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The Gentlemen January 30, 2020 By: Button Hunter Friesen Like Wes Anderson, Tim Burton, and Michael Bay, you can tell when a film is made by Guy Ritchie just by watching a few minutes of it. The British director has carried a sense of hyper-stylization through each of his films, most notably in crime comedies that began with the one-two punch of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch . Now after a few big studio duds ( King Arthur , Aladdin ), Ritchie has come home to his roots with The Gentlemen . Growing tired of the marijuana business and fearing for the security of his future, Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) decides he wants to sell his lucrative empire. Luckily for him, a rich American buyer is willing to fork over a pretty penny. Unluckily for Mickey though, his life of crime has made him a few enemies that would like nothing more than to see him ruined. With his enemies fast approaching on all sides, Mickey will now have to get his hands dirtier than ever if he ever wants to have a chance to clean them off. The Gentlemen is business as usual for Ritchie as he dives right back into the street crime genre he made his name in. What may seem overindulgent to others is only conventional to Ritchie as he uses all the flashy tactics in the book. Even the opening credits - which contain numerous minor spoilers for some odd reason - remind one of a Bond film. After that, we are led on an endless parade of rapid editing, exaggerated characters, and many other stylish facets. It’s a bombardment of the senses, but one that never becomes overbearing. However, like all Ritchie films, The Gentlemen ends up leaning too hard on style over substance, which is saying a lot because there is a lot of substance here. Some directorial choices seem to be made only for vanity, such as one bit where a character drones on about the magic of classic cinema. I was reminded of the great Jurassic Park quote which I am paraphrasing: [Ritchie]... was so preoccupied with whether or not he could, he didn’t stop to think if he should. Such is the case in Ritchie’s previous crime films, there are plots within plots, and those plots have plots on top of them. In this film, the narrative revolves around a discussion between two characters as one tells the other about the events that have unfolded. These events are new to us but have already happened within the timeframe of the film. What we get is a sort of comedic murder mystery where each event is changed and then rechanged again based upon a certain character’s perspective on what happened. This framing device makes the movie an interesting puzzle, albeit a needlessly convoluted one. Specific details sometimes get lost in the shuffle, only to come back again to confuse us more. Just like the directing, this problem seems to stem from Ritchie’s insistence on overdoing things. It’s quantity over quality as too many things are thrown into the script without much regard for clarity or purpose. Since his Oscar win in 2014, Matthew McConaughey has had a hard time picking projects that use his acting strengths and that also turns out to be good. Thankfully, Mr “Alright, alright, alright” chose wisely here as Ritchie uses his captivating screen presence in some impressive monologues. Charlie Hunnam and Hugh Grant play the two characters having a banterous discussion about the film’s events. Grant easily takes the top spot between the two as he seems to thoroughly enjoy his character's eccentric quirks. Rounding out the cast is Jeremy Strong, Henry Golding, and, most notably, Colin Farrell as the boxing coach simply named “Coach”. Even though Mickey is the main character, Coach is the one you’ll remember the most after. It can be easy to forget sometimes that movies are allowed to solely be entertaining popcorn flicks. This rings truer during awards season when every film is trying to take a stand on something and fighting to make a mark on our culture. Of course, you still would like that popcorn flick to be well-made. Being as how January is usually a dumping ground for maligned films, you could do a lot worse than this enjoyable romp. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Zombieland: Double Tap October 28, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen When the first Zombieland came out in 2009, it was a pleasant surprise. The zombie genre was in its initial rebirth stage and self-referential humor hadn’t reached its peak just yet. It became the talk of every middle and high school around the country, creating a rabid fanbase that launched the careers of several of its stars and creators. Now ten years later, the gang is back, still making their way through the undead infestation within America. But slaughtering zombies proves to create human relationship problems, ones that the survivors all thought they left behind. Also, there’s a new breed of zombie on the loose, tougher and smarter than ever before. With the physical and emotional danger ramping up by the day, the bond holding the misfit family together will soon be tested. Directed by Ruben Fleischer, helmer of the first film and Tom Hardy’s Venom , Zombieland: Double Tap is a breezy 99-minute comedy. The atmosphere is light and joyous as the characters always keep their sarcastic attitudes even in the most perilous of times. But that carefree attitude is also a symptom of the lack of depth and purpose to the story. Fleischer frames the narrative as a road movie, but without a meaningful destination or compelling journey to bring it all together. The comedy set-pieces here are more separate entities rather than part of a whole piece. Fortunately, some of those disjointed scenes contain some great action as Fleischer embellishes the gory fun of killing (or re-killing) the undead. Slow-motion and excessive blood and guts soak the screen and make for an amusing watch. And even though guns are the primary weapon of choice, there is one top-notch tracking shot sequence that deserves credit for its creative methods for killing. Written by the original duo of the first movie plus the addition of Dave Callaham, “Zombieland: Double Tap” still contains the same amount of self-referential humor as the first. This time though, the meta-jokes aren’t as fresh and are served through overly-expository narration. Just like the carefree atmosphere, this fault is part of a larger problem: staleness. Ten years ago, this story and these characters were original. But now with “The Walking Dead” and umpteen amount of video games, the zombie genre has run itself into the ground. The writers don’t try to solve this problem and merely just try to joke about it. That’s not to say that the jokes are bad, some of them are quite good. And the chemistry between the cast is just as good or even better than the original. It’s just a shame that all that talent is buried under a little-to-nothing plot that only serves the purpose of shuffling them between set pieces. It’s fine and all to watch the same great characters do funny stuff, but there also needs to be a story to tell. The lack of a story here showcases the prime reason this film was nothing more than an unnecessary cash grab. Ten years older and all Academy Award-nominated, the cast all return to do more of the same. Jesse Eisenberg is his usual fidgety and neurotic self as he spatters out his rules of survival. Woody Harrelson takes the top spot among the group and seems to be enjoying himself the most. It’s almost unfair to the others that he gets the best lines, but he makes the most out of them and is the main reason most of the jokes land. Emma Stone, away from serious roles for a little bit, also seems to be reveling in the zombie carnage. It’s nice to see her let loose, especially since she does have a knack for snarky comedy. Lastly, Abigail Breslin gets the short end of the stick as she doesn’t get anything to do or say that’s funny, even if she’s pretty good in her seldom moments to shine. Zombieland: Double Tap has some good moments, but they’re not enough to make it a good movie. But its inoffensiveness delivers just enough laughs to service those who have fond memories of the first one. Just like how Ghostbusters II isn’t remembered to this day, I feel this sequel will come and go without leaving the same lasting mark that the superior original was able to make all those years ago. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

The Woman King September 10, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Woman King had its World Premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. TriStar Pictures will release it in theaters on September 16. Touted as the story of the “real black panthers,” TriStar Pictures’ The Woman King aims for much more than just Hollywood showmanship. It wants to be an inspirational true story of the African warriors who stood up to the European powers that sought to colonize and enslave them. Of course, the real story of these warriors is much more complex, as they actually fought to protect their own slave trade. But if you want to pick apart this movie for historical inaccuracy, then you’d have to pick apart every movie within the genre, and that would take an eternity. And to give the movie the benefit of the doubt, the plot synopsis does state that it is “a historical epic that is based in an alternate history of The Kingdom of Dahomey,” which means you should leave your quibbles at the box office. Viola Davis stars as General Nanisca of the Dahomey warriors, one of the only African kingdoms to feature women as part of the armed forces. We first see them engaging a rival tribe, the Oyo, in which they attain a decisive victory because of their skill and tactics. Although their feud has been going on for centuries, both Dahomey and the Oyo are being instigated by the European colonial powers that seek to bolster their slave trade. To avoid selling their own, each of the tribes raids the other, selling off their prisoners as slaves (regardless of gender or age). It’s a bloody business that King Ghezo of Dahomey no longer wants to be a part of. But the only way to stop the trade would be to wipe out the Oyo, which is nothing short of a tall order considering their superior numbers and technology. The film’s analysis of the slave trade is far better than most tonally deft Hollywood epics. The Dahomey are the heroes of our story, but they aren’t without their misgivings. But while the introspection is good, it’s also not good enough. The central conflict is resolved too cleanly without regard to the bigger picture. Sure, the white slavers are killed and the people are freed, but are we really led to believe that’ll be the end of all of this? Director Gina Prince-Bythewood does craft some spectacular action setpieces, each highlighting the physical prowess of the Dahomey Amazons. Swords, spears, muskets, and even sharpened fingernails are used by the women to vanquish their enemies. The PG-13 rating is pushed to its limits, with only a few rapid cuts away from the fatal blows keeping us from the adults-only territory. That level of top-tier craftsmanship also appears in nearly every aspect of the film’s production. An eye-popping color palette coats King Ghezo’s palace and the traditional costumes of the warriors. And Terence Blanchard’s (Spike Lee’s go-to composer) triumphant score gives each scene that little extra boost it needs to get over the edge. It’s just a shame that the technical prowess of the film couldn’t bleed over into the script (written by Dana Stevens and Maria Bello), which constantly throws a wet blanket each time things start to heat up. Along with the simplification of slavery, we also get soap opera-level twists about the character’s lineage and a forced love story between a female warrior and a down-with-the-cause European. It’s in these moments you’re reminded this movie cost $50 million to produce and needs to pull out every trick in the book to appeal to all audiences. At least the acting covers most of the script’s problems. As expected, Viola Davis crushes her role as the stern warrior leader. Lashana Lynch carries over her great comedic timing from No Time to Die as the second-in-command, Izogie. And Thuso Mbedu, who plays the audience surrogate, Nawi, does well at handling the film’s heavier moments. If not for its weak script, The Woman King could have been one of the best action movies of 2022. But even for all its faults on the page, there’s no denying the power of what it accomplishes on the screen. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Tyler's Takes: 2015 and the Popularization of the Legacy Sequel January 25, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Whether you like them or not, legacy sequels have become a common trend in Hollywood over the past decade. 2015 marked a pivotal moment in the evolution of Hollywood filmmaking, giving rise to the phenomenon. Legacy sequels represent a unique blending of nostalgia and modernization. By examining the cultural, technological, and industrial forces that converged in 2015, it becomes clear how this year gave birth to the concept and solidified its role in contemporary cinema. Several major releases in 2015 exemplify the essence of the legacy sequel, including Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens , Jurassic World , Creed , and Mad Max: Fury Road . With it being a decade since their genesis, I figured it’d be a fitting time to look back within that context. The Force Awakens is perhaps the quintessential 2015 legacy sequel. Helmed by J.J. Abrams, the film successfully rekindled the magic of George Lucas's original Star Wars trilogy while introducing a new generation of characters and stories. It masterfully balanced nostalgia—through the return of beloved characters like Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Luke Skywalker—with the fresh appeal of Rey, Finn, and Kylo Ren. Some may criticize it as A New Hope 2.0, but that doesn’t detract from any of the greatness happening on screen. The Force Awakens resonated with both longtime fans and newcomers, earning over $2 billion at the global box office. While the following sequels of The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker resulted in the Star Wars sequel trilogy appearing as directionless, The Force Awakens did its due diligence and gave moviegoers a trip back to a galaxy far, far away. Similarly, Jurassic World revived the dormant Jurassic Park franchise with a story that honored Steven Spielberg's 1993 classic while embracing modern sensibilities. Colin Trevorrow updated the familiar elements of dinosaur chaos with themes of corporate greed and scientific overreach. Including nods to the original film, such as the return to the iconic park gates, the subtle use of John Williams's score, and having two boys discover a vintage Jurassic Park jeep, Jurassic World appealed to nostalgic viewers while also thrilling younger audiences. Much like The Force Awakens , Jurassic World was met with more acclaim compared to its successors which took the franchise into a downward spiral. It found success in the form of over $1 billion at the box office, holding the record for the biggest box office opening of all time... which was beaten six months later by The Force Awakens . Meanwhile, Creed , directed by Ryan Coogler, offered a more character-driven take on the legacy sequel. The film expanded the Rocky universe by focusing on Adonis Creed, the son of Rocky Balboa's former rival and friend, Apollo Creed. By shifting the narrative focus to a new protagonist while keeping Sylvester Stallone's Rocky as a mentor figure, Creed honored the emotional legacy of the earlier films while carving out its own identity. Finally, Mad Max: Fury Road , though arguably more of a reboot than a traditional legacy sequel, shared many qualities with its contemporaries. As the only one in this bunch to have the original creative team return to the helm, George Miller’s reintroduction to the post-apocalyptic wasteland weaved a new take on the character of Max Rockatansky while also spotlighting the unforgettable Furiosa, portrayed by Charlize Theron. The film’s blend of kinetic action, practical effects, and thematic depth exemplified how revisiting a franchise could result in both critical acclaim and cultural relevance. Out of all the legacy sequels, and movies to come from 2015 for that matter, Fury Road takes the cake as the best one. The rise of legacy sequels in 2015 cannot be separated from broader cultural and technological trends. Nostalgia has become a powerful force in popular culture, partly driven by the internet's ability to foster communities around shared memories and fandoms. Social media platforms amplified the voices of fans eager for the return of their favorite stories and characters, creating a fertile environment for studios to revisit established properties. Technological advancements also played a crucial role. The rise of digital filmmaking and visual effects allowed filmmakers to recreate and expand upon the worlds of older franchises in previously impossible ways. For instance, Jurassic World featured photorealistic dinosaurs that surpassed the groundbreaking effects of the original Jurassic Park , while The Force Awakens utilized cutting-edge techniques to seamlessly blend practical effects with CGI. These advancements enabled legacy sequels to offer a sense of continuity with their predecessors while delivering a spectacle that met contemporary audience expectations. The emergence of legacy sequels in 2015 also reflected shifts in Hollywood's business strategies. Studios increasingly prioritized "safe bets" with built-in audiences, turning to franchises with proven track records. In an era where theatrical attendance faced competition from streaming services, the familiarity of established intellectual properties (IPs) became a valuable asset. Legacy sequels capitalized on nostalgia while attracting new fans. By appealing to multiple generations, these films maximized their box office potential. The success of The Force Awakens , Jurassic World , and Creed underscored the viability of this approach, encouraging studios to invest further in reviving dormant franchises and reimagining them for modern audiences. While most do their job well, there are some that haven't, such as Independence Day: Resurgence and The Matrix Resurrections . Nevertheless, at their best, legacy sequels are more than just nostalgia trips; they provide opportunities for creative reinvention and meaningful storytelling. The legacy sequels of 2015 set the stage for a wave of similar projects in subsequent years, from Blade Runner 2049 , 2018’s Halloween , Top Gun: Maverick , and Avatar: The Way of Water . These films continue to explore the interplay between old and new, demonstrating the format's enduring appeal. Ultimately, 2015’s contributions to the idea of the legacy sequel reflect a broader cultural desire to connect the past with the present. It’s an approach that seemed invigorating back then, but unfortunately, has gone stale. Yet, in an era of rapid technological and social change, these films offer a sense of continuity and shared experience, bridging generations through the magic of cinema. By blending reverence for history with forward-looking creativity, 2015 birthed a cinematic trend that remains a defining feature of 21st-century Hollywood for better or worse. You can follow Tyler and hear more of his thoughts on Twitter , Instagram , and Letterboxd . More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

The Best Cinematographers Working Today And Where To Find Them Next April 30, 2021 By: Hunter Friesen Cinematography is often the first thing we notice when watching a film, but the person behind the camera creating the magic often goes unrecognized except for the few seconds their name appears in the credits. A Director of Photography (DP) can carry a distinct visual style throughout their body of work, often pairing that style with a like-minded director. There are dozens of cinematographers working today that have produced some truly stunning work. This list highlights fifteen of them in no particular order and gives a brief glimpse into what they are working on next. No list can ever be perfect, and I'll be the first to say that many worthy names have been left off here. But before you get angry about an omission, you have to remember that to qualify for this list; a cinematographer must be officially attached to a film that is expected to be released by the end of 2022. So, quality names such as Rachel Morrison and Bradford Young do not appear because they don't have anything lined up at the moment. Roger Deakins This British-born DP isn't just considered one of the best working today; he's considered one of the best of all time. Deakins has cemented that status with his long-lasting director partnerships with both the Coen brothers and Sam Mendes. He is adaptable to all genres and can work on light comedies such as The Big Lebowski or tentpole epics like Skyfall . And despite being a perennial Oscar loser for nearly twenty years, he has claimed two consecutive wins for his work on Blade Runner 2049 and 1917 , respectively. His next project will reteam him with Sam Mendes for the 2022 release, Empire of Light . Bruno Delbonnel When Roger Deakins isn't available, the Coen brothers have relied on the French-born Delbonnel. He broke out early in France with Amelie and A Very Long Engagement , which showed off his distinct color palette. He's now worked with the Coens and Joe Wright on multiple films, most notably Inside Llewyn Davis and Darkest Hour . It's fitting that each of his following two projects will be with those directors as he has Wright's The Woman in the Window on Netflix in May and Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth later this year. Robert Richardson Regularly working with the likes of Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino, and Martin Scorsese, Robert Richardson has built his resume through a who's who of directing talent. He often matches his sharp visual style with a specific project, whether it be the period-accurate hard-lighting in The Aviator , harnessing the power of 3D in Hugo , or shooting on 70mm for The Hateful Eight . Richardson's upcoming project is a reteaming with director Andy Serkis for Venom: Let There Be Carnage , the sequel to the 2018 smash hit. Emmanuel Lubezki Like Richardson, Emmanuel Lubezki has attached himself to some of the top directors of the modern era. He’s had a fruitful relationship with fellow Mexicans Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu, and also with the enigmatic Terrence Malick. His movies often push the limit of the long take and rely heavily on natural lighting. His work has netted him a career of eight Oscar nominations, and he won three years in a row from 2013-2015. After taking a short break, he'll be back in the hunt later this year with David O. Russell's Amsterdam . Matthew Libatique Lover of handheld camerawork and color specificity, Matthew Libatique has traveled around the industry and worked on projects at every level. He's had a lasting partnership with Darren Aronofsky, creating visual horror with the films Black Swan and Mother! . He's shown off his incredible range with Birds of Prey last year, along with A Star Is Born and The Prom . He has two upcoming projects, one of which is a reunion with Aronofsky on an untitled A24 drama. The other is Olivia Wilde's follow-up to Booksmart , which is the 1950s set horror-thriller, Don't Worry Darling . Janusz Kaminski Almost exclusively working with Steven Spielberg since their partnership began in 1993 for Schindler's List , Polish DP Janusz Kaminski has been responsible for some of the most incredible imagery of the past quarter-century. He is known for his heavy lighting of windows and shooting on grainy film stock. He has proven that he isn't dependent on Spielberg, as he did wonders with Julian Schnabel in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and in 2014 with The Judge . Kaminski will be in full musical mode this winter with Spielberg's West Side Story remake set to be released at Christmas. Darius Wolski Also, from Poland, Wolski netted his first Oscar nomination last year for News of the World . Since coming to Hollywood in the mid-1990s, Wolski has worked on several blockbuster productions such as the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and nearly a dozen films with Ridley Scott. Both he and Scott have three movies in the pipeline, with two of them, The Last Duel and House of Gucci , releasing later this year. The third is a Napoleon Bonaparte biopic with Joaquin Phoenix, which is expected to begin production soon. Greig Fraser Australian Greig Fraser started his career with fellow countrymen such as Scott Hicks, Andrew Dominik, and Jane Campion. His films often have crisp darkness surrounding them, heightening the slow-burn tension his directors like to instill. He began to branch out in the early 2010s, working with Kathryn Bigelow in Zero Dark Thirty and with Gareth Edwards in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story . He netted his first Oscar nomination working with Garth Davis in Lion and recently won his first Emmy for his work in The Mandalorian . He's kept busy recently with two gigantic productions, which are Denis Villeneuve's Dune and Matt Reeves's The Batman . Darius Kohndji Like a fine wine, this Iranian-born DP seems to be getting better with age. His Hollywood hit came in 1995 on David Fincher's Se7en . He then attached himself to Woody Allen from Midnight to Paris to Irrational Man and showed off his prowess with soft lighting with James Gray in the films The Immigrant and The Lost City of Z . But he's also adept at sharp contrasts, which he used to perfection in Nicolas Winding Refn's Amazon series Too Old to Die Young . He's working with Alejandro González Iñárritu on his newest film, Limbo , which is filming now and slated for release later this year. Rodrigo Prieto Replacing Robert Richardson as Martin Scorsese's go-to cinematographer, Rodrigo Prieto burst onto the scene with Alejandro González Iñárritu's internationally acclaimed hit, Amores Perros . He kept up his relationship with Iñárritu while also dabbling in multiple projects with Julie Taymor and Oliver Stone. His visual style has lent itself to sprawling stories, such as the globe-trotting Babel or the decades-spanning The Irishman . Prieto and Scorsese are back together again for a western titled Killers of the Flower Moon , which recently started filming. Maryse Alberti Maryse Alberti has worked with filmmakers such as Darron Aronofsky ( The Wrestler ), Ryan Coogler ( Creed ), and most recently Ron Howard ( Hillbilly Elegy ), carving out a spot for herself as one of the best cinematographers working today. Blending handheld camerawork with striking compositions, her work has a naturalistic quality that helps the stories she's working on to feel grounded yet richly cinematic. She'll next be seen working with actor/director Denzel Washington on A Journal For Jordan (based on the memoir by Dana Canedy), which will reunite her with Creed star Michael B. Jordan and also stars Chanté Adams and Robert Wisdom. Jeff Cronenweth The son of Blade Runner cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth, Jeff cut his teeth on music videos and gradually worked his way into feature films. He's embraced digital photography, crafting some of the sharpest and cold imagery of the past decade in The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , and Gone Girl . He's recently been recruited by Aaron Sorkin to shoot his upcoming Lucille Ball biopic, Being the Ricardos . Linus Sandgren Favoring rich colors and eye-popping visuals, Sandgren started his Hollywood career with a bang in 2013 with David O. Russell's American Hustle . He stayed with Russell to make Joy just two years later and then partnered with wunderkind Damien Chazelle to make visual magic in both La La Land and First Man . He has a big lineup in the near future, with No Time to Die and Adam McKay's Don't Look Up being released later this year. He's also reteaming with Chazelle for the Hollywood epic Babylon , slated for release on Christmas 2022. Chung Chung-hoon When it comes to shot framing, this South Korean DP is the master. He partnered with fellow South Korean director Park Chan-wook in the films Oldboy , Thirst , and Lady Vengeance . The crowning achievement for the pair has to be 2016's The Handmaiden , a lush tale of deception and intrigue. He's dabbled in the English language a few times, and he can next be found working with Edgar Wright for Last Night in Soho and Ruben Fleischer for the Uncharted video game adaptation. Claudio Miranda Claudio Miranda is second to none when it comes to CG photography. He has embraced the popularization of digital filmmaking, showing off the wonders of technology in TRON: Legacy and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button . He won an Oscar in 2012 for his groundbreaking work with Ang Lee in Life of Pi . He's working with director Joseph Kosinski on two upcoming releases: the highly anticipated Top Gun: Maverick and Netflix's Escape from Spiderhead . Mihai Malaimare Jr. While not the biggest name on this list, this Romanian DP has worked with quite a few high-profile directors. He started with Francis Ford Coppola in his avant-garde trilogy of Youth Without Youth, Tetro , and Twixt . Then in 2012, he and Paul Thomas Andreson collaborated to make The Master , one of the most daring and gorgeous uses of 65mm. He kept a low profile for a while after that but returned in 2019 with Taika Waititi to make the sumptuous Jojo Rabbit . He'll next be seen partnering with newcomer Jeymes Samuel for the black-led Netflix western, The Harder They Fall . More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

The Gorge February 13, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Making a film straight-to-streaming is a low-risk-low-reward proposition for any filmmaker, especially when said streaming service is still in its relative infancy (i.e. they're not Netflix). If the film doesn't work, then it fails quietly, its only legacy being an inconspicuous credit on people's IMDb page. The same fate awaits a film that turns out to be good, all those months of blood and sweat not being met with a big box office haul, only a mention by the CFO at the next quarterly investor call covering subscription growth. While the television side of Apple TV+ has sporadically graduated from this level with hits like Ted Lasso , Severance , and Shrinking , its straight-to-streaming division remains firmly entrenched in the land of anonymity. The titles of Fingernails , Palmer , and Finch mean nothing to the average movie fan. Despite its exceptional quality, director Scott Derrickson's The Gorge is likely destined to repeat that same fate, falling down a cavernous catalog just as deep and mysterious as the one in the film itself. The location of this pit is a classified secret, even kept from the guards stationed in separate watchtowers on either side of it. One of them is Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy, sporting a moderately more believable accent compared to her work in The New Mutants ), your prototypical heartless Russian assassin who dons all black and pulls the trigger without hesitation. The American Levi (Miles Teller) was once like that, but the prolonged years of being in this business have made him care too much. What good is an assassin who's grown a conscience? A mysterious private military figure (Sigourney Weaver) figures that the absence of anything giving him a reason to keep living makes him the perfect expendable soldier. Both Levi and Drasa are essentially part of a suicide mission, standing guard over a cavern that possesses something so evil that the Eastern and Western superpowers have always put aside their Cold War differences and worked together to keep it contained. What the overlords didn't consider when they selected their representatives was what happens when you place two very attractive people in the wilderness with nothing to do but get to know each other. Teller and Taylor-Joy pull off the incredibly difficult task of developing a romantic relationship despite their physical distance initially preventing them from ever sharing the same frame. They communicate through telescopes and whiteboards and even exchange playful sniper fire in games of one-upmanship. Derrickson lends his skills well to this twisted meet-cute scenario, creating montages set to energizing needle-drops. None of the song choices could be considered original or fresh, but they're all incredibly likable and fit the mood. All this fun almost makes everyone forget that they're standing above a gateway to hell, that is until one day when the demons start getting a little too ambitious for their own good. Levi and Drasa are forcibly relocated to the bottom of the gorge, fending off waves of emaciated creatures that have waited for decades for a decent piece of meat to chew on. Derrickson is a filmmaker who's most well-known for his gnarly R-rated features like Deliver Us from Evil and The Black Phone . One would think that the PG-13 rating here would tie his hands behind his back, but the interesting creature design and expert overall craftsmanship never let that thought occur. I can't divulge specifics about what the creatures look like and how they came to be, as that's the central hook, something that the marketers equally valued when they surprisingly kept it a secret in the trailer. Cinematographer Dan Laustsen, a natural fit for this project considering his years-long relationship with creature feature aficionado Guillermo del Toro, creates an unsettling atmosphere through his colorful use of mist and Cold War aesthetics. The composer duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross accentuate Laustsen's imagery with their steel wire score. For those who have regularly played the Zombies game mode in the Call of Duty video game series and have longed for it to be brought to the silver screen, this is your dream come true. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Snack Shack March 22, 2024 By: Button Tyler Banark My fellow Nebraskans and Midwesterners, we have a big-name movie set and shot entirely in Nebraska for the first time in years. If you’re reading this and don’t understand the significance, Nebraska is a state that NEVER gets the Hollywood spotlight. When it does, it usually showcases only farmland, cornfields, and the nature of the panhandle/western part of the state. The only times Nebraska has been seen in a light where that’s not the case is in Alexander Payne’s filmography ( Citizen Ruth , Election , About Schmidt , Nebraska ). With Snack Shack , director Adam Carter Rehmeier crafts a love letter to his hometown of Nebraska City, a small town with roughly 7200 people. It’s a delightful treat, as Snack Shack doesn’t focus on the cliches Hollywood created for the Cornhusker State. Instead, it’s a simple teen comedy with the small town as the backdrop and a great heart. It’s 1991, and we meet our two leads, AJ (newcomer Conor Sherry) and Moose (Gabriel Labelle, in his follow-up role to The Fabelmans ), who are skipping their school field trip to the Omaha Zoo to bet on dog racing. These ambitious fifteen-year-olds want nothing more than to make a buck without doing any hard work. AJ’s strict parents catch wind of their rendezvous, and he’s forced to find a real job for the summer. While the two seek a job, their much older friend Shane (Nick Robinson) suggests buying the pool’s snack shack from the city. The two do it, and the shack becomes a hit as kids of all ages pay them hand over fist to get whatever they desire. Meanwhile, they both vie over Brooke (Mika Abdalla), a new lifeguard at the pool that puts their friendship to the test Rehmeier penned the script and does so flawlessly, taking the tropes of the coming-of-age teen comedy and applying them to his own methods. AJ and Moose are ambitious boys who are similar to the likes of duos we’ve seen in the past from the genre (i.e., Evan and Seth from Superbad , Ferris and Cameron from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off ). They try to scheme something big despite being in their early teens and do everything from making/selling their own beer to painting house numbers on curbs. One, in this case, Moose, can be seen as a bad influence while the other is playing along despite his parent's disapproval. It helps that Sherry and Labelle’s chemistry is fun and quick-witted, with comedic timings balancing each other out. Sherry brings a welcoming introduction as he fits the role of AJ perfectly. He doesn’t go overboard or play it safe; instead, he interprets the character to his own persona. AJ’s a dorky kid, and whenever he talks to Brooke, he tries to play it cool simply to impress. Luckily, Brooke finds him cute, and they build something together. On the other hand, Labelle continues to prove why The Fabelmans wasn’t a one-and-done situation. I feared he may not have much of a career after the 2022 hit, but I was proven wrong. Moose is the brains of the duo, but he often gets carried away in their plans to the point where he bosses AJ around. He can often be unlikable, and Labelle ensures that audiences feel that way whenever he does wrong by AJ. His train looks to keep going at full speed as he’s got another big project on the horizon in Jason Reitman’s SNL 1975 , which has become my most anticipated movie ever since Barbenheimer. The rest of the ensemble is fun to see on screen with Sherry and Labelle. Nick Robinson’s Shane is the big brother figure to AJ, and he nails the role. There’s a scene where AJ and Shane eat runzas at a lake when Shane gives AJ the best advice on handling Brooke and Moose. David Costabile and Gillian Vigman play AJ’s parents and are surprisingly funny whenever they scold the boys. Mika Abdalla as Brooke is also a great turn as she casually jokes around with AJ before their relationship blossoms into something more. Some viewers may see her character as one-dimensional or kind of a bland love interest. Yet, Brooke comes off as a love interest who initially intends to build a friendship with AJ, and the sparks fly when they spend time together. Rehmeier paints Nebraska summers just like how I remember them as a teenager. The plot of Snack Shack could have taken place anywhere, but he chose Nebraska City, which was a solid choice. At no point does Snack Shack present what moviegoers expect to see in a movie set in Nebraska, and it’s so satisfying that filmmakers understand that there’s more to the state than rural areas. Although Nebraska City is nowhere near as big as Omaha, it’s a neighborly town where you won’t need cornfields and farms if you find the right places. It also helps that cinematographer Jean-Philippe Bernier captures little idiosyncrasies that encapsulate a Nebraska summer, most notably whenever there’s a shot of a street at dusk with the streetlights starting to turn on. Bernier showcases the humid atmosphere of hot summer nights and how one would want just to stand outside and take it in wherever they are. Whether our characters are at a party, having a cookout, or going for a swim, it’s a refreshing sight to see. Above all, it’s a comforting feeling that only natives would understand, and those unfamiliar need to experience it to understand. Bernier also has some long takes in certain scenes, which looked great, but it made me wish it was done more often. If Snack Shack falters in any other way, it tends to milk a joke too far. When AJ and Moose open the shack, they sell candy, soda, and hot dogs. However, AJ gets the idea to write an obscene word on the hot dogs and charge 75 extra cents. Once the joke is introduced, it recurs numerous times, and by the time the film is over, it’s not as funny. Despite the humor wearing off, Snack Shack is still a fun teen comedy posing as a love letter to the small-town Nebraska that’s never seen on screen. Thanks to Sherry and Labelle's leadership and a solid script, Rehmeier knew precisely what he was going for and accomplished it satisfactorily. There’s no denying Sherry and Labelle’s fun banter and quick reactions with each other and their costars. I can guarantee these two are set for a bright future in Hollywood, especially Labelle, who has nowhere to go but up. As for Rehmeier, he made a statement for himself and the state of Nebraska. In time, I hope to see Hollywood starting to see more of Nebraska than they’ve presumed, and Snack Shack was the first step in the right direction toward getting there. You can follow Tyler and hear more of his thoughts on Twitter , Instagram , and Letterboxd . More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Robot Dreams March 18, 2024 By: Button Tyler Banark In a scene midway through Robot Dreams , our two protagonists, aptly named Dog and Robot, explore Manhattan and rollerskate to Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September.” Both the music and the pair’s unspoken bond continue from there, with many other activities filling the day. It’s a wonderful sequence of events, with that infinitely catchy song bringing joy to us and the characters as we watch them experience life through each other. It’s moments like these that show how much Robot Dreams speaks volumes, while never containing a single line of dialogue. It’s New York City in the 1980s! Punk rock is at its peak, boomboxes are a hot commodity, MTV actually plays music, and the Twin Towers overlook Manhattan. Amidst all the hustle and bustle, there’s Dog, a lonely canine longing for companionship. As he’s flipping through TV channels late one night, he comes across a commercial for a robot friend. It’s a moment of the right message reaching the right person at the right time, with Dog scurrying to his phone to place the order. He builds Robot with just as much enthusiasm once he arrives, and the two instantly become inseparable. That is, until a beach day goes wrong, as Robot becomes stuck after swimming and lying in the sun all day. Dog tries to get him to move, but the beach closes for the season, and Robot is stranded on the sand. During their time away from each other, Dog and Robot learn some hard lessons about friendship and how it can be found in the unlikeliest of places. The two are innocent, and neither of them could’ve prepared for their separation. Still, the audience holds out hope for them, and the movie accomplishes this thanks to writer-director Pablo Berger’s ability to convey an investing plot without the need for speaking. The animation industry is currently at a crossroads, with studios split between several different art styles, none of which are mutually exclusive. Robot Dreams provides an escape from the business of what you normally see, opting for a traditional hand-drawn style that allows the animators to add little idiosyncrasies for eagle-eyed viewers. Dog always has a hankering for a microwavable macaroni and cheese dinner. The sizzling sounds fill the air and the splattering of cheese on the microwave door. In another instance, Robot has a dream where he’s in a Wizard of Oz -esque landscape surrounded by giant, tap-dancing flowers that eventually take the shape of Dog’s face and change its angles as the scene progresses. It may not add much to the overall story, but it’s a neat creative choice that is worth the effort to see. Because of the absence of dialogue, the overall sound design picks up all of the slack. Berger and his team bring the city that never sleeps to life like never before. Car honks, sirens, subway noises, and even heavy foot traffic fill up the airwaves, yet never overcrowd during the musical sequences. The tap-dancing sounds precise, and Alfonso de Vilallonga’s flawless music adds another strong layer. The sound and animation may be strong suits for what makes Robot Dreams so amazing, but the story and plot are what bring it all home. From Dog and Robot joyfully rollerskating to Robot eventually being found on the beach and thrown into a junkyard, Berger does an impeccable job of caring for our central characters and understanding exactly what they’re going through. Better yet, Dog and Robot’s companionship could be up for interpretation as to how close they were. Were they lovers? Just friends? Perhaps a little bit of both? The ending is when the question of their relationship comes into play. Without going into much detail, “September” is heard again, and we see our two characters dancing the same routine they did in Central Park. Although I let out an audible “You’ve got to be kidding me” (again, no spoilers for why I said that), it’s for the best that this was the method the ribbon was tied. It’s a bit unfortunate that Robot Dreams found itself smack dab in the middle of an ultra-competitive year in the Best Animated Feature category. Although it lost to The Boy and the Heron (and equally likely would have lost to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ) , it was a worthy opponent. And while the film slowly rolls out across the country, all those who have already seen it will never stop reminiscing about the lasting impression it leaves. You can follow Tyler and hear more of his thoughts on Twitter , Instagram , and Letterboxd . More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Freud's Last Session December 12, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen September 03, 1939 was an unlikely day that featured an unlikely meeting between two unlikely intellectual leaders. Dr. Sigmund Freud (Anthony Hopkins), famed psychoanalyst living out his sickly final days in London, is greeted at his door by C.S. Lewis (Matthew Goode), Christian literary scholar and eventual author of the The Chronicles of Narnia . The topic at hand is the existence of God, with the Austrian a staunch denier and the Brit a firm believer. The weight of that subject is paralleled with the events of the day: Nazi Germany has just invaded Poland and the British government is declaring war. It only took twenty years for “the war to end all wars” to be usurped by an even bigger global conflict. Adapted from Mark St. Germain’s 2009 off-Broadway play of the same name, Freud’s Last Session opens up the action from within the confines of Freud’s study. Director Matthew Brown ( The Man Who Knew Infinity ) , who also co-wrote the screenplay with St. Germain, has these two titans interacting with average Londoners as the panic of Nazi bombings starts to set in. It’s in a cramped bomb shelter that inklings of Lewis’ PTSD from World War I start to bubble up to the surface. But rather than allow Goode and Hopkins to tell their own character’s backstories, Brown rashly splices in flashbacks to their youths. None of them match the energy of the central duo, nor do they communicate anything interesting, both narratively and visually. Take for instance the perfunctory scene where Freud as a child is scolded by his father to “never pray for him,” or a scene where Lewis as a child sees God through the beauty of nature. Never would I think historical figures such as these would have the same broad origin stories as superheroes. There’s also the inclusion of a subplot involving Frued’s daughter Anna (Liv Lisa Fries), who would go on to become a highly respected child analyst in her own right. Sigmund’s inoperable jaw cancer causes him unbearable pain and bleeding from the mouth, which often causes him to lash out in anger. Despite the pleas of her partner Dorothy (Jodi Balfour), whom Sigmund disapproves of on the grounds of lesbianism being a symptom of a bad relationship with one’s father, Anna stays devout to her father. Fries is steadfast in her role, but she’s left on an island by Brown, only interacting with Hopkins and Goode briefly in the first act before being shunted off on a B-story. Hopkins and Goode make good (sorry, I couldn’t help myself with that pun) on the material, which is surprisingly more muted than one would expect a debate about God would be. Both of them are polite in their stances, obviously reverential of the work the other has done. The early stages take the form of a drawn out fencing match where one person takes a slight jab, analyzes the opponent’s reaction, and then retreats back. Hopkins (who played Lewis in the 1993 film Shadowlands ) is experiencing one of the highpoints of his career with roles in The Two Popes , HBO’s Westworld , The Father , and Armageddon Time . He’s exceptionally playful with his dialogue here, always prepped with an answer even when he knows he’s wrong. Goode never wavers in the face of confrontation, keeping his guard up through his charming wit and intelligence. The final, and fatal, blow to the movie comes in the postscript, which reveals that this meeting may never have happened. Its inclusion isn’t meant to be a plot twist as the play is very forward with this information and labels itself as a possible work of fiction. But in a film such as this that has lacked so much energy and memorability, it evokes the same feeling as a college professor that has given a tiring lecture and ends it by saying none of it will be on the test. It’s hard to care when you’re told you don’t have to. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm November 5, 2020 By: Button Hunter Friesen Back in 2006, Sacha Baron Cohen shocked the world with his hilarious mockumentary called Borat . Playing the titular fake news reporter from Kazakhstan, Cohen toured America interviewing people from all walks of life. Through the character of Borat, Cohen showed Americans what they truly look like to the outside world: a bunch of overconfident and arrogant snobs that are too dumb to know how dumb they are. The film was an enormous success critically and commercially, which fueled rumors of a sequel for over a decade. Now in 2020, Cohen is back as Borat Sagdiyev. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm or if you want to go by the official title Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan , picks up where the last one left off. Borat has just been released from the Kazakh gulags and is being sent back to America. Once there, he will deliver a special gift (it’s best I don’t tell you what it is) to Michael Pence to regain America’s trust and loyalty towards Kazakhstan. What I just described to you is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the weirdness within this “moviefilm”. Borat’s mission is also just a shameless excuse for the character to return to America to do what he does best. But instead of being joined by his producer Azamat like in the first film, Borat is accompanied by his daughter Tutar, who knows next to nothing of the world outside her village and is accustomed to being told that women are not smart enough to read, have a job, or drive a car. This is all played for laughs, but it also does mock the seemingly backward gender norms found in parts of the world. Similar to Borat in the first movie, Tutar’s visit to the home of the brave will be quite the culture shock. Once there, Borat is quickly recognized by everyday citizens. Knowing that being an instantly recognizable star will jeopardize his mission, he must don an assortment of disguises as he makes his way across the states. He makes stops at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an anti masker rally, and even catches Rudy Guliani doing some questionable acts, for which he has had to defend in the previous weeks. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is a lot like the leftovers you take home after a good restaurant meal. It’s still good, but it’s not as good as it was before and the only thing you can think about while eating it is how much you enjoyed the first meal. Most of the “pranks” that Cohen pulls off as Borat seem to be much more scripted in this go around. Much of the fun of the first film came from the loose and improvised feel. This sequel is much more calculated in what it is trying to say and how it goes about doing it. This feeling of been-there-done-that isn’t completely Cohen’s fault. Unlike back in 2006, Americans have finally started to come around to the idea that we aren’t so special after all. Maybe it’s because of who we have (or had, depending on when this review is published in relation to the election) in the oval office or the idiotic way we are handling the pandemic. 2020 Americans don’t need another reminder that this country kind of sucks. We see it in our news feeds every day as we try to navigate the broken social ladder. Despite being unneeded on a story level, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is a needed reminder of just how talented Sacha Baron Cohen is as he does what he was put on this world to do. This is his brand of comedy that no one comes close to competing in. Whether he’s dressed as Borat, a southern trucker, an extremely antisemitic portrayal of a Jew, or Donald Trump himself, Cohen seamlessly slips into character and has you fooled instantaneously. However, the MVP of this movie is not Cohen, but Maria Bakalova, who plays Tutar. Bakalova follows the same trajectory as Cohen did in the first movie as she expertly pulls off the naivety of a sheltered girl in a lawless land. She also carries the emotional arc of the story as her relationship with her father flourishes with each subsequent hijink. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is a perverse and vulgar film that holds a mirror up to America. While the original was fresh and inventive, this follow-up is just more of the same with less luster. But, far worse movies have gotten far worse sequels, so we should count ourselves lucky that this sequel is redeemed by the comic genius of Sacha Baron Cohen and Maria Bakalova. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Landscape with Invisible Hand August 16, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Aliens have invaded Earth! They came from the sky, descending upon our mortal world after sensing our weaknesses. We are no longer the dominant species of our world, usurped by these higher-dimensional beings. Except, this event was nowhere near as exciting or terrifying as it sounds. It was more like a corporate buyout, as their alien technology was too advanced for us to compete. Every object, process, and idea became obsolete overnight, rendering the entire human race to be managed over with the cold smile of Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta. One of those humans was Adam Cambell (Asante Black), a Rhode Island teen with a lawyer mom (Tiffany Haddish) that has been unemployed since the takeover, and a younger sister (Brooklynn MacKinzie) that doesn’t see any light left in the world. Her feelings are pretty much shared by everybody, especially the teachers, most of whom have been laid off as they “have been underbid by the little boxes on your foreheads.” Adam sees a bit of sunshine in the form of his new classmate Chloe (Kylie Rogers), whose family has been homeless nomads for the past few months. The two develop romantic chemistry quickly, using their happy feelings for each other to escape their downtrodden circumstances. Luckily for them, those feelings can be monetized, as the aliens don’t have the physical capabilities to feel love and will pay top dollar to witness it firsthand through something called a “Courtship Broadcast.” As many Gen Xers would know, putting something online lessens the spontaneity of a feeling. You can’t fully be genuine when you’re trying to be genuine. Adam and Chloe run into this problem after the honeymoon phase dissipates rather quickly. That aspect of social media and modern love is only one of the handful of scattershot ideas within writer/director Cory Finley’s screenplay, adapted from the book of the same name by M.T. Anderson. There are also themes about consumerism, broken families, class divides, immigration, emigration, teenage angst, social norms, life’s purpose, and the value of art. It’s a classic case of too many cooks in the kitchen, with none of the “lessons” being all that insightful. You might not have seen it with these types of characters in these situations, but you can see these plot developments and themes coming from a mile away. Finley’s previous efforts of Thoroughbreds and Bad Education were able to thread the tonal needle with supreme confidence. There’s even a moment within Thoroughbreds where a character explains that the worst thing to be is indecisive. Finley seems to have forgotten that lesson in his third outing, as he loses that edge that made him such a phenom. Every image feels less than the sum of its parts, and you’re left with less energy than you came in with. But all is not totally lost. The cast is quite good. Black and Rogers are nice together, and Josh Hamilton often shines as Chloe’s father who bends so far backwards to not be a failure that he ends up becoming more of one. Tiffany Haddish rises above her thinly written character. There’s also Michael Abels’ (a frequent Jordan Peele collaborator) synth score, instilling that extra drop of sci-fi kitschiness. Landscape with Invisible Hand finds Finley stretching himself thinly across too many ideas and too many characters. It’s respectably ambitious, but never sticks the landing. Ultimately, it’s more of a misstep than a failure, as I expect him to find his footing again, hopefully, sooner rather than later. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

The Old Guard 2 July 2, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen By waiting five years to produce a sequel to The Old Guard , which found a respectable amount of applause and eyeballs during the COVID-19 summer of 2020, Netflix isn’t exactly striking the iron while it’s hot. Then again, five years is just a drop in the ocean for our main characters, their lifespans exceeding several millennia. But for us mere mortals, it’s more like a bucket of water in a kiddie pool. The cobwebs have to be dusted off in the memory bank, and an interest in the continuation of an overarching story has to be rekindled. The Old Guard 2 doesn’t accomplish either of those tasks very well, making the wait just that much more egregious. Only six months have passed since the events of the first film, and Andy’s (Charlize Theron) team is still doing the unappreciated dirty work of keeping humanity safe from themselves. They take out the worst of the worst, which really just means the generic Eastern European mobster we see in the opening set piece. Subbing in for the outgoing Gina Prince-Bythewood is director Victoria Mahoney, who doesn’t make a great first impression. The action is overedited and frenzied, leaving all of the physicality to feel a bit generic. Upping the stakes from the first film’s pharmaceutical villain is an equally immortal opponent in Discord (Uma Thurman). She’s just rescued Andy’s immortal soulmate Quynh (Veronica Ngo) from her five-century imprisonment at the bottom of the ocean, something that Andy failed to do. Discord has a Magneto-mindset to the whole immortals vs. humans debate, and she doesn’t take kindly to Andy continually protecting those who have hindered the progress of immortals. The proposition of Furiosa fighting The Bride is enough to immediately sell a movie. Theron and Thurman have been at the forefront of modern action, with their physicality and screen presence being unmatched. The trouble is that it takes an awfully long time to get to the good part, which isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be either. This is a film that thinks that switching locations is the same as doing something. It hopscotches between Paris, South Korea, Croatia, and Indonesia without much fanfare. The same goes for the flashbacks to illustrate the centuries-spanning backstories. A brief moment of visual imagination comes when Andy walks down a Parisian street, the memories across generations flooding throughout the background. There’s still the problem that none of these characters can die, except for Andy, since she lost her immortality at the end of the previous film. Similar to Deadpool, critical injuries are more of an inconvenience. Broken legs snap back, and bullet holes sew themselves up in seconds. Some contrivances are needed for consequences to be injected into the action. The extremely overqualified Henry Golding and Chiwetel Ejiofor are there to add a bit of gravitas to their sole responsibilities of explaining the rules. And for the second time in as many films, there isn’t so much a conclusion to this story, but a setup for what’s to come next. It feels like a mini-miracle that we even got this movie, so doubling down for another feels like a foolhardy gamble. I really hope it pays off, because I’m starting to consider pulling out my investment. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen