Nouvelle Vague October 31, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen “Each film is made up of five different films: The film you write, the film you cast, the film you shoot, the film you edit, and the film you release.” That’s a line from Nouvelle Vague , spoken to Jean-Luc Godard as he’s about to begin production on his debut feature film, Breathless . Little did anyone know that it would become the apex not only of the French New Wave (for which this film takes its title), but also a pinnacle moment in the evolution of cinema. Sixty-five years later, director Richard Linklater, completing the back half of his 2025 double play after Blue Moon , is here to tell us all about. The film they wrote is a simple one. “All you need to make a film is a girl and a gun,” is Jean-Luc’s strategy for getting the necessary financing. He’s written a scenario with New Wave superstars and fellow Cahiers du Cinéma critics Claude Chabrol ( Le Beau Serge ) and François Truffaut ( The 400 Blows) , a fast-paced story of a crook and a girl on the run. Writers Holly Gent, Laetitia Masson, Vincent Palmo Jr., and Michèle Pétin find humor in the criminal behavior that is required to get a film off the ground. Jean-Luc evades securing permits, giving story details to his crew, and never keeps a regular working schedule. It’s all a mystery, maintain the magic that is needed to make a work of art. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UufRzKVFseg The film they cast was full of unknowns, except for the American expatriot Jean Seberg. Linklater applies the same logic, with Zoey Deutch, reuniting with the director after Everybody Wants Some!! , playing the Iowa-born star. She’s attracted to Godard’s whirlwind methods, mostly because they heavily clash with her recent work with the ultra-regimented Otto Preminger. Guillaume Marbeck marks one of the best feature acting debuts as Godard. He’s a dead ringer, complete with sunglasses that never come off and a partially receding hairline. There’s mischief in his (covered) eyes, and a sense of genius that persuades people to withstand his aloofness. A special shoutout should be given to Benjamin Clery as Jean-Luc’s assistant, Pierre Rissient, the comedic standout of the film. The film they shot was in French, with a 4:3 aspect ratio and high-contrast black-and-white. It was a fast and cheap solution, keeping the production light on its feet and giving the story a down-and-dirty aesthetic. David Chambille’s cinematography here is a near-perfect recreation, even down to the cigarette burn cue marks and slightly faded subtitles that also appear to introduce the dozens of famous historical faces. It’s boxy, yet vibrant, with an amateur quality that can only be made by someone who clearly understands what they’re doing. The sound pops, all of it recorded in post-production. The film they edited gave it the smoky, cool tone it’s most known for. Jump cuts excise all the “boring” bits, leaving only the parts we need to want to know more. Linklater could have leaned more on that technique, as a substantial chunk of the film is spent meticulously detailing the daily production process. The majority of the days in the twenty-three-day shoot meld together, leaving an impression that we’re running around in a revolving door. The film they released was in theaters, catching on like wildfire as a new generation of cinephiles gravitated towards its hip aesthetics and ideas. This film will not share that strategy or result, with its placement on Netflix isolating the experience. For as much fun as I had with the movie itself, an equal amount came from the collective awe-inspiring giddiness that spread throughout the room. We were all sharing the same projector light, the same sound system, and the same sequence of events. And there’s nothing as artistically pure as that. This review was originally published from the Canadian premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Netflix will release Nouvelle Vague in select theaters on October 31st, followed by its streaming premiere on November 14th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Button Tyler Banark Alex Helmer marks his feature film directorial debut with A Christmas Party , an ensemble piece that reminds us of the peaks and valleys of the titular occasion. At just twenty-three years old, Helmer already knows what kind of filmmaker he aspires to be, which is a testament to his maturity, as most directors still find their footing at such a young age. Speaking highly of his cast and crew, he’s got convictions that he’s got all the right pieces to his first puzzle. The result? A mostly spectacular effort capturing the agony and ecstasy of the most wonderful time of the year. Shot in Helmer’s hometown of Washington, D.C., A Christmas Party is not only a personal film. The D.C. backdrop adds another layer to a powder keg waiting to be lit and exploded. No matter how we feel about the holiday, one inevitable topic of conversation that’ll come up via your conservative uncle or liberal cousin is politics. While D.C. isn’t prominently featured in the film, there is a presence of a congressman arriving unannounced at the dinner and a partygoer who has just quit her job working for said congressman. After he shows up, disrupts the dinner, and storms out, chaos ensues. Helmer penned the script with longtime friend and comedian Guy Knoll, and the execution of this idiosyncrasy is daring. Amidst the partygoers, we meet many eccentric characters. In particular, there’s CJ (Joe Rashbaum), a man trying to sniff out whether his wife is cheating on him or not. While Rashbaum isn’t the leading man of the movie, he easily steals the show. Every interaction he has with another that involves him asking them if they know someone who possibly slept with his wife is genius, particularly one with Jack Wielar’s Danny, as the latter makes the clever choice to dart his eyes anywhere but directly at Rashbaum. Aside from him, another supporting highlight of the cast is Richard Sexton as Shaun, the godfather of our leading man, Adam (more on him in a bit). Sexton provides the moral compass Adam needs as he navigates his first family gathering since coming home from college. On the one hand, Shaun is written to be a character who knows how to light up a room. On the other hand, he’s a soul looking for help. Shaun is also a thespian looking to execute the perfect line in a play he’s about to be in. Every time he asks for input on how to say his one-liner, he receives various pieces of feedback. Then there’s our leading man, Adam Hartman, played by Jaxon Keller. Viewers see him navigate his way through every conversation like it’s a chore to eventually get one-on-one time with childhood friend Ally (Sarah-Grace Donelly). Keller fits right into Helmer’s style as the actor and director make a tight-knit duo. His chemistry with Donelly is wonderful, but what Helmer and Knoll do with the characters feels a bit forced and cheeky. Adam catches Ally at a bad time to profess his feelings for her as she brings home a new boyfriend from the UK, and while that love triangle finds resolution, it’s how it got there that should’ve been written better. As for Adam himself, he’s written one-dimensionally, never seeming to fulfill a true arc. This may partially be because of how ensemble-oriented A Christmas Party is. Still, even if there’s a central protagonist in a sea of characters, no viewer wants to see them be one-note. What A Christmas Party lacks the most is its script. Not only is Adam a thinly written lead, but subplots ran amok. Some become developed and resolved, while others get audiences wanting more. But the benefit of the doubt should be given to Helmer and Knoll. This is their first feature-length script together, and while their intentions as writers have the same end goal, they seem to still be working out the kinks in terms of finding which ideas to go with. On the plus side, they know exactly how to capture the in-your-face nature of holiday parties and all the cliches that could come with one. The approach feels earnest, and took a lot of effort to translate under one roof, as it not only knows what kinds of people you will find at one, but also the cultural mindsets of each character. Whether it’s having certain characters speak Czech or introducing what an American Christmas looks like for new faces at the party, Helmer and Knoll tie it all together. A Christmas Party is, through and through, a fitting holiday movie. It may not be on the same level as the greats like Elf , A Christmas Story , or National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation , but it has the heart and soul of what makes that time of the year what it is. Helmer has proven to be a man of great character, and what he has achieved here is courageous. I certainly hope he will be a name to look out for in the near future, as his next task with this movie will be distribution. I doubt anyone will be slow to grab it, but as long as it falls into the right hands, it’ll be a pleasant gift for us all. You can follow Tyler and hear more of his thoughts on Twitter , Instagram , and Letterboxd . More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Tetris March 28, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen If 2022 was the year of taking down the rich in Triangle of Sadness , Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery , and The Menu , then 2023 is the year for telling the story of the companies that made so many of those people rich. Corporations have already tied their hands around movies with product placement ( a favorite of David Lynch ), tie-ins, promotional screenings, and merchandising. Now they’ve cut out the middleman and made themselves the star of the show. Just on the docket within the next few months are Air , Blackberry , Flamin’ Hot , and Barbie . Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom, as for every glorified commercial ( Mac and Me ), there is a smart and interesting story about power and ambition ( The Social Network ). Landing somewhere in the middle (to be fair, it leans more towards the good side) is Tetris , which explores the complex origins of the simple game that has gone on to entertain billions of people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BLM1naCfME “Good ideas have no borders,” says Alexey Pajitnov, inventor of Tetris to Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton) as they embrace at a Moscow rave. The statement is especially true in this situation because there’s not much else that would make a Dutchman game designer, an American lawyer, and two British tycoons converge in the heart of the Soviet Union. To all these people, Tetris is the perfect video game, with the simple task of stacking blocks being incredibly addictive. However, it’s just as hard to get something out of Russia as it is to get in. To the Communist Party, a sale of Tetris to the West would be the start of a slippery slope, one where capitalism slowly poisons their socialist society. KGB operatives watch Henk all day and night, blackmailing and threatening him at every turn. What ensues is a suspenseful game filled with high stakes and tough negotiations Screenwriter Noah Pink (creator of the anthology series Genius ) initially struggles to seamlessly lay out the level, opting for an incredibly exposition-heavy opening where Henk explains the intricacies of video game distribution to his less-than-impressed banker. Director Jon S. Baird makes this more entertaining visually as Egerton’s narration goes over a series of 8-bit animated sequences. The gaming aesthetics don’t stop there, as Baird takes Henk’s line of how he “still sees blocks” after only playing the game for five minutes in its most literal form. The coldly gray Soviet buildings are outlined in blocks, ready to be toppled over once everything is aligned just right. Because of where and when it's set, Tetris finds itself at a pivotal showdown between traditional Communist loyalists and new-era Russian idealists. Many of the thinly drawn Russian villains are better capitalists than the actual capitalists themselves. But they’re no match for Henk’s relentless optimism, which overwhelms their natural pessimistic mistrust. Egerton brings a lot of charisma to his role, charging headfirst through every obstacle. The blocks may fall a little too easily for Tetris , but that doesn’t take away from the appreciation it deserves for guiding us through this concrete jungle of paperwork and legal minutia. Coincidentally, it also illustrates how far technology has come since then, as this story of arcade machines and handheld gaming consoles will be seen by everyone through Apple TV+’s streaming service. Apple Original Films will release Tetris on its streaming service on March 31st. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Predator September 20, 2018 By: Button Hunter Friesen The original Predator from 1987 was a film full of mindless action done in a smart way. Every other sequel, spin-off, and reboot following has just been mindless action done really dumb. The Predator , the new quasi-reboot/sequel, is no exception to that trend. The Predator tries to be a lot of things at once: an ultra-gory action thriller, a witty character comedy, and a relationship drama between family and friends. Instead, it’s none of these things as each piece is weighed down by the other until the whole thing falls apart into one lazy mess. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaG1KZqrLvM The Predator comes as the first failure by director Shane Black, who previously did well with Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys . Black’s trademark use of witty banter doesn’t go over well here as it has in his previous films. Most of the jokes are shoehorned in for the sake of having them and are delivered with little effort. They also seem really out of place. Dramatic scenes have jokes in them for no reason and scenes that are supposed to be comedic end up being dry. Also, the whole tone of the film just feels off. It never settles and constantly keeps seesawing between hard action and silly over-the-top fun, which jarringly contrast each other. When the film is hard action, it’s ordinary gory action that’s been done better by others. Specifically, the whole third act of the film feels like a generic shoot ‘em up. It’s a huge disappointment considering that the film had been building up to this moment throughout the first two acts. Along with Fred Dekker, Shane Black also serves as a writer. Similar to his directing, Black’s writing is lackluster and a letdown when compared to his previous work. The overall plot comes off as lazy. There really isn’t a big picture for the film and how it connects to the rest of the franchise. We do get some connectors and facts, but mainly they’re just cast aside in favor of more action set pieces. Another misstep is the introduction of the main character’s son, Rory, who acts as a link between the aliens and humans. Just like every other kid in an action movie, Rory’s only purpose is to artificially raise the stakes and force us to care for him just because he’s a kid. The biggest gripe against the writers is how they take the Suicide Squad approach towards the characters. We go around introducing each character and learn one trait about them. Then the characters only act on that one trait the whole movie, which quickly gets tiresome. Half of them don’t even serve a point until they die at the end in a desperate attempt to make us care for them. Stemming from the bad writing is some equally bad acting from the main cast. Boyd Holbrook plays our lead character, Quinn McKenna, an elite stealth sniper. Holbrook is very boring in the role and plays the same “conflicted army character with a heart of gold” that we’ve seen over and over. Just like Holbrook, Olivia Munn plays her character, Dr. Casey Bracket, like every other action movie scientist. She gives some science mumbo jumbo every few minutes and doesn’t do much else. Sterling K. Brown lacks his usual confidence here. He always looks unsure of himself as he doesn't know how to play his character. He wants to be a multi-layered villain but ends up being a cartoon. One slight nod can be given to Keegan-Michael Key. His manic energy allows for some of the jokes to not totally fail. Everybody’s heard the saying, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.” Most films embody this statement, shooting too high and coming out average. The Predator , on the other hand, does the exact opposite of this statement. It seems like the filmmakers didn't care enough to shoot for the moon. They shot for average at best and missed badly, leaving us with a film that feels like an empty shell of what it could have been. 20th Century Fox will release The Predator in theaters nationwide on September 14th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

28 Years Later June 19, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen The only moment that could be considered “light” in 28 Years Later , the third fittingly titled entry in the famed zombie franchise after 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later , is the logo treatment for Columbia Pictures. Even the opening image features the Teletubbies, the little devils that simultaneously entertain and steal people’s souls. After that, it’s a non-stop train down to hell. But there’s still a melody to the morbidity, much of it coming through the strong performances and delicate tonal balancing from returning director Danny Boyle. That shouldn’t be a surprise for the revered British auteur, considering he’s already performed this trick with the electrifying provactivness of the original Trainspotting , which turned into the wiser, sadder T2 Trainspotting . Time was a valuable asset for that series, and so is it here. No longer is agonizingly immediate dismemberment the top-of-mind threat, but the slow, trodden wait for time to outpace mortality. The ending of 28 Weeks Later , with the zombies now spreading through mainland Europe, has been retconned back to the British Isles. The world’s governments aren’t going to make the same mistake twice, so the United Kingdom has been permanently sealed off, leaving any and all human survivors to fend for themselves. Even for the people of Holy Island, who have formed a quiet, secluded community away from the infected, there’s a lingering feeling that everyone else on the planet is just waiting for them to die off and for all this to be done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcvLKldPM08 As the title alludes, enough time has passed since the rage virus first appeared. There are now generations that don’t know what the world was like before all this. iPhones, the internet, plastic surgery, and pizza delivery. Those are all foreign concepts to twelve-year-old Spike, played by the brilliant newcomer Alfie Williams. His lifestyle has reverted several hundred years, his dad (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and he being the hunter-gatherers of the community. There are now variations of the infected, some slower and others brawnier and more intelligent, known as “Alphas.” A natural plot would create an antagonistic relationship between Spike and the Alpha, with his coming-of-age reaching its climax by slaying the beast. Screenwriter Alex Garland (recently helming the A24 military duo of Civil War and Warfare ) and Boyle have different ideas. As opposed to his worn-down traditional father, Spike’s concept of masculinity comes from his devotion to his sick mother (Jodie Comer), with the only hope for a cure being from a supposed insane doctor housed deep in the forbidden mainland. Like all promises of relief in this franchise, the answer is never what you want to hear. But instead of being a blunt beating, Spike’s realization about the natural order of things comes with precise catharsis. A bald and red-painted Ralph Fiennes plays the mad doctor, offering sobering wisdom from someone who sees past the us vs. them division of the living and the dead. His appearance is greatly welcomed, and his work with Williams and Comer tugs at the heart, a surprising occurrence from a franchise whose first instinct with organs is to violently rip them out. This is also a franchise where every terrible happening is caused by unbelievable stupidity, so the higher-minded philosophy still has a pretty low ceiling. The thematically correct sloppiness of the previous entry’s cinematography is replicated here through wide-angled and anamorphic iPhone cameras. At times, there’s a jarring beauty to it, providing an unvarnished view of the world. In other moments, it’s an uncanny valley, my mind instinctively rejecting cell phone cameras from the silver screen. That unfiltered view also prevents the unsightly CGI from being masked. A highly questionable ending, certainly a teaser for the already-shot sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple , dampens a lot of the goodwill built up to that moment. This is only supposed to be the start of a new trilogy, with original cast member Cillian Murphy expected to return. The brief sample has me questioning what the full course is going to be, but there are still enough unique ideas ready for us to sink our teeth into. Sony Pictures Releasing will release 28 Years Later in theaters nationwide on June 20th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Emancipation December 7, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen With Sarah Polley’s Women Talking and now Antoine Fuqua’s Emancipation , desaturated cinematography seems to have replaced black-and-white as the new stylistic craze for the year. The thematic reasoning behind the decision is sound (the morally gray dilemma in Women Talking , the ultra-grim circumstances in Emancipation ), but the results are far from pleasing to the eye. To paraphrase Roger Ebert: I admire what they’re doing, and I hate it. Thankfully, the garish photography, which stings just a little more considering it’s supplied by three-time Oscar winner and Scorsese/Stone/Tarantino handyman Robert Richardson, doesn’t prohibit Emancipation from reaching its lofty ambitions. This is a nightmarish retelling of a true American horror story, one that shook the world to its core over 150 years ago, and should continue to do so for the foreseeable future. If not for “The Slap,” which transpired only eight months ago when Will Smith assaulted Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars, the King Richard star would likely find himself back there as a nominee this year. I have no sympathy for Smith after what he did. Still, his worthy performance here would honorably fill that vacant last slot in Best Lead Actor behind presumed locks Austin Butler, Colin Farrell, Brendan Fraser, and Bill Nighy. If nothing else, it would also prevent Hugh Jackman from being nominated in a much more heinous film than Florian Zeller’s The Son . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wafyhTpWpUs But the past is the past, and we must now view Emancipation through the lens of a less likable Will Smith. Here, he plays Peter (inspired by the true story of Gordon), a Haitian-born slave who is introduced as he is being sold away from his family. He promises to return to them, no matter the obstacles in his way. His unwavering faith in God provides him the strength to endure the inhumane treatment he receives at a Confederate army camp near the swamps of Louisiana. While there, rumors start to swirl that President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves through the Emancipation Proclamation. Knowing that their captors won’t give them their freedom willingly, Peter and others decide they must take it. They flee from their chains and head towards Baton Rouge, where friendly Union soldiers await. “Follow the sound of Lincoln’s cannons” is their north star as they trek through the treacherous terrain, all with a sadistic bounty hunter (Ben Foster) hot on their trail. One of the more unexpected things to come from Emancipation is Fuqua’s in-your-face, grisly depiction of slavery and general life in the mid-1800s. Captured runaway slaves are beheaded and placed on stakes, others are branded, and many more die because of the grueling working conditions that promote disease and famine. Fuqua also leans into his action director pedigree to bring elements of Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant , such as extended long takes and the beastly monsters that await in the murky swamp water. A fight with an alligator is one of the few moments where this aggressively serious film finds itself trying too hard to be “entertaining.” There’s also a large-scale Civil War battle that must have been added to justify the film’s $100 million budget, even if it creakily undermines the more minimalist approach to the first ninety minutes. Overarching all of this is the emotional honesty that Smith’s performance lends to the story of Peter. Dialogue is seldom used as his character overcomes the unimaginable with stoicism. Facial expressions do most of the talking, most noticeable when he is staged for the famous “ Whipped Peter ” photograph that told the story of American slavery to the rest of the world. Emancipation will likely not be the comeback vehicle that Smith desperately needs, but it was also never designed to be that. Through his clumsy past actions, he has turned away most audiences that were likely already on the fence about watching this daunting slave drama. That’s a shame because it means he has wasted a powerful performance that deserves to be seen by more than just the tiny audience it will now attract. Apple Original Films will release Emancipation in select theaters on December 02nd, followed by its streaming premiere on December 09th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Triangle of Sadness May 28, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen An influencer couple, a Russian capitalist, two British arms dealers, and an American Marxist sea captain all board a $250 million luxury yacht bound for the high seas. What could go wrong? You’ve seen movies better at dissecting economic classism than Triangle of Sadness . You’ve also seen much tighter and more succinct ones. And you’ve definitely seen ones that leave you with a better understanding of an issue than when you walked in. But I don’t think you’ve ever seen a film that doesn't do all of that and still be as wickedly hilarious as Triangle of Sadness . Ruben Östlund has never found an issue he can’t tackle. Whether it be mundane social norms in Involuntary , male ego in Force Majeure (for which he was given the dubious honor of having remade in the English language with the woefully dull Downhill ), or the upside-down art world in The Square , the Swedish filmmaker has always found a playful way to show just how absurd life is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDvfFIZQIuQ And, along with those themes of social skewering, the thing that has stayed most consistent is the praise he’s received. Force Majeure snagged the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, which allowed him to be “promoted” to the official competition with 2017’s The Square . The brighter lights did nothing to hinder his upward trajectory as he added the prestigious Palme d’Or to his trophy shelf. Now in 2022, Östlund’s stock continues to rise with his second consecutive Palme win, joining Michael Haneke and fellow countryman Billie August as the only filmmakers to win the award for back-to-back films. So, with all the awards surrounding Triangle of Sadness as it sets its American theatrical release, the question remains: Does it live up to the hype? Well, yes and no. Taking a page out of the Zoolander school of satire, Östlund’s film opens with a modeling audition. At the age of 25, Carl (both smartly and aloofly played by the rising Harris Dickinson) is getting a little too close to being phased out of his career as the roles in the “grumpy” and “smiley” brands aren’t coming as easily as they used to. He’s left to languish in a slow and painful societal death, which includes losing social media followers and invites to his girlfriend Yaya’s (Charlbi Dean, who tragically passed away just after the film’s premiere) runway shows. This A Star Is Born dynamic threatens the pair’s relationship, which Östlund punctuates with a side-splitting cringe-fueled debate over who should pick up the check at a restaurant. Fortunately, the couple is bound for a superyacht vacation that will act as the final opportunity to mend their connection. On the boat, they become the middle class, stuck between the uber-rich guests and the lowly workers that service every passenger’s whim, which includes going for a swim to assuage their master’s guilt and promising to clean the sails, even though this a motorized vessel. In this second act of the film’s clear three-act structure, Östlund unleashes a tirade of written and visual allegories upon his micro-society, with two standouts being Woody Harrelson’s alcoholic ship captain and the closing scene where the ship fills with literal shit and vomit. Any viewers with a weak stomach have been properly warned. None of what Östlund is saying is revolutionary, but it is oh so funny. But that high level of hilarity can’t sustain itself across the film’s extremely bloated 150-minute runtime, which becomes quite clear during the final, and weakest, act. Through unforeseen circumstances, the passengers have been marooned on a desolate island. Things get even more in-your-face by Östlund as the social hierarchy completely flips, with the white-collar passengers proving to be inept and the “peasants” becoming royalty because of their basic survival skills. From here to the end, most everything only elicits a mild chuckle instead of the belly-aching that the first two hours had accustomed us to. Triangle of Sadness demands to be seen with the largest crowd possible, as its mixture of low and high-brow humor travels like wildfire in the moment. Unfortunately for the majority of the viewers, the post-pandemic theatrical landscape doesn’t create too many opportunities for that level of a collective experience for any non-MCU branded film. It’s a true pity, as my Cannes screening of Östlund’s farce in May has lasted longer in my memory than most blockbusters do the day after. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. Neon will release Triangle of Sadness in select theaters on October 7th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You October 17, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Think back to the worst day of your life, a time when everyone and everything seemed hellbent on punching you down to the bottom. There might have been signs that this was coming, spread out over weeks, months, maybe even years. But you didn't think it would all explode at once, with the only response being deafening silence. The weight of it all made you numb, an almost fight-or-flight response bringing you to a primordial state. For Linda (Rose Byrne), that kind of day seems to happen every day. Her husband (Christian Slater, doing some of the best phone acting of the year) is away on business for weeks, leaving her to be the sole caretaker of their daughter, who has an unlabeled illness that keeps her from eating solid food and must be fed through a tube while she sleeps. Her career isn't much better, with her job as a therapist forcing her to listen to other people's struggles all day long in a dingy office. Even a therapist needs a therapist, but the colleague who's filling that role (Conan O'Brien) doesn't seem to like her and never offers any helpful answers. Every question she has is thrown back with a demeaning tone, as if it's insulting for an adult to have these kinds of problems. Oh, and there's a giant, gaping hole that flooded her apartment, forcing her and her daughter to take an extended stay at a crappy motel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywFDoT7LBbQ However bad things get for Linda, there's always worse for us as we have to witness them through writer/director Mary Bronstein's lens. Annoying little clicks and clacks are pumped in during the opening studio logos, with the opening shot being an unbroken extreme close-up of Byrne's as she's passively aggressively being told by her daughter's doctor that she isn't doing enough. The child is never seen, but her constant complaining and questioning lead us to imagine some sort of bratty little demon. A pizza box falls on the ground, ripping off all the cheese. And then a hamster is run over by a car. At that point, the only choice we have left is to laugh at the pain. All of this makes If I Had Legs I'd Kick You a challenging movie to deal with. Was I annoyed because of the fact that the movie makes its point within the first hour, and then spends the next hour reheating it? Or was I annoyed because that's what Bronstein wanted me to feel, constantly irritated to the point of rethinking my life choices? I'd imagine it was a little from both columns, although the former seems to be the more dominant of the two. I was reminded a bit of Nightbitch from last year, another movie about motherhood with a strong premise and committed lead performance that is ultimately let down by an unwillingness to go beyond the surface. Byrne is a standout in the lead role, acting as the sole reason to keep rooting for her character to finally make the right decision. She both is and isn't trying to be better, caught in a limbo of nothingness that we often find too comfortable. Bronstein is married to Ronald Bronstein, a frequent co-writer and co-editor with the Safdie brothers. The eldest, Josh, is a producer on this film, giving credence to the comparisons to Adam Sandler's anxious downward spiral as Howard Ratner in Uncut Gems . To state that I never want to watch this film again isn't much of an overreaction. Honestly, anyone who willingly puts themselves through this on more than one occasion needs to be medically assessed. Effectively weaponizing this much chaos is an achievement on Bronstein's part, and Byrne's determination is admirable. It's a lot of sound and fury, signifying something, I guess. A24 will release If I Had Legs I'd Kick You in select theaters on October 10th, followed by a nationwide expansion on October 31st. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Longlegs July 12, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) reads a letter at her desk that’s been mysteriously put there without her knowledge. The door to her kitchen is open, with the flickers of light from the porch lights interrupted by a figure passing them. Or were those gaps of light just pieces of our imagination, a symptom of the descent into madness that this story requires? Whether it's from a door, window, or any four-sided structure, every frame is a gateway to hell in Longlegs . They often tend to be a frame within a frame, as writer/director Ozgood Perkins’ camera claustrophobically narrows in on its target, forcing you to project your worst fears onto the tightly restrained information it drips. It’s no surprise that every shot is perfectly composed, each dim corner beckoning you to peel it back, if you dare. Despite a semi-limited sample size of a filmography, Perkins has displayed a mastery of his craft from the director’s chair, holding his audience captive through slow-burning tension (most audiences would rather use the word “tedious”) and dazzling imagery. One of the minor unfortunate side effects of the pandemic was Perkins’ “Better Than It Had Any Right To Be” Gretel & Hansel failing to find another life in everyone’s homes after it floundered in theaters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG7wOTE8NhE Something that is surprising is that all those shots come from first-time feature cinematographer Andres Arochi. The framing is always spot-on, obscuring just enough of Nicolas Cage’s titular character for us to beg for more. Old-school polaroids and grain are the methods of choice when Perkins and Arochi display the gruesomeness that’s going on in this story. Many of these scenes have been sporadically used throughout the viral marketing campaign, which, fortunately, hasn’t diluted their effectiveness in the final product. A 911 call where a father breathes heavily while cryptically explaining how he’ll kill his family sent long-lasting shivers down my spine. The decomposed bodies of other families forced all popcorn munching in my audience to immediately stop. The prime suspect in all this suburban death goes by Longlegs, a ghostly pale freak who loves to leave behind coded messages that spread his Satanic gospel and taunt the ever-frustrated law enforcement. Harker’s procedural work to catch him mixes a blend of Zodiac and The Silence of the Lambs , both aspects kept tightly in check as each clue gradually reveals how the puzzle pieces fit together. That is, until Perkins decides to hurriedly finish it all for us near the end through an expositional monologue. This is a story where the natural dissatisfaction of the loose ends is actually what’s so satisfying about it. Tying everything up with a nice ribbon feels more like a move by Perkins to win back the mainstream crowd after his previous features got battered by CinemaScore. Monroe is sensational in her lead role. She communicates the insular nature of her character flawlessly, keeping us both on the inside and outside. Perkins sets up her unclear psychic premonitions early on, her first vision identifying the house of a serial killer despite no other evidence. While that trait goes largely undeveloped from there, Monroe keeps the mind games going as she gets closer to the man who mentally torments her. Cage is an odd presence for this movie, his star power being too powerful to be effectively shrouded for so long, and his trademarked Cage-isms, including spontaneous singing and screaming, provoking laughter rather than menace. It’s still one of his better modern performances and continues his run of being interestingly employed by genre filmmakers ( Pig, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent , Dream Scenario ). There are a lot of similarities, both technically and thematically, between Perkins’ film and The Black Phone from a few years back. The promise of the happy nuclear family of the mid-20th century was not all it was cracked up to be, with evil lurking within the voids. Both may not have been great enough to wholly grip you as much as they intend to, but there’s definitely enough going on to burrow in your head and go home with you. Neon will release Longlegs in theaters nationwide on July 12th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Pet Sematary April 11, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen What if you had the option to bring someone back from the dead? Would you seize the opportunity to get a second chance, or would you turn away and leave the dead as they were? In his 1983 cult classic Pet Sematary , author Stephen King posed and answered this very question with a grisly answer. Centering around the Creed family, the story begins with them having just moved to Maine. They live in a quaint country home that just so happens to have an eerie burial ground for long-deceased pets that sits in their backyard. Just days after moving in, the family cat is found dead. Not wanting to upset his daughter, Louis decides to bury the animal before she finds out. Lending a hand is neighbor Judd, who shows Louis a spot above the burial ground that possesses power beyond human reason. Suddenly, the cat is back from the dead, but this time it is much meaner and more mangy. After some time, another major tragedy strikes the family. Distraught over his loss, Louis returns to the supernatural spot to bring his loved one back. Louis does get his wish, but it doesn’t turn out the way he wanted, resulting in a lesson that teaches that death always wins in the end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VllcgXSIJkE Directed by partners Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, Pet Sematary is a film that tells a tale of two halves in terms of pacing and excitement. The first half turns out to be quite boring as the story is slowly unfolded in order to touch on the most minute of details. After the pivotal moment that climaxes the buildup, the second half picks up speed and is able to be the horror film it wants to be. Just like the runtime, the scare tactics used in the first half very much pale compared to the latter half. The first hour consisted solely of identically structured jump scares that became more and more predictable as they kept happening. But once the recycled startling is over, the real horror sets in as Kölsch and Widmyer do great work by authentically building up terror through the atmosphere and actor performances. Almost identical to the quality of the directing is the writing by Jeff Buhler. Despite being a pretty simple concept for audiences to grasp, Buhler spends a fairly large chunk of the film tediously explaining every fact surrounding the narrative. This incessant need for overly expository storytelling grinds the film to a crawl and makes me feel like I was in a glorified lecture where the professor would never stop talking. Before I mentioned that the first hour is filled with recycled jump scares. While some of that blame can be put on the directors for not trying hard enough, much of it goes to Buhler for not giving the directors enough to work with. Each scare consisted of the same steps: a character would hear a noise coming from a low-lit area, they would slowly walk over to it, open a door or cupboard, the music cuts out, and then suddenly a loud noise jolts you. You would think adapting a Stephen King would give Buhler a good supply of material to scare people with and stop him from writing a series of mindless startles that everybody experiences on a daily level, but it turns out you’d be wrong. Contrary to most horror films, Pet Sematary boasts some quality acting within its tight-knit cast. Jason Clarke does a respectable job as the tormented father, Louis. Even though his character is the most boring, which is attributable to the writing, Clarke can develop his character beyond the limitations posed to him. Amy Seimetz does great work as Rachel Creed. Her character has an interesting backstory that she uses to its fullest potential, especially in her close-up reaction shots. John Lithgow plays Judd and turns in a good performance as a weathered old man who unintentionally starts and eventually gets caught up in the bloody mess. Finally, considering the amount of work she has to do and the quality of the material given to her, child actor Jeté Laurence ends up being surprisingly outstanding as the young daughter, Ellie. Just like the concept it explores, Pet Sematary is a film that lies dormant in its first half but can resurrect itself and deliver the thrills and chills it promised. You could do worse at finding a horror film that chews up a few hours out of your day. But you could also do better. Paramount Pictures will release Pet Sematary in theaters nationwide on April 05th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Violent Night November 30, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen Do you remember that Saturday Night Live sketch from 2019 where they took the cast of Sesame Street and imagined what they would be like in the world of Todd Phillips’ Joker ? If you don’t, here’s the link to it. Go ahead and watch it and come back to this review. I won’t mind. In that sketch, David Harbour, who was hosting that week, plays the human version of Oscar the Grouch, making fun of Hollywood’s new incessant need for “dark and gritty” adaptations of beloved characters. Seeing a dark version of Sesame Street is fun for a couple of minutes, but we all know there’s only so much that can be done with that ironic concept. I just wish the producers of Violent Night had come to that realization before they decided to make a 100-minute “edgy” take on Santa Claus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a53e4HHnx_s Of course, along with an overall rise in darkness in blockbuster filmmaking (and society as a whole, but I’m not going down that meme-ified road), a violent Santa movie shouldn’t be all that surprising, given the uptick in classical icons being presented with their own dark stories filled with blood and crude language. The filmmakers behind the upcoming Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey have already announced their next feature to be Bambi: The Reckoning , which will see Bambi become “a vicious killing machine” after the death of his mother. These Asylum-level adaptations sound, and will probably be pure garbage. But they’ll make a quick buck purely based on the surface-level irony they create, even though you can get the same amount of enjoyment in much less time through the countless amateur YouTube videos out there. But, even with all the lumps of coal I received from Violent Night , the one thing I can certainly claim as a gift is David Harbour’s committed performance to the bit of playing a Santa that knows how to kick ass and slam down more drinks than Billy Bob Thornton in Bad Santa . His version of Santa is fed up with the greediness of our modern world, always wanting to get more rather than appreciate what we have. On one of his several billion stops on Christmas Eve, Santa becomes stranded in the mansion of Gertrude Lightstone (Beverly D’Angelo, cast for the chuckle you’ll give after remembering she’s in the MUCH better National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation ). The Lightstone family is being held hostage by a terrorist group led by Scrooge (John Leguizamo), who wishes to rob Gertrude of the $300 million in cash in her vault. Santa must become the John McClane of this story, using a bit of Christmas magic to punish those who are on the naughty list. Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola has already become accustomed to this unique subgenre where subversion of initial expectations is the selling point. His two Dead Snow films saw a group of young adults fight a recently risen division of Nazi zombies, and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunter had the fairytale twins do a lot more damage than just stuffing witches in ovens. Even if he was the right person for the job, Wirkola can’t find anything interesting about this concept other than just seeing Santa beat some goons to a bloody (and snowy) pulp. The first action scene is funny enough, especially with it nearly all taking place in one extended take, showcasing Santa’s inexperience at this sort of thing. But subsequent set pieces leave a lot to be desired, often taking place in dim lighting and rapidly edited to a jolly holiday tune. And writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller think that there's a direct correlation between the number of curse words in your movie and how funny it is. There’s also an extreme overabundance of Christmas puns and wordplay, almost rivaling Batman & Robin for levels of groan-worthy dialogue. I probably come across as a Grinch with this review, but Violent Night did nothing to bring me yuletide cheer. It desperately wants to be the Christmas movie your weird uncle tells the whole family about at dinner, but it does nothing to achieve that beyond doing the bare minimum that we expect. Ho ho... no. Universal Pictures will release Violent Night in theaters nationwide on December 02nd. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Past Lives June 16, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen One of the great things about cinema is that you can give the same idea to a dozen different filmmakers and get a dozen different results. A little over a year ago, A24 was dominating the critical and commercial landscape with Everything Everywhere All at Once . The Daniels’ wildly imaginative multiversal action-comedy resonated with so many (and took home a modern-day record of seven Academy Awards) because of its perfect mix of zaniness and down-to-earth tackling of topics such as “How did I get to where I am?” and “What could my life look like if I had done something differently?” Proving that snowflake cinema theory, writer/director Celine Song has taken those same themes and made something totally different for her debut feature film, Past Lives , which A24 is rolling out into theaters now after overwhelmingly successful showings at this year’s Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals. No matter if it was doomed from the start or received a storybook ending, everyone remembers their first love. For Na Young and Hae Sung, it seemed like they were destined for each other. Both were overachievers at their South Korean middle school, constantly battling to avoid the dreaded runner-up position below the other. Even as children, they and their parents could see that there was something special between them, almost as if they could see into each other’s souls. Unfortunately, that indescribable bond couldn’t overcome everything, as Na Young and her family immigrated to Canada, severing the relationship right then and there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA244xewjcI A dozen years pass before they enter each other’s lives again, this time through Skype as Na Young (Greta Lee), now named Nora, lives in New York, and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) still resides in Seoul. It’s obvious to both of them that that bond still exists, but neither can leap the “we should” level (“We should visit each other,” “We should stay in touch more…”). A dozen more years go by in the blink of an eye. Nora is now married to Arthur (John Magaro), and Hae Sung is coming to visit New York. What will happen when the two childhood sweethearts come face-to-face for the first time in two decades, and how will it affect the lives they’ve each built for themselves over that time? The film opens with an observational shot from across a bar as Nora, Hae Sung, and Arthur sit and talk. Two unseen patrons try to guess what the dynamic of this triangle is. Eventually, the camera pushes in on Nora, with her staring right back at the questioners and us. She smiles, for only she knows the answer. Perspective and perception are the keys to Song’s screenplay, which uses a vast amount of space and time to tell an epically intimate story. There are two versions for each of these characters: the concept that is seen through the eyes of others, and the other version that is only seen by the camera. Shabier Kirchner stunningly photographs each scene, with your eye being effortlessly guided through each absorbing frame. For all its gentleness around the nature of love and destiny, Song instills a sense of tension around the will-they-won’t-they relationship between Nora and Hae Sung. They often stare at each other longingly, mostly examining how they compare to the version they had in their heads all these years. There’s an open dialogue between them, as well as Nora and Arthur, keeping everything above the usual secrets and lies that go into a romantic drama. The questions and answers are much tougher to come by, simply because there are no do-overs or extreme revelations in real life. Nora explains in-yun to Arthur midway through the film. It’s the Korean concept of fate, suggesting that people are destined to meet if their past lives overlapped. Nora shrugs off the idea by saying it’s just “something Korean people say to seduce someone.” While Nora may not take that concept to heart, Song’s use of it within her film had me seduced in the moment, and will likely have me for the rest of time. A24 will release Past Lives in select theaters on June 02nd, followed by a nationwide expansion on June 23rd. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen