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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. 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 perform the operation 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 us and Nina 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. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

The Good Nurse September 11, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Good Nurse had its World Premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Netflix will release it on its streaming platform on October 26. In this age of the true crime boom, it’s refreshing to watch something that doesn’t contain the usual fetishization of the criminal in an attempt to “get inside their head and understand them.” Or there’s the worse route, which is to make the show/movie capture the cultural zeitgeist by pandering to the TikTok crowd (I’m looking at you Dahmer , which has spawned the horrible “Jeffrey Dahmer Challenge”). Instead of doing any of those things, Tobias Lindholm’s The Good Nurse wisely steers away from the crimes themselves and centers on the damaging causes and effects. The titular good nurse is Amy Loughren (Jessica Chastain), a single mom who constantly struggles to balance the financial, physical, and emotional needs of herself and her two daughters. Despite having a heart condition that could easily kill her if she stresses herself too much, Amy works the graveyard shift at a New Jersey hospital, caring for the sick all throughout the night. After her shift, she goes home to see her daughters off to school and hopefully get a few hours of sleep before starting the cycle over again. One day, an angel appears in the form of Charlie Cullen (Eddie Redmayne), a soft-spoken and caring new nurse who offers to help Amy. He lightens her workload, helps her take her meds, and is able to look after the kids at a moment's notice. For Amy, this almost seems too good to be true. As it turned out, it was. Cullen would be convicted of killing 29 patients across the dozens of hospitals he worked at, with almost all of the victims coming in with minor injuries and leaving for the morgue under mysterious circumstances. The Good Nurse never seems interested in answering the question “why did this monster kill all those people?” Rather, it takes the more interesting and socially relevant route of answering “how was this allowed to happen for so long?” Centering much of that discussion are two weary detectives (Noah Emmerich and Nnamdi Asomugha) brought in to investigate after the first questionable death at Amy’s hospital. Slowly, they begin pulling on threads, uncovering an extensive history of medical cover-ups prioritizing dollars over lives. There is nothing uplifting in its message, but it is constantly enlightening. But that enlightenment doesn’t come easy, with director Tobias Lindholm ( The Hunt ) bringing much of his Mindhunter skills into play. The tension is razor sharp, terrifyingly crescendoing across the deliberately paced material. DP Jody Lee Lipes shoots everything in drab gray wide shots, keeping the action unfrayed from excessive style. It’s the simplicity of the filmmaking that makes it all the more unsettling as you're reminded this happened for years in plain sight without anyone noticing, or caring. As Cullen, Redmayne finally gets the villain role we’ve all been waiting for (let's pretend Jupiter Ascending never happened). His charming awkwardness is used to great effect to mask the darkness underneath, making it easily believable why so many would doubt his culpability. To be fair, the wheels do come off the wagon once he’s erroneously pushed toward more dramatic moments, such as a semi-cringe outburst near the end. On the other hand, Chastain can do the heavy lifting. She gives Amy an empathetic intensity, making even the most mundane moments feel important. The Good Nurse is a tension-filled and infuriating true-crime examination of a broken system and the twisted individual who saw the opportunity it gave him. It’s an elevation of the genre that has repeatedly found itself wallowing in exploitation, with two Oscar-caliber performances leading the charge. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Renfield April 12, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen The last time we saw Count Dracula, he was given a dark and gritty reboot (I say that in a backhanded tone) in Dracula Untold . It was a vain and half-assed attempt by Universal to set up their “Dark Universe,” which also included the entirely forgotten The Mummy starring Tom Cruise. For all the talk about the MCU starting to falter in Phase 4, you still have to give Kevin Feige credit for keeping the ship afloat and thriving for so long, as everyone else can’t even seem to hoist the sails. But at least that curse put upon Universal came with a blessing for audiences, as it forced the studio to think a little more imaginatively with their famous monsters. Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man , starring Elisabeth Moss, took that ludicrous premise and turned it into a story about trauma (before it became an overused buzzword throughout the pandemic). And now we have Renfield , the story of Dracula and his servant in the modern-day, overflowing with buckets of blood, as well as a few laughs for good measure. Nicholas Hoult plays the titular character, who was coerced into becoming the “familiar” (a nicer term for “slave”) for the Prince of Darkness (Nicolas Cage) way back in the 1930s, when he visited Dracula’s castle in hopes to make a real estate sale. An excellently crafted 4:3 black-and-white recreation of the 1931 original movie, complete with Hoult and Cage in period-accurate makeup and acting styles (I wished the whole movie was like this), gives us an introduction to this power dynamic. But while the world has changed drastically in the 90 years since, the relationship between the two of them has stayed the same. After an ambush by vampire hunters (sorry, Van Helsing is not with them), the two of them have been forced to relocate to New Orleans, where Renfield must find more victims for his master to feed on so that he may regrow to full power. But decades of killing innocent people for an evil dark lord have started to wear Renfield down. He decides he wants to do some good, which he gets an opportunity to do when he finds himself in the middle of a war between an honorable cop (Awkwafina) and the son (Ben Schwartz) of the most violent crime family in the city. Director Chris McKay, who brought us The Lego Batman Movie (fun!) and The Tomorrow War (boring!), goes for an action-comedy tone here. Renfield acquires powers similar to Dracula when he eats bugs, allowing him to execute goons with superhuman levels of brutality. The humorous attempts at extreme gore make more sense once you realize the idea for this story comes from Robert Kirkman, creator of the other ultra-violent comics (and subsequent television series) The Walking Dead and Invincible . The action scenes are filmed with pulpy flair but are undercut by excessive use of CGI instead of practical makeup, which is made even more disappointing since it’s already being used to perfection on Cage as his mangled body slowly heals from its wounds. Ryan Ridley’s script also has issues finding a healthy middle ground, with the attempts at digging into toxic relationships being too shallow, and the comedy being too on-the-nose. Renfield’s narration mostly just repeats what we already learned visually, and characters repeatedly spell out the plot and their motivations in expository dialogue. But most of those missteps are forgiven thanks to the movie completely delivering on its simple promise of seeing Nicolas Cage playing Count Dracula. Whether it’s flesh or the scene itself, Cage is always chewing on something through his extremely committed performance. He’s having an infectious amount of fun in the role, letting out his trademarked hoots and hollers between moments of extreme violence. If this movie achieves nothing else, I hope it inspires Cage to become this generation's Christopher Lee for the character, reprising him again and again in some (hopefully creatively inspiring) future iterations. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial October 6, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen William Friedkin’s new adaptation of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial comes at an interesting moment. The first, and most unfortunately obvious, fact is that Friedkin passed away at the age of 87 in August, just a few weeks before this film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. There’s also the coincidence that the film begins streaming on Paramount+ With Showtime and then airs on Showtime the same weekend as The Exorcist: Believer , Blumhouse’s reboot of the horror franchise Friedkin originated with the 1973 original masterpiece. We can thank Taylor Swift for aligning the stars to allow Friedkin, never one to mince words with his opinions, to get the last laugh, at least in terms of quality. Believer will just have to settle with the boatloads of money it’s about to make. The Caine Mutiny originated in 1952 as a novel by Herman Wouk. The work of fiction grew out of the author’s personal experiences aboard destroyers during WWII. After its enormous success, Wouk adapted the material for the stage, a relatively easy task considering the novel’s one-room setting and small cast of characters. A movie adaptation was produced in 1954 starring Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Fred MacMurray, and E.G. Marshall. Along with directing, Friedkin also wrote the screenplay for this new take on the material, moving the setting from the Pacific Theater during World War II to the current-day Persian Gulf. The titular mutinous act performed aboard the USS Caine takes place during a torrential cyclone. Lieutenant Maryk (Jake Lacy) has lost all faith in the commanding officer Lieutenant Commander Queeg’s (Kiefer Sutherland) ability to guide them safely out of the storm. Maryk cited that Queeg was mentally unfit due to the stress of the situation, a common occurrence during his tenure. The insubordinate officer is being court-martialed for his actions, with Lieutenant Greenwald (Jason Clarke) reluctantly assigned to defend him in front of the military tribunal. Many will bemoan seeing a director as legendary as Friedkin having his final film reduced to premiering on a streaming service. While it’s an admirable sentiment, it avoids the fact that this material is ripe for the smaller-scale television landscape, an area Friedkin excelled at in the past with his 1997 adaptation of 12 Angry Men for Showtime. Friedkin may abandon the original material’s setting, but he has no qualms about embracing its inherently stage-like feel. A basic military courtroom serves as the sole setting throughout the 108-minute runtime. The action is repetitious, with a string of witnesses (Lewis Pullman, Tom Riley, Elizabeth Anweis, Jay Duplass) called upon to testify to Queeg’s time as commander and the specifics of what happened that fateful day. They’re each staged and edited around in their specific way, which keeps things fresh and flavorful. It’s a less theatrical version of A Few Good Men , with that restraint used to build nuance around this ethically dense topic. Despite only appearing in two scenes, Sutherland delivers his best performance in years as Queeg. To continue the A Few Good Men comparisons, he would be this film’s Col. Jessep, finely played by Jack Nicholson. Sutherland isn’t as hammy, although his character does sport a peculiar set of quirks such as speaking out of the side of his mouth and twiddling his thumbs to distract from the trembling of his hands. Between this film and Oppenheimer , Jason Clarke has shown his skill in playing contestable lawyers. And there’s also another figure who was taken from this world too soon in Lance Reddick, who’s never been a bad addition to a cast. Sure, this won’t be remembered as Friedkin’s finest work. It’s not at the same level as The French Connection, The Exorcist , or To Live and Die in L.A. But not every Alfred Hitchcock film is as good as Psycho , nor is every Billy Wilder film as good as Sunset Blvd . Friedkin is at that level where even some of his great movies won’t be remembered as strongly as his masterpieces. Make no mistake, this is a great movie, a fitting farewell to a filmmaker who could take any material and mold it into something uniquely entertaining and personal. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

It Ends with Us August 7, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Every once in a while, there comes a moment during a critic’s career where they have a bit of an existential crisis over whether their opinion matters. Those pangs of self-doubt and uselessness can come in all shapes and sizes, covering an entire body of work or just a single piece. While I’ve never endured the self-questioning of my work as a whole (yet), there was a distinct moment during It Ends with Us where I seriously doubted any sort of merit I could bring to the conversation surrounding the film and the book it is based on. That immediate moment of realization came within the theater, but before the projector had even been turned on. After walking down the theater hallway and the entrance into the specific room, I turned the corner to see that the entire auditorium was filled with women, the majority of whom were members of a local book club. I’ll admit, this already sounds like it’s the start of a whiny tell-all where a man finally realizes the world isn’t catered to him. It’s not that serious, nor was this even close to the first time I learned that movies can have different target audiences. But it was a gentle reminder that there are certain movies I can’t expect myself to “get,” something that I appreciate since too many movies try to be for everyone, which inadvertently makes them appealing to no one. It Ends with Us easily slots into that “book club sensation” microgenre, with many of its members being sneaky box office sensations. Where the Crawdads Sing grossed over $150 million post-pandemic, and The Idea of You became Amazon MGM’s number-one romantic comedy ever on steaming earlier this year. Based on my audience’s reception as the screen cut to black and the credits rolled, It Ends with Us will follow a similar trajectory along with a healthy CinemaScore. Director Justin Baldoni has already tapped this source twice before with Five Feet Apart and Disney+ Original Clouds , both cancer dramas. That subject never gets broached here, although things do start on an equally glib note with the funeral for Lily’s (Blake Lively) father, who was a domestic abuser throughout much of her childhood. Love and relationships have never been simple for Lily, which is why she’s stayed single in Boston all these years, her dreams of opening a flower shop being her driving force. Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni, casting himself as the irresistible neurosurgeon) is also in the same boat, although he’s intentionally put himself there after years of trading love for lust. Ryle shows all the signs a college orientation would give you to identify a sexual predator; including saying things like “I need a kiss to get you out of my head” and never taking no for an answer. Within the confines of the page, there could be the slightest bit of room for interpretation about the dynamic Lily and Ryle share. But once it’s projected on a giant screen right in front of you and literalized, it just comes off as creepy and pathetic. Sure, that is part of the point, but Baldoni’s attempts as both the director and actor to make Ryle into a romantically compelling character end up backfiring on every occasion. It also brings into question the “relatable” brush screenwriter Christy Hall (writer/director of Daddio earlier this year) tries to paint Lily with, as if any girl couldn’t be at fault for falling for this guy. Forming the final part of this love triangle is Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar), Lily’s first love from high school and now the owner of the hottest restaurant in town (did I mention that he’s really hot as well?). Where Ryle is controlling and manipulative, Atlas is caring and sensitive. They all have tragic backstories, all of which conveniently explain their current problems and behaviors. Furnishing the mass marketization of domestic abuse and toxicity is the most popular art direction and costuming from the “cozy” section of Pinterest. Kevin McKidd feels like a prop as Lily’s father, his Grey’s Anatomy connection causing a flurry of excited whispers amongst the audience. There are not as many opportunities to appreciate the eye candy as I would have hoped, with Baldoni shooting most scenes through close-ups, often recreating the Focus Features logo background across the Boston skyline. Lively pops off the screen as much as her questionable fashion choices (I’m definitely no expert, but what she wears to her father’s funeral seemed like a bit too much), with one almost wishing that the entire movie would have ditched the two possible lovers and solely focused on her running her flower shop with Jenny Slate and Hasan Minhaj. The brief glimpses into Lily and Atlas’ past can stay, though, as newcomer Isabela Ferrer and Alex Neustaedter share some wonderful moments. Readers of the book will no doubt be satisfied with what Baldoni has crafted, while those making this their first experience with the story will be left wondering what all the commotion has been about on Goodreads for all these years. Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, just got a pass these past few weeks for making Deadpool & Wolverine “for the fans,” so it's best to apply that same metric here. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

The Father April 1, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen Move over Suspiria, The Conjuring , and Hereditary , there’s a new film that has claimed the title as the scariest movie of the past decade. But it’s not demons, witches, or serial killers that make this new movie scary. It’s something that has affected our loved ones and may affect us in the future: dementia. The Father is a triumphant directorial debut by Florian Zeller, who puts us within the deteriorating mental state of our main character, Anthony. We experience his confusion as if it were our own. But the film also takes on the perspective of the caretakers who are left helpless as they try to aid Anthony in making sense of a world he cannot recognize anymore. Zeller’s play, The Father , debuted in Paris in 2012 to rapturous reviews. Its success spurred an acclaimed Broadway run with Frank Langella winning a Tony award for his performance. Now Zeller, with the help of esteemed screenwriter Christopher Hampton, has taken his stage play to the screen. At the center of the film playing the character of Anthony is veteran actor Anthony Hopkins (Zeller was so adamant about getting Hopkins for the role that he renamed the character specifically for him). With a nearly sixty-year career in the rearview, including notable roles as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs and Richard Nixon in Oliver Stone’s aptly named Nixon , Hopkins’ performance here may be his very best. He is charismatic, fierce, and vulnerable, sometimes all at the same time. If not for Chadwick Boseman’s untimely death and larger-than-life performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom , Hopkins would be the undisputed favorite to win his second Oscar this year. The world we see is through Anthony’s eyes. Initially, his world is quiet and still, often filled with days listening to classical music in his luxurious London flat and taking walks in the nearby park. But after a while, things slowly start to come apart. He’s displacing items more regularly, days are getting harder to separate, and conversational details are getting lost in the shuffle. One day, his daughter, Anne (Olivia Colman), tells him she’s leaving London to go live in Paris with her new significant other. Feeling he’s being abandoned, Anthony is hurt by his daughter’s decision. But, the next morning, Anne is still in his flat and has no recollection of Paris. Maybe that conversation happened a long time ago or never happened at all. Maybe this isn’t Anthony’s flat—maybe it’s Anne’s and she’s taken him in to stay with her. Maybe she has a husband here named James (or is it Paul?) and she’s now being played by a different actress than before. Like a Charlie Kaufman or Christopher Nolan film, Zeller plays with time and setting to tell his story. Conversations are repeated several times over from different perspectives, adding another level to the complex task of discerning what is fact and what is fiction. Anthony’s physical surroundings seem to be rearranging at impossible speeds and the chronology of events is becoming increasingly muddled. Production designer Peter Francis and editor Yorgos Lamprinos deserve immense credit for their work here as their craftsmanship helps tell a complicated story. The confusion and frustration that Anthony feels are equally placed onto us, as we are never sure what is happening and what order it is happening in. It’s like watching a balloon being inflated and waiting for it to pop, yet it never does as your anxiety keeps building. It's a terrifying and heartbreaking process to watch as Anthony’s mood begins to darken. He never knows what is going to come next and what has just happened. He’s left in a perpetual state of fright and feels that everyone is out to get him. But those around him are equally as confused and scared as he is. Anne doesn’t know what to do with her father and is fighting a losing battle of keeping an optimistic look at things. Colman, a recent Oscar winner for her role in The Favourite , acts somewhat as our guide through this mess. Imogen Poots, Olivia Williams, Mark Gatiss, and Rufus Sewell all play well-casted supporting roles. Like Schindler’s List and Requiem for a Dream , The Father is a superb film that you will only want to watch once. Its subject matter may hit too close to home for some viewers or be an introduction for others. No matter your familiarity, the film’s take on dementia and the toll it places on everyone involved is so incredibly well done that it demands to be seen. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Ranking the Films of Christopher Nolan July 14, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen As quite possibly the most famous director working today, Christopher Nolan has repeatedly pushed the boundaries of cinema, captivating audiences with his thought-provoking themes, mind-bending concepts, and stunning visual spectacles. His filmography is a tapestry of iconic movies that have left an indelible mark on popular culture. From the mind-bending puzzles of Memento to the gripping exploration of dreams in Inception and the epic superhero saga of The Dark Knight trilogy, each film offers a unique cinematic experience. Whether you are a long-time fan or a newcomer to his works, this ranking will provide a comprehensive exploration of Nolan's filmography, celebrating his unparalleled creativity and his lasting impact on the world of cinema. 11. Following Whether you're Martin Scorsese, Damien Chazelle, Barry Jenkins, or Christopher Nolan, everyone starts their career with a small black-and-white movie they crafted with the tools available to them: sweat and determination. Like most Nolan movies, this can be overcomplicated just for the sake of it. But there are some impressive things going on, especially when you consider how Nolan was able to continue his ambitions within the studio system. 10. Batman Begins On paper, this is just another well-known origin story that we’ve seen before. Nolan doesn’t totally transcend that pitfall, but he skillfully elevates the comic book genre into the real world. He immerses the audience in the griminess of Gotham City, a place that can only be saved by a man willing to meet the criminals on their terms. It remains an important stepping stone that would be used to fulfill the much grander scope of its sequels. 9. Insomnia Truth and guilt come crashing together in Nolan’s first foray into studio filmmaking. While it’s the only film that he didn’t have a hand in writing (at least officially), Nolan still is able to instill psychological depth into the material through his atmospheric cinematography and heightened editing. Al Pacino applies his mid-2000s sleepiness to a role that suits it, and Robin Williams skillfully transforms into a role against type. 8. Tenet Tenet is a full-on assault of the senses that contains unparalleled moments of spectacle and ambition. It surely takes multiple rewatches to comprehend, with the lack of interesting characters and convoluted stakes making that a bit of a tall order. But if you are brave enough to take on that mission, make sure to pack some ibuprofen and prepare to have your mind twisted in ways you never thought possible. Full Review 7. Interstellar Nolan has always claimed 2001: A Space Odyssey to be his favorite movie, and 2014’s Interstellar seems to be the clearest illustration of its influence. The accuracy and scientific detail are unparalleled compared to most blockbusters, with visually stunning sequences that demand the biggest screen possible. Its ambitious narrative can be a bit of a challenge to follow, but the emotional payoff (not something Nolan is known for), makes the difficulty all the more worth it. 6. The Dark Knight Rises Each entry in Nolan’s Batman trilogy is bigger than the last, with this finale seeing The Dark Knight going out on the epic stage he deserves. Batman is at his most vulnerable here as he battles a broken body and spirit at the hands of Tom Hardy’s Bane. No sequel would have been able to match the heights of 2008’s The Dark Knight , but this one has its moments and still flies high above most of the entries within the superhero genre. 5. Memento Serving as the beginning of his trademarked enthralling bewilderment, Memento captivates with its unique narrative structure, thought-provoking themes, and exceptional performance by Guy Pearce. You piece together the past and present with Leonard, never sure what’s reality and what’s all in your head. The stripped-down scale (at least compared to other Nolan mind-benders) makes it all the more impressive and makes it easy to see why studios were falling head over heels to hire him for their blockbusters. 4. Inception Inception is Nolan’s magnum opus in terms of visual ingenuity, made clear by the film winning the Oscars for both Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. The seamless shifting between the dream levels creates a sense of unease and uncertainty that complements the film's psychological undertones. Hans Zimmer delivers probably his most signature score to date, with Leonardo DiCaprio in peak movie star form as our guide through this maze of the mind. 3. Dunkirk Dunkirk is an immersive, visceral experience that conveys the horrors of war without relying on excessive violence and gore (or even showing the enemy). Instead, it focuses on the psychological toll of the events, capturing the fear, desperation, and camaraderie among the soldiers as they face impossible odds. Hans Zimmer's haunting and relentless score serves as an additional character within this large ensemble, intensifying the sense of urgency and heightening the emotional impact of each ticking moment. 2. The Prestige Cinema is a form of magic by itself, and Nolan is one of its greatest magicians. The Prestige is probably his most rewatchable movie, not just because of the theatrical twists and turns, but because it's such a well-put-together production that keeps you on your toes as Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale’s obsessive war of one-upmanship progressively gets more dangerous as it goes along. 1. The Dark Knight Being able to deliver top-notch entertainment while still touching on interesting ideas is what separates the legends from the lepers during the busy summer movie season. Nolan’s masterful direction has the movie fly at a breakneck pace while still savoring all the details. No further words need to be said to honor Heath Ledger’s towering performance, with Aaron Eckhart’s portrayal of Harvey Dent being a standout second-fiddle. There’s been nothing like it since, and likely won’t for a very long time. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Gran Turismo August 25, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Screenwriters Jason Hall and Zach Baylin make it their main objective to never let you forget that Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) is an underdog that no one believes in. “This isn’t a game, this is real life,” “You’re just a gamer, what do you know about driving cars?” “This time there isn’t a reset button,” are just a handful of lines that you'll become increasingly tired of hearing. It seems Hall and Baylin never took the lesson on diminishing returns, as all the suspense surrounding Jann’s outcome is completely evaporated by the fifth scene where someone tells him he can’t accomplish his dream. To cut them some slack, this is based on a true story, a fact that the producers REALLY want you to know, going so far as to rename the movie Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story in some markets. Mardenborough is a real person who became obsessed with racing at a young age. But he didn’t have a similar upbringing to the other drivers on the professional circuit, filled with fame and easy access to the best cars money can buy. Jann’s window into the racing world was through the PlayStation game “Gran Turismo” (don’t call it a game in front of Jann because it’s a “racing simulation”). The opening scene (or commercial if you want to be more accurate) introduces us to the immense detail and precision that went into making the game as realistic as possible. Unlike other gaming series like “FIFA” and “Madden,” “Gran Turismo” is generally accepted as the most authentic portrayal of the sport it represents. No one seems to believe that Jann’s world-class gaming abilities can translate into real racing, least of all his former soccer pro dad (Djimon Hounsou). Nissan marketing executive Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom) sees potential in the kid. If Jann can be made into a serious racer, it will make Nissan one of the most popular car companies among the untapped gaming demographic. Put in charge of the training process is Jack Salter (David Harbour), who’s also a non-believer in “sim racers.” Over time his cold heart begins to thaw, with Jann proving himself to be just as good as he says he is. Upon the announcement, one would think that former wunderkind Neill Blomkamp is serving his time in director jail with this assignment. There are no signs of that here, fortunately, with the District 9 and Elysium director crafting some stunning racing sequences, even if there are so many that they end up blurring together. The roaring of the engines fills the theater corner to corner, and cinematographer Jacques Jouffret captures some decent shots. It’s old-fashioned studio craftsmanship applied to a sport that values tradition. Even with all the underdog cliches I mentioned earlier, there’s still a strong emotional connection to Jann and Jack’s partnership. Madekwe and Harbour have great chemistry as they play to the tune of “young upstart and grizzled veteran” we’ve heard many times before. But it’s been done so many times because it works, and it works here. The lows are bitter and the highs are sweet. Gran Turismo is a product of brand synergy, meant to push the overall awareness of a product just as much as it's supposed to tell a cinematic story. It’s part of a worrying trend of corporations taking on the role of their own biggest fan (see Tetris and Flamin’ Hot ). But there’s also stuff like Air and Barbie that can make the most out of propaganda and entertainment. Blomkamp’s film doesn’t reach those heights, but it still does just enough to cross the finish line in a respectable fashion. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Maestro November 23, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen “A work of art does not answer questions, it provokes them; and its essential meaning is in the tension between the contradictory answers.” This quote by Leonard Bernstein flashes before Maestro commences. It’s a mission statement for writer/director/producer/star Bradley Cooper, who’s made it his life’s work to bring this story to the silver screen. It’s a warning to any Bernstein acolytes who come to this seeking untold answers about the famed conductor’s artistry. And it’s also a blessing to anyone bemoaning another musician biopic, the likes of which have haunted our multiplexes the past few years with their cookie-cutter rise-and-fall stories. There is nothing cookie-cutter about Maestro , which is its absolute greatest strength… and occasional weakness. Cooper is like a high school theater kid who’s just landed the role he’s always dreamed of, so giddy and overstimulated that he’s almost leaping off the screen. It’s almost too showy, making the Old Hollywood aesthetic and mountains of makeup and prosthetics feel like even more of an illusion than it already is. Of course, the creative talent being too passionate about their work is near the bottom of the list of problems a film can have. It’s also how Cooper sees himself tethered to Bernstein: two geniuses who often became overwhelmed with passionate joy in their craft. Lenny is just an upstart assistant conductor at the beginning of the movie, but his legend becomes born when he’s summoned at the last minute to replace the sickly guest conductor. Hearing his name during the loudspeaker announcements is what gives him the most pleasure, a small sign of how highly this man viewed himself. It’s hard to blame someone for seeing himself next to God when he has been blessed with such talent. A wide variety of music constantly pours out of him: musical theater (at one point it’s mentioned he’s working on a Romeo and Juliet story with Jerry Robbins, I wonder what that could be?), film scores, classical pieces, and everything in between. Cooper’s filmmaking is just as confident and classical as Bernstein’s musical arrangements. It possesses great power to evoke a film made during the 1940s, complete with stark black-and-white and technicolor-infused Academy ratio cinematography. Reteaming after A Star Is Born , DP Matthew Libatique is in lockstep with Cooper’s direction, creating sweeping scenes through long takes and impeccable framing. It all crescendos at the Ely Cathedral in 1973 when Bernstein famously conducted Mahler’s second symphony, “Resurrection.” It’s spiritually transcendent, the camera capturing every enrapturing moment as it weaves its way through the choir and orchestra. The inescapable mantra during the film’s press tour is that Cooper prepped for this scene for six years, which is quite evident in the final product. Fortunately for him (and us), Netflix is committed to a substantial theatrical rollout (at least to their standards), offering audiences the chance to see this moment in the proper setting. This moment isn’t all about Bernstein though, as the final camera movement during the impressive long take pans to reveal his wife Felicia Montealerge (Carey Mulligan) standing off to the side, ready for Lenny to walk over and embrace her after his performance. It’s emblematic of how Cooper frames this entire biopic, the music and their relationship always intertwined. The pair are magnificent together at every turn; with a jovial banter during the early stages, and a more mature understanding during the middle periods of their marriage. While Felicia is sidelined later in life as Lenny continues his affairs with younger men, Mulligan maintains her placement front and center through sheer emotion and her ability to elevate past the typical “tortured wife of a great man” role. For something that has and will continue to be labeled as “Oscar bait,” Maestro is, more than anything, a confidently unique entry in a well-worn genre. It makes A Star Is Born seem like only the appetizer, and this is the main course. It wouldn’t be far-fetched to label Cooper as this generation’s Warren Beatty: a movie star interested in grown-up stories whose oversized ambition is matched by their incredible skill both in front and behind the camera. If there’s anything modern cinema needs more of right now, it’s someone like that. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Nightbitch September 8, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Nightbitch had its World Premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Searchlight Pictures will release it in theaters on December 06. “Motherhood is a bitch” reads the tagline for Nightbitch , the feature film adaptation of author Rachel Yoder’s much-raved 2021 novel. It comes as a warning to us all, but not in the form the overzealous marketing (including an incredibly divisive trailer ) would have led us to believe. Motherhood can be a trapdoor for some people, with the promises of the beauty of fertility and providing for others being switched out for restless nights, little appreciation, and the slipping sense that you are your own person. It turns women into a primordial version of themselves, a state where self-preservation triumphs over self-actualization. And in the case of Nightbitch (both the novel and the film), motherhood being a bitch is also a warning that there may be a slight chance you start turning into a dog after having children. Only slight! It first starts with patches of fur and a heightened sense of smell for our unnamed Mother (Amy Adams). Her newborn boy is now a two-year-old, and those very long two years have worn her down. When she sees a friend in the supermarket, they ask her if she loves being a mother. In one of several instances of writer/director Marielle Heller’s comically-intuned editing, Mother goes into a long tirade about its pitfalls akin to America Ferrera’s speech in Barbie . But once she’s gotten that off her chest, we cut back to reality and at the start of the initial question, only for Mother to answer with a simple “I love it!” This exchange represents the heart that Heller is digging for in the next 90-ish minutes. There is so much about motherhood that cannot be discovered until it is experienced, with society not allowing women to talk about what they have to go through every day. Or, if someone does lend an ear, it’s usually in the form of her husband (Scoot McNairy), who, while always having a loving interest, never gives the full attention and consideration required. Both of them just float through their existence, one shouting into the void and the other turning the other way. Once the breaking point is reached for Mother, that’s when her animal instincts come out. In a page out of the Animorphs book series, Mother transforms into a red husky at night, running with a pack of dogs doing all sorts of canine things. She comes back to the human world covered in leaves and smelling of blood, and also with a sense of freedom that could only be achieved by fully cutting loose. Is this transformation literal, or just a metaphorical representation of postpartum depression and body changes? The clues lead to it being literal, but Heller never dives enough into the deep end for it to be conclusive. There are more than a few moments of kookiness (the ones promised in the trailer) where this movie could distance itself from the many other stories about womanhood and maternity, but there’s a refusal from Heller to really through us for a loop. Her intentions and emotions are authentic, something that shouldn’t be a surprise considering her filmography which includes Can You Ever Forgive Me? and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood . Someone who does cut loose is Adams, devouring the meat of this performance with gusto. Her character fears becoming invisible, but it’s impossible not to see what Adams is bringing to the table, which ranges from soulfully teary monologues to devouring rabbits on the front lawn. Backing her up is an enigmatic performance from Jessica Harper as the local librarian and a trio of neighborly moms (Zoe Chao, Mary Holland, and Archana Ryan) that provide some excellent moments of comic relief. They often say less is more, but in the case of Nightbitch , more would have been more. A little more zaniness here and a little more directness there would have lifted this well-meaning story out of the crowded category labeled “just fine.” A woman turning into a dog isn’t exactly doing just fine, and neither should a film with such promise as this. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Venom: Let There Be Carnage October 4, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen Venom: Let There Be Carnage is an insult. It’s an insult to the pieces of paper that were mutilated to make the script. It’s an insult to the film stock. It’s an insult to the millions of dollars that could have served an infinitely better purpose. It’s an insult to activists, as it waves gay pride around with an ultra-corporate attitude. It’s an insult to the talents of Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, and Robert Richardson. But most importantly, it was an insult to my time, as it took much more from me than merely ninety minutes. The first Venom was bad for its reasons, as it was tonally inconsistent, with Tom Hardy and director Ruben Fleischer having conflicting ideas on what the movie should be. In the end, Fleischer’s darker take overpowered Hardy’s goofiness. Throw in weak characters and plot, and you got yourself one of the worst movies of 2018. Venom: Let There Be Carnage has addressed one of those problems, as it swings the tonal pendulum entirely in the other direction, resulting in self-parody. The sequel picks up where the last film left off, with Eddie and the alien symbiote, Venom, learning to live together within the same body. The two of them seem to be ripped from a Capra screwball comedy, as they’re sparring in slapstick fashion. Marking his return since the post-credit scene in the 2018 original, the deranged serial killer, Cletus Kasady, is about to be put on death row. But before that fateful day arrives, Cletus and Eddie’s paths cross, resulting in the birth of Carnage, the T-1000 to Venom’s T-800. Cletus and Carnage spark their symbiotic relationship, one that seeks the doom of Eddie, and the rescue of Cletus’s longtime flame, Shriek. Replacing Fleischer, who was busy with Zombieland: Double Tap and currently working on Uncharted , is motion-capture wizard, Andy Serkis. It’s a fitting lateral move, considering he’s worked with visionary directors such as Peter Jackson (as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy) and Matt Reeves (as Caesar in the Planet of the Apes trilogy), two people able to seamlessly blend visual creations within reality. Serkis hasn’t fancied himself much as a director, with Breathe and Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle being so underseen that they may as well not exist. With Venom: Let There Be Carnage , Serkis has landed on strike three, hopefully landing him in director jail. There’s an erratic and jerky quality to the film, one that tries to reflect the inner torment between Eddie and Venom. Locations become interchangeable, and so does logic as character motivations become lost in the struggle. Many of the actors seem lost as well, with Michelle Williams (way too talented to stoop this low for a paycheck) constantly trying to find a reason to exist beyond just being the contractually obligated “love interest that got away.” Things quickly become hard to follow, with Venom acting as Eddie’s inner monologue, butting in at every possible moment with one cringe-inducing line after another. Integral information is doused while the three characters speak at the same time, making the effort needed to keep things straight not worth it. Once Venom and Eddie split up their bromance, you’re relieved as it means a few moments of peace and quiet. There also seems to be an inevitable ugliness to the Venom films, as Matthew Libatique turned in the worst work of his career in 2018, and now the legendary Robert Richardson (a frequent collaborator with Quentin Tarantino, Oliver Stone, and Martin Scorsese) produces his most drab and cheap-looking work. At some point, you have to wonder how many people are involved in this franchise just for the money. Definitely not here for the cash is Tom Hardy, who has deepened his involvement by receiving the first writing credit of his career. Hardy has always delivered 110% for each of his roles, even if it wasn’t in the best interest of the film. With this sequel, Hardy, as well as Harrelson, have dialed things up to a Looney Tunes level of zany. There’s at least some unintentional comedy in their line readings, with a highlight being “I’m a real boy and you’re just an amoeba!” The badness of Venom: Let There Be Carnage made me appreciate other comic-book films even more. Marvel may be getting stale with their formula, but at least it works on a fundamental level. And based on the post-credit scene, we’ll have to see which side of the coin wins out, a battle which I am not looking forward to. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Sing Sing April 23, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Sing Sing screened at the 2024 Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Film Festival. A24 will release it in theaters on July 12. Blue streamers, a paper bird, a cardboard crown, stitched-together outfits, sheet cloth backgrounds, and a dim searchlight. These are the things that are used to turn reality into dreams within Sing Sing Correctional Facility, located just north of New York City. The actors up on that makeshift stage have been put there through Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA), a real-life prison program that aims to help incarcerated individuals channel their creativity in a way that helps them become better suited to their eventual life outside of the cement walls. “We are here to become human again,” is the mantra that the participants live by, with many of them having been a a part of the program for too many seasons to count. One of those veteran cast members is John 'Divine G' Whitfield, who has claimed Sing Sing as his home since he was wrongfully convicted of murders in the 1980s (the film takes place in 2005). He’s become somewhat of a minor celebrity across the prison system, with his plays and books, which he authors by clacking away on a typewriter within his tiny cell, reaching a wide audience of fellow inmates. He’s usually the brains of the operation, coming up with the ideas and scripts for the new productions, and starring in the lead roles. But while his next idea revolves around social satire, the others in the program would like to branch away from the “serious” material (their latest production was King Lear) and do something else. Somebody wants to do a Western, another wants something in Ancient Egypt, someone else wants to continue with Shakespeare, while another wants to play Freddie Krueger. Instead of choosing just one of those options, they decide to stitch them all together through time travel in their own original production. Adapting from the Esquire article “The Sing Sing Follies,” co-writer/director Greg Kwedar takes a naturalistic approach to the proceedings. After each of their performances, the actors are showered with applause from their inmate audience. They go backstage and congratulate each other on the great job that they’ve done. But instead of going out and celebrating, or receiving bouquets of flowers from adoring fans, they’re met with a wave of guards ready to sternly escort them back to their cells. The stark reality of this almost makes it more impressive that they persist season after season to put on a good show. None of this will advance their careers, nor will there be any sort of monetary reward at the end of this road. That non-professional aesthetic extends into the cast as well; with Kwedar only casting three professional actors in Colman Domingo as Divine G, Paul Raci as the group’s advisor, and Sean San Jose as G’s best friend. Much of the other roles are made up of former incarcerated members of the real-life troupe, which gives an unsanitized look at how the program has changed their lives. Talking at the post-screening Q&A, Kwedar mentioned the inspiration he took from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in terms of casting, with Domingo’s Oscar-nominated presence making him stand out similarly to Jack Nicholson. The role of Nurse Ratched is played here by The New York State Board of Parole, who constantly serve as the roadblock to Divine G’s potential release. That feeling of persevering through hopelessness is at the heart of Kwedar and Clint Bentley’s script, but it never comes across in an elevated fashion. Much of the tin-eared lines come from Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin (playing himself excellently), who makes several speeches about the streets being his home and that you shouldn’t put faith in the system. Bryce Dessner’s somber score soothes your ears between those moments, and Pat Scola’s quietly investigative camera roams the concrete jungle. Sing Sing is an important film when it's all put together, but that doesn’t mean it’s a lecture. There’s a lot of fun to be had in the production of the play, with the sheer creativity being incredibly infectious. Don’t be surprised to constantly hear about this film throughout the rest of the year. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen