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‘Hey Bartender’ explores world of craft cocktails

From Sascha at Rick’s Cafe in “Casablanca,” to Tom Cruise’s Brian Flanagan in “Cocktail,” the bartender has long been celebrated on the silver screen.In both real life and behind the camera, the bartender embodies roles crucial to any story — friend, sage, alchemist, rock star, therapist and more — yet ...

‘Promise’ aims to restart nuclear power debate

Women aren’t the only ones with the prerogative to change their minds. Environmentalists can, too. And Robert Stone’s new documentary “Pandora’s Promise” showcases his own and other green eco-advocates’ about-face on the subject of nuclear power.Twenty-five years ago, Stone had a different message. His powerful anti-nuke film “Radio Bikini” revealed ...

Austin Film Scene

Next ‘Sin City’ film pushed to 2014Fans excited for the return of the Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez collaboration that produced the 2005 film “Sin City” will have to wait a little longer for the duo’s next installation.The opening date for “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” has moved ...

Pixar’s funny ‘Monsters’ induces fear of prequels

Maybe it’s time to stop treating Pixar movies as special.The power of the studio’s films (two or three excepted, including last year’s “Brave”) has always been their unique and imaginative stories. Franchise-extending sequels (or prequels), though, serve a different purpose: Familiar, popular characters are safe bets guaranteed to sell tickets ...

‘Much Ado About Nothing’: The Bard in L.A.

“I feel like I do have this language, and it really does come primarily from Shakespeare and Marvel Comics,” said “Much Ado About Nothing” director Joss Whedon in a March interview with the American-Statesman. “Everything is heightened, you’re saying what you feel, you’re blowing it up visually.”Which might explain why ...

Brad Pitt tries to save his family during a melee in ‘World War Z.’

Brad Pitt attempts to save humanity in ‘World War Z,’ though the outcome seems predetermined

The zombies in “World War Z” don’t lumber, arms outstretched, eyes glazed over, in search of fresh brains. They swarm like a pack of killer bees, moving with alarming speed and disposing of human bodies in a flash.If the undead in the countless zombie films lobbed at moviegoers over the ...

Filmmaker Brian Schwarz of the University of Texas at Austin, winner in the narrative category for his film “Ol’ Daddy,” poses with an Oscar statue before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 40th Student Academy Awards at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Saturday, June 8, 2013 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

UT grad wins Student Academy Award

It was just a few weeks ago that filmmaker Brian Schwarz had started “questioning things in a big way.”The 2012 University of Texas Radio, Television and Film program graduate had spent the better part of a year enduring rejection after rejection.He finished his 29-minute short film “Ol’ Daddy” in May ...

‘Stories We Tell’ circles the truth brilliantly

“Stories We Tell” shouldn’t work. An actress and director makes a documentary about questions regarding her own parentage? Come on.Sarah Polley has been a celebrity in Canada since she was a child, but she is best known in the States for strong acting in movies such as “The Sweet Hereafter” ...

‘The Purge’ aims for social satire but ends up going for the throat

Blumhouse Productions has had great financial success making horror movies for little money that recoup their small budgets in the first weekend. See: the “Paranormal Activity” franchise and the 2012 surprise hit “Sinister.” You can almost imagine the conversation that ignited the idea for “The Purge,” the new horror from ...

Austin film scene

Summer film series Cinema East kicks off its summer programming Sunday night with a screening of Zachary Heinzerling’s “Cutie and the Boxer,” a documentary that charts the 40-year marriage of boxing painter Ushio Shinohara and his wife, Noriko. The movie, which earned Heinzerling an award for direction at the 2013 ...

Baumbach and Gerwig find lightness and hope on the road to adulthood in ‘Frances Ha’

“I’m so embarrassed,” Greta Gerwig’s Frances says at the beginning of “Frances Ha.” “I’m not a real person yet.”The beautiful but unkempt Frances (“I’m not messy, I’m busy,” she likes to tell herself) is a real person. She’s just not an adult. She’s stuck on the bridge between collegiate life ...

Austin film scene

AFF teams with AMCThe Austin Film Festival has announced that AMC will determine the semifinalists, finalists and winners of its teleplay competition. Finalists in the top three competition categories (sitcom spec, one-hour spec and sitcom pilot) will be given the opportunity to meet with a representative from the network that ...

‘After Earth’ does too much and not enough

Everything you need to know about why “After Earth” doesn’t work can be found in the line, “Everything has evolved to kill humans.” (Warning: plot spoilers abound, but even though this is an M. Night “Remember when I was considered a genius?” Shyamalan movie, there are no surprise twists. Boy, ...

Actors Ethan Hawke, left, and Julie Delpy and Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater walk the red carpet for the Austin theatrical premiere of “Before Midnight” at the Violet Crown Theater in Austin on Thursday.

Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater at the top of his game with ‘Before Midnight’

It is fitting that in a historic year for area filmmakers, the greatest movie coming out of Austin is from the godfather of the local film scene. More than a half-dozen Austin filmmakers premiered movies at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The city’s most artful and enigmatic filmmaker, Terrence ...

From left, actors Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan join directors Joel Coen and Ethan Coen at the screening of the film “Inside Llewyn Davis” at the Cannes Film Festival. The film, set in 1960s Greenwich Village, is a critics’ favorite so far this festival.

Exploring the highs and lows in Cannes

CANNES, France — American movies are faring well this year in Cannes, with the Coen Brothers’ “Inside Llewyn Davis” holding on to the No. 1 spot in the competition for the Palme d’Or, according to a poll of critics compiled by Screen International. Set in 1960s Greenwich Village, “Davis” focuses ...

Ethan Hawke, left, and Julie Delpy are back as Jesse and Celine in Richard Linklater’s ‘Before Midnight.’

‘Before Midnight’ explores the beauties and pains of love

Over the span of 18 years and three exceptional movies, director Richard Linklater and his collaborators Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy have charted the birth, growth, crescendos and complications of love.The mesmerizing third installment, “Before Midnight,” co-written by Linklater, Hawke and Delpy, delivers a humorous and heart-wrenching look at the ...

In between action scenes, there’s some talking, including among Brian (Paul Walker), from left, Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Dom (Vin Diesel) in “Fast & Furious 6.”

‘Fast and Furious 6’ goes boom

A friend once noted that the best metric for judging a movie like “Fast and Furious 6” is to note the extent to which it, upon completion, prompts you to ignore posted speed limits and drive home like the proverbial Hades-departing bat.By that standard, “Furious 6,” the, um, sixth film ...

Austin film scene

UT student honored by Academy University of Texas graduate Brian Schwarz (MFA, 2012) won a Student Academy Award for his film “Ol’ Daddy.” The film, which won in the narrative category, tells the story of a young man forced to handle the responsibility of caring for his elderly father. Schwarz ...

Nod (Josh Hutcherson) discovers what it takes to be a true hero in ‘Epic.’

‘Epic’ isn’t, but it’s full of fun and action

“Epic,” the new animated film from Fox Animation’s Blue Sky Studios (“Ice Age,” “Rio”) was almost a Pixar project. On one hand, you have to wonder how much better it would be had that happened. “Epic” is a good, solid effort, but it’s missing the emotional element so effective in ...

At first glance, some of the movie pairings in the Paramount Theatre Summer Film Classics series might seem like odd screen-fellows. ‘I like trying to re-contextualize the movies and have people see them for the films that they are and not necessarily the movements they were spearheading,’ programmer Stephen Jannise says.

Behind the screens with Paramount Theatre’s film programmer

Stephen Jannise has the soul of a cinephile. He has been professionally programming movies in Austin for two years, but the 27 year-old head of the Paramount Theatre’s film department has been thinking like a programmer since he was a teenager. When Netflix debuted during Jannise’s high school years, the ...