Big George Foreman April 27, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Two weeks ago, I experienced one of the clearest moments of opportunity cost in my life. After experiencing a blizzard that dumped nearly a foot of snow only a week earlier, it was now 80° (that drastic shift should be cause for alarm, but I was just happy to see green grass). The golf courses were open, the bike lanes and soccer fields were cleared, and people were out playing basketball at the nearby park. Everything was laid out right in front of me for an eventful afternoon basking in the sun. But instead of doing any of those fun recreational activities like a sensible person, I decided to sit indoors and watch a movie. I walked into the theater to see the words “BIG GEORGE FOREMAN” plastered all over the screen, along with the hilariously overlong subtitle: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World (I wonder if the person who came up with that title is the same person responsible for the initial title for Birds of Prey ?). I already felt like a chump the moment I sat down in that darkened room, a feeling that was exponentially increased with each passing minute, having to endure this weightless and creatively bankrupt biopic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urKDu40iaXk For all of you who only know the name George Foreman from the grill brand, you’ll be surprised to know that the man first rose to prominence as a boxing icon, only ever bested once by none other than Muhammad Ali. Foreman (played by Kei as a boy and Khris Davis as a man) was a poor and uneducated child in 1960s Texas, which led to him joining the Job Corps with its promises of three meals a day and training for skilled labor. One of the managers (Forest Whitaker) saw boxing as an outlet for Foreman’s pent-up rage. Success came quickly after that, and so did all the other struggles that come with being famous. The term “leave your brain at the door” has often been used to describe horror movies and other blockbusters that are just trying to make a quick buck on spectacle and entertainment. Big George Foreman doesn’t require, expect, or want any of its audience members to be capable of critical thinking. Frank Baldwin and director George Tillman Jr. are incapable of placing any variables into their estate-approved script, sticking so closely to the tired clichés within the biopic formula that it sometimes borders on self-parody. Every choice and personality trait for Foreman is spelled out like it was competing at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Things move at a lightning-fast pace as we cover the entirety of the Wikipedia page. George goes from learning about boxing to an Olympic gold medalist within about ten minutes. He fathers all six of his children and has multiple affairs off-screen, giving off the impression that those things really don’t matter to a person. George says that his sister Mary “always saw the best in him” and that he loved her devoutly. She may have four lines of dialogue in the two preceding hours. That same treatment applies to Desmond (John Magaro), who becomes George’s best friend at the Job Corps and agrees to be his manager. He puts George’s money in “rock solid stocks” (foreshadowing!) and is barely mentioned until after the well has dried up. It also doesn’t help that I’ve experienced more intense boxing fights on Wii Sports than in this movie. Tillman Jr. shoots the action cheaply and flatly, with the announcers never ceasing to over-explain what just happened. There is the presence of blood, sweat, and tears, but none of it comes off the screen. Neither does any of the emotion of Davis’ titular performance, with his blank stares and line deliveries leaving nothing on the table. The biopic genre may be one of my favorites, but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to the fact that many of them just copy each other. Big George Foreman doesn’t even have enough competency to properly cheat off its predecessors. Its subject matter may be about a heavyweight champion, but this story doesn’t even deserve to fight for scraps on the street. Sony Pictures Releasing will release Big George Foreman 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

2026 Sundance Film Festival Preview January 19, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen A melancholic mood will permeate the air at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Now in its forty-second year, this will be the first without the presence of its main founder and spokesperson, Robert Redford, who died back in September. Originally founded as the Utah/US Film Festival in 1978, the festival was eventually renamed after Redford’s most famous character. As much as Redford was a titan of Hollywood, he was a champion of independent films, using his immense stature to find the next great American artist. Redford was Park City, and Park City was Redford. Now that Redford has left Sundance, so must Sundance leave Park City. Announced a month after last year’s edition was the fact that the festival would be leaving its forever home and moving east to Boulder, Colorado, starting in 2027. It makes this edition of the festival feel even more special, a final celebration of the past and present before jetting off into an uncertain future. While a member of the unofficial “Big Five” along with Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Toronto, Sundance doesn’t have the advantage of on-paper pedigree when it comes to the talent it showcases. It also can’t boast about stunning movie stars ascending a red carpet surrounded by palm trees, or arriving on a gondola through a canal. But what it can brag about is that it was the place that gave many iconic filmmakers their start before they graduated to the international limelight. Quentin Tarantino debuted Reservoir Dogs at Sundance in 1992, two years later winning the Palme d’Or for Pulp Fiction . Steven Soderbergh’s Sex, Lies, and Videotape was able to compete for the Palme d’Or in 1989 because of the enthusiastic reviews it received at Sundance a few months earlier. Likely finding no distinction between the Utah mountains and their native Minnesota, the Coen brothers took the festival by storm in 1985 with their debut feature, Blood Simple . Of course, every festival requires a certain amount of star power in order to keep the lights on, and Sundance is no exception. Nestled outside of the competitive sections are the ‘Premieres,’ featuring the stars and directors who grab the headlines when it comes to lineup announcements. Returning to the birthplace of his generational-defining films of The Living End and The Doom Generation is director Gregg Araki, who also hasn’t helmed a feature film since 2014’s White Bird in a Blizzard . He has I Want Your Sex , starring Cooper Hoffman, who becomes a sexual muse to Olivia Wilde. The latter star is also featured in her third directorial outing, The Invite , along with Edward Norton, Seth Rogen, and Penélope Cruz. There’s also In the Blink of an Eye from Pixar leader Andrew Stanton, The Gallerist from Cathy Yan, The Weight with Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe, and Charlie XCX’s sort-of documentary The Moment . Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Sundance has been the one festival that has opened its doors to an online audience. Sure, gone are the glory days of 2021 and 2022, when literally every festival selection was made available online. Bad apples who leaked films like Twinless and Selena y Los Dinos last year have pushed away most of the big titles from being available online. Still available are the films in the competition sections, which have played host to acclaimed films like CODA , A Thousand and One , Good One , A Real Pain , and Sorry, Baby . Two musical-related films can be found in this year’s U.S. Dramatic Competition. The first is aptly titled The Musical , starring Will Brill as a playwright putting on a chaotic high school musical. Run Amok has a nearly identical premise, this time with a high school student putting on a musical to commemorate the “one day her high school wishes it could forget.” Director Rachel Lambert’s uber-quiet Sometimes I Think About Dying has grown on me since I saw it at Sundance 2023. She’s back with Carousel, a dramedy starring Chris Pine and Jenny Slate as old flames refinding themselves years later. Writer/director Beth de Araújo had her film Josephine selected for the 2018 Sundance Institute Screenwriting and Directing Lab. After pandemic delays, she’s bringing the finished product to this year’s edition. Gemma Chan and Channing Tatum star as parents of the titular girl, who witnesses an assault near her home. Will Poulter and Noah Centineo star in Union County , a story about an adult-recovery program. Films that I have my eye on that were selected as part of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition include Shame and Money , Big Girls Don’t Cry , Extra Geography , and Levitating . Of course, Sundance wouldn’t be what it is today without its bevy of documentaries. Every year, there are too many to mention, with several likely to feature in the following year’s Oscar race (see The Perfect Neighbor , 2000 Meters to Andriivka , and The Alabama Solution ). As a member of the virtual press, I’ll be cruising through the Dramatic Competition sections during the viewing window of January 28-February 01. It’ll likely be a repeat of my days at TIFF, averaging about three to four films per day. Luckily, this will be from the comfort of my couch, with bathroom and writing breaks scheduled at my leisure. Full reviews for titles will be posted throughout that week, along with a full recap article at the conclusion of the festival. 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

Marlowe February 17, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Marlowe is as cheap and dull as its title would suggest. Its titular character, created by Raymond Chandler in the 1920s at the height of the hardboiled detective literary craze, established many of the tropes found within the noir genre, such as seductively dangerous blondes, double entendre dialogue, and the thin line between what is and isn't within the bounds of the law. The likes of Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum have stepped into the role, further planting this character in a different time and place than what modern audiences are used to. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that, as a major sign as to what demographic this movie is aimed at, a 70-year-old Liam Neeson (in his 100th screen credit, many of which have come in this tiredly ongoing post- Taken phase of his career) stars as Marlowe. Never mind that the character is canonically in his mid-30s in almost all of his stories, including The Black-Eyed Blonde , which serves as the source material here. Neeson's Marlowe is too old for this shit, a line that is muttered almost verbatim a few times in a sort of winking fashion to the audience. It's not as unintentionally hilarious as when Marlowe's young employer proposes a little fooling around, which he declines by staring almost directly into the camera and saying, "I can't do that because you're half my age and we have a professional relationship." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brVF7t8VYuM It's tiringly groan-worthy moments like these that make Neil Jordan's adaptation feel lost in time, as it has one foot planted in the creaky old charms of the past and the other in the present sensibilities. It might be why Jordan, speaking at the film's quiet world premiere at the San Sebastián Film Festival back in October, says his film is more of a science-fiction flick than anything else. But this is no Blade Runner , with Marlowe on a case of a missing man everyone claims to be dead, except for his lover, the beautiful Claire Cavendish, who reports having seen him walking about just a few days ago. As he digs for clues, Marlowe comes across a cavalcade of nefarious characters that want nothing less than to have someone poking around their business. Jessica Lange, clearly having the most fun in her thankless role, plays Claire's mother, a once-famous actress who may also be connected to this case. Danny Huston is the manager of the elite club where the missing person was supposedly killed, a detail that he is reluctant to share. And Alan Cumming is reaching far too deep in the well of camp in his role of a sleazy nightclub owner, complete with a phony southern accent and even phonier tirades. Xavi Giménez's claustrophobic framing does as much as possible to hide the fact that Spain doubles for 1930s Los Angeles. Jordan employs some long takes to add a bit of professionalism, but the cheap sets and costumes make everything feel closer to an SNL parody than a true dive into the genre. There's also a clear lack of pacing by Jordan and co-writer William Monahan ( The Departed ), with events progressing in such a lethargic manner that any excitement has to be fully supplied by the audience, who don’t have a good chance at fighting their increasingly heavy eyelids. It's a great shame, but it seems that Neil Jordan is the newest member of the group of once-respected directors that just don't have "it" anymore. Fellow Irishman Jim Sheridan, Wim Wenders, and, somewhat, Werner Herzog have been steady patrons of the club, where the promise is still semi-there on paper, but the continually shoddy execution results in crushing disappointment. Open Road Films and Briarcliff Entertainment will release Marlowe in theaters nationwide on February 15th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Tenet September 3, 2020 By: Button Hunter Friesen Spell it backward or forward, it spells the same. From Christopher Nolan - the virtuoso behind The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception , and Dunkirk - comes Tenet , an action blockbuster on a scale not seen before and that will never be replicated again. Armed with only one word, Tenet, and fighting for the survival of the entire world, a Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real-time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdOM0x0XDMo The plot summary I just gave you is the exact one supplied by the studio. I did this for fear of spoilers and because I cannot confidently give out any more information than what has already been covered. Tenet may be the most incomprehensible and mentally straining movie ever made. It feels like taking a whole semester of advanced physics in only one class period, all while being set in a warzone. I have no doubt there will be case studies and theses done about this movie. Nolan wastes no time throwing his audience over the deep end. He begins the film at a breakneck pace, moving from scene to scene in the blink of an eye. You struggle to grasp the high concept in real-time and are always playing catch-up. This problem only exponentially gets worse as Nolan refuses to hold your hand as he goes further down the rabbit hole. Even one of the characters in the movie says, “Don’t try to understand it, feel it”. It’s almost as if Nolan inserted that quip just for the audience. The inability to follow the movie can be attributed to the out-of-the-box concept, but mostly it falls on Nolan’s embarrassingly weak script. The problems here are the same ones people have been saying about him for years now: that he overuses exposition and under-delivers on the emotional parts of his narrative. Tenet is nearly all exposition and no emotion. Many times, the exposition gives more questions than answers and seems to be intentionally leading us astray. It’s also Nolan’s coldest film, as any emotion is forced through cliche storylines that seem included to check off a box rather than tell a story. On a technical level, Tenet is both Nolan’s most impressive and least impressive film to date. The action set pieces mix both practical and visual effects seamlessly, creating awe-inspiring showcases of movie magic. The use of time inversion in fight sequences, car chases, and entire battles is just some of the moments that you have to see to believe. Hoyte Van Hoytema encapsulates all the gorgeous chaos in stunning widescreen cinematography and composer Ludwig Göransson overtakes your ears with a perfect hard-charging score. What’s a problem here, and has been for some time now for Nolan, is the astoundingly poor sound mixing. Without hesitation, I can say that Tenet is the loudest movie I have ever seen. Every gunshot felt like it went off next to my ear, and every explosion shook my entire body. The ungodly loud sound effects made it near impossible to comprehend much of the dialogue, which was already poorly mixed, to begin with. If you thought it was hard to understand Bane in The Dark Knight Rises , just wait until you try to understand what the characters are saying here. Even with all my gripes, I was still enveloped in the world Nolan has created. There have been dozens of movies where I was lost after a few minutes and checked out for the remaining runtime. With Tenet , I was lost after minute one and completely invested for the remaining one hundred forty-nine. Part of that interest comes from the spectacle, and part of that comes from the likable cast. In a star-making lead performance oozing with charisma, John David Washington plays our protagonist, who is literally called The Protagonist. He’s our vessel as he enters into this strange new world with no previous knowledge and must solve a deadly puzzle that goes against all logic. Robert Pattinson keeps his hot streak going with another charming performance as The Protagonist’s sidekick, Neil. Kenneth Branagh is intermittently good as our Russian villain, Andrei Sator. He’s exceptionally menacing in the quieter moments and cartoonishly over-the-top in his moments of outburst. Elizabeth Debicki plays the most emotionally resonant character as the helpless wife of our villain. Debicki is great in the role but is unfairly used more as an object for the story. Tenet is a full-on assault of the senses that contains unparalleled moments of spectacle and ambition. It’s nowhere near the top of Nolan’s filmography and will surely require multiple viewings to unravel. Make sure to pack some ibuprofen and prepare to have your mind twisted in ways you never thought possible. Warner Bros. Pictures will release Tenet in theaters nationwide on September 03rd. 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

Wolf Man January 15, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen If a person dies in the forest and no one is around to hear it, did they really die? That’s a question at the heart of co-writer/director Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man , the second of his Universal Monster reboots after 2020’s “much better than it had any right to be” The Invisible Man . The opening prologue finds a young Blake taken on a hunting trip by his stern father (Sam Jaeger), the scars of the presumed death of his wife perpetually showing through his drill instructor demeanor. But instead of being the predators, the pair become prey as some beast stalks them throughout the Oregon wilderness. Thirty years later, Blake (Christopher Abbott) lives with his wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) and daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth) in San Francisco. A letter comes in the mail legally confirming the death of Blake’s dad, although his body was never recovered. All Blake knows is that he went into those same woods and never returned. There’s no logical explanation for his disappearance, leaving Blake’s mind to wander toward the conclusion that that thing is at the center of it all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAw4PH2IQgo But before that prologue, we’re treated to a quick close-up of a hornet engorging on an ant. Dozens of other ants try to intervene, but they’re helpless to stop this cruel act of nature. Blake also can’t stop himself from returning to his childhood home despite the painful memories and generational trauma it possesses. Nature is cruel in this part of the world, with no electricity or modes of communication, making the act of survival a deliberate task rather than a basic given. Even the things that don’t kill you still give off a feeling of dread. The wood on the trees crackles as it sways from the wind, and the leaves fall like bombs against the deafening silence. Whannell expertly used the power of sound to convey the threat of an invisible assailant in The Invisible Man . Here, he repeats the lesson that hearing nothing is much scarier than hearing something. However, it’s hard to appreciate a sharp tool when it’s used to construct an overall lackluster product. Those sound drops come during the dime-a-dozen moments when time stops just before a jump scare. The prey during those moments is Charlotte and Ginger, with Blake as the predator after he’s scratched by a beast. The infection slowly consumes him, altering his vision and heightening his sense of smell and hearing. The cycle of running and hiding ensues, the single location setting being stretched way past its effectiveness. Granted, it’s not hard to appreciate the practical makeup effects used to gruesomely illustrate Blake’s transformation from human to wolf. His fingernails are easily ripped off in favor of claws, his facial bones crunch as they accommodate his new set of teeth, and his skin becomes a sickly greyish-yellow. Whannell credited David Cronenberg’s The Fly as visual inspiration for his monster, both in the literal execution of the effects and the emotional toll it takes on the victim. There is a case to be made that all the weight and seriousness heaped upon these modern remakes strips away the B-movie charm these concepts were born and long appreciated for. The Invisible Man was able to toe that line rather well, but Wolf Man leans too far into the “dark and gritty” territory to be as fun or interesting as it should be. At least Robert Eggers just covered Dracula with Nosferatu , and Guillermo del Toro is handling Frankenstein’s Monster for Netflix later this year, giving Whannell and Blumhouse enough time to go back to the drawing board before they embark on their next dark adventure. Universal Pictures will release Wolf Man in theaters nationwide on January 17th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

2025 Golden Globes Awards Predictions January 4, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen The new Golden Globes are back! Last year’s rebranded show may have been a trainwreck, but the actual winners and nominees were incredibly accurate to the overall awards race. It essentially shut down all the doubters of the Globes’ influence. Because of this reform, we really only have one year’s worth of data to use as precedent for this year’s predictions. In preparation for the show this Sunday, I'm predicting the winners in each category. Each of the nominees is ranked in terms of their likelihood to come out on top. Some of the categories have a significant divide between the top and runner-up spots and some categories are neck-and-neck. No matter how the results shake out, we should all be in for an exciting night that kicks off the next phase of the awards season. Best Motion Picture - Drama The Brutalist Conclave A Complete Unknown Dune: Part Two Nickel Boys September 5 This category gets whittled down pretty quickly once you consider that this is the only category representing Nickel Boys and September 5 , and Dune: Part Two is also only to be found in Best Original Score. A Complete Unknown is a medium contender at best, which leaves Conclave and The Brutalist to duke it out. I’m going with The Brutalist for its higher critics' scores and grandiosity. But this decision will be swimming through my head every minute until that envelope is opened. Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy Emilia Pérez Anora Wicked The Substance A Real Pain Challengers You don’t rack up ten total nominations (the most ever for a film in this category) and not be the favorite to win the ultimate prize. Emilia Pérez also hasn’t stumbled once throughout the entire season, making it nearly impossible to bet against it. However, the same can pretty much be said for Anora , so the door is still slightly open for an upset. Best Director Brady Corbet (The Brutalist) Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez) Edward Berger (Conclave) Coralie Fargeat (The Substance) Sean Baker (Anora) Payal Kapadia (All We Imagine as Light) With seemingly every other category being a toss-up, it’s to see to have one that feels like a virtual lock. You can’t talk about The Brutalist without heralding the work of Brady Corbet, a sentiment that’s worked in the past few years for people like Jane Campion ( The Power of the Dog ) and Christopher Nolan ( Oppenheimer ). I’d be incredibly shocked if anyone other than him ascended the stage. Best Screenplay Conclave (Peter Straughn) Anora (Sean Baker) A Real Pain (Jesse Eisenberg) The Brutalist (Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold) The Substance (Coralie Fargeat) Emilia Pérez (Jacques Audiard) This category is already the hardest to predict the nominees for as you can only fit six out of the 12-15 that are vying for the two categories at the Oscars. Now it’s even tougher as only one can win. The momentum seems to be with Conclave at this point in the season, although Anora would probably be the betting favorite. Best Lead Actor - Drama Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown) Adrien Brody (The Brutalist) Ralph Fiennes (Conclave) Colman Domingo (Sing Sing) Daniel Craig (Queer) Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice) Is this the moment Timothée Chalamet is finally anointed as the star of the next generation? I think so. The buzz for his performance and public persona for A Complete Unknown has been nothing short of electric during the voting window, and he’s earned enough respect within the industry over the years. Adrien Brody could just as easily get the win, so it’s still a very close race. Best Lead Actress - Drama Angelina Jolie (Maria) Fernanda Torrest (I'm Still Here) Nicole Kidman (Babygirl) Kate Winslet (Lee) Tilda Swinton (The Room Next Door) Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl) With most of the Oscar contenders over in Musical or Comedy, this category feels a little light on surefire bets. I’ve been inching closer to picking Fernanda Torres as an upset, but I just can’t quite pull the trigger over Angelina Jolie. I’ll probably look back on that decision and wonder why I was so blind. There’s also the possibility of 20-time nominee Nicole Kidman or 14-time nominee Kate Winslet getting the win. Best Lead Actor - Musical or Comedy Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain) Glen Powell (Hit Man) Hugh Grant (Heretic) Sebastian Stan (A Different Man) Jesse Plemons (Kinds of Kindness) Gabriel LaBelle (Saturday Night) It’s a relatively crowded and Oscar-less field compared to previous years. The nominee with the most overall support is Jesse Eisenberg. But then Hugh Grant is the most likely Oscar nominee of this bunch, and Glen Powell is the kind of breakout star that this group loves to reward. I’ll stick with the acclaim that Eisenberg has been getting, and treat this award as a summation for all the work he did on A Real Pain . Best Lead Actress - Musical or Comedy Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez) Mikey Madison (Anora) Cynthia Erivo (Wicked) Demi Moore (The Substance) Zendaya (Challengers) Amy Adams (Nightbitch) The law of these Musical or Comedy acting categories is to always bet on the actor/actress with the best chance of being Oscar-nominated, as there’s usually only 1-2 here. That logic kind of breaks this year as we have four women with a realistic chance of being Oscar-nominated, so take your pick and understand that you’re more likely to be wrong than right. I’m going with Gascón based on her win at the European Film Awards and her ability to make history in this category. Best Supporting Actor Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) Guy Pearce (The Brutalist) Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown) Denzel Washington (Gladiator II) Yura Borisov (Anora) Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice) Culkin has been the sweeper of the season, racking up notable wins at each of the major critics’ groups (NYFCC, LAFCA, NBR). It would feel foolish to predict that train will derail now, especially with him coming into this specific show as the reigning victor of the award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama. Best Supporting Actress Zoë Saldaña (Emilia Pérez) Ariana Grande (Wicked) Isabelle Rossellini (Conclave) Margaret Qualley (The Substance) Selena Gomez (Emilia Pérez) Felicity Jones (The Brutalist) Flip a coin between Saldaña and Grande and you’d have as much confidence as I do. For the past several months I’ve been feeling very confident about Saldaña’s chances to sweep the season. But Grande’s rapid ascendancy has made that a difficult sentiment to maintain. Even if I still think Saldaña will win the Oscar when all is said and done, Grande winning the Globe would be a realistic bump in the road. Best Foreign Language Film Emilia Pérez (France) All We Imagine as Light (India) I'm Still Here (Brazil) The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Iran) The Girl with the Needle (Denmark) Vermiglio (Italy) Last year, half of the nominees also appeared in the Best Motion Picture - Drama category, making it incredibly difficult to decide which film had the most reliable competitive advantage. This year feels a lot more clear with Emilia Pérez pulling in ten total nominations (the most for a musical or comedy). But this category also loves curveballs, like in 2023 when the film with the lowest odds, Argentina, 1985 , pulled off the upset and beat RRR and All Quiet on the Western Front . Does the acting nomination for Fernanda Torres spell something for I’m Still Here ? Best Animated Feature Film The Wild Robot Flow Inside Out 2 Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl Memoir of a Snail Moana 2 Flow has been overperforming at the regional critics’ awards so far, so this is not an open-and-shut case for The Wild Robot like we originally thought a few weeks ago. I still don’t have much reason to doubt The Wild Robot , but the win relatively unexpected win for The Boy and the Heron last year does make me wonder if we’re in for a pretty big surprise. Best Original Score The Brutalist (Daniel Blumberg) Conclave (Volker Bertelmann) Emilia Pérez (Camille & Clément Ducol) Challengers (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross) Dune: Part Two (Hans Zimmer) The Wild Robot (Kris Bowers) Volker Bertelmann may have won the Oscar for All Quiet on the Western Front a few years ago, but the Globes did not nominate him. This could be the moment they give him the overdue win for Conclave . I’m still going to stick with Daniel Blumberg’s thunderous score for The Brutalist , which has been one of the most acclaimed aspects of the film. Best Original Song El Mal (Emilia Pérez) Mi Camino (Emilia Pérez) Kiss the Sky (The Wild Robot) Beautiful That Way (The Last Showgirl) Forbidden Road (Better Man) Compress/Repress (Challengers) “El Mal” and “Mi Camino” have been joined at the hip during the nomination phase of the season, and now it’s time to see which one is actually going to win. I’m leaning towards “El Mal” since it is the standout musical sequence of the film that’s been featured in the marketing. And despite having seen the film twice, I struggle to recollect “Mi Camino.” Could something like “Kiss the Sky” or “Beautiful That Way” split the difference and pull off an upset? I wouldn’t be too surprised if that happened. Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Wicked Deadpool & Wolverine Inside Out 2 Gladiator II Beetlejuice Beetlejuice The Wild Robot Twisters Alien: Romulus We’ve only got one year’s worth of precedent for this category, although this year seems a little easier due to the lack of a true Barbenheimer phenomenon. Barbie was last year’s winner, an enormous hit both critically and culturally. Being that it’s one of these films to have a nomination in the Best Motion Picture categories, Wicked seems to fit that mold the closest this year. 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

Undertone March 11, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen Throughout my ever-growing experience with the Dolby Atmos theatrical enhancements, I’ve become less and less enamored with the hype. At the tail end of the barrage of trailers, usually the moment I finally let out a sigh of relief, because I actually get to watch what I paid for, there’s another ad by Dolby touting itself as “the most immersive sound experience.” That might be true in their ideal testing environment, where every setting has been properly calibrated, and every pair of ears is finely tuned. But in the modern multiplex, where quality control is increasingly falling down a slippery slope, I’ve come to think of Atmos as an excuse for the theater to crank the sound up to 200%, claiming that louder is better. We all know that isn’t true, as that would mean Michael Bay would be perpetually atop the Sight and Sound polls. In the case of Undertone , neither louder nor quieter is better. The moments of loud noise split my ears, eliciting irritation rather than intimidation. And the (many) moments of silence nearly put me to sleep, a symptom of a been-there-done-that story infused with every modern elevated horror trope in the book. Somewhere between those large gulfs are a few tiny oases of craft and intrigue, just enough to make you have hope that this very flawed film would miraculously morph into something that was at least decently commendable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6uDeBYDHu4 Undertone is all about the sounds that surround us, as well as the silence, which we should probably be more afraid of. We get that in the opening cue: the raspy breathing of a dying woman, all signs of a recovery fully absent. She is the mother of Evy (Nina Kiri, potentially a long-lost relative of Jenna Ortega), who has been living in her mother’s home to provide around-the-clock care in her final days. The mother was very religious, always saying prayers for the agnostic Evy. Based on those few sentences, I’m pretty sure you can predict all the spooky things that are going to happen next. Evy’s only connection to the mortal world is the paranormal podcast she hosts with her friend Justin, voiced by Adam DiMarco. She’s the skeptic, and he’s the believer. They receive a cryptic email of ten audio recordings, each progressively tracking the strangely creepy circumstances of a couple who begin hearing loud noises in their apartment. The explainable slowly turns into the unexplainable, with Evy’s circumstances at home seemingly being morphed by what’s happening in the recordings. First-time feature writer/director Ian Tuason shows more promise as a director rather than a writer. His script is scattered with the dime-a-dozen elements of grief, childhood traumas, motherhood, and religious guilt. What’s even scarier is the fact that a doctor makes a routine health call at 3:00 AM, and that Evy and Justin record their seemingly popular podcast in ten-minute chunks and fill it with some of the most inauthentic banter I’ve ever heard. DiMarco’s voice work is entirely too trained; every sigh, inflection, and pause is the result of overcalibration. Tuason’s camera is static throughout most of the film. Evy is usually on the side of the frame, the negative space being enveloped by a black void that could house any of our deepest fears. The editing is fairly routine, with close-ups and wide shots interplaced at the exact moments we’re expecting. The flourishes near the end may feel like they come from a film student thinking that they’ve somehow revolutionized the art, but they at least provide some semblance of a pulse. By that endpoint, I’d come to realize that I’d sat through eighty-five minutes of nothingness (plus twenty minutes of trailers for some of the most bottom-of-the-barrel new horror releases) for five minutes of something that kind of interested me. That’s not exactly a beneficial trade-off. And yet, it’s one that I feel like I’m being forced to make more and more in these post- Hereditary days, where filmmakers delude themselves into thinking that a grab bag of therapy buzzwords makes their genre picture into high art. A24 will release Undertone in theaters nationwide on March 13th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Sheep Detectives May 6, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen In director David Fincher's flashy 1930s-set Hollywood period drama Mank , famed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio founder and boss Louis B. Mayer proudly declares that, despite all of its stars in its lineup, the studio only had one true star: Leo the Lion. For over a century, the lion has been the studio's mascot, his signature look and roar being the first sight and sound for each film. For Mayer and many cinephiles, Leo was a reassuring stamp of quality upon the brand. Along with the fact that his famed studio is now owned by the corporate overlord that is Amazon, Mr. Mayer might have rolled over in his grave at the sight of the king of the jungle's roar being replaced with a cartoonish sheep's baa for the opening of The Sheep Detectives . His loss is our gain, as that visual and audio dichotomy elicited smiles and chuckles throughout the audience, a mood that was pleasantly maintained for the entire runtime. Despite popular belief perpetuating the stereotype that they are dumb, sheep are actually just as mentally and emotionally intelligent as most farm animals. They can solve simple puzzles, pick up on emotions, and remember a person's face. One thing they haven't been proven to be capable of doing is solving murder cases, which is exactly what George Hardy's (Hugh Jackman) flock must do when their beloved shepherd suspiciously meets his demise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyZI5oM6hWk Who could have committed the crime? Several citizens of this seemingly quaint English village had the means, motive, and opportunity to do the unspeakable deed. The list includes Ham (Conleth Hill), the local butcher who always lambasted George's strict vegetarian diet and refusal to sell his sheep for meat; Caleb (Tosin Cole), a rival shepherd; innkeeper Beth Pennock (Hong Chau), George's jealous secret admirer; and Reverend Hillcoate (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith), whom George viewed as a bad shepherd to the village's flock of religious congregators. Also mysteriously introduced are Elliot Matthews (Nicholas Galitzine), a junior reporter who happens to stumble upon this story, and Rebecca Hampstead (Molly Gordon), George's estranged daughter, who finally reconnected with him on the day of his death. Unfortunately, the town's sole police officer (Nicholas Braun) is a bumbling fool, which means the responsibility of catching the killer and restoring justice falls upon the hooves of the sheep. It's a task they coincidentally have been trained for their whole lives, as George's nightly ritual was to read his flock a bedtime story from the endless line of murder mystery novels. Unbeknownst to him (and everyone), they understood every word and developed the skills to solve the case. Taking some inspiration from modern whodunnits like the Knives Out films, and the English whimsy of Paddington , screenwriter Craig Mazin (returning to feature comedies after spearheading prestige HBO dramas like Chernobyl and The Last of Us ) spins a yarn that is both simple enough to keep straight, yet complex enough so that it doesn't immediately reveal itself. Rated PG, this is entertainment for the whole family that respects the intelligence of each member. Kids will be entertained by the talking animals and slapstick humor, while parents will be surprised by how invested they are in the plot and emotions. For as much as things are often (and successfully) played for laughs, there are more than a few moments tinged with melancholy and fear. George’s untimely death is met with sadness, and a scene where the sheep discover dark secrets about Caleb’s pasture is particularly scary, with the reality about the purpose of a farm animal’s life starkly observed. The combination of all these emotions makes each one feel earned, rather than just a pile of desserts. Although humans can’t understand them, the sheep all talk to each other, meaning there are plenty of opportunities for celebrity voice roles. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Chris O’Dowd, and Bryan Cranston voice the main trio quite well, the latter being particularly strong as the black sheep of the flock. There’s also Patrick Stewart, Regina Hall, Rhys Darby, and Brett Goldstein. Their voices are aided by the top-notch special effects that provide a healthy mixture of realism and expression. In the realm of talking animal movies, I’d seriously consider putting The Sheep Detectives at least near the top alongside Babe . It’s not every day that you can find a film that can be funny without being juvenile, heartwarming without being cloying, and intelligent without being overly complicated. It’s a perfect day at the farm, luckily without the usual smells. Amazon MGM Studios will release The Sheep Detectives in theaters nationwide on May 08th. 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

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania February 16, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen So, whose idea was it to make Ant-Man less fun? This is a franchise that was initially going to begin with Edgar Wright in the director’s chair (who still got credit for the screenplay, along with Adam McKay and star Paul Rudd) and had its sights set on delivering size-shifting hijinks within a low-stakes environment. This strategy worked pretty well thanks to the positioning of the first and second entries immediately after the cataclysmic events in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Avengers: Infinity War , respectively. Now with Quantumania , those humorously tinged roots have been upended and mangled into one of the most overly serious and ugliest films within the entire 31-film catalog of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Turn on your listening ears, kids, because it’s time to learn about the Quantum Realm and the multiverse for the umpteenth time. After being a small man within a large world, Scott Lang becomes a big man in a super small world as he and his Ant-Man family are transported down into the Quantum Realm. Inside this realm is a collection of creatures, some that look exactly human (so that they can be played by famous actors, such as Bill Murray in a brief, so-so cameo) and some that possess physical form beyond simple anatomy. At the top of the food chain is Kang the Conqueror, who has a complicated past with Janet Van Dyne during her long years of being stranded. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlNFpri-Y40 Filled with such classic lines as “There’s something I need to tell you,” “You haven’t told them?” “What else have you been lying about?” and “I was trying to protect you,” the script by Rick and Morty alum Jeff Loveness capitalizes on every opportunity it can to deliver the most cliché lines about characters not being able to communicate properly. It’s a frustratingly weak way to build suspense for the exposition-dumped reveals and contradicts the genius-level intellect many of these characters are supposed to have. Much of the humor is absent since the first two outings. This is in “service” to raise the stakes of this lightweight hero and have him introduce us to the new Thanos-level threat in Kang. Jonathan Majors, already having a stellar 2023 with physically imposing roles in the Sundance title Magazine Dreams and Creed III , plays the conqueror with a menacing calmness. The character himself may not have won me over yet, but Majors in the role has intrigued me about the future. Fairing much worse than the writing is the cinematography by the usually dependable Bill Pope, last seen producing decent work in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (remember when that was also supposed to be a part of this universe?). With backdrops that make George Lucas’ Star Wars prequel trilogy look photorealistic and drabby brown shadings, Quantumania easily takes the cake as one of the worst-looking blockbuster films of the past few years. Actors are obviously running within fully green-screened sets, and the fully digital creatures are weightless. And don’t even get me started on one actor’s horrendously superimposed face (you’ll definitely know what I’m talking about when you see it), which incited the most laughs from the audience, although that might not have been intended. Rudd does the good work that is expected from him, and Evangeline Lilly gets next to nothing to do despite her character being in the title. Kathryn Newton is a welcome addition to the slowly-building Young Avengers. The Ant-Man franchise has mostly been unnecessary, but provided fun escapism. Quantumania is the inverse of that by being both required reading material and not fun, which essentially makes it homework. This has been the antithesis of Marvel during Phases 4 and 5, where the effort needed to keep up is not being properly compensated, both on the small-scale levels of individual films and the large-scale shared narrative. I’ve been on this train since day one, and have a completionist mindset (at least when it comes to the movies), so I’m kind of stuck in my seat. Although now I’m really starting to have serious doubts about all the picturesque promises the conductors have been making about the destination. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures will release Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in theaters nationwide on Feb. 17th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Fingernails October 31, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen How far would you go to prove your love to someone? Would you move across the country? Would you undergo a career change? Would you rip off your fingernail to undergo a love test? If you answered yes to any of these questions, most importantly the final one, then you would be right at home in Christos Nikou’s Fingernails . In the Greek writer/director’s vision of the near future, there is such a device that can scientifically prove whether two people are in love. All it takes is for each person to rip off one of their fingernails and place it into the machine. Within a few minutes, you’re provided with an undeniable answer. What you and your partner do after that is entirely up to you. Most people who fail the test break up, causing divorce rates to momentarily skyrocket before reaching record lows. Anyone who passes the test is left with a sense of security, although that sense of risk that keeps a relationship from flatlining has now been eliminated. Unemployed teacher Anna (Jessie Buckley) is in the latter camp. She and her longtime boyfriend Ryan (Jeremy Allen White) passed the test a few years ago. He’s content with the coasting they’ve been doing since then, but she’s beginning to have doubts. What’s the point of being proven compatible if nothing else is going to come from it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY-by4qPQpE That kind of questioning is one of the many ways you can poke holes in Nikou’s concept of modern love. A couple’s love for each other is never constant, so should we be putting value in a machine that can only judge based on a fixed moment in time? What about open relationships? Same-sex relationships? It’s best not to ask too many questions, as Nikou and co-writers Sam Steiner and Stavros Raptis (the latter also co-writing Nikou’s 2020 feature debut Apples ) have little interest in answering them. Taking all of this at face value would be an acceptable proposition except for the fact that there isn’t much to discover on the surface. Nikou served as the assistant director to Yorgos Lanthimos on Dogtooth, and the influences are quite obvious. This transition to the English language takes an almost identical comically dry approach to The Lobster , sans the deadpan dialogue and threat of being turned into an animal if you don’t fall in love. What’s meant to replace that lack of originality is an edge, which is sorely lacking here. Many of Nikou’s ideas are left half-baked, with a lot of time and space budgeted for rote revelations we see from a mile away. What Nikou has shown a knack for is his ability to create a world that’s both detached and identical to our own. The all-knowing machine is a glorified microwave, put together and painted as if it were a prop for a high school stage play. A drab autumnal color palette envelopes everything, a visual metaphor for how love has lost its luster. One could question why Jeremy Allen White - a hot commodity after the success of The Bear - would sign onto the role of Ryan, a perennial wet blanket who makes it all too easy for us to root for Anna and her coworker Amir (Riz Ahmed) to get together. Buckley and Ahmed are charming, exchanging glances as their feelings for each other slowly develop. There’s also the likable presence of Luke Wilson as the inventor of the machine and Anna Murphy as Amir’s girlfriend. Fingernails is a pole vaulter who has an incredible walk-up, but somehow always seems to hit the bar. Nikou is finding his craft as an auteur, with this film proving that he can semi-successfully adapt his vision to a larger canvas. Here’s hoping the third time is the charm. This review was originally published from the international premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Apple Original Films will release Fingernails in select theaters on October 27th, followed by its streaming premiere on November 03rd 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

Creed III February 24, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen With Creed III, the reins (or should I say gloves?) of the Rocky franchise have been fully passed down from Sylvester Stallone's The Italian Stallion to Michael B. Jordan's Adonis Creed. And in typical Rocky fashion, Jordan plants himself further into this universe by stepping into the director's chair, taking over after Ryan Coogler successfully revived this tired franchise in 2015 and Steven Caple Jr. adeptly continued that ascending trajectory in 2018. Fortunately for Jordan, he displays a higher quality of skill both in front and behind the camera than Stallone did with his sequels, which have the added benefit of decades' worth of nostalgia to make it palatable. For the first time in this now nine-film franchise, the character of Rocky Balboa is totally absent from the story, with no mention of how he's doing in Vancouver with his estranged son and grandson. Adonis now sits somewhere in between his shoes from the first two films and those of Rocky's, as he decides to hang up the gloves after a successful career. But while he deals with his new post-retirement future, a figure from the past shows up unannounced. It's Damian Anderson, Adonis's older brother figure, from when he was moving between group homes and running from the law. An incident from their youth caused Damian to spend the next eighteen years in prison, stripping him of his "rightful" opportunity to become the best boxer in the world after making a name for himself on the amateur circuit. Adonis tries to make up for lost time by extending an olive branch to Damian in the form of taking him under his wing and preparing him for a title shot. Quickly, things get out of control as Damian's pent-up rage and resentment take over, threatening to destroy Adonis' legacy as a boxer and the future he hopes to build as a leader. So, in the spirit of brotherly love, Adonis must protect what's his through the only means he knows how to: with his fists. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHmCH7iB_IM It may come as a shock to you, especially after that plot description, to know that Creed III spends just as much time debating the morals of fighting vs using your words as it does delivering those bone-crunching blows to the head. But while Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin's script may take its time talking about why fighting doesn't solve everything, the overall narrative and kinetic work delivered by Jordan as a director say otherwise. A small subplot appears in the form of Amara dealing with bullies at school, an on-the-nose metaphor for Adonis and his situation, one that is quickly abandoned as soon as it could really mark a shift in the philosophy of this franchise. Maybe it was foolish of me to think that things could change even a little at this stage, because we know that all the talk of not wanting to fight means nothing once the going gets tough. The going doesn't really need to get tough here either for Adonis to lay down the challenge, just a few inconveniences and shots at his ego, which is subtly examined by Damian as he mentions the privilege the Creed surname has afforded Adonis. Jordan has repeatedly mentioned the inspiration that the anime genre had on the filming of the boxing scenes, a statement that he capably backed up with the final product. Gone is Coogler's fluid camerawork and long takes (except for one modest sequence early on), replaced with a not-egregious-but-still-considerable amount of Zack Snyder slow motion. It's used sparingly, mainly to focus on the split-second decisions made in the ring that can win or lose a fight. The sound of blows landing does rumble throughout the theater, with the final moments having the same raw power as a fighting game character unleashing their combo meter. Majors fills out the role of the final boss with immense theatricality, displaying the unbelievable threat he is with his cagey movements and fighting style. Jordan is the more composed one of the pair, preaching how boxing is more about control and strategy than it is about violence. And the always-great Tessa Thompson is regretfully sidelined to merely being a support figure to Adonis rather than the richer character she was in the original. Creed III may be the weakest of its trilogy, but the fact that the seventh, eighth, and ninth entries are all the best of a franchise is an accomplishment by itself, even more so when you factor in the inherent limitations of the boxing genre. Jordan and Coogler (and Stallone to an extent) have found a way for this cycle of storytelling to remain relevant, even if it sometimes punches below its weight class. Amazon MGM Studios will release Creed III in theaters nationwide on March 03rd. 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

La Gradiva September 14, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen La Gradiva is the type of film that could not be made anywhere, or at any time, within the United States. Before a single frame appears, over a dozen logos appear, each one either a well-known European production studio (Canal+, MK2) or a national/regional film fund. The latter is a totally foreign concept in America, a longstanding symptom of our country's view that art should be created out of a desire for profit, and not solely for the enrichment of the people. As we all know, there’s plenty of money within our government that never seems to find its way to the right place. Should just a fraction of it be diverted to providing young talents with no-strings-attached funding, we would likely have another movement on our hands comparable to what New Hollywood brought in the 70s. Pivoting away from the behind-the-scenes logistics of filmmaking and more towards the film itself, the actual main reason La Gradiva could never be made within the United States is that there are no mainland volcanoes with as much history, beauty, and terror as Mount Vesuvius. To look up at something and realize that it was responsible for wiping out entire ancient cities, and could do it again, is a reminder of our minuscule existence across the vastness of time and space. It’s an especially hard lesson for teenagers who are just becoming full of themselves, high on life, and with a carefree attitude that has so far shielded them from life’s eventual hardships. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yY6V9MbEoE On the cusp of experiencing that sobering life lesson is a group of French students on a class trip. They are among the four million tourists who visit Pompeii each year, standing in awe of history and the perseverance of the generations of locals who remain at the feet of the most dangerous natural elements in the world. As expected, teenagers can’t grapple with their own mortality as easily. That’s especially true for Toni (Colas Quignard), an aimless kid who puts on a front of being too cool for school. He’s really good friends with James (Mitia Capellier-Audat), who seems to be a natural student despite never showing any enthusiasm for the material. On the opposite end of the spectrum from Toni is Suzanne (Suzanne Gerin), introverted and bookish. Leading the group is Madame Mercier (Antonia Buresi), a single teacher who clearly has a passion for her job. Try as she might, it’s nearly impossible to reach students like Toni and James, who are merely listening for an opportunity to make a crude joke. Luckily, their loss is our gain, as writer/director Marine Atlan gives plenty of space for Mercier’s teachings, a gentle reminder of how the nurturing care of someone else often shapes our education. Mercier guides the students through the lessons of Vesuvius, as well as the artwork from the period of its eruption. By understanding the past, we better shape our future. Making her feature directorial debut with the utmost confidence after years as a cinematographer, Atlan shapes La Gradiva with a pristine sense of beauty and majesty. A slideshow of unknown old photographs is presented at the start of the film, capturing a bygone era and generation of people. The rest of the film emulates that style, the grain and framing reaching for something that’s no longer here. Even in its nearly 150-minute runtime and multitude of differing personalities, there’s a clarity to what’s going on inside everyone’s heads and hearts. This is the work of a rising talent behind the camera, and of all unknown actors who inhabit their roles. It’s not like that fact sneaks up on you, as the film constantly shows its cards for all to see. But this will be a film that lingers and grows for a lot of people, and might take a few more years to be as widely recognized as it deserves. Until then, it’s a little beauty in a pond of boisterous, loud fish. La Gradiva had its North American premiere at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival. 1-2 Special will release the film in select theaters on December 18th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen