Snow White March 19, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen At this point in the Disney live-action remake cycle, the only way to grade Snow White would be on a curve. “That’s not fair!” says Pinocchio , Dumbo, The Lion King , and The Little Mermaid . To them, my response is simple: Be better (or release later). Their faults have become Snow White ’s blessing, a bar lowered so that even something with as many conceptual flaws as this can pass for good enough. Now, it’s not all doom and gloom, nor does this remake of the famed 1937 Walt Disney animated film (itself a much cheerier adaptation of the fairy tale by The Brothers Grimm) get by purely on the benefit of comparison. First and foremost, Rachel Zegler is simply wonderful as the titular princess. I’d call it a star-making performance if she hadn’t already proved those bona fides with turns in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbird & Snakes . Instead, I’ll just call it a case of perfect casting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV46TJKL8cU Zegler fills her role with grace and composure, endlessly likable and charming. Her character’s disposition is natural goodness, a lesson taught by her royal parents. But tragedy struck the young Snow White in the form of her mother dying from illness and her father disappearing after he led some of his troops to fight in some unspecified war off-screen. This power vacuum allowed the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot) to take command of the kingdom, forcing Snow White into servitude and taking away all sense of hope and optimism amongst the citizens. Look, you don’t need me to rehash this plot. Screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson doesn’t make many changes to the original’s story and structure. Her main goal was likely to remold some of the creakier elements with modern sensibilities, such as making the original Prince into Jonathan (Andrew Burnap), a somewhat wisecracking Robin Hood-type whose initial cold heart is melted by Snow White’s kindness. Burnap’s casting is less than ideal, with the Tony winner always looking exactly like his real age of thirty-four despite all the strenuous work done by the hair and makeup department. There’s never any predatory or creepy intonation between him and Zegler; it's just that seeing them side-by-side raises a slight eyebrow when I should be immediately swooning. Not changing from the original film is the fact that the seven dwarves are animated… although I prefer the original style to whatever this is. It’s not the same uncanny valley from the recent The Lion King films, as that had the detriment of being compared to real-life animals. But there’s still some creepiness permeating from them in each frame, and I can confirm that one child had to leave the screening in fear during the dwarf's initial introduction (the correlation can’t be confirmed, but the evidence is pretty strong). It’s no surprise that they’ve been heavily reduced in the marketing campaign and that no 3D prints were made. Something that is two-dimensional is Gadot’s performance. We all know she’s not a gifted thespian, with her turn here never clearly defining itself as strained or campy. I’m leaning towards the former, although her evil musical number makes a strong enough case for this to be seen as an elaborate wink for the parents. Director Marc Webb doesn’t stage many of the setpieces well, overcutting and giving more attention to the fake sets rather than the performances. Luckily, the music by musical superstars Benj Pasek and Justin Paul is catchy and empowering, so I could at least just close my eyes and still be entertained. Kids will definitely not wear out this VHS tape (I guess the term for this in this day and age would be “overload the Disney+ server”) as they did with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves . Internet trolls will also be disappointed to find out this isn’t an unmitigated disaster. Avoiding a catastrophe probably wasn't Disney’s strategy when they put down so much cash for this, but that’s about the best we’re all going to get. Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures will release Snow White in theaters nationwide on March 21st. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Dear Evan Hansen September 23, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen Besides the expected superhero films, the genre that seems to be all the rage in 2021 is musicals. This year sees several different variations of the movie musical, featuring original concepts ( Annette ), musical variations of classic tales (Amazon’s Cinderella ), Broadway adaptations (Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights , and Miranda’s directorial debut Tick, Tick… Boom! ), and even remakes of Broadway adaptations (Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story ). Slotting right in with the rest of the Broadway pack is the film adaptation of the modern stage musical sensation: Dear Evan Hansen . Riddled with social anxiety, depression, and a cast on his left arm, Evan Hansen is a teenager who can never seem to fit in. He writes letters to himself for motivation, in which one haphazardly falls into the hands of the troubled Connor Murphy, who takes his own life shortly after. The Murphys believe the letter to be Connor’s suicide note, with Evan being his best friend. Rather than admit the truth that Connor was his bully, Evan goes along with this opportunity, netting him a newfound sense of popularity and affection from those who never once passed him a glance. He also becomes an unofficial member of the Murphy family, with the parents taking him under their wing and their daughter, Zoe, developing a relationship with him. But like all charades, the lie begins to spin out of control, tangling Evan and those he cares about in a web of deceit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_c_Jd-hP-s Tasked with bringing the stage play to cinematic life is director Stephen Chbosky, who recently had success with Wonder , about a boy with facial disfigurement, and the soon-to-be cult classic/greatest movie ever, according to Tumblr, The Perks of Being a Wallflower . Unlike the musicals mentioned in the beginning, Dear Evan Hansen doesn’t feature large group numbers on sweeping sets. Much of the action occurs in smaller, domestic locations, with the most exotic sets being a school gymnasium and a run-of-the-mill apple orchard. And even when a song features more than one performer, they hardly share the same location, such as “Requiem,” where the Murphys are crosscut and folded on top of each other. The film hangs its heart on the musical numbers, many of which have become anthems to a generation, especially “You Will Be Found,” which has become so iconic that it gets a special Sam Smith treatment during the credits, along with the familiar showstopping rendition that occurs at the midpoint. Schbosky shows middling prowess for the staging of these numbers, opting for the actors to sing live, filming them through extended takes and slower camera movements that accentuate the emotional pull of the material. That stillness also acts as a double-edged sword, as there is a distinct lack of energy that makes the 137-minute runtime feel a lot longer than it is. Ironically, the main problem that keeps this version of Dear Evan Hansen from being a sensation is not the cinematic qualities, but the story itself, which won Best Book of a Musical at the 2017 Tony Awards. The problem with the story is systemic, with Evan’s actions being steeped in selfishness. Screenwriter Steven Levenson tries too hard to have his cake and eat it too as he attempts to scorn Evan’s actions while also finding the silver lining with a poignant message about friendship and grief. The stage may have been able to cover this with its overpowering emotional tunes and acting, but the slowness of the film adaptation allows for that problem to fester until your sympathy for Evan has completely dried up, and you just want him to get caught. Fortunately, the actors aren’t too affected by the script’s problems. Reprising his famous role, Ben Platt proves once again that he was born to play Evan Hansen, despite his 27-year-old face and gangly body signaling that he should have stayed retired. Kaitlyn Dever, who broke out in 2019 with Booksmart , often steals the show as Zoe. Dever finds the right amount of vulnerability as her character deals with the death of a brother she never had much respect for. She and Platt make their relationship seem believable, despite the glaring age difference and underwritten romantic development. Misguided, but not without its merits, Dear Evan Hansen aims for the heart with pinpoint accuracy. There’s an emotional and sweet lesson buried under the creepy candy coating that is the central premise. Once that obstacle is overcome (which is a big task), then there are enough powerful songs to connect with those who sometimes feel alone. Universal Pictures will release Dear Evan Hansen in theaters nationwide on September 24th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Tony August 18, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen During the waning days of the press tour for The Odyssey , Christopher Nolan gave a surprisingly in-depth and frank interview with Chinese podcast host Zhong Shu. As part of the discussion, Nolan expressed one of his annoyances with modern film criticism: the tendency to gamify the experience of watching a film. Many audiences have an insecure need to be one step ahead of the story, as if knowing what's going to happen before it happens is the mark of an intelligent viewer. And if we're smarter than the movie, then it means the movie isn't pulling off its trick of illusion. "Because to be able to identify the mechanism does not invalidate the mechanism...” he said. "Because people have this idea that, ‘Because I can understand why the story affects me the way it is, therefore, it didn’t work." Apart from maybe superhero films, Nolan's grievance finds its greatest home in the biopic genre. Whether it’s the fact that they're (somewhat) based on true stories with rigid parameters for what can and can't happen, or that it’s simply what sells lots of tickets, biopics have some of the most recurring and recognizable traits in all of cinema. Throughout my time as a film critic, I've written ad nauseam about films like I Wanna Dance with Somebody , Back to Black , Bob Marley: One Love , and Bohemian Rhapsody . Just as they all presented the same cadence of trials and tribulations for their central figures, I wrote the same critique of having to sit through the formula again and again. Perhaps my fixation on the routine story beats prevented me from digging deeper into the juicier thematic material. Of course, like Nolan's view, my critique of those subpar films was not solely based on the innate fact that they followed the formula. Plenty of great biopics followed the Rosetta Stone to the letter just as much, such as A Complete Unknown , The Aviator , and Nolan's own Best Picture-winning Oppenheimer . What creates a feast out of a famine is the combination of all facets of the production. Bob Marley: One Love and A Complete Unknown both feature transformative performances (Kingsley Ben-Adir and Timothée Chalamet, respectively) at the center of their conventional stories, but only the latter featured the craft and unspoken warmth that kept me fully invested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1MVnzd2aVc All in all, this brings us to Tony , the origin story of Anthony Bourdain (going by “Tony” here) before he became the bad boy of the culinary world with his Kitchen Confidential book and travelogue shows. Granted, he was always a bad boy, as evidenced by the opening quote (also prominently featured on the film’s poster): “I was – to be frank – a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout.” In his eyes, his roguish charm comes from his cool wordplay, with lies spun with such a bragging nature that he wholly believes everyone hangs onto his every word like it is gospel. It’s why he’s telling everyone he’s going to get a summer writing fellowship grant from Vassar only a few minutes after coming out of the interview. It’s not much of a coincidence that the two people who see right through him are women: his stern mother Gladys (Dagmara Domińczyk) and Nancy (Emilia Jones), an older classmate he has a crush on. Unfortunately, the script by director Matt Johnson, as well as Todd Bartels, Lou Howe, and Matthew Miller, does not support these women as anything beyond functions for Tony to become Anthony Bourdain. They are uninterested in him when he needs to be at his lowest, and then interested in him once the story requires it. The double whammy of their initial disinterest is what sets Tony on his course of self-discovery. Inevitably, he doesn’t get the writing fellowship. Instead of admitting this fact to his parents and friends, he steals all the cash from his dad’s wallet and hops on a bus. His destination is the seaside Provincetown, where he’ll repair his broken ego by wooing Nancy at her summer job. On his first night in town, he’s thrown out of a restaurant for drunkenness, losing all his cash and bumming on the street. The restaurant’s owner and head chef (Antonio Banderas), who simply goes by “Chef,” takes pity on Tony, giving him a dishwasher job in exchange for the couple of bucks he needs to get back home. In the kitchen, Tony meets the salt and brine of the working class, filled with cursing, inappropriate jokes about coworkers' mothers, and the high stakes of surviving a lunch rush during the height of tourist season. It’s put up or shut up, with Tony unable to talk his way out of his inadequacy. As he did a few years ago with BlackBerry , Johnson has crafted an ode to outcasts, those who sweat over a hot stove all day, then throw away their apron to sit around a fire on the beach while throwing back a few (too many) beers. There’s a rambunctious rhythm to the chaos of the kitchen, the staff’s mismatched personalities merging into a found family. It’s admirable that Johnson focused most of his efforts on that aspect, because the biopic-y nature of this story is rather shallow, overrelying on our already established understanding of Bourdain. His ignition for cooking is rather absent here, with only a small handful of scenes featuring meals being served. For a movie about a chef, there was not a moment when my mouth watered, nor did I feel very educated about how a master chef starts his journey. What I did feel connected to was Dominic Sessa’s lead performance, a natural extension of his revelatory debut work in The Holdovers a few years back. It’s his time to come of age, to figure out the person he truly is instead of the person he keeps telling everyone (and himself) who he will be. Banderas is also quite incredible in a role that could have used just a little more padding. He’s found his oasis in the desert, secure enough in his dreams and ambitions to extend a helping hand to Tony, whose greatest life lesson was getting punched in the face as he was thrown on that first night. Even when you think you can’t eat anymore, a great chef will bring something out that makes your stomach find a new level of appetite. Even with a talent like Johnson, Tony didn’t do that for me, more or less just being another stage in the endless course meal that is the biopic genre. It’s appetizing to look at and has a smooth flavor, but little nutritional value. A24 will release Tony in select theaters on August 07th, followed by a nationwide expansion on August 21st. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Reptile September 9, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Is a red herring a red herring if you know it’s a red herring? That tongue twister of a sentence rattled throughout my head throughout most of the bloated 134-minute runtime of Reptile . In this police procedural, there are several suspects and clues, most of them presented so obviously to be of fake importance that you know immediately that you don’t need to expend the mental energy to keep track of them all. Even with these self-inflicted wounds, writer/director Grant Singer, making his feature debut, can still mount an entertaining movie that is far stranger (mostly in a good way) the more you look under the hood. The body of Summer Elswick has been found in the home of her partner, Will Grady (Justin Timberlake). She was stabbed 33⅓ times, with the final strike being so powerful that it got the knife stuck in her pelvis. She has a shady ex-husband by the name of Sam Gifford (Karl Glusman) and an even shadier enemy in commerce in Eli Phillips (Michael Pitt). And then there’s still Will and his obsessive mother (Frances Fisher). There are probably other people who could have done this, too, but Detective Tom Nichols (Benicio Del Toro) is already starting to get lost in the mud of motives and opportunities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS1cNkZ9o1U For all its talk of murder and treachery, what stands out the most about Reptile is the enlarged funny bone it has. There are little jabs here and there, most of them meant to raise your eyebrow as they create a hard break from the grisliness. Tom has a fascination with Will’s touchless sink faucet, even going so far as to take a picture of it during the recreation of the moment Will found Summer’s body. I can’t say it always works, but it does make for some interesting moments that make the film more watchable, especially considering the conventionalism of the events. Most of the story follows Tom and his partner (Ato Essandoh) going through the motions of finding evidence and investigating suspects. The answers are the ones you expect, with the same going for the twists. Singer and editor Kevin Hickman create some good moments of tension through their cross-cutting, overlapping the simultaneous actions of a handful of characters. It’s a disorienting technique that works to place you in the mind of Tom, who’s still dealing with his shady past that forced him to move to New England with his wife (Alicia Silverstone, unfortunately, not given enough to do). But Singer can’t help himself with the disorientation as he repetitiously punctuates many of his scene transitions with loud crashes, which gets about as annoying as you’d expect. Del Toro is giving it his all in a role he co-wrote with Singer and Benjamin Brewer. He’s a man who seems to have lost a little bit of his touch, never really knowing if he’s on the right trail or can trust anybody. It’s a slight shame that the material isn’t able to match his effort on screen. Timberlake has always been an uncomfortable actor, especially in dramas, as you can clearly see the effort he’s putting in to pull it off, as opposed to the nonchalant professionalism of Del Toro and Silverstone. Thankfully, that twitchy uneasiness is part of his character. The rest of the characters are real characters , mostly on account of their actors committing too much to the part. Reptile will likely fall into the pantheon of semi-forgettable Netflix originals. I can’t say that’s a shame because the movie doesn’t do a lot to make a case for its existence in my memory outside of a few questionable choices. But when compared to the other forgotten content, it’s a cut above. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Netflix will release Reptile in select theaters on September 29th, followed by its streaming premiere on October 06th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Anora June 7, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Love him or hate him (I’m curious if there’s anyone out there who hates him), you’ve got to admit that Sean Baker knows how to open a movie. The catchy rhythms of NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” jolt Red Rocket ’s Mikey Saber awake on his long-haul bus trip from LA to the middle of nowhere in Texas. The lyrics of “You’re probably going to start a fight / I know this can’t be right / Hey baby, come on.” reverberate throughout Mikey’s subsequent actions. But as much as you despise what he’s doing - just like the song - you can’t help but tap along with him. Baker’s newest work, Anora , takes an almost identical strategy. The high-energy beat of Take That’s “ Greatest Day (Remix) ” blasts from the theater speakers as Baker’s signature red-colored cursive opening studio logos bleed across the black screen. The words “Today this could be, the greatest day of our lives,” take over as we fade in on a sex worker giving a lap dance to a very enthusiastic customer. The camera glides from right to left, revealing an assembly line of workers and their male patrons. Everyone is living in euphoria at this moment, the world melting away with each strut of their bodies. I’m pretty sure Greta Gerwig’s Cannes jury only needed these initial thirty seconds to declare this their Palme d’Or winner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1HxTmV5i7c For our titular Anora (Mikey Madison), or Ani, as she likes to be called, her night is only just beginning. As the only dancer in her club who can understand Russian on account of her family’s Uzbek background, Ani gets assigned to be the personal escort for a high-rolling Russian fuckboy looking to blow his oligarch father’s money on as many girls and drugs as he can. His name is Ivan/Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), and he speaks in respectably broken English, dons a haircut and skinny frame akin to Timothée Chalamet, and is obviously a rich kid who’s been handed everything on a silver platter all his life. But he pays handsomely and treats Ani with respect, so how can she say no? Things escalate from there, including a New Year’s Eve party at Vanya’s luxurious beachfront mansion and a week-long escapade at the swankiest spots in Las Vegas. Baker’s documentarian aesthetics keep this Pretty Woman- esque tale of young love grounded within reality. The club Ani works at is dingy and run by a pretty scummy group of older guys. And Vanya is no Richard Gere, acting more like a bratty child than the respectable man he’s been sent to America to become. But like any night of ecstasy, the sobering reality of the morning sun eventually sets in. A hasty marriage between Ani and Vanya at one of those seedy Las Vegas chapels brings out the wrath of Vanya’s neglectful parents, who sic their hired goons/caretakers to have the couple’s marriage annulled. They say you truly get to know someone during a moment of weakness, and Ani learns a lot about Vanya once the music stops. A series of misadventures ensues over several hours, more than enough to fill the 139-minute runtime, but not enough to make it wholly justifiable. It’s hard for a comedy, even a truly laugh-out-loud one such as this, to be great when 25% of its runtime could have been trimmed. Madison is always in her element as she follows Baker’s on-the-ground improvisational rhetoric. She delivers a true movie star performance, a quality Baker always seems to find in his often unknown (or underseen) stars. That level of showmanship goes a long way to carry the zaniness. The entire product reminded me of Triangle of Sadness , another Palme d’Or winner that often overstayed its welcome. But both that film and Anora always stand out from the rest of the pack and send you on a high note, which can never go unappreciated. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Neon will release Anora in select theaters on October 18th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Maria November 25, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Maria concludes Pablo Larraín’s unofficial melancholic trilogy of iconic women of the 20th century. Jackie started it all in 2016, with Natalie Portman’s Jackie Kennedy forced to witness the end of her Camelot after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Then came Spencer in 2021, a portrayal of a hellish long weekend Princess Diana (Kristen Stewart) had to endure over the Christmas Holiday with the Royal Family. But while Jackie and Diana only found themselves at the end of an era, Maria sees its titular subject, opera singer Maria Callas, at the end of her life. Bolstering that sense of finality even further is veteran screenwriter Steven Knight’s (also the writer of Spencer ) decision to start this story at the very end. Callas’ body is found by her loyal butler (Pierfrancesco Favino) and maid (Alba Rohrwacher) on the floor of her Parisian apartment. She was only 53 at the time, although her frail physical condition from years of seclusion would lead anyone to guess she was much older. She ran away from the stage years ago, although she can’t escape it in her mind. It’s the only thing she’s ever known, a former blessing that’s become a curse due to her strained vocal cords. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7_ze9palm0 Larraín separates the tone of this story from his other two biopics, substituting the frenzied claustrophobia with something more hauntingly elegiac. Maria's apartment is just as luxuriously furnished as the White House or the holiday estate of the Royal Family, but there's a stillness in the air. For Maria, that silence is deafening, and the absence of music forces her mind to wander between the past and present. Production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas has recreated the opera houses of Europe with exquisite craftsmanship, each captured beautifully by legendary cinematographer Ed Lachmann, who reunites with Larraín after their impeccable work on last year's El Conde . It doesn't matter if the frame is filled with the golden hues of autumnal Paris or the stark black-and-white of the mid-20th century; the result is always mesmerizingly gorgeous. Larraín and Lachmann have each set a high bar for themselves over their careers, but this might be their respective magnum opuses on a technical level. The likes of Mica Levi or Jonny Greenwood aren't around this time to supply the music. That role has expectedly been handed over to Callas herself. In a pre-recorded segment, Larraín introduced the film, explaining that for centuries, opera was an art for the common person, only for the wealthy class to subsume it. Maria serves as his act to give the music back to the people, complete with all the extra heft that cinema allows. Subtitles are not included for any of the performances, as the emotion in the words and on Angelina Jolie's face tells us all that we need to know. Callas described each of her performances as miracles, an opinion that grows more accurate the longer she stands upon that stage. Similar to Demi Moore in The Substance , the casting of Jolie brings an additional layer of context to the role. Here's a performer who was at the top of her profession for two decades, relatively vanishing from her stage over the past few years. Calling this a "comeback" for Jolie would be a disservice to everything she's done during her acting sabbatical (charity work, directing, family, etc.). It's more of a reminder of her immense screen presence and poise as a performer. We hang on every word as she describes her past to a noisy television reporter (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and share in her sorrow as she unsuccessfully tries to mount a comeback. Sure, she doesn't fully sing the words of Callas, opting for lip-syncing. But the passion is there, and that's what really sells it. As the biopic genre has continued to stay relatively tame over the last decade, let's give thanks to Larraín for steering it in a new daring direction not once, not twice, but on three separate occasions. He saved the best for last with Maria , defying his own specific genre trappings. I very much look forward to what he does next, although I wouldn't complain if he reversed that decision and stayed in this mode forever. Netflix will release Maria in select theaters on November 27th, followed by its streaming premiere on December 11th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 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 Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen 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 Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen

Theater Camp July 24, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen If there’s one thing you’ll definitely walk away with after watching Theater Camp , it’s the sense of the immense amount of hard work that was put into this tiny film. Co-directed by Molly Gordon (also starring) and Nick Lieberman, and written along with Noah Galvin and Ben Platt, Theater Camp comes from a hodgepodge of places, such as an unreleased web series, a semi-improvised short film, and various internet sketches. Several different sources of ideas can be quite apparent, with much of the feature film playing more like a compilation of scenes rather than a whole narrative. Somewhere far upstate in New York is the AdironACTS theater camp, a place kept alive by its fearless leader, Joan (Amy Sedaris). Financial troubles are always beckoning, but everyone’s spirits are up because of their collective passion for the performing arts. But the good times seemed to be fading away after Joan had a strobe-light-induced seizure, putting her in a coma and leaving the camp in the hands of her dim-witted alpha-bro son Troy (Jimmy Tatro). The teachers, including former campers Amos (Platt) and Rebecca-Diane (Gordon), scramble to make up for the loss of Joan by putting on a lavish production to honor her life and legacy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puVDIUk0kM8 The influences of Christopher Guest, The Office , and Abbott Elementary are pretty evident within Theater Camp , with the mockumentary style being employed as a way to follow our underdog heroes as they try to beat impossible odds. We’re presented with an extremely inside-baseball version of events, such as auditions, casting sessions, tech demos, and rehearsals. Anyone with a theatrical background will find a lot to love about the unfolding events, even if the jokes surrounding them are a bit uneven. The script also establishes too many characters early on, only for half of them to be abandoned rather quickly. There’s a new teacher named Janet (played wonderfully by Ayo Edebiri of The Bear ) who has zero theatrical experience, as she lied on her resume. As the only outsider in this crazy environment, she intermittently serves as the audience surrogate. But she then gets dumped pretty quickly, with more time being given to Troy’s various schemes to save the camp. Thankfully, the production of the climactic play is quite endearing for both the story and the overall message about the positive influence the performing arts can have on anyone. There’s an overabundance of genuine love pouring out of the screen, which will surely be eaten up by any packed theater audience (Searchlight desperately hopes for this after acquiring the film for $8 million). Theater Camp is by theater kids for theater kids. Those who have never found themselves stung by the acting bug may not come away with a huge smile on their face, but they will be given an enjoyable peek into this world of make-believe and harsh reality. Searchlight Pictures will release Theater Camp in select theaters on July 14th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 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” is 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVPzGBvPrzw 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 respectably. Sony Pictures Releasing will release Gran Turismo in theaters nationwide on August 25th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

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 Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

A House of Dynamite October 9, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen If, for some reason, director Kathryn Bigelow and distributor Netflix decided to cut out the final two-thirds of their new film, A House of Dynamite , then they might have had a serious contender for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. Of course, they didn’t do that, so what’s left is a pretty good film that immediately reaches its apex, only to then gradually deflate from there. It’s a disappointing fact, but I’d bet that any filmmaker would commit a host of unholy acts to be given the skill of dramatic storytelling that Bigelow possesses throughout that first act. A House of Dynamite arrives nearly a decade after Bigelow’s last feature, Detroit , the final entry in a fact-based trilogy about the perils of modern America. That movie tackled racial politics through the lens of the 1967 Detroit riots, with the two preceding films, The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty , using the power of immediacy to take a moral stand on our involvement in the Middle East. Within those three films is a near-perfect balance of entertainment and education, made possible by the combination of Hollywood bravura and gritty journalism. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wpw2QHJNco Although this latest feature is not based on historical events, it doesn’t make it any less true. Screenwriter Noah Oppenheim, formerly the senior producer of the Today Show and president of NBC News, has clearly done his homework, filling his script with rigorous procedures, acronyms, and chains of command throughout the United States federal government. The opening captions state that cooler heads started to prevail after the Cold War, with the world’s superpowers decreasing their nuclear arsenals in an attempt to avert a potential crisis that could not be undone. “That era is now over,” flashes next across the screen, as now thousands of little red buttons can wipe out all life on Earth. This is the story of what happens when that fateful day finally arrives. It begins at an air defense installation in Alaska. Major Daniel Gonzalez (Anthony Ramos) and his team identify a single ballistic missile crossing the Pacific Ocean towards the United States. They pull out their instruction manuals and start transmitting their findings to the White House Situation Room, where Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson) assembles the leaders of the Executive Branch. Secretary of Defense Reid Baker (Jared Harris) and General Anthony Brady (Tracy Letts) mull the options, eventually presenting them to POTUS (Idris Elba) for a final decision. All of this must take place within eighteen minutes, all while the missile is headed directly for a major American city. To lend the power of perspective to this condensed timeline, Bigelow and Oppenheim go through these motions on three occasions, each time offering a different viewpoint. The first cycle is about the shock of discovery, with everyone doubtful that what they’re seeing is actually true. The second is about gathering facts, establishing defense measures, and following long-established procedures. The third and final cycle is about reaction, walking the walk after talking the talk. What level of response is required? Rare, medium, and well-done are the options given to the president, each placing the entire world in the palm of his hand. My introductory point about diminishing returns is derived from this repetition. For as much as the second and third cycles do their best to offer tidbits of new information by focusing on different characters, they can never escape the feeling that we’re just retreading what’s already been established. Phrases are repeated, and similar themes of hopelessness are copied between generically constructed characters. The several times that Ferguson’s character clutches her son’s dinosaur toy did not make me care more about what would happen to her personally. Volker Bertelmann’s score would be accused of stealing from Conclave had he not also been that film’s composer. The second cycle involves a moment at Gettysburg, which is still the bloodiest battle in American history, with over fifty thousand casualties across both sides. Now it’s a tourist attraction, with children and families walking the fields with smiles on their faces as they snap pictures and cheer on reenactments. The next war will not offer any such future luxuries, obliterating the board before anyone could make another move. While it may not be as succinct as originally promised, Bigelow has conveyed that message with fierce resolve. We’re all sitting in a house of dynamite, and the fuse is only getting shorter. Netflix will release A House of Dynamite in select theaters on October 10th, followed by its streaming premiere on October 24th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen