Medioh

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 [read more]

The official awards for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival were announced tonight at a ceremony in Park City. The Sundance awards are always very interesting to follow each year, because the winners are either entirely unexpected or totally deserving, and we’ve certainly got plenty of both again this year. However, the biggest winner and my own top favorite film of the festival was Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts o [read more]

It’s hard to tell a story of the struggles of alcoholism without coming off like a melodramatic after school special, but thankfully director James Ponsoldt has come around with Smashed. Actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) stars along with Aaron Paul (“Breaking Bad”) as a married couple seemingly enjoying the good life with a house provided by the latter’s wealthy [read more]

While it’s impossible to explain the experience of the Sundance Film Festival without actually being here in the cold and snow, there are some ways we can still give everyone a taste of what it’s like to attend. For example, this video that was sent over by my friend Eric from IONCinema.com called “Shit People Say at Sundance 2012“, featuring some guy named Alexander Norton. When you’ [read more]

If there’s one thing most romantic comedies can’t seem to lock down it’s real romance and substantial comedy. However, when it comes to the film festival circuit, plenty of films hit it right on the money. Whether it’s (500) Days of Summer or even Garden State, Sundance is the place to find a real love story with heart and comedy. Save the Date easily fits into that category but with an eve [read more]

One film that premiered in the later half of the Sundance Film Festival that has still left a lasting impact on myself and Ethan is a intimate portrait of a father and son from writer/director/actor Mark Webber. You may know him as Stephen Stills in Scott Pilgrim, but Webber is a talented actor who’s been starring in indies for years (I met him at my first Sundance in 2007). His new film, The End of Love, is [read more]

The found footage “genre” has become trend in Hollywood, with new Paranormal Activity’s replacing the Saw films every year, and many more to come. When it comes to horror found footage films, Sundance has a strong history, with Blair Witch Project premiering back in 1999. Jump ahead 13 years to 2012 and here we are with another genre reinvention, this time refreshing the horror anthology idea wit [read more]

I’m here all the way to the very end. Even though this is my sixth year at the Sundance Film Festival, for those past five years straight, I’ve attended all 10 days of the fest. Sundance (and most major film festivals) last a full 10 days, which is quite a long time when you think about it, spending 10 days in one location watching movies non-stop every single day. It’s exhausting, mentally and p [read more]

Another big Sundance sale we definitely need to highlight. Heat Vision is reporting that Magnolia Pictures has closed on a roughly $1 million deal for US rights to V/H/S, the horror anthology film that premiered in the Midnight category at Sundance. I caught the premiere at midnight and loved it, it’s awesome, potentially the kind of film that could push the found-footage genre and reinvent horror anthology. [read more]

This is it. This is the discovery of Sundance 2012. The film that everyone is going to be talking about after the fest. And it lives up to the hype. But forget about all of that, go see this without knowing anything about it, just that it’s phenomenal, and you’ll experience it the way all of us did. Beasts of the Southern Wild, directed by Benh Zeitlin and created by the collective Court 13, is an utte [read more]