Happy Sundance Film Fest kick off day! Yes the first few films will start running in Park City in just a few hours. If you've been following along with our previews, you've already seen us discuss a few films playing in the Dramatic Competitions & Next, many of the Documentaries, and each and every flick in the Midnight section. We wrap things up with some words on the films in the marquee Premieres section along with a few of the films categorized as Special Events, Kids, and the best-of-other fests Spotlight section. Plus, we sample just a small taste of what's playing in the brand new Indie Episodic section. Let us know what you are excited to see!
High & Mighty
Carlos Lopez Estrada's hilarious series about a dude who gets super powers when he is drunk or high premiered at LA Film Fest but was funny enough to still play Sundance. Estrada also has a the film Blindspotting in the US dramatic competition because he doesn't like to share.
Indie Episodic
The Catcher was a Spy
Paul Rudd, Mark Strong, Sienna Miller, Jeff Daniels, Guy Pearce, and Paul Giamatti star in Ben Lewin's (The Sessions) true story of a baseball player who also a WW2 spy.
Premieres
Damsel
The Zellner brothers' much anticipated follow-up to Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter is this wacky Western about a rich man, his belle, a drunkard, and a miniature horse. The star-studded cast includes Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska, and Robert Forster.
Premieres
Lu Over the Wall
Sundance gets the world premiere of Masaaki Yuasa's latest anime (Genius Party, Mind Game) about a boy who discovers a mermaid.
Kids
The Death of Stalin
If you missed it as the secret screening at Fantastic Fest (or at TIFF), Armando Iannucci's hilarious send up of Soviet politics makes its "US premiere" at Sundance. The amazing cast includes Steve Buscemi, Jeffrey Tambor, Andrea Riseborough, Rupert Friend, Olga Kurylenko, and Jason Isaacs. Don't miss this when it comes out from IFC Films soon.
Spotlight
A Futile and Stupid Gesture
Will Forte, Martin Mull, Domhnall Gleeson, Matt Walsh, Joel McHale, and Emmy Rossum all star in David Wain's biopic of National Lampoon co-creator Doug Kinney. Look for it on Netflix soon if you can't make the fest.
Premieres
Tropical Cop Tales
Jim Hosking (The Greasy Strangler) brings his weirdness to the police genre with this show about two cops that relocate to what they expect to be a tropical paradise… only to find that it is anything but! Hosking also has An Evening with Bevery Luff Linn playing in Next.
Indie Episodic
Ophelia
The latest from The Waiting City and Cross Life director Claire McCarthy is this take on Hamlet told through Ophelia's female empowerment gaze. Daisy Ridley, Naomi Watts, Clive Owen, George MacKay, Tom Felton, and Devon Terrell star.
Premieres
The Trade
City of Ghosts and Cartel Land director Matthew Heineman hits the episodic world with this Showtime docuseries exploring all sides of the opioid epidemic.
Special Events
Juliet, Naked
Jesse Peretz (Our Idiot Brother, the Ex) directs Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke, and Chris O'Dowd in this Nick Hornby story of aging cult rocker and the woman who loves the man who loves him.
Premieres
Leave No Trace
Debra Granik's latest (Winter's Bone) is the story of a father and daughter struggling to live off the grid. Ben Foster, Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, Jeff Korber, and Dale Dickey star.
Premieres
America to Me
This series from Steve James (Hoop Dreams) takes us inside a year at a progressive Chicago public school.
Indie Episodic
Wild Wild Country
Battered Bastards of Baseball director Chapman Way lead the way on this 6-and-a-half hour Netflix drama about a mysterious guru trying to build a Utopia in rural Oregon.
Special Events
Halfway There
Matthew Lillard, Blythe Danner, and Esai Morales star in this new series about a man who is forced to allow his troublesome alcoholic mother to move into his halfway house. It's directed by Russkies director (and prolific producer) Rick Rosenthal.
Indie Episodic
Beirut
The Machinist director Brad Anderson's latest stars Jon Hamm as a US diplomat who returns to war-torn 1982 Lebanon to deal with the ghosts of his past. Rosamund Pike, Shea Whigham, and Dean Norris co-star in this flick set to come out from Bleecker Street.
Premieres
The Rider
Chloe Zhao's follow-up to Songs My Brother Taught Me completes the rare three-peat of Cannes > Toronto > Sundance. Sony Classics will put it out this year.
Spotlight