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 Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Menu November 16, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen As a cinephile and critic, the occurrence of asking the question “What is going to happen next?” while watching a movie is one of the most valuable and enjoyable experiences. It’s what makes the Knives Out films so enjoyable because writer/director Rian Johnson always knows how to be one step ahead of the viewer, twisting and turning their preconceptions of what can happen in a whodunnit. On the inverse of that spectrum lies the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which I still greatly appreciate the majority of the time. But, I do have to admit that it’s getting exponentially tiring to see the same formula repeat itself 3-4 times each year. However, no movie (barring maybe Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia or Glass Onion ) has made me ask the question “What is going to happen next?” more frequently and passionately than The Menu . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_uTkUGcHv4 Colin Stetson’s Hereditary -esque score (so you know something sinister is waiting in the wings) acutely plays while Ralph Fiennes’ world-renowned Chef Julian Slowik (walking and talking with unwavering intensity like Hannibal Lecter) welcomes his elite guests to the island of Hawthorne, where they will dine like kings and queens. Unbeknownst to the patrons, they each have been assembled intentionally and catered to with the utmost precision towards a much darker grand goal. There’s a fading movie star (John Leguizamo); a snobby food critic (Janet McTeer) and her yes-man editor, a wealthy regular customer (Reed Birney) and his wife (Judith Light), and a trio of tech bros that came only so that they could brag about it. At the center of the narrative are the final guests, Tyler (Nicholas Hoult), a foodie who acts as if he’s a teenage girl about to go backstage and meet Harry Styles, and Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy), Tyler’s date for the evening, who finds all this food worshiping to be a bit much. Margot’s presence is a disturbance to Slowik, who did not account for her, as Tyler made the reservation several months ago before they were a couple (the restaurant does not allow single reservations). Trying to keep the evening going as originally planned is the steely Elsa (Hong Chau), the second-in-command, who guests while Slowik handles the food. From one course to the next, the chef answers his guests’ increasingly desperate questions through his painstakingly crafted works of art. Just like any great food movie ( Chef, Julie & Julia ), The Menu delightfully makes you crave the dishes it serves up, even if you don’t understand what half of them are. Ingredients for each are slyly displayed as they are introduced, so you can attempt to remake them if your heart desires (I suggest finishing the movie before finalizing that decision). Regular David Lynch cinematographer Peter Deming and production designer Ethan Tobman cast a luxuriously simplistic shadow over everything, akin to the work in Parasite . And similarly to Bong Joon-ho’s 2019 Best Picture winner, screenwriters Seth Reiss and Will Tracy infuse their dark thriller with social commentary about elitism, gender roles, and creators vs. critics. There’s a dark satisfaction to watching some of these characters receive their comeuppance, even if the punishment far exceeds the crime. Director Mark Mylod, returning to film after a lengthy stint at HBO with Succession and Game of Thrones , keeps the film tightly knotted, building the pressure from the moment the guests set foot on the island all the way to the end. Of the films I used for comparison, each of them is better than The Menu in their respective traits. Rian Johnson’s Knives Out characters are more fleshed out and entertaining, the social commentary and technical aspects of Parasite are better developed, and the actual Hannibal Lecter is far more sinister. But the one overarching skill that The Menu does better than all those films (yes, I’m saying Parasite isn’t the best at everything, calm down, Letterboxd) is that it holds your attention like a vice grip and keeps you frantically guessing all the way through. That alone is more than worth the price of admission, which becomes a bargain once you factor in all the other delectable aspects. Searchlight Pictures will release The Menu in theaters nationwide on November 18th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Awards Update: Pre-Fall Festival Season Predictions September 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Welcome to an ongoing series where I cover the 2026/2027 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. Releases like Coyote vs. Acme and The Dog Stars in the doldrums of August mean only one thing: Summer movie season is over and fall festival season is upon us. Studios put away their box office charts for just a few months, instead focusing on the glitz and glamour of awards. Anyone can make a great film, but only a few can successfully spin it into a months-long worldwide campaign to become the best of the best. Of course, this is all silly, pitting movies against each other in the name of shiny trophies. But in an age where movies feel a little more endangered with each passing year, I’ll take some competition to prove how much we care about this medium. Just before the festival season is kicked off with the one-two-three punch of the Venice International Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, and Toronto International Film Festival, I’ve come up with my first complete Oscar predictions. I’ve done some serious research into narratives and statistics to come up with this crop. I realize that’s like picking a stock based on past performance, something that’s warned against in the last second of all those investment advertisements. But we all need something to trick ourselves into thinking we know how the chips will land, and this is where I’ve decided to hedge my bet. Since the ten films nominated for Best Motion Picture have increasingly comprised the other categories, I figured I should just stick to that for now. It’s the easiest way to cover every base and provide some analysis for my picks, which I’ve ranked in order of confidence. At the end, there will be a smattering of talk about some of the films I think are just on the outside right now. This year’s field has a little bit of everything: huge blockbusters, auteur international films, midbudget star vehicles, and inspirational indies. Now we’ve just got to wait, watch, and see how far they can truly go! The Odyssey What else is there left to say about Christopher Nolan’s mythological epic? Just like with Oppenheimer , Nolan has dominated the awards conversation so far and put himself (and the film) in the lead in so many categories, leaving everyone else at the fall festivals playing catch-up. Even with a probable three acting nominations and heavyweight status in every craft category, it’s unlikely the film will tie the total nominations record set by Sinners last year, as its original song doesn’t seem to have the hype. Then again, the only certainty in that category is Diane Warren for whatever film she has each year, so anything is possible. Universal does need to be wary for Best Makeup & Hairstyling, as that category tends to go its own way, and several makeup-forward films this year have more prominent work. La Bola Negra The academy’s tastes continue to become more international, with the Cannes Film Festival being the preferred supplier for that demand. As evidenced by this list, Cannes has joined previously established festivals like Venice and Telluride in its ability to premiere multiple Best Picture nominees in a single year. Coming out of the festival with enthusiastic buzz was La Bola Negra from Javier Ambrosi and Javier Calvo, commonly known as Los Javis. Many claimed it to be a surefire Oscar contender upon first sight, with it likely about to make a big splash once it reaches North America at Telluride and Toronto. Netflix has shown a knack for racking up nominations each year, with their top contender earning an average of ten. Almost every Best Picture nominee out of Cannes has received corresponding nominations in the directing, writing, and acting categories. The first two seem locked already, but I’m still not sure what the acting plays will be. I won’t be surprised if the chatter coalesces around a few names as the film tours the states. Wild Horse Nine Despite last year being a complete bust with the trio of Rental Family , The Testament of Ann Lee , and Is This Thing On? (all good films, by the way), Searchlight Pictures is one of the most skilled awards distributors. This year, they’ve got their golden goose in Martin McDonagh, currently on a major hot streak with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Banshees of Inisherin . Both of those premiered at Venice, followed by a splashy showing at TIFF. This year, that route has added a middle stop in Telluride, a sign that the Colorado-based festival doesn’t want to miss out on the fun for a third time, and/or this film has got something special up its sleeve. Those two McDonagh films received a combined seven acting nominations, including two wins for the former. I’m keeping the streak alive by predicting four here, with John Malkovich potentially finding the narrative of being an overdue legend. McDonagh did technically win an Oscar twenty years ago for Best Short Film, Live Action. But with all due respect to that category and its past and future recipients, that doesn’t really count in the grand scheme of things. Searchlight will be drumming up his overdue narrative as well, where I think a win for Best Original Screenplay would satisfy everyone involved. Dune: Part Three Despite similar-ish reviews, Dune: Part Two received half the nominations of the first film. And between those total nominations, none were for Denis Villeneuve’s direction or the performances from the cast, signalling that people treat these films solely as a crafts showcase. That’s not a bad place to be considering that this franchise has won about every craft category so far. Lots of goodwill has been built up over the past two installments, and this supposed trilogy capper has immense hype around it. If Denis does pull this off, I see a total nomination haul somewhere in the high single digits. An expected category or two could be missed because of voter fatigue or competition from other blockbusters. Warner Bros. is averaging around nine nominations for each of their Best Picture nominees ( One Battle After Another and Sinners raised that bar last year). A splashy end-of-year marketing campaign at the right time could be what it takes to push this film into becoming a serious contender for the above-the-line categories. Fjord Next to the TIFF People’s Choice Award, the Palme d’Or at Cannes has become a bellwether for Oscar glory. Parasite , Triangle of Sadness , Anatomy of a Fall , and Anora have begun their campaigns with the golden laurels upon the French Riviera. Those films have also all been released domestically by Neon in the early weeks of October after a fall festival tour, and then received directing, writing, and acting nominations (except for Parasite ). Fjord will be replicating that exact strategy, with Cristian Mungiu fitting the bill of a highly respected international auteur finally getting his due. He also gets bonus points for being European, as he’ll qualify for the increasingly influential European Film Awards and be given better treatment by BAFTA voters. His only trouble is if La Bola Negra will steal his thunder at those same ceremonies, as well as the domestic critics' groups earlier in the season. The Debut A24 always has a big dog in the race. This year’s candidate seems to be The Debut , premiering at Telluride, a festival that unveils about two Best Picture nominees per year. Although writer/director Jesse Eisenberg just missed out on a Best Picture nomination for A Real Pain , he did net a win for Kieran Culkin in the Best Supporting Actor category. That’s very good news for Paul Giamatti this year, who was seemingly runner-up to Cillian Murphy in Best Lead Actor just a few years ago. And Julianne Moore has the pedigree to be worthy of a second Oscar, especially in a thinner field such as this. The film will be playing above-the-line primarily, so a hot start at the prominent critics' organizations will be necessary. Project Hail Mary In terms of marrying box office with critical acclaim, Project Hail Mary was the champion throughout the first half of the year. That’s good because voters are getting a little better at memory retention for films released several months before voting starts. Amazon MGM is a bad awards campaigner, either crashing films altogether or just scraping by the skin of their teeth. But they haven’t had a certified crowdpleaser like this heading into the season, so that should make the campaign significantly easier. I’m currently feeling bullish on Ryan Gosling making it in. He seems like an early favorite for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, will be better received by the populist SAG voters, and could make it in at Critics Choice due to their expanded nominee list. I am slightly contradicting my confidence by not also predicting a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. But that category has been weird over the years, giving the cold shoulder to big films like Killers of the Flower Moon and Dune: Part Two . All of a Sudden In the expanded era, no director who has previously taken the Cannes path to Best Picture has been able to replicate that success. By that theory, I would be foolish to expect Ryūsuke Hamaguchi to not only match his haul from Drive My Car , but improve on it with acting nominations. Crazier things have happened, and All of a Sudden could leapfrog into becoming Neon’s best contender should the political coldness of Fjord turn people away. The female acting categories are also weaker this year, giving more credence to Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto using their joint Best Actress prize from Cannes to launch them into the race. The challenge will be getting voters to commit to seeing a 196-minute film primarily set in a nursing home. But with Hamaguchi becoming a relative star on the arthouse/awards scene and the glowing reviews, I think that’s an easy enough hurdle to clear. Elsinore Since 2021, Focus Features has debuted four films at the Telluride Film Festival that have gone on to be nominated for Best Picture: Belfast , The Holdovers , Conclave , and Hamnet . Each scored several above-the-line nominations and fit a certain sensibility that matches well with both American and European sensibilities. Elsinore perfectly fits those criteria this year, arriving with immense buzz for Andrew Scott’s lead performance. There’s also industry favorite Olivia Colman in a supporting role. The film will also play at TIFF during Focus’ preferred midfestival slot, making it a serious contender for the People’s Choice Award. I’m predicting that to happen, and that being the start of this breakout contender. Ink Bringing up the rear is another Netflix product, one they scooped up the rights for once the film was locked to be hitting the trifecta of Venice, Telluride, and TIFF. The steamer is more than capable of racing multiple forces, and the source material is widely acclaimed. I trust Danny Boyle to liven it up, with Guy Pearce potentially getting an afterglow nomination from The Brutalist as another business tycoon. Netflix campaigns hard and fast, which in turn means some of their films burn bright and die fast. This one will have to maintain its moments in the three-month gap between the festival premiere and the public release. Luckily, it’s opening Venice, so we’ll know in a few days if it has the goods to accomplish that task. Other Contenders Of course, this predicted lineup will surely not be what the final nominees look like. There are just as many films just outside of my lineup that have as strong a chance. One of them is Werwulf , which will reap the rewards sown by Nosferatu . It likely won’t have the same box office success due to its folk horror weirdness and lack of brand value compared to the iconic vampire. But the goodwill Eggers continues to build through his excellent craftsmanship will likely have his new film repeat the same nomination haul. There’s also Digger , which I’ve completely soured on once Warner Bros. released the trailer. Alejandro G. Iñárritu is a filmmaker whose style can grate on an audience to the bone when it doesn’t work, and the smugness displayed here elicits no sympathy from me. The 100 million-plus budget is unlikely to be recouped, causing a trail of articles headlining its box office underperformance to stunt its awards chances. Of course, none of that really stopped a similarly satirical filmmaker in Adam McKay with Vice and Don’t Look Up , and Iñárritu has been even more beloved in the past. I await with bated breath. At the end of the day, everything is written in pencil… except for most of the nominations for The Odyssey . The bloodbath of the fall festival generates some clear winners and losers, so this list will be heavily readjusted in the coming weeks. Luckily, I’ll be attending TIFF again this year, so I’ll be able to offer a first-hand opinion for many of these contenders in my next update. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen

Napoleon November 15, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Petulant, disagreeable, prideful, ugly, childish, insecure, xenophobic, and impatient. These are the adjectives that can be used to describe one of the most powerful men in the history of the world: Napoleon Bonaparte. He saw himself as Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great, and yet he lacked all the qualities that allowed them to etch their names in the history books. But what he lacked in the personality department, he made up for with his tactical genius, orchestrating tens of thousands to swift victories over armies twice as large. Napoleon was an able opportunist, as is illustrated in the opening title cards that set the stage for the French Revolution. Marie Antoinette and the rest of the royalists are being sent to the guillotine, opening up quite a few positions in the French nobility. The young gunnery commander stuck himself to Paul Barras, who sought to recapture the Port of Toulon. A resounding victory gave Napoleon his first taste of real power and respect, something he would feverishly seek to protect through the rest of his days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAZWXUkrjPc Fortunately for him, this period was ripe with arrogant leaders seeking to establish their claims through military might. England, Austria, Germany, Poland, Italy, and Russia are each pieces in a puzzle that constantly changes shape and size, with some of the pieces aligning one year, and then fighting the next. Napoleon is a finely sharp sword, outgrowing anyone else’s ambition for him until he plants himself atop the throne of Europe. With his vast historical drama background that includes the likes of The Duellists, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven , and The Last Duel , director Ridley Scott knows a thing or two about setting the stage for global conflicts. Even at the age of 85, he’s never taken a moment to slow down, crafting projects that seem to only get bigger the older he gets. It’s no surprise that both he and fellow octogenarian director Martin Scorsese ( Killers of the Flower Moon ) have found themselves at Apple with their latest historical dramas, the streaming giant plunking down $200 million for each project. While it may not have been the wisest financial decision, it was a fortuitous one for the art of epic filmmaking. Scott paints a wide canvas for each of the climactic battle scenes. It’s as close to a replica as one could get to the work of director Sergei Bondarchuk in the Soviet version of War and Peace, where literally thousands of extras marched across plains as hundreds of cannons engulfed them in carnage. To be fair, Scott does have the benefit of robust visual effects, which are used seamlessly. There is never a feeling that these battles are just one giant CGI army crashing into another. The stakes and violence are real, emboldened by the careful application of strategy, such as cornering the Austrians and Russians at The Battle of Austerlitz through false fronts, hidden cavalry, and perfectly timed infantry charges. The director has never turned in a poorly crafted film, but what often holds back both his and our engagement is a less-than-ideal script. It’s no coincidence that some of his best films in this later period sprouted off the page through talented screenwriters like John Logan ( Gladiator) , Steven Zaillian ( American Gangster ), and Matt Damon/Ben Affleck/Nicole Holfcener ( The Last Duel ). Napoleon marks the second collaboration between Scott and writer David Scarpa after All the Money in the World , with the results here being quite the improvement over the former. While there are repeatable inklings of this being a Wikipedia entry condensed down to 158 minutes (the reported future four-hour cut will greatly alleviate this minor problem), Scarpa finds plenty of avenues to dissect Napoleon down to the bone. Much of this is done through the prism of his relationship with his lover Josephine, herself an opportunist who knew what needed to be done to survive in an era where women had little to no autonomy. Both of them are vindictive towards the other, yet they cannot help being addicted to their shared love, as if they realize they are two identical souls that have reached far beyond what they thought they could accomplish. Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby are wondrous as the couple. Obviously, if you need someone to portray an emotionally and physically troubled genius, you get an emotionally and physically troubled genius like Phoenix. It’s as if his version of Napoleon watched Taxi Driver and totally missed the point, but still tries to emulate the Travis Bickle archetype. But while the other world leaders look down upon him, it’s not like they’re much more mature. All of them treat the world like a recess playground, all while millions of lives are casually thrown away. Kirby finds herself in and out of the emperor’s favor, mostly secluded in various castles and palaces. That is where her battles with Napoleon take place, battles of wit and sex, two things she has in spades over him. The world still properly bemoans what could have been had Stanley Kubrick been allowed to make his Napoleon biopic. There are surely semblances of it in Scott’s film, which continues his string of blockbusters propelled by smart filmmaking and collaborative artistry. It’s timely and timeless in its craft and examination of history, ready to raise the bar just that much higher for later entries in the genre. Sony Pictures Releasing and Apple Original Films will release Napoleon in theaters nationwide on November 22nd. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Bunker September 15, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen First came The Father , a terrifying and heartbreaking story of dementia that placed us within the deteriorating mental state of an elderly man. Quietly yet powerfully building steam throughout the pandemic-stricken awards season of 2020, the film would win an Oscar for Anthony Hopkins’ transcendent lead performance, as well as for the screenplay adapted from the play. Next came The Son , another adaptation on mental health, this time the focus shifting to the depressed teenage son of Hugh Jackman. But instead of dealing with this sensitive issue with poise and ingenuity, it rubs our faces in it while screaming “THIS IS IMPORTANT!” for two ungodly hours. By the Christian Trinity , The Holy Spirit should have been next. Or, if you want to go by the collected stage works of writer Florian Zeller, The Mother would have been the next logical choice. It was staged in London in 2015 and New York in 2019, the latter portion featuring Isabelle Huppert in the titular role. Great as it always is to have Huppert on the silver screen, the harsh criticism and preachiness of The Son might have paused Zeller’s ambitions to continue adapting his own works. Here he is now with Bunker , a wholly original work so overwrought and underdeveloped that one might wish he would give up on cinema altogether. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq-vbHoU4iw A booming thud encompasses the black screen, giving way to a dinner party conversation featuring married couple Miguel and Sofia Moreno, played by real-life married couple Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz. At the tail end of a long-winded story about how they first met, a guest claims that even “the greatest love stories can start with a misunderstanding.” While offscreen, he says this with so much emphasis that Zeller might as well have superimposed the text across the screen throughout the rest of the runtime. Next, we cut to a brick wall being demolished. More than just an obvious metaphor of cracks appearing in a sturdy marriage, it’s the literal destruction of the wall separating the London home of the Morenos and their neighbor Toby (Stephen Graham). Tensions run high as Miguel contests the project, with Toby viewing him as a rich foreigner pushing out the more humble locals. But even with Miguel’s thriving architecture company and Sofia’s tenure as a book editor at a fancy publishing house, they are still nowhere near the top of the social pyramid. They get a taste of the top when a highly secretive and powerful billionaire (Paul Dano, appearing in a Zoom call so clearly filmed separately from everyone else) attempts to hire Miguel to design an underground apocalypse shelter in Hawaii. It is the modern-day equivalent of building a tomb for a pharaoh, with all the moral repercussions of indirectly playing a hand in the destruction of the world. Cruz’s character is the mouthpiece for those ethical questions. What has this billionaire so spooked that he needs this bunker built immediately and to be able to sustain life for years to come? Would Miguel be turning his back on the rest of the population if he used his talents for just one person? Zeller does not mince his words with these arguments, explicitly having Cruz explain them to the audience ad nauseam. Don’t worry if you somehow don’t get it the first time, because she’s going to continue to make them throughout the film. That aspect is the brain of the film, while the heart lies in the crumbling of a marriage. Each partner has their unhappy qualities about the other, such as Miguel’s macho jealousy of a new hotshot author (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and Sofia’s homesickness for Madrid. Again, Zeller offers no subtlety, nor any poetry to his dialogue. It’s all quite rote, with Schwarzenegger being given an embarrassingly on-the-nose monologue about the wastefulness of material wealth. Even when Bardem and Cruz are firing on all cylinders, they are still trying to make gold out of leaden words. Zeller’s moderate skills at craftsmanship includes crisp lighting by Ben Smithard, taking a page out of Pedro Almodóvar with bright colors encompassing walls. I can’t blame Zeller or Smithard for using the association cheat code of blocking Cruz against a red background. What I can blame them, as well as editor Yorgos Lamprinos and composer Volker Bertelmann, for is giving this thriller a rotten core. Even with all the pristine window dressing, this is an unbelievable story with an offensively oversimplified message about the power of loving each other. If that’s the intent, then why did Zeller make a film so easy to hate? Bunker had its North American premiere at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival. Sony Pictures Classics will release the film at a later date. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Anatomy of a Fall May 26, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen An 11-year-old boy named Daniel (Milo Machado Graner) decides to take his dog Snoop for a walk while his parents’ marriage is crumbling in real-time. The family is currently living near the top of the French Alps at the insistence of the husband, far away from anything or anyone. Daniel is legally blind but is still able to get by on his acute hearing and memory. At the end of the walk, Snoop bolts for something on the ground, and as the ever-loyal companion that he is, barks to signal Daniel over to investigate. As Daniel feels around, he begins to process the reality that the object between his hands and the snow is the lifeless body of his father, Samuel (Samuel Theis). Blood begins to stain his hands as his father’s fatal head wound continues to gush. The cause of death is quite apparent, but how it happened is still a mystery. A suicide by jumping out of the top window? An accidental death because of the loose railing on the balcony? Or did the only other person in the house, the embittered wife Sandra (Sandra Hüller), murder her husband? A pile of clues, coincidences, and conjectures points to all three options being a possibility. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUXawkH-ONM “I’m innocent. You know that, right?” asks Sandra to Daniel as she’s just about to go on trial. Daniel wants to believe his mother, but at this point, there’s just enough evidence to push him beyond a reasonable doubt. Writer/director Justine Triet, proving that a sophomore slump can work in reverse after the so-so response to her 2019 Cannes debut Sibyl , puts us in the same boat as Daniel. The whole puzzle is never revealed, nor are the pieces the same size for each character or audience member. Sometimes pieces change because of new information, and sometimes they change because people want them to, such as the lawyer assigned against Sandra, whose goal is to twist everything she has to stay into a conviction. Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari (also her partner) pack an HBO prestige miniseries into 150 minutes. The twists and turns come without the thrills one would usually expect from the procedural genre, and they can sometimes be a bit circular and used for runtime padding, but they still pack the emotional and physical effect that they should. While not as arty as other recent French courtroom dramas like Saint Omer and The Goldman Case (featuring Harari as a lawyer), the balance here between authentic and theatrical is a breath of fresh air when compared to the by-the-numbers conventions within American film and television. Similar to Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave , also birthed at Cannes and featuring an investigation surrounding a woman accused of pushing her husband to her death, Anatomy of a Fall is not just a trial over murder; it’s a trial over a relationship. Between the recordings Samuel had on his laptop of their arguments and the testimony of those who knew them, Sandra and Samuel’s entire history is placed upon the public for all to scrutinize. Sandra knows her truth about their time together, but it seems no one else shares her viewpoint. Hüller is astonishing in her calmness, commanding the English, French, and German languages. She’s this year’s Cate Blanchett in Tár or Kristen Stewart in Spencer , a one-woman show that hedges all its bets on its star. Along with her radically different work in Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest , expect Hüller to be the critics’ pick in this year’s Oscar race. Even for all the goods it displays, Anatomy of a Fall still doesn’t have that je ne sais quoi that makes it the top-tier great movie it should be. No matter, as those current indescribable bugs may become features to me at a later date. Just as it does to Sandra, the ultimate truth that’s always been right in front of you may not reveal itself until you’re ready to face it. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Neon will release Anatomy of a Fall in select theaters on October 13th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Michael April 21, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen To make a movie about Michael Jackson is to make a movie about the second coming of Jesus Christ. Not since the son of God has a man been so beloved throughout the world, his fans endlessly devoted and transcended by his presence. His talent was proclaimed to be God-given, as there was no scientific explanation for how a mortal could possess such skill and grace. And like the messiah, he was taken away from us too quickly, his message still thriving long after his physical body. If that all sounds a little too preachy, then you probably won’t vibe with the new biopic on the King of Pop. Michael makes that messianic connection with its full chest, combining blockbuster entertainment with those highlight reel documentaries that constantly loop in the lobbies at a famous person’s museum. Jesus healed the blind; Michael donated millions to children’s hospitals. Jesus fed thousands with only five loaves of bread and two fish; Michael started the Heal the World Foundation. Jesus resurrected the dead; Michael ended gang warfare through the power of music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQtI0u1Vx2w Granted, that list of Michael’s kind gestures is true. But even Jesus had his flawed elements, and Tom Hanks’ version of Fred Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood subtly investigated the beauty of imperfection. Here, Michael Jackson is the most perfect person ever to exist, with his only potential flaw being his over dedication to his family, specifically his domineering father, Joseph. Colman Domingo’s performance invites you to debate the pitfalls and merits of his browbeating. It’s clear that Michael was born with his talent, but would he and his brothers have ever gotten out of Gary, Indiana, if not for their father’s relentless pressure? A more interesting movie would have better grappled with that question. As written by John Logan (screenwriter for the Howard Hughes biopic, The Aviator ) and paid for by the estate of Michael Jackson, this film would rather take the easy way out at every turn. Genius is nearly impossible to explain, which is why young Michael merely speaks and behaves in plot points. He reads Peter Pan to himself while on tour with the Jackson 5, wishing that he could someday rebuild Neverland. He constantly talks about his love for animals, how they’re family, not pets. The irony only gets thicker as Michael grows up. His boundless creativity and exuberance are stymied by those who want to control him, with his fear of confrontation weaponized against him. Bohemian Rhapsody producer Graham King and director Antoine Fuqua exert a similar amount of control over Michael’s story, keeping things flying at a breakneck pace within the 127-minute runtime. Every song is conveniently used to cue a montage, the years flying by as “Billie Jean,” “Beat it,” “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough” boom over the loudspeakers. Except that it takes nearly eighty minutes to get to “Thriller,” which confirmed my suspicion that this biopic was going to need another canvas. King and Fuqua have just as much of a fear of confrontation as Michael, opting to placate audiences at every turn with showstopping numbers and by-the-numbers plotting. With four credited editors, including Bohemian Rhapsody Oscar-winner John Ottman, each set piece is cut with frenticism and flash. While shooting “Thriller,” Michael talks about the importance of wide shots to highlight the dance moves, citing Fred Astaire as an influence. It never seemed like Fuqua was interested in replicating that, leaving Jaafar Jackson’s considerable physical talents to feel limited. The musician’s nephew nails the physical aspects of the role, singing and dancing with an uncanny resemblance. Like all biopics, the recreation aspects are never the most important part, especially when you can easily look up the source material. What’s important is finding the emotional truth, the feelings that can’t be transferred through the written or spoken word. Michael doesn’t have that level of ambition, which, to its credit, could be reserved for the next chapter. But based on the strategy implemented here, I expect another serving of just desserts. Lionsgate will release Michael in theaters nationwide on April 24th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Cannes 2023 Predictions - Part 2: Hollywood Makes a Splash Overseas April 5, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen As one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, the Cannes Film Festival always attracts the attention of cinephiles and industry professionals alike. Each year, the festival presents a diverse lineup of films that represent the best of international cinema, including both established and emerging filmmakers. With the 76th edition of the festival set to take place in May, film enthusiasts around the world are eagerly anticipating the announcement of the official selection on April 13th. While the festival organizers keep their cards close to their chest, there are already some strong players emerging as likely contenders for the coveted Cannes spotlights. In this four-part series, I’ll take a closer look at some of the films that are generating buzz and predict which ones are likely to make it to the Croisette this year. Each part will represent a category of films, which are: The Festival Masters Hollywood Makes a Splash The Festival Mainstays The Irregulars and Up-and-Comers This second part encompasses the biggest fish in the pond, which are the Hollywood blockbusters from the major studios. Cannes may be a Mecca for international cinema, but that doesn’t mean they exclude the big boys. The festival thrives on star power, and nothing rolls out the red carpet more than a blockbuster with lots of names attached to it. Both Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis started their journeys on the Croisette, as well as Mad Max: Fury Road and The Da Vinci Code in the years prior. Let’s take a look at which big tent poles might debut in the Palais. Which of these films are you most interested in? I'll be keeping you all posted on my adventures and sharing my thoughts on the films that I see. Stay tuned for more updates! Asteroid City With Asteroid City a certainty to debut on the French Riviera, Cannes now replaces Berlin as the film festival to debut the most Anderson films. Moonrise Kingdom opened the festival in 2012, and The French Dispatch sat on a shelf throughout the pandemic to ensure it debuted at the 2021 edition. Cannes thrives on star power to fill its historic red carpet, and Anderson’s films have plenty to spare. His newest cast will feature no less than Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Margot Robbie, Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, and Jeffrey Wright. May December A rumor has been slowly spreading over the past few years that Todd Haynes’ Carol was a near lock to win the Palme d’Or in 2015, but was snubbed at the last minute by jury member Xavier Dolan. The film had to settle for a joint Best Actress prize for Rooney Mara. His newest film finished production in November, reuniting him with Julianne Moore, and bringing Natalie Portman back into the fold. Poor Things Coming off the blazing Oscar success of The Favourite , all eyes are on what Yorgos Lanthimos will do next. He’s keeping his partnership with leading lady Emma Stone and screenwriter Tony McNamara for Poor Things , which will be set in Victorian England and about a mad scientist who brings a woman back to life. Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo, and Margaret Qualley mix into the supporting cast. Lanthimos’ unique arthouse sensibilities have matched well with Cannes in the past, with Dogtooth, The Lobster , and The Killing of a Sacred Deer , all winning various prizes. Now that Oscar buzz follows Lanthimos wherever he goes, Searchlight Pictures will have to make a decision of sending the film to a festival with an already established fandom for Lanthimos or wait and debut it in the fall with the rest of the Oscar bunch. Killers of the Flower Moon With extensive reshoots and release date delays, Martin Scorsese’s epic western has become one of his longest projects to get to audiences. Rumors started to swirl late last year that the film was eyeing a premiere on the Riviera, followed by a fall festival tour. With CODA becoming the first streaming film to win Best Picture, Apple will do everything in its power to repeat that success. The Little Mermaid The timing lines up perfectly for Disney to use the festival as a launching pad for the international release of their newest live-action remake. The film packs plenty of buzzy names such as Javier Bardem and Melissa McCarthy and an acclaimed director in Rob Marshall. Hitman While we’ll have to wait almost another two decades for Richard Linklater’s ambitious adaptation of Merrily We Roll Along , the famed Texan filmmaker has something up his sleeve to tide us over. Top Gun: Maverick star Glen Powell, a frequent collaborator of Linklater’s, co-wrote the screenplay with him for this story of a hitman who turns the tables on those who hire him. It’s been twenty years since Linklater last competed on the Croisette (2005’s Fast Food Nation ), so it might be time for him to be brought back into the fold. Oppenheimer Very few filmmakers carry as much name value as Christopher Nolan, who will be potentially delivering a more stripped-down story about the trials and tribulations of the titular father of the atomic bomb. Nolan has never shown one of his films at Cannes, but he did introduce his 70mm restoration of 2001: A Space Odyssey before it was pushed into theaters. If Nolan does decide to bring his material this time, then a glitzy out-of-competition premiere would be the most likely route taken. The Bikeriders Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Jodie Comer, Norman Reedus, and Boyd Holbrook star as members of a Midwestern motorcycle club in writer/director Jeff Nichols’ return to feature filmmaking after a brief hiatus. Nichols served on the jury last year and brought both Mud and Loving to the Croisette. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Cannes thrives on a small batch of Hollywood blockbusters looking to make a splashy international premiere, as evidenced by Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis grabbing headlines last year. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull debuted at the festival back in 2008, so there is precedent for the famed archaeologist to stop by. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

MSPIFF 2025 Preview April 1, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Now in its forty-fourth year (which ranks it among some of the oldest in North America), the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival once again features a lineup featuring over 200 films from around the world. Abbredivated as MSPIFF and pronounced "EM-spiff," the festival will host the majority of its screenings at its home base of The Main Cinema, along with a smattering of events across the Capri Theater, Landmark Center, and Edina Mann Theatre. Many of the marquee titles making their Minnesota premieres have already traveled the world as part of the other festival lineups. The Opening Night Presentation will be the documentary Free Leonard Peltier , which recently premiered at Sundance. Director Jesse Short Bull and Producer Jhane Meyers will be in attendance for the screening. Another Sundance title that will be making an appearance is The Wedding Banquet , a queer remake of the 1993 Ang Lee film. Fire Island director Andrew Ahn directed and co-wrote the feature, which boasts a cast of Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-Chan, Joan Chen, and Youn Yuh-jung. A24 will be bringing their Sundance hit The Legend of Ochi , as well as the Tim Robinson-Paul Rudd two-hander cringe comedy, Friendship . Just in time for the announcement of this year's Cannes Film Festival is a group of films from last year's lineup. Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes took home the Best Director prize for Grand Tour , a Southeast Asian adventure I moderately enjoyed. I missed Jia Zhangke's Caught by the Tides at Cannes and TIFF last year, so I'm happy to see it as part of the MSPIFF lineup. I've only seen Ash Is Purest White from Zhangke, and I've been interested in diving deeper. I'll also be checking out Misericordia , which received rapturous reviews out of the Cannes Premiere section and got a decent amount of nominations at the most recent César Awards. Other titles that interest me include When Fall is Coming by François Ozon, By the Stream by Hong Sang-soo (a festival favorite), and Who by Fire by Philippe Lesage. Speaking of Ang Lee, the famed director will be here to receive the festival's Milgrom Award. As part of his tribute, Lee will give an in-person conversation about his career, which includes accolades such as two Academy Awards for Best Direction and the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award. He'll also introduce a special screening for his film Brokeback Mountain , which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Also screening on that day will be one of Lee's most celebrated films: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon . I’ll be publishing full reviews for select titles, with others being condensed for my festival wrap-up article. You can take a look at the full slate of festival titles at the MSP Film Society website . More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

We Live in Time September 8, 2024 By: Button Tyler Banark Emotional cinema has become a form that isn’t discussed enough. Movies in this body, like 2014’s The Fault in Our Stars and 2016’s Manchester by the Sea , are defined by how sad their story is, and it can either make or break the movie. Audiences usually talk about how much they cried while watching a film of that scale. A movie in this subcategory often finds itself in conversations as a potential awards season contender. This subject has been the big selling point of John Crowley’s latest romantic dramedy, We Live in Time . He and the marketing team have been playing big into this being a potential Oscar contender and one helluva tear-jerker. Crowley enlists the help of Oscar nominees Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh to bring We Live in Time to life. Both can do no wrong with the material and are often cute together. In fact, the movie overall seems good on paper. After awkwardly meeting in a car accident, Tobias and Almut (Garfield and Pugh, respectively) fall in love and start a life together. Despite never being married, they share a three-year-old daughter and live a quiet life in the UK countryside. Suddenly, Almut is diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and the two learn how to live their lives to the fullest, given the circumstances. It’s a straightforward plot, but its big twist is that it’s told nonlinearly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH02yagHaNw There’s no harm or foul in a synopsis like this, but the movie offensively tries to play itself as a tear-jerker with humorous moments. There’s a moment when Almut and Tobias are trying to tell their daughter about Almut’s diagnosis, and a magician attempts to perform a trick for them. Almut and Tobias try to ask him to leave, but he refuses until Tobias raises his voice. While Crowley intended for moments like this to bring some lightheartedness to the movie, it felt forced. The only occasion this wasn’t the case was when Almut gave birth to their daughter, and everything unfolded, resulting in baffling hilarity. Both Garfield and Pugh can bring humor into any scene, and it works, but in the case of this movie, it feels wrong for them. They’re not responsible, however, as Nick Payne’s script and Crowley’s direction call for this, and it feels out of place. Garfield and Pugh have won audiences over in their years of being in the spotlight individually. Their chemistry was a big thing to anticipate for fans going into this movie, as their behind-the-scenes photos together looked nothing but adorable. Although it didn’t speculate on dating rumors like Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney did for Anyone But You , it sure did get people talking. The trailer also hyped it up vastly with how enigmatic and hearty they were. The result of all this? They were simply fine together. They knew how to play off each other and bring tonal balance to whatever was happening on screen, but they weren’t anything irresistible compared to a couple like Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Most audiences, especially die-hard fans of the two, will go wild for them being together on screen and eat up every second of each scene. I just won’t be counted in that statistic. We Live in Time is a sour melodrama trying to pawn itself off as a dramedy. Failing to strike every chord that comes with a supposed tear-jerker film, it’s without a doubt one of the biggest letdowns of the year. To think that it came from the director who made Brooklyn , a movie that knew exactly how to balance drama and humor, shocks me that that method didn’t apply here. Call it a fall from grace or a one-hit wonder, but John Crowley couldn’t redeem himself here. Garfield and Pugh try to pick up the slack for him, and although their efforts are close to courageous, they aren’t enough to get the movie back on its feet. A misfire for A24 and everyone involved, We Live in Time will likely live to see itself as a failed Oscar bait movie whose relevance will be…let’s say, on borrowed time. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. A24 will release We Live in Time in select theaters on October 11th, followed by a nationwide expansion on October 18th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Good Liar November 21, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen London octogenarian Roy Courtnay (Ian McKellen) is a career con man, swindling those less fortunate enough to fall into one of his schemes. One day, as part of an online dating scam he occasionally pulls, he meets Betty McLeish (Helen Mirren), a recent widower who turns out to be worth nearly three million pounds. Roy’s plan is simple. He’ll get in close to Betty and gain her trust. Eventually, he’ll set the trap, and she’ll fall right in. He’ll take her money and disappear forever to repeat the cycle all over again with someone else. Unfortunately for him, this job isn’t as simple as he initially thought. Dark secrets start to reveal themselves, leading to a game of cat and mouse where the role of the cat and the mouse intermittently change between the pair. No longer is Roy playing for money, he’s now playing for his life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljKzFGpPHhw Director Bill Condon weaves this thriller with confidence from beginning to end. That confidence does not make him faultless, but it does give the film an extra bit of gravitas that puts it above the usual crowd. The beginning contains a much lighter tone as it introduces our two main characters. But like all good thrillers, the niceties of the two are just a facade to deflect from the tension swelling underneath. Over time, the dark material begins to bubble to the surface, eventually bursting out in a climactic fashion. All good classic mystery films have a score that complements the director’s work. Luckily for Condon, composer Carter Burwell delivers a dignified set of strings. In the moments where Condon over- or undersells the material, Burwell’s score is right there to pick up the slack. And in those moments where Condon gets it just right, the music is also right there with him to elevate what’s on-screen. An adaptation of Nicholas Searle’s novel of the same name, the screenplay for The Good Liar by Jeffrey Hatcher can be appropriately labeled as B-level Hitchcockian. With a title like The Good Liar , you can expect a few twists and turns along the way, albeit here they are a little too overt and easy to see. But even though you know a twist is coming, the real mystery is finding out what it is. Admittedly, some of the twists are impossible to predict due to a lack of setup or are oftentimes so ludicrous that they defy any realistic expectations. Fortunately, Hatcher embraces that feeling of throwing care into the wind. He revels in the somewhat trashy storytelling and only tries to make the material more entertaining than believable. It’s not perfect, but it makes for a much more enjoyable watch once you come to terms with the outlandishness of what’s going on By far the biggest attraction for the film is its two main stars, each having a ball in their juicy roles. For an eighty-year-old, Sir Ian McKellen possesses the physicality of someone a little over half his age. His movements, especially within his face, do more to speak for his character than the dialogue. Just by watching you learn more about his character and become increasingly attracted to him. Equally as great as McKellen is Dame Helen Mirren. She’s made it a thing recently to be in more showy roles that demonstrate her skill. So far, that strategy has been a good thing because her immense talent has sold many roles that would have been wasted by lesser actresses. Here you can see the delight in Mirren’s delivery as she chews the scene. Her sparring sessions with McKellen are by far the best moments of the film. You know those novels you find in the airport that are a bit dumb and only bought for some time-wasting entertainment? Well, The Good Liar is exactly that for movies. It may be a bit preposterously muddled to pull off its ambitions and isn’t as good as some other films of the same genre, but what it does have are suspenseful thrills led by two legendary actors giving great performances. So even if this airport novel is the ultimately inferior option, it does its job just well enough to leave you satisfied. Warner Bros. Pictures will release The Good Liar in theaters nationwide on November 15th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

American Fiction November 1, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen American Fiction is this year’s Triangle of Sadness : a social satire that somewhat succeeds because it’s undeniably hilarious, and it’s practically shooting fish in a barrel. Both films also claimed ironic victory when making their world premieres at their respective festivals. Triangle of Sadness , a brutal takedown of the uber-rich, nabbed the Palme d’Or at the exclusive black-tie Cannes Film Festival, while American Fiction , an examination of the reduction of the Black experience by white people, won the People’s Choice Award at the mostly-white Toronto International Film Festival. We’s Lives in Da Ghetto is a bestselling book in the world that Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) inhabits. Its author, Sintara Golden (Issa Rae), was born to lawyer parents and received an Ivy League education, making her claims about the novel’s poverty-stricken protagonists being modeled after “her people” dubious at best. This is all happening while Monk can’t find anyone to publish his newest book, another in a long line of rigorously intellectual academia on Black life in America. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0MbLCpYJPA There’s also Monk’s mother (Leslie Uggams), who’s beginning to show signs of rapidly progressive dementia. Being a literature professor at West Coast University doesn’t pay enough to cover her medical costs, and neither does having an unsold manuscript, so, in a drunken stupor, Monk decides to write the most panderingly simplistic “Black novel” that he can. Predictably, the trashy piece of work is a sensation to all the white liberal publicists. Six-digit offers come flying through the door, along with movie deals. Becoming part of the problem is now making Monk extremely wealthy. Does he continue the charade, or do his morals persuade him to pull the plug? Spike Lee’s Bamboozled would be a more literal comparison to what writer/director Cord Jefferson is aiming for in his debut feature film. There are also several connected elements between this and Charlie Day’s Fool’s Paradise from earlier this year, which aimed at Hollywood. Much of the satire there and here revolves around the protagonists doing/saying something ludicrously stupid and, to their bewilderment, being met with immense applause from the gullible idiots. The world happens around them, and they react with disdain. We’re in on the joke with them, pointing and laughing at the idiots while thinking there’s no way we’re like them. Unfortunately, like Day, Jefferson doesn’t seem to have much to say outside of the obvious as Monk digs himself deeper into a hole of lies. It’s correct in everything it’s saying, but everything it’s correct about has already been agreed upon by the audience that will watch it. It’s nearly impossible to start a conversation when almost everyone is already on the same page, and your material is too neatly packaged to confront the ideals of anyone on the other side. What’s missing is Spike Lee’s ability to provoke and make you uncomfortable, as that’s when you’re at your most critically minded. There’s also the presence of several other subplots along with the ailing mother. Monk strikes up a charming, yet frustratingly thin, romance with his mother’s neighbor, Coraline (Erika Alexander). Monk’s erratic younger brother Cliff (Sterling K. Brown), who just came out of the closet, is also in town. He isn’t much help with their mother’s medical needs, but he does know how to show Monk the error of his ways. None of these plotlines coalesce neatly, and very few of them reach a satisfying conclusion. Ironically, Jefferson launched his career as a magazine editor, a role sorely needed here. Still, Jefferson has made a very funny movie littered with many witty one-liners. And he’s given a substantial leading role to the great Jeffrey Wright, who hasn’t received top billing in nearly three decades. Just as he’s proved in the two Wes Anderson films he’s been in, Wright shows an incredible talent for wordplay and physical comedy. Brown and John Ortiz, playing Monk’s agent, often threaten to steal the show with their exuberance. American Fiction may be a victim of expectations, as winning the People’s Choice Award at TIFF certainly raised the bar. Whether that’s fair or not is a different story. All I know is that I can only write about what I felt, which was slight disappointment mixed with great optimism about what Jefferson will do next. This review was originally published from a screening at the 2023 Twin Cities Film Fest. Amazon MGM Studios will release American Fiction in select theaters on December 15th, followed by a nationwide expansion on December 22nd. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen