The Fabelmans September 10, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen From the opening scene of his most personal film yet (that’s quite the statement), Steven Spielberg lays all his cards on the table. Done in a single take, we find the young Spielberg stand-in (named Sammy Fabelman) scared to see his first movie: Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth . His father pulls him aside and attempts to explain the entire machination process of how films are projected onto the screen. This tactic doesn’t go over well, so Sammy’s mother takes him to the other side and simply explains that “movies are dreams that you never forget.” In the end, the mother wins out, with Sammy’s reaction to the film being a combination of unexplainable terror and wonder. Through this scene, we get a thesis statement on Spielberg’s approach to filmmaking. He’s a born storyteller, pouring his mother’s heart into every frame. And he’s also a master craftsman, leaning on his father’s engineering mindset to construct fantastic sequences that defy belief. The more The Fabelmans tell its story, the clearer that thesis becomes. We learn how one man could be attracted to making movies about a killer shark, a world-traveling archeologist, friendly and unfriendly aliens, the Holocaust, American presidents, World War II, and even modern-day dinosaurs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1G2iLSzOe8 Seeing The Greatest Show on Earth , specifically the train crash scene, spurs something in Sammy. He feels compelled to recreate the memory with his own camera and train set, which he does to his mother’s amazement. A passion is quickly born, one that often gets caught in the crossfire of the distraughtness of the Fabelman family over the subsequent years. Just as he’s done with every genre (except for Westerns, which he claims to be interested in doing for his next project), Spielberg conquers the recent trend of directors making their autobiography about how they fell in love with cinema. You can feel the pure joy Spielberg has in recreating his early 8mm films. Janusz Kaminski’s exquisite Capra-esque lighting and Michael Kahn’s (who's been with Spielberg since Close Encounters of the Third Kind ) editing provide that extra needed touch to every moment. And John Williams’ uncharacteristically sneaky score always finds its way into your heart. Of course, being a Steven Spielberg film means that The Fabelmans contains an overabundance of emotion. But fret not, all of you that are allergic to the Spielbergian touch, because here it’s used to tell a much more layered story. With the help of his Munich and Lincoln screenwriter, Tony Kushner, Spielberg also shines a retrospective light on his parents’ marriage, something he never understood as a child. Michelle Williams and Paul Dano both do wonderful work as Mitzi and Burt, respectively. It’s easy to see how these opposites were attracted to each other, and how that opposition eventually won out in the form of divorce. Newcomer Gabriel LaBelle plays the part of Sammy for the majority of the film. Hopefully, his great performance here will be the first of many to come. Two other performances of note are Seth Rogen as the unofficial Uncle Benny and Judd Hirsch as Sammy’s maternal great-uncle. Both urge Sammy to continue his moviemaking passion in their own way, with Hirsch stealing the show in the two scenes he has. The Fabelmans is a collection of Spielberg's greatest hits, all delivered to their greatest effect. There’s laughter, tears, and wonder in this story that is much more than the sum of its parts. If Spielberg climbs the Dolby Theatre steps to collect his third Best Director Oscar, then it will be one of the few long-overdue wins that came at the right time for the right project. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Universal Pictures will release The Fabelmans in select theaters on November 11th, followed by a nationwide expansion on November 23rd. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Raymond & Ray September 13, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen You’d have to be a real son of a bitch to give your kids the same name. Such is the case for half-brothers Raymond (Ewan McGregor) and Ray (Ethan Hawke), who have had to endure their father’s physical and emotional cruelty long after they grew up and left him to rot away in the personal hell they think he belongs in. And now that he’s finally dead, they don’t know what to feel. Should they be sad, just like any normal son would for their father? But how can they after all they’ve been through? It’s a troubling question that the pair must navigate as they venture back to their home to bury the patriarch, which leads to some revelations about the past and the impending future. Based on outward appearances, Raymond is the more responsible and well-adjusted one. He dresses appropriately and is clean-shaven, resembling someone who’s always trying to give off the impression that he’s made it. Ray, on the other hand, is more of the “go with the flow” type, always flirting around and keeping his shirts unbuttoned. He’s also rejected his jazz musician past and is a recovering addict, two things he doesn’t like to talk about. Raymond also has his personal demons, including two divorces (and a third impending one), and a rocky relationship with his son, who’s off in the army. While neither of them is as bad as their forbearer, it seems the apples haven’t fallen too far from the tree. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fzW5DpoApg As you could imagine, these two flawed characters will often be seen having conversations about their past, and how it isn’t their fault they ended up this way. It’s all very tiring and drawn-out material, something that writer/director Rodrigo García is becoming accustomed to with the equally clichéd Four Good Days just this past year (whose only claim to fame was a tiringly predictable Best Original Song nomination for Diane Warren). Not much about it rings true, with most of the story beats being visible from a mile away. And if they are mildly surprising, the dramatic blocks haven’t been built up enough to make the toppling over that exciting. That constant sense of “been there, done that” also extended towards the actors, who, try as they must, can’t find a way to make this bird sing. Ewan McGregor, reteaming with García for similar material after portraying a fatherly tortured version of Jesus Christ in 2015’s Last Days in the Desert , is the weaker of the central pair. There’s a sort of artifice to his performance, almost as if he hasn’t fully shed the chutzpah he needed to bring to the table for his recent work in Birds of Prey or in Ryan Murphy’s Halston series (which did earn him an Emmy award, so you can’t entirely blame him). Hawke, on the other hand, seems to be stuck in neutral, playing a similar archetype that he can do in his sleep at this point. Fortunately, there is the presence of Maribel Verdú and Sophie Okonedo to lighten things up and make it somewhat interesting from time to time. Each gets to share some time with one of the brothers, with Okonedo and Hawke being the better pair as they offer some introspective scenes about grief and reckoning with the past. Raymond & Ray is the type of movie that seems to evaporate from your brain the moment you step out of the theater. And while that’s a fine thing for mindless blockbusters, it’s not for movies like this that try to aim for something much weightier. And it’s doubly concerning when it wastes the talents of those involved, who easily could have been doing something more substantial. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Apple Original Films will release Raymond & Ray on its streaming platform on October 21st. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The End September 13, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen 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 late 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 itself 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avvm0e4oNCE 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 of 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 never had any references for how to grow up. There’s beauty and horror in how he comes to realize himself and the family’s place in all this, a microcosm of how the glitziness of the musical numbers and the seriousness of the messaging create a long-lasting experience that will not be forgotten. This review was originally published from the Canadian premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Neon will release The End in select theaters on December 06th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Shelter January 28, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen In the pantheon of generic, no-nonsense action films that fill January year after year, Jason Statham’s output is becoming increasingly unparalleled. Rivaling the production of Stallone and Schwarzenegger in the ‘80s, Statham has become Hollywood’s go-to liberator of machismo, with the baton unofficially passing from the past to the present throughout the Expendables franchise. The British-born, bald tough guy can hunt sharks ( The Meg, Meg 2: The Trench ), drive fast cars ( Fast & Furious franchise), hunt down criminals ( Wrath of Man, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre ), and deliver “so bad it’s good” B-movie entertainment ( The Beekeeper ). He’s always a man with a particular set of skills, making him a nightmare for the suckers who get in his way. Shelter falls right in line with The Beekeeper and A Working Man , with Statham playing Michael Mason, another supposed everyman trying to hide from his violent past. Doing one better than those previous two movies, this time, he’s hiding on a desolate, remote island off the coast of Scotland. He spends his days holed up in his cabin atop a cliff, playing against himself in chess and drinking away regrets. Whenever he does look out to sea, he knows that one day someone is going to show up for retribution. Until then, the only other human contact he has is the weekly supply shipments from a fishing boat manned by a captain and his younger niece, Jessie (Bodhi Rae Breathnach). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auHiLFjaIc0 A violent storm knocks Jessie off her dinghy and drowns the captain, marooning the girl on Mason’s island as he’s required to take care of her. Not one for personal contact, he begrudgingly returns to civilization to get her some medicine. A security camera picks him up, with MI6’s secretly illegal artificial intelligence program mistakenly flagging him as an international terrorist. A hitsquad quickly arrives on the island, forcing Michael and Jessie to go on the run to clear his name and rectify the past. We spend almost a third of the film on the island before any fists or bullets are exchanged, a surprising amount of time considering the heavy marketing push on the action elements. Statham carries these moments with a steady presence, his only companions being the wind and the waves. He does have a trusty dog by his side, his innocent stares always providing the answer to Michael’s rhetorical questions. David Buckley’s score is at a constantly low, thumping register, the danger always around the corner. Heading up MI6 down in London is Bill Nighy, who’s just been publicly sacked by the prime minister after it's discovered that the AI program has been spying on every British citizen. He’s someone who doesn’t care about freedoms getting in the way of power, which is how he burned Michael many years ago when they worked together. Naomi Ackie is his second-in-command, never fully in the know of how ruthless Nighy is. Both of them are fine, likely taking this job for an easy paycheck. They never leave their respective control rooms and get to bark orders at their underlings. A standout is Bodhi Rae Breathnach, who most recently played Susanna, the eldest daughter of William Shakespeare, in Hamnet . Jacobi Jupe deservedly got the majority of the praise for playing the titular boy, but Breathnach was just as sensational. She continues her ascension here, successfully making me care about Michael’s ability to protect her, something these “Lone Wolf and Cub” type of films seldom accomplish. It feels like an oversimplification to compare her to Saoirse Ronan based on looks and her Irish background, but the talent is there. Look out for her later this year in the remake of Sense and Sensibility and Robert Eggers’ Werwulf . Cornering the market this month with Greenland 2: Migration, along with this film, director Ric Roman Waugh competently stages the action. Statham goes toe-to-toe with the ruthless black ops assassin who took his position once he deserted, offering a slice of redemption to his arc. It’s all a tad generic, with a thin instigating element and a bafflingly weak climactic showdown. But sandwiched between those elements is an up-to-par action/drama showcase for one of our most dependable stars and a rising talent. Black Bear Pictures will release Shelter in theaters nationwide on January 30th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

I, Tonya March 7, 2018 By: Button Hunter Friesen Margot Robbie has had a pretty big climb to fame in the past few years. She kicked off her Hollywood career in 2013 with The Wolf of Wall Street , then made a splashy cameo in Adam McKay’s 2015 hit The Big Short . She then achieved A-list status in 2016 with Suicide Squad and The Legend of Tarzan . Now in 2017, she’s hitting the awards circuit with I, Tonya , in which she plays the infamous figure skater Tonya Harding. Her performance is the highlight of the film, which is a semi-autobiographical story about one of America’s most beloved and most hated athletes. The film opens with interviews from Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie), her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan), and her mother LaVona Golden (Allison Janney). The interviews are taking place about a decade after the “incident” and are intended as a way for each of the characters to tell their version of what happened. In between the interviews, we are treated to the story of how Tonya grew up as a redneck figure skater in Oregon. We witness her rough upbringing at the hands of her mother and how it affected her skating. After that, we see her meteoric rise to superstardom, all of which is constantly in jeopardy because of her rocky relationship with her simpleton of a husband, Jeff. And finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the Nancy Kerrigan incident. We watch it go down, the due process immediately after, and how Tonya got caught up in a mess of stupidity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXZQ5DfSAAc What I can say is that this film doesn’t do anything wrong; it just does everything adequately or well. The handling of the story through interviews and flashbacks does well at establishing the chaos and insanity since each character gives conflicting reports as to what actually happened. The film also uses the fourth wall to have Tonya interact with the audience and extend the autobiographical nature of the story. However, the interviews lose steam about halfway through and are left dormant until the very end. It felt weird since they were heavily used in the beginning and were made to seem like the central medium for telling the story. Director Craig Gillespie uses stylish editing and camera tricks to keep the story flowing at a quick and breezy pace. Some scenes are oversaturated with them, but overall, the tricks serve their purpose well. The behind-the-scenes work does a nice job of establishing a feel for the 80s and 90s. The hairstyles and fashion are timely and will make anyone who lived in that period feel nostalgic. Last and most importantly, the performances carry this film all the way to the very end. Margot Robbie is astonishing as Tonya. She has the perfect mix of looks, personality, and skill to pull off the role. She plays Harding perfectly at every point in her career, especially at the lowest. Allison Janney is also great as Tonya’s cold and unloving mother, LaVona. Janney goes full-out in makeup and chain-smoking, giving an authentic portrayal of a mother who will never be satisfied with her children. Sebastian Stan gives a good, but not great, performance as Jeff. He does his best to make Jeff his own, but unfortunately gets overshadowed by Robbie and Janney. On a positive note, Stan shows off a wide range of emotions as Jeff slowly turns from a dumb nice guy to a violent madman. I, Tonya delivers an entertaining and original way to tell a story that is well-known by almost everybody alive. While it’s a good film caught in a time of great films, Robbie and Janney give career-defining performances that make this film deserving of your time. Neon will release I, Tonya in select theaters on December 08th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Ad Astra September 23, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen You may not have noticed, but the 2010s have been a renaissance for space movies. It all started with Gravity in 2013, followed by Interstellar, The Martian , and First Man . The one thing each of these great movies has in common is their ability to tell a story of perseverance and triumph on a universal scale, with the bonus of mind-blowing visual effects. Another addition to that list, but not entirely for the same reasons, is James Gray’s Ad Astra . Set in the near future, a catastrophic power surge travels across the solar system and strikes the Earth, killing thousands. SpaceCom (the new NASA) has tracked down the source and believes it to most likely be from Dr. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones), whose last known location was near Neptune sixteen years ago. The doctor’s son, Maj. Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) happens to be the most respected engineer/astronaut in the world. Realizing the personal and planetary stakes this mission will have, Roy is recruited by the higher-ups to travel to the surge’s source and destroy it before our planet is wiped out. James Gray has always been a more high-brow filmmaker who has been able to take big stars and concepts and use them for projects that reach beyond the tropes of the genre. Just like in his previous film, The Lost City of Z , Gray here centers the story on a man on a journey, ending with the protagonist discovering more about himself than the destination he set out for. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6AaSMfXHbA But don’t worry, the destination here is well worth your time as Gray makes full use of the two things most scarce in space: light and sound. Hoyte Van Hoytema illuminates every vast beauty through his awe-inspiring photography, and Max Richter’s soothingly intimate score perfectly complements the most emotional moments. Despite being a very emotional film, Gray does liven things up from time to time with a few action set pieces that are both extremely creative and tense. Each one encapsulates the perils of space and the feeling that we humans are way out of our element once we go beyond our atmosphere. The writing of Ad Astra is what makes this film unique. Having more in common with Solaris and 2001: A Space Odyssey than the films mentioned in the beginning, Ethan Gross and Gray’s screenplay delivers an introspective and philosophical story that increasingly gets more human as the setting gets more cosmic. The story is centralized through McBride as we follow his POV through the dangerous mission. The narration by Pitt is used to convey his character’s inner thoughts. Against all norms of narrative storytelling, the narration works for the betterment of the film as it gives us an in-depth view of his perception of the unfolding events. Gray’s scripts have always had another layer to them. There is always a sense of something deeper underneath that’s slowly coming to the surface throughout the film. Ad Astra is another example of this trend, as each line of dialogue or new information learned tends to serve dual purposes and lead to something bigger down the road. There do end up being a few frayed storylines that don’t get the attention they deserve, but the overall story makes up for that fault by ending up being more than the sum of its parts. Already having a banner year with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood , Brad Pitt possibly delivers his greatest performance here. While Hollywood used Pitt’s movie star power to its full potential, here he is at his most subtle and whole. He carries the emotional weight of the film and never holds back or gives too much, leaving with just the right amount of characterization. Tommy Lee Jones is also great in his supporting role as the father, Clifford McBride. He’s more haunting than Pitt as we see the full effects that decades of claustrophobic space travel can have on the human mind and spirit. Liv Tyler shows up as Roy’s significant other in a small supporting role that, judging by the trailers, was supposed to be a lot more central to the story before being edited down. Reserved more to flashbacks, Tyler gives a more emotionally heavy performance that contrasts with Pitt. James Gray’s Ad Astra is part of the space renaissance of this last decade. But instead of following in the footsteps of those films, it charges down its own path and tells a deeply humanistic story on a cosmic level. Make no mistake, this is one of the best films of the year. 20th Century Fox will release Ad Astra in theaters nationwide on September 20th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Fackham Hall December 4, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen The last several weeks of the year are usually reserved for heavy dramas and blockbusters seeking awards attention. This year’s crop of films exemplifies that pattern. Hamnet explores how the grief caused by the death of William Shakespeare’s son inspired the author’s most famous tragedy. Sentimental Value untangles decades of thorny family relations between an estranged father and his emotionally distraught adult daughters. In Marty Supreme , Timothée Chalamet hustles and scams his way to the top of the table tennis charts, all while riddled with anxiety. Even a self-described comedy like Bradley Cooper’s Is This Thing On? examines a marriage in freefall and the midlife crisis that ensues for both partners. This is where Fackham Hall (you’d better get used to that pun, because it’s said a lot in the film) makes its mark. From “the studio that watched the first two seasons of Downton Abbey ” comes a film without lofty awards ambitions or a need to secure a placement on a bevy of critics’ best of the year lists. It’s not some sneaky meditation on the human condition, sowing social commentary within the laughter. No, it’s a silly and noodle-brained comedy whose only goal is to make you chuckle as many times as possible within its ninety-seven-minute runtime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4aLyav45Sg That’s a very backhanded way to describe a movie, implying that a film is lesser than another simply because of what it strives to be. It’s not the size of the target that matters; it’s how well you hit it. Many filmmakers will tell you that comedy is exponentially more difficult than it seems. You need to make a structurally consistent film with the same arcs and beats as any other story, all while delivering worthy jokes at a consistent rate. It takes a lot to conceive a funny joke, and expert precision to tell it just right. One half-second of fat on the edit, or a half-baked delivery, can have the best gag land with a thud. All-star British comedian Jimmy Carr knows a thing or two about how to make people laugh. Making his screenwriting feature debut alongside co-writers Patrick Carr and The Dawson Bros. (Steve, Andrew, and Tim Inman), Carr has crafted a parody of upstairs-downstairs period dramas, such as Downton Abbey and Gosford Park , crossed with the laugh-a-minute comedies of yesteryear, like Airplane! and Monty Python . Every piece of signage is an opportunity for crude wordplay, such as the gate entrance to the titular estate displaying the famous Latin quote: “Incestus ad infinitum.” Performing those acts of power consolidation are the Davenports, one of England’s most noble families. The Great Depression has made its way across the pond, and the Davenports have been besieged by tragedy. One by one, all four of their sons - John, Paul, George, and Ringo - have unexpectedly died. One drowned on the Titanic, the other crashed in the Hindenburg, and one was playing golf in a lightning storm. This has forced Lord (Damian Lewis) and Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston) to marry off their eldest daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), to a rich bachelor. Luckily, that man happens to be Poppy’s first cousin Archibald (Tom Felton). At twenty-three years of age, youngest daughter Rose (Thomasin McKenzie) is a “tired and barren husk of a woman, with no hopes of finding a man to give her life worth.” That is, until she meets the new hall boy, Eric Noone (pronounced no-one, and played by Ben Radcliffe). It was love at first sight when she ran him over with her car, and at second sight when he watched her stuff her face with deviled eggs. They are star-crossed lovers, their romance forbidden by the rules of society, and the Davenports need to marry for money. Most of the best bits are in the trailer. And yet, they were just as funny in the final product as they were in the advertisements, and there’s plenty of other chuckles to be had. We witness London’s oldest ever chimney sweep dying at the age of seven, and Rose ignites some passion between her and Eric by revealing that she’s reading “One Shade of Grey.” There are several instances of similar-sounding words being used for extended bits reminiscent of “Who's on First?” Joining forces with the Liam Neeson-starring Naked Gun reboot from this summer, Fackham Hall is here to swing the comedy pendulum back into the realm of slapstick and dirty gags. Sure, it’s not going to win awards or become some cornerstone of the genre. But I think I can guess what the creators and fans of these films say to all those naysayers: Fuck 'em all. Bleecker Street will release Fackham Hall in theaters nationwide on December 05th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs December 6, 2018 By: Button Hunter Friesen Joel and Ethan Coen are two directors who can always be depended on to make a wildly original film. Their films contain an offbeat nature mixed with highbrow comedy that either ends up making a splash with audiences ( Fargo ) or landing with a thud ( The Ladykillers ). The Ballad of Buster Scruggs , the newest Netflix film by the brothers, lands somewhere in the grey area between splash and thud. Set in the Old West, the film is split up into chapters and tells six mutually exclusive stories. Ranging from wacky slapstick to grim realism, the Coens offer their own unique take on the Western genre as they experiment with a revolving door of distinct plots and characters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2PyxzSH1HM The Coens have always been able to grab the attention of viewers with their blend of violence and sharp storytelling. Those two attributes show up in Buster Scruggs , but not as much as they should. The first story, starring Tim Blake Nelson as the titular character, is a joyous romp that starts the film off on the right foot through its use of comedic gunplay and witty banter. Unfortunately, having such a fine chapter at the beginning sets the rest of the film up to be a disappointment in comparison. A few of the subsequent stories just kind of come and go without much fanfare. Clocking in at 130 minutes, the film can test your patience from time to time. The length of each story ranges between fifteen and forty minutes. A major problem arises from this, as all the good ones end up being too short and the lackluster ones too long. This creates an unsatisfying feeling at the end of each story as they never feel just right in terms of length. One area that should be applauded is the absolutely stunning cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel. Each wide shot of the Great Plains is more beautiful than the last, as each one is used to masterfully build a living world around the stories. Just like their directing, the writing by the Coens can best be described as a crapshoot. Filling their stories with insights concerning the ideas of existentialism and human morality, the brothers sometimes overplay their hands and start to lull the audience into boredom. The final story is the most guilty of this, as five characters endlessly drone on about different philosophical topics such as the nature of God and the morality of bounty hunting. One thing that the Coens have always been great at doing is filling their films with compelling characters. The characters in this film more than live up to expectations as almost every one of them lights up the screen with their eccentric personalities. However, not all characters get to shine as some of their traits wear thin quickly, and by the end, they become repetitive parodies. With an A-list cast of different character actors, the quality of the acting as a whole is in line with the directing and writing. Tim Blake Nelson as the cartoony gunslinger Buster Scruggs is easily the highlight of the film. His infectious energy and fourth-wall-breaking wisecracks give levity to some of the film’s most brutal moments. James Franco and Liam Neeson appear in the second and third stories, respectively, as men trying to make a living through questionable methods. The plot of each story gives the actors little to work with, and they each end up turning in average performances. Famous singer Tom Waits single-handedly stars as a prospector searching for a gold deposit in the fourth story. Waits’ grizzled demeanor, along with his reactionary mutterings, keep us engaged throughout and connected to the welfare of his character. Lastly, Zoe Kazan stars in the penultimate story as a woman trying to make her way to Oregon while enduring a series of tragedies. Kazan’s shy and innocent personality gives her character a good amount of emotional depth that comes close to making up for the dull plot. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a reminder of what the Coens do so well and what they have always struggled with. Despite their limitations, the brothers are miles ahead of many others who try and fail to match their style. If you have a Netflix account or know someone who does (which is about everyone), this film could prove to be an entertaining time and a great gateway into the filmography of two of the most influential filmmakers of the past quarter-century. Netflix will release The Ballad of Buster Scruggs in select theaters on November 09th, followed by its streaming premiere on November 16th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Back to Black May 16, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. We begin near the end of the icon’s journey, only to flash back to where it all began. The icon has a strained relationship with their family, immediately giving them unresolved trauma. But they have a special talent and someone in their family (most likely a grandparent) acts as their motivational coach. They suddenly hit it big, but are blindsided by the pressures of fame and the need to conform. They fall in love with an outsider, which, coupled with the growing stress, leads them to drugs and alcohol. Everyone says they need help while the excuses keep piling up, eventually ending in a burnout that crowns the tabloids. After some soul-searching, they find themselves back at the top, performing one of their iconic songs. It ends back where we started, with the untimely death being revealed during the postscript, along with all their other achievements. It would be damn near impossible for you to guess what single movie I was describing. Even if you narrowed it down to just the past five years, you’d still have to decide between Elvis , Bohemian Rhapsody , Respect , I Wanna Dance with Somebody , and Bob Marley: One Love . The musician biopic subgenre has become such a cliché at this point that there’s even a sub-subgenre for parodies like Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story . But even those are starting to feel a little stale, as the jokes don’t have the same punch when you can see them coming from a mile away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYzIOBwyhIU Writer Matt Greenhalgh would have only needed to add a few jokes to his Back to Black script to make it into one of those parodies. All the other tropes are already there, so why not make this a comedy? It’s surely not a compelling drama, nor a “definitive” retelling of Amy Winehouse’s life. Everything has been scrubbed with disinfectant several times over, leaving behind a product so basic that you’d barely get the impression that this person was special at all. The one laughable thing is Greenhalgh’s treatment of Winehouse, with his pen always pushing her further down the gutter. Between the alcohol, the ever-growing lineup of drugs, and discussions of self-harm, there’s nothing that Amy isn’t doing to destroy herself. Greenhalgh’s claim that all this self-destruction was predominantly spurred by Amy’s inability to have a child is both borderline insulting and too neat. There’s also the unintentional running joke of Amy saying that she needs to stay true to herself while also perfectly following the rags-to-riches template. Director Sam Taylor-Johnson has previously shown an interest in musicians, helming the 2009 John Lennon origin story Nowhere Boy . The strategy doesn’t seem to have changed in the decade-plus since, with the beats being produced in a forgettably competent manner. The staging of Winehouse’s performances is quite nice, with star Marisa Abela doing a fine impression both physically and vocally. Less than stellar is Jack O'Connell as her sleazy on-again, off-again husband, and the relative sidelining of Eddie Marsan and Lesley Manville. Getting anything out of Back to Black will be a tall order for any viewer, regardless of your familiarity with Winehouse’s life and music. There’s also the unavoidable presence of the Oscar-winning 2015 documentary Amy , which covers more material with more depth in just as much time. But as long as Winehouse's songs see a bump on Spotify, then the producers will be happy. And we all know that’s what really matters in this landscape. Focus Features will release Back to Black in theaters nationwide on May 17th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Spirited November 17, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen Nothing on paper hinted that I would walk out of Spirited with a smile on my face and a spring in my step. Barring his work in the Deadpool films, I’ve been allergic to Ryan Reynolds's one-note wisecracking performances, breaking out in severe hives with last year’s Free Guy and Red Notice . Will Ferrell has been on a downward spiral, releasing nothing above passable for years (not counting voice-over work in The Lego Movie ). And the greatest claim to fame writer/director duo Sean Anders and John Morris have is the Daddy’s Home films and the unnecessary Horrible Bosses 2 . Yet, with all those warning signs and the potential for some serious damage, Spirited was able to lift my holiday spirits (pun fully intended) by being a wholly entertaining comedy musical. A reimagining of Charles Dickens's classic story, Spirited opens with the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future performing their annual haunting on a less-than-stellar person. This past year's target was a woman named Karen (one of several attempts at internet culture humor, this one being the most successful), who became a nicer person to her neighbors. Present (Ferrell) feels that the recent haunts haven’t made a big enough difference. He wants the next “perp” to be someone whose change would have a huge ripple effect across other people’s lives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnAJntI3NNs Showing up at the perfect moment is Clint Briggs (Reynolds), founder and CEO of his own media manipulation agency. He creates what you call non-troverseys: unimportant and trivial internet wars that stir up attention for whatever side is paying him (he’s probably the one behind the black/blue & white/yellow dress debate, which saw sales of it go up nearly 400%). Unfortunately for Present, Clint has been labeled an “unredeemable,” meaning that no amount of haunting could turn him into a nice person. But Present’s Christmas optimism doesn’t allow him to quit easily, so the haunt is on in hopes of turning this self-centered jerk into a decent human being. The world doesn’t need another adaptation of A Christmas Carol (does anyone remember the 2019 miniseries or The Man Who Invented Christmas ?), a fact that Anders and Morris acknowledge through their screenplay. Instead of following the tried and true path of three ghosts fully changing a mortal soul, Spirited is more of a two-hander about how people can’t suddenly change for the better, and instead, they need to focus on incremental improvements from within. It’s a surprisingly nuanced message, one that’s hard to fully take seriously coming out of the mouths of Reynolds and Ferrell, who are still doing their usual schtick. The central pair does have great chemistry together, which is fully harnessed by choreographer Chloe Arnold, the unseen MVP of the film. Treating the dance numbers as if they were done for a stage audience, Arnold compiles huge swaths of backup dancers for big chorus numbers, with Reynolds and Ferrell front and center, tap dancing away. Ferrell solidifies his comedic music chops from Eurovision , and Reynolds aptly brings his game. There’s also the bonus of Octavia Spencer being a nice romantic foil for Ferrell. Unfortunately, the horrendous CGI backgrounds often distract from the capable work being done. The songwriting duo of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul - who’ve penned works from La La Land, Dear Evan Hansen , and The Greatest Showman - unleash a whole new album's worth of holiday tunes. There aren’t too many distinguishing features between many of the songs, but their sameness doesn’t take away from their catchiness. Spirited will probably never become a holiday classic due to its anonymous release on Apple TV+, not that it really deserves to become one anyway. But I was entertained throughout its slightly bloated two-hour runtime and thought to myself how I should be a better person. And for that, it deserves some yuletide cheer. Apple Original Films will release Spirited in select theaters on November 11th, followed by its streaming premiere on November 18th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

May December May 25, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Director Todd Haynes’s approach to the material within May December becomes clear immediately. The opening credits arrive accompanied by Michel Legrand's hyper-stylized theme from The Go-Between , harkening back to the pulpy works of Brian De Palma and Old Hollywood melodrama. It’s an immediate disarmament, signaling a lighter attitude toward this true-ish tabloid story of an affair between a thirty-something housewife and her thirteen-year-old co-worker. How could someone find the humor in this situation, you ask? A brief tour of Haynes’ filmography illustrates a filmmaker who has always been fascinated with infiltrating mainstream material with independent ideas. Velvet Goldmine and I’m Not There turned the musician biopic on its head, Far from Heaven used Douglas Sirk pastiche to approach 1950s racism, and Carol tells the age-old tale of forbidden love, this time with a queer angle. Even Haynes’ most mainstream film, the legal thriller Dark Waters , subtly undermines genre clichés with impeccable mise-en-scene. May December is his most playful exercise in tone and expectations, delivering something that is both mature and overtly theatrical. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VdAParM4h8 The illegal affair is only the preface to the main story. Gracie (Julianne Moore) and Joe (Charles Melton) Atherton-Yoo are still together twenty years after their scandalous romance shocked the world. They live in a Georgia suburban home paid for by their tabloid cover photos. Their youngest children are about to graduate high school, making Joe an empty-nest parent before he’s even the age Gracie was when they met. Despite their attempts to lead a quiet life, the couple is always reminded of how they’re perceived in the public eye, whether it be the infrequent anonymous hate mail or the arrival of actress Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman), who’s playing Gracie in a new Lifetime original movie about the romance and is staying with the family to do research. Gracie hopes that the film and Elizabeth’s performance will help reshape the public’s perception of how she and Joe came to be. Elizabeth totally agrees and presents herself as an ally to the couple, at least on the surface. There’s something off about how Elizabeth injects herself into the couple’s lives. She’s inferred to be on a downward trajectory in her career, so maybe the juicy material will put her back in the headlines? Haynes and cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt - stepping in for Ed Lachmann, as he was off shooting Pablo Larraín’s El Conde in Chile - always have Elizabeth standing a bit off-center, usually obscured by an object or observed through a mirror. Reflections in both its literal and figurative forms are the key to Samy Burch’s screenplay (touched up by Haynes). Gracie, Joe, and Elizabeth all have ideas about what they want out of this, but none of them truly know if they’re willing to mine deep inside of them to get it. There’s an artifice to every interaction, with the truth lurking around the corner. Some of these conversations, filled with jagged edges and heightened stylizations, lean a little too close to slapstick, undermining a bit of the emotional resonance. But those interspersed moments of whimsy are also the best parts, as they turn up the heat on the oftentimes room-temperature plot developments. The actors are all game for their roles. Moore and Portman have delicious chemistry in their scenes together, with it never being totally established who is observing and manipulating the other. It’s catty as hell, with Haynes never allowing it to be misogynistic. Charles Melton joins Austin Butler as a CW television veteran who has quickly climbed the Hollywood ladder. It's obvious he’s never fully processed his robbed childhood, leaving him still a kid in an adult body. There’s enough camp within May December that s'mores might as well be served alongside it. It’s morally ambiguous in its message, but never in its approach. At the very least, the high drama of it all will allow a new generation of Netflix watchers to be introduced to Haynes’ filmography. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Netflix will release May December in select theaters on November 17th, followed by its streaming premiere on December 01st. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre March 3, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen You'll probably spend more time trying to pronounce "Ruse de Guerre" than thinking about the action... or the humor... or the characters... or the actual plot. Much like every entry within writer/director Guy Ritchie's increasingly diverse filmography, Operation Fortune is semi-stylish and entertaining in the moment, offering just enough guns going bang and characters cracking jokes to keep your butt in the seat. But any post-screening test would be immediately failed, as what goes in one ear comes right out the other. In his fifth collaboration with Ritchie, the most recent being the better-than-expected pandemic-released Wrath of Man , Jason Statham plays... Jason Statham. Technically, he plays the comically named Orson Fortune, an ass-kicking, globe-trotting super spy that you'd be hard-pressed to distinguish from at least a dozen of his earlier roles. Fortune has a handler named Nathan (Cary Elwes), who's been tasked with a mission by high command to retrieve a stolen McGuffin named "The Handle," which promises to cause global havoc now that it’s fallen into the wrong hands. Nathan and Fortune aren't alone, as they've assembled a support team including sharp-shooting muscle J.J. (Bugzy Malone, no relation to the famous gangster) and hacker Sarah (Aubrey Plaza). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdZ-BWWQcWQ But no real ruse would be complete without a bit of winking fourth wall breaks, as Josh Harnett plays movie star Danny Francesco, who gets recruited to lure in mega-fan arms dealer Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant). Even more characters become involved, such as Ukrainian gangsters (who are identified differently by ADR and clumsily edited down to avoid insult to injury with the ongoing war, which was one of the main reasons for the film being pulled from its original January 2022 release date), a rogue British task force, and Silicon Valley tech zillionaires. There's no time to play catch-up within Ritchie's script, which he co-wrote with his usual writing partners Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies. The nothing-you-haven't-seen-before plot moves forward at an alarming rate, only ever so briefly stopping from time to time to recap what just happened through some hearty exposition. Ritchie is a confident and competent enough director to make up for most of the nothingness on the page, with some unique camera angles and edited fight sequences being a mini highlight. And Hugh Grant and Aubrey Plaza are chewing the scenery nicely. Their presence does elevate the fun more than the gruffness of Statham. Hartnett's performance may not be of the highest quality, but he's clearly having the most fun in the cast. In a move usually reserved for James Bond and early MCU movies, Operation Fortune was released overseas before making its way to the States. Normally, this would be a small victory for international cinephiles, but in this case, I'd say there are no winners or losers, as I'm sure no one will remember what the battle was fought over. Lionsgate will release Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre in theaters nationwide on March 03rd. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen