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Claire Danes making HBO movie here
Claire Danes, Julia Ormond, David Strathairn and Catherine O’Hara are coming to the Austin and Smithville areas to shoot HBO’s still untitled biopic about Temple Grandin, a leading speaker and expert on autism, as well as one of the top scientists in humane livestock handling.
Danes will play Grandin and Ormond will play her mother, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Strathairn will play Grandin’s science teacher, and O’Hara will play her aunt.
Filming starts later this month.
For casting call information, go HERE and HERE.
Danes
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Free screening of ‘Quinceanera’ with guest
Sweet coming-of-age story “Quinceanera” gets a special one-night screening with one of its actors, Jesse Garcia, in attendance at 9 p.m. Monday at the Alamo South. And it’s free.
A 2006 Sundance winner, the movie — which I recommend — follows Magdalena (Emily Rios) and the dramas surrounding her 15th birthday.
There will be a welcome cocktail reception with music by DJ Mel and a post-show Q-and-A with Garcia.
RSVP (mandatory) by Monday HERE.
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Movie scraps
Or what we like to call film clips:
- Wayne Coyne, goofball leader of cult band the Flaming Lips, presents his psychedelic fantasy “Christmas on Mars: A Fantastical Film Freakout Featuring the Flaming Lips” at 7, 9:40 and 11:59 p.m. Oct. 11 at the Alamo Ritz. Filled with Lips music, the movie was co-directed by Coyne, George Salisbury and Austin’s own Brad Beesley. Tickets HERE.
1953 indie landmark “Little Fugitive” screens free at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Texas Union Theatre at the University of Texas as part of the fall Austin Cinematheque series. More HERE.
Frank Popper’s entertaining, highly topical political doc “Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?” plays at 7 p.m. Oct. 15 at the Alamo Ritz. Read about the film and get tickets HERE. Popper will answer questions afterward.
Red Salmon Arts and the Mexican American Cultural Center present “Writing Behind Bars,” featuring a screening of “Writ Writer” and a poetry reading by Jorge Antonio Renaud, ex-convict and award-winning writer, his first since 1991. It’s at 7 p.m. Oct. 16 at the Mexican American Cultural Center (600 River St.). Free. Complete details HERE
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Hit doc ‘Crawford’ goes online
A big hit at South by Southwest, where it won top honors, Austinite David Modigliani’s documentary “Crawford” has picked up distribution with B-Side Entertainment and can be viewed online starting Tuesday.
The film, an engrossing profile of President Bush’s adopted Texas hometown and how his presence transformed it, will be available to watch online via Hulu.com and, later, through B-Side, Amazon VOD, iTunes and other sites as streaming, downloads and DVD on demand.
Info HERE.
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Family movies; living room optional
Share your family movies with the public during Home Movie Day at 2 p.m. Oct. 19 at the Prothro Theater at the Ransom Center at UT.
Your movies must be on film, not video. Films will be inspected and those in good condition will be screened. “Local film experts will offer advice on caring for family films and discuss why yesterday’s home movies are important today.”
Plus prizes, games and refreshments. Free and open to all.
Call 495-4691 or go HERE.
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Free screenings and more
Tolerable nighttime temps are here, perfect for screenings al fresco during the Movies in the Park program at Republic Square Park downtown.
Presented by the Austin Film Society, the series looks at Austin’s fabled counter-culture scene and starts Wednesday in Republic Square with Scott Conn’s “Dirt Road To Psychedelia.” It continues Oct. 29 with Nancy Higgins’ “Viva Les Amis” and Nov. 16 with a shorts program.
All shows are FREE and begin at dusk, around 8 p.m. More HERE.
Animation fave Don Hertzfeld appears Oct. 11 at the Alamo South with a passel of his award-winning shorts, plus his latest “I am so proud of you.”
Details HERE.
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Bill Murray pops up at Fantastic Fest closer
The great and odd Bill Murray made a surprise appearance Thursday night at Fantastic Fest at the Alamo South to promote his new film “City of Ember,” a sneak peek of which closed the week-long celebration of fantasy, horror and science-fiction films.
Murray, 58, was introduced to an exuberant full-house before the movie by its director Gil Kenan and regaled the audience with off-handed quips. Murray plays the treacherous Mayor of Ember in the family-friendly fantasy film, based on the popular young-adult novel by Jeanne DuPrau. The film officially opens Oct. 10.
Read our interview with Murray on Saturday in the American-Statesman and at Austin360.com.
The multiple moods of Murray
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Film fest to fly high with kitsch classic
There are all sorts of interesting movies playing the Austin Film Festival next month — the entire line-up was just announced — but we like this one best.
Actor Tom Skerritt, he of the rangy frame and marevelous cop-’stache, will be at the fest to screen 1986’s airborne classic “Top Gun.” Skerritt, an icon of ‘70s film, played Cmdr. Mike “Viper” Metcalf in the melodrama, next to a pre-nuts Tom Cruise. It will play at 9:30 p.m. Oct. 18 at the IMAX Theater.
The Austin Film Festival runs Oct.16 — 23.
See the entire fest line-up and more HERE.
Totally.
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Danny Boyle to be crowned at AFF
“Trainspotting” director Danny Boyle will receive this year’s Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award on Oct. 18 at the Austin Film Festival.
Boyle will screen two films Oct. 17 at the Paramount Theatre: his breakout movie “Shallow Grave” and his latest feature “Slumdog Millionaire,” which won the audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Read more about Boyle and the festival, which runs Oct. 16 through 23, HERE.
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‘The Crowd’ kicks off new Austin Cinematheque season
A rare archival 35mm print of the 1928 silent gem “The Crowd” screens free at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Texas Union Theatre at UT (24th and Guadalupe streets).
The film, by Texas native King Vidor, inaugurates the new semester-long season of the Austin Cinematheque series, which is devoted to showing cinema essentials on the big screen for no admission cost.
“The Crowd” has become a highly influential piece of stylized filmmaking and a prescient commentary on the dehumanization of rabid American capitalism.
See more HERE.
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AGLIFF programming director is moving on
After only two seasons with the festival, Lisa Kaselak, programming director for the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (AGLIFF), is leaving the organization for “personal pursuits,” she announced Monday.
She is being replaced by former AGLIFF volunteer Jake Gonzalez.
Kaselak departs during a rough period for the festival, which celebrated its 20th edition last month. It’s been facing financial hurdles while struggling to establish a national presence.
We’re waiting for more details and a comment from Kaselak — herself a filmmaker — which we’ll post on arrival.
Lisa Kaselak
UPDATE:
Lisa just got back to us, saying:
“I’m leaving because, primarily, I’m a filmmaker and I haven’t made a film in two years! I’m sad to leave aGLIFF, but I was committed to bringing aGLIFF to a point of sustainability, which I feel has been accomplished. The team there, David Sweeney, Colin Acock and Jake Gonzalez, are taking aGLIFF to a very solid, community-based organization that will continue to bring excellent films to the festival every year, in addition to fulfilling more of the year-round mission of aGLIFF to support local gay filmmakers.”
She continues:
“I have several projects in the hopper which I’m in development on:
Producing a pilot for a new, travel-based food show featuring The Soup Peddler: David Ansel, aka, The Soup Peddler, globe trots in search of the world’s best soups. Part travelogue, part ethnography, each 30-minute episode pursues a different soup in its birthplace and invites local guests to act as a guide and/or impetus for the narrative as they investigate the soup’s history and regional ingredients.
Producing and directing a documentary ‘Sons of the Table: Sons of Slaves, Sons of Slave Owners’ (working title) is a documentary film that investigates racial issues through the very personal story of the last remaining descendant of a Texas slave plantation, Tomlinson Hill. Former Associated Press Africa bureau chief Chris Tomlinson investigates the common heritage he shares with a descendant of the slaves of Tomlinson Hill, professional football player Ladainian Tomlinson. Chris explores the family histories of these two very different Tomlinsons and their contrary experiences with race in America and abroad.
Co-producing and directing a new documentary: ‘Shooting Stars’ is the story of the Armed Forces Entertainment’s invitation to Austin’s Latin hip-hop band Los Bad Apples to tour eight US Middle Eastern military bases in February 2009. The band, pursuing their version of the American dream in an unlikely location, realize that they have more in common with enlisted soldiers than they thought. They invite the soldiers to share their experiences and aspirations through the common language of hip-hop and rap.”
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Watch Michael Moore’s latest … free!
Whippersnappers, documentary icon and rabble-rouser Michael Moore wants you to vote — badly.
So much that he’s giving away his latest agitprop online for free. The full-length feature is called “Slacker Uprising” and addresses the urgency for young people to get out and vote in the presidential election.
It’s free, it’s legal, and it’s now.
Says Moore: “I’m giving you my blanket permission to not only download it, but also to email it, burn it, and share it with anyone and everyone (in the U.S. and Canada only). I want you to use ‘Slacker Uprising’ in any way you see fit to help with the election or to do the work that you do in your community.”
Watch it HERE.
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Fantastic Fest award winners
The ongoing Fantastic Fest has announced this year’s winners. The Japanese sci-fi horror “Tokyo Gore Police” took home the top prize in the AMD Next Wave competition, while the Audience Award went to the much-heralded “The Good The Bad and The Weird.” “Let the Right One In” took home the honor of Best Horror Feature.
Check out the full list of winners below and head to the Fantastic Fest site for remaining screenings.
Bloodshots 48 Hour Filmmaking Contest
Team: Scottish Rite ProductionsFilm: “Meet the Maydays”
Team Capt.: Drew Thomas
Fantastic Fest Bumper Contest
Team: Yer DeadFilm: “Report Card”
Team Capt: Jason Eisener
Animated Shorts
First Place: “Bernie’s Doll”Second Place: “Muto”
Third Place: “Violeta”
Special Jury Award for Technical Merit: “Facts In The Case Of Mr. Hollow”
Fantastic Shorts
First Place: “The Object”Second Place: “Spandex Man”
Third Place: “Stagman”
Special Jury Award for Visual Invention: “Rojo Red”
Horror Shorts
First Place: “Electric Fence”Second Place: “I Love Sarah Jane”
Third Place: “El Senor Puppe”
Special Jury Award for sheer enjoyability: “The Horribly Slow Murderer With The Extremely Inefficient Weapon”
Fantastic Features
First Place: “How to Get Rid of Others”Second Place: “Cargo 200”
Third Place: “Ex Drummer”
Special Jury Award for originality and vision: “Santos”
Horror Features
First Place: “Let the Right One In”Second Place: “Acolytes”
Third Place: “Donkey Punch”
Special Jury Award for most politically incorrect gore: “Feast 2”
Special Jury Award for best use of latex: “Jack Brooks Monster Slayer”
Audience Award
First Place: “The Good, The Bad and the Weird”Second Place: “Chocolate”
Third Place: “JCVD”
AMD Fantastic Fest Online
Best Feature Film: “South of Heaven”Best Short Film: “Treevenge”
AMD Next Wave
First Place: “Tokyo Gore Police”Second Place: “Deadgirl”
Third Place: “Le Creme”
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Another (yes, another) festival coming up
Jammed amid the fall film fest fandango — including Fantastic Fest, the Austin Asian American Film Festival and Austin Film Festival — is the fifth annual Cinema Touching Disability Film Festival, Oct. 3 and 4 at the Alamo South.
Small in scope, huge in heart, the fest focuses on films that “promote community awareness of the capability of people with disabilities.” Previous films include “Coming Home,” “The Best Years of Our Lives” and “My Left Foot.”
This year’s movies are the Oscar-winning “A Patch of Blue,” starring Elizabeth Hartman as a blind girl, with Sidney Poitier and Shelley Winters, and “Music Within,” with Ron Livingston.
Full details HERE.
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Austin Asian American Film Fest on its way
In between Fantastic Fest, which wraps Thursday, and the Austin Film Festival, Oct. 16 through 23, don’t forget the Austin Asian American Film Festival, unrolling Oct. 9 through 12 with more than 40 features and shorts, plus parties and live music. Films — including the wild Bollywood drama ‘No Smoking’ and the documentary ‘Hollywood Chinese’ — will screen at the Alamo Ritz and Alamo Village. Tickets and schedule HERE.
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Viva la revolucion! via movies
Cine Las Americas launches the 10-film series Se Busca: La Revolucion Mexicana, a mix of classic and recent features and documentaries about the Mexican revolution. It runs Wednesday through Oct. 20 at the Mexican American Cultural Center (600 River St.)
The series is broken into indoor and outdoor screenings. See full film descriptions HERE.
Outdoor screenings, 8 p.m. showtimes
Wednesday: “Let’s Go with Pancho Villa!” (1936)
Oct. 1: “El Compadre Mendoza” (1934)
Oct. 8: “Prisoner 13” (1933)
Oct. 15: “The Last Zapatistas, Forgotten Heroes” (2002), with the short “The Shoes of Emiliano Zapata” (2001)
Oct. 22: “The Comet” (1999)
Indoor screenings, 8 p.m. showtimes
Sept. 30: “Pancho Villa: Revolution is Not Over” (2006)
Oct. 7: “1910: The Spiritist Revolution” (2006)
Oct. 13: “The Hidden Face of Villa” (2004)
Oct. 20: “Mexico: The Frozen Revolution” (1973)
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Cut to the chase with professional-level film courses
Popular film instructor Steve Mims, who once taught a guy named Robert Rodriguez, is teaching basic and advanced cinematography courses this fall. Here’s how they go:
Production One — An introductory hybrid 16mm film and digital filmmaking class, running Oct. 7 through Dec. 16. The 11-week overview teaches the crucial technical and aesthetic elements necessary for making a successful contemporary film. Students shoot a camera exercise and make a finished short film that is screened at the Arbor Theater. 15 students only.
Production Two — Advanced Cinematography is a filmmaking workshop focusing specifically on 16mm film and Sony’s XDCAMEX 24PHD CineAlta camera. Students will shoot both film and HD and develop two short scripted films to be shot, edited and screened at the Arbor. The 11-week class runs Oct. 8 through Dec. 17. Only 10 students.
Details, prices, all that jazz HERE.
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Early review of Linklater’s latest
Richard Linklater’s latest, the London-shot, Zac Efron-starring “Me and Orson Welles,” gets a respectful review from The Hollywood Reporter after its showing at the Toronto International Film Festival. Read on:
Bottom Line: Christian McKay’s impersonation of young Orson Welles is sensational in this enjoyable, though slight, historical fiction about a teen who spends a memorable week with the legendary wonder
TORONTO — At the heart of “Me and Orson Welles” is an uncanny impersonation of the young Orson Welles by English actor Christian McKay. He does resemble the “boy genius” a bit but more crucially his voice is perfect. He’s nailed every vocal nuance that contributed to Welles’ acting performances and larger-than-life personality. McKay has previously done a one-man show as Welles and, in a way, this movie is a continuation of that show.
Not that the always surprising Richard Linklater doesn’t surround McKay’s Orson with a memorable cast that plays real and imaginary characters who were a part of Orson’s Mercury Theatre production of “Julius Caesar” in 1937. All spark to life quite nicely. Yet you get the feeling that if Orson were to vanish, their life lights would dim precipitously.
There is an audience for this film. Fans of two indie mavericks, Linklater and Welles, for one. The film is a must for lovers and students of the theater. Ditto that for admirers of terrific acting. But this all adds up to an art-house audience. Any distributor that bites must hope that McKay gets recognition with year-end awards to help boost what will otherwise be a modest boxoffice.
The film, written by Holly Gent Palmo and Vince Palmo, derives from Robert Kaplow’s carefully researched historical novel about the legendary 1937 New York stage production. Shakespeare’s play was pared down to 90 minutes and performed on a bare stage, covered with platforms at various heights, with the actors all wearing Fascist uniforms. It was a critical triumph.
Kaplow and now Linklater’s story imagines that a high school student, Richard Samuels (Zac Efron), who loves theater and music, wanders by the restored 41st Street theater and is hired by an impetuous Welles for a minor though key role.
Through Richard’s eyes we watch the show take shape in its last week, moving from near catastrophe to artistic victory while its director and star (Welles played Brutus) throws off brilliant though often contradictory ideas, sneaks off to trysts with willing actresses and assistants, continues the radio show that pays the bills and never apologizes for his raging ego.
Richard becomes romantically involved with Welles’ ambitious assistant Sojna (Claire Danes), rubs shoulders with the likes of Mercury co-founder John Houseman (Eddie Marsan), future movie star Joseph Cotton (James Tuper) and Mercury star George Coulouris (Ben Chaplin) and sees how art involves a certain amount of artifice. Or B.S., as Sonja puts it.
The film gets off to a halting start with too many talky scenes setting things up. The movie hits its stride as the Richard-Sonja romance heats up and Welles buckles down to business. Efron (“Hairspray,” “High School Musical”) holds his own against Welles/McKay, which is no easy task. He seems a bit mature for a high school student though. He’s more a college sophomore.
Danes plays a potentially off-putting role with charm and verve. Other standouts include Kelly Reilly as the show’s female star Muriel Brassler and Al Weaver as designer Sam Leve, whose original stage design for “Julius Caesar” was copied by the filmmakers to insure authenticity.
In the end though, Linklater’s film is about Orson Welles, not the Me. The film does analyze his artistic process and his perhaps already damaged psyche with a degree of hindsight, giving him a speech of self-assessment the real Orson would have been incapable of in 1937.
That the boy wonder became an old-age parody of himself as much through his own self-destructiveness as the misdeeds of others informs every moment of McKay’s great performance. The film ends on a note of supreme happiness and hope though, both for Orson and for Richard. After all, the future still lies ahead.
Efron, feeling “Welles”
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New autism movie program
AMC theaters and the Autism Society of America are sponsoring a special screening of the new animated family flick “Igor” at 10 a.m. Sept. 20 at AMC Barton Creek. ($4 per ticket.)
It’s part of the monthly series Sensory Friendly Movie Saturday “to bring families affected by autism and other disabilities and challenges a special opportunity to enjoy their favorite films in a safe and accepting environment on a monthly basis. … The theaters will have their lights brought up and the sound turned down. Families can even bring in snacks for individuals on special diets!” according to organizers.
Learn more about the program HERE, or 479-4199.
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‘Bangkok Dangerous’ review
They wouldn’t screen it for most critics, but power-mag Variety saw the new Nicolas Cage actioner “Bangkok Dangerous,” opening Friday. Here’s their take:
Nicolas Cage stars as a hit man in ‘Bangkok Dangerous’
Heavy on the spice and cheap on the meat, “Bangkok Dangerous” adds plenty of Thai seasoning to the Hollywood lone-assassin recipe, but the result is only mildly pungent. Rehashing certain elements — including striking location shooting — that marked their much grittier 1999 feature of the same title, Hong Kong’s Pang brothers increase the decibel level of the gunshots and the schmaltz level of the scenario, but such embellishments, not to mention a Nicolas Cage doused with Clairol, make this hefty remake seem less dangerous than incongruous. Low September B.O. body count should be surpassed by acceptable ancillary returns.
Twins Danny and Oxide Pang made their dual-directorial debut with the Thai-language version of “Bangkok Dangerous,” whose effective lowlife atmosphere and wide-ranging stylistic palette propelled them onto the international scene. They followed with the original 2002 “The Eye” and its two local sequels before debuting Stateside with last year’s moody horror tale “The Messengers.”
Working here with a script by Jason Richman (“Swing Vote”), the helmers reshape their rough, Bangkok underworld-set story into a cleaner tourist’s take on crime and corruption. Yet without the technical nastiness and fatal realism that made the initial film so compelling, the remake feels like a hollow excuse to present the myriad ways in which a bullet can pierce a cranium, rather than an edgy portrait of Third World violence.
As in the original, pic follows the gloomy itinerary of solitary gun-for-hire Joe (Cage), who, in the opening scene, takes out a high-profile target in Prague, then coldly eliminates his assistant via lethal injection. With no hints as to what exactly pushed Joe into such a dirty business, we’re left to work with the few personal guidelines he repeats in a voiceover, used sparingly throughout.
Arriving in Bangkok to execute four contracts he hopes to be his last, Joe quickly finds himself immersed in the city’s “corrupt, dirty and dense” lifestyle, which the filmmakers effectively (albeit hastily) render through neon-lit street shots and strobing nightclub scenes. Hiring local henchman Kong (Thai actor Shahkrit Yamnarm, who delivers the film’s most endearing turn) to serve as a middleman, he successfully knocks off the first three targets in more or less professional fashion.
Exterior-based assassination sequences, highlighted by a lengthy boat chase set inside a picturesque floating market, make the first half easier to digest. But Joe’s sudden and unexplained character change midway through, marked by his growing teacher-student relationship with Kong and his altogether platonic affair with an attractive pharmacist (H.K. pop singer and “New Police Story” star Charlie Young), is never fully fleshed out, and adds little resonance to the multiple killings that follow.
Lively Bangkok locales offer up a colorful urban portrait that winds up being much more complex than the script’s underdeveloped characters. Working with usual cinematographer Decha Srimantra (who lensed their three “Eye” productions) and production designer James Newport (“Brokedown Palace”), the Pangs manage to bring back some of the exotic grit of the first film, although the imagery here is more postcard-like.
Cage gives a mostly laconic perf, yet at times can’t seem to hide his joy at shooting in so many cool locations, which adds a befitting sense of wonder to his humdrum persona. Co-stars Young and Yamnarm are both solid actors who unfortunately disappear in the film’s final stages.
Kinetic score by Brian Tyler is mixed with several cheesy pop tunes played at a racy Bangkok dance club, which, in this U.S.-friendly version, features only scantily clad, but no nude, entertainment.
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Funny-guy Greg Daniels to be honored at fest
TV comedy writer extraordinaire Greg Daniels is this years’ honoree for the Outstanding Television Writer award at the Austin Film Festival, it was just announced.
We like the way the fest introduces their pick:
Remember the episode of “Seinfeld” where the George and Elaine fight over a stolen parking space outside of Jerry’s house? Or “The Simpsons” episode where Bart sells his soul to Milhouse for $5? Have you spent your week waiting for the latest episode of “The Office,” or Sunday evenings winding down with the second longest-running animated television show of all time, “King of the Hill”?
Read the rest HERE. It’s pretty impressive.
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McConaughey doesnt give time for a yawn…and he is so very good-looking. He is the only blond I consider attractive. I dont know where you’ve been, but stuff is happening around that ‘dude.’ Congratulation on the baby!
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McConaughey? Yawn… But when the heck is “Hands on a Hard Body” going to issued on DVD? (Or reissued? It’s been out of print for years though.) I was bummed to hear about the poor guy who died recently after quitting one of the real
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