Sundance Review: ‘Ibelin’
Online Community And Disability Meet In Benjamin Ree's Heartbreaking And Heartfelt Documentary

By
Cortland Jacoby
-

If you are part of any online community, you know about the power of the internet. Whether your platform is Tumblr, Discord, Xbox, or some other online game, these platforms have the singular power of connecting people of similar interests together quickly.

This idea is explored in Benjamin Ree’s latest documentary Ibelin. The breakout director of 2020’s The Painter and The Thief, the documentarian is becoming known for his prolific work looking at the lives of everyday normal people. This is no exception with his latest work looking at Mats Steen.

An everyday Norwegian kid, we learn through talking head interviews with his parents and sister, that he was diagnosed young with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a severe genetic disorder that took Steen, mobility, voice, and life. Like most teenagers, he found solace in the internet, more specifically playing collaborative video games like World of Warcraft. Sometimes he would spend over twelve hours a day playing.

Mats’ father says that when Mats passed, he believes he deliberately left his computer password out for his parents to find. When they unlocked it, they discovered his blog and quickly wrote an obituary on it for readers to find. Unexpectedly, the family received hundreds of emails from people all over Europe sending their condolences and mourning with them, leading the family to wonder about what kind of life their son lived online.

This question is at the heart of Benjamin Ree’s film. Using those emails, a server with thousands upon thousands of hours and over 40,000 pages logged with Warcraft history, the documentarian can reenact and trace Mats’ online life. With the help of the game’s animators, they show how he was in the game, how he liked helping others, and – eventually – how his illness made his way into his online world despite his wishes against it.

Ibelin is not just a love letter to online communities but a portal to how Mats saw himself. Very rarely do we get disability representation like this that doesn’t celebrate the individual. We see Mats cut people out and be rude to those he disagrees with. He could be a womanizer online and it sounds like there were a few members of his guild that thought he could be an asshole. What Ree is great at showing in his work is someone as their full and true selves. He doesn’t demonize Mats and instead shows him through a light of empathy that is extremely moving.

While the World of Warcraft animation is a good idea, Ree over-relies on it, especially in emotional moments. In Ibelin’s final act, you still have the voiceover given to him from those talking-head interviews. More cuts back to the real world, lingering there instead of in the uncanny valley, would have packed a more significant emotional punch.

We eventually learn that Ibelin was the name of Mats’ avatar. He was buff, had a ponytail and a mustache, and liked to solve mysteries. The real Mats loved games and eating outside of his G-tube and had very complicated feelings about his situation. Ree marries these two figures in Ibelin, telling the remarkable story of an online community and an ordinary young man.

Netflix picked up Ibelin and will release it later this year.

DC Readers: Attend A Free Virtual Screening Of ‘Upgraded’ Starring Camila Mendes

By

-

January 30, 2024

We’re happy to offer our readers the chance to attend an early virtual screening of Upgraded, Prime Video’s upcoming rom-com starring Camila Mendes, Archie Renaux, and Marisa Tomei!

SYNOPSIS: Ana (Camila Mendes) is an ambitious intern dreaming of a career in the art world while trying to impress her demanding boss Claire (Marisa Tomei). When she’s upgraded to first class on a work trip, she meets handsome Will (Archie Renaux), who mistakes Ana for her boss– a white lie that sets off a glamorous chain of events, romance and opportunity, until her fib threatens to surface.

The screening is virtual and takes place on Monday, February 5th at 6:00pm. If you’d like to attend virtually, RSVP at the Amazon link here.

Enjoy the show! Upgraded will stream globally on Prime Video on February 9th.

‘In A Violent Nature’ Teaser: Breakout Sundance Slasher Unfolds From The Killer’s Perspective

By

Travis Hopson

-

January 30, 2024

The first movie I saw at Sundance this year was also one of the most talked about. IFC and Shudder’s In a Violent Nature, a brutal slasher movie with one of the most gnarly kills I’ve ever seen. So what makes this different from any other arthouse horror movie playing festivals? This one is told from the slasher’s perspective.

So basically, imagine Friday the 13th totally seen through the hockey mask of Jason Voorhees. In a Violent Nature centers on Johnny, who rises from his makeshift grave to retrieve something that has been stolen from him. Fueled by vengeance, he begins stalking down everyone in his vicinity, including a bunch of vacationing teens, and a sheriff tied to his past.

The film stars Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic, Cameron Love, Reece Presley, Liam Leone, Charlotte Creaghan, Lea Rose Sebastianis, Sam Roulston, Alexander Oliver, and Lauren Taylor, and was directed by Chris Nash in his feature debut.

I like this teaser because it doesn’t reveal too much. I do believe that a less is more approach is the right idea, and it should continue as we get closer to its release. What the film does right is explore the tropes of slasher movies, revealing some things we don’t typically see, from a viewpoint we’ve never seen.

Here’s the synopsis: When a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 60-year old crime, his body is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it. The undead golem hones in on the group of vacationing teens responsible for the theft and proceeds to methodically slaughter them one by one in his mission to get it back – along with anyone in his way.

In a Violent Nature will open in theaters soon, followed by a streaming release on Shudder.

Timothée Chalamet And Zendaya Would Be “Super Enthusiastic” To Return For ‘Dune: Messiah’

By

Travis Hopson

-

January 30, 2024

Chalamet and Zendaya want to return for Dune: Messiah

Dune: Part One was a huge hit in 2021, both critically and at the box office during a rough time for movie theaters. When the sequel was delayed due to the strikes, it deflated fans who were eager to see Denis Villeneuve conclude his sci-fi epic. But, as most already know, these first two movies adapt just one of Frank Herbert’s novels, and if this is also a success, there’s a good chance we’ll see the next book adapted, Dune: Messiah.

If Dune: Messiah is going to happen, Villeneuve won’t have any trouble luring back stars Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya. The trio spoke with Total Film about the prospect of returning for a third movie to conclude the story of Paul Atreides. Suffice it to say, all are pretty excited…

“Denis is an artist, and doesn’t like to share things until he’s got it figured out,” Zendaya said. “So whenever he’s ready, we’re all keenly ready to hear what his vision is.”

Chalamet added, “The idea excites me very much. If the time and opportunity comes to complete the story with ‘Messiah,’ I think we’re all super-enthusiastic about that.”

Villeneuve has said the script for Dune: Messiah is nearly finished, and thinks Paul’s story needs to be tied-up properly…

“All of the elements are there,” Villeneuve explains. “But I think the movie adaptation is more tragic than the book. The way that Part Two ends… it would create a total balance and equilibrium to finish Paul’s storyline in what we could say in Part Three.”

Dune: Part Two opens in theaters on March 1st.

‘Tarot’ Trailer: Avantika And Jacob Batalon Are Dealt An Unholy Hand In New Supernatural Horror Film

By

Travis Hopson

-

January 30, 2024

If you saw the new Mean Girls musical, then you are already aware of how funny and talented Avantika was as the dopey Karen Shetty. Her song “Sexy” totally stole the film. Well, Avantika is back and going in the complete opposite direction. She’s starring in the new horror, Tarot, and based on the title you probably already know what it’s about.

Well, let me take that back, because Avantika might be perfect as a stupid youngster who underestimates the power of tarot readings and unleashes evil supernatural forces into the world. Isn’t that always the way? Did these people not watch Talk to Me? Or any horror movie for that matter?

Joining Avantika in the cast are Spider-Man‘s Jacob Batalon, Harriet Slater, and Adain Bradley. The film is written and directed Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg. It marks the feature-length directorial debut for both, although Cohen previously wrote the Halle Berry thriller Moonfall. Make of that what you will.

Here’s the synopsis: When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings – never use someone else’s deck – they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death to escape the future foretold in their readings.

Tarot opens in theaters on May 10th.

‘The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ Trailer: Guy Ritchie’s WWII Action-Comedy Stars Henry Cavill, Eiza Gonzalez, And More

By

Travis Hopson

-

January 30, 2024

Henry Cavill in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Nobody is moving at a clip faster than Guy Ritchie right now. With a slew of projects either completed or coming up, both on the big and small screen, Ritchie’s next feature is the WWII action-comedy The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, and today a trailer has arrived. Per usual, Ritchie has stacked the roster with stars, and those looking for strict adherence to historical accuracy might as well check out now.

Ritchie reunites with his The Man from UNCLE star Henry Cavill, who plays real-life British figure Gus March-Phillipps, founder of the Small Scale Raiding Force established by Winston Churchill during WWII. Also in the cast are Eiza Gonzalez, Reacher‘s Alan Ritchson, Alex Pettyfer, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Babs Olusamokun, Henry Zaga, Til Schweiger, with Henry Golding, and Cary Elwes.

Jerry Bruckheimer is aboard as a producer, a sign of the blockbuster scope and expectations for this one. The film is based on Damian Lewis’ book, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: How Churchill’s Secret Warriors Set Europe Ablaze and Gave Birth to Modern Black Ops.

Here’s the synopsis: Based upon recently declassified files of the British War Department and inspired by true events, THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE is an action-comedy that tells the story of the first-ever special forces organization formed during WWII by UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill and a small group of military officials including author Ian Fleming. The top-secret combat unit, composed of a motley crew of rogues and mavericks, goes on a daring mission against the Nazis using entirely unconventional and utterly “ungentlemanly” fighting techniques. Ultimately their audacious approach changed the course of the war and laid the foundation for the British SAS and modern Black Ops warfare.

Also coming up for Ritchie? Adventure film Fountain of Youth with John Krasinski, Natalie Portman, and Eiza Gonzalez. He’s already wrapped on an untitled movie with Jake Gyllenhaal, Cavill, and Gonzalez. Do you get the feeling he likes working with Cavill and Gonzalez? He also wrote and directed Netflix’s series spinoff of The Gentlemen.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare opens on April 19th.

Sundance Review: ‘A Real Pain’
Kieran Culkin Is A Tour De Force While Touring Poland In Jesse Eisenberg's Second Feature

By
Cortland Jacoby
-

If you go back and read the Punch Drunk Critics review for Jesse Eisenberg’s first feature When You Finish Saving The World, there was room for him to improve. Well, he found it in A Real Pain, his second directing effort and the first one he is starring in. While Eisenberg’s script stands out as a heartbreaking and hilarious ride through generational trauma, it’s his costar, Kieran Culkin, who steals the show in a moving and manic performance.

A Real Pain starts at the airport, where the listless Benji is waiting for his cousin, the direct opposite and by-the-book David, to board a plane to Poland to visit their recently deceased grandmother’s homeland. Together, they will join a tour group led by non-Jewish historian James (Will Sharpe) and attended by divorcee Marcia (Jennifer Grey), married couple Diane (Liza Sadovy) and Mark (Daniel Oreskes), and convert Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan).

Our introduction to the Eisenberg character is as you’d expect from the well-known actor. Though Benji won’t pick up the phone, David leaves multiple messages thinking his cousin will be late. It shows his anxiety and history with his cousin. Sure, the scene shows off more of Eisenberg’s writing ability than his acting range, but the sequence sets the tone for the rest of the film.

As the group travels around Poland, Benji makes himself the center of attention. He bonds with Marcia, helping her find solace in her divorce. He helps everyone loosen up by taking a silly picture. While David thinks it’s in bad taste, everyone else soon joins in. Not all of his interactions with the group are positive. He constantly interrupts and isn’t afraid to confront someone without thinking about how his words come off, like telling James that parts of his delivery don’t come off as culturally appropriate.

Culkin can communicate a severe melancholy within Benji that is somehow endearing. We’ve seen flashes of this in his Emmy Award-winning work as Roman Roy in Succession, Benji feels a bit like a spiritual twin to his titular character from Igby Goes Down, especially if the latter never emotionally grew up. A Real Pain is a perfect title because it aptly would describe traveling with this character, but it also would describe the deep unrest he is feeling in his life.

While the film feels like it should be a two-hander between its leads with the occasional volley to Will Sharpe, Culkin takes the ball and runs with it. Though the two, get their confrontation and eventual emotional release, Culkin steals the film. Eisenberg lets him, knowing what a brilliant gem of a performance he’s been given.

A Real Pain will be released by Searchlight later this year.

Sundance Review: ‘Winner’
Emilia Jones, Zach Galifianakis, And Director Susanna Fogel Fail To Bring A New Perspective To The Reality Winner Story

By
Cortland Jacoby
-

The story of Reality Winner has been adapted three times now for the screen. The first, Reality, was a 2023 HBO movie starring Sydney Sweeney that followed the former US solider and NSA contractor’s two-hour interrogation by FBI agents for leaking classified documents. It was based on Tina Satter’s play Is This A Room and the script followed official transcripts carefully, though didn’t fully capture the young woman’s personality. The second film was Sonia Kennebeck’s 2023 documentary aptly titled Reality Winner, which covered her case and her life in depth, with interviews from other people charged under the Espionage Act.

At this year’s Sundance, director Susanna Fogel (last year’s Cat Person) brings us another titular film about Reality Winner, this time taking the freed thirty-something’s last name. Winner starts at a formative moment of defiance for our lead character (Emilia Jones) when she frees a bunch of puppies from a mall pet store. Her father, Ron (Zach Galifianakis) looks on proudly while her mother, Billie (Connie Britton), and sister, Brittany (played as an adult by Kathryn Newton), disapprove. These moments of defiance build up as she grows up, learns Arabic languages and joins the military.

She eventually gets a job translating for the NSA, which she relaxes from by putting herself through punishingly hard workouts. If she could stay in a plank for five minutes, the transcript she turned over that day wouldn’t lead to people’s deaths. That sort of thinking drives her to look at the injustices of the world differently. Eventually, the 2016 election happened and she found a classified document indicating that despite government insistence, there was proof Russians interfered in the election. Like the puppies in the mall, she decides to release the document.

Winner leaves out two major plotlines that would give a more complete picture of its subject’s life. The first is the role of The Intercept in her arrest. As the documentary explored, The Intercept failed to protect its source from persecution by the government. In Fogel and Howley’s story, the news outlet is reduced to a few lines of dialogue, which seems to put more of the blame on Winner. The second is the very important detail that Donald Trump was indicted on the same espionage charge that she spent five years in prison for. This goes back to the idea that Reality Winner’s crimes were inherently political and therefore a political stance should have been taken by the filmmakers. Fogel tries her hardest to present this story without a political lens, but in doing so it paints Reality’s actions as somewhat pointless, which if you followed her story, were anything but.

The best thing about Winner is its exploration of Winner’s relationship with her father. Not explored in the previous film or documentary, the history between those two characters provides context into where her political beliefs came from, for the sake of this story and Winner’s story as a whole. That’s something that the documentary doesn’t touch. Galifianakis is obviously known for his broad comedic performances, however, I’ve always believed he’s at his best playing more complicated and somber characters. Similar to his role in It’s Kind of A Funny Story, he brings an intriguing melancholy to his character that draws you in and doesn’t let you go.

Here’s hoping that the real Reality Winner feels that her story has been adequately told between all three films. If we do get another biopic, I hope time can give us a complete and clear picture of her, taking the best part of each film to create an even better biopic in the distant future.

Sundance Review: ‘The Outrun’
Saoirse Ronan, Alcoholism And The Scottish Isles Make A Powerful Trio In Nora Fingscheidt's Recovery Drama

By
Cortland Jacoby
-

Saoirse Ronan is known for her performances. She’s the kind of actress who can take a bad movie and elevate it (looking at you Foe). The Irish native doesn’t need to do that with her latest project and Sundance standout, The Outrun. The second English language feature from German director Nora Fingscheidt was based on Amy Liptrot’s book of the same name and co-written by both of them. Part addiction biopic and nature narrative, the team-up between these three women takes something that should feel boring or emotionally laborious and turns it into a moving story of survival.

With ambitious editing by Stephan Bechinger, The Outrun jumps before and after Rona’s (Ronan) rock bottom. Cutting between her time in London where her drinking became out of control and her life as a conservationist in the Scottish Orkney Islands, Rona’s life is mixed between before and afters stemming from childhood trauma at the hands of her father (Stephen Dillane).

As she comes back to restart her life sober, she struggles with her mother’s (Saskia Reeves) relationship with God and her father’s mental illness. Her time in London getting her Masters in Biology is marked by her seemingly healthy relationship with Daynin (Paapa Essiedu) which crumbles as her dependence on drinking increases. At times the editing is slightly confusing, as it takes a minute to establish if we are in the present or past. I kept telling colleagues that I believe a better story starting point would have been when she heads to a remote island for work after relapsing with everything else in flashback.

Normally, I believe voiceover is rarely called for. However, Ronan’s narration and the writing provided by Liptrot and Fingscheidt, give a grounding connection to the nature around Rona. The Orkney Islands become another character in the story through this device. It’s ironically sobering to Rona’s reality of dealing with her alcohol addiction

Ronan is at the heart of The Outrun. She disappears in the role. In the last few years, she’s proven her range in grounded work such as Ammonite and On Chesil Beach and in zanier projects like See How They Run and The French Dispatch. As Rona, she has never been more raw and vulnerable. From the anguish in her eyes to her drunken giggle, Ronan packs her performance with purpose and emotion. While the script and Fingscheudt’s direction packs a punch, it’s Ronan you can’t look away from.

Supergirl Role Goes To ‘House Of The Dragon’ Star Milly Alcock

By

Travis Hopson

-

January 30, 2024

Milly Alcock is James Gunn's new Supergirl

James Gunn and DC Studios have found their Woman of Tomorrow! It took a few weeks, but Gunn has named House of the Dragon star Milly Alcock as his new Supergirl. She’ll take on the role in a future Supergirl movie, and possibly appear elsewhere across the new DCU.

The Wrap confirmed the news of Alcock’s casting. She had been in contention along with CODA star Emilia Jones and Supergirl voice actress Meg Donnelly since January, so this wasn’t a long testing process and did not include Sasha Calle, who played the role most recently in The Flash. Some fans had been hoping she’d stick around, but when Gunn confirmed his Supergirl would be based on Tom King’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comic, that idea flew out the window.

This is only the seconf feature film role for Alcock, who previously starred in the 2018 Australian horror, The School.

No director is attached to the movie yet, but a script is being written by Ana Nogueira, who had been hired to write a Supergirl movie for Calle that obviously won’t happen. Because this casting is so early in the process, there’s a good chance we could see Alcock debut in Superman: Legacy, which Gunn plans to shoot this March for a July 2025 release.