NOTE: We ran this article in 2011 and have updated it for 2012.
The Sundance Film Festival is the best known film festival in the United States. Say the word “Sundance” to anyone, film lover or not, and chances are they’ve heard of the festival. As a movie blog though, the problem with covering Sundance is that virtually all of the movies are brand new. We haven’t heard of them, you haven’t heard of them, so why would you even care about them?
More than any of the casting news, trailers or film stills that we post on a daily basis, what happens in that small corner of Utah for a little over a week in January is probably the most important movie event of the year. Even so, talk to the most seasoned movie fan and they don’t spend half as much time focusing on what’s going on at Sundance as they do bitching about movies that came out three years ago. Plain and simple, the best films that you will see in theaters for the next 12 months are being shown at Sundance over the next week and a half. And while you probably haven’t heard of them in January, you’ll definitely have heard of them by December. Don’t you want in on the ground floor?
For the next 10 days myself and Peter Sciretta will be in Park City, Utah at the Sundance Film Festival. And while you might not be eager to click and read about a movie you haven’t heard of yet, we urge you to do so. Some of the films that people hadn’t heard of when they played Sundance in the past are films like Saw, The Blair Witch Project, Donnie Darko, 28 Days Later, Napoleon Dynamite, Memento, Bottle Rocket, Clerks, Reservoir Dogs and The Usual Suspects. Think of all the movies that have been made since because filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, Wes Anderson, Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino and Bryan Singer broke out at the Sundance Film Festival. Who is the breakout star this year? You’ll have to follow our coverage to find out.
Still not convinced? We’ve compiled even more films that you know and love that got their start at Sundance after the jump. Read More »
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Short of putting a Blu-ray on your shelf or a poster on your wall, quoting a movie in conversation is one of the best ways to pay tribute to movies you love. We’ve all dropped a quote from a movie into casual conversation and then gotten a nod of recognition from someone who is in on the joke. What’s cool about these posters by designer Jerod Gibson is that it takes those quotes and puts them on a pedestal, making the words the stars of iconic films like the original Star Wars Trilogy, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure and Ghostbusters. After the jump, check out a huge gallery of images and more. Read More »
Tim Doyle has done some phenomenal posters based on the works of Quentin Tarantino, Stanley Kubrick and many, many others. But I think his latest poster, based on the first film by Kevin Smith, could be his best yet. Doyle has been commissioned by Austin Books and Comics (in Austin, Texas obviously) to create a poster for an upcoming screening of Clerks, Smith’s hilarious, influential 1994 film. The result is a well-spaced, perfect representation of almost all the characters in the film, filled with inside jokes and even available in a black and white variant, just like the movie itself. Check out both versions after the jump. Read More »
Our friends the Fine Brothers have filed the latest episode of their popular “Spoiler” series — 50 Comedy Spoilers in 3 Minutes, in one take. You might remember that we’ve featured their videos 50 Christmas Movie Spoilers in 3 Minutes, 100 Movie Spoilers in 4 minutes, Spoiling Every Best Picture Winner in Oscar History, 50 spoilers of 2009 in 4 minutes, 100 Horror Movie Spoilers in 5 Minutes, and 50 Disney Spoilers in 3 Minutes. Hit the jump to watch their latest. And if it isn’t completely obvious already, please be warned that the following video contains spoilers.
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Subtonix decided to create a map of the United States by pinpointing the movies which best represent each of the 50 states. For example, New Jersey is Clerks and Kansas is The Wizard of Oz. There will likely be some debate over some of these choices (is Fast Times at Ridgemont High the ultimate representation of California?) but it is an interesting concept none the less. It’s also interesting to note that more Coen Brothers films appear on the map than any other filmmaker. Hit the jump to see the whole map, and click to enlarge.
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Pajiba has edited another wonderful montage of movie clips, this time compiling the 100 greatest movie insults of all time in under 10 minutes. Watch the video now embedded after the jump.
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Kevin Smith has confirmed that two of his most popular and critically acclaimed films Clerks and Chasing Amy will be released on Blu-Ray in November 2009 with a few new surprises. Smith revealed the news on Twitter, where the filmmaker is nearing almost 1,000,000 followers. The Clerks release will be the same exact contents of the the tenth anniversary DVD release Clerks X, plus a never before released documentary that fans have waited over five years for. Details and trailer after the jump.
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Despite having almost no violence in the film, Kevin Smith‘s Clerks was originally given an NC-17 rating by the MPAA based solely on its graphic dialogue. Much like on Zack and Miri, Miramax was able to appeal the ruling and were granted an R-Rating without any cuts.
Wattsei decided to create a visual map of the profane dialogue in the film. Each colored block represents one second in the movie with individual blocks grouped into rows of sixty seconds. These rows form a single column the length of the movie. The color of each block indicates the character speaking at that specific moment in time, Seconds with no active speaker are indicated by a split grey black and character lines containing profanity are indicated by white dots in the corresponding blocks. I’m not sure the purpose of this exercise but its definitely interesting to look at. I actually think it would be more interesting to see a heat map of vulgarity, but of course, I am too lazy to create such a map.
