The Invite June 25, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen Across the entire timeline of cinematic history, has there ever been one instance where a dinner party has gone exactly as planned? Along with the guests, the hosts always seem to also invite trouble, with unexpected consequences often being served just before dessert. Murder became the guest of honor in Gosford Park , the titular "bio-exorcist" possesses everyone and forces them to dance to "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" in Beetlejuice , and two friends hide a dead body in a trunk in the middle of the room as part of a sadistic game in Alfred Hitchcock's Rope . At the end of the night, no one is going home talking about how great the food and wine were. That theme of misfortune continues in 2026 with The Invite . The strained hosts are Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela (Olivia Wilde), a couple who seem to have been unhappily married for far more years than they were happily married. He's a languishing band teacher at a not-so-nice academy he has to ride his bike to, and she's always between jobs, filling her days constantly redecorating their San Francisco home, which they can only afford because they inherited it from Joe's parents. Their daughter is the only thing that's keeping them together, with unhappiness and resentment permeating the air at all times. Living right above them are Piña (Penélope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton), a couple of perpetual annoyances due to the rather loud way they express their love for each other every night. But they seem cool, and Angela is desperate to make some friends, so she invites them downstairs for a dinner party, which more or less acts as a test to see if her and Joe's relationship is so strained that they can't even pretend to be a couple anymore. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ19I9q_hOQ Adapted from the 2020 Spanish film The People Upstairs by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, The Invite is pitched through a prism of manic anxiety, with rapid-fire dialogue often overlapping with the heavy strings provided by composer Devonté Hynes. The initial bickering between Joe and Angela increases in tempo as they race against the clock to get ready. While still being hilarious on its own terms, it's a relatable window into a decaying relationship verging on incurable. Between this film, his compelling dramatic turn in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans , and his multi-hyphenate work on his television show The Studio , Rogen has reached a peak in his career. Playing the miserable straight man, he's the Richard Burton to Wilde's Elizabeth Taylor in this inspired take on Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? . But Burton was never allowed to be this funny, with Rogen delivering so many side-splitting one-liners that comment on the avalanche of bad circumstances throughout the night. Considering the minuscule cast and setting, one could play armchair therapist and analyze this as a sort of tactical retreat for Wilde as a filmmaker after her sophomore effort, Don't Worry Darling , where the tabloid antics garnered infinitely more attention than the middling film did by itself. Thankfully, this is just a step in a different direction rather than going backwards. Her skills both in front and behind the camera are still solidly illustrated. Her character twists herself into mental pretzels the whole night, all of it captured on 35mm, reminiscent of a home movie. Cruz and Norton get to have a ball of a time watching as their hosts drag themselves into hell. Digging through their stuff and waxing poetic about his career as a firefighter, Norton is fully loosened up, almost parodying his frequent high-strung roles. Cruz's alluring openness, as well as her occupation as a psychotherapist, is what drives the film's third-act pivot. An ulterior motive is revealed by the guests as to why they accepted the invitation, a revelation that provides a whole new level of context for the cover image of this review. It's that reveal that opens the human elements within this tragicomedy of manners. In all of us is a desire to be desired, a yearning that proves our self-worth. Validation is a potent drug, one that can't be administered by yourself. Wilde doesn't handle these later dramatic scenes with as much skill as the earlier comedic ones, but the hard work she and the writers put into these characters still makes it land with a bit of a punch. In a summer blockbuster season ruled by giant tenpoles overfilled with noise and visual effects, this is a smart and funny party you'll want to attend. A24 will release The Invite in select theaters on June 26th, followed by a nationwide expansion on July 10th. 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

Eternity November 24, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Eternity puts a whole new spin on the phrase “Till death do us part.” Like a Pixar movie for adults, the first stage of the afterlife has been literalized as a train junction. The souls of the recently deceased are brought into the hub and are given one week to decide where they would like to spend eternity. Booths line up the halls, each stationed by a tenacious salesperson to persuade souls to come to their unique eternity. One booth is selling Smoker’s World, where everyone is allowed to smoke at all times, and with none of the health risks! Another booth brags about Capitalist World, where you can endure as a hedonistic Wall Street tycoon. Through the combination of endless options and the threat of eternal permanence, people show their true selves when they enter the afterlife. In the mortal world, restrictions such as geography, financial situations, and societal morals made the hard choices for us. Now the guardrails have been lifted, and it’s time to get serious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irXTps1REHU Larry and Joan were one of those couples that could only be separated by death. After sixty years of marriage, they both parted within the span of a week. He accidentally choked on a pretzel at their gender reveal party for their impending grandchild, and she had terminal cancer. It’s not a competition, but I’d say one of them will have a more respectable story to share in the afterlife. When arriving at the junction, your physical form reverts back to when you were happiest, which is where Miles Teller and Elizabeth Olsen come into play. But before they can choose a world, a chaos agent arrives in the form of the irresistibly handsome Callum Turner. He plays Luke, Joan’s first husband, who died in the Korean War. Death parted them, and now the afterlife has brought them back together. He’s been waiting at the junction ever since, and now Joan must choose between a renewed life with him or sticking with Larry. There isn’t a rule that says Joan has to choose between either of them, but it would be a little awkward for all three to live in the same eternity (although this situation would make them perfect for Soap Opera World). It wouldn’t really matter if there were a hard rule about this sort of thing, as director David Freyne and co-writer Patrick Cunnane keep everything a little vague for its own good. Beach World seemingly only has beaches, and Mountain World seemingly only has mountains. But what about Smoker’s World, or Queer World? Is smoking or being queer the only thing you’re allowed to do there? Nudist World seems pretty normal (sans clothes, of course), and I’d assume a nudist beach would be a popular attraction. The salespeople for each of these worlds talk bout quotas, and unpopular worlds are shut down. If someone developed Everything World, then they’d probably dominate the market share. Right now, I’d pick Golf World, as that’s probably the best chance I have of ever getting a hole-in-one. It’s not like these gaps are game-breaking. But it was a worrying sign that they were at the top of my mind throughout most of the runtime, instead of the emotional stakes at play. Despite the otherworldly concept, the plot is tied down to our world’s concepts of a love triangle. That means that one side gets the leg up on the other for some time, only for a shocking revelation to tip the scales in the other direction. Freyne’s pacing doesn’t help the matter, with the 112-minute runtime feeling significantly longer than it actually is. Miles Teller delivers the best performance, channeling the personality of a senior citizen in the body of a young adult. He’s a bit curmudgeonly and always had a bit of resentment over being jokingly referred to as “Joan’s second choice,” but he has a heart of gold and proves that she made the right choice. He also makes the hilarious discovery that his new body allows him to bend over and do squats, something that the mortal world barred him from doing. Olsen and Turner are fine, constantly outshone by Teller and the comedic pair of Da’Vine Joy Randolph and John Early as the deceased trio’s Afterlife Coordinators. Two hours was more than enough time to spend with all these people, much less an eternity. A24 will release Eternity in theaters nationwide on November 26th. 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

Avatar: The Way of Water December 14, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen You know how video games have tried to be more cinematic these past few generations? Works from Rockstar Games with Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto , or Naughty Dog with the Uncharted and The Last of Us series, have pushed the envelope in terms of making video games into playable movies. Now, James Cameron has taken that path in reverse with Avatar: The Way of Water , making it one of the first movies that truly feels like a video game. Of course, if The Way of Water were a video game, it would be the most polished and best-looking game in history. Thirteen years of waiting was well worth it from a technical standpoint, as Cameron has once again taken special effects to a new level, just as he did with 1989’s The Abyss … and again with T2: Judgment Day … and again with Titanic … and again with Avatar . I’m starting to sense a pattern here. You owe it to yourself and your senses to see this in the highest setting you can, whether it’s IMAX, 3D, 3D IMAX, 4DX, or, if you’re really lucky, 4K HFR. Regular 2D will not do this movie justice. You are not just paying to see a movie, you’re paying for a theatrical experience. That statement may be overused at that point since the reopening of theaters from the pandemic, but nothing has symbolized it more than The Way of Water . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9MyW72ELq0 Saying all that, the experience of watching the original Avatar is more of what people remember than the actual story and characters. The same thing can be said for The Way of Water , as Jake Sully and his Na’vi family of Neytiri and four kids are now living fully within the world of Pandora. Death is not the end of the road for some of the original characters, as Sigourney Weaver’s Dr. Augustine and Stephen Lang’s Colonel Quaritch have returned, just in different physical forms. Both have been cloned as Na’vi avatars, with Augustine being Jake and Neytiri’s adopted teenage daughter (yes, the 73-year-old Weaver plays a character 60 years younger than her), and the Colonel being the leader of a new paramilitary force tasked with hunting down Jake. From here, the story pretty much repeats itself from the original, with Jake once again learning how to interact with this magical planet. There is the caveat, which the title alludes to, that the majority of the action takes place not in the forest, but in the coral reefs, which are inhabited by the Metkayina, a more fish-like species of Na’vi. Even with bringing in Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, the screenwriting pair behind the most recent Planet of the Apes trilogy, Cameron still has never been able to crack the code for writing, just as he has for directing. It’s easy to forget that despite a combined 23 Oscar nominations for Titanic and Avatar , neither of them received nods for Cameron’s scripts. A few tin-eared lines come up now and again, mostly from the children, who are the main narrative focus for much of the runtime. Luckily, the performances are not inhibited by what’s on the page, with the cast of new and returning principal actors being more than up to the challenge of motion capture performing. The life-like facial animations capture every movement, with real heart and emotion pouring from moments that you normally would find hokey coming from a ten-foot-tall talking alien. But if there’s anything Cameron has been known for, it’s beating the odds of what has always been deemed impossible. At a reported cost of $350 million, the scale to which The Way of Water plays is unmatched, making many past and future blockbusters look quaint in comparison. Just as it was with Titanic , the final hour of this 192-minute behemoth plays out during a ship-sinking, with tons of crystal clear action and tense moments. It’s a real shame that Cameron’s regular composer, James Horner, died in 2015 because the work here by Simon Franglen can’t quite match the epicness of what’s on the screen. I wonder if James Wan and Warner Bros are shaking in their boots about Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom because I don't know how they’ll be able to beat what Cameron has done here for water-themed special effects. The two movies were originally supposed to share a release date, but that all changed once the DCEU film was pushed back another year. That move won’t save it from endless comparisons, as it’ll now be sandwiched between The Way of Water and Avatar 3 in 2024, which I’m now anticipating infinitely more than Arthur Curry’s next imitation. 20th Century Studios will release Avatar: The Way of Water in theaters nationwide on December 16th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Bros September 9, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen In the words of Natalie Portman, Bros is “so gay.” As the first mainstream studio-released romantic comedy to feature a predominantly LGBTQ+ cast, Bros deserves a great deal of respect. Because after years of being sidelined as the “gay best friend” in films such as My Best Friend’s Wedding, Mean Girls, and The Devil Wears Prada , the time is now for stories that are told by, and for, them. Especially stories that aren’t just about homophobia and gay pain. No, stories celebrating gay culture, warts and all. Stepping in to fill that void is co-writer and star Billy Eichner, delivering pound-for-pound one of the funniest comedies in years. Eichner stars as Bobby Leiber, your typical pessimistic New Yorker who only has time for himself and is not afraid to point out all the things wrong with other people. He’s cultivated a pretty good life for himself by writing a string of children's books, hosting a successful podcast, and acting as the director of the nation’s first LGBTQ+ history museum. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQIeBB9XMe8 But for all his accomplishments, Bobby still hasn’t been able to conquer love, which is illustrated to us by a rather unseemly Tinder hookup that seems to be the peak of his romantic life. All that changes when he meets Aaron (Luke Macfarlane) at a gay club, one that also features a 65-year-old who looks as if “they injected steroids into Dumbledore.” While Bobby’s usual demeanor involves him seeming like he has a stick up his you-know-what, Aaron just goes with the flow (mostly because he’s too scared to act on his own). And in typical rom-com fashion, these opposites attract. What follows is a string of awkward dates that lead to the good times, followed by a falling out that leads to the bad times, which all culminate in a lovely final moment that puts a nice ribbon on everything. Sure, you could have read that last sentence and thought to yourself: “What the hell? He just spoiled the movie for me!” And to that, I would say: “Well, what did you expect from a studio rom-com?” Because for all the gay pride it’s (rightfully) waving around, Bros is still another entry in a genre whose clichés have some of the most well-worn in cinema. Even worse, it exudes some of the worst characteristics of its producer, Judd Apatow, whom I still haven’t forgiven for pandemic-set The Bubble . Director Nicholas Stoller, also serving as co-writer with Eicher, seems to have been taught at the school of Apatow, as he lets a few scenes play out too long, which in turn makes the movie feel much longer than its stated 115-minute runtime. Even with that macro-level problem, Eichner’s script is still able to do wonders on several micro-levels. Take, for instance, Bobby’s dismissal of Hollywood’s sudden openness to queer culture now that they’ve found a way to profit from it. There’s a very clear dig at the “bravery” straight actors exude when playing gay characters in films such as Brokeback Mountain and The Power of the Dog . And in keeping with the country theme, there’s also a running gag about Aaron’s love for Garth Brooks that pays off in spades near the end. Eichner and Macfarlane have a natural chemistry together, which makes their bits the best parts of the film. Fortunately, there are a lot of those bits, which are often peppered with one-liner zings about their different upbringings and personalities (“They’re like grown-up gay Boy Scouts and I’m whatever happened to Evan Hansen!”). Eichner alluded to a possible sequel during the post-screening Q&A for the TIFF world premiere, which, based on how this story ends, I would wholly welcome. While it breaks boundaries for its wonderful representation of LGBTQ+ actors, Bros can’t always break new ground for the rom-com genre. Still, it’s one of the funniest studio romantic comedies of the past few years and delivers more than enough feel-good moments to make its mark as a cultural moment. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Universal Pictures will release Bros in theaters nationwide on September 30th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret April 26, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen I thoroughly hated the experience of watching Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. I hated it so much that I looked away from the screen for about a quarter of the runtime, as any continuation in staring would be a detriment to my physical and mental health, which was being depleted as if I were in a bare-knuckle brawl. I breathed a sigh of relief, and my shoulders finally dropped back down to their normal position once Hans Zimmer’s score (yes, you read that right) took over once again and the credits began to roll. But my displeasure and exhaustion were not spawned from the quality of the movie but from its content. I despise feeling second-hand embarrassment more than anything else in the world. Unluckily for me, both the Judy Blume book and the film adaptation of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. They are the most efficient and unfiltered deliverers of that exact nauseating feeling. First-hand embarrassment is no picnic either, but at least that comes from my own actions. Why would anyone on Earth want to have that feeling shared with them when they’ve done nothing to deserve it? I’ve avoided most of the entire subgenre of cringe comedy, even though some of them look like they could be fun from time to time ( Curb Your Enthusiasm ). The Office narrowly avoids my disdain on account of its over-the-top antics that are beyond relatability. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzRzojHC3iE The story centers on the 11-year-old titular character (Abby Ryder Fortson) in the 1970s as she navigates the time between childhood and adulthood. Her family has just moved from New York City to a suburb in New Jersey, one where people rake leaves, wash cars, and play in the street. Margaret and her newfound friends go through the experience of their changing bodies, developing feelings for the other gender, and every social situation being the most important thing in their entire lives. But Margaret is not riding alone in this arduous journey. It’s actually a three-generation affair as her mother, Barbara (Rachel McAdams), and grandmother Sylvia (Kathy Bates) are also dealing with new surroundings and roles as caretakers. It goes to show that you’ve never really mastered life, no matter how many times you’ve been around the block. The best kinds of movies are the ones that make you feel something. Despite hating every feeling I experienced here, I know it all came from a good place. Writer/director Kelly Fremon Craig ( The Edge of Seventeen ) keeps both the specificity of the story and the universality of the themes intact, allowing everyone to apply Margaret’s journey to their own lives. All those painful memories of the stupid things you did as a teenager flood back to the surface. That pain is a good kind of hurt to authors Blume and Craig, as you haven’t really grown as a person if you can’t look back on your past mistakes. Just as I give Craig credit for finding the emotional core of the movie, I also have to fault her for losing the stakes and structure. Almost all of the final act resolutions come too quickly and feel unsubstantiated. Everything being tidied up in a neat little bow also breaks the complexity and authenticity of the story. Fortunately, the central female trio is all great and does a lot to cover this pothole. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret may tell an oversimplified story, but its low sights allow it to hit its target with precision. I can’t say I enjoyed it or will ever think about watching it again. Nonetheless, it’s a force that is trying to do good in the world, so I recommend people give it the chance to do just that. Lionsgate will release Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. in theaters nationwide on April 28th. 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 Woman King September 10, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen Touted as the story of the “real black panthers,” TriStar Pictures’ The Woman King aims for much more than just Hollywood showmanship. It wants to be an inspirational true story of the African warriors who stood up to the European powers that sought to colonize and enslave them. Of course, the real story of these warriors is much more complex, as they actually fought to protect their own slave trade. But if you want to pick apart this movie for historical inaccuracy, then you’d have to pick apart every movie within the genre, and that would take an eternity. And to give the movie the benefit of the doubt, the plot synopsis does state that it is “a historical epic that is based in an alternate history of The Kingdom of Dahomey,” which means you should leave your quibbles at the box office. Viola Davis stars as General Nanisca of the Dahomey warriors, one of the only African kingdoms to feature women as part of the armed forces. We first see them engaging a rival tribe, the Oyo, in which they attain a decisive victory because of their skill and tactics. Although their feud has been going on for centuries, both Dahomey and the Oyo are being instigated by the European colonial powers that seek to bolster their slave trade. To avoid selling their own, each of the tribes raids the other, selling off their prisoners as slaves (regardless of gender or age). It’s a bloody business that King Ghezo of Dahomey no longer wants to be a part of. But the only way to stop the trade would be to wipe out the Oyo, which is nothing short of a tall order considering their superior numbers and technology. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RDaPV_rJ1Y The film’s analysis of the slave trade is far better than most tonally deft Hollywood epics. The Dahomey are the heroes of our story, but they aren’t without their misgivings. But while the introspection is good, it’s also not good enough. The central conflict is resolved too cleanly without regard to the bigger picture. Sure, the white slavers are killed and the people are freed, but are we really led to believe that’ll be the end of all of this? Director Gina Prince-Bythewood does craft some spectacular action setpieces, each highlighting the physical prowess of the Dahomey Amazons. Swords, spears, muskets, and even sharpened fingernails are used by the women to vanquish their enemies. The PG-13 rating is pushed to its limits, with only a few rapid cuts away from the fatal blows keeping us from the adults-only territory. That level of top-tier craftsmanship also appears in nearly every aspect of the film’s production. An eye-popping color palette coats King Ghezo’s palace and the traditional costumes of the warriors. And Terence Blanchard’s (Spike Lee’s go-to composer) triumphant score gives each scene that little extra boost it needs to get over the edge. It’s just a shame that the technical prowess of the film couldn’t bleed over into the script (written by Dana Stevens and Maria Bello), which constantly throws a wet blanket each time things start to heat up. Along with the simplification of slavery, we also get soap opera-level twists about the character’s lineage and a forced love story between a female warrior and a down-with-the-cause European. It’s in these moments you’re reminded this movie cost $50 million to produce and needs to pull out every trick in the book to appeal to all audiences. At least the acting covers most of the script’s problems. As expected, Viola Davis crushes her role as the stern warrior leader. Lashana Lynch carries over her great comedic timing from No Time to Die as the second-in-command, Izogie. Thuso Mbedu, who plays the audience surrogate, Nawi, does well at handling the film’s heavier moments. If not for its weak script, The Woman King could have been one of the best action movies of 2022. But even for all its faults on the page, there’s no denying the power of what it accomplishes on the screen. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Sony Pictures Releasing will release The Woman King in theaters nationwide on September 16th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Cannes 2023 Recap June 1, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen The Cannes Film Festival, renowned for its celebration of the art of cinema, serves as an annual rendezvous for filmmakers, artists, and film enthusiasts from around the world. As the curtains drew back on the esteemed event, it bestowed upon us a plethora of remarkable films that pushed the boundaries of storytelling and left an indelible mark on our collective cinematic consciousness. In this article, I’ll embark on a captivating recounting of the thirteen films I saw in this year’s edition. From intimate character studies to sweeping epics, the selection was a testament to the diverse voices and visions that grace the silver screen. Each film presented its unique tale, captivating audiences with its artistic merits and thought-provoking narratives. 13. The Old Oak Painfully flat and oversimplified, Ken Loach and Paul Laverty’s umpteenth partnership spends way too much time speechifying instead of building characters. The message boils down to racism = bad, and it ends without resolving either the main plot or the secondary subplot. For someone as adept at social realism as Ken Loach, this is a glaring misfire that makes me worried if it will be his whimpering swan song. 12. Black Flies You might as well walk into this movie with a headache because you're going to get one five minutes in. You might as well not watch this movie if you're squeamish with blood and needles. You might as well not watch this movie if you want to watch interesting characters in an original story filled with ideas you haven’t seen before. You might as well not watch this movie. 11. Last Summer There’s nothing like climbing the steps of the Grand Théâtre Lumière at 7 am to watch a movie about an affair between a middle-aged woman and her teenage stepson. Infamous provocateur Catherin Breillat’s first film in a decade is not as button-pushing as her reputation or the plot summary would imply. Instead, it mutley looks under the surface at the psychological damage caused by the physical actions. 10. Banel & Adama I’ve always had a blind spot for African cinema, so I felt compelled to let this be a mini-introduction. Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s debut film is confidently produced, with striking images and a welcoming lesson of a slice of African culture. The story may be too simple even for its 80-minute runtime, but the building blocks are there for further bites at the apple. 9. A Brighter Tomorrow With his version of Bardo , Nanni Moretti provides a humourous meta-commentary on his personal and professional life, as well as the state of modern filmmaking, complete with discussions about the lack of auteurship and Netflix’s anonymous releases. While it may not be all that innovative or groundbreaking, it's still light and breezy enough to be a good time. 8. May December Grab your marshmallows and graham crackers because Todd Haynes is bringing the camp! I give major props to everyone involved in this production for their ability to keep the silliness of this story a secret. This is “trash” handled by masters of the craft, with Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore understanding the assignment. I'm hoping the Netflix acquisition will allow a new generation of cinephiles to be welcomed into the diverse world of Todd Haynes. 7. About Dry Grasses A runtime of 197 minutes is nothing unusual for Turkish Cannes all-star Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who fills his Chekovian dramedy with endless moments of beauty and frustration. It’s a film that definitely requires multiple watches to fully comprehend its ideas, but I don’t think this initial watch instilled the ambition needed to consider doing that. 6. Perfect Days Wim Wenders’ best narrative feature in decades is a lesson in the serenity of doing the mundane, and the bliss we could all achieve if we didn't overcomplicate everything we do. Similar to the recent Sight and Sound crowned Jeanne Dielman , it’s a story that sounds terrible on paper. And yet, its uber-simplicity does wonders to lull you into a state of meditation. For the best results, watch this on a calm summer day with some tea. 5. Anatomy of a Fall While Johnathan Glazer kept Sandra Hüller at a distance in The Zone of Interest , writer/director Justine Triet has front and center within her Hitchcockian courtroom drama. It may be missing something special that would have made me fall in love with it, but it still contains a densely layered mystery that keeps you guessing throughout its 150-minute runtime. 4. Firebrand Karim Aïnouz’s tale of Catherine Parr and Henry VIII may not contain much directorial flair (begging the question of why it was here in the first place), but the fiery (pun intended) performances by Alicia Vikander and Jude Law keep things smoldering (again, pun intended). Historians will have a field day with its inaccuracies, which allow for a nontraditional and modern approach to a story that has become more relevant in the centuries since. 3. Monster Hirokazu Kore-eda brings Rashomon into the modern age with Monster , a movie that is both more gentle and deadly than its title implies. For the first time in his career, the revered Japanese auteur doesn’t write the script, deferring that duty to Yûji Sakamoto. While I hope this separation of responsibilities doesn’t become a trend, Kore-eda crafts an endearing story about differing perspectives and the misconceptions we surround ourselves with. 2. Asteroid City At this point in his filmography, you’ve probably made up your mind about Wes Anderson. I’m somewhat of an apologist, with those instantly recognizable production qualities and whimsical tones being music to my ears (and eyes). Asteroid City is another healthy dose of what I’m come to love, with the bonus of seeing an auteur continue to find new ways to channel what they do best. Full Review 1. The Zone of Interest Sickening in the most calculated way possible, The Zone of Interest is Jonathan Glazer's ode to Stanley Kubrick. He answers the question of how evil can exist unchecked, holding all of your senses in a sterilized vice. Be sure to soak it all in during your first watch, because I doubt you'll ever want to view the world this way again. Full Review 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

Foe October 25, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Five years from now Saoirse Ronan and/or Paul Mescal will have an Oscar in their hands. When that happens we’ll look back through their careers, highlighting all the films that led them down this path. For Ronan, we’ll be starting with her groundbreaking child performances in Atonement and Hanna . Then we’ll fondly remember her navigating female adolescence with Greta Gerwig in Lady Bird and Little Women . For Mescal we’ll start on television with Normal People , and then the explosion of Aftersun and All of Us Strangers . And then for both of them, we’ll see a movie titled Foe that came out in 2023 that they starred in for writer/director Garth Davis. We’ll sit back and think long and hard because we can’t remember if we have or haven’t seen it. Eventually, the memory of seeing it (probably on Amazon Prime) will come back, followed by a sad thought about how a movie starring two of the best actors of a generation amounted to absolutely nothing. Taking a page out of Jane Campion’s (whom he directed alongside for the television series Top of the Lake ) playbook from The Power of the Dog , Davis has his native Australia stand in for the barren American Midwest. The year is 2065 and things are as predictably bleak as we expect them to be. Water and fertile land are some of the most valuable resources, making farming a near-extinct occupation. Hen (Ronan) and Junior (Mescal) still hold on to that way of life in their own way. They live in a crumbling farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, with Hen working as a waitress and Junior as a line worker at the local poultry farm. They seem content with each other, which makes the arrival of a stranger (Aaron Pierre) all the more unnerving. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAh-xgggcfI This stranger has a proposal: Junior has been selected (conscripted would be the better word) to be a part of a mission on a space station far above Earth. Hen wouldn’t be left alone; instead, a perfect clone would be made of Junior to take his place while he’s away. This stranger must stay with the couple for a while to gather all the information needed to make this person-to-clone transition as seamless as possible. Adapted from the novel by Iain Reid, Foe can’t decide between being a parable about relationships and A.I., or a literal story about life on a desolate Earth. It picks somewhere in the middle, dooming both sides as they each need full commitment in order to work. The introspection of clones taking the place of humans has been done better in Blade Runner and Swan Song , starring Mahershala Ali. Does it really matter if a clone is just as lifelike as a human when the characters aren’t interesting? There are also so many facts about this world that leave so many open questions. Why is Junior so special for this program? What exactly is this mission? If the clone is so perfect, why can’t they just send it into space? Why do Hen and Junior only listen to music from the mid-1900s and drive a beat-up pickup truck that would barely be worth anything in 2023? Some of these questions are nitpicks, but the lack of any gravitas surrounding the thematic material makes these stand out even more. The two leads do everything they can to keep things interesting, a job they can do with ease. They run the entire emotional gamut with their performances, but none of it registers due to Davis’s detachment from the material. Each of them is forced to overact once the third-act twists come into play. Everything feels so forced by then that it’s almost comical. But it’s not a total trainwreck, so it’s just rather tediously bad. Son of Saul cinematographer Mátyás Erdély captures the landscape beautifully, showcasing the mystifying wonder that keeps people like Hen and Junior tethered to this patch of dirt. If only Davis could have done the same with his direction and script, as most of his decisions steer away from that intrigue and end up being as interesting as dirt itself. Amazon MGM Studios will release Foe in select theaters on October 06th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

26 Most Anticipated Films of 2026 January 12, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Heading into 2026, there are so many existential questions that Hollywood has to grapple with. Between Netflix and Paramount, which will become the new owner of Warner Bros.? With the May 1st deadline for a new labor deal between the studios and guilds fast approaching, will we see a repeat of the industry-stopping strikes of 2023? Can the box office finally bounce back after years of accelerated depression from the COVID-19 pandemic? The answers to all these questions remain shrouded in mystery, although the past few years haven't instilled much room for optimism. But a new year also brings a new wave of possibilities for the road ahead. 2025 saw big-name directors cashing in their blank checks for career-defining projects: Paul Thomas Anderson with One Battle After Another , Ryan Coogler with Sinners , and Guillermo del Toro with Frankenstein . 2026 will (hopefully) contain more of the same, with Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, and David Fincher returning to the silver screen. International directors have also garnered increased attention over the years, with numerous great films emerging from every corner of the globe. To get you all excited as I am, listed below (in alphabetical order) are the twenty-six films I'm most looking forward to in 2026! Honorable Mentions: Animals, Cry to Heaven, Enemies, Hope, Ink, Mother Mary, Sense and Sensibility, The Bride!, The Uprising, Wild Horse Nine All of a Sudden Between Drive My Car being an unexpected Oscar heavyweight and Evil Does Not Exist sneakily being one of the best films of last year, Japanese auteur Ryûsuke Hamaguchi has rapidly ascended to becoming one of the most sought-after voices in international cinema. With the lights being the brightest that they've ever been, he's shifting over to France for a story about two female scholars who form a deep connection as they exchange letters. Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto will star, with the former promising that the film will contain some “astonishing formal choices” during a recent interview. Artifical Artificial intelligence has taken over nearly every facet of our lives, so it’s only natural that it's made its way into the cinema as well. Thankfully, I’m not talking about an artificially generated movie, but a biopic about Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. Cinema’s premiere workaholic, Luca Guadagnino, is taking the reins, and he’s reuniting with Andrew Garfield. Supporting him will be a cast comprised of Monica Barbaro, Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Mark Rylance, and Yura Borisov. Avengers: Doomsday (December 18th) On the one hand, the return of the Russo brothers to the director’s chair, along with Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr., feels like an act of desperation and a slight betrayal of the finality of Avengers: Endgame . On the other hand, the films directed by the Russos solely occupy my MCU Mount Rushmore, and I haven’t been interested in continuing the stories of any of the characters introduced over the past few years. A multi-billion-dollar empire hangs in the balance, so this will be quite the spectacle whichever side the coin lands. Behemoth! Most famous on the silver screen for his directorial debut of Michael Clayton , Tony Gilroy hasn’t helmed a film since 2012’s The Bourne Legacy , the continuation of the Matt Damon-starring trilogy that he penned. In the meantime, he’s proved to both Disney and the fandom that Star Wars can still be relevant with Andor . He’s pairing up with another Disney+ star, Pedro Pascal, for a movie about a cellist composing music for the big screen. It’s described as a “love letter to the music of the movies and the people who make it,” so expect some sentimentality attached to the tunes that helped those images soar. Burning Rainbow Farm The Australian Justin Kurzel has become the preeminent gritty filmmaker over the past decade, exploring the darkness within Shakespeare ( Macbeth ), as well as real-life tragedies within his native country ( Nitram ) and America ( The Order ). His next film comes from that same mold, with Sebastian Stan (his first of a few appearances on this list) and rising star Leo Woodall appearing as a marijuana advocate couple who endure a five-day standoff against the FBI at their farmstead. The climactic shootout in The Order was some of the best work Kurzel has produced, so I can only imagine what he'll be able to pull off with a wider scope. Butterfly Jam After nabbing the Best Director prize from the Un Certain Regard section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival for his sophomore feature, Beanpole , it seemed like writer/director Kantemir Balagov would become one of the top young voices in cinema. His disagreements with the current regime in his Russian homeland stalled his ability to make another project there, and he eventually was transplanted to New Jersey. He'll be exploring that area's Circassian community, centering on Barry Keoghan as an aspiring professional wrestler who gets caught up in his father's criminal schemes. Digger (October 2nd) When the world needs saving, that means it’s time to call in Tom Cruise. It looks like he’ll be up to that task again for a “comedy of catastrophic proportions.” Although judging by his hairpiece and shovel dancing in the recent title announcement, his titular character won’t be as suave as Ethan Hunt or Maverick. Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki won back-to-back Oscars in their respective fields for Birdman and The Revenant . Each of those films also netted nominations for their lead stars, with Leonardo DiCaprio finally nabbing that elusive trophy in the latter film. Here’s hoping the same happens for Cruise, who hasn’t been nominated for acting since Magnolia . Disclosure Day (June 12th) Steven Spielberg has solely made movies based on preexisting material or history in the forty-plus years since E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial . That makes it extra fitting that the streak will be broken for an original story about aliens walking among us. Spielberg has enlisted his trusted screenwriter, David Koepp, to flesh out the details, as well as a cast consisting of Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Eve Hewson, Colin Firth, and Colman Domingo. Morbidly, this film will likely feature the final compositions by legendary maestro John Williams. Dune: Part Three (December 18th) The first two parts of Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi franchise were adaptations of the initial book in the famed series by Frank Herbert. This third chapter will leap ahead to Dune: Messiah , which contains several story elements that could take this series in bold directions. It’s unclear how strongly Villeneuve will follow the source material. What is clear is that much of the same cast and crew return, with new additions in Robert Pattinson and Anya Taylor-Joy. After The Odyssey , this will be the second film shot entirely in IMAX, a naturally epic canvas for Villeneuve to paint with. Fjord While he has yet to break into the mainstream, Romanian auteur Cristian Mungiu has consistently been one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of the 21st century. He won the Palme d’Or in 2007 for 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days , and will likely compete again with his starriest film to date. Coming off their work in A Different Man , Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve will play an immigrant Romanian couple who are persecuted shortly after settling in Norway. Judging by Mungiu’s continuous critiques of the flawed justice system, it’s doubtful that this will be a happy tale. Her Private Hell True to his nature, Nicolas Winding Refn's first film in ten years promises "lots of glitter, sex, and violence." The Danish bad boy director is the epitome of style over substance, sending Ryan Gosling down a path of bloody crime in Drive and Only God Forgives . His two leading ladies this time around are Sophie Thatcher and Havana Rose Liu, who, between their looks and acting styles, seem like perfect additions to his intoxicating world. Jack of Spades Since the breakup of the Minnesota-born brothers, Ethan has released two wacky comedies ( Drive-Away Dolls and Honey Don’t! ), while Joel has dabbled in Shakespeare ( The Tragedy of Macbeth ). This second solo effort from the latter brother will probably give us enough evidence to solidify any theory about the dynamics of their working relationship. As with every Coen project, specific details are closely guarded, with the only known information being that it’s set in London during the nineteenth century, and will star Josh O’Connor, Frances McDormand, Damian Lewis, and Lesley Manville. Madden Between the slight disappointment of Joy and the outright disaster of Amsterdam , there’s been quite a cooling off for David O. Russell since his early-2010s hot streak of The Fighter , Silver Linings Playbook , and American Hustle . Despite those most recent failures, he’s attracted a star-studded cast for this story of the birth of the chart-topping football video game series. Nicolas Cage will be caked in makeup to play the turducken-loving coach, and so will Christian Bale as he portrays longtime Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis. This will probably be a mess, but entertaining nonetheless. Paper Tiger Not that it can be taken too seriously, but Rodrigo Teixeira, a producer on Paper Tiger , claims that it’s the best work that writer/director James Gray has ever done. Bias aside, that kind of enthusiasm is what Gray deserves, whose consistently remained underappreciated despite his near impeccable filmography, which includes Ad Astra , The Lost City of Z , and We Own the Night . He's got his starriest cast yet with Adam Driver and Miles Teller playing brothers caught up in the violence of the American dream, with Scarlett Johansson also involved. Parallel Tales Sandwiched between his Oscar-winning dramas of A Separation and The Salesman , Iranian writer/director Asghar Farhadi dipped his toe into the Parisian waters with the equally acclaimed The Past . Thirteen years later, he's back in France, this time with an all-star cast comprised of Isabelle Huppert, Catherine Deneuve, Vincent Cassel, Virginie Efira, and Pierre Niney. The plot is under wraps, so we'll just have to wait and see what’s in store. Sheep in the Box and Look Back Hirokazu Kore-eda has arguably been one of the greatest filmmakers of this millennium, with even his recent "lesser" films like The Truth, Broker , and Monster being near the top of my list in their respective years. He has two films in the can for this year, the first being set in the near-future as a couple takes in a state-of-the-art humanoid into their home as their son. The second is a live-action adaptation of the immensely popular manga, which recently received a highly acclaimed anime version. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Jane Schoenbrun's I Saw the TV Glow felt like a defining film of the 2020s, containing a voice that stemmed from several influences, yet was entirely its own. They'll be staying in that liminal space for their third feature, which follows a queer director (Hannah Einbinder from Hacks ) making a modern sequel to an iconic 80s slasher franchise. Gillian Anderson stars as the original film's 'final girl,' who becomes psychologically and sexually tangled with Einbinder. The Adventures of Cliff Booth Between a novelization and now a sequel script, it seems that Quentin Tarantino really wants to stay in the world of Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood before he finally ventures into making his tenth and final film. And for the first time in thirty years, he won’t be directing his own screenplay, having personally hired David Fincher for that task. It’s an odd pairing of the cold and calculating Fincher with a potentially shaggy comedy. But the talent both on and off the screen is too immense for those doubts to cloud my excitement. The Dog Stars (August 28th) Ridley Scott has continually defied the notion that age should slow a person down. Since he turned 80 years old in 2017, he has directed four blockbusters and several television pilots. Even at 88, he’s still lining up projects that will not be filmed for many more years. For now, he’s got an adaptation of the popular sci-fi novel set in a post-apocalyptic world after a virus wipes out most of humanity. Jacob Elordi stars as Hig, a pilot who survived the plague and must scavenge the desolate wasteland in order to preserve what’s left of our species. The Entertainment System Is Down In the year since he started production on his newest film, Ruben Östlund has been claiming that it will cause the most walkouts in the history of the Cannes Film Festival, where he recently won consecutive Palme d'Ors for The Square and Triangle of Sadness . A real Boeing 747 was acquired specifically for the production, with a cast that includes Keanu Reeves, Kirsten Dunst, Daniel Brühl, and Vincent Lindon, stuck on a long-haul international flight where the titular scenario occurs. While the characters will certainly be bored as they must grapple with life free of distractions, we will not, as Östlund doles out another helping of his outlandish social commentary. The Last Disturbance of Madeline Hynde Although he has yet to share any plot details, writer/director Kenneth Branagh has been very open about his admiration for star Jodie Comer, even going so far as to compare her to Meryl Streep. That’s a lofty pedestal to place her on, and a funny coincidence since Branagh will be starring as Streep’s husband in The Devil Wears Prada 2 . Branagh has always been an inconsistent director, with his more successful films being the ones he wrote. Let’s hope that streak continues here. The Odyssey (July 17th) I may not have approved of the practice, but I did cave and buy a year-ahead ticket for the first IMAX 70mm showing of The Odyssey at AMC Lincoln Square. It only felt right for me to witness Christopher Nolan's new film on the biggest screen in the country. His retelling of the epic that started it all will be presented entirely in IMAX, making this not just a film, but also a cultural event. The Social Reckoning (October 9th) The scope of The Social Network feels quaint compared to what Facebook has become in the fifteen years since. That’s why original screenwriter Aaron Sorkin is returning to the subject for a follow-up investigation, which will include data leaks, invasions of privacy, and how it became connected to the January 6 United States Capitol attack. Mikey Madison will mark her return to the screen after winning her Oscar, and Jeremy Strong replaces Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg. It is somewhat of a shame that Sorkin is now directing his own scripts instead of entrusting them to a top-tier filmmaker. But if that’s the price that must be paid to experience his signature masterful dialogue, then so be it. The Way of the Wind Now that we’ve reached the seventh consecutive year of this film appearing on this list, the joke has more than run its course. Although it does seem fitting for a film about the life of Jesus Christ to continually test my faith in its existence. I worship at the altar of Terrence Malick, so I’ll continue to say my prayers. Werwulf Between Guillermo del Toro and Robert Eggers, the classic movie monsters have been receiving the respectful modern adaptations that they deserve. While Eggers’ newest film is technically not a story about the famous werewolf, it will definitely have those familiar elements. He’s working again with his The Northman screenwriter, Sjón, as well as a majority of the cast of Nosferatu . Likely to be bathed in darkness and blood, this will be the feel-bad movie of Christmas. Wuthering Heights (February 13th) Emerald Fennell has become something of a prestige provocateur this decade with Promising Young Woman and Saltburn . The latter film may not have fared as well as the former, but it still packs a lot of messy glitz and glamor. How will those sensibilities mesh with literature's most famous love story, which has amassed a loyal fanbase in the nearly two centuries since its publication? It's hard to tell, with the imagery from the trailer looking ravishing and the passion between stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi seemingly being off the charts. 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

Spaceman February 28, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen If you were to close your eyes and envision an Adam Sandler movie about a Czechoslovakian cosmonaut, you’d probably come up with some sort of Happy Madison production filled with lots of zero-gravity toilet humor and slightly offensive accents. And if I were to ask you to predict who would voice the giant CGI spider (we’ll get to that later); you’d say Rob Schneider, Kevin James, David Spade, or anyone else in the Sandler crew. Luckily for us, we at least live in a good enough timeline where a film where Sandler is a Czech cosmonaut does exist, but none of those other things are true. Chernobyl director Johan Renck is at the helm with a cast rounded out by Carey Mulligan, Paul Dano, and Isabella Rossellini, all of whom go the Ridley Scott route of maintaining their natural speaking for their Eastern European characters. But for all those right ingredients on paper, Spaceman grounds the Sandler dramatic winning streak, proving that the simple sight of the comedian in a lower register isn’t enough to cover up an oversimplified love story with liberally borrowed plot points. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNZ0xKaCdus We first find Sandler six months into his solo journey to the outer reaches of the universe. Jakub Prochazka is the pride of Czechoslovakia, an invulnerable explorer who will answer our long-held questions. But that description is just what the populace is fed through the space program’s PR campaign. In reality, Jakub is nearing his mental abyss due to a mixture of isolation, a spacecraft that makes the Millennium Falcon look pristine, and his wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), refusing to speak to him. Reality quickly begins to bend when a giant spider (voiced by Paul Dano) appears on the ship. Is this a real alien or just a figment of Jakub’s imagination? Either way, it has the ability to replay Jakub’s buried thoughts to help him through his unresolved emotional stress. If the plot synopsis of an emotionally detached astronaut working through their feelings sounds familiar to you, it’s because it is. Ironically, the final frontier has been the location for our earthly problems several times before; most notably in Gravity , First Man , and Ad Astra . That last example gets extra points since both it and Spaceman feature eerily similar romantic situations and scores by Max Richter. But Renck and Sandler aren’t able to mine what director James Gray and Brad Pitt did with their 2019 film, settling on beats that come across more as conceptual ideas than lived-in moments. The back-and-forth bleeding of Jakub’s earlier memories with Lenka always stays on the surface, never answering the question of how and why these two fell in and out of love. They stare and kiss each other from time to time, yet never have a meaningful conversation. That banality is at least pretty to look at, with the camera swirling around Sandler with a boxy frame. What is sometimes annoying is the gimmicky use of excessive film grain for scenes set on Earth, as well as the fisheye distortion for the memories. The spider, named Hanuš, is created convincingly enough to scare any arachnophobe. Its eyes dart in different directions, and its legs dangle as it traverses around in zero gravity. Sandler has always been a very watchable performer, so the ability to pay attention is not diminished when half the scenes solely feature him. Unlike his dramatic work in previous films like Punch-Drunk Love and Uncut Gems , he’s not delivering his usual Sandler-isms in a different key. This is an entirely different performance altogether, stripped of anything you’ve come to expect. He’s perpetually glum and reserved, never saying or doing anything that could be inserted into a future YouTube compilation. There’s no denying the fact that he’s still one of the industry’s biggest stars if he can keep you glued to the screen without doing much of anything. Dano is a great piece of casting in his voice-only role, serving the melancholic curiosity that keeps the plot moving. Mulligan, on the other hand, is wasted in a doting role ripped straight out of a poor man’s version of a Terrence Malick film. She stares solemnly into the sky several times over, yet the emotional pull is as barren as the fields that surround her. It’s these scenes that epitomize the film as a whole: a pretty picture without much of a story to tell. Netflix will release Spaceman in select theaters on February 23rd, followed by its streaming premiere on March 01st. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

2026 Oscar Nominations - Winners & Losers January 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Christmas morning for cinephiles has come and gone, with many films receiving a bounty of presents or a big lump of coal. Records were broken, tears were shed, and campaigns to win these trophies are now in full swing. With the dust settling (for now), let's break down who the big winners and losers were. Winner: Sinners By taking advantage of the new category for achievement in casting and, surprisingly, getting Delroy Lindo nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Sinners broke the all-time nomination record. Across a total of sixteen categories, Ryan Coogler's film didn't miss a single category it was predicted to be nominated for. With the SAG and PGA awards on the horizon, the film has clearly shown it still has some juice left in the fight for Best Picture. Loser: Wicked: For Good Once the reviews were out, it seemed inevitable that Wicked: For Good would take a step down from the ten nominations its predecessor got. At the very least, we expected the crafts to make a repeat appearance, especially when the costumes and production sets won Oscars last year. Alas, every branch of the Academy collectively shunned the sequel, handing it a big, fat goose egg on nomination morning. Winner: Bugonia The ho-hum initial reactions following Bugonia ’s premiere at the Venice International Film Festival spurred everyone to think this would go the way of Kinds of Kindness or The Lobster instead of The Favourite and Poor Things . Instead, it landed somewhere in the middle, netting four total nominations, including Best Picture. Emma Stone has proved to be her generation’s Meryl Streep / Cate Blanchett, nabbing her fifth acting nomination before the age of 37. She and Lanthimos have four feature films together, with three of them being nominated for Best Picture. Loser: Paul Mescal Between Joseph Fiennes being snubbed for Shakespeare in Love and now Paul Mescal for Hamnet , taking on the role of William Shakespeare is an Oscar curse. Mescal received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor from every major precursor, and Hamnet has been a top-tier Best Picture since its premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in August. Adam Sandler or Miles Caton were predicted to be the possible upset options. However, it was Caton’s Sinners co-star Delroy Lindo who came in with the steel chair, netting his first-ever Oscar nomination in a very long and respected career. Winner: Sentimental Value What started with a 19-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival back in May has culminated in nine Oscar nominations. After being fully blanked by SAG, all four members of its ensemble were Oscar-nominated. The film was even nominated for Best Film Editing, which had a very outside shot at receiving. The battle for Best International Feature is now down to it and The Secret Agent , both of which netted a nomination for Best Picture. Loser: It Was Just an Accident Jafar Panahi’s film has now broken the three-film streak of Palme d’Or winners being nominated for Best Picture. Even a few weeks ago, the film seemed like a surefire bet to get in, performing extremely well at the initial critics' awards. However, cracks started to form right when Oscar voting began, and the film only managed to get in for Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature. With other Cannes titles like Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent overperforming on expectations, it seems likely that Panahi will go home empty-handed. Winner: Warner Bros. For a studio that is supposedly being swallowed up by the Netflix machine, Warner Bros. made quite the statement for itself on Oscar nomination morning. Their Best Picture nominees of Sinners and One Battle After Another combined for a total of twenty-nine nominations, with the former clearing the record with sixteen. It can also take half-credit for the four nominations garnered by F1 , which it distributed with Apple Original Films in the United States. All three of those films are expected to be heavy favorites in multiple categories at the Oscar ceremony, so this level of dominance will likely continue. Loser: Searchlight Pictures Likely regarded as one of the strongest speciality distributors in the awards game, this year marks the first time since 2005 that Searchlight Pictures was fully blanked from the Oscars. Back in the summer, they seemed to have a strong one-two punch in Rental Family and Is This Thing On? . Once both of those films underperformed, they switched horses to The Testament of Ann Lee . That also didn’t go anywhere; the film’s rejection from many shortlists sealing its doom way before Oscar nomination morning. In 2026, they have new films from Tony Gilroy and Martin McDonagh, so they shouldn’t be out of the conversation for very long. Winner: Global Cinema We’ve been living in a Renaissance period for international representation at the Oscars for a few years now. It’s now common for multiple foreign language films to be nominated for Best Picture, with this year’s entries being Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent . Other international films that picked up nominations include It Was Just an Accident (Best Original Screenplay), Sirât (Best Sound), Kokuko (Best Makeup & Hairstyling), and The Ugly Stepsister (Best Makeup & Hairstyling). With borders becoming less and less of an obstacle amongst the cinephile community, this trend will only increase the more we venture into the future. 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

To Catch a Killer April 19, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen It’s New Year’s Eve in Baltimore, and the parties are raging late into the night. The champagne is flowing, and the fireworks are blasting, both of which provide excellent cover for a sniper to exact his bloodlust. 29 bullets leave his rifle, hitting 29 targets, all seemingly chosen at random. One of the first responders is Eleanor Falco (Shailene Woodley), a low-level street cop who impresses the lead FBI Investigator (Ben Mendelsohn) with her intuition and critical thinking. This killer is not part of a terrorist cell or trying to send a message. He’s a lone wolf that “is just swatting flies” for momentary relief. Nobody knows when he’ll strike next, which frustrates politicians and the public, as the feeling of safety is quickly fleeting. Argentine writer/director/editor Damián Szifron landed on the international scene with a bang in 2014 with Wild Tales , which went on to be Oscar-nominated for Best International Feature. That satirical story opened a lot of doors for him, but he never seemed able to get through the frame. Projects came and went, including writing a script for a modern adaptation of Six Billion Dollar Man starring Mark Wahlberg. While I’m glad that project never got off the ground, it’s not like To Catch a Killer is all that original either. There are little hints that explain why an original voice like Szifron would want to tell this generic story, but none of them come to the surface in a compelling enough way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVO1LnqzxpQ “Misanthrope” was the original title for the film, which tracks much closer to the themes within Szifron’s script, which he co-wrote with Jonathan Wakeham. The radio and television shows are filled with conspiracy theories and hot takes, spreading mass paranoia and fear-mongering. The politicians have their angle for why this killer needs to be caught, as an energy company is now having second thoughts over the safety of their proposed billion-dollar facility. The only thing that will get the job done is putting your head down and doing the dirty work, which Falco is more than willing to do. Her dark past helps her connect a little better with the killer. Woodley is capable in the role, but it never seems to be more than a lesser version of Clarice Starling from The Silence of the Lambs . The script also doesn’t do much to let you follow along with Falco’s investigation. You’re being pulled along instead of following, with a few twists and turns being unsubstantiated and pulled out of thin air. Nonetheless, Szifron instills gripping procedural energy. The camera maintains a neutral observational presence during the moments before mass carnage, almost as if it's been ripped from a surveillance feed. You know the mundanity is about to be interrupted by bloodshed, with the only thing left for you to do is wait. Carter Burwell’s score is as methodical as the killer himself, with the piano keys creating a haunted atmosphere. To Catch a Killer may be a good enough entry in this tried-and-true genre, but it can never reach its loftier ambitions. With this being the comeback vehicle for both Szifron and Woodley after multi-year absences, it’s a little disappointing to see that this was all they could come up with. Vertical Entertainment will release To Catch a Killer in select theaters on April 21st. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen