Matt is trying his best
LightNews LightNews
banner
shutupmatt.bsky.social
Matt is trying his best
@shutupmatt.bsky.social
140 followers 230 following 160 posts
writer | burnin’ bridges since ‘92 | chaotic neutral | professional complainer | future corpse (he/him)

https://saltlakefilmreview.com/author/mattbullions/
Posts Replies Media Videos
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘I’m hoping the devoted fans of this franchise have a better time with this new entry, but for me, almost 3.5 hours in the world of Pandora now feels exhausting rather than exhilarating.’

Here’s my review of #AvatarFireAndAsh, in theaters now.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/12/21/a...
‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ and the Perils of Franchise Fatigue
20th Century Studios Writer/director James Cameron’s massively successful 2009 film Avatar grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide. It was always going to have a bunch of sequels, and Cameron was takin…
saltlakefilmreview.com
December 21, 2025 at 3:16 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘This is a story about people in complicated relationships who really are trying to do the right things, but messy emotions keep getting in the way, and there’s something so universally human about that’

Here’s my review of #SentimentalValue, in theaters now.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/12/12/s...
‘Sentimental Value’ is One of the Year’s Best Films
NEON Writer/director Joachim Trier made one of my favorite films of 2022, with The Worst Person in the World, a deeply empathetic and surprisingly funny character study about a young woman who’s tr…
saltlakefilmreview.com
December 12, 2025 at 4:29 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘All three #KnivesOut whodunnits are unpredictable, darkly funny and wildly entertaining. This may be the best one yet.’

Here’s my review of #WakeUpDeadMan, still in some movie theaters, and streaming on Netflix Friday.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/12/11/w...
‘Wake Up Dead Man’ is Another Stellar ‘Knives Out’ Mystery
Netflix Following the 2019 release of his box office megahit Knives Out, writer/director Rian Johnson signed a deal with Netflix to produce the next two films in this series. Glass Onion released i…
saltlakefilmreview.com
December 11, 2025 at 5:51 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘I fully expected the film to be emotionally manipulative, and it is, but don’t underestimate what can happen when emotional manipulation works.’

Here’s my review of #Hamnet, in limited release now, in theaters nationwide 12/5.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/11/26/h...
‘Hamnet’ is Emotionally Exhausting Yet Incredibly Effective
Focus Features Writer/director Chloé Zhao won her Oscar for the 2020 film Nomadland, but there’s always going to be an asterisk next to any film that won anything in 2020, because, well, it was 202…
saltlakefilmreview.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:46 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘It’s a dazzling spectacle and also an emotionally powerful parable about where we are right now. This source material is decades old, and yet everything about this story feels incredibly timely.’

Here’s my review of #WickedForGood, in theaters Friday.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/11/19/w...
‘Wicked: For Good’ is a Dazzling and Emotionally Charged Conclusion
Universal Pictures The decision to split Stephen Schwartz’ singularly successful Broadway musical Wicked into two feature film adaptations was always going to present its fair share of challenges. …
saltlakefilmreview.com
November 19, 2025 at 4:44 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘The implications of this story are urgent and horrifying, but Edgar Wright manages to find ways to make all of it feel like a popcorn movie.’

Here’s my review of #TheRunningMan, in theaters now.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/11/13/t...
‘The Running Man’ is Urgent and Entertaining
Paramount Pictures I’m predisposed to enjoy an Edgar Wright movie, even when they’re medium to not great. For instance, I’m one of about 10 people who loved his 2021 film Last Night in Soho. It’s m…
saltlakefilmreview.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:24 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘The fizzy, effervescent tone we start with is so inviting and enjoyable, so much so that it kind of shocked me when this movie ended up breaking my heart.’

Here’s my review of #BlueMoon, in theaters now.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/11/06/b...
‘Blue Moon’ is an Unexpected Emotional Rollercoaster
Sony Pictures Classics It’s always an event when Richard Linklater has a new film coming out, and this year we have two. The first is Blue Moon, which premiered back in February at the Berlin Inter…
saltlakefilmreview.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:35 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘The film is wildly uneven and the tone doesn’t always work, but it leaves you with a proper gut punch that comes close to redeeming what came before.’

Here’s my review of #Christy, in theaters Friday.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/11/05/c...
‘Christy’ Eventually Becomes A Compelling Biopic
Black Bear I hadn’t planned on seeing Australian filmmaker David Michôd’s Christy, a biopic of former professional boxer Christy Martin. After the recent The Smashing Machine, I’d kind of tapped ou…
saltlakefilmreview.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:42 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘The film is wildly uneven and the tone doesn’t always work, but it leaves you with a proper gut punch that comes close to redeeming what came before.’

Here’s my review of #Christy, in theaters Friday.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/11/05/c...
‘Christy’ Eventually Becomes A Compelling Biopic
Black Bear I hadn’t planned on seeing Australian filmmaker David Michôd’s Christy, a biopic of former professional boxer Christy Martin. After the recent The Smashing Machine, I’d kind of tapped ou…
saltlakefilmreview.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:42 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘The performances are terrific and the story is intriguing but the messaging is so vague and muddled, it’s difficult to determine what this film is trying to say.’

Here’s my review of #AfterTheHunt, still in some theaters, coming to Prime Video soon.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/11/04/a...
‘After the Hunt’ Should Pack More of a Punch
MGM/Amazon Studios Luca Guadagnino is one of my favorite filmmakers working today. Challengers and Call Me By Your Name are, in my opinion, two of the greatest films of the last decade. And even th…
saltlakefilmreview.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:42 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘This role seems claustrophobic for the actor because every moment hinges on the work they’re doing. And that would be a challenge for most actors, but Rose Byrne makes it look effortless.’

Here’s my review of #IfIHadLegsIdKickYou, in theaters now.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/11/03/i...
‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’ is a Masterclass in Tension
A24 I’ve been a fan of Australian actress Rose Byrne for a long time. She’s proven her versatility as a performer in numerous ways, and she always surprises me. I’d heard great things about her tur…
saltlakefilmreview.com
November 3, 2025 at 2:27 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
This won’t be for everyone – it’s bleak, cold and unforgiving, but it rewards you for taking the time to dissect what it all means.’

Here’s my review of #Bugonia in theaters now.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/11/02/b...
‘Bugonia’ is Bleak, Bold and Chilling
Focus Features Director Yorgos Lanthimos is one of my favorite directors working today. He’s consistently creating films that surprise me and subvert my expectations. And his latest film, Bugonia, …
saltlakefilmreview.com
November 2, 2025 at 1:15 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘All of the conflict in this film could be avoided if the characters spoke to each other like human beings instead of the most basic kind of soap opera archetypes.’

Here’s my review of #RegrettingYou, in theaters now.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/10/26/r...
‘Regretting You’ Might Leave the Viewer With Regret
Paramount Pictures I want to begin by saying that I don’t fully understand Colleen Hoover’s whole thing. I’ve never read any of her massively popular novels, and I left the first feature adaptation…
saltlakefilmreview.com
October 26, 2025 at 5:59 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘It isn’t subverting anything about the framework of the celebrity biopic in any meaningful way, but it successfully avoids a lot of the genre’s problems.’

Here’s my review of #Springsteen #DeliverMeFromNowhere, in theaters now.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/10/25/s...
‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’ is Moody and Intimate
20th Century Studios I have a difficult relationship with the rock star biopic. When the filmmaker is trying something that doesn’t feel so slavishly beholden to the biopic formula, the emotion and…
saltlakefilmreview.com
October 25, 2025 at 2:14 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘There’s a lot of promise in Chris Stuckmann’s vision as a horror filmmaker, and he’s clearly put everything he’s got into this. And it doesn’t always work, but when it does, it works quite well.

Here’s my review of #ShelbyOaks, in theaters now.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/10/24/s...
‘Shelby Oaks’ is a Solid Horror Debut
NEON I’ve been a fan of YouTuber film critic Chris Stuckmann in some capacity, since I was in high school. I’ve lost track of his videos, found them again, lost track again, several times over. My …
saltlakefilmreview.com
October 25, 2025 at 12:24 AM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘It’s an above-average comedy about economic anxiety, that may be a little heavy handed at times, but ultimately has a lot of heart and a lot viewers will relate to.’

Here’s my review of #GoodFortune, in theaters now.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/10/19/g...
‘Good Fortune’ is Timely and Clever
Lionsgate Comedian Aziz Ansari struggled bringing his directorial debut to the big screen. He wrote and started to film a feature for Searchlight in 2022, and production shut down after allegations…
saltlakefilmreview.com
October 19, 2025 at 5:47 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘The film comes awfully close to being truly important and of the moment, but too often it veers off into another direction and loses focus.’

Here’s my review of #AHouseOfDynamite, now playing in limited release, and on Netflix 10/24.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/10/18/a...
‘A House of Dynamite’ Isn’t Exactly Explosive
Netflix Director Kathryn Bigelow has more than a few well regarded political thrillers in her resume, and sometimes they work for me, sometimes they don’t. Zero Dark Thirty, for instance, felt exci…
saltlakefilmreview.com
October 18, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Reposted by Matt is trying his best
rincewind.run
just go to the protests

take whatever precautions you personally feel comfortable with but these are massive, joyful events, go and have fun
October 17, 2025 at 7:06 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘It’s a dazzling, brutal and moving adaptation that doesn’t add much to the classic tale, but offers compelling reasons why we keep telling these stories’

Here’s my review of Guillermo Del Toro’s #Frankenstein, in limited release now, on Netflix November 7th.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/10/17/g...
Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein’ is Visually Stunning and Surprisingly Moving
Netflix Writer/director Guillermo Del Toro has spoken for years about how he’s wanted to make a Frankenstein movie. It’s the kind of passion project that he’s earned the clout and financial backing…
saltlakefilmreview.com
October 17, 2025 at 7:30 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘The film is a powerful love letter to not only the movie musical, and/or old Hollywood, but the necessity of escapism in general.’

Here’s my review of #KissOfTheSpiderWoman, in theaters now.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/10/10/k...
‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ is Dazzling and Devastating
Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions I’m admittedly an easy target for the movie musical. Since I was very young, I have been drawn to the spectacle of the classic musical. And I think the element of esc…
saltlakefilmreview.com
October 10, 2025 at 5:36 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘Derek Cianfrance’s script takes what appears to be a true crime screwball comedy and turns it into a surprisingly earnest and moving character study.’

Here’s my review of #Roofman, in theaters Friday.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/10/09/r...
‘Roofman’ is Surprisingly Heartfelt
Paramount Pictures Director Derek Cianfrance is responsible for one of my favorite romance films of all time, 2010’s Blue Valentine. Unfortunately, nothing he’s made since then has been on the same…
saltlakefilmreview.com
October 9, 2025 at 6:51 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘The sense of excitement or tension of Safdie’s previous work is entirely gone. The performances underwhelm, the pacing drags, and there’s no emotional hook to keep you invested.’

Here’s my review of #TheSmashingMachine, in theaters now.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/10/06/t...
‘The Smashing Machine’ is a Biopic That Bores
A24 While I may not care about sports, I have always enjoyed a sports movie. Stories about ambition, determination and resilience hit relatively often for me, because there’s something we can all r…
saltlakefilmreview.com
October 6, 2025 at 3:11 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘It’s more of an interesting experiment than a great horror film, but it’s always a good thing when filmmakers are still risky enough to take bold, audacious swings like this in the horror genre.’

Here’s my review of #GoodBoy, in theaters now.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/10/05/g...
‘Good Boy’ is a Bold and Inventive Genre Experiment
IFC Films A good gimmick can make or break a horror film. If we explore that gimmick well, it can elevate the entire experience. Ben Loenberg’s Good Boy premiered earlier this year at the SXSW Film…
saltlakefilmreview.com
October 5, 2025 at 2:42 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘The film, unfortunately, is more of an endurance test than a sweeping romance. It starts off strong and then it just keeps going downhill, so much so that I left more annoyed than moved.’

Here’s my review of #TheHistoryOfSound, in theaters now.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/09/27/t...
‘The History of Sound’ Doesn’t Make Any Noise
MUBI I’d been hearing about The History of Sound before cameras even rolled on the project. A queer romance based on a short story by Ben Shattuck, starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor, directed …
saltlakefilmreview.com
September 27, 2025 at 1:03 PM
shutupmatt.bsky.social
‘It sounds like this experience would be a who-needs-that-right-now bummer, but Anderson finds a way to let this shockingly intense action thriller live alongside very timely and provocative themes.’

Here’s my review of #OneBattleAfterAnother in theaters now.

saltlakefilmreview.com/2025/09/26/o...
‘One Battle After Another’ is a Thrilling and Provocative Stunner
Warner Bros. Pictures Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s films always feel like events, and that can be a good or bad thing. The vast majority of his films were well received and are remembered…
saltlakefilmreview.com
September 26, 2025 at 5:45 PM