The 2018 Sundance Film Festival just wrapped up, and the Critic and the Referee are back to give you their inside scoop on what went down while in those snowy mountains. This was the Critic and the Referee’s 2nd year attending the film festival and it didn’t disappoint.  They even put together a Surviving Sundance: Survival Guide for all of you who may be planning to attend at some point in the near future.

Enjoy our coverage of day 1 and day 2 of Sundance Film Festival 2018!

And when you’re done, jump on over to hear our Sundance Wrap-Up!

Day 1

Hearts Beat Loud
Release: January 26, 2018 (Sundance)
A father and daughter form an unlikely songwriting duo in the summer before she leaves for college.
Starring:  Nick Offerman, Kiersey Clemons, Toni Collette, Sasha Lane, Ted Danson, Blythe Danner
Directed by:  Brett Haley
Produced by:  Sam Bisbee, Houston King, Sam Slater
Written by:Brett Haley, Marc Basch
Cinematography by: Eric Lin
Distributed by:Gunpowder & Sky
Runtime: 97 minutes

Blind Spotting
Release: January 18, 2018 (Sundance)
A raucous, rap-filled and often revealing story of male friendship on the rapidly gentrifying streets of Oakland, California.
Starring: Janina Gavankar
Directed by:  Carlos López Estrada
Produced by:  Jess Calder, Keith Calder, Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs
Written by:Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs
Cinematography by: Robby Baumgartner
Distributed by:Lionsgate
Runtime: 135 minutes

The Catcher Was a Spy
Release: January 19, 2018 (Sundance)
In the midst of World War II, major league catcher Moe Berg (Paul Rudd) is drafted to join a new team: the Office of Security Services (the precursor to the CIA). No ordinary ballplayer, the erudite, Jewish Ivy League graduate speaks nine languages and is a regular guest on a popular TV quiz show. Despite his celebrity, Berg is an enigma – a closeted gay man with a knack for keeping secrets. The novice spy is quickly trained and sent into the field to stop German scientist Werner Heisenberg before he can build an atomic bomb for the Nazis.
Starring: Paul Rudd, Guy Pearce, Jeff Daniels, Paul Giamatti, Sienna Miller
Directed by:  Ben Lewin
Produced by:  Kevin Scott Frakes, Tatiana Kelly, Buddy Patrick, Jim Young
Cinematography by: Andrij Parekh
Runtime: 138 minutes

Day 2

Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot
Release: January 19, 2018 (Sundance) – May 11, 2018 (United States)
After nearly dying in a car accident, the last thing Oregon slacker John Callahan intends to do is give up alcohol. Encouraged by his girlfriend and a charismatic sponsor, Callahan reluctantly enters a treatment program and discovers that he has a knack for drawing. The budding artist soon finds himself with a new lease on life when his edgy and irreverent newspaper cartoons gain a national and devoted following.
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, Jack Black, Udo Kier, Carrie Brownstein, Steve Zissis, Mark Webber
Directed by:  Gus Van Sant
Produced by:  Charles-Marie Anthonioz, Mourad Belkeddar, Steve Golin, Nicholas Lhermitte
Cinematography by: Christopher Blauvelt
Distributed by: Amazon Studios
Runtime: 113 minutes

Wild Life
Release: January 20, 2018 (Sundance)
In 1960, a boy watches his parents’ marriage fall apart after they move to Montana, and his mother falls in love with another man.
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Carey Mulligan, Ed Oxenbould, Zoe Margaret Colletti
Directed by:  Paul Dano
Produced by:  Jake Gyllenhaal, Oren Moverman, Riva Marker, Ann Ruark, Alex Saks
Cinematography by: Diego García
Runtime: 144 minutes

Colette
Release: January 20, 2018 (Sundance)
The story of a marriage, Colette shows the lengths one woman must go to escape her husband’s control and claim her voice as an artist.
Starring: Keira Knightley, Dominic West
Directed by:  Wash Westmoreland
Produced by:  Elizabeth Karlsen, Pamela Koffler, Michel Litvak, Christine Vachon
Written by: Wash Westmoreland, Richard Glatzer
Runtime: 151 minutes