Well, as you can see from the headline, there's a ton of glimpses here... but there are more titles than could fit in the headline so who knows, that illusive film you were curious about could be here. Or it may not... Well, I need sleep I haven't slept since I came down from 35,000 feet.... My brain is exploding.... Here ya go Yoshi....
Alright then. Here's my Sundance report.
I attended the opening night screening of Altman's Cookie's Fortune. Talked to him outside and he seemed like a nice guy. Redford started off the festival with a poorly thrown together speech where the audience was encouraged to applaud every three seconds. Altman talked for a second and brought out the cast, then the movie began.
The story revolves around Cookie and her two daughters, Camille and Cora. Cookie dearly misses her late husband and one day commits suicide to be with him again. Camille comes upon the body and tries to make it look like a robbery/homocide. Cookie's caretaker, played by Charles Dutton, is the only suspect and is placed under custody. This is the basic setup for the story and Altman takes quite a long time establishing it. Thankfully the film picks up in the last half. Chris O'Donnell is surprisingly good as is the rest of the cast. But this still is not one of Altman's best and fits well with his last few.
On Friday I attended a screening of Kill the Man. I really only wanted to see it because Luke Wilson of Bottle Rocket was in it. Big mistake. The movie is about two friends who own an independent copy shop across from a big chain's store. I guess it's a comedy although I can't remember laughing once. Poorly written, shot, and acted. And it did get picked up during the festival so look out for it. That is, in order to avoid it.
On Sunday I checked out the Hughes' Brothers American Pimp, a documentary about pimps. They spent two and half years putting this film together and it turned out pretty good. There are interviews with pimps and hos, clips from movies such as the Mack, and a great soundtrack. It's humorous and interesting. Plus the Hughes' Brothers gave a great Q and A, even bringing Rosebudd, one of the pimps, on stage. Supposedly it is going to get the largest release ever for a documentary so check it out. By the way, their next project is the Jack the Ripper story.
On Monday I saw Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. There's too much plot to describe and I believe someone else already covered it. I can say, though, that it was a fun, entertaining film. It also has a great ending. Everyone I saw it with loved it. I believe it is coming out sometime in March.
I also saw The Warzone, Tim Roth's directorial debut. The movie was shot in Great Britain with a British cast and deals with the subject of incest. Roth handles the subject matter very well and also does a great job with his actors. It's a difficult movie to watch but is worth seeing if it comes out in America.
On Tuesday I went to see Two Hands, the feature film debut of Gregor Jordan. Jordan did the short Swinger, which I have heard a lot about, so I was excited to see this film. The movie takes place in Australia and is about Jimmy. Jimmy agrees to do a job for Pando, the local gangster, and then loses the money. In order to pay back Pando Jimmy attempts to rob a bank with a couple of guys and barely succeeds. And there's a love story. And Jimmy's dead brother narrates the film in parts. This film was just bad. Aside from the bank robbery scene and another scene where a kid gets hit by a car, this movie bored me. And the zombie narration didn't help either.
On Wednesday I went to go see Happy, Texas. This movie created quite a bidding war at the festival so I couldn't wait to see it. Plus it had Steve Zahn and William H. Macy. Steve Zahn and Jeremy Northam play escaped convicts mistaken for a gay couple that are supposed to put on the local girl's pageant. The movie was very funny in some parts, mostly those with Steve Zahn. William H. Macy was also terrific as the local sheriff. For some reason, though, this movie seemed very Hollywood. The idea was great, but the script was not always as good. Overall it was a good movie.
On Friday I attended a screening of the Minus Man, written and directed by Hampton Fancher, who also wrote Blade Runner. The movie stars Owen Wilson as Vann, a serial killer that ends up in a small town. He rents a room at an older couple's house and gets a job at the post office. If I gave away any more plot I would give away the whole story. It was a very slow movie with a lot of voice over by Vann, which provided a different look at a serial killer. I enjoyed it mostly because Owen Wilson was very convincing. Janeane Garofalo was also good as Vann's coworker at the post office.
After that I headed to Doug Lyman's new film, Go. It stars Katie Holmes, Jay Mohr, and Scott Wolf. The movie takes place in three different sections, following three different characters. The whole movie revolves around a botched drug deal. The first of the three was the weakest but had a great ending to it. The second and third were hilarious and a lot of fun. The acting was all well done and I also liked the way the story unfolded. Apparently it's still not the finished product because Sony is trying get different music in for a better soundtrack. Whatever.
On Saturday I went to see the Item. I was told this movie "kicked ass" and it had a really cool poster so I got up very early to see it. I wish I had just slept in. The movie was shot on digital video, which looked surprisingly good. The story is about a group of criminals who have to transport an alien looking creature. But basically it consisted of really bad acting, a horrible script, and a bad imitation of a Raimi/Woo action style. I can't even tell you how bad this movie was. To top it off a woman actually has sex with the rediculous looking alien at the end.
Later on I went to go see Twin Falls Idaho. I've seen this movie all over the site so I will just tell you that it was great. Great script and great acting. It also seemed to be the film that most embodied what Sundance is(used to be?) about. Please feel free to edit this if you use it. I just realised how much I went on for.
Yoshi.
