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Novocaine March 8, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Whether we like it or not (“masochist” is the word of the day), pain serves an essential purpose in our lives. Those unpleasant pangs are a survival mechanism our bodies use to keep us away from all the harmful things the world throws at us. Everyone can remember the first time they placed their hand on the stove as a kid, and those feelings ensured we never did it again. But what if pain didn’t exist? At first, we’d all jump at the chance to feel like Superman, taking all those horrible things that used to hurt us in stride. However, one only has to gaze over at David Cronenberg’s 2022 film Crimes of the Future to know that a world without pain is one without guardrails. In Cronenberg’s dystopian tale, people openly perform surgery on themselves, splice organs for art, and attempt to morph themselves into a new level of evolution. It’s nearly impossible for anyone to know when they’ve gone too far when all the warnings have been shut off. In Novocaine , Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) has CIPA (Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis) a rare genetic disorder where he is incapable of feeling pain or temperature. He lives his mild-mannered life as a bank manager with the utmost safety. Tennis balls are on every corner he could bump into, and all of his digestive needs are met through smoothies as solid foods could lead him to bite his tongue off. It’s these early moments where Lars Jacobson’s script illustrates that it has more on its mind than just the silly antics that the trailers solely focused on. Studies have shown that most people with CIPA don’t live past thirty, and their quality of life is quite poor on account of the increased anxiety that they endure. It can lead a person to become a hermit, shielding themselves from everything in an attempt to see another day. Like any twentysomething guy who spends almost all of his free time playing video games, the thing that gets him to come out of his shell is a girl. Sherry (Amber Midthunder) is one of the tellers at the bank Nathan works at, and she takes an interest in his awkward personality and odd case. But just as things are about to get serious between the pair, the bank is robbed and Sherry is taken as a hostage. Fearing that he’s going lose the one good thing that’s ever happened to him in his miserable life, Nathan becomes a vigilante, using his condition for his own benefit. From this point, all those injuries that Nathan’s spent his whole life avoiding become the punch-line to the wall-to-wall set pieces. While Cronenberg made a body horror feature, directing duo Dan Berk and Robert Olsen have made a body comedy feature. At one point during a brawl in a kitchen with one of the robbers, a gun falls into a deep fryer. Sensing that he’s got no other option, Nathan plunges his hand into the oil and grabs the gun. He later gets impaled with a crossbow bolt, which is treated more as a minor annoyance than a serious injury. These gags are all well executed, even if they become entirely repetitive the more we progress through the story. Quaid is a capable lead, recently being promoted from television and supporting roles. His comedic sense makes up for a lot of the dead weight his costars pack on, which includes punchable crooks, Jacob Batalon in his signature role as the best friend to the hero, and cops that are getting too old for this shit. This probably could have been a streaming movie, but then you’d be robbed of all the communal laughing and squirming to all the mishaps, which is worth just enough to cover the admission price. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Priscilla November 2, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen What’s most evident about Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla is how much it is the antithesis of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis from last year. The Australian showman’s authorized propaganda piece (I don’t mean that as derisively as it sounds, all biopics are propaganda to some degree) lit up the marquee signs at the multiplexes thanks to its bright cinematography, fast-paced editing, and roaring soundtrack. Coppola’s film will subsist within arthouses and the back of the multiplexes as she trades all that in for a somber mood, silence so deafening that a you could hear a pin drop, and a soundtrack so devoid of Elvis hits that you would think he was a one-hit wonder. Of course, as per the title, Coppola shifts away from The King and examines the woman who constantly lived in his shadow, someone who only got one scene in Luhrmann’s rendition (and looked about twice as old as she was supposed to be). Actually, scratch all that. The most evident thing about Priscilla is the star-in-the-making presence of Cailee Spaeny, a growing sentiment considering her Best Actress win at this year’s Venice Film Festival. She’d been relegated to playing the younger versions of lead characters to this point: young Lynne Cheney in Vice , the daughter of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in On the Basis of Sex , and young Eleanor Roosevelt seen only in flashbacks in The First Lady . She is technically playing the younger version of a real person here, but this time the focus is entirely on her. That expanded canvas allows her to spread her wings, showcasing an immense talent to hold your attention and convincingly play across an elongated timeline. We first meet Priscilla Beaulieu in Germany circa 1959. Her father has been stationed at the local Army base, making her the loneliest American in all of Bavaria. Just like it were a fairy tale, the sad girl gets her wish when an Army captain asks her to come along and meet Elvis Presley, who’s also been stationed abroad. He’s undeniable, a beaming example of Americana that seems to have leapt off the posters to fulfill her wildest fantasies. He’s ecstatic to bring her into his world, and she’s naively happy to go along for the ride. Quickly comes a move to Graceland, marriage, a child, and the duties of being a reliable homemaker to the most desirable man in the world. Coppola’s film is at its best in the beginning as she explores the morally questionable inception of the couple’s relationship. She was 14 and he was 24, but Elvis was always kind and courteous, and she was emotionally mature for her age. Despite their initial hesitations, her parents consented to their star-crossed union. Coppola doesn’t heavily lean to one side or the other, instead offering evidence for both camps. There are moments of both intentional and unintentional grooming on the part of Elvis, as well as Priscilla imprudently rushing in without understanding what she’s signing up for. What’s less interesting about Priscilla is what happens once the dust settles. Graceland quickly morphs from a luxurious palace into a gilded cage where Priscilla is forced to spend her most youthful days. She’s not allowed to leave the compound without supervision, and also not allowed to bring anyone in. It’s a more subdued version of Pablo Larraín’s duology (soon to be trilogy) of Jackie and Spencer as Priscilla is a prisoner in a dream, caught in a cycle that doesn’t become more impactful despite Coppola’s insistence on keeping it on loop. That lack of energy is almost a winking joke on Coppola’s part as she takes one of the most charismatic men in entertainment history and reveals him to be a scared child doing his best to masquerade as an adult. Jacob Elordi sees Elvis as someone who always wants to stay in control, but never does anything of value to maintain it. He’s lucky that his looks and sphere of influence do all the work for him. Fantasy slowly catching up to reality is often a theme of Sofia Coppola’s filmography and, along with Marie Antoinette , this is one of its most clear historical instances. It’s the more authentic version of the story Luhrmann avoided telling, although it is missing some much-needed spectacle that he could have shared. At the very least, Spaeny should join the ranks of Kirsten Dunst, Scarlett Johansson, and Elle Fanning, all of whom Coppola announced to the world through her work. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Missing Link April 22, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen Priding themselves on craftsmanship and hard work, Laika Studios has carved out a special spot in the modern animation industry. Their favoritism for stop-motion over computer effects has led to some dazzlingly authentic films such as Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings . The studio’s newest film, Missing Link , follows in the same high-quality footsteps laid down by its predecessors. The story begins in the early nineteenth century and introduces us to Sir Lionel Frost. He’s an explorer who longs to become part of the high society of “great men”. In order to gain entry to the club, Lionel must prove the existence of a mythical creature: The Sasquatch He immediately treks to the U.S. and finds the creature, who surprisingly has the ability to both write and speak. Lionel dubs the creature the name Mr. Link, playing off of the fact that he is the missing link between early and modern humanity. Link longs to be reunited with his Yeti cousins in the Himalayas, a trip Lionel agrees to partake in as long as he gets the proof he needs. Through their long and treacherous journey, the duo venture into unexplored areas within the world and within themselves. Laika Everyman and ParaNorman director Chris Butler stepped back into the chair for this film. Just like all Laika productions, the animation and set design within Missing Link are simply outstanding. The characters and the multitude of diverse sets are a marvel to look at and experience. Throughout the film, you get a genuine feeling of the unfathomable amount of hard work that each artist put in. Butler’s direction of the story is just as meritable as his handling of the animation. He treats the narrative like any other and doesn’t downplay any of it in order to cater to the younger audience. The emotions and themes are quite sophisticated and actually make you think about what you’re watching. It’s a tragic fact that only a few kid's films like this one deal with the tough subject matter, which is something I was reminded of when watching the mindless trailers that played in front of this film. One fault that can be mentioned about Butler is that his pacing is lightning-fast and tended to negate some of the more important character development that he had tirelessly worked for. Also serving as the sole writer, Butler does a decent job at telling a wholesome story with lasting themes. It becomes apparent that Butler never compromised his vision for kids as he doesn’t try too hard for jokes. He goes for quality over quantity as there aren’t as many funny moments as you would expect. This turns out to be a pleasant surprise and allows for the story to flow better without the need to constantly crack a joke. The main ingredient of the touching story is simplicity, which from time to time restricts the viewer from having a deep connection with the film. The main group of characters is decently constructed but just isn’t developed enough for us to get a sense of knowing them. This theme of underdevelopment is also illustrated in the rapidly paced plot that doesn’t seem to want to slow down and bask in the beauty. We’re always racing to the next destination or story element, leading to a rushed ending that doesn’t reach the emotional heights of the studio’s previous films. Laika films in the past tended to have lesser-known casts, but this time they went for a more star-studded lineup. Zach Galifianakis is excellent as Mr. Link. His soft and innocent voice perfectly embodies the character’s kind and lovable traits. Hugh Jackman is great as Lionel Frost. Jackman uses his macho voice for the initial scenes of his self-centered character but later gets to be more gentle as his character begins to mature. Zoe Saldana does her best as Adelina, an adventurous spirit that tags along with the pair. Unfortunately, Saldana doesn’t get a lot to do other than being the stereotypical girl voice of reason between two male characters (although it is not entirely clear what gender the beast is). While centrally a kid's movie, Missing Link tells a heartfelt story that can be enjoyed by all ages. It’s not the best quality from the always dependable Laika, but it is mesmerizing to watch and will send you home with a smile and a slight sense of wonder. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Shirley March 16, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen There are 435 members of The United States of Representatives. In 1968, only 11 were women, 5 were black, and none were black women. It’s a sobering fact that opens writer/director John Ridley’s biopic of Shirley Chisholm, who was the first person to break the barrier of entry for black women in Congress. The very next scene sees her standing in a sea of middle-aged white men as they’re gathered for the freshman congresspeople class photo. Except it’s glaringly obvious that the capital background is a greenscreen (a very shoddy one), and everything is overlit and washed out. And that scene gets repeated throughout the next two hours: good intentions canceled out by poor filmmaking and an overly basic approach to one of the most interesting political figures of the twentieth century. To give credit where it is due, Ridley doesn’t give us the clichéd knee-deep full breadth of Shirley’s life, instead focusing on her 1972 campaign for the presidency, the first undertaken by a black candidate as part of a major party. Throughout the eighteen months leading up to the Democratic Party primary, Shirley campaigned as part of the working class, free of the political strings and corporate greed that perpetually hamper the democratic process. Regina King is electric throughout her several campaign stops, supplying the necessary fire to convey Shirley’s trailblazing nature. She’s a person who hates the word “can’t” and never backs down from a fight. From her personality, we get a glimpse of who she was as a politician and what she may have accomplished. Ridley doesn’t bother with those details, although it would have been nice to learn a little more since her presidential campaign hardly tells the whole story. Vague biopics have gotten by before, mostly because they had the personality to fill in the gaps. The recent duology of Jackie and Spencer by Pablo Larraín, I’m Not There , and The End of the Tour would fit under this category. Ridley semi-accomplished this with his 2013 Jimi Hendrix biopic Jimi: All Is by My Side , offering an under-the-hood inspection of Hendrix before his superstardom. Shirley ditches all that to be as palatable as possible, complete with politicians made so cartoonishly prejudiced that they’re lined up like bowling pins for King to knock down in an Oscar clip. Sure, Chisholm definitely faced stiff opposition from unsavory figures (a.k.a. white men), but seeing it here so sanitized takes away from the reality of the situation. King is at least surrounded by a decent supporting cast, most notably Lance Reddick in one of his final roles as Shirley's longtime advisor Mac Holder. Michael Cherrie surprises Shirley’s longtime husband Conrad. But then there’s also Terrence Howard and Lucas Hedges in wasted roles that offer them little to do. “Better get it used and cheap” is what Shirley tells Conrad when he says he needs a new camera. It’s a nice and tidy bit of writing from Ridley, yet it seems he took it to heart and used it as his mantra for the entire production. With Ridley’s Oscar-winning skills as a writer and Netflix’s deep pockets, it’s deeply disappointing that neither of them could muster up what Shirley Chisholm deserved. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Anatomy of a Fall May 26, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Anatomy of a Fall had its World Premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Neon will release it in theaters on October 13. An 11-year-old boy named Daniel (Milo Machado Graner) decides to take his dog Snoop for a walk while his parent’s marriage is crumbling in real-time. The family is currently living near the top of the French Alps at the insistence of the husband, far away from anything or anyone. Daniel is legally blind but is still able to get by on his acute hearing and memory. At the end of the walk Snoop bolts for something on the ground, and as the ever-loyal companion that he is, barks to signal Daniel over to investigate. As Daniel feels around he begins to process the reality that the object between his hands and the snow is the lifeless body of his father Samuel (Samuel Theis). Blood begins to stain his hands, as his father’s fatal head wound continues to gush. The cause of death is quite apparent, but how it happened is still a mystery. A suicide by jumping out the top window? An accidental death because of the loose railing on the balcony? Or did the only other person in the house, the embittered wife Sandra (Sandra Hüller), murder her husband? A pile of clues, coincidences, and conjectures point to all three options being a possibility. “I’m innocent. You know that, right?” asks Sandra to Daniel as she’s just about to go on trial. Daniel wants to believe his mother, but at this point, there’s just enough evidence to push him beyond a reasonable doubt. Writer/director Justine Triet, proving that sophomore slump can work in reverse after the so-so response to her 2019 Cannes debut Sibyl , puts us in the same boat as Daniel. The whole puzzle is never revealed, nor are the pieces the same size for each character or audience member. Sometimes pieces change because of new information, and sometimes they change because people want them to, such as the lawyer assigned against Sandra who’s goal is to twist everything she has to stay into a conviction. Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari (also her partner) pack an HBO prestige miniseries into 150 minutes. The twists and turns come without the thrills one would usually expect from the procedural genre, and they can sometimes be a bit circular and used for runtime padding, but they still pack the emotional and physical effect that they should. While not as arty as other recent French courtroom dramas like Saint Omer and The Goldman Case (featuring Harari as a lawyer), the balance here between authentic and theatrical is a breath of fresh air when compared to the by-the-numbers conventions within American film and television. Similar to Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave , also birthed at Cannes and featuring an investigation surrounding a woman accused of pushing her husband to her death, Anatomy of a Fall is not just a trial over murder, it’s a trial over a relationship. Between the recordings Samuel had on his laptop of their arguments and the testimony of those who knew them, Sandra and Samuel’s entire history is placed upon the public for all to scrutinize. Sandra knows her truth about their time together, but it seems no one else shares her viewpoint. Hüller is astonishing in her calmness, commanding the English, French, and German language. She’s this year’s Cate Blanchett in Tár or Kristen Stewart in Spencer , a one-woman show that hedges all its bets on its star. Along with her radically different work in Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest , expect Hüller to be the critics’ pick in this year’s Oscar race. Even for all the goods it displays, Anatomy of a Fall still doesn’t have that je ne sais quoi that makes it the top-tier great movie it should be. No matter, as those current indescribable bugs may become features to me at a later date. Just as it does to Sandra, the ultimate truth that’s always been right in front of you may not reveal itself until you’re ready to face it. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

I Saw the TV Glow May 13, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen I couldn't tell what feelings I was experiencing while watching I Saw the TV Glow , but I can definitely tell you I was feeling something . There was terror, bewilderment, wonder, curiosity, nostalgia, and some sort of feeling of childhood innocence. And yet there was none of those things, at least in the forms I’d expected or had experienced before. I stared at the screen with the same hypnotized energy as the main characters watching their favorite show, The Pink Opaque . Was I liking what I was watching, and did it even make sense? I didn’t know then, and I still don’t know now. But I can’t get it out of my head, and that’s what’s most important. It all started in the late ‘90s, an era where the only things to watch were what was on TV at the time you were flipping through the channels. For seventh-grader Owen (played by Ian Foreman in the younger years, and Justice Smith when he’s older), everything is just a series of unmemorable images and noise. There’s something off about him, and it’s not just some childhood mood phase. He’s on a conveyor belt going through life, never interacting with anything or anyone. That is until he stumbles upon a show called The Pink Opaque airing on the Young Adult Network (this movie’s version of The CW Network). It’s a Buffy-esque teen drama about two girls with psychic powers fighting a monster-of-the-week, with the big bad guy named Mr. Melancholy looming throughout the seasons. The show speaks to him, yet he doesn’t exactly know what it’s saying. He just knows that he can’t live without hearing it. Writer/director Jane Schoenbrun understands the allure of a fictional piece of art to kids of a certain age. Every adolescent has some inner holes they feel like they need to fill but don’t know how, and there’s nothing more powerful than plugging them with some special work that’s just your own. I could go to lengths about how much The Walking Dead meant to me as a 12-year-old middle schooler. Of course, millions of other people watched that show at its height, but the fact that I had to secretly watch it under the covers with my Kindle was something that made it mine. For Owen, The Pink Opaque is a show geared towards older kids that airs after his bedtime, meaning he has to sneak out of the house to watch it. There’s a thrill to the danger of being caught, and an indescribable satisfaction to the amount of work that needs to be done to get yourself in the right place at the right time. It’s the hidden price we pay through streaming, as everything feels just a little less special when you can have it whenever you want. Owen’s haven for the show is the home of Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), a ninth-grader who’s probably the show’s biggest fan. The show acts as a coping mechanism as they deal with her abusive stepdad and the overall shittiness high schoolers direct toward those that don’t align with their rigid constructs of gender and sexuality. Despite their opposite sexualities, I Saw the TV Glow is a love story for Owen and Maddy, with Smith and Lundy-Paine wonderfully selling the sense of belonging they desire from each other. Those Saturday nights in Maddy’s basement were the only moments they had to be their true selves. Also mixed within this incredibly unique cocktail are some unsettling sequences and imagery. I know it’s a clichéd comparison to make, but there’s a Lynchian quality to all of it. This is not a horror movie nor are there any scenes with the sole intention to scare you, yet some moments chilled me to the bone. Much of it comes from Schoenbrun’s willingness to keep everything understated and shrouded in mystery, even if the inability to provide clear answers leaves a little much left on the table. But it also comes the excellent production qualities within the film and the fictional show. The ‘90s low-budget aesthetic of The Pink Opaque is authentically recreated, with the creature design warranting the Oscar recognition that these types of films never get. Schoenbrun made their name with the 2021 feature We’re All Going to the World’s Fair , a seminal work on creepypastas and underground internet culture. While its release during the pandemic definitely enhanced its aspects of loneliness, it also caused it to be sucked into the vortex of obscurity like so many other independent projects. Thankfully, I Saw the TV Glow doesn’t have those dire circumstances swirling around it and is being handled by A24, meaning there’s no excuse to not check this out. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery September 10, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery had its World Premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Netflix will release it in theaters on November 23, followed by its streaming premiere on December 23. The Last Jedi haters are rolling in their graves, as Rian Johnson has pulled off another incomprehensible feat with Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery . A sequel to 2019’s Knives Out , a great igniter to the revitalization of the whodunit genre, was always going to be a tricky obstacle to overcome. In stepped Netflix, who gave Johnson the necessary blank check to indulge in his wildest fantasies. And because of that, he has crafted a whodunnit that is grander, funnier, stranger, and perhaps better than the original. The Thrombey family has been dealt with and a whole new cast of characters has been assembled within Glass Onion . None of these people are bound by blood. Instead, they are all old friends that go by the “Disruptors.” The leader of the group is Miles Bron (Edward Norton), whose billion-dollar fortune allows him to live on a private Greek island. Lionel (Leslie Odom Jr.) is the lead scientist at Bron’s company. There’s also Senate candidate and family woman Claire (Kathryn Hahn), airheaded fashion model Birdie (Kate Hudson), gun-toting Duke (Dave Bautista), and his much younger girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline). The black sheep of the group is Andi (Janelle Monáe), who was excommunicated after she lost a lengthy lawsuit against all of them for stealing her business idea. Every year, the group (minus Andi) receives a puzzle box invitation for a weekend getaway on Miles’ island. This year, however, invitations have also been sent to Andi and to Mr. Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), whose mind is turning into mush as the COVID-19 pandemic has him shut inside without a case to crack. As you expect, the fireworks begin to go off once all these characters are assembled in one location. Long-held secrets are spilled, violence is enacted, and everyone is a suspect. As is the location and budget, the mystery here is much larger than in the original film. Double crosses become triple crosses, which then become quadruple crosses. As another testament to his dominance over his genre contemporaries, Johnson’s ability to control the material as both a writer and director are unparalleled. Through slick editing and a tactical sense of pacing, he’s created another murder mystery where the placing of the puzzle pieces is just as satisfying as seeing the whole picture. Monáe takes over the Ana de Armas role from the first Knives Out . She’s Blanc’s intelligence, laying out the details of each of these theory characters, and what motives they may have to harm another. Talking specifically about how she effortlessly overcomes the challenge of her role would require going into spoilers, so you’re just going to have to take me at my word that she’s incredible. The rest of the cast doesn’t have as much pressure on their shoulders, but they still shine when they need to. Norton is his signature smarmy self, complete with a flashback scene of him donning Frank Mackey’s outfit from Magnolia (a decision I can only imagine was explicitly targeted toward me). Hudson gets many of the laugh-out-loud moments, and Hahn chews the scenery as usual. Of course, Craig leads the pack, whose enthusiasm for the role is immediately infectious. Watching an actor known for playing the most serious iteration of James Bond don a pinstripe swimsuit and spew information with a comically overdone Southern accent is such a sight to behold. Luckily, Craig’s relationship with this character is much more positive than Bond, so the future is bright for further travels around the world. Glass Onion skillfully embraces and overcomes the usual dangers of doing the same thing as the original, just on a bigger scale. As the first of two planned sequels by Netflix, I can only imagine what Johnson is going to serve up next. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Blue Moon October 13, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Despite being smack dab in the middle of World War II, March 31st, 1943, was a day for celebration, specifically on the streets of Broadway. The stage musical Oklahoma! premiered that night, the first of 2,212 total performances, not including multiple revivals, domestic and foreign tours, youth productions, and a feature film adaptation. The reviews were enthusiastic raves, a special Pulitzer Prize was awarded, and the partnership of composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II was cemented in glory right from the start. Over the next few decades, the team would create some of the most important productions of the 20th century, including Carousel , South Pacific , The King and I , and The Sound of Music . But as one door opens, another closes. Before there was Rodgers and Hammerstein, there was Rodgers and [Lorenz] Hart. The latter pair was the most celebrated songwriting duo of the early decades of the century, raising the profile of the art form through their complex rhymes and wit. It’s a bit of a punchline for director Richard Linklater’s chamber piece about Hart to take its title after one of his most popular songs, one that he looks down on as a piece of shallow populism for the masses. Although, as played by Ethan Hawke and written by Robert Kaplow, it’s difficult to pinpoint what Hart liked and didn’t like. He bemoans some of the Hollywood-y writing in Casablanca , yet endlessly quotes it with his favorite bartender, Eddie (Bobby Cannavale). He spends the whole night tearing Oklahoma! to shreds, all while endlessly praising Rodgers as a musical genius. That dichotomy is what defined Hart. Hammerstein said that he was “alert and dynamic and fun to be around,” while singer Mabel Mercer thought that “he was the saddest man I ever knew.” Both of those quotes come alive in their purest form as Hart sits down at his favorite bar, Sardi’s, after walking out midway through Oklahoma! . Is he jealous that the first show that Rodgers does without him is going to be one of the biggest hits in the history of Broadway? “Fuck yes!” He’s extremely vulgar throughout the rest of the night, steadily downing a bottle of whiskey, all while babbling about how he needs to stop drinking. It only takes a few minutes for us to understand why Rodgers might have needed a change of pace after more than two decades of being with Hart. This whole “performance” that Hart puts on would be much more grating if it weren’t filtered through Hawke’s incredible performance. It’s a full-body transformation, complete with a comb-over hairpiece and visual trickery to make the 5-foot-10 actor appear almost a foot shorter. It’s often a bit of a gimmick, with a couple of blurry full-body shots drawing too much attention below the waist rather than to what Hawke is doing with his eyes and mouth. The camera matches the actor’s nonstop energy, steadily gliding on a track, transfixed on every syllable he ingeniously twists in his favor. Linklater and his longtime editor, Sandra Adair, quickly cut back and forth between Hart, Eddie, and piano player Morty Rifkin (Jonah Lees) as they playfully banter about art and women. Hart fancies Elizabeth (Margaret Qualley), a beautiful college student whom he foolishly believes could fall in love with a short, balding, forty-seven-year-old man. Blue Moon comes out around the same time as Linklater’s other 2025 film, Nouvelle Vague , which chronicles the creation of the film Breathless . Be it a coincidence or not that both of these films focus on mercurial geniuses, Linklater explores the conflicting areas where art is born. But while Nouvelle Vague is (charmingly) preoccupied with answering “how?” through fanciful homage and recreation, Blue Moon finds itself more interested in “why?” Kaplow, whose only other credit is as the author of the book that Me and Orson Welles is based on, finds the reasons why such a depressed and profane man could write such cheery tunes. His failure to get backing for his challenging projects illustrates that he was born in the wrong era; his genius wordplay dulled by the wants and needs for everything to be served with a smile. Rodgers and Hammerstein knew that fact, leaving Hart to be a bit of an also-ran in the annals of Broadway history. Andrew Scott appears as Rodgers about halfway through the film, glowing from the reception of Oklahoma! . He and Hawke have a wonderful rapport, cracking jokes and making playful stabs while one is trying to cling to their relationship, while the other is getting ready to leave it. Linklater and Hawke feel like they occupy a similar comfortable space, with a major difference being that it doesn’t seem like their thirty-year relationship is any danger of ceasing. And if the fruits are going to be this sublime this many years in, I can only imagine how sweet they’ll be another thirty years from now. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Nuremberg November 3, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen As the screenwriter for the all-around masterpiece that is Zodiac , James Vanderbilt essentially gets a lifetime free pass. Unfortunately, he milked that freedom for all its worth with some doozies like the Adam Sandler-led Netflix whodunnit Murder Mystery (and its sequel ), White House Down , and this year's most forgettable blockbuster, Fountain of Youth . Nuremberg might just be what the doctor ordered to get things back on track, a by-the-numbers World War II courtroom drama packed with an all-star cast. Although Vanderbilt seems to have focused too much on the vegetable portion of that prescription, delivering a film so stately and sturdy that it might as well be a long-lost HBO made-for-television movie. That's not a far-fetched comparison, considering that the Nuremberg trials have already been depicted on television in a two-part TNT miniseries, airing in the summer of 2000. Brian Cox won an Emmy for his portrayal of Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, the second most powerful official in Nazi Germany, behind only Adolf Hitler. Russell Crowe steps into that role for Vanderbilt's film, an adaptation of Jack El-Hai’s 2013 book that features a few of the same historical figures as the miniseries. One of the first images lensed by DP Dariusz Wolski is that of an American soldier urinating on a Nazi sign as he escorts civilians to safety in the spring of 1945. The war is winding down, leaving over 70 million dead in its wake. Göring's civilized and half-hearted attempt to drive away from the scene of the crime leads right into American hands, where he is arrested and jailed with the rest of the Nazi high command. But that was just the easy part, with the decision of what to do with him being exponentially more difficult. For as much as everyone would like to see it happen, immediately killing him would send a far too vengeful message than the world needs at this moment. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon) has the idea to put them all on trial, an Allied coalition effort that would unequivocally prove the Nazi's guilt in their crimes against humanity, thereby diminishing their power throughout the future. While the allies are preparing their case, the United States military has brought in hotshot psychiatrist Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) to assess the prisoners' mental stability and ensure they are fit to be put on trial. Sensing an opportunity for professional and monetary gain, Kelley decides to focus his efforts on Göring, meeting with him on several occasions to gather material for an eventual book on the psychology of evil. But what he doesn't expect to discover is a man not so different from him, one who genuinely cares for his wife and daughter, and probably eats and drinks more than he should. He flawlessly served his country, raising Germany from the destitution it was subjected to after World War I to a world superpower. He doesn't have hate in his heart for a specific group of people, just the general enemies preventing him from doing his duty. That sense of banality to some of the most inhumane acts in human history is a similar theme that director Jonathan Glazer explored in his Nazi-centered film, The Zone of Interest . Like Göring, several other Nazi officials simply saw themselves as cogs in the war machine, following orders for the service of their country. It was like a corporation, with lower-level individual ideologies being subsumed by the orders of higher-ups. Clashing with your boss is a bad idea for anyone trying to make a name for themselves in the new world order. But while Glazer let our minds vividly paint the horrifying picture through a neutral point of view, Vanderbilt is much more heavy-handed in his approach. There are endless speeches about the importance of this occasion and how this has to work so it can never happen again. There does come a point when it would be more beneficial for Vanderbilt to cut to the chase and have the characters stare directly into the audience as they make their grand statements, all while holding up a newspaper with today’s prescient headlines. Still, there’s some charm to how old-school this all feels. It could also be my bias for any period piece that eclipses a runtime of two and a half hours. John Slattery plays the colonel in charge of overseeing the prison. Brian Tyler’s score swells as he gives each Nazi their own Suicide Squad-esque intro, complete with cheesy archival footage. He ends the sequence by rousingly announcing, “Gentleman, welcome to Nuremberg!” as if this is the beginning of some grand adventure. If this were to be considered an adventure, then it would have needed to find a better lead, as Malek is woefully miscast as the playboy doctor. He’s introduced by wooing a female passenger on his train with a card trick, except that no chemistry has been created to produce an inkling of attraction. Tom Cruise played this role best in A Few Good Men , with Crowe aptly supplying this movie’s version of Jack Nicholson’s Col. Nathan R. Jessep. He’s exacting in his words and confident in his methods, always seemingly one step ahead of what the Allies are planning. High school history teachers will have a field day with Nuremberg over the next few years, although they’d still be much better off by sticking with Stanley Kramer’s 1961 classic Judgment at Nuremberg . Rather than shy away from controversy, as was customary for Hollywood at the time, Kramer always dove headfirst into the thorny battles in America’s conscience, applying a showman’s touch to stories centered on morals rather than stars. Vanderbilt has modestly succeeded in living up to that expectation, although increased politicization of cinema in the decades since has sanded the edges off this story. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

80 For Brady January 20, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Lighter than a feather and filled with enough New England Patriots propaganda to get itself banned in Atlanta, Buffalo, New York, and Miami, 80 for Brady would probably have cleaned up at this year’s AARP Movies for Grownups Awards if it had been given a timely qualifying release. Of course, there’s always next year, where there’s potential for Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon to be upstaged in the categories of “Best Buddy Picture” and “Best Intergenerational Film.” At the time of the film’s announcement, famed Patriots/Buccaneers Quarterback Tom Brady had just announced his retirement from football after 22 seasons, which included 7 Super Bowl titles, 3 NFL MVP honors, 15 Pro Bowl selections, as well as an extended list of other career achievements. It does take a certain amount of hubris on Brady’s part for his first post-football move to be the commissioning of a movie about four fans who worship him as a god. Granted, this is inspired by a true story, even if the script by Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins, part of the writing team behind 2019’s Booksmart , takes some very creative liberties with the truth. The 80 in 80 for Brady denotes the ages of four friends who have centered their strong friendship over their love of Tom Brady and his New England Patriots. It all started on September 23, 2001 (a date celebrated every year by Patriots fans) when Lou (Lily Tomlin) was stuck at home recovering from her last round of chemotherapy. Her close friends Trish (Jane Fonda), Maura (Rita Moreno), and Betty (Sally Field) tried to entertain her by getting the TV to work, but it was stuck on one channel. At that exact moment, young Tom Brady steps into the pocket after regular starter Drew Bledsoe was taken out of the game due to a nasty sack. From there, the rest is history, for both Brady and his cohort of dedicated octogenarian fans. Fast forward to 2017 and the Patriots are going to another Super Bowl. Instead of staying home like they always do, the group decides to make the trip down to Houston for the big game. “The Super Bowl is no place for four old women,” says Maura, who happens to be right. But that statement being true is what makes for the most of the fun within 80 for Brady , as four Hollywood legends with effortless charm and chemistry blaze through the biggest event of the year. Much of the material is light and fun, made to purely entertain you for the ninety-eight-minute runtime and nothing more. And compared to most of the entries in this specific genre, which include Book Club (plus its upcoming sequel) and Poms , this one works fairly well. Moreno, who technically doesn’t qualify for the club considering she’s 91, clearly has the most fun within the ensemble. It’s unfortunate that the only dance routine within the film is poorly choreographed and doesn’t allow the original cinematic Anita to show off her long-lived talent. There are some attempts at drama, but it’s all so clean and shallow that it barely even registers. The stakes are pretty much nonexistent, and the jokes can be seen from a mile away. Director Kyle Marvin keeps everything breezy, and cinematographer John Toll (recipient of two Academy Awards) makes the Super Bowl festivities look as appealing as possible. Football fans may not be totally won over by 80 for Brady , but its intended audience of retirees will undoubtedly eat it up. And in a time when one of the largest sustainers of adult theatrical programming is not returning to the cinema, we’ll take all the help we can get. So, take your parents and/or grandparents out for a nice time, and maybe try to convince them to get back into their old cinemagoing habits. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Sundance 2023 Preview January 19, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen After months of Oscar movies from leading auteurs, the Sundance Film Festival offers a nice break to discover some of the brightest talent of the future. The festival has also been one of the most accessible since the start of the pandemic, with the entire 2021 and 2022 lineups being available online throughout the world. Unfortunately, that amount of openness is being slightly pulled back for the 2023 edition, with some of the "bigger" films being in-person only. No matter, there are still plenty of exciting films that I plan to catch as part of the online platform from January 24-29. You can read about each one below, and pay attention to this site for reviews and other coverage. *Descriptions and images for all films supplied by the Sundance Film Festival program* Bad Behaviour Lucy (Jennifer Connelly) seeks enlightenment. The former child actress makes a pilgrimage to join her guru, Elon Bello (Ben Whishaw), for a silent retreat at a beautiful mountain resort with a Tesla-crammed parking lot. Before she shuts off her phone to the world, Lucy reaches out to her daughter, Dylan — a stunt person training for a dangerous fight scene — to interrupt her concentration and announce that she will be unavailable and out of range, and that she is very worried about her, and that she might extend her stay. It is codependent, bad behavior. When a young model/DJ/influencer at the retreat is paired up with Lucy to do a mother/daughter role-playing exercise, hellfire stokes Lucy’s bad behavior to an astonishing low. Run Rabbit Run Fertility doctor Sarah begins her beloved daughter Mia’s seventh birthday expecting nothing amiss. But as an ominous wind swirls in, Sarah’s carefully controlled world begins to alter. Mia begins behaving oddly and a rabbit appears outside their front door — a mysterious birthday gift that delights Mia but seems to deeply disconcert Sarah. As days pass, Mia becomes increasingly not herself, demanding to see Sarah’s long-estranged, hospitalized mother (the grandmother she’s never met before) and fraying Sarah’s nerves as the child’s bizarre tantrums begin to point her toward Sarah’s own dark history. As a ghost from her past re-enters Sarah’s life, she struggles to cling to her distant young daughter. Magazine Dreams Killian Maddox (Jonathan majors) lives with his ailing veteran grandfather, obsessively working out between court-mandated therapy appointments and part-time shifts at a grocery store where he harbors a crush on a friendly cashier. Though Killian’s struggles to read social cues and maintain control of his volatile temper amplify his sense of disconnection amid a hostile world, nothing deters him from his fiercely protected dream of bodybuilding superstardom, not even the doctors who warn that he’s causing permanent damage to his body with his quest. The Starling Girl Seventeen-year-old Jem Starling (Eliza Scanlen) struggles to define her place within her fundamentalist Christian community in rural Kentucky. Even her greatest joy — the church dance group — is tempered by worry that her love of dance is actually sinful, and she’s caught between a burgeoning awareness of her own sexuality and an instinctive resistance to her mom’s insistence that the time has come to begin courting. She finds respite from her confusion in the encouragement of her youth pastor Owen, who is likewise drawn to the blossoming Jem’s attention. Theater Camp As summer rolls around again, kids are gathering from all over to attend AdirondACTS, a scrappy theater camp in upstate New York that’s a haven for budding performers. After its indomitable founder Joan (Amy Sedaris) falls into a coma, her clueless “crypto-bro” son Troy (Jimmy Tatro) is tasked with keeping the thespian paradise running. With financial ruin looming, Troy must join forces with Amos (Ben Platt), Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon), and their band of eccentric teachers to come up with a solution before the curtain rises on opening night. Fair Play Hot off the heels of their new engagement, thriving New York couple Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) can’t get enough of each other. When a coveted promotion at a cutthroat financial firm arises, supportive exchanges between the lovers begin to sour into something more sinister. As the power dynamics irrevocably shift in their relationship, Luke and Emily must face the true price of success and the unnerving limits of ambition. Sometimes I Think About Dying Lost on the dreary Oregon coast, Fran (Daisy Ridley) wastes her daylight hours in the solitude of a cubicle, listening to the constant hum of officemates, occasionally daydreaming to pass the time. She is ghosting through life unable to pop her bubble of isolation. And then Robert starts up at the company. He is new to town and the dynamics of the office. He is a naturally friendly person who keeps trying to chat with Fran. Though it goes against every fiber of her being, she may have to give this guy a chance. Cat Person Margot (Emilia Jones), a college student working concessions at an art house theater, meets frequent filmgoer — and rather older local — Robert (Nicholas Braun), on the job. Flirtation across the counter evolves into continuous texting. As the two inch toward romance, shifts between them, awkward moments, red flags, and discomforts pile up. Margot feels both attached and reticent, as her gnawing hesitations blossom into vivid daydreams where Robert realizes his most threatening potential. As her distrust and uncertainty mount, an evening, their relationship, and possibly their lives unravel. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Gran Turismo August 25, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Screenwriters Jason Hall and Zach Baylin make it their main objective to never let you forget that Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) is an underdog that no one believes in. “This isn’t a game, this is real life,” “You’re just a gamer, what do you know about driving cars?” “This time there isn’t a reset button,” are just a handful of lines that you'll become increasingly tired of hearing. It seems Hall and Baylin never took the lesson on diminishing returns, as all the suspense surrounding Jann’s outcome is completely evaporated by the fifth scene where someone tells him he can’t accomplish his dream. To cut them some slack, this is based on a true story, a fact that the producers REALLY want you to know, going so far as to rename the movie Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story in some markets. Mardenborough is a real person who became obsessed with racing at a young age. But he didn’t have a similar upbringing to the other drivers on the professional circuit, filled with fame and easy access to the best cars money can buy. Jann’s window into the racing world was through the PlayStation game “Gran Turismo” (don’t call it a game in front of Jann because it’s a “racing simulation”). The opening scene (or commercial if you want to be more accurate) introduces us to the immense detail and precision that went into making the game as realistic as possible. Unlike other gaming series like “FIFA” and “Madden,” “Gran Turismo” is generally accepted as the most authentic portrayal of the sport it represents. No one seems to believe that Jann’s world-class gaming abilities can translate into real racing, least of all his former soccer pro dad (Djimon Hounsou). Nissan marketing executive Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom) sees potential in the kid. If Jann can be made into a serious racer, it will make Nissan one of the most popular car companies among the untapped gaming demographic. Put in charge of the training process is Jack Salter (David Harbour), who’s also a non-believer in “sim racers.” Over time his cold heart begins to thaw, with Jann proving himself to be just as good as he says he is. Upon the announcement, one would think that former wunderkind Neill Blomkamp is serving his time in director jail with this assignment. There are no signs of that here, fortunately, with the District 9 and Elysium director crafting some stunning racing sequences, even if there are so many that they end up blurring together. The roaring of the engines fills the theater corner to corner, and cinematographer Jacques Jouffret captures some decent shots. It’s old-fashioned studio craftsmanship applied to a sport that values tradition. Even with all the underdog cliches I mentioned earlier, there’s still a strong emotional connection to Jann and Jack’s partnership. Madekwe and Harbour have great chemistry as they play to the tune of “young upstart and grizzled veteran” we’ve heard many times before. But it’s been done so many times because it works, and it works here. The lows are bitter and the highs are sweet. Gran Turismo is a product of brand synergy, meant to push the overall awareness of a product just as much as it's supposed to tell a cinematic story. It’s part of a worrying trend of corporations taking on the role of their own biggest fan (see Tetris and Flamin’ Hot ). But there’s also stuff like Air and Barbie that can make the most out of propaganda and entertainment. Blomkamp’s film doesn’t reach those heights, but it still does just enough to cross the finish line in a respectable fashion. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen