Awards Update: Post-Cannes Realignment June 18, 2024 By: Hunter Friesen Welcome to an ongoing series where I cover the 2024/2025 awards season. On a regular basis, I will update my Oscar predictions, taking into account the new information that has been received since the last update. Full predictions in every category can be found on the Home and Awards page. Two of the Big Five (plus Telluride as the unofficial sixth member) film festivals have concluded for the year, which means it's time to take stock of where we are in the Oscar race. The chants of "U-S-A!" rang throughout the Palais a few Saturdays ago as Sean Baker’s New York-set Anora took home the Palme d’Or, the first American film to reign victorious since Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life in 2011. Having attended the festival and seen the film for myself, I can say that Anora is Baker’s best shot yet to gain some Oscar recognition. It’s his most commercial film, a laugh-out-loud comedy that manages to instill some social and political commentary along the way. It’s also overlong and not his most incisive work, but the sheer amount of fun it incites makes up for that. Given the recently announced October 18 release date by Neon, the film will most likely replicate the rollout strategy of Red Rocket . Splashy appearances at Telluride and the New York Film Festival are almost a given, with the biggest question being the possibility of a stop at TIFF. You’d have to go back to 2008’s The Class to find a Palme d’Or winner that didn’t make an appearance at TIFF, with, coincidentally, The Tree of Life being the exception as it released in theaters in June. You’d then have to go back to 2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to find a film that premiered in Cannes and then went on to win the TIFF People’s Choice Award. Parasite came close in 2019 as it won the Palme d’Or and then placed in the second runner-up position at TIFF. Given my audience’s reaction to Anora , and that of critics, I think there’s a strong possibility that it places well at TIFF, if it decides to show. Neon has taken each of their four previous Palme d’Or winners ( Parasite , Titane , Triangle of Sadness , Anatomy of a Fall ) to TIFF, with three of them earning a Best Picture nomination later down the line ( Titane was never going to be serious Oscar player). As for nomination outcomes Anora could replicate, I’d look towards the strictly above-the-line, overall low-nomination players such as Licorice Pizza , Women Talking , and Past Lives . An Original Screenplay nomination feels like a lock at this point, with Best Director being in the mix. I was hesitant about both Jonathan Glazer and Justine Triet last year, so Baker finding his way into the final five would not surprise me. Staying within the winner’s circle, Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light marked a triumphant return for India to the Croisette after a nearly thirty-year absence. Janus Films holds the domestic distribution rights, the same company that guided Drive My Car ’s hugely successful and influential underdog campaign in 2021. The reactions out of Cannes for Kapadia’s film are just as high as they were for Hamaguchi’s. We’ll just have to wait and see how much the critical enthusiasm for the film survives until later in the year, as Drive My Car didn’t announce itself as a serious Oscar player until it won the Best Picture prize from all three major U.S. critics groups (LAFCA, NYFCC, NSFC). There’s also the problem of Kapadia not being a popular figure by the Indian government , which dampens the film’s chances of being submitted for Best International Feature. The French/Mexican production Emilia Perez will surely find itself submitted by the former country, save for the unlikely possibility of another French film stealing the spotlight during the fall festivals. Netflix made the splashiest acquisition of the festival when it scooped up the domestic distribution rights, a move that bodes well for the number of eyeballs that will be fixated on this Spanish-language crime musical. At the moment, I’m still questioning what kind of Oscar player it will be. I could equally see a scenario where it nabs a half-dozen nominations, including Best Picture, and a scenario where it just finds itself with a single ho-hum placement in Best International Feature. While I certainly didn’t envision Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness to be as dominant as The Favourite and Poor Things , I did think the vibe would have been a little more Oscar-friendly. The good-but-not-great reactions and quick release don’t bode well for the film, which is making me lower its overall nomination total from six (including Best Picture), to just a namecheck nomination in Best Original Screenplay, which I’ll likely drop once the fall festivals reveal more contenders. I can confidently say that Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis will not be an Oscar player in any category, as most of the negative aspects of my mixed review stemmed from the film’s poor production values and acting. Its recent acquisition by Lionsgate doesn’t add any strength to its chances, but it does make me happy that more people will be able to see it. Still stuck in destitution hell is Ali Abassi’s Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice , of which I was a big fan. I’d still be a bit skeptical of the film’s awards chances if it had landed a distribution deal at the festival, so the lack of one really puts a dent in any hope one might have for it. Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig was certainly my Palme d’Or prediction going into the final day, so walking away only with a Special Prize of the Jury certainly felt like a disappointment. I’m sure Neon felt the same way as they picked up the film midway through the festival. The critical reception is still quite high, so there’s a chance it could find some critics' group love later in the year. Iran will not be submitting it for Best International Feature, and I’m not sure Neon will be giving it the push it needs now that its eggs are firmly in the Anora basket. The rest of the summer season will be spent evaluating likely below-the-line players such as Twisters , Deadpool & Wolverine , and Alien: Romulus . We’ll also be getting a steady dripping of fall festival rumors and lineup announcements. I’ll have another update in a few months before the fall festivals commence. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen

Eden September 10, 2024 By: Button Tyler Banark Ron Howard’s recent track record has been met with absolute inconsistency. It seems as though, since his Best Picture-winning film A Beautiful Mind , he hasn’t hit a home run or at least gotten more than a double. He’s known to be a “safe” director, which is the case as many of his movies, especially recent ones, don’t shoot for the moon or offer any new substance. The worriers should be pleased that Eden looks to end this streak, as it’s Howard’s best movie in years, as well as his darkest one ever. It is a gritty thriller that sees a stacked cast consisting of Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby, Sydney Sweeney, Daniel Brühl, and Ana de Armas play a game of survival of the fittest that is sure to be jaw-dropping for all viewers. Set in the late 1920s, Eden follows three groups of Germans who fled their country to the island of Floreana in the Galápagos Islands. Law and Kirby play a doctor and his handicapped wife, looking to find solace on the island as the first to do so, in an attempt to escape from society. Sweeney and Brühl are a couple with a young son looking for a new start, while de Armas is an enigmatic socialite looking to build the nicest hotel in the southern hemisphere. The three groups find themselves at odds when looking to establish dominance and power amongst each other. Everything that happens from there is sheer bedlam as each group plays mind games to try and turn certain characters against each other. To say things get dark for a Howard movie would be a gross understatement, but it’s best to leave audiences knowing as little about it as possible beforehand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVSyZQ7S8hc Right out of the gate, the cast delivers strong performances, from the subtle Kirby and Law to the loud and expressive Brühl and Sweeney. However, de Armas is the MVP of it all, taking on a character far from what we’ve previously seen from her. The Baroness is an evil, manipulative woman whose welcoming demeanor comes off as fittingly reckless and untrustworthy. When we first meet her, she’s being carried off the boat by two servants who are to help her build the hotel. The way de Armas toys with the other island residents and her helpers is devious, and she executes the character’s intentions phenomenally. She’s always been able to adapt to different accents, as she dons an unmistakable German one mixed with other parts of Europe. Sweeney is another contending standout as she gives another fierce performance (similar to her recent horror flick Immaculate ). Howard’s direction and translation of his and Noah Pink’s script are impeccable. Throughout the plot, audiences can never tell whether the characters are playing chess or checkers, with motivations constantly fluctuating. The plot is well-planned and thought out, and the production value fits tremendously. There are some speed bumps in its cinematography and score. DP Mathias Herndl has difficulties shooting this movie, with the coloring giving a grainy color scheme, and the camerawork takes time to find its footing. Hans Zimmer’s score is routine, which unfortunately falls in line with the majority of his work as of late (the Dune films serving as the exception) Of everything Howard has made thus far, Eden is one of his boldest films, not simply because of its haunted qualities. It speaks volumes and provides a resonant tale, as his best works do. Eden is no different by showcasing how ugly humanity can be in the face of fight-or-die situations. The cast he assembled is one of the year’s best, and it will surely be a conversation topic once it’s picked up for distribution and seen by audiences everywhere. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Vertical Entertainment will release Eden in theaters nationwide on August 22nd. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

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 they already are. 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJP2QblqLA0 Lenny is just an upstart assistant conductor at the beginning of the movie, but his legend is 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. Re-teaming 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 are 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. Netflix will release Maestro in select theaters on November 22nd, followed by its streaming premiere on December 20th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The French Dispatch July 17, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen With each subsequent entry into his distinct filmography, Wes Anderson seems to make it a mission to make the most Wes Anderson film. The intricacies of 2001’s The Royal Tenenbaums seemed quaint around the time The Grand Budapest Hotel was released in 2013. Even his side ventures into stop-motion animation contain a great distance in production quality between 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox and 2018’s Isle of Dogs . Anderson’s tenth feature film, The French Dispatch, towers over all of his previous works with its masterful production qualities and international ensemble cast. Set in 20 th -century France in the fictional city of Ennui-sur-Blasé, The French Dispatch opens with the untimely news that the editor of the titular magazine, Arthur Howitzer Jr. (Bill Murray), son of the magazine’s founder and holder of a supreme eye for talent, has died. As per his wishes, his life is to be tied directly to that of the magazine, meaning that the publication dies with him. His team of writers – an eccentric bunch of expatriates all recruited over the years by Howitzer in one way or another – is granted one final issue, which they decide will contain “an obituary, a brief travel guide, and three feature stories.” The obituary is, of course, for Arthur, while the travel guide takes one through the historic village that has acted as the publication’s home for nearly half a century. The three retrospective stories selected are considered to be the best in the publication’s long history: an account by the paper’s art critic (Tilda Swinton) of the deranged painter Moses Rosenthal (Benicio Del Toro) and a brash art dealer (Adrien Brody); an on-the-ground report by political correspondent Lucinda Krementz (Frances McDormand) of the student revolution led by the charismatic Zeffirelli (Timothee Chalamet); and a retelling by food critic Roebuck Wright (Jeffrey Wright) of how he got entangled in a kidnapping involving the son of the chief of police (Matthieu Almaric). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcPk2p0Zaw4 While there is no central story to fully move the film from start to finish, the anthology-style structure still allows Anderson to explore several of the themes found within his previous works, such as human curiosity and the ironic relationship we share with the world and its other characters. The final story of the food critic ranks as the best in terms of what’s on the page, giving Jeffrey Wright a wonderfully complex character who unintentionally learns several valuable lessons about his place in the world. Some will find that the anthology structure limits the emotional connection one can have to the characters, especially since Anderson has built his career on wonderfully layered characters such as Royal Tenenbaum and M. Gustave. On the contrary, while many of his characters tend to overstay their welcome in a 100-minute narrative, the anthologies force Anderson to be as efficient as possible with character development, creating several sequences of mise-en-scène where the direction tells just as much of the story as the script. After gradually becoming more confident as a director, Anderson has finally allowed himself to fully unleash his unique brand of filmmaking. Visually, this is one of the most accomplished works ever made as Anderson toys with aspect ratios (very similar to the strategy within The Grand Budapest Hotel ), color and black & white cinematography, ingeniously hilarious freeze frames, and a period-accurate soundtrack that seems to always be perfectly queued. Ironically, the major complaint I have against the film is that there are dozens of expertly crafted shots that come and go in mere seconds, even though they could be dissected for hours. Every frame truly is a painting, as several hidden treasures can be found in every nook and cranny. This is a film that demands to be rewatched several times over to soak in every last detail. There are no weak links within the Robert Altman-sized cast, with players such as Adrien Brody (who seems to only deliver a good performance nowadays when directed by Anderson), Frances McDormand, and Jeffrey Wright. The phrase “there are no small parts, only small actors” doesn’t apply here, as people such as Christoph Waltz and Saoirse Ronan are reduced to minuscule cameos. Still, Henry Winkler and Willem Dafoe can do a lot with the little that they are given. A visual masterpiece bursting at the seams with talent both on and off the screen, The French Dispatch is a film by a director working at the absolute height of his powers. More importantly, the film gave me one of the most enjoyable theatrical experiences in a long time, with several rounds of applause from the Cannes crowd that seemed to be in love with the film as much as I was. I worry about how Anderson will be able to top this with his next film. But until then, I’ll stay in the present and be thankful that something this magical is allowed to exist in a world that only seems to get bleaker. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Searchlight Pictures will release The French Dispatch in select theaters on October 22nd, followed by a nationwide expansion on October 29th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Sinners April 15, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Shot and marketed with IMAX cameras akin to something only Christopher Nolan would do, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners plays big and tall as it spans both centuries and genres to tell a story you’ve never quite seen before. Gangsters, musicians, preachers, conjurers, and vampires collide on one hot summer night, all of them ready to shake away the demons under the power of liquor, the blues, and sweat. Vampires, you say? Yes, those bloodsuckers that have ruined pretty much every protagonist’s day since the birth of cinema are in the Deep South too, and they possess just as much bark as they do bite. Although they live in the shadows very literally, those demons also represent themselves metaphorically through Coogler’s rotational use of the Ultra Panavision 70mm 2.76:1 aspect ratio. Normally reserved for epically scoped projects like The Hateful Eight and Ben-Hur , Coogler and cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw flip the technique on its head, the black bars heavily weighing down on our mortal characters as the grainy photography captures the humid restlessness. Many of them fear that their lives are being drained away by the society that keeps them down, the chains of slavery from just a few generations ago replaced by the invisible shackles of Jim Crow in the 1930s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKGxHflevuk For Sammi (Miles Caton), the son of your usual movie preacher who warns about the dangers of sex, drugs, and rock & roll, there's a world of opportunity outside of Mississippi. But for the Smokestack twins (Michael B. Jordan as both Smoke and Stack), they know that those promises of a land of milk & honey where all men are created equal are just a bunch of fools’ gold. They’ve seen a thing or two to know a thing or two, which is that Jim Crow is a worldwide recipe, the only variable being the intensity of the flavor. The best strategy in a world set against you is to plant yourself where you know your enemy best. That means they’ve returned to their birthplace of Clarksdale, Mississippi, after nearly a decade of ripping off gangsters in Chicago, a city that everybody asks them if it is as good as the legends say it is. The twins leave that question mostly unanswered, as they know the preciousness of hope and that they never were set on honest work to begin with. Fortunately for them, everybody in Clarksdale is a sinner, filling themselves up on liquor and fleshly desires. What’s the point of the future when the outlook is just more of the same shitty present? For as much as the marketing team has cranked up the promise of death and destruction, Coogler spends a large chunk of the first act examining the death and decay of the American dream. “The Klan doesn’t exist no more,” says the heavily assumed racist white owner of the sawmill the twins buy to refurbish into a juke joint. It’s a line that elicited uneasy chuckles from my audience, everyone knowing underneath that’s as much a lie in 2025 as it was in 1932. Between his two Black Panther films and Creed , Coogler has illustrated a near-masterful skill for diffusing incisive social commentary into the muscular frame of a popcorn blockbuster. Jack O'Connell’s vampire Remmick spins a yarn of a vampire world where everyone lives together in harmony, although his appearance signals that the only thing that will change is the ownership of those at the top of the social hierarchy. Without spoiling its specific contents in fear of robbing you of the experience of witnessing it with a clean palette, there’s a certain long take that merges the past, present, and future in an exhilaratingly fresh way that I didn’t think was possible for a $100 million studio film. Even if, for some odd reason, you’re coming into Sinners looking to turn your brain off, Coogler supplies more than a sizable portion of R-rated gnarliness. This is still a horror movie down to the bone, filled with characters who make dumb decisions and moments that will make you jump out of your seat. That long take also shows off the immaculate craft of his production crew: Hannah Beachler’s rich sets, Ruth E. Carter’s snazzy costumes, and Ludwig Göransson’s banjo and electric guitar layered score. Each of them can both open and rip out your heart at the drop of a hat, something the cast also replicates. If I had a nickel for every time a 2025 Warner Bros. film had its lead actor play multiple identical-looking characters, I’d have three nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird it happened thrice. Luckily, this nickel goes to the top dog that is two Michael B. Jordans, and not the multiple clones of Robert Pattinson from Mickey 17 or the double De Niro in The Alto Knights . As twins, Jordan doesn’t play two totally different personas, just a closely overlapping Venn diagram. Hailee Steinfeld, who, believe it or not, hasn’t been in a live-action feature film since 2019, showcases why we shouldn’t have let that fact come to fruition and kept her on the path of being a full-time movie star. In a time when America is having an identity crisis (then again, when aren’t we?), Sinners looks back and ahead with the gumption that only a wild premise such as this could achieve. Coogler has shown you on multiple occasions a new path as part of a well-worn map, so now let him redraw the whole thing in blood and brimstone. Warner Bros. Pictures will release Sinners in theaters nationwide on April 18th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Top 10 Films of 2024 (So Far) July 1, 2024 By: Hunter Friesen I don’t know if it should be cause for celebration or concern, but we’ve reached the halfway mark of 2024, seemingly faster than any year before. This moment places us at a crossroads, able to equally look back at what’s already happened, and continue to look forward to what’s to come. Before we dive even deeper into the months ahead, I’d like to take a moment and be thankful for the best that cinema has had to offer us in this initial half. According to my Letterboxd list, I’ve seen a whopping 78 new releases, a number that is slightly inflated as many titles were seen at 2023 festivals, while others were seen at festivals this year and have yet to be released. To promote equality among the contenders, I’ll only be ranking the films that have been made available to the public before June 30, which disqualifies great works like The Apprentice and Emilia Perez , both of which have a strong chance of showing up on this list at the end of the year. 10. The Beekeeper It only took until the second week of January for 2024 to get its best bad movie of the year. This Jason Statham-starring revenge flick is what mindless action movies should strive for, although I’m not sure writer Kurt Wimmer and director David Ayer would be able to share how they’ve crafted a movie that is both self-aware and totally oblivious to being so bad it’s good. Full Review 9. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell Vietnamese writer/director Phan Thien An has created a film of extraordinary uniqueness, aligning closely with the extreme slow cinema works of Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Béla Tarr. Every scene is comprised of a single take, all of them extraordinary feats of production on account of their length and complexity. Time is often at a standstill, with no one ever seeming to be in a rush or wanting to have a direct conversation. Your attitude towards this style will be determined quickly, most likely in your ability to stay awake. But even those who drift off from time to time will have their dreams permeated by images from the film. It’s part of the experience, a little piece of the film that sticks with you, something the large majority of other works fail to do. 8. I Saw the TV Glow I couldn't tell what feelings I was experiencing while watching I Saw the TV Glow , but I can definitely tell you I was feeling something. There was terror, bewilderment, wonder, curiosity, nostalgia, and some sort of feeling of childhood innocence. And yet there was none of those things, at least in the forms I’d expected or had experienced before. I stared at the screen with the same hypnotized energy as the main characters watching their favorite show, The Pink Opaque . Was I enjoying what I was watching, and did it even make sense? I didn’t know then, and I still don’t know now. But I can’t get it out of my head, and that’s what’s most important. Full Review 7. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Furiosa may not surpass Fury Road , but I don’t think that was ever the intention, at least not directly. At the very least, it’ll be regarded as the best pure action film of the year, and be another be another notch for Miller’s claim to be the best to ever do it. It’s too bad the box office wasn’t able to meet the challenge, as Miller deserves to be given carte blanche to venture out into the desert and cook up something just as epically fun as this. Full Review 6. Challengers If there’s one thing that Luca Guadagnino understands about sports, it’s the sex appeal. Muscles are perpetually firm and clenched, sweat hangs on the brow and slips off perfectly chiseled jaws, and outbursts of enthusiasm share the same primal feelings from the bedroom. With his adaptation of William S. Burroughs Queer barreling down the pipeline, 2024 will surely be Guadagnino’s year, and we’re all going to have a fun time basking in it. Full Review 5. Hit Man If you still weren’t convinced about Glen Powell’s movie star charisma after Top Gun: Maverick and Anyone But You , then Hit Man will certainly be the successful pitch. Richard Linklater's film is a sexy romantic comedy pairing Powell with Adria Arjona to electric results. It’s devilishly fun, packing a smart script (by Linklater & Powell) that matches well with its antics. 4. Kinds of Kindness If The Favourite and Poor Things were one for them, then Kinds of Kindness is one for me. It’s a film that Greek Weird Wave writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos has been working on for a few years now with his usual partner Efthimis Filippou, almost as if he knew he wouldn’t be allowed to unleash it unless he built up enough street cred through those two Oscar-winning period pieces. The result is another work of the macabre, a blending of his nastier Greek projects with the prestige of his star-studded English-language cohorts. Full Review 3. Evil Does Not Exist Drive My Car writer/director and all-around arthouse superstar Ryûsuke Hamaguchi makes his most outspoken work with Evil Does Not Exist. The tranquility of a Japanese village is being threatened by the introduction of a “glamping” (glamorous + camping) site proposed by a talent agency. The site would negatively impact much of the environment around it, with many of the village resident’s livelihoods being forever altered. Despite being clear in his message, Hamaguchi never eviscerates the villains of this story. The extreme slow cinema approach will test the patience of many expecting a return to the relative leanness of Drive My Car . Those who embrace the molasses will find themselves powerfully transported to one of the few places left that hasn’t been bulldozed by capitalism. 2. Dune: Part Two Just as he did with Blade Runner 2049 , Denis Villeneuve has accomplished what has long been thought to be impossible with Dune: Part Two . There’s no doubt that fans of the 2021 film will be overjoyed with what’s served here, and that previous detractors such as myself will be won over by the improved scale and direction of the saga. Fear is the mind-killer to all those on Arrakis. But there is no fear for those of us on Earth, as one of the best films of 2024 and of the science-fiction genre has been bestowed upon us. Full Review 1. The Beast Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast is the pretentious European version of Cloud Atlas, which is a statement that tells you everything you need to know about whether you’ll like it or not. Bonello jumps between 1904, 2014, and 2044, intersplicing the three time periods to tell a story about love conquering time. Léa Seydoux and George MacKay play characters in each period, navigating the unknowable connection they feel for each other. It’s overindulgent and excessive, with Bonello displaying a mastery of tone and vision across the 146 minutes. There’s passion, fear, humor, drama, and everything in between. I’ve seen it twice now, and am already itching for another go around. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Boys in the Band October 5, 2020 By: Button Hunter Friesen Back in 1968, playwright Mart Crowley shocked the world by penning a stage production solely comprised of gay men and their repressed feelings. The spiteful language and harsh, authentic look at gay life were too much for “polite society” at the time. The production played off-Broadway for a few years before closing in 1970. Right before he directed The French Connection and The Exorcist , William Friedkin gave the play new life by adapting it for the screen the same year it closed. Finally, in 2018, the play was given its proper due with a Broadway revival directed by Joe Mantello and starring an all-out-gay cast, most notably Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory ), Zachary Quinto (Spock from the modern Star Trek franchise), and Matt Bomer. Now in 2020, history has repeated itself as Mantello and co. have regrouped for another screen adaptation, this time for producer Ryan Murphy at Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=862Pb9oDDAo The Boys in the Band opens in 1968 New York. Seven gay friends are soon to be gathered for the birthday of one of their own. We get to know each of them over the first half-hour as they prepare for the party. The host, Michael, is a so-so writer with a drinking and money problem that he can’t let go of. Michael’s good friend (and old flame) Donald comes into town hot off a session with his analyst that made him confront the shame he feels as a gay man. Larry is the group flirt as he refuses to be wholly committed to one man, which often puts him at odds with his lover Hank, who recently left his wife for Larry. Then there’s Emery, the comedic relief of the group, who isn’t afraid to show off who he is. There’s also Bernard, the only black member of the group who’s still wrestling with both his racial and sexual identity. Finally, the birthday boy himself is Harold, a Jew who always arrives late and knows exactly what to say to get under someone’s skin. But wait, there’s one more guest at this little shindig. Michael’s old college roommate, Alan, is in town under mysterious circumstances and must see him right away. Michael isn’t 100% out of the closet to Alan, mostly because Alan is as straight as an arrow and about as open-minded as the rest of 1960s America. The party kicks off great as the friends reminisce about old times. These are the moments when the acting troupe shines, especially Robin de Jesus as Emery and Parsons as Michael. Crowley’s original dialogue is lifted right from the stage to the screen with pure elegance. The one-liners and zingers, which are often playfully vulgar, are still eye-opening fifty years later. It’s both happy and sad to see this material continue to be relevant after so many decades. However, things get icy when Alan shows up. Harold hasn’t arrived, and everyone still has their social masks on. Alan doesn’t fully comprehend what he has barged in on as Michael tries to quell the flamboyancy. Director Mantello grinds everything to a halt once Alan walks through the door. Almost as if this were a horror movie, a deep feeling of suspenseful dread fills the atmosphere. Like all good suspense, a needle eventually drops, and things quickly get messy. The language turns from sarcastic to hateful as old secrets and dark truths bubble up to the surface after years of being buried. Parsons still takes the cake with his exceptional lead performance. Harold remarks that when Michael drinks, “he’s lethal”. Parsons is indeed lethal once things get serious, as he ditches his sitcom roots and delivers a much more bullying persona. Quinto is also great as Harold. Usually sitting in the corner with his humongous tinted sunglasses, he delivers line after line with stinging fervor. The Boys in the Band can feel a bit too stagy at times, which is to be expected. Long speeches and heartfelt moments that work well on the stage sometimes come off as schmaltzy on the screen. But Mantello does incredible work despite only directing one other film in 1997. His excellent blocking of the apartment setting is second to none as it allows for swift camera movements that capture every moment. Cinematographer Bill Pope does well to preserve that same stage energy with numerous long takes and great lighting of the wonderful set by production designer Judy Becker. The Boys in the Band is an astounding stage-to-screen adaptation that remains relevant in its messaging and entertaining in its story. The cast is top-notch, and Joe Mantello proves he still has the directing chops. Unfortunately, Mart Crowley died from a heart attack in March before the film was finished. Despite being gone from this physical world, he still lives on within this excellent production. Netflix will release The Boys in the Band on its streaming service on September 30th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Paris, 13th District July 15, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen A call center representative, teacher, real estate agent, and online webcam model somehow find their lives coming together in the new Jacques Audiard film, Paris, 13th District ( Les Olympiades ). Audiard has taken a special interest in the lives of resilient people set within his native country. The films Dheepan and A Prophet don't showcase France at its best; instead, they shine a light on the many problems Audiard sees. After taking a detour into the English language for the unfairly ignored The Sisters Brothers, Audiard (along with co-writer Céline Sciamma of Portrait of a Lady on Fire fame) once again sets his sights on modern French society, this time through the gaze of not one, but four main characters. Our protagonists (or antagonists, depending on your viewpoint) all reside within the titular district of Paris, a highly populated sector known for its mixture of modern and traditional architecture. Émilie is a phone operator at a cell phone service call center who is stuck in a rut both professionally and romantically. She’s a disappointment to her Taiwanese immigrant parents, who often call to tell her about her sister’s experience as a doctor in England. Luckily, her romantic prospects improve with the arrival of Camille, a lonely schoolteacher who is inquiring about the vacant room in her apartment. Carnal feelings impulsively take over their relationship, something Émilie prefers as she lives by the motto “fuc* first, talk later.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_viLDiyPfMI At the same time, Nora is a real estate agent trying to reinvent herself by going back to school, despite being a dozen years older than her fellow students. Further compounding her misfit status is her striking resemblance to famous webcam model Amber Sweet. She soon receives the unwanted attention of lustful boys, forcing her to retreat from academic prospects. With morbid curiosity, Nora decides to meet her doppelganger and see if they share anything besides just looks. Like Paul Thomas Anderson in Magnolia or Robert Altman in Short Cuts , Audiard acts as a puppet master, crossing and pulling the strings of his characters. Being that there are only four main characters compared to dozens within Anderson and Altman’s films, the interactions are more frequent. Audiard is interested in exploring the idea of opposites attracting, which brings out both the best and worst in each other. These characters carry a lot of baggage with them, which often gets saddled onto their partner in an acrimonious fashion. Audiard and Sciamma take an authentic approach to these moments, with characters getting in heated arguments that sometimes lead to break-ups and sometimes lead to sex. The film is quite sexually explicit, with each actor bearing it all for the black-and-white screen. Except for the exceptional Noémie Merlant, the cast consists of relative unknowns, a fact that never crossed my mind, as they have the chops of veterans. Speaking of black-and-white, the grainy cinematography by Paul Guillaume strips down the film to its rawest form. Like Sam Levinson’s Malcolm & Marie , the lack of color works to center our focus on the actors and their condensed surroundings. While the beautiful cinematography could be guessed from still images, what is most surprising is the great electronic score by French musical artist Rone. Mixing pop beats with fluttery strings, the score embodies the clash between modernity and tradition that is present within the characters and the city itself. Not without its problems, Paris, 13th District often gets too attached to the trio of Émilie, Camille, and Nora, leaving Amber with a lower supporting status, despite her having the only sequence of the film shot in color. Frustratingly, Jehnny Beth’s great work as the most interesting character isn’t given the attention that it surely deserves. As filled with millennial insight as it is filled with nudity, Paris,13th District is a lighter affair from the dependable Jacques Audiard. Barring a few small setbacks within the script, the film is an arthouse delight that will connect with younger viewers, possibly more than they want it to. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. IFC Films will release Paris, 13th District in select theaters on April 15th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

A Complete Unknown December 10, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Featuring no less than two documentaries by Martin Scorsese ( No Direction Home, Rolling Thunder Revue ), an inspired-by-the-life biopic by Todd Haynes ( I'm Not There ), and countless other portrayals and parodies, much of cinema has devoted itself to telling the story of Bob Dylan. The sum of it all could lead a person to wonder what's left to be mined. But that's not really the question being asked in the production offices in and around Hollywood. The real question is what audiences are left to hear this story. For all their critical acclaim, documentaries and experimental biopics can only reach a relatively low viewership ceiling, leaving the vast majority of the moviegoing public untapped. That's where A Complete Unknown comes in, a straightforward studio biopic featuring all the trimmings that have defined this cornerstone genre of the industry for decades. And in a year where more than one of these ventures down the Wikipedia page has landed with a sour note ( Bob Marley: One Love , Back to Black ), there's a comforting feeling to seeing the old reliable go off without a hitch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdV-Cs5o8mc It's out with the old and in with the new at the start of the story, although the old was never really born to begin with. Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) finds himself the elder statesman of folk music in the early 1960s, a minuscule subgenre in desperate need of revitalization after decades of weary tales inspired by the Dust Bowl and other rural hardships. Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), Pete's best friend and closest contemporary in terms of star power, sits in a New Jersey hospital unable to speak from the then-unknown Huntington's Disease. During one of Pete's visits, a Minnesota-born drifter named Bobby Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) walks in to perform a song he wrote for Woody. The rest is history from there; a quick rags-to-riches story where the price of fame crashes down on our humble hero. While all of that is more or less true within veteran screenwriter Jay Cocks and director James Mangold's script, Bob Dylan is not humble nor the virtuosic hero of this story. What Mozart is to classical music in Amadeus , Dylan is to folk music in A Complete Unknown . He's a bit of an asshole, denying people common social courtesy and always looking to rebel against the status quo. Luckily for him, everyone else in America is starving for a shakeup to the system. Thanks to his politically active girlfriend at the time, Sylvie (Elle Fanning), Dylan found himself at the forefront of the culture wars. How much this shift in national ideology influenced his early music isn't fully explained, a deft decision by Cocks and Mangold to retain Dylan's titular persona. The constant pouring of musical genius from Dylan lends itself to nearly fifty music sequences, all of them featuring Chalamet vocals and hands on the guitar. Mangold never lets us forget that fact, keeping his camera steady on the target and the editing to a minimum. It allows the performances to breathe, matching the more mellow wavelength that folk songs operate on. The frames often remain beautiful without the melodies, the cinematography by Phedon Papamichael, and the production design by François Audouy illuminating with the warm hues of the decade. Chalamet fits the rest of Dylan's persona with ease. It'd be easy to label the voice, mannerisms, and chainsmoking as overacting, but that's just the kind of person Dylan was. Often up on the stage with him is Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, the pair creating a wonderful harmony. Both she and Sylvie have to experience The Bob Dylan Show at all hours of the day, the mixture of half-truths and tall tales breaking down any hope of a lasting relationship. The only one who gets a portion of a rosy experience is Pete, with Norton surprising in a cuddly performance after several thorny decades. Boyd Holbrook makes a few appearances as Johnny Cash, an almost meta decision considering Mangold's helming of the singer's 2005 biopic Walk the Line . Mangold has learned a thing or two since then, trusting his audience a little more and painting around his protagonists just as much as he does within the lines. Those brushstrokes are big and broad, creating a rich experience that soothes our eyes and ears. Searchlight Pictures will release A Complete Unknown in theaters nationwide on December 25th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

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TIFF23 Preview September 5, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen With its rich history of showcasing groundbreaking films and celebrating the art of storytelling, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)is a cinematic extravaganza like no other. This year promises to be a spectacular journey into the world of cinema, offering a diverse range of films that will captivate, inspire, and provoke thought. As we eagerly await the curtain to rise on TIFF 2023, I'm thrilled to provide you with a preview of the movies I'll be seeing during my time there. As an accredited member of the press, I'll be bouncing around between Press and Industry screenings in the morning, followed by public screenings, including a slew of world premieres, in the afternoon and night. Make sure to pay attention to this site throughout the entire duration of the festival for immediate reviews and reactions to the biggest titles! * = World Premiere screening. All times in ET. Thursday (09/07) [9:00-10:30] The Royal Hotel (dir. Kitty Green) [11:30-2:00] Reptile (dir. Grant Singer) [6:00-8:00] The Boy and the Heron (dir. Hayao Miyazaki) [9:30-11:00] North Star (dir. Kristin Scott Thomas)* Friday (09/08) [9:00-11:00] Kidnapped (dir. Marco Bellocchio) [5:30-7:30] Les Indésirables (dir. Ladj Ly)* [9:30-12:00] Finestkind (dir. Brian Helgeland)* Saturday (09/09) [8:00-10:00] Dumb Money (dir. Craig Gillespie) [12:00-2:00] His Three Daughters (dir. Azazel Jacobs)* [3:00-5:00] One Life (dir. James Hawes)* [6:00-8:00] Lee (dir. Ellen Kuras)* [9:30-11:00] Quiz Lady (dir. Jessica Yu)* Sunday (09/10) [8:30-10:30] Dream Scenario (dir. Kristoffer Borgli) [11:30-2:00] The Holdovers (dir. Alexander Payne) [3:30-5:30] Seven Veils (dir. Atom Egoyan)* [6:30-8:30] Next Goal Wins (dir. Taika Waititi)* [10:00-12:00] Knox Goes Away (dir. Michael Keaton)* Monday (09/11) [9:00-11:00] Rustin (dir. George C. Wolfe) [12:00-1:30] The Critic (dir. Anand Tucker)* [5:30-7:30] Hit Man (dir. Richard Linklater) [10:00-12:00] Pain Hustlers (dir. David Yates)* Tuesday (09/12) [8:30-10:30] Poolman (dir. Chris Pine) [11:30-2:00] The Beast (dir. Bertrand Bonello) [3:30-5:30] Evil Does Not Exist (dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi) [5:30-7:30] Memory (dir. Michel Franco) [9:30-11:30] Fingernails (dir. Christos Nikou) Wednesday (09/13) [8:30-10:30] Wildcat (dir. Ethan Hawke) [11:30-1:30] Nyad (dir. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin) [2:30-5:00] Origin (dir. Ava DuVernay) More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Highest 2 Lowest August 15, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Matter cannot be created or destroyed. To receive something, you must be willing to give something up. For record mogul David King (Denzel Washington), a man dubbed to have “the best ears in the business” and a trophy cabinet filled with dozens of Grammys, receiving his golden nest egg after decades of work building an empire may come at the cost of his legacy. The offer from a private equity firm will ensure long-term financial resources for the label, but will also squeeze out every last drop of respectability. That push-and-pull is the most interesting aspect of director Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest , which also happens to involve a central plot about David’s son being kidnapped and held for ransom. Going the same route that Steven Spielberg ventured with his 2021 version of West Side Story , Lee and screenwriter Alan Fox side-step Akira Kurosawa’s legendary 1963 film High and Low to instead readapt the source material that was Ed McBain’s 1959 novel King’s Ransom . It’s a wise move considering that Lee’s previous interaction with a celebrated piece of Asian cinema was his 2013 direct remake of Park Chan-wook’s 2003 South Korean film Oldboy , which ended up being a spectacular failure. The setting has returned home to New York City, a place that only Martin Scorsese could potentially rival Lee as its most loyal cinematic artist. “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” booms as the camera glides across the aerial skyline of the concrete jungle that is our nation’s biggest and most culturally influential city. The opening credits are tinted with the orange and blue color scheme of the New York Knicks. Yankees fans openly yell expletives defaming Boston, and the city’s Puerto Rican population comes alive for a performance by the Eddie Palmieri Salsa Orchestra. King stands upon his Olympic penthouse balcony overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge when he gets an anonymous call from someone claiming to have kidnapped his son, Trey (Aubrey Joseph). The $17.5 million ransom would eat up all the liquidity King needs to execute a secret plan to buy enough shares to stave off the sale of his company. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh8yqcozfn8 “There’s more to life than making money,” is something that King says early in the film when his business partner begs him to accept the sale offer. He bemoans that the latter word in the term “show business” has grown exponentially more powerful. One can feel Lee and Washington, marking their fifth collaboration in a partnership spanning over thirty years, personally decrying where the film industry is headed. Tweets about box office results, online debates about profitability, and articles about who’s making the most money illustrate that people are following dollar signs more than the art. And yet, the money always seems to be the most important thing to King in this situation of life and death. In the same sentence where he asks the police how they’ll bring Trey home, he also asks how he’ll get his money back. All money ain’t good money, and this specific bag of money sets off a chain reaction of mayhem. Lee steers a lean and mean machine during the film’s later stretches as King is on the hunt for the perpetrator. The hour it takes to get to that point is much creakier. Lee’s penchant for a big score backfires as Howard Drossin’s intrusive instruments pull away our ears. Fox’s script is littered with rote dialogue, leaving performers like Ilfenesh Hadera as King’s wife to be nothing more than a mouthpiece for the plot. And Matthew Libatique’s digital cinematography (likely done as a business decision due to Apple TV+ housing the film after a brief theatrical run) doesn’t contain any of Lee’s trademark vibrant textures. Washington is still our greatest living actor, endlessly entertaining with a performance that contains the might of King Lear and the lyricism of NLE Choppa. He’s a master of controlling the chaos, something that King reckons with as his usual tight grip is rapidly loosened by external forces. Washington goes toe-to-toe with A$AP Rocky in a battle of bars, the pair each showing a new side to themselves. There’s also Jeffrey Wright nicely balancing weariness and wit as King’s right-hand man, Paul, who’s grateful that he’s been given a second chance after his imprisonment. To have followers, you have to be a leader. Lee is a leader, still doing what he loves through methods only he could pull off, which is what art is all about. He’s still got plenty left in the tank, even as he comes to a point where time comes at a premium price. I’ll follow him up to the highest mountain, and down to the lowest valley. A24 and Apple Original Films will release Highest 2 Lowest in theaters nationwide on August 15th, followed by its streaming premiere on September 05th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen