Our first film of the day was Pride and Prejudice, our 9th overall. While I haven't read Jane Austen's novel, it's pretty obvious the whole way thorough how things are going to turn out. That said, it's wonderfully executed and entertaining even if it does run a little long. On hand for Q&A were the director, Brenda Bleythn and Matthew MacFadyen. Ms. Blethyn had the best response for a question regarding how she approached her character. She said she doesn't patronize her charater but rather puts herself in her character's place and plays it from there. A common response, but somehow it made more sense to me this time around. Maybe it was the accent.




Immediately after that film, we lined back up outside, around one side of the block, down another and started across a third side. My wife ran over to grab us a burger as we had maybe 10-15 minutes before the line would be let in for Guy Ritchie's Revolver. It's a film which I firmly believe encompasses more of what makes a great movie, overall, than our current festival favorite, Manderlay, without knocking that film from its place. Revolver is very much like Guy Ritchie’s previous films, butit's also much more mature in that the whole thing isn't one big gangster joke. Nope, this film actually has a subplot. A deep one at that. Jason Stratham is great as always and so is Ray Liotta, playing a rather comically pathetic casino owner with mafia power. The film unfolds at a very pleasing pace and the intrigue keeps pace with the action. Recommended, even though many tell me the industry screening did not go well. Perhaps they're just pre-disposed to Ritchie, who's showing up to do his Q&A's with two bodyguards.  

Following Revolver, we went in to see Corpse Bride, against all mind and body requests to skip it and go relax somewhere. Instead I fought against nodding off through Burton’s technically beautiful but difficult film. Unfortunately, the writing wasn't all that hot, the gags or jokes were very old hat, this was no Disney/Pixar film to be universally enjoyed by young and old. This film, I think, can really only be fully enjoyed by 10-year-olds or artists who would spend the whole time marveling at the art direction. Unfortunately, art direction alone does not a movie make. 

The 4th film of the day was Trust the Man, a film I had totally forgotten the premise for, and therefore why I had chosen it. So during the introduction, I felt even more confused when it was revealed (to me) that the director was responsible for World Traveler, which I had seen a couple of years ago (and managed to catch up on a few minutes sleep through). Fortunately, when the cast was introduced, I was reminded why I thought it would be something to see, and from the first scene, I was hooked on these characters and had a blast the whole way through. Sure, the film is a little pop-corny in places, but it's fun, laugh-out-loud funny, and wholly entertaining and I can forgive a lot when I having fun. 

The final film of the day, my 13th, was Dave Chappelle's Block Party, from Michel Gondry director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Gondryl was on hand to introduce the film, though he didn't have much to say about it, and whether that's due to his very thick accent or simply because he's not confident of the film, I don't know. But he was sure to warn us it was a work in progress, with a rough digital transfer and rough, incomplete credits. I wasn't sure what to expect with this film considering it's about a street concert Chappelle puts together in Brooklyn with his superstar rap friends such as the Roots, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Mos Def and several others. The biggest thing I took away from it was that the concert sequences really played off well, as if I were there in the crowd. Some of the angles used and grain in the picture really felt like I was watching a Woodstock style concert, a historic event. While the film has no mention of this block party being for any kind of charity, I think what Dave's really doing is giving back to the community, as we see him handing out golden tickets to folks, young, old, black and white. For fans of Chappelle’s TV show, there's not a whole lot of that here, Dave does crack jokes here and there but ultimately this film is about music and community. It's good, perhaps as good as it could have been considering it's an on-the-spot documentary of a live event.