Taking a one-for-us victory lap after one-for-them studio smash “Captain Marvel,” indie duo Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden blow a big, self-indulgent kiss to the late-’80s East Bay with “Freaky Tales.” Berkeley-born Fleck was all of 10 years old in early 1987, when this nostalgia-fueled anthology film is set, which explains the wide-eyed way he romanticizes the defining subcultures of the time (with Boden presumably doing her best to broaden the film’s incredibly specific, “you had to be there“ appeal). In four distinct but intertwining chapters — populated mostly with fresh faces, plus grizzled-b ..read more

“Veni Vidi Vici” — a jaw-dropping Austrian shocker that’s part of this year’s Sundance Film Festival – came, saw and conquered at its Thursday premiere. The film follows a ruthless and charismatic billionaire family whose patriarch guns down innocent citizens in his free time, and left many speechless at the Egyptian Theater in Park City. Directed by Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann, the movie features intensely provocative moments including infanticide and brutal public shootings. The family, it turns out, is simply too powerful to face consequences from local police, national defense agents a ..read more

“Taking from an elderly person is as bad as stealing from a child,” growls Jason Statham in “The Beekeeper,” reinforcing the image of “helpless” old people in need of defending. (He spends the rest of the movie knocking heads after scammers steal money from his gullible landlady.) With “Thelma,” writer-director Josh Margolin tries out a different approach, casting nonagenarian character actor June Squibb as an unlikely yet satisfying action star. It’s a cute idea, celebrating the willpower and determination of a 93-years-young woman. If audiences are willing to suspend their disbelief for “Th ..read more

Kristen Stewart is being honored with the visionary award at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival opening night gala, a prize that is a bit unusual for the actor to accept. Speaking to Variety‘s Angelique Jackson, Stewart said her job is to serve the vision of filmmakers and not to always have her own sense of vision. “When I saw that I was being given the visionary award I was like, ‘What a word!’” Stewart said during Variety On The Carpet, presented by DIRECTV. “As an actor, you’re not often glorified for your vision. You fit into other people’s visions and service their efforts and their endeav ..read more

Michael B. Jordan and director Ryan Coogler are reuniting once again, with both attached to an original genre film still shrouded in secrecy. The package was showcased to executives and buyers last week at the offices of WME, with additional meetings set to take place to seek a production commitment from suitors. The project marks the first spec script from Coogler through his production banner, Proximity Media. It would reunite Jordan and Coogler for a fifth time, as the actor has appeared in each of the filmmaker’s features so far. The pair’s “Fruitvale Station” debuted at the 2013 Sundance ..read more

Hailing from the country that gave us such grim social critics as Michael Haneke and Ulrich Seidl (fittingly, the latter serves as a producer here), Vantablack Austrian satire “Veni Vidi Vici” opens with a senseless homicide. It’s a startling scene, no less upsetting than the Scorpio killing that kick-starts “Dirty Harry” — except that in this case, the incident is calibrated as the darkest sort of comedy. Rather than picking off an unsuspecting rooftop swimmer, the serial killer does his hunting out in the open, without shame or any pretense of covering his tracks. The movie makes no mystery ..read more

Rob Lowe might want to double check who he is sending text messages to in the future. During a recent visit to “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” the ” 9-1-1: Lone Star” actor revealed that he accidentally texted Bradley Cooper a congratulations for winning a Golden Globe thinking the message was going to Robert Downey Jr. The mishap was a bit awkward considering Cooper was nominated for a golden globe for “Maestro” but lost the best actor in a motion picture drama category to Cillian Murphy from “Oppenheimer.” “Downey does this amazing acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, and I’m so excited for him so ..read more

I’m racking my brain, and I think the 93-year-old Squibb (she’s 94 now) just might be the oldest actor to play the protagonist in any movie I’ve ever seen. She’s absolutely magnetic as Thelma — charming, loving, curious, and funny. Squibb has been acting for more than 70 years (she was previously nominated for an Academy Award for Actress in a Supporting Role in Alexander Payne’s 2013 film “Nebraska”), but this is her first starring role, and she rises to meet the moment. It’s the kind of performance where you can’t take your eyes off her. She’s fully dialed in; every single choice she makes ..read more

Few issues have defined and divided the United States this decade like policing, and Yance Ford’s “Power” seeks to explore its origins. With few exceptions, the Netflix documentary/visual essay is more factual than emotional — let alone revelatory in its examinations — but the film covers enough historical ground to function as a contemporary cinematic flashpoint, aimed at a wide audience who isn’t already steeped in its academic analyses (which have become a fixture of social media these last few years). Ford provides both the interview questions (frequently interspersed with answers from va ..read more

Composer Kris Bowers calls the score to Ava DuVernay‘s “Origin” “one of the most meaningful” of his career, but there’s one music cue, “Leaves,” which he says “stands out as one of my favorite pieces I’ve ever composed.” Inspired by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson’s “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent, “Origin” follows Wilkerson’s journey in writing the book. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor plays Isabel as the film explores how caste systems have shaped societies. “Leaves,” a soaring six-minute piece features the musician on piano. It is first heard when Isabel discovers her husband ha ..read more