GordonandtheWhale.com » Sundance

Sundance 2010 Review: THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT

Chase Whale — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:00:58 +0000

Rating: 4/5

Writer: Lisa Cholodenko,
Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Cast: Annette Benning, Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson, Mark Ruffalo

Editor’s Note: This review was originally published on February 4, 2010.

In about a month, we might have our very first Oscar-winning female director, Kathryn Bigelow (THE HURT LOCKER). Kathryn didn’t set the trend for women in film but this will, without a doubt, boost how much influence and importance women can be behind the camera. This brings me to this year’s Sundance film festival, which had a wide and diverse number of films made by women.

Sundance 2010 Video Interview: CYRUS Writers/Directors Mark and Jay Duplass

Rusty Gordon — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:10:13 +0000

Editor’s Note: This was originally posted on January 30, 2010.

Mark and Jay Duplass directed the independent films, THE PUFFY CHAIR and BAGHEAD. The directing duo’s first film backed by a major studio, CYRUS, is currently playing at Sundance (where I am right now) and receiving high-praise (including from me).

Sundance 2010 Review: CYRUS

Rusty Gordon — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 03:55:11 +0000

Editor’s Note: This review was originally published on January 25, 2010.

Rating: 4.5/5

Writers: Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass
Directors: Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass
Cast: John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei, Catherine Keener

Sundance 2010 Review: JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK

Chase Whale — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 14:00:01 +0000

Editor’s Note: This review was originally published on January 28.

Rating: 4/5

Directors: Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg

Joan Rivers is a piece of work. At 75, she’s still one of the hardest working comedians today. While doing a roundtable with her yesterday for her new film, JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK, she was asked if she was intimidated by the young and up-and-coming female comedians. She simply responded, “I’m not done yet.” She’s courageous, her stand-up boldly goes where most comedians won’t, and she’s the first to stand up and say plastic surgery is one of the best decisions she’s ever made. There is one thing though that she fears though, and that’s an empty calendar.

Sundance 2010 Review: WINTER’S BONE

Kate Erbland — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 13:00:40 +0000

Editor’s Note: This review was originally published on Februrary 2.

Rating: 3.5/5

Writers: Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini (screenplay), Daniel Woodrell (novel)
Director: Debra Granik
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Lauren Sweetser, Kevin Breznahan, Garret Dillahunt

Sundance 2010 Review: SPLICE

Rusty Gordon — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:40:55 +0000

This review was originally published on: Jan 25, 2010.

Rating: 3.5/5

Writers: Vincenzo Natali (story and screenplay), Antoinette Terry Bryant (story and screenplay), Doug Taylor (screenplay)
Director: Vincenzo Natali
Cast: Sarah Polley, Adrien Brody, Delphine Chanéac

Sundance 2010 Review: HOLY ROLLERS

Chase Whale — Fri, 21 May 2010 23:00:11 +0000

Rating: 3/5

Writer: Antonio Macia
Director: Kevin Asch
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Bartha, Q-Tip

If there’s two things that just don’t mix, it’s drugs and religion. These two entities come crashing together in HOLY ROLLERS, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Bartha. Eisenberg plays Sam Gold, a young adult from Brooklyn living in a very strict Orthodox Jewish community. All Sam wants is to make his father happy and marry the girl of his dreams; but in order to do that, he feels he needs to be rich. As Fresh Prince once said, “Life got flipped turned upside down” after his pal Yosef (Justin Bartha) persuades him to deal Ecstacy – you know, the stuff that makes sandpaper feel like cotton.

Sundance 2010 Review: EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP

Rusty Gordon — Fri, 07 May 2010 04:10:26 +0000

Rating: 9/10

A Banksy Film

Editor’s Note: Originally posted on January 31, 2010 at Sundance.

If you did not know who the street artist Banksy (whose real identity is unknown) was before EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP, I encourage you to get introduced to this highly-intelligent artist whose craftiness takes his work to the level of subversive brilliance. If you were aware of Banksy, then you no doubt want to see everything by and with him, and you should not be disappointed.

Watch the first five minutes of EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP

Drew Tinnin — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:50:18 +0000

The first five minutes of the Banksy documentary, EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP, are now available online for your consumption.

There have been a handful of documentaries made about graffiti culture, most notably 1983′s STYLE WARS. For obvious reasons, there aren’t a lot of artists willing to appear on camera doing something that is frowned upon by neighborhood boards and business owners alike which also happens to be completely illegal.

Sundance hit HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE gets distribution and release date

Ronnita Miller — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 21:34:30 +0000

2010 Sundance Audience Award winner HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE has secured distribution through the film and video division of publisher Hannover House.

The acquisition cost Hannover a cool $1 million dollars and the film will see a release in the select cities of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Dallas on August 27th before expanding to an additional 20 markets nationwide Labor Day weekend.
The film marks the directorial debut of How I Met Your Mother star Josh Radnor. He can also be seen in front of the camera as well along with Malin Ackerman, Zoe Kazan, Pablo Schreiber, Tony Hale, Kate Mara, and Michael Algieri.

Watch Spike Jonze’s short film, I’M HERE

Kate Erbland — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:18:00 +0000

Back in January, director Spike Jonze premiered a new short film, I’M HERE, at the Sundance Film Festival. Lovers of romantic robotics sighed all over the film, featuring one of my favorite young actors, Andrew Garfield. The boys loved the short back then, and now it’s finally available online for everyone to view (and presumably, fall in love with), via Absolut Vodka (who sponsored its creation). Check out Rusty’s Sundance review for the short HERE, in which he advises us to “expect to swoon all over this brief love story worthy of your affection.”

Sundance 2010 Review: NEW LOW

Don R. Lewis — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:14:07 +0000

Rating: 7/10

Writer/Director/Producer: Adam Bowers
Cast: Adam Bowers, Jayme Ratzer, Valerie Jones, Toby Turner

After I popped the screener of Adam Bowers’ film NEW LOW into my DVD player, I decided to watch the film’s trailer in order to get a better idea of what to expect. Big mistake. The trailer was filled with the Woody Allenesque foibles of an apparently 7 foot tall, 90 pound man struggling with life and love, and quickly, a sense of dread came over me. “Not another movie where a self absorbed twenty-something filmmaker makes a movie about a self absorbed twenty-something.” Ugh! With an impending sense of doom, I hit play on the film.

Sundance 2010 Video Interview: Co-Writer/Actor Stephen Hale & Actress Tina Kapousis (ONE TOO MANY MORNINGS)

James Wallace — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:43:51 +0000

As much as film festivals are about getting to see notable films before they are released, they are just as much about discovering films you would not have seen otherwise. If Sundance is known for one thing, it is to be a purveyor of the truly independent cinema, a champion of the little guy. ONE TOO MANY MORNINGS is one of the little guys with a huge heart!

Sundance 2010 Video Interview: DRUNK HISTORY creators Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner

Chase Whale — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 03:00:44 +0000

Here’s another video interview Rusty and I did with Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner, creators of DRUNK HISTORY. I particularly like this one a lot because we dive into DRUNK HISTORY’s past, present, and a bit of the future. Here’s a little sober history on DRUNK HISTORY: it was created by Derek Waters and features a drunk comedian narrating about an historical event. The fun part is when a famous actor (Michael Cera, Danny McBride, Paul Schneider, Will Ferrell, Don Cheadle, Crispin Glover, and John C. Reilly to name a few) dramatically and hysterically reinacts the event, including burps and fuck ups. Waters writes all the episodes while Jeremy Konner takes over the directing, shooting, and editing. Oh, and they find and supply the narrator with as much alcohol as they need to make DRUNK HISTORY possible. They are two of the coolest and brightest dudes you’ll ever meet in Hollywood (seriously).

Sundance 2010 Video Interview: Actors John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover, and writer/directors Jeremy Konner and Derek Waters (DRUNK HISTORY)

Chase Whale — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:49:56 +0000

A few days before taking off for Sundance, I received an email letting me know that John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover and the brilliant minds behind the DRUNK HISTORY shorts were available for interviews. So I put in a request not thinking much of it (after getting so many rejection emails, there’s only so much whiskey my liver can take), but a few days later, we were confirmed to interview the crew. This will probably go down in GATW history as one of the most fun interviews we’ve ever done.

Sundance 2010 Video Interview: Writer/Director Derek Cianfrance (BLUE VALENTINE)

James Wallace — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:21:58 +0000

When we do interviews here at GordonandtheWhale.com, we always set out to break down the traditional ideas of that word…”interview” in our questions, in our approach, even the location of said interview.

Sundance 2010 Video Interview: Director Aaron Schneider (GET LOW)

James Wallace — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:58:26 +0000

In 2003, Aaron Schneider won an Academy Award for his short film TWO SOLDIERS. Now Schneider is back with his first full-length feature GET LOW, starring Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Bill Murray and Lucas Black. I would not be surprised if Schneider heard Oscar calling him again come next year, as GET LOW is a dark and heavy drama featuring some of the best work both Robert Duvall and Bill Murray have done, not to mention the rest of the cast.

Sundance 2010 Review: PLEASE GIVE

Rusty Gordon — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:32:53 +0000

Rating: 3.5/5

Writer: Nicole Holofcener
Director: Nicole Holofcener
Cast: Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt, Amanda Peet, Rebecca Hall, Sarah Steele

Nicole Holofcener (FRIENDS WITH MONEY) has made the message of her latest film also its title, PLEASE GIVE. Despite the blatant quality of the film’s title, PLEASE GIVE does not come off like a direct lecture so insistent that you get its message that it becomes more preachy than enlightening; for the most part, the film itself is too sly and intelligent for that (although it does momentarily stumble over its message at the end).

Sundance 2010 Video Interview: Actor Lucas Black (GET LOW)

James Wallace — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:16:47 +0000

In GET LOW, Lucas Black recalls his roots of Frank Wheatley, the iconic role of a young boy who befriends the town outcast in the Academy Award winning SLING BLADE. Here, Black returns to talking to strangers as Buddy, an assistant to the local mortician (Bill Murray) instructed with the heavy task of getting close to Felix Bush (Robert Duvall) so that he may help plan a funeral party for the notorious town legend…while the man is still alive. In this dark and heavy film, Black was given the chance to act alongside some of the greatest and most spontaneous actors that ever lived. But he was up to the challenge!

Sundance 2010 Video Interview: Writer/Director Jim Owen (CAN WE TALK?)

James Wallace — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 03:54:19 +0000

Everyone’s been there. The end of a relationship. When you know it just isn’t working, it’s not good for you anymore and it’s time to “c’est la vie.” And yet, you still attempt to get “a parting gift.”