Austin360 blogs > Austin Movie Blog > Archives > 2009 > May
May 2009
When to sprint to the loo
If you’re like me, you gotta “go” at least once during a picture, maybe even twice if coffee and a more-than two-hour running time conspire to crush my bladder.
We need help, as in when to time our interlude without missing anything good or important. And help is here with RunPee.com, a too clever by half destination that specifically charts and describes the best times to go during current and classic movies.
Example: In “Star Trek,” go to the bathroom “approximately 50 minutes into the movie when Capt. Pike leaves the bridge on his way to Nero’s ship and says, ‘Chekov, you have the con.”
Run HERE to the site that “helps your bladder enjoy going to the movies as much as you do.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
‘The General’ rocks and rolls tonight
Buster Keaton’s silent classic “The General” plays the Paramount tonight for a single special showing with a glowing restored print.
Why will it rock and roll, as the headline says? Because it’s about the title train (roll!) and features the crack live musical accompaniment and stunning arrangements of Guy Forsyth and his band (rock!).
We beseech all true movie and music fans to be there. It’s at 8 tonight.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
HBO rounds up ‘Rodeo’
Austin filmmaker Brad Beesley’s hit doc “Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo,” which wowed ‘em at SXSW this year, has been acquired by HBO. It will air on HBO’s Cinemax in September.
HBO describes the movie thusly: “It goes behind prison walls to follow convict cowgirls on their journey to the 2007 Oklahoma State Penitentiary Rodeo, a purely American event that’s part Wild West show and part Coliseum-esque spectacle where convicts compete against one another for a small amount of cash and a little bit of pride.”
In a statement, Beesley said, “I’m truly thrilled for the women featured in the film — their remarkable stories made this possible. There’s no better place than HBO to share our documentary with the U.S. — it’s a perfect home.”
Read Charles Ealy’s write-up of the film during SXSW HERE.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin Movies Inc.
The music of film composer Brian Satterwhite
Brian Satterwhite is an Austin film composer, who’s written numerous scores, including those for the IMAX feature “Ride Around the World” and the art comedy “Artois the Goat,” which played South by Southwest this year. He’s currently scoring Emily Hagins’ in-progress horror movie “The Retellling.” He is the host of “Film Score Focus” on KMFA, which airs at 10 a.m. Saturdays. Listen to some of his work below and read an interview with him here.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
‘Ribbon’ takes the prize at Cannes
CANNES, France - Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon,” a searing look at pre-World War I life in a small German town just before World War I, won the Palme d’Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, on Sunday.
Haneke, who was born in Germany and lives in Austria, dissected the emotional and physical abuse of children who eventually grew up to be part of the Third Reich.
“The White Ribbon” was a critical favorite, as was the winner of the Grand Prix, Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet.” The French movie detailed the transformation of a small-time crook into a major gangster during his six-year prison stay.
Charlotte Gainsbourg won best actress for the highly controversial “Antichrist,” directed by Lars Von Trier and accused of being misogynistic by some critics. It’s an erotic nightmare from the Danish director and includes a scene of genital mutilation.
Best actor went to Christoph Waltz, the persnickety Nazi linguist in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds.” It was a career-making role for the little-known Austrian star, and he thanked Tarantino, saying he “gave me my vocation back.”
Alain Resnais, the legendary French director, won a special jury prize for his lifetime achievement and his new movie, “Wild Grass.”
Two critical favorites were shut out of the awards: “Looking for Eric,” the heart-warming Ken Loach tale of a British postman who’s inspired to get his life back by former soccer star Eric Cantona; and “Bright Star,” the love story between poet John Keats and a seamstress, directed by Jane Campion of New Zealand.
Other winners:
Best director, Brillante Mendoza for the critically reviled “Kinatay,” featuring the rape and dismemberment of a female hostage. Roger Ebert said it was worse than “The Brown Bunny,” which he has long considered to be the worst film ever in competition.
Best screenplay: Mei Feng for “Spring Fever,” directed by Lou Ye of China
Jury prize: “Fish Tank” by Andrea Arnold of Britain and “Thirst” by Park Chan-Wook of South Korea
Best short film: “Arena,” directed by Joao Salaviza of Portugal
Camera d’Or, for best first film: “Samson and Delilah,” directed by Warwick Thornton of Australia.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
Update on Friday in Cannes
This year’s Cannes Film Festival has been way above average, but on Friday, two days before the major awards, the movies took a turn for the worse.
See the earlier post about an 8:30 a.m. screening of “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” the last film of Heath Ledger. Not good.
Then comes “Enter the Void,” from Argentine/French director Gaspar Noe. In 2002, the director brought “Irreversible” to Cannes. And critics who walked out early (of which there were many) missed the movie’s touching, sympathetic ending, which made up for the brutality that preceded it (at least in my opinion).
So I was determined to stay through his latest movie as well. I sat through psychedelic visions of nothing but pulsing whiteness, yellowness, redness, blueness, presumably watching the action on screen from a young man who has been fatally shot to death in Tokyo but whose soul is still hovering over his loving sister.
Most critics stayed this time, and endured a journey an aborted fetus. We also watched the poor lead actress, Paz de la Huerta, in one topless scene after another. (She plays a Tokyo stripper, and even when she’s not stripping, she’s often topless, if not fully nude.)
And I could help but imagine how she felt during the gala screening. She and Noe and the rest of the cast and crew were sitting two rows away from me, in a packed audience of about 2,000.
Will Noe pull this movie out of the bag? Will he redeem the banality, the brutality, the drug-induced visions, the extended periods of nothingness? As it turns out, not really.
I suppose the last part of the movie can be seen as redemption, the never-ending quest for life. But did I really have to go inside a woman to witness the sex act and the fertilization of an egg? Noe apparently thinks so. Adventuresome moviegoers might be intrigued by such things. And I think artists should push boundaries. No problem there. See an earlier post about Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist.” But this one isn’t worth the effort. And as a fan of “Irreversible,” that’s a huge letdown.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
Imaginarium troubles
There’s no easy way of saying this: The last movie of Heath Ledger simply doesn’t work.
Director Terry Gilliam brought “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” to Cannes on Friday, playing outside of the main competition. And as everyone knows, Ledger died halfway through the filming, more than a year ago.
Gilliam said his first reaction was to shut the film down. “I didn’t see how we could finish it, and that to do anything else wouldn’t be respectful.” But friends urged him to continue, and he got an idea. In the movie, Ledger’s character Tony goes through a magic mirror three times. So Gilliam thought it might make sense if the character’s appearance changed each time.
So what you get is a Ledger performance, interspersed with performances by three of his friends: Colin Farrell, Jude Law and Johnny Depp.
But the gimmick doesn’t work. It’s jarring, and the rest of the characters in the movie have to pretend to notice his changed appearance. So you get such comments as “you don’t look like Tony,” or something to that effect.
Even if Ledger had lived to complete the movie, it’s still doubtful that “The Imaginarium” would hold up. The story is too loosely constructed, with gaping holes filled with beautiful but meaningless imagery.
Gilliam saw the movie as an adventure through imagination, opening with an ancient wagon that’s traveling through the streets of modern-day London. The wagon contains Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), his assistant (Verne Troyer, aka Mini-Me); his daughter (Lily Cole); and a young man who’s part of the magic act (Andrew Garfield.)
Ledger’s character comes in to the mix when the wagon stops on a bridge and the characters spot a body hanging from underneath it. It’s Ledger. And they rescue him and take him in. Ledger’s character, however, is clearly a con man and has swindled some crooks out of money through a charity for children.
He becomes a master hawker, getting people to enter Doctor Parnassus’ magic mirror, where they will be greeted by their imaginations, both good and bad. And each one must make a final choice. One gives them a fresh life. The other kills them.
As it turns out, Parnassus is thousands of years old, having made a pact with the devil for immortality. But during one of his bets with the devil, played by Tom Waits, he ends up have to turn his daughter over to the devil, once she’s 16. Her birthday is approaching. And therein lies what should be the climax. But the movie meanders, and different threads are never tied up.
In his last performance, Ledger exudes energy and vitality. So it’s sad to watch, knowing what we do. The closing credits say the movie is dedicated to Ledger and his friends. And Gilliam was teary-eyed when talking about Ledger after the movie’s screening Friday. His intent may have been noble. But good intentions don’t make a movie good.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
What I’m watching
Wherein our movie critic periodically shares what DVDs he’s been viewing in his spare time …
- “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” (1973; Peter Yates): A terrific, taut crime drama about informers and their pals. Robert Mitchum plays a sad-sack ex-con who doesn’t want to return to the pen, so he sets his “friends” up for the cops. But a misunderstanding messes everything up. A noirish, hardboiled pleasure, co-starring ’70s stalwarts Peter Boyle and Alex Rocco.
- “Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains” (2007; Gonzalo Arijon): Utterly engrossing. Two hours is on the long side for a documentary, but this masterly recollection of the famed 1972 plane crash in the Andes (which inspired the book and movie “Alive”) whizzes by. You watch in a trance as survivors and judicious re-enactments relate a painfully and shockingly intimate story of survival, which of course demanded cannibalism. A knockout.
- “Soylent Green” (1973; Richard Fleischer): I dodged this movie for a very long time, and now I know why. It’s not horrible, but these low-budget Charlton Heston sci-fi flicks (see: “Omega Man”) are rickety contraptions not made for longevity. Heston’s teeth-gritting detective stumbles upon a ruling corporation’s dirty little secret, and I don’t care that I’m doing a fat spoiler here: The nation is feeding its people green wafers made of its dead. “Soylent Green … is … people!” Cue chills. And chortles. (Factoid: The name Soylent is a combo of soy and lentils.)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: DVDs
Hall of Fame hits the small screen
You, like so many, probably miss the big shindig each year, though you pine to be there. So the Austin Film Society is bringing the Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards to television for the first time.
Catch this year’s ceremony, edited down to a digestible one-hour run-time, at 8 p.m. May 28 on KLRU channel 9. It will repeat at 9 p.m. June 3 on KLRU2.
This year’s honorees include Larry Hagman, Powers Boothe, Catherine Hardwicke and Billy Bob Thornton, and presenters were Linda Gray, Keith Carradine, Brendan Fraser and Dennis Quaid. Luke Wilson accepted honors on behalf of the cast and crew of “Rushmore.” Thomas Haden Church held the emcee duties. Expect lots more familiar faces.
And there’s this …
A mini-Audrey Hepburn festival at the Hampton Branch at Oak Hill Austin Public Library (5125 Convict Hill Rd.): “Roman Holiday,” 6 p.m. June 8; “Sabrina,” 6 p.m. July 13; and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” 6 p.m. Aug. 10. All shows are free.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin Film Society
Sneak peek at ‘New Moon’
“Twilight” — which chronicles the love story between vampire Edward and human Bella — is more than a book and movie franchise. It’s a phenomenon. For those of you who can’t wait for the Nov. 20 release date of the next movie, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” here’s a sneak peek at the movie’s poster. You’ll notice that Jacob (Taylor Lautner) is between Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Bella (Kristen Stewart) ….
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment
Tarantino does the Cannes-Cannes
Quentin Tarantino bounded into the Cannes pressroom Wednesday morning, looking exultant after the premiere screening of his new movie, “Inglourious Basterds.”
Proclaiming that Cannes is the “Cinema Olympics”, Tarantino brought along stars Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Michael Fassbender, Mike Myers, Christoph Waltz, Daniel Bruhl, Eli Roth and Melanie Laurent. All looked jubilant, although Tarantino said none of them had seen the film yet and that the red-carpet premiere tonight would be their big moment.
What they’ll see is a Jewish revenge fantasy version of World War II, where Hitler and his henchmen get their comeuppance in a French cinema. Talk about the power of movies. And the source of the comeuppance is highly flammable nitrate film.
Pitt stars as the leader of the “Basterds,” a Tennessean who’s part Apache and urges his Jewish troops to scalp the Nazis. They literally do.
But the movie opens with an extended scene featuring the excellent Christoph Waltz, who plays the brutal but brilliant Nazi Col. Landa. As part of the occupying forces of France, he’s known as the “Jew Hunter,” and he descends on a bucolic dairy farm where several Jewish people are hiding. The tension between the Nazi and the farm owner is one of those brilliant set pieces that distinguish a Tarantino film.
In fact, the movie is presented in “chapters,” and most of them turn out to be set pieces, leading to the ultimate showdown at the cinema.
“My characters change the outcome of the war,” Tarantino said. “That didn’t happen because my characters didn’t exist. I created them.”
Eli Roth, possibly best known as the director of the torture porn flick “Hostel,” said he regarded “Inglourious Basterds” as “kosher porn.” He said it was “something I’ve dreamed about doing since I was a child.” He plays the Jewish Bear, a Basterd who beats Nazis to death with a bat.
Of the big finale, Tarantino said he loved the idea that “the power of cinema” could bring down the Third Reich.
Pitt and Tarantino said they had been “sniffing around each other” for a long time, and that the character of the Basterd leader Lt. Aldo Raine was a perfect fit. Pitt said that Tarantino came to his home in Europe late last summer to pitch the role, and that he realized he had taken the job after he woke up and saw five empty wine bottles and “some sort of smoking apparatus.”
Tarantino added that he had been giving Pitt longing looks across the rooms of various venues for many years. Pitt responded, “He had me at hello.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
Von Trier etc.
Lars Von Trier managed to joke his way through a hostile press conference a day after the premiere of “Antichrist” in Cannes.
A reporter for London’s Daily Mail asked the first question in a bombastic, hostile tone, saying that the Danish director had to explain his movie to the press, and that he shouldn’t keep dodging the question.
Von Trier said bluntly that he didn’t need to explain himself or his movie to anyone. He said he felt like he was bringing his movie to Cannes and that the press were his guests. And he said he doesn’t explain himself to guests.
“Antichrist,” as you’ve probably heard, is the most controversial movie at this year’s festival. And lots of press people like to puff and huff at what they deem offensive. There is plenty of room to take offense in the latest effort from the enfant terrible of Danish cinema. Genital mutilations. Hardcore sex shots.
But in Von Trier’s defense, the movie came from a dream he had when he was deeply depressed. And to change that dream would be to lie, he argued. He also said it was up to critics to see the film references he was making, mentioning such greats as Tarkovsky and Bergman, both of whom never really liked his films, he joked.
He went on to say that he hoped people would understand that he was “the greatest living film director,” and that everyone else was overrated. Unbelievably, the TV press in Europe reported this as if it weren’t a joke. But it was. He wasn’t being arrogant. He was just being Von Trier.
“Antichrist” will have great difficulty finding a release in many countries because of its content. And the hostility in Cannes won’t help. But the opening scenes of “Antichrist,” as a child falls from a window while his parents are making love, has to rank as one of the most mesmerizing of recent years. And yes, there’s a film reference there, too. “Don’t Look Now.”
Regular audiences may not flock to “Antichrist,” but if you’re reading this blog and care about movies, you’ll want to go. You may not like it. But it’s quite the experience.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
Loach and Cannes
Ken Loach isn’t known for feel-good movies. The naturalistic British director won the Palme d’Or a couple of years ago for the wrenching Irish film, “The Wind That Shakes the Barley.”
But this year, his competition entry, “Looking for Eric,” can’t help but make you smile.
It deals with a working-class postman whose life is in a shambles, and when his son gets mixed up with a mobster, he has to come up with a plan. So he turns to his idol, the former soccer great Eric Cantona. Cantona pops up regularly in the movie as a imaginary friend, and the press in Cannes went wild for him.
Nearly every question at a press conference was directed to the Manchester United soccer idol. But Loach got a few. The man who plays Eric the postman, Steve Evets, got no questions at all.
Apparently, he gets no respect in real life either.
At any rate, the movie is sure to make it to U.S. arthouses, which rarely get such feel-good movies from Loach. It has a “Full Monty” feel, without the nudity, of course.
Working-class people triumph, and lives get turned around. It should be a Palme d’Or contender.
The big screening tomorrow (Wednesday) is Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
The Majestic is expanding
The grand dame of Cannes hotels, the Majestic, has announced that it will be expanding. It plans to build several more suites on the ground floor and have them ready by next year’s festival.
The going price for a one-night stay: about $44,000.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
Pattinson in Cannes
An upcoming post about the sneak peek at “New Moon,” the latest in the “Twilight” saga, is part of a publicity blitz for the film before its release later this year.
Robert Pattinson, who plays the good vampire, was in Cannes today, doing select interviews. Crowds of teenage girls were huddling outside the venue, trying to get a glimpse of the star.
Most of his time was spent in front of TV cameras, a key strategy of for the company, Summit Entertainment. Most American print reporters were apparently not invited to the event, but a Canadian friend, Jay Stone, who attended, said the discussion focused mostly on the vampire saga, and what would be happening in the new movie. He said most of the people doing interviews were from Germany and other European countries.
No big news, just a big blitz in Cannes.
Pattinson also was in town to promote another Summit project, “Remember Me,” in which he’ll star. It’s an adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s story “Bel Ami,” and is scheduled for release next year. Summit is selling the rights to the film in Cannes, before shooting begins.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
Moviemaking for kids
Filmmaking fun for youth:
- The Austin Film Festival’s Young Filmmakers Program, for ages 9 to 18, runs from June 15 to Aug. 7 at McCallum High School. Details HERE.
- Abrakadoodle Art Camp presents “Art of Movies” in two sessions: June 22 — 25 and July 20 — 23 at Alamo Lake Creek. Scoop HERE.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin Film Festival 2009
Latest word on ‘Waco’ flap
If you’ve read our Charles Ealy’s report from Cannes that suggests an “unnamed senator” in Texas vetoed the script for the film “Waco,” we have an update.
(First, you can read that blog entry HERE.)
Turns out the decision not to give tax breaks to the planned movie about the Waco/David Koresh incident was made exclusively by Bob Hudgins, director of the Texas Film Commission.
We spoke to Hudgins today, and here’s some of what he said:
“It’s not censorship at all. There’s a program that’s giving state money as an incentive to filmmaking and there was criteria put in the statute for that money. That criteria states that anything that shows an inaccurate portrayal of actual events (in Texas) and comes down to that narrow definition.”
After reading the “Waco” script, “I did some fact checking and I feel very confident in the checking I did. I talked to people, law enforcement and journalists, who were actually involved in the whole incident. This was not something that was done lightly at all. We’ve been given this incentive program and we have to live within its constraints. This project steps outside an accurate portrayal of those events.”
Hudgins declined to elaborate about what’s inaccurate, though he did say that the people he talked to said the script was off-base. “My job is to define if things are not accurately portrayed. They’re purporting to be a factual film about Texas and they don’t meet the mark. Living within the structure of the statute, I have to make this decision.”
“I would love to have not had to make this call, because I realize the direct cost to Texas in jobs and income. That’s what makes the decision so difficult. I’m here to promote as much production activity in the state as possible, but I also have to live within the confines of the statute.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
The Carlton Hotel gets gaudy
The Carlton Hotel is normally one of the most glamorous spots on earth. But when the Cannes Film Festival gets under way, the Carlton gets gaudy.
Today, Disney rolled out the red carpet for the upcoming movie “A Christmas Carol,” starring Jim Carrey. It’s scheduled for release this fall.
I’m told that Disney lured journalists with one of the most elaborate spreads of food ever staged in Cannes. But I didn’t go, since it interfered with the press conference for Antichrist, directed by Lars Von Trier. Movies over food. Guess I’m a fool. But you can expect to see lots of blurbs about the Carrey movie from those who partook.
At any rate, this photo shows the Carlton on Monday. The white stuff in the front is fake snow that was sprayed in front of the hotel for the event. I dropped by and saw lots of cleaning staff trying the get the stuff out of the lobby with vacuum cleaners. Poor people. Not something I’d want to do, while others are feasting.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
Noteworthy DVDs released 5/19/09
PICK OF THE WEEK
“The Friends of Eddie Coyle” (Criterion): Crime novelist George V.
Higgins got to see Robert Mitchum bring his title character to life in this low-key gangster picture directed by Peter Yates (“Bullitt”), a film Mitchum fans have long ached to see on DVD.
OTHER TOP PICKS
“Friday Night Lights” Season 3 (Universal): Thanks to some creative deal-making involving an exclusive DirecTV window, Austin’s critically beloved series survived another year. Now anyone confused by the unconventional scheduling can watch it all from start to finish on disc.
“A Bug’s Life” (Walt Disney): The ‘toon Pixar made between the two “Toy Story” films hits stores in a new Blu-ray edition, just in time to promote “Up.”
“Valkyrie” (MGM): Not as pulse-pounding as it should have been, this Tom Cruise vehicle about a plot to kill Hitler was still far better than the early buzz suggested.
“Man Hunt” (1941) (Fox): Fritz Lang (“M”) directs a cast of English actors for a thriller set in the Nazi-era Germany he himself had escaped years earlier.
“Pigs, Pimps & Prostitutes: 3 Films by Shohei Imamura” (Criterion): Three early-’60s films crusing through the lower rungs of the Japanese social order.
“Fanboys” (Weinstein Co.): Good-natured road film in which “Star Wars”
fanatics try to break into Skywalker Ranch.
NEW ON BLU-RAY
“Batman” (1989) (Warner Bros.); “Changing Lanes,” “The Machinist,” “Three Days of the Condor” (Paramount); “Circle of Iron,” “Fast Company” (Blue Underground); “Lions for Lambs” (MGM); “Spy Game” (Universal); “Terminator 2” (Lions Gate)
FRESH FROM THE MULTIPLEX
“Paul Blart: Mall Cop” (Sony)
FROM THE VAULTS
“Catlow” (Warner Bros.)
DOCUMENTARIES
“Black Hollywood: Blaxploitation and Advancing Independent Black Cinema,” “Llik Your Idols” (MVD); “Crips and Bloods: Made In America” (Docurama); “Kobe Doin’ Work” (New Line); “Lavender Limelight: Lesbians On Film,” “The Top Secret Trial of the Third Reich” (First Run Pictures); “We Feed the World” (Kino)
BEST OF TV
“24” Season 7 (Fox); “Russell Brand: In New York City” (Paramount); “True Blood” Season 1 (HBO)
REISSUE/REPACKAGE
“Army of Darkness” Screwhead Edition (Universal); “Arnold Schwarzenegger DVD Collection” (Lions Gate) “Billy Jack” (Warner Bros.); “El Dorado,” “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”
Centennial Collection (Paramount)
CULT CORNER
“Muscle Madness” (Infinity); “My Bloody Valentine 3- D” (Lions Gate); “Nightmare Castle” (Severin); “Eden Log” (Magnolia); and a barrel full of Japanese genre pictures including “3 Seconds Before Explosion,” “Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards!,”
“Debauched Desires (Four Erotic Masterpieces by Masaru Konuma) (Kino), “Wandering Ginza Butterfly,” and “Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2: She-Cat Gambler” (Synapse)
STRAIGHT(ISH) TO VIDEO
“Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts,” “Driven to Kill” (Fox)
KIDS’ STUFF
“Thomas & Friends: Team Up With Thomas” (Lions Gate); “Treasury of 25 Storybook Classics: Dinosaurs, Trucks, Monsters,” “Treasury of 25 Storybook Classics: Fairytales, Magic and More” (Scholastic)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: DVDs
‘Territory’ returns to KLRU
Shorts from around the globe are the stars in the experimental art-film series “The Territory,” a co-production of the Austin Museum of Art, airing 14 weeks starting at 10 p.m. May 25 on KLRU channel 9.
It’s a solid diet of cutting-edge video and film experimentation, and you can get details and air dates right HERE.
If you’re a film- or video-maker who’s 18 or under and want to get your work recognized, then enter the annual Cinemakids screening program. Films, videos and computer animation are accepted. Deadline is July 9.
Guidelines, entry form and the works HERE.
Cinemakids screenings happen Sept. 19 and 20 at UT.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Charles Ealy on NPR’s ‘All Things Considered’
Statesman film writer/editor Charles Ealy is in the south of France snapping photos and filing blogs and stories from the Cannes Film Festival. He’s also doing a little radio duty. I will leave the details to NPR.
On the first full weekend of the Cannes Film Festival, Rebecca Roberts checks in with Charles Ealy, an editor with the Austin (Texas) American Statesman, who travels to southern France every year for the festival. Ealy talks about several movies showing there, including Heath Ledger’s last film, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. The movie was finished with Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell playing Ledger’s character in dream sequences. Its director is Terry Gilliam, a Monty Python grad who is known for huge, out-of-control flicks that people think are brilliant or messes or often both.
Listen to Ealy’s smooth, Alabama drawl here.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
“Waco”: a political dispute erupts
Entertainment 7 representatives said Sunday that their new $30 million action movie “Waco” would not be filmed in Texas after all because of what they called politics.
Emilio Ferrari and Tara Wood, the two executives for the company who are in Cannes this week, said Sunday that they wanted to bring “Waco” to Texas and thought they had the support of the Texas Film Commission in getting recently approved incentives.
But “we were told in the last couple of days that the Texas Film Commission was backing out” of recommending incentives because of opposition from an unnamed state senator, Ferrari said.
Ferrari said he heard that a senator was objecting to the movie’s getting any incentives because it might make Texas “look bad.” But Ferrari said the movie is not political and does not point fingers. “I’m a moviemaker, and I’m not political. I’ve never even voted,” Ferrari said.
The movie deals with the raid on the David Koresh compound outside of Waco. Wood said that the film would focus on miscommunication with federal agencies coordinating the standoff and eventual assault, but that Texas figures are not portrayed negatively. “The incident could have happened anywhere in the country, and is not Texas-specific,” Ferrari said.
When asked if there were still a possibility that the movie would be filmed in Texas, Ferrari had a flat “no.” He said he didn’t know where the movie would be shot now, but that he and his partners were considering Louisiana, where they would get about $6 million in tax breaks.
So far, the Texas Film Commission hasn’t commented on a blog written earlier here, where I asked for information. But more will be coming this week probably, and the Texas Film Commission hopefully will comment and give us another perspective. Stay tuned.
Permalink | Comments (24) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
Antichrist in Cannes
It’s not often that you leave a movie and feel like you’ve just experience a moment in cinematic history.
“Antichrist,” which premiered Sunday night at the Cannes Film Festival, made me feel that way. Director Lars Von Trier has made a movie that looks like it will be more controversial than anything he’s ever done, and that’s saying quite a bit. I can’t imagine how he’ll deal with the press tomorrow. At the end of the screening, half of the room was applauding and the other half was booing.
The movie’s violence has an emotional impact that hasn’t been seen since Gaspar Noe’s “Irreversible,” which premiered here a few years ago.
That’s because you care about the characters, long before the violence comes. The movie deals with a couple who lose their child in a tragic accident. And the death has a devastating psychological effect on the mother, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg.
The father, played by William Dafoe, is a therapist who tries to help her through the loss. And they end up retreating to a cabin in a lush forest, where all sorts of strange visions — and strange actions — occur.
Since you’re emotionally invested in the characters, the violence that comes later is all the more shocking. It makes scenes from “Hostel,” one of the so-called gore porn movies, seem tame.
It would be a disservice to describe the violence, which would qualify for the one of the hardest NC-17 ratings ever. Let’s just say that it involves sex and sexual organs.
Critics will be debating whether these images were justified by the story, but part of the point is apparently to shock. Cinematic precedents exist, of course, but the explicitness of these scenes take “Antichrist” way beyond what’s come before. Luis Bunuel’s “Chien Andalou” looks tame in comparison. And one scene evokes memories of Ingmar Bergman’s “Cries and Whispers,” although much more graphic.
At the end of the movie, Von Trier says it’s dedicated to Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, which elicited howls from some critics. But the dedication makes sense, if you’re familiar with one of the last of his movies that deals with a witch. I’m writing from memory here and can’t switch to IMDB without breaking the blog connection, but the movie, as I remember, was called “Offret” and it won about 4 awards in Cannes when it played many years ago.
I’m sorry I’m talking in code. But you’ll have to see this movie to believe it. And it makes me wonder under what circumstances it will be released in the U.S. Then again, Von Trier has always been a provacateur and may not care about such mundane matters.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
Race for the Palme
As the first weekend of the Cannes Film Festival winds down, it looks as though there’s a clear, early leader for the Palme d’Or.
Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet” is almost flawless filmmaking, tracking the experiences of a 19-year-old Arab-French kid who’s thrown in prison for six years for unspecified crimes.
The highly structured prison environment mirrors that on the outside, with the rising numbers of Arabs causing tensions among the old-liner criminals, especially the Corsican Mafia. And Malik, being of multiracial heritage, doesn’t seem to fit in any group.
He ends up working as the errand boy for the Corsicans, simply because they’re the first to make a move on him. But he keeps his mouth shut and quickly learns hows to survive. An early battle with razor blades has to be one of the most shockingly real sequences to be put on film in a long time.
As a rising criminal, Malik, as played by newcomer Tahar Rahim, is haunted by his conscience. As Audiard said Saturday, he’s not a sociopath. He’s just trying to get out of prison alive.
Rahim, who was trained in acting at a university and went on to appear in plays in Paris and had a brief stint on a French TV series, has a natural gift of showing his inner thoughts. The looks on his face are pitch-perfect. And the way he carries himself suits the Malik character perfectly.
The only other movie that appears to be in competition with “A Prophet” at this point appears to be Jane Campion’s “Bright Star,” a look at the romance between poet John Keats and seamstress Fanny Brawne.
But the festival is only halfway over, with a lot of big names still to show up on the Croisette.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
‘Taking Woodstock’ rocks
If you’re planning your summer movie-going, take a note of this weekend. Aug. 15-18. That will be the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, and it’s also when director Ang Lee’s new comedy, ‘Taking Woodstock,’ will open in the States.
It’s yet another uplifting movie from Cannes, which isn’t usually known for its uplift and is more associated with edgy violence, sexuality and cutting-edge filmmaking.
Make no mistake. ‘Taking Woodstock’ isn’t a rehash of the music from the fantastic festival of 1969. Instead, it’s the story of the people behind the festival, mainly Elliot Tiber (Demetri Martin) and his dysfunctional parents who run a dilapidated motel in the Catskills. When Tiber hears that a neighboring town has rejected having the music festival, he tells the organizers that his little burg would be the perfect place. And he puts the organizers in touch with dairy farmer Max Yasgur.
Most of the movie deals with the Tiber family dynamics. Elliot is a closeted gay who has not come out to his parents and has returned from Greenwich Village to help them run the motel for the summer. Henry Goodman plays his father Jake, and the wonderfully maddening Imelda Staunton plays his Russian Jewish immigrant mother, who is full of bossiness, as well as fear and loathing.
When Elliot starts the process that turns into one of the biggest free-love events of all time, the maelstrom of hippiedom transforms not only Elliot but also his parents. And it speaks to the power of a movement that has long since been in hibernation in America, regrettably.
Liev Schreiber has a great role as a cross-dressing former Marine who signs up to do security for Elliot and his family during the hippie invasion. And one of the greatest lines comes when Elliot asks him about his seemingly blossoming relationship with his parents. In particular, Elliot wants to know if his dad knows what kind of person has become his new friend. To which Schreiber’s character replies, “I know what I am, so that makes it easier for everyone.” Truer words never spoken.
The only sour note comes early, when a local Vietnam veteran played by Emile Hirsch starts having flashbacks. The scene seems false, and I’m not sure why, since Hirsch is a fine actor. But the rest of “Taking Woodstock” is a joy, although it might leave you wishing that those days had never ended. (Yes, I was a hippie, and I played the Woodstock album over and over in my teens.) It made me downright melancholic, but in a good way.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
A “Precious” moment; no really, no sarcasm
One of the best films at this year’s Cannes Film Festival isn’t even in the official competition.
It’s called “Precious,” directed by Lee Daniels, and it previously played at Sundance, which might explain its absence from the competition in Cannes. (The French want premieres, and don’t take festival leftovers for the competish.)
Still, it’s a fine movie, full of moving moments and excellent performances, mainly from Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe. Based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire, “Precious” tells the harrowing story of a Harlem teen-ager who finally learns to read after being sent to an alternative school. The regular school kicked her out because she was pregnant with her second child. And it won’t be giving away anything to tell you that she had both babies not because she was promiscuous but because her father raped her repeatedly.
Her mother resents her, because she thinks Precious is taking away her Man. Never mind that her “Man”, if you can call him that, is a pedophile.
But the awakening of Precious after she learns to read keeps the movie from sinking into sorrow. Instead, it’s one of those great stories about someone who faces horrible odds but, through the force of will and help from others, manages to get her life in order and end up with hope.
Teachers, of course, play a big part. But so does a caring nurse (Lenny Kravitz) during the birth of her second child. And so does a therapist, played subtly by Mariah Carey. I know, that sounds weird to say. But Carey pulls off the role, and you hardly know it’s her.
The movie is laced with profanity, which is entirely suitable for the circumstances in which Precious finds herself. And it would be ridiculous to have it otherwise. So it’s bound to get an R rating. That’s too bad. It should be seen by nearly every high school student. It’s all about empathy and hope, and we could use more of both.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
New $30 mil movie to be shot in Texas
Los Angeles-based Entertainment 7 announced this week in Cannes that it will be shooting a $30 million action epic called “Waco” in Texas, starting Aug. 9.
The film will be directed by Rupert Wainwright and produced through A Plus Productions. Emilio Ferrari and Lee Nelson will be the producers.
Details on the story of the film were sketchy, as were the shooting locations. Entertainment 7’s most recent production was “Baby on Board” with John Corbett, Heather Graham and Jerry O’Connell.
If the Texas Film Commission has more details, please alert Chris Garcia at the Statesman.
Editor’s note: “Waco” screenwriter James Hibberd is a UT grad and a former entertainment writer at the Austin American-Statesman. He now writes about TV for The Hollywood Reporter.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
Campion in Cannes
Director Jane Campion, the only woman ever to win a Palme d’Or (for “The Piano”), made another appearance in the official competition Friday with the premiere of “Bright Star.”
The new pic is based primarily in the letters of John Keats and focuses on his relationship with Fanny Brawne, a woman of similar background whose family was financially insecure. In the Campion tradition, the movie is told from Fanny’s perspective, giving it a feminist vibe.
Abbie Cornish plays Fanny, while Ben Whishaw is Keats, who’s dying of consumption throughout most of the movie but nevertheless strikes up a passionate love with Fanny.
Campion said she was nervous about bringing the new film to Cannes, and that she had “butterflies” Thursday night when looking at the final edit. But she handles herself well in front of the media and made an impassioned statement about the neglect of Keats and his sense of humor and joyousness, even amid his illness.
The movie can seem like something of a romantic throwback, which is partly the point. After all, Keats was one of the Romantic poets. Campion, however, does not pretend that she was an expert on Keats before tackling the project. Instead, she says the making of the movie was like a discovery of his poetry.
Whishaw also said he was relatively clueless about Keats before playing him. “I didn’t really know much about him. I had a prejudice against the Romantics, preferring the modern poetry…. But I’ve grown to love the luxury and sensuality of his poetry.”
For American audiences, “Bright Star” may seem a bit slow. To cut to the chase, there’s a lot of sewing. And that’s just one step above watching paint dry, if you must know. But the sewing has a point. At the beginning, Fanny is sewing a white cotton dress, symbolizing the possibility of romance or a wedding. And at the end, she’s sewing a black funereal dress.
Campion defends all this sewing, saying bluntly, “Women of this period did two things. They sewed and they waited.” They obviously did a bit more than that, as Campion acknowledged, since they have borne everyone in the world. But the sewing metaphor takes precedence in “Bright Star.”
Cornish also stepped up to defend the sewing. “Sewing is the thread of the film,” she said.
For all you sewing enthusiasts out there, please note that I don’t hate sewing. My mother sewed — a lot. But I’m not sure it’s going to be a big box-office draw. That’s all I’m saying. Then again, sewers of the world might unite and surprise me. We’ll see.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
Scorsese in Cannes
Martin Scorsese, one of the few truly great auteurs without a film at Cannes this year, made an appearance anyway Friday, to promote the newly restored version of the 1948 classic “The Red Shoes.”
It has been restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, in cooperation with the British Film Institute, ITV Global Entertainment and Janus Films. And it’s showing tonight at a special screening, before it comes out in a special-edition Blu-ray at the end of June.
Scorsese, who’s a film restoration buff, took time out from his filming of :”Shutter Island” to come to Cannes and promote “The Red Shoes.”
After finishing “Shutter Island,” Scorsese plans to start work on a documentary about British cinema history, yet another of his passions. He’s a big fan of Jose[h Losey, Basil Dearden, Guy Hamilton and John Gilling.
Cannes always has a host of restored movies in its Cannes Classic sidebar, which gets little attention but is a gem of the fest.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
Phooey on swine flu
In case you’re wondering, nobody in Cannes cares about swine flu.
Nobody is wearing a mask. I suspect it would interfere with the all-important cigarette dangling from the mouth, at least for the French.
But the Canadians and the Americans are ignoring it, too. I suspect it would interfere with their beer and wine-guzzling. This is not the time for a health kick.
Still, the regular sunbathers are out in force, in various states of undress along the Croisette. And there’s something comforting about that, too.
A few years ago, the European porn industry held a concurrent event with the Cannes fest. But those days are gone. So there’s less blatant nudity, and that can be a blessing, especially when you realize that few people you’d like to see nude ever take their clothes off in front of you in Cannes.
But the cleavage is still here. And the Shirt Guys, those dudes with the form-fitting tops, are out in force again as well. So there is plenty of people-watching.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
More “Thirst” at Cannes
I doubt that Park Chan-Wook, the famed director from South Korea, has ever seen “True Blood” on HBO. But I couldn’t help thinking about it during the screening of his latest film in competition in Cannes.
It’s called “Thirst,” and it deals with a Catholic Korean priest who undergoes medical experiments to help people and ends up turning into a vampire. If he doesn’t drink blood, he starts to look like a leper, with boils on his body and fingernails that peel off. The fingernail peeling gets a bit old, but hey, this is par for the course for the director of “Oldboy.”
The similarities to “True Blood” focus on vampire ethics. If you’re a good vampire, you should probably just rely on blood that’s been in storage, so that you don’t kill people. Or you can hook up an IV at a local hospital and drink from the tubes of the sick. That’s what the priest in “Thirst” does.
But he starts to have sexual urges, too. And wouldn’t you know it, that’s a recipe for trouble. His new lover/convert doesn’t want to rely on the bottled brew and likes the kill. What’s a priest to do?
If you’ve ever watched “True Blood,” you’ll spot the similarities immediately. But this doesn’t mean that “Thirst” should be dismissed. It’s quite stylistic, with the unmistakable imprint of an auteur. And it should find receptive audiences among those who liked “Oldboy.”
Immediate reaction from my Canadian friends was mixed. But I come down on the favorable side. In fact, I haven’t seen a bad movie yet in the competition group. And that’s unusual.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
“Thirst” at Cannes
If one were inclined to whine while in Cannes (and I’m not because I love it over here), one could bemoan the absence this year after a decade of free Stella Artois in the pressroom. It was always nice after a brisk jaunt up the Croisette in the warm climes of the Riviera to know that a free beer was waiting if you wanted it. No more.
Apparently, the recession has made Stella Artois rethink its party-going ways in Cannes. Sigh.
A pint of Guinness goes for about 6 Euros during the fest. That’s about $8.50 to $9. So it’s a bit of an expense. But one must make do. A cocktail at a hotel is about $20 to $30, depending on whether it’s a call drink or a special label. It’s better to stick with wine, which goes for about $4 or $5.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
Alamo dude comes to Cannes
Tim League, the owner of the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, is bringing his traveling karaoke road show to Cannes this year.
He’ll be at the American Pavilion, on the shores of the Riviera, next Thursday night, according to the folks at the pavilion, which is a gathering spot for Americans at the festival.
Should be weird.
It’ll be going on during the screening of Elia Suleiman’s “The Time That Remains,” which retraces the lives of Palestinians during the founding of Israel in the late 1940s. But I’ll try to drop by.
A bigger problem, however, is that “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” the last movie of Heath Ledger, with Terry Gilliam directing, is screening at 8:30 the next morning. So can’t stay out too late. We’ll see.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
Texasdance starts to boogie
Another film fest, but a little different. The curiously named Texandance International Film Festival rolls June 5-7 at the historic Brauntex Theatre in downtown New Braunfels, with trailers, shorts, docs and features from around the globe.
Titles include: “Freezer Geezers,” a humorous doc about a seniors hockey league started by Peanuts creator, Charles Schulz; David Modigliani’s already successful portrait of Bush’s ex-home town, “Crawford”; and the western “Palo Pinto Gold” featuring Roy Clark and Mel Tillis.
Learn all about it and more HERE.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
The scene in Cannes
CANNES, France — Tables at the annual gala Amfar benefit for AIDS are going for $100,000, and the stars are still getting dressed up and walking the red carpet, but the glitz isn’t the same this year at the Cannes Film Festival.
Could it be that the recession is actually having an effect at the most glamorous film event in the world, where excess has been a hallmark?
Apparently, yes.
Although official attendance statistics haven’t been released, a number of prominent journalists are not here this year, partly because of the recession-related media meltdown. The largest newspaper in Canada, the Toronto Globe and Mail, did not send its film critic to this year’s fest, and that’s almost unheard of.
The parties on nearby yachts have been few and far between. And the elaborate lunches for the press are even rarer.
Perhaps the biggest indicator that the high-rollers are missing in action: The Casino Barriere has reduced the number of gown-clad women who once staffed the doors to the gaming rooms for blackjack and roulette from three to one.
A lone woman sits at a counter near the entrance these days, saying merely that the setup has changed. Inside, sports coats are no longer required, and people are dressed in jeans. The days of James Bond are gone.
Then there’s the minimum bet. For the past 10 years, it was unthinkable that you could play a hand of blackjack for less than 20 Euros, which is roughly $30. The minimum this year has been cut to 10 Euros, a relative bargain for pricey Cannes environs.
Some people, however, are here to spend money to make money. A group of young women this morning were trying to recruit critics this morning to attend an event at the American Pavilion. They were from Louisiana. And they were touting film incentives that have lured countless movie productions to the Bayou State over the past few years, much to the detriment of the Texas film scene.
In short, they’re messing with Texas. So I simply smiled at them near the mailboxes for journalists and said no thanks. Haven’t heard anything from the Texas film folks yet — or even seen them around the Croisette.
But I did catch up with Craig Whitney, an Austinite who’s marketing a movie at the Short Film Corner, and Dana Glover and Michelle Carter of Midian Films in Round Rock, who are representing several film projects at the market.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
The Cannes Jury
The Cannes Jury met the media Wednesday, and I’m still not sure why I go each year. But I did, yet again.
Most of the questions are posed by TV reporters who want to prove to the folks back home, wherever that may be, that they really were there. They really don’t have anything of substance to ask, but they look good, and they want to gain what little prestige they can by posing questions like: “How do you feel about being on the jury? Are you comfortable being a judge?”
This question, regrettably, was passed around to each and every member of the jury. This year, they are: Isabelle Huppert, the French actress who’s the president; U.S. director James Gray (“Two Lovers”); U.S. actress Robin Wright Penn (looking pained and distant, as if she were worried that someone would ask about her impending divorce from Sean Penn. No worries. The airhead journalists asking questions wouldn’t dare to be so presumptuous); pan-European actress Asia Argento; Turkish director Nuri Ceylan; British director Hanif Kureishi (“My Beautiful Laundrette”); Taiwanese actress Shu Qi; Indian actress Sharmila Tagore; and South Korean director Lee Chang-Dong (“Oasis”).
All of them said basically the same thing about being a judge. No, no, the word judge has negative connotations. Or as Huppert said, “We’re not here to judge; we’re here to love film.”
Kureishi, at least, said he always thinks awards competitions are just awful and unnecessary, but that his mind always changes when he wins one.
Gray said he decided to say “yes” to being a judge, simply because he wanted to get away from stuff and watch a bunch of good movies over the course of two weeks. Fair enough.
Poor Lee Chang-Dong was asked whether he would be partial to South Korean entries in the competition since he’s South Korean. Another lame question. But at least he had a comeback. “While in Cannes, my nationality is movies,” he said.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
Fitness magazine wants to ruin your movie experience
With these factoids:
66% of moviegoers buy something from the concession stand
There are 1,220 calories in a large movie-theater popcorn with butter
You would have to swim 162 minutes to burn off that popcorn - longer than your average motion picture
There are 483 calories in a soft pretzel
The price difference between a large popcorn and a JUMBO popcorn is a mere 75 cents, however there is also a 420 calorie difference
A movie theater Snickers bar is actually 3.7 ounces where a regular bar is only 2 ounces
More of this uplift in the mag’s June issue.
Concession Stand of Death.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment
‘Up’ at Cannes
CANNES, France — When the media come to Cannes, they seem to suffer from a case of the bad puns. So here’s one: The media were not down on “Up.”
The opening-night Disney/Pixar animated movie, showing in 3-D, received highly favorable reviews on Wednesday, a turnaround from previous years of savagery. London-based Screen International called the movie “a highpoint of ingenuity and storytelling.” Variety said it was “a lofty delight.” And The Hollywood Reporter said the “nongimmicky” use of 3-D gave “Up” a “joyously buoyant lift.”
By all means, go ahead and groan.
But the movie itself rightfully deserves accolades. It’s a charmer, combining the latest digital technology with old-time storytelling that Disney does so well.
No stranger to self-promotion, Disney wisely screened “Up” for select critics in advance of the debut Wednesday, showing it to members of the all-important trade press before they became jet-lagged in Cannes.
Such was not the case with such critical flops as “The Da Vinci Code,” another opening night movie in Cannes that went on to make more than $600 million worldwide despited bad reviews.
When it’s released later this month, “Up” will most likely have not only financial success but also critical support, as did the new “Star Trek.” And Disney will no doubt breathe a sigh of relief.
The story focuses on a grumpy 78-year-old widower who ties thousands of balloons to his home and tries to float away to an adventure in South America. The filmmakers, who took three years to write the script, let audiences identify with the old coot through a silent prologue, showing the marriage of Carl to Ellie, their years of domestic happiness, the sorrowful discovery that they can’t have children and the recovery of joy through everyday events. When Ellie dies, Carl retreats into his home, becoming the neighborhood grouch. Remarkably, all of this is conveyed with no dialogue ever spoken. And the scene will probably go down as a mini-masterpiece because of its visual effectiveness.
At a press conference after Wednesday’s screening in Cannes, the filmmakers looked relieved over the picture’s warm reception.
But Pixar honcho John Lasseter said that the birth of “Up” wasn’t as easy at it might look. He said his team sometimes re-did various sequences of “Up” from 30 to 40 times, just to get the right look and dialogue. And he said that the prologue about the life of Ellie and Carl was one on the most crucial in establishing audience identification with the characters.
Lasseter and director Pete Docter said they tried to use the 3-D effect to provide an emotional window into the story, rather than use it as a “gotcha” gimmick.
But the use of 3-D at Wednesday’s screening did have a downside. All English-language movies in the official selection at Cannes are required to have French subtitles, and they seemed to leap from the screen into the audience and distract from the story on Wednesday. If the French critics eventually decide to sharpen their knives over “Up,” this might be one of the easiest ways to pop its balloon. Yes, you may groan again.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Cannes
But do they have an ice-maker?
We’ll have to see them — no, feel them — to believe them. That’d be the boffo new “motion-enhanced” theater seats, unveiling at the Galaxy Highland May 21, just in time for “Terminator Salvation.”
Galaxy is the first theater in Texas — and THIRD in the WORLD — to introduce the D-Box Technology Motion Systems seats, which are explained as “seats that move with the action taking place onscreen. Seats are coded, frame by frame, to each movie so moviegoers can have he ultimate movie-viewing experience.”
Nutty.
Your butt will rumble.
Wait, this just in from the pubs: The Galaxy is installing 22 of the fancy seats in one of the theaters’ auditoriums. Now, hang on to your armrest: The seats cost an extra $8 to sit in, which makes your ticket, like, $16 or something. I’m bringing a bean bag chair.
Get all you need about UT’s Radio-Television-Film End of Semester Screenings — Wednesday through Sunday — right HERE.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment
Noteworthy DVDs released 5/12/09
PICK OF THE WEEK
“Galaxy Quest” (Paramount): Peeved at all the hoopla over J.J. Abrams’s new “Trek” revival? This freshly reissued parody earns more laughs than you might expect, without belly-flopping into anything-goes gags like those increasingly tiresome David Zucker productions and their imitators.
OTHER TOP PICKS
“Star Trek” Original Motion Picture Collection (Paramount): All the original crew’s big-screen outings, available in either DVD or Blu-ray box sets.
“Wise Blood” (Criterion): John Huston tackles Flannery O’Connor’s tale, casting Brad Dourif in the lead before he was pigeonholed as a character actor.
“The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” (MGM): Sergio Leone’s epic gets its desert vistas scrubbed for high-def Blu-ray presentation.
Alexander Korda’s Private Lives (Eclipse): Four 1930’s titles from director Korda, who skewers iconic characters in films like “The Private Life of Don Juan.”
NEW ON BLU-RAY
“C.S.I.” Season 1, “Major League,” and both “Wayne’s World” films (Paramount); “Dodgeball” (Fox); “Fargo” and “Force 10 from Navarone” (MGM); “The Grudge” (Sony); 007 in “Licence [SIC] to Kill” and “The Man with the Golden Gun” (MGM)
FRESH FROM THE MULTIPLEX
“Taken” (Fox); “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans” (Sony)
ARTHOUSE/FOREIGN
“Just Another Love Story” (E1 Entertainment); “O Jerusalem” (Anchor Bay)
FROM THE VAULTS
Westerns and war films “The King and Four Queens,” “Northwest Frontier,” “Time Limit,” and “Young Billy Young” (MGM)
DOCUMENTARIES
“Kill The Record Labels” (MVD); “Of Time and The City” (Strand)
BEST OF TV
“The Dana Carvey Show” (Shout! Factory); “The Jeff Foxworthy Show” Season 2 (Sony); Ian McShane in “Lovejoy” Season 5 (BBC); “Penn & Teller: BS!” Season 6 (Paramount); “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy” (Fox)
STRAIGHT(ISH) TO VIDEO
This week’s heavy video-direct haul includes sequels and spinoffs “Grudge 3” (Sony) and “S. Darko: A Donnie Darko Tale” (Fox); the pot comedy “High Hopes” (Lions Gate); and a handful of star vehicles: Anne Hathaway in “Passengers” (Sony), Michelle Pfeiffer in “Personal Effects” (Universal), Sarah Michelle Gellar in “Possession” (2009) (Fox), and Kevin Bacon in “Taking Chance” (HBO).
REISSUE/REPACKAGE
“Underworld Trilogy” (Sony)
KIDS’ STUFF
“Curious George Goes Green” (Universal); Disney’s “The Tortoise and the Hare,” “The Wind in the Willows,” and “The Reluctant Dragon” (Walt Disney)
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment
‘Unforeseen’ at iTunes
Laura Dunn’s ravishing and moving Barton Springs doc “The Unforeseen,” winner of awards and critical accolades, is now available for viewing at iTunes, courtesy of Cinetic Media, where former Austin film figure Matt Dentler tips us off on the offer. Saves you a trip to the vid store, right?
Watch it HERE.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin Movies Inc.
What I’m watching
Wherein our movie critic periodically shares what DVDs he’s been viewing in his spare time …
- “In Between Days” (2006; So Yong Kim): An effortless, super lo-fi little story about a teenage South Korean immigrant in America, whose only friend is another Korean immigrant. She clearly likes him, but his protective platonic shield is up high, so sexual tension sizzles then fizzles between them in dramatic ebbs and flows. Minimalist to the max, the film is the debut of So Yong Kim, whose next feature, “Treeless Mountain,” opens June 5 at the Arbor. (Odd: This is one of those movies you’ve already seen but sort of forgot it until you pop it in the player and realize what happened. I’ve now seen it twice.)
- “Basquiat” (1996; Julian Schnabel): If you can get past David Bowie’s jarringly dissonant impersonation of Andy Warhol and its lost but ego-inflated title character (Jeffrey Wright), this is a riveting look at the ’80s New York art scene and its morbid casualties. Colorful and inspired direction are the hallmarks of this biopic and have become Schnabel’s auteurist trademark. He’s gotten even better, coming into his own as a visionary filmmaker (“Before Night Falls,” “Butterfly and the Diving Bell”). I saw this film some time ago, but my allergy to biopics put me off. It was much better this time.
- “Man Push Cart” (2005; Ramin Bahrani): I’ve also seen this before, but re-watched as part of my recent Ramin Bahrani (“Chop Shop,” “Goodbye Solo”) kick. A completely assured first feature that, as others have said, encapsulates American independent film: non-professional actors, no musical score, grainy hand-held camerawork, live locations. Modest in scope but generous in humanity, it’s another minimalist entry in the unofficial “neo-neorealism” genre. Captivating and gratifying.
- “Wise Blood” (John Huston; 1979): I don’t know how I forgot most of this wry and funny and wonderfully offbeat drama, but a second viewing brought it all back, and better. Huston’s take on the famed Flannery O’Connor material is a southern-gothic blast and scathing critique of old-time religion gone rancid and exploitative. A lot of fun with glorious performances by a cast that seethes eccentricity: Brad Dourif, Ned Beatty, Amy Wright, Harry Dean Stanton and others, including Huston himself.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: DVDs
Review of “The Room”
Here’s a statement not often made in reference to “The Room”; it makes sense to me.
Not the movie, which delivers on its reputation as a terribly executed, barely comprehensible mess. But an intro/Q&A session with Tommy Wiseau, the film’s director/producer/lead actor, Wednesday at The Alamo Drafthouse offered a look into the mind just warped and deluded enough to churn out a finished product that’s the cinematic equivalent of a Thalidomide baby. I now understand how “The Room” was ever possible in the first place.
Looking like a cross between modern day Mickey Rourke and Glen Danzig, Wiseau held forth for about 20 minutes that was part Q&A but mostly ramble on topics such as life (“It’s whatever you want it to be” and “You can’t have 100 percent if you don’t have 20 percent first.”); the film industry (“They need more people from Texas… and I don’t say that because I like people from Texas, I don’t.”) And he repeatedly called out and threatened the writer (presumed to be not in attendance) of a recent unflattering profile in the Austin Chronicle.
From there Wiseau encouraged the audience to take up the movie’s growing cult fandom behaviors such as throwing plastic spoons and footballs at various points - even though Alamo organizers discouraged it - before the lights went down for his piece de “OH MY GOD IT’S REALLY AS BAD AS THEY SAID IT IS!”
Although truthfully, “bad” isn’t the right descriptor for “The Room.” Movies like the “Fantastic Four” or “Surviving Christmas” are bad because they’re ultimately lifeless, empty approximations of genre stories we’ve seen before. Forgotten as quick as they leave the screen.
“The Room,” on the other hand, is such a misshapen, incongruous mashup of poor acting, bad editing, dropped plots and amazingly wretched dialogue - “Anyway, how is your sex life?” - that it’s impossible to forget. Sure it might be really really terrible, but in the end all that awful gets people engaged and reacting to the movie. Is that so bad?
That’s the argument Wiseau makes, trying to play off that his goal all along was to make something that would be remembered by audiences for a long time even it was for a movie that would never dream of sniffing a Razzie, let alone an Oscar.
It was pointless face-saving, of course. Smiling uncomfortably when asked about the movie’s cult following and its reputation as one of the worst movies ever, Wiseau put up his best front to make it seem like he was the smartest guy in the room instead of a punchline holding a microphone.
It was all an act though, and just like in movie that followed, Wiseau’s acting in real life was laughably bad.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Edwin “Bud” Shrake dies
Austin journalist, novelist and playwright Edwin “Bud” Shrake died early Friday at St. David’s Hospital, Gary Cartwright, his friend of 50 years said.
Shrake, 77, said in August he had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer that had spread to his abdomen. Doctors told him at the time that the cancer was relatively slow-growing and gave him between 18 and 24 months to live.
Shrake began his career writing sports for the “Ft. Worth Press” and moved on to a roving correspondent for “Sports Illustrated.” He was the author of some 10 novels and three nonfiction books, including “Harvey Penick’S Little Red Book,” which he co-authored and which became the biggest-selling sports book in America.
That windfall freed Shrake to write what he pleased for the rest of his life.
He was twice married to his first wife, Joyce, with whom he had two sons, Ben and Alan.
He was married to Austin real estate agent Doatsy Shrake from 1966 to 1980. In more recent years he was the longtime companion of former Texas Gov. Ann Richards.
Despite his terminal diagnosis, Shrake was well enough to appear at the Texas Book Festival, where he talked about his collection, “Land of the Permanent Wave,” to a packed room.
Arrangements are pending.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment
Student screenings, FilmWorks style
What we got here: Austin FilmWorks Spring Student Screening, featuring end-of-term screenings of Production One and Two final projects
When it is: 7 p.m. Tuesday
Where it’s at: Dobie Theater
What it will hit you for: $8 (but totally worth it, in inspiration alone)
How to get more: Click Me.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Free family flix
Regal Cinemas is throwing the Free Family Film Festival, nine weeks of free flicks at 10 a.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the Arbor, Lakeline and Westgate theaters in Austin.
Look for titles like “Hotel for Dogs,” “Kung Fu Panda” and “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.”
It runs June 9 through Aug. 7.
Details HERE
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment
Clint Howard storms the Alamo
Actor Clint Howard is in Austin today and Tuesday to screen a pair of his cult classics at the Alamo Ritz: “Rock N’ Roll High School” at 10 tonight and “Evilspeak” at 10:15 p.m. Tuesday.
We caught up with him and here’s what he said …
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Noteworthy DVDs released 5/5/09
PICK OF THE WEEK
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount / Criterion): Some moviegoers felt David Fincher’s sweeping fantasy was too long. Here’s hoping more folks are willing to brave the running time in the comfort of home — a big dose of old-fashioned movie romance awaits those who do.
OTHER TOP PICKS
“Big” (Fox): Who needs “17 Again” when (arguably) the world’s best age-bending comedy has just been upgraded for Blu-ray?
“Wendy and Lucy” (Oscilloscope): One of the year’s most celebrated indie films, made by SXSW alum Kelly Reichardt (“Old Joy”) and starring Michelle Williams as a woman suffering some tough breaks on the way to a job in Alaska.
“Enchanted April” (Walt Disney / Miramax): Well-liked period piece about Brits vacationing in Italian splendor benefits from a cast including Miranda Richardson, Joan Plowright and Jim Broadbent.
“A Grin Without a Cat” (First Run / Icarus): Another previously-unavailable work by film essayist Chris Marker, this one a left-wing globe-trot through Vietnam, Bolivia, and Prague, is finally on disc for adventurous cinephiles.
NEW ON BLU-RAY
“There’s Something About Mary” (Fox); “Dexter” Season 2, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Grease,” “Saturday Night Fever” (Paramount); “Dog Soldiers” (First Look); “It Could Happen to You,” “Roxanne” (Sony); “Twilight” (Summit)
FRESH FROM THE MULTIPLEX
“Incendiary” (Image); “Last Chance Harvey” (Anchor Bay); “Smother” (Universal)
ARTHOUSE/FOREIGN
“A Song of Innocence” (“La Ravisseuse”) (Synkronized USA); “Chandni Chowk To China” (Warner Bros.); “Momma’s Man” (Kino); “Under the Bombs” (Film Movement)
DOCUMENTARIES
“Fashion in Film” (Anchor Bay); “Jack Taylor of Beverly Hills” (Indiepix); “Tony Palmer’s Film of O Thou Transcendent: The Life of Ralph Vaughan Williams,” “Tony Palmer’s Film of O, Fortuna” (United States of Distribution)
BEST OF TV
“Bleak House” (2005), Doctor Who: “Battlefield” and “E-Space Trilogy” (BBC); “Boston Legal” Season 5 (Fox); “Crusoe,” “Lipstick Jungle” Season 2 (Universal); “Florence Nightingale” (1985), “Ivanhoe” (1982), “Living Proof” (Sony); “Gigantor,” “A Little Princess” (1987) (E1 Entertainment); “That Girl” Season 5 (Shout! Factory); “Yawara!: A Fashionable Judo Girl” (AnimEigo)
REISSUE/REPACKAGE
“How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” Deluxe Edition (Paramount)
KIDS’ STUFF
“Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey’s Big Splash,” “Imagination Movers: Warehouse Mouse Edition” (Walt Disney); “A Plumm Summer” (Paramount)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: DVDs
thirtysomething goes to DVD
We’re finally about to be thirtysomething all over again. The TV show about young urban professionals (‘thirtysomething’ was too good to call them yuppies), which ran from 1987- 1991, is finally coming out on DVD Aug. 25.
Shout Factory, which had success with the DVDs for “My So-Called Life,” (also created by Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz) will release season one first, with the next three seasons to come out at six-month intervals.
A couple of factors have kept ‘thirtysomething’ from making it to DVD until now, chief among them a lack of transferrable masters. A few episodes had to be remastered, which is a time-swallowing process. The other hitch was getting music rights clearances, but Shout Factory, which specializes in licensing oldies for reissue, was able to get all the music played on the show.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: DVDs
‘Beeswax’ gets picked up
Andrew Bujalski’s all-Austin drama “Beeswax” has been snagged by The Cinema Guild for U.S. distribution. The film played the Berlin and South by Southwest film festivals to mostly kind reviews.
See the item at IndieWire.
(Side note: Andrew is getting married Saturday in Austin, so a huge second congrats to him!)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin Movies Inc.
Cine Las Americas winners
Cine Las Americas International Film Festival, which wrapped its 12th edition Thursday, announced winners in its five-category competition, including audience awards.
Best Narrative Feature is “El truco del manco (The Handless Trick)” by Santiago Zannou. Best Documentary Feature is “Intimidades de Shakespeare y Víctor Hugo (Shakespeare and Victor Hugo’s Intimacies)” by Yulene Olaizola.
Read the complete list of winners HERE.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Student movies, free
Check out the end-of-semester shorts by students of Kat Candler’s stupendous Script to Screen classes from 10 a.m. to noon May 9 at the Alamo South.
The program is free, and you can learn more about it, Kat and her classes HERE.
We don’t know who this man-child is, though we reserve the right to assume he is either a) in one of the short films, b) a student filmmaker, or c) both. If you can figure it out, call your senator and win a Fudgesicle.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin Movies Inc.
Roller derby feature whips up release date
“Whip It!” — the movie written for Austin by a former Austinite (Shauna Cross) but only partially (itty-bittily) filmed here — has an opening date: Oct. 9.
With its lavish tax incentives, Michigan stole the shoot from its Texas roots, except for a couple days of pick-up shots around the Congress Avenue Bat Bridge. It’s a Texas roller derby picture. Writes Fox Searchlight:
The directorial debut of Drew Barrymore stars Ellen Page (Juno) as Bliss, a rebellious Texas teen who throws in her small town beauty pageant crown for the rowdy world of roller derby. UT alum Marcia Gay Harden (Mystic River, Pollock) plays Bliss’ disapproving mother, while Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live) and Juliette Lewis (Old School) play roller-derby stars. Also starring Eve, Jimmy Fallon and Daniel Stern.
We’re pretty sure this is Kristin Wiig …
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin Movies Inc.
