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Infinity Pool January 26, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen While this past year brought us numerous filmmakers offering a satirical take on the metaphorical war between classes (Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness , Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery , and Mark Mylod’s The Menu come to mind), Brandon Cronenberg is here to deliver the supremely dark and twisted version of that story. This extreme combination of sex, violence, high art, and classism may not cohere as well as it should, but it always remains intriguing and elicits responses very few filmmakers would dare search for. Married couple James (Alexander Skarsgård) and Em Foster (Cleopatra Coleman) are taking their vacation at a swanky resort in a fictional country whose economy heavily relies upon tourism. James wrote a mediocre book six years ago and has struggled with writer’s block ever since, so this vacation also serves as a last-ditch attempt to find inspiration. A beautiful young woman (Mia Goth) approaches James and tells him she’s a big fan of his book, a statement that greatly strokes his ego. A night of drinking commences, coming to a screeching halt when James accidentally runs over a local farmer with his car. This country has harsh penalties when it comes to murder, even if it was by accident. The only way for this matter to be resolved is for the farmer’s son to kill James. Fortunately, the law also has a way out for those that can pay for it, a process that creates a clone that will be used for the execution. Essentially, you are totally above the law if you can afford it. The metaphor, in all its obviousness, begs the ultimate question: What would you do if there were no consequences for your actions? For a small group of tourists, who induct James as their newest member, it means murdering and stealing your way through an uninhibited life. While the filmmakers mentioned in the introduction look down upon the rich by lifting up the working class, Cronenberg doesn’t share that optimistic outlook on the everyman. James leaps upon the opportunity to indulge in his most perverse fantasies, proving that the most critical philosophers were right in saying that we only restrain our true selves in fear of punishment. But the one thing that I doubt we share with James and his compatriots is the level of debauchery they engage in. I don’t know about you, but a Gaspar Noé-inspired orgy filmed through a kaleidoscope and edited with every intention to fry your senses wouldn’t be one of the first things I would do if the societal chains were broken. Cronenberg ups his craftsmanship with this sophomore feature, confidently telling his story with playfully chaotic energy. Things slightly deflate near the final act, where the acts of madness feel more for show than for substance, but the compelling nature of it all is impossible to deny. Aiding that “can’t look away even though you want to” energy is Goth’s delightfully mad-capped performance. Between her work in High Life, Suspiria , and the Ti West trilogy of Pearl, X , and the upcoming MaXXXine , she has cemented herself as one of the most interesting actors working today. You’re wondering what she'll do next, and she always delivers beyond expectations. With Infinity Pool , Brandon has proved that the Cronenberg surname is in good hands for the foreseeable future. There’s a method to his madness, one that I feel will continually get better as time goes on. I’m both incredibly excited and dreadful about what demented material he has waiting in the wings. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire December 20, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen If you loved the “This is Katana” speech from 2016’s Suicide Squad , then you will have a field day with Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire . Snyder and his two credited co-writers, Shay Hatten and Kurt Johnstad, steal from every source they can, so much so from Star Wars and Seven Samurai that George Lucas and the estate of Akira Kurosawa would be in their legal right to sue for credit, although they shouldn’t because that would tangentially connect them to this abominable script for the rest of time. But the con doesn’t stop on the page, as nearly every image is so steeped in the iconography of what’s come before that it’s impossible to see it for anything more than a cheap knockoff. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. An opening crawl’s worth of lore is narrated by Anthony Hopkins as an evil dreadnought appears out of space and moves past the camera, which then pans down to a desert planet to reveal a young orphan farmer. No, the projectionist (or the Netflix server) didn’t accidentally play A New Hope , it just started the biggest edge lord wannabe since Todd Phillips’ Joker (that one at least boasted a high level of competence). Our young hero is Kora (Sofia Boutella), who harbors a traumatic past with the fascist Motherworld, led by Ed Skrien’s Admiral Atticus Noble, donning every piece of Nazi regalia except for the swastika. Kora knows that the arrival of Noble means death for her quant farming village, but none of the other villagers take the danger seriously enough. The consequence of their underestimation is tragedy, prompting Kora to travel the galaxy assembling a team of warriors to fight back against the evil that encroaches on the people she cares about. That synopsis might seem simple enough (as it should because you’ve literally seen it before), but nothing is simple about the way Snyder tiringly doles it out. The who, what, where, when, and why are in a constant state of vagueness, masked by unclear exposition and uninteresting politics. At some point, you just have to throw your hands in the air and simplify it down to Kora being Luke Skywalker, Noble being Darth Vader, the Motherworld being The Empire, and Charlie Hunnam playing the Han Solo-type. What does that mean for the other half-dozen characters that don’t fit into that mold? It actually doesn’t matter because they hardly matter either, almost all of them serving more as action figures than believable mortals. But action figures deserve good action set pieces. And except for a genuinely cool fight between Doona Bae’s samurai witch and an Arachne, there isn’t a moment that inspires the eyegasm Synder so desperately wants you to have. He employs the typical slow-fast-slow speed-toggling at such a predictable clip that you’d wish it was eligible to be gambled on. The gore is also toned down considerably through choppy editing. That aspect has been lumped in with the individual character backstories as the main selling points for the future Snyder Cut, which promises to fix all the problems they’ve readily admitted feature in this cut. Those extra hours will include more opportunities for Snyder - serving as his own DP again after Army of the Dead (who the hell let that happen!?) - to indulge in his ultra-shallow focus cinematography. It’s not as ugly as before, but it still backfires to expose the artificiality of the sets and incessant visual effects used to cover it up. Returning to George Lucas, there were a few moments here that made the digital backdrops from the prequel films seem photorealistic. I don’t know where the story goes next in the soon-to-come sequel The Scargiver ; not because Snyder ended it on an interesting note, but because I’m still baffled about everything that happened and what it all means going forward. Honestly, it takes true talent to cheat this intensely and still fail so hard. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Raymond & Ray September 13, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen Raymond & Ray had its World Premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Apple TV+ will release it on its streaming platform on October 21. You’d have to be a real son of a bitch to give your kids the same name. Such is the case for half-brothers Raymond (Ewan McGregor) and Ray (Ethan Hawke), who have had to endure their father’s physical and emotional cruelty long after they grew up and left him to rot away in the personal hell they think he belongs in. And now that he’s finally dead, they don’t know what to feel. Should they be sad, just like any normal son would for their father? But how can they after all they’ve been through? It’s a troubling question that the pair must navigate as they venture back to their home to bury the patriarch, which leads to some revelations about the past and the impending future. Based on outward appearances, Raymond is the more responsible and well-adjusted one. He dresses appropriately and is clean-shaven, resembling someone who’s always trying to give off the impression that he’s made it. Ray, on the other hand, is more of the “go with the flow” type, always flirting around and keeping his shirts unbuttoned. He’s also rejected his jazz musician past and is a recovering addict, two things he doesn’t like to talk about. Raymond also has his personal demons, including two divorces (and a third impending one), and a rocky relationship with his son who’s off in the army. While neither of them is as bad as their forbearer, it seems the apples haven’t fallen too far from the tree. As you could imagine, these two flawed characters will often be seen having conversations about their past and how it isn’t their fault they ended up this way. It’s all very tiring and drawn-out material, something that writer/director Rodrigo García is becoming accustomed to with the equally clichéd Four Good Days just this past year (whose only claim to fame was a tiringly predictable Best Original Song nomination for Diane Warren). Not much about it rings true, with most of the story beats being visible from a mile away. And if they are mildly surprising, the dramatic blocks haven’t been built up enough to make the toppling over that exciting. That constant sense of “been there, done this” also extended towards the actors, who, try as they must, can’t find a way to make this bird sing. Ewan McGregor, reteaming with García for similar material after portraying a fatherly tortured version of Jesus Christ in 2015’s Last Days in the Desert , is the weaker of the central pair. There’s a sort of artifice to his performance, almost as if he hasn’t fully shed the chutzpah he needed to bring to the table for his recent work in Birds of Prey or in Ryan Murphy’s Halston series (which did earn him an Emmy award, so you can’t entirely blame him). Hawke, on the other hand, seems to be stuck in neutral, playing a similar archetype that he can do in his sleep at this point. Fortunately, there is the presence of Maribel Verdú and Sophie Okonedo to lighten things up and make it somewhat interesting from time to time. Each gets to share some time with one of the brothers, with Okonedo and Hawke being the better pair as they offer some introspective scenes about grief and reckoning with the past. Raymond & Ray is the type of movie that seems to evaporate from your brain the moment you step out of the theater. And while that’s a fine thing for mindless blockbusters, it’s not for movies like this that try to aim for something much weightier. And it’s doubly concerning when it wastes the talents of those involved, who easily could have been doing something more substantial. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Bad Times at the El Royale October 25, 2018 By: Button Hunter Friesen A priest, a singer, a vacuum salesman, and a drifter walk into a hotel. They all have a story and need a room for a specific reason, but only one of them is telling the truth. Each one is untrusting of the other and plans out how to survive the night as a severe storm moves in. Then enters a crazy cult leader who wants to exact revenge on the one who wronged him. With five seedy characters and a suspicious bellhop, a one night stay at the El Royale may come with a fatal price. Bad Times is directed by Drew Goddard, who previously directed and wrote the comedy/horror The Cabin in the Woods and wrote the screenplay for The Martian . Goddard does well at directing this film. He does make some mistakes from time to time, but they aren’t too severe. The first of his mistakes come from the pacing and overall length of the film. The 141-minute runtime is weird as the film felt like it could easily have been cut to two hours or justifiably stretched to three hours. This is due to some areas of the story being dragged on more than need be and some areas getting not as much as attention. The first act of the film slowly builds up each separate character with their backstory and motives. Then the second wizzes by and the third needlessly slows everything back down again. Goddard does do good work with the camera as he gives the film a dark washed overtone to match the 60s era feel. He also uses a wide array of camera techniques to tell the layered story. Some scenes are played out multiple times from different angles to convey each character's viewpoint. There also is a hefty amount of symbolism and thematic imagery within each frame that pushes the narrative along without the use of words. One scene that really stands out is a seven-minute tracking shot where the camera follows one character as they go room by room and spy on the others. It’s a suspenseful sequence that gives a good amount of insight into each character in a short span of time. Along with directing, Goddard also serves as the sole writer for the original story. He divides the film into chapters based around the room a certain character is staying in. The technique works well to distribute time to develop each character. Not everyone gets equal time, but everyone gets enough to make them important to the overall narrative. The intersection of many different character’s stories leads to the script being filled with lots of fun twists and surprises that continually come out of nowhere. Some of them are predictable once revealed, but many aren’t and keep you on the edge of your seat. There are some plot holes and untidy loose ends that are quite obvious near the end. However, they really don't harm the quality of the story and are more of an afterthought. Bad Times boasts a sizeable and star-studded cast. Most of the actors fare well with some doing better than others. Jeff Bridges does pretty well as the elderly priest looking for a little vacation. Bridges is able to make his character be believably evil as well as have a sympathetic heart. It’s not his best work, but nowhere near his worst. Cynthia Erivo is the best out of the cast as she plays the singer making her way to a gig in Reno. She provides her own voice to the role and confidently takes charge of each scene. Dakota Johnson and Jon Hamm kind of just skate through and don’t provide any real defining moments. They’re not bad, but it feels like anyone could have filled the roles. Lastly, Chris Hemsworth does good work as the Jesus-like cult leader who likes to preach with his shirt open. Hemsworth brings both his comedic and dramatic skills together and creates an uneasy character that keeps the suspense high throughout. Bad Times at the El Royale is a fun thriller that tells a complex story in an enjoyable fashion. It doesn’t always work perfectly, but minor mistakes aren’t enough to ruin the overall product. In a fall season full of heavy films trying to send a message it feels good to have a film that only wants its audience to sit down and have a good time. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

William Tell September 5, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen William Tell had its World Premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Samuel Goldwyn Films will release it in theaters on April 04, 2025. William Tell, not the historical figure, but the character within writer/director Nick Hamm’s newest film, is a protagonist we’ve seen several times before. He’s a veteran who’s been scarred by battle, with PTSD flashbacks of his younger and more violent days ravaging him each time he lays eyes on a weapon. But he’s made peace with his past, settling in the serene Swiss mountains and tending to his farm and livestock with his wife and son. However, trouble comes knocking one day in the form of the Austrian tax collectors, servants of the ruthless Hapsburg king. One thing leads to another, and Tell is forced to choose to pick up arms again to fight against tyranny, or leave that part of his life good and buried. Of course, history and the laws of cinema would tell you that our reluctant hero will do what is right and join his brothers, even if it means going against his creed of reformation. Hamm makes damn sure that we as the audience agree with Tell’s stance on the possibility of a Swiss revolt against their Austrian oppressors, opting for a litany of analogies centering on fire, streams, and bee stings, all of which boil down to the old saying about an eye for an eye. The rest of the dialogue gets even clunkier, with characters always entering by coyly stating their purpose and motivations, and most conversations repeating themselves until their theses have been hammered home. Even with several attempts across the 133-minute runtime, Hamm never strikes oil, with his insistence on violence being soulless never being properly communicated through the action. There’s always a modicum level of enjoyment to be had in the set pieces, with Hamm speaking out of both sides of his mouth as he declares that war is hell, but that we should still have some fun while pondering its ramifications. And if Tell is Batman, then Viceroy Gessler is his Joker, a bloodthirsty lieutenant of the king who’s hellbent on quelling the hope that Tell incites within the Swiss masses. His cruelty knows no bounds, with his devious acts being the spark that ignites this initially small movement into a declaration of war. The comparisons to Braveheart and The Outlaw King are too hard to ignore at this point, something that also extends to the film’s strengths and weaknesses. Hamm’s first foray into screenwriting might not be successful enough for him to continue down that path, but his prowess in the director’s chair is still something to behold. There’s an old-school sweep to this story, with a rousing score by Steven Price and, except for a few establishing shots furnished with gaudy digital backdrops, some handsome cinematography by Jamie Ramsay. Despite not hailing from a big studio, a chunk of change has been invested and efficiently used for this production, something that fans of historical epics will certainly find enjoyment in. Claes Bang maintains his physique from The Northman as the titular character, this time trading a spear for a crossbow. His particular set of skills aids him in downing several enemies in short order on the battlefield, and his stoic sense of honor rallies those to his cause from all over the land. He does have a well-rounded supporting cast to support him, with Ben Kingsley harnessing his star power as the Hapsburg king and Ellie Bamber shining as his niece, who longs for the two lands to be reunited through anything but bloodshed. The big screen is where William Tell will thrive best, as the saving grace that is its cinematic qualities will lay waste on even the biggest television. At the moment, when and how that will happen is a mystery, but Hamm and his production have made enough of a case for it to be sooner rather than later. Now all we need to do is wait and come up with a way for the “William Tell Overture” to be incorporated into the marketing. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Crazy Rich Asians September 6, 2018 By: Button Hunter Friesen Rachel Chu and Nick Young have been together for over a year now and couldn’t be happier. Both of them are professors at NYU, which is how they first met. One day, Nick asks Rachel to come with him to Singapore for his best friend’s wedding, with the added bonus of meeting his family. Thinking she knows everything about Nick, Rachel agrees to go on the trip. Except there’s one thing she doesn’t know: Nick’s family is rich, “crazy rich” in fact. Caught off guard by this, Rachel is unknowingly thrust into a new world of luxury and spectacle, one that is a far cry from her modest upbringing. Despite the challenge, she’s determined to be at Nick’s side and to make a good first impression on his family. Directed by Hollywood journeyman Jon M. Chu, the film’s biggest problems mostly all stem from his lackluster directing. Chu doesn’t bring any originality to the finished project and mainly just uses every rom-com cliché in the book, such as the tough parental figure, comedic sidekick, wacky relatives, and will-they-or-won’t-they plotline between the two leads. Chu also struggles to provide a sense of balance in terms of pacing and plots. The pacing is inconsistent throughout. The beginning of the film quickly shifts from scene to scene as we set up the story and characters. After that things slow way down and we tediously crawl to the end. Apart from the main plot, there is also a subplot featuring Nick’s cousin, Astrid. While she’s a good character overall, her story is very unnecessary and continually gets dropped and picked back up at odd times. On a bright note, Chu does impeccable work during the wedding sequence. It’s easily the most heart-tugging part of the film as the two main characters share a loving connection. Writers Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim do a fair job of adapting from the original bestselling novel. They do a great job at making the lead character very likable and relatable. Rachel isn’t your average rom-com woman whose life is in shambles until she meets a guy. It’s refreshing to see a lead female character have her life together and not have to rely on some guy in order to be happy. The screenplay also fits in a good amount of quality jokes, a lot of which come from Awkwafina’s character. Unfortunately, just like the directing, the biggest problem is the overabundance of clichés. It’s a shame for a screenplay to have such a great lead character and then repeatedly bury her with the same old tropes we’ve seen time and time again. Because of the large cast of characters, the film boasts both good and bad performances. Constance Wu does a great job as Rachel Chu. She makes herself relatable and confidently holds her own throughout. She also shares electric chemistry with both Golding and Awkwafina. Opposite Wu is Henry Golding as Nick Young. Golding does very well, especially when considering that this is his acting debut. He’s at his best when with his on-screen partner and adds a lot of charm to his role. Having already done great work in this year’s Ocean’s Eight , Awkwafina gives another hilarious supporting performance here. Playing Rachel’s roommate from college, she constantly delivers the best jokes, with most of them coming off as improvised. Some minor supporting actors suffer from Chu’s poor directing and have to resort to overacting in order for us to like them. The biggest losers from this are Ken Jeong and Jimmy O. Yang. Their characters are way too over the top and are annoying as soon as we meet them. Crazy Rich Asians is a film that mostly suffers from poor directing and a formulaic story that lacks any sort of originality. Still, it's better than most modern romantic comedies and the reliable trio of Wu, Golding, and Awkwafina make this film a moderately enjoyable ride. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

The Beekeeper January 10, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen It’s only the second week of January and 2024 already has its best bad movie of the year. The Beekeeper is a downright terrible on any “objective” scale; cheesily written, stupidly conceived, overly serious, acting so hammy it might as well be served for Christmas dinner, and a mountain of ludicrous twists and turns that leave you howling in disbelief. It’s everything I wanted and more in January, a month known for being a haven to the unwanted offspring of major studios (see Monster Trucks , Dolittle , and the already-forgotten Night Swim ). Jason Statham plays… Jason Statham (obviously). But more specifically, he plays Adam Clay, who is both a retired and current beekeeper. How does that work, you ask? Well, he’s a current beekeeper in the literal sense that he keeps bees on a farm, one owned by Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad). Both of them have their own little slice of heaven, a quiet life cut off from the modern world. But that heaven becomes hell once Eloise is the victim of an online scam. You know, those ones where you get an email from a Nigerian Prince who will pay you $1 million in the future if you just send him $10,000 today? Except this time the predator is not a foreign dignitary, but a bunch of “crypto bros” who’ve watched The Wolf of Wall Street too many times without getting the point. They steal everything, including the $2 million in an account Eloise manages for a children’s charity (those bastards!). This is where Adam being a retired beekeeper comes into play. A beekeeper is a sort of super assassin given carte blanche by the US government to carry out whatever acts they determine are necessary to “maintain the hive.” Things were always professional with Adam, but now they’ve made it personal. And when a beekeeper has their sights set on you, it’s near-certain the only way to escape is through a body bag. Having a James Bond/John Wick super-spy called a “beekeeper” is only the tip of the iceberg in the mountain of lunacy that is Kurt Wimmer’s script. I’d challenge you to take a shot every time Statham drops the word “the hive” or says “I’m just a beekeeper,” but that would make me liable for an alcohol-related death. To be honest, cutting a shot down to just a sip would still be dangerous. Wimmer must also be a card-carrying member of AARP as the movie stops dead in its tracks for Statham to speechify about how scamming the elderly is worse than robbing children, as kids have their parents to look after them. There’s even a one-liner about estate planning before a bad guy gets flung to his death. Wimmer and director David Ayer (yes, the director of Suicide Squad , which this movie proudly advertises as a badge of honor) try to craft a message around Adam being a Robin Hood figure who is fighting for the little guys. Though the concept of a relentless killing machine chopping his way through a bunch of preppy douchebags for “the people” is so hilariously undercooked and poorly thought out that it nears parody. A second-act twist about the real occupation of a supporting character does muddy the morality and almost makes Wimmer and Ayer’s stance feel a little dangerous, but the threat of a Joker -esque situation that rallies the incels is nonexistent on account of the shark-jumping that immediately proceeds it. There’s no need to comment on Statham’s performance, as you get exactly what you expected (and likely came for). Jeremy Irons is too old for this shit and having fun with that fact, lighting up every scene he shares with Josh Hutcherson playing the most punchable little shit to hit the screen in quite some time. Even Minnie Driver shows up for ninety seconds to widen her eyes and act terrified once she learns that a beekeeper is on the loose. The Beekeeper is what mindless action movies should strive for, although I’m not sure Wimmer and Ayer would be able to share how they’ve crafted a movie that is both self-aware and totally oblivious to being so bad it’s good. Hey, even a blind squirrel can find a nut every once in a while. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

2023 Losers January 2, 2024 By: Hunter Friesen We’ve crowned our winners for the year, so now it’s time to perform the autopsies on some of this past year’s biggest victims. No one should want to see pain inflicted on others, but some of these parties got what was coming to them, and may have deserved worse. The best-case scenario is that they all use their failures as motivation for 2024, or take it as a sign to pack it up and change course. Disney In true monkey’s paw fashion, the Mouse House grabbed a ton of headlines during their 100th-anniversary celebration as almost all of their blockbusters went belly up. After producing 7 $1 billion hits in 2019, the studio wasn’t able to churn out a single one in 2023. Their losses may have reached as high as $1 billion between the lackluster results of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny , The Marvels , and Wish . A string of delays and reworkings means Inside 2, Deadpool 3 , and Mufasa: The Lion King will be their only offerings in 2024. The Future of the MCU 2023 turned out to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for the MCU, with silver screen projects like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels falling well below expectations, both creatively and financially. Even the one shining light that was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 can’t be touted too heavily as that was a franchise conclusion. Interest and optimism are at an all-time low, with no direction or clear finish line in sight. Whether it was out of necessity or fear (or a bit of both), the delaying of almost all their future projects leaves Deadpool 3 as the lone property in 2024. Here’s hoping Kevin Feige can use the time he bought himself. WB's Reptuation (If They Had Any) Each year it seems that WB is trying to one-up itself as the most hated studio to both creatives and fans. Between elongating the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, significantly reducing the HBO Max catalog, shelving the already completed Coyote vs. Acme , and cutting funding for TCM, this year turned out to be their best at producing hatred. The world isn’t prepared for the witchcraft CEO David Zaslav is cooking up in 2024. The AMPTP Corporations didn’t earn much credibility in 2023, and the AMPTP did everything in its power to destroy whatever minuscule amount they had. No one was ever going to be on its side during the WGA and SAG strikes, but its tone-deaf messaging and bully tactics made it impossible for anyone to see their side of the argument. They’ve shown their hand when it comes to AI, with the future not looking too bright for creatives. Belated Sequels Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water proved that long-in-development sequels can make just as much, if not more, money than their predecessors. Studios took that lesson to heart in 2023, except they forgot the part where you have to make a good movie. Magic Mike's Last Dance , Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny , Expend4bles , My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 , and The Exorcist: Believer were just some of the warmed-over leftovers studios thought would pass for full course meals. Audiences rejected them, and will hopefully do the same in 2024. Fan Screenings Studios are already having a tough time getting audiences in seats, so it seemed like a brain-dead idea to confuse people as to when a movie would be available to them. Sony originally announced wide releases for Gran Turismo and Dumb Money before changing course to platform releases with later wide expansions. All audience interest vanished by the time of wide release, leaving these bombs hanging out to dry. None of those compared to the debacle that was The Flash , with over a dozen fan screenings taking place weeks before the general release. All of that work amounted to one of the biggest bombs in history. Comedians Going to Film Nothing’s worse than a comedy that isn’t funny, which is what these comedians delivered this year on the silver screen. Bill Burr and Charlie Day unsuccessfully tried their hand at directing with Old Dads and Fool’s Paradise , respectively. Sebastian Maniscalco ( About My Father ), Brett Kreischer ( The Machine ), and Please Don’t Destroy ( The Treasure of Foggy Mountain ) also missed the mark. There’s nothing funny about failure, although that might have been the best joke each of them wrote this year. Streaming Action Movies Let’s get one thing straight: Extraction 2 was pretty good. But it was made to look like Citizen Kane when compared to everything else that was available. Netflix may have scored decent viewership with The Mother and Heart of Stone , although I’d bet an unseemly amount of money that almost all those viewers couldn’t remember a single thing that happened. But at least those titles got eyeballs, as Apple’s Ghosted and Amazon’s Shotgun Wedding may as well have never existed. Movie Posters Were poster artists given the year off? From terrible photoshopping to uninspired designs (anyone up for the millionth floating head layout?), no one was flocking to see some of these movies based on their artwork. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 easily took the cake as none of the actors’ heads were connected to their bodies. But even big-name projects like Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon were left with boring layouts. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

The Day The Earth Blew Up March 14, 2025 By: Button Tyler Banark 2025 looks to be the year classic animated franchises bring new substance to their material in a fitting fashion. In January, Wallace and Gromit returned with Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl , a well-done legacy sequel to the duo’s most iconic Oscar-winning short The Wrong Trousers . Now, Warner Bros. (and the fine folks at Ketchup Entertainment) brings us The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie . It’s a delightful return to form for Warner Bros.'s iconic animated franchise, delivering a nostalgic yet fresh experience that both long-time fans and new audiences can appreciate. The film's narrative is a loving homage to 1950s sci-fi B-movies, seamlessly intertwined with the chaotic charm of Looney Tunes antics. The story starts with Daffy Duck and Porky Pig securing jobs at a bubblegum factory, a setting ripe for comedic mishaps. Their routine bungling leads them to uncover an alien conspiracy aiming for world domination through mind control. Teaming up with Petunia Pig, the duo embarks on a mission to thwart the extraterrestrial threat while navigating their hilarious dynamics. The plot is both engaging and appropriately zany, capturing the essence of what makes Looney Tunes enduring. It's a buddy-comedy of epic proportions, delivering laugh-out-loud gags and vibrant visuals that have defined the franchise for decades. For decades, casual viewers like me have only seen Bugs Bunny as the leading face of the franchise. Now, Daffy and Porky can share that title with him. One of the film's standout features is its animation style. The hand-drawn animation is both beautiful and smooth, reflecting a dedication to preserving the traditional aesthetic of Looney Tunes while incorporating modern techniques. The vibrant color palette and fluid character movements create a visual feast that honors the franchise's legacy. The Day the Earth Blew Up is also the first Looney Tunes movie containing original material to be fully animated, theatrically released, and the second to not be distributed domestically by Warner Bros. since the 1975 documentary Bugs Bunny Superstar . The 90-minute runtime is a blessing, so the pacing isn’t the issue—instead, it’s the structure of the movie's plot. The entire time, we’re to believe Daffy and Porky are trying to stop an alien from taking over the world, but a plot twist in the last 30 minutes contradicts this, making it all suddenly hollow. A quick fix to this would be to flesh out the alien as a character, but the script calls for him to be a one-dimensional “I will rule the world” type of villain. Separately, the movie lacks humor, which can be a bit repetitive. There’s nothing wrong with the zaniness we come to expect from Looney Tunes, but there aren’t many jokes that appeal to both adults and children. However, a montage and a fourth-wall break make up for this effort. Voice actor Eric Bauza delivers stellar performances as both Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, capturing the unique personalities and comedic timing that have made these characters iconic. His ability to embody the essence of each character adds depth to their interactions and enhances the film's overall humor. While he’s been the overall voice for the two leads for half a decade, he looks to join the ranks of Mel Blanc as a longtime staple to the franchise. In a time when voice actors aren’t as known as they used to be, it’s nice to see someone like Bauza committing to something like the Looney Tunes universe. One thing to be addressed is that Warner Bros. moved forward with releasing this, but scrapped another Looney Tunes property film, Coyote vs. Acme . I’m glad there’s a new (and better) Looney Tunes film seeing the light of day in the 21st Century, but I can’t help but remember that David Zaslav and the people at Warner Bros. pulled the plug on a film that deserved a shot. Who knows if Coyote vs. Acme would’ve worked as a film, but in a day and age where the Looney Tunes aren’t having content cranked out (unlike Mickey at Disney, SpongeBob at Nickelodeon, the Peanuts gang through Apple TV+, etc.) another Looney Tunes-related theatrical movie would’ve helped everyone. Regardless of all that, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is a testament to the enduring appeal of classic Looney Tunes antics. Whether you're a lifelong fan or new to the Looney Tunes universe, this film offers a delightful experience that is both familiar and refreshingly new. After all, Looney Tunes knows how to stay true to itself and never fails to make audiences smile when the iconic catchphrase “that’s all, folks” hits. You can follow Tyler and hear more of his thoughts on Twitter , Instagram , and Letterboxd . More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

The Killer October 27, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Killer is a descent into bloody madness told by a director in complete control of their craft. Every frame is perfectly lit, every cut perfectly placed and executed, and every piece of sound is perfectly engineered to rattle your bones. It’s a pulpy uncomplicated story about revenge being a dish best served cold. For anyone who enjoys the Hitman video game series and laments the two laughably bad movie adaptations, this is the answer to all your prayers. Grant, Jefferson, Malone, Cunningham, Madison, Kincaid. These are the names The Killer (Michael Fassbender) goes by as he travels the globe trading corpses for cash. Anonymity is the name of the game, along with a cold “I don’t give a fuck” attitude. But for all his self-described ruthlessness, The Killer is a master of discipline. “If you’re unable to endure boredom, then this line of work just isn’t for you” he narrates in the middle of his week-long stakeout of his victim’s apartment. He’s developed a rudimentary philosophy to get him through the doldrums of contract killing, one that involves yoga, breathing exercises, and an understanding of how people go about their daily lives. 168 hours of waiting have passed, replaced by the 10 seconds of action that will make or break the mission. The Killer raises his rifle, squares it on his target… and misses. He’s never missed before, and there’s no telling if another chance like this will ever come again. An uncompleted job doesn’t get you a reprimanding like any other, it gets you a bullet to the head. The predator is now the prey, but there’s still time for those tables to be turned back. The Killer must retrace his past, tying up all loose ends by whatever bloody means necessary. Director David Fincher reteams with his Se7en screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, and the results are just as morally grubby as they were almost thirty years ago. Contract killing has become a gig economy, with The Killer reserving his hideouts through Airbnb (well, not anymore as Superhosts have too many cameras), getting lifts to and from the airport through Uber, and ordering his supplies off Amazon. The Killer is a flawed intellectual, a loner who watched too many Paul Schrader or Nicolas Winding Refn films but never understood the full picture. The cracks in his code immediately begin to show once his perfect structure is disrupted. The only thing that can fill those voids is anxiety and uncertainty. Is that person tailing him? Is this seat on the plane too exposed? Does he look too suspicious? Even with this inner turmoil, The Killer is still extremely sharp and dangerous. Fincher perfectly engineers each of the six chapters this story is told in, flawlessly setting the stage in locations such as Paris, the Dominican Republic, New Orleans, New York, and Chicago. A slow-burn tension is felt throughout, much of it supplied by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ electronic score. Mank cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt shoots everything in a gleamingly cool color palette, and editor Kirk Baxter keeps things moving with propulsive pacing. It’s an incredibly satisfying cycle, climaxing with a terrifyingly brutal hand-to-hand encounter between The Killer and a much larger opponent. Michael Fassbender shows that he hasn’t lost a step after a four-year acting hiatus to go race cars. He’s often mute, maybe monotone when he’s at his chattiest. But he’s always compelling, creating a character that is both restrained to practicality and capable of committing acts of the utmost cruelty. It’s best that he often crosses paths with characters with a little more personality, such as Tilda Swinton’s rival in the same line of work, or Arliss Howard’s crypto billionaire client. The Killer is Fincher at his most surface level, playfully cutting loose from ambition and delivering his best film to date (yeah, I said it). Don’t expect to learn any life lessons, or have your perspective changed on an issue. Just sit back and be entertained. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing a straightforward process being executed with pinpoint precision, and both our protagonist and Fincher accomplish their mission to outstanding results. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Wake Up Dead Man September 7, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery had its World Premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Netflix will release it in theaters on November 26, followed by its streaming premiere on December 12. Everything comes in threes for the Knives Out films. Three entries, three years between each of them, three central murders to solve, and three identical births on the first Saturday of the Toronto International Film Festival at the Princess of Wales theatre. It’s like clockwork, with writer/director Rian Johnson continually proving his dominance over a genre filled with so many imitators. But Johnson doesn’t think of his work in the shape of a clock. “The film should be a rollercoaster, not a crossword puzzle,” he said during the Q&A for Wake Up Dead Man , the currently announced final film in the series. It’s a strategy he’s only made tougher for himself with each successive film, the audience getting increasingly better trained at sniffing out each twist, striking out the red herrings, and picking up on the tiniest of clues. Every noun has importance, every opinion has a second side, and every innocent act has a much darker meaning lurking underneath. Wake Up Dead Man finds itself embracing the darkness, combining the trademark characteristics of Agatha Christie with the work of Edgar Allan Poe. After a COVID-19-imposed detour to a private Greek island in Glass Onion , the series returns to America, specifically upstate New York. “Young, dumb, and full of Christ,” preacher Jud Duplentis (Josh O’Connor) has been shipped there to revitalize a flailing parish under the dogmatic eye of Msgr. Jefferson Micks (Josh Brolin). Years of messages full of fire and brimstone, along with general antagonistic behavior, have transformed his ornate house of worship into a hollow Gothic tomb. The only members left in the congregation are those who are ceaselessly devoted to Wicks and his teachings: administrator Martha (Glenn Close), groundskeeper Samson (Thomas Haden Church), town doctor Nat (Jeremy Renner), redpilled author Lee (Andrew Scott), the sickly former cellist Simone (Cailee Spaeny), lawyer Vera (Kerry Washington), and her forcibly adopted son Cy (Daryl McCormack). As you assumed, one of these characters is murdered, and the fingers are all pointing at Jud, thanks to his differing views on the role of the church and his violent past, which includes killing one of his opponents in the boxing ring. And as you also assumed, the Kentucky Fried Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is here to uncover the real culprit and explain this seemingly impossible mystery. O’Connor is ostensibly the film’s lead, taking an ever larger role as the audience’s guide than Ana de Armas and Janelle Monáe did in their respective films. He’s sad, funny, and conflicted, wanting to put down his fists and open up his arms to the world. But the world we currently live in is not equipped for such compassion, trading in gossip and rumor rather than a heart-to-heart conversation. This could be lightly defined as Johnson’s version of Eddington , taking down both sides of the aisle with the groan-worthy buzzwords (MAGA, DOGE, etc.) and the kind of fanaticism that only breeds hatred for anything that seems unfamiliar. But while Ari Aster specializes in pushing our faces closer to the ugly mirror, Johnson prefers that everything be kept light and fun. The snappy editing, coupled with the long zoom-ins and heightened images by regular DP Steve Yedlin, keeps the intrigue chugging along on this slightly elongated 144-minute track. The surrounding forest is besieged by fog, and the moon is blood red, and the eyes of the gargoyles are piercing down on each of the suspects. Craig falls deeper into his Foghorn Leghorn routine, upping his comedic prowess as the proudly rational detective must come face-to-face with the realization that all the clues point to this murder being a miracle. With so much time devoted to O’Connor, the rest of the herd of cats run loose a little more than before. I’d like to say who gets better served than others, but that would get us flirting with spoiler territory. While Johnson would prefer we don’t think of these films as a puzzle, it’s still endlessly entertaining to see him lay out all the pieces and then rearrange them. His delicate sleight of hand will have you exclaiming that you knew a certain thing would happen all along, or that you never would have guessed that in a million years. Either way, the game is afoot for (supposedly) one last time, and the board is full of saints and sinners. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Small Things Like These November 8, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen "To get on in this life, there are things you have to ignore," pleads Eileen Furlong (Eileen Walsh) to her husband Bill (Cillian Murphy) after he confesses that, while walking through the local convent to finish his coal delivery, was approached by a young girl who begged him to take her to the river so she could drown herself. The other girls within earshot didn't object to her request, their silence implying that they've all contemplated taking that leap. Like a forceful clap, and before Bill can even comprehend the choice placed upon him, the Mother Superior (Emily Watson) enters the room and rips the girl away, sternly explaining that outsiders are not allowed to talk to the women. Eileen's words are a coping mechanism, something that the whole Irish town has taken as their mantra. But it's also emblematic of the age-old quote by their native philosopher Edmund Burke: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." There isn't any explicit fear by the townspeople that the church will seek retribution if someone speaks out. But the church occupies every facet of people's livelihood, so why would you want to bite the hand that feeds you? You can keep eating as long as you don't ask how the sausage gets made. After going as big as you can get with Oppenheimer , including nearly $1 billion at the box office and the Oscar for Best Lead Actor, Small Things Like These is the type of intimate project that Cillian Murphy has long called home. He retains the same haunted figure he displayed as the father of the atomic bomb, but none of the hints of charm and brilliance. Bill is the quiet type, often speaking in hushed tones and looking down at his shoes. Nary a smile crosses his face, and the marks of coal stain his coat and fingers. Director Tim Mielants relies upon Murphy's natural shellshocked state to carry this domestic drama. At nearly every turn, a long glance into someone's face is preferred over dialogue, illustrating the unspoken truths that so many people carry with them every day. And even if words are exchanged, they're often broken apart by distinct pauses. We've often made the joke that if you removed the slow-motion sequences from a Zack Snyder film, then you'd be left with something less than feature length. That logic can be applied here with those pauses. Many movies have held my attention with much less substance before, but Mielants and screenwriter Enda Walsh, adapting from the 2021 novel of the same name, don't paint anything around the edges to keep you guessing about what's just out of sight. Even at just over ninety minutes (less when you exclude the credits), "Oh my God, get on with it!" flashed through my head on several occasions, each time with a little more anger than the last. There are some literal pretty images, many of them playing with focus and perspective. The camera is often near-sighted, blurring out everything that's not right in front of it and refusing to be curious. Bill is the personification of this mentality, although his gaze is intermittently widened through flashbacks to his childhood. Each one answers a long-buried secret he's always wondered about. These revelations and a stern scene between Mother Superior and Bill come late in the movie, an oasis after a vast desert. It's too little, too late, putting everything into words that we've already been led to infer. It seems that Mielants trusted his audience in the wrong areas, and we had to pay the price for it. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen