Author Archive
 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Virtual Sundance Reviews: “On the Count of Three” & “Ma Belle, My Beauty”

  ON THE COUNT OF THREE:  There was a well-deserved Sundance screenwriting prize for Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch’s script for Jerrod Carmichael’s big-screen directing debut, which threads an almost impossible n...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Virtual Sundance Reviews: “Mayday” and “Prisoners Of the Ghostland”

  MAYDAY:  The fantasy whatzit is a Sundance staple, and Mayday fits into that category.  (Paradise Hills was a recent example from a past festival.)  Ana (Grace Van Patten), short for Anastasia, is an ignored and abuse...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Virtual Sundance Reviews: “The World To Come” & “Jockey”

  THE WORLD TO COME (Bleecker Street – March 2):  Although the story is set in 1856, this is 2021, so it’s not hard to see where Mona Fastvold’s The World To Come is heading.  Ron Hansen and Jim Shepard...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Virtual Sundance Review: “Judas and the Black Messiah”

  JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH (Warners/HBO Max – February 12):  The title refers to the FBI informant Bill O’Neal (played here by LaKeith Stanfield) and the Illinois Black Panthers leader Fred Hampton (Daniel ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Virtual Sundance Reviews: “Eight For Silver” & “The Sparks Brothers”

  EIGHT FOR SILVER:  Sean Ellis’s 19th century werewolf movie takes itself very seriously.  Ellis has extensively revised the usual mythology of the genre:  the full moon doesn’t figure into things, the were...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Virtual Sundance Reviews: “First Date” & “Pleasure”

  FIRST DATE:  Your regard for First Date is likely to directly relate to your nostalgia for the low-rent action comedies and Tarantino imitations of the 1990s and 2000s.  Those comedies were marked by idiot plots that p...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Virtual Sundance Reviews: “Land,” “Together Together” & “Marvelous and the Black Hole”

  MARVELOUS AND THE BLACK HOLE:  Goodhearted YA comfort food.  Kate Tsang’s feature debut is about 13-year old Sammy (Miya Cech), who has become surly and rebellious toward her father Angus (Leonardo Nam) and siste...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office Report – 1.31.2021

  OPENINGS:  The second entry in the studio’s experiment with split theatrical/HBO Max distribution THE LITTLE THINGS (Warners) arrived with $4.8M in theatres, on the higher end of recent action movie openings ($3.1...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Virtual Sundance Reviews: “R#J” & “A Glitch In the Matrix”

  R#J:  Every generation gets its Romeo & Juliet.  In Carey Williams’ R#J, the words of Shakespeare are only occasionally heard.  Instead, these extremely up-to-date Capulets and Montagues communicate almost ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Virtual Sundance Reviews: “Passing,” “Street Gang” & “Mass”

  PASSING:  The actress Rebecca Hall has taken a big swing in her writing/directing debut.  Her film Passing, based on the 1929 novel by Nella Larsen, embraces ambitious, difficult themes with sensitivity and expertise.�...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Virtual Sundance Reviews: “In the Earth” & “Knocking”

  IN THE EARTH (Neon):  After his foray into more commercial cinema with the Netflix remake of Rebecca that didn’t go very well, Ben Wheatley has returned to the stranger and more experimental style of his earlier f...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Virtual Sundance Reviews: “Human Factors,” “Cryptozoo” & “How It Ends”

  HUMAN FACTORS:  Is Ronny Trocker’s Human Factors intended as a political allegory?  The married couple at its center are the German Jan (Mark Waschke) and the French Nina (Sabine Timoteo), and there’s a plo...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Virtual Sundance Reviews: “CODA” & “Censor”

  A year ago, the idea of a “virtual film festival” would have seemed extremely far-fetched, but it’s become a regular practice in pandemic times.  The latest festival to take this path is Sundance, whic...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

UPDATED: SHOWBUZZDAILY’s Top 150 Wednesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 1.27.2021

      NETWORK FINALS:  There were significant adjustments (to the next tenth) for THE GOLDBERGS, THE CONNERS, THE PRICE IS RIGHT AT NIGHT and THE MASKED DANCER.         Broadcast Official Nat...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

UPDATED: SHOWBUZZDAILY’s Top 150 Monday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 1.25.2021

        NETWORK FINALS:  There were significant adjustments (to the next tenth) for THE BACHELOR, THE NEIGHBORHOOD, BOB HEARTS ABISHOLA, ELLEN’S GAME OF GAMES and THE WALL.         Bro...
by Mitch Salem