First of I’d like to thank Mom, Dad and Sallie Mae for making it possible for me to go on this trip. As my first study (kinda) abroad trip from Eckerd this has been a great one. Living in Park City, just minutes from Main Street for 10 days was a great growing experience. Attending the film festival and participating in all of the activities that goes with it was amazing. Never have I seen so many BlackBerrys and iPhones in one place. When new President Obama was sworn the theatre I was sitting in at 10am lit up with a blueish LCD glow from all the text messages and emails from happy friends all over the country. (more…)

The Informers, a Bret Easton Ellis and Nicholas Jarecki script directed by Gregor Jordan, is a weak B-movie. Ellis, writer of the amazing Rules of Attraction failed on this adaptation of his wack book depicting 80’s excess and vampires. A great cast was assembled for this film including Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, Winona Ryder, Mickey Rourke, Jon Foster and Amber Heard but despite great acting performances they could not save me from boredom. Jordan definitely plays up the sex and drugs with lots of nudity, sex, threesomes, pot and blow. The film shows no shame baring everything for the audience, including homoerotic relationships among friends and the onset of the great 80’s culture issues of AIDS and addiction. (more…)

Ry Russo-Young and Stella Schnabel put together a stunning portrait of a 20-something working her way around the New York rock scene. Russo-Young directs this gritty script that she and her lead actress co-wrote together after over a decade of friendship. Schnabel plays Shelly: she’s emotional, mean, honest, sexy, hard to get along with but easy to talk to and, in her own words, “fucked up.” (more…)

While Sundance is supposed to be the indie movie capital, it seems that more and more established celebrities are making their way to the mountains. I’ve only been here five days now and I’ve already seen more actors and directors than when I spend time in New York City. (more…)

This isn’t your typical romantic comedy. Skipping around in time, from when their eyes first met, to the breakup and after, 500 days puts a new spin on how a romantic comedy should be. Zooey Deschanel (All the Real Girls, Elf, The Happening) and Joseph Gordon Levitt (3rd Rock from the Sun, The Lookout, Stop-Loss) star as Summer and Tom, two employees at a Greeting Card Company that fall into a happy but awkward relationship. Tom, the optimist of love, who believes in the one immediately falls in in love with Summer but the feelings aren’t returned as she tells him early on (Day 22) that she didn’t want “anything serious.” (more…)

Richard Linklater showed that he can create a stunning and moving romance movie with the 1995 release Before Sunrise. Linklater (Slackers, Dazed and Confused) casts Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy into his lead roles as Jesse and Celine, travelers abroad in Europe. They meet while on the Eurorail on its way to Vienna. There Jesse will fly back to America in the morning and Celine will continue on to Paris where she will study there. The connection between the two is immediate and intense. The conversation seems so natural and full of intriguing ideas. Their conversations range from the characteristics and powers of language to sexuality and reincarnation. Much of the conversation would seem unimportant in other movies but in this one it seems to me some of the most intimate details. Some of the shots seem almost like Linklater is making the audience into a voyeur. There are scenes where Jesse and Celine try hard to not look into each others eyes and another where they try to resist the impulse of touching each other, wary of the budding chemistry between them. When the movie ends it seems too soon for their short romance to end. The last shot leaves you wanting to know whats going to happen with these two, will they ever meet again? (more…)

Kevin Smith was born in Red Bank, New Jersey in 1970 and is damn proud of it. As a prolific indie director since 1994, Smith has sucked his growing number of fans into the Askewniverse, the alternate reality where Jay and Silent Bob rule Jersey and Star Wars vs. Lord of the Rings is the hot button issue. Starting in ‘94 with Clerks, Smith has gone on to write, direct and produce movies through his View Askew studio such as Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks II and most recently Zach and Miri Make a Porno. Other movies he has appeared in but not directed include Doogal, Scream 3, TMNT, Live Free or Die Hard and Daredevil. Smith has dabbled in TV as well, creating two shows that failed to make it past pilot as well as appearing on Law and Order, the Clerks TV program and most recently directed and acted in the pilot episode of the CW show Reaper.

Smith is married to Jennifer Schwalbach whom he met shortly after wrapping up production on Chasing Amy in 1997. They have one daughter together,Harley Quinn, named after the character on the animated Batman TV series. He and Jen also own two dogs named “Mulder” and “Scully” after their love of the cable show The X-Files. Between writing movies and TV, Smith also has written two comic series for each Marvel and DC comics. The latest installments of Daredevil, which was made into a movie in which he acted, and the Green Arrow are both Smith’s work. He has also served on the Sundance Film Festival dramatic jury, owns a comic book store called Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash and received an honorary degree from the Vancouver Film School even though he dropped out after 4 months to complete Clerks. (more…)