The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: Reviewing 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' and 'I Love Boosters,' Looking Back at Cannes

I'm back. On Sunday, I caught up with this weekend's new releases and then did the podcast with Will. (I also talked a little about my Cannes experience.) You can hear our thoughts on baby Yodas and Boots Riley down below.

My Interview With Boots Riley

Now that Sorry to Bother You has been out for a little while, I wanted to talk to its writer-director, Boots Riley. But since I'm such a big fan of his band, the Coup, I also wanted to spend a little time discussing his art and activism as a whole. (He also opened up about what it's like to be broke while making such vital work.) Our wide-ranging conversation is over at MEL.

The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: Ant-Men, 'Sorry to Bother You' and 'Ikiru'

On this week's episode, we discuss Ant-Man and the Wasp. (I liked it better than Will did.) Then we review Sorry to Bother You. (I liked it less than Will did.) And then, in our Reboot segment, we look back to Ikiru. You can hear the whole thing down below.

Sundance 2018: Ranking the Best and Worst of the Festival

It was a strange Sundance, in that I basically liked just about everything I saw and that I didn't see as many films as I normally do. (The latter is a byproduct of not screening very many things before the festival.)

With that in mind, the below rankings are filled with recommended movies, even if there were fewer outright raves. I wish I'd had time to see Eighth Grade, Madeline's Madeline, Mandy, Monsters and Men, etc. And I intentionally avoided any documentaries to give me more options for True/False in March.

So, without further ado, here are my rankings, with links leading to individual reviews...

23. Ophelia
22. Juliet, Naked
21. Come Sunday
20. Blindspotting
19. Sorry to Bother You
18. The Miseducation of Cameron Post 
17. We the Animals
16. Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot 
15. Colette
14. The Kindergarten Teacher
13. The Death of Stalin
12. Search 
11. The Rider
10. Wildlife
9. Damsel
8. I Think We're Alone Now
7. You Were Never Really Here
6. Tyrel
5. Leave No Trace 
4. Foxtrot
3. Hereditary
2. Private Life
1. The Tale

I am saddened The Tale will not be getting a theatrical release since it was acquired by HBO. As a huge fan of the Coup, I bummed I didn't like Sorry to Bother You more. And I really love my top three films, even more so because they're so tonally different.

The Coup - "The Magic Clap"

Public Enemy was a major band in my formative years, forever establishing in my mind what a socially conscious hip-hop group was capable of. If I was that age now, I think the Coup would rewire my nervous system in comparable ways. Party Music and Bigger Weapon are both terrific, and their latest, Sorry to Bother You, ain't too shabby, either. "Magic Clap" kicks off the album, and it shows how frontman Boots Riley's digression into rap-rock with Tom Morello for their side project Street Sweeper Social Club has rubbed off on his principal group. Hell yeah.