The 2024 Sundance Film Festival is coming to a close, and it means it’s time to hand out some Audience and Jury Awards! The interesting thing about this year is that the online component of the festival is still going on, and I think there’s about to be a mad rush on a few films that just got a major boost from awards victories.
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize U.S. Dramatic and the Directing Award was Alessandra Lacorazza’s In the Summers, starring The Flash actress Sasha Calle, Lio Mehiel, and Leslie Grace. Sean Wang’s Didi won Audience Awards in the U.S. Dramatic category and a Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble.
The newly-minted Festival Favorite Award went to Angela Patton and Natalie Rae’s film, Daughters, which also took U.S. Documentary Audience Award.
Of the films we saw, Jesse Eisenberg won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for his film, A Real Pain, while the upcoming Hulu film Suncoast earned star Nico Parker a Special Grand Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance.
The full list of Sundance Film Festival Award winners is below! You can find the entirety of our festival coverage here.
This has come out of left field! Christopher Nolan is reteaming with Warner Bros. for a theatrical re-release of Tenet. Beginning on February 23rd, it’ll play in IMAX and 70mm theaters as part of the build-up to Dune: Part Two on March 1st, with exclusive footage from Denis Villeneuve’s sequel attached.
Surprising news, indeed! Nolan famously parted ways with Warner Bros, his longtime studio home, in the aftermath of Tenet‘s release in 2020. Initially, WB had planned to open the film in July, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was repeatedly delayed and nearly opened in streaming, something Nolan fought hard against. Ultimately, it was released into theaters on September 3rd and earned just $365M against a $200M+ budget. The film was a bust, but due to the lack of releases that year it still ended up the fifth highest-grossing of 2020.
Following Tenet‘s struggles, Warner Bros. announced that it would simultaneously release all of its remaining 2020 and 2021 into theaters and streaming. Nolan pushed back on this hard, and decided to leave the studio for Universal where he would work on Oppenheimer, which just earned 13 Oscar nominations.
The beef between Nolan and WB has cooled, though, and now they are working together on this Tenet re-release.
“Seeing the way audiences responded to our large format presentations of “Oppenheimer,” I’m thrilled that Warner Bros. is giving audiences a chance to see “Tenet” the way it was intended to be seen, on the largest IMAX and large format film screens, and I’m honored to have our movie warm up the film projectors for Denis’ jaw-dropping “Dune: Part Two,”” said Nolan.
Tenet stars John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Kenneth Branagh, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Elizabeth Debicki in the story of a CIA agent who uncovers a vast shadowy conspiracy as objects from the future begin arriving into the present.
I was one of the few who ventured out to theaters to screen Tenet in the midst of the pandemic. It was not a worthwhile trip, as the film was bloated, poorly mixed, and sorta dull. But at least I got to chat with Nolan and Washington, so it wasn’t all for nothing. I’m admittedly very curious to see it again now, as I might be in a better frame of mind and not in a total panic.
We’re happy to offer our DC readers the chance to attend a free early screening of Argylle, directed by Matthew Vaughn and starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Henry Cavill, John Cena, Dua Lipa, Bryan Cranston, Sofia Boutella, with Ariana DeBose and Catherine O’Hara and Samuel L. Jackson.
SYNOPSIS: Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World franchise) is Elly Conway, the reclusive author of a series of best-selling espionage novels, whose idea of bliss is a night at home with her computer and her cat, Alfie. But when the plots of Elly’s fictional books—which center on secret agent Argylle and his mission to unravel a global spy syndicate—begin to mirror the covert actions of a real-life spy organization, quiet evenings at home become a thing of the past.
The screening takes place on Tuesday, January 30th at 7:00pm at Regal Majestic. If you’d like to attend, RSVP at the Gofobo link here. Please remember all screenings are first come first served and you’ll need to arrive early to ensure seating. Enjoy the show!
It feels like hardcore revenge cinema is making a comeback, but I doubt anyone would’ve pegged Dev Patel as someone to be behind it. His directorial debut, Monkey Man, looks like a brutal action flick with stylish flourishes that draw comparisons to John Wick and James Bond. That’s a tough combo to pull off, but you know who believes Patel has done it? Jordan Peele, whose Monkey Paw production banner has boarded the film, announced in today’s brand new trailer.
Directed by Patel, who also co-wrote the script, produced the film, and starred in it, Monkey Man follows Kid, an ex-felon in India as he seeks vengeance against the sinister elite who attacked his family and continues to erode society’s values.
A striking image finds Kid battling in an underground fight club while wearing a gorilla mask. Badass. I can’t wait for this!
The film also stars Sharlto Copley of District 9 fame, plus Indian actors Pitobash, Vipin Sharma, Sikandar Kher, Sobhita Dhulipala, Makarand Deshpande, and Ashwini Kalsekar.
Here’s the synopsis: Dev Patel achieves an astonishing, tour-de-force feature directing debut with an action thriller about one man’s quest for vengeance against the corrupt leaders who murdered his mother and continue to systemically victimize the poor and powerless. Inspired by the legend of Hanuman, an icon embodying strength and courage, Monkey Man stars Patel as Kid, an anonymous young man who ekes out a meager living in an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he is beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash. After years of suppressed rage, Kid discovers a way to infiltrate the enclave of the city’s sinister elite. As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him. Packed with thrilling and spectacular fight and chase scenes.
I don’t think that it’s unfair to say Russell Crowe’s career has been hit or miss over the last decade. One thing can be certain though, he is never the issue. The movies themselves maybe average but Crowe seems to always bring the same gruff fortitude to every role he takes. Couple that with my love of noir and you’ll begin to understand why his upcoming film Sleeping Dogs is quickly moving up my most anticipated list.
Crowe stars as a retired homicide detective with a growing memory loss issue. As a way to keep his mind active he begins to look into an old case that never sat right with him. As the title would imply, sometimes its best to let sleeping dogs lie and Crowe’s character becomes embroiled in much more then he bargained for.
Personally I have always been more of a mid-budget thriller/drama Crowe fan then a Blockbuster Crowe fan (Gladiator being the obvious exception). The trailer below paints a picture of a film rife with twists and turns and a theme reminiscent of something like Se7en. While I immediately thought “oh, it’s a Memento rip-off”, and to be fair if the twist is the same at the end I will be disappointed, I think Sleeping Dogs is going to be a worthwhile time at the theater.
Look for Sleeping Dogs when it hits theaters March 22nd, 2024
Official Synopsis:
An ex-homicide detective (Russell Crowe) with memory loss is forced to solve a brutal murder he can’t recall. But as evidence uncovers secrets tied to his forgotten past, he is led to a chilling truth – sometimes, it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie.
So after going solo and directing the acclaimed Best Picture winner, Green Book, Peter Farrelly seems to be slowly reverting back to goofy comedy form. Following the underwhelming Greatest Beer Run Ever, Farrelly reunites with star Zac Efron for Ricky Stanicky, a wild story about friendship, imagination, and when a lie grows beyond your control.
Efron stars alongside John Cena, Jermaine Fowler, Andrew Santino, Lex Scott Davis, and William H. Macy in the story of three childhood friends who invent the imaginary character, Ricky Stanicky, to blame for all of their misdeeds over the years. John Cena looks to be having way too much fun in the role of “Rock Hard” Rod, an actor hired to play Stanicky when the friends’ partners start to become suspicious.
Farrelly directs from a script he helped co-write with Jeff Bushnell and others. Bushnell has been attached to the project for quite a while. It first began life in 2010 with James Franco attached, followed a few years later by Joaquin Phoenix who eyed it for a while, followed by Jim Carrey.
After Farrelly, Efron, and Cena came on board, Amazon swooped in to acquire the rights. Ricky Stanicky will hit Prime Video exclusively on March 7th, and is Rated-R. They really want you to know that.
Here’s the synopsis: When three childhood best friends pull a prank gone wrong, they invent the imaginary Ricky Stanicky to get them out of trouble! Twenty years after creating this ‘friend,’ Dean, JT, and Wes (Zac Efron, Andrew Santino, and Jermaine Fowler) still use the nonexistent Ricky as a handy alibi for their immature behavior. When their spouses and partners get suspicious and demand to finally meet the fabled Mr. Stanicky, the guilty trio decide to hire washed-up actor and raunchy celebrity impersonator “Rock Hard” Rod (John Cena) to bring him to life. But when Rod takes his role of a lifetime too far, they begin to wish they’d never invented Ricky in the first place.
Ian McShane never misses his target. The 81-year-old actor has been plying his trade for decades, but he has arguably never been better than as Wilson, the enigmatic hitman at the heart of American Star, McShane’s reunion with Spanish director Gonzalo López-Gallego. The two previously worked together eight years earlier on The Hollow Point, a new take on the Western genre. For American Star, they offer a fresh spin on the “one last job” hitman film, with McShane once again the coolest killer in the room.
McShane’s Wilson arrives on the island of Fuerteventura, off the coast of Africa, to complete one final assignment. But when the mark isn’t home, Wilson decides to kick his feet up at a nearby resort, where he makes friends with a number of locals, including the beautiful, free-spirited Gloria (Nora Arnezeder), who shows him around the island. As Wilson lets his guard down, those who employed him start to get nervous, and they send someone to keep an eye on him to make sure the job gets done. Meanwhile, Wilson is left to contemplate the life choices he has made, and what a future for someone like him could be.
This was a true labor of love for McShane and López-Gallego, who worked together closely to bring American Star to life and tell this story in the emotionally impactful way they did.
I was fortunate to spend a few minutes speaking with Ian McShane about American Star. We discussed how the project came together, his close working relationship with López-Gallego, his idea of the hitman movie genre, and of course, how he manages to always be so damn cool.
American Star is available now in theaters and VOD. You can check out my review here and the interview below.
Sydney Sweeney is on an incredible roll, and as part of it she’s really covering the bases in the types of roles she’s taking. From serious-minded dramas such as Reality, to rom-coms such as Anyone But You, and the upcoming Spider-Man spinoff Madame Web, Sweeney is everywhere right now. But she also has the buzzy horror film, Immaculate, arriving in March from Neon.
Proving that she’s already learned to throw her weight around in Hollywood, Sweeney produces Immaculate and reunites with director Michael Mohan, who worked with her on The Voyeurs, and David Bernad after they worked together on HBO’s The White Lotus.
In Immaculate, Sweeney plays a devoutly religious woman who takes a role at an illustrious convent in Italy, only to learn that this house of worship is hiding horrifying secrets.
Also in the cast are Alvaro Morte, Benedetta Porcaroli, Dora Romano, Giorgio Colangeli, and Simona Tabasco.
Neon will release Immaculate into theaters on March 22nd.
We don’t give Ian McShane enough credit for his versatility as an actor. While most became familiar with him through his vulgarity-fueled performances in Deadwood, McShane has always been the epitome if quiet cool, as seen in his role as Winston in the John Wick movies. But underneath that slick veneer is a looming menace, a history of violence, and a lifetime of regrets. And all of these traits McShane exhibits beautifully in the assassin thriller, American Star.
Similar to last year’s The Equalizer 3 with Denzel Washington, American Star is a character study of a man whose entire life has been of bloodshed and mistrust. What does a man like this do when he finds his little corner of paradise, and longs to get away from the violence for the first time ever? In the case of McShane’s character, the singularly-named Wilson (you could almost see this as a Winston standalone chapter), the paradise is the island of Fuerteventura. Sent there on finale assignment to kill a target he’s never seen before, the gig is delayed when the mark doesn’t show. And so Wilson decides to kick his feet up and relax in this idyllic corner of the world and wait until it’s time to go to work.
American Star is as reserved and neatly poished as its central character and the man who plays him. Wilson, always looking suave in his black suit and tie, a cigarette in hand, strikes a confident, poised figure. We don’t need to see him in action to know that he’s the best. But we also don’t need a monologue to know that he’s conflicted, and contemplating a different kind of future. As the days pass, Wilson begins forming relationships with people on this tiny island. Wilson becomes a safe haven for Max (Oscar Coleman), a young boy who is clearly looking to get away from his warring parents. There’s also Ryan (Adam Nagaitis), a colleague and someone Wilson is close to on a personal level. As Wilson lets his guard down, Ryan appears and tries to steer him back on track, turning the heat up to simmer just a little bit.
But the key relationship in Wilson’s life is Gloria (Nora Arnezeder), a 30-something drifter with a casual attitude and outlook on life. Wilson had spotted her and her ever-present motorbike while scoping out the job, and now here they are becoming fast friends. She “likes to meet people”, and clearly there are some pent-up daddy issues swirling around in there, too. They talk about an eventually visit a decrepid old battleship, the one that gives the film its title, and it’s obvious the comparison being made.
McShane has been developing American Star with director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego and writer Nacho Faerna to create exactly the kind of story they wanted to tell. This is a film that’s more about mood and capturing a certain kind of vibe. The exotic locale is perfect, a mixture of gorgeous beaches and desert landscapes that seem to stretch on forever. The pace is so casual that you might actually forget it’s about a hitman with a job to do, and in fact, Wilson seems to forget this, too. He does something that an assassin is never supposed to do, which is get close to people, and in a tiny place like Fuerteventura the same faces pop up anywhere and everywhere. Before long, the connections Wilson has made becomes a genuine threat.
When the violence erupts in American Star, it happens suddenly and brutally, a stark reminder of the reality of the world Wilson has walked in. There’s no such thing as an easy escape from the life Wilson has led, and blood is always the price for trying. A subtle twist on the “one last job” hitman genre, American Star is effortlessly sophisticated and dangeously cool, with McShane proving that he’s always the right man for the job.
American Star is available in theaters and VOD now.
So, when it comes to the Road House remake starring Jake Gyllenhaal, I’ve decided to be nice…until it’s time to not be nice. Dalton would be proud of me. Following the poster debut yesterday, along with news that director Doug Liman is boycotting its SXSW premiere, the first official trailer for the MMA-fueled remake of Rowdy Herrington’s barroom-brawling classic has arrived, and it looks pretty good.
The gist is the same, with a twist. Inspired more by the octagon than the WWE, this Road House stars Gyllenhaal as Elwood Dalton, an ex-MMA fighter who takes a job as a bouncer at a dangerous roadhouse in the Florida Keys where things are not what they seem. The film also stars Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Williams, Conor McGregor, and more.
While Gyllenhaal’s character isn’t quite as zen as Patrick Swayze’s version of Dalton, he still rocks the same “Pain don’t hurt” armchair philosophy. In the original movie, it was wrestling legend Terry Funk who played the big bad bruiser, but it’s McGregor who will fill the heater role this time, and he looks absolutely perfect for it.
Here’s the synopsis: In this adrenaline-fueled reimagining of the 80s cult classic, ex-UFC fighter Dalton (Jake Gyllenhaal) takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys roadhouse, only to discover that this paradise is not all it seems.
Road House hits Prime Video exclusively on March 21st.
