Many prominent directors have made personal projects about their youth in recent times, from Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” to James Gray’s “Armageddon Time” and Sam Mendes’ “Empire of Light,” but only Spielberg could have made a movie with such an explicit relationship to his own celebrated filmography, and the warm reception is likely to follow him through awards season. Spielberg’s career has gone through many phases, but “The Fabelmans” stands out his most contained and intimate movie, a semi-autobiographical drama about ambitious teen Sammy Fabelman (newcomer Gabriel LaBelle) as he discovers his love for movies in tandem with the divorce of his parents (Paul Dano and Michelle Williams)....

The town of Avalonia lies at the center of a valley bordered on all sides by an impassable mountain range. Famous explorer Jaeger Clade (Dennis Quaid) goes missing while searching for a way through the mountains. His son Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal) becomes the town’s new savior after discovering a plant called Pando. Their electrical fruits are farmed for Avalonia’s power source, allowing the city to blossom into a utopia of commerce and flying machines....

Securing six craft nominations were “Succession” (HBO), “Squid Game” (Netflix), the first non-English speaking show competing for Best Drama Series, “Loki” (Marvel, Disney+), “Ozark” (Netflix), and the “Pam & Tommy” sex tape scandal limited series (Hulu). This was followed by the opioid addiction drama, “Dopesick” (Hulu), which earned five, and “The Book of Boba Fett” (Lucasfilm/Disney+), “Star Trek: Picard” (Paramount+), the “Station Eleven” dystopian miniseries (HBO Max), and the “Gaslit” Watergate political drama (Starz), which took four apiece....

Thankfully, there won’t be a shortage of movies. In the process of researching our annual Sundance wish list, IndieWire had no trouble finding 50 movies that we hope make the cut in this year’s lineup. Filmmakers have started to hear back from the festival and the full selection is expected to go public next month, but in the meantime, here’s a look at several strong contenders for a most unusual edition of America’s most prominent festival....

The first look at Nintendo, Universal, and Illumination’s animated feature film “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” stars Pratt as the viral video-game lead Mario. The teaser debuted at New York Comic Con. Pratt lends his voice to the Italian cartoon character, alongside Charlie Day as Mario’s brother Luigi and Anya Taylor-Joy as love interest Princess Peach. Jack Black plays Bowser, with Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong and Keegan-Michael Key as Toad....

“TÁR” is so much more than the Great American Movie about “cancel culture” — a phrase that it humiliates with every movement — but this dense and difficult portrait of a female conductor’s fall from grace also demands to be seen through that singular lens from its very first shot. Todd Field’s thrilling, deceptively austere third film exalts in grabbing the electrified fence of digital-age discourse with both hands and daring us to hold onto it for 158 minutes in the hopes that we might ultimately start to feel like we’re shocking ourselves....

Writer/director Taika Waititi revealed the genesis of the unexpected nod to Taylor Swift in the latest MCU installment, now in theaters. The scene-stealing screaming goats that act as sidekicks to the titular Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Jane Foster aka newest hero Mighty Thor (Natalie Portman), and Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) had a special connection to none other than Emmy winner Swift. “The goats were always going to be in there because they are in the comics, but we didn’t know how they would sound,” Waititi told Insider....