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Quint at Sundance, Day 4! Steve Buscemi's INTERVIEW and Sam Jackson in RESURRECTING THE CHAMP!!!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Yesterday was crazy. I managed to catch up on the previous day's movies, but I didn't have a moment to start on that day itself. Here are two reviews from yesterday's adventures:
INTERVIEW
I started off my day with an interview with 4 core people from SLIPSTREAM, including Anthony Hopkins, his producer and wife Stella, actress Lisa Pepper and Christian Slater. As the festival has been incredibly synchronistic so far, with actors connecting movies or the same character names appearing from film to film, etc, it came as no surprise to me that my first day with any interviews immediately preceded Steve Buscemi's film.
INTERVIEW is a remake of the film by murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, and is probably my favorite film Buscemi has directed. He's never directed a stinker, but there's just something so fluid and natural about this movie that really pulled me into it.
Buscemi plays a reporter who is begrudgingly interviewing a ditzy actress. His mind is on Washington DC, where a political shitstorm is brewing. Politics is his speciality and he's angry at being assigned to interview this kind of mix between Paris Hilton and Tara Reid, a beautiful girl more famous for being pretty than having any actual talent.
As you can imagine, there's more to these two characters than meet the eye, layers that peel away as the movie progresses. Perceptions change, lies are told, truths are told, half-truths are told and the fun part is trying to figure out which is which.
I have not had the pleasure of seeing Theo Van Gogh's original, so I can't comment on how similar or different Buscemi's version is, but I can say that his film is enthralling, featuring a cast of two. There are a few supporting characters, but 98% of the movie is just Buscemi and Sienna Miller, who are electric together.
The flick is a great mix of artistry and entertainment. I don't know about release, but I'd be very surprised if this isn't picked up at the fest.
RESURRECTING THE CHAMP
Sam Jackson. That's all I needed to know to get my butt in a seat. And boy does he kickass in this movie. The movie itself isn't as badass as Jackson is, but it's a solid little flick. The movie is based on a true story of a young reporter who discovers a homeless guy who professes to be a well known boxer from the '50s. The young reporter (Josh Hartnett) sees an opportunity to get himself out from under the thumb of his ballbusting editor, Alan Alda, at the Denver paper and goes about trying to convince Jackson to take part in the article.
Sam Jackson is uglied up a bit and aged. He has wrinkles covering his face, dreads and an extremely high pitched voice. It's almost like he was trying to incorporate Dave Chappelle's Tyrone Biggums voice, so you get this weird Tyrone/Jules mix.
The film is well done and entertaining, but it seemed to go on for about 25 more minutes than it should have. It comes very close to overstaying its welcome for me and I think that has a lot to do with a shift of focus from Sam Jackson's "Champ" character to Hartnett's reporter character. They give Hartnett a lot to do, he's not a hollow character, but Sam Jackson is just so damn cool to watch and his character is so entertaining I couldn't help but miss his presence later on in the film. He still pops up, but much less frequently than before.
I liked it, but other than loving Sam Jackson work, I don't feel strongly about the film one way or another. It's a solid "Good."
Playing catch-up is fun! I only have one more movie from yesterday to review and the three films I've seen so far today... Three more are in the pipeline, but I'm dragging some serious ass right now. Four hours of sleep and 14 hours of movies makes my brain hurt. Got some good stuff for you guys, though. 'Til then, this is Quint bidding you all a fond farewell and adieu.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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There, I said it.
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have some Red Bulls and keep writing. Your updates have been very informative!
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This sounds really cool, actually.
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They guy has proven he doesn't have what it takes time and time again. Taht's not just me picking on the "easy target Hollywood it guy" either, that's me, all bias aside, stating a fact that Hartnett is completely and utterly uninteresting. First of all he makes wood look like Daniel Day Lewis, second of all he chooses films with cliche scripts in which the only thing that could get an actor by is charisma and charm. That would be fine if he had any of either. He routinely comes off as the dullest man on the planet. Like the character of Chance from "Being There". Just a total limp noodle. Excuse me I have to go take my blood pressure medicine now.
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I'm all fine with two people yacking away in an enclosed space for an entire film, but what Quint forgot to tell you is that they are two boring insufferable, and annoying people. There is nothing interesting or engaging about them despite great performances. A shallow film that was a waste of my time.
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THATS JUST THE WAY I TALK!!!
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sounds interesting...almost like something David Mamet would do, interested in seeing Besucmi's (I misspelled that, I know but am kinda lazy to look it up correctly, sue me) take on it...and good call on Harnett just...lacking. He seems sincere and enjoys acting, but he just seems to coast through his roles, never taking anything to challenge him or working with a director who will challenge him
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Van Gogh was a better personality than filmmaker. Most of his films I found unwatchable but Interview was an exception. The film was interesting because of the chemistry between the leads and the concept of two people talking in one room, which sounds boring, was used quite effectively.
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It is very David Mamet if Mamet wrote about annoying and most distressingly dull people. Imagine 80 something minutes feeling like 3 hours.
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This may be the new "It's this year's Little Miss Sunshine"
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Little Miss Sunshine was last year's Little Miss Sunshine. Synchronistically speaking.
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Mamet did that already it's called Olenna...I'm kidding, that was a good soild movie with thought provoking issues that worked so much better as a play then as a movie. I have a feeling Interview is the same way
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He he he
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