The reason I personally love going to a festival is because I love the way you gets films colliding, totally different types of movies that you’d otherwise never see in the same day or even the same week. This is what I try to do here at my house by putting in so many random titles... I try to create those opportunities for happy strange thematic accidents.
Thanks for more reviews, guys. Keep it up:
Harry and crew,
It's everyone's least favorite Sundance reviewers, but most favorite bandmembers in the galaxy: Max Rebo and Droopy McCool. (You can cut that last part out if we're not actually the least favorite, but the talkbalks would seem so.)
How bad we suck is beside the point, we caught two Sundance movies and a Tromadance film and thought you guys would dig hearing about them.
First, I caught Be Kind Rewind this morning and I have to say that this picture was pretty good.
I don't want to get too much into the details of the plot, even though it is fairly simplistic and you've seen the movie. There are no real revelations. It's pretty good, and yes, it does have a lot of heart, but I think the only reason everybody keeps saying that the film has heart is because someone in the movie says that there's something to be said about films that have heart. It's charming, to be certain, but is it a masterpiece?
I think the answer is no and I'll give two reasons for it.
First, look at this next to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This movie just isn't as well rounded and tightly paced, plotted or acted as that picture. That's not to say this film isn't good, it's better than that. It's pretty good.
Second, I don't think this film has a lot of rewatchablity. It makes me want to go watch ghostbusters and robocop and 2001 more than it makes me want to watch this again. Again, not to say that's it's bad, but it's so much a send up of and homage to silly 80s fantasy movies, that I'd rather be watching them. I have to say though, the sweded films were really funny, but I don't know if I'd say classic masterpiece. However, though, only time will tell.
All of the performances were great, the music was fantastic and the script was highly original and fun. But a masterpiece? The more I write, the less sure I am. Which is another way of saying that you'll probably have to see it for yourself.
The next movie I saw was The Great Buck Howard. I caught it at the library and it was late and it almost put me to sleep. Malkovich was fantastic. And, to be honest, I think that'll be the only thing you hear about this picture. Colin Hanks is pretty milquetoast and his narration through the film seems to be there more to cover poor writing than to advance the story.
Tom Hanks' cameo seemed like a distraction.
But I think the biggest downfall in this movie was the writing in general. The writer at the Q & A afterward talked about how he knew a character like the mentalist Buck Howard, quirks and all, and so his character has a depth and gravity to it that seems out of place with the rest of the movie. The characters all seem so paper thin. And making Colin Hanks want to be a writer and filling all the problems in with his shitty narration was more obnoxious than anything else.
So, my advice is that this film would be a pass.
Now, I'll pass the keyboard over to Droopy McCool who wants to write about a pre-screening we got to see of the opening night Tromadance film, Blood, Boobs and Beast.
It's odd that the best films we've seen at the Sundance film festival this year, weren't actually at the Sundance Film Festival (this and killer at large, from our last review.) But we got a sneak-peek at Tromas opening night film (which plays tomorrow at a Salt Lake venue) and I have to say it was a great little documentary. It follows the life of Don Dohler, a seemingly kick-ass b-horror filmmaker. To be honest, this tasteful film that's a powerful examination of the last couple of years of the life of a legend no one had ever heard of, isn't the type of fare I expected from Troma. This is a mature, well made film and it deserves a lot of recognition.
It also has interviews with the likes of JJ Abrams and Tom Savini and it outlines why film nerds the world over should know the name Don Dohler, not just for his contributions to the world of shitty horror pictures, but to the world of comics (He created Pro Junior, a character drawn frequently by R. Crumb) the world of film effects (he published the first magazine that gave step-by-steps of how to build movie monsters, etc.) and the world of film in general (he gave JJ Abrams his first job).
This is the perfect film for geeks. This film is really Ed Wood meets New York Doll and it's just as heartwarming (I typed touching, but it seemed too weird, I don't know if I did any better) as both of those films and if you get a chance to see it in Salt Lake tomorrow, I would do so...
Until next time,
Lapti Nek
Max Rebo and Droopy McCool
