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The Instigators August 1, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Through the power of content quotas and streaming service overload, the phrase “it’s a streaming movie” has replaced “it’s a VOD movie” as the description of choice for all the disposable movies that choose to circumvent the physicality of the multiplex. That doesn’t apply to every streaming movie, as the lucky few (aka “the good ones”) get special treatment from their creators, usually in the form of modest theatrical footprints similar to The Irishman , Killers of the Flower Moon , and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery . No, when we’re using “streaming” as a pejorative, we’re talking about the films on Netflix’s Most Popular Films list: Red Notice , The Adam Project , Bird Box , The Mother , and The Gray Man . Sure, the quality is much better than we used to get during the VOD heydays, but to what end? If everyone watches your film - but no one remembers it - does it really count as a hit? Doug Liman’s The Instigators , his second streaming movie of the year after Amazon’s middle-of-the-road Road House remake earlier this spring, fits that “competent, yet forgettable” mold to perfection. I’d totally believe if Apple boasts about it being one of their highest-performing titles come the end of this year, all while no viewer could pass a memory test about the plot. Luckily, writers Chuck MacLean (creator of the very pro-Boston series City on a Hill ) and Casey Affleck ( Dunkin’ Donuts second-biggest fan behind his brother) aren’t concerned with wasting our time with such trivial things as building events, or character groundwork. The ticking time bomb encompassing the studio logos is replaced by the ticking of the clock on the wall within Dr. Rivera’s (Hong Chau) shabby office, where Rory (Matt Damon) is declaring that he needs to do something big or else he’s going “cash in all his chips.” That explosive action comes from a job offer from two local crime bosses (Michael Stuhlbarg and Alfred Molina). It’s simple: sneak in through the hotel kitchen hosting Mayor Miccelli’s (Ron Perlman) reelection party and steal the campaign donations in the safe in the back office. Of course, no heist plan ever goes according to plan (wouldn’t that be nice for a change?), which leaves Rory and his equally down-on-his-luck middle-aged partner Cobby (Affleck) on the run from every cop within the New England region. The derogative aspects of this “streaming film” come from the visuals, with the digital flatness and shoddy visual effects benefiting from the smallest screen possible. Liman has always prided himself on his scrappy indie filmmaking roots of Swingers and The Bourne Identity . That pedigree has certainly faded over the years, especially with Steven Soderbergh showcasing the benefits of digital filmmaking with his bevy of streaming films. A lot of comparisons between this and Soderbergh’s No Sudden Move could be made, none of them positive for the former. Damon and Affleck make a great pair, their decades-long friendship creating some instant sparks between their mismatched pair. Cobby is the more seasoned of the two, something he never lets each of them forget as he constantly runs his mouth about the absurdity of their situation. Their characters may not be all that interesting, with the running joke of Rory exploring his feelings while committing a crime being spread too thin, but the actors make it all entertaining enough. There’s also Jack Harlow, Ving Rhames, Paul Walter Hauser, and Toby Jones in smaller supporting roles that make this cast much more stacked than it has any right to be. One side of my brain is saying that a film with this much talent in front and behind the camera should be a lot better, while the other half knows that they almost always aren’t when they’re assembled for a product largely meant to bolster a digital catalog. Call it disappointment, call it an acceptance of the market. Either way, no one involved will look bad and no one who watches it will feel their time totally wasted, so everyone will just go about their business like nothing happened. 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

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre March 3, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen You'll probably spend more time trying to pronounce "Ruse de Guerre" than thinking about the action... or the humor... or the characters... or the actual plot. Much like every entry within writer/director Guy Ritchie's increasingly diverse filmography, Operation Fortune is semi-stylish and entertaining in the moment, offering just enough guns going bang and characters cracking jokes to keep your butt in the seat. But any post-screening test would be immediately failed, as what goes in one ear comes right out the other. In his fifth collaboration with Ritchie, the most recent being the better-than-expected pandemic-released Wrath of Man , Jason Statham plays... Jason Statham. Technically he plays the comically named Orson Fortune, an ass-kicking, globe-trotting super spy that you'd be hard-pressed to distinguish from at least a dozen of his earlier roles. Fortune has a handler named Nathan (Cary Elwes), who's been tasked with a mission by high command to retrieve a stolen McGuffin named "The Handle," which promises to cause global havoc now that it’s fallen into the wrong hands. Nathan and Fortune aren't alone, as they've assembled a support team including sharp-shooting muscle J.J. (Bugzy Malone, no relation to the famous gangster) and hacker Sarah (Aubrey Plaza). But no real ruse would be complete without a bit of winking fourth wall breaks, as Josh Harnett plays movie star Danny Francesco, who gets recruited to lure in mega-fan arms dealer Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant). Even more characters become involved, such as Ukrainian gangsters (who are identified differently by ADR and clumsily edited down to avoid insult to injury with the ongoing war, which was one of the main reasons for the film being pulled from its original January 2022 release date), a rogue British task force, and Silicon Valley tech zillionaires. There's no time to play catch up within Ritchie's script, which he co-wrote with his usual writing partners Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies. The nothing-you-haven't-seen-before plot moves forward at an alarming rate, only ever so briefly stopping from time to time to recap what just happened through some hearty exposition. Ritchie is a confident and competent enough director to make up for most of the nothingness on the page, with some unique camera angles and edited fight sequences being a mini highlight. And Hugh Grant and Aubrey Plaza are chewing the scenery nicely. Their presence does elevate the fun more than the gruffness of Statham. Hartnett's performance may not be of the highest quality, but he's clearly having the most fun in the cast. In a move usually reserved for James Bond and early MCU movies, Operation Fortune was released overseas before making its way to the states. Normally this would be a small victory for international cinephiles, but in this case, I'd say there are no winners or losers as I'm sure no one will remember what the battle was fought over. 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 Burial October 11, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Director Maggie Betts’ The Burial feels as if it was engineered in a lab specializing in making crowd-pleasing movies. You’re supposed to laugh, cry, boo, and applaud at every moment it wants you to, almost as if you’re playing a game of Simon Says. It’s impossible not to be aware that you’re being sold to with the tactics of a used car salesman. And yet it hardly becomes a hindrance because the calculations made by Betts and co-writer Doug Wright were made with genuine emotion, which effortlessly translates off the screen. That’s not to say that Betts and Wright are perfect in their endeavors, far from it. Almost all of the characters are thinly drawn, most notably Bill Camp’s mustache-twirling billionaire bad guy who literally says he wants more elderly people to die so he can make more money. He’s the head of the Lowen Group, a corporate behemoth that owns hundreds of funeral homes in the southern United States. Jeremiah “Jerry” O'Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones) owns about a dozen homes in Mississippi and he plans to pass them down to his thirteen children just like his father and his grandfather did. Money is a bit tight right now, so Jerry decides to sell three of his homes to the Loewen Group. A handshake deal was struck, but months have now passed and the corporation still hasn’t signed the contract. It seems the sharks are waiting for Jerry to drown so they can snatch up his whole lot for pennies on the dollar. Jerry’s freshly graduated attorney Hal (Mamoudou Athie) persuades him to sue and bring on the help of power player Willie Gary (Jamie Foxx). Despite Jerry’s mission of doing what’s right, Willie is only initially here because he sees dollar signs and a chance to join Johnnie Cochran as the nation’s most famous lawyer. The O.J. Simpson case runs parallel to the film’s events, which is largely why this prototypical David vs. Goliath story has gone unnoticed in the American culture. Like O.J., this case is not just about contract law, it is also about race. You see, Jerry filed suit in Hinds County, Mississippi, a city with a 70% Black population. It’s not a coincidence that Jerry hires Willie and the Loewen Group hires Mame Downes (Jurnee Smollett) to represent their white selves. As opposed to many other movies that tackle racism in the South, Betts never lets her film feature a “white savior” or “magical negro” narrative. There are some small handlings of microaggressions (Jerry’s previous lawyer, played by Alan Ruck, constantly refers to Hal as “son”) and the revelation that the National Baptist Convention, the largest arm of the Black Chuch, was the main target of the Loewen Group’s schemes. There isn’t an attempt to solve these problems, as both we and Betts know that these issues are just as prevalent in 2023 as they were in 1995. The courtroom scenes are a bit perfunctory, mostly fast-forwarding past all the stuff we’re well acquainted with to get to the good parts. Foxx is at his movie star peak as Willie, parading himself around as he treats the courtroom as a one-man performance. Betts knows that all she needs to do is let Foxx work, and she does by giving him several one-take speeches. The Burial gets the spirit of the ‘90s inspirational courtroom dramas just right, pitching down the middle to every demographic. It shouldn’t work, and yet it does thanks to sound filmmaking and entertaining performances. To be honest, the worst thing about it is the title. Is it too late to change that? 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

It Chapter Two September 12, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen In 1913, Henry Ford introduced the assembly line to the Ford Motor Company. He made a ton of money and was hailed as a leading innovator. Now just a hundred years later, director Andy Musciehtti brings that same assembly line principle to IT Chapter Two as he serves up his scary products in the exact fashion as the one before. This sequel to the highest-grossing horror movie of all time (unadjusted) takes place 27 years later in the same town of Derry, Maine. The rambunctious kids are all adults now and have gone on their separate paths to some form of success. Unfortunately, the good fortune for each is put to an end by the return of Pennywise, who seeks more victims for his twisted games. Being the only ones that have stopped the evil force, the adults must come together again to put an end to this bloody mess. Director Andy Muschietti returns behind the camera after the record-breaking success he earned from 2017’s It. For the second time around, Muschietti goes even bigger and bolder than before, both in terms of the horror set pieces and the length. When it comes to giving audiences what they came to see, Muschietti delivers by adding even more blood, gore, and creepiness. Pennywise’s indescribable powers get even more creative as his prey are stalked and slaughtered with unnerving brutality. The biggest fault that plagued the previous film was its recycling of cheap jump scares that were meant to artificially hold your attention. That same problem is even more glaring in the sequel as any scary moments are just startling moments where something pops out at the screen. The more they happen, the more predictable and boring they are to watch. A runtime is never indicative of quality by itself, every movie should earn its length through skill and craftsmanship. And at 170 minutes, IT Chapter Two falls way short of earning its record-breaking runtime. Instead of the horror being a slow burn, it's more of a slow churn as the recycled jump scares quickly lose their minuscule luster and make this already long film feel even longer. Screenwriter Gary Dauberman takes up the impossible task of adapting Stephen King, a challenge that has killed the careers of countless adapters before him. He tries his best to break away from the ridiculousness within King’s novel, but his efforts end up backfiring on him and make the film even more awkward as some elements are left in and some left out. The story wants you to take it pretty seriously, but keeping in the weird elements makes that almost an impossible task. Muschietti didn’t do much to justify the excessive length, but Dauberman should shoulder more of the blame for his uneven pacing. The film starts great with the together and playing off each other with a fun and brisk pace. Then, against all logic, Dauberman has them split up for ninety minutes, severely slowing things to a crawl and forcing the jump scares to keep you awake. The highest regard should go to casting director Rich Delia as he has brilliantly put together a group of adult actors that uncannily look like their younger counterparts. Unfortunately, good looks are the only quality some actors possess here. James McAvoy does fine as Bill. The most evident acting trait he shows off is his struggle to hide his Scottish accent with a less -than- convincing New England one. Having a rocky 2019, to say the least, Jessica Chastain follows up the bomb that was Dark Phoenix with another subpar performance. She doesn’t shine as brightly as Sophia Lillis’ younger Beverly despite being the more acclaimed actress with a lot more screen time. The standout performances come from the two Bills in the cast, Hader and Skarsgård. Hader plays adult Richie and fairs the best in the cast at toeing the line between drama and comedy. Skarsgård as Pennywise is a sight to see but unfortunately doesn’t get seen for long stretches. Between him and Heath Ledger’s Joker, future performances for clowns now have an insanely high bar to reach. With over five hours of material between the two films, the It series has come to a less than satisfying close with IT Chapter Two . There are some things to admire Muschietti and co. for doing or trying to do. But for every great Bill Skarsgård moment (which is all of them), there were just as many moments of wasted potential due to unoriginal filmmaking. Overall, between its highs and lows, IT Chapter Two makes for a semi-enjoyable time. Just make sure to bring a seat cushion. 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

Eternals November 8, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen How is it that Chloé Zhao’s previous film Nomadland , about a woman wandering the Midwest in a van, is more interesting and full of life than a $200 million blockbuster filled with literal gods? Both a coincidence and not a coincidence, Eternals and Dune share the same release window and many of the same elements. Both are technically well-crafted and beautiful films done on an epic scale featuring diversely interesting casts. Both cover vast amounts of space and time in attempts at worldbuilding for future sequels. And both share an emptiness on the page that keeps them from surviving anywhere past their runtimes. It’s a shame that prestigious filmmakers like Chloé Zhao and Denis Villeneuve chose to make their least interesting films at the same time. But before I reveal my hand too early, let’s back things up to the beginning of time, literally. “In the beginning…,” reads the opening crawl, a Celestial by the name of Arishem created the universe and all living things that inhabit it. Like the story in the Bible, this god was not perfect, as he created a monstrous race known as the “Deviants” that threatened the natural order of life. To right his wrong, Arishem created the “Eternals” to wipe out the Deviants and bring peace. For 7,000 years the Eternals have been Earth’s watchful protectors, subtly guiding humanity to what it is today. But Arishem’s imperfection begins to sow seeds of doubt within the Eternals. That doubt leads them to discover the real reason they have been dispatched to this planet, which is to prepare it for the “emergence” that would bring about the end of humanity. Do the Eternals go against their maker by preventing his grand plan, or do they sacrifice billions for the idea of the greater good? Just on paper, Eternals is Marvel’s biggest feature to date in terms of scope and possibility. About a dozen new characters are introduced, all with unique powers. There’s one with super speed, one that can control minds, and another that flies around and shoots laser beams out of his eyes like Superman (a reference made more times than you would think within the film). Marvel has always had a gift when it comes to casting its famed superheroes. Robert Downey Jr. being cast as Iron Man was seen as an unnecessary gamble and more eyebrows were raised when unknowns Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston were cast as Thor and Loki, respectively. Just two months ago, Simu Liu proved all the doubters wrong with his terrific turn as Shang-Chi. But while all those risks have paid off, this large bet doesn’t bring back the expected return on investment. A few names, like Salma Hayek, Barry Keoghan, and Angelina Jolie are either miscast or not good enough for their roles. And for those that are good, such as Gemma Chan as Sersi and Richard Madden as Ikaris, their characters are too flat to inspire anything memorable about them except their names and what powers they have. But there are a few wins within this cast that should be championed, such as the first hearing-impaired superhero in Makkari, and the first openly gay couple in Phastos and Ben. There’s also the first Marvel sex scene, lasting all of eight seconds. While celebration should be in order, these inclusionary acts are still baby steps for the Mouse House, who have always embodied the urban dictionary term of “passive progressive.” Eternals is also the most interesting Marvel movie on a purely technical level. That’s not to say it’s the best, but that it’s different in a refreshing way. Zhao, newly armed with Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture, makes the most radical departure from the plastic formula that has engulfed this franchise for the better part of its life. Along with DP Ben Davis (who also shot the first Guardians of the Galaxy , as well as Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel ), Zhao leans for a desaturated, naturalistic look, similar to that of her previous features. The plains of South Dakota and the jungles of the Amazon are filled with beauty as she always seems to find and harness the magic hour But those moments of visual originality are brief and sporadic. Once the special effects and action set pieces inevitably barge their way back in, it’s back to business as usual. This bait-and-switch act begs the question: If even the most independent-minded filmmaker like Zhao can’t break free from the corporate chains, who can? It’s a question that I don’t want to think about, as the answer is the one I fear the most: nobody can. That gloominess I feel may not be shared by those that have stayed loyal to this rewarding franchise. For those that came into this clinging on to the last bits of hope that someone could shake things up, this movie may very well be the death knell to that. But at the end of the day, did I truly expect anything different in Marvel’s 26th entry? 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

Tár October 8, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen “Lydia Tár is many things” exclaims New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik (playing himself in one of many ways writer/director Todd Field grounds this purely fictional story within our reality) as he introduces the titular composer for an interview as part of a cultural festival. Listing off her various achievements, which include being the first person to lead each of the Big Five symphony orchestras and one of the few to reach EGOT status, Gopnik labels Tár as a revolutionary within the classical composing world, a sentiment the audience - likely filled with rich patrons of the arts - reflects as they hang on to her every word. In the hands of lesser filmmakers and leading stars, this opening 10-15 minute scene, which merely consists of a Q&A about Lydia’s position on some issues within the industry, would seem pedantic and expository as we’re meant to quickly understand why people would fall head over heels for the genius of this fictional character. But when you cast Cate Blanchett, who’s incapable of delivering a bad scene, let alone a bad performance, that task becomes as easy as breathing. And when you combine her with Todd Field, returning to the silver screen for the first time in sixteen years, that breath is one of the freshest ones you’ll take this year. From that scene, which brilliantly gives us the nudge needed to descend further into the rabbit hole that is this character’s psyche, Field takes us on a fascinating journey through the unraveling life of Lydia Tár. She has a personal assistant named Francesca (Noémie Merlant, one half of Portrait of a Lady on Fire ) who is by her at every stop, most notably a seminar at Juilliard where Lydia gets into an argument (all done in one long continuous take, one of many scenes that flow uneasily in real-time) with a student about how today’s generation has to separate the art from the artist and that “if you want to dance the mask, you must service the composer.” The controversy that emerges from that is only the tip of the iceberg for Tár. Along with unceremoniously pushing out her assistant composer and a burgeoning predator/prey dynamic with her lead cellist, there are also legal threats after Lydia’s former protégé committed suicide, with possible motives linked back to her. For all you completionists who demand films answer the questions they raise, both literally and metaphorically, TÁR will seem like an exercise in futility. Because if there’s one thing Field learned as the protégé of Stanley Kubrick (for which Field played the piano playing character Nick Nightingale in the master’s final film, Eyes Wide Shut ) aside from impeccably precise visuals and dread-filled drip editing (supplied here by Florian Hoffmeister and Monika Willi, respectively), it’s the ability to make the unsatisfying loose ends of a story seem so naturally satisfying. There are no easy answers within Field’s film as he meticulously studies his central character, for whom he shares no predisposed love or hatred. It’s for the audience to decide if Lydia’s fate, which is sealed with a visual setup and punchline so hilarious that it might as well have been ghost directed by Mel Brooks, matches her “crimes.” Any post-screening conversation surrounding will no doubt be as intellectually stimulating as the film itself. As our guide during that examination, Blanchett reaches another echelon in a career that peaks have only marked. One could not be ridiculed for mistaking Lydia Tár as a real person, as the details and nuances Blanchett infuse the character with are ones usually found within Oscar-bait biopics, which she’s already conquered with The Aviator, Elizabeth (the less said about its sequel the better), and I’m Not There . Surrounding her is an impressive European supporting cast of Nina Hoss, Mark Strong, and Sophie Kauer. If TÁR is meant to mark the second coming of Todd Field’s career, then we should all be in for a lengthy treat for the mind, body, and soul. But if this was only a brief blip and we’re subjected to another sixteen-year absence, then I at least know what my most anticipated film of 2038 will be. 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

Close June 3, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen Close had its World Premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. A24 will release it in theaters on January 27, 2023. Growing up on neighboring homesteads in the Belgian countryside, Leo and Remi have been inseparable all their life. The two thirteen-year-old boys can often be found acting out pretend battles, riding their bikes as fast as they can, and telling stories to each other during sleepovers. To them, their intimate relationship feels normal. They’ve created their perfect world where they are the only two inhabitants, the only ones that can truly understand the other. But to outsiders, specifically the inquisitive and suspecting kids in their class, there seems to be more under the surface. Some teasing and questioning about the closeness of their relationship seem to stick with Leo more than Remi. Both boys genuinely deny that they are anything more than best friends, but that answer brings no satisfaction to either party. The pressures of conforming lead Leo to create some distance between him and Remi. He wants to hang out with the “cool kids” and be perceived as normal, which includes taking up ice hockey and other conventionally masculine activities. To Remi, this is a betrayal of their lifelong friendship and how he sees himself, which initiates a chain reaction culminating in tragedy. The second film from Belgian wunderkind Lukas Dhont, Close marks his return to Cannes after claiming the Queer Palm and Golden Camera for his 2018 debut, Girl , which similarly dealt with gender dynamics and how an outsider can disrupt non-conventional relationships. Filmed in ultra-high-definition with immense precision, Close further establishes Dhont, as well as his regular cinematographer Frank van den Eeden, as one of the purist up-and-coming craftsmen. There’s a feeling of epic openness with the lush Belgian flower fields beckoning you to run through them just as the boys do in one entrancing tracking shot . But there’s also intimacy in the climactic scene where the camera holds on to a close-up of a mother for what seems like an eternity as she ponders how to answer her son’s question. The audience and the characters are trapped in that unbearable moment as the weight of the world is about to topple over. Similar to Trey Edward Shults’ Waves , Dhont’s film is distinctly split down the middle, with the tragic moment acting as the dividing line. The lightful questioning of the first half is immediately replaced with darkness, which Dhont isn’t able to handle with the same amount of depth. He traps his characters, as well as the audience, in a revolving door of suffering, making them go round and round a few too many times before they can move on. While not as extreme, it does often feel burdened by the influence of the provocative work of Lars von Trier. Just as the Danish bad boy can often be quite controversial, the reception to Dhont’s latter material may be as well. But even in its excessiveness, there’s still great beauty within all aspects of the production. While Dhont can’t fully handle both sides of the dramatic coin, Valentin Hadjadj’s wondrous score is fully up to the task. With fluttery strings and stinging violins, Hadjadj impeccably accentuates every moment. And Eden Dambrine, playing Leo, is a revelation. Bringing tenderness to his emotionally and physically wounded character, Dambrine always finds his way to push through the material. The same can be said for Gustav De Waele, who handles his character’s questioning with the necessary delicacy. As a filmmaker, Lukas Dhont is both mature and immature. At the young age of thirty-one, he can carefully find the emotional core that unlocks his sweeping coming-of-age stories of love and acceptance. But like many young directors, Dhont takes the emotion hostage as he churns it out with unnecessary curiosity. With a better sense of balance, we may soon have ourselves one of the premiere filmmakers on the international scene. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

A Good Person March 22, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen For both good and bad reasons, Zach Braff’s A Good Person proudly wears its heart on its sleeve, which is about the size of The Grinch’s when it grew three sizes that eventful day. It’s Braff’s first writing and directing credit since 2013’s Wish I Was Here , which didn’t make quite the same splash as his 2004 debut Garden State . The acoustic/folksy soundtrack and big emotional moments have been lifted from the past and into the present with A Good Person , with Braff staying behind the camera in favor of allowing Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman (reunited with Braff after Going in Style in 2017) to chew the scenery, and then some. Braff sadly found the inspiration to write A Good Person during the pandemic. He went through a series of tragic moments, losing close friends and family, some specifically to COVID-19. His pent-up grief and anger manifested themselves onto the page in the form of a young woman who has to pick herself back up after an unimaginable loss. Pugh plays that woman, Allison, who is very soon to be married to Nathan (Chinaza Uche). On her way to try on wedding dresses with her soon-to-be sister-in-law and her husband, Allison is involved in a fatal car accident, with her being the only survivor. The guilt sends her down a dark path filled with pills and alcohol, with her relationship with Nathan also coming to an end. There is some light at the end of the tunnel as Allison seeks help for her problems at AA meetings, where she runs into Nathan’s father Daniel (Morgan Freeman, actually given something to do outside of bad B-movies). The only way forward for these two lost souls is to face their fears together, which promises to bring about complicated feelings of regret and loss. Braff may not wallow in the pivotal car accident, but he sure does pound the keys during the aftermath. The first third almost surpasses Darren Aronofksy-levels of melodrama as Allison goes through the clichéd stages of grief. Braff doesn't have Aronofsky's theatrical flair though, with his attempt to keep things grounded only making it soapier. The cutesy song choices and mismatched comedy doesn’t help either, with the tone never finding a consistent throughline. Braff may not wallow in the pivotal car accident, but he sure does pound the keys during the aftermath. The first third almost surpasses Darren Aronofksy-levels of melodrama as Allison goes through the clichéd stages of grief. Braff doesn't have Aronofsky's theatrical flair though, with his attempt to keep things grounded only making it soapier. The cutesy song choices and mismatched comedy doesn’t help either, with the tone never finding a consistent throughline. Things do get better as time goes on, both for the characters and Braff’s capabilities as a storyteller. The beats begin to be less predictable and the pace lets the actors breathe in the moment. Pugh and Freeman are fantastic in the quiet scenes they share together, breaking down their complicated relationship and building it back up again with honest conversations. But just as the story and performers are reaching their peak, Braff sends them back down the ski hill with some over-the-top scenes that further push the already strained boundaries of authenticity. Pugh and Freeman handle it fine, but it feels like a waste to saddle two generational talents with some of the most well-worn material known to the cinematic medium. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Awards Update: Chucking At The Wall And Seeing What Sticks May 11, 2024 By: Hunter Friesen Welcome to an ongoing series where I cover the 2024/2025 awards season. On a regular basis, I will update my Oscar predictions, taking into account the new information that has been received since the last update. Full predictions in every category can be found on the Home and Awards page. Christopher Nolan’s ascendancy to Oscar glory with Oppenheimer might have only happened two months ago, but that doesn’t mean the awards train has stopped altogether. As the old saying goes, when one door closes, another one opens. Of course, there is such a thing as opening the door too early, but there’s also a great deal of fun to be had at this time of the year when almost anything is possible. The final few months of any awards season can start to feel repetitive, with the same group of nominees and winners appearing at every successive awards show. And now the puzzle pieces are completely scattered, leaving their final configuration up to anyone’s imagination. Who could have predicted the resurgence of CODA in 2021, or the meteoric sustainability of Everything Everywhere All at Once the following year? How many of us truly thought at this point last year that the famously anti-audience Jonathan Glazer would become such a stalwart contender with The Zone of Interest ? Speaking of The Zone of Interest , its birthplace, the Cannes Film Festival, is just around the corner. Historically located on the French Riviera, the festival’s Oscar influence has greatly expanded over the years, with notable premieres including Cold War , Parasite , Another Round * , Drive My Car , Triangle of Sadness , and Anatomy of a Fall . It’s no surprise that the world’s most prominent international film festival has courted increased favor from the ever-growingly diverse AMPAS voting body. So, what’s on the horizon at this year’s edition? Hot off his very successful Poor Things , Yorgos Lanthimos reunites with Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe for Kinds of Kindness , an anthology film rumored to return to the Greek director’s darker roots. While I don’t think the film will reach the heavyweight status of The Favourite and Poor Things , the Academy’s overwhelming passion for Lanthimos’ work signals a willingness to weather the weirdness. I have my eye on Dafoe and Hong Chau getting some overdue narrative buzz. Also overdue are Paul Schrader, Uma Thurman, and Richard Gere, who have Oh, Canada . There’s also David Cronenberg with The Shrouds , which is said to be his most personal work yet. On the international front is Paolo Sorrentino with the stunningly black-and-white Parthenope , Jacques Audiard with the Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldana-led Emilia Perez , and Jia Zhangke’s cryptically long-gestating Caught by the Tides . Almost all of our recent international Best Director nominees have come from Cannes, so it stands to reason that someone in this competition lineup will pop. 2024 is the year of question marks, and no bigger question at Cannes is Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis . Early buzz from industry screenings tells the tale of an enormous film too unusual for the Oscars, so Coppola will need to lean on the critics (and festival jury) to put some wind back in his sails. I’m skeptical about any above-the-line nominations, but could maybe see some movement in the craft categories. Of course, the question of which distributor takes its domestic rights is almost as important as its overall reception. Sticking with the theme of questions, we have a lot of those once we veer our sights later into the year. Warner Bros. has a trio of sequels to huge Oscar hits in Dune: Part Two , Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (premiering out-of-competition at Cannes), and Joker: Folie à Deux . Dune: Part Two seems safe to repeat or improve on its previous iteration’s nomination tally on account of its improved critical and commercial success. I have a little more confidence in Todd Phillips to capture lighting in a bottle again, mostly due to his sequel seemingly pushing itself (and the comic-book genre) in a different direction. The trailer also displayed some immaculate craftsmanship, giving strength to a potential Best Picture repeat. Since the expansion of the Best Picture category to a locked ten system, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever remains the only film to receive more than three overall nominations and not be nominated for Best Picture. Another Oscar-hungry sequel is Gladiator II . Ridley Scott has been hot and cold (mostly cold) with awards since the turn of the century, but the prestige and hype surrounding this project might inspire a decent haul of craft nominations. Other substantial below-the-line players include Wicked , Twisters , and Nosferatu . Looking further into the above-the-line categories, the potentially biggest player is Steve McQueen’s Blitz about the London bombings during World War II. McQueen may have already claimed Best Picture with 12 Years a Slave , but he didn’t receive Best Director. He’s got Saoirse Ronan, Harris Dickinson, and Stephen Graham leading his cast. Focus Features has its own historical prestige project in Conclave , directed by Edward Berger ( All Quiet on the Western Front ) and starring Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, and Stanley Tucci. Despite being a legend in the industry, Fiennes hasn’t been nominated in over twenty-five years, a fact that I think will play very well into his Lead Actor campaign. My biggest no guts, no glory predictions this year revolve around Mike Leigh and his film Hard Truths . It didn’t show up on the Cannes lineup, signaling a debut in the fall. Leigh has seven career nominations to his name, and he’s reuniting with his Secrets & Lies star Marianne Jean-Baptiste. Other competitors in the Lead Actress category will likely be Angelina Jolie for Pablo Larraín’s Maria and Jessica Lange in the film adaption of Long Day’s Journey Into Night . Being that it’s only May, I expect almost half of my initial predictions to be wrong. That’s just the way the game is played. Luckily, I’ll be in Cannes in a few weeks to check out the contenders premiering there, and then be in the thick of the summer blockbuster season. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark

Heads of State June 27, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Heads of State doesn’t take the positions of the president of the United States or the prime minister of the United Kingdom very seriously, which, considering the current and recent real-life figures who have held those positions, is mostly a replication of how the world currently sees them. US President Will Derringer (John Cena) ascended to the Oval Office through the box office. Modeled after Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, he was the lead of the ultra-violent, gun-toting action franchise Water Cobra . Those good looks, millions of dollars, and a legion of fans made up for the lack of political experience, which is why he approaches his role as commander in chief like he were in a movie, making brazen speeches that are meant to inspire his constituents and instill fear in his enemies. In contrast to the fresh-faced Derringer, Prime Minister Sam Clarke (Idris Elba) has been in office for over six years, having spent a few more decades in the lower-level political trenches. He’s all business and no thrills. Every speech is picked over with a fine-tooth comb, every decision is backed with mountains of intelligence, and there’s absolutely no room for sensationalism. By the laws of movies and magnets, we know that these two opposites will eventually attract. The catalyst for their bonding comes when both are on Air Force One. Aided by an unknown traitor on the inside, terrorists shoot down the plane. Everyone on board, including the leaders, is presumed dead. They miraculously survive and now have to work together in order to return to their positions of power and stop these terrorist killers. While watching this, I was repeatedly reminded of the mostly forgotten 1996 comedy My Fellow Americans . In that movie, Jack Lemmon and James Garner play former presidents who hate each other. The current president is Dan Aykroyd, who frames them for a kickback scandal (remember when that actually meant something?!?). Enemies must now become friends, but not without hurling insults and committing slapstick harm to each other. Heads of State is pretty much a remake, even down to the gag about leaping from a moving train. Anything not lifted straight from that movie is plucked from somewhere else. The separating factor is supposed to be the action, a bylaw now for every streaming comedy. But it’s as weightless as the opening scene food fight in a Spanish village. Director Ilya Naishuller doesn’t bring the same kineticism from Hardcore Henry or Nobody , and everything is drenched in cheap special effects. There are flashes of nifty camerawork, most notably in the brief appearance of Jack Quaid as a covert agent who is eager to protect his leaders against hordes of villains. Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Paddy Considine, Carla Gugino, and Stephen Root comprise the rest of the cast, each of them going through the motions. Cena and Elba have decent chemistry, with this being a reunion from their bitter rivalry in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad . In a charged political climate such as this, there’s some merit to being able to laugh at and with political satire, even if it’s not that good. 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

Devotion November 19, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen There have been several instances of two nearly identical movies released questionably close to each other. 1998 saw both the A Bug’s Life/Antz and Armageddon/Deep Impact debacles, with the former winning out in each scenario. And 2013 had both Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down , with the former winning again as it gained two sequels in London Has Fallen and Angel Has Fallen . Now in 2022, we have Top Gun: Maverick and Devotion , two aviation-centered films that star Glen Powell and feature a sequence where one fighter pilot has to save his buddy after they crash land in a snowy forest. And just like all the other examples, the former (clearly) wins out in this case, with Maverick soaring high above the clouds while Devotion never gets off the ground. To give both movies the benefit of the doubt, their similarities in both plot and release dates are due to circumstances mostly outside of their control. Maverick was shot in 2019 and ready to go in early 2020, but was held for release until this summer on account of Tom Cruise’s insistence on a full-scale theatrical release (a bet that paid off in full as the film became the highest-grosser of the year and Cruise’s career at $1.5 billion). Devotion didn’t sit on the shelf as long, with filming taking place in early 2021 and normal visual effects work taking place afterward. And to Devotion’s credit again, its story is based on actual people and events during the Korean War, while Maverick is entirely fictional. But the one thing that Maverick has (in spades) that Devotion doesn’t is a sense of energy and thrill. That unparalleled theatrical experience is why Maverick will likely outgross franchise blockbuster staples like Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Avatar: The Way of Water . Director J.D. Dillard doesn’t try to replicate that for Devotion , instead giving it a more dignified sense of importance through slower pacing and subtlety. It’s an admirable angle, at least on paper. But in execution, it strips the film of all forward momentum and makes the 138-minute runtime feel like 1380 minutes. Jonathan Majors stars as Jesse Brown, one of the only African-American aviators within the Navy. Jesse is the strong and silent type, mostly because he knows that standing up to anyone or lashing out in anger will destroy all his life’s work. Transferring in as his new wingman is Tom Hudner (Glen Powell, also an executive producer). The pair don’t become fast friends, but they do become brothers born in combat as they get shipped off to the frontlines of Korea as the threat of a third World War becomes evermore present. Like Dillard’s direction, Jack Crane and Jonathan Stewart’s stilted screenplay doesn’t play above the military tropes we’ve come to expect. There’s flyboy camaraderie, a racist bully, a mission with 1000/1 odds, and a spouse back at home getting teary-eyed as she reads letters on the front step. Majors and Powell do their best to inject a little life from time to time, but there’s nothing they can do to battle the mundanity of everything surrounding them. It’s hard to imagine who Devotion will fully satisfy. Enthusiasts of historical dramas (such as myself) will find it all too simplistic and clichéd; action junkies won’t walk away awed by the CGI-tainted flight set pieces, and Majors and Powell fans won’t get anything from their by-the-book characters. Just as the Korean War holds the moniker “America’s forgotten war,” Devotion will have to make do with being “America’s forgotten 2022 aviation film.” 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

White Noise December 12, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen What do Hitler, car crashes, Elvis, the fear of death, airborne toxic events, supermarkets, and the existence of an afterlife all have in common? Well, you’ll have to watch White Noise to fully answer that question. Except, I’ve seen White Noise , and I’m still very unsure of what the connection between all those things was. But in my endless confusion, I was still morbidly interested in what was going on, and how it would all come together. Things start simply (well, as simple as this story can be) with the birth of a new school year at College on the Hill, a smaller-sized intellectual institution for the betterment of its Ohio natives. One of its all-stars is Professor Jack Gladney (Adam Driver), who has pioneered the field of Hitler Studies, all despite him being physically incapable of speaking German. Jack’s lectures are more akin to rock concerts than your typical educational exercises, with his students hanging on to his every precisely choreographed line reading and body movement. While his studies are almost exclusively international, Jack’s family is your typical American one. He and his wife Babette (Greta Gerwig) are each other’s fourth spouse, with their kids being a mixture of past and current relationships. The all-knowing Heinrich and inquisitive Steffie come from Jack’s previous marriages, persistent Denise is from Babbette’s past, and the youngest (and seemingly mute) Wilder is Jack and Babbette’s. This blended group hustle and bustle through their days, with maybe an extra ounce of existentialism, illustrated when Jack and Babbette playfully compete for who would be the saddest if the other partner were to die. Act two is when things literally go off the rails as a train full of toxic chemicals collides with a gasoline truck, exploding into a chemically-laced cloud of deadly proportions. The family is forced to evacuate their home, colliding with the rest of the town as they all try to outrun this new mysterious threat. The appearance of masks and quarantining may send shivers down the spines of a few too many audience members not yet over the ordeal of the COVID-19 pandemic, but writer/director Noah Baumbach grazes over much of that with a playful tone. The scenes of pandemonium are some of the director’s most accomplished technical work. His widescreen camera sways back and forth, capturing most of the action in long takes. With a reported budget of $80-100 million, almost more than double the sum of all of Baumbach’s previous films, the scale to which all of this occurs is quite astonishing, especially for a filmmaker who has always made complicated movies with such simple settings. White Noise is by far Baumbach’s most complicated film, as the pseudo-intellectual dialogue from Don DeLillo’s “unfilmable” novel flows like a waterpark on the fourth of July. Multiple conversations overlap each other Robert Altman style, with some moving so fast that you don’t have time to catch up before you’re shuttled off to something else. After a while, you kind of just want to tune it all out and treat it as… white noise. A reasonable explanation for such a large budget may have something to do with the cast. As we all know, Adam Driver's cost has increased considerably with his bevy of critical and commercial success. Even with all the filmmakers he’s explored over the years, including outstanding turns in Leos Carax’s Annette and Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel last year, Driver has always found a home with Baumbach. White Noise marks their fifth collaboration and possibly their most humorous, even if they aren’t trying to be that funny. Completing this trio is Gerwig, wife and regular co-writer with Baumbach, who goes for something a little more heightened. There’s a lot to chew on within White Noise , with not much time to savor it. Baumbach has created the least accessible film, all while flexing his filmmaking muscles to their fullest potential. Second and third, and possibly fourth, rewatches will be required to take it all in. Luckily, that’s a task I’m more than game for and will be easy to execute because of the film’s release on Netflix. 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