With another festival in the books, Cinema Scholars looks back at some of the hits and misses in our SXSW 2025 Wrap Up. From Independent TV pilots to Midnighters, we take a look at some of our notables from the 10 day fest.
The Accountant 2
HEADLINER
Director: Gavin O’Connor
A fascinating subset of the unlikely action hero has been trending for the past several years. No one is disputing the badassery of the traditional leading man. Yet there’s just something about an Everyman (or woman) kicking ass in a film. One could make the case that Ben Affleck’s 2016 turn in The Accountant led the charge with a story about an unexpected antihero. Nine years later, director Gavin O’Connor is back with another story in the saga of the formidable savant with The Accountant 2.
Though Christian Wolff doesn’t exactly use his savant skill set with numbers for the greater good, we learn in the first film that his moral integrity is intact. Now on the run, Christian is living the quiet life in his Airstream camper and attempting to look for love. When he is contacted by an investigator looking into the death of his former colleague, Wolff gets pulled back into the crime world, but on the other side this time.
As with any good crime story The Accountant 2 has lots of twists, turns, and an assortment of bad guys that keep us guessing until the very end. While the plot gets a bit convoluted at times, O’Connor sticks the landing with a solid conclusion that ties up the dangling ends nicely. Though astute viewers may question certain plot devices that don’t register earlier on, a rough explanation later on makes the holes somewhat forgivable.
The fight scenes are exciting and brutal. Affleck perfectly conveys the whole “Don’t make me do this” thing. But when he is finally triggered, the can of whoop ass he opens feels well-deserved. Furthermore, seriously dark narratives for the various bad guys make their eventual violent comeuppance feel entirely satisfying.
The femme fatale of the central narrative, Daniella Pineda (Jurassic World franchise) doesn’t quite get the character-building attention she deserves early on. But a later reveal helps make her menacing motivation make the most sense of all the villains. Even if we spend half the film wondering why we care about her.
Affleck’s slightly grating cadence/voice as the savant Christian Wolff is effective in making the otherwise conventionally handsome Affleck seem other. While there’s no denying the actor’s charm and agility in portraying the neurodivergent character, sometimes the delivery borders on caricature. Nevertheless, Affleck charisma still wins the movie.
As Christian’s rough-and-tumble brother Brax, Jon Bernthal provides desperately needed comic relief in the pitch-black storyline. Though Affleck’s affectations and literal thinking make for several funny bits throughout the film, the way Bernthal and Affleck play off one another provides the best laughs of the film.
Other light moments include a shoehorned-in country bar line dance scene. Yes, the sequence proves to be funny. And makes Wolff more endearing, yet it has little to do with moving the story at hand forward. But at least we get to see Affleck awkwardly line dance. A group of secret teenage operatives helping Wolff behind the scenes gives the film an ironic sense of covert whimsy and wonder.
Overall, The Accountant 2 is just what audiences want. An unlikely ass-kicking hero unconventionally saving the day. Affleck’s sometimes overzealous performance establishes audience support, even when his character isn’t being so nice. And exhilarating fight sequences solidify the film’s status as a proper action sequel.
The Accountant 2 premiered at SXSW 2025 and will open in theaters globally on April 25, 2025.
Mix Tape
TV SPOTLIGHT
Director: Lucy Gaffy
For Gen Xers the mix tape is a lost art. A practice that has a specific timestamp belonging to one era only. When someone would go through the time and trouble of curating a playlist of songs back then it required much more than clicking and downloading files. You had to sit in front of a sound system and literally record each song from tape to tape. Even the liner notes were usually personalized with the handwriting of each song and artist penned by the friend who crafted the mix.
Lucy Gaffy’s new series Mix Tape harnesses the nostalgia of this lost art form and more when two 80s teens connect through the exchange of these special compilations only to reunite years later as adults.
Daniel and Alison (Rory Walton-Smith and Florence Hunt) are two teens living in Sheffield in the mid 80s. As their puppy love starts to blossom, the two bond over their love of music. Soon the two begin an unconventional love language by exchanging mix tapes specially curated for one another.
Soon the story flashes forward to Daniel and Alison (Jim Sturgess and Teresa Palmer) living separate lives across the world from one another. She in Australian and him back in Sheffield. Both are fully entrenched in adulting. Daniel is a music critic/novelist eyeing a new long form project. Alison is also a successful writer whose latest book has been optioned for a big screen adaptation.
When Daniel’s old school buddy shows him reports of their school friend’s recent windfall, he takes the plunge and reconnects with her on social media.
Mix Tape seems to be hand crafted for anybody who grew up in the analog age. The flashbacks to the duo’s adolescence are sweet, endearing and packed with music and pop culture nostalgia. Additionally, careful story building reveals that Alison’s less-than-ideal home life contributes to her initial stand-offishness with Daniel. This sympathy for Alison in contrast to Daniel’s nuclear family makes the story even more compelling.
The flash forwards, however, don’t quite conjure the same sense of empathy. To be fair, the festival showcased a mere 2 episodes of the show, giving little more than the basic character and plot introduction. As past innocence gives way to problematic adulthood, it’s seems to be setting up a narrative with equally complex storylines as the very-married Daniel and Alison inevitably reunite.
After all, anyone in their middle age who has experienced long term relationships knows that nothing is ever perfect. That’s what mid-life crises are all about. You reach that age where you question everything including your happiness and consider the alternatives. And romanticizing the past is nearly unavoidable. Hopefully Mix Tape will be exploring these themes and more, but for now the first two episodes will keep us wondering.
Mix Tape will be streaming on Binge and Foxtel in “mid 2025” per the powers that be, so keep an eye out.
The Age Of Disclosure
DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT
Director: Dan Farah
There are films for entertainment. And then there are message movies that help shape the collective consciousness. Especially in documentary filmmaking. Some docs entertain and enlighten us on esoteric subject matter we never knew we loved. And then there are the exposés that crystallize complex subject matter in a digestible way. Sometimes films in this niche subgenre change society’s views on otherwise established subjects. Dan Farah’s documentary The Age of Disclosure is a film that is as explosive in its scope as it is crucial to humanity at large.
For decades reports of unidentified flying objects in the night sky have been ever-present. From reports of little green men to more horrific stories of cattle mutilation and even alien abductions, these stories have captured the imaginations of people around the world. More recent accounts from U.S. military members pushed the subject from the kooky fringe to the mainstream. This culminated with expert and witness testimony in front of both Senate and House subcommittees in the phenomena. In The Age of Disclosure, Farah talks to many of those who have come forward so they can tell their own stories of encounters and subsequent pushback from the very government entities responsible for protecting our national security.
Like many films of a similar ilk, The Age of Disclosure is admittedly mostly a talking-head documentary. But these well-informed and highly intelligent heads convey some of the most exciting and mind-blowing information the world has ever heard. First-hand accounts of engagement with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, or UAP, paired with footage of said accounts are riveting. Further explanation by some of our brightest scientific minds helps explain some of the whys and hows of otherwise inexplicable events. And fiery testimony from whistleblowers who keep getting pushed aside open up about the hurdles they’ve overcome to bring this vital knowledge to the public.
While actual blurry footage of several incidences provides startling visual confirmation of the stories, simple animation sequences later in the film provide awe-inspiring illustrations of the countless first-hand accounts from military members. Likewise, these sequences break up the info onslaught as well. Despite this limited amount of visual aid in the interviews, the story is incredibly compelling nonetheless.
Former senior intelligence officer and special agent, Luis Elizondo, serves as a sort of narrator for the film. Elizondo not only shares his own experiences, but he effectively outlines some of the complex issues surrounding the government’s tricky relationship with the subject. Most notably, a decades-long misinformation campaign to portray anyone coming forward as unreliable or downright kooky.
Though you get a sense that Elizondo’s rhetoric skates close to the more extreme side of things, one can’t help but believe and have sympathy for his cause based on the evidence laid out. And that case is the transparency of the government and the safety of the American people.
The Age of Disclosure is an eye-opening examination of current information in the public sphere backed by personal and expert interviews. And this is just the declassified stuff. As the film conveys, those who testified in the hearings are hoping that even more information can be disclosed to the public to better prepare for what seems to be an uptick in unexplained phenomena. The avid fan of this ever-evolving story may not glean new info from the doc. But Farah’s meticulous compilation of information will no doubt change the minds of those who were previously on the fence about whether humankind is alone.
The Age of Disclosure premiered in the Documentary Spotlight category at SXSW 2025. No word on a release for The Age of Disclosure, so keep it on your radar.
F*ckups Anonymus
INDEPENDENT TV PILOT
Director: Kat Whalen
By now, most of us have heard of the bootcamps for at-risk youth that proliferated at the turn of the last century. Even Paris Hilton tells her own harrowing tale on the subject in her 2020 documentary This is Paris. You may a proponent of tough love. But there’s no denying that some of the harsh tactics reported from some of these institutions often skate way too close to the line. And sometimes straight over it.
Premiering in SXSW 2025’s Independent TV Pilot Program, director Kat Whalen’s F*ckups Anonymous tells the unnerving story of abusive behavior under the guise of intensive therapy. Based on personal experience, writer/creator Joe Tierney chronicles his time at a remote rehabilitation centers.
The first episode opens with Joe (Andrew Michael Fama) at his first meeting at Hope Valley. After his awkward introduction to the group of oddly quiet teens, Joe witnesses the emotional hazing of a fellow resident. As the humiliation continues, rapid-paced flashbacks give clues to Joe’s bad boy origin story landed him in this helpless situation.
Brief, but packed with subtext and begging tons of questions, F*ckups Anonymous definitely leaves us wanting much more. From a forced recitation of the Serenity Prayer to a creepy “Acorn” award for the most-improved student, Whalen lays the groundwork for a fascinating story that looks to be as compelling as it is disturbing.
Fama encapsulates Joe’s initial shock and low-key rebellion, nicely mirroring the audiences first take as well. As reality slowly sinks in for him, Fama translates that sense of dread to viewers as well. Quick interactions with other characters in the room also hint at intriguing dynamics between those who are truly reformed and those who might just be playing the game.
With all this potential, hopefully someone in the streaming world will pick up the F*ckUps Anonymous pilot to give it the full season treatment such a fascinating story deserves. Stay tuned!
New Jack Fury
MIDNIGHTERS
Director/writer: Lanfia Wal
Even though SXSW showcases huge headliners, it’s the smaller films that keep the fests’ cool cred. It’s also great that oddball fest films can get exposure and the big screen treatment rather than a straight-to-streaming fate. At this years’ festival, Lanfia Wal‘s directorial debut New Jack Fury fills the off-the-wall Midnighter niche with a Sin City-meets-wacky-Blaxploitation extravaganza.
You know the premise. Good cop Dylan Gamble fights to rescue his girlfriend who was kidnapped by a local crime syndicate. All the while dealing with a police department on the take. Here’s what you don’t know. Visually compelling green screen locations, terrific portrayals of cliche characters, and nods to 80s esotera make New Jack Fury fascinating to say the least.
The film begins like the Friday Night Movie special presentations of yore (ask a Gen Xer). With both a scratched film flicker and VHS tracking lines, the opening scene of the film sets the tone. With an obvious green screen city scape, there’s a lot going on visually. But the over-the-top aesthetic somehow works. It transports you to the fictional New Jack City both visually and tonally. Yes, the backgrounds sometimes look like a souped-up zoom meeting, but the overall effect is captivating in its overtness nonetheless.
As Gamble battles baddies to save his woman, commercial breaks featuring tongue-in-cheek ads appear. Commercials for everything from cereal to hemorrhoid cream add to the nostalgia. They also set New Jack Fury apart from the glut of recent 80s throwback projects. A fight scene depicted as a Mortal Kombat-type game as well as animated interludes also break up the green screen madness. A Michael Jackson-esque sidekick who dances and hee-hees in Gamble’s defense solidifies the zaniness of New Jack Fury.
The dialogue is decidedly campy and the plot is an amalgam of familiar crime tales. However, terrific performances carry the mostly corny story. As the protagonist Dylan Gamble, Andre Hall plays it seriously earnest as the scorned cop with a heart of gold. His jheri-curled hero plays the perfect straight-man in contrast to the antics of the crazy players he meets along the way.
Paul Wheeler channels Rick James as Hendrix Moon, the flamboyant club owner/small-time crook that Gamble coerces into helping him. His hilarious delivery and physical comedy keep the laughs coming throughout the film.
Also notable is Page Kennedy as the absurdly cruel kingpin Silkwann Styles. The character is as cliche as it gets. Yet Kennedy understands the assignment as he goes full egomaniac as the syndicate godfather.
New Jack Fury certainly won’t be on any awards list. But it is worth arguing in favor of the artistic merit of the visually unique film. Throwback references and unique sequences help break up the campy trope-filled plot. And charismatic performances help carry the intentionally cringy script. You don’t get a cinematic experience like New Jack Fury everyday. So here’s to film festivals like SXSW that continually champion original and entertaining filmmaking that rides just off the mainstream.
