Search Results

Asteroid City June 12, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Asteroid City had its World Premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Focus Features will release it in theaters on June 13. By far the strangest movie in his eclectic filmography, Asteroid City is Wes Anderson’s return to America in over a decade, having spent time in fictional Eastern Europe for The Grand Budapest Hotel , Japan for Isle of Dogs , and well… France for The French Dispatch . The fanciful writer/director takes us into the scenic deserts of the 1950s American southwest, specifically the titular sleepy tourist town that serves as the meeting point for all of the eccentric characters. The half-built town, complete with the stereotypical bar-stool diner and motel, is the destination for those attending the annual Junior Stargazer / Space Cadet convention. It’s a place where the best, brightest, and most awkward kids in America show off their new inventions, including a jetpack, raygun, and overhead projector for the moon, which, in one of many hilarious throwaway lines, is said to have huge potential in the future of interstellar advertising. Arriving in a putter under the beaming sun is Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman), a war photographer with a genius son and young triplet girls. This event is only a brief stop on his way to see his father-in-law (Tom Hanks, proving as always to be a wonderful addition to any cast), who’s the only other person that knows of Augie’s wife’s recent demise. Also in attendance is a group of other precocious children and their host of parents (Scarlett Johannson, Liev Schreiber, Steve Park, Hope Davis, etc.) Eventually, this event designed to look up at the stars comes in contact with something from there, which reshapes how our characters interact with each other and themselves. As I said in the opening sentence, this is Anderson’s weirdest movie to date, always keeping your eyebrow in a raised position. To avoid spoiling events beyond what is shown in the trailer, I’ll only mention that Anderson’s screenplay (written in conjunction with his usual partner Roman Coppola) emulates a certain Christopher Nolan movie that has to do with dreams. How else are you going to be able to fit in all the names within this all-star cast, including regular players Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright, Willem Dafoe, and Jeff Goldblum? The term “this is the most Wes Anderson movie Wes Anderon has ever made” has been used to describe nearly every new entry in his filmography. That cycle doesn’t stop with Asteroid City , as the traits you’ve come to love (or hate) are all here: symmetrical framing, varying aspect ratios, color and black & white cinematography, and steady camera movements. Anderson’s usual designer Adam Stockhausen once again creates a doll-house world filled with too many sights and sounds to be absorbed in one viewing. Sure, there may now be umpteen TikTok and A.I. generated videos replicating Anderon’s distinct style, but all of them contain just the window dressing of a Wes Anderson movie, and not the emotion. Just as his box of tricks has constantly evolved, so has Anderson’s ability to find the heart in his richly defined characters. While on their methodically placed tracks, each character veers off in different directions, exploring the fear of death, finding connections in a barren land, cutting through the messiness of life, and paying homage to those kitschy B-movies you grew up watching late at night on the public access channel. At this point in his filmography, you’ve probably made up your mind about Wes Anderson. I’m somewhat of an apologist, with those instantly recognizable production qualities and whimsical tones being music to my ears (and eyes). Asteroid City is another healthy dose of what I’m come to love, with the bonus of seeing an auteur continue to find new ways to channel what they do best. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Dear Evan Hansen September 23, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen Besides the expected superhero films, the genre that seems to be all the rage in 2021 is musicals. This year sees several different variations of the movie musical, featuring original concepts ( Annette ), musical variations of classic tales (Amazon’s Cinderella ), Broadway adaptations (Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights , and Miranda’s directorial debut Tick, Tick… Boom! ), and even remakes of Broadway adaptations (Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story ). Slotting right in with the rest of the Broadway pack is the film adaptation of the modern stage musical sensation: Dear Evan Hansen . Riddled with social anxiety, depression, and a cast on his left arm, Evan Hansen is a teenager who can never seem to fit in. He writes letters to himself for motivation, in which one haphazardly falls into the hands of the troubled Connor Murphy, who takes his own life shortly after. The Murphys believe the letter to be Connor’s suicide note, with Evan being his best friend. Rather than admit the truth that Connor was his bully, Evan goes along with this opportunity, netting him a newfound sense of popularity and affection from those that never once passed him a glance. He also becomes an unofficial member of the Murphy family, with the parents taking him under their wing and their daughter, Zoe, developing a relationship with him. But like all charades, the lie begins to spin out of control, tangling Evan and those he cares about in a web of deceit. Tasked with bringing the stage play to cinematic life is director Stephen Chbosky, who recently had success with Wonder , about a boy with facial disfigurement, and the soon-to-be cult classic/greatest movie ever according to Tumblr, The Perks of Being a Wallflower . Unlike the musicals mentioned in the beginning, Dear Evan Hansen doesn’t feature large group numbers on sweeping sets. Much of the action occurs in smaller, domestic locations, with the most exotic sets being a school gymnasium and a run-of-the-mill apple orchard. And even when a song features more than one performer, they hardly share the same location, such as “Requiem,” where the Murphys are crosscut and folded on top of each other. The film hangs its heart on the musical numbers, many of which have become anthems to a generation, especially “You Will Be Found,” which has become so iconic that it gets a special Sam Smith treatment during the credits, along with the familiar showstopping rendition that occurs at the midpoint. Schbosky shows middling prowess for the staging of these numbers, opting for the actors to sing live, filming them through extended takes and slower camera movements that accentuate the emotional pull of the material. That stillness also acts as a double-edged sword, as there is a distinct lack of energy that makes the 137-minute runtime feel a lot longer than it is. Ironically, the main problem that keeps this version of Dear Evan Hansen from being a sensation is not the cinematic qualities, but the story itself, which won Best Book of a Musical at the 2017 Tony Awards. The problem with the story is systematic, with Evan’s actions being steeped in selfishness. Screenwriter Steven Levenson tries too hard to have his cake and eat it too as he attempts to scorn Evan’s actions while also finding the silver lining with a ploying message about friendship and grief. The stage may have been able to cover this with its overpowering emotional tunes and acting, but the slowness of the film adaptation allows for that problem to fester until your sympathy for Evan has completely dried up and you just want him to get caught. Fortunately, the actors aren’t too affected by the script’s problems. Reprising his famous role, Ben Platt proves once again that he was born to play Evan Hansen, despite his 27-year-old face and gangly body signaling that he should have stayed retired. Kaitlyn Dever, who broke out in 2019 with Booksmart , often steals the show as Zoe. Dever finds the right amount of vulnerability as her character deals with the death of a brother she never had much respect for. She and Platt make their relationship seem believable, despite the glaring age difference and underwritten romantic development. Misguided, but not without its merits, Dear Evan Hansen aims for the heart with pinpoint accuracy. There’s an emotional and sweet lesson buried under the creepy candy coating that is the central premise. Once that obstacle is overcome (which is a big task), then there are enough powerful songs to connect with those that sometimes feel alone. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Avengers: Endgame May 2, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen It’s taken eleven years and twenty-two films, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally reached its long-awaited bittersweet conclusion. Thanos has snapped his fingers and half of all life on Earth is gone. With the few remaining heroes left, the Avengers embark on a revenge quest against the villain that has stolen their friends and loved ones. But just like all plans, this one doesn’t go right and the team must now band together for one final showdown in order to save the universe and set things right once and for all. *Forewarning, this review may be a bit shallow at times and free of specific details for the sake of not wanting to give away spoilers. So please give me the benefit of the doubt as I try to be careful with my words. After four outings, brothers Anthony and Joe Russo have firmly planted their position as the MCU’s best directors. Whether it be during somber conversations between characters or in the Lord of the Rings style final battle, the amount of detail and effort that goes into each frame is unparalleled by any other blockbuster. Regular Marvel cinematographer Trent Opaloch’s compositional lighting and camera movement is simply outstanding and keeps the film running on all cylinders throughout its three-hour runtime. Also keeping the energy high is the lightning pace that brothers infuse into the film’s second and third act. They may miss the mark a bit during the first hour, but they more than make up for it in the latter two thirds as they deliver some of the most entertaining material put to screen. Lastly, aiding the brothers is a sweeping score by the always underappreciated Alan Silvestri. His music is swiftly able to go from epic to intimate in the blink of an eye and is a key driver behind many of the overwhelming emotions felt. Co-written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, Avengers: Endgame may mark the first film in the franchise to look back in the past as opposed to solely setting up the future. The specific medium it uses to reminisce may not be the most logical or neat, but the end product is a string of touching moments that pleasantly rewards fans that have stuck around all these years. After some time away from each other during Phase Three, the main core of the Avengers is finally back together, albeit under less than ideal circumstances. This initial tighter cast allows the main troupe to get their time to shine in what could be a few send-off performances. Things start to get messy when the entire roster is put back together. Some characters get the shorter end of the stick in terms of screentime, but I don’t know how it could all be properly done unless this movie was another six hours longer (which I would still approve of). Marvel films have been built since day one on their ability to blend comedy with high emotional stakes. The stakes have never been higher here, and the same can go for the number of quippy jokes. The quality of the humor is surprisingly high throughout, but the sheer amount of one-liners during what should be tense moments verges on borderline overkill. With its bafflingly long cast list, Endgame boasts quite a few key acting highlights. The co-leads of Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans shine brighter than they ever have before. They’ve gotten better with each performance and leave it all on the screen as they share immense chemistry with each other and everyone around them. Josh Brolin is still great as Thanos. While he doesn’t reach the high bar he set for himself in Infinity War , he still delivers another powerful performance that towers over all the other Marvel villains. Both Karen Gillan and Paul Rudd surprisingly stand out as Nebula and Ant-Man, respectively. They each have a more grounded personal story that offers a stark contrast to the epic main narrative. I realize I’m leaving a lot of great performances on the cutting room floor, but it would take a novel to talk about them all. Basically, everyone either did well or just alright. Nobody was outright bad. Arguably the biggest pop culture moment of all time, Avengers: Endgame is a film that arrived with an infinite amount of expectations and meets each and every one of them. Within its 181-minute runtime, you’ll laugh, you’ll more than likely cry (I did), and most importantly, be amazed at how a legendary neverending franchise can reach such a satisfying conclusion that both respects the past and gives confidence for the future. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Velvet Buzzsaw February 7, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen The art world can be a cutthroat business or in the case of the film Velvet Buzzsaw , the art world is a business that can literally cut your throat. After a reclusive old man suddenly dies in her apartment building, art assistant Josephina unethically stumbles onto the man’s life work: hundreds of eerie paintings depicting acts of unsettling violence. Seeing this as a golden opportunity to rise up the social ladder, Josephina strikes a deal with her boss, Rhodora, to sell the paintings for vast sums of money. Unbeknownst to the buyers and sellers, the old man intended for all his paintings to be destroyed upon his death. With his final wish going unfulfilled, the cursed paintings take a shape of their own and begin to exact revenge on those who wrongfully profit from them. Directed by Dan Gilroy, Velvet Buzzsaw works across multiple genres as it pokes fun at the art world through a mix of satirical comedy and grotesque horror. Even though this has been done before in many other films, Gilroy does it differently as he entertainingly contradicts the expectations that come with each genre. Instead of being laughed out loud, the observational comedy amusingly bewilders, and the scares are delivered through a bright color palette as opposed to the conventional dark low lighting. Blending genres does make for some great fun throughout, but from time to time the film suffers from it. Gilroy overplays his hand at a few points, leading to some head-scratching moments where the film can’t decide if a scene is supposed to be funny or scary. Shot by veteran cinematographer Robert Elswit, the film also employs some neat camera tricks that keep the story on its toes. Information is steadily given frame by frame as it builds up to a big reveal that flips everything on its head. Both equally ambitious and narrow-minded, Gilroy’s script is quite lackluster when compared to his competent directing. Through an ensemble cavalcade of caricatures, the script satirizes the art industry and tries to prove that money and art don’t actually go hand in hand. This vision is respectable, but the clunkiness of the story and Gilroy’s inability to go outside the box holds it down. The clichéd anthem of “art is for everyone and greed is holding it back.” quickly becomes an overused gimmick by the time the characters start to get their comeuppance. The sheer size of the cast also spreads the message too thin across the main narrative and several subplots, many of whom are needless fillers. While this is a sin on a storytelling level, it is admittingly quite satisfying to watch each character receive a Final Destination -like death. The greatest asset the film boasts is its actors that give life to the crazy characters they inhabit. Reteaming with Gilroy after their fruitful work in Nightcrawler , Jake Gyllenhaal goes all in and is at his campy best as Morf Vandewalt, a renowned critic whose reviews can instantly make or break a career. Also in Nightcrawler , Rene Russo does a great job as Rhodora. She controls each character, and scene, with an iron fist and isn’t afraid to get dirty to make a living. Toni Collette and Zawe Ashton are pretty good as Gretchen and Josephina, respectively. They each give credible performances to their extravagantly unlikable characters. Even though they really don’t serve a purpose to the story, both John Malkovich and Daveed Diggs do good work as two contradicting artists that get caught up in the bloody mess. It probably wasn’t his intention, but Dan Gilroy has made a semi-unoriginal film that tries to make fun of the unoriginal world of high art. However, the unoriginality of the story doesn’t diminish from the amusement that it produces. Now available to stream on Netflix, this comedic slasher could be a good way to kill a couple of hours, especially when at the low cost of free. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Barbie July 18, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen In a recent article by The New Yorker , Greta Gerwig stated that “her ambition is to be not the biggest woman director but a big studio director. And Barbie is a piece of I.P. that resonated with her.” Sure, the arthouse crowd could cry foul at losing one of their most longstanding patrons, with Gerwig being most known through the mid-2000s to late 2010s as an entrenched member of the mumblecore movement where young adults vented about their first-world problems (that’s the crass way of defining the genre). From Martin Scorsese to Christopher Nolan, plenty of major filmmakers have started small and then jumped aboard the volatile cruise ship that is the studio system. They’re legends to the public because they can seamlessly find the most comfortable middle ground between art and entertainment. The loss within the independent crowd from Gerwig’s departure is a noble sacrifice, as having her at the helm of tentpole productions is of benefit to the greater good of cinema. Barbie may not find that exact sweet spot like the instant classic blockbusters, but it has just as much of a brain as it does have good ol’ fashioned summer movie season fun, solidifying itself as an achievement of this season. Just as she does in our childlike imaginations, Barbie (Margot Robbie) lives in a perfect dream world where the sun shines every day and everyone gets along. The Barbies inhabit and govern the land in perfect harmony, with the Kens (Ryan Gosling being Robbie’s "... and Ken" ) always competing for the attention and affection of their female counterparts. Every day is the same day, that is until Robbie’s Barbie, known as Sterotypical Barbie because of her absolute perfection, starts having thoughts about death and existentialism. This rift is due to a downward mood in the girl that owns Stereotypical Barbie in the real world, as the doll reflects the emotions of the person who plays with her. So Barbie must venture out into our imperfect world, towing Ken along with her. The overall uniqueness of Barbie is no small feat, but it’s also not something that should be viewed as that big of a surprise, especially to those who have paid attention to Gerwig’s tenure as a director. Both the lived-in intimacy of Lady Bird and the modern buoyancy of Little Women are evident here. It’s so apparent how a product so steeped in corporate greed like Barbie could have been a cynical cash grab. Gerwig avoids (most of) those pitfalls, infusing this fish-out-of-water story with reflective takes on feminism, gender roles, and self-worth. There’s the million-dollar question surrounding the whole story: Barbie is perfect so that she can inspire little girls to be perfect at any job they want. But is selling perfection only setting kids up for failure, as we all learn that no one is perfect? The answers Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach (also her husband) give are nothing you haven’t heard before. But just as Triangle of Sadness and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery didn’t have the most original things to say about the ultra-rich last year, the obvious things they were saying have never been said more funnily. Gerwig and Baumbach deliver nonstop laughs with their script, dishing up just as hearty spoonfuls of social commentary. Gosling walks away with the most laughs, as his dim-witted charm and good looks make him the personification of a lost puppy. His role is a purely comedic one, with Robbie commandingly doing the tougher task of balancing the humor and central themes of the movie. She walks and talks like a dream doll, but also finds something deep within the core of her plastic shell. The rest of the large ensemble cast is there for support, with some getting better treatment than others (Kate McKinnon often steals the show as Weird Barbie, but Will Ferrell gets little to do as the Mattell CEO). If 2003’s The Cat in the Hat is the worst case for this sort of candy-coated production, then Barbie is one of the best-case scenarios. Gerwig has kept her directorial winning streak intact and further pushes her status as one of this generation’s leading voices. I’ve got some simple free advice for all the studio heads been facing big blockbuster bombs this summer: invest in Greta Gerwig. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

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 One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

The Boys in the Band October 5, 2020 By: Button Hunter Friesen Back in 1968, playwright Mart Crowley shocked the world by penning a stage production solely comprised of gay men and their repressed feelings. The spiteful language and harsh authentic look at gay life were too much for “polite society” at the time. The production played off-Broadway for a few years before closing in 1970. Right before he directed The French Connection and The Exorcist , William Friedkin gave the play new life by adapting it for the screen the same year it closed. Finally, in 2018, the play was given its proper due with a Broadway revival directed by Joe Mantello and starring an all-out-gay cast, most notably Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory ), Zachary Quinto (Spock from the modern Star Trek franchise), and Matt Bomer. Now in 2020, history has repeated itself as Mantello and co. have regrouped for another screen adaptation, this time for producer Ryan Murphy at Netflix. The Boys in the Band opens in 1968 New York. Seven gay friends are soon to be gathered for the birthday of one of their own. We get to know each of them over the first half-hour as they prepare for the party. The host, Michael, is a so-so writer with a drinking and money problem that he can’t let go of. Michael’s good friend (and old flame) Donald comes into town hot off a session with his analyst that made him confront the shame he feels as a gay man. Larry is the group flirt as he refuses to be wholly committed to one man, which often puts him at odds with his lover Hank, who recently left his wife for Larry. Then there’s Emery, the comedic relief of the group who isn’t afraid to show off who he is. There’s also Bernard, the only black member of the group who’s still wrestling with both his racial and sexual identity. Finally, the birthday boy himself is Harold, a Jew who always arrives late and knows exactly what to say to get under someone’s skin. But wait, there’s one more guest at this little shindig. Michael’s old college roommate, Alan, is in town under mysterious circumstances and must see him right away. Michael isn’t 100% out of the closet to Alan, mostly because Alan is as straight as an arrow and about as open-minded as the rest of 1960s America. The party kicks off great as the friends reminisce on old times. These are the moments when the acting troupe shines, especially Robin de Jesus as Emery and Parsons as Michael. Crowley’s original dialogue is lifted right from the stage to the screen with pure elegance. The one-liners and zingers, which are often playfully vulgar, are still eye-opening fifty years later. It’s both happy and sad to see this material continue to be relevant after so many decades. However, things get icy when Alan shows up. Harold hasn’t arrived and everyone still has their social masks on. Alan doesn’t fully comprehend what he has barged in on as Michael tries to quell the flamboyancy. Director Mantello grinds everything to a halt once Alan walks through the door. Almost as if this was a horror movie, a deep feeling of suspenseful dread fills the atmosphere. Like all good suspense, a needle eventually drops and things quickly get messy. The language turns from sarcastic to hateful as old secrets and dark truths bubble up to the surface after years of being buried. Parsons still takes the cake with his exceptional lead performance. Harold remarks that when Michael drinks “he’s lethal”. Parsons is indeed lethal once things get serious as he ditches his sitcom roots and delivers a much more bullying persona. Quinto is also great as Harold. Usually sitting in the corner with his humongous tinted sunglasses, he delivers line after line with stinging fervor. The Boys in the Band can feel a bit too stagy at times, which is to be expected. Long speeches and heartfelt moments that work well on the stage sometimes come off as schmaltzy on the screen. But Mantello does incredible work despite only directing one other film in 1997. His excellent blocking of the apartment setting is second to none as it allows for swift camera movements that capture every moment. Cinematographer Bill Pope does well to preserve that same stage energy with numerous long takes and great lighting of the wonderful set by production designer Judy Becker. The Boys in the Band is an astounding stage-to-screen adaptation that remains relevant in its messaging and entertaining in its story. The cast is top-notch and Joe Mantello proves he still has the directing chops. Unfortunately, Mart Crowley died from a heart attack in March before the film was finished. Despite being gone from this physical world, he still lives on within this excellent production. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Blink Twice August 15, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut is loaded with so many symbols, clues, and hidden messages that the rapid-fire nature of their delivery might make you miss them if you blink (sorry, the joke just wrote itself). It’s the mark of a confident storyteller, someone who can transfer their vision onto the silver screen and trust the audience to go along for the ride even though they never get to play with a deck. To give us some credit, Kravitz’s symbolism and structure heavily mirror recent thrillers such as Get Out and The Royal Hotel , so the mysteries surrounding the plot become much simpler to solve once you identify that this is an equivalent equation, a delicious copycat nonetheless. “Be invisible” is the order Frida (Naomi Ackie) receives every day at her job as a waitress for a catering company. It’s something she’s unfortunately become an expert at, first seen sitting on the toilet of her rundown apartment as her roommate Jess (Alia Shawkat) asks if she has half of the rent. A coincidence could be her ticket to a better life, as recently #MeToo canceled tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum), is the prime benefactor of the charity event she’s catering. It’s all part of his apology tour, with the reason for his cancellation never being revealed, an omission that Kravitz and co-writer E.T. Feigenbaum feel that we can fill with our own doomscrolling mentality. The meet-cute between Frida and Slater is a rousing success, so much so that he invites her to his private island with some of his friends. Phones are strictly prohibited, replaced with endless shots of tequila, lavishly prepared meals by the seemingly brainwashed staff, and a drug that takes you to another world. It’s a perfect vacation… almost too perfect. Days and nights begin to blur together, with Frida and the other women’s memories starting to fade the longer they stay. The casting of Christian Slater, Simon Rex, and Haley Joel Osment as Slater’s entourage immediately rings the alarms that nothing good is ever going to happen on the island. Each of them are “nice guys” on the outside, asking the women if they’re having a good time and constantly snapping photos to prove how much of allies they are. Roberto Bonelli’s production design is eerily perfect as well, the bold red house being the center point where all the lush green grass converges. The visual connections to Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery remain strong as everyone is dressed in their finest whites, with DP Adam Newport-Berra always placing the background just out of focus and filled with unknown entities. The editing by Kathryn J. Schubert may be the most stylized tool in Kravitz’s arsenal, with a mixture of quick cuts matched with startling string scratches and long takes that drip-feed through the villa. It can sometimes be a little too showy for its own good, with Kravitz overplaying her hand and underestimating her audience. It’s propulsive once the cork pops off the wine bottle, with quite a few scenes of brutality to match what’s been lurking underneath. Kravitz’s stature as an actor may have been why she was able to assemble such a stacked ensemble. She directs them all impeccably, with Ackie and Adria Arjona (seen this year in Hit Man ) being the standout leaders. They’ve put themselves into an “adapt or die” situation, and the actors are in lockstep with the material at every turn. Rex, Slater, and Osment don’t do much adapting to the material, which isn’t a bad thing considering their presence already sells their character dynamics. Tatum leads us into the darkness with his charm, his vape pen and holistic views on therapy building up a “crypto bro” aura to mask his true intentions. Kyle MacLachlan and Geena Davis suffer from the number of actors on display, with the pair always feeling relatively insignificant. Even with all the devilish debauchery at play, fun is still the name of the game with Blink Twice . It’s meant to be a thriller that has you gripping the seat and jolting into the arms of the person sitting next to you. Kravitz wants you to be yelling “I knew it!” with each new plot twist, a task that is sometimes a little easier than it should be. There’s a lot of satisfaction to be had in that, and also in seeing a person reach a new rung as an artist. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Black Bag March 13, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen A meeting on Friday, a dinner party on Sunday, a murder on Monday, and a movie on Tuesday—this is the cycle of events that the characters in Black Bag face with a cold attitude. All of them work in different departments within British intelligence (probably MI6; it’s never made clear). The actions of a traitor initiate this cycle, and the unflappable George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) is tasked with snuffing them out. On his list are the names of five suspects. There’s Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke), always confident in his skills despite just being passed over for a promotion by George; Clarissa Dubose (Marisa Abela), the youngest of the bunch who possesses much more skill than she lets on; James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page), the young colonel whose ascendancy at work is only matched by the height of his ego; Dr. Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris), the psychoanalysis who probably knows more everyone and everything than she should; and, most importantly of all, Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett), George’s wife and fellow spy. One of these people stole some sort of device that could destroy a nuclear reactor from the inside, inevitably leading to the radioactive deaths of every man, woman, and child within fifty miles. Honestly, though, the world-ending stakes aren’t that important, especially once a generic Russian terrorist becomes involved later on. What’s important to director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter David Koepp is what George will do to the traitor once he finds them, and what kind of collateral damage the other four will have to endure before they’re exonerated. Everyone asks Goerge if he’ll be able to pull the trigger if Kathryn turns out to be the culprit, a question that he always leaves unanswered. Making the traditionally important aspects of a story the least interesting thing about them is a common practice for Soderbergh. He took all the basketball out of his NBA movie High Flying Bird , focused on business over dancing in the Magic Mike films, and swapped out horror for familial dysfunction in his haunted house movie Presence . These decisions could, should, and would disappoint those looking to be greeted by the familiar trappings of a genre. But Soderbergh is always one step ahead, using subversion to his and our benefit. Black Bag illustrates that the greatest weapon in a spy’s arsenal is not a gun or some nifty gadget, but the ability to have an open conversation. But when you and everyone you know work in a profession that trades in deceit and lies, the truth becomes ungraspable. The titular phrase is famously used around the agency as an answer to any question that can’t or won’t be divulged. Where were you last night? Black Bag. What did you do today at work? Black bag. How much longer do you think you’ll need to stay at the office tonight? Black bag. George hates liars. His steely presence and precision in deciding whether to speak or remain silent allow every other character’s words to hang in the air just long enough to box themselves into a corner. Between this and The Killer and The Agency , Fassbender has clearly found his knack for playing the highly competent professional who finds himself flung in over his head. He plays the small moments with as much heft as the explosions, the retreatment keeping everything as tight as a piano wire. The supporting cast gets to cut loose a little more, but mostly from the benefit of comparison. Soderbergh always knows how to make the mundane feel smoky cool, something that comes with ease when you have the mega wattage of Cate Blanchett. Just the sight of her walking through an airport in sunglasses is enough to raise the temperature. But except for the opening long take that snakes George through an underground London club, Soderbergh never calls much attention to himself. The camerawork and editing (performed by himself under the famous pseudonyms Peter Andrews and Mary Ann Bernard, respectively) are ripped out of a surveillance system, blocking characters from each other in a playful game of back-and-forth. Koepp and Soderbergh have collaborated twice before on Kimi and Presence . I hope this partnership continues indefinitely, as each product twists our expectations through practical and thematic strategies. Even when you strip away all the fancy artistry and subtextual analysis, you’re still left with something extremely entertaining. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

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 One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Oppenheimer July 19, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Last week, in preparation for Oppenheimer , I ranked all of the films within Christopher Nolan’s filmography . As per usual, The Dark Knight reigned supreme, followed by The Prestige and Dunkirk . Now after watching Oppenheimer , I feel that I prematurely released that list, as now the best entry of his entire career has been left off it. I admit, I am still a bit overstimulated as I type this out a mere hour after the credits “written for the screen and directed by Christopher Nolan” flashed upon the screen. But with each passing second since then, I have become more and more convinced that I’ve seen something extraordinary. Quantum mechanics is full of paradoxes and puzzles that continue to elude the best and brightest of mankind. It’s one of the main reasons it beckoned to J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), a man who never met a challenge he couldn’t overcome with his mind. The boundlessness of theoretical physics was where he made his name, his brain wandering into the stars and unlocking the secrets of the universe. The paradoxical nature of his work also bled into his personality. He was precise and exacting within the lab, but a naive socializer and an unhealthy womanizer. “Brilliance makes up for a lot of that” is his excuse for why he continues to climb within the scientific community and was recruited to head the Manhattan Project. Nolan cited Oliver Stone’s 1991 masterpiece JFK as one of his main inspirations when adapting this material. He drops you into the middle of the action from frame one and keeps you there. Separate timelines begin to form, each folding into each other with increasing frequency. There’s the future besmirching of Oppenheimer’s legacy; the prideful past where we see his rise; and the roaring present where he must develop the atomic bomb before the Nazis. Similar to Dunkirk , Nolan, and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema define these periods through the imagery. Whether it’s in bright color or stark black-and-white, what you’re seeing is always a work of beauty. Never has IMAX been used to capture the small moments with as much gravitas as the climatic detonation. And never has Nolan commanded the pacing of his films as much as he does here. Time passes more quickly or slowly depending on when the narrative takes place, with editor Jennifer Lame crafting those drastic differences into an intellectual exercise. It can become quite challenging (to near impossible) to cling to all the details. But this is not like Tenet , which ditched its audience because of its incomprehensibility. This is more like a Wes Anderson film, where there’s just too much going on within the frame and on the page to be fully comprehended in real-time. Kenneth Branagh plays Danish physicist Niels Bohr, who gives a sturdy piece of advice to Oppenheimer early in his career: “It’s not important that you can read music, only that you can hear it.” Even if I couldn’t read all that was being presented right in front of me, I could definitely feel it. Ludwig Göransson’s tremendous score does a lot to convey the spectacle and terror within these moments of history. There are palpable feelings of anxiety and suspense, despite already knowing the outcome. You feel both a sense of patriotism in seeing this American achievement, and also a deep sense of guilt as a weapon without a defense was unleashed upon an untrustworthy world. There are just as many stars in this movie as there are in the sky. Robert Downey Jr. takes the reins in most of the later scenes as Atomic Energy Commission chairman Lewis Strauss. It’s the best work he’s done in years as he engages in a game of palace intrigue within a congressional hearing. There’s also Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Benny Safdie, and Jason Clarke standing out in decently sized supporting roles. And also Casey Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHaan, and Gary Oldman in extended cameos. Of course, the bulk of the praise should go to Cillian Murphy as the titular character, who capitalizes on the opportunity to be at the forefront of a Nolan film rather than on its sidelines, which he’s done honorably on five previous occasions. There’s always a blankly haunted look in his eyes as if he’s both an all-seeing prophet and a blind fool. Oppenheimer is as entertaining as it is enlightening, emboldened by Nolan’s unparalleled vision and craftsmanship. It’s possibly his magnum opus, grabbing hold of history with fiery conviction, never letting you go until you’ve experienced all that cinema has to offer. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

TIFF23 Dispatch - Part 2 September 17, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen All of the films were screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Click here for additional full reviews and dispatches. Select films below will receive separate full-length reviews at a later date, most likely in connection to their public releases. The Royal Hotel It’s adapt or die for Hanna (Julia Garner) and Liz (Jessica Henwick) as they take jobs as bartenders in the only pub in a remote Australian mining town. The temp agency warned the girls that they needed to be “okay with a little male attention,” which turns out to be quite the understatement as their first night is filled with nasty jokes, unruly stares, and just general douchiness. Choosing adaptation is a death sentence, as there’s no reward for allowing this toxic mob to take control of their mind and body. Director Kitty Green announced her talent with the matter-of-fact The Assistant in 2019 (also starring Garner). This sophomore effort is a leveling up of her prowess behind the camera, lining every scene with a grimy sense of dread. It feels like a thrill ride, except none of the thrills are satisfying. Green greatly elevates her script, written by Green and Oscar Redding, which never packs the depth needed and tends to loop around as it tries to sustain the 90-minute runtime. Garner and Henwick are powerful anchors, “supported” by some convincing creeps. I have no doubt Green will be hitting it big within the next few years. (3/5) The Beast Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast is the pretentious European version of Cloud Atlas , which is a statement that tells you everything you need to know about whether you’ll like it or not. I was all in on this movie, even if its ultimate message and specific story beats are hard to follow. Bonello jumps between 1904, 2014, and 2044, intersplicing the three time periods to tell a story about love conquering time. Léa Seydoux and George MacKay play characters in each period, navigating the unknowable connection they feel for each other. It’s overindulgent and excessive, but Bonello displays a mastery of tone and vision across the 146 minutes. There’s passion, fear, humor, drama, and everything in between. I’d love to see it again sometime down the line. (4/5) Les Indésirables Ladj Ly's sophomore effort is not an answer to a question, but a further examination of it. There's dissatisfaction at the end of the road, both intentionally through Ly's honest depiction of political warfare and unintentionally through the overloaded script that tries to combine too much. Even with this slight slump, Ly's voice continues to grow, and I can't wait for it to click sometime in the future. (3/5) Evil Does Not Exist Drive My Car writer/director and all-around arthouse superstar Ryûsuke Hamaguchi makes his most outspoken work with Evil Does Not Exist . The tranquility of a Japanese village is being threatened by the introduction of a “glamping” (glamorous + camping) site proposed by a talent agency. The site would negatively impact much of the environment around it, with many of the village resident’s livelihoods being forever altered. Despite being clear in his message, Hamaguchi never eviscerates the villains of this story. The extreme slow cinema approach will test the patience of many expecting a return to the leanness of Drive My Car . Those who embrace the molasses will find themselves powerfully transported to one of the few places left that hasn’t been bulldozed by capitalism. Eiko Ishibashi delivers a magnificent score. It angers me that I’ll have to wait several months until it’s available to stream on Spotify. (4/5) Finestkind Writer/director Brian Helgeland told the TIFF audience that he wrote the script for Finestkind thirty years ago, a fact that becomes glaringly obvious the longer the film goes on. The story is stuck in the past in the worst ways possible, soaked with cheesy sentimentality, a laughably underdeveloped female character that Jenna Ortega somehow signed up for (did she owe someone a favor?), and an out-of-nowhere crime plot that undermines all the heart and soul mined in the first half. As per his contract demands these days, Ben Foster goes crazy a few times, and so does Tommy Lee Jones as he realizes he’s appearing in a stinker. It’s a Paramount+ production, meaning it’ll play well to the “guys being dudes” crowd that has been gorging on Taylor Sheridan's diminishing machismo these past few years. (2/5) More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen