Search Results

Reptile September 9, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Reptile had its World Premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Netflix will release it in theaters on September 29, followed by its streaming premiere on October 06. 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. 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. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

2025 Golden Globes Awards Predictions January 4, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen The new Golden Globes are back! Last year’s rebranded show may have been a trainwreck, but the actual winners and nominees were incredibly accurate to the overall awards race. It essentially shut down all the doubters of the Globes’ influence. Because of this reform, we really only have one year’s worth of data to use as precedent for this year’s predictions. In preparation for the show this Sunday, I'm predicting the winners in each category. Each of the nominees is ranked in terms of their likelihood to come out on top. Some of the categories have a significant divide between the top and runner-up spots and some categories are neck-and-neck. No matter how the results shake out, we should all be in for an exciting night that kicks off the next phase of the awards season. Best Motion Picture - Drama The Brutalist Conclave A Complete Unknown Dune: Part Two Nickel Boys September 5 This category gets whittled down pretty quickly once you consider that this is the only category representing Nickel Boys and September 5 , and Dune: Part Two is also only to be found in Best Original Score. A Complete Unknown is a medium contender at best, which leaves Conclave and The Brutalist to duke it out. I’m going with The Brutalist for its higher critics' scores and grandiosity. But this decision will be swimming through my head every minute until that envelope is opened. Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy Emilia Pérez Anora Wicked The Substance A Real Pain Challengers You don’t rack up ten total nominations (the most ever for a film in this category) and not be the favorite to win the ultimate prize. Emilia Pérez also hasn’t stumbled once throughout the entire season, making it nearly impossible to bet against it. However, the same can pretty much be said for Anora , so the door is still slightly open for an upset. Best Director Brady Corbet (The Brutalist) Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez) Edward Berger (Conclave) Coralie Fargeat (The Substance) Sean Baker (Anora) Payal Kapadia (All We Imagine as Light) With seemingly every other category being a toss-up, it’s to see to have one that feels like a virtual lock. You can’t talk about The Brutalist without heralding the work of Brady Corbet, a sentiment that’s worked in the past few years for people like Jane Campion ( The Power of the Dog ) and Christopher Nolan ( Oppenheimer ). I’d be incredibly shocked if anyone other than him ascended the stage. Best Screenplay Conclave (Peter Straughn) Anora (Sean Baker) A Real Pain (Jesse Eisenberg) The Brutalist (Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold) The Substance (Coralie Fargeat) Emilia Pérez (Jacques Audiard) This category is already the hardest to predict the nominees for as you can only fit six out of the 12-15 that are vying for the two categories at the Oscars. Now it’s even tougher as only one can win. The momentum seems to be with Conclave at this point in the season, although Anora would probably be the betting favorite. Best Lead Actor - Drama Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown) Adrien Brody (The Brutalist) Ralph Fiennes (Conclave) Colman Domingo (Sing Sing) Daniel Craig (Queer) Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice) Is this the moment Timothée Chalamet is finally anointed as the star of the next generation? I think so. The buzz for his performance and public persona for A Complete Unknown has been nothing short of electric during the voting window, and he’s earned enough respect within the industry over the years. Adrien Brody could just as easily get the win, so it’s still a very close race. Best Lead Actress - Drama Angelina Jolie (Maria) Fernanda Torrest (I'm Still Here) Nicole Kidman (Babygirl) Kate Winslet (Lee) Tilda Swinton (The Room Next Door) Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl) With most of the Oscar contenders over in Musical or Comedy, this category feels a little light on surefire bets. I’ve been inching closer to picking Fernanda Torres as an upset, but I just can’t quite pull the trigger over Angelina Jolie. I’ll probably look back on that decision and wonder why I was so blind. There’s also the possibility of 20-time nominee Nicole Kidman or 14-time nominee Kate Winslet getting the win. Best Lead Actor - Musical or Comedy Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain) Glen Powell (Hit Man) Hugh Grant (Heretic) Sebastian Stan (A Different Man) Jesse Plemons (Kinds of Kindness) Gabriel LaBelle (Saturday Night) It’s a relatively crowded and Oscar-less field compared to previous years. The nominee with the most overall support is Jesse Eisenberg. But then Hugh Grant is the most likely Oscar nominee of this bunch, and Glen Powell is the kind of breakout star that this group loves to reward. I’ll stick with the acclaim that Eisenberg has been getting, and treat this award as a summation for all the work he did on A Real Pain . Best Lead Actress - Musical or Comedy Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez) Mikey Madison (Anora) Cynthia Erivo (Wicked) Demi Moore (The Substance) Zendaya (Challengers) Amy Adams (Nightbitch) The law of these Musical or Comedy acting categories is to always bet on the actor/actress with the best chance of being Oscar-nominated, as there’s usually only 1-2 here. That logic kind of breaks this year as we have four women with a realistic chance of being Oscar-nominated, so take your pick and understand that you’re more likely to be wrong than right. I’m going with Gascón based on her win at the European Film Awards and her ability to make history in this category. Best Supporting Actor Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) Guy Pearce (The Brutalist) Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown) Denzel Washington (Gladiator II) Yura Borisov (Anora) Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice) Culkin has been the sweeper of the season, racking up notable wins at each of the major critics’ groups (NYFCC, LAFCA, NBR). It would feel foolish to predict that train will derail now, especially with him coming into this specific show as the reigning victor of the award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama. Best Supporting Actress Zoë Saldaña (Emilia Pérez) Ariana Grande (Wicked) Isabelle Rossellini (Conclave) Margaret Qualley (The Substance) Selena Gomez (Emilia Pérez) Felicity Jones (The Brutalist) Flip a coin between Saldaña and Grande and you’d have as much confidence as I do. For the past several months I’ve been feeling very confident about Saldaña’s chances to sweep the season. But Grande’s rapid ascendancy has made that a difficult sentiment to maintain. Even if I still think Saldaña will win the Oscar when all is said and done, Grande winning the Globe would be a realistic bump in the road. Best Foreign Language Film Emilia Pérez (France) All We Imagine as Light (India) I'm Still Here (Brazil) The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Iran) The Girl with the Needle (Denmark) Vermiglio (Italy) Last year, half of the nominees also appeared in the Best Motion Picture - Drama category, making it incredibly difficult to decide which film had the most reliable competitive advantage. This year feels a lot more clear with Emilia Pérez pulling in ten total nominations (the most for a musical or comedy). But this category also loves curveballs, like in 2023 when the film with the lowest odds, Argentina, 1985 , pulled off the upset and beat RRR and All Quiet on the Western Front . Does the acting nomination for Fernanda Torres spell something for I’m Still Here ? Best Animated Feature Film The Wild Robot Flow Inside Out 2 Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl Memoir of a Snail Moana 2 Flow has been overperforming at the regional critics’ awards so far, so this is not an open-and-shut case for The Wild Robot like we originally thought a few weeks ago. I still don’t have much reason to doubt The Wild Robot , but the win relatively unexpected win for The Boy and the Heron last year does make me wonder if we’re in for a pretty big surprise. Best Original Score The Brutalist (Daniel Blumberg) Conclave (Volker Bertelmann) Emilia Pérez (Camille & Clément Ducol) Challengers (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross) Dune: Part Two (Hans Zimmer) The Wild Robot (Kris Bowers) Volker Bertelmann may have won the Oscar for All Quiet on the Western Front a few years ago, but the Globes did not nominate him. This could be the moment they give him the overdue win for Conclave . I’m still going to stick with Daniel Blumberg’s thunderous score for The Brutalist , which has been one of the most acclaimed aspects of the film. Best Original Song El Mal (Emilia Pérez) Mi Camino (Emilia Pérez) Kiss the Sky (The Wild Robot) Beautiful That Way (The Last Showgirl) Forbidden Road (Better Man) Compress/Repress (Challengers) “El Mal” and “Mi Camino” have been joined at the hip during the nomination phase of the season, and now it’s time to see which one is actually going to win. I’m leaning towards “El Mal” since it is the standout musical sequence of the film that’s been featured in the marketing. And despite having seen the film twice, I struggle to recollect “Mi Camino.” Could something like “Kiss the Sky” or “Beautiful That Way” split the difference and pull off an upset? I wouldn’t be too surprised if that happened. Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Wicked Deadpool & Wolverine Inside Out 2 Gladiator II Beetlejuice Beetlejuice The Wild Robot Twisters Alien: Romulus We’ve only got one year’s worth of precedent for this category, although this year seems a little easier due to the lack of a true Barbenheimer phenomenon. Barbie was last year’s winner, an enormous hit both critically and culturally. Being that it’s one of these films to have a nomination in the Best Motion Picture categories, Wicked seems to fit that mold the closest this year. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen

Polite Society April 18, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Polite Society screened at the 2023 Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Film Festival. Focus Features will release it in theaters on April 28. With its chapter structure and font, mariachi-infused soundtrack, and kung-fu action sequences, it’s easy to see the influence of Quentin Tarantino all over writer/director Nida Manzoor’s feature debut Polite Society , which is making its way into theaters after the world premiere at this past January’s Sundance Film Festival. Of course, Mr. QT doesn’t have a monopoly on those stylings, but there’s about as much Kill Bill here as there was in the actual Kill Bill . The Bride in this case is Ria Khan, a British-Pakistani teenager who has dreams of becoming the world’s greatest stunt woman. With her parents and everyone else expecting her to be the stereotypical middle eastern doctor, Ria’s only supporter comes in the form of her sister Lena, who’s losing ground on her dream of being an artist. It’s always been the two of them against the world, making it that much tougher when Lena becomes smitten with the pretty boy son of a family friend. But can this love actually be real? Ria doesn’t think so, as someone as intelligent and creative as Lena would never give up on their dreams for a man. But this man is also a pediatric geneticist, an Olympic-level athlete, and a world-class charmer, so it’s not that far-fetched for any woman to be interested in him. All those perfect qualities only further bolster Ria’s defiant stance, and it seems that it'll be up to her alone to stop the impending marriage. Ria’s Ocean’s Eleven- sized plan leads to many hilarious hijinks, including her breaking into a mansion like a ninja and donning a fake mustache in the men’s locker room. It’s all infectiously fun, boosted by the overwhelming sense of sisterly affection and womanhood that Manzoor includes within her script. Things grind to a halt for a while during the middle portions as Ria endlessly yells “You have to believe me!” (how many times have we heard that one before?) to everyone that can’t understand why she isn’t happy about her sister’s marriage. The antics only get crazier as time goes on, with wirework stunts and zippy editing by Robbie Morrison propelling the chaotic nature of the situation. The action set pieces are Street Fighter meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , with a sprinkling of comedic wit. Priya Kansara, who, like Mansoor, is also making her feature debut, is a triumph in the central role. She has a wide-eyed wit about her, heightening any scene no matter the requirement. Polite Society is an impressive debut from all those involved, as it’s only slightly undone by minor problems that are symptoms of its ambitions. It’s both a takedown and love letter to the works of Jane Austen, making a delectable time out of having its cake and eating it too. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Stars at Noon June 1, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen ! Widget Didn’t Load Check your internet and refresh this page. If that doesn’t work, contact us. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Novocaine March 8, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Whether we like it or not (“masochist” is the word of the day), pain serves an essential purpose in our lives. Those unpleasant pangs are a survival mechanism our bodies use to keep us away from all the harmful things the world throws at us. Everyone can remember the first time they placed their hand on the stove as a kid, and those feelings ensured we never did it again. But what if pain didn’t exist? At first, we’d all jump at the chance to feel like Superman, taking all those horrible things that used to hurt us in stride. However, one only has to gaze over at David Cronenberg’s 2022 film Crimes of the Future to know that a world without pain is one without guardrails. In Cronenberg’s dystopian tale, people openly perform surgery on themselves, splice organs for art, and attempt to morph themselves into a new level of evolution. It’s nearly impossible for anyone to know when they’ve gone too far when all the warnings have been shut off. In Novocaine , Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) has CIPA (Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis) a rare genetic disorder where he is incapable of feeling pain or temperature. He lives his mild-mannered life as a bank manager with the utmost safety. Tennis balls are on every corner he could bump into, and all of his digestive needs are met through smoothies as solid foods could lead him to bite his tongue off. It’s these early moments where Lars Jacobson’s script illustrates that it has more on its mind than just the silly antics that the trailers solely focused on. Studies have shown that most people with CIPA don’t live past thirty, and their quality of life is quite poor on account of the increased anxiety that they endure. It can lead a person to become a hermit, shielding themselves from everything in an attempt to see another day. Like any twentysomething guy who spends almost all of his free time playing video games, the thing that gets him to come out of his shell is a girl. Sherry (Amber Midthunder) is one of the tellers at the bank Nathan works at, and she takes an interest in his awkward personality and odd case. But just as things are about to get serious between the pair, the bank is robbed and Sherry is taken as a hostage. Fearing that he’s going lose the one good thing that’s ever happened to him in his miserable life, Nathan becomes a vigilante, using his condition for his own benefit. From this point, all those injuries that Nathan’s spent his whole life avoiding become the punch-line to the wall-to-wall set pieces. While Cronenberg made a body horror feature, directing duo Dan Berk and Robert Olsen have made a body comedy feature. At one point during a brawl in a kitchen with one of the robbers, a gun falls into a deep fryer. Sensing that he’s got no other option, Nathan plunges his hand into the oil and grabs the gun. He later gets impaled with a crossbow bolt, which is treated more as a minor annoyance than a serious injury. These gags are all well executed, even if they become entirely repetitive the more we progress through the story. Quaid is a capable lead, recently being promoted from television and supporting roles. His comedic sense makes up for a lot of the dead weight his costars pack on, which includes punchable crooks, Jacob Batalon in his signature role as the best friend to the hero, and cops that are getting too old for this shit. This probably could have been a streaming movie, but then you’d be robbed of all the communal laughing and squirming to all the mishaps, which is worth just enough to cover the admission price. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Priscilla November 2, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen What’s most evident about Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla is how much it is the antithesis of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis from last year. The Australian showman’s authorized propaganda piece (I don’t mean that as derisively as it sounds, all biopics are propaganda to some degree) lit up the marquee signs at the multiplexes thanks to its bright cinematography, fast-paced editing, and roaring soundtrack. Coppola’s film will subsist within arthouses and the back of the multiplexes as she trades all that in for a somber mood, silence so deafening that a you could hear a pin drop, and a soundtrack so devoid of Elvis hits that you would think he was a one-hit wonder. Of course, as per the title, Coppola shifts away from The King and examines the woman who constantly lived in his shadow, someone who only got one scene in Luhrmann’s rendition (and looked about twice as old as she was supposed to be). Actually, scratch all that. The most evident thing about Priscilla is the star-in-the-making presence of Cailee Spaeny, a growing sentiment considering her Best Actress win at this year’s Venice Film Festival. She’d been relegated to playing the younger versions of lead characters to this point: young Lynne Cheney in Vice , the daughter of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in On the Basis of Sex , and young Eleanor Roosevelt seen only in flashbacks in The First Lady . She is technically playing the younger version of a real person here, but this time the focus is entirely on her. That expanded canvas allows her to spread her wings, showcasing an immense talent to hold your attention and convincingly play across an elongated timeline. We first meet Priscilla Beaulieu in Germany circa 1959. Her father has been stationed at the local Army base, making her the loneliest American in all of Bavaria. Just like it were a fairy tale, the sad girl gets her wish when an Army captain asks her to come along and meet Elvis Presley, who’s also been stationed abroad. He’s undeniable, a beaming example of Americana that seems to have leapt off the posters to fulfill her wildest fantasies. He’s ecstatic to bring her into his world, and she’s naively happy to go along for the ride. Quickly comes a move to Graceland, marriage, a child, and the duties of being a reliable homemaker to the most desirable man in the world. Coppola’s film is at its best in the beginning as she explores the morally questionable inception of the couple’s relationship. She was 14 and he was 24, but Elvis was always kind and courteous, and she was emotionally mature for her age. Despite their initial hesitations, her parents consented to their star-crossed union. Coppola doesn’t heavily lean to one side or the other, instead offering evidence for both camps. There are moments of both intentional and unintentional grooming on the part of Elvis, as well as Priscilla imprudently rushing in without understanding what she’s signing up for. What’s less interesting about Priscilla is what happens once the dust settles. Graceland quickly morphs from a luxurious palace into a gilded cage where Priscilla is forced to spend her most youthful days. She’s not allowed to leave the compound without supervision, and also not allowed to bring anyone in. It’s a more subdued version of Pablo Larraín’s duology (soon to be trilogy) of Jackie and Spencer as Priscilla is a prisoner in a dream, caught in a cycle that doesn’t become more impactful despite Coppola’s insistence on keeping it on loop. That lack of energy is almost a winking joke on Coppola’s part as she takes one of the most charismatic men in entertainment history and reveals him to be a scared child doing his best to masquerade as an adult. Jacob Elordi sees Elvis as someone who always wants to stay in control, but never does anything of value to maintain it. He’s lucky that his looks and sphere of influence do all the work for him. Fantasy slowly catching up to reality is often a theme of Sofia Coppola’s filmography and, along with Marie Antoinette , this is one of its most clear historical instances. It’s the more authentic version of the story Luhrmann avoided telling, although it is missing some much-needed spectacle that he could have shared. At the very least, Spaeny should join the ranks of Kirsten Dunst, Scarlett Johansson, and Elle Fanning, all of whom Coppola announced to the world through her work. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Missing Link April 22, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen Priding themselves on craftsmanship and hard work, Laika Studios has carved out a special spot in the modern animation industry. Their favoritism for stop-motion over computer effects has led to some dazzlingly authentic films such as Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings . The studio’s newest film, Missing Link , follows in the same high-quality footsteps laid down by its predecessors. The story begins in the early nineteenth century and introduces us to Sir Lionel Frost. He’s an explorer who longs to become part of the high society of “great men”. In order to gain entry to the club, Lionel must prove the existence of a mythical creature: The Sasquatch He immediately treks to the U.S. and finds the creature, who surprisingly has the ability to both write and speak. Lionel dubs the creature the name Mr. Link, playing off of the fact that he is the missing link between early and modern humanity. Link longs to be reunited with his Yeti cousins in the Himalayas, a trip Lionel agrees to partake in as long as he gets the proof he needs. Through their long and treacherous journey, the duo venture into unexplored areas within the world and within themselves. Laika Everyman and ParaNorman director Chris Butler stepped back into the chair for this film. Just like all Laika productions, the animation and set design within Missing Link are simply outstanding. The characters and the multitude of diverse sets are a marvel to look at and experience. Throughout the film, you get a genuine feeling of the unfathomable amount of hard work that each artist put in. Butler’s direction of the story is just as meritable as his handling of the animation. He treats the narrative like any other and doesn’t downplay any of it in order to cater to the younger audience. The emotions and themes are quite sophisticated and actually make you think about what you’re watching. It’s a tragic fact that only a few kid's films like this one deal with the tough subject matter, which is something I was reminded of when watching the mindless trailers that played in front of this film. One fault that can be mentioned about Butler is that his pacing is lightning-fast and tended to negate some of the more important character development that he had tirelessly worked for. Also serving as the sole writer, Butler does a decent job at telling a wholesome story with lasting themes. It becomes apparent that Butler never compromised his vision for kids as he doesn’t try too hard for jokes. He goes for quality over quantity as there aren’t as many funny moments as you would expect. This turns out to be a pleasant surprise and allows for the story to flow better without the need to constantly crack a joke. The main ingredient of the touching story is simplicity, which from time to time restricts the viewer from having a deep connection with the film. The main group of characters is decently constructed but just isn’t developed enough for us to get a sense of knowing them. This theme of underdevelopment is also illustrated in the rapidly paced plot that doesn’t seem to want to slow down and bask in the beauty. We’re always racing to the next destination or story element, leading to a rushed ending that doesn’t reach the emotional heights of the studio’s previous films. Laika films in the past tended to have lesser-known casts, but this time they went for a more star-studded lineup. Zach Galifianakis is excellent as Mr. Link. His soft and innocent voice perfectly embodies the character’s kind and lovable traits. Hugh Jackman is great as Lionel Frost. Jackman uses his macho voice for the initial scenes of his self-centered character but later gets to be more gentle as his character begins to mature. Zoe Saldana does her best as Adelina, an adventurous spirit that tags along with the pair. Unfortunately, Saldana doesn’t get a lot to do other than being the stereotypical girl voice of reason between two male characters (although it is not entirely clear what gender the beast is). While centrally a kid's movie, Missing Link tells a heartfelt story that can be enjoyed by all ages. It’s not the best quality from the always dependable Laika, but it is mesmerizing to watch and will send you home with a smile and a slight sense of wonder. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Shirley March 16, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen There are 435 members of The United States of Representatives. In 1968, only 11 were women, 5 were black, and none were black women. It’s a sobering fact that opens writer/director John Ridley’s biopic of Shirley Chisholm, who was the first person to break the barrier of entry for black women in Congress. The very next scene sees her standing in a sea of middle-aged white men as they’re gathered for the freshman congresspeople class photo. Except it’s glaringly obvious that the capital background is a greenscreen (a very shoddy one), and everything is overlit and washed out. And that scene gets repeated throughout the next two hours: good intentions canceled out by poor filmmaking and an overly basic approach to one of the most interesting political figures of the twentieth century. To give credit where it is due, Ridley doesn’t give us the clichéd knee-deep full breadth of Shirley’s life, instead focusing on her 1972 campaign for the presidency, the first undertaken by a black candidate as part of a major party. Throughout the eighteen months leading up to the Democratic Party primary, Shirley campaigned as part of the working class, free of the political strings and corporate greed that perpetually hamper the democratic process. Regina King is electric throughout her several campaign stops, supplying the necessary fire to convey Shirley’s trailblazing nature. She’s a person who hates the word “can’t” and never backs down from a fight. From her personality, we get a glimpse of who she was as a politician and what she may have accomplished. Ridley doesn’t bother with those details, although it would have been nice to learn a little more since her presidential campaign hardly tells the whole story. Vague biopics have gotten by before, mostly because they had the personality to fill in the gaps. The recent duology of Jackie and Spencer by Pablo Larraín, I’m Not There , and The End of the Tour would fit under this category. Ridley semi-accomplished this with his 2013 Jimi Hendrix biopic Jimi: All Is by My Side , offering an under-the-hood inspection of Hendrix before his superstardom. Shirley ditches all that to be as palatable as possible, complete with politicians made so cartoonishly prejudiced that they’re lined up like bowling pins for King to knock down in an Oscar clip. Sure, Chisholm definitely faced stiff opposition from unsavory figures (a.k.a. white men), but seeing it here so sanitized takes away from the reality of the situation. King is at least surrounded by a decent supporting cast, most notably Lance Reddick in one of his final roles as Shirley's longtime advisor Mac Holder. Michael Cherrie surprises Shirley’s longtime husband Conrad. But then there’s also Terrence Howard and Lucas Hedges in wasted roles that offer them little to do. “Better get it used and cheap” is what Shirley tells Conrad when he says he needs a new camera. It’s a nice and tidy bit of writing from Ridley, yet it seems he took it to heart and used it as his mantra for the entire production. With Ridley’s Oscar-winning skills as a writer and Netflix’s deep pockets, it’s deeply disappointing that neither of them could muster up what Shirley Chisholm deserved. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Anatomy of a Fall May 26, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Anatomy of a Fall had its World Premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Neon will release it in theaters on October 13. An 11-year-old boy named Daniel (Milo Machado Graner) decides to take his dog Snoop for a walk while his parent’s marriage is crumbling in real-time. The family is currently living near the top of the French Alps at the insistence of the husband, far away from anything or anyone. Daniel is legally blind but is still able to get by on his acute hearing and memory. At the end of the walk Snoop bolts for something on the ground, and as the ever-loyal companion that he is, barks to signal Daniel over to investigate. As Daniel feels around he begins to process the reality that the object between his hands and the snow is the lifeless body of his father Samuel (Samuel Theis). Blood begins to stain his hands, as his father’s fatal head wound continues to gush. The cause of death is quite apparent, but how it happened is still a mystery. A suicide by jumping out the top window? An accidental death because of the loose railing on the balcony? Or did the only other person in the house, the embittered wife Sandra (Sandra Hüller), murder her husband? A pile of clues, coincidences, and conjectures point to all three options being a possibility. “I’m innocent. You know that, right?” asks Sandra to Daniel as she’s just about to go on trial. Daniel wants to believe his mother, but at this point, there’s just enough evidence to push him beyond a reasonable doubt. Writer/director Justine Triet, proving that sophomore slump can work in reverse after the so-so response to her 2019 Cannes debut Sibyl , puts us in the same boat as Daniel. The whole puzzle is never revealed, nor are the pieces the same size for each character or audience member. Sometimes pieces change because of new information, and sometimes they change because people want them to, such as the lawyer assigned against Sandra who’s goal is to twist everything she has to stay into a conviction. Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari (also her partner) pack an HBO prestige miniseries into 150 minutes. The twists and turns come without the thrills one would usually expect from the procedural genre, and they can sometimes be a bit circular and used for runtime padding, but they still pack the emotional and physical effect that they should. While not as arty as other recent French courtroom dramas like Saint Omer and The Goldman Case (featuring Harari as a lawyer), the balance here between authentic and theatrical is a breath of fresh air when compared to the by-the-numbers conventions within American film and television. Similar to Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave , also birthed at Cannes and featuring an investigation surrounding a woman accused of pushing her husband to her death, Anatomy of a Fall is not just a trial over murder, it’s a trial over a relationship. Between the recordings Samuel had on his laptop of their arguments and the testimony of those who knew them, Sandra and Samuel’s entire history is placed upon the public for all to scrutinize. Sandra knows her truth about their time together, but it seems no one else shares her viewpoint. Hüller is astonishing in her calmness, commanding the English, French, and German language. She’s this year’s Cate Blanchett in Tár or Kristen Stewart in Spencer , a one-woman show that hedges all its bets on its star. Along with her radically different work in Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest , expect Hüller to be the critics’ pick in this year’s Oscar race. Even for all the goods it displays, Anatomy of a Fall still doesn’t have that je ne sais quoi that makes it the top-tier great movie it should be. No matter, as those current indescribable bugs may become features to me at a later date. Just as it does to Sandra, the ultimate truth that’s always been right in front of you may not reveal itself until you’re ready to face it. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

I Saw the TV Glow May 13, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen I couldn't tell what feelings I was experiencing while watching I Saw the TV Glow , but I can definitely tell you I was feeling something . There was terror, bewilderment, wonder, curiosity, nostalgia, and some sort of feeling of childhood innocence. And yet there was none of those things, at least in the forms I’d expected or had experienced before. I stared at the screen with the same hypnotized energy as the main characters watching their favorite show, The Pink Opaque . Was I liking what I was watching, and did it even make sense? I didn’t know then, and I still don’t know now. But I can’t get it out of my head, and that’s what’s most important. It all started in the late ‘90s, an era where the only things to watch were what was on TV at the time you were flipping through the channels. For seventh-grader Owen (played by Ian Foreman in the younger years, and Justice Smith when he’s older), everything is just a series of unmemorable images and noise. There’s something off about him, and it’s not just some childhood mood phase. He’s on a conveyor belt going through life, never interacting with anything or anyone. That is until he stumbles upon a show called The Pink Opaque airing on the Young Adult Network (this movie’s version of The CW Network). It’s a Buffy-esque teen drama about two girls with psychic powers fighting a monster-of-the-week, with the big bad guy named Mr. Melancholy looming throughout the seasons. The show speaks to him, yet he doesn’t exactly know what it’s saying. He just knows that he can’t live without hearing it. Writer/director Jane Schoenbrun understands the allure of a fictional piece of art to kids of a certain age. Every adolescent has some inner holes they feel like they need to fill but don’t know how, and there’s nothing more powerful than plugging them with some special work that’s just your own. I could go to lengths about how much The Walking Dead meant to me as a 12-year-old middle schooler. Of course, millions of other people watched that show at its height, but the fact that I had to secretly watch it under the covers with my Kindle was something that made it mine. For Owen, The Pink Opaque is a show geared towards older kids that airs after his bedtime, meaning he has to sneak out of the house to watch it. There’s a thrill to the danger of being caught, and an indescribable satisfaction to the amount of work that needs to be done to get yourself in the right place at the right time. It’s the hidden price we pay through streaming, as everything feels just a little less special when you can have it whenever you want. Owen’s haven for the show is the home of Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), a ninth-grader who’s probably the show’s biggest fan. The show acts as a coping mechanism as they deal with her abusive stepdad and the overall shittiness high schoolers direct toward those that don’t align with their rigid constructs of gender and sexuality. Despite their opposite sexualities, I Saw the TV Glow is a love story for Owen and Maddy, with Smith and Lundy-Paine wonderfully selling the sense of belonging they desire from each other. Those Saturday nights in Maddy’s basement were the only moments they had to be their true selves. Also mixed within this incredibly unique cocktail are some unsettling sequences and imagery. I know it’s a clichéd comparison to make, but there’s a Lynchian quality to all of it. This is not a horror movie nor are there any scenes with the sole intention to scare you, yet some moments chilled me to the bone. Much of it comes from Schoenbrun’s willingness to keep everything understated and shrouded in mystery, even if the inability to provide clear answers leaves a little much left on the table. But it also comes the excellent production qualities within the film and the fictional show. The ‘90s low-budget aesthetic of The Pink Opaque is authentically recreated, with the creature design warranting the Oscar recognition that these types of films never get. Schoenbrun made their name with the 2021 feature We’re All Going to the World’s Fair , a seminal work on creepypastas and underground internet culture. While its release during the pandemic definitely enhanced its aspects of loneliness, it also caused it to be sucked into the vortex of obscurity like so many other independent projects. Thankfully, I Saw the TV Glow doesn’t have those dire circumstances swirling around it and is being handled by A24, meaning there’s no excuse to not check this out. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery September 10, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery had its World Premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Netflix will release it in theaters on November 23, followed by its streaming premiere on December 23. The Last Jedi haters are rolling in their graves, as Rian Johnson has pulled off another incomprehensible feat with Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery . A sequel to 2019’s Knives Out , a great igniter to the revitalization of the whodunit genre, was always going to be a tricky obstacle to overcome. In stepped Netflix, who gave Johnson the necessary blank check to indulge in his wildest fantasies. And because of that, he has crafted a whodunnit that is grander, funnier, stranger, and perhaps better than the original. The Thrombey family has been dealt with and a whole new cast of characters has been assembled within Glass Onion . None of these people are bound by blood. Instead, they are all old friends that go by the “Disruptors.” The leader of the group is Miles Bron (Edward Norton), whose billion-dollar fortune allows him to live on a private Greek island. Lionel (Leslie Odom Jr.) is the lead scientist at Bron’s company. There’s also Senate candidate and family woman Claire (Kathryn Hahn), airheaded fashion model Birdie (Kate Hudson), gun-toting Duke (Dave Bautista), and his much younger girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline). The black sheep of the group is Andi (Janelle Monáe), who was excommunicated after she lost a lengthy lawsuit against all of them for stealing her business idea. Every year, the group (minus Andi) receives a puzzle box invitation for a weekend getaway on Miles’ island. This year, however, invitations have also been sent to Andi and to Mr. Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), whose mind is turning into mush as the COVID-19 pandemic has him shut inside without a case to crack. As you expect, the fireworks begin to go off once all these characters are assembled in one location. Long-held secrets are spilled, violence is enacted, and everyone is a suspect. As is the location and budget, the mystery here is much larger than in the original film. Double crosses become triple crosses, which then become quadruple crosses. As another testament to his dominance over his genre contemporaries, Johnson’s ability to control the material as both a writer and director are unparalleled. Through slick editing and a tactical sense of pacing, he’s created another murder mystery where the placing of the puzzle pieces is just as satisfying as seeing the whole picture. Monáe takes over the Ana de Armas role from the first Knives Out . She’s Blanc’s intelligence, laying out the details of each of these theory characters, and what motives they may have to harm another. Talking specifically about how she effortlessly overcomes the challenge of her role would require going into spoilers, so you’re just going to have to take me at my word that she’s incredible. The rest of the cast doesn’t have as much pressure on their shoulders, but they still shine when they need to. Norton is his signature smarmy self, complete with a flashback scene of him donning Frank Mackey’s outfit from Magnolia (a decision I can only imagine was explicitly targeted toward me). Hudson gets many of the laugh-out-loud moments, and Hahn chews the scenery as usual. Of course, Craig leads the pack, whose enthusiasm for the role is immediately infectious. Watching an actor known for playing the most serious iteration of James Bond don a pinstripe swimsuit and spew information with a comically overdone Southern accent is such a sight to behold. Luckily, Craig’s relationship with this character is much more positive than Bond, so the future is bright for further travels around the world. Glass Onion skillfully embraces and overcomes the usual dangers of doing the same thing as the original, just on a bigger scale. As the first of two planned sequels by Netflix, I can only imagine what Johnson is going to serve up next. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Blue Moon October 13, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Despite being smack dab in the middle of World War II, March 31st, 1943, was a day for celebration, specifically on the streets of Broadway. The stage musical Oklahoma! premiered that night, the first of 2,212 total performances, not including multiple revivals, domestic and foreign tours, youth productions, and a feature film adaptation. The reviews were enthusiastic raves, a special Pulitzer Prize was awarded, and the partnership of composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II was cemented in glory right from the start. Over the next few decades, the team would create some of the most important productions of the 20th century, including Carousel , South Pacific , The King and I , and The Sound of Music . But as one door opens, another closes. Before there was Rodgers and Hammerstein, there was Rodgers and [Lorenz] Hart. The latter pair was the most celebrated songwriting duo of the early decades of the century, raising the profile of the art form through their complex rhymes and wit. It’s a bit of a punchline for director Richard Linklater’s chamber piece about Hart to take its title after one of his most popular songs, one that he looks down on as a piece of shallow populism for the masses. Although, as played by Ethan Hawke and written by Robert Kaplow, it’s difficult to pinpoint what Hart liked and didn’t like. He bemoans some of the Hollywood-y writing in Casablanca , yet endlessly quotes it with his favorite bartender, Eddie (Bobby Cannavale). He spends the whole night tearing Oklahoma! to shreds, all while endlessly praising Rodgers as a musical genius. That dichotomy is what defined Hart. Hammerstein said that he was “alert and dynamic and fun to be around,” while singer Mabel Mercer thought that “he was the saddest man I ever knew.” Both of those quotes come alive in their purest form as Hart sits down at his favorite bar, Sardi’s, after walking out midway through Oklahoma! . Is he jealous that the first show that Rodgers does without him is going to be one of the biggest hits in the history of Broadway? “Fuck yes!” He’s extremely vulgar throughout the rest of the night, steadily downing a bottle of whiskey, all while babbling about how he needs to stop drinking. It only takes a few minutes for us to understand why Rodgers might have needed a change of pace after more than two decades of being with Hart. This whole “performance” that Hart puts on would be much more grating if it weren’t filtered through Hawke’s incredible performance. It’s a full-body transformation, complete with a comb-over hairpiece and visual trickery to make the 5-foot-10 actor appear almost a foot shorter. It’s often a bit of a gimmick, with a couple of blurry full-body shots drawing too much attention below the waist rather than to what Hawke is doing with his eyes and mouth. The camera matches the actor’s nonstop energy, steadily gliding on a track, transfixed on every syllable he ingeniously twists in his favor. Linklater and his longtime editor, Sandra Adair, quickly cut back and forth between Hart, Eddie, and piano player Morty Rifkin (Jonah Lees) as they playfully banter about art and women. Hart fancies Elizabeth (Margaret Qualley), a beautiful college student whom he foolishly believes could fall in love with a short, balding, forty-seven-year-old man. Blue Moon comes out around the same time as Linklater’s other 2025 film, Nouvelle Vague , which chronicles the creation of the film Breathless . Be it a coincidence or not that both of these films focus on mercurial geniuses, Linklater explores the conflicting areas where art is born. But while Nouvelle Vague is (charmingly) preoccupied with answering “how?” through fanciful homage and recreation, Blue Moon finds itself more interested in “why?” Kaplow, whose only other credit is as the author of the book that Me and Orson Welles is based on, finds the reasons why such a depressed and profane man could write such cheery tunes. His failure to get backing for his challenging projects illustrates that he was born in the wrong era; his genius wordplay dulled by the wants and needs for everything to be served with a smile. Rodgers and Hammerstein knew that fact, leaving Hart to be a bit of an also-ran in the annals of Broadway history. Andrew Scott appears as Rodgers about halfway through the film, glowing from the reception of Oklahoma! . He and Hawke have a wonderful rapport, cracking jokes and making playful stabs while one is trying to cling to their relationship, while the other is getting ready to leave it. Linklater and Hawke feel like they occupy a similar comfortable space, with a major difference being that it doesn’t seem like their thirty-year relationship is any danger of ceasing. And if the fruits are going to be this sublime this many years in, I can only imagine how sweet they’ll be another thirty years from now. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen