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