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Nouvelle Vague October 31, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen “Each film is made up of five different films: The film you write, the film you cast, the film you shoot, the film you edit, and the film you release.” That’s a line from Nouvelle Vague , spoken to Jean-Luc Godard as he’s about to begin production on his debut feature film, Breathless . Little did anyone know that it would become the apex not only of the French New Wave (for which this film takes its title), but also a pinnacle moment in the evolution of cinema. Sixty-five years later, director Richard Linklater, completing the back half of his 2025 double play after Blue Moon , is here to tell us all about. The film they wrote is a simple one. “All you need to make a film is a girl and a gun,” is Jean-Luc’s strategy for getting the necessary financing. He’s written a scenario with New Wave superstars and fellow Cahiers du Cinéma critics Claude Chabrol ( Le Beau Serge ) and François Truffaut ( The 400 Blows) , a fast-paced story of a crook and a girl on the run. Writers Holly Gent, Laetitia Masson, Vincent Palmo Jr., and Michèle Pétin find humor in the criminal behavior that is required to get a film off the ground. Jean-Luc evades securing permits, giving story details to his crew, and never keeps a regular working schedule. It’s all a mystery, maintain the magic that is needed to make a work of art. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UufRzKVFseg The film they cast was full of unknowns, except for the American expatriot Jean Seberg. Linklater applies the same logic, with Zoey Deutch, reuniting with the director after Everybody Wants Some!! , playing the Iowa-born star. She’s attracted to Godard’s whirlwind methods, mostly because they heavily clash with her recent work with the ultra-regimented Otto Preminger. Guillaume Marbeck marks one of the best feature acting debuts as Godard. He’s a dead ringer, complete with sunglasses that never come off and a partially receding hairline. There’s mischief in his (covered) eyes, and a sense of genius that persuades people to withstand his aloofness. A special shoutout should be given to Benjamin Clery as Jean-Luc’s assistant, Pierre Rissient, the comedic standout of the film. The film they shot was in French, with a 4:3 aspect ratio and high-contrast black-and-white. It was a fast and cheap solution, keeping the production light on its feet and giving the story a down-and-dirty aesthetic. David Chambille’s cinematography here is a near-perfect recreation, even down to the cigarette burn cue marks and slightly faded subtitles that also appear to introduce the dozens of famous historical faces. It’s boxy, yet vibrant, with an amateur quality that can only be made by someone who clearly understands what they’re doing. The sound pops, all of it recorded in post-production. The film they edited gave it the smoky, cool tone it’s most known for. Jump cuts excise all the “boring” bits, leaving only the parts we need to want to know more. Linklater could have leaned more on that technique, as a substantial chunk of the film is spent meticulously detailing the daily production process. The majority of the days in the twenty-three-day shoot meld together, leaving an impression that we’re running around in a revolving door. The film they released was in theaters, catching on like wildfire as a new generation of cinephiles gravitated towards its hip aesthetics and ideas. This film will not share that strategy or result, with its placement on Netflix isolating the experience. For as much fun as I had with the movie itself, an equal amount came from the collective awe-inspiring giddiness that spread throughout the room. We were all sharing the same projector light, the same sound system, and the same sequence of events. And there’s nothing as artistically pure as that. This review was originally published from the Canadian premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Netflix will release Nouvelle Vague in select theaters on October 31st, followed by its streaming premiere on November 14th. 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

Bad Times at the El Royale October 25, 2018 By: Button Hunter Friesen A priest, a singer, a vacuum salesman, and a drifter walk into a hotel. They all have a story and need a room for a specific reason, but only one of them is telling the truth. Each one is untrusting of the other and plans out how to survive the night as a severe storm moves in. Then enters a crazy cult leader who wants to exact revenge on the one who wronged him. With five seedy characters and a suspicious bellhop, a one-night stay at the El Royale may come with a fatal price. Bad Times is directed by Drew Goddard, who previously directed and wrote the comedy/horror The Cabin in the Woods and wrote the screenplay for The Martian. Goddard does well at directing this film. He does make some mistakes from time to time, but they aren’t too severe. The first of his mistakes comes from the pacing and overall length of the film. The 141-minute runtime is weird, as the film felt like it could easily have been cut to two hours or justifiably stretched to three hours. This is due to some areas of the story being dragged on more than needed to be, and some areas not getting as much attention. The first act of the film slowly builds up each separate character with their backstory and motives. Then the second wizzes by, and the third needlessly slows everything back down again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7wzBVARwaU Goddard does do good work with the camera as he gives the film a dark washed overtone to match the 60s era feel. He also uses a wide array of camera techniques to tell the layered story. Some scenes are played out multiple times from different angles to convey each character's viewpoint. There is also a hefty amount of symbolism and thematic imagery within each frame that pushes the narrative along without the use of words. One scene that really stands out is a seven-minute tracking shot where the camera follows one character as they go room by room and spy on the others. It’s a suspenseful sequence that gives a good amount of insight into each character in a short span of time. Along with directing, Goddard also serves as the sole writer for the original story. He divides the film into chapters based on the room a certain character is staying in. The technique works well to distribute time to develop each character. Not everyone gets equal time, but everyone gets enough to make them important to the overall narrative. The intersection of many different characters’ stories leads to the script being filled with lots of fun twists and surprises that continually come out of nowhere. Some of them are predictable once revealed, but many aren’t and keep you on the edge of your seat. There are some plot holes and untidy loose ends that are quite obvious near the end. However, they really don't harm the quality of the story and are more of an afterthought. Bad Times boasts a sizeable and star-studded cast. Most of the actors fare well, with some doing better than others. Jeff Bridges does pretty well as the elderly priest looking for a little vacation. Bridges is able to make his character believably evil as well as have a sympathetic heart. It’s not his best work, but nowhere near his worst. Cynthia Erivo is the best out of the cast as she plays the singer making her way to a gig in Reno. She provides her own voice to the role and confidently takes charge of each scene. Dakota Johnson and Jon Hamm kind of just skate through and don’t provide any real defining moments. They’re not bad, but it feels like anyone could have filled the roles. Lastly, Chris Hemsworth does good work as the Jesus-like cult leader who likes to preach with his shirt open. Hemsworth brings both his comedic and dramatic skills together and creates an uneasy character that keeps the suspense high throughout. Bad Times at the El Royale is a fun thriller that tells a complex story enjoyably. It doesn’t always work perfectly, but minor mistakes aren’t enough to ruin the overall product. In a fall season full of heavy films trying to send a message, it feels good to have a film that only wants its audience to sit down and have a good time. 20th Century Fox will release Bad Times at the El Royale in theaters nationwide on October 12th. 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

Uncharted February 21, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen In terms of adapting a video game to film, Uncharted should have been the easiest one yet. The cinematic sequences are all there, from the plane ejection and sinking cruise ship in Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception , to the train sequence in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves . These levels contained some of the most impressive moments in video game history, with the sound and visuals delivering enough excitement to please even the most adventurous of spirits. Even though it seemed like a slam dunk on paper, publisher Sony struggled for years to get a film adaptation off the ground. They tried to get the ball rolling in 2008, only a year after the first game in the series was released. Things stagnated for a while until The Fighter and American Hustle writer/director David O. Russell was announced to be helming the project in 2010. In hindsight, Russell was an odd choice, and both parties were better off going their separate ways. Little did Sony know that Russell would only be the first of six directors to be attached to the project before leaving shortly after. Eventually, in 2017, Tom Holland was announced for the lead role of Nathan Drake, with Mark Wahlberg, the original choice for Nathan back in the Russell days, playing his older partner, Sully. Zombieland and Venom director Ruben Fleischer came aboard, and the film was finally completed after a decade of turmoil. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHp3MbsCbMg And yet after all this time, I still would much rather play the Uncharted games a second time than watch the Uncharted movie again. Working as a mix-and-match of different story elements within the game series, Uncharted starts with the street-smart orphan Nathan Drake working at a bar. There, he meets Sully, who offers to make Nathan his partner in a search for lost Spanish pirate gold worth nearly $5 billion. Also on the hunt for the treasure is Santiago Moncada, an heir to the family that funded the pirates’ expedition, who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. From there, the two parties bounce off each other in their hunt, which takes them from New York to Barcelona to the Philippines. Except it’s obvious that much of this movie never took place in any of those locations, with dubious green screening utilized as a cheap shortcut. The Uncharted games were often seen as the video game equivalent of the Indiana Jones series, with the bonus that Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was a great fourth entry, while Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull gets worse the more that hindsight allows. Both those series made great use of locations, taking the audience around the world on death-defying journeys. 2022’s Uncharted doesn’t have that authentic feeling of adventure, as everything is kept bottled up. The characters in the film are in disbelief at what’s happening, but we, as the audience, feel none of that. It’s all weightless and formulaic, plodding from one beat to the next. What saves Uncharted from being a total trainwreck is the relative likability of its cast. No one can argue that Tom Holland has been one of, if not the best, portrayals of Spider-Man. But the jury is still out on whether he can carry a film outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He’s had little success over the years, shedding his boyish looks in streaming titles such as The Devil All the Time or Cherry . Even if that same boyishness makes Holland a bit of a miscast, his charm and banterous chemistry with Wahlberg keep the film light on its toes. As far as video game adaptations go, Uncharted is one of the better ones if the bar it has to jump over is generously low. It makes for a slightly amusing two hours, with nothing exceptional to make it stick once the credits roll. If you have more time to spare, I’d recommend playing the games. But if you only have two hours, you could do worse than seeing this. Sony Pictures Releasing will release Uncharted in theaters nationwide on February 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

I Saw the TV Glow May 13, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen I couldn't tell what feelings I was experiencing while watching I Saw the TV Glow , but I can definitely tell you I was feeling something . There was terror, bewilderment, wonder, curiosity, nostalgia, and some sort of feeling of childhood innocence. And yet there was none of those things, at least in the forms I’d expected or had experienced before. I stared at the screen with the same hypnotized energy as the main characters watching their favorite show, The Pink Opaque . Was I liking what I was watching, and did it even make sense? I didn’t know then, and I still don’t know now. But I can’t get it out of my head, and that’s what’s most important. It all started in the late ‘90s, an era where the only things to watch were what was on TV at the time you were flipping through the channels. For seventh-grader Owen (played by Ian Foreman in the younger years, and Justice Smith when he’s older), everything is just a series of unmemorable images and noise. There’s something off about him, and it’s not just some childhood mood phase. He’s on a conveyor belt going through life, never interacting with anything or anyone. That is, until he stumbles upon a show called The Pink Opaque airing on the Young Adult Network (this movie’s version of The CW Network). It’s a Buffy-esque teen drama about two girls with psychic powers fighting a monster-of-the-week, with the big bad guy named Mr. Melancholy looming throughout the seasons. The show speaks to him, yet he doesn’t exactly know what it’s saying. He just knows that he can’t live without hearing it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kymDzCgPwj0 Writer/director Jane Schoenbrun understands the allure of a fictional piece of art to kids of a certain age. Every adolescent has some inner holes they feel like they need to fill, but don’t know how, and there’s nothing more powerful than plugging them with some special work that’s just your own. I could go into lengths about how much The Walking Dead meant to me as a 12-year-old middle schooler. Of course, millions of other people watched that show at its height, but the fact that I had to secretly watch it under the covers with my Kindle was something that made it mine. For Owen, The Pink Opaque is a show geared towards older kids that airs after his bedtime, meaning he has to sneak out of the house to watch it. There’s a thrill to the danger of being caught, and an indescribable satisfaction to the amount of work that needs to be done to get yourself in the right place at the right time. It’s the hidden price we pay through streaming, as everything feels just a little less special when you can have it whenever you want. Owen’s haven for the show is the home of Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), a ninth-grader who’s probably the show’s biggest fan. The show acts as a coping mechanism as they deal with her abusive stepdad and the overall shittiness high schoolers direct toward those who don’t align with their rigid constructs of gender and sexuality. Despite their opposite sexualities, I Saw the TV Glow is a love story for Owen and Maddy, with Smith and Lundy-Paine wonderfully selling the sense of belonging they desire from each other. Those Saturday nights in Maddy’s basement were the only moments they had to be their true selves. Also mixed within this incredibly unique cocktail are some unsettling sequences and imagery. I know it’s a clichéd comparison to make, but there’s a Lynchian quality to all of it. This is not a horror movie, nor are there any scenes with the sole intention to scare you, yet some moments chilled me to the bone. Much of it comes from Schoenbrun’s willingness to keep everything understated and shrouded in mystery, even if the inability to provide clear answers leaves a little much left on the table. But it also comes with excellent production qualities within the film and the fictional show. The ‘90s low-budget aesthetic of The Pink Opaque is authentically recreated, with the creature design warranting the Oscar recognition that these types of films never get. Schoenbrun made their name with the 2021 feature We’re All Going to the World’s Fair , a seminal work on creepypastas and underground internet culture. While its release during the pandemic definitely enhanced its aspects of loneliness, it also caused it to be sucked into the vortex of obscurity like so many other independent projects. Thankfully, I Saw the TV Glow doesn’t have those dire circumstances swirling around it and is being handled by A24, meaning there’s no excuse not to check this out. A24 will release I Saw the TV Glow in select theaters on May 03rd, followed by a nationwide expansion on May 17th. 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

Greta March 7, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen Frances McCullen is a recent graduate trying to make ends meet in New York City. She shares an apartment with her best friend Erica and works as a waitress at an upscale restaurant. One day, while riding the subway, Frances spots a handbag that has been mistakenly left behind. Knowing it would be the right thing to do, Frances returns it to the owner, Greta Hideg, a lonely elderly French woman. The two quickly hit it off, and a mutual friendship sparks between them. However, after some time has passed, the relationship begins to get strange. Frances discovers an unsettling secret about Greta and decides to cut ties with her. Greta doesn’t take the news well and becomes deranged, stalking Frances day and night. Stuck in a hard place with little help from the authorities, Frances must take her life into her own hands as she becomes prey to a ferocious predator. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAEoJkL_8zU Directed by Neil Jordan, Greta is a film that suffers from the condition of not knowing what it is. The loudest thought that was going through my head while watching was what exactly Jordan was going for. The film feels like a cheap B-movie that somewhat pays homage to the stalker genre made popular in the 80s and 90s. But that nostalgic factor doesn’t feel intentional. Many of the storytelling elements are haphazardly put together, making the film fall apart quickly and stumble all the way to the finish. If the feeling I got was intentional by Jordan, then he did a below-average job at making a cheesy thriller to kill some time. If it wasn’t intentional and this was supposed to be a straight story, he failed quite miserably. Either way, it doesn’t turn out well. Jordan does employ a combination of camera tricks and loud string music to build and release tension, mainly through the medium of jump scares. The techniques are a small grade above what you would usually see in a typical horror film, but they’re also nothing worthy of merit. Jordan partnered with Ray Wright to pen the script, which can best be described as “dumb horror characters make really dumb decisions.” Many times, I found myself in disbelief over the actions a character had just taken. A prime example of this would be *spoilers* near the end of the film when a character is being held hostage in a house and an opportunity arises for them to escape. Instead of breaking down the front door and running away, they end up going down into the basement and are immediately trapped again. Just like the tonally amateur feel, these dumb decisions come from Jordan’s unknown and seemingly nonexistent sense of direction. Are these dumb choices supposed to mock the horror genre and be laughed at, or are the characters just ridiculously stupid? I could never find a clear answer, and something tells me neither did Jordan. If the character choices don’t evoke enough groans, the insufferably fake dialogue will more than make up for it. Teenage characters talk like what an elderly person thinks they talk like, and elderly characters sound like their lines were written by a teenager in high school English class. Maybe the only real reason to watch this film is for Isabelle Huppert as she thanklessly dives into the titular role. I feel that she must have realized how poorly this film would turn out and decided to have some fun with it. It’s still not a great performance, but it’s nice to watch someone having the time of their life. After maturing with roles in The Miseducation of Cameron Post and Suspiria , Chloë Grace Moretz falls back into the old shtick of playing the innocent, cute girl. Similar to Huppert, Moretz seems to know that she’s above this kind of low-level work. But unlike Huppert, she deals with this fact by just not caring and mentally checking out, which makes her character look half awake most of the time. Maika Monroe shows up in a supporting role as Erica, the usual voice of reason that mainly acts as a vessel for the audience. Monroe is fine throughout but tends to overplay the stereotype of the party girl caught in a horror film. The world may never know what Neil Jordan was going for with Greta , but either way, the final product turned out pretty bad. More likely to put you to sleep than bring you out of your seat, this so-called thriller lacks the essential quality that even the most outright terrible movies have, a sense that someone actually cared. Focus Features will release Greta in theaters nationwide on March 01st. 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

Nobody 2 August 13, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen The perennially undervalued Bob Odenkirk finally got the cinematic starring role he deserved with 2021’s Nobody . The slick and entertaining action flick saw Odenkirk take his Saul Goodman charm and channel it towards one of the most fatherly roles since J.K. Simmons in Juno . Only, this time, this dad kicks some serious ass. It likely caused a burst of inspiration for many dads around the country to get a little more fit. Seeing something as bad as Nobody 2 in 2025 made me question why I liked the original so much, especially when the DNA is nearly identical. Was it actually that good, or was I just so starved for movie star action vehicles during the pandemic that I lapped up any crumbs that were offered? Answering that question would require a rewatch, something I’m far less inclined to do now that this would-be franchise has imploded with its second step. As part of the showdown in the first film, Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk), a self-described nobody, burned the entire cash fortune of the Russian mafia he got violently tangled with. Doing so put Hutch in a seemingly never-ending debt that must be paid off by performing missions for a shadow organization that offered him and his family a new life. Days turned into weeks, which then turned into months. Monotony starts to set in, with each member of the family drifting down their separate paths. As a way to momentarily break this cycle and potentially motivate himself to leave this line of work, Hutch decides to take the family on a vacation to the same water park his dad took him to as a kid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5X2pt95cIo There’s an inverse relationship between how much you force yourself to have fun on a vacation and the amount you actually have. Just ask Clark Griswold and his perilous journey to Wally World. The same happens here in the Wisconsin town of Plummerville, with the ego-tripping cops and local crime syndicate putting too much of a squeeze on Hutch’s quick trigger of a temper. One thing leads to another, and he has to shoot and stab his way out of another sticky situation. Creatively, there’s nothing here that wasn’t already covered in the first film. Hutch’s wife, Becca (Connie Nielsen), wants him to get out of the game and keep a cooler head. Despite his best efforts, he always makes things worse. Screenwriters Derek Kolstad and Aaron Rabin talk out of both sides of their mouths as they bemoan the cycle of violence, yet revel in the carnage. The slighting of his daughter by a jerk at the arcade gives enough justification for us to cheer as Hutch destroys the building and assaults everyone inside. Kolstad is the brains behind the John Wick franchise, so this hypocrisy comes as no surprise. But as that franchise side-stepped that pitfall with absurdly ornate worldbuilding and interesting characters, the Nobody films can only muster generic scenarios and even more generic villains. Sharon Stone’s performance as crime boss Lendina ranges from bad, so bad it’s good, to embarrassingly bad. We know that she’s unhinged by how she sweet-talks her dog while ordering the slaughter of innocent people, and then later dancing for no discernible reason. If you’re going to take inspiration from The Joker, don’t make it Jared Leto’s version. Director Timo Tjahjanto has helmed some of my favorite modern action films. Titles like Headshot , The Night Comes for Us , and last year’s The Shadow Strays are packed to the brim with extravagantly choreographed carnage delivered by Indonesian talent far more committed and capable than their American counterparts. Odenkirk gives it his all, but his inherent physical limitations force Tjahjanto to hold back on his signature flair, staging set pieces that never eclipse being more than good enough. At least Christopher Lloyd cranking a Gatling gun into hordes of faceless goons is quite a sight. Those isolated moments are few and far between, drowned under an ocean of moments just as basic as the cover versions of the songs that line up the soundtrack. Universal Pictures will release Nobody 2 in theaters nationwide on August 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

Black Adam October 21, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen What do you get when you take Dwayne Johnson, Hollywood’s most formulaic leading man, and a superhero movie, Hollywood’s most formulaic genre, and mix them? That’s right! You get one of the most formulaic, forgettable, ugly, unnecessary, unfunny, and tiring movies of the year. At this point, I have to give the DC Extended Universe some credit because it takes some true skill to be this consistently bad on such a large scale. Universal Studios at least had the humility to abandon its Dark Universe after the catastrophe that was The Mummy . But Warner Brothers has chugged along with the DCEU, hitting every obstacle on their way to the finish line, which they seem to be pushing further away with each new film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0tOpBuYasI Let’s get this over with, shall we? Our story opens in the exposition-filled land of ancient Kahndaq, a fictional Middle Eastern country where everything shines through an oppressive gray filter. The people are enslaved by their tyrannical king, who is hellbent on crafting the MacGuffin known as the Crown of Sabbac, which will give him the powers of the underworld. After a revolt is led against him, the mad ruler kills all that he deems a threat, which includes Teth-Adam (Johnson) and his family. We fast-forward 5,000 years and are introduced to Adrianna, an archaeologist trying to find the lost crown so that it won’t fall into the wrong hands. After her mission is ambushed, she awakens Teth-Adam, whose life was spared by the all-powerful wizards of Shazam! , who also bestowed upon him godlike powers. Disoriented after his slumber, Teth-Adam unleashes his revenge, which attracts the attention of The Justice Society, led by Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) and Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan). Black Adam is the closest that a superhero movie has come to a Godzilla movie, as nearly 80% of the runtime is all-powerful beings beating the crap out of each other. But unlike Adam Wingard, who was able to bring some ingenuity to the guilty pleasure that was Godzilla vs. Kong , director Jaume Collet-Serra restricts the action to playing out the same way each time. Big hits are landed, and the theater shakes from the sound effects, but nothing is actually felt. And don’t get me started on the “humor.” On second thought, let’s get into it. Outside of James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad , the DCEU is not known for having a funny bone. And even with that low bar, Black Adam sinks to the bottom with dozens of lame attempts to lighten the mood. Adrianna’s son, Amon (played by the way too eager Bodhi Sabongui), acts as the John Connor to Black Adam’s T-800, guiding him through this new age of heroes and villains. Two of those new heroes are Atom Smasher and Cyclone, whose personalities get brushed under the rug in favor of bad quips. To be honest, I’ve lost track of who’s in and who’s out, and what is actually going on in the DCEU. It’s just a bunch of noise, eroding my brain two hours at a time. Black Adam seems to have done the most damage because it’s going to take me a long time to recover from this dreck. For the love of god, burn it all down. Warner Bros. Pictures will release Black Adam in theaters nationwide on October 21st. 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

No Time to Die October 11, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen Since his first cinematic appearance in 1962, James Bond has done a lot of things. He’s been reincarnated five times, traveled around the globe (including space), and saved the world more times than it deserves. But the one thing that James Bond has never done is venture inward. For one of the first times in the franchise, the emotional beats are what pump the blood within the film’s heart. The theme of finality rings loudly, as No Time to Die marks the twenty-fifth entry in the long-running series, as well as the fifth and final part of the Daniel Craig era. In a move that has become routine by now, Bond has left active service. This time it wasn’t because of being presumed dead (even though that is true here), but because of his love for Madeleine Swann, the daughter of SPECTRE. Their attempt at a normal life goes about as expected, with bad guys ruining their Italian honeymoon. This, along with a deadly theft of a weaponized virus in the heart of London, brings James back into the fold for one last mission. Not one for nostalgia, MI6 moved on from Bond and promoted a new 007 named Nomi, who embodies the new school of espionage. Along with M, Q, Moneypenny, and Tanner, it’s time once again for the forces of good to vanquish evil. The Craig era marked the MCU-ification (a term that shouldn’t be taken as derogatory) of the Bond franchise, as it turned against the standalone nature of the previous entries and started to treat subsequent films as true sequels. The events of Casino Royale fed directly into Quantum of Solace . And when that movie failed, Skyfall acted as a soft reboot, later filtering into Spectre . No Time to Die pulls double duty by playing as a direct sequel to Spectre , but also the final bow on the whole modern Bond era. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIhNsAtPbPI Despite the interconnectedness, long-time writers Neil Purvis and Robert Wade don’t want to be restricted by franchise ties. There has never been a need to see a previous movie to comprehend the next one, with only tried and true franchise elements such as Ernst Stavro Blofeld and SPECTRE providing an integral throughline. The duo always seems to be stuck in the past with their scripts, mining the same bits, such as shaken not stirred martinis, Aston Martin cars, and megalomaniac villains hellbent on world domination. The blame for the forgettable plot – borderline incoherent at times – should rest on their shoulders. Lacking the personal connection of Christoph Walz’s Blofeld and Javier Bardem’s Raoul Silva, Rami Malek’s Lyutsifer Safin is a second-rate Bond villain. The casting choice itself is a no-brainer, as Malek has a heavy natural supply of VE (Villain Energy). Safin seems to be a character lifted from a Shakespearean play, as he often poetically monologues into the middle distance. There’s unintentional ironic humor to Safin’s plan of decimating the world’s population through a virus, as it requires much more effort than what COVID-19 has been able to do. It’s co-writer/director Cary Joji Fukunaga (first American Bond director) and Fleabag scribe Phoebe Waller-Bridge who want to take the franchise in a newer direction. There’s an element of fun introduced that has been missing from the Craig films. Doing well to supply that is Ana de Armas, who does too well with too little screen time in a Knives Out reunion. There’s also the pairing of Bond with Nomi, played terrifically by Lashana Lynch, who is much more than the alleged SJW-takeover that some want you to believe. With their record-breaking budgets, the Bond films have always had nice toys to play with. They just needed the right person to harness their potential. Fukunaga breaks the stoic shackles set by Skyfall and Spectre director Sam Mendes, returning Craig to the kinetic destruction wonderfully employed in Casino Royale . There’s a particular long-take stairwell scene, similar to the one Fukunaga used in True Detective , that perfectly illustrates Bond’s otherworldly combat skills. And there’s the shoutout in Cuba, which plays more like a dance as Bond and Nomi attempt to retrieve a precious item. It’s a testament to Craig that he’s been able to keep up with the physical requirements of the role, especially with the battle scars he’s accumulated over the years. But he also reaches new heights emotionally, with his Bond being the most vulnerable, both literally and metaphorically. He shares more than an animalistic sexual relationship with his Bond girls. There’s something palpable under the surface, keeping you invested beyond just the setpieces. With a lot of time (163 minutes in fact) to end, No Time to Die says goodbye to the actor who ushered in a new era for James Bond. Thankfully, it does it with a wink and a nod to what could be in store for this long-weathered franchise. United Artists Releasing will release No Time to Die in theaters nationwide on October 08th. 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 Color Purple December 19, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Color Purple is not a musical, it’s a MUSICAL. Unlike other movie musicals slated to release soon (looking at you, Wonka and Mean Girls ), this one is unabashed in its traits and always threatening to leap off the screen and break out into song in the aisles. Director Blitz Bazawule opens the film with the camera swirling down from the sky, eventually careening its way to two sisters sitting in a tree. The girls make their way into town, where they’re greeted by the townsfolk singing about how the Lord works in mysterious ways. It’s an uplifting, high-energy tune filled with athletic choreography and a restless spirit, a tone-setter for the rest of the set pieces. These joyous moments do not replace the darkness that is within this story. Even at a young age, Celie (Phylicia Pearl Mpasi) and Netti (Halle Bailey) face incredible hardships. Celie is pregnant with her second child from her father, Alfonso, the first having been “given to God” immediately after it was born. The second shares the same fate, with the cruelty of the father only growing exponentially. A wolf in sheep’s clothing comes in the form of “Mister” (Colman Domingo), who reluctantly buys Celie to be his bride after being told that Nettie is not for sale. Years go by in the blink of an eye as a grown-up Celie (Fantasia Barrino, reprising her role from Broadway) must live a secluded life raising Mister’s unruly kids from his previous marriage and is forbidden from contacting Nettie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPwzBUui1GA Her first smile does not come until almost an hour into the film. By then, it’s a foreign concept, something she forgot was able to exist in her life. Barrino is quite remarkable as Celie, never feeling like an imitation of Whoopi Goldberg from the 1985 Steven Spielberg film. She has the incredibly difficult job of being beaten down to utter silence while also displaying perseverance through loud musical numbers. Along with her in many of those set pieces is Danielle Brooks (also returning from Broadway) as Sofia and Taraji P. Henson as Shug Avery. Each of these women delivers a movie star performance on the grandest stage, with Brooks being the notable standout with her rendition of “Hell No!” But while the cast is all game for the balancing act of light and dark, Bazawule and screenwriter Marcus Gardley are not. A distinct tonal imbalance hangs over everything, making it all feel like it's stuck in neutral. For a movie that belts its emotions for 140 minutes on a giant screen, you ought to feel something, anything . I don’t want to cop out and say this movie just doesn’t have “it,” but there’s no better way to describe it. The words “occasionally monotonous” are not what I predicted to use to describe this beforehand. Neither would I think Gardley would sand down Alice Walker’s novel even further than the 1985 film did, with Celie and Shug’s original passion for each other being reduced to little more than a slightly sexualized friendship. Bazawule does display an admirable amount of command over the entire production. His experience with Beyoncé's Black Is King is apparent, with the music and visuals popping off the screen. It’s an interesting middle ground between a film adaptation and a recorded stage production, sometimes feeling like several visual albums awkwardly stitched together to make a cohesive narrative. Dan Laustsen’s cinematography features heavenly lights beaming through every window, and Paul D. Austerberry’s sets are beautiful, yet artificial. The Color Purple has a giant heart that it loudly shares with the world, yet there always seems to be a gap in the translation. A puzzling transition here, a missed emotional beat there; it all adds up to something being a little less than the sum of its parts. Luckily, this epic journey ends on a superior note, both lyrically and visually. I walked away with a half-smile, which definitely counts for something. Warner Bros. Pictures will release The Color Purple in theaters nationwide on December 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

Magpie October 23, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Early on in Magpie , Annette (Daisy Ridley) feels trapped in her home in the English countryside. Her husband, Ben (Shazad Latif), is chaperoning their young actress daughter, Matilda, during a movie shoot. Playing Matilda’s on-screen mother is Alicia (Matilda Lutz), an actress who’s been involved in several tabloid sexcapades. Paparazzi snaps some photographs of her and Ben together on set, and Ben’s phone constantly buzzes from Alicia’s texts when he’s home. Annette stares at herself in the mirror, seeing nothing but a blank face. She presses her hands upon the glass, incrementally applying pressure until the whole thing shatters. The floor is a mess with shards, a few of them still stuck in her hands. But she doesn't seem to notice as the blood starts to drip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-3XPcvInmE This scene is emblematic of director Sam Yates’ approach to the material. A veteran stage director, most notably for 2023’s Vanya starring Andrew Scott, Yates has dabbled a few times in film with some shorts and television. Magpie marks his feature directorial debut, and the results could be the start of a promising career. Nothing about his work is flashy (“flat” would be the derogatory term), but his approach to the material builds a tightly wound atmosphere. The gloominess of the setting, both literally and emotionally, is reflected in the cinematography. Distance and uncomfortable closeness are mixed for a revolving door of claustrophobia, with quite a few of those shots being reminiscent of the POV shots that Jonathan Demme made so famous in The Silence of the Lambs . It’s tough to distinguish between Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter in Annette and Ben’s relationship, an intentional blurring of the lines by screenwriter Tom Bateman. Similar to Yates, he’s making his feature screenwriting debut here, having previously appeared as an actor in Kenneth Branagh’s two initial Hercule Poirot films (he met Ridley on the set of Murder on the Orient Express ) and other British productions. The idea for this story came from Ridley herself, influenced by her experience as an on-screen mother in The Marsh King’s Daughter (at least something came out of that movie). Annette doesn’t want to jump to conclusions about Ben and Alicia’s relationship. And yet, it’s the only thing she can do as she sits at home looking after her newborn. There are hints of depression and manic behavior within her due to Ben’s past behavior. Bateman initially plants this as a potential conversation starter about the pressures of motherhood and buried trauma. That all gets morphed into something much more kitschy as time progresses, with late revelations making me laugh both with and at the movie. It wants to please you, even if that doesn’t please the movie as a whole. Ridley is fierce in the lead, maintaining a steely presence that keeps you on edge. There’s both sympathy and guilty pleasure you put upon her as she grapples with her domestic situation. Latif and Lutz display great confidence in their increasingly villainous roles. The whole thing feels like a throwback, while also having its cake and eating it too, about so many modern topics. It’s a delectable cake, with just a bit too much sugar added. This review was originally published from a screening at the 2024 Twin Cities Film Fest. Shout! Studios will release Magpie in theaters nationwide on October 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

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen As much as I surprisingly enjoyed 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie , there was a feeling that it was the most corporatized version of itself. That’s not much of a surprise, as the corporate rights holder, Nintendo, is notorious for holding onto its intellectual property with an iron grip. It’s a lesson they initially had to learn the hard way, with 1993’s live-action Super Mario Bros. being an unmitigated disaster, a disrespectful piece of adaptation equally hated by the creators and fans. In shame, the company halted any attempts for big-budget theatrical adaptations, finally opening the vault decades later with Pokémon: Detective Pikachu and The Super Mario Bros. Movie . Bowling with the guard rails up isn’t sexy, but it got the job done to the tune of $1.3 billion in box office earnings for the return of Mario to the silver screen, this time in a more appropriate animated form. Now that the job of launching this rocket ship of a cinematic franchise has been completed, it’s finally time for it to set its sights on new galaxies. True to its title, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie does just that, opening itself up to the limitless possibilities that the forty-year game franchise has unlocked. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdL2GorGdKc The opening credits guide us through the cosmos, settling on the faraway Comet Observatory. There resides Princess Rosalina (voiced by Brie Larson), the protector of the Lumas, star-shaped creatures who sound and behave like children. As she reads them a bedtime story, an intruder appears. It’s Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie, whose work as an actor/writer/director has hopped between Oppenheimer , Happy Gilmore 2 , The Smashing Machine , and this, within the past few years), seeking to make his father proud by kidnapping a princess of his own. He emerges victorious, sending the Lumas into the unknown reaches of space to find a hero who can save Rosalina. Lucky for them, Mario and Luigi (Chris Pratt and Charlie Day, respectively) have upped their game since the first film. They’ve been bestowed with the status of heroes to all who need them, adapting their powers to the right situations. A fun montage occurs as they solve problems around the Mushroom Kingdom, the map taking a strong resemblance to those in the games. Once the Lumas reach the brothers and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), they’re off on a galaxy-wide adventure to stop Bowser Jr. and restore order. There’s an assuredness to this film that the first one didn’t have. A little more respect is given to the audience as the franchise lore is broadened. Easter eggs appear in every frame, either a character from one of the many games or a collectible item that only true fans would recognize. I do not possess an encyclopedic knowledge of the games, and I was still overwhelmed by all that was being crammed in. Brian Tyler’s score is allowed more prominence, no longer burdened with having to share space with overdone tracks like “Holding Out for a Hero.” He instills many classic beats, each with a certain grandeur. The visuals are more robust, and the camera quickly follows along with the characters as they leap from one point to another. Also introduced is the trusty sidekick Yoshi, voiced by Donald Glover, who, because the character only communicates by saying his own name, now has the easiest gig in Hollywood since Vin Diesel ended his reign as Groot in the Guardians of the Galaxy films. Other notable additions are made, but the surprise is best left preserved for the theater. This is a children’s film that can equally appeal to adults. It is based on the generation-defining Wii game Super Mario Galaxy , which was released almost twenty years ago (that makes me feel old). Mario has been many things to many different people, and there’s a little bit of everything here. I can sense that grand machinations are in place at Nintendo and Illumination, and I’d kind of like to see it all come together. Universal Pictures will release The Super Mario Galaxy Movie in theaters nationwide on April 01st. 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

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 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