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Parthenope February 7, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen It may only be February, but Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope could very well take the cake as the most beautiful film of 2025. Early on in the famed Italian auteur’s newest film, the streets of Naples circa 1968 are basked in the golden sunlight reflected off the water of the Mediterranean Sea. Men, women, and children populate every corner and avenue, all dressed in the works of Anthony Vaccarello, creative director of the luxury fashion house Yves Saint Laurent. At this moment, you understand exactly what Kate Hudson was singing and dancing about in Rob Marshall’s film adaptation of Nine . In those same waters eighteen years earlier, the titular Parthenope was born. Her godfather, the shipping tycoon boss of her father, gifted her a chariot from Versailles as a crib so that she could travel the world as she slept. He also insisted that the family name her after the mythological name of coastal Naples, bestowing her with thousands of years of blessings and curses. Like the streets in that opening, one of those blessings is her unparalleled beauty. Men start drooling like cartoon characters before going into a catatonic state just at the sight of her, and women understand that she puts them all to shame just by comparison. One of those slobbering dogs is Sandrino (Dario Aita), the son of her family’s maid. He’s fawned over her his entire life, even succumbing to sniffing her drying bathing suit just to get closer to a goddess. Despite Parthenope being aware of the power her beauty possesses, she isn’t sure how to best wield it. She keeps those ogling men at bay, all of them treating her as a trophy to acquire. They all ask her what she’s thinking, but they never listen to her response. When she rejects the advances of a rich man who makes inquiries from his helicopter, he lashes by saying “You’re not a big deal.” Film acting initially seems to be the best use of her talent, although the fate of every actress is never pretty. She eventually lands in academia, specifically anthropology, a natural fit considering her voracious reading habits and need to always have a ready answer for those inquisitive men. Academia is where Sorrentino steadies the sights of his screenplay for the rest of the runtime, ruminating on the complexities of love, youth, and beauty. As evidenced by his previous works of Youth and The Great Beauty , these are not newfound themes for Sorrentino. What’s new for the director is centering his epic tale on a woman, specifically in a time and place when women were rarely given the chance to do so. When Parthenope asks her father what would help lift him of his depression, he selfishly looks her up and down and responds that a grandchild might help. While all of its ideas are communicated through the utmost sensuality in both the setting and performances, much of Sorrentino’s dialogue gets lost in its flowery translation. Their prettiness is what also makes them vapid, a contradiction to the ultimate goal of this story. It’s why the more direct conversations between Parthenope and author John Cheever (Gary Oldman), soaking his new novel in alcohol and repressed homosexuality, leave a more lasting impression despite their brevity. There is also the dichotomy between a writer/director insisting that a woman is more than just her beauty, only to indulgently lens her as if she’s beckoning you to buy the newest line of perfume. Newcomer Celeste Dalla Porta is radiantly beautiful and intriguing in the lead role, imbuing Parthenope with much more depth than the script reluctantly presents. Even if this amounts to style over substance, the performances and overwhelming seductiveness are temptingly attractive. For Sorrentino, the style is just as much the substance as the substance itself. 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

Ad Astra September 23, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen You may not have noticed, but the 2010s have been a renaissance for space movies. It all started with Gravity in 2013, followed by Interstellar, The Martian , and First Man . The one thing each of these great movies has in common is their ability to tell a story of perseverance and triumph on a universal scale with the bonus of mind-blowing visual effects. Another addition to that list, but not entirely for the same reasons, is James Gray’s Ad Astra . Set in the near future, a catastrophic power surge travels across the solar system and strikes the Earth, killing thousands. SpaceCom (the new NASA) has tracked down the source and believes it to most likely be from Dr. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones), whose last known location was near Neptune sixteen years ago. The doctor’s son, Maj. Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) happens to be the most respected engineer/astronaut in the world. Realizing the personal and planetary stakes this mission will have, Roy is recruited by the higher-ups to travel to the surge’s source and destroy it before our planet is wiped out. James Gray has always been a more high-brow filmmaker that has been able to take big stars and concepts and use them for projects that reach beyond the tropes of the genre. Just like in his previous film The Lost City of Z , Gray here centers the story on a man on a journey, ending with the protagonist discovering more about himself than the destination he set out for. But don’t worry, the destination here is well worth your time as Gray makes full effect of the two things most scarce in space: light and sound. Hoyte Van Hoytema illuminates every vast beauty through his awe-inspiring photography and Max Richter’s soothingly intimate score perfectly complements the most emotional moments. Despite centrally being a very emotional film, Gray does liven things up from time to time with a few action set pieces that are both extremely creative and tense. Each one encapsulates the perils of space and the feeling that we humans are way out of our element once we go beyond our atmosphere. The writing of Ad Astra is what makes this film unique. Having more in common with Solaris and 2001: A Space Odyssey than the films mentioned in the beginning, Ethan Gross and Gray’s screenplay delivers an introspective and philosophical story that increasingly gets more human as the setting gets more cosmic. The story is centralized through McBride as we follow his POV through the dangerous mission. The narration by Pitt is used to convey his character’s inner thoughts. Against all norms of narrative storytelling, the narration works for the betterment of the film as it gives us an in-depth view of his perception of the unfolding events. Gray’s scripts have always had another layer to them. There is always a sense of something deeper underneath that’s slowly coming to the surface throughout the film. Ad Astra is another example of this trend as each line of dialogue or new information learned tends to serve dual purposes and lead to something bigger down the road. There do end up being a few frayed storylines that don’t get the attention they deserve, but the overall story makes up for that fault by ending up being more than the sum of its parts. Already having a banner year with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood , Brad Pitt possibly delivers his greatest performance here. While Hollywood used Pitt’s movie star power to its full potential, here he is at his most subtle and whole. He carries the emotional weight of the film and never holds back or gives too much, leaving with just the right amount of characterization. Tommy Lee Jones is also great in his supporting role as the father, Clifford McBride. He’s more haunting than Pitt as we see the full effects that decades of claustrophobic space travel can have on the human mind and spirit. Liv Tyler shows up as Roy’s significant other in a small supporting role that, judging by the trailers, was supposed to be a lot more central to the story before being edited down. Reserved more to flashbacks, Tyler gives a more emotionally heavy performance that contrasts with Pitt. James Gray’s Ad Astra is part of the space renaissance of this last decade. But instead of following in the footsteps of those films it has joined, it charges down its own path and tells a deeply humanistic story on a cosmic level. Make no mistake, this is one of the best films of the year. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Foe October 25, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Five years from now Saoirse Ronan and/or Paul Mescal will have an Oscar in their hands. When that happens we’ll look back through their careers, highlighting all the films that led them down this path. For Ronan, we’ll be starting with her groundbreaking child performances in Atonement and Hanna . Then we’ll fondly remember her navigating female adolescence with Greta Gerwig in Lady Bird and Little Women . For Mescal we’ll start on television with Normal People , and then the explosion of Aftersun and All of Us Strangers . And then for both of them, we’ll see a movie titled Foe that came out in 2023 that they starred in for writer/director Garth Davis. We’ll sit back and think long and hard because we can’t remember if we have or haven’t seen it. Eventually, the memory of seeing it (probably on Amazon Prime) will come back, followed by a sad thought about how a movie starring two of the best actors of a generation amounted to absolutely nothing. Taking a page out of Jane Campion’s (whom he directed alongside for the television series Top of the Lake ) playbook from The Power of the Dog , Davis has his native Australia stand in for the barren American Midwest. The year is 2065 and things are as predictably bleak as we expect them to be. Water and fertile land are some of the most valuable resources, making farming a near-extinct occupation. Hen (Ronan) and Junior (Mescal) still hold on to that way of life in their own way. They live in a crumbling farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, with Hen working as a waitress and Junior as a line worker at the local poultry farm. They seem content with each other, which makes the arrival of a stranger (Aaron Pierre) all the more unnerving. This stranger has a proposal: Junior has been selected (conscripted would be the better word) to be a part of a mission on a space station far above Earth. Hen wouldn’t be left alone, instead, a perfect clone would be made of Junior to take his place while he’s away. This stranger must stay with the couple for a while to gather all the information needed to make this person-to-clone transition as seamless as possible. Adapted from the novel by Iain Reid, Foe can’t decide between being a parable about relationships and A.I., or a literal story about life on a desolate Earth. It picks somewhere in the middle, dooming both sides as they each need full commitment in order to work. The introspection of clones taking the place of humans has been done better in Blade Runner and Swan Song starring Mahershala Ali. Does it really matter if a clone is just as lifelike as a human when the characters aren’t interesting? There are also so many facts about this world that leave so many open questions. Why is Junior so special for this program? What exactly is this mission? If the clone is so perfect, why can’t they just send it into space? Why do Hen and Junior only listen to music from the mid-1900s and drive a beat-up pickup truck that would barely be worth anything in 2023? Some of these questions are nitpicks, but the lack of any gravitas surrounding the thematic material makes these stand out even more. The two leads do everything they can to keep things interesting, a job they can do with ease. They run the entire emotional gamut with their performances, but none of it registers due to Davis’ detachment from the material. Each of them is forced to overact once the third-act twists come into play. Everything feels so forced by then that it’s almost comical. But it’s not a total trainwreck, so it’s just rather tediously bad. Son of Saul cinematographer Mátyás Erdély captures the landscape beautifully, showcasing the mystifying wonder that keeps people like Hen and Junior tethered to this patch of dirt. If only Davis could have done the same with his direction and script, as most of his decisions steer away from that intrigue and end up being as interesting as dirt itself. 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 Monkey February 17, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen The tagline for The Monkey , the new film by writer/director Oz Perkins, says that "everybody dies, and that's fucked up." You know what else is fucked up? Watching a filmmaker you've admired over the years torch all that goodwill with the same hellbent rage that Adam Scott has for the titular toy monkey during the film's cold open. This is not Longlegs , both in terms of the tone and overall quality. How and why Scott came to hate this monkey is a bit of a mystery. Even he's not exactly sure what it does, only that bad things happen whenever you turn the key on its back and let it bang its drum. And the definition of "bad" here isn't just a stubbed toe or missing the bus. It's the kind of bad that results in an extremely gruesome death in a series of events that would even make Rube Goldberg blush. The simplicity and inevitably of the threat that this primate possesses is where Perkins - adapting from the 1980 short story of the same name by Stephen King - finds his kernel of truth about the balance between life and death. Any of us could die at any time by any combination of causes. "It's like life" reads the box that the monkey comes nicely wrapped in, a sentiment echoed by the mother (Tatiana Maslany) of twin brothers Hal and Bill (played by Christian Convery as kids, and Theo James as adults). The boys learn firsthand on several instances the cruel power that life has to give and take away from you at any moment. Like me, just being aware of the concept of the Final Destination and Dumb Ways to Die franchises gives you more than enough familiarity with this concept. Perkins doesn't offer much of anything beyond the surface-level observations, opting for the comedy-horror tonal balance to do much of the heavy lifting. But between several horribly unfunny and/or funnily unscary sequences, the only facial expression you'll be making is one of annoyance. That weightless unpleasantness also applies to the deaths that litter the runtime. While everything that is happening to the people around the boys is horrifying, Perkins always dons a dastardly smile. A falling shotgun here, a slippery kitchen knife there, it's all supposed to make you simultaneously wince and howl with laughter. The suspense of the unknown in Longlegs has been replaced with the suspense of the inevitable. Granted, that is the point. It just makes everything feel so tedious, with a filmmaker taking us on several extra laps around a track that wasn't that good the first time. What is good is James' dual performance. Most of his time is spent as Hal, the smaller of the twins who constantly gets bullied and belittled. His ruggedly good looks and tall frame are submerged under glasses and a sheepish demeanor. Between him, the physical monkey doll, and the frames concocted by Nico Aguilar, The Monkey does at least have some visual splendors to enjoy. But the occasional treats for my eyes do not make up for the wretched experience that the rest of my body and soul were put through. 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

Cannes 2023 Predictions - Part 4: The Irregulars and Up-and-Comers April 11, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen As one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, the Cannes Film Festival always attracts the attention of cinephiles and industry professionals alike. Each year, the festival presents a diverse lineup of films that represent the best of international cinema, including both established and emerging filmmakers. With the 76th edition of the festival set to take place in May, film enthusiasts around the world are eagerly anticipating the announcement of the official selection on April 13th. While the festival organizers keep their cards close to their chest, there are already some strong players emerging as likely contenders for the coveted Cannes spotlights. In this four-part series, I’ll take a closer look at some of the films that are generating buzz and predict which ones are likely to make it to the Croisette this year. Each part will represent a category of films, which are: The Festival Masters Hollywood Makes a Splash The Festival Mainstays The Irregulars and Up-and-Comers The fourth and final part of my prediction series has us looking deeper into the fog. The directors listed are usually the most hungry and ambitious, as they are still looking to make a name for themselves at both the festival and within the world of cinema at large. Their projects may also still have a lot of questions, such as production status or release strategies. But miracles have happened and many of these deserve a coveted spot, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed. Which of these films are you most interested in? I'll be keeping you all posted on my adventures and sharing my thoughts on the films that I see. Stay tuned for more updates! The Iron Claw Indie filmmaker Sean Durkin has already impressed both domestic and international critics with his spellbinding psychological exercises. His feature debut of Martha Marcy May Marlene made the trek to the Croisette after its premiere at Sundance, and his next film (distributed by A24) seems Cannes-appropriate. Zac Efron, Harris Dickinson, and Jeremy Allen White star as the Von Erichs, a dynasty of wrestlers who made a great impact on the sport from the 1960s to the present day. Club Zero Little Joe director Jessica Hausner had her last film stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic, preventing it from being ready in time for last year’s festival. Things are looking much better this year, with Hausner ready to make her second appearance in the competition. She teamed up once again with her usual co-writer Géraldine Bajard in this story about a teacher (Mia Wasikowska) who takes a job at an elite school and forms a strong bond with five students - a relationship that eventually takes a dangerous turn. Memory Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco has split his time between Cannes and Venice when it comes to premiering his films. His last two works have made the Italian festival their home, but Fremeux may be able to tempt him to return to the Croisette due to the star wattage of Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard leading his new film. How Do You Live? With a planned July release date in his native Japan, all signs point to Hayao Miyazaki debuting his latest (and presumably) final film at Cannes. Despite several of his previous films playing at the festival, How Do You Live would mark his first film to premiere before its theatrical release. The titular book has long influenced Miyazaki, who cites it as his favorite childhood read. It’ll tell the story of a teenage boy and the interactions he has with his friends and uncle. Eureka A part of the New Argentine Cinema movement, Lisandro Alonso and his films have moved at a deliberate pace. He’s only directed six feature-length films since 2001, with nearly all of them playing at Cannes. His most recent film, Jauja won the FIPRESCI Prize as part of the 2014 Un Certain Regard selection. He’ll be reteaming with Viggo Mortensen for a story about a man on the search for his daughter after she has been kidnapped. No word has been given on production status, so it remains a mystery if the film is ready. Salem Jean-Bernard Marlin made a name for himself in 2018 with his Shéhérazade , netting him the award for Best First Feature at that year’s César Awards after its premiere at Cannes Critics’ Week. His next feature will continue to be set in the ganglands of France as it centers on a former gang member who believes his daughter is the only one who can save his Marseille community from an apocalyptic curse uttered by a rival gang member in his dying breath. Anatomy of a Fall Justine Triet made her festival debut in 2019 with Sibyl , which was met with mixed reviews. Those reactions would be cause for demotion to one of the sidebars for most filmmakers, but Triet is packing a punch in her sophomore effort with Toni Erdmann star Sandra Hüller leading as a mother accused of killing her husband. Her blind son is the sole witness to the murder, putting him in a grave moral dilemma. Strangers After taking a slight detour in television, 45 Days and Lean on Pete writer/director Andrew Haigh is back to feature filmmaking, and he’s brought together an all-star UK cast to mark the occasion. Andrew Scott will lead the film as a screenwriter who has a chance encounter with his neighbor (Paul Mescal), which pulls him back into his childhood home, where his long-dead parents are mysteriously still alive (Jamie Bell and Claire Foy). Haigh has premiered films at both Venice and Berlin, so it may be time he heads to Cannes, whether it be in competition or one of the sidebars. Occupied City Documentary films may not always pack the biggest red carpet potential, but plenty of them have broken out, notably Michael Moore’s Palme d’Or winning Fahrenheit 9/11 . Steve McQueen will try to recreate that success with his retelling of the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam from 1940-1945. Carrying a blockbuster budget of $5 million, joint distributors A24 and Film4 will likely want a big splashy premiere. 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

A Thousand and One March 30, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Through the grainy filter capturing the hustle and bustle of the streets of Harlem, writer/director A.V. Rockwell, making her feature directorial debut, showcases her skillfulness at creating a lived-in setting for her story. Initially set in the mid-1990s, you see people with beepers, boom boxes, gold chains, and ripped jeans. The World Trade Centers are still standing, signaling how different of an era this was. But not everything has changed since then, with the aggressive “anti-crime” (a code word for racial profiling) politics of former mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg being a consistent threat over the decades. People get stopped for random frisks, neighborhoods become gentrified, and the police presence is always felt. Inez (singer Teyana Taylor) is one of those people living on the fringes of this world. She just got back from an extended stay at Rikers Prison and is in the process of figuring out how to move on. One of the first people she sees from across the street is her sort-of young son, Terry (it’s complicated), who’s been shuffling around foster homes since she left. Inez is a child of the foster care system as well, and she’s a lot of herself within Terry. She knows that he’ll end up just like her if he continues to be stuck on this path. To break the chain, Inez illegally “kidnaps” Terry from his foster home and moves him uptown, giving him a new name, Daryl, and a fake birth certificate in the process. Years eventually go by, with Inez and Terry making the most out of their makeshift situation. But Inez knows this lie will come crashing down once someone starts to wiggle that bottom block. Similar to how she creates the world around her characters, Rockwell has the world push back against them. Inez is always having to fight for what she has, whether it's the landlord’s shady attempts at getting her to leave so he can flip the building or being unable to support herself through a job she cares about like hairstyling. Years and years of that wear on her, with Taylor being a great illustrator of this. Those hardships burrow into Terry as well, with Rockwell taking the Moonlight approach of having three different actors (Aaron Kingsley Adetola, Aven Courtney, and Josiah Cross) play the boy between the ages of six and seventeen. The choice may not work as well compared to what Barry Jenkins did for his Best Picture-winning film, but all three performers here find a connective thread that they weave together. While the influence of Moonlight becomes more heavily evident as A Thousand and One marches on with its slightly overextended 116-minute runtime, none of it feels like a secondhand imitation. Eric K. Yue’s beautiful cinematography and Gary Gunn’s fluttery score give warmth in the most tender moments. The coldness is always present as well, being an aching reminder of how close to the edge these characters live. A Thousand and One tells a story of the past and the future, with each character having to reckon with where they stand in their timeline. Rockwell has delivered an impressive debut, worthy of the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize awarded to her at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Between her career behind the camera and Taylor’s in front of it, there’s an immense amount of talent on the rise. 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

Awards Update: The First Oscar Predictions of the Season June 13, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Welcome to an ongoing series where I cover the 2025/2026 awards season. On a regular basis, I will update my Oscar predictions, taking into account the new information that has been received since the last update. Full predictions in every category can be found on the Home and Awards page. The summer movie season is in full swing, packing the multiplexes with big blockbusters and nine-figure box office grosses. The warm winds also mean it's time to scratch the burgeoning itch that is the upcoming Oscar season through some early scouting and shot-in-the-dark predictions. Luckily, two of the major film festivals of the year, Sundance and Cannes, are in the books. The former featured little to no contenders beyond the usual smattering of documentaries, while the latter debuted a few seemingly strong contenders. As we've learned over the years from Parasite , Triangle of Sadness , Anatomy of a Fall , The Zone of Interest , The Substance , and Anora , to be a Best Picture contender born at Cannes, you must leave there with a prize in hand. That leads us to first look at this year's Palme d'Or winner: Jafar Panahi's It Was Just an Accident . As evidenced by the assortment of festival prizes, Panahi is a revered auteur in the cinephile sphere of influence. This victory was part of a natural progression for him. That momentum and the film's potent political messaging are the main ingredients that could bring it into the Best Picture race. However, there are also several drawbacks. Iran will certainly not be submitting it for Best International Feature, and coproducers France and Luxembourg have previously illustrated that they won't submit non-native films. This will also be a tough sell at the box office, with a low ceiling that might not be high enough to gather public momentum. Distributor Neon clearly has a lot on their plate, and were in a similar situation last year with the Iranian thriller The Seed of the Sacred Fig , which turned out to be an awards disappointment. The company has grown as a campaigner over the years, but it remains to be seen if it can handle pushing multiple films into the top categories. Between the reported 15-19 minute standing ovation, enthusiastic reviews, and headlining stars, Sentimental Value will be Neon's main priority. They bought the film at last year's Cannes Film Festival before production had commenced, so they've had their eggs in this basket for a while now. They also just announced the same mid-fall release date as Anatomy of a Fall and Anora , so there's little reason to doubt that it will be a major player. I expect it to appear at all the major fall festivals before then. From there, it’s hard to gauge how the other prize winners will perform. Rigorous features like Sirât , Sound of Falling , and Resurrection each received acclaim and were picked up by reputable distributors. They likely won't appear in any major Oscar categories, but could factor into the Best International Feature race, should they be submitted to compete. Leaving empty-handed was Die, My Love . The reviews were mixed-positive, with all praise going to Jennifer Lawrence's lead performance. That would normally be enough for an Oscar favorite like her, but it's difficult to predict a lone acting nomination for a film that will be quite hostile towards audiences. Mubi did part with a chunk of change for the distribution rights, so they'll be making a big effort to get the film recognized in more categories. Other than the already premiered films, the rest of the predictions are a patchwork of educated guesses. As a reminder, this phase is solely about the nomination. We won't be thinking about winners until the new year. At this time last year, I had Joker: Folie à Deux , The End , and The Piano Lesson in my Best Picture lineup, so everything here is written with pencil. TIFF already announced its opening night film ( John Candy: I Like Me ), so the fall festival train has already left the station and will be accelerating over the next few months. My next update will come later this summer once we have a clear picture of what will be competing. 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

Afire August 2, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen With international films receiving awards attention more than ever, American audiences are becoming increasingly aware of the auteurs of global cinema, many of which have gone unappreciated for decades. Michael Haneke, Bong Joon-ho, Paweł Pawlikowski, Thomas Vinterberg, and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi are just a few of the names that have become prevalent within the North American cinephile lexicon over the past decade. But one name that has always seemed to elude the bright lights of Western media is German filmmaker Christian Petzold. This streak of unappreciation has become part of his narrative in the United States, with The New York Times running a piece on how he “may be the best German filmmaker you’ve never heard of.” As one of the leading figures in the Berlin School movement within German independent cinema, Petzold’s films often explore themes of identity, displacement, and the impact of German national history on personal lives. He’s been a staple of his native Berlin International Film Festival, winning awards for best director in 2012 for Barbara and the FIPRESCI Prize in 2020 for Undine . His latest feature, Afire , played at the festival, winning the Silver Bear grand jury prize. While on the surface it may seem that Afire has less to do with Germany’s past compared to Petzold’s earlier works of Phoenix or Transit , it still finds a way to interweave the ramifications of National Socialism on German culture, specifically its works of literature and poetry. The story begins with Leon (Thomas Schubert) and Felix (Langston Uibel) on their way to Felix’s summer house to work on their artistic endeavors. Leon is an author who’s been published once before and is struggling to put the finishing touches on his follow-up manuscript. Felix is a photographer trying to assemble a portfolio to submit to an art school. However, the promise of solitude is interrupted by the introduction of additional parties: Nadja (Paula Beer) and Devid (Enno Trebs). It turns out Felix’s mom double-booked the house for the weekend, much to Leon’s displeasure as he endlessly lectures about the importance of his writing and process. But there’s also one other thing, which is the raging forest fires going on not too far away. The evening sky is red (hence the German title translating to “Red Sky”) and the warning signs are everywhere, yet these characters deny the danger and press on. Petzold took inspiration from Anton Chekhov for this summer story. Besides Leon and Felix, all of these people are new to each other, prompting discovery and conflict around certain behaviors and actions. But Petzold never finds something unique to say in this story, mostly due to the characters lacking enough interest to make up for their unlikeability. Leon continually bemoans about his past and present, eventually learning the predictable lesson of self-humility. Still, the performances are quite nice, especially Paula Beer, whose red dress symbolizes her radiance. She’s the sunshine that breaks through Leon’s dark clouds. It’s a slight shame that Petzold rarely lets her blossom out of that subservient role. There’s a great fire going on within the story, but nothing seems to crackle off the screen. 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

Opus March 14, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Had Opus been released a decade prior, it might have had a chance to be a decent movie. Probably not, as that conversation would have needed the film to have a single redeeming element. But by coming out in 2025 and after the likes of Get Out , Midsommar, Blink Twice , The Menu , and Don’t Worry Darling , the weight of comparison killed Opus right from the start. This is an A24 film in the derogatory sense, tailor-made to have ironic memes generated and tongue-in-cheek merchandise consumed (if it sounds like I’m venting, it’s because I am). It came as no surprise to witness three of the four other audience members at my screening immediately open Letterboxd to log this as soon as the credits started scrolling. Unfortunately for Opus , that kind of crowd has definitely seen the other mentioned movies, leaving not many green stars to be granted here. I guess I was a little harsh when I said that this film didn’t have any redeeming elements to it. That’s not wholly true, as Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich delivered decent enough performances to keep me in my seat. She plays Ariel Ecton, a young journalist for a major music magazine. We first see her in a pitch meeting, the rest of the room eating up her every word as she pitches a new story on some faded singer. Editor Stan Sullivan (Murray Bartlett) likes the idea but passes Ariel over and hands it off to some other writer. Fate then reaches out and extends its hand in the form of an invite for Stan, and, surprisingly, Ariel, to join the legendary and long-reclusive popstar Alfred Moretti (Malkovich) at his secluded Utah compound for an unveiling of his new studio album. Considering her rookie status, especially when compared to all the other attendees like TV personality Clara Armstrong (Juliette Lewis) and paparazzo Bianca Tyson (Melissa Chambers), Ariel’s presence immediately stands out. It’s that sense of otherness that keeps Ariel on her toes as the weirdness of Moretti and his assembled cult followers gradually becomes too loud to ignore. The comparisons to Midsommar and The Menu also become too loud to ignore right as Ariel and co. arrive at Moretti’s self-proclaimed slice of heaven. Because every cult member smiles all the time and speaks of having their inner selves finally unlocked, you and I both know this is all bullshit and that something sinister is about to go down. First-time writer/director Mark Anthony Green takes his sweet time getting to the destination, littering his script with lectures on celebrity worship and the integrity of entertainment journalism. Besides already being beaten to the punch, Green never feels willing to make a fine point about any of his talking points, leaving everything in a morally muddled mess. I assume he thought the stylization would be enough, a kind of shorthand that forces us to fill in the logic gaps. Worse than the confusion Opus incites is the fact that it never registers as interesting or sensical. What’s the point of asking questions when you never cared what the answer was to begin with? 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

Creed III February 24, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen With Creed III , the reins (or should I say gloves?) of the Rocky franchise have been fully passed down from Sylvester Stallone's The Italian Stallion to Michael B. Jordan's Adonis Creed. And in typical Rocky fashion, Jordan plants himself further into this universe by stepping into the director's chair, taking over after Ryan Coogler successfully revived this tired franchise in 2015 and Steven Caple Jr. adeptly continued that ascending trajectory in 2018. Fortunately for Jordan, he displays a higher quality of skill both in front and behind the camera than Stallone did with his sequels, which have the added benefit of decades worth of nostalgia to make it palatable. For the first time in this now nine-film franchise, the character of Rocky Balboa is totally absent from the story, with no mention of how he's doing in Vancouver with his estranged son and grandson. Adonis now sits somewhere in between his shoes from the first two films, and that of Rocky's, as he decides to hang up the gloves after a successful career. But while he deals with his new post-retirement future, a figure from the past shows up unannounced. It's Damian Anderson, Adonis' older brother figure from when he was moving between group homes and running from the law. An incident from their youth caused Damian to spend the next eighteen years in prison, stripping him of his "rightful" opportunity to become the best boxer in the world after making a name for himself on the amateur circuit. Adonis tries to make up for lost time by extending an olive branch to Damian in the form of taking him under his wing and preparing him for a title shot. Quickly things get out of control as Damian's pent-up rage and resentment take over, threatening to destroy Adonis' legacy as a boxer and the future he hopes to build as a leader. So, in the spirit of brotherly love, Adonis must protect what's his through the only means he knows how to: with his fists. It may come as a shock to you, especially after that plot description, to know that Creed III spends just as much time debating the morals of fighting vs using your words as it does delivering those bone-crunching blows to the head. But while Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin's script may take its time talking about why fighting doesn't solve everything, the overall narrative and kinetic work delivered by Jordan as a director say otherwise. A small subplot appears in the form of Amara dealing with bullies at school, an on-the-nose metaphor for Adonis and his situation, one that is quickly abandoned as soon as it could really mark a shift in the philosophy in this franchise. Maybe it was foolish of me to think that things could change even a little at this stage because we know that all the talk of not wanting to fight means nothing once the going gets tough. The going doesn't really need to get tough here either for Adonis to lay down the challenge, just a few inconveniences and shots at his ego, which is subtly examined by Damian as he mentions the privilege the Creed surname has afforded Adonis. Jordan has mentioned repeatedly the inspiration that the anime genre had on the filming of the boxing scenes, a statement that he capably backed up with the final product. Gone is Coogler's fluid camerawork and long takes (except for one modest sequence early on), replaced with a not-egregious-but-still-considerable amount of Zack Snyder slow motion. It's used sparingly, mainly to focus on the split-second decisions made in the ring that can win or lose a fight. The sound of blows landing does rumble throughout the theater, with the final moments having the same raw power as a fighting game character unleashing their combo meter. Majors fills out the role of the final boss with immense theatricality, displaying the unbelievable threat he is with his cagey movements and fighting style. Jordan is the more composed one of the pair, preaching how boxing is more about control and strategy than it is about violence. And the always-great Tessa Thompson is regretfully sidelined to merely being a support figure to Adonis rather than the richer character she was in the original. Creed III may be the weakest of its trilogy, but the fact that the seventh, eighth, and ninth entries are all the best of a franchise is an accomplishment by itself, even more so when you factor in the inherent limitations of the boxing genre. Jordan and Coogler (and Stallone to an extent) have found a way for this cycle of storytelling to remain relevant, even if it sometimes punches below its weight class. 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

Snow White March 19, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen At this point in the Disney live-action remake cycle, the only way to grade Snow White would be on a curve. “That’s not fair!” says Pinocchio , Dumbo, The Lion King , and The Little Mermaid . To them, my response is simple: Be better (or release later). Their faults have become Snow White ’s blessing, a bar lowered so that even something with as many conceptual flaws as this can pass for good enough. Now, it’s not all doom and gloom, nor does this remake of the famed 1937 Walt Disney animated film (itself a much cheerier adaptation of the fairy tale by The Brothers Grimm) get by purely on the benefit of comparison. First and foremost, Rachel Zegler is simply wonderful as the titular princess. I’d call it a star-making performance if she hadn’t already proved those bonafides with turns in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbird & Snakes . Instead, I’ll just call it a case of perfect casting. Zegler fills her role with grace and composure, endlessly likable and charming. Her character’s disposition is natural goodness, a lesson taught by her royal parents. But tragedy struck the young Snow White in the form of her mother dying from illness and her father disappearing after he led some of his troops to fight in some unspecified war off-screen. This power vacuum allowed the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot) to take command of the kingdom, forcing Snow White into servitude and taking away all sense of hope and optimism amongst the citizens. Look, you don’t need me to rehash this plot. Screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson doesn’t make many changes to the original’s story and structure. Her main goal was likely to remold some of the creakier elements with modern sensibilities, such as making the original Prince into Jonathan (Andrew Burnap), a somewhat wisecracking Robin Hood-type whose initial cold heart is melted by Snow White’s kindness. Burnap’s casting is less than ideal, with the Tony winner always looking exactly like his real age of thirty-four despite all the strenuous work done by the hair and makeup department. There’s never any predatory or creepy intonation between him and Zegler; it's just that seeing them side-by-side raises a slight eyebrow when I should be immediately swooning. Not changing from the original film is the fact that the seven dwarves are animated… although I prefer the original style to whatever this is. It’s not the same uncanny valley from the recent The Lion King films, as that had the detriment of being compared to real-life animals. But there’s still some creepiness permeating from them in each frame, and I can confirm that one child had to leave the screening in fear during the dwarf's initial introduction (the correlation can’t be confirmed, but the evidence is pretty strong). It’s no surprise that they’ve been heavily reduced in the marketing campaign and that no 3D prints were made. Something that is two-dimensional is Gadot’s performance. We all know she’s not a gifted thespian, with her turn here never clearly defining itself as strained or campy. I’m leaning towards the former, although her evil musical number makes a strong enough case for this to be seen as an elaborate wink for the parents. Director Marc Webb doesn’t stage many of the setpieces well, overcutting and giving more attention to the fake sets rather than the performances. Luckily, the music by musical superstars Benj Pasek and Justin Paul is catchy and empowering, so I could at least just close my eyes and still be entertained. Kids will definitely not wear out this VHS tape (I guess the term for this in this day and age would be “overload the Disney+ server”) as they did with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves . Internet trolls will also be disappointed to find out this isn’t an unmitigated disaster. Avoiding a catastrophe probably wasn't Disney’s strategy when they put down so much cash for this, but that’s about the best we’re all going to get. 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

Babygirl September 12, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Babygirl had its North American Premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. A24 will release it in theaters on December 25. To make a film, you must have a question. Writer/director Halina Reijn has several questions on her mind within Babygirl , each of them even more sexually charged than the previous one. For those who thought the provocation of Catherine Breillat would stay outside of America’s border, you’re sorely mistaken. To pull off her highwire act of tone and impurity, Reijn has enlisted the help of one of the bravest A-listers around: Nicole Kidman. If there’s anyone who can get this project over the finish line, it’s the star who’s worked with Stanley Kubrick, Lars Von Trier, and Yorgos Lanthimos. Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut would be an apt comparison here, based on the surface-level story of an affair during Christmas and the underneath layer of promiscuity and power. “They did a bad, bad thing” would be the hook that plays over the relationship between Romy (Kidman) and Samuel (Harris Dickinson). She’s the CEO of a leading artificial intelligence company, and he’s the fresh-faced intern. But their paths first cross before they enter the office building, with him calming down a dangerous dog about to lunge after Romy. He can tame the beast, while also unleashing it by asking forward questions and making criticisms about Romy’s coffee habits. Romy may spout the usual HR-approved speeches about the CEO being a collaborative leader of a family, but that all ends in the bedroom. She’s the dominator when having sex with her husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas), and when trying to parent her angsty teenage daughter (Esther McGregor). There’s something about Samuel’s brashness that turns her on, even when it should be cause for an immediate dismissal. An innocent kiss becomes a string of flirtatious text messages, which becomes a secret meeting in a hotel room, which becomes a passionate game of hide and seek around the office. Reijn never proposes to have all the answers for why such a powerful woman would engage in something so destructive. Jacob is a perfect husband, and he’s obviously quite handsome. She’s passionate about her job, and is looked upon highly by her assistant (Sophie Wilde) as a titan in a male-dominated industry. But there’s a darkness within her, a need to unravel everything. She’s too scared to take the plunge on her own, which is why someone like Samuel is so irresistible. She can only tame her desires for so long, and it always bites back ferociously. It’s no surprise that Kidman won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival, with her dedication to the film’s twists and turns being unmatched. She bares all both literally and metaphorically, navigating the challenges of the corporate world and a teetering domestic life. There’s real passion in her scenes with Dickinson, and the practice with Zac Efron over the years in The Paperboy and A Family Affair is surely paying off. Dickinson is a frat boy who finally gets what he’s been bragging about all these years. Now that he has it, he doesn’t know what to do with it. There’s an emotional immaturity to his actions, which makes him a time bomb ready to explode if he doesn’t get what he thinks he wants. Reijn supports women’s rights, and also women’s wrongs. Everything is wrong with Babygirl , with those unsatisfactory feelings being just what the erotic subgenre needs. It’s a dirty film with a dirtier message, perfect for release during the Christmas season. 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