The concept of the Celebrity Sex Pass is supposed to be a thought experiment - a premise so outlandish that it would never possibly come to fruition… right? That is the question asked by David Wain's new star-studded absurdist comedy, Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass - a new take on The Wizard of Oz that had audiences absolutely roaring with laughter at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Narrated by the local mailman (Fred Melamed), when small town Kansas hairdres

Easily one of the most important films at this year's Sundance Film Festival is feature documentary: Who Killed Alex Odeh? A project by filmmakers, William Lafi Youmans and Jason Osder that examines the 1985 political assassination of Palestinian-American activist, Alex Odeh in Santa Ana, California. Four decades later, Odeh and his family have never been given closure or justice despite his suspected assassins living as free men. This week we got the incredible opportunity

Not every film at Sundance is going to be a barrel of laughs. In fact, the festival has been a champion of innovative, risky films that push the envelope; telling stories that otherwise wouldn't have been told. One of those films this year is Union County by Adam Meeks, a story about a man's struggles with opioid addiction and road to redemption in rural Ohio. Featuring, believe it or not, the best performance of Noah Centineo's career. Union County is based on Adam Meeks

This week, Australian/British feature film, Fing! premiered in Park City Utah for the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Appearing in the Family Matinee category, this David Walliams adaptation is a colorful, ridiculous, cartoony romp sure to entertain the whole family. We here at Cinemasters were lucky to interview the cast and crew of Fing! on the red carpet at the Eccles Theater; featuring input from actors, Iona Bell, Mia Wasikowska and Taika Waititi! Left to right: director,

As a child, I once asked my mother “There are Muslim terrorists and Christian terrorists, why aren’t there any Jewish terrorists?” My mother’s response was simple: “We barely survived The Holocaust. There aren’t enough of us for that.” As I got older and became more educated in history, my mother’s assertion began to fall apart. Not only had there been Jewish terrorists throughout history, but their numbers had grown in the wake of The Holocaust. I was upset with my mother, I

Out of the countless films premiering at this year's Sundance Film Festival, few have been more anticipated than Kogonada's Zi . Despite a jam-packed festival schedule, I was lucky enough to catch the premiere of Zi , the latest film from acclaimed Korean-American director, Kogonada, known for his previous projects like 2017's Columbus and 2020's After Yang . Over the course of the year, this mononymous director as solidified himself as one of the industry's most innovative

Independent film festivals like Sundance have a reputation for delivering innovative, daring, and edgy new films to audiences from around the world. Documentaries and experimental projects that uncover the darkest truths in our world. That was not the case for this week's family matinee presentation of Jeffrey Walker's Fing! a new Australian/British fantasy film adapted from David Walliams' book. The movie premiered this week to a full theater of festival-goers, adolescents

[the following review is spoiler-free] At film festivals, I tend to go into screenings completely blind, and this year's Sundance Film Festival is no different. That was not the case this afternoon when I entered my screening of Gregg Araki's I Want Your Sex , my personally most anticipated film of 2026. As a major fan of Araki's previous work, I have been keeping track of this film's development for the past year, desperate to lay my eyes on it. But despite the sheer antici

The Sundance Film Festival is one of the biggest and most prestigious events the entertainment industry has to offer, seeing the release of films that will fill the zeitgeist for the next twelve months. One of the most-anticipated releases this year was Cathy Yan's The Gallerist , a star-studded black comedy that premiered last night at the Eccles Theater. But are hype and sheer star power enough to fulfill colossal audience expectations? The Gallerist tells the story of art

[the following review is spoiler-free] On an Island in the sea, there were once two gulls, a brother and a sister… So opens The Incomer , a dark comedy written and directed by Louis Paxton, starring Domhnall Gleeson and executive produced by Moby and Trevor Noah. Shot and set in Scotland, I found The Incomer to be a quintessentially Scottish film - to the point where my only real criticism was that I struggled to understand certain words due to the thickness of the accents.

[the following review is spoiler-free] Heart-pumping, gut-wrenching, spine-tingling, stomach-churning, bone-chilling. These are some of many ways one could describe Natalie Erika James' Saccharine , a new Australian horror feature that premiered this week at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Despite a busy start to the last Sundance in Park City, this is by-far a personal favorite not only as a film fanatic, but as a young woman. Saccharine is unlike anything I've ever seen,

[the following review is spoiler-free] This week marked the start of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, aka the last year to be held in Park City, Utah. Like previous years, tens of thousands have flocked to the mountains to attend talks, see the sights, and most of all, get a glimpse of the newest innovations the film world has to offer. One of the first films to screen at Sundance this year is Daniel Roher's Tuner starring Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, and Havana Rose Liu. P

If there was a definitive movie for the summer of 2025 it would be Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later . Coming out twenty three years after the series' first installment, this adrenaline pumping zombie flick had everyone and their mother racing to the nearest cinema to see the state of the British Isles nearly three decades since the disease-induced end of the world. But after waiting 23 years between films, imagine everyone's shock when it was revealed that the next installment wo

2025 was a great year for film. Every other week it seemed like a new genre-defining project was playing in theaters, and that did not go unnoticed. So as this banner year of movies comes to a close, all our writers at Cinemasters have compiled a list of their top five favorite releases of 2025! So without further adieu, let's celebrate all that 2025 had to offer. Rua's Picks: #5. The Long Walk dir. Francis Lawrence The Long Walk was one of the most hyped movies of 2025

[the following review is spoiler-free] For the past few weeks, one title has been downright inescapable in public life. From bus benches to billboards to blimps, the bright orange advertisements of A24 and Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme have decorated cities across America, making sure absolutely nobody forgot that Timotheé Chalamet was leading a new project and that it was coming out on Christmas Day. So far it seems like all of this extremely heavy marketing has been money w

[the following review is spoiler-free] The saying “never bet against James Cameron” has become even more popularized over the last few years since The Way of Water ’s release. The “Avatar has no cultural impact” people certainly lost the war with that film since it still grossed well over 2 billion dollars. I fully went into Fire and Ash with the expectation that was set up by the filmmakers that this was going to be a bold, emotional, and often challenging new direction.

[the following review is spoiler-free] Back in 2003, the world was rocked by a new Broadway musical based on The Wizard of Oz . Stephen Schwartz's Wicked might not have won the Tony that year, but it has been playing on the great white way for over two decades and remains an American cultural mainstay. After years of painstaking development, the highly anticipated film adaptation was released last Thanksgiving. Wicked: Part 1 covered the musical's first act, becoming both

Academy Award-winning writer and filmmaker, Charlie Kaufman is back with a brand new project! In collaboration with writer and poet, Eva H.D. How to Shoot a Ghost starring Jessie Buckley is one of 2025's most talked-about short films after premiering in Venice last month. This week I had the immense privilege of speaking with Kaufman and H.D. about their new film, AI in the industry, and the truth behind a supposed new film with Spike Jonze... Rua: "Good morning you two, it i

[the following review is spoiler-free] In the pantheon of modern filmmakers, few are as decorated or fabled as Gus Van Sant. Over the course of his long career he has made everything from indie darlings to Academy Award winning biopics. Elephant, My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting , these are only a few of the iconic projects Van Sant has led, but he hasn't directed a feature film in seven years...until now. This year's Venice Film Festival saw the release of Dead Man's

[the following review is spoiler free] When it comes to the current state of the film world, few voices are as unique and visionary as Greek director, Yorgos Lanthimos. Ever since his 2009 feature, Dogtooth , he has remained one of the most exciting filmmakers in Hollywood, with each project being more daring than the last. Lanthimos has been on quite the streak as of late, making a new feature every year since 2023. The latest being Bugonia , which has screened at a whoppi