Genre: Comedy, Drama
Actor: Aasif Mandvi, Adrian Martinez, Alan Aisenberg, Ato Blankson-Wood, Bernard White, Billy McFadden, Dana DeVestern, Daniel London, Emma Roberts, Jared Goldstein, Jeremy Davies, Jim Gaffigan, Karen Chilton, Keir Gilchrist, Lauren Graham, Leo Allen, Lou Myers, Macintyre Dixon, Matthew Maher, Molly Hager, Morgan Murphy, Roddy Skeaping, Rosalyn Coleman, Stewart Steinberg, Thomas Mann, Viola Davis, Zach Galifianakis, Zoë Kravitz, Zoe Kravitz
Director: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
The entirety of Pieces of April takes place on Thanksgiving Day, a busy holiday meant to bring loved ones together. Sure enough, April, the eldest Burns daughter, takes great pains to prepare a nice dinner for her visiting family. But we soon learn that she is motivated less by excitement than by dread: she's long been estranged, disowned even, by her uptight mother, Joy, who is only agreeing to come because she's sick with cancer. April seems to be on a reluctant mission to fix their fraught relationship, but pesky (albeit funny) mishaps, both on her and Joy's end, keep getting in the way.
Shot digitally and very closely with hand-held cameras, Pieces of April looks as intimate as it feels. It's a snapshot of an era and of a particular family dynamic, one that relatably relies on both love and scorn to keep going. It's an excellent, honest, and underrated gem of a movie.
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Family
Actor: Adrian Martinez, Alice Drummond, Alison Pill, Anney Giobbe, Armando Riesco, Birdie M. Hale, Derek Luke, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Jamari Richardson, John Gallagher Jr., Katie Holmes, Leila Danette, Lillias White, Oliver Platt, Patricia Clarkson, Rusty De Wees, Sally Leung Bayer, Sean Hayes, Sisqó, Stephen Chen, Susan Bruce, Vitali Baganov
Director: Peter Hedges
One wouldn't expect to see Count Dracula's youthful-looking helper at your local 12-step self-help group for people in codependent relationships, but Renfield holds more than one surprise up its sleeve. By translating the working relationship (or master-slave, since the latter doesn't get any pay) into the vocabulary of common relationship counselling parlance, the film actually elevates its symbolic status. Even more, I'd dare call it a hoot. Not that many vampire films have managed to make a proper comedy out of the figure in question, and Renfield with its simplistic appeal puts to shame even the artsy Netflix production El Conde, which also came out earlier this year. With Awkwafina in the mix and iconic lines such as "I don't want your murder cookies", how can you resist?
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Actor: Adrian Martinez, Anil Bajaj, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Bess Rous, Betsy Borrego, Brandon Scott Jones, Brian Egland, Camille Chen, Caroline Williams, Chloe Adona, Christopher Matthew Cook, Christopher Winchester, Dave Davis, Derek Russo, Gabriel 'G-Rod' Rodriguez, James Moses Black, Jenna Kanell, Joshua Mikel, Keith Brooks, Krystal Tomlin, Lacey Dover, Lena Clark, Lucy Faust, Marcus Lewis |, Marvin Ross, Mike Harkins, Miles Doleac, Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Oren Michaeli, Rhonda Johnson Dents, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Stephen Louis Grush, Susan McPhail, T.C. Matherne, William Ragsdale
Director: Chris McKay
Genre: Comedy, History
Actor: Adrian Martinez, Alex Edelman, Alexandra Wentworth, Ali Wentworth, Amy Schumer, Andy Daly, Aparna Nancherla, Bailey Sheetz, Beck Bennett, Bill Burr, Bill J. Stevens, Bobby Moynihan, Catherine Last, Cedric the Entertainer, Cedric Yarbrough, Chris Rickett, Christian Slater, Dan Levy, Darrell Hammond, Dean Norris, Drew Tarver, Earthquake, Eleanor Sweeney, Felix Solis, Fred Armisen, George Wallace, Gregory Burke, Hugh Grant, Isaac Bae, Jack McBrayer, Jack Murillo, James Marsden, Jaxy Boyd, Jeff Lewis, Jerry Seinfeld, Jessica Seinfeld, Jim Gaffigan, John Forest, John Slattery, Jon Hamm, Ken Narasaki, Kue Lawrence, Kyle Dunnigan, Kyle Mooney, Lauren Peters, Maria Bakalova, Mark Kwak, Max Greenfield, Melissa McCarthy, Mikey Day, Nelson Franklin, Patrick Warburton, Peter Dinklage, Rachael Harris, Ronny Chieng, Sarah Burns, Sarah Cooper, Sasheer Zamata, Sebastian Maniscalco, Shane Carpenter, Spike Feresten, Susan Elle, Tad Griffith, Thomas Lennon, Thomas Silcott, Tony Hale, Will Allan, Winter Bassett
Director: Jerry Seinfeld