2010 Sundance Film Festival

New Trailer for CYRUS Starring John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill, and Catherine Keener

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: January 22nd, 2010 at 11:48 am

Fox Searchlight has debuted the first trailer for Cyrus, the latest from mumblecore auteurs Mark and Jay Duplass.  The Duplass brothers, who previously specialized in ultra-low budget films cast with relative unknowns like The Puffy Chair and Baghead, are working with an upsized budget and a major upgrade in cast notoriety on Cyrus.  John C. Reilly stars as John, a downtrodden sadsack who finds hope in a blossoming relationship with Molly, played by Marisa Tomei.  The catch?  Molly has a grown son named Cyrus, played by Jonah Hill, whose close relationship with his mother threatens the growth of her new romance.

The good news is that Reilly scores quite a few laughs in the trailer, and the Duplass brothers don’t seem out of their element with the larger scale of the film.  I’m not yet sold on the portrayal of Cyrus (the bar for cinematic social awkwardness was set high this summer by Zach Galifianakis in The Hangover), but the character only had a few moments in the trailer, and may be more nuanced than can be shown in a minute or so.  Given the sadly brief screen time devoted to the always wonderful Catherine Keener, I look forward to further details on her role in the film.

Check out the trailer along with the official synopsis after the jump.  Cyrus will debut at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Sundance 2010: Clips from SYMPATHY FOR DELICIOUS and RUNAWAYS, plus the Trailer for Banksy’s EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 21st, 2010 at 2:19 pm

The 2010 Sundance Film Festival isn’t heating up-it’s heated.  The Festival kicks off tonight and will run through January 31st.  Steve will be there (as soon as his flight stops getting delayed) and will bring you loads of interviews and his thoughts on the films making their debuts.  I’ll be here in Atlanta, seething with jealous rage.  This rage is exacerbated when I see clips from Mark Ruffalo’s directing debut, Sympathy for Delicious, the rock biopic The Runaways, and the trailer for Exit Through the Gift Shop, the first film from brilliant street artist Banksy.

After the jump you’ll find nine clips (in one player) for Sympathy for Delicious, starring Ruffalo, Juliette Lewis, Laura Linney, Christopher Thornton, and Orlando Bloom.  We’ve also got a clip from The Runaways starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning (you can also check out the eight high resolution images from the film that Steve posted yesterday).  Finally, we also have the trailer for Last Exit Through the Gift Shop.  I’ve also included the official synopsis for each film.

Trailer for Spike Jonze’s Short Film I’M HERE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 21st, 2010 at 11:16 am

Spike Jonze has an upcoming 30-minute short film named I’m Here that will premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.  The trailer for the film showcases love between robots, but I would prefer to see a Mac vs. PC Gangs of New York-style brawl.  Sadly, it’s really expensive to just throw PCs and Macs at each other, and certainly not as compelling as what Jonze can create.  His movie also has a slightly bigger budget; it’s funded by Absolut Vodka so there will be some product placement, but that company gives a lot of leeway to directors (e.g. their commercials with Zach Galifianakis, Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim).  I also imagine that Jonze wouldn’t do the film if there was the directive, “The robots must get absolut-ly fucking hammers in every scene.  Robots love vodka.”

I’m Here debuts tonight at 8:30pm at the Egyptian Theatre.  Steve posted three images from the film, which you can check out here.

Three Flicks from the 2010 Sundance Film Festival Premiering on a Cable Box Near You via VOD

by Matt Currie    Posted: January 7th, 2010 at 7:28 pm

Recently launched video-on-demand label Sundance Selects announced today that it has struck a deal with the Sundance Institute that will see three films from this year’s upcoming Sundance Film Festival become available on-demand across the nation in concurrence with their festival premieres. The featured films will be The Shock Doctrine, a documentary on disaster capitalism; Daddy Longlegs, “a fairy tale and bittersweet comedy about the responsibilities of parenthood”; and 7 Days, a revenge drama about a man who kidnaps his daughter’s killer for a week-long torture session. All three will be available on most major cable providers, as well as satellite provider DirecTV, for 30 days after their initial release, in a special section of your system’s on-demand channel.

Let’s hope that this is the first of many such ventures involving Sundance and other festivals. There is so much original and compelling filmmaking on display at these venues. And even though the festival circuit has become a major feeding ground for the studios in recent years, many films worthy of attention still end up slipping through the cracks, never being afforded the opportunity to reach a larger audience. VOD can go a long way toward remedying this.

Hit the jump to find out more about the three films that will be featured in this project, which organizers have dubbed “Direct from the Sundance Film Festival.”

First Images and Synopses for Newly-Added Sundance 2010 Films IT’S A WONDERFUL AFTERLIFE, THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT, and THE ROMANTICS

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 21st, 2009 at 3:07 pm

The 2010 Sundance Film Festival announced today that it would be adding three films to its out of competition line-up: It’s a Wonderful Afterlife, directed by Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham); The Kids Are Alright, directed by Lisa Cholodenko (Laurel Canyon) and starring Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson, Mark Ruffalo, and Annette Benning; and The Romantics, directed by Galt Niederhoffer (Grace Is Gone) and starring Katie Holmes, Josh Duhamel, Anna Paquin, Adam Brody, Malin Akerman, and Elijah Wood.

Hit the jump for images and brief synopses for all three films.  The 2010 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 21-31st.

Sundance 2010: Park City at Midnight – New Images from THE PERFECT HOST, TUCKER & DALE VS. EVIL, and THE VIOLENT KIND

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 16th, 2009 at 8:20 pm

Along with the images from 7 Days, Frozen, HIGH School, and Splice, we also have new images today from The Perfect Host starring David Hyde Pierce, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil starring Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine, and The Violent Kind.  All these films will be premiering at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival in the “Park City at Midnight” category.  The films that play in this category may not have the most prestige among the films at the festival, but they may end up being some of the most fun.  Judging from the images, I particularly think Dale & Tucker vs. Evil could be a blast.  Hit the jump to check out images and synopses for the three films.

The 2010 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 21-31st.

Sundance 2010: Park City at Midnight – New Images from 7 DAYS, FROZEN, HIGH SCHOOL, and SPLICE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 16th, 2009 at 8:01 pm

Today we have new images from 7 Days, Frozen, HIGH School, and Splice, the latter two starring Adrien Brody.  All these films will be premiering at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival in the “Park City at Midnight” category.  The films that play in this category may not have the most prestige among the films at the festival, but they may end up being some of the most fun.

Hit the jump to check out images and synopses for the four films plus a poster for Frozen.  The 2010 Sundance Film Festival Runs from January 21-31st.

First Image from THE RUNAWAYS Starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 12th, 2009 at 7:49 pm

With the 2010 Sundance Film Festival on the horizon, another film releases its first photos.  This time it’s the Runaways, the story of the all-chick rock band starring Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning as Cherrie Currie.  The film co-stars Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development), Scout Taylor-Compton (Rob Zombie’s Halloween), and Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road).  For those just tuning in, here’s the official Sundance synopsis:

Of all the bands to come out of the 1970s Los Angeles music scene, The Runaways are by far the most uniquely fascinating. This is partially due to their music but more so to the fact that they were teenage girls whose wild and reckless lifestyle was the stuff of legend.

Focusing on the duo of guitarist/vocalist Joan Jett and lead vocalist Cherie Currie as they navigate a rocky road of touring and record-label woes, the film chronicles the band’s formation as well as their meteoric rise under the malevolent eye of an abusive manager.

Click on the thumbnail on the right to see the full image.  The 2010 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 21-31st.

SUNDANCE Sends Filmmakers to 8 Cities to Show Their Films During the Festival

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 9th, 2009 at 9:39 pm

If you can’t go to the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, don’t cry!  The Sundance Institute is making 2010 the inaugural year of Sundance Film Festival USA where eight filmmakers showing their film at the festival will show it to a major metropolitan area…so as long as you live in or near one of those eight major cities, then you don’t need to cry.

The films going out through the nation are The Duplass Brothers’ Cyrus starring John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, and Jonah Hill; John Wells The Company Men starring Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, and Kevin Costner (Brookline; The Safdie Brothers’ Daddy Longlegs; Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Jack Goes Boating starring Hoffman and Amy Ryan; Adrian Grenier’s documentary Teenage Paparazzo; Floria Sigismondi’s The Runaways starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning; Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini’s The Extra Man starring Kevin Kline and Paul Dano; and Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s Howl starring James Franco and Jon Hamm. All eight films will be shown on the night of January 28th with tickets available through each individual theater’s box office.  Hit the jump for the full press release to see which film is going to which city and who will be presenting.  The people of Ann Arbor, MI, Brookline, MA, Brooklyn, NY, Chicago, IL, Los Angeles, CA, Madison, WI, Nashville, TN, and San Francisco, CA are going to be very happy on January 28th.  As for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, it will run from January 21-31st.

Sundance 2010: First Images from John Wells’ THE COMPANY MEN Starring Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Costner, and Chris Cooper

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 7th, 2009 at 12:17 pm

The first images from The Company Men have come online in advance of the film’s premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.  Directed by John Wells, the drama revolves around three company men attempt to survive a round of corporate downsizing while trying to fend off its effects on their families and their identities.  The description from All Movie Guide [via Fandango] gets slightly more specific by saying that Ben Affleck stars as a businessman whose life is thrown into ruin when he’s affected by company layoffs and has to work at his brother-in-law’s (Kevin Costner) construction site.  Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Cooper also star.  For those who don’t know, John Wells was the co-creator of ER and The West Wing and took full control of the latter after Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme left at the end of the fourth season.

Check out the images after the jump.  The 2010 Sundance Film Festival will run from January 21-31^st.

Sundance 2010: First Images from OBSELIDIA, SKATELAND Starring Ashley Greene, THE DRY LAND Starring America Ferrera, Melissa Leo, and Wilmer Valderrama, THE IMPERIALISTS ARE STILL ALIVE! and WINTER’S BONE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 6th, 2009 at 8:44 pm

As we move closer to the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, we’re getting the first images of the films that will be playing there.  Since there are so many movies, we’ve decided to group them into a single article because the human brain can only handle so many new images before it starts to go mad.  The films we’ve included in this group Obselidia; Skateland starring the unbelievable hotness that is Ashley Greene; The Dry Land starring America Ferrera, Melissa Leo, and Wilmer Valderrama; The Imperialists Are Still Alive!; and Winter’s Bone starring Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes. We also have some more images for Nowhere Boy, the young John Lennon biopic starring Kristen Scott Thomas and Aaron Johnson.  Hit the jump for images and synopses for all these films.

The 2010 Sundance Film Festival will run from January 21-31^st.

Sundance 2010: First Images from 3 BACKYARDS, Diego Luna’s ABEL, BLUE VALENTINE Starring Ryan Gosling, DOUCHEBAG, HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE, and NIGHT CATCHES US

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 6th, 2009 at 8:34 pm

As we move closer to the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, the first glimpses of movies playing at the festival are arriving online.  Since there are so many, we’ve decided to group them into a single article for your viewing pleasure.  The films we’ve included in this group are 3 Backyards starring Edie Falco and Elias Koteas; Abel directed by Diego Luna; Blue Valentine starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams; Douchebag, which just has a catchy title; HappyThankYouMorePlease starring Kate Mara, Malin Akerman, Richard Jenkins, Tony Hale, and Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother) who also wrote and directed the film; and Night Catches Us starring Kerry Washington and Anthony Mackie.  Hit the jump for the first images as well as brief synopses for all of these movies.

The 2010 Sundance Film Festival will run from January 21-31^st.

2010 Sundance Film Festival Out-of-Competition Films: Spotlight

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 3rd, 2009 at 6:27 pm

Yesterday we gave you a list of all the films playing in-competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.  We now have the list of the films playing out-of-competition and they’re divided up into four categories: Premieres, Next, Spotlight, and Park City at Midnight. Since combining these lists would be a lot to read for just one article, we’ve broken it up to make it easier on your eyes.  You’re welcome.

Films in the Spotlight category include Louis C.K.: Hilarious; Rodrigo Garcia’s Mother & Child starring Naomi Watts, Annette Benning, and Kerry Washington; the great-sounding documentary Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks; and Enter the Void, the new film from Gaspar Noé (Irreversible).  Films in the Park City at Midnight category include HIGH School starring Adrien Brody; and Buried starring Ryan Reynolds.

Hit the jump to check out synopses for all of the films playing in these categories.  The 2010 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 21-31^st.

2010 Sundance Film Festival Out-of-Competition Films: Next

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 3rd, 2009 at 2:51 pm

Yesterday we gave you a list of all the films playing in-competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.  We now have the list of the films playing out-of-competition and they’re divided up into four categories: Premieres, Next, Spotlight, and Park City at Midnight. Since combining these lists would be a lot to read for just one article, we’ve broken it up to make it easier on your eyes.  You’re welcome.

The “Next” category features filmmakers and actors you’ve probably never heard of before, but that doesn’t mean these films aren’t worth seeing.  On the contrary, because there are only eight of them, folks attending the festival may want to find some time to try and check a couple out because part of what makes film festivals so great is you can discover a hidden game and bring it to the attention of others.  Check out the list of films along with a brief synopsis for each after the jump.

2010 Sundance Film Festival Out-of-Competition Films: Premieres

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 3rd, 2009 at 2:34 pm

Yesterday we gave you a list of all the films playing in-competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.  We now have the list of the films playing out-of-competition and they’re divided up into four categories: Premieres, Next, Spotlight, and Park City at Midnight. Since combining these lists would be a lot to read for just one article, we’ve broken it up to make it easier on your eyes.  You’re welcome.

Know that while there are a lot of films playing in-competition, most of the films to get buzz will be coming from the out-of-competition categories.  First up are the premiers which include John Wells’ The Company Men starring Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones and Kevin Costner; Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini’s The Extra Man starring Katie Holmes, John C. Reilly, and Paul Dano; Get Low starring Robert Duvall and Bill Murray; Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me starring Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, and Jessica Alba; and more.  Hit the jump to check out all of the films with brief synopsis for each.

The 2010 Sundance Film Festival will run from January 21-31^st.

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