Sundance Convo Part I: 'Buried', 'Splice', 'Tucker and Dale', 'Kids are All Right' and Much More
Pics, trailers, clips and distribution deals galore
Well, as the number of movie blogs on the Internet continues to grow (and my God there are a ton of them now) film festivals seem to be enjoying an onslaught of coverage. Of course this is good for smaller indie films that would have previously gone entirely unnoticed, but it also means bloggers prone to exaggeration create false hopes in a certain number of films. Seeing how there is no way to differ between false praise and legitimate kudos one must look at all of the buzzy films coming out of Sundance with serious attention and this year there seems to be plenty of titles enjoying solid word of mouth, although I'm not sure any of them have yet managed the early Oscar buzz achieved last year by the likes of An Education and Precious, but you never know.
That said, let's begin, and just know any links beyond this point open in a new window/tab so just close out of that to return to this post and continue browsing.
First off is Splice, a sci-fi thriller presented by Guillermo Del Toro and starring Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley. This film actually premiered at the Sitges International Festival of Fantastic and Horror Cinema last year making Sundance its domestic debut. In the film Brody and Polley play a pair of scientists conducting unauthorized experiments with new animal species that show great promise, but when they introduce human DNA into one of their creations things begin to go wrong.
Word right now is that Bob Berney's Apparition will team with the Sony Worldwide Acquisitions Group to acquire screen and DVD rights to Splice with Newmarket Films currently still in the running. Expected intentions would be the film would be released in 2010. You can check out a featurette and clip mash-up directly below and browse our gallery of five images right here.
I don't remember hearing of The Kids are All Right prior to a couple days ago following its first screening and the overused compliment most people gave it on Twitter saying something to the effect of "The Kids are All Right is more than alright, it's fantastic."
The film stars Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Mark Ruffalo and Josh Hutcherson and centers on the drama that ensues after two children of a lesbian couple seek out their birth father. The Los Angeles Times reports Focus Features and Summit Entertainment are two films decidedly in the mix to pick it up while several other companies also circled the film. I expect an announcement on this one is imminent. Get a larger look at the above image right here.
In all honesty this is a film I would typically avoid outright just because this kind of comedy doesn't really interest me, but after watching the promo trailer (featured below) I couldn't help but admitting this film looks like it could be funny as hell and word is it is just that as audiences reportedly howled at a midnight screening prompting the producers to set up another as distributors began circling Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. I have included the (mildly not safe for work due to violent images) promo trailer directly below and have a batch of five stills from the film you can check out right here.
The excited word on Blue Valentine isn't much of a surprise, especially considering it stars Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling, a pair of actors that have made a living off festival style features. Word after the first screenings of the film is good as Logan Hill at New York Mag describes it as "a time-jumping, beautifully shot drama" in which the two stars "fall in love and get married, and then things unravel." Even that old curmudgeon Jeff Wells calls it "a pretty good film" after what appeared to be seven paragraphs of annoyance. Brandon Lee Tenney at First Showing calls it the best film he's seen after his first 22 features and Steven Zeitchick at The Los Angeles Times says "for most of its flashback-happy, high-concept existence — offers a cool glass of water at a table full of the dusty and lukewarm."
There is currently no word on distributor interest, but you can check out the first clip from the film directly below and our gallery of three images right here.
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Can't wait to see Gosling and Williams together in an indie film. Watch both "Half Nelson" and "Wendy and Lucy" and you'll get a feel for how good these two can be together.
i saw fracture couple days back, it kinda reminded how good gosling is, especially when you're up against Sir Anthony Hopkins, i hope he keeps doing more interesting projects, and cant wait to see blue valentine.
I laughed a lot at the Tucker and Dale vs. Evil screening. You can tell it's the directors first film though because everyone kept laughing over the next punch line. So it certainly needs some better flow to allow all the humor out.