January 20, 2011 (Day 2) [part 2]

Sorry it's taken me so long to post we have been very busy!

After The Artist we got to see one of the best action films I've seen in a long time.

Also posting pictures of me and James proved a bit problematic the first time so I've decided to just post a link to the facebook album with the pictures in it!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150606022827915.441976.671232914&type=3

The Raid

Directed and Written by Garreth Evans

Stars: Iko Uwais

Garreth Evans's The Raid can definitely be blamed for being all about pulp and style with very little substance. But with the fresh approach to the entire genre, the unbelievably well choreographed sequences, and expertly crafted tension, to say that lack of substance is an issue is to miss the director's intent. The plot is simple enough. 15 story building, SWAT team made of nothing but relative rookies, and old man who is leading the group, the SWAT team leader, and a man whose wife is pregnant. This is set up within the first ten minutes and is the only real exposition we are going to receive.

The best way to describe The Raid is that it's a healthy mix of Kill Bill and SWAT. It isn't really fair to compare the film as it's number one strength is its originality with the handling of a basic story.

It's pure entertainment and it was quite refreshing. 8/10

January 20, 2011 (Day 2) [part 1]

We started off our day with a nice bowl of oatmean and spinach eggs (not together) and we headed off into the wide blue yonder of Downtown Salt Lake City!

We bought tickets to see The Raid at 9:45 and realized we had time to spare so we decided to go see The Artist (which is getting a lot of awards buzz) at 2:20!

The Artist

Directed and written by Michel Hazanavicius

Stars Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, John Goodman, and Missi Pyle

The Artist is a surprising little film. Advantageous is a bit of an understatement. It's a silent film, completely in black and white, that stars two relatively unknown actors. While I don't think this film would have worked quite as well with two A-listers, it all begs the question: How do you make this film a success? As always The Weinsteins have found a way.

In a year of bland film-making and movies going for the quickest buck it is quite refreshing to see a film like this being publicly marketed and gaining awards attention. Let me make one thing clear, The Artist is far from the best film I've seen this year, however, it is the best crowd pleasing, purely for entertainment film I've seen. It has a questionably long second act but once our lead character has finally reached his moment of true anguish (which features one of the best, and well developed sight gags of the year) the film finds its way back. There is no real subtext here. The moral of the story is never give up on your dream, don't let anything hold you down, film preservation is a necessity, and so on and so forth. It's not the actual meaning of the film that's being praised it's the way it is being presented.

It is a fun movie and highly accessible, if you get the chance to see it on the big screen then I highly recommend doing so. It is going to win best picture and I'm ok with this. While I wish it was going to the more human and realistic The Descendants or the gritty and menacing Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I am fine with a crowd pleaser winning the award (they almost always do).

I can give this film a solid 7/10. Not a great film but a good film with some great performances and wonderful direction from relative newcomer Hazanavicius.

(Review for the Raid will be posted later today)

Jan 19, 2011 (Day One)

After a night full of packing, waiting, and seeing Girl with the Dragon Tattoo one last time, it was finally time to board my flight! From 6:10 am Alabama time to 1:50 pm Utah time... finally having my feet on solid ground was beyond a relief.

I met with my friend James at the baggage claim and we whisked off to go get a nice lunch from Paradise bakery and cafe.

Now that I'm settled, here is the list of films that we are absolutely seeing:

About the Pink Sky

http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120055/about_the_pink_sky

Wrong

http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120085/wrong

Black Rock

http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120109/black_rock

The End of Love

http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120049/the_end_of_love

My Brother the Devil

http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120087/my_brother_the_devil

Smashed

http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120030/smashedThe Comedy

Excision

http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120134/excision

Red Hook Summer

http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120133/red_hook_summer

The Pact

http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120112/the_pact

Keep in mind that these are the only films that we could get tickets for. Tomorrow night we plan on trying to see The Raid which has become one of the most buzzed about independents of the last year. We plan on seeing many more than these ten but these are the films that we are seeing for certain.

We decided to have a relaxing evening and go see Beauty and the Beast in 3d (which I can recommend seeing only for nostalgia's sake). Afterwards we returned to James's humble abode and watched Kryzystof Kieslowski's Blue (which James had never seen).

A wonderful start to an already wonderful trip.

Welcome to my blog!

Hey guys! This is Andrew Slaughter and this is my blog for my upcoming Sundance trip!

I'm going with my very close friend James Westervelt and I am beyond excited!

I would like to thank you in advance for at least checking my blog out and I hope you have as much fun reading as I will writing!

I leave at 6:10 am tomorrow morning and land in Salt Lake City at 1:50 pm!

I'm beyond excited and anxious about the whole thing.

We have ten films with the tickets already bought and all we have to do is show up. I can't remember them at the moment so I will post them tomorrow. We plan on going to many more than that but those are the ones we have cemented.

Feel free to comment below and again thank you for reading this :)