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Hey, it's a new year and I hear there are some films coming out.

Here’s a list I pinched from World of Reel (don’t know the site, it just came up when I was searching for info on Schanelec’s new one) so I make no claims of veracity…

1949 (Pawel Pawlikowski)
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Nia DaCosta)
The Adventures of Cliff Booth (David Fincher)
All of a Sudden (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
Alone at Dawn (Ron Howard)
Alpha Gang (Zellner Brothers)
Animals (Ben Affleck)
Après (Kirill Serebrenikko)
Artificial (Luca Guadagnino)
At The Middle of Life (Hong Sang-soo)
At the Sea (Kornél Mundruczó)
The Backrooms (Kane Pixels)
The Basics of Philosophy (Paul Schrader)
Behemoth! (Tony Gilroy)
Bitter Christmas (Pedro Almodovar)
The Bride (Maggie Gyllenhaal)
Bucking Fastards (Werner Herzog)
Burning Rainbow Farm (Justin Kurzel)
Butterfly Jam (Kantemir Balagov)
The Chaperones (India Donaldson)
Colt is My Passport (Gareth Evans)
Coward (Lukas Dhont)
Day Drinker (Marc Webb)
The Death of Robin Hood (Michael Sarnoski)
The Diary of a Chambermaid (Radu Jude)
The Dinner (Olivia Wilde)
Disclosure Day (Steven Spielberg)
The Dog Stars (Ridley Scott)
The Drama (Kristoffer Borgli)
Double Freedom (Lisandro Alonso)
Dumas: Black Devil (Ladj Ly)
Dune Part Three (Denis Villeneuve)
Ebenezeer (Ti West)
The Entertainment System is Down (Ruben Ostlund)
Famous (Jody Hill)
Fjord (Cristi Mungiu)
Flowervale Street (David Robert Mitchell)
Full Phil (Quentin Dupieux)
Gentle Monster (Marie Kreutzer)
Ghostwriter (JJ Abrams)
Glimpses of the Moon (Francis Ford Coppola)
Godzilla Minus Zero (Takashi Yamazaki)
Have Fun, Good Luck, Don’t Die! (Gore Verbinski)
Heart of the Beast (David Ayer)
Her Private Hell (Nicolas Winding Refn)
Here Comes the Flood (Fernando Mereilles)
Hope (Na Hong-jin)
How To Make A Killing (John Patton Ford)
How to Rob A Bank (David Leitch)
I Love Boosters (Boots Riley)
I Want Your Sex (Gregg Araki)
If Love Should Die (Mia Hansen-Løve)
In the Blink of an Eye (Andrew Stanton)
Ink (Danny Boyle)
It Will Happen Tonight (Nanni Moretti)
Jack of Spades (Joel Coen)
Judy (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
Klara and the Sun (Taika Waititi)
Kockroach (Matt Ross)
La Saint-André des loups (Cristi Puiu)
The Last Disturbance (Kenneth Branagh)
The Last Mrs. Parrish (Robert Zemeckis)
The Long Winter (Andrew Haigh)
Look Back (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
The Loved One (Rodrigo Sorogoyen)
Madden (David O. Russell)
The Man I Love (Ira Sachs)
Michael (Antoine Fuqua)
Mimesis (Kaouther Ben Hania)
Minotaur (Andrey Zvyagintsev)
Mother Mary (David Lowery)
Moulin (Laszlo Nemes)
My Wife Cries (Meine Frau Weint) (Angela Schanelec)
Narnia (Greta Gerwig)
October (Jeremy Saulnier)
The Odyssey (Christopher Nolan)
On Land and Sea (Hlynur Palmason)
Onslaught (Adam Wingard)
Out of this World (Albert Serra)
Panic Carefully (Sam Esmail)
Paper Tiger (James Gray)
Parallel Tales (Asghar Farhadi)
A Place in Hell (Chloe Domont)
Possible Love (Lee Chang Dong)
Primetime (Noah Oppenheim)
Project Hail Mary (PhilLord/Chris Miller)
Ray Gunn (Brad Bird)
Red Rocks (Bruno Dumont)
Remain (M. Night Shyamalan)
Resident Evil (Zach Cregger)
The Riders (Edward Berger)
The RIP (Joe Carnahan)
Roma Elastico (Bertrand Mandico
Rosebush Pruning (Karim Ainouz)
Saturn Return (Greg Kwedar)
Send Help (Sam Raimi)
Sheep in the Box (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
The Social Reckoning (Aaron Sorkin)
Switzerland (Anton Corbijn)
Teenage Sex and Death and Camp Miasma (Jane Schoenbrun)
The Things That Hurt (Arnaud Desplechin)
Tony (Matt Johnson)
The Unknown (Arthur Harari)
Untitled (Michel Franco)
Untitled (Mike Leigh)
Untitled Musical (Jesse Eisenberg)
The Uprising (Paul Greengrass)
Victorian Psycho (Zachary Wigon)
Wake of Umbra (Carlos Reygadas)
The Way of the Wind (Terrence Malick)
Werwulf (Robert Eggers)
Wild Horse Nine (Martin McDonagh)
Wuthering Heights (Emerald Fennell)
The Young People (Oz Perkins)

I'm catching a few scattered Sundance releases through their online availability, and the first was the documentary Who Killed Alex Odeh?, which just received the Producer's Award for Non-Fiction and a Special Jury Award for Journalistic Excellence. What starts as a true crime-style look at the unsolved case of the October 1985 bombing of an American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee office in Southern California quickly reveals that the identities of the bombers are in fact pretty well-established — and the real question is why they have never faced justice.

Expanding their scope to review the history of the fascist Jewish Defense League movement in the United States and Israel and ultimately traveling to Israel to find and speak to two of the three likely bombers, co-directors Jason Osder (who covered the 1985 Philadelphia MOVE bombing in the acclaimed Let the Fire Burn in 2013) and William Youmans piece together a sharp indictment of this movement of Jewish extremists and their protectors in government. That expansion is a bit of a double-edge sword, though, as I never felt like the film spends enough time with Odeh himself, a Palestinian Catholic with three children who seems to have represented his community with thoughtfulness and care before being murdered for his public advocacy work as part of a campaign of domestic terror targeting the ADC.

As a journalistic object (the film prominently features and builds off of the work of Israeli-Canadian journalist David Sheen), Who Killed Alex Odeh? is effective and illuminating in putting a spotlight on a movement of political extremists with which many Americans are unfamiliar, and while I give it due credit for that effort, as a cinematic work that holds its subject at such a remove it's not substantially more than a good episode of Frontline — which isn't an insult as much as a missed opportunity to bring more humanity to its subject and possibly more eyes to its content.

Georgia Bernstein's Night Nurse is a delightfully perverse good time, exploring the decidedly unconventional relationship that develops between a newly hired care provider at a retirement village and her primary charge, a senior citizen in apparent mental decline. From the opening credits, Bernstein's direction deftly toys with and undermines the erotic thriller genre trappings, and her script capably sets the audience up for an darkly romantic and bittersweet ending.

Bernstein's direction is assured and straightforward, with just enough stylistic flash on what is surely a miniscule budget to hint at what she might do with a larger production, but the film will be most memorable to me as a showcase for Bruce McKenzie, an actor whose primarily television-based work I'm not familiar with but whose piercing, erratic presence is the axis upon which the whole movie turns. From the first time he turns his gaze to the camera and our protagonist (first-time actress Cemre Paksoy, who is also often striking if maybe a bit too opaque at some key moments) to the last smile he gives her, he held my attention completely and carries the film through some of the bumpier parts of the narrative.

There are a few plot developments that are too elliptical for their own good, raising narrative questions that lack satisfying answers, but even while acknowledging its imperfections and shortcomings, I can say that Night Nurse serves as a great example of what I hope for in a Sundance movie: a fun introduction to new talents that whets the appetite for their future work.

(Can we have a little bit of fun with Melania? Wrong thread? I'm never watching it, of course, but I'm happy to see that against the Bezos $40M bribe it is sinking like a rock. Who saw that coming? )

Except apparently it's still overperforming and set a record for highest grossing non-music doc in more than a decade

Keep in mind it’s likely some right wingers with deep pockets are buying out enough theaters to spare the film mass embarrassment

swo17 wrote: Sun Feb 01, 2026 8:39 pm Except apparently it's still overperforming and set a record for highest grossing non-music doc in more than a decade

Oh! This will be fun! I must be looking at the "wrong sources". Give me some time...

The point is it's performing terribly compared to its budget but great compared to other docs (which usually don't cost anywhere near this much to make). You can cling to whichever statistic confirms your worldview

The trailer had me wondering whether it might turn out to be Showgirls 2 or The Room 2, however given all the politics/money laundering behind it I refuse to pay to see it to verify whether it might have midnight movie potential. Any income it's generating depends on the number of screens it's appearing on (internationally) - more than for the debut of any previous documenary. Plus there's some maga people buying seats after images of the lack of sales has been circulating online to help assuage Melania's narcissitic injury.

It was #3 at the box office this weekend with $7 million. Still made less than half what the Markiplier sci-fi/horror movie made. What a weird weekend at the movies.

swo17 wrote:Except apparently it's still overperforming and set a record for highest grossing non-music doc in more than a decade

Is this an impressive “record,” even taken at face value?

While it might be more than some were projecting, $7million (international take I assume) for the weekend of a high profile film (few if any documentaries ever open in international markets at the same time) seems awfully low for a #3 spot. Did no one go to the movies this weekend?

swo17 wrote: Sun Feb 01, 2026 8:51 pm The point is it's performing terribly compared to its budget but great compared to other docs (which usually don't cost anywhere near this much to make). You can cling to whichever statistic confirms your worldview

Dude? Seriously?

I mean, you actually spelled it out! In absolute terms, (not this "well it's a doc" part, - a very special doc given the $40M bribe and the $35M push), can anyone, with a straight face, claim that this is a success?

There's nothing quite like a dose of Trumpiness that brings us together. (Or apart?)

Brian C wrote: Sun Feb 01, 2026 10:05 pm Is this an impressive “record,” even taken at face value?

Noiretirc wrote: Sun Feb 01, 2026 10:26 pm can anyone, with a straight face, claim that this is a success?

It would hardly be the most preposterous claim being made in America today.

To be clear, I don't know that I personally would call this a "documentary" or even a "movie"--I'm just stating the obvious, to brace yourself for people having stupid takes on this film and/or its box office performance

Lowry_Sam wrote: Sun Feb 01, 2026 10:20 pm Did no one go to the movies this weekend?

There wasn't much to see. Sam Raimi's Send Help was the only major studio release. Seems like anyone going to theaters the past couple of weeks was going to Zootopia 2 or Avatar: Fire and Ash which have been in the top ten for weeks and have made hundred of millions of dollars.

I can't imagine any theaters outside the US playing the Melania doc. Probably going straight to Amazon streaming in international markets.

Matt wrote: Mon Feb 02, 2026 12:19 am I can't imagine any theaters outside the US playing the Melania doc. Probably going straight to Amazon streaming in international markets.

Excuse me, sir. It was booked for 150 theaters in the UK, and sold seven tickets.

Ah yes, the crucial Nigel Farage audience. And Slovenia, of course.

It's pretty funny that we really haven't even touched on the critical consensus for this thing, which is universally bad, unless Fox or some other Trumpy outlet is saying otherwise.

As long as the trailers, Fox news interviews and other secondary (free) material that the film generates proves to be so entertaining & ripe for late-night fodder and online ridicule, I don't think anyone will care enough to actually pay any attention to the film's actual content, particularly since the film's primary purpose was for Jeff Bezos to bribe Donald while having the secondary benefit of keeping his wife occupied/content during his first year.

Brian C wrote: Sun Feb 01, 2026 10:05 pm

swo17 wrote:Except apparently it's still overperforming and set a record for highest grossing non-music doc in more than a decade

Is this an impressive “record,” even taken at face value?

Yeah, it's strange that this "record" is all over the net. Who does this, normally? I mean, it's a very narrow set of parameters, no? "Non-music doc". Er...ok! I can't help feeling that the very long tentacles of The Current Administration (and friends) can reach deeply into, and influence/compel this kind of reporting.

(I'm done with Melania posts. Thanks for this brief indulgence.)

Noiretirc wrote: Mon Feb 02, 2026 1:05 am It's pretty funny that we really haven't even touched on the critical consensus for this thing, which is universally bad, unless Fox or some other Trumpy outlet is saying otherwise.

It's probably just fun to dunk on and get clicks. I can't imagine it's actually unwatchably bad or that it's some instant camp classic. Probably just as forgettable as every other documentary made for a streamer.

Noiretirc wrote: Mon Feb 02, 2026 2:37 amYeah, it's strange that this "record" is all over the net. Who does this, normally? I mean, it's a very narrow set of parameters, no? "Non-music doc". Er...ok! I can't help feeling that the very long tentacles of The Current Administration (and friends) can reach deeply into, and influence/compel this kind of reporting.

(I'm done with Melania posts. Thanks for this brief indulgence.)

Well, in fairness, this is pretty typical box-office reporting. People have been making fun for years of "biggest Tuesday gross following a full moon in March" types of spin put out by the studios.

Just doesn't make it an actual meaningful accomplishment, that's all.

An absolutely brutal interview with Melania cinematographer Dante Spinotti

I’ve seen elsewhere that $35 million marketing budget is more than 10 times the highest marketing budget for any doc released in the past decade.

Yeah, tbh, the prospect of having this abomination gross no money would have been such an embarrassment that I was skeptical Bezos would fund it without spending a massive amount on marketing and distribution - otherwise this venal act of fealty would blow up in his face. So besides the insane marketing budget, notice that they put it out in 1,778 theaters, which is a bit more than what you’d expect for even the highest grossing documentaries nowadays. If a Turning Point event can draw thousands of followers, I’m pretty sure they can find a way to get a hefty gross. A huge money loser perhaps, but spending that kind of money to deliver one of the highest grossing documentaries of the year is a sly and relatively cheaper way of currying favor.