Topic of Debate :: “Independent Film Is Dead” //
Pro :: Uwe Boll, Director of Rampage, BloodRayne, House of the Dead //
Con :: Tim League, Founder of the Alamo Drafthouse & Fantastic Fest //
Live from the South Austin Gym

The Shondes—The Red Sea: Formed in 2006 after violinist Elijah Oberman and bassist Louisa Rachel Solomon’s former band broke up, they recruited guitarist and friend Ian Brannigan while the three attended The New School in NYC. Read the rest of this entry »

Fantastic Fest is proud to announce the winning films from the 2009 festival. Taking top prize in the Next Wave competition is the darkly comedic drama from Britain, DOWN TERRACE. The audience award goes to A TOWN CALLED PANIC, the best horror film goes to HUMAN CENTIPEDE while Chilean action thriller MANDRILL takes the Fantastic Feature award.  The photo in middle of slideshow below is MANDRILL leading man Marko Zaror doing a celebratory flip.

Be sure to check out Marko Zaror’s jump of awesomeness!

“All Photos by Rich Merritt“

Awesome …is an understatement….

I will have coverage up on mondaze

Diving back in………

c u at THE HIGHBALL……

I love Fantastic Fest. It is a film festival that was spawned, plucked and groomed by folks that live and breathe film. It is a festival fo the film fan. I have found my groove this year and am enjoying the opportunities. And now on top of all the wonderful films, surprise talent, there is a new hangout brought to us by the fine Alamo folks called the HIGHBALL. A hop and a jump from the theater, it is a bowlingalley/disco/kareoke/bar and gathering place. Genius.
Soloman Kane. That title is strong. Brutal. Ultra-violent, Unapoligetically so.
Awesome it was. By the end you will want more, I did. The title character is new to me, James Purefoy, but he was so good, I guarantee we will see more of him. Kane’s world is harsh and the film leaves you with that cold and rough feeling. It never stopped fucking snowing! An action/adventure flick that does not slow down. If you want action & adventure this is the one! Still no release date yet.

Jason Mraz played the Erwin Center with the Grooveline Horns September 15th. Grooveline then hosted an afterparty at Antone’s where Jason Mraz, Bushwalla and local musicians Les Fisher, Stefano Intelisano (who played with Grooveline in Boombox ATX) and Zeale jumped on stage for a muscular, high-energy set for their hometown fans. Killed it, they did.

Grooveline Horns from AMFM STUDIOS LLC on Vimeo.

Grooveline Horns from AMFM STUDIOS LLC on Vimeo.

Chris Marshall—EP Starting Out: Chris Marshall describes his music as “uniquely American.” Hailing from Portland, OR he his newest release was put out on August 11, 2009. He likens his influences to the sounds of Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash in the spirit of Elvis with poetic and literary influence such as Walt Whitman C.S. Lewis and Soren Kierkegaard which infuse throughout the songwriting on this EP. Read the rest of this entry »

Chevron spokesperson Kent Robertson responded to the release of Crude on the day of its theatrical premiere, calling it “long on emotion and short on facts.” While Robertson, who has yet to see the film, missed the boat on the “short on facts” remark, with respect to emotion, he had a point. And while he means for it to be testament to a poorly or inaccurately made film, what it means in this case is that the subject matter, the poverty stricken, sick and desperate indigenous and colonial dwellers of the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador, cannot be translated into anything but emotional.

Read the rest of this entry »

BADASSERY WILL ENSUE
WE WILL BE THERE AGAIN TO GIVE YALL  A TASTE….
MORE HERE
Fantastic Fest: Sept 24-Oct 1, 2009
Fantastic Fest is the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world. In years past we have presented the world premieres of THERE WILL BE BLOOD, APOCALYPTO, CITY OF EMBER and EAGLE EYE, while our guest roster has included such talent as Mel Gibson, Bill Murray, Paul Rudd, Bill Pullman, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kevin Smith, Jon Favreau, George Romero, Darren Aronofsky and Mike Judge. We also feature world, national and regional premieres of new, up-and-coming genre films.

Fantastic Fest is held each year, primarily at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on South Lamar in Austin, Texas. The Alamo Drafthouse was named the best cinema in America by Entertainment Weekly and features food and drink served to your seat without any disruption of the movie experience.

Monument to No One—Self Titled: A local alternative rock band, heavily influence by the mid-90’s space rock of Hum and Failure, this band combines the psychedelic guitar arrangements reminiscent of the early Smashing Pumpkins with the edgy melodic grooves of grunge-era area rock. Read the rest of this entry »