Reel Beck

Sundance 2018 - Pregame

2018-01-12T21:50:00.001-08:00

Well, it's that time again and I'm here on my long neglected movie blog. There are at least five movies I want to see before the madness begins, but I don't know if that will happen. I'll do my damnedest, though.
Anyway the entire Sundance process was a bitch again this year. I, and several friends who usually get passes, failed to get Salt Lake locals passes this year. I've heard tell of people who happened to check back the next day and were able to get passes. Apparently there were computer problems.
I'm sorry, Sundance, when you say the passes are sold out keep them sold out or notify your email list that some have opened up and let us all take our chance again. So I have a Grand Pass and an overpriced ticket package - buying tickets individually would have cost me less and I might have gone to Park City for a few movies for the first time in years. C'est comme ça.
Yesterday was what I am considering my first pregame, Darkest Hour. I'm not going to give any more review than to say I really liked it. No attempt at a review because if you've stumbled upon this post you've either seen the film our have no interest.
I'll make a sincere effort to be back more often. At least before four more years have passed.

Preparing for Sundance 2014

2014-01-15T22:52:00.001-08:00

Well, it's that time of year again: inversion, ice, hopefully more snow and Sundance. I trained the last two weeks by seeing lots of movies, and avoiding them this week. Unlike last year I have every intention of being a good blogger this year.

So let's go over the preparation.

Plan your films by location as much as possible. You don't want to run across town, either in Park City or Salt Lake City, with too little time or you may not get in no matter if you have a ticket or a pass.

Respect the parking regulations, especially in neighborhoods.

Hydrate. Use that water bottle and limit your caffeine and alcohol to only what is essential.

Walk around between films if you have time. Stretch in line if you don't get to walk. It's a lot of hurry up and wait as well as a lot of sitting.

Avoid wearing too much perfume, cologne, lotion, etc. It can cause a lot of discomfort for people with allergies or multiple chemical sensitivity. Take time to bathe instead. If you need lotion avoid putting it on in the theater or use unscented.

Tip your servers well (not that you need to be told).

Be nice. Respect the volunteers and staff, do what they ask. Don't be afraid to strike up a conversation in line. Do not talk during the movies.

Shut off the electronics during the movies. Again I say it and assume you don't need to be told.

When you snack go for protein and produce over sugar.

Indulge in popcorn and a soda at least once.

Most important of all, enjoy.

Sundance 2012 - Hello, I Must Be Going

2012-01-27T16:12:00.001-08:00

What a charming show.
A 35 year-old woman moves back in with her parents in the wake of a separation leading to divorce. In an effort to pull her out of her despondency her parents insist she attend a dinner party for her father's new clients. Their 19 year-old actor son is smitten.
This leads to a summer fling and regained confidence.
Charming and worth full ticket price.

Sundance 2012 - The Orator

2012-01-27T16:02:00.001-08:00

This Samoan film is lovely and slow in the good way. It moves at a pace that reflects the mix of tradition and accidental modernity of the film.
It is the story of Saili, a man lacking the confidence to vie for his late father's roll as chief and orator in his village. Part of his lack of confidence comes from his stature, more because he lets his dissatisfaction rule him.
It is only after his wife, banished from her village and disowned by her family for having an illegitimate child, dies and her brother steals her body to bury it at "home" that he stands up for himself and takes his place in the world.
Worth at least the price of a matinee.

Sundance 2012 - Simon Killer

2012-01-25T20:39:00.001-08:00

I'm not cut out to be a reviewer, because I have a hard time being mean. I can make an exception for Simon Killer.
The main character, Simon, is an American in Paris after breaking up with his college girlfriend. Not a bad start. The story is ok until the end. The character of Simon uses people, especially women. He is loathsome and goes through life and the film with hardly a scratch.
People may not always learn lessons or get what's coming in real life but I expect a little of that from the movies.

Sundance 2012 - Red Lights

2012-01-25T20:34:00.001-08:00

Sigourney Weaver, Robert De Niro, not a bad start and both were wonderful as a professor investigating claims of metaphysical phenomena and a famous psychic respectively. Weird things happen to Weaver and her assistant, most are explained away with physics or as simple scams with assistants and ear pieces.
The performances were all strong, the characters interesting, and the ending left a lot of the audience head scratching.
I suspect this movie has great box office potential but it wasn't my cup of tea. And I got the ending.

Sundance 2012 - Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie

2012-01-25T16:51:00.001-08:00

I laughed, a lot. Some truly fun, practically slap-stick moments. Some disgusting, look away moments (people left). I laughed and never have to see it again. Maybe for two am insomnia channel surfing. But if you're a Tim and Eric fan you'll probably enjoy it.

Sundance 2012 - Shorts Program I

2012-01-25T16:39:00.001-08:00

I was really pleased with all six of these shorts. Five of them were just funny. Laugh out loud in the right places funny. Tooty's Wedding and A Morning Stroll were my favorites.
I don't understand the programming decision which included the excellent piece about Somali pirates, Fishing Without Nets, in this group. Not funny, not meant to be. I'm glad to have seen it, but it didn't fit with the group.

Sundance 2012 - 1/2 Revolution

2012-01-24T14:29:00.001-08:00

A year ago expat Egyptian filmmakers returned to Cairo to make a documentary on street kids. But the protests that heralded the Arab Spring broke out shortly after they arrived.
This is an intense, personal look at the protests from within the crowds and from the filmmakers' friends' balcony.
Timely and worth seeing, but not at full theatrical price. Hope for a showing on PBS.

Searching for Sugar Man - Sundance 2012

2012-01-23T16:57:00.001-08:00

This rock and roll mystery would make a silly, implausible feature film. I would walk out saying it isn't realistic. That's what makes it such a grand documentary.
An American singer-songwriter whose two records flopped disappears from the music scene. Except for having phenomenal success in South Africa where his songs were embraced by anti-apartheid liberals.
Let's just say rumors of Rodriguez's death were greatly exaggerated.
Picked up by Sony and worth a full price ticket.

Sundance 2012 - The Raid

2012-01-23T16:54:00.001-08:00

An Indonesian martial arts film by a Welsh director, this is one of the most violent movies I have ever seen. It is also a very good story about family, loyally and duty. Because of the violence I recommend it cautiously. I would pay full price to see it.

National Film Treasures Selected for Preservation | At Your Library

2012-01-09T14:32:00.000-08:00

National Film Treasures Selected for Preservation | At Your Library

sundance 2011 - Knuckle

2011-01-29T14:28:00.000-08:00

For most of the week, Knuckle (Saturday 22 at the Broadway) has been my favorite movie at Sundance this year. It was bumped to second (so far) on Friday, but not my much.
This documentary by Ian Palmer is about a feud between two closely related families of Irish Travelers. When the conflict comes to a head, they try to settle things with bare knuckle fights in order to prevent wider violence. The fights are held in out of the way places, such as low traffic country lanes, to keep the authorities out of the picture.
These fights are refereed by members of other clans and the decision of the referee is final, although that doesn't prevent another challenge. Members of the fighters' families are not allowed at the bouts, again to prevent brawling.
Beyond the fighting there are a few other insights to the Travelers: most of the women and young girls are shy of the camera in the hands of outsiders, the clans are intermarried and fights are often between first cousins etc.
The Q&A helped some with this film. Palmer met the Quinn McDonaghs when he was asked to film a wedding and then called and asked to film a fight. He filmed this family and two others for twelve years, and it was only in the 10th year that he was told what the modern root of the fight was about.
I don't feel like I've explained this very well at all, but part of the reason is that I can't explain to myself why I like this film so very much.

Sundance 2011 Shorts Program III

2011-01-29T14:15:00.000-08:00

Of the three shorts programs I saw on Saturday the 22nd, this was my least favorite overall.
I did like "Stopover," however, and think it is the best of the eight shorts in this program.
This is a story of a Romanian woman on her way to Miami who has her wallet stolen from her purse at the airport in either Italy or Spain (sorry, my Romance languages aren't good and it was a week ago). Her boarding pass and passport are both gone, but she has her phone. She does not want to go to security for help, despite her husband's urgings.
A man approaches her at the gate where she is calling her father and husband to have them cancel her credit cards and try to get her new documents as quickly as possible. He comments on her being Romanian and offers to help, she does not accept his offer but he helps her anyway. He returns her wallet with her passport and boarding pass but not her money and cards.
This little story, 14 minutes, isn't about the loss of documents and problems that can cause, but about how a common language in a foreign country makes strangers decide that someone is interested and familiar. It begins on the plane with an older woman talking our subjects ear off, the man in the airport helps her because she is Romanian, when she is finally on the plane another woman starts talking to her in Romanian, again because she overheard her on the phone. Our hero is from Romania, but she is not interested in this community of linguistic exile, all she wants to do is get to Miami.

Where was I... Sundance 2011 Shorts Program V

2011-01-29T14:01:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the delay, dear reader, it's been a little busy even when I haven't been at movies, and blogging from the phone isn't all it's cracked up to be. Maybe I need more practice, but right now I have a longish break so here I go playing catchup.
For me the highpoint for Shorts Program V, which is the best shorts program I've seen this year, was "The Hunter and the Swan Discuss Their Meeting." Yes, the name is nearly as long as the film.
This 8 minute modern fairy tale is very funny. Two couples are on a double date, when the one is asked how they met. This is how the tale unfolds.
The hunter stumbles upon a group of lovely ladies bathing in a stream, when he startles them they grab their feathered cloaks, turn to swans and fly away. He returns and steals one of the cloaks so that the girl has to stay in human form.
The telling of the story causes the swan princess to have a revelation of her own about the hunter.
I would guess that this short is inspired by this illustration of Valkyries with swan skins from Fredrik Sander's 1893 edition of the Poetic Edda.

Rutger Hauer

2011-01-26T00:11:00.001-08:00

At the Q&A for The Mill and The Cross on Tuesday January 25 at the Broadway Theaters

Ever so many shorts - Sundance 2011

2011-01-22T20:42:00.001-08:00

Where to begin this lovely Saturday? I have seen a total of 21 short films today in the Documentary Showcase I and Shorts Programs V and III.
Since it is beyond me to write about each short without notes, I'll just go for the high points of each program.
Satan Since 2003 was the first and best of the documentaries.
It is the story of (read carefully) a moped gang in Richmond, VA. This short has all of the passion, drama and violence of every motorcycle gang movie I've ever seen, with two stroke engines. I would like to see it expanded into a feature, though not a full length documentary.
Must go get in line for Knuckle. More later faithful reader.

Random Sundance thought

2011-01-21T22:16:00.000-08:00

Anyone remember Space Truckers? It was one of my favorite Sundance at Midnight shows. Not great, but ever so much fun.

Abraxas -- Sundance 2011

2011-01-21T22:11:00.000-08:00

Abraxas is nearly a disappointment, however, the last few minutes of this movie made it all worthwhile. Call me crazy, but I expect a movie about music to have a little bit more music than this did.
This story of a speed punk front man turned Buddhist monk and family man, is in Judeo-Christian phrasing, about making "a joyful noise unto the lord." Unfortunately, I do not know the proper phrase in the Japanese Zen Buddhist tradition.
You can read the catalog listing here. But in brief, Jonen, the previously mentioned monk, has a break down at career day at the high school which sends him into a deepening depression. He realizes that, as he did in his own high school days (20 years earlier), he never wants the music to stop. He approaches is superior at the monastery and his wife and says that he wants to sing again. His superior is understanding, his wife not so much. He also has the support of a friend who didn't know him back in the day.
The setting is about the only thing that separates this movie from other music comeback stories that easily come to mind. I was also not enamored of the things that we, the audience, were assumed to understand about Jonen's relationships with the people in his town, though this could be a problem of subtitles. Despite this, and the slow pace, the movie is beautiful and well acted.
Midlife crises happen. Promises are revoked and broken, and the damage to them is forgiven. The world is challenged. Death occurs at inconvenient times. Leonard Cohen is sung in Japanese.
This isn't a movie I liked a lot right away, but it is growing on me even at two hours out.

'The Uncensored Story' Of The Smothers Brothers : NPR

2010-10-19T16:45:00.000-07:00

'The Uncensored Story' Of The Smothers Brothers : NPR

Koufax On Koufax - 12.20.65 - SI Vault

2010-08-25T16:56:00.000-07:00

Koufax On Koufax - 12.20.65 - SI Vault

Cannes Film Festival 2010: there could only have been one winner - Telegraph

2010-05-24T16:32:00.000-07:00

Cannes Film Festival 2010: there could only have been one winner - Telegraph

Footage.net - The Stock Footage Search Engine

2010-03-26T19:11:00.000-07:00

Footage.net - The Stock Footage Search Engine

The film maker, the confession and the murder that refuses to die - News, Films - The Independent

2010-03-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

The film maker, the confession and the murder that refuses to die - News, Films - The Independent

Obselidia - Sundance 2010

2010-02-08T14:15:00.000-08:00

So, I just ran across this article about British films at Sundance in my Telegraph.co.uk daily newsletter, and was reminded that I need to get blogging.
Obselidia, winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Prize, is the movie I head the most conversation about at Sundance this year, people either liked it or didn't no one I spoke to was indifferent.
I am one of those who liked the movie, overall. The characters were likable (and annoying in real ways), the emotions sincere, the cinematography beautiful and the ending unexpected.
What disappointed me about this film had nothing to do with the film itself, I thought the description in the Sundance guide was misleading. It bothers me that they use this synopsis on the film's website, though it makes more sense after seeing the movie. Based on the description, I wanted the film to be more about George's encyclopedia of obsolete things, The Obselidia, than the human relationship between George and Sophie.
I did enjoy this movie and there is a possibility that I will see it again if it shows in Salt Lake.