"So... not a standard smash & grab." "This is gonna get us killed." Lionsgate has revealed an official trailer for a thriller titled Righteous Thieves, the new title for a film formerly known as Shelter. It will be out to watch in March on VOD and in a few theaters if anyone is interested. This is a story we've heard many times before (rescue stolen art) but they're rehashing it once again. The head of a secret organization assembles a crew to steal back artwork plundered by Nazis during World War II. They plan to recover a Monet, Picasso, Degas, and Van Gogh stolen by Nazis during WWII – now in the possession of neo-Nazi billionaire oligarch, but loyalties are tested when the crew learns the real reason behind the heist. The film stars Lisa Vidal as Annabel, with Jaina Lee Ortiz, Cam Gigandet, Carlos Miranda, Sasha Merci, and Brian Cousins as the oligarch. This looks like it was made for The CW, not for theaters, with so much gloss on every frame. https://onfs.net/3RykhfG

"It's what we choose to do now, that determines who we really are." Buffalo 8 has released the official US trailer for an indie film from the Philippines (also a Canadian co-production) titled Boy From Nowhere, based on a true story. The directorial debut from SJ Finlay, Boy From Nowhere is shot guerrilla style in the dangerous parts of the southern Philippines. Featuring a cast of non-actors, Finlay realistcally captures the harsh realities of war, the brutality of human behavior, and the risks someone may take to find their place in the world. The story follows a young boy from a fishing village who is brainwashed and recruited to become a child soldier as part of a fictional rebel group in the southern Philippines. The intense indie drama stars Balugto Necosia, Gary Jumawan, Nack Nack Abugyan, and Waway Saway. This looks like a very powerful and authentic story about how kids get pulled into this kind of horrible life, similar to other films like Beasts of No Nation previously. Check out the trailer below before it plays in theaters later in February. https://onfs.net/3YkoxBp

"We were able to influence this consumer... Imagine what we can do to the masses." Madman Films + Sky Cinema have revealed two trailers for an Australian fantasy adventure movie called The Portable Door, adapted from the book series by Tom Holt. It's set to open in UK + Australian theaters in April, with no US release yet. It tells the story of two interns who begin working at the mysterious company J.W. Wells & Co, run by the villainous Humphrey Wells and Dennis Tanner. "A tale of magic, middle management & strange goings on at a mysterious corporation that is not what it seems." Based on the popular books, this family comedy invites you into a world of fantasy and madness where all coincidences are orchestrated by a very strange company. Produced by The Jim Henson Company & Story Bridge Films. Starring Christoph Waltz as Wells and Sam Neill as Tanner, with Miranda Otto as Countess Judy, Damon Herriman, Sophie Wilde, Jessica De Gouw, Rachel House, Patrick Gibson, & Christopher Sommers. It's like Harry Potter if it was about an evil ad agency, instead of wizards. A bit derivative, but it looks entertaining anyway. https://onfs.net/3Y5FQXo

"He's always pretending to be this person... I know he's not." Hulu has debuted the official trailer for an indie film titled Bruiser, marking the feature directorial debut of Miles Warren. This first premiered at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival last year and it also stopped by AFI Fest in the fall. It's set to launch on Hulu for streaming at the end of February. A 14-year-old boy turns to a charismatic loner for help after being beaten up, in director Miles Warren's searing feature film debut about fathers, families, and the effects of too much fighting. During summer, Darious explores the boundaries of his manhood through tumultuous interactions with Malcolm, his strict father, and a burgeoning friendship with mysterious drifter Porter. The film stars Trevente Rhodes, Shamier Anderson, Jalyn Hall, and Shinelle Azoroh. TIFF adds that it "contends with legacies of violence — and lands its every punch squarely on the heart." Damn looks great! Check it out. https://onfs.net/3wYwBvS

The 2023 Sundance Film Festival wrapped up last week after returning to a 10-day in-person event in Utah running alongside an online counterpart. Now it's time to present our annual Best of the Fest list. I was able to catch a total of 50 films this year (my full list on Letterboxd), half of them at screenings in Park City, the other half virtual screenings. This is my 17th year in a row covering Sundance, and this fest still has a special place in my heart. It was so nice to be back again. I am presenting one big list of my 10 favorite films - a mix of a few documentaries and narrative features. All 10 of these below are worth watching, and I highly recommend seeing them on the big screen whenever they show up at your local theater. I also wrote another editorial about how much Sundance 2023 focused on discoveries & first-time filmmakers, returning to their roots as a launching ground for so many wonderfully talented storytellers. Below are my favorites, the films that connected with me and have remained on my mind all the way through the 10 days of the fest. https://onfs.net/3jz7T27

What if you find something creepy crawling in the garden in the backyard? What do you do? If you're in the mood for something weird and creepy, this fantastic animated short film is worth a watch. Something in the Garden is made by a Chilean animation filmmaker named Marcos Sánchez. He animated all of this on his own and I really dig the look of his animation style. It played at numerous film festivals over the last few years, including at Sitges in 2021 and SXSW in 2022, also winning Best Animated Short at the 2022 Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF). Here's the intro: It's nighttime in the suburbs and the stillness is interrupted by a strange presence, a creeping being that lurks in the dark. The stellar animation is set on a black background, which gives the characters a distinct dynamic in the "darkness" of the frame. There's something very eerie about this and how simple & unsettling it is following this creepy thing around. https://onfs.net/3wUQhRy

"Karting out here isn't a game... If we're gonna make it, we need all the help we can get." Ha! Yeah this is hilarious. I'd actually watch if it were real!! On last night's Saturday Night Live, they aired a fake trailer for a new "Mario Kart" adaptation. It's a riff on HBO's The Last of Us series, which is getting rave reviews from critics, but it's also spoofing how hard it is to turn Mario into a movie or show. Even though there actually is a Super Mario Bros movie coming out in a few months anyway! This comedy sketch give us a taste of what it would be like if they turned Mario Kart into a gritty HBO post-apocalyptic series. "It's been ten years since our kingdom fell. The only thing we have left? Hope." Pedro Pascal (this week's SNL host) stars as Mario, with Chloe Fineman as the Princess. The production value is off the charts, this looks legit and has some solid VFX for a fun TV spoof. It's a' worth watching just to hear Pascal dramatically say, "It's a' me, Mario." https://onfs.net/3YplDvb

This looks rad!! Deaf Crocodile Films & Vinegar Syndrome have announced a restoration Blu-ray re-release of a long lost, rarely seen Romanian animated film called The Son of the Stars. This originally debuted in 1985 and showed up in the US in 1987, but hasn't been seen since. The film is getting an HD version based on a new 4K scan from the original 35mm negative and sound elements, with a digital restoration by Deaf Crocodile Films. From the same filmmakers as the marvelous Delta Space Mission, The Son of the Stars gets more freakadelic as Dan grows up ala Luke Skywalker, encountering giant disembodied eyeballs, a world of massive decaying Cubist structures, floating purple tentacles, and alien-headed cosmic flowers, and even a sword-wielding medieval Space Knight in armor. Using the voices of Mircea Albulescu, Mihai Cafrita, Ion Caramitru, Mirela Gorea-Chelaru, and Virgil Ogasanu. "His visions of his lost parents and the missing cosmonaut are especially psychedelic, a phantasmagoric blend of Hanna-Barbera and Tarkovsky's Solaris." I'm SO in for this!! There's not much footage in this teaser, but it's enough for me. I have to watch. https://onfs.net/3lfnpkw

"You can be angry, but you should learn to control it." Kino Lorber has revealed an official US trailer for a French indie comedy titled The Worst Ones, a meta story about kids from Northern France being put into a feature film. This premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival last year in the Un Certain Regard section, and it also played at the Toronto, Hamburg, London, and Newport Beach Film Festivals last fall. Quite a few positive reviews out so far. A group of teenagers from the same neighborhood are selected to act in a feature film during the summer. A film shoot will take place at the cité Picasso, in the suburbs of Boulogne-Sur-Mer, in the north of France. During the casting, four teenagers, Lily, Ryan, Maylis and Jessy, are chosen to star. Everyone in the neighborhood is surprised: why only take the "worst ones"? This looks much better than it sounds written about here, a sympathetic story about how filmmaking really affects these young people. It's described in one review as "a remarkable achievement of filmmaking and human compassion." Take a look. https://onfs.net/3YsE8Pr

"Believe me... you're dealing with a bloodthirsty beas, which must be stopped before the infection spreads." Available to watch on Netflix in Europe now is a Norwegian werewolf horror thriller titled Viking Wolf, also known as Vikingulven. We're just catching up with this trailer - the film is already streaming as of this past weekend. Elli Rhiannon Müller Osbourne stars as 17-year-old Thale, who moves with her parents to a small town when her mother gets a job with the local police. After a student is brutally murdered at a party Thale attends, she suddenly becomes a key witness. Who, or rather what exactly, was the killer? The town must stop the bloodthirsty beast before it kills everyone in its path. She also starts to have strange visions and bizarre desires... Also starring Liv Mjönes, Vidar Magnussen, Mia Fosshaug Laubacher, Sjur Vatne Brean, and Silje Øksland Krohne. This would probably play better as a fall release, but it still looks like it might be a solid werewolf horror. There's a few shots of the wolf + his/her teeth at the end. https://onfs.net/3jv5aHh

"I won't be here forever... I'm only the consultant." Such a sly bastard, he seems so evil. Don't want to ever encounter this schmuck in real life. Amazon has revealed the official trailer for the series The Consultant, streaming on Prime Video later in February. Based on the book of the same name, The Consultant stars Christoph Waltz as Mr. Patoff, a mysterious business "consultant" who takes over running a mobile game company known as CompWare. "Management has decided to go in a sinister direction." Another description says it's about the "relationship between employee and boss – asking how far we will go to get ahead, and to survive," though it seems about something much more dark and freaky. This series also stars Nat Wolff, Brittany O'Grady, and Aimee Carrero. This looks damn good, but it also seems like a story that would fit better in a film (ala The Menu) than a series. I want to see where it's headed. Is he the Devil in disguise? https://onfs.net/3HY22wS

"In any case, you should never leave your vehicle." Studiocanal has revealed an offiical international trailer for a French disaster movie / survival thriller called The Blaze in English, originally known as En plein feu in French. It follows Simon and his father Joseph who embark on a race-against-the-clock to escape a wildfire while stuck in their car. The filmmaker explains: "The idea with Blaze is to create an immersive and sensorial experience where we're feeling a scary and suffocating atmosphere building up." The film was shot in France's tree-covered southwest region where thousands of hectares were destroyed by wildfires recently. The story follows a young man determined to escape with his elderly father from a rapidly approaching wildfire, until they get caught in a traffic jam on the one road out. The film stars popular French actor Alex Lutz, André Dussollier, and Sophie Parel. It will open in France this March, but has no US release yet. This definitely looks intense, especially once Simon leaves and heads out into the forest... Not a good idea. https://onfs.net/3RD9L6x

"This is the best sushi you will ever have." Join director M. Night Shyamalan as he browses through this Paris video store in the latest offering of the "Vidéo Club" series made by Konbini. We've posted videos of Brad Pitt and Terry Gilliam in this classic video store, now it's Shyamalan's turn. At first he talks extensively about his love for Akira Kurosawa films and stories with a moral dilemma, then he raves about Bergman's Persona and Bresson, specifically the 1956 film A Man Escaped. He also goes on to talk about Lynch's Twin Peaks and Hitchcock's Rebecca (one of his favorites in his collection at home) and Julia Ducournau's Raw - saying how this one blew him away and he ended up hiring her to shoot some eps of his TV show "Servant" because of it. He also mentions that he'd like to work with Robert Pattinson one day, while talking about how he loved Robert Egger's The Lighthouse and its DP Jarin Blaschke. Plenty of good picks in this - enjoy. https://onfs.net/3X8UxHC

"So - you think he's ready?" "Your training starts now." Netflix has unveiled an official teaser trailer for an adult animation series titled Agent Elvis, which is – as you've guessed – about what if he was also a secret agent. In this series, Elvis Presley trades in his white jumpsuit for a jet pack when he is covertly inducted into a secret government spy program to help battle the dark forces that threaten the country he loves -- all while holding down his day job as the King of Rock 'n Roll (did they watch Elvis?). Academy Award-winner Matthew McConaughey stars as the voice of "Agent Elvis". Robert Valley created the character designs, and Agent Elvis' wardrobe was designed by John Varvatos. The music and original score was composed by Tyler Bates and Timothy Williams. It was animated by the studio Titmouse in Vancouver. The look and feel reminds me of Archer or Clone High or even that one series Kid Notorious (if anyone else knows of this?). Looks like it will be a fun time, especially with McConaughey voicing the King. Fire up the first look below. https://onfs.net/3YuO6jw

A reminder: don't ever get in a car with anyone you don't know. Momentum Pictures has revealed an official trailer for an indie drama titled Palm Trees and Power Lines, which originally premiered at last year's 2022 Sundance Film Festival over a year ago. The film is finally arriving on VOD (and a select few theaters) in the US starting in early March. A disconnected teen girl named Lea living in Southern California enters a relationship with a man twice her age. She sees him as the solution to all her problems, but his intentions are not what they seem. It's yet another story about a young woman thinking she has control over herself, only to end up drifting into dangerous territory when she falls for a much older guy who isn't actually as nice as he seems. Newcomer Lily McInerny stars as Lea, along with a smaller indie cast including Jonathan Tucker, Gretchen Mol, and Armani Jackson. I saw this at Sundance and I was not a fan at all, just too drawn out and obvious where it's going. But it did get some positive reviews out of the festivals. Have a look. https://onfs.net/3X75hXg

"The only way to make sure he's safe, is to keep him secret." Quiver Distribution has revealed an official US trailer for the Australian eco drama Blueback, now set to open in theaters (nationwide!!) in March in the US. The film originally premiered at TIFF 2022 last fall, and already opened in Australia earlier in the year. Most recently it just played at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival last monh. An inspiring story for the whole family, Tim Winton's best-selling novel comes to life on the big screen. The latest film from The Dry director Robert Connolly, starring Mia Wasikowska. The story follows Abby, a young girl who initially befriends a magnificent wild blue groper while diving. When she's older, Abby realizes that the fish is under threat, and she takes inspiration from her activist Mum, Dora, taking on the poachers to save her friend. The film also stars Radha Mitchell, Ilsa Fogg (as the younger Abby), Liz Alexander, Ariel Donoghue, Clarence Ryan, Pedrea Jackson, Erik Thomson, Eddie Baroo, and Eric Bana. This is certainly worth a watch. https://onfs.net/3X6FC0Q

"You were supposed to find me nice guys, so I could have nice babies!" Vertical Entertainment has unveiled an official trailer for a sex comedy titled The Donor Party, opening this March in theaters and on VOD. This plays like a 90s Hollywood comedy like they don't make that often anymore. Recently divorced Jaclyn desperately wants to become a mom – by any means necessary. After a messy divorce, she decides to enlist the help of her best friends to help pull off the ultimate sperm heist on unsuspecting "donors" during her friend’s intimate birthday party! Who's ready for some awkward fun? The comedy stars Malin Akerman, with Rob Corddry, Erinn Hayes, Bria Henderson, Dan Ahdoot, Rizwan Manji, Ryan Hansen, and Jerry O'Connell. Yeah this looks super uncomfortable but also quite funny? Might be worth a watch. https://onfs.net/3Xb3mkn

"We are about to embark on the biggest campaign in the history of the world, part 2!" Mel Brooks is back!! Hulu has debuted the full-length official trailer History of the World: Part II, a long awaited sequel to Mel Brooks comedy classic History of the World, Part I. And it looks hilarious!! Originally from 1981, the anthology film mocks and makes fun of great moments in human history. This follow-up sequel does the same - but as a sketch comedy series that playing out across four nights. It features tons of incredible guest stars and performances: Jack Black, Zazie Beetz, Jillian Bell, Ronny Chieng, Rob Corddry, Danny DeVito, David Duchovny, Jay Ellis, Josh Gad, Kimiko Glenn, Jake Johnson, Richard Kind, Johnny Knoxville, Lauren Lapkus, Jenifer Lewis, Poppy Liu, Joe Lo Truglio, Jason Mantzoukas, Ken Marino, Jack McBrayer, Zahn McClarnon, Charles Melton, Kumail Nanjiani, Brock O'Hurn, Andrew Rannells, Emily Ratajkowski, Sam Richardson, Nick Robinson, Seth Rogen (as Noah!!), Sarah Silverman, Timothy Simons, J.B. Smoove, David Wain, Taika Waititi, Reggie Watts, Tyler James Williams. I'm up for this!! Looks like it might totally serve. https://onfs.net/3Xg2wmi

"Can you trust this man... after what you did to him?" Oooh - what did she do?! Apple TV has revealed an official trailer for a thriller series titled Liaison, which will be available later this month on the streaming service. The descriptions for this so far are all a bit vague: An international struggle between governments and the hackers who just want to watch it all burn. So it's kind of like Mr. Robot, or not? Something else? It stars Vincent Cassel and Eva Green as the main characters - former lovers caught in the middle of it all. Liaison is a high-stakes, contemporary thriller exploring how the mistakes of our past have the potential to destroy our future, mixing action with an unpredictable, multilayered plot - "espionage and political intrigue play out against a story of passionate and enduring love." The supporting cast also includes Peter Mullan, Gérard Lanvin, Daniel Francis, Aziz Dyab, Marco Horanieh, Stanislas Merhar, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, and Laëtitia Eïdo. It looks solid, though hopefully the politics aren't screwy, hard to tell here. Worth a look? https://onfs.net/3llz2GE

"Hate is a disease. And we just need to make sure there's no space for hate to grow." Shout has revealed an official trailer for an indie documentary film about America called Refuge, formerly known as Clarkston. Refuge is set in the "most diverse square mile in America" - Clarkston, Georgia (see Google Maps). A stirring and inspiring blueprint for the healing of America, a captivating story of two unlikely friends who transform their anguish and tribulations into compassion and understanding. The doc illustrates the false promises of hate and reveals where real and lasting refuge is found. "Where there is love, there is refuge." It's about a former KKK leader from Georgia who befriends a Syrian Kurd when he becomes his heart doctor. The film provides an enthralling exploration of hatred, its origins, and the means of healing. A production of Katie Couric Media and Artemis Rising Foundation, Refuge will debut in theaters and on VOD directly this March. If you're moved by this and want to help spread the word, there's info on impact campaign on the film's site. https://onfs.net/3lgKW4t

"Bone-chilling, knee-buckling nastiness." Get ready for another acid trip horror film. Shudder has unveiled an official trailer for another indie horror film streaming soon titled Spoonful of Sugar, the latest from director Mercedes Bryce Morgan. This premiered at Fantastic Fest last year and also played at the Cucalorus Film Festival. A disturbed babysitter experiences a sexual awakening while using LSD to alternatively treat a seemingly “sick” kid. Morgan Saylor stars as Millicent, who is working on her thesis about children with severe allergies. She's hired to babysit Johnny, a sickly, mute child who suffers from every allergy under the sun. As she discovers Johnny's dark family secrets things begin to become unhinged. The cast includes Kat Foster, Danilo Crovetti, Myko Olivier, Danilo Crovetti, & Keith Powell. Looks like it gets extra wild with LSD sending everyone up the walls and all over the place. Maybe too much in one film? Or maybe not. https://onfs.net/3HBP3j0