Film festival

Sundance 2011—The Return (7)

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Sundance Film Festival 2011*

Park City, Utah

 

Win Win (2011)

Rated R

Reviewed by John Brown

 

Win Win, directed by Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent, The Visitor) and starring Paul Giamatti (Sideways, American Splendor), was definitely the first movie I saw at Sundance that I think families will enjoy–aside from a little language. Giamatti plays Mike Flaherty, a small-town lawyer who, struggling to get by financially, turns to desperate measures by lying to the court about one of his clients in order to make extra money. While things seem to be going as planned, a kid

Marvin Brown and Win Win director Tom McCarthy (Credit: John Brown)

Marvin Brown and director Tom McCarthy at the screening of McCarthy’s film Win Win (Credit: John Brown)

related to his client shows up and just happens to be a great wrestler. As Mike tries to use the kid, Kyle  (newcomer Alex Shaffer), to turn around the losing high school wrestling team Mike coaches, the lies continue and the laughs begin.

The storyline is lighthearted and funny, which makes you feel for Mike and his situation while laughing at him and his friends as incompetent coaches. Shaffer was actually found through a casting call and is actually a successful high school wrestler, which makes the storyline more believable and his acting just seems like he is being himself as a teenager.

The movie reminds me of the feeling I had watching Little Miss Sunshine (2006) as I laughed and felt sorrow throughout, but much more laughter and in the end walked out with a very happy feeling from a feel-good story. On the Marvin Brown scale: See it.

*Note: Since marvincbrown.com had not been created at the time of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, I decided to go back and repost these reviews and festival  items, which were catalogued elsewhere—mainly because I needed to get these reviews into my archives, but also because it was an enjoyable experience I’d like to share.

Sundance 2011—The Return (6)

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Sundance Film Festival 2011*

Park City, Utah

 

Beats, Rhymes &  Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest (2011)

Rated R

 

Beats, Rhymes &  Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest is a documentary of legendary 80s rap group A Tribe Called Quest, directed by actor Michael Rapaport. It’s all here: the humble beginnings, when the talented nobodies hook up; their deserved rise to stardom (heads bobbed as the film ran through the hits); the strain of too many know-it-alls, desires to do solo work, health issues, etc.; the inevitable breakup and reunion; and the where-are-they-now bit.

Michael Rapaport chat up the crowd during a light-night screen of his documentary of A Tribe Called Quest. (Credit: John Brown)

Actor/director Michael Rapaport chats up the crowd during a late-night screening of his documentary of A Tribe Called Quest. (Credit: John Brown)

REMEMBERING PHIF DAWG

What Rapaport, surely a fan of Tribe, gets right is the importance of the group and what that meant to other rappers of the day. He smartly zeros in on Tribesman Phif Dawg, the short, round, insecure yet talented co-lead rapper of the group, when another director (most directors) would be tempted to build the film around Q-Tip, the flat-out genius of the group. Phif’s easy-going nature pulls the audience in and humanizes the film, then hooks us when his health issues and clashes with Q-Tip emerge. That Phif was the only Tribe member to show up at the screening was icing on the cake.

Rapaport stumbles, I think, by not showing longer clips of the Tribe’s performances. The talking heads tell us how good they are, the film talks of Tribe’s influence and successes, but it would have been nice to hear why fans still ache for another album.

If you’re interested in the scenario: See it.

Marvin Brown (left), rapper Phif Dawg (center) and John Brown attend the screen of a documentary featuring Phif. (Photo: John Brown)

From left, Marvin Brown, rapper Phif Dawg and John Brown attend the screening of a documentary featuring Phif. (Credit: John Brown)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATE: Remembering the late Phif Dawg.

 

 

*Note: Since marvincbrown.com had not been created at the time of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, I decided to go back and repost these reviews and festival  items, which were catalogued elsewhere—mainly because I needed to get these reviews into my archives, but also because it was an enjoyable experience I’d like to share.

 

| Marvin Brown’s Movie Review Archive

Sundance 2011—The Return (5)

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Sundance Film Festival 2011*

Park City, Utah

 

Red State (2011)

Rated R

 

Kevin Smith’s Red State was one of the most controversial films at Sundance 2011. Smith, ever the class clown, entered a packed Eccles Theater describing outside anti-gay protestors as “fans,” and went to town mocking the protestors, even though his film honors their right to protest. If that wasn’t enough, Smith opened bidding on distribution rights for Red State before a crowd of potential studio investors, then, in some kind of rebuke to Hollywood establishment, reversed himself and declared he would distribute the film himself. OK.

Director/podcast guru Kevin Smith yucks it up at Eccles Theater before the debut screening of his Red State. (Credit: John Brown)

Director/podcast guru Kevin Smith yucks it up at Eccles Theater before the debut screening of his first horror film Red State. (Credit: John Brown)

The film, talky and juvenile on the front end, takes on religious fundamentalism with an odd mix of horror (done well) and action (done equally well), that ultimately doesn’t live up to its full potential.

What it gets right is fantastic. Five deaths in the film are powerfully depicted and each drew startled reactions from the crowd. It’s a hard thing to do in a horror film, to make that many deaths mean more than a body count. And a scene of blaring trumpets stopped the film in its tracks (in the good sense) and for a moment I was off the map of my cinematic experiences and didn’t know what to think or how to react. It was a moment that skirted greatness, but doesn’t achieve it.

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*Note: Since marvincbrown.com had not been created at the time of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, I decided to go back and repost these reviews and festival  items, which were catalogued elsewhere—mainly because I needed to get these reviews into my archives, but also because it was an enjoyable experience I’d like to share.

Sundance 2011—The Return (4)

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Sundance Film Festival 2011*

Park City, Utah

 

Meek’s Cutoff (2010)

Rated PG

 

Meek’s Cutoff/John’s Shortcut: A quiet little film that won’t be seen by 98 percent of America is about three families on the 19th Century Oregon Trail that get lost while supposedly taking a shortcut through the bleak landscape.

Kelly Reichardt’s film is deliberately paced, synched with the rhythms of daily life on the Trail, and rich in period detail. Bruce Greenwood—unrecognizable as the dusty, hairy, irascible Stephen Meek—leads the families on a doom journey he’s supposedly taken before.

A poster for Meek's Cutoff at Prospect Theater in Park City (Credit: Marvin Brown)

A poster for Meek’s Cutoff at Prospect Theater in Park City (Credit: Marvin Brown)

Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine, My Week with Marilyn) stands tall as the young matriarch of one of the families. She watches in the background and keeps her place as the men—her husband among them—hash out their dilemma. As things go from bad to worse, she subtly inserts herself into the negotiations (Should they abandon the obviously lost Meek and strike out on their own? What to do about the Indian they’ve captured along the way?), eventually going head-to-head with Meek himself—something the men seem afraid to do.

The punishing, sepia-toned/sun-scorched landscape—rolling endlessly, dry, sharp weeds and dull rock—eventually overtakes the senses and draws out dread.

After a screening of My Idiot Brother (renamed Our Idiot Brother once it made its way to theaters) was both delayed and ran long, my brother John Brown and I were left with 20 minutes to find the Prospect Theater for a screening of Meek’s. We had no time to wait for a bus and decided to hoof it over to the Prospect, even though we weren’t sure where we were going. After getting directions twice, we sprinted across snow, down alleyways and made the closed-door screening by the skin of our teeth. Things ended better for us than those wagon-trail families, I’ll tell you that.

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*Note: Since marvincbrown.com had not been created at the time of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, I decided to go back and repost these reviews and festival  items, which were catalogued elsewhere—mainly because I needed to get these reviews into my archives, but also because it was an enjoyable experience I’d like to share.

 

 

| Marvin Brown’s Movie Review Archive

Sundance 2011—The Return (3)

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Sundance Film Festival 2011*

Park City, Utah

 

Hobo with a Shotgun (2011)

Rated R

 

The title says it all. Hobo with A Shotgun. If that puts a smile on your face and you like nonstop, cartoonish violence and whatever-the-moment-needs plotting, come on in, the water’s warm … and bloody.

Rugter Hauer attends a late-night screening of Hobo with a Shotgun at the Library Theater in Park City. (Credit: John Brown)

Rugter Hauer attends a late-night screening of Hobo with a Shotgun at the Library Theater in Park City. (Credit: John Brown)

Director Jason Eisener (V/H/S/2) aims his post-apocalyptic film for the distant horizon then puts the petal to the floor.

Rutger Hauer’s title vagrant mills about the worst town in America, watching men, women and children alike slain by a sadistic meanie and his equally abhorrent sons.

All’s good until things get personal for our bummy hero. He picks up a shotgun and … you know the rest. Only the Midnight Movie Madness crowd and/or gorehounds need apply.

*Note: Since marvincbrown.com had not been created at the time of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, I decided to go back and repost these reviews and festival  items, which were catalogued elsewhere—mainly because I needed to get these reviews into my archives, but also because it was an enjoyable experience I’d like to share.

 

 

| Marvin Brown’s Movie Review Archive

 

Sundance 2011—The Return (2)

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Sundance Film Festival 2011*

Park City, Utah

 

Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)

Rated R

 

Past and present collide gently and shockingly in Sean Durkin’s evocative Martha Marcy May Marlene. Making its debut here in Park City, the effective drama charts the escape of Martha (an amazing Elizabeth Olsen, Oldboy) from her two-year life in a backwoods, Upstate New York cult. After reconnecting with her estranged sister (Sarah Paulson)—her only remaining family—Martha tries to make sense of her values, purpose and trauma.

John Brown, right, with director Sean Durkin (Credit: Marvin Brown)

John Brown, right, with director Sean Durkin (Credit: Marvin Brown)

As the film tracks backward, we sense the mounting dread of cult life, but tense present-day scenes underscore that unstable family relationships may have helped drive Martha to the cult. Lead and supporting roles are gripping from top to bottom. But let’s single out veteran character actor John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone, The Sessions), whose quiet menace as the cult’s leader chills the blood.

Subtle editing and past-present transitions are powerful. Durkin’s direction—sure-handed, never showy—packs a punch.

See it | Skip it

*Note: Since marvincbrown.com had not been created at the time of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, I decided to go back and repost these reviews and festival  items, which were catalogued elsewhere—mainly because I needed to get these reviews into my archives, but also because it was an enjoyable experience I’d like to share.

 

Marvin Brown, with actor John Hawkes (Credit: John Brown)

Marvin Brown, with actor John Hawkes (Credit: John Brown)

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