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Die My Love November 4, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Die My Love is a film that made me angry. Perhaps it’s what director Lynne Ramsay wanted me to feel, a connection to the spiraling headspace of its protagonist, Grace (Jennifer Lawrence. She seems to be suffering from a bout of postpartum depression, a trendy topic among the motherhood subgenre that also includes recent films like Tully, A Mouthful of Air , and Baby Ruby . Die My Love would have you believe that postpartum depression involves walking around the house with a knife or a shotgun, having an uncontrollable urge to kill your annoying dog, and violently bashing your head through every pane of glass you come across. None of it seems to be grounded in reality, mostly a showcase for its lead star to cut loose and be praised with adjectives like “raw” and “fearless.” I’d prefer to label it as self-indulgent, overwrought, and just plain bad. Ramsay drops her two leads in the middle of the Montana wilderness. Grace and her partner Jackson (Robert Pattinson) have inherited the farmhouse of his recently deceased uncle, a remote paradise for them to cut loose. And, boy, do they ever. Sex looks and sounds like two animals fighting, the pair writhing around on the floor, scratching and biting. Music is constantly blaring, the floorboards chip and squeak as they’re jumped on without a care in the world. What breaks up this hedonistic cycle is the introduction of a third wheel: their newborn son. Responsibility isn’t exactly a word they’re looking for at a time like this, which makes its forced placement drive a wedge between their relationship and Grace’s connection to reality. “I’m stuck between wanting to do something and not wanting to do anything,” is an explanation she blankly offers to a nosy party guest. Ramsay isn’t a filmmaker interested in straightforward methods of communication. Words are often replaced by images, jarringly photographed by Seamus McGarvey and stitched together by Toni Froschhammer. Everyone is lost in their own little world, illustrated through ultra-shallow focus, the background a swirling blur. Everything feels jagged, with danger lurking in every piece of hellish soundscape and dingy production design. On their own, each of these facets is serviceable, albeit a bit disappointing considering the talent. Together, spearheaded by Ramsay’s vision, they’re incredibly off-putting and obvious. In attempting to capture the inexplicability of Grace’s state of mind, a bright, neon sign is brandished in the corner of every frame, perpetually telling us exactly what we’re supposed to feel. That kind of shagginess leaves its star out high and dry. Lawrence’s performance is exactly that: a performance. She’s walking around all fours in the fields, licking windows, barking at the dog, and constantly complaining about not having sex with Jackson. It’s all so painfully “edgy,” seemingly stemming from a constant need to prove something, as if making faces and flailing around is what it means to be a “serious actor.” It beats me to assume what needs to be proved, as Lawrence has more than solidified her chops as a movie star and actor. Hell, she already played a stand-in mother married to a shitty man in a remote house in Mother! , a film that matched its madness with inquisitive substance. While Lawrence gets plenty (too much) to do, the rest of the cast just kind of stand around and watch. Pattinson’s character is woefully underdeveloped and uninteresting, the prototypical movie husband who is unwilling to communicate when the going gets tough. Sissy Spacek plays his mother, Pam, who is also dealing with a sudden change after the death of her husband Harry (Nick Nolte). The veteran acting pair are the lighthouses in this densely fogged-up narrative, with the ship repeatedly crashing without ever reaching its destination. It’s best not to explain LaKeith Stanfield’s presence as a wordless seducer that certainly should have been fully excised from all aspects of the project. This is the kind of arthouse film that gives the genre a bad wrap, a movie destined to receive an F CinemaScore and be another small catalyst in the rapid decline of risk-taking from the average moviegoer. If this is the kind of stuff that we’re risking our hard-earned dollars and time for, then what’s the point? The point is to be given an experience you’ll never forget, enlightened in ways that other art forms can’t quite achieve. Granted, that is true about Die My Love , just in the exact opposite ways everyone hoped for. More Reviews Die My Love November 4, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Nuremberg November 3, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Bugonia October 29, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen It Was Just an Accident October 28, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Bugonia October 29, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Oh, when will they ever learn? It's a question that director Yorgos Lanthimos continually asks of his characters, and, by extension, the human species as a whole. His distinctly macabre filmography is filled with disturbing tales of morality, each finding ways to twist the knife on our preconceived notions. The off-kilter performances and absurd concepts—such as being turned into an animal if you don't find a companion in The Lobster , or Barry Keoghan omnisciently terrorizing Colin Farrell's family in The Killing of a Sacred Deer —are never so disconnected from reality that they can be excused as pure fantasy. It's just another way of looking at things; once you take a step back, the error of our own ways is exposed in a deservedly uncomfortable light. Depending on your relationship with Lanthimos, you may either cheer or jeer at the fact that Bugonia is his most straightforward film to date… although you have to understand that we're very much grading on a curve. The weirder and more hostile the better, I say as one of the few fans of last year's mean-spirited Kinds of Kindness . Much of that might have to do with screenwriter Will Tracy subbing out the black heart of Efthimis Filippou and the sardonic wit of Tony McNamara for something a little more directly addressed to our modern times. The first half of the famous lyric to the leading question of this review is “Where have all the flowers gone?” For Teddy (Jesse Plemons), they’ve all but disappeared, both literally and figuratively. Living in his dilapidated bee farmhouse with his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis), the pair have fallen on hard times over the years through family tragedies. Part of that responsibility falls upon the local biochemical company, which has poisoned the local bee population and put Teddy’s mom (Alicia Silverstone) into a coma after a failed trial of an opioid drug. Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) is the CEO of the company, and is the type of boss to passive-aggressively claim that employees can go home whenever they want and that diversity is what makes us special… so long as it all leads to a healthier bottom line. Teddy wonders how humanity can be so cruel to one another, how he and Don can have so little, while the Michelles of the world can exact their will without consequence. At least in bee colonies, the worker bees have a sense of purpose for their queen, and everything in nature is perfectly balanced. Teddy’s narration mentions that there’s no sex when bees pollinate, so no one gets hurt. The odd unprovoked specificity of that line, along with a local police officer’s (Stavros Halkias) persistent apologizing for vague acts he inflicted on Teddy many years ago, hints at the darkness lying at the forefront of Teddy’s heart. Working from that mixture of long-buried PTSD and an avalanche of interest conspiracy theories, Teddy comes to the conclusion that Michelle must be an alien from the Andromedan galaxy, sent to Earth to push the human species deeper into the mud. He and Don kidnap and hold her in their basement, waiting for the lunar eclipse in four days so that she can call her mothership and they can negotiate a truce between the two species. Of course, Michelle isn’t on that same wavelength, especially when she wakes up and discovers that all her hair has been shaved off (Teddy claims that Andromedans use their hair as tracking devices). Stone, working with Lanthimos on their fourth consecutive feature, is more than up to the task of working within a limited setting. In contrast to the revolving door of elaborately lush sets of Poor Things , most of the runtime in Bugonia is devoted to her being chained to a bed in a dingy farm cellar. She’s like a boxer, studying her opponent over several rounds, eventually using their weapons against them. Teddy’s biggest weapon is his confidence in his findings and his initial absolute refusal to be dissuaded by Michelle’s pleas of how ludicrous this all sounds. Without being overly specific to demographics, Lanthimos and Tracy highlight the societal divides we face based on our inability to close our mouths and open our ears. Every contradiction is a personal attack and an opportunity to dig your heels in even more. It should be noted that Ari Aster is a producer on this project, with his film this year as a writer/director, Eddington (also starring Stone), tackling these same topics through a much more confrontational lens. Lanthimos hasn’t lost his confrontational attitude towards his audience, dialing up the tension through Jerskin Fendrix’s bombastic score and some harshly precise editing. This chamber piece eventually becomes a torture chamber as DP Robbie Ryan goes back and forth between keeping a distance from the squirming and pushing it right in front of our faces. Despite being small-scale, this is still a gloriously cinematic project, one that stretches its dollars to their fullest potential. A few dips into Teddy’s nightmarish past are rendered in washed-out black-and-white, almost out of a gothic tragedy. This is a two-hander with an unfortunate third wheel in Don, who is neurodivergent and forcefully taken along on Teddy’s crazy train. He perfectly fits the mold of the innocent lackey to the evil boss, someone who is eventually made to realize the error of their ways by the compassion of the hero. That obviousness is evident from start to finish, covering this story in a layer of predictability. Some acts of cruelty come off as cheap provocation, something that Lanthimos has skillfully been able to circumvent throughout his career. Oh, when will they ever learn? According to Bugonia , it seems that we’re well aware of the problem, but lack the will to fight for the cure. Indifference is a much more pathetic reason for our downfall than ignorance, although it does have an ironic ring to it. More Reviews Die My Love November 4, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Nuremberg November 3, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Bugonia October 29, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen It Was Just an Accident October 28, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Cinema Dispatch is your one-stop-shop film review website that also offers lists, awards updates, and essays relating to the world of cinema. Reviews Die My Love November 4, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Nuremberg November 3, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Bugonia October 29, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen It Was Just an Accident October 28, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Awards Button Button Awards Update: The First Oscar Predictions of the Season June 13, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Final 2025 97th Academy Awards Predictions February 28, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen 1 One Battle After Another 2 Hamnet 3 Sentimental Value 4 Sinners 5 Marty Supreme 6 Wicked: For Good 7 It Was Just an Accident 8 Frankenstein 9 Jay Kelly 10 Is This Thing On? Oscar Nomination Predictions - Best Picture Hunter Friesen Lists Twin Cities Film Fest 2025 Preview October 14, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen TIFF25: Tyler's Time at the Festival September 20, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Essays Button Button Tyler’s Takes: Andrew Garfield Should Have an Oscar by Now October 11, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Tyler’s Takes: Philip Seymour Hoffman's Legacy in 'Licorice Pizza' September 26, 2025 By: Tyler Banark

Nuremberg November 3, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen As the screenwriter for the all-around masterpiece that is Zodiac , James Vanderbilt essentially gets a lifetime free pass. Unfortunately, he milked that freedom for all its worth with some doozies like the Adam Sandler-led Netflix whodunnit Murder Mystery (and its sequel ), White House Down , and this year's most forgettable blockbuster, Fountain of Youth . Nuremberg might just be what the doctor ordered to get things back on track, a by-the-numbers World War II courtroom drama packed with an all-star cast. Although Vanderbilt seems to have focused too much on the vegetable portion of that prescription, delivering a film so stately and sturdy that it might as well be a long-lost HBO made-for-television movie. That's not a far-fetched comparison, considering that the Nuremberg trials have already been depicted on television in a two-part TNT miniseries, airing in the summer of 2000. Brian Cox won an Emmy for his portrayal of Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, the second most powerful official in Nazi Germany, behind only Adolf Hitler. Russell Crowe steps into that role for Vanderbilt's film, an adaptation of Jack El-Hai’s 2013 book that features a few of the same historical figures as the miniseries. One of the first images lensed by DP Dariusz Wolski is that of an American soldier urinating on a Nazi sign as he escorts civilians to safety in the spring of 1945. The war is winding down, leaving over 70 million dead in its wake. Göring's civilized and half-hearted attempt to drive away from the scene of the crime leads right into American hands, where he is arrested and jailed with the rest of the Nazi high command. But that was just the easy part, with the decision of what to do with him being exponentially more difficult. For as much as everyone would like to see it happen, immediately killing him would send a far too vengeful message than the world needs at this moment. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon) has the idea to put them all on trial, an Allied coalition effort that would unequivocally prove the Nazi's guilt in their crimes against humanity, thereby diminishing their power throughout the future. While the allies are preparing their case, the United States military has brought in hotshot psychiatrist Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) to assess the prisoners' mental stability and ensure they are fit to be put on trial. Sensing an opportunity for professional and monetary gain, Kelley decides to focus his efforts on Göring, meeting with him on several occasions to gather material for an eventual book on the psychology of evil. But what he doesn't expect to discover is a man not so different from him, one who genuinely cares for his wife and daughter, and probably eats and drinks more than he should. He flawlessly served his country, raising Germany from the destitution it was subjected to after World War I to a world superpower. He doesn't have hate in his heart for a specific group of people, just the general enemies preventing him from doing his duty. That sense of banality to some of the most inhumane acts in human history is a similar theme that director Jonathan Glazer explored in his Nazi-centered film, The Zone of Interest . Like Göring, several other Nazi officials simply saw themselves as cogs in the war machine, following orders for the service of their country. It was like a corporation, with lower-level individual ideologies being subsumed by the orders of higher-ups. Clashing with your boss is a bad idea for anyone trying to make a name for themselves in the new world order. But while Glazer let our minds vividly paint the horrifying picture through a neutral point of view, Vanderbilt is much more heavy-handed in his approach. There are endless speeches about the importance of this occasion and how this has to work so it can never happen again. There does come a point when it would be more beneficial for Vanderbilt to cut to the chase and have the characters stare directly into the audience as they make their grand statements, all while holding up a newspaper with today’s prescient headlines. Still, there’s some charm to how old-school this all feels. It could also be my bias for any period piece that eclipses a runtime of two and a half hours. John Slattery plays the colonel in charge of overseeing the prison. Brian Tyler’s score swells as he gives each Nazi their own Suicide Squad-esque intro, complete with cheesy archival footage. He ends the sequence by rousingly announcing, “Gentleman, welcome to Nuremberg!” as if this is the beginning of some grand adventure. If this were to be considered an adventure, then it would have needed to find a better lead, as Malek is woefully miscast as the playboy doctor. He’s introduced by wooing a female passenger on his train with a card trick, except that no chemistry has been created to produce an inkling of attraction. Tom Cruise played this role best in A Few Good Men , with Crowe aptly supplying this movie’s version of Jack Nicholson’s Col. Nathan R. Jessep. He’s exacting in his words and confident in his methods, always seemingly one step ahead of what the Allies are planning. High school history teachers will have a field day with Nuremberg over the next few years, although they’d still be much better off by sticking with Stanley Kramer’s 1961 classic Judgment at Nuremberg . Rather than shy away from controversy, as was customary for Hollywood at the time, Kramer always dove headfirst into the thorny battles in America’s conscience, applying a showman’s touch to stories centered on morals rather than stars. Vanderbilt has modestly succeeded in living up to that expectation, although increased politicization of cinema in the decades since has sanded the edges off this story. More Reviews Die My Love November 4, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Nuremberg November 3, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Bugonia October 29, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen It Was Just an Accident October 28, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Dive into our expert Oscar predictions and analysis, staying ahead of the curve on the films and performers destined for Hollywood glory. Awards Button Button Awards Update: The First Oscar Predictions of the Season June 13, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Final 2025 97th Academy Awards Predictions February 28, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen Oscar Nomination Predictions Last Updated: 09/24/2025 Next Update: 11/01/2025 1 One Battle After Another 2 Hamnet 3 Sentimental Value 4 Sinners 5 Marty Supreme 6 Wicked: For Good 7 It Was Just an Accident 8 Frankenstein 9 Jay Kelly 10 Is This Thing On? Best Picture 1 Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another) 2 Chloé Zhao (Hamnet) 3 Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value) 4 Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident) 5 Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme) Best Director 1 Sentimental Value 2 Sinners 3 It Was Just an Accident 4 Jay Kelly 5 Is This Thing On? Best Original Screenplay 1 One Battle After Another 2 Hamnet 3 Train Dreams 4 Wicked: For Good 5 Wake Up Dead Man Best Adapted Screenplay 1 Jeremy Allen White (Deliver Me from Nowhere) 2 Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another) 3 Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme) 4 Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent) 5 George Clooney (Jay Kelly) Best Lead Actor 1 Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) 2 Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value) 3 Cynthia Erivo (Wicked: For Good) 4 Laura Dern (Is This Thing On?) 5 Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I'd Kick You) Best Lead Actress 1 Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value) 2 Sean Penn (One Battle After Another) 3 Paul Mescal (Hamnet) 4 Adam Sandler (Jay Kelly) 5 Jeremy Strong (Spingsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere) Best Supporting Actor 1 Ariana Grande (Wicked: For Good) 2 Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Sentimental Value) 3 Elle Fanning (Sentimental Value) 4 Gwyneth Paltrow (Marty Supreme) 5 Emily Blunt (The Smashing Machine) Best Supporting Actress 1 One Battle After Another 2 Sinners 3 Wicked: For Good 4 Wake Up Dead Man 5 Jay Kelly Best Casting 1 Frankenstein 2 One Battle After Another 3 Hamnet 4 Sinners 5 Marty Supreme Best Cinematography 1 One Battle After Another 2 Hamnet 3 Sinners 4 Frankenstein 5 Jay Kelly Best Original Score 1 TBA 2 TBA 3 TBA 4 TBA 5 TBA Best Original Song 1 One Battle After Another 2 Hamnet 3 Sentimental Value 4 Marty Supreme 5 Sinners Best Film Editing 1 F1: The Movie 2 Wicked: For Good 3 Sinners 4 Avatar: Fire and Ash 5 One Battle After Another Best Sound 1 Frankenstein 2 Wicked: For Good 3 Marty Supreme 4 Sinners 5 Hamnet Best Production Design 1 Wicked: For Good 2 Frankenstein 3 Hamnet 4 Sinners 5 Marty Supreme Best Costume Design 1 Frankenstein 2 Wicked: For Good 3 Sinners 4 The Smashing Machine 5 28 Years Later Best Makeup & Hairstyling 1 Avatar: Fire and Ash 2 F1: The Movie 3 Wicked: For Good 4 Frankenstein 5 Superman Best Visual Effects 1 Zootopia 2 2 KPop Demon Hunters 3 Arco 4 In Your Dreams 5 Elio Best Animated Feature 1 Sentimental Value (Norway) 2 It Was Just an Accident (France) 3 The Secret Agent (Brazil) 4 No Other Choice (South Korea) 5 The President's Cake (Iraq) Best International Feature 1 2000 Meters to Andriivka 2 The Alabama Solution 3 The Perfect Neighbor 4 Seeds 5 The Librarians Best Documentary Feature

It Was Just an Accident October 28, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Rashid (Ebrahim Azizi) drives home late at night with his wife and young daughter. Due to the open landscape of Iran and the dark conditions, he hits a wild dog. This causes his car to break down a few miles later. Luckily, there’s a mechanic not far down the road who’s still open at this time of night and agrees to fix his car. Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) is one of the mechanics, and, in the void of darkness and silence, hears the limping squeak of Rashid’s prosthetic leg. It’s a sound that sends a shiver down his spine, as it exactly replicates what he heard as he was being tortured by the infamous guard known as Peg Leg over the months he was detained for protesting. Despite its title and initial set of circumstances being born out of coincidence, the creation of It Was Just an Accident is purely intentional. Writer/director Jafar Panahi has been a fervently political filmmaker for over thirty years. Despite securing a historic bevy of awards at the Cannes Film Festival for The White Balloon , he was forbidden from promoting the film in the United States on government orders. It would mark the only film of his career to screen in his home country, the rest all being banned on the grounds of anti-government propaganda. He was arrested in 2010 on that charge, imprisoned in confinement for months until he was released on house arrest. A string of docufiction hybrids was born out of this restriction, including the aptly titled This Is Not a Film , which had to be smuggled out of the country on a USB stick hidden in a cake. Panahi was arrested again in 2022, the third director to be detained in a week, along with Mohammad Rasoulof ( The Seed of the Sacred Fig ) and Mostafa Aleahmad. His eventual release was spurred several months later by a hunger strike. Like his previous decade of output, It Was Just an Accident was shot in secret without any permits from the government. But unlike those other films, this is a work of scorching anger, with its unwavering sights set directly on his former captors. This is a thriller in the purest sense of the word, where the suspense of the story stretches far beyond the borders of the silver screen. Determining that a moment like this will never come again, Vahid kidnaps Rashid and locks him in a crate in the back of his van. Rashid denies all claims over his identity, which creates just enough doubt for Vashid to seek out second opinions from his fellow inmates. They are Shiva, a wedding photographer; Goli, the bride at one of Shiva’s shoots; and Hamid, a chaos agent with the most vivid memory of his torturer. Like a jury, all of them must come together to verify the identity beyond a reasonable doubt. Panahi lets these events unfold in a natural progression, never overtly telling us what’s going on or why it’s happening. It’s a slow build-up of tension, with the weight of the filmmaking and performances illustrating all that we need to know about the importance of this moment. Of course, there’s a thick layer of irony in the fact that this review, along with all other press coverage of the movie, eliminates much of those feelings by revealing the synopsis. But Panahi is always one step ahead, imbuing the proceedings with a healthy slice of Coen-esque dark comedy. Vahid is not a trained soldier who can simply kidnap a person, so he just runs Rashid over with his car and stuffs him in the crate, all in broad daylight. Two police officers who notice the group are happy to look the other way once someone taps their debit card on the payment terminal. And no one besides Hamid is fully convinced of the perpetrator’s identity, especially when considering the fact that his wife is about to go to the hospital to give birth. Do they have the heart to kill someone so close to their child’s birth? Like Heath Ledger’s Joker, they’re dogs chasing cars, not knowing what to do once they finally catch it. The seriousness of this very real situation is never lost sight of, as many of the practical and ethical questions largely remain unanswered. An absolutely gripping long take near the end solidifies the rage that is not only felt by the characters but also by the millions of people who are entombed within this system of oppression. At the conclusion of the standing ovation to the film’s premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the coveted Palme d’Or, Panahi expressed the guilt that he felt for being so lucky to receive acclaim and joy, all while many of his contemporaries are still under persecution. It takes faith to move mountains, and It Was Just an Accident might be the biggest piece of evidence for why we should still hold on to faith, believing that better times are on the horizon. More Reviews Die My Love November 4, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Nuremberg November 3, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Bugonia October 29, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen It Was Just an Accident October 28, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Nouvelle Vague October 31, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Nouvelle Vague had its Canadian Premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Netflix will release it in theaters on October 31, followed by its streaming premiere on November 14. “Each film is made up of five different films: The film you write, the film you cast, the film you shoot, the film you edit, and the film you release.” That’s a line from Nouvelle Vague , spoken to Jean-Luc Godard as he’s about to begin production on his debut feature film, Breathless . Little did anyone know that it would become the apex not only of the French New Wave (for which this film takes its title), but also a pinnacle moment in the evolution of cinema. Sixty-five years later, director Richard Linklater, completing the back half of his 2025 double play after Blue Moon , is here to tell us all about. The film they wrote is a simple one. “All you need to make a film is a girl and a gun,” is Jean-Luc’s strategy for getting the necessary financing. He’s written a scenario with New Wave superstars and fellow Cahiers du Cinéma critics Claude Chabrol ( Le Beau Serge ) and François Truffaut ( The 400 Blows) , a fast-paced story of a crook and a girl on the run. Writers Holly Gent, Laetitia Masson, Vincent Palmo Jr., and Michèle Pétin find humor in the criminal behavior that is required to get a film off the ground. Jean-Luc evades securing permits, giving story details to his crew, and never keeps a regular working schedule. It’s all a mystery, maintain the magic that is needed to make a work of art. The film they cast was full of unknowns, except for the American expatriot Jean Seberg. Linklater applies the same logic, with Zoey Deutch, reuniting with the director after Everybody Wants Some!! , playing the Iowa-born star. She’s attracted to Godard’s whirlwind methods, mostly because they heavily clash with her recent work with the ultra-regimented Otto Preminger. Guillaume Marbeck marks one of the best feature acting debuts as Godard. He’s a dead ringer, complete with sunglasses that never come off and a partially receding hairline. There’s mischief in his (covered) eyes, and a sense of genius that persuades people to withstand his aloofness. A special shoutout should be given to Benjamin Clery as Jean-Luc’s assistant, Pierre Rissient, the comedic standout of the film. The film they shot was in French, with a 4:3 aspect ratio and high-contrast black-and-white. It was a fast and cheap solution, keeping the production light on its feet and giving the story a down-and-dirty aesthetic. David Chambille’s cinematography here is a near-perfect recreation, even down to the cigarette burn cue marks and slightly faded subtitles that also appear to introduce the dozens of famous historical faces. It’s boxy, yet vibrant, with an amateur quality that can only be made by someone who clearly understands what they’re doing. The sound pops, all of it recorded in post-production. The film they edited gave it the smoky, cool tone it’s most known for. Jump cuts excised all the “boring” bits, leaving only the portions that we need in order to want to know more. Linklater could have leaned on that technique more, as a substantial chunk of the film is spent on meticulously detailing the daily production process for the film. The majority of the days in the twenty-three-day shoot meld together, leaving an impression that we’re running around in a revolving door. The film they released was in theaters, catching on like wildfire as a new generation of cinephiles gravitated towards its hip aesthetics and ideas. This film will not share that strategy or result, with its placement on Netflix isolating the experience. For as much fun as I had with the movie itself, an equal amount came from the collective awe-inspiring giddiness that spread throughout the room. We were all sharing the same projector light, the same sound system, and the same sequence of events. And there’s nothing as artistically pure as that. More Reviews Die My Love November 4, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Nuremberg November 3, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Bugonia October 29, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen It Was Just an Accident October 28, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Explore a captivating collection of must-watch films on our curated list page. Lists Twin Cities Film Fest 2025 Preview October 14, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen TIFF25: Tyler's Time at the Festival September 20, 2025 By: Tyler Banark TIFF25 Recap September 17, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen TIFF25 Preview September 2, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen 2022 Losers Button 2023 Losers Button 25 Most Anticipated Films of 2022 Button 25 Most Anticipated Films of 2025 Button A Brief History of Presidents' in Film Button Cannes 2022: 50 Films That Could Premiere Button Cannes 2023 Predictions - Part 2: Hollywood Makes a Splash Overseas Button Cannes 2023 Predictions - Part 4: The Irregulars and Up-and-Comers Button Cannes 2023 Recap Button Cannes 2024 Predictions - Part 3: The Loyalists Button Cannes 2025 Lineup Predictions Button Every Spider-Man Movie Ranked Button MSPIFF 2023 Recap Button MSPIFF 2025 Preview Button Movies That Made More Money Than You Think Button Ranking the Films of Adam McKay Button Ranking the Films of Christopher Nolan Button Ranking the Films of Michael Haneke Button Ranking the Mad Max Franchise Button Sundance 2023 Preview Button TIFF23 Preview Button TIFF24 Preview Button TIFF24: Tyler's Time at the Festival Button TIFF25 Recap Button The Best Cinematographers Working Today And Where To Find Them Next Button The Best Military Movies for Veterans Day Button The Great Musical War of 2021 Button The Most Successful Directors at Cannes Button Top 10 DreamWorks Animated Movies Button Top 10 Films of 2019 Button Top 10 Films of 2021 Button Top 10 Films of 2023 Button Top 10 Films of 2024 Button Top 10 Films of 2025 (So Far) Button Top 10 Oliver Stone Films Button Top 10 Steven Spielberg Films Button Twin Cities Film Fest 2023 Preview Button Twin Cities Film Fest 2024 Preview Button Tyler's Favorite Musicals Button 2022 Winners Button 2023 Winners Button 25 Most Anticipated Films of 2024 Button 36 Most Anticipated Films of 2023 Button Cannes 2021: All The Films That Could Premiere Button Cannes 2023 Predictions - Part 1: The Festival Masters Button Cannes 2023 Predictions - Part 3: The Festival Mainstays Button Cannes 2023 Preview Button Cannes 2024 Predictions - Part 1: The Question Marks Button Cannes 2024 Predictions- Part 2: The Regulars Button Cannes 2025 Recap Button MSPIFF 2023 Preview Button MSPIFF 2024 Preview Button MSPIFF 2025 Recap Button Omaha Film Festival 2024 Recap Button Ranking the Films of Bong Joon-ho Button Ranking the Films of James Cameron Button Ranking the Films of Stanley Kubrick Button Ranking the Planet of the Apes Franchise Button Sundance 2023 Recap Button TIFF23 Recap Button TIFF24 Recap Button TIFF25 Preview Button TIFF25: Tyler's Time at the Festival Button The Best Hollywood Screenwriters of All-Time Button The Biggest Flops in TIFF History Button The Greatest Irish Filmmakers Button The Worst Cannes Premieres Ever Button Top 10 Films of 2018 Button Top 10 Films of 2020 Button Top 10 Films of 2022 Button Top 10 Films of 2023 (So-Far) Button Top 10 Films of 2024 (So Far) Button Top 10 Martin Scorsese Films Button Top 10 Pixar Films Button Twin Cities Film Fest 2022 Preview Button Twin Cities Film Fest 2023 Recap Button Twin Cities Film Fest 2025 Preview Button

Ballad of a Small Player September 14, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Ballad of a Small Player had its Canadian Premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Netflix will release it in theaters on October 15, followed by its streaming premiere on October 29. Contrary to its title, there is nothing small about Ballad of a Small Player . The locations are grand, with the skyscrapers and luxurious casinos of Macau providing the backdrop. The stakes are high as Colin Farrell’s Lord Doyle has to pay his debts within three days or face dire consequences. And the method of acquiring the cash is all flash, the swing of hundreds of thousands of dollars dependent on the value of the two cards sitting next to their player. Director Edward Berger knows a thing or two about grand storytelling. He’s been on a hot streak as of late with the one-two punch of All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave . Five Oscars are shared between the pair, although Berger was unfairly snubbed for a nomination in the Best Director category on each occasion. He has a masterful control of his craft, applying an intelligent touch to large-scale commercial filmmaking. There are tinges of Spielberg and Alan Pakula in his sensibilities, with drama wrung out of a simple conversation just as effectively as one filled with bullets and bombs. Unfortunately, Ballad of a Small Player cannot be perceived as anything but a failure, a minor pothole on this road to success. All those qualities I just mentioned are wrong here, a fundamental flaw in the film’s DNA that stems from a miscasting of its creatives. Lawrence Osborne’s story and Rowan Joffe’s screenplay are all about depravity and addiction, how low Doyle would sink into the gutter in the hopes of a windfall. It doesn’t matter that he loses a dozen card games in a row, emptying his pockets as if the cash has an expiration date. What matters to him is that there’s a chance that he could win it all back, and then some. It’s a grubby, self-destructive way to go about life, dodging creditors and delaying responsibilities until the last possible moment. Berger can’t get down into the mud, which is why everything is as forced as a clean-mouthed conservative saying their first curse word. The sound design is cranked aggressively loud, the frames swirl and crash, and the garish colors of Doyle’s green and orange suit insult every neon sign in the city. Volker Bertelmann’s score may be his best one yet, a high bar considering his recent work with Berger. It’s thunderously operatic, the strings and horns blasting as if they’ve been tasked with breaking down the walls to Jericho. But, again, it’s all wrong, a mismatch of tone that will make it much easier to appreciate on Spotify rather than within the film itself. And yet, I much preferred the unnecessary bombast to the quieter scenes. It’s one thing to have style over substance; it’s another to have neither. Doyle falls into the grace of the kindly casino employee Dao Ming (Fala Chen), who interrupts his debauchery with introductions to the parts of Macau not intended for tourists. The problem is that their relationship is both unbelievable and unsatisfying, a tedious distraction that keeps the film’s heart on ice. There’s also Tilda Swinton as detective Cynthia Blithe, who’s been on Doyle’s tail ever since he “miraculously” came into all this money. It’s another one of her performances where she dons a gaudy wig and costume, an antithesis to the usual shady demeanor required in this line of work. Farrell is committed to the bit, chowing down on the scenery just as much as he does on a lobster later in the film. Somebody like Nicolas Cage or John Travolta would have turned this all into a complete farce, but Farrell maintains a sense that he’s a lost soul stuck on this cycle. Comparisons to Adam Sandler’s turn as Howard Ratner in Uncut Gems are appropriate, although he at least had the benefit of being better served by his director. Baccarat is a game of pure chance, relying on nothing from the player but just the ability to flip the cards that have been dealt. It’s a hard action to instill with tension, much as Berger tries. You either have the right cards, or you don’t. Ballad of a Small Player doesn’t have the cards, and all the bright lights and noise it shoves in your face to convince you that it does just makes the whole thing even more unappealing. More Reviews Nuremberg November 3, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Bugonia October 29, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen It Was Just an Accident October 28, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Nouvelle Vague October 31, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Shelby Oaks October 27, 2025 By: Button Tyler Banark Chris Stuckmann’s Shelby Oaks has been a long time coming. Announced years ago and funded by one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns for an independent horror film, it arrives with the kind of anticipation usually reserved for a veteran director’s return, not a debut. That’s largely because Stuckmann isn’t just any first-time filmmaker — he’s a film critic turned YouTube personality, known for his thoughtful dissections of movies and his outspoken love of the horror genre. With Shelby Oaks , he set out to make something deeply personal: a horror story about grief, memory, and obsession. Unfortunately, the film that’s emerged from this long gestation is a letdown, undone by clumsy storytelling, derivative direction, and a lack of emotional clarity. It’s a debut that feels both overthought and undercooked, driven by passion but devoid of control. The film centers on Mia (Camille Sullivan), a woman still grieving the mysterious disappearance of her sister Riley, who years earlier was part of a ghost-hunting group called The Paranormal Paranoids . When new evidence surfaces — eerie VHS tapes and strange sightings that suggest Riley may still be alive — Mia becomes consumed with uncovering the truth. On paper, the setup sounds like the perfect foundation for a psychological horror film. It hints at loss, obsession, and the haunting power of the past, the kind of themes that made classics like The Ring and The Blair Witch Project resonate. But Shelby Oaks never manages to build on its intriguing premise. Instead, it unravels into a series of meandering scenes and half-developed ideas, lacking the narrative momentum and atmosphere a film like this desperately needs. Stuckmann’s direction is full of ambition — and that’s part of the problem. He clearly loves horror cinema and draws from all corners of it: the documentary tension of the found footage subgenre, the metaphysical dread of Hereditary , the creeping unease of The Sixth Sense . Yet these inspirations clash rather than cohere. The film shifts tonally from found footage (or mockumentary in the opening minutes) to psychological thriller to supernatural mystery, but without the stylistic precision to make those transitions work. The cinematography, heavy on handheld camerawork and dimly lit interiors, aims for realism but ends up looking murky, unfocused, and confusing to differentiate. Too often, what’s meant to feel unsettling just feels amateurish. Editing choices compound the problem. Scenes linger either to give exposition or to stretch out, often before tension has a chance to build, while others linger far past their emotional expiration date. There’s a jittery, uncertain rhythm to the movie — as if it’s constantly questioning itself mid-scene. You can feel Stuckmann reaching for slow-burning suspense, but he never finds the pacing that sustains it. By the time the film attempts to shift into full-blown horror, the viewer’s patience has worn thin, and the scares feel both predictable and unearned. The performances, like much of the film, are uneven. Camille Sullivan gives it her all, grounding the story in genuine emotion, but she’s fighting an uphill battle against dialogue that alternates between stilted and melodramatic. Her Mia is supposed to be unraveling, but the film never gives her a clear emotional trajectory — she just seems perpetually frazzled. I do applaud the movie for wanting to showcase a character finding their lost, haunted sibling and making them the haunted one instead. However, it makes things challenging when the actor playing that character isn’t as central to the story as audiences want. The supporting cast fares worse, cycling through generic horror roles with little personality or depth. No one feels like a real person, which makes it hard to invest in their fates when the supernatural elements finally kick in. Visually, there are a few strong touches — a flickering hallway light here, a haunting reflection there — that show Stuckmann’s eye for composition. But these moments are too few and far between. The film’s visual language is indecisive: too dark to appreciate when it wants realism, too plain when it aims for stylized fear. It’s as if Stuckmann, having absorbed years of movie references, struggled to find his own visual identity. What should feel like homage ends up feeling like imitation. The ending, which should tie the film’s emotional threads together, only deepens the disappointment. It offers no real resolution — neither narratively nor thematically — and instead collapses into a jumble of clichés: distorted camera footage, whispered voices, and a final twist that lands with a questioning thud. Rather than provoking fear or sadness, it leaves you wondering what exactly the film was trying to say. To his credit, Stuckmann’s sincerity is never in question. Shelby Oaks is not a cynical movie; it’s clearly the work of someone who loves film and wanted to make something meaningful. But that passion doesn’t translate into competence. The project feels like a filmmaker testing out everything he’s learned from watching movies, without yet understanding how to make those lessons his own. The result is a film that’s ambitious but shapeless, heartfelt but hollow, and enduring but messy. Shelby Oaks isn’t a disaster some might expect from hearing first reactions at the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival — it’s something sadder: a missed opportunity. You can see the outlines of a better movie buried beneath its flaws, one that could have explored loss and obsession with quiet devastation. Instead, we get a muddled, joyless debut that mistakes references for vision and mood for meaning. If Chris Stuckmann were to continue making movies, I hope he’ll grow as a filmmaker and find his voice and identity. For now, Shelby Oaks is a stumble, not a stride. For all its passion and promise, it’s a paranormal story that never finds a soul. You can follow Tyler and hear more of his thoughts on Twitter , Instagram , and Letterboxd . More Reviews Bugonia October 29, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen It Was Just an Accident October 28, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Ballad of a Small Player September 14, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Nouvelle Vague October 31, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Hedda October 22, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen As much as I love indulging in a thirty-eight movie binge over the ten days of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), I can also readily admit that no person can accomplish that task without having suffered some occasional mental lapses. By about the fifth or sixth day, your patience starts to wear thin, and your ability to mentally interact with a film becomes increasingly harder. That situation becomes exacerbated for the mid-day screenings, after the sugar rush from the Tim Horton’s donuts has worn off, and before the adrenaline rush that comes from a star-studded red carpet evening premiere. Hedda was one of those films this year that got the brunt of that unfortunate scenario. Literally smacked in the middle of my tenure at the Canadian city (on my busiest day, I might add), Nia DaCosta’s reimagining of the famed Henrik Ibsen stage play was given the unfair disadvantage of having to jump a few extra hurdles in order to overcome my impending brain fog. However, I would like to point out that, over the years, several films have passed that test with flying colors, including some of my favorites like The Beast and April . For all its glitz and glamour, Hedda will not be joining those gilded ranks. Comparisons to Babylon will be inevitable, save for the extreme hedonism that Damien Chazelle resurfaced, and Old Hollywood would not like you to investigate further. Hildur Guðnadóttir’s jazzy score is as loud and showy as Justin Hurwitz’s was, offering an exclamation point to every bit of rumor and twist of the metaphorical knife. The mansion that serves as the film’s sole location is decadent, with DP Sean Bobbitt flaring up the screen with sumptuously oversaturated colors. The camera swoons from room to room, climbing staircases and windows to capture every lush costume. Hedda may be a classier bit of chaos, but it still comes packed with incredibly thorny characters. Hedda Gabler (Tessa Thompson) is rambunctious and easily bored with life, which makes her prone to stirring up a bit of drama. Her husband, George (Tom Bateman), has bought an exorbitantly priced mansion to keep their marriage afloat for just a little longer, and to slyly muscle his way into the next rung of the upper class. A grand party is how they’ve chosen to open their doors, with everyone invited to dance, drink, and destroy. DaCosta keeps this twisted chess game moving with the energy of a dance, pushing the noise and editing to their highest tempo. One minute, the guests are all downing shots at the bar; the next minute, they’re skinny dipping in the lake. Every move is carefully choreographed by both DaCosta and Hedda, the latter using this opportunity to exert control over the life she’s shamefully lost grip of. The American-born Thompson sports a British accent, piercing every polite conversation with a venomous jab. Hedda’s former lover, Eileen Lovborg, is up to that unenviable challenge, with Nina Hoss fearlessly cutting through the cast with a performance that positively recalls the best of Jessica Lange. Despite having all the right ingredients, the vibes of this proverbial party feel off. Maybe it’s the wasting of the rest of the cast besides Thompson and Hoss, or the inescapable feeling that this version of the titular character should be much more entertaining than she is written. A lot of topics are introduced, including gender, race, and sexuality. But rarely are they explored to their fullest depths, preventing this soirée from being anything more than a one-night affair. More Reviews It Was Just an Accident October 28, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Double click the dataset icon to add your own content. 1/1/2035 By: Author Name Shelby Oaks October 27, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Double click the dataset icon to add your own content. 1/1/2035 By: Author Name Hunter Friesen

Is This Thing On? October 26, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen Is Thing Thing On? screened at the 2025 Twin Cities Film Fest. Searchlight Pictures will release it in theaters on December 19. Whether it was intentional or not, Bradley Cooper’s third outing as a director, Is This Thing On? , feels very much like a direct response to all the negative criticisms surrounding the extreme formalistic showmanship of his sophomore feature, Maestro . Jumping from the populist smash hit that was A Star Is Born into a 4:3, mostly black-and-white biography on a semi-closeted classical composer was always going to be a major leap, especially when the aggressive awards campaign pushed Cooper to be labeled as a try-hard, a dubious title that results in polite responses from the industry, but no genuine love from the public. Unfair as those criticisms were to Cooper and his monumental biographical achievement, Is This Thing On? is the right move at the right time, a strategic downshift into a less pressurized register, all while retaining an uncanny skill at producing respectful adult entertainment. Cooper’s first appearance in the film is not as the lead, but as a supporting character named Balls (yes, really). At a party he and his wife Christine (Andra Day) are hosting at their New York City loft apartment, he falls over and spills milk all over the carpet. His immediate laughter and everyone’s bemoaning signals that this is a common occurrence, likely a symptom of his need to be high all the time and a head-in-the-clouds mindset after being upgraded from an understudy in a local play. He is the comic relief to this story, the foil to bounce off the dramatic journey that fellow partygoers Alex and Tess Novak (Will Arnett and Laura Dern) are on in their marriage. Twenty-six years of partnership are at its end, with Alex taking an apartment in the city while Tess stays in their home with their “Irish twin” sons. Wandering the streets on a restless night, Alex stumbles upon the Comedy Cellar. Rather than pay the $15 cover charge, he signs himself up for the open mic night and improvises through a routine where he candidly lays out all his cards for the audience. That level of honesty is cheaper and more fun than therapy, so Alex decides to modestly pursue this avenue of self-expression. Having done similarly cathartic work on television in Flaked and BoJack Horseman , Arnett is adept at finding the balance between innocent humor and flawed darkness. There is a required level of awareness to be able to write and perform these self-deprecating jokes, but also a similar amount of cowardice to convince yourself to bear it all with complete strangers rather than your significant other. Meanwhile, Tess, after years of retirement due to motherhood, finds herself dipping back into the world of professional volleyball. She’s been offered a coaching position for the Olympic team, a decision that will push her to think of herself for the first time in years. Dern is positively magnetic, rediscovering her character’s individuality with an endearing attitude. Part of this narrative is inspired by the true story of John Bishop, a British man who turned to stand-up as a method of reconciliation after a breakup with his wife. Writing with Mark Chappell, Arnett and Cooper maintain that sense of grounding by forgoing the usual Hollywood-isms found in relationship dramas. There isn’t a big blow-up scene or a string of fights that eventually break the camel’s back, just a mutual understanding that it’s time to cut everyone’s losses. There’s a lot of humor in the logistics of this situation, as agreeing to a breakup doesn’t mean it immediately happens. Where will Alex sleep while he’s searching for a place to move to, and how will Tess manage her friendship with Alex’s parents, Jan and Marilyn (Ciarán Hinds and Christine Ebersole), who live just down the street from their house? The production is light on its feet, with Cooper being his own camera operator as he glides through the streets and cellar hallways. Long takes are used for both comedic and dramatic effect, with much of Arnett’s routines being captured in one swoop of close-ups. When Alex and Tess are walking to the subway from the initial party, a long pause of silence fills the air as their conversation hits its conclusion. They’re likely thinking about the same thing at that moment, but are both unable to fully express what they’re feeling. Convenience and contrivances for the sake of connecting the dots do come into play later on, with one pivotal scene featuring Peyton Manning as a volleyball coach, taking Tess on a date throughout the city. At some point, you do have to give yourself over to the fact that this is a movie, and shortcuts are necessary to truncate a year-long path down to two hours. Stuff like that rarely hurt Nancy Meyers or James L. Brooks in finding the truth of the human condition, and neither does it hinder Cooper, who can seemingly do no wrong once he has a man, a woman, and a camera. More Reviews It Was Just an Accident October 28, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen Double click the dataset icon to add your own content. 1/1/2035 By: Author Name Double click the dataset icon to add your own content. 1/1/2035 By: Author Name Shelby Oaks October 27, 2025 By: Tyler Banark Hunter Friesen