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TIFF24 Recap September 21, 2024 By: Hunter Friesen They said it couldn’t be done. Of the 278 films screened over the 10 days at the 49th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), I was able to see 37 of them. Never mind that my eyesight has probably gotten much worse, my skin is even paler than before, and that someone broke the world record for most movies watched at a film festival by eclipsing 80 films within the same timeframe. This year’s edition of TIFF was a rousing success for both myself and the festival as a whole. I maintained a perfect schedule throughout, seeing everything I wanted to, ranging from glitzy world premieres in the biggest venues to independent international films in the back of the Scotiabank Theatre. The best came first on Friday (well, technically third since I saw Presence and William Tell on Thursday) in the form of The Brutalist , which met the sky-high hopes I had placed upon it through its placement on my Most Anticipated of 2024 list. Although I had to reluctantly accept a 35mm presentation of the film instead of the 70mm print that was being shown at the public screenings, there’s no denying that this is one of the most beautiful films of the year. It’s a new American epic that I will certainly catch again later this year whenever A24 decides to start their rollout, which I assume will emulate the molasses pace of classic Hollywood roadshows. This needs to be treated as a cinematic event on the same level as Oppenheimer . See it on the biggest screen possible, and plan a dinner afterward to reward both your body and mind. While the feasibility for The Brutalist to win the coveted People’s Choice Award was slim, both in terms of logistics regarding the runtime and mass appeal, I did end up seeing the actual top dog a few hours later at its world premiere. Unfortunately, I didn’t share the same enthusiasm for The Life of Chuc k compared to everyone else, with Flanagan’s approach to the material being a little too disjointed and schmaltzy for my liking. However, being in the same as the cast and crew, as well as the raucous audience, was more than worth it. John Crowley’s charming two-hander We Live in Time provided a nice break in the disappointment streak, which would continue the next morning with The Room Next Door and Hard Truths . In a bubble, both are fine movies with exceptional qualities to them. But when you factor in the talent involved, it’s impossible not to view them as less than they should have been. It was extremely shocking to walk out of The Room Next Door to the news that it had won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, a prize that seemed destined for The Brutalist . Ron Howard’s Eden , still without distribution as of this print date, served as my only Gala premiere within Roy Thomson Hall. After he showed humanity at its best with his previous film ( Thirteen Lives ), Howard drags us down to its most vile state. The pulpy tone and starry cast are what sell the experience. Overall it’s nothing special, which is why it’ll likely get punted to streaming, where it’ll probably be a big hit. Sunday was a double Ralph Fiennes day. Edward Berger’s Conclave is a soap opera with as much page-turning substance as it has a prestige-like style, while The Return , Uberto Pasolini’s adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey , was a snooze-fest. Bookending The Return was two fun thrillers: Justin Kurzel’s The Order and A24’s Heretic . The former contains some exceptional action setpieces and moments of chilling true-crime violence, while the latter has a devilishly delicious Hugh Grant performance. Things started slowing down a bit as the weekdays rolled around. David Mackenzie’s Relay was a smoky cool way to start a Monday morning, while Luca Guadagnino’s abstract adaptation of Queer was a puzzling way to end the night. Thankfully I had some sleep between that film and Tuesday morning’s Better Man , the CGI-monkey starring biopic on Robbie Williams. Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here and Malcolm Washington’s The Piano Lesson provided glimpses into fractured families reckoning with their past and future. Halina Reijn took that familial structure and burned it to the ground with Babygirl , a perverse tale of sex and power featuring knock-out performances from Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson. I saw two slow cinema titles carrying over from Venice on Wednesday: Harvest and April . While the former spun its wheels a few too many times, the latter mixed abstract visuals with real-life horrors to excellent results. Capping off the night was The End , Joshua Oppenheimer’s narrative feature debut after years of success as a documentarian. I was by far the biggest fan of this somber musical about the last surviving family, with the audience within the Princess of Wales growing more restless as the 148-minute feature went on. To be fair, TIFF didn’t do its audience many favors this year as they scheduled several long and challenging films for the 9:30 pm slot, which always starts at least twenty minutes late. The final Thursday-Sunday was reserved for catching up on several titles I had a passing interest in. The Fire Inside and Millers in Marriage turned out to be the only two that I came out with a positive reaction, while stuff like Without Blood , On Swift Horses , and The Cut ranged from disappointing to downright terrible. Somewhere in the middle was Bring Them Down , The Deb , and The Friend . Despite my eyelids carrying the same weight as dumbbells, I decided to cap the festival with the Midnight Madness screening of The Shadow Strays , the new film from Indonesian action aficionado Timo Tjahjanto. It was one of my most anticipated of the festival, and the energy from the crowd and the film was more than enough to sustain me throughout the 140-minute runtime. One could debate the pros and cons of watching so many movies in such a short amount of time. But there’s nothing like having a cinematic buffet such as this, and the experience of gorging is unbeatable. Now I’ll take an extended break, as the mere thought of watching a movie gives me a headache. FULL RANKING 1. The Brutalist 2. Conclave 3. The End 4. Saturday Night 5. The Order 6. April 7. I’m Still Here 8. Relay 9. We Live in Time 10. Heretic 11. The Shadow Strays 12. Presence 13. Harbin 14. The Piano Lesson 15. Babygirl 16. Queer 17. Eden 18. The Fire Inside 19. Millers in Marriage 20. The Room Next Door 21. Hard Truths 22. William Tell 23. Harvest 24. The Life of Chuck 25. Better Man 26. The Friend 27. Shell 28. Bring Them Down 29. The Deb 30. The Assessment 31. Nightbitch 32. The Return 33. On Swift Horses 34. Without Blood 35. The Last Showgirl 36. Hold Your Breath 37. The Cut 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

Heretic September 11, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Heretic had its World Premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. A24 will release it in theaters on November 15. With as many organized religions as there are fast food chains, it can be quite hard to differentiate between “the one” and the imitations. It’s a conundrum that Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) has dedicated much time to. He’s done the research, concocted some hypotheses, conducted experiments, and solidified his grand thesis on how religion has transformed the human race for thousands of years. And based on his secluded house filled with metal-lined walls and counterintuitive locks, his outlook isn’t going to be positive. Unbeknownst to Sister Paxton (Chloe East) and Barnes (Sophie Thatcher), Reed’s request made to their Church of Latter-Day Saints to receive a house visit wasn’t simply about hearing their sales pitch. But before the pair land in the trap, they must still navigate the polite society minefield. They’re mocked before they even open their mouths, with a group of teenage girls posing for ironic photos with them. For the first time in my life, I actually felt sorry for those missionaries you often find on the street corners handing out Bibles. But their faith is strong and they believe in their mission, so the pain is just another hurdle in God’s grand plan. I wouldn’t want to meet their God if Mr. Reed was always part of his plan. Things start with simple pleasantries, with the girls making their rehearsed points and Reed intermittently countering with humoristic observations he’s made in his studies. Grant weaponizes his charm to its full extent during this opening section, making no distinction between his buffoonish characters from his rom-com days and the darkness that we know Reed is hiding. The writer/director pair of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods know what they have on their hands, giving this moment of set-up the space to breathe far beyond what most horror films would allow. Once Reed starts to reveal his cards, that’s when the girls start to differentiate themselves. Paxton is the more agreeable one, always walking on eggshells to appease Reed’s demands and never seeming like a bad guest. She tells a story to Barnes about stumbling about pornography, the shame and inexperience of it keeping her from saying the word “fucking.” Between this and her role as Sammy’s religiously fanatic girlfriend in The Fabelmans , East has claimed a bit of a monopoly on these roles. Dressed in black as opposed to Paxton’s white, Barnes is the more skeptical of the two, with the past opening the door to a more confrontational view of everything she preaches. Figuring out where this is all going is what makes Heretic so much fun. Cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung (a frequent collaborator with Park Chan-wook) keeps the camera roaming on a tightrope, expanding the exquisite decorated confinement that production designer Philip Messina has crafted. The comparison between fast food chains and religions gets expanded once Reed brings in the Monopoly board game, with the theme of iterations connecting all three. There have been iterations of this type of production before, with Woods’ labeling during the world premiere screening of the film’s genre being “A24” being a pretty simple way to summarize it all. Whether that term is complimentary or derogatory is up to you. The film’s commitment to living up to this promise ultimately subsides for more familiar beats. Moments of the sound drowning out to make way for a loud crash are repeated a few too many times, as well as some conveniences in reveals. Reed may work in absolutes when making his claims, but that doesn’t mean that the filmmaking has to follow the well-trodden path of its genre brethren. Even if they can’t be fully supported by the end, the ideas at the forefront of Heretic is what takes it to the next level. It’s not looking to offend or be the person who arrogantly claims that “they’re just asking questions.” This is a genre exercise after all, not a semester in Religion 101. 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

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F July 2, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen With Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F , Eddie Murphy has joined Adam Sandler and Millie Bobby Brown in Netflix’s flock of golden geese. This marks his third film with the streamer in the last five years, the previous two being career-revitalizer Dolemite Is My Name and the worst film of last year, You People . Also mixed in are two Prime Video exclusives ( Coming 2 America and Candy Cane Lane ), with another one titled The Pickup currently in post-production. If you take a gander at Murphy’s IMDb page, you can see that he hasn’t been in a theatrically released film since 2016’s Mr. Church , which almost doesn’t count since it never got above a couple hundred theaters. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with starring in streaming movies, especially when someone like Netflix is seemingly the only one willing to greenlight Dolemite Is My Name after years of development hell and throw $150 million at a Beverly Hills Cop film after a thirty-year break. But for how smart they are as business decisions in this modern film industry, the creative output that comes from them is sorely lacking. “Good enough” feels like the mantra, something I mentioned in last week’s review of Netflix’s A Family Affair . It seems that Netflix and others have taken the lower barrier of entry for audiences as an excuse not to try as hard. How much would you really care about the experience of watching a film if it didn’t make you leave the couch? Certainly less than if you had to drive to the theater and fork over $10. Everything and everyone just feels like they’re just going through the motions in Axel F . Axel once again has to leave Detroit, a place he destroys more than the criminals he chases, and go to Beverly Hills. This time he’s flying west to save his estranged daughter (Taylour Paige) after she defends a wrongfully convicted cop killer and is threatened by those actually responsible for the murder. Also returning are old costars Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, and Bronson Pinchot; each of them inadvertently being an advertisement for whatever products Murphy uses to defy aging (seriously, he looks phenomenal for 62). Joining the mix is Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a fellow cop and Kevin Bacon as the chief of a new shady task force. “The world has changed” and “in today’s climate” are phrases used a couple of times to try and push the theme of Axel being lost in time just as much as he is often lost in his surroundings. The attempts are heavy-handed, yet never effective as Axel hardly seems to change as a person throughout the film. His relationship with his daughter stems wholly from everything that happened offscreen between Beverly Hills Cop III and now. There’s also the theme of mortality in the line of duty, something that’s already been done in the other Jerry Bruckheimer-produced cop-based sequels, Bad Boys For Life and Bad Boys: Ride or Die . Being that this is a Bruckheimer production, the action is bombastic. First-time director Mark Molloy is often hampered by bad special effects and drab photography. The extended opening chase scene involving a snow plow in Detroit is quite fun, but a later one with a helicopter is garish. Murphy is always having fun with the material, throwing out the same level of one-liners and energy he’s had for decades. There’s never a movie where his presence isn’t welcome, it’s just that most of them (this one included) don’t have any other reasons to care. 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

Armageddon Time May 26, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen Armageddon Time had its World Premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. Focus Features will release it in theaters on October 28. In the words of Mugatu from Zoolander : “Directors making their own autobiographies, it’s so hot right now.” Of course, a regarded filmmaker telling their life story isn’t exactly a brand new concept. François Truffaut did it with The 400 Blows , and so did Federico Fellini with Amarcord . But just like skinny ties and baggy beanies, the fad went away for a while. That was until 2018, when Alfonso Cuarón made it cool again with Roma , which earned him a trio of Oscar statuettes, including Best Director. Now it’s become a genre itself, with directors churning out cine memoirs at a pace that rivals the MCU. There’s been Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast , Richard Linklater’s Apollo 10 1/2 , Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God , Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Bardo (I’m not going to spell out the whole title, it hasn’t earned that gesture yet), Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir films, and Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans . And now, after venturing out into the Amazon jungle for The Lost of Z and deep space for Ad Astra , writer/director James Gray returns home to Queens, New York for Armageddon Time . Apart from being a homecoming to the location that housed his first five films, Armageddon Time also serves as Gray’s return to the Croisette after almost a decade away. It’s his fifth time competing for the Palme d’Or, and, based on the quality of this film, I’d say it’s his best chance yet. Banks Repeta (in his first major role after appearances as younger versions of characters in The Devil All the Time and Uncle Frank ) is our stand-in for Gray as Paul Graff, a sixth-grader at PS-173 in 1980 Queens. He’s a gifted student, but not a very motivated one, which often leads him into trouble with his strict teacher Mr. Turkeltaub. One of his regular prankster cohorts is Johnny, the only black student in the class. Despite both of them often getting caught for the same thing, Johnny’s punishment always seems to be worse than Paul’s. It’s a fact that resonates with Paul, even if the concept of racism hasn’t fully formed within his head. But his parents don’t see the innocence in the situation and move him to an elite private school across town. It’s not hard to imagine Gray writing this story during the Trump presidency, especially since Donald’s father and sister, Fred, and Maryanne, play small roles in shaping Paul’s increasingly pessimistic worldview during his time at the seemingly all-white prep school. Gray’s bluntness is apparent as he traces how the casually elitist and racist children of the Reagan era grew up to embrace the 45th president, and how their children will likely do the same in a few decades. It sometimes comes as lecturing, but there’s a sweetly honest feel to it that makes it go down smoothly. Also lending to the emotional pull of the film is the grownup trio of Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, and Anthony Hopkins. Hathaway is given the shorter end of the stick as Paul’s affectionate mother, but the actress makes up for her limited time with some moments of pathos. Strong, playing the more emotionally distant father that doesn’t hesitate to teach with his belt, also makes a strong impression, even if it sometimes feels as if he’s trying to do his best Ray Romano impression. It’s Hopkins who steals the show as the grandfather who fled Europe to escape Jewish persecution and find a better life in America. He’s always got a nugget of wisdom to spare, and a heart warm enough to start a fire in winter. The scenes between grandpa and grandson are a clear standout, especially one set in the park where the elder shares a touching monologue, which will surely be used as Hopkin’s Oscar clip come next year’s ceremony. You won’t walk away from Armageddon Time feeling as if you’ve been enlightened or seen something out of the ordinary, but you may find yourself moved at times and closely connected to your familial past. And at the end of the day, we could all use a little more of that. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

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 of Madeleine Swann, a 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 duties by playing as a direct sequel to Spectre , but also the final bow on the whole modern Bond era. 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 that 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, and 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 back 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 sly wink and a nod to what could be in store for this long-weathered franchise. 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 Banshees of Inisherin September 12, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Banshees of Inisherin had its North American Premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Searchlight Pictures will release it in theaters on October 21. Fear not all you haters of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (of which there are a lot more of you than I originally thought), writer/director Martin McDonagh has left the United States and is going back to Ireland for his newest film, The Banshees of Inisherin . And that’s not even the best part, which is that he’s reteaming with his In Bruges duo of Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. Actually, that’s not the best part either. The best part is that this new dark comedy is hands-down the funniest film of the year and the finest work by McDonagh as both a writer and a director. Every afternoon when the hour hand hits two o’clock on the dot, the good-souled, yet a little dim, Pádraic (Farrell) leaves his cozy dairy farm to meet up with his best friend Colm (Gleeson), the more reserved and intellectually inclined one of the pair, down at the local pub. Colm has been tirelessly working on a new piece of music for his fiddle, one that he hopes will have him remembered long after he’s left this world. But on one fateful day, those formalities are interrupted by Colm’s sudden need to end their relationship. “I just don’t like you anymore” is what he gives as a reason, something Pádraic can’t comprehend. And to prove that he’s absolutely serious, Colm promises to cut off one of his fingers each time Pádraic attempts to speak to him. Will Colm actually go through with his threat? How can this friendship go on for decades ad then suddenly be declared over? And how will Pádraic respond after being dumped so brutally? McDonagh answers these questions with devilish honesty by giving you the results you expect, but not in the way you expect them to happen. He infuses a dark undercurrent into nearly every scene, with side-splitting banter leading to some brutal anecdotes on human relationships. As was alluded to in the plot description, Colm’s threat about his fingers leads to some squirm-inducing laughter down the road. That mixture of dark and light on the page is also evident in the direction. There’s some sumptuous cinematography (provided by go-to MCU DP Ben Davis, finally breaking free from CG-infested photography) of the titular island, with the green rolling hills cascading into the roaring sea. But not far on the other side of the water is the raging Irish Civil War, where friends turned on each other in a bloody conflict that didn’t accomplish much of anything. Sound familiar? Trying to keep the peace between the two warring (or “rowing” as it's said in the film) friends is Pádraic’s sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon, often stealing the show with her warmth), who seems to be the only sensible one who longs to be free from the doldrums of this community. Her task is made even more difficult with the presence of the town chaos agent, Dominic (Barry Keoghan, continuing his streak of playing freaky weirdos), who makes Pádraic look like Plato. With equally stunning turns in The Batman , After Yang , and Thirteen Lives , 2022 seems to be the year of Colin Farrell. For years his good looks have come with a monkey paw curse, as he was forced to star as boring leading men in cookie-cutter blockbusters (see The Recruit and S.W.A.T. ) Fortunately, a few directors, such as Yorgos Lanthimos and McDonagh, have been able to work his charm into something a little more unique. Farrell’s innocence as Pádraic is often heartbreaking as he deals with emotional torture. And even after fourteen years apart, his chemistry with Gleeson has never been better. Equally hilarious as it is disturbing, The Banshees of Inisherin finds Martin McDonagh, as well as his troupe of actors, in top form. There’s nothing quite like it, and it serves as another reminder that we should all be a little kinder to one another. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Top 10 Films of 2024 December 28, 2024 By: Hunter Friesen In my Best of 2023 list, I described my choices as "predictable," taking both a positive and negative stance on that scenario. Anyone who knows me wouldn't be surprised that historical dramas by Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan, a David Fincher hitman thriller, and a Wes Anderson comedy would end up being some of my favorites of the year. 2024 ended up being very different, with many of the titles on this list coming clear out of left field. Could that be a sign that the usual heavy hitters are on their way down, or that last year's SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes have walloped the industry with more than just a temporary blow? Perhaps. But it could also mean that there are so many of those medium and small films out there, many ready to change your life if you just give them a chance. The only currency that matters in cinema is the experience you have in your seat and in the time that follows. All ten of the films featured in this list (and the extra ten honorable mentions) are boundlessly wealthy in that department, which is why I'm so excited to talk about them one more time before the book is closed. Honorable Mentions: A Complete Unknown , Dune: Part Two , I'm Still Here, Kinds of Kindness , Nickel Boys , Nosferatu , Saturday Night , September 5, The Apprentice , The Order 10. Maria Pablo Larraín concludes his biopic trilogy not with a story about a figure at the end of an era, but at the end of their life. This Maria Callas-led capper is further separated from the previous two efforts, the frenzied claustrophobia substituted with something more hauntingly elegiac, with Ed Lachmann's warm cinematographer and Guy Hendrix Dyas' sumptuous production design proving that pretty surroundings don't equal a pretty life. Angelina Jolie reminds us of her immense screen presence and poise as a performer, guiding us through Callas' tumultuous past and present. Full Review 9. The Substance If there’s one thing writer/director Coralie Fargeat’s sophomore feature hates more than attached limbs and unspilled blood, it’s subtlety. She knows that if you’re not going to be first or the most insightful, then you might as well make damn sure you’re going to the most audaciously unforgettable. With Julia Ducournau and Fargeat rising through the ranks of international cinema, the no-holds-barred corner that they occupy is looking like a mighty fine place to camp out for a while. Full Review 8. We Live in Time Featuring two of the most charming performances of the year by Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, We Live in Time is the kind of heart-tugging romantic drama that they don't make anymore. Cutting back and forth in time, screenwriter Nick Payne pieces together the story of a relationship, the trials and tribulations that drive humans to seek companionship with each other. Director John Crowley, excellently rebounding from The Goldfinch , makes sure none of this seems corny or overblown, applying a deft touch that authentically incites tears of laughter and sadness. 7. Emilia Pérez To try and categorize the filmography of French maestro Jacques Audiard into one box would be an act of futility, a sentiment that extends to his newest Mexican-set film. Is it a musical? Is it a crime thriller? Is it a life-affirming melodrama? It’s all and none of those things, harnessing the unique power of each genre to create a film bursting with bombast. Karla Sofía Gascón is a true discovery in the titular role, as are the musical talents of Zoe Saldaña that are rarely able to be shown outside of her CGI-heavy work. Full Review 6. Evil Does Not Exist Arthouse superstar Ryûsuke Hamaguchi makes his most outspoken work with Evil Does Not Exist . The relative leanness of Drive My Car has been dialed down to a quiet tranquility. Those who embrace the molasses will find themselves powerfully transported, a task that becomes much simpler with the aid of Eiko Ishibashi’s magnificent score. Despite being clear in his message, Hamaguchi never eviscerates the villains of this story, delivering an ecological parable that intricately paints in shades of grey. 5. The Girl with the Needle An ultra-grim fairy tale comes to life in writer/director Magnus von Horn’s loose retelling of Denmark’s most heinous and prolific serial killer. The depressing gloom of post-WWI Copenhagen is lensed in claustrophobic black-and-white, and the dread drip-fed through abstract visuals and a deeply haunting score. Vic Carmen Stone and Trine Dyrholm are standouts in their lead roles, guiding not just through this literal story, but also the universal lesson of the nightmares women have endured throughout history. 4. The End Even in the darkest depths of the Earth at the end of humanity, you can still find a reason to sing and dance. Co-writer/director Joshua Oppenheimer, famed for his one-two documentary punch of The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence , makes sure his fiction feature debut is as bold and audacious as one would expect. The Golden Age influences of Jacques Demy and Vincent Minnelli supply the bravura, the cast's confidence more important than their physical abilities. This is an absurdist concept with humorous moments, but it’s also so sincere that you can’t simply excuse it as another "eat the rich" story. These are rich characters, both emotionally and financially, with their inner delusions offering a complex lesson on how we handle the horrors that are right in front of us. Full Review 3. Conclave For someone who seemed to appear out of nowhere with All Quiet on the Western Front , director Edward Berger has quickly strung together two of the finest films of the past few years. Conclave is a soap opera with as much page-turning substance as it has a prestige-like style, with Berger and screenwriter Peter Straughan keeping the balance between thrills and social critique just as pristine as it was in Robert Harris’ novel. Longstanding acting royalty fills the cast, each of them maintaining a quiet dignity as a web of lies and deceit begins to unspool right in front of them. Full Review 2. The Brutalist The Brutalist is a full-course cinema meal, requiring an afternoon to consume and much longer to digest. It’s easy to savor every moment of it in real-time because of its boundless beauty, and just as easy over time thanks to its long lingering themes on the ideals that modern America convinced itself it was built upon. With a record-breaking runtime of 215 minutes (including an intermission!), each scene flows with more freedom and weight, all of them simultaneously epic and intimate as the camera glacially passes through the years. With three features to his name as a director, Brady Corbet has become one of the most formidable artists of his generation, challenging his audience to see the darkness that our world invites. Full Review 1. The Beast First watched in September 2023 at the Toronto International Film Festival (and rewatched in April of this year as part of the film's US release), Bertrand Bonello's sci-fi epic was the clear wire-to-wire winner of the year. Bonello displays a mastery of tone and vision across his 146-minute adaptation of Henry James' genre-defying novella. There’s passion, fear, humor, drama, and everything in between as Léa Seydoux and George MacKay play characters in three different periods - 1910, 2014, 2044 - as they navigate the unknowable connection they feel for each other. It's a greatly demanding work exploring the fear of opening oneself up to risk and the unknown, something that modern audiences have continually proven to be less adept at overcoming. 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 Current War October 31, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen In the late nineteenth century, Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse were the two titans of American innovation. With the country modernizing at a rapid pace, both of them figured that there needed to be a better way to power society than just candles and gas. After some years of development, they both discovered different ways to transmit electric current. Edison stood behind his Direct Current (DC) and Westinghouse championed his Alternating Current (AC). They were similar designs, each with their unique benefits and costs. But the country wasn’t big enough for both of them and only one method could prevail. Out of this situation sprang a fierce competition between the two men, a rivalry that was labeled as “the war of the currents”. This war lasted years as they battled endlessly to see whose technology would be the one to forever power and illuminate America. After having a tumultuous time getting to theaters (that’s a whole other story to look up), The Current War finally arrives two years after intended. Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, the film moves like electricity, zipping from scene to scene. The use of sharp camera work and montages oozes kinetic energy that keeps everything moving at a frantic pace, never ceasing to slow down or end. You’re gripped within the race and linked to the main characters as they tirelessly persist to be the one on top. If you’re not a natural history lover, this technique will keep you endlessly entertained without boring you with historical details. If you are a fan of history, this technique will still entertain you but leave you disappointed as moving the film at the speed of light (or current for that matter) doesn’t allow for deeper learning about the events or people attached to them. Anything that is learned is only surface level as there just isn’t enough time to develop any factual depth. It also doesn’t help that these shallow details become increasingly hard to keep straight, especially as the years go by in minutes and characters are split up into several intertwining storylines. While a miniseries would be the better way to tell this story, The Current War is an exciting way to convey history on the screen. Just like Gomez-Rejon’s use of rapid pacing, writer Michael Mitnick’s screenplay is expeditious and Sorkin-like. The rivalry between our two main giants is fierce as they snap dialogue to beat each other in the labs and the presses. And just like the outcome of the directing, the writing here is entertaining but very hard to follow. Mitnick tries to do too much in too little time as he crams the script to the brim with historical facts. As more information is heaped on, it becomes information overload, and gets increasingly impossible to keep things straight. By the end, you’ll feel like you’ve read a Wikipedia page and will only be able to remember fragments here and there Also, Nikola Tesla shows up in the story and participates in the race. While Tesla does deserve to stand with Edison and Westinghouse in the history books, he doesn’t belong in this already overly-stuffed movie. Starring as the brash Thomas Edison is Benedict Cumberbatch, whose American accent isn’t as convincing as one would think. Like most of Cumberbatch’s performances, you can see the genius of the character within his speech and mannerisms. Thankfully, the genius he plays here isn’t as cold as Sherlock Holmes or Alan Turing. There’s some warmth under Edison’s surface that you can sense through Cumberbatch’s performance. Michael Shannon plays the opposite of Cumberbatch as he is calmer and calculated in his performance of George Westinghouse. He’s the more businessman-like of the two as he carries himself more professionally. Nicholas Hoult plays Nikola Tesla. Just like Cumbertach, Hoult’s Eastern European accent isn’t on point, but it’s fine enough to pass. Hoult does well at making you see the frustration within Tesla as his brilliant ideas are never allowed to flourish. Lastly, Tom Holland does supporting work as Edison’s secretary. As it was filmed before his star power ballooned from Spider-Man, Holland’s role is minor and doesn’t give him much to work with. The Current War is the most entertaining and needlessly confusing movie of the year. All the talent involved makes a great effort, but their good intentions just come up short of making a great movie. But it’s still quite good and deserves to be seen, even if you’d be hard-pressed to absorb and remember most of what it’s trying to teach you. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

'Bonnie & Clyde' and New Sentimentality February 1, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen Immediately upon its release, film critic Roger Ebert claimed Bonnie and Clyde to be alandmark in American cinema. The film attracted a love/hate relationship with critics, with the love side eventually winning out in the long run. Ebert was right in that Bonnie and Clyde was a milestone for American cinema, as this was one of the earliest and most successful films that embraced the idea of “counterculture." Through the use of their idea of new sentimentality, screenwriters David Newman and Robert Benton took Hollywood by storm by defying the oldways in favor of charging down a new path. The idea of “new sentimentality” laid out by Newman and Benton tried to explain the cultural and generational differences that were taking place in America during the 1960s. The ways of Old Sentimentality, which preached about the good ol' days of American patriotism and love for others, were now fading away in favor of a more tough and self-empowering way of thinking. Bonnie and Clyde illustrated this new way of thinking in multiple ways. The main factor that created controversy around Bonnie and Clyde , and for why it is apiece of new sentimentality, is the unrivaled amount of violence inflicted by and onto the characters. Obviously, with a movie about bank robbers, there has to be a few shootouts thatwould get butts in seats. Bonnie and Clyde does deliver the shootouts that one would expect and pay to see at the time, but it does it in such a way that it sucks out all the guilty joy we get out of watching it. Instead of dropping dead instantly after one shot, characters bleed and writhe around in extreme agony. The old way of gun violence was quick and didn’t allow for us to think aboutthe ramifications. This new way forces us to see the effects violence has on every day people, the physical damage it does to the person hit and the emotional damage it does to the people watching it, for which we the audience must participate. This idea somewhat borrows from the French and Italian new-wave of thinking that placed importance on telling stories that reflected our reality that is filled with real people. The violence comes to an incredible climax at the very end when our titular characters are gunned down in a hail of never-ending bullets. All you can do during the scene is sit there incomplete shock as their bodies are riddled to shreds. It’s not fun to watch or heroic in any nature. The old sentimentality had gun-toting heroes like Humphrey Bogart and John Wayne who killed quick and clean. They symbolized a time when America was in a righteous war to protect theworld from the Nazis. Bonnie and Clyde is the new idea that violence is something that lingers inthe moment and for many moments after. America was in Vietnam at the time, a war that waspropelled by American self-interest. Apart from violence, another element that must be delivered to sell a movie is sex. Like violence, sex was shown in only its tamest forms in film. Hitchcock famously had to dance around the subject in Notorious by having his characters kiss and peck at each other over time. Bonnie and Clyde engages with sex on a much more open scale. Bonnie and Clyde have sex multiple times throughout the film and even discuss it with each other. It’s a part of their relationship as opposed to being kept under the rug like before. We even get a tiny storyline about Clyde being impotent and then finally overcoming this. The idea of impotence before that time wasn’t one to be discussed as it clashed with the idea of what a real man was. John Wayne would never be impotent! The idea of new sentimentality changed what it meant to be a man, filled with imperfections and perversions. Bonnie and Clyde marked the mainstream beginning of new sentimentality within cinema. Through its unflinching approach to violence and sex, the film sparked a debate that isstill being felt today. As Ebert said, the film was made in 1965 about people in 1934, but it will always be made for us here and now. 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

Pinocchio September 15, 2022 By: Button Tyler Banark Yes, Disney's live-action remakes may lack the heart and genuineness of their animated counterparts, but as long as they get the views, the execs at the mouse house could care less about anything else. With Pinocchio being the latest victim of the conglomerate's cash-grabbing strategy, it gives a keen reminder of where the jingle from the opening studio logo comes from. I have no personal connection to the original 1940 film, but I couldn't pass on it with Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks attached. Despite their good intentions, Pinocchio is another run-of-the-mill live-action remake of the mouse house that still left no room for creativity. Hanks is the movie's main selling point as Geppeto, a lonely old clockmaker who wishes for nothing more than a real son in his life and not the titular wooden puppet he made. After making a wish, the wooden boy comes to life and wishes to pursue the dream of becoming a real human boy. Although similar to the source material, Zemeckis' Pinocchio had some new characters, such as Fabiana, her marionette Sabina, and Sofia the seagull. These new characters are nuanced and don't add much to the story, but they never feel unnecessary. None of the characters felt out of place, mainly because this is a remake, and if you know the story, you know what you're in for. Aside from Hanks, the cast as a whole seemed a bit inconsistent as Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Jiminy Cricket felt odd with him doing a weird voice, while unrecognizable, that creeped me out. Whenever he spoke, I wasn't sure if JGL was trying to do a caricature take on the role or if what he was doing was spot on with what the character was supposed to be. On the other hand, Keegan-Michael Key fit in as Honest John; he brought that energetic charisma from his Key and Peele days, which helped a lot, given the role consists of him being a mischievous fox. Lastly, Luke Evans has a small role as the Pleasure Island coachman. He does a musical number, and that's it. However, after doing this and playing Gaston in the 2017 remake of Beauty and the Beast , I'm convinced that he enjoys doing these lifeless films. The movie's effects are worth mentioning, as this movie is a massive CGI fest. If I had a dollar for every shot in this film that I could tell was from a green screen, I'd have a fortune. Whether it was kids sliding down a mountain of candy or seeing fake water splash into Hanks' face, the effects were distracting as they could easily take viewers out of the movie. The worst part about it was anytime Pinocchio had a close-up; he looked like a cartoon character in the worst way possible. The good thing about the effects here is that they don't seem reminiscent of the motion capture from two Zemeckis films from the 2000s resembling the uncanny valley: 2004's The Polar Express and 2009's A Christmas Carol . Finally, it's been occurring to me that Zemeckis seems like a director that's way beyond his prime and needs to call it quits. I think he's only made one movie since Cast Away that I'd consider be solid, and that was 2015's The Walk . I know he didn't mean any poor intentions to Pinocchio , but when he's making a film such as this for a studio like Disney, one would think he'd be allowed to take some creative liberties. Unfortunately, this is not the case here, and it shows. The only time I felt this wasn't the case was during the finale, Gepetto gave a mini-monologue, and it hit hard enough to the point where it drove me to tears. To make matters worse, Disney has some unnecessary Easter eggs and callbacks to other films sprinkled throughout that are cringe-worthy. Overall, Pinocchio is a remake not worth the time and energy to watch. Unless that is if you're a fan of the original and want to watch it for nostalgia. It may be released only on Disney+, which is pretty deserving, given how much quality and substance this movie lacks. You can follow Tyler and read more of his thoughts on movies 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

Shazam: Fury of the Gods March 19, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen With all the recent news about the future potential for James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new and revitalized DCU, it almost seems pointless to spend time, money, and energy on a grandfathered-in property from the old guard like Shazam: Fury of the Gods . It is an increasingly bad product of the modern studio landscape that giant blockbusters such as this can be rendered irrelevant by politics even before they’ve come out. We don’t have to look that much deeper within Warner Bros. to find the indefinitely-shelved Batgirl as a much harsher example. But then again, it’s hard for me to feel sympathy for Fury of the Gods (and the entire old DCU regime) when it doesn’t provide any compelling reasons for its own existence. It’s an ultra-corporate tentpole telling a been-there-done-that story, with the only thing it excels at doing is being annoying. Where the first Shazam was lighter on its feet and told a pretty straightforward story, Fury of the Gods muddies the waters as we dig deeper into the mediocre lore of the titular character. The three sisters of Atlas: Hespera (Helen Mirren), Kalypso (Lucy Liu), and Anthea (Rachel Zegler) have come to our mortal realm to claim their father’s staff, which can give and take the god-like powers from any person. Shazam (who doesn’t go by that name for “hilarious” reasons) and his superhuman foster family are their natural obstacles, although they have in-house troubles of their own as each member wants something a little different. Shazam doesn’t really know his place as a superhero, with Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer) being overconfident with his abilities. The rest of the family fulfills their single character trait, so 75% of their interactions go exactly as expected. Shazam’s identity crisis extends to the movie at large, as the edges of personality from the first film have been sanded off in favor of much more generic plotting and action. The stakes are again centered around the world being destroyed, with a MacGuffin about an item with limitless power. It even creates a sky beam (sort of), something we definitely haven’t gotten tired of! There’s also still the problem of Zachary Levi and Asher Angel being the same character, despite the former having too much personality and the latter not enough. Director David F. Sandberg and writers Henry Gayden and Chris Morgan seemed to have sided with Levi, with Angel reduced to a much smaller supporting role. Grazer is grating as well as he overdoes everything. But there is talent evident within him, which he showed tremendously with Luca Gudagnino’s We Are Who We Are , so I still look forward to what he can do outside of franchises. It’s hilarious that Dwayne Johnson didn’t want anything to do with Shazam when he was building his Black Adam movie, despite the two characters having a decades-long relationship in the comics. Now with both Black Adam and Shazam: Fury of the Gods being beacons of generic studio fodder, it seems only right for the two of them to finally get together and make something that finally kills the DCU. I wouldn’t mind if their power were also strong enough to suspend the MCU for a while, because the slope toward the gutter is getting increasingly slippier with each new entry. 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

Kung Fu Panda 4 March 10, 2024 By: Button Tyler Banark As time has proved, it’s a risky choice for a franchise to leap beyond a trilogy and into a fourth entry. For every John Wick: Chapter 4 , Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol , and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ; there is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Cyrstal Skull, The Bourne Ultimatum , and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides . DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda 4 falls more into the latter bucket by providing the expected stunning visuals, yet also displaying an overfamiliar story that signals a franchise running out of steam and bound to implode. Kung Fu Panda 4 ’s biggest flaw is its script; penned by recurring writers Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger, and newcomer Darren Lemke. While the three previous entries mixed plenty of laughs and memorable moments, there wasn’t a single laugh-out-loud moment here, not even for the younger members of the audience. It didn’t help that most of these attempted jokes are featured in a senseless plot. Po has taken the next step in his journey by fulfilling the position of spiritual leader for the Valley of Peace. Because of this, he must step down as The Dragon Warrior and look to find a successor. As he does this, yet another power-hungry villain in The Chameleon (Viola Davis) threatens China by harnessing the powers of all of Po’s past villains. Tai Lung, Lord Shen, and General Kai all return, with Tai Lung being the only one in the spotlight since Ian McShane was the only original voice actor of the trio to come back. Also missing are Furious Five, with their absence being attributed to “other duties.” Of course, Jack Black returns as Po, a character he never seems to take for granted. He’s up to his usual antics, which is enough since seeing Black do his thing is enough of an enjoyable time. Viola Davis’ inclusion in the franchise is great on paper, but it’s not as great in execution considering her character’s copied and pasted motivations. Although he’s not given much screentime, Dustin Hoffman still phones it in as Shifu, which also marks his first appearance in a studio film since 2017’s The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) . Zimmer returns to the maestro’s corner, collaborating again with Steve Mazzaro. Although there are no outstanding pieces, the duo does provide an interestingly Eastern-sounding rendition of “Crazy Train” during a chase sequence. And that’s not the only cover song to be prominently featured, with Black and his band, Tenacious D, covering Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time” during the end credits. It’s a better use of Black’s musical talent than “Peaches” from The Super Mario Bros Movie . Kung Fu Panda 4 feels like a dishonor to the franchise, with almost every aspect being inferior to the previous entries. Even the DreamWorks opening credit logo lacked the personality it once had. From a franchise that has always been willing to take risks, this fourth outing is safe and forgettable. Audiences were wishing for more skadoosh, but they got more of a whimpering pow instead. 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