Non-Sundance News: Madeline's arrival

Hello to all my Sundance readers!

Just wanted to give you some non-Sundance related news. Dan and I welcomed our new daughter to the world last night. Madeline Dorothy MacGovern-Shih was born at 5:55pm on February 5th. Our surrogate went through a lot of pain and pressure to bring us Madeline, but everyone is doing well now. Madeline was 8 lbs, 13 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long and she has been given a clean bill of health so far. We'll be staying in California with her until at least this weekend. We'll find out from the pediatrician if she's well enough to fly home then.

Ted

Here is a link to some pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/djshih/MadelineSFirstDays?authkey=PSUosp4rlUc

The Sundance Missives - Season 3, The Photos

Hi everyone!

Thanks again for reading the Missives. You can find my Sundance photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/ted.macgovern/Sundance2008Favorites?authkey=OWraPZTzleQ

Enjoy!

Your Sundance correspondent,
Ted

The Sundance Missives - Season 3, The Epilogue

Hi everyone!

Well, I've made it back home. The snowstorm on my last day turned my shuttle ride from Park City to the airport into a 3 ¼ hour ordeal. It should have taken 45 minutes, but apparently the highway got shut down for a while. I got to the airport 40 minutes before my flight was scheduled to take off, so I quickly checked my bags with the skycap and rushed through security with 20 minutes to spare… only to finally take a look at the departure board to see that my flight was going to be delayed for three hours. I suppose it could have been a lot worse.

Just as in years past, Sundance was a lot of fun for me. This year was all about the movies for me. Some people would consider what I was doing (seeing up to the three movies a day) drudgery, but I enjoyed it. I saw more movies (24 total) than I have in past festivals. That's because I didn't take any days for snowboarding or for walking around like a celebrity. John Henry Smith-Bourbon was apparently around Park City, but it's amazing what a year can do to his fame – he had no entourage or camera crew and he basically went unnoticed amongst the crowd. He's going to have to find himself a new publicist if he wants any future in this town! Also this year, I was able to escape Park City without catching any of the various colds and flus that debilitated a lot of the volunteers. Got to love those zinc lozenges!

Below is my ranking of the movies that I saw. No movie blew me away like "The Nines" did last year, but there was definitely some good stuff out there. Of course, with the good, there also has to be the bad to balance things out. (By the way, in case I hadn't mentioned it, "The Nines" was release on DVD on Jan. 29^th.)

4 ½ Stars:

1. Just Another Love Story (Kærlighed På Film)
2. In Bruges
3. Hamlet 2
4. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

4 Stars:

5. The Great Buck Howard
6. Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North

3 ½ Stars:

7. Assassination of a High School President
8. Phoebe in Wonderland
9. Sleep Dealer – Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award & Alfred P. Sloan Prize
10. Time Crimes (Los Cronocrímenes)
11. Choke – Special Dramatic Jury Prize – Work by an ensemble cast
12. Be Kind Rewind
13. The Last Word

3 Stars:

14. Mermaid (Rusalka) – World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award
15. Sunshine Cleaning
16. Goliath
17. Pretty Bird
18. The Wackness – Audience Dramatic Award
19. Animation Spotlight (Shorts) – I would consider "Lapsus" & "For the Love of God" 4 stars

2 ½ stars:

20. What Just Happened?
21. Downloading Nancy
22. King of Ping Pong (Ping Pongkingen) – World Cinema Dramatic Jury Prize & World Cinema Dramatic Cinematography Award
23. Momma's Man

2 Stars:

24. Birds of America

I hope you enjoyed reading this year's missives. You can relive all of the Sundance excitement at http://teds-sundance-missives.blogspot.com/. Still working on the photos, but they will be available soon.

Your Sundance correspondent,

Ted

The Sundance Missives - Season 3, Episode 10

Hi everyone!

Got up this morning to see the World Cinema Jury Award winner, "King of Ping Pong (Ping Pongkingen)", a Swedish film about an overweight teen who is the best ping pong player at a community youth center. Other than that claim to fame, there's not much going right in his life – he's picked on by bullies, his younger brother is making the moves on a girl that he likes, and there are questions about the father figures in his life. Most of the film is plodding and tedious, but then it seems to take a tragic turn, but even that turns out to be tedious and not as tragic as it first seemed. I really don't know what the jury was thinking. 2 ½ stars (out of five).

I then went to see the film that won both the Alfred P. Sloan Prize (for a film's use of science) and the Screenwriting Award. It is a Mexican film called "Sleep Dealer" which deals with people being connected through implanted nodes to machines which allow them to work at jobs around the world from central factories. The implanted nodes can also be used to download memories to sell to other people. People can also connect to each other via the nodes to increase sensations during intimate encounters. It was a pretty good story of a young man dealing with newly implanted nodes and the people that he comes into contact after that. 3 ½ stars (out of five).

It was then time to work my final volunteer shift. Unfortunately, it wasn't with my usual midnight crew, so it wasn't nearly as fun. But everything went smoothly because the screenings were sparsely attended. There's a snowstorm coming tonight, so it seems that many people checked out early. I'm keeping my fingers crossed to make it home on my afternoon flight tomorrow.

I'll write more when I get back home…

Your Sundance correspondent,

Ted

The Sundance Missives - Season 3, Episode 9

Hi all!

After yesterday's depressing movies, it was good to see a very fun comedy, "Hamlet 2", today. This time I did laugh along with the rest of audience at this tale of a Tucson high school drama teacher (Steve Coogan), who has tried, unsuccessfully, to produce staged versions of popular movies (such as Erin Brockavich). The bane of his existence is the ninth grade newspaper critic who repeatedly rips into his shows. Eventually, the school department cuts budgets and the theater department is on its last legs. In order to save the department, Coogan's character ends up writing a ridiculous, musical sequel to Hamlet, which includes elements of time travel so that characters that died in original can be saved. I won't spoil things by saying what else is included in the performance. It's some very funny stuff. Elizabeth Shue has a great role in playing herself as a Tucson nurse. Catherine Keener costars as Coogan's wife and David Arquette plays their roommate. Arquette doesn't do much in the film, but he gets some good laughs with some simple gestures. 4 ½ stars (out of five).

I then went to see the "Animation Spotlight", a program of animated shorts. One of the shorts, "Madame Tutli-Putli" was just nominated for an Academy Award, but after seeing it, I wouldn't pick it to win – it was just bizarre. This series was hit or miss, with a couple of the shorts, "Lapsus" and "For the Love of God", being quite clever, while others were just strange. Overall rating: 3 stars. FYI, many of the shorts that played in the festival will be available for viewing via iTunes, Netflix, and Xbox Live.

The Prospector Square midnight crew always loves the final Saturday night of the festival. This is the night when the brilliant schedulers at Sundance decide that there should be an 8:30pm screening of the Documentary Award Winner, which is not announced to us until about 8:25pm. Up until that point, everyone in line keeps asking us what film will be playing. They all think that we are lying when we tell that we don't know. We even made signs saying that we would tell them as soon as we know. They do this every year and every year we tell them how silly it is. Then, after the first screening, everyone crowds around the winners lists we have posted around the lobby. Some nice patrons even stole some of the posted lists. Oh well. People are funny. Our final midnight screening was of a flick called "Funny Games." I didn't watch it, but apparently it was quite disturbing as many people left about a third of the way through. A couple people were in tears as they left. I've never seen that sort of reaction from a Sundance crowd before.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to see a couple of the award winners and then I'll be working my last volunteer shift in the afternoon/evening. The festival has gone by so quickly.

Until the next report…

Your Sundance correspondent,

Ted

PS – I know that I posted pictures within my missives last year, but I'm just going to post my favorite Sundance photos from this year once I get home.

The Sundance Missives - Season 3, Episode 8

Hi all!

Welcome to dysfunctional family day here at Sundance. Saw two movies today – both with emotionally disturbed characters, which made for quite the depressing movie-going day.

The first flick of the day was called "Birds of America" which I saw with my friend, Michelle, who was in Park City for a few days. (Hey Michelle!) The movie dealt with a family lead by Matthew Perry who had begun raising his younger siblings (Ginnifer Goodwin and Ben Foster) when he was 18 and their father died. It's now years later and they all have lots of issues to deal with. That would have been fine if any of the characters were likable, but that wasn't the case. Lauren Graham costarred as Perry's wife and she had a few humorous scenes. Hilary Swank was also poorly cast in a role of an overbearing, somewhat fake, next door neighbor. The audience laughed at this dysfunctional comedy much more than I did. I guess I just didn't get this one. 2 stars (out of five).

I went from that one (where I did at least smile every once in a while) to "Downloading Nancy" which was just dark and depressing through and through. It stars Maria Bello as Nancy who is in an emotionless marriage with Rufus Sewell. Nancy contacts Louis (Jason Patric) through a chat room and they begin a disturbing, masochistic affair. The time frame jumps around to different points of the story, but you know from the beginning that things are not going to turn out well. The movie is shot in cold, blue tones (adding to the depressing nature) and the acting is powerful. But it's just not an entertaining or enjoyable film to watch. 2 ½ stars.

I really need to a see good comedy tomorrow.

Until the next missive…

Your Sundance correspondent,

Ted

The Sundance Missives - Season 3, Episode 7

Hi everyone!

Feeling nice and rested today. It's amazing how much a couple extra hours of sleep can help. This morning's first show (at 11:30am) was called "Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North." A friend of mine (Hey Katherine!) mentioned that a friend of hers was involved in this documentary, so I decided to check it out. The director, Katrina Browne, had found out that her ancestors had been one of the largest slave traders in the 1800s. She contacted a bunch of her close and distant relatives (including Katherine's friend, Dain) to take a trip re-tracing the trade route that was followed, from Rhode Island to Ghana to Cuba and back to Rhode Island. They had different interactions with locals and had many discussions amongst themselves about how they were feeling about what their ancestors had done. It feels like it is not a complete film, but rather something that will promote future discussions about what can be done for descendants of slaves. 4 stars (out of five).

After that, I went to see "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh," based on a novel by Michael Chabon (which I had read years ago). I remember loving the book and I really liked the movie as well. It's about a recent college graduate (Jon Foster, who I had never seen before, but I was very impressed with his acting. He's Ben Foster's younger brother.) who is the son of a gangster (Nick Nolte). He is being pushed into training as a stockbroker, a career that he doesn't want. For the summer, he decides to work at a bargain book store, where he starts out sleeping with his manager (Mena Suvari, who was hysterical). He ends up meeting a couple (Sienna Miller and Peter Sarsgaard) and gets entangled in their relationship. There are lots of complications with interactions between different people in his life. It was really well done and with many beautiful shots of parts of Pittsburgh. 4 ½ stars (out of five).

At tonight's volunteer shift, I was able to catch "Assassination of a High School President" which involved a sophomore (Reece Daniel Thompson) working on a story for a high school newspaper when he uncovers scandals and conspiracies about SATs and illegal prescription drug sales. It's a fun detective movie, just set in a high school (much like the movie, "Brick" but with more comedy). Bruce Willis plays the militaristic principal in what looks like a fun role for him to play. Mischa Barton plays the femme fatale character. 3 ½ stars.

Until the next report…

Your Sundance correspondent,

Ted

The Sundance Missives - Season 3, Episode 6

Hi everyone!

Ok, I've decided that today was the last day that I'm going to get up for an early morning movie. From now on, it's 11:30am or later. The in-between naps just aren't cutting it at this point. I didn't out and out fall asleep in the second movie that I saw today, but my attention wasn't fully on it, and I may have enjoyed it slightly less because of my tiredness.

So, the early movie that I saw was called "Pretty Bird" and it was directed by Paul Schneider (an actor from "Lars and the Real Girl" among other movies). The film was inspired by a true story of a smooth talking guy (Billy Crudup) who is trying to set up a business for jet packs with a friend (David Hornsby) and an unemployed rocket scientist (Paul Giamatti, who was looking even more schlubby than he normally does). It's sort of a comic tragedy about their adventures and how their partnerships disintegrate. I'd give it 3 stars (out of five). The director was their for a Q&A and he seemed very excited to have his film shown.

The next movie was called "The Wackness" and it's been getting a lot of buzz around town, but after seeing it, I'm not sure why. It was alright, I suppose, but it may be the sleepiness that is making me not understand the buzz. The film takes place in New York City in the summer of 1994 and follows a recent high school graduate (Josh Peck, who apparently is on some show on Nickelodeon) who deals marijuana and trades pot for therapy sessions with a psychologist (Sir Ben Kingsley) who has many problems of his own. It follows their growing friendship as well as the other relationships in their lives. It's another one of these comic dramas that I've seen a lot of in the past couple days. This movie did show a make out scene between two actors that I never thought I would have seen – Ben Kingsley and Mary Kate Olson. That was just bizarre. 3 stars (out of five).
I'm going to go home and get a full night's sleep.
Yawn…
Your Sundance correspondent,
Ted

The Sundance Missives - Season 3, Episode 5

Hi all!

Got up early again today to see a movie at 8:30am. Only here at Sundance does that seem reasonable. The movie was called "Choke" and it starred Sam Rockwell (my gym buddy from last year) and Angelica Huston. Sam's character is a sex addict who is dealing with that as well as his mother's (Huston) growing dementia. This was certainly a drama, but with many comic touches - including many of Sam's scenes at a Colonial Williamsburg type park where he works. I liked it, but certainly not as much as "Fight Club" with also based on a novel by Chuck Palahniuk. 3 1/2 stars. Chuck Palahniuk was there for the Q&A, along with one of the costars, Brad William Henke, and the director/costar, Clark Gregg (from "The New Adventures of Old Christine).

I then went straight into my next movie, "The Last Word", starring Wes Bentley as a writer who makes a living writing suicide notes for people. He meets the sister of one of his clients at his client's funeral and they end up dating, although she doesn't know the true circumstances of how he knew her brother. Of course, she eventually finds out and that doesn't go so well. Ray Romano plays another client who is working with Bentley's character on various drafts of his note. I normally don't like Ray Romano, but I found him to be very funny in this movie (probably because he didn't write his own material). So, yes, this was also a drama with many comic touches. Very similar in tone to "Choke". 3 1/2 stars. Ray Romano and the director, Geoff Haley, were present for the Q&A.

This afternoon was a time to catch up on some sleep and to get some laundry done (which means it's about the halfway point for the festival). The volunteer shift tonight was mostly uneventful. For those couple of "Veronica Mars" fans on my e-mail list, I forgot to mention that last night I sold a wait list ticket to Ryan Hansen who played Dick Casablancas. He wasn't as much of a jerk as his character. I often wonder how many actors in shows that I don't watch have passed through as well.

Until the next report…

Your Sundance correspondent,

Ted

The Sundance Missives - Season 3, Episode 4

Hi everyone!

Once again, I've played the game of going to bed late after my volunteer shift and then getting up for an 8:30am movie. Luckily I was also able to take a nap in between the morning movie and my afternoon choice. So I'm not completely sleep deprived (yet).

The early movie was "Be Kind Rewind" - the one that I missed out on yesterday. It stars Jack Black and Mos Def as two friends who live in an old New Jersey neighborhood that is soon going to be torn down and condo-ized. Mos' character works at an old time video rental place which only rents VHS tapes (despite the fact that it seems to be set in the present). Jack's character gets magnetized during an attempt to sabotage a nearby power plant (don't ask) and ends up erasing all of the tapes in the store. They come up with an idea of re-filming themselves into abridged versions of the movies that were lost, starting with "Ghostbusters" for a neighborhood customer (Mia Farrow) who had never seen it before. Word gets out about their remakes and they start taking requests for various others, such as "Rush Hour 2", "Robocop", and "2001: A Space Odyssey." The scenes with them filming their remakes were a lot of fun. But the story as a whole was pretty ridiculous - most of it just seemed implausible. 3 1/2 stars (out of five). The film was written and directed by Michel Gondry, who was supposed to arrive for a Q&A, but was delayed by weather-related traffic. I was expecting a blizzard when I left the theater, but it was just some flurries. I think he was just too lazy to get out of bed.

After my nap and some lunch, I went to see a Danish film called "Just Another Love Story." From the description, it almost sounds like a remake of that Sandra Bullock movie, "While You Were Sleeping" – guy is mistaken for the boyfriend of a coma patient and continues the charade when the woman wakes up and has amnesia. Luckily, it was so much better - and it wasn't a romantic comedy. There were many twists and turns and complications in this very film noir-ish tale. The cinematography was wonderful, especially the scene of the car crash that put the woman in the coma in the first place. I would highly recommend checking it out if you get the chance. 4 ½ stars. The director, Ole Bornedal, was there for the Q&A and mentioned that he likes to mix the spectacle of American cinema with the cerebral-ness of European cinema. That really is an apt description of this film.

During tonight's volunteer shift, I was able to catch a screening of "Goliath." This was about a guy living in suburban Austin, working at a dead end job, getting a divorce, and also searching for his missing cat (named Goliath). This leads to many comic adventures as he starts going off the deep end. Unfortunately, it also leads to some bizarre scenes that seem to go on for way too long, such as the five minute scene with no dialogue as he and his wife are signing their divorce papers, page after page after page. 3 stars.

Until next time…

Your Sundance correspondent,

Ted

The Sundance Missives - Season 3, Episode 3

Hi everyone!

I got up early this morning to see a highly anticipated film called "What Just Happened?" It had a star-studded cast, including Robert DeNiro, Sean Penn, Bruce Willis, Stanley Tucci, Robin Wright Penn, Catherine Keener, etc and was directed by Barry Levinson. Despite all that, it wasn't very good. Although, that's just my opinion - someone in the audience called it a "masterpiece" during the Q&A. (Maybe I just didn't get it.) It was about a Hollywood producer (DeNiro) who is dealing with a studio about a film that didn't have a good test screening, as well as other problems with his job and family. It's probably a movie that a Hollywood insider would love (since they love seeing stories about their lives), but it just seemed like a lot of it had been done before. (The disgruntled director, the uncooperative actor, the difficult studio head). I wasn't very impressed with the story, but the acting was good (especially Catherine Keener as the studio head and Bruce Willis as a ficticious (?) version of himself as the difficult actor). 2 1/2 stars. Barry Levinson was there for the Q&A.

From there, I headed to "Sunshine Cleaning" starring Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, and Steve Zahn (who looked much better in this film than his normal). It involved two sisters (Adams and Blunt) who start a specialized cleaning service that takes care of crime scenes. Their lives are not going so well and they do this cleaning for the extra money. They also start to get involved with some of the families of people involved in the crime scenes. The story had some touching moments, but it wasn't always riveting. The movie is set in Albuquerque, New Mexico and it had some gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains. 3 stars (out of five). Emily was there for the introduction, but Amy is off filming a movie.

I was then going to try to see "Be Kind Rewind" with Jack Black and Mos Def, but all of the volunteer tickets were given out, so I headed to a nearby theater to see "Phoebe in Wonderland." I didn't know much about it before going in, but it was a good flick. It stars Felicity Huffman and Bill Pullman as parents of Phoebe (Elle Fanning). This film made me realize how much more I like Elle in comparison to her older sister, Dakota. She doesn't totally annoy me when she's on screen. (And she costarred in my favorite movie from last year's festival, "The Nines" which is being released on DVD at the end of the month.) Phoebe has a form of Tourette's syndrome, which makes things difficult at home and at school. She did an admirable job of portraying this and Felicity Huffman was great as the struggling mother. 3 ½ stars (out of five). Elle, Felicity, Patricia, Bill, as well as the first time director, Daniel Barnz, were there for the Q&A afterwards.

After seeing three movies, I needed to take a quick nap before my volunteer shift. When I did get to the theater, Isabella Rosselini was leaving after the screening of the short film that she directed. She's not as tall as I thought she would be. Our first screening was another shorts program, which included a short directed by Kirsten Dunst. She attended the screening, but I didn't see her. I really, really wanted to go up to her and tell her how much I didn't like Spider-man 3. Oh well – maybe I'll see her on the street tomorrow. Our last screening tonight was called "Chronic Town" and before the show I saw one of the actors, Dan Butler (who was Bulldog on "Frasier"). Those were my celebrity sightings (and near sightings) for today.

Till the next report…

Your Sundance correspondent,

Ted

The Sundance Missives - Season 3, Episode 2

Hi all!

The first volunteer shift went quite smoothly last night. The computer worked fine (the fax machine - not so much) and it was a relatively quiet night. Our first screening was from the Sundance Collection - a 1992 film called "The Living End" (which I've seen before). I don't think the Sundance Collection movies are as well attended since they are not "new." Then the second screening was for a "Frontier Shorts Program" which was made up of experimental or edgy short films. The theater was about 1/3 full for that and about a quarter of those people ended up leaving early. It's not for everyone.

I got up this morning and got a ticket for a movie and then headed down to Main Street. The Paul Mitchell Salon is once again giving free haircuts, so I got mine done. I just went as myself (not as John Henry), so I didn't get anything except a good shampoo and haircut this year. I really need my entourage around me!

The movie I saw this morning was called "Momma's Man" and it was about a guy who visits his parents in New York and ends up staying for an extended period of time (while neglecting his wife and baby back in California). From the description, I thought it might be somewhat comedic, but it was just kind of sad. The main character was just annoying and despicable with his lying to his wife, to his parents, and to his job back home. The parents were played by the director's real-life parents and it was mostly filmed in their New York apartment. That part was kind of cool, but overall the movie was slow and tedious. 2 1/2 stars (out of 5).

This afternoon's movie was "The Great Buck Howard" which starred John Malkovich as Buck Howard, a mentalist (not a magician) who had his hey day in the 70s, but who is still traveling around doing his act. He hires a law school dropout (Colin Hanks) to be his road manager and the story is told through the manager's perspective. Buck Howard is a demanding and unpredictable boss and is somewhat unaware that he's not as popular as he once was. It was very entertaining and John Malkovich was hilarious (much as he was in "Being John Malkovich"), but the story was a little lacking for me. I didn't think that enough was resolved by the end of the film. Despite that, I'd still give it 4 stars.

Tom Hanks, who produced and had a small role in the film, introduced the screening and was very funny in describing what all of the cast and crew were wearing. The director (Sean McGinly), Colin, and Emily Blunt (who played a love interest of Colin's character) were there for a Q&A afterwards. Apparently the director had worked as a road manager for the Amazing Kreskin and based a lot of the story (but not all) on his adventures.

Had another smooth volunteer shift tonight – the fax machine even worked. There was some drama with some unruly producers and writers of one of the shorts, but I didn't have to deal with any of that.

Off to bed…

Your Sundance correspondent,
Ted

The Sundance Missives - Season 3, Episode 1

Hi everyone!

I got up early to see my second film of the festival, "In Bruges." This was the opening night film last night and I caught the morning screening today. It is about two hitmen (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) who leave London and must hide out in Bruges, Belgium after a hit gone wrong. It's a darkly comic film - lots of laughs but some intense drama as well. Ralph Fiennes also costars as the guy who ordered the original killing. A lot of the humor comes at the expense of the city of Bruges, which Colin's character really despises. But the film was beautifully shot and if it becomes a hit (it's being released in the next couple weeks), I could see a lot of tourists going to visit this medieval city. It was a great film. 4 1/2 stars (out of five). The director, Martin McDonagh, as well as Colin and Brendan were there to introduce the film, but they said that they were going back to bed (after apparently partying after their screening last night), so they weren't there for a Q&A afterwards. They were only there for about a minute, so all I got were a couple blurry pictures that I won't bother posting. Sorry.

I went back to my condo for a quick nap before seeing an afternoon movie. As I was walking in, I noticed three deer right outside our back sliding door. They were just hanging out. I got some pics (but I haven't transferred them to my computer yet). It was quite cool.

Went to see a Spanish film called "Time Crimes (Los Cronocrimenes)" this afternoon. It was pretty convoluted, but enjoyable. It involved a guy who wanders from his yard, ends up getting attacked, and then takes refuge in a laboratory where he ends up getting into a time machine and going back to earlier that same day. It all deals with the consequences of that time trip. Some of twists were clever, but some seemed a bit obvious. The director, Nacho Vigalondo (who was also one of the actors), gave a very animated Q&A afterwards and explained a lot to the people in the audience who didn't get it. (I got it.) 3 1/2 stars.

I'm heading now to my first volunteer shift. Hopefully the computer is working.

Your Sundance correspondent,
Ted