The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes November 16, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen A lot of hot air has been exhumed over the past year about the exponential increase in movie runtimes. Avatar: The Way of Water (192 minutes), Babylon (189 minutes), The Batman (177 minutes), Killers of the Flower Moon (206 minutes), Oppenheimer (180 minutes), and Beau Is Afraid (179 minutes) are just a few of the martyrs that had to take a few lashes from audiences (some more than others) for testing the endurance of butts. With a title that takes just as long to say as it does to watch the movie, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is the one behemoth where I find myself siding with audiences. 157 minutes isn’t that long compared to the previous examples, but it’s too damn long here. It suffers from a much more severe case that found itself attached to Peter Jackson’s The Return of the King, where we reach the climax and expect a somewhat swift resolution, and yet the film just keeps going… and going… and going… and going. But that only becomes a problem once we reach the final act of this three-act plot, with the first two offering some of the best material this YA franchise has seen. Director Francis Lawrence is back at the helm after guiding the final three entries in the Jennifer Lawrence tetralogy. His presence maintains a sense of consistency with those earlier films. The tone is still grim, with this story being set 64 years in the past and centering on a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blythe) as he tries to pick up his family name immediately after the great District v Capital civil war. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDE6Uz73A7g The annual Hunger Games are still in their infancy, and the citizens’ interest in them is starting to wane. Favor is as good a currency as actual money, two things Snow is in desperate need of. He can receive favor from his superiors, Dr. Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis) and Dean Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage), by providing ideas on how to improve the fledgling games. It’s an almost eerily similar situation to modern sports, with Snow being thought of as a genius when he comes up with the idea of making the contest more narrative-driven and allowing spectators to bet on the outcome (hopefully, The Capital is located in a state that allows that). Physical currency will come from being a good mentor to District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) as the winning tribute and mentor receives a substantial reward. Is money worth having if it’s been soaked in blood? Don’t forget, becoming the winning tribute most likely requires them to murder a few of their fellow competitors. Neither Lucy Gray nor Coriolanus was born a killer. Even less of a killer is Coriolanus’ classmate Sejanus Plinth (Josh Andrés Rivera), who sees the games as cruel and unusual punishment against children too young to be alive during the war. It’s an interesting bit of politics to follow these teenagers navigate a world of power-mad adults. Coriolanus and Lucy Gray have a compelling relationship, neither of them being fully ready to embrace the role of being a hero or villain (or anti-hero). They’ve been brought up to hate each other because of their class differences (describing someone as “district” is equivalent to calling them poor), except now they must work hand-in-hand to gain a competitive advantage. Of course, we do already know the outcome of this battle on account of this being a prequel, but Blythe does a great job masking that through his complex performance. It’s too bad writers Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt constantly make his job tougher as they haphazardly flip his characterization in the third act. Their treatment of Zegler is more consistent, with both of them leaning hard into the several opportunities to unleash her immaculate singing voice. Viola Davis is clearly having the most fun, literally introducing herself while maniacally cackling and often found fondling deadly snakes. Even with its inability to promptly say goodbye and bits of desperate fan service, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is still a cut above the rest of the YA genre. It’s actually a shame that it isn’t supposed to be the start of a whole series, as there’s more than enough here to sustain an even deeper dive into this enticing world. Lionsgate will release The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in theaters nationwide on November 17th. 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

Joker: Folie à Deux October 1, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Imagine you’re Todd Phillips. At the beginning of the summer of 2019, Avengers: Endgame became the highest-grossing movie of all time, putting the comic book genre at the peak of its power and cultural relevancy. You have your own comic book movie releasing later in the fall, one that will be a soft “fuck you” to all the genre contemporaries that built themselves upon a pile of special effects, and not the ideas and controversy that you’re bringing to the table. The premiere of the film at the Venice Film Festival, one of the most prestigious in the world, is all set, and everyone is going to lose their minds at the edginess you’re about to unleash. Instead, your worst fears become realized: people love the movie. The jury at Venice gave it the top prize, the Golden Lion, a historic occasion for this type of film. Apart from more than a few naysayers, critics are hailing it as a revolutionary film for the time. More than a billion dollars flood in from the box office, and awards rain down from the sky. Everywhere you turn, people are clamoring for more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OKAwz2MsJs It’s all wrong. People shouldn’t be enjoying the movie, at least not like this. You had to deal with this in the Hangover franchise, and now it’s time to take the same steps here to correct the course. That’s right, Joker: Folie à Deux is the new The Hangover Part III , a movie filled with so much contempt for its fans that you wonder why it even bothered to please them in the first place. Of course, I could be talking out of my ass about this whole situation. But based on Phillips' desire to always be a subversive rebel and subconscious disdain for success, there’s no other way to explain how much this sequel tries to talk down to those who worshipped at the altar of its predecessor. Mathematically, that would mean that all the previous detractors would be won over. But the work within Folie à Deux simply isn’t good enough for them. Sure, it still looks pretty, with Lawrence Sher returning as the cinematographer to deliver some immaculately grimy shots. Instead, it’s just the same joke being told again. And no matter how much you try, it’ll never be as funny the second time around. To give Phillips some credit, this isn’t exactly the same old joke again. Yes, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is still a disillusioned and misunderstood figure within Gotham City, now locked up in Arkham Asylum for the past five years after he murdered all those people. The trial of the century is coming up, and his court-appointed lawyer is mounting the defense that Arthur and Joker are two totally different people. It’s also the defense that Phillips finds himself the most tied to, siding against the people who worshipped Joker and belittled Arthur. Joker isn’t cool; he’s a murderer who stands for nothing but chaos, all while Arthur sits alone waiting for the tiniest amount of compassion. And we pass him over every day, opting to tune in to revel in the juicy details about the violence and misery enacted by someone who doesn’t deserve an ounce of our attention. Furthering the case of Arthur’s split personality is his increasingly frequent outbursts into song and dance. Each of them serves as the creative outlet to which words can’t do justice, although the prospect of a $200 million dark comic-book musical is much more realized on paper than here. “Dour” would be the word of choice to describe each set piece, with Phoenix and Lady Gaga, appearing here as Joker’s #1 fan, Harley Quinn, providing the only semblance of passion. After a while, they all start to blend into one meh soup, a symptom of the on-the-nose messaging and Phillips’ inability to craft a catchy setpiece. It’s much easier to appreciate them within the franticness of a trailer rather than the methodicism of the final product. There is something to be said about this movie’s dedication to adhering to its DNA despite all the scope and scale placed upon it. It desperately wants to do something different, although it’s not quite sure what that is. It’s played both sides, but instead of doubling its profits, it exponentially multiplied its losses. Warner Bros. Pictures will release Joker: Folie à Deux in theaters nationwide on October 04th. 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

Saturday Night September 12, 2024 By: Button Tyler Banark There’s life before Saturday Night, and there’s life after Saturday Night ! No, I’m not just talking about the first-ever episode of one of the most iconic comedy series ever. Although no one could have been prepared for how big of a cultural phenomenon the show would go on to be, one thing has rang true about SNL: staying true to being the escape from our mundane lives. As for Saturday Night , Jason Reitman’s latest film is a tumultuous dark comedy thriller about the 90 minutes leading up to the first episode of SNL going to air. What he does with the movie is a match made in heaven, as it captures the behind-the-scenes mayhem that occurred on October 11th, 1975. The film works as a comedy, but it works better as a thriller and a race against the clock to ensure everything and everyone is ready to go. The big selling point of Saturday Night is that it’s being dubbed as a comedy thriller. These two genres rarely, if not never, mesh, so seeing Reitman and Sony Pictures talk about the movie in this light created vast intrigue. The film starts at 10:00 pm on the dot. Every few minutes, the audience is updated about where the cast and crew are before showtime, as they have until the 11:30 airtime to be ready. We see the famous cast and crew racing against time to ensure everything is correct. DP Eric Steelberg capitalizes on this by having the camera move with the cast through long takes and back-and-forth pans. He makes the audience feel as though they are in the room, witnessing the craziness. It also helps Reitman and Gil Kenan’s script translate well to the screen. The duo taps into a similar vein as the Safdie brothers, adding another entry to the recent trend of anxiety-inducing cinema. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ9O_tl5Npk The showrunner, Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle), has to run around like crazy to ensure everyone and everything is all set…but it’s not. Everything one could imagine going wrong for a live TV show goes wrong: the lighting and sound systems are wrecked, the cast is fighting amongst each other, and worst of all, Michaels has numerous sketches to use but can’t fit them within the airtime given. On top of this, he has a couple of NBC execs (Willem Dafoe and Cooper Hoffman) on his back, with the anxiety always just on his shoulder whispering the five words no one in the TV or filmmaking process wants to hear: "We are cutting the show." The biggest highlight of this movie is the ensemble, which further elevates the madness on display. No specific person stood out more than the rest, as this is very much an ensemble movie. However, some exceptions are worth mentioning. LaBelle gets the most screen time as Lorne Michaels and doesn’t waste any of it. He commands every moment on screen, proving why he’s one of the best young actors working today, a streak that started at TIFF two years ago with The Fabelmans . Cory Michael Smith and Matt Wood play Chevy Chase and John Belushi, respectively, and do the comedians justice. Smith not only has a spot-on impression of Chase, but he also nails the look of the controversial comedian. Meanwhile, Wood captures the mindset of the thunderstorm-fueled Belushi. At no point in any scene is there always a sense of dread where he could break at any second, and Wood does a fantastic job making audiences question whether it will happen. All of these aspects of Saturday Night make it one of the year’s best movies, but there’s also the subtle homage to the process of shooting an episode of SNL. The process likely became more accessible after the first episode, and they figured out the system, but it can only make viewers imagine what each cast and crew member goes through weekly. Getting an idea of their lines, making costumes fit, and ensuring the sound and lights are effective. The SNL cast and crew endure a lot, but somehow, they always manage to get it down by the time the clock strikes 11:30 p.m., and the show goes live. No matter what may be happening behind the scenes, they put any tension aside and give audiences a laugh they’ve been waiting all week for. Because when whoever’s on-screen shouts, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night,” the crowd goes wild, and all worries vanish. This review was originally published from the Canadian premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Sony Pictures Releasing will release Saturday Night in theaters nationwide on September 27th. 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

Cannes Review Roundup June 8, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Another Cannes Film Festival is in the books, which means it’s time to decompress from all the commotion and gather my thoughts on everything I saw. This year I watched a personal best of fifteen films within the Official Competition lineup during my three-day stint, an almost Olympian feat that will likely force me to upgrade my contact prescription for my already deteriorated eyes. Full reviews for Megalopolis , Kinds of Kindness , The Apprentice , The Substance , Emilia Perez , and Anora have already been published. This article will serve as a catch-all for everything else, with the films listed chronologically according to my schedule. But make no mistake, while these films are being given short-take reviews, that does not mean they hold a smaller presence within my memory, as the festival always has a knack for unveiling works that bury themselves deep into your conscious, revealing slowly over the proceeding months. Grand Tour Director Miguel Gomes’ film is a work lost in time and space, both in its story and filmmaking. Its titular tour of South Asia is captured through almost silent era techniques, with ultra-grainy black-and-white cinematography and a dream-like story of two traversing lovers. Mixed into this historical story is modern documentary footage of the same locations, a juxtaposition of the land and its people in the century since. I’ll admit, the biggest reason I sought this out was because it was the only opportunity I had to see something in the famed Grand Theatre Lumiere. I’ll be in a better headspace when I catch up with it again when it most likely reaches the States next year. (3/5) Bird Bird gradually warms your heart as it navigates the gutters of England, a favorite spot for Cannes regular Andrea Arnold. I do wish that Arnold had attempted to stretch herself a little more creatively over the first ⅔ of the runtime. The “been there, done that” attitude does get broken up by a surprising element, one that I didn't entirely agree with. But I can’t deny that it had some emotional effect. Nykiya Adams delivers a great performance in her debut, with Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski as their usual freaky selves. There’s also a fun Saltburn reference that got a lot of laughs, although it was definitely unintentional as this was shot before Fennell’s film was released. (3.5/5) The Shrouds Was this supposed to be a comedy? Because it’s so poorly written and performed that at times I couldn’t tell. I did get the feeling that Cronenberg was initially aware of the unintentionally comedic concept of a man creating an app that lets you watch your loved ones decompose in their graves, but then it all is steered down such a self-serious road that you can’t help but laugh at it. Cronenberg throws a lot of ideas and plot developments at the well, most of them way too autobiographical for us to comprehend. Crimes of the Future was my biggest disappointment at Cannes 2022, with this easily (re)laying claim to that title. Is there an award that’s the opposite of the Palme d’Or? (2/5) Oh, Canada A typical Paul Shrader film as it tackles a man wrecked by the guilt of his past. But it’s not all doom and gloom within a world of crime, as Schrader’s adaptation of Russell Banks’ novel has a more melancholic glimpse into a life roughly lived. Where has this version of Richard Gere been all these years?!? Some bizarre directorial choices, such as Jacob Elordi and Gere swapping places in their respective timelines and Uma Thurman cast as multiple characters, prevent this from being a definitive film that Schrader could potentially go out on. (3.5/5) Limonov: The Ballad Cannes' new favorite Russian ambassador Kirill Serebrennikov delivers a biopic with a lot of style, but not much substance, at least not in the forms my Western brain could comprehend. The clash of hemispheres makes for a jarringly interesting experience, with Ben Whishaw’s stunning titular performance almost convincing you he’s playing a layered character. A fascinating disappointment that I’d be welcome to revisit once I dive into Serebrennikov’s previous works. (3/5) Beating Hearts How does a musical work without any songs? Pretty, actually. Gilles Lellouche directors the hell out of this epic gangster drama, crafting a romantic odyssey with the visual flair of West Side Story and the grit of La Haine . Both sets of our star-crossed lovers are wonderful together. (3.5/5) The Girl with the Needle My personal Palme d’Or winner! Magnus von Horn descends us into a haunting time in Denmark, drip-feeding dread through his claustrophobic 4:3 camerawork. The blacks are as dark as night, and the whites are blindingly bright, a combination that resembles the horror of The Lighthouse with the bleak beauty of Cold War . Lovers of ultra-depressing European arthouse pieces keep on winning! (4/5) The Seed of the Sacred Fig Without a doubt the most important film of the festival, Mohammad Rasoulof’s statement about his native land both directly and indirectly dismantles the current Iranian regime through gripping imagery and performances. It succeeds as both a political statement and a taut thriller, although it leans a little too much on the latter in its final stages and oddly opts for metaphors after it has already effectively communicated so literally. (3.5/5) All We Imagine as Light As the first Indian film in the Official Competition in almost thirty years, Payal Kapadia’s sophomore feature certainly had a lot to live up to. It’s a quietly powerful film about the people that inhabit Mumbai, a city that never seems to sleep. It takes its time to reveal itself, but fully hits the landing once it all comes together in the final stages. The score and luminous cinematography were both among the best of the festival. (3.5/5) More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Dead Don't Hurt May 26, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Dead Don’t Hurt opens with two simultaneous scenes of death. In one, a person peacefully draws their last breath as they lie in the home they built with their own two hands and are surrounded by the family they raised. In the other, a gunman mercilessly kills everyone in a saloon before hightailing it out of town. It’s in these two scenes that writer/director Viggo Mortensen illustrates the juxtaposing ideals of the old American West: a place where you can build something for yourself out of nothing, and also have it all taken away in a heartbeat. Not to be outdone by Bradley Cooper last year with Maestro , Mortensen also produces, stars, and composes the score for his second feature at the helm after 2020’s Falling . And if that wasn’t enough, he also made the film in an atypical fashion by composing the score first and then shooting it to fit the musical cues. The necessity of the move is debatable and fully impossible to notice while watching the film, but the fact that it happened adds to Mortensen’s stance as an icon for the films that hang just outside the Hollywood sphere. Could you guess what his highest-grossing film is when you exclude The Lord of the Rings trilogy? It’s Green Book … and it’s not even close. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xgv25Ni_jv0 Mortensen isn’t the sole star of his own revisionist western, as Vicky Krieps takes over the first-billed position. She plays Vivienne Le Coudy, a French-Canadian who was introduced as a child to the harsh realities of frontier life when her father was killed and left hanging on a tree by the British. And now, she’s betrothed to a British man in San Francisco, only this one will likely kill her through the boredom of high society. That’s how the charmingly rugged Danish cowboy Holger Olsen (Mortensen) catches her eye one day (I mean, who could resist Viggo?). “Come with me,” he says as he returns to his home at the edge of the world, a quiet and peaceful dusty homestead near a stereotypical Old West town. The coupling of these two characters is where The Dead Don’t Hurt really makes its mark. Krieps carries a sturdy poise throughout, while Mortensen is a man who, despite being a decorated soldier from his homeland, would much rather build barns and plant gardens than fire a weapon. Mortensen’s soft score accents these tender moments, and Marcel Zyskind’s camera always seems to find the magic hour within the California landscape. It’s the moments of commerciality, such as Garret Dillahunt as the unruly son of the town’s richest man and the staging of the action scenes, that bring everything back down below the surface. Dillahunt doesn’t have the presence to be an intimidating villain, with his all-black outfit doing all of the heavy lifting to communicate your attitude towards him. He’s part of some boilerplate conspiracy by the town’s mayor (played by Danny Huston) to hold a monopoly over its limited resources. It’s clear that Mortensen cared the least about this subplot when writing and filming it, so there’s no need to bother with it. A more interesting mistake comes in the form of the jumbled editing, which, if my memory serves me well, tries to cut between three different timelines: Vivienne’s childhood, her and Holger’s early days together, and then many years down the road. There’s no forward momentum or narrative secrets unlocked through the cross-cutting between these scenes, only a small sense of confusion about what’s happening and when. The (minor) works of John Ford and Howard Hawks would be an apt comparison to make for The Dead Don’t Hurt . Along with Kevin Costner’s supposed Horizon: An American Saga quadrilogy, this could mark a miniature comeback for the Western genre. Mortensen has just supplied the intimacy; now we’ll have to wait and see what Costner has to say about our nation’s past. Shout! Studios will release The Dead Don't Hurt in select theaters on May 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

Dreams February 25, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen Despite its title, Michel Franco's Dreams offers little in terms of hope. The film opens on a bright blue background, the kind of color the sky gifts us on a beautiful day. The title flies forward like the opening credits of the original Superman film. However, we then cut to an unattended semi-truck parked on the outskirts of the Texas-American border. Inside it are dozens of Mexican immigrants: men, women, and children locked in the trailer like cattle being hauled to the slaughterhouse. They're eventually let out by their unfeeling handlers, left in the desert to make their own way in this country. It's a starkly bleak way of introducing us to this story, a mood that fits the increased contempt the Mexican writer/director has directed at modern society across his recent one-word-title output: Memory , Sundown , and Chronic . The plight of immigrants in this country (specifically this state) has reached a boiling point over the past few months, supporting the notion that a film of this clinical intensity should be produced and distributed. But for as much as Dreams supplies that demand, it does not do so in a skillful manner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6Al_zihrvw One of the migrants exiting the truck is Fernando (Isaac Hernández), a young Mexican ballet dancer. He's returning to America after repeated deportations, relying on small fish to give him rides from Texas to San Francisco. Once there, he's reunited with the big fish that is Jennifer (Jessica Chastain), who heads the foundation that sponsors the productions he stars in. The pair are also lovers, keeping their relationship a secret for both professional and personal reasons. They embody the quote from Citizen Kane : "To love on my terms. Those are the only terms anybody ever knows—his own." There are limits to Jennifer's support, mostly stemming from her father (Marshall Bell) and brother (Rupert Friend), who also run the foundation. They're the type of rich philanthropists who like to be praised for writing a check, but don't want to face the ugly truths of why that money is needed. Every American family originated from an immigrant with a dream, with the door seemingly getting both further away and narrower as time goes on. Fernando isn't a saint either; his frustration at the situation is spiraling him into acts of petulance. Dreams contains about 40 minutes worth of story within its 95-minute runtime, with half the film padded with scenes that don't add or bolster what has already been established. Franco and his regular cinematographer, Yves Cape, create a chilly atmosphere within The City by the Bay, a place of automated food delivery cars serving those on the top of the hill, and undocumented workers stalked by border agents and paid half minimum wage under the table. That dichotomy runs rampant, with Franco offering several examples of it well after the point has already been made. Chastain is a performer who matches Franco's reserved stillness. Her striking looks and steely presence communicate a life of unfulfilled pleasure, the walls perpetually up. Fernando opens her up to love, illustrated through the film's many scenes that combine intimacy with power. Hernández is a real-life ballet performer; his casting is likely a product of the reasoning that it would be harder to teach ballet to an actor than acting to a ballet performer. He doesn't totally support that notion, never producing the required magnetism. At the end of all this comes an act of provocation, another regular occurrence by Franco. What should conclude the film on a morally questionable note just leaves a sour taste; the wait is entirely not worth the payoff. There are no more dreams, only nightmares. Greenwich Entertainment will release Dreams in select theaters on February 27th 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

Passages August 4, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Passages opens with Tomas (Franz Rogowski), a German filmmaker living in Paris, working on the set of his next film. It’s immediately apparent that he’s a control freak… and an asshole. He’s critical of everything that’s going on, from the position of his actor’s arms as he walks down the stairs to the amount of wine in an extra’s glass. He probably thinks of himself as Stanley Kubrick, except there isn’t enough brilliance to make up for the callousness. That attitude on the set doesn’t take a break once he goes home to his husband, Martin (Ben Whishaw). The couple goes to the film’s wrap party at a dance club. Being the more introverted one, Martin goes home early, leaving Tomas to his own devices. He crosses paths with Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos) on the dance floor, and the two eventually go home together to have sex. Rebuking the natural secrecy of an affair in an effort to quench his desire for control, Tomas tells Martin all about it the next morning. Tomas wants the best of both worlds: to be in a steady marriage with Martin and to have an exciting new fling with a woman. These three characters are now intertwined, yet it’s obvious that only one of them is pulling the strings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5Kr38lovJc Similar to his 2014 film Love is Strange , writer/director Ira Sachs (co-writing with his regular partner Mauricio Zacharias) delves into the thorniness of longstanding relationships and how there isn’t a clear-cut way to get through it. Tomas thinks he can get what he wants, yet it seems he actually doesn’t know what he wants in the first place. He says “I love you” and engages in sex when it works for him, and never seems to have the ability or desire to understand the other party in that transaction. One of the main problems of the film is that it spends too much time spinning its wheels around this toxic trio. It eventually gets tiring to watch Tomas act selfishly and be begrudgingly forgiven by Martin or Agathe. Sure, that cycle may be a portal to connect with the victims, but it’s also not something wholly original. It’s not a coincidence that the best scene of the film is near the end, where Martin and Agathe finally break the circle and sit down to talk directly. Whishaw and Exarchopoulos are both calm and collected throughout much of the film. They each are trying to convince themselves that this new reality can work, but it’s clear no one is coming out better than they used to be. And even in his cruelty, Rogowski is captivating, showing just enough promise to illustrate why he would be accepted into someone else’s life. Filled with as much explicit sex (although striking it with an NC-17 rating was a displeasing illustration of how the MPAA views homosexuality) as it has insight into complicated relationships, Passages is another worthwhile effort from the dependable Ira Sachs. It’s a ménage à trois for the modern age, mixing confrontation and carnality to perceptive results. Mubi will release Passages in select theaters on August 04th. 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

Infinity Pool January 26, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen While this past year brought us numerous filmmakers offering a satirical take on the metaphorical war between classes (Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness , Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery , and Mark Mylod’s The Menu come to mind), Brandon Cronenberg is here to deliver the supremely dark and twisted version of that story. This extreme combination of sex, violence, high art, and classism may not cohere as well as it should, but it always remains intriguing and elicits responses very few filmmakers would dare search for. Married couple James (Alexander Skarsgård) and Em Foster (Cleopatra Coleman) are taking their vacation at a swanky resort in a fictional country whose economy heavily relies upon tourism. James wrote a mediocre book six years ago and has struggled with writer’s block ever since, so this vacation also serves as a last-ditch attempt to find inspiration. A beautiful young woman (Mia Goth) approaches James and tells him she’s a big fan of his book, a statement that greatly strokes his ego. A night of drinking commences, coming to a screeching halt when James accidentally runs over a local farmer with his car. This country has harsh penalties when it comes to murder, even if it was by accident. The only way for this matter to be resolved is for the farmer’s son to kill James. Fortunately, the law also has a way out for those who can pay for it, a process that creates a clone that will be used for the execution. Essentially, you are totally above the law if you can afford it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVnIMvVEkrA The metaphor, in all its obviousness, begs the ultimate question: What would you do if there were no consequences for your actions? For a small group of tourists, who induct James as their newest member, it means murdering and stealing their way through an uninhibited life. While the filmmakers mentioned in the introduction look down upon the rich by lifting up the working class, Cronenberg doesn’t share that optimistic outlook on the everyman. James leaps upon the opportunity to indulge in his most perverse fantasies, proving that the most critical philosophers were right in saying that we only restrain our true selves in fear of punishment. But the one thing that I doubt we share with James and his compatriots is the level of debauchery they engage in. I don’t know about you, but a Gaspar Noé-inspired orgy filmed through a kaleidoscope and edited with every intention to fry your senses wouldn’t be one of the first things I would do if the societal chains were broken. Cronenberg ups his craftsmanship with this sophomore feature, confidently telling his story with playfully chaotic energy. Things slightly deflate near the final act, where the acts of madness feel more for show than for substance, but the compelling nature of it all is impossible to deny. Aiding that “can’t look away even though you want to” energy is Goth’s delightfully mad-capped performance. Between her work in High Life, Suspiria , and the Ti West trilogy of Pearl, X , and the upcoming MaXXXine , she has cemented herself as one of the most interesting actors working today. You’re wondering what she'll do next, and she always delivers beyond expectations. With Infinity Pool , Brandon has proved that the Cronenberg surname is in good hands for the foreseeable future. There’s a method to his madness, one that I feel will continually get better as time goes on. I’m both incredibly excited and dreadful about what demented material he has waiting in the wings. Neon will release Infinity Pool in theaters nationwide on January 27th. 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

Thunderbolts* April 30, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen At this point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I often ask why I even bother. Why put up with the casting announcements, release date changes, rumors, and debates? Why sit through the endless credits for a small tease of what’s to come next, which, at this point, will likely be less than what it advertised? Why drift over to Disney+ to watch the required supplemental material? That’s a task I quickly gave up on after WandaVision vastly overstayed its welcome. I’ll tell you why. Because, like every Minnesota sports fan who's lived through countless seasons of agony and deep soul searching, there comes a time when the clouds lift, and you feel as if you’ve been placed upon the highest mountain. The release of Thunderbolts* (no, that asterisk is not a typo) marks that time for the MCU. Of course, as any Minnesotan will tell you, the vast majority of those peaks still came just short of a championship. Thunderbolts* is also not a championship-worthy film for the MCU, more akin to the new era of the Minnesota Timberwolves after the doldrums of the early 2010s (I’m writing this analogy while doped up on the adrenaline of a 3-1 opening playoff series lead over the evil empire that is the Los Angeles Lakers). It’s also a movie that made me wish I was less forgiving of Captain America: Brave New World just a few months ago. I wrote that that movie was “a semi-comforting reminder that it’s okay for a movie to be just fine and forgettable.” Now I’d recalculate that allocation much more in the latter’s camp than the former. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUUszE29jS0 After some gloomy studio logos, everyone’s favorite raised-from-the-womb assassin, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), speaks that “there’s something wrong with me… an emptiness… a void.” She’s going through the motions, completing missions and erasing targets with nothing more than a blank stare. Thankfully, director Jake Schreier doesn’t share her sentiments when it comes to manning this $200 million behemoth. The helmer of the Netflix series Beef gives the opening proceedings a more flavorful edge, opting for a much-marketed practical skyscraper jump and longer-take in-camera fight choreography. In Yelena’s world, there is no such thing as loyalty, so a chance encounter between her, John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) in the belly of a secret underground bunker housing the secrets of CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is definitely not a pleasant coincidence. Everyone’s supposed to kill each other, leaving no more loose ends for the impeachment trial that’s digging up all of their involvement in Valentina’s off-the-book endeavors. Since they all realize that they have a common enemy, the loners decide to team up to increase their chance of survival, which, in this case, just means that they’d like to prolong the inevitable delay until their fate catches up with them. But unlike the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, this ragtag group does not consist of heroes looking to strengthen their commitment to protecting humanity or lovable misfits who just needed a chance to do good. These are all bad people, leaving miles of bodies in their wake. They’re also characters that don’t immediately scream that they’re all that interesting. Walker and Valenita are from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier , a show I never watched. Ghost and Taskmaster, respectively, appeared as the antagonists in Ant-Man and the Wasp and Black Widow , two films I’ve completely memory-holed. Yelena did make an impression in Black Widow and her successive appearances in the MCU, much of that coming from Pugh’s innate charm and pathos. Much credit goes to the performers, as well as co-writers Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo, for making these less-than-desirable characters into compelling people. The quips have been dialed back, and the ones that do stick around land at a much more consistent rate. David Harbour’s Red Guardian does throw off that balance on a few too many occasions, with the character’s lovability being sabotaged by an overwhelming eagerness. There’s also the presence of Bob (Lewis Pullman), a Valentina-sponsored human experiment who has the power to make those that he touches relive their worst nightmares. With the aid of the A24 veteran duo of cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo and production designer Grace Yun, there’s a more natural balance to the emotional depth of these characters. That “Absolute Cinema” trailer touting the indie credentials of all the talent involved may have reeked of cinemaphile desperation, but the final product illustrates that the marketers weren’t lying about the goods they’ve assembled here. The theme of the film is recovering from driftlessness through finding a purpose alongside friends and family. For as much as a gun or a fist can accomplish, some nice words and a hug can do a lot more. To be talking about ideas and themes instead of easter eggs and cameos is a breath of fresh air for the MCU, one that I dubiously hope that they’ll maintain as they wade into the titans that are this summer’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps and next year’s Avengers: Doomsday . Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures will release Thunderbolts* in theaters nationwide on May 2nd. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

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West Side Story December 11, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen Leave it to Steven Spielberg to make his first outing into the musical genre, one that completely crushes the competition. Like The Mad Titan Thanos, Spielberg has seemingly made it his mission to collect the stones of nearly every genre known to cinema. Throughout his nearly fifty-year feature film career, he’s already conquered monster movies ( Jaws ), science fiction ( E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ), adventure ( Indiana Jones ), war ( Saving Private Ryan ), and biopics ( Schindler’s List & Lincoln ). But before he takes on the Avengers-level threat of Netflix and other streaming services in the fight for the theatrical experience, Spielberg needs to claim the last stone that has eluded him: musicals. And after all these years (including a worldwide pandemic), The King of Entertainment can finally stake his claim with his remake of West Side Story . Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner have made it clear that this West Side Story is not a remake of the 1961 film, which won ten Academy Awards, including Best Motion Picture. Rather, this is a new adaptation of the 1957 stage musical. Many might be confused as to why Spielberg felt the need to re-adapt such a timeless piece of entertainment, especially with the 1961 film being heralded as one of the great screen musicals. The answer to that argument can be broken down into three parts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5GJLwWiYSg First, Spielberg may be humble, but like all great directors, he has a bit of hubris and isn’t afraid to remake sacred material, as he’s already done with 2005’s War of the Worlds . Second, Spielberg has cited the musical as a foundational piece of his childhood, so much so that it was one of his key inspirations for becoming a director. And third, while the 1961 version may be a monumental feat, it is far from perfect. Arthur Laurents, who wrote the original Broadway production's book, spoke to the New York Times in 2008 about his feelings towards the film version, which he thought was very flawed due to “bogus accents, bogus dialect, bogus costumes.” Laurents’ argument against the costumes may be puzzling, but he’s right on target with how the film whitewashes much of the characters. Spielberg’s West Side Story looks to right the wrongs of the past, as nearly all of his Puerto Rican characters are played by Puerto Rican or Hispanic performers. And to do this, Spielberg hasn’t sinned nearly every modern musical adaptation where big movie stars are cast instead of the performers who brought the characters to life on the stage. Apart from Ansel Elgort (who, while still being the film’s wet blanket, is not as bad as one would expect), all of the cast members come from some sort of theater background. Ariana DeBose, who played a featured part in Hamilton both off and on Broadway, takes over the role of Anita with a fiery passion. Playing her overprotective partner, Bernardo, is David Alvarez, one of the original Billys in Billy Elliot . Mike Faist, who originated the role of Connor Murphy in Dear Evan Hansen , harnesses a special jittery vulnerability as Riff. And then emerging as the star of this troupe is newcomer Rachel Zegler as María. The world may have already gotten a glimpse of Zegler’s singing talent through her YouTube channel, but this is a true showcase of what she has to offer. Since production wrapped in September 2019, Spielberg has claimed Zegler as the greatest María he’s witnessed. At the time, it sounded like the usual praise a director would heap on his own film. But now that the court of public opinion gets its say, it seems he was telling the truth. With so many stars in the making, Spielberg is able to harmonize the past and the present, making the remake feel like a Golden Age musical made with modern craftsmanship. Spielberg and his longtime cinematographer Janusz Kaminski keep the same desaturated, high-contrast look that they have maintained for nearly three decades. The camera swoons and cranes in extended takes, capturing the incredibly choreographed dance numbers conceived by famed ballet dancer and director Justin Peck. The “America” (which has been taken down to the streets instead of the rooftop) and “I Feel Pretty” set pieces contain some of Spielberg’s greatest directorial work, with Leonard Bernstein’s music and Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics proving once again why they have inspired so many. But all the technicals and performances mean nothing if the story doesn’t match their excellence. Thankfully, screenwriter Tony Kushner has taken the original material and given it a new life. For the most part, this is still the same Romeo and Juliet story of star-crossed lovers caught in a war between rival gangs. But then, every once in a while, something unexpected will happen, taking things in a different direction. The narrative about the immigrant experience has been made more profound, with the Spanish dialogue - accounting for nearly one-third of the total spoken lines - going unsubtitled in a move that Spielberg and Kushner described as an effort to respect the language. And the character of Doc has been reimagined as Valentina, allowing Rita Moreno (the 1961 Anita) to ground the film with a heartbreaking final number. All of these revisions don’t come off as gimmicks needed to justify the film’s existence, just different (and better) ways to tell a classic tale. With The Great Musical War of 2021 coming to a close, Steven Spielberg has emerged as the predictable winner. Perfectly melding the work of Bernstein and Sondheim with the newfound talents of DeBose, Faist, and Zegler, the new West Side Story makes the case for why some remakes should be allowed to happen. Because sometimes, they can meet or surpass the original, such as how this one does by bringing classic cinema into the modern world. 20th Century Studios will release West Side Story in theaters nationwide on December 10th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

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