By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
Sundance On Ice
Snow, really.
The first real snow hit this morning. This year, things are unusually busy on Monday and Tuesday, so the reaction to the muck will be interesting.
Last night, one of the many celebrations-before-screenings took place for Terry Kinney’s Diminished Capacity. The film is expected to, as so much of Kinney’s work as an actor has, speak to the full range of human emotion, making it one of the titles that offers hope for a mid-fest love affair.
The event was attended by pretty much the entire cast… A tribute to Kinney.
Ok… running to the next movie… more later… happy MLK…
More soon…
(corrected… dumb iphone posting error)
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Another aggravatingly 10 minute entry…
Short Takes –
American Teen is a terrific little movie… but not very commercial.
Smart People is one of those Sundance classics… it’s almost a Michael London lifetime achievement award reel as a film, but this time, he made the mistake (along with a half dozen or more other producers) of picking a director who could not deliver. Sensational cast… decent idea for a little movie… doesn’t come together at all. Also, anyone who has a guitary score on a heartfelt movie about people, needs to be shot. Dan In Real Life was the film that should make clear that the Sundance score cliche is dead, dead, dead. Move along.
Gonzo is quite good, though about 15 minutes too long. Some complained about its score being too “greatest hits of the 60s,” but I was okay with that. And the doc offers a lot of footage from other films, which was a disturbing thing at first, but which settled in with me in time, as it is done so honestly and clearly. What I hated, however, were the recreations… cheesey and unnecessary. But all in all, a movie that is more about the era than the man… which is really quite the point.
Got MLK?
I know, I know.