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The Phoenician Scheme May 28, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen For his review of the 2005 Steven Spielberg film, Munich , film critic for The New York Times , A.O. Scott, began with the title: “An Action Film About the Need to Talk.” It’s a succinct way to describe the main theme of Spielberg’s underseen docudrama masterpiece that recounts Israeli operatives hunting down the people responsible for the Black September capture and massacre of their athletes at the 1972 Olympics. Were the retaliation measures justifiable, or were they just blind vengeance? And even if they could be justified, wouldn’t the cycle of violence just be perpetuated by the other side until they each go blind? Although it substitutes slapstick and levity for the blood and bullets of Spielberg’s film, Wes Anderson’s newest work, The Phoenician Scheme , goes about those ideas in a pretty identical manner. And although the lack of dialogue between the warring factions was part of the problem in Munich , too much talking on the part of this film’s main character, Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio Del Toro), sets everything in motion here. Middle school history students would describe him as a “robber baron” or a “tycoon” on account of his shrewd business practices. Famines? He’s started them. Slavery? He’s indulged in it. Hand grenades? He has enough lying around that he offers them to all guests like cookies. Fiddling with deals and going back on his word is largely why he’s amassed his fortune, and probably why so many attempts have been made on his life. That’s exactly where we meet Korda in this story: surviving his sixth recorded airplane crash. At some point, the house is going to win, which is why he’s made the precautionary move to have his estranged novitiate daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton), returned home so that she can assume possession of his estate should the unthinkable happen. But before he can defy his enemies by retiring, he must tighten the final screws on a massive infrastructure project in the fictional Middle Eastern territory of Phoenicia that will bring him and several future generations enough passive income to stay atop the throne. On this journey, we stop to meet each of the members who comprise this wall-to-wall A-list cast. Many of them have previously featured in Anderson’s films, such as Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston returning from their live-action debut in Asteroid City to play American train tycoon brothers who prefer to settle disputes over a game of H-O-R-S-E. I will jump the gun here and say that the scene where they challenge Zsa-zsa and the prince of Phoenicia (Riz Ahmed) to said game might be the funniest moment Anderson has ever created. There are also multi-film veterans like Mathieu Amalric (coincidentally, also in Munich) , Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, and Rupert Friend. “The story of a family and a family business” is the plot summary provided. It’s apt, as a full explanation of all the machinations that go on here would require many more paragraphs. I was never quite sure who everyone was, why they were important, and what needed to happen between them for the conflict to be resolved. But I also don’t think Anderson wants us to pay that much attention to the nitty gritty details. I suppose you could if you really wanted to, as there’s plenty of information doled out through the trademarked sumptuous production. What’s really important here is not the 5 Ws, but the 1 H. Spurred on by a combination of Liesl’s objections to his malpractices and the gradual melting of his cold, Grinch-like heart, Zsa-zsa begins to see the error of his ways. “Let’s communicate,” is a punchline he says in each encounter, all caused by everyone’s instinctual failure to bring their best intentions to the table. In a time when the terms “trade war” and “tariffs” have become shorthand for an outdated and backward way of conducting business, here’s a story that preaches the value of being simultaneously kind and successful. Del Toro is quite excellent, making Zsa-zsa a thornily interesting character. There are a lot of laughs to be had from his line deliveries, and his command of the scenery Anderson places him in. Except for cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman, who’s been discreetly replaced by the equally fantastic Bruno Delbonnel, all the usual craftspeople align the credits. Anderson continues to prove that he has total dominion over a world that only he can create and perfect. So many have tried and failed to replicate, but there can only be one. Anderson is a lot like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At this point, you’re either in or you’re out. I’m so deep in the bag that it might as well be the one from Mary Poppins . I’ve seen a lot of films, and the majority of them all follow the same pattern. Anderson’s films certainly aren’t an exception, but there is always something magical about their sameness. And like Nicole Kidman always says: We come to this place [the cinema] for magic . More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Landscape with Invisible Hand August 16, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Aliens have invaded Earth! They came from the sky, descending upon our mortal world after sensing our weaknesses. We are no longer the dominant species of our world, usurped by these higher-dimensional beings. Except, this event was nowhere near as exciting or terrifying as it sounds. It was more like a corporate buyout, as their alien technology was too advanced for us to compete. Every object, process, and idea became obsolete overnight, rendering the entire human race to be managed over with the cold smile of Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta. One of those humans was Adam Cambell (Asante Black), a Rhode Island teen with a lawyer mom (Tiffany Haddish) that has been unemployed since the takeover, and a younger sister (Brooklynn MacKinzie) that doesn’t see any light left in the world. Her feelings are pretty much shared by everybody, especially the teachers, most of whom have been laid off as they “have been underbid by the little boxes on your foreheads.” Adam sees a bit of sunshine in the form of his new classmate Chloe (Kylie Rogers), whose family has been homeless nomads for the past few months. The two develop romantic chemistry quickly, using their happy feelings for each other to escape their downtrodden circumstances. Luckily for them, those feelings can be monetized, as the aliens don’t have the physical capabilities to feel love and will pay top dollar to witness it firsthand through something called a “Courtship Broadcast.” As many Gen Xers would know, putting something online lessens the spontaneity of a feeling. You can’t fully be genuine when you’re trying to be genuine. Adam and Chloe run into this problem after the honeymoon phase dissipates rather quickly. That aspect of social media and modern love is only one of the handful of scattershot ideas within writer/director Cory Finley’s screenplay, adapted from the book of the same name by M.T. Anderson. There are also themes about consumerism, broken families, class divides, immigration, emigration, teenage angst, social norms, life’s purpose, and the value of art. It’s a classic case of too many cooks in the kitchen, with none of the “lessons” being all that insightful. You might not have seen it with these types of characters in these situations, but you can see these plot developments and themes coming from a mile away. Finley’s previous efforts of Thoroughbreds and Bad Education were able to thread the tonal needle with supreme confidence. There’s even a moment within Thoroughbreds where a character explains that the worst thing to be is indecisive. Finley seems to have forgotten that lesson in his third outing, as he loses that edge that made him such a phenom. Every image feels less than the sum of its parts, and you’re left with less energy than you came in with. But all is not totally lost. The cast is quite good. Black and Rogers are nice together, and Josh Hamilton often shines as Chloe’s father who bends so far backwards to not be a failure that he ends up becoming more of one. Tiffany Haddish rises above her thinly written character. There’s also Michael Abels’ (a frequent Jordan Peele collaborator) synth score, instilling that extra drop of sci-fi kitschiness. Landscape with Invisible Hand finds Finley stretching himself thinly across too many ideas and too many characters. It’s respectably ambitious, but never sticks the landing. Ultimately, it’s more of a misstep than a failure, as I expect him to find his footing again, hopefully, sooner rather than later. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

28 Years Later June 19, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen The only moment that could be considered “light” in 28 Years Later , the third fittingly titled entry in the famed zombie franchise after 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later , is the logo treatment for Columbia Pictures. Even the opening image features the Teletubbies, the little devils that simultaneously entertain and steal people’s souls. After that, it’s a non-stop train down to hell. But there’s still a melody to the morbidity, much of it coming through the strong performances and delicate tonal balancing from returning director Danny Boyle. That shouldn’t be a surprise for the revered British auteur, considering he’s already performed this trick with the electrifying provactivness of the original Trainspotting , which turned into the wiser, sadder T2 Trainspotting . Time was a valuable asset for that series, and so is it here. No longer is agonizingly immediate dismemberment the top-of-mind threat, but the slow, trodden wait for time to outpace mortality. The ending of 28 Weeks Later , with the zombies now spreading through mainland Europe, has been retconned back to the British Isles. The world’s governments aren’t going to make the same mistake twice, so the United Kingdom has been permanently sealed off, leaving any and all human survivors to fend for themselves. Even for the people of Holy Island, who have formed a quiet, secluded community away from the infected, there’s a lingering feeling that everyone else on the planet is just waiting for them to die off and for all this to be done. As the title alludes, enough time has passed since the rage virus first appeared. There are now generations that don’t know what the world was like before all this. iPhones, the internet, plastic surgery, and pizza delivery. Those are all foreign concepts to twelve-year-old Spike, played by the brilliant newcomer Alfie Williams. His lifestyle has reverted several hundred years, his dad (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and he being the hunter-gatherers of the community. There are now variations of the infected, some slower and others brawnier and more intelligent, known as “Alphas.” A natural plot would create an antagonistic relationship between Spike and the Alpha, with his coming-of-age reaching its climax by slaying the beast. Screenwriter Alex Garland (recently helming the A24 military duo of Civil War and Warfare ) and Boyle have different ideas. As opposed to his worn-down traditional father, Spike’s concept of masculinity comes from his devotion to his sick mother (Jodie Comer), with the only hope for a cure being from a supposed insane doctor housed deep in the forbidden mainland. Like all promises of relief in this franchise, the answer is never what you want to hear. But instead of being a blunt beating, Spike’s realization about the natural order of things comes with precise catharsis. A bald and red-painted Ralph Fiennes plays the mad doctor, offering sobering wisdom from someone who sees past the us vs. them division of the living and the dead. His appearance is greatly welcomed, and his work with Williams and Comer tugs at the heart, a surprising occurrence from a franchise whose first instinct with organs is to violently rip them out. This is also a franchise where every terrible happening is caused by unbelievable stupidity, so the higher-minded philosophy still has a pretty low ceiling. The thematically correct sloppiness of the previous entry’s cinematography is replicated here through wide-angled and anamorphic iPhone cameras. At times, there’s a jarring beauty to it, providing an unvarnished view of the world. In other moments, it’s an uncanny valley, my mind instinctively rejecting cell phone cameras from the silver screen. That unfiltered view also prevents the unsightly CGI from being masked. A highly questionable ending, certainly a teaser for the already-shot sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple , dampens a lot of the goodwill built up to that moment. This is only supposed to be the start of a new trilogy, with original cast member Cillian Murphy expected to return. The brief sample has me questioning what the full course is going to be, but there are still enough unique ideas ready for us to sink our teeth into. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Irishman December 9, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen Sprawling fifty years and dozens of features, director Martin Scorsese has crafted one of the finest filmographies in cinematic history. Over the decades, there appear to be two sides to the revered auteur’s style of filmmaking. One side is filled with fast-paced and violent storytelling in films such as Goodfellas, Casino , and The Wolf of Wall Street . On the other side is a more slow and quiet study of the human condition that can be found in The Last Temptation of Christ , Kundun , and Silence . Now after years of being disjointed, these distinct styles have finally melded together in the director’s newest Netflix film, The Irishman . Telling the true-ish story (it’s still hotly debated whether any of it is true) of mob hitman Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, the film places its main character at the forefront of American history in the mid-twentieth century. Over the years, Sheeran became increasingly attached to mob life, eventually leading him to the infamous teamster Jimmy Hoffa, whose fate is still unknown to this day. But as Frank rises the ranks within the mob, we watch as he slowly descends into a life of violence where the riches are short-lived and damaging effects are ever-lasting. The first thing you’ll probably notice when looking up the film is its massive 209-minute runtime, which makes it the longest mainstream movie released in over a quarter-century. That amount of length may be daunting on paper, but Scorsese makes every minute of it glide by with ease. His usual style of kinetic editing and pacing are masterfully employed and keep the film entirely thrilling throughout. By the time the film has finished, you feel as though you have lived a life with these characters rather than just watched it. Another production facet that the film carries is a revolutionary new technology that digitally de-ages its main cast so they’re able to play their characters over multiple decades. Admittedly, the gimmick doesn’t work perfectly as the 76-year-old Robert De Niro never convincingly looks like his thirty-year-old self. But even with its missteps, the technology is never a bother and seamlessly works its magic in the scenes where the characters are closer to the actor's age. Adapted by Steven Zaillian from the book “I Heard You Paint Houses”, The Irishman is a dense (maybe too dense) and depressing crime epic. Scorsese’s trademarked main character narration is here in its entirety as Sheeran tells his life story while in a nursing home near the end of his life. Even though Scorsese implements his usual gangster style within the script, its use here is for an altogether different purpose than in previous films. Instead of showing the often joyous life of criminals with smugness, the script fully exposes us to the doom and gloom that a life of crime brings to someone. Frank is the main character in our story, but within his story, he’s always off to the side as he gets caught up in the everlasting destruction around him. By the time the third act reaches and the characters are reflecting on their past, their sad nature is fully exposed. All the acts these characters committed were paid for in death and despair, with the reward being even more of the same. Teaming up with Scorsese for their ninth collaboration, Robert De Niro does his best work in decades in the titular role. His performance as Frank is closed-off and internal, further highlighting that Sheeran had little control over his life. The further the story progresses, the more haunting De Niro becomes as he can more clearly see where the road will take him. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, Al Pacino plays the infamous union boss Jimmy Hoffa. We’ve always known that Pacino has fervor in his acting repertoire. His only problem over the years was how to effectively channel it to the right performance. Fortunately, there seems to be a method to Pacino’s madness here as his boisterous fire perfectly counters De Niro’s coldness. Playing against type is another frequent Scorsese collaborator in Joe Pesci as mob boss Russell Buffalino. Even if it may be his quietest role to date, Pesci instills fear through his menacing delivery and stares. Rounding the ensemble cast is Harvey Keitel, Bobby Cannavale, Ray Romano, Jesse Plemons, and Anna Paquin; all of which do great work in their supporting roles. Proving that the two sides of Martin Scorsese work better together than separately, The Irishman is a crime classic on par with the greats before. Its extensive tale of remorse and sorrow is worth every minute you put into it. If you only see a handful of movies a year, make sure this Netflix epic is one of them. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Ferrari December 17, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Michael Mann is back. That statement should end with an exclamation point, but, unfortunately, the famed director’s comeback vehicle (pun intended), Ferrari , doesn’t have the juice for anything more than a ho-hum period. Mann has been away from the cinematic landscape for quite some time, his latest venture being the 2015 studio-overhauled thriller Blackhat . Mann made sure not to make the same mistake twice, accumulating nearly $90 million worth of independent financing for his newest feature, a fact symbolized by the film’s dozens of credited producers, executive producers, associate producers, consultant producers, and co-producers. It’s an admirable move both artistically and professionally that also serves as a depressing illustration of where the studio money is being allocated these days. Then again, I’m not exactly sure where the $90 million fully went, as I only saw about half of it on the screen. The majority of that half surely went to the cast headlined by Adam Driver as the titular Enzo Ferrari, Penélope Cruz as his wife and business partner Laura, and Shailene Woodley as his mistress, with whom he shares a young illegitimate child. The 40-year-old Driver dons a rather unconvincing wig and forehead lines to play the nearly 60-year-old Ferrari, who has been besieged by tragedy after the double whammy of suddenly losing his young adult son Aflredo to muscular dystrophy last year and his car empire on the verge of financial collapse. Driver is no stranger to playing downtrodden figures, but he’s still very much a stranger to the Italian accent, which gravitates towards the parodic style in Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci . It’s hard to take an A-lister seriously in a heavy scene when he’s only a few hand gestures away from being a credible cousin to Tony Lip from Green Book . The answer to Ferrari’s money troubles is to win the 1957 Mille Miglia (translated to Thousand Miles ), an incredibly dangerous (at least one fatality occurred for thirty consecutive years, with a total death count near sixty) open-road race that often set the stage for the biggest rivalries in sports racing. Victory would reclaim the prestige the Ferrari brand once had, meaning more sales of luxury cars. Mann works with David Fincher’s now-regular cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt to capture the overall sense of violence this race involves. There’s a speech that Enzo gives to his team just before they go out about how “two objects cannot occupy the same point in space at the same moment in time.” It’s a metaphorical way of saying that his drivers need to fight for every inch on the track, even if it means pushing someone out of the way and potentially sending them to their death. It’s just a real shame that the instances of vehicular carnage are made unintentionally hilarious by abysmal uses of visual effects. There is no clear-cut answer for Enzo’s trouble with Laura and Lina. His affairs with other women were well known by Laura, but the fathering of a child with Lina was kept hidden from her until the boy was twelve. Cruz is fiery and totally convincing next to Driver and Woodley, the latter given a thankless role that mostly involves her folding her arms and waiting for Enzo to come home. And while he’s a distant supporting player compared to this central trio, it would be a sin not to mention the dashing silver fox that is recently crowned People's Sexiest Man Alive Patrick Dempsey. He plays Piero Taruffi, the elder statesman of the Ferrari racing team that also includes Gabriel Leone and Jack O'Connell as the young guns. Ferrari feels both nothing less and nothing more than a mild disappointment, which somehow feels worse than if it landed on either one of the extreme sides of the spectrum. Mann has already confirmed that Heat 2 will be his next film, with Driver rumored to be part of the cast. Maybe Ferrari was just a warm-up exercise, something to get Mann back in the groove of making large-scale adult dramas? It definitely feels that way, although I’m not sure enough was achieved here to make that crime prequel/sequel the on-paper slam dunk it should be. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

2022 Losers January 2, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen Now that the winners of 2022 have been crowned, it’s time to shift our focus to the bottom of the ladder. These are the ones that will probably look back at their output with disdain, and, hopefully, will use it as motivation to do better in the future. Like the winner's list, some tough decisions had to be made for the finalists here, so your preference might not be found here. Remember, this is all good fun, so don’t take it personally. DCEU DC fans have always thought it was the DCEU vs. MCU, but this year proved that it was never really a competition, because at least Marvel has consistency when it comes to delivering on what's promised and pleasing the fans. Black Adam was a box office disappointment, made all the more embarrassing by Dwayne Johnson’s insistence otherwise. Henry Cavill announced his return as Superman, filmed a post-credit scene for Black Adam , and then was let go only a month later. Adding insult to injury was Matt Reeves’ The Batman , which, like Joker , showed that DC characters can be used to make great movies if the right people are put in the driver’s seat. Maybe James Gunn and Peter Safran can right the ship? Warner Bros. Discovery Let’s take it one step further than just DC and examine the bigger fish. Along with having to plan out a painstaking rebuild process for their superhero franchises, Warner Bros. also has the Fantastic Beasts franchise in crisis mode and had to endure the entire Don’t Worry Darling tabloid mess. They also pissed off a swarm of creators and fans by shelving completed projects and removing content from HBO Max as part of their costly merger with Discovery. Harry Styles Of course, Styles’ music career may have continued to flourish in 2022, but we’re focusing solely on his work in movies. Both Don’t Worry Darling and My Policeman didn’t live up to the weight of expectations, with Styles’ acting being mostly described as wooden and amateurish. I wonder if Kevin Feige is starting to worry about how he’s going to be utilized in the MCU going forward? Christian Bale On paper, Christian Bale’s actions of reuniting with David O. Russell and joining the MCU don’t seem all that bad. But in reality, both moves came nowhere close to reaching their potential. Amsterdam was a critical and financial disaster, and Thor: Love and Thunder didn’t give him the villain spotlight that he deserved. Bale would reteam with director Scott Cooper for the third time in The Pale Blue Eye , but Netflix’s muted release of the film kept its impact to a minimum. Oscar Movies at the Box Office Unless you were a superhero or horror movie, chances are you didn’t make much of a dent at the box office. Unfortunately, the films geared more toward the awards race don’t fall into those two categories. She Said posted one of the worst opening weekends ever for a movie in wide release, and James Gray’s Armageddon Time could only muster $1 million domestically despite strong reviews and a starry cast. Steven Spielberg, the most financially successful director of all time, could only attract $8 million for one of the best-reviewed films of the year, The Fabelmans . You could claim The Banshees of Inisherin as a success with $20 million worldwide, but Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri made over $150 million just five years ago, so there’s only so much positivity that can be spun. Liam Neeson Another year, another serving of forgettable action movies by Liam Neeson. Maybe the success of the Taken franchise was a mistake, as it has pigeon-holed Neeson into these generic “tough guy” roles. Blacklight and Memory proved to be nothing more than Redbox quality, and they also didn’t make much money at the box office either. Neeson didn’t have much success on the prestige side of the spectrum either, as his reunion with writer/director Neil Jordan in Marlowe was greeted with tepid reviews after its extremely muted premiere at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. Kevin Hart Hart may have attracted large viewership with his two Netflix movies The Man from Toronto and Me Time , but that doesn’t mean anybody who watched them actually enjoyed themselves. Both films were met with overwhelmingly negative critical reactions and didn’t help Hart expand his range as an actor or comedian. With Adam Sandler gaining positive notices for Hustle and returning to the Safdies for a future Netflix film, it seems that Hart has been kicked down to the bottom level of the Netflix content creation factory. Judd Apatow Speaking of Netflix and career low points, writer/director Judd Apatow released his worst movie to date in The Bubble . As a needlessly long two-hour movie that felt like four hours, this Netflix “comedy” took a group of talented actors and forced them to work way below their pedigree. Apatow also didn’t do well in his producing role for Billy Eichner’s Bros , with that movie (undeservedly) failing to register at the box office. Disney Animated Movies It was a pretty crummy year all-around for the Mouse House, but there was nowhere it hurt more than in their animation department. After the two most recent Toy Story movies grossed over $1 billion each, Lightyear cratered to just over $200 million. Strange World will be an even costlier mistake, with losses expected to rise above $150 million. And their most critically acclaimed film of the year, Turning Red , was shuttered off to Disney+, angering many of the creatives over at Pixar. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Pet Sematary April 11, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen What if you had the option to bring someone back from the dead? Would you seize the opportunity to get a second chance or would you turn away and leave the dead as they were In his 1983 cult book, Pet Sematary , author Stephen King posed and gave a grisly answer to this very question. Centering around the Creed family, the story begins with them having just moved to Maine. They live in a quaint country home that just so happens to have an eerie burial ground for long-deceased pets that sits in their backyard. Just days after moving in, the family cat is found dead. Not wanting to upset his daughter, Louis decides to bury the animal before she finds out. Lending a hand is neighbor Judd, who shows Louis a spot above the burial ground that possesses power beyond human reason. Suddenly the cat is back from the dead, but this time it is much more mean and mangy. After some time, another major tragedy strikes the family. Distraught from his loss, Louis goes back to the supernatural spot in order to bring his loved one back. Louis does get his wish, but it doesn’t turn out the way he wanted, resulting in a lesson that teaches that death always wins in the end. Directed by partners Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, Pet Sematary is a film that tells a tale of two halves in terms of pacing and excitement. The first half turns out to be quite boring as the story is slowly unfolded in order to touch on the most minute of details. After the pivotal moment that climaxes the buildup, the second half picks up speed and is able to be the horror film it wants to be. Just like the runtime, the scare tactics used in the first half very much pale compared to the latter half. The first hour consisted solely of identically structured jump scares that became more and more predictable as they kept happening. But once the recycled startling is over, the real horror sets in as Kölsch and Widmyer do great work by authentically building up terror through the atmosphere and actor performances. Almost identical to the quality of the directing is the writing by Jeff Buhler. Despite being a pretty simple concept for audiences to grasp, Buhler spends a fairly large chunk of the film tediously explaining every fact surrounding the narrative. This incessant need for overly expositive storytelling grinds the film to a crawl and made me feel like I was in a glorified lecture where the professor would never stop talking. Before I had mentioned that the first hour is filled with recycled jump scares. While some of that blame can be put on the directors for not trying hard enough, much of it goes to Buhler for not giving the directors enough to work with. Each scare consisted of the same steps: a character would hear a noise coming from a low-lit area, they would slowly walk over to it, open a door or cupboard, the music cuts out and then suddenly a loud noise jolts you. You would think adapting a Stephen King would give Buhler a good supply of material to scare people with and stop him from writing a series of mindless startles that everybody experiences on a daily level, but it turns out you’d be wrong. Contrary to most horror films, Pet Sematary boasts some quality acting within its tight-knit cast. Jason Clarke does a respectable job as the tormented father Louis. Even though his character is the most boring - which is attributable to the writing - Clarke is able to develop his character past the limitations posed to him. Amy Seimetz does great work as Rachel Creed. Her character has an interesting backstory that she uses to its fullest potential, especially in her closeup reaction shots. John Lithgow plays Judd and turns in a good performance as a weathered old man who unintentionally starts and eventually gets caught up in the bloody mess. Finally, considering the amount of work she has to do and the quality of the material given to her, child actor Jeté Laurence ends up being surprisingly outstanding as the young daughter, Ellie. Just like the concept it explores, Pet Sematary is a film that lays dormant in its first half but is able to resurrect itself and deliver the thrills and chills it promised. You could do worse at finding a horror film that chews up a few hours out of your day. But you could also do better. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Titane July 15, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen Titane had its World Premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Neon will release it in theaters on October 01. Containing some of the most disgusting and in-your-face grisliness that has ever graced the silver screen, Julia Ducournau’s Titane holds you like a vice grip from minute one, refusing to let you go no matter how much you squirm. The experience of watching the film can borderline on torture, as violent punishment is enacted in ways that can only be seen to believe. The screening of the film at the Cannes Film Festival resulted in several walkouts within the first fifteen minutes, of which I do not blame certain viewers who are squeamish. Those that can stomach the film will be rewarded with an exhilarating story about acceptance and companionship told by one of the most original emerging filmmakers. A newcomer to the film scene, the French auteur (a status she has achieved in my books) Julia Ducournau is the complete opposite of the stereotype of the woman director. She made her debut feature in 2016 with Raw , a story about womanhood and repression that just so happened to contain the element of cannibalism. Like David Lynch and David Cronenberg, Ducournau confidently confounded her audiences with her bold take on a story as old as cinema itself. Titane is proof that Raw was not a stroke of beginner’s luck and that she is the real deal. Translated from the French word for titanium, Titane follows the life of Alexia, who immediately causes a severe car crash within her first few minutes on screen. This leaves the girl with a metal plate implanted within her head (which is gruesomely illustrated) and a twisted attraction to the vehicle involved in the accident. Like the characters within Cronenberg’s Crash , Alexia can’t seem to help herself from being allured by vehicular and sexual violence. After physically recovering from her injuries over the years, Alexia (now played by the self-assured newcomer Agathe Rousselle) now works as an exotic dancer at a car show (very fitting). Through a nearly seven-minute long take, Ducournau traverses the show filled with neon lighting and an electric score. Cinematographer Ruben Impens, reteaming with Ducournau after Raw , shoots the film in harshly contrasting light, often blinding the viewer with lens flares. From this car show, Alexia quickly succumbs to her violent tendencies, forcing her to go on the run, but not without horrifically mangling her face so it would be harder to identify her. This brings her in contact with the local fire chief (a steroid-infused Vincent Lindon), who later turns out to be just as demented as she is, making them a match made in hell. Throughout several instances within Titane , audiences have to give themselves over to Ducournau’s vision and accept the logical fallacies, which nitpickers could have a field day with. To be fair, a literal Cadillac becomes sexually involved with a human in the first fifteen minutes, so the laws of reality (and anatomy) were thrown out the window from the get-go. Like Raw , Ducournau is able to relay a positive message that sticks with you just as much as the gore. Through their interactions, Alexia and the chief find a common emotional ground that brings them together through both lies and deceit. However, a problem that occasionally appears is what exactly Ducournau wants you to feel as too many elements come crashing together at odd times. The film wants you to focus on several different storylines at the same time, some of which don't amount to much and could be classified as red herrings. Still, once you cut through the clutter, there’s enough treasure to reward your patience. Titane requires a lot from the viewer, such as mental fortitude and an iron gut. It’s an uncompromising vision that bites off more than it can chew from time to time but still sticks the landing due to the duo performances from Rousselle and Lindon, and the boldness by Ducournau to go where no one would dare. Just make sure to watch it on an empty stomach. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Boys in the Band October 5, 2020 By: Button Hunter Friesen Back in 1968, playwright Mart Crowley shocked the world by penning a stage production solely comprised of gay men and their repressed feelings. The spiteful language and harsh authentic look at gay life were too much for “polite society” at the time. The production played off-Broadway for a few years before closing in 1970. Right before he directed The French Connection and The Exorcist , William Friedkin gave the play new life by adapting it for the screen the same year it closed. Finally, in 2018, the play was given its proper due with a Broadway revival directed by Joe Mantello and starring an all-out-gay cast, most notably Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory ), Zachary Quinto (Spock from the modern Star Trek franchise), and Matt Bomer. Now in 2020, history has repeated itself as Mantello and co. have regrouped for another screen adaptation, this time for producer Ryan Murphy at Netflix. The Boys in the Band opens in 1968 New York. Seven gay friends are soon to be gathered for the birthday of one of their own. We get to know each of them over the first half-hour as they prepare for the party. The host, Michael, is a so-so writer with a drinking and money problem that he can’t let go of. Michael’s good friend (and old flame) Donald comes into town hot off a session with his analyst that made him confront the shame he feels as a gay man. Larry is the group flirt as he refuses to be wholly committed to one man, which often puts him at odds with his lover Hank, who recently left his wife for Larry. Then there’s Emery, the comedic relief of the group who isn’t afraid to show off who he is. There’s also Bernard, the only black member of the group who’s still wrestling with both his racial and sexual identity. Finally, the birthday boy himself is Harold, a Jew who always arrives late and knows exactly what to say to get under someone’s skin. But wait, there’s one more guest at this little shindig. Michael’s old college roommate, Alan, is in town under mysterious circumstances and must see him right away. Michael isn’t 100% out of the closet to Alan, mostly because Alan is as straight as an arrow and about as open-minded as the rest of 1960s America. The party kicks off great as the friends reminisce on old times. These are the moments when the acting troupe shines, especially Robin de Jesus as Emery and Parsons as Michael. Crowley’s original dialogue is lifted right from the stage to the screen with pure elegance. The one-liners and zingers, which are often playfully vulgar, are still eye-opening fifty years later. It’s both happy and sad to see this material continue to be relevant after so many decades. However, things get icy when Alan shows up. Harold hasn’t arrived and everyone still has their social masks on. Alan doesn’t fully comprehend what he has barged in on as Michael tries to quell the flamboyancy. Director Mantello grinds everything to a halt once Alan walks through the door. Almost as if this was a horror movie, a deep feeling of suspenseful dread fills the atmosphere. Like all good suspense, a needle eventually drops and things quickly get messy. The language turns from sarcastic to hateful as old secrets and dark truths bubble up to the surface after years of being buried. Parsons still takes the cake with his exceptional lead performance. Harold remarks that when Michael drinks “he’s lethal”. Parsons is indeed lethal once things get serious as he ditches his sitcom roots and delivers a much more bullying persona. Quinto is also great as Harold. Usually sitting in the corner with his humongous tinted sunglasses, he delivers line after line with stinging fervor. The Boys in the Band can feel a bit too stagy at times, which is to be expected. Long speeches and heartfelt moments that work well on the stage sometimes come off as schmaltzy on the screen. But Mantello does incredible work despite only directing one other film in 1997. His excellent blocking of the apartment setting is second to none as it allows for swift camera movements that capture every moment. Cinematographer Bill Pope does well to preserve that same stage energy with numerous long takes and great lighting of the wonderful set by production designer Judy Becker. The Boys in the Band is an astounding stage-to-screen adaptation that remains relevant in its messaging and entertaining in its story. The cast is top-notch and Joe Mantello proves he still has the directing chops. Unfortunately, Mart Crowley died from a heart attack in March before the film was finished. Despite being gone from this physical world, he still lives on within this excellent production. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Awards Update: Pre-Precursor Forecast November 23, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Welcome to an ongoing series where I cover the 2025/2026 awards season. On a regular basis, I will update my Oscar predictions, taking into account the new information that has been received since the last update. Full predictions in every category can be found on the Home and Awards page. At this point in the season, every studio has shown its cards. Well, technically, Disney and James Cameron still have Avatar: Fire and Ash waiting in the wings. But we can use precedent to accurately predict how that's going to go (hint: very lucratively). Over the past few months, festival buzz and critical reactions have been used to weed out the outright busts ( After the Hunt , Ballad of a Small Player ). Now, the precursor awards are here to separate the good from the great, and the great from the best. Nothing has really changed at the top of the mountain, with the One Battle After Another crew almost certain to blaze a trail of domination over the next few months. I'm even going so far as to predict a record-tying five acting nominations, with the possibility of six if voters feel inclined to take Regina King along for the ride in Best Supporting Actress. By winning the audience prizes at influential places like the Toronto International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Middleburg Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, and Virginia Film Festival, Hamnet also seems secure in the top tier of Oscar contenders. Jessie Buckley practically has her Oscar engraved for Best Lead Actress. Rising considerably since its so-so birth at the Venice International Film Festival is Frankenstein . People want to separate the art from the artist, but that's almost impossible with a film by Guillermo del Toro, who always pours his passion into his work and is a marvelous cheerleader. That level of love, along with Netflix’s unrivaled talent at securing nominations, is why I’ve always predicted this film to do extremely well across the board. It will likely compete with Wicked: For Good in all of the craft categories. Filling out those last slots in the high-nomination field is Marty Supreme and Sinners . I'm buying the hype on Marty Supreme , especially with this being A24's biggest production to date and the rest of their awards lineup being pretty lackluster. I'll be seeing it the day this piece is published, so I'll be adjusting my predictions accordingly. What to do with Sinners ? A few months ago, I would have pegged it as the film to beat for Best Picture. Now it has (theoretically) been beaten. Part of that problem has to do with the fact that, despite likely acquiring double-digit nominations, I'm currently not predicting any of the actors to be nominated, nor Ryan Coogler for Best Director. It feels a bit wrong, but we've been down this road too many times before with Barbie , Dune and Dune: Part Two , Top Gun: Maverick , and Avatar: The Way of Water . Hell, Coogler himself has been in this position twice before with his Black Panther films. The Academy just doesn't strongly respond to that level of populism in the above-the-line categories. I'll believe it when I see it. Neon has engulfed the conversation around the various international contenders, with the usual suspects of It Was Just an Accident and Sentimental Value being the frontrunners. Look for one of them to win Best Original Screenplay, and likely both to be in for Best Picture and Best Director. The real race will be who wins Best International Feature, where stuff like No Other Choice and The Secret Agent could crash the party. If we learned anything from last year's awards race, it's that you shouldn't bet against Brazil. Now is also the time to see who has the juice to be their film's lone nominee. Will the industry love for Ethan Hawke get him his first Best Lead Actor nomination for Blue Moon ? Will Searchlight Pictures be able to mount a strong enough late push for Amanda Seyfried and The Testament of Ann Lee ? Has the tanking of Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere at the box office destroyed the chances of both Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong? Will the Writers' branch continue to nominate Rian Johnson for his Knives Out films? We'll know the answer to most of these within a month or so. Until then, it's time to double down or fold. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen

Cannes 2022: 50 Films That Could Premiere April 4, 2022 By: Hunter Friesen Just as the 2021 awards season concludes, it's time to get excited and speculate about another film festival. Often considered the most prestigious festival in the world, the Cannes Film Festival is where many renowned international auteurs show off their work. Last year's edition was the first one since the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered the 2020 edition, with Spike Lee's jury awarding the coveted first place Palme d'Or to Julia Ducournau's Titane , making the French director only the second woman to direct a Palme d'Or winning film (Jane Campion did it first in 1993 for The Piano ). Even though it often contains a small selection of American titles, Cannes still plays a sizable role in the Oscar race. Along with Titane , last year's festival saw the launches of players such as The Worst Person in the World and Drive My Car . In prior years, Parasite, Amour, The Tree of Life , and even Pulp Fiction began their awards season journeys on the Croisette. The 2022 edition is an extra special one for the festival, as it will mark the 75th edition in festival history and will be the first one overseen by newly elected president Iris Knobloch. Festival Director Thierry Frémaux will unveil his selection in ten days on April 14th, which could include more than the usual 20 titles in the main competition due to the festival's anniversary celebration and the overwhelming supply of filmmakers with exciting new products. Attention will be placed on Frémaux on how he responds to the criticism the festival has received in the past about gender parity. This year, there's plenty for him to choose from, with Kelly Reichardt, Rebecca Zlotowski, and Joanna Hogg each having films in the pipeline. Speculation also abounds that Frémaux is hunting for either Marion Cotillard or Penélope Cruz to serve as this year's jury president. One thing for certain is that Frémaux will not be selecting any Netflix films within his lineup, as the streamer and the French film industry still remain far apart from making a distribution deal that would satisfy both parties. Because of that, no Netflix titles will be included in this article. Certain other films that are already confirmed or heavily speculated not to appear at the festival include Alejandro G. Iñárritu's Bardo and Luca Guadagnino's Bones and All , which have their eyes set on a Venice premiere. Claire Denis' The Stars at Noon and Nuri Bilge Ceylan's On Barren Weeds will also not make an appearance as they remain deep in post-production. And festival veterans Abderrahmane Sissako with The Perfumed Hill and Jessica Hausner with Club Zero are also unlikely to turn up as their films are still grappling with production delays from the pandemic. So without further ado, I'll delve into 50 films that have the potential to premiere at Cannes. They are sorted into three categories based on their likelihood, which stems from a combination of factors that are explained in each summary. ALREADY CONFIRMED Elvis Australian Baz Luhrman has continually supplied a stylistic jolt to Cannes since his feature debut, Strictly Ballroom , won the 1992 Award of the Youth. Moulin Rouge! kicked off its Oscar run at Cannes in 2001, and The Great Gatsby opened the festival in 2013. After a nine-year break, Luhrman is back with his biopic about The King of Rock and Roll. Three Thousand Years of Longing Mad Max: Fury Road writer/director and president of the 2016 jury, George Miller, will be opening the festival with his Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba starring fantasy film. Three Thousand Years of Longing is said to be a high-budget arthouse piece as it tells the story of a scholar encountering a Djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. Top Gun: Maverick Leave it to Tom Cruise to provide the necessary glitz and glamor that thrives on the Croisette. Cruise and director Joseph Kosinski will be debuting their long-gestating and habitually delayed sequel to the 1986 smash hit. The premiere will line up nicely with the film's release across Europe. VERY LIKELY Armageddon Time After taking brief detours into Amazonia ( The Lost City of Z ) and space ( Ad Astra ), writer/director James Gray returns to the Big Apple for his semi-autobiography that will somehow feature Donald Trump and his late father. Cannes has long been an admirer of Gray's work, debuting four of his films (all of which featured Joaquin Phoenix). While Armageddon Time may not feature Phoenix, it does have a prominent cast of Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, and Anthony Hopkins. Broker After making his English-language debut with The Truth , Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda will be making his Korean-language debut with Broker . The title comes from the act of people leaving their unwanted babies in boxes outside of anonymous homes. Thematically, it sounds similar to Kore-eda's previous films Nobody Knows and Like Father, Like Son , both of which debuted at Cannes, with the latter winning the Jury Prize. Kore-eda's last film to debut at Cannes, Shoplifters , won the Palme d'Or, so a return to the festival is nearly inevitable. Brother and Sister The native Arnaud Desplechin has competed for the Palme d'Or six times and has won the SACD Prize within the Director's Fortnight in 2015 for My Golden Days . The question of when he will finally be rewarded on the main stage may be starting to percolate. His drama stars Marion Cotillard and Melvil Poupaud as siblings reuniting after the death of their parents. The one wrinkle in the film's awards prospects depends on whether Cotillard takes up the jury presidency, which would force this film to play out of competition. No matter the capacity, Desplechin's film will surely make an appearance. Crimes of the Future Cannes has been the birthplace of five of David Cronenberg's films, with Crash wreaking havoc with vehicular-related sex 25 years before Titane . Cronenberg hasn't directed a feature since 2014's Maps to the Stars , which won Julianne Moore the festival award for Best Actress. Speaking to Now Toronto last October, Cronenberg clearly stated he wanted the film to premiere at Cannes, a feeling Fremeaux likely shares as Crimes of the Future also packs a talented cast of Viggo Mortensen, Kristen Stewart, and Léa Seydoux. Decision to Leave Park Chan-wook's newest film was 2021 Cannes destined but just wasn't ready in time. Chan-wook will always have a spot reserved for him at Cannes, as he won the Grand Prize of the Jury for Oldboy In 2003 and tied for the Jury Prize for Thirst in 2009. It's been six years since Chan-wook's last feature, The Handmaiden , and his next feature will take him into the detective genre with a story following an investigation of a man's mysterious death and his equally mystifying wife. R.M.N. Romanian Cristian Mungiu is one of the most revered filmmakers in the festival's history, having won the Palme d'Or, Best Screenplay, and Best Director prizes on separate occasions. His next film will be a "plea for tolerance" that revolves around a small village in Transylvania where xenophobia takes over when a bakery hires two foreigners. Tchaikovsky's Wife While the Cannes leadership has ruled that they will not welcome any members of the Russian delegation or those linked to the government, that rule does not apply to Russian auteur Kirill Serebrennikov, who has had his own problem with Putin's government. Serebrennikov recently left the country after a three-year travel ban, which forced him to miss the premiere of Petrov's Flu last year. His next film will look at the tempestuous relationship between Pyotr Tchaikovsky, the most famous Russian composer of all time, and his wife, Antonina. Word has been mum about the film's production status, but the festival will reserve a spot for Serebrennikov if he is ready. Tori and Lokita There isn't a safer bet out there than predicting that the Dardenne brothers of Jean-Pierre and Luc will debut their film at Cannes. The Belgian duo has debuted eight films at Cannes, with 1999's Rosetta and 2005's L'enfant both winning the Palme d'Or. They've also won the Best Screenplay ( Lorna's Silence ) and Best Director awards ( Young Ahmed ), as well as the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury on three separate occasions. Their newest feature will tell the story of a friendship between two young people after traveling from Africa and becoming exiled in Belgium. Production began last summer, giving the brothers plenty of time to prepare for another Palme d'Or run. Triangle of Sadness This was one of the more puzzling omissions from the 2021 lineup announcement, especially since Swedish superstar Ruben Östlund recently won the Palme d'Or with The Square in 2017 and the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize in 2014 for Force Majeure . Rumors swirled that Östlund's film might show up in Venice, but it turned out the film just wasn't ready. Östlund's been working on trimming the movie down from its current three-hour runtime and seems destined to bring his trademarked sense of social satire to Cannes. White People Robin Campillo will likely return to the festival that awarded 2017's BPM (Beats Per Minute) with the Grand Prize of the Jury along with the Queer Palm. He also has the Palme d'Or sitting on his trophy shelf for 2008's The Class . His newest film will also be set in recent history as it follows the upbringing of a young boy during the French colonial rule of Madagascar in the 1960s/1970s. LIKELY Children of Others Rebecca Zlotowski has been a staple of the sidebars, competing in Critics' Week, Un Certain Regard, and Directors' Fortnight. Will this be the time she finally graduates to the main competition? Benedetta star Virginie Efira will lead her next film as a childless woman who forms a deep bond with her boyfriend's young daughter. Chronicle of a Temporary Affair A recent triple nominee by the César Awards for writing, directing, and producing The Things We Say, the Things We Do , Emmanuel Mouret is ready to make an appearance at the festival he hasn't been to since 2006. His new film will be a romantic drama centered around a single mother and married man who have their purely physical relationship tested when their feelings towards each other begin to deepen. Close Belgian Lukas Dhont made quite the splash in 2018 with his feature directorial debut, Girl , which went on to win several prizes such as the Queer Palm and the Golden Camera for best debut feature. That acclaim should reserve him a spot in either the main competition or the sidebars for the premiere of his new film, which takes a similar look at adolescence and sexuality. Disappointment Blvd. Ari Aster has become a star of independent cinema since his debut at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival with Hereditary . He quickly turned around another feature of "elevated horror" with Midsommar just a year later. His next film, titled Disappointment Blvd. , is described as a "four-hour nightmare comedy." Whether that description turns out to be true is still a mystery, but what's not a mystery is that Joaquin Phoenix, a recent Cannes winner for Best Actor in 2017, will lead it. A Cannes birth would be a huge step up for Aster, considering his relative newcomer status. But that status may also keep him relegated to one of the sidebars, similar to how Robert Eggers debuted in Directors' Fortnight in 2019. Dodo Athens-born Panos Koutras' last feature film, Xenia , played at Cannes in 2014 as part of the Un Certain Regard. It's a decent possibility that he'll be invited back to the sidebar as his new film tells the story of a family who finds an extinct dodo bird living in their house, which spurs a series of events that push the boundaries between reason and madness. Don Juan Virgine Efira appears again, this time with director Serge Bozon for a musical rendition of the classic tale of a theater actor (played by Tahar Rahim) who can't get over his ex-fiancée (Efira). Bozon has been to Cannes twice before, with his most recent venture for Tip Top in 2013, netting him a Special Mention in the Director's Fortnight. Emily Frances O'Connor, who played the adopted mother to Haley Joel Osment's robot boy in A.I. Artificial Intelligence , makes her directorial debut with a biopic about famed British author Emily Bronte. Most recently seen in Death on the Nile , Emma Mackey will play the writer, who met her untimely demise at the age of 30. Enys Men Mark Jenkin is still a fresh face on the international film scene, with only one feature film to his name (2019's stylishly constructed Bait ). His sophomore feature will surely repeat the same dazzling sensibilities as it tells a sci-fi/horror story set in a small Cornish fishing village. A midnight screening or one of the sidebars would be a likely landing spot. Final Cut Michel Hazanavicius took Cannes by storm in 2011 with The Artist , which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director. He's had two films at Cannes since, The Search and Godard Mon Amour , both of which disappointed. Now he's returning to his comedic roots with a French remake of the 2017 Japanese film, One Cut of the Dead . Bérénice Bejo will reteam with Hazanavicius, which follows a film crew who are attacked by zombies. It will be interesting to see if Hazanavicius can emulate the long-take mastery on display in the original. The film was initially planned to debut at Sundance earlier this year but was quietly pulled once the festival announced that it would be going virtual. Perhaps this film will get a closing night slot similar to how the festival closed last year with Jean Dujardin in OSS 117: From Africa with Love ? Untitled Hamlet Adaptation & Holy Spider Two things we know Cannes loves are Shakespeare and Noomi Rapace. So having both in one project would be a dream come true. Rapace will play the titular character in Border director Ali Abbasi's adaptation of the tragedy about the Danish prince, with Sjón, co-writer of the upcoming The Northman , writing the script. Filming began in the fall, so it's unknown if the film will be ready in time. But even if that project doesn't get to the finish line in time, Abbasi also has Holy Spider in post-production. The crime-thriller follows a man named Saeed, who murders several women in order to "cleanse" the holy Iranian city of Mashhad. God's Creatures Set in a rain-soaked village like the one in Ammonite , Emily Watson stars as a mother who lies to protect her son (Paul Mescal), which sets off a chain of unexpected repercussions. A24 has distribution rights, which begs the question of how many films they will bring to the festival. Last year they hit their high with four films ( After Yang , Lamb, Red Rocket , and The Souvenir Part II ), so there's precedent for the distributor to show off a handful of their products. L'immensità Emanuele Crialese hasn't been to Cannes since he competed in the Critics Week for Respiro in 2002. He may have a ticket back twenty years later as he brings international acting royalty (and recent Oscar nominee), Penélope Cruz, with him. Cruz stars as a mother looking after her children in the social turning point of 1970s Italian society. This film falls into the same situation as Marion Cotillard's film, as Cruz is also rumored to be in the running for the jury presidency. Lightyear It's a partnership that may seem a little strange on paper, but the collaborations between Pixar and Cannes have always borne fruit. Up opened the festival in 2009, and Inside Out was one of the most acclaimed titles of the 2015 edition. Soul was even given the honorable laurels for the 2020 edition. So, it wouldn't be a surprise if Pixar takes Lightyear overseas to generate buzz ahead of the film's worldwide release in June. Love Life Japanese director Koji Fukada was last seen in Cannes in 2016, winning the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize for Harmonium . His four-hour drama, The Real Thing , was bestowed the laurels as part of the 2020 pandemic festival. His new drama explores the themes of loss and loneliness as a mother must reconnect with her long-lost husband. Misanthrope Damián Szifron last made an appearance in 2014 with Wild Tales , which generated strong buzz and went on to get a BAFTA nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. He'll be making his English-language debut with a starry cast consisting of Shailene Woodley, Ben Mendelsohn, and Ralph Ineson. Woodley will star as a cop the FBI recruits to track down a murderer. Music No, it's not the maligned Golden Globe-nominated film by Sia. This Music comes from Angela Schanelec, who last played at Cannes in 2004 with Marseille . Since then, she's debuted chiefly her work at the Berlin Film Festival. The film was held out of this year's Berlin lineup, making way for speculation that she's ready to make a return to the Croisette. The plot summary by itself is all that is needed to spawn interest: "A boy grows up with his step-parents in Greece. At the age of 20, he unwittingly murders his father. While serving his sentence, he falls in love and has a child with a woman who works in the prison. They are both unaware of the fact that she is his biological mother. Twenty years later, he lives in London with his daughter and is beginning to lose his eyesight." No Return For his sophomore feature, 2016 Critics Week winner Davy Chou is telling an international story set in South Korea and France. An adopted young French woman returns to her native Korea to track down her biological parents, with surprising results. A sidebar selection is quite likely. One Fine Morning There's no way to stop Léa Seydoux now as she had four films at Cannes last year and looks poised to bring multiple films again this year. Along with Cronenberg's feature, Seydoux will also star in Mia Hansen-Løve's newest film as a woman trying to take care of her senile father. Seydoux caught COVID-19 during the film's production last year, which caused her to miss the premiere of the four films she starred in. With Bergman Island garnering acclaim last year, Hansen-Løve will likely be invited back. Revoir Paris Can Virginie Efira replicate what Nicole Kidman did in 2017 and Léa Seydoux did last year and bring at least three movies to the festival? She very well could, as she also stars in Cannes veteran Alice Winocour's thrilling story about a journalist who gets caught up in a terrorist attack in Paris. Winocour was last seen at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019 for her Eva Green-led Proxima , so it may be time she returns home. Rheingold Fatih Akin was last seen at Cannes competing for the Palme d'Or in 2017 with In the Fade , which won star Diane Kruger, the Best Actress prize. He'll likely be back this year as he tells the true story of German hip-hop rapper Giwar Hajabi, who goes by the stage name Xatar. Scarlet Only appearing once at Cannes with the documentary Futura in 2011, Pietro Marcello has been a Venice Film Festival player throughout his career. He could be swayed back to the north as his newest film will mark his French-language debut and star Louis Garrel and Noémie Lvovsky. According to the logline, the story will be centered on the emancipation of a woman over twenty years, between 1919 and 1939, a time of great inventions and great dreams. Showing Up France has appreciated Kelly Reichardt's work more than her native America, as her most recent film, First Cow , was named the best film of 2021 by the prestigious magazine Cahiers du Cinéma . She typically debuts her films at either the Sundance or Telluride Film Festivals, but rumors abound that Fremeaux is pushing heavily for her to make the trek across the pond. Michelle Williams reunites with Reichardt as she takes on the lead role of an artist preparing for a career-defining exhibition of her work. The Eternal Daughter While Joanna Hogg was waiting for The Souvenir Part II to debut at Cannes last year, she went ahead and secretly shot her newest film in Wales, which tells the story of a middle-aged daughter and her elderly mother who confront long-buried secrets when they return to their former family home, now a nearly vacant hotel. A24 has worldwide rights to the film, and Tilda Swinton stars (her third consecutive collaboration with Hogg). The Souvenir Part II was one of the most acclaimed films of the 2021 festival, making it likely for Hogg to return with another arthouse delight. The Natural History of Destruction Controversial Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa has explored the Ukraine-Russia situation for years through his narrative and documentary features, with 2018's Donbas debuting at Cannes to wide acclaim. With the conflict between the two countries at the forefront of the world's attention, Loznitsa could make quite the statement with his newest documentary, which will look at the consequences of the allied bombings of German cities at the end of World War II. Cannes has never been shy of controversy, with Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 receiving a 20-minute standing ovation and the Palme d'Or in 2004, so it wouldn't be strange for Loznitsa to show up. UNLIKELY, BUT POSSIBLE Asteroid City If Asteroid City does go to the French Riviera, then Cannes would replace Berlin as the film festival to debut the most Anderson films. Moonrise Kingdom opened the festival in 2012, and The French Dispatch sat on a shelf throughout the pandemic to ensure it debuted at the 2021 edition. Cannes thrives on star power to fill its historic red carpet, and Anderson's films have plenty to spare. His newest cast will feature no less than Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Margot Robbie, Bryan Cranston, Bill Murray, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, and Jeffrey Wright. However, considering the awards disappointment of The French Dispatch , it seems that Anderson might pivot towards either Venice or New York for better prospects. Eureka A part of the New Argentine Cinema movement, Lisandro Alonso and his films have moved at a deliberate pace. He's only directed six feature-length films since 2001, with nearly all of them playing at Cannes. His most recent film, Jauja won the FIPRESCI Prize as part of the 2014 Un Certain Regard selection. He'll be reteaming with Viggo Mortensen for a story about a man on the search for his daughter after she has been kidnapped. No word has been given on production status, so it remains a mystery if the film is ready. Jean-Luc Godard Projects No introduction can do justice to the enormous impact Jean-Luc Godard has had on the art of filmmaking. He hasn't stopped making movies since his feature debut of Breathless in 1960, with his previous films, the radical The Image Book (which won the first Special Palme d'Or) and Goodbye to Language , playing in competition. There are conflicting reports on whether Godard's next two films, Funny Wars and Scenario , will be his final ones. Still, they could unintentionally become that since the French auteur recently turned 91. There's also little word on the production status of the films, with the only known details being that they will share the same essay-like qualities of his past works. No matter when they're ready, Cannes will welcome them with open arms. Nope French audiences have embraced the work of Jordan Peele just as Americans have, as Get Out was named the fourth-best film of 2017 by Cahiers du Cinéma . That acclaim fuels speculation if the French festival would invite him over to premiere his newest film. Peele has only played Sundance and SXSW, so Cannes would be a huge step up for him. Similar to Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis , an out-of-competition slot may be possible to help boost awareness for the horror film ahead of its July release. Passages Similar to Kelly Reichardt, Ira Sachs is one of the most lauded American filmmakers in France. He was invited to Cannes in 2019 for Frankie , which starred acting queen Isabelle Huppert in the titular role. Unfortunately, Sachs' film didn't perform well under the bright lights, receiving the lowest reviews of his career. He's currently rushing to finish post-production work on his new film, which stars Ben Whishaw and Franz Rogowski as a gay couple whose relationship is tested when one of them has an affair with a woman (Adèle Exarchopoulos). Even if Sachs can finish the film in time, will he return to the festival that marked a low point in his career? Poor Things Coming off the blazing Oscar success of The Favourite , all eyes are on what Yorgos Lanthimos will do next. He's keeping his partnership with leading lady Emma Stone and screenwriter Tony McNamara for Poor Things , which will be set in Victorian England and about a mad scientist who brings a woman back to life. Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo, and Margaret Qualley mix into the supporting cast. Lanthimos' unique arthouse sensibilities have matched well with Cannes in the past, with Dogtooth, The Lobster , and The Killing of a Sacred Deer , all winning various prizes. Now that Oscar buzz follows Lanthimos wherever he goes, Searchlight Pictures will have to decide to send the film to a festival with an already established fandom for Lanthimos or wait and debut it in the fall with the rest of the Oscar bunch. TÁR Writer/director Todd Field hasn't made a feature film since 2006's Little Children . He's remained a mystery ever since as fans wondered if he would ever make a return to filmmaking. Fortunately, prayers have been answered as Field recently finished production on TÁR , with Cate Blanchett playing the titular character as the first-ever female chief conductor of a major German orchestra. Blanchett is a Cannes favorite as she's been a part of numerous festival darlings ( Carol and Babel ) and also served as the jury president in 2018. Being that the film is scheduled to release stateside in October and Blanchett's perennial Oscar status, a premiere at one of the fall festivals seems more likely. The Son Florian Zeller didn't know he would become an Oscar winner when he debuted The Father at the pre-pandemic Sundance Film Festival in 2020. After that success, he's wasted no time adapting another one of his plays. He again partners with screenwriter Christopher Hampton on The Son , which stars Hugh Jackman, Vanessa Kirby, Laura Dern, and recent Best Actor winner Anthony Hopkins. With the universal acclaim he received for The Father , Zeller may want to make a splash at his native festival. But being that Zeller and the film look to be prime Oscar contenders this year, Sony Pictures Classics may hold it for a few months until the fall festivals are in full swing. The Way of the Wind There's no way to figure out when a Terrence Malick film will be released. All you can do is wait and pray. Malick premiered his last movie, A Hidden Life , at Cannes in 2019, and he also won the Palme d'Or for his magnum opus The Tree Of Life in 2011. He once again has saddled himself with another weighty topic, as The Way Of The Wind will tell several episodes of the life of Jesus Christ, led by a cast of Mark Rylance, Ben Kingsley, Joseph Fiennes, and Matthias Schoenaerts. Several of Malick's films have been delayed for years as he endlessly tinkers in the editing room, so there's no telling when this film will be seen. The Whale Darren Aronofsky has been missing since Mother! proved divisive back in 2017. Now he's ready to return with a film that seems even wackier. Brendan Fraser plays a 600 lb recluse who attempts to reconnect with his teenage daughter. Aronofsky hasn't been to Cannes since he debuted Requiem for a Dream in 2000. He's had a stable relationship with the Venice Film Festival ever since and could end up keeping with tradition and taking this film there. But after the tumultuous release of Mother! and the potential oddity of this story, maybe Aronofsky will return to the festival that launched one of his greatest hits. What Happens Things got scary for a moment back in September when it was reported that Andrey Zvyagintsev was put into a medically induced coma after sustaining heavy damage to his lungs due to a severe case of COVID-19. It was reported a month later that he was out of a coma and recovering in Germany. Zvyagintsev won Best Screenplay at Cannes in 2014 for Leviathan and the Jury Prize in 2017 for Loveless . The Russian master's newest film, which was shot in the United States and will be his English-language debut, will tackle the lofty topics of "life, nature, human relations, the modern man, and the fragility of human life." We'll have to wait and see if Zvyagintsev will be healthy enough to travel to the festival he has called home since 2007. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family, no matter the answer. Women Talking Due to an accident that gave her a series of concussions, acclaimed filmmaker Sarah Polley hasn't made a feature film in over a decade. Luckily, she's returning with a starry cast consisting of Jessie Buckley, Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Frances McDormand, and Ben Whishaw. Polley will transport the cast to Bolivia, where they tell the story of a Mennonite religious colony being plagued by repeated sexual assaults by the men. Brad Pitt's Plan B and McDormand are attached as producers, so time will tell if they decide to hold the film until it's ready for an awards launch at the fall festivals. Zone of Interest Under the Skin was rated as one of the best movies of 2014 and one of the best of the 2010s by numerous critics groups. Despite the film's universal acclaim, writer/director Jonathan Glazer hasn't made a feature since. He's returning by partnering with A24 for an adaptation of Martin Amis' novel about a Nazi officer who becomes enamored with the wife of a concentration camp commander. Based on Glazer's filmography, it's safe to say that there's much more behind the curtain. Regular Paweł Pawlikowski DP Łukasz Żal will lens the film, who will surely find beauty within the harsh circumstances. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse May 31, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen We all know Hollywood has had an aversion to using numbers within their titles due to the implication that you must have watched the previous entries to comprehend the upcoming one. Instead of just Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3 , etc. we got Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Resident Evil: Afterlife , etc. Sure, using subtitles may have lessened the audience’s weariness for a sequel, but it also makes it impossible to sort franchises in the correct chronological order. And as a further act of the snake eating its tail, we now have the beginning halves of multi-part stories not containing the title of “Part One,” à la Dune , Fast X, and now Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse . Yes, for all of you who weren’t already in the loop, this sequel to the 2018 surprise critical and commercial success is only the first half of a two-part story, with the concluding chapter to come in only nine months. And in keeping with that Harry Potter/The Hunger Games/Avengers-inspired trend, we leave off here with a cliffhanger, which of course I won’t spoil. With a 140-minute runtime (making it one of the longest wide-release animated movies of all time) and IMAX engagement, Sony is truly treating this like an event picture. In terms of production qualities, the movie more than lives up to its ambitions. Similar to Denis Villeneuve and Greig Fraser’s work within Dune , Across the Spider-Verse contains mountains upon mountains of beautiful sequences that require the largest screen possible to appreciate. It can become a little too chaotic at times, such as the backgrounds shifting entire color palettes just between shot/reverse shot moments, but it’s all in service of something more creative than almost any other animated movie. Between Loki, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania , and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , comic-book fans (or MCU fans to be more precise) are well accustomed to the concept of the multiverse. Thankfully, Spider-Verse leaps over that slowly tiring concept and delivers on its true potential of having access to a limitless version of Spider-Men. Directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson revealed that the film contains nearly 250 characters, which happens to include a car and a dinosaur version of Spider-Man. I guess that doesn’t sound that far-fetched considering John Mulaney’s Spider-Ham stole the show in Into the Spider-Verse . Miles’ introduction into the multiverse comes from a new villain on the scene named The Spot, whose Rorschach-esque body allows him to shoot teleportation spots. His quest to become Spider-Man’s nemesis leads him to open up portals into other dimensions, all happening to contain their version of Spider-Man. But shifting between dimensions isn’t exactly a natural process, nor a safe one, as bridging them together leads to catastrophic consequences. Miguel O’Hara leads the unofficial Spider-Man version of the Justice League that seeks to retain order, sometimes achieved “by any means necessary.” Between Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Tom Holland, and Shameik Moore, we’ve had our fair share of stories about the web-slinging superhero. For all its visual inventiveness, Across the Spider-Verse struggles to break the mold (or should I say web?) when it comes to delivering a unique story. We’ve still got the radioactive spider, the inability to share his secret identity, and the struggles of balancing responsibilities. At this point, it’s a little tiring, especially in a movie like this that kicks all the resolutions down the road. Still, those weary concepts are given a lot of mileage out of the extremely talented voice cast. Jason Schwartzman, Oscar Isaac, Issa Rae, and Daniel Kaluuya round out the newest additions that join the returning core. Through the expressive animation, they’re all allowed to plentifully run the gamut of emotions. Providing background to their one-liners and dramatic moments is a bevy of hits on the soundtrack by the likes of Metro Boomin and Future. The world may not need more Spider-Man stories, but Across the Spider-Verse makes enough of a case for its existence thanks to its breathless animation and fun ideas. With 140 minutes spent on developing just the beginning of this story, I’m intrigued to see all that the finale has to offer. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen