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Top 10 Oliver Stone Films September 15, 2022 By: Hunter Friesen As one of the most controversial figures in American filmmaking, Oliver Stone has never been shy about wearing his politics on his sleeve, which were shaped by his experiences in the Vietnam War, and the American cultural turmoil of the 1960s. Films such as Platoon, Wall Street, Born on the Fourth of July , and JFK gave way to his meteoric rise as an outspoken voice against a country he loves so much. But even with all that success early on, Stone hasn’t been able to find a footing in the 21st Century, turning in subpar work that doesn’t contain the epic anger he once had. In honor of his 76th birthday today, here’s a look at Stone’s ten best films as a director, many of which remain American classics. 10. Salvador This biographical war drama went largely unnoticed in 1986 due to the fact it was released the same year as Platoon . In fact, Stone competed against himself at the 1987 Oscars as both Salvador and Platoon were nominated for Best Original Screenplay (both would lose to Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters ). Salvador falls right in line with Stone’s career ambitions as he critiques America’s involvement in Central American politics during the Reagan administration, which had been embroiled in controversy over the Iran-Contra Affairs. James Woods, who was Oscar-nominated for his leading role, doggedly carries the film as a burnt-out journalist who slowly begins to see the horrible truth the further he goes down the rabbit hole. 9. Talk Radio With Talk Radio , Stone had finally met his match with a protagonist that was as angry as he was. Eric Bogosian reprises his stage role from the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play he created, delivering a grotesquely unlikeable character that you dare not look away from. In a similar vein to Paddy Chayefsky’s Network , Stone’s film is a scathing critique of our mass media culture, a subject he would tackle again with Natural Born Killers . With Robert Richardson’s dizzying circular camerawork and Bogosian’s never-ending tirade of insults towards his listeners, Talk Radio is in-your-face entertainment from beginning to end and has only gotten more and more relevant in our age of clickbait media. 8. The Doors Similar to the fate of Salvador , The Doors has often been pushed under the rug due to it being released a mere nine months before JFK . Following the larger-than-icon of Jim Morrison and the formation of the titular band, Stone’s film was the perfect combination of the psychedelic style of the creators and the period. Critiqued for its historical inaccuracies (which Stone is no stranger to), the film is best remembered for Val Kilmer’s stunning performance as the central figure. Kilmer was reportedly mistaken several times for the real Jim Morrison and did his own singing in each of the film’s concert sequences (take that Rami Malek). 7. Wall Street Only a year removed from Platoon , Stone switched his sights from American foreign policy to the domestic financial industry with Wall Street. Most famous for coining the multi-meaning quote “Greed is good,” and giving finance bros a figure they (wrongly) looked up to, Wall Street is overly naïve and mostly just two hours of Stone yelling about how capitalism is broken. But that doesn’t mean his simple statements aren’t correct, nor does it make the film any less entertaining with its flashes of excess that would later become popular in films such as Boiler Room and The Wolf of Wall Street . It’s a shame the 2011 sequel, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps wasn’t able to match the heights of its predecessor, especially considering the ripe material Stone was given with coming out of the Great Recession in 2008. 6. Any Given Sunday With enough light and noise to give even the audience a concussion, Stone makes Any Given Sunday into a war picture. He never lets you forget that football is not played on just a simple field, but a battlefield. The score is everywhere, the blood is spilling, and everybody is playing for their survival. Stone's direction is ambitious and loud, which is the sort of thing that works perfectly for this type of sports movie. Everything is heightened to the highest degree, both emotions and physicality. It's no wonder the NFL didn't approve of this movie as no viewer can come out of this and be motivated to watch football, let alone play it. 5. Born on the Fourth of July With a great Tom Cruise performance at its center, Born on the Fourth of July is an endearing, yet conventional, biopic. Centering on the loss of innocence and the façade of the American dream for the Vietnam-era youth, Stone returned to his Platoon roots. He crafts several ingenious individual scenes with his might behind the camera, which earned him his second Oscar for Best Director. The scenes at the prom, Vietnam, and the Syracuse protest are just some of the great moments. John Williams’ score perfectly supplements the sweeping nature of the story, as it contains trumpet swells that recall youthful patriotism and a string orchestra that signals the haunting moment reality has crushed those once bright dreams. 4. Nixon A few years after making JFK , Stone gave Kennedy’s 1960 election opponent the full cradle-to-grave epic biopic with Nixon . Surprisingly not as damning as one would think and turning out to be a box office bomb by grossing only $13 million against its $44 million budget, Stone’s film plays out like a Shakespearean tragedy as our “hero” rises to the highest mountain, only to be eventually brought down to the lowest valley. The Welsh Anthony Hopkins, who, unlike Val Kilmer, doesn’t share many resemblances to his counterpart, gives a great performance, complete with a foul mouth and overwhelming thirst for alcohol. Hopkins was Oscar-nominated for his portrayal, as was Joan Allen as First Lady Pat Nixon. 3. Platoon As the film that quickly raised Stone’s status as an American auteur, Platoon is a dizzying autobiographical masterpiece. There's no order to anything that happens, from the battle scenes to the doldrums of downtime. Along with your confusion, you feel despair and a loss of purpose. What's the point of any of this? Soldiers are sent to die, or they survive and wish they were dead. The film was an enormous box office hit, grossing nearly $150 million on only a $6 million budget. It would conquer the 1987 Academy Awards with a haul of four awards, including Best Director for Stone and Best Picture. It would also launch the careers of several of its stars, many of which would work with Stone again (Charlie Sheen in Wall Street and Willem Dafoe in Born on the Fourth of July ). 2. Natural Born Killers Making each of his previous films look tame in comparison, Natural Born Killers creates a hellscape within the mind of the viewer as Stone savagely takes down the true-crime obsession of the American public. Matching the bewildering chaos on-camera was a bevy of troubled stars behind-the-scenes, such as the drug-addicted Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Sizemore, and Juliette Lewis beginning to practice Scientology. You also had Quentin Tarantino - who had just won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Pulp Fiction - lambasting the film for its reworking of his original script. All that drama fueled public anticipation for the film as it became a box office success while being banned in several countries and demonized by politicians for its unflinching violence and gonzo style. With the 2010s seeing a boom in true-crime podcasts, scripted television, and reality shows, the film has only gotten more relevant as time went on, with several critics praising the film for its messaging during its 25th anniversary in 2019. 1. JFK Accurately described as a “mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma,” Stone’s magnum opus is his quest for truth and justice against the military-industrial complex that stole his innocence. It’s a masterwork of cinematography by Robert Richardson and editing by Joe Hutshing and Pietro Scalia, both of which won Academy Awards in their respective categories. Richardson employed 7 cameras and 14 film stocks during the production, ranging from 16mm to 35mm, as well as color and black and white. Despite some of the film’s claims being later debunked, the “counter-myth” Stone proposes is nonetheless enticing at the moment and makes you wonder what else could be lurking in the shadows. The meeting between Jim Garrison (wonderfully played by Kevin Costner) and Mr. X remains one of the most effective conspiracy scenes in cinematic history. While it was trounced by The Silence of the Lambs in each of the above-the-line categories it was nominated for at the 1992 Academy Awards, JFK remains one of the quintessential films of its time and genre. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

TIFF25 Recap September 17, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen For ten days at the beginning of September, the laws of time and space cease to exist. Days turn to night in an instant, getting three hours of sleep per night becomes a normal practice, and diets consist of Tim Horton’s donuts, movie theater popcorn, and hot dogs from that heavenly cart located at the corner of King Street W and John Street. If you’re not going home asking yourself why you put your mind and body through the wringer, then you haven’t fully experienced the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Of the two hundred plus films showcased throughout the fiftieth edition of this festival, I saw thirty-eight of them, an improvement over last year’s tally of thirty-seven. Before branding me with the crazy label, just know that I’ve met and observed people who have eclipsed fifty films without breaking a sweat. My streak started on a soaking wet Thursday with one of the best films of the festival: Sentimental Value by Joachim Trier. The recipient of the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, this Norwegian drama is one of the year’s most emotionally intelligent films. Every tear, gasp, and laugh is produced at the exact right moment. Yet it's never manipulative, always proudly wearing its heart on its sleeve. I expect a lot of Oscar attention to be placed upon Trier and his quartet of cast members, with Stellan Skarsgård likely to be the frontrunner for Best Supporting Actor. The second day began with a major disappointment as Olivier Assayas’ The Wizard of the Kremlin was a major bore. And that’s coming from someone who enthusiastically took a college elective course on modern Russian history. Luckily, Park Chan-wook’s wildly entertaining No Other Choice picked me right up only a few hours later. And then later that night, I caught the world premiere of The Choral , a comfortingly forgettable British dramedy starring Ralph Fiennes as a choir teacher who must inject new life into a town’s choir during the height of World War I. Sony Pictures Classics will release it in theaters on Christmas Day. After taking the festival by storm last year with The Brutalist , Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold returned with The Testament of Ann Lee . Fastvold takes her turn in the director’s chair in stride, presenting a quasi-musical about the titular character and the founding of the Shaker movement in colonial America. Amanda Seyfried is excellent in the title role, and I hope she’ll be a factor in this year’s Oscar race once a distributor picks up the film. It’s unfair to label Wake Up Dead Man as my least favorite of the now three Knives Out films, as I still had a lot of fun with it. Josh O’Connor is ostensibly the lead, taking an ever larger role as the audience’s guide than Ana de Armas and Janelle Monáe did in their respective entries. The cast is not as well served here, while Daniel Craig falls deeper into his Foghorn Leghorn routine, upping his comedic prowess as the proudly rational detective must come face-to-face with the realization that all the clues point to this murder being a miracle. I saw a lot of good/great films throughout the first few days, but I was still waiting for “the one” to appear. That happened early Monday morning in the form of Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet , which deservedly took home the festival’s coveted People’s Choice Award. There wasn’t a dry eye in the theater as the origin of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is told through the tragic prism of his young son, Hamnet. Jessie Buckley is nothing short of transcendent, practically engraving her Oscar with every moment of laughter and cries. It’s the best film of the year, and make sure to check it out in theaters this Thanksgiving. Netflix led the charge during the festival’s middle section. Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and Clint Bentley’s Train Dreams are also two of the year’s best films, telling touching stories set against breathtakingly beautiful backdrops. Edward Berger couldn’t maintain the momentum as he delivered his worst film to date in Ballad of a Small Player . It’s still watchable thanks to his expert craftsmanship, but the DNA is all wrong. Ranging from “okay” to “good enough” during that span were Rental Family , The Lost Bus, Nuremberg , Hedda , The Secret Agent , and Good Fortune . Starring Dwayne Johnson, The Smashing Machine came into the festival with a ton of heat after Venice showered the film with positive reviews and the Silver Lion prize to director Benny Safdie. I’m a little puzzled as to what everyone saw in the film, as all I experienced was a standard sports biopic clothed in just enough rough production qualities so that distributor A24 could maintain their indie cred. The final few days are always a crapshoot in terms of quality. Chris Evans and Anya Taylor-Joy starred in the toothless capitalist satire Sacrifice , while Angelina Jolie led an international cast through Paris Fashion Week in Couture . Vince Vaughn may be a very likable actor, but he can’t carry a tune to save his life, which is why he’s horribly miscast as a Las Vegas lounge singer with untapped potential in Easy’s Waltz . The worst film of the festival was Scarlet , Mamoru Hosoda’s anime version of Hamlet (there he is again!) that trades away all of the wit and heart for obnoxious characters and never-ending yelling. Many of these films will be released in theaters or on streaming by major studios from now until the end of the year, while others will be trapped in limbo for years to come. It’s all a part of the big gamble we all partake in, experiencing the ecstasy and agony through stories projected on a giant silver screen. You’d assume I’d swear off movies for a few weeks after this whole ordeal. But the train never slows down, and I’m having too much fun to jump off. FULL RANKING Hamnet Frankenstein Sentimental Value No Other Choice The Testament of Ann Lee Train Dreams It Was Just an Accident Sound of Falling Nouvelle Vague Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery Roofman Two Prosectors The Voice of Hind Rajab The Secret Agent Rose of Nevada Sirāt Eagles of the Republic The Christophers Rental Family Ballad of a Small Player Fuze Hedda The Smashing Machine Nuremberg A Private Life Good Fortune Couture The Wizard of the Kremlin Sacrifice The Choral Tuner Christy The Lost Bus Silent Friend Orphan The Fence Easy’s Waltz Scarlet More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

2022 Winners January 1, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen While it definitely wasn’t as bad as 2020 or 2021, 2022 could still be considered a rough year for most people. But there were a few that rose above the challenges set before them and came out victorious. In this list, I’ll be going through nine of the biggest winners of 2022, whichever way you want to define the term “success.” Of course, plenty more could have been included here, but margin space is tight so some tough decisions had to be made. Make sure to come back tomorrow to see the unveiling of the 2022 Losers list. A24 Just as they always do, the independent distributor offered several genre-drying outings from our best present and future filmmakers. Their presence was felt at every film festival, with Everything Everywhere All at Once (SXSW), Close (Cannes), and The Whale (Venice) grabbing headlines from all over the globe. And with the box office potential for arthouse films falling by the wayside at alarming rates, A24 has continued to position itself as a strong brand geared towards younger demographics, so its future looks as bright as its present. Colin Farrell In terms of both quality and quantity, the Irish actor knocked it out of the park, starring in several productions in varying genres and scales. He started off the year with After Yang at Sundance, reintroducing Kogonada’s film after its 2021 Cannes bow. He then went big, both literally and metaphorically, for The Batman , which has netted him his own future spinoff show. Then there was Ron Howard’s Thirteen Lives , where he and Viggo Mortensen aptly led the inspiring true story of the Thailand cave rescue. And, finally, he returned to his native home country to work again with Martin McDonagh on The Banshees of Inisherin , receiving the best reviews of his career. He’s already picked up a number of critics' prizes and looks to be a prime contender for the Best Lead Actor Oscar. Jenna Ortega No one had a bigger rise to fame in 2022 than Jenna Ortega. She had the one-two punch of The Fallout and Scream in January, proving that she was both able to carry heavy dramatic material and be a box office star. She kept the horror streak going with a supporting performance in Ti West’s X , followed by the titular role in Wednesday , which has already become one of Netflix’s most popular shows of all time. She’ll reprise her role in the upcoming Scream 6 , meaning we may have a new scream queen for this generation. Legacy Sequels Who says a sequel needs to come right away? If 2022 taught us anything, it’s that no movie is too old to get a follow-up. Top Gun: Maverick demolished box office expectations despite thirty-six years between entries, and Avatar: The Way of Water will look to repeat the success of its thirteen-year-old predecessor. Jackass Forever brought back the usual gang of numbskulls after a dozen years apart, resulting in even more hilarious brain trauma. Finally, there was Scream , blending both fan-favorites such as Neve Campbell and Courtney Cox with a fresh-faced group of potential Ghostface victims. Claire Denis The revered French auteur released two movies in 2022, both netting her positive critical remarks and some hardware for her trophy shelf. The first was Both Sides of the Blade , premiering at the Berlin Film Festival and reuniting her with Juliette Binoche and Vincent Lindon. Denis would pick up the festival prize for her direction just as she was racing around the clock to put the finishing touches on Stars at Noon for it to be submitted for the Cannes Film Festival, her first time there in competition in over thirty years. Her hard work paid off, as the film was jointly awarded the Grand Prize of the Festival (second-place prize) along with Lukas Dhont’s Close . Brian Tyree Henry Between both movies and television, and comedy and drama, Henry reached new heights in his career. He stole the spotlight from both Brad Pitt with his Thomas the Tank Engine-obsessed character in Bullet Train , and Jennifer Lawrence as a grief-stricken car mechanic in Causeway , which might earn him an Oscar nomination. He also concluded his run on Atlanta with the final two seasons, putting him in a prime position for next year’s Emmy awards. Horror Movies While other genres saw dwindling box office numbers, horror movies kept theaters afloat, both in wide and limited releases. Smile was the big winner with over $100 million both domestically and internationally, with Barbarian and The Menu close behind. Damien Leone’s Terrifier 2 proved to be a great investment at a budget of only $250,000, grossing over $10 million despite staying in a small number of theaters. X and Pearl gave arthouse horror fans a surprise treat, Prey reimagined the Predator franchise, and Bones and All told a story filled with both literal and metaphorical heart. Cate Blanchett Considering the high bar Blanchett has set for herself throughout her career, it’s hard to imagine how she would be able to raise it again. But just as she’s always done, she doubted the naysayers, turning in one of best performances of her career in TÁR , writer/director Todd Field’s return to feature filmmaking after a sixteen-year absence. She’ll be a top contender for her third acting Oscar. She also provided monkey noises for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio , and her narration for The School for Good and Evil was the only positive thing critics had to say about that movie. Ethan Hawke The only thing consistent about Hawke’s output this past year was the excellence of its quality. He made his MCU debut, and probably made some good money, as the main antagonist in Moon Knight . He then did three wildly different roles, both in terms of size and range, on the silver screen: Leading The Black Phone , supporting in The Northman , and providing a cameo in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery . But Hawke wasn’t just satisfied with appearing in front of the camera, as he also directed the six-part HBO Max documentary series on the relationship between Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Tyler's Takes: In Defense of Pixar's 'Elemental' June 22, 2024 By: Tyler Banark As I was making my Top 10 Pixar Movie list in preparation for Inside Out 2 , there was one specific movie that, while coming close, didn’t make the cut. It’s been on my mind a lot over the past year and was even the main inspiration for this series I’m starting here. The movie in question is Elemental , a sleeper hit that was initially met with mixed reactions, poor marketing, and a barely profitable box office campaign. It was a fever dream of a film through its unusual release, and, while it does have a misstep here and there, it should have received more love than it got. One could say its biggest laurel placed upon it was a simple namecheck nomination in the Best Animated Feature category at the Oscars, where it was easily trounced by Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and The Boy and the Heron , the latter being the winner. Still, in a time where Pixar is making films that either feel too safe, don’t stick the landing, or totally miss the mark by a mile, Elemental circumvented all those traps through a valiant risk-taking effort. Spoiler Warning: Specific story points will be mentioned Like many other Pixar films, Elemental is brilliantly animated and presents itself as simple on the surface, yet rich in complexity as it delves into themes of immigration, familial expectations, and social class. These themes are embodied in one of our two main characters, Ember. The first two themes are vital as her parents, Bernie and Cinder, immigrated to Element City in search of a new life, their journey being fraught with challenges, such as finding a place to live while facing xenophobia and prejudice. As Ember grows up, she’s led to solely believe she’ll one day take over her father’s shop. This nuanced exploration of societal issues and expectations adds depth to the film and invites the audience to reflect on these themes. The theme of social class is also seen in Ember and her counterpart/love interest, Wade. Ember comes from a working-class family of immigrants who sacrificed everything and live in a rundown building that houses their home and Bernie’s shop. Meanwhile, Wade comes from a more well-to-do family, as we see them living in a fancy high-rise apartment. The dichotomy of these two character’s financial upbringings was not something I would expect to see in a Pixar film, yet it effectively bolsters the narrative by adding an element of uncertainty to their relationship. Another commendable component of Elemental is its ability to be a family-friendly rom-com, something the marketing department failed to highlight. Posing as the strongest aspect of the film’s script, this subplot sees Ember and Wade’s relationship go through the beats we’ve come to expect within raunchier entries in the genre. Neither of them gets along with the other when they first meet, with Ember wanting nothing more than for Wade, a water person who works as a city inspector, to leave her father’s shop alone. He writes them up for a citation as their pipes aren’t up to city code, while also helping her find a way to have them waived. Hilarity ensues as they spend more time together and meet each other’s families. When Wade meets Ember’s parents, he’s greeted with hostility as he claims to be a food inspector. In doing so, Bernie forces Wade to eat a traditional fire dish that causes him to bubble up from the heat. On the contrary, when Ember meets Wade’s family, they treat her kindly and think nothing of their different elements. Audiences can tell director Peter Sohn took heavy inspiration from numerous rom-coms, most notably Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and Moonstruck , to convey the love story on display. The more time Ember and Wade spend together, from attending a sporting event to building a barricade, the more their feelings mutually grow, eventually settling into a case of opposites attracting. They go out on dates, seen in a beautiful montage accompanied by Lauv’s original anthem, “Steal the Show.” But their relationship is held back by one crucial thing: elements can’t mix without harming each other. When they decide to put this theory to the test, they discover that they can in fact touch each other (change each other’s chemistry, as Wade put it), and share a little dance in celebration. While it is of course beautifully animated and soulfully (no pun intended) written, the uplift during this moment comes from a dreamy score provided by the great Thomas Newman. It encompasses that feeling couples get when the world stops around them, all all they can do is be right here, right now. There’s a reminiscent feel within this scene to the similarly thematic one in WALL-E , which Newman also scored. Have no fear though, as your skepticism surrounding the possibility that the movie would simply follow the rom-com formula beat-for-beat gets subverted. In many cases, the film’s climax happens after the love interests go apart, most likely through a big where they confront each other in public, reconciling their differences and solidifying their love. Right after Ember and Wade have their dance, she tells him it’s over as she remembers that she must stay loyal to her father’s wishes, always putting them above herself. Moments later, Wade crashes Ember’s family party celebrating Bernie’s retirement. Wade monologues about the reasons why he and Ember can’t be together, reminding her that there are “a million nos… But there's also one yes.” If Elemental wanted to make the safe decision to follow every other rom-com, Ember would’ve said it back, proudly telling her family and friends that elements can mix, and Wade is accepted. However, Ember tells Wade she doesn’t love him back and demands that he leave. Wade does so… but they later reconcile and express their love in the film’s climax. Look, this is still a Disney movie after all, there has to be a happy ending. Part of what makes numerous Pixar movies amazing is how complex they are underneath the surface. The Incredibles pushes the envelope of what can be included for a PG movie, Ratatouille and the Toy Story movies tackle the theme of purpose, WALL-E focuses on a show, don’t tell narrative approach rarely seen in family movies, while Up and Coco act as films that discuss the act of letting go of dark clouds. Elemental is no different from them as it acts as a rom-com for the whole family that doesn’t follow the formulaic plot that can come with that subgenre. It stands alone as Pixar’s first movie to land on its feet after a disappointing streak to start the 2020s. Onward and Luca played it safe, Soul and Lightyear bit off more than they could chew, and Turning Red ’s execution didn’t work the way it wanted. Unlike those movies, Elemental was a risk-taking effort that stuck the landing in a way I wish a lot of others could see. You can follow Tyler and hear more of his thoughts on Twitter , Instagram , and Letterboxd . More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

2026 Oscar Nominations - Winners & Losers January 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Christmas morning for cinephiles has come and gone, with many films receiving a bounty of presents or a big lump of coal. Records were broken, tears were shed, and campaigns to win these trophies are now in full swing. With the dust settling (for now), let's break down who the big winners and losers were. Winner: Sinners By taking advantage of the new category for achievement in casting and, surprisingly, getting Delroy Lindo nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Sinners broke the all-time nomination record. Across a total of sixteen categories, Ryan Coogler's film didn't miss a single category it was predicted to be nominated for. With the SAG and PGA awards on the horizon, the film has clearly shown it still has some juice left in the fight for Best Picture. Loser: Wicked: For Good Once the reviews were out, it seemed inevitable that Wicked: For Good would take a step down from the ten nominations its predecessor got. At the very least, we expected the crafts to make a repeat appearance, especially when the costumes and production sets won Oscars last year. Alas, every branch of the Academy collectively shunned the sequel, handing it a big, fat goose egg on nomination morning. Winner: Bugonia The ho-hum initial reactions following Bugonia ’s premiere at the Venice International Film Festival spurred everyone to think this would go the way of Kinds of Kindness or The Lobster instead of The Favourite and Poor Things . Instead, it landed somewhere in the middle, netting four total nominations, including Best Picture. Emma Stone has proved to be her generation’s Meryl Streep / Cate Blanchett, nabbing her fifth acting nomination before the age of 37. She and Lanthimos have four feature films together, with three of them being nominated for Best Picture. Loser: Paul Mescal Between Joseph Fiennes being snubbed for Shakespeare in Love and now Paul Mescal for Hamnet , taking on the role of William Shakespeare is an Oscar curse. Mescal received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor from every major precursor, and Hamnet has been a top-tier Best Picture since its premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in August. Adam Sandler or Miles Caton were predicted to be the possible upset options. However, it was Caton’s Sinners co-star Delroy Lindo who came in with the steel chair, netting his first-ever Oscar nomination in a very long and respected career. Winner: Sentimental Value What started with a 19-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival back in May has culminated in nine Oscar nominations. After being fully blanked by SAG, all four members of its ensemble were Oscar-nominated. The film was even nominated for Best Film Editing, which had a very outside shot at receiving. The battle for Best International Feature is now down to it and The Secret Agent , both of which netted a nomination for Best Picture. Loser: It Was Just an Accident Jafar Panahi’s film has now broken the three-film streak of Palme d’Or winners being nominated for Best Picture. Even a few weeks ago, the film seemed like a surefire bet to get in, performing extremely well at the initial critics' awards. However, cracks started to form right when Oscar voting began, and the film only managed to get in for Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature. With other Cannes titles like Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent overperforming on expectations, it seems likely that Panahi will go home empty-handed. Winner: Warner Bros. For a studio that is supposedly being swallowed up by the Netflix machine, Warner Bros. made quite the statement for itself on Oscar nomination morning. Their Best Picture nominees of Sinners and One Battle After Another combined for a total of twenty-nine nominations, with the former clearing the record with sixteen. It can also take half-credit for the four nominations garnered by F1 , which it distributed with Apple Original Films in the United States. All three of those films are expected to be heavy favorites in multiple categories at the Oscar ceremony, so this level of dominance will likely continue. Loser: Searchlight Pictures Likely regarded as one of the strongest speciality distributors in the awards game, this year marks the first time since 2005 that Searchlight Pictures was fully blanked from the Oscars. Back in the summer, they seemed to have a strong one-two punch in Rental Family and Is This Thing On? . Once both of those films underperformed, they switched horses to The Testament of Ann Lee . That also didn’t go anywhere; the film’s rejection from many shortlists sealing its doom way before Oscar nomination morning. In 2026, they have new films from Tony Gilroy and Martin McDonagh, so they shouldn’t be out of the conversation for very long. Winner: Global Cinema We’ve been living in a Renaissance period for international representation at the Oscars for a few years now. It’s now common for multiple foreign language films to be nominated for Best Picture, with this year’s entries being Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent . Other international films that picked up nominations include It Was Just an Accident (Best Original Screenplay), Sirât (Best Sound), Kokuko (Best Makeup & Hairstyling), and The Ugly Stepsister (Best Makeup & Hairstyling). With borders becoming less and less of an obstacle amongst the cinephile community, this trend will only increase the more we venture into the future. 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Cannes 2022: 50 Films That Could Premiere April 4, 2022 By: Hunter Friesen Just as the 2021 awards season concludes, it's time to get excited and speculate about another film festival. Often considered the most prestigious festival in the world, the Cannes Film Festival is where many renowned international auteurs show off their work. Last year's edition was the first one since the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered the 2020 edition, with Spike Lee's jury awarding the coveted first place Palme d'Or to Julia Ducournau's Titane , making the French director only the second woman to direct a Palme d'Or winning film (Jane Campion did it first in 1993 for The Piano ). Even though it often contains a small selection of American titles, Cannes still plays a sizable role in the Oscar race. Along with Titane , last year's festival saw the launches of players such as The Worst Person in the World and Drive My Car . In prior years, Parasite, Amour, The Tree of Life , and even Pulp Fiction began their awards season journeys on the Croisette. The 2022 edition is an extra special one for the festival, as it will mark the 75th edition in festival history and will be the first one overseen by newly elected president Iris Knobloch. Festival Director Thierry Frémaux will unveil his selection in ten days on April 14th, which could include more than the usual 20 titles in the main competition due to the festival's anniversary celebration and the overwhelming supply of filmmakers with exciting new products. Attention will be placed on Frémaux on how he responds to the criticism the festival has received in the past about gender parity. This year, there's plenty for him to choose from, with Kelly Reichardt, Rebecca Zlotowski, and Joanna Hogg each having films in the pipeline. Speculation also abounds that Frémaux is hunting for either Marion Cotillard or Penélope Cruz to serve as this year's jury president. One thing for certain is that Frémaux will not be selecting any Netflix films within his lineup, as the streamer and the French film industry still remain far apart from making a distribution deal that would satisfy both parties. Because of that, no Netflix titles will be included in this article. Certain other films that are already confirmed or heavily speculated not to appear at the festival include Alejandro G. Iñárritu's Bardo and Luca Guadagnino's Bones and All , which have their eyes set on a Venice premiere. Claire Denis' The Stars at Noon and Nuri Bilge Ceylan's On Barren Weeds will also not make an appearance as they remain deep in post-production. And festival veterans Abderrahmane Sissako with The Perfumed Hill and Jessica Hausner with Club Zero are also unlikely to turn up as their films are still grappling with production delays from the pandemic. So without further ado, I'll delve into 50 films that have the potential to premiere at Cannes. They are sorted into three categories based on their likelihood, which stems from a combination of factors that are explained in each summary. ALREADY CONFIRMED Elvis Australian Baz Luhrman has continually supplied a stylistic jolt to Cannes since his feature debut, Strictly Ballroom , won the 1992 Award of the Youth. Moulin Rouge! kicked off its Oscar run at Cannes in 2001, and The Great Gatsby opened the festival in 2013. After a nine-year break, Luhrman is back with his biopic about The King of Rock and Roll. Three Thousand Years of Longing Mad Max: Fury Road writer/director and president of the 2016 jury, George Miller, will be opening the festival with his Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba starring fantasy film. Three Thousand Years of Longing is said to be a high-budget arthouse piece as it tells the story of a scholar encountering a Djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. Top Gun: Maverick Leave it to Tom Cruise to provide the necessary glitz and glamor that thrives on the Croisette. Cruise and director Joseph Kosinski will be debuting their long-gestating and habitually delayed sequel to the 1986 smash hit. The premiere will line up nicely with the film's release across Europe. VERY LIKELY Armageddon Time After taking brief detours into Amazonia ( The Lost City of Z ) and space ( Ad Astra ), writer/director James Gray returns to the Big Apple for his semi-autobiography that will somehow feature Donald Trump and his late father. Cannes has long been an admirer of Gray's work, debuting four of his films (all of which featured Joaquin Phoenix). While Armageddon Time may not feature Phoenix, it does have a prominent cast of Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, and Anthony Hopkins. Broker After making his English-language debut with The Truth , Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda will be making his Korean-language debut with Broker . The title comes from the act of people leaving their unwanted babies in boxes outside of anonymous homes. Thematically, it sounds similar to Kore-eda's previous films Nobody Knows and Like Father, Like Son , both of which debuted at Cannes, with the latter winning the Jury Prize. Kore-eda's last film to debut at Cannes, Shoplifters , won the Palme d'Or, so a return to the festival is nearly inevitable. Brother and Sister The native Arnaud Desplechin has competed for the Palme d'Or six times and has won the SACD Prize within the Director's Fortnight in 2015 for My Golden Days . The question of when he will finally be rewarded on the main stage may be starting to percolate. His drama stars Marion Cotillard and Melvil Poupaud as siblings reuniting after the death of their parents. The one wrinkle in the film's awards prospects depends on whether Cotillard takes up the jury presidency, which would force this film to play out of competition. No matter the capacity, Desplechin's film will surely make an appearance. Crimes of the Future Cannes has been the birthplace of five of David Cronenberg's films, with Crash wreaking havoc with vehicular-related sex 25 years before Titane . Cronenberg hasn't directed a feature since 2014's Maps to the Stars , which won Julianne Moore the festival award for Best Actress. Speaking to Now Toronto last October, Cronenberg clearly stated he wanted the film to premiere at Cannes, a feeling Fremeaux likely shares as Crimes of the Future also packs a talented cast of Viggo Mortensen, Kristen Stewart, and Léa Seydoux. Decision to Leave Park Chan-wook's newest film was 2021 Cannes destined but just wasn't ready in time. Chan-wook will always have a spot reserved for him at Cannes, as he won the Grand Prize of the Jury for Oldboy In 2003 and tied for the Jury Prize for Thirst in 2009. It's been six years since Chan-wook's last feature, The Handmaiden , and his next feature will take him into the detective genre with a story following an investigation of a man's mysterious death and his equally mystifying wife. R.M.N. Romanian Cristian Mungiu is one of the most revered filmmakers in the festival's history, having won the Palme d'Or, Best Screenplay, and Best Director prizes on separate occasions. His next film will be a "plea for tolerance" that revolves around a small village in Transylvania where xenophobia takes over when a bakery hires two foreigners. Tchaikovsky's Wife While the Cannes leadership has ruled that they will not welcome any members of the Russian delegation or those linked to the government, that rule does not apply to Russian auteur Kirill Serebrennikov, who has had his own problem with Putin's government. Serebrennikov recently left the country after a three-year travel ban, which forced him to miss the premiere of Petrov's Flu last year. His next film will look at the tempestuous relationship between Pyotr Tchaikovsky, the most famous Russian composer of all time, and his wife, Antonina. Word has been mum about the film's production status, but the festival will reserve a spot for Serebrennikov if he is ready. Tori and Lokita There isn't a safer bet out there than predicting that the Dardenne brothers of Jean-Pierre and Luc will debut their film at Cannes. The Belgian duo has debuted eight films at Cannes, with 1999's Rosetta and 2005's L'enfant both winning the Palme d'Or. They've also won the Best Screenplay ( Lorna's Silence ) and Best Director awards ( Young Ahmed ), as well as the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury on three separate occasions. Their newest feature will tell the story of a friendship between two young people after traveling from Africa and becoming exiled in Belgium. Production began last summer, giving the brothers plenty of time to prepare for another Palme d'Or run. Triangle of Sadness This was one of the more puzzling omissions from the 2021 lineup announcement, especially since Swedish superstar Ruben Östlund recently won the Palme d'Or with The Square in 2017 and the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize in 2014 for Force Majeure . Rumors swirled that Östlund's film might show up in Venice, but it turned out the film just wasn't ready. Östlund's been working on trimming the movie down from its current three-hour runtime and seems destined to bring his trademarked sense of social satire to Cannes. White People Robin Campillo will likely return to the festival that awarded 2017's BPM (Beats Per Minute) with the Grand Prize of the Jury along with the Queer Palm. He also has the Palme d'Or sitting on his trophy shelf for 2008's The Class . His newest film will also be set in recent history as it follows the upbringing of a young boy during the French colonial rule of Madagascar in the 1960s/1970s. LIKELY Children of Others Rebecca Zlotowski has been a staple of the sidebars, competing in Critics' Week, Un Certain Regard, and Directors' Fortnight. Will this be the time she finally graduates to the main competition? Benedetta star Virginie Efira will lead her next film as a childless woman who forms a deep bond with her boyfriend's young daughter. Chronicle of a Temporary Affair A recent triple nominee by the César Awards for writing, directing, and producing The Things We Say, the Things We Do , Emmanuel Mouret is ready to make an appearance at the festival he hasn't been to since 2006. His new film will be a romantic drama centered around a single mother and married man who have their purely physical relationship tested when their feelings towards each other begin to deepen. Close Belgian Lukas Dhont made quite the splash in 2018 with his feature directorial debut, Girl , which went on to win several prizes such as the Queer Palm and the Golden Camera for best debut feature. That acclaim should reserve him a spot in either the main competition or the sidebars for the premiere of his new film, which takes a similar look at adolescence and sexuality. Disappointment Blvd. Ari Aster has become a star of independent cinema since his debut at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival with Hereditary . He quickly turned around another feature of "elevated horror" with Midsommar just a year later. His next film, titled Disappointment Blvd. , is described as a "four-hour nightmare comedy." Whether that description turns out to be true is still a mystery, but what's not a mystery is that Joaquin Phoenix, a recent Cannes winner for Best Actor in 2017, will lead it. A Cannes birth would be a huge step up for Aster, considering his relative newcomer status. But that status may also keep him relegated to one of the sidebars, similar to how Robert Eggers debuted in Directors' Fortnight in 2019. Dodo Athens-born Panos Koutras' last feature film, Xenia , played at Cannes in 2014 as part of the Un Certain Regard. It's a decent possibility that he'll be invited back to the sidebar as his new film tells the story of a family who finds an extinct dodo bird living in their house, which spurs a series of events that push the boundaries between reason and madness. Don Juan Virgine Efira appears again, this time with director Serge Bozon for a musical rendition of the classic tale of a theater actor (played by Tahar Rahim) who can't get over his ex-fiancée (Efira). Bozon has been to Cannes twice before, with his most recent venture for Tip Top in 2013, netting him a Special Mention in the Director's Fortnight. Emily Frances O'Connor, who played the adopted mother to Haley Joel Osment's robot boy in A.I. Artificial Intelligence , makes her directorial debut with a biopic about famed British author Emily Bronte. Most recently seen in Death on the Nile , Emma Mackey will play the writer, who met her untimely demise at the age of 30. Enys Men Mark Jenkin is still a fresh face on the international film scene, with only one feature film to his name (2019's stylishly constructed Bait ). His sophomore feature will surely repeat the same dazzling sensibilities as it tells a sci-fi/horror story set in a small Cornish fishing village. A midnight screening or one of the sidebars would be a likely landing spot. Final Cut Michel Hazanavicius took Cannes by storm in 2011 with The Artist , which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director. He's had two films at Cannes since, The Search and Godard Mon Amour , both of which disappointed. Now he's returning to his comedic roots with a French remake of the 2017 Japanese film, One Cut of the Dead . Bérénice Bejo will reteam with Hazanavicius, which follows a film crew who are attacked by zombies. It will be interesting to see if Hazanavicius can emulate the long-take mastery on display in the original. The film was initially planned to debut at Sundance earlier this year but was quietly pulled once the festival announced that it would be going virtual. Perhaps this film will get a closing night slot similar to how the festival closed last year with Jean Dujardin in OSS 117: From Africa with Love ? Untitled Hamlet Adaptation & Holy Spider Two things we know Cannes loves are Shakespeare and Noomi Rapace. So having both in one project would be a dream come true. Rapace will play the titular character in Border director Ali Abbasi's adaptation of the tragedy about the Danish prince, with Sjón, co-writer of the upcoming The Northman , writing the script. Filming began in the fall, so it's unknown if the film will be ready in time. But even if that project doesn't get to the finish line in time, Abbasi also has Holy Spider in post-production. The crime-thriller follows a man named Saeed, who murders several women in order to "cleanse" the holy Iranian city of Mashhad. God's Creatures Set in a rain-soaked village like the one in Ammonite , Emily Watson stars as a mother who lies to protect her son (Paul Mescal), which sets off a chain of unexpected repercussions. A24 has distribution rights, which begs the question of how many films they will bring to the festival. Last year they hit their high with four films ( After Yang , Lamb, Red Rocket , and The Souvenir Part II ), so there's precedent for the distributor to show off a handful of their products. L'immensità Emanuele Crialese hasn't been to Cannes since he competed in the Critics Week for Respiro in 2002. He may have a ticket back twenty years later as he brings international acting royalty (and recent Oscar nominee), Penélope Cruz, with him. Cruz stars as a mother looking after her children in the social turning point of 1970s Italian society. This film falls into the same situation as Marion Cotillard's film, as Cruz is also rumored to be in the running for the jury presidency. Lightyear It's a partnership that may seem a little strange on paper, but the collaborations between Pixar and Cannes have always borne fruit. Up opened the festival in 2009, and Inside Out was one of the most acclaimed titles of the 2015 edition. Soul was even given the honorable laurels for the 2020 edition. So, it wouldn't be a surprise if Pixar takes Lightyear overseas to generate buzz ahead of the film's worldwide release in June. Love Life Japanese director Koji Fukada was last seen in Cannes in 2016, winning the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize for Harmonium . His four-hour drama, The Real Thing , was bestowed the laurels as part of the 2020 pandemic festival. His new drama explores the themes of loss and loneliness as a mother must reconnect with her long-lost husband. Misanthrope Damián Szifron last made an appearance in 2014 with Wild Tales , which generated strong buzz and went on to get a BAFTA nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. He'll be making his English-language debut with a starry cast consisting of Shailene Woodley, Ben Mendelsohn, and Ralph Ineson. Woodley will star as a cop the FBI recruits to track down a murderer. Music No, it's not the maligned Golden Globe-nominated film by Sia. This Music comes from Angela Schanelec, who last played at Cannes in 2004 with Marseille . Since then, she's debuted chiefly her work at the Berlin Film Festival. The film was held out of this year's Berlin lineup, making way for speculation that she's ready to make a return to the Croisette. The plot summary by itself is all that is needed to spawn interest: "A boy grows up with his step-parents in Greece. At the age of 20, he unwittingly murders his father. While serving his sentence, he falls in love and has a child with a woman who works in the prison. They are both unaware of the fact that she is his biological mother. Twenty years later, he lives in London with his daughter and is beginning to lose his eyesight." No Return For his sophomore feature, 2016 Critics Week winner Davy Chou is telling an international story set in South Korea and France. An adopted young French woman returns to her native Korea to track down her biological parents, with surprising results. A sidebar selection is quite likely. One Fine Morning There's no way to stop Léa Seydoux now as she had four films at Cannes last year and looks poised to bring multiple films again this year. Along with Cronenberg's feature, Seydoux will also star in Mia Hansen-Løve's newest film as a woman trying to take care of her senile father. Seydoux caught COVID-19 during the film's production last year, which caused her to miss the premiere of the four films she starred in. With Bergman Island garnering acclaim last year, Hansen-Løve will likely be invited back. Revoir Paris Can Virginie Efira replicate what Nicole Kidman did in 2017 and Léa Seydoux did last year and bring at least three movies to the festival? She very well could, as she also stars in Cannes veteran Alice Winocour's thrilling story about a journalist who gets caught up in a terrorist attack in Paris. Winocour was last seen at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019 for her Eva Green-led Proxima , so it may be time she returns home. Rheingold Fatih Akin was last seen at Cannes competing for the Palme d'Or in 2017 with In the Fade , which won star Diane Kruger, the Best Actress prize. He'll likely be back this year as he tells the true story of German hip-hop rapper Giwar Hajabi, who goes by the stage name Xatar. Scarlet Only appearing once at Cannes with the documentary Futura in 2011, Pietro Marcello has been a Venice Film Festival player throughout his career. He could be swayed back to the north as his newest film will mark his French-language debut and star Louis Garrel and Noémie Lvovsky. According to the logline, the story will be centered on the emancipation of a woman over twenty years, between 1919 and 1939, a time of great inventions and great dreams. Showing Up France has appreciated Kelly Reichardt's work more than her native America, as her most recent film, First Cow , was named the best film of 2021 by the prestigious magazine Cahiers du Cinéma . She typically debuts her films at either the Sundance or Telluride Film Festivals, but rumors abound that Fremeaux is pushing heavily for her to make the trek across the pond. Michelle Williams reunites with Reichardt as she takes on the lead role of an artist preparing for a career-defining exhibition of her work. The Eternal Daughter While Joanna Hogg was waiting for The Souvenir Part II to debut at Cannes last year, she went ahead and secretly shot her newest film in Wales, which tells the story of a middle-aged daughter and her elderly mother who confront long-buried secrets when they return to their former family home, now a nearly vacant hotel. A24 has worldwide rights to the film, and Tilda Swinton stars (her third consecutive collaboration with Hogg). The Souvenir Part II was one of the most acclaimed films of the 2021 festival, making it likely for Hogg to return with another arthouse delight. The Natural History of Destruction Controversial Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa has explored the Ukraine-Russia situation for years through his narrative and documentary features, with 2018's Donbas debuting at Cannes to wide acclaim. With the conflict between the two countries at the forefront of the world's attention, Loznitsa could make quite the statement with his newest documentary, which will look at the consequences of the allied bombings of German cities at the end of World War II. Cannes has never been shy of controversy, with Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 receiving a 20-minute standing ovation and the Palme d'Or in 2004, so it wouldn't be strange for Loznitsa to show up. UNLIKELY, BUT POSSIBLE Asteroid City If Asteroid City does go to the French Riviera, then Cannes would replace Berlin as the film festival to debut the most Anderson films. Moonrise Kingdom opened the festival in 2012, and The French Dispatch sat on a shelf throughout the pandemic to ensure it debuted at the 2021 edition. Cannes thrives on star power to fill its historic red carpet, and Anderson's films have plenty to spare. His newest cast will feature no less than Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Margot Robbie, Bryan Cranston, Bill Murray, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, and Jeffrey Wright. However, considering the awards disappointment of The French Dispatch , it seems that Anderson might pivot towards either Venice or New York for better prospects. Eureka A part of the New Argentine Cinema movement, Lisandro Alonso and his films have moved at a deliberate pace. He's only directed six feature-length films since 2001, with nearly all of them playing at Cannes. His most recent film, Jauja won the FIPRESCI Prize as part of the 2014 Un Certain Regard selection. He'll be reteaming with Viggo Mortensen for a story about a man on the search for his daughter after she has been kidnapped. No word has been given on production status, so it remains a mystery if the film is ready. Jean-Luc Godard Projects No introduction can do justice to the enormous impact Jean-Luc Godard has had on the art of filmmaking. He hasn't stopped making movies since his feature debut of Breathless in 1960, with his previous films, the radical The Image Book (which won the first Special Palme d'Or) and Goodbye to Language , playing in competition. There are conflicting reports on whether Godard's next two films, Funny Wars and Scenario , will be his final ones. Still, they could unintentionally become that since the French auteur recently turned 91. There's also little word on the production status of the films, with the only known details being that they will share the same essay-like qualities of his past works. No matter when they're ready, Cannes will welcome them with open arms. Nope French audiences have embraced the work of Jordan Peele just as Americans have, as Get Out was named the fourth-best film of 2017 by Cahiers du Cinéma . That acclaim fuels speculation if the French festival would invite him over to premiere his newest film. Peele has only played Sundance and SXSW, so Cannes would be a huge step up for him. Similar to Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis , an out-of-competition slot may be possible to help boost awareness for the horror film ahead of its July release. Passages Similar to Kelly Reichardt, Ira Sachs is one of the most lauded American filmmakers in France. He was invited to Cannes in 2019 for Frankie , which starred acting queen Isabelle Huppert in the titular role. Unfortunately, Sachs' film didn't perform well under the bright lights, receiving the lowest reviews of his career. He's currently rushing to finish post-production work on his new film, which stars Ben Whishaw and Franz Rogowski as a gay couple whose relationship is tested when one of them has an affair with a woman (Adèle Exarchopoulos). Even if Sachs can finish the film in time, will he return to the festival that marked a low point in his career? Poor Things Coming off the blazing Oscar success of The Favourite , all eyes are on what Yorgos Lanthimos will do next. He's keeping his partnership with leading lady Emma Stone and screenwriter Tony McNamara for Poor Things , which will be set in Victorian England and about a mad scientist who brings a woman back to life. Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo, and Margaret Qualley mix into the supporting cast. Lanthimos' unique arthouse sensibilities have matched well with Cannes in the past, with Dogtooth, The Lobster , and The Killing of a Sacred Deer , all winning various prizes. Now that Oscar buzz follows Lanthimos wherever he goes, Searchlight Pictures will have to decide to send the film to a festival with an already established fandom for Lanthimos or wait and debut it in the fall with the rest of the Oscar bunch. TÁR Writer/director Todd Field hasn't made a feature film since 2006's Little Children . He's remained a mystery ever since as fans wondered if he would ever make a return to filmmaking. Fortunately, prayers have been answered as Field recently finished production on TÁR , with Cate Blanchett playing the titular character as the first-ever female chief conductor of a major German orchestra. Blanchett is a Cannes favorite as she's been a part of numerous festival darlings ( Carol and Babel ) and also served as the jury president in 2018. Being that the film is scheduled to release stateside in October and Blanchett's perennial Oscar status, a premiere at one of the fall festivals seems more likely. The Son Florian Zeller didn't know he would become an Oscar winner when he debuted The Father at the pre-pandemic Sundance Film Festival in 2020. After that success, he's wasted no time adapting another one of his plays. He again partners with screenwriter Christopher Hampton on The Son , which stars Hugh Jackman, Vanessa Kirby, Laura Dern, and recent Best Actor winner Anthony Hopkins. With the universal acclaim he received for The Father , Zeller may want to make a splash at his native festival. But being that Zeller and the film look to be prime Oscar contenders this year, Sony Pictures Classics may hold it for a few months until the fall festivals are in full swing. The Way of the Wind There's no way to figure out when a Terrence Malick film will be released. All you can do is wait and pray. Malick premiered his last movie, A Hidden Life , at Cannes in 2019, and he also won the Palme d'Or for his magnum opus The Tree Of Life in 2011. He once again has saddled himself with another weighty topic, as The Way Of The Wind will tell several episodes of the life of Jesus Christ, led by a cast of Mark Rylance, Ben Kingsley, Joseph Fiennes, and Matthias Schoenaerts. Several of Malick's films have been delayed for years as he endlessly tinkers in the editing room, so there's no telling when this film will be seen. The Whale Darren Aronofsky has been missing since Mother! proved divisive back in 2017. Now he's ready to return with a film that seems even wackier. Brendan Fraser plays a 600 lb recluse who attempts to reconnect with his teenage daughter. Aronofsky hasn't been to Cannes since he debuted Requiem for a Dream in 2000. He's had a stable relationship with the Venice Film Festival ever since and could end up keeping with tradition and taking this film there. But after the tumultuous release of Mother! and the potential oddity of this story, maybe Aronofsky will return to the festival that launched one of his greatest hits. What Happens Things got scary for a moment back in September when it was reported that Andrey Zvyagintsev was put into a medically induced coma after sustaining heavy damage to his lungs due to a severe case of COVID-19. It was reported a month later that he was out of a coma and recovering in Germany. Zvyagintsev won Best Screenplay at Cannes in 2014 for Leviathan and the Jury Prize in 2017 for Loveless . The Russian master's newest film, which was shot in the United States and will be his English-language debut, will tackle the lofty topics of "life, nature, human relations, the modern man, and the fragility of human life." We'll have to wait and see if Zvyagintsev will be healthy enough to travel to the festival he has called home since 2007. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family, no matter the answer. Women Talking Due to an accident that gave her a series of concussions, acclaimed filmmaker Sarah Polley hasn't made a feature film in over a decade. Luckily, she's returning with a starry cast consisting of Jessie Buckley, Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Frances McDormand, and Ben Whishaw. Polley will transport the cast to Bolivia, where they tell the story of a Mennonite religious colony being plagued by repeated sexual assaults by the men. Brad Pitt's Plan B and McDormand are attached as producers, so time will tell if they decide to hold the film until it's ready for an awards launch at the fall festivals. Zone of Interest Under the Skin was rated as one of the best movies of 2014 and one of the best of the 2010s by numerous critics groups. Despite the film's universal acclaim, writer/director Jonathan Glazer hasn't made a feature since. He's returning by partnering with A24 for an adaptation of Martin Amis' novel about a Nazi officer who becomes enamored with the wife of a concentration camp commander. Based on Glazer's filmography, it's safe to say that there's much more behind the curtain. Regular Paweł Pawlikowski DP Łukasz Żal will lens the film, who will surely find beauty within the harsh circumstances. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Best Hollywood Screenwriters of All-Time January 5, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen Happy National Screenwriters Day! Observed annually on January 5th, this day honors the often unnoticed and under-appreciated task force behind all those thrilling, adventurous, romantic TV or movie masterpieces. To show my appreciation for the people that build movies from nothing and make them into something special, I’ve compiled a list of some of the best screenwriters in cinematic history. This list will only look at writers who are not directors, so people like Paul Thomas Anderson, Woody Allen, or Spike Lee will not be featured. Some of the writers listed have directed films, but for the most part, they are not known for it, and mainly stick to writing scripts. And before you type in the comments about the omission of Charlie Kaufman or Aaron Sorkin, I have not included them because they have shown their intention to direct their own scripts for the foreseeable future. Plus, they’re probably featured on numerous other lists, so I’d like to give spots to other people that are less known. I will also not list anyone who is a frequent writing partner with a director, such as I.A.L Diamond or Charles Brackett, as the majority of their work was with Billy Wilder. So, without further ado, let’s dive into this list featuring some of the biggest wordsmiths of the cinematic art form. Robert Towne Widely regarded as the greatest script doctor in Hollywood history, Robert Towne’s fingerprints are on several of the best films of all time, whether you know it or not. Francis Ford Coppola thanked Towne during his Oscar acceptance speech for his uncredited assistance on The Godfather , and he kicked off the New Hollywood movement with his (also uncredited) work on Bonnie and Clyde . Towne did receive formal recognition in the form of an Oscar nomination for The Last Detail , and a win for Chinatown the following year. He would direct a few of his screenplays to vary success, with Tequila Sunrise and Without Limits being warmly regarded. And he would become Tom Cruise’s go-to writer for a few years, lending his pen to Days of Thunder, The Firm , and the first two installments of the Mission: Impossible franchise. Eric Roth As the recipient of six Oscar nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay, including a win for Forrest Gump , Eric Roth towers over all in modern Hollywood when turning preexisting material into cinematic classics. He’s often been trusted by top directors to bring their biggest projects into the light: Michael Mann ( The Insider, Ali ), Steven Spielberg ( Munich ), David Fincher ( The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ), Bradley Cooper ( A Star Is Born ), Denis Villeneuve ( Dune ). He’s adding Martin Scorsese to that venerable list with the upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon , so a second Oscar may be on the horizon. Paddy Chayefsky At three wins from four nominations, Chayefsky is tied with Woody Allen and Billy Wilder as the most-winning screenwriter in Oscar history. His winning percentage is even more impressive when you factor in that it took Allen 16 nominations and Wilder 12 nominations to reach that win total. Chayefsky initially started in television in the 1950s with director Sidney Lumet, a partnership that would reach its apex with the scathing satire in 1976’s Network . Director Delbert Mann was another figure that Chayefsky frequently worked with during his television days, and they each picked up Oscars for their work in 1955’s Marty , which would also be awarded the prize for Best Motion Picture. Leigh Brackett Brackett was a trailblazer in Hollywood, repeatedly destroying the misconception that women could only write “feminine” dramas. She had no problem working across several genres, from 1940s noir ( The Big Sleep ), westerns ( Rio Bravo ), to 1970s new crime ( The Long Goodbye ). Even for all her genre-hopping, she always called science fiction her home. She would mentor Fahrenheit 451 author Ray Bradbury, and be personally hired by George Lucas to write the script for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back . Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to see her work on that film come to fruition, as she passed away in 1978 just after she handed in her script. But her work still lives on and remains an inspiration for anyone that wants to push boundaries. Steven Zaillian Along with Eric Roth, Zaillian is usually the first person studios call when they need someone to adapt existing material. He received an Oscar nomination for his second screenplay, 1990’s Awakenings . That was only the first of many large dominoes, as he won the Oscar for Schindler’s List , and would be nominated again for Gangs of New York, Moneyball , and The Irishman . Like Robert Towne, he’s also a go-to script doctor for many top directors. He’s done uncredited rewrites and polishes on films such as Crimson Tide, Patriot Games, Amistad, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down , and Road to Perdition . William Goldman As the author behind several best-selling books on the art of screenplay writing, it’s easy to see why Goldman is seen as one of the greatest writers ever. His critics would claim that he wrote for the director’s vision, and not for his own original ideas. But that would always be his biggest strength, as he could adapt to any genre between westerns ( Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ), political thrillers ( All the President’s Men ), and nerve-wracking crime dramas ( Marathon Man ). He would eventually become the most sought-after adapter of Stephen King’s work, with Misery, Hearts in Atlantis , and Dreamcatcher . And to top it all off, he even adapted his own novel, The Princess Bride , for the screen. John Logan Don’t let Logan’s directorial debut failure with They/Them last year fool you into thinking he isn’t one of the most lauded screenwriters working today. Whether he’s working with Martin Scorsese ( The Aviator, Hugo ), Ridley Scott ( Gladiator, Alien: Covenant ), or Sam Mendes ( Skyfall, Spectre ), Logan loves to work in pairs with leading auteurs. He’s also dabbled in animation ( Rango ), musicals ( Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street ), Shakespeare ( Coriolanus ), and even television ( Penny Dreadful ). Robert Bolt Between his works with David Lean on Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago , and Ryan’s Daughter, there probably isn’t anyone who writes bigger than Robert Bolt. His first notice would come before all that when he wrote the play A Man for All Seasons in 1954. He would adapt it for the screen himself, winning another Oscar just one year after he won for Doctor Zhivago . 1986’s The Mission , starring Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons, would be his next, and final, brush with awards success, with the film winning the Palme d’Or at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival along with several Oscar nominations. Ernest Lehman The only thing consistent about Ernest Lehman’s output is the excellence of its quality. One of his first scripts would be the 1954 romantic-comedy Sabrina for Billy Wilder. He would jump over to mystery thrillers with Northwest by Northwest for Alfred Hitchcock. Then came a brief settlement into musicals, as he adapted both the Best Picture-winning West Side Story and The Sound of Music from the stage to the screen. Another slight pivot came in the form of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and finally ending with a return to Hitchcock for 1979’s Family Plot . More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Awards Update: Fall Festival Winners & Losers September 28, 2024 By: Hunter Friesen Welcome to an ongoing series where I cover the 2024/2025 awards season. On a regular basis, I will update my Oscar predictions, taking into account the new information that has been received since the last update. Full predictions in every category can be found on the Home and Awards page. “Frenzied” and “chaotic” would be the words most apt to describe the two weeks where the Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, and Toronto International Film Festival crash into each other. Reactions pour in, standing ovations are timed, and prizes are bestowed upon a select few. It’s one of the most fun stretches of the year as a cinephile and an awards junkie, a time when you can eat your fill of quality cinema and confirm/deny your early Oscar predictions. Because there’s so much to talk about and so little margin space to fit it all in, let’s split everyone off into two groups: Winners and Losers. Of course, all of this is relative, and anything could happen in the six months we have left in the season. Starting with the winners, more specifically the actual winners, we’ve got Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door nabbing the Golden Lion in Venice, a victory I learned about as I exited from the press screening of the film at TIFF underwhelmed. But the Isballe Huppert-led jury saw something different, which I don’t think many other people will agree with so enthusiastically. This is not a top-tier work by the famed Spanish filmmaker, with the lead performances by Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore being the only viable awards chances. They’re both being submitted as lead actresses by distributor Sony Picture Classics, which is the morally correct move. But that category has found itself quite stacked in the past few weeks, and SPC already has Saoirse Ronan in The Outrun to campaign. We can scratch The Life of Chuck , this year’s TIFF People’s Choice winner, off the prediction charts. It’s just been picked up by Neon with a planned Summer 2025 release. That also means we’ll have to wait and see if the film can repeat what the last twelve winners of that award did and be nominated for Best Picture. Could we get two People’s Choice winners nominated at the 2026 ceremony? The two runners-up at TIFF, Emilia Pérez and Anora , both solidified themselves as top-tier contenders. They both received swaths of attention at Telluride and TIFF, showing that they can perform just as well at public festivals as they did at a high-brow competition like Cannes. I expect them to dominate the above-the-line categories, with Emilia Pérez nabbing a handful of craft nominations for its outstanding musical numbers. However, there was no bigger winner these past few weeks than Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist , which nabbed its director the Silver Lion for Best Director. It was by far the best thing I saw at TIFF, a sentiment that many critics agreed with. It’s amazing that something made so cheaply (under $10 million) feels so similar to the epic Hollywood productions of the past. How A24 will be able to maintain that desire and enthusiasm until the release date announced on December 20th will be a question, but they certainly have something special on their hands that people are hungry for. I mentioned in my last update that I would put it in several categories if the reviews were kind, and now that promise comes true. Other small winners would be Babygirl and Hard Truths , both of which gained great reviews for their lead actresses Nicole Kidman and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, respectively. Conclave and The Piano Lesson would also fall into this category, although some of the early predictions for Stanley Tucci and Samuel L. Jackson turned out to be wishful thinking. Regardless, both of those adaptations received strong enough reviews and public sentiment that they should find themselves in more than one category. There’s also September 5 , which was picked up by Paramount and received strong reviews despite its under-the-radar status. Sitting in the loser territory (only slightly) is Luca Guadagnino’s Queer . Reviews were fine, but the passion is definitely lacking, which is something this very challenging (no pun intended) movie needs. It’ll likely only have an awards presence through Daniel Craig’s performance. Also a small loser is Pablo Larraín’s Maria . Angelina Jolie will almost certainly be nominated, but I’m thinking Larraín and Netflix are striving for a bit more considering this is supposed to be his final entry in his biopic trilogy. And then there’s Nightbitch , a movie that is much more subdued and normal than its title and trailer led us to believe. Of course, we can’t end this article without mentioning the dud that was Joker: Folie à Deux . This sequel could have never repeated the overwhelming success of the first film, but the mediocre reviews, bad press, and low box office projections suggest that it will be a mighty challenge to muster any awards attention. It’ll probably still get some craft nominations, just nothing substantial. Now it’s on to the regional festivals (NYFF, AFI, Middleburg, Chicago, etc.), where most of these winners (and some of the losers) parade themselves around to gain national support. It’s a lot like the election primaries, so we’ll need to have our ears to the ground and listen for which ones are gaining traction when even more eyes are placed upon them. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen

Top 10 Films of 2023 December 31, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen If you could use one word to describe this list, it would be “predictable.” That word comes with both positive and negative connotations. On the bright side, it means that several of the films that had high places in my Most Anticipated of 2023 list from the beginning of the year were able to meet, or even exceed, my expectations. That also means there were fewer surprises, movies that were true hidden gems just waiting for me to discover them. I can’t see every movie in the year it is released, so I’m sure something will come out of nowhere down the road. And please don’t assume that I think 2023 was a bad year for movies, as that couldn’t be further from the truth. Anyone who says that a certain year was a bad year for movies clearly hasn’t seen enough. Some years are better than others, but none are ever bad if you dig deep. I’ll admit as a caveat this was a pretty bad year for the blockbusters that have come to dominate the multiplex this past decade, many of which took up several spots in my Worst of 2023 list. But if you ventured to the back of the multiplex, your local arthouse theater (assuming it’s still standing after the pandemic), or beyond the attention-grabbing titles on streaming, you’d be exposed to some truly great stuff. 2023 turned out to be the best year for movies since I started taking this site seriously, with a record number of 60 positive reviews (>=3.5 stars) being written. But I can’t (and don’t want to) talk about all 60 movies I thought were good, I want to talk about the 10 I thought were the best, plus 5 honorable mentions for good measure. Without further ado, join me as I recount the works of art (not content) that left the biggest impression on me as a cinephile. Honorable Mentions Enys Men Chevalier Past Lives Poor Things The Boys in the Boat 10. Monster Hirokazu Kore-eda makes his third consecutive appearance on this list following The Truth in 2020 and Broker in 2022. The Japanese writer/director has always found the most tender ways to navigate the moral quandaries that often surround us. Deferring his writing credit for the first time in decades, Kore-eda brings Rashomon into the modern age with Monster , a movie that is both more gentle and deadly than its title implies. The script comes from Yûji Sakamoto, with that separation of duty not turning out to be a bug as the pair craft an endearing story about differing perspectives and the misconceptions we surround ourselves with. Legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, who tragically passed away earlier this year, delivers one of his best works through his fluttery piano. 9. The Taste of Things There’s little drama or stakes within The Taste of Things , which is one of its best features. There are plenty of movies ( Burnt ) and television shows ( The Bear ) that showcase the anxiety-inducing highwire act that cooking can be. There is great skill under pressure here, but writer/director Tran Anh Hung is more interested in the slowly drawn method and how it all comes together when you are comfortable in your element. Time seems to stand still, your body and mind totally connected as one. It’s like a conductor guiding a symphony, every note being hit perfectly with reassuring calmness. There continues to be a need for stories that reflect the increasing bleakness of this world. But that means there’s more room for projects that remind us of the beauty in the timeless things we all experience and often take for granted. The Taste of Things is one of those films as it illustrates both the simplicity and complexity of sustaining ourselves through food. Just make sure to plan your meals carefully before and after seeing it. You owe your stomach (and other senses) that much. Full Review 8. The Holdovers Between its retro production titles, popping sound, dissolved editing, and grainy cinematography, Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers is not just a film that is set in 1970, it looks and feels like it was made during that time. The Omaha-born writer/director (only directing in this outing) returns from a six-year hiatus after the disappointing Downsizing , delivering one of his best films through a great story and equally great characters. This is a Christmas classic for adults. It's a melancholic film, with Payne knowing that the holidays are not full of yuletide cheer for everyone. But there are still seasons greetings to be had, just enough to make you want to be a better person and stay close to those that matter most. What more could you ask for in times like these? Full Review 7. Asteroid City Asteroid City is Wes Anderson’s weirdest movie to date, always keeping your eyebrow in a raised position. While on their methodically placed tracks, each character veers off in different directions, exploring the fear of death, finding connections in a barren land, cutting through the messiness of life, and paying homage to those kitschy B-movies you grew up watching late at night on the public access channel. At this point in his filmography, you’ve probably made up your mind about Anderson. I’m somewhat of an apologist, with those instantly recognizable production qualities and whimsical tones being music to my ears (and eyes). Asteroid City is another healthy dose of what I’ve come to love, with the bonus of seeing an auteur continue to find new ways to channel what they do best. Full Review 6. Killers of the Flower Moon What is surprising about Killers of the Flower Moon is Scorsese’s ability to bring in the qualities of his lesser-known films, which is the capacity to take a step back and observe a culture. There’s a delicate balance between getting in the thick of the action and letting it wash over from a distance. For every street race and moment of shocking violence, there’s a chance to witness a piece of this land and its people. There are key moments where an Osage wedding or ceremonial tradition is recreated, shedding light on what’s ultimately at stake. Excess is the name of the game within Scorsese’s filmography, and Killers of the Flower Moon has that in spades. But it’s not the flashy kind of excess that we’re used to seeing, it’s an excess that overwhelms your soul just as much as your senses. As the debate over what is and isn’t cinema rages on (and I pray to God it ends soon), let this be a clear illustration of what it can be: something powerful enough to enrapture you in the present and pleasantly linger with you long into the future. Full Review 5. Napoleon With his vast historical drama background that includes the likes of The Duellists, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven , and The Last Duel , director Ridley Scott knows a thing or two about setting the stage for global conflicts. Even at the age of 85, he’s never taken a moment to slow down, crafting projects that seem to only get bigger the older he gets. It’s no surprise that both he and fellow octogenarian director Martin Scorsese ( Killers of the Flower Moon ) have found themselves at Apple with their latest historical dramas, the streaming giant plunking down $200 million for each project. While it may not have been the wisest financial decision, it was a fortuitous one for the art of epic filmmaking. The world still properly bemoans what could have been had Stanley Kubrick been allowed to make his Napoleon biopic. There are surely semblances of it in Scott’s film, which continues his string of blockbusters propelled by smart filmmaking and collaborative artistry. It’s timely and timeless in its craft and examination of history, ready to raise the bar just that much higher for later entries in the genre. Full Review 4. Maestro “A work of art does not answer questions, it provokes them; and its essential meaning is in the tension between the contradictory answers.” This quote by Leonard Bernstein flashes before Maestro commences. It’s a mission statement for writer/director/producer/star Bradley Cooper, who’s made it his life’s work to bring this story to the silver screen. It’s a warning to any Bernstein acolytes who come to this seeking untold answers about the famed conductor’s artistry. And it’s also a blessing to anyone bemoaning another musician biopic, the likes of which have haunted our multiplexes the past few years with their cookie-cutter rise-and-fall stories. For something that has and will continue to be labeled as “Oscar bait,” Maestro is, more than anything, a confidently unique entry in a well-worn genre. It makes A Star Is Born seem like only the appetizer, and this is the main course. It wouldn’t be far-fetched to label Cooper as this generation’s Warren Beatty: a movie star interested in grown-up stories whose oversized ambition is matched by their incredible skill both in front and behind the camera. If there’s anything modern cinema needs more of right now, it’s someone like that. Full Review 3. The Killer The Killer is a descent into bloody madness told by a director in complete control of their craft. Every frame is perfectly lit, every cut perfectly placed and executed, and every piece of sound is perfectly engineered to rattle your bones. It’s a pulpy uncomplicated story about revenge being a dish best served cold. For anyone who enjoys the Hitman video game series and laments the two laughably bad movie adaptations, this is the answer to all your prayers. This is Fincher at his most surface level, playfully cutting loose from ambition and delivering his best film to date (yeah, I said it). Don’t expect to learn any life lessons, or have your perspective changed on an issue. Just sit back and be entertained. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing a straightforward process being executed with pinpoint precision, and both our protagonist and Fincher accomplish their mission to outstanding results. Full Review 2. The Zone of Interest There isn’t a single moment in The Zone of Interest that takes place within Auschwitz, but its presence is always felt. The family will be sunbathing in the garden when a faint gunshot goes off on the other side of the wall. Both you and the characters know what that sound means, but only you care about the implications of it. For the family, those gunshots are just as much a part of everyday life as the birds chirping in the trees above. They go about their daily lives without a hitch, leaving you stranded in the fear of your imagination. Sickening in the most calculated way possible, The Zone of Interest is Jonathan Glazer's ode to Stanley Kubrick. He answers the question of how evil can exist unchecked, holding all of your senses in a sterilized vice. Be sure to soak it all in during your first watch, because I doubt you'll ever want to view the world this way again. Full Review 1. Oppenheimer Christopher Nolan cited Oliver Stone’s 1991 masterpiece JFK as one of his main inspirations when adapting this material. He drops you into the middle of the action from frame one and keeps you there. Separate timelines begin to form, each folding into each other with increasing frequency. There’s the future besmirching of Oppenheimer’s legacy; the prideful past where we see his rise; and the roaring present where he must develop the atomic bomb before the Nazis. Similar to Dunkirk , Nolan, and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema define these periods through the imagery. Whether it’s in bright color or stark black-and-white, what you’re seeing is always a work of beauty. Never has IMAX been used to capture the small moments with as much gravitas as the climatic detonation. Oppenheimer is as entertaining as it is enlightening, emboldened by Nolan’s unparalleled vision and craftsmanship. It’s possibly his magnum opus, grabbing hold of history with fiery conviction, never letting you go until you’ve experienced all that cinema has to offer. Full Review More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

TIFF23 Recap September 20, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen Now that TIFF23 has come to a close, it's time to embark on the challenging task of ranking all the films I had the opportunity to watch. While it's no easy feat to compare such a wide range of genres and styles, my goal is to celebrate the artistry and innovation that permeated throughout the decadent TIFF venues. I also won't lie in saying that there's a small amount of joy I get by bashing in the poor films one more time. From large studio tentpoles to small international projects, I invite you to explore what the festival had to offer in 2023. 27. North Star Maybe not every actor should be allowed to make their directorial debut. Kristen Scott Thomas' first foray behind the camera (while still being in front in a supporting role) is littered with choppy editing, poor pacing, and a scattershot script that has way too much on its plate. Emily Beecham is the only shining star (pun intended) in a cast that includes Scarlett Johansson fumbling a British accent and Sienna Miller being fine, I guess. This is surely bound for VOD/streaming way down the line. 26. Finestkind Writer/director Brian Helgeland told the TIFF audience that he wrote the script for Finestkind thirty years ago, a fact that becomes glaringly obvious the longer the film goes on. The story is stuck in the past in the worst ways possible, soaked with cheesy sentimentality, a laughably underdeveloped female character that Jenna Ortega somehow signed up for (did she owe someone a favor?), and an out-of-nowhere crime plot that undermines all the heart and soul mined in the first half. As per his contract demands these days, Ben Foster goes crazy a few times, and so does Tommy Lee Jones as he realizes he’s appearing in a stinker. It’s a Paramount+ production, meaning it’ll play well to the “guys being dudes” crowd that has been gorging on Taylor Sheridan's diminishing machismo these past few years. 25. Knox Goes Away Between the other hitman-focused movies at the fall festivals and how much it seriously fumbles the great concept of a hitman battling rapidly developing dementia, Michael Keaton’s sophomore directorial outing fails to be anything more than a depressing shrug. Luckily for the actor/director, he’s slightly exonerated from blame as Gregory Poirier’s CSI-level script is what sinks this ship. Al Pacino gives his most comfortable performance sitting in some luxurious recliners, and Marcia Gay Harden does Keaton a favor by showing up for one half-decent scene. 24. His Three Daughters Azazel Jacobs’ follow-up to French Exit (remember that during the pandemic?) starts incredibly rough as our three lead characters act as if they’re aliens who are trying to replicate drought emotions. This bug may be a feature to some, but it ends up feeling like a grating mashup of Yorgos Lanthimos and Wes Anderson. Things do settle down later, allowing the actresses to flourish. Natashya Lyonne stands out as the slacker of the three sisters, and yet she seems to have the firmest grasp on the mysteries of life. 23. Rustin Rustin won’t live on in the public consciousness for its craft, but it most certainly will because of Domingo’s performance. It’s a shame the whole package couldn’t come together, but it’s hard to complain when the headliner is just that good and the objective of the mission is to enlighten just as much as it is to entertain. Full Review 22. Quiz Lady By far the broadest film TIFF programmed this year, Quiz Lady is your typical streamer comedy. 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. 21. Nyad Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin are still able to showcase their prowess with editing in their first narrative feature film. The directing duo crafted some fine moments of underdog drama, following Diana Nyad as she tries to overcome the impossible. There are no surprises or standout moments, but Annette Bening's commitment to the role makes for an inoffensive watch. 20. The Royal Hotel It’s adapt or die for Hanna (Julia Garner) and Liz (Jessica Henwick) as they take jobs as bartenders in the only pub in a remote Australian mining town. The temp agency warned the girls that they needed to be “okay with a little male attention,” which turns out to be quite the understatement as their first night is filled with nasty jokes, unruly stares, and just general douchiness. Choosing adaptation is a death sentence, as there’s no reward for allowing this toxic mob to take control of their mind and body. Director Kitty Green announced her talent with the matter-of-fact The Assistant in 2019 (also starring Garner). This sophomore effort is a leveling up of her prowess behind the camera, lining every scene with a grimy sense of dread. It feels like a thrill ride, except none of the thrills are satisfying. Green greatly elevates her script, written by Green and Oscar Redding, which never packs the depth needed and tends to loop around as it tries to sustain the 90-minute runtime. Garner and Henwick are powerful anchors, “supported” by some convincing creeps. I have no doubt Green will be hitting it big within the next few years. 19. Woman of the Hour Anna Kendrick dominated the actor-turned-director battle at this year’s TIFF, with her film, Woman of the Hour , being quite an impressive statement of her skills behind the camera. Now all she needs to do is find a good script because the one here doesn’t give her enough to work with. While well staged, much of the “action” of the film by the serial killer feels like filler, and the main ideas are spelled out as if they're competing at a spelling bee. Netflix opened the market with an $11 acquisition, giving this true crime film the perfect home. 18. Reptile Reptile will likely fall into the pantheon of semi-forgettable Netflix originals. I can’t say that’s a shame because the movie doesn’t do a lot to make a case for its existence in my memory outside of a few questionable choices. But when compared to the other forgotten content, it’s a cut above. Full Review 17. Pain Hustlers Pain Hustlers is just an inferior copycat of The Wolf of Wall Street , which is exactly what you get when you have David Yates instead of Martin Scorsese. Emily Blunt and Chris Evans are as charming as ever, but there's nothing special about this run-of-the-mill rise-and-fall story. If you recently watched Dopesick or Painkiller , then you might find a little more here. 16. 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. 15. Lee Lee has a lot of famous actors, but only Kate Winslet is playing a character. The rest of the cast, along with almost every other aspect of the movie, feels like they're playing dress-up. It's neither good nor bad, just forgettable. 14. Les Indésirables Ladj Ly's sophomore effort is not an answer to a question, but a further examination of it. There's dissatisfaction at the end of the road, both intentionally through Ly's honest depiction of political warfare and unintentionally through the overloaded script that tries to combine too much. Even with this slight slump, Ly's voice continues to grow, and I can't wait for it to click sometime in the future. 13. Dumb Money Just like the memes that inspired the movement, Dumb Money is fun in the moment, but has little to no substance underneath the surface. If you’re looking for entertainment, you get just enough of it to make this worthwhile. If you’re looking to be educated on this event, I’d recommend literally anything else. Full Review 12. Seven Veils It wouldn’t be a normal TIFF if it didn’t feature the newest film by hometown hero Atom Egoyan. Amanda Seyfried plunges headfirst into her role as the new director of a revival of Salome at the Canadian Opera Company, a production Egoyan himself helmed while making this film. There are a lot of big swings, with more than half of them not connecting. But the ones that do connect are really special, such as the audacious staging of the material. The bar may be low, but this is Egoyan's best work in decades. 11. Fingernails Christos Nikou’s sophomore feature is a leveling up of his production values, but never quite reaches the thematic heights it aims for. There’s a nice love story in here, it’s just buried under too much mundane material. 10. 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 garbage 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. 9. 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. 8. 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. 7. Next Goal Wins Next Goal Wins makes fans out of all of us, both thanks to Waititi’s skill and the simple goal it strives for. It’s effortlessly watchable, uncontroversial, and full of good vibes, making it one of the best options for the family this year. Full Review 6. Hit Man If Top Gun: Maverick wasn't enough to convince you of Glen Powell's movie star charisma, then Hit Man will certainly be the successful pitch. Richard Linklater's film is a sexy romantic comedy pairing Powell with Adria Arjona to electric results. While the Netflix acquisition means fewer people will get to see this crowdpleaser in theaters, it'll surely have a long and successful life on the streaming platform. 5. The Boy and the Heron There are animated films for children, and there are animated films for adults. This is an animated film for everyone, and the world is a much better place because of it. One of the greatest, if not the greatest, figures in animation history has provided us with his swan song, and now it’s time for us to continue his legacy with the pieces left behind. Full Review 4. Origin Ava DuVernay blends academia and entertainment to sprawlingly epic results in her adaptation of the Isabel Wilkerson novel. I'm still not sure if DuVernay succeeds in making all her connections, but she always makes them compelling through her direction. Aunjanue Ellis capitalizes on her first lead performance, anchoring the emotion within this sweeping story. 3. Evil Does Not Exist Drive My Car writer/director and all-around arthouse superstar Ryûsuke Hamaguchi makes his most outspoken work with Evil Does Not Exist . The tranquility of a Japanese village is being threatened by the introduction of a “glamping” (glamorous + camping) site proposed by a talent agency. The site would negatively impact much of the environment around it, with many of the village resident’s livelihoods being forever altered. Despite being clear in his message, Hamaguchi never eviscerates the villains of this story. The extreme slow cinema approach will test the patience of many expecting a return to the leanness of Drive My Car . Those who embrace the molasses will find themselves powerfully transported to one of the few places left that hasn’t been bulldozed by capitalism. Eiko Ishibashi delivers a magnificent score. It angers me that I’ll have to wait several months until it’s available to stream on Spotify. 2. The Beast Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast is the pretentious European version of Cloud Atlas , which is a statement that tells you everything you need to know about whether you’ll like it or not. I was all in on this movie, even if its ultimate message and specific story beats are hard to follow. Bonello jumps between 1904, 2014, and 2044, intersplicing the three time periods to tell a story about love conquering time. Léa Seydoux and George MacKay play characters in each period, navigating the unknowable connection they feel for each other. It’s overindulgent and excessive, but Bonello displays a mastery of tone and vision across the 146 minutes. There’s passion, fear, humor, drama, and everything in between. I’d love to see it again sometime down the line. 1. The Holdovers Through his directorial choices, Alexander Payne makes The Holdovers into a Christmas classic for adults. The cinematography glows like a warm fire and the relaxed pacing allows these characters to breathe. This is a melancholic film, with Payne knowing that the holidays are not full of yuletide cheer for everyone. But there are still seasons greetings to be had, just enough to make you want to be a better person and stay close to those that matter most. What more could you ask for in times like these? Full Review More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

MSPIFF 2025 Recap April 16, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen There’s nothing like a film festival to rejuvenate one’s passion for cinema, especially after the first quarter of 2025 provided a less-than-stellar sampling of theatrical releases. One of the oldest film festivals in the country, the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival (abbreviated as MSPIFF, and pronounced “EM-spiff”) was a mini oasis, providing a vast lineup that stretched across every continent. The festival opened with the documentary Free Leonard Peltier , a close-to-home story about the titular Native American activist who was wrongly imprisoned for nearly five decades. While I personally did not attend the screening, those who did relayed many positive remarks to me in the subsequent days. My experience began on the first Saturday with a triple feature starting with the A24 title The Legend of Ochi . Writer/director Isaiah Saxon opened the film with a video message stating how he made the feature for children and that their intelligence deserves more credit than they normally get. Because I had just seen the overly juvenile A Minecraft Movie the weekend prior, those words greatly resonated with me. The film itself didn’t walk the walk as much as Saxon talked the talk, but it still deserves credit for its impressive technicals and willingness to explore adult themes. It’ll be released in theaters nationwide on April 25th. Following that was co-writer/director Andrew Ahn’s remake of the 1993 Ang Lee film The Wedding Banquet . The original premise of a gay man and a straight woman going through a fake marriage out of convenience has been shifted to modern-day Seattle and expanded to include two homosexual couples. The logicality behind the necessity for a fake marriage is even weaker now than it was thirty years ago, but Ahn is always precise with the emotional stakes and moments of humorous levity. The clear MVP was Youn Yuh-jung, the recent Oscar winner for Minari who makes a strong case for deserving a second trophy. It’s out this weekend in theaters. Capping off the night was a Midnight Mayhem screening of what will quite possibly rank as the funniest film I’ll see all year: Friendship . Tim Robinson brings the same laugh-out-loud absurdity from his Netflix sketch show I Think You Should Leave to the big screen in this story of a loser suburban dad getting in way over his head when he tries to win the approval of his cool new neighbor (Paul Rudd). Several jokes were drowned out by the roaring laughter from the soldout crowd, which I recommend seeing it with when it releases in theaters on May 9th. There were not just remakes of Ang Lee films at the festival. No, the director himself was present on the first Sunday to give a brief masterclass. He gave great insight into his transition from Taiwan to English-language films, and why he chose to hop across several genres throughout his storied career. Later that night he introduced a twentieth-anniversary screening of what is likely referred to as his magnum opus: Brokeback Mountain . After sentencing it to years on my neverending watchlist, it was great to see the film on the big screen. Lee said that he was miserable while making the film due to the recent passing of his father and years of exhaustive work on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hulk , and that he doesn’t deserve much credit for the film’s success. Of course, everyone disagrees with his sentiments, with his win for Best Director at that year’s Oscars being more than deserved due to the emotional maturity he granted to the actors in his wonderful cast. Things became more sporadic from there. Tuesday featured a screening of By the Stream by the incredibly prolific South Korean writer/director Hong Sang-soo, and When Fall Is Coming from France’s François Ozon. Also from a French creative was Misericordia , an entertaining small-town murder cover-up now out in theaters. I reverted to Asia for my final day of the festival. Caught by the Tides by the famed Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke is not a film for those unfamiliar with his work, incorporating deleted scenes and alternate takes from several of his previous films to craft a loose decade-spanning narrative of a man and woman falling in and out of love. Despite my perpetual confusion from having not seen the referenced films, I was marvelously fascinated by Zhang-ke’s ability to weave it all together. The film likely has no commercial prospects in the United States, so seeing it in a semi-crowded room and discussing it afterward with other attendees illustrated the importance that festivals possess in illuminating works that would otherwise go completely unnoticed. If you’d like a more thorough analysis of the film and the work of Zhang-ke, I highly recommend heading over to Deep Focus Review by my fellow critic and friend Brian Eggert, who recently concluded his “Filmmaker in Focus” series on the director. Other festival titles that are currently or soon to be released in theaters include the canine comedy-drama The Friend starring Naomi Watts and Bill Murray, the Southeast Asian adventure romp Grand Tour (April 18th), One to One: John & Yoko (April 18th), On Swift Horses (April 25th), and the Nicolas Cage Ozpoiltation thriller The Surfer (May 2nd). The MSP Film Society will be replaying several of the highest audience-scoring films at The Main Cinema over the next few weeks. To learn more about everything to do with the festival and the year-round programming, you can visit the MSP Film Society website . More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Cannes 2021: All The Films That Could Premiere May 17, 2021 By: Hunter Friesen Often considered the most prestigious film festival globally, the Cannes Film Festival is your one-stop shop for some of the greatest works in international cinema. For the first time since 1968, the festival was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year's edition has the potential to be one of the best as dozens of projects from the world's greatest filmmakers jockey for the opportunity to be awarded the coveted first place Palme d'Or, which will be decided by a Spike Lee led jury. Twenty films will be selected for the Official Competition, with several others being placed in one of the festival's many sidebar sections. And quite a few unlucky films will have to set their sights somewhere else. Cannes also has its place in the Oscar race. To use a sports analogy, it is the preseason to the fall festivals regular season. Films such as Pulp Fiction, The Tree of Life, Amour and Parasite started their Oscar path at the festival. In this article, I will detail the films that have the potential to premiere at the festival. They are sorted into three categories based on their likelihood, which stemming from a combination of factors that are explained in each summary. The festival will announce the lineup for all sections on June 3rd. ALREADY CONFIRMED Annette This year's festival will start off with a bang as Leos Carax premieres his newest film on opening night. The movie stars Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard as parents to a young girl with a surprising gift. The film will contain no dialogue and be a completely sung-through musical, which is precisely something that should be expected from the man that brought us Holy Motors . Benedetta Dutch director Paul Verhoeven has shifted away from Hollywood this century in favor of European productions. His last film was the Isabelle Huppert-led Elle in 2016; a smash hit at Cannes, which led to an Oscar nomination for Huppert for Best Actress. His newest film, a holdover from last year, is a culmination of many topics found within his filmography, such as religion and eroticism, as a nun suffers from disturbing visions in 17th-century Italy. The French Dispatch Wes Anderson's newest idiosyncratic feature has been sitting on a shelf for over a year so that it would have its world premiere at this particular festival. Starring a cast of names too long to write, the film is a sort of anthology of stories told in the titular magazine. Looking to be a huge Oscar player this year, this may be Anderson's time to be rewarded for his unique body of work. VERY LIKELY A Hero Iranian-born Asghar Farhadi has won two Oscars for Best International Feature, doing it first for 2011's A Separation and then for 2016's The Salesman . He's also brought his last three films to Cannes, opening the 2019 festival with the Spain-set Everybody Knows . Plot details are still a secret for his new movie, with the only thing we know is that it is set in Iran and tackles several contemporary issues. The film was recently acquired by Amazon, who is planning an end-of-year domestic release and huge Oscar push for Farhadi. Bergman Island Filmed in 2018 and early 2019, Mia Hansen-Løve's ambitious film was delayed from the 2019 festival for a primetime slot at the 2020 festival. Obviously, that edition didn't happen, so the film sat for another year. The title Bergman Island refers to the famous Fårö Island, which housed Swedish-auteur Ingmar Bergman and was used for several of his movies, and is now a pilgrimage destination for cinephiles. Starring Vicky Krieps, Tim Roth, and Mia Wasikowska, the film follows an American filmmaking couple who retreat to the island to write their screenplays. And like a Bergman film, reality and fiction begin to blur as the couple becomes more ingrained into the magical island. Everything Went Fine Prolific director François Ozon has competed regularly at Cannes, and it is expected to do so again with his newest film. Adapted from a novel by Emmanuèle Bernheim, the film follows a daughter who rushes to help her father after he has a debilitating stroke. In a shocking turn of events, he pleads to have his life ended. Will the daughter be able to honor her father's request? Fire Starring French acting royalty Juliette Binoche and Vincent Lindon and directed by Claire Denis, Fire surrounds a love triangle that forces a woman to choose between her long-time partner and former lover. Denis has had a long relationship with the festival, as she was the president of the board of the Cinéfondation and short films in 2019. Memoria Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul will likely return to the festival where he won the Palme d'Or in 2011 with the indescribable Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives . Marking his English-language debut, Memoria stars Tilda Swinton as a Scottish woman traveling in Colombia who begins to hear eerily strange noises. This film is also a holdover from last year and is expected to fall in the same lane of Weerasethakul's previous filmography. Official Competition Just by the title alone, this seems like a Cannes selection. The film is by Argentinian duo Gastón Duprat & Mariano Cohn and stars Spanish superstars Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz. The synopsis is that of a wealthy businessman who impulsively recruits filmmaker Lola Cuevas (Cruz) to make a smash hit movie. Banderas plays the Hollywood heartthrob that will headline the picture. Expect a satirical comedy that pokes fun at the unglamorous task of creating a film. On a Half Clear Morning Bruno Dumont has been a staple of Cannes for nearly a decade, as he's premiered his last three films at the festival. Also, a recurring character at Cannes is actress Léa Seydoux, who stars in Dumont's newest film that he both wrote and directed. Listed as a comedy-drama, On A Half Clear Morning has Seydoux play a celebrity journalist who has her life turned upside down after she is in a freak car accident. Paris, 13th District A previous winner for Dheepan in 2015, Jacques Audiard returns with a new film that also happens to be co-written by Portrait Of A Lady On Fire director Celinne Sciamma and stars Noémie Merlant. The film follows four young adults as they navigate their friendships and love lives in modern Paris. Petrov's Flu Another holdover from last year, Russian writer/director Kirill Serebrennikov adapts the novel of the same name that follows a family living ordinary lives with extraordinary secrets. At the head of the family is the titular Petrov, who seems to be fading in and out of reality as he battles the flu. Serebrennikov wrote the movie under house arrest, and an early teaser trailer showcases some of the visual bizarreness. Three Floors Italian national treasure Nanni Moretti has had a very successful career at Cannes, winning the Best Director award for Dear Diary in 1994 and the Palme d'Or for The Son's Room in 2001. His newest film is a holdover from last year and follows the intersecting story of three families who each live on different floors of a bourgeois condo. Triangle of Sadness Expect Swedish auteur Ruben Östlund to return to Cannes after winning the Palme d'Or with The Square in 2017. His follow-up is said to be in that same satirical vein as the story takes place on an uber-rich yacht captained by a crazy Marxist (Woody Harrelson). The boat becomes shipwrecked, flipping the social hierarchy as everyone fights for survival. Tromperie With this movie, along with The French Dispatch and On a Half Clear Morning , the question becomes how many Léa Seydoux films will play at the festival? Seydoux is reteaming with another Cannes-favorite in Arnaud Desplechin, who's competed six times in the official competition. The title translates to deception, as the film is about an American novelist navigating his relationship with several women in his life, including his wife, mistress, and other characters he has dreamed up. LIKELY After Yang Starting with video essays, writer/director Kogonada had a remarkable feature-film debut with Columbus in 2017. That success allowed the enigmatic director to work with Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith on his newest film. Set in the near future, the story tracks a family as they must try to save the life of their A.I. helper, who unexpectedly breaks down. Given the low-key nature of Kogonada's work, an out-of-competition spot may be a more likely place for it to debut. Benediction It's usually Ken Loach's job to be the British representative at Cannes, but this year that duty may fall to Terence Davies, who premiered a slew of his earlier films at the festival. Davies' film tells the true story of Siegfried Sassoon, an English poet, writer, and soldier in World War I. Jack Lowden plays the younger Sassoon, while Peter Capaldi takes over in the later years. After A Quiet Passion made waves a few years ago, all eyes will be on what Davies can do with his next biopic. C'mon C'mon For his first feature since winning the Best Leading Actor Oscar for Joker , Joaquin Phoenix is teaming with writer/director Mike Mills ( 20th Century Women & Beginners ) for what seems to be another acting showcase. Phoenix plays an artist who must embark on a cross-country road trip after he is left to take care of his precocious nephew. Shot in black-and-white by the great Robbie Ryan, the movie was forecasted to premiere at the virtual Sundance Film Festival in January but was quietly absent. Was it because they wanted to premiere it at Cannes? De Son Vivant Catherine Deneuve is one of the finest French actresses ever to grace the silver screen. Any of the projects she's attached to surely deserves festival buzz. Her newest film is a reteaming with director Emmanuelle Bercot and tells the story of a mother coming to terms with her terminally ill son, who has one year to live. Flag Day Sean Penn is extremely loved by the Cannes brass, as he won Best Actor in 1997 for She's So Lovely and premiered two of his directorial efforts at the festival. His newest project stars himself, along with Miles Teller and Josh Brolin. It'll be interesting to see if Penn is welcomed back after his latest film, The Last Face , was one of the most reviled films in festival history. Huda's Salon Palestinian writer/director Hany Abu-Assad has had two previous films at the festival, winning the Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize in 2013 for Omar . His newest film is based on real-life events as a woman's experience entering a hair salon becomes a living nightmare after the owner blackmails her. The filmmaker has plans to return to Cannes, hopefully with the promotion that comes with being selected to the Official Selection. Joan Verra It's an unofficial rule at Cannes that at least one movie selected stars, Isabelle Huppert. This time she stars as the titular character who retreats to the countryside with her son when a figure from her past unexpectedly returns. Writer/director Laurent Larivière's last film, I Am a Soldier , premiered in Un Certain Regard in 2015. The coupling of Larivière's experience at the festival and Huppert's prestigious reputation gives the film a good shot of being selected. Mona Lisa and The Blood Moon Rumored to be a part of the selection in 2020, Ana Lily Amirpour's newest film promises to be unique. Set in contemporary New Orleans, a girl breaks out of a mental asylum and must use her supernatural powers to survive. Considering the stylism found within Amirpour's previous features, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night and The Bad Batch , it's safe to assume there is more than meets the eye here. The Card Counter Longtime Martin Scorsese scribe Paul Schrader received a career resurgence in 2017 with the critically acclaimed First Reformed premiering at the Venice Film Festival and received his first Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Schrader used his goodwill to stack the cast for his newest film, which has Oscar Issac starring as a reformed gambler who attempts to mentor a young man (Tye Sheridan) seeking revenge on a mutual enemy (Willem Dafoe). Also in the cast is Tiffany Hadish as a mysterious casino financier. The film has also been invited to Venice, so there is the likelihood it premieres there instead. The Souvenir Part II Joanna Hogg took Sundance by storm in 2019 with her semi-autobiographical take on young love in The Souvenir . With a UK release date set for late 2021 and A24 acquiring domestic rights, the time is right for Hogg to unveil the sequel. Filming has been completed for a while, with Honor Swinton Byrne and Tilda Swinton returning. This may be Hogg's time to shine under the brightest lights. The Tragedy of Macbeth The Coen brothers are the cream of the crop when it comes to Cannes royalty, winning the Best Director award a record three times and winning the Palme d'Or for Barton Fink . The last two films by the brothers that premiered at Cannes were No Country For Old Men and Inside Llewyn Davis , which both became prominent Oscar players, with the former winning Best Picture. For the first time, Joel Coen is the sole director of his upcoming adaptation of The Tragedy Of Macbeth , which stars Denzel Washington in the titular role and Frances McDormand as his wife. With its subject matter and leading stars, the film has high Oscar prospects, begging the question of whether Apple will wait to premiere it near a friendlier award season date. The Worst Person in the World Norwegian director Joachim Trier has debuted two films at Cannes, most recently his star-studded English-language debut Louder Than Bombs in 2015. Trier is returning to his native language for his newest film, which follows the life of Julie, who must take a hard look at herself after years of navigating love and careers. The cast comprises almost all newcomers, opening the possibility of the festival being a launchpad for a few young stars. Titane Writer/director Julia Ducournau made a splash at Cannes in 2016 with her debut, Raw , which won the first place prize in the Director's Fortnight section. After years away, she's back with Titane , a mystery film surrounding a child returning home after being missing for nearly a decade. There's also a murder element as a series of gruesome killings has been ravaging the area. The question is if Ducournau will be promoted to the official competition or if she'll remain in the sidebars. The Velvet Underground Todd Haynes' Velvet Goldmine made a splash for its cast and crew when it hit the Croisette in 1998. Twenty-three years later, Haynes is returning to rock music with a documentary on the famous titular American band. The documentary is an Apple TV+ production, and a big festival push may be just the thing the streamer needs to break into the awards conversation. UNLIKELY, BUT POSSIBLE Big Bug Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet delivered a one-two punch with Amelie and A Very Long Engagement at the beginning of the century. He hasn't done much since, meaning it could be time for Cannes to welcome him back to the international stage. His newest film is an adventurous comedy where an android uprising causes a bickering suburban family to be locked in their home. Like many other films in this section, Netflix holds the distribution rights. Given the lighter nature and Jeunet's inexperience at the festival, an out-of-competition spot may be possible. Blonde Andrew Dominik has made his way around the festival circuit, hitting up Venice in 2007 with The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford and going to Cannes in 2012 with Killing Them Softly . His next film looks to be a prime Oscar contender as it tells a fictionalized story about the inner life of Marilyn Monroe. Burgeoning superstar Ana de Armas plays the iconic Blonde Bombshell, with Adrien Brody, Julianne Nicholson, Bobby Cannavale, and Scoot McNairy rounding out the supporting cast. Again, this movie has a Netflix problem, so a Venice premiere seems to be the most likely outcome. Cry Macho Contrary to his all-American image, Clint Eastwood is quite beloved over in France, as he has debuted several films at the festival, such as Mystic River and Changeling . He even served as jury president in 1994, awarding Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction the Palme d'Or. Being as Eastwood's upcoming Cry Macho very well could be his final outing, it would be fitting for it to make a splash at the festival that has welcomed him for decades. Decision to Leave Along with Bong Joon Ho, director Park Chan-wook has helped popularize South Korean cinema in recent decades. Chan-wook has won the second and third place prizes at the festival, doing so with Oldboy in 2003 and Thirst in 2009, respectively. After some time away since his last effort, The Handmaiden , Chan-wook is diving into the detective genre with a story following an investigation about man's mysterious death and his equally mystifying wife. Filming began in October, making a Cannes premiere very difficult in such a short time. Soggy Bottom Sources say that Fremaux has been trying his best to get Paul Thomas Anderson to debut his newest film at the festival, a sentiment that Anderson also shares. This would mark the second time PTA has debuted a film at Cannes, as he first did it in 2002 with Punch-Drunk Love . Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman's son Cooper Hoffman, Benny Safdie, and Bradley Cooper, this would easily be the most anticipated premiere. The recently announced Thanksgiving release date does put a damper on things, as distributor MGM may want to wait a while to premiere the film closer to Oscar season. The Hand of God After helming both seasons of The Young Pope and The New Pope over at HBO, Italian auteur Paolo Sorrentino is making a return to the silver screen. Little is known about the plot, except that it is a very personal film set in Naples that centers on the legend of Diego Maradona and his miracle play. Toni Servillo, who has frequently participated in Sorrentino's movies such as the Oscar-winning The Great Beauty , leads the cast. Netflix holds the distribution rights for the film, which does put a dent in any premiere plans. With Sorrentino's lauded history at the festival, hopefully, some arrangement can be made. The Perfumed Hill Hailing from Mauritania, Abderrahmane Sissako has released only three films this century, but they all premiered at Cannes, with 2014's Timbuktu also being nominated for the Best International Feature Oscar. Little is known about his next film, except that production began in the fall of 2019. If filming were completed before the pandemic, Sissako would likely be invited back to the festival he has called home for so many years. The Power of the Dog New Zealander Jane Campion remains the only woman ever to direct a Palme d'Or winning film, doing it in 1993 with The Piano . Campion's newest film stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons as Montana ranching brothers who both pine after the affection of Kirsten Dunst. What makes this a tricky situation is that Netflix is treating this as their prize Oscar contender. It has also been invited to the Netflix-friendly Venice Film Festival, which could very well be its eventual landing spot. The Way of the Wind There's no way to figure out when a Terrence Malick film will be released. All you can do is wait and pray. Malick premiered his last movie, A Hidden Life , at Cannes in 2019, and he also won the Palme d'Or for his magnum opus The Tree Of Life in 2011. He once again has saddled himself with another weighty topic, as The Way Of The Wind will tell several episodes of the life of Jesus Christ, led by a cast of Mark Rylance, Ben Kingsley, Joseph Fiennes, and Matthias Schoenaerts. Several of Malick's films have been delayed for years as he endlessly tinkers in the editing room, so there's no telling when this film will be seen. Where is Anne Frank? Ari Folman took the world by storm with his 2008 animated documentary, Waltz With Bashir , which played at Cannes and was nominated for the Best International Feature Oscar. Announced just after that film premiered, Folman's newest animated effort will tell the story of Anne Frank through Kitty, the imaginary friend from Frank's diary. Considering the already long production cycle of the film and that no new information has been released in quite some time, it seems unlikely that the film would be ready. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen