Saw a good sundance movie last night

alene got me in to see the Tom Hanks produced movie, The Great Buck Howard. It starred Colin Hanks (his son, who some may say this reaks of nepotism, but Colin really is a good actor), John Malkovich, who was AMAZING, and some chick named Emily Blunt (who alene knew of, but I had no idea who she was).

It's basically a story about a has-been magician/illusionist (Buck Howard) who's claim to fame was that he was on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson 40+ times. The funny part is he has no idea he's a has-been and lives his whole life as if everyone knows who he is. Malkovich does an amazing job at it.

Colin Hanks plays a law school drop-out who is trying to find out what he really loves to do (not law obviously) and he becomes Buck Howard's road manager. It just takes them on a journey of small-town stops where eventually Hanks' character falls for a woman (Blunt) who was brought on for a weekend to help promote Howard's biggest trick ever.

The audience was laughing non-stop through out the movie. Some other people played minor rolls like Steve Zahn (his facial expressions as a stupid person are HILARIOUS).

One of the great things about Sundance is being able to see, first person (most of the time) the cast and crew. Tom Hanks was brought out to present the movie and he has the audience in the palm of his hands. He was so witty and hilarious as he would introduce all the cast and crew. He had little funny stories for each person's introduction that almost seemed on the verge of "inside", but you still got them. He finally ended (he was standing behind a podium by the screen) by saying in order to make room for those in front, his longtime dear friend Robert Redford would be coming out to move the podium. He then turned and said come on out Bob, and an older stagehand with long blond hair came out to move it. It was hilarious.

Anyway, so far a great experience at Sundance. This movie will likely be out in the regular theaters soon (I believe it was already bought).

Alene and i also just saw the short animation movies mid-day today. Most of them were REALLY great. Some good stop-motion, and some other great animation pieces. It ended with this great film called "Cowboys and Astronauts: a History of America". I don't have time to describe it, but it got me really excited about finishing Russ and Jeff's film "Hick Johnson: Space cowboy".