Coastal Breeze News

Day 5 begins cloudy, 16 degrees, but no snow.  The sound of blasting to prevent avalanches continues to fill the morning air.  I see that it is raining in Marco.  I hope none of my friends dare whines to me about the rain!  Four films are on my agenda for today. The first big deal of the festival has been made.  Lionsgate bought Buried for $3.2 million.  The film is about a military contractor in Iraq who is kidnapped and buried alive with only a cellphone. It takes place entirely in a coffin.  It was not on my list of ‘must sees’. It ... Read More »

Day 4  — and dare I say it?  It looks like it is not snowing!  Oops, too late, here comes another wave. The other day, I wrote about a film being “predictable”.  As I think about it, I don’t think there is anything wrong with a film being predictable. When we see the ending we expect, it reinforces our view of the world and we leave the theater feeling secure.  Unpredictable endings can be unsettling. When I saw the George Clooney film, Up and Away, in which  the plot at one point takes an unusual twist, there was an audible gasp from ... Read More »

Still snowing at Sundance! The Company Men will definitely make it to local theaters.  Featuring Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, Craig T. Nelson, and Maria Bello, it tells the timely story of corporate downsizing. Often when a film has so much star power, it disappoints.  This film doesn’t. John Wells, the writer/director has a long history in television, having worked on shows such as ER, The West Wing, and Southland.  In speaking about the film after its screening, he noted that the original script focused on the bursting of the dot com bubble and was inspired ... Read More »

Day 2 was a first during our pre-shift volunteer meeting: we talked about what to do in case of an earthquake.  Park City lies near the Wasatch fault, which some say is long overdue for some action. Haiti is on many people’s minds and the festival has set up a special text messaging number to donate to the efforts.  The only problem is that there are so many people here using iPhones, that it is almost impossible to get service: good ‘ole AT&T. Today I saw Happythankyoumoreplease, written, directed, and starring Josh Radnor from How I Met Your Mother.  It’s a light, romantic ... Read More »

First, a word about the weather.  Two snow storms in two days and the National Weather Service has issued a storm warning for heavy snow and strong winds from tonight (Thursday) until Sunday!  A local weatherman described the situation as a spinning wagon wheel, with us getting hit by spoke after spoke in the form of blizzard like snow. The Kenneth Cole designed uniforms for volunteers this year break with tradition and are white, trimmed in red and black.  For the past few years, the uniforms have been black…which fits well with the festival as the locals refer to Sundance ... Read More »