Sundance review: Brotherly chemistry makes 'Blast Beat' worth a look

‘Blast Beat’

★★★

Playing in the U.S. Dramatic competition of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Running time: 105 minutes. In English, and Spanish with subtitles.

Screens again: Monday, Jan. 27, 6 p.m., Tower (Salt Lake City); Tuesday, Jan. 28, 8:30 a.m., Egyptian (Park City); Wednesday, Jan. 29, 6:30 p.m., Eccles (Park City); Friday, Jan. 31, 9 p.m., Resort (Sundance); Saturday, Feb. 1, 3 p.m., PC Library (Park City).

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Brothers approach their new home in America from different directions in “Blast Beat,” a drama that’s as full of raw energy as the title suggests.

In Bogota, Colombia, in the summer of 1999, the Restrepo family is making their plans to move to America. Ernesto (Wilmer Valderrama), the patriarch, is already in Atlanta, buying a house and making the immigration arrangements. Nelly (Diane Guerrero), his wife, is eager to make a new life, as is their oldest son, Carlos (Mateo Arias), who dreams of working for NASA and aims to enroll in the Georgia Aerospace Institute as soon as he finishes high school. Less enthused is Carlos’ little brother, Mateo (Moises Arias — yes, they’re brothers in real-life, too), an artist with a wild streak and a hot temper.

Life in America isn’t as easy as Dad has made it out to be. The new house is a fixer-upper, Mateo is taunted by a rich racist bully (Sam Ashby), and Carlos is missing his girlfriend back in Bogota, Mafe (played by the singer Kali Uchis). Carlos visits the aerospace institute, and makes a connection with an astronaut (Daniel Dae Kim) who teaches there. But Carlos’ good news is tempered with Mateo’s struggle to fit in, and his resentment that his family uprooted itself to pursue the big brother’s dream.

“Blast Beat” is a showcase for the Arias brothers. They’re both survivors of the Disney Channel: Moises as “Hannah Montana’s” comic relief, Rico, and Mateo co-starring on “Kickin’ It.” And Moises has broken out in the indie hit “The Kings of Summer” and last year’s Colombian hostage drama “Monos.” Together, they look like opposites, with Mateo gangly with long hair and Moises an intense shorter frame with a shaved head. But their brotherly bond shines through whether the Restrepo siblings are fighting or helping each other out.

Director Esteban Arango and his co-screenwriter, Erick Castrillon, go over some plot beats that will be familiar stops in sibling dramas and immigration tales — a step back for every step forward. The exuberance of the storytelling, propelled by the metal music Carlos favors, is undeniable.

Sundance review: 'Coded Bias' reveals the unfairness in the algorithms that run everything

‘Coded Bias’

★★★1/2

Playing in the U.S. Documentary competition of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Running time: 90 minutes.

Screens again: Monday, Jan. 27, 3 p.m., Redstone 7 (Park City); Thursday, Jan. 30, 9 p.m., PC Library (Park City); Friday, Jan. 31, 11:59 p.m., Tower (Salt Lake City); Saturday, Feb. 1, noon, Park Avenue (Park City).

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The old computer-programming mantra of “garbage in, garbage out” takes on new and scary immediacy in “Coded Bias,” an urgent examination of the flaws embedded in the algorithms that rule our lives.

It starts with Joy Buolamwini, an MIT student who was working on a project that involved facial-recognition software. The problem she discovered is that the software wouldn’t recognize her face because of her chocolate skin — but that when she put a white mask on, the software could read it fine.

Thus began an odyssey in which Buolamwini studied how the artiticial intelligence, and the algorithms they use, were created from databases that began with the people who programmed them. Those people were usually white men, so the resulting algorithms read those faces more readily than women or people of color.

Director Shalini Kantayya follows Buolamwini as she meets other experts on the unseen and often unrecognized bias within algorithms, who describe the problems they cause. From facial-recognition systems being used by cops in London to Microsoft’s A.I. Twitter creation Tay becoming racist and misogynist in 16 hours, the biases are everywhere — from China, where the government monitors everyone, to the United States, where the job has been farmed out to commercial interests like Facebook, Google and Amazon.

The movie is chock-full of slick graphics to illustrate the issues. But the draw is Buolamwini’s charming personality, so powerful that when she testified before Congress, she got liberal icon Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and right-wing bomb-thrower Jim Jordan to agree on something. Here’s hoping more people hear the message of “Coded Bias,” and get angry enough to take action.

Sundance review: 'Spaceship Earth' makes the case for Biosphere 2 as America's first climate change experiment

‘Spaceship Earth’

★★★

Playing in the U.S. Documentary competition of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Running time: 115 minutes.

Screens again: Tuesday, Jan. 28, 12:15 p.m., The Ray (Park City); Wednesday, Jan. 29, 3 p.m., Park Avenue (Park City); Thursday, Jan. 30, SLC Library (Salt Lake City); Friday, Jan. 31, 6 p.m., Redstone 7 (Park City).

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Whether it was a visionary experiment or a stunt to draw sight-seers, Biosphere 2 was all the rage in 1991 — and in his fast-paced documentary “Spaceship Earth,” director Matt Wolf chronicles that crazy moment in American history and aims to explain while it still matters.

The idea was hatched by John Allen, the charismatic leader of a theater troupe and communal group that formed in the heart of the San Francisco counter-culture. The notion was to create an enclosed space with every form of habitat — ocean, desert, jungle, and more — to act as an accelerated version of Earth, to show the rest of us how to fix our environmental problems and figure out how to colonize other planets.

Wolf chronicles how the idea for Biosphere 2 developed into a real, functioning laboratory project. As the physical structure was being built in the Arizona desert, Allen and his cohorts started training candidates to be the first eight “Biospherians” who would live in this oversized terrarium for two years.

In 1991, those eight walked into Biosphere 2, and the hatch was sealed behind them. The copious footage — this was an experiment, and someone wanted it documented — shows how the crew had highs and lows, and dealt with challenges such as the build-up of carbon dioxide in the dome. Meanwhile, Allen and his staff fielded journalists’ questions about the scientific value of the project, and the credentials of Allen and the Biospherians.

Though it’s clear Wolf sides with the Biospherians, whom he sees as the first people to illustrate the dangers of climate change, the director is smart enough to present the facts and let viewers draw their own conclusion. One might wish for interviews with more skeptics, beyond archival footage of the “that thing will never fly, Orville” variety. However, the story Wolf tells remains a fascinating tale of idealism smacking into harsh reality and surviving, bloodied but unbowed.

Sundance review: 'Palm Springs' is an even more existential 'Groundhog Day,' buoyed by two engaging leads

‘Palm Springs’

★★★1/2

Playing in the U.S. Dramatic competition of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Running time: 90 minutes.

Screens again: Monday, Jan. 27, 11:30 p.m., Prospector (Park City); Wednesday, Jan. 29, 6:30 p.m. Rose Wagner (Salt Lake City); Thursday, Jan. 30, 6:30 p.m., Eccles (Park City); Saturday, Feb. 1, noon, Redstone 7 (Park City).

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Take “Groudhog Day,” move it to the California desert and a destination wedding, and make it a lot more existential, and you get “Palm Springs,” a hilarious comedy from the minds of The Lonely Island.

Lonely Islander Andy Samberg stars as Nyles, who walks through the wedding of a distant acquaintance — his girlfriend, Misty (Meredith Hagner), is a bridesmaid — in board shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. Mostly, though, he hangs around the pool at the Palm Springs resort where the destination wedding is being held, drinking beer and looking cynical about it all.

Near the end of the reception, Nyles makes eyes at Sarah (Cristin Milioti), another bridesmaid and sister of the bride, Tala (Camila Mendes). After proving that Misty is busy having sex with the DJ (Chris Pang), Nyles convinces Sarah to go make out by the rocks. Nyles’ hopes of having sex are thwarted when someone pops up and starts shooting arrows into Nyles. Nyles crawls to a nearby cave, and Sarah — despite Nyles’ warnings — follows him in.

Cut to: Nyles waking up, all over again, watching Misty getting ready. Nyles goes back to the pool, again, but this time, Sarah finds him, demanding to know what happened to her. Nyles explains that he’s been in an infinite time loop, repeating this wedding day over and over again — and that Sarah, because she entered the cave, is in that loop, too.

A lot of the humor in the script by Andy Siara — who developed the story with the film’s director, Max Barbakow — is in Nyles mentoring Sarah in her new life of repeating the same day again and again. Nyles has become jaded and existential, believing that there is no point in the universe so he tries to do as little as possible to get through his day, because he’s tried the alternative and he always winds up back at square one.

Barbakow paces the story, particularly the backward leapfrog of the resetting timer, with precision. But he also leaves room for his leads room to let the jokes and their personalities come out.

Samberg gives the most mature performance of his career, and his funniest since “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.” Milioti, already a Broadway phenom (“Once”) and a sitcom savior (she was the mother on “How I Met Your Mother”), deserves some full-fledged movie stardom — even if it comes with offers of rom-coms that aren’t half as smart as this one.

Sundance review: 'Whirlybird' captures the rush of '80s helicopter journalism and a dysfunctional journalism family

‘Whirlybird’

★★★1/2

Playing in the U.S. Documentary competition of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Running time: 103 minutes.

Screens again: Tuesday, Jan. 28, 9 p.m., Park Avenue (Park City); Thursday, Jan. 30, 9 a.m., PC Library (Park City), Friday, Jan. 31, 9 p.m., Redstone 7 (Park City); Saturday, Feb. 2, 3:30 p.m., Rose Wagner (Salt Lake City).

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Equal parts time capsule and dysfunctional-family drama, the documentary “Whirlybird” captures a unique view of Los Angeles from a sky-high vantage point.

In the world of “if it bleeds, it leads” journalism, nobody was better or more driven to get the story than Bob Tur. In an interview, Zoey Tur — her name since 2014, when she transitioned from male to female — talks about her old life as Bob, a freelance videographer who could get across town first, whip out a camera, and get the footage L.A. TV stations wanted, whether it was police chases, drug busts or wildfires.

The old Bob Tur so identified with his work, it’s what he and Marika Gerrard did as a first date. Soon, the two became a couple, both personally and professionally, working together in Bob’s business, the Los Angeles News Service.

Not long after they married, Bob had a brainstorm: Get the video from the air. He rented a helicopter and got his pilot’s license (which was revoked from time to time, because of his reckless nature). Bob flew the plane, and Marika leaned out the side door with the camera. They were one of the first airborne video journalist teams, and soon every station in L.A. wanted one — or they wanted to hire Bob and Marika.

Still, family intersected with work. When Marika gave birth to the couple’s first child, Katy, the baby sometimes rode in the back seat of the car on the way to a crime scene. Today, Katy — now an anchor for MSNBC, and author of a best-seller about her experiences covering the Trump campaign — realizes that’s not the way normal kids grow up, but then it seemed like what families did.

Director Matt Yoka has plowed through countless hours of archived footage from the Turs’ high-flying work. The resulting captures the high spots, such as getting the footage of the riots after the Rodney King verdict or being the first helicopter team to spot O.J. Simpson’s white Ford Bronco. The footage also captures the low moments, like the verbal abuse Bob spewed at Marika when she wasn’t getting the perfect shot.

The footage creates a mosaic of Los Angeles in the last quarter of the 20th century, from freeways to oceans and every newsworthy person in between. Combined with candid interviews with the family and colleagues, “Whirlybird” shows what it takes to be an adrenaline-fueled action newsperson, and what it takes from a person.

Hillary Clinton talks about impeachment, Bernie, being interviewed, and her first visit to Sundance

Hillary Clinton — former first lady of Arkansas, first lady of the United States, U.S. senator, secretary of state, and Democratic presidential nominee — didn’t hold back from stating her opinion before a friendly audience at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival on Saturday night.

Following a screening of Nanette Burstein’s four-hour documentary series “Hillary” (streaming on Hulu in March), Clinton talked about the ongoing impeachment trial of Donald Trump. It’s a subject Clinton knows well, having worked for the House Judiciary Committee during Richard Nixon’s impeachment investigation and lived through the impeachment and trial of her husband, President Bill Clinton.

Read about Clinton’s comments here, at sltrib.com.

Sundance review: 'Save Yourselves!' is a sharp, funny take on technology at the end of the world

‘Save Yourselves!’

★★★

Playing in the U.S. Dramatic competition of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Running time: 93 minutes.

Screens again: Monday, Jan. 27, Rose Wagner (Salt Lake City); Wednesday, Jan. 29, noon, PC Library (Park City); Thursday, Jan. 30, 9:30 p.m., Eccles (Park City).

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It’s the end of the world as the characters of “Save Yourselves!” know it, as this roughhewn comedy gleefully skewers urbanites’ over-reliance on technology.

Su (Sunita Mani) and Jack (John Reynolds) are a Brooklyn couple in a rut, and locked onto their screens. Su freaks out when Jack uses her laptop and messes with her browser tabs, which she keeps organized for her job as an assistant to an exceedingly demanding boss. Even a furtive make-out session gets sabotaged by the text-message alert.

After meeting up with an old friend, Raph (Ben Sinclair) — a former investment banker who now makes 3D-printed surfboards from algae in Nicaragua — Jack and Su talk about trying to shake up their lives. Their plan is to spend a week at Raph’s grandpa’s cabin upstate, turning off their phones to disconnect with the internet and reconnect with each other.

The trip gets off to a rocky start, as Jack criticizes the overly prepared Su for repeating lists of conversation starters she Googled and wrote in her notebook. During the argument, Su impulsively turns her phone on for a minute — which is when she gets the first hints that Earth is being invaded by aliens.

Then there are the killer pouffe balls — think a mix of “Star Trek’s” tribbles and the horror movie “Critters” — that show up around the cabin.

The writing-directing team of Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson set up a scenario as a vessel for semi-improvised panic comedy, as Su and Jack try to apply city skills to an end-of-the-world situation — and then freak out when they realize such skills have no practical applications. Their argument about whether to use the rifle Raph has in the basement is a miniature master class in comedic banter.

Fischer and Wilson paint themselves into a corner before the unsatisfying ending, but the ride before that is engaging — and the visual effects, considering the indie budget, are effective. The reason to watch, though, is to appreciate the comic gifts of the scruffy Reynolds (“Search Party”) and particularly the wide-eyed Mani (“Glow”) deployed to their fullest.

Sundance review: 'Hillary' is an absorbing documentary that goes past the preconceptions about Hillary Clinton

‘Hillary’

★★★1/2

Playing in the Special Events section of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Running time: 257 minutes.

Screens again: Sunday, Jan. 26, 12:30 p.m., Rose Wagner (Salt Lake City). Steams on Hulu in March.

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What more can be said about Hillary Clinton — first lady, senator, secretary of state, presidential candidate and lightning rod for right-wing hate? Surprising, a lot, and Clinton and a lot of people who know her or reported on her do the talking in director Nanette Burstein’s comprehensive documentary series “Hillary.”

Burstein has a lot at her disposal in this four-episode series. She has behind-the-scenes footage taken by Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, from her launch announcement to her post-election concession speech. There is a wealth of archival footage and photos of Clinton’s childhood, and her days at Yale Law School, Arkansas, the White House, the Senate and the State Department.

Burstein interviewed a wide swath of people in Clinton’s circle: Childhood friends, Yale classmates, reporters who covered the Clintons, even her last boss: President Barack Obama. If there’s a weakness in the interviews, it’s a lack of current commentary from conservative voices — with only former Sen. Bill First speaking up. (Reportedly, a bunch of right-wingers declined invitations to be interviewed.)

Her husband, President Bill Clinton, gives one of the most heart-wrenching interviews, particularly when talking about his behavior in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. (Demerits to Bill for his less-than-apologetic comments about Lewinsky.)

The backbone of the series is Burstein’s interviews with Hillary Clinton herself, culled from 35 hours shot over seven days. There will be headlines made with her frank appraisal of Bernie Sanders (“Nobody likes him”) and her “bewilderment and confusion” about losing the 2016 election to Donald Trump. But what will resonate longer are her emotional comments about how Bill’s infidelity nearly ended their marriage, and her anger at the double standard of expectations applied to women candidates and not to men. (“Does anybody ask Bernie Sanders about his goddamn shoes?” she asks before a debate during the 2016 primaries.)

“Hillary” will be seen as biased, of course, by those who get their information from Fox News — part of that “vast right-ring conspiracy” she once decried (in an interview with, oops, Matt Lauer). But for anyone with an open mind, the series gives a fresh look at Clinton’s role not just in recent politics but the rise of feminism over the last half-century.

Sundance review: Disney's 'Timmy Failure' is a lot deeper than most kids' movies

‘Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made’

★★★

Playing in the Kids section of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Streaming on Disney+, starting Feb. 7. Running time: 100 minutes.

Screens again: Sunday, Jan. 26, 12:30 p.m., Redstone 1 (Park City); Wednesday, Jan. 29, 5:30 p.m., Prospector (Park City); Saturday, Feb. 1, 12:30 p.m., Redstone 1 (Park City).

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Under the wacky, Disney-friendly exterior of “Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made” lies a melancholy heart and a story with a lot on its mind.

Timmy, played by 11-year-old Winslow Fegley (brother of “Wonderstruck” and “Pete’s Dragon” star Oakes Begley), stands out as an odd kid in his fifth-grade class in the suburbs of Portland, Ore. The scarf is one clue. So is his obsession with running his own detective agency, Total Failure Inc. — named after himself and his partner, Total, a 1,500-pound polar bear.

It’s not an easy partnership, as Timmy regularly remarks on how unprofessional Total is — like when he devours the contents of a seafood delivery truck instead of being a lookout on a case. (One of the subtle joys here is the way director Tom McCarthy never underlines the fact that Timmy is the only person who acknowledges Total’s existence.)

Detective work keeps Timmy from focusing on the more traditional aspects of fifth grade, like paying attention to his exasperated teacher, Mr. Crocus (played by national treasure Wallace Shawn). Timmy’s classroom behavior means another parent-teacher conference for Timmy’s mom (Ophelia Lovibond), but this time Timmy ends up meeting the school counselor (Craig Robinson), who is sage enough to take Timmy’s detective ambitions seriously.

McCarthy (directing his first movie since the Best Picture Oscar winner “Spotlight”) and co-writer Stephan Pastis, adapting Pastis’ children’s book series, plant some serious undertones under the wacky comedy. It becomes quickly apparent that Timmy’s detective exploits — and his distrust of classmate Corrina Corrina (Ai-Chin Carrier), aka The Nameless One — are a hedge against the scariest mystery of all: Growing up.

McCarthy plays these themes with the right balance of silliness and seriousness, while allowing Timmy’s eccentricity to mirror that of his home town. If you ever wondered what an episode of “Portlandia” would be like as a Disney movie, look no further.

Sundance review: Sienna Miller shines in 'Wander Darkly,' a lyrical take on love and death

‘Wander Darkly’

★★★1/2

Playing in the U.S. Dramatic competition of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Running time: 97 minutes.

Screens again: Monday, Jan. 27, 8:30 a.m., Egyptian (Park City); Wednesday, Jan. 29, 6:45 p.m., Broadway 3 (Salt Lake City); Thursday, Jan. 30, 12:15 p.m., Eccles (Park City); Friday, Jan. 31, 9 p.m., PC Library (Park City).

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The old “’til death do us part” thing gets a real workout in writer-director Tara Miele’s “Wander Darkly,” a moving drama about love and loss, death and memory.

Adrienne (Sienna Miller) and Matteo (Diego Luna) are a Los Angeles couple that share a mortgage and, for the last six months, a baby girl, Ellie. They do not share their names on a marriage license, which is a bone of contention, and the subject of an argument the two have while driving home from a party.

Then a pick-up truck slams into them, head on.

Next thing we see, Adrienne is standing in an emergency room, watching her dead body being wheeled into the morgue. What follows is a deep dive into Adrienne’s psyche, memory and glimpses into the future. The only person she talks to is Matteo, who doesn’t believe her when she says she’s dead.

The two bounce around their shared timeline, from first glance to last breath. They relive their first kiss, their magical trip to Mexico, and their qualms about growing together as a couple. At each stop, they talk about their thoughts and feelings about those moments — and how those attitudes may not have matched what they said at the time.

Miele and cinematographer Carolina Costa fashion a visually stunning film that captures the colorful Los Angeles settings and the quicksilver transitions in memory. The storyline of Miele’s script is complex, but the visual cues help carry the viewer over the bumps and twists.

Luna is soulful as the dutiful partner, trying to guide Miller’s Adrienne through her existential doubts as they explore the roots of their love and where things started to go astray. Beth Grant and Brett Rice do solid supporting work as Adrienne’s parents, who have their doubts about Matteo, both before and after the crash.

Miller, though, is the heart and soul of “Wander Darkly,” as Adrienne tries to process the aftermath of the crash, and examine her feelings about Matteo, Ellie, and herself. It’s a restrained, yet powerful performance — one anyone who has been paying attention knew Miller could knock out of the park.