Sundance Film Festival

PARK CITY, Utah – Perhaps it’s due to the success of the Sundance hit “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and its story of a girl who was forced to grow up too soon or just the fact that it’s a common theme of independent cinema but coming-of-age stories dominated this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

PARK CITY, Utah – Every film festival produces at least one film (hopefully more) that just blows audiences away, shattering expectations and leaving them breathless. The future Oscar nominee from Sundance Film Festival 2013 is Richard Linklater’s “Before Midnight,” a film that is quite simply perfect.

PARK CITY, Utah – Film festivals naturally encourage those who write about them to look for themes. A few years ago it was the end of the world. This year, it seems to be the coming-of-age story (“Kill Your Darlings,” “The Spectacular Now,” “Mud,” “Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes,” “The Way, Way Back”) on the surface and the journey from home a little deeper.

PARK CITY, Utah – Battling the thousands who have descended upon Park City, Utah for a small portion of their Wi-Fi bandwidth, I’m back with my second report from the frontlines of independent cinema.

PARK CITY, Utah – Here I am in Park City, Utah. Well, sort of. The truth is that I’ve been allowed to see a number of 2013 Sundance Film Festival films early, either screening in Chicago or streaming online. Some will merely be scattered through my coverage, as I won’t mention them till they premiere, but a vast majority premiere on the first full day of the fest, January 18, 2013.

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 40 admit-two movie passes up for grabs to the advance screening of the Sundance Film Festival hit “For a Good Time, Call…” with Seth Rogen, Kevin Smith and Nia Vardalos!

CHICAGO – Whenever I hear someone complain about the inexplicable popularity of an obscenely rich and distressingly vapid non-celebrity, I’m reminded of the last scene in “Chicago,” when murderess-turned-superstar Roxy Hart blows a kiss to her adoring fans after exclaiming, “Believe us, we could not have done it without you!” No one maintains a celebrity status without a whole lot of help from the general public.

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 50 admit-two movie passes up for grabs to the advance screening of “The Queen of Versailles” from lauded filmmaker Lauren Greenfield!

CHICAGO – Wink (Dwight Henry) and Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané “Nazie” Wallis) don’t have a typical father-daughter relationship in Benh Zeitlin’s visionary fantasy, “Beasts of the Southern Wild.”

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 50 admit-two movie passes up for grabs to see the Sundance Film Festival-rocking blaxploitation “Black Dynamite”!