Bitter cold
"I just arrived in Park City tonight. Beware, it is bitter cold. Not snowing though." -- a publicist friend who wrote me at 2:30 ayem this morning.
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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on January 17, 2007 at 9:16 AM
comment #1
dobbsy
says ...
Jeff: never thought i'd say this, but please return to awards season blogging asap.
given the statistical fact that 99.7% of the sundance navel-gazing drivel will never be seen nor impact on the world of cinema in any way shape or form, please skip the endless updates about which sincerely earnest "how my family made me dysfunctional" films did or didn't change your oil and perhaps send news of peeling pine bark, slushy slalom conditions or spotted chipmunk sightings.
Posted by dobbsy
at January 17, 2007 9:54 AM
comment #2
JD
says ...
I don't know, dobbsy. Off hand, I can think of at least 3 Sundance films I'm really curious about and I haven't read a single article about Sundance 2007. Not only are they premiering Snow Angels, the new film by David Gordon Green -- arguably the best young filmmaker working today -- but they're also showing two promising films produced by Alexander Payne: The Savages and The King of California. If at least two of those films aren't really good, I'll be surprised.
Posted by JD
at January 17, 2007 10:02 AM
comment #3
Noel Murray
says ...
Some Sundance titles, from the last two years:
THE SQUID & THE WHALE
TONY TAKITANI
MYSTERIOUS SKIN
GRIZZLY MAN
THE DEVIL & DANIEL JOHNSTON
OLD JOY
POLICE BEAT
FRIENDS WITH MONEY
3 IRON
KUNG FU HUSTLE
BRICK
IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS
HALF NELSON
NEIL YOUNG: HEART OF GOLD
THE DESCENT
HUSTLE & FLOW
A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS
This festival has suddenly become relevant again, and not a "gay cowboys eating pudding" joke. I'm looking forward to hearing about what's going to come out of there this year.
Posted by Noel Murray
at January 17, 2007 10:08 AM
comment #4
Hallick
says ...
dobbsy, have you no movie soul? Drivel is ubiquitous in all formats and forums. Digging through it to discover something genuine and inspiring is how the game works. And people like our Mr.Wells is climbing into the slop on our behalf to warn us off the bad movies you just described.
And if Jeff were to do as you asked, where should he start? Little Miss Sundance '06?
Posted by Hallick
at January 17, 2007 12:30 PM
comment #5
dobbsy
says ...
Noel: Thanks for the correction. According to your calculations (17 films out of 400 features and shorts over two years, minus the four or five on your list I would argue aren't impactful), it's actually around 97.3% of the films that will never impact upon the world.
Hallick: Yes, I have lots of movie soul for movies of all kinds and stripes and NATIONALITIES. I just find it preposterous that a fest that is so jam-packed with adolescent Yankee marginalia winds up attracting so much attention.
Could it be that the press is a) lazy, b) a sucker for the "youth market" and c) America-centric?
Sundance in a nutshell: Too many backward baseball caps and not enough Claude Miller.
I'll be quiet now. Thanks.
Posted by dobbsy
at January 17, 2007 1:01 PM
comment #6
Argen
says ...
See? dobbsey isn't jsut a crank. He's a boringly pretentious crank.
Posted by Argen
at January 17, 2007 2:22 PM
comment #7
jeffmcm
says ...
A.M. Just try it.
Posted by jeffmcm
at January 17, 2007 2:30 PM
comment #8
dobbsy
says ...
No, i'm a boringly pretentious crank who just noticed that "Tony Takitani" was in Cannes before Sundance, so make that 98.4% films for no one except scintillatingly exciting geniuses like Argen.
Are your jeans properly torn?
Three day growth of stubble properly buffed? (male or female)
Your "War is not the answer" bumper sticker properly affixed to your Volvo?
Finished your veggie burger and soy smoothie and sworn your allegiance to the gods of American indie film?
Good, now get back into the queue for the next screening of "Little Miss Sunshine II: This time they're really dysfunctional."
Posted by dobbsy
at January 17, 2007 2:41 PM
comment #9
bipedalist
says ...
Make that properly torn $150 jeans, and $650 appropriately roughed up leather jacket and $350 sheepskin boots, pack of American Spirits sticking out of your pocket and your expensively highlighted, unbrushed hair spilling out from underneath your coonskin hat?
Posted by bipedalist
at January 17, 2007 3:56 PM
comment #10
dobbsy
says ...
Bipedalist, be careful! They have a parental guidance system for earnest young American indie film worshippers in effect on this site and it automatically filters out boringly pretentious cranks.
Can't we all just laugh along????
Or am I the only one who saw Jiminy Glick's promo spoof of the Sundance Channel with nothing but dysfunctional family/GBLTG/drug addict road movies "and on Saturday night, as we do every week, CLERKS!"
Sweet....back to Awards Season silliness for me!
Posted by dobbsy
at January 17, 2007 4:54 PM
comment #11
le corbeau
says ...
Speaking of cold weather, what does everyone who was so sure a warm snap in New York proved global warming think of the first snow to fall in Malibu in 44 years?
Posted by le corbeau
at January 17, 2007 5:37 PM
comment #12
bipedalist
says ...
OMG, now that you brought it up - we are *freezing* out here in LA. I never thought I'd say that. Ice on cars, parkas, GLOVES! It's nuts. My heater is about effective as throwing a rock at a tank. It's weirding us all out.
Posted by bipedalist
at January 17, 2007 6:33 PM