SXSW 2025: Movie Scorecard

Critics Consensus: Combining slyly skillful filmmaking with gut-busting laughs, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie will be pure heaven for fans of the series while making happy converts of the uninitiated.

Synopsis: When their plan to book a show at the Rivoli goes horribly wrong, Matt and Jay accidentally travel back to the year 2008.

Starring: Ben Petrie, Ethan Eng, Luke Lalonde, Jay McCarrol

Directed By: Matt Johnson

Critics Consensus: Redux Redux detonates as a fiercely imaginative, nerve‑shredding multiverse thriller that channels grief and terror into a tightly controlled, emotionally searing story of loss and reckoning.

Synopsis: In an attempt to avenge her daughter’s death, Irene Kelly travels through parallel universes, killing her daughter’s murderer over and over again. She grows addicted... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Michaela McManus, Stella Marcus, Jeremy Holm, Jim Cummings

Directed By: Kevin McManus, Matthew McManus

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: When a chance encounter with her rockstar crush leads 16 year old Rylee to discover that he's addicted to drugs, she takes it upon herself... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Justin Chatwin, Steven Ogg, Amanda Brugel, Kate Hallett

Directed By: Emma Higgins

Synopsis: Matt Remick is the newly appointed head of Continental Studios; desperate for celebrity approval, he and his executive team must juggle corporate demands with creative... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Seth Rogen, Catherine O'Hara, Kathryn Hahn, Ike Barinholtz

Critics Consensus: Minimalist in presentation while getting great mileage out of Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys' superb performances, Hallow Road is a nerve-wracking thriller that takes audiences down a haunting path.

Synopsis: Two parents receive a distressing late-night call from their teenage daughter, who has just accidentally hit a pedestrian. They jump in their car, racing to... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Rosamund Pike, Matthew Rhys, Megan McDonnell, Paul Tylak

Directed By: Babak Anvari, William Gillies

Critics Consensus: Flying Lotus' Ash delivers the phantasmagorical goods with vivid visuals and a throbbing soundscape, elevating a predictable sci-fi story into a memorably stylish head-trip.

Synopsis: When a woman wakes up on a distant planet and finds the crew of her space station viciously killed, she must decide if she can... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Eiza González, Aaron Paul, Flying Lotus, Iko Uwais

Directed By: Flying Lotus

Critics Consensus: A Hitchcockian thriller that cleverly utilizes modern technology for its twists and turns, Drop delivers on its pulpy premise while providing a welcome showcase for leading lady Meghann Fahy.

Synopsis: Emmy nominee Meghann Fahy, breakout star of White Lotus and The Perfect Couple, plays Violet, a widowed mother on her first date in years, who... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane, Jacob Robinson

Directed By: Christopher Landon

Critics Consensus: Improving on the original by leaning into Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal's buddy comedy chemistry, The Accountant 2 can safely be filed under a good time at the movies.

Synopsis: Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) has a talent for solving complex problems. When an old acquaintance is murdered, leaving behind a cryptic message to "find the... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Daniella Pineda

Directed By: Gavin O'Connor

Critics Consensus: Extracting a maximum amount of creepy mood from a simple setup while reaching surprising poignancy as a mother-daughter story, The Surrender is a victorious feature debut from writer-director Julia Max.

Synopsis: A fraught mother-daughter relationship is put to a terrifying test when the family patriarch dies and the grieving mother hires a mysterious stranger to bring... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Colby Minifie, Kate Burton, Neil Sandilands, Vaughn Armstrong

Directed By: Julia Max

Critics Consensus: Anchored by Daisy Ridley's magnetic performance and a grimly inventive premise, We Bury the Dead keenly uses familiar zombie tropes as a framework to deliver a beautifully shot, emotionally resonant meditation on loss and grief.

Synopsis: After a catastrophic military disaster, the dead don't just rise -- they hunt. The military insists they are harmless and slow-moving, offering hope to grieving... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Daisy Ridley, Brenton Thwaites, Matt Whelan, Mark Coles Smith

Directed By: Zak Hilditch

Critics Consensus: Sailing through on the strength of its predecessor, Another Simple Favor is the perfect cocktail of mystery, intrigue, and sharp casting with a dash of well-timed comedy.

Synopsis: Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) and Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) reunite on the beautiful island of Capri, Italy, for Emily's extravagant wedding to a rich Italian... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Allison Janney, Henry Golding

Directed By: Paul Feig

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A lonely gravedigger who stinks of corpses finally meets her dream man, but their whirlwind affair is cut short when he tragically drowns at sea.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Leah Doz, Grace Glowicki, Lowen Morrow, Ben Petrie

Directed By: Grace Glowicki

Critics Consensus: A bittersweet rom-com that occasionally waffles as much as its characters in how mature it wants to be, The Threesome balances out into a sweetly shaggy film with standout performances from Zoey Deutch and Ruby Cruz.

Synopsis: One fateful night, the stars appear to align for Connor (Jonah Hauer-King), a kind and unassuming young man, as his irreverent long-time crush Olivia (Zoey... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Arden Myrin, Josh Segarra, Robert Longstreet, Julia Sweeney

Directed By: Chad Hartigan

Critics Consensus: Despite strong aesthetics and Andre Holland's richly textured performance, The Dutchman unfolds as a muddled reworking of the stage play that fails to find thematic coherence and a sense of identity.

Synopsis: Clay, a successful but troubled black businessman, attends therapy sessions with his wife, Kaya, in an attempt to salvage their marriage. But their mysterious therapist... View Full Synopsis

Starring: André Holland, Kate Mara, Stephen Henderson, Zazie Beetz

Directed By: Andre Gaines

Critics Consensus: Receiving some sparkle from Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega's father-daughter rapport, Death of a Unicorn's broad satire is a bit too on the horn but makes for an entertainingly splattery creature feature.

Synopsis: A father (Paul Rudd) and daughter (Jenna Ortega) accidentally hit and kill a unicorn while en route to a weekend retreat, where his billionaire boss... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni

Directed By: Alex Scharfman

Critics Consensus: Sadie Sink manages to rise above the schlock in a doomed rock-opera that sadly loses its purpose and steam while rambling to the finish line.

Synopsis: A farm girl in search to recover a cherished family heirloom. She travels to a strange and dangerous city where she meets her one true... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Sadie Sink, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Murray Bartlett, Regina Hall

Directed By: Geremy Jasper

Critics Consensus: Overloaded with quirk and recycled twists, Holland's impressive style can't paper over a hollow script.

Synopsis: In this wildly unpredictable thriller, Nicole Kidman is the meticulous Nancy Vandergroot, a teacher and homemaker whose picture-perfect life with her community pillar husband (Matthew... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Gael García Bernal, Matthew Macfadyen, Jude Hill

Directed By: Mimi Cave