A Simple Favor October 1, 2018 By: Button Hunter Friesen Stephanie Smothers is a young woman who absolutely loves her job as a single mother to her son. Her life consists of caring for him, volunteering at school, and running a popular parenting vlog. At school, she meets Emily Nelson, the mother of her son’s best friend. Emily works a high-end job in the city and is powerful, mysterious, and glamorous, all the things Stephanie isn’t. The two of them quickly become best friends, or so Stephanie thinks. One day, she gets a call from Emily, asking for “a simple favor”. The favor quickly gets out of hand, flipping Stephanie's clean life upside down. A twisted game starts to take shape, one that threatens to uncover layers of hidden secrets and dark desires. A Simple Favor comes as the first drama for director Paul Feig, who’s best known for comedies such as Spy and Ghostbusters . Feig directs the first act impeccably. He sets up the plot with confidence by introducing us to the main characters. We are given their personalities and background, but not in their entirety. Some details are left out intentionally in order to build suspense, which works very well at keeping us on the edge of our seats. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAqMlh0b2HU Unfortunately, the next two acts don’t work as well. Feig starts to lose control over his film, and things get messy. The pacing slows way down, and important plot points are thrown at us left and right until we can’t keep things straight. The film doesn’t want to be taken too seriously as it mixes elements of both drama and comedy. The only problem is that the flipping between tones doesn’t feel as natural as it should. The third act especially suffers from this as we don’t know what to be feeling when the climax arrives. Adapted from the 2017 novel of the same name, the writing for A Simple Favor fares just as well as the directing. The first act introduces a strong premise with interesting characters. The conversations between Stephanie and Emily are whip-smart as each character tries to understand the other. The next two acts aren’t able to sustain the same level of mystery as the first. Things start to get a little too preposterous too quickly. The characters lose their edge and become carbon copies of what we’ve seen before in previous films. There is also an overabundance of clichés in the latter half of the film that undermines all the good material that had been set up in the beginning. None of them will be listed for the sake of spoilers. It’s just very underwhelming because each one has been done before and comes off as predictable and disappointing. Anna Kendrick does pretty solid work as Stephanie Smothers. She plays the young mom type quite well and provides a lot of great material for the comedic tone. The one struggle she has is when the film starts to get darker, as she’s just not entirely believable as a character with a bad side. Blake Lively, sharing the same fate as Kendrick, plays Emily Nelson. Lively excels early on as her confidence brings an aura of mystery to her character. By the end, however, she loses what made her so good, and her performance becomes more one-note. Fresh off his breakout role as Nick Young in Crazy Rich Asians , Henry Golding stars as Sean Townsend, Emily’s husband. Golding brings the same charm from his previous role but with more edge to it. He fares alright but constantly gets overshadowed by the two leading ladies. A Simple Favor can be loosely branded as a campier and lower-quality version of Gone Girl . It boasts one of the best opening acts of the year, but also some of the biggest mistakes that lead to a lot of missed potential. Overall, A Simple Favor is an average film that serves up enough mystery and thrills to warrant a viewing. Lionsgate will release A Simple Favor in theaters nationwide on September 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

Predator: Badlands November 5, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen A bug gets eaten by a bigger bug, the bigger bug gets eaten by a lizard, and the lizard gets run over by a space cruiser. Such is the way of life (and death) within director Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator universe, a hellish wasteland where every creature has cruelly adapted itself into being the ultimate killing machine, and every backdrop is worthy of being a widescreen wallpaper. Throughout each of the films in this decades-spanning franchise, the Yautja species have been the apex predators, ritualistically hunting for sport and honor. Humans often get in their way, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1987 original, Adrien Brody in the 2010 reboot, and a gang of annoying nobodies in whatever Shane Black was trying to achieve in 2018 . But what if the Yautja were at the bottom of the totem pole? That’s where we find Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) in Predator: Badlands , the runt in a litter where dying during training just means that you weren’t good enough to deserve to live. He at least has his older brother, who continually pushes him to be as strong as the rest of the pack. Their father views this as a lost cause, forcing Dek to leave their homeworld. His only hope of returning is to claim his trophy: the head of the unkillable monster named the Kalisk. This creature lives on the planet Genna, better known as the death planet. Ranging from the mightiest tree to the tiniest insect, everything is designed to deliver a gruesome death. Even the grass fields are made of blades. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43R9l7EkJwE Now with three films under his belt (this film, 2022’s Prey , and this year’s animated Predator: Killer of Killers ), Trachtenberg has built a respectable world, which is quite the feat considering that this franchise hasn’t displayed any ideas beyond a big alien engaging in gory battle against unlikely enemies. Not being the top dog teaches Dek some humility, something he isn’t used to reckoning with. Aiding him on this literal and personal journey is Thia (Elle Fanning), a Weyland-Yutani (hint, hint) synthetic who needs some help after losing her legs to the Kalisk. Where Dek is stoic, Thia is jovial, always seeing the fun side of any situation. Losing the bottom half of her body makes it much easier to throw her, which is a lot more enjoyable than it sounds. Also softening the machismo is a monkey-like creature with big, wet eyes. It becomes the third wheel of this rag-tag group, always looking to Dek as a role model. There are a few too many cutesy moments with the creature, all of them cloying at your heartstrings. It comes pretty close to Star Wars , specifically the Lone Wolf and Cub relationship of the Mandalorian and Grogu. Dek even wields an energy sword, complete with a red tint. But if I am going to accuse this film of ripping off another Disney property, then I also have to admit that it’s doing it better than the original currently is. There’s still plenty of violence, packaged in a PG-13 rating because it’s all alien slime and synthetic limbs. The fact that a film like this, with its dismemberments and disembowelments, can attain that rating, while something like The King’s Speech and Eighth Grade get saddled with an R rating, tells us all we need to know about the board’s views on life. Kids can watch all the butchering they want, just as long as the blood is filled with neon food coloring. At least those kids will be greeted with some well-choreographed set pieces and a story that illustrates that the ultimate goal in life is not to vanquish everything in your path, but to forge a better one with those you care for. With Fede Alvarez and Noah Hawley reviving the Alien franchise in theaters and on television with Alien: Romulus and Alien: Earth , respectively, and Trachtenberg steering Predator to its greatest heights, ‘70s/’80s science fiction creature features are back on the menu. If the two extremely lame and forgettable Alien vs. Predator films taught us anything, it’s that there’s got to be a better way to interweave two of cinema’s most iconic species. The ingredients seem to have all been pleasantly assembled; now let them fight. 20th Century Studios will release Predator: Badlands in theaters nationwide on November 07th. 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

Creed II December 3, 2018 By: Button Hunter Friesen The first Creed film was an entertaining surprise that was able to be both fan service to the Rocky franchise and a great standalone story filled with rich characters and relationships. The new sequel, Creed II , goes bigger than the first as the return of Ivan Drago reignites a rivalry thirty-three years in the making. Viktor, Ivan’s son, challenges Adonis Creed to a match that will determine who will be the heavyweight champion of the world. Accepting the challenge, Adonis fights for his name and takes revenge against the son of the man who killed his father. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPNVNqn4T9I Now that Ryan Coogler has moved on to Black Panther and its sequel, the director mantle now falls to Steven Caple Jr.. He tries to imitate Coogler rather than put his own stamp on the franchise. This technique more or less works, but only because Coogler supplied a proven template that could easily be followed. The film stays smoothly slow throughout as Caple Jr. allows his cast to freely take the reins over the material. Sometimes this proves to be too slow and tedious, but mostly it makes the story more character-driven. The staple of the Rocky franchise is the fight scenes, and Caple Jr. does an alright job with the two major ones. The first one doesn’t make much of an impact as it comes and goes with little originality or flair. The second one, however, really comes alive as the sound of bones crunching and the whipping of the camera lends itself to a visceral experience. The original " Gonna Fly Now" theme is even thrown in to cap off the grueling bout. From a script by Stallone and Juel Taylor, Creed II is serviceable enough in the writing department despite being wholly unoriginal. The overall plot is a beat-for-beat recreation of Rocky IV . Revisiting that story is great on a nostalgia level, but on a storytelling level, it takes away from the suspense. The final fight even takes place in Moscow just to rub it in a little bit more. The one area in which the film truly excels is its handling of the relationships and interactions between characters. The conversations between the main characters feel authentic and help grow the connection the audience shares with them. The importance of family pops up more than once as Adonis begins his life as a father and Rocky tries to reconnect with his distant son. These include some beautiful moments of tenderness that provide a great counterweight to the stone-cold fights. The one character that gets the short end of the stick is Viktor, who really doesn’t have any reason to be in the movie except for name recognition. In a franchise full of great opponents, this one falls to the bottom of the barrel, as Viktor’s development as a character is given little thought and brushed aside for more scenes of him beating guys up. With the Creed series and his role in Black Panther , Michael B. Jordan is on a hot streak right now. He brings his natural talents to the screen and more than delivers on the physical and emotional demands of the character. He also has that bit of charisma his onscreen father possessed all those years ago. Watching him in the ring is a sight to see as he rolls with the punches and is able to flesh out his character without any dialogue. Another standout performance comes from Sylvester Stallone, his most iconic character. For two films now, Stallone has naturally been able to play Rocky as the wise elder to the young prodigy. His scenes with Jordan are excellent and really lend to the emotional heart of the story. Tessa Thompson does a good job as Bianca. She proves to be Adonis’ rock as she and he further their relationship into parenthood. Lastly, Dolph Lundgren and Florian Munteanu do a fine job as father and son combo Ivan and Viktor Drago, respectively. Lundgren can be a bit over the top at times, but he does well at being both menacing and vulnerable. Munteanu physically is more gorilla than human as he towers over his competition and stokes fear through his muscles. Led by powerhouse performances from Jordan and Stallone, Creed II is able to deliver on the expectations of its predecessor. While it does fall into Rocky IV-esque melodrama at times, Caple Jr.’s film finds the right balance and knows when to strike and when to let back as it sports some thrilling fight scenes along with some touching human moments. Warner Bros. Pictures will release Creed II in theaters nationwide on November 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

TIFF23 Dispatch - Part 1 September 17, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen All of the films were screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Click here for additional full reviews and dispatches. Select films below will receive separate full-length reviews at a later date, most likely in connection to their public releases. Dream Scenario Nicolas Cage has never been funnier (at least in an unironic way) than he is in Kristoffer Borgli’s English-language debut. The famed madman actor plays a dorky professor who inexplicably appears in everyone’s dreams, making him the most famous person on the planet. The fame quickly gets to his head, but it also brings unintended consequences once the dreams start taking darker turns. Borgli's examination of cancel culture isn’t all that skillful, with most of the insights being surface-level. Cage is what sells this whole premise and covers any of the minor problems. While he’s still appearing in VOD garage more often than he should, there have been just enough auteur-driven projects to keep him an icon to the Letterboxd generation. Being that this specific film is an A24 production, be prepared for the ensuing meme frenzy come November. (3.5/5) The Critic While writer Patrick Marber and star Ian McKellen are having a delightfully catty time with The Critic , director Anand Tucker takes the material too seriously, making it uneven, yet still enjoyable. McKellen plays the internet's stereotypical version of a critic: mean, smearing, and always out to make himself the star of the show. Times are changing in London as the newspapers are merging, threatening McKellen’s job, and the fascists are becoming more radicalized. Marber’s script is a little too scattershot, never developing its numerous plotlines and characters outside of the central McKellen story. The glossy production values make this a decent package as a whole. A perfect piece of entertainment to get a spring theatrical release as counterprogramming to a superhero blockbuster. (3/5) Memory Two people with memory issues come together in writer/director Michel Franco’s newest film, which doesn’t wallow in mystery as his past filmography would suggest. Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) is a mother who can’t seem to forget her past drug and alcohol struggles, while Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) has dementia and can’t seem to remember much of his past life. These two troubled souls are attracted to each other, even if the forces of the world, notably their families, would like them to stay apart. The script places all its priorities on these two performances, both of which reach near perfection. There’s sadness and pain in their stories, but they unlock small linings of hope when they appear in each other’s lives. Franco doesn’t offer much in terms of answers, not that anyone should expect struggles of this magnitude to be so easily solved. (3.5/5) One Life No modern movie has had a more significant fourth-quarter comeback than One Life . The first 90 minutes of James Hawes’ feature directorial debut has the same dry cracker texture as many other British WWII period pieces you’ve seen over the years. An immediate 180° is made in the climactic scene (you'll know it when you see it), leaving me and the rest of the audience in tears. Anthony Hopkins stars as the older Nicholas Winton, with Johnny Flynn playing the younger version that made it his mission to rescue children out of the Holocaust ghettos of Eastern Europe. It’s Hopkins’ segments in the 1980s that give the film the spurts of life it needs. Recently minted Oscar-winner Volker Bertelmann provides a sweeping score, accenting the epic work done by this humble humanitarian. (3.5/5) Quiz Lady By far the broadest film TIFF programmed this year, Quiz Lady is your typical streamer comedy. The generic story follows Anne (Awkwafina) and her rowdy older sister Jenny (Sandra Oh) as they go on Anne’s favorite game show to win the $80,000 needed to pay off their mom’s gambling debts. Will Ferrell, Tony Hale, and Jason Schwartzman fill out the supporting cast. Director Jessica Yu has helmed episodes of prestige television as well as both feature and short documentaries (winning an Oscar for Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien ), yet you’d never be able to tell based on what she delivers here. Everything is filmed with basic competence, with the actors filling much of the empty space with hit-or-miss jokes. It’s fun to see Oh cut loose, and Ferrell’s wholesome game show host turns out to be his best role in years. You can have some decent fun with this on a Friday night, forgetting all about it when you wake up the next morning. (3/5) 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

Emilia Pérez June 6, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen A prison drama centering on a Muslim convict; a romance between a single father and a killer whale trainer deepens after tragedy; a Sri Lankan Tamil warrior flees to France to seek a better life; two brothers chase after a gold prospector in 1850s Oregon; and a sexually-charged romantic comedy about millennial Parisians. These are the basic descriptions of the last five films directed by Paris’ own Jacques Audiard, none of which seem to share an obvious thematic link or calling card. In fact, the only thing that keeps them connected is their fate after they premiere, with all of them collecting a bevy of festival and César nominations/awards. That streak of genre maneuverability continues with Audiard’s latest work, Emilia Perez , a musical crime comedy set in modern Mexico. Based on the results, I’m sure more awards are not far behind to go along with the Best Actress and Jury Prize haul at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Those Cannes audiences may have already had their fill of pure bewilderment in the form of Francis Ford Coppola’s long-gestating Megalopolis , but Emilia Perez is one of the pair to actually do it right. It’s a film whose on-paper plot raises several eyebrows, only to be met with more craziness as it all explodes on the screen. It doesn’t always work, but it bats a pretty high average, and almost all of the strikes are just as satisfying to watch as the hits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h7j_EcZ5fU Let’s start back up at the top and get ourselves reoriented. Rita Moro Castro (Zoe Saldaña) is an overworked and underpaid lawyer in Mexico City. Her victories in the courtroom are often defeats in her personal life, as no amount of work she does seems to make a difference. Her strong resume gets her noticed by the ruthless cartel leader Manitas (Karla Sofía Gascón donning incredibly convincing makeup), who, in exchange for $2 million, hires Rita to help him go through the gender reassignment surgery that he’s always dreamed of having. Years go by as Manitas becomes Emilia Perez, with Rita taking up the position of the professional guardian for Emilia’s wife (Selena Gomez) and kids, who have been in the dark about the whole operation. The degree to which the musical aspects would play into the narrative may have been shrouded in mystery during the announcement and production phases, but all those uncertainties are squashed within the first minute of the finished product. Saldaña is our guide through this story, with her seldom-seen musical chops being unleashed in an opening number featuring a large chorus and flashy camerawork. It’s this sequence that illustrates much of what’s to come, both from the story and performers: an extraordinary amount of dedication and sincerity to even the most outlandish of concepts. Audiard gives maximum effort to each of the genres he’s melding together. Each of the musical sequences is bursting with a bombastic spirit, the lighting and camerawork being as expressive as the actors. Then there’s also real danger with the crime elements, which attempt to grab hold of Mexico’s problem of missing persons and cartel-related violence. It can all feel a little silly due to the operatic fever dream of the production, but its heart is always in the right place. Carrying that heart is Spanish trans-actress Karla Sofía Gascón. While Rita is the one finding herself falling deeper down the rabbit hole, Manitas/Emilia is the one trying to dig their way out. Gascón finds that nugget of remorse that’s needed for us to sympathize with her. She also brings the house down with some of her solo numbers. Gomez is a bit shortchanged by the structure of the story, only showing up in bits and pieces. Her pop-star presence gives her scenes a certain amount of flair that distances them from any of her previous roles. Musicals will be all the rage later in the year with Joker: Folie à Deux , Moana 2 , Wicked , and Mufasa: The Lion King filling up the multiplexes. Save for maybe Todd Phillips and the chaotic duo of Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, Audiard and his cast could easily lay claim to the most audacious musical of the year. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Netflix will release Emilia Pérez in select theaters on November 01st, followed by its streaming premiere on November 13th. 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

H Is for Hawk January 20, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen H is for Hawk. G is for grief. M is for melancholy. S is for sadness. W is for woe. D is for dejection. And, of course, C is for cookie. Based on Helen Macdonald’s best-selling memoir of the same name, H Is for Hawk runs down the alphabet of emotional turmoil, spelling out each word in capital letters. It’s one of those books whose specificity can be richly extrapolated into universality, the language of the page finding the words that we’ve all come to experience through loss. But as a film, specifically this one directed by Philippa Lowthorpe, everything seems to have been funnelled into mining the same emotional beats that we’ve come to expect. When we first meet Helen (Claire Foy), she’s enraptured by the majesty of two hawks gliding through the air. Their perfectly outstretched wings make them rise and fall against the pale blue sky, the flapping of wings being the only sound within the tranquil field. Following in her dad’s (Brendan Gleeson) footsteps, Helen's younger years saw her become a proficient falconer. A move to London for a professorship shut down that passion for a while. The urban jungle still treats her well, taking her class to the pub instead of the stodgy Cambridge lecture halls. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73V6kQfGyt0 Helen rang her father when she saw those hawks, a quick opportunity to reminisce about how they used to travel the countryside, appreciating its natural beauty. That would be the final words she would share with him, as the next phone call she receives is from her mother telling her that her father suffered a fatal heart attack. Hawthorpe renders this reveal through intense claustrophobia, pushing the camera onto Helen’s face as she slowly hangs up the phone and falls into her own arms. She goes to dinner with her best friend, Christina (Denise Gough, a consistently pleasant presence throughout this gloomy film), the air thick with silence. The dead seem to come alive more often once they’re underground. That phone call is the only time we see Gleeson’s character alive; the rest of his scenes come from a rush of flashbacks that Helen can’t shake. He’s buoyant, refusing to retire. There’s passion in his refusal to quit, but also a sense of fear in that he doesn’t know what will happen once he stops moving. Helen ceases altogether under the grief, eventually adopting a goshawk, the most aggressive species of hawk, as a distraction. Hawks can’t perceive what they don’t see, which is how Helen deals with her emotions. Burying them deep down, she becomes a sort of wild animal to her friends and family. Foy brings determination to her role, a blank stare becoming her perpetual costume. She has an attention-grabbing presence, which becomes the film’s main asset as it can barely string together the scraps of its story. Timelines become fragmented, clichés become repetitive, and everything is drawn way past its full potential. We’ve come to diagnose Helen’s depression ninety minutes before she does, making this whole thing feel like a spinning wheel in a rut. Along with Tuesday and The Thing with Feathers , H Is for Hawk joins a recent trend of people using birds to aid them in their journey of accepting death. Unlike those initial two films, the bird featured in this one does not talk, only squaking every once in a while as it gets fed pieces of raw meat. That realism gives Foy the entire spotlight, but it also leaves her alone to carry such a blank film. Roadside Attractions will release H Is for Hawk in theaters nationwide on January 23rd. 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

The Wonder November 4, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen One could be forgiven for believing that they are watching the wrong film based on the first image within Sebastián Lelio’s The Wonder . “We are nothing without stories, so we invite you to believe in this one,” narrates a mysterious whispery voice as we open with a shot of a modern soundstage, a far cry from the mid-19th century Irish countryside where the film takes place. But just as you're about to reach for your remote and back out to the main menu of Netflix, the camera pans to the right, revealing Florence Pugh’s character of widowed English nurse Elizabeth Wright as she’s making her voyage on a boat. And with that simple trick, Lelio has placed us within the shoes (or more accurately, muddy boots) of his main character, as we are reminded that movies, while made through proven science and craftsmanship, are most alluring when they make us suspend our disbelief. Wright’s journey takes her to a small village in Ireland, a place where religion and science often occupy the same spaces. She’s been summoned by a committee of the town’s highest-ranking elders, including a priest and a doctor (Ciarán Hinds and Toby Jones, respectively), to investigate an unexplainable phenomenon. 11-year-old Anna O’Donnell has gone without food for the past four months, surviving purely on “manna from heaven.” The child has been labeled a miracle by the townsfolk and receives visitors and press coverage from all over the land. Of course, this prolonged fast defies the laws of human anatomy, which is why the committee has summoned Wright and a nun, so that they may watch her all day and night and determine if the child truly is a blessing from above. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htybz7XscIY Wright fills the role of the skeptic, never once believing (there’s that word again) that Anna and her family are telling the truth. She’s experienced enough despair in her life - including losing her child and husband, and serving during the bloodiest parts of the Crimean War - to doubt the existence, let alone the goodwill, of God. She observes Anna as she goes through her daily routine, one of constant prayer and giving and receiving love within her family, waiting for someone to crack under the pressure and reveal the whole thing as a sham. But Elizabeth’s beliefs begin to waver as the days drudge on and Anna continues to thrive without food, creating a constant battle between the known and the unknown. Centering his filmography around the themes of personal identity ( Disobedience, Oscar-winning A Fantastic Woman) , Lelio has often found silence to be the best judge of character. Adapting the novel by Emma Donoghue ( Room ), many of the pivotal scenes are pushed further based on observational glances. Pugh returns (not that she was gone that long) from her movie star escapades in Black Widow and Don’t Worry Darling to deliver a shimmeringly haunting performance. She may look and dress the part of Amy March in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women , but her demeanor couldn't be any more different as she brings a steely no-nonsense energy. Matthew Herbert’s off-kilter score, with its liberal use of percussion and non-period instruments, keeps you entranced toward the mystery, even if the material itself may not always be that consistently interesting. Things pick up steam near the end when the building blocks begin to tumble, and desperate choices are made. The means to get there may not have been the most well-executed, but the outcome does provide a nice return on the initial investment. Through fine work from every facet of its production, The Wonder accomplishes what it sets out to do, telling a story I wholeheartedly believed. Much of what you take away from the film will be under the surface, possibly testing your ideals about the unexplainable within your own life. Netflix will release The Wonder in select theaters on November 02nd, followed by its streaming premiere on November 16th. 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

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West Side Story December 11, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen Leave it to Steven Spielberg to make his first outing into the musical genre, one that completely crushes the competition. Like The Mad Titan Thanos, Spielberg has seemingly made it his mission to collect the stones of nearly every genre known to cinema. Throughout his nearly fifty-year feature film career, he’s already conquered monster movies ( Jaws ), science fiction ( E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ), adventure ( Indiana Jones ), war ( Saving Private Ryan ), and biopics ( Schindler’s List & Lincoln ). But before he takes on the Avengers-level threat of Netflix and other streaming services in the fight for the theatrical experience, Spielberg needs to claim the last stone that has eluded him: musicals. And after all these years (including a worldwide pandemic), The King of Entertainment can finally stake his claim with his remake of West Side Story . Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner have made it clear that this West Side Story is not a remake of the 1961 film, which won ten Academy Awards, including Best Motion Picture. Rather, this is a new adaptation of the 1957 stage musical. Many might be confused as to why Spielberg felt the need to re-adapt such a timeless piece of entertainment, especially with the 1961 film being heralded as one of the great screen musicals. The answer to that argument can be broken down into three parts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5GJLwWiYSg First, Spielberg may be humble, but like all great directors, he has a bit of hubris and isn’t afraid to remake sacred material, as he’s already done with 2005’s War of the Worlds . Second, Spielberg has cited the musical as a foundational piece of his childhood, so much so that it was one of his key inspirations for becoming a director. And third, while the 1961 version may be a monumental feat, it is far from perfect. Arthur Laurents, who wrote the original Broadway production's book, spoke to the New York Times in 2008 about his feelings towards the film version, which he thought was very flawed due to “bogus accents, bogus dialect, bogus costumes.” Laurents’ argument against the costumes may be puzzling, but he’s right on target with how the film whitewashes much of the characters. Spielberg’s West Side Story looks to right the wrongs of the past, as nearly all of his Puerto Rican characters are played by Puerto Rican or Hispanic performers. And to do this, Spielberg hasn’t sinned nearly every modern musical adaptation where big movie stars are cast instead of the performers who brought the characters to life on the stage. Apart from Ansel Elgort (who, while still being the film’s wet blanket, is not as bad as one would expect), all of the cast members come from some sort of theater background. Ariana DeBose, who played a featured part in Hamilton both off and on Broadway, takes over the role of Anita with a fiery passion. Playing her overprotective partner, Bernardo, is David Alvarez, one of the original Billys in Billy Elliot . Mike Faist, who originated the role of Connor Murphy in Dear Evan Hansen , harnesses a special jittery vulnerability as Riff. And then emerging as the star of this troupe is newcomer Rachel Zegler as María. The world may have already gotten a glimpse of Zegler’s singing talent through her YouTube channel, but this is a true showcase of what she has to offer. Since production wrapped in September 2019, Spielberg has claimed Zegler as the greatest María he’s witnessed. At the time, it sounded like the usual praise a director would heap on his own film. But now that the court of public opinion gets its say, it seems he was telling the truth. With so many stars in the making, Spielberg is able to harmonize the past and the present, making the remake feel like a Golden Age musical made with modern craftsmanship. Spielberg and his longtime cinematographer Janusz Kaminski keep the same desaturated, high-contrast look that they have maintained for nearly three decades. The camera swoons and cranes in extended takes, capturing the incredibly choreographed dance numbers conceived by famed ballet dancer and director Justin Peck. The “America” (which has been taken down to the streets instead of the rooftop) and “I Feel Pretty” set pieces contain some of Spielberg’s greatest directorial work, with Leonard Bernstein’s music and Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics proving once again why they have inspired so many. But all the technicals and performances mean nothing if the story doesn’t match their excellence. Thankfully, screenwriter Tony Kushner has taken the original material and given it a new life. For the most part, this is still the same Romeo and Juliet story of star-crossed lovers caught in a war between rival gangs. But then, every once in a while, something unexpected will happen, taking things in a different direction. The narrative about the immigrant experience has been made more profound, with the Spanish dialogue - accounting for nearly one-third of the total spoken lines - going unsubtitled in a move that Spielberg and Kushner described as an effort to respect the language. And the character of Doc has been reimagined as Valentina, allowing Rita Moreno (the 1961 Anita) to ground the film with a heartbreaking final number. All of these revisions don’t come off as gimmicks needed to justify the film’s existence, just different (and better) ways to tell a classic tale. With The Great Musical War of 2021 coming to a close, Steven Spielberg has emerged as the predictable winner. Perfectly melding the work of Bernstein and Sondheim with the newfound talents of DeBose, Faist, and Zegler, the new West Side Story makes the case for why some remakes should be allowed to happen. Because sometimes, they can meet or surpass the original, such as how this one does by bringing classic cinema into the modern world. 20th Century Studios will release West Side Story in theaters nationwide on December 10th. 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

Created by Hunter Friesen, The Cinema Dispatch is your one-stop-shop for all reviews, lists, awards updates, and essays relating to the world of cinema. About The Cinema Dispatch is founded, owned, and operated by Hunter Friesen. While attaining a Master’s Degree in Accounting and Finance at the University of Northern Iowa, Hunter was also a student of cinema. He was president of the Film Appreciation Club for three years, programming weekly screenings that aimed to entertain and educate the student body. He also served as the film critic for The Northern Iowan newspaper and co-hosted a biweekly campus radio show called Your World with Nick & Hunter on 94.5 KULT-FM. While the perpetually cold weather of Minnesota usually forced him to hunker down and enjoy so many great movies, Hunter has also used his passion for cinema to travel the world. He covers several international film festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and Sundance Film Festival. He also covers the local Twin Cities Film Fest and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival. Hunter currently serves as the president of the Minnesota Film Critics Association and is an active member of the International Film Society Critics , Online Film & Television Association , Independent Film Critics of America , and The Critics Circle . Hunter publishes a weekly film review column at the Eden Prairie Local News and Woodbury News Net .

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Chevalier April 18, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Stuffy, overly serious, slow, and pretentious are all words most often used to describe period pieces. Even for someone like me who thinks The Age of Innocence and Barry Lyndon are the best works by Martin Scorsese and Stanley Kubrick, respectively, those harsh adjectives are not entirely false for most of the entries within this long-lived genre. And yet, none of those words can be applied to Stephen Williams' Chevalier , which is finally being unveiled in theaters by Searchlight Pictures after storming onto the scene as the biggest surprise for me out of the Toronto International Film Festival last September (when it greatly benefitted from being sandwiched between my screenings for Causeway and The Eternal Daughter ). Anyone sitting down ready for a PBS-style docudrama will surely be surprised by the 8 Mile -infused violin battle between our titular character Joseph Bologne (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) and a little-known composer who went by the name of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Bologne shows off his otherworldly musical talent and upstages Mozart's concert, which is filled with everyone from the high societies of Paris. But Joseph's skills don't stop at the strings. They also extend to the tip of his fencing sword, which often finds itself buried within the chest of his opponents. His gifts give him an audience with King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette (when their heads were still connected to the rest of their body), who bestowed upon him the title of Chevalier de Saint-Georges. But while his lofty title might grant him acclaim and access to powerful inner circles on paper, it doesn't mean much in practice due to the overwhelming racism of the time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LtCIImfSCk Making her feature film debut after penning several scripts for hit FX shows such as Fargo , What We Do in the Shadows , and Atlanta , Stefani Robinson does great work unearthing details about Bologne's life, with some dramatization used to fill in the gaps lost in time, such as his ever-changing personal relationship with Antoinette. There are both simple and complex reasons why Bologne's name doesn't live on today, while Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach are taught as early as elementary school. Joseph's racial differences are not entirely external as well, as he struggles internally with his mixed-race heritage on account of an illegitimate relationship between his French father and his Senegalese mother. The more he tries to enter European society, the more he also abandons the culture he was born into, essentially making him an outcast everywhere he walks. Harrison Jr. has emerged as one of our finest working actors, with lead performances in 2019's Luce and Waves acting as a one-two punch illustration of his charm and magnetism. Williams and Robinson tap into that same vein here, relying upon Harrison to convey why Bologne was so undeniable as a performer, with audiences unable to take their eyes off him. There is a supreme amount of confidence on the outside of Bologne, with the inner self being vulnerably conflicted. But there is nothing vulnerable about Williams' camera, however, as it boldly snakes its way through Karen Murphy’s lavish sets. That electric pace from the opening moment is captured within a bottle, harnessed throughout the entire runtime until it is released with gusto in the final scene set during the kindling of the French Revolution. Chevalier still would have been one of the best movies of 2022 had Searchlight chosen to release it within the bloodbath that is Oscar season. Thankfully, they're smarter than I am and waited until 2023, where it now sits firmly on the throne above the mostly average products we've been presented so far. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Searchlight Pictures will release Chevalier in theaters nationwide on April 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