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A Brief History of Presidents' in Film February 15, 2022 By: Hunter Friesen February 15 marks President’s Day in the United States. Originally a holiday to celebrate George Washington’s birthday, the day was eventually changed to honor the service of all our nation’s leaders. In celebration of this national holiday, it’s time to look back at Hollywood’s history with the presidents and see which ones have been most prominently featured on the silver screen. Some of these men are portrayed by actors and some are merely a background figure in the movie. No matter the situation, their presence was felt both in front and behind the camera. Below are four presidents who, for better or worse, have had a major impact on cinematic history. Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865) Regularly ranked among scholars as our nation’s greatest leader, it’s no surprise that Abraham Lincoln holds the record for the most portrayals in film at an astounding 130 times, nearly double George Washington’s second-place tally of 70. Honest Abe was the focus of one of Hollywood’s earliest biopics with director John Ford and leading man Henry Fonda telling the story of Lincoln before office in Young Mr. Lincoln . While the events in the film are fictional, the story of Lincoln early in his law career gets the spirit of him right. It was a little over seventy years later when Lincoln got the biopic treatment again with Steven Spielberg’s aptly named Lincoln . Centralizing the time frame in the months before the end of the Civil War as Lincoln struggles to pass the much needed thirteenth amendment, Lincoln boasts a mesmerizing turn by Londoner Daniel Day-Lewis as the titular character, which won him his third Oscar as part of the film’s twelve total nominations. Even with the pacifistic stoicism that he’s known for, Hollywood still couldn’t help themselves as they tried to turn the sixteenth president into an action star with the historically incorrect Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter . The less said about that movie, the better. John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) The youngest president ever elected, John F. Kennedy was the first television president as he used the newfound technology to win appeal from the masses. Because of his popularity, Kennedy has made all sorts of appearances in film. He had the conventional biopic detailing his navy heroics during World War II with PT 109 . Cliff Robertson plays young Kennedy who leads his crew on treacherous resume missions in the Pacific. Bruce Greenwood portrays the president in 2000 as he navigates the Cuban Missile Crisis in Thirteen Days . Unfortunately for Kennedy, his most famous moment was his assassination on November 22, 1963. That date is also the focus of several movies such as Oliver Stone’s inaugural presidential movie JFK , which peeks behind the curtain and tries to expose the conspiracies that cloud over what actually happened that fateful day. While most of the facts within JFK have been debunked, there’s no denying the power of Stone’s direction and the stacked ensemble led by Kevin Costner. 2013’s Parkland is set entirely within the day that Kennedy was assassinated, weaving together the perspectives of several people who were thrust into an extraordinary situation. A few years later, director Pablo Larraín and star Natalie Portman view the assassination through First Lady Jackie Kennedy’s eyes in Jackie . Richard Nixon (1969-1974) Much like in real life, Hollywood’s relationship with the thirty-seventh president is rocky, to say the least. As the only president to resign from office, the story of Nixon has been tackled several times by prominent filmmakers. Keeping him in the background, Alan J. Pakula’s All the President’s Men and Steven Spielberg’s The Post frame his presidency around the Pentagon Papers and Watergate scandal. Peter Morgan and Ron Howard approach Watergate from a different angle with Frost/Nixon , as a post-presidency Nixon (played by Frank Langella) conducts a series of interviews with David Frost. Only a few years after making JFK , Oliver Stone gave Nixon the full cradle-to-grave epic biopic with Nixon . Surprisingly not as damning as one would think, Stone’s movie plays out like a Shakespearean tragedy as our “hero” rises to the highest mountain, only to be eventually brought down to the lowest valley. George W. Bush (2001-2009) The 43rd president, George Bush has never been portrayed as the smartest person to occupy the Oval Office. Adam McKay’s Vice , which takes a lot of influence from Oliver Stone, makes Bush a dimwitted supporting character with daddy issues that is puppeteered by his vice president Dick Cheney. Complete with a fake nose and hairpiece, Sam Rockwell received an Oscar nomination for his performance. Ten years earlier, Stone was able to complete his presidential trilogy with W. , a surprisingly tame biopic with Josh Brolin as the title character. Again, Stone paints Bush as simply stupid who didn’t understand the full consequences of an Iraq invasion. While Stone partially acquitted Bush of Iraq, equally brash filmmaker Michael Moore eviscerated Bush with his Palme d’Or winning documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 . Moore attacks the Bush administration for using fear and paranoia to justify a war in Iraq rather than going after those truly responsible for the World Trade Center attacks. Moore produced and released the film with the sole intention of preventing Bush from being reelected in 2004, which proved unsuccessful. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Civil War April 10, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Alex Garland’s Civil War is the cinematic equivalent of clickbait. A generic montage of violence is interspersed within an equally generic speech by the president (Nick Offerman) about how the Western Forces of California and Texas have suffered great defeats at the hands of the United States Armed Forces, and that the Florida Alliance is on its last legs. America is now in the final stages of democracy, where the people have risen and the Second Amendment is the ultimate law of the land. From that very opening moment, Civil War begs you to ask questions that it not only can’t - but refuses - to answer. Why have California and Texas seceded from the union and joined forces to overthrow the government? What are they fighting for? And why is Florida on its own side? I suppose Garland’s vagueness about the whole thing is meant to allow you to apply your doom-scrolling mentality to the situation. He’s banking on our collective post-2016 consciousness’ to fill in the details, almost as if each person gets their own individual puzzle. It’s cowardly and lazy, becoming one of the great modern magic tricks as this “intellectual blockbuster” carries less of a brain than the giant ape vs. giant lizard showcase we just got in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire . I could put my tinfoil hat on and theorize that Garland and A24 sanded down the rough edges of the story to make it appeal to a broader audience. After all, this is A24's biggest production by a large margin, with its reported $50 million budget more than doubling the previous record holder of Everything Everywhere All at Once . The cost of working on a bigger scale is more than just literal dollars, it also requires a willingness to circumvent controversy. Of course, there’s the glass-half-full approach that none of the other large studios and streamers (Warner Bros., Paramount, Netflix, etc.) wanted to touch this property with a ten-foot pole, so I should be thankful that there’s still someone like A24 that’s willing to pony up the cash to make something that’s not been market tested to the nth degree. But even though that’s all good and true, should I blindly bow down to something just because it’s not like everybody else? Am I asking for Garland to blatantly come out and say that this civil war is about Republicans vs. Democrats, or incorporate some sort of attack on the far-right or far-left? I wouldn’t have minded what Garland had said, just as long as he said something. ANYTHING! It all holds the same weight as your coworker telling you that “our country is really divided right now” and then never elaborating on that opinion. That rotten meat makes it hard to appreciate all the other fine ingredients in this all-American hamburger. In her first role post-Oscar nomination from The Power of the Dog , Kirsten Dunst gives a towering performance as a jaded war photographer named Lee. A not-so-subtle comparison is made between her and a famous real-life photojournalist Lee Miller (recently played by Kate Winslet in the ho-hum biopic Lee ) by Jessie (Cailee Spaeny, continuing to rise up the ranks of the best younger performers working today), a up-and-coming journalist who’s desperate to be on the frontlines. Sensing that the end is near, Lee and Joel (Wagner Moura) are on their way to the White House to try and get an interview with the president, now serving an unelected third term in office. Their journey takes them down a road from hell, littered with the sight of dead bodies and the sound of bullets and bombs. Garland and his production crew permeate this route with as much tension as possible, with gunfire becoming bone-rattling and trigger-happy soldiers positioned at every corner. IMAX is not the format normally associated with A24 films, and Garland takes full advantage of what he’s been given. It’s a great shame that almost all of these incredibly nerve-wracking action set pieces are undercut by groan-worthy offbeat needle drops. While he doesn’t have ideas about the macroeconomics of this war, Garland does deliver themes on those that document it. Even in a digital world with everything available everywhere, a simple image still contains more power than a thousand words. Garland cuts the action to the photographs being taken by our central characters, giving a glimpse into how chaos can be processed for history. “We record so other people can ask the questions” is the mantra that Lee takes. That’s been enough of a mental excuse for her in foreign lands, but how can you block out something happening in your own backyard? It’s the same question Garland poses to his audience when the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument are being destroyed. We’ve become numb to seeing nondescript Middle Eastern cities being leveled, and now the weapons are pointed back at us. But even though that imagery is admittedly startling and something we haven’t seen before with this intention, it all comes back to the emptiness of the message. It’s all sound and fury, signifying nothing. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

2025 Oscar Nominations - Winners & Losers January 23, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Today was Christmas morning for Oscar lovers around the world. After months of anticipation, the nominees in each category were unveiled. It was an eventful morning, with plenty of surprise inclusions and omissions. Now that the dust has settled (for now), let's break down who the big winners and losers were. Winner: I'm Still Here Sony Pictures Classics strikes again! The distributor best known for securing come-from-behind acting nominations did exactly that and then some today with the Brazilian film I'm Still Here . Fernanda Torres secured that last slot in Best Lead Actress, repeating what her mother Fernanda Montenegro did with director Walter Salles almost thirty years ago. But the real shocker was the film getting into Best Picture, knocking out more expected nominees like Sing Sing and A Real Pain . Loser: Sing Sing Speaking of Sing Sing , this A24 acquisition was once pegged to be a serious contender to win Best Picture. Now it finds itself totally out of the race, only netting nominations for lead actor Colman Domingo, its adapted screenplay, and an original song. The ten total nominations for The Brutalist still give A24 a lot to cheer about, but the serious underperformance by Sing Sing both at the box office and at the major awards, should make them sit down and rethink their strategy. Winner: The Apprentice It's been a long and tumultuous road for the Donald Trump "biopic" ever since its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival back in May. But all that work turned out to be worth it, with both stars Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan netting acting nominations. Stan's came as a bigger surprise considering he was possibly facing vote splitting from his equally lauded performance in the A24 dark comedy A Different Man , for which he recently received a Golden Globe award. Loser: Luca Guadagnino It was a tough morning for the workaholic Italian director as both of his 2024 director efforts - Challengers and Queer - were totally blanked. Granted, neither was expected to net many mentions, but the Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross score and song from Challengers and Daniel Craig's lead performance from Queer were seen as totally gettable. Neither came to fruition, extending Guadagnino's Oscar slump since he broke out with Call Me By Your Name . Winner: A Complete Unknown The guild dominance of Searchlight's Bob Dylan biopic continued this morning. Both Monica Barbaro and director James Mangold were able to translate their surprise SAG and DGA nominations, respectively. Lead actor Timothée Chalamet expectedly got in, with the slew of craft nominations bolstering his case to be a serious contender to win his first acting trophy. Loser: Edward Berger What more does Edward Berger need to do to get some respect around here? His past two films All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave netted a combined seventeen nominations, but his name was left off the list for Best Achievement in Directing both times. The film's last-minute surge could explain his absence from All Quiet on the Western Front . But there's no reasoning behind today's snub, especially when he received nominations from all major precursors (Golgden Globe, Critics Choice, BAFTA, DGA) Winner: Robert Eggers The filmmaker who's been known to be "too cool" for the Academy finally made his way into the club in a big way. Piggybacking off the $150 million it made at the box office so far, Nosferatu netted four total nominations: Costume Design, Production Design, Makeup & Hairstyling, and Cinematography. It now seems like a no-brainer decision that he and Focus Features have already announced their next project together, a supposed werewolf film dated for December 2026. Loser: Paramount Ridley Scott's sequel to his own Best Picture-winning film had a lot of Oscars in its sights when it premiered just before the Thanksgiving holiday. But so-so critical reactions and box office dollars eventually whittled down those prospects to a single category: Best Achievement in Costume Design. And after threatening to break into the Best Picture category all season, September 5 just couldn't get over the line, netting a lone nomination in Best Original Screenplay. Winner: Emilia Pérez Twitter's favorite punching bag this awards season just keeps winning. A total of thirteen nominations were bestowed upon Jacques Audiard's film, smashing the record for the most nominations received by a non-English language film. It also carried Netflix to sixteen total nominations, the best of any distributor. With all of their other projects falling by the wayside ( Maria , The Piano Lesson ), the streamer is going to throw everything and the kitchen sink in an effort to break their Best Picture curse. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen

2026 Golden Globe Awards Nomination Predictions December 6, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen The Golden Globes have always been a surprising bunch. Luckily, those shocking nominees and winners have tended to lean more positively in the last few years. Inspired choices like nominating Payal Kapadia for All We Imagine as Light in Best Director, or Sebastian Stan winning Best Lead Actor - Musical or Comedy for A Different Man , have shown that a new leaf has turned. Because of this, I’m widening the scope of potential nominees, no longer just lazily name-checking big stars. Granted, there are still plenty of heavyhitters that can, and probably will, be nominated. It should all make for a fun nomination morning. Here are my predictions on what names will be called in each category, complete with a full breakdown detailing the seemingly endless combinations. Best Motion Picture - Drama Sinners Hamnet It Was Just an Accident Sentimental Value Frankenstein The Secret Agent Until the 2021 awards season, non-English language films were not allowed to compete in the top categories of Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. The group has slowly embraced this extra freedom in the years since, granting nominations to Anatomy of a Fall , The Zone of Interest , and Emilia Pérez . This is the year where they have the chance to blow the floodgates wide open, with several prominent contenders coming from outside the United States. Coincidentally (or not considering the company's strategy), that lot is almost all represented by Neon and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. They've got the pedigree, so why shouldn't I go all in? More traditional choices would be Avatar: Fire and Ash and Is This Thing On? . Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy One Battle After Another Marty Supreme Wicked: For Good Jay Kelly No Other Choice The Testament of Ann Lee Similar to last year, this year's crop of musicals and comedies seems just as intertwined in the Oscar race as the dramas. Both Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery and Bugonia are just on the outside, as their buzz feels a little muted, and the reviews aren't any better than the other contenders. Yorgos Lanthimos and the Knives Out films have been consistent nominees in this category before, so one or both could easily make their way in. Best Director Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another) Ryan Coogler (Sinners) Chloe Zhao (Hamnet) Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident) Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme) Guillermo del Toro (Frankenstein) This category gave us a pleasant curveball last year with Payal Kapadia from All We Imagine as Light . Considering all the heavyweight talent in contention this year, I don't foresee another one of those surprises. The only upset I'm predicting is for Joachim Trier to miss out, although he still has just as much of a chance of being nominated as Josh Safdie and Guillermo del Toro. Best Screenplay One Battle After Another Sinners It Was Just an Accident Hamnet Sentimental Value Marty Supreme Since the start of the decade, Being the Ricardos and Women Talking remain the only two films to receive nominations in this category without a corresponding Best Motion Picture nomination. There's also an equally strong correlation between this category and Best Director, which is why I'm predicting a Joachim Trier and Guillermo del Toro to swap seats. Best Lead Actor - Drama Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent) Michael B. Jordan (Sinners) Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams) Jeremy Allen White (Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere) Dwayne Johnson (The Smashing Machine) Daniel Day-Lewis (Anemone) Dwayne Johnson and Jeremy Allen White were at the top of my predictions in the early fall. Now they've fallen (pun intended) down to fringe contenders after their respective films bombed at the box office and received lukewarm reviews. The same is even more true for Daniel Day-Lewis in Anemone , although I can't bring myself to doubt his legendary status. Best Lead Actress - Drama Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value) Jennifer Lawrence (Die My Love) Laura Dern (Is This Thing On?) Jodie Foster (A Private Life) Julia Roberts (After the Hunt) Veterans like Laura Dern, Jodie Foster, and Julia Roberts are all hanging onto the last slots, each of them, along with Jennifer Lawrence, likely to be the lone representatives for their respective films. Both critically and commercially, After the Hunt has been one of the biggest bombs of the year. Roberts was given high marks for her work, and voters may reward her for emerging from that mess with some dignity. Jodie Foster seems to (deservedly) be in an era where people are eager to reward her for anything. She won Best Supporting Actress for her work in The Mauritanian , which didn’t even lead to an Oscar nomination. Plus, she speaks French! Best Lead Actor - Musical or Comedy Timothee Chalamet (Marty Supreme) Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another) George Clooney (Jay Kelly) Lee Byung-hun (No Other Choice) Jesse Plemons (Bugonia) Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon) The leads for each of the male-centered nominees I have for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy are all here. That leaves two slots left, which I'm giving to Jesse Plemons for Bugonia and Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon . Plemons was nominated last year for Kinds of Kindness , a film that was much further outside the awards conversation than Bugonia is. And Hawke has received career-best reviews in a showcase role. Daniel Craig has been nominated both times as Benoit Blanc, and he's still just as great in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery . But there's less of him this time around, and the extra competition seems like it will be too much. Best Lead Actress - Musical or Comedy Cynthia Erivo (Wicked: For Good) Amanda Seyfried (The Testament of Ann Lee) Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another) Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I'd Kick You) Emma Stone (Bugonia) Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue) This is less competitive than the rest of the other lead acting categories. The seemingly only other viable contender would be Eva Victor for Sorry, Baby . As much as I would like to see that happen, I can't find a spot to slot her in. Best Supporting Actor Stellan Skarsgard (Sentimental Value) Sean Penn (One Battle After Another) Paul Mescal (Hamnet) Adam Sandler (Jay Kelly) Benicio del Toro (One Batte After Another) Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein) I see no reason not to predict the top six contenders for the Oscar, especially when all are (potentially) appearing in Best Motion Picture nominees. That logic could also mean that Delroy Lindo could get in for Sinners . Best Supporting Actress Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another) Ariana Grande (Wicked: For Good) Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Sentimental Value) Amy Madigan (Weapons) Elle Fanning (Sentimental Value) Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners) Emily Blunt is one of this organization's favorite actresses, nominated seven times throughout the past twenty years. However, I don’t think that amount of preferential treatment will help her get nominated this year for her role in The Smashing Machine . I’m going out on a limb a little bit and predicting Wunmi Mosaku to get in over her, an actress who’s been steadily praised throughout the year in a juggernaut film. Best Foreign Language Film It Was Just an Accident (Iran) Sentimental Value (Norway) The Secret Agent (Brazil) No Other Choice (South Korea) The Voice of Hind Rajab (Tunisia) Left-Handed Girl (Taiwan) Considering that I’m predicting four of these films to be nominated for Best Motion Picture - Drama or Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, I feel compelled to also slot them in here. That leaves two slots left to fill in a category that likes to deviate from the expected Oscar front-runners. The Voice of Hind Rajab and Left-Handed Girl have been making waves since their festival debuts. Several other contenders could make their way in instead, such as Sirāt , Sound of Falling , or Nouvelle Vague . Best Animated Feature Film KPop Demon Hunters Zootopia 2 Arco Little Amélie or the Character of Rain Scarlet Elio Pixar has been nominated each year since 2016, when Finding Dory found itself kicked to the curb. While it didn’t have the best reviews, that movie at least had a monster box office haul to stand behind, something that Elio sorely lacks. But the expansion of this category and the lack of bigger contenders will probably allow it to sneak in. The Globes are much friendlier to anime than the Oscars, which should bode well for the several high-profile films that have come out this year. Any combination of Ne Zha 2 , Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle , or Chainsaw Man could take that spot. I’m going to give the edge to the previous nominee, Mamoru Hosoda and Scarlet , which has Sony Pictures Classics behind it. Best Original Score Sinners One Battle After Another Hamnet Frankenstein Jay Kelly The Testament of Ann Lee Once an Oscar perennial, Alexandre Desplat hasn’t received a nomination since Little Women back in 2019. That hasn’t stopped his momentum at the Globes, as he’s received three more nominations since then. Even more beloved are Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who pulled off the wild upset last year with their victory for Challengers . Their work in Tron: Ares is great, but the movie probably doesn't have the juice to push them over contenders from more acclaimed films. Best Original Song I Lied to You (Sinners) Golden (KPop Demon Hunters) The Girl in the Bubble (Wicked: For Good) Dream as One (Avatar: Fire and Ash) Train Dreams (Train Dreams) Drive (F1: The Movie) The top three predictions come from music-centric films, so I feel pretty secure about that. Miley Cyrus received a nomination last year for her song in The Last Showgirl . Seeing as how Avatar: Fire and Ash will be exponentially more popular than that film, she’ll probably be back again. Everything else is kind of a wild guess, leaning more towards big names in big commercial or critical movies. Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Avatar: Fire and Ash KPop Demon Hunters Zootopia 2 Wicked: For Good Sinners Superman F1: The Movie Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle In this category’s short and shameless existence, it has yet to honor a streaming film. That will probably change this year with KPop Demon Hunters dominating the culture for months, which includes muscling its way to the top of the box office weekend in late August despite a limited release. From there, I’m going down the domestic box office charts, picking each film that had some sort of critical and cultural significance. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen

Tenet September 3, 2020 By: Button Hunter Friesen Spell it backward or forward, it spells the same. From Christopher Nolan - the virtuoso behind The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception , and Dunkirk - comes Tenet , an action blockbuster on a scale not seen before and that will never be replicated again. Armed with only one word, Tenet, and fighting for the survival of the entire world, a Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real-time. The plot summary I just gave you is the exact one supplied by the studio. I did this for fear of spoilers and because I cannot confidently give out any more information than what has already been covered. Tenet may be the most incomprehensible and mentally straining movie ever made. It feels like taking a whole semester of advanced physics in only one class period, all while being set in a warzone. I have no doubt there will be case studies and theses done about this movie. Nolan wastes no time throwing his audience over the deep end. He begins the film at a breakneck pace, moving from scene to scene in the blink of an eye. You struggle to grasp onto the high concept in real-time and are always playing catchup. This problem only exponentially gets worse as Nolan refuses to hold your hand as he goes further down the rabbit hole. Even one of the characters in the movie says, “Don’t try to understand it, feel it”. It’s almost as if Nolan inserted that quip just for the audience. The inability to follow the movie can be attributed to the out-of-the-box concept, but mostly it falls on Nolan’s embarrassingly weak script. The problems here are the same ones people have been saying about him for years now, that he overuses exposition and under-delivers on the emotional parts of his narrative. Tenet is nearly all exposition and no emotion. Many times the exposition gives more questions than answers and seems to be intentionally leading us astray. It’s also Nolan’s coldest film as any emotion is forced through cliche storylines that seem included to check off a box rather than tell a story. On a technical level, Tenet is both Nolan’s most and least impressive film to date. The action set pieces mix both practical and visual effects seamlessly, creating awe-inspiring showcases of movie magic. The use of time inversion in fight sequences, car chases, and an entire battle are just some of the moments that you have to see to believe. Hoyte Van Hoytema encapsulates all the gorgeous chaos in stunning widescreen cinematography and composer Ludwig Göransson overtakes your ears with a perfect hard-charging score. What’s a problem here, and has been for some time now for Nolan, is the astoundingly poor sound mixing. Without hesitation, I can say that Tenet is the loudest movie I have ever seen. Every gunshot felt like it went off next to my ear and every explosion shook my entire body. The ungodly loud sound effects made it near impossible to comprehend much of the dialogue, which was already poorly mixed, to begin with. If you thought it was hard to understand Bane in The Dark Knight Rises , just wait until you try to understand what the characters are saying here. Even with all my gripes, I was still enveloped in the world Nolan has created. There have been dozens of movies where I was lost after a few minutes and checked out for the remaining runtime. With Tenet , I was lost after minute one and completely invested for the remaining one hundred forty-nine. Part of that interest comes from the spectacle and part of that comes from the likable cast. In a star-making lead performance oozing with charisma, John David Washington plays our protagonist, who is literally called The Protagonist. He’s our vessel as he enters into this strange new world with no previous knowledge and must solve a deadly puzzle that goes against all logic. Robert Pattinson keeps his hot streak going with another charming performance as The Protagonist’s sidekick, Neil. Kenneth Branagh is intermittently good as our Russian villain, Andrei Sator. He’s exceptionally menacing in the quieter moments and cartoonishly over-the-top in his moments of outburst. Elizabeth Debicki plays the most emotionally resonant character as the helpless wife of our villain. Debicki is great in the role but is unfairly used more as an object for the story. Tenet is a full-on assault of the senses that contains unparalleled moments of spectacle and ambition. It’s nowhere near the top of Nolan’s filmography and will surely require multiple viewings to unravel. Make sure to pack some ibuprofen and prepare to have your mind twisted in ways you never thought possible. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Father April 1, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen Move over Suspiria, The Conjuring , and Hereditary , there’s a new film that has claimed the title as the scariest movie of the past decade. But it’s not demons, witches, or serial killers that make this new movie scary. It’s something that has affected our loved ones and may affect us in the future: dementia. The Father is a triumphant directorial debut by Florian Zeller, who puts us within the deteriorating mental state of our main character, Anthony. We experience his confusion as if it were our own. But the film also takes on the perspective of the caretakers who are left helpless as they try to aid Anthony in making sense of a world he cannot recognize anymore. Zeller’s play, The Father , debuted in Paris in 2012 to rapturous reviews. Its success spurred an acclaimed Broadway run with Frank Langella winning a Tony award for his performance. Now Zeller, with the help of esteemed screenwriter Christopher Hampton, has taken his stage play to the screen. At the center of the film playing the character of Anthony is veteran actor Anthony Hopkins (Zeller was so adamant about getting Hopkins for the role that he renamed the character specifically for him). With a nearly sixty-year career in the rearview, including notable roles as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs and Richard Nixon in Oliver Stone’s aptly named Nixon , Hopkins’ performance here may be his very best. He is charismatic, fierce, and vulnerable, sometimes all at the same time. If not for Chadwick Boseman’s untimely death and larger-than-life performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom , Hopkins would be the undisputed favorite to win his second Oscar this year. The world we see is through Anthony’s eyes. Initially, his world is quiet and still, often filled with days listening to classical music in his luxurious London flat and taking walks in the nearby park. But after a while, things slowly start to come apart. He’s displacing items more regularly, days are getting harder to separate, and conversational details are getting lost in the shuffle. One day, his daughter, Anne (Olivia Colman), tells him she’s leaving London to go live in Paris with her new significant other. Feeling he’s being abandoned, Anthony is hurt by his daughter’s decision. But, the next morning, Anne is still in his flat and has no recollection of Paris. Maybe that conversation happened a long time ago or never happened at all. Maybe this isn’t Anthony’s flat—maybe it’s Anne’s and she’s taken him in to stay with her. Maybe she has a husband here named James (or is it Paul?) and she’s now being played by a different actress than before. Like a Charlie Kaufman or Christopher Nolan film, Zeller plays with time and setting to tell his story. Conversations are repeated several times over from different perspectives, adding another level to the complex task of discerning what is fact and what is fiction. Anthony’s physical surroundings seem to be rearranging at impossible speeds and the chronology of events is becoming increasingly muddled. Production designer Peter Francis and editor Yorgos Lamprinos deserve immense credit for their work here as their craftsmanship helps tell a complicated story. The confusion and frustration that Anthony feels are equally placed onto us, as we are never sure what is happening and what order it is happening in. It’s like watching a balloon being inflated and waiting for it to pop, yet it never does as your anxiety keeps building. It's a terrifying and heartbreaking process to watch as Anthony’s mood begins to darken. He never knows what is going to come next and what has just happened. He’s left in a perpetual state of fright and feels that everyone is out to get him. But those around him are equally as confused and scared as he is. Anne doesn’t know what to do with her father and is fighting a losing battle of keeping an optimistic look at things. Colman, a recent Oscar winner for her role in The Favourite , acts somewhat as our guide through this mess. Imogen Poots, Olivia Williams, Mark Gatiss, and Rufus Sewell all play well-casted supporting roles. Like Schindler’s List and Requiem for a Dream , The Father is a superb film that you will only want to watch once. Its subject matter may hit too close to home for some viewers or be an introduction for others. No matter your familiarity, the film’s take on dementia and the toll it places on everyone involved is so incredibly well done that it demands to be seen. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

TIFF23 Dispatch - Part 3 September 18, 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. North Star Maybe not every actor should be allowed to make their directorial debut. Kristen Scott Thomas' first foray behind the camera (while still being in front in a supporting role) is littered with choppy editing, poor pacing, and a scattershot script that has way too much on its plate. Emily Beecham is the only shining star (pun intended) in a cast that includes Scarlett Johansson fumbling a British accent and Sienna Miller being fine, I guess. This is surely bound for VOD/streaming way down the line. (2/5) His Three Daughters Azazel Jacobs’ follow up to French Exit (remember that during the pandemic?) starts incredibly rough as our three lead characters act as if they’re aliens who are trying to replicate drought emotions. This bug may be a feature to some, but it ends up feeling like a grating mashup of Yorgos Lanthimos and Wes Anderson. Things do settle down later, allowing for the actresses to flourish. Natashya Lyonne stands out as the slacker of the three sisters, and yet she seems to have the firmest grasp on the mysteries of life. (2.5/5) Seven Veils It wouldn’t be a normal TIFF if it didn’t feature the newest film by hometown hero Atom Egoyan. Amanda Seyfried plunges headfirst into her role as the new director of a revival of Salome at the Canadian Opera Company, a production Egoyan himself helmed while making this film. There’s a lot of big swings, with more than half of them not connecting. But the ones that do connect are really special, such as the audacious staging of the material. The bar may be low, but this is Egoyan's best work in decades. (3/5) Woman of the Hour Anna Kendrick dominated the actor-turned-director battle at this year’s TIFF, with her film, Woman of the Hour , being quite the impressive statement on her skills behind the camera. Now all she needs to do is find a good script, because the one here doesn’t give her enough to work with. While well staged, much of the “action” of the film by the serial killer feels like filler, and the main ideas are spelled out as if they're competing at a spelling bee. Netflix opened the market with an $11 acquisition, giving this true crime film the perfect home. (3/5) Knox Goes Away Between the other hitman focused movies at the fall festivals and how much it seriously fumbles the great concept of a hitman battling rapidly developing dementia, Michael Keaton’s sophomore directorial outing fails to be anything more than a depressing shrug. Luckily for the actor/director, he’s slightly exonerated from blame as Gregory Poirier’s CSI-level script is what sinks this ship. Al Pacino gives his most comfortable performance sitting in some luxurious recliners, and Marcia gay Harden does Keaton a favor by showing up for one half-decent scene. (2.5/5) More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Gran Turismo August 25, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Screenwriters Jason Hall and Zach Baylin make it their main objective to never let you forget that Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) is an underdog that no one believes in. “This isn’t a game, this is real life,” “You’re just a gamer, what do you know about driving cars?” “This time there isn’t a reset button,” are just a handful of lines that you'll become increasingly tired of hearing. It seems Hall and Baylin never took the lesson on diminishing returns, as all the suspense surrounding Jann’s outcome is completely evaporated by the fifth scene where someone tells him he can’t accomplish his dream. To cut them some slack, this is based on a true story, a fact that the producers REALLY want you to know, going so far as to rename the movie Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story in some markets. Mardenborough is a real person who became obsessed with racing at a young age. But he didn’t have a similar upbringing to the other drivers on the professional circuit, filled with fame and easy access to the best cars money can buy. Jann’s window into the racing world was through the PlayStation game “Gran Turismo” (don’t call it a game in front of Jann because it’s a “racing simulation”). The opening scene (or commercial if you want to be more accurate) introduces us to the immense detail and precision that went into making the game as realistic as possible. Unlike other gaming series like “FIFA” and “Madden,” “Gran Turismo” is generally accepted as the most authentic portrayal of the sport it represents. No one seems to believe that Jann’s world-class gaming abilities can translate into real racing, least of all his former soccer pro dad (Djimon Hounsou). Nissan marketing executive Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom) sees potential in the kid. If Jann can be made into a serious racer, it will make Nissan one of the most popular car companies among the untapped gaming demographic. Put in charge of the training process is Jack Salter (David Harbour), who’s also a non-believer in “sim racers.” Over time his cold heart begins to thaw, with Jann proving himself to be just as good as he says he is. Upon the announcement, one would think that former wunderkind Neill Blomkamp is serving his time in director jail with this assignment. There are no signs of that here, fortunately, with the District 9 and Elysium director crafting some stunning racing sequences, even if there are so many that they end up blurring together. The roaring of the engines fills the theater corner to corner, and cinematographer Jacques Jouffret captures some decent shots. It’s old-fashioned studio craftsmanship applied to a sport that values tradition. Even with all the underdog cliches I mentioned earlier, there’s still a strong emotional connection to Jann and Jack’s partnership. Madekwe and Harbour have great chemistry as they play to the tune of “young upstart and grizzled veteran” we’ve heard many times before. But it’s been done so many times because it works, and it works here. The lows are bitter and the highs are sweet. Gran Turismo is a product of brand synergy, meant to push the overall awareness of a product just as much as it's supposed to tell a cinematic story. It’s part of a worrying trend of corporations taking on the role of their own biggest fan (see Tetris and Flamin’ Hot ). But there’s also stuff like Air and Barbie that can make the most out of propaganda and entertainment. Blomkamp’s film doesn’t reach those heights, but it still does just enough to cross the finish line in a respectable fashion. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Greatest Beer Run Ever October 5, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen Peter Farrelly, the newly claimed king of oversimplification of American history, has made his grand return from his fruitful Green Book campaign to bring us a, you guessed it, oversimplified take on American history. Staying within the same period as Green Book , but shifting locations across the world, Farrelly’s The Greatest Beer Run Ever (which he was able to rope Apple TV+ into fully funding, which has now completely abandoned with an unceremonious dump onto their streaming platform) is here to tell you that the Vietnam War was bad for everyone involved, America included. Cue the dramatic reveal music . Of course, I’m only half-kidding. But that ironic reaction is understandable (and one that many critics share ) for a film that has such broadly low ambitions and often overplays the same beats across a slightly bloated 126-minute runtime. Fortunately for Farrelly, just as he had two Oscar-caliber performances from Viggo Mortensen and Maherhshala Ali to shield him from some of the flack within Green Book , he has a more-than-capable Zac Efron to deflect most of the negatives here. The High School Musical alum has been willing to step outside of his comfort zone in the past couple of years, handing his dashing good looks over to filmmakers that can use them to their film’s advantage. Both Joe Berligner and Harmony Korine were able to deliver a wild one-two punch in 2019 with Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile and The Beach Bum . The Greatest Beer Run Ever seems to be the culmination of that hard work, as he delivers an effortlessly comedic performance with tinges of tragedy when required. Efron stars as John “Chickie'” Donahue in this wild true story. It’s 1967 and America is at war… again. But unlike every other war in our nation’s history, no one, including the patriotic Chickie, knows who we’re fighting for, or who we’re against. Many of his friends have already been killed, each one of them labeled as heroes for “dying for their country,” a sentiment that Chickie’s rebellious sister doesn’t share as she conducts protests within the community. Since he doesn’t agree with protesting the war, Chickie (half-drunkenly) decides that the best way to show his support for our troops would be to go over to Vietnam and bring them a beer. Just like any friend who shoots their mouth a little too much, no one believes Chickie will go over there, which, in turn, makes him want to go even more as a way to prove that he’s not a big-mouth screw-up. So, he boards a vessel to complete, as the title would suggest, the greatest beer run ever. Reteaming with his Green Book co-writer Brian Currie and Hall Pass co-writer Pete Jones , the trio finds many moments to showcase Chickie’s overoptimism about his odds of survival, which gets him labeled as “a guy too dumb to get killed.” The first hour exemplifies this quite well, with a few set pieces, such as one where Chickie fakes being a CIA agent or another time when he hides under some blankets to surprise his friend who just ran through a field of bullets to meet him. Efron’s enthusiasm is contagious, even if it often leads to moments where you question how much danger his mission is putting other people in. Farrelly pivots away from slapstick to a darker brand of comedy once we pass the hour mark, giving us an uneven morality tale of how war is hell. There are some odd musical choices for serious scenes, and just an overall sense of “been there, done that” with the messaging. Russell Crowe’s late integration as a wartime photographer offers an interesting buddy dynamic between him and Efron, but Farrelly dispatches him too quickly before any lasting impact can be felt. Did critics put out the hit on Farrelly after he “stole” the Oscar for Best Picture from Alfonso Cuarón and Roma ? That may be a minor part of the truth, but there’s also the fact that Farrelly has once again taken an interesting true story and accomplished nothing more than turning it into a feel-good story about how obviously bad things were bad. There could be worse things in the world, such as watching Farrelly’s recent work of Dumb and Dumber To and Movie 43 . There’s not enough beer to make me want to do that again. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen 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 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Cannes 2024 Predictions - Part 3: The Loyalists April 9, 2024 By: Hunter Friesen With Oscar season firmly behind us (although it never really ends), it’s time to set our sights on the next white whale barreling toward us: festival season! Sundance and SXSW have provided the appetizer with their concentration of indies and spring studio releases, opening the doors for Cannes to take center stage with glitzy red carpets and world-class talent. Last year’s edition proved to be one of its best, with Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall and Grand Prize winner The Zone of Interest being two of the most acclaimed and rewarded films of the year. Also featured were About Dry Grasses , Fallen Leaves , La Chimera , May December , and The Taste of Things . Last year’s SAG and WGA strikes will likely put a damper on the presence of Hollywood on the Croisette (and potentially at the later fall festivals), but it shouldn’t prevent Delegate General Thierry Fremaux and his team from assembling some of the best that world cinema has to offer. The festival will announce its full lineup on April 11. Until then, I’ll take a closer look at some of the films that are generating buzz and predict which ones are likely to make it up the coveted steps this year. This final part will cover films from directors who are just as much stars as the actors that feature in their films. These are filmmakers that have either debuted several high-profile films at the festival and/or won an award such as the Palme d’Or. Cannes is a festival built upon relationships, and these auteurs have been steady as a rock for so many years. Kinds of Kindness It was only a few weeks ago that Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone were triumphing at the Oscars with Poor Things , and now there’s potential that they’re going to do it all over again. Lanthimos’ unique arthouse sensibilities have matched well with Cannes in the past, with Dogtooth, The Lobster , and The Killing of a Sacred Deer , all winning various prizes. He partnered with Searchlight on his two previous films, both of them premiering at Venice and garnering a combined 21 Oscar nominations. The June 21 release date immediately squashes that possibility, all but confirming the Greek auteur's return to Cannes. Emilia Perez A previous winner for Dheepan in 2015, Jacques Audiard returns with a Mexican-set opera musical featuring Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Édgar Ramírez. Karla Sofía Gascón will play the titular role as her character helps “an escaped Mexican cartel leader undergo sex reassignment surgery to both evade the authorities and affirm her gender.” The Shrouds Cannes has been the birthplace for six of David Cronenberg’s films, with Crash wreaking havoc with vehicular-related sex 25 years before Titane . The Canadian icon has been outspoken in the past about his desire to debut his films on the Croisette, and his newest should be no exception. A festival-favorite cast composed of Vincent Cassell, Diane Kruger, and Guy Pearce headline this story of a widower building a device to speak to the dead. Bird Andrea Arnold doesn't make movies often, but she goes to Cannes every time she does. Her latest one lured Barry Keoghan away from Gladiator 2 , and has him paired up with rising star Franz Rogowski. A24 will be handling distribution, with a Palme d’Or certainly being in their sights. Hard Truths Mike Leigh is one of the most revered British directors of all time; competing for the Palme d’Or on four occasions, winning it in 1996 for Secrets & Lies . The last few years haven’t been kind to him, with Cannes rejecting Peterloo in 2018 and new financial backing not being easy to come by. The money eventually came in for his new story about a black British family grappling with life after the pandemic. Will he come back to Cannes after being shunned, or stick with the more welcoming fall festivals? Anora Sean Baker is in the company of Jerry Lewis and James Gray as American directors who are more greatly respected in France than at home. The Florida Project made its premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight, with Red Rocket netting Baker a promotion to the Official Competition. Neon has backed his latest feature, which tells the story of a sex worker between New York and Las Vegas. Limonov: The Ballad of Eddie / The Disappearance Cannes has shown loyalty to Russian auteur Kirill Serebrennikov during its multi-year banishment of his country’s government. His next film will continue the biopic streak from Tchaikovsky’s Wife , this time in the English language and focusing on the life of Soviet poet Eduard Limonov. Serebrennikov co-wrote the screenplay with Cold War director Paweł Pawlikowski and Ben Hopkins, and Ben Whishaw will play the titular character. And if that’s not enough, Serebrennikov has also shot a feature about notorious Nazi doctor Josef Mengele during his fugitive years in South America. I’d put money down on the former premiering this year, and the latter holding out for next year, or the fall festivals. Spectateurs! Although Arnaud Desplechin has competed for the Palme d’Or on seven occasions (plus a few times in the sidebar), his last few films have been disappointments. Still, there’s no indication he'll be rejected for his new film, especially with its cast featuring Anatomy of a Fall star Milo Machado Graner and Mathieu Amalric. Megalopolis Sure, Francis Ford Coppola hasn’t made a decent movie in over 25 years. But when you’re the director of The Godfather trilogy and a two-time Palme d’Or winner for The Conversation and Apocalypse Now , you get a free pass for life. The famed director revealed recently that his long-gestating film would be getting a large IMAX push in the fall, which keeps the door open for a long overdue return to the Croisette. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

80 For Brady January 20, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Lighter than a feather and filled with enough New England Patriots propaganda to get itself banned in Atlanta, Buffalo, New York, and Miami, 80 for Brady would probably have cleaned up at this year’s AARP Movies for Grownups Awards if it had been given a timely qualifying release. Of course, there’s always next year, where there’s potential for Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon to be upstaged in the categories of “Best Buddy Picture” and “Best Intergenerational Film.” At the time of the film’s announcement, famed Patriots/Buccaneers Quarterback Tom Brady had just announced his retirement from football after 22 seasons, which included 7 Super Bowl titles, 3 NFL MVP honors, 15 Pro Bowl selections, as well as an extended list of other career achievements. It does take a certain amount of hubris on Brady’s part for his first post-football move to be the commissioning of a movie about four fans who worship him as a god. Granted, this is inspired by a true story, even if the script by Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins, part of the writing team behind 2019’s Booksmart , takes some very creative liberties with the truth. The 80 in 80 for Brady denotes the ages of four friends who have centered their strong friendship over their love of Tom Brady and his New England Patriots. It all started on September 23, 2001 (a date celebrated every year by Patriots fans) when Lou (Lily Tomlin) was stuck at home recovering from her last round of chemotherapy. Her close friends Trish (Jane Fonda), Maura (Rita Moreno), and Betty (Sally Field) tried to entertain her by getting the TV to work, but it was stuck on one channel. At that exact moment, young Tom Brady steps into the pocket after regular starter Drew Bledsoe was taken out of the game due to a nasty sack. From there, the rest is history, for both Brady and his cohort of dedicated octogenarian fans. Fast forward to 2017 and the Patriots are going to another Super Bowl. Instead of staying home like they always do, the group decides to make the trip down to Houston for the big game. “The Super Bowl is no place for four old women,” says Maura, who happens to be right. But that statement being true is what makes for the most of the fun within 80 for Brady , as four Hollywood legends with effortless charm and chemistry blaze through the biggest event of the year. Much of the material is light and fun, made to purely entertain you for the ninety-eight-minute runtime and nothing more. And compared to most of the entries in this specific genre, which include Book Club (plus its upcoming sequel) and Poms , this one works fairly well. Moreno, who technically doesn’t qualify for the club considering she’s 91, clearly has the most fun within the ensemble. It’s unfortunate that the only dance routine within the film is poorly choreographed and doesn’t allow the original cinematic Anita to show off her long-lived talent. There are some attempts at drama, but it’s all so clean and shallow that it barely even registers. The stakes are pretty much nonexistent, and the jokes can be seen from a mile away. Director Kyle Marvin keeps everything breezy, and cinematographer John Toll (recipient of two Academy Awards) makes the Super Bowl festivities look as appealing as possible. Football fans may not be totally won over by 80 for Brady , but its intended audience of retirees will undoubtedly eat it up. And in a time when one of the largest sustainers of adult theatrical programming is not returning to the cinema, we’ll take all the help we can get. So, take your parents and/or grandparents out for a nice time, and maybe try to convince them to get back into their old cinemagoing habits. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen