Archive for January 30th, 2010

Winter’s Bone, Restrepo win at Sundance

Written by on Saturday, January 30th, 2010 in Latest News.

The Ozark Mountains drama Winter’s Bone and the war-on-terror documentary Restrepo won top honours Saturday among U.S. movies at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Director Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone, the tale of a 17-year-ancient trying to uncover the fate of her father among the criminal clans of the Ozarks, earned the grand jury prize for American dramas at Sundance, Robert Redford’s showcase for independent cinema.

Granik and co-writer Anne Rosellini also won the festival’s Waldo Salt screenwriting award for their script, based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell.

The awards came hours after Roadside Attractions bought North American theatrical rights for Winter’s Bone. Roadside plans to release the film this summer.

It was the second straight Sundance drama winner featuring a breakout role for a young actress. Jennifer Lawrence, whose credits include Charlize Theron’s The Burning Plain, offers a fearless lead performance in Winter’s Bone, which follows Gabourey Sidibe’s sizzling debut in the title role of Precious: Based on the Novel Push By Sapphire, last year’s Sundance dramatic winner.

The U.S. documentary prize went to Restrepo, which chronicles the lives of an American platoon fighting in Afghanistan, where the troops have erected an outpost to a fallen comrade, Pte Juan Restrepo. The film was directed by journalist Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm, and photographer Tim Hetherington.

“We’re in the middle of two wars,” Junger said. “If our movie can help this country know how to go forward, we would be incredibly honoured by that.”

The audience award for favourite U.S. drama chosen by Sundance fans was given to the romance happythankyoumoreplease, written and directed by and starring Josh Radnor, the star of TV’s How I Met Your Mother.

Waiting for Superman — a study of the problems at U.S. public schools that was directed by Davis Guggenheim, who made the Academy Award winner An Inconvenient Truth — earned the audience award for U.S. documentaries.

A special jury prize was given to Sympathy for Tasty, Mark Ruffalo’s directing debut, in which he co-stars with friend and screenwriter Christopher Thornton, who plays a paralyzed deejay with the power to heal others but not himself.

Director David Michod’s Australian teen drama Animal Kingdom earned the dramatic jury prize for world cinema, while the world documentary award went to Danish filmmaker Mads Brugger’s The Red Chapel, chronicling a regime-challenging trip to North Korea.

Javier Fuentes-Leon’s Peruvian ghost tale Undertow won the world-cinema audience honour for dramas, and Lucy Walker’s British-Brazilian production Waste Land, about an art project at a massive landfill, received the documentary audience prize for world cinema.

Kings defeat Bruins 3-2 in shootout

Written by on Saturday, January 30th, 2010 in Latest News.

Kings forward Ryan Smyth, left, celebrates Dustin Brown's goal against the Bruins on Saturday night in Boston. Kings forward Ryan Smyth, left, celebrates Dustin Brown’s goal against the Bruins on Saturday night in Boston. (Winslow Townson/Associated Press)

Jarret Stoll beat Tim Thomas in the sixth round of the shootout, giving the Los Angeles Kings their fourth straight victory, a 3-2 choice over Boston on Saturday night.

Boston has lost seven straight, a streak that started with a shootout loss in Los Angeles, is the team’s longest since 1997. The Bruins’ six-game home losing streak is their longest since 1924-25.

All four regulation goals were scored on the power play.

Anze Kopitar, whose first-period shot was tipped in by Dustin Brown, scored at 4:29 of the third period to tie it for the Kings.

Marco Sturm, returning from a six-game absence with a leg injury, and Mark Recchi scored for the Bruins, who had one power-play goal in their previous nine games.

Quick improved to 12-4 in shootouts while Thomas fell to 20-21.

The Kings tied it when Kopitar rifled a long, screened wrist shot past Thomas for his 23rd goal of the season.

After the Bruins failed to get a shot on two power plays, it took the Kings 17 seconds to score on their first power play of the game, with Brown deflecting Kopitar’s shot past Thomas for his 13th goal of the season.

The Kings had a goal that would have made it 2-0 taken away early in the second period. Wayne Simmonds deflected Randy Jones’s shot from the point past Thomas with a high stick. The goal was waved off on the ice and the call stood under review.

Soon after the disallowed goal, Boston’s Mark Stuart nailed Kopitar with what looked like a clean hit that may have been a bit high. Simmonds went right after Stuart.

The pair fought and Simmonds picked up an extra minor, plus a 10-minute misconduct in addition to his fighting major, leaving the Bruins with a four-minute power play.

But Thomas took exception to Brad Richardson taking a poke at the puck after a whistle and drew two minutes for high-sticking.

Zdeno Chara hit the post during the 4-on-4 — the Bruins’ second post of the game — and Boston wound up with a two-man advantage for 30 seconds when Rob Scuderi got a cross-checking penalty after Thomas’s penalty expired.

Canucks’ top line steals spotlight in 3rd

Written by on Saturday, January 30th, 2010 in Latest News.

Maple Leafs goalie Vesa Toskala waits for a shot by the Canucks' Henrik Sedin, who scored and added an assist on Saturday night.Maple Leafs goalie Vesa Toskala waits for a shot by the Canucks’ Henrik Sedin, who scored and added an help on Saturday night. (Abelimages/Getty Images)

The Vancouver Canucks didn’t start out the way they wanted to start their lengthy road trip as their building is gussied up for the Winter Olympics. But they managed to rebound in the nick of time for a win.

In the first of 14 games away from General Motors Place — eight before the Winter Games and six after — the Canucks snuck out a 5-3 choice over the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday night.

The win allowed the Canucks to extend their win streak to seven games, while the Leafs only have two wins in their past 13 games.

Daniel Sedin played the role of hero, knocking in the game-winner with two minutes and four seconds remaining in the third period to allow his team to overcome a three-goal deficit. Alexandre Burrows added an empty netter in the final minute for his second of the game.

The Leafs have had difficulty getting off to strong starts all season, but that wasn’t the case against Vancouver. Toronto beat Canadian Olympic netminder Roberto Luongo three times on eight shots in the first period, prompting Canucks coach Alain Vigneault to bench his prized netminder after the opening 20 minutes in favour of ex-Leaf Andrew Raycroft.

Luongo was making his 25th consecutive start. What made the Leafs’ simple time with Luongo weird was the fact they beat another Canadian Olympian in Martin Brodeur four times on 29 shots in Friday’s 5-4 loss in overtime to the New Jersey Devils.

Somewhere, Canadian Olympic men’s hockey team executive director Steve Yzerman is wondering which Luongo and Brodeur will show up in Vancouver in two weeks time for the Huge Show.

Despite being outshot 14-8 in the opening period and 23-11 after 40 minutes, the Leafs entered the third period with a 3-1 lead. The key for Toronto was surviving an 83-second 5-on-3 disadvantage late in the first period.

To add a cherry on the top, fourth-line forward Jamal Mayers cruised down his wing and blew a shot past Luongo for a three-goal lead with five seconds remaining in the period.

The Leafs, of course, have the worst penalty killing record in the league. But they were a perfect five-for-five against the Canucks.

Phil Kessel scored in the opening minute and again two shifts later for a 2-0 Toronto lead. Both times, his linemate Matt Stajan made nifty passes from behind the goal-line. The two goals for Kessel gave him four in his past 14 games and 16 on the season.

The Canucks dominated the second period, but lacked end around Toronto netminder Vesa Toskala. Speedy Vancouver forward Burrows started the comeback with a shorthanded breakaway goal, stripping Toronto’s Alexei Ponikarovsky at the Canucks blue-line.

Burrows continued his strong play in the third period, setting up Daniel and Henrik Sedin for goals before 5:32 had elapsed.

The Leafs find themselves back in 15th spot in the East and 29th overall because the Carolina Hurricanes managed a 4-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.



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