That damn Buffy follower, XANDER, heard she was killing those sucking slope people at Sundance so he followed her on out there from his native land of skyscrapers. That's devotion my friends, and while his search for Buffy was indeed fruitless... well... He did catch 9 films while there... So check these babies out!!!
I got back from Sundance on Sunday night. Here's a quick run-down on them for you and the readers.
So, yeah, I saw 9 movies at Sundance between Thursday night and Sunday morining, and here's the rundown...
SLIDING DOORS: Extremely tepid romantic comedy, a Miramax/Paramount coproduction, starring Gwyneth Paltrow. It's set in London, and Gwyneth plays a Brit--which would royally offend me if I was English, since there have to be good UK actresses who could use the work. It's nominally a genre picture in that it follows the life of Gwyneth's character on two tracks--the real world, and a parallel universe in which she made it onto a subway she was running for instead of missing it. Very hokey attempt to do something like FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL, but it comes off as very contrived. Definitely one to avoid.
DEAD MAN'S CURVE: Now that's more like it! A tight little thriller written and directed by Dan Rosen (his directoral debut, he wrote THE LAST SUPPER) about two college students (Michael Vartan and SCREAM's Matthew Lillard) who plan to kill their roommate (Randall Batinkoff of TV's RELATIVITY) and make it look like a suicide so they can get the customary automatic 4.0 GPA colleges award students under such circumstances to make up for the emotional trauma. Sort of like a cross between IN THE COMPANY OF MEN and SHALLOW GRAVE set at a college. Lots of twists and turns, very entertaining.
SOME NUDITY REQUIRED: Impressive documentary by Odette Springer about the world of straight-to-video exploitation movies and her work on 'em as a music supervisor/composer. Heavy focus on scream queens Maria Ford and Julie Strain (who came to Sundance to plug the movie along with her husband, Kevin Eastman, of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fame). Lots of funny interviews with people in the industry (Roger Corman, Andy & Arlene Sidaris, many other directors); it takes an interesting twist when Springer gets into how working on movies full of sex, violence and perversion led her to deal with some personal issues she's been avoiding. Really solid.
HOW TO MAKE THE CRUELEST MONTH: Eccentric, funny debut from writer/director Kip Koenig, about a female college student who gives herself 30 days to quit smoking and fall in love. Some of the subplots are a little too quirky for their own good, but it's a very pleasant film, with good performances by Clea Duvall in the lead role and Mary Kay Place, Marianne Jean-Baptiste (SECRETS & LIES), Jorja Fox (E.R.), Dennis Haysbert (ABSOLUTE POWER) and Melissa Auf Den Auer (bass player of Hole) in supporting roles.
FRAT HOUSE: Believe the hype--it's both incredibly funny and scary as hell. Todd Phillips and Andrew Gurland set out to chronicle frat life, are chased off one campus by a hulking frat brother named Blossom, who's one of the scariest movie bad guys I've seen in ages--and he's real--before they find a frat at another school that will only let them film stuff if they go through the brutal hazing rites with the other pledges. I really wanted to go out and drink beer and do bong hits after seeing this one, disturbing as it was. It was produced by HBO, and is only an hour long, so it'll inevitably wind up getting broadcast there.
MONTANA: Pretentious, lame Tarantino-wannabe gangster yarn distinguished only by having been directed by a woman (Jennifer Leitzes) and starring one (Kyra Sedgewick). Nice enough work by Stanley Tucci as Sedgewick's partner, but it's a violent, cliched boring mess, really. Also stars Philip Seymour Hoffman (BOOGIE NIGHTS), Robbie Coltrane, Robin Tunney and John Ritter (as a Tony Robbins-type motivational speaker).
POLISH WEDDING: Another must to avoid. Heartstring-tugging comedy about a big ol' Polish family in Detroit, starring Gabriel Byrne, Claire Danes and Lena Olin. Sappy, drowned in bad music, thoroughly chiched. I was hoping this would be a good lead role for Claire Danes, but it she still hasn't gotten the movie she deserves. A big honking disappointment.
THE REAL BLONDE: Nice, sharp satire of the fashion business and soap operas from director Tom DiCillo (LIVING IN OBLIVION, JOHNNY SUEDE). Matthew Modine and Catherine Keener star as a couple going through relationship problems; Denis Leary, Maxwell Caulfield, Marlo Thomas (yes, THAT GIRL), Daryl Hannah and Elizabeth Berkley are all really funny in supporting roles. Very cool.
PI: First-time writer director Darren Aronofsky proves you don't need a huge budget to make a kickass science-fiction thriller. Shot in a b&w style very reminiscent of ERASERHEAD, it's about a mathematician/computer geek who, using his home-made mainframe, develops a formula that can predict the stock market. It can also decode secrets numerically encoded into the Old Testament, and the guy finds himself pursued by Wall Street bad guys and obsessive Orthodox Jews, all eager for what they can gain from his formula (which also tends to crash computers and give people strokes). Lots of fascinating stuff about chaos theory, etc., here; it reminded me as much of comics writers Grant Morrison and Alan Moore at their most extreme as it did of Lynch, Cronenberg and Fincher. Certainly the most original and intense film I saw at the festival. Aronofsky said at his post-screening Q&A that he's developing "a commercial science-fiction film", which, judging by his work here, should really be something to look forward to.
So there ya go, Harry. Have fun at Sundance yourself, good luck getting into good movies!
