Day 6 - We're Done!

Saw two good movies today and had a lovely lunch in between at Windy Ridge. Jenn is no longer throwing up, but stayed home today to rest. Right now I'm supposed to be packing-up to head to the airport. Since we arrive in Portland really late, I thought I would steal a few minutes to post the movie reviews.

Pretty Bird

This movie starred Billy Crudup as a wanna-be entrepreneur, who convinces his best friend to invest in a personal jet pack start-up business. He finds an out-of-work (and very bitter) aerospace engineer (played by Paul Giamotti) to help them. As with many shady business deals, the holes in this one start to show up and sh_t happens. It boils down to a story about three men coming from very different places and finding themselves working together.

The director was there to answer questions and he was this funny, hyper, articulate guy. (It's not too clear, but that's his photo to the right.) It was definitely the most entertaining Q & A session we have had with only one person at the mic. For example, when describing the process of writing the story and developing the characters, he said: "It really flowed, I just pooped it out onto the Mac." It almost helped me to get over the fact the the amazingly beautiful Billy Crudup wasn't there. Oh well, I got to look at him for 2 hours on the big screen prior to that.

The Wackness

This crazy movie was about the unlikely relationship that develops between an 18-year-old, drug dealer (played by Josh Peck of Nickelodeon fame) and his pot-smoking psychiatrist (played by Ben Kingsley.) It takes place in New York in 1994 and the plot develops around the fact that Josh's character falls in love with the psychiatrist's stepdaughter (played by Olivia Thirlby.) Mary Kate Olsen (who everyone has been buzzing about up here) has about a 7-minute role and Jane Adams (one of my favorite lesser-known actresses) also has a small role.

First of all, casting Ghandi as the psychiatrist and Josh from Drake and Josh as the drug dealer is just crazy, but somehow it works. Kingsley and Peck both give great performances. It was somewhat disheartening to me to see 1994 treated as ancient history, but then I saw the director -- turns out he was graduating high school around that time. If you are not offended by a lot of pot smoking and other drug/alcohol use, this is a tight story, with great actors and a fabulous soundtrack.

Tomorrow I hope to post a bunch of photos and I have some final thoughts about "how to Sundance," movie theater etiquette and what not to wear.