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November 18, 2009
Cine Las Americas Happy Hour at Malverde
Two developments of note during the Cine Las Americas Happy Hour at Malverde …
Giovanna Colson-Basurto and Angel Quesada
An obvious one: The cosmopolitan crowd that follows this Austin film festival has found a home away from home at Malverde, which, as more than one guest remarked, looks like it was lifted from Mexico City’s Condesa district …
Roberto Hernandez and Tania Lara
Not so obvious to the curious outsider: Cine is becoming a year-round institution …
Monica Malenco and Omar Flores
Instead of gathering for just eight days during a feast of Latin American films, it now spreads its wings throughout the year with screenings and social events like this one …
Angela Hall, Leslie Sainz, Dan Dau and Dillan Bryant
This organization is growing up quickly. I like that …
Hector Perez, Yvette Montalvo and Philip Hernandez
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November 4, 2009
Your A-List: Best Video Store
The A-List reader’s poll produces very few exact ties. Numerically, the more votes, the less chance for a tie. Yet we are faced with one in first place this week.
Austin’s other traditional video spot, I Luv Video, came in a respectable third with 14 percent. Blockbuster and the Austin Public Library tied at 6 percent. Hastings, an older Texas chain, managed 4 percent.
Three percent or less of the voters chose Tapelenders, Encore and the Movie Store.
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October 27, 2009
'Apollo 13' Red Carpet at the Paramount Theatre
[Sorry these party posts are coming in so late, even if for obvious reasons. Only 8 more of 25 total to go.]
Only at the Austin Film Festival do screenwriters stride the red carpet, facing a battery of cameras and microphones usually reserved for A-List onscreen stars.
Outside the Paramount Theatre on Saturday, for a headliner screening for the Austin Film Festival, press and paparazzi pushed forward to view the likes of Bill Broyles, Al Reinart, Ron Howard and Capt. Jim Lovell, all writers on “Apollo 13” and the book upon which it was based, “Lost Moon.” After the sidewalk gabfest, Howard and crew introduced the movie to a packed house.
Ron Howard, so charming on the red carpet
“Apollo 13” Director and writer Ron Howard: “I haven’t been to that many festivals. I go to a couple of big ones that serve as film markets around the world. This one is really about creativity, about trying to help people find their voice. You sense it. There’s a spirit of cameraderie that’s palpable. And it’s fun. (‘Apollo 13’) has always been a crowd pleaser. We tried to tell a compelling, dramatic story, but also tell what it was really like to go to the moon during the Apollo Era.”
Cyndy Powell and Glen Powell, Jr.
NASA astronaut Capt. Jim Lovell, who lives in Horseshoe Bay: “The movie actually rejuvenated the space program. Just last week, three people came up and said, ‘I saw “Apollo 13” on TV again. I said: ‘You gotta be kidding. They’re still showing it?’ But it’s a classic. Ron did a superb job. Everybody knew the ending when they walked in the theater. But he kept everybody on the edge of their seats until the end of the movie.”
Tom and Jamie Hinson
Ron Howard’s brother, Clint Howard, who played Sy Liebergot in “Apollo 13.”: “It’s the busiest I’ve been at a festival, with all the panels and luncheons. It’s really inspiring. I really really like the fact that they emphasize writing and writers. You’re opening a whole can of worms when you talk about writing. It’s not something you can do in two or three days. It’s great that writers are acknowledged and encouraged.”
Natalie Streit and Nikolai Burgevin
[For those of you counting, this was Party No. 17 out of 25 on this Big October Weekend. Eight more posts to go.]
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October 25, 2009
Texas Film BBQ at the French Legation
Even if the weather outside were frightful — it was not — the Texas Film BBQ would have been delightful …
Marc Mollere and Dolce Carbajal
All sorts of celebrities — major or minor — and just plain film folks show up. They feast on the saucy meat, sip polite drinks and wander across the Texas/Old World French Legation lawn …
Lori Madrid and Tommy Warren
Also to savor the respite from the Austin Film Festival. No matter how much the badge-holders benefit from the panels, discussions, luncheons, interviews, red carpets and movie premieres, the cherished annual BBQ is a required break …
Nita Lou Bryant and Bryanne Cooke (whose personal story is worth a long entry in itself, someday
I spent the most time with Turk Pipkin, who just returned from the Los Angeles premiere of his doc, “One Piece at a Time.” He shared juicy stories about the event, which I promised not to share here (ask Pipkin, though, he’s a much better storyteller anyway) …
Janet Pierson (SXSW) and Jill Oleson (former art critic for the Statesman)
I’ll repeat the weather report: Out of this world. Or rather, the best that this one produces.
Hannah Gallow with AFF founder Barbara Morgan
[For those of you counting, this was Party No. 12 out of 25 on this Big October Weekend. 13 more posts to go.]
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October 23, 2009
Austin Film Festival Opening Party at Mohawk
They used to call them “Chamber of Commerce Days” …
Claudia Blanchette and Amanda Garcia
When the weather was so unblemished, out-of-towners long to linger. Perhaps to spend money, I suppose …
Michael Torres and Stephanie Hunt
Instead, let’s call them “Open Austin Days,” when we extend our collective hands to participants in an event like the Austin Film Festival …
Leslie Carlisle, Terrence Michael and TS Morgan
That’s what happened at Mohawk on Thursday, as festival badge-holders, from home and abroad, left behind panel discussions and movie premieres to engage each other in free-wheeling conversation for an hour or so …
Laura Kinkaid and Andrew Lee
The food stayed upstairs on the terrace, nearer the azure sky. So did the guests. A curious few filtered down to hear the lively band even to dance. But industry talk and nibbles ruled the roost.
Walter Bell and Denise Pischinger
One vegetarian visitor asked for a recommendation on Congress Avenue near the Paramount Theatre. I scratched my head and pointed him toward Manuel’s, Annies and a few other spots on that main stem.
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October 22, 2009
Food & Film Party at the Driskill Hotel
Food & Film Party: One of the city’s finest chef showcases …
Amy Cadenhead and Carla Click with the Texas Film Commission
The sipping and sampling kicked off the Austin Film Festival on Wednesday …
Irfan Hydari and Karey Scheyd
Yet many of the celebrants don’t really attend the movies. Just this party …
Mark Schkud and Brian Hack
No matter. This year, the mezzanine level of the Driskill Hotel looked slim, sleek …
Rick and Melissa Delaney
Drinks centralized, chef’s tables scattered, guests, ultimately, sated.
Anna and Brian Maxin
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October 14, 2009
Your A-List: Best Movie Theater
Well, the four winners tell you something right away.
Three of those belong to the original Alamo theater group founded by Tim and Karrie League. Lake Creek was part of the first franchise wave. A second regional expansion is underway.
We don’t have to tell why all four Austin outlets are loved. Recite the formula: Movies, food, drink, fun and respect. (The final element reflects the founders’ devotion to the cinematic experience. When they say “no talking,” they mean it.)
Tying for fifth place at just over 4 percent were the Bullock Museum’s IMAX and Tinseltown Pflugerville.
Taking 3 percent or less were the Paramount Theatre, Regal Gateway, Regal Arbor, AMC Barton Creek Square, Cinemark Hill Country Galleria, Regal Westgate, Dobie, Galaxy Highland, Cinemark Southpark, City Lights, Cinemark Cedar Park, Cinemark Round Rock, Regal Metropolitan, Regal Lakeline Mall, Chestnut Square, Showpace, Millennium, Tinseltown South and Starplex.
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September 13, 2009
2009 Fortunate 500: Movies
2009 FORTUNATE 500
MOVIES
For a previous posted micro-profile of Janet and John Pierson, go here.
Paul Alvarado-Dykstra. Fantastic Fest, Texas Motion Picture Alliance
Connie Britton. ‘Friday Night Lights,’ ‘Women in Trouble,’ ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’
Elizabeth Avellan. ‘Shorts,’ ‘Santos,’ Troublemaker Studios, Texas Motion Picture Alliance
Louis Black. Austin Chronicle, South by Southwest
Gary Bond. Austin Film Office, Austin Film Commission
Sandra Bullock and Jesse James. Bess Bistro, Walton’s Fancy and Staple, South Austin Speed Shop, ‘The Proposal,’ ‘All About Steve’
Kat Candler. Candler Productions, University of Texas
Kathryn and Kyle Chandler. ‘Friday Night Lights,’ ‘Morning,’ Beyond the Lights Celebrity Golf Tournament
Ashley Chiles. Ladyflash
Cole Dabney. Austin Film Critics, Coleandbobby.com
Marc English. Austin Film Society, Marc English Design
Caroline Frick. Texas Film Archives
Hector Galan. ‘The Music of America,’ ‘The Big Squeeze,’ ‘The War’
Dana Glover. Median Films, ‘Jollenbach’
Kyle Henry and Carlos Treviño. ‘Beeswax,’ Rude Mechs, ‘University, Inc.’
Tamara and Bob Hudgins. Texas Film Commission, Chisholm Trail Community Foundation
Mike Judge. ‘The Goode Family,’ Austin Film Society
Taylor Kitsch. ‘Friday Night Lights,’ ‘Wolverine’
Harry Knowles. Ain’t It Cool News, Fantastic Fest, Butt-numb-a-thon
Richard Linklater. Austin Film Society, ‘Inning by Inning,’ ‘Me and Orson Welles’
Suzanne and Tim McCanlies. ‘The Two Bobs’
Henri Mazza. Alamo Drafthouse
Barbara Morgan. Austin Film Festival
Mark Mueller. Voodoo Cowboy, Mueller Law
Chale Nafus. Austin Film Society
Masashi Niwano. Austin Asian American Film Festival
Karen Olsson and Andrew Bujalski. ‘Beeswax,’ Texas Monthly, ‘Waterloo’
Jesse Plemons. ‘Friday Night Lights,’ Greater Austin Walk for Autism, Beyond the Lights Charity Golf Tournament
PJ Raval. ‘Trouble the Water,’ ‘Trinidad,’ ‘The Two Bobs’
Robert Rodriguez. ‘Shorts,’ Austin Film Society, Troublemaker Studios
Tom Schatz. UT Film Institute
Paul Stekler. Austin Film Society, University of Texas
Agnes Varnum. Austin Film Society, Doc It Out
Janell Vela-Smith. Fighting Stunts Association, Spiderwood Studios
Anne Walker-McBay. ‘The Two Bobs’
Tommy G. Warren. Spiderwood Studios
Tara Wood. Wood Entertainment, ‘Waco’
David and Nathan Zellner. ‘Goliath’
COMPLETE 2009 FORTUNATE 500 LISTS:
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September 12, 2009
AGLIFF Centerpiece Movie at Alamo South
The Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival remains the city’s preeminent gay cultural and social event.
Calvin Williams and John Livingston
Sure, Last Splash reels in thousands of intense partiers from across the U.S. twice a year.
Jake H. Gonzales, Lisa Whitaker, Asif Hassan
Galas for Equality Texas and Human Rights Campaign, as well as other health and political-themed organizations turn out the “A Gays.”
Glenn Doonan, Chris Oakleaf and Kristina Hager
Not to mention arts or sporting events, which, cliche or not, appeal to gay and lesbian sensibilities in droves.
Melanie Tiemann and Collin Acock
Yet AGLIFF ties all these fields together through its incredibly varied film selections. And now it’s snugly camped at Alamo South. From the sound of its board members and staff, the nonprofit festival is thriving, even in tough economic times.
Lori Barrett and Chris Trickey
The Centerpiece Movie? “Antique,” a complicated comedy from Korea about four men and a pastry shop. Only one of the four is gay-identified. Yet the various romantic, commercial, gustatory, criminal and psychological entanglements reflect a healthy inclusion of gay themes. I actually saw it twice, once on an inferior DVD screener, then, gloriously, on the big screen.
It’s one of the best films of the year — of any stripe. Grade: A.
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September 7, 2009
Fortunate 500 Top Picks: Movies
The Top Picks for the 2009 Fortunate 500 list of socially active area citizens were published in Glossy on Friday. In Out & About, we’ll mete out those Top Picks over the next few days. Then, beginning Tuesday, we’ll release the full lists and galleries.
Top Picks: Janet and John Pierson
The movie industry is not kind to couples. Yet, together and apart, Janet and John Pierson have devoted three decades to pushing independent films and filmmakers. They’ve served as distributors, exhibitors, producer’s representatives, investors, workshop producers and executive producers. They co-created the Independent Film Channel’s series, “Split Screen,” and both serve on boards for the linchpin resource for local movies and fans, Austin Film Society. John wrote the seminal bestseller about the indie industry, “Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes,” and teaches at the University of Texas. Janet is the producer of the South by Southwest Conference and Festival. Yet it’s their relentlessly social — and sometimes contradictory — enthusiasms for movies that make them the city’s first film couple. Even their children, Georgia and Wyatt, caught the movie bug. All four appear in the documentary “Reel Paradise.”
For more 2009 Fortunate 500 updates, follow the category link below.
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September 1, 2009
The Jason Bateman Interview: Part 3
For more Jason Bateman, scroll down to previous posts, or link here to Part 1 and Part 2.
You’ve been in the business for quite some time.
I started when I was 10. I’m 40 now.
And you seem sane.
So you weren’t scarred when Sandy Duncan replaced Valerie Harper on “Valerie” (in 1987)?
No, I wasn’t scarred at all, though I was sorry to see Valerie go. We got along very well. But Sandy turned out to be — and remains — one of my favorite people. It went from good to great.
You were already directing at that age?
I was 18 on that show and I did an episode. I like it. Just like anybody in any profession you want to use what you’ve learned. The job of director allows you to exercise things you’ve soaked in, besides just the acting. I’d rather, frankly, to be doing that. I know it’s a cliche: “I’d rather be directing.” It would be nice, after all these years, to do a job that’s more challenging than just the one thing — acting.
Speaking of cliches: Is it a myth that child stars end up with crazy, wrecked lives?
It’s certainly not a myth. There are plenty of examples. I don’t know if you can fill a hand with those who are left from when I started. I’m not saying that as a braggart. These people either screwed their lives up or they were cast aside. Which is unfortunate, because, if you were talented then, why can’t you be talented later? Just because you grew out of the age that made you famous, you should be relegated to irrelevance.
I don’t know. First of all, the job itself demands that you learn how to be someone you are not. And if you are child, you are learning how to do that while you are trying to figure out who you are. You are allowed to misbehave at a time when you like to behave. It can be as challenging as you want it to be, or as you could ask for. I feel pretty lucky to make it through.
“Extract” opens on Friday.
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The Jason Bateman Interview: Part 2
For Part 1 of “The Jason Bateman Interview,” scroll down to previous post, or link here.
It’s an interesting question. It probably has a lot to do with just me — I have a tendency to want to be liked by everybody. So I tried to teach myself at an early age how to get along with most different kinds of people. And not alienate those I don’t like or understand. Maybe it’s that: Knowing how to get along. It’s this deep-seated, pathetic desire to be liked.
Were there any actors whom you connected with particularly, developed a particular rhythm with?
Each one of us seemed to find that black-and-white, yin-and-yang, twosome dynamic. That’s something out there you don’t establish until you are on the set with the other actors. Obviously the writer has in mind what one needs to do, and there’s a back-and-forth about who’s going to be the antagonist, who is going to be the protagonist, who is going to be the straight man, who is going to be the funny man, and so on. And that switches multiple times in the scene. It’s a matter of watching what the other actor is doing and hopefully being malleable, being the other side of coin when need be. That’s one of the reasons I don’t really learn my lines until I’m on the set. If I learn my lines (in advance), it usually means I’ve hammered myself into one way of doing it.
More to come …
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The Jason Bateman Interview: Part 1
Don’t expect shocking revelations. Jason Bateman didn’t crack under the pressure of serial interviews meted out in an enormous suite at the Four Seasons Hotel. He didn’t lash out at Austin director Mike Judge, or whine about his child stardom, starting in the early 1980s with “Little House on the Prairie.” He was as ingratiating in person as he appears on screen, playing a factory owner in Judge’s “Extract” — which opens Friday — or real-estate developer on the much-lauded — and thematically similar — TV series, “Arrested Development.”
Jason Bateman: Ninety-five percent of that is usually what’s there before I get there. Mike certainly is no stranger to writing interesting characters and his “middle men,” his “center men,” his protagonists, or whatever you want to call them, are no exceptions. I think he understands that somebody bullet-proof is not interesting and certainly not funny. He’s pretty good at putting flaws in there.
And then the degree of subtly by which you show those flaws correlates to whether it’s good writing or great writing. He doesn’t hammer you with things and doesn’t lean in too much. He never begs for a laugh. He trusts that the characters will suffice. He doesn’t write, really, any jokes. He creates these situations and makes sure he doesn’t write the characters too far from reality, so the absurd situation or the conflict can be relatable, tangible. If it’s too far from reality, it’s lost on the audience.
You were able to do a similar thing with a fictional situation that was very unreal, “Arrested Development.” How would you compare those two experiences? In both casese, your character is right in the middle of the flakes and the felons, and yet is able to preserve his decency.
It’s just a sense of wanting to be a good proxy for the audience. The
character is the audience. He’s supposed to be your tour guide and to
experience for the audience.
More to come …
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August 22, 2009
Films Fantastic at the Independent
Jolyn Janis and Jay Galvan had a notion …
Jolyn Janis and Jay Galvin
To stage a tiny — almost microscopic — movie festival …
Bears Fonte, Jon Alvord, Richard Ford
They called it Films Fantastic! …
Rocio Garza, Sophia Hoang
And it played out Friday at the Independent, Mike Henry’s cool, flexible, post-Electric Lounge performance space in the 501 Studios complex on East Fifth Street …
Kai Salim, Josh Robins
All the movies were short. Some were incomplete, or trailers, or music videos, or behind-the-scenes documentaries.
Sesar Sandoval, Stephanie Johnson
Here’s the shocker for such a one-off, grassroots Austin event: Despite the low-or-no-budget work, almost all of it was professional to a high degree. Keep an eye out for the filmmakers listed at Artist in Resonance.
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August 19, 2009
'Extract' Premiere at the Paramount Theatre
Mike Judge’s “Extract” is an exceedingly sweet and funny movie brushed by a darkish undercurrent.
Mike Judge
Austinite Judge was among the celebrities attending the movie’s premiere at the Paramount Theatre last night.
Patty Griffin
Jason Bateman, who stars as a decent, likable cooking-extract company owner gone adrift, also graced the Austin Film Society event.
Jason Bateman, Mike Judge
I interviewed Bateman earlier this morning at his hotel, and will share our conversation as soon as some transcription time pops up on my schedule.
Eloise DeJoria
Meanwhile, the film opens for a general run Sept. 4. Go for it.
Kelly West photos.
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August 18, 2009
My Austin Film Critics Awards list grows longer
Quickly catching up on the possible award nominees for the Austin Film Critics Association voting later this year. (Didn’t particularly care for “Inglourious Basterds.”) As you know, the real awards season starts in September, but I hate forgetting my early-year faves.
“The Hurt Locker”
“Moon”
“Funny People”
“Star Trek”
“Outrage”
“(500) Days of Summer”
“Best Worst Movie”
Added in just the past few days:
“Julie and Julia”
“Extract”
Need to see before the summer ends:
“Up”
“Public Enemies”
“The Proposal” (Austin connection)
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
“District 9”
“The Hangover”
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Tips: Lindsay Lohan, Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba. What to do? Part 2
For more on “Tips: Lindsay Lohan, Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba. What to do?” scroll down to previous post, or link here.
Testing the evidence on the basis of reputation is trickier. Given the saturation coverage of her recent behavior, the Lindsay Lohan tips sound pretty darn convincing. Similarly, the bland whispers about Jessica Alba and Robert De Niro skew to type. But isn’t that playing along with the alternate universe spun by the tabloid mongers? Gotta keep celebrity prejudice under control.
Then we ask: Who cares?
The alert reader might say: “That should be your first question. Quit wasting your time and mine.” This blinkered way of treating potential news is very popular, especially in mainstream print media. “It’s news when we decide it’s the news,” goes The New York Times view of the world. And that view often precludes what readers actually want to know.
I’ll admit to entering this profession with that attitude. “I’ll decide what’s substantive enough to deserve consideration, thank you.” Didn’t matter if thousands of Austinites thought something else — their tips, for instance — were newsworthy.
Then a colleague said something so obvious, yet so revolutionary, I’ve never really recovered from it: “Sometimes, we must meet the readers where they live.”
She’s right. If my readers, sorting through my Out & About blog posts, columns and other articles about personalities, nightlife, entertainment, socializing and city scenes want to know — or share something — about the famous people in our midst, I’m not going to shut that door.
Tip me. Go ahead. Trust me not to abuse the information through character assassination or invasion of privacy. And I’ll trust you. Up to a point.
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August 17, 2009
Tips: Lindsay Lohan, Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba. What to do?
Lindsay Lohan misbehaves in a downtown Austin hotel.
She’s spotted “texting furiously” while her friends buy wine at a Lakeway drugstore.
Another “Machete” star, Jessica Alba, is logged at the Starbucks at Fifth Street and Lamar Boulevard.
Robert De Niro, a third Rodriguez import to our town, is pegged at quiet corners all over downtown.
Which celebrity rumors and tips to believe? And what to do about them?
After we get past the inevitable and reasonable “Why should we care?” and “Why don’t you leave those poor people alone?” objections, a responsible social columnist must systematically and sympathetically evaluate each piece of evidence.
The first thing I do is consider the source. One tip came from an unimpeachable agent, but three times removed from the scene. Another from a reader who provided credible details, but whose word is unproven.
The “flesh-colored brassiere” incident was duly recorded and distributed online. The images look like Austin. It is Lohan, or an extremely convincing likeness. That’s about as far as that evidence takes us.
Another tip came from a Facebook friend with no record of misleading me. Unlike neighbor Beau Bahan, who offered up this delicious, mock scoop: “I saw (Lohan’s) image on a pancake at Maudie’s this morning, reaching toward what seemed to be the image of Doug Sahm, forming in the condensing moisture on the outside of a glass of orange juice.”
More to come …
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August 12, 2009
Movies headed for Austin Film Critics Awards voting
Preserving — if only just barely — my membership in the Austin Film Critics Association, I’m catching up on quality movies. Of course, the awards-worthy movies often come out after Sept. 1.
“The Hurt Locker”
“Moon”
“Funny People”
“Star Trek”
“Outrage”
“(500) Days of Summer”
“Best Worst Movie”
Need to see before the summer ends:
“Up”
“Public Enemies”
“Julie and Julia” (Austin connection)
“Extract” (Austin connection)
“Inglourious Basterds” (Austin connection)
“The Proposal” (Austin connection)
“Shorts” (Austin connection)
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
“District 9”
“The Hangover”
Your suggestions go here …
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August 11, 2009
Hollywood celebrities swamp Austin in August
August in Austin is hardly hospitable, weather-wise. Yet necks will rubberize — and not from the heat — as movie celebrities invade our town this month.
As usual, blame the Big 4 Filmmakers: Robert Rodriguez, Richard Linklater, Elizabeth Avellan and Mike Judge, and their projects, either on location or in the can. The shooting of producer Avellan’s and director Rodriguez’s “Machete” (co-directed by Ethan Maniquis) has lured tabloid queen Lindsay Lohan here to sample our alternative variety of heat.
We’ve already received tips on Lohan’s movements, but “Machete” co-star Robert DeNiro is likely to be more discreet. We hear that all sorts of celebrities — Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, Don Johnson, Cheech Marin, et al — will make appearances in the movie, so who knows will show up at the Four Seasons, Uchi or the Belmont. Quentin Tarantino is expected to play a production role in “Machete,” which was previewed, fictionally, in his and Rodriguez’s “Grindhouse.” He’s also scheduled for the Alamo Ritz premiere of “Inglourious Basterds” on Saturday, although don’t expect a red-carpet parade on East Sixth Street.
Sunday, Rodriguez and Avellan’s Austin-shot “Shorts” premieres at the Paramount Theatre, with proceeds going to Thoughtful House Center for Children. Younger stars Jimmy Bennett, Trevor Gagnon, Devon Gearhart, Jake Short, Jolie Vanier and (son) Rebel Rodriguez will line the red carpet. Sadly, adult actors Leslie Mann, James Spader and William H. Macey are not on the evening’s roster.
Judge’s “Extract” premieres at the Paramount on Tuesday. Some of the artists, including the director and the underrated lead, Jason Bateman, are rolling into town for interviews and red carpet. Co-stars Mila Kunis or Ben Affleck will not likely to join them, but who can say …
What about Linklater, you say? We’ve been waiting with bated breath for his “Me and Orson Welles,” which wrapped last year with Ben Chaplin, Claire Danes and Zac Efron. It bowed at Toronto Film Festival and made a surprise appearance at South by Southwest. Should arrive for real during the Oscar rush in October.
Meanwhile, Linklater’s got “School of Rock 2” and other local projects in the works. Add them to the list of possible celebrity magnets for our long, hot August.
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July 29, 2009
'The Hurt Locker' bears the truth of war
The advance buzz on “The Hurt Locker” didn’t mislead. Published and verbal reports accurately telegraphed that it would break with the received notions about war movies.
The only previous war movie it recalled is “Jarhead,” this time without the distraction of Jake Gyllenhaal’s searing good looks. In fact, I didn’t really recognize the leads — Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty — at all. Which made their performances more convincing, lacking the filter of celebrity personae.
Pegged as an action film — witness the virtually all-male audience at the Arbor Theatre — “The Hurt Locker” bears the truth of war. Especially the Iraqi war.
On a lighter note, for Oscar handicappers, this one’s got to be in that Top 10.
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July 25, 2009
'(500) Days of Summer' the next 'Annie Hall'? Part 3
For Parts 1 & 2 of our “(500) Days of Summer,” see posts below…
(The characters don’t even acknowledge they live in Los Angeles until two-thirds of the way through the movie, when Tom says, “We live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.” Early in the writing process, the script was set in San Francisco.)
Popular music plays a motivational role in “(500) Days.” “I spent eight years attaching images to music, so it only seems natural to let that inform the momentum of the movie,” Webb says. “Clearly, Tom as a character is formed by music. So it became a matter of letting a musician — a singer-songwriter — narrate the movie for a moment. And then let the music take over. I mean, half the experience you have in the cinema is going in through your ears. And relationships are often defined by the music we listen to and associate with them.”
Before shooting, Webb screened two films for the whole cast and crew, “Annie Hall” (1977) and “High Fidelity” (2000) calling them “tonal focus points.” Yet early published comparisons to cult standards spooked the team.
“It almost feels blasphemous,” Joseph Gordon-Levitt says about linking his role to Dustin Hoffman’s in “The Graduate,” another character who romanticizes a woman irrationally.
Zooey Deschanel’s wide eyes grow wider when references to “Annie Hall” come up during her interview. “I’m so honored,” she says. “(Woody Allen) is one of my favorite filmmakers. I have an ‘Annie Hall’ poster in my house.”
“Any comparisons to Woody Allen, I’ll gladly take,” Webb says. “ ‘Annie Hall’ has become so iconic. It’s told out of order, too. It also arrives at an interesting conclusion about the nature of love: People often confuse permanence for success.”
Could “(500) Days” reach “Annie Hall” proportions of cultural impact?
“I’ve been doing this a long time, and you never know,” Deschanel says. “Sometimes you can do a movie and you think it’s going to be huge, and something happens, it doesn’t hit a chord with people. Other times you don’t expect it: This movie was fun and light, a very pleasant film to work on from the beginning. I love movies about relationships that are thoughtfully done. This one was.”
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'(500) Days of Summer' the next 'Annie Hall'? Part 2
For Part 1 of this series of interviews, see post below …
“It was funny, but it wasn’t making fun. It wasn’t goofy or jokey,” he says. “It was a heartfelt story about love and heartbreak. I feel strongly about these things. I don’t want to make light of them or reduce them to simplistic plot devices.”
He also was attracted to the complicated task of playing a role for whom the audience’s sympathies can wax and wane.
“In all his immaturity, he’s always coming from a genuinely well-meaning place,” Gordon-Levitt says. “Love: He really wants to understand it and feel it and know it. To not irritate the audience, you’ve got to not criticize your character. Any character I play, even a bad guy, I want to understand where he’s coming from and why. Make him a human being.”
Part of what distinguishes “(500) Days” from run-of-the-mill romantic comedies is the structure, rapidly switching among the 500 days of the romance, but not in chronological order, like reading entries in a 500-page diary out of order. During the planning and shoot, director Marc Webb and his team carried around a gigantic storyboard-style scroll that kept everyone on the same frame.
“When you are tracing through memories, you don’t often do it sequentially,” Webb says. “That was one of the bases for the movie. The hard parts were the design elements and continuity things. Film actors, for their parts, are completely used to doing something in the morning and assuming a completely different mind frame in the afternoon. It’s their job.”
Gordon-Levitt agrees the actors had it easiest in this puzzle of a movie.
“That’s part of an actor’s preparation for any scene, to know where am I now, what came before this, what comes after it, why am I this way,” he says. “The director helps you with that, and Marc is fantastic at that. His knowledge of the story and his profound empathy for the characters was a huge part of what makes the movie work.”
Both actors praised Webb’s talent-coaching skills, unusual for a director who comes from a music-video background.
“He’s a real storyteller. He gets character,” Gordon-Levitt says. “A lot of guys know how to make a movie pretty. That’s the cliche for somebody who has been directing music videos: It’s going to look good, but it’s going to be a vapid, pretty thing.”
“Marc is a great leader on a set,” Zooey Deschanel agrees. “He was always reminding us where we were (in the story). But you have to remind yourself, too. There’s always an arc to the script. The character changes. As an actor, your job is to be as open as possible. I take on the emotions and attentions of the moment. Then let them go, and move on to the next one.”
More to come …
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'(500) Days of Summer' the next 'Annie Hall'? Part 1
As early as March, the artists behind “(500) Days of Summer” sensed they had stumbled onto a potential generational phenomenon.
The plot is insidiously simple. In an office environment, a sensitive man, Tom, falls in love with a free-spirited woman, Summer, whom he idealizes. She reciprocates, but insists she’s not looking for a boyfriend. Their relationship tangles. That’s all. Almost. “We’ve all been Tom and we’ve all been Summer at least once in our lives,” Deschanel says. “Everybody can relate to both of them.”
Like characters in a Woody Allen comedy, naive Tom and independent Summer alternate irritation with allure for the audience.
“Tom is emotionally immature, but to me it’s very charming,” director Webb says. “Tom wants what we all want — happiness. Maybe he’s misguided. He’s still aiming for something beautiful and big. He’s contemplating destiny. That allows us to root for him. (Actor) Joe has a warmth and emotional center that could easily evaporate in this role, but doesn’t.
“As for Zooey, there are very few people you wouldn’t turn against, and she’s one,” Webb continues. “My goal for Summer was, even though she’s infuriating and frustrating, if you walked out of the movie angry at her, I would have failed. She’s always honest, always up front. That’s her defense.”
More to come …
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July 14, 2009
'Brüno': A Gay Man Responds
Harrowing.
That’s my one-word response to “Brüno,” Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest cinematic rampage.
Even more to the point: Too much bullying from Cohen. Many of his subjects put up with his schtick until he virtually rubbed his business in their faces. (Also: Too much business.)
As a consumer of pop culture, however, I know that Cohen’s ambush comedy tactics can be thrillingly audacious. (He actually interviews a Lebanese terrorist, and later taunts a redneck ultimate-fight audience into homophobic hysteria.) Any alert ticket buyer also makes a compact when they enter the theater: We are here to watch Cohen cross social boundaries in novel ways. And with jaundiced glee, I’m going to laugh at much of it.
As a gay man — friends, colleagues and readers have asked how I feel about “Brüno” in that context — I am not sure how to judge the effect. Brüno is obviously a caricature. He challenges tolerance for straight and gay audiences alike, not just through his extreme mannerisms and speech, but also through his bizarre, sometimes obscene behavior. It’s like Cohen is turning every homophobic nightmare about gay sex, substance and parenting into creepy flesh.
So, in a sense, Cohen’s task is unmasking homophobia. It must be said that he finds it in unsurprising places. (A gentler and perhaps more effective satire would look where homophobia is supposedly banished.) So Cohen makes it easy for the audience to laugh at the rubes — urban as well as rural, but mostly Americans — who fall into his tender-free traps.
I’m not sure if this tactic subverts or reinforces homophobia. Most people, like me, probably leave the theater too stunned to think clearly. The experience lingers in the memory like a bad dream. And maybe that in itself — a rare thing — is the movie’s gift. We are left to decide what “Brüno” means.
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June 24, 2009
Audience unmoved during 'Transformers 2' preview
Summer movies elicit screams, chortles and cheers. Not “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” previewed Tuesday at the Bullock IMAX.
Bay even took a lame crack at the Obama Doctrine of considering all strategies in a crisis and civilian control of the military.
The audience didn’t bite. Except for a few snickers about the write-by-numbers script — was there a separate author for the taglines, which erupted every five minutes? — this mixed-age crowd bit their tongues.
It’s not painful, but it’s a mess. Believe every word of Chris Garcia’s review. Like me, he praised the first edition, dismissed the second.
OK, now for my pet peeve: Geographical inaccuracy. Petra, Jordan is a few clicks from the pyramids of Egypt, which you can see from the Red Sea? Please. Generic U.S. geography, play with that, but don’t confuse the masses about the Middle East. It’s already complicated enough.
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May 21, 2009
'Dance Flick' dumb, dizzy, fun
“High School Musical.” “Fame.” “Flashdance.”
“Singing in the Rain.” “Shampoo.” “West Side Story.” “Dreamgirls.” “Little Miss Sunshine.”
“Save the Last Dance.” “Step Up.” “Bring It On.” “Drumline.” “Stomp The Yard.” “Honey.”
The humor is based almost entirely on stereotype. Black vs. White. Straight vs. Gay. Classical vs. Hip-Hop. But this time, the stereotyping can catch one off-guard. Especially given the 3-jokes-per-minute rate imposed by a mess of Wayans, plus actors David Alan Grier, Amy Sedaris, Shoshana Bush and Austin native Christina Murphy.
What is not an outright Hollywood backwash or a broad appeal to racial and sexual differences is outright physical humor — a tongue passes from one ear to the other through the romanced woman’s head; a baby squirts out of a pregnant dancer; a mother is hit by multiple vehicles on her way to her daughter’s dance audition, then pops into a prepared grave.
Reading back on the previous paragraphs, I realize it sounds like I’m panning “Dance Flick.” I’m not. Yes, it’s like hundreds of “In Living Color” sketches strung together into a jumbled breakdance, but I laughed. And laughed. And laughed.
I attended the screening primarily to report on Austin’s Murphy — a potential local celebrity — but her role as a teacher’s pet singer/dance/actor at Musical High is so underdeveloped, I almost missed her performance. She isn’t even given a chance to redeem herself by joining, “Fame”-like, Musical High’s final dance-off team. But that’s only one of many plot lines left dangling.
Truth is, I responded, first and foremost, to the movie references. They clearly didn’t register with some of the younger members of the audience. Yet the genres that deal with performing arts academies, black dance competitions and high-school musicals deserve a big poke in the eye like “Dance Flick.”
It’s dumb. It’s dizzy. And it’s a lot of fun.
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May 10, 2009
Nerds at Play: 'Star Trek' for Austin Planetarium 2
For Part 1, see post below.
OK, nobody expects self-professed nerds to stage a perfect fundraiser. The adorable Austin Planetarium folks did not play against type at their Bullock Texas State History Museum “Star Trek” event. Until the smashing movie started, the event lacked social ease. After that, the audience mind-melded with the elephantine IMAX screen.
Connor Goeke, Kathy Goeke
Mounted in the echoing grandiosity of the museum’s great hall, the 3-hour presentation was impossible to hear beyond the first rows. A “Star Trek” spoof lasted so long it made Shakespeare’s tragedies seem time-warped. The food disappeared early, but not the booze — a dangerous combination.
Yet the vibe remained mellow throughout. Costumed guests — Darth Vader? Wrong franchise, baby — mingled with folks just off work. (It started at 6 p.m. The movie came at 9:30 p.m.)
Joy Scott, Monica Piñon, Wendy Worthy
A word or two about the movie, which has so far grossed $76 million. As reviews attest, it’s thrilling. Of course, watching it on the second row of the IMAX was rather like a super nova exploding in one’s face (two were featured in the film).
Ariana Delbar, Vincent Delbar
One neat thing for the social columnist to repeat: It will appeal to Trekkies and summer-movie fans alike. Nerds will lock arms with mall movie-goers to make this the summer’s highest grossing film.
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April 30, 2009
Comedy at the Capitol at Mother Egan's
The movie-makers had triumphed. And not just on screen.
Anne Wolfe-Andersen, Richard Dillard, Elena Weinberg
Supporters of Texas’ film industry scored recently with a bill that allows the governor’s office to tailor incentives to the project, rather than stick with strict, low percentages of the local budgets.
Chrystal Roberson, Cody Kirk, Lill Gentry
To celebrate, actors Marco Perella and CK McFarland gathered some players at Mother Egan’s to reenact the spoofs they had performed on lobbying days at the Capitol.
Felix Rivas, Leron Minor
You’d recognize either actor from their many stage and screen incarnations. Along with colleagues, they staged burlesques of “Miss Congeniality” and other Texas-made movies. Gentle ribbing was aimed at figures such as Sandra Bullock, for her rockers, bikers and houses.
Anne Schultz, Michelle Atkins
Another sketch, “The Last Picture Show,” threatened Texans with bad street theater if films moved elsewhere. (Actors and crews would be left with nothing else to do.) Many see-it-from-a-mile away cracks were made on the Larry McMurtry title.
John Hafner, Chris Sturgeon
The industry-thick audience, relaxing over beers and ales, got the inside jokes. Time to retire the Comedy at the Capitol players. Victory is here. I hear the mighty cheer. On the side of …
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April 21, 2009
Austin Nichols re-ups on 'One Tree Hill,' opens in 'The Informers'
He has signed on for two more seasons of “One Tree Hill,” the teen television drama on the CW network. He was introduced to the series as Hollywood producer Julian Baker who shakes up a small North Carolina town.
Additionally, Nichols’ movie, “The Informers,” opens Friday nationwide. On the big screen, he supports Kim Basinger, Mickey Rourke, Billy Bob Thornton and Winona Ryder in the drama about greed-riddled, decadent Hollywood during the 1980s.
Striking Amber Heard, also from Austin, earned a choice role in that mass-acted film as well.
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April 10, 2009
Translating 'Grey Gardens' 4
For Parts 1, 2 & 3, see posts below …
It also benefits from views of the estate at various stages of glory and decline. This includes the mountains of filth that, before the documentary was made, had been cleaned out by municipal authorities, and structural failings, which Jacqueline Onassis and Lee Radizwill paid to stabilize. In the movie, we see the sprawling foulness only through newspaper clippings.
The 2009 drama shows the jazzy Manhattan that Little Edie briefly conquers. We are introduced the married man (Daniel Baldwin, looking deceptively like his brother, Alec), who becomes another of her romantic disappointments. Ken Howard earned the thankless role of stuffy Phelan Beale, a one-note character that appears almost sexist in reverse.
As in the documentary, all eyes zero on the two women. Jessica Lange has played fragile, misunderstood eccentrics before, and has won major awards for those performance, but Drew Barrymore stretched her acting muscles to play Little Edie. The only thing missing from her complex portrayal was the real woman’s overtly sexual come-ons during the documentary’s making, especially toward “The Marble Faun,” a comely gardener, absent in the HBO drama.
Did we need this movie? Perhaps not. Maybe the ineradicable images from the 1975 documentary would have sufficed for all time.
Yet director and co-writer Michael Sucsy and his team have made a convincing case that the Beales’ story is the stuff of enduring drama, worth retelling in more than one medium.
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Translating 'Grey Gardens' 3
For Parts 1 & 2, see posts below …
Little Edie rebels and heads off to New York City at the end of the first act, but we know she’ll return. Her mother’s blocking actions are supposedly protective, yet the subterfuge foreshadows of the future invalid’s cruel frankness with her daughter. Confusing the audience’s sympathies further, 1941 Big Edie and later Little Edie were played by the same astonishing actor, Christine Ebersole.
For its part, the HBO movie absolves the mother of specific villainy for daughter’s breakdowns. Blame is shifted instead to Phelan Beale, Edith’s husband, for staunching both women’s artistic impulses, and for insisting that Edie marry into that odd American aristocracy that includes future global figures, Jacqueline and Lee Bouvier, Edie’s near-contemporaries and cousins. Phelan Beale and, later, his sons make what they think are perfectly sensible demands on the pair of nonconformist women, but they all the men, including Big Edie’s sexually ambiguous pianist and buddy, come off as beastly.
More to come …
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Translating 'Grey Gardens' 2
For Part 1, see post below …
Despite a score that wavered between opera and music hall, it ran ahealthy 308 performances and won multiple Tony Awards, including honors for actresses Christine Ebersole (pictured) and Mary Louise Wilson, who uncannily impersonated Little and Big Edie respectively.
Now, here comes an HBO drama, set to air 7 p.m. Saturday, that traces the entire Beale story through a seamless web of flashbacks and flashforwards. Two admired actors who have enjoyed their shares of offbeat roles, Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore, portray Edith and Little Edie at various ages and degrees of detachment with the world around them.
And there’s every chance this version could be considered a minor masterpiece in its own right.
More to come …
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Translating 'Grey Gardens'
Some stories resist translation. They unspool effortlessly in one medium, then snarl fiendishly in another.
How else to treat aristocratic Edith (“Big Edie”) and Edith (“Little Edie”) Bouvier Beale — relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis — who had withdrawn to their weed-throttled, cat-infested East Hamptons estate, virtually penniless, but unwilling to leave their home?
After all, the invalid would-be singer and erratic would-be dancer (pictured) had lost touch with what most people would consider reality. The elder Beale rarely moved from her sickbed, controlling her adult daughter through alternating affection and verbal laceration; the younger pranced around in swaddled fabric, flirting with any available man and whispering to the camera as if she were starring in a Hollywood movie.
To portray these peculiar women with anything other than aesthetically distancing documentary dryness might appear disrespectful, like making a ballet out of photographer Diane Arbus’ equally sensitive, but unsettling portraits of mentally challenged children.
More to come …
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March 17, 2009
O&A SXSW 25: '500 Days' & 'Best Worst Movie'
Because the social whirl is my beat, I usually miss the movies, music and other delicacies that make SXSW so alluring to visitors and locals. So Monday, I skipped the parties and, instead, saw two movies back to back.
This deft romantic comedy — disguised as a chronological sleight of hand — had already conquered Sundance and several other festivals. And I can see why. The whole movie inhabits a Los Angeles that almost no outsider would recognize — the older, graceful sections of downtown, for instance. And the two stars bring such charm to the screen, it’s easy to endure their characters’ irritating qualities. A minefield as a date movie, “500 Days” at times matches Woody Allen at his darkest/sweetest.
“Best Worst Movie” is the funniest thing I’ve experienced in some time. This documentary reconstructs the making of “Troll 2,” a hilariously bad horror movie from 20 years ago, its evolution into cult status and the toll that process has taken on its creators. Lovingly made by Michael Stephenson, who played the boy lead in the original, “Best Worst” follows “Troll 2” on the cult circuit (including Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse and Rolling Roadshow), reenacts the atrocious dialogue, tracks down the clueless Italian writer/director team, and gently updates viewers on the lives of the cast members — some clearly in need of clinical aid.
Oh, did I laugh, as did everyone else at the Paramount. A must see. Now for “Troll 2,” which I’ve never seen.
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March 12, 2009
O&A SXSW 10: Texas Film Hall of Fame 5
Dennis Quaid gave out the last honor of the evening, the Tom Mix Honorary Texan Award, to Billy Bob Thornton who was born in “extreme Northeast Texas — Hot Springs, Ark.” Quaid listed Thornton’s blue-collar past and his breakthrough as a screenwriter at director Billy Wilder’s suggestion.
“Billy Bob is the definitive Davy Crockett,” rugged-looking Quaid said while quantifying and qualifying Thornton’s work in Texas. Apparently they really bonded during the “Alamo” shoot outside Austin.
“I’m going to be bitter and angry for a second,” he said about the press line, being asked what it felt like to be conferred honorary Texan status. “I lived Tomball outside Houston, my family’s from Richardson and Garland and lived in Texas a third of my life. This is where my heart it is It is an artistic place, creative place. If you want to get technical about where I’ve lived the longest, I’m a (expletive) Californian.”
Good way to end the evening. As we were leaving, Kyle Chandler asked why I didn’t stick around for more quotes. I told him about my leg condition. He listened and responded with such sympathy, I flashed to him as my coach.
Photos by Larry Kolvoord.
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O&A SXSW 9: Texas Film Hall of Fame 4
“Rushmore” won the Tiffany & Co. Star of Texas Award. Luke Wilson accepted. He praised Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton and other present actors for their essential quirkiness.
He sounded surprised he ever broke into the industry. “The studio hated it. It came and went in the theaters in a week,” he said of “Bottle Rocket,” Wes Anderson’s first film. “Then we had a chance to do ‘Rushmore.’ And we got to work with all these great Texans again.”
Ray Benson introduced himself “world’s tallest living Jew” and supported a “recession auction” for Texas film incentives, the Austin Film Society and its programs, especially the summer kids filmmaking and intern projects.
Here comes Brendan Fraser — first Church goes off the rails with a story about a shared passion for miniature donkeys — to honor production designer and director Catherine Hardwicke with the Ann Richards award.
She recalled receiving a mound of dirt for Christmas from her farmer father in McAllen and making a creative project out of it. Then she told stories about clawing her way to the top and being locked in Tom Cruise’s “Scientology stare” when she took over design for “Vanilla Sky.” She then told a story contrasting the expectation that she’d been in Rupert Murdoch’s residence and a horse that now lived in her childhood home. Good stuff.
Richard Linklater memorialized the late Horton Foote.”The films are with us forever and the plays will be performed into the future.” A deeply moving tribute film followed.
Photos: Larry Kolvoord.
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O&A SXSW 8: Texas Film Hall of Fame 3
Thomas Haden Church reminded everyone it was Linda Gray’s legs on the poster for “The Graduate,” while elaborating on his longtime interest in her looks. (Church’s dicey choice of words provoked much laughter during the evening.)
Gray talked about the origins of “Dallas” and her 30-year relationship with Larry Hagman, to whom she presented the Texas Film Hall of Fame honor. “Larry kept us all together, made us all laugh, as the only Texan in the group,” of the “Dallas” actors.
Hagman pointed out that while everyone in the world watched “Dallas” 30 years ago, teens today don’t even know who he is. He also joked about Ronald Reagan, Alcoholics Anonymous, Texas film incentives and passed out Larry Hagman $10,000 bills. “If you give some, you’re going to get some,” he said about the proposed incentives, threading his way through a Comanche chief Quanah Parker story in support.
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O&A SXSW 7: Texas Film Hall of Fame 2
Hilariously off-color Thomas Haden Church goofed on the Texas Film Hall of Fame honorees and presenters during his emcee duties at Austin Studios. But then he made a serious plea for production incentives in order to battle allurements from New Mexico and other states. That elicited a standing ovation from an industry-friendly crowd.
Introducing each presenter, Church made specific, personal connections with the artists, including the first, Keith Carradine, who appeared in mobster outfit, calling Powers Boothe as a “great actor of extraordinary powers.” Carradine recalled the “testoterone-fueled male bonding” in “Southern Comfort.”
“I want to thank you having me in my home,” the Snyder-raised Boothe said, ” which is Texas.”
He spoke about hard work and his education at Texas State University-San Marcos and SMU.
“I didn’t know Thomas Haden Church was funny,” Boothe deadpanned, praising the other honorees movingly. “I hope we bring more movies to Texas. There’s a hell of a lot of talent here.”
Photos: Larry Kolvoord.
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O&A SXSW 6: Texas Film Hall of Fame 1
Austin social nobility mingled with Hollywood film royalty at the Austin Studios on Thursday for the Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards.
The city’s longest and most elaborate red carpet welcomed luminaries such as Larry Hagman, Dennis Quaid, Linda Gray, Brendan Fraser, Thomas Haden Church, Billy Bob Thornton, Catherine Hardwicke, Keith Carradine and Powers Boothe.
They joined with filmic Austinites Kyle Chandler, Kinky Friedman, Connie Britton, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Brad Leland and Richard Linklater.
They rubbed chill-protected shoulders with locals like Kate Hersch, Mort and Bobbi Topfer, Evan Smith, Charles Duggan and Brewster McCracken as well billionaire couple Jean-Paul and Eloise DeJoria.
Right now, they are auctioning off an evening with Zac Efron for the premiere of “Orson Welles and Me” with Claire Danes, an Aspen, Co. vacation and a “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Steaks have just arrived. Crowd is happy. Credit the large margaritas. Chandler is wearing skiwear onstage.
Photos: Larry Kolvoord.
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O&A SXSW 5: Social Schedule for March 12
One event is so big that it blocks out all others. It traditionally kicks off the SXSW Film Conference and Festival. And it brings more Hollywood celebrities to Austin than the next 10 events.
6 p.m. Texas Film Hall of Fame at Austin Studios
Check here this blog later for live reports.
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O&A SXSW 4: Texas Film Hall of Fame Pre-Party
A year later, and people are still gabbling about the 2008 Texas Film Hall of Fame Pre-Party at Lance Armstrong’s mini-Minoan palace underneath Mount Bonnell. (Yes, you’re right, it was cold. People did huddle under the tent and the poolside fire attracted a crowd. Eternally handsome Morgan Fairchild dominated the main living room, while a rather vulnerable-looking Debra Winger hovered on the stairs. No telling what went on in Armstrong’s trophy room when we weren’t there. Hmmm.)
Deborah Green, Julie Thornton, Brendan Fraser
If anything, this year’s Pre-Party will produce even more gabble. (Did you see the glittering dome hanging above John and Julie Thornton’s Enfield-area manse, the dungeon-like dining room, the bathroom wallpaper, the winking, Koonsian art and the outdoor fireplace made of baroque shells? And was there a separate patron celebrity for each room? The food? Out of this world!)
Billy Bob Thornton, Richard Linklater
Still boyish Brendan Fraser was there, his hair festooned like one of chef Quincy Adams Erickson’s spoonful creations. So was “Dallas” immortal Larry Hagman, disappearing under a cowboy hat, with a daub-faced Linda Gray and Swedish-born wife Maj Axelsson running photo interference. (I lost out twice.)
Stephen Rice, Powers Boothe
Unassuming power couple John and Janet Pieson (University of Texas and South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival) held court in one room, a beaming Richard Linklater — director and Austin Film Society founder — in another.
The Misshapes
Billy Bob Thornton looked sly but acted gracious. (Charmer!) And posing DJs the Misshapes looked very much the part — having flown in at the last minute from Paris Fashion Week.
Andy Sarwal, Katy Hackerman
Of course Julie Thornton, wrapped in a smart, ribbony black outfit, played part of the effervescent hostess, and many of her exquisitely set off friends — Carla McDonald, Deborah Green, etc. — competed to look more glamorous than any of the Hollywood contingent.
Sharon Miller, Andy Dollerson
We talked to Linda Ball and Forrest Preece about walking the city, to Agnes Varnum and Rebecca Campbell about the outlook for Thursday’s Hall of Fame festivities (cold, rainy), to Stephen Moser, Stephen Fish, Richard Hartgrove and gang about the grounds (“Only Donna Stockton Hicks can match this!), to Powers Boothe about the the newspaper and entertainment industries, as well as his lingering imaginative association with messianic preacher Jim Jones, to writer Julia Smith about staying at Quality Quinn’s rustic perfection of a house in Marfa, with Katy Hackerman about her new life at the UT College of Natural Sciences.
Now here’s a stray question for you: People can’t believe I go to so many events each week, but how does Julia’s husband, Texas Monthly’s Evan, do it — while editing and publishing a major magazine and hosting a TV show? Watchman?
Lawyer and film producer Mark Mueller with Rep. Elliott Naishtat
My favorite conversation of the evening, though, was reserved for sassy Brits Sharon Miller and Andy Dollerson, who jabbed and counter-jabbed about art, surfing, coastal Britain vs. coastal Texas and a host of other subjects.
This party is going to be hard to beat.
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March 1, 2009
Jonas Brothers thrill Austin fans with surprise visit
When metal meets metal at a high speed, the collision produces a screech that could pierce a concrete bunker.
“I just touched Nick Jonas’ hand!” shrieked Ashley Volk, 15, into her cell phone.
Well, it wasn’t completely unexpected.
Early Sunday, reporters were bussed out to Austin Bergstrom Airport to meet the “Surprise Theater Invasion” entourage as they reclaimed earth from their Marquis Jet. The expertly managed press conference inside an airline hangar lasted only five minutes, then it was back to the theater as part of a police-escorted motorcade.
During those five minutes, though, the assiduously wholesome New Jersey siblings revealed a few details about the foibles of fame as Disney-fueled pop stars.
“In Spain, one crowd was so enthusiastic, we had to run through a mall to escape,” said Kevin, the eldest, side-burned brother. “And I read once that I was married to a Pakistani woman.”
“I read we were breaking up,” said Joe, the quieter, middle brother. “That didn’t happen. We did receive, as a gift, a dead shark in a glass tank.”
The Jonas clan has made several sneak attacks on fans during their movie’s opening week, including Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta and Dallas.
“We also are doing some smaller towns like Austin and Charlotte (N.C.),” said Nick, the youngest, most theatrical member of the band. Nice to be included.
They called their Grammy Awards ceremony appearance with legend Stevie Wonder “inspiring,” then spun off some musical influences — Elvis Costello, Prince, Kings of Leon.
Later, at the theater, social temperatures rose in anticipation of the Visitation.
“I love it!” said Meredith Warren, 11. “I love Joe!”
“I love Kevin!” countered Avery La Rue, 11. “I love them all! When I get to school tomorrow, I’ll rub their noses in it.”
Addie Bueide, 8, burst out with a series of responses: “Excited. Nervous. Shaky. I’m going to scream. Loud.”
Sabrina Arispe, 8, likes the team’s music, movies and inherent cuteness, but her brother takes a different tack: “They’re funny,” says Ricky Arispe, 12.
Oh, kind of like the Monkees? Reference lost.
When the act entered finally entered the room, three hours after the first fans lined up outside in 40-degree weather, they spoke for less than a minute, then waded into crowd, buffeted by heavy security.
“It’s for the love of fans,” Nick said. “We wanted to make sure they were a part of this.”
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February 23, 2009
Victoria's swell Oscar party
Remember last year, we told you about the best Oscar party we didn’t attend. That would be the one, pre-ceremony, Austin nonprofit consultant Victoria Corcoran attends with her close L.A. friends, including ex-Dallas pal Bonnie Curtis. It usually includes past Oscar winners and themed decor.
There were all sorts of insider Oscar-related pranks and pratfalls, but here’s a short report and a picture of La Corcoran with boyfriend, Austin landscape architect Jeff Neal, and two Nixons.
In addition to our usual dinner party, turned out that three of the group’s very dearest friends were nominated for Best Picture: Kathy Kennedy and Frank Marshall for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Kathy’s now tied for the record for most nominations for Best Picture without a win: six, with Frank in second with five; combined, however, the couple have a record seven). Also Bruce Cohen, last year’s dinner party honoree, was up for “Milk.”
Attendees were: “Chumscrubber” director Arie Posin, his wife William Morris literary agent Sara Bottfield, Huffington Post blogger Sally Horchow, men’s accessories designer (now carried at Harrod’s) Eduardo Braniff (yes, that Braniff), Graham King productions developer Grey Rembert (she & Eduardo attended the Oscars last night and say right next to Kathy and Frank on the (expletive) floor!), Bonnie Curtis, her wife Kim Lincoln (film graphics artist), screenwriter Andrew Marlowe, whose new TV show “Castle” opens in early March, his wife Terri, producer Lee Clay (a Dallas native), and Jeff Neal (Gardens landscape architect), and little ole me.
I’m betting VC was the most glamorous.
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Delayed Oscar thoughts (feelings, really)
Thanks, Oscar. You did it for me.
I spent so many past ceremonies cursing voters for their sentimentality or social correctness. Also, groaning through endless ancillary presentations and speeches.
You can read more probing commentary by movie critic Chris Garcia, but for my four-hour investment, Oscar delivered. (I believe Chris would agree with me on several scores.)
As for the glacially-paced minor awards speeches and inevitable feel-good segments, I just caught up on Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader and austin360.com Oscar posts. No harm. And I’ll take one Ben Stiller/Joaquin Phoenix or Seth Rogan/James Franco routine every half hour to keep me honestly engaged.
Let’s talk awards. Like Chris, I think the biggest crime of the season was ignoring “The Dark Knight” for the major categories, but that train had long left the station by Sunday night.
Heath Ledger and Penelope Cruz were exactly my picks for supporting performances. “Wall-E” and “Man on Wire” were good enough to be considered — glancingly — for Best Picture, much less for Best Animation Film and Best Documentary Feature, which they did.
I was pleased with all the “Slumdog Millionaire” prizes and, like other viewers, choked up during Dustin Lance Black’s acceptance speech for his “Milk” screenplay. Sometimes, political statements are not just apt, they can spin into graceful turns of persuasion.
Though I haven’t seen “The Reader,” and probably won’t, I believe Kate Winslet is Oscar-worthy any season.
Still, I held my breath for one award. Best Actor. Would the Academy reward Mickey Rourke for his return from the real-life brink and his gutsy rejection of vanity in “The Wrestler.” Or would Sean Penn win for transcendent acting, something he does better than almost anyone else in Hollywood?
YES! Sean Penn. Presented by Robert DeNiro, even. My evening was complete. His speech veered toward indecorum, but, inevitably, he proved the consummate professional.
And you know, critics will excoriate the practice, but I was genuinely touched by the five-on-five tributes for the acting categories. Telling to watch legends from the past look into the eyes of the nominated to give them, for the most part, bona fide praise. (Well, not I’m-reading-this-for-the-first-time Sophia Loren.)
Thank you, Oscar.
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February 20, 2009
'Jollenbach' screening at the Arbor
Making a movie makes community. That was readily apparent at the Arbor Theater on Thursday as an enterprising community gathered for a screening of the Austin-filmed “Jollenbach.”
David Anderson, Michelle Carter, Dana Glover
Actors, crew, backers, followers embraced, shook hands, traded stories before the Midian Films thriller sparked up. Austin’s shortest red carpet pointed the way.
Bryant Clark, Alex Burback
Everybody played multiple roles on this ultra-low-budget film about ghost hunters, partly captured in the hand-held video model, à la “Blair Witch Project.” That included Dana Glover, Michelle Carter and David Anderson, who, among them worked just about every aspect of the movie.
Danyelle Carter, Donahill Dixon
Herds of radio folks were in the house, including crack storyteller Bob Cole and his on-air partner Bucky Godbolt, as well as veteran meteorologist and UT lecturer Troy Kimmel. (Sports commentator/movie partner Anderson is part of the KVET team, too.)
Troy Kimmel, Andrew Perrone
Midian is still trying to finalize “Jollenbach” to get it in the can, but with the community on hand at the Arbor, I’m confident that will come soon. And hey, a low-budget thriller is a recession-proof product.
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February 5, 2009
Glancing ahead to Texas Film Hall of Fame 3
For Parts 1 & 2, see posts below …
Thanks for clarifying, darlings. I’ll be there.
The Texas Hall of Fame stars align once more on Thursday, matching glittering inductees with gleaming presenters. Linda Gray will induct “Dallas” co-star Larry Hagman; multigifted Keith Carradine will honor vari-talented Powers Boothe; scampy Dennis Quaid will salute equally scampy Billy Bob Thornton (two speeches to record). John Cusack will present the Ann Richards Award to Cameron-born Catherine Hardwicke, whose “Twilight” came out in fall, and Thomas Haden Church will emcee the entire ceremony.So bring your shades. You’re going to need them. Maybe somebody will mistake you for a star.
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Glancing ahead to Texas Film Hall of Fame 2
For Part 1, see post below …
This is not an actual party but rather a composite devised from past luminaries who have brightened the Texas Film Hall of Fame and its private revelries.
While the star power is blinding, the conversations actually prick up one’s ears. That’s because many of the honorees are adept artists such as Horton Foote, Terrence Malick and Edwin “Bud” Shrake. (My weak-knees moment last year came interviewing brainy beauty Mariska Hargitay.) The guest lists also include captains of various Austin industries, handshake-happy politicos and just ordinary folks who happened to gain entrance to the event.
Tickets are, in general, sold by tables, which run from $5,000 to $25,000 for parties of 10. To purchase a bundle, contact Shannon Moody at 322-0145, ext. 222.
Bonus: If you purchase one of the higher-priced tables, you receive a coveted invitation to the primary preparty, which was the hit of last year’s social season. Held at Lance Armstrong’s Mount Bonnell palace, it put socialites and fans in conversational pods right next to Morgan Fairchild, Debra Winger and other celebs.
More to come…
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Glancing ahead to Texas Film Hall of Fame 1
Dennis Quaid, Owen Wilson and Matthew McConaughey loiter by the pool, threatening to liberate their shirts. Lyle Lovett, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson strum ancient guitars by the fire, contrasting expressive voices against expressionless faces.
Inside, Sissy Spacek, Betty Buckley, JoBeth Williams and Marcia Gay Harden gather around the buffet table, whispering trade secrets about how to cry on cue. Farah Fawcett and Woody Harrelson pause on the landing, neither really sure why.
Forrest Whitaker and Robert Duval lean forward intensely in the study, arguing about whose Oscar was harder to earn. Directors Richard Linklater and Robert Rodriguez joke once again that everyone mixes them up, while producer Elizabeth Avellan maps out the future of Austin moviemaking while rallying an increasingly voluble following.
Back outside, a wistful Ethan Hawke contemplates life and love as he gazes at the moon.
More to come …
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January 31, 2009
Austin Film Studios Re-Opening Party
In a manner fitting for an organization that has put movie-making into the rough hands of the Central Texas masses, Austin Film Society’s bash for its re-opened Austin Film Studios was an egalitarian affair.
Cynthia Cano, Anna Cano
Tacos and beer. Industry information booths and green-screen demos. Families. Even the VIP area, cordoned off by a few large chairs, felt like any house party in the city.
Randy Strickland and his son Aaron
The crowd in the just-refinished Quanset hut was enormously varied. We recognized actors from their film and TV work. We ran into the industry regulars who haunt such events.
Ben Foster, Chris Sturgeon, Ashley Kaplan
But the vast majority of the attendees looked — and sounded — like young, aspiring film-makers, just the resource that gives Austin the competitive edge over Albuquerque and Shreveport.
Whit Warrell, Fawn
(We explained to a few of them the value of state incentives and society membership.)
Jared Gomez, Emily Robinson
Since the interior was set up like a rectangular doughnut, we simply circulated around the metaphorical hole.
Christopher Smith, Nicole Mendelly
We arrived a little late, after the ribbon-cutting and speeches, which was OK.
Karen Waldrum, Jim Dobsont,
And we left a little early, hoping at least to catch the Ghostland Observatory mini-set at Bass Concert Hall.
Christina del Castillo, Kim Ngo
About this time, cedar fever smacked me off my feet, so I headed home.
Ryan Bogenreif, Kristina Seeley
But not without admiring the unpretentious glamour of the occasion.
Sonny Clark, Jordan Haeger
Most people underdressed, as is the Austin custom. But the charm still worked on this sometimes skeptical recorder of the scene.
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January 22, 2009
Oscar wit and wisdom
Kip is not given to dry wit. Not early in the morning.
And he sometimes wrinkles his nose at the era of instant journalism.
Yet he was up all night, editing some loathsome book, so some internal switch must have flipped.
“Have you seen the Oscar nominations?” he asked, as I sat down for my first decaf.
“No,” I replied, rubbing my eyes. “Who’s up?
“Oh,” he uttered slowly, a smile spreading across his face. “The Oscars were so 45 minutes ago.”
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January 10, 2009
Hank Stuever on gay kissing (Sean Penn + James Franco) in the movies
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January 9, 2009
'Milk' vs. 'The Wrestler'
As movie awards season marches on, we add our two or three cents for the day.
But what about Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler”? Amazing performance, no doubt, as the bloodied, late-life professional wrestler. Redemption for the character. Redemption for the actor. Nice gritty feel to the whole movie. Yet I couldn’t help feeling that I knew exactly what was coming in each scene. All we could do is wait for the next wrenching emotion from Rourke’s life-savaged features. (At times, Rourke is so unrecognizable from his early days, I’d swear it was a stand-in.) He’s be nominated for everything. Win? Dunno.
Still on my to-see list: “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Synecdoche, New York,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and two movies I’d seen as plays, but could watch just for the acting: “Doubt” and “Frost/Nixon.” Suggestions welcome.
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January 6, 2009
Belated farewell to Pat Hingle
Memorable among his screen performances were Ralph Follet in “All the Way Home,” Ace Stamper in “Slendor in the Grass” and Jim O’Connor in the TV version of “The Glass Menagerie” with Shirley Booth (my first exposure to the material). On Broadway, he shined in “1776,” “Child’s Play” and “That Championship Season” during my watch, many more before then.
He died Jan. 3 at age 84. Hingle entered the University of Texas in 1941. He returned after a stint in the Navy and got interested in drama because that where the pretty girls were. He earned a B.F.A. in Drama in 1949. He certainly performed in the Curtain Club, the extracurricular stage group, during the Walter Cronkite, Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones days.
Does anyone recall his Austin days? Contact me if you do.
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December 29, 2008
Slamming out 2008 with 007
During 2006 and 2007, while serving as the newspaper’s movies editor, I saw every significant film distributed in this country. More than 100 each year. In 2008, as my assignment altered, I saw maybe — 20? — mostly at film fests.
So what do we catch for our first holiday movie? “Quantum of Solace.” Can’t beat it for completely escapist entertainment. Edited with such speed, I sometimes didn’t know who was shooting whom. Who cared? Tinseltown South was packed, even though the Bond movie came out months ago and the projection quality was terrible.
Two quick observations: Touch-screen technology never looked so futuristic as at M1 headquarters. Also, add chic architecture to the franchise’s built-in appeal, not just the (real) Austrian opera house, but also the (fake) Bolivian desert resort. What fun watching it blow up!
The Bond for our age, Daniel Craig, keeps up his end of the bargain, but I’d like to see him in seduction mode more often. (Revenge only goes so far.) And hurray for the 007 producers for giving Dame Judi Dench more to do. You’ve got her talents on retainer. Use them!
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December 16, 2008
Austin movie celebs helped hire those lobbyists
This lobbying effort would not be possible were it not for the leadership of Austin’s top film talent. Producer Elizabeth Avellan was front and center promoting awareness of the threats to Texas movie-making. Set decorator Jeanette Scott organized the Spaghetti Western event at Star Hill Ranch that raised $70,000 for the effort.
Others lent their shoulders: Richard Linklater, Robert Rodriguez, Michael Judge, Terrence Malick and more of the film industry’s Who’s Who. Emerging leaders, such as Spiderwood Studios’ Tommy G. Warren, also contributed, as did Alamo Drafthouse’s Tim and Karrie League. The Austin Film Society also pitched in its help.
When this community gets organized, watch out!
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November 17, 2008
The Ear Candy 3: Vintage Cinema
“Film Music by Bernard Herrmann” Austin Symphony Orchestra conductor Peter Bay is a big Herrmann fan. So am I. Expressive music of the highest quality from “Citizen Kane” to “Taxi Driver.” Soundtracks of my life. “Psycho” is the headliner here, but there’s so much more, including the weirdly whistled theme to “Twisted Nerve.”
“The Essential Michael Legrand: Film Music Collection” Tinkling pianos. Aching strings. Sentiment and melancholy. More soundtrack of my life, or perhaps of my romantic adolescence: “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” “Summer of 42,” “The Thomas Crown Affair” I had almost forgotten the once ubiquitous “Brian’s Song.”
“Vintage Cinema” (Cincinnati Pops) — The big symphonic scores of epic movies, mostly from Hollywood’s Golden Era. The kind of shows you’d hit during a rainy matinee — and dream all week of Taurus Bulba or the Sea Hawk. Swept away in the tempest of images and sound.
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November 13, 2008
From Prop 6 to Prop 8 and 'Milk'
By agreement with the movie’s promoters, we won’t say much about the powerful Harvey Milk biopic, “Milk,” starring astonishing chameleon Sean Penn. Look for local and national reviews Nov. 26 and an Austin opening Dec. 5.
Also, a good chunk of the movie is devoted to Milk’s fight against California’s Proposition 6, which would have excluded any gay person — or anyone who supported them — from teaching in the state’s schools. The campaigns, debates and protests strongly resemble the ongoing clash on marriage equality embodied in the recently passed Proposition 8.
For a taste of the movie’s milieu from the 1970s — and how the scene has changed — there’s a Prop 8 protest at City Hall 12:30 p.m. Saturday. Similar gatherings are planned for Houston and Dallas to coincide with a national event.
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November 8, 2008
Momentous night at Spaghetti Western
Something changed last night. The Central Texas movie industry grew up. After 20 years of making films that entertained the world, movie makers sat down to dinner, listened to speakers and mingled for a cause.
Richard Linklater, Robert Rodriquez
The cause? Promoting industry-friendly legislation in Texas. Directors like Richard Linklater, Mike Judge and Robert Rodriguez, producers like Elizabeth Avellan and hundreds of actors, designers and crew members have watched their livelihoods slip away to New Mexico and Louisiana because of heavy incentives on the other side of our borders.
Chris Mattsson, Jane Scheweppe, Deborah Green
On a crisp November night, these and hundreds more gathered at the Adam Wooley’s miraculous Star Hill Ranch for a Spaghetti Western fundraiser. The event’s primary organizer, Jeannette Scott, told me they raised almost $70,000 for the Texas Motion Picture Alliance’s lobbying efforts. That’s way more than the $20,000 the Dallas region raised at their first such event.
Alex Smith, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson
VIPs hung out in one of Star Hill’s fully functional historical buildings (unlike some other Old West towns, this one on Hamilton Pool Road is as devoted to interiors as to exteriors). Mayor Will Wynn led the political delegation and Rep. Dawnna Dukes. Luminaries included philanthropists Chris Mattsson and Jane Schweppe, social all-stars Deborah Green along with Carol and Chris Adams, Zilker Summer Musical backers Pati and Bruce McCandless, Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson, newscaster Michelle Valles, Villa Muse honcho Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, Alamo Drafthouse’s Karrie League (the Alamo gang prepared the food and screenings).
Nancy Mims, Rodney Gibbs
More notables: game-maker Rodney Gibbs, Hollywood-to-Austin writer Paul Ehrmann, fabric designer Nancy Mims, Spiderwood Studios owner Tommy G. Warren, filmmaker Alex Smith (one half of the Smith brother team of writer/directors) and actress Dana Wheeler-Nicholson (“Fletch,” “Friday Night Lights,” “W.”)
Elizabeth Avellan, Karrie League, Paul Ehrmann
Seated out on the main street, which was just as dazzling, were actors Diane and Marco Perella, “Midlife Gals” Kelly and Sally Jackson, and many more. The were all there to ensure a future for film making in Central Texas.
Marco Perella, Diane Perella
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November 7, 2008
'In Search of a Midnight Kiss'
What you can do with just a few thousand dollars, if you possess natural film talent like former Austinite Alex Holdridge: Create a black-and-white romantic comedy that makes Los Angeles as retro-seductive as Woody Allen’s New York City in Manhattan; launch two protagonists that one could easily detest, then draw us deeply into their brief encounter; revisit a familiar tribe of scruffy, marginal wannabes and transform them into the most important people in the universe.
The cast is ideal, but well-seasoned Scoot McNairy really settles in one’s memory. He could become an indie sensation well beyond his current status as a reliable character actor. I hadn’t until this moment made the “Sideways” connection, or absorbed the observation of the classical unities, but nobody really cares what I think about these things. Alex, you did good.
(Yes, today I finally leave my sickbed and hit the social circuit again.)
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November 6, 2008
Finally saw 'The Unforeseen'
There’s no question that Dunn is an extraordinary documentarian. She’s patient. She’s empathetic. She’s got an eye for the right image at just the right moment. Her playfulness with maps, for instance, goes well beyond the mere documenting of the springs endangered by development.
Yet, as with so many talented documentarians, she doesn’t stop there. Her opening sequences and several subsequent ones visually damn downtown development meant to provide an environmentally suitable alternative to urban sprawl. Her views of unfinished freeways are of roads built specifically to avoid the environmentally sensitive Hill Country. And her right out of “Grapes of Wrath” farmer — cutting grass with a scythe! — is so romanticized as to further undercut her potent and sophisticated arguments about development.
I attended a press conference for “The Unforeseen” with Robert Redford. First, I was a bit taken aback by just how articulate he was. But then I was shocked by how jagged the feelings sounded from some of the people in attendance. Clearly, the development wars of the 1980s were not over for them. It’s to Dunn’s credit that the movie cleanly navigated so many of those divisions — to the displeasure of those present for that event.
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Guest blogger Victoria Estrada: 'Religulous'
Guest blogger Victoria Estrada reviews “Religulous,” which I still haven’t seen, on Kid in Austin.
Political commentator Bill Maher ruffles some feathers in Larry Charles’ documentary, “Religulous,” a film that systematically questions blind faith and pokes God-sized holes in the hearts of Americans.
But I must say, before the (expletive), Maher’s a comedian. And he did wonders with the topic at hand.
Take Maher from behind a desk yelling at other loudmouthed pundits on his HBO program, and put him at the front of a single-wide trailer in Raleigh, North Carolina, N.C.. He goes inside a roadside chapel, standing before six or seven rustic looking truckers in collapsible chairs. Suspicion is written across their tired faces.
His strategy is simple. Maher asks only for explanations of their belief. The whats, the hows and the whys. His straightforward approach could be mistaken for arrogance and condescension. But Maher’s reaction to their responses is often times met only with a reiteration, allowing the interviewees to hear the holes in their own reasoning.
Perhaps the most fascinating part of the documentary are the reactions caused by questions that merely scratch the surface of the religion debate. Early on Maher asks “And why is faith so good?” to which a trucker rises from his seat in a huff. “Look, I don’t know what your movie is about but I don’t like it and I’m leaving,” he says, a common reaction to Maher’s questions.
Interviews are conducted all over the world, from the desk of one square-jawed Republican senator to a Orthodox Jewish rabbi who denies the Holocaust — the only interview Maher walked out on shaking his head in defeat and disbelief. He interviews clergy, doctors, and, unfortunately, or maybe to his discredit, the kind of faceless Americans who populate places like The Holy Land, a biblical amusement park in Orlando, Fla. These scenes seem too easy, and Maher self-serving.
I wouldn’t recommend this film for people that aren’t already engaged in the debate on religion. But for those who can stomach Maher’s opinion, there are many belly laughs to be had at the expense of reverence.
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November 5, 2008
Your A-List, Best Video Store
Vulcan, which has been around Austin almost as long as video could be rented, has maintained its loyal customer base through these strategies, plus something indefinable — character. You know when you in a Vulcan video store. It won 46 percent of the A-List vote for best video store.
Netflix, which revolutionized the market with its delivery service and lack of late fees, came in second with 17 percent. I Luv Video, another ground-based Austin veteran, came in third at 15 percent. Blockbuster, the chastened chain that once dominated the industry, took fourth with 9 percent. Waterloo Records & Video, which, I believe is getting out of the video-renting game, earned 5 percent.
Pulling in less than 2 percent were The Movie Store, TapeLenders, Austin Public Library, Encore and Hastings.
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November 2, 2008
'Man on Wire' -- 4 stars
Director James Marsh splices interviews, archival footage and unusually adroit reenactments to tell Philippe Petit’s story. Well, his story and that of his friends, because it took a small army to accomplish that dangerous, illegal act. Their suspenseful, painstaking planning and execution, as well as the high-flying aesthetics, keep one glued to the screen.
The movie itself is a work of art. It won high praise at the Sundance Film Festival, played Austin theaters and earned a rare 100 percent rating from RottenTomatoes.com’s Tomatometer. It will be available on DVD on Dec. 9.
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October 29, 2008
Your A-List, Best Place for a First Date
The A-List winner for Best Place for a First Date is also a theater, but a movie house, to be more specific. In fact, it’s a small group of movie theaters that have won numerous A-List awards for combining food, drink, film and socializing. Alamo Drafthouse — no particular location — took 28 percent of the vote.
Hula Hut, the playfully themed restaurant on Lake Austin, come in second with 13 percent. Eternally youthful Peter Pan Putt-Putt was not far behind with 13 percent. Two restaurants — Hyde Park Bar & Grill and Vivo — virtually tied at 9 percent. The coffeehouse and roasters next to Hula Hut, Mozart’s warmed to 8 percent, while the Restaurant Row veteran, Romeo’s, earned 7 percent of the love. Coming in under 6 percent were Enoteca Vespaio, Chez Zee and Mars.
Write-ins: Carrabba’s, The Steeping Room
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October 21, 2008
AFF Barbecue at the French Legation
At the Austin Film Festival’s annual French Legation barbecue, pasty-faced moviemakers raved about Texas climate as they mingled with locals on the historic lawns. Yeah, guys, you should have been here a few weeks ago, when it was hotter than the sun’s core. Visitors should never make life-changing decisions based on festival weather in Austin.
Barbara Morgan, Gigi Bryant
We chatted with the always generous Gigi Bryant of of GMSA Management Services.
Nancy Smith, Matthew Dunn
Also with James Moody of Mohawk, who talked about traveling with White Denim as they made more noise nationally. (Is there anything more gratifying than an Austin breakout artist?) He’s one of those club owners, like Paul Oveisi at Momo’s, who understands the future of Austin live music from the ground level.
Bob Soderstrom, Maya Perez
Kids pummeled the grass. Those diners who sought the convenience of picnic tables under the required tent emerged quickly to absorb the last of the sun’s rays. It was a bucolic scene that would have tempted any fest-goer to skip the next movie or panel and just be. In Austin. For now.
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Jake Gonzales of AGLIFF
But it serves him well in his double role as an independent publicist and a staff member in charge of programming and outreach for the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival. That edge tells careful listeners that he’s serious about expanding the focus of the festival to include a full range of gender and sexuality issues. It also helps explain his drive, pushing the fest, once the premier cultural event in the Austin gay community, to year-round status.
Gonzales spoke with us at Jo’s Hot Coffee, representing AGLIFF executive director David Sweeney and development director Collin Acock. I liked his style: The San Antonio native who attended Converse High School clearly looks carefully at things, then chooses his words and his battles deliberately. I look forward to working with him.
He gave me a hot tip: Austin-to-Los Angeles filmmaker Jenn Garrison has been nominated by AGLIFF for the Iris Prize 2009. Garrison’s short “Greg” could win $25,000 for its portrayal of a “deviant savant” amid the women’s independent music scene.
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October 15, 2008
Your A-List, Best Movie Theater
Entertainment Weekly named Alamo Drafthouse the best movie theater. In the country. How can you argue with the smash-up of sensitively selected movies, filling pub grub and potent potables?
Its kin — still run by Tim and Kerry League’s gang — took three spots: Alamo South Lamar (25 percent); Alamo at the Ritz (11 percent) and Alamo Village (7 percent). The only other serious contender was Regal Gateway (9 percent). Its art house sibling, Regal Arbor, earned only 3 percent.
The list of theaters taking 2 percent or less is long: Bulluck Museum IMAX, Paramount, Regal Westgate, Tinseltown Pflugerville, Cinemark Southpark, Millennium, Dobie, Galaxy Highland, Regal Metropolitan, Cinemark Cedar Park, City Lights, Cinemark Round Rock, AMC Barton Creek Square, Cinemark Hill Country Gallleria, Showplace, Tinseltown South, Regal Lakeline Mall, Starplex and Chestnut Square.
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Andrew Shapter's 'Happiness Is,' Part 3
Interview continued from post below…
Out & About: Early screenings of your documentary have inspired a brigade of volunteer marketers (they’ve already descended on us!). How will the DIY method translate into distribution?
O&A: Social media seem to have made a huge difference in recent political and philanthropic campaigns. How will your volunteers use it?
AS: The volunteers are a strategic, “wired” group of individuals who really understand that peers are power. This is a generation that grew up having access to endless information and messaging, so they really rely on the dissemination of information from others to influence their thoughts, decisions and actions. Because the message is so simple, the foundation is built upon initial awareness generation through grass-roots media that you’ll see around town, and then capturing the power of word-of-mouth into a loyal, expressive movement. But, when the success spans beyond what our group can handle, that is where additional support from outside distributors could come into play.
“Happiness Is” plays at 9:15 p.m. Sunday at the Rollins Theater and 9:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Alamo Lake Creek.
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Andrew Shapter's 'Happiness Is,' Part 2
Interview continued from below…
Out & About: Asking people about the ideas behind “the pursuit of happiness” appealed to your personal passions. How did this passion catch fire with your team? Did anyone lose the spirit?
O&A: It seems to me that “Happiness Is” works best when you move from abstractions to concrete examples. And you give generous time to three or so excellent subjects. How did you settle on your ex post facto stars?
AS: Well, the film is basically the result of hundreds of spontaneous interviews from a 4,000-mile road trip. We purposely avoided the structures of traditional documentary filmmaking by making the crux of it about the question, “What is your pursuit of happiness.” The characters that we ultimately featured were the happiest people we met on the trip and had the most compelling things to say. They have completely different personalities, yet, they have a few distinct things in common that helped us reach some conclusions. One of these is that the typical definition of the “American dream” of wealth and success didn’t factor in. Our “happiest” characters lead a life of purpose by devoting their lives to helping those in need. I’m not talking about giving money. I’m talking about those who work with the most unfortunate of Americans every day. Their work enables them to appreciate their own lives in a more profound way.
“Happiness Is” plays at 9:15 p.m. Sunday at the Rollins Theater and 9:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Alamo Lake Creek.
More interview to come…
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September 23, 2008
Ben McKenzie, Rowan Joseph at Jo's, Part 3
For his part, Joseph had never seen the “O.C.” One thing that clinched McKenzie for the “Johnny Got His Gun” role was a candid Web image.
“I saw a picture of Ben walking down the street of LA — whistling. Nobody whistles. Not in LA,” Joseph says. “I said ‘That’s the one.’ He has to look like he stepped off the battlefield in World War I. He has to be an Everyman. He has to be a boy at the beginning and a man at the end.”
After just a few screenings, he’s been delighted by the reaction of McKenzie fans to the material, composed almost entirely of words and very little cinematic visualization.
“It’s been a long time since people listened in movies,” Joseph said. “Audiences, younger audiences, are having that experience for the first time. It’s a bench, a chair and Ben.”
Joseph received two calls after the first screening in Washington D.C., one from Mark Cuban’s group, asking what cities they’d like to play, the other from the Pentagon asking if he wanted a tour.
“Ninety-eight percent of films don’t get distribution,” Joseph says. “How did we get here? This is surreal. Thank god for Dalton Trumbo and Ben.”
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Ben McKenzie, Rowan Joseph at Jo's, Part 2
Continued from post below …
Poised beyond his years, McKenzie, 30, is a veteran of saturated media promotion, having survived 92 episodes of an evening soap opera with generational impact. Joseph, 51, runs Garry Marshall’s Falcon Theatre and has won awards as a director and producer in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Yet theater doesn’t produce the kind of 24-hour attention that a hit TV show generates.
“It lasted only four seasons,” he says of “The O.C.,” contrasting it with other pop watersheds like “90210.” Instead, he wants to follow in the footsteps of actors who outgrew their youthful vehicles. “There’s a guy you may have heard of — Johnny Depp — likeable guy, pretty good actor. He was on a show called ‘21 Jump Street.’”
McKenzie, who has been stumping for Barak Obama in his spare time, hadn’t read the Trumbo book, but was immediately entranced by it when the “scary” project was proposed.
“The writing is very rich; the character is incredible,” McKenzie says. “You get very few chances to play something like this on stage or in film in your life. And it’s so timely. The story is almost 100 years old, if you consider it takes place in World War I, but we’re still talking about generals sending 18-year-old boys — and now girls, too — off to war that they don’t understand while they were there.”
To be continued…
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Ben McKenzie, Rowan Joseph at Jo's, Part 1
Benjamin McKenzie, like his primary medium, is cool.
Rowan Joseph, like his, is warm. Very warm.
Seated side by side at Jo’s Hot Coffee promoting their movie, “Johnny Got His Gun,” the television actor and the theater director present a study in extreme contrasts.
His forehead tilts forward, not as a weapon in a charm offensive, but almost to hood his responses. McKenzie keeps something in reserve, an essential on the screen. (A budding Robert Redford then?)
He speaks in short, declarative sentences, factual without elaboration, while avoiding the impression of obfuscation. (“I live a quiet life in the hills above L.A. Way up. Above the perpetual chaos of Hollywood and West Hollywood. A little yard. A dog. I hang out at my house.”)
Pennsylvania-born Joseph is a rumpled eruption of emotions. Always in movement, always in thought, he’s making intellectual connections — theater, books, movies, actors, lighting — faster than anyone could absorb them.
If McKenzie recedes into reflection, Joseph can’t wait to rhapsodize about his first movie project, how he envisioned McKenzie as Dalton Trumbo’s injured World War I soldier after seeing his “Junebug” and a picture on the Internet; how the movie was made on an $83,000 budget with just a bench and a chair, how he relied on his theatrical background to simulate water with $53 worth of dry ice.
Most miraculous of all: How the 77-minute movie with a single actor was picked up for distribution on the first inquiry to Mark Cuban’s Truly Indie company.
More to come …
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September 18, 2008
Elizabeth Avellan on Austin's ravaged film industry, Part 2
“We’re losing more than jobs,” Avellan says. “We’re losing a community.”
Not to mention the effect on Austin’s vaunted creative culture. Avellan and other Austin-based producers have had trouble keeping movie production in Texas, to say nothing of the Hollywood financiers attracted to New Mexico’s or Louisiana’s incentives. Avellan says those incentives often benefit the financiers only, not the productions themselves.
“Decisions are not being made on a script’s merit,” she says. “It’s all about who has the best incentives.”
There’s also the little matter of location credibility. A film that was supposed to shoot in the Texas desert recently was lured to Puerto Rico (no desert), while the USANetwork’s “In Plain Sight” series does fine when scenes are set in Albuquerque, but New Mexico doesn’t sub as well as Texas, with its varied landscapes, for other locations. (Also, have you noticed the shallowness of the acting pool in Albuquerque?)
TXMPA’s Dallas group raised $20,000 for lobbying efforts recently; Scott wants to double that during the “Spaghetti Western,” here in the former heart of Texas film production.
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Elizabeth Avellan on Austin's ravaged film industry, Part 1
If you doubt that incentives from other states have diminished Texas movie production, share a late morning coffee with set decorator Jeanette Scott and producer Elizabeth Avellan.
That’s why Scott, who has never put together a benefit event, agreed to organize the Texas Motional Picture Alliance’s “Spaghetti Western” fundraiser at Star Hill Ranch in Bee Cave on Nov. 7. She’s drafted big guns such as Avellan, Mike Judge, Robert Rodriguez, Richard Linklater, Alexandra and Terrence Malick as well as Warren Spector to lead the charge.
But it was Avellan, who produced Rodriguez’s and others’ films from “El Mariachi” to “Spy Kids,” “Sin City” and “Grindhouse,” who rattled the Mueller Austin Starbucks with reports of the industry’s astonishing demise.
“We are facing a brain drain,” she says. “We’re training these film talents, and they move away because other states are stealing our films. Too much money is left on the table. Studios are not even scouting Texas.”
Texas Motional Picture Alliance is the lobbying arm of the regional industry. It’s hoping to increase the state’s cash-back grant on instate spending from 5 percent to something like 15 to 20 percent, not even close to Michigan’s 42 percent.
More to come …
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September 15, 2008
Watch out for 'Whip It,' Ellen Page on Austin streets
That state lures movie producers with a 42 percent tax incentive; Texas offers up to 5 percent. Now Barrymore will shoot exteriors here, days before the Austin City Limits Festival launches. During last year’s fest, the director scouted locations while dallying with ex-boyfriend Justin Long.
The interior/exterior split is now familiar to Texas’ decimated film industry. Establishing shots for Oscar winner “No Country for Old Men” were made in West Texas, for instance; the rest went to New Mexico, another incentive haven.
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'Kings of the Evening' Premiere Reception
Now that all the Hurricane Ike social reporting is done, it’s time to recap some pre-Ike events that never made it into Out & About posts. One such event was the premiere of “Kings of the Evening,” an Austin-shot movie that has earned honors at African American film festivals around the country.
Taisha Shaw, Angela Rawna
The following reception at the Monarch Event Center was meant as a thank-you to the cast and crew from the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau, which is tasked with overseeing film production in the city.
Linara Washington, Jennifer Walker
With most of the news about Austin’s decimated movie industry — leeched away by incentives from New Mexico, Louisiana, Michigan and 37 other states — negative, it was a blessing to toast a small, feel-good film from Andrew P. Jones about honor dressing during the Depression.
Cara Briggs, Jonathan Clark
We ran into all sorts of favored folks, include two fantastic Austin stage actors — Angela Rawna and Cara Briggs — the second appearing in this particular movie, the first not. Like most independent films these days, “Kings of the Evening” will face tough distribution challenges, but the audience buzz was warm at the reception.
On a sad note, we heard at the reception that Max Horne, the cabaret singer whom we’d enjoyed at Ms. B’s not long ago, died quietly of cancer a few weeks ago.
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September 9, 2008
Sneak: 'Burn After Reading'
The formal reviews will come out later this week, but it’s definitely second-tier Coen — not nearly in the league of “No Country for Old Men,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Fargo” or “Miller’s Crossing.” Yet this quirky little spy thriller set on the fringes of official Washington D.C. kept me guessing and giggling to the end. Every few minutes, I whispered to my companions, “Where is this going?”
The loose threads are tied up neatly during an outrageous scene between a nervous CIA middleman played by David Rasche and his supercillious superior, brilliantly thrown away by J.K. Simmons. On a spectrum of playing with type to playing against type were Tilda Swinton (conventional cold B-word), John Malkovich (obscenity spewing brain), Frances McDormand (ditzy, sweet yet also fearless), George Clooney (a cad again, but at least clueless about it), Brad Pitt (playing a twink so twinky, he’s almost unrecognizable).
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September 8, 2008
Elaine Stritch & Matthew McConaughey, Part 3
See lower posts for first two parts…
Back on his old stomping grounds, Matthew McConaughey dived into Barton Springs, attended a lopsided Longhorn victory at the expanded Royal-Memorial Stadium, hung with Austin buddies and titillated admirers with his appearances at the Paramount premiere of “Surfer, Dude,” which he produced as well as starred in, and the after-party at the Belmont, where he kindly allowed his picture to be taken with fans, even though cameras were generally forbidden.
McConaughey has worked pretty steadily since Richard Linklater’s “Daze and Confused” broadcast his core persona to wider audiences in 1993. Many a brash young movie star has faded before the 15-year mark. Not McConaughey. His prolific mixture of light comedies and fairly substantive dramas begs comparison with another native Texan and sometime Austinite, Dennis Quaid, also compared to Marlon Brando in his youth, although for different reasons. (And to round out the coincidences, Elaine Stritch actually dated Brando, until the former convent girl fled that Lothario’s apartment when he emerged from a back room in pajamas.)
Here’s the point: McConaughey is no slacker. Yet is he milking his looks and charm while reaching no higher than the lowest rungs of his talent potential? Ask people which of his roles they remember most, and they’ll say David Wooderson from “Dazed and Confused,” way back at the beginning of his career. Since then, he’s confounded his critics in “Amistad,” “A Time to Kill,” “Lone Star” and other movies, plus he was memorable in “Reign of Fire” with Christian Bale.
Yet will anyone care about McConaughey when, like Stritch, he’s 83?
I hope so. He’s a genial guy. And like Quaid, he’s been generous to his partly adopted city of Austin. Perhaps he won’t have to suffer, as Stritch did, to discover that it’s really all about the work.
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Elaine Stritch & Matthew McConaughey, Part 1
Two major celebrities tarried in Austin last week.
One is 83, the other somewhat younger, 38, hauling around an even younger girlfriend, 24, and a newborn in tow.
One made her name on the stage, the other zoomed to stardom on the big screen.
One had never visited Austin before, the other once lived here, returned often after relocating to the West Coast, although his visits have been spaced fewer and farther between of late.
One performed a series of four 150-minute cabaret shows at the Mansion on Judge’s Hill while in town, the other made brief appearances before the press and public at the Paramount Theatre and the Belmont.
One was once known as a beauty, a wit and something of a lush, the other is known as a beauty, a charmer and something of a party dude.
One shrunk to mortal size once she left the stage, showing her age and disabilities, the other beamed with golden good health, clothed or half-clothed in public.
How Elaine Stritch and Matthew McConaughey responded to Austin and how Austin responded to these celebrities tells us something about all three.
More to come…
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September 4, 2008
Review: 'Surfer, Dude'
Matthew! Matt! Ma-te-o! Bro!
Or, as you’d slur it in “Surfer, Dude” with a sweet-potato-pie East Texas drawl, “braaaw!”
O mighty Bronze Idol of our New Bronze Age! We, your expanded posse, worship at your sandy, unshod feet. We adore your kouros-boy curls, Praxitelean torso and the “Discobolus” curve of your back.
Mr. Matthew McConaughey, you are not just the Sexiest Man Alive, but the Sexiest Man Alive Who Wants to Die During Sex.
Your blissed-out grin and Marlon Brando peepers blink out from the giant screen, from every “TMZ” episode and from every celebrity ’zine. (Congrats on your personal-best time in the Nike + Human Race! And on the mini-dude-in-waiting!)
Man, what a pal. You lent your stratospheric appeal to a formulaic beach movie directed by your Longview bud, S.R. Bindler, who previously made a mind-bending documentary — “Hands on a Hard Body.”
Now, Bindler’s cinematic clay is another hard body — the hard body of the post-“People” Era. And Bindler clearly knows what he’s doing: You are framed — in all your “California Dreamin’” glory — in virtually every shot, inviting the audience to drool over your bodacious six pack, your naked “bongo nights” backside and your surfing-suited crouch.
You may not have been a beach bum before making this movie, but it will be impossible to shake that image now. Think how long it took Sean Penn to escape Jeff Spicoli. Expect 21 more years of red carpets before winning that Oscar.
For “Surfer, Dude” you even brought along two of your Austin braaaws — Woody Harrelson and Willie Nelson — studiously blowing on the movie’s ubiquitous weed. (If they handed out Academy Awards for convincing consumption of cannabis …)
Perhaps unwittingly, “Surfer, Dude” is a big, wet kiss blown — with a sexy wink — in the general direction of the good, clean 1960s beach movies, those that sported such improbable plot devices as, oh, say, a reality-show mogul trying to force a pure-hearted surfer into a commercial enterprise he despises.
There’s not much actual surfing here, though we see some virtual-reality surfing sessions. Nobody embarrasses themselves, least of all you, who may now reclaim your shirt.
Yet there’s a reason this review runs to almost 400 words and is addressed to you, you, only you. The movie’s a monument to your transcendent humpiness — despite the smattering of topless women, a la “Girls Gone Wild,” in party scenes — and the unblemished, unfiltered, unaltered pleasure you take in life.
Awesome, Dude!
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September 3, 2008
Green Carpet: 'Surfer, Dude'
Enough Obamamania. On Wednesday, Austinites witnessed McConaugheysteria.
The Dude
Fans and press melted underneath the Paramount Theatre marquee for two hours before Matthew McConaughey finally waved goodbye to the crowd assembled for the Austin Film Society premiere of “Surfer, Dude.” When he did abandon the “green carpet” — a play on the movie’s frequent references to varieties of grass — screeches erupted in the lobby and uniformed officers were called in to part the sweaty masses.
Camila Alves
Dude No. 1 was gracious with his idolaters, as were his colleagues from the beach movie about a surfer who won’t bend his gifts to rank commercialism. Some, like Austin-era bud Woody Harrelson, spent the past week in town, hitting old haunts like Barton Springs (where McConaughey was whistled for diving in the wrong zone).
K.D. Aubert
His director and pal from Longview days, S.R. Bindler (“Hands on a Hard Body”), shared a suite with McConaughey for the Longhorns game on Saturday, as well as a trip to the field during halftime.
S.R. Bindler and wife, whose name I missed (help!)
“I’ve been to many games,” Bindler said. “But I had no idea the full spectacle.”
Zachary Knighton
Cast members such as K.D. Aubert (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), Jeffrey Nording (“Dirt”), Todd Stashwick (“The Riches”) and Zachary Knighton (“The Hitcher”) shared their favorite Austin barbecue stops (Stubb’s, Iron Works) and small Texas towns (Marfa was mentioned more than once).
Todd Stashwick
“I haven’t been here in 12 years,” said Nording, who plays another bemused villain in “Surfer, Dude.” “It’s tripled in height. I still recognize some things, but what happened?”
Jeffrey Nording
Hey, I skipped the after-party at the Belmont, which I’m sure floated above the Earth, but what with the movie — see my review in this space Thursday morning — and the green carpet, all I could visualize was Mangia pizza and the last bits of the RNC convention.
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September 2, 2008
AGLIFF Review 4: 'Ciao'
“Ciao”
1 star
The parallels just keep on rolling. The two movies are set in American regional centers without particularly distinct cultures (Dallas, Atlanta), and then introduce comparatively exotic elements (from Italy, Alabama). Both are paced exceedingly slow, which only exacerbates the Coke-flat talents of most of the actors.
Sustained somberness, irrational outbursts of emotion and unexpected intimacies are, of course, perfectly natural responses to death. Yet the makers of these movies are not budding Bergmans. One wants to respect their serious intentions, but the results just don’t merit our trust. Death does not become them.
“Ciao” plays the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival 2:30 p.m. Saturday tat the Alamo Ritz.
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AGLIFF Review 3: 'Like a Virgin'
“Like a Virgin”
3 stars
You read that right. All those trappings of the traditional sports movie lead to a low-key, quirky comedy set amid the grit of an industrial South Korean port. The sweetness of the boy’s self-discovery is tempered by a tear-stained family drama, but all is redeemed when he is able to employ his hidden wrestling skills to affect transformation into a Korean approximation of his idol, Madonna.
Screenwriters Lee Hae-yeong and Lee Hae-jun lay the tender trap sensitively and saucer-eyed young Ryu Deok-hwan sells every little unexpected twist in the protagonist’s personality. It’s a bit frightening to think how this project might have floundered with a less adept artistic team. One or two notes played too loud or too long, and the whole thing might have crumbled.
“Like a Virgin” plays the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival 8 p.m. Sept. 5 at Alamo Ritz.
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August 25, 2008
AGLIFF Review 2: 'The Edge of Heaven'
‘The Edge of Heaven’
Four stars.
An earthy Turkish laborer, retired in Germany, attempts to fill his declining years with a gusto for life’s pleasures. This brings him into contact with kind, worldly Turkish prostitute, who leaves the profession just ahead of Islamic religious bullies. His son is a scholar of German at a Bremen university; her daughter has disappeared in Turkey. The first act ends badly. When that prodigal daughter seeks refuge in Germany, she encounters a saucer-eyed young social activist, with whom she has a brief, but telling affair. The second act ends even more tragically. The activist’s mother, seemingly the least of the players in this story that loops back on itself, becomes the dramatic fulcrum by its ameliorating end.
The cast, which tends to let expressions tell more than verbosity, fits the material seamlessly, Hanna Schygulla, who plays the activist’s mother, is devastatingly effective, although those who have not seen her since the Fassbinder’s days may be startled by the effects of normal aging.
By the way, that the lesbian affair is treated almost as an afterthought, then as an unexpectedly crucial link in the mysterious story makes this an unusual pick for a gay film festival, but thank AGLIFF heartily for bringing this gem, which won best screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival, to Austin.
“The Edge of Heaven” screens 7:30 p.m. Sept. 3 at the Alamo Ritz.
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August 23, 2008
AGLIFF Review 1: 'Equality U.'
‘Equality U.’
Three stars
The set-up sounded a bit pat: A group of young Christians travel on a Soulforce Equality Ride to Christian colleges and universities to discuss with students and administrators their institutions’ rules against homosexuality.
And, for a while, those expectations are met in the documentary “Equality U.” Group co-leader Jacob Reitan finds his eloquent, uncompromising speech-making not always effective; equally adamant co-leader Haven Herrin looks more closely at individual situations and teases out more ambiguity. Disagreements about strategy cleave the Riders almost from the start. Yet train a camera on humans long enough — especially in such hothouse conditions — and they will surprise even a viewer who has seen scores of documentaries about gay culture.
One stumbles on the unflaggingly hopeful and spiritually adjusted Oklahoma Rider who discovers her father ready to disown her for appearing on TV; the Oklahoma Baptist University junior who comes out in great fear, only to find her status liberating; the weeping student who doesn’t want her university’s anti-gay stance to hurt actual people; other students who promise to help change their universities’ policies.
Director Dave O’Brien saves the most potent gesture for last: Brigham Young University students, knowing that they will almost certainly be expelled and excommunicated, stage a simple die-in on campus for those Mormons who committed suicide when rejected by their families and schools after coming out. It’s a heartbreaking subject the rest of the country, slowing altering its views on homosexuality, doesn’t want to face. The Equality Riders stare it down with courage, dignity and — dare we say? — grace.
“Equality U” screens at the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival 2 p.m. Sept. 3 at the Alamo Ritz.
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August 20, 2008
Catching up with SXSW's Janet Pierson at the Athenian Grill
Janet Pierson is not Matt Dentler. The new SXSW Film Fest director would never be mistaken for the former SXSW Film Fest director, who struck out for the far frontiers of online movie distribution in NYC earlier this year. Whereas Dentler was physically dynamic, verbally prolific and geographically ambitious, Pierson is quiet, thoughtful, a behind-the-scenes social connector who is best when helping others rather than tooting her own horn.
Of course we talked film and festivals, but also StumbleUpon.com, which helps locate Web sites based on the reader’s interests, and JazzyDanceCo.com, which showcases hot Austin salsa dancers Azucena and Carlos. (I like that in a conversationalist — curiosity across various fields.)
Although she says her first months as director have been stressful, Pierson has learned to relax into who she really is — somebody who knows everybody in the local film industry, as well as major figures in film all over the world, and who understands that the digital option holds out the future for many of those filmmakers.
She divulged some fizzy fest news, but we’ll sit on that until the timing is right. Stay tuned.
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August 19, 2008
Jacqueline Rush Rivera and Dan Cofer leave Austin movie posts
It with sadness that we report that Jacqueline Rush Rivera is leaving Cine Las Americas, while Dan Cofer is bidding farewell to the Dobie Theater.
I didn’t know Dan as well — I don’t even have a photograph of him to publish — but he was a gracious manager. His distant predecessor, Scott Dinger, was a prolific leader for the local movie tribe and helped launch the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival.
Ever since then, a revolving door has fanned past the managerial spot. Recently, the Landmark-owned Dobie has booked more popcorn movies along with its art-house fare. Whatever it takes to pay the bills — I worked for Landmark in the 1980s — but the Dobie was once an essential cultural asset for the city. Now …
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August 10, 2008
Voodoo Cowboy at The Belmont
If the Ice Ball at the Monarch Center represented a grassroots fundraising and socializing effort come of age, the Voodoo Cowboy party at The Belmont the same evening had the feel of a top shelf event that just gets more glamorous at each turn. Voodoo Cowboy Entertainment manages musicians, athletes and moviemakers, while its party-giving colleagues at Mueller Law Offices work in a myriad of specialties. Their annual shindig Saturday — overseen by Mark Mueller himself — lured the brightest and the most beautiful from a multitude of Austin professions into the spotlight.
Zach Hadley, Angela Torres
In our first sweep through the party, we encountered filmmaker and activist Turk Pipkin, U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett, Style Avatar Stephen Moser, SXSW Film’s Janet Pierson, Austin Film Society’s Agnes Varnum, UT Performing Arts Center’s Tim Neece (or was it?), lawyer and Fortunate 500 stand-out Becky Beaver, bountiful benefactor Melanie Barnes, open-hearted publicist Patricia Paredes, and writer and social connector Anne Elizabeth Wynn, among many others.
Amy Hillin, Paul Molanphy, LZ Love
The whole event, blessed by late-night winds, was filmed and, given the bands loosening the guests’ joints and the flowing liquids loosening them even more, there should be some interesting footage out there.
Haylee Faggard, Mark Faggard, Cassandra LeBlanc
We spent the most time with David Sullivan, the new head of First Night and one of the national proponents of art-sated New Years Eves. “He’ll be the Cliff Redd of First Night,” predicted Wynn, referring to the Long Center savior, who swept aside local bickerers to build the city’s first municipal performing arts center.
David Sullivan, Patricia Paredes, David Johnson
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August 7, 2008
Catching up with Cole Dabney
Just back from working Camp Longhorn up near Marble Falls, Cole Dabney is in Austin full-time.
Bobby’s on a naval vessel in the Caribbean — and a year from now he’ll be U.S. Navy full-time — right now, but Cole and I met for salads and pizza at Taverna on Second Street. (We agree that the free focaccia is the coolest thing about the small-group restaurant. Well, that and the awning-shaded sidewalk seating.) Cole, a UT junior, is bubbling with ideas, including one for introducing great films to kids through a book. (Any trade publication editors out there?)
And yes, ladies, the former TCU basketball player is single. I knew the question would pop up sooner or later. Better get it out of the way, right off the bat.
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August 1, 2008
2008 Fortunate 500: The Complete List
Remember, this is our annual list of Austin’s most social citizens. It honors those Central Texans who go Out & About for the good of the greater social fabric.
Almost all our picks were originally nominated by readers, then followed by our social spies during the subsequent year. (I chatted with most of them, too, at the 1,000 or so social events I attended in the past 12 months.) So now is a prime time to alert us to people who contribute above and beyond to the social scene, so they can be eligible for the 2009 list.
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July 25, 2008
2008 Fortunate 500: Movies
MOVIES
Top Pick Jacqueline Rush Rivera: A native of Puerto Rico, she trained in visual arts and discovered Austin while working at the immigrant center Casa Marianella. With Eugenio del Bosque, Rush Rivera has helped internationalize Cine las Americas, fast growing into an essential Austin social event. She’s also out supporting causes such as the Austin Asian Film Festival, Austin Film Society and the city’s other movie fandangos.
Paul Alvarado-Dykstra. Fantastic Fest, Villa Muse Studios
Elizabeth Avellan. ‘Shorts,’ Troublemaker Studios
Angela Bettis and Kevin Ford. ‘Inheridance,’ ‘When Is Tomorrow,’ ‘Scar’
Louis Black. Austin Chronicle, South by Southwest
Gary Bond. Austin Film Office, Austin Film Commission
Rebecca Campbell. Austin Film Society, Austin Studios
Kat Candler. Storie Productions, Austin Film School
Heather Courtney. ‘Critical Condition,’ ‘Trinidad’
Cole Dabney. Austin Film Critics, Coleandbobby.com
Eugenio del Bosque. Cine las Americas
Laura Dunn. ‘The Unforeseen’
Marc English. Austin Film Society, Marc English Design
Hector Galan. ‘The War,’ ‘Bronx Burning ’
Katy Hackerman and Robert Walker. Austin Film Society, Matinee Media, Marfa Public Radio
Tamara and Bob Hudgins. Texas Film Commission, Chisholm Trail Community Foundation
Lisa Kaselak. Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival.
Harry Knowles. Ain’t It Cool News, Fantastic Fest, Butt-numb-a-thon
Tim and Karrie League. Alamo Drafthouse, Fantastic Fest, Rolling Roadshow
Richard Linklater. Austin Film Society, ‘Inning by Inning,’ ‘Me and Orson Welles,’ ‘Boyhood’
Suzanne and Tim McCanlies. ‘The Two Bobs’
David Modigliani. ‘Crawford’
Barbara Morgan. Austin Film Festival
Chale Nafus. Austin Film Society
Masashi Niwano. Austin Asian American Film Festival
Spencer Parsons. ‘I’ll Come Running,’ University of Texas, Austin Chronicle
Janet and John Pierson. University of Texas, Austin Film Society, South by Southwest Film Festival
PJ Raval. ‘Trouble the Water,’ ‘Trinidad,’ ‘The Two Bobs’
Bob Ray. ‘Hell on Wheels’
Robert Rodriguez. ‘Shorts,’ Austin Film Society, Troublemaker Studios
Ame Shillington. Austin Star Map
Tom Schatz. UT Film Institute
Alex Smith. UT Film Institute, ‘The Slaughter Rule’
Paul Stekler. Austin Film Society, University of Texas
Anne Walker-McBay. ‘The Two Bobs,’ ‘Boyhood’
Alisa Weldon and Lynn Yeldell. L Style G Style, Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival
While I’m in hiking in Montana, we’ll reveal one Fortunate 500 list each day at noon. For a complete updated list, follow the brightly colored Fortunate 500 link below this post.
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July 17, 2008
Longhorns, Texas the bad guys in 'The Express'
Orangebloods might want to avert their eyes: Trailers for “The Express,” an inspirational sports movie about Ernie Davis, the first African American to win the Hiesman Trophy, show the halfback facing down racism in upstate New York and the Deep South. Sneers on campus. Cold shoulders from merchants. Stars and bars in the South.
Uh oh. It’s not just Texas. It’s the University of Texas.
Indeed Davis, played in “The Express” by Rob Brown, and his Orangemen beat Texas in the 1959 Cotton Bowl to take the national championship. Davis was told he’d allowed to accept his MVP award at the post-game banquet, but would be required to leave the hotel immediately afterward. His whole team boycotted the banquet.
Not Texas’ finest hour, especially since UT fielded all-white teams in those days, not raising the ban against black players until 1963. Extra cringe points: part-time Austinite Dennis Quaid looms large Davis’ Syracuse coach, who insists on playing his controversial halfback. The movie, which premieres in Syracuse on Sept. 12, is slated for an October release nationally.
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July 16, 2008
'Mamma Mia!' review preview Part 3
Addendum to “Mamma Mia!” review below
HOLLYWOOD TALENT SHOW
Vanessa Redgrave (“Camelot”)
Nicole Kidman (“Moulin Rouge”)
Renee Zellweger (“Chicago,” pictured with Catherine Zeta-Jones, who had already proved herself on Broadway)
Richard Gere (“Chicago”)
Meryl Streep (“Mamma Mia!”)
Johnny Depp (“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”)
Peter O’Toole (“Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” “Man of La Mancha”)
Lee Marvin (“Paint Your Wagon,” even though his recording of “Wanderin’ Star” went gold)
Helena Bonham Carter (“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” — OK, barely)
Pierce Brosnan (“Mamma Mia!”)
Deborah Kerr (“The King and I”)
Natalie Wood (“West Side Story”)
Audrey Hepburn (“My Fair Lady”)
Ava Gardner (“Show Boat”)
Franco Nero (“Camelot”)
Send in your own suggestions.
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'Mamma Mia!' review preview Part 2
Continued from below….
If Streep’s energy ever lags, in rushes Julie Walters and Christine Baransky, as old friends with their own twists on late-life libido. Accomplished, stylized musical performers, they need no prompting to steal the frame. The possible daddies — Stellan Skarsgard, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth — remain modestly in the background for the most part, singing when required. (By now, Brosnan’s undignified howl has been sufficiently ridiculed, so let’s not elaborate. He’s still emits more heat than all the studs who line Baransky’s beach number.)
A few words on the unity of time: Much has been made of a 59-year-old Streep, playing a member of a disco-era all-girl band, giving away a 20-year-old daughter whose boyfriend is Web-savvy, placing the fictional present fairly close to the chronological present. Actually, the math almost works, if you think of the late 1970s as the Age of ABBA, and the late 1990s as the Age of the Internet.
OK, that pushes it. But director Phyllida Lloyd, who knows something about operatic mythos, tries to keep time markers to a minimum, thus allowing us to breaststroke along with the contagious tide.
“Mamma Mia!” and its all-age, full-contact ecstasy — best embodied in “The Dancing Queen” — may do more for women (and men) of a certain age than the comparatively attenuated and over-dramatized “Sex and the City.”
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'Mamma Mia!' review preview Part 1
“Mamma Mia!” is a skinny dip in the fountain of youth.
Just watching flaxen-tressed, 59-year-old Meryl Streep skittering across the turquoise-tinted Maxfield Parish fantasyscape of a Greek island, singing (gloriously) and dancing (enthusiastically) to thumping ABBA songs is enough to give anyone permission, under the right circumstances, to believe the admittedly clunky lyrics: “You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life.”
While transitions from dialogue to lyrics can be painful, Johnson clearly understands the ancient rites of comedy: Young lovers overcoming obstacles, plotters withholding secrets, old fools acting foolishly, women embracing Dionysian frenzies, chastising their men for shortcomings, balancing sexual power on Aphrodite’s sacred island. She even slips in an updated Greek chorus.
It’s all there. And we play along because we want to believe that all these nice, flawed people can still shake every bit of joy out of life. And because the harmonically ingenious ABBA songs, even when oddly placed, are ineradicable.
Streep doesn’t exactly carry the movie, but she lends it just enough depth and credibility, if not exactly intelligence, applying her usual complicated, misdirected emotional range to motherly instincts, feminist self-sufficiency and, ultimately, romantic rage and redemption. (Her diva turn in “The Winner Takes It All” puts her in the Barbra Streisand, Patti LuPone, Liza Minnelli league, even if the script doesn’t build up the necessary context.)
to be continued …
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July 12, 2008
'American Teen' cast socializes in Austin
A movie forced them together. The same movie has reunited them periodically over the past two years.
“We’re all best friends now,” say about the subjects of the documentary “American Teen,” which was filmed over the course of 10 months at an Indiana high school.
The five former classmates whose stories emerge as the spine of Nanette Burstein’s doc, due out in movie theaters soon, are touring America to promote it. Thursday and Friday, they stopped in Austin and our conversation wandered far off topic (for which they repeatedly apologized, forgetting that the interview fed into a social column, not a movie feature, so all was well).
Now graduating into adulthood, they resemble only remotely the posed and doctored images on the yellow version of the movie poster — which they disdain, preferring the “Breakfast Club” concept for an earlier marketing device. Instead of stock characters in a teen comedy, in life they embody a range of confidence, reticence and curiosity common to many Americans of college sophomore age.
Between Krizmanich and Hannah Bailey, the hip, witty yet clearly skeptical one in the urban cap, was Colin Clemens, pegged as “the jock,” good-natured but more guarded, perhaps less worldly than Reinholt, his head into basketball practice. He appeared to gain subtle strength by his association with Krizmanich and Bailey, but his body language most matched Tusing’s.
Responding to questions about their past, current and future friendships — they didn’t really know each other until the documentary settled their immediate fates — Krizmanich, Reinholt and, tardily, Baily, chimed in as a cheerful chorus, while Tusing and Clemons glanced into the middle distance. Did they suspect that, after this rush of celebrity-induced intimacy, they might drift apart? After all, what do they share in common other than the accident of appealing to Burstein’s documentary eye? (Granted, also, some personal history, since the movie reached full form.)
Only one has “escaped Indiana,” in their words. After a hiatus in San Francisco, Bailey now attends arts-oriented State University of New York-Purchase. The others scattered closer to home, to university towns instate.
Tusing, exhausted from travel, went back to his room instead to contact his friend Molly. “With IM you can take the time to think,” he said. This observation was followed by a discussion on the crucial value of “BRB” — “be right back” — in texting slang, which allows for composition time. (Apparently, texting plays a major role in the romantic storylines of the movie, too.)
Has the experience changed their lives? The group talked earnestly if glibly about helping other teens or serving as mentors, but Tusing provided the most personal response.
“It has given me a good confidence boost in real life,” he says. “I feel better. I didn’t think I was special, that I was important. Seeing reactions to the results, (audiences) like who I am. At least the part they can see. If strangers like who I am, I don’t need to be concerned.”
A lesson every performer — come to think of it, every human — learns, at least momentarily.
“We were more alike than we gave ourselves credit for,” Clemens says. “I’m glad we could put stereotypes aside.
As the interview disintegrated, in a natural way, they continued to tease and sweetly torment each other, testing boundaries. A good sign for future friendship.
You can visit them at their Facebook page.
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July 9, 2008
Wall-E and other Macs
As our family movie critic, Dale Roe, quickly pointed out, the title character in Pixar’s “Wall-E” is an Apple product. One can tell by the chord harmonizing when the robotic trash-compactor powers on. (Roe’s review was the subject of its own media hum on Mac fan sites.)
I agree with 99 percent of Roe’s five-star review. Stray thoughts on my first viewing (there will be others):
It’s still somewhat startling that Disney and Pixar would bet the ranch on a movie with virtually no dialog and two lead characters who are non-android robots. But even more shocking is its unambiguous shots at fast-food-driven obesity, WalMart-style quantity consumerism, television-and-leisure-addicted lassitude and a general lack of civic engagement from the American public. All this is done with animation, which may soften the sting, but I know its passive targets were sitting next to me at the Gateway Theater.
I still haven’t read any commentary on the miraculous use of an old-fashioned musical, “Hello, Dolly!” as Wall-E’s on-screen inspiration for ecstatic activity and romantic contact. The movie is full of cinematic allusions to “E.T.,” “Star Wars,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” etc., but to so completely embrace the 1969 film that, to some historians, nailed the coffin shut on the big-budget movie musical era, is clever unto genius.
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July 8, 2008
It's a boy for Matthew McConaughey
Looks like Austin’s perennial surfer dude is now a surfer daddy. Matthew McConaughey’s girlfriend Camila Alves gave birth to a 7-pound, 4-once boy Monday evening.
“Camila and I were side by side the entire time,” McConaughey, 38, told OK magazine. “We are both tired and elated, and are so happy to have created the greatest miracle in the world — having a child and making a family. Now comes the greatest adventure — raising one, together.”
McConaughey was last seen hanging with his man pal Lance Armstrong in Southern California, where Austin’s best cyclist is summering with girlfriend Kate Hudson (also chumming with Hudson’s mom, Goldie Hawn). We’ll see if the fun-loving McConaughey can settle down with his 24-year-old Brazilian model and newborn.
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July 2, 2008
Robert Rodriguez and Rose McGowan parting?
AP Photo/Jeff Christensen
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June 30, 2008
Action figure Richard Norton at Master Yi's
A long stretch of Burnet Road north of Research Boulevard has not yet benefited from the advent of the nearby Domain shopping Babylon. Strip centers look like dowdy afterthoughts from the 1970s and one can’t help but express curiosity about what goes on behind the miniblinds of these businesses. Master Yi Academy, for instance, has taken advantage of the relatively affordable real estate by operating a spacious, well-tended martial arts headquarters, including two well-lit, popular studios.
Jason Montgomery, Richard Norton, Rick Galione
Friday, one gym-like space was given over to movie star Richard Norton, who shared insights from his fake fighting on shows such as “Ironheart,” “Rage and Honor” and his friend Chuck Norris’ “Walker, Texas Ranger.” He demonstrated the camera-frame-filling “John Wayne” swing pnch and gave advice on keeping other fighters in one’s peripheral vision or falling to the floor without “breaking” (using one’s arm or hand to cushion the fall).
Janell Vela-Smith, Christian Ramirez
Among the participants in all shapes and sizes were members of the Janell Vela-Smith’s Fighting Stunts Association, as well as representatives from her Innovative Renderworks, an independent film company that plans to shoot “Templar: Honor among Thieves” at Spiderwood Studios, still under construction near Bastrop.
Jason Montgomery, Rick Galione
So quite a bit of action behind those miniblinds.
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June 16, 2008
Austin connection: Holland Taylor, Ann Richards, Madison Davenport and Deanna Dunagan
Madison Davenport, who spent part of her youth in Austin, plays Ruthie Smithens, best friend to the title character in “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl,” which opens Friday nationwide. The 11-year-old launched her prodigious movie career in 2005 with Helena Bonham Carter in “Conversations with Other Women.”
Deanna Dunagan, who gave a touching speech after winning Best Actress in a Play on Sunday’s Tony Awards broadcast, graduated from the University of Texas, having studied music there. Her win for her role as the addicted mother in Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer and Tony-winning “August: Osage County” rewarded her long-delayed Broadway debut.
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June 5, 2008
Rethinking 'Sex and the City'
That thought passed through my mind at about Minute No. 120 during the “Sex and the City” film adaptation, as we witnessed the show’s fantastically frivolous characters undergo emotional challenges even more daunting than those introduced late in the TV series. It’s still a romantic comedy, no doubt, but “Sex” veers so persistently into romantic disappointment, we wonder how much empathy we can spare for Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda.
You’ve read the reviews. There’s no question that “Sex” is worth seeing. It’s a cultural phenomenon that reveals a great deal more about our times than some of the most probing PBS documentary specials. Yet the movie stretches the TV premise to the limits. Were it not for the nuanced acting from the four leads and their some of their male counterparts, we’d dismiss their trials and tribulations among the designer labels, penthouses, bubbly, diamonds and beach pads long before the final — narratively satisfying — minute.
Photo courtesy Craig Blankenhorn/New Line Cinema
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June 4, 2008
Augie Garrido, Richard Linklater at 'Inning' premiere
Baseball coaching legend Augie Garrido looked sharp in a dark blazer, accompanied by companion Jeannie Grass, herself smartly turned out in a slim, black outfit for the premiere of “Inning by Inning” at the Paramount Theatre. Garrido appeared humbled by Richard Linklater’s biographical documentary, which showed the University of Texas baseball coach as a sort of philosopher/teacher whose passion is bringing out the best in each student/player.
Jeannie Grass, Augie Garrido
The doc is terrific and will show soon on ESPN. Garrido gave Linklater unprecedented access to the dugout and locker rooms, where the coach’s motivational diction includes strong language. An afternoon showing of “Inning by Inning” — dubbed a “director’s cut” — included the expletives in full, but the evening premiere was a double benefit for the Austin Film Society and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Austin, so we got family version. Of course, you could always read his lips, and the audience got a kick out of his spray of traditional sports wording.
Richard Linklater with Will Crouch, part of the 2005 College World Series championship team, now into commercial insurance after a career in pro ball
Linklater was in high spirits, given that he had just completed two films. He spoke about his own interest in sports, literature, theater and movies, then we caught up on our shared experiences at the River Oaks and Varsity theaters during the golden years of arthouses. Linklater graduated from Bellaire High School — down the road from where I grew up — and says he sometimes reminds Dennis Quaid of their shared alma mater. He’d like to work with Quaid. Do it, Dennis, do it!
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June 2, 2008
Weekend: 'Sex' Parties at Rain and Buzios
Alamo Drafthouse booked at least eight large-scale “Sex” parties for opening week, while fielding requests from hundreds of small groups of (mostly) women for tickets or reservations.
Shannon Hollsten, Katie Chabannes at Rain “Sex” Party
“I am shocked to say that ‘Sex and the City’ has generated more interest … than any movie before it,” says Samantha Cox, who has wrangled such events for the Ritz, South and Village iterations of the Alamo for five years.
Rob Faubion, Saffire at Rain “Sex” Party
“All shows of ‘Sex and the City’ are completely sold out all weekend and have been sold out for almost two weeks,” says the chain’s Mike Sherrill. “This is seriously bigger than ‘Star Wars’ in regard to advance ticket sales.”
It helps that the Alamo recently landed its full liquor license and is therefore capable of supplying those promised cosmos.
Nicholas Brown, Saul Ramirez, Danny Flores, Javier Anchondo, Ramon Olivas at Rain “Sex” Party
As of Thursday, the Belmont had arranged five “Sex” parties.
Gabon Donovan, David Sidney, James Waldrip, Chelsea Antoniono, Laura Hamilton at Buzios “Sex” Party
We attended a “Sex” happy hour at Rain that combined powerful cosmos with soothing treatments from Milk and Honey Day Spa.
Later, we witnessed post-premiere parties at the Copa and Buzios Room, which included the requisite wedding dresses and funny hats.
Carrie Clayton, Chad Stevens at at Buzios “Sex” Party
The Buzios Room is quickly becoming one of my preferred downtown lounges. Even with a party crowd, the dark, cool space radiates calm.
Anita Gonzales, Lacy Anderson
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May 30, 2008
Weekend: 'Sex' Party at Gateway
Forget gas prices. Look for a cranberry juice shortage this summer as “Sex and the City” parties proliferate and millions of cosmos are consumed for fun and charity. Almost every downtown club got into the act this weekend. The Belmont booked at least five “Sex” parties. Alamo Drafthouse picked up even more (still counting).
The dual event at Gateway for Breast Cancer Resource Centers was one of the first. Pertly dressed women — and three brave men — twirled their red drinks over at Baby Acapulco, then pointed their heels over to the Regal cineplex across the street for a viewing of the two-and-a-half-hour screen adaptation of the series about single women acting like gay men in a glamorized New York City.
Nina Seely, personal shopper to the fortunate, took a lead in this charity event, and she brought up the rear as curtain time approached. “I’m exhausted,” she moaned. Nobody said it was easy being fabulous.
Ellen Jatinen, Maria Carter, Yvonne Suttles, Kerry Van Dusen
Sharon Radovich, Bernie Tejeda
Michelle Rodriguez, Cho Smith
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May 29, 2008
'Shine a Light' vs. 'U23D'
Expands the visual universe (“U23D”) vs. explodes images through compaction (“Shine a Light”).
Perfects 3D tracking (“U23D”) vs. perfects the 4-story close-up (“Shine a Light”).
Apollonian art (“U23D”) vs. Dionysian art (“Shine a Light”).
Bono the big soul (“U23D”) vs. Mick the big (expletive) (“Shine a Light”). (Not saying which I prefer. Both small men generate more kinetic energy than the Hoover Dam.)
As much as I admired Martin Scorcese’s “Light,” it gave me a throbbing headache. Even from the last rows, it was just too much Rolling Stones. I’m glad to finally see and hear them up close (and I now get Keith Richards, after 40 years of missing the point), but my sensory overload was shared by Suzie Harriman, who heads back to her garden home in Mexico after she finishes easing Betty Dunkerley’s graceful exit from office.
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May 26, 2008
Austin stars: Lance Armstrong, Kate Hudson, Andy Roddick, Vince Young, Drew Barrymore, Dennis Quaid
While I was soaking up the cool in New England, Austin-linked celebrities went crazy.
Lance Armstrong: After cruising around Austin, our town’s superstar cuddled with new flame Kate Hudson at the Cannes Film Festival. You gotta admire his moxie, even as he insists he and Kate’s ex, Owen Wilson, were never close friends, and thus he’s not picking his pocket.
Drew Barrymore: The frequent Austin visitor, said to be engaged to Apple cutie Justin Long, was seen in Michigan. Maybe she’s decided to take advantage of those 40 percent film production incentives for “Whip It,” the roller derby movie once headed for Austin.
Dennis Quaid: A stranger to Austin lately, despite the presence of his wife Kimberly Buffington’s family — unless we’ve missed a recent visit, and that’s entirely possible — Quaid will be honored June 12 at the Maui Film Fest. Tough gig.
Andy Roddick: The recently engaged tennis star dropped out of the French Open because of an elbow injury. One of his fans has started a “Book Fairy Project” to recycle old children’s books. Last time we chatted with Andy he was reading the “Harry Potter” series. The 25-year-old also placed on OK’s Top 50 Man Candy of the Year list.
Photo: Courtesy of Blogxilla.com
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May 20, 2008
Harry Knowles to slim today
We’re sending thin, positive thoughts to Internet movies poobah Harry Knowles, who is undergoing lap-band surgery today, according to a notice at Ain’t It Cool.
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April 30, 2008
'Iron Man' + Plastic Man (from 'American Idol')
On to other entertainment: Can’t hold back — Jason Castro must go. I no longer care who wins this season of “American Idol,” but the dreaded one is so bland, shallow and irritating, even the contestants who stumble over lyrics or song choices should be forgiven before Castro is graduated to the next level. Yes, he’s pretty and sweet in a stoner way, but this is supposed to be a vocal contest. I’ll leave the Paula Abdul gawking to the YouTubers. What a wreck.
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April 24, 2008
Are we in Buenos Aires? No, Cine las Americas
I felt like the late, lamented world-spanner Pan Am had jetted Victoria Corcoran and I off to some cool, cosmopolitan capital like Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo or Mexico City. Instead, we were hanging around the lobby at the Metropolitan theater on South Interstate 35 for the second-to-last installments of the Cine las Americas festival. We chatted with fest leaders Jacqueline Rush Rivera and Eugenio del Bosque, who reported increased attendance at this year’s series of international films, then we mixed with the crowd. We’ll follow up with hard numbers later.
Jennifer Aguirre, Erick Fajardo
Lisa Torres, Steven Vargas
Rosa Madriz, Diego Michellie
Valentine Garcia, Monica Arango
The Stephen Moser Pie Social May 3-4 benefit has moved from Alamo Ritz to Alamo South due to the Pecan Street Festival, which will make parking downtown impossible.
I can live with sometimes predictable Carly Smithson leaving “American Idol,” but not when goofball slacker Jason Castro redeems the golden ticke. He wasn’t even in the bottom two. Somebody must counteract the Tiger Beat vote.
Did anyone notice that Barack Obama slipped “gay and straight” into his unification speech after losing in Pennsylvania. Classy. Or clever. Or both.
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April 23, 2008
Subversive humor in 'Harold & Kumar' (SXSW)
Precedents exist: “The Simpsons,” “South Park” and “Beavis and Butthead” were, to varying degrees, considered irredeemably juvenile before their impact on social consciousness was recognized. This week’s cultural test faces a franchise launching its first sequel, “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,” which wouldn’t even exist if word of mouth about the “White Castle” DVD hadn’t convinced a generation or so that two Asian-Americans could easily embody American stoner sensibilities.
During the South by Southwest Film Festival, we sat down with the three stars — Kal Penn, John Cho and Neil Patrick Harris — at the Intercontinental Stephen F. Austin Hotel to discuss Asian exploitation films, political rhetoric and the sequel’s goofy charms.
“It’s not something that we intentionally try to do,” Harris said. “It’s intentional content, but it’s not intentional on our parts (as actors). It’s something that just does. It’s nice that we are able to appreciate the joke and play into it and value it. But there’s been no concerted effort (on our parts) to make a statement.”
“I’m proud of the fact that the movies work that way,” Penn said.
“It’s odd. Do you think it has something to do with: We attack it in a juvenile fashion because that’s what (prejudice) is?” Cho said. “There’s a traditionalism about getting up on a pedestal and saying ‘racism is bad,’ but to make potty jokes laced with commentary, maybe that’s the way to unseat these kinds of thoughts.”
“That’s super true,” Harris said. “Because if it were trying to be a really smart, intellectual communication about stereotypes, everybody would be really guarded.”
The three performers would love to discuss a third “Harold & Kumar,” which depends on how this low-budget, Shreveport-shot sequel does at the box office. Despite the financial constraints, the second movie comes off as more Hollywood, less indie, which the actors partly attribute to production designer Tony Fanning.
“The spirit of the adventure of the second makes it more grand, too,” Cho said. “It has more of a plot.”
“A third (movie) would be great because Jon and Hayden are so green, their progression has been slow,” Harris said of the team who directed the sequel themselves in order to save money. “I expect that a third film would be on par on the first two, but would be different. They care about the script and it shows. They were inspired to make it look and sound as good as it is.”
Photos by Jay Janner.
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April 8, 2008
Sissy Spacek in Smithville with other Oscar winners, nominees
Fisk is working on Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life” after previously contributing to Malick’s “Days of Heaven” and “The New World,” as well as Spacek’s “Carrie.” She also appeared in Malick’s “Badlands.” (The sometime Austinite was twice nominated for Oscars.)
Spacek, of course, is cousin to Taylor-raised, University of Texas-trained Rip Torn (nominated for an Oscar for “Cross Creek”), who was married to Oscar winner Geraldine Page (“The Trip to Bountiful”), herself nominated seven times before winning. Torn and Page helped Spacek in her early career after she left Quitman.
“Tree of Life” stars, as everyone in Central Texas knows by now, Oscar-nominated Brad Pitt (“Twelve Monkeys”), domestically allied to Oscar winner Angelina Jolie (“Girl Interrupted”), now a regular at the Bastrop Wal-Mart (she’s also daughter of four-time Oscar nominee Jon Voight, winner for “Coming Home”). Pitt acts with Oscar winner Sean Penn (“Mystic River”), although local sightings of Madonna’s ex are rarer. He was twice nominated before winning. No Oscars for Madonna, I fear.
But that’s closer than six degrees of separation from more than 25 Oscar bids in our little Smithville band.
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April 5, 2008
AGLIFF party at Vespa Austin
Don’t go to the Vespa Austin dealership on South Lamar Boulevard unless you want to be seriously tantalized by the classic urban vehicles in dozens of models and colors. The business moved from 500 N. Lamar Blvd. recently — somebody inform Google Maps, please — and the showrooms are lined with the waspish two- and three-wheelers.
Lynn Yeldell, Alisa Weldon on their battleship gray 60th anniversary model Vespa
We weren’t shopping, exactly (seriously, Kip), but instead attending a small party for the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, the core cultural event for the Central Texas GLBT community every year. We caught up with old friends of the community, and met newcomers eager to help with this indispensable organization.
Mita Hernandez, Able Billheimer
We also tasted the signature cocktail of the event — now every event has one — a Bloomtini, which includes Sweet Leaf Ice Tea. That’s a trend: tea in cocktail, and though it doesn’t sound palatable at first, it adds a kick and balances out the various fruit and alcohol elements.
San Francisco transplants David Sweeney, Kevin Chappell
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April 3, 2008
Austin Super Celebs: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
Yet Austin also regularly attracts super celebrities, some temporary, some resident, whose comings and goings are minutely tracked by thousands of media outlets worldwide. For instance, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have graced our city and environs for almost a month. A few paps have snapped them shopping for their growing family, but locals have gratefully left them pretty much alone. (That could change if Jolie gives birth here, bringing down the world celebrity press.)
As I write this, Pitt’s “Tree of Life” appears to be shooting at various South Austin locations. Despite this hard work, the tabloids, instead, are all over Pitt’s reported split with publicist Cindy Guagenti, the couple’s backing of a school charity in Missouri and George Clooney’s faked wedding in Italy for the couple. (Clever, clever Clooney.) And those are just the most repeated stories today. Our publication hasn’t even photographed them, which is why we’re using this AP photo from the Independent Spirit Awards, rather than something a rogue pap took locally.
All this to introduce a possible semi-regular feature for Out & About — Update: Austin Super Celebs. Here’s what’s happening according to the latest media reports, in no particular order.
Owen Wilson: I never know whom to trust on this guy. Some have him re-kindling romance with Kate Hudson; others say Jennifer Aniston is healing his emotional wounds. His mid-level movie comedy “Drillbit Taylor” has grossed more than $20 million to date.
Matthew McConaughey: The latest buzz is that he’s been offered the title role in the movie of “Magnum P.I.” I loathed the original, but would see it for MM. Still no plans to wed his baby mama, Camila Alves, and he can be counted on for a big, goofy quote almost every day.
Dennis Quaid: Almost everything lately has been about the medical accident that threatened his and Kimberly Buffington’s twins — legal action, charity foundation, etc. He’s also quit smoking for the kids and can be seen soon in “Smart People” and, later, “G.I. Joe.”
Vince Young: I was proven wrong: Austin’s favorite quarterback has not been tearing up Sixth Street during his return engagement at UT, for classwork this time. He bopped back to Nashville to study up with the Titans during spring break and caught a few Longhorn basketball games. That’s all we know.
Lance Armstrong: No startling romantic news lately. Mostly, he’s done a great job on the health and charity circuit, and he’s quoted often as an inspirational figure. Good place to be.
Dixie Chicks: More anti-war and pro-environment appearances. Hardly buzz magnets since their Grammy coronations.
Andy Roddick We were more than 24 hours late reporting the tennis star’s engagement to SI model Brooklyn Decker. Tonight he faces off with nemesis Roger Federer in Miami. Our question: Will they wed in Austin? Update: Roddock wins!
If you think any others Super Celebs belong in this category, drop me a line.
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March 28, 2008
Robert Redford pumps 'Unforeseen' in Austin
You could hardly ask for two more articulate speakers on behalf of a movie, this one a poetic documentary about Barton Springs and urban development that has swept the world’s film festivals and won the hearts of critics.
“My hope is to inspire and reinvigorate those who have battled (for the Springs) while informing the newcomers,” Dunn said about her hope to capture “The essence of what’s going on in Austin.”
Then she invited Robert Redford up to the stage. Grounded, magnetic, a better expository speaker than most politicians, Redford talked about what attracted him to the project: Terrence Malick’s invitation to join the team as executive producer, his own childhood learning to swim at the springs, his activism in the 1980s and ’90s in favor of the aquifer’s preservation, his long support of documentaries as films, not just megaphones, as well as Dunn’s unusually fair-minded and aesthetically persuasive technique.
At one point, activist Brigid Shea pointed out, as she has at screenings, that “Unforeseen” does not document the SOS struggle minutely enough and Dunn didn’t show enough of Bradley’s dark side. Dunn and Redford need only have said that the rhetoric of changing minds not already converted to the environmental cause requires something other than the movie that Shea could make, but their respectful comments expanded on that.
“The environmental movement needs to accept there’s a new way to do things,” Redford said, emphasizing the broad coalitions now possible for protecting the environment.
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March 26, 2008
'Hell on Wheels' hitches onto roller derby leagues for film distribution
Austin is the acknowledged midwife for the renaissance of roller derbies, with two leagues, Lonestar Rollergirls and Texas Rollergirls, and legions of fans. The local phenomenon also generated the lackluster A&E reality series “Rollergirls” and the Shauna Cross’ novel, “Derby Girl,” soon to be an Austin-shot movie, “Whip It,” directed by Drew Barrymore and starring Oscar nominee Ellen Page.
“The screening was INSANE,” Ray says. “Each league was on opposites sides of the theater and the alternating cheers and hisses were crashing into one another in the middle of the room.”
Despite the audience intensity at SXSW and other film festivals, “Wheels” did not earn a traditional distribution deal.
“We had lots of interest but the deals just didn’t make sense,” Campbell says. “They offered no serious advance, which we needed to pay off our post-production costs. Some distributors told us that they were worried that the failure of the A&E ‘Rollergirls’ reality show would adversely affect other films related to roller derby.”
Although SXSW and other festivals created a general buzz, the next step was in doubt. “Fests are great and fun and can give your film credibility and raise its profile in both the general public as well as with press,” Ray says. “On the flip side, you don’t make any money, you eat into you potential paying audience and you are competing with dozens of other indie films screening that city the same week.”
Only problem: They still carry debts from the production. “Traditionally, you sell your film and get some money up front to help pay the bills, but the distributor, etc. gets a sizeable amount of your money,” Campbell says. “The distributor helps pay for a lot of the publicity and sets up the screenings for the filmmakers, etc. The filmmakers don’t have to worry as much. With special event programs, you’ve got to do it yourself, continue to pay for it yourself, when you’re still trying to pay off the debt you already have from making your film.”
“A traditional ‘theatrical booking’ also is a minimum of a week-long engagement,” Ray says. “Event screening can be as little as a single screening on one night or can continue on. Event screenings can also occur in a nontraditional setting, like a venue such as The Hideout, or even one night gigs at the American Cinematheque or the Brooklyn Academy of Music.”
Besides three upcoming shows at Alamo Ritz, “Hell on Wheels” is slated for events in St. Louis; Reno, Nev.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Norfolk, Va.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Kalamazoo, Mich.; Edmonton, Alberta; Tulsa, Okla.; and Birmingham, England.
For now, the marriage of roller derby leagues and an Austin documentary seem to have solved the problem of distribution resistance.
“I know many a filmmaker who have self-distributed and none have ever been in a situation like the one we’re in right now,” Ray says. “It’s pretty exciting.”
‘Hell on Wheels’ plays 10 p.m. Sunday and Wednesday and 7 p.m. April 8 at the Alamo Ritz.
Lonestar Rollergirls battle Sunday and Texas Rollergirls play April 6.
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March 22, 2008
'Camp' and 'Party Monster'
A formula teen movie aimed a the drama queen set, “Camp” gives away its intentions when the kids on the bus to summer camp sing a fairly obscure Stephen Sondheim song as if it were a campfire standard. Soon we learn that a central character is among those rare species of straight boys interested in theater. His character — and various rivalries and romantic entanglements — are delivered with smile-inducing lightness, twisting Hollywood teen stereotypes just slightly. Two subplots have Sondheim making a surprise appearance and composer Bert Hanley (“The Children’s Crusade”) redeemed from alcoholic anesthesia by a revue of his works.
“Party Monster” didn’t fully satisfy the requirements of its genre. Drugs, sex and house dance music litter this based-on-reality downer about the club kids in 1980s New York. The moviemakers get the glammed-up look right, as well as th the non-stop, ultimately self-destructive revelry, but a crucial casting error crippled the effect. I’m sure the producers salivated at the chance to make “Home Alone” graduate Macaulay Culkin a cross-dressing, drug-sated anti-hero, but either he lacked the acting chops, or he’s just too good playing an irritating character, whichever the case, he drove me nuts. Nimble Seth Green and multiple points of view in the storytelling could not blunt the negative impact from Culkin on this historically informed but flawed film.
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March 20, 2008
Austin Nichols' 'Lenexa' DVD out
Austin Nichols, the Austin actor best known as the enigmatic surfer dude on “John from Cincinnati,” stars this 2006 movie just out on DVD. The story of five young men coming off age, “Lenexa, One Mile” was shot in and around Kansas City. It was based on the life of the director, Jason Wiles, and his friends.
“I always felt that it was one of my best performances and I hope that a large number of people can get their hands on this DVD. It is a beautiful little movie that people will love.”
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Ryan Phillippe vs. Colin Farrell
If baby-faced Ryan Phillipe has enfeebled another movie (“Stop-Loss”), then baby-faced Colin Farrell has redeemed himself as a potent actor in “In Bruges.” Both have relied on their searching eyes, smooth features and erratic action to establish themselves as potential Hollywood leading men.
Farrell, on the other hand, has flubbed even bigger assignments, including “Alexander” (although I continue to hear good things about Terrence Malick’s “The New World”). “In Bruges” provides Farrell — looking a lot like Austin actor Joey Hood — with his best script and role yet, a guilty, goofy, hapless young Irishman who’s a wash-out as a paid killer. He’s supported by a tremendous cast that includes foul-mouthed monster Ralph Fiennes and humane veteran Brendan Gleeson.
It may be the only movie from early 2008 that we recall with fondness.
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March 18, 2008
Cameron Diaz on for Austin's 'Whip It'?
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March 14, 2008
SXSW 'Stop-Loss" review
‘Stop-Loss’
Two stars
Still green actor Ryan Phillippe has undermined yet another promising film. This time it’s the Austin shot “Stop-Loss,” which premiered at the Paramount Theatre on Thursday during the last days of the South by Southwest Film Festival. Phillippe plays an Iraq war veteran with post traumatic stress disorder who is pressed back into service after his expected discharge through a procedure known as “stop-loss.” In early combat scenes, Phillippe, focused by the action, plays a believable leader who helps his men through the mess of street fighting. His crucial scenes, however, transforming from a disciplined member of the armed forces into a rebellious fugitive from the law are unconvincing. His platoon mates fare no better: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, so hypnotizing last year in “The Lookout,” plays a generic depressive. Jar-headed Channing Tatum certainly looks the part of a soldier (actually built more like a U.S. Marine), but his range runs from threat of violence to confusion about the threat of violence. Although “The Deer Hunter” set a precedent, writer/director Kimberly Peirce does not convince us that these and other damaged vets all came from the tiny fictional Texas town of Brazos, and the 1978 film was helped by infinitely more talented actors.
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March 13, 2008
SXSW 'Lost Coast' review
‘The Lost Coast’
Three stars.
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March 12, 2008
SXSW 'All for Nots' party at Club De Ville
The disjunction hung in the late afternoon warmth. There was Michael Eisner, former Disney head, representative of Old Hollywood, with a car and driver in full ready nearby, lounging, however, at Club De Ville, the funky chic Austin bar, pushing “The All for Nots,” a Web-only series about an aspiring rock band. Web only.
A couple of things fit the old paradigm: Eisner wanted control of the event. A VIP room with nobody inside. (Now that’s exclusivity.) No posed photos of him, except by the company’s paid photographer. This candid, however, seems to tell the visual story just as well.
The New York-based band, including Austinite Michael Moravek, looked fresh and sweet. Later, I swooped by to hear their pleasingly rich, varied sound. It’s Thom Woodley, Moravek, Erica Harsch, Brian Cheng, Vanessa Reseland, Kevin Johnston
The party was open to Film and Interactive partisans, so the mix turned lively as the party progressed. Adam Schiff, Jane Hu (with Eisner’s office), Jared Klett, Justin Day (both of blip.tv)
Ran into adorable Judy Maggio and her daughter, Carly Brown, both primed to enjoy the music part of the fest.
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March 11, 2008
SXSW Film Bash party at La Zona Rosa
Finally, a party party. One where people let down their hair, socialize with abandon and forget the stress of festival week. The SXSW Film Bash at La Zona Rosa let off a lot of steam for participants, inside with a line-up of bands and outside with a frolicky pack of very tired movie buffs, biggies and backers. It was so much fun, we skipped competing events and lingered past midnight, mostly hanging out with local critics the likes of Chris Garcia, Cole Dabney and Marjorie Baumgarten, but also actor Chris Sykes and editorial genie Shannon McGarvey.
Masashi Niwano (Austin Asian Film Festival), Jacqueline Rush Rivera (Cine las Americas)
Loren Siegel, Shannon McGarvey, Amalia Ortiz
Wyatt Cenac, Meaghan Hermann, Kristen Mohon, Greg O’Bryant
Tina Rodriguez, Elvis Mitchell (former New York Times critic, now a producer), Jess Weixler
Sam Lisenco, Val Link, Deborah McIntosh, Dannah Shinder
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SXSW Florida Fish Fry at Wave
I’ll be honest: I chose the Florida Fish Fry for my second SXSW of Monday evening because food was promised right there in the invitation. And a little fresh fried conch can help you get through an evening of rushed socializing. The event was sponsored by the Florida film industry and we talked with representatives from Orlando and St. Petersburg, both with keen senses of their markets’ strengths and weaknesses. (Privately, one representative predicted the collapse of the Louisiana film subsidy because of corruption.)
Kevin Koym, Kyle Texas, Brian Massey
We also caught up with some inveterate social connectors, including Kevin Koym of Enterprise Teaming, Kyle Texas of Bumperactive and Brian Massey of BookLobby.com, a fascinating attempt to help ordinary citizens lobby public officials by sending them copies of influential books.
Anne Toole, Daniel Tittle, Todd Cormier, Nicole Huntley, Cheri Nightingale
There was Alan Chan and Jennifer Phang, producer and director of “Half-Life,” as well as Stachy Schoolfield, director of the beloved “Jumping Off Bridges.” The first generated some buzz at SXSW Film; the second is doing well on DVD.
Alan Chan, Stacy Schoolfield, Laura Sobel, Jennifer Phang
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March 10, 2008
SXSW ON Networks Party at Six
For the first time, SXSW Film and the ON Networks are giving out the Greenlight Awards for digital TV series. Several Austinites are finalists. The party at tri-level Six on Sunday remained lively (little, delicious Cuban sandwiches helped). We promise to update you when the winners are announced.
Chris Demarais, Joe Ruzicka, Aaron Marquis, nominated for “The Wingmen,” which grew out of their improvisational troupe at UT.
Kelly Jackson, Sally Jackson, who write the wild Midlife Gals blog.
Alex Petitt of www.mainstreamgreen.tv, a green building guide, and Rob Ray, who directed “Hell on Wheels,” the roller derby doc that’s doing well in special presentations across the country.
SXSW Technicolor party at 219 West
Couldn’t make out what Technicolor was pushing in Austin, land of digital moviemaking, but the company’s SXSW party at 219 West mixed artists with indie movie fans in one of the week’s most congenial events. Alex Castillo talked about two films he contributed to — “El Primo / The Cousin,” set in Laredo, and “The Stain on the Sidewalk,” a film by Adam Schlachter, also in attendance. Robbie Bourland and Byron Brown promoted their short, “a New Toy,” while Alex Rovinsky (Freshlips Films), Peter Price (“Up with Me”), Chrissy Stuart (“High Beam Events”), Ryan Carey (UXO) and Lindsey White (of Vancouver) shared their filmic thoughts.
Chrissy Stuart, Peter Price
Alex Rovinksy, Ryan Carey, Lindsay White
Robbie Bourland, Byron Brown
Adam Schlachter, Lyra Guerra, Alex Costello
Drew Barrymore to scout Austin sites
First we heard the project was on. Then film officials were not so sure. Now, in the first dollop of news from the South by Southwest Film Festival, we were told Sunday that Drew Barrymore will be scouting Austin locations in the coming days for her roller derby movie, “Whip It,” starring Oscar nominee Ellen Page. Barrymore, of course, is a not infrequent visitor to our fair city and already knows its prime draws.
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March 9, 2008
Kal Penn, John Cho, Neil Patrick Harris at the Stephen F.
Cultural heroes? Battlers of bigotry? Or just plain actors? Kal Penn, John Cho, Neil Patrick Harris, interviewed at the Stephen F. Austin Hotel, chose the third door, not because they would distance themselves from the prejudice extirpation in the “Harold & Kumar” movies, but because they want to give proper credit to Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who created the characters.
We’ll publish a much more in depth version of our interview when the movie — sure to be a humongous hit — comes out on April 25. For now, we’ll share a few observations from this threesome of thoughtful artists. For instance, in the first movie, “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,” the titular adventurers made Asian jokes about each other, but never thought of themselves as anything other than Americans. In “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,” which premiered at SXSW on Saturday, their sometime outsider status is raked over the coals for hilarious insights.
Yes, the humor is juvenile, even potty — and potted — in places. Yet the pair’s road trip as fugitives across the South subverts expectations at every step. Still, the threesome shied away from owning their status as pop culture role models, in a sense, on and off the screen. Maybe when the cult original catapults them into big box office with the sequel — and you can bet money on it — they will understand the impact they are making and embrace it. (Again, much more later.)
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March 8, 2008
SXSW Film opening night party at Buffalo Billiards
One might wonder why so many black-clad, fuzzy-cheeked denizens streamed into Buffalo Billiards, usually a countrified post-frat hangout. But the Sixth Street entertainment emporium works each year for the SXSW Film/Interactive as an opening night venue, in part because it holds 1,200 customers, but also the attendees glom onto the old-fashioned, pre-digital games scattered over two floors.
Meredith Munn, Anish Savjani
Right away, we ran into festival producer Matt Dentler, who looked serene considering the stress incumbent on this week. (We chatted with this wife, Jarren Wenderlein, dressed to the nines, earlier at the Hall of Fame ceremony. Like many busy couples, they split their duties.) Among the filmmakers who made flinty conversation were the stars of “Dance of the Dead” and creators of various shorts.
Christopher Williams, Andrea Alverez
Upstairs, a pod of movie critics, including Christy Lemire of the Associated Press and Christopher Kelly of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, caucused. A tiny flock from Montreal praised the festival, the comparatively mild weather and the strange American accents they had encountered.
Alison Willmore, Karina Longworth, Casey McKinnon, Rudy Jahchan
The spare nibbles — chips, celery sticks and the like — were late in arriving, not good news when the basic bar drinks were free. But everyone remained on their best professional behavior, even the hipper-than-thou.
Blair Redford, Mike Milligan, Josephine Decker, two of them from “Dance of the Dead”
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Hall of Fame after-party at Pangaea
No matter the revelry earlier in the night, it’s often wise to top off the madness at Pansexia, I mean Pangaea, where everyone feels free to undulate with whomever they please. The Texas Film Hall of Fame, the Austin Film Society event not officially connected to SXSW, staged its pre-party at Lance Armstrong’s classy palace on Thursday. They dolled up Stage 5 at Austin Studios on Friday for the main event, then danced the night away at the downtown club with the faunish name.
And, oh, did they dance, on couches, on ledges, on each other. We just missed Ethan Hawke, but ran into ex-Dell philanthropist Tom Green and others who had dined at the Studios. We heard there was a slight altercation earlier in the evening at the club, but no details. It’s amazing that so much pandemonium goes on there without some serious bumps, but Michael Ault’s crew is alert to trouble, sweeping the space with their pinlights for signs of trouble (mostly broken glass, I’d imagine).
Mahealani, Sweety Bird, Creamy Original: stage names for three dancers of the Supersonic Soul Squad.
Nearing 2 a.m., a group pegged as competitive swimmers — yet another event in Austin this weekend — got particularly rambunctious with their gals. A 7-footer actually tossed his petite girlfriend up and down. Don’t know what it is about this club that releases such (controlled) libido.
My favorite dancer of the evening, whose name I could not catch in the din
Mariska Hargitay, Morgan Fairchild, etc. at Film Hall of Fame
We insist paparazzi could not make a living in Austin, but the turnout at the Austin Film Hall of Fame ceremony last night could make made me a liar. The red carpet was banked with dozens of photographers and reporters, including those in town to cover South by Southwest and two major movies — “Will” and “Tree of Life” — shooting here.
Glowing star of the runway, Morgan Fairchild
The biggest flurries on the carpet were made by Morgan Fairchild, pale and glamorous in pale green satin, and Mariska Hargitay, stunning in revealing decolelage and escorted by her ruggedly handsome husband, Peter Hermann, who has appeared in several “Law & Order SVU” episodes, and, more recently, “The Velvet Mafia.”
Here’s Hargitay and Hermann with event co-chair Katie Hersch, a huge “Law & Order” fan.
The Hall of Fame is one of those events that brings out all sides of Austin. Some insist on dressing “Texan,” while others take the opportunity to be creative, or wear that gown that’s not seen the light of digital flashes. Although rain threatened, the conditions in the tent were ideal this year, at least early in the evening, before I had to race off to the next event.
I chatted with aspiring writer and accomplished bon vivant Kimberly Thompson and her Danish husband Lance Sallis.
Artist and incorrigible character Bob Wade kindly introduced me to actor Barry Tubb (from a million things, including “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada” and “Lonesome Dove,” also owner of land out by Marfa).
I’ve really grown fond of Eloise Dejoria, and I’ve just barely met instantly recognizable John Paul briefly. Of course they are well atop the Fortunate 500 for sociability and good works in Austin.
Accidental introductions are among the joys of this beat. I approached Zachary Walker (above) because of his bright red shirt, then found out he was Second Lt. Zachary Walker of the Texas National Guard, and he was attending as part of the Inman Foundation group that included Col. David Hill of the U.S. Army. So the always welcome Nancy Scanlan walks up and says “Of course I know Bobby Ray…” meaning Admiral Bobby Ra Inman, founder of the foundation, former CIA director and current LBJ School educator.
Before leaving, I caught up with several filmmakers and tasted the piquant salad, but then sailed off into the sunset before the likes of Mike Judge and Dan Rather made their appearances.
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Jim Sturgess + '21' at Four Seasons
Count on one hand the number of movie stars who are more charismatic in person than they are on screen. One claim would go to Jim Sturgess, the English actor who is shockingly convincing as the shy American MIT student who conquers Las Vegas by card counting in “21.” Meeting at the Four Seasons, Sturgess lights up his huge, limpid eyes with genuine connection — something he has done on screen in “Across the Universe” and “The Other Boleyn Girl” — and relates the challenges of playing someone quite different from himself.
Mesmerizing Jim Sturgess
Before the actual shoot in Vegas, Sturgess, an indie rock fan who you might have spotted on Red River Street last night, spent considerable time with the real life math natural, Jeff Ma, who had shared his story with writer Ben Mezrich. The subsequent article had sparked interest from Kevin Spacey, who optioned it for the screen and plays Sturgess’ teacher with unusual restraint and only a little menace, as well as director Robert Luketic, best known for the hit “Legally Blonde,” and an artist stuck with romantic comedies after his early successes in that genre.
Director Robert Luketic, who bet his career on Sturgess
Natty Australian turned Los Angelino Luketic told exacting stories about the process of transforming the original anecdotes into an entertaining Hollywood picture, especially through the use of sound and film editing during the blackjack sequences. Ma seemed to be having the time of his life, as his personal adventure is now a major motion pictured, premiered Friday at SXSW. We’ll publish a more substantial treatment of the interviews when “21” opens in theaters, but suffice it to say, we went through the rest of the day gushing, especially about Sturgess’ high-wattage charm.
Psyched movie subject Jeff Ma
March 7, 2008
Hall of Fame pre-party at Lance Armstrong's
This we can finally say: Lance Armstrong has good taste. His Mount Bonnell mansion at first impresses with its size, room spilling into room, indoor flowing into outdoor. Dark, heavy accents help define the spaces, never grand but always congenial for conversation and mixing. Armstrong’s admirable art collection, including large abstracts, are lovingly placed around the palace and fires roared in several fireplaces.
For the Austin Film Society’s pre-party for the Texas Film Hall of Fame, the chilled masses flocked to the largest of several living rooms. There was Morgan Fairchild, looking not a day over 30, in a vortex of fans, while Debra Winger held court in an alcove/landing on the stairs. In Armstrong’s trophy room, which includes all seven framed Tour de France winning jerseys and a curious conversation nook, there was Style Avatar Stephen Moser in all his splendor. Lots of folks from the film community, but also many from the Austin Ventures set.
Carol Adams, Debra Winger, Chris Adams (perfect Austin couple to guide Winger through the evening)
Robin Rather, Jean Rather, Dan Rather (anxious about following the late Ann Richards as emcee of the Hall of Fame ceremony)
Janet Pierson, Blaine Wesner, Alexa Wesner
Katy Walker, Robert Walker, heroes of Marfa Public Radio, among other causes (she’s also the daughter of recently deceased UT and Rice President Norman Hackerman)
Dede Church, Todd Church. He is helping Armstrong build his new store; she knows my sister Valerie Koehler and her Blue Willow Books in Houston
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Pre-SXSW Austin Film Society party at the Belmont
A second pre-SXSW party matched Austin Film Society members with the Austin chapter of the Texas Association of Film & Tape Professionals at the Belmont. These mixers are magic for folks looking to make their first connections in the Austin movie scene and the weather was perfection on the Belmont balcony.
Soundman Elijah Slate, producer Greg Omelchuck and film editor Tre Zeiman from Last Gasp Productions
The crew behind “Second Skin,” a fascinating documentary about digital games players: Peter Brauer, Jill McGuckin, Victor Pineiro-Escoriaza, Juan Carlos Pineiro-Escoriaza.
All in the biz: Suzanne Koneful, Taylor Phillips, Beth Casama Beth also recently moved here. We love newcomers!
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March 6, 2008
Chatting with Vanessa Hudgens on 'Will' set
(A stray paparazzo, probably in town to stalk Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, captured her and co-star Gaelan Connell rehearsing their first on-set kiss, firing up a ridiculous rivalry with Hudgens’ conjectural boyfriend, Zac Efron. I thought we had an anti-paparrazi accord in Austin.)
During a rehearsal break, we chatted with shyly friendly Hudgens about playing the Xbox game “Rock Band” with the rest of the cast (she wants her own), seeing movies (at Austin’s top movie exhibitor), and eating out (we won’t reveal her favorite local restaurant until the fan-magnet leaves town, but she likes anything yellowtail). All in all, Hudgens says her stay in Austin has been “a blast,” even given the 16-hour work days and scant time off.
Porter is the cast extrovert, entertaining the gathered crowds with his stand-up and beat-box acts. The concert pro is Aly Michalka, who spends a lot of time reading on set during the eternal waits between shooting. (“Plain Truth” by Jodi Picoult sat in her lap as we talked.) Michalka is more accustomed to “music as music” than all the production and prep of a movie, but she loved the script and pursued the role.
We also chatted up the Fort Worth post-punk band Burning Hotels, who played Emo’s Annex last night, on of several spots, such as Stubb’s, Alamo Drafthouse and the Belmont, which have become cast hangouts. We’ll tell more on our set visit — a publish some set shots — in a later article, but for now, we are pleased to report that Austin has been kind to the makers of “Will,” who have returned the favor.
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February 27, 2008
Angelina Jolie in Bastrop
In other Austin movies/celebrity news, “Will,” the battle of the bands movie starring Vanessa Hudgens and Lisa Kudrow, needs more more bodies. To appear in the Bandslam climactic scene to be filmed in the University of Texas’ Hogg Auditorium on Sunday, contact Beth Sepko Casting in advance at 472-5385, ext. 1.
Also, if you watched very closely, Austin actress Amparo Garcia-Crow could be seen at the Independent Film’s Spirit Awards ceremony Saturday in a clip from nominated film “Loaves and Fishes.” Garcia plans to step down as the director of the recently opened Mexican American Cultural Center so she can concentrate on her acting career again.
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February 20, 2008
Update: Sandra Bullock, Owen Wilson, Dennis Quaid, Taylor Kitsch
Sandra Bullock: She’s slated for another romantic comedy, “The Proposal.” We also hear she’s finally getting local author Amanda Eyre Ward’s “Sleep Toward Heaven” on a faster track (she optioned the novel in 2003).
Owen Wilson: Is he getting his groove back through “Marley & Me” with Jennifer Aniston in Miami?
Taylor Kitsch: Won’t be hanging around Austin for a while, since “Friday Night Lights” is on hiatus, so will join the cast of “Wolverine,” along with Mr. Romantic of the Moment Ryan Reynolds, an infrequent Austin visitor since filming “Fireflies in the Garden” here.
Dennis Quaid: His “Vantage Point” is a critical bust, but he’s all over the news in his new “G.I. Joe” role as General Hawk. Check this image of Quaid in his costume uniform.
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January 25, 2008
More from 'Honeydripper' premiere
Meeting director John Sayles in the Four Seasons Lounge just confirmed what people had written and said about him for almost 30 years. The guy’s a mensch — low key, solid, trustworthy, even kind to a journalist who hadn’t yet seen “Honeydripper,” which premiered later that night at the Paramount Theatre. Sayles talked about the DIY tactics he adopted with his partner and producer Maggie Renzi, long before the indie revolution got underway, about finding Austin guitar phenom Gary Clark Jr. through Louis Black and other local contacts, about his frequent trips to Austin and his prolonged promotion cycle for each film. And he graciously let a non-professional take a quick snap of him.
Indulgent John Sayles at the Four Seasons
The scene outside the Paramount sizzled, even though the stars didn’t avail themselves of the red carpet. Clark pulled up in a Hummer limo to cheers from the assembled throng. Sayles and Renzi ambled down from the direction of the Roaring Fork and graciously shared time with just about anyone who wanted a photo or interview. There was a little chaos for a Austin Film Society event, but (almost) nobody seemed to mind. It’s Austin after all.
Promoter Jerry Jackson, who landed Gary Clark Jr. his first gig, and vocalist Candice Jackson
Debut actor Gary Clark Jr. greets his fans (no excuse necessary for running the image again)
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January 23, 2008
Heath Ledger, Ellen Page, John Sayles
Among the hottest Oscar prospects this year is Ellen Page, the young star of “Juno,” who, rather like Reese Witherspoon before her, seems to do nothing wrong. According to Texas Monthly, Page is headed to Austin to work on a movie about roller derbies. That would point the way to “Whip It,” which IMDB cites as a Drew Barrymore-directed project to begin filming in March. Entertainment Weekly confirms that the movie is based on “Derby Girl” by Shuana Cross, although the source says production won’t start until the summer.
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January 19, 2008
Mitchell Lichtenstein in town to promote 'Teeth'
The dissonance between the director and his direction could not be more startling.
Speaking about his creation, “Teeth,” shot in Austin and set to open locally this Friday, Lichtenstein ruminated about ancient myths, modern sexual politics and movie genrefication. You see, his concise film is about vagina dentata, which, if you haven’t encountered the term before, is easily worked out: Labia with teeth. It’s a fascinating fear, as old as recorded history, but one that becomes timely in an age grappling with the issue of sexual power — and the power of sex — not the least in the presidential race.
Lichtenstein says he can’t remember which 1950s-era neighborhood hosted most of the production, but he said neighbors were not very gracious when they heard about the subject. “They thought it was porn,” he says. “One guy even showed me his gun.” He had chosen Austin, however, because of Hamilton Pool, which, with its enclosing curvature, ferny edges and spiky overhang looks a bit like, well, you know.
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January 15, 2008
Austin's Russell Harvard stands up to Daniel Day-Lewis in 'There Will Be Blood'
Russell Harvard leads one of those Austin lives one encounters every day: Somewhat adrift at 26, Harvard has already embraced life, attending Texas School for the Deaf, then Gallaudet University in Washington D.C., performing major roles for DeafWest Theatre, teaching young children in Anchorage, Alaska, appearing in TV shows such as “CSI” and then, that magic opportunity: acting opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in one of the biggest movies of the year: “There Will Be Blood.”
Sitting at Jo’s Hot Coffee on South Congress Avenue, Harvard looks like any other young Austinite, albeit with an unusually lanky frame, animated eyes and fluid gestures. Harvard reads lips effortlessly and combines American Sign Language with a quiet, deep voice and, like many deaf actors, seems as much a dancer as a man of words and character.
In a crucial scene in “Blood,” the epic about California’s oil industry, filmed mostly around Marfa, Harvard’s character declares his intent to break off with his monster of a father (DDL) to start his own oil company in Mexico. Day-Lewis, of course, chomps up the scenery, raging like a wounded Lear, while Harvard’s character responds warily.
His adventure started in late 2004, when a teacher recommended he audition for the movie role. “Why not?” he said while playing Claudio in a stage production of “Much Ado About Nothing.” That led to multiple auditions in New York and Los Angeles before he nailed the part.
“I was ecstatic,” he said. Unfortunately, Harvard’s other scenes with DDL and supporting actors were left on the editing room floor. “I’m content with what I’ve seen,” he said.
You just might spot Harvard at the sneak preview of “Blood” tonight at the Westgate Theater.
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January 14, 2008
Another view of the Globes, and therefore the Oscars
Who bothered to watch the last-ditch press conference from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association? Not many, according to overnight ratings. (Poor NBC can’t catch a break.) But results, as usual, tell us something about the upcoming Oscars, some of which was predicted in a previous Out & About.
For instance, the clear winner among American critics is “No Country for Old Men.” And most of those reviewers nodded in the direction of the Coen brothers for director honors. Yet “Atonement” won the Globe for Best Drama, and Julian Schnabel the verbal honor for directing “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” which also nabbed the Foreign Language Film award.
All three of these are superb films, but the latter two, set in Europe and dusted with European sensibilities, might appeal more directly to foreign critics. And “Atonement,” with its romantic/epic elements, is likely to speak more directly to older Academy voters than the spare, nightmare-inducing “No Country.”
The Globes make an important distinction by splitting the movie categories, and the win by “Sweeney Todd” in the Best Musical or Comedy category acknowledges that dramas usually dominate during awards season. “Todd,” which beat the Oscar-friendly “Juno,” again feels European in look and sound, and the foreign press loves, loves, loves Johnny Depp, who took actor honors, so perhaps the win should not surprise. (And both movies are, to repeat, superb.)
In other words, it would make perfect sense for these five movies to end up the nominees for Best Picture Oscar, with “There Will Be Blood” and “Michael Clayton” making equally strong contenders.
“Blood” won for Globes for score and Daniel Day-Lewis’ Olivier-esque performance, which automatically becomes the front-runner for the Best Actor Oscar, although I’d argue that George Clooney could beat him with “Michael Clayton.” (One hopes Josh Brolin will not be completely forgotten for “No Country.”
Julie Christie is the hands-down favorite for Best Actress for her subtle take on Alzheimer’s in “Away From Her,” and she won the Globe for Actress in a Drama. Marion Cotillard’s incarnation of Edith Piaf in “La Vie en Rose” has been much praised — I’m waiting to see it on DVD — and need we bring up the European perspective again? The Supporting Actor and Actress Globes are not divided by genre: Javier Bardem was a cinch for his methodical killer in “No Country,” and it’s his Oscar to lose, but Cate Blancett was a bit of a dark horse for her Bob Dylan in “I’m Not There,” beating out Oscar frontfunner Amy Ryan for “Gone Baby Gone.”
When you add it up, Johnny Depp is the only American to win an acting Globe this year, and he spends a good deal of his time in Europe. The winner for Best Animated Feature — I’m not getting conspiratorial here — was the French-themed “Ratatouille,” but it would have won even if it were set in Alabama.
“No Country” picked up a second Globe for Ethan and Joel Coen, for their immaculate adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel, which, if you read it, is practically a screenplay.
That leaves a sad single award for Sean Penn’s miraculous “Into the Wild” — an Original Song Globe for “Guaranteed,” which I don’t even remember hearing. Don’t count Penn’s movie out for Oscar nominations, although it has virtually no chance of winning one.
We’ll chime in on the TV Globes soon.
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January 10, 2008
Real fun at 'Real Genius'
It started with an underrated but sweet 1985 teen nerd flick called “Real Genius,” which was written with rare wit and performed by a winning cast led by a young, rascally Val Kilmer. Plot: At an advanced technical institute, science kids work on an ethically challenged military laser project while trying to avoid burnout through silly fun.
Amanda Jahnke, Chris Wooster and Jana Graevich
Then the goofballs with the Alamo at the Ritz added their ingenuity, passing out laser pointers for Wednesday’s “Real Genius Quote Along” — which were supposed to be sparked only during the laser scenes, but buzzed the screen throughout — running a locally made false trailer and showering the theater with popcorn during the movie’s climactic explosion.
Bryan Anderson, Melanie Bellomo and Jon Gries (Laslo in “Real Genius”)
The Alamo’s stand-up man, Henri Mazza, led the madness, and “Real Genius” star Jon Gries answered audience questions, or rather posed them for audience, since the first-night crowd included a heavy representation from the American Astronomical Society conference, convened at the nearby Convention Center. (About 2,500 of them in town.)
Astronomers Don Neill (who discovered a comet-like tail beyond the star Myra, in the constellation Whale, making a “Whale of a Tail”), Ting-Hui Lee and Steven Gibson
The real nerds — and those who cherish them — had a blast, not just because of the show’s subversive comedy but also the fake science and the trademarked Alamo gimmicks. It plays three more times.
Susan Thompson, Tom Montemayor and Suzi Casement
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Mega-watt stars will raise money for Nobelity Project
The list of celebrities lined up to rub shoulders with you for Turk and Christy Pipkin’s ‘One Peace at a Time’ fund-raiser Jan. 27 at the Four Seasons is blinding. The event benefits the Nobelity Project, the Pipkins’ educational nonprofit that works with Nobel laureates and other leaders on global problems. The distinguished guests are so numerous, they must be divided by organizers into three categories.
Texas All Stars: Hollywood transplants Luke and Owen Wilson; Martie Maguire of the Dixie Chicks; Ricardo Chavira of ‘Desperate Housewives’; Joe Sears and Jaston Williams of ‘Greater Tuna’; Mike Judge of ‘King of the Hill’; Harry Anderson of ‘Dave’s World’; Brad Leland and Ed Clements of ‘Friday Night Lights.’
Texas Music Legends: Shawn Colvin, Joe Ely, Kinky Friedman, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Joel Guzman, Sarah Fox, Bob Schneider, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Terri Hendrix, Lloyd Maines, Sara Hickman and Pinetop Perkins.
Legendary Texas Writers: Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer prize winner for ‘The Looming Tower’; Steve Harrigan, ‘Gates of the Alamo’; Tim McCanlies, ‘Secondhand Lions’; Bud Shrake, ‘The Little Red Book’ and Sarah Bird, ‘The Flamenco Academy.’
Some celeb tables are still available at $10,000 (with the donor choosing whose table), and individual seats remain at $1,000 and $500 (giving you the best choice of celeb-sitting they can). To reserve your place among the stars: e-mail the Nobelity Project or call at (512) 263-7971.
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January 9, 2008
Justin Timberlake, Vanessa Hudgens headed to Austin
You read it in Out & About first: Justin Timberlake is bringing his SexyBack to Austin, booked to shoot a movie here later in January. Sources tell us he’ll stay at the Four Seasons and tool around in an SUV, but which movie will he grace?
Most likely suspect: “40 Love,” the Weezie Melancon-directed tennis comedy, which could be lifted by a Timberlake cameo. Or perhaps it’s Terrence Malick’s assuredly more serious — and secretive — “Tree of Life,” also to star Sean Penn and Heath Ledger, and slated for Central Texas production soon.
Yet another possibility: The untitled Elton John biopic that Timberlake is listed to headline. Sir Elton is big on Austin, returning frequently. Would make some sense.
One more option: “Will,” which shoots here soon and is about a battle of the bands at a high school. Vanessa Hudgens (“High School Musical”) and Liam Aiken (“Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events”) star. Casting director Beth Sepko will audition high-school-age bands Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 501 Studios, Fifth and Brushy streets. Call (512) 472-5385 ext. 1 to make an audition appointment.
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January 8, 2008
Not many surprises in Critics Choice Awards
Frontrunners in almost all categories did well at the Critics Choice Awards, given by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, and, unlike the Golden Globes, sanctioned by the Screen Actors Guild. You’ll notice the trends confirming the analysis of a previous Out & About. In fact, I’m happy with the top five awards.
Best Picture: “No Country for Old Men”
Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, “There Will Be Blood”
Actress: Julie Christie, “Away from Her”
Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, “No Country for Old Men”
Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan, “Gone Baby Gone”
Young Actor: Ahmad Kahn Mahmidzada, “The Kite Runner”
Director: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, “No Country for Old Men”
Young Actress: Nikki Blonsky, “Hairspray”
Acting Ensemble: “Hairspray”
Writer: Diablo Cody, “Juno”
Composer: Jonny Greenwood, “There Will Be Blood”
Song: “Falling Slowly,” “Once” (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova)
Foreign Language Film: “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
Comedy Movie: “Juno”
Family Film (Live Action): “Enchanted”
Animated Film: “Ratatouille”
Documentary: “Sicko”
Picture Made for Television: “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee”
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January 7, 2008
Update: Golden Globes telecast canceled
It took the whole weekend for the news to sink in. The Screen Actors Guild is urging its members to avoid the Writers Guild picket lines at the Golden Globes ceremony on Sunday, thus robbing the show of its chief attraction: Stars. Without the actors, loosened up by booze and flattery, the show becomes about a bunch of junket-taking, buffet-slavering, celebrity-schmoozing movie journalists. (Need we run the zillionth story about the ethical challenges of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association?)
Hey, I like the Globes. They are sincere, fun and unscripted. But only with the talent in front of the camera.
Jorge Camara, the group’s prez, said Friday: “The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has been placed in an extremely difficult position with the ongoing Writers Guild strike. We are making every effort to work out a solution that will permit the Golden Globes to take place with the creative community present to participate. We hope to announce a resolution to this unfortunate predicament on Monday.”
Update: The Association announced this afternoon the cancellation of the telecast.
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January 4, 2008
Ladies and gentlemen, start your Oscar engines
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences does not disclose the names of its 6,000 or so distinguished members. However, it’s doubtful if any working critics serve among them. There’s certainly no reviewers’ branch to go along with traditional divisions for actors, writers, directors, producers, etc.
So it’s doubly unlikely that any voters who contributed to the avalanche of best-movie polls, published in the nation’s newspapers and magazines last month, will directly select the nominations for 2008 Academy Awards, due out Jan. 22. Nor will they vote in the final Oscar tally, to be announced during the Feb. 24 ceremony and broadcast on ABC.
Yet the journalistic partisans of “There Will Be Blood,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Juno,” “Atonement” and other awards magnets could make an impact on the Oscar voters. Sometimes reviewers contribute to a movie’s momentum; at other times, they can antagonize Academy voters with esoteric selections, killing their chances at statuettes. (“Brokeback Mountain,” for instance, peaked early in critics’ polls, losing out on Oscar night to “Crash,” an inside industry favorite, two years ago.)
If American critics had their way, “No Country for Old Men,” the Coen brothers’ immaculate adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel, partially filmed in Texas, would be the instantaneous winner among 2007 releases. It took at least 15 Best Picture honors from reviewers’ associations, including the major-league New York Film Critics Circle and National Board of Review.
Though it lost to “There Will Be Blood,” the epic based on the Upton Sinclair novel, also filmed in Texas, in the Austin Film Critics Association poll, “No Country” ended a close second. It was also the top pick of American-Statesman film critic Chris Garcia and me in our Top 10 lists, published last week. Significantly, both films have performed well at the box office, “No Country” moving from art houses to general release and “Blood” in limited markets (it officially opens Jan. 18 in Austin).
If “No Country” and “Blood” appear to be among the Oscar frontrunners, then consider that they are also gritty, violent movies without leading roles for women. Traditionally, pictures with those elements have not fared well on Oscar night, although last year’s deserving “The Departed” finally ran the bank for long-denied director Martin Scorsese.
That leaves the door open for the sweeping and emotionally balanced “Atonement,” another literary adaptation, this one from Ian McEwan’s novel, which benefits from a broken romance set against the backdrop of war — Oscar bait material going back at least to “Gone with the Wind.” It landed high on national critics’ Top 10 lists and is attracting healthy holiday crowds.
Two dark horses also were mentioned frequently on reviewers’ lists: the off-beat comedy about teen pregnancy, “Juno,” which took Roger Ebert’s top-movie nod, and the innovative French movie by Texas-bred director and visual artist Julian Schnabel, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” widely praised by critics. Both are witty, wise and humanly scaled, but those qualities could work against them in an industry that looks for broad scope and timely themes in its Best Picture winners.
“Juno,” at least, could turn into the “Sideways” or “Little Miss Sunshine” of the season and probably will take a screenplay award. Like “No Country,” it quickly broke out of the art-house box and can be seen at almost any suburban multiplex.
That leaves “Michael Clayton,” which didn’t win critics’ group awards, but forged into many Top 10s, and was nominated for a bucket of Golden Globes, also voted by journalists. Hollywood loves it some George Clooney, an early frontrunner for Best Actor, mainly competing against the grandiose Daniel Day-Lewis in “Blood,” and Academy voters swoon over left-leaning issue movies like this corporate thriller. (Witness “Crash.”)
Other movies with outside chances are finalists for the Broadcast Film Critics Association’s awards, to be announced Monday. They include “American Gangster” (which appears to be fading after a fast start), “Into the Wild” (Sean Penn’s miracle, turning an icky character into an effective hero), “The Kite Runner” (appropriately literary and international) and “Sweeney Todd” (which could clean up in the Comedy/Musical category at the Globes, but may be too odd for the Academy Awards).
Missing from some lists is “Knocked Up,” already considered a comic classic in some critical circles, but often mistaken for populist pablum, along with Judd Apatow’s other mini-masterpieces about boy-men.
Also highly acclaimed, but left out of the top awards so far, is the savvy but flawed history lesson from Mike Nichols, “Charlie Wilson’s War.” Disney’s “Ratatouille” was beloved by many scribes and viewers, but probably belongs in the animation category, where it would triumph, rather than alongside Best Picture nominees.
Oddsmakers have spoken as well on their Oscar picks, although they usually change their tunes after the Golden Globes ceremony, scheduled for Jan. 13. At press time, “No Country for Old Men” and “Atonement” were neck and neck at 3 to 1, according to BetUs.com.
The envelope, please … leave some suspense for Oscar night.
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December 24, 2007
Glen Powell Jr. picks up debate tips from Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington thought he looked too smart. So Austin’s Glen Powell Jr., who auditioned for the role as an Oklahoma student in “The Great Debaters,” came away with a higher profile slot as a Harvard University orator who faces down the upstart team from all-black Wiley College.
At 19 and a University of Texas freshman, Powell has already built an impressive list of film credits, starting with “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over” in 2003 and including “The Hottest State,” “Fast Food Nation” and “Jumping from Bridges.” Wearing scuffed boots that unintentionally match his status as a fraternity brother and an impossibly winning smile, Powell sat in the shade at Jo’s Hot Coffee with his mother and manager, Cyndy Powell, who has helped keep her son on an even career keel.
For instance, the Austin native balanced his early acting stints at Austin Musical Theatre with sports (football and lacrosse) and Westwood High School’s business club. And he’s majoring in economics at UT. “You need a backup plan,” he said. “If the acting thing doesn’t work, I may go into entertainment finance.”
Powell studied debate at Westood under winning coach Alex Pritchard, and after nabbing the movie role, Powell was whisked off to Texas Southern University to bone up on the less policy-oriented 1930s debating style, research he took quite seriously. During the shoot, Washington encouraged Powell to play his debater as a “blue blood who never loses” and coached him to pause, button his tuxedo and stare at his listeners before starting his key speech.
“He gives you a lot of freedom,” Powell said. “But he knows what he wants and he likes to see others succeed.”
Next up? Powell plays a pot head in “40 Love,” which films in the Austin area this winter, and which he describes as “Caddy Shack” for the tennis set.
Lucky much?
“Yeah, my life’s like ‘High School Musical’ without all the singing,” Powell said. When kidded about being such a responsible, well-rounded gentleman, he admitted to “starting a small coup in a South American country.”
A sense of humor to boot. Handy skill in Powell’s enviable position.
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December 18, 2007
Preview review of 'Sweeney Todd'
It’s only the paramount Broadway musical from our paramount Broadway artist.
So initial concerns from purists about Tim Burton’s storybook adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” skittered from mildly charmed to wildly alarmed.
The faithful can now rest easy. Burton’s “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” is a work of art. Radically different from the stage show that steam-rolled critics and audiences in 1979, it will be remembered for its macabre cinematic vision and the way it nevertheless retains the original’s musical charge.
The material was born of a urban rumor, then grew as a stage melodrama about a London barber who murders customers, high and low, avenging his abducted wife and daughter, while his accomplice, Mrs. Lovett, bakes the victims into meat pies. For the musical, Sondheim, along with librettist Hugh Wheeler and stage director Harold Prince, magnified the native gruesomeness of the story, while adding a gritty, alienating view of dog-eat-dog Victorian London parallel to Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s “Threepenny Opera.”
Subsequent stage productions stripped “Sweeney Todd” of its spectacle (“Teeny Todds,” they were called) or subdued Jonathan Tunick’s churning, pounding orchestrations (in the recent Broadway revival, the actors also played the instruments; effective but deliberately underwhelming). Still, the musical has almost always triumphed on stage, even when produced by opera companies with oversized voices or community theaters with undersized acting talents.
Altering the pacing at every step, Burton slices off some verses and replaces the choral passages with animated credits and other filmic devices. He elevates, however, Tunick’s crucial orchestrations to dominant status, almost as if to make up for the smaller, lighter voices of his stars Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter.
Depp is in his element. Todd is the older, madder version of his Edward Scissorhands, whose haggard, dour expression can be played for melodrama, or, in the case of the brilliantly pastel “By the Sea,” for laughs. His voice never boils with volcanic anguish or vengeance, but it trips lightly, roughly, expertly over Sondheim’s clever lyrics. Bonham-Carter, despite scare make-up, is probably the loveliest Mrs. Lovett ever, yet she manages creepiness and warmth at the same time.
Alan Rickman recycles his jerky villain from the “Harry Potter” series and other movies as Todd’s arch-adversary, Judge Turpin, and Sacha Baron Cohen makes Todd’s temporary professional rival — and first victim — silly and accessible.
The real headliner, however, is the art direction by Dante Ferretti, Oscar winner for “The Aviator,” and a quirky seer with exactly the right sensibility for Sondheim’s operatic tendencies and Burton’s fascination with Edward Gorey-esque animation.
Black-bricked, gray-shrouded London never looked more menacing, while buckets of scarlet blood burst from Ferretti’s limited palette, finally giving the musical its missing link to Grand Guignol, the 19th-century stage equivalent of today’s slasher movies.
Quibblers will find fault, haters of musicals will not be converted, but Burton’s “Sweeney Todd” will linger in the shadowy dreams of many a unsuspecting viewer.
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December 17, 2007
Early peek at my Top 10 movies of 2007
After watching some of the selections again, I have come up with a list that I predict will hold until Dec. 28, when we publish the critics picks in the American Statesman. You may notice that the list has shifted in the past week or so. That’s because, on multiple viewings, some movies such as “Gone Baby Gone,” rose in my estimation. It happens. Let us know your Top 10, and your runners-up, too.
“No Country for Old Men”
“Atonement”
“Gone Baby Gone”
“Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead”
“There Will Be Blood”
“Knocked Up”
“Michael Clayton”
“The Savages”
“Sweeney Todd”
“The Nines”
Lots of runners-up this year: “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” “Juno,” “Into the Wild,” “Eastern Promises,” “3:10 to Yuma,” “The Kite Runner,” “Transformers,” “The Darjeeling Limited,” “Chalk,” “Manufacturing Dissent,” “Crazy Love,” “The Lookout,” “Away from Her,” “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “Lars and the Real Girl” and “The Kite Runner.” In fact, the crazy thing is: I saw more than 100 movies this year, and not one was a outright dog. Parts of “Death Proof” bored, while “Love in the Time of Cholera” and “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” disappointed. Otherwise…
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December 10, 2007
Still looks like "No Country for Old Men" as Best Picture
One week until the Austin Film Critics Association votes on the best movies and performances of the year. That means cramming at least nine movies into the next seven days. Still left to go: “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “I Am Legend,” “Sweeney Todd” and “Margot at the Wedding,” all to be screened Monday and Tuesday. Then five on DVD: “This Is England,” “Starting Out in the Evening,” “Away from Her,” “Ratatouille” and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.”
High on my list for favorite movies before this final slog: “No Country for Old Men,” “Atonement,” “Gone Baby Gone,” “The Nines,” “Before the Devil Knows Your Dead,” “The Savages,” “Juno,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Into the Wild,” “Michael Clayton,” “Eastern Promises,” “Knocked Up,” “3:10 to Yuma,” “The Kite Runner,” “Transformers,” “The Darjeeling Limited,” “Chalk,” “Manufacturing Dissent,” “Crazy Love” and “Superbad.”
“No Country” continues to rake in the awards from reviewers, including the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics.
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December 3, 2007
Best Picture? You decide.
The hunt is on for the best movies of the year. In just two weeks, the Austin Film Critics Association votes on the top pictures and performances of the season. Over the weekend, I added three contenders to the list, all seen in preview or on review screeners: A novel adaptation smothered in anxiety (“Atonement”), another sweet comedy about a beyond-her-years wise kid (“Juno”), and an acting tour de force about a family dealing with an aged father (“The Savages”). The last could easily score Oscar nominations for Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Philip Bosco.
Trying to squeeze into the last days of the season: “The Golden Compass,” “Lars and the Real Girl,” “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” “Enchanted,” “Ratatouille,” “The Kite Runner,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Margot at the Wedding,” “There Will Be Blood,” “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” and “Charlie Wilson’s War.”
But seriously, if you think I’ve missed something …
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November 26, 2007
The DVD social scene
Early on, home videos and DVDs — along with video games, personal music devices and the Internet — were slammed as anti-social. They allowed people to nestle in the comfort of their homes without seeking the unavoidable social contact associated with certain forms of traditional entertainment. Some alarmists even predicted a general decline of civic discourse with each advancing entertainment technology.
Yet humans are hard-wired for socializing. Gamers connected with gamers. Social networks bloomed on the Internet. And even strangers were sharing the contents of their favorite MP3 delivery systems.
And videos? A simple post-Thanksgiving trip to the Vulcan Video South revealed social complexity on several levels. In the busy shop behind Guero’s, folks chatted about what they had seen, and what they had not, and what they’d like to see together. They talked about the must-view titles and the trashy flicks required for later, cool cocktail conversation.
The video store, as opposed to convenient but sterile services such as Netflix, also affords unexpected encounters, such as a shoulder-brush with playwright Steve Moore, whose “Nightswim” provided the philosophical underpinnings for Out & About (i.e. Austin is defined by how we treat one another).
Should have asked what Moore was renting. My choices, since Vulcan was out of “Ratatouille” and “La Vie en Rose,” were the taut, probing thriller “The Lookout” and the near-miss inspired by reality spy movie “Breach.” One thing I learned: Ryan Phillippe cannot carry a film with his putty-like reactions, but more supple and subtle Joseph Gordon-Levitt, pictured, can.
Ever since the emergence of Quentin Tarantino, video stores have additionally provided a social nexus for film geeks, formerly forced into one another’s presence only at festivals and art houses. Week in, week out at Vulcan, the amount of geeky social and aesthetic information exchanged, especially behind the counters, by the creatively whiskered and coiffed clerks boggles the mind.
The DVD will give way to the next technology within a decade, but like the record stores that seem to proliferate even as gloomy nostalgists thunder their doom, the video store seems likely to survive, and maybe even thrive.
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November 19, 2007
Top movies of 2007 revised
With the addition of the six movies seen this week, the 2007 Out & About Top 20 (or so) films is revised to include, somewhat in order of 1 to 20:
“No Country for Old Men,” “Knocked Up,” “Into the Wild,” “Gone Baby Gone,” “The Nines,” “Eastern Promises,” “Michael Clayton,” “3:10 to Yuma,” “Manufacturing Dissent,” “The Darjeeling Limited.” “Transformers,” “American Gangster,” “Crazy Love,” “Superbad,” “Once,” “300,” “Waitress,” “Shooter,” “Hairspray,” “The Namesake” and “Hot Fuzz.”
Not yet seen but promising before the end of the year on the big screen or DVD: “In the Valley of Elah,” “Ratatouille,” “Sweeney Todd,” “La Vie en Rose,” “His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass,” “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “Dan in Real Life,” “We Own the Night,” “Across the Universe,” “I’m Not There,” “Margot at the Wedding,” “There Will Be Blood,” “The Savages” and “Rescue Dawn.”
Feel free to nominate.
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November 15, 2007
Mary Blockley gags on 'Beowulf'
University of Texas English professor Mary Blockley giggled through much of the preview screening of “Beowulf.” The 3D CGI adaptation of the Old English poem is hardly faithful to the original, but it’s full of action and effects. (See Joelle Pearson’s review for the American-Statesman.) After the show, Blockley and I huddled outside the Galaxy Highland to compare notes:
Out & About: Clearly the movie doesn’t follow the poem closely, but does it honor the spirit?
Mary Blockley: The spirit of “Beowulf” the poem or Beowulf the “mighty warrior”? (Laughs.) It kept more of the original than I expected. “Beowulf” is a poem about war, and this is a movie of derring-do. It’s doesn’t have much to do with the Migration Age, and it doesn’t have much to do with Benedictine reform, and it doesn’t have much to do with the language. It could have been so much worse. But it’s pretty bad. I’m wondering how long it will be around, and if the Mystery Science Theater fellows will make a “Rocky Horror Picture Show” thing out it, because there’s plenty of opportunity for that (kind of camp). If I were an 8-year-old boy, I’d like it a lot.
When I saw “Troy,” I was horrified. But others said if it gets people to read “The Iliad,” then maybe it’s not so bad. Do you think that argument applies here?
Yes. I think it does. But “Beowulf” has gotten such bad press since Woody Allen anyway. People are going to be so surprised when they read the poem, how contemporary the real poem is …
How contemporary …
“Beowulf” is very much a homosocial poem. It’s all about men. (The movie) is all about protecting (actor) Ray Winstone’s junk. (During a long battle sequence, Beowulf is naked, and the animation goes to great extremes to disguise his privates.) All the women here are bad women who come from the 19th-century versions of 12th-century love. It will make people realize when they read the poem, there’s not that much fighting in “Beowulf.” About a third of it is dialogue, because it’s a political poem. Beowulf comes not necessarily invited to solve somebody else’s problem, but he’s very good at doing this in a way that doesn’t precipitate political disaster. He’s not brought down by them. But there’s no politics in this movie at all.
What about that one scene of forgiveness when we suddenly see Christ’s image in the background …
This is the usual monkish interpolation version that there were good old values until the Christians came in and ruined them. It’s not as bad as I would have expected, just sort of silly. There are more books about “Beowulf” than there are lines in the poem. It’s a poem that people have been thinking about for a long while. The manuscript is from the year 1000. And the first edition didn’t happen until the 18th century. But people think about it in different ways. One is, the poem’s about thinking about what it was like under paganism, combining the stories that they did have into something.
The most recent book I’ve seen that came out over the summer begins something like, “Beowulf” was composed in the years 861 to 862 as a funeral offering (for a prince), because Beowulf is not a common name, a real name, so there’s a kind of empty center to the poem. It’s a kind of “Zelig.” He’s there to get us around some historical events that we know a little bit about. The movie, on the other hand, will be good for audiences with short attention spans. (Laughs.)
It seems like they included some of the more recent sympathetic treatments of Grendel …
Oh yeah. At least they didn’t make the dragon as sympathetic as they could have …
So each age gets the “Beowulf” it deserves?
Their own private “Beowulf”!
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November 14, 2007
'Love in the Time of Cholera' review preview
A generosity of spirit illuminates “Love in the Time of Cholera,” Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel about an epic romance that averts consummation for 50 years. That spirit flickers only intermittently in Mike Newell’s earnest film adaptation.
To be fair, it would take a sustained and muted delicacy to translate this love story from page to screen, because so much of it turns on the interior reflections of the protagonists, who age from youth to middle age and seniority in states of suspended sexual and emotional animation.
Florentino, a lovesick telegraph agent, falls hard for Fermina, the modest yet feisty daughter of a rough-hewn muleteer made good in a Colombian port (presumed to be Cartagena, but never named). The father, hoping for a noble match, stymies the couple by removing Fermina to the country, yet upon return to the city, and despite reams of exchanged missives, she rejects Florentino.
Did her father break Fermina’s spirit? Did she grow distant independently? Or is Florentino a phantom of an earlier life, as she proclaims in a grimy outdoor market?
We never find out in Newell’s movie. We bear witness as Fermina marries a wealthy and reasonably honorable doctor. Meanwhile, stricken Florentino rises from clerk to head of his uncle’s riverboat company while taking hundreds of lovers from the apparently limitless supply of sexually frustrated wives and widows in Cartagena.
When the doctor finally dies, well, we should experience a fullness of romantic swelling for Florentino and Fermina. We do not.
Follow the words: Screenwriter Ronald Harwood, best known for middle to high brow projects such as “The Pianist” and “The Browning Version,” picks up the obsessively repetitive language of love from the novel, but he rarely imbues it with poetry. Instead, he pauses on the scenes of awkward humor, delivered in a childlike English diction and a wide variety of accents — Italian, Puerto Rican, etc. — that replace the original Spanish.
Newell’s artistic team doesn’t help much, putting care into their depiction of stone-clapped streets, luxuriously leafy gardens and dreamy upstream wilderness, but outlining only the barest historical context.
As our long-suffering Romeo, Javier Bardem is too old to play callow youth, while his counterpart, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, is too young to play wise old age. Bardem’s gravity and range enrich his performance as the movie advances, but Mezzogiorno’s main acting technique — rotating her eyes like a doe in flight — eventually freezes into stiff expressions. As the doctor, Benjamin Bratt transcends his Hollywood glamour, but, compared with Bardem, he’s a stick.
At least they don’t make utter fools of themselves, like John Leguizamo, whose New York accent and heavy-handed humor elicit only disbelief as Fermina’s father. Playful then somber confidante Catalina Sandino Moreno and excessively protective mother Fernanda Montenegro come off best.
There’s plenty in “Cholera” to hold the eyes and ears, but the novel’s singular, protracted love story, perhaps best dramatized in a mini-series, passes without effect, like a series of tropical afternoon showers.
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November 13, 2007
Josh Brolin on Austin, acting and otherwise
Josh Brolin’s features look gouged from rough granite.
His jaw, cheeks and brow break into separate planes. His bull nose pokes out from the rocky mass of flesh and sooty eyes, making him, in certain lights, as intimidating as Robert Mitchum in “Cape Fear,” or as pensive as Christian Bale in “3:10 to Yuma.”
The striking son of actor James Brolin and Corpus Christi’s Jane Agee, who died in 1995, Brolin is enjoying a miracle year, featured prominently in three Oscar-worthy movies: “In the Valley of Elah,” “American Gangster” and, especially, “No Country for Old Men,” which opens Friday in Austin.
In the Coen Brothers’ spare, punch-to-the-gut adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel, Brolin plays Llewelyn Moss, a self-reliant every-Texan who keeps the money he finds at the scene of a drug deal gone horrifically bad. It’s the kind of performance that could snag Brolin an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, although he’d likely compete against Javier Bardem, who plays a methodical killer in the same movie.
Aptly, Brolin’s leap into “No Country” started in Austin, while he was working on Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarentino’s “Grindhouse,” in which he played gruff Dr. William Block.
“Robert and Quentin did my audition tape on a $950,000 Genesis camera,” Brolin says, relaxing at the Driskill Hotel last month. “So it was like the best-looking audition tape in the history of audition tapes. When (the producers) saw it, their response was, ‘Who lit it?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, but what did you think of the actor?’ They go, ‘He’s good, but he’s not what we’re looking for.’”
The makers of “No Country” eventually came around to Brolin, who lost weight and shaved off some facial hair for the role.
“With ‘No Country,’ it’s a fictional piece, but every day it felt like it was based on something very real, I don’t even know why,” he says. “Fictional characters are fun to play but they’re more difficult to get into because you’re creating it from scratch.”
How did he get so deeply inside the character of close-to-the-ground Moss, who often makes choices without reflection?
“I don’t know man, I really don’t,” Brolin says. “I feel that he’s quiet. He’s an intuitive guy, so you have to be quiet to be even more connected to the intuition. You’re feeling everything, as opposed to listening, as opposed to talking, so that was nice. It was kind of a challenge every day to not over compensate with inappropriate physicalities. I mean, I’m not going to scratch when I don’t feel the itch. … Javier, he’s more verbal than Moss. He’s got all that other stuff that you can kind of hang on. Moss just has him. Down-home-boy. ‘Come on, trailer park’ boy.”
Moss’ West Texas accent came with its own challenges, especially in a cast that included Texan-to-the-bone Tommy Lee Jones.
“Well, Tommy is from San Saba, where the character is from, and he reminded me of that often — which was quite unnerving,” Brolin says. “So first, I was watching a lot of Tommy’s early movies and listening to his accent.
“But what I also do for accents, I’ll call local hotels or the local chamber of commerce and I’ll just talk to them. I’ll act like I’m visiting the city, ‘My family and I are gonna come see you guys. We’re gonna be there for two weeks. What do you suggest we do?’ ‘Oh, well, you gotta do this.’ ‘Are you from the area by the way?’ ‘Oh yeah, born and raised.’ Then like, press the tape recorder and keep talking and keep asking questions like a reporter or a journalist.”
Brolin found just the right inspiration in Marfa.
“I heard a guy at a pizza place in Marfa and he was telling his buddies a story and I was talking to somebody and I said, ‘Listen to the guy.’ I just loved his vernacular, I loved his rhythm,” Brolin says. “The accent was a little too heavy. Anyway, he went away but I couldn’t stop thinking about him all night. Then I went looking for him for a day and finally learned that he owned a jewelry store. I told him what I was doing, he thought I was either going to rob his place or, I don’t know, but we ended up talking for a while and I recorded him and then we went out for lunch”
“Grindhouse” — Brolin appeared in Rodriguez’s ultra-bloody zombie section — presented completely different acting problems.
“It’s such an extreme thing, like, how far do we go?” he says “Where we can really go is far because the violence is so gratuitous, it’s almost ridiculous. You know, my dad called me after ‘Grindhouse’ and goes, ‘I love what Robert did with your voice.’ I go, ‘What did he do with my voice?’ He said, ‘You know, how he really deepened it and made it all gravelly.’ I go, ‘No bro’, that was all me.’ He said, ‘No, no, no, I love what he did with your voice.’ I said, ‘Listen man, I’m telling you.’ Like it was a backhanded compliment or something. Anyway, so roles like that are a lot of fun just because there’s no-holds-bar.”
Before “Grindhouse,” Brolin made “Picnic” with Mary Steenburgen in San Marcos, and whenever he drops into the area, he heads out with Rodriguez and friends.
“Oh man, Robert knows the city inside out,” he says. “We spend a lot of time at Continental Club and Antones and Gueros and Fonda San Miguel. To me it’s like the best food on earth. I go out to the (Barton Springs) in the morning before work and it’s like coffee. It’s better than coffee.”
His favorite Austin musician? Hands down, Bob Schneider. “Actually there was one point where I was going to ask him to come and play music at our wedding,” Brolin said. “We had a mutual friend that did this short film; (Schneider) did the music for it. I was turned on to him right away. I was like, this guy’s genius, just genius.”
With all his recent high-profile roles, Brolin’s been stuck mostly on planes promoting movies all over the country and in Europe.
“I can’t wait for the next acting job,” he said. “This is not bad, though. Somebody told me something the other day that I really appreciated, they said, ‘It’s a heavy schedule, and all that, but you’re not just doing it for you, you’re doing it for everybody who worked on the film.’ And I go, ‘I like that, thank you for that.’”
Brolin appreciates the fact that his recent successes will allow him to focus on unusual projects.
“The thing is, is to respect the moment and to continue working with people I like, which, I’ve always tried to do anyway,” he says. “From a studio point of view, I’ve never had the monetary value, at least in their minds. But if you hire a person who’s right for the part, you’ll make the money. I’ve seen it happen more times than not, where they hire somebody, and you go, “Why?” It’s just miscast and the movie fails and that means they don’t make any money. So, yes, I’ve been very fortunate this year.”
Some things readers might not know about Brolin: He’s a devout “Top Chef” fan and once considered the food industry for a career, and he writes short stories and poetry, often inspired by his mother.
“My mother’s a massive inspiration in everything that I do,” he says. “When somebody dies, you glorify all the positive aspects of them and you slowly forget the negative. If my mom were here she would love this movie more than anybody who’s ever seen it so far, I guarantee that.”
Reported with Elizabeth Peterman.
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November 6, 2007
Manhood and morality
What does a man do? For family? For community? And how does a man juggle conflicting notions of morality, especially related to safekeeping loved ones?
Those appear to the be questions of the Hollywood season, if you consider the following characters:
Casey Affleck’s slow to ignite South Boston private detective in “Gone Baby Gone,” choosing among competing good intentions. Also Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris’ compromised policemen who claim to protect children in the same movie.
Josh Brolin’s every-Texan in “No Country for Old Men” who presages all that will go wrong for him and his family, but can’t turn back.
Christian Bale’s hired gun in “3:10 to Yuma” who seems willing to do anything to save his young family and uphold his honor, even if his stubbornness will bring nothing but tears.
George Clooney’s legal fixer in “Michael Clayton” who must balance a web of loyalties in surprising ways.
Tommy Lee Jones’s honor-bound father in “In the Valley of Elah” as well as his befuddled, old-school lawman in “No Country.”
Viggo Mortensen’s seemingly amoral Russian mobster in “Eastern Promises” who masks his acts of salvation.
Seth Rogen’s boy-man in “Knocked Up” who cluelessness dissolves so slowly, we barely notice the signs of maturation.
I’d include the three brothers in “The Darjeeling Limited,” but they are incompletely formed boys, even after the moving, transformative events in the film.
Same goes for Mark Webber in “The Hottest State” and Glen Hansard in “Once,” though these movies touch on related issues of what society expects from males.
This is only a partial list. I’m sure that some others will pop up during the season of serious movies.
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November 2, 2007
Alamo at the Ritz opens -- barely
The carpet unfolds in places, and the moulding is missing in spots, but on Thursday night a pair of Davy Crockett statues welcomed first-nighters to the Alamo at the Ritz, the new East Sixth Street location for the local meal-and-a-movie chain. Wednesday’s preview was canceled but health and occupancy certificates came to the rescue.
Alamo fan Quentin Tarantino and movie theater co-owner Tim League discuss the new venue at the Ritz
“We’ve been wandering around in a daze,” Alamo programmer Henri Mazza said. “There are some rough edges, but we’ll be working on them while people are watching movies.”
“What’s not to like?” said Jay Knowles, father to Internet movie pundit Harry and a longtime Austin cultural figure, about the former movie theater that most recently served as a pool hall. “The ceilings are higher, the look is more luxurious and the trenches are deeper for the servers.”
Munching on a special mushroom feast, the audience, which including Alamo fan and cult director Quentin Tarantino took in the weirdness of “Matango: Attack of the Killer Mushrooms.”
“Tim’s always want to show it,” co-owner Karrie League joked about her husband and co-owner. “But probably nobody would come, so he forced them to by showing it on opening night.”
In other local movie news, please welcome Agnes Varnum to Austin. Formerly of the Brooklyn documenatry distribution company First Run, Varnum has taken the position of communications manager for the vital Austin Film Society. She formerly worked for the Center for Social Media in D.C. and serves at a columnist for Indie. She blogs about new media and other issues. Docs to look for in the coming months, says Varnum, include “Mondo Bala” and “Taxi to the Dark Side.” By the way, expect the society’s renovated studios at the Mueller site to open in January 2008.
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October 30, 2007
Year's best movies + Paul Michael Bloodgood's 'Divas'
It’s that time: Rushing around to see the movies that might end up on Best of 2007 lists come December. Top film so far: “No Country for Old Men.”
Also high up: “Knocked Up,” “Eastern Promises,” “Michael Clayton,” “Manufacturing Dissent,” “The Darjeeling Limited,” “Transformers,” “Crazy Love,” “3:10 to Yuma,” “Once,” “Shooter,” “Superbad” and “Hot Fuzz.”
Looking forward to: “Sweeney Todd,” “Love in the Time of Cholera,” “American Gangster,” “Into the Wild,” “Gone Baby Gone,” “Lions for Lambs,” “Rendition,” “Confessions of a Superhero,” “We Own the Night,” “His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass,” “Charlie Wilson’s War” and “In the Valley of Elah.”
If you think there’s a movie that belongs on the list and will screen or become available on DVD before the end of the year, send in your candidates. Soon.
Best short seen this year: “Ballet Divas: Self-Proclaimed,” a 32-minute mockumentary from Ballet Austin’s Paul Michael Bloodgood. The conceit will delight anyone remotely familiar with annual productions of “The Nutcracker” — diva attitude from the boys who appear briefly in the party scene, bowing in 19th-century costumes, social dancing and flourishing their gloved fingers. Bloodgood elicits howling snippets from the company members, even Brent Hasty, company director Stephen Mills’ partner, as an addled diva fan. It should be snapped up by film festivals and other ballet companies ASAP.
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October 23, 2007
Jason Schwartzman: The complete interview
On a wet, windy Monday, Jason Schwartzman curled his gray topsiders into a chair, framed by arches overlooking the Hotel San Jose courtyard. The floppy-haired, almond-eyed co-star and co-writer of “The Darjeeling Limited” was in Austin for a promotional tour.
Still, he managed to revisit some of his favorite South Congress Avenue spots before answering questions from St. Edward’s University entertainment journalism student Alex Daniel and yours truly.
Jason Schwartzman: I kind of conned the powers that be into letting me come down here for three days. I knew it would secretly work out … as long as I got to Austin by Saturday, then I knew I’d have something to do Saturday and Monday, which meant I got the third day off.
Out & About: What did you do while you were in town?
Well, it’s been nice. My girlfriend (Brady Cunningham) and I have been apart since I’ve been going around the country (on the tour). And so she met me down here Saturday. The first thing I did is go look for guitars, so I spent a half day just guitar-looking and then she got in and then … what did we do? Well, we just walked, you know, we walked up and down (South Congress Avenue), which was nice, we got some food, came home.
Did you go out and hear in any music?
I’m just missed some shows that I wanted to see, like the Fiery Furnaces are gonna be here soon, and that I would have been excited about seeing. And it’s weird because I just came from D.C. where I just missed the Shins so I kinda got lost a little bit. We just relaxed and watched TV and read. I love all the stores (on South Congress). I usually go around to other areas, but this time I just wanted some rest. We come to Austin a lot.
Where’d you eat? What did you like?
I love that place down the street, Vespaio, it’s just so good … everything’s homemade there. And Enoteca, that’s great too. Were else do you like to eat here?
I live right behind (Vespaio) so I eat up and down the block. The Woodlands, a block beyond Vespaio, is still new and good.
That’s a great name — The Woodland. I saw that Mother’s burned! I can’t believe that, because that was always one of my favorites. Was that arson or…?
It was an accident. A homeless person that camped out behind the place accidentally burned it down. A lot of people said ‘where are we gonna get our veggies now?’ And they looked at each other and said, ‘Oh, virtually every restaurant in town offers significant vegetarian alternatives.’
What about that place, Mr. Natural, is that good?
Yeah … it’s OK.
And what’s the other place that does different food every day? Casa de Luz? How is it?
It’s serious. (Laughter.) It’s chewy.
Seriously … healthy?
If you think that’s healthy, yes.
Well, what’s chewy?
It’s not fancied up or anything. It’s almost meditative, one might say.
Right. So you have to create what it tastes like in your mouth. You have to imagine what you’re eating. Well that’s my favorite kind of food. (Laughter). I didn’t go over to the East Side Cafe, is that what it’s called?
There are six or seven restaurants over near there that are really good. And there’s new places on East 11th Street and on East Sixth Street. The whole east side is booming.
Do you like that?
I do. I like the change. This street, for instance, was completely trashed out when we moved here 10 years ago. (The San Jose) was a hooker and drug den and there weren’t many good restaurants or shops on South Congress.
So you really got in right when…
Yeah our house was on the market for like five months because people didn’t want to live in such a dangerous neighborhood, and then all of the sudden we’re the hipster part of town. How did that happen? We didn’t plan it.
That’s crazy.
So I hear you might bring your new band Coconut Records here.
Well I would do that. I don’t know if I could ever honestly do it. There’s so many reasons. One is there is no band. It’s just me. And I always say it’s not because I was trying to hog the ball or be showy or anything. I can’t play the instruments proficiently enough to be a shredder, but I recorded all these things because there was no one else around to help do what I was trying to. The long story is that when I left the band (he was drummer for Phantom Planet), I always just continued writing songs.
How long ago did you leave the band?
I left in 2003. I taught myself to play the instruments, to communicate the ideas that I had about what the songs they were writing, if I could give my two cents. And then I started to write. But I felt like I was just beginning. So when I left the band, my mission became learning how to write, to keep writing, to do it every day, and just trying to get better. So I would write these little songs, even just 30-second ideas, and I’d put them on my computer, and after three years of it, I had just a ton of these. Most of it was really bad, but there were some things that I really liked, that I thought could be made into something.
But I wasn’t sure what point was there to be because I knew that the touring kind of life and being on a label again. I knew i just didn’t want to do it. The touring part, I love playing live, but the label part and just … I thought, what do I do? Form another band? Get another bunch of guys around me?
So I watched this documentary on Brill Building and I was thinking that’s the way to do it: Carole King, Jerry Malcolm, writing all these songs and other people perform them. Because my favorite part of being in a band was being in the recording studio.
So I talked to my friend about it who produced one of my records, and I said, ‘So what do I do, do I sell these songs?’ And he said, no because most of the bands you’d want to play your songs want to write their own songs. So I was like, oh, good point. And he said, Why are you stressing about all of this? You think that just because you record something you have to put it out. You don’t put anything out, you don’t have to form any band, you can just go record these songs for fun, and if they’re bad they’re bad, and if you like them you like them, but why are you thinking so far ahead?
And I said, ‘Well who do I get to play with me?’ And he said, ‘Anybody you want! Or nobody! I mean just do it as an exercise in believing in yourself. Just don’t have fear, just go make something.’ And I thought, ‘That’s weird. I’ve never sung before I’ve never done any of these things.’
And so my friend had a home studio, and I went in there, and we just sort of recorded songs. We tracked a whole song in one night and it was such a great one. And he asked, ‘do you have any more?’ And I was like, man, ‘I’ve got a lot.’ He said, ‘Come back up here, let’s record music!’ Got my dog, got some clothes, went over to house, and a week later we walked out with 14 songs recorded.
And I sat on it for five months. Just thought, wow, that was great. I listened to it, gave it to my friends. It was exactly what I wanted. And my little brother, who is in this band called Rooney, said ‘You should put this out.’ And I thought, ‘Ah, I don’t want to put it out because to put it out means a bunch of big wigs coming in and then you gotta let them down cause I’m not really gonna probably tour, cause I just didn’t like that part.” And so I thought, ‘Who’s gonna sign me?’ And then I thought about it, and I thought, ‘Why don’t I just put this out myself?’ And so that’s what I did. (It’s called ‘Nighttiming.’) You can buy it on iTunes. Coconut Records is the name of the band and then Young Baby Records is the name of the label.
How’s it doing?
It’s doing pretty well. It’s out and people buy it, and it’s just great. If you buy it there, because it isn’t on a record label, and because we didn’t have the funds to do crazy packaging, the fun thing about doing it like this is that we’re doing kind of limited pressings right now, so if you buy it you get a Polaroid picture that I’ve taken. And then the idea is that all of these Polaroids are going to be digitized and they’ll be part of a video slide show that we’re doing. So the idea is why not just give everybody something individual? Kanye West can’t do that because they can’t take 3 million Polaroids, but I can do it because I’m just making a couple thousand, which is even ambitious. And people who have been buying the records are like, hey when are you coming to my town? And I say gosh, because there’s no band, and because these songs weren’t really written to be played live really. There’s not a lot of rockers on the record, so it might kind of be boring. And to be a really good band takes years of playing with the same group of people, and I feel like enough bands are out there working hard to get good, and what? I’m just supposed to walk out there with these songs that I’m not even sure if they’d be good live? And I’m not afraid of it, but it’s completely not what I was thinking I would do with it. But maybe, who knows?
How did the writing process on “The Darjeeling Limited” worked for you, Wes (Anderson) and Roman (Coppola, Schwartzman’s first cousin)?
Well, I was living in Paris, working on this movie ‘Marie Antionette.’ And Wes was on a press tour for ‘The Life Aquatic,’ which ended there in Paris. And I said, ‘if you want to move in with me and see Paris for a little bit, if you’re not in a rush to go home, you can come stay with me as long as you’d like.’ And he moved in with me for about two and a half months. And a couple days into doing that he said ‘I’ve got this idea for a film about three brothers on a train in India, and I want you to be one of the brothers.’ And I was freaking out because Wes and I had been best friends since ‘Rushmore’ but we haven’t worked together, so …
Is that when you guys met?
We met on ‘Rushmore.’ So I was so happy, really, because I’d missed working with Wes, and I thought, man, it will be so much fun to work together again because now we’re friends. I mean in ‘Rushmore’ we were just meeting each other, but now we’ve got 10 years of great friendship. Because my memories of ‘Rushmore’ are usually integrated with feelings of fear, being so afraid of not being good in this movie and I had no acting experience and Bill Murray’s around. I still am nervous a lot when I work but at least with Wes we could make new memories which won’t be so fear-related. Now, the writing thing didn’t seem like it was part of the initial pitch.
You thought were just going to be acting?
I thought I was going to be acting it. And then later on he said, ‘I want to write this movie with you and Roman.’ So he said, I’d like this movie to be the most personal script I’ve ever written. And I’d like to make it very sparse, very raw, and more kind of based on personal things in my life and in our lives, and make it almost too personal. And he even said ‘Let’s go to India, let’s live in India, let’s write this movie based on things that happened to us there, and he said because I think we need it.’ Kind of like Owen’s character in the movie.
And so the spirit of the writing process was always based on storytelling. It never seemed like when we were writing this movie we were saying ‘Now these three brothers go here and then they get kicked off the train.’ It never felt like we were writing the movie. It felt like these three brothers were on a real journey of their own, like we were just describing it.
Does that make sense? It always felt like we were asking a lot of questions. So we would always ask, ‘These three brothers, what are they doing right now?’ And when we were in a rut, the thing that seemed to get us out was always a personal story. We’d ask, ‘Roman what happened to you? What could make sense to this?’ So Roman would say, ‘Well one time this happened to me and then that’d jog my memory and I’d say ‘Oh yeah! Well, I had a thing happen to me where.’ And then somewhere in hours … this prefaces two years of this … over two years of saying everything that’s happened to you, you say, ‘Oh wait! Maybe that’s what happened.’ And you just get these little things and they just seem to make sense. And we wrote it in sequence, so it just felt like this kind of storytelling, looking for stories that just sort of…
And that paralleled your …
Yeah! I think it’s a lot like my character in the film.
And I think that’s really cool to, when your character admits that his stories are based on him, and that’s kind of cool that that’s actually based on you.
Yeah. So the process isn’t just three guys writing, but also three guys talking a lot.
Well when you were coming up with these stories, were a lot of them based on things that happened to you while you were in India?
Well I’d say between half and three quarters were already written and then another kind of ghost half was just lingering. We went to India and Wes said we shouldn’t come home until we finished it. So in India, not only did we live out things we already wrote about — went on a train, visited these different things — not only did we walk around and act out the scenes that took place at temples, to see which lines could work, kind of modify the lines we’d already had, India informed the second half. So in the first half, we informed India, which is what these brothers do, it was kind of our own personal things that were happening, and then the second half was kind of a symbiotic experience. A lot of the things that happened to us in India become the movie. And also we did a lot of casting, we ended up seeing a kid with a cricket ball inside his hand and we said, ‘Hey will you be in our movie just as a kid with a cricket ball.’ And so I don’t think Wes ever wanted to cast India — ‘cast India’ — is kind of funny, because there’s so many castes there — but he just wanted to use whatever was natural to incorporate.
Did you write the short film ‘Hotel Chevalier (available at www.hotelchevalier.com) with the purpose making it the first part of ‘Darjeeling’? Or did it get written into ‘Darjeeling’ after the fact?
It was kind of a weird timing thing. We’d already begun writing the feature film, but we were only a month and a half to two months into it. So we had the opening scene and a bunch of discussed ideas, and Wes called me on the phone and read me this short film. And it was nothing like what we’d been writing, because our movie was about three guys in India, and now he’s reading me this thing about a guy with an awkward encounter in a hotel in Paris.
So I was loving what I was hearing, but I was curious as to what I was experiencing. And he said, ‘Do you like that?’ And I said, ‘Oh I love it. What is it?’ And he said, ‘It’s a short film I want to make with you and Natalie Portman and I want to make it as soon as we can.’ (We ended up making it many months later.) And I said great, ‘What is it?’ And he said, ‘I don’t know yet what it is but I just wrote it and I feel like we need to make it.’ The more we talked about the character and what he was going through and we talked to Roman, and we all realized, you know what? This guy is the same character as the character I’m playing in the movie!
And then we thought, ‘OK, well, now we have a short film where I play the same character as I do in the feature film. So how is this going to work? So as we kept writing the feature film we were trying to get the short made and keep writing the feature film. So by the time we went to shoot the short, which ended up being a year before we made ‘Darjeeling Limited,’ we had about a fourth of a script written.
And we thought, ‘Well this will definitely not be part of the feature film, because we already knew we wanted to have one flashback, so we didn’t want to have two.’ So we thought, ‘Maybe this film will just be a short movie that will be a companion piece to the film that will kind of inform the audience as to what’s happening with my character.’ Then we were kind of on the fly because we realized well we hadn’t finished writing the feature film, but there’s got to be stuff from it that we want to sprinkle in from the short. So for instance, in the short, film Natalie puts something into my luggage, it’s a brown package. And in the feature film I open it and it’s a bottle of perfume. Well when we shot the short, we thought she puts something in the luggage but we didn’t know what it was. So we shot three different takes of one small brown package, one medium package, and one large brown box. And later we thought oh OK it can be perfume so let’s get the medium package
And then we were really in a pickle when we finished the film because we loved the Bill Murray opening and Wes wrote it first and it was always the opening it WAS the opening. So we thought what will this short be? Does it go before, or …? And then we thought why don’t we just put it out online, have it be downloadable andk, ideally, how Wes wanted it be is everyone goes to the theater and watches the short film and has a glass of white wine and discusses it and then they watch the feature film, but you can’t do that in the theater these days. Because he wanted space between the two. So then we decided to make it downloadable, but next week it’s going to come out in front of the film.
Note: “Hotel Chevalier” will screen before “The Darjeeling Limited” at certain Austin theaters, including Alamo South, beginning Friday.
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October 14, 2007
BBQ and surfing at the Austin Film Festival
The one event everyone attending the Austin Film Festival refuses to miss is the Friday afternoon barbecue. Formerly held at the Governor’s Mansion, this year the cue-and-brew party spilled out over the mild lawns of the French Legation. (Bets on who many visitors or locals know anything about the history of this embassy dating from the Republic of Texas era?)
We caught up with publicist Karen Frost and her friend Jeff Henke; production designer Cary White from “Friday Night Lights,” who informed me that FNL has banked only a few scripts, with a writer’s strike looming, and producer Elizabeth Avellan, whose “Queen of the South” and her break-up with director Robert Rodriguez were the subects of a recent New York Times story; Michael Bartlett and Hiram Bleetman from England, promoting “The Zombie Diaries” and the blog makingthefilm.com; Terry George, Academy Award-winner for “Hotel Rwanda” who is pushing his latest, “Reservation Road” (off the record, we discussed the campfire that is “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”), and left waving goodbye to Texas Film Commission location scout Lindsey Ashley and husband John (want to know much more about her fascinating job).
Karen Frost and Jeff Henke
Elizabeth Avellan and Cary White
Terry George
Michael Bartlett and Hiram Bleetman
John and Lindsey Ashley
Later, in our next festival advenutre, we watched “Big Wednesday” at the Bullock Theater — hair-raising surf action, but the booming music, epic camera work and homophilic stoicism caused my accidental seating companion to whisper “is this a surf Western?” After the screening, writer/director John Milius, more of a teddy bear than the gruff he-man of repute, talked about his own serious surfing (he lived out of his car for two years), the autobiographical elements in the story (there was a surfer named “Masochist,” for instance), and how his stars, Jan-Michael Vincent, Gary Busey and William Katt didn’t know how to surf (Katt was passable; Busey not at all). Milius taught them to paddle and turn, but when a really big surge headed in their direction, they wisely scrammed.
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October 12, 2007
Meeting of minds at the film festival
“It’s like a singles bar,” said the well-established producer.
“Without the hierarchies,” said the Ph.D. in psychology.
The Austin Film Festival brings out the anthropologist in the screenwriters, producers and fans who crush into the openings and panels, mingle over big drinks at the Driskill Hotel bar and contribute to the early-fall buzz on downtown streets.
We caught the opening night selection, “Chicago 10,” Brett Morgan’s smashingly effective mixture of documentary footage about the riots at the 1968 Democratic convention and the following show trial, and animated re-enactments of the courtroom drama (helped enormously by an ear-shaking soundtrack). Refer to John DeFore’s capsule review on the Austin Movies blog, and expect a longer version when the film opens for what will inevitably be a long local run.
Then I spent time conversing with filmmakers, documentarians and techies about the looming writer’s strike (key issues: webcasts and writing for reality shows), Flash solutions to encrypting personal entertainment products, the differences in the body language at SXSW and AFF (the latter appears more collegial), and sharing a coach cabin with Jenna Bush and her Secret Service agents en route to Austin.
UT art history major Abigail Winograd with distant relative Herschel Weingrod, writer or co-writer of “Trading Places,” “Brewster’s Millions,” “Twins,” “Kindergarten Cop” and “Space Jam”
Documentary-maker Carrie Amestoy and fellow Georgian screenwriter/journalist Phillip Ramati, quarterfinalist last year for “Nightstrike,” which was optioned by English producer Alistair Clarke
Juan Conchas, co-founder of Movies in a Flash, and Holly Wonder, psychologist and screenwriter, both excellent conversationalists on technology and humanity
Toy developer Susan Kei and “Splitsville” screenwriter Rick Williams, both from LA
They also liked “Chicago 10” — Michelle Jordan, who works at Sillouette, and Brett Bays, formerly of Storm the Tower, memorable subject of an XL cover story about a band traveling on the road with an infant. “Turns out babies don’t like eight-hour drives,” he jokes.
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October 10, 2007
'Elizabeth: The Golden Age' review preview
Amend the epitaphs — Gloriana, the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth Regina — with St. Elizabeth of the Armada.
The sequel “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” — an undisguised platform for Cate Blanchett’s scenery chomping, and why not? — hews neatly to the previous 50 or so movies about the triumphant Elizabeth I (themselves, variations on poems, novels, plays and operas). To the standard themes, however, add another: The beatification of English Protestant standard-bearer Elizabeth as a sort of glowing, waxen totem from the Mediterranean Catholic tradition.
Follow the drama in five acts.
1. Elizabeth in Love: Among the unmarried queen’s suitors and purported lovers, Sir Walter Raleigh figures in only a few dramatizations. And, as far back as Vivien Leigh’s 1938 “Fire over England,” a fetching lady in waiting has served as romantic competitor for Queen Bess; this time, it’s calf-eyed Abbie Cornish. As Raleigh, however, Clive Owen generates sparks with neither mistress, his motionless man mountain falling flat against an emotionally fluent Blanchett.
2. Elizabeth vs. Mary: Playwrights and screenwriters can’t resist a showdown between handsome, headstrong Catholic Mary Queen of Scots and her bonier, strategic-minded Protestant rival. Here, at least, they don’t meet face to face. Blanchett’s Elizabeth pretty much ignores her scheming, imprisoned relative until Mary’s beheading looms, so to speak, over both their heads. Bulbous-featured Samantha Morton plays Mary with an erect dignity and a Scottish brogue (odd, since Mary was raised in France), and handles her climactic arrest with the fury of a cornered animal.
3. Elizabeth vs. Elizabeth: This is often the most telling conflict from the Elizabeth legend. Was she a confident leader, winning domestic and foreign hearts with her wisdom and courage, or a love-lorn woman riddled with doubts about her attractiveness and legitimacy? Not surprisingly, Blanchett is willing to polish up any facet of the queen’s personality, sounding and even looking a bit like regal predecessor Glenda Jackson in certain scenes. (That said, it’s hard to take Blanchett’s insecurity about her looks. Even uglied up, bone structure will out.)
4. Elizabeth at War: Movies have always excelled at battle action, and CGI can make war epic, if not always specific or human. We feel relief when the Spanish Armada finally sets sail, giving us sun-streaked skies, billowing sails and all the familiar romance of the sea. Unfortunately, the battles are muddled, historically and visually, mixing storms, fire ships and cliff-side preparations into a confusing brew. And does anyone buy Raleigh navigating the crucial fire ship into the Spanish fleet, diving from the flames at the last minute?
5. St. Elizabeth: The symbol of a powerful virgin queen has survived since pagan times. (Recall another Virgin elevated to reining status.) In this movie, the religious allusions pile up like prayers for loved ones in Purgatory. Without plausible explanation, almost every scene is shot on a Gothic church set, which stands in for palace, castle, where ever. Elizabeth is often illuminated with beatific beams and she watches over the Channel naval battle like a deus ex machina atop the cliffs of Dover.
In the strangest interlude, the camera swoops around the triumphant Elizabeth as she stands alone, open-armed, glassy-eyed in creamy light, exactly like certain Catholic representations of virginal saints.
Historical dramas rise and fall on their plausible dialogue, and screenwriters William Nicholson and Michael Hirst treat the exposition with brisk assuredness, but then loose control over the stagey declarations — “I have a hurricane in me that will strip Spain bare if you dare to try me” — as the movie progresses. Despite the ongoing mess, director Shekhar Kapur elevates the camera and the tone whenever possible, even if the music is often more portentous than the actual dramas that follow.
A movie made in heaven? Emphatically not. A campy romp with cinema’s favorite queen? Bless me.
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October 1, 2007
Ryan Reynolds at the Driskill Hotel
Ryan Reynolds is taller than you might expect — so many Hollywood leading men tend toward the Tom Cruise range. His lanky frame looped over a couch in Room 513 of the Driskill Hotel as he listened intently to scattershot questions aimed at the star of “The Nines” and the movie’s pale, writerly writer/director, John August, who sat at attention nearby.
The three-part psychological thriller is something of a breakthrough for the hard-working Reynolds, whose public image was shaped early on by his fratty appearance in “Van Wilder.”
“It’s a great role, certainly unorthodox if you look at the rest of my career,” Reynolds says.
Adds August, who wrote “Go” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”: “He’s actually better than his movies. I talked to his other directors, and they said he worked his (expletive) off, always very well prepared.”
Earlier this year, Reynolds worked on “Fireflies in the Garden” in the Austin area with Willem Dafoe and Julia Roberts. To relax, he hung out at Bess, the West Sixth Street restaurant owned by his friend Sandra Bullock. He also purchased a long board at a South Austin skate shop and scooted all over town. (Now picture that.)
What did he and Scarlett Johansson do when she visited him on location in Austin? “I’m not going to get into that stuff,” says the Canadian actor. “We love Austin because it’s a green city, and it has some of the best restaurants, and it’s beautiful. It’s like a warm Vancouver.”
When he speaks, Reynolds’ small, soft, almost opaque eyes expand with easy empathy. It’s almost as if you can see from behind his eyes, or perhaps that’s due to his role in “The Nines,” as three frustrated “creators.”
Reynolds benefited from some acting preparation near at hand during the shoot, which was broken in three discreet parts, making his appearance almost unrecognizable at times. One character, a gay developer of television shows, is based directly on August’s own experiences.
“He’s a character under great pressure,” Reynolds says. “And that’s exactly what John was going through. I learned a lot about screenwriting during the process. This is who John is: He’s in this epic struggle.”
Reynolds and August went on to discuss how closely the three roles related to one another. And the rushed discussion — I was late due to traffic — ended with my gushy praise for the movie, which is smart, smart, smart. You can quote me on that.
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September 30, 2007
The Event with No Name at the Shoreline Grill
The Event with No Name turned into an Event to Remember at the Shoreline Grill Saturday. An effervescent throng swigged cocktails, nibbled edibles and saluted the Hollywood Reporter cover ad for Villa Muse, the studio cum housing development ready to bud on the far East Side. By the time we arrived, people were moving freely from the restaurant to the patios and back, mixing with other filmies, including reps from the Austin Film Society and Texas Film Commission. I was accompanied by deceptively shy tech publicist Steven Phenix.
Right away, we ran into entertainment publicity specialist Kevin Smothers, who swears he was saying to his companion just before I walked up: “This is the kind of event Michael Barnes should be at.” We met filmmakers Mark Dennis and Ben Foster (pictured here in a shadowy iPhone snap — it worked better at the well lighted Women & Their Work Gallery, and we are asking for better pictures from other photographers at this No Name Event), who told us about their upcoming projects, also Texas Rep. Dawnna Dukes and producer and VM frontman Paul Alvarado-Dykstra.
At long last, I met Scott Porter from “Friday Night Lights” (the talented guy pictured above) who was gracious behind a dazzling smile, although he declined to confirm the future of his character, the injured quarterback turned coach Jason Street. We’ve always bet on miracle cure. Perhaps the most interesting guest was the single-named Niccki, who posed professionally for our iPhone with David Friedman and spoke in a startlingly sultry register.
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September 26, 2007
Inside Ethan Hawke
This is a more complete, but edited transcript of our Sept. 19 interview at the Omni Hotel prior to the premiere of his movie, “The Hottest State.”
Ethan Hawke: I understand from Rick Linklater that you’re the theater critic.
American-Statesman: I used to be.
Do they have good theater here?
Most of the good theater is warehouse theater, scruffy garage-band theater. But some of it can be very powerful and some of it has spoken to audiences elsewhere.
Yeah I remember I saw a company, a very interesting company. I wish I could remember the name of the play, “Lipstick … Something.” “Lipstick Traces.” That was from the (Austin-based) Rude Mechanicals.
Yeah, it was interesting. I like them, I like their energy more than I like the show.
Everybody is attracted to their energy. They’ve been touring a show in Europe, just got back, and are doing it again here, called “Get Your War On.” It’s based on an anti-Bush online comic strip and it’s hugely popular.
Did he win here? I’d be so curious whether or not he won in Austin?
No.
I love that. It makes me happy.
The most telling thing, when you think about Austin, was the state constitutional amendment on gay marriage. The rest of the state, they voted 3-1 to prevent gay marriage. In Travis County, it was 3-1 the other way.
That’s one I can never understand. First of all, I have problems with the whole institution of marriage anyway so I don’t even know why anybody wants to get married. But then, second of all, I feel like why would anyone would want to tell somebody (who they could love)? It’s insane to me. The idea that it breaks down the institution or something, it’s just (stupid).
Some young people ask me, “Why do you care about gay marriage?” And I have to say, after my partner and I got married in Canada, family and friends treated us differently. There’s a different vibe. It was almost as if it was a gesture towards them saying: “There’s continuity; there’s something that we shared.”
That’s a very good answer. … See, I was coming at it from a completely opposite angle which was one of being post-divorce. I think it is true and it particularly is valuable and combating people’s pre-conceived skepticism towards homosexual relationships and it’s very valuable for that. I know a friend of mine actually just got married, and he and his partner, they’re both men, got married in London. Do you know this guy? He wrote a very beautiful speech, you might be able to publish it. He’s Andrew Sullivan, he’s a very good writer. He wrote a book about depression. The guy is like wicked smart. Anyway he wrote a very beautiful piece about why he thought it was important. If I stumble on it, I’ll ask Rick to pass it on to you. Somebody wanted to publish it. He’s a good enough writer that it could get published in the op-ed page or something.
What I’m looking for is the camera because like I said, I also take photos. I’ll have to take your picture while we’re here at some point. You know I was unaware until recently about your distant relationship to Tennessee Williams. How’d you find that out?
Yeah it’s part of the family lore. My grandmother told me when I was a kid, but as soon as I started showing interest in the arts everybody started telling me “Well you could meet Tennessee.”
Did that impress you early on or did you figure it out later who he was?
Tennessee Williams is a great person for young people to get excited about the arts. He always is. He’s been thrilling to me since the time I was about 16 and I could really get “The Glass Menagerie” to as I got older and to feel all of his experimental writing and to feel the madness of his later writing. But the beauty of it and the heartbreak of him and the tragedy of him …
So anyway I love him and I thought, when I was making the movie, one of the weird things about shifting it from a book to a movie was I felt like I needed to explain in a way I didn’t have to explain in the book. In the book you could just say, “I’ve sent the movie in Paris and blah blah.” Well I could give a very long-winded answer to this and it’s not very interesting. I started thinking about, what is the movie and I wanted to switch it to Mexico because I had felt it had been a mistake to set the movie … a literary has literary themes and I was making literary references.
In a movie, I needed visual themes and I wanted to play on the hottest state so I wanted them to go to a hot place because you could see it. As opposed to a romantic place and romantic place and romantic lighting, which is Paris, and Paris when you’re reading is a romantic word, but when you’re seeing it I wanted it hot. So I started thinking… I had a fantasy always of making a movie of “Camino Real” and it’d be a giant Francis Ford Coppola or something, a giant rock-opera or something. I always thought it could be a Jacob’s Ladder or something just insane. So I started thinking, well that could be the movie so I brought Tennessee Williams into it.
This is so weird, but talk about twisting a young mind: It was the first full play I ever read, “Camino Real,” by accident, in the Modern Library edition.
I did a production of that play and when I was first offered that part, I had to read at least twice before I even understood the remotest thing about what was going on.
Part of the problem is the lack of a setting. You don’t know where you are. You never have a sense of like okay now they’re at the table or right now they’re at this… Most of his plays he has a real strong setting.
A clear setting. This is purgatory. But, I love Tennessee. I’d still like to make a movie.
(At this point we talked at length about the Tennessee Williams material at the University of Texas Ransom Center.)
Were you surprised by some of the really negative reviews for “The Hottest State”? And the open letter in Texas Monthly?
I was really surprised by it. To be honest, I understood it when I was younger. When the book came out, I understood the natural cynicism towards somebody, who maybe the book got published just because I was famous … maybe it wasn’t good enough. I understood why people would be suspect and I understood that I needed to march forward. But I thought that the kind of anger that I incited as a young person, I thought that had dissipated. People use it as a platform to attack me. I have no problems with somebody not liking the movie. But the idea that I am a narcissist because I would make personal art, that I would be somehow a deeply flawed, bad human being because I would do such a thing as take things from my life. Because if I am, than so is Emily Dickinson, so is Jane Austen, so is Proust …
I mean, I may not be talented, but there’s nothing wrong with the attempt. And I can only peg it as peoples’ relationship to celebrity is kind of fascinating. I mean we’re doing a public stoning of Britney Spears right now that is weird, culturally. I have never played the celebrity part. Maybe never is the wrong word, but I have resisted it since I was a young man. I’ve tried to break that glass wall. It makes me sometimes wonder whether it’s surpassable, the celebrity thing. Whether or not there’s any point …
You’ve said in an interview that you will leave behind art for people to mull over for a long time after you’re gone.
That’s the answer. You just have to keep going. People get running about the autobiographical nature of this — it’s not a memoir — my relationship with my father is very different from the relationship presented in the story, which is hard for him, you can imagine, because everybody thinks it is. My dad is so supportive, he just said, “You just keep trucking, and eventually one of these things will be really great and everyone will want my autograph because characters are based on me.” That’s the only positive light you have to put it in, you go, well, I must be touching a nerve. Like there was a thing in Entertainment Weekly or something that was so hateful and, you know you must be touching a nerve. The role of the artist is to touch nerves. I’ve taken a great deal of inspiration from Allen Ginsberg’s letters and interviews throughout his life, because he was wildly mocked his whole life. He was a real rebel, to be gay in the 1950s and a Buddhist, I mean they called him an idiot, I mean they really lacerated him, really made fun of him. And he’d say it’s your job to be made fun of, because there’s nothing wrong with me reaching out and trying to do different things. Other people should do it, too. And maybe some really great book will be written by some kid who’s inspired, you know, he’s not just an actor.
I think part of the nerve you hit could be that the material is very familiar to everyone as everyone has had that experience of a horrible break up.
A lot of men are really uncomfortable with (those emotions). Part of why I wanted to write this book was because there’s so few things in literature about young men, how we’re supposed to process our vulnerability and how that affects our confidence and the relationship between sensitivity and confidence. Sometimes the more sensitive you are the less confident you are, which leads to the problem of all these (expletive) being wildly confident. … So your obligation is to make (your art) as finely observed as possible, try to not indulge yourself, because people are going to think you’re indulging yourself no matter what you do, and try to make it as human as possible. Then make other movies …
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September 20, 2007
'The Hottest State' review preview
More on the Wednesday red-carpet events later today, but first … a preview of my “Hottest State” review.
Is there something wrong with me?
I liked Ethan Hawke’s weedy contemplation of fledgling love and loss in “The Hottest State.”
On the festival circuit, this sub-hip talk-a-thon earned flunking grades from several leading critics. Texas Monthly reporter Christopher Kelly went so far as to publish an open letter to Hawke, begging him to “please stop directing.”
Sure, in his anxiously paced movie, based on his autobiographical novel, Hawke traffics in well-worn goods: the howling jumble and hormonal rush of romance’s first blush, the inexplicable distances that yawn almost immediately between lovers and the palpably physical pain of breaking up.
Yet Hawke is more than capable of turning these commonalities into understated art. His melancholy images of Mexico, New York City and (barely) Texas settle like fine dust on the consciousness. He slips in relevant literary references (such as “Camino Real,” by his distant relative, Tennessee Williams) and fleeting cinematic allusions (“Paris, Texas,” “The Last Picture Show,” “Splendor in the Grass.”)
His circumnavigational dialogue rings right, especially when spoken by actors who can cram emotional density into each syllable. Laura Linney as the mother is anything except sympathetic toward her son, the protagonist, until her last blessing; while Hawke, as the protagonist’s father, mostly mute except when extravagantly sentimental, saves the best line for himself, a near-throwaway observation about the son’s presence on his front porch after years of absence.
Still, if you don’t fall for the actors as lovers, it’s going to be an awfully long two hours. Catalina Sandino Moreno lures the viewer inward with a reticence that travels from her Renaissance Madonna features to her thinly rendered readings, which arrive just behind expectations, but sometimes grow into a small, but potent smile. If you saw her in “Maria Full of Grace,” “Fast Food Nation” or “Paris Je T’aime,” you know that natural light and a smitten camera come to a standstill for her.
Mark Webber’s heart is worn not just on his sleeve, but splashed all over his squeezed-forward skull lines and pained eyes. Because he is playing a pretentious young actor, he comes off as a pretentious young actor, but one who keeps us returning to the case, even when his reactions to the inevitable break-up seem tiresome unto aggravating.
Does Hawke say anything new about love in “The Hottest State”? No. But art isn’t always about the news. It sometimes transforms the fleetingly familiar into the enduringly reflective.
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August 23, 2007
Phil Donahue / Ellen Spiro doc buzzes
Movies: We continue to pick up buzz on Austin documentarian Ellen’s Spiro’s “Body of War,” which follows the story of 25-year-old veteran Tomas Young, who was paralyzed from the chest down in the Iraq war, which he now opposes. Eddie Vedder wrote the original songs. Vetter and first-time film collaborator Phil Donahue pose here with Spiro and Young. The doc heads to the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
City: Be sure to vote each week on “Your A-List” ballot for fave Austin sites, activities and personalities. Then return to Out & About and The M.O. blogs for analysis of the results the following week.
Fame: Re: Bongos and Houser comment-maker, um, exactly where?
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August 22, 2007
UT professor goes 'Superbad'
Movies: Distinguished retired University of Texas professor Oscar Brockett, author of the most widely read textbook on theater history, wanted to see a movie. What classy film would the octogenarian historian choose?
“Superbad.”
“Some people don’t know how to watch Judd Apatow movies,” he said as we headed over to the Metropolitan Theater, where the film is still drawing healthy crowds. “They get impatient. They aren’t structured like other movies, and he doesn’t over-romanticize the characters, so there’s no false sympathy for them. You grow to like his characters over time.”
Despite the stretched farce at the movie’s climax, “Superbad” is a worthy addition to the Apatow trilogy about the slow, painful, but endearing process of growing up, especially among boy-men. Once again, the women get short shrift, but the tender development of teen characters for Jonah Hill and Michael Cera, both deft natural comic actors, says something new about male bonding, while Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s bashed-up string bean, McLovin, will go down in cinematic history. People will be saying “I am McLovin” 50 years from now.
It’s gratifying to see that Apatow doesn’t demonize jocks or any other social groups. Bullies are punished, but in humane ways. The sleeping bag scene is genuinely touching, and at least the less than credible partycops elaborate Apatow’s theme of greener grass growing on both sides of the age divide.
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AGLIFF picks top pics
Movies: As dusk descended on the shady, wisteria-cooled patio of Manuel’s North, the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival announced its lead movies for September. Opening night: “Call Me Troy,” a doc about the Rev. Troy Perry, who started Metropolitan Community Church. Also featured among 100 films: “The Bubble” by Israeli director Eytan Fox; “Dark Blue Almost Black” from director Daniel Sanchez Arevalo. Closing the fest will be two comic romps: “Kate Clinton: The 25th Anniversary Tour” and and “Laughing Matters … The Men.”
Pre-announcement chats revealed all sorts of unpredictable social connections. AGLIFFer and event planner Jeff Salzgeber hangs with one of my beloved walkers, Adrienne Dealy, while board member Brian Carr took a drama class from me in the 1980s, and recalls some wild party that took place at our West Campus bungalow (his historical outline sounds right). Program director Lisa Kaselak and I were sure we had met before, which led to her board game idea: “How Do I Know You?”
“You’d pick a card and it would tell you how you met that person,” she said. “You’d then be judged by the other players on how you handled that awkward social situation.”
I love it! Perfect for Austin. Remember, it was Kaselak’s idea.
AGLIFF board prez Alisa Weldon
AGLIFFers Brian Carr, Sadie Caplan and Jeff Salzgeber
AGLIFF executive director Lucas Schaefer
AGLIFF program director Lisa Kaselak
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August 13, 2007
Ten minutes max DVDs leads to Pet Shop Boys
Movies: Friend Lawrence and I invented a new game — and a way to deal with the B-rate movie and TV DVDs that come our way. (All the best samples go to our TV and DVD critics.)
Ten minutes max. Watch 10 minutes of each, then return to the one we liked. It’s sorta like the way our bridge-playing buds, marshalled by Nancy Schaefer, filtered potential movies for SXSW way back in the 1990s. (She’s now in charge of Robert DeNiro’s Tribeca Fest.)
“As You Like It”: Shakespeare’s action transfered to 19th-century Japan for HBO, making it awfully pretty, but pretty silly, too.
“Classical Destinations”: This had cheese written all over it, but I was hopeful that gorgeous cinematography would enliven this PBS classical music travelogue. It does not. Simon Callow never sounded more pompous and bored.
“10 mph: Seattle to Boston”: A documentary about tech geeks taking a Segway road trip across the country. Just as slow as might be expected.
“51 Birch Street: Documentary about the filmmaker’s family after the death of his mother. Maybe it picks up…
“Gypsy Caravan:” Very promising. Will return later to this documentary about a Romani musical tour, partly produced by a UT scholar Ian F. Hancock. (The original tour stopped in Austin twice; the movie is still in local theaters.)
“Pet Shop Boys: Cubism:” Believe or not, this is the one we chose. A straightforward concert film, it is ironized by the fact that it took place in Mexico City. (Vocalist Neil Tennant pictured.) The fans go crazy for the crisp, cynical lyrics, synth washes, straight-faced Chris Lowe’s dot-dash keyboards and Tennant’s arch, still argentine voice. In 2006. Nowhere near the power of Jonathan Demme’s “Stop Making Sense,” but we couldn’t keep our eyes off the poshly presented electronica.
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August 7, 2007
'Tripping Forward' made me laugh
Movies: Despite some flat-footed dialogue and delivery, “Tripping Forward,” the first feature film from Austin-raised actor/director Marcus Nash is ultimately comical and endearing. It’s a guy-guy movie about an out-of-work Hollywood actor and his bum of a musician roomie, and how they raise rent money by re-selling cocaine to supermodels before one of them matures into a facsimile of an adult. Judd Apatow territory, of course, but with a spin all its own. Distribution? It’s all in the cards, isn’t it?
Screened for a private audience at the Alamo South on Monday, “Tripping” benefits from inventive cinematography in the early scenes and entertaining drug and slapstick sequences later in the movie. Frumpy Chip Fogleman, who has done a lot of TV work, is lovable as the actor, chiseled hunky William Gregory Lee, another TV regular, freaks out convincingly as the musician. Ed Begley Jr. makes the most of his turn as a (typically) mad acting teacher.
A stronger first impression from the actors and screenwriters would have given this sweet, if raunchy indie the boost it deserves. (I’d drop the fantasy interview sequence, for instance.) And, oh, Nash seemed well-healed from his emergency surgery at Seton, merrily sharing his scar with friends and family.
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August 3, 2007
Hospitalized Nash hopes to make 'Tripping Forward' screening
Movies: Austin native Marcus Nash, pictured here playing the young Jean-Luc Picard on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” will screen his directorial debut, “Tripping Forward,” 7 p.m. Monday at the Alamo South. Marcus’ brother, man-everywhere Robert Nash (the publicist and developer, not the comedian) calls the show a “somewhat raunchy, and offensively funny buddy romp.” He adds that it’s definitely not for children. RSVP for the free showing at trippingforwardmovie.com.
Back story: 2 a.m. Aug. 1, Marcus checked into the Seton emergency room for a rush appendectomy. His expected hospital stay nudges the Monday screening time, so sister Jennifer Nash, who also appeared on “Next Generation” (here with Patrick Stewart) and who hailed originally from Austin, is taking care of the pre-screening business. What an Austin family! Maybe worth a group profile some day?
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July 10, 2007
Dark, darker, darkest 'Harry Potter'
Movies: Harry Potter’s no fun anymore.
He sulks and simmers. He snaps at friends and back talks elders. He’s quick to pick a fight with the boys and his interactions with the girls have become more complicated.
Yes, he’s reached that insufferable age when most parents would consider shipping their child, wizard or not, off to boarding school.
Which is not to say that “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” is anything but consistently entertaining, comparable in cinematic sophistication to movies three and four, and far superior to the film-by-numbers kid flicks of the first and second films. Yet as the books and movies turn dark, darker, darkest, whimsy and impishness have, for the most part, fled the neo-Gothic halls of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, replaced instead by nagging dread and a twinned contemplation of morality and mortality.
Devotees of J.K. Rowling, soon to terminate the literary series at No. 7, can skip the next few paragraphs of plot summary, since, no matter the maker, the “Potter” movies have followed the books, if not scene-by-scene, certainly scenario-by-scenario.
This time our eponymous hero is haunted by nightmares of his deadly battle with the evil Voldemort (I didn’t really need to employ the term “evil” here, since Rowling’s names are self-explanatory in the Dickensian tradition). Harry’s reluctant to accept help from his pals and curious about the underground Order of the Phoenix, to which his late parents and his surviving godfather, the fugitive Sirius Black, belonged.
On the larger scene, a turf war between the Ministry of Magic and the Dumbledore’s Hogwarts administration has cleft the wizard society, extending the almost racial struggles between pure-bred sorcerers and muggle-born “mud-bloods.” An attempted takeover of Hogwarts leads Harry to organizing other students to learn defenses against the dark arts. Another “ultimate” show-down with Voldemort (creepily noseless Ralph Fiennes) and his stand-ins becomes inevitable.
Meanwhile, Harry experiences his first kiss, a reportedly wet, if fairly chaste exchange with Cho Chang. Broad hints foreshadow budding romances between Harry and Ginny as well as Hermione and Ron. And, wisely, only one completely new character is introduced: The deliciously named teacher Dolores Umbridge, who brings an inappropriately twinkled smile to regimented, watered-down and frankly sadistic educational theory. Imelda Staunton plays Umbridge with an exaltation that threatens to make her inevitable downfall disappointing.
As the three young wizard-teers, Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson continue to age gracefully, and their acting has matured from mime-show fundamentals to shaded characterizations and flashes of welcome contradiction. In order to develop our sympathies for the climactic battle, Gary Oldman is given more to do this time, but remains just cheerfully avuncular.
Visually, the “Harry Potter” movies have entered their baroque phase. If one and two suffered from cutesy Victorian twee, and three and four glowed with Pre-Raphaelite aesthetics, five is all shiny, voluptuous black and gold, roiling shapes that suggest motion and emotion, along with nature that fulminates when it does not dazzle. Much of the action is set underground, suggested by the actual London Underground, just right for Harry’s subconscious strife.
At no point does “Order of the Phoenix” soar. Yet neither does it sag. Like its immediate predecessors, it’s entertainment meant for adults as well as children, and therefore it’s never as harrowing as, say, “Pan’s Labyrinth,” nor is it as blandly fantastic as “Shrek.”
Achieving that kind of balance, five movies into what promises to be an almost generational experience, is no small feat, and will likely keep both fans and skeptics invested through the sure-to-be operatic finale.
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July 8, 2007
Reflections on Harry Potter 4
Movies: Nine hours so far, one movie to go, this time “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.”
This seems a much more relaxed film, as if the makers had finally got the hang of it. Each shot counts. The performers are comfortable in their roles. The design is unforced, synthesizing various historical styles into something all its own. And it appears everyone is having fun, not struggling to get the Rowling books right.
CGI Watch: Every big movie these days needs a big horde of things and this has one starts out with the Quidditch World Cup, which includes a beach of tents, an ultra-high stadium and then the burned out camp. Lots of vertigo-inducing shots of the Hogwarts complex, and, of course, hot dragons.
The cast has turned more and more diverse. This comes a little late, given the demographics in Britain, but this casting adds a dash of the contemporary.
The typing of teachers continues to entertain, last time arts instructor and avuncular, closeted (werewolf) professor, this time a demented veteran with a roving eye. All through the series, the treatment of the English public school system is romanticized as almost never before. I wonder if there’s evidence of increased applications to such schools in the past few years.
It occurs to me that the actors finally sound as if the intonations are really their own, not just mimicking their acting coaches. Rupert Grint doesn’t mug as much, Emma Watson has stopped over-enunciating her stage English and Daniel Radcliffe isn’t afraid of being disliked. The age of cute is finally over.
Watching the first four movies back-to-back verifies what critics and audiences have said all along, that the first two installments are stiff, bookish, a bit crude, while the second two slip right into their own cinematic language, incorporating new characters, jep and psychological maturation with an ease that puts the viewer into a state of aesthetic comfort.
Now one hopes for some departures from that comfort zone. We’ll find out tonight at the advance screening. Check this space tomorrow for a teaser review of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.”
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Reflections on Harry Potter 3
Movies: Chapter 3 in our shared reflections take us to “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.”
From the opening scenes, this Harry Potter is more fluid, more filmic, as all the critics were quick to point out. The writing improved, too. For the first time during our little marathon, friend Lawrence and I laughed out loud at the wit of one line: “We don’t send people to Azkaban just for blowing up their aunts.”
The actors are growing up with unequal grace. Our primary trio, Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, are filling up and out with dignity, but delicate-featured Tom Felton’s has hardened unattractively as Draco Malfoy.
Somehow, Hogwarts’ location has moved to the mountains next to a fjord, which nobody seems to mind or notice. The art direction is more Pre-Raphaelite than Victorian, which drains some of the cuteness from the look. So, people don’t look like they are rehearsing “A Christmas Carol.”
Another improvement: All the scenery isn’t just scenery, it establishes mood or advances the plot. On top of that, as the themes grow darker, increasingly ambiguous and more grave, the art direction heads in that direction too.
The werewolf theme is also apt, given that the characters are maturing, because those hairy, dangerous creatures are often synonymous with adult men. The torture by the Deceptors, however, is intense stuff, definitely not for younger kids. That said, the whole time shifting thing is among the most sophisticated narrative devices so far.
It’s gratifying to see how Michael Gambon, another fantastic stage actor, reinvigorated the role of Professor Dumbledore — taking on the role after Richard Harris’ death — with such glee.
CGI watch: The hippogriff is the most extraordinary invention so far, both convincingly horse-like and hawkish, suggestive of myth, but fresh.
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Reflections on Harry Potter 2
Movies: The second installment in our reflection series is “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.”
CGI Watch: As predicted, the moviemakers immediately upgraded the grounds of Hogwarts — daytime details, additional buildings, landscaping. And they went to town on the new creatures — the cringing, Golem-like house elf, the bawling mandrakes, the flitterly Cornish pixies, etc. The flying car, however, was a bit too Spielbergian (just as the flying duel under the scaffolding was too Lucasian).
In addition to the ancient warnings about step parents and pod parents, the Dursleys perform another function: Giving a child a reason to leave home for heroic adventures without feeling a loss of family.
This edition marks the beginning of the serious-minded social criticism in the books and movies. Bigotry in multiple forms — anti-muggle-born and parsel-mouth prejudice, etc. — cleaves the seemingly utopian community of sorcery. And the gray areas between light and dark morality are evolving quickly.
When Kenneth Branagh and Alan Rickman duel, it’s like the battle of the over-actors, but in a good way, and Branaugh steals scene after scene.
This time, the threats are more traditional for humans — snakes, spiders, etc. — and the mystery-solving is more formulaic.
Feel free to disagree with me, but even the second Potter is not yet fully cinematic.
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Reflections on Harry Potter 1
Movies: In preparation for “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” friend Lawrence and I are watching the previous four film incarnations again. We’ll share some random reflections on each.
So much about the movies are pre-programmed from the novels, the moviemakers instead invested a good deal in pageant and spectacle. I will be interesting to track the quality and texture of the CGI effects from 2001 onward.
The default visual style for the world of sorcery appears to be the Victorian age, aided, of course by 19th-century Gothic Revival. The Gringotts — the gnomes of Diagon Alley — wear 18th-century costumes like ceremonial servants did in 19th century. It all gives the tales a Dickensian feel, too.
Our heroes face jeopardy (“jep” in Hollywood lingo) at least 8 times — the troll in the restroom, the three-headed dog, dark forest, entangling herbs, swarms of keys, full-scale wizard chess and showdown with Valdemort and his stand-in, not counting all the broomstick action and close calls with intimidating Hogwarts staff.
It’s been said many times before, but J.K. Rowling is shameless about suggestive names: Argus Filch, Draco Malfoy, Rubeus Hagrid and, of course, the Weasleys.
The dialogue is a mass of cliches, but it’s aimed at 7-year-olds who couldn’t identify a cliche if they wanted, and older fans who can imagine being 7 again.
The entire British academy of actors take every opportunity to milk these roles for their panache. Alan Rickman takes enormous pleasure in vamping up Snape.
A Harry Potter theme park is not necessary. England already is a Harry Potter theme park.
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July 7, 2007
Transformed by 'Transformers'
Movies: There’s a time for criticism and a time for celebration. “Transformers,” believe it or not,” is an occasion for groggy rejoicing. Based on a 1980s toy and a cartoon, which I studiously ignored at the time, the current action movie that combines the sensibilities of Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg never lags in its uncomplicated summer blockbuster pleasures. The audience at Alamo South — lines snaked through the lobby and into the light rain for three screens Friday night — giggled at the gawky adolescent set-up starring the man with the best agent in the business, Shia LaBeouf, then they cheered the alien robots who battle it out in familiar places, particulary Hoover Dam and — inexplicably — downtown Los Angeles, which is approaching New York’s skyline for iconic status in the movies. Viewers clapped knowingly for the undisguised references to Bay and Spielberg’s earlier movies, pop cultural nuggets, political symbolism and even corporate logos, so boldly placed as to comment on themselves. Humans only really get in the way of the battle of the transformable robots, but they, including fatigued, heroic American soldier returning from the Middle East, are given plenty of empathetic investment. Clearly the military gave this movie project enormous support, as even weapons not yet operational were showcased. It’s a stretch, but not by much, to say the movie posits the future potential of American might in a confusing moral universe. But what am I saying? It’s all about adrenaline — and there’s plenty of that to go around. Have fun.
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July 3, 2007
Finally 'Knocked Up'
Movies: I missed Paul Rudd when he was in town for SXSW, and I skipped the festival opening of “Knocked Up.” So of course critics and audiences agreed that the pregnancy comedy was a fine follow-up to “40-Year-Old Virgin,” tracking the late development of boy-men who thrive on male companionship and treat women like an alien species. Well, I finally got around to “Knocked” last night and it’s amazing for its sustained balance of gross adolescent humor and genuinely earned sentiment. Seth Rogen just absorbs the camera’s attention with his bumbly features, playing a totally baked slacker, while Katherine Heigl is subtly reactive as his accidental intended, at least more subtle than she is on “Grey’s Anatomy,” which encourages overacting. I was just as awed by actors in miniscule roles, such as Kristen Wiig as a snippy E! Channel co-worker, Ken Jeong as a cranky gynecologist and Craig Robinson as a sympathetic doorman (best speech in the movie).
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June 28, 2007
Crazy for 'Crazy Love'
Movies: ‘Crazy Love’ is crazy good. The documentary about the Bronx lawyer, Burt Pagach, who hired thugs to blind his ex-girlfriend with acid, then, after emerging prison, wooed and married his victim, Linda Riss, unfolds with mad, relentless momentum. The moviemakers built their case with hang-them-with-their-own words interviews, heaps of family photos and home movies, as well as suitcases full of clippings from the New York press. The doc has left Austin theaters, so rent it on DVD.
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June 25, 2007
'Paris, Je 'T'Aime'
Movies: Were we not visiting France in three weeks, and if I had not mixed up the venue for Conspirare’s performance of “Elijah,” we would not have seen “Paris, Je T’aime.” Filmic anthologies hardly ever work, but this one by French, American and British artists, lingers for five or six minutes over each of 18 short love stories, set, obviously, in the City of Light, and works its charms almost right away.
Each story is set in a different arrondissement and the camera quickly floats from one to the other. My favorites included “Quartier Latin (VIe arrondissement) ” written by Gena Rowlands, directed by Gerard Depardieu and Frederic Auburtin, starring Ben Gazzara, Rowlands and, briefly, Depardieu about a divorcing American couple and “Faubourg Saint-Denis (Xe arrondissement)” written and directed by Tom Tykwer, starring Melchior Beslon and Natalie Portman regarding the sense-shifting relationship between a blind French student and a coltish American actor.
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June 21, 2007
'You Kill Me' kills me
Movies: Why did so many top-shelf actors — Ben Kingsley, Luke Wilson, Tea Leoni, Dennis Farina, Marcus Thomas, Philip Baker Hall, Bill Pullman — sign on for “You Kill Me,” the darkish comedy about a paid Polish killer who moves to San Francisco to sober up? Because the script is so completely unexpected and aware, dealing with potential cliches, especially about AA, like so many pages torn out of a screenplay, so you have to play along. Kingsley, especially appears to be having the time of his life as the (slightly self-conscious) tough-guy killer.
Can’t tell you much more because the movie doesn’t open until next week, but read John DeFore’s formal review and consider this one of the first really effective movies of the year. And you will remember the line: “Now get out there and threaten that city supervisor.” It’s not lovable enough to be the “Little Miss Sunshine” of summer 2007, but it will do. Sometime Austinite Wilson, by the way, sets the tone.
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June 12, 2007
'Once' in a lifetime
The film builds slowly on the streets of Dublin, as both characters reveal their romantic pasts, collaborate on songwriting, open up to each other’s lives, but maintain a firm, tender distance. Warming to the acoustic songs, which are sung full-length, also takes some time.
Yet the payoff is worth it. Original and yet traditional, “Once” reminds the viewer that, despite a small population, troubled history and, until recently, persistent poverty, Ireland continues to create art that speaks to the whole world.
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May 30, 2007
Looking into Luke Wilson's eyes
Movies: All you need to know about “The Wendell Baker Story” is found in Luke Wilson’s eyes.
Soft, kind, searching, flecked with unexpected colors, they serve as the windows into his character, a shambling kind of Austin guy who finally finds his calling and secures his love, as well this movie, assembled locally with brothers Owen and Andrew, plus a honor roll of friends/stars: Will Ferrell, Kris Kristofferson, Harry Dean Stanton, Eva Mendes, etc. (You can also spy Paul Wright, who took the snaps for the Dan Dietz event, seen below.)
Critics who rejected this piece of charming whimsy thought the movie formless, spineless, too much like its “slacker” protagonist. Other reviewers, like the American-Statesman’s Jeff McCrary, were more indulgent, allowing that it “romanticizes the simplicity of the carefree, summertime quirk-fest.”
I just went along for the ride. I didn’t “get” Luke’s charisma (seen here in “My Super Ex-Girlfriend), which, unlike Owen’s, is not as sharply inscribed on his features, until this performance. Now I will look deeper, pay more attention.
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May 18, 2007
'Journey from the Fall,' 'Chalk'
Movies: Unintentionally, “Journey from the Fall” might turn out the most timely movie of the year. Depicting the Vietnam War aftermath, bracketed by the departure of American troops in 1975, subsequent chaotic fall of Saigon, brutal Communist re-education camps, the “boat people” refugee crisis and, ultimately, stateside dislocation and prejudice during the 1980s, the drama could foreshadow a humanitarian meltdown for a postwar Iraq.
Vietnamese Americans felt it was crucial to produce this project outside the Hollywood factory, filming in Thailand and Orange County, Calif. They, presumably, are the primary intended audience for this “never forget” movie. Handsomely filmed, laced with lyrical touches and pumped by an epic score from Christopher Wong, “Journey” could be said to be definitive in the way that, say, “Schindler’s List” has become for victims of another genocidal experience.
Except … for all its surface sophistication, “Journey” flounders on dramatic structure and character development. Most of the movie simply alternates between the trauma in the camps and the trauma in the boats, and the later California scenes, which unreel predictably unsympathetic bureaucrats and ethnic bullies, trail off into low-heat micro-dramas. From beginning to end, basic storytelling suffers. Worse, the characters, as often is the case when one is creating art for a community rather than imagining it through a singular vision, are generalizations. Despite all the particulars — leaf-chewing grandma, skeleton-fragile father, sweat-shop-wearied mother, dewy-eyed child who retreats into his drawings — it’s hard to imagine these people actually sharing a history. They cry and scream a lot, but don’t appear to make lasting emotional connections.
So, “Journey” succeeds primarily as a document of memory for the Vietnamese American community, not as a movie that will shape the feelings of outsider audiences, except perhaps to alert them to potential apocalyptic outcomes of the current war in Iraq.
“Chalk”: Read Chris Garcia’s review of this this Austin-made mockumentary. This one wins through understatement and the lightest, most convincing touches as it follows three teachers and one assistant principal through a school year. Years ago, in another life, I exhibited attributes of all four characters. Special notice goes to the completely unaffected kids, presumabley from Travis High, where the movie was shot.
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May 11, 2007
'The Other Conquest' fails to conquer audience
Movies: Make that three bad films about early North America released locally in just six months.
Even worse, “Pathfinder” set up Orc-like Vikings against innocent hunter-gatherer Indians in the frozen Northeast, riddling their encounter with clumsy dialogue, dubious history, breakneck foot races (again) and strained attempts at political correctness. (It takes an adopted white man to defeat the ethnic-cleansing Norsemen invaders. Don’t ask.)
“The Other Conquest,” at least, comes by its failures honorably. Writer/director Salvador Carrasco attempts to relate how, in the 16th century, Spanish and Aztec religions melded through an evolving veneration of the Aztec mother goddess and the Virgin Mary. Anyone who is surprised by this two-way cultural traffic has not been paying attention to the Catholic Church, which has absorbed everything from Greek Platonism to Pentecostal ecstasy in its 2,000-year march to the 1 billion-member club.
Carrasco could not muster the budgets of “Pathfinder” or “Apocalypto,” but he gracefully utilizes Aztec ruins and colonial-era structures.
Still, “The Other Conquest,” performed in Spanish and, presumably, Aztec, commits the mortal sin of boring the audience. (Does it need a foot race?) In fact, it might have made a better opera, cushioned as it already is in grand public gestures, extended internal monologues and glorious sacred music (it helps to have operatic superstar Placido Domingo as an executive producer).
The movie tries awfully hard to present a balanced record, playing the friar’s good intentions against those of his intended convert, whose loyalty to his native beliefs are hard to fault. But we get this proposition in the first 15 rather confusing minutes of the movie. 90 minutes later …
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May 8, 2007
Wayward 'Pathfinder' & accurate 'Shooter'
Where’s the Viking Anti-Defamation League when you need them? Here, the Norsemen are portrayed as Orc-like creatures (Obvious parallel: Persians in “300”), spewing animal sounds and clomping around on armored horses (which never would have made it across the Atlantic in those tiny, low-gliding Viking ships). The invaders also engage in explicit racial cleansing, which was not the historical Viking way at all (raid, then inter-marry as soon as possible).
The moviemakers try to elicit sympathy for the North Americans by putting their plight into English (big mistake when the writing is so wooden it makes you wince) and by making them, once again, noble savages living peaceful, bucolic lives (hello “Apocalypto”) before the arrival of the Euros. But they undermine that PC goal even further by making their savior — a white man! (Viking boy left behind in the previous foray and adopted by the locals.)
More historical problems: Crucial scenes take place in what is clearly not rolling Vinland, but rather the steep Rockies of British Columbia; the Americans are not identified by tribe, obscuring crucial social and cultural patterns; and, for all the attempts at historical context, the movie’s really just a grossly extended and bloody foot chase (joining “Apocalypto,” “Blood Diamond,” etc. in that structure).
The whole movie is screened in “300”-style blue-gray, except scenes that, inexplicably, are not. Once, when the bad Vikings were lured onto an avalanche-prone mountain ledge, and, as they fell into the ravine one at a time, I flashed to the “Tarzan” movies of my youth. That reference almost earned half a star for this stinker.
The plot is absurdly complicated, but it hangs together (the screenwriter is movie critic Stephen Holden). Things blow up real good and the shooter, well, shoots with extreme accuracy dozens of times. Wahlberg and other actors earn their paychecks, but producers might rue the bracing heliocopter fights, urban car chases and multicontinental locations. (It’s recovered only $46 million of its $61 million original investment.)
Still, I had a grand time in a virtually empty theater. Don’t expect it to stay around much longer.
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May 3, 2007
More 'Spider-Man 3' + 'Hot Fuzz,' 'Idol' and House vote
Politics: Constitutionally, I’m not eager to endorse hate speech or hate crime legislation. Too many ways they can be interpreted as policing hate thought, and we don’t want to go there. Still, given the raw deal the GLBT community has received from the current Republican administration, I smiled when I saw that the House of Representatives easily passed the addition of sexual orientation to hate crime laws. It sends a message.
As could have been predicted by anyone who knows human nature, I came to “Idol” all uppity about its impact on popular culture, only to find out why watching it can be addictive. More on that later.
Movies: Part 2 of my “Spider-Man 3” review. (See farther below for Part 1. Tomorrow: Part 3.)
Best-friend Harry Osborn (played colorlessly by James Franco) has always been the weakest link in the “Spider-Man” franchise, irrationally perky or antagonistic, depending on whims of the writers. His New Goblin, while an improvement, visually, on his static progenitor, is almost as lame as his milquetoast alter ego.
Flint Marko (brooding, one-note Thomas Haden Church) evolves from a convict-with-a-heart-of-gold into Sandman, a promising adversary, because he coalesces from silicon grains into a building-bashing mega-Hulk, then disintegrates into nothingness. Neat trick, but we are never really sure how it all works.
Which brings us Topher Grace’s perfectly pitched Eddie Brock, an ambitious freelance photographer and rival to Parker, who, when humiliated then infected by Parker, becomes Venom, Spider-Man’s equal in concentration, agility and fervor. (Score yet another win for Grace, who has made some savvy script choices — “Traffic,” “In Good Company” — on top of the now syndicated “That ’70s Show.”)
The special effects sling us from skyscraper to subway car, web malfunction to mid-air collision course, but that’s what you snag with a $250 million budget. And the script, although convoluted and disjointed, comes with its fair share of pop cultural drollery. (Sidebar: Rosemary Harris again brings gravitas and emotional refinement to her role as Parker’s Aunt May.)”
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May 2, 2007
'Spider-Man 3' Review Preview, Part 1
Movies: My formal review of “Spider-Man 3” comes out Friday. We’ll tease you with intallments.
Has any superhero’s alter ego endured such public growing pains?
In “Spider-Man,” he lost not one, but two father figures; gained, then gave away, the girl of his dreams; and underwent a profound physical transformation not unlike puberty, but exponentially magnified.
In “Spider-Man 2,” he struggled to establish his adult independence while (incognito) protecting his loved ones; negotiated the disproportionate success of his beloved; abided the fickle affections of press and public; and, oh yes, tackled yet another potential mentor figure gone terribly malevolent.
Is Parker prepared for the bracing maturity tests of “Spider-Man 3”?Are audiences?
Director Sam Raimi and his team stack the decks with three tenacious super-villains; escalating tensions with family, friends and co-workers; and, just to keep things interesting, an oily, parasitic organism from outer space that amplifies the dark side of its hosts.
So, with all this cinematic congestion, why are we entertained for 2 hours and 35 minutes?
After all, two of the three villains are busts. (To be continued…)
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May 1, 2007
'Civic Duty,' 'Bill Moyers Journal' and 'Fiesta' reviews
Movies: Read it for a giggle, but Jeff McCrary’s upcoming review of “Civic Duty,” the terrorist-next-door non-thriller, comes to the same conclusion that I did: What a waste of time.
TV: As if to balance the universe, television contributed what a supposedly serious-minded movie could not: Damning evidence about our inattentiveness to government lies. “Bill Moyers Journal,” TiVo-ed from last week, takes firm aim at the cowardly, dishonorable conduct of most journalists in the run-up to the current Iraq War. You may think you remember the way print and broadcast media swallowed the Bush administration’s line, but until you see this densely composed documentary, it won’t really sink in.
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April 24, 2007
Two takes on 'Spider-Man'
Movies: In preparation for “Spider-Man 3,” which I’ve drawn the happy straw to review, I’m watching the first two installments again on DVD.
“Spider-Man” — The first installation helped reinvent the mainstream superhero movie, which had gone terribly wrong through lame “Superman” and overly self-referential “Batman’ iterations.
Origin myths are crucial to first chapters, and this one — a genetically altered spider bite — provides a crystal clear explanatory background.
Standard social criticism included: Bio research can go terribly wrong, especially if engineered for military purposes (Spider-Man and the Green Goblin share this background).
Among superheroes, the development of their powers often analagizes with puberty.
Distrust the press: Newspaper editors come with agendas and will distort good Spidey news.
Motivation is everything in the latest superhero movies. Here, it’s a lifelong crush for the girl next door and revenge for his uncle’s death. The will to do good almost comes as an afterthought.
Kirsten Dunst communications with smoldering eyes, but even with his huge, unnaturally blue blinkers, Tobey McGuire actually seduces with his mouth, which barely moves, but emits this high, mumbly, sing-songy voice that speaks volumes about his character’s humility and ultimate lovability.
“Spider-Man 2” — High-speed, lip-biting action, superior effects and slapstick humor amplify the strengths of the original.
Atomic enegery takes the place of bioscience as the larger threat here.
Stage actors — Rosemary Harris, Alfred Molina, Donna Murphy, etc. — give this rendition a grounded feel, plus the extreme acting when appropriate.
Adult identity — commitment, responsibility, choices, honesty, protecting the young and elderly — overtake the adolescent concerts of 1.
Once again, the scientist-gone-bad comes from a place of respectability, even humanity, but is seduced by pride or greed.
Secrets are tricky. They are necessary for superheroes who must blend back into society, but they keep you from friends, family.
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April 18, 2007
Glossy 'Fracture,' classy lady
Movies: “Fracture,” the legal thriller starring the dynamic duo of Ryan Gosling (rough edges only make his looks and acting more alluring) and Anthony Hopkins (a model of understatement), is a big mash note to Los Angeles Modern architecture.
I’ll leave the formal review to Statesman contributor Jeff McCrary (who looks more than a little like Gosling), but “Fracture” is just intellectual enough to satisfy, just visceral enough to draw one deep into its soft suspense.
Theater: Let’s make this very clear: If some company is even
Addendum: Glad to see that the news Web sites are finally pulling Cho’s death videos.
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April 15, 2007
Glorious 'Grindhouse' gore
Movies: Forgive me, film purists, for I have sinned.
I spent three hours in a dark theater giggling to “Grindhouse,” Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s double dip into the cheap sex-and-violence movies of the 1970s. They carry the conceit through stylishly, although, having endured many of the originals, these two movies strike much more polished, ironic tones.
Tarantino takes his time developing “Death Proof,” a slasher-structured film with hot rods as the murder weapons. It’s basically two half-hour, mostly boring set-ups for two super-charged car chases, the first suspenseful, but not fun; the second fantastically fun, but perhaps a little repetitive.
Interestingly enough, while the post-adolescent pair of filial moviemakers take an almost sadistic and exploitive view of women, they celebrate empowering heroines, three in an avenging car, another, in a stroke of genius, brandishing a machine gun as a false leg. You gotta see that, if nothing else.
