I was at the Egyptian Theater today and saw the poster for ‘Mystery Team’, which if you haven’t seen it already then you obviously have bad taste. Sorry for the low-res-ness. I took it with my iPhone.
Author: Scott
I started this site back in christmas of 2007, and it is what you currently see today.
I am 26, Married to the very beautiful Quinn, with 2 awesome kids..I am a super geek of the largest proportions.
Scott blogs Sundance Film Festival 2009: Day 7
Today was a pretty slow day, I made it up on time to see ‘The Winning Season‘ at Eccles which makes the 2nd great Sam Rockwell movie I have seen here at Sundance. After that it was off to interview Nicolas Winding Refn, the director/writer of ‘Bronson‘. I hadn’t seen ‘Bronson‘ at that point so we decided to sit down and talk after I watched the afternoon screening of it. The movie was brilliant, and the interview was just as good.
After that I went up to headquarters to request some tickets and ran into the cast of ‘Mystery Team‘ who said they loved the review I wrote about the movie. I asked them to do an intro for the site and they obliged:
While I was at headquarters I found this new tea that is freaking amazing. Its called Sundance Organic Life:
Afterwords I headed over to the Yarrow to write up some reviews and get some stuff posted. Got all of that stuff done, was too tired to hit a screening of ‘We Live in Public’ so I just headed back to the condo to get some sleep.
Sundance Review: ‘Unmade Beds’
I wasn’t sure what to expect from ‘Unmade Beds’ based on the synopsis and other things I had heard. What I got was a UK art-house flick about a couple of 20 something drifters who made it from bed to bed while trekking through Europe. Axl keeps count of all of the beds he has slept in since he left home on his journey. He was up to 20 until he landed himself in a communal home/bar and gets to live with them for free. The main goal of his journey to find his dad and see why he abandoned him.
The other story is follows is from a girl named Vera who seems to have recently gotten her heart broken. She goes around taking pictures of all of the beds she sleeps in with a Polaroid camera. She meets a guy at random and starts a low key love affair with him.
The stories finally come together towards the end of the movie with both Axl and Vera have a chance encounter and she leaves him something that he can remember.
The movie was very art house and was visually stunning, but the story is strung together and at points things seem to make very little sense. All in all its a great film that deserves to be seen just understand that the story is a little slow, just keep watching.
Sundance Review: ‘Blindness of the Woods’
This is the first short I have reviewed at Sundance, but this one definitely deserves a review. It played in front of ‘Spring Breakdown’, and it was absolutely brilliant!
The characters in the movie are all like cabbage patch dolls or something similar. The main character is blind and lives in the woods. A local lumber jack helps cut her some wood and to reward him they do some very dirty deeds. The great thing is that you are watching giant dolls has sex, and do all of the dirty deeds.
This is one of the best shorts I have seen so far here at Sundance, and it definitely needs to be seen!
Sundance Review: ‘The Girlfriend Experience’
There was all sorts of buzz going around about Steven Soderbergh showing his newest masterpiece ‘The Girlfriend Experience’ and I was a little hesitant to believe this was even a possibility. I went ahead and submitted a request to get tickets for the event thinking that at the very least I would get to see some clips and hear one of the greatest directors working right now talk about the flick.
When we got there it was as packed as I have seen anything here at Sundance. We got in our seats and Soderbergh came out and started talking about why everyone thought he would be showing the movie. Then he says “the only reason I know of that people think I am showing the movie… is because I really am showing it tonight”, and the crowd erupted. He mentioned that the movie is still in the works and it was a pretty rough cut, but we would get an idea of where he is going with it.
The movie didn’t seem rough at all, it looked very complete. I walked out of the theater thinking that this movie was brilliant, and I am not sure how he can improve on it anymore than he already has.
Essentially the story follows a high priced hooker played by porn star Sasha Grey, who provides he clients with what they call “the girlfriend experience”. Essentially it means that instead of just sex, they go out on dates, talk about things, kiss, and do all things that you and your girlfriend would do… except in the morning you have to pay her… a lot.
The main gist of the story is that she is trying to build her business up, and figuring out ways to do this all the while sustaining a real relationship with her boyfriend.
I am probably not even supposed to be talking about this movie so I wont go into any more plot than that but let me tell you, this could be my favorite Soderbergh work. It is magnificently brilliant and I cannot wait to see what the finished movie will look like.
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
Sundance Review: ‘Black Dynamite’
If you read our site on an type of regular basis you know that I have been obsessed with this movie since we first posted the trailer. Well I found out that it would be premiering at Sundance and immediately starting reeling at the chance to see it.
I ran into the Scott Sanders, and Adrian Younge and we talked about the movie, then hung out with them during the ‘Mystery Team’ screening and they invited our crew to the after party the next night. I didn’t get a chance to see the movie that night but I certainly made it a priority to hit the after party.
I finally got a chance to sit down and see the movie on Tuesday (which I wanted to see this movie on my birthday so it worked out perfectly). What I was in for I don’t think I was nearly ready enough.
If you don’t already know ‘Black Dynamite’ is blaxploitation movie done in a throwback 70’s grindhouse cinema style. The movie looks like it was done in 1974, lost somewhere along the way and now its finally being released.
‘Black Dynamite’ is badder than Bruce Lee, and gets more ladies with his stache than Chuck Norris. This guy is the epitome of a badass, in fact he invited the word badass… it didn’t even exist till I saw the movie on Tuesday.
The story follows ‘Black Dynamite’ as he tries to avenge the death of his brother, all the while getting the “smack” off the streets and out of the orphanage. To do this he recruits a gang of some badass jive turkeys and together they take a stand against “the man”, and bring peace back to the community. He also manages to father a few children, and get down with more than a few ladies, you dig?
This movie features some of the greatest, over the top fight scenes to ever be recorded, along with a soundtrack that leaves you to get funky fresh in your seat. This is a top notch movie that shouldn’t be ignored, so lets hope that Sony gets it right and puts this out for EVERYONE to see.
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
Scott blogs Sundance Film Festival 2009: Day 6
Day 6 was much better as I got a full nights rest and felt pretty good waking up early to catch ‘Adventureland‘, which was really good but not as good as I thought it would be. After that was had to hustle to get down to the Yarrow for an 11:15 screen of ‘The Informers‘, which was quite terrible. Amber Heard is naked, which is a movie geek dream come true but it is not enough to save this film.
From here I went and grabbed some lunch with Neil and Pete at The Racket Club, and the service was horrid. Watched a bunch of President Obama driving around in his fly limo and then off to the yarrow for some work. Got a few things done and went over to Eccles to see a special, super early sneak peak at ‘The Girlfriend Experience’ which is the new Steven Soderbergh flick starring Sasha Grey as a high price hooker who provides her clients with..you guessed it a girlfriend experience. The movie was great and I cannot wait to see the finished product. Oh, wait… I wasn’t supposed to say any of that stuff so strike it from your memory!
From there I went back to the Yarrow, posted Jonathan Levine’s Sundance stuff he sent me and waited around for a late night screening of my most anticipated movie of Sundance ‘Black Dynamite’. This movie was even more badass than I thought it would be and that is saying ALOT. Even though today was my birthday I was stupid tired and headed back to the condo for some much needed rest.
Sundance Review: ‘The Winning Season’
Sam Rockwell is Sundance Film Festival 2009, and I am very happy about that. One of my favorite actors, Rockwell stung everyone with 2 movies at this year’s festival. The first being ‘Moon‘ which Rockwell turned in a couple of great performances, and now ‘The Winning Season’. Which is a basketball dramedy about an out of work, alcoholic ex basketball coach who is sought out to Coach the girls varsity team at his former high school.
At this point there isn’t anything that I don’t think Rockwell can pull off and this movie definitely proves that. He plays Bill, a basketball coach who did great things for a boys varsity team, is having to deal with life outside of basketball while he works as a bus boy at a local restaurant. A friend of his comes to offer him the job of coaching girls varsity basketball as the school Bill took to state finals when he was in high school. After much reluctance he takes the job on only to realize that the team isn’t that good and he has more work to do than he anticipated.
James C. Strouse (‘Grace is Gone’) wrote and directed this one in fine fashion. I was really surprised at how emotional I got towards the end of the movie when Rockwell was overcoming his demons. The movie treads along the lines of a full blown comedy, intertwined with a full blown drama. If you are a fan of Sam Rockwell, or heart warming stories of conquering your past and making things right then this is definitely a movie you need to see.
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
Sundance Review: ‘Bronson’
‘Bronson’ is a true story based on the life of an infamous prisoner in the UK nicknamed Charles Bronson, played by magnificent Tom Hardy. Charles Bronson, or before he got his “fighting name” Mickey Peterson, was born to be in prison, its where he feels at home, it is his “hotel room”.
The movie starts off showing Charles growing up, and sculpting what he will eventually become. He likes to fight, and even though he is short, 5’9, he has brute strength and no fear. The first time he goes to prison is after he robs a post office. He is sentenced to 7 years and gets sent away. While in prison he hones his fighting skills by taking on guards, other inmates, and anyone else that comes in his path. Eventually they send him to a mental institution and after costing the UK government several million pounds, they release him back into society.
Nicholas Winding Refn does an amazing job at making you feel the grittiness of living the lifestyle that Charles Bronson experienced. There are many elements that he used that really resonate with ‘A Clockwork Orange’, and other movies from the UK. During the Q&A one person brought up the similarities of the two movies and he agreed that certain elements definitely go hand in hand. He also brought up a good point about when making movies, everyone steals from other movies, and that was one of his main goals in this movie.
The performance Tom Hardy gives as Charles Bronson is absolutely mesmerizing! This guy was absolutely born to portray this role and he gives every bit of himself to it. When you walk out of the theater you should be blown away, because if you aren’t then I am not sure you are a true fan of cinema… this is as good as it gets!
