In which The Chronicles of Sundance comes to an end.

The continuing adventure of one critic's first trip to the Sundance Film Festival....

Like most movie lovers of a certain age (i.e. the '90s generation), the name "Sundance" first popped up on my radar in 1992 when a little movie called Reservoir Dogs blew the doors off Robert Redford's quiet little independent film festival nestled in the mountain town of Park City, Utah. (Yes, sex, lies and videotape was technically the film that put Sundance on the map in 1989, but Dogs was my personal gateway into indie film.) Reading all the hype about Quentin Tarantino's debut feature made me want to do two things: 1.) Watch Reservoir Dogs as soon as possible, and 2.) Go to Sundance myself. Accomplishing the first task was relatively easy once the movie hit VHS (remember that?); the second took another two decades. But 20 years after Reservoir Dogs first screened, I finally made the trek to Park City, Utah for a whirlwind three day Sundance experience. In those 72 hours, I managed to see 12 movies, spoke with a number of great people and experienced both extremes of Park City's weather, from blinding snowstorms to beautiful big blue skies. Here's how things went down:

The 49th edition of the New York Film Festival kicks off tonight with a gala screening of the Oscar hopeful Carnage, directed by Roman Polanski and starring a powerhouse cast that includes three Academy Award winners (Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster and Christoph Waltz) and one nominee and respected character actor (John C. Reilly). Although it comes at the tail end of the festival season, following the higher-profile Toronto and Venice media circuses, the NYFF has its fair share of big premieres and A-list attendees jostling for awards attention. Here are the five biggest stories to keep an eye on during this year's festival, which runs from September 30 to October 6.

I love a good independent movie as much as the next girl, but I generally only get to maybe two or three a year, and I live in a neighborhood with at least three indie theaters. But with Sundance coming up, some indie movies are about to get the most press they'll see all year. The lineup for the 2009 Sundance Film Festival is rolling out, and the festival, entering its 25th year, has announced the 64 films that will be entered into competition (of the 118 feature-length films that will premiere there). 3,661 films were submitted to the festival, so if you compare the indie fest to the world of major motion picture releases for a year, you've got to figure at least five of the indies will probably be really good. Being that the festival is Robert Redford's baby, I'll actually take the over on that one.

If you've never heard of the new Michael Cera comedy Paper Hearts, you're certainly not alone. The indie film, which will debut at the Sundance Film Festival, has gone under the radar almost everywhere -- you won't find it on movie databases, and despite the fact that it stars Cera and a host of other talent from Judd Apatow's stable, the film is going to Sundance looking for a distributor. Because of those factors, of course, the semi-secret film has already garnered pretty high expectations. The project is described as being part documentary, part scripted comedy about the real-life relationship between Cera and his girlfriend Charlyne Yi (who played the pigtailed stoner girl in Knocked Up) in which music plays a key element.

There's something fantastic going on at the Sitges International Film Festival of Catalonia this week. According to Variety, directors at Sitges are debuting previews for nonexistent movies. The faux trailers are part of a competition that launched last month at Teaserland.com. Would-be directors have entered the race, as have more seasoned pros who've submitted trailers for sequels of some of their previous movies. The previous movies exist; the sequels don't.

Monty Python's The Life of Brian was banned for a year in Norway after its release in 1979, and in Ireland for eight years. But that's nothing compared to the comedy drought suffered in Torbay. According to The Guardian, the area of England known as the English Riviera banned the movie when it was released and hasn't shown it publicly since. That is, until now. Nearly 30 years after it got the cold shoulder from Torbay, Brian will be screened as part of a comedy film festival -- and in the grounds of a former abbey, no less. Seems fitting for a movie that was once met with many protests for its "blasphemous" take on faith.

Here at the Moviefile, we have a whole category just for remakes, reboots, and "reimaginings"--and it's stuffed pretty full. From Fame to Robocop and everything in between, there's a bountiful crop of reworked properties. As "old hat" as it can be to those of us with long enough memories (or long enough Netflix queues) to remember the originals, remaking the movies of yesteryear can make good financial sense for studios. A remake from a 20- or 30-year-old property can draw in brand-new young audiences, as well as the nostalgic viewers of the originals. For example, 24 years passed before Bedtime Story was remade as Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and now that another 20 years have passed, they're remaking the remake. But now Hammer Films and Overture Films are bucking the trend by remaking a movie that hasn't even been officially released yet. Talk about the Hammer striking while the iron is hot.

At Wednesday's Walt Disney Studios Showcase, the Mouse announced a ton of new projects, most of them starring Johnny Depp. Not only will the actor definitely be playing the Mad Hatter in director Tim Burton's motion-capture CGI Alice in Wonderland (as rumored back in July), he'll also be returning as Jack Sparrow for yet another Pirates of the Caribbean movie (that's four now, for those of you not counting at home). What are they going to call this one, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Successful and Still Mildly Enjoyable Franchise?