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Sundance Review: Animal Kingdom
Filed under: Slamdance, Theatrical Reviews
Animal Kingdom is a taut, Australian crime drama that some might accuse of being slow, but I accuse of taking the time to fully flesh out and develop characters. Crime films these days, especially in America, have a car chase, an explosion, or a gun battle every 2.5 minutes. There's an entire mathematical formula developed for it. Okay, not really, but Stephen Hawking could probably generate one. You're lucky if you fully understand a character these days, or really appreciate why they are heroic or creepy.
Director David Michod has created a well-paced, dark and moody thriller with this film, and the main reason it works is because it's deliberately slowed down so you can peek inside the train cars that would normally be racing by, which lets you appreciate the performances from all of the actors, and particularly Jacki Weaver, who is pictured above. Sharp-eyed readers might recognize her as Minnie from 1975's Picnic at Hanging Rock, but in Animal Kingdom she's a ruthless and lethal matriarch of a crime family.
Sundance in 60 Seconds: Friday, January 29, 2010
Filed under: Sundance, Slamdance, Festival Reports
Celebrity Sightings: The sightings become slim to none when any festival rounds up, so I'll leave you with just two: First, Kevin Zegers -- the Transamerica star is one of the leads in the stuck-on-a-ski-lift flick Frozen. And second, E!Online pits Naomi Watts and Katie Holmes in a winter fashion showdown.
Deals: Even though the celebs wave sayonara, the money is still changing hands. With the deal silence broken, Variety reports that The Weinstein Co. has grabbed Blue Valentine and is zeroing in on The Tillman Story. And according to Screen Daily, Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me should get bought soon.
Our Coverage: On Friday we got a new review and interview. First up, Kevin Kelly reviewed Exit Through the Gift Shop and wrote: "this is a film I wouldn't have missed for the world, and it was my favorite documentary at Sundance this year, even if we didn't get a hint as to Banksy's real identity." Kevin also sat down with the Duplass Brothers for a video chat about their Sundance pleaser Cyrus.
It might look like we're slowing down, but there's a slew more on the way -- lead by a nice video chat with Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine -- you know, the guys from Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, and the men from Firefly/Dollhouse and Repear, respectively.
EXCLUSIVE: 'William S. Burroughs: A Man Within' Poster
Filed under: Documentary, Slamdance, Exhibition, Posters
As you all know, alongside Sundance there's Slamdance, and Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for William S. Burroughs: A Man Within, which is part of Slamdance's Documentary Competition. Yony Leyser's doc details Burroughs' life as a Beat author and icon, and includes not only never-before-seen footage, but also a narration by Peter Weller, a soundtrack by Sonic Youth and the Patti Smith Group, and interviews with a whole lot of interesting folks like John Waters, Patti Smith, David Cronenberg, Amiri Baraka, Gus Van Sant... You can see the whole list on the poster in the gallery below, which includes not only the interview list, but of course -- a cat. As fans know: "A cat's rage is beautiful, burning with pure cat flame, all its hair standing up and crackling blue sparks, eyes blazing and sputtering. "
Burroughs at Slamdance + Ginsberg at Sundance ... it's a good, Beat-filled month to be in Utah. The film is screening Friday, January 22, 5:30 PM at the Main Screening Room, and Wednesday, January 27, 7:30 PM at the Gallery Screening Room.
Check out the full synopsis after the jump.
Gallery: William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
A Look at Slamdance's 2010 Comeptition Lineup
Filed under: Independent, Slamdance, Exhibition
I've never been to Sundance, but I have seen the episode of Entourage where Queen's Boulevard premieres at the film festival, which I do believe makes me an expert who can publicly bemoan how commercial the once independent fest has become. Okay, so maybe it doesn't, but even an outsider like me can see Sundance doesn't exactly represent what genuine independent cinema is like. And it seems the folks who run the Slamdance Film Festival every year would agree.
So if you happen to be in Park City, Utah in January between the 21st and the 28th, you might want to check out the Slamdance lineup below for some more strictly independent cinema, as opposed to the high-profile indies that seem to dominate the Sundance roster these days. You may recall that Slamdance was the fest that brought a little home video experiment called Paranormal Activity to the attention of the world. Who knows, maybe one of the titles below will someday dethrone it as the most profitable movie ever made.
Doubtful, but still worth a shot.
Sundance Primer: 'Douchebag'
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Sundance, Slamdance, Fandom, Trailers and Clips
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Welcome to a new series here at Cinematical where we'll shine a spotlight on different films premiering at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival in January.
A couple years ago I was fortunate to catch a short film called The Shirt by an up-and-coming director named Drake Doremus. At the time I remember my friend telling me that Doremus was destined to go on to bigger and better things, and one look at the somewhat dry, awkward-yet-endearing sense of humor in The Shirt was enough proof to suggest my friend was right. Cut to 2009 and Doremus' new feature film Douchebag was just accepted to screen in competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival -- this coming only one year since his last film, Spooner, premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival. Needless to say, Drake Doremus is a name you're about to become a lot more familiar with.
One thing I love about Drake is it's completely obvious that he's a hopeless romantic. While a bit frenzied and hilarious, all of his films feature a love story at their core, and Douchebag appears to be no different. We caught up with Drake shortly after the Sundance lineup was announced to ask him a few questions about his film.
Cinematical: Give us the "dude on the street" description of your film?
Drake Doremus: Two brothers who hate each other's guts go on a road trip to find the younger brother's fifth grade girlfriend.
The Slamdance Lineup Has Been Announced!
Filed under: Slamdance, Exhibition
Sundance isn't the only festival in Park City, Utah that brings in the audiences every January. There's also Slamdance, the small fest "by the filmmakers, for the filmmakers," for first-time feature directors making the most of limited budgets. It's full of a lot of fun indie entertainment, and some great documentaries like 2008's Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father. As Variety reports, this year there are ten narrative and eight documentary features, which will run from January 21-28. This year has the usual new filmmakers, plus an added bonus of premiering Steven Soderbergh's And Everything Is Going Fine. On top of that, the director will participate in their new Filmmaker Summit inviting "all filmmakers, both in Park City and virtually, to collectively craft a new charter for filmmaking, storytelling and content distribution, with and by the global filmmaking community."
But the big news is the list of films. The roster includes Drones, the feature I've been dying to see, cooked up by Amber Benson and Adam Busch (Tara and Warren on Buffy, who are a real-life couple), The Scenesters, a dark comedy starring Sherilyn Fenn, and Cummings Farm, a flick about a group of people who try to achieve enlightenment through group sex. On the documentary side of things, there are features ranging in topics from Jelly Bellys and Jihads to William Burroughs -- a little something for everyone.
Hit the jump for the entire list.
Cinematical Seven: Things The Rest of Us Can Do While Everyone Else Is At Sundance
Filed under: Documentary, Drama, Independent, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Awards, SXSW, Sundance, Slamdance, Sony Classics, Focus Features, Fox Searchlight, Cinematical Seven, Oscar Watch, Paramount Vantage
1. Twiddle thumbs while waiting for bidding wars to break out -- So Senator Entertainment has already landed domestic distribution for Antoine Fuqua's cop drama, Brooklyn's Finest (they'll probably do right by it and sit it on a shelf right next to All the Boys Love Mandy Lane); now, it's just a matter of waiting for Fox Searchlight to snatch up their next sleeper in waiting, and for either Focus or Paramount Vantage to pick up the rights to something they can't quite turn a profit on *cough1* *cough2*. Modest comfort comes in the form of Searchlight already planning a late-summer release for 500 Days of Summer, and of Sony Pictures Classics reportedly calling dibs on Sam Rockwell's sci-fi drama, Moon. Keep those ears and eyes open, folks.
2. Monitor some seriously similar, sometimes simultaneous Twitter action -- For starters, there's our crew: Snider, then Davis, then Rocchi, and (lastly but not least-ly) new convert Weinberg. Then you have the Onion folks, your CHUD, the IFC one-two, the Spout reps, our HitFix homies, not to mention your /Film and your Film School Rejects and your First Showing (these fellas happen to be sharing accommodations, so expect much echo). Daily posts? Facebook status updates? Please. With a minute-by-minute play-by-play, who needs to go outdoors?
Watch This: 'The Shirt'
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Slamdance, Shorts, Fandom, Home Entertainment, Trailers and Clips
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Not long ago I wrote about a movie premiering at the Slamdance Film Festival called Spooner, starring Matthew Lillard, and during said post I mentioned that Spooner director (and Cinematical friend) Drake Doremus had previously written and directed an awesome short film called The Shirt back in 2006. Unfortunately at the time The Shirt was not available to watch online, but earlier today Drake read the post and was cool enough to throw the short up on YouTube so that you fine Cinematical readers can enjoy its beautiful absurdity. What's it about? It's about this dude who's trying to find the kind of shirt that will change his life. We'll let you know how Spooner turned out a bit later in the week, so for now check out The Shirt below and the trailer for Spooner (find info on how to purchase Slamdance tix over here) after the jump.
WARNING: This short contains foul language and two brief sexual acts, but no nudity.
Slamdance Trailers: 'Zombie Girl: The Movie' and 'Spooner'
Filed under: Slamdance, Fandom, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips
Talk all you want about Sundance, but some of my favorite films often come out of the Slamdance Film Festival, Sundance's illegitimate dorky little half-cousin. While Sundance features clean, glamorous "message movies" starring people you're very familiar with, Slamdance films are a little rough around the edges; cultish with a touch of fanboyish flavor. Oh, and their docs are always very good. Last year saw Dear Zachary come out of Slamdance, and the year before was The King of Kong. One of the docs entering the 2009 Slamdance Film Fest with a little buzz behind it is Zombie Girl: The Movie, a doc about a 12-year-old girl who attempts to make her own feature-length zombie flick. Not only is it ridiculously hard to make your own feature-length film on a shoestring budget (I know from experience), but imagine if it was a horror movie ... and you were 12. Check out the trailer below, and learn more about Zombie Girl: The Movie over on its official website.
Check out the Spooner trailer after the jump ...
Slamdance Announces Fest Lineup
Filed under: Slamdance, Fandom, Newsstand
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Every year during the Sundance Film Festival, there's another quieter festival doing its thing in Park City called Slamdance. Both fests run at the same time, though one is this really big, stylish, celebrity-spottin' hip-to-be-seen scene, while the other is a warm, welcoming place to settle down with friends and take in some quality independent entertainment. Needless to say, though they're both located in the same neighborhood, these are two very different festivals -- different vibes, different venues, different merch. And although we here at Cinematical primarily cover Sundance, we will try to get to as many Slamdance flicks as we can come January.Speaking of, the fest just announced their slate for 2009 and it includes some fine-looking little nuggets. Among some of the flicks enjoying their world premiere are the new one from those Broken Lizard dudes, The Slammin' Salmon, about an owner of a restaurant who, indebted to the mob, decides to hold a contest to see which waiter can earn the most money in one night. Also on the sched is Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead, a wacky-sounding opening night flick called I Sell the Dead, and a bunch more. Check out the list of films (along with descriptions) after the jump, then let us know which ones you want us to review for you from Park City.
For more on Slamdance '09, click here.
Tom Cruise and J.J. Abrams Reunite for 'Mission Impossible 4'
'Big Top Pee-Wee': The Original Benicio Del Toro Wolfman
Spin-ematical: New on DVD and Blu-ray for 2/9
Watch This: Brilliant Oscar-Nominated Short 'Logorama'
Chris Nolan to Lead 'Superman' Reboot!?
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