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

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

Kraven the Hunter December 11, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen After three Venom movies that made us ask “Are they supposed to be bad?” and the likes of Morbius and Madame Web that had us saying “Wow, this is embarrassing,” Kraven the Hunter is here to shut us all up. True to what it set out to do, nary a word was spoken during the 127 minutes that Sony’s latest adventure to circumvent their contractual restrictions with Marvel glistened upon the silver screen, all of that precious light dissipating as it bounced back to our collective eyeballs. Even if it was for all the wrong reasons, I remember so much about Morbius and Madame Web . That’s because all publicity is good publicity, and Kraven the Hunter has nothing to offer. The one thing Kraven wore so proudly during its years-long marketing campaign was its R-rating for bloody and gruesome violence, something that all the other Marvel superhero films have shied away from. But all that air was let out of the balloon once the film was repeatedly kicked all the way down from its original January 2023 release, eventually being beaten to the punch by Deadpool & Wolverine . But even if the stars aligned for Kraven to keep its original release date, the overediting and bland stuntwork so closely fit the PG-13 mold that it wouldn’t have made a difference. The hacking of celluloid never ceases throughout the entirety of the runtime, with several scenes featuring throwaway lines of dialogue referring to events that never happened. The magic of ADR comes to the rescue on a few occasions, with poor Christopher Abbott having several scenes where we never see his lips move throughout a full conversation. He plays The Foreigner, a character whose importance and motivation are still a mystery to me, as are his weird powers where he counts down from three and places people in a hypnotic trance. Kraven’s powers are a little more straightforward, his animalistic super strength and agility originating from the blood of a lion mixing with his own (PSA: You will not gain feline or canine superpowers if you attempt this at home). The blending of those two fluids came after Kraven’s father (Russell Crowe) took him and his brother Dmitri on an African hunting expedition to mold them into tough men. Kraven at least got the long end of the stick with his washboard abs, the flowing hair of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and feet with the same durability and traction as the tires on a Formula One car. Dmitri had to settle with becoming scrawny Fred Hechinger, perpetually caught in a cycle of self-doubt and violence. With his powers, Kraven hunts the hunters, specifically those who poach in his nondescript sanctuary in Siberia. While INTERPOL seems to have no problem with the bodies piling up and the press in a frenzy over who this mysterious hunter is, someone like Aleksei Sytsevich aka 'The Rhino' (Alessandro Nivola, nearly reprising his character from Face/Off ) doesn’t like seeing another apex predator. Between Kraven’s constant flexing and Rhino’s severe case of Greyscale, every muscle is intensely clenched. Director J.C. Chandor is a good filmmaker, proving himself as both a writer/director on personal projects ( Margin Call , A Most Violent Year ) and as a hired hand on studio features ( Triple Frontier ). The years he’s spent on this project will be seen as a waste of talent and opportunities, a sentiment that can be extended to the entire concept of Sony's Spider-Man Universe. A solar system without a sun just results in every planet suffering a cold, painful death. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

MSPIFF43 - Dispatch #2 April 25, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen The 43rd Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival (MSPIFF) is currently going on from April 11-25, with over 200 films screened. Here are some quick-bite reviews of a few of the films I have watched, with more to come soon. The Convert Lee Tamahori’s lush period piece comes from good intentions, but falters under the weight of clichés and ho-hum filmmaking. Set within Tamahori’s native New Zealand during the first wave of British colonialism around the 1830s, the film follows lay preacher Thomas Munro (Guy Pearce) as he witnesses the brutal treatment of the local Maori tribe at the hands of its Western settlers. He develops a special connection with Rangimai, daughter of the chief of the tribe that leases its land to the British, and who’s currently fighting a war against an ultra-aggressive tribe. Comparisons to Dances with Wolves , The Last Samurai , and The New World will be inevitable, especially with Pearce - noble as he is - fitting the “white savior” trope to a tee. Tamahori gives considerable time to the Mahori characters, but he tries to have his cake and eat it too as the central throughline sees Munro’s pleas for peace ending in an inevitable bloody battle. Even more tonally baffling is the semi-uplifting ending, totally contradicted by the historical events that would soon follow. (3/5) Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World The only thing longer than the title and runtime of Radu Jude’s newest social satire is the list of ideas it's brimming with. (Mostly) taking place over a single day, Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World endlessly lobs grenades toward present-day Romanian life, ranging from government corruption to a generation growing up on Andrew Tate rhetoric. All of these ideas are communicated through Angela (Ilinca Manolache), an overworked production assistant who shleps around Bucharest to audition candidates to appear in a worker safety PSA. The 163-minute runtime doesn’t necessarily fly by, with Jude knowing no bounds with how he crafts his epic tale, always looking to break free from the preconceptions of the form. This includes multiple extended cutaways to scenes within the 1982 Romanian film Angela Goes On , harsh black-and-white photography, a 20-ish minute scene taking place within a single static shot, and a cameo from infamous bad boy director Uwe Boll about how the haters can go fuck themselves. You truly never know what’s going to happen next, or how much you should be laughing at the stark realities of these people’s lives. (3.5/5) Wildcat There’s a moment in Ethan Hawke’s biography of Flannery O’Connor where a character has a hallucination where Jesus gives them the choice to be reborn as white trash or an [n-word]. I didn’t have a problem with this scene on any religious or moral grounds, but it was just one of a handful where I had to ask what Hawke thought he was accomplishing. There’s an admirable quality to him not taking the traditional biopic route, but it’s not like going down this road was any more successful. There’s a dreary beauty to 1950s New York City and rural Georgia akin to Inside Llewyn Davis , with O’Connor (played by Maya Hawke) writing increasingly dark and depressing stories that bristle with conservative society. Hawke and co-writer Shelby Gaines mix reality and fiction through Flannery’s short stories, with the cast (Laura Linney, Steve Zahn, Vincent D’Onofrio) playing multiple differing roles. Aside from the poor performances and tacky makeup/costumes, the pretentiousness in the presentation comes across as amateurish. Still, there’s something about Hawke’s approach to the artistic process that drew me in. Granted, it was mostly due to my morbid curiosity about what batshit method he would try next. But there’s a heart and soul here in the right place, and it’s better to appreciate the strikeout if the batter went down swinging. (2.5/5) In Our Day South Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo has become legendary for his critical consistency while remaining as productive as ever. He’s been described as the “Korean Woody Allen,” churning out at least one to two new features per year that tend to pick up various pieces of hardware at major festivals (most likely the Berlin International Film Festival). In Our Day marks his 30th feature, with himself fulfilling the roles of writer, director, producer, cinematographer, composer, and editor. Two seemingly unrelated tales are told across the brisk 83-minute runtime: an actress returning from abroad stays with her friend and her cat, and an aging poet is interviewed by an aspiring student. In typical Hong fashion, each scene is comprised of a single take, with the actors nonchalantly trading semi-mundane dialogue. And like a Woody Allen film, you’re either a fan of the style, or you’re not. I found myself leaning more towards the latter camp, with nearly every conversation going in one ear and out the other. I’ve often warmly embraced films “where nothing happens,” but this one is almost too lowkey for its own good. (3/5) More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Captain Marvel March 14, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen Marking the twenty-first chapter in the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain Marvel has finally bowed out in theatres after a mountain of hype had built up for close to a year. Much like Black Panther was the first MCU film to feature a predominantly black cast, Captain Marvel is the first film to feature a female as the lead character. But unlike the huge critical success and cultural movement that the former was, Captain Marvel disappoints on both the levels of filmmaking and fan service. What should be an enjoyable and inspirational tale ends up being a tepid blockbuster that sorely lacks in the areas that have made the Marvel brand so entertainingly great. Captain Marvel is directed by partners Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who have previously worked on smaller indie films, most notably Half Nelson . Now with a budget of $152 million, the lack of experience that the pair have with tentpole films glaringly shows. Many of the action scenes are by the numbers as they devolve into a series of quick camera cuts and choppy editing. Not helping the action is the computer and practical effects. Apart from the de-aging of Samuel L. Jackson, which looks incredible, the visuals look a bit outdated, almost like the film was made ten years ago. To recreate the feel of the 1990s setting, Boden and Fleck rely heavily on nostalgic product placements and callbacks. Blockbuster Video, internet cafes, pagers, and an endless line of fashionable toys are paraded throughout the film to try and get a response from the audience. It reminded me of the same shallow technique that was used to death in Ready Player One where inessential references are repeatedly made instead of constructive jokes. Probably the biggest problem with Captain Marvel is the incoherent and bland story that offers the audience little to care about. Right away the film introduces the conflict between the Kree and the Skrull, two factions who have been at war for eternity. Basic facts are given such as a roster of important characters, but other relevant information such as the war’s importance and purpose is left out. Even as the conflict gradually becomes the main part of the narrative, these necessary explanations are never touched on. This lack of information strips the film of any real stakes within the MCU. Not that low stakes is an outright bad thing. Ant-Man has next to no overall effect on the other films within the universe. But the franchise still works anyway as it makes you care about its great characters. That central quality is also missing from Captain Marvel , which is surprising considering both Boden and Fleck have built their careers off of their prowess for layered human drama. Despite being her origin story, the character of Captain Marvel turns out to be the least interesting person in the film. Her storyline is quite straightforward and consists of a lot of on-the-nose messaging that feels shoehorned in. Tonally this film falls in line with the rest of the MCU. Comedy is mixed in with drama, but not as seamless as you would expect. Many of the jokes don’t land or feel too forced into awkward positions. A disappointing feeling repeatedly panged me every time a pivotal scene was undercut by a joke that really didn’t work. Brie Larson does a thoroughly average job as the titular hero. Her performance contains seldom amounts of energy, which can partly be blamed on the lackluster script she had to work with. Fortunately, Larson does show a ton of confidence and a knack for comedic timing in her limited number of quality scenes Samuel L. Jackson is great as Nick Fury, who at the moment is only an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. He brings his usual boisterous flair to the role and is able to make up for the downbeat energy exuded by the rest of the cast. Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, and Annette Bening fill out the rest of the supporting cast. Each one of them does a fine job, but these roles are hardly anything compared to the other work they have done. Is Captain Marvel a good movie? No. Is it a bad movie? Also no. This is an average film that comes and goes while doing everything you expect and nothing more. In the grand scheme of things, this film is just a quick jolt of superhero energy to keep audiences satisfied until Avengers: Endgame. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

MSPIFF 2025 Recap April 16, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen There’s nothing like a film festival to rejuvenate one’s passion for cinema, especially after the first quarter of 2025 provided a less-than-stellar sampling of theatrical releases. One of the oldest film festivals in the country, the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival (abbreviated as MSPIFF, and pronounced “EM-spiff”) was a mini oasis, providing a vast lineup that stretched across every continent. The festival opened with the documentary Free Leonard Peltier , a close-to-home story about the titular Native American activist who was wrongly imprisoned for nearly five decades. While I personally did not attend the screening, those who did relayed many positive remarks to me in the subsequent days. My experience began on the first Saturday with a triple feature starting with the A24 title The Legend of Ochi . Writer/director Isaiah Saxon opened the film with a video message stating how he made the feature for children and that their intelligence deserves more credit than they normally get. Because I had just seen the overly juvenile A Minecraft Movie the weekend prior, those words greatly resonated with me. The film itself didn’t walk the walk as much as Saxon talked the talk, but it still deserves credit for its impressive technicals and willingness to explore adult themes. It’ll be released in theaters nationwide on April 25th. Following that was co-writer/director Andrew Ahn’s remake of the 1993 Ang Lee film The Wedding Banquet . The original premise of a gay man and a straight woman going through a fake marriage out of convenience has been shifted to modern-day Seattle and expanded to include two homosexual couples. The logicality behind the necessity for a fake marriage is even weaker now than it was thirty years ago, but Ahn is always precise with the emotional stakes and moments of humorous levity. The clear MVP was Youn Yuh-jung, the recent Oscar winner for Minari who makes a strong case for deserving a second trophy. It’s out this weekend in theaters. Capping off the night was a Midnight Mayhem screening of what will quite possibly rank as the funniest film I’ll see all year: Friendship . Tim Robinson brings the same laugh-out-loud absurdity from his Netflix sketch show I Think You Should Leave to the big screen in this story of a loser suburban dad getting in way over his head when he tries to win the approval of his cool new neighbor (Paul Rudd). Several jokes were drowned out by the roaring laughter from the soldout crowd, which I recommend seeing it with when it releases in theaters on May 9th. There were not just remakes of Ang Lee films at the festival. No, the director himself was present on the first Sunday to give a brief masterclass. He gave great insight into his transition from Taiwan to English-language films, and why he chose to hop across several genres throughout his storied career. Later that night he introduced a twentieth-anniversary screening of what is likely referred to as his magnum opus: Brokeback Mountain . After sentencing it to years on my neverending watchlist, it was great to see the film on the big screen. Lee said that he was miserable while making the film due to the recent passing of his father and years of exhaustive work on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hulk , and that he doesn’t deserve much credit for the film’s success. Of course, everyone disagrees with his sentiments, with his win for Best Director at that year’s Oscars being more than deserved due to the emotional maturity he granted to the actors in his wonderful cast. Things became more sporadic from there. Tuesday featured a screening of By the Stream by the incredibly prolific South Korean writer/director Hong Sang-soo, and When Fall Is Coming from France’s François Ozon. Also from a French creative was Misericordia , an entertaining small-town murder cover-up now out in theaters. I reverted to Asia for my final day of the festival. Caught by the Tides by the famed Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke is not a film for those unfamiliar with his work, incorporating deleted scenes and alternate takes from several of his previous films to craft a loose decade-spanning narrative of a man and woman falling in and out of love. Despite my perpetual confusion from having not seen the referenced films, I was marvelously fascinated by Zhang-ke’s ability to weave it all together. The film likely has no commercial prospects in the United States, so seeing it in a semi-crowded room and discussing it afterward with other attendees illustrated the importance that festivals possess in illuminating works that would otherwise go completely unnoticed. If you’d like a more thorough analysis of the film and the work of Zhang-ke, I highly recommend heading over to Deep Focus Review by my fellow critic and friend Brian Eggert, who recently concluded his “Filmmaker in Focus” series on the director. Other festival titles that are currently or soon to be released in theaters include the canine comedy-drama The Friend starring Naomi Watts and Bill Murray, the Southeast Asian adventure romp Grand Tour (April 18th), One to One: John & Yoko (April 18th), On Swift Horses (April 25th), and the Nicolas Cage Ozpoiltation thriller The Surfer (May 2nd). The MSP Film Society will be replaying several of the highest audience-scoring films at The Main Cinema over the next few weeks. To learn more about everything to do with the festival and the year-round programming, you can visit the MSP Film Society website . More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

The Biggest Flops in TIFF History September 2, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen Every September, the city of Toronto becomes a hub of cinematic celebration as the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) rolls out the red carpet for a myriad of films from around the world. A prestigious event that has launched countless Oscar campaigns and propelled numerous films into the limelight, TIFF is a cinematic playground where dreams are realized and reputations are solidified. However, amidst the glamour and fervor, there exists a lesser-explored facet of the festival – a realm of disappointment and missed opportunities. In this list, I’ll delve beyond the flashing cameras and standing ovations to shed light on the movies that, for various reasons, failed to strike the right chord with audiences and critics alike. The rules for this list are simple: The film must have had its world premiere at the festival The film must have had a certain amount of buzz around it. If a movie fails and no one was anticipating it, then it’s not really a bomb. The film must have massively underperformed on expectations, both critically and financially The Fifth Estate (2013) Benedict Cumberbatch was on the rise in the early 2010s with roles in War Horse, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy , and the television series Sherlock . 2013 was bound to be his breakout year as he had FIVE films set to be released that year: Star Trek Into Darkness, 12 Years a Slave, The Fifth Estate, August: Osage County , and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug . Three of those would play at that year’s TIFF, with The Fifth Estate opening the festival. The bright lights didn’t serve it well, as Bill Condon’s take on Julian Assage and WikiLeaks was met with mixed-negative reviews on account of its by-the-numbers storytelling and refusal to take a stance on the issue. 12 Years a Slave lit up the room a few days later, as did Ron Howard’s Rush , starring Cumberbatch’s The Fifth Estate co-star Daniel Brühl. Everyone was able to move on quickly, with the film grossing less than $3 million at the US box office a month later. Men, Women, and Children (2014) Jason Reitman was the most in-demand young director in Hollywood after the one-two punch of Juno and Up in the Air . Things went south rather quickly once he decided to make a movie about the perils of social media. Time Out ’s Joshua Rothkopf called it “the first Reitman film to make the 36-year-old director seem about 400 years old.” An outstanding cast consisting of Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner, Kaitlyn Dever, Ansel Elgort, and Timothée Chalamet was wasted in an out-of-touch and preachy story. The savage reviews killed the already minuscule audience interest in the film, with its $300,000 haul being one of the lowest ever for a film opening in >600 theaters. The Cobbler (2014) One TIFF, two Adam Sandler movies! It’s hard to criticize his choices (at least on paper), as both his 2014 films came from directors with a certain amount of pedigree. The latter was helmed by Tom McCarthy, who hadn’t missed yet between The Station Agent, The Visitor , and Win Win . Nothing worked this time around, with the terrible plotting and creepy undertones stripping the film of having the whimsical tone it wanted. It took the title of Sandler’s biggest bomb away from Men, Women, and Children when it was released six months later, only grossing a mere $24,000 on its opening weekend. A film failing that epically would have killed 99% of directors' careers. But somehow Tom McCarthy would pivot and return to TIFF in 2015 with Spotlight , finishing in the runners-up position for the People’s Choice Award and ultimately winning Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Kings (2017) Turkish writer/director Deniz Gamze Ergüven spent four years developing her script centering on the 1992 Los Angeles riots. She was finally able to get the film made a decade later once her debut feature Mustang was nominated for Best International Feature. She would experience a sophomore slump with her English-language debut, with critics finding the film messy and underdeveloped. Even with the star power of Halle Berry and Daniel Craig, the film wouldn’t be released until the next spring to no fanfare. Life Itself (2018) Amazon Studios was riding high off the awards success of Manchester by the Sea in early 2017 and wanted to continue in that sphere. Seeing the success of This Is Us on NBC, they snatched up writer/director Dan Fogelman’s next film for $10 million in late 2017. They remained confident when deciding to launch it at TIFF, premiering it at both Roy Thomsen Hall and the Elgin Theatre. All those rose-tinted hopes and dreams came crashing down once people saw the finished product. The overwrought and convoluted soap opera incited more ironic laughter than tears within the audience. The film debuted in theaters two weeks later, where it became the second-lowest opening ever in >2500 theaters with only $2 million. The Death and Life of John F. Donovan (2018) French Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan had already won the Jury Prize and Grand Prix at Cannes, as well as the César award for Best Director before he turned 30. The problem with that much success at such a young age is that you can go only down from there. Such was the case for his English-language debut about a famous actor having a correspondence with a young fan. The film spent almost two years in post-production, causing Dolan to miss the Cannes deadline. He chose to debut at TIFF instead, where he was met with the worst reviews of his career. The rumors of the film being trimmed down from a four-hour cut seemed to be true as entire characters and storylines were excised, lending to a rushed and underdeveloped plot about celebrity culture. It sat on a shelf for another year before limping into theaters in December 2019. Lucy in the Sky (2019) TIFF has a habit of showing their hands based on how they schedule their world premieres, with the better ones earlier in the festival and the not-so-good ones near the end when most of the press has left. Noah Hawley’s directorial debut, loosely inspired by the life of NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak, found itself in the latter camp, scheduled for a final Thursday night premiere. Whatever press was still left probably wished they had already left, as Hawley’s pretentious directorial choices and Natalie Portman’s wonky Texas accent were nails on a chalkboard. Distributor Fox Searchlight had other priorities at that TIFF with Jojo Rabbit and was still transitioning out of the Disney buyout of 21st Century Fox. Lucy in the Sky was released in theaters a few weeks later, grossing an abysmal $300,000 against a $25 million budget. Coincidentally (or maybe not), Hawley’s planned Star Trek film was canceled a few months later. The Goldfinch (2019) Amazon didn’t let the failure of Life Itself deter them from returning to TIFF the next year. This time they partnered with Warner Bros. on distribution and picked a safer project by adapting the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Donna Tartt. With Brooklyn director John Crowley at the helm, Roger Deakins as DP, and an all-star cast, it seemed this would be the streamer’s return to the awards race. But the film ended up having a worse death than its predecessor. Early test screenings were disastrous, prompting the studio to lower the marketing budget. Despite that, they still took it to TIFF, where the reviews matched their expectations. A $2.6 million opening the following weekend led to losses of over $50 million when all was said and done. To add insult to injury, Tartt was so infuriated by the adaptation that she fired her agent for allowing it to happen and has rejected any talk of her work being adapted again. Dear Evan Hansen (2021) After the COVID-19 pandemic forced the 2020 edition of the festival to be a mix of drive-in and digital screenings, TIFF needed to put on a grand show to welcome everyone back to “normalcy” in 2021. Universal was more than willing to have Dear Evan Hansen be the opening night act on account of director Steven Chbosky delivering festival favorite The Perks of Being a Wallflower years earlier. But anyone who watched the trailers for the film in the summer knew that this project was doomed from the start. The 27-year-old Ben Platt was already too old for the part and enough discourse over the material’s attitude towards mental health had circulated online. Neither critics nor audiences were satisfied, leading to poor reviews and a lackluster box office gross. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Chappaquiddick April 26, 2018 By: Button Hunter Friesen The date is July 18, 1969. Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy is speeding down the moonlit road on Chappaquiddick Island. In the passenger seat is 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, who was a presidential campaign secretary for Robert Kennedy. After a few missed turns, the car eventually meets the infamous narrow bridge that connects the chain of islands. Ted doesn't react in time, and the car skids over the bridge and flips over into the water. A few minutes go by and Ted is back on land, but Mary Jo is still trapped underwater. She would eventually drown screaming Ted’s name for help, all while he stood from afar, muttering the line “I’m not going to be president.” This is the real-life incident that is explored in the new film Chappaquiddick . In addition to showing the incident, the story tells of the immediate actions taken by Ted and his aides to cover up and save his political career. The film is directed by John Curran, whose most notable previous work is The Painted Veil way back in 2006. Curran doesn’t dance around with the material and instead decides to give the facts in a straightforward manner. We frantically go from one event to another, watching and listening to every piece of information as it is given to us in a workmanlike routine. Curran does well at positioning the camera to create a film that is more focused on characters than events. He uses a mixture of close up and tracking shots to keep us focused on the leading players. A specific highlight comes when he expertly cuts between close-up shots of Mary Jo drowning and Ted lying in bed later that night. It’s a haunting sequence to watch as the different outcomes of the two characters are compared simultaneously. Unfortunately, Curran’s matter-of-fact storytelling style also weighs the film down and limits its potential. Having the narrative move quickly never really gives the characters enough time to open up and develop. It also never gives the audience enough time to reflect on what has just happened. Just like the directing, the script also helps and hurts the film's overall quality. Coming from first-time writers Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan, the screenplay is very focused on delivering the facts in the most efficient and simplified way possible. This helps the audience connect every dot as we always know what is going on and who is involved. The writing also shows every character as their true self, and not as glorified pieces of history. For instance, Instead of portraying Ted as a tragic figure, the writing shows him as the man everyone knew him as someone that will do anything to protect his name and career. The part where the script fails to deliver is the pacing and overall emotional weight. Allen and Logan’s need to deliver every possible fact quickly proves tiring and overloads the already cramped 106-minute runtime. There is also never an engaging hook or overall emotional theme, just a fact-based story being told in a flat tone. By the end, the film feels very average as everything is wrapped up in an unoriginal fashion. The performances in this film are the main attraction, which seems fitting considering both the directing and script put a large amount of emphasis on the characters. Jason Clarke does a great job as Ted Kennedy. Clarke perfects both the Kennedy voice and physical mannerisms. He also brings a large amount of insecurity as his character hopelessly tries to live up to the legends of his three deceased older brothers. Ed Helms, in a role completely different from type, was pleasantly surprising as Ted’s assistant and cousin Joe Gargan, who was also involved in the incident. Helms acts as a vessel for the audience as he reacts to Ted’s actions with bewilderment. Bruce Dern is probably the most memorable part of the film, even though he speaks less than ten words. He plays John Kennedy Sr., who is confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak because of a stroke. Dern’s veteran skill allows him to overcome his character's physical limitations and deliver a performance that is chilling to watch as he bullies Ted into following his every order. Finally, Kate Mara does well as Mary Jo Kopechne. While she doesn’t get enough time to stand out, Mara brings a strong amount of emotional depth to her doomed character. While the actors all give admirable performances, the so-so-directing and middling script restricts this film from reaching its true potential. Overall, this is a very conventional drama that is serviceable enough for those who are interested in what happened that fatal day in 1969. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Joker: Folie à Deux October 1, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Imagine you’re Todd Phillips. At the beginning of the summer of 2019, Avengers: Endgame has become the highest-grossing movie of all time, putting the comic book genre at the peak of its power and cultural relevancy. You have your own comic book movie releasing later in the fall, one that will be a soft “fuck you” to all the genre contemporaries that built themselves upon a pile of special effects, and not the ideas and controversy that you’re bringing to the table. The premiere of the film at the Venice Film Festival, one of the most prestigious in the world, is all set, and everyone is going to lose their minds at the edginess you’re about to unleash. Instead, your worst fears become realized: people love the movie. The jury at Venice gives it the top prize, the Golden Lion, a historic occasion for this type of film. Apart from more than a few naysayers, critics are hailing it as a revolutionary film for the time. More than a billion dollars flood in from the box office, and awards rain down from the sky. Everywhere you turn, people are clamoring for more. It’s all wrong. People shouldn’t be enjoying the movie, at least not like this. You had to deal with this in the Hangover franchise, and now it’s time to take the same steps here to correct the course. That’s right, Joker: Folie à Deux is the new The Hangover Part III , a movie filled with so much contempt for its fans that you wonder why it even bothered to please them in the first place. Of course, I could be talking out of my ass about this whole situation. But based on Phillips' desire to always be a subversive rebel and subconscious disdain for success, there’s no other way to explain how much this sequel tries to talk down to those who worshipped at the altar of its predecessor. Mathematically, that would mean that all the previous detractors would be won over. But the work within Folie à Deux simply isn’t good enough for them. Sure, it still looks pretty, with Lawrence Sher returning as the cinematographer to deliver some immaculately grimy shots. Instead, it’s just the same joke being told again. And no matter how much you try, it’ll never be as funny the second time around. To give Phillips some credit, this isn’t exactly the same old joke again. Yes, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is still a disillusioned and misunderstood figure within Gotham City, now locked up in Arkham Asylum for the past five years after he murdered all those people. The trial of the century is coming up, and his court-appointed lawyer is mounting the defense that Arthur and Joker are two totally different people. It’s also the defense that Phillips finds himself the most tied to, siding against the people who worshipped Joker and belittled Arthur. Joker isn’t cool, he’s a murderer who stands for nothing but chaos, all while Arthur sits alone waiting for the tiniest amount of compassion. And we pass him over every day, opting to tune in to revel in the juicy details about the violence and misery enacted by someone who doesn’t deserve an ounce of our attention. Furthering the case of Arthur’s split personality is his increasingly frequent outbursts into song and dance. Each of them serves as the creative outlet to which words can’t do justice, although the prospect of a $200 million dark comic-book musical is much more realized on paper than here. “Dour” would be the word of choice to describe each set piece, with Phoenix and Lady Gaga, appearing here as Joker’s #1 fan Harley Quinn, providing the only semblance of passion. After a while, they all start to blend together into one meh soup, a symptom of the on-the-nose messaging and Phillips’ inability to craft a catchy setpiece. It’s much easier to appreciate them within the franticness of a trailer rather than the methodicism of the final product. There is something to be said about this movie’s dedication to adhering to its DNA despite all the scope and scale placed upon it. It desperately wants to do something different, although it’s not quite sure what that is. It’s played both sides, but instead of doubling its profits, it exponentially multiplied its losses. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Hustlers September 16, 2019 By: Button Hunter Friesen We all know how the Great Recession of 2008 affected the American economy. There are countless stories of large financial and automotive firms going under, taking thousands of employees with them. But one industry you may not have heard of that had one of the biggest direct impacts on workers: strip clubs. Based on a true story, Hustlers tells the story of four New York female strippers as they scam and crawl their way out of the financial crisis that left their usual Wall Street clients with no money to flaunt. Probably one of the most fun movies of the year, Hustlers flows with great kinetic energy that makes it endlessly entertaining. Director Lorene Scafaria takes a lot of influence from the works of Martin Scorsese and Adam McKay (also a producer on the film) as she effortlessly keeps the movie going at top speed. Watching this, you’re reminded of great films like The Wolf of Wall Street and Goodfellas . Scafaria also shows off her great productional talent as she makes use of several slow-motion montages mixed with a perfect soundtrack of mid-2000s R&B hits. Numerous moments of fluid camerawork that mix both quick cuts and long takes give the film a fresh and brisk pace. There’s one moment where all these great facets come together in a surprise meta-cameo from a well-known singer/dancer. The perfect music choice, the choreography of the dancers, and the blocking of the movement make it the most exciting and memorable scene in the film. In addition to directing, Scafaria also pens the script, imbuing the narrative with the themes of family and sisterhood. We see the four women come together and follow the journey of bonding through redemption. Sometimes it does get close to Fast & Furious levels of overdoing it, but the strong performances from the leads make it believable to watch. Scafaria also uses a flashback framework structure as the story cuts between the past and present with the quartet plunging deeper into the moral grey areas of their actions. There’s a constant feeling of having already seen this technique done before several times. However, it’s very interesting to see this kind of story told not from the demeaning point of view that plagues similar films, but from an unmalicious female perspective. Scafaria does slip up when it comes to the moral reasoning of the actions and character development as they are both put to the sideline in favor of more dancing scenes. In her defense, the dancing scenes are the best part of the film and a treat to watch. But they each start to become empty near the end as the lack of depth and ethical stakes become too obvious to ignore. Holding the story together are two excellent performances from the leading ladies of Constance Wu and Jennifer Lopez. After her breakout hit in last year's Crazy Rich Asians , Wu here turns in another star-making performance as Destiny. With the good material Scafaria gives her, she sinks deep into her character and shows off her more dramatic chops Jennifer Lopez, surprisingly fifty years old, plays Ramona and is the best she’s been in a long time. She struts that movie star glow that keeps your eyes always glued to her, especially during her more physical scenes that give off a sense of both grace and power. The rest of the supporting cast is stunt cast with the likes of Cardi B and Lizzo, who play themselves. They each don’t mean anything to the story apart from their name value on the poster. Hustlers is one of the sleekest and entertaining movies to come out this year. While its politics may be a bit skimp and misguided from time to time, the brilliant directing by Scafaria and powerhouse performances by Wu and Lopez make this a great time well worth your investment. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

The Batman March 7, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen It can be quite difficult these days to parse through the DC Cinematic Universe. While Marvel has been steady as she goes for nearly a decade and a half, DC has puttered along, shooting misfire after misfire. Man of Steel was certainly not the way things should have started, and neither was Justice League the way things should have come together. And then there’s the whole debacle around Zack Snyder’s Justice League (is it canon, or just a director’s cut?) and The Suicide Squad , which is somehow both a reboot and a sequel. Somewhere during their productions, Warner Brothers decided they should differentiate their slate from Marvel by producing smaller-scale, filmmaker-focused films (no disrespect to Marvel, but there isn’t a single film in their universe with a clear authorial voice). First came Todd Phillips' Joker , which, for better and for worse, made quite the statement. The next is Matt Reeves’ The Batman , which steps outside of the current cinematic universe hellscape and exists on its terms as an ultra-dark and ultra-noir-inspired thriller. Batman has been fighting crime for close to two years now, with not much to show for it. The streets are still filled with garbage, both in the form of flesh and debris. The criminals may fear Batman, but not enough to stop committing crimes altogether. So, the endless cycle of carnage continues. That is until a new face appears on the block in the form of The Riddler, who’s brutally murdering Gotham’s top officials, and also murders their reputations by exposing their scandals to the public. As his name would suggest, the culprit leaves behind riddles addressed “To the Batman,” made to mock The Caped Crusader as he pieces together this intricately pieced puzzle. Just like Phillips took (a little too much) inspiration from Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy when crafting his character study of the mentally insane for Joker , writer/director Matt Reeves borrows heavily from the work of David Fincher, particularly Se7en and Zodiac . The Riddler may as well be the Zodiac killer, as Paul Dano’s performance channels the character’s brilliance and insanity. The tension he builds is unparalleled and makes you feel that you're witnessing someone who’s truly gone off the deep end. And with a runtime just five minutes shy of three hours, The Batman has plenty of time to unravel its grand mystery. It’s a thickly layered plot tracing corruption back to the days of Thomas Wayne. The best compliment that I can give any comic book movie is that even if you replace the superheroes with regular people, you still have an interesting story to tell. It’s something that Christopher Nolan was able to accomplish with his Dark Knight trilogy, as well as Sam Raimi with his Spider-Man films. Things may get lost in the shuffle from time to time here, and the ending may leave a bad taste in your mouth, but there’s a lot to love on the page. But with Robert Pattinson as Batman, it’s hard to imagine him not in this movie, as he delivers yet another undeniable performance. Nearly every actor cast as Batman has had their fair share of naysayers, from Michael Keaton to Ben Affleck. With this role, Pattinson is finally able to show the general public his true talent, with most casual moviegoers remembering him only as the sparkly vampire from the T wilight series. Pattinson has always excelled at playing uncomfortable characters, with his work on Good Time and The Lighthouse being prime examples. There’s a restless edge to his version of Batman, something that's been eating away the character’s soul after years of sleepless nights. And in those nights, DP Greig Fraser, hot off his Oscar nomination for his work on Dune , crafts some immaculate imagery. Silhouettes and shadows haunt the dark city streets, with the neon lights drenched in rain providing stark contrast. This is not just one of the best-looking comic-book movies, it’s one of the best-looking movies ever. Fraser does get help from Production Designer James Chinlund, who seamlessly merges New York and Chicago architecture to make Gotham the cesspool that it is. At its core, The Batman is not much of a Batman movie, and that’s what makes it so great. Reeves has taken all the familiar trappings and given them a fresh new look. It may only be March, but the bar for the rest of the films this year just got raised a bit higher. And unlike every other DC film to come out in the past couple of years, I’m excited to see where this story goes next. More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 December 22, 2024 By: Button Tyler Banark As someone whose only connection to Sonic the Hedgehog growing up was Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games , the Sonic the Hedgehog movie franchise has surprised me. Since the first film’s release right before the pandemic, the series has proven to be a shining example of adapting a beloved video game series into a successful movie saga, a task Hollywood couldn’t overcome for decades. And to think the starting point for these movies was a poorly reviewed trailer featuring the infamously ugly character design. Unlike Marvel, DC, and Star Wars fanbases, Sonic fans get what they want and shut up about it (and they don’t ask for much). With Sonic the Hedgehog 3 , the series doesn’t just maintain its momentum—it rockets forward, delivering a cinematic experience that balances thrilling action, heartfelt storytelling, and fan service. It’s a film that manages to entertain longtime fans of the Blue Blur and newcomers alike. The plot picks up shortly after the events of the second film, with Sonic (Ben Schwartz) continuing to grow into his role as a protector of Earth. However, peace is short-lived as the film introduces Shadow the Hedgehog, a fan-favorite character from the games whose enigmatic presence brings a darker and more mature tone to the narrative. Shadow’s complex motivations and his morally ambiguous stance provide an intriguing contrast to Sonic’s upbeat and heroic personality. Their interactions are packed with tension and occasional glimpses of camaraderie, making for some of the film’s most compelling moments. Thanks to the pitch-perfect casting of Keanu Reeves, Shadow is easily the best character on screen as he brings his charisma to a character that could’ve been one-dimensional. As expected, Jim Carrey’s portrayal of Dr. Robotnik is again a highlight. His eccentric energy and comedic timing give the character a larger-than-life quality. However, this time around, his antics are more different than in previous films, as he also plays Robotnik’s long-lost grandpa through heavy prosthetics. Seeing Carrey come out of retirement to do this double-duty act is a sight to behold, as it brings back that charm and energy audiences couldn’t get enough of during his prime in the ‘90s. The returning characters also shine in their respective roles. Tails (Colleen O'Shaughnessey) remains the group's heart, offering unwavering support to Sonic. At the same time, Knuckles (Idris Elba) continues bringing comic relief and brute strength to the team, with his literal interpretations and warrior ethos providing some of the film’s funniest moments. Together, the trio forms a tight-knit group whose chemistry drives the story's emotional core. One of the most impressive aspects of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is its ability to blend nostalgia with innovation. Fans of the games will appreciate the numerous Easter eggs and callbacks, from the inclusion of iconic locations to subtle nods to Sonic’s long history. At the same time, the film doesn’t rely solely on nostalgia. It pushes the story forward with high stakes, a more complex villain, and themes of identity, loyalty, and redemption that resonate beyond the confines of a family-friendly adventure. Visually, the film is nothing short of spectacular. The CGI has reached new heights, with Sonic, Shadow, and the rest of the cast looking more vibrant than ever. The action sequences are a standout, with high-speed chases and battles choreographed to perfection. The climactic showdown, involving the chaos emeralds, is a jaw-dropping spectacle that feels like it was lifted straight from the games and brought to life on the big screen. Despite its many strengths, the film isn’t without its flaws. While the humor is a key part of the series’ charm, a few jokes feel overly simplistic or aimed solely at younger audiences. However, the times when the jokes aren’t childish and out of leftfield, they’ll have the grown-ups laughing for minutes. Furthermore, some side characters, such as Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter), Sonic’s human family, feel underutilized, which may disappoint fans who enjoyed their more significant roles in previous films. Nevertheless, these issues do little to detract from the film's overall enjoyment. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a more than worthy addition to the franchise and a must-see for fans of the series. It balances humor, action, and emotion with a narrative that feels both epic and personal. Whether you’re a longtime fan of the Blue Hedgehog or just looking for a fun, family-friendly movie, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will leave you with a smile and a sense of anticipation for what’s next (the mid-credits scene will get fans going big-time, believe me). Every aspect is one-upped profoundly, making audiences want to go fast by the time the credits roll. You can follow Tyler and hear more of his thoughts on Twitter , Instagram , and Letterboxd . More Reviews One Battle After Another September 24, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen A Christmas Party September 23, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Him September 18, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Swiped September 19, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen