On the Line: When filmmaker Christina Clausen stood to introduce her movie, I learned I was seeing the film on what would have been Keith Haring’s 50th birthday and would have the pleasure of watching with his family and childhood friends also in the audience. No pressure.

In the Theater: Clausen uses Haring’s art and the pulsing club music of the 80’s to celebrate of one of New York’s most well-known pop artists. Clausen manages to allow Keith Haring to narrate his own story through audio and video recordings. He gets help from his family and close friends, including Yoko Ono, Fab 5 Freddy and David LaChappelle. Other famous friends you will recognize include Andy Warhol and Madonna. Read more…

On the Line: To be quite honest, I showed up so early that there was no line yet. However, my own personal anticipation for this film was quite high. Having lived in Japan for a number of years, I’m a big fan of Japanese Baseball. I was very curious to see how a couple of NYU students would capture the complexity of not only Bobby Valentine, but also the national sport and its die-hard fans.

In the Theater: Bobby Valentine is very clearly a national celebrity in Japan. The film portrays him as gracious with his fans, even when he doesn’t have time to shake every hand and take every photo. Read more…

A few days ago, we gave you a review of “The Great Buck Howard” from our colleague Rachel Josue. Today, fellow blogger Josh Horowitz weighs in with his own thoughts.

On the Line: I’m attending a press screening at Sundance as opposed to a public one. All that means is the people I’m sitting with are allowed to eat in their seats and are more likely to make snarky comments about Robert Redford. I’ve heard about this flick for a while. Colin Hanks, John Malkovich, and even a little Tom Hanks. Doesn’t sound too Sundance-y but I’m game. Read more…

Every few years, a film comes along containing a performance far better than the movie as a whole; some characters just deserve to have more interesting things happen to them. I’m thinking of Forrest Whitaker in “Ghost Dog,” Paul Giamatti in “Lady in the Water,” or Giovanni Ribisi in, well, anything.

I have now seen the Superbowl of such movies, and it is called “Sleepwalking.” Read more…

Article by Alyssa Vitrano

On the Line: I was at a Women in Film panel over the weekend, and Patricia Clarkson was talking about how the movie had 3 really strong female lead roles (played by her, Felicity Huffman and Elle Fanning). You never know if that means it’ll be chick flicky, but later an older guy was telling me he saw it and afterwards called his wife practically in tears saying how the film made him want to be a better father. Wow, ok. Was also curious to see if Elle Fanning was as freakily good as her sister Dakota.

In the Theater: The scenes with Elle and Felicity, who plays a writer whose trying to figure out what kind of disorder her daughter has, are completely heartbreaking. I was sitting next to an older man and we were both crying. But the scenes where the kids put on the Alice in Wonderland play go on way too long and feel like you’re at a grade-school production–only kids’ parents should have to sit through that.
Read more…

It’s got more gunplay than your local post office, enough close-ups of the female posterior to make Sir Mix-a-Lot blush, and so many dirty words it’ll likely be banned before you finish reading this sentence. Quentin Tarantino and his motley crew call it “Hell Ride,” and it sure is one helluva something.

What, exactly, depends on your own personal tolerance for murder, mayhem, mud-wrestling and Michael Madsen in a tree, doing an owl imitation.

The flick, which premiered this week at Sundance, follows two warring biker posses. Set in a surreal world where every woman wants a roll in the hay, and every man knows he can shoot another man in the crotch without any fear of interference from the police, it revolves around three keys labeled “666,” the 1976 murder of a biker babe and a whole lot of vengeance. Read more…

On the Line: Here’s the great thing about Sundance: There are screenings at 8:30 in the morning! A movie lover’s dream! Here’s the horrible thing about Sundance: There are screenings at 8:30 in the morning! A human being’s nightmare.

There was little to no buzz on this two-hander starring Sundance stalwarts Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson. I’m a huge fan of both, so I’m optimistic. Read more…

On the Line: Ever since it was announced that “Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?” would premiere at Sundance, this documentary from Morgan Spurlock, the muckraking documentary filmmaker, has been at the top of my (and many fellow true believers’) must-see list. Yes, the man who may or may not have pressured McDonald’s to abandon the “Super Size” option (a moment of silence please for French fries portions the size of my head) has decided to set his sights on none other than the most wanted man in the universe, Osama bin Laden.

Did he find him? How does it all end? Well if there was any doubt that this one was garnering huge interest, the insanely long line for the press screening I attended laid any hesitation to rest. The curiosity was there. Would Spurlock deliver? (Check out our interview with Spurlock here.) Read more…

Sundance 2008 has unveiled its first truly great film.

Tuesday morning, a group of bleary-eyed moviegoers stumbled into the Yarrow theater, nursing their mocha lattes. The lights went down, the projector lit up, and we were transported to the distinctive, hilarious and twisted world of “Assassination of a High School President,” starring Mischa Barton, Bruce Willis and 19-year-old Reece Thompson in a role that should make him 2008’s Michael Cera (or, at the very least, Jason Schwartzman). Read more…

Article by Benjamin Wagner

On the Line: I am surrounded by dudes with beards typing into their iPhones and Blackberries. I am one of them. As a huge Michael Chabon fan, my hopes are high. As a huge Michael Chabon fan who hasn’t cracked the novel since its 1989 release, though, I have no idea what I’m in for. I’m hoping for a “Wonder Boys” prequel. Read more…