Sundance Review

Well now that I am home and have got a little sleep I thought I would do a little Sundance Wrap up.
I ended up seeing 10 movies, and 18 Shorts.

My 5 favorite feature films are
1.  Rebirth-about the aftermath of 9/11
2.  Circumstance-(which ended up winning the Audience Award) about two girls coming of age in Iran
3.  Martha Marcy May Marlene-with great performances by Elizabeth Olsen and John Hawkes about a girl who is trying regain her life after being in a cult.
4.   Sound of My Voice-about a couple who try to infiltrate a cult who's leader claims to be a time traveler.
5.  Take Shelter-about a guy who is either having dreams of a coming apocalypse or a psychological disorder.

Worst movie we saw at Sundance was Letters From the Big Man about a girl who trys to protect big foot.

Best Short Movies
1.  Fight For your Right Revisited- start studded short about the Beastie Boys
2.  The Legend of Beaver Dam-a crazy musical horror movie.
3.  Living for 32-a documentary about a survivor of the Virginia Tech murders
4.  Grandpa's Wet Dream-a funny documentary about a 75 year old Japanese guy who stars in porn movies with out his wife or family knowing about it.
5.  Out of Reach- a documentary about two girls who try to reconnect with their mother


With alot of movies playing at Sundance it is interesting to see what themes come out. This year there has been alot made about the cult theme. With something like 5 movies about cults(two of which I saw) it is an interesting theme. But I found a different theme in the movies I saw. The psychology of surviving. With Rebirth, Living for 32, and The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement all documentaries about surviving horrific events and having to deal with the psychological drama. Also, with the fiction movies like Martha Marcy May Marlene where the main character is dealing with her survival of a cult. And even in Take Shelter where a guy is preparing to survive either a coming apocalypse or a mental illness.  The movies I saw this year were a psychologist dream of mental  illness and grief and made for some fun twisted movies. 

Sundance Day 6

Our last day here in Park City and ended it with 2 great movies.
First was Martha Marcy May Marlene at midnight. The movie starred Elizabeth Olsen the younger sister of the Olsen twins and John Hawkes who was just nominated for Best Supporting Actor for last years Winter's Bone. Both give great performances in this movie. Elizabeth Olsen plays Martha who ends up in a cult where they call her Mary May. John Hawkes plays the cult leader who uses fear and sex to control the numerous women he has there. After Martha escapes the cult and goes to live with her sister who she hasn't talked to in 2 years she has a lot of trouble assimilating to the normal world and is in constant fear that the other cult members are going to come looking for her. While the movie has one of those typical Sundance ambiguous endings it still was a great movie.

The last movie we saw before we left Park City was Circumstance about two liberal girls living in highly conservative Iran.  The movie is a love story between the two girls as they struggle with growing up and coping with a restrictive society. The brother of one of the girls starts working for the morality police and ends up getting them arrested.  Unlike other Sundance movies there was a good ending even if it was not a happy ending. 

Now time to fly home and get some sleep.

Sundance Day 5

Well had tickets to Gun Hill Road at 8:30am but decided to sleep in a little and ski all day. And since I got a discount on my lift tickets I basically didn't lose any money. 

So the only movie I saw today was Vampire with Keisha Castle-Hughes and Rachel Leigh Cook. The movie was ok. It was a bit slow and some of the camera work was a little weird. The story was original and different not you typical vampire movie. Basically a guy surfs suicide websites and makes a suicide pact with young girls. When he meets them he convinces them to die first and he says he will kill himself after. But instead he drains their blood then drinks it. Has some graphic scenes but it is not scary and doesn't feel like a horror movie.  

Now for one of the most talked about movies and hardest title to say Martha Marcy May Marlene with Elizabeth Olsen the younger sister of the Olsen twins. Seeing that at midnight so will give the review tomorrow.  

Sundance Day 4

Day 4 was a short day as in short films. I saw 3 short film programs(including one I saw at 11:30 pm last night.  The first short film program I saw was Short Program 1.  This program included 6 shorts.  Ranging from a crazy animated film to a movie about a Russian submarine crew.  I am not going to go into each movie just want to highlight a few. My favorite short in this program was Fight for Your Right Revisited which was directed by Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys.  This imagines what happens after the video for Fight for your Right to Party. In this short the Beastie Boys are played by Seth Rogan, Danny McBride, and Elijah Wood.  After they leave the party they go on a alcohol fueled adventure. The movie is alot of fun and filled with tons of cameo appearances, including Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Ted Danson, Will Farrell, and Jack Black.  Just crazy mayhem and fun.
The Terrys was a crazy comedy from the creators of Tim and Eric Awesome Show. If you like that show then I am sure you will like the short but for me it was a little too over the top.
Worst Enemy was a funny movie about a women who has some bizarre things happen to her.

After getting another 4 hours sleep was up for Documentary Shorts Program 2. This one had 3 shorts and all were good. The first was about a survivor of the Virginia Tech shooting called Living for 32. The guy was shot 4 times and after recovering went on to be an advocate for stricter policies for buying guns. Then was The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement about a barber who was on the forefront of the civil rights movement and his reaction to seeing the African American President.  Then was Isabella Rossellini's Animals Distract Me. This was about her obsession with animals and Charles Darwin.

Then it was on to a day of skiing. It was nice to get out on the slopes in some beautiful weather.

After a nice shower after skiing I tried to watch Life in a Day live streaming on Youtube. This didn't work so well as the stream get getting stuck and was kind of annoying to watch. But then went out and stood in the waitlist line for Documentary Shorts Program 1. I wasn't sure if I was going to get in since I apparently underestimated the draw of the doc shorts. I was lucky and got one of the last seats right in the front row.
This program had 6 shorts in it. And while not all were good there were some good ones. Grandpa's Wet Dream was the stand out. It is about a 75 year old Japanese guy who stars in Porn movies without his wife knowing about it. Also, good was Out of Reach about two sisters search for their mom who abandoned the when they were young. Incident by a Bank was an interesting look at a bank robbery in Sweden from the point of view of the people on the street that witnessed it.

Then back to bed for some sleep. Decided to skip the movie I was going to see at 8:30am and get a little bit more sleep and get a full day of skiing in. 

Sundance Day 3

Well since I didn't review it last night and technically I saw it today I will start with the Catechism Cataclysm. Being a midnight film you have to know what you are getting into.  This is a crazy comedy.  It is about a priest who is really no good at his job and goes on a canoe trip with a guy he idolized in high school.  Things just go wacky on their trip.  It is a funny movie that just keeps getting more bizarre as it goes along and you never know what to expect. 

After 4 hours sleep I got up at 6:30am and we barely made it to the first movie this morning due to some bus issues.  But we made it in time to see Sound of My Voice. I wasn't sure what to expect. The description was kind of vague with something about a cult. I was kind of expecting something over the top like Eyes Wide Shut, but it was nothing like that. It was actually really grounded in reality. The characters felt real and even though the cult leader was crazy she was not over the top.  She claimed she was from the future and knew what was to come. This was one of the first times I actually asked a question during the Q&A. I was curious where they got the idea for the time traveler from because it sounded like the story of Jon Titor who claimed he was a time traveler and the director confirmed that he did base the character on him.  There were some bizarre things in the movie that they never really explained but I really enjoyed the movie. 

I went right from Sound of My Voice to Hobo With a Shotgun.  This was one of the most entertaining screening I have ever had.  Rutger Hauer who played the Hobo was at the screening and showed up with an actual shotgun. Then during the Q&A he ran around the theatre with a video camera recording peoples questions.  Was a lot of fun. The film is exactly what you would expect from a movie in the midnight category called Hobo with a Shotgun.. Basically a hobo goes on a rampage with a shotgun to clean up a town. Just lots of blood and disgusting scenes and a whole lot of fun. 

Before all these screenings there were short film screenings.  Before the Catechism Cataclysm the movie was Sasquatch Birth Journal 2. It was a pretty ridiculous movie about a big foot giving birth. It was kind of amusing since the movie I had seen right before this was Letters From the Big Man which was an awful movie about big foot. While this wasn't very good it was funny.  Then before Sound of My Voice the short was Pandemic 41.410806, -75.654259.  This is part of a larger project at Sundance that includes the Internet, cell phones, and random tokens left around Park City. The movie didn't make much sense by itself but I am interested in seeing what else this guy does. The whole idea of the project is that this pandemic is sweeping the country and turning adults into zombies and leaving the kids to fend for themselves.  While you don't get all of that from the short I am hoping maybe he will do a feature as I like the concept.  Then before Hobo with a Shotgun the best short I have seen so far was shown and that was The Legend of Beaver Creek. This is a funny horror musical about kids on a camping trip. Similar to Hobo with a Shotgun it is ultra violent and overly gory and a lot of fun. 

Thats it for now. Another midnight movie tonight and early morning movie tomorrow then some skiing. 

Sundance Day 2

Sundance day 2
As I am writing this I am standing online for the last movie of the day The Catechism Cataclysm at midnight. So far this day was pretty good. Woke up early to catch a 9:15 movie. We saw The Details with Tobey Maguire and Elizabeth Banks. It is about a guy who makes a bunch of bad decisions that leads to adultery and eventually murder. This is a dark comedy and is the funniest movies I have ever seen at Sundance. Then afterwards it was cool to see Tobey Maguire on stage for the Q&A.

Next up after some lunch was Rebirth. This is a documentary about 5 people coping with the aftermath of 9/11. Each person tells their story of dealing with loss and healing. The director interviewed each person every year for 8 years following 9/11. We get to see all their stages of grief and how they put their life together. The most compelling story was that of one of the survivors and her struggle to recover from her injuries.
This was a great movie and it's going to tough to find a movie to top it as best of the fest. The movie had everyone tearing up especially when the survivor came up for the Q&A.

After such an emotional movie we decided to go eat some dinner the head over to the new frontier exhibit. That is where the have experimental film exhibitions. We saw the much talked about James Franco exhibit Threes Company: The Drama which I found very stupid and unnecessary. But one of the better exhibits was The Jonny Cash Project which took Internet user submitted drawings of each scene and put them into the video.

After that we went up to the iconic Egyptian theatre for Letters From the Big Man. A movie about this women's encounter with big foot. It was the most boring movie. A whole lot the women sitting alone in the wilderness. While the scenery was good the story had no point. I was thinking it was the worst movie about big foot I have ever seen then I realized the only other big foot movie I can't think of is Harry and the Hendersons which was funny and much better then this movie. We really need a good big foot movie.
That is it for now time for the last movie of the day then 4 hours sleep then it is back up at 6:30 am for a couple of movies then some skiing.

Sundance Day 1

Well the day started off a little rough. Got up at 3:30am then had a rough flight from Milwaukee to Houston and almost missed our connection to Salt Lake City.  We had to run from one terminal to the other and when we got to the gate they had the door closed but luckily enough the plane was still there and we were able to board. So, finally made it to Salt Lake City and luggage arrived with no problems. Then  we got on the shuttle to take us to Park City and after driving around the airport an extra time we were on our way.  One of the things I love about Sundance is you never know who you are going to run into.  On the shuttle was an assistant director for Take Shelter which was the first movie on our list to see today. Also, on the shuttle was the stand in for Tobey Maguire in The Details which is on the list of movies to see tomorrow.  

Take Shelter is a movie about a guy who has dreams about a coming storm and is not sure if it is prophetic or he is going crazy.  The vistions are so intense that he decided to build a storm shelter in his backyard.  The movie was a great start to Sundance. Great performance from Michael Shannon and the rest of the cast.  It is a great story about a man struggling with his sanity.  The movie drags a little in the middle and seems to go on a little too long, but it has a good ending.