Sundance review: Eliza Scanlen proves ecstatic anew in 'The Starling Girl'

by Jason Adams

Usually when I write about getting “representation” on-screen I’m talking about the gay stuff – like when Call Me By Your Name knocked me flat with its warmly lyrical depiction of a neurotic gayling’s first same-sex longings. And there was gay stuff at Sundance this year that I felt deep in my bones – the darkly funny internalized homophobia of Sebastián Silva’s Rotting in the Sun squarely hit the mark.  But no movie felt more like a mirror at this year’s fest than did writer-director Laurel Parmet’s debut film The Starling Girl, which explores the world of rural Christian fundamentalism with the crystal cold precision of one who barely survived that very thing. I speak from my own experience...

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Weekend Box Office: The Oscar Bump

By Ben Miller

Yes, Avatar: The Way of Water won the box office battle for the seventh straight week.  Yes, it's now one of four highest-grossing films in history (the third James Cameron-directed film to achieve that).  Yes, it will end up being one of the biggest domestic hits in history.  But, I'm much more interested in the rest of the box office.  Following Tuesday's Oscar nods, several of the big contenders received a much needed expansion and a little financial boost...  

Weekend Box Office (actuals) Jan 27th-29th 🔺 = new or expanding /  ★ = Recommended
WIDE (OVER 800 SCREENS)	LIMITED / PLATFORM
THE WAY OF WATER	PATHAAN
1 ★ AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER $15.9 (cum. $620.8) 3,600 screens	1 🔺 PATHAAN $6.8 *NEW* 695 screens
2 ★ PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH  $10.4 (cum. $140.7) 3,452 screens	2 THE WANDERING EARTH II $1.4 (cum. $3.0) 142 screens

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Abe’s Sundance Jury of One

We will have a few more Sundance reviews from Jason and Nathaniel who attended the festival virtually. Abe Friedtanzer was there in person so here's his wrap-up - Editor

Eve Hewson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Flora and SonIt was great to be back in-person at the Sundance Film Festival for the first time since 2020, when future Oscar-winning films Promising Young Woman, Minari, and The Father all made their debuts. It was also my first real taste of winter since the start of the pandemic, and it was quite chilly! But I had a wonderful time and there’s something very unique about this festival. I saw 33 films while in Park City, plus a few more online. I didn’t manage any days of five movies but averaged three or four. It was also a nice surprise to see two of the best films on the last two days. A few of these have distribution already, and if that’s the case, it’s noted. My favorites are after the jump...

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Sundance Review: 'A Thousand and One' and Teyana Taylor shine bright

by Jason Adams 

Sneaking up on you like an A train out of a dark subway tunnel, first-time feature writer-director A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One (which just won the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and is hitting screens on March 31st) is one of those magical small movies that plays its big dramas so low-key that the tumult you find your heart in by its last act comes as a total surprise. With a tremendous and blessedly unsentimental performance at its heart from singer-turned-actress Teyana Taylor, A Thousand and One wears its Moonlight influences proudly on its sleeve but still manages to be its own thing - and what a beautiful thing it manages...

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Sundance Review: 'The Accidental Getaway Driver' swerves beautifully toward slowness

by Jason Adams

Blessedly patient with its could’ve been wacky and wild premise, writer-director Sing J. Lee’s The Accidental Getaway Driver opts to be a methodical mood piece. This based-on-a-true-story tale is about an elderly Vietnamese driver named Long (Hiep Tran Nghia) who takes the wrong phone call at the wrong time and gets dragged into a crime-drama he has no place being in the middle of. You can see the 90s Jackie Chan high-concept version of this story staring in, but Lee’s film aims for and hits something much deeper. Something that speaks to assimilation and generational divides in hushed tones, and with a genuine tension that remains unshowy at every turn. I loved it...

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