Waiting in the ticketholder line - yay!

The Big List

Here's a list of every film we saw this year.


1 Chicago 10
2 Strange Culture
3 Expired
4 Delirious
5 The Savages
6 Rocket Science
7 Broken English
8 Slipstream
9 Reprise
10 Snow Angels
11 Teeth
12 Adrift in Manhattan
13 Starting Out in the Evening
14 Save Me
15 Interview
16 The Good Life
17 Dedication
18 Hounddog
19 On the Road with Judas
20 Grace is Gone
21 Zoo
22 Four Sheets to the Wind
23 Dark Matter
24 Summer Rain
25 Never Forever
26 If I'd Known I Was a Genius
27 Angel-A
28 Once
29 Fido
30 Girl 27
31 For the Bible Tells Me So
32 The Good Night
33 Chapter 27
34 The Go-Getter
35 Banished
36 Sweet Mud
37 La Misma Luna
38 The Signal
39 Waitress
40 Life Support
41 The Ten
42 Hot House
43 Joshua
44 Hear and Now

OF THESE 44, here are the BEST! That is, the ones both Shiri and I rated a 5 (out of 5):

Delirious
Rocket Science
Teeth
Starting Out in the Evening
The Good Life
Dedication
Hounddog
Grace is Gone
Once
Girl 27
For the Bible Tells Me So
Hear and Now

The last ones

Here are the rest of our Sundance reviews – six more!

Waitress – WHEW, what a hard movie to get into! It initially had only two Park City screenings and we missed them both, so we were ecstatic to hear they added a screening of it later in the week. The film was really cute. Keri Russell plays a southern waitress unhappily pregnant by her jerk of a husband (Jeremy Sisto). But, the girl’s got a hottie obstetrician and a heart full of dreams….

Life Support stars Queen Latifah and will air on HBO sometime soon. It’s the true story of a Brooklyn woman living with AIDS and the good work she does in her community as well as the impact the disease has on her already taxed family. It was okay. Kind of long and not super fast moving, but the performances were great.

The Ten – we got in! It was showing at the Holiday, which is the smallest theater (150) seats). But Matt and Tim helped us find tickets, so we finally got to see it after failing in our attempts to attend the premiere earlier in the fest. The movie was pretty dumb. Huge cast, but eh – just silly. I guess that was the point? It was very random, which I did appreciate. But, eh.

On the last day of the festival, they play primarily the award winners, which are announced on Saturday night. Surprisingly enough, after seeing over 40 movies, we still hadn’t seen many of the films that were singled out by the Sundance jury. So, we were lucky enough to check out the following films yesterday (the last day of the fest):

Hot House – This is a documentary that stepped into the prisons in Israel that house Palestinian terrorists. Wow – this was scary stuff. It was also pretty well done in that the film didn’t take a huge stance on either side. There were some pretty militant people in there, and I was happy to learn even more about what’s going on there.

Joshua – Holy Creepy movie!!! This was about a wealthy Manhattan couple whose lives began to unravel, seemingly at the hands of their twisted, evil 9 year old son. The score was so effective for this one. Freeeaky. Another film that reminded me why Vera Farmiga is a force to be reckoned with.

Hear and Now – this one won the Audience Award for Documentary. And for good reason! It follows director Irene Taylor-Brodsky’s hearing-impaired parents as they make the decision at 65 years of age to get cochlear implants which may give them the ability to hear after spending their lives in silence. Shiri says it’s her favorite of the festival. I agreed that it was quite moving and beautifully made. It will air on HBO in 2008 so make a mental note to catch it in a year or so.

How we got in to 44 movies

 

Park City hospitality

 

We beg differ

 

 

Lazy day

I think we're only going to see three or four movies today. For shame!

We slept in today, which is probably a good thing since we want to avoid napping in films and have successfully done so thus far.

Last night we saw a freaking SCARY movie, The Signal. Wow! Horror movies and Dor usually do not mix. But as one would expect, I became desensitized to the violence about 10 minutes into it, and was able to just enjoy myself. You'll definitely be hearing about this film sometime this year. Wowwww. And it was funny, too!

The next one we're seeing is Waitress, starring Jeremy Sisto and Kerry Rossell, directed by Adrienne Shlley, the indie filmmaker who was found murdered a couple months ago in her West Village apartment. Yikes.

The cleaning and packing process has begun. Very excited to start going home already.

Penultimate

It's the end of the second to last real day of Sundance. Tomorrow is Saturday, and then Sunday they just screen the award winners.

We are about to see our fifth film of the day.

This morning began with a delightful road movie called The Go-Getter, starring Lou Pucci (Thumbsucker), Zooey Deschanel and Jena Malone. Hilarious script, complex characters, etc. Loved, loved, loved it. It's about a teenage boy who steals a car to drive cross country to tell his estranged brother that their mom is dead. Superbbbbb.

After that, we stayed at the Library for a documentary called Banished, about the racial cleansing that occurred in the deep south in the early 1900's when blacks were driven out of their communities in droves, and the issue of repairation. I thought it was good. Shiri wasn't convinced.

The 5:30 timeslot brought us to Sweet Mud, an Israeli film about a young boy living on kibbutz dealing with his mentally troubled mom. Very good, and of course Shiri enjoyed the whole experience a great deal.

After that, we made our way over to the Prospector for La Misma Luna, a Mexican film about the human side of illegal immigraion. I fell in love with the 9 year old boy in the film who risks his life to reunite himself with his mother who has been working across the border in the US. This one was purchased very early on in the fest, and for good reason. It's soooooooo good, and sweet. A little sentimental, but all of the positives weigh out that one kind of negative.

Now we're waiting at the Egyptian to see The Signal. Aint It Cool News calls it "the discovery of the festival," so for that reason I am excited. But, I'm nervous since it's a horror movie and I'm not too big on gore. We shall see.

Tomorrow we will probably see four movies, or maybe five, if we can get into The Ten at the Holiday (yeah right).

Now I will sip my Mountain Dew and hope not to fall asleep during the film (soooo tired).

Markus Redmond of If I Had Known I Was a Genius

 

Jared Leto at Chapter 27 Q & A

 

Danny DeVito at the good night Q & A

 

Gwyneth Paltrow at the good night Q & A

 

Glenn from the Frames at the Q&A for Once

 

Day Eight

Some interesting facts about our experience the festival so far:

1. We have not fallen asleep in even one film yet - has to be a record!
2. We've only eaten two meals out - the rest we've had at the condo or packed and brought with us (yay)
3. There have only been two films we have not gotten into so far (Joshua and The Ten)
4. We've seen all the Dramatic competition except for 4 films
5. We have seen 32 films so far. If we see five today, five tomorrow and four on Sunday, that will bring us up to 46 - woo!

We're currently at the Library about to see The Go-Getter, which is Matt's favorite film so far, so hopefully we're in for a treat.

The celebrities are dwindling since it's the end of the fest, so we won't have too many more photo updates.

It feels like we've been here a month. We love it but it will be so nice to be home. Also, at $15 a ticket this year (ugh), I am now pretty damned broke! Boo.

Take a sad song and make it better

We just watched Chapter 27, the film that chronicles Mark David Chapman's three days leading up until the point that he killed John Lennon.

The film was pretty pointless, but the performance was remarkable. 

The Q and A is interesting. I don't think the film was well-received. It was controversial and not supported by Yoko Ono and they are kind of skirting around that issue. And people keep shouting out questions and being confrontational.

Yeah, the film was pretty worthless except Jared Leto's acting, and the Q and A was horrible and awkward. Ugh.

SLACKING!

Okay, I realize we are behind in blogging.

Give me some credit - we are exhausted! 31 films so far, and we'll hopefully see six tomorrow.

Last night brought us to Fido, a midnight screening of a zombie comedy. Shiri didn't care for it but I laughed regularly. Carrie-Ann Moss was dead on as the perfect charicature of a a '50's wife/mother.

This morning, we could NOT wake up! So we slept in until 10 AM (slackers) and then went to see Girl 27, a doc about a young actress who was raped at an MGM party in the 1930's, and the total cover-up that followed. WE LOVED THIS - really powerful and disturbing. I hope it comes out. Great footage.

Next, we saw what may have been the best film of the festival - For the Bible Tells Me So, a documentary examining religion and homosexuality. There was not a dry eye in the house. It profiled about five different families whose lives have been affected by the clash between Christianity and their gay loved ones. Wow, Wow, Wow. Tears. The director was SO well spoken and many of the subjects were there. Amazing.

After that, we saw a crappy movie directed by Gwyneth Paltrow's brother called The Good Night. What was the point? I don't rightly know.

We know we suck for not labeling our celebrity photos. We'll get around to it soon.

A movie so nice I could see it twice

It's screenings like this that remind me of why I love Sundance.

We saw a BEAUTIFUL film called once, starring the frontman for The Frames. It was basically a musical with the most gorgeous soundtrack. It was about a lonely busker in Dublin who meets a girl who also makes beautiful music.

The Q and A ruled so amazingly hardcore. They did a full question and answer session and THEN they played two songs from the film on acoustic guitar. I loved it so much.

Now we are headed up to Main St again to see if we can get into a midnight screeening of Fido.

Slacker

-----Original Message-----
From: Dorothy Dotson
To: 'hantenhoney.sundance@blogger.com' <hantenhoney.sundance@blogger.com>
Sent: Wed Jan 24 15:56:09 2007
Subject: Slacker

I have been a big slacker. Not in movie-going but blogging.

Let's get caught up. Last night saw Shiri and I attending two mediocre screenings.

Dark Matter starred Meryl Streep (not in attendance) and Aidan Quinn and I did not particularly care for it. The plot involved a Chinese exchange student going for his PHD iin cosmology, going head to head with his advisor and struggling to prove himself and make his parents proud. MEH

Summer Rain, directed by a very long-winded Antonio Banderas, was touted by him to be more poem than prose. According to him, it lived in "dreams and memories" and in that way, it worked. And although it had gorgeous actors and steamy sex scenes, the movie was too long and the story was difficult to follow.

This morning, we began with Never Forever, a drama about reclaiming one's sense of self, which starred Vera Farmiga as a white woman who enlists the help of a Korean illegal immigrant in order to get pregnant after she learns her husband is impotent. We liked this one a lot!

Next, a movie break for a few hours. Whew!! We trekked up to Main Street to claim some lame goodies from the Airborne lounge. Plus, we laughed at the gaggle of paparazzi waiting for Gwyneth Paltrow, and then later couldn't resist the urge to snap a photo of her when she crossed our path.

Now we are on the shuttle headed to the Prospector where we will try to see the new Luc Besson. We just got out of an autobiographical comedy about a black guy struggling to make it as an actor called If I Had Known I Was A Genious. Light-hearted and cute. A nice break from the wrist-slashing heavy melodramas we have been subjected to all week!

Meet Skippy - WA-HOW..

 

Mian Street Sightings

 

 

 

Antonio Banderas at Summer Rain Q&A

 

John Cusack at Grace is Gone Q&A

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over halfway done

Would you believe it is day six?  We are about to see our twenty first film? Not too bad.

Shiri is currently making fun of me because she says I move my lips silently to the words that I am typing. I hotly contest this assertment, but she swears.

We have seen some stellar works of cinema since I last wrote.

Hounddog was utterly remarkable! Starring Dakota Fanning who I normally don't love but whose performance was staggering, and the equally impressive Robin Wright Penn the film follows a charismatic young girl's tumultuous childhood in the south. WOW - it was a moving and beautiful film that I strongly believe will be recognized next award season.

After that we saw the bland and forgettable On the Road With Judas. Not even worth reviewing here.

This morning our first film was Grace Is Gone, starring John Cusack as a father of two struggling how to tell his girls that their mother has just been killed in the line of duty in Iraq. Holy crap, awesome film. At the Q and A, John talked a lot about how even though he has very strong political beliefs, he wants the film to stand alone as a story about grief, and the sacrifices families of the troops must endure.

I predict Grace is Gone or Hounddog will win the Grand Jury prize. 

Oh I forgot to mention that the PR person for RAINN was part of the Hounddog Q and A, and they had the hotline number in the end credits, which is great case I was thinking about that throughout the film.

Now we are about to watch Zoo at the library. Shiri is uploading pics as I type this.

We miss NYC.

 

 

 

 

Falling behind!

I am crap at blogging today!

I will make a general statement. I was expecting a low-key, slow year for film here, but we have yet to see a bad flick! Everything has been good or great. I haven't been totally blown away yet, but I have been seriously thrilled by jusy about everything.

This morning, we slept in until ten thirty, woo! Shiri made eggs and then we dashed over to the Eccles for a somber film called The Good Life.  Mark Webber and Chris Klein gave the stand out performances in this poetic piece about a small town boy's struggles with his family. Very typical Sundance movie.

Then we saw Dedication, starring Billy Crudup (swoooon) and Mandy Moore. FUNNY STUFF! A bit formulaic in the ending but a very fun ride. Quirky.

Now we are sitting down waiting for Hounddog to start. This is the controversial film that stars Dakota Fanning as a child abuse victim. 

 

 

 

The Interview

Just finished watching the Steve Buscemi film The Interview which is basically a ninety minute conversation between a journalist (Buscemi) and an actress (Sienna Miller). I thought it was going to be kind of like My Dinner With Andre which I didn't like, but this one was much better. More action. And dayam, that Sienna Miller is gorgeous!

Oh, and before the movie when we were asking for extra tickets, Sienna Miller walked up to Shiri and was like "are you looking for tickets for Interview? Wait here and I will try to hook you up." But then someone cam ewith another pair and the show was about to start so we bought them and went in.

So sleepy. Worried about waking up tomorrow.

Sunday's Fourth and Fifth Films

Sleeeeeeeeepy.

The Lili movie, Starting Out in the Evening, was GREAT! She was awesome and not her typical gay or weird character. Frank Langella was also great, as an accomplished author in his golden years as he contronts a daughter whose clock is ticking and a young grad student doing her master thesis on his work.

The next film, Save Me, tenderly dealt with the issues of homosexuality, Christianity and rehabilitation. It featured a stellar performance by Judith Light as the leader of a Christian rehab house for men who are "sexually broken." I have not seen so many crying fags since the last show of Tori tour. I found a few flaws with the film but it was hard to fault such a sweet and socially concious premise.

We have done well with tickets today. We have gotten into everything we wanted to see. I think for our potential sixth film of the day, however, we may fail. We shall see.

Adrift in Park City

We just saw one of the best of the fest, I'd imagine.

Adrift in Manhattan, starring Heather Graham and Victor Rasuk (of Raising Victor Vargas) starred in this somber portrait of three troubled New Yorkers.  I just loved it. Today is a great day for movies.

And the next one stars Lili Taylor! Woo.

Sunday morning

We started the day out with Snow Angels, a powerful drama from the director of All the Real Girls. It featured the best performance I have seen yet this year, by Sam Rockwell.

We have just finished watching Teeth, one of the boldest and most fucked up movies I have ever seen. It was disturbing and graphic, but in a very, very funny way. I won't spoil it by mentioning the plot, but let's just say it's something you have never seen before at the movies. Absolutely incredible. The Sundance programmer who introduced it said it could have easily been a midnight screening but he just kept picturing it playing to a sold out crowd at the Eccles. WOWOWOW. I hope this comes out.

The Latest

We are exhausted! I will try to catch up.

We saw the Anthony Hopkins movie. He was in attendance of course, which ruled. The film itself was super trippy.  Kind of like Mulholland Drive meets The Wizard of Oz meets some weird wacky experimental short. But GOOD! Weeeeird. The Q and A was one of the most enjoyable in Sundance History, for me. He talked about how he basically wrote it as a creative joke and never thought it would even get made.  He mentioned he wanted to break the rules. "What do you mean we can't edit like that? Who says? SAYS WHO?" He was incredibly charismatic and well-spoken.

Next, we tried and failed to get into Joshua at the Raquet Club. Soooo freezing cold out at that point. We hauled our defeated selves back home and made a pizza.

We had planned to try and see the new Araki, Smiley Face, but Tim told us that two and a half hours before show time, they had already given out 200 waitlist numbers. We did not want a repeat of the night before (The Ten) so we changed our minds and decided to see something we'd definitely get into.

So, tha made our last film of the day a Norwegian flick called Reprise, about two lifelong friends in their twenties - writers who are struggling with their place in the literary world and the social sphere - friends, lovers, and even their own sanity. Pretty good stuff.

And more...