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Song Sung Blue December 14, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen As a born and raised fan of the Iowa State Cyclones, I have a special connection to “Sweet Caroline.” Dating back to the mid-2000s, the classic Neil Diamond song has been used as a victory chant for all home athletic games. It’s catchy, with a nice pace and easy-to-learn lyrics, capping off a win with a celebratory walkout song. It even plays before the official school anthem, further proving its ranking amongst fans. Granted, the Cyclones don’t have a monopoly on the song, as it originated from the Boston Red Sox and is also regularly played during games hosted by other colleges such as Wisconsin, South Carolina, and Boston College. Despite hailing from the Badger State, Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman) has a complicated relationship with that song. He worships at the altar of Neil Diamond, proclaiming him to be one of the greatest singer-songwriters that America has ever had. He despises the fact that a poppy chart topper like “Sweet Caroline” has become the only thing Diamond is known for, all while he’s produced hundreds of other acclaimed songs, including the one this film gets its title from. It’s why he doesn’t ever include Neil in his tribute acts, as he knows people won’t appreciate the artistry of the catalogue and just clamour for him to play the one song everybody knows. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqU7iiHFCzw When we first meet Mike, he’s singing the titular song at his local AA meeting, celebrating his twentieth “sober birthday.” He gives the group a whole presentation, aiming for their hearts and souls, all while offering some humor and good old-fashioned showmanship. It’s what he hopes to bring to the bars and casinos around Milwaukee, although none of the other tribute artists want him to branch away from what sells. A middle-aged Michael Imperioli plays a Buddy Holly impersonator, which is quite the joke considering that Holly died at twenty-two. Claire (Kate Hudson) is the only one who sees the true passion that Mike is bringing to the shows. Like him, she’s another working-class person who just wants to sing their troubles away. That passion, along with the fact that they’re the only two people who look like movie stars in this frozen tundra, is what ignites their romance. They decide to partner up to put on a Neil Diamond experience, with him taking on the moniker of “Lightning,” and she as “Thunder.” The story of a real-life underdog defying obstacles to express their artistic passion is not new territory for writer/director Craig Brewer. Terrence Howard received an Oscar nomination for playing a pimp turned rapper in 2005’s Hustle & Flow , and Eddie Murphy got his comeback role as blaxploitation legend Rudy Ray Moore in Dolemite Is My Name . These films, along with Song Sung Blue , carry a big heart, rallying the crowd to its feet with down-to-earth stories of perseverance. Channeling those themes through the music of Neil Diamond is what makes this film quite entertaining throughout the first hour, with the central duo being bigger than life. For both Mike and Claire, and the film itself, it all falls apart once the darkness starts to block out the light. This is based on a “true love story” and has already been covered by a documentary of the same name, so I don’t feel too bad about revealing that a freak car accident leaves Claire unable to perform. But that’s only the first of a series of tragedies that befall the Sardinas, making them join the Von Erichs as one of the most cursed families in America. Unlike Sean Durkin, who was able to make the unbelievable feel so real in The Iron Claw , Brewer keeps everything so heightened that it unintentionally circles back from high drama to parody. Pills are popped, speeches are made, and things happen at the exact right or wrong moment. There’s a subplot about Claire’s teenage daughter having an unwanted pregnancy, with the resolution being an adoption that is shot and acted with the same energy as someone finally selling a piece of furniture on Facebook Marketplace. The performances are fine and charming, although they also get too big for their own good. Jackman seems to be thinking he’s playing for the back row of a Broadway audience in the film’s later stretches. Mike may not have wanted to become a Neil Diamond cliché, but that’s exactly the kind of movie he’s appearing in. I’ll still be singing “Sweet Caroline” after every Cyclone victory. Focus Features will release Song Sung Blue in theaters nationwide on December 25th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Little Things February 4, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen The serial killer genre once was the biggest attraction at the cinema. The Silence of the Lambs (winner of Best Picture), Se7en, and American Psycho ruled the box office and were made on big budgets with big stars. With prestige television shows like True Detective and Mindhunter taking up space in the genre, films shifted towards low budgets and horror, which can be seen in Saw and the rebooted Halloween franchise. As one of the first cinematic releases of 2021, Warner Brothers is offering to take us back with The Little Things . Our story opens in 1990 Los Angeles as disgraced police detective Joe Deacon (Denzel Washington) returns to his old precinct. Immediately, he’s sucked into a developing case led by young hotshot Jim Baxter (Rami Malek) that contains similar patterns to the case that destroyed his career many years ago. Young women are being followed to their homes and then stabbed to death by a sadistic killer. The prime suspect is a grimy crime buff named Albert Sparma (Jared Leto). Sparma may look and talk the part of a killer, but there’s no evidence to link him to the murders. To stop the killings they suspect he’ll do, Deacon and Baxter race against the clock to gather evidence in a city ravaged by fear. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HZAnkxdYuA There’s a line in the trailer, and also in the movie, that has stuck with me. At one point, Deacon says that “it’s the little things that rip you apart, and it’s the little things that get you caught”. While he’s describing how to cover up a murder, those same words can be said about making a movie. It’s the little things like character development, an engaging plot, and a satisfying ending that can rip apart this type of movie. These are the little, or in this case, big things that hold The Little Things back from reaching the heights of its predecessors. Writer/director John Lee Hancock, who’s had an average career with films such as The Blind Side and Saving Mr. Banks, is the one to blame for this hollowness. Hancock, for the most part, has written and directed his films, which signifies a certain amount of uniqueness. Similar to Denzel’s quote, I was also struck by the question of what exactly is a John Lee Hancock film? That question can be answered for many writer/directors like Quentin Tarantino, Woody Allen, or Kevin Smith. But for Hancock, there isn’t something special he brings to the table. He doesn’t have a style or any original substance. His films are no different than the usual made-by-committee studio fodder. To give him the benefit of the doubt, he does bring above-average craftsmanship with cinematography and can carry a tense mood for most of the picture. But he still makes the unforgivable sin of delivering a shockingly underwhelming ending to a whodunit mystery. Hancock’s missteps also bleed into the central performances. As one of the best actors of a generation, Denzel Washington is incapable of doing wrong, which is why I’m only partially blaming him for his work here. There is a property in mathematics that stipulates that the product of any number multiplied by zero is zero. So, in the film’s case, with the character of Joe Deacon having zero depth, the amount of work Denzel puts into his performance does not matter. He must have known this fact on set, as he seems to be on autopilot and just doing a job for a paycheck. While Denzel knows he’s too good for this material, Rami Malek proves he isn’t good enough. His performance here is inconsistent, leaning too hard on the eccentricities and genre tropes of the rookie cop who hasn’t tasted defeat yet. His Oscar win in 2018 for playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody is looking worse with each subsequent role. As Sparma, Jared Leto is at his best in years, even though that is an incredibly low bar since he’s been nothing short of embarrassing since his 2013 Oscar win. Leto is fully hamming it up with his long, greasy hair, odd mannerisms, and overall creepy demeanor. It may not be the most nuanced performance, but it sure is the most entertaining, which is worth something in this case. While The Little Things may amount to little, it’s still a harmless return to the bigger-budget serial killer dramas of yesteryear. In a time of year when there are fewer new releases, easy entertainment isn’t the worst thing in the world. Warner Bros. Pictures will release The Little Things in theaters nationwide and on HBO Max on January 29th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga May 21, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Since the relative conclusion of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s been an increasing urge to claim that a certain film “needs to be experienced on the biggest screen possible.” While it is true that no television can match the sharpness and brightness of a theatrical projection (if handled well, which is becoming more of a rarity these days), the notion that every movie with a budget over $100 million needs to be seen in the cinema does water down the uniqueness of the ones that truly push the medium forward. I can tell you for a fact that Argylle wouldn’t have been harmed had it bypassed its theatrical release and gone straight to Apple TV+. I can also say the inverse of that towards Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga , and that anyone who chooses to experience George Miller’s newest extravaganza outside of the cinema deserves the same amount of ire that David Lynch has for phones . The screen pops, and the sound system roars with each successive introduction to a motorcycle. But it’s not done as an act of fetishization for the aesthetic of the machinery; it’s about the newfound importance of bikes in the wasteland. Along with bullets, they are just as much a part of the hierarchy of needs as food and water. The world is now a desolate desert of nothingness, with none of its inhabitants possessing the survival skills of Arrakis’ Fremen population from Dune . Murder and thievery are the new names of the game. But hidden away from all the destruction amongst the sand is an oasis of abundance called “The Green Place.” Furiosa and her family escaped the ravaged land to live there, but their paradise is encroached on by a biker gang who kidnap Furiosa to take her back to their leader Dementus (Chris Hemsworth donning a wild set of fake teeth and nose prosthetics). A relentless chase across the desert ensues, one whose consequences will shape Furiosa’s outlook on the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJMuhwVlca4 But from there, things slow down. True to the subtitle, Miller and co-writer Nick Lathouris treat Furiosa’s journey as a saga, complete with chapters. Each contains its own set piece and three-act structure, but this is not the non-stop onslaught of action that Fury Road was. This is a prequel, after all, so time is well spent on introducing (and reintroducing) the elements and characters of this universe. Gas Town, Bullet Town, and the Citadel are back, and so is Immortan Joe (now played by Lachy Hulme) and his War Boys. Even with all its operativeness, Miller still indulges in the silliness of the world and concepts, such as Joe’s sons Rictus Erectus and Scrotus. And let’s not forget Pissboy, whose weapon of choice is exactly what you think it is. It’s that combination of grit and goofy that has marked the high points of Miller’s nearly five-decade-long career. You only have to look for a few seconds on his IMDb page to notice that Happy Feet Two and Mad Max: Fury Road are squished right next to each other on the timeline. The carnage is gruesome, and the body count is quite high as Miller takes an almost Biblical approach akin to the world just before God’s flood. There’s still a popcorn-munching delight in the carnage, not out of guilt, but out of the pleasure of seeing the process executed by masters of their craft. Margaret Sixel’s (and co-editor Eliot Knapman's) editing is just as propulsive as it was before, with the rhythms of the action likely to be matched by your heartbeat. Junkie XL’s booming score beckons closely to his work on Fury Road (not a bad thing!), most noticeable during the show-stopping “Stairway to Nowhere” sequence. If there is to be one complaint - a minor one nonetheless - it is the price of a bigger scale in the form of a slight overreliance on visual effects. A few backdrops and ragdoll effects look a little questionable, although never to the extent that the first trailer led us to believe. It’s also hard to be overly critical, as Miller’s flawless mixture of practicality and technicals on Fury Road raised the bar so high that no one might be able to clear it going forward. Simon Duggan’s photography isn’t as sweeping as John Seale’s on Fury Road , but he gets across the finish line with some angles and movements. Anya Taylor-Joy solidifies her blockbuster chops in the titular role, her eyes even more striking when surrounded by grease paint. Miller takes a similar stance on dialogue as Denis Villeneuve, opting for his actor’s expressions and camera to do much of the talking. However, that strategy doesn’t apply to Hemsworth, who chews up the scenery each chance he gets. The pristine IMAX visuals do make his prosthetics quite glaring, but that phoniness is one of the leading characteristics of his messianic figure. While they don’t have their names on the poster, Alyla Browne and Tom Burke are exceptional as Young Furiosa and Praetorian Jack, respectively. 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 notch for Miller’s claim to be the best to ever do it. So, what does the 79-year-old Australian do now that he’s conquered the desert twice? Go and do it again, of course! Warner Bros. Pictures will release Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga in theaters nationwide on May 24th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Nyad October 20, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen It’s not hard to see why documentary directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin found themselves attracted to the story of Diana Nyad. With their Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo , the duo introduced (at least to the public at large) the character of Alex Honnold. He’s reckless, charismatic, and someone polite people would call a “free spirit.” Having that much of a personality dangling on the side of a rock hundreds of feet in the air is a combination made for the cinema. It was a film you had to see on the big screen, with the stunning imagery and stakes making it a thrill ride to rival even the most high-octane blockbuster. Diana Nyad seemed to cut from the same cloth as Honnold. She came to prominence in the 1970s, setting several world swimming records, such as the fastest time ever in the 22-mile Gulf of Naples race and swimming the 28 miles around the island of Manhattan in just under 8 hours. She’s someone who doesn't understand the word “no,” which does make her quite the asshole to her friends and trainers, as they often beg her to see the consequences of her illogical actions. For all her trophies and achievements, one thing has always eluded her: The 101-mile swim from Havana, Cuba, to Key West, Florida. She wasn’t able to do it in her 20s; she’ll be damned if she can’t get it done in her 60s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3anCgVSQb3Q It doesn’t feel like a coincidence that four-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening plays Nyad, who finally accomplished her treacherous swim after four failed attempts. There’s no denying, or shame in admitting, that this is a role tailor-made to get Bening her overdue trophy. It’s an extremely challenging role, both physically and emotionally. She’s not that nice a person, being bossy and always pushing everyone around. But Bening never lets you outright hate her, as you’re always aware that she can do something no one else can, and the only way to accomplish it is to break a few eggs. Much of the film is set in the water during Nyad’s various attempts. The problem is that swimming is a bit like running in that it’s not the most cinematically engaging sport to watch. I’m oversimplifying things quite a bit (like all movies), but there’s not much of a visual difference between Nyad’s failures and successes. You see her in the water pushing herself to the extreme, yet you don’t feel it deep down like you should. Much of that has to do with the flatly competent direction by Vasarhelyi and Chin, who are making their feature narrative debut here. Outside of the somewhat jarringly stitched-together sizzle reels that feel lifted right from their documentaries, the pair never can bring this story out of the water, which is quite the shame considering the talents of Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi, Top Gun: Maverick ) were at their disposal. There’s a hollowness to the story and characters. Writer Julia Cox can’t find more within the character of Diana Nyad that Bening doesn’t do herself. It’s impressive to see Nyad make these attempts, but at some point, we all ask ourselves why she’s doing it, and the answers are both unclear and unsatisfactory. Helping carry Bening’s baggage is an excellent Jodie Foster as her best friend and trainer, Bonnie. It may be because she’s always sharing scenes with a person who seems like a fish out of water, but Foster/Bonnie is the unexpected heart and soul of the film. Nyad is stuck in an awkward middle ground. It doesn’t possess enough cinematic spectacle to be a Netflix original that deserves to be seen in the theater. It also doesn’t have enough energy or interesting characters to hold people’s attention as they watch it on the couch. There will be some that get a lot out of this, but for most, including me, this feels like an untapped opportunity for almost everyone involved. This review was originally published from the international premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Netflix will release Nyad in select theaters on October 20th, followed by its streaming premiere on November 03rd. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Outrun October 4, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen You’re midway through your standard musician biopic. The lead singer, who was doing so well for themselves, has now been introduced to drugs. “I just need to take the edge off,” they say repeatedly, all while their friends and family plead for them to return to how they used to be. They crash out, literally and figuratively, lying in a puddle of their stench and failure. But that low valley eventually leads them to the highest mountain, with sobriety presenting an opportunity to return to their roots and rediscover their passion for life. Chances are that it didn’t take much mental strain for you to think of at least a half dozen films that fit that exact description. It’s not hard when the path has been trodden so often that there’s nothing left to admire about it. Now, let’s take that 15-30 minute sequence from all those movies and laboriously stretch it out to 120 minutes. By doing that, you’ve created The Outrun , an addiction drama in which I could have used a couple of drinks to help numb the boredom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFv-v_wFsK8 Granted, there is a ceiling to how much a biography can be railed for being formulaic, as they all retell the events in a person’s life, something I have no right as an (uninformed) viewer to criticize as fact or fiction. Who am I to tell someone that their personal journey doesn't ring true, or isn’t unique enough to be worth adaptation? The novel that The Outrun is based on serves as a memoir for author Amy Liptrot, tracing her alcohol-fueled days in London to her rehabilitation back in her native Scotland. Liptrot, Daisy Lewis, and director Nora Fingscheidt adapt the story for the screen, crafting a nonlinear structure that leverages the grip that the past will always have on Liptrot’s stand-in, Rona (Saoirse Ronan). Weeks into her recovery period, she will face a sudden and almost unquenchable urge to drink, coupled with a flashback to the allure that alcohol had in her boozier days. Those crashes of the past and present serve as the biggest flourishes within Fingscheidt’s directorial arsenal, although the past never illuminates more than the simple fact that Rona was a volatile alcoholic who alienated her friends and family. It’s all a bit generic, from the early party days when everything was great, to the later years when she’s stumbling down the street, and everyone pleads with her to get help. Ronan dives headfirst into the material in the same way as someone like Gena Rowlands, grabbing the screen with their magnetic presence and never letting go for a second. She is the pulse that keeps this heart beating, albeit quite slowly for most of the runtime. One would have hoped that a stronger story would have supported her, as her performance, however strong it is, leaves little impression when compared to her previous work and the work of her genre contemporaries. Repetitive and labored are the traits most commonly found on the road to sobriety, although the authentic notion of translating them to the screen doesn’t favor the viewer. An addiction drama will be born, people will halfheartedly care about it, the performance will gain awards and attention, and the world will move on. It’s the circle of life, and we’re just living in between stages of it. Sony Pictures Classics will release The Outrun in select theaters on October 04th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Dreams February 25, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen Despite its title, Michel Franco's Dreams offers little in terms of hope. The film opens on a bright blue background, the kind of color the sky gifts us on a beautiful day. The title flies forward like the opening credits of the original Superman film. However, we then cut to an unattended semi-truck parked on the outskirts of the Texas-American border. Inside it are dozens of Mexican immigrants: men, women, and children locked in the trailer like cattle being hauled to the slaughterhouse. They're eventually let out by their unfeeling handlers, left in the desert to make their own way in this country. It's a starkly bleak way of introducing us to this story, a mood that fits the increased contempt the Mexican writer/director has directed at modern society across his recent one-word-title output: Memory , Sundown , and Chronic . The plight of immigrants in this country (specifically this state) has reached a boiling point over the past few months, supporting the notion that a film of this clinical intensity should be produced and distributed. But for as much as Dreams supplies that demand, it does not do so in a skillful manner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6Al_zihrvw One of the migrants exiting the truck is Fernando (Isaac Hernández), a young Mexican ballet dancer. He's returning to America after repeated deportations, relying on small fish to give him rides from Texas to San Francisco. Once there, he's reunited with the big fish that is Jennifer (Jessica Chastain), who heads the foundation that sponsors the productions he stars in. The pair are also lovers, keeping their relationship a secret for both professional and personal reasons. They embody the quote from Citizen Kane : "To love on my terms. Those are the only terms anybody ever knows—his own." There are limits to Jennifer's support, mostly stemming from her father (Marshall Bell) and brother (Rupert Friend), who also run the foundation. They're the type of rich philanthropists who like to be praised for writing a check, but don't want to face the ugly truths of why that money is needed. Every American family originated from an immigrant with a dream, with the door seemingly getting both further away and narrower as time goes on. Fernando isn't a saint either; his frustration at the situation is spiraling him into acts of petulance. Dreams contains about 40 minutes worth of story within its 95-minute runtime, with half the film padded with scenes that don't add or bolster what has already been established. Franco and his regular cinematographer, Yves Cape, create a chilly atmosphere within The City by the Bay, a place of automated food delivery cars serving those on the top of the hill, and undocumented workers stalked by border agents and paid half minimum wage under the table. That dichotomy runs rampant, with Franco offering several examples of it well after the point has already been made. Chastain is a performer who matches Franco's reserved stillness. Her striking looks and steely presence communicate a life of unfulfilled pleasure, the walls perpetually up. Fernando opens her up to love, illustrated through the film's many scenes that combine intimacy with power. Hernández is a real-life ballet performer; his casting is likely a product of the reasoning that it would be harder to teach ballet to an actor than acting to a ballet performer. He doesn't totally support that notion, never producing the required magnetism. At the end of all this comes an act of provocation, another regular occurrence by Franco. What should conclude the film on a morally questionable note just leaves a sour taste; the wait is entirely not worth the payoff. There are no more dreams, only nightmares. Greenwich Entertainment will release Dreams in select theaters on February 27th More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

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 who 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6AaSMfXHbA But don’t worry, the destination here is well worth your time as Gray makes full use 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 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 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. 20th Century Fox will release Ad Astra in theaters nationwide on September 20th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Kraven the Hunter December 11, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen After three Venom movies that made us ask, “Are they supposed to be bad?” and the likes of Morbius and Madame Web that had us saying, “Wow, this is embarrassing,” Kraven the Hunter is here to shut us all up. True to what it set out to do, nary a word was spoken during the 127 minutes that Sony’s latest adventure to circumvent their contractual restrictions with Marvel glistened upon the silver screen, all of that precious light dissipating as it bounced back to our collective eyeballs. Even if it was for all the wrong reasons, I remember so much about Morbius and Madame Web . That’s because all publicity is good publicity, and Kraven the Hunter has nothing to offer. The one thing Kraven wore so proudly during its years-long marketing campaign was its R-rating for bloody and gruesome violence, something that all the other Marvel superhero films have shied away from. But all that air was let out of the balloon once the film was repeatedly kicked all the way down from its original January 2023 release, eventually being beaten to the punch by Deadpool & Wolverine . But even if the stars aligned for Kraven to keep its original release date, the overediting and bland stuntwork so closely fit the PG-13 mold that it wouldn’t have made a difference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rze8QYwWGMs The hacking of celluloid never ceases throughout the entirety of the runtime, with several scenes featuring throwaway lines of dialogue referring to events that never happened. The magic of ADR comes to the rescue on a few occasions, with poor Christopher Abbott having several scenes where we never see his lips move throughout a full conversation. He plays The Foreigner, a character whose importance and motivation are still a mystery to me, as are his weird powers, where he counts down from three and places people in a hypnotic trance. Kraven’s powers are a little more straightforward, his animalistic super strength and agility originating from the blood of a lion mixing with his own (PSA: You will not gain feline or canine superpowers if you attempt this at home). The blending of those two fluids came after Kraven’s father (Russell Crowe) took him and his brother Dmitri on an African hunting expedition to mold them into tough men. Kraven at least got the long end of the stick with his washboard abs, the flowing hair of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and feet with the same durability and traction as the tires on a Formula One car. Dmitri had to settle for becoming scrawny Fred Hechinger, perpetually caught in a cycle of self-doubt and violence. With his powers, Kraven hunts the hunters, specifically those who poach in his nondescript sanctuary in Siberia. While INTERPOL seems to have no problem with the bodies piling up and the press in a frenzy over who this mysterious hunter is, someone like Aleksei Sytsevich, aka 'The Rhino' (Alessandro Nivola, nearly reprising his character from Face/Off ), doesn’t like seeing another apex predator. Between Kraven’s constant flexing and Rhino’s severe case of Greyscale, every muscle is intensely clenched. Director J.C. Chandor is a good filmmaker, proving himself as both a writer/director on personal projects ( Margin Call , A Most Violent Year ) and as a hired hand on studio features ( Triple Frontier ). The years he’s spent on this project will be seen as a waste of talent and opportunities, a sentiment that can be extended to the entire concept of Sony's Spider-Man Universe. A solar system without a sun just results in every planet suffering a cold, painful death. Sony Pictures Releasing will release Kraven the Hunter in theaters nationwide on December 13th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Swan Song January 15, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen Mahershala Ali has never been the lead in a motion picture. I’ll give you some time to open up his IMDb page and fact-check me on that one. Yes, I am correct in saying that two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali ( Moonlight & Green Book ) has never had a leading role in a film. Granted, he’s led a television show with the third season of True Detective and will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the vampire hunter, Blade. But up until Swan Song , Ali has always been relegated to a supporting role. It’s an unfortunate fact that an actor of Ali’s caliber has had to wait as long as he has to get the star treatment. And it’s a coincidence that Lupita Nyong’o, also an Academy Award winner ( 12 Years a Slave ), is opening her new film, The 355 , at the same time as Swan Song . Nyong'o's role in the female-led spy thriller is only her sixth in-person role since her 2013 Oscar win, with only two of those being lead roles (2019’s Us & Little Monsters ). It speaks to a larger, more systematic problem that these actors of color are not getting the leading roles they deserve. How many great performances and awards do these actors need to accumulate before they can get roles that match their talent? But that conversation is beyond this review’s scope and is best handled by people more qualified. So, let’s focus back on the topic at hand, which is Swan Song . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxftqrrlSqc Swan Song makes Ali’s first lead role a memorable one, as we get two of him for the price of one. How is this possible, you ask? Well, human cloning has become a reality in the near future. For Cameron Turner (Ali), this presents an existential dilemma. He’s dying of a terminal illness, which he hasn’t told his wife (Naomie Harris), or his 8-year-old son. This cowardice grants him an incredibly rare opportunity provided by Dr. Scott (Glenn Close). The good doctor offers Cameron the opportunity to clone himself, sparing his family from the pain of losing a loved one. The clone will have all of Cameron’s memories and behaviors, and be completely indistinguishable. Before the real Cameron dies, the clone will take his place and live out his life as if nothing ever happened. Only the real Cameron will know the truth. But can a clone - even the most perfect one imaginable - seamlessly take the place of a human being? Marking his feature directorial debut after winning the 2016 Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short, Benjamin Cleary looks to tackle that question. But he doesn’t address it as a sort of Turing Test where the stakes revolve around the family finding out the truth. Instead, Cleary goes around that cheap gimmick and looks at both the moral and ethical stances on the issue. The question isn’t if the clone can do what it’s supposed to do, but if it should . Is Cameron making the right decision by lying to his family to protect them? Is leaving his wife and son with a clone more of a betrayal than leaving them altogether? These are the questions that Cleary doesn’t decide for the viewer. Rather, he supplies you with the tools to come to your conclusion. It’s a slow burn with a lot going on, even if not a lot happens on screen. That's because all of the action takes place within your head as Cleary puts you into Cameron’s shoes. You’re constantly comparing his actions to the ones you think you would make. The best films bury themselves in your head while watching. You wrestle with them in the moment and continue to interact with them long after they’re over. And with the help of production designer Annie Beachamp, Cleary has created a near-future world that is perfectly believable. The production design may be the reason why Apple bought the film, as many of the sets share the same clean and sleek design that the tech giant uses for its storefronts. The futuristic technology within the film, such as holographic displays and virtual reality that doesn't require a headset, is so seamlessly blended in that you’re never aware that this technology doesn’t exist yet. Other recent films, such as Gemini Man, have treated human cloning as the peak of human invention. But in Swan Song , it’s simply a part of life that has naturally sprung from technological progress. Mahershala Ali has never turned in a bad performance. At worst, he’s done fair work in poor films ( Alita: Battle Angel & Free State of Jones ). Here, Cleary serves him well. He’s incredibly compelling in his dual roles, pulling off the complex feat of differentiating the two Camerons just enough so that we can tell the difference, but also believe why the other characters can’t. Awkwafina plays a dying patient who’s already completed the cloning process. Lulu Wang’s The Farewell proved that Awkwafina can dig deeper than just lowbrow comedy, and this is a reminder of that fact. She shares some wonderful scenes with Ali, as both of their characters come to terms with the decision that they have made. The term “swan song” refers to the final performance of a public figure, such as an athlete or performer. As a title, it’s a fitting term that encapsulates so much of what the film is about. Luckily, the term doesn’t describe any of the talent associated with the film, as this is only the beginning of Benjamin Cleary’s promising career, and of this new phase of Mahershala Ali where his talent is front and center. Apple Original Films will release Swan Song in select theaters and on streaming on December 17th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Good Nurse September 11, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen In this age of the true crime boom, it’s refreshing to watch something that doesn’t contain the usual fetishization of the criminal in an attempt to “get inside their head and understand them.” Or there’s the worse route, which is to make the show/movie capture the cultural zeitgeist by pandering to the TikTok crowd (I’m looking at you Dahmer , which has spawned the horrible “Jeffrey Dahmer Challenge”). Instead of doing any of those things, Tobias Lindholm’s The Good Nurse wisely steers away from the crimes themselves and centers on the damaging causes and effects. The titular good nurse is Amy Loughren (Jessica Chastain), a single mom who constantly struggles to balance the financial, physical, and emotional needs of herself and her two daughters. Despite having a heart condition that could easily kill her if she stresses herself too much, Amy works the graveyard shift at a New Jersey hospital, caring for the sick all throughout the night. After her shift, she goes home to see her daughters off to school and hopefully get a few hours of sleep before starting the cycle over again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0DQevX-GZs One day, an angel appears in the form of Charlie Cullen (Eddie Redmayne), a soft-spoken and caring new nurse who offers to help Amy. He lightens her workload, helps her take her meds, and is able to look after the kids at a moment's notice. For Amy, this almost seems too good to be true. As it turned out, it was. Cullen would be convicted of killing 29 patients across the dozens of hospitals he worked at, with almost all of the victims coming in with minor injuries and leaving for the morgue under mysterious circumstances. The Good Nurse never seems interested in answering the question “why did this monster kill all those people?” Rather, it takes the more interesting and socially relevant route of answering “how was this allowed to happen for so long?” Centering much of that discussion are two weary detectives (Noah Emmerich and Nnamdi Asomugha) brought in to investigate after the first questionable death at Amy’s hospital. Slowly, they begin pulling on threads, uncovering an extensive history of medical cover-ups prioritizing dollars over lives. There is nothing uplifting in its message, but it is constantly enlightening. But that enlightenment doesn’t come easy, with director Tobias Lindholm ( The Hunt ) bringing much of his Mindhunter skills into play. The tension is razor sharp, terrifyingly crescendoing across the deliberately paced material. DP Jody Lee Lipes shoots everything in drab gray wide shots, keeping the action unfrayed from excessive style. It’s the simplicity of the filmmaking that makes it all the more unsettling as you're reminded this happened for years in plain sight without anyone noticing, or caring. As Cullen, Redmayne finally gets the villain role we’ve all been waiting for (let's pretend Jupiter Ascending never happened). His charming awkwardness is used to great effect to mask the darkness underneath, making it easily believable why so many would doubt his culpability. To be fair, the wheels do come off the wagon once he’s erroneously pushed toward more dramatic moments, such as a semi-cringe outburst near the end. On the other hand, Chastain can do the heavy lifting. She gives Amy an empathetic intensity, making even the most mundane moments feel important. The Good Nurse is a tension-filled and infuriating true-crime examination of a broken system and the twisted individual who saw the opportunity it gave him. It’s an elevation of the genre that has repeatedly found itself wallowing in exploitation, with two Oscar-caliber performances leading the charge. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Netflix will release The Good Nurse in select theaters on October 19th, followed by its streaming premiere on October 26th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Sharper February 9, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Writers Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka pray that you haven't done two things before you watch their new film, Sharper, on Apple TV+. The first is that you snubbed the marketing team and didn't watch the trailer, as it immediately spoils the film’s chronological order, deflating almost all of the tension the writing duo and director Benjamin Caron have tried to instill. The second thing is that you’ve never watched a movie with a twist (sorry Shyamalan), as experiencing just one in your lifetime will over-prepare you for what happens here. "If you're going to steal, steal a lot," says billionaire Richard Hobbes (John Lithgow) to Max (Sebastian Stan) after he tries to shake him down for a mere $1,000 through a fake police bust. Little does Richard know that Max has been taking his advice the whole time, as this charade was only one step in a larger plan to swindle unfathomable amounts of money. Part of the act is Madeline (Julianne Moore) cosplaying as Max's doting mother and a new romantic partner for Richard. Also in the mix is Richard's only son, the book-loving and hopeless romantic Tom (Justice Smith), and too-good-to-be-true new girl Sandra (Brianna Middleton), who's been brought into the fold and taught every trick of the trade by Max. Nothing is what it seems to be on the surface with these five characters, with double, triple, and quadruple-crosses being a personal and professional hazard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKHVHzCGmF0 Sharper may mark the feature directorial debut of Caron, but he's been a veteran of the stage by helming several Shakespeare projects for Kenneth Branagh's theater company and received two Emmy nominations for his directorial work on The Crown . Star Wars fans also appreciate him for his handling of the season finale of Andor last year. Because of this resume, it's no surprise that Sharper often packs the emotional punch of a stage production and looks as pristine as a prestige drama. A Quiet Place cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen shoots in crisp low-lighting, with Caron intimately blocking the actors within the luxurious sets as if he were still with Branagh's company. As shown in the opening title card, the term sharper is defined as "a cheat, one who lives by his/her wits." It is perpetually bizarre that these characters seem to have world-class offensive skills with their wits, but are horrendous at defense, allowing themselves to be caught off guard despite us, the audience, being able to spot everything from a mile away. Coincidences and instances of exclaiming "Oh come on!" run rampant, almost as if Gatewood and Tanaka kept writing themselves into a corner and were too far in to start again from scratch. The transparency of the twists doesn't do favors for the nonlinear structure, broken down into chapters told from a new perspective. Much of the whole puzzle has already been revealed by the final chapter, making it pretty easy to guess what the complete picture will be. Still, the actors are having fun with the chewy material. Between last year's Pam & Tommy and Fresh , Stan continues his streak of trashy scumbags. Moore, continuing her relationship with Apple after the quickly forgotten Lisey's Story television adaptation, gets to play both confident and vulnerable, which she unsurprisingly does with ease. But the real standout has to be Smith, delivering his best performance to date. Granted, the bar for that has been set quite low due to his work on the Jurassic World sequels and Detective Pikachu , but I also can't fully blame him for having to deal with the awful material provided to him. If you're a person who doesn't like for a movie (or its characters) to be smarter than you, then Sharper will be right up your alley. It’s mindless fun delivered with some class, occasionally teetering towards parody due to its overly serious ambitions. A24 and Apple Original Films will release Sharper in select theaters on February 10th, followed by its streaming premiere on February 17th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Chaos Walking March 11, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen Like The Hunger Games, Harry Potter , and Percy Jackson , Chaos Walking is the newest attempt to establish a lucrative franchise based on a series of popular teenage-audience books. But unlike those successful series, this Lionsgate release is more likely to fall in line with the other failures, such as The Golden Compass and The Mortal Instruments . Haven’t heard of this movie? Well, I wouldn’t blame you since Lionsgate has attempted to bury this money pit in the middle of the pandemic to save itself from further embarrassment. Filmed in 2017 and originally to be released in early 2019, the film underwent extensive (and expensive) reshoots after the first cut was deemed unwatchable. It was shelved for nearly two years until it crawled its way back from the grave into newly reopened theatres. So, is this movie as terrible as its reputation precedes it? No, but that’s not to say it isn’t bad. Similar to all YA novels, Chaos Walking takes place in a dystopian space colony in 2257. This planet is like Earth, except that there is something in the atmosphere called The Noise. An introvert's worst nightmare, The Noise makes it so that the thoughts of men are heard aloud, and is something our hero, orphaned Todd (Tom Holland), still has yet to control. Everything he thinks is broadcast to anyone within earshot, restricting any sense of privacy. No one knows why this is happening, and why women are not affected. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRf4ZgzHoVw The colony Todd lives in also has no women there, as he is told the Spackle - the native inhabitants of the planet - killed off. Obviously, what you’re told isn’t always what actually happened. Everything changes when a scout, Viola (Daisy Ridley), crashes on the planet. The leader of the colony decides to use her as bait to attract her command ship so he can ambush it and leave this godforsaken land. Naturally, Todd develops a crush on Viola, agreeing to help her escape to a deserted colony fitted with a communicator that she can use to warn her rescuers. If you wanted to know what Tom Holland was thinking all the time, this will be a supreme disappointment to you. The character is very bland, and so are his thoughts, which consist solely of him saying his name to calm himself down and suppressing his budding feelings for his newfound partner. Holland tries to use his Peter Parker charm to make the character at least bearable, but the script makes his efforts a waste. The word bland is the best way to describe everything about this movie. It might be a weird movie, but that doesn’t mean it’s interesting. There’s a lot of semi-world-building here as we are introduced to all sorts of details about the planet and its backstory. I say semi because the movie never gives away too much information, as they want you to pay more for that in the sequels, which are never going to happen. It’s also done at a rapid pace, moving from one location to another like we’re just skimming through the pages. Adapting his book, writer Patrick Ness seems more interested in setting up sequels than establishing an interesting base. Take, for instance, the Spackle, who look like all-black Martians and rightfully fought back against the colonizing humans. In this movie, we see them for one three-minute action scene. After that, they disappear completely and are never mentioned again. I was told by a friend that the Spackle are reintroduced in the third book, a fact that I audibly groaned at. I want to learn about these natives now, not these boring humans! Even for a $100 million (+ reshoots) blockbuster, Chaos Walking is sparsely light on meaningful action. Director Doug Liman had the potential to mash the sci-fi and western genres into something off the beaten path, but he instead stays in the same lane as his contemporaries. Like Star Wars , the guns shoot plasma, so the wounds are bloodless, and any serious violence is cut away. The one unique feature is the movie’s questionable hatred towards animals, as a horse is violently put down and a dog is drowned in the frame. I’m glad no one in the cinema could hear my thoughts while watching this movie because my head was full of a lot of questions and negative comments. By next month, Chaos Walking will feel like a distant memory, a fact that we should all rejoice in. It was nice to be back in the cinema after a long while, I just wish it wasn’t for this. Lionsgate will release Chaos Walking in theaters nationwide on March 05th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen