Folks I think we’re making a movie. Anyone who still wants to come in for a point of the sale can still do so, or really join the production in any capacity. We are still open for business.

The Blue Trail Director Gabriel Mascaro on Coming-of-Age Inversion, Playful Dystopias, and Conservative Awakenings It's a scenario that, under certain fascistic goverments, may not seem so far away: in order to increase economic output, the elders of society are mandated to live out their lives in far-off colonies...

"It’s a movie about an older woman who wants to fly, but in the end she discovers she can fly even higher than she imagined."

#TheBlueTrail director Gabriel Mascaro talks with @jpraup.bsky.social about crafting his Berlinale winner, opening Friday:

Late Shift Review: A Highly Intense, Single-Minded Procedural Leonie Benesch can’t catch a break. After being put through the wringer contending with the intense demands of the school system in the Academy Award-nominated The Teachers’ Lounge, the actor’s latest...

Petra Volpe’s #LateShift is a work of high intensity and acute resonance, even if it lacks a certain personality by design.

Read @jpraup.bsky.social's review:

Sylvain Chomet on A Magnificent Life, Joker: Folie à Deux, and Returning to Triplets of Belleville "The idea of the young [Marcel] Pagnol visiting the older Pagnol is nowhere to be found in his books," director Sylvain Chomet tells me when it comes to A Magificent Life, his first film in fifteen ye...

"This time I used the method that Disney was using since Snow White."

Sylvain Chomet talks with @jpraup.bsky.social about crafting his first film in 15 years:

Berlinale Review: Trial of Hein Is a Rigorous Debut Feature Questioning Identity and Memory From Biblical tales of the prodigal son to Zach Braff’s Garden State, stories of returning home after an extended absence are ripe territory to explore reconciliation and changed identity. With his ri...

Kai Stänicke's Trial of Hein takes a Dogville-esque approach to exploring identity and memory.

Read @jpraup.bsky.social's Berlinale review:

“We Cut 95% of It Out”: Matt Johnson on Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, Constant Re-Editing, and Season 3 From its humble beginnings as a scrappy viral web series nearly two decades ago, Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol's Groundhog Day-esque mission of attempting to book a show at Toronto's Rivoli Theatre ha...

"We shoot so, so much footage, but the real discipline is that we then cut 95% of it out." Matt Johnson talks with @jpraup.bsky.social about setting the bar for action and comedy this year wiht Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie:

Berlinale Review: Crocodile is a Choppy Yet Inspiring Portrait of Resourceful Filmmaking The ever-increasing accessibility of filmmaking means that anyone with basic technology can shoot and edit a film. However, only those with a story worth telling can hope to reach an audience and buil...

#Crocodile captures the endlessly resourceful, creative spirit of a group of Nigerian filmmakers, though it feels like an imprecise first draft of a much larger tale yet to be fully told.

Read @jpraup.bsky.social's Berlinale review:

Scripted with the meticulous patience of a Cristian Mungiu or Nuri Bilge Ceylan film, Visar Morina’s Sundance winner Shame and Money is a pressure-cooker of a drama about the crushing demands of capitalism.

Read @jpraup.bsky.social's Critic's Pick review: thefilmstage.com/sundance-rev...

Sundance Review: If I Go Will They Miss Me Finds Poetic Beauty in Coming of Age Finding poetic beauty in the quotidian, Walter Thompson-Hernández’s If I Go Will They Miss Me centers on coming of age in housing projects of southern Los Angeles. It’s a way of life often depicted wi...

Walter Thompson-Hernández’s Sundance premiere If I Go Will They Miss Me searches for the divine in everyday life. Read @jpraup.bsky.social's review:

Sundance Review: Kogonada’s Free-Flowing Zi is an Experimental Career Reset A filmmaker attempting a career reset following an ill-received feature of larger scope often offers a fascinating study in artistic rejuvenation, be it David Lynch’s Blue Velvet or M. Night Shyamalan...

Zi at least demonstrates Kogonada hasn’t lost his filmmaking mojo, crafting a movie that may seem more personal to him than most viewers. Read @jpraup.bsky.social's Sundance review:

A Poet Review: A Darkly Humorous Tale of Failed Creative Pursuits Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2025 Cannes coverage. A Poet opens in theaters on January 30. Far removed from the mournful yearnings of A Quiet Passion––much less the quotid...

Simón Mesa Soto’s A Poet finds unexpected poetry in the jagged, pained misery of dashed dreams and misinterpreted, career-ending good intentions.

Read @jpraup.bsky.social's review as the Cannes winner arrives in U.S. theaters:

Can heartily recommend The Lake, One in a Million, Night Nurse, Who Killed Alex Odeh?, Barbara Forever, Time and Water, Nuisance Bear, Kikuyu Land, and Jaripeo.

Sundance Review: Josephine is a Stomach-Churning Portrait of Lost Innocence Perspective is everything in Beth de Araújo’s Josephine, a stomach-churning drama focused on the loss of innocence and the ill-equipped guidance—both parental and bureaucratic—that can compound enduri...

Perspective is everything in Beth de Araújo’s #Josephine, a stomach-churning drama focused on the loss of innocence and the ill-equipped guidance—both parental and bureaucratic—that can compound enduring trauma.

Read @jpraup.bsky.social's Sundance review:

We can thank production designer Florencia Martin for the inclusion of Modelos, a few small beers, etc. in One Battle After Another, and more revealed in a wonderful chat:

This is a lovely movie!

Abby Ellis’ thrilling, terrifying documentary The Lake captures the mission to defuse an environmental nuclear bomb.

Read @jpraup.bsky.social's Critic's Pick review of the Sundance premiere: thefilmstage.com/sundance-rev...

Sundance Review: One in a Million Tells an Epic Saga of Exile and Assimilation “War is not the hardest thing a person can go through. It’s not as hard as what comes after.” These opening words are the guiding theme of Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes’ One in a Million, an epic saga ...

The Sundance premiere One in a Million tells an epic saga of exile and assimilation, examining how perceived liberty doesn’t always mean true independence.

Read @jpraup.bsky.social's review:

Sundance kicks off on a strong note with The Lake, which understands that the most exceptional, impactful environmental docs are about direct human action on a micro scale.

I've seen over 40 films premiering at 2026 Sundance. Here's my picks for what to see, many of which are available online:

“How Do I Keep Leonardo DiCaprio Safe?”: Breaking Down the Stunts of One Battle After Another When One Battle After Another was first announced, before it even had a confirmed title, the potential of what a Paul Thomas Anderson-directed action movie could be boggled the mind. Upon its release ...

"It was scary at first because Paul [Thomas Anderson] wanted all the actors to do their own stunts." Stunt coordinator Brian Machleit breaks down crafting the action of One Battle After Another with @jpraup.bsky.social:

Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s debut A Useful Ghost is a strange, tranquil, humorous exploration of the conundrums that would emerge were ghosts an accepted occurrence in everyday life.

Read @jpraup.bsky.social's review as the Cannes winner opens in theaters: thefilmstage.com/cannes-revie...

The Best Films of 2025 and Most-Anticipated Films of 2026 On a special 2025 wrap-up podcast, The Film Stage co-founder and editor-in-chief Jordan Raup is joined by managing editor and Emulsion host Nick Newman and The B-Side co-host Conor O'Donnell to discus...

On a special podcast episode, we discuss the best films of 2025 and the most-anticipated movies of 2026.

Listen to @jpraup.bsky.social, @codonnell.bsky.social & Nick Newman's discussion:

OBEX Review: An Inventive, Lo-Fi, and Otherworldly Adventure Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2025 Sundance coverage. Obex opens in theaters on January 9. While the likes of David Cronenberg’s Videodrome and Steven Lisberger’s TRON have...

Albert Birney's OBEX, opening Friday, is an earnest, even poignant look at how entertainment can provide a sense of comfort for the most lonely souls. Read @jpraup.bsky.social's review:

Saying goodbye to 2025 by counting down my favorite movie posters for US releases over at the @thefilmstage.com.

#posterizedpropaganda

2025 Films Ranked A list of 132 films compiled on Letterboxd, including Hamnet (2025), The Naked Gun (2025), Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass (2024), One Battle After Another (2025) and Peter Hujar's Day (202...

2025 Films I Saw, Best to Worst

boxd.it/zstB8

The Best Undistributed Films of 2025 After highlighting the 50 best films you may have missed this year and our overall top 50 films of 2025, today we put our spotlight on those that still need a home: movies we loved on the festival cir...

Calling all U.S. distributors: please pick up these movies!

The Film Stage’s Top 50 Films of 2025 For our most comprehensive year-end feature, we’re providing a cumulative look at The Film Stage’s favorite films of 2025. We’ve asked contributors to compile ten-best lists with five honorable mentio...

Looking for a movie to watch this holiday? Here's 50 great choices from 2025:

The Film Stage’s Most-Read Posts of 2025 As we continue to explore the best in 2025, today we're taking a look at the articles that you, our dear readers, enjoyed the most throughout the past twelve months. Spanning reviews, interviews, feat...

The Film Stage's 2025 year-in-review is here!

Catch up on our most-read reviews, interviews, features, news, trailers, and more this year:

Jordan Raup’s Top 10 Films of 2025 Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2025, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists. In a year of tumultuous upheaval for Hollywood, ...

One Battle After Another, The Shrouds, and The Mastermind are among our editor-in-chief @jpraup.bsky.social's top 10 films of 2025:

Happy holidays! I wrote about my favorite films and first-viewings of the year: