Editor’s Note: In a fevered rush to get straight to the movies he loved, intrepid reviewer Robert Levin didn’t write an intro. In fact, he might not even believe in them. Maybe he believes you’d rather dig into the movies than read one. So without any ado, here’s Robert’s list of the best movies he saw at Sundance. Look out for a few of them coming to a theater near New York and LA and On Demand throughout the year.

If you’ve ever wondered about the intimate hell of finding financing for an independent film, Edward Epstein has written a strongly worded, easy to understand primer on the subject that should be required reading for anyone even remotely interested in making their own film through traditional channels. As a (frustrating) standard, his essay is incredibly compelling, but even though his points are all correct, his ultimate conclusions about the possible negative fate of indie movies is slightly off. It’s not independent movies that are endangered. It’s the corporately-sponsored brand most have gotten used to that’s really in trouble.

‪Every week, Landon Palmer and Cole Abaius log on to their favorite chat client of 1996 as ClairesKneeFan and THXForAllTheFish1138 in order to discuss some topical topic of interest. This week, the two finally manage to answer last week’s question while reveling in the continuation of Sundance and the totally old revolutionary model of distribution that Kevin Smith wants the world to take note of. But instead of wasting more internet words on Smith, the question is far simpler and far too high concept to attempt without some Sandlot references: Is the movie distribution system really broken?

Want to feel insignificant? Stop reading this review and take a second to contemplate 6.8 billion. It’s an extraordinarily vast, staggering sum, almost unfathomable. And yet, throughout the world, every day, 6.8 billion people laugh and cry, love and fight, experiencing the joys and heartbreaks that are fundamental to life, as their own stories are written. Last summer, YouTube put out a global call for user-generated submissions of home movies depicting life on July 24, 2010. Life in a Day, the resulting film (assembled by director Kevin MacDonald, with an assist from producer Ridley Scott), culled into an hour-and-a-half from 90,000 entrants, is an extended montage of select clips drawn from the submissions.

There is perhaps no more fertile storytelling ground than high school. Countless movies have mined the depths of awkward despair to which interesting, offbeat teens descend during those trying years. One could program an entire satellite Sundance Film Festival comprised entirely of offbeat, whimsical films centered on secondary school dysfunction that have premiered in Park City. So, it’s reasonable to wonder whether there’s anything left to say, and why Azazel Jacobs – director of the acclaimed, innovative Momma’s Man and son of avant-garde filmmaker Ken Jacobs – turned to the proverbial setting for his new film Terri.

In this ambitious but failed departure from the guru of fanboys, Kevin Smith meditates on the current philosophical extremism in fundamentalist Christianity and government. What starts out as a possible teen titty movie about three Midwestern kids trying to get laid quickly turns into an American Gothic tale about an extreme right-wing church lead by Pastor Abin Cooper (Michael Parks in a fearless and ferrous performance) and their biblical battle with portly ATF officer Keane (John Goodman in a hero of the day moment). With recent tragedy in Arizona, the film does take on a timely quality, but never fully develops into the balls-out horror movie Smith promises.

I found myself in the muggy, violent, and male world of Great Britain today at Sundance with my first two films being the documentary Knuckle and the dramatic feature Tyrannosaur. Press lines can be brutal at times – they fill up fast even when you get there early, so unfortunately I only got into 3 out the 5 I wanted to see this first Saturday of the festival. That’s the nature of the beast. In addition to the two films mentioned above, I also witnessed the travesty of The Ledge, featuring talented actors like Terrence Howard, Patrick Wilson, and Liv Tyler, who find themselves in an earnest melodramatic thriller that would be bad even for a Lifetime movie.

Like sands through the hourglass, these are the weeks of our lives. Two points if you know what soap opera that’s from. Minus one point for knowing what soap opera that’s from. As if thematically appropriate, this week was a lot of high drama here at FSR. Big casting news was abound, big editorials were written and one of our biggest yearly events, the Sundance Film Festival, kicked off. If you’re a regular reader of this site, it was a great week to be visiting us. If you’re not a regular reader of this site, here’s a list of all the great stuff you missed.

Normally around this time of year, Neil would have written 5 separate posts about the journey from Reject HQ to the airport to board a plane to Sundance, but sadly this will be the first year Neil hasn’t gone to the festival in 5 years. He has big shoes to fill. For those who kept up with our canvassing of Sundance in years past, you’ll know that Neil was a machine with the strange ability to see 7 or 8 movies a day, crank out reviews for them all and use bad Chinese food for fuel. Luckily we’ve got it covered.

Every week, Landon Palmer and Cole Abaius log on to their favorite chat client of 1996 as NoWaveSurfer and KeatonRox2738 in order to discuss some topical topic of interest. This week, the purported death of indie films that’s reported upon faithfully every year (at least 4 times a year). In the face of the Independent Film’s best friend festival beginning this weekend, we tackle the real question: Indie films can’t actually be dead, can they?

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this shit late at night, what do you expect?

It was almost a year ago that the biggest buzz from the Sundance Film Festival was a little film about a man trapped in a coffin for 90 minutes. It showed the most promise, but it unfortunately fizzled when Lionsgate put it into release last summer. But that shouldn’t stop you from watching it. And if you’re gonna watch it, nothing should stop you from watching it with a drink in your hand. Check out Ryan Reynolds buried alive in the middle of the Iraqi desert, and raise a glass to toast your own freedom.

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this shit late at night, what do you expect?

Sundance 2011 marks my first time at the festival, and the overwhelming task of having the chance to see literally hundreds of films and shorts makes it a daunting and exciting task to look forward to in my first adventure in snow-capped Park City. Many of these films will only be seen at this one time at the festival and then possibly never again due to various rights, distribution, unseen film politics, or just plain shoddy filmmaking (sad to say). So besides all of that hub-bub, here are the 11 films I can’t wait to see as the year’s festival kicks off from this Thursday, January 20th to the following Sunday of the 30th.

Well over a billion opinion-owners have commented about the power and innovation of YouTube, but while watching videos of cats in sinks, it somehow feels like it’s not living up to its potential. Now it might be on the right track. Director Kevin MacDonald and Producer Ridley Scott will be showing their latest film Life in a Day on YouTube at the same time that it debuts at Sundance. The film especially belongs on Youtube, though. It’s a film created by exhaustively combing through over 4,500 submissions of daily life shot by people all over the world on July 24th, 2010. The crowd-sourcing technique was done a bit earlier with the Beastie Boys’ Awesome; I Fuckin’ Shot That (a title which screamed out its method), but the subject matter here lends itself completely to a deeper documentary film. From all the people that sent in tapes, 26 were chosen from a startling variety of countries, and the film will air for free on its official YouTube page; once on January 27th at 8pm EST and once again on January 28th at 7pm Local Time. Check out one the teaser clips for yourself:

A touch over 17 years ago, Kevin Smith was sitting in an almost-empty theater on the verge of tears because he was staring a massive load of credit card debt in the face with nothing more than a black and white indie film and a handful of friends enjoying the most expensive viewing party ever. It would turn out that the one man he didn’t recognize as obligated by friendship to be there would end up pulling the strings to get Clerks purchased. The rest is history that tries not to suck too many dicks on its way to the parking lot. Almost two decades later, Smith has announced that he plans on launching long-awaited zealot horror film Red State at Sundance 2011 and wants to hop up on stage afterward with a gavel in hand to start the public bidding. Yes, friends. Kevin Smith wants to auction off distribution for Red State to the highest bidder right there and then.

It’s difficult to conduct an interview about a film that no one’s supposed to be talking about, but there’s more fascinating things going on beyond the mystery of Catfish. In a closed door, password-protected session, I sat down for a lengthy conversation with directors Henry Joost and Ariel Shulman, and the subject of the documentary Nev Shulman to discuss how real everything was, the horror aspect, aborted plans to use Bruce Willis’s face for advertising, the list of possible titles, it’s Grizzly Man connection, and what they’re turning down the Justin Bieber biopic to make next. [Spoilers exist simply because we'll be talking openly about the film.]

“Blessed with perceptive insight into the Internet age, the rewriting of social rules it has spurred and the new forms of creativity it has inspired, the film is very much a product of the here and now. So the fact that it seems the breakout success from Sundance 2010 comes as no surprise.” These are the words of our very own Robert Levin, reviewing Catfish earlier in the year up in the snowy forefront of Utah and the little indie festival they’ve got going there. That breakout success has now officially broken out into the mainstream as it hits limited theaters on September 17th. So what’s this reality thriller all about? You’ll have to watch the trailer for yourself to be told that you can’t know what it’s about:

Debra Granik, director of the 2010 Sundance winner Winter’s Bone sits down to talk about her work on the film.

The Sundance drama just got picked up, and it’s going to be put down this Fall. Just in time for Awards season.