Best of DIFF

14 must-see movies at Dallas International Film Festival 2015

The Dallas International Film Festival is back once again to bring movie lovers 10 days of new feature films, documentaries, shorts and more. Running April 9-19 at Angelika Film Center Dallas and other locations, the festival features almost 170 films, including 11 world premieres.

Those numbers sound daunting, so we're here to help you separate the wheat from the chaff. The 14 films below represent some, though certainly not all, of your best chances for success at this year's festival.

I'll See You in My Dreams
The opening night film stars Blythe Danner as a retiree who gets shaken out of her nice but monotonous lifestyle by the appearance of two men — one a pool cleaner 40 years her junior and the other a smooth-talking fellow retiree. Danner, director Brett Haley and other filmmakers will be in attendance on opening night. In addition to the April 9 screening at Majestic Theatre, it also screens on April 10 at the Angelika.

Have You Been Flying Blah Airlines?
We'll be honest: This is not a great movie. Instead, it's a five-hour-and-45-minute pseudo-ad for Virgin America designed to show what flying on other non-fun airlines feels like. So why recommend it? Because anyone who can sit through the entire film on April 10 will receive 2,500 Elevate points from Virgin, or the equivalent of one free flight.

5 Flights Up
Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman are two of the most cherished actors in America, so who wouldn't want to see them together? This film juxtaposes their characters' current stage in life, in which they need to decide if they should move from their fifth floor apartment, with their beginnings when interracial relationships were still taboo. It plays at the Angelika on April 10.

Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made
Nearly everyone who grew up in the early 1980s was a fan of Steven Spielberg's classic Raiders of the Lost Ark. This documentary takes a look at two boys who took that fandom to the extreme — spending seven summers making their own version of the film — and their quest to finish it 30 years later. It plays at the Angelika on April 10 and 11.

Batkid Begins: The Wish Heard Around the World
Back in November 2013, thousands of people from around the San Francisco area helped stage one of the most elaborate Make-a-Wish events ever for Miles Scott, who was afflicted with leukemia. This documentary shows how the event evolved from what was supposed to be a small one to something that eventually reached even the president of the United States. It screens at the Angelika on April 11.

Playing It Cool
One of the Centerpiece Screenings at this year's DIFF, Playing It Cool stars erstwhile Captain America Chris Evans in a rare romantic comedy role. In a bit of meta storytelling, he plays a screenwriter tasked to write a romantic comedy, which could be a problem because he doesn't believe in love. It screens at the Angelika on April 11 and at Texas Theatre on April 17.

Animated Shorts Competition
Short films too often get short shrift, even at film festivals, but this year's animated shorts competition is one you shouldn't miss. Among the eight films shown are Pixar's latest, Lava, which the rest of the world won't get to see until June when it officially premieres before Inside Out, and World of Tomorrow, a trippy sci-fi film that Entertainment Weekly calls a "masterpiece." The shorts screen at the Angelika on April 12 and 13.

The Wolfpack
You're not likely to see another documentary quite like The Wolfpack. The five Angulo brothers grew up in Manhattan, but they were rarely allowed to go outside. They learned about the world through movies, which led to the quintet's reenacting their favorite films. The film uses home movies and new footage to give a full portrait of five unique individuals. It screens at the Angelika on April 13 and 14.

Nowitzki: The Perfect Shot
Every Dallas Mavericks fan knows what a sweet shooter Dirk Nowitzki is, as was especially evident during the Mavericks' title run in 2011. This documentary goes behind-the-scenes to look at Nowitzki's relationship with coach and mentor Holger Geschwindner, who helped refine his shot as a youngster in Germany. It shows on three screens at the Angelika on April 14 and once more on April 16.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
This film about an unlikely friendship between two teenagers could be this year's The Fault in Our Stars. A socially awkward boy is forced by his mother to befriend a leukemia-stricken girl, only to find that they share more than he thought possible. The film, which co-stars Nick Offerman, Connie Britton and Molly Shannon, plays at Cinemark West Plano on April 16.

Slow West
Many a filmmaker has tried his hand at making a Western, but it's not often one comes from the other side of the pond. Scottish filmmaker John Maclean directs up-and-comer Kodi Smit-McPhee as a lovelorn teenager who travels from Scotland to the American West to search for his love, only to fall in with a mysterious traveler played by Michael Fassbender. It screens at the Angelika on April 17 and 19.

The Lego Movie
Aside from getting a chance to see the best animated film of 2014 (which was criminally overlooked by the Oscars) on the big screen again, this screening also features an appearance by the film's writers and directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who are on quite the creative roll with this, the 21 Jump Street series and new show The Last Man on Earth. Lego plays at the Angelika on April 18.

Love & Mercy
The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson is the subject of this biopic, starring Paul Dano and John Cusack as younger and older versions of the man who has famously struggled with mental health and substance abuse issues. You can get a fuller understanding of the man with this film, then see him in concert when he comes to town in June. The film shows at the Angelika on April 18.

Manglehorn
Director David Gordon Green, who grew up in Richardson, is a festival favorite in Dallas, having had films at DIFF and the USA Film Festival the past two years. He's back for a third straight year with Manglehorn, a film starring Al Pacino as a locksmith looking to find love again, possibly in the form of Holly Hunter. It screens at the Angelika on April 19.

Paul Dano stars in Love & Mercy, screening on April 18 at Angelika Film Center Dallas.

Photo courtesy of Dallas International Film Festival

Paul Dano stars in Love & Mercy, screening on April 18 at Angelika Film Center Dallas.

unspecified

Awards Season

CultureMap critic's guide to the 2026 Oscar Best Picture nominees

Michael B. Jordan and Miles Caton in Sinners

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

undefined

The nominations for the 2026 Academy Awards have been announced, with 10 films vying for Best Picture. Leading the way is Sinners with an astonishing 16 nominations, the most in Oscars history.

The other top films include One Battle After Another, which earned 13 nominations, and Frankenstein and Sentimental Value, which each got 9 nominations.

As a refresher, below are links to the full reviews for each of the nominees covered by CultureMap in the past year, as well as brief thoughts on the films and their various nominations.

Movie fans will have plenty of time to catch up with each of the nominees, as this year's Oscars ceremony will not take place until Sunday, March 15.

Here's the list of Best Picture nominees, in alphabetical order:

Bugonia
Yet another off-the-wall film from director Yorgos Lanthimos features two great performances by Emma Stone (nominated for Best Actress) and Jesse Plemons at its center. Written by Will Tracy (nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay), the conspiracy theory film is alternately brutal and funny as the characters played by Stone and Plemons use their form of power to try to manipulate the other. With a fair amount of intrigue and two great actors going head-to-head for much of its running time, it gives even more Oscar pedigree to its filmmakers and stars.

F1
The biggest surprise among the Best Picture nominees has to be the racing movie F1. It was a technical marvel, to be sure, as its nominations in Film Editing, Sound, and Visual Affects attest. But the fact that it has no other nominations in any of the above the fold categories indicates that its other qualities are lacking. As a showcase (aka advertisement) for the sport it depicts, the film works relatively well. As a complete movie, though, there’s not much to recommend, to the point that it almost negates any of the positives that come from the racing scenes.

Frankenstein (not reviewed)
Writer/director Guillermo del Toro (nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay) loves himself a monster movie, and he takes on one of the classics with his new version of Frankenstein (now streaming on Netflix). Oscar Isaac plays Victor Frankenstein, who brings to life The Creature, played by Jacob Elordi (nominated for Best Supporting Actor). With a slew of nominations in technical categories, there's a chance this film goes home with a lot of awards at this year's ceremony.

Hamnet (not reviewed)
Writer/director Chloé Zhao (nominated for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay alongside co-writer Maggie O'Farrell) gets back to her Oscar-worthy skills for the first time since 2020's Nomadland (after the unfortunate detour into the MCU with Eternals). A story about love, loss, and grief involving William Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes, the film is most notable for the performances of its two leads, Jessie Buckley (nominated for Best Actress) and Paul Mescal.

Marty Supreme
There was no other movie this year, or maybe even this century, like Marty Supreme. Directed and co-written by Josh Safdie (nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay alongside co-writer Ronald Bronstein), the film is an almost continuous blast of pure energy for 2 ½ hours. So many different things happen over the course of the film that the story defies conventional narratives. At its center is the fast-talking, powerhouse performance by star Timothée Chalamet (nominated for Best Actor), who cements his status as his generation’s movie star one year after playing the polar opposite role of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. Look for the film to be a strong contender in the inaugural Best Casting category, as Safdie fills the film with non-actors who are crucial to the film's success.

One Battle After Another
Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson (nominated for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay) has an acclaimed career going back 30 years, but has yet to actually win an Oscar. That will change this year, as One Battle After Another is one of the favorites to win Best Picture thanks to Anderson's stellar filmmaking, as well as multiple great performances that earned the film four acting nominations (Leonardo DiCaprio for Best Actor, Teyana Taylor for Best Supporting Actress, and Benicio Del Toro and Sean Penn for Best Supporting Actor). Add in a story with a very timely political critique (that's getting more relevant by the day) and you have the recipe for a big winner on Oscar night.

The Secret Agent (not reviewed)
No foreign country has quite the influence on the Oscars as Brazil, which for the second straight year has gotten one of its films nominated for both Best International Feature Film and Best Picture. Written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, the film is anchored by the performance of Wagner Moura (nominated for Best Actor) as a technology expert in the late 1970s who flees from a mysterious past to try to find peace in his hometown.

Sentimental Value (not reviewed)
For the third year in a row, two international films made the cut in the Best Picture race (but whither It Was Just an Accident?). Directed and co-written by Joachim Trier (nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay alongside co-writer Eskil Vogt), the film is tied for the most acting nominations this year, earning nods for Renate Reinsve for Best Actress, Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas for Best Supporting Actress, and Stellan Skarsgård for Best Supporting Actor.

Sinners
It takes a special kind of filmmaker to make movies that are both popular and Oscar-worthy, and writer/director Ryan Coogler (nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay) has done it again, seven years after helming the Oscar-winning Black Panther. Both a tribute to Black music history and a gnarly vampire movie, the film is led by Michael B. Jordan (nominated for Best Actor) in dual roles as twins Smoke and Stack. With a story infused with all manner of subtext and a bunch of great supporting performances, including Best Supporting Actress nominee Wunmi Mosaku, the film demonstrates Coogler's great filmmaking abilities that should keep him in demand for years to come. Amazingly, there was only one category for which it was eligible in which it did not receive a nomination.

Train Dreams (not reviewed)
The second Netflix movie this year to be nominated, Train Dreams is a contemplative film about a logger (played by Joel Edgerton) in early 20th century America who tries to adapt to a rapidly-changing world. Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for the script by director Clint Bentley and co-writer Greg Kwedar, the film is most notable for the work done by Adolpho Veloso (nominated for Best Cinematography), who showcases the Pacific Northwest in all its glory.

movies film