Sundance 2009 -- Must See

"The last place you'd ever expect to find yourself"

Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.

REVIEW
Sam Rockwell gives a bravura turn as Sam Bell, an astronaut serving a 3 year contract for a lunar excavation assignment to recycle its resources for Earths' plight of energy crises in the not-too-distant-future and finds his dwindling few remaining days to be the most difficult: is the encounter with his sudden body double/clone a figment of his cabin fever indulgences or something far more sinister? Like an epic tone poem of the classic "Twilight Zone" but with some more prickly underpinnings (i.e. playing God) are at the epicenter of this intriguing and very cool sci-fi flick that echoes of "2001" (thanks largely to the robotic computer system, GERTY, an emoticon sporting co-hort ? voiced with sonorous calm by Kevin Spacey ? a kissing cousin of HAL) yet stands alone as a singular tale told with style and grace by rookie filmmaker Duncan Jones (nee Zowie Bowie, yes, son of "Major Tom" himself, David Bowie). One of the best genre flicks in years.

"It was the worst job they ever imagined... and the best time of their lives."

A comedy set in the summer of 1987 and centered around a recent college grad (Eisenberg) who takes a nowhere job at his local amusement park, only to find it's the perfect course to get him prepared for the real world.

REVIEW
Funny and at times hit-the-nail-on-the-head accurate look at teens circa 1987 with Eisenberg as a college grad looking to make some extra cash for a European vacation by working at the titular amusement park in Pittsburg, PA where he gets some life lessons and falls in love with no-nonsense yet troubled Stewart and in the process having a lot of fun amidst the misery of the soul-crushing reality of a truly sucky seasonal gig. Filmmaker Greg Mottola's authenticity is downright uncanny in the pangs of adolescence and young adulthood's strangleholds impinged by society; does for summer jobs what Caddyshack did for golf courses. One of the year's best comedies.

"Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn't."

An offbeat romantic comedy about a woman (Deschanel) who doesn't believe true love exists, and the young man (Gordon-Levitt) who falls for her.

REVIEW
A truly wonderfully executed rom/dramedy that has echoes of John Hughes/Cameron Crowe romanticism/whimsy about boy-meets-girl (the amazingly subtle Gordon-Levitt and the deliciously delightful Deschanel, channeling John Cusack from "Say Anything..." and Ally Sheedy from "The Breakfast Club" as archetypes of the nice-guy/off-center muse) in sunny LA (never looking better thanks to fantastic camera-work by Eric Steelberg), comes off executed as a mix-tape to the heart in how falling in love can be remarkably schizophrenic/ inspring/ crazingly difficult/ intoxicating/ infuriating/ admirable/ shocking/ familiar and practically universal in how one goes from one extreme to the other in attempting to figure out soulmate status or casual sex with leaps and bounds of highly imaginative screenplay by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber. Marc Webb makes a fantastic directorial debut allowing his main characters free-range in displaying their chops as well as showcasing their personas. A superb soundtrack also helps, namely the charming use of Hall & Oates' "You Make My Dreams Come True" and the ethereally poignant "Bookends" by Simon & Garfunkel. Complex and sublime; one of the year's best films and highly recommended; a must see!

"Lance Clayton is about to get everything he deserves."

A comedy about a man who learns that the things you want most may not be the things that make you happy, and that being lonely is not necessarily the same as being alone.

REVIEW
This movie worked very well as a dark comedy. It followed no set boundaries and goes its own way. The results are incredibly dark, sometimes being almost twisted. There are some scenes where the viewer doesn't know whether to laugh or feel sad. Robin Williams delivers his best performance in a while as Lance Clayton, a struggling writer striving for success and hell-bent on not dying alone. I personally found it rather impressive that it was both written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait because I'm personally not too big of a fan of his stand-up and this was a far departure from it. However, the one thing that I saw as holding the movie back was its climax, which I believed took the right route, but could have been more powerful or had a bit more of a sting to it.

I think Robin Williams portrayed his character extremely well. His mix of emotion, sarcasm and humbleness flowed together excellently whilst moving consecutively, and concurrently at times. Robin Williams has shown time and time again that he is not just a rifting comedian but instead a true artist and lover of his craft, this film is no exception. Daryl Sabara has branched out into a medium of film I truly think he belongs. Who would have thought the little boy from Spy Kids could be so inviting as such a rightfully harsh and depraved character. I think this proves Bobcat Goldthwait as much more than people's general perception of him.

Overall, this movie, like Observe and Report released earlier in 2009, won't be for everyone, but it works very well in its own way.