Latest news with #indieFilm
Geek Tyrant
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Trailer For Sydney Sweeney's Upcoming Comedy Film AMERICANA — GeekTyrant
Lionsgate has released the trailer for an indie ensemble comedy film titled Americana , which stars Sydney Sweeney as a shy waitress and Paul Walter Hauser as a military vet. In the film, 'A gallery of dynamic characters clash over the possession of a rare Native American artifact in this wildly entertaining modern-day western. 'After the artifact falls onto the black market, a shy waitress with big dreams (Sweeney) teams up with a lovelorn military veteran (Hauser) to gain possession of it, putting them in the crosshairs of a ruthless criminal working on behalf of a Western antiquities dealer. 'Bloodshed ensues when others join the battle, including the leader of an indigenous group and a desperate woman fleeing her mysterious past.' It looks like an interesting an quirky little movie, but it's been sitting on the shelf for two years, so that's not a good sign. The film's cast also includes Halsey, Simon Rex as an antiquities dealer, Eric Dane as a ruthless criminal, and Zahn McClarnon as the leader of an indigenous group. Americana is written and directed by Tony Tost, making his feature directorial debut and it will be released in theaters on August 22nd, 2025.
Reuters
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Reuters
Pedro Pascal, Joaquin Phoenix light up Cannes carpet at 'Eddington' premiere
CANNES, France, May 16 (Reuters) - The premiere of indie director Ari Aster's latest film, "Eddington," attracted a particularly glitzy crowd to the Cannes Film Festival's red carpet on Friday night, with Angelina Jolie, Natalie Portman, Pedro Pascal and Joaquin Phoenix in attendance. "Eddington" pits Pascal, who plays a small-town mayor, against Phoenix's downbeat sheriff in an election campaign that kicks off as tensions over COVID-19 mask policies and the Black Lives Matter protests were both reaching their apex in 2020. Industry publication IndieWire gave the film, opens new tab set in the U.S. state of New Mexico top marks, calling it the "first truly modern American Western" while the BBC, opens new tab said the "deranged," star-studded thriller would leave audiences breathless. "Dune: Part Two" star Austin Butler, who plays a new-age guru, and Emma Stone of "La La Land," who plays Phoenix's wife, were also in Cannes for the film's premiere on Friday, as were Phoenix's partner, Rooney Mara, and actor Harris Dickinson, who is in Cannes to promote his directorial debut "Urchin." Like Aster's three other features, "Eddington" will be released by independent distributor A24 and is set to hit theatres in the United States on July 18. The new film marks the U.S. director's second time working with Phoenix after 2023's "Beau Is Afraid." He made his name as the maker of elevated horror films "Hereditary" and "Midsommar."
Irish Times
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Magic Farm review: Chloë Sevigny channels Gen X-worthy self-deprecation in surreal satire that skewers Americans abroad
Magic Farm Director : Amalia Ulman Cert : 15A Genre : Indie Starring : Chloë Sevigny, Alex Wolff, Guillermo Jacubowicz, Joe Apollonio, Valeria Lois, Camila del Campo, Simon Rex Running Time : 1 hr 33 mins 'Do you have vape charger para aquí?' Amalia Ulman's surreal, uneven satire skewers Americans abroad and alt media while vaguely evoking such deeper social issues as glyphosate poisoning. Very vaguely. The returning 1990s icon Chloë Sevigny plays Edna, the insecure, acid-tongued girlboss of Creative Lab, a short-form documentary show – think Vice TV – chronicling bizarre global trends. The content's condescending cultural imperialism is compounded by Edna's Brooklynite hipster crew, including Jeff (Alex Wolff), a ketamine-popping playboy who leads the way to the rural Argentinian town of San Cristobal on the hunt for a singer in a rabbit suit known as Super Carlitos. Inevitably, they have arrived in the wrong South American country. The muddled, entitled characters do muddled, entitled things. Edna's romantic and professional partner (Simon Rex) soon retreats to New York to deal with improprieties. Justin (Joe Apollonio) falls for the local hotel's receptionist (Guillermo Jacubowicz). Jeff sets his sights on a local beauty, Manchi (Camila del Campo). READ MORE Assisted by the secretly pregnant, Spanish-speaking Elena (played by Ulman), the bumbling crew enlist locals to enact a fake story about a cult. The cinematographer Carlos Rigo Bellver's frequent use of fish-eye lenses and cameras strapped to horses and dogs is emblematic of the larger problems at the heart of Ulman's ambitious, sprawling follow-up to El Planeta, her much-loved debut. The quirky textures, formal radicalism and scattershot satire occasionally produce memorable moments. Burke Battelle's whimsical score amplifies the offbeat charm, but the comedic tone is ill met by tonal inconsistencies, flat punchlines and a wilful lack of momentum. Cross-cultural satire lurks unassertively in the margins. It's a pleasing enough vibe, nonetheless – Sevigny and Wolff channel Gen X-worthy self-deprecation. Del Campo and a wandering horse come close to delivering the magic promised by the title.
The Guardian
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Good One review – excellent indie hike movie is intelligent and humane
Road movie and coming-of-age are accepted genres; maybe hiking-through-the-forest deserves equal status. It's a distinctive US indie type, coloured by the sun-dappled green foliage, flavoured by the unemphatic presence of both beauty and danger. And heading for … what? An escalating series of scary moments, or just a low-key crescendo of epiphanies or emotional confrontations? Middle-class New Yorkers can journey through the wilderness in the movies but, unlike in John Boorman's 1972 film Deliverance, they may encounter only the inner hillbillies of their own anxiety and discontent. This excellent film from first-time director India Donaldson is a smart, sympathetic and terrifically acted drama about 17-year-old Sam – an outstanding performance from Lily Collias – who agrees to go on a hiking trip in the Catskill mountains with her gloomy divorced dad Chris (played by James Le Gros) and his buddy Matt (Danny McCarthy), a failed actor who shares his friend's marital status (divorced), his portly body type, his receding hairline and his habit of exhaustedly cracking wise about the awful way their lives appear to have worked out. This trip was supposed to have included Matt's stroppy teen son Dylan (company for Sam, presumably) but he has pulled out after a quarrel with Matt – so now, a little weirdly, it's just the two ageing guys and the teenage girl in what promises to be a non-bonding adventure before Sam heads off to college, a kind of platonic Jules-et-Jim or Butch-and-Sundance and Katharine Ross dynamic, only it's just a vacation. Or is it? Donaldson sets a low-key tone of banter and backtalk, in which Sam has to ride in the back of her Subaru, making herself carsick by checking her phone and annoying her dad by asking if she can drive; he finds it annoying because she is actually a better driver than he is. Goofy Matt shows himself to as incompetent at hiking as he is at managing the rest of his life, and as they chat by the campfire under the stars, Matt is quietly awed by the wise, insightful way Sam sums up his problems and predicts how the rest of his life could well go. It's a lovely moment – and then the mood goes terribly wrong. Another kind of director might have cranked the dial way up at this crisis in her relationship with both Matt and Chris but Donaldson decides to let it go, just as Sam effectively lets it go and the mood recedes calmly back to normality. It is subtly climactic, as if in a short story, and you can see how Sam, as she gets into her 20s and 30s, is going to look back on this as a strange last-moment-of-youth event. (I almost wondered if we were going to get a flash-forward of older Sam looking back on it.) In some ways, the father-daughter theme reminded me of Debra Granik's 2018 Leave No Trace, and I wonder if Donaldson has taken a little inspiration from that film. It is very intelligent and humane, and what a great performance from Collias. Good One is in UK and Irish cinemas from 16 May.
Digital Trends
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
3 underrated Netflix movies you should watch this weekend (May 9–11)
Table of Contents Table of Contents Mid90s (2018) The Mustang (2019) Two Lovers (2008) Tired of the usual Netflix recommendations? You're not alone. While the platform loves to push its biggest hits front and center, there are a lot of lesser-known films quietly waiting to be discovered. These quirky, moving, and even thrilling stories somehow slipped through the cracks but are just a few clicks away. This weekend, why not ditch the algorithm's usual hits in favor of some genuinely underrated movies on Netflix? Maybe you'll stumble across a coming-of-age story, a moving drama, or even an indie romance. These hidden gems may have missed the hype train, but they've got heart and surprising depth, with unique stories that will stay with you. So if you're craving something a little different, then check out these underappreciated Netflix movies that are calling your name. Recommended Videos We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+. Mid90s (2018) In 1990s Loss, 13-year-old Stevie (Sunny Suljic) finds himself trying to escape a volatile home life, marked by his abusive older brother Ian (Lucas Hedges) and emotionally distant mother Dabney (Katherine Waterston). Stevie is drawn to a local skate crew, with their carefree defiance giving him a kind of security he sorely needed. He is initiated into the group, earning the nickname 'Sunburn,' and he soon goes through the highs and lows of adolescence: first crushes, peer pressure, and the search for identity and belonging. Jonah Hill's directorial debut, Mid90s, perfectly captures the 'vibe' that has become associated with fan-favorite A24 movies and is among the company's most underrated releases. Shot in a nostalgic 4:3 aspect ratio on Super 16mm film and featuring the decade's hip hop hits, it transports viewers to a different time and fully immerses them in a minimalist yet moving narrative. Stevie's storyline expands to include the personal struggles of the friends he makes along the way, giving way to a candid depiction of teenage angst and camaraderie from a variety of perspectives. Mid90s is streaming on Netflix. The Mustang (2019) The Mustang is a gripping drama that follows Roman Coleman (Matthias Schoenaerts), who is serving time for a brutal assault. He is withdrawn and resistant to rehabilitation but is reluctantly enrolled in a unique program pairing inmates with wild mustangs, aiming to tame both man and beast. Assigned to a particularly unruly horse that he names Marquis, Roman's first attempts at training are frustrating. However, under the guidance of a fellow inmate and the watchful eye of the program director, Roman starts to form a tenuous bond with Marquis. This connection reflects the protagonist's own struggles and offers a path toward redemption. Based on an actual rehabilitation program in Carson City, Nevada, The Mustang is a one-of-a-kind exploration of the experience of being incarcerated. Director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre's debut feature finds its magic in the unlikely connection between the untamed spirit of the wild mustangs and the hopelessness of the men who are forever changed by the program. Despite its critical acclaim, including a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the 2019 film remains underappreciated. Its deliberate pacing and introspective tone make it perfect for audiences who are willing to engage and are ready for a deeply moving 96 minutes. The Mustang is streaming on Netflix. Two Lovers (2008) Joaquin Phoenix stars as Leonard Kraditor, an occasional photographer who moves back in with his parents after a broken engagement. Leonard's love life soon gets complicated when he finds himself torn between two women: Sandra Cohen (Vinessa Shaw), the stable and affectionate daughter of his father's business associate, and Michelle Rausch (Gwyneth Paltrow), his alluring but manipulative neighbor who is already having an affair with a married man. As Leonard oscillates between the two women, he's confronted by one tough choice after another, with his journey ultimately proving the heart's capacity for both love and self-destruction. Inspired by Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1848 short story, 'White Nights,' Two Lovers tells a timeless tale set against the modern backdrop that is Brighton Beach. It soars thanks to a nuanced and understated performance from Phoenix, who captures his character's impossible internal turmoil that begins at a time when he was already vulnerable. Paltrow and Shaw provide equally compelling portrayals. The 2008 film went mostly unnoticed when it premiered, but it is a great pick for a romantic movie night or for any fan who wants to see Phoenix's earlier works. Two Lovers is streaming on Netflix.
