Sundance. That's a Wrap for 2015

Michael and I had a lot of fun covering this year's Sundance for you, though we definitely missed Glenn this time around resulting in less films covered. The more is always the merrier with movies. Here is a complete list of our 29 reviews in alpha order by film in case you missed any or to use as a reference guide when the films reemerge in the real world.

Tomorrow we'll talk favorite performances and Oscar (we realize it's way too early) but that's a separate conversation. Here's to Sundance 2015!

The Movies We Screened
10,000 Saints (Michael) Manhattan in the 80s with Hailee & Asa
Brooklyn (Nathaniel) Saoirse Ronan grows up in this lovely adaptation of the bestseller
The D Train (Nathaniel) comedy starring Jack Black & James Marsden
Dark Horse (Nathaniel) documentary on breeding race horses
Diary of a Teenager Girl (Michael) sexual coming-of-age drama
Dope (Nathaniel) a hip hop lovin' comic treat
Entertainment (Michael) a comedy from the man behind The Comedy
Experimenter (Michael) not as fascinating as the real experiment
I Am Michael (Nathaniel) James Franco as an ex gay pastor
I Smile Back (Michael) Sarah Silverman in a downward spiral
It Follows (Michael) on the festival horror hit. Will it ever open proper?
Glassland (Nathaniel) mother/son alcoholism drama with Toni Collette & Jack Reynor
Grandma (Nathaniel) Lily Tomlin on a road trip in this great feminist miniature
James White (Michael) Self-destructive character study starring Christopher Abbott
Last Days in the Desert (Nathaniel) Ewan McGregor as Jesus & Satan
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Michael) on the crowd-pleasing Sundance winner
Nasty Baby (Nathaniel) Dramedy from the writer/director of The Maid
The Overnight (Michael) swingers ensemble comedy 
Results (Michael) Guy Pearce in a rom com?
Slow West (Michael) an ambitios western starring Kodi Smit-McPhee & Fassbender
The Stanford Prison Experiment (Nathaniel) true story + rising star ensemble

 

Strangerland (Nathaniel) Nicole Kidman's kids go missing in the Australian desert
Tangerine (Nathaniel) comedy about transgendered hookers in LA
True Story (Michael) Jonah Hill & James Franco in dramatic cat & mouse
A Walk in the Woods (Michael) Redford & Nolte take a hike
The Witch (Michael) This 1630s set Salem horror film took the fest by storm
World of Tomorrow (Michael) another miracle from animating genius Don Hertzfeldt
Z For Zachariah (Michael) post apocalypse with three fine actors
Zipper (Michael) Patrick Wilson in an infidelity drama

Also
Jury & Audience Awards Slow West, Me and Earl, and More...

What's Next for the Best Actress Class of 2014?

Manuel here to talk some more about that actress quintet Nat was just gushing about (we really can't get enough of our fave category!) With news that a certain franchise has nabbed one of our Best Actress nominees for an upcoming film, I figured we should check in and see when we’ll see each of our leading ladies next...

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147 Days Until... MAGIC MIKE XXL

The teaser for Magic Mike XXL ends with "You're Welcome" which is so presumptuous but also correct. Make that two You're Welcomes since the first poster has also arrived. Let's chat both after the image. Take it all in.

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Sundance: "Z for Zachariah" Creaks Under The Weight Of Its Allegory

Michael C here. It's only fitting that I wrap up my Sundance reviews at the end of the world. I could not stop my brain from rebelling throughout Craig Zobel’s Z for Zachariah.

I understood the director was going for a story that worked on an allegorical level. I respected how well Zobel built up a world with just three actors and a handful of rustic locales by letting our imaginations fill in the rest. I appreciated the craft on display. Zobel is a skilled visual storyteller aided immensely by Tim Orr’s evocative photography. The trio of actors playing maybe the last three people alive all do fine work, particularly Margot Robbie, showing impressive range in a character many miles removed from her Wolf of Wall Street trophy wife. I got all the reasons why the film should work, but it never snapped to life for me, maybe because the characters were all too laden with symbolism to feel like real people capable of acting spontaneously. I wanted the cast to quit it with the furtive glances and address the issues everyone in the audience figured out five scenes ago. [More...]

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Tweets o' the Week, Film Bitch Awards Best Villains, More...

It's a combo post. We start with a random assortment of delightful tweets for those of you who don't use the twitter machine or those who do (it's easy to miss things on twitter. So impermanent!).

This collection features my most popular tweet ever (Spoiler Alert: It's about Best Actress), Joel Grey's coming out, the only Super Bowl tweet that mattered to me as well as a little detour into all time favorite movie villains.

In a related announcement I've updated the Film Bitch Awards with this year's nominees for Best Movie Villain of 2014. It wasn't until I was done writing it that I realized that one could safely say "My what big eyes you have!" to virtually any of them. They range from the literally petrifying Owl Witch (pictured above) in Song of the Sea to the 1/8th* metal Winter Soldier, aka Bucky Barnes gone Russian brainwashed assassin. 

*Okay, okay, your arm is probably not an entire 1/8th of your body -- I'm not a scientist! 

Here we go... 

What the hell willl outgross Jurassic World? Star Wars? So Spielberg and Lucas and American Culture caught in amber. #SuperBowl

— Steven Gaydos (@HighSierraMan) February 1, 2015

This new Wes Anderson movie looks amazing pic.twitter.com/R5Yrzyg5GE

— Max Fisher (@Max_Fisher) January 26, 2015

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

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