Cinematical

We had the chance to get together and shoot another roundtable featuring our own Jason Calacanis, Karina Longworth, and James Rocchi.

Check after the jump to see the timeline...

Although the above blurry picture can hardly act as any definitive proof of the sighting, I promise you, dear Cinematical readers, that the blur in question snapped by the lens of my cellphone is in fact none other than Justin Timberlake. While we were enjoying the last moments of a delectable meal at Adolf's in Park City last night, Timberlake shot off to the restroom right in front of our table. I pulled my Razor out of my pocket and acted like I was trying to dial a number waiting for him to shoot by our table again, returning to his own, as fast as fast can be.

Timberlake was in town in support of his movie Alpha Dog, and girlfriend Cameron Diaz was also dining with him, although when they left the restaurant he was walking swiftly several people ahead of her, as she smiled with her head turned down as if she knew some joke or realized we were bloggers staring at them preparing this paltry post.

We've reached the halfway point of the festival, and we have quite a few bits of great video content up already with more to come in the next several days. Here's a quick rundown of the Sundance videos we've slapped together so far:

• We kicked off Sundance with our first Blogging Sundance: Video Roundtable 1 featuring a lively discussion between Jason Calacanis, Karina Longworth, and James Rocchi, about a variety of Sundance-related topics, including films Friends with Money, World According to Sesame Street, Flesh, Lucky Number Sleven, and Crossing Arizona, as well as discussion about documentaries at Sundance, competitions and titling, celebrities, and the opening press conference.
• Next up is video of a panel discussion on Vlogging, podcasting and the right to free expression, featuring Jason Calacanis moderating panelists Susan Buice, director of the film "Four Eyed Monsters", Mika Salmi, founder of Atom Films, Ken Rutkowski of KenRadio, and "SoccerGirl," creator of a wildly popular video podcast. The panel discussion is split into two sections: Part 1 and Part 2. Both are must-see for anyone interested in the future of film, video, and media on the Internet.
• The first of our series of video interviews features our own Karina Longworth speaking with Geoff Gilmore, Sundance Festival Director about everything from his programming strategy to the potential impact of technology on the festival's future.
• I had a chance to interview filmmaker Philip Groening about Into Great Silence, a film about his six month journey into life inside The Grande Chartreuse, the mother house of the legendary Carthusian Order in the French Alps.
• James Rocchi sat down to interview writer-director Georgia Lee and actress-producer Mia Riverton from Red Doors, a movie that isn't actually showing at the festival to discuss their movie and to talk to Lee about her experiences as a Sundance Shorts Juror at this year's Festival.
• Last, but not least, Jono, from Moviefone, sat down with our own James Rocchi to give us an inside glimpse into the arcane art of gifting consultation and the gift bags that are often handed out to Sundance attendees and participants.

All these videos were shot and chopped by our own Randall Bennett and are available via the Cinematical podcast in the iTMS. Make sure you check back later today and throughout the week for more interviews and more roundtable discussions of everything here at Sundance.

Yesterday, I sat down with Philip Groening, Scriptwriter, Producer, Director, Cinematographer, Sound Editor, and Film Editor of Into Great Silence (Die Grosse Stille), the first film about life inside The Grande Chartreuse, the mother house of the legendary Carthusian Order in the French Alps.

The majority of the film becomes a study in silence, as there is nearly no dialogue in this 164 minute long film recorded over the course of six months Groening spent in the monastery, participating in the silent life there. According to Groening, the film would seem to answer the question, "How does one make a film that, more than depicting a monastery, becomes a monastery itself?" Groening found the answer outside of language, logic, and discursive processes and in the visual power of film.

Our video interview lasts 8:56 minutes and weighs in at 40.9 MBs and should be enclosed with this post and available via the Cinematical podcast in the iTunes Music Store. If you find the discussion of interest then make sure you check out the final screening of the film on Friday, January 27th at 6pm at Broadway Centre Cinemas V in Salt Lake City.

Earlier today, Kim and I went to the Outfest Brunch to meet with as many filmmakers as possible and to see all the info we could about John Waters' new TV show: John Waters presents Movies That Will Corrupt You. Kim is going to post more details later with a whole slew of other pictures that I took, but I just wanted to chime in and say it was cool to meet John Waters, legendary independent filmmaker.

He was very friendly, personable, witty and funny as you'd expect. He didn't mind my intrusion too terribly and even took a moment to take a picture with a fan (see after the jump). I gave him a Cinematical t-shirt, although I suspect he may end up giving it to a friend, as he made a joke about doing so when I handed it to him.

It took a little longer to get up than we would have liked, but we have a nice video for you, weighing in at slightly under half an hour, recorded live from the Sundance Film Festival. The file is about 165MBs in size, so I wouldn't characterize it as small. You can grab it via this link (right click and save) and for all you podcasting people, you should find the video enclosed with this post, and available via your subscription to our podcast on the iTunes Music Store.

Jason Calacanis, Karina Longworth, and James Rocchi get together for a roundtable discussion of what's happening at Sundance, so tune in. Here's a quick timeline of topics in the show:

• 1:03—Friends with Money
• 5:05—World According to Sesame Street
• 9:15—Flesh
• 12:08—Lucky Number Sleven
• 13:09—Crossing Arizona
• 14:30—Documentaries at Sundance
• 18:10—About Sundance competitions and titling
• 20:50—Opening press conference
• 24:03—Are there too many celebrities at Sundance?
• 25:45—The time ahead at Sundance
• 26:28—Rosie's Cruise

We should have another video for you later today.

Machinima, in case you didn't know, is a recent trend of making films and "television" shows using video games. It's an interesting area to watch, but for the most part, machinima is a form that is filled with humor and little serious content. That, however, changes with the release of The French Democracy, a political film about France's riots created using The Movies, a game specially geared to helping you create your own machinima films.

The site hosting the video appears to be slowly succombing to the weight of the combined eyes of the Internet upon it, but save the link and give the film a watch later on. It's lacking some polish, but makes up for it in heartfelt sincerity that you can read in the description of the film: "This is a movie about the recent French riots in suburb. It is fully subtitled in english(sorry for my english, i had some training to do). I hope you will enjoy this movies and have a better understand of what is happening in my country!"

[via BoingBoing]

So, I went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last night, and while it was for the most part entertaining it still suffered from many of the problems that I mentioned in my 7 reasons why Harry Potter is overrated post as well as in the podcast discussion between Mark and myself. The pace lagged in parts and there were certain disconnects for me as a non-reader of the books.

However, while watching, I also realized yet another reason why I'm not a Harry Potter fan: Harry himself has no agency in any of the films. If you haven't yet seen the movie or read the book, then I advise you stop reading this post now, as I am about to offer a little bit of a spoiler after the jump.

Speaking of Harry Potter podcasts, G4 TV's The Attack of the Show video podcast's [iTMS link] most current episode is a skit depicting what could possibly happen if Hogwarts were forced to become a public school and admit Muggles.

I'm not saying it's a good skit. I'm just saying it's a skit that has something to do with Harry Potter and it's on a tech show on a gaming network.

It's only three minutes and fourteen seconds long, but that's 3:14 I'll never get back, so I thought I'd share.

Mark Beall and I just got finished slapping together a Harry Potter Cinematical Podcast where we discuss the franchise, the most recent movie, The Goblet of Fire, and the fan phenomenon surrounding Harry Potter.

Here's a direct link to the MP3 of the podcast. You can also subscribe to our podcast via the iTunes Music Store using this link, which will launch iTunes. Or, if you use another podcasting program, feel free to subscribe directly to our feed:

http://www.cinematical.com/category/podcasts/rss.xml

The podcast weighs in at 5.1MBs and lasts for 26 minutes. We hope you enjoy the discussion.