Movie Reviews

SXSW Film & TV Festival 2024: All Of Deadline’s Reviews

Published

2 years ago

March 17, 2024

SXSW Film & TV Festival 2024: All Of Deadline’s Reviews

The 2024 SXSW Film Festival kicked off March 8 in Austin with the opening-night world premiere screening of Doug Liman’s Road House remake starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor. It started nine days of debuts including for movies starring Rooney Mara, Isabelle Huppert, Gael García Bernal, Kristen Stewart and more. The Anne Hathaway romantic dramedy The Idea of You from SXSW stalwart Michael Showalter closed the fest on Saturday.

Keep checking back below as Deadline reviews the best and buzziest movies of the festival. Click on the titles to read the full reviews.

3 Body Problem

‘3 Body Problem’

Netflix

Section: TV Premiere
Director: Derek Tsang
Cast: Jovan Adepo, John Bradley, Rosalind Chao, Liam Cunningham, Eiza González, Jess Hong, Marlo Kelly, Alex Sharp, Sea Shimooka, Zine Tseng, Saamer Usmani, Benedict Wong, Jonathan Pryce
Deadline’s takeaway: 3 Body Problem’s biggest existential threats are just how redundant it all seems, and how every plot development can be seen from a galaxy away, like Omar Sharif coming over the desert on horseback in Lawrence of Arabia.

Arcadian

Section: Narrative Spotlight
Director: Benjamin Brewer
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Jaeden Martell, Maxwell Jenkins, Sadie Soverall, Samantha Coughlan, Joe Dixon, Joel Gillman
Deadline’s takeaway: The filmmakers attempt to navigate the tumultuous waters of a post-apocalyptic narrative, showcasing a world decimated by an unspecified catastrophic event. But despite a cast that promises gravitas and the tantalizing premise of a stark, survivalist drama, the film ultimately fumbles and fails to terrify.

Civil War

Section: Headliner
Director: Alex Garland
Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jesse Plemons, Nick Offerman
Deadline’s takeaway: Ultimately, Civil War feels like a missed opportunity. In its attempt to navigate the complexities of war, journalism and the human condition, the film finds itself caught in the crossfire, unable to deliver the profound impact it aspires to achieve.

Desert Road

Section: Narrative Spotlight
Director-screenwriter: Shannon Triplett
Cast: Kristine Froseth, Frances Fisher, Beau Bridges, Ryan Hurst, D.B. Woodside, Max Mattern, Rachel Dratch, Edwin Garcia II
Deadline’s takeaway: Making her directorial debut, Shannon Triplett shows a sophisticated grasp of genre dynamics, with a bold use of space — a stretch of the Mojave Desert doubling for Death Valley — that proves more and more gripping as the film’s mysteries unfold.

The Fall Guy

Section: Headliner
Director: David Leitch
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Stephanie Hsu, Winston Duke, Teresa Palmer
Deadline’s takeaway: The Fall Guy excels in its self-aware storytelling and stands as a hilarious and thoughtful tribute to the stunt community, blending action with a poignant exploration of the sacrifices made by these unsung heroes. It’s a testament to the spirit of collaboration and that defines Hollywood at its best.

Grand Theft Hamlet

Section: Documentary Feature Competition
Director: Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls
Cast: Sam Crane, Mark Oosterveen, Jen Cohn
Deadline’s takeaway: The film hits some rocks with its three-hour-plus running time, but the play-within-a-video-game premise is a winner, and there’s a lot to enjoy as the leads talk iambic pentameters while bullets fly, planes crash and bazookas unload.

The Greatest Hits

Section: World Premiere
Director: Ned Benson
Cast: Lucy Boynton, Justin H. Min, David Corenswet, Austin Crute, Retta
Deadline’s takeaway: The heartfelt and deeply human but flawed film’s exploration of music’s role in our emotional lives and history is a moving portrayal that offers audiences a reflective journey through the intricacies of love, loss and, ultimately, hope.

The Idea of You

Section: Headliner
Director: Michael Showalter
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Nicholas Galitzine, Ella Rubin, Annie Mumolo, Reid Scott, Perry Mattfeld, Jordan Aaron Hall, Mathilda Gianopoulos, Raymond Cham Jr., Jaiden Anthony, Viktor White, Dakota Adan
Deadline’s takeaway: The Idea of You shines when it delves into the introspection and self-awareness that comes with significant life milestones, but when it aims to capture the essence of shared vulnerability and trust it falters, stumbling over a narrative that feels uneven and, at times, contrived.

Immaculate

Section: Headliner
Director: Michael Mohan
Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Alvaro Morte, Simona Tabasco, Benedetta Porcaroli, Giorgio Colangeli, Dora Romano
Deadline’s takeaway: Taking the reins as both lead actress and producer, Sydney Sweeney crafts a space for herself to explore a diverse array of characters, affirming her dedication to broadening her artistic range. A bold departure with the ending provides satisfying closure by finally subverting traditional expectations and concluding on an unconventional note.

Monkey Man

Section: Headliner
Director: Dev Patel
Cast: Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Vipin Sharma, Sikandar Kher, Sobhita Dhulipala, Ashwini Kalsekar, Adithi Kalkunte,, Makarand Deshpande
Deadline’s takeaway: The film leaves audiences with a profound message: In a world rife with injustice, sometimes radical action is necessary to forge new paths. Dev Patel’s directorial finesse and meticulous attention to detail suggest a promising helming future.

My Dead Friend Zoe

Section: Narrative Spotlight
Director: Kyle Hausmann-Stokes
Cast: Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Ed Harris, Gloria Reuben, and Morgan Freeman
Deadline’s takeaway: While the film occasionally falters in its pacing, My Dead Friend Zoe is a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the imperative to provide better support for our veterans. It challenges its audience to reflect on the collective responsibility to ensure their well-being long after their service has ended.

Road House

Section: Headliner
Director: Doug Liman
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Williams, Joaquim de Almeida, Conor McGregor, Lukas Gage, Arturo Castro, B.K. Cannon, Beau Knapp, Darren Barnet, Dominique Columbus, Bob Menery, Catfish Jean, Kevin Carroll, Travis Van Winkle, Hannah Lanier
Deadline’s takeaway: In spite of a few flashes of technical brilliance in its action sequences and a few tries made by its cast, this rebuilt Road House stands as a testament to just how difficult it is to capture lightning in a bottle.

Sew Torn

Section: Visions
Director: Freddy Macdonald
Cast: Eve Connolly, Calum Worthy, John Lynch, K Callan, Ron Cook, Thomas Douglas, Werner Biermeier, Veronika Herren-Wenger, Caroline Goodall
Deadline’s takeaway: Its oddness certainly will be frustrating to those who like their crime hardboiled, but most of all, it’s a great discovery — the kind of film festivals were made for and streamers should fill their boots with. It will be fascinating to see where destiny takes Freddy Macdonald next.

Timestalker

Section: Narrative Spotlight
Director: Alice Lowe
Cast: Alice Lowe, Jacob Anderson, Aneurin Barnard, Tanya Reynolds, Nick Frost
Deadline’s takeaway: The ambitious film recalls classic Monty Python — it’s often very, very stupid and the same time very, very clever — but most of all, it’s an idea of what might have been if that all-male team had ever had a woman or two in its core lineup. Somehow, Alice Lowe has the wide-eyed innocence to carry it all off, a very subversive gift indeed.

We Were Dangerous

Section: Narrative Feature Competition
Director: Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu
Cast: Rima Te Wiata, Erana James, Nathalie Morris, Manaia Hall
Deadline’s takeaway: We Were Dangerous never quite comes together as the wry, subversive coming-of-age movie that it might have been, but the performances are powerful enough in Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu’s debut that its emotional heft is surprisingly indelible.

Y2K

'Y2K' movie review — From left: Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler and Julian Dennison in ‘Y2K’
SXSW
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Section: Headliner
Director: Kyle Mooney
Cast: Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler, Julian Dennison, Daniel Zolghadri, Lachlan Watson, Kyle Mooney, Eduardo Franco, Alicia Silverstone, Fred Durst
Deadline’s takeaway: What sets Y2K apart is its nuanced approach to nostalgia. In a cinematic landscape often saturated with attempts to capitalize on the past. The stands out for its authenticity and restraint. Ultimately, it’s a testament to Kyle Mooney’s vision and a promising start to his directorial career.

Movie Reviews

Ella McCay

Published

9 hours ago

December 11, 2025

Press Room

Other Noteworthy Elements

Ryan and Ella’s marriage appears to be on the rocks. Ella wonders if Ryan only married her for the perks of her career (even when they were young, it was clear Ella had a big future in store). And Ryan’s foul behavior suggests this is true.

When Ella forgets to thank Ryan for his support during a speech (because she gets flustered by unexpected interruptions from Governor Bill), Ryan essentially throws a temper tantrum. He uses the incident to try to convince Ella to get him a political position (egged on by his mother, who belittles her own husband). He then resorts to unscrupulous means to manipulate and embarrass Ella, holding the threat of divorce over her head.

We’re told that other politicians despise Ella. Her very presence reminds them of their own inadequacies as policymakers and compromises they’ve made as politicians. (At one point, Ella criticizes the majority of her fellow politicians for spending more time campaigning than they do reading proposed legislation.) Even Bill, when Ella asks him for advice, is hesitant to openly support Ella, since it could hurt his own career. As such, the film seems to serve as a commentary on the political state at large: Ella literally says, “You can’t be popular and fix anything.”

Not long after Eddie’s affairs come out, Helen hugs him and tells him she loves him but that she’ll never forgive him for cheating on his wife. Years later, Eddie seemingly tries to make amends with his children, but it’s fueled by a selfish desire, since his current girlfriend told him she wouldn’t marry him unless he made up with his kids. And when Helen tells Eddie that he needs to stop messing up long enough for his kids to forgive him and do the work required to fix his relationships, he retorts that his kids will “be better” once they forgive him.

We learn that Ella’s mom passed away young, though we’re not given the details of what caused her death. Eddie admits that he sent Casey to military school after her death because he “didn’t want the responsibility” and that he avoided Ella because he was scared of how she’d react to that decision. (At the film’s start, he and Ella haven’t spoken in 13 years.)

A politician uses a cheat sheet of sorts while calling donors to make it seem like he cares about them. People lie, scheme and manipulate others. We hear about political blackmail and bribery. Casey’s job involves advising people on sports betting. A trooper assigned to Ella’s protection unit purposely goes into overtime in spite of a budget crisis because he’s tight on cash and apparently going through an expensive divorce.

Casey is described as agoraphobic because he hasn’t left his house in 13 months. However, he insists that his reclusiveness is a choice—that he can leave whenever he wants. But he does seem to have some severe anxiety about leaving, and we learn that his self-imposed solitary confinement followed an embarrassing romantic mishap. His house is littered with dirty dishes and bags of trash.

A woman gets petty revenge against someone by calling the health department on his pizzeria and getting it shut down.

[Spoiler warning] Ryan, in a strange grab for attention, starts a political scandal for Ella involving blackmail and bribery. He gives Ella an ultimatum, and Ella responds that if he loved her—if he even liked her—he wouldn’t be doing this to her. Because Ryan doesn’t get what he wants, he blames the blackmail and bribery on Ella, telling the press that he’s divorcing her. And the scandal, though completely fabricated, is bad enough for her party to remove her from office.

Movie Reviews

Movie Review: In Scarlet, transplanting Hamlet to an anime dreamworld | Mint

Published

1 day ago

December 10, 2025

Press Room

The Japanese writer-director Mamoru Hosoda has made some amazing films that take profound leaps into dreamlike worlds.

Hosoda’s “Mirai” (2018) is about a 4-year-old boy who’s resentful of his newborn sister. But in his backyard garden, he meets his sister as a teenager. This is just the first of many domestic time travels, as the boy meets other relatives from other points in their lives. A new understanding begins to dawn.

In “Belle” (2022), a teenager who’s lived through tragedy finds a soaring catharsis in a virtual realm. I thought it was one of the best films of that year, and I still think it might be the best movie ever made about the internet. Either way, its song-and-soul-shattering climax is unforgettable.

Yet in Hosoda’s latest, “Scarlet,” the director’s enviable reach exceeds his grasp. In it, his female protagonist is a medieval princess who, after seeing her king father killed by her uncle, and dying herself, awakes in an expansive purgatory. In this strange afterlife, peopled by the dead from all time periods, she seeks revenge for her father.

Anyone, I think, would grant that a Japanese anime that transplants “Hamlet” to a surreal netherworld is a touch more ambitious than your average animated movie. Unlike the wide majority of cartoons, or even live-action movies, the problem with “Scarlet” isn’t a lack of imagination. It’s too much.

Hosoda, a former Studio Ghibli animator whose other films include “Wolf Children” and “Summer Wars,” has an extraordinary knack for crafting anime worlds of visual complexity while pursuing existential ideas with a childlike sincerity. But an excess of baroque design, of emotion, of scope, sinks Hosoda’s “Scarlet.” It’s the kind of misfire you can forgive. If you’re going to fail by overreach, it might as well be with a wildly ambitious rendering of “Hamlet.”

In the thrilling prologue, set in 16th century Denmark, Scarlet (Ashida Mana) watches as her uncle Claudius (Kôji Yakusho) frames her father as a traitor and has him executed. Enraged, Scarlet — without any visitation from her father’s ghost — goes to kill Claudius. Only he poisons her first, and Scarlet awakes in what she learns is called the Otherlands.

It’s a kind of infinite wasteland, full of wandering souls and marauding bandits. People are there for a time, and then they pass into nothingness. A stairway to heaven is rumored to exist somewhere. As she seeks Claudius, Scarlet is joined by a stranger she encounters named Hijiri (Okada Masaki). A paramedic from modern day, he spends most of his time in the Otherworld trying to heal the wounds of others, including Scarlet’s foes.

“Scarlet” can be meandering and tedious. Even Rosencrantz and Guildenstern turn up. If the Otherworld is laid out like Scarlet’s troubled conscience, the ensuing battle between vengeance and forgiveness feels dully simplified. It’s all a sea of troubles. Hosoda tries to build some interiority to the story (not a small aspect of “Hamlet”) through Hijiri’s backstory, telescoping Shakespeare’s quandaries to contemporary times.

Hosoda grafted “Beauty and the Beast” into “Belle,” to sometimes awkward, sometimes illuminating effect. But in “Scarlet,” he struggles to bridge “Hamlet” to today. It’s a big swing, the kind filmmakers as talented as Hosoda should be taking, but it doesn’t pay off. Still, it’s often dazzling to look at it and it’s never not impassioned. Hosoda remains a director capable of reaching trembling, operatic heights. In “Scarlet,” for instance, Claudius gets a spectacular death scene, a remarkable accomplishment considering he’s already dead.

“Scarlet,” a Sony Pictures Classics release, opens in limited release Friday and in wider theatrical release Feb. 6. Rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for violence/bloody image. Playing in both Japanese with subtitles and English dubbed versions. Running time: 112 minutes. Two stars out of four.

Movie Reviews

‘No Other Choice’ Review: Park Chan-wook’s Timely, Dark, Hilarious Comedic Satire That Slays with Style

Published

2 days ago

December 9, 2025

Press Room

‘No Other Choice’ Review: Park Chan-wook’s Timely, Dark, Hilarious Comedic Satire That Slays with Style

Most people who have seen a few director Park movies will agree that he has one of the most creative and crazy minds out there. I’m happy to join the choir. This marks the 55-year-old filmmaker’s inaugural foray into the Black comedy subgenre, although we are cognizant of his cheekiness.

Director Park’s examination of the economic class structures in South Korea, as evidenced by Man-soo’s dismissal, is as bleak as it is in any other urbanized capitalist nation. It is, after all, based on an American novel, but it exploits this premise to build a powerful Black comedy. With No Other Choice‘s straightforward plot, he deconstructs the conventions of masculinity under a capitalistic umbrella through a kooky but always funny atmosphere. One equally funny and depressing recurring gag is post-firing affirmations that many of the unemployed former breadwinners use as an excuse to continue their self-pity wallowing. Man-soo’s dubious scheme reflects himself in his fellow compatriots, who share the same ill fate. They all neglect their loving families, becoming real-time losers to the significant impact of the capitalist culture on the common man. As the plot develops, Park explores the twisted but captivating development of this man regaining his sense of self and spine… You know, through murder.

As this social satire unfolds in dark, humorous ways, No Other Choice is a rare example of style and substance working together. Director Park throws every stylistic option he can at the wall, and almost everything sticks. Mainly because his imaginative lens – crossfades, dissolves, and memorable feats – is both visually captivating and enriching to Man-soo’s mission. The film encroaches on noir-thriller sensibilities, especially with its modern setting. Man-soo’s choices become more engrossing and inventive, proving timely even in its most familiar beats while personalizing every supporting character.

Director Park and his reunion with director of photography Kim Woo-hyung from The Little Drummer Girl execute a distinctive vision that flawlessly captures the screwball comedy archetype with its own rhythmic precision and stunning visuals, particularly in contrast to the picturesque autumnal backdrop. Compared to Decision to Leave, it’s more maximalist, but it still makes you think, “Wow, this is how movies should look.” Nevertheless, the meticulous framework and blocking in the numerous chaotic sequences impart a unique dark-comedic tone that evokes a classic comedy from the height of silent era cinema, albeit in stunning Technicolor.