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Great news for one of our other top favorite films from the Sundance Film Festival this year. The Wrap is reporting that distributor Sony Pictures Classics is "about to buy" the film Smashed, directed by James Ponsoldt and starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead as an alcoholic, which topped quite a few "best of" lists. I'm glad to see this finally finding a distributor, but I'm a little unsure about Sony Classics taking it, I hope they give this the proper support and release it deserves, as it is a fantastic film and they're a bit notorious for not caring much about these kind of films. That said, we'll definitely keep you updated on the release. ›››

Continue reading: Sony Pictures Classics Picking Up Alcoholic Sundance Hit 'Smashed'

On this week's episode of The Golden Briefcase, Tim & Jeremy are joined by Ryland Aldrich of Twitch Film to go through their latest Picks of the Week, the newest in DVD & Blu-Ray releases, talk through new trailers for the upcoming thrillers Takashi Shimizu's 7500 and Rodrigo Cortes' Red Lights and much more! The main topic of the night was a discussion and recap of last week's Sundance Film Festival. The guys are also joined by FirstShowing's own Alex Billington to go over some of Ryland and Alex's favorites of the fest and talk about the hopeful futures of some of the greatest films they saw out there this year. Listen in! ›››

Continue reading: TGB Episode 95: Recovering From Sundance (Guest: Ryland Aldrich)

One of my favorite documentaries I saw at Sundance 2012 was The Imposter, about Frédéric Bourdin, known as "The Chameleon", who successfully pretended he was a 16 year old missing boy and was brought home to a Texas family back in 1997. It's a fascinating nearly-unbelievable doc (read my review) about how this guy could convince authorities and this entire family that he really was their missing son now found in Europe. At the end of the festival, we caught up with the doc's director Bart Layton and producer Dimitri Doganis for a discussion on how they made the doc, how it came together, and their stories along the way. ›››

Continue reading: Sundance Interview: 'The Imposter' Director Bart Layton & Producer

One of my favorite late-fest discoveries at Sundance 2012 was The End of Love, a film directed/written by, and starring, Mark Webber and his 2-year-old son. It's a beautiful film about a single father trying to raise a son, and the way Webber captures the connection and dialogue he has with his real boy is incredible. You may recognize Webber from any number of acting roles, as the "Talent" in Scott Pilgrim, or indies ranging from Explicit Ills to Shrink to Weapons, but he's as talented behind the screen as he is on it. Luckily, Ethan and I were able to meet up with Mark at Sundance for a fantastic interview about making The End of Love. ›››

Continue reading: Sundance 2012 Interview: Mark Webber - 'The End of Love' Director

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival has finally come to an end and to put a wrap on things and finalize our nearly two weeks of coverage, we've got a recap and list of our favorites. I know I've said this before, but 2012 was a truly outstanding year, and it got even better as it came to an end. Between Ethan and I, we saw over 50 films, some good, some bad, some incredible, and we're here to tell you about the best of them. We tend to run reviews mostly for films we truly enjoy, the ones we want to tell everyone about, which is what our coverage has focused on. As a final recap we present our favorite films, plus a rundown of our posts. ›››

Continue reading: Sundance 2012: Our Final Recap & 10 Favorite Films of the Festival

While younger generations have been criticized for only watching TV and playing video games, Indie Game: The Movie shows it's these young people who have grown up with these forms of entertainment who now aspire to make the very products that parents once warned would rot the mind. However, in the case of game designers Edmund McMillen, Tommy Refenes, Phil Fish and Jonathan Blow, their mind is far from rotten, and it's actually quite clear as they work hard everyday to craft the kind of video games they love. But just like films at Sundance, their games are crafted outside of the game studio system. ›››

Continue reading: Sundance 2012: 'Indie Game' Shows Passion & Art in Video Games

While HBO has followed the case of The West Memphis 3 throughout three different documentary films, it's director Amy Berg (Deliver Us from Evil) and producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh who have delivered the definitive chronicle of a tragic misstep in our country's justice system. West of Memphis starts at the very beginning with the murders of Christopher Byers, Steven Branch and Michael Moore in the small town of West Memphis, Arkansas and the impending convictions and trials of accused killers (then just young boys) Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. But they aren't guilty in the least. ›››

Continue reading: Sundance 2012: 'West of Memphis' An Infuriating Look at Injustice

Hopefully our video blog has already convinced some of you to check out Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie as the film is now available to rent on iTunes, YouTube and VOD right now (with a theatrical release coming in March), but now you can hear more about the film from Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim themselves as I sat down and interviewed the comedic duo during the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Tim and Eric talk about how their film was sadly "Rango'd" by Robert Redford and the festival, the state of comedy today, a sensitive project with Chris Kattan, and what makes the best kind of Shrim. Watch below! ›››

Continue reading: Sundance 2012 Interview: Tim and Eric and Their Billion Dollar Movie

Must bring your own weapons! Finally, we've been waiting to hear about this sale since the film Safety Not Guaranteed first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last week. Variety is reporting late Sunday night that FilmDistrict, the indie distributor that put out Drive and Don't Be Afraid of the Dark last year, has picked up the film for distribution. It's their only acquisition of the fest and it's an interesting pick-up, but good one, since the film has a lot of potential and maybe if they market this up right, it could be a decent hit. Ethan loved it and it's a favorite of a lot of other film bloggers, too. Starring Aubrey Plaza & Mark Duplass. ›››

Continue reading: FilmDistrict Grabs Sundance 2012 Favorite 'Safety Not Guaranteed'

Magnolia Pictures went on a buying spree recently to wrap up the 2012 Sundance Film Festival this weekend. While the indie distributor, still owned by Mark Cuban, already picked up the horror anthology V/H/S and the doc Queen of Versailles, three more big acquisitions have rolled in very recently. Magnolia is picking up the controversial fast food abuse drama Compliance, written & directed by Craig Zobel, as well as Julie Delpy's new comedy 2 Days in New York, a sequel to her 2 Days in Paris, and Ry Russo-Young's drama Nobody Walks, starring Olivia Thirlby, John Krasinski and Rosemarie DeWitt. More info below! ›››

Continue reading: Sundance 2012: Magnolia Gets 'Compliance', '2 Days', 'Nobody Walks'