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

MSPIFF 2025 Preview April 1, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Now in its forty-fourth year (which ranks it among some of the oldest in North America), the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival once again features a lineup featuring over 200 films from around the world. Abbredivated as MSPIFF and pronounced "EM-spiff," the festival will host the majority of its screenings at its home base of The Main Cinema, along with a smattering of events across the Capri Theater, Landmark Center, and Edina Mann Theatre. Many of the marquee titles making their Minnesota premieres have already traveled the world as part of the other festival lineups. The Opening Night Presentation will be the documentary Free Leonard Peltier , which recently premiered at Sundance. Director Jesse Short Bull and Producer Jhane Meyers will be in attendance for the screening. Another Sundance title that will be making an appearance is The Wedding Banquet , a queer remake of the 1993 Ang Lee film. Fire Island director Andrew Ahn directed and co-wrote the feature, which boasts a cast of Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-Chan, Joan Chen, and Youn Yuh-jung. A24 will be bringing their Sundance hit The Legend of Ochi , as well as the Tim Robinson-Paul Rudd two-hander cringe comedy, Friendship . Just in time for the announcement of this year's Cannes Film Festival is a group of films from last year's lineup. Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes took home the Best Director prize for Grand Tour , a Southeast Asian adventure I moderately enjoyed. I missed Jia Zhangke's Caught by the Tides at Cannes and TIFF last year, so I'm happy to see it as part of the MSPIFF lineup. I've only seen Ash Is Purest White from Zhangke, and I've been interested in diving deeper. I'll also be checking out Misericordia , which received rapturous reviews out of the Cannes Premiere section and got a decent amount of nominations at the most recent César Awards. Other titles that interest me include When Fall is Coming by François Ozon, By the Stream by Hong Sang-soo (a festival favorite), and Who by Fire by Philippe Lesage. Speaking of Ang Lee, the famed director will be here to receive the festival's Milgrom Award. As part of his tribute, Lee will give an in-person conversation about his career, which includes accolades such as two Academy Awards for Best Direction and the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award. He'll also introduce a special screening for his film Brokeback Mountain , which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Also screening on that day will be one of Lee's most celebrated films: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon . I’ll be publishing full reviews for select titles, with others being condensed for my festival wrap-up article. You can take a look at the full slate of festival titles at the MSP Film Society website . More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

TIFF23 Preview September 5, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen With its rich history of showcasing groundbreaking films and celebrating the art of storytelling, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)is a cinematic extravaganza like no other. This year promises to be a spectacular journey into the world of cinema, offering a diverse range of films that will captivate, inspire, and provoke thought. As we eagerly await the curtain to rise on TIFF 2023, I'm thrilled to provide you with a preview of the movies I'll be seeing during my time there. As an accredited member of the press, I'll be bouncing around between Press and Industry screenings in the morning, followed by public screenings, including a slew of world premieres, in the afternoon and night. Make sure to pay attention to this site throughout the entire duration of the festival for immediate reviews and reactions to the biggest titles! * = World Premiere screening. All times in ET. Thursday (09/07) [9:00-10:30] The Royal Hotel (dir. Kitty Green) [11:30-2:00] Reptile (dir. Grant Singer) [6:00-8:00] The Boy and the Heron (dir. Hayao Miyazaki) [9:30-11:00] North Star (dir. Kristin Scott Thomas)* Friday (09/08) [9:00-11:00] Kidnapped (dir. Marco Bellocchio) [5:30-7:30] Les Indésirables (dir. Ladj Ly)* [9:30-12:00] Finestkind (dir. Brian Helgeland)* Saturday (09/09) [8:00-10:00] Dumb Money (dir. Craig Gillespie) [12:00-2:00] His Three Daughters (dir. Azazel Jacobs)* [3:00-5:00] One Life (dir. James Hawes)* [6:00-8:00] Lee (dir. Ellen Kuras)* [9:30-11:00] Quiz Lady (dir. Jessica Yu)* Sunday (09/10) [8:30-10:30] Dream Scenario (dir. Kristoffer Borgli) [11:30-2:00] The Holdovers (dir. Alexander Payne) [3:30-5:30] Seven Veils (dir. Atom Egoyan)* [6:30-8:30] Next Goal Wins (dir. Taika Waititi)* [10:00-12:00] Knox Goes Away (dir. Michael Keaton)* Monday (09/11) [9:00-11:00] Rustin (dir. George C. Wolfe) [12:00-1:30] The Critic (dir. Anand Tucker)* [5:30-7:30] Hit Man (dir. Richard Linklater) [10:00-12:00] Pain Hustlers (dir. David Yates)* Tuesday (09/12) [8:30-10:30] Poolman (dir. Chris Pine) [11:30-2:00] The Beast (dir. Bertrand Bonello) [3:30-5:30] Evil Does Not Exist (dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi) [5:30-7:30] Memory (dir. Michel Franco) [9:30-11:30] Fingernails (dir. Christos Nikou) Wednesday (09/13) [8:30-10:30] Wildcat (dir. Ethan Hawke) [11:30-1:30] Nyad (dir. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin) [2:30-5:00] Origin (dir. Ava DuVernay) 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

Highest 2 Lowest August 15, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Matter cannot be created or destroyed. To receive something, you must be willing to give something up. For record mogul David King (Denzel Washington), a man dubbed to have “the best ears in the business” and a trophy cabinet filled with dozens of Grammys, receiving his golden nest egg after decades of work building an empire may come at the cost of his legacy. The offer from a private equity firm will ensure long-term financial resources for the label, but will also squeeze out every last drop of respectability. That push-and-pull is the most interesting aspect of director Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest , which also happens to involve a central plot about David’s son being kidnapped and held for ransom. Going the same route that Steven Spielberg ventured with his 2021 version of West Side Story , Lee and screenwriter Alan Fox side-step Akira Kurosawa’s legendary 1963 film High and Low to instead readapt the source material that was Ed McBain’s 1959 novel King’s Ransom . It’s a wise move considering that Lee’s previous interaction with a celebrated piece of Asian cinema was his 2013 direct remake of Park Chan-wook’s 2003 South Korean film Oldboy , which ended up being a spectacular failure. The setting has returned home to New York City, a place that only Martin Scorsese could potentially rival Lee as its most loyal cinematic artist. “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” booms as the camera glides across the aerial skyline of the concrete jungle that is our nation’s biggest and most culturally influential city. The opening credits are tinted with the orange and blue color scheme of the New York Knicks. Yankees fans openly yell expletives defaming Boston, and the city’s Puerto Rican population comes alive for a performance by the Eddie Palmieri Salsa Orchestra. King stands upon his Olympic penthouse balcony overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge when he gets an anonymous call from someone claiming to have kidnapped his son, Trey (Aubrey Joseph). The $17.5 million ransom would eat up all the liquidity King needs to execute a secret plan to buy enough shares to stave off the sale of his company. “There’s more to life than making money,” is something that King says early in the film when his business partner begs him to accept the sale offer. He bemoans that the latter word in the term “show business” has grown exponentially more powerful. One can feel Lee and Washington, marking their fifth collaboration in a partnership spanning over thirty years, personally decrying where the film industry is headed. Tweets about box office results, online debates about profitability, and articles about who’s making the most money illustrate that people are following dollar signs more than the art. And yet, the money always seems to be the most important thing to King in this situation of life and death. In the same sentence where he asks the police how they’ll bring Trey home, he also asks how he’ll get his money back. All money ain’t good money, and this specific bag of money sets off a chain reaction of mayhem. Lee steers a lean and mean machine during the film’s later stretches as King is on the hunt for the perpetrator. The hour it takes to get to that point is much creakier. Lee’s penchant for a big score backfires as Howard Drossin’s intrusive instruments pull away our ears. Fox’s script is littered with rote dialogue, leaving performers like Ilfenesh Hadera as King’s wife to be nothing more than a mouthpiece for the plot. And Matthew Libatique’s digital cinematography (likely done as a business decision due to Apple TV+ housing the film after a brief theatrical run) doesn’t contain any of Lee’s trademark vibrant textures. Washington is still our greatest living actor, endlessly entertaining with a performance that contains the might of King Lear and the lyricism of NLE Choppa. He’s a master of controlling the chaos, something that King reckons with as his usual tight grip is rapidly loosened by external forces. Washington goes toe-to-toe with A$AP Rocky in a battle of bars, the pair each showing a new side to themselves. There’s also Jeffrey Wright nicely balancing weariness and wit as King’s right-hand man, Paul, who’s grateful that he’s been given a second chance after his imprisonment. To have followers, you have to be a leader. Lee is a leader, still doing what he loves through methods only he could pull off, which is what art is all about. He’s still got plenty left in the tank, even as he comes to a point where time comes at a premium price. I’ll follow him up to the highest mountain, and down to the lowest valley. 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

Beau Is Afraid April 23, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Beau Is Afraid is hilarious. It’s also cruel. It’s hilariously cruel and cruelly hilarious. It’s a movie that can’t be boxed into any one genre. It’s bound to puzzle anyone who happens to get in its way, which has already happened to theater owners, as the trailers for Insidious: The Red Door and Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City preceded the screening. Mashing up genres isn’t something new for writer/director Ari Aster, who, along with Robert Eggers and Jordan Peele, has become the poster child for new-age horror. For all its dismemberment and devil worship, the core of 2018’s Hereditary centers on a family working their way through tragedy. And Midsommar , which quelled the doubts of a sophomore slump, was essentially a relationship drama that also happened to have hallucinogenic drugs and pagan burning rituals. Aster is cashing in all the checks he generated from those two previous films for Beau Is Afraid . The beast inside of him has been fully unleashed, resulting in a clusterfuck of a film that defies conventional wisdom and lobs neverending subversive curveballs on the audience it preys upon. Bleak would be the world's biggest understatement for how Aster paints the American inner city. People record and post others jumping from tall buildings to commit suicide, assault rifles are sold at kiosks like phone cases, and homicidal maniacs freely roam the streets. The only person who seems to have a decent bone in their body is Beau Wasserman (Joaquin Phoenix), a middle-aged balding man with more neuroses and diagnosable mental problems than he has fingers. His biggest loves and fears come from his mother (Zoe Lister-Jones and Patty LuPone), who never ceases to weaponize her affection into the world’s worst guilt trip. Despite several calamities coming together to prevent Beau from visiting his mother this weekend (one being a wild brown spider that has already killed a person in his apartment complex), the hearing of the stinging words “it’s fine” from her is enough for him to make the Odyssean trek. Of course, the temperature for this hellish Earth only gets hotter from there, as Beau’s journey only seems to get worse as time goes on. At a reported cost of $35 million, Beau Is Afraid marks A24’s most expensive production to date. While you question the logic of any executive who greenlit this monstrosity, you also have to give respect for handing a demented filmmaker like Aster this big of a check. Elaborate set pieces create this nightmare world, which Pawel Pogorzelski (continuing his deep relationship with Aster) captures vividly with his camera. It’s a visual mashup of both Hereditary and Midsommar , as the dark and the light come together as a sort of lucid dream. And with 179 minutes at his disposal, Aster has all the time in the world to transfer his acid-laced rationale over to you. Eventually, the batshit lunacy and twists begin to make perfect sense. But just because they make sense at the moment, it doesn’t mean that they all work together. For all the things that happen to Beau, and for how much Phoenix dives headfirst into the role, he really isn’t that interesting of a character. He’s more of a listless guide taking us through the upside-down amusement park, reacting with bewilderment at every turn. It’s a bit of a guessing game for what it all means and if it comes together as satisfying as it should. Thankfully, the side characters that interrupt this ride are pitch-perfect, including an eerily helpful Nathan Lane and scene-stealing LuPone. The cult of A24 may be growing to worrying levels, as people now begin to clap at the sight of the signature logo that bookends each of their features. It’s also not the most artistically pure idea to have merchandising and memes made out of experimental indie films from interesting filmmakers. But if all those Hot Dog Finger Gloves and Pet Rocks in the Everything Everywhere All at Once store supplied the quickly-burnt cash needed to make Beau Is Afraid at this scale, then I guess this trend can go on for a little longer. 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

Cannes Review Roundup June 8, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Another Cannes Film Festival is in the books, which means it’s time to decompress from all the commotion and gather my thoughts on everything I saw. This year I watched a personal best of fifteen films within the Official Competition lineup during my three-day stint, an almost Olympian feat that will likely force me to upgrade my contact prescription for my already deteriorated eyes. Full reviews for Megalopolis , Kinds of Kindness , The Apprentice , The Substance , Emilia Perez , and Anora have already been published. This article will serve as a catch-all for everything else, with the films listed chronologically according to my schedule. But make no mistake, while these films are being given short-take reviews, that does not mean they hold a smaller presence within my memory, as the festival always has a knack for unveiling works that bury themselves deep into your conscious, revealing slowly over the proceeding months. Grand Tour Director Miguel Gomes’ film is a work lost in time and space, both in its story and filmmaking. Its titular tour of South Asia is captured through almost silent era techniques, with ultra-grainy black-and-white cinematography and a dream-like story of two traversing lovers. Mixed into this historical story is modern documentary footage of the same locations, a juxtaposition of the land and its people in the century since. I’ll admit, the biggest reason I sought this out was because it was the only opportunity I had to see something in the famed Grand Theatre Lumiere. I’ll be in a better headspace when I catch up with it again when it most likely reaches the States next year. (3/5) Bird Bird gradually warms your heart as it navigates the gutters of England, a favorite spot for Cannes regular Andrea Arnold. I do wish that Arnold had attempted to stretch herself a little more creatively over the first ⅔ of the runtime. The “been there, done that” attitude does get broken up by a surprising element, one that I didn't entirely agree with. But I can’t deny that it had some emotional effect. Nykiya Adams delivers a great performance in her debut, with Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski as their usual freaky selves. There’s also a fun Saltburn reference that got a lot of laughs, although it was definitely unintentional as this was shot before Fennell’s film was released. (3.5/5) The Shrouds Was this supposed to be a comedy? Because it’s so poorly written and performed that at times I couldn’t tell. I did get the feeling that Cronenberg was initially aware of the unintentionally comedic concept of a man creating an app that lets you watch your loved ones decompose in their graves, but then it all is steered down such a self-serious road that you can’t help but laugh at it. Cronenberg throws a lot of ideas and plot developments at the well, most of them way too autobiographical for us to comprehend. Crimes of the Future was my biggest disappointment at Cannes 2022, with this easily (re)laying claim to that title. Is there an award that’s the opposite of the Palme d’Or? (2/5) Oh, Canada A typical Paul Shrader film as it tackles a man wrecked by the guilt of his past. But it’s not all doom and gloom within a world of crime, as Schrader’s adaptation of Russell Banks’ novel has a more melancholic glimpse into a life roughly lived. Where has this version of Richard Gere been all these years?!? Some bizarre directorial choices, such as Jacob Elordi and Gere swapping places in their respective timelines and Uma Thurman cast as multiple characters, prevent this from being a definitive film that Schrader could potentially go out on. (3.5/5) Limonov: The Ballad Cannes' new favorite Russian ambassador Kirill Serebrennikov delivers a biopic with a lot of style, but not much substance, at least not in the forms my Western brain could comprehend. The clash of hemispheres makes for a jarringly interesting experience, with Ben Whishaw’s stunning titular performance almost convincing you he’s playing a layered character. A fascinating disappointment that I’d be welcome to revisit once I dive into Serebrennikov’s previous works. (3/5) Beating Hearts How does a musical work without any songs? Pretty, actually. Gilles Lellouche directors the hell out of this epic gangster drama, crafting a romantic odyssey with the visual flair of West Side Story and the grit of La Haine . Both sets of our star-crossed lovers are wonderful together. (3.5/5) The Girl with the Needle My personal Palme d’Or winner! Magnus von Horn descends us into a haunting time in Denmark, drip-feeding dread through his claustrophobic 4:3 camerawork. The blacks are as dark as night, and the whites are blindingly bright, a combination that resembles the horror of The Lighthouse with the bleak beauty of Cold War . Lovers of ultra-depressing European arthouse pieces keep on winning! (4/5) The Seed of the Sacred Fig Without a doubt the most important film of the festival, Mohammad Rasoulof’s statement about his native land both directly and indirectly dismantles the current Iranian regime through gripping imagery and performances. It succeeds as both a political statement and a taut thriller, although it leans a little too much on the latter in its final stages and oddly opts for metaphors after it has already effectively communicated so literally. (3.5/5) All We Imagine as Light As the first Indian film in the Official Competition in almost thirty years, Payal Kapadia’s sophomore feature certainly had a lot to live up to. It’s a quietly powerful film about the people that inhabit Mumbai, a city that never seems to sleep. It takes its time to reveal itself, but fully hits the landing once it all comes together in the final stages. The score and luminous cinematography were both among the best of the festival. (3.5/5) More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

MSPIFF43 - Dispatch #1 April 22, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen The 43rd Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival (MSPIFF) is currently going on from April 11-25, with over 200 films screened. Here are some quick-bite reviews of a few of the films I have watched, with more to come soon. Green Border Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border is nothing short of ambitious, as it sees the revered Polish writer/director putting her native government through the wringer in the hopes of shining a light on the atrocities taking place on its eastern border. Split into several chapters, the majority of the film’s focus is on a Syrian migrant family as they start their journey to Sweden to start a new life with one of their distant relatives. Like thousands of other families, they are lured into Belarus under the government’s false advertisement of safe travel into the European Union. They are then harassed and extorted by border guards until being forcibly flung into Poland as part of a geopolitical war to destabilize the EU. Any hope of sympathy from the Polish forces quickly vanishes; replaced with more xenophobia, abuse, and forcible deportation back to Belarus. Holland captures the brutality of this inhumane game of tug-and-war in stark black-and-white, the endless forest along the border being perpetually shrouded in darkness. There’s always a “one step forward, two steps back” attitude towards the plight of the family, with Holland never crossing over the line of torturing her characters for the sake of a message. The themes of inhumanity extend further into the other chapters, which eventually becomes a bit of a Pulp Fiction -esque story of intersecting storylines. One of those storylines features a young group of Polish activists who circumvent the law to aid the battered migrants, although their work never seems to be more than putting a metaphorical band-aid on a gunshot wound. Although the feeling of hope rarely shines through in Holland’s material, a bit of it can be felt based on the anger it incites. It’s no surprise that for all the prizes (including the Special Jury Prize in Venice) and acclaim the film has received from Western audiences, it was heavily condemned and censored by the Polish government. Even if the film has been prevented from having its full impact at home, it at least still carries quite the universal punch abroad. (3.5/5) Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell You need to have serious guts (and a really trustworthy producer) to have your debut feature film run over three hours and feature little to none of the usual trappings audiences expect to keep them occupied in their seats. Vietnamese writer/director Phan Thien An has created a film of extraordinary uniqueness, aligning closely with the extreme slow cinema works of Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Béla Tarr. The plot is simple: A man’s sister-in-law dies in a motorcycle accident and he must escort his young nephew across the country to his estranged father. But the literal plot is something that An is least concerned with, instead focusing much of his attention on the spiritual ambiguity underlining every moment of our lives. Every scene is comprised of a single take, all of them extraordinary feats of production on account of their length and complexity. Time is often at a standstill, with no one ever seeming to be in a rush or wanting to have a direct conversation. Your attitude towards this style will be determined quickly, most likely in your ability to stay awake. But even those who drift off from time to time will have their dreams permeated by images from the film. It’s part of the experience, a little piece of the film that sticks with you, something the large majority of other works fail to do. Pham received the Camera d’Or prize for best first feature film at the Cannes Film Festival last year, where he premiered as part of the Directors’ Fortnight section. I have no doubt that it will be the first of many prizes he will receive at that festival, as their relationship seems to be a match made in heaven. (4/5) Shoshana Michael Winterbottom’s story of British Mandatory Palestine (specifically Tel Aviv) circa the 1930/1940s never knows exactly what side it wants to be on. It’s a film that wants to examine the British/Arab/Jewish conflict from all angles but always feels too scared to probe a little deeper for fear of angering viewers, which becomes most noticeable when the postscript reveals sentiments that the events of the film hardly supported. Winterbottom has usually been a filmmaker who plays fast and loose (see 24 Hour Party People and Wonderland ). Here he trades that all away for a polished procedural style, complete with bland archival footage and a tacky score by the usually reliable David Holmes. At the heart of this conflict are the star-crossed lovers of British police officer Tom Wilkin (Douglas Booth) and Zionist Shoshana (Irina Starshenbaum). They try to stay neutral with their feelings, but the increasing violence and tension ultimately force them to choose a side. Both of the leads are quite capable in their roles, it’s just that they end up being swallowed by the uninteresting forces around them. (2.5/5) Janet Planet Playwright Annie Baker’s feature directorial debut is a work of quiet observation, both literally and metaphorically. The nature of rural Massachusetts is the film’s soundtrack: crickets, swaying trees, and the distant verve of a car passing by on the dirt road. Inside one of the secluded houses live Janet (Julianne Nicholson) and her 11-year-old daughter Lacy (Zoe Ziegler). Throughout the summer of 1991, three people enter their lives: the reserved Wayne, former friend Regina, and pseudo-intellectual Avi. Baker captures the textures of an endless summer with ease, using a certain kind of slow cinema that’s mostly been found in cinema outside the Western hemisphere. While the argument behind the need for the theatrical experience has mostly been reserved for huge tentpoles filled with bombastic sound and visuals, Janet Planet makes just as much of a case to be seen in a dark room while barely registering over a whisper. The quiet rhythms and cinematography will surely not play as well at home, or in any multiplex with sound bleed. It’s one of those films I wished I could see alone in a screening room, just letting the vibes wash over me. Zeigler is tremendous in her first-ever performance. She and Nicholson share great chemistry, always at the heart of the film even as sometimes spins its wheels. Baker’s film could be the little indie sensation of the summer if A24 gives it the proper push it deserves. (3.5/5) More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

The Gentlemen January 30, 2020 By: Button Hunter Friesen Like Wes Anderson, Tim Burton, and Michael Bay, you can tell when a film is made by Guy Ritchie just by watching a few minutes of it. The British director has carried a sense of hyper-stylization through each of his films, most notably in crime comedies that began with the one-two punch of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch . Now after a few big studio duds ( King Arthur , Aladdin ), Ritchie has come home to his roots with The Gentlemen . Growing tired of the marijuana business and fearing for the security of his future, Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) decides he wants to sell his lucrative empire. Luckily for him, a rich American buyer is willing to fork over a pretty penny. Unluckily for Mickey though, his life of crime has made him a few enemies that would like nothing more than to see him ruined. With his enemies fast approaching on all sides, Mickey will now have to get his hands dirtier than ever if he ever wants to have a chance to clean them off. The Gentlemen is business as usual for Ritchie as he dives right back into the street crime genre he made his name in. What may seem overindulgent to others is only conventional to Ritchie as he uses all the flashy tactics in the book. Even the opening credits - which contain numerous minor spoilers for some odd reason - remind one of a Bond film. After that, we are led on an endless parade of rapid editing, exaggerated characters, and many other stylish facets. It’s a bombardment of the senses, but one that never becomes overbearing. However, like all Ritchie films, The Gentlemen ends up leaning too hard on style over substance, which is saying a lot because there is a lot of substance here. Some directorial choices seem to be made only for vanity, such as one bit where a character drones on about the magic of classic cinema. I was reminded of the great Jurassic Park quote which I am paraphrasing: [Ritchie]... was so preoccupied with whether or not he could, he didn’t stop to think if he should. Such is the case in Ritchie’s previous crime films, there are plots within plots, and those plots have plots on top of them. In this film, the narrative revolves around a discussion between two characters as one tells the other about the events that have unfolded. These events are new to us but have already happened within the timeframe of the film. What we get is a sort of comedic murder mystery where each event is changed and then rechanged again based upon a certain character’s perspective on what happened. This framing device makes the movie an interesting puzzle, albeit a needlessly convoluted one. Specific details sometimes get lost in the shuffle, only to come back again to confuse us more. Just like the directing, this problem seems to stem from Ritchie’s insistence on overdoing things. It’s quantity over quality as too many things are thrown into the script without much regard for clarity or purpose. Since his Oscar win in 2014, Matthew McConaughey has had a hard time picking projects that use his acting strengths and that also turns out to be good. Thankfully, Mr “Alright, alright, alright” chose wisely here as Ritchie uses his captivating screen presence in some impressive monologues. Charlie Hunnam and Hugh Grant play the two characters having a banterous discussion about the film’s events. Grant easily takes the top spot between the two as he seems to thoroughly enjoy his character's eccentric quirks. Rounding out the cast is Jeremy Strong, Henry Golding, and, most notably, Colin Farrell as the boxing coach simply named “Coach”. Even though Mickey is the main character, Coach is the one you’ll remember the most after. It can be easy to forget sometimes that movies are allowed to solely be entertaining popcorn flicks. This rings truer during awards season when every film is trying to take a stand on something and fighting to make a mark on our culture. Of course, you still would like that popcorn flick to be well-made. Being as how January is usually a dumping ground for maligned films, you could do a lot worse than this enjoyable romp. 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

Zombieland: Double Tap October 28, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen When the first Zombieland came out in 2009, it was a pleasant surprise. The zombie genre was in its initial rebirth stage and self-referential humor hadn’t reached its peak just yet. It became the talk of every middle and high school around the country, creating a rabid fanbase that launched the careers of several of its stars and creators. Now ten years later, the gang is back, still making their way through the undead infestation within America. But slaughtering zombies proves to create human relationship problems, ones that the survivors all thought they left behind. Also, there’s a new breed of zombie on the loose, tougher and smarter than ever before. With the physical and emotional danger ramping up by the day, the bond holding the misfit family together will soon be tested. Directed by Ruben Fleischer, helmer of the first film and Tom Hardy’s Venom , Zombieland: Double Tap is a breezy 99-minute comedy. The atmosphere is light and joyous as the characters always keep their sarcastic attitudes even in the most perilous of times. But that carefree attitude is also a symptom of the lack of depth and purpose to the story. Fleischer frames the narrative as a road movie, but without a meaningful destination or compelling journey to bring it all together. The comedy set-pieces here are more separate entities rather than part of a whole piece. Fortunately, some of those disjointed scenes contain some great action as Fleischer embellishes the gory fun of killing (or re-killing) the undead. Slow-motion and excessive blood and guts soak the screen and make for an amusing watch. And even though guns are the primary weapon of choice, there is one top-notch tracking shot sequence that deserves credit for its creative methods for killing. Written by the original duo of the first movie plus the addition of Dave Callaham, “Zombieland: Double Tap” still contains the same amount of self-referential humor as the first. This time though, the meta-jokes aren’t as fresh and are served through overly-expository narration. Just like the carefree atmosphere, this fault is part of a larger problem: staleness. Ten years ago, this story and these characters were original. But now with “The Walking Dead” and umpteen amount of video games, the zombie genre has run itself into the ground. The writers don’t try to solve this problem and merely just try to joke about it. That’s not to say that the jokes are bad, some of them are quite good. And the chemistry between the cast is just as good or even better than the original. It’s just a shame that all that talent is buried under a little-to-nothing plot that only serves the purpose of shuffling them between set pieces. It’s fine and all to watch the same great characters do funny stuff, but there also needs to be a story to tell. The lack of a story here showcases the prime reason this film was nothing more than an unnecessary cash grab. Ten years older and all Academy Award-nominated, the cast all return to do more of the same. Jesse Eisenberg is his usual fidgety and neurotic self as he spatters out his rules of survival. Woody Harrelson takes the top spot among the group and seems to be enjoying himself the most. It’s almost unfair to the others that he gets the best lines, but he makes the most out of them and is the main reason most of the jokes land. Emma Stone, away from serious roles for a little bit, also seems to be reveling in the zombie carnage. It’s nice to see her let loose, especially since she does have a knack for snarky comedy. Lastly, Abigail Breslin gets the short end of the stick as she doesn’t get anything to do or say that’s funny, even if she’s pretty good in her seldom moments to shine. Zombieland: Double Tap has some good moments, but they’re not enough to make it a good movie. But its inoffensiveness delivers just enough laughs to service those who have fond memories of the first one. Just like how Ghostbusters II isn’t remembered to this day, I feel this sequel will come and go without leaving the same lasting mark that the superior original was able to make all those years ago. 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 Woman King September 10, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Woman King had its World Premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. TriStar Pictures will release it in theaters on September 16. Touted as the story of the “real black panthers,” TriStar Pictures’ The Woman King aims for much more than just Hollywood showmanship. It wants to be an inspirational true story of the African warriors who stood up to the European powers that sought to colonize and enslave them. Of course, the real story of these warriors is much more complex, as they actually fought to protect their own slave trade. But if you want to pick apart this movie for historical inaccuracy, then you’d have to pick apart every movie within the genre, and that would take an eternity. And to give the movie the benefit of the doubt, the plot synopsis does state that it is “a historical epic that is based in an alternate history of The Kingdom of Dahomey,” which means you should leave your quibbles at the box office. Viola Davis stars as General Nanisca of the Dahomey warriors, one of the only African kingdoms to feature women as part of the armed forces. We first see them engaging a rival tribe, the Oyo, in which they attain a decisive victory because of their skill and tactics. Although their feud has been going on for centuries, both Dahomey and the Oyo are being instigated by the European colonial powers that seek to bolster their slave trade. To avoid selling their own, each of the tribes raids the other, selling off their prisoners as slaves (regardless of gender or age). It’s a bloody business that King Ghezo of Dahomey no longer wants to be a part of. But the only way to stop the trade would be to wipe out the Oyo, which is nothing short of a tall order considering their superior numbers and technology. The film’s analysis of the slave trade is far better than most tonally deft Hollywood epics. The Dahomey are the heroes of our story, but they aren’t without their misgivings. But while the introspection is good, it’s also not good enough. The central conflict is resolved too cleanly without regard to the bigger picture. Sure, the white slavers are killed and the people are freed, but are we really led to believe that’ll be the end of all of this? Director Gina Prince-Bythewood does craft some spectacular action setpieces, each highlighting the physical prowess of the Dahomey Amazons. Swords, spears, muskets, and even sharpened fingernails are used by the women to vanquish their enemies. The PG-13 rating is pushed to its limits, with only a few rapid cuts away from the fatal blows keeping us from the adults-only territory. That level of top-tier craftsmanship also appears in nearly every aspect of the film’s production. An eye-popping color palette coats King Ghezo’s palace and the traditional costumes of the warriors. And Terence Blanchard’s (Spike Lee’s go-to composer) triumphant score gives each scene that little extra boost it needs to get over the edge. It’s just a shame that the technical prowess of the film couldn’t bleed over into the script (written by Dana Stevens and Maria Bello), which constantly throws a wet blanket each time things start to heat up. Along with the simplification of slavery, we also get soap opera-level twists about the character’s lineage and a forced love story between a female warrior and a down-with-the-cause European. It’s in these moments you’re reminded this movie cost $50 million to produce and needs to pull out every trick in the book to appeal to all audiences. At least the acting covers most of the script’s problems. As expected, Viola Davis crushes her role as the stern warrior leader. Lashana Lynch carries over her great comedic timing from No Time to Die as the second-in-command, Izogie. And Thuso Mbedu, who plays the audience surrogate, Nawi, does well at handling the film’s heavier moments. If not for its weak script, The Woman King could have been one of the best action movies of 2022. But even for all its faults on the page, there’s no denying the power of what it accomplishes on the screen. 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 Best Cinematographers Working Today And Where To Find Them Next April 30, 2021 By: Hunter Friesen Cinematography is often the first thing we notice when watching a film, but the person behind the camera creating the magic often goes unrecognized except for the few seconds their name appears in the credits. A Director of Photography (DP) can carry a distinct visual style throughout their body of work, often pairing that style with a like-minded director. There are dozens of cinematographers working today that have produced some truly stunning work. This list highlights fifteen of them in no particular order and gives a brief glimpse into what they are working on next. No list can ever be perfect, and I'll be the first to say that many worthy names have been left off here. But before you get angry about an omission, you have to remember that to qualify for this list; a cinematographer must be officially attached to a film that is expected to be released by the end of 2022. So, quality names such as Rachel Morrison and Bradford Young do not appear because they don't have anything lined up at the moment. Roger Deakins This British-born DP isn't just considered one of the best working today; he's considered one of the best of all time. Deakins has cemented that status with his long-lasting director partnerships with both the Coen brothers and Sam Mendes. He is adaptable to all genres and can work on light comedies such as The Big Lebowski or tentpole epics like Skyfall . And despite being a perennial Oscar loser for nearly twenty years, he has claimed two consecutive wins for his work on Blade Runner 2049 and 1917 , respectively. His next project will reteam him with Sam Mendes for the 2022 release, Empire of Light . Bruno Delbonnel When Roger Deakins isn't available, the Coen brothers have relied on the French-born Delbonnel. He broke out early in France with Amelie and A Very Long Engagement , which showed off his distinct color palette. He's now worked with the Coens and Joe Wright on multiple films, most notably Inside Llewyn Davis and Darkest Hour . It's fitting that each of his following two projects will be with those directors as he has Wright's The Woman in the Window on Netflix in May and Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth later this year. Robert Richardson Regularly working with the likes of Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino, and Martin Scorsese, Robert Richardson has built his resume through a who's who of directing talent. He often matches his sharp visual style with a specific project, whether it be the period-accurate hard-lighting in The Aviator , harnessing the power of 3D in Hugo , or shooting on 70mm for The Hateful Eight . Richardson's upcoming project is a reteaming with director Andy Serkis for Venom: Let There Be Carnage , the sequel to the 2018 smash hit. Emmanuel Lubezki Like Richardson, Emmanuel Lubezki has attached himself to some of the top directors of the modern era. He’s had a fruitful relationship with fellow Mexicans Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu, and also with the enigmatic Terrence Malick. His movies often push the limit of the long take and rely heavily on natural lighting. His work has netted him a career of eight Oscar nominations, and he won three years in a row from 2013-2015. After taking a short break, he'll be back in the hunt later this year with David O. Russell's Amsterdam . Matthew Libatique Lover of handheld camerawork and color specificity, Matthew Libatique has traveled around the industry and worked on projects at every level. He's had a lasting partnership with Darren Aronofsky, creating visual horror with the films Black Swan and Mother! . He's shown off his incredible range with Birds of Prey last year, along with A Star Is Born and The Prom . He has two upcoming projects, one of which is a reunion with Aronofsky on an untitled A24 drama. The other is Olivia Wilde's follow-up to Booksmart , which is the 1950s set horror-thriller, Don't Worry Darling . Janusz Kaminski Almost exclusively working with Steven Spielberg since their partnership began in 1993 for Schindler's List , Polish DP Janusz Kaminski has been responsible for some of the most incredible imagery of the past quarter-century. He is known for his heavy lighting of windows and shooting on grainy film stock. He has proven that he isn't dependent on Spielberg, as he did wonders with Julian Schnabel in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and in 2014 with The Judge . Kaminski will be in full musical mode this winter with Spielberg's West Side Story remake set to be released at Christmas. Darius Wolski Also, from Poland, Wolski netted his first Oscar nomination last year for News of the World . Since coming to Hollywood in the mid-1990s, Wolski has worked on several blockbuster productions such as the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and nearly a dozen films with Ridley Scott. Both he and Scott have three movies in the pipeline, with two of them, The Last Duel and House of Gucci , releasing later this year. The third is a Napoleon Bonaparte biopic with Joaquin Phoenix, which is expected to begin production soon. Greig Fraser Australian Greig Fraser started his career with fellow countrymen such as Scott Hicks, Andrew Dominik, and Jane Campion. His films often have crisp darkness surrounding them, heightening the slow-burn tension his directors like to instill. He began to branch out in the early 2010s, working with Kathryn Bigelow in Zero Dark Thirty and with Gareth Edwards in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story . He netted his first Oscar nomination working with Garth Davis in Lion and recently won his first Emmy for his work in The Mandalorian . He's kept busy recently with two gigantic productions, which are Denis Villeneuve's Dune and Matt Reeves's The Batman . Darius Kohndji Like a fine wine, this Iranian-born DP seems to be getting better with age. His Hollywood hit came in 1995 on David Fincher's Se7en . He then attached himself to Woody Allen from Midnight to Paris to Irrational Man and showed off his prowess with soft lighting with James Gray in the films The Immigrant and The Lost City of Z . But he's also adept at sharp contrasts, which he used to perfection in Nicolas Winding Refn's Amazon series Too Old to Die Young . He's working with Alejandro González Iñárritu on his newest film, Limbo , which is filming now and slated for release later this year. Rodrigo Prieto Replacing Robert Richardson as Martin Scorsese's go-to cinematographer, Rodrigo Prieto burst onto the scene with Alejandro González Iñárritu's internationally acclaimed hit, Amores Perros . He kept up his relationship with Iñárritu while also dabbling in multiple projects with Julie Taymor and Oliver Stone. His visual style has lent itself to sprawling stories, such as the globe-trotting Babel or the decades-spanning The Irishman . Prieto and Scorsese are back together again for a western titled Killers of the Flower Moon , which recently started filming. Maryse Alberti Maryse Alberti has worked with filmmakers such as Darron Aronofsky ( The Wrestler ), Ryan Coogler ( Creed ), and most recently Ron Howard ( Hillbilly Elegy ), carving out a spot for herself as one of the best cinematographers working today. Blending handheld camerawork with striking compositions, her work has a naturalistic quality that helps the stories she's working on to feel grounded yet richly cinematic. She'll next be seen working with actor/director Denzel Washington on A Journal For Jordan (based on the memoir by Dana Canedy), which will reunite her with Creed star Michael B. Jordan and also stars Chanté Adams and Robert Wisdom. Jeff Cronenweth The son of Blade Runner cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth, Jeff cut his teeth on music videos and gradually worked his way into feature films. He's embraced digital photography, crafting some of the sharpest and cold imagery of the past decade in The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , and Gone Girl . He's recently been recruited by Aaron Sorkin to shoot his upcoming Lucille Ball biopic, Being the Ricardos . Linus Sandgren Favoring rich colors and eye-popping visuals, Sandgren started his Hollywood career with a bang in 2013 with David O. Russell's American Hustle . He stayed with Russell to make Joy just two years later and then partnered with wunderkind Damien Chazelle to make visual magic in both La La Land and First Man . He has a big lineup in the near future, with No Time to Die and Adam McKay's Don't Look Up being released later this year. He's also reteaming with Chazelle for the Hollywood epic Babylon , slated for release on Christmas 2022. Chung Chung-hoon When it comes to shot framing, this South Korean DP is the master. He partnered with fellow South Korean director Park Chan-wook in the films Oldboy , Thirst , and Lady Vengeance . The crowning achievement for the pair has to be 2016's The Handmaiden , a lush tale of deception and intrigue. He's dabbled in the English language a few times, and he can next be found working with Edgar Wright for Last Night in Soho and Ruben Fleischer for the Uncharted video game adaptation. Claudio Miranda Claudio Miranda is second to none when it comes to CG photography. He has embraced the popularization of digital filmmaking, showing off the wonders of technology in TRON: Legacy and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button . He won an Oscar in 2012 for his groundbreaking work with Ang Lee in Life of Pi . He's working with director Joseph Kosinski on two upcoming releases: the highly anticipated Top Gun: Maverick and Netflix's Escape from Spiderhead . Mihai Malaimare Jr. While not the biggest name on this list, this Romanian DP has worked with quite a few high-profile directors. He started with Francis Ford Coppola in his avant-garde trilogy of Youth Without Youth, Tetro , and Twixt . Then in 2012, he and Paul Thomas Andreson collaborated to make The Master , one of the most daring and gorgeous uses of 65mm. He kept a low profile for a while after that but returned in 2019 with Taika Waititi to make the sumptuous Jojo Rabbit . He'll next be seen partnering with newcomer Jeymes Samuel for the black-led Netflix western, The Harder They Fall . 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 Gorge February 13, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Making a film straight-to-streaming is a low-risk-low-reward proposition for any filmmaker, especially when said streaming service is still in its relative infancy (i.e. they're not Netflix). If the film doesn't work, then it fails quietly, its only legacy being an inconspicuous credit on people's IMDb page. The same fate awaits a film that turns out to be good, all those months of blood and sweat not being met with a big box office haul, only a mention by the CFO at the next quarterly investor call covering subscription growth. While the television side of Apple TV+ has sporadically graduated from this level with hits like Ted Lasso , Severance , and Shrinking , its straight-to-streaming division remains firmly entrenched in the land of anonymity. The titles of Fingernails , Palmer , and Finch mean nothing to the average movie fan. Despite its exceptional quality, director Scott Derrickson's The Gorge is likely destined to repeat that same fate, falling down a cavernous catalog just as deep and mysterious as the one in the film itself. The location of this pit is a classified secret, even kept from the guards stationed in separate watchtowers on either side of it. One of them is Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy, sporting a moderately more believable accent compared to her work in The New Mutants ), your prototypical heartless Russian assassin who dons all black and pulls the trigger without hesitation. The American Levi (Miles Teller) was once like that, but the prolonged years of being in this business have made him care too much. What good is an assassin who's grown a conscience? A mysterious private military figure (Sigourney Weaver) figures that the absence of anything giving him a reason to keep living makes him the perfect expendable soldier. Both Levi and Drasa are essentially part of a suicide mission, standing guard over a cavern that possesses something so evil that the Eastern and Western superpowers have always put aside their Cold War differences and worked together to keep it contained. What the overlords didn't consider when they selected their representatives was what happens when you place two very attractive people in the wilderness with nothing to do but get to know each other. Teller and Taylor-Joy pull off the incredibly difficult task of developing a romantic relationship despite their physical distance initially preventing them from ever sharing the same frame. They communicate through telescopes and whiteboards and even exchange playful sniper fire in games of one-upmanship. Derrickson lends his skills well to this twisted meet-cute scenario, creating montages set to energizing needle-drops. None of the song choices could be considered original or fresh, but they're all incredibly likable and fit the mood. All this fun almost makes everyone forget that they're standing above a gateway to hell, that is until one day when the demons start getting a little too ambitious for their own good. Levi and Drasa are forcibly relocated to the bottom of the gorge, fending off waves of emaciated creatures that have waited for decades for a decent piece of meat to chew on. Derrickson is a filmmaker who's most well-known for his gnarly R-rated features like Deliver Us from Evil and The Black Phone . One would think that the PG-13 rating here would tie his hands behind his back, but the interesting creature design and expert overall craftsmanship never let that thought occur. I can't divulge specifics about what the creatures look like and how they came to be, as that's the central hook, something that the marketers equally valued when they surprisingly kept it a secret in the trailer. Cinematographer Dan Laustsen, a natural fit for this project considering his years-long relationship with creature feature aficionado Guillermo del Toro, creates an unsettling atmosphere through his colorful use of mist and Cold War aesthetics. The composer duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross accentuate Laustsen's imagery with their steel wire score. For those who have regularly played the Zombies game mode in the Call of Duty video game series and have longed for it to be brought to the silver screen, this is your dream come true. 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