Sundance2009 Tagged Articles at Cinematical
New 'Grace' Trailer -- Red Band Baby!
Filed under: Horror », SXSW », Sundance », Movie Marketing », Trailers and Clips »
I'll keep this short: There's a horror flick coming out later this year called Grace. Lots of people (including me and Eric Snider) like it a lot, such as former Cinematical scribe (and mother of five) Kim Voynar, who went to the Sundance screening after I basically commanded her to. When I saw her later she was both grateful (for recommending it) and angry (for not seeing it with her). Then it hit Austin and earned even more fans -- and not just horror geeks, mind you, although they're the ones who seemed to dig it the most.
The flick is still shuffling through the festival circuit, but Anchor Bay will deliver the DVD before year's end, and it looks like my pals over at FEARnet have scored the first look at the "red-band" (R rated) trailer for Grace. Click right here to take a look at the rather impressive new promo clip, and then come back for some friendly advice. (Pause.) OK, back? Good: This movie is not suitable for pregnant women. Frankly you should spend three years in jail if you show Grace to a pregnant woman. Ten years if you make it a double feature with Inside.
Sundance Hit 'Push' Will Play at a Theater Near You
Filed under: Drama », Independent », Deals », Sundance », Lionsgate Films », Festival Reports », Distribution »
One of the minor eyebrow-raisers at this year's Sundance Film Festival was that the fest ended without its most acclaimed film being picked up by a distributor. That would be Push: Based on a Novel by Sapphire (not to be confused with that Chris Evans/Dakota Fanning super-power thing coming out this week), the harrowing drama that won both the grand jury prize AND the audience award -- a rare feat. Would it languish in obscurity and go straight to DVD, despite its critical and popular acclaim? No! It won't! And as usual, we have Oprah to thank. Her production company and Tyler Perry's company will help finance distribution of the film, which has been officially purchased by Lionsgate. Lionsgate tends to be frugal in its marketing (at least in comparison with the bigger studios), hence the need for partners. Plus, the film is a hard sell: It's about an obese, illiterate Harlem teen who's pregnant for the second time by her father and who lives with her abusive mother. It's not the usual Lionsgate product (i.e., a Saw sequel) and not the kind of thing that will have a $20 million opening weekend.
But Ms. Winfrey and Mr. Perry evidently recognize its value, and don't worry -- since the film is already done, it's too late for either of them to mess it up. (Had Perry made the film, surely he would have played the overweight teenage girl himself.)
My rave review for Cinematical can be found here. But if my word and the words of Oprah and Madea aren't enough to convince you, look at what Variety, Film School Rejects, IndieWire, and the New York Post said about it. Lionsgate hasn't said when they plan to release it, but I wouldn't be surprised if they wait until fall and give it a push for awards season.
The 20 Hottest of Sundance 2009
Filed under: Sundance », Fandom », Lists »
-(2)-(2).jpg)
We came, we saw, it kicked our ass. The 25th anniversary of the Sundance Film Festival brought us many memorable moments, buzzed-about films and a really lame fist fight between a film critic and, um, The Dude? Counting down the 20 hottest of Sundance 2009 for Cinematical are our fantastic festival contributors: James Rocchi, Scott Weinberg, Eric D. Snider and Erik Davis. Check it out below and let us know what we missed ...
Hottest of Sundance 2009
1. The Recession
From the downsized parties to the sparser crowds, from the depopulated press corps to the presence of B-list soda Shasta as a sponsor, the economic recession was visible all over Park City this year. The big studios weren't buying as many films, either. What if the next "Napoleon Dynamite" got overlooked?? EDS
Wes Clark
2. 500 Days of Summer
I love, love, love this movie. Those who trash it shall feel my wrath. And my wrath doesn't feel good. Pitch-perfect humor, honest romance, two great performances, solid tunes, and a delivery that reminds me of good ol' Annie Hall. [Read our review] SW
Fox Searchlight
3. The Girlfriend Experience
The Tuesday "Sneak Preview" on the schedule at the Eccles Theater at Sundance this year turned out to be Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience -- the director's new shot-on-video look at work and sex and sex work in 2008 New York on the eve of the election. The preview wasn't just a nice way for the Festival to look back to its past (Soderbergh's 1989 sex, lies and videotape was brought up during the 2008 Festival the same way Reagan comes up at Republican conventions, and for the same reasons; it represents the shiny, never-was yesterday that today has to compare itself with) but also as a nod to the future. [Read our review] JR
Sasha Grey
4. Twitter
New technology always influences the way Sundance is covered, and this year's hot new toy was Twitter. For the first time, bloggers gave their followers updates every step of the way: What movie they were in line for, and what they thought of it when it was over. Because no one should have to wait until tomorrow to hear The Informers sucked. EDS
5. Film Critic Fist Fight
The event with the most buzz wasn't some fancy film premiere or hoppin' after party – it was, instead, an actual fist fight between Variety reporter John Anderson and Jeff "The Dude" Dowd, a producer's rep on the film Dirt! And all of it was over ... a bad review? [Read more about it here] ED
Lebowski Opinion
6. Push: Based on a Novel by Sapphire
Push: Based on a Novel by Sapphire had the makings of an exploitative trainwreck: an obese, illiterate Harlem teenager who's pregnant. For the second time. By her father. But director Lee Daniels handles the material sensitively, and the raw lead performance by new-comer Gabourey Sidibe makes it an unforgettable story about rising above adversity. [Read our review] EDS
Sundance Film Festival
7. Humpday
Lynn Shelton's improvised, shot-on-DV comedy about two old friends who slide back into each other's life -- one a married, stable homebody (Mark Duplass), the other continuing a constant set of global travels that never seem to go anywhere (Joshua Leonard) -- and, out of a weird mix of inarticulate affection, sexual gamesmanship and friendly foolishness agree to have sex on film for an art project. The setup sounds wacky-with-a-capital-W, but Shelton and her cast aren't interested in big, fake jokes; they're interested in small-scale, real humanity. [Read our review] JR
Sundance Film Festival
8. Carey Mulligan
Though you may not know her name now, Carey Mulligan swept into Sundance with two films (The Greatest, An Education) and left not only with new representation, but also with the words "Star in the Making" tattooed across her forehead. A brilliant British version of Katie Holmes, Mulligan will definitely "arrive" in 2009. Watch for her. ED
Sundance Film Festival
9. Trashing The Informers
The press folks WANTED to dig this one, but man it was funny hearing them hate it so loudly. Aside from Amber Heard's nakedness, there's nothing about this "bored, hateful rich kids" tale we haven't yawned through before. [Read our review] SW
Sundance Film Festival
10. Pregnancies
Pregnancies and parenthood were major themes this year. Grace showed a mother who would literally do anything for her baby; Push was the harrowing story of a teenage mother; Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan mourned their dead son in The Greatest; and so did Robin Williams in World's Greatest Dad. Family values, folks. EDS
The Greatest, Sundance
Watch This: 'Mary and Max' Trailer
Filed under: Animation », Comedy », Drama », Sundance », Fandom », Trailers and Clips »
.jpg)
It feels like ages ago since I first watched it, but really it's only been about two weeks. Mary and Max, the opening night film of this year's Sundance Film Festival, is a fantastic darkly-comedic claymation flick about two pen pals -- one old and one young -- who discover one another and go on to forge a life-long friendship. I'll admit the film is not for everyone; the tone is definitely a bit darker than what you'd expect from a cutesy-looking claymation story -- but if you like your movies a little sideways, then I can't see why you wouldn't have fun with Mary and Max.
From my Sundance review: "Although a tad sappy and heavy-handed at times, Mary and Max fidgets and wiggles its way into our good spirits by the time it reaches its endearing conclusion, as we're left to examine not just the relationships we have in our lives, but the ones we have with ourselves, too." No word yet one when you can catch Mary and Max either in the theater or at home, but we'll let you know as more develops. In the meantime, check out the first trailer below (courtesy of Collider).
Oh, and believe it or not but that old Jewish voice with the New York accent belongs to Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Sundance Review: Adam
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Independent », New Releases », Theatrical Reviews », Festival Reports »
If I told you that Adam was about a man with Asperger syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism, you would instantly lose all interest in seeing it, right? Yeah, that's what I thought. If Fox Searchlight's marketers are smart, they'll keep a lid on that aspect of the film, because it's actually a humorously bittersweet story buoyed by likable performances, and not an oh-geez-here-comes-another-film-about-a-saintly-disabled-person movie.
The Adam in question, played by Hugh Dancy, is an electronic engineer whose current job has him working on a toy company's new talking doll. Adam's father has just died, leaving him alone in the spacious Manhattan apartment they once shared, with Harlan (Frankie Faison), a family friend, to keep an eye on him
Adam can mostly take care of himself, though. People with Asperger -- Aspies, as Adam calls them -- take things literally and have trouble knowing what other people are thinking, and they tend to misread facial expressions. Aside from that, they do OK. Adam is happiest when following a routine, and he gets particularly excited by astronomy. He doesn't seem much different from your average nerd.
The new tenant in his building is Beth (Rose Byrne), an elementary school teacher who is immediately fascinated by Adam's quirky personality, not realizing it's an actual mental disorder -- and after all, where is the line between "interesting" and "diagnosable"? Adam and Beth begin a tentative friendship and eventually a romance, though both are aware that such an arrangement will be difficult at best. Beth's father (Peter Gallagher), a corporate accountant who's just been indicted for shady bookkeeping, is adamantly anti-Adam for that reason.
Sundance Review: Dead Snow
Filed under: Comedy », Foreign Language », Horror », Independent », New Releases », Sundance », Theatrical Reviews », Festival Reports »
The main thing Dead Snow wants you to know is that it's a splatter film about Nazi zombies. You like zombies, and Nazis add kitsch value, so you're sold. But once you get past the relative novelty of it (they're ZOMBIES, but they're also NAZIS!!), Dead Snow is only so-so. The only thing that separates it from the zombie movies you've already seen is that it's in Norwegian.
It's from director Tommy Wirkola, who, with co-writer Stig Frode Henriksen, had a huge hit in Norway with the 2007 Tarantino parody Kill Buljo. Dead Snow offers more proof of Wirkola's fondness for Tarantino, and you get the feeling he's seen plenty of Sam Raimi and George Romero, too. Those are all good ingredients, but without some kind of new spice all you're doing is serving leftovers.
Hungry now? Good. Let's talk about flesh-eating zombies. These ones are Nazi officers and soldiers whose frozen bodies, long hidden beneath the snow of Norway's hinterlands, have now been reanimated for reasons that Wirkola barely bothers to explain. Their victims are a group of college students who have trekked to a remote cabin for a weekend of wintertime merriment.
Watch This: 'The Cove' Trailer
Filed under: Documentary », Sundance », Fandom », Movie Marketing », Trailers and Clips »
Every year I leave Park City, Utah with a couple films I'm more than willing to champion the hell out of so that more folks pay attention and try to watch them when they finally become available. For me, one of those films this year was The Cove. I've been explaining it to people as the Dear Zachary of nature documentaries, and I wasn't the only one blown away by this flick as it took home the audience award at Sundance in the U.S. Documentary Competition section.
You can read Scott's review over here, but essentially The Cove follows a group of people who travel to this remote part of Japan where they're supposedly slaughtering 23,000 dolphins each year. And while the Japanese law enforcement does all they can to keep folks away from the truth, this rag-tag group of scientists, swimmers and adventurers risk their lives to uncover an atrocity the world needs to know more about. No word on when The Cove will hit theaters (I spoke with one of the guys last night and he said they're still negotiating a deal), but you can check out the trailer below ... and you bet your ass I'll be back to remind you about this flick later in the year.
Sundance in 60 Seconds: Sunday, January 25, 2009 -- Distribution Wrap Edition
Filed under: Deals », Sundance », Festival Reports », Distribution », Cinematical Indie »
The latest edition of the Sundance Film Festival came to an end today. But when can we see the movies everyone was talking about? At least 17 films, listed below in alphabetical order, have some kind of distribution deal in place, including Doug Pray's doc Art & Copy, which was just announced today. Title links will take you to Cinematical reviews. Catch up with our of all coverage -- including 20 more reviews -- via the Sundance hub at Moviefone.
Sundance 2009 - Films with Distribution:
500 Days of Summer (comedy; Fox Searchlight; 2009 - July 24).
Adam (romantic comedy; Fox Searchlight; 2009 - TBA).
Adventureland (comedy; Miramax; 2009 - March 27).
Art & Copy (doc; Arthouse Films; 2009 - TBA). Announced today, per Variety.
Black Dynamite (blaxpoitation comedy; Sony Pictures Worldwide; 2009 - TBA).
Brooklyn's Finest (police drama; Senator entertainment; 2009 - 4th quarter).
Burma VJ (doc; HBO; TV rights only; 2010).
Dead Snow (Nazi zombie horror/comedy; IFC Films; 2009 - TBA).
An Education (coming of age romance; Sony Classics; 2009 - Fall).
Humpday (relationship comedy; Magnolia Pictures; 2009 - VOD; August theatrical).
In the Loop (comedy; IFC Films; 2009 - TBA).
Moon (science fiction; Sony Classics from Sony Pictures Worldwide; 2009 - June).
Rudo y Cursi (drama; Sony Classics; 2009 - May 8).
Sin Nombre (drama; Focus Features; 2009 March 20 ).
Spread (comedy; Anchor Bay; 2009 - TBA).
Tyson (doc; Sony Classics; 2009 - April 24).
The Winning Season (sports comedy/drama; Lionsgate; TBA).
Cinematical Seven: Movies That Made The Rest of Us Envious That Everyone Else Was At Sundance
Filed under: Comedy », Documentary », Drama », Independent », Romance », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Sundance », Noir », Mystery & Suspense », IFC », Magnolia », Sony Classics », Distribution », Fox Searchlight »
(Warning: This one goes up to eleven...)
1. Moon -- Most were admittedly intrigued by the prospect of Sam Rockwell alone and yet potentially not on a lunar station going into the fest, and this seemed to be the first film to live up to its promise as a modest yet straight-up sci-fi endeavor (that just happened to have a Kevin Spacey-voiced robot, and just tell me you wouldn't want one of those waking you up and telling you to pay it forward all the friggin' time).
2. 500 Days of Summer -- I'd liked the vague stuff I'd been hearing about this one going into the fest as well -- namely, "Zooey Deschanel, Zooey Deschanel, Zooey Deschanel" -- and I certainly liked the teaser trailer that made its way out just hours before the film's formal premiere. Does it look like Fox Searchlight's particular brand of indie hipster quirk that's just begging to get too popular for its own good by about Labor Day? Sure, but if it's as adorable as it seems, that's a chance I'm willing to take, Zooey.
Sundance Review: Sin Nombre
Filed under: Drama », Foreign Language », Independent », Sundance », Theatrical Reviews », Focus Features », Sundance Reviews 2009 »
One of the more fascinating and gut-wrenching films at this year's festival, Sin Nombre managed to snag a couple of awards (Best Director and Best Cinematography in U.S. Dramatic Competition) before skipping town with a writer-director who's sure to become Hollywood's next great filmmaker. The film, while frequently heartbreaking to watch, also comes with its own unbelievable story. Focus Features became involved early on based solely on its script, and then proceeded to provide financing to a first-time feature director for a film that was entirely in Spanish and featured some main actors that had never been in a movie before. The good news for Focus is their gamble paid off, and Sin Nombre is easily one of the best films of 2009 so far.
Essentially a road trip thriller with a love story mixed in, Sin Nombre tracks the fate of three teenagers traveling through Mexico on their way toward the U.S. border. Sayla (Paulina Gaitan) is living a hard life in Honduras when her father and uncle decide it's time for the three of them to attempt to cross over into the United States and meet up with dad's "other family" in New Jersey -- full of brothers and sisters her pop fathered before he was caught and deported. But the journey is a tough one: First the trio must cross a river into Mexico, and then hop a train -- by riding on its roof -- for a three-week journey to the border. Before the train arrives, Sayla's father tells her that half the people traveling with them (100-200) will either die or be caught by border police and sent back home. Nevertheless, the promise of a better life on the other side is too appetizing to ignore.
_thumbnail.jpg)
James Cameron Never Wanted to Make 'Titanic'
Their Best Role: Brad Pitt and 'Fight Club'_thumbnail.jpg)
Megan Fox's Scratched SNL Hitler/Michael Bay Joke
Quick List: Five Favorite Ice-Bound Movie Moments
Blu-ray Review: Funny People
