Prepare for something totally insane coming to theaters this fall.
The Sundance selected thriller Assassination Nation turns a small town into a bloodbath when a hacker starts leaking the most intimate e-mails, texts, pictures and internet search histories of a few key community figures before unleashing an absolute barrage of hacked goods. It turns the entire town upside down, and four teenage girls are getting blamed for all of it. But they’re not taking this shit lying down. Watch the Assassination Nation red band trailer to see how insane things get. Read More »
Any adult will tell you that middle school is one of the most awful parts of adolescence. Faces explode with acne, hormones are raging, conversations are awkward, and everyone sucks. So comedian Bo Burnham decided to make his feature writing and directorial debut recounting just how awful that time in all of our lives was with a wonderful, lively movie called Eighth Grade, and just like that we have a fresh new voice on the page and behind the camera. Read More »
The world lost Robin Williams in 2014 just before trying times when we need him the most. The brilliant, quick-witted comedic mind was a marvel to behold, his mind always moving faster than his body would let him. He was a rocket strapped to a roller skate. And this summer fans will be able to gain more insight into what made him tick.
Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind is an intimate new documentary painting a touching portrait of one of the most revered comedians of all time, and the first trailer has arrived. With tons of new unseen footage, rarely heard interviews, and stories from those who were closest to him, this documentary is a must-see for anyone who enjoyed what Robin Williams brought into our lives. Read More »
(This review originally ran during our coverage of the Sundance Film Festival. American Animals is in select theaters today.)
Heist movies are all about setting up the illusion of clockwork precision, but every good heist film features at least one scene where the job goes horribly wrong – and the great ones often dive into the bitter consequences of crossing the line.
In that tradition comes American Animals, a compelling new heist drama from writer/director Bart Layton, the filmmaker behind the impressive 2012 documentary The Imposter. Here he conducts an interesting harmony between fiction and non-fiction, intercutting dramatic scenes featuring his primary cast (Barry Keoghan, Evan Peters, Jared Abrahamson, Blake Jenner) with actual interviews of the real-life thieves they’re playing. The result is a mesmerizing blend of narrative and documentary storytelling that would seem too far-fetched to believe if it was just another run-of-the-mill thriller. Read More »
One of the breakout films from this year’s Sundance Film Festival is the sharp, electric and vital Blindspotting. An impressive blend of stylish comedy and powerful drama makes this a remarkable directorial debut for filmmaker Carlos López Estrada, but it’s the presence of Hamilton star Daveed Diggs giving a breakthrough performance that really drives this movie home. But don’t take our word for it. Take a look at the first Blindspotting trailer below. Read More »
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One of the breakout hits from the 2018 Sundance Film Festival in January was the coming-of-age comedy Eighth Grade. Marking the directorial debut of YouTube star-turned-professional comedian Bo Burnham, the film throws us right into the middle of the final week of the last year of middle school for Kayla Day (played spectacularly by Elsie Fisher). What unfolds, as you’ll see in the first Eighth Grade trailer, are all the trials and tribulations that come with the hormones, embarrassment and awkwardness that we’ve probably all desperately tried to forget. Read More »
You may think you’re ready to see Boots Riley‘s sensational Sorry to Bother You. But I assure you, you are not ready for some of the bizarre ideas and off-the-wall imagery this film has in store for you. Annapurna Pictures wisely scooped up Riley’s much-discussed debut movie after it premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and now they’ve released the first Sorry to Bother You trailer. Strap in, because things are about to get weird. Read More »
Originally published in 1999, Walter Dean Myers’s novel Monster has been a favorite among young-adult readers, using both a third-person screenplay device and first-person diary format to tell the story of honors student Steve Harmon, a black teenager with dreams of becoming a filmmaker, who is arrested and tried for felony murder in New York City after a bodega robbery goes wrong and the owner is killed. Was this kid from a supportive home a part of this crime? Or is he simply guilty of being young, black and on trial when he walks in the courtroom?
Music video veteran and first-time feature director Anthony Mandler has been desperate to bring Monster to the screen for years, and now he’s done so with a cast that includes such heavyweights as Jennifer Ehle, Jeffrey Wright, and Tim Blake Nelson, as well as musicians-turned-actors like Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson, Nas, and A$AP Rocky (real name Rakim Mayers) as Harmon’s co-defendant. Told in a non-linear fashion, Monster moves from Harmon’s life just before the crime to his time in prison and the eventual trial, all culminating in a look at the actual events surrounding the robbery. Various versions of the truth are told, and Mandler illustrates how a kid who wanted to capture the reality of his neighborhood got caught up in way he could never have imagined or wanted.
Harmon is played by Kelvin Harrison Jr., best known as the son in last year’s It Comes At Night. However, he was also in the Oscar-nominated Mudbound and was in two other Sundance films this year: Assassination Nation and Monsters and Men. Harrison delivers some truly rage-filled inner monologues in Monster that add a depth and level of frustration to both the character and the experience of watching the film.
This interview with Mandler and Harrison took place at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, where Monster debuted. /Film spoke with the two about the process of bringing the novel to the screen and the movie’s fluid definition of “the truth.” Monster has yet to announce a distributor or release date.
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The 2018 Sundance Film Festival has come to a close, and while the awards have already been handed out from the festival itself, we have our own accolades that we’d like to pass out to some of the best movies from the year’s first major film fest.
Ethan Anderton, Ben Pearson and Steve Prokopy all chimed in with their picks for their favorite comedy, favorite drama, favorite performances, most pleasant surprise, biggest disappointment and much more. Keep reading to find out our picks for the Best of Sundance 2018. Read More »
For her second feature at Sundance (after her highly praised 2014 debut Little Accidents), writer/director Sara Colangelo has chosen to remake a four-year-old Israeli drama to examine the dying practice of encouraging and protecting artistic genius. Like the Staten Island educator at the center of this film, The Kindergarten Teacher pushes boundaries and crosses lines as it navigates its way through a tricky story of a five-year-old boy (newcomer Parker Sevak), who shows an unreal gift for poetry, and his teacher, Lisa (a career-best performance by Maggie Gyllenhaal, who is also one of the film’s producers), who struggles in her adult-education class to be a poet as well, if only to add a bit of culture to a home life that offers her little by way of intellectual stimulation.
This interview with Colangelo took place at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, where The Kindergarten Teacher premiered and earned Colangelo the festival’s Directing Award in the U.S. Dramatic category. /Film spoke with her about the appeal of this difficult story, the decision not to paint her protagonist as mentally unbalanced, and the risk of losing the next Mozart without proper encouragement. The Kindergarten Teacher has yet to announce a distributor or release date.
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