This week:
Another trip to the Sundance Film Festival is over for The Daily Beast’s Obsessed. That means I’ve taken the same photo I’ve taken every year on Main Street of the Sundance Film Festival marquis at the Egyptian Theater, made the same joke to at least 15 other people waiting in line for a movie or event that “the cold never bothered me anyway,” and now am back in New York reflecting on the million hours of movies that I watched.
I think there are definitely going to be two movies you’ll be hearing about a lot throughout the next year. Jesse Eisenberg wrote, directed, and stars in A Real Pain, a hilarious and surprisingly touching film about two cousins who travel to Poland to see the house their late grandmother lived in before she survived the concentration camp and moved to America. Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin are sensational as the cousins, and there are some lovely supporting performances as well, especially from Will Sharpe and Jennifer Grey (Baby!!!). It landed a huge sale—$10 million to Searchlight—and I’m not surprised. I can see audiences eating this one up.
Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg appear in A Real Pain featured at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
The other movie I think is going to be a huge deal is Will & Harper, a documentary that follows Will Ferrell on a road trip with his best friend, who has recently transitioned. It’s candid, vulnerable, educational, and, given the Ferrell of it all, hilarious. But also because of the Ferrell of it all, I think this movie has a massive potential to change hearts and minds when it comes to trans rights and acceptance.
My colleagues Nick Schager and Laura Bradley were also in Park City shivering with me. Nick was blown away by Sebastian Stan in the genre thriller A Different Man, while Laura really enjoyed the horror movie I Saw the TV Glow and the Aubrey Plaza starrer with the title that makes me giggle every time I say it, My Old Ass. It’s also looking like Saoirse Ronan is already an Oscar frontrunner for her performance in The Outrun. (Meanwhile, I’ll be spearheading a darkhorse campaign for Thelma’s June Squibb.)
It was a great year for documentaries too. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story will make you cry. Girls State will make you cheer. And Skywalkers: A Love Story will make you sweat with panic. Who knows when any of these movies will be released, but they’re good ones to look out for!
I don’t know how or why this came up in conversation, but former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, Paris Hilton’s mother, and erstwhile kooky rich lady Kathy Hilton told Page Six that she and her husband, Rick, eat at the Cheesecake Factory every week.
“It’s local, it’s right there and fresh and busy all the time,” she told Page Six. “Actually, you walk in there, and there are people. We love that! We don’t want to sit in a restaurant with nobody in the room.”
Indisputable logic there, even if it is surprising that someone with so much wealth would deign to eat at a chain restaurant when there are so many trendy celebrity hot spots in LA. Maybe Kathy is a reading enthusiast—that menu is a pretty big book. And besides, as she hilariously said, “Where [else] can you get meatloaf?”
It was announced this week that Emmy-winning The Bear star Ayo Edebiri and Jennifer Lopez will be the musical guest and co-host of an upcoming episode of Saturday Night Live, which makes this now as good a time as any to reveal that I am now the talent booker of Saturday Night Live. If the next episode announcement is, like, Jennifer Garner with musical guest Kelly Clarkson, you won’t be able to tell if I’m kidding.
While Real Housewives reunions can be juicy and occasionally funny, they increasingly have devolved into three episodes of people screaming over each other unintelligibly. That is why my favorite part of these reunions has become Andy Cohen’s reaction faces. Here’s a new hall-of-famer from the final reunion episode of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City this week.
Expats: This could be the next Big Little Lies, and we’re not just lazily saying that because Nicole Kidman is in it. (Now on Prime Video)
Miller’s Girl: A throwback hot-for-teacher story that proves there’s still life left in the genre. (Now in theaters)
Griselda: Sofia Vergara is unrecognizable and incredible in this. (Now on Netflix)
In the Know: The stop-motion satire is like shooting liberal fish in a barrel. (Now on Peacock)
The Underdoggs: I’m as shocked as you are to find out the movie where Snoop Dogg plays a pee-wee football coach isn’t very good. (Now on Prime Video)
The Very Best of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival
5
0
27.01.2024
This week:
Another trip to the Sundance Film Festival is over for The Daily Beast’s Obsessed. That means I’ve taken the same photo I’ve taken every year on Main Street of the Sundance Film Festival marquis at the Egyptian Theater, made the same joke to at least 15 other people waiting in line for a movie or event that “the cold never bothered me anyway,” and now am back in New York reflecting on the million hours of movies that I watched.
I think there are definitely going to be two movies you’ll be hearing about a lot throughout the next year. Jesse Eisenberg wrote, directed, and stars in A Real Pain, a hilarious and surprisingly touching film about two cousins who travel to Poland to see the house their late grandmother lived in before she survived the concentration camp and moved to America. Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin are sensational as the cousins, and there are some lovely supporting performances as well, especially from Will Sharpe and Jennifer Grey (Baby!!!). It landed a huge sale—$10 million to Searchlight—and I’m not surprised. I can see audiences eating this one up.
Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg appear in A Real Pain featured at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
The........
© The Daily Beast
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Mort Laitner
Rami G Khouri
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Nikkei Editorial
