While Travis and I were in Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival, we stayed in a condo with a group of other movie bloggers. It was one of the best work environments I have ever worked in. Long days turning into nights filled with watching movies and writing reviews [...]]]>

While Travis and I were in Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival, we stayed in a condo with a group of other movie bloggers. It was one of the best work environments I have ever worked in. Long days turning into nights filled with watching movies and writing reviews and everything in-between consisted of eating junk food and creating long lasting friendships. It was like summer camp but for movie bloggers.

One of the groups we were staying with was filmmaker Scott Hutchenson and A.J. Meadows of (formerly) WeAreMovieGeeks[DOT]com. They were shooting a documentary about film bloggers covering the Sundance Film Festival. Every film site that were invited to cover the festival had complete access to movies, filmmakers and celebrities in Park City. Truly we were treated like rock stars by publicist wanting us to give good reviews and P.R. for their films. Some films were good and some were bad but as film journalist we have an obligation to our readers first and foremost. Needless to say, it was a trip!

Redford Sent Us captures the behind the scenes of the Sundance Film Festival through a blogger’s point of view. In this teaser trailer, the filmmakers get interviews with John Cooper, filmmaker Katie Aselton, Devin Faraci of CHUD[DOT]com and our friends, Rusty Gordon and Chase Whale of GordonAndTheWhale[DOT]com.

Redford Sent Us : Teaser Trailer from Anthony Meadows on Vimeo.

Sundance was a wonderful experience that I wouldn’t trade with anything in the world. Travis and I saw a lot of movies, sometimes the first to see these movies, we got to meet and hang out with some of the best people in the film blogging community. There was actually a moment where we felt we were a legitimate part of the community and were treated as such by the ones around us. There was the one night after screenings where we got to hang out with Scott Weinberg and Eric D. Snider from Cinematical[DOT]com in their hotel room. What a crazy and surreal night that was. Just to get a chance to discuss a movie after it being screened with the writers and personalities you have gotten to know through their work was just so rewarding. It was a blast!

I have a feeling at next year’s Sundance Film Festival, Scott and A.J.’s film will be showcased and we’ll get to watch it in a theater full of the same people who were in it. I can’t wait for next year!!

If you can spot Travis and I in this trailer, I’ll buy a cookie for you next time I see you.

I took a good amount of video in Park City during Sundance. I wish I would’ve taken more, but I was pre-occupied with writing reviews and watching movies. Here is a collection of candid moments and reaction to some of the films we screened during the short amount of time Travis and [...]]]>

I took a good amount of video in Park City during Sundance. I wish I would’ve taken more, but I was pre-occupied with writing reviews and watching movies. Here is a collection of candid moments and reaction to some of the films we screened during the short amount of time Travis and I were in Park City.

Park City, Utah is a beautiful city, surrounded by gorgeous, majestic mountains. This was the first time in my life that I’ve actually seen mountains and let me tell you, I was truly in awe. The snowy backdrop to a wonderful film festival of eccentric, poignant and touching collection of films was perfect. The people I met and experiences I had were simply unforgettable. The only way to easily describe Sundance is to compare it to a summer camp for film bloggers. Please enjoy the videos and thank you for making this all happen. Without the listeners there would be no CriterionCast.

Travis and I met 20 minutes before this was taken. I was the first to arrive at the bloggers condo which was dubbed “Snow Country For Old Men”. We stayed with people from WeAreMovieGeeks.com, Cinematical.com, Film.com and PASTE Magazine.

This was the first day of Sundance for Travis and I. It is Friday at 7am. Travis recounts his experience at the Sundance Opening Day Party.

Our reaction to a screening Gasper Noé’s ENTER THE VOID. We are joined by Jeremy of WeAreMovieGeeks.com

Getting ready to do a video with Travis but he was twitting….

Travis talks about BOY while I try to flirt with local women.

Day 4 of Sundance Film Festival. Early morning blogging before we back into the press theater. Look how much we trashed the condo after only 4 days.

Travis showing off his skillz….

I hope you enjoyed these video. There should be some more to come….

One of the reasons why I chose to screen Happythankyoupleasemore was so I can ensure myself a seat to see Hesher.  Both movies were playing in the same theater, with Hesher playing after-wards.  Hesher was one of the most anticipated movies premiering at Sundance.  Again, every line and every blogger I ran into [...]]]>

One of the reasons why I chose to screen Happythankyoupleasemore was so I can ensure myself a seat to see Hesher.  Both movies were playing in the same theater, with Hesher playing after-wards.  Hesher was one of the most anticipated movies premiering at Sundance.  Again, every line and every blogger I ran into were talking about this movie.  What is the odd name?  Was it Joseph Gordon-Levitt?  Or was it Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s oddly homoerotic tattoos?  Well, regardless, the Hesher screening filled up pretty quickly and was completely packed.  Even an appearance of The Treatment’s Elvis Mitchell stirred the excited audience into a frenzy.

When the lights dimmed and the opening title sequence of just the name of the movie in white lettering behind a black screen with an audible heavy metal guitar riff pronouncing itself, “I am here motherfucker!”, got a gleeful laugh from the audience.  I, myself, was convinced I was in for something special.  Unfortunately, I was wrong.

The story is simple, a boy named T.J. and his father (Rainn Wilson) copes with the loss of their mother and wife.  Their lives are turned upside down when Hesher invades their home.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the title role of Hesher, a shirtless heavy metal, nihilistic, slacker with long greasy hair and homemade ridiculous tattoos.  The movie is tonally consistent but not thematically consistent.  The movie lingers between T.J. and his father at odds, both trying to grieve their lose.  T.J.’s life is of a high school student that horribly gets picked on time after time and his father is one of a shiftless lay about who watches too much TV and is addicted to prescription pills.  Hesher’s involvement with their lives was just to push the two into a resolution.  The father and son relationship was the most interesting to me.  But ultimately wasted because the focus of the film is Hesher.  Natalie Portman plays Nicole, T.J.s love interest.  She is completely wasted in this movie, both in performance and charcter.  When will people learn, throwing glasses on a person does not make them unattractive and awkward.

Hesher is rude, crude, oddly funny and at times, mindless.  The balance of sentiment and brutish behavior is done well until the last act where it all falls apart.  To me, the film doesn’t know what it wants to be and in the end it turns into a typical quirky indie film, complete with slow motion to increase the sentiment of its pursuit.  Hesher falls short of something special.  Maybe I should’ve caught A Prophet with Travis instead.

Welcome to the jungle!  In this jungle, it is survival of the fittest.  Animal Kingdom is the newest film from Australian writer/director, David Michôd and it’s a look at the seldom seen mean streets of Melbourne.

The Cody family is a family of drug dealers and armed robbers.  Their lives are turned [...]]]>

Welcome to the jungle!  In this jungle, it is survival of the fittest.  Animal Kingdom is the newest film from Australian writer/director, David Michôd and it’s a look at the seldom seen mean streets of Melbourne.

The Cody family is a family of drug dealers and armed robbers.  Their lives are turned upside down when a nephew named “J” moves in.  The movie opens with J’s mother dying from a heroin overdose.  At 18 years-old, he has nowhere to go but to live with his grandmother.  While living with the Cody’s, J’s uncles attempt to teach him the family business.  He struggles to please his family and do the right thing.  Things get out of hand when the police start to investigate the family.

This film is gritty, raw and dark.  It seamlessly shifts from intense family drama into crime genre where no one is safe.  It would be unfair to call it “The Godfather” of Australian Cinema because it is more than that.  It warrants the praise but should be looked upon as its own.  The film is slowly paced at first.  Going in and out of focus thematically but regains its promise in act 2 when Guy Pearce is introduced to the story.

The performances in this film are superb and excellent.  This is probably the best performance of Guy Pearce I’ve seen since LA Confidential.  He’s smart and charming.  When his character is making decisions, you can actually see the gears in motion.

Never dull and always interesting, Animal Kingdom is powerful.  I am reminded of other crime films like Gomorrah with the tone of this film.  I am curious to see how this film will play come award season this year.  Out of all the films I’ve seen at Sundance this was the only one where I felt it deserved the phrase “Award Winning” next to the title.  The collapse of a family struggling to survive in this urban jungle is a remarkable achievement of Australian Cinema.

Friendship and having a sense of connection is the one of the many things that makes us human.  Let’s face it, we ARE social animals.  We need to feel connected to something and a need to feel like you belong.  The internet has changed that.  We can now feel that same human [...]]]>

Friendship and having a sense of connection is the one of the many things that makes us human.  Let’s face it, we ARE social animals.  We need to feel connected to something and a need to feel like you belong.  The internet has changed that.  We can now feel that same human connection all by yourself.  We can be alone in a room and still be connected to everyone in the world.  Social media networks like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter help us gain false human interaction.

To my knowledge, the documentary Catfish by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman is the first movie to tackle the issue of the phenomenon of Facebook drama.  Ok, I’m sure we’ve all been there, met someone on Facebook, get to know them, develop a crush, wonder if you should meet them or not, maybe it would ruin everything or maybe it will be the best thing that has ever happened to you.  Surprisingly enough, Catfish is accessible to both young and old.  The thought of a movie about the social network might not appeal to an older audience (hell my parents can only use email and Netflix on the internet).  But Catfish is different, the relationship between an artist and their muse is universal, not just the means of interaction.  What Catfish presents is art and truth.

This film is so touching, engaging, funny, heartbreaking, wonderful and at times cruel.  What was presented as one thing and quickly turned into another is the best way to describe the way the film plays as well as its subject matter.  In that way, it was a breathe of fresh air.  This was my favorite movie at Sundance 2010.  The only that had a clear enough narrative and relatable characters.  A haunting tale of the people we meet as stranger and slowly turning to friends.  A must see!!

Thanks to MakingOf.com for the following interview video, you can find more interviews here.

Alright folks, we are treated to our third installment of Rudie and Travis discussing the various films they’ve seen on their third day of the Sundance Film Festival 2010.

In this episode, they discuss Douchebag, Happythankyoumoreplease, Hesher, His & Her, [...]]]>

Ah, the life of an internet blogger.

Alright folks, we are treated to our third installment of Rudie and Travis discussing the various films they’ve seen on their third day of the Sundance Film Festival 2010.

In this episode, they discuss Douchebag, Happythankyoumoreplease, Hesher, His & Her, A Prophet (Un Prophete), Catfish, and Splice.

You can find Rudie’s review of Douchebag here.

Rudie discusses Hesher for a bit on WeAreMovieGeeks video blog, found here.

You can read Travis’ review of His & Her here, and his thoughts on A Prophet here.

Enter The Void was on the top of my list for movies to watch in Park City. So when I got to the screening this morning, was anticipating a lot of like minded bloggers to also be excited for this movie. But much to my chagrin, the press screening was less than half [...]]]>

Enter The Void was on the top of my list for movies to watch in Park City. So when I got to the screening this morning, was anticipating a lot of like minded bloggers to also be excited for this movie. But much to my chagrin, the press screening was less than half full. Maybe bloggers and film journalist used the 1pm screening time for interviews and as work catch up time. Maybe since this movie already played at The Toronto Film Festival and The London Film Festival last year, bloggers didn’t really feel a need to cover it. Besides it got mixed reviews at both festivals. Or maybe it was its 2 and a half running time that turned this press screening into a ghost town. Nevertheless, I was still excited. Gaspar Noé is one of my favorite filmmakers and I was definitely curious to see his follow-up to his 2002 film, Irreversible. And let me say, Enter The Void is exactly the type of film that could follow Irreversible.

The opening sequence alone was a feast for the eyes and senses. The sensation of having a seizure was captured so well by Noé! I’d imagine a disclaimer at the beginning of the film, warning the audience of the intensity of this film and its opening title sequence. This was nothing less than a mind fuck for the eyes. This sequence of words and pictures only lasted 3 minutes but warranted cheers from the Sundance press.

The film follows the journey of Oscar, an American transplant living in Tokyo. Oscar is a drug dealer. His sister Linda wants him go stop dealing drugs and do something more. He gets a call for a deal which he doesn’t want to do but does so as a favor. While on the drug deal, he is sold out by the buyer. The police storm the club where the deal was going down and kill Oscar. The whole movie is now spent in Oscar’s waking life. Drifting from the real world and the spirit world between time and space, Gaspar Noé creates a world so gritty and real you can’t help but feel a little dirty after watching this film.

The story has a simple premise: wonder the world until reincarnation. This in relation to The Tibetan Book of The Dead. It’s what Noé does with the moments from scene to scene that make this film so interesting. Long camera shots married with drifting, almost dreamlike movement, is what is making this film the most talked about film playing at Sundance this year. Noé isn’t afraid to be daring and bold. Enter The Void is wonderful, shocking, beautiful, dull, boring and a thrill ride; all at the same time. Not many filmmakers can capture moods and tones that range so far and so effectively. Gaspar Noé’s is a gem in modern filmmaking and storytelling. A must see for anyone who loves the films in The Criterion Collection.

Well folks, they made it. After much talking, and a little planning, Rudie and Travis have arrived in Park City for the Sundance 2010 Film Festival. Since most of the films won’t start screening until tomorrow (Friday the 22nd of January), today mostly involved them meeting the various people in the film blogger [...]]]>

Well folks, they made it. After much talking, and a little planning, Rudie and Travis have arrived in Park City for the Sundance 2010 Film Festival. Since most of the films won’t start screening until tomorrow (Friday the 22nd of January), today mostly involved them meeting the various people in the film blogger community, and getting lost in the snow.

They plan on releasing several of these smaller episodes throughout the course of the weekend, discussing what they’ve seen, what they’ve liked, and what you should be keeping your eyes out for. If you have any suggestions for films you would like to have them watch and report back on, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

If you want more immediate, up to the minute coverage, check out their Twitter accounts: Travis (@foxtotally) and Rudie (@Rudie_Obias)