Now that both public and the politicians are denouncing the war in Iraq, documentaries like Charles Ferguson’s No End in Sight, premiering in Sundance’s Documentary Competition, are simply essential. The inevitable withdrawal of U.S. troops is sure to prompt attacks by the real “bitter enders” –- administration officials and neo-cons who will pin the war’s failures on an American lack of resolve – and Ferguson’s sober and straightforward documentary is the necessary rebuttal. Recalling that old piece of screenplay advice, “There are no third act problems,” Ferguson takes us back to the run-up to the war and the months following […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 24, 2007Anne Thompson at her Risky Business blog is reporting that the Weinstein Company has bought James Strouse’s Grace is Gone here at Sundance, beating out Fox Searchlight and Sony Pictures Classics. The price was not announced, but it’s rumored to be around $4 million. I’ll write more in detail about the film, which I saw at last night’s press screening, later, but here’s my quick take. In general, I found Richard Corliss’s Time mag broadside, “Sundance Movies are Bad for You,” unsupported and churlish, but if there’s one film that some of his criticisms might apply to, it’s this one. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 21, 2007What are the odds that 2007 would see not one but two documentaries about people whose lives and relationships are transformed when they are blinded by acid thrown in their faces? Gary Tarn’s brilliant Black Sun, which Peter Bowen has written about for the current issue of Filmmaker, uses the attack on writer Hugues de Montalembert as an opportunity to consider the subject of sight in all its dimensions – practical, philosophical and even ethical. Dan Klores’s Crazy Love (produced and co-directed by Fisher Stevens) takes a different approach. Such issues of sight and seeing are almost afterthoughts in what […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 20, 2007I’ll write more about it later, but I liked Mitchell Lichtenstein’s Dramatic Competition entry, Teeth, a very clever and deftly handled horror comedy that literalizes the myth of the vagina dentata. One can summon up a lot of filmic references — Cronenberg, Stuart Gordon, and the recent Saved — but Lichtenstein has taken an outrageous concept and realized it with his own blend of campy humor, splatter gore, and emotional realism. Props to lead actress Jess Weixler too.
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 20, 2007It’s kind of ironic that I’m here picking up the hotel’s free Wi-Fi and blogging on the second floor of the Sundance headquarters while waiting in a long line for my press credentials, which are delayed due to the festival’s internet being down (and the festival computers having lost a large number of photo files). So far, our small Filmmaker crew has, in less than 24 hours, been hit by said internet failure, food poisoning, lost luggage (along with the entire Delta flight I was on), and a missing condo owner (who was holding the keys). So it looks like […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 19, 2007Jason Silverman over at the Wired blog previews the Sundance Film Festival by scouting out some cool films and animations that employ technology in interesting ways. Here’s its take on some of the stuff in the New Frontier section, including one project that seeks to inspire a strange nostalgia amongst boomer heterosexual males: “As digital tools grow cheaper and more plentiful, artists are discovering a galaxy of new ways to mess around with cinematic form. Sundance’s foray into the world of 3-D cinema – the kind of stuff usually relegated to swank galleries — comes in the form of eight […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 12, 2007Well, since I produced a musical in 2006 I’ll take the high road and not debate Grady Hendrix’s claim that Rich Wong’s indie no-budget Colma: The Musical is the best musical of 2006. But, personal allegiances aside, I do like Colma a lot. In fact, it’s one of Filmmaker‘s “Best Film Not Playing in a Theater Near You” nominees for the year. Here’s what Variety‘s Hendrix just wrote about it: This isn’t a perfect movie, the flaws almost balance the virtues, but it’s a fresh, funny, unexpected flick that makes almost every musical out from Hollywood in the last few […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 11, 2007From the Hollywood Reporter: FBI memo to Hollywood: If it’s not too much trouble, could you please portray our counterterrorism efforts with a bit more realism? Hoping for an answer in the affirmative, the FBI hosted its first workshop for screenwriters Wednesday at the Federal Building in Westwood. “FBI — Crime Essential for Writers” played well with the standing-room-only audience of executives and writers from several major and minor studios. Enthusiastic attendees had more questions than time allowed answers for, and few if any left the four-hour event early. The FBI, more so than even the Department of Homeland Security, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 11, 2007Boing Boing has been covering this week the controversy surrounding the Slamdance Film Festival’s rejection of a video game, Super Columbine Massacre, from its interactive competition, the Slamdance Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition. Here is Slamdance’s official statement: The Super Columbine Massacre RPG game has been withdrawn from Slamdance ’07. While understanding the different positions people have already taken with the game, we want to express the struggle we had with ours. On one hand, a jury selected a game they believed merited programming, a decision that always leads to our organization supporting the creator’s independent vision and freedom of expression. On […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 9, 2007The new Apple iPhone. It’s a widescreen iPod (but, um, at only up to 8 gigs? What gives?); OS X powered; a full version of Safari; WiFi and Bluetooth. Looks very cool. I’m officially very up on this and will be over-the-moon about it when it upgrades to a larger hard disk.
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 9, 2007