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Tyler's Favorite Musicals November 21, 2024 By: Tyler Banark When done right, musicals have a beauty to them that can't be beat. This niche interest was a pillar of my upbringing, as I was a theater kid heavily involved in choir before I was a cinephile. Luckily, these two passions often collided. With Wicked and The End singing their way into theater very soon, I figured now would be a great time to sit down and reflect on the movie musicals that have hit the best notes. 10. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) As the original film adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic book, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory , sees the enigmatic Gene Wilder step into the shoes (and hat) of the titular chocolatier. Although his signature introduction immediately established his remarkability, what sealed the deal was his profound performance of "Pure Imagination." Other numbers, such as "The Candy Man," "Cheer Up Charlie," "I’ve Got a Golden Ticket," and the Oompa Loompa songs stand out. Visually, the film captures the fantastical essence of Roald Dahl’s original story with vibrant set designs, imaginative visuals, and various candy-themed wonders that make the factory come alive. 9. All That Jazz (1979) All That Jazz masterfully mixes autobiographical storytelling, intense choreography, and dark themes into a mesmerizingly raw visual style. Director Bob Fosse's exploration of his own life dives into the highs and lows of a driven artist struggling with obsession, addiction, and mortality. Roy Scheider is charismatic and haunting, precisely capturing the character's relentless ambition and self-destructive tendencies. The thrilling and sophisticated musical numbers embody Fosse’s signature style: sharp, sensual, and complex. 8. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) With entirely sung dialogue, a radiant color palette, and emotionally resonant storytelling, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg marked a redefinition of the movie musical. Directed by Jacques Demy, the film tells the bittersweet love story of Geneviève and Guy, two young lovers whose romance is tested by separation and circumstance. The perpetual singing creates an operatic feel that intensifies the characters' emotions. The film’s vibrant visuals—featuring bold, pastel-colored sets and costumes—heighten the dreamlike quality of the story, making each frame feel like a painting. And Michel Legrand’s beautiful, sad score, especially the recurring theme "I Will Wait for You," perfectly captures the yearning and heartbreak at the story's core. 7. Hamilton (2020) I know, I know. If animated films didn't qualify for this list, then why did a Broadway recording find a spot? Until we get a proper film version, I believe this Disney+ special was a perfect way to bring Lin-Manuel Miranda’s groundbreaking musical to the masses. It simply can't be ignored, with the original cast (Leslie Odom Jr, Phillipa Soo, Daveed Diggs, Renee Elise Goldsberry, etc.) bringing a charm that translates Miranda'a material to life. As for the music, many of Miranda’s numbers strike a chord, but none do as well as "Wait For It", "Burn," "You’ll Be Back", and "The Room Where It Happens." Once the movie begins, the adrenaline Hamilton brings is non-stop. 6. Sing Street (2016) The best rendition of John Carney's musically-infused oeuvre remains 2016's Sing Street , a coming-of-age drama about a group of prep school boys that start a rebellious band in 1985 Dublin. It’s a soulful movie capitalizing on themes of teen angst, defying expectations, and finding love in the unlikeliest places seen through the leads, played tremendously by Ferdia Walsh-Peelo and Lucy Boynton. Many 80s pop-rock tunes run amuck, with standouts including numbers like "The Riddle of the Model," "Brown Shoes," and the movie’s most famous song: "Drive It Like You Stole It." None of Carney's other works have me wanting to go back and listen to the film’s music. When a movie does that, that’s how you know it’s unique. 5. Hairspray (2007) The 2007 film adaptation of Hairspray is a delightful musical that combines infectious energy, memorable songs, and a heartfelt message about acceptance and social change. The vibrant choreography and bold costumes perfectly capture the era's spirit while underscoring the film’s themes of individuality and equality. The cast, including Nikki Blonsky, John Travolta, Queen Latifah, and Zac Efron, bring a contagious enthusiasm to their roles, balancing humor with the film’s more profound messages (did anyone know this movie got a SAG nod for Best Ensemble?). 4. Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021) Tick, Tick... Boom! is a heartfelt movie musical that captures the raw intensity and vulnerability of an artist on the brink. Andrew Garfield’s career-best performance as Jonathan Larson is electric, bringing depth, passion, and relatability to a character driven by his creative ambition and haunted by the fear of time running out. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s direction, paired with Larson’s poignant music, brings the world of aspiring artists vividly to life, blending humor, warmth, and emotional gravity. The musical numbers are creatively staged, merging realistic and surreal elements to illustrate Jon’s inner turmoil and artistic vision, with "30/90" and "Therapy" being the standouts. 3. West Side Story (1961 & 2021) Both versions of West Side Story care cinematic triumphs in their own right, bringing a unique interpretation to a timeless story. The 1961 film, directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, set a high standard for musical adaptations with its electrifying choreography, striking visuals, and unforgettable score by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer bring passion to Maria and Tony, while Rita Moreno’s portrayal of Anita earned her an Oscar for her passionate, layered performance. Steven Spielberg's 2021 reimagining of the original stage show infused greater cultural authenticity and modern sensibilities. Newcomer Rachel Zegler brought a fresh vulnerability as Maria, while David Alvarez’s Bernardo and Mike Faist’s Riff stole the show. Tony Kushner’s adapted script offered deeper character development and context, making the stakes feel higher and the tragic romance even more compelling. 2. Singin' in the Rain (1952) Singin’ in the Rain is a quintessential movie musical that remains a timeless masterpiece thanks to its infectious charm, dazzling performances, and brilliant fusion of humor, music, and dance. Co-director and star Gene Kelly delivers an iconic performance as Don Lockwood, combining charisma and extraordinary dance skills, most notably in the legendary title number, where his joyful routine in the rain captures the pure magic of the musical genre. Debbie Reynolds shines as the plucky Kathy Selden, while Donald O’Connor steals scenes with his hilarious physical comedy. The vibrant technicolor cinematography and timeless songs like "Good Morning" and the "Broadway Melody" sequence ensure that every frame is a visual and auditory delight. Beyond its entertainment value, Singin’ in the Rain is also a love letter to the Golden Age of Hollywood, blending satire and celebration in a way that continues to resonate with audiences across generations. 1. La La Land (2016) La La Land is the greatest movie musical because it redefines the genre with a perfect blend of nostalgia, innovation, and emotional depth. Writer/director Damien Chazelle masterfully weaves a contemporary narrative with golden-age Hollywood aesthetics, creating a cinematic experience that feels both timeless and fresh. Justin Hurwitz’s Oscar-winning score and the heartfelt lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul infuse every scene with a sense of wonder and yearning. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling deliver career-defining performances, bringing authenticity and charm to their roles while navigating the bittersweet tension between love and ambition. But above all else, what sets La La Land apart is its willingness to embrace the imperfect and bittersweet nature of dreams and relationships. The bold, bittersweet ending—a “what if” montage of the life Mia and Sebastian might have had—cements the film’s status as a poignant exploration of sacrifice and the pursuit of art. La La Land resonates universally by celebrating the joy and pain of following one’s dreams, ensuring its place as a standout in the musical genre and a cinematic achievement for the ages. You can follow Tyler and hear more of his thoughts on Twitter , Instagram , and Letterboxd . More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Talk to Me July 26, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen The horror genre has been experiencing a small renaissance as of late, with more than a handful of fresh-faced directors announcing themselves to the world through the art of the scare. Robert Eggers ( The Witch ), Jordan Peele ( Get Out ), Ari Aster ( Hereditary ), Jennifer Kent ( The Babadook ), and Julia Ducournau ( Raw ) are just a few that have risen to the top of the game in the last few years. To use a term that has become a meme at this point: They elevated a genre that has historically been disrespected. Now with the pandemic forever shifting the theatrical landscape, it seems that horror movies are the only things that are guaranteed to put butts in seats. Add in the rise of technology, and it’s never been easier to enter into the business. Australian YouTube sensations Danny and Michael Philippou, a.k.a RackaRacka , have done just that with Talk to Me , an exceedingly well-crafted, albeit slightly shallow, debut feature. A drug is storming through the streets of Australia, hooking in teens with unprecedented potency. It’s not heroin, cocaine, or even some other narcotic you’ve ever heard of. It’s actually a sick game where the contestant holds onto a ceramic scrawled with illegible writing. Uttering the words “talk to me” conjures up a dead spirit that can only be seen by the person touching the hand. An even greater high can be achieved by saying “I let you in,” which allows the spirit to take control of the person’s body. But be warned: Holding the hand for more than ninety seconds will allow the spirit to remain in the host forever, essentially rendering them a puppet of the undead. Mia (Sophie Wilde) is a teenager riddled with guilt and trauma from the semi-recent unexplained suicide of her mother. She’s become the sad sack of her class, a status she would like to turn around. The best way to do that is to get in with the cool kids, who are all about the hand. Mia quickly becomes addicted to the feeling of dissociating from this mortal world. “I don’t feel alone anymore” is her foolproof excuse to her protective friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen), who feels like this thing is snowballing into dangerous territory. Jade is absolutely right, as like any regular drug, the good times eventually fade out and the darkness begins to take over, only this time in the form of unholy entities wreaking havoc on your body and soul. There’s a social undercurrent relating to young people’s unquenchable thrift to become viral sensations throughout much of the horror. An exciting opening tracking shot sees one of the victims of the hand executing the wishes of the damned, with a crowd of teens recording the whole thing. Earning tens of millions of views through their YouTube channel, the Philippou brothers are adept at commenting on seeking online attention. They’re not as adept at handling the topics of grief and loss, however, as Mia’s relationship with her deceased mother and distraught single father never feels more than anything we haven’t seen in several other “smart” horror movies. And while it is a little refreshing to have a movie with a simple premise and rules, there is a desire for more information to be supplied regarding the perpetrators. The craftsmanship on display is quite remarkable. When people talk about the theatrical experience, they mostly mention the size of the screen and how it adds unparalleled scale to already mammoth productions like Oppenheimer and Avatar: The Way of Water . But the thing that theaters do best is suppress your senses, keeping you locked to the moment, and focusing only on what’s in front of you. Talk to Me will surely not play as well at home, where the bone-crunching sound design and crisp cinematography by Aaron McLisky won’t be able to take over ears and eyes to its full effect. The reaction from you and the audience during the wince-inducing moments is what keeps Talk to Me alive, pushing it to be a cut above the rest of the pack. The Philippous seem to be fast learners when it comes to filmmaking, and I’m excited to see what the future holds in store for them. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 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 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Die My Love November 4, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Die My Love is a film that made me angry. Perhaps it’s what director Lynne Ramsay wanted me to feel, a connection to the spiraling headspace of its protagonist, Grace (Jennifer Lawrence. She seems to be suffering from a bout of postpartum depression, a trendy topic among the motherhood subgenre that also includes recent films like Tully, A Mouthful of Air , and Baby Ruby . Die My Love would have you believe that postpartum depression involves walking around the house with a knife or a shotgun, having an uncontrollable urge to kill your annoying dog, and violently bashing your head through every pane of glass you come across. None of it seems to be grounded in reality, mostly a showcase for its lead star to cut loose and be praised with adjectives like “raw” and “fearless.” I’d prefer to label it as self-indulgent, overwrought, and just plain bad. Ramsay drops her two leads in the middle of the Montana wilderness. Grace and her partner Jackson (Robert Pattinson) have inherited the farmhouse of his recently deceased uncle, a remote paradise for them to cut loose. And, boy, do they ever. Sex looks and sounds like two animals fighting, the pair writhing around on the floor, scratching and biting. Music is constantly blaring, the floorboards chip and squeak as they’re jumped on without a care in the world. What breaks up this hedonistic cycle is the introduction of a third wheel: their newborn son. Responsibility isn’t exactly a word they’re looking for at a time like this, which makes its forced placement drive a wedge between their relationship and Grace’s connection to reality. “I’m stuck between wanting to do something and not wanting to do anything,” is an explanation she blankly offers to a nosy party guest. Ramsay isn’t a filmmaker interested in straightforward methods of communication. Words are often replaced by images, jarringly photographed by Seamus McGarvey and stitched together by Toni Froschhammer. Everyone is lost in their own little world, illustrated through ultra-shallow focus, the background a swirling blur. Everything feels jagged, with danger lurking in every piece of hellish soundscape and dingy production design. On their own, each of these facets is serviceable, albeit a bit disappointing considering the talent. Together, spearheaded by Ramsay’s vision, they’re incredibly off-putting and obvious. In attempting to capture the inexplicability of Grace’s state of mind, a bright, neon sign is brandished in the corner of every frame, perpetually telling us exactly what we’re supposed to feel. That kind of shagginess leaves its star out high and dry. Lawrence’s performance is exactly that: a performance. She’s walking around all fours in the fields, licking windows, barking at the dog, and constantly complaining about not having sex with Jackson. It’s all so painfully “edgy,” seemingly stemming from a constant need to prove something, as if making faces and flailing around is what it means to be a “serious actor.” It beats me to assume what needs to be proved, as Lawrence has more than solidified her chops as a movie star and actor. Hell, she already played a stand-in mother married to a shitty man in a remote house in Mother! , a film that matched its madness with inquisitive substance. While Lawrence gets plenty (too much) to do, the rest of the cast just kind of stand around and watch. Pattinson’s character is woefully underdeveloped and uninteresting, the prototypical movie husband who is unwilling to communicate when the going gets tough. Sissy Spacek plays his mother, Pam, who is also dealing with a sudden change after the death of her husband Harry (Nick Nolte). The veteran acting pair are the lighthouses in this densely fogged-up narrative, with the ship repeatedly crashing without ever reaching its destination. It’s best not to explain LaKeith Stanfield’s presence as a wordless seducer that certainly should have been fully excised from all aspects of the project. This is the kind of arthouse film that gives the genre a bad wrap, a movie destined to receive an F CinemaScore and be another small catalyst in the rapid decline of risk-taking from the average moviegoer. If this is the kind of stuff that we’re risking our hard-earned dollars and time for, then what’s the point? The point is to be given an experience you’ll never forget, enlightened in ways that other art forms can’t quite achieve. Granted, that is true about Die My Love , just in the exact opposite ways everyone hoped for. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

It Was Just an Accident October 28, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Rashid (Ebrahim Azizi) drives home late at night with his wife and young daughter. Due to the open landscape of Iran and the dark conditions, he hits a wild dog. This causes his car to break down a few miles later. Luckily, there’s a mechanic not far down the road who’s still open at this time of night and agrees to fix his car. Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) is one of the mechanics, and, in the void of darkness and silence, hears the limping squeak of Rashid’s prosthetic leg. It’s a sound that sends a shiver down his spine, as it exactly replicates what he heard as he was being tortured by the infamous guard known as Peg Leg over the months he was detained for protesting. Despite its title and initial set of circumstances being born out of coincidence, the creation of It Was Just an Accident is purely intentional. Writer/director Jafar Panahi has been a fervently political filmmaker for over thirty years. Despite securing a historic bevy of awards at the Cannes Film Festival for The White Balloon , he was forbidden from promoting the film in the United States on government orders. It would mark the only film of his career to screen in his home country, the rest all being banned on the grounds of anti-government propaganda. He was arrested in 2010 on that charge, imprisoned in confinement for months until he was released on house arrest. A string of docufiction hybrids was born out of this restriction, including the aptly titled This Is Not a Film , which had to be smuggled out of the country on a USB stick hidden in a cake. Panahi was arrested again in 2022, the third director to be detained in a week, along with Mohammad Rasoulof ( The Seed of the Sacred Fig ) and Mostafa Aleahmad. His eventual release was spurred several months later by a hunger strike. Like his previous decade of output, It Was Just an Accident was shot in secret without any permits from the government. But unlike those other films, this is a work of scorching anger, with its unwavering sights set directly on his former captors. This is a thriller in the purest sense of the word, where the suspense of the story stretches far beyond the borders of the silver screen. Determining that a moment like this will never come again, Vahid kidnaps Rashid and locks him in a crate in the back of his van. Rashid denies all claims over his identity, which creates just enough doubt for Vashid to seek out second opinions from his fellow inmates. They are Shiva, a wedding photographer; Goli, the bride at one of Shiva’s shoots; and Hamid, a chaos agent with the most vivid memory of his torturer. Like a jury, all of them must come together to verify the identity beyond a reasonable doubt. Panahi lets these events unfold in a natural progression, never overtly telling us what’s going on or why it’s happening. It’s a slow build-up of tension, with the weight of the filmmaking and performances illustrating all that we need to know about the importance of this moment. Of course, there’s a thick layer of irony in the fact that this review, along with all other press coverage of the movie, eliminates much of those feelings by revealing the synopsis. But Panahi is always one step ahead, imbuing the proceedings with a healthy slice of Coen-esque dark comedy. Vahid is not a trained soldier who can simply kidnap a person, so he just runs Rashid over with his car and stuffs him in the crate, all in broad daylight. Two police officers who notice the group are happy to look the other way once someone taps their debit card on the payment terminal. And no one besides Hamid is fully convinced of the perpetrator’s identity, especially when considering the fact that his wife is about to go to the hospital to give birth. Do they have the heart to kill someone so close to their child’s birth? Like Heath Ledger’s Joker, they’re dogs chasing cars, not knowing what to do once they finally catch it. The seriousness of this very real situation is never lost sight of, as many of the practical and ethical questions largely remain unanswered. An absolutely gripping long take near the end solidifies the rage that is not only felt by the characters but also by the millions of people who are entombed within this system of oppression. At the conclusion of the standing ovation to the film’s premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the coveted Palme d’Or, Panahi expressed the guilt that he felt for being so lucky to receive acclaim and joy, all while many of his contemporaries are still under persecution. It takes faith to move mountains, and It Was Just an Accident might be the biggest piece of evidence for why we should still hold on to faith, believing that better times are on the horizon. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Murder Mystery 2 March 31, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen When I’m watching a new movie, I always bring a small notebook and jot down observations and things I want to mention in my final written review. Usually, I fill up about a page or two with bullet points, most of them almost illegible due to me having to write them in the dark while still trying to look at the screen so as not to miss anything potentially important. But for Murder Mystery 2 , now available on Netflix, I wrote only two lines: “Happy Madison logo usually signals a movie being cheap and artificial” and “bad jet ski greenscreen.” Both of those observations were made within the first five minutes, and neither of them required much critical thinking on my part. For the next eighty minutes, I just sat in my chair and watched the movie with as much attentiveness as a student during the last class before Spring Break. There were definitely things that happened in the movie: people got killed, Sandler and Aniston did their usual married couple banter, and the mystery was resolved through some sort of twist ending. But for the life of me, I can’t recount anything else more specific than that. I was neither fully entertained nor bored, neither liking nor hating what I was watching and probably was somewhere between asleep and awake during long stretches. That’s the Netflix national anthem at this point, with 90% of their content just being the air that fills the room, with the other 10% that is worth your time ( The Irishman , The Meyerowitz Stories, Private Life ) being suffocated into relative obscurity. This is also why, in an act of full transparency, the information provided in the screener email is doing most of the heavy lifting in this next paragraph that summarizes the setup for the main plot. Nick and Audrey Spitz are now full-time detectives after solving the case in the first movie (I’ll give $100 to anyone that can remember how that movie ended). They’re about as competent as you would think, which is why they gleefully accept an invitation from The Maharajah (also from the first movie) to his wedding on a luxurious island. But the circumstances that seem too good to be true turn out to be exactly that, as the couple finds themselves framed for murder. They must now clear their name once again and unveil the real killer (or killers). I feel like I’m not properly doing my job as a critic by keeping this review so brief, but there’s really not much else to say. If you’re the type of person who wants to watch something like this, then you’re not likely to be stopped by a bad review. And if you’re someone who isn’t immediately clamoring to see this, then there won’t be any good reviews to convince you otherwise. It doesn’t matter which bucket you fall into, as no one is going to be thinking about (let alone talking about) this movie by Monday. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Accountant 2 April 23, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen As a real-life accountant, there’s a guilty sense of pleasure I get seeing someone with my job title kick ass and take names. It must be what every police officer feels when they watch Die Hard , or a doctor whenever reruns of ER and Grey’s Anatomy appear on television, or archaeologists with the Indiana Jones franchise. Then again, all those films could be considered some of the least realistic depictions of said jobs, becoming a burden on the real professionals who have to endure countless questions about the practicality of what the on-screen protagonists do. Luckily for me, nobody went into the 2016 film The Accountant thinking it was going to be an honest reenactment of the day-to-day lives of your friendly bean counters. Never mind all the guns and talk about drug cartels, I can already tell you that the total absence of Microsoft Excel is an immediate red flag for believability. In a move that made me quite displeased but is admittedly the wiser business decision, The Accountant 2 (titled The Accountant² within the film for no logical reason) features just about the bare minimum of actual financial work. Mentions of 1040 tax returns, fraudulent claims of depreciation, and EBITDA are the only buzzwords handed out here. The moniker of “The Accountant” has as much to do with bookkeeping for our returning protagonist of Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) as real bats have to do with Batman, or wolverines with The Wolverine. Considering Affleck’s previous stint as The Caped Crusader within Zack Snyder’s DC films, there’s a comfortable familiarity to seeing him again don superhuman abilities within the shell of a mortal man. Previously depicted as a sort of antihero, returning screenwriter Bill Dubuque and director Gavin O’Connor have morphed Christian into a full-blown crime fighter. Mentions of his criminal past are kept to a vague minimum, and the mystery he sets out to solve here is of the murder of Ray King (J.K. Simmons, who, at seventy years old, finally gets the action setpiece that his exceptional physicality deserves), the federal treasury agent who was once on Christian’s tail. Ray’s death unveils a spider’s web of drug cartel dealings, human trafficking, and several illegal activities surrounding our southern national border. The plot is borderline incoherent for much of the runtime. Worse, it’s horribly uninteresting once everything starts clicking into place. The stakes eventually become so high that they become instantaneously weightless, the villains' threats so heinous that there’s no way they would ever be executed in a studio blockbuster. Dubuque doesn’t seem to care all that much about that, instead dedicating more time to Christian’s antics away from the criminal underworld, such as rigging a speed dating system (complete with comedic slideshow transitions!) and reconnecting with his equally violent brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal). Leaning on the chemistry of Affleck and Bernthal is this film’s saving grace on several occasions. Their comedic banter is reliable, and even a few touching moments of reconciliation are put in for good measure. O’Connor struggles to merge the clashing tones, creating a hilarious whiplash effect between a scene where Christian gets a girl's number at a line dancing bar, only for the next scene to mention human trafficking of children and that a person’s attempted murder is why they have superhuman cognitive abilities. There’s also a team of similarly skilled autistic children who provide intelligence to Christian from afar, which makes them fully complicit for each of the dozens of corpses that are stacked up. The ludicrousness of this plot point still has me questioning if I should take offense to it or not. Despite its ho-hum competence, the original The Accountant packed a semi-interesting exploration of a morally grey protagonist who hides behind a black-and-white profession. In the act of making the sequel as fun as possible, those edges have been severely sanded down. Sure, there’s more personality than before, but not a sense of a unique identity. In an effort to please everyone, the creators have blocked all potential for someone to find something special here. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm November 5, 2020 By: Button Hunter Friesen Back in 2006, Sacha Baron Cohen shocked the world with his hilarious mockumentary called Borat . Playing the titular fake news reporter from Kazakhstan, Cohen toured America interviewing people from all walks of life. Through the character of Borat, Cohen showed Americans what they truly look like to the outside world: a bunch of overconfident and arrogant snobs that are too dumb to know how dumb they are. The film was an enormous success critically and commercially, which fueled rumors of a sequel for over a decade. Now in 2020, Cohen is back as Borat Sagdiyev. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm or if you want to go by the official title Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan , picks up where the last one left off. Borat has just been released from the Kazakh gulags and is being sent back to America. Once there, he will deliver a special gift (it’s best I don’t tell you what it is) to Michael Pence to regain America’s trust and loyalty towards Kazakhstan. What I just described to you is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the weirdness within this “moviefilm”. Borat’s mission is also just a shameless excuse for the character to return to America to do what he does best. But instead of being joined by his producer Azamat like in the first film, Borat is accompanied by his daughter Tutar, who knows next to nothing of the world outside her village and is accustomed to being told that women are not smart enough to read, have a job, or drive a car. This is all played for laughs, but it also does mock the seemingly backward gender norms found in parts of the world. Similar to Borat in the first movie, Tutar’s visit to the home of the brave will be quite the culture shock. Once there, Borat is quickly recognized by everyday citizens. Knowing that being an instantly recognizable star will jeopardize his mission, he must don an assortment of disguises as he makes his way across the states. He makes stops at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an anti masker rally, and even catches Rudy Guliani doing some questionable acts, for which he has had to defend in the previous weeks. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is a lot like the leftovers you take home after a good restaurant meal. It’s still good, but it’s not as good as it was before and the only thing you can think about while eating it is how much you enjoyed the first meal. Most of the “pranks” that Cohen pulls off as Borat seem to be much more scripted in this go around. Much of the fun of the first film came from the loose and improvised feel. This sequel is much more calculated in what it is trying to say and how it goes about doing it. This feeling of been-there-done-that isn’t completely Cohen’s fault. Unlike back in 2006, Americans have finally started to come around to the idea that we aren’t so special after all. Maybe it’s because of who we have (or had, depending on when this review is published in relation to the election) in the oval office or the idiotic way we are handling the pandemic. 2020 Americans don’t need another reminder that this country kind of sucks. We see it in our news feeds every day as we try to navigate the broken social ladder. Despite being unneeded on a story level, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is a needed reminder of just how talented Sacha Baron Cohen is as he does what he was put on this world to do. This is his brand of comedy that no one comes close to competing in. Whether he’s dressed as Borat, a southern trucker, an extremely antisemitic portrayal of a Jew, or Donald Trump himself, Cohen seamlessly slips into character and has you fooled instantaneously. However, the MVP of this movie is not Cohen, but Maria Bakalova, who plays Tutar. Bakalova follows the same trajectory as Cohen did in the first movie as she expertly pulls off the naivety of a sheltered girl in a lawless land. She also carries the emotional arc of the story as her relationship with her father flourishes with each subsequent hijink. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is a perverse and vulgar film that holds a mirror up to America. While the original was fresh and inventive, this follow-up is just more of the same with less luster. But, far worse movies have gotten far worse sequels, so we should count ourselves lucky that this sequel is redeemed by the comic genius of Sacha Baron Cohen and Maria Bakalova. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Sonic the Hedgehog February 20, 2020 By: Button Hunter Friesen It’s been almost a year now since we were exposed to the horror that came with the first trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog . The blue furball we loved as a kid was turned into a monster with human teeth, small eyes, and freakishly long legs. After the overwhelmingly negative reactions, Paramount Pictures announced they would be delaying the movie and taking time to redesign Sonic to better fit his classic video game look. Now in February 2020, Sonic the Hedgehog has been released with improved visual effects. The story takes place in the small town of Green Hills, Montana. Sonic is living his best life there as he causes mischief for the residents and partakes in other fun activities. On one night, Sonic’s actions get the better of him and he attracts the attention of the US Government, who hire the insane Dr. Robotnik to track him down. Needing to go on the run, Sonic recruits the help of local police officer Tom Wachowski. The two set out on the road, getting into hijinks along the way. Directed by Jeff Fowler, Sonic the Hedgehog doesn’t have enough originality to warrant its existence as a movie. The structure of the story is eerily similar to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial as an alien creature gets stuck on our planet and must rely on an unassuming human to help him return to his homeworld. The only difference here is that after the initial setup, the story turns into a bit of a buddy road trip movie. But the road trip structure here also apes other computer-effect character movies such as Looney Tunes: Back in Action and The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle . Fowler does impress slightly as two moments pop up that make for great fun, which are the moments where time slows down to account for Sonic’s super speed. It’s a nice comedic bit that shows off Sonic’s powers, even if it plays almost shot for shot the same as Quicksilver’s scene from X-Men: Days of Future Past . It’s also important to point out that the decision by Paramount to redesign Sonic turned out to be the right move. The new look is very well done and is more appropriate to the character. While also being a ripoff of E.T. the script for Sonic the Hedgehog also takes a few too many ideas from the playbook of other kids' movies, most notably the self-referential humor found in The Lego Movie and its sequel. But while the Lego movies were able to catch lightning in a bottle, Sonic's attempt is impeded by a less-than-talented committee of writers. The producers must have needed money to fund the character redesign as it seems they sold off some of their jokes to corporate entities. Many recurring gags surround Amazon, Uber, Zillow, and Olive Garden. None of these jokes land and only get more shallow as the movie goes on. There are also quite a few pandering pop-culture references to the likes of Keanu Reeves and the floss dance. Yes, Sonic flosses in this movie not once, but on two separate occasions. Ben Schwartz voices the titular blue speedster. For better and worse, Schwartz is the definitive voice of the character, supplying a sly, sarcastic tone. He can be quite grating at times, but it’s also not entirely his fault due to the poor material he’s been given. James Marsden as Tom Wachowski fares the best out of the human characters. His performance solely consists of him reacting to his furry sidekick’s antics. You can tell that Marsden isn’t interacting with a real object, making for some awkward scenes. Lastly, generational talent Jim Carrey plays the oddball villain, Dr. Robotnik. Carrey falls into his usual schtick of thinking that high energy equals great comedy. He’s begging you to like him as he bounces around in a similar fashion to his earlier roles. Sonic the Hedgehog is about as bad as I was led to believe, but not as bad as I feared it would be. What’s ironic is that the best part of the movie, the visual effects, used to be the worst part. If only Paramount had decided to redesign the whole movie and turn it into something worthwhile instead of this needless cash grab. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Malignant September 13, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen When talking about the most popular and influential horror films of this century, James Wan’s name pops up on more than one occasion. Spawning the Saw franchise in 2004, Wan illustrated his knack for scary thrills doused in buckets of blood. He would tone things down to a PG-13 rating for the first two installments in the Conjuring and Insidious series. He made sure to prove that he wasn’t just a one-trick pony as he lent his kineticism to Furious 7 and Aquaman (and the upcoming sequel). But after helming several $200 million productions, Wan has gone back to his horror roots with Malignant . Madison is pregnant and living with her abusive husband - the kind that won't hesitate to bash her head against the wall when he doesn’t get his way. One night, the couple’s house is broken into, leading to the gruesome deaths of the husband and Madison’s unborn child. Her trauma doesn’t end there as she begins to have vivid nightmares of the killer striking down other prey. It becomes clear that these nightmares are visions, as Madison is paranormally linked to the masked killer, as they share a connection dating back to their childhood in a now-abandoned research hospital. In a race against time, Madison must piece together the past and convince the skeptical police before more lives are taken. When announcing production on this film, Wan claimed that it would be nothing like his previous horror films, which relied on jump-scares and the occult to convey his version of dread. Instead, Malignant would take influence from the Italian horror sub-genre of “Giallo”, which reached its heights in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with films such as Dario Argento’s Suspiria (delightfully remade by Luca Guadagnino in 2018) and Mario Bava’s Blood and Black Lace . These films were defined by their mystery elements, intense color palettes, disregard for logic, and sickening violence. Wan commits fully to his Giallo promise, delivering grisly murders and an outrageous plot that must be seen to believe. Wan’s camera never lingers for more than a moment. Rather, it whips and pans as we are right with Madison witnessing these unseemly events. It keeps the plot moving at a steady pace, with the last act picking up momentum towards a bloody conclusion. While he made good on his Giallo promise, Wan doesn’t fully commit to breaking away from his overproduced previous features. The earlier sequences of Malignant , particularly the home invasion, are carbon copies of Wan’s earlier work as characters shuffle around a dimly lit house as they hear creepy noises, only for it to conclude with a jump scare. This modern trope builds a wall between the film’s two halves, with the former stuck in the present and the latter embellishing the past. The acting and writing in Malignant fall way down in the priority list, with Wan’s direction overtaking all. There is no development for any of these characters, except for a pointless lab technician who has the hots for the handsome detective. Given not much to do besides delivering exposition and crafting some semblance of humanity, the actors are free of blame for their faults. But what the script lacks in quality, it makes up for in originality as it tells a ludicrously bonkers story that has been sorely lacking from this genre. There is a cult-classic feeling to this story, one that may find more appreciation down the road. James Wan’s Malignant is a melding of modern horror tropes with classic horror lunacy. There’s enough blood and guts to make even the most seasoned horror veteran wince, and a shockingly outlandish story to pave over the film’s other faults. You may not fully enjoy the film, but you will never forget the experience of watching it. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 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 that 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. 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 your 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. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Legend of Ochi April 21, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Legend of Ochi screened at the 2025 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival. A24 will release it in theaters on April 25th. Before the (digital) film reel started spooling to unveil the story of The Legend of Ochi , first-time feature writer/director Isaiah Saxon gave a brief introduction via a video message set in what could only be assumed as one of the Romanian filming locations. Speaking in a comedically hushed tone, the filmmaker stated that he made this film for children and that their intelligence rarely gets the respect it deserves from Hollywood. Maybe it was just because I had seen A Minecraft Movie a week prior and had my brain fried from the TikTok toilet humor, or that the fact that the largely adult-oriented distributor A24 is finally breaking into the realm of children’s entertainment, but Saxon’s words really resonated with me. Here is a film for children that is explicitly meant to be engaged with on both an emotional and intellectual level, and not just be a vessel for memes and merchandise. Of course, I say all this and can immediately see that A24 has littered their online shop with Ochi swag and ironically posted about it everywhere on social media. I guess we can’t always get everything that we want… Unfortunately, it’s way more interesting to think and discuss what The Legend of Ochi represents than it is to talk about what happens between minute one and minute ninety-six. For as much as Saxon finds himself clearly inspired by the darker children’s films of yesteryear like The NeverEnding Story , Labyrinth , and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial , there’s never a moment where the weight of comparison doesn’t fully crush this lush tale. Take for instance the premise of the young girl Yuri (Helena Zengel) growing up in a remote village in the Carpathian mountains. She has a strained relationship with her father Maxim (Willem Dafoe) and has been told her whole life that the local wildlife that goes by the name of the Ochi only live to feed on the flesh of the living. All day and night Maxim marches up the mountains rabble-rousing and training the local youth to hunt down these creatures. Being that she has a general distrust towards her dad, Yuri doesn’t buy into the jingoistic fervor. And it also only takes one non-gun-related meeting with these creatures to convince her that they aren’t as dangerous as she’s been told. One of the babies got caught in a trap and has been separated from its family, a feeling that Yuri figuratively feels every day. That connection spurs them on a quest of reunification and self-discovery. In this momentary void between the television hiatus of The Mandalorian and its 2026 film continuation, the titular baby Ochi has kicked Baby Yoda / Grogu off its perch at the top of the animatronic cuteness pedestal. Fully operated by hand, this monkey-ish puppet features solid black eyes, sharp teeth and claws, and a lovely bright orange coat of fur. When seen from a distance in the dead of night, one could almost forgive Maxim for duping himself into thinking these creatures are evil. But just as it does for any living creature, the sun illuminates our best features. There’s a loveliness to seeing the Ochi move with a little bit of jerkiness, as sanding off the artificiality with visual effects would have made it seem even more fake. Saxon surrounds his humans and puppets in a world of matte paintings and sets possibly borrowed from Midsommar . He’s already been forced to stave off unfounded claims of AI usage, and I fear he’ll be forced to continue that defense as more eyes are placed upon the film. I’ll admit, the imagery within the film does have a striking resemblance to those demo reels that float around social media preaching that technology has unlocked a new age of filmmaking. Along with the fact that it was filmed in 2021 before any of this AI nonsense was a serious threat, Saxon’s argument stems from the love and sweat put into his craft, which is always visible on the screen. But that love Saxon has for his work is never felt by us, with everything feeling more like an aesthetic than a fully realized world. The emotional coldness doesn’t help to bridge that gap either, David Longstreth’s score doing all of the communicating. Because of this, I fear that Saxon’s intended adolescent audience is unlikely to discover and commit to the task that this film lays before them. It’s foolish and unfair for one film to be beset with the expectation that it’ll reinvigorate a largely stagnant subgenre, although the words from the creatives and marketers certainly have set themselves up for that. Saxon has certainly earned another go-around, so perhaps that will contain the spark that sets all of this ablaze. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen