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Enola Holmes October 1, 2020 By: Button Hunter Friesen Over the years we’ve heard a lot of stories about the famed detective Sherlock Holmes. In fact, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s deerstalker-wearing sleuth holds the record for the most portrayals of a literary character at 254. While Sherlock has dominated the mystery genre for over a century, a new part of the Holmes family is finally getting its due. The newest Netflix movie (there seems to be a new one every day) follows the adventures of the younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft, named Enola Holmes. Enola was born years after her famous brothers and never quite got to know them or her prematurely deceased father. She spent her entire childhood with only her mother for company. Together, they read books, played indoor sports, conducted science experiments, and acted out plays. Despite her name being “alone” spelled backward, Enola always had her mother by her side to show her the wonders of the world. On her sixteenth birthday, Enola wakes up to the unpleasant surprise of her mother suddenly disappearing without a word. She calls in her brothers to help solve the mystery. They arrive with dismay about how Enola has been raised and cast her aside thinking she won’t be of much aid. Needing to prove to her brothers that she’s a capable young woman, Enola sets out to find her mother and beat them at their own game. Like the locomotive train that contains one of the movie’s great set pieces, Enola Holmes is a well-oiled machine that runs at a rapid pace. The film carries an infectiously rambunctious energy to it, much of which comes from its star. Already a two-time Emmy nominee for her role as Eleven in Stranger Things , Millie Bobby Brown is perfectly cast as our titular character. She never misses a beat with her comedic timing and carries the film almost solely on her shoulders. She also brings great skill to emotional moments. Director Harry Bradbeer also contributes to the gleeful tone by doing what he does best. Similar to his work in the critically acclaimed Fleabag , Bradbeer has his heroine break the fourth wall and talk directly into the camera. It’s a fun tactic that never wears its welcome and allows for Brown to showcase her amazing talent. Things take a surprisingly dark turn once Enola arrives in London as she gets tangled with hitmen and a radical plot to bomb the House of Lords. For a supposed kids' film, there is quite a bit of violence toward our younger characters. The home of Big Ben looks more drab and crowded than ever as cinematographer Giles Nuttgens beautifully contrasts the cramped and intimidating metropolis with the lush and vibrant countryside. What does bring down Enola Holmes from time to time is its predictable central mystery. If you’re a veteran of Sherlock Holmes or the mystery genre, it won’t be too hard to figure out what will happen next. The film also tries to weave in bits of social commentary about gender and class throughout. Unfortunately, the messaging is half-baked and creates jarring breaks from the whimsical tone. Even though Brown is clearly the star, the well-rounded supporting cast also shines in their roles. Superman himself Henry Cavill plays the iconic detective. Still with his Man of Steel physique, Cavill plays Sherlock closer to James Bond as his suave charisma brings a welcome departure from his dour performances in the DC films. Sam Claflin, most famous for playing Finnick in The Hunger Games films, is downright dastardly as the uptight Mycroft Holmes. Complete with a twirling mustache and tophat, Claflin offers a harsh counterbalance to Brown’s exuberance. Finally, Helena Bonham Carter is inspirational as the eccentric mother of the Holmes trio. She brings the same out-of-the-box energy one would expect from her and hits the emotional depths required. With a star-making performance from its leading lady and a healthy dose of energy, Enola Holmes is a charming mystery for (nearly) all ages. Based on the way it ends, a sequel could be on its way in the near future; one that would be well deserved. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Bob Marley: One Love February 13, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen So formulaic that it might as well be taught in math class, Bob Marley: One Love is just another entry in a long line of music biopics that merely exist to pump up the brand image of its icon. It’s what the haters of Maestro thought they were watching, all of them unable to perceive the amount of soul poured into that story by an artist working at the height of his powers. One Love takes away the brush and replaces it with the creaky gears of a machine whose only purpose is to deliver the most palatable retelling possible, as if coloring outside the lines would combust the film stock it was printed on. The conventional postscript text isn’t enough from a screenplay credited to four writers (Terence Winter, Frank E. Flower, Zach Baylin, and director Reinaldo Marcus Green), as a copious amount of prescript set the stage for the political landscape of 1970s Jamaica. The Caribbean island nation is in a state of turmoil, with the threat of violence forcing everyone to look over their shoulder. Bob Marley (Kingsley Ben-Adir) positions himself at the center of this conflict by staging a peace concert. Before he can sing a note, an assassination attempt results in him and his wife Rita (Lashana Lynch) being hit by a bullet. Despite his carefree attitude and unwillingness to accept defeat, Marley realizes this stroke of death is a sign that cannot be ignored. He jets off to England to record his next album, “Exodus,” which will become one of the most successful ever. Green has a “look but don't touch” attitude towards the events of this three-year framework. Almost everything of note is visited but never explored interestingly. No amount of ambiguity or complexity is created, with Marley being an almost mystical Christ-like figure floating through a world of pain. He says that “you can’t separate the message from the music,” but his message never seems to be more than just a simple blanket statement for peace. Characters only speak in plotlines, all of them entirely forgettable save for the two leads. In a commendable move, almost all of the dialogue is delivered through authentic Jamaican accents. It may put more strain on the viewer to grasp each word, but it lends the extra ounces of credibility this product sorely needed. Ben-Adir and Lynch disappear into their roles, extending their acting chops beyond just simple mimicry. Their performances are the hints of why Paramount was allegedly planning for an awards-qualifying release before punting into the doldrums of February. But those performances are all for naught once the music starts going. The concert scenes are obviously lip-synced, each one more rigid than the last. Cinematographer Robert Elswit struggles to create the illusion of thousands of screaming fans, nor do he and Green capture the uniqueness of reggae. A few flashbacks are splashed throughout to help explain Marley’s fascination with the music and Rastafarianism, but they end up being cheap crutches that only elongate the “feels one hour longer than it is” 104-minute runtime. You need to ask yourself two questions after you’ve watched a biopic. Could I have gotten the same information just by reading the Wikipedia page? A “no” is the ideal answer, but a “yes” isn’t cause for automatic failure. If this is just a Wikipedia entry, was the presentation of the information at least entertaining? One Love is a capital Y-E-S and N-O to those questions, respectively, which begs the question of what was the point of any of this. Millions of dollars and years of work amounted to less than what I could get for free in just a couple of minutes. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom December 21, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen It’s hard to care, let alone write, about the incredibly uneventful Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom , the last gasp from the bloated, rotten corpse that is the DCEU. It’s a soaking wet mess, not from H2O, but from the sweat of editor Kirk M. Morri as he tried to stitch this Frankenstein’s monster of a production together into a tolerably cohesive “cinematic experience.” The reports of multiple reshoots, reedits, reconfigurations of timelines, and just overall studio meddling are apparent at every moment, with the final product sharing the same amount of creative energy as a used Toyota Corolla. As the most well-liked member during Zack Snyder’s time at the helm, it’s fitting that Jason Momoa’s Aquaman / Arthur Curry would be the one to usher this mega-franchise out the door. Writer David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (with story credits also given to director James Wan, Momoa, and Thomas Pa'a Sibbett) wastes no time getting this farewell train going, revealing that Arthur and Mera (Amber Heard) got married, had a son, and now rule over Atlantis as king and queen. Still present are Arthur’s parents Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) and Tom (Temuera Morrison), as well as the allied King Nereus (Dolph Lundgren). But for every hero, there must be a villain, with Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) still maintaining that position from the first film. This time, however, he’s made a deal with an underwater devil: Free this long-imprisoned enemy of Atlantis and he will be bestowed with enough power to destroy Aquaman and everything he cherishes. Absolute power has corrupted absolutely, with Manta being blinded to the consequences his rage has on the environment. Blah blah blah… Arthur must learn what it means to be a king… blah blah blah… Patrick Wilson returns as Arthur’s half-brother Orm… blah blah blah… a giant battle commences… blah blah blah… the end. Look, we’re now 33 films deep in the MCU and 15 for the DCEU, so nothing can really be a spoiler anymore. We’ve truly seen it all, which was admittedly much shallower than I would have expected. But if you’ve developed short-term memory loss over these past few years or go full Velma and drop your glasses in the theater; you’re in luck, as this audiobook of a script doesn’t let anything go unnoticed through its relentless exposition. Whether it’s during a montage, a flashback, or just a regular scene, there’s always some sort of narration or formulaic plot-driven explanation. This might be one of the first blockbusters to treat the visual component of cinema as a secondary tool. And any visual flourishes here have been rendered naught by James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water last year (can you believe that these two films were at one point going to release on the same day!). There’s no egregious VFX sloppiness, just a lot of uninspired uses for such a vast world. Also paling to Cameron is the clunky messaging about environmentalism and xenophobia, with some of Arthur's speeches coming dangerously close to the level of Steven Seagal in On Deadly Ground . Kidman and Abdul-Mateen II are too good to be doing this kind of thing (again), with Willem Dafoe being the lone lucky one who was able to get out of his contractual obligations. It should have been telling that no major additions were made to this cast, with only talks of departures and backdoor firings. That’s pretty much been the DC way these past ten years: don’t try much of anything new and endlessly fight with each other. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Nyad October 20, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Nyad had its International Premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Netflix will release it in theaters on October 20, followed by its streaming premiere on November 03. It’s not hard to see why documentary directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin found themselves attracted to the story of Diana Nyad. With their Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo , the duo introduced (at least to the public at large) the character of Alex Honnold. He’s reckless, charismatic, and someone polite people would call a “free spirit.” Having that much of a personality dangling on the side of a rock hundreds of feet in the air is a combination made for the cinema. It was a film you had to see on the big screen, with the stunning imagery and stakes making it a thrill ride to rival even the most high-octane blockbuster. Diana Nyad seemed to cut off the same cloth as Honnold. She came to prominence in the 1970s, setting several world swim records such as the fastest time ever in the 22-mile Gulf of Naples race and swimming the 28 miles around the island of Manhattan in just under 8 hours. She’s someone who doesn't understand the word “no,” which does make her quite the asshole to her friends and trainers as they often beg her to see the consequences of her illogical actions. For all her trophies and achievements, one thing has always alluded her: The 101-mile swim from Havana, Cuba to Key West, Florida. She wasn’t able to do it in her 20s, she’ll be damned if she can’t get it done in her 60s. It doesn’t feel like a coincidence that four-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening plays Nyad, who finally accomplished her treacherous swim after four failed attempts. There’s no denying, or shame in admitting, that this is a role tailor-made to get Bening her overdue trophy. It’s an extremely challenging role, both physically and emotionally. She’s not that nice of a person, being bossy and always pushing everyone around. But Bening never lets you outright hate her as you’re always aware that she can do something no one else can, and the only way to accomplish it is to break a few eggs. Much of the film is set in the water during Nyad’s various attempts. The problem is that swimming is a bit like running in that it’s not the most cinematically engaging sport to watch. I’m oversimplifying things quite a bit (like all movies), but there’s not much of a visual difference between Nyad’s failures and success. You see her in the water pushing herself to the extreme, yet you don’t feel it deep down like you should. Much of that has to do with the flatly competent direction by Vasarhelyi and Chin, who are making their feature narrative debut here. Outside of the somewhat jarringly stitched-together sizzle reels that feel lifted right from their documentaries, the pair never can bring this story out of the water, which is quite the shame considering the talents of Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi, Top Gun: Maverick ) were at their disposal. There’s a hollowness to the story and characters. Writer Julia Cox can’t find more within the character of Diana Nyad that Bening doesn’t do herself. It’s impressive to see Nyad make these attempts but at some point, we all ask ourselves why she’s doing it, and the answers are both unclear and unsatisfactory. Helping carry Bening’s baggage is an excellent Jodie Foster as her best friend and trainer, Bonnie. It may be because she’s always sharing scenes with a person who seems like a fish out of water, but Foster/Bonnie is the unexpected heart and soul of the film. Nyad is stuck in an awkward middle ground. It doesn’t possess enough cinematic spectacle to be a Netflix original that deserves to be seen in the theater. It also doesn’t have enough energy or interesting characters to hold people’s attention as they watch it on the couch. There will be some that get a lot out of this, but for most, me included, this feels like an untapped opportunity for almost everyone involved. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Life of Chuck September 8, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Life of Chuck had its World Premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Neon will release it in theaters on June 06, 2025. If you were challenged to envision a movie directed by Mike Flanagan adapted from a story by Stephen King, you’d most likely picture something bathed in darkness and horror. Of course, that’s not a hard guess to make based on the pair’s previous collaboration with Doctor Sleep in 2019. But The Life of Chuck is something totally different, with Flanagan describing it as a work of “making joy, instead of just taking it in” during his introductory speech at the world premiere screening within the famed Princess of Wales Theatre. There are still horror elements, but they revolve around the real-life horrors we face every day, such as regret, finding our purpose, and reconciling with those we love. We open on Act… Three? Yes, this story starts where it ends, which is at the end of the world and one person’s life. The decades of climate crisis warnings have been ignored, which means they are now a reality. Wildfires, droughts, and hurricanes are a daily occurrence. The news gets worse every day, progressively emboldening the argument over what’s the point of living on this planet anymore. The only people who seem to be having happy thoughts are the ones celebrating Charles Krantz. “39 great years! Thanks, Chuck!” is plastered on every billboard, commercial break, and bus station in town. So, who is this seemingly normal person getting so much special treatment at the prelude to the apocalypse? To answer that question, we have to keep going back. As narrator Nick Offerman tells us, Charles Krantz is a normal person who grew up to be an accountant. But that doesn’t mean he’s without the special qualities that make him an exceptional human being. A certain verse from Walt Whitman’s famous poem “Song of Myself” - “I am large, I contain multitudes” - is literally and metaphorically referenced multiple times. We are never just ourselves, containing bits and pieces of everyone and everything we’ve ever interacted with along our journey. It’s a heartwarming message from Flanagan and King, one that offers as much introspection within ourselves as it does for Charles. It’s a little simple for its own good, often being repeated by every character in their unique way. For Charles’ grandmother, that means dancing whenever the music sounds right. For his grandfather, it’s about using math to make the world a better place. A certain speech given by his grandfather will likely be used as an advertisement for every accounting department at college major orientations. The Life of Chuck reaches its peak relatively early in the second act. Chuck’s love of dance breaks out after years of repression, resulting in an infectiously high-energy display of exuberant movement. Flanagan further progresses his chops as a director, displaying that his knack for horror-related timing can be transferred to something much more subdued. The performances are all committed to the change of pace, even if a few of them don’t deliver on expectations. The ambition and drive to tell a story like this from people so famous for going in the opposite direction is more than enough to warrant taking the chance on it. There are more than a few individual moments where it seemingly comes together, but the cumulative whole always feels less than the sum of its parts. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Mickey 17 March 7, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen It’s been nearly six years since South Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, which, little to our knowledge at that moment, would be just the first of many victorious spots for the lauded social satire. The culmination of that journey would be at the Academy Awards, where the film made history by being the first foreign language feature to be awarded the prize for Best Motion Picture. Of course, with that much success comes the raising of the bar, and the inevitable questions of what’s next for a filmmaker who’s earned himself a blank check for whatever his heart desires. $120 million was the amount of cash that Warner Bros. plunked down to lure Bong back to the United States for this third English-language film, the first two being Snowpiercer and Okja , respectively. And while no follow-up to Parasite could possibly live up to the incredibly high standards placed upon it, Mickey 17 is an extreme disappointment no matter how you slice it. Between Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk’s continuous efforts to commodify space, the stars we all share are beginning to lose their shimmer. The final frontier is now merely another capitalist hellscape to run away from your problems on Earth, which is exactly what Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) does after he gets in some deep water with a loan shark with an unhealthy obsession with dismembering the people who fall into his debt. With no special skills to differentiate him from the overcrowded employment lines, he signs up to be an “expendable,” where his memories and body schematics will be downloaded so that he can be reprinted/cloned whenever he dies. It’s only fitting that the most advanced technology that the human race has ever wielded is mostly used to more efficiently exploit the working man. The title comes from the fact that the iteration we become accustomed to is the seventeenth version of him, the previous sixteen dying in the name of “science” as the crew of his spaceship tries to colonize the icy planet Niflheim. Mark Ruffalo plays the ship’s commander, Kenneth Marshall, in one the laziest and most exhaustive Trump / corrupt egotistical politician impressions we’ve been inundated with over this past decade. Bong already reared his head around this territory with Tilda Swinton’s awkward corporate head honcho in Okja . These results are much more simplified, even down to the red hats that Marshall’s supporters don and his constant need for approval. Pattinson’s nasally narration is very much in “tell, don’t show” mode, rendering several scenes in need of the mute button. At the very least, it would allow for Jung Jae-il’s score and Darius Khondji’s cinematography to be more appreciated, the former reconfiguring the intense piano rhythms of Parasite into something a little more fluttery. There are so many ethical questions and dilemmas that Bong’s script, and adaptation of the Edward Ashton novel, could have investigated further or with more precision. Instead, everything is painted with the broadest brush possible, arming the satire with the same weight as a cold open from Saturday Night Live . Pattinson’s commitment to the role in all its eccentricities is what keeps the ship from capsizing sooner. That goes double when he gets preemptively reprinted for the eighteenth time, leaving everyone seeing double. Naomi Ackie plays his lover Nasha, although there really isn’t much to say about her. It’s one of the few times that the line “I don’t know what she sees in me,” can be shared by both the character and audience. There is one ingenious moment when they initially meet, and we don’t hear the conversation they share. All we see are their mouths moving, the gleeful expressions on their faces, and the joyous thoughts running through their heads as they realize they each found the person right for them. Bong has long held compassion for his characters, even if his view of humanity is never the rosiest. If only he shared some of that compassion for the audience’s intelligence for this go around. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

'Bonnie & Clyde' and New Sentimentality February 1, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen Immediately upon its release, film critic Roger Ebert claimed Bonnie and Clyde to be alandmark in American cinema. The film attracted a love/hate relationship with critics, with the love side eventually winning out in the long run. Ebert was right in that Bonnie and Clyde was a milestone for American cinema, as this was one of the earliest and most successful films that embraced the idea of “counterculture." Through the use of their idea of new sentimentality, screenwriters David Newman and Robert Benton took Hollywood by storm by defying the oldways in favor of charging down a new path. The idea of “new sentimentality” laid out by Newman and Benton tried to explain the cultural and generational differences that were taking place in America during the 1960s. The ways of Old Sentimentality, which preached about the good ol' days of American patriotism and love for others, were now fading away in favor of a more tough and self-empowering way of thinking. Bonnie and Clyde illustrated this new way of thinking in multiple ways. The main factor that created controversy around Bonnie and Clyde , and for why it is apiece of new sentimentality, is the unrivaled amount of violence inflicted by and onto the characters. Obviously, with a movie about bank robbers, there has to be a few shootouts thatwould get butts in seats. Bonnie and Clyde does deliver the shootouts that one would expect and pay to see at the time, but it does it in such a way that it sucks out all the guilty joy we get out of watching it. Instead of dropping dead instantly after one shot, characters bleed and writhe around in extreme agony. The old way of gun violence was quick and didn’t allow for us to think aboutthe ramifications. This new way forces us to see the effects violence has on every day people, the physical damage it does to the person hit and the emotional damage it does to the people watching it, for which we the audience must participate. This idea somewhat borrows from the French and Italian new-wave of thinking that placed importance on telling stories that reflected our reality that is filled with real people. The violence comes to an incredible climax at the very end when our titular characters are gunned down in a hail of never-ending bullets. All you can do during the scene is sit there incomplete shock as their bodies are riddled to shreds. It’s not fun to watch or heroic in any nature. The old sentimentality had gun-toting heroes like Humphrey Bogart and John Wayne who killed quick and clean. They symbolized a time when America was in a righteous war to protect theworld from the Nazis. Bonnie and Clyde is the new idea that violence is something that lingers inthe moment and for many moments after. America was in Vietnam at the time, a war that waspropelled by American self-interest. Apart from violence, another element that must be delivered to sell a movie is sex. Like violence, sex was shown in only its tamest forms in film. Hitchcock famously had to dance around the subject in Notorious by having his characters kiss and peck at each other over time. Bonnie and Clyde engages with sex on a much more open scale. Bonnie and Clyde have sex multiple times throughout the film and even discuss it with each other. It’s a part of their relationship as opposed to being kept under the rug like before. We even get a tiny storyline about Clyde being impotent and then finally overcoming this. The idea of impotence before that time wasn’t one to be discussed as it clashed with the idea of what a real man was. John Wayne would never be impotent! The idea of new sentimentality changed what it meant to be a man, filled with imperfections and perversions. Bonnie and Clyde marked the mainstream beginning of new sentimentality within cinema. Through its unflinching approach to violence and sex, the film sparked a debate that isstill being felt today. As Ebert said, the film was made in 1965 about people in 1934, but it will always be made for us here and now. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Talk to Me July 26, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen The horror genre has been experiencing a small renaissance as of late, with more than a handful of fresh-faced directors announcing themselves to the world through the art of the scare. Robert Eggers ( The Witch ), Jordan Peele ( Get Out ), Ari Aster ( Hereditary ), Jennifer Kent ( The Babadook ), and Julia Ducournau ( Raw ) are just a few that have risen to the top of the game in the last few years. To use a term that has become a meme at this point: They elevated a genre that has historically been disrespected. Now with the pandemic forever shifting the theatrical landscape, it seems that horror movies are the only things that are guaranteed to put butts in seats. Add in the rise of technology, and it’s never been easier to enter into the business. Australian YouTube sensations Danny and Michael Philippou, a.k.a RackaRacka , have done just that with Talk to Me , an exceedingly well-crafted, albeit slightly shallow, debut feature. A drug is storming through the streets of Australia, hooking in teens with unprecedented potency. It’s not heroin, cocaine, or even some other narcotic you’ve ever heard of. It’s actually a sick game where the contestant holds onto a ceramic scrawled with illegible writing. Uttering the words “talk to me” conjures up a dead spirit that can only be seen by the person touching the hand. An even greater high can be achieved by saying “I let you in,” which allows the spirit to take control of the person’s body. But be warned: Holding the hand for more than ninety seconds will allow the spirit to remain in the host forever, essentially rendering them a puppet of the undead. Mia (Sophie Wilde) is a teenager riddled with guilt and trauma from the semi-recent unexplained suicide of her mother. She’s become the sad sack of her class, a status she would like to turn around. The best way to do that is to get in with the cool kids, who are all about the hand. Mia quickly becomes addicted to the feeling of dissociating from this mortal world. “I don’t feel alone anymore” is her foolproof excuse to her protective friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen), who feels like this thing is snowballing into dangerous territory. Jade is absolutely right, as like any regular drug, the good times eventually fade out and the darkness begins to take over, only this time in the form of unholy entities wreaking havoc on your body and soul. There’s a social undercurrent relating to young people’s unquenchable thrift to become viral sensations throughout much of the horror. An exciting opening tracking shot sees one of the victims of the hand executing the wishes of the damned, with a crowd of teens recording the whole thing. Earning tens of millions of views through their YouTube channel, the Philippou brothers are adept at commenting on seeking online attention. They’re not as adept at handling the topics of grief and loss, however, as Mia’s relationship with her deceased mother and distraught single father never feels more than anything we haven’t seen in several other “smart” horror movies. And while it is a little refreshing to have a movie with a simple premise and rules, there is a desire for more information to be supplied regarding the perpetrators. The craftsmanship on display is quite remarkable. When people talk about the theatrical experience, they mostly mention the size of the screen and how it adds unparalleled scale to already mammoth productions like Oppenheimer and Avatar: The Way of Water . But the thing that theaters do best is suppress your senses, keeping you locked to the moment, and focusing only on what’s in front of you. Talk to Me will surely not play as well at home, where the bone-crunching sound design and crisp cinematography by Aaron McLisky won’t be able to take over ears and eyes to its full effect. The reaction from you and the audience during the wince-inducing moments is what keeps Talk to Me alive, pushing it to be a cut above the rest of the pack. The Philippous seem to be fast learners when it comes to filmmaking, and I’m excited to see what the future holds in store for them. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Carmen May 11, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen There's a connection deeper than just skin on skin whenever hands touch within Benjamin Millepied's Carmen , which finds its way into theaters this spring after its world premiere last fall at the Toronto International Film Festival. The joining of two hands combines two personal stories into one, as each person shares their hopes, fears, and desires with the other. It is both physically and emotionally sensual, if also at times pretentious and unwieldy. The story of the titular character has come a long way on the screen since its novella and operatic inception by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy in 1845, and Georges Bizet in 1875, respectively. Before he made his name with monumental productions like The Ten Commandments and The Greatest Show on Earth , Cecil B. DeMille steered a lean 65-minute version in 1915. Director Otto Preminger would cause much controversy with his all-black version in 1954, with star Dorothy Dandridge becoming the first African-American to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Other versions by Jean-Luc Godard and Robert Towne have followed in the decades since. But along with Pinocchio , which saw new versions by Guillermo del Toro , Robert Zemeckis , and *shudders* Pauly Shore, 2022 (and 2023) seems to be the year of Carmen . Writer/director Valerie Buhagiar told the character's story closely to the original Bizet opera in her 2022 version (premiering earlier in the year at the Cinequest Film Festival), placing the action in contemporary Spain. Now Millepied has crossed the pond with his adaptation, setting it on the southern United States border. Melissa Barrera (who plays Sam in the new Scream movies) is the titular character, now a Mexican immigrant running from the criminals that have killed her mother. She crosses paths with a sympathetic border guard (Paul Mescal, proving that the one thing he can’t do flawlessly is speak with an American accent) who also feels a need to flee his surroundings. The makeshift pair hope to arrive at the Los Angeles nightclub owned by Carmen's dear family friend (Rossy de Palma). The heat of the chase between them and the police is only equaled by their rising passion for each other, with music and dance being their love language. Millepied is the husband of Natalie Portman and served as the choreographer for both Black Swan and Vox Lux . His promotion to the role of director is out of natural progression, as body language and movement tell just as much of the story here as they did in those two great movies. Regular Terrence Malick cinematographer Jörg Widmer swirls and tracks in ultra-wide shots, capturing both the beauty and harshness of the desert. Many scenes are dialogue-free, with Barrera and Mescal moving freely to Nicholas Britell’s elegant score. Everything comes together to create a pretty picture, but it never left me with more than an appreciation for the craft. There’s an emotional pull that gets lost in the translation, making something that, while precisely pulled off, feel like just an exercise in looking the part. Musical theater and opera fans will surely find more to appreciate about it, and I’m sure it will become a cult classic among the interpretive dance crowd. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

BlacKkKlansman August 27, 2018 By: Button Hunter Friesen Spike Lee has always been one of the most outspoken directors for African-American rights. His no holds barred mentality put him on the map in 1989 with Do the Right Thing and again in 1992 for his epic biopic Malcolm X . However, the last decade has been rough for Lee as his films have been of lower quality, and struggled to click with the mainstream crowd. Fortunately for Lee and moviegoers, his new film, BlacKkKlansman , is a return to form as he delivers a thrilling crowd-pleaser that also isn’t afraid to attack race in American society. Taking place in 1979 Colorado Springs, the film follows the real-life story of Ron Stallworth, who has just become the first black cop in town. His hiring is met with hostility among the white officers, mostly ones that like to create trouble for the fun of it. As a hot-headed rookie looking to make his mark and bring a little change, Ron decides to go after the local Ku Klux Klan chapter. Luckily for him, the Klan runs full ads in the paper to draw in recruits. Ron picks up the phone and disguises his voice to sound like a white man in order to get information. His disguise works and he sets up a meeting with a recruiter. Obviously, Ron himself won't be able to go, so he sends white officer Flip Zimmerman to play his white self. From this point on, the story follows Ron and Flip running a tag team operation as they try to bring down one of the most hateful groups in America. Over the past decade, we’ve gotten so used to Lee being overly loud and thunderous that it now feels a bit weird to see him show a decent amount of restraint when it comes to the volume of the message. He also paces the film really well for its 135-minute runtime. Action, comedy, and drama are interspersed, allowing the film to flow with great energy and rhythm. Although Spike shows some restraint, he doesn’t fully commit. At times he falls back into his old over the top habits. One moment of this is at the beginning when we are shown a fictional Klan propaganda film that serves no real purpose other than to make you hear endless racial expletives. For a script that has four credited writers, one of which is Lee, the writing never feels fragmented. Right off the bat, the biggest compliment to the script is that it never is too preachy with its message. We do hear a lot about racism in America, but it never feels overdone. One thing that the writers struggle to do is blend together two different plots. We have the main investigation plot with Ron and Flip, but we’re also given a smaller romantic subplot between Ron and Patrice, an activist leader for black rights. Even though their romance does serve the purpose of highlighting racial tension in America, at times it feels shoehorned in and out of place. Another minor thing that comes up periodically throughout is the writing for the Klan characters. Each one of them is one-note and are treated as cartoonishly evil. It makes them entertaining to watch, but it also makes it hard to take them seriously when real-life or death stakes are presented. The best part of the film is its characters and the actors that inhabit them. John David Washington, son of frequent Spike Lee collaborator Denzel Washington, gives one of the best leading performances of the year (so far). Just like his father, John carries a sort of charisma that makes his character feel authentic. He realizes his role is quite serious, but he also takes plenty of time to have fun with his character. It makes him very entertaining to watch, especially when he’s playing “White Ron” over the phone. Adam Driver does exceptional supporting work as Flip. Just like Washington, Driver takes things seriously but also partakes in the fun every once in a while. He also gives his character a lot of depth, who is a lapsed Jew that is now starting to wrestle with his religious identity. Lastly, Topher Grace of That ‘70s Show fame is great as infamous real-life Klan leader David Duke. Grace brings a weasel-like attitude to his demented character and shares great chemistry with Washington as they engage with each other over the phone from time to time. Just like last year’s breakout hit Get Out , BlacKkKlansman is one of the rare occurrences where a film is both entertaining and able to send a powerful message about racism in America. Whether it be Spike Lee’s powerful directing or the captivating performances, there’s a lot to like here. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Dead Don't Hurt May 26, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Dead Don’t Hurt opens with two simultaneous scenes of death. In one, a person peacefully draws their last breath as they lie in the home they built with their own two hands and are surrounded by the family they raised. In the other, a gunman mercilessly kills everyone in a saloon before hightailing it out of town. It’s in these two scenes that writer/director Viggo Mortensen illustrates the juxtaposing ideals of the old American West: a place where you can build something for yourself out of nothing, and also have it all taken away in a heartbeat. Not to be outdone by Bradley Cooper last year with Maestro ; Mortensen also produces, stars, and composes the score for his second feature at the helm after 2020’s Falling . And if that wasn’t enough, he also made the film in an atypical fashion by composing the score first and then shooting it to fit the musical cues. The necessity of the move is debatable and fully impossible to notice while watching the film, but the fact that it happened adds to Mortensen’s stance as an icon for the films that hang just outside the Hollywood sphere. Could you guess what his highest-grossing film is when you exclude The Lord of the Rings trilogy? It’s Green Book … and it’s not even close. Mortensen isn’t the sole star of his own revisionist western, as Vicky Krieps takes over the first-billed position. She plays Vivienne Le Coudy, a French-Canadian who was introduced as a child to the harsh realities of frontier life when her father was killed and left hanging on a tree by the British. And now, she’s betrothed to a British man in San Francisco, only this one will likely kill her through the boredom of high society. That’s how the charmingly rugged Danish cowboy Holger Olsen (Mortensen) catches her eye one day (I mean, who could resist Viggo?). “Come with me,” he asks her as he returns to his home at the edge of the world, a quiet and peaceful dusty homestead near a stereotypical Old West town. The coupling of these two characters is where The Dead Don’t Hurt really makes its mark. Krieps carries a sturdy poise throughout, while Mortensen is a man who, despite being a decorated soldier from his homeland, would much rather build barns and plant gardens than fire a weapon. Mortensen’s soft score accents these tender moments, and Marcel Zyskind’s camera always seems to find the magic hour within the California landscape. It’s the moments of commerciality, such as Garret Dillahunt as the unruly son of the town’s richest man and the staging of the action scenes, that bring everything back down below the surface. Dillahunt doesn’t have the presence to be an intimidating villain, with his all-black outfit doing all of the heavy lifting to communicate your attitude towards him. He’s part of some boilerplate conspiracy by the town’s mayor (played by Danny Huston) to hold a monopoly over its limited resources. It’s clear that Mortensen cared the least about this subplot when writing and filming it, so there’s no need to bother with it. A more interesting mistake comes in the form of the jumbled editing, which, if my memory serves me well, tries to cut between three different timelines: Vivienne’s childhood, her and Holger’s early days together, and then many years down the road. There’s no forward momentum or narrative secrets unlocked through the cross-cutting between these scenes, only a small sense of confusion about what’s happening and when. The (minor) works of John Ford and Howard Hawks would be an apt comparison to make for The Dead Don’t Hurt . Along with Kevin Costner’s supposed Horizon: An American Saga quadrilogy, this could mark a miniature comeback for the Western genre. Mortensen has just supplied the intimacy, now we’ll have to wait and see what Costner has to say about our nation’s past. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Maria November 25, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Maria concludes Pablo Larraín’s unofficial melancholic trilogy of iconic women of the 20th century. Jackie started it all in 2016, with Natalie Portman’s Jackie Kennedy forced to witness the end of her Camelot after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Then came Spencer in 2021, a portrayal of a hellish long weekend Princess Diana (Kristen Stewart) had to endure over the Christmas Holiday with the Royal Family. But while Jackie and Diana only found themselves at the end of an era, Maria sees its titular subject, opera singer Maria Callas, at the end of her life. Bolstering that sense of finality even further is veteran screenwriter Steven Knight’s (also the writer of Spencer ) decision to start this story at the very end. Callas’ body is found by her loyal butler (Pierfrancesco Favino) and maid (Alba Rohrwacher) on the floor of her Parisian apartment. She was only 53 at the time, although her frail physician condition from years of seclusion would lead anyone to guess she was much older. She ran away from the stage years ago, although she can’t escape it in her mind. It’s the only thing she’s ever known, a former blessing that’s become a curse due to her strained vocal cords. Larraín separates the tone of this story from his other two biopics, substituting the frenzied claustrophobia with something more hauntingly elegiac. Maria's apartment is just as luxuriously furnished as the White House or the holiday estate of the Royal Family, but there's a stillness in the air. For Maria, that silence is deafening, and the absence of music forces her mind to wander between the past and present. Production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas has recreated the opera houses of Europe with exquisite craftsmanship, each captured beautifully by legendary cinematographer Ed Lachmann, who reunites with Larraín after their impeccable work on last year's El Conde . It doesn't matter if the frame is filled with the golden hues of autumnal Paris or the stark black-and-white of the mid-20th century, the result is always mesmerizingly gorgeous. Larraín and Lachmann have each set a high bar for themselves over their careers, but this might be their respective magnum opuses on a technical level. The likes of Mica Levi or Jonny Greenwood aren't around this time to supply the music. That role has expectedly been handed over to Callas herself. In a pre-recorded segment, Larraín introduced the film explaining that for centuries opera was an art for the common person, only for the wealthy class to subsume it. Maria serves as his act to give the music back to the people, complete with all the extra heft that cinema allows. Subtitles are not included for any of the performances, as the emotion in the words and on Angelina Jolie's face tells us all that we need to know. Callas described each of her performances as miracles, an opinion that grows more accurate the longer she stands upon that stage. Similar to Demi Moore in The Substance , the casting of Jolie brings an additional layer of context to the role. Here's a performer who was at the top of her profession for two decades, relatively vanishing from her stage over the past few years. Calling this a "comeback" for Jolie would be a disservice to everything she's done during her acting sabbatical (charity work, directing, family, etc.). It's more of a reminder of her immense screen presence and poise as a performer. We hang on every word as she describes her past to a noisy television reporter (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and share in her sorrow as she unsuccessfully tries to mount a comeback. Sure, she doesn't fully sing the words of Callas, opting for lip-syncing. But the passion is there, and that's what really sells it. As the biopic genre has continued to stay relatively tame over the last decade, let's give thanks to Larraín for steering it in a new daring direction not once, not twice, but on three separate occasions. He saved the best for last with Maria , defying his own specific genre trappings. I very much look forward to what he does next, although I wouldn't complain if he reversed that decision and stayed in this mode forever. More Reviews Wicked: For Good November 19, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Jay Kelly November 20, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen