Short Day With Rewards

The biggest complaint this year is that the Festival has been programmed 'front loaded', with a bounty of films to choose from in the first half of the day, but that thre's often more than one film in the same slot that is a 'must-see'. Then, after 2 p.m. or so....nothing. Yesterday was a perfect example. The Sundance Cinemas team split up so that one of us saw Noah Baumbach's 'While We're Young' and 'My Old Lady' and I went to see two others. Reports on both of those were thumbs up...good news.
My first film was the much talked about 'Foxcatcher'

a rather twisted tale about brothers, both former Olympic wrestling champions (Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo) who become involved in a fateful friendship with a mentally ill DuPont millionaire (Steve Carell), in this true-life drama from director Bennett Miller (Capote, Moneyball).

Of course this made many run to their wiki's to read all about the sensational story that none in my circle could remember. Pretty unusual character for Steve Carell.

Next up was 'Wild', starring Reese Witherspoon in an adaptation of the best selling memoir by Cheryl Strayed. Devastated by the death of her mother from cancer, Strayed soon spirals into a deeply self-destructive decline that destroys her marriage and leaves her addicted to heroin. She decides to do 500 miles of the Pacific Coast Trail hike through rugged countryside and conditions. The Nick Hornby script is filled with powerful flashbacks of the traumas that triggered her inspiring feat, and the direction by 'Dallas Buyers Club's Jean-Marc Vallée is subtle and nicely done. So far my favorite and five hankie movie.

Last film of the day was 'Escobar: Paradise Lost' starring an alarmingly bloated Benicio DelToro (sigh) in an alarmingly bloated tale of the infamous Columbian drug lord, politician and self proclaimed Robin Hood.

They must begin to program more films later in the day...it's not like I'm going to star-filled parties at night...