Toronto’s beloved Will Arnett is back in new Netflix series MURDERVILLE! The Series will feature appearances by Annie Murphy, Ken Jeong, Conan O’Brien, Kumail Nanjiani and more!

Synopsis:

Meet Senior Detective Terry Seattle (Will Arnett), Homicide Division. For Terry, every day means a new murder case and a new celebrity guest star as his partner. But here’s the catch: each episode’s guest star isn’t being given the script. They have no idea what’s about to happen to them. Together, the guest star and Terry Seattle will have to improvise their way through the case… but it will be up to each celebrity guest alone to name the killer. Join them as they punch a one-way ticket to Murderville. The six-episode procedural crime comedy premieres globally on Netflix on February 3. Based off the BAFTA award winning BBC3 series Murder in Successville by Tiger Aspect Productions and Shiny Button Productions.

MURDERVILLE arrives February 3, 2022 on Netflix.

(Photo/video credit: Netflix)

By Mr. Will Wong

Those of you who saw 2020’s Slavery Horror Antebellum, saw a nightmare realized right at the end as Janelle Monae‘s Veronica Henley escapes what she realizes was a Civil War re-enactment park where she was held captive as a slave. Writer/Director Krystin Ver Linden‘s directorial debut ALICE debuts at Sundance and was actually in development before Antebellum saw its release, though this Film begins where the imagined Antebellum, ends if you need a point of reference.

Ver Linden, who has worked with the likes of Quentin Tarantino, based this story on true accounts from actual people who remained enslaved after slavery had been abolished in 1865. This story centers on Alice (Keke Palmer), who has born into a life a slavery and this is all she has ever known. She serves the owner of her plantation, Paul (Jonny Lee Miller). That is until she begins to rebel and after getting into a violent fight with him, escapes successfully, only to realize it’s 1973 in Georgia and there’s an entire world out there she’s never seen. She gets the help of an Activist named Frank (Common) and left to her own devices, she finds out the truth about who she is and the life she was subject to. Alice makes it a mission to free all those others she left behind who were enslaved at the plantation.

Taking a cue from the groundbreaking Blaxpolitation films of the mid-’70s, paying direct homage in particular to the great Pam Grier, the Film takes a sharp tonal shift in its second-half, becoming a Revenge Thriller. We take no issue with the message which ALICE is conveying. It is cathartic and a platform for a new generation to benefit from learning about the gross injustices that shaped the African-American identity. We found the Film, though an admirable debut effort showcasing an all-in performance by Palmer, could have used a bit more detail, nuance and a more balanced pacing allocated to Alice‘s transformation. We found her progression a tad rushed and the Final Act unfolds all too quickly.

ALICE will see a theatrical release March 18, 2022 via Roadside Attractions, and can be seen at Sundance as follows:

• JAN. 23  8:15PM EST Available Until Jan. 23 11:15PM EST 
• SECOND SCREENING JAN. 24  10:00AM EST Available Until Jan. 27 10:00AM EST

By Mr. Will Wong

Writer/Director/Actor Cooper Raiff is at Sundance with his third Feature CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH, performing all three duties with equal dexterity. What he’s crafted here is sure to be one of the biggest breakout hits of the Festival. The Film is a sensitive, beautiful and touching coming-of-age story about a 22-year-old man named Andrew, still figuring life out after his girlfriend goes off to Barcelona.

When we meet Andrew, he moves back in with his mom (Leslie Mann), stepdad Greg (Brad Garrett) and little brother David (Evan Assante). He works a mundane job at Meat Stick, a Corndog shop, and after attending a Bar Mitzah with David, his charm makes him a hot commodity with all the local Jewish moms, and he soon finds himself with a hosting gig. He meets Domino (Dakota Johnson) and her daughter Lola (Vanessa Burghardt), who is on the Autism spectrum and finds himself striking a real connection with the two. Though she is further along in life than he, Andrew finds himself falling for Domino (and she for him too), although she is engaged to be married to Joseph (Raul Castillo). He finds himself at a bit of an impasse figuring it all out and where he fits, as life is about to pull him potentially in several different ways.

Raiff does a superb job in his acting, writing and direction, giving us a full portrait of Andrew. He is a brother, a confidante, a boyfriend and though he is frustrated at times how things aren’t going in his favour or that he hasn’t put it all together yet, we never lose sight of his good heart. He views life with an observant understanding. This is balanced perfectly by elements of humour, lightheartedness and undercurrent of bittersweet emotions which Andrew experiences. This level of care and detail doesn’t just stop at Andrew. We see those around him for who they are and are asked what they want.

This Ensemble of Actors gel together just perfectly. Johnson, whom also serves as Producer, builds upon her impressive catalog of work here as Domino, giving us a quiet chaos and her chemistry with Raiff is electric even if ultimately their relationship is on platonic terms. Mann is effective as Andrew‘s supportive mother, even if his disapproval of her partner Greg provides several of the Film’s most memorable jokes. Promising young talent Assante brings out a nurturing warmth in Andrew, winning us over. And of course, the casting of newcomer Burghardt really punctuates how they got it all right with this Film casting an Autistic actress – a really fantastic on-screen debut that educates as much as it entertains.

This empathic journey of growth proves to be a rewarding one that delivers the laughs as much it is good for the soul, and we’ll be thinking about for some time. Beyond ecstatic for the world to get to know this Film.

CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH screens at Sundance as follows:

• PREMIEREJAN. 23  4:45PM EST Available Until Jan. 23 7:45PM EST 
• SECOND SCREENING JAN. 25  10:00AM EST Available Until Jan. 26 10:00AM EST

By Amanda Gilmore

First Lady Trinitie Childs (Regina Hall) and her husband Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Sterling K. Brown) are planning to reopen their Southern Baptist megachurch Wander To Greater Paths. The church was forced to close temporarily after they were disgraced after a scandal broke involving Lee-Curtis. They’re riding their hopes on a big comeback, but will their congregation return?

In their Feature debut, the Ebo Twins (Writer/Director Adamma Ebo, Producer Adanne Ebo) bring us a Dramedy that’s partially shot like a faux Documentary. Using changes in aspect ratio, audiences can identify what is and isn’t Mockumentary footage. In the first-half, this blending of on and off-camera makes the Film watch like a biting satire on for-profit religious organizations. We witness the over-the-top luxurious, extravagant world in which the couple live. Their walk-in closet is loaded with Prada and they have drive the flashiest cars.

This unique style of Filmmaking allows our talented leads some space to deliver some “divine” performances. The Comedy here comes in witnessing how drastic the couple’s on and off-camera personas are. One moment they’re preaching the gospel, one moment they’re alone shouting Gangsta Rap. Hall and Brown are great at capturing their characters’ desperation and desire for an image overhaul. Hall is “almighty” as a woman trying to save face and reclaim the spot on the stage she once stood on. Brown has never-ending endurance as an exuberant Pastor and is just delusional.

The second-half pivots, placing its focus on the sexual misconduct scandal surrounding Lee-Curtis. In doing so, the Film becomes more of a dramatic character study of our two leads. Brown continues to excel at exposing Lee-Childs’ narcissism and hypocrisy. However, he never seems to learn from his actions and we were hoping we’d get a bit of growth. The story also sets-up a competition between the Childs and an emerging younger couple, but doesn’t quite deliver the tension and rivalry we were hoping for. It is Trinitie who is given the real character arch and Hall nails it making us feel for this woman trapped in a marriage out of obligation.

Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul screens virtually at Sundance:
Premiere: Jan. 23 at 1:45PM EST

Second Screening: Jan. 25 at 10AM EST (available for 24hrs)

By Amanda Gilmore

Following up on her Sundance Award-winning Documentary Knock Down The House, Director Rachel Lears gives us a thought-provoking Documentary about the Green New Deal, which has captured the imagination of millions with its promise for economic and environmental change.

Lears follows four young leaders and women of colour — US Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Executive Director of the Sunrise Movement, Varshini Prakash, Executive Director of the Justice Democrats, Alexandra Rojas, and Climate Policy Director at the Roosevelt Institute, Rhiana Gunn-Wright, who also wrote with Ocasio-Cortez as an Author of the Green New Deal. 

Lears’ behind-the-scenes access to her subjects captures a coming-of-age story for a movement. She documents their social and political movements from 2018 to December 2021. The subjects examine the decades of leaders who have refused and continue to refuse to face the crisis, which has led to their unrelenting fight. Through their knowledge, the issue of climate change is clearly explained along with its relation to and further effect on other political and social issues. Making this one Documentary that has the ability to change minds.

Overall, the Film is an inspiring Documentary about young people standing up and taking action at all costs. Additionally, it works as an extension of their passion and urges us to act. 

To The End screens virtually at Sundance:

Premiere: Jan. 23 at 2PM EST

Second Screening: Jan. 25 10AM EST (available for 24hrs)

By Amanda Gilmore

Julia (Maika Monroe) moves to Bucharest, Romania with her husband when he relocates for a new job. With no job of her own, she spends most of her days alone. When news serial attacker The Spider is suspected to be in her area, she becomes increasingly suspicious. She then notices her neighbour watching her from his apartment window and follows her around Bucharest.

Watcher is a slow-burnng Thriller with a great payoff. Writer-Director Chloe Okuno builds constant tension through lighting that creates shadows hinting at a lurking danger. The empty streets of Bucharest are used to haunting peak effect. Offering up an unsafe environment for Julia to exist with a violent attacker on the loose. Okuno mixes these eerie visuals with an unsettling score from Nathan Halpern.

The steady pace of the Script, co-written with Zach Ford, allows for the doubt to creep-in. Julia’s pleas to her boyfriend and police aren’t taken seriously. They hush her up or attempt to rationalize her statements. Ford and Okuno add the extra layer of Julia being thrown into a country and a language she’s unfamiliar with to add to the anxiety. All these things pick away at the audience, making them question if what we’re seeing is just our protagonist’s paranoia.

This type of gaslighting eventually makes Julia question herself. In the careful hands of Monroe, Julia’s nervous demeanour is portrayed with an exactness. Monroe shows Julia’s confusion to stick with her intuition and the self-doubt everyone around her is causing. This highlights a theme in Watcher about society demeaning women’s pleas and labelling them as paranoia. Okuno, Ford and Monroe come together to effectively deliver the message of always trusting your intuition.

Watcher screens virtually at Sundance:
Premiere: Jan. 21 at 11PM EST

Second Screening: Jan. 23 at 10AM EST (available for 24hrs)

By Mr. Will Wong

Rebecca Hall in recent years has placed herself into some really challenging roles. Her work in unforgettable films like Christine and The Night House for example, with her delving deep into the psyche of her characters and their mental struggles. The Academy Award-nominated Actress/Director once again delivers a powerful display in Sundance selection RESURRECTION, by Director/Writer Andrew Semans.

The Psychological Horror centers on Margaret (Rebecca Hall) who seems to have it all going for her. She is adored and respected at her job, and successful at that, while being a single mother to teen daughter Abbie (Grace Kaufman), who is carving out her own independence. One day at work, her world begins to fall apart when she sees David (Tim Roth) at work, setting off a trail of destruction in her life. Abbie must confront past traumas and finds herself in survival mode as David‘s presence threatens to destroy everything she has built since escaping him.

Semans effectively takes us into Margaret‘s headspace, dulling reality from delusion with plenty a twist and turn. Hall does her best in this space as a bit of an unreliable narrator, but what we do get from her is Margaret‘s truth. If anything can be taken away from the haunting RESURRECTION, it is the crippling aftermath of PTSD and unresolved conflict.

RESURRECTION screens at Sundance as follows:

• JAN. 22  10:00PM EST Available Until Jan. 23 1:00AM EST 
• SECOND SCREENING JAN. 23  10:00AM EST Available Until Jan. 26 10:00AM EST

By Mr. Will Wong

One of the films we were looking forward to seeing most at the Festival this year was Sophie Hyde‘s GOOD LUCK TO YOU LEO, GRANDE. While its premise might seem a bit comical and outlandish, in Hyde‘s capable hands and some pitch-perfect chemistry between its two leads, this feels just right.

Nancy (Emma Thompson) is a widowed, former teacher whom self-admittedly has “faked it” all along. She enlists the help of a sex worker who goes by the name of Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack) to do something about that. The two meet discreetly in a hotel room and things are a bit awkward. We wonder if this will even go anywhere at all. Nancy is carrying with her several years of repressed feelings and shame about sexuality, herself having lectured her young female students not to wear their kilts too high so not to send the wrong message out to men. And Leo has a bit to overcome in getting Nancy to release her inhibitions. With each passing encounter, we see the escort and client form a bit of a bond as they grow more comfortable with one another. But in exploring their pasts to help them deal with the present, some uncomfortable feelings are uncovered. This threatens to destroy this the bond of trust they have built between them.

Comedian Katy Brand brings us a tender story which strikes a fine balance of funny and heartfelt. Beneath the transactional exchanges that take place between our two leads, lies a very meaningful story that encourages the audience to understand how these characters are a construct of their pasts. Yes, part of the story is the sex obviously, but we become deeply-invested in both Nancy and Leo‘s stories in both the present and the past. Hyde‘s delicate handling of the subject matter and very intentional choice to leave sex off-screen for much of the Film, drives our focus where it should be precisely.

Thompson true to form, is phenomenal as a woman experiencing her own sexual awakening late in life. She never stops being a retired school teacher or a mom, but it is a fascinating journey seeing her discover a side of herself that’s been suppressed. McCormack certainly is a star on the rise with some roles on high-profile series like Peaky Blinders and The Wheel of Time, though this a wonderful showcase of his range and talent. We meet him as the seductive Leo Grande, yet also – pardon the pun – the stripped-down person behind the persona.

An entertaining story with a message of sex positivity we can get behind. This was an immense pleasure. (There I go again!)

GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE screens at Sundance as follows:

• JAN. 22  5:00PM EST Available Until Jan. 22 8:00PM EST 
• SECOND SCREENING JAN. 23  10:00AM EST Available Until Jan. 26 10:00AM EST

By Mr. Will Wong

While it already has made waves at Cannes and TIFF, Norwegian Writer/Director Joachim Trier brings the brilliant finale to his acclaimed “Oslo Trilogy” to Sundance. The Romantic Dramedy is shortlisted to represent Norway at the upcoming Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film.

Trier continues to explore life today in this Norwegian capitol and at the center of the story is Julie (Renate Reinsve in her award-winning performance), an almost-thirty woman still figuring it out. We meet her as a medical student, who then decides she wants to study Psychology. She wants to be a Photographer. And then a Writer. She meets Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie) known for his politically-incorrect comic books, and while he is some 15 years older than she, they strike a deep connection and fall in love. As their relationship progresses, there are some points of contention. Aksel has figured out who he is, though Julie really hasn’t. He wants children, though she isn’t quite there yet. And more so, Aksel has a perspective that has come with age that makes Julie feel diminished. Julie meets Elvind (Herbert Nordrum) and they fall in love, filling voids in their own current respective relationships. But as Aksel‘s world begins to unfold, Julie still finds him on her mind and she must confront herself as her life reaches a crossroad.

The performances from our two leads feel so remarkably effortless. We feel we are getting all of Julie in Reinsve‘s thoughtful work, matched by Lie who takes Aksel through a range of emotions and questions. I already can envision adaptations of the Film in other languages with Actors chomping at the bit to take on these rich, complex roles.

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD is gorgeous, subtle and thought-provoking storytelling that equally captures the lightness and humour of falling in love. At once, it dives deep into the pain of soul searching and falling out of love as well, while considering life since #MeToo and into the pandemic. Trier has gifted us with something that is both now and timeless.

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD screens at Sundance:

• JAN. 20  11:45PM EST Available Until Jan. 21 2:45AM EST 
• SECOND SCREENING JAN. 21  10:00AM EST Available Until Jan. 24 10:00AM EST

By Amanda Gilmore

Writer-Director Nikyatu Jusu’s Feature debut is a heartfelt love letter to immigrant women who sacrifice everything to give their children a better life.

Aisha (Anna Diop), an undocumented Senegalese immigrant, lands a job as a nanny for a wealthy Manhattan couple. As she spends her days taking care of their daughter Rose (Rose Decker), she is haunted by the absence of the young son she had to leave behind in Senegal. Aisha hopes her new job will afford her the chance to bring him to the U.S. and share the life she’s piecing together.

Nanny is a Horror film about the American Dream. However, Jusu has created a film that functions on many levels. It’s a dramatic character study of Aisha while incorporating the genre elements. In doing so, she’s created a wholly unique genre film. Jusu and Diop work seamlessly together to create an empathetic portrait of the immigrant experience. Diop gives a nuanced performance and is a force as Aisha. She evokes the longing, guilt and anger for the life she is living in order to carve out a better one for her son. 

Additionally, Nanny excels at showing the essential work these marginalized women perform. Jusu achieves this through the relationship between Rose’s mother Amy (Michelle Monaghan) and Aisha. It’s clear the privileged Amy is able to advance in her career because of the help Aisha provides. In doing this, Jusu shows how these women are essential to the functioning of American society.

Nanny’s genre aspects come from visions Aisha sees both while sleeping and awake. Aisha becomes informed that these visions are magic, however, she doesn’t believe in magic so she ignores their warnings. These moments allow for the horror aspects to come through.

Nanny screens virtually at Sundance:
Premiere: Jan. 22 at 1:45PM EST
Second Screening: Jan. 24 at 10AM EST (available for 24hrs)