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Carry-On December 13, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Armed with enough competence to make it sufficiently entertaining and entirely forgettable, Carry-On joins the ranks of Don’t Look Up, Bird Box , and Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire as Netflix’s yearly holiday offering to bide your time for the few hours between opening presents and eating Christmas dinner. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery still reigns supreme in this hyper-specific genre, one that’s seen its fair share of big-name actors climb the yearly viewing charts. Taron Egerton, Jason Bateman, Sofia Carson, and Danielle Deadwyler are the quartet up to bat this time in a story that almost all of us can relate to: Airport travel during the holidays absolutely sucks. But the suckage that this cast goes through pales in comparison to the average person like me and you. For starters, Ethan Kopek (Egerton) hates Christmas. I know, boo him! It’s a yearly reminder he’s not doing enough, like being a lowly TSA officer when he originally applied to the police academy. There’s also the surprise that his girlfriend Nora (Carson) gave him the gift of a positive pregnancy test. Oh, and a mysterious terrorist (Bateman) is threatening to kill Nora and everyone in the airport if Ethan doesn’t let a bomb slip through security. They say holiday-related stress can kill you, but I didn’t think it would be this aggressive. With a setup such as this - a law enforcement protagonist unluckily taken out of his element during the holidays by a calm and collected terrorist, one that will kill everyone he loves if they don't get their way - it doesn't take much media literacy to see the parallels between this story and Die Hard. Similarly to that action classic, our hero and villain don't speak face-to-face for a prolonged period of time. A Bluetooth earpiece acts as their mode of communication, the terrorist walking Ethan through every step as he sits at his security terminal. Lyle Vincent's camera keeps a shallow focus throughout these proceedings, pushing in on Egerton as he processes his limited options. Bateman's voice acts as sinister ASMR, although there's some playfulness in his casual demeanor about the whole thing. He's technically not a terrorist, just a "facilitator" performing a job for a high-paying client. It’s fun to see (and hear) the actor possess a character with callousness, with years of playing the straight man in whacky comedies prepping him for this descent. I also say that with full awareness not having seen Ozark has totally skewed my perception of him. Egerton is a capable lead, although his stressed and straighter-laced demeanor takes away a lot of his charm and makes him the least fun character in this cast. He’s at least served well by director Jaume Collet-Serra, who made a name for himself as the continuer of the post- Taken Liam Neeson action renaissance that saw him kick ass on planes ( Non-Stop ), trains ( The Commuter ), and automobiles ( Unknown ). There are no less than a handful of shots of Egerton sprinting throughout the airport terminal, dodging the scope of a sniper rifle and the suspicions of his coworkers as he tries to piece together this ticking bomb of a puzzle. Less catered is Danielle Deadwyler, the LAPD cop, in an overly stretched subplot, where she’s also on the hunt for this facilitator. A horrendously CGI car crash set piece is her one moment of physicality, a far cry from the more inspired chases within the chutes and ladders within the baggage claim machinery. More moments of visual eyesores such as that, and some heavy-handed Christmas needle drops make Carry-On too cheap, predictable, and anonymous to buddy up to the holiday action films it so desperately wants to impress. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

All Quiet on the Western Front October 15, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen French New Wave film critic and director François Truffaut ( The 400 Blows ) always lived by his statement that “there’s no such thing as an anti-war film.” Considering the films produced around this time, it’s easy to see why Truffaut would have that opinion. Henry Fonda and John Wayne starred in The Longest Day and The Green Berets , which depicted strong, strapping men leading their troops into heroic battles to topple tyranny. Those movies made kids want to be soldiers, as reality was replaced with spectacle. Unfortunately, Truffaut died in 1984, just before Oliver Stone had his one-two punch of Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July , and Steven Spielberg (one of his dear friends, who he starred for in Close Encounters of the Third Kind ) delivered the definitive American World War II film in Saving Private Ryan . Most audiences and critics would agree that those films are anti-war, even if the action in them is a sight to behold. And I feel confident in saying that Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front will be added to that venerable list. As a director, Berger combines many different elements from some of the best films within the genre. The large-scale and gruesomely detailed battles harken back to Saving Private Ryan . We see more mud than blood as the soldiers fight for nothing more than to survive another second. The major drawback of this being released by Netflix is that the large majority of viewers will not experience the film in a theater, where the distressing sound effects ring throughout the room as shells and bullets blow by. And Volker Bertelmann’s (aka Hauschka) masterful score plays a similar role to Hans Zimmer’s in Dunkirk , creating an anxiety-inducing and haunting experience even during peaceful moments. This is not a remake of the 1930 American film version, which was awarded Best Director for Lewis Milestone and Best Motion Picture at that year’s Academy Awards. Instead, this is a readaptation of the 1928 novel by Erich Maria Remarque about his experiences during The Great War. Our story begins and ends with 17-year-old Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer, exceptional in his first screen role). He joined the German army along with his friends in the name of patriotic duty. But dreams quickly turn to nightmares once they reach the Western Front in Northern France, where the promise of a brutal death is more of a guarantee than the sky is blue. As a slight departure from the source material, writers Berger, Lesley Paterson, and Ian Stokell juxtapose the scenes of carnage with those of the “fat pigs” that wield power. One is played by Daniel Brühl, who is on his way to sign what would become the Armistice of 11 November 1918, which, along with the subsequent Treaty of Versailles, set such harsh terms on Germany that it’s believed to be one of the main causes for World War II. The French negotiators are not seen as heroes here, as they let their upper hand corrupt their morals. Going back and forth between this and Paul’s storyline, we get the sense that this war did not involve winners and losers. Everybody was a loser as they lost something mentally, emotionally, spiritually, or physically. And in the end, there was no point to any of it. In the film’s harrowing opening sequence, we follow a coat worn by a German soldier. The man dies in battle, and the coat is plucked off his corpse. It’s then shipped back to a factory to be washed of the blood, mended, and given to a recruit. It’s moments like this, of which there are many, where Berger masterfully illustrates the futile self-fulfilling cycle of death that war creates. All Quiet on the Western Front is not just the best film of the year, it’s one of the best of its genre. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial October 6, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen William Friedkin’s new adaptation of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial comes at an interesting moment. The first, and most unfortunately obvious, fact is that Friedkin passed away at the age of 87 in August, just a few weeks before this film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. There’s also the coincidence that the film begins streaming on Paramount+ With Showtime and then airs on Showtime the same weekend as The Exorcist: Believer , Blumhouse’s reboot of the horror franchise Friedkin originated with the 1973 original masterpiece. We can thank Taylor Swift for aligning the stars to allow Friedkin, never one to mince words with his opinions, to get the last laugh, at least in terms of quality. Believer will just have to settle with the boatloads of money it’s about to make. The Caine Mutiny originated in 1952 as a novel by Herman Wouk. The work of fiction grew out of the author’s personal experiences aboard destroyers during WWII. After its enormous success, Wouk adapted the material for the stage, a relatively easy task considering the novel’s one-room setting and small cast of characters. A movie adaptation was produced in 1954 starring Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Fred MacMurray, and E.G. Marshall. Along with directing, Friedkin also wrote the screenplay for this new take on the material, moving the setting from the Pacific Theater during World War II to the current-day Persian Gulf. The titular mutinous act performed aboard the USS Caine takes place during a torrential cyclone. Lieutenant Maryk (Jake Lacy) has lost all faith in the commanding officer Lieutenant Commander Queeg’s (Kiefer Sutherland) ability to guide them safely out of the storm. Maryk cited that Queeg was mentally unfit due to the stress of the situation, a common occurrence during his tenure. The insubordinate officer is being court-martialed for his actions, with Lieutenant Greenwald (Jason Clarke) reluctantly assigned to defend him in front of the military tribunal. Many will bemoan seeing a director as legendary as Friedkin having his final film reduced to premiering on a streaming service. While it’s an admirable sentiment, it avoids the fact that this material is ripe for the smaller-scale television landscape, an area Friedkin excelled at in the past with his 1997 adaptation of 12 Angry Men for Showtime. Friedkin may abandon the original material’s setting, but he has no qualms about embracing its inherently stage-like feel. A basic military courtroom serves as the sole setting throughout the 108-minute runtime. The action is repetitious, with a string of witnesses (Lewis Pullman, Tom Riley, Elizabeth Anweis, Jay Duplass) called upon to testify to Queeg’s time as commander and the specifics of what happened that fateful day. They’re each staged and edited around in their specific way, which keeps things fresh and flavorful. It’s a less theatrical version of A Few Good Men , with that restraint used to build nuance around this ethically dense topic. Despite only appearing in two scenes, Sutherland delivers his best performance in years as Queeg. To continue the A Few Good Men comparisons, he would be this film’s Col. Jessep, finely played by Jack Nicholson. Sutherland isn’t as hammy, although his character does sport a peculiar set of quirks such as speaking out of the side of his mouth and twiddling his thumbs to distract from the trembling of his hands. Between this film and Oppenheimer , Jason Clarke has shown his skill in playing contestable lawyers. And there’s also another figure who was taken from this world too soon in Lance Reddick, who’s never been a bad addition to a cast. Sure, this won’t be remembered as Friedkin’s finest work. It’s not at the same level as The French Connection, The Exorcist , or To Live and Die in L.A. But not every Alfred Hitchcock film is as good as Psycho , nor is every Billy Wilder film as good as Sunset Blvd . Friedkin is at that level where even some of his great movies won’t be remembered as strongly as his masterpieces. Make no mistake, this is a great movie, a fitting farewell to a filmmaker who could take any material and mold it into something uniquely entertaining and personal. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

TIFF24 Dispatch #1 September 14, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen All of the films were screened at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Click here for additional full reviews and dispatches. Select films below will receive separate full-length reviews at a later date, most likely in connection to their public releases. Better Man If you squint hard enough into this picture, you can identity the gimmick that director Michael Gracey and Robbie Williams were going for with a biopic on the pop star’s life. And if you can’t make it out, I’ll just spoil it for you (don’t worry, there’s no way Paramount will be able to avoid this revelation once they start marketing it): Williams is played by a CGI monkey using the same technology as the modern Planet of the Apes films. It’s a motif that never distracts from the proceeding action, yet never gets above its surface-level message (He feels different! Do you get it?!?). It’s also the only differentiating factor the film has from every other musical biopic. Gracey recaptures the physical magic of the set pieces from The Greatest Showman , inserting a peppy step into this 131-minute checklist. (3/5) Hard Truths Hard Truths may be Mike Leigh’s return to his trademarked genre of kitchen sink drama, but doesn’t mark his return to the levels that he was regularly clearing. There’s an honesty to this story of a London family dealing with pent-up anger and resentment, with Marianne Jean-Baptiste (reuniting with Leigh for the first time since Secrets & Lies) delivering a powerhouse performance filled with creatively side-splitting insults and pathos. But its message is also a double-edged sword, as it’s also overly familiar to audiences since the conclusion of the pandemic. Even in well-worn genres, such as period pieces and domestic dramas, Leigh has always found a way to provide his own stamp. The only time he starts to unlock a new angle for this story is right as it’s about to end, which is too little, too late. (3/5) I'm Still Here Not to be confused with the Casey Affleck-directed “documentary” on Joaquin Phoenix, Walter Salles examines his crumbling native Brazil, both on the macroeconomic level and within the microcosm of a family. Fernanda Torres, daughter of Fernanda Montenegro, who reunites here with Salles with a small supporting role after 1998’s Central Station , delivers an award-worthy performance as the matriarch of a family caught in the vice that is Brazil’s brutalist regime circa 1971. Salles finds the heart and soul of this family and their house, with love found in every nook and cranny. True heartbreak is felt once everything begins to decay, with the family being left to pick up the pieces and slowly glue them back together in the years to come. (4/5) The Return Director Uberto Pasolini delivers an extremely classical piece of filmmaking, which is both a blessing and a curse. The old-school feel of the production provides an inherent sense of sweep, while the chintzy technicals keep everything outside of believability. Of course, myths aren’t supposed to be real, but this retelling of Odysseus lacks the stamina needed to be special. The two leads, Ralph Fiennes as the title character and Juliette Binoche as Queen Penelope, are unexpectedly fantastic, retaining that romantic touch they shared decades ago in The English Patient . They are stranded, both literally and metaphorically, on an island as the supporting cast ranges from mediocre to embarrassing. Pasolini stated that very few filmmakers have attempted to adapt Homer’s works because it would be impossible to surpass a story with thousands of years of importance placed upon it. It was brave of him to take the leap, but he would have been better off hedging heeding his own warning. (3/5) More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Red Rocket July 16, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen Red Rocket had its World Premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. A24 will release it in theaters on December 03. American indie-darling Sean Baker has always worked on the ground level when making his films. He often casts non-professional actors and plants his audience in the ironically unglamorous parts of America, such as the dingy Magic Castle motel located next to Walt Disney World. Baker’s budgets are small, with The Florida Project carrying a total cost of $2,000,000, which is roughly the amount spent to have Arnold Schwarzenegger speak one hundred words in T2: Judgement Day . Now in 2021, Baker is back to shine a light on lower America with Red Rocket , which debuted in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Opening with the catchy rhythms of NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye”, former pornstar Mikey Saber has returned to the deadbeat town of Texas City. Mikey had been at the top of the porn scene for several years but eventually found his way out the door with some questionable career moves. With nowhere else to go, he begs and pleads his way into crashing with his former pornstar ex-wife Lexi, who, like him, was a shining star that has fallen back to the ground and lives with her poverty-stricken mother in the middle of nowhere. Mikey is a guy who always has a plan, but never a way to execute it. He does have a plan to get back to Los Angeles and revitalize his career, but it requires him to reconnect with some characters from his past who hate his guts. Both literally and metaphorically, Red Rocket is a ballsy movie. Baker has always found a fascination with the seedier side of America, which is the side that is often unauthentically portrayed in Hollywood (I’m looking at you Hillbilly Elegy ). His characters are often complicated and morally ambiguous, such as Halley from The Florida Project . But Baker doesn’t wallow in their pain and use it as a ploy for sympathy (again, looking at you Hillbilly Elegy ). Instead, he wants us to understand their desperation and see how so many people in this situation can rationalize their actions. Red Rocket doesn’t break from that developmental mold when it comes to his supporting characters. In Mikey’s journey back to the top, he rekindles with a weed queen that sees her business as a safety net for her family. Lexi and her mother are both addicted to opiates due to her mother’s medical condition and the distracting peace that the drugs bring from the painful world. With these characters on the brink of society, Baker uses their situation to subtly explain the unforeseen popularity of Donald Trump in the run-up to the 2016 election. Characters are often seen slumped at home in their couches with the television set to Fox News and its neverending coverage of the Republican candidate and his “mass appeal”. Baker’s illustration about the allure of Trump doesn’t try to be a grand statement for America itself, which turns out to be a good thing as the message comes together cleaner than the hamfisted ones found in mainstream media. But while Baker respects his supporting cast, his relationship with Mikey is more complicated. Mikey is the cinematic combination of Dirk Diggler and Howard Ratner. He’s a person that you love that you hate and hate that you love. You find yourself intrinsically drawn to him because of his drive and charm. But as the film progresses and Mikey’s grand plan comes closer into view, your attitude towards him starts to waver. Much of that emotional response comes from Simon Rex’s brilliant performance, whose most prominent role up until now has been a recurring supporting part in the Scary Movie franchise and some pornographic solo scenes in a series of straight-to-video gay porn releases. Almost as if he has lived the life of Mikey throughout stretches of his career, Rex seems to instinctively know how to play this type of sleazy charmer. While it does contain perfect casting, Red Rocket is not a perfect movie as a whole. With a runtime of 124 minutes, the film contains enough material for a tighter 90-minute story. The middle hour is the victim of this bloatedness, with long stretches given for light material. Still, the overly fatty meat on this movie’s bones does give Rex and the cast more than enough to chew on, resulting in an emotional rollercoaster that couldn’t be replicated by bigger productions. Slotting in nicely with Baker’s filmography and that of distributor A24, Red Rocket is one hell of a ride from beginning to end. There may be some potholes along the way, but they’re not enough to stop this film from reaching its satisfying destination. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

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-burn 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. 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. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Darkest Hour January 12, 2018 By: Button Hunter Friesen Every year there is bound to be a biopic that is released in the middle of awards season. Films like The Social Network, The King’s Speech , and A Beautiful Mind have come along and won major awards telling the story of famous men. Darkest Hour perfectly fits this description and will certainly be an active member of this year's awards race. An outstanding and unrecognizable performance from Gary Oldman along with great direction from Joe Wright. While it falls into some conventional trappings, the overall quality is still good and makes for an interesting character of one of history’s greatest leaders. The setting of the film is during the month of May 1940. We witness Churchill at his most vulnerable as he has just been given a huge amount of power in a time of looming terror. He has enemies on the opposing side of the war, but also enemies within Parliament as they take problems with his leadership. A large part of the film covers Churchill's decision on how to deal with the battle of Dunkirk, which, like the title, was one of Britain's darkest hours. From here we follow Churchill along as tries to find a solution to a momentous problem that could spell disaster for England and the rest of Europe. The film can get slow and repetitive at some points since it carries a 125-minute runtime and is mainly about Churchill’s decision over Dunkirk and the Nazis. Specific arguments and facts are over-explained to the point where the film becomes somewhat predictable as to what the characters are going to say. There is a small storyline about Churchill’s objectors within Parliament, led by the ousted Neville Chamberlain, but that plot wears thin quickly and doesn’t come to a very satisfactory end. There are also some overly cinematic moments that are distractingly over the top and take away from smaller scenes that carry more weight to the story. Apart from its small problems, Darkest Hour has a very good script that gives Oldman many opportunities to shine. The dialogue between Churchill and other politicians is almost Sorkin-like in its way to move at a very quick pace but also gives you the information you need. The moments between Churchill and his wife are also touchingly done, as both find solace in each other's company in troubled times. Darkest Hour is a perfect companion piece to Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk , the other brilliant film that came out this year featuring the titular battle. While Dunkirk showcases the real fight on the beaches, Darkest Hour lets the audience witness how Britain’s leaders reacted to such a major battle. Seeing both together allows the viewer to see both a first and secondhand account of one of the biggest points of conflict in human history. With experience in period-piece films such as Atonement and Pride & Prejudice , director Joe Wright expertly knows how to stage and execute a film with lots of dialogue and grand sets. Most times we are literally following behind Churchill as the camera travels with him. We see his journey from his home, Parliament, and Buckingham Palace. It is all impressively done and superbly showcases the grandness of London in such dreary times. There is also a wonderful score from Dario Marianelli that mixes both booming and soft orchestral music. The music usually hides in the background until just the right moment to grab your attention. A highlight is at the very end of the film when Churchill makes his famous speech. Even though he is in practically every scene of the film, Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill is so good I wish there was more of him. He perfectly captures Churchill's brutish tone and attitude but also shows his softer side when he is away from the public. Oldman also plays excellently off all his supporting cast members, most notably Kristin Scott Thomas as his wife and Ben Mendelsohn as King George VI. We also get a larger supporting role from Lily James as Churchill's assistant. When we are not following Churchill we are focused on her character and the journey she went through being a witness t to one of history's most powerful figures. While Oldman takes command and gives us an inside look at Churchill, James holds her own by letting us see how others saw him on the outside. Any actor who wishes to play Churchill in the future will now have to live up to the unrealistically high bar Oldman has just raised. Awards will surely, and deservedly, go to him, but also should go to Bruno Delbonnel for his cinematography and Marianelli for his score. Not since Lincoln has a film done such an incredible job examining a historical figure and making us feel like we are right in the middle of history. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

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 Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Worst Cannes Premieres Ever June 30, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen What do Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini, Martin Scorsese, and Terrence Malick all have in common? Well, along with all being considered some of the greatest filmmakers of all time, they’ve each had one of their movies on the receiving end of some nasty booing at the Cannes Film Festival. The audiences (and critics) on the French Riviera are famous for being extremely vocal about their adoration or hatred of a movie, with some being showered with physically taxing standing ovations ( Pan’s Labyrinth holds the record at 22 minutes), or a deafening amount of boos and whistling. But not every movie that gets booed is created equal. In the case of Martin Scorsese, his 1976 masterpiece Taxi Driver was the victim of a large contingent of vocal detractors. That didn’t stop the jury from awarding the film the Palme d’Or, nor Scorsese from returning to the festival years later (he’ll be back again this year with Killers of the Flower Moon ). This article isn’t going to be an inspiring story about the movies that overcame the negativity. No, the nine movies listed here all received their death sentence within the Grand Théâtre Lumière, either because of the weight of expectations or being of poor quality, or both. The Brown Bunny (2003) Credited as the writer/director/producer/star/cinematographer/editor (as well as about every other craft position), Vincent Gallo solely faced all the backlash in 2003 when he unveiled his much-anticipated follow-up to the indie sensation Buffalo ‘66 . The highly-experimental film caught flack for its glacial pacing and pretentiousness, with particular ire aimed at the unsimulated blowjob scene between Gallo and Chloë Sevigny. Audiences booed and ironically cheered each time Gallo’s name appeared on screen, with Roger Ebert calling it “the worst movie in the history of the Cannes Film Festival.” Gallo didn’t take kindly to Ebert’s words, calling the critic a “fat pig with the physique of a slave trader.” Ebert responded by saying “It is true that I am fat, but one day I will be thin, and he will still be the director of The Brown Bunny .” Surprisingly, the two sides would reconcile, with an edited-down version of the film screening at that year’s Toronto International Film Festival, which Ebert reviewed positively. Southland Tales (2006) Donnie Darko writer/director Richard Kelly thought he was entering the lottery when he submitted a rough cut of his sophomore feature, Southland Tales , for the 2006 festival. To his (and pretty much everyone else's) surprise, the selection committee liked it and invited him into the Official Competition. Kelly leaped at the opportunity, even if it meant he had to rush through the post-production process. That decision backfired badly, as critics lambasted the 160-minute film for being too broad and unfinished. The boos and whistles rattled throughout the Lumière Theater, with Roger Ebert calling the screening “The most disastrous since, yes, The Brown Bunny ." Kelly shared the same sentiments: "It was painful. I just thought, 'Please let it be over.” He went back to the editing room, getting more money from Sony to fix the visual effects in exchange for a reduced runtime. The film wasn’t seen again for another sixteen months, when it got an extremely limited theatrical release, grossing a little over $275,000 (the film was budgeted nearly $25 million). Burnt by the Sun 2 (2010) As the most expensive film in Russian history with a budget of $55 million, Nikita Mikhalkov's long-delayed sequel to his Oscar-winning film had enormous expectations. Cannes even circumvented their “world premieres only” rule by allowing the film into the Official Competition after it was first screened at the Kremlin. But by the time it reached the Lumière Theatre, the World War II film had already been panned by critics from both Russia, who claimed it was inaccurate and revisionist, and the West, who saw it as poorly-made Soviet propaganda. Mikhalkov's supportive stance of Vladimir Putin didn’t make things any better, with the film becoming one of the biggest bombs in the country’s history. Only God Forgives (2013) Between his films and overall demeanor, everything about Nicolas Winding Refn is divisive. So it’s not surprising that 2011’s Drive received one of the lengthiest standing ovations in festival history at 15 minutes, while also receiving a small handful of booing. That same dichotomy happened when Refn returned two years later with Only God Forgives , only this time the roles were reversed, with the boos overwhelming any positivity. Many critics described it as a beautiful painting without any substance, with Refn reaching even further into his pretentiousness. Rumors began to spread that the film was originally supposed to be screened as part of the Midnight Madness sidebar, where it would have potentially benefited from the lessened expectations. But the producers wanted to repeat the success of Drive and demanded a slot in the Official Competition. The negative outcome from that decision crushed any audience anticipation for the film, as it grossed a paltry sum when released a few months later. The Captive (2014) Several eyebrows were raised when it was announced that Ryan Reynolds would be starring in Atom Egoyan’s newest film. But Egoyan’s films ( Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter ) had always been praised for their offbeat nature, so there was still some optimism. But the pairing of one of Canada’s biggest stars and filmmakers went south quickly, as critics panned their film for its confusing nonlinear narrative and exploitative subject matter. American distributor A24, still in their early stages before they would become the festival darlings they are today, released the film on DirecTV’s VOD platform that winter to no fanfare. Even in Canada, where the film was given a theatrical release, the film was quickly buried and forgotten. The Search (2014) While Michel Hazanavicius didn’t become a household name after winning Best Director and Best Picture with The Artist in 2011, you’d still be surprised to know that his follow-up to that movie has still never been released within the United States. Much of the reasoning behind the film’s disappearance comes from its abysmal premiere at Cannes, which had launched The Artist after it was promoted to the competition at the last minute. But now that the lights were brighter, Hazanavicius crumbled, with his preachy and ultra-dreary retelling of the 1999 Chechnya civil war being perceived as exploitative. Hazanavicius has been back to the festival since, but he’s been demoted to just a regular player instead of the star that he seemed destined to become. Grace of Monaco (2014) Cannes has never had much luck when it comes to selecting its opening night film, with 2014’s Grace of Monaco being the biggest of all the offenders. Even by January 2013, Grace Kelly’s family disowned the film and claimed it was inaccurate. Harvey Weinstein, known for his frequent battles with directors among various other unspeakable things, had issues with director Olivier Dahan’s cut of the movie. The movie was pushed from the Fall of 2013 to the next spring so Weinstein could recut it. It was delayed again for a premiere at Cannes in May, where critics claimed it was of lower quality than a Lifetime Original Movie. Both Weinstein and the film’s writer Arash Amel were absent at the press conference after the disastrous screening. Coincidentally, the film bypassed a theatrical release in favor of a television debut on Lifetime a year later. Despite all the overwhelmingly negative reactions, star Nicole Kidman controversially received a SAG nomination, and the film received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Television Movie. The Last Face (2016) Audiences tend to wait until a movie is over before they give out their signature applause and/or boos. But the critics seeing Sean Penn’s refugee drama needed only one minute before letting out the hoots and hollers. The “call to action” love story starring Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem was savaged pretty much the whole way through, with the awful dialogue and white savior narrative being perceived as an insult to those that watched it. Many critics dubbed it as the worst film they’d ever seen at the festival. To make matters worse, the press screening took place in the morning, with the public premiere that night, meaning all those scathing reviews and tweets were out into the world before the cast had even walked the red carpet. The embarrassment from that situation caused the festival to implement embargoes in future years, holding all press reactions until after the evening gala screenings had finished. Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo Fresh after winning the Palme d’Or for Blue is the Warmest Color , writer/director Abdellatif Kechiche premiered Canto Uno , the supposed first part in his new Mektoub, My Love trilogy, at the Venice Film Festival in 2017. The film received mixed reviews, with most critics complaining about the egregious 180-minute runtime and over-sexualization of the lead actors. Instead of listening to the detractors, Kechiche went in the opposite direction with the sequel, extending the runtime by almost an hour and featuring lengthy unsimulated sex scenes. The large majority of the audience walked out before the film finished, with one person claiming that “if the shots of butts were taken out, I think the film lasts 20 minutes.” Many of the actors claimed that Kechiche got them intoxicated so they would be less resistant to filming the sexually explicit scenes and that he wouldn’t screen the film for them before the premiere. The film has never been seen since that night, with Kechiche having to sell his Palme d’Or to raise funds for post-production after the financiers backed out. As further insult to injury, the final movie in the trilogy, Canto Due , was filmed before Intermezzo premiered, but no editing work has been done due to a lack of funds. Considering the allegations against Kechiche and the vitriolic response to the second part, it’s unlikely either of the final two parts will see the light of day. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Big George Foreman April 27, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Two weeks ago, I experienced one of the clearest moments of opportunity cost in my life. After experiencing a blizzard that dumped nearly a foot of snow only a week earlier, it was now 80 o (that drastic shift should be cause for alarm, but I was just happy to see green grass). The golf courses were open, the bike lanes and soccer fields were cleared, and people were out playing basketball at the nearby park. Everything was laid out right in front of me for an eventful afternoon basking in the sun. But instead of doing any of those fun recreational activities like a sensible person, I decided to sit indoors and watch a movie. I walked into the theater to see the words “BIG GEORGE FOREMAN” plastered all over the screen, along with the hilariously overlong subtitle: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World (I wonder if the person who came up with that title is the same person responsible for the initial title for Birds of Prey ?). I already felt like a chump the moment I sat down in that darkened room, a feeling that was exponentially increased with each passing minute having to endure this weightless and creatively bankrupt biopic. For all of you that only know the name George Foreman from the grill brand, you’ll be surprised to know that the man first rose to prominence as a boxing icon, only ever bested once by none other than Muhammad Ali. Foreman (played by Kei as a boy and Khris Davis as a man) was a poor and uneducated child in 1960s Texas, which led to him joining the Job Corps with its promises of three meals a day and training for skilled labor. One of the managers (Forest Whitaker) saw boxing as an outlet for Foreman’s pent-up rage. Success came quickly after that, and so did all the other struggles that come with being famous. The term “leave your brain at the door” has often been used to describe horror movies and other blockbusters that are just trying to make a quick buck on spectacle and entertainment. Big George Foreman doesn’t require, expect, or want any of its audience members to be capable of critical thinking. Frank Baldwin and director George Tillman Jr. are incapable of placing any variables into their estate-approved script, sticking so closely to the tired clichés within the biopic formula that it sometimes borders on self-parody. Every choice and personality trait for Foreman is spelled out like it was competing at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Things move at a lightning-fast pace as we cover the entirety of the Wikipedia page. George goes from learning about boxing to an Olympic gold medalist within about ten minutes. He fathers all six of his children and has multiple affairs off-screen, giving off the impression that those things really don’t matter to a person. George says that his sister Mary “always saw the best in him” and that he loved her devoutly. She maybe has four lines of dialogue in the two proceeding hours. That same treatment applies to Desmond (John Magaro), who becomes George’s best friend at the Job Corps and agrees to be his manager. He puts George’s money in “rock solid stocks” (foreshadowing!) and is barely mentioned until after the well has dried up. It also doesn’t help that I’ve experienced more intense boxing fights on Wii Sports than in this movie. Tillman Jr. shoots the action cheap and flat, with the announcers never ceasing to over-explain what just happened. There is the presence of blood, sweat, and tears, but none of it comes off the screen. Neither does any of the emotion of Davis’ titular performance, with his blank stares and line deliveries leaving nothing on the table. The biopic genre may be one of my favorites, but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to see that many of them just copy each other. Big George Foreman doesn’t even have enough competency to properly cheat off its predecessors. Its subject matter may be about a heavyweight champion, but this story doesn’t even deserve to fight for scraps on the street. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Here October 29, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen The right concept meets the right creative person in Here , the film that finally breaks Robert Zemeckis from the hellish CGI hole he dug himself with his previous three features of Welcome to Marwen , The Witches , and the Disney+ Pinocchio . I shouldn’t get too ahead of myself though, as that wish has come true in monkey paw fashion, with Zemeckis veering his sights on the next step in the technological evolutionary cycle: artificial intelligence. It only makes sense that the two words that have invaded every aspect of our lives in such a short time finds its way onto the silver screen. And, most surprisingly, it’s only one of a handful of notable gimmicks that run amok in this intergenerational story that will surely be a sweeper at this year’s AARP Movies for Grownups Awards. The rabbit hole concept of place and time are at the heart of this story, itself adapted from the graphic novel of the same name by Richard McGuire. What would you see if you could turn back time on one single spot? Did dinosaurs roam proudly? Did Native Americans hunt and gather on this land? Did the first colonial settlers lay claim to it? All that and more happened in the living room of Richard (Tom Hanks) and Margaret (Robin Wright), a baby boomer couple who serve as the anchor throughout the millennia. Small windows into the past are interspersed throughout: Benjamin Franklin’s son planting his estate on the land, an aviation enthusiast who buys the property at the turn of the twentieth century, the couple who invent the La-Z-Boy recliner in the living room, and a present-day African-American couple dealing with the pandemic and raising a son in politically charged times. All of this freely flows nonlinearly, the dots of each timeframe being connected by literal rectangular frames that similarly overlap each other to the source material. The camera is fixed in an observational position within one corner of the room, never moving for a moment. It’s a way for Zemeckis and his Forrest Gump writer Eric Roth to zoom out from all the commotion of details and take a big-picture look at how we’re part of the circle of life. It’s a bold concept tangentially akin to Richard Linklater’s Boyhood , although Zemeckis opts for the shortcut of visual effects here. Hanks and Wright first appear in the frame as their characters at seventeen years old, their faces de-aged by artificial intelligence and their bodies slightly animated to hide away all the mileage. It’s certainly a showcase for how far the technology has come over the years, more convincing than what Martin Scorsese tried to do with The Irishman and Ang Lee with Gemini Man , mostly due to Hanks and Wright still carrying a youthful energy. But it’s still an uncanny valley, and at no point can you fully buy famous actors in their sixties playing characters under the legal drinking age. With the implication of imagery and traditional editing stripped away, the actors are forced to pick up the slack. They perform their parts as if they are in a black box theatre production, a scenario that might not have been foreign to them as the sets often look shoddily digitally created through green screens. Details about their lives and circumstances are announced with such cornily dramatic effect that’d be impossible to forget, which would have probably been a real threat considering such little time is spent with certain characters. How else can Michelle Dockery illustrate an entire chapter in the adult life of her character, the wife of the aviator, in just a few short minutes without overacting? The drubbing of the message doesn’t take away from its effectiveness, especially as Alan Silvestri’s heart-tugging score works overtime. Richard allows his dreams to fall by the wayside due to words like downsizing, taxes, and mortgages. As time flies by, those things seem less and less important, with only the people closest to him and the memories he shared being what’s left behind. Even though we say “Yeah, yeah, I got it,” to every person older than us insisting that we cherish the time that we have, we never really seem to properly do that. For some people, this might be the wake-up call they’ve always needed. For others, it’s just another hokey life lesson from people that the world has passed by. Even if you think you might fall in line with the latter camp, the concept, and potential to be touched by its message, is simply too great to nonchalantly pass up. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Wonka December 13, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Have you ever wanted to know the origin story of Willy Wonka? No? Well too bad! The good chaps on the Warner Bros. executive board needed a four-quadrant product to help boost the Q4 2023 earnings report and good ol’ Willy was the character on the board that the dart landed on. It was either him or Will Ferrell’s Buddy the Elf. But don’t worry too much, as you might actually enjoy this piece of commerce, as writer/director Paul King of the Paddington films brings enough whimsical charm to make it all go down as smoothly as the titular character’s chocolate. Debts, ledgers, profits, margins, fine print, cartels, bribes, and monopolies. These are the words you would be familiar with finding in a film about The Great Recession or about drug trafficking, not a film about Willy Wonka. But the candy on the island where Willy (Timothée Chalamet) sets his sights on making his fortune might as well be drugs, as it rules over the economy and everyday life of its citizens. The decadent Galeries Gourmet is where you go to sell your chocolate. But you need a shop to legally sell it, and the three main chocolatiers/tycoons - Slugworth, Prodnose, and Fickelgruber - have an iron-clad grip on the trade through police influence and price fixing. “The greedy beat the needy” is the motto of the town’s poor, whom Willy joins when he’s swindled into indentured servitude by the mean laundry woman Mrs. Scrubbit (Olivia Colman). This all sounds a bit depressing, doesn’t it? There’s a clear Dickensian feel to everything, with King and co-writer Simon Farnaby never shying away from the darkness that often appears in Roald Dahl’s stories. Willy is an orphan just like Noodle (Calah Lane), a young girl Mrs. Scrubbit took in as a baby and forced to be her eternal personal servant. The one thing Willy has that sets him apart is his optimism, which he often lets out through some jovial songs. The marketing department at WB may not have wanted you to know that this was a musical, but King and Chalamet are more than ready to knock your socks off through the power of showmanship. The songs are not all hits as Chalamet acts like a kid on a high school stage, speaking out to the crowd with glee. His version of Willy veers a little closer to Johnny Depp than Gene Wilder, packing enough mystery into his abilities that you sometimes wonder if he’s even human. Paddington alums Sally Hawkins and Hugh Grant followed King over here, with the former playing Wonka’s deceased mother and the latter an Oompa Loompa. It’s hard to look away from Grant as the four-foot-tall green-haired creature on account of his inherent charm and the awkwardness of his face being superimposed on a CG creation. It’s only about two steps better than what Corey Stoll got as MODOK in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania back in February. There’s also a bevy of likable supporting players like Keegan-Michael Key, Jim Carter, and Rowan Atkinson as Father Julius, the leader of a group of corrupt monks who guard the stolen chocolate for the cartel. Paul King’s Wonka is possibly the best version of such a depressingly deep-rooted concept. It’s harmless, regularly fun, and offers a little something for both kids and adults. It doesn’t have the rewatchability of the 1971 original, but it’s got a lot more than Tim Burton’s crazed (and sometimes underappreciated) 2005 remake. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen