Sundance Review: Aubrey Plaza In ‘Emily The Criminal’

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorMadison Avenue used its most tried-and-true techniques to keep Super Bowl watchers from being overwhelmed Sunday night by a brave new world that emerged with great speed as the nation was hunkered down during the coronavirus pandemic.General Motors, one of the nation’s most staid corporations, put its marketing heft behind a fleet of electric vehicles, using revivals of media favorites like “Austin Powers” and “The Sopranos.” Verizon touted quickening telecommunications service by reviving Jim Carrey in his role as “The Cable Guy” and T-Mobile pressed viewers to think about 5G by showing Dolly Parton with a phone pressed close to her chest. Rocket Mortgage dressed its digital service in bright Barbie overtones along with the familiar site of Anna Kendrick.

Chris Young leads the list of nominees for the 2022 American Country Music (ACM) Awards, with seven nods in total. The 36-year-old singer is up for various accolades at the annual awards ceremony, including Album of the Year for 'Famous Friends' and Single of the Year for his collaboration with Kane Brown. Walker Hayes, Miranda Lambert and Chris Stapleton each received five nominations in total, with Miranda making ACM history as she received her 16th consecutive nod for the Female Artist of the Year award.

David Muir delighted fans when he took to social media to reveal that he was part of a special project that would certainly leave one of his friends delighted.MORE: Amy Robach leaves David Muir baffled in hilarious backstage videoClose friend Kelly Ripa took to her own Instagram Stories to share a throwback snapshot of Dolly Parton with the caption: "#WCW @dollyparton forever and ever," while tagging David.WATCH: GMA's Amy Robach enjoys surprise from David MuirHe responded to her by posting the picture with her song Jolene playing in the background, writing: "Dolly's new gift tonight [heart emoji] @abcworldnewstonight."He teased to fans that he would be talking about a special story centering around Dolly that evening, which was eventually revealed to be regarding her latest charitable initiative.MORE: David Muir receives best reaction from co-stars as he surprises with new family photoDavid went live on ABC's World News Tonight to share that the country superstar's Dollywood Parks and Resorts had announced that it would support all their employees pursuing higher education. David teased Kelly and fans with an upcoming Dolly storyThe parent company of Dollywood made the move by saying that they would cover tuition, associated fees, and books completely for any of their employees wishing to go to college.In a snippet of the segment posted on their Instagram, the caption read: "Dolly Parton's Dollywood Parks & Resorts has announced that it will pay tuition for all employees who pursue a higher education.

57th Academy of Country Music Awards nominations are here! On Thursday, Jimmie Allen and Gabby Barrett announced the nominees for this year's ACMS, with Chris Young leading the pack with seven nods.Miranda Lambert, the most-nominated female artist in ACM history, earned five nominations this year, including a record-tying 16th nod in Female Artist of the Year category, of which Reba McEntire previously held the sole record.Walker Hayes, a first time nominee, was also nominated five times. Jordan Davis, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne, Carly Pearce, Carrie Underwood and Morgan Wallen earned four nominations each, while Jason Aldean, Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Dave Cobb, Ashley McBryde and Lainey Wilson were each recognized three times.Blake Lively earned two nominations, her first nods at a music awards show, for producing and directing Taylor Swift's music video for «I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor's Version).» Swift's brother, Austin Swift, was also nominated for his work as a producer on the video, while the singer herself nabbed her first ACM nomination since 2018.The 57th Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Dolly Parton and co-hosts Barrett and Allen, will stream live on Prime Video from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Monday, March 7 at 8:00 p.m.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Country star Chris Young combined his skills as an artist and a producer to earn seven nominations at the Academy of Country Music Awards, including album of the year and single of the year.The show's co-hosts Jimmie Allen and Gabby Barrett announced the nominations on Thursday.

After a bidding war, Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment have acquired North American rights to Aubrey Plaza thriller “Emily the Criminal,” according to an insider with knowledge of the deal.The film, which premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, is slated for an exclusive theatrical release later this year. In a unique move, Redbox has joined the partnership for home entertainment distribution.John Patton Ford directed the film in his feature directorial debut and wrote the script.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterFollowing its premiere at this year’s virtual Sundance Film Festival, Aubrey Plaza’s crime thriller “Emily the Criminal” has been sold to Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment.The movie is slated to release exclusively in theaters in 2022. Redbox Extertainment has home entertainment rights.

EXCLUSIVE: Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment have prevailed in a bidding war surrounding the Sundance thriller Emily the Criminal, starring and produced by Aubrey Plaza (Black Bear, Ingrid Goes West), claiming North American rights. They’ve slated the film for an exclusive theatrical release this year, with Redbox joining the partnership for home entertainment distribution.

The Walking Dead fans are in shock after it was announced actor Moses J. Moseley has died at the age of 31.

The crushing weight of debt and the stress of financial struggle have led many to find creative problem-solving methods. The Sundance crime drama “Emily The Criminal” explores one such story about a character pressed to the limits by a system intent on keeping her in the loop of student debt and marginalized job opportunities.

Utama (Our Home) is precisely the sort of discovery that justifies film festivals and makes them useful: a small, hitherto unheard-of work from an out-of-the-way country that grabs you from the opening minutes and afterwards makes you want to tell your friends they’ve got a real treat to look forward to. A rare Bolivian entry in a major festival, this Sundance World Dramatic Competition title and feature debut by Alejandro Loayza Grisi is gorgeously made and brings to life a backwater existence in a distant land with skill and assurance.

Things have not been going well for Emily. Some of it is just terrible luck.

Albeit beautifully shot and made tolerable by the warm presence of Carla Juri in the leading role, blood is a frustratingly indulgent study of emotional recovery after the loss of a loved one. This fourth feature by Bradley Rust Gray is splendidly appointed with locations in Japan and Iceland and an appreciation of emotional openness expressed by all the characters. All the same, the mostly short scenes of recent widow Chloe handling her grief day by day possess little compelling drama and are handicapped by a scruffy Japanese male lead who just doesn’t match up with his appealing female counterpart in any credible way. As with the director’s previous work, you come out of it wondering who this film was made for.

Writer-director Jamie Dack has expanded her widely admired 2018 short film Palm Trees and Power Lines into a considerably more thorny and disturbing feature of the same title. Shot verité style on the most banal possible locations, the film, which is making its world premiere in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section of the Sundance Film Festival, takes an unvarnished look at an environment that is arid both literally and figuratively, one in which young people seem to be given precious little guidance or structure by family or society. Dack doesn’t explicitly editorialize but makes acutely clear the vulnerability of adolescents left too much to their own devices at a formative age.

In 2009, when I was in the Air Force and stationed in Germany, I traveled to Berlin on New Year’s Eve to celebrate. As my friends and I were getting turnt up in the bar, I came out as a lesbian. The moment was random and unprovoked. I shared the news with all my friends and had a dope night ringing in the 2010s, but panic set in when I woke up the next day. I’m 27 years old and a lesbian: what do I do now? 

Attempting to remake a classic film is never an easy assignment. Especially when said classic is as revered as Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 drama “Ikiru.” Director Oliver Hermanus and screenwriter Kazuo Ishiguro could have placed the story in contemporary times, making a new version more palatable for some critics, but instead, set it in the exact same era only interchanging London for Tokyo.

With a promising start with his first film Shithouse for which he starred, directed and wrote and won the Grand Jury Narrative Prize at SXSW, Cooper Raiff looms now also to be one of the breakouts of this year’s Sundance Film Festival where Cha Cha Real Smooth, his small but splendid second film for which he performs the same triple threat duties debuted Sunday as part of the Dramatic Competition lineup. I can only imagine if the festival had managed to be in person as originally planned rather than virtual in this Omicron-stricken year it would be met with a massive standing ovation. Raiff is bound to become an indie darling as if further proof was needed, but Cha Cha Real Smooth cements him as the real deal both in front of and behind the camera.

Rarely has a filmmaker kept his central character at such a distance as writer-director Ricky D’Ambrose does in The Cathedral. This is clearly an autobiographical work in some very important ways, and no doubt a purging of some demons as well. And yet the kid here, whose life the film follows from birth to his acceptance at college, has very few lines of dialogue and for the most part remains a cipher. All the same, this is a penetrating look at childhood that, distinctively, focuses more than anything on the foibles and shortcomings of the child’s parents, particularly his father.

Virgino and Sisa live what most people would consider a very simple life. They raise and care for Lamas in the Bolivian highlands keeping the traditions of their Quechua people alive.