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The Gentlemen January 30, 2020 By: Button Hunter Friesen Like Wes Anderson, Tim Burton, and Michael Bay, you can tell when a film is made by Guy Ritchie just by watching a few minutes of it. The British director has carried a sense of hyper-stylization through each of his films, most notably in crime comedies that began with the one-two punch of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch . Now after a few big studio duds ( King Arthur , Aladdin ), Ritchie has come home to his roots with The Gentlemen . Growing tired of the marijuana business and fearing for the security of his future, Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) decides he wants to sell his lucrative empire. Luckily for him, a rich American buyer is willing to fork over a pretty penny. Unluckily for Mickey though, his life of crime has made him a few enemies that would like nothing more than to see him ruined. With his enemies fast approaching on all sides, Mickey will now have to get his hands dirtier than ever if he ever wants to have a chance to clean them off. The Gentlemen is business as usual for Ritchie as he dives right back into the street crime genre he made his name in. What may seem overindulgent to others is only conventional to Ritchie as he uses all the flashy tactics in the book. Even the opening credits - which contain numerous minor spoilers for some odd reason - remind one of a Bond film. After that, we are led on an endless parade of rapid editing, exaggerated characters, and many other stylish facets. It’s a bombardment of the senses, but one that never becomes overbearing. However, like all Ritchie films, The Gentlemen ends up leaning too hard on style over substance, which is saying a lot because there is a lot of substance here. Some directorial choices seem to be made only for vanity, such as one bit where a character drones on about the magic of classic cinema. I was reminded of the great Jurassic Park quote which I am paraphrasing: [Ritchie]... was so preoccupied with whether or not he could, he didn’t stop to think if he should. Such is the case in Ritchie’s previous crime films, there are plots within plots, and those plots have plots on top of them. In this film, the narrative revolves around a discussion between two characters as one tells the other about the events that have unfolded. These events are new to us but have already happened within the timeframe of the film. What we get is a sort of comedic murder mystery where each event is changed and then rechanged again based upon a certain character’s perspective on what happened. This framing device makes the movie an interesting puzzle, albeit a needlessly convoluted one. Specific details sometimes get lost in the shuffle, only to come back again to confuse us more. Just like the directing, this problem seems to stem from Ritchie’s insistence on overdoing things. It’s quantity over quality as too many things are thrown into the script without much regard for clarity or purpose. Since his Oscar win in 2014, Matthew McConaughey has had a hard time picking projects that use his acting strengths and that also turns out to be good. Thankfully, Mr “Alright, alright, alright” chose wisely here as Ritchie uses his captivating screen presence in some impressive monologues. Charlie Hunnam and Hugh Grant play the two characters having a banterous discussion about the film’s events. Grant easily takes the top spot between the two as he seems to thoroughly enjoy his character's eccentric quirks. Rounding out the cast is Jeremy Strong, Henry Golding, and, most notably, Colin Farrell as the boxing coach simply named “Coach”. Even though Mickey is the main character, Coach is the one you’ll remember the most after. It can be easy to forget sometimes that movies are allowed to solely be entertaining popcorn flicks. This rings truer during awards season when every film is trying to take a stand on something and fighting to make a mark on our culture. Of course, you still would like that popcorn flick to be well-made. Being as how January is usually a dumping ground for maligned films, you could do a lot worse than this enjoyable romp. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Avengers: Endgame May 2, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen It’s taken eleven years and twenty-two films, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally reached its long-awaited bittersweet conclusion. Thanos has snapped his fingers and half of all life on Earth is gone. With the few remaining heroes left, the Avengers embark on a revenge quest against the villain that has stolen their friends and loved ones. But just like all plans, this one doesn’t go right and the team must now band together for one final showdown in order to save the universe and set things right once and for all. *Forewarning, this review may be a bit shallow at times and free of specific details for the sake of not wanting to give away spoilers. So please give me the benefit of the doubt as I try to be careful with my words. After four outings, brothers Anthony and Joe Russo have firmly planted their position as the MCU’s best directors. Whether it be during somber conversations between characters or in the Lord of the Rings style final battle, the amount of detail and effort that goes into each frame is unparalleled by any other blockbuster. Regular Marvel cinematographer Trent Opaloch’s compositional lighting and camera movement is simply outstanding and keeps the film running on all cylinders throughout its three-hour runtime. Also keeping the energy high is the lightning pace that brothers infuse into the film’s second and third act. They may miss the mark a bit during the first hour, but they more than make up for it in the latter two thirds as they deliver some of the most entertaining material put to screen. Lastly, aiding the brothers is a sweeping score by the always underappreciated Alan Silvestri. His music is swiftly able to go from epic to intimate in the blink of an eye and is a key driver behind many of the overwhelming emotions felt. Co-written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, Avengers: Endgame may mark the first film in the franchise to look back in the past as opposed to solely setting up the future. The specific medium it uses to reminisce may not be the most logical or neat, but the end product is a string of touching moments that pleasantly rewards fans that have stuck around all these years. After some time away from each other during Phase Three, the main core of the Avengers is finally back together, albeit under less than ideal circumstances. This initial tighter cast allows the main troupe to get their time to shine in what could be a few send-off performances. Things start to get messy when the entire roster is put back together. Some characters get the shorter end of the stick in terms of screentime, but I don’t know how it could all be properly done unless this movie was another six hours longer (which I would still approve of). Marvel films have been built since day one on their ability to blend comedy with high emotional stakes. The stakes have never been higher here, and the same can go for the number of quippy jokes. The quality of the humor is surprisingly high throughout, but the sheer amount of one-liners during what should be tense moments verges on borderline overkill. With its bafflingly long cast list, Endgame boasts quite a few key acting highlights. The co-leads of Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans shine brighter than they ever have before. They’ve gotten better with each performance and leave it all on the screen as they share immense chemistry with each other and everyone around them. Josh Brolin is still great as Thanos. While he doesn’t reach the high bar he set for himself in Infinity War , he still delivers another powerful performance that towers over all the other Marvel villains. Both Karen Gillan and Paul Rudd surprisingly stand out as Nebula and Ant-Man, respectively. They each have a more grounded personal story that offers a stark contrast to the epic main narrative. I realize I’m leaving a lot of great performances on the cutting room floor, but it would take a novel to talk about them all. Basically, everyone either did well or just alright. Nobody was outright bad. Arguably the biggest pop culture moment of all time, Avengers: Endgame is a film that arrived with an infinite amount of expectations and meets each and every one of them. Within its 181-minute runtime, you’ll laugh, you’ll more than likely cry (I did), and most importantly, be amazed at how a legendary neverending franchise can reach such a satisfying conclusion that both respects the past and gives confidence for the future. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Starling Girl February 6, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Starling Girl had its World Premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Bleecker Street will release it in theaters on May 12. The narrative beats within writer/director Laurel Parmet’s The Starling Girl may not be the most original, but that doesn’t lessen their impact. Elevated by an excellent leading turn by Elzsia Scanlen, who continues her upward trajectory after successful supporting roles in hit films and television shows such as 2019’s Little Women and HBO’s Sharp Objects , Parmet’s feature debut offers a youthful examination of the struggle between personal ambitions and the confines of religious tolerance. Scanlen is the titular Starling girl (Jem Starling to be exact), playing younger than herself through wardrobe decisions and physical performance. The Starling family is among many within a Christian fundamentalist community nestled in the Kentucky plains. Jem's actions are in service of what God and her community would want, such as leading a group prayer dance for her youth group. But just like every teenager, Jem starts to become drawn to the other sex, particularly her handsome youth pastor Owen (Lewis Pullman, last seen as the shy Lt. Robert “Bob” Floyd in Top Gun: Maverick ), who happens to be ten years older than her and married. The attraction slowly becomes mutual, with the flirtation of danger being a catalyst of their desire for each other. Parmet’s script focuses both on the personal aspects of this complicated relationship, and the societal judgment of it. As part of being a member of her community, Jem does not have the luxury of independence when choosing a romantic partner. Her devout mother and recovering alcoholic father have decided that Jem will be courted by Owen’s much younger brother Ben, despite there being no spark of affection between them. This loss of autonomy is painful to witness, mostly because of Scanlen’s displays of inner turmoil. Much of the film plays within the tropes of this specific story, as our character rebels against their societal expectations, leading to consequences in their relationship with themself and others. At 116 minutes, the pacing could have been greatly quickened, or at least some of it chopped off in bulk. Much of the material with Jem’s father, played finely by Jimmi Simpson, plays dangerously close to parody as the struggles with addiction are delivered with such heavy-handedness. If not for Scanlen’s performance, The Starling Girl would fall much further into the realm of obscurity its middling writing and direction had it heading for. If not for anything else, Parmet’s film has given one of our brightest young talents room to shine. Those with a deeply religious background may find more depth to it, but they may also find it dryly conventional. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Saltburn November 17, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Writer/director Emerald Fennell has wasted no time cashing in her blank check to make Saltburn , a feature-length Calvin Klein ad that slots nicely in the recent "eat the rich" movie trend (see Triangle of Sadness , Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery , and The Menu just last year). Fennell somehow molds all three of those features into one product, creating something that loves to push your buttons and make you squirm just as much as it wants you to laugh out loud. Sometimes you don’t whether to laugh or look away, making this one of the most outlandishly memorable films of the year, both for good and bad reasons. Fennell shifts her sophomore feature away from the American setting of Promising Young Woman to her native England, specifically the most British place there is: Oxford University. The freshman class of 2006 has descended upon the campus and the class divides have already been set. Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) finds himself on the lonely side of the have-nots, while people like Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi) and Farleigh Start (Archie Madekwe) sit atop their ivory towers. The silver spoon kids aren’t necessarily assholes, but there is an aura of “you and I are not equals” that permeates from them. Oliver desperately wants to be part of that clique, and, luckily for him, he gets a foot in the door through Felix, who seemingly takes him under his wing out of pity. Elordi and Keoghan look as if they’re ready to remake the Schwarzenegger/DeVito starring Twins in these opening sections. Keoghan is only a little more sociable than his homicidal character in Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer , but he’s just as carnivorous as he lusts after Felix’s body and lifestyle. It’s hard to blame him when someone like Elordi is standing right in front of you, a golden child who knows he can turn the whole room when he walks in. It’s no wonder why Sofia Coppola cast him as Elvis Presley in this year’s Priscilla . Felix’s ultimate gesture of kindness is inviting Oliver to his family’s sprawling estate, Saltburn, for the summer. There he meets the rest of the Catton aristocracy: aloof father James (Ricard E. Grant), caustic mother Elspeth (Rosamund Pike), and uncontrollable sister Venetia (Alison Oliver). Everything about the house is so sumptuous as it seemingly exists in a plane outside of mortal existence. “Time to Pretend” and “Mr. Brightside” rock the soundtrack as Oliver and the group play tennis in suits/dresses, swim in the private lake, and host parties where the minimum guest list is 200 names. For Oliver, it’s going to be impossible to go back to a regular life once he’s had a taste of the next level. Both he and Fennell ask: Do these nobles deserve the life they have, especially if all they had to do to earn it was be born? The comparisons to The Talented Mr. Ripley are aplenty, but I doubt even the misanthropic callousness of Patricia Highsmith would dare to try and reach the levels of provocation that Fennell instills within her answers. Most of it feels like substance, but some of it feels like it's here just for shock value. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as there are deeds done that you must see to believe. Let’s just say vampirism, bathtubs, and grave plots will have a whole new context when you walk out. Fennell also gets dangerously close to overplaying her hand the further down the rabbit hole she takes us. Things do get a little too outlandish for believability, undermining much of the intricately layered suspense built up over the last few hours. Keoghan, along with Linus Sandgren’s gorgeous 1.33:1 cinematography, paves over many of those faults. Their work in the final sequence makes it one of the best of the year as the knife gets twisted one final time for good measure. Saltburn ’s brain might not always equal its bite, but there’s so much self-assured showmanship that I was glad to get lost in this maze. Between being an Academy Award winner and displaying a strong disinterest in subtly, it’s hard to pin down exactly where Fennell will be pointing her darkly sharp pen and camera next. That’s just the way I want it to stay, as there’s always room for someone to push boundaries by going for broke with each step up to the plate. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Banshees of Inisherin September 12, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Banshees of Inisherin had its North American Premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Searchlight Pictures will release it in theaters on October 21. Fear not all you haters of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (of which there are a lot more of you than I originally thought), writer/director Martin McDonagh has left the United States and is going back to Ireland for his newest film, The Banshees of Inisherin . And that’s not even the best part, which is that he’s reteaming with his In Bruges duo of Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. Actually, that’s not the best part either. The best part is that this new dark comedy is hands-down the funniest film of the year and the finest work by McDonagh as both a writer and a director. Every afternoon when the hour hand hits two o’clock on the dot, the good-souled, yet a little dim, Pádraic (Farrell) leaves his cozy dairy farm to meet up with his best friend Colm (Gleeson), the more reserved and intellectually inclined one of the pair, down at the local pub. Colm has been tirelessly working on a new piece of music for his fiddle, one that he hopes will have him remembered long after he’s left this world. But on one fateful day, those formalities are interrupted by Colm’s sudden need to end their relationship. “I just don’t like you anymore” is what he gives as a reason, something Pádraic can’t comprehend. And to prove that he’s absolutely serious, Colm promises to cut off one of his fingers each time Pádraic attempts to speak to him. Will Colm actually go through with his threat? How can this friendship go on for decades ad then suddenly be declared over? And how will Pádraic respond after being dumped so brutally? McDonagh answers these questions with devilish honesty by giving you the results you expect, but not in the way you expect them to happen. He infuses a dark undercurrent into nearly every scene, with side-splitting banter leading to some brutal anecdotes on human relationships. As was alluded to in the plot description, Colm’s threat about his fingers leads to some squirm-inducing laughter down the road. That mixture of dark and light on the page is also evident in the direction. There’s some sumptuous cinematography (provided by go-to MCU DP Ben Davis, finally breaking free from CG-infested photography) of the titular island, with the green rolling hills cascading into the roaring sea. But not far on the other side of the water is the raging Irish Civil War, where friends turned on each other in a bloody conflict that didn’t accomplish much of anything. Sound familiar? Trying to keep the peace between the two warring (or “rowing” as it's said in the film) friends is Pádraic’s sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon, often stealing the show with her warmth), who seems to be the only sensible one who longs to be free from the doldrums of this community. Her task is made even more difficult with the presence of the town chaos agent, Dominic (Barry Keoghan, continuing his streak of playing freaky weirdos), who makes Pádraic look like Plato. With equally stunning turns in The Batman , After Yang , and Thirteen Lives , 2022 seems to be the year of Colin Farrell. For years his good looks have come with a monkey paw curse, as he was forced to star as boring leading men in cookie-cutter blockbusters (see The Recruit and S.W.A.T. ) Fortunately, a few directors, such as Yorgos Lanthimos and McDonagh, have been able to work his charm into something a little more unique. Farrell’s innocence as Pádraic is often heartbreaking as he deals with emotional torture. And even after fourteen years apart, his chemistry with Gleeson has never been better. Equally hilarious as it is disturbing, The Banshees of Inisherin finds Martin McDonagh, as well as his troupe of actors, in top form. There’s nothing quite like it, and it serves as another reminder that we should all be a little kinder to one another. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Golda August 22, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Author’s Note: This review may not contain a 100% factual retelling of the Yom Kippur War. The summarization of this conflict is based on the events shown within the film. Israeli prime minister Golda Meir (Helen Mirren) walks into her war room smoking a cigarette, likely her twelfth of the day. The generals are already seated, a small sign of disrespect that none of the previous male leaders had to endure. But this is not a time to dottle on manners, as Israel is under attack on two fronts: in the northern Golan Heights by Syria and the west Sinai Peninsula by Egypt. This would be the fourth war between the Arabs and the Israelis, with the first three ending with a swift Israeli victory. But this time is different, as the element of surprise is on the side of the Arabs. Meir now has the fate of the country on her shoulders, with total collapse imminently approaching if she doesn’t act precisely and decisively. Meir sits in meetings every day hearing either depressing or conflicting reports (often both). Some of her generals press her to counterattack the Arab forces, and some plead to hang back in defense and hope that the Americans will bring them enough supplies to hold out. There’s also the constant clacking of the stenographer's keys, regular cancer treatments, and the knowledge that Israel is increasingly becoming a land of widows and orphans by the day. Golda is as much a biopic about Meir as Lincoln is for Abraham Lincoln and Darkest Hour is for Winston Churchill. Nicholas Martin’s ( Florence Foster Jenkins ) script uses the nineteen-day crisis as an examination tool for Meir’s character. Those coming in without previous knowledge of the conflict will find themselves lost. A few shoddy visual recreations of the battlefields are used to help illustrate, but the majority of the action is heard through the radio chatter and backdoor channels. There’s also the unnecessary framing device of Meir testifying before the 1974 Agranat Commission that bookends the events of the film. Mostly it feels like a selfish opportunity for the filmmakers to prop Mirren’s performance up. Mirren, who might have been a lock for an Oscar nomination in a different era, brings Meir back from the dead. The pounds of makeup on her face and the frayed wig are a minor distraction during the early stages. A cigarette is always in her hand, a tool to punctuate every line reading or drag on a moment of silence. It’s baity work, but nonetheless extremely entertaining. Her scenes with the U.S. Secretor of State Henry Kissinger (Liev Schreiber) are the highlights, with the actors finally being allowed to have a little fun with the rigid material. An expository sizzle reel opens the film, providing a twenty-five-year history of the various Middle Eastern conflicts through newspaper headlines. Golda has about the same amount of depth throughout its next 100 minutes, with brief flashes here and there to keep things interesting. Mirren is a performer that deserves a part like this, but she also deserves a better film around her. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

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

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera January 10, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen January has never been a month known for quality when it pertains to the yearly cinematic timeline. While everyone's eyeballs are trained on the artier Oscar contenders, the studios dump their unwanted offspring into the multiplexes (this time last year featured such "classics" as Nightswim, I.S.S., Founders Day , and Miller's Girl ). Every once in a while you get a better-than-expected gem like my beloved The Beekeeper , an indulgent slice of junk food that hits the spot after months of vegetables. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera , the sequel to the 2018 crime film that has amassed a decent following over the years, aims to be that greasy burger you hate yourself for loving, although it leans a little too close to gas station quality rather than fast food. Donnie Wilson (O'Shea Jackson Jr.) has moved up in the world since we last saw him, graduating from the banks of Los Angeles to the diamond district of Europe. "It's the most secure building in continental Europe," says the concierge to Donnie as he goes undercover as a diamond seller to provide surveillance for his crew, a line that tells us all that we need to know about the outcome of this heist. 'Big Nick' O'Brien (Gerard Butler), on the other hand, is pissing his life away (both literally and figuratively) since Donnie outsmarted him. His divorce has been finalized and his job security is hanging by a thread, giving him enough of a reason to embrace the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" mantra and become part of Donnie's crew. Sequels are about doing more than the original, which Pantera does in a literal sense. The locations are swankier, the stakes are higher, and the plan is more complicated. However, all the supporting details are less valuable than before. The cast is less interesting and the plot is less comprehensible, leaving you yawning throughout the first half of this 148-minute beast. The only thing there's more of in those departments is the clichéd elements of previous heist films: people standing around the blueprint table explaining their roles, then later leaning over a balcony giving their backstory for why they got into this line of work. Those missteps can be slightly forgiven once the sun sets and the black ski masks are donned. Writer/director Christian Gudegast showed some remarkable chops as a first-time director of set pieces with the 2018 predecessor. He levels up his game here, trading in the loud bangs of gunfire for the silence of a job that goes according to plan. There's a great amount of tension as the crew shimmies across rooftops, moves through rooms undetected by security cameras, and places barriers at just the right angles to avoid motion detectors. Of course, things still go boom. Fast cars and machine guns become the weapons of choice, making this a gnarlier version of a Fast & Furious movie. Jackson Jr. and Butler match that brute explosiveness fairly well, although their chemistry works much better as antagonists as opposed to reluctant allies. All of this felt a little outdated in 2018, making it straight-up ancient in 2025. But that creakiness is part of the charm, flooding in rose-tinted memories of the heist movie of yesteryear. And as long as Michael Mann keeps taking his sweet time to deliver Heat 2 , these retrograde knockoffs are the best we're going to get, so we might as well be content with them. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Idea of You April 30, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Speaking to Vogue in 2020, the author of the 2017 book The Idea of You, Robinne Lee, stated that the protagonist of her novel, Hayes Campbell, was partly inspired by Harry Styles circa his days as part of One Direction. This came as a semi-confirmation to the biggest fan theory about the novel, as the similarities between the character and Styles (British, boy band, tattoos, young age, Coachella, etc.) were too eerie to ignore. It’s a good thing that Lee got ahead of the discourse when she did, as the visual incarnation of Hayes Campbell within director Michael Showalter’s film adaptation of her novel is far too compelling evidence to further ignore. Playing this universe’s version of Harry Styles is Nicholas Galitzine, moving up the book club heartthrob ladder after starring as Prince Henry in last year’s Prime Video release of Red, White & Royal Blue . Here he’s paired up with Anne Hathaway as Solène, a newly single mother nearing forty trying her best to quell the impending mid-life crisis. She has a sixteen-year-old daughter Izzy, a successful small-town art gallery, and a good group of friends. When her ex-husband bails at the last minute on taking Izzy and her friends to Coachella, Solène is the one to pick up the slack. Stuck in the middle of the desert surrounded by people less than half her age, she quickly finds the nearest spot that offers peace and quiet. But what she thinks is a VIP bathroom is actually the private one of Hayes Campbell, lead singer of the worldwide sensation boy band August Moon. This meet-cute ignites some serious sparks, with the pair slowly realizing that they do share some good chemistry. “Is this twenty-four-year-old kid flirting with me?” asks Solène in her head. It’s certainly a change of pace for her, and a bit nice to be on the other end of the stick as the cause for her divorce was that her ex-husband left her for a younger woman. But how will a relationship work between someone who never got to be a free adult, and someone who has only known total freedom? Showalter and co-writer Jennifer Westfeldt (co-writer/star of the early aughts indie sensation Kissing Jessica Stein ) probe the early romantic stages with a charming gracefulness, allowing the actors to work at their highest potential. Hathaway delivers one of her best performances, playing someone who has it all put together while simultaneously jumping off the deep end. She and Galitzine have a witty banter between them, making this romance both somewhat believable and rootable. It also doesn’t hurt that Showalter films the beautiful pair in some gorgeous locations such as Spanish beaches and the rain-swept streets of Paris. The second and third acts are when the film starts to flirt with some of its deeper themes, such as the price of fame and society’s value (or lack thereof) on women’s happiness. Contrary to hundreds of years of oppression, Solène chooses to live a bit vicariously and not have her well-being tied to her obligations. The online discourse around the pair’s romance is startling, to say the least, but there are quite a few stretches in logic in just how much the world at large gets swept up in this relationship. There’s also the predictability that comes with the will-they-won’t-they portion of the story. The more free-flowing style of the earlier portions is swapped for more stodgy conversations circling the question of how others will perceive the two together. There are moments when the material is on the cusp of a breakthrough, but the well-worn trappings of the genre and the need to be a crowd pleaser (even though there will be no in-person crowds to please due to the film’s Prime Video release) keep everything within a tidy box. There are much worse versions of The Idea of You in so many other multiverses, one of which likely has Styles playing Hayes Campbell in a much more winking fashion. We only need to look back on the one-two combo of My Policeman and Don’t Worry Darling to predict the outcome of that. The more adult version that we have in our universe gets the job done, becoming a respectable template of how to successfully do these book club adaptations. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Wonder November 4, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen One could be forgiven for believing that they are watching the wrong film based on the first image within Sebastián Lelio’s The Wonder . “We are nothing without stories, so we invite you to believe in this one,” narrates a mysterious whispery voice as we open with a shot of a modern soundstage, a far cry from the mid-19th century Irish countryside where the film takes place. But just as you're about to reach for your remote and back out to the main menu of Netflix, the camera pans to the right, revealing Florence Pugh’s character of widowed English nurse Elizabeth Wright as she’s making her voyage on a boat. And with that simple trick, Lelio has placed us within the shoes (or more accurately, muddy boots) of his main character, as we are reminded that movies, while made through proven science and craftsmanship, are most alluring when they make us suspend our disbelief. Wright’s journey takes her to a small village in Ireland, a place where religion and science often occupy the same spaces. She’s been summoned by a committee of the town’s highest-ranking elders, including a priest and a doctor (Ciarán Hinds and Toby Jones, respectively), to investigate an unexplainable phenomenon. 11-year-old Anna O’Donnell has gone without food for the past four months, surviving purely on “manna from heaven.” The child has been labeled a miracle by the townsfolk and receives visitors and press coverage from all over the land. Of course, this prolonged fast defies the laws of human anatomy, which is why the committee has summoned Wright and a nun, so that they may watch her all day and night and determine if the child truly is a blessing from above. Wright fills the role of the skeptic, never once believing (there’s that word again) that Anna and her family are telling the truth. She’s experienced enough despair in her life - including losing her child and husband, and serving during the bloodiest parts of the Crimean War - to doubt the existence, let alone the goodwill, of God. She observes Anna as she goes through her daily routine, one of constant prayer and giving and receiving love within her family, waiting for someone to crack under the pressure and reveal the whole thing as a sham. But Elizabeth’s beliefs begin to waver as the days drudge on and Anna continues to thrive without food, creating a constant battle between the known and the unknown. Centering his filmography around the themes of personal identity ( Disobedience, Oscar-winning A Fantastic Woman) , Lelio has often found silence to be the best judge of character. Adapting the novel by Emma Donoghue ( Room ), many of the pivotal scenes are pushed further based on observational glances. Pugh returns (not that she was gone that long) from her movie star escapades in Black Widow and Don’t Worry Darling to deliver a shimmeringly haunting performance. She may look and dress the part of Amy March in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women , but her demeanor couldn't be any more different as she brings a steely no-nonsense energy. Matthew Herbert’s off-kilter score, with its liberal use of percussion and non-period instruments, keeps you entranced toward the mystery, even if the material itself may not always be that consistently interesting. Things pick up steam near the end when the building blocks begin to tumble and desperate choices are made. The means to get there may not have been the most well-executed, but the outcome does provide a nice return on the initial investment. Through fine work from every facet of its production, The Wonder accomplishes what it sets out to do, telling a story I wholeheartedly believed. Much of what you take away from the film will be under the surface, possibly testing your ideals about the unexplainable within your own life. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Memoria July 15, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen Memoria had its World Premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Neon will release it in theaters on December 26. The work of Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul (try saying that five times fast) has never fully been able to register with audiences outside of the festival circuit. He has amassed universal critical acclaim since he graced the Cannes Riviera in 2004 with Tropical Malady . He creates gaps between his feature films by creating several short films, some of which eventually spawned into feature-length, such as the 2009 short A Letter to Uncle Boonmee becoming the 2010 Palme d’Or winning Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives . Now in 2021, Weerasethakul is stepping outside of his native Thailand for Memoria , (translated from the Latin word “memory”) which prompted another return to Cannes, this time netting him the Jury Prize. The first English-language film for Weerasethakul, Memoria is set in Colombia, following Tilda Swinton from destination to destination. The film opens with a surprising jumpscare illustrating our main character’s problem, which is that she often hears a loud crashing noise that seems to be confined entirely within her head. This noise confounds her, leading to an investigation into what exactly it is and why it is happening, which puts her in contact with a sound engineering student, a morgue doctor, and a strange fisherman offering profound insights on memory and identity. Those familiar with the work of Weerasethakul will know that the plot is not the driving force behind the ultimate narrative. Instead, the visuals and sound work do the bulk of the heavy lifting. Within Memoria , dialogue is seldom found for long stretches at a time, leaving the viewer to look at the screen like one would look at a painting, soaking in as much information as possible. This restriction of information will irritate those looking for answers to the questions the film raises, which Weerasethakul doesn’t have any intention of addressing. The Cannes World Premiere garnered nearly fifty walkouts from disgruntled viewers, and several nodding heads from the slow pacing that were often reawakened by the mysterious crashing noise, which shook the theatre. Swinton acts less like a character and more like a wandering observer. Never shot in closeup and always present of the world around her, she moves from place to place, learning new information about her condition, all without much dialogue from her end. The first half of the film is where Swinton does most of her traveling, which keeps the film moving at a steady, yet still slow, pace. Much of the “action” within these journeys would be considered filler in most mainstream projects, such as Swinton waiting patiently for the sound engineer to finish his work before addressing her, or an unbroken take consisting solely of car alarms going off. The last hour of the film is where some will applaud and others will boo (just as they did at the world premiere). Swinton’s final journey takes her to a remote village housing a fisherman who claims to remember everything about his life. The two of them engage in an extended conversation that explores the strange connection they share. To an extent, the conversation acts as a vessel for Weerasethakul to talk to his audience about his ideas about cinema and life. It’s a bold move by a director not known for boldness, and is one that teeters reshapes the way you look at the world at its best and teeters on self-aggrandizing at its worst. Weerasethakul ties his thesis up in a perfect bow with an ultimate answer that is fittingly incomprehensible and produces several more questions. Memoria is a work for the cinephiles that need an escape from the noise of the modern world. It’s wildly beautiful and imaginative, all while challenging your patience and viewpoints. Go in with an open mind, and you find yourself enlightened. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Lost Bus October 3, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Lost Bus had its World Premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Apple TV+ will release it in theaters on September 19, followed by its streaming premiere on October 03. A sad truth came to light the other day when I was having dinner with a friend. I was recounting my recent trip to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), divulging the good, the bad, and the ugly. I eventually got to the part of my schedule that included The Lost Bus , which I described as the new Matthew McConaughey film about the California wildfires. "Which one?" my friend asked, a question that immediately contextualized the climate situation we're increasingly facing. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, nine of the ten largest wildfires in California history have occurred within the last ten years. As I'm writing this review on September 24th, three new wildfires have been reported in the state. The most destructive and deadliest wildfire in California history was the 2018 Camp Fire. This is where The Lost Bus gets its story from, beginning one day earlier on November 07, 2018. McConaughey plays Kevin McKay, a down-on-his-luck school bus driver in the town of Paradise. He's been divorced from his wife for a few years, his teenage son doesn't like him, his mom requires increased medical care, and he just had to put his dog down due to old age. He's begging for extra shifts at work to help with financial problems. The roads can be windy as he takes the kids to and from school, and his bus is in dire need of maintenance. In short, everything is already hanging on by a thread. A faulty utility tower sets off a spark among some brush. A passerby on the highway calls in the small fire, and the trucks are on their way. By the time they get there, the dry conditions and gusty winds have already made this nuisance into a problem. From there, the area of danger keeps getting bigger... and bigger... and bigger. The situation eventually got so bad that the strategy shifted from fighting the fire to saving lives, as doing both became mutually exclusive. By the end, eighty-five were killed and tens of thousands of homes were destroyed. Co-writer/director Paul Greengrass is the perfect person to helm this harrowing story on a macroeconomic level, having previously explored the matter-of-fact horrors of modern history with United 93 , Captain Phillips , and 22 July . Multiple scenes are dedicated to the logistics of fighting a fire of this size. How big is the area of containment right now, and where will it be in a few hours? When should the public be alerted, and what roads need to be cleared for a safe evacuation? How many trucks need to be requested as backup from the neighboring districts? The list goes on and on, and the time crunch gets progressively more severe. It's propulsively taut, with a no-nonsense lesson about how these situations have been dangerously exacerbated by a lack of accountability and preparation by our country's leaders and corporations. Once the microscope is zoomed in on Kevin, things get a lot more Hollywood-ized. Greengrass and co-writer Brad Ingelsby hammer home Kevin's status as an underdog and reluctant hero. He's just trying to get back home as the alerts start going out, and is the only bus within the vicinity of an elementary school with a class of twenty-two children whose parents couldn't pick them up. America Ferrera plays their teacher, essentially herding cats as everyone starts to sense that things are about to get much worse. The bus plows through smoke and debris as the rendezvous point constantly changes, with communication getting increasingly difficult. Greengrass overplays his hand during these moments. The camera snakes through a very digital fire, treating it like the shark from Jaws on its way to eat the children. All of them are just statistics for the plot, blankly reacting in fear to what's going on around them. McConaughey and Ferrera do decent work as their characters trade stories about their hopes and dreams. It's the same beats we've seen in every inspirational story "based on true events," ending on a small note of positivity about overcoming this tragedy. A decision was probably made at the pre-production stage to commit more to that angle than the docudrama about how hope is getting thinner by the day. I'd say they made the wrong choice, as Mother Nature continually proves that we're well past the point of wrapping these horrors with neat little bows. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen