A24 has launched the official trailer for “Hereditary” and it looks SO GOOD!!! Starring Toni Collette (in a ferocious performance), Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, and Gabriel Byrne, the story revolves around a woman who begins to uncover the terrifying secrets rooted in her family tree, following the passing of her mother. Here’s the official synopsis: When Ellen, the matriarch of the Graham family, passes away, her daughter’s family begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry. The more they discover, the more they find themselves trying to outrun the sinister fate they seem to have inherited. Making his feature debut, writer-director Ari Aster unleashes a nightmare vision of a domestic breakdown that exhibits the craft and precision of a nascent auteur, transforming a familial tragedy into something ominous and deeply disquieting, and pushing the horror movie into chilling new terrain with its shattering portrait of heritage gone to hell. “Hereditary” hits cinemas on June 8th.

While there are still glowing reviews for Toni’s performance in the Sundance premiere of “Hereditary” coming in – its theatrical release has been set for June 8, 2018 – another of her films has been quietly released on demand yesterday, the Ben Lewin-directed drama “Please Stand By” starring Dakota Fanning. “Please Stand By” was shot over 29 days in L.A. as well as a couple days in San Francisco last year. Magnolia Pictures, which is affiliated with 2929 came on to distribute. The company is tapping Star Trek fans and the neuro-diverse community in the lead up to its day and date theatrical release this weekend. Fanning plays a girl with autism and Toni Collette plays her caretaker in a supporting role. Two clips from the film, as well as a promotional featurette, have been added to the video archive. Here’s a collection of reviews:

Observer, Rex Reed (January 26, 2018)
This is a sweet confection that mercifully never gets treacly—part family adventure, part suspenseful nail-biter, and reassuringly life-affirming from start to finish, with fine ensemble work by a first-rate cast, including a lovely bit by Patton Oswalt as a Hollywood cop who restores Wendy’s lost sense of security by conversing fluently in Klingon. But the powerful thread that keeps Please Stand By focused is Dakota Fanning’s deep dedication to her role. Shy, brave, and finding strength in unexpected places, her struggle to hold her sanity in check against overwhelming odds is what makes her performance—and the film—so memorable.

The Hollywood Reporter, Sheri Linden (January 26, 2018)
For the most part, Lewin uses a straightforward visual scheme. That gives the few subjective flourishes, blending Wendy’s surroundings with those of her imagination, more impact, as when the desolate part of a strange town transforms into an otherworldly desert. Wendy sets out on her life-changing journey. Her sister is soon in pursuit, as are Scottie and her teen son, Sam (River Alexander). Sam’s apparent unhappiness and his friction with Scottie are pointedly introduced only to be abandoned with no further comment. Yet even with that story thread left dangling, Collette communicates plenty with her character’s powerfully wordless reaction to someone’s mention of their single mother.

Vulture, David Edelstein (January 26, 2018)
It’s hard to judge Dakota Fanning’s performance. She keeps her eyes fixed, speaks in a monotone, and seems unnatural — but, of course, people at this level on the spectrum are apt to seem unnatural. So she’s probably very good. Although Scottie is a role that Collette could play in her sleep, she remains awake and shows conviction.

Den of Geek, Don Kay (January 26, 2018)
The movie also has some nice thing to say about fandom along the way (especially thanks to a third-act cameo from supernerd Patton Oswalt) and gives ample time to both Collette and Eve’s characters, with Collette in particular making it look effortless in the role of the sensitive yet no-nonsense Scottie.

In case you’re wondering whatever has happened to “The Yellow Birds” – the highly anticipated Iraq war drama, destined by the online community to become a frontrunner at the Oscars until its Sundance world-premiere to disastrous reviews – well, here’s your news: DirecTV is partnering with Saban Films to release Alexandre Moors’ “The Yellow Birds” in North America. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017 and will be released in spring 2018. It will debut day-and-date in theaters and on demand. The film received mixed reviews when it screened at Sundance, but did draw interest from buyers due a cast of rising stars that includes Tye Sheridan, Alden Ehrenreich, and Jack Husto. Jennifer Aniston and Toni Collette co-star in the film. “The Yellow Birds” follows two young soldiers, Bartle (Ehrenreich) and Murph (Sheridan), as they navigate the frontlines of the Iraq War. As the story progresses, Bartle becomes haunted by a promise he made to Murph’s mother before their deployment. The war drama is written by David Lowery and R.F.I. Porto, and based on the best-selling novel by Kevin Powers. It was produced by Courtney Solomon and Mark Canton for Cinelou Films, and Jeff Sharp for Story Mining & Supply Company.

Toni’s second film, “Hearts Beat Loud” has premiered at Sundance, and while it’s a bummer that Toni wasn’t there to promote two films at once, it’s promising to see such positive reviews for both. Here’s a collection of reviews:

The Hollywood Reporter, John DeFore (January 24, 2018)
For some, the four songs Frank and Sam concoct together (written by film composer Keegan Dewitt) will be a highlight. They’re sprinkled throughout, then showcased in a final concert that feels too Hollywood for its underdog setting. When all’s said and done, father and daughter make peace with their respective places in the world, setting their sights on more realistic goals.

Variety, Amy Nicholson (January 24, 2018)
“We’re not a band,” groans freshman medical student Sam (Kiersey Clemons) to her dad Frank (Nick Offerman) in Brett Haley’s “Hearts Beat Loud,” a friendly musical about an aging Red Hook hipster who needs to let go of his daughter, and his dreams of pop stardom. But Frank’s not giving up either one, at least not until Sam leaves Brooklyn for California at the summer’s end, though the flinty widower is considering abandoning everything else: the record store he’s owned for 17 years, his shoplifting mother (Blythe Danner) who must be put in a home, and the dignity that’s kept him from asking his landlady Leslie (Toni Collette) out on a date. Haley (“The Hero,” “I’ll See You in My Dreams”), and co-writer Marc Basch’s good-hearted goodbye to late-’90s alterna-culture is as pleasant and fleeting as sorbet on a hot day — or the feeling of being young and cool, a loss Frank mourns with every strum.

Slash Film, Ethan Anderton (January 25, 2018)
This movie is what one might consider a Sundance cliche, but it’s executed so earnestly and lovingly thanks to the performances and musical stylings of Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons. Not only does Offerman rock on the guitar, but Clemons has some beautiful pipes that I’d like to see her stretch even more in a musical. The duo brings the original songs written by Keegan DeWitt to life effortlessly, and you’ll be nodding your head, tapping your foot and smiling ear-to-ear as the duo rocks all throughout the film. Adding to the delight of this movie are Toni Collette as Frank’s landlord and possible love interest, and Ted Danson as Dave, Frank’s bar-owning, weed-smoking, laid back best friend.

Cultured Vultured, Danielle Solzman (January 24, 2018)
Hearts Beat Loud is not an outright musical in the sense that it’s another La La Land but it’s a music-driven film with original music written by Keegan Dewitt. Dewitt’s contribution may only be four songs, including a rocking title song and a love ballad, but the music is what drives the film. It wouldn’t work without a star-making performance from Clemons. It’s music that one will want to listen to on repeat and never get tired of it.

Film School Rejects, Neil Miller (January 25, 2018)
Hearts Beat Loud is full of what its title promises: heart. In that heart, there’s a song. And in that song is a forthright story about love, parenthood, and dealing with change. The film also gets plenty of full-hearted joy from its supporting cast — the likes of Ted Danson, Blythe Danner, and Toni Collette — all of whom are great. But in the end, it’s the Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons show. And they’re both wonderful.

That’s the headline from one of the reviews after Toni’s upcoming horror film “Hereditary” had its world-premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this week. Sounds like a great leading role in an unusual horror film. Count me in. Here’s a collection of reviews. Edit: More reviews from the “big ones” have been added as well:

The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney (January 24, 2018)
Arguably the most effective domestic horror chiller since The Conjuring and The Babadook, this A24 release should hit discerning genre fans right where they live. Aster’s ability to modernize his obvious reverence for the expert mood modulation, visual command and layered characterizations that defined sophisticated horror of the 1960s and ’70s catapults the writer-director into the vanguard of contemporary horror auteurs. The film’s superb cast, led by an astonishingly good Toni Collette, represents another strong draw.

Variety, Owen Gleiberman (January 24, 2018)
Collette’s performance is staggering. She plays Annie as a woman who begins to wear her buried rage and guilt on the outside. It pours out of her, as if she were “possessed,” and indeed she is — but by what, or whom? The fear and violence that secretly dominate her express the spirits that came before her, incarnated by no one but herself.

Vulture, Kyle Buchanan (January 24, 2018)
Once Hereditary finally shows its cards, Aster goes full-throttle and serves up some memorably scary images and unnerving sound motifs that had the audience yelping. The back half is where Collette really pulls the stops out, and it’s a pleasure to watch her get such a full-fledged leading-actress showcase, even though the poor woman goes through hell.

Screen Daily, Tim Grierson (January 25, 2018)
Collette is asked to shoulder a great deal as the film’s main character. It’s typical for the lead in a horror movie to react to seismic shocks and deliver ear-splitting screams, but Aster has given her a role which is impressively nuanced. Hereditary paints a portrait of a woman who has lived her life feeling cursed — she’s fearful that, for some reason, she deserves the woes that have visited her family. Exactly why she holds onto this belief is part of the delicate character development that Hereditary finesses into a story that gets increasingly more tense. Collette wears Annie’s anguish movingly, the film’s horrors always connecting to the character’s sense of inadequacy as a mother and daughter.

Vanity Fair, Richard Lawson (January 25, 2018)
I don’t want to say anything else about what goes on in Hereditary, because it benefits from pure discovery. What I can say is that Collette is a force throughout, turning in a full-bodied performance that gloriously skirts the edges of camp before returning us to a place of primal humanity. It’s a big, rewarding bit of work, and a good reminder that Collette should be let loose and given room to do her thing more often.

IndieWire, Eric Kohn (January 23, 2018)
Before it becomes an ultra-creepy haunted house movie, “Hereditary” is an almost-unbearable study of the grieving process. A family copes with traumatizing loss, screaming, crying, and growing apart as the scariest aspect of their lives becomes the actual hardships of each passing day. At its center, Annie (a terrifically unhinged Toni Collette) copes with her mother’s death by throwing herself into building a series of intricate miniatures in her large, creaky home. Her distracted husband (Gabriel Byrne) mostly keeps to himself, while her teenage son Peter (Alex Wolff) sulks on the sidelines, and his spooky younger sister Charlie (Milly Shaprio, who won a Tony for “Matilda” on Broadway) lurks around saying little. Just when it seems like “Hereditary” is entering traditional creepy-kid territory with Charlie giving off serious “The Omen” vibes, the movie takes an abrupt, violent twist that further the complicates the family’s dark moment.

In one of the first deals of the Sundance Film Festival, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has acquired international rights to Brett Haley’s Hearts Beat Loud after a packed sneak peek screening last night in Park City, according to Deadline. The film starring Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons has its world premiere next Friday at the Eccles in the fest’s Premieres section. The deal does not includes North American rights. Endeavor Content repped the filmmakers in the deal and SPWA’s Michael Helfand, Joe Matukewicz and Jon Freedberg negotiated for Sony. The pic centers on a one-time musician (Offerman) who owns a struggling record store in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and forms an unlikely band with his daughter (Clemons) the summer before she is set to leave for college. Ted Danson, Sasha Lane, Blythe Danner and Toni Collette co-star. Houston King, Sam Bisbee and Sam Slater produced. Franklin Carson, Paul Bernon, David Bernon, Theodora Dunlap, Jackie Kelman Bisbee, Lance Acord, Danny Rifkin and Frank Brenner, and Offerman are executive producers.