Inside Movies

• Johnny Knoxville and half of the Farrelly brothers team, Peter Farrelly, will present a special showing of 'The Ringer' at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Paramount Theatre. Directed by Barry Blaustein, who will also be there, 'The Ringer' was shot in Austin and San Marcos and costars local Special Olympics Texas athletes. In the comedy, the always-obnoxious Knoxville ('Jackass') tries to rig the Special Olympics by pretending to be 'intellectually challenged' and competing. The film was approved by the Special Olympics, so its message of redemption and unity should ring loud. The screening is a fundraiser sponsored by the Special Olympics and the Austin Film Festival. Tickets for the movie and a pre-show reception are $100. Single movie tickets are also available. 835-9873, extension 2924. — Chris Garcia

• Mentioned here last week was the after-party for the special Dec. 8 screening of Margaret Brown's Townes Van Zandt doc 'Be Here to Love Me.' The movie is at the Alamo South, while the party, a musical tribute to Van Zandt, is at Antone's and features J.T. Van Zandt, Will Sexton, And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Bill Callahan, Kimmie Rhodes and Joe Gracey. More musicians and details coming to www.townesthemovie.com. — C.G.

• The Paramount Theatre tinkles the season's silver bells on the silver screen, with a brace of essential Christmas flicks: 'White Christmas,' starring Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney and those Irving Berlin tunes, plays Dec. 11, 12 and 14; 'It's a Wonderful Life,' starring geekily debonair Jimmy Stewart and directed by Frank Capra, shows Dec. 11 and 13. www.austintheatre.org. 472-5470. — C.G.

• Robert Rodriguez, the unstoppable auteur chasing digital dreams, has been named one of the Ten Hottest Minds in Hollywood by Fast Company magazine in its December 'Hollywood Issue.' The mag cites the filmmaker's self-propelled rise from low-budget rebel to Hollywood hitmaker. Rodriguez joins director Stephen Soderbergh, Harvey Weinstein, Morgan Freeman and lots of CEO types on the honor roll. — C.G.

• We've effused about the elaborately handsome design work of Criterion's 'Slacker' DVD, and noted that it is the fruit of Austin's own Marc English Design. Also noted was its being featured in Step Inside Design magazine last year and winning an award from HOW magazine in April. Now, the 'Slacker' packaging has landed in the prestigious Communications Arts Design Annual, which honors only five media packages out of 250 pieces each year, Marc English tells us. And so we tell him: Bravo and congratulations. — C.G.