A little less than a week left until the Sundance film festival reveals its entire line-up (Wednesday & Thursday of next week) we here at IONCINEMA.com headquarters like to guestimate the films that have fabulous chances at preeming at the event. Keeping track on all U.S indie developments is the name of our game, so without much further ado – here is a potential list of 20 films comprised of long shots, low probabilities and a couple of no-brainer picks (including a clumping of docu projects) that should be clamoring for attention.
As of this writing, Margot at the Wedding enjoys a 50% freshness rating on rotten tomatoes. Talk about a polarizing film. Dismissing the sentimentality of The Squid and the Whale and diving right into the cesspool of sibling rivalry and arrested development, Noah Baumbach’s new film explores the dynamics of a family on the verge of a collective nervous breakdown
I hated Teeth (you can read my Sundance review here). But plenty out there in the audience during the film's world premiere loved it (including our own Jameson Kowalczyk (you can read his review here). What I could admire was Jess Weixler's performance and from a marketers perspective I must have thought this is either a marketers' dream or nightmare. If the film was kept intact then it is perhaps the strongest reason why Lionsgate Films and the The Weinstein Company who co-bought the pic didn't know how to handle it.
It just opened this weekend in the big apple and shall spread its angel wings and land in other theaters across the U.S in the weeks and pre-Xmas days ahead, and just before we conclude our coverage (last week IONCINEMA.com's Laura Newman interviewed doc filmmaker Rob VanAlkemade and we had fun unwrapping the trailer) we are featuring a n exclusive clip of What Would Jesus Buy?.
Today's first announcement for the Sundance film fest got me thinking - I'll be missing out on the winter sport I love the most. Its almost a shame to be in Park City and not touch the slopes. Speaking of winter sports...Sony Pictures Classics is once again going the extreme sports docu route, after surfing and skateboarding docs, director Mark Obenhaus' documentary will probably only attract a specific movie-going crowd (Warren Miller film lovers).