SAGIndie

HOLY CRAP, ARE WE STILL DOING THIS?!

I mean, uh, BOY have I missed you all!  I realized that I haven’t been here in probably 7 or 8 months!  You all must be starving for intellectual commentary.  Still, as I’ve read the last few posts from Paul, I’ve come to understand that he is rather amusing (and not only for his style in clothes). 

So yes, I left for a while and had a baby.  And no, Paul’s not the Daddy (not until he starts paying child support).  But please believe that I am back at work.  So far, my darling daughter and I have been to 3 film events, including Sundance.  Hence, I didn’t see very many pictures (which makes me wonder why I’m even blogging).  None really wowed me, though STEPHANIE DALEY definitely left an impression.  My hubby saw THE DESCENT with Paul and really liked it to, so maybe Paul’s taste isn’t THAT bad.  At least we survived the snow and cold with a well known remedy.

So, where’ve I been?  I spent a weekend in Savannah Georgia and the SCAD festival.  Always fun, and the food is good.  But with a child, it’s hard to see movies.  Mind you, daughter is great in movies, she’s been to many and she basically sleeps through them.  But it’s the look of horror on audience members and filmmakers alike when they see me sitting with her that I can do without.  As if the presence of my daughter is enough to ruin the artistry of their incoherent, meandering waste of celluloid.  Do I sound offended?

So what’s next for us?  March will find us enjoying the Independent Spirit Awards (sans child) and SXSW (with child).  Mainly, I’m hoping to enjoy my favorite movie-going experience.  At the Alamo Drafthouse you can enjoy a beer and chicken wings while watching a cool movie.  Why aren’t all theaters like that?

And yes, Paul, I promise to be back before the kid turns 1.

We haven’t given up on this newfangled "blog" thingy.

We’re just lame.

We had hoped to file numerous reports at the Sundance Film Festival… but ended up being too busy to do anything (Well, we could have sacrificed some of our drinking time to blog… but that would have gone against everything we believe in… and probably the only entertainment value we provide to our three readers…).

That said, we promise to do a better job of keeping you informed.

So, to start things off… again… here is my belated report about the Sundance Film Festival:

Films I enjoyed:

I didn’t see a lot of films at the Festival this year. As I mentioned above, I was pretty busy… and pretty drunk. But of the ones I did see, the stand outs were; Thank You for Smoking, Right at Your Door… or is it Just Outside Your Door… or  Right Door Outside (Free, unsolicited advice to Lions Gate, who picked up the film: Change the Title… it’s hard remember and although it makes a little sense… it doesn’t exactly pull you in.), and without a doubt, my all-time favorite film at this year’s Sundance was the midnight movie The Descent. Although it’s not without problems, this is one of the most genuinely scary films I’ve seen in a long time. It’s also being released by Lions Gater (More free advice: Release it with the original UK ending… I didn’t see it… but someone told me how it originally ended, and I think that’s much better… it would also solve one of my big problems with the film… and I know that the people at Lions Gate want more than anything to solve my problems…).

Beyond that, Sundance was Sundance. And for those of you who’ve been there, you know what I mean. Critics say that the Festival is over commercialized, that the best films don’t necessarily get accepted, and that they do a lot of starf***ing. Sundance counters that they don’t have any control over the commercialization, that they create a showcase for high-quality, independent film, and they deny any kind of cronyism.

I think both things are true.

In the interest of full-disclosure, SAGIndie gives the Sundance Institute a lot of money (for us anyway), so I feel even more comfortable giving them unsolicited advice (But, as with Lions Gate, I don’t expect them to care what I think): I don’t think these things are mutually exclusive, and I think the Festival seems disingenuous when they deny the criticisms leveled against them. Sundance is commercial and crass. Films often get in only because they have big name actors in them (uh.. which is a good thing… ) or because someone "knows someone." And that means that Sundance often accepts really bad films. But you know what? Sundance also accepts lots of really great films that would never otherwise been seen. And even more importantly, they really support the films and the filmmakers. A film that gets into Sundance is treated like a member of the family. And that’s a really good thing. Plus, it’s fun!

I think Sundance should embrace everything that’s said about it. The good and the bad make it what it is. If it were anything else, it wouldn’t be Sundance.

The Sundance Film Festival: A place where you can see Great Films… and Paris Hilton.

Finally, because I’m also a starf***er, here are some additional pictures from our Actors Only and FIlmmakers Brunches:

Me and our Actors Only hosts (I’m the one that’s not famous).

Olympic Ice Dancing Champion, Joe Pantoliano.

Christine Elise wasn’t rushing downstairs to get away from the party. We posed her like this… honest.

This is how Fairuza Balk looks when she’s happy.

Scott loves him his pastries.