Sundance: It's a cornucopia of films

The past two days, I finally managed to see quite a few films, including my two new favorites, Cargo and Forgiven. Both could be described as tragedies, but both were excellent films. Forgiven, filmed in Wilmington, NC, had some tremendous acting, especially Paul Fitzgerald (also the director) and Russell Hornsby. I also managed to check out Off the Black, by Athens product James Ponsoldt. Starring Nick Nolte, the film was decent, but overall too slow for my tastes. Slow, of course, is not always bad, but for a comedy it kills the pace, in my opinion. The same could be said for Art School Confidential which starts out great, but loses too much steam about a half hour in. Apparently, the documentaries here this year have been tremendous. I saw two that were very solid. The most entertaining to me was This Film Is Not Yet Rated, which was a scathing investigation of the MPAA's tactics. It was very entertaining and at the same time informative (that's what good docs are). Beyond Beats and Rhymes was informative as well, but not quite as entertaining. It lacked a through-story to tie it together. This morning, I woke up early to check out Half Nelson, which reaffirms my belief that Ryan Gosling may be the next great actor. The film was very well done, but I'd still have to put Cargo and Forgiven at the top of my list for now (with the Beastie Boys concert film close behind -- but that's just cuz I love the Beasties). More later. We're off to see the Spike & Mike Animation at Slamdance.