Notes from Saturday at Telluride
Author: Josh
Telluride 2024: Friday Journal: Nickel Boys, Conclave, Piece by Piece
Notes from Friday at Telluride where the festival had world premieres of Nickel Boys, Conclave, and Piece by Piece.
Telluride kicks off 51st SHOW with lineup drop, tribute announcements
Telluride announces the lineup for the 51st show.
Like its title xenomorph, the sci-fi horror Alien: Romulus is ruthlessly effective
Alien: Romulus (2024 | USA | 119 minutes | Fede Alvarez) Sci-fi horror masterpiece Alien taught us that in space no one …
Longlegs climbs high, stumbles precipitously
Structured into three acts with a tantalizingly withholding amuse bouche of a prologue, the vibes are immaculate. Frustratingly, the whole thing self-immolates in its final chapter and destroyed all the goodwill that it worked so hard to build. Early reactions seem far more forgiving than mine.
With Kinds of Kindness Yorgos Lanthimos delights in a triptych of sadness
My first reaction to Yorgos Lanthimos’s new absurdist black comedy anthology was that it was nice to see him getting weird again.
Jeff Nichols revisits a rough and tumble motorcycle club in The Bikeriders
Taking inspiration from Danny Lyon’s iconic book of photography The Bikeriders, director Jeff Nichols uses his admiration for the images of mid-century motorcyclists as the basis for a fictionalized account of a Chicago-based motorcycle club.
June Squibb is an unlikely action star in Thelma
This caper starring June Squibb as a 93-year-old granny on a Cruise-inspired impossible mission to avenge her honor after being phone scammed & Fred Hechinger as underemployed Grandson of the Year might be the Most Sundance Movie of the fest: impeccably made, note-perfect, heartwarming comedy.
SIFF-favorite Ghostlight returns for an encore performance
Directors Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson leverage the chemistry of a real-life family in crafting a drama about a working-class Chicago-area household. When we first meet the family in a principal’s office as they’re still reeling from the aftershocks of an unspecified trauma and the mounting stress of a looming lawsuit.
Glen Powell is a hilarious master of disguise in Hit Man
Richard Linklater serves up a very tasty slice of an incredibly loopy premise. Glen Powell gobbles it up and makes it work through the power of pure, unrelenting, leading man handsomeness. Nothing wrong with pairing a director who knows how to have a good time with an actor who’s ascending to movie star supernova. Here the daffy vaguely-true story meshes with an intensely charming performance into a delightful gumbo.