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Saltburn November 17, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Writer/director Emerald Fennell has wasted no time cashing in her blank check to make Saltburn , a feature-length Calvin Klein ad that slots nicely in the recent "eat the rich" movie trend (see Triangle of Sadness , Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery , and The Menu just last year). Fennell somehow molds all three of those features into one product, creating something that loves to push your buttons and make you squirm just as much as it wants you to laugh out loud. Sometimes you don’t know whether to laugh or look away, making this one of the most outlandishly memorable films of the year, both for good and bad reasons. Fennell shifts her sophomore feature away from the American setting of Promising Young Woman to her native England, specifically the most British place there is: Oxford University. The freshman class of 2006 has descended upon the campus, and the class divides have already been set. Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) finds himself on the lonely side of the have-nots, while people like Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi) and Farleigh Start (Archie Madekwe) sit atop their ivory towers. The silver spoon kids aren’t necessarily assholes, but there is an aura of “you and I are not equals” that permeates from them. Oliver desperately wants to be part of that clique, and, luckily for him, he gets a foot in the door through Felix, who seemingly takes him under his wing out of pity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lALMdJf6UUE Elordi and Keoghan look as if they’re ready to remake the Schwarzenegger/DeVito starring Twins in these opening sections. Keoghan is only a little more sociable than his homicidal character in Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer , but he’s just as carnivorous as he lusts after Felix’s body and lifestyle. It’s hard to blame him when someone like Elordi is standing right in front of you, a golden child who knows he can turn the whole room when he walks in. It’s no wonder why Sofia Coppola cast him as Elvis Presley in this year’s Priscilla . Felix’s ultimate gesture of kindness is inviting Oliver to his family’s sprawling estate, Saltburn, for the summer. There he meets the rest of the Catton aristocracy: aloof father James (Ricard E. Grant), caustic mother Elspeth (Rosamund Pike), and uncontrollable sister Venetia (Alison Oliver). Everything about the house is so sumptuous that it seemingly exists in a plane outside of mortal existence. “Time to Pretend” and “Mr. Brightside” rock the soundtrack as Oliver and the group play tennis in suits/dresses, swim in the private lake, and host parties where the minimum guest list is 200 names. For Oliver, it’s going to be impossible to go back to a regular life once he’s had a taste of the next level. Both he and Fennell ask: Do these nobles deserve the life they have, especially if all they had to do to earn it was be born? The comparisons to The Talented Mr. Ripley are aplenty, but I doubt even the misanthropic callousness of Patricia Highsmith would dare to try and reach the levels of provocation that Fennell instills within her answers. Most of it feels like substance, but some of it feels like it's here just for shock value. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as there are deeds done that you must see to believe. Let’s just say vampirism, bathtubs, and grave plots will have a whole new context when you walk out. Fennell also gets dangerously close to overplaying her hand the further down the rabbit hole she takes us. Things do get a little too outlandish for believability, undermining much of the intricately layered suspense built up over the last few hours. Keoghan, along with Linus Sandgren’s gorgeous 1.33:1 cinematography, paves over many of those faults. Their work in the final sequence makes it one of the best of the year as the knife gets twisted one final time for good measure. Saltburn ’s brain might not always equal its bite, but there’s so much self-assured showmanship that I was glad to get lost in this maze. Between being an Academy Award winner and displaying a strong disinterest in subtlety, it’s hard to pin down exactly where Fennell will be pointing her darkly sharp pen and camera next. That’s just the way I want it to stay, as there’s always room for someone to push boundaries by going for broke with each step up to the plate. Amazon MGM Studios will release Saltburn in select theaters on November 17th, followed by a nationwide expansion on November 22nd. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Rental Family September 7, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen From its plucky opening strings by Jónsi and Alex Somers, and twinkling cinematography, Rental Family immediately announces its intentions to burrow deep into our hearts. Co-writer/director Hikari’s film is all about relationships, specifically how we blend reality and fiction to create the other person’s perception of ourselves. It’s also about the truths and lies we tell to shield ourselves from the harsh truth. While having lived there for seven years, Phillip Vanderploeug (Brendan Fraser) is still a gaijin, or “outsider,” to Japan. His dumb luck fame as the superhero star of a silly toothpaste commercial gave him the confidence to fully commit to breaking into the Japanese acting industry. Very few chances have come his way since, with the isolation and rejection further exposing his cracks. While wide, his smile displays no happiness, and he always seems sorry to be occupying any amount of space. One of his auditions is for “sad American,” which requires him to wear a suit and tie. But instead of showing up at a talent agency, he stumbles into a funeral for someone he’s never met before. It turns out that the majority of the attendees were paid actors, a gathering large enough to make the deceased seem more impressive to his family. This rental service is run by Shinji Tada (Takehiro Hada), who offers a surrogate person to help fill a gap in someone’s life. Phillip’s first assignment as a full-time employee for Shinji is to be fake married to a lesbian woman so she can use the marriage license to move out of the country with her girlfriend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0pqP6ClcE8 Before you claim all of this to be far-fetched, I’d like to point out that it is a real practice in Japan. Filmmaker Werner Herzog made a documentary about the industry in 2019 titled Family Romance, LLC , centered on an actor hired to impersonate the missing father for a young girl. It’s an extreme and ethically dangerous line of work, with lying being a naturally needed skill. But some of these lies provide positive outcomes, such as Phillip being hired by the family of a lonely loser to help him regain his confidence. Plus, the pay is really good, and Phillip has a lovable foreign charm that makes people instantly trust him. Rental Family at least has the bravery to dive into the reason why such an industry exists. Mental health is stigmatized in Japan, with very few opportunities for therapy or life coaching. This is still a band-aid for a gunshot wound, but it’s probably better than nothing. Everything is transactional these days, so why can’t happiness? After those reasons, it’s best not to use the logical side of your brain anymore. Hikari leans towards the sentimental side of every decision, figuring that every problem can just be solved with a heart-to-heart conversation. Much of it is treacly, cloying at your heart at every turn. For each of the poor decisions that are made on paper, they’re excused by an apology and backed up by the universal message that humans are flawed creatures. It would be much more unbearable to constantly hear those answers if they weren’t delivered by a top-notch cast. Fraser is incapable of registering a false emotion, lending his sympathetic charm to a character that is unearthing just as much happiness for himself as he is for others. Takehiro Hira and Mari Yamamoto are his new co-workers, each of them slowly waking up to the realization that a career built on little white lies slowly permeates into their personal lives as well. A little more honesty goes a long way, both in Rental Family and reality. Those easier answers make for a comforting watch, yet not something that leaves a longer-lasting impression. Its heart is in the right place, and sometimes our hearts want what they want. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Searchlight Pictures will release Rental Family in theaters nationwide on November 21st. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Idea of You April 30, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Speaking to Vogue in 2020, the author of the 2017 book The Idea of You, Robinne Lee, stated that the protagonist of her novel, Hayes Campbell, was partly inspired by Harry Styles circa his days as part of One Direction. This came as a semi-confirmation to the biggest fan theory about the novel, as the similarities between the character and Styles (British, boy band, tattoos, young age, Coachella, etc.) were too eerie to ignore. It’s a good thing that Lee got ahead of the discourse when she did, as the visual incarnation of Hayes Campbell within director Michael Showalter’s film adaptation of her novel is far too compelling evidence to further ignore. Playing this universe’s version of Harry Styles is Nicholas Galitzine, moving up the book club heartthrob ladder after starring as Prince Henry in last year’s Prime Video release of Red, White & Royal Blue . Here he’s paired up with Anne Hathaway as Solène, a newly single mother nearing forty, trying her best to quell the impending midlife crisis. She has a sixteen-year-old daughter, Izzy, a successful small-town art gallery, and a good group of friends. When her ex-husband bails at the last minute on taking Izzy and her friends to Coachella, Solène is the one to pick up the slack. Stuck in the middle of the desert surrounded by people less than half her age, she quickly finds the nearest spot that offers peace. But what she thinks is a VIP bathroom is actually the private one of Hayes Campbell, lead singer of the worldwide sensation boy band August Moon. This meet-cute ignites some serious sparks, with the pair slowly realizing that they do share some good chemistry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8i6PB0gGOA “Is this twenty-four-year-old kid flirting with me?” asks Solène in her head. It’s certainly a change of pace for her, and a bit nice to be on the other end of the stick as the cause for her divorce was that her ex-husband left her for a younger woman. But how will a relationship work between someone who never got to be a free adult and someone who has only known total freedom? Showalter and co-writer Jennifer Westfeldt (co-writer/star of the early aughts indie sensation Kissing Jessica Stein ) probe the early romantic stages with a charming gracefulness, allowing the actors to work at their highest potential. Hathaway delivers one of her best performances, playing someone who has it all put together while simultaneously jumping off the deep end. She and Galitzine have a witty banter between them, making this romance both somewhat believable and relatable. It also doesn’t hurt that Showalter films the beautiful pair in some gorgeous locations, such as Spanish beaches and the rain-swept streets of Paris. The second and third acts are when the film starts to flirt with some of its deeper themes, such as the price of fame and society’s value (or lack thereof) on women’s happiness. Contrary to hundreds of years of oppression, Solène chooses to live a bit vicariously and not have her well-being tied to her obligations. The online discourse around the pair’s romance is startling, to say the least, but there are quite a few stretches in logic in just how much the world at large gets swept up in this relationship. There’s also the predictability that comes with the will-they-won’t-they portion of the story. The more free-flowing style of the earlier portions is swapped for more stodgy conversations circling the question of how others will perceive the two together. There are moments when the material is on the cusp of a breakthrough, but the well-worn trappings of the genre and the need to be a crowd pleaser (even though there will be no in-person crowds to please due to the film’s Prime Video release) keep everything within a tidy box. There are many worse versions of The Idea of You in so many other multiverses, one of which likely has Styles playing Hayes Campbell in a much more winking fashion. We only need to look back on the one-two combo of My Policeman and Don’t Worry Darling to predict the outcome of that. The more adult version that we have in our universe gets the job done, becoming a respectable template of how to successfully do these book club adaptations. Amazon MGM Studios will release The Idea of You on its streaming service on May 02nd. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Queer September 10, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen Desperation and desire go hand-in-hand within Luca Guadagnino’s Queer , an adaptation of the legendary William S. Burroughs’ early short novel. These are qualities that the famed workaholic Italian director has found a knack for expressing, doing so in opposing fashions this year with the stylishly Hollywood-y Challengers and this magnetically opaque, hedonistic journey. Everything is presented in its most sensual form through Guadagnino’s eyes and ears, with the destination this time being Mexico in the 1950s. World War II is over, and those returning from Europe and the Pacific are looking for a little rest and relaxation. The American public still (and will continue to for decades) looks upon homosexuality as a disease, forcibly creating the neighboring southern country as a haven filled with life’s great pleasures. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eknj5_0tF2s The streetlights cast beams of heaven down upon the men and women of the night, the bars are always open, and everyone’s thirst is perpetually unquenchable. But Guadagnino and production designer Stefano Baisi don’t stop there, replacing establishing shots with dreamy illustrations filled with miniatures and backdrops that seem much larger and more expressive than they ever could have been. This version of Mexico isn’t being viewed through an objective lens; it’s someone’s reconstruction of a long memory. That memory belongs to William Lee (Daniel Craig), one of those GIs who left America once he got off his Navy boat and never looked back. Donning a sharp outfit and an even sharper tongue, his days consist of bar trips, flirtations with the boys passing through, and consuming what drugs and alcohol he can get his hands on. It’s a fast and cheap lifestyle, one that comes to a halt once he lays eyes on fellow American Gene (Drew Starkey). The youngster arrives on the scene in slow motion and is engulfed by the blaring words of Nirvana’s Come As You Are . You can feel the temperature rising in the room rising just as much as it is within William’s loins, with this introduction being just the first of many moments where the anachronistic soundtrack and Sayombhu Mukdeeprom’s camera concoct some of the most potently erotic sequences put to celluloid. That dichotomy between the audio and the visuals translates to William and Gene’s relationship, with the former trying to play younger and the latter containing much more maturity than his fresh face lets on. They have a unique honesty with each other, which Guadagnino transfers to the bedroom with as much raw authenticity as he had with Call Me by Your Name and last year’s All of Us Strangers . Craig is at his most appealingly charming here, mixing the sexual power of James Bond and the eccentricities of Benoit Blanc. He sees what he is through the mirror that is Starkey’s performance, the enigmaticness of Gene being his most appealing and perplexing quality. Burroughs’ novel was published in its unfinished form, something that Guadagnino and screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes emulate within their project, even down to the literal runtime, which has been the subject of much scrutiny as it kept getting whittled down since its announcement. A question came to Guadagino during the North American premiere screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, asking if the initial three-hour cut would ever see the light of day. The director shyly laughed and said that this was the film that he made, the hesitation in his voice almost signaling that he has as much desire to share his undiluted version as much as audiences want to consume it. The current 135-minute version is a shaggy mini-beast, hypnotically blending reality and dreams as it traverses from the urban hustle to the isolated jungles. Comparisons to Bardo may be appropriate in terms of trying to understand the imagery and intention behind each scene. There are moments when everything is frustratingly translucent, just escaping your grasp, no matter how hard you try to grab hold of it. But even in its haziness, there’s an alluring power that prevents your ignorance from clouding the enjoyment. A24 will release Queer in select theaters on November 27th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Triangle of Sadness May 28, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen An influencer couple, a Russian capitalist, two British arms dealers, and an American Marxist sea captain all board a $250 million luxury yacht bound for the high seas. What could go wrong? You’ve seen movies better at dissecting economic classism than Triangle of Sadness . You’ve also seen much tighter and more succinct ones. And you’ve definitely seen ones that leave you with a better understanding of an issue than when you walked in. But I don’t think you’ve ever seen a film that doesn't do all of that and still be as wickedly hilarious as Triangle of Sadness . Ruben Östlund has never found an issue he can’t tackle. Whether it be mundane social norms in Involuntary , male ego in Force Majeure (for which he was given the dubious honor of having remade in the English language with the woefully dull Downhill ), or the upside-down art world in The Square , the Swedish filmmaker has always found a playful way to show just how absurd life is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDvfFIZQIuQ And, along with those themes of social skewering, the thing that has stayed most consistent is the praise he’s received. Force Majeure snagged the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, which allowed him to be “promoted” to the official competition with 2017’s The Square . The brighter lights did nothing to hinder his upward trajectory as he added the prestigious Palme d’Or to his trophy shelf. Now in 2022, Östlund’s stock continues to rise with his second consecutive Palme win, joining Michael Haneke and fellow countryman Billie August as the only filmmakers to win the award for back-to-back films. So, with all the awards surrounding Triangle of Sadness as it sets its American theatrical release, the question remains: Does it live up to the hype? Well, yes and no. Taking a page out of the Zoolander school of satire, Östlund’s film opens with a modeling audition. At the age of 25, Carl (both smartly and aloofly played by the rising Harris Dickinson) is getting a little too close to being phased out of his career as the roles in the “grumpy” and “smiley” brands aren’t coming as easily as they used to. He’s left to languish in a slow and painful societal death, which includes losing social media followers and invites to his girlfriend Yaya’s (Charlbi Dean, who tragically passed away just after the film’s premiere) runway shows. This A Star Is Born dynamic threatens the pair’s relationship, which Östlund punctuates with a side-splitting cringe-fueled debate over who should pick up the check at a restaurant. Fortunately, the couple is bound for a superyacht vacation that will act as the final opportunity to mend their connection. On the boat, they become the middle class, stuck between the uber-rich guests and the lowly workers that service every passenger’s whim, which includes going for a swim to assuage their master’s guilt and promising to clean the sails, even though this a motorized vessel. In this second act of the film’s clear three-act structure, Östlund unleashes a tirade of written and visual allegories upon his micro-society, with two standouts being Woody Harrelson’s alcoholic ship captain and the closing scene where the ship fills with literal shit and vomit. Any viewers with a weak stomach have been properly warned. None of what Östlund is saying is revolutionary, but it is oh so funny. But that high level of hilarity can’t sustain itself across the film’s extremely bloated 150-minute runtime, which becomes quite clear during the final, and weakest, act. Through unforeseen circumstances, the passengers have been marooned on a desolate island. Things get even more in-your-face by Östlund as the social hierarchy completely flips, with the white-collar passengers proving to be inept and the “peasants” becoming royalty because of their basic survival skills. From here to the end, most everything only elicits a mild chuckle instead of the belly-aching that the first two hours had accustomed us to. Triangle of Sadness demands to be seen with the largest crowd possible, as its mixture of low and high-brow humor travels like wildfire in the moment. Unfortunately for the majority of the viewers, the post-pandemic theatrical landscape doesn’t create too many opportunities for that level of a collective experience for any non-MCU branded film. It’s a true pity, as my Cannes screening of Östlund’s farce in May has lasted longer in my memory than most blockbusters do the day after. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. Neon will release Triangle of Sadness in select theaters on October 7th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Big George Foreman April 27, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Two weeks ago, I experienced one of the clearest moments of opportunity cost in my life. After experiencing a blizzard that dumped nearly a foot of snow only a week earlier, it was now 80° (that drastic shift should be cause for alarm, but I was just happy to see green grass). The golf courses were open, the bike lanes and soccer fields were cleared, and people were out playing basketball at the nearby park. Everything was laid out right in front of me for an eventful afternoon basking in the sun. But instead of doing any of those fun recreational activities like a sensible person, I decided to sit indoors and watch a movie. I walked into the theater to see the words “BIG GEORGE FOREMAN” plastered all over the screen, along with the hilariously overlong subtitle: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World (I wonder if the person who came up with that title is the same person responsible for the initial title for Birds of Prey ?). I already felt like a chump the moment I sat down in that darkened room, a feeling that was exponentially increased with each passing minute, having to endure this weightless and creatively bankrupt biopic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urKDu40iaXk For all of you who only know the name George Foreman from the grill brand, you’ll be surprised to know that the man first rose to prominence as a boxing icon, only ever bested once by none other than Muhammad Ali. Foreman (played by Kei as a boy and Khris Davis as a man) was a poor and uneducated child in 1960s Texas, which led to him joining the Job Corps with its promises of three meals a day and training for skilled labor. One of the managers (Forest Whitaker) saw boxing as an outlet for Foreman’s pent-up rage. Success came quickly after that, and so did all the other struggles that come with being famous. The term “leave your brain at the door” has often been used to describe horror movies and other blockbusters that are just trying to make a quick buck on spectacle and entertainment. Big George Foreman doesn’t require, expect, or want any of its audience members to be capable of critical thinking. Frank Baldwin and director George Tillman Jr. are incapable of placing any variables into their estate-approved script, sticking so closely to the tired clichés within the biopic formula that it sometimes borders on self-parody. Every choice and personality trait for Foreman is spelled out like it was competing at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Things move at a lightning-fast pace as we cover the entirety of the Wikipedia page. George goes from learning about boxing to an Olympic gold medalist within about ten minutes. He fathers all six of his children and has multiple affairs off-screen, giving off the impression that those things really don’t matter to a person. George says that his sister Mary “always saw the best in him” and that he loved her devoutly. She may have four lines of dialogue in the two preceding hours. That same treatment applies to Desmond (John Magaro), who becomes George’s best friend at the Job Corps and agrees to be his manager. He puts George’s money in “rock solid stocks” (foreshadowing!) and is barely mentioned until after the well has dried up. It also doesn’t help that I’ve experienced more intense boxing fights on Wii Sports than in this movie. Tillman Jr. shoots the action cheaply and flatly, with the announcers never ceasing to over-explain what just happened. There is the presence of blood, sweat, and tears, but none of it comes off the screen. Neither does any of the emotion of Davis’ titular performance, with his blank stares and line deliveries leaving nothing on the table. The biopic genre may be one of my favorites, but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to the fact that many of them just copy each other. Big George Foreman doesn’t even have enough competency to properly cheat off its predecessors. Its subject matter may be about a heavyweight champion, but this story doesn’t even deserve to fight for scraps on the street. Sony Pictures Releasing will release Big George Foreman in theaters nationwide on April 28th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGruL2Gj-mg 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. Sony Pictures Classics will release Carmen in select theaters on April 21st. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Invisible Man March 5, 2020 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Invisible Man opens in a secluded waterfront mansion. Inside it, Cecilia Kass is executing her plan to run away from her abusive boyfriend, Adrian. She successfully escapes, but not without Adrian running after her in a violent fury. A few weeks after her departure, Cecilia is notified that Adrian has committed suicide. Her relief at his demise doesn’t last long as a series of coincidences begins to take shape. Cecilia starts to hear noises and has the constant feeling she is being watched. After some time, she discovers that Adrian isn’t dead, but invisible. He’s gaslighting her into submission, playing vicious tricks around the house, and tormenting others connected to her. With no one believing her situation, Cecilia must work to defend herself and the people she loves from unseen harm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSBsNeYqh-k As the writer/director behind several horror franchises such as Saw and Insidious , Leigh Whannell once again proves his chops here. He commands the material with his expert use of the camera and lighting. A multitude of slow pans and still shots imbue each scene with a lingering sense of terror that never ceases to grab hold of you. The dark, shadowy lighting puts a magnifying glass on Cecilia’s isolation as she battles her internal and external demons. And because the assailant cannot be seen, Whannell also relies on some expert sound design that is similar to the style used in A Quiet Place . Silence is the most abundant and effective sound device as it fills the gaps between the creaks and rumbles. It becomes clear throughout that hearing nothing is much scarier than hearing something. But what Whannell can be respected for most is his refusal to stoop to jump scares, especially considering the story allows for that. Sure, a jump scare here or there would have jolted some energy into the often overly slow pacing, but Whannell’s insistence on taking the high road makes for a more complete horror experience. Of course, the concept of someone turning themself invisible is a little silly. The movie doesn’t totally defend against that criticism either, only mustering a quick line about how Adrian was “a leader in the field of optics”. However, once you get past that barrier of disbelief, you’ll open yourself up to what this movie has to offer under the hood. The script for The Invisible Man , penned by Whannell himself, has more on its mind than just scares. The movie does a great job of conveying the torment and aftermath that an abusive relationship can have on someone. Cecilia, as a character, is given a full arc as we follow her journey of slow recovery from beginning to end. This added layer brings a deeper meaning that is both used to educate about a serious topic and to make the horror material pack a bigger punch. Portraying our heroine is the commanding Elisabeth Moss. It’s another unhinged performance similar to her previous roles in Her Smell and The Handmaid’s Tale . Moss’s all-in attitude helps suspend our disbelief of the material and grounds her character in the real world. She’s utterly believable in even the most bewildering of situations and carries the emotional weight of the film. Commendable supporting performances come from both Aldis Hodge as a sympathetic detective and Michael Dorman as Adrian’s brother, Tom. Through inventive storytelling and craftsmanship, Leigh Whannell and Elisabeth Moss have quite possibly created the definitive version of this ludicrous premise. Released at a time of year infamous for forgettable horror movies, it’s a breath of fresh air to see quality original content have its time to shine. Universal Pictures will release The Invisible Man in theaters nationwide on February 28th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Ferrari December 17, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen Michael Mann is back. That statement should end with an exclamation point, but, unfortunately, the famed director’s comeback vehicle (pun intended), Ferrari , doesn’t have the juice for anything more than a ho-hum period. Mann has been away from the cinematic landscape for quite some time, his latest venture being the 2015 studio-overhauled thriller Blackhat . Mann made sure not to make the same mistake twice, accumulating nearly $90 million worth of independent financing for his newest feature, a fact symbolized by the film’s dozens of credited producers, executive producers, associate producers, consultant producers, and co-producers. It’s an admirable move both artistically and professionally that also serves as a depressing illustration of where the studio money is being allocated these days. Then again, I’m not exactly sure where the $90 million fully went, as I only saw about half of it on the screen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oOVNMjM1Jk The majority of that half surely went to the cast headlined by Adam Driver as the titular Enzo Ferrari, Penélope Cruz as his wife and business partner, Laura, and Shailene Woodley as his mistress, with whom he shares a young illegitimate child. The 40-year-old Driver dons a rather unconvincing wig and forehead lines to play the nearly 60-year-old Ferrari, who has been besieged by tragedy after the double whammy of suddenly losing his young adult son Aflredo to muscular dystrophy last year and his car empire on the verge of financial collapse. Driver is no stranger to playing downtrodden figures, but he’s still very much a stranger to the Italian accent, which gravitates towards the parodic style in Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci . It’s hard to take an A-lister seriously in a heavy scene when he’s only a few hand gestures away from being a credible cousin to Tony Lip from Green Book . The answer to Ferrari’s money troubles is to win the 1957 Mille Miglia (translated to Thousand Miles ), an incredibly dangerous (at least one fatality occurred for thirty consecutive years, with a total death count near sixty) open-road race that often set the stage for the biggest rivalries in sports racing. Victory would reclaim the prestige the Ferrari brand once had, meaning more sales of luxury cars. Mann works with David Fincher’s now-regular cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt to capture the overall sense of violence this race involves. There’s a speech that Enzo gives to his team just before they go out about how “two objects cannot occupy the same point in space at the same moment in time.” It’s a metaphorical way of saying that his drivers need to fight for every inch on the track, even if it means pushing someone out of the way and potentially sending them to their death. It’s just a real shame that the instances of vehicular carnage are made unintentionally hilarious by abysmal uses of visual effects. There is no clear-cut answer for Enzo’s trouble with Laura and Lina. His affairs with other women were well known to Laura, but the fathering of a child with Lina was kept hidden from her until the boy was twelve. Cruz is fiery and totally convincing next to Driver and Woodley, the latter given a thankless role that mostly involves her folding her arms and waiting for Enzo to come home. And while he’s a distant supporting player compared to this central trio, it would be a sin not to mention the dashing silver fox that is recently crowned People's Sexiest Man Alive, Patrick Dempsey. He plays Piero Taruffi, the elder statesman of the Ferrari racing team that also includes Gabriel Leone and Jack O'Connell as the young guns. Ferrari feels both nothing less and nothing more than a mild disappointment, which somehow feels worse than if it landed on either one of the extreme sides of the spectrum. Mann has already confirmed that Heat 2 will be his next film, with Driver rumored to be part of the cast. Maybe Ferrari was just a warm-up exercise, something to get Mann back in the groove of making large-scale adult dramas? It definitely feels that way, although I’m not sure enough was achieved here to make that crime prequel/sequel the on-paper slam dunk it should be. Neon will release Ferrari in theaters nationwide on December 25th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Shazam: Fury of the Gods March 19, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen With all the recent news about the future potential for James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new and revitalized DCU, it almost seems pointless to spend time, money, and energy on a grandfathered-in property from the old guard like Shazam: Fury of the Gods . It is an increasingly bad product of the modern studio landscape that giant blockbusters such as this can be rendered irrelevant by politics even before they’ve come out. We don’t have to look that much deeper within Warner Bros. to find the indefinitely shelved Batgirl as a much harsher example. But then again, it’s hard for me to feel sympathy for Fury of the Gods (and the entire old DCU regime) when it doesn’t provide any compelling reasons for its own existence. It’s an ultra-corporate tentpole telling a been-there-done-that story, with the only thing it excels at being annoying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi88i4CpHe4 Where the first Shazam was lighter on its feet and told a pretty straightforward story, Fury of the Gods muddies the waters as we dig deeper into the mediocre lore of the titular character. The three sisters of Atlas: Hespera (Helen Mirren), Kalypso (Lucy Liu), and Anthea (Rachel Zegler) have come to our mortal realm to claim their father’s staff, which can give and take the god-like powers from any person. Shazam (who doesn’t go by that name for “hilarious” reasons) and his superhuman foster family are their natural obstacles, although they have in-house troubles of their own as each member wants something a little different. Shazam doesn’t really know his place as a superhero, with Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer) being overconfident with his abilities. The rest of the family fulfills their single character trait, so 75% of their interactions go exactly as expected. Shazam’s identity crisis extends to the movie at large, as the edges of personality from the first film have been sanded off in favor of much more generic plotting and action. The stakes are again centered around the world being destroyed, with a MacGuffin about an item with limitless power. It even creates a sky beam (sort of), something we definitely haven’t gotten tired of! There’s also still the problem of Zachary Levi and Asher Angel being the same character, despite the former having too much personality and the latter not enough. Director David F. Sandberg and writers Henry Gayden and Chris Morgan seemed to have sided with Levi, with Angel reduced to a much smaller supporting role. Grazer is grating as well as he overdoes everything. But there is talent evident within him, which he showed tremendously with Luca Guadagnino’s We Are Who We Are , so I still look forward to what he can do outside of franchises. It’s hilarious that Dwayne Johnson didn’t want anything to do with Shazam when he was building his Black Adam movie, despite the two characters having a decades-long relationship in the comics. Now with both Black Adam and Shazam: Fury of the Gods being beacons of generic studio fodder, it seems only right for the two of them to finally get together and make something that finally kills the DCU. I wouldn’t mind if their power were also strong enough to suspend the MCU for a while, because the slope toward the gutter is getting increasingly slippier with each new entry. Warner Bros. Pictures will release Shazam! Fury of the Gods in theaters nationwide on March 17th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Shirley March 16, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen There are 435 members of the United States House of Representatives. In 1968, only 11 were women, 5 were black, and none were black women. It’s a sobering fact that opens writer/director John Ridley’s biopic of Shirley Chisholm, who was the first person to break the barrier of entry for black women in Congress. The very next scene sees her standing in a sea of middle-aged white men as they’re gathered for the freshman congresspeople class photo. Except it’s glaringly obvious that the capital background is a greenscreen (a very shoddy one), and everything is overlit and washed out. And that scene gets repeated throughout the next two hours: good intentions canceled out by poor filmmaking and an overly basic approach to one of the most interesting political figures of the twentieth century. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjBeKNHIdMY To give credit where it is due, Ridley doesn’t give us the clichéd knee-deep full breadth of Shirley’s life, instead focusing on her 1972 campaign for the presidency, the first undertaken by a black candidate as part of a major party. Throughout the eighteen months leading up to the Democratic Party primary, Shirley campaigned as part of the working class, free of the political strings and corporate greed that perpetually hamper the democratic process. Regina King is electric throughout her several campaign stops, supplying the necessary fire to convey Shirley’s trailblazing nature. She’s a person who hates the word “can’t” and never backs down from a fight. From her personality, we get a glimpse of who she was as a politician and what she may have accomplished. Ridley doesn’t bother with those details, although it would have been nice to learn a little more since her presidential campaign hardly tells the whole story. Vague biopics have gotten by before, mostly because they had the personality to fill in the gaps. The recent duology of Jackie and Spencer by Pablo Larraín, I’m Not There , and The End of the Tour would fit under this category. Ridley semi-accomplished this with his 2013 Jimi Hendrix biopic Jimi: All Is by My Side , offering an under-the-hood inspection of Hendrix before his superstardom. Shirley ditches all that to be as palatable as possible, complete with politicians made so cartoonishly prejudiced that they’re lined up like bowling pins for King to knock down in an Oscar clip. Sure, Chisholm definitely faced stiff opposition from unsavory figures (a.k.a. white men), but seeing it here so sanitized takes away from the reality of the situation. King is at least surrounded by a decent supporting cast, most notably Lance Reddick in one of his final roles as Shirley's longtime advisor, Mac Holder. Michael Cherrie surprises Shirley’s longtime husband, Conrad. But then there’s also Terrence Howard and Lucas Hedges in wasted roles that offer them little to do. “Better get it used and cheap,” is what Shirley tells Conrad when he says he needs a new camera. It’s a nice and tidy bit of writing from Ridley, yet it seems he took it to heart and used it as his mantra for the entire production. With Ridley’s Oscar-winning skills as a writer and Netflix’s deep pockets, it’s deeply disappointing that neither of them could muster up what Shirley Chisholm deserved. Netflix will release Shirley in select theaters on March 15th, followed by its streaming premiere on March 22nd. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Spoiler Alert December 2, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen While it usually goes without saying, I feel I’m obliged to mention that this review is spoiler-free. I guess it doesn’t really matter since this film adaptation of the novel Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies kind of spells everything out within its title. The meta-ness of that title brings up a philosophical question: If a movie is incredibly predictable, but the creatives recognize and address it, is it then still predictable? For many years, the answer to that question would likely be a “no.” But with the overall rise in meta humor in nearly every genre (comic-book: Deadpool ; comedy: This Is The End ; horror: The Cabin in the Woods ), the pendulum has swung back the other way, making the unpredictable totally predictable. Spoiler Alert sits somewhere in the middle of this problem, as it presents a highly personal true story in such a conventional way that, even for all its positives, it makes for an incredibly forgettable watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9qIwkAi_Zk It’s also a little surprising that this film is not a dime-a-dozen release by a streaming service, as television plays such a large part in the life of its main character, Michael Ausiello, who currently serves as the editor-in-chief of his website, TVLine. Instead, it finds its way into theaters through Focus Features, where it will likely fall in line with the rest of the adult-skewing victims of this new box office landscape. Michael, played here by The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons in another attempt at meta-humor, has always used television as a safe space for his emotional traumas. Every day as a child, he and his mother would settle on the couch and catch up on soap operas. It eventually became the way he realized he was gay and offered escapism while his mother fought, and lost to, cancer. So, when Michael’s long-time partner Kit (I’m skipping a lot of plot here, but there’s only so much margin space, and the story of them meeting is very by-the-numbers) is diagnosed with the deadly illness, the heartaches of the past meet the reality of the present. To further emphasize the importance of television in Michael’s life even more, director Michael Showalter ( The Big Sick, The Eyes of Tammy Faye ) stages several fake 80s sitcom moments, complete with overacting and canned laughter. These moments sort of serve as flashbacks to Michael’s past, with the bad memories portrayed through the rose-colored glasses of network television. It’s a jarring concept, one that never meshes well with the dramatic material that comes with a cancer drama. The same can be said for Michael’s narration, which is addressed to Kit in the afterlife and often butts in at the worst possible moments. Parsons is a weird movie star, mostly because he has a sort of “supporting actor that steals the show” energy, which was fully evidenced over the twelve seasons of The Big Bang Theory . He can’t totally shake that persona, with some moments of sincerity coming across as stilted. He and Ben Aldridge as Kit do make a nice pair, with Sally Field as Kit’s mother being a welcome addition in the couple of times she pops up. Calling Spoiler Alert the more dramatic (and slightly inferior) version of Billy Eichner’s Bros is a little reductive, but it isn’t untrue. On both the comedic and dramatic fronts, everything within Showalter’s film has an aura of “been there, done that,” keeping it out of my memory bank for more than an hour after finishing it. I remember a lot of worse films than Spoiler Alert , but I also remember a lot of better ones, too. Focus Features will release Spoiler Alert in select theaters on December 02nd, followed by a nationwide expansion on December 09th. More Reviews The Super Mario Galaxy Movie March 31, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Drama April 1, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Project Hail Mary March 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice March 25, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen