The Extra Man premiered Monday night at Sundance, featuring Paul Dano as an aspiring writer who makes a new life in Manhattan with his artistic dreams and a mild crossdressing fetish. Helping out is Henry Harrison (Kevin Kline), the eccentric, reactionary "extra man" of the title whose job is to accompany older women to social events around New York City. Adapting a novel by Jonathan Ames, directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini make a triumphant return to the character-driven comedy that won them a Grand Jury Prize here in 2003 with American Splendor yet painfully eluded their 2007 adaptation of The Nanny Diaries; they draw one of Dano's best, most nuanced performances to date, yet can't quite get the same out of Katie Holmes, who co-stars as the object of the young man's affection at his magazine job. Which might not have been their fault; even at Monday's premiere, Holmes wasn't about to join in the jokey mood Dano and Kline engaged with their inquisitive first audience.
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Among the most anticipated titles of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival -- as well as one of its most haunted, troubled productions -- the Ryan Gosling/Michelle Williams relationship saga Blue Valentine finally reached the screen at Sunday afternoon's world premiere. Twelve years in the making, director Derek Cianfrance's film endured more stops, starts and development hiccups than perhaps any other in the festival competition. I desperately wanted to like it. Alas, there could be no more screeching halt than the plotless, indulgent, grueling, indier-than-thou melodrama that ensued after the lights went down.
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The Berlinale announced the rest of its competition slate for next month's 60th annual festival, with Noah Baumbach's comedy Greenberg (starring Ben Stiller) arriving for its world premiere. This comes in addition to previously announced selections including Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer; other high-profile films announced today for the competition line-up include Sundance premieres The Killer Inside Me, Please Give and The Kids Are All Right along with the world premiere of Thomas Vinterberg's latest, Submarino. [indieWIRE]
Your Movieline crew is preparing to brave the snow, swag and spectacle of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, which can mean only one thing: Reckless predictions of this year's titles most likely to ignite a distribution bidding war. Granted, Sundance isn't the market it was 10 years ago (or even five years ago); few buyers have any real money to lavish on acquisitions, and a "bidding war" today might mean a producer strings out a few interested parties overnight for a million-dollar (or less) deal. It could mean a couple cable channels scrapping over a documentary. Or, in more traditional style, it could mean buyers fighting to release the one where Kristen Stewart plays a hooker. Anything goes!
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Sure, Sundance has its fair share of slit-your-wrists dramas, but that doesn't mean the festival has to be an experience full of doom and gloom. Quite the contrary! As part of our continuing Road to Sundance vlogs, I take you through five of the things that either already made me smile or will potentially make me laugh at this year's Sundance Film Festival:
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South by Southwest announced a nifty coup this morning, sending word that the world premiere of Matthew Vaughn's comics-hero send-up/fanboy wet dream Kick-Ass will open this year's film festival and conference March 12. Also booked for Austin: Saturday Night, James Franco's student-film documentary about life behind the scenes on Saturday Night Live. (Bill Hader teased the project last August in his Movieline Interview.) Cheers to them, and more titles as they become available... [SXSW]
It's been nearly a year since I saw Glenn Ficarra and John Requa's I Love You Phillip Morris at its Sundance premiere. It's a funny, touching, and constantly surprising tale of true crime and gay romance starring Jim Carrey (in one of his better recent performances) and Ewan McGregror, playing his doe-eyed cellblock lover. The thing hasn't yet found distribution*, probably -- no, definitely -- because of its frank depictions of gay sex and intimacy. You can catch it at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, where it's two screenings -- Jan, 14 and 15 -- should be met by an appreciative desert mix of gays and geezers. * Good news, and my bad -- it has! Consolidated Pictures scooped it up in May, and it's scheduled for a March release. [Jim Carrey Online]
With the Sundance Film Festival fast approaching, we're launching our Countdown to Sundance, where the Movieline staff (and some special guests) will break down all the notable films and events Park City's got to offer this year. First up for our video dissection: The Runaways, Floria Sigismondi's high-profile band biopic starring Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, and a conspicuous drop of blood. Ever at your service, I offer three things the film has going for it -- and three against.
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If you thought the original Sundance 2010 program announcement was just a tad lacking in star power (sorry, K-Stew!), then hopefully the organizers' latest additions will settle at least some of those cravings. Among them: A Katie Holmes-led, Big Chill-style ensemble comedy and the Annette Bening/Julianne Moore sperm-donor drama that was all but made for Park City. And another Sundance alum is coming along for the ride as well.
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Today, the Sundance Institute announced the 8 films that will not only be playing at this year's Sundance Film Festival in Park City, but also in 8 selected cities across the U.S. on January 28. Some of the matchups are obvious -- of course Howl would screen in San Francisco, and Teenage Paparazzo would be slated for Los Angeles -- and others less so (the Upper East Side drama The Extra Man is screening in Nashville? Well, why not). All 8 films, and the websites for each location you can purchase tickets from, are after the jump:
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Now that the Sundance lineup is fully announced, it's time for films that had previously stayed under the radar to start flooding us with images. Many more will come to light when the Sundance website launches its official program guide soon, but for now, Movieline has scoured the web for stills from some of Sundance's most high-profile projects, including these stills from The Company Men, starring Kevin Costner and Ben Affleck.
Over the next few pages, you'll find pictures from Hesher, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman, the Kristen Stewart stripper drama Welcome to the Rileys, Joel Schumacher's Twelve, and many more. Enjoy!
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As the final pieces of the Sundance 2010 puzzle fall into place, the fest is preparing to announce the short film lineup today in just a few hours. However, why wait that long? Movieline's got the exclusive scoop on who's in, and it includes big names like James Franco and Spike Jonze.
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We've covered the competition and non-competition films and made our picks for the ones to get excited for at Sundance 2010, but still you have questions! Luckily, we're happy to oblige at Movieline. We've answered six burning questions about January's festival -- from breakout stars to best parties, here's what's on the agenda:
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Yesterday, the Sundance Film Festival announced its competition films, and today, programmers announced the films screening in the Premieres, Spectrum, New Frontier and Park City at Midnight Sections. We'll be back later with further analysis, but for now, take a look at the lineup, filled with intriguing selections and dotted with stars like Jessica Alba, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Kristen Stewart:
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The Sundance Film Festival has announced its films in competition, and even though there are plenty of non-competition films to come, what's there already is definitely intriguing. Which 8 films are we most curious about? Read on to find out:
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