Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Dakota Nivens on April 29th, 2026
“You are a pig!” / “I’m a rural farm boy. It’s part of my charm.”
The quote above really sets the tone of The History of Sound (2025). It is a charming movie, a cinematographically soft motion picture, subtle and intimate in execution. It was directed by Oliver Hermanus and written by Ben Shattuck, premiering at the Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2025. The movie has since won three awards and been nominated nine times. After watching it, I can see why, and I immediately knew I wanted to write an affectionate review for such an affectionate film. That said, I could write what the movie was about, and I could write what the movie was really about. The nuance in interpretation may sound minute, but worth exploring to understand in depth. The film is a soft gay romance, showing how two men fall in love. It centers around these two men, Lionel (Paul Mescal) and David (Josh O’Connor), although the story is essentially told from Lionel’s point of view. It is set at the brink of World War I in 1917 when David is drafted into the military.
Posted in: The Reel World by Dakota Nivens on September 21st, 2025
Watching a production as high-caliber as The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025) naturally comes with a lot of hype, with its Hollywood budget and immense popularity. It is refreshing to see a Hollywood horror film treated with real seriousness, the kind that draws both genre diehards and casual viewers, and my theater was packed as evidence of that. Within its shared universe there are nine, debatably ten, entries you can binge, including Annabelle (2014-2019) and The Nun (2018-2023) with their sequels. The debated tenth, The Curse of La Llorona (2019), is only loosely connected through Father Perez from the Annabelle films. As the title suggests, The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025) positions itself as the capstone to this first phase, and it is wrapped with a cathartic finality. I think one of the main reasons for its success is the fact that these movies are based on real events and experiences from the perspective of the Warrens.
Posted in: The Reel World by Dakota Nivens on August 14th, 2025
I originally watched Predator: Killer of Killers (2025) as suggested by my boyfriend, which was released on Hulu in June. To be candid, I stopped following the Predator franchise after its cultural peak with the iconic crossover Aliens versus Predator (2004) and its respective sequel in 2007. Once franchises start to feel more like money grabs, like with the Jurassic World franchise (2015-2025), the magic becomes evanescent, and the cinematic experience is severely diminished for me. That said, this movie is so creatively gory, with such a stellar story, you can’t help but be impressed! This film acts as a standalone animated anthology, which serves as the eighth installment for the franchise, released after Prey (2022) and preceding Badlands (Nov 2025). Both the style of animation and the creative use of vantage points distinguished this production from the rest in the franchise and amazingly keeps you invested in the story, despite it initially seeming disconnected.
Posted in: The Reel World by Dakota Nivens on August 2nd, 2025
The Naked Gun (2025) is a beautifully absurd film that had me and everyone in the theater laughing in tears. It is both a continuation and reboot to the original franchise that introduces a new generation of characters, which still honors the classic formula of deadpan delivery, absurd plotlines, and visual gags that gave the original its significance. It was like a breath of fresh air in a lackluster era of Hollywood which felt seriously rich in soul. I can’t even joke; my face was hurting from laughing and smiling throughout the entire movie! Initially, I was apprehensive about the movie because it starred faces I’ve honestly grown tired of seeing in Hollywood, notably Neeson and Huston. It is a star-studded cast with Liam Neeson as Lt. Frank Drebin, Jr. and Pamela Anderson as Beth Davenport. Additionally, Seth MacFarlane is part of the production with Fuzzy Door Productions in partnership with Paramount Pictures. Even though I didn’t care for Neeson having the main role, his acting wasn’t washed up at all and was far better seeing him in a comedy—same with Huston.
Posted in: The Reel World by Dakota Nivens on June 16th, 2025
Wolf Man (2025) is another reimagining of a classic werewolf tale with a recursive twist. The film is centered around a family dealing with unresolved trauma as they return to the father’s childhood farmhouse in hopes of reconnecting—only to be greeted by the very curse that broke their family in the first place.Admittedly, I went into the film fully expecting to fall in love; this is honestly because I can appreciate a wicked creature feature. I was already aware that it was Blumhouse Productions before going into the film, but I also learned—after watching the introductory credits—that it was directed and co-written by Leigh Whannell, whom I recognized from his directorial debut, Insidious 3 (2015), and later The Invisible Man (2020). Christopher Abbott leads as Blake Lovell, a husband and father bringing his family—Charlotte, played by Julia Garner, and their daughter Ginger, played by Matilda Firth—back to his childhood farmhouse in an effort to rebuild strained connections. Sam Jaeger takes on the role of Grady Lovell, Blake’s missing father, whose hidden past gradually unravels at the heart of the story’s horror.
