Another festival has come and gone, and while I'm not sure there were any surprise breakthroughs to the quality of Past Lives, it was still a pretty solid festival. Here are around ten of my favorites (I had to fudge the numbers a bit to get all the best ones in) that I saw this year. So keep an eye out as these films start coming out in the near future. 10. THE OUTRUN Saoirse Ronan's magnificent performance is one of the biggest draws of The Outrun. Always reliable in any project she's in, she once again brings her A-game here and turns in some of the best work of her career, playing a woman who just cannot give up alcohol no matter how hard she tries. It's a harrowing, difficult film but incredibly powerful by the end. More thoughts on The Outrun HERE 9. TIE: THELMA Thelma is such a charming crowd-pleaser, I haven't met a single person who didn't like it. It's a worthy addition to the action-comedy genre as Thelma tries desperately to emulate Tom Cruise every step of the way to bring phone scammers to justice. June Squibb is absolutely wonderful here and it's just such a fun movie for everyone to enjoy. More thoughts on Thelma HERE 9. TIE: DÌDI Dìdi is such a wonderful coming-of-age dramedy from the perspective of a teenage Taiwanese-American boy in 2008. It's a perfect slice-of-life time capsule for Millennials to see the era of their adolescence perfectly captured in film. But it's what the story builds to that makes it stay with me, particularly the bond between Chris and his mother in their final scene together. As hard and awkward as it is growing up, it's our family ties that stay with us long after our school days are over. More thoughts on Dìdi HERE 8. IT'S WHAT'S INSIDE It's What's Inside is one of the most creative and entertaining films I was able to see this year at Sundance. It is very uniquely told and it constantly keeps you guessing throughout. While I had hoped it would veer more squarely into horror instead of being horror-adjacent, I still had a great time with this. Netflix bought this so hopefully it makes a splash when it hits the platform, unlike other festival acquisitions that they've unceremoniously dumped with little fanfare. It certainly has the potential to be a huge hit. More thoughts on It's What's Inside HERE 7. YOUR MONSTER There's nothing out there quite like Your Monster, an almost modern-day Beauty and the Beast retelling with a horror rom-com twist. Thoroughly entertaining with humor, romance, and just enough touches of horror to be completely its own creation. And best of all it tackles female empowerment and the need to not just bottle up our feelings. This was probably one of the biggest crowd-pleasers I saw from gauging how into the movie our audience was. More thoughts on Your Monster HERE 6. WINNER Maybe it's because I had really low expectations for this and that I hadn't seen the other film tackling this subject Reality, but I found myself really enjoying Winner when I got the chance to see it. It might be a bit breezy for its subject matter, but I was thoroughly entertained as well as enlightened. Its wonderful cast led by the talented Emilia Jones really elevates it too and I couldn't help but be pulled into her family dynamics and her moral dilemma. More thoughts on Winner HERE 5. SUNCOAST I know I know, I'm so predictable always going after coming-of-age films, but this one in particular had a different weight to it as its characters are constantly reconciling grief and their impending loss. Suncoast feels reliably made, with wonderful acting veterans (Laura Linney and Woody Harrelson) playing against an up-and-coming talent (Nico Parker). Yes, I absolutely cried while watching this. It actually hits Hulu soon so check it out if you can handle all the feels. More thoughts on Suncoast HERE 4. A REAL PAIN This movie has really stayed with me since I saw it last week. I really love the examination of the relationships we don’t choose but are placed in. The type of people who you would never gravitate towards if not for the circumstances that placed you together. We are connected to these bonds by blood, even when it would be so much easier to abandon them--yet often they are the relationships that teach us the most and we hold the most dear. The film does a great job of showing the pain under the surface that we all feel but may try to conceal. With fantastic performances by Culkin and Eisenberg, this movie is not to be missed when it comes out. More thoughts on A Real Pain HERE 3. EXHIBITING FORGIVENESS Exhibiting Forgiveness is such a quietly powerful film featuring some of the strongest performances I saw from any film during the festival. So much is explored here and somehow it all feels so real and authentic, never manufactured or artificial. How does one contemplate reconciliation when wounds are so deep? The film dives into these questions in such a profound way that it really makes a profound impression. More thoughts on Exhibiting Forgiveness HERE 2. MY OLD ASS I was totally surprised to have this movie resonate with me as much as it did, but I really loved seeing these two versions of the same character with their different perspectives on life, and how they want each other to live it. Life can be full of both potential and regret, but our experiences make us who we are and the only way we learn is by actually living through them. More thoughts on My Old Ass HERE 1. HIT MAN It feels like a cheat to have this as my number one since it wasn’t really a Sundance debut...but it was my favorite movie I saw throughout Sundance and an instant classic. Richard Linklater and Glen Powell are a great director-actor pairing who I hope continue to collaborate for years to come. Glenn really gets the chance to shine here, and he and Adria Arjona are so electric together. Can’t wait to watch it again! More thoughts on Hit Man HERE

Alright, we're FINALLY at the end now of the festival itself, as well as my recaps for movies I saw during my time at Sundance this year! My next post will be a round-up of my top favorites from the fest. I saw a lot of varying quality this year, but luckily I got to end the festival with two really good ones with Suncoast and Hit Man, two films that are sure to make my top ten. SUNCOAST Doris (Nico Parker) desperately wants an average stress-free teenage existence, but life has given her quite the opposite. Doris's life seems to be in a constant state of upheaval as her brother Max is continually fighting a losing battle with brain cancer at the Suncoast Hospice. Doris has been resigned to his death for years and feels as though she's already mentally moved on since Max can't even speak or see at this point and doctors have assured her and her mother that there is no chance of recovery. She can't understand why her mother (Laura Linney) cannot move on like she has and instead choose to focus her energy on her child who still is alive. With her mother spending so much time at the hospice, Doris seizes the opportunity of having limited parental supervision to invite the popular kids to her house and have parties. With them, she can have the life she hopelessly yearns for and just enjoy her youth. But back, at the hospice she's warned by a new friend (Woody Harrelson) that she's not quite as prepared for her brother's loss as she pretends to be and that she needs to find a way to make peace before he departs. Suncoast is a coming-of-age tale that feels familiar but in the best type of way. It's conventionally told with superb performances, both from its young star and its veteran supporting actors. The teenage shenanigans feel typical, but the fact that this carefree life she wants constantly clashes with her caretaking role gives the events so much more weight. Doris wants to be a normal kid, but she is thrust into an experience that will never give her that luxury. No matter how much she wants normalcy, she can't be just like her friends and only just have fun because her circumstances force her to be more grown-up than she is. Her wants are at odds with her reality and only cause a constant wedge between her and her mother who cannot stop caring for her son until he's gone. This dissonance is central to Suncoast and is what makes her coming-of-age story feel so unique and poignant. Suncoast hits all the right beats while never feeling cliche, and it knows just how to get the audience's waterworks going to bring it all home. RATING: 8/10 HIT MAN Nerdy Gary Johnson (Glen Powell) is a professor by day and moonlights in his spare time as a tech guy helping to catch attempted murderers. Usually, an undercover cop poses as a hitman to present potential clients with the opportunity of offing their desired target, while Gary and his team record the conversations as evidence to arrest. Gary's life takes a turn when he's asked to fill in and play the hitman role, and he finds that he has an unexpected new talent. Gary takes on the role indefinitely and begins tailoring his role to his new clients. But he's taken aback when he meets the beautiful Madison (Adria Arjona) asking him to kill her husband. The two have an instant chemistry, and even though it's complicated, want to see each other some more leaving Gary to juggle multiple identities and ethical quandaries. Hit Man is incredibly entertaining and extremely funny. Glen Powell is an absolute star here playing multiple roles with ease and pitch-perfect comic timing. He's so charismatic here and his chemistry with Arjona is off the charts. She too is excellent here though she's not given quite as much to do. The ending is a bit tidy but it doesn't detract from any of the fun had before. Hit Man is without a doubt one of the highlights of this year's festival and easily Richard Linklater's best work since Boyhood. RATING: 9/10

Sundance is finally over, but I have just a few movie recaps left in me before my festival coverage comes to an end...until next year. Saturday I got to see two movies at completely opposite spectrums of the festival: the midnight section and the kids section. Here are my thoughts on 10 Lives and In A Violent Nature. 10 LIVES When kitten Beckett is taken in by a research scientist named Rose, he thinks he's got it made. His life is unexpectedly cut short, but he's given another chance in kitty heaven at another nine lives, but there's a catch. Each time he comes back, he comes back as another animal, with the new life designed with the purpose of Beckett learning a new lesson. Each life is intended as a stepping stone to help him learn how to be more selfless. Meanwhile, he also discovers from his various perspectives that Rose's boss may be out to sabotage her longtime work with nefarious purposes of his own. 10 Lives is a sweet if somewhat forgettable animated tale. It features one of the most adorable segments of an animated kitten ever...until he grows up and becomes more of an obnoxious fat cat. The best bits are the time in kitty heaven and waiting to see what animal he becomes next, but with nine after a while it feels a bit superfluous. The b plot line (pun intended since it's all about bees,) is a bit silly and never feels all that important. Plus, as a cat owner, I have to say it is kind of a bit ridiculous how quickly Rose gives up looking for Beckett once he's missing. I had a fine time with it, though I will add that it did struggle a little bit at times to hold my almost four-year-old's attention. RATING: 6.5/10 IN A VIOLENT NATURE After hearing an urban legend about a necklace in the woods with a mysterious past, a group of friends take it and unknowingly awaken an unstoppable killing machine. Before they know it, they are stalked mercilessly and hunted down one by one, with no hope of survival, by a giant man wearing an old stolen mask. The conceit of In A Violent Nature is that it's a slasher flick told almost entirely from the killer's point of view. That sounds like a great idea in theory until you see it in execution. Part of that is due to the type of slasher villain we're following. The killer in Nature most resembles Jason from the Friday the 13th franchise, so we're not really following some mastermind here, but rather just a lumbering killing giant. As such, much of the runtime is spent simply witnessing this monster trekking through the forest like a bear looking for its next meal. There's no cleverness, no premeditation. No sadistically staging bodies for others to stumble upon in horror. He's a villain with no thought at all and the results are very free from any kind of suspense. While I can appreciate that it's certainly a gorefest and an all-around love letter and homage to slasher films, the result is too boring to justify its existence. RATING: 5/10

Today's the last day of the festival, but as I'm still behind recapping you get a few more blogs from me about Sundance, before I round up my personal top ten films from the fest. Here is my recap of what I watched on Friday. EXHIBITING FORGIVENESS After a rocky childhood, Tarrell (André Holland) works through his past trauma with his art. One day, his life is thrown back into turmoil when his estranged father La'Ron (John Earl Jelks) re-enters his life and vows to make amends. La'Ron swears he's changed, but Tarrell is skeptical of empty promises due to their shared past. Exhibiting Forgiveness is a deeply personal and affecting drama with incredible performances from everyone involved. The script is solid--it's filled with various scenes of familial tensions that feel authentic enough to cut with a knife. These confrontations, as well as the series of flashbacks that reveal Tarrell's youth, are so heartbreaking and just feel so real. The trauma here feels so lived in, yet relatable. We all have those people in our lives who haven't earned forgiveness in our eyes, yet desperately want it. It's not an easy watch, but it is a powerful one and undoubtedly one of the highlights of the festival. RATING: 8.5/10 BETWEEN THE TEMPLES Between the Temples follows a widower cantor named Ben (Jason Schwartzman) who starts spending time with a former teacher Carla (Carol Kane) who despite her age, is eager to have a bat mitzvah. Their time together is filled with conversations and laughter, and more importantly-- a different way to look at life. While some interesting things are going on in the latter half of the film, overall this movie perplexed me with what exactly was the point. It meanders a lot and never feels to be building to anything substantial til it pivots late in the final act. Between the Temples has a style that may be off-putting to viewers. It's calculatedly quirky which just makes the whole thing feel disingenuous. While it's always welcome to see Carol Kane in anything, and Jason Schwartzman is as usual dependable (he has been on a roll in choosing his projects as of late)--I just wish this particular film were more worthy of their talents. RATING: 5/10 YOUR MONSTER After being unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend of five years, Laura happens upon the most unlikely of rebounds--the monster who has been living in her closet since she was a kid. After getting over the absurdity of her latest prospect being a literal monster, the two start to get closer and Laura begins to wonder if she's living in a new version of Beauty and the Beast with her unconventional happy ending waiting for her in the wings. But though she tries to move on, she keeps feeling the pull to her ex and the Broadway show he wrote for her when they were dating. Your Monster is equal parts romantic, comedy, and horror. It's a tough formula to get the mix just right, but director Carol Lindy is more than up for the task. Melissa Barrera and Tommy Dewey make for a wonderful pair whose chemistry is on fire. The film is continually funny and always engaging. Plus it has a nice commentary on the pressure women have sometimes to please everyone and keep their emotions at bay, and the need to release those in a healthy way. The audience I was with absolutely loved this, so I'm very excited to see what happens next with this movie. RATING: 8/10

Gah! The festival is all but over and I am so behind on my recaps. I've spent so much time seeing movies, that I've had very little time to blog. Here are my thoughts on three more films I saw on Thursday: Handling the Undead, Good One, and A Different Man. HANDLING THE UNDEAD Handling the Undead follows three separate families whose loved ones unexpectedly come back from the dead one day. While they had been deep in the grieving process, they are now faced with a second chance to spend a little bit more time with those whom they had lost. Handling the Undead is a moody contemplation of grief...that moves at the slowest pace you can imagine. Many viewers, myself included will feel frustrated with this and have a hard time connecting to the story and characters. I wish I could say the audience's patience is rewarded, and for some that might be true, but this one just didn't ever take off for me. Nice performances and premise, but just not for me. RATING: 5/10 GOOD ONE Teenager Sam (Lily Collias) goes on an overnight backpacking trip with her father and his friend in Good One. She observes their dynamic, always listening and chiming in her opinions on what they're talking about, while rarely being asked to share much about herself. Through the course of her trip, she learns more about herself, her father, and his friend--and her place in their lives. Good One is slow and slight, but by the end feels meaningful. Lily Collias' performance as Sam is very impressive and surprisingly assured. It's not the showiest movie or role, so what she accomplishes with her expressions really is quite remarkable. You don't quite know where the movie is going until the third act where it reveals itself a bit, so some patience is required to get there. Here it does pay off. Hard to say too much more without showing the movie's cards, so we'll leave it at that. RATING: 7/10 A DIFFERENT MAN A Different Man is certainly one of the most unique films I've ever gotten to see at the festival. Sebastian Stan plays Edward, a man with a facial deformity that he feels keeps him apart from the world. When a new next-door neighbor moves in (Renate Reinsve), Edward makes a connection with her but fears she could never feel the same way about him. A possible solution to this is presented when his doctors share that they have good news for him: a potential cure to his ailment. But the grass is always greener on the other side as Edward finds life as a new man might not be all he imagined. A Different Man is not only full of twists and turns, it's also filled with constant genre changes! From drama to body horror, to black comedy... A Different Man often feels like a different film every 30 minutes...yet somehow it mostly all works. One of its biggest conceits is that it features a career-best performance from Sebastian Stan who fully commits to the role of Edward. The other is Adam Pearson plays Edward's All About Eve-esque nemesis who embraces his condition instead of hiding from it. Pearson is so charismatic here, that he steals every scene he's in. A Different Man has an essential commentary on the portrayal of disability in film and its ethicality. It's bonkers and crazy in how it tells its tale, but it's always entertaining. RATING: 7.5/10

Even though the festival is starting to dwindle down, there is plenty of Sundance left and a good deal of movies for me to recap here on the blog! In fact, I'm getting behind so let's remedy that right now! Here's my recap of another day of movie-watching! THELMA After falling for a phone scam and losing $10,000, Thelma (June Squibb) is determined to track down the thieves responsible and take back what is rightfully hers. Taking inspiration from Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible, Thelma will do whatever it takes to get the money back and won't let anyone underestimate her--even if she happens to be just a sweet old grandma. Though her family says she should accept the loss, Thelma enlists the help of an old friend (Richard Roundtree) and a scooter to help her catch some bad guys. Thelma is bound to win you over with its adorable geriatric caper comedy shenanigans. June Squibb is so good here as the world's sweetest grandma and the movie just could not work without her. She and Richard Roundtree have the sweetest chemistry and are so fun to see play off of one another. Thelma is a crowdpleaser with so many genuinely funny bits, it's truly impossible to come away from this movie with anything other than a smile. RATING: 8/10 DÌDI From the moment the film opened with Belle & Sebastian's I'm a Cuckoo, I knew Dìdi was gonna be a banger. As a Millennial, this film did such a perfect job of capturing the era of my adolescence--it truly felt uncanny. Dìdi follows teenager Chris Wang who, in his youth, lived with his mother and older sister Vivian. His dad is MIA as he works and provides for his children in Taiwan. Chris often feels alone navigating his life and trying always to fit in. Whether it's with his longtime crush, his trusty friend group, or a group of skaters he wants to impress, Chris is always trying desperately to be accepted. Dìdi is a slice-of-life portrait of life in the oughts. Chris is so relatable as a teen just trying to find his place in his own world His struggles are not unique to a teenager, and especially an Asian teen, but they are so real to him in this formative moment of his life. Dìdi is yet another great coming-of-age film to add to Sundance's storied history. Not only is it a perfect time capsule of what life is like for a teen trying to find themselves in the 00s, but it is also such a touching story of the sacrifices a mother makes for their kids that their kids are not always aware of. I can't wait for this film to find a home and resonate with many others who will see themselves in Chris. RATING: 8 THE MOOGAI After a traumatic birth, an exhausted new mother (Shari Sebbens) thinks she's starting to see things. Is she right or is she suffering from postpartum psychosis? Or perhaps she's being haunted by The Moogai, an evil spirit who wants to steal babies. While there is a cool premise to be found here--particularly playing with what a vulnerable and delicate time post-partum is for women, the execution just isn't here in this movie to make it anything other than forgettable. Horror films cannot be tensionless. they need to be scary! Though it had some moments here and there, ultimately there were one too many fake-outs to have any stakes. While an attempt was made with the creature design, overall it’s just not convincing and neither is the movie. Honestly there's not much more to say, this was definitely one of my biggest disappointments of the festival because I was really craving a great horror film and left empty handed. RATING: 3/10

The festival is still going strong and I'm seeing more movies daily. I'm getting a bit behind with blogging, but I'm doing my best to keep up! So let's crank out a couple more, shall we? Here are some of my thoughts on A Real Pain and Love Me. A REAL PAIN Jesse Eisenberg returns to Sundance with his second directorial effort A Real Pain. Unlike his last film When You Finish Saving the World, where he remained completely behind the camera, this time around he shares the screen with Kieran Culkin in a co-leading role. Eisenberg and Culkin play two cousins whose personalities couldn't be more different as they both attempt to cope with the loss of their recently departed grandmother. Together they decide to travel to Poland, to see where she came from as well as to visit the concentration camp she was forced to endure during World War II. Eisenberg effortlessly examines the messy bonds of family--the relationships we don't choose to be in but want desperately to maintain. Kieran is absolutely magnetic here and Eisenberg gives one of his best performances in ages. He's grown much more assured in his second outing as a director and it really shows in the film. They play off one another so perfectly here and you can really feel the familial tensions between the two. A Real Pain is the perfect dramedy where there are so many moments of laugh-out-loud humor, mixed with actual touching moments of reverence and gravitas. RATING: 8/10 LOVE ME Love Me will inevitably be compared to WALL-E for the rest of time as their concepts are strikingly similar, but Love Me has more of a modern twist. After the earth is destroyed, an inquisitive buoy learns all about humanity by studying YouTube videos and social media. From their research, they decide they'd like to be human and they'd like to be in love with the the only other object they ever communicate with: the satellite in the sky. Together they attempt to live a life based on what the buoy believes is an ideal life: that of an influencer. Love Me is all about living behind the facade we present to the world instead of letting our true authentic selves be known. It is completely a two-person show carried on the backs of Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun's very impressive performances. It has an important message, though at times can feel a bit repetitive in conveying it. Still, I appreciated where they took the characters and that they did move the story forward in unpredictable ways. I don't see it as the type of film I'll ever come back to, but I appreciated it all the same. RATING: 6.5/10

The festival is now halfway over and I finished my third day of movie watching by adding two more films to my watched list. I didn't really have high expectations for either film I had slated today, and somehow it happened to be my best day yet. WINNER Emilia Jones is back yet again at Sundance starring in her fourth film for the festival. Here she reteams with Cat Person director Susanna Fogel to portray Reality Winner in Winner. Right from the get-go Winner is engaging as it gives a window into who the character is and the family life that shaped her. Winner is at its best when it focuses on these dynamics and it boasts a great supporting cast in these roles with Zach Galifianakis, Connie Britton, and Kathryn Newton. In addition to its cast, it also boasts a sharp script that fluctuates between humourous and poignant moments with ease. Her story is continually captivating in showing the events that led her to make the decisions that ultimately cost her her freedom. I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect much from this film and figured it would be a dour, by-the-numbers espionage thriller. I certainly didn’t expect it to be as funny or entertaining as it was, let alone to have the tender moments that it did. And while it was all of those things, it didn’t sacrifice telling the hard truths of her story either. I was so pleasantly surprised with this film and once again Emilia Jones proves herself to be a Sundance MVP. I hope she keeps popping up in festival films for the foreseeable future because she always turns in really great work. RATING: 8/10 MY OLD ASS Eighteen-year-old Elliott (Maisy Stella) can't wait to leave her small town behind for a bigger and better life away from her family once the summer ends. Then she can finally move away for college to be free to live her life the way she chooses and to finally get some space to become who she wants to be. On the night of her birthday, a drug trip magically allows her to come face-to-face with an older version of herself (Aubrey Plaza) who graciously imparts some pieces of wisdom to the younger Elliott. Newcomer Maisy Stella is really wonderful as young Elliott, and she and Aubrey Plaza have a great rapport playing off one another. They totally have each other's mannerisms down and are believable at playing different versions of the same character. Aubrey’s Elliott feels lived in and she does a great job of conveying the regret one has over taking things for granted in her youth, while Maisy's Elliott is wide-eyed and hopeful at all the potential her future holds. My Old Ass does a fantastic job of exploring the age-old concept of "If I could go back and tell my younger self one thing, what would it be?" The more life we live, the more we are able to see our past from a different perspective than we could while it was our present. So too with wisdom, sometimes the less willing we are to take risks. My Old Ass is surprisingly retrospective in ruminating how continually looking back at the past and only looking forward to the future keeps us from appreciating our present. By the end, My Old Ass becomes a beautiful coming-of-age story and if you know anything about me, when done right, films like these are among my absolute favorites. And yes, I even shed a tear or two in its final scenes. RATING: 8.5/10

My second day of Sundance is in the books and I managed to check off two of my most anticipated films with The Outrun and Presence. Still, a lot more movies to go, but check out my quick reviews of these two solid films. THE OUTRUN Saoirse Ronan stars as Rona, a woman desperately trying to overcome her demons in The Outrun. Told non-linearly, we follow Rona's recollections of her many struggles in her fight against alcoholism. At times it can be difficult to follow where we're at in Rona's journey, with her hair as the main clue to the sequence of events. Because of that, it’s easy to feel a bit lost initially while the story is really finding its feet. In the Q&A, director Nora Fingscheidt said that it was intentional to mimic the fight to attain sobriety— a chaotic beginning that eventually comes into focus and calms down by the end. As a first-time viewer, at times that can feel frustrating, but as the story does come into that focus it’s easier to appreciate the film as a whole and what it’s trying to accomplish. Rona’s battle is not an easy one. It is ruthless and harrowing. She somehow continues to find new ways to reach rock bottom when you think she couldn’t go any further down. It’s a powerful story and incredibly intimate. Needless to say, Saoirse is amazing and excels in the role. Her range is truly impressive and it makes you wonder what she can’t do! She is committed and fearless in showing the ugly side of addiction and how it drags a person down to the point they feel they can never escape. After Magazine Dreams last year, I'm vowing to never do any more Oscar predictions during Sundance, but it would be lovely if Saoirse got some recognition for her incredible work here come awards season. RATING: 8/10 PRESENCE Somewhere between A Ghost Story and The Others, lies Presence, an experimental ghost story told in reverse by Steven Soderbergh. As seen with Unsane, Soderbergh loves to venture into telling smaller stories with a somewhat scaled-down production. Presence feels like the type of film made spontaneously during a weekend with some friends, and in this case, it doesn't feel like a bad thing. Presence feels fresh and new, but its gimmick may wear out its welcome fast depending on the viewer. The story is told entirely from the perspective of a ghost, haunting the new home of a family. This ghost is a (mostly) quiet observer, gliding from room to room in the house and listening in on conversations from the new owners. At times this approach can feel a bit aimless, and luckily the runtime and pacing keep things quick enough that you can't complain too much. Plus, it does have a point and when it gets there, it all clicks. Presence isn’t really scary because its titular character isn’t a malevolent spirit, but rather a protector. From the beginning, it’s clear that the ghost takes an interest in the daughter of the family. It hangs out most in her room and it wants her to be aware that they’re there, with various attempts at making their presence known. The film is very clever in portraying this unseen character and the whole thing almost feels interactive, that you as the audience ARE the ghost as you see everything unfold from their specific point of view. It's amazing how much we get to know these characters by simply observing them, and the strength of the film is that they are good, interesting characters that you don't mind spending time with. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but I’m happy it exists and I’m happy big filmmakers are willing to take risks. RATING: 7/10

I got a bit later of a start than usual this year after a couple of my screening plans fell through the last two days. But I could finally see two films today so my Sundance season has now officially begun. While yesterday was Day 3 for everyone else, it was Day 1 for me so it's time to play catchup by checking out some of the most talked about movies of the festival so far. FREAKY TALES Freaky Tales is a series of seemingly inconsequential vignettes that invariably intertwine as the movie progresses. 1980s Oakland acts as the backdrop here, with plenty of classic metal anthems and synths to accompany the film's frequent scenes of mayhem. The film is told in four chapters and unfortunately, each story is not created equally. In fact, I didn't find myself very interested in the film until the third chapter and by then I wasn't sure I could overcome my apathy. Plus, it doesn't help that when those two storylines do make their way into the others, they still don't really feel justified in existing, rather they just feel roped in and insignificant. That said, its over-the-top violent ending makes up for a lot, so I can see how a lot of people felt so enthusiastic about it and came out of it raving. Ultimately, I'm not the audience for this, though I'm sure it will be beloved by many. There are some really good performances to be found in Freaky Tales. The second half of the film gets the benefit of being supported by strong acting turns from Pedro Pascal and Ben Mendolhsen, while the first two storylines lack characters with much depth. While there are definite highlights as the film does its very best to channel Quentin Tarantino in its last vignette, I just felt overall this film was less than the sum of its parts. RATING: 6/10 IT'S WHAT'S INSIDE It’s What’s Inside is the type of movie that’s so hard to know how to review. Its central concept is one that is better kept a secret, for the viewer to enjoy the surprise of…well what’s inside. But more broadly told, It’s What’s Inside follows the gathering of a group of old college friends getting together to celebrate the upcoming wedding of one of their friends. But the evening takes a turn when one of the members of the group brings along a mysterious suitcase whose contents bring fateful consequences. It takes a little bit to really get going, but once it does It’s What’s Inside is quite the ride. It’s definitely a concept film, and its gimmick is explored fully and well. I would say it’s poised to be the next runaway Sundance horror hit, save for a few snags. The first of which, is that well it’s not really horror. It always feels as though it could veer there, but never quite does. It instead settles more for a mystery whodunnit type of feel. The other issue keeping it from true greatness is that a movie like this would excel with deep complex characters, but instead, they come off as more caricatures. Sometimes in horror movies that doesn’t really matter, but this one in particular you need to really differentiate between these characters and it kind of becomes tough to do. I don’t need my horror characters to be likable, but it helps when there’s more depth to them at least. Still, those things aside, it is an impressive feature! It’s creatively told and continually engaging. It keeps you on the edge of your seat guessing where it’s going to go, and you can never quite predict it. I don’t know what its current plans are for distribution, but I’m excited for this to get a wide release and for more people to see it. But I hope when they do they can keep a secret to preserve its surprises. RATING: 8/10