Re:10 Worst Sundance Sensations?

SkyPilot — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:46:46 GMT

I'm torn on what Chris says about The Blair Witch Project. On the one hand, calling something "easy to do" isn't necessarily a criticism. Rock doesn't get much easier to play than "Louie, Louie", but it's still kicks the sh*t out of most rock songs.

On the other hand, my friend Kevin Buist (porcupine) has claimed he's seen a student-created, 10-minute version of Blair Witch that mopped the floor with the original. What do you have to say about that, porcupine?

10 Worst Sundance Sensations?

SkyPilot — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:34:28 GMT

Reading Chris Campbell's 10 Worst Sundance Sensations is sort of like listening to someone bash your old friends. My affection for some of these films makes it hard to say whether I agree with any of his picks, which include Napoleon Dynamite, Garden State, and Brick.

I can't argue with someone who says Napoleon Dynamite isn't funny, but I will argue with Chris when he says "Napoleon Dynamite is not comedy. It is merely quirky, which is not the same thing as funny." I don't mean to sound like a philosophy undergrad, but you asked for it, Chris: what is "funny"?

He made me smile when he called Garden State a "homecoming of age" movie that spawned a hundred like it. Get this, though: "Any idiot can write a script of this type and fill it with quirky scenery and an obnoxious yet adorable love interest." Obviously Chris knows a lot of talented idiots.

I appreciated his writing about Brick, especially the part where he says "Who wouldn't rather watch a double feature of The Big Sleep and Heathers?" Then I thought, 'I liked Brick. I thought it was gritty and exciting. How is Chris changing my mind when he's not even explaining why the movie is bad?'

But maybe Chris's oldest selections are a good indicator of his judgment? I haven't seen Boxing Helena (1993) or The Brothers McMullen (1995), and I didn't even know Ed Burns was a writer/director! One of my coworkers just told me Burns was a really 'in vogue' filmmaker for a while.

What do you guys think, are Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre), Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom), and Zack Braff along the same lines? In another ten years, will people be saying, "I didn't know Zack Braff was a writer/director!"