Cinematical has received this exclusive clip from Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, a new documentary written and directed by a very talented friend of ours, Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room). The film, which premiered back at the Sundance Film Festival, chronicles, well, the life and times of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas); Gonzo journalist, author, psychedelic supporter and all-around nutty dude. James reviewed the film back at The Dance, and said: " ... Gibney's documentary captures Thompson's bizarre orbit though American letters and politics with extensive use of archival footage but also through recreations, animation and more." IMDb has it at a 9.2 rating out of 10, and Rotten Tomatoes is showing 82% so far for a film I know a lot of people are anticipating. If there's one man you'd want to see a documentary about, it's Thompson. I'm definitely looking forward to this one. You? (For more, also check out James' audio interview with Gibney.)

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson hits theaters on July 4th.

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the opening night premiere of American Teen (in theaters July 25) as part of the third annual Sundance Institute at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music). The Sundance fav launched an eleven-day festival of sorts, showcasing the best of the best from this year's Sundance Film Festival; 22 features and 36 shorts in total, plus filmmaker Q&As, parties, art installations and tons of Brooklyn hipster-watching.

The screening itself was completely sold out and held inside the gorgeous BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, where, conveniently, free popcorn and bottles of water were handed out at the door. And as my wife pointed out after we sat down: "They're smart -- free things always put a person in a good mood before a film." Indeed! Before the curtain rose on American Teen, a number of folks approached the mic for some words, while the crowd cheered every time 'Brooklyn' was used in a sentence. The speakers included BAM President Karen Hopkins, Sundance executive director Ken Brecher, Brooklyn Borough President (and an awesome guy) Marty Markowitz, Katherine Oliver, Commissioner of the NYC Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting, BAM Cinema Club Chairs Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, and, finally, American Teen director Nanette Burstein (sporting a very pregnant belly) and one of the film's teenage stars, Hannah Bailey (pictured above).

Check out a gallery from the premiere, the film and the prom-themed after party below -- then head after the jump for my thoughts on American Teen. (All pictures courtesy of the fine folks at the Sundance Institute and Paramount Vantage.)

For those who live in and around the New York City area, tonight the Sundance Institute launches their very popular series at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), in which they'll screen a whole bunch of films (22 features, 36 shorts) from this year's festival over the course of the next eleven days. Yours truly will be in attendance this evening for American Teen, followed by a prom-themed after party. A doc about teens? The prom? I'm soooo there!

Other films of note that will be screening include Man on Wire, Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, Choke, Frozen River, Captain Abu Raed, American Son, Anvil! The Story of Anvil and Ballast, among others. This Sunday, Cinematical's Eric Kohn will be on hand for Sundance Shorts Sunday, featuring 12 hours of short film programs, Q&As with filmmakers and more. He'll report back on what he sees, hears, learns, etc.

They're screening some excellent films this year and I believe tickets are still available for most, so definitely swing by the official website and check out the scene. Sundance Institute at BAM runs from May 29 through June 8. (And if you make it down there tonight, do say hello!)

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for the film Baghead (click on the image to enlarge), written and directed by two very good friends of this site, Jay and Mark Duplass. Baghead marks the brothers' second feature-length film and follow-up to the very funny (but very uncomfortable) 2005 flick The Puffy Chair. Starring Ross Partridge, Elise Muller, Steve Zissis and my personal fav Greta Gerwig, Baghead tells of four struggling actors who retreat to a cabin in the woods in an attempt to write a screenplay they can produce and star in themselves. Will they succeed or will their personal relationships crumble? Oh, and is there really a stranger with a bag over his head lurking in the shadows, tracking the group's every move?

Baghead premiered to all sorts of great buzz back at Sundance, where our own James Rocchi said it "has warmth and innovation, and the mischievous good sense to subtly make fun of the type of film that it is." As Mark Duplass told us when we interviewed the boys during Sundance, "Baghead is a movie about the funny, horrific, tragic, terrible life of being a desperate actor." Needless to say, we highly recommend it.

Baghead arrives in theaters on June 13, after making a stop at the Tribeca Film Festival later this month.

One of the more buzzed-about flicks coming out of Sundance this year was Hamlet 2, starring the very funny Steve Coogan as a drama teacher who, with no other ideas, attempts to rally his Tucson, Arizona students around a politically incorrect musical sequel to Shakespeare's Hamlet -- featuring a song called (I kid you not) "Rock Me, Sexy Jesus." Hamlet 2 also marked one of first and biggest sales at the festival, with Focus Features snatching it up for a reported $10 million. Was it worth that amount?

Well, Moviefone just debuted an R-rated (aka Red Band) trailer for Hamlet 2 that, truth me told, looks kinda funny. Unfortunately, I did not have the chance to see it at Sundance, so all I have to go on is James' not-so-nice review, AICN's very nice review and word of mouth, which, so far, seems to be fairly positive (see more praise from Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone). Hey, any film that features the Devil making out with the President of the United States during a wacky theatrical production of a sequel-ized Shakespeare play is okay in my book. Hamlet 2 stars Coogan, Catherine Keener, David Arquette and Melonie Diaz. It was directed by Andrew Fleming and it's due out in theaters on August 22.

Whatcha think?

I bet you'll look at this for a second and go, "Um, did they remake The Breakfast Club, or .... what?" No, they did not remake the John Hughes cult classic, but they did remake the poster for the new documentary American Teen. One of the more popular films from the Sundance Film Festival, American Teen was quite often the subject of debate. People loved it, but couldn't understand how someone would market it. After all, how do you sell a documentary about teenagers to teenagers? Sure, it works on MTV ... but would it work on the big screen?

Obviously, Paramount Vantage is running with the quote most often heard amongst critics in Park City: "It's like The Breakfast Club, but a documentary." Even our own James Rocchi was in agreement when he opened up his Sundance review with, "Nanette Burstein's documentary American Teen opens not far from John Hughes country, both geographically and artistically: we're introduced, in quick order, to four students at the high school in Warsaw, Indiana, on the first day of class."

Is American Teen the next Breakfast Club? I guess we'll find out when it arrives in theaters on July 25. (Oh, and for fun we've included the original Breakfast Club poster after the jump.)

[via Film School Rejects]

My favorite part of attending a film festival comes when you discover a smaller film that hits you in a way that almost forces you to throw up everything you know about the flick whenever someone asks. They could be, like, "So, how ya feeling today?" And then you can't help but answer, "I'm good ... but you HAVE to see this friggin' film. It's called (insert the title) and it's unbelievable -- easiest the best thing I've seen in the history of best things I've seen ... times a gabillion!"

Okay, maybe you don't flip out like that -- but you get the idea. So far this year I've hit up Sundance, Slamdance and SXSW, with plans to soon visit the Gen Art Film Festival here in New York, as well as Tribeca soon after. Thankfully, I've seen two films that absolutely rocked my world, and if I could use every other post just to write about them -- in the hopes all of you will go see these films, and champion them -- I would. But I can't. So from time to time, I will pop in, mention the titles and hope something sticks. As of right now, these are the two films I am championing this year: The Hottie and the Nottie and ... just kidding. Kidding, people. I'm KIDDING! God! Chill out.

AnyWAY, here are the two films: Dear Zachary: a letter to a son about his father (Slamdance) and The Promotion (SXSW). The first is a gripping, tear-jerker of a documentary from a very cool dude named Kurt Kuenne. Alex from First Showing went to see Zachary at SXSW on my recommendation and it blew him away. It will blow you away. Fingers crossed a deal comes soon ... and you bet I'll be back telling you all about it.

The Promotion, on the other hand, is all the way on the other end of the spectrum. It's a comedy. A dry comedy ... where Seann William Scott plays the straight man -- go figure. Not sure if the Weinstein Co. know they have a little gem in their basket; hopefully Kirk Honeycutt didn't scare them stupid. This one is set to come out on June 6, so make sure you're there.

Which films are you absolutely nutty about this year -- to the point where you stop random strangers in the street to tell them all about it?

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Dark Matter (click on the image above for a larger version), starring Liu Ye, Meryl Streep and Aidan Quinn. The film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival two years ago (and came away with the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize), is inspired by the actual events surrounding a Chinese student who travels to the United States in search of bright future in American science. However, his hopes are dashed when he's unable to navigate academic politics and, eventually, he loses his way. Dark Matter marks the feature film debut of renowned opera and theater director Chen Shi-Zheng, and it was written by Billy Shebar with a story by Shebar and Chen Shi-Zheng. I've heard some really good things about this film, and so we'll definitely be checking it out when Dark Matter hits theaters on April 11.

For more on Dark Matter, check out a Moviefone Unscripted segment featuring Aidan Quinn, Liu Ye and Chen Shi-Zheng.

You've already read the 378,000 posts we filed before, during and after this year's Sundance Film Festival, but now I'm back to let you know what we left on the cutting room floor! What was going on when the Cinematical team wasn't watching movies or writing about them? Where were we, who were we with and why did someone bring a farm animal with them? Fear not, I'm kidding -- no farm animals were brought to Sundance (and if they were, whoever brought them kept the things hidden pretty well). So here's some of what was left out of our coverage:

-- While watching a Slamdance screener at one in the morning, Erik got pissed off, woke up James and asked him why films set in New York City never feature characters who have New York accents, with the exception of racist cops, gangsters or angry taxi drivers. James agreed. Erik then went off on Boston, and how every film set in Boston needs to feature the Bahston accent -- but, for some reason, the New York accent always gets dissed. James and Erik agreed to write Spider-Man Begins, featuring Peter Parker with a thick New York accent (he grew up in Queens, after all).

-- At four in the morning at some point over the weekend, James woke up Erik to tell him he was snoring. Erik spazzed out because he thought he was being mugged by a giant. From then on out -- and because of his freakishly large shadow -- James referred to himself as the Cloverfield monster whenever he had a few drinks in him. In fact, while outside on a balcony with Michael Pitt, James actually referred to himself as the Cloverfield monster. Everyone laughed.

Easily one of my favorite films from the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, A Complete History of My Sexual Failures follows Chris Waitt; a jobless slacker who attempts a quest to find out why he's been dumped by every girlfriend he's ever had. As I said in my review, it's like the documentary version of High Fidelity, if that film had stayed in the UK where the novel was originally set. Throughout the doc, we follow Waitt from one ex-girlfriend to another, from an S&M Mistress to the streets of London -- all in the hopes he will finally learn why he sucks at relationships and, maybe, find a new love at the same time. Cinematical sat down with Waitt during this year's Sundance fest to find out what the hell he was thinking when he set out to make this very personal, yet extremely hilarious documentary.

Note: There are spoilers contained within this interview, so read at your own risk.

Cinematical: Ya know, I have to admit it's a little awkward talking to you an hour after watching you butt-naked, being whipped in the balls by an S&M Mistress. I mean, dude -- what was up with that?

Chris Waitt: [laughs] At that point, I think I had the realization that I had lost sight of what I was doing. And we cut from it, but I kept looking at the cameraman, sort of 'Can you do something to stop this?' And of course I was just there with the cameraman and he wasn't going to stop it -- he found it hilarious. The camera kept shaking; we had to cut between the bits because his hand was shaking so much. But yeah, she got really carried away ... that woman. But I was actually in that dungeon for two hours -- we had two hours of footage from that. Deeply painful.

In July 2006, war broke out between Israel and Lebanon. Unable to adequately process what was happening to his home country, Lebanese director Philippe Aractingi decided to pick up his camera and start shooting ten days in, with no script and only the vague nugget of a story in his head. The end result is Under the Bombs, a fictional tale set against the backdrop of a very real battle. Amazingly, there are only two actors in the film; everyone else (citizens, soldiers, journalists) play themselves. When there's a bomb going off in the distance, it's not some expensive special effects shot. Yes, it's a real bomb. The carnage, the destruction, the sadness, the death -- none of it is staged, none of it is part of some elaborate set. It's all real. And then somewhere in the middle is our fictional story, which follows a mother searching for her sister and her son.

Zelna (Nada Abou Farhat) lives in Dubai, yet when her marriage begins to fall apart, she sends her son to Southern Lebanon to stay with her sister for awhile so that he doesn't have to watch his parents fighting all the time. Not long after that, war breaks out between Lebanon and Israel. Determined to find her sister and son, Zelna heads to Lebanon through Turkey. However, because of the blockade, she finally reaches the port of Beirut on the day of the ceasefire. With tensions still high, and the south in ruins, Zelna soon finds it impossible to locate a taxi driver willing to take her south. Eventually, she comes across a driver named Tony (Georges Khabbaz); a hustler and womanizer who sees a pretty face and dollar signs. Thus, the two set out on a journey across a ravaged country in search of a son, a sister and a little sanity.

Last night I had a chance to attend a party at the very cool Delta Lounge located on Main Street here in Park City. Gen Art and Delta were celebrating their second annual short films competition by throwing a party and awarding one lucky filmmaker with ten grand and two round-trip international plane tickets. Not a bad deal if you ask me. The film that won, Ctrl Z (or Control Z), was pretty damn funny. Basically, the finalists are narrowed down to five and then passengers on Delta flights (as well as online visitors) vote for their favorites. Ctrl Z featured the ever-so-funny Tony Hale (of Arrested Development fame) who, while working in his cubicle, discovers that by clicking the Ctrl Z button on his keyboard he's able to go back in time. Things escalate to a very hilarious conclusion, and we congratulate writer-director Robert Kirbyson on his win.

The host for the evening was actress Cheryl Hines, who you might remember from Curb Your Enthusiasm or last year's Waitress. She's also in a film called The Grand, which I loved, and kind of geeked out on her over. According to Hines, The Grand will finally see the light of day this March (fingers crossed). The party was hoppin', the drinks were flowin', and yours truly had a badass time. Check out our gallery below for photos from this event.

Prior to coming out for the Sundance Film Festival, I had always wondered about Slamdance -- held at the same time, in the same snowy town. Where was Slamdance? How did you get there? Was it as spread out as Sundance? Luckily, I was fortunate enough to take in a few Slamdance films this year, and the best way to describe the fest is that it's like the indie version of Sundance -- the fest that doesn't try to impress, doesn't have a big budget; the fest for the common man. Not that Sundance isn't a treat in and of itself, but Slamdance is a tad more personal.

Everything is held in one building (Treasure Mountain Inn), and like any smaller festival, you have fliers and posters everywhere -- on boards, on tables, on chairs. People hand out pins, hats -- anything they can do to push themselves through the crowded Sundance marketplace to say, "Hey, check out my film too! It's just as good." Honestly, my favorite film from this entire week was a Slamdance documentary called Dear Zachary. I had a chance to meet the director of that film last night, and he thanked me profusely for my review of it. He said, "It's funny, but that will probably be the best review I get for any film I ever make." He also noted that because of my review, they managed to get a bunch of buyers into a screening for the film taking place today.

While we may all be ants running around a major festival like Sundance, it's times like that -- when our words truly impact the future of a film -- that make these sorts of trips all the more worthwhile. If you can connect with one film, and subsequently have a hand in getting that film in front of millions more people -- then nothing else really matters. The snow, the cold, the lack of sleep, the a**hole who wouldn't let you into a party, the high-priced meals ... the everything. It all just goes away. And you can fly home with a smile.

Check out our Slamdance gallery below to get a sneak peak out how they roll here in Park City.

Last night was my last official night here at Sundance (I fly out at midnight tonight). Needless to say, it was a long friggin' night. First I attended the Gen Art/Delta party where they announced the winner of their shorts contest (post and gallery coming soon). Next, James met me for the Funny Games party. Michael Pitt was the only one from the cast who was there, and while I smoked a cig outside with him and his girlfriend/date, I did not snap a picture. You try watching the Funny Games trailer on big-screen monitors for two hours, and then see how comfortable you are around this guy. He was cool, though, and from what I've heard, the movie was great.

From that party, I made my way back to the hotel where I met a number of internet writers at the pub for one last round of drinks before we all part our separate ways to random parts of the country. There was: Scott Weinberg (Cinematical), Kim Voynar (Cinematical), Devon Faraci (CHUD), Ryan Rotten (Shock Till You Drop), Peter Sciretta (Slashfilm), Neil Miller (Film School Rejects) and Erik Childress (Critic Watch, eFilmCritic). We talked movies, we made fun of this British dude who felt the need to play his guitar, while needy girls sat there and sang along. We talked more movies. And we laughed ... and laughed ... and laughed. At one point, as the bar was closing, Morgan Spurlock ran in to grab a drink after introducing his film at a screening somewhere. Funny thing was, we had just finished a lengthy conversation about his Osama doc. But these things happen.

Once we left there, our Cinematical crew hunkered down in one hotel room and talked movies till the wee hours of the morning. That's what's so great about being here: You'd think, after watching 20 or so movies in a week, all of us would be sick and tired of chatting about them. But we'll never get to that point. For us, it's an addiction. Cinema is our heroin. And this festival is our summer camp street corner dealer in the puffy jacket.

Thanks Peter for the proper analogy. I need sleep.

While first explaining A Complete History of My Sexual Failures to a fellow colleague, I said it was sort of like High Fidelity ... if, when they adapted the novel, they kept it in the UK (where the book was originally set) and, instead of John Cusack, threw a Kurt Cobain look-a-like in the lead role. Then again, the only common ground shared between the two is that both feature characters who are seeking out their old ex-girlfriends in an attempt to figure out why they're still alone, miserable and unable to sustain a normal relationship without being dumped. Oh, and this one is real, not fiction.

Directed by and starring Chris Waitt, Sexual Failures follows one man's journey to fix his love life. Early on, Waitt tells (and shows) us how, in fact, he's been dumped by every single girlfriend he's ever had. And there's a lot of them; at least 15 or 20. Some have dumped him over email, some over the answering machine, some in person and one even wrote a book, dedicated it to him, and created a "boyfriend" character who gets brutally murdered. Suffice it to say, the man doesn't have a good track record. But why?