The 2014 Sundance Film Festival kicks off today, January 16, and it’s another year where many first-time filmmakers as well as Sundance vets make the trek to Park City, Utah, to show off their latest movie. As always, there are a number of exciting premieres, either due to who is involved behind the camera or the talent in front of it, and sadly, the Weekend Warrior isn’t able to make it out this year, so he’ll just have to watch from afar and see what gets buzz.
Last year was a good year for the festival with movies like Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station and the comedy The Way Way Back both being picked up for distribution and doing quite well at the box office. There were other movies that didn’t fare nearly as well but still made quite a mark over the course of the year.
In the gallery below, we take a look at 26 films premiering or screening at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, some of them in competition, some not, but all of them sound interesting and are likely to create buzz with their first screenings. In some cases, you can click on the title and see more pictures from each film.
One movie that we didn’t include but wish we had was Richard Linklater’s long-in-the-works Boyhood, starring Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette, a coming-of-age film that they had been filming on and off for 12 years and was recently announced to premiere at Sundance, following last year’s Before Midnight. It was added too late to include and we don’t even have a picture from it to include in the gallery.
And that’s pretty much what we’re looking forward to out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, although in most cases we’ll probably be waiting a few months before we’ll actually have a chance to see any of them as many of the movies mentioned above don’t even have distribution as of yet. Stay tuned to ComingSoon.net’s Sundance Blog for updates on distribution pick-ups and the like and maybe we’ll even grab a couple of the more interesting reviews out there to see if any of the movies we mentioned live up to our expectations.
Sundance 14 Preview
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<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=100073">Young Ones</a>
Why See It?
Jake (The Good Night) Paltrow's latest stars Elle Fanning, Nicholas Hoult, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Michael Shannon in a sci-fi thriller set in a future where water's become scarce and the world has become extremely violent. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=104288">Wish I Was Here</a>
Why See It?
Zach Braff wrote, directed and stars in this comedy about a struggling actor, father and husband who is trying to find a purpose in life but finding escapism by fantasizing about being a futuristic Space Knight. This film was famously financed by a Kickstarter campaign and it was added fairly late to the Sundance roster, but no one will forget the impact that Braff's Garden State had with its Sundance debut nearly ten years ago. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=112259">The Trip to Italy</a>
Why See It?
That is, if you don't count this sequel to Michael Winterbottom's hilarious road comedy The Trip, once again pairing Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, but this time having them travel through Italy doing their usual one-upmanship and hopefully a few Michael Caine impressions as well. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=90064">They Came Together</a>
Why See It?
Not quite the Wet Hot American Summer sequel we were hoping for, but it does reunite that hilarious summer camp comedy spoof's David Wain and Michael Showalter with Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler in a parody of the romantic comedy genre which is likely to be one of the funniest movies at this year's Sundance. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=90825">Song One</a>
Why See It?
One of my favorite movies to ever come out of Sundance was John Carney's Once - he recently made waves at Toronto with his new movie Can A Song Save Your Life? starring Keira Knightley. The directorial debut by Kate Barker-Froylan stars the amazingly talented Oscar-winning Anne Hathaway as a woman who starts a relationship with her brother's favorite musician after he's injured. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=96820">The Skeleton Twins</a>
Why See It?
"Saturday Night Live" stars Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader reunite for a dramedy in which they play twins Maggie and Milo trying to get their lives back together after having a near-death experience on the same day. Directed by Craig Johnson (True Adolescents), Wiig and Hader have always proven to be hilarious together--remember them in Adventureland?--and it's great to see them having their own starring vehicle like this. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=112128">The Signal</a>
Why See It?
Not to be confused with the horror anthology movie that played during "Park City at Midnight," this thriller from William Eubank stars Laurence Fishburne and it involves the disappearance of three college students under mysterious circumstances. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=86587">The Raid 2</a>
Why See It?
Gareth Evans' original action-thriller The Raid took Sundance by storm a few years back and anyone who isn't excited for its sequel probably no longer has a pulse. Indonesian martial arts sensation Iko Uwais is back as Officer Rama, who is pressured into joining the anti-corruption task force in order to take down a new mob boss named Bangun. Sony Classics will release the movie on March 28. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=112258">The One I Love</a>
Why See It?
Claire McDowell's drama stars Sundance regular Mark Duplass and recent Golden Globe winner Elisabeth Moss (from "Mad Men") as a couple struggling with their marriage. Nope, not a comedy. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=78805">A Most Wanted Man</a>
Why See It?
Photogapher and filmmaker Anton Corbijn (Control) takes on spy novelist John le Carre's best-seller with Philip Seymour Hoffman playing the German spy trying to put the pieces together as a mysterious, tortured and near-dead man tries to recover his late Russian father's fortune. Also starring Rachel McAdams, Daniel Bruhl, Robin Wright and Willem Dafoe, Roadside Attractions is releasing it later this year. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=105853">Little Accidents</a>
Why See It?
Sara Colangelo wrote and directed this drama starring Elizabeth Banks and Chloe Sevigny about the disappearance of a 14-year-old boy in an American coal town--yup, another cheery one--as the tragedy brings together three very different residents trying to uncover the secrets behind the boy's death. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=111093">Life After Beth</a>
Why See It?
One of this year's hottest stars, Dane DeHaan--who will play the Green Goblin in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 this summer--stars in Jeff Baena's horror-comedy about a guy named Zach, who is devastated by the sudden death of his girlfriend, played by equally hot Aubrey Plaza. When she comes back as a zombie, he tries to make up for lost time. It also stars John C. Reilly and Anna Kendrick so we're thinking this is definitely more of a comedy. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=102057">Laggies</a>
Why See It?
Lynn Shelton (Humpday) brings her third film in a row to Sundance after last year's Touchy Feely and 2012's Your Sister's Sister, this one starring Keira Knightley as Mega, a young woman who gets a marriage proposal from her boyfriend (Sundance mainstay Mark Webber) and decides to run off with her younger sister, played by Chloe Moretz. And it also stars Sam Rockwell, so win, win, win!!! -
Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
Why See It?
How much do I love Rinko Kikuchi? Well, I probably can't count the ways but I'm glad to see her doing something different in this movie written and directed by David Zellner (Kid Thing). Kikuchi plays a lonely Japanese woman convinced that a satchel of money from a fiction film is for real, so she leaves Tokyo for Minnesota with treasure maps in search of the mythical fortune.
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<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=103622">I Origins</a>
Why See It?
After making waves with Britt Marling at Sundance a few years back with Another Earth, director Mike Cahill is back with another science-heavy film that "connects the lives of people from around the globe." Marling also stars in this one, but it mainly stars Michael Pitt ("Boardwalk Empire") as a doctor who travels to India to find a young girl who may be able to prove or disprove his theory. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=78733">Infinitely Polar Bear</a>
Why See It?
Produced by J.J. Abrams, Maya Forbes' oddly-titled marital drama stars Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana, sort of a "darker version of 'Mr. Mom,'" in which Ruffalo plays a bipolar family man who goes off his meds, loses his job and tries to keep his marriage together. Hey, we never said that every movie at Sundance is a comedy--heck, few are. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=113015">Hellion</a>
Why See It?
Aaron Paul from "Breaking Bad" and Juliette Lewis star in Kat Candler's drama about a 13-year-old metal-obsessed motocross rider whose tries to cope with family issues, including an emotionally-absent father and a younger brother who is following in his older brother's footsteps and getting into trouble. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=113014">Happy Christmas</a>
Why See It?
Joe Swanberg is one of the most prolific filmmakers out there and he's back with his fourth movie of the year, this one which hopefully will be more in line with the excellent Drinking Buddies, which premiered at SXSW last year. The film also stars the wonderful Anna Kendrick as a young woman who moves in with her older brother, his wife and their young son after breaking up with her boyfriend -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=100003">The Guest</a>
Why See It?
Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett are some of the most innovative and coolest genre filmmakers working today and even though I wasn't really a fan of their previous movie You're Next, this one stars Dan Stevens from "Downton Abbey" as a soldier on leave who befriends the family of a fellow soldier only to become a threat when they learn he's not who he says he is. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=113414">Fishing Without Nets</a>
Why See It?
Expanded from Cutter Hodierne's short film, which was at the Sundance Film Festival a few years back, the movie seems more timely than ever with the success of Paul Greengrass' Captain Phillips - this movie again taken from the perspective of the Somali pirates. Very interested in this one. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=113013">Dear White People</a>
Why See It?
Besides the fact that it was directed by a good friend of ComingSoon.net, former publicist Justin Simien, it's likely to be one of the more controversial films about race relations since back when Spike Lee used to make decent movies. Expanded from the short film, expect this one to make a big splash at Sundance. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=112125">Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead</a>
Why See It?
Norwegian filmmaker Tommy Wirkola brought his zombie Nazi movie Dead Snow to Sundance a few years ago and while it only received a mixed reception, he went on to have a hit with last year's Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters and he's certainly a genre filmmaker to keep an eye on. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=113017">Cold in July</a>
Why See It?
The killer team of Jim Mickle and Nick Damici (Stakeland, We Are What We Are) are back with an adaptation of genre master Joe R. Lansdale's novel, this one starring Michael C. Hall ("Dexter") as a Texas man whose life is turned upside down after he kills a home intruder. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=76984">Cavalry</a>
Why See It?
A few years back, filmmaker John Michael McDonagh--brother to In Bruges filmmaker and playwright Martin McDonagh--kicked off Sundance with his Celtic police buddy comedy The Guard, starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle. He's back with Gleeson, this time playing a smalltown Irish priest who is accused of pedophilia by his community even though he's not guilty. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=105827">Camp X-Ray</a>
Why See It?
It's Kristen Stewart from "The Twilight Saga" doing something different, playing a brand new soldier named Cole who creates a friendship with an eight-year Guantanamo Bay detainee named Ali, played by Peyman Moaddi from the Oscar-winning A Separation. It's the feature film directorial debut from Peter Sattler who may be one of the filmmakers to watch this year. -
<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=113412">Appropriate Behavior</a>
Why See It?
I know very little (actually nothing) about Desiree Akhavan, but she's clearly a triple threat, writing directing and starring in this movie as Shirin, a young woman trying to let her traditional Persian family know that she's a bisexual. As her brother announces his upcoming wedding, Shirin goes on a series of sexual escapades after breaking up with her girlfriend Maxine.
