Season 2, Episode 6 (1/24/07)

Hello everyone!

Last night was a crazy and interesting volunteer shift. Our 8:30pm screening was the premiere of "Dark Matter" which starred Meryl Streep and Aiden Quinn (Aiden was present, Meryl was not). Our lobby was packed with people trying to get in to see it. Everything would have worked out smoothly except that the previous screening was running way behind schedule. We had to the load the theater as quickly as possible and we ended up having every seat taken and we still had to turn away 100 people. That has never happened on any of the shifts that I've worked before, so it was kind of exciting.

The second film that we were showing last night was called "Summer Rain" and it is the directorial debut for Antonio Banderas. We knew that Antonio would be coming in to introduce the film, so I asked Jeromy, our theater manager, if he could bring Antonio to the box office when he showed up. Jeromy asked if I would like to be Antonio's handler as he waited in the green room before the movie began. I told him that I really did not want to do that.



I'm kidding!! Of course I said that I could do that! So when Antonio arrived, Jeromy introduced me to him and I escorted him and his small entourage to the green room. We hung out there for about fifteen minutes until it was time for his introduction. We talked about the weather and about how much he's enjoying Sundance, especially compared to other film festivals that he has attended. He likes how everyone at Sundance can be in jeans, whereas at other film festivals, he has to "wear a tuxedo and wave like a monkey on the red carpet." He also told some stories about the filming of his movie, including some footage that he shot in Trafalgar Square in London which was very rushed because they had no permits to film there. Before he was introduced to the audience, he had just one request - "Please don't introduce me as Zorro. Please just introduce me as Antonio Banderas." He was very personable and funny and it was a great thrill just to be able to chat with him.

The movies that I saw today were a little lackluster. The first one was called "Joshua" and it was billed as a creepy thriller about a bad son that starts wreaking havoc on a Manhattan couple when his new sister is born. There were very few thrills and it just seemed like an emotionless kid who was crying out for attention. Kind of boring. It starred Sam Rockwell, but apparently he was still at the gym, because he wasn't there with the director afterwards. 2 1/2 stars (out of five).

The next movie was called "Hounddog" and there has been a lot of controversy surrounding this film because it is the "Dakota Fanning rape movie." It didn't help that I'm not a fan of young Dakota. And it REALLY didn't help that she was screaming like there were aliens attacking (a la "War of the Worlds") -- Ooh, I just saw Elvis. I should do an eardrum-piercing scream here. Ooh, my daddy is being really embarrassing. I should do another eardrum-piercing scream here. Enough already! As for the storyline, it involved a 12-year-old Southern girl in the 1950s who likes to sing and shake like Elvis and who has many serious issues with her family (including David Morse, Robin Wright Penn, and Piper Laurie) as well as some of the boys from the town. In addition, she also has some issues with her Southern accent slipping in and out. The rape scene was disturbing (but very short and tastefully done). The whole plot seemed a bit jumbled though with some characters just popping up out of the blue without much explanation or necessity. Overall, I thought it was a mess of a movie (although the audience seemed to like it). 2 stars.

Heading off to the theater now...

Your Sundance correspondent,

Ted