Search Results

The Irishman December 9, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen Sprawling fifty years and dozens of features, director Martin Scorsese has crafted one of the finest filmographies in cinematic history. Over the decades, there appear to be two sides to the revered auteur’s style of filmmaking. One side is filled with fast-paced and violent storytelling in films such as Goodfellas, Casino , and The Wolf of Wall Street . On the other side is a more slow and quiet study of the human condition that can be found in The Last Temptation of Christ , Kundun , and Silence . Now after years of being disjointed, these distinct styles have finally melded together in the director’s newest Netflix film, The Irishman . Telling the true-ish story (it’s still hotly debated whether any of it is true) of mob hitman Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, the film places its main character at the forefront of American history in the mid-twentieth century. Over the years, Sheeran became increasingly attached to mob life, eventually leading him to the infamous teamster Jimmy Hoffa, whose fate is still unknown to this day. But as Frank rises the ranks within the mob, we watch as he slowly descends into a life of violence where the riches are short-lived and damaging effects are ever-lasting. The first thing you’ll probably notice when looking up the film is its massive 209-minute runtime, which makes it the longest mainstream movie released in over a quarter-century. That amount of length may be daunting on paper, but Scorsese makes every minute of it glide by with ease. His usual style of kinetic editing and pacing are masterfully employed and keep the film entirely thrilling throughout. By the time the film has finished, you feel as though you have lived a life with these characters rather than just watched it. Another production facet that the film carries is a revolutionary new technology that digitally de-ages its main cast so they’re able to play their characters over multiple decades. Admittedly, the gimmick doesn’t work perfectly as the 76-year-old Robert De Niro never convincingly looks like his thirty-year-old self. But even with its missteps, the technology is never a bother and seamlessly works its magic in the scenes where the characters are closer to the actor's age. Adapted by Steven Zaillian from the book “I Heard You Paint Houses”, The Irishman is a dense (maybe too dense) and depressing crime epic. Scorsese’s trademarked main character narration is here in its entirety as Sheeran tells his life story while in a nursing home near the end of his life. Even though Scorsese implements his usual gangster style within the script, its use here is for an altogether different purpose than in previous films. Instead of showing the often joyous life of criminals with smugness, the script fully exposes us to the doom and gloom that a life of crime brings to someone. Frank is the main character in our story, but within his story, he’s always off to the side as he gets caught up in the everlasting destruction around him. By the time the third act reaches and the characters are reflecting on their past, their sad nature is fully exposed. All the acts these characters committed were paid for in death and despair, with the reward being even more of the same. Teaming up with Scorsese for their ninth collaboration, Robert De Niro does his best work in decades in the titular role. His performance as Frank is closed-off and internal, further highlighting that Sheeran had little control over his life. The further the story progresses, the more haunting De Niro becomes as he can more clearly see where the road will take him. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, Al Pacino plays the infamous union boss Jimmy Hoffa. We’ve always known that Pacino has fervor in his acting repertoire. His only problem over the years was how to effectively channel it to the right performance. Fortunately, there seems to be a method to Pacino’s madness here as his boisterous fire perfectly counters De Niro’s coldness. Playing against type is another frequent Scorsese collaborator in Joe Pesci as mob boss Russell Buffalino. Even if it may be his quietest role to date, Pesci instills fear through his menacing delivery and stares. Rounding the ensemble cast is Harvey Keitel, Bobby Cannavale, Ray Romano, Jesse Plemons, and Anna Paquin; all of which do great work in their supporting roles. Proving that the two sides of Martin Scorsese work better together than separately, The Irishman is a crime classic on par with the greats before. Its extensive tale of remorse and sorrow is worth every minute you put into it. If you only see a handful of movies a year, make sure this Netflix epic is one of them. 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

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice September 4, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen If you listen carefully, you can hear the collective sigh of relief of millions of Tim Burton and Beetlejuice fans from around the world the moment the opening credits of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice joyously commenced. Danny Elfman delivers a signature score as the camera weaves through the signature diorama of Winter River. This introduction is a microcosm of the subsequent one-hundred minutes: an unashamed retreading of everything that worked over thirty-five years ago and has become a part of popular culture lexicon ever since, done with enough respect and creative flair to be some of the most fun of the year. Ghostbusters II serves as the template for the opening sections, with a “where are they now” carousel setting the stage for how the famed characters have fared in the decades since. The once supernatural ally Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) now peddles the same ghostly schlock that Zach Baggins has cornered on cable television. How and why she got to this place is a mystery, as well as what her goal is to host a show that delegitimizes the supernatural. She’s got a buffoonish simp in her producer Rory (Justin Theroux), which is about the only somewhat good thing she has going for her. Her daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) doesn’t want anything to do with her, another instance in a long line of reminders that your childhood heroes turn out to be terrible parents. On top of that, her father was just killed in a freak shark attack, forcing the entire group, Delia included, to venture back to the signature haunted house on the top of the hill. Of course, all of this plot in the human world is just there to serve what’s going on in the underworld. The titular Mr. Juice is still heartbroken over Lydia, and now must hide from his vengeful ex-wife Delores (Monica Bellucci). The complicated and ever-shifting rules and circumstances of the afterlife bring these two stories together, with Lydia and Beetlejuice needing to rescue Astrid from being sent to the Great Beyond. Plot is not what you came to this movie for, and neither is it an important aspect in writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar’s gameplan, which contains quite the animosity towards anything to do with PC culture. Burton also has a ball with pushing your preconceptions of what can be included in a PG-13 movie, with this one featuring an assortment of gore, cursing, and overall grossness. The effects are mostly practical, a challenge that Burton and his production team welcomed with open arms and flourished with. An animated sequence similar to The Corpse Bride and a silent horror recreation of the romantic origins between Beetlejuice and Delores’ are some of the standout moments that hit the nostalgia buttons so perfectly The cast is all having so much fun as well. Theroux and Willem Dafoe as a dead Tom Cruise-esque actor turned underworld cop who takes his job a little too seriously are the two standouts within the new additions. Their foolishness is matched only by their zeal for the zaniness surrounding them. Ryder and Keaton haven’t missed a beat in the time since, with the latter yet again being the outright champion despite having less screen time than you’d think. Bellucci is… there. She’s a symptom of the film’s disregard for plot and stakes, appearing out of nowhere and leaving without much of an afterthought. We can’t get everything we want, so it’s best to forgive those glaring gaps in depth since it created an opportunity for one of our most creative filmmakers to make something for himself and the people he cares about instead of just another executive who just wants to harness his aesthetic. We as the audience can only be as passionate about a film as the creatives behind it, with this one being so easy to love and laugh along with. 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

Twin Cities Film Fest 2022 Preview October 19, 2022 By: Hunter Friesen After partaking in this year's Sundance, Cannes, and Toronto Film Festivals, I'm glad to be finishing off with one close to home. This year's edition of the Twin Cities Film Festival promises to be a great one with it's mixture of high-performing indie titles and awards hopeful studio projects. Here six films that I'll be seeing over the next week. Look forward to a review of each one shortly! Till Till is a profoundly emotional and cinematic film about the true story of Mamie Till Mobley’s relentless pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, who, in 1955, was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi. In Mamie’s poignant journey of grief turned to action, we see the universal power of a mother’s ability to change the world. My Policeman A tale of forbidden romance and changing social conventions, My Policeman follows the relationships between three people - policeman Tom (Harry Styles), teacher Marion (Emma Corrin) and museum curator Patrick (David Dawson) - and their emotional journey spanning decades. Aftersun At a fading vacation resort, 11-year-old Sophie treasures rare time together with her loving and idealistic father, Calum (Paul Mescal). As a world of adolescence creeps into view, beyond her eye Calum struggles under the weight of life outside of fatherhood. Twenty years later, Sophie's tender recollections of their last holiday become a powerful and heartrending portrait of their relationship, as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn't, in Charlotte Wells’ superb and searingly emotional debut film. She Said Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan star as New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who together broke one of the most important stories in a generation— a story that helped propel the #Metoo movement, shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood and altered American culture forever. Women Talking A group of women from a remote religious community deal with the aftermath of sexual assault perpetrated by the colony’s men. A film of ideas brought to life by Polley’s imaginative direction and a superb, fine-tuned ensemble cast—including Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Frances McDormand, Ben Whishaw, and Judith Ivey— Women Talking is a deep and searching exploration of self-determination, group responsibility, faith and forgiveness, philosophically engaging and emotionally rich in equal measure. The Inspection In Elegance Bratton's deeply moving film inspired by his own story, a young, gay Black man, rejected by his mother and with few options for his future, decides to join the Marines, doing whatever it takes to succeed in a system that would cast him aside. But even as he battles deep-seated prejudice and the grueling routines of basic training, he finds unexpected camaraderie, strength, and support in this new community, giving him a hard-earned sense of belonging that will shape his identity and forever change his life. 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

Don't Worry Darling September 23, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen No film has ever pushed the quote “There’s no such thing as bad publicity” more to the limit than Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling . So much has happened over the past few months that Cosmopolitan was able to make a full in-depth timeline , which is still ongoing. It wouldn’t be an understatement to expect the film to get its own Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse sometime in the future. And it also wouldn’t be an understatement to think that Wilde wants that documentary to happen so people will have something to remember Don’t Worry Darling , because the movie itself is nothing more than middling. It’s a Mad Men world for Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry Styles) as they start their new lives in the sun-drenched valley paradise known as Victory. Where it’s precisely located and how it got there is never explained, nor is it allowed to be questioned. The only strings attached to this haven are that you never ask anything, such as how the men spend their time, where the food comes from, or why everyone has the same memories before they got here. Your only duty is to conform, be supportive, and worship the project’s leader, Frank (Chris Pine), whose viewed and behaves like the second coming of Christ. For Alice, these duties unlock everything she’s ever wanted. She has a great husband, a great house, and great friends. It’s all so perfect. This is why things seem so odd when her neighbor, Margaret (KiKi Layne), begins questioning everything. Just as if she was transmitting the common cold, Margaret’s skepticism makes its way into Alice’s head, leading her down a dark path to learning the truth about this modern utopia. On a purely productional level, Don’t Worry Darling is quite the accomplishment for Wilde. The period-accurate clothes and needle drops are a far cry from the modern teenage angst she announced her auteur status within Booksmart . The influences of Stanley Kubrick and Darren Aronofksy are easy to spot with the impressive sound and camera work. Those qualities should come as no surprise considering Wilde recruited regular Aronofsky cinematographer Matthew Libatique to lens her film. As a director, she lets the hysteria build and builds, waiting for us to beg for it to be released. But when that moment comes for Wilde to make her big swing, she manages to only hit a single instead of the expected home run. Because just like the town of Victory itself, Don’t Worry Darling often comes across as empty despite being littered with pretty sights (there’s even an unintentionally fitting scene where Alice cracks eggs, only for it to be revealed they’re empty). Reteaming with her Booksmart writer, Katie Silberman, Wilde’s interrogation of women’s societal roles and the men that oppress them is nothing that hasn’t been done before. Hell, works such as The Stepford Wives , The Truman Show , and even WandaVision have asked similar questions using a similar concept. Even though it’s all impressively done, there’s always this nagging feeling of being there, done that. That feeling also permeates the casting of Harry Styles as Jack, who’s been written as British, most likely to cover over Styles' inability to pick which accent he should be using. A stunt cast such as this may help the box office numbers, but it doesn’t help Florence Pugh, who’s left all alone to keep this ship from sinking under the weight of its ill-advised ambitions. Pugh seemingly can do no wrong, whether it be large-scale work in Black Widow or on a smaller level in Fighting with My Family . And considering the impressive work she did pulling apart at the seams for Ari Aster in Midsommar , this performance comes across as child’s play for her. Luckily, she has an equal in Chris Pine as the charismatic Frank. Pine has always been an actor that was cursed by his good looks, as it meant he was forced to play leading parts when he works much better as a character actor. Brad Pitt is another actor in a similar situation. In the brief scenes he shares with Pugh, Pine brings that tech-guru/crypto-bro smarmy charm that makes you believe why people worship him, while at the same time, you just want to punch him in his perfect teeth. If your intention of seeing Don’t Worry Darling is to look at beautiful people in beautiful clothes living in beautiful houses, Olivia Wilde supplies that in spades. But if you intend to see something that digs a little deeper under the surface and provokes ideas that haven't been explored by numerous other (and better) films, then you may want to start worrying. 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

TIFF23 Preview September 5, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen With its rich history of showcasing groundbreaking films and celebrating the art of storytelling, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)is a cinematic extravaganza like no other. This year promises to be a spectacular journey into the world of cinema, offering a diverse range of films that will captivate, inspire, and provoke thought. As we eagerly await the curtain to rise on TIFF 2023, I'm thrilled to provide you with a preview of the movies I'll be seeing during my time there. As an accredited member of the press, I'll be bouncing around between Press and Industry screenings in the morning, followed by public screenings, including a slew of world premieres, in the afternoon and night. Make sure to pay attention to this site throughout the entire duration of the festival for immediate reviews and reactions to the biggest titles! * = World Premiere screening. All times in ET. Thursday (09/07) [9:00-10:30] The Royal Hotel (dir. Kitty Green) [11:30-2:00] Reptile (dir. Grant Singer) [6:00-8:00] The Boy and the Heron (dir. Hayao Miyazaki) [9:30-11:00] North Star (dir. Kristin Scott Thomas)* Friday (09/08) [9:00-11:00] Kidnapped (dir. Marco Bellocchio) [5:30-7:30] Les Indésirables (dir. Ladj Ly)* [9:30-12:00] Finestkind (dir. Brian Helgeland)* Saturday (09/09) [8:00-10:00] Dumb Money (dir. Craig Gillespie) [12:00-2:00] His Three Daughters (dir. Azazel Jacobs)* [3:00-5:00] One Life (dir. James Hawes)* [6:00-8:00] Lee (dir. Ellen Kuras)* [9:30-11:00] Quiz Lady (dir. Jessica Yu)* Sunday (09/10) [8:30-10:30] Dream Scenario (dir. Kristoffer Borgli) [11:30-2:00] The Holdovers (dir. Alexander Payne) [3:30-5:30] Seven Veils (dir. Atom Egoyan)* [6:30-8:30] Next Goal Wins (dir. Taika Waititi)* [10:00-12:00] Knox Goes Away (dir. Michael Keaton)* Monday (09/11) [9:00-11:00] Rustin (dir. George C. Wolfe) [12:00-1:30] The Critic (dir. Anand Tucker)* [5:30-7:30] Hit Man (dir. Richard Linklater) [10:00-12:00] Pain Hustlers (dir. David Yates)* Tuesday (09/12) [8:30-10:30] Poolman (dir. Chris Pine) [11:30-2:00] The Beast (dir. Bertrand Bonello) [3:30-5:30] Evil Does Not Exist (dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi) [5:30-7:30] Memory (dir. Michel Franco) [9:30-11:30] Fingernails (dir. Christos Nikou) Wednesday (09/13) [8:30-10:30] Wildcat (dir. Ethan Hawke) [11:30-1:30] Nyad (dir. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin) [2:30-5:00] Origin (dir. Ava DuVernay) 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 End September 13, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen The End had its Canadian Premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Neon will release it in theaters on December 06. Time is an illusion for the family at the center of The End . They’ve lived in their underground bunker for about 25 years now, the only reference to that being the youngest child now being in his later 20s after moving in early childhood. They have perfectly synchronized watches and senses of time, even though they haven’t seen the sun since submerging, and, for the most part, there’s no one else left on the surface. So, what’s the point of being able to tell time, then? That question could be extended to almost everything the family occupies themselves with. Father (Michael Shannon) is tasking Son (George MacKay) with writing his biography, complete with a triumphant origin full of fearless charity work and sacrifice. Never mind that he was the president of one of the most polluting energy companies in the world, or that this book will never be read by anyone who doesn’t already know these fables. Mother (Tilda Swinton) spends her time creating galleries in the living rooms out of the assortment of paintings they took with them. They are a perfect family unit, so much so that they must break into a harmonious song to prove it. Yes, even in the darkest depths of the Earth at the end of humanity, you can still find a reason to sing and dance. Co-writer/director Joshua Oppenheimer, famed for his one-two documentary punch of The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence , makes sure that his fiction feature debut is as bold and audacious as one would expect. The joys and guilt of still being alive merge through the dozen-ish musical numbers, all of them allowing the characters to momentarily express the deep feelings they perpetually repress. The Golden Age influences of Jacques Demy and Vincent Minnelli supply the bravura necessary to surpass the inherent limitation of a confined space. The camera swirls endlessly throughout the halls and rooms as the actors, supplemented by Marius De Vries and Josh Schmidt’s booming orchestrations, sing to the balcony, their confidence more important than their physical abilities. They sing in a literal echo chamber, with the widescreen cinematography capturing the monumental beauty of the enormous salt mine that encloses their bunker. The paintings that cover every inch of the wall have an unrealistic beauty to them, portraying the Earth as a heavenly paradise. They are the windows for this windowless prison, ironically romanticizing the world that these characters may or may not have had a heavy hand in destroying. Oppenheimer and co-writer Rasmus Heisterberg don’t spell it out for us, leaving little drops that our doom-scrolling mentalities can use to fill out the rest. All we know is that the world has gone to shit, the family left everyone behind, and they refuse to talk about it. That all changes once Girl (Moses Ingram) enters the picture. She’s the sole survivor of her family, sharing the horror stories of the surface that the family refuses to reckon with. Oppenheimer’s documentaries about the Indonesian genocide held up a mirror to their subjects, forcing them to listen to their evasive explanations. This isn’t much different, with the family lying to them, keeping them from doing anything more fulfilling than just surviving. This could have so easily been an “eat the rich” satire in the same vein as Triangle of Sadness . There are several opportunities where Oppenheimer could have taken a cheap shot at these characters, putting them through the wringer while having us point and laugh at them. This is an absurdist concept with humorous moments, but it’s also so deftly sincere that you can’t simply excuse it. These are rich characters, both emotionally and financially, with their inner delusions offering a complex lesson on how we handle the horrors that are right in front us. Our irony-pilled culture may not have the skills necessary to appreciate something so genuine as this, especially with a cast of such despicable characters (at least on paper). The cast all deliver stellar performances, especially MacKay, who remains emotionally stunted as he’s had never had any references for how to grow up. There’s beauty and horror in how he comes to realize him and the family’s place in all this, a microcosm of how the glitziness of the musical numbers and the seriousness of the messaging creates a long-lasting experience that will not be forgotten. 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

Captain America: Brave New World February 12, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen In an age where every new property in the neverending Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is either going to restore or destroy the franchise, Captain America: Brave New World is a semi-comforting reminder that it’s okay for a movie to be just fine and forgettable. The keyboard warriors on either side of the fence will find little ammunition here, ushering in a brief period where comic-book movies are met with a collective shrug rather than an onslaught of verbal skirmishes. This all might be faint praise for a mega studio blockbuster with a rumored budget of anywhere between $250-300 million, but the bar was never that high to begin with. It’s not like all those extra tens of millions were put to good use anyway. The cutting room floor of the editor’s suite might be worth more than several other studio blockbusters combined, the 118-minute final runtime here clearly being a patchwork of several rounds of reshoots and reedits. Luckily, the generic sets and CGI backdrops were always available, but not the high-quality VFX technicians to work their magic and make it all seem remotely believable. They're probably all busy putting in overtime on The Fantastic Four: First Steps anyway. For the one fan out there who has 2008’s The Incredible Hulk , The Falcon and the Winter Soldier , and Eternals high on their MCU rankings, Brave New World is the sequel they’ve been dreaming of. Audiences need to be well-versed in both the film and television fronts of the MCU to fully grasp what’s going on here. General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (previously played by the late William Hurt, now played by Harrison Ford) has become President Ross in one of “the most important elections in American history.” But unlike the outcome of our most recent real-life election, this president preaches togetherness amidst overcoming the horrors that have besieged the nation in the absence of the Avengers. His most important task is to unite the developed nations of the world in harnessing the potential of the Celestial Island, located in the Indian Ocean after the events of Eternals . But like all political plans, they got mucked up by intrigue and people working in the shadows. Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), the new Captain America and former Falcon, finds himself caught in the crosshairs of the conspiracy, which is headed by a returning character from The Incredible Hulk . But fret not any of you who don’t remember the specific details of a seventeen-year-old movie whose connection to the MCU is mostly just a trivia question, director Julius Onah and his four credited co-writers make sure to spell it all out in bold letters at every turn. Much of the dialogue is spent writing and erasing the whiteboard that is the film’s plot, which includes a copious amount of convenient newsreel interjections. It all coalesces into something that feels much more tailored for Disney+ rather than the big screen. Even if the character of Sam Wilson is small potatoes when compared to what’s been going on in the entire MCU, his personal dilemmas are interesting. The appeal of the icon that is Captain America lies in the fact that he is just an ordinary person who represents the best qualities of those who resist evil. Sure, he may have been injected with a super serum, but that’s nothing when compared to Hulk, Iron Man, and villains like Thanos and Ultron. The successes of Steve Rogers against all those disadvantages create a nearly impossible barrier for Sam to overcome. The bond between him and his new sidekick Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) is endearing as they both forge a new path together in a world that they’re not quite sure wants to embrace them. That sentiment goes double for Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), the forgotten Captain America from the Korean War who was betrayed by his government. The sum of these pieces isn’t as attractive as their individual values, making this more of a filler episode biding time until we get the next seismic shift in the MCU. Nuggets of what that will be are dropped here and there, giving us all just enough optimism to keep getting back on this ride. 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

Misericordia March 27, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Misericordia screened at the 2025 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival. Janus Films will release it in theaters on April 18th. If nothing else, Misericordia is about the dangers of being the hottest person in a small town, and that nothing good happens after 2:00 am. It all starts when Jérémie (Félix Kysyl), now in his mid-30s and living in Toulouse, returns to the village that he grew up in. Shot from the backseat of his car looking through the windshield, his arrival is marked by wandering stares by the locals standing on the street corners. He's here for the funeral of his former boss and supposed lover, the local baker who now leaves a void in the community. Left behind are the baker's widow Martine (Catherine Frot) and adult son Vincent (Jean-Baptiste Durand). The former is happy to see Jérémie in her time of mourning, the latter icy based on some implied fallout during the boys' youth. Jérémie's initially planned short stay quickly turns into multiple days, allowing for the polite indifference from Vincent and some of the other locals to erode and be replaced by festering rage. The exact nature of Jérémie's game is hard to define. Just like Claire Mathon's rain-soaked cinematography, writer/director Alain Guiraudie keeps us in the fog throughout much of the runtime. Jérémie doesn't seem to have much to return to in Toulouse, nor can he hope to gain much in this village. But that won't stop him from trying, with his greatest asset being his skill as a flirt. For as much as boiling anger seems to permeate through each scene, Guiraudie finds the humorous absurdity of all this backwardness. Everyone seems to simultaneously want to sleep with each other, the rotation also including Vincent's friend Walter (David Ayala) and the village priest Father Philippe (Jacques Develay). Something that Jérémie isn't good at is covering up a murder, which he commits against someone in the village. He plays a game of two lies and a truth with everyone, including the local police. The truth makes the lies seem a little more credible, although he always has the same look on his face as a little kid who sweeps all of his trash under the bed instead of throwing it out as his parents told him to. Guiraudie captures every side-eye glance and judgmental stare of the supporting cast as Jérémie continually tries to dig himself out of this mess. There isn't tension and suspense in the traditional form, mostly a curiosity about how this web will get even more tangled. The performances are all well-done and understated, keeping things on a glacially paced path. Things don't go as you would expect, nor do they resolve themselves in a clean fashion. At only 100 minutes, it's watchable and entertaining enough, although it perpetually stops just shy of being great. 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

Good Fortune October 12, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Ariana Grande sang that, “Whoever said money can't solve your problems must not have had enough money to solve 'em.” The world is increasingly becoming a place of the haves and have-nots. The rich keep getting richer, and the poor keep getting poorer. No amount of rolled-up sleeves and picking yourself up by the bootstraps can solve that inequity. That is, unless an angel comes down from heaven and allows you to switch lives with a rich person. Then you’d be able to leave behind the hustle and grind of your old, painful life and live out your days as someone who can literally do whatever they want and never ponder how much it costs. This is the central concept of Good Fortune , comedian/actor Aziz Ansari’s feature debut as both screenwriter and director. It will literally take an act of divine intervention to get his character, Arj, off the metaphorical hamster wheel that he’s been on ever since he joined the gig economy. He drives up and down Los Angeles, delivering food through the Foodster app, dealing with equally frustrated restaurant staff and ungrateful customers who never leave a tip. His car is also his home, and the local gym locker room is his bathroom. Arj enters into a It’s a Wonderful Life kind of deal with the angel Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) when he realizes that he has nothing left to live for. Gabriel is the guardian angel for texting and driving, offering people that sixth sense to alert them when they’re swerving out of their lane or a pedestrian is about to cross in front of them. It’s not showy work, especially when the other angels brag about all the adventures they’ve been on, inspiring mortals to see the error of their ways and cherish life. Seeing Arj as an opportunity to better both of their situations, Gabriel decides to teach him a lesson by showing him that money doesn’t buy happiness. So he switches Arj’s life with that of Jeff’s (Seth Rogen), a private equity tech billionaire who got his “humble” beginnings from a multi-million dollar investment by his parents. Contrary to George Bailey, Arj sees absolutely no downside to his new life. He never wants to go back, which is kind of a problem since he has to consent to that for this experiment to end. And who could blame him? Ansari gets a lot of laughs out of exposing the fallacy of the long-held beliefs that the poor only have themselves to blame and that it's selfish to think materialistically. Jeff was rich because he was born into it, and, despite all his bragging, there’s nothing he can do to rise back up to that level. The central trio all display their comedic chops, with Ansari really leaning on the Reeves’ memeified energy at every turn. His happy-go-lucky demeanor is the highest it's ever been, and his delivery has never been this stilted, something that the later John Wick movies embraced for all its campy glory. He discovers hamburgers and chicken nuggets for the first time, eventually working down to cigarettes and marijuana. For all its humor, none of this rings as insightful. Every talking point has been exhausted, and every experience has been felt. There’s a divide between this film strictly being a goofy comedy and a moralistic lesson on appreciating what you have. Everything resolves itself almost offensively too easily, not reflecting the trickiness of the situation it sets up. Keke Palmer plays Elena, who's trying to organize a union at the big-box hardware store she works at. Her role is to deliver speeches to Arj about seeing the silver lining to the struggle, as that’s what gives people their identity. But if I had to choose between my comedy not having a substantive narrative or not being funny, I’d definitely choose the former. I’d like not to have to choose, but such is the situation with Good Fortune . It’s ninety-eight minutes long, has plenty of jokes, and displays enough confidence from Ansari as a writer/director that I’m eagerly anticipating what he does next. For that, I’ll say a quick prayer of thanks. 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

Empire of Light September 12, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen Empire of Light had its Canadian Premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Searchlight Pictures will release it in theaters on December 09. With Empire of Light , Sam Mendes further proves that he’s one of the best directors working today. He also proves that he should abandon his newfound lust for writing his own scripts, as that should be left in more capable hands. It’s also hard to judge Mendes’ film on its own terms, as it comes at a time when filmmakers feel overwhelmingly compelled to tell their life stories through film. Just this year we have Steven Spielberg ( The Fabelmans ), Richard Linklater ( Apollo 10 1/2 ), Alejandro G. Iñárritu ( Bardo ), and James Gray ( Armageddon Time ) offering insights into one of, or both of, their child and adult lives. We also can’t forget Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast , Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza , and Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God making dents in last year’s Oscar race. And then there’s Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma , Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird … alright I think you get the idea. With all the direct competition in the past and the present, Empire of Light crumbles under the weight of expectations and comparisons. It’s nowhere near being classified as bad, just underwhelming and forgettable once you also factor in all the talent involved both in front and behind the camera. Whether they know it or not, the workers within the Empire Theater act as a sort of family. Roger Deakins’ lush cinematography (solidifying him and Mendes as the best working director/cinematographer pair) captures all the bells and whistles of this movie palace, which now stands on its last leg as the age of multiplexes rushes in. You can see how this place once was the entertainment capital of the coastal English town it resides in, with its staged screens and elaborate decorations. At the helm is the self-entitled owner, Donald (Colin Firth), who never has much time for the rest of the employees. Hilary (Olivia Colman) is the de facto manager, even though she’s never watched a film during her tenure. A new recruit (Michael Ward) shakes things up a bit, unlocking romantic feelings within Hilary and some unsavory attitudes toward race and class within the community. As with nearly all entries within this specific subgenre, Empire of Light explores the healing power within movies. Except, instead of purely emotional healing, the films playing within this cinema can also cure mental illnesses, which Hilary is afflicted with, and bigotry towards others. The messages within Mendes’ script, his first without a co-writer, are never connected as tightly as they should be, with several topical ideas floating around as loose fragments. If only he could have picked one because there are specific moments for each that are well-executed. But as a whole, they are less than the sum of their parts. The weakness on the page doesn’t serve the actors well, with Colman falling into a bit of overacting for her character’s outbursts. She and Ward lack the necessary chemistry to make their relationship believable, with it mostly feeling like Mendes put them together simply because they’re outsiders. Empire of Light exemplifies both the best and worst parts of cinema, in that it holds unbelievable power in certain moments and unbelievable artificiality in others. If Mendes goes back to solely directing his next feature (or at the very least co-writing with an esteemed partner), then the world will be in for an immense treat. 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 Father April 1, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen Move over Suspiria, The Conjuring , and Hereditary , there’s a new film that has claimed the title as the scariest movie of the past decade. But it’s not demons, witches, or serial killers that make this new movie scary. It’s something that has affected our loved ones and may affect us in the future: dementia. The Father is a triumphant directorial debut by Florian Zeller, who puts us within the deteriorating mental state of our main character, Anthony. We experience his confusion as if it were our own. But the film also takes on the perspective of the caretakers who are left helpless as they try to aid Anthony in making sense of a world he cannot recognize anymore. Zeller’s play, The Father , debuted in Paris in 2012 to rapturous reviews. Its success spurred an acclaimed Broadway run with Frank Langella winning a Tony award for his performance. Now Zeller, with the help of esteemed screenwriter Christopher Hampton, has taken his stage play to the screen. At the center of the film playing the character of Anthony is veteran actor Anthony Hopkins (Zeller was so adamant about getting Hopkins for the role that he renamed the character specifically for him). With a nearly sixty-year career in the rearview, including notable roles as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs and Richard Nixon in Oliver Stone’s aptly named Nixon , Hopkins’ performance here may be his very best. He is charismatic, fierce, and vulnerable, sometimes all at the same time. If not for Chadwick Boseman’s untimely death and larger-than-life performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom , Hopkins would be the undisputed favorite to win his second Oscar this year. The world we see is through Anthony’s eyes. Initially, his world is quiet and still, often filled with days listening to classical music in his luxurious London flat and taking walks in the nearby park. But after a while, things slowly start to come apart. He’s displacing items more regularly, days are getting harder to separate, and conversational details are getting lost in the shuffle. One day, his daughter, Anne (Olivia Colman), tells him she’s leaving London to go live in Paris with her new significant other. Feeling he’s being abandoned, Anthony is hurt by his daughter’s decision. But, the next morning, Anne is still in his flat and has no recollection of Paris. Maybe that conversation happened a long time ago or never happened at all. Maybe this isn’t Anthony’s flat—maybe it’s Anne’s and she’s taken him in to stay with her. Maybe she has a husband here named James (or is it Paul?) and she’s now being played by a different actress than before. Like a Charlie Kaufman or Christopher Nolan film, Zeller plays with time and setting to tell his story. Conversations are repeated several times over from different perspectives, adding another level to the complex task of discerning what is fact and what is fiction. Anthony’s physical surroundings seem to be rearranging at impossible speeds and the chronology of events is becoming increasingly muddled. Production designer Peter Francis and editor Yorgos Lamprinos deserve immense credit for their work here as their craftsmanship helps tell a complicated story. The confusion and frustration that Anthony feels are equally placed onto us, as we are never sure what is happening and what order it is happening in. It’s like watching a balloon being inflated and waiting for it to pop, yet it never does as your anxiety keeps building. It's a terrifying and heartbreaking process to watch as Anthony’s mood begins to darken. He never knows what is going to come next and what has just happened. He’s left in a perpetual state of fright and feels that everyone is out to get him. But those around him are equally as confused and scared as he is. Anne doesn’t know what to do with her father and is fighting a losing battle of keeping an optimistic look at things. Colman, a recent Oscar winner for her role in The Favourite , acts somewhat as our guide through this mess. Imogen Poots, Olivia Williams, Mark Gatiss, and Rufus Sewell all play well-casted supporting roles. Like Schindler’s List and Requiem for a Dream , The Father is a superb film that you will only want to watch once. Its subject matter may hit too close to home for some viewers or be an introduction for others. No matter your familiarity, the film’s take on dementia and the toll it places on everyone involved is so incredibly well done that it demands to be seen. 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 Marvels November 8, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Marvels comes to us suffering from a clear case of the “yes… buts.” It’s a rapidly progressive disease that’s been plaguing many MCU projects now that we’ve reached the middle age of this mega-franchise. Let’s run down all the places this disease is showing. Yes, the special effects look better than the unfinished slop within Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania … but they still somehow look worse than the majority of what's come before. Yes, the central trio of Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, and Iman Vellani share great chemistry together… but much of their time is spent delivering inanely convoluted exposition about why this movie needs to exist. Yes, the fight choreography is pretty creative when the heroes fully harness their powers… but it gets pretty choppy whenever the camera isn’t in a wide shot. Yes, the main villain has a semi-compelling justification for her actions… but that reasoning happens offscreen and her plan involves yet another skybeam. This list could fill the rest of this review… but that would be as interesting as having yet another debate over whether superhero fatigue is real or not (see what I did there?). I hope you aced your Kree and Skrull history exams because you’re going to need all your knowledge to understand the machinations of what’s happening here. I'm not up to date on current events (a symptom of not caring about the television shows), so there may be some tiny gaps in this retelling. But I doubt there are many people left that could fully comprehend and connect the dots anymore. There’s been a war between the Kree and Skrull that has left both sides in ruin: The Kree’s homeworld is desolate and the Skrull are discriminated refugees. The leader of the Kree, Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), has come upon a powerful bengal that gives her the strength of a god, more than enough to rally her armies and steal the natural resources of the neighboring planets. The uncovering of this bengal has created a wormhole in time and space, entangling the powers of Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris). This trio must overcome the learning curve and work together if they want to stop Dar-Benn and save the countless lives being affected by her reign. Talented indie director Nia DaCosta takes over from duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who always seemed out of their element in a $150+ million behemoth. DaCosta fares a little better at the helm, keeping things zippy as we move from one planet to another, some of which I would have liked to spend a little more time at. She does have the benefit of a warmly welcomed shortened runtime (105 minutes) and no need to tell a boilerplate origin story for any of these characters. Even with all those “character building” requirements out of the way, the character of Captain Marvel still remains blandly two-dimensional. She has the same curse as DC’s Superman: Too powerful to feel like any villain is a threat, which forces the writers (DaCosta, Megan McDonnell, Elissa Karasik) to create a potential universe-ending catastrophe, which has become so tiring at this point. Larson has a clear grasp on the smaller character moments, even overcoming some of the shoddy greenscreens that she’s forced to deliver them on. But her attempts at humorous quips and iconic lines feel forced, almost as if she’s still not comfortable fully embracing this persona. Someone who has welcomed her cape is Iman Vellani. She’s Peter Parker to Larson’s Tony Stark, a bright young hero who wants to do good in the world, but just doesn’t know what her place is. There are a few moments clearly inspired by her show, a necessary boost of youthful energy to lift the spirits of the more professional adults. Parris (reuniting with DaCosta after Candyman ) greatly benefits from the work she put into WandaVision , with this being a further fleshing out of her character. All that can be said about The Marvels is that it is passably fine. It’s not bad enough to be a catalyst in the downfall of the MCU, nor it is good enough to be its savior (not that one movie should bear that unfathomable struggle). It inoffensively slots in with the rest of the forgettable middle-of-the-pack entries, rarely to be talked about again. Mission accomplished, I guess? 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