Max Irons and Saoirse Ronan in 'The Host' (Photo: Alan Markfield/Open Road Films)

Team Edward vs. Team Jacob is so last year. With "Twilight" faded into the twilight, fans of the Stephanie Meyer sparkly vampires need a new fix. And Meyer herself is stepping up with what she hopes will fill that need in the form of the new sci-fi soap "The Host."

Chris O'Dowd in 'The Sapphires' (Photo: The Weinstein Company)

Chris O'Dowd delivers another off-kilter comedic performance in the infectious dramedy "The Sapphires," a fact-based musical that has all the makings of a sleeper hit. The Irish-born newlywed ("Bridesmaids," TV's "Girls") plays a down-and-out Australian music promoter who stumbles across three country-western-singing Aboriginal women at a backwater talent contest. He recognizes their ability, rebrands them as a soul-music girl band, and sends them on the road for an all-expenses-paid tour to entertain the troops in Vietnam (cue bombs bursting in air).

Sure, there's a bit of formula, and an extra measure of feel-good, but this underdog story set in the aftermath of Australia's Stolen Generation hits home with heart and humor.

Jemal Countess/Getty Images"The great thing about New Directors/New Films is that most of the films we select come from larger festivals. We're the perfect cheat sheet for the cinema-loving public," Rajendra Roy, chief curator of the Film Department at the Museum of Modern Art, told Yahoo! Movies on the eve of the festival's opening. A joint program between MoMA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the annual event, now in its 42nd year, highlights the work of up-and-coming filmmakers. Last year, "Beasts of the Southern Wild" closed the festival. The year before, "Margin Call" played opening night.

This year's fest premieres tonight in New York City with "Blue Caprice" and runs through March 31 when "Our Nixon" screens. It includes 25 features and 17 shorts from 24 countries. "We're looking for the most exciting new voices, and we're distilling it down," continued Roy. "If anybody wants to know the future direction of film, we've sorted it out -- there's a comedy ("Les Coquillettes"), drama ("Blue Caprice"), avant-garde ("Emperor Visits the Hell") and documentary ("Our Nixon," "Stories We Tell")."

Here are five to watch for when they break out of NYC and open at a festival or an art-house cinema near you:

(Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

Lily Tomlin has been entertaining mainstream audiences with her off-kilter humor since she broke out as a regular in the frenetic comedy TV classic "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" in 1970. She's worked with Robert Altman ("Nashville," "A Prairie Home Companion"), David O. Russell ("Flirting With Disaster," "I Heart Huckabees") -- her on-set battles with Russell are a You Tube must-see -- and starred with Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda in "Nine to Five." Now, in "Admission," she plays Susannah, the mother of Princeton admissions officer Portia Nathan (Tina Fey). It's a supporting part that begs for its own movie, an old-fashioned radical feminist that never veers into caricature, because even Tomlin's wildest characters always have a heart.

Photo: Columbia Pictures

In a comic bromance worthy of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, or Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, or Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi ham it up mightily in "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone." As partners Burt and Anton, they play two guys who've grown from prepubescent allies to co-working frenemies. They're Siegfried and Roy without the cats or the funny accents -- but just as trapped in the amber of a previous era. Still, the duo are strong ensemble players, and even though this is largely Carell's movie (Burt repeatedly reminds Anton that the "Incredible" moniker is his alone), Buscemi often gives their moments together real emotional sweetness, or sting, with a shrug or a glance.

James Franco in 'Oz the Great and Powerful' (Photo: Walt Disney Pictures)

There is a very simple litmus test to know if your child can comfortably handle "Oz the Great and Powerful": were they afraid of "The Wizard of Oz?" If not, take them to the new Disney movie because it is less scary than the 1939 original.

I first saw that movie on TV when I was 8 -- I was both terrified and unable to look away, and then it wasn't on TV for another year. My daughter watched it at 6 and, then, thanks to the wonders of the DVD revolution, she watched it on an endless loop, dulling the edges of the scary bits.

Six is a little young to watch either "Oz." I would hold out for 8 or 9, with a parent's hand on call for the airborne baboons and Wicked Witch.