Sundance’s big feature award winner in 2012 is a post-Katrina-apocolypse-meets-Beyond-Thunderdome-meets-Newt & Ripley & pre-historic-beasts-as-aliens in the swamps of the Bayou-south.

Did you get all that?

Said another way…gritty-magical-apocolype-realism that is totally unique and unforgettable. Filmmaker, Benh Zeitlin, has succeeded in creating a film that even the most hardened film-buffs will be asking, “how does someone even THINK of a story like that” and - even more so - “How did they SHOOT that?” (The reported sale price to Fox Searchlight for $2 million seems like it wouldn’t even cover the costs to produce the film!)

And…write this down…Quvenzhane Wallis, as the child-hero, “Hushpuppy” - is an early Oscar favorite next year…Her performance is off-the-charts can’t miss.

Stop the presses - we have a winner!

It’s hard to have a fresh, original take on the “awkward fumbling-into-adulthood of 20-something’s in L.A.” genre, but “Save the Date” nails it with a story & performances that are as surprising and pitch-perfect as “Juno” - and that’s high praise.

Can’t remember the last time I was in a theater when there was - literally - such a buzz of positive feedback, and the under-the-radar cast won’t be out of the spotlight for long. Lizzie Caplan is a star and filmmaker Michael Mohan is worth rooting for.

What a wonderful, warm surprise on a ten-degree night in Park City, UT!

Add the term, “recreational cruelty” to your vocabulary, and if you’re confused about what that might mean, wait for this polarizing indie film to hit your local cineplex.

This hard-to-stomach, but sometimes funny film, is a raw look at the trust fund babies from the Beavis & Butthead generation. Talk about a niche! And boy…are these guys best in small doses.

While most bankruptcy stories are about money and flow from the lower / middle class with the occasional high flying Wall Street collapse, this film looks at an altogether more brutal moral bankruptcy of human nature at its lowest, most mean, numb, and devoid of compassion for…anything!

Tip your hat…it will make you uncomfortable…but you’ve never seen anything like it.