Search was an awesome discovery at Sundance. Though presented entirely on a computer screen as a frantic father (John Cho) looks for his missing daughter, Search is not a gimmick. Within a day of its Sundance premiere, Search sold to Sony so you’ll see it later this year. Monsters and Critics sat down with writer/director
Christina Choe’s feature film debut won her a Sundance Film Festival award for screenwriting. Choe wrote and directed Nancy, starring Andrea Riseborough as a woman who claims to be the long lost kidnapped daughter of a still grieving couple (J. Smith-Cameron and Steve Buscemi). Monsters and Critics spoke with Choe midweek at Sundance before she
If you’re still watching the third movie, you know what you’re getting. Fifty Shades Freed certainly is another one! If you take it seriously, it’ll make you swoon more. Or, maybe you’ll just laugh even harder at the absurdity. Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) and Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) are married now, but Christian’s having a
When directors with distinct sense of humor do Marvel movies, they get more attention for putting their stamp on it. When a director’s specialty is character drama, it may float under the radar. Ryan Coogler gets those moments out of Black Panther, and the rest of the Marvel formula remains intact. Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis)
The Elliott family is now three generations deep into comedy. It began with Bob Elliott, half of the comedy duo Bob and Ray. His son Chris Elliott went into comedy on Late Night with David Letterman, his own sitcom Get a Life (costarring Bob) and movies like Groundhog Day and There’s Something About Mary. Now
The Netflix original movie A Futile and Stupid Gesture tells the true story of National Lampoon co-founder Doug Kenney (Will Forte). It goes as far as the National Lampoon production of Animal House and Kenney’s Caddyshack before he died. Knowing that part of Kenney’s story would include Animal House, director David Wain didn’t want to
Comedies can be hard to come by at Sundance. There’s always a Clerks or two but most filmmakers come to Sundance with their serious dramas. Not Augustine Frizzell. Her comedy, Never Goin’ Back, premiered in the Midnight section of Sundance, usually reserved for ultra-violent horror movies. It was good for a late night laugh. Jessie
As the cast of Hamilton continues to dominate other media, Daveed Diggs proves he is a movie star in his Sundance film Blindspotting. Lin-Manuel Miranda got a head start composing songs for Moana, but Diggs did some music for TV’s The Mayor, and now cowrote this role to showcase his acting chops, social commentary and
Music movies have been a boon for Sundance in recent years. In 2014, the fest opened with Whiplash and closed with Rudderless. Sing Street also had a Sundance premiere, and last year featured Patti Cake$ and Roxanne Roxanne. Hearts Beat Loud got stuck in my head so I can’t wait until the film and its
If you expect a movie starring the Elliott family and directed by Bridey Elliott to be a wacky laugh riot, then you really aren’t familiar with the truly weird Elliott creations. Sure, they’ve been on SNL and Silicon Valley, but the ones Chris Elliott wrote and created were Get a Life and Cabin Boy. His