There Will Be Blood

I saw it again last night.

To be honest, I don't feel like you can say that you've seen it, if you've only seen it once.

This film is a masterpiece on at least 12 different levels and the screenplay is so tight and packed together, I don't know if it could have been a single frame shorter. There was no fat whatsoever on this three hour epic.

Each frame is carefully designed to take you on a journey so that the end of the film (and even a good four or five points in the middle) move you beyond reason.

Also, I'm wondering if this is a "guy" movie. You know, like when you'd watch John Wayne movies with your uncle or your grandfather or something, and then all the women would come in and just sort of roll their eyes. I mean, I took Amberley to see it and she liked it and acknowledged that is was good. (Better than good, it made her cry and she NEVER cries during movies). But she insisted she would never watch it again.

Long story short, if you haven't got on this bandwagon yet, you're really missing the boat. How's that for mixing metaphors?

Romney's Out!

"My arrogance is this big"

Hooray!

If I had a picture of him here, I'd spit on it.

His reason for leaving?

I disagree with Senator McCain on a number of issues, as you know. But I agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on finding and executing Osama bin Laden, and on eliminating Al Qaeda and terror. If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.

That's right. This tool quit, because if he didn't the terrorists would win.

What a jackass.

Jesus Christ. Literally. Another voting nightmare.

From the Salt Lake Tribune today. (2-6-08)

"When my daughter was attending a Midvale elementary school, she came home with a flyer that said "the students whose parents vote the way the Bishop instructed - would get free lunch for a week!". Now, you tell me the "church" doesn't tell the citizens who to vote for. What I also find amusing is that a great deal of the polling places are at the neighborhood wards (churches). As you are checking in, the nice ladies remind you of what the Bishop "suggested" on Sunday."

Now that just about borders on the obscene.

Another Awesome Voting in Utah Story

The election officials tried turning my mom away.

There was a judge at the front standing at a podium, telling people whether or not they could vote in the primary based on their party affiliations.

When my mom gave her name, they told her she couldn't vote because the Republican primary was closed, unless she wanted to switch her affiliation to Republican.

My mom then had to remind the election official that there was, indeed, also a Democratic primary taking place and she was begrudgingly waved along.

"NO SHIT" and a voting story.

I just checked the Salt Lake Tribune's website and their number one story is currently "Mitt Romney Wins Utah".

HEAVENLY WHITENESS: Utah Romney Supporters explode with relief when it's announced that he won Utah.

Also, I heard from my friend Kristi, who lives in Provo, that she had to wait in line for 2 hours to vote because the city's voting computers "all crashed" and city officials were trying to "turn the computers back on". Kristi said people were getting tired of waiting and just went home. Hours later, when everything finally got worked out, and Kristi got to the voting table, they told her she couldn't vote because "they lost her information".

She had been voting at the same place for 4 years. And they turned her away. Yet another American not able to practice democracy because of a bunch of dumb fucks.

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES by the coward robert ford

Wow.

It's 3:00am and I just finished watching the nearly 3 hour "Assassination of Jesse James" and I'm wired.

I always get hyped up whenever I watch a film that is completely and utterly enrapturing. Which is amazing since this film had one of the things I usually hate: a very sporadic narrator. But it worked for me. It was like a History Channel movie but with raw human emotions, sudden horrific violence, and soul-ripping performances. The tension that builds for 3 hours culminated to the point that I was sitting on the edge of my seat with my hands clasped and my teeth biting my lip.

And what's funny is that I knew how the story ended. I mean the title kind of gives it away. But when you're presented with the power house performances of Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck (Affleck especially), you see their characters as deeply tortured human beings, and not just historical figures. The director devised a way for the script to flow in sort of non-linear form and at the end I was actually asking myself "What is going to happen? How does this end?"

I have to tell you. Casey Affleck is a sure-fire rival to Javier Bardem for Best Supporting Actor.

Movie-List

They added the trailer to the database.

Check it out here, and be sure to vote on the trailer.

Popgun Reviewed

The Onion's AV club ran a review of Popgun and specifically mentioned Gamma Rae.

Read it here.

You can order it on amazon, too...

Vote Today.

I'm on my way to do so now, before work.

I mean, vote if you're in a Primary-holding state today.

I'm actually dying with anxiety, wondering how things will turn out today. Will it be a stalemate all around? Will we have presumptive candidates from each party? What direction could the country be headed for?

Most, if not all, of these questions will be answered tonight and it's both scary and exciting.

ATONEMENT

I don't like writing long reviews cuz my mind is usually tired after watching a good film. So...

It was really, really good.

I can totally see why it's nominated for an Academy Award.

It didn't blow my hair back the way "There Will Be Blood" or "No Country For Old Men" did, but it was still a solid motion picture.

It definently brought something new to the "romance war drama" genre. I liked how the entire plot gets rolling through the clumsy mind-set of a 13 year old girl. She makes very naive and stupid decisions that catapult lots of sorrow into her adulthood. Only when she gets older, does she realize her mistakes and what she has done to those around her. How does she make things right? Is such a thing even possible? Everything was executed perfectly. From the screenplay, the acting, the cinematography and the music. And the ending is just one big kick in the balls. I like films that end with an explosion of gray, rather than a clean black and white wrap up.

Cassandra's Dream

The reason posting was so lax over the weekend was that most of us here at ShineBox were down for the count, in bed, sick.

But there was but one thing that got me out of bed, doped up to my ears and it was the fact that Woody Allen's new picture, Cassandra's Dream, opened up in Salt Lake City.

I've been terribly excited for this film for a while, I've turned into quite the Woody Allen nerd in the last few years. (And he's crazy if he doesn't think he influences young filmmakers.)

But this film delivered on all counts. Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell play brothers Ian and Terry, both are in dire need of money. It's actually kind of funny, the level of favors being asked progress from small to large and what's asked in return gets larger and larger. Ian goes to Terry, asking to borrow a car and 300 pounds. Terry replies by explaining that not only can he not do that, he lost 90,000 pounds playing poker and needs to borrow Ian's savings to make payments to the loan sharks so they won't break his legs. The pair of them go to their Uncle who says that he can help them, but he needs them to kill a man so he doesn't go to jail for the rest of his life.

The film broods slowly, forcing you to boil in the indecision of the brothers. Are they going to help their Uncle? Can they live with a murder to solve their problems?

The moral dillemas and choices made by the characters in the film are portrayed in such a realistic fashion it's bizarre. In film, murder is an easy thing, but Woody Allen manages to make you feel the burden of the decision they have to make.

I don't want to give away too much about the movie, and I would bet that you'd all be as split on it as the critics are, but the debates about the film afterwards have been quite fulfilling. Did they have a choice? Was it all fate?

The acting in the film is top-notch, Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell and Tom Wilkinson are a trifecta that simply can't be beat. And with Woody Allen's choice of cinematographer and composer (Vilmos Zsigmond and Phillip Glass, respectively) you know he's simply not screwing around with his craft. I'm continually surprised by how well Woody Allen can ape Hitchcock (from Match Point to Manhattan Murder Mystery) he's able to create a tone of suspense with as much care and skill, but somehow, I don't think people will remember that about him.

I also want to specifically call out Colin Farrell for how bloody good he was in this film. He's so unsure of himself and his choices and his sadness and depression get you in the gut.

Long story short, go see this picture.

I know I'm going to try to go again.

(Also, this actually doubles my excitement for his next film, set in Spain, starring Javier Bardem, Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz.)

Jesus' General

The Good General, J.C. Christian, Patriot, has seen fit to write to the BYU-anti-porn-jihadists.

It's quite funny and he was kind enough to drop a link to our neck of the woods.

Click here to read it.

SOME BIG BLACK BOOTYS

For all you pussy BYU students scared of nice, plump asses:

Killer At Large Trailer

Here's the youtube version of the Killer At Large trailer.

Embed it wherever you want.

BYU Thought Police

It seems as though Gold's Gym in Orem and Provo have a fight on their hands.

Personally, as a member of the gym, I would hope the fight would be to keep the doors open on Sunday since that's pretty much the easiest day for me (and I'm sure a lot of people) to get into the gym.

No. The BYU Thought Police are it at.

It seems as though anti-"pornography" crusaders are waging a jihad against the music videos they play on their monitors.

Here's an excerpt:

The Gold's Gym near the BYU campus is one of 19 Gold's Gyms in Utah. A majority of this gym's customers are BYU students. Dallen Johnson says, "I've had to leave, honestly! There have been four times I've run out of the cardio cinema because of racy and inappropriate things being shown, things I personally view as pornography."

Jesus Christ.

Who the hell do these people think they're kidding. Music videos? Pornography? Racy, yes. But pornographic?

I'm not sure if these people actually understand what pornography is. Scantily clad women hopping up and down next to cars in odd-shaped hallways is a a far cry from...say....How to Ass Ejaculate. (Don't worry. It's a link to the IMDb... And maybe that's not even a porno...)

Another gem:

The protesters say Gold's Gym is not the only business they are concerned about. "The things I see the most is people have no idea how it affects people and how widespread it is and how serious of an issue it is," says Nicole Braden.

Which is actually kind of a funny thing to say since there are studies that show the more lax pornography laws are in an area, the lower the rape rate. And we all know Utah has one of the highest rates of rape in the country (and it's getting worse, and these are just reported rapes). So, pornography actually has a positive affect on the community. I would agree this is a serious issue, but I think these students are on the wrong side of the argument.

What Gold's Gym should do is leave their music videos just the way they are, what they should change are their hours. They should stay open on Sundays or lower their rates. I have to pay the same rate for 6 days a week of gym access as everyone else in the country pays for 7 and that's a legitimate gripe.

UPDATE: NO! Gold's Gym caved! If they cave to stuff this stupid, a petition to open on Sunday should be a breeze.

UPDATE 2: Apparently, I'm a week or two late with this story, but it's still infuriating. But that's what I get for hitting the festival....

UPDATE 3: Don't forget to check out the website and trailer for the new movie: KILLER AT LARGE.

James Bond Marathon

Every other night or so for the last month, I've been watching a James Bond movie with my son before bedtime. We've hit the halfway point, and I wanted to share a few sentences about each of them with you.

We've been watching them in order, so that's how I'll do it.

Dr. No (1962) - The first film in the franchise was probably the most grounded in reality of all the Connery Bond films (which isn't saying much, but it's true). Overall, this sets the tone of fun for the rest of the franchise and establishes all the hallmarks (the shooting through the gun barrel, the music, the opening credits sequence, etc.) Also, Ursula Andress is quite fun to look at.

From Russia With Love (1963) - This film has a plot unlike most of the rest of the Bond films. There isn't anyone trying to take over the whole world, it's about SPECTREs plan to steal a Russian decoding machine and James Bond's attempts to get it. The film also features a young, fit Robert Shaw as a maniacal assassin, hot on James' trail. This is one of the best in the series.

Goldfinger (1964) - Hands down the best Bond film ever made. This has everything you'd ever want in a Bond film (escapes, chases, explosions, a great villain, a great plan by the villain, Pussy Galore, etc.) This film also boasts the best Felix Leiter (with the possible exception of the current Felix, Jeffrey Wright.) If you were only going to watch one James Bond picture, I would have to insist this would be it.

Thunderball (1965) - Thunderball is pretty standard fare but has some of the coolest sequences of any of the Bond pictures. (SPECTRE's #2 has stolen a nuclear-armed plane and hidden it underwater). It's also interesting to see how they one-up the ending of Goldfinger. In Goldfinger, the film ends with a great firefight between the US Army and Goldfingers private Army. In Thunderball, it's pretty much the same thing, private army vs. government army, except it's underwater. But it's rad. Also, the Felix Leiter in this picture is a lame goofball.

You Only Live Twice (1967) - This is certainly the most unusual of the Connery Bonds. This film has him in Japanese makeup and it's all quite odd. It's a fun movie and the plot is interesting, but there's just something a little off about it. And the writers couldn't figure out how to top the ending fight to Thunderball, so instead of underwater fights, this one is in a volcano. And the combatants are SPECTRE's army vs. ninjas. Seriously. Donald Pleasance was also great as Blofeld.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) - Honest to god this is at least tied for 2nd or 3rd best Bond film ever. This was also George Lazenby's only outing as Bond. I've written a review of this one before (you can read that here). I honestly wish that Lazenby had been able to do more films. Telly Savalas surprised me with the quality of his Blofeld, too.

Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - It's obvious watching this film why they felt the need to replace Connery in 1969. He's a bit too old for the part here. He's good and the film is fun as hell (cheesy in places, but fun.) I don't know why the hell they hard such a hard time holding on to Blofelds, but this one is the least awesome so far.

Live and Let Die (1973) - This was Roger Moore's first Bond picture and I have to say that Yaphet Kotto stole the show. This is a solid addition to the Bond franchise and the boat chases across the Louisiana Bayou were fantastic.

The Man With the Golden Gun (1974) - I haven't seen all of Roger Moore's films but I would argue that either this or The Spy Who Loved me is the best of his films. Christopher Lee plays the kick-ass assassin Scaramanga and he seems to have a score to settle with Bond. The fate of the world isn't at stake in this one as much as the others and that serves it well.

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) - This has a great ski-chase in it, a great love story and it introduced one of the most iconic James Bond villains in the series: Jaws. It also has one of the best endings of any of the films. (James is caught by M and the minister sleeping with the Russian Agent Triple-X. "What are you doing, 007?" To which he looks a bit confused and then replies coyly, "Keeping the British end up, sir.")

Moonraker (1979) - If I had to pick my least favorite Bond film in the first half of them, this would probably be it. It was slapped together to include an outer-space sequence because of the popularity of Star Wars and it's just pretty funny. It's amazing to me that Roger Moore still had three Bond pictures left in him, because it's obvious that they've taken a turn downward. And what the hell is up with Jaws and his girlfriend in this one?

So, I'll be back in a few weeks when I finish the other half of the Bond series.

Huffington Post

Huffington Post ran my review of Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?

Check it out here.

Aint it Cool, again

The ran my reviews of Where in the World is Osama and Towelhead.

Check them out here.

Rambo

I saw Rambo tonight.

There's not much to say about it.

It's a Rambo movie. Rambo doesn't want to kill people anymore, but he's pushed. Then he kills a whole hell of a lot of people.

The effects and gore were fantastic, the film was well-acted, the violence was shuddering.

It was pretty much what you'd expect from a Rambo movie. It was like every other bad action movie but extremely well made. And the ending worked well. It was pretty much the same shot and pose and tone as John Wayne at the end of "The Searchers", when he realizes that even though he saved the day, he's still an outsider and then heads back to the one place he knows as home.

This movie will obviously be successful, but the question is, which Stallone character gets the sequel treatment next? Cobra? Tango and Cash? Snaps Provolone? Lincoln Hawk?

I wouldn't mind seeing Stallone helmed sequels to any of those pictures. (Particularly Oscar, I don't care what anyone says, it's a really good movie.)

Bottom Line? I enjoyed the hell out of this picture. It's worth the money for a ticket. But you know, in advance, you're not paying for anything but a by the numbers Rambo picture.

Towelhead

I scored tickets to Towelhead and knew absolutely nothing about it. Consulting the IMDb on the way in, I found that it was written and directed by the guy who wrote American Beauty. So, I instantly expected it to be a film that told me exactly how to feel.

I would argue that this film is exactly the opposite and a lot better than American Beauty. (I didn't much like American Beauty, so that's not as high praise as it would be coming from others.)

But Towelhead follows a 13 year-old Lebanese girl who comes to her sexual awakening in a hypocritical culture. She's bombarded by media messages of sexuality (advertising, Married With Children, porno mags, etc.) but lives in an environment where no one discusses sexuality at all. It's the worst kind of abstinence only education.

Overall, I think the film was pretty good. I don't think I liked it as much as the people I was with, but I did like it. My problems with it stem mainly from the length and pacing, I thought the pacing and editing of the first half hour of the film were paced well, but the cutting didn't match the tone the film needed. It was just out of place. And the film was just over two hours and was at least 10 minutes too long.

Having said that, I think the best thing about the film is the relationship between the girl, Summer Bishil, and her much, much older neighbor, played by Aaron Eckhart. He's completely in love with her and her age doesn't seem to enter into his mind. At all. He's not a pedophile in the normal regard, he's actually interested in her.

In fact, the best moment in the film is when he apologizes to her and tells her that it isn't her fault, and then turns and runs back into the house.

But the film never tells you how you should feel about any of the sexuality going on in the film. Even when Aaron Eckhart and Summer Bishil have sex, there is no moral judging done on behalf of the filmmakers. It really just opens a window and shows it to you, but that's it. The only thing you're forced to do, is empathize with everyone, no matter how despicable they are. It's like Todd Solondz Happiness, but you actually like all of the characters.

I don't think this film will fly very well at the boxoffice, but I don't think it's because of a lack of quality. Between the title and the content, though, I can't see it being able to go wider than an arthouse release at best. Which is a shame, since crap like "In the Name of King: A Dungeon Siege Tale" can come out on like 2,500 screens.

Trailer Reviewed!

Kevin Smith's Quick Stop Entertainment caught the trailer to Killer at Large and wrote quite a glowing review of it.

Click here to read it (It's down at the bottom).

Sundance Report #4

This is just going to be a quick update, I'm doing some creative writing and don't want to disturb that.

Steve went home deathly ill and Elias and I kept up on our meetings. On Main Street we practically walked right into Brad Bird, which was awesome, and we saw Morgan Spurlock walking down the street by himself, craving attention.

Then we went to the premiere of Towelhead, which was pretty good. I'll probably write about it at the same time I write about Where in the World is Osama?...

Sundance Report #3

We met with some more people about the film today, but Elias and I were introduced to "The Dude."

No, not Jeff Bridges. Jeff Dowd, the guy "The Dude" was based on.

"Well, man," he told us in a very dude-like voice, "Joel knew me in '79 and used me as a satirical jumping off point."

Yes, The Dude abides.

So that was pretty cool.

Jason and Matt the Intern put up some more posters, too....

And there's some cool stuff going on in the press soon I can't wait to tell you all about.

In Memoriam

Heath Ledger
1979-2008

Sundance Report #2

We had an out-of-festival screening for some industry people and our street crew hit the streets.

Today, we're going to a Mushman show and have some meetings.

And then we're going to John's movie, Blood, Boobs and Beast, at Tromadance tonight. It's at the library at 6 and it's free. The movie is fantastic and I would recommend that you all go see it.

Hopefully we'll have some pictures later.

And I saw "Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?" and I have to say it was 50-50 at best. If we were using baseball metaphors I think it would be a foul-ball. Not completely a strike, I mean, the bat hit the ball. It probably even made it into the stands, but it was on the wrong side of the line and no bases were taken.

So, I'll see if I can put some thoughts down about it later.

Aintitcool Part 2....

They ran my review of Be Kind Rewind.

Check it out here.

SUNDANCE VIDEO (Hot Tub Part Deux)

Here's a video that my friend John shot. He's got a film, "Blood Boobs and Beast" premiering at Tromadance Tuesday night at 6pm at the SLC Library.

So, watch it. You'll see me in a hot tub. Control yourselves.

SUNDANCE PICS AGAIN

Michel Gondry and me at the Sundance House.

Danny Glover and me.

Mos Def and Michel Gondry play some "Be Kind Rewind" songs.

Bryan and me at the Sundance House.

Aintitcool!

A couple of chaps with names after my own heart (Max Rebo and Droopy McCool) managed to catch a number of Sundance movies and saw fit to include Killer At Large in their reviews.

It was good times.

Check it out here.

Here's an excerpt:

What's even more interesting about this film, too, is that it's really hard to peg. There is no narrator and none of the filmmakers are in it. It's the kind of journalistic kind of infotainment that's been lost to time in recent years.

This is definitely one to watch out for.

(On a sidenote, a Sundance update from tonight: Steve, Patrick and I went to the Kimball Art Center and saw a really cool, small, intimate performance by Michel Gondry and Mos Def and then Patti Smith. No doubt, Steve will post pictures and possibly even video. Mos Def and Gondry were great, they did a set of really great old-timey jazz from Be Kind Rewind.)

Be Kind Rewind

I just got back to my room from attending the world premiere of Be Kind Rewind at the Eccles up here at the festival and I have to say I was surprised by this picture. The film is fairly straightforward and the marketing material genuflects the thrust of the picture. Danny Glover owns a video store (a VHS video store) that's going under and decides he needs to take a trip to find out what makes a successful video store (he notes "less selection, more copies, lack of general knowledge by employees", etc.) He leaves the store in the care of Mos Def with only one instruction: keep Jerry out. Jack Black is Jerry. And he's a loon. He thinks the power plant is microwaving everyone's brains and hatches a scheme to sabotage it.

In turn, he ends up becoming magnetized and waltzing into the video store, insulting customers and erasing every tape in the store.

Soon, he and Mos Def are caught with their pants down and need to remake Ghostbusters and fast, otherwise Danny Glover will find out somethings wrong and be dissapointed. As the film progresses (just like the trailer) people find the "Sweded" videos better than the originals and with more heart. Soon, they've earned enough money to save the video store, but the movie studios (Sigourney Weaver) find out about the sweded pictures and runs them all over with a bulldozer. The community who's made the videos popular reacts with one last grand gesture: to make their own movie about the history of a figure in their neighborhood.

The film has a surprising amount of heart.

So surprising that I was shocked to find myself tearing up at the end of the picture. Here I am, watching a group of people just watching a movie and it's got me almost crying. The heart this film supplied was so subtle and brilliant, I didn't even realize it until it crept up on me.

I can see this film playing much better to a crowd of filmmakers though, than the general public. The sweded pictures they make look like all the films every kid interested in film made in jr. high, but with much more cleverness and creativity. It was, as the guy who introduced the film and Jack Black reiterated, lyrical.

And it was also ironic that this picture sort of embodied the themes of what Sundance wishes it still was. Small people, away from (or in spite of) the studios, making films that mean something, whether they're good or not. Sundance is now premiering U2 concert videos and the new Chuck Palahnuick picture. Which is fine, but they just can't say they're independent anymore.

All in all, this film is solid and I would hope that it sees a release larger than the arthouse release Science of Sleep saw.

SUNDANCE PARTY PICS

So, yesterday, we arrived at the Sundance Film Festival and attended the SubPop Seattle Party. This is the third year in a row that I've attended this party and it's always a lot of fun. Here are some pics:

Waiting in 9 degree cold for a bus.

Steven, Becky, Jason, Bryan and Calvin

The Sundance "It" couple, Lindsay and Calvin.

Some dude, Calvin, Steven.

Bryan and Steven put out the red light.

There Will Be Blood

Okay. I have five seconds to collect my thoughts on this forum about P.T. Anderson's film, "There Will Be Blood".

Even though I've had a few days to digest the film, I'm still having trouble forming coherent sentences around what I've seen. The film is a sprawling epic of the early days of oil culture in our country. The film begins silently but still tells a story that offers a window into the life and gritty nature of both the country and Daniel Plainview. It felt very much like a silent John Ford picture without any of the chases.

In fact, the closest I feel like I can relate the tone, look and feel of the film is a John Ford epic of some kind. It explores a lot of themes John Ford did with John Wayne, with the anti-social outcast and his relationship to a kid. (Albeit in a different way, but it felt inspired by that.) And I have to say, all of the scenes with H.W. are dynamite. In fact, I would argue that the best, most moving scene in the film, is the one where H.W. comes back after being sent away and in a long shot, Daniel embraces him and says something like, "Yes. This is what I need." And he tells the boy he loves him and the like. After the crazed build-up from before, after he sent him away, it was just the right scene at the right time and that's the beauty of P.T. Anderson's handcrafted filmmaking.

But, then the film descends into Billy Wilder-like insanity. The last few scenes of the film truly reminded me of Sunset Boulevard.

Which is what was so great about the ending. I'm offering a spoiler warning, get out now if you haven't seen the film. But the thing I like most about the end of the film is that if I were to tell someone who hasn't seen it that it ends in a bowling alley where Daniel Plainview bashes a preachers brains out with a wooden bowling pin, they wouldn't believe me. Watching the trailers and seeing all the material available on the film, you would never conceive and ending like that being possible.

But as you watch the film, not only is it possible, it's as cold and logical as any ending can ever be.

Everyone has been saying that P.T. Anderson has "matured as a filmmaker" and broken away from his style, but I would argue that assembling a film this masterfully is his style. It's rare that directors nowadays respect and learn both their craft and the history of cinema as it relates to their projects and it's refreshing to see filmmakers try new things in that context. Because everything else we see in theatres is based more on pop-culture than the history of film. And no one knows their craft anymore. It's frustrating to me to see bad screenplays get produced.

And it's refreshing to me to see masterpieces like this get made.

I doubt this film will make a lot of money, but it will forever be in the lexicon of American Cinematic Masterpieces. I don't think it's as good as Citizen Kane, but I do think it deserves to be listed among it as a major achievement in American Cinema.

And this probably would have bumped one of the films off of my top 5 of 2007 list....

Sundance Report #1

This is our first transmission from the festival.

Jason and Matt the Intern went out and put some posters up for us. I've been able to do some partying and what not, no postering for me.....

But... This is the story Jason wrote to recap their madcap adventures:

Matt the intern and I, got on a bus headed to Park City main street. Our mission: to put as many "Killer At Large" posters up as we could carry.

We found our seats in the back, the bus set off, no sooner did we see Quentin Tarantino walking by himself, five feet from my window.

What a good omen. It took about 10 minutes on the bus before we got to our destination. We decided to walk up main street first and find some good poster spots. We found a poster wall after a short walk and put some posters up.

Two NPR reporters saw us postering and asked us what the story was behind ours. The poster is an image of Osama Bin Laden presenting Americans hamburgers on a pallet that says weapons of mass destruction. I told them that it was a documentary about obesity, and that the idea behind the poster is that obesity is a bigger threat then terrorism. I lost my voice after the first sentence and kept repeating killeratlarge.com. They asked us our names and then, let us on our way.

We put some more posters up until we got to the top of the hill that is main street, then crossed the street and put posters up on the other side. We passed by the mall and got them to put our postcards on there table, and then we put posters up in the front windows. Then we got to the main street deli and got a bite to eat, we asked for permission to put some posters in there window before we left, they said we could, and so we did.



We set out again and while we were walking a lady noticed the posters in my hand, and because the image was so cool she asked for me to give her one. We walked back to the side of the street we started on, to check on the first posters that we put up. There were a few left, but we noticed that Morgan Spurlock's people were targeting our posters and hanging up there posters directly over the Osama parts of ours, and in one case we found that someone ripped down and tore one of our posters.

It would seem to be the Spurlock poster people, but I can't say for sure. We re-posted a few of the posters and then went back to the bus stop.


The first bus that came that could have taken us back to our hotel was ravaged by hundreds of people that were afraid of the cold, the bus filled up to the point that we couldn't possibly get on. A guy that was behind us was being cynical and said that we should form some sort of union to get on the next bus. I didn't know how to reply to that so I said "Geez, I was on one of those teams that fit fifteen people into a phone wbooth, and I wouldn't get in that bus." then he said, "don't you have to put people on top of people to all fit in?"

The fish took the bait and so I said "hell yeah."

"I always wondered, how do you get out of there after you're in?"

I felt bad about lying to a complete stranger and said "I was lying."

"Really? You were not on one of those teams?" There was no sarcasm in his voice, his world was shattered.

We stuffed into the next bus, and I couldn't help but notice that he was not talking to anyone else, I murdered the last bit of trust he had in strangers.

I avoided eye contact the rest of the trip back to the hotel.

Fin.

And, so there you have it.


I'll post pictures up later. Jason took pictures of the torn posters as well as the well placed ones. And Steve and I took some pictures at the parties we went to.

So...

Look for those.

In the meantime, tell everyone about Killer at Large.

UPDATE: Now with pictures!

City Weekly

Those of you in Utah for the festival should be sure to check out the ad we've taken out in the Salt Lake City Weekly Sundance issue. It's three-fourths of a page opposite our good friend Tom Tomorrow.

Also, hopefully, later, I'll have time to write down my thoughts about There Will Be Blood, which I saw last night.

In the meantime, I should get back to work on the film. We're showing it to industry people at the festival and it's getting better and better (and shorter and shorter)...

JoBlo

Killer At Large managed to find its way to the trailer page on Joblo.com.

Check it out here and be sure to vote on how great the trailer is.

And you should all be checking JoBlo everyday for movie news anyway. This is just one more reason.