The Lighthouse Is Like If Phantom Thread and Fritz Lang Had A Twisted Horror Movie Baby

You know how a recurring job interview question is "Where do you see yourself in ten years?" I'm sure if you had asked Robert Pattinson that question in 2009 when he was doing the press rounds to promote The Twilight Saga: New Moon, he would have listed a hundred different answers before thinking "I'll be in a black-and-white horror film with Willem Dafoe set entirely at a lighthouse." It may not be what Pattinson would first think of as his future career prospects circa. 2009, but The Lighthouse, like much of Pattinson's post-Twilight work, is both audacious and exceptionally well-made. Put simply, this new film from The VVitch helmer Robert Eggers is like if Phantom Thread, Swiss Army Man and Fritz Lang all had a super warped child.

Wildlife Is A Quietly Haunting Portrait of Family Chaos from Newbie Director Paul Dano

Hollywood, when it comes to non-indie fare, has always seemed to struggle with what to do with Paul Dano as an actor, usually putting him in the roles of either a disposable sidekick (Knight & Day) or a whiny slimeball (Cowboys & Aliens). Despite that, Dano has managed to procure a number of memorable performances over a little over a decade of steady work in offbeat indie fare like There Will Be Blood, Love & Mercy and Swiss Army Man, to name just a few. Over the course of a quietly impressive acting career, Paul Dano's become quite a fascinating actor and now we can add talented director to his resume with his directorial debut Wildlife.

Captain Fantastic Tires To Be An Inspirational Tale About A Neglectful Selfish Father. It Doesn't Work.

Last year's Sundance Film Festival delivered some unique motion pictures that have stuck around in my mind a year after that festival concluded. There was the comedic classic Hunt For The Wilderpeople, the zany yet thoughtful Swiss Army Man, and of course, Kenneth Lonergan's beautiful meditation on grief Manchester By The Sea. But every film festival has its duds, it's just the law of averages when you're screening a large number of movies. The Hollars was one big star-studded misfire and Captain Fantastic serves as another example of indie feature that debuted at last year's Sundance Film Festival that just doesn't work.

Swiss Army Man Review

In case you haven't heard, Swiss Army Man is quite a strange movie. If the goal of directing duo Daniels (which consists of Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) was to ensure that their first feature-length directorial effort had a premise was so singularly odd it was practically guaranteed to slot them some form of fame, it wouldn't be a shocking development. Thankfully, the two individuals are not just here to show off brazen weirdness for weirdness sake (though Lord knows there's plenty of that to be found in Swiss Army Man), instead managing to show off a real sense of identity in their initial foray into the world of longer-form storytelling.

Swiss Army Man Review

In case you haven't heard, Swiss Army Man is quite a strange movie. If the goal of directing duo Daniels (which consists of Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) was to ensure that their first feature-length directorial effort had a premise was so singularly odd it was practically guaranteed to slot them some form of fame, it wouldn't be a shocking development. Thankfully, the two individuals are not just here to show off brazen weirdness for weirdness sake (though Lord knows there's plenty of that to be found in Swiss Army Man), instead managing to show off a real sense of identity in their initial foray into the world of longer-form storytelling.

Birth Of A Nation Picks Up Record Breaking Distribution Deal With Fox Searchlight At Sundance

Typically, each annual Sundance Film Festival brings about a record breaking distribution deal, with the biggest of those deals going to the $10.5 million paid to Little Miss Sunshine a decade ago and the $10 million given to the Steve Coogan picture Hamlet 2 eight years ago. Both of those features have been left in the dust by a deal just made for a feature film centered on Nat Turner entitled The Birth Of A Nation. Fox Searchlight Pictures (the studio behind such indie film hits as The Grand Budapest Hotel, Birdman, Slumdog Millionaire, Black Swan, 12 Years A Slave and Juno) has put down $17.5 million for distribution rights to the film.