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'Dumb Money' Review September 9, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen Dumb Money premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Sony Pictures will release it in limited theaters on September 15, followed by a nationwide expansion on October 06. The Big Short , Vice , and Don’t Look Up writer/director Adam McKay has been accused by his detractors of thinking his audience is stupid, talking down to them through flashy celebrity cameos and on-the-nose dialogue. It’s not an incorrect opinion, but McKay has still always provided a compelling argument within his theses, with The Big Short offering a sobering retelling of the housing crisis. Craig Gillespie’s Dumb Money , premiering at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, REALLY wants to be The Big Short for Gen-Z, taking down the 1%ers who run Wall Street and rig it against the little guy. But this David vs. Goliath story doesn’t have the necessary charm or smarts to be as deadly as it thinks it is. “Hold the line!,” “Diamond hands!,” “Apes together strong,” and “I just like the stock,” were phrases that became popularized during the pandemic as the GameStop short squeeze rocked not just the financial industry, but the psyche of the American public. It all started on r/wallstreetbets, an internet forum famous for its memes and overly passionate members. Their prophet was Keith Gill (Paul Dano), a mild-mannered Massachusetts financial advisor who goes by “Roaring Kitty” because of his penchant use of cats in his live streams. He’s bullish on the GameStop (GME) stock, thinking that’s it undervalued and that all the hedge fund managers are fools to be in a short position. He seems crazy, but he has the numbers and quirkiness to attract other followers, including debt-ridden nurse Jenny (America Ferrera), GameStop employee Marcus (Anthony Ramos), and college students Riri (Myha'la Herrold) and Harmony (Talia Ryder). “If he’s in, I’m in” is what they all say, creating a surge in the stock price as more and more people jump on. Most of these traders were referred to as “dumb money” by the hedge funds and media. They’re just retail traders who always think they can beat the market but end up giving their money away to the big fish. Writers Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, adapting the novel “The Antisocial Network” by Ben Mezrich, have compassion for these small fries. They’ve all been pushed down their whole lives, and the time is now to stand together. Unfortunately, none of these characters are that compelling outside of Keith, which largely stems from Dano’s charismatic commitment to playing the intellectual fool. They end up being a generic group, with little to separate themselves. The same goes for the villainous billionaires played by Seth Roge, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Nick Offerman. They’re caricatures of unearned wealth, another in a quickly tiring line found in Triangle of Sadness and Glass Onion last year. Gillespie continues his high-energy antics from I, Tonya (also premiering in Toronto in 2017) and Cruella , zipping the editing around this overstuffed cast. It keeps the film on its toes and the 100-minute runtime breezy, but it also keeps the details to a minimum. The exact (or even simplified) machinations of the short squeeze are given little attention, replaced by bright lights and a flurry of newsreel clips. Just like the memes that inspired the movement, Dumb Money is fun in the moment, but has little to no substance underneath the surface. If you’re looking for entertainment, you get just enough of it to make this worthwhile. If you’re looking to be educated on this event, I’d recommend literally anything else. Must Read 'Wolfs' Review It’s fun in the present and harnesses the power of movie stars in a time when that magic has steadily faded. SHOP 'The Wild Robot' Review The film will captivate younger viewers and leave older ones reflecting on the delicate balance between the human (and mechanical) and natural worlds. SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #4 Anora, Megalopolis, Oh, Canada, The Substance SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #3 April, On Swift Horses, Relay, The Fire Inside SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #2 Bird, Harbin, The Assessment, The Order SHOP

Awards Update: Making Sense of the Fall Festival Frenzy September 21, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen Welcome to an ongoing series where I cover the 2023/2024 awards season. On a regular basis, I will update my Oscar predictions, taking into account the new information that has been received since the last update. Full predictions in every category can be found on the Home and Awards page. In my previous awards update , I was having trouble predicting The Color Purple to amass enough nominations to get into Best Picture on account of Warner Bros. already having a majority of their weight behind Barbie and Dune: Part Two . That problem has now been solved with Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic being punted to March of next year, opening up opportunities in all eleven of the categories I had it predicted to be nominated in. The Color Purple stepped in for many of those spots, raising its overall nomination tally from four to seven. But that bump wasn’t the biggest improvement a single film got, as that title goes to Poor Things , which added an additional six nominations thanks to its overwhelmingly enthusiastic reviews and Golden Lion win at Venice. It’s taken over the spot of Dune: Part Two in the upper tier of films that have a viable path to winning Best Picture. The biggest hurdle it now has to cross is the box office, as this modern landscape offers no promises of success to anything outside the mainstream. The film would be out in theaters at this very moment in a just world where the studios paid their writers and actors a fair wage. Although this year’s Venice Film Festival featured fewer American titles than normal, it still solidified the status of a few high-profile contenders. Bradley Cooper’s Maestro flew a bit under the radar, something awards strategists prefer instead of being the film with a target on its back. The reviews were great (but not enthusiastic), with particular praise going towards Carey Mulligan and Cooper’s lead performances. Another performer showered with positivity was Priscilla star Cailee Spaeny, who walked away with the Volpi Cup for Best Actress. It’s hard to predict the newcomer to be Oscar-nominated as several other actresses emerged out of the fall festivals, including Venice attendees Jessica Chastain ( Memory ) and Aunjanue Ellis ( Origin ). We also got the bombshell that Lily Gladstone will be campaigning in Lead Actress for Killers of the Flower Moon , the same move Michelle Williams did last year for The Fabelmans . While Gladstone and the film itself have received rave reviews, it's not enough (at the moment) to make her a contender to win on Oscar. She's a sturdy contender and will most likely be nominated. Annette Bening (barely) maintained her placement within the predicted Best Actress nominees as Nyad premiered respectably at the Telluride Film Festival. The same can be said for Colman Domingo and Rustin . These films hinge entirely on their lead performances, placing them at a disadvantage compared to other performers in Best Picture nominees. Searchlight continued their Venice dominance at Telluride with the premiere of All of Us Strangers , nabbing the best reviews of the festival. Andrew Haigh’s quiet film probably won’t be a big contender, but I feel that Searchlight can push it into the weaker Adapted Screenplay category. It wasn’t sunshine and rainbows for everybody though, as Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn crashed out of the race after a relatively poor premiere. The love-it-or-hate-it breakdown of the reviews doesn’t bode too well for any hope of repeating the success of Promising Young Woman . Toronto provided the next stop for a few Venice and Telluride titles, most notably Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers , which nabbed the first runner-up position for the People’s Choice Award. The winner of that award has gone on to be Best Picture nominated every year (except for 2011) since the expansion of 2008. I don't know if this year's winner, American Fiction , will be able to continue that streak, but it could follow the same path as All of Us Strangers and get into Adapted Screenplay. Unfortunately for TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey, none of the other world premieres he booked have the goods to be viable contenders in any categories. Next Goal Wins and Dumb Money were met with mildly mixed-positive reactions (Waititi’s film could be aided by the Golden Globes), while stuff like Lee , Pain Hustlers , and Les Indésirables received little attention. Our eyes now shift over to the regional festivals, where titles like Poor Things and Maestro will tour the country throughout October gaining support. The New York Film Festival and AFI Fest will be the two biggest stops for each. There’s also the box office performance of Killers of the Flower Moon and the start of the next phase with the Gotham Awards and FISA nominations. Must Read 'Wolfs' Review It’s fun in the present and harnesses the power of movie stars in a time when that magic has steadily faded. SHOP 'The Wild Robot' Review The film will captivate younger viewers and leave older ones reflecting on the delicate balance between the human (and mechanical) and natural worlds. SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #4 Anora, Megalopolis, Oh, Canada, The Substance SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #3 April, On Swift Horses, Relay, The Fire Inside SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #2 Bird, Harbin, The Assessment, The Order SHOP

'Swan Song' Review January 15, 2022 By: Hunter Friesen Mahershala Ali has never been the lead in a motion picture. I’ll give you some time to open up his IMDb page and fact-check me on that one. Yes, I am correct in saying that two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali ( Moonlight & Green Book ) has never had a leading role in a film. Granted, he’s led a television show with the third season of True Detective and will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the vampire hunter, Blade. But up until Swan Song , Ali has always been relegated to a supporting role. It’s an unfortunate fact that an actor of Ali’s caliber has had to wait as long as he has to get the star treatment. And it’s a coincidence that Lupita Nyong’o, also an Academy Award winner ( 12 Years a Slave ), is opening her new film, The 355 , at the same time as Swan Song . Nyong'o's role in the female-led spy thriller is only her sixth in-person role since her 2013 Oscar win, with only two of those being lead roles (2019’s Us & Little Monsters ). It speaks to a larger, more systematic problem that these actors of color are not getting the leading roles they deserve. How many great performances and awards do these actors need to accumulate before they can get roles that match their talent? But that conservation is beyond this review’s scope and is best handled by people more qualified. So, let’s focus back on the topic at hand, which is Swan Song . Swan Song makes Ali’s first lead role a memorable one, as we get two of him for the price of one. How is this possible you ask? Well, human cloning has become a reality in the near future. For Cameron Turner (Ali), this presents an existential dilemma. He’s dying of a terminal illness, which he hasn’t told his wife (Naomie Harris), or his 8-year-old son. This cowardice grants him an incredibly rare opportunity provided by Dr. Scott (Glenn Close). The good doctor offers Cameron the opportunity to clone himself, sparing his family from the pain of losing a loved one. The clone will have all of Cameron’s memories and behaviors, and be completely indistinguishable. Before the real Cameron dies, the clone will take his place and live out his life as if nothing ever happened. Only the real Cameron will know the truth. But can a clone - even the most perfect one imaginable - seamlessly take the place of a human being? Marking his feature directorial debut after winning the 2016 Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short, Benjamin Cleary looks to tackle that question. But he doesn’t address it as a sort of Turing Test where the stakes revolve around the family finding out the truth. Instead, Cleary goes around that cheap gimmick and looks at both the moral and ethical stances on the issue. The question isn’t if the clone can do what it’s supposed to do, but if it should . Is Cameron making the right decision by lying to his family to protect them? Is leaving his wife and son with a clone more of a betrayal than leaving them altogether? These are the questions that Cleary doesn’t decide for the viewer. Rather, he supplies you with the tools to come to your conclusion. It’s a slow burn with a lot going on, even if not a lot happens on screen. That's because all of the action takes place within your head as Cleary puts you into Cameron’s shoes. You’re constantly comparing his actions to the ones you think you would make. The best films bury themselves in your head while watching. You wrestle with them in the moment and continue to interact with them long after they’re over. And with the help of production designer Annie Beachamp, Cleary has created a near-future world that is perfectly believable. The production design may be the reason why Apple bought the film, as many of the sets share the same clean and sleek design that the tech giant uses for its storefronts. The futuristic technology within the film, such as holographic displays and virtual reality that doesn't require a headset, is so seamlessly blended in that you’re never aware this technology doesn’t exist yet. Other recent films such as Gemini Man have treated human cloning as the peak of human invention. But in Swan Song , it’s simply a part of life that has naturally sprung from technological progress. Mahershala Ali has never turned in a bad performance. At worst, he’s done fair work in poor films ( Alita: Battle Angel & Free State of Jones ). Here, Cleary serves him well. He’s incredibly compelling in his dual roles, pulling off the complex feat of differentiating the two Camerons just enough so that we can tell the difference, but also believe why the other characters can’t. Awkwafina plays a dying patient who’s already completed the cloning process. Lulu Wang’s The Farewell proved that Awkwafina can dig deeper than just lowbrow comedy, and this is a reminder of that fact. She shares some wonderful scenes with Ali, as both of their characters come to terms with the decision that they have made. The term “swan song” refers to the final performance of a public figure, such as an athlete or performer. As a title, it’s a fitting term that encapsulates so much of what the film is about. Luckily, the term doesn’t describe any of the talent associated with the film, as this is only the beginning of Benjamin Cleary’s promising career, and of this new phase of Mahershala Ali where his talent is front and center. Must Read 'Wolfs' Review It’s fun in the present and harnesses the power of movie stars in a time when that magic has steadily faded. SHOP 'The Wild Robot' Review The film will captivate younger viewers and leave older ones reflecting on the delicate balance between the human (and mechanical) and natural worlds. SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #4 Anora, Megalopolis, Oh, Canada, The Substance SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #3 April, On Swift Horses, Relay, The Fire Inside SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #2 Bird, Harbin, The Assessment, The Order SHOP

'Tenet' Review September 3, 2020 By: Hunter Friesen Spell it backward or forward, it spells the same. From Christopher Nolan - the virtuoso behind The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception , and Dunkirk - comes Tenet , an action blockbuster on a scale not seen before and that will never be replicated again. Armed with only one word, Tenet, and fighting for the survival of the entire world, a Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real-time. The plot summary I just gave you is the exact one supplied by the studio. I did this for fear of spoilers and because I cannot confidently give out any more information than what has already been covered. Tenet may be the most incomprehensible and mentally straining movie ever made. It feels like taking a whole semester of advanced physics in only one class period, all while being set in a warzone. I have no doubt there will be case studies and theses done about this movie. Nolan wastes no time throwing his audience over the deep end. He begins the film at a breakneck pace, moving from scene to scene in the blink of an eye. You struggle to grasp onto the high concept in real-time and are always playing catchup. This problem only exponentially gets worse as Nolan refuses to hold your hand as he goes further down the rabbit hole. Even one of the characters in the movie says, “Don’t try to understand it, feel it”. It’s almost as if Nolan inserted that quip just for the audience. The inability to follow the movie can be attributed to the out-of-the-box concept, but mostly it falls on Nolan’s embarrassingly weak script. The problems here are the same ones people have been saying about him for years now, that he overuses exposition and under-delivers on the emotional parts of his narrative. Tenet is nearly all exposition and no emotion. Many times the exposition gives more questions than answers and seems to be intentionally leading us astray. It’s also Nolan’s coldest film as any emotion is forced through cliche storylines that seem included to check off a box rather than tell a story. On a technical level, Tenet is both Nolan’s most and least impressive film to date. The action set pieces mix both practical and visual effects seamlessly, creating awe-inspiring showcases of movie magic. The use of time inversion in fight sequences, car chases, and an entire battle are just some of the moments that you have to see to believe. Hoyte Van Hoytema encapsulates all the gorgeous chaos in stunning widescreen cinematography and composer Ludwig Göransson overtakes your ears with a perfect hard-charging score. What’s a problem here, and has been for some time now for Nolan, is the astoundingly poor sound mixing. Without hesitation, I can say that Tenet is the loudest movie I have ever seen. Every gunshot felt like it went off next to my ear and every explosion shook my entire body. The ungodly loud sound effects made it near impossible to comprehend much of the dialogue, which was already poorly mixed, to begin with. If you thought it was hard to understand Bane in The Dark Knight Rises , just wait until you try to understand what the characters are saying here. Even with all my gripes, I was still enveloped in the world Nolan has created. There have been dozens of movies where I was lost after a few minutes and checked out for the remaining runtime. With Tenet , I was lost after minute one and completely invested for the remaining one hundred forty-nine. Part of that interest comes from the spectacle and part of that comes from the likable cast. In a star-making lead performance oozing with charisma, John David Washington plays our protagonist, who is literally called The Protagonist. He’s our vessel as he enters into this strange new world with no previous knowledge and must solve a deadly puzzle that goes against all logic. Robert Pattinson keeps his hot streak going with another charming performance as The Protagonist’s sidekick, Neil. Kenneth Branagh is intermittently good as our Russian villain, Andrei Sator. He’s exceptionally menacing in the quieter moments and cartoonishly over-the-top in his moments of outburst. Elizabeth Debicki plays the most emotionally resonant character as the helpless wife of our villain. Debicki is great in the role but is unfairly used more as an object for the story. Tenet is a full-on assault of the senses that contains unparalleled moments of spectacle and ambition. It’s nowhere near the top of Nolan’s filmography and will surely require multiple viewings to unravel. Make sure to pack some ibuprofen and prepare to have your mind twisted in ways you never thought possible. Must Read 'Wolfs' Review It’s fun in the present and harnesses the power of movie stars in a time when that magic has steadily faded. SHOP 'The Wild Robot' Review The film will captivate younger viewers and leave older ones reflecting on the delicate balance between the human (and mechanical) and natural worlds. SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #4 Anora, Megalopolis, Oh, Canada, The Substance SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #3 April, On Swift Horses, Relay, The Fire Inside SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #2 Bird, Harbin, The Assessment, The Order SHOP

'Renfield' Review April 12, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen The last time we saw Count Dracula, he was given a dark and gritty reboot (I say that in a backhanded tone) in Dracula Untold . It was a vain and half-assed attempt by Universal to set up their “Dark Universe,” which also included the entirely forgotten The Mummy starring Tom Cruise. For all the talk about the MCU starting to falter in Phase 4, you still have to give Kevin Feige credit for keeping the ship afloat and thriving for so long, as everyone else can’t even seem to hoist the sails. But at least that curse put upon Universal came with a blessing for audiences, as it forced the studio to think a little more imaginatively with their famous monsters. Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man , starring Elisabeth Moss, took that ludicrous premise and turned it into a story about trauma (before it became an overused buzzword throughout the pandemic). And now we have Renfield , the story of Dracula and his servant in the modern-day, overflowing with buckets of blood, as well as a few laughs for good measure. Nicholas Hoult plays the titular character, who was coerced into becoming the “familiar” (a nicer term for “slave”) for the Prince of Darkness (Nicolas Cage) way back in the 1930s, when he visited Dracula’s castle in hopes to make a real estate sale. An excellently crafted 4:3 black-and-white recreation of the 1931 original movie, complete with Hoult and Cage in period-accurate makeup and acting styles (I wished the whole movie was like this), gives us an introduction to this power dynamic. But while the world has changed drastically in the 90 years since, the relationship between the two of them has stayed the same. After an ambush by vampire hunters (sorry, Van Helsing is not with them), the two of them have been forced to relocate to New Orleans, where Renfield must find more victims for his master to feed on so that he may regrow to full power. But decades of killing innocent people for an evil dark lord have started to wear Renfield down. He decides he wants to do some good, which he gets an opportunity to do when he finds himself in the middle of a war between an honorable cop (Awkwafina) and the son (Ben Schwartz) of the most violent crime family in the city. Director Chris McKay, who brought us The Lego Batman Movie (fun!) and The Tomorrow War (boring!), goes for an action-comedy tone here. Renfield acquires powers similar to Dracula when he eats bugs, allowing him to execute goons with superhuman levels of brutality. The humorous attempts at extreme gore make more sense once you realize the idea for this story comes from Robert Kirkman, creator of the other ultra-violent comics (and subsequent television series) The Walking Dead and Invincible . The action scenes are filmed with pulpy flair but are undercut by excessive use of CGI instead of practical makeup, which is made even more disappointing since it’s already being used to perfection on Cage as his mangled body slowly heals from its wounds. Ryan Ridley’s script also has issues finding a healthy middle ground, with the attempts at digging into toxic relationships being too shallow, and the comedy being too on-the-nose. Renfield’s narration mostly just repeats what we already learned visually, and characters repeatedly spell out the plot and their motivations in expository dialogue. But most of those missteps are forgiven thanks to the movie completely delivering on its simple promise of seeing Nicolas Cage playing Count Dracula. Whether it’s flesh or the scene itself, Cage is always chewing on something through his extremely committed performance. He’s having an infectious amount of fun in the role, letting out his trademarked hoots and hollers between moments of extreme violence. If this movie achieves nothing else, I hope it inspires Cage to become this generation's Christopher Lee for the character, reprising him again and again in some (hopefully creatively inspiring) future iterations. Must Read 'Wolfs' Review It’s fun in the present and harnesses the power of movie stars in a time when that magic has steadily faded. SHOP 'The Wild Robot' Review The film will captivate younger viewers and leave older ones reflecting on the delicate balance between the human (and mechanical) and natural worlds. SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #4 Anora, Megalopolis, Oh, Canada, The Substance SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #3 April, On Swift Horses, Relay, The Fire Inside SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #2 Bird, Harbin, The Assessment, The Order SHOP

How 'The Godfather' Signaled Hollywood Change 50 Years Ago March 15, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen The 1970s saw the birth of the film movement known as “New Hollywood” or the“American New Wave”. This movement emulated what had been going on in Europe for quite some time. The director (and sometimes writer) of the film was seen as the key authorial voice of a film, rather than the producing studio. For decades, moguls like David O. Selznick and Jack Warner loomed large over theindustry, deciding what made it to the screen. They often held the roles of judge, jury, and executioner, killing a career before it started. With these titans dying off near the beginning of the 1970s, new studio heads now had to rely on filmmakers to create products audiences craved. The world no longer begged for big musical productions or sappy romances. They wanted authentic stories that still offered gripping storytelling. A generation of filmmakers was up to this task. One of the most popular among this group was Francis Ford Coppola, a bright new talent fresh out of UCLA Film School. Like a rocket, his career took off with hits such as The Godfather , its sequel The Godfather Part II , and Apocalypse Now . Looking through the lens of “New Hollywood” and the argument of Old vs. New Sentimentality, we can see why and how Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather was a monumental work for film history. Adapted from the Mario Puzo novel of the same name, The Godfather tells the story of the Corleone crime family in 1945. Don Vito Corleone is getting up in years and must look to transfer control of his clan to one of his sons. His eldest son, Sonny, is the prime candidate to take over, but he is hot-headed and lacks the necessary nuance. The youngest son, Michael, is reluctant to work in the family business but is thrust into it after several deadly altercations. The Godfather does share many similar qualities with the films of Old Sentimentality. It’s a nearly three-hour epic adapted from a beloved novel that is filled with movie stars. Marlon Brando was one of the hottest actors on the planet, both in terms of looks and talent. Like many of the films in the studio era, the inclusion of Brando in the cast did a lot to sell the movie. But while the production values on the surface may connect The Godfather to the past, it’s what’s underneath that breaks it away from the usual crowd. The Production Code of the 40s and 50s restricted what could and could not be displayed on the screen. The good guys must win and the bad guys must lose was one of the prevailing rules. Fortunately, the code was stopped in 1968, allowing Coppola and Puzo to dig deeper into the criminal world. Coppola steeps his film into the rich Italian immigrant culture, one filled with hardships and that stresses the importance of family. Vito Corleone is a character that is given immense psychological development. Many of his actions are done to protect his family and strengthen his relationships with the other crime families. He still can be considered a villain, as he orders men to be killed and works in illegal enterprises. With Brando’s method acting, Vito Corleone was an unprecedented authentic depiction of Italian-Americans, distancing the image away from the Tommy Gun swinging depictions in earlier films such as The Public Enemy and Scarface . There could also be an argument made that Coppola’s new image became a harmful stereotype, as The Godfather became immensely influential in how Italian-Americans were portrayed in future films. What also makes The Godfather a part of the New Hollywood movement is itsunflinching violence. Around this time, auteurs were experimenting with the relationship both Hollywood and audiences had with violence, which, because of the Production Code, had been severely limited for decades. Bonnie and Clyde, The French Connection , and Straw Dogs broke into the mainstream, with their heavy use of screen violence being one of the central elements of their success. The violence within The Godfather does not sensationalize the crime lifestyle. Each death is stripped of stylization, often being shown in gruesome fashion. For example, the garrote scene has Luca Brasi’s eyes popping out of his head, and Sonny’s ambush leaves him in a bloody mess. The ending follows the massacre of several high-ranking mob bosses, including on being shot in the eye and another being gunned down in bed. None of this violence is played to be heroic or produce good consequences, similar to the films mentioned before. From the outside, The Godfather may seem to be a product of Old Sentimentality with its rich production values and starry leads. But underneath the surface, the film is a beacon of New Sentimentality with its radical new depiction of Italian-American life and its treatment of on-screen violence. Must Read 'Wolfs' Review It’s fun in the present and harnesses the power of movie stars in a time when that magic has steadily faded. SHOP 'The Wild Robot' Review The film will captivate younger viewers and leave older ones reflecting on the delicate balance between the human (and mechanical) and natural worlds. SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #4 Anora, Megalopolis, Oh, Canada, The Substance SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #3 April, On Swift Horses, Relay, The Fire Inside SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #2 Bird, Harbin, The Assessment, The Order SHOP

'Venom: Let There Be Carnage' Review October 4, 2021 By: Hunter Friesen Venom: Let There Be Carnage is an insult. It’s an insult to the pieces of paper that were mutilated to make the script. It’s an insult to the film stock. It’s an insult to the millions of dollars that could have served an infinitely better purpose. It’s an insult to activists, as it waves gay pride around with an ultra-corporate attitude. It’s an insult to the talents of Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, and Robert Richardson. But most importantly, it was an insult to my time, as it took much more from me than merely ninety minutes. The first Venom was bad for its reasons, as it was tonally inconsistent, with Tom Hardy and director Ruben Fleischer having conflicting ideas on what the movie should be. In the end, Fleischer’s darker take overpowered Hardy’s goofiness. Throw in weak characters and plot, and you got yourself one of the worst movies of 2018. Venom: Let There Be Carnage has addressed one of those problems, as it swings the tonal pendulum entirely in the other direction, resulting in self-parody. The sequel picks up where the last film left off, with Eddie and the alien symbiote, Venom, learning to live together within the same body. The two of them seem to be ripped from a Capra screwball comedy, as they’re sparring in slapstick fashion. Marking his return since the post-credit scene in the 2018 original, the deranged serial killer, Cletus Kasady, is about to be put on death row. But before that fateful day arrives, Cletus and Eddie’s paths cross, resulting in the birth of Carnage, the T-1000 to Venom’s T-800. Cletus and Carnage spark their symbiotic relationship, one that seeks the doom of Eddie, and the rescue of Cletus’s longtime flame, Shriek. Replacing Fleischer, who was busy with Zombieland: Double Tap and currently working on Uncharted , is motion-capture wizard, Andy Serkis. It’s a fitting lateral move, considering he’s worked with visionary directors such as Peter Jackson (as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy) and Matt Reeves (as Caesar in the Planet of the Apes trilogy), two people able to seamlessly blend visual creations within reality. Serkis hasn’t fancied himself much as a director, with Breathe and Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle being so underseen that they may as well not exist. With Venom: Let There Be Carnage , Serkis has landed on strike three, hopefully landing him in director jail. There’s an erratic and jerky quality to the film, one that tries to reflect the inner torment between Eddie and Venom. Locations become interchangeable, and so does logic as character motivations become lost in the struggle. Many of the actors seem lost as well, with Michelle Williams (way too talented to stoop this low for a paycheck) constantly trying to find a reason to exist beyond just being the contractually obligated “love interest that got away.” Things quickly become hard to follow, with Venom acting as Eddie’s inner monologue, butting in at every possible moment with one cringe-inducing line after another. Integral information is doused while the three characters speak at the same time, making the effort needed to keep things straight not worth it. Once Venom and Eddie split up their bromance, you’re relieved as it means a few moments of peace and quiet. There also seems to be an inevitable ugliness to the Venom films, as Matthew Libatique turned in the worst work of his career in 2018, and now the legendary Robert Richardson (a frequent collaborator with Quentin Tarantino, Oliver Stone, and Martin Scorsese) produces his most drab and cheap-looking work. At some point, you have to wonder how many people are involved in this franchise just for the money. Definitely not here for the cash is Tom Hardy, who has deepened his involvement by receiving the first writing credit of his career. Hardy has always delivered 110% for each of his roles, even if it wasn’t in the best interest of the film. With this sequel, Hardy, as well as Harrelson, have dialed things up to a Looney Tunes level of zany. There’s at least some unintentional comedy in their line readings, with a highlight being “I’m a real boy and you’re just an amoeba!” The badness of Venom: Let There Be Carnage made me appreciate other comic-book films even more. Marvel may be getting stale with their formula, but at least it works on a fundamental level. And based on the post-credit scene, we’ll have to see which side of the coin wins out, a battle which I am not looking forward to. Must Read 'Wolfs' Review It’s fun in the present and harnesses the power of movie stars in a time when that magic has steadily faded. SHOP 'The Wild Robot' Review The film will captivate younger viewers and leave older ones reflecting on the delicate balance between the human (and mechanical) and natural worlds. SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #4 Anora, Megalopolis, Oh, Canada, The Substance SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #3 April, On Swift Horses, Relay, The Fire Inside SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #2 Bird, Harbin, The Assessment, The Order SHOP

'The Predator' Review September 20, 2018 By: Hunter Friesen The original Predator from 1987 was a film full of mindless action done in a smart way. Every other sequel, spin-off, and reboot following has just been mindless action done really dumb. The Predator , the new quasi-reboot/sequel, is no exception to that trend. The Predator tries to be a lot of things at once: an ultra-gory action thriller, a witty character comedy, and a relationship drama between family and friends. Instead, it’s none of these things as each piece is weighed down by the other until the whole thing falls apart into one lazy mess. The Predator comes as the first failure by director Shane Black, who previously did well with Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys . Black’s trademark use of witty banter doesn’t go over well here as it has in his previous films. Most of the jokes are shoehorned in for the sake of having them and are delivered with little effort. They also seem really out of place. Dramatic scenes have jokes in them for no reason and scenes that are supposed to be comedic end up being dry. Also, the whole tone of the film just feels off. It never settles and constantly keeps seesawing between hard action and silly over-the-top fun, which jarringly contrast each other. When the film is hard action, it’s ordinary gory action that’s been done better by others. Specifically, the whole third act of the film feels like a generic shoot ‘em up. It’s a huge disappointment considering that the film had been building up to this moment throughout the first two acts. Along with Fred Dekker, Shane Black also serves as a writer. Similar to his directing, Black’s writing is lackluster and a letdown when compared to his previous work. The overall plot comes off as lazy. There really isn’t a big picture for the film and how it connects to the rest of the franchise. We do get some connectors and facts, but mainly they’re just cast aside in favor of more action set pieces. Another misstep is the introduction of the main character’s son, Rory, who acts as a link between the aliens and humans. Just like every other kid in an action movie, Rory’s only purpose is to artificially raise the stakes and force us to care for him just because he’s a kid. The biggest gripe against the writers is how they take the Suicide Squad approach towards the characters. We go around introducing each character and learn one trait about them. Then the characters only act on that one trait the whole movie, which quickly gets tiresome. Half of them don’t even serve a point until they die at the end in a desperate attempt to make us care for them. Stemming from the bad writing is some equally bad acting from the main cast. Boyd Holbrook plays our lead character, Quinn McKenna, an elite stealth sniper. Holbrook is very boring in the role and plays the same “conflicted army character with a heart of gold” that we’ve seen over and over. Just like Holbrook, Olivia Munn plays her character, Dr. Casey Bracket, like every other action movie scientist. She gives some science mumbo jumbo every few minutes and doesn’t do much else. Sterling K. Brown lacks his usual confidence here. He always looks unsure of himself as he doesn't know how to play his character. He wants to be a multi-layered villain but ends up being a cartoon. One slight nod can be given to Keegan-Michael Key. His manic energy allows for some of the jokes to not totally fail. Everybody’s heard the saying, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.” Most films embody this statement, shooting too high and coming out average. The Predator , on the other hand, does the exact opposite of this statement. It seems like the filmmakers didn't care enough to shoot for the moon. They shot for average at best and missed badly, leaving us with a film that feels like an empty shell of what it could have been. Must Read 'Wolfs' Review It’s fun in the present and harnesses the power of movie stars in a time when that magic has steadily faded. SHOP 'The Wild Robot' Review The film will captivate younger viewers and leave older ones reflecting on the delicate balance between the human (and mechanical) and natural worlds. SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #4 Anora, Megalopolis, Oh, Canada, The Substance SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #3 April, On Swift Horses, Relay, The Fire Inside SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #2 Bird, Harbin, The Assessment, The Order SHOP

'Showing Up' Review July 17, 2021 By: Hunter Friesen Showing Up premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. A24 will release the film at a later date. As Woody Allen once said: “80% of success is just showing up.” But for the character of Lizzy (Michelle Williams) in Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up , which premiered in competition recently at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, showing up doesn’t seem to be leading to much. She has a sort-of career at a small arts college in Portland, complete with her mother as her boss and Andre 3000 as the flirty pottery expert. Her cat owns her personal life with around-the-clock needs for attention, and her neighbor/landlord, Jo (Hong Chau), still hasn’t fixed her water heater after two weeks of constant requests. Is Woody Allen wrong, or is this all her life is cracked up to be? Either way, it’s not a comforting thought. Reichardt’s work has been infrequent, yet always well-reviewed. 2008’s Wendy and Lucy marked the first of many collaborations between the director and Williams, followed by Meek’s Cutoff and Certain Women . But even with those great reviews, Reichardt’s films have never lit the box office on fire. First Cow , seemingly an epic in comparison to her other work, was prevented from having a chance due to its unlucky release during the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. Maybe as an act of self-commentary, all of that can also be said of Lizzy in Showing Up . Sculpting intimate creations, Lizzy’s work has always been appreciated but never put on the same pedestal as her contemporaries, such as Jo and her unwieldy creations. Lizzy is struggling to meet the deadline for her new exhibit, and questions whether she should even attempt to show up. In its low-key nature, Showing Up can be a comforting ode to small artists persevering to put their creations into the world. Just as Reichardt often sleeps on people’s couches and teaches at Bard College (all of which was revealed by Michelle Williams), Lizzy has to put up with no hot water and a never-ending litany of problems to finish her work. And taking the connecting through-line of the bond between humans and animals from First Cow , Reichardt finds a way for Lizzy’s life to be upended, and ultimately transformed, by a pigeon that injures itself by crashing into her window. Both sides of the debate will correctly say that not much happens in Showing Up . But for those that are familiar with Reichardt's work, is that much of a surprise? Plot has never been on the priority list. Ditto to pacing, as Reichardt, serving as her editor as always, lets the credits roll in extended fashion across the first several minutes, and makes time for Williams to meticulously craft the arms to one of her sculptures in an unbroken take. With that slow pacing, Reichardt has often been able to mine deep and expose the hidden feelings that faster-paced works can’t. Not many could carefully tell the uplifting and heartbreaking friendship within First Cow . Showing Up tries to find a similar vein but doesn’t deliver the same refined fulfilling message about the way unforeseen people and circumstances shape our lives. Unlike Lizzy’s clay creations that start as wet messes and end up as fully formed creations, Reichardt’s work stops just short of the kiln and ends up feeling more like a shallow puddle of good ideas. Showing Up won’t win Reichardt any new fans, but it could potentially offer another helping of what her supporters love so much. For them, Reichart has supplied the goods, now it’s time for them to show up. Must Read 'Wolfs' Review It’s fun in the present and harnesses the power of movie stars in a time when that magic has steadily faded. SHOP 'The Wild Robot' Review The film will captivate younger viewers and leave older ones reflecting on the delicate balance between the human (and mechanical) and natural worlds. SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #4 Anora, Megalopolis, Oh, Canada, The Substance SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #3 April, On Swift Horses, Relay, The Fire Inside SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #2 Bird, Harbin, The Assessment, The Order SHOP

'Civil War' Review April 10, 2024 By: Hunter Friesen Alex Garland’s Civil War is the cinematic equivalent of clickbait. A generic montage of violence is interspersed within an equally generic speech by the president (Nick Offerman) about how the Western Forces of California and Texas have suffered great defeats at the hands of the United States Armed Forces, and that the Florida Alliance is on its last legs. America is now in the final stages of democracy, where the people have risen and the Second Amendment is the ultimate law of the land. From that very opening moment, Civil War begs you to ask questions that it not only can’t - but refuses - to answer. Why have California and Texas seceded from the union and joined forces to overthrow the government? What are they fighting for? And why is Florida on its own side? I suppose Garland’s vagueness about the whole thing is meant to allow you to apply your doom-scrolling mentality to the situation. He’s banking on our collective post-2016 consciousness’ to fill in the details, almost as if each person gets their own individual puzzle. It’s cowardly and lazy, becoming one of the great modern magic tricks as this “intellectual blockbuster” carries less of a brain than the giant ape vs. giant lizard showcase we just got in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire . I could put my tinfoil hat on and theorize that Garland and A24 sanded down the rough edges of the story to make it appeal to a broader audience. After all, this is A24's biggest production by a large margin, with its reported $50 million budget more than doubling the previous record holder of Everything Everywhere All at Once . The cost of working on a bigger scale is more than just literal dollars, it also requires a willingness to circumvent controversy. Of course, there’s the glass-half-full approach that none of the other large studios and streamers (Warner Bros., Paramount, Netflix, etc.) wanted to touch this property with a ten-foot pole, so I should be thankful that there’s still someone like A24 that’s willing to pony up the cash to make something that’s not been market tested to the nth degree. But even though that’s all good and true, should I blindly bow down to something just because it’s not like everybody else? Am I asking for Garland to blatantly come out and say that this civil war is about Republicans vs. Democrats, or incorporate some sort of attack on the far-right or far-left? I wouldn’t have minded what Garland had said, just as long as he said something. ANYTHING! It all holds the same weight as your coworker telling you that “our country is really divided right now” and then never elaborating on that opinion. That rotten meat makes it hard to appreciate all the other fine ingredients in this all-American hamburger. In her first role post-Oscar nomination from The Power of the Dog , Kirsten Dunst gives a towering performance as a jaded war photographer named Lee. A not-so-subtle comparison is made between her and a famous real-life photojournalist Lee Miller (recently played by Kate Winslet in the ho-hum biopic Lee ) by Jessie (Cailee Spaeny, continuing to rise up the ranks of the best younger performers working today), a up-and-coming journalist who’s desperate to be on the frontlines. Sensing that the end is near, Lee and Joel (Wagner Moura) are on their way to the White House to try and get an interview with the president, now serving an unelected third term in office. Their journey takes them down a road from hell, littered with the sight of dead bodies and the sound of bullets and bombs. Garland and his production crew permeate this route with as much tension as possible, with gunfire becoming bone-rattling and trigger-happy soldiers positioned at every corner. IMAX is not the format normally associated with A24 films, and Garland takes full advantage of what he’s been given. It’s a great shame that almost all of these incredibly nerve-wracking action set pieces are undercut by groan-worthy offbeat needle drops. While he doesn’t have ideas about the macroeconomics of this war, Garland does deliver themes on those that document it. Even in a digital world with everything available everywhere, a simple image still contains more power than a thousand words. Garland cuts the action to the photographs being taken by our central characters, giving a glimpse into how chaos can be processed for history. “We record so other people can ask the questions” is the mantra that Lee takes. That’s been enough of a mental excuse for her in foreign lands, but how can you block out something happening in your own backyard? It’s the same question Garland poses to his audience when the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument are being destroyed. We’ve become numb to seeing nondescript Middle Eastern cities being leveled, and now the weapons are pointed back at us. But even though that imagery is admittedly startling and something we haven’t seen before with this intention, it all comes back to the emptiness of the message. It’s all sound and fury, signifying nothing. Must Read 'Wolfs' Review It’s fun in the present and harnesses the power of movie stars in a time when that magic has steadily faded. SHOP 'The Wild Robot' Review The film will captivate younger viewers and leave older ones reflecting on the delicate balance between the human (and mechanical) and natural worlds. SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #4 Anora, Megalopolis, Oh, Canada, The Substance SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #3 April, On Swift Horses, Relay, The Fire Inside SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #2 Bird, Harbin, The Assessment, The Order SHOP

'The Burial' Review October 11, 2023 By: Hunter Friesen Director Maggie Betts’ The Burial feels as if it was engineered in a lab specializing in making crowd-pleasing movies. You’re supposed to laugh, cry, boo, and applaud at every moment it wants you to, almost as if you’re playing a game of Simon Says. It’s impossible not to be aware that you’re being sold to with the tactics of a used car salesman. And yet it hardly becomes a hindrance because the calculations made by Betts and co-writer Doug Wright were made with genuine emotion, which effortlessly translates off the screen. That’s not to say that Betts and Wright are perfect in their endeavors, far from it. Almost all of the characters are thinly drawn, most notably Bill Camp’s mustache-twirling billionaire bad guy who literally says he wants more elderly people to die so he can make more money. He’s the head of the Lowen Group, a corporate behemoth that owns hundreds of funeral homes in the southern United States. Jeremiah “Jerry” O'Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones) owns about a dozen homes in Mississippi and he plans to pass them down to his thirteen children just like his father and his grandfather did. Money is a bit tight right now, so Jerry decides to sell three of his homes to the Loewen Group. A handshake deal was struck, but months have now passed and the corporation still hasn’t signed the contract. It seems the sharks are waiting for Jerry to drown so they can snatch up his whole lot for pennies on the dollar. Jerry’s freshly graduated attorney Hal (Mamoudou Athie) persuades him to sue and bring on the help of power player Willie Gary (Jamie Foxx). Despite Jerry’s mission of doing what’s right, Willie is only initially here because he sees dollar signs and a chance to join Johnnie Cochran as the nation’s most famous lawyer. The O.J. Simpson case runs parallel to the film’s events, which is largely why this prototypical David vs. Goliath story has gone unnoticed in the American culture. Like O.J., this case is not just about contract law, it is also about race. You see, Jerry filed suit in Hinds County, Mississippi, a city with a 70% Black population. It’s not a coincidence that Jerry hires Willie and the Loewen Group hires Mame Downes (Jurnee Smollett) to represent their white selves. As opposed to many other movies that tackle racism in the South, Betts never lets her film feature a “white savior” or “magical negro” narrative. There are some small handlings of microaggressions (Jerry’s previous lawyer, played by Alan Ruck, constantly refers to Hal as “son”) and the revelation that the National Baptist Convention, the largest arm of the Black Chuch, was the main target of the Loewen Group’s schemes. There isn’t an attempt to solve these problems, as both we and Betts know that these issues are just as prevalent in 2023 as they were in 1995. The courtroom scenes are a bit perfunctory, mostly fast-forwarding past all the stuff we’re well acquainted with to get to the good parts. Foxx is at his movie star peak as Willie, parading himself around as he treats the courtroom as a one-man performance. Betts knows that all she needs to do is let Foxx work, and she does by giving him several one-take speeches. The Burial gets the spirit of the ‘90s inspirational courtroom dramas just right, pitching down the middle to every demographic. It shouldn’t work, and yet it does thanks to sound filmmaking and entertaining performances. To be honest, the worst thing about it is the title. Is it too late to change that? Must Read 'Wolfs' Review It’s fun in the present and harnesses the power of movie stars in a time when that magic has steadily faded. SHOP 'The Wild Robot' Review The film will captivate younger viewers and leave older ones reflecting on the delicate balance between the human (and mechanical) and natural worlds. SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #4 Anora, Megalopolis, Oh, Canada, The Substance SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #3 April, On Swift Horses, Relay, The Fire Inside SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #2 Bird, Harbin, The Assessment, The Order SHOP

'I, Tonya' Review March 7, 2018 By: Hunter Friesen Margot Robbie has had a pretty big climb to fame in the past few years. She kicked off her Hollywood career in 2013 with The Wolf of Wall Street , then made a splashy cameo in Adam McKay’s 2015 hit The Big Short . She then achieved A-list status in 2016 with Suicide Squad and The Legend of Tarzan . Now in 2017, she’s hitting the awards circuit with I, Tonya , in which she plays the infamous figure skater Tonya Harding. Her performance is the highlight of the film, which is a semi-autobiographical story about one of America’s most beloved and most hated athletes. The film opens with interviews from Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie), her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan), and her mother LaVona Golden (Allison Janney). The interviews are taking place about a decade after the “incident” and are intended as a way for each of the characters to tell their version of what happened. In between the interviews we are treated to the story of how Tonya grew up as a redneck figure skater in Oregon. We witness her rough upbringing at the hands of her mother and how it affected her skating. After that, we see her meteoric rise to superstardom, all of which is constantly in jeopardy because of her rocky relationship with her simpleton of a husband, Jeff. And finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the Nancy Kerrigan incident. We watch it go down, the due process immediately after, and how Tonya got caught up in a mess of stupidity. What I can say is that this film doesn’t do anything wrong, it just does everything adequately or well. The handling of the story through interviews and flashbacks does well at establishing the chaos and insanity since each character gives conflicting reports as to what actually happened. The film also uses the fourth wall to have Tonya interact with the audience and extend the autobiographical nature of the story. However, the interviews lose steam about halfway through and are left dormant until the very end. It felt weird since they were heavily used in the beginning and are made to seem like the central medium for telling the story. Director Craig Gillespie uses stylish editing and camera tricks to keep the story flowing at a quick and breezy pace. Some scenes are oversaturated with them, but overall the tricks serve their purpose well. The behind-the-scenes work does a nice job of establishing a feel for the 80s and 90s. The hairstyles and fashion are timely and will make anyone who lived in that period feel nostalgic. Last and most importantly, the performances carry this film all the way to the very end. Margot Robbie is astonishing as Tonya. She has the perfect mix of looks, personality, and skill to pull off the role. She plays Harding perfectly at every point in her career, especially at the lowest. Allison Janney is also great as Tonya’s cold and unloving mother, LaVona. Janney goes full-out in makeup and chain-smoking, giving an authentic portrayal of a mother that will never be satisfied with her children. Sebastian Stan gives a good, but not great performance as Jeff. He does his best to make Jeff his own, but unfortunately gets overshadowed by Robbie and Janney. On a positive note, Stan shows off a wide range of emotions as Jeff slowly turns from a dumb nice guy to a violent madman. I, Tonya delivers an entertaining and original way to tell a story that is well-known by almost everybody alive. While it’s a good film caught in a time of great films, Robbie and Janney give career-defining performances that make this film deserving of your time. Must Read 'Wolfs' Review It’s fun in the present and harnesses the power of movie stars in a time when that magic has steadily faded. SHOP 'The Wild Robot' Review The film will captivate younger viewers and leave older ones reflecting on the delicate balance between the human (and mechanical) and natural worlds. SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #4 Anora, Megalopolis, Oh, Canada, The Substance SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #3 April, On Swift Horses, Relay, The Fire Inside SHOP TIFF24 Dispatch #2 Bird, Harbin, The Assessment, The Order SHOP