on my neverending watchlist, it was great to see the film on the big screen. Lee said that he was miserable while making the film due to the recent passing of his father and years of exhaustive work on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hulk , and that he doesn’t deserve much credit for the film’s success. Of course, everyone disagrees with his sentiments, with his win for Best Director at that year’s Oscars being more than deserved due to the emotional maturity he granted to the actors in his wonderful cast. Things became more sporadic from there. Tuesday featured a screening of By the Stream by the incredibly prolific South Korean writer/director Hong Sang-soo, and When Fall Is Coming from France’s François Ozon. Also from a French creative was Misericordia , an entertaining small-town murder cover-up now out in theaters. I reverted to Asia for my final day of the festival. Caught by the Tides by the famed Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke is not a film for those unfamiliar with his work, incorporating deleted scenes and alternate takes from several of his previous films to craft a loose decade-spanning narrative of a man and woman falling in and out of love. Despite my perpetual confusion from having not seen the referenced films, I was marvelously fascinated by Zhang-ke’s ability to weave it all together. The film likely has no commercial prospects in the United States, so seeing it in a semi-crowded room and discussing it afterward with other attendees illustrated the importance that festivals possess in illuminating works that would otherwise go completely unnoticed. If you’d like a more thorough analysis of the film and the work of Zhang-ke, I highly recommend heading over to Deep Focus Review by my fellow critic and friend Brian Eggert, who recently concluded his “Filmmaker in Focus” series on the director. Other festival titles that are currently or soon to be released in theaters include the canine comedy-drama The Friend starring Naomi Watts and Bill Murray, the Southeast Asian adventure romp Grand Tour (April 18th), One to One: John & Yoko (April 18th), On Swift Horses (April 25th), and the Nicolas Cage Ozpoiltation thriller The Surfer (May 2nd). The MSP Film Society will be replaying several of the highest audience-scoring films at The Main Cinema over the next few weeks. To learn more about everything to do with the festival and the year-round programming, you can visit the MSP Film Society website . More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Captain Marvel March 14, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen Marking the twenty-first chapter in the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain Marvel has finally bowed out in theatres after a mountain of hype had built up for close to a year. Much like Black Panther was the first MCU film to feature a predominantly black cast, Captain Marvel is the first film to feature a female as the lead character. But unlike the huge critical success and cultural movement that the former was, Captain Marvel disappoints on both levels of filmmaking and fan service. What should be an enjoyable and inspirational tale ends up being a tepid blockbuster that sorely lacks in the areas that have made the Marvel brand so entertainingly great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1BCujX3pw8 Captain Marvel is directed by partners Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who have previously worked on smaller indie films, most notably Half Nelson . Now with a budget of $152 million, the lack of experience that the pair have with tentpole films glaringly shows. Many of the action scenes are by the numbers as they devolve into a series of quick camera cuts and choppy editing. Not helping the action is the computer and the practical effects. Apart from the de-aging of Samuel L. Jackson, which looks incredible, the visuals look a bit outdated, almost like the film was made ten years ago. To recreate the feel of the 1990s setting, Boden and Fleck rely heavily on nostalgic product placements and callbacks. Blockbuster Video, internet cafes, pagers, and an endless line of fashionable toys are paraded throughout the film to try to get a response from the audience. It reminded me of the same shallow technique that was used to death in Ready Player One, where inessential references are repeatedly made instead of constructive jokes. Probably the biggest problem with Captain Marvel is the incoherent and bland story that offers the audience little to care about. Right away, the film introduces the conflict between the Kree and the Skrull, two factions who have been at war for eternity. Basic facts are given, such as a roster of important characters, but other relevant information, such as the war’s importance and purpose, is left out. Even as the conflict gradually becomes the main part of the narrative, these necessary explanations are never touched on. This lack of information strips the film of any real stakes within the MCU. Not that low stakes is an outright bad thing. Ant-Man has next to no overall effect on the other films within the universe. But the franchise still works anyway, as it makes you care about its great characters. That central quality is also missing from Captain Marvel , which is surprising considering both Boden and Fleck have built their careers on their prowess for layered human drama. Despite being her origin story, the character of Captain Marvel turns out to be the least interesting person in the film. Her storyline is quite straightforward and consists of a lot of on-the-nose messaging that feels shoehorned in. Tonally, this film falls in line with the rest of the MCU. Comedy is mixed in with drama, but not as seamlessly as you would expect. Many of the jokes don’t land or feel too forced into awkward positions. A disappointing feeling repeatedly panged me every time a pivotal scene was undercut by a joke that really didn’t work. Brie Larson does a thoroughly average job as the titular hero. Her performance contains scant amounts of energy, which can partly be blamed on the lackluster script she had to work with. Fortunately, Larson does show a ton of confidence and a knack for comedic timing in her limited number of quality scenes Samuel L. Jackson is great as Nick Fury, who at the moment is only an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. He brings his usual boisterous flair to the role and is able to make up for the downbeat energy exuded by the rest of the cast. Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, and Annette Bening fill out the rest of the supporting cast. Each one of them does a fine job, but these roles are hardly anything compared to the other work they have done. Is Captain Marvel a good movie? No. Is it a bad movie? Also no. This is an average film that comes and goes while doing everything you expect and nothing more. In the grand scheme of things, this film is just a quick jolt of superhero energy to keep audiences satisfied until Avengers: Endgame. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures will release Captain Marvel in theaters nationwide on March 08th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Good Fortune October 12, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Ariana Grande sang that, “Whoever said money can't solve your problems must not have had enough money to solve 'em.” The world is increasingly becoming a place of the haves and have-nots. The rich keep getting richer, and the poor keep getting poorer. No amount of rolled-up sleeves and picking yourself up by the bootstraps can solve that inequity. That is, unless an angel comes down from heaven and allows you to switch lives with a rich person. Then you’d be able to leave behind the hustle and grind of your old, painful life and live out your days as someone who can literally do whatever they want and never ponder how much it costs. This is the central concept of Good Fortune , comedian/actor Aziz Ansari’s feature debut as both screenwriter and director. It will literally take an act of divine intervention to get his character, Arj, off the metaphorical hamster wheel that he’s been on ever since he joined the gig economy. He drives up and down Los Angeles, delivering food through the Foodster app, dealing with equally frustrated restaurant staff and ungrateful customers who never leave a tip. His car is also his home, and the local gym locker room is his bathroom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKWndx83RwQ Arj enters into a It’s a Wonderful Life kind of deal with the angel Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) when he realizes that he has nothing left to live for. Gabriel is the guardian angel for texting and driving, offering people that sixth sense to alert them when they’re swerving out of their lane or a pedestrian is about to cross in front of them. It’s not showy work, especially when the other angels brag about all the adventures they’ve been on, inspiring mortals to see the error of their ways and cherish life. Seeing Arj as an opportunity to better both of their situations, Gabriel decides to teach him a lesson by showing him that money doesn’t buy happiness. So he switches Arj’s life with that of Jeff’s (Seth Rogen), a private equity tech billionaire who got his “humble” beginnings from a multi-million dollar investment by his parents. Contrary to George Bailey, Arj sees absolutely no downside to his new life. He never wants to go back, which is kind of a problem since he has to consent to that for this experiment to end. And who could blame him? Ansari gets a lot of laughs out of exposing the fallacy of the long-held beliefs that the poor only have themselves to blame and that it's selfish to think materialistically. Jeff was rich because he was born into it, and, despite all his bragging, there’s nothing he can do to rise back up to that level. The central trio all display their comedic chops, with Ansari really leaning on the Reeves’ memeified energy at every turn. His happy-go-lucky demeanor is the highest it's ever been, and his delivery has never been this stilted, something that the later John Wick movies embraced for all its campy glory. He discovers hamburgers and chicken nuggets for the first time, eventually working down to cigarettes and marijuana. For all its humor, none of this rings as insightful. Every talking point has been exhausted, and every experience has been felt. There’s a divide between this film strictly being a goofy comedy and a moralistic lesson on appreciating what you have. Everything resolves itself almost offensively too easily, not reflecting the trickiness of the situation it sets up. Keke Palmer plays Elena, who's trying to organize a union at the big-box hardware store she works at. Her role is to deliver speeches to Arj about seeing the silver lining to the struggle, as that’s what gives people their identity. But if I had to choose between my comedy not having a substantive narrative or not being funny, I’d definitely choose the former. I’d like not to have to choose, but such is the situation with Good Fortune . It’s ninety-eight minutes long, has plenty of jokes, and displays enough confidence from Ansari as a writer/director that I’m eagerly anticipating what he does next. For that, I’ll say a quick prayer of thanks. Lionsgate will release Good Fortune in theaters nationwide on October 17th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

April April 25, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen April opens in a black void. A faceless and mangled woman wanders around in knee-high water for a few minutes in a removed static shot. What exactly we're looking at and what she's doing is a complete mystery. It then cuts to the ground level of a rainstorm for another few minutes, the droplets and whistling wind emulating what we've come to expect from those white noise machines. But then, suddenly, we're watching a live birth take place from God's vantage point. This wasn't purely staged for the movie; this is the beginning of life in all of its agony and ecstasy. The film was written and directed by Dea Kulumbegashvili, a Georgian (the country, not the deep-fried American state) filmmaker whose masterful debut film Beginning was unfairly kept in the shadows simply because of the fact that it was released in 2020. The film was placed in the First Features category as part of that year's Cannes Film Festival Official Selection, and gained a huge fan in Luca Guadagnino, who headed the jury at the San Sebastián International Film Festival and bestowed the film with a record number of prizes, taking home Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress. Guadagnino serves as a producer for April , which looks and feels like a natural leveling up of Kulumbegashvili's instincts as an artist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoDP_xZ4ftk Presiding over that opening birth is Nina (Ia Sukhitashvili, reuniting with Kulumbegashvili), an OB-GYN who must put together the messes she inherits despite the limited resources allowed to her in the village. It turns out the pregnancy was never registered, which means neither Nina nor any of her colleagues were given the chance to find out that the lungs of the fetus were underdeveloped. The father makes accusations of malpractice against Nina, the prying eyes threatening to uncover the abortions she secretly performs in the village for girls who need them. From a legal standpoint, abortion is allowed in Georgia up to twelve weeks into the pregnancy. However, the ultra-conservative Orthodox Christian views shared by the large majority of the country's population make that right all but naught. Clinics can (and almost always do) refuse to operate because of their beliefs, and any connection a person may have to it is enough to have them ostracized from the already confined communities. Viewers of Vera Drake back in 2004 may have been able to assuage themselves that the harrowing events took place in the 1950s before The 1967 Act made abortion legally protected in the United Kingdom. No such relief comes from within April, with the hostility towards women being felt in every frame. Each of those frames is expertly crafted by Kulumbegashvili and cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan. They are unbroken and still, lasting for several minutes and often blocking someone or something out of the frame. When Nina performs an abortion in the village for a teenage girl, we watch her from the girl's knees down as she writhes on the kitchen table from the pain. The boxed-in and closed-off nature of all these proceedings keeps both Nina and us isolated as to what is fully happening in this part of the world. Between the unsettling abstract visuals at the beginning of the film and the brutal real-life truths about bodily autonomy, this is one of the most bone-chilling films of the year. Sukhitashvili is an actress tailor-made to appear in films by Béla Tarr and Michael Haneke, her control of bleak stillness being unparalleled. Whether the camera is far away or a few inches from her face, Kulumbegashvili trusts her at every turn. Nina's past is kept in the dark; the few breadcrumbs we get here and there hint at romantic and professional trauma. Even as she tries to do the right thing, society makes her feel as if she's making things worse. Nowadays, almost every movie that brags that it needs to be seen in theaters is filled with extravagant visual effects and booming sound effects. The beauty of the cinema is not just in the sheer size of the speakers and screen, but the opportunity it gives us to break away from our world and be transported to a different one. This is the kind of movie where one of the top Letterboxd reviews states, "I fell asleep, and when I woke up it was still the same shot." Absolute patience and concentration are a prerequisite, with any glances at your phone or minor distractions at home stripping away the spellbinding effect Kulumbegashvili has crafted. Metrograph Pictures will release April in select theaters on April 25th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Sundance 2023 Preview January 19, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen After months of Oscar movies from leading auteurs, the Sundance Film Festival offers a nice break to discover some of the brightest talent of the future. The festival has also been one of the most accessible since the start of the pandemic, with the entire 2021 and 2022 lineups being available online throughout the world. Unfortunately, that amount of openness is being slightly pulled back for the 2023 edition, with some of the "bigger" films being in-person only. No matter, there are still plenty of exciting films that I plan to catch as part of the online platform from January 24-29. You can read about each one below, and pay attention to this site for reviews and other coverage. *Descriptions and images for all films supplied by the Sundance Film Festival program* Bad Behaviour Lucy (Jennifer Connelly) seeks enlightenment. The former child actress makes a pilgrimage to join her guru, Elon Bello (Ben Whishaw), for a silent retreat at a beautiful mountain resort with a Tesla-crammed parking lot. Before she shuts off her phone to the world, Lucy reaches out to her daughter, Dylan — a stunt person training for a dangerous fight scene — to interrupt her concentration and announce that she will be unavailable and out of range, and that she is very worried about her, and that she might extend her stay. It is codependent, bad behavior. When a young model/DJ/influencer at the retreat is paired up with Lucy to do a mother/daughter role-playing exercise, hellfire stokes Lucy’s bad behavior to an astonishing low. Run Rabbit Run Fertility doctor Sarah begins her beloved daughter Mia’s seventh birthday expecting nothing amiss. But as an ominous wind swirls in, Sarah’s carefully controlled world begins to alter. Mia begins behaving oddly and a rabbit appears outside their front door — a mysterious birthday gift that delights Mia but seems to deeply disconcert Sarah. As days pass, Mia becomes increasingly not herself, demanding to see Sarah’s long-estranged, hospitalized mother (the grandmother she’s never met before) and fraying Sarah’s nerves as the child’s bizarre tantrums begin to point her toward Sarah’s own dark history. As a ghost from her past re-enters Sarah’s life, she struggles to cling to her distant young daughter. Magazine Dreams Killian Maddox (Jonathan majors) lives with his ailing veteran grandfather, obsessively working out between court-mandated therapy appointments and part-time shifts at a grocery store where he harbors a crush on a friendly cashier. Though Killian’s struggles to read social cues and maintain control of his volatile temper amplify his sense of disconnection amid a hostile world, nothing deters him from his fiercely protected dream of bodybuilding superstardom, not even the doctors who warn that he’s causing permanent damage to his body with his quest. The Starling Girl Seventeen-year-old Jem Starling (Eliza Scanlen) struggles to define her place within her fundamentalist Christian community in rural Kentucky. Even her greatest joy — the church dance group — is tempered by worry that her love of dance is actually sinful, and she’s caught between a burgeoning awareness of her own sexuality and an instinctive resistance to her mom’s insistence that the time has come to begin courting. She finds respite from her confusion in the encouragement of her youth pastor Owen, who is likewise drawn to the blossoming Jem’s attention. Theater Camp As summer rolls around again, kids are gathering from all over to attend AdirondACTS, a scrappy theater camp in upstate New York that’s a haven for budding performers. After its indomitable founder Joan (Amy Sedaris) falls into a coma, her clueless “crypto-bro” son Troy (Jimmy Tatro) is tasked with keeping the thespian paradise running. With financial ruin looming, Troy must join forces with Amos (Ben Platt), Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon), and their band of eccentric teachers to come up with a solution before the curtain rises on opening night. Fair Play Hot off the heels of their new engagement, thriving New York couple Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) can’t get enough of each other. When a coveted promotion at a cutthroat financial firm arises, supportive exchanges between the lovers begin to sour into something more sinister. As the power dynamics irrevocably shift in their relationship, Luke and Emily must face the true price of success and the unnerving limits of ambition. Sometimes I Think About Dying Lost on the dreary Oregon coast, Fran (Daisy Ridley) wastes her daylight hours in the solitude of a cubicle, listening to the constant hum of officemates, occasionally daydreaming to pass the time. She is ghosting through life unable to pop her bubble of isolation. And then Robert starts up at the company. He is new to town and the dynamics of the office. He is a naturally friendly person who keeps trying to chat with Fran. Though it goes against every fiber of her being, she may have to give this guy a chance. Cat Person Margot (Emilia Jones), a college student working concessions at an art house theater, meets frequent filmgoer — and rather older local — Robert (Nicholas Braun), on the job. Flirtation across the counter evolves into continuous texting. As the two inch toward romance, shifts between them, awkward moments, red flags, and discomforts pile up. Margot feels both attached and reticent, as her gnawing hesitations blossom into vivid daydreams where Robert realizes his most threatening potential. As her distrust and uncertainty mount, an evening, their relationship, and possibly their lives unravel. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Awards Update: Shortlists, Longlists, and Medium Odds December 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Welcome to an ongoing series where I cover the 2025/2026 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 “sink or swim” mentality has been exemplified over these past few weeks with the onslaught of criticism and industry groups casting their influence on the Oscar race. Emotions between fandoms run high as prospects see-saw from day to day. Which snubs or surprises truly matter is always a tough question to answer, a symptom of the cramming of all these awards within such a narrow gap of time. But it is a rush like no other, and it’s all (mostly) in service of the best films of the year. Crashing down from its protracted high from last awards season is Wicked: For Good . In a stunning turn of events, the musical was unable to secure a nomination for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes. Looking back at least fifty years (anything before then isn’t worth comparing), no musical that has been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars has been snubbed by the Globes. It reminds me a lot of The Color Purple from a few years back. Like For Good , it had a lot of pedigree on paper, and even made a decent amount of appearances at other similarly timed precursor groups. But the reviews just weren’t up to standard, and everyone sensed that the dam was about to give. The saving grace for For Good is that since the expansion of Best Picture to a locked ten system, no film has received more than five nominations and not also gotten into Best Picture. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is the separating factor for that stat, as it received five nominations. I’m predicting an almost identical haul for For Good , so I think history will repeat itself and this sequel gets pushed out. Another blockbuster sequel that I’m kicking to the curb (at least for Best Picture) is Avatar: Fire and Ash . It’s always had the potential to suffer from “been there, done that” syndrome, especially now that the advantage of time is no longer on its side. All that could be countered if the film were good enough, which it isn’t. So, I’m making it a Visual Effects and Sound nominee, with it obviously winning the former category. After starting strong, Jay Kelly has dipped quite a bit. It couldn’t get in for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes, nor did it make a few of the Oscar shortlists it was expected to hit. Starting peculiarly strong and maintaining that energy has been Bugonia , which I’m subbing into Best Picture for Jay Kelly . I expect Lanthimos’ film to play better at the BAFTAs. These films are interchangeable throughout the rest of the season, with PGA being the moment of sudden death. That leaves two open spots in Best Picture, which I’m currently filling with Train Dreams and The Secret Agent . It feels foolish to pick Neon to secure three films in Best Picture, having already theoretically secured a spot with It Was Just an Accident and Sentimental Value . However, The Secret Agent has had an impressive showing so far, and has much more passion behind it than many other films. Granted, its status as a critical darling gives it an advantage during this part of the season, which may not last once we start getting into the more mainstream televised awards. The path is brighter at this time, and I’d like to hop on that train before it’s too late. With the Globes and shortlists consolidating power near the top, I’m leaning on the top Best Picture contenders to nab any final slots in categories they’re not already heavyweights in. That means One Battle After Another is getting the final spot in Best Costume Design and Best Makeup & Hairstyling, and Sinners gets into Best Production Design. On Oscar nomination morning, I expect at least three to four films to walk away with double-digit nominations, with the potential for One Battle After Another to either tie or break the all-time nomination record. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen

Decision to Leave May 26, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen Phantom Thread meets Vertigo in Park Chan-wook’s deliciously twisted Decision to Leave . For many directors, that combination would come together as well as oil and water. But for the famed South Korean auteur, whose previous works of Oldboy and The Handmaiden (both awarded at Cannes, I predict this one will be as well) have exemplified his unparalleled ability to combine the traditional with the gonzo, it’s a heavenly pair that you immediately want more of. As the new hotshot detective within the Busan police force, Hae-jun (Park Hae-il) is brought in to solve a mysterious new murder case. A climber has fallen from the top of the local mountain, and a strangely coincidental set of clues hints that it may not have been an accident. The victim’s Chinese immigrant wife, Seo-rae (Tang Wei), is brought in for questioning, a move that jeopardizes everything as Hae-jun develops a sort of crush on her. Seo-rae seems to know more than she lets on, but Hae-jun’s judgment is clouded by love, putting him at odds with the mounting evidence against her and the rest of the detectives. What ensues is a dangerous game of cat and mouse where the intentions of the players are often hidden, but the danger is always present. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmoy73lhs-s Just like every film in Chan-wook’s filmography, the direction, especially the camerawork and editing, is first-rate. It’s not uncommon for 360-degree twists, reversals, re-reversals, and smooth pans to take place in one continuous movement. One scene, in particular, is an entertainingly surreal set piece where the camera peers through the detective’s binoculars as he spies on a suspect, only for him to be transported to that location next to the person of interest. DP Kim Ji-yong (replacing regular cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung after he made the jump to Hollywood) loads each of his images with double (and sometimes triple) meanings, most notably present during a conversation scene in a stairwell. Though it always wears its film noir influences prominently on its sleeve, Decision to Leave is not merely a slave to the past. Chan-wook and frequent collaborator/co-writer Seo-kyeong Jeong inject the film with modern sensibilities. Smartphones, often the hindrance of many mystery films, are brilliantly employed. A language translating app is relied upon to bridge the gap between the two Hae-jun and Seo-rae, with subtle details sometimes being lost in translation. There are also delayed text messages and warped video/audio recordings that endlessly twist and turn the facts. You can sometimes feel lost while watching the film, as if you missed some important revelation that brings everything together. These are the moments where Chan-wook leans more on his Phantom Thread inspirations than his Hitchcockian ones. Much like Paul Thomas Anderson’s film, the characters within Decision to Leave can’t be tied down with simple explanations. Manipulation and intrigue are the names of the game, with the unspoken sexual tension tinging the edges of every scene. As the playfully dangerous duo, Hae-il and Wei are more than up to the task, with their unmatched chemistry doing wonders for the film’s emotional themes. Decision to Leave is often a paradox in itself. It’s classical, yet modern. Cold, yet sexy. Unsatisfying, yet enthralling. Luckily, it finds the near-perfect balance between all of those things, creating a wondrous genre exercise that must be seen to be wholly believed. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. Mubi will release Decision to Leave in select theaters on October 14th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Roofman October 6, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen How many McDonald's do you think you'd have to rob to afford a nice house, birthday presents for your kids, and a tidy nest egg for the future? Luckily, you don't have to answer that, because Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum) already made that calculation for us. It turns out that forty-five robberies will do the trick, with the best success coming from cutting a hole through the roof. That's how he got his titular nickname and became a local celebrity during his spree from the late ‘90s and early 2000s. A prison guard once described Jeffrey as a "genius" and "complete idiot" in the same sentence. Both of those are true, with his methods and efficiency being unparalleled when it came to stealing money. But he's also a good guy, which is not an asset in this line of work. He never resorted to violence and even gave his coat to a McDonald's manager when he temporarily locked them in the freezer. He only decided to commit robberies after he was embarrassed by not being able to provide nice things for his wife and three children. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXecSGmQDEI It's that dichotomy between criminal mastermind and lovable loser that makes Manchester such an interesting character. It's just a tad disappointing that co-writer/director Derek Cianfrance - taking a major studio-sponsored detour after a string of harrowing indies like Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines - tends to commit a lot more resources to the latter. Sure, we've all been down on our luck a few times and fantasized about how robbing an unimportant place would solve a lot of problems. But we never go through with it. God forbid someone does do it, one minor robbery probably isn't enough to deem them a bad person. But forty-five robberies? At that point, I'd need a REALLY good explanation. Despite his knack for diving deep into the traumas and rationale of his characters, Cianfrance doesn't offer much of a reason for all this madness. Why was Jeffrey never able to land a steady job when he clearly has a strong set of skills and is well-liked by everyone he meets? Why didn't he stop robbing once he had enough money? These holes steadily grow into gaps the more the story progresses, with even more piled on once Jeffrey escapes from prison and hides in a Toys "R" Us for months. Yes, you read that right. For almost a year, Jeffrey hid in the backrooms of a Toys "R" Us, taking showers using the bathroom sink and subsisting on a diet of candy and baby food. It's there that he grew fond of Leigh Wainscott (Kirsten Dunst), a single mother of two teenage girls just trying to make ends meet. They strike up a relationship when he donates a bunch of toys to her church. Never mind that all those toys are stolen from the store she works at, and that Jeffrey has to lie about every personal detail under the guise that he's working for the government. Aiding Cianfrance's strategy to keep things lighter than they probably should be is Tatum’s pitch-perfect casting. He dances around the store at night, breaks a Tickle Me Elmo display when it almost gets him caught, and genuinely wants to be a positive influence on Leigh and her daughters. It's the question so many of Jeffrey's victims asked: How could such a good person be so lost? Dunst is wonderful as well, desperately turning off the rational part of her brain just so she can preserve something good that finally happened in her life. I may fault Roofman for being too much of a comedy, but I have to admit that it’s very smart about being extremely funny. Ben Mendelsohn and Uzo Aduba play a husband and wife preaching duo at the church, with them and the single women's prayer group welcoming Jeffrey into their flock with open arms. Doing all of these things at this register is not something I would have expected from Cianfrance, so it’s nice to see him stretch his wings a little. I wonder if he’d be interested in the story of William Scott Scurlock, "The Hollywood Bandit," who robbed nineteen banks in Seattle by wearing elaborate, Hollywood-quality disguises? This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Paramount Pictures will release Roofman in theaters nationwide on October 10th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen From its plucky opening strings by Jónsi and Alex Somers, and twinkling cinematography, Rental Family immediately announces its intentions to burrow deep into our hearts. Co-writer/director Hikari’s film is all about relationships, specifically how we blend reality and fiction to create the other person’s perception of ourselves. It’s also about the truths and lies we tell to shield ourselves from the harsh truth. While having lived there for seven years, Phillip Vanderploeug (Brendan Fraser) is still a gaijin, or “outsider,” to Japan. His dumb luck fame as the superhero star of a silly toothpaste commercial gave him the confidence to fully commit to breaking into the Japanese acting industry. Very few chances have come his way since, with the isolation and rejection further exposing his cracks. While wide, his smile displays no happiness, and he always seems sorry to be occupying any amount of space. One of his auditions is for “sad American,” which requires him to wear a suit and tie. But instead of showing up at a talent agency, he stumbles into a funeral for someone he’s never met before. It turns out that the majority of the attendees were paid actors, a gathering large enough to make the deceased seem more impressive to his family. This rental service is run by Shinji Tada (Takehiro Hada), who offers a surrogate person to help fill a gap in someone’s life. Phillip’s first assignment as a full-time employee for Shinji is to be fake married to a lesbian woman so she can use the marriage license to move out of the country with her girlfriend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0pqP6ClcE8 Before you claim all of this to be far-fetched, I’d like to point out that it is a real practice in Japan. Filmmaker Werner Herzog made a documentary about the industry in 2019 titled Family Romance, LLC , centered on an actor hired to impersonate the missing father for a young girl. It’s an extreme and ethically dangerous line of work, with lying being a naturally needed skill. But some of these lies provide positive outcomes, such as Phillip being hired by the family of a lonely loser to help him regain his confidence. Plus, the pay is really good, and Phillip has a lovable foreign charm that makes people instantly trust him. Rental Family at least has the bravery to dive into the reason why such an industry exists. Mental health is stigmatized in Japan, with very few opportunities for therapy or life coaching. This is still a band-aid for a gunshot wound, but it’s probably better than nothing. Everything is transactional these days, so why can’t happiness? After those reasons, it’s best not to use the logical side of your brain anymore. Hikari leans towards the sentimental side of every decision, figuring that every problem can just be solved with a heart-to-heart conversation. Much of it is treacly, cloying at your heart at every turn. For each of the poor decisions that are made on paper, they’re excused by an apology and backed up by the universal message that humans are flawed creatures. It would be much more unbearable to constantly hear those answers if they weren’t delivered by a top-notch cast. Fraser is incapable of registering a false emotion, lending his sympathetic charm to a character that is unearthing just as much happiness for himself as he is for others. Takehiro Hira and Mari Yamamoto are his new co-workers, each of them slowly waking up to the realization that a career built on little white lies slowly permeates into their personal lives as well. A little more honesty goes a long way, both in Rental Family and reality. Those easier answers make for a comforting watch, yet not something that leaves a longer-lasting impression. Its heart is in the right place, and sometimes our hearts want what they want. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Searchlight Pictures will release Rental Family in theaters nationwide on November 21st. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen