As usual, even at the festival of festivals, I am disappointed with new films.  From tired trends to the lack of actual film, Park City is dishing out some total losers in a seemed attempt to outdo last year's overpraised crowd-pleasing crap (Napoleon Dynamite, Garden State, Saved!).  Here is my daily viewing experience:

Thursday
-Happy Endings - Don Roos' improves on both previous efforts -not that it was hard -and delivers a great story about a young homeless girl (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who infiltrates the home of a rich man (Tom Arnold) and his gay son (Jason Ritter).  Unfortunately, the film intertwines two other stories and the worst (featuring Lisa Kudrow, Jesse Bradford and Bobby Cannavale) takes up more screentime and goes too far in its extreme nuttiness that it lacks sense as well as detracts from the emotional themes and tones of the rest.  I'd have preferred the film to center on the one storyline.

Friday
-The Talent Given Us - Andrew Wagner's family road-trip movie is very similar to Pieces of April, except that it is good.  Showcasing his own extremely candid family as themselves and shotting on Sony HD, it is easy to forget the whole thing is fiction.
-9 Songs - To answer Michael Winterbottom's question of why more films don't show more physical aspects of love stories:  sex is boring.  I enjoyed the 9 live performances by bands such as The Dandy Warhols, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Franz Ferdinand, but I didn't need to see so much penetration and fellatio outside of a porno.  According to the IMDB Sundance report, walking out of 9 Songs is one of the big trends in Park City this year.  Yet another reason that I don't fit with the in crowd.  
-Shaking Hands With The Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire - Having just seen, and loved, Hotel Rwanda, I needed to check out this terrific documentary about the character played by Nick Nolte.  The doc is straight-forward and educational but also has emotional (Dallaire visits Rwanda for the 10th anniversary of the massacres) and political (Belgium is treated with even less regard than the U.S.) intentions.
-Loggerheads - Metaphors are best when left far below the surface text, and they can stir up utter apathy for themselves when comparing the lives of turtles to those of adopted homosexual children.  Featuring intertwined themes that are so close to those in Happy Endings that it could be an argument for collective unconscious.  Roos' film has a lot more going on, however.  Loggerheads doesn't even seem complete -its ending comes abruptly and with some confusion. 
-Ellie Parker - After this Naomi Watts movie, I vowed that I could be happy never seeing another picture shot on video for the rest of my life, let alone at the festival.  Watts and Rebecca Rig were great onscreen together, though, and I hope to see them in an actual film someday.
-Old Boy - The Cannes sensation gets a Sundance screening, and boy was I glad.  This exciting, intricate and beautifully deranged Asian thriller boosted my appreciation for cinema after a long day without anything to shout about. 

Saturday
-Brick - A clever idea -Dashiell Hammett meets John Hughes -gets tedious awfully quick.  I liked Joseph Gordon-Levitt (looking so much like Heath Ledger these days) but some of the dialogue was spoken too quickly and quietly.  Too bad, because I think I would have appreciated more of it.  The tone also grows confused halfway through as the cool, hard noirish script becomes parodic and silly.  Lukas Haas is funny on screen, but seems more laughable in afterthought.
-The Education of Shelby Knox - It could be this year's Super-Size Me for Christian fundamentalism.  Following an abstinent, hetero high school activist and her goals toward sexual education and, later, social recognition of gays in her school is informative, hilarious and touching. 
-Lonesome Jim - Steve Buscemi has made one of my favorite types of film -the pathetic hero comedy -and I enjoyed it enough to forgive it's being shot on video (it looks a hell of a lot better than Ellie Parker).  Casey Affleck continues to show that he's the better actor in his family, if not the "sexiest".  I doubt I'll laugh as much in another movie this week.
-Pretty Persuasion - The overhyped 'satire' is this year's Saved! but not even as entertaining.  The humor is so obvious, the jokes so forced, that I was uncomfortable whenever I could tell I should be laughing.  James Woods is very funny, though, and his performance should have been reserved for another film altogether.  Additionally, the third act has such a different, more admirably serious atmosphere that if shot chronologically, I might think the director was learning as he went.  My cynicism ignores that thought, however, for one of faithlessness in these new filmmakers.  Marcos Siega should be directing Disney remakes before long. 
-3 Rooms of Melancholia - Beautiful and quiet, this three part film about the effect of war on Russian and Chechnyan children actually lacks emotion.  I appreciated the looks into these foreign worlds, but I was not moved by them. 

Sunday
-Crónicas - If I hadn't been so tired, I could have followed the film more, and I hope to see it again sometime in the future.  I also hope that John Leguizamo does more of this kind of work instead of playing stereotypical hispanics and junkies.
-The Dying Gaul - Here is a film that was totally ruined by one of my pet peeves.  Beginning in the mode of such biting Hollywood stories as The Big Picture and The Player, the great-looking drama turns to the awfully uncinematic usage of instant messaging.  Sure, Craig Lucas works the prop better than anyone before, I cannot overlook my least favorite dip into pedestrian reality.  Movies should either be complete fantasy or complete realism (the kind with poor bicyclists because they are still far removed from my mundane life).  I wish that I could dismiss my bete noire because Patricia Clarkson and Peter Sarsgaard are so wonderful here. 
-Why We Fight - A compilation of material similar to what you find in Bowling For Columbine, Fahrenheit 911, Fog of War and Control Room among others released in recent years, but it feels fresh and accomplished.  I might just like docs about war and the evils of my government.
-Inside Deep Throat - Produced by Brian Grazer, released by Universal, this is very definitive of what is becoming popumentary.  The format and direction is so accessible that were it not for the topic, graphic nature and rating, I could see the film being well received, like Fahrenheit 911.  It similarly uses unpointed ridicule and sidetracking content for humor.  I can't deny that it isn't entertaining, though.  Plus, it was the second documentary in a row tonight to feature Gore Vidal.   

Monday
-Me and You and Everyone We Know   A great piece of storytelling, this movie reminded me of Hal Hartley without the poetry and self-importance.  Its adorable awkwardness and original humor make it quite a pleasure to watch.  I'm also pretty certain that it had the least amount of walkouts in any screening I've been to so far.  This kind of sweet, star-less, entertainment is what I'd been hoping to see out here. 
-Reel Pleasure  I like John Pierson (even though he kind of made fun of me on Split Screen)  I like the movie theater business.  I hoped that Steve James' documentary would show more of the foreign market and cultural response in this small village towards moviegoing.  Instead, a lot of the picture became an "Osbournes" type bickering family reality program. 
-DUANE HOPWOOD sorry for the capitalization but the program has it that way so I assume that it is intentional.  I wouldn't say the film is bad but it's dullness disappoints me dearly.  For someone (here its actor Matt Mulhern) to devout time and money and the support of well-known actors toward something so dreary -by both definitions -makes me very unhappy.  I could relate so many stories involving alcoholism that shadow anything shown here.  To make a film, people need more to say or they at least need some balls big enough to keep me interested in the story. 
-Thumbsucker   Definitely this year's Garden State.  I hate to keep comparing these movies to last year's but with Lou Pucci resembling a young Zach Braff, a trumpeting soundtrack by The Polyphonic Spree and a lot of humor that everyone laughs at but me, I cannot help it.  I admire the transition in tone between the main character's habits from depressive thumbsucking to hyperattentive ritalin to decadent marijuana, but I couldn't quite tell if it was as effective to the audience as much as the blunt subtlety of its sense of humor.  All I know is that I should have walked out after somebody loudly "awwwed" at a shot of the boy sucking his thumb. 
-Who Killed Cock Robin?  The realism attained through the use of digital video works very well and it takes some time to remember that you're watching a selection from the dramatic competition.  Though, while the project is impressive and worthy of praise, it is very far from accessible; the pacing is slow and the photography is abrasive. 

Tuesday
-The Squid and the Whale  I don't care that it has unrealistic exposition dialogue in the beginning.  I don't care that Anna Paquin is in it -though I don't forgive any director for casting her, ever.  I do care, and find it amazing, that Wes Anderson could produce a film that is so reminscent of The Royal Tenenbaums.  As good as Jeff Daniels is in this film, we already saw the character better realized by Gene Hackman.  The only truly inventive -and humorous -aspect involves a beer-drinking, masturbating and cursing young son, but Noah Baumbach does little with it in the long run.  The least acceptable has to do with Jesse Eisenberg's plagiarism of the widely known Pink Floyd song "Hey You" going mostly unrecognized, and then gets overplayed on the otherwise good soundtrack. 
-Mysterious Skin  I like Gregg Araki's new magically tragicalicious movie a lot.  Part of my reasoning is that I welcome the filmmaker's departure from candy-raver-gay-camp.  The other part is that I like the parallels of alien abduction and sexual abuse.  I would have enjoyed a bit more recognition of recent theories on the invention, more than the triggering, of these experiences via hallucination and psychological prodding.  My only real problem is with the ending.  It fits, but I'd have preferred a little more. 
-On a Clear Day I had expected something much more bleak, probably because I tend to associate Peter Mullan with gloomy films.  This, instead, was a spirited, feel-good, heartwarming crowd-pleaser.  Much of it was too cute in the bad way.  Billy Boyd was very funny and for what it is, I got some enjoyment out of it. 
-Wolf Creek  In the tradition of minimal action, independent scary films about people in the middle of nowhere (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Blair Witch Project, Open Water), this Miramax purchase (for their Dimension division) is quite a bore.  Nothing at all happens for at least an hour, the gore is quick and slight and the ending is anticlimactic.  Since this will be hitting the most theaters of any of the festival selection, I beg people not to waste their time and money.
-Between  Probably the worst thing I've seen so far aside from most of the shorts and the Jib Jab intros.  Attempting a mixture of Chris Nolan and David Lynch, the film is more remiscent of the straight to video titles that only get released on the basis that they include nudity.  Between has no nudity. 
-Hard Candy  Brilliant!  Misery for the 21st century!  Ellen Page is the greatest discovery in years!  I could go on and on about how amazing this tight, thrilling one-on-one thriller is, but I'm limiting my space so I can comment on the crap I see.  Lion's Gate has picked it up for distribution.  See it as soon as you can.

Wednesday
-Dear Wendy  Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg keep cinema interesting with this overly ironic but consistently witty allegory that puts the music of The Zombies in a whole new context.  I do enjoy the response to the film by people who continue referring to Dogville as anti-American; they think the film is about American gun-happiness.  Wrong.  People need to pay attention.  The film is about the western world's self-assumed stance as the armed pacifists because we have to prepare ourselves for war in planning for world peace.  This isn't subtext either.  It seemed pretty blatant to me.
-Palermo Hollywood   The story here is your commonplace criminal low-life tragedy but Eduardo Pinto directs the material well-enough not to alienate or bore the audience.   
-Mirrormask   I seem to be alone on this, but I was correct in my prediction that Dave McKean's designwork would not translate to film, doing worse than Sky Captain in its lack of palpability.  It is like in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? how I can accept 2-D characters walking in the real world but I can't take Bob Hoskins in Toontown.  I also couldn't stand the lack of contrast and high amount of flickering light.  Anyway, even if you think the visuals are amazing, you can't say the story has any substance whatsoever. 
-The Girl From Monday   Much, much better than No Such Thing but still far from his best early work.  I loved the satiric science fiction ideas and much of Hartley's traditional blocking style but much of the videography pushes me away.  He's improved with his experimentation with the medium since Book of Life yet still has an over-abundance of blurring and ghosting effects. 

Thursday
-Stranger   The first really distinctive foreign voice I've witnessed at this year's fest.  Not only does Malgosia Szumbowska exhibit a strong visual presence, but her film, centered on the idea that an unborn child can early on hear the surrounding world outside the womb, beautifully pays attention to sound. 
-Nine Lives  I watched the first 4 vignettes (of 9, in case you can't figure it out) and only really liked the second one with Robin Wright Penn and Jason Isaacs as former lovers who have a chance meeting in a grocery store.  The first story set in prison is decent enough but shorts 3 and 4 were extremely emoted. 
-This Revolution If you watch Haskell Wexler's beautiful and topical drama Medium Cool today, 36 years later, it holds relevance to the current politics and current affairs.  There is no need to remake it.  I guess nobody has, but this new picture sure borrows heavily from it -with admittance.  Comparatively, Revolution doesn't appear the work of a cinematographer, a far more contrived script, a huge lack of intelligent or interesting commentary and a very unlikely ending.  I'd rather watch some low-budget, partisan protest docs I've seen than sit through any more footage of actor Nathan Crooker. 
-Frozen Angels  A documentary too visually distracted (but not expressionless) and void of narrative substance, yet the persons, ideas and topics showcased held my interest thanks to their controversy.  If anything, the film gives great prologue material for Michael Winterbottom's Code 46.  I respect that the filmmakers wanted their project fairly open, leaving it without voice-over, but I would have appreciated more background and historical materials.
-What Is It?  Crispin Glover secures his reputation as one of the oddest men in Hollywood.  His film directing debut is an offensive and exploitive good time -the cinematic cousin of Mike Patton's Kids of Widney High albums.  If I tell you what is involved, you might not believe it nor would you even grasp how wrong it is.  So, find a way to see it.  
-Twist of Faith  A grueling journey but one that stretches it's points a long way.  Not to understate Tony Comes tragedies but there is dramatically less covered than I would have expected.