 Ever wonder what the sexual looseness of Y Tu Mama Tambien and the tropes of American films about kids getting drugs would be? Well if you did, you’d certainly be the type of audience member that a film like Crystal Fairy craves. However, if you are any kind of discerning filmgoer or stone cold sober, you will probably find this movie to just be a meandering mess that doesn’t cohere its many orbiting parts. Michale Cera stars as Jaime, an American traveling in Chile, who ropes his friends into going on an adventure to try the legendary hallucinogen called the San Pedro Cactus. This simply plan gets more complicated when Crystal Fairy, a girl he drunkenly met at a party, joins the group on their journey. Chaos ensues and (forced) breakthroughs are made in the 100 minute running time of the film.
Read more on SUNDANCE: Crystal Fairy (**)…
 Terence Johnson and Joey Magdison
The Park City Dispatch is back, reporting all of the day’s events and shenanigans. Joey and I had our first multiple film screening day at the Sundance Film Festival and we recap some the movies we saw including the first festival hit Kill Your Darlings starring Daniel Radcliffe and Dane DeHaan, Matthew McConaughey’s newest film Mud, and a few documentaries about Cambodia and abortion. You also get to hear a firsthand account (from me) about what happens when a fire extinguisher explodes in a tent housing the line for the biggest theater. Check it out after the jump!
Read more on Park City Dispatch – Episode 2: Exploding Fire Extinguishers, Kill Your Darlings and McConaughey…
Categories: Festivals Tags: Austin Bunn, Ben Foster, Dane DeHaan, daniel radcliffe, film review, Jack Huston, Joey Magidson, John Cullum, John Krokidas, Kill Your Darlings, Kyra Sedgwick, Matthew McConaughey, Michael C. Hall, Mud, Park City Dispatch, Sundance Film Festival, Terence Johnson, upcoming projects
 A close backwoods cousin to Stand By Me (1986), Jeff Nichols’ Mud is an often moving and unpredictable coming of age story that benefits from some striking visuals and all around strong acting from its cast. Much like in Take Shelter (2011), Nichols is very interested in masculinity and what it means to be a man in a tough America, though this time around there’s more in the way of youthful adventures and less in the way of potential doomsday. The filmmaker is pulling from all sorts of other works, though “Huckleberry Finn” is likely the one most will recognize, though the early works of David Gordon Green were on my mind as well. The work however, the work is still that clearly is his own. Not being a huge fan of his earlier work, Mud is top-notch with excellent writing and direction, not to mention the performances by Tye Sheridan and Matthew McConaughey. Reese Witherspoon is no slouch herself, while newcomer Jacob Lofland impresses. Though not perfect, and running about 15 minutes too long, it’s got a lot of things going in its favor. With the right push, I could see this making the long haul from the festival circuit to the awards season.
Read more on SUNDANCE: Mud (***½)…
 Sundance U.S. Dramatic Competition entry Kill Your Darlings is a perfect example of how one can tell a familiar story in a unique, fascinating way. Many are familiar with the Beats generation, but the way debut director Johnathan Krokidas and co-writer Austin Bunn see it you haven’t seen the definitive version of the tale till you see their film. Kill Your Darlings is a fascinating sojourn into the origin story of the Beats, kind of like The Avengers: Beats Edition set in the backdrop of the suffocating rigidity of 1944 Columbia University with a sharp script filled with an incredible social commentary. In short, it’s one of the best films I’ve seen so far at Sundance.
Read more on SUNDANCE: Kill Your Darlings (***½)…
Categories: Festivals, Film Reviews Tags: Austin Bunn, Ben Foster, Dane DeHaan, daniel radcliffe, film review, Jack Huston, John Cullum, John Krokidas, Kill Your Darlings, Kyra Sedgwick, Michael C. Hall, Sundance Film Festival, Terence Johnson
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