Every year at Sundance, there is a feature film that would have benefited more from being a short. The film has a great idea and starts strongly, but towards the end of the second act and almost the entire third act, it runs out of steam, and the once-great idea for a film sputters to the finish line. At the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, that film was Casper Kelly’s delirious midnight romp, Buddy. Kelly…
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The Only Living Pickpocket in New York is a lean, slick, low-level crime film. It’s a straightforward, character-driven drama that takes us across New York City as an old-school man battles the new school. Harry (John Turturro) is the last of a dying breed: he’s a pickpocket in New York City. He picks people’s wallets, things hanging out of their bags, phones, whatever he sees fit. He carries around a wad of cash in…
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In 1972, filmmaker William Greaves gathered some of the key artists, musicians, librarians, poets, journalists, actors, photographers, teachers, and critics of the Harlem Renaissance at Duke Ellington’s home for a party, which he filmed. The footage turned into Once Upon a Time in Harlem, one of the best documentaries of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and probably the year. Watching Once Upon a Time in Harlem is like being a plus-one at a party full…
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Reginald Hudlin’s comedy classic House Party has been added to the Criterion Collection. In this dazzlingly imaginative teen comedy, the breakthrough feature debut by writer-director Reginald Hudlin, hip-hop duo Kid ’n Play bring their star power to the big screen as aspiring MCs preparing for the party of the year. When Kid’s father (Robin Harris) forbids him from attending Play’s party, Kid sneaks out anyway, kicking off a wild night full of dance-offs and rap…
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I Want Your Sex opens with a scene reminiscent of the classic noir Sunset Boulevard. We are introduced to Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) stumbling out of a luxurious mansion in lingerie with blood on his face. He sees the lifeless body of Erika (Olivia Wilde) floating in a pool and jumps in to try to save her. Elliot is arrested and questioned by the cops (Johnny Knoxville and Margaret Cho) and explains the story of…
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Jonathan Glazer’s sophomore feature, Birth, has been added to the Criterion Collection. Jonathan Glazer’s second feature film is a haunting cinematic enigma that explores the mysteries of the heart. Nicole Kidman delivers a masterfully multilayered performance as Anna, a widow still mourning the death of her husband a decade earlier, when she meets Sean (Cameron Bright), a ten-year-old boy who claims to be his reincarnation—leading her into a wrenching confrontation with her own unresolved grief…
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The simplicity of Beth de Araújo’s Josephine is the film’s biggest asset. The film follows 8-year-old Josephine (Mason Reeves), who, while on an early morning run with her father, accidentally gets separated from him and winds up witnessing a woman being attacked and raped. The movie focuses on Josephine after the event, the emotional toll on her and her family, and the push-and-pull advice she receives from her parents. Josephine is a movie about…
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As of writing this review, it is the end of January. 2026 is still fresh, and we have a whole year of new and exciting movies still to come out. However, I firmly believe that there will not be a more important movie in 2026 than Poh Si Teng’s American Doctor. This shocking, masterfully made documentary drops us right in the middle of the Palestinian-Israeli war and shows us the horrors of what is going…
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Petra Biondian Volpe’s Frank & Louis is one of the most disappointing movies I’ve seen at the Sundance Film Festival because of its unoriginality. The film takes place in a prison and follows Frank (Kingsley Ben-Adir), a man in jail for life for a murder her committed when he was younger. He gets a job caring for aging inmates with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Frank is tasked with looking after Louis (Rob Morgan), who used…
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The Huntress is a brutal and surprisingly inspirational tale about standing up to injustice when all hope seems lost. Writer/director Suzanne Andrews Correa takes us deep into the darkness of Juarez, Mexico to show us how one woman took a stand against violence in her community. Set over the course of a stressful day, The Huntress opens with a woman shooting a bus driver in cold blood in front of several people. This woman…
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