Sundance 2018: Reinaldo Marcus Green’s Monsters and Men is an Astonishment

Reinaldo Marcus Green’s Monsters and Men is breathtaking. This is the kind of film that makes a festival so important—Green, his cast and his crew deserve as big a spotlight as possible, and few festivals offer one as intense Sundance. Told from varying perspectives from a tirelessly inquisitive handheld camera, Monsters and Men takes a hot button topic, police brutality, and delivers a story of almost unbearable emotional intensity. What’s possibly even more impressive than the assured technique deployed by Green and his crew,

A Peek at Your Oscar Contenders—A Day Before The Nominations

If there’s one film in this year’s Oscar race that could benefit from the current moment in the cultural consciousness, it’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Martin McDonagh’s darkly comic tale of revenge about a middle-aged badass  (best actress frontrunner Frances McDormand) angry at authorities for failing to solve the murder of her daughter seems attuned to the #MeToo and TimesUp movements; ongoing allegations of abuse and harassment within the entertainment industry; and backlash against revelations of the huge pay gap between Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg for their work on All the Money in the World.

Sundance 2018: American Animals is a Gripping Heist with Real Consequence

American Animals premiered at Sundance and lived up to the pre-festival chatter. Seeing Danny Ocean mastermind a Las Vegas casino job is engrossing, but this film has a realism that drips with anxiety. In American Animals, four young men came up with a very bad idea that goes horribly wrong. And it worked.

The plan was to lift priceless books from a low security university library, purely for the thrill.

Sundance 2018: Blindspotting Captivates with a Powerful Message

The screenings at Sundance got underway with the premiere of Blindspotting, and what a way to start things off. The film, written by and starring Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, had a lot to say and they chose their words with absolute precision. In a feat that seems mathematically impossible on paper, the film isolated race, gentrification, the justice system, and police brutality in merely 95 minutes. Casal’s masterful wordsmithing that pushes the dialogue with musicality deserves a great deal of the credit.

Details on Leonardo DiCaprio’s Character for Quentin Tarantino’s Manson Murders Film Emerge

A fascination with sensational true crimes has gripped audiences. 2017 was the year O.J. Simpson returned to our national consciousness with the premiere season of American Crime Story and Sundance feature OJ: Made in America drawing big audiences and accolades. I, Tonya is in the thick of Oscar buzz, and Season 2 of ACS featuring the Gianni Versace murder is off with a bang. With interest in revisiting the wild crimes and the media circus around them,

Sundance 2018: Robert Redford Addresses #MeToo and ‘Fake News’ in Kick Off Press Conference

Sundance 2018 has officially begun. Founder and President of Sundance Film Festival, Robert Redford, opened the festival from the historic Egyptian theater. Redford told reporters that the Egyptian was the only theater in Park City when he began the Sundance Film Festival in 1985. Inspired by the discovery of King Tut’s tomb in the 1920s, the location was almost like stepping onto a film set in itself.

Redford was joined at the press conference by Executive Director Keri Putnam and Director John Cooper.

Featurette Pulls Back the Curtain on Greta Gerwig’s Directorial Debut Lady Bird

Greta Gerwig’s career has been driven by her fearlessness. She became one of the pioneers of the improvisational movement, mumblecore – a term she told CBS Sunday Morning she hates. Her acting, however, was something we all fell in love with. After roles in films like Frances Ha and Jackie, we were thrilled when she boldly stepped into directing, and her debut was a delight. A new featurette exclusive to Vimeo takes audiences behind the scenes of Gerwig’s directing method.

How Steven Spielberg Drives the Tension With Sound

Audiences often believe they most clearly recall what they see in a scene, but brilliant sound design will force you to see what’s most important. Steven Spielberg, and his sound design team, are masters of this. From sci-fi fantasies like E.T. and Jurassic Park to thrillers like Munich and The Post, the sound is always immensely descriptive and satisfying.

When we spoke with sound designer Gary Rydstrom about the tension he created for The Post,

Sundance 2018: 10 Films We’re Excited About

Call Me By Your Name rocketed off the Sundance Film Festival stage last January and is still soaring through awards season, likely to be a major player once the Oscar nominations are announced on January 24. Hot off receiving three Golden Globe nominations, Call Me By Your Name is just one very recent example of a film that began its life at Sundance, and has gone on to become a touchstone. 

Think You Could be a Tomb Raider? Here’s What it Would Take

They say the best time to start getting ready for swimsuit weather is January, so here’s a foolproof regimen for you to get started on. First, absolutely no alcohol, no sugar, pack on the protein, and throw in 7 days a week of cross training. Still with us? If you’re wondering what the results will look like, check out Alicia Vikander’s prep for Tomb Raider.

Vikander’s trainer, former hockey player Magnus Lygdback,

J.J. Abrams May Return to TV With New Sci-Fi Series

J.J. Abrams is not a man who shies away from opportunity, nor does he seem to lack for ideas. You may have heard he’s currently prepping Star Wars: Episode IX, which he’s co-writing and directing. For most mortals, this would be quite enough. Bringing this new trilogy to a satisfactory close (as if Star Wars fans would be content with satisfactory) is the biggest job in Hollywood,

The Criminal Underworld Awaits You in Solo: A Star Wars Story

Disney has done their usual impeccable job of keeping details about Solo: A Star Wars Story under wraps. Once Ron Howard took the reigns from Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the veteran director has single-handedly kept fans apprised of the happenings on set—usually through his social media feeds. He’s especially fond of leaving little crumbs of potential plot points and character updates via his Twitter posts. Meanwhile, Disney itself hasn’t released a single official image,

Fantastic Beasts is Going to be a Tour of the Entire Wizarding World

While the battle against Voldemort was mostly concentrated in England, it seems that Grindelwald was a bit more of a world traveler. We were introduced to the shape shifting dark wizard in America with the first Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. However, the first sequel, The Crimes of Grindelwald, is moving on to Paris. Director David Yates revealed to EW that the plot will continue as wizard against the world.

Paddington 2 Earns a Perfect Score on Rotten Tomatoes

Paddington, who prides himself on diligent hygiene, is certified as the freshest bear in town. Paddington 2, to be exact, has earned a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with nearly 200 ratings. Only four films have passed the test of getting over 100 positive reviews, so this is indeed a big accomplishment for a bear.

Paddington 2 falls more than 15 years after the last family film to earn the prestigious title.

Go Behind-the-Scenes in Ava DuVernay’s First Blockbuster A Wrinkle in Time

There’s good reason Ava DuVernay is one of Hollywood’s fastest rising stars—from her sizzling breakout film, Selma to her incredible documentary 13th, to her work on the small screen with Queen Sugar, DuVernay hasn’t made a single misstep. Now we’re nearing the release of her proper first blockbuster,  Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time, based on Madeline L’Engle’s book of the same name and starring Storm Reid as Meg Murry,

Director Doug Liman Says Edge of Tomorrow 2 Script in the Works

According to director Doug Liman, Edge of Tomorrow 2, is in the works. The project isn’t yet a done deal, but the busy director has cleared his schedule to fit the sequel in. Liman told Collider that the timing is panning out, but the script has to be compelling to flip the switch on the green light.

The war against the Mimics seems to have been ended by Sergeant Vrataski and Major Cage.

Rian Johnson Explains Leia’s Controversial (to Some) Abilities in The Last Jedi

We’ve long accepted that the Skywalker men are very gifted with the Force. Annakin was obviously a prodigy, and when he became Darth Vader, he was arguably the most potent manipulator of the Dark Side of the Force outside of the Emperor. Luke was also gifted, and used the Force in spectacular ways throughout the original trilogy, and then again in The Last Jedi‘s dramatic, epic battle on Crait. So why is it that when Leia finally shows off the gifts Luke has long expected she has (she is a Skywalker,

How Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri‘s Production Designer Fire-Proofed an Entire Location

By the time Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri production designer Inbal Weinberg joined up with Martin McDonagh, the writer-director had already spent months traveling the south in search of a title town. He found it in Sylva, North Carolina. Hired over Skype on the strength of her Americana-themed designs for Frozen River and The Place Beyond the Pines, Weinberg met McDonagh in person for the first time at the Asheville airport,

Martin Freeman Makes Us Believe in the Paranormal in Ghost Stories Trailer

There’s no blood or gore in the new Ghost Stories trailer, but you can almost feel the chilling hauntings pulse off the screen. Although nothing specifically horrific pops up, things are definitely not right.

Based on the popular stage play by Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson, Nyman adapts his starring role for the big screen. Nyman plays a staunch skeptic, Professor Phillip Goodman, who tries to debunk paranormal reports. When he receives a mysterious challenge on tape to investigate three hauntings,

Could David Harbour Be the Next Indiana Jones?

David Harbour is really living our best life for us. He’s the Golden Globe nominated smoldering savior of Hawkins in Stranger Things, he’s making all our dreams come true rebooting Hellboy, and his Twitter game is the strongest. Collider caught up with Harbour for a fantastic post-Hellboy shoot interview and the revelations are super exciting. Harbour seems to be at the center of the coolest projects on screen right now.