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Review: Frozen
Filed under: Horror, Thrillers, Sundance, Theatrical Reviews
By Eric Snider -- reprint from 1/24/10 -- Sundance Film Festival
You can picture Adam Green, the writer and director of Frozen, sitting on a ski lift one day, idly thinking, "What if I fell off? How high above the ground am I? No! What if the lift stopped moving and they couldn't get it started? What if I was trapped here!" We all have our moments of morbid fantasizing, but what separates Adam Green from me and you is that he turns his dark "what if?" scenarios into movies. His Hatchet had tourists terrorized in the swamps of Louisiana; Frozen pits the heroes against Mother Nature herself, that wanton trollop.
The setting is a ski resort in New England, where three college students are trying to talk their way onto the lift without buying tickets. Dan (Kevin Zegers) and Joe (Shawn Ashmore), best friends since grade school, come skiing here regularly, but today Joe is miffed because Dan has brought along his girlfriend, Parker (Emma Bell), in a flagrant violation of the Bros Before Hoes policy.
No one likes being the third wheel; it doesn't help that Joe and Parker don't really get along, each jealous of the other's relationship with Dan. It's the same old story: "We haven't seen you at Fezziwig's for dollar pitcher night all semester!" Joe complains. What, Dan would rather spend time with his beautiful girlfriend than drink cheap beer? It's like Joe doesn't even know him anymore.
Sundance Review: Hesher
Filed under: Sundance
Hesher is not a nice guy. He is rough with children, views women only in terms of whatever sexual pleasures they can provide and is a moocher with no jobs who has no qualms about destroying private property. On the other hand he might just be the homeless rocker equivalent of Mr. Miyagi, noisily allowing situations to unfold that will teach the new people in his life something about letting go. It is a risky balance for Spencer Susser to undertake in his feature debut and, against all odds, it manages to succeed with a pastiche of great casting and an unapologetic slant towards being anti-touchy-feely. Until it needs to be.
Young T.J. (Devin Brochu) is living in a house of sadness. And it's no wonder since when we first see him he's chasing down a tow truck to a junkyard where the remains of the family car will eventually be put to rest. His mom once sat in that vehicle. His dad, Paul (Rainn Wilson), sits in a funk all day, unshaven since the accident and only leaving the house to pick his boy up from school while his mom (Piper Laurie) quietly fixes their meals. Shortly after getting his cast off, T.J. has another accident and, in his frustration, awakens the sleeping shirtless giant of the unfinished housing complex. Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), with his cover blown, begins following around T.J. and soon settles into his house, washing his clothes and eating their food to almost no resistance from the nearly catatonic inhabitants.
Sundance Review: The Kids Are All Right
Filed under: Sundance, Theatrical Reviews
No, The Kids Are All Right is not that documentary about The Who, as the name might have you thinking. That would be The Kids Are Alright from back in 1979. One look at the photo above will dispel any of those notions. Instead, this is a light drama that could have been called My Two Moms. Plus it left us with a much better impression of Mark Ruffalo than he'd left us with his Sundance directorial debut, Sympathy For Delicious. Here, he turns in a solid performance, along with some powerful acting from Julianne Moore and Annette Bening who shine as the two halves of a couple whose world is shaken when their kids meet their biological father.
Joni (Mia Wasikowska of the upcoming Alice in Wonderland) is 18 years old, and therefore old enough to find out who her biological sperm-donor father is. After continual pestering by her brother Laser (Josh Hutcherson from Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant) she makes the call, and the two of them are introduced to the cool and exciting Paul (Mark Ruffalo), whose sperm was used to impregnate both Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore). However, he's also the monkey wrench that gets tossed right into the middle of this family.
Sundance Review: Winter's Bone
Filed under: Sundance, Theatrical Reviews
"Redneck" or "country noir" isn't anything new. Just look at Blood Simple and No Country For Old Men as examples. But when you replace the grizzled detective or outdated lawman with a 17-year-old girl trying to take care of her family, that's where things swing wildly off course in Winter's Bone. Jennifer Lawrence previously impressed in Lori Petty's autobiographical film The Poker House, and she turns in an incredibly powerful performance in this movie, directed by Debra Granik and based on Daniel Woodrell's novel of the same name, that explores the dark nature of family and secrets in the Ozark Mountains. It won both the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Dramatic category and the Waldo Salt screenwriting award, and is well-deserving of both.
Ree Dolly (Lawrence) is busy trying to take care of her younger brother and sister, her nearly catatonic mother, and a bevy of stray cats and dogs in a ramshackle cabin out in the boondocks when she's visited by the sheriff who has some unsettling news: Her father has put up both the land and the house for his bond for cooking crystal meth, and if he doesn't show up for his court date, they'll lose everything. So Ree has to find him before the law does, or before some of the other unsavory characters that live in this no man's land.
The 10 Sundance Films You Need to Watch For
Filed under: Independent, Deals, New Releases, Sundance, Festival Reports, Distribution
"Sure," you say as you sift through all the Sundance Film Festival coverage at Cinematical and elsewhere on the Internets. "This looks like a lot of fun for the people in Park City. But what about me? Which of these should I pay attention to? Which movies are liable to be coming to a theater near me? TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"
There's no need to yell, but we understand your frustration. Sundance screened around 120 feature films, many of which, unfortunately, you'll never hear from again. Since there isn't room in anyone's brain to keep track of all of them -- heck, we're pretty sure even the Sundance programmers didn't watch a few of the movies they scheduled -- we've narrowed it down to these 10 that we think you'll be hearing about this year.
Blue Valentine Our Kevin Kelly loved it, and he wasn't alone -- the rave reviews for Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams in this relationship drama far outnumbered the less-than-raves. The Weinstein Company, which has been looking for something to restore its prestige in the indie world, bought the film for a little over $1 million. Given TWC's recent history, this could mean Blue Valentine will never be seen again. On the other hand, if Harvey and Co. really are serious, maybe they'll aggressively push this one.
Buried Who wouldn't want to see Ryan Reynolds buried alive? We can start with the people who paid to see The Proposal. Erik Childress liked (but didn't love) Buried, which got a lot of buzz in Park City, especially after Lionsgate snatched it up for $3.2 million. It could be in theaters as soon as late spring.
Sundance Review: Lovers of Hate
Filed under: Comedy, Sundance, Theatrical Reviews
Lovers of Hate is built around a gimmick that you either buy into or you don't. A colleague had suggested that the film feels like one Hollywood would buy just to remake it with more well known actors, because the premise is one that you'd so expect to find splattered across the next Will Ferrell movie. That's not to say the actors in this version are horrible at what they do; they're not. Nor is writer-director Brian Poyser (Dear Pillow), who, in a very emotional moment prior to the film's premiere, said that it was dedicated to his father who passed away one week after it was accepted to Sundance. Poyser definitely has an eye for the strange, uncomfortable comedy, and when things are strange and comfortable, Lovers of Hate really slips into the type of film you want to high five. However, its slower moments and refusal to fully commit to a particular tone drops it down a few notches, but not enough to skip it all together.
Sundance Review: The Freebie
Filed under: Drama, Independent, New Releases, Sundance, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports
Katie Aselton has turned up in a few indie films in recent years, including The Puffy Chair, where she played the girlfriend of Mark Duplass. Duplass is now her husband, and a fairly significant force in the indie film world himself, but he might have some competition at home. The Freebie, Aselton's debut as a writer and director, is an honest, unadorned relationship drama that suggests a new talent on the horizon.
Somehow this very good drama stars Dax Shepard. I don't think anyone saw that coming. He and Aselton play Darren and Annie, a married couple whose seven-year relationship is still full of love but lacking in lust. They adore spending every minute of every day with one another; they just can't remember the last time they had sex. Neither partner feels frustrated by this, though -- and the fact that they're OK with near-celibacy is what starts to alarm them.
They wonder if one solution might be to have a "freebie," a night where they each get to sleep with someone else, one time only, no questions asked, and let us never speak of it again. Perhaps this would reignite the spark in their own relationship. Annie's sister (Leonora Gershman) tells her this is a terrible idea (which hardly needs saying), but the two proceed with the plan anyway.
Sundance Review: The Shock Doctrine
Filed under: Documentary, Independent, Sundance, Theatrical Reviews, Home Entertainment, Politics, Cinematical Indie, War
The optimum way to see a documentary like Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross' The Shock Doctrine is at a film festival, such as Sundance, where it made its North American premiere this week. Unfortunately, I saw it in my living room, which is probably how most people in the U.S. will see it thanks to the Video-On-Demand cable channel Sundance Selects, which began airing the film immediately following its Park City debut.
Not to say the festival experience makes it a better film, but at least attendees of the first Sundance screening had the benefit of a post-film discussion featuring the film's directors and Naomi Klein, the author of the book upon which it's based. It's safe to assume she explained her arguments regarding "disaster capitalism" and the faults of Laissez-faire economics better than the film does. And Winterbottom and Whitecross are possibly the only ones who can defend what they had intended with their ultimately disjointed translation of Klein's thesis.
I had only the internet to use as a reference and clarifier in the end. What I learned afterward about the film and Klein's involvement in its production is that she basically walked away due to its increasing departure from what she felt an adaption of her 2007 book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism should look like. From what I understand, Klein's work is more investigative journalism, while Winterbottom and Whitecross have concentrated on a history lesson based upon her expose of Milton Friedman's methods of economic shock therapy.
Sundance Interview: Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine on 'Tucker & Dale vs. Evil'
Filed under: Comedy, Horror, Sundance, Interviews
If you're a Firefly fan, or a Reaper fan, then this post probably had you at Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine. If not, then you need to get your geek on if you want some street cred. Although both shows were canceled early, they were perfect vehicles for sci-fi and horror, and were backed by terrific performances from these two actors. Both of them are a lot more comedic than you'd expect, and they really got to show that off in Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, the wacky Sundance comedy horror film (which, of course, we reviewed for you right here.)
We spoke to Tudyk and Labine the day after their midnight premiere, where they were alternating between pints of beer and mocha lattes, which is probably the best hangover cure in Park City. We talked to them about the film, their geek appeal, and what's next (Tudyk's answer will probably surprise you, unless you're the webmaster of AlanTudykMegaFan.com). Head on after the break for the video interview.
Sundance in 60 Seconds. Saturday, January 30, 2010
Filed under: Documentary, Independent, Awards, Sundance, IFC, Distribution, Obits, Cinematical Indie, Roadside Attractions
Awards: The big winners include Winter's Bone (Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic), Restrepo (Grand Jury Prize, Documentary), Animal Kingdom (World Cinema Jury Prize, Dramatic) and The Red Chapel (World Cinema Jury Prize, Documentary), with audience awards going to happythankyoumoreplease and Waiting for Superman. Check out the full list of winners here.
Celebrity Sightings: Most of the celebs have left town by now, so let's check out a few leftovers: People has a rundown of where celebs were seen eating in Park City. The main course in the article looks at an East-meets-West feast with Orlando Bloom, Mark Ruffalo and Juliette Lewis of Sympathy for Delicious. As for photos from the awards, the LA Times has a photo of host David Hyde Pierce (with festival director John Cooper) during his rap performance, in case you missed it live (hopefully it ends up on YouTube).
Deals: In line with their penchant for controversial films, IFC has picked up Michael Winterbottom's polarizing crime drama The Killer Inside Me for a reported $1-1.5 million. They're looking at a late summer/early fall release. Now the world (well, U.S. moviegoers) can experience the same disgust as the audience member who shamed Sundance for showing the film. Later in the day, Roadside Attractions bought Debra Granik's Winter's Bone for low six-figures with plans to release the film this summer. Meanwhile, Oprah Winfrey has bought the documentary A Family Affair to air on her new network and Aamir Khan tells Anne Thompson that he'd like to distribute Peepli Live himself.
Our coverage, some tragic news and other near-end linkage after the jump:
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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