She turns to Louis (Jason Patric), who she has exchanged hundreds of emails and instant messages with for comfort, or as close a thing to comfort as she is able to achieve. She self-mutilates with razor blades and she enjoys pain, all due to her uber-negative self im

In terms of the awards themselves, the biggest change came with the number of nominees for the most important category, Best Picture. Instead of the usual 5 nominees which always ended in negative feedback due to the non-inclusion of major hits such as The Dark Knight at last year's presentation, the academy saw fit to bump the number of nominees up to 10 rather than improve the selection process. So now, we're left with a few legitimate contenders and a bunch of filler movies that would never have been nominated in previous ye

The Signal is a 2007 horror film directed by David Bruckner, Dan Bush, and Jacob Gentry. The film follows the inhabitants of the city of Terminus as they grapple with a mysterious broadcast signal that turns people into violent aggressors. The story is divided into three interconnected parts, each showcasing different perspectives on the ensuing ch

Downloading Nancy premiered here at Sundance 2008 and is the story of Nancy (played by Maria Bello), a severely emotionally damaged woman married to and emotionally cold man (Rufus Sewell as Albert) who turns to the internet for companions

Eventually he violates her, with her at first going along but then being physically hurt by him. She is confused and doesn't know what to do with her feelings, both physical and emotional, and she cannot turn to her cold father for comfort or adv

All in all, the event was solid for an industry awards presentation but to the viewers at home, it wasn't that exciting or up beat. There were a lot of good movies to choose from this year and I think we all would of liked to see Quentin Tarantino and his Inglourious Basterds get a little more cre

Look, never underestimate the power of Lady Gaga or the pull of seeing a crossover talent be validated by winning an award. Gaga didn't put in the same sort of performance as Dunst did, but that's never stopped these shows from handing check out your url awards. This would be the biggest upset of the night for s

When we meet her father (played wonderfully by Peter Macdissi ) we immediately get a sense of how detached and odd he is. When she gets off the plane, after not having seen him for who knows how long, the first thing he says is "Your plane was late." Jasira, not knowing how to respond to that says "I'm sorry" - to which he replies "Why? Where you flying the pla

In the end the family manages to at least partially gain back the trust of the art world by finally documenting on film themselves Marla creating a painting called "Ocean" from start to finish. Although that particular painting does share similarities to prior paintings, it actually seems less sophisticated than those that have come before. Since then they have documented another painting from start to finish called "Rain", which does seem to be closer to the style of the earlier painti

When the film started, I thought that I might be in for a really low budget, 70's style horror film. It opened with really grainy film showing a woman under duress in the woods with a man who had apparantly done some unpleasant things to her and was preparing to do more. We cut to an old cabin to see a couple more victims who have been captu

She gets home shortly and discovers that things are quickly getting out of control due to this mysterious signal that is being broadcast everywhere, with more and more people going nuts and murderously attacking each other. Her goal becomes to meet up with Ben and somehow escape the situat

We also saw an increase in the number of animated feature films that get nominated from three to five, meaning the majority of major animated movies are nominated for an Oscar by default. Also by default, the Pixar film of the year

My Kid Could Paint That is a documentary directed by Amir Bar-Lev, exploring the story of Marla Olmstead, a 4-year-old abstract painter whose work garnered international attention and considerable market value. The film examines the ensuing media frenzy, accusations of fraud, and the ethics of exploiting a child prodigy for commercial gain, while questioning the authenticity and value of modern

Of course at first we think it is going to be nothing more than a brief sexual affair, but as it turns out Louis has walls lined with homemade videotapes (we never discover exactly what is on those tapes, but we can make a pretty good guess). The situation takes an even odder turn when Nancy mentions that she has "brought the money" that he has asked

The film opens with Nancy discussing her thoughts on what happens after you die with another woman. At this point it sounds like she is optimistic about the afterlife while her friend is very negative and keeps bringing up counterpoints to make it sound like she could be somehow trapped in some way after death. As it turns out, the friend turns out to be a therapist who is trying to convince Nancy that death is not an escape or free