The Friend March 28, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen I first saw The Friend as part of the Toronto International Film Festival back in September, squeezing it into my schedule on the final Saturday, making it the second-to-last film in my 37-film bonanza. I rushed over to the Scotiabank Theatre from the premiere of The Deb , scarfing down a corn dog as the festival volunteer rattled off the perfunctory introductory remarks. I then scurried out of the theater as soon as the credits began, my body and mind in go mode as I went a few blocks to catch the Midnight Madness screening of The Shadow Strays . What I just described in that four-ish hour chunk illustrates the sins of my gluttony when it comes to film festivals. In the race to see everything, many films become boxes to check off. The Friend was one of those films, largely due to the fact that it didn't grab me right away, making it easy to shrug off. But in the six months since then, it's lingered moderately well, raising my guilt as to how I originally treated it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Df2g0Gl6o If your best friend were to die and their will stipulated that you adopt their miniature horse, would you be able to do it? Let's also preface that question with the fact that you're not a pet person, and you have a rent-controlled apartment in Manhattan that prohibits animals in the building. This is the central question posed to Iris (Naomi Watts) after her best friend Walter (Bill Murray) suddenly dies from suicide. Now, Walter didn't own a literal miniature horse in New York City. No, that would be absurd. But he did have a 185-pound Great Dane named Apollo that he adopted in a spur-of-the-moment decision while he was out on a jog. Now that Walter is gone, the dog has no master and will be indefinitely impounded if Iris doesn't step up to the plate. Suddenly coming home with a horse-sized dog is not a surprising move for Walter. He's also got three ex-wives - Elaine (Carla Gugino), Tuesday (Constance Wu), and Barbara (Noma Dumezweni) - as well as numerous flings with current and former students. He's the Bill Murray type, the life of every party and a lovable headache for everyone who gets close to him, Iris included. Murray's casting is pretty spot-on compared to the description from Sigrid Nunez's novel (she also wrote What Are You Going Through , the basis for the recent Pedro Almodóvar film The Room Next Door ), and his larger-than-life presence is always felt despite his limited screentime. For as much as The Friend would seem like the typical "dog helps a depressed human land back on their feet" kind of film, the writer/director duo of David Siegel and Scott McGehee flips much of that script. Dogs may be known as man's best friend, which would also mean we're their best friend. You'd be depressed if your best friend unexpectedly committed suicide, so why wouldn't a dog? Apollo is played by the canine actor Bing, who showcases his immense skills as a thespian. Bing/Apollo doesn't have the wet eyes of your usual cinematic dogs, something that always felt like a bit of a cheat code to our hearts. His face is blank as he solemnly stares at Iris whenever she tries to command him; his sighs are heavy every time he plops down in her bed. Things still move in a pretty predictable pattern. Iris' initial frustrations eventually become opportunities for her to embrace the chaos and redefine her life. Watts is at her usual best, working with a sturdy supporting cast and a few standout cathartic scenes. Dog lovers are very much the target audience for this story, and I'm sure they're going to eat it up. But even if you're someone like me who is neither a pet person nor found myself immediately hooked by what's being sold, allow it to linger in the days and weeks that follow. Like adopting an animal, this is a long-term investment. Bleecker Street will release The Friend in select theaters on March 28th, followed by a nationwide expansion on April 04th. More Reviews Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Teen Sex & Death at Camp Miasma August 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Pain Hustlers October 24, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen GMP: “Grey Matters Productions, how may I help you?” N: “Hello, this is Netflix. We worked with you guys on The Laundromat and Yes Day a few years back, and wanted to see if you were interested in partnering up again?” GMP: “Oh, hi Netflix! I gotta say I’m a little surprised you called since… well, let’s be honest, those two movies didn’t exactly pan out the way we planned.” N: “I know, but we’re in the business of hitting quotas and churning out as much content as possible. Quality is a little lower on the hierarchy of needs. Plus, the third time is the charm, right?” GMP: “I guess you’re right when you put it that way. So, what do you have in mind?” N: “We’d like to make a movie about the opioid epidemic — a takedown of Big Pharma.” GMP: “Hasn’t that already been done to death over the past few years? Hulu had that show Dopesick that won a couple of Emmys a few years ago, and Laura Poitras’ All the Beauty and the Bloodshed just won the Golden Lion at Venice last year for her story about Nan Goldin and the downfall of the Sackler family. It seems like the market is overly saturated, and the bar has been set relatively high. Wait, didn’t you just release a show called Painkiller a few months ago about the Sacklers?” N: “I’ll admit, we got beat to the market in this area. But we’re Netflix, we never let being late to the punch stop us from getting in on the action. Remember Red Notice ? We did that after everyone was already getting sick of Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Gadot. And we still gave Joe and Anthony Russo hundreds of millions to make The Gray Man after Cherry . No one else on the planet would do that besides us.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbPeXsdamT4 GMP: “You do put your money where your mouth is, I’ll give you that. And at least you’re not Amazon. People actually watch the stuff you pour generations' worth of wealth into, even if they don’t like it. Speaking of the Russos and Amazon, did you see Citadel , supposedly the second-most-expensive show ever produced?” N: “No, of course not! But we are giving them another $200 million to make another action-adventure movie starring Chris Pratt.” GMP: “I don’t think you know what irony is. Whatever, alright, we can do this Big Pharma movie with you. We’ve got this book we bought the rights to called The Pain Hustlers about these two charismatic young people getting caught up in illegal pharmaceutical selling.” N: “Awesome! Who should we get to direct this? We need it to be fun and palatable enough so people will look up from their phones on the couch. But we also need a simplistic message about how all of this is bad.” GMP: “Okay, so you want something that’ll make it on your top 10 list on its opening weekend and then never to be talked about again? N: “That’s our specialty!” GMP: “Let’s see, Martin Scorsese did The Wolf of Wall Street a few years ago, and that was a big success. You guys just worked with him on The Irishman . Is there any chance you can get him back? Or maybe Steven Soderbergh? I could get him on the phone and see if he’s interested.” N: “No, those guys were expensive and wanted full control of their work. We’re moving towards directors that are just big of a name to be on the poster, but not big enough that we can still tell them exactly what to do.” GMP: “[flipping through the rolodex] Well, there’s this guy called David Yates that’s available. He just came off the Fantastic Beasts trilogy so you can get him on the cheap. But he doesn’t have a discernible style, so he wouldn’t be a good fit for this angle you want.” N: “Ehh, that doesn’t matter. We’ll take him! I think we can make up for it by having a couple of hundred ChatGPT bots watch some Scorsese movies and then edit the film.” GMP: “I don’t think that’s how that works, but it’s your money. Well since we cheaped out on the director, can we at least spend some decent money on the stars? After all, you have built your brand around paying ungodly amounts of money to movie stars. How about Emily Blunt and Chris Evans? Both charismatic actors and Evans check off your obligatory Russo box.” N: “That sounds good. Blunt will be great in the role. Can we make Evans do a vague Boston accent even though he’s terrible at it? Oh, and can we make this whole thing a mockumentary? All the kids love those!” GMP: “I’ll let Evans do the accent because it would be fun to see him fail. But I don’t think the mockumentary angle is a good idea since that’s also been overplayed.” N: “Well, The Office was too much of a success on our platform so we have to do it. Hmmm. Alright, we’ll just do half of it. Like, we’ll lean on it heavily in the opening and then drop it for an hour before abruptly bringing it back right at the end.” GMP: “That seems a little haphazard and might mess with the tonal balance. But I get what you’re saying. You don’t want to mess with the algorithm. Alright, so I’ve got you down for the film rights, Yates, Blunt, and Evans. Your total will be $58 million, plus a few extra $10 million payments for marketing.” N: “Wow, only $58 million?!? I guess this is what it feels like to be making indie movies?” GMP: “Are you doing cash or card?” N: “Can you just put it on my tab? I’ve already got $14 billion on there right now so it just makes sense to keep adding to that. Don’t worry, we’ll pay it off eventually.” GMP: “I really shouldn’t, since you still owe me for those other two movies, but what the hell, why not? Alright, we’ll have that order ready for you in October.” N: “One more thing! Can you have it ready by September? I want to debut it at the Toronto International Film Festival and start the buzz rolling early.” GMP: “Sure thing! We’ll just have to trim around the edges a little bit. You’ll probably lose about 10% in quality from what we already planned, but that doesn’t matter since we’re already making a movie no one will care about anyway!” This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Netflix will release Pain Hustlers in select theaters on October 20th, followed by its streaming premiere on October 27th. More Reviews Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Teen Sex & Death at Camp Miasma August 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Hubie Halloween October 15, 2020 By: Button Hunter Friesen Last year, Adam Sandler said that if he didn’t win an Oscar for his role as Howard Ratner in the Safdie brothers’ film Uncut Gems , he would then make the worst movie of his career on purpose. It was a bold claim to make, especially considering Sandler is the one responsible for Jack and Jill and Pixels , two movies that almost made me quit watching movies altogether. Oscar nomination morning came in January, and Sandler’s name wasn’t called when they announced the Best Actor lineup. I gasped and immediately checked Sandler’s IMDb page and noticed that he had a new movie called Hubie Halloween that would premiere on October 7. I knew that day would be the day of reckoning, the day Sandler would take his revenge on all of us. October 7 arrived, and Hubie Halloween premiered on Netflix as promised. To my surprise, the movie was only passably bad and not the ungodly abomination we were led to believe. Hubie Halloween takes place over the spookiest month of the year in Salem, Massachusetts. Hubie Dubois (Sandler) is the town’s self-appointed Halloween safety monitor. Because of his overall demeanor and lack of style, Hubie is the most bullied person in town. But this year’s Halloween will be like no other as a mental patient has escaped from the local lockup and town residents are disappearing one by one throughout the night. Like all underdog stories, it’s up to Hubie to save Halloween. And as always, there’s a love interest that is way out of his league that he will attempt to win over. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY3SuNvqQPw If you’re familiar with Sandler’s filmography, you’ll notice that the cast is stacked with the usual crowd of Sandler’s buddies and Saturday Night Live alums. Kevin James, Rob Schneider, Steve Buscemi, June Squibb, Tim Meadows, Maya Rudolph, Julie Bowen, and Shaquille O’Neal round out the supporting cast here. Trying to fit all these characters and give them their own little moments makes Hubie Halloween a tiresome experience. Even at 102 minutes (with 15 of those minutes for the credits), much of the runtime feels padded to make way for one-note gags about physical deformities and poop & pee jokes. At least there isn’t the casual racism and sexism that Sandler used to parade around in his movies. He is growing up; just really, really slowly. What hasn’t grown up is Sandler’s schtick. Like Will Ferrell and Jim Carrey, Sandler’s brand of humor doesn’t age well once you pass the age of 20. It also doesn’t help that Sandler is now 54 years old and has been playing the same character for nearly four decades. Hubie Dubois is a near replication of Sandler’s role as Bobby Boucher from 1998’s The Waterboy . Like Bobby, Hubie lives with his oblivious mother and talks with a weird mumbly accent. At least Bobby’s accent was explained as that movie took place in Louisiana. Hubie’s weird manner of speaking is never explained and exponentially grates as time goes on. It’s both commendable and sad to see Sandler play a loser for what seems like the one-millionth time. While any praise given to Hubie Halloween is minor in scale, it is worth mentioning. The moments where the movie steps away from reality and enters more surreal territory make for enjoyable bits. Hubie’s seemingly magic thermos - which acts as a vacuum, flashlight, megaphone, and grappling hook - does provide a chuckle here and there. Some of the supporting performances within Hubie Halloween do provide some slight fun. Steve Buscemi is allowed to embrace his quirky self as an elderly werewolf who has just moved next door to Hubie. June Squibb is also great as Hubie’s mother. Unawarely dressed in sexually promiscuous t-shirts, Squibb plays the usual mother role quite well. Even though her character would fail the Bechdel test in a heartbeat, Julie Bowen does some pleasant work as Hubie’s love interest. Rob Schneider and Maya Rudolph are great because they limit their dialogue to only a few lines. The more they speak, the worse the movie gets. Considering how 2020 has gone so far, Adam Sandler delivering his worst movie would have fit right in. Thankfully, the Sandman let us off easy and only gave us an inoffensively bad movie that could have been a lot worse. Maybe it was all part of his master plan to quell our expectations and have us grade this on a curve. Whatever the reason may be, I’ll count my blessings and pray that Sandler doesn’t try to deliver on his promise anytime soon. Netflix will release Hubie Halloween on its streaming service on October 07th. More Reviews Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Teen Sex & Death at Camp Miasma August 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Banshees of Inisherin September 12, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRu3zLOJN2c 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. This review was originally published from the North American premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Searchlight Pictures will release The Banshees of Inisherin in select theaters on October 21st. More Reviews Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Teen Sex & Death at Camp Miasma August 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Electric State March 12, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Have you ever wondered why Netflix keeps hiking up the price of its streaming service? Beyond the simple answer that they can do whatever they want now that they’re the top dog in streaming (What are you gonna do? Go over to Peacock?), all that extra cash is needed to fund their quarterly ventures into blockbuster filmmaking. Q1 2025’s splashy title for the next investor meeting is The Electric State , which reportedly comes for $320 million, putting it within shouting distance of some of the most expensive movies ever made. This comes as no surprise, considering directors Anthony and Joe Russo are at the helm. They’ve displayed their expertise in creating entertainment out of the GDPs of small island nations numerous times before with their Captain America and Avengers films. Seeing all those box office dollars flowing like Niagara Falls, Netflix quickly snatched up the brothers, but not before they took forgettable detours to rival streamers Apple TV+ and Amazon with Cherry and Citadel , respectively. The Gray Man didn’t start the franchise that Netflix desperately needed, even with Captain America himself, Chris Evans, as a headliner. And now with Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon films and Red Notice failing to do the same, the steamer is back to the Russos in another attempt to become one of the big boy studios. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpN98z8Kf5E But just as one could tell once video games and other tie-ins were announced before the film had even been seen by the public, the desperation for this film to be in the first of a franchise permeates through each unremarkable frame, cloying emotional moment, and generic punchline. The Russos may be great at getting stuff over the finish line, but this is another reminder that they’re pretty inept when it comes to starting from scratch. Loosely adapting from the 2018 illustrated novel by Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag of the same name, the Russos and their ever-dependable screenwriting team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely center the story around Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown), a teenage girl all alone after her family was killed in a car crash. While she was in the hospital recovering, humanity waged a war against the worker robots that Walt Disney created back in the 1950s to lighten our load. These bots wanted personal freedom, something we weren’t willing to accommodate. Humans won the war thanks to the obviously evil techno billionaire Ethan Skate (Stanley Tucci), and all robots were deemed illegal and cast off to the Exclusionary Zone in the deserts of the southwest. As it turns out, Michelle’s brother is alive, his unconscious brain being used as the battery that powers the entire neural network that Skate’s corporation uses to control the masses. Yes, this plot is pretty much as dumb on celluloid as on paper. To break him out of his prison, Michelle will have to break the downtrodden veteran robots out of their prison, led by an animatronic Mr. Peanut. It’s obvious that the war chest Netflix threw at this production didn’t go into the screenplay, a dime-a-dozen story of a messianic teenager who leads the unlikely forces of good against an evil, domineering superpower. Even the relationship between Michelle and her brother is delivered in shorthand flashback scenes where the siblings only speak in big emotions as Alan Silvestri’s score reaches for the heavens. Silvestri is famous for being Robert Zemeckis’ go-to composer, a director who could have brought something interesting to this material if it were published back in his heyday. The effects/animatronics are very impressive, with robots of all shapes and sizes given a unique design and personality, providing several opportunities for famous actors to appear as voiceovers. Ke Huy Quan as a makeshift Windows PC and Jenny Slate as Penny Pal, the mailwoman, are notable highlights. Unsurprisingly, Chris Pratt has great chemistry with his CGI robot sidekick Herman, exceptionally and sneakily voiced by Anthony Mackie. There are also blink-and-you-miss-it roles for Jason Alexander, Holly Hunter, Hank Azaria, and Colman Domingo. Watching all of this never come to fruition was not an enjoyable experience, but it wasn’t a total waste of time, either. This is a prototypical four-quadrant film aimed to attract the maximum amount of eyeballs from around the world. While I don’t think anyone will be offended by what it offers, I also doubt anyone will be wholly pleased. Netflix will release The Electric State on its streaming service on March 14th. More Reviews Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Teen Sex & Death at Camp Miasma August 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Darkest Hour January 12, 2018 By: Button Hunter Friesen Every year, there is bound to be a biopic that is released in the middle of awards season. Films like The Social Network, The King’s Speech , and A Beautiful Mind have come along and won major awards, telling the story of famous men. Darkest Hour perfectly fits this description and will certainly be an active member of this year's awards race. An outstanding and unrecognizable performance from Gary Oldman, along with great direction from Joe Wright. While it falls into some conventional trappings, the overall quality is still good and makes for an interesting character of one of history’s greatest leaders. The setting of the film is during the month of May 1940. We witness Churchill at his most vulnerable as he has just been given a huge amount of power in a time of looming terror. He has enemies on the opposing side of the war, but also enemies within Parliament as they take problems with his leadership. A large part of the film covers Churchill's decision on how to deal with the battle of Dunkirk, which, like the title, was one of Britain's darkest hours. From here, we follow Churchill as he tries to find a solution to a momentous problem that could spell disaster for England and the rest of Europe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtJ60u7SUSw The film can get slow and repetitive at some points since it carries a 125-minute runtime and is mainly about Churchill’s decision over Dunkirk and the Nazis. Specific arguments and facts are over-explained to the point where the film becomes somewhat predictable as to what the characters are going to say. There is a small storyline about Churchill’s objectors within Parliament, led by the ousted Neville Chamberlain, but that plot wears thin quickly and doesn’t come to a very satisfactory end. Some overly cinematic moments are distractingly over the top and take away from smaller scenes that carry more weight to the story. Apart from its small problems, Darkest Hour has a very good script that gives Oldman many opportunities to shine. The dialogue between Churchill and other politicians is almost Sorkin-like in its way to move at a very quick pace, but also gives you the information you need. The moments between Churchill and his wife are also touchingly done, as both find solace in each other's company in troubled times. Darkest Hour is a perfect companion piece to Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk , the other brilliant film that came out this year, featuring the titular battle. While Dunkirk showcases the real fight on the beaches, Darkest Hour lets the audience witness how Britain’s leaders reacted to such a major battle. Seeing both together allows the viewer to see both a first-hand and a second-hand account of one of the biggest points of conflict in human history. With experience in period-piece films such as Atonement and Pride & Prejudice , director Joe Wright expertly knows how to stage and execute a film with lots of dialogue and grand sets. Most times, we are literally following behind Churchill as the camera travels with him. We see his journey from his home, Parliament, and Buckingham Palace. It is all impressively done and superbly showcases the grandness of London in such dreary times. There is also a wonderful score from Dario Marianelli that mixes both booming and soft orchestral music. The music usually hides in the background until just the right moment to grab your attention. A highlight is at the very end of the film when Churchill makes his famous speech. Even though he is in practically every scene of the film, Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill is so good that I wish there were more of him. He perfectly captures Churchill's brutish tone and attitude, but also shows his softer side when he is away from the public. Oldman also plays excellently off all his supporting cast members, most notably Kristin Scott Thomas as his wife and Ben Mendelsohn as King George VI. We also get a larger supporting role from Lily James as Churchill's assistant. When we are not following Churchill, we are focused on her character and the journey she went through being a witness t to one of history's most powerful figures. While Oldman takes command and gives us an inside look at Churchill, James holds her own by letting us see how others saw him on the outside. Any actor who wishes to play Churchill in the future will now have to live up to the unrealistically high bar Oldman has just raised. Awards will surely, and deservedly, go to him, but also should go to Bruno Delbonnel for his cinematography and Dario Marianelli for his score. Not since Lincoln has a film done such an incredible job examining a historical figure and making us feel like we are right in the middle of history. Focus Features will release Darkest Hour in select theaters on November 22nd, followed by a nationwide expansion on December 22nd. More Reviews Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Teen Sex & Death at Camp Miasma August 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Swan Song January 15, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen Mahershala Ali has never been the lead in a motion picture. I’ll give you some time to open up his IMDb page and fact-check me on that one. Yes, I am correct in saying that two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali ( Moonlight & Green Book ) has never had a leading role in a film. Granted, he’s led a television show with the third season of True Detective and will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the vampire hunter, Blade. But up until Swan Song , Ali has always been relegated to a supporting role. It’s an unfortunate fact that an actor of Ali’s caliber has had to wait as long as he has to get the star treatment. And it’s a coincidence that Lupita Nyong’o, also an Academy Award winner ( 12 Years a Slave ), is opening her new film, The 355 , at the same time as Swan Song . Nyong'o's role in the female-led spy thriller is only her sixth in-person role since her 2013 Oscar win, with only two of those being lead roles (2019’s Us & Little Monsters ). It speaks to a larger, more systematic problem that these actors of color are not getting the leading roles they deserve. How many great performances and awards do these actors need to accumulate before they can get roles that match their talent? But that conversation is beyond this review’s scope and is best handled by people more qualified. So, let’s focus back on the topic at hand, which is Swan Song . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxftqrrlSqc Swan Song makes Ali’s first lead role a memorable one, as we get two of him for the price of one. How is this possible, you ask? Well, human cloning has become a reality in the near future. For Cameron Turner (Ali), this presents an existential dilemma. He’s dying of a terminal illness, which he hasn’t told his wife (Naomie Harris), or his 8-year-old son. This cowardice grants him an incredibly rare opportunity provided by Dr. Scott (Glenn Close). The good doctor offers Cameron the opportunity to clone himself, sparing his family from the pain of losing a loved one. The clone will have all of Cameron’s memories and behaviors, and be completely indistinguishable. Before the real Cameron dies, the clone will take his place and live out his life as if nothing ever happened. Only the real Cameron will know the truth. But can a clone - even the most perfect one imaginable - seamlessly take the place of a human being? Marking his feature directorial debut after winning the 2016 Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short, Benjamin Cleary looks to tackle that question. But he doesn’t address it as a sort of Turing Test where the stakes revolve around the family finding out the truth. Instead, Cleary goes around that cheap gimmick and looks at both the moral and ethical stances on the issue. The question isn’t if the clone can do what it’s supposed to do, but if it should . Is Cameron making the right decision by lying to his family to protect them? Is leaving his wife and son with a clone more of a betrayal than leaving them altogether? These are the questions that Cleary doesn’t decide for the viewer. Rather, he supplies you with the tools to come to your conclusion. It’s a slow burn with a lot going on, even if not a lot happens on screen. That's because all of the action takes place within your head as Cleary puts you into Cameron’s shoes. You’re constantly comparing his actions to the ones you think you would make. The best films bury themselves in your head while watching. You wrestle with them in the moment and continue to interact with them long after they’re over. And with the help of production designer Annie Beachamp, Cleary has created a near-future world that is perfectly believable. The production design may be the reason why Apple bought the film, as many of the sets share the same clean and sleek design that the tech giant uses for its storefronts. The futuristic technology within the film, such as holographic displays and virtual reality that doesn't require a headset, is so seamlessly blended in that you’re never aware that this technology doesn’t exist yet. Other recent films, such as Gemini Man, have treated human cloning as the peak of human invention. But in Swan Song , it’s simply a part of life that has naturally sprung from technological progress. Mahershala Ali has never turned in a bad performance. At worst, he’s done fair work in poor films ( Alita: Battle Angel & Free State of Jones ). Here, Cleary serves him well. He’s incredibly compelling in his dual roles, pulling off the complex feat of differentiating the two Camerons just enough so that we can tell the difference, but also believe why the other characters can’t. Awkwafina plays a dying patient who’s already completed the cloning process. Lulu Wang’s The Farewell proved that Awkwafina can dig deeper than just lowbrow comedy, and this is a reminder of that fact. She shares some wonderful scenes with Ali, as both of their characters come to terms with the decision that they have made. The term “swan song” refers to the final performance of a public figure, such as an athlete or performer. As a title, it’s a fitting term that encapsulates so much of what the film is about. Luckily, the term doesn’t describe any of the talent associated with the film, as this is only the beginning of Benjamin Cleary’s promising career, and of this new phase of Mahershala Ali where his talent is front and center. Apple Original Films will release Swan Song in select theaters and on streaming on December 17th. More Reviews Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Teen Sex & Death at Camp Miasma August 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Awards Update: Post-Cannes Realignment June 18, 2024 By: Hunter Friesen Welcome to an ongoing series where I cover the 2024/2025 awards season. On a regular basis, I will update my Oscar predictions, taking into account the new information that has been received since the last update. Full predictions in every category can be found on the Home and Awards page. Two of the Big Five (plus Telluride as the unofficial sixth member) film festivals have concluded for the year, which means it's time to take stock of where we are in the Oscar race. The chants of "U-S-A!" rang throughout the Palais a few Saturdays ago as Sean Baker’s New York-set Anora took home the Palme d’Or, the first American film to reign victorious since Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life in 2011. Having attended the festival and seen the film for myself, I can say that Anora is Baker’s best shot yet to gain some Oscar recognition. It’s his most commercial film, a laugh-out-loud comedy that manages to instill some social and political commentary along the way. It’s also overlong and not his most incisive work, but the sheer amount of fun it incites makes up for that. Given the recently announced October 18 release date by Neon, the film will most likely replicate the rollout strategy of Red Rocket . Splashy appearances at Telluride and the New York Film Festival are almost a given, with the biggest question being the possibility of a stop at TIFF. You’d have to go back to 2008’s The Class to find a Palme d’Or winner that didn’t make an appearance at TIFF, with, coincidentally, The Tree of Life being the exception as it released in theaters in June. You’d then have to go back to 2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to find a film that premiered in Cannes and then went on to win the TIFF People’s Choice Award. Parasite came close in 2019 as it won the Palme d’Or and then placed in the second runner-up position at TIFF. Given my audience’s reaction to Anora , and that of critics, I think there’s a strong possibility that it places well at TIFF, if it decides to show. Neon has taken each of their four previous Palme d’Or winners ( Parasite , Titane , Triangle of Sadness , Anatomy of a Fall ) to TIFF, with three of them earning a Best Picture nomination later down the line ( Titane was never going to be serious Oscar player). As for nomination outcomes Anora could replicate, I’d look towards the strictly above-the-line, overall low-nomination players such as Licorice Pizza , Women Talking , and Past Lives . An Original Screenplay nomination feels like a lock at this point, with Best Director being in the mix. I was hesitant about both Jonathan Glazer and Justine Triet last year, so Baker finding his way into the final five would not surprise me. Staying within the winner’s circle, Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light marked a triumphant return for India to the Croisette after a nearly thirty-year absence. Janus Films holds the domestic distribution rights, the same company that guided Drive My Car ’s hugely successful and influential underdog campaign in 2021. The reactions out of Cannes for Kapadia’s film are just as high as they were for Hamaguchi’s. We’ll just have to wait and see how much the critical enthusiasm for the film survives until later in the year, as Drive My Car didn’t announce itself as a serious Oscar player until it won the Best Picture prize from all three major U.S. critics groups (LAFCA, NYFCC, NSFC). There’s also the problem of Kapadia not being a popular figure by the Indian government , which dampens the film’s chances of being submitted for Best International Feature. The French/Mexican production Emilia Perez will surely find itself submitted by the former country, save for the unlikely possibility of another French film stealing the spotlight during the fall festivals. Netflix made the splashiest acquisition of the festival when it scooped up the domestic distribution rights, a move that bodes well for the number of eyeballs that will be fixated on this Spanish-language crime musical. At the moment, I’m still questioning what kind of Oscar player it will be. I could equally see a scenario where it nabs a half-dozen nominations, including Best Picture, and a scenario where it just finds itself with a single ho-hum placement in Best International Feature. While I certainly didn’t envision Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness to be as dominant as The Favourite and Poor Things , I did think the vibe would have been a little more Oscar-friendly. The good-but-not-great reactions and quick release don’t bode well for the film, which is making me lower its overall nomination total from six (including Best Picture), to just a namecheck nomination in Best Original Screenplay, which I’ll likely drop once the fall festivals reveal more contenders. I can confidently say that Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis will not be an Oscar player in any category, as most of the negative aspects of my mixed review stemmed from the film’s poor production values and acting. Its recent acquisition by Lionsgate doesn’t add any strength to its chances, but it does make me happy that more people will be able to see it. Still stuck in destitution hell is Ali Abassi’s Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice , of which I was a big fan. I’d still be a bit skeptical of the film’s awards chances if it had landed a distribution deal at the festival, so the lack of one really puts a dent in any hope one might have for it. Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig was certainly my Palme d’Or prediction going into the final day, so walking away only with a Special Prize of the Jury certainly felt like a disappointment. I’m sure Neon felt the same way as they picked up the film midway through the festival. The critical reception is still quite high, so there’s a chance it could find some critics' group love later in the year. Iran will not be submitting it for Best International Feature, and I’m not sure Neon will be giving it the push it needs now that its eggs are firmly in the Anora basket. The rest of the summer season will be spent evaluating likely below-the-line players such as Twisters , Deadpool & Wolverine , and Alien: Romulus . We’ll also be getting a steady dripping of fall festival rumors and lineup announcements. I’ll have another update in a few months before the fall festivals commence. More Reviews Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Teen Sex & Death at Camp Miasma August 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen

Past Lives June 16, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen One of the great things about cinema is that you can give the same idea to a dozen different filmmakers and get a dozen different results. A little over a year ago, A24 was dominating the critical and commercial landscape with Everything Everywhere All at Once . The Daniels’ wildly imaginative multiversal action-comedy resonated with so many (and took home a modern-day record of seven Academy Awards) because of its perfect mix of zaniness and down-to-earth tackling of topics such as “How did I get to where I am?” and “What could my life look like if I had done something differently?” Proving that snowflake cinema theory, writer/director Celine Song has taken those same themes and made something totally different for her debut feature film, Past Lives , which A24 is rolling out into theaters now after overwhelmingly successful showings at this year’s Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals. No matter if it was doomed from the start or received a storybook ending, everyone remembers their first love. For Na Young and Hae Sung, it seemed like they were destined for each other. Both were overachievers at their South Korean middle school, constantly battling to avoid the dreaded runner-up position below the other. Even as children, they and their parents could see that there was something special between them, almost as if they could see into each other’s souls. Unfortunately, that indescribable bond couldn’t overcome everything, as Na Young and her family immigrated to Canada, severing the relationship right then and there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA244xewjcI A dozen years pass before they enter each other’s lives again, this time through Skype as Na Young (Greta Lee), now named Nora, lives in New York, and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) still resides in Seoul. It’s obvious to both of them that that bond still exists, but neither can leap the “we should” level (“We should visit each other,” “We should stay in touch more…”). A dozen more years go by in the blink of an eye. Nora is now married to Arthur (John Magaro), and Hae Sung is coming to visit New York. What will happen when the two childhood sweethearts come face-to-face for the first time in two decades, and how will it affect the lives they’ve each built for themselves over that time? The film opens with an observational shot from across a bar as Nora, Hae Sung, and Arthur sit and talk. Two unseen patrons try to guess what the dynamic of this triangle is. Eventually, the camera pushes in on Nora, with her staring right back at the questioners and us. She smiles, for only she knows the answer. Perspective and perception are the keys to Song’s screenplay, which uses a vast amount of space and time to tell an epically intimate story. There are two versions for each of these characters: the concept that is seen through the eyes of others, and the other version that is only seen by the camera. Shabier Kirchner stunningly photographs each scene, with your eye being effortlessly guided through each absorbing frame. For all its gentleness around the nature of love and destiny, Song instills a sense of tension around the will-they-won’t-they relationship between Nora and Hae Sung. They often stare at each other longingly, mostly examining how they compare to the version they had in their heads all these years. There’s an open dialogue between them, as well as Nora and Arthur, keeping everything above the usual secrets and lies that go into a romantic drama. The questions and answers are much tougher to come by, simply because there are no do-overs or extreme revelations in real life. Nora explains in-yun to Arthur midway through the film. It’s the Korean concept of fate, suggesting that people are destined to meet if their past lives overlapped. Nora shrugs off the idea by saying it’s just “something Korean people say to seduce someone.” While Nora may not take that concept to heart, Song’s use of it within her film had me seduced in the moment, and will likely have me for the rest of time. A24 will release Past Lives in select theaters on June 02nd, followed by a nationwide expansion on June 23rd. More Reviews Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Teen Sex & Death at Camp Miasma August 12, 2026 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htybz7XscIY 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. Netflix will release The Wonder in select theaters on November 02nd, followed by its streaming premiere on November 16th. More Reviews Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Teen Sex & Death at Camp Miasma August 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Emilia Pérez June 6, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen A prison drama centering on a Muslim convict; a romance between a single father and a killer whale trainer deepens after tragedy; a Sri Lankan Tamil warrior flees to France to seek a better life; two brothers chase after a gold prospector in 1850s Oregon; and a sexually-charged romantic comedy about millennial Parisians. These are the basic descriptions of the last five films directed by Paris’ own Jacques Audiard, none of which seem to share an obvious thematic link or calling card. In fact, the only thing that keeps them connected is their fate after they premiere, with all of them collecting a bevy of festival and César nominations/awards. That streak of genre maneuverability continues with Audiard’s latest work, Emilia Perez , a musical crime comedy set in modern Mexico. Based on the results, I’m sure more awards are not far behind to go along with the Best Actress and Jury Prize haul at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Those Cannes audiences may have already had their fill of pure bewilderment in the form of Francis Ford Coppola’s long-gestating Megalopolis , but Emilia Perez is one of the pair to actually do it right. It’s a film whose on-paper plot raises several eyebrows, only to be met with more craziness as it all explodes on the screen. It doesn’t always work, but it bats a pretty high average, and almost all of the strikes are just as satisfying to watch as the hits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h7j_EcZ5fU Let’s start back up at the top and get ourselves reoriented. Rita Moro Castro (Zoe Saldaña) is an overworked and underpaid lawyer in Mexico City. Her victories in the courtroom are often defeats in her personal life, as no amount of work she does seems to make a difference. Her strong resume gets her noticed by the ruthless cartel leader Manitas (Karla Sofía Gascón donning incredibly convincing makeup), who, in exchange for $2 million, hires Rita to help him go through the gender reassignment surgery that he’s always dreamed of having. Years go by as Manitas becomes Emilia Perez, with Rita taking up the position of the professional guardian for Emilia’s wife (Selena Gomez) and kids, who have been in the dark about the whole operation. The degree to which the musical aspects would play into the narrative may have been shrouded in mystery during the announcement and production phases, but all those uncertainties are squashed within the first minute of the finished product. Saldaña is our guide through this story, with her seldom-seen musical chops being unleashed in an opening number featuring a large chorus and flashy camerawork. It’s this sequence that illustrates much of what’s to come, both from the story and performers: an extraordinary amount of dedication and sincerity to even the most outlandish of concepts. Audiard gives maximum effort to each of the genres he’s melding together. Each of the musical sequences is bursting with a bombastic spirit, the lighting and camerawork being as expressive as the actors. Then there’s also real danger with the crime elements, which attempt to grab hold of Mexico’s problem of missing persons and cartel-related violence. It can all feel a little silly due to the operatic fever dream of the production, but its heart is always in the right place. Carrying that heart is Spanish trans-actress Karla Sofía Gascón. While Rita is the one finding herself falling deeper down the rabbit hole, Manitas/Emilia is the one trying to dig their way out. Gascón finds that nugget of remorse that’s needed for us to sympathize with her. She also brings the house down with some of her solo numbers. Gomez is a bit shortchanged by the structure of the story, only showing up in bits and pieces. Her pop-star presence gives her scenes a certain amount of flair that distances them from any of her previous roles. Musicals will be all the rage later in the year with Joker: Folie à Deux , Moana 2 , Wicked , and Mufasa: The Lion King filling up the multiplexes. Save for maybe Todd Phillips and the chaotic duo of Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, Audiard and his cast could easily lay claim to the most audacious musical of the year. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Netflix will release Emilia Pérez in select theaters on November 01st, followed by its streaming premiere on November 13th. More Reviews Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Teen Sex & Death at Camp Miasma August 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Tron: Ares October 8, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen It’s either brave or foolish of Disney to consider Tron a viable franchise after only offering three entries across its forty-three-year existence. Then again, Top Gun is now one of the most lucrative series despite being comprised of two films with a thirty-six-year gap in between. Disney hoped that the director of Top Gun: Maverick , Joseph Kosinski, would make his return to this franchise after getting his Hollywood career started with Tron: Legacy . But he was busy with F1: The Movie , so the director’s chair was handed over to Joachim Rønning, a familiar face to the studio with a resume that includes Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales , Maleficent: Mistress of Evil , and Young Woman and the Sea . He’s a steady hand who understands the assignment, which is why this is a well-assembled, yet mildly forgettable blockbuster. Humans going into the digital world is old news, with digital creations coming into our world being the new craze. Rival corporations ENCOM and Dillinger Systems are in a race to be the ones to pioneer that technology, with the former promising medical breakthroughs and unlimited resources for humanitarian aid, and the latter selling super soldiers to the highest bidder. And if you still can’t tell who the bad guys are, Dillinger’s headquarters is in a top-secret air hangar perpetually bathed in red lighting. The final piece to this digital puzzle is the permanence code, which fixes the bug that limits the lifespan of any creation to just twenty-nine minutes. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and the promise of that power is enough to push Dillinger CEO Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) to print his cyber soldiers and order them to kill ENCOM CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YShVEXb7-ic As Blade Runner and A.I. Artificial Intelligence have taught us, it’s that robots have a desire to understand the human condition. Why a perfectly engineered specimen would want to join the plight of humanity at this exact moment is an unanswered question, one of many within Jesse Wigutow’s by-the-numbers script. For Ares (Jared Leto), the feeling of rain (but not tears in rain) and a sense of empathy from Eve are enough to convince him that Julian can’t be trusted. Endless chase scenes ensue as the pair avoids capture from Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith), Julian’s other unstoppable digital assassin. If that scenario sounds like a perfect excuse to pump the action full of light cycle greatness, then you’d be absolutely correct. Those beaming bikes are on full display in their shiny metallic glory, speeding along streets and cutting through objects like a hot knife through butter. A hacking sequence is visualized like a neon-soaked version of the ending of Zero Dark Thirty , which I’m sure is still more accurate than what they did on NCIS . The whole thing looks and sounds incredible, with DP Jeff Cronenweth (not seen in movies since 2021’s Being the Ricardos ) concocting some dazzlingly sharp images. Speaking of sound, the techno score by Nine Inch Nails frontmen Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross offers the propulsive push this stale story needed. It sits right next to their Challengers score as the best rave music produced in the last few years. I staved off the inevitable question of “am I getting old?” by not being bothered by how ungodly loud the speakers were blasting in the IMAX theater. It’s a shame that Disney was able to hire David Fincher’s cinematographer and composers for this, but not the man himself. Jared Leto is perfectly cast as a robot, both because of his stilted mannerisms and delivery, and his insane ability to look this good at the age of fifty-three. He’s come full circle in the artificial life cycle, first playing the creator in Blade Runner 2049 , and now the created. Good as he is here, one outing with this character is all that I need, especially if it frees Greta Lee to pursue something more worthy of her immense talents. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures will release Tron: Ares in theaters nationwide on October 10th. More Reviews Tony August 18, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Buddy August 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Colony August 26, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Teen Sex & Death at Camp Miasma August 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen