Sundance deals with virtual screening hackers, feature debuts, and cabbages.

Four years in a row I’ve been to the Sundance Film Festival online, and I was able to grab a few tickets to warm myself up for the upcoming year. I’ll go there in person soon enough, but for now I’ve got some movies to talk about.

You can expect full reviews of them with the star ratings before they come to theaters or streaming services, but for now, these are just summaries of what to expect.

“Predators” (Release Date TBA)

This is a documentary about Dateline NBC’s program “To Catch a Predator,” which was dedicated to exposing and arresting child predators. For online predators, there would be someone from Perverted Justice (PJ) posing as a kid to lure them to the house, have a real kid open the door for them, and then Chris Hansen would pop by to ask the predator questions. That’s when the cameras and police come in.

While a majority of these men are irredeemable harden criminals, there are some who regret their decisions. But they still have to face their penalties.

There’s also the suicide of Bill Conradt, who was a Texas assistant district attorney and one of the men soliciting a PJ volunteer. When he didn’t travel to the volunteer’s house, the S.W.A.T. swarmed his house, and that’s when Conradt pulled the trigger. His sister sued NBC, but it was settled out of court and none of the other men arrested in the sting were prosecuted.

There also have been civilians trying to take matters in their own hands, but not with Chris Hansen’s inspiration. They’re copycats, as the doc would like to refer to them as.

And even 18-year-olds have become predators. Some of them would be high school seniors fooling around with freshmen, and some would consider them to be “Romeo & Juliet” scenarios.

The director David Ost was abused by a child predator, and wanted to explore more about this show. He was able to learn about empathy in his journey. But the film also explores how the show exposes these predators as entertainment, which resulted in humiliation and lives being destroyed.

“Predators” is often thrilling, often sad, and often informative of what the show “To Catch a Predator” was going for and why it led to its cancellation. It represents how serious subjects can be exploited for entertainment value, and it deals with different perspectives from either the victims, the host, the law enforcers, and even the criminals.

“Twinless” (Release Date TBA)

Here’s a honest film told from a twin’s perspective and a man claiming to have one. It’s the second feature from writer/director James Sweeney, and it already feels like he knows what he’s doing.

Dylan O’Brien plays twins Rocky and Roman. Rocky has just died, and now Roman is twinless. He starts going to support groups for twinless twins, and meets Dennis (Sweeney), who says his twin brother was killed when speeding to the airport to pick him up. They spend a lot of time at the grocery store, the gym, and a lot of other activities, even thought Roman is straight. This is a platonic relationship. But that’s not the case with this movie.

From Dennis’ perspective, he doesn’t have a twin, but he used to date Rocky, who was gay like him. However, their love story comes to a tragic conclusion. Even though he hasn’t told Roman the truth yet, he still tries to make things right by setting him up with his co-worker Marcie (Aisling Franciosi), who shares Roman’s sympathy. .

And from Roman’s side, he has anger problems, which is why he always argues with his mother (Lauren Graham). He also regrets calling his brother the “F” word. In fact, there’s a scene when some guys accuse him and Dennis of that word, which is why Roman beats them up.

Because some people were filming the sex scenes, “Twinless” was pulled from the online platforms. And it also went for the documentary “Selena y Los Dinos,” whose fans were posting videos on TikTok and Instagram. Have they not read that Anti-Piracy policy?

The movie itself is emotional and good-hearted, even if Dennis has to lie about having a twin and not telling Roman about his brother. It chooses not to be stressful or noisy, but honest and consistent. Sweeney directs and acts on a perfect balance, and O’Brien gives one of his best performances as he struggles to find his center.

Even though this is on different topics, I still was reminded of the ambiance and honesty of “A Real Pain,” which also played at this film festival last year. And I like how the film uses Evan & Jaron’s hit song “Crazy for This Girl.”

“Atropia” (Release Date TBA)

This Luca Guadagnino-produced war satire is the directorial debut of Hailey Gates, who just played Josh O’Connor’s date in Guadagnino’s “Challengers.” Unfortunately, like Guadganino’s last film “Queer,” I’m not seeing any direction here. In fact, it’s even more meandering than that film.

The time is 2006. It starts off like an international thriller in the tradition of “The Hurt Locker,” and then it’s revealed to be a movie within a movie. Actually, Atropia is a place in Los Angeles, where the US Army is given a simulation of Iraq, before they go to the actual country. A role playing scenario to say the least.

As reported by Box News (get it?), an actor is coming to the set to do some research for a role. And that actor happens to be Channing Tatum. Alia Shawkat plays an actress trying land a major Hollywood role by having a soldier beat her in the streets, while praying “Death to America,” just to impress Tatum. It doesn’t really work out for her.

And then she meets a real married solider named Abu Dice (Callum Turner), as he accuses her of being a mole in this operation at first. It also becomes a romance for them as they find themselves in dangerous territory.

The cast also includes Jane Levy as a fake war correspondent, Lola Kirke as Abu’s wife, and Tim Heidecker and Chloe Sevigny as sleazy military directors.

“Atropia” could work as a satire, but the film doesn’t know who the targets are. And it’s often difficult to tell if whatever happens is supposed to be real or acting. Shawkat does some good work here, but the screenplay doesn’t provide her with fresh material. And this all fells self-indulging and self-congratulatory.

“Bubble & Squeak” (Release Date TBA)

Here’s a comedy that acts like a Wes Anderson comedy, but ends up humiliating itself and annoying us in the process.

The story is set in a fictional country where cabbages are forbidden. We meet a couple named Delores (Sarah Goldberg) and Declan (Himesh Patel), who are celebrating their honeymoon in this country, but are suspected of smuggling cabbages at customs. They’re first interrogated by an officer (Steven Yeun with a laughable blind eye), who tells them to sign a confession, surrender the cabbage, and only one of them will live. This is enforced by Shazbar (Matt Berry), who is willing to find them.

He plans to escape into the woods, while she plans to sit and relax in the “comfortable” chair, but she comes around. They come across a family whose child suspects them of smuggling cabbages too, and a real smuggler (Dave Franco) who wears a bear skin. These two characters often make us smirk with their respective tones and attitudes.

“Bubble & Squeak” is co-produced by Christopher Storer, who is best known for creating “The Bear” and producing such films as “The Rental,” and “Eighth Grade.” But the real question is: why cabbages? Why waste everyone’s time dealing with the vegetable? And what is its insignificance to that fake country?

The chemistry between Goldberg and Patel are like opposite magnets. Yes, not every relationship works out, but even in those circumstances, there has to be something for us to like and dislike at the same time. These two, however, wouldn’t survive a lunch with Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan in “When Harry Met Sally.”

And spoiler alert, Goldberg’s character has cabbages. I won’t have what she’s having.

“Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake)” (Release Date TBA)

Last year, Yorgos Lanthimos made the anthology film “Kinds of Kindness,” which had big names like Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe. This year, Joanna Hogg is an executive producer on “Sunfish (& Other Stories of Green Lake”), which has lesser known actors, but a sweet and relaxing ambiance. Sometimes, we get situations, other times, we get reflections on life, and we end up liking with this film is going.

The time is the summer, and the place, of course, Green Lake.

In the first segment titled “Sunfish,” we meet young Lu (Maren Heary), whose mother (Lauren Sweetser) gets engaged and leaves her with her grandparents (Adam LeFevre and Marceline Hugot), while she goes on her honeymoon. She discovers her grandfather’s sailboat known as “Sunfish,” and helps a loonlet learn how to swim.

In the next segment “Summer Camp,” a young violinist named Jun (Jim Kaplan from “The Holdovers”) is at an expensive music camp. His mother expects him to be the Principal of the Chicago Sympathy and first chair of the orchestra. And he’s waiting to see what the posted list will have in store for him.

In “Two-Hearted,” we meet Annie (Karsen Liotta, daughter of the late Ray Liotta), a young, single mother, who offers to help a fisherman (Dominic Bogart) catch a whale, even if it involves some illegal activities.

And finally in “Resident Bird,” we meet two sisters Robin (Emily Hall) and Blue Jay (Tenley Kellogg), who both run a bed and breakfast. Blue Jay must take over while Robin is off to culinary school.

In her directorial debut, Sierra Falconer adds a low key aspect to the characters and how we run into them. It’s a short movie running for less than 90 minutes, but each story is given enough time to introduce us to the characters and show us where they’re going. Not every story is perfect, but some deliver with honesty. And Im easily reminded of how my sister used to sail, thanks to the first segment.

“Love, Brooklyn” (Release Date TBA)

Andre Holland played an artist in last year’s Sundance entry “Exhibiting Forgiveness,” and this year, he plays a freewheeler who is trying to come up with something that can represent his home Brooklyn, and he also has two spouses. They’re not in relationships per se, but he’s able to do some things with one and other things with the other.

While the film isn’t as powerful as “Exhibiting Forgiveness,” it still allows Holland to continue playing different perspectives of himself, and what comes out of his different relationships are real and honest.

One of women he’s has a connection with is a single mother named Nicole (DeWanda Wise) and the other is an art gallery owner named Casey (Nicole Beharie). Nicole is an open and honest person, who can call his bluff based on his maturity. And Casey, whom he used to date, teaches him about the value of art and what life brings out of it.

He tries to figure out what to make out of his two female friends, especially when Nicole’s daughter Alley (Cadence Reese) tries to make sense of what kinds of love he gives to them. His friend Alan (Roy Wood, Jr.) tells him to find his center in all of this, as “All of the Above is not an answer.”

I’ve already delivered my praises to Holland, but Wise and Beharie are both excellent as his different spouses. “Love, Brooklyn” makes the right choices of not making these two women secretive from another, but to acknowledge what each side can bring to the main character. Again, the film isn’t perfect, but it does win us over.

“Ricky” (Release Date TBA)

This was the last film I watched, and it’s a powerful movie that reminds me a little of the spirits in last year’s prison drama “Sing Sing.” I know this takes place after prison, but somehow I nearly felt the same magic. It’s more about life outside prison and what comes out of it.

Stephan James plays Ricardo “Ricky” Smith, an ex-con who has just been released from prison after 15 years. He’s now 30-years-old, and he has a lot to deal with. He needs a steady job, he needs to attend support groups, and he needs to overcome the demons within himself. But previously being a teenager in prison with adults, how can he?

Among the terrific co-stars Sheryl Lee Ralph plays his Jamaican parole officer, who warns him to be careful with his choices, but believes in him. Sean Nelson (the break-out star of “Fresh”) plays his old childhood buddy who left him at the scene of the crime. Titus Welliver plays a war vet who agrees to sell him his Gran Torino, if he comes up with the money. And Simbi Kali plays Ricky’s mother who is a stern woman, but is also partly responsible for his life choices.

“Ricky” is based on the short film written and directed by the same man Rashad Frett, and he expends the film with complexity and emotions. It’s certainly much more affective than the Sandra Bullock Netflix vehicle “The Unforgivable,” because it doesn’t succumb to too many cliches and it allows us to acknowledge the main ex-convict and his environment following his sentence.

James gives one of his best performances, following his character’s challenges and grasping with his emotions. And Ralph is exceptional as the main parole officer, who actually believes in the kid. This is one of the most entertaining film the festival has screened, and I hope the right studio backs it up.

These are the movies I saw at the Sundance Film Festival. I may not have seen as much as the late Roger Ebert or Patrick Beatty would, but I still do my best to give you guys the scoop on what’s good and what’s bad. And you can expect full reviews of my movies, when they get their release dates.