Despite not making out to the physical festival, I have access to a scrumptiously large number of short films this year from every genre. I’m excited to get back to my niche in The Sunbreak universe and share with you some of the best from this year’s SXSW Film & TV Festival. So lets get on with it!
SXSW Film & TV Festival 2023 sets aside hybrid and goes fully in person
After two years of the pandemic creating a more accessible festival, in-person SXSWFilm is back with a tantalizingly long list of films that I am eager to devour. While I won’t be in Austin this year to experience the crazed ups, downs and sideways of traversing the crowds, freebies and long lines I will get to chow down on the smorgasbord of offerings that SXSW Film has to offer.
Oscars Roundtable: Our Predictions for the 95th Academy Awards
Everyone else is doing it, everywhere, seemingly all at once: guessing which film’s will take home trophies this weekend at the 95th …
Scream 6 brings back the satire and the scares
Scream 6 (2023 | USA | 123 minutes | Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett ) The original 1996 meta-horror classic Scream earned …
Palm Trees and Power Lines attempts a cautionary tale, but becomes a twisted how-to
First and foremost there should be a trauma warning on this film. Young Lea is lost and floating in a vast sea of loneliness. She tries to find solace in her best friend and by attempting a shallow physical relationship with a boy, but nothing really brings her happiness. With an absent single mom who only shows adoration when there’s no boyfriend to distract her, Lea has no one to show her what a strong, positive relationship looks like. Then enters Tom.
Guy Ritchie is back with another fast-paced action flick in Operation Fortune
At any given point throughout the almost-two hour run time, I don’t think I could satisfactorily explain what exactly is going on. It’s a taut, fast-paced heist movie, but it can be hard to follow at times. I also don’t care. Last time Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham teamed up, in 2021, I wrote, “I’m a simple man and sometimes I just need to watch Jason Statham beat the shit out of some bad guys. Ya know?” Nothing has changed: I got what I wanted then, and I’m getting what I want now.
One Fine Morning finds the profound in pedestrian rhythms of life
One Fine Morning witnesses a key disappearance play out in the the grinding rhythms of real life.
Michael B. Jordan gets back into the ring with Creed III
The only bad part about heading into a new installation of the reliably entertaining Creed movie franchise is the grim realization that you’re about to watch some big dudes mess up Michael B. Jordan. It’s the cost of doing business in a boxing drama, but he has such a nice mug it’s a shame to see it smashed up. Stepping behind the camera to take over the series from Ryan Coogler, though, Jordan gives himself more of a break from the pummeling of the ring while giving his audience another compelling chapter in a big-hearted boxing saga.
Cocaine Bear is exactly what you think it is
It’s an unlikely (and quite disturbing) story and now it’s the starting point for a new movie, called, appropriately enough, Cocaine Bear. The plot of this movie (uhh) bears little resemblance to the history, and that’s kind of the point. It’s a meme movie, not a biopic, and every generation gets the Snakes on a Plane it deserves.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania dutifully ushers in a new villain for Marvel’s next phase
I’d found myself pretty gloomy about the state of Marvel over the recent muddle of Phase Four, particularly with the soggy storytelling of Thor, Doctor Strange, and even Wakanda Forever. The latest Ant-Man installation makes small gestures toward levity and a modest leap toward introducing the Next Big Threat for earth’s mightiest heroes to assemble around.