For the sheer quantity of its gibbering, jabbering nonsense, this movie deserves some points. That, and the amusing cameo at the end from Keith David as the Simulator, AKA God, who explains to the awestruck mortals that God is an entirely free creator, rather like a self-published novelist, then grows irritated when the mortals think that being self-published is lame: It's not my fault if you don't understand the industry! This is an exhausting indie romp on the subject of time travel,
Directed by Jay Duplass, this microbudget dramedy follows an improv comic named Cliff (Michael Strassner, who co-wrote the script) a few months after a failed suicide attempt. Now sober and adjusting to a loving but controlled relationship with his fiancée, Brittany, Cliff's Christmas Eve dental emergency leads him to the office of Didi (Liz Larsen), a dentist distracted by the idea that her ex-husband just got remarried that morning.
It was a revolutionary moment in cinema. This idea of indie film was born. Soderbergh and Richard Linklater, Spike Lee. Paul Thomas Anderson a little after. My story about Boogie Nights goes like this. So, some guy sends me a script. I never heard of the guy. I called him up and I go, Bro, are they gonna even let you make this movie?
Cooper Raiff returns to the podcast (first time was Ep. 128) to discuss his latest project, the eight-episode, independently-made, decades-spanning series Hal & Harper. He picks up right where we left off in the first interview, five years ago, taking us through the process of getting Cha Cha Real Smooth made, and how that green light helped him avoid compromising Hal & Harper.
Good Boy is a novel concept in the haunted-house genre - it's told entirely from the point of view of a dog, and it's got a surprisingly moving twist in its tail, sorry, tale. Co-written and directed by Ben Leonberg, who is also star pup Indy's owner in real life, it tells the story of Todd (Shane Jensen), a man suffering with an unnamed serious illness, who takes his dog to live with him in his late grandfather's old house in the country.
Writer/director James Sweeney's "Twinless" took the 2025 Sundance Film Festival by storm. This mordant delight - about two young men who befriend one another in a support group for people who've lost a twin - whipped the Eccles theater into a frenzy with its cuttingly dark laughs and unexpected plot twists. Sweeney's second feature, in which he stars opposite Dylan O'Brien who plays twins Rocky and Roman, also made headlines when sex scenes involving the two actors were leaked online by social media users
In just its second year in existence, The Popcorn List - a survey of acclaimed ( but still undistributed) feature films that debuted at major or regional film festivals over the past year and come highly recommended by festival programmers - is already taking a big step forward. Next month, the creators of the list will host various pop up screening events, both at theaters and virtually, to show off the very same films they've been championing. The Pop Up Series includes eight films from the 2025 list - seven from first-time feature directors, six directed by women, three documentaries, and five fiction features - and will not only provide a space for eager audiences to see this stellar films, but will also offer a unique model for both promotion and profit.
"A lot of these states are getting these credit programs. Some people call it a race to the bottom, and I get that. But I'm from here and I'm telling you we have a chance to make really something cool."