Sundance Review: Emergency blends comedy and heavy subjects in a unique way.

Ready for a night of legendary partying, three college students must weigh the pros and cons of calling the police when faced with an unexpected situation.

Emergency definitely surprised me, it’s from Carey Williams who had a movie at Sundance last year called R#J (which still has yet to get a release date) I thought it wasn’t a very good take on Romeo and Juliet and was a bit of a mess. However this is one hell of a improvement, The most successful thing about Emergency is the blend of comedy and serious moments or when the film tackles racism. One does not out do the other it’s such a perfect balance that really works for this film, as far as performances there’s a lot of great ones such as RJ Cyler, Donald Elise Watkins, Sebastian Chacon and Sabrina Carpenter (who gives a much different performance than she usually does.) they all do such a good job of really capturing the atmosphere of the film and dive pretty deep into their performances, the movie does have a lot of Superbad elements to it which works quite well here. Carey Williams takes those elements and makes something new with them, speaking of which Williams’s direction is truly fantastic. He actually makes the film quite raw at times which really surprises the viewer, there’s a lot of great characters bits throughout the film and ends up being a very entertaining yet quite intense ride. The final act is quite fantastic both when talking about the film’s themes and build up! Overall Emergency is quite fantastic, this is definitely something I recommend checking out when it releases!

Emergency will release May 20th in theaters and May 27th on Amazon Prime Video!

9/10 A

Sundance Review: Am I Ok? Is a relatable and beautiful film!

Lucy and Jane have been best friends their entire lives. Only when Lucy embarks on a personal journey, will she face a test of her friendship, and her sense of self, on a path she may not be able to take.

One of the two films from Sundance Dakota Johnson was in, Am I Ok? Really hits close to home in a lot of ways. There’s a lot of scenes here that are intimate and invest the viewer in the chemistry between the characters particularly Dakota Johnson’s and Sonoya Mizuno’s character, there’s a huge amount of beautiful scenes that really capture the emotions this film is going for. The acting is really strong all around combined with the writing that is genuinely funny, it’s one of those rare romantic comedies that actually balance the humor and romance quite well. This is another film that I can definitely see a whole lot of people relate to, it’s a film about discovering who you are as a person and how friendships evolve as life goes on! Really strong film that I definitely recommend when it releases!

Am I Ok? Currently doesn’t have a release date but will be released on HBO Max later this year!

9/10 A

Quick Reviews: The Long Night is a flawed but fun ride, Slapface is a solid film that tackles heavy themes!

While searching for the parents she’s never known, Grace and her boyfriend return to her childhood stomping grounds in the South to investigate a promising lead on her family’s whereabouts. Upon arrival, the couple’s weekend takes a bizarre, terrifying turn as a nightmarish cult and its maniacal leader terrorize the pair en route to fulfilling an ancient, apocalyptic prophecy.

Not too bad, The Long Night is a classic campfire like movie that’s split up into chapters. Scout Taylor-Compton gives a really solid performance, the atmosphere is pretty thrilling at times and the story is pretty engaging. Some chapters are definitely better than others and some of the writing isn’t the strongest however that doesn’t take away from the fact The Long Night is an overall fun movie that definitely tried something different which I can absolutely appreciate.

The Long Night releases tomorrow on all VOD Platforms!

6/10 C+

A boy deals with the loss of his mother by creating a dangerous relationship with a monster rumored to live in the woods.

Slapface was actually not too bad and definitely much better than your average Shudder original. It tackles the themes of bullying and child abuser, while the way the movie does tackle them have been done before. It makes up for that by being at least interesting and decently acted, the writing definitely could have used some work and it does lose steam towards the end. However the filming is quite decent and the story being told has a lot of emotion to it!

Slapface is available on Shudder!

6/10 C+

Sundance Review: Hatching is loads of fun with tons of emotion.

Tinja is a 12-year-old gymnast who’s desperate to please her image-obsessed mother. After finding a wounded bird in the woods, she brings its strange egg home, nestles it in her bed and nurtures it until it hatches. The creature that emerges soon becomes her closest friend and a living nightmare, plunging Tinja into a twisted reality that her mom refuses to see.

Hatching was by far one of the biggest surprises of Sundance 2022, I went in expecting this to be your very typical creature terrorizes family type movie. But surprisingly there’s actually a whole lot to this movie themes of childhood and adapting to growing up, so for a movie about some creature hatching out of an egg this was pretty emotional. It also has some great performances as well particularly Siiri Solainna who gives such a strong performance, the gore is very well done and actually adds to the story quite nicely. The body horror elements also add to the story as well, it’s some of the best uses of body horror I have seen in awhile, usually a movie just adds body horror for the sake of adding it. But here it compliments the theme of the film and the emotional parts surprisingly really well. The creature design is just phenomenal it’s truly horrifying and really adds to this film’s bizarre atmosphere. The only main flaw is it does take a bit to get going, the the first act is a bit slow and admittedly there are some scenes that aren’t particularly strong, but once the film gets going it’s pretty incredible. Overall Hatching is definitely one of the biggest surprises of the year, this is something I definitely recommend watching once it releases!!

Hatching will release April 29th on all VOD Platforms.

8/10 B+

Sundance Review: Riotsville USA is a cold and disturbing watch.

1968: Massive civil unrest, followed by a rare chance for justice. Riotsville, USA is the untold story of what we did instead. Told through a series of all-archival chapters chronicling forgotten and increasingly bizarre events, the film reveals the mechanism by which a nation declares war against its own.

Riotsville USA is entirely archival footage with some narration but not a whole lot, which truly helps this documentary get it’s point across. It talks about a lot of different topics such as the history of the police, the government’s control of American protests in the 1960s particularly the 1968 Democratic National Convention. It draws a lot of parallels of the past and present and does a really good job of explaining why, it truly teleports you to the 1960s and shows how these protests happened, why they happened and how did the media react. As far as filmmaking goes it feels very experimental which is a very different approach from a lot of other documentaries I’ve seen, sure the information given In Riotsville USA might not be new but the use of archival footage really makes this a quite disturbing and cold film that I truly believe justifies a watch.

Riotsville USA currently has no release date.

8/10 B+

Sundance Review: Emily The Criminal is a thrilling ride.

Down on her luck and saddled with debt, Emily gets involved in a credit card scam that pulls her into the criminal underworld of Los Angeles, ultimately leading to deadly consequences.

Emily The Criminal was the final film I watched at Sundance 2022 and while there are better films this was a solid way to finish the festival. Aubrey Plaza gives a fantastic performance and completely steals the show, you also have the writing that’s actually very well written. It’s the type of thriller that wants to bring the viewer in as much as possible building up tons of suspense before going all out for the final act, I’ve seen some people compare this to Uncut Gems and I definitely can see the comparison. The main difference being that Emily The Criminal is less crazy and feels a bit more like a traditional thriller. Lastly there’s the filmmaking which was truly one of the highlights, something about the tight camera angles combined with the atmosphere was very satisfying. A truly well done thriller that in terms of filmmaking wise was a huge breath of fresh air.

Emily The Criminal currently has no release date!

8/10 B+

Sundance Review: The Princess is a haunting documentary with effective use of archival footage.

Princess Diana’s story is told exclusively through contemporaneous archive creating a bold and immersive narrative of her life and death. It also illuminates how the public’s attitude to the monarchy was and still is.

Although The Princess doesn’t say anything new about Princess Diana, the documentary goes for a different approach which is using archival footage with no commentary. Which makes it surprisingly pretty haunting at times, it’s entirely from the media’s point of view and it truly highlights both sides of the media. Showing how much she was loved and how some outlets took advantage of her during scandals, it was outlets going at war with each other which I have to say was very interesting. The archival footage as I said before is very effective, it makes it a lot more raw and definitely gives us a different perspective of what Princess Diana’s life was like in the royal family. We have heard many other documentaries talk about that from people who knew her or family members, but here it definitely feels a lot different. It feels a lot more open which is definitely a lot more effective for the viewer.

The Princess currently has no release date but will be released on HBO later this year.

8/10 B+

Sundance Review: Watcher isn’t anything new but truly delivers with it’s atmosphere.

A young woman moves into a new apartment with her fiancé only to be tormented by the feeling that she is being stalked by an unseen watcher in an adjacent building.

Watcher might not be anything for the genre however there is a lot about this movie that helps make it standout. Maika Monroe gives a really strong performance here, which is really refreshing to see given that some of the recent movies she’s been in haven’t been really great. Burn Gorman does such a fantastic job of playing an absolute creep, he captures exactly what the atmosphere of what the atmosphere of the film is going for and truly delivers. Chloe Okuno’s directing is both haunting and really effective, there’s even times where it becomes actually pretty raw. By far the best part about Watcher is the final 15 minutes which are actually genuinely disturbing and something that a lot of these types of movies really don’t do very often, there are some parts that do drag out a bit but that’s very far and few in between. Watcher is a film I definitely recommend watching when it releases!

Watcher currently has no release date but will be released later this year by IFC and Shudder!

9/10 A

Most Anticipated Films Of February 2022

Already February huh? Also I’ve decided that I will be leaving out films I already saw early so Worst Person In The World, Catch The Fair One and a lot of others were excluded from the list.

1. The Sky is Everywhere – February 11th (Apple TV+) 

2. KIMI – February 10th (HBO Max)

3. Studio 666 – February 25th (Theaters)

4. Hellbender – February 24th (Shudder)

5. Mothering Sunday – February 22nd (Theaters)

6. Jackass Forever – February 4th (Theaters)

7. The Desperate Hour – February 25th (VOD)

8. Strawberry Mansion – February 25th (VOD)

9. A Banquet – February 18th (VOD)

10. Alone With you – February 4th (Theaters) and February 8th (VOD)

11. Moonfall – February 4th (Theaters)

12. Marry Me – February 11th Theaters and Peacock

13. The In Between – February 11th (Paramount+)

The Ice Age: Adventures Of Buck Wild is a unnecessary spinoff to an already messy series.

Buck, Crash, and Eddy try to keep the Lost World from being overtaken by dinosaurs.

What can I possibly say here? The Ice Age series should have ended after the third movie, after that the movies started getting worse and worse. Adventures Of Buck Wild feels like an extended TV episode of a Saturday morning cartoon, there’s some good moments in this movie the problem is a majority of them are at the beginning which afterwards the movie takes a complete nosedive. Out of all the characters to give a spin-off film why on earth did they pick the two most annoying and uninteresting characters Eddie and Crash? At least Buck was somewhat interesting and I actually liked him quite a lot in Dawn Of The Dinosaurs, so I didn’t mind him here. It’s just a shame he has to share the movie with Eddie and Crash, this movie is truly the definition of lazy. The only reason why Disney continued the Ice Age series was because of money and that completely shows here, say what you will about the last two sequels at least there were some sort of effort put into them. They just happened to be terrible movies, with this movie it feels like it’s only purpose is to make money. Overall Ice Age: Adventures Of Buck Wild is horrible, it’s a pointless and horribly dull entree into an already tired series that did not need to continue.

The Ice Age: Adventures Of Buck Wild is available on Disney+

2/10 F