Every once in awhile you come across a movie that defies your expectations, reforms your thoughts, and inspires you.. I was lucky enough to have the privilege of seeing Taking Chance staring Kevin Bacon in my time at Sundance. I was even luckier to have him speak at the showing alongside the actual individuals the film was based upon.
Choosing movies before arriving at Sundance is quite difficult, merely a guessing game because the film guide makes them seem equally interesting, and captivating. However when I read the description for the movie Taking Chance, it became my most anticipated film, and it did not disappoint. Director Ross Katz did an exceptional job, with the film and all it was worth.
Kevin Bacon stars as, Lt Col. Michael Strobel whom is a high ranking officer that has not fought in the battle fields. Constantly feeling guilty for his decision to remain home with his family, he decides to volunteer to become a military escort for a marine back to his hometown of Dubious Wyoming. You find out that “Bacon” has chosen to escort this certain solider because of their same hometown. The movie portrays the heart wrenching and riveting story as Lt. Michael Strobel transports one of his own back to his homeland.
Waiting in line at Prospector theater at 8:00 am, I am surrounded by coffee cups, hand-held touch screen devices and a rainbow of fur. There are some people mixed in too. It becomes apparent that while waiting in line at Sundance that the native language is schmooze. Locals refused to partake; I try.
Even at this absurd time of day that no man should ever be awake to experience, I am jittery, eagerly anticipating another film at Sundance. I take a sip of my coffee.
‘You in the business?” I turn around to face a tuft of chest hair poking through a dark orange North Face jacket. I look up to find a scruffy face shielded by top-dollar sunglasses and topped off with a taupe.
“Blogging. I blog,” I nod. “How about you?”
“Mark Higgins, Google,” he slipped me a business card. “This is my wife Leanne.” Red lipstick covered implants smiled at me as she offered her hand in my direction. “So you doing reviews or what’s your beat?” Mark inquired. (more…)
Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg in Adventureland
Two years ago Greg Mottola got his big break by directing Superbad. A film that many people fell in love with. A film that can be watched over and over and only become funnier. Believe me, I know, and so does my father. At my house, Superbad is probably played at least once a month, if not once a week, usually in the depths of the night. It is easy for me to feel a strong connection with the characters; it is an accurate representation of my generation and what it’s like to be a senior in high school these days. However, I don’t feel that it is necessary to be young in order to find the film humorous. Mottola does this exact thing with his new film Adventureland.
Set in 1987, Brennan has just graduated from college and his summer dreams are smashed when his father is de-promoted, and his fund to europe disappears. He is forced into getting a job in order to save for Columbia graduate school. The only position he can find is as game guider at the amusement park, Adventureland. The job becomes the smack-in-the-face Brennan needs in order to prepare himself for the real world.
I saw Black Dynamite the other night at a midnight screening in the Library theater. The film was one of the first to be picked up by a distributor at Sundance, and will be coming to a theater near you as a Sony Pictures Classic. I met the director while waiting in line for Mystery Team and asked him a few questions on camera. The following clip combines part of that interview with elements from the trailer:
Created by Scott Sanders and Michael Jai White, Black Dynamite tells the tale of a righteous brother, who’s got kung fu skills and knows just how to please the ladies. (more…)
An Education, in one word, brilliant. In two, wonderful. I don’t believe that the creation of this story could be done any other way. Director Lone Scherfig had the perfect eye for this vision, and it amazes me that this is her first film in English. I believe that because she lacks perfect english, Scherfig was able to incorporate non verbal communications that flowed and intwined through each character and the story line. This happened so perfectly that as an audience member I was blown away.
The film is about a sixteen year old girl who is coming of age. She has a strict life that consists of one goal, getting into Oxford. When she meets an older guy, he shows her what life can really be like. Placed in the late 1950s, she has to choose between having “fun” or being independent.
Author Colin Beavan was tired of writing about the problems that face our world and merely talking about environmental change. He decided the time had come to try out change on himself, and convinced his wife and 2-year old daughter to go along. The idea was to see whether they could be happy without being consumers and without contributing to the many pressures that modern lifestyles place upon the earth. He dubbed himself, “No Impact Man” and created a blog and a couple friends decided to document the process. When it was all over, he thought, he could write a book. Simple enough, it seems, but nothing is ever quite as simple as it seems. (more…)
I came to Sundance eagerly anticipating this one after reading an article about the most bizarre world record holding athlete. Martin Strel is an overweight Slovenian alcoholic who is the greatest endurance swimmer in the world. Big River Mandocuments this intriguing concoction through Strel’s greatest feat yet: swimming the entire length of the Amazon river.
Director John Maringouin and his crew followed Strel throughout the entire journey beginning in Slovenia where Strel trained. It is there that we are able to get the foundation for the entire film. Eastern European hilarity ensues as the audience gets a look into the life of this unique man. We see him eat at his favorite horse burger joint, then partake in classic Slovenian multitasking by driving drunk while listening to beginner English tapes and practicing breathing using a device to expand his lungs. The tone is set. (more…)
Today, our second day at Sundance, I had the chance to go pick out any movie that was showing today (aand still had available tickets) and go see it. I opted to go see one of the shorts programs, because I love short movies and had no clue what i would be seeing. I really like short films, because they offer a lot of freedom to the filmmakers, because they can be much more abstract and experimental and aren’t quite as tied to plot as full length films. The shorts program that was playing was the fourth one, and I must say that it was very good. All of the films were definitely worth watching and were all very diverse in their subject matter.
The first short that played was The Attack of the Robots from Nebula-5, which was about a teenage boy who swears that robots came and warned him of an impending robot attack, which only he can stop by convincing the world that at 4:50 they must be in a designated place, so as to be spared. The humor was very offbeat and elicited many laughs from the crowd. It was shot incredibly well, all in black and white, often revealing a lot of the hilarity in this situation, as well as some sadness. Though it was a little shorter than expected, it was still very good. (more…)
From beginning to ending this film was intense, stylish, and disturbing. Jean-Stephane Sauvaire created a unique and truthful depiction of children soldiers in Africa. The film was shot in Liberia where there had been a civil from 1989 until 2003. Sauvaire went to Liberia and actually found 15 ex-children soldiers who had fought in the civil war in Liberia to act in the film as the children soldiers.
Now uneducated, impoverished and without family, these children struggle from day to day. Sauvaire gave them a chance to tell their story to the world. These children were forced into a life a death, rape, and drugs by the high ranking members of the countries rebels. The film does not forget to show the humanity of these children still cling on to even after they have had their lives corrupted by the rebel commanders. After all of the sacrifices the children made for the cause of the rebel cause they received no reward for their duty after the war was over, leaving them completely abandoned and helpless.
My first day at Sundance is extremely incomparable to my first day doing anything else. It wasn’t as drug-induced as getting my wisdom teeth taken out, nor was it as fun as my first race in alpine skiing. It was, despite the overuse of the word, unique. I have the largest collection of tickets, one of which was to the most beautiful movie Before Tomorrow.
Detailing the story of this family, Before Tomorrow goes into the lives of Inuits in the mid 19th century, following their every move from underwater shots up to their sea kayaks to shots following the two main characters, a grandmother and her courageous grandson, in caves and the great white north. The shots were unbelievably beautiful, the music (while redundant) fit extremely well with the emotion of the film, as the singer kept asking why do we have to die (paraphrased). The story line was actually put together using inspiration which co-director Marie-Hélène Cousineau took from actual Inuit stories of a grandfather as well as a book written by John Riel. The other co-director, Madeline Piujuq Ivalu, was actually the lead actress in the film.
Every once in awhile you come across a movie that defies your expectations, reforms your thoughts, and inspires you.. I was lucky enough to have the privilege of seeing Taking Chance staring Kevin Bacon in my time at Sundance. I was even luckier to have him speak at the showing alongside the actual individuals the film was based upon.
I saw 
An Education
Now uneducated, impoverished and without family, these children struggle from day to day. Sauvaire gave them a chance to tell their story to the world. These children were forced into a life a death, rape, and drugs by the high ranking members of the countries rebels. The film does not forget to show the humanity of these children still cling on to even after they have had their lives corrupted by the rebel commanders. After all of the sacrifices the children made for the cause of the rebel cause they received no reward for their duty after the war was over, leaving them completely abandoned and helpless.