Rafael Manuel | Film Festival Today

Sundance Review: “Filipiñana”

February 1, 2026

“Murder in Glitterball City” Offers More Than Meets the Eye
By George W. Campbell
February 18, 2026
Murder in Glitterball City (Fenton Bailey/Randy Barbato, 2026) 3½ out of 5 stars The first thing you see in HBO’s two-part Murder in Glitterball City is the face of a man named Joey Banis. He sits down in front of a webcam, eyes darting offscreen, staying uncomfortably silent. Banis reads off a piece of paper and announces to whom it may concern that they are watching a suicide video. He claims to have killed someone and wishes to absolve his ... >>
Paris Barclay Gives Icon His Due with “Billy Preston: That’s The Way God Planned It”
By George W. Campbell
February 18, 2026
Billy Preston: That’s The Way God Planned It (Paris Barclay, 2024) 4½ out of 5 stars If you’re familiar with singer/songwriter Billy Preston, you probably know him for his collaborations with the Beatles, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, and many more. But how much do you really know about Billy Preston as a person? That’s the question Paris Barclay aims to answer with his new documentary, Billy Preston: That’s The Way God Planned It. Like many ... >>
Sundance Review: “All About the Money”
By Hannah Tran
February 15, 2026
All About the Money (Sinéad O’Shea, 2026) 3½ out of 5 stars If you had more money than you could possibly know what to do with, how would you spend it? Fergie Chambers doesn’t have to imagine. As the heir to the Cox Enterprises empire (yes, that Cox) he has access to generational wealth on a scale most people can’t even comprehend. What he chooses to do with it might come as a surprise. A few years ago, he gave a large stretch of rural ... >>
Sundance Review: “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!”
By Hannah Tran
February 10, 2026
Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! (Josef Kubota Wladyka, 2026) 3 out of 5 stars You might not expect a film entitled Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! to be about grief, yet Josef Kubota Wladyka’s movie manages to be just as silly as its name suggests while also attempting a somber portrait of one woman’s healing process after her husband’s death. The story follows Haru, or Ha-Chan (Rinko Kikuchi, Pacific Rim: Uprising), a Tokyo woman who eagerly competes in ... >>
Sundance Review: “Public Access”
By Hannah Tran
February 9, 2026
Public Access (David Shadrack Smith, 2026) 3 out of 5 stars I believed I had a vague understanding of what public-access television was. Then I saw David Shadrack Smith’s documentary about it, and I realized I had no idea. Created at the beginning of the 1970s, public-access TV was mandated to ensure democratic ideals during the rise of cable. It is essentially just as its name suggests: media created by ordinary people, free from corporate ... >>

10 Films to Watch at Sundance 2026
January 20, 2026
The 2026 Sundance Film Festival runs live and ...>>
Chris Reed’s Top 10 Films of 2025
December 31, 2025
It always amazes me how different a given year’s ...>>
Hannah Tran’s Top 10 Films of 2025
December 29, 2025
Whether in narrative or documentary, few years have ...>>
Matt Patti’s Top 10 Films of 2025
December 26, 2025
Another year has come and passed and here we are at ...>>
Patrick Howard’s Top 10 Films of 2025
December 24, 2025
Where I have previously reviewed the film (in this ...>>