The New Film Guide Is Here! The New Film Guide is Here!

Sorry to butcher a quote from The Jerk (one of my all time favorite movies), but it seemed to work so well. While I won't be finding my name in print, I found plenty of others. It looks like Robin Willliams, Jim Carrey, Billy Bob Thornton, Wynona Ryder, Woody Harrelson, Kevin Spacey, Minnie Driver and even Mary Tyler Moore all have roles in Sundance films this year. I'm already predicting that one of the toughest tickets to get will be "Spread" in which Ashton Kutcher plays a male gigolo. I assume no further explanation is required.

In total there are 227 never-before-seen films screening at Sundance 2009. Each movie will be shown at least four times, with the first screenings of the day happening at 8:00am and the last at midnight. We intend to watch films all day Friday through Monday (January 16-19) and hope to see all of them in Park City. Eliminating the films that don't play on those days and/or that play in Salt Lake or Ogden, we have exactly 100 opportunities to see movies in those four days.

Now some movies will get eliminated for other reasons. For example, we try not to follow a late night movie with an 8:00am movie. In fact, I have made it my personal goal to avoid 8:00am movies altogether this year. Sometimes, however, the desire to see a decent movie and the lack of available tickets in other time slots makes this unavoidable. At the very least I hope to avoid seeing a movie at the Racquet Club at 8:00am -- it's f-in' freezing in there!

Here are a few other red flags:

The "Park City at Midnight" category tends to have movies that really shouldn't be viewed in the light of day. One to avoid this year is "Grace", where a woman carries her stillborn child to term and then it miraculously comes to life, but requires horrible sacrifices on the mom's part to remain alive. ICK!!!

Similarly, the "New Frontier" category highlights experimental films, which tend to be more art than entertainment and, therefore, are completely wasted on me. There are two films that are described as meditative (which I interpret to mean there is absolutely no dialogue.) In one of those, the director (and I quote) "...often uses her two sons in the main roles of her frequently violent, but visually charming, films." PASS!

And finally, in the "Spectrum" category -- dedicated to "the creative spirit in independent filmmaking" -- there's a film by David Russo called The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle. As far as I can tell, the main character finds himself one of a band of janitorial misfits who eat magic cookies which cause them each to give birth to a small blue fish. HUH?

Here are a few films that did pique my interest:

I Love You Phillip Morris -- from the makers of Bad Santa (which I wanted to hate, but laughed too much to find that to be true) comes the tale on a con-man (Jim Carrey) who falls in love with a fellow inmate (Ewan McGregor). Need I say more?


One Day in a Life -- Beautiful Italian men in swimsuits (see photo.) Who cares if it's subtitled -- do you know how cold it is in Park City in January?!


Good Hair -- A documentary by Chris Rock about African American hair culture, which was initiated by his young daughter lamenting the fact that she doesn't have "good hair."

Those are just a few of the films that caught my eye on my first pass through the guide. You too can read about all 227 films on www.sundance.org/festival. Just click on the film guide tab and download the PDF.