THE WALK, STRIDE OR STROLL ( TAKE YOUR PICK) OUT OF A PRESS SCREENING IS CHAT CITY. EVERYONE USUALLY WANTS YOU TO KNOW THEIR EDUCATED THOUGHTS AND TO GET A GRASP OF YOURS. I LOVE IT AND I HATE IT. I AM AKIN TO PONTIFICATE AND AM DRAWN TO SUCH THINGS, BUT MOST TIMES AFTER JUST SEEING A FILM, I NEED TO LET IT SINK IN BEFORE I KNOW HOW I FEEL. I USUALLY KEEP SILENT AND HIDE BEHIND MY PARTNER IN CRIME AS SHE TELLS THE PRESS SCREENER GUY SOMETHING WITTY. LAST WEEK AFTER THE MILK SCREENING NO-ONE SAID A WORD. WE ALL (IT WAS A FULL HOUSE) EXITED IN SILENCE. HOPE AND OUTRAGE WERE RINGING IN MY EARS.
A GREAT FILM. A SHOE-IN FOR MANY OSCARS. GUS VAN SANT AND SEAN PENN ARE DESERVING OF RECOGNITION. Read the rest of this entry »
These guys are touring with Minus the Bear and have opened for Robert Plant. They give a little insight into life on the road and their creative process.
Hey everyone! Long time no see! In case you were wondering, after recovering from all of the festival madness during September and October, I have just been laying low. I’ve been doing some producing, visiting movie sets, acting etc. I have not had a real chance to see many movies as of late with my erratic schedule, but I did get wrangled into screening one at the behest of a colleague. Now, this colleague does not have the best record of movies that he chooses to drag me to at inopportune times, so I was a little skeptical the day he called me and said that he had a movie that he was screening at a private theatre and I really should come. He, of course, led by asking what I was doing, to that I answered “resting for once”. Then he lets me know that the screening was that night… like in an hour. Grrr….. So I leave my comfy recliner and go out into the dark night to see a movie called Fuel http://thefuelfilm.com. Read the rest of this entry »
EXHILARATING FROM THE FIRST FRAME.
I DIG THE HELL OUT OF THIS BOND.
WE HAVE A REINVENTED 007. HE CAN BE SUAVE AND SMOOTH BUT THIS BOND HURTS AND BLEEDS AND HE WEARS THE SCARS FROM THE BLUNT ACTION HE IS INVOLVED IN. THIS TIME AROUND HE IS A MAN ON A MISSION TO UNCOVER THE FORCES BEHIND THE DEATH OF HIS GIRL IN THE PRECEDING, CASINO ROYALE. THAT FILM IS A PREREQUISITE TO WATCHING QUANTUM OF SOLACE. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN CASINO ROYALE YET. PLEASE STOP READING THIS. GO RENT IT, WATCH IT. TRUST ME AND JUST ABOUT ANY OTHER CRITIC OUT THERE. THIS JAMES BOND KICKS SOME SERIOUS ASS. A FRESH WAY OF BRINGING FORTH A GREAT CHARACTER. DISCUSSING IT WITH A FRIEND OF MINE, WE SURMISED THAT THEY HAVE RE-IMAGED JAMES BOND THE SAME WAY THEY RE-IMAGED BATMAN.
AND WITH A BLOODY VENGEANCE… Read the rest of this entry »
Without these guys there would be no Nirvana, no Smashing Pumpkins. Listen as they complain about “back in the day” vs. the music scene of today. By the way, if you’re new to vimeo videos, move your mouse off the window and all the extra wordage disappears.
These gracious guys let us in for an exclusive just before they took the stage at South Padre Island. OK, fine, we actually snuck in ninja style and made them talk to us. Then we forced them to say they love Austin. Watch the video and learn our secrets of coercion.
In the wake of an historic world economic disaster, the N.Y. Times in an article on their front page this morning posed this question: as Americans have watched their 401(k)’s shrivel in recent weeks, how should entertainment executives best reflect the global economic crisis in movie and television story lines, or should they not bring the topic up at all?
And you know what that probably means.. yet another festival! Today marked opening day of the Austin Film Festival. The Opening night film was the much anticipated W. Oliver Stone spoke at the festival last year and we got to hear about some of the ideas that he had for this film and now he has brought the finished product for us to preview. Bree will be posting a review soon, but to tide you over, here is video of the red carpet interviews that I did with James Cromwell and relative newcomer Jennifer Sipes.
As Amber said, Bill Murray was in town for Fantastic Fest promoting City of Ember and he hung around a bit longer for ACL where he and Russ had a chance to talk. But! Until we get the full story on that, here’s my couple of minutes on camera with him.
In a time when the truth is more subjective than ever before, what better film to play on your sense of it than Surveillance—a noir, slow reveal of a thing that has you grasping for your cigarettes (even if you don’t smoke). Suffocating in the best possible way, the plot leads you down a dark path, wrests your power out from under you, gains control and leaves you gasping for air, all in the name of “truth”. The word, at best illusive, but mostly slippery, operates on literal and metaphorical levels here to both horror and comic effect. From our administration down to our churches, Jennifer Lynch and Kent Harper’s deliciously bleak take on human nature— complacent, lazy, stupid, lying, addicted, arrogant, corrupt—makes a strong case for our sorry lot getting what they deserve whether it be natural disaster, economic downturn, or serial killers lurking on a desert road. The actual plot can’t be discussed without giving too much away, but I will say it’s a nail biting good time. Check it out.
With the Austin City Limits and Fantastic Fest taking place over the last couple of weeks there has been no shortage of celebrity sightings. Let us begin:
Silent Bob Speaks
Director, Writer, Actor, Producer, Comic-book Aficionado and all around awesome guy, Kevin Smith was in town to screen his new movie “Zack and Miri Make a Porno.” I would share with you the plot line but I think the title pretty much takes care of that job for me. I’ll fill you in that they are making a porno in order to get out of debt. When one is strapped for cash the next logical step is clear — make porn. Why didn’t I think of that?? Kevin didn’t stay that long in Austin seeing is how he is screening his movie across the country before its national release at the end of October, but he was spotted at the Driskill hotel chilling on his balcony according to www.austinstarmap.com. Read the rest of this entry »
Well, I wasn’t able to do a whole lot. But I had to find a way to see the second showing of one of the most talked about films at the festival, Let The Right One In. I had been hearing nothing but raves since the first showing on Saturday. I’ll tell you, it lived up to all of the hype. It was a relatively quiet movie about a pre-teen boy, Oskar, who has an over-abundance of bullies and an under-abundance of friends, more like none. Enter the new girl, Eli, in the apartment complex. She is stand-offish and mysterious and they become fast albeit strange friends. She has a secret. One clue is that she is never out during the day. Another is that bodies drained of blood are starting to pile up. I what I loved the most was the innocent trust and love built between them set against the violence of her secret noturnal life and the things that Oskar has to endure during the day . It really was a good movie. I will definitely be picking it up on DVD when I can. If I can make one recommendation to you, if you get a chance to see it, make sure it isn’t some crazy American version. I know you can handle the original version. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the things that I was really looking forward to yesterday was a stunt that was alluded to at the end of Nacho Vigalondo’s Shorts on Day 3. He announced that he was going to do something “dangerous” in the alley behind the theatre after the second showing of his shorts on Day 5. So after waking up very late and then doing some editing work through the afternoon, I met my partner in crime, Christine and we ran to catch the stunt. But as fate would have it, everything was running behind. We then noticed that we could catch the last part of Santos! which we missed on Day 3 because of the timing of another interview.
Now after seeing the end, I have to say that I enjoyed it alot. I am becoming more and more of a fan of comic book and/or graphic novel movies. Last year, I fell in love with the Death Note movies and immediately ran out and bought the entire manga series. This year, I have really liked Santos! and I also liked Repo! The Genetic Opera which I saw last night, but now I am getting ahead of myself. Read the rest of this entry »
I have been having all kinds of technical difficulties this week! I tried to post some video and a blog yesterday to no avail. So here is that video from the karaoke party and the blog is to come next!
I’ll post more karaoke highlights in the coming days! Matt Dentler doing Prince’s Let’s Go Crazy… hilarious!!
THE WALK, STRIDE OR STROLL ( TAKE YOUR PICK) OUT OF A PRESS SCREENING IS CHAT CITY. EVERYONE USUALLY WANTS YOU TO KNOW THEIR EDUCATED THOUGHTS AND TO GET A GRASP OF YOURS. I LOVE IT AND I HATE IT. I AM AKIN TO PONTIFICATE AND AM DRAWN TO SUCH THINGS, BUT MOST TIMES AFTER JUST SEEING A FILM, I NEED TO LET IT SINK IN BEFORE I KNOW HOW I FEEL. I USUALLY KEEP SILENT AND HIDE BEHIND MY PARTNER IN CRIME AS SHE TELLS THE PRESS SCREENER GUY SOMETHING WITTY. LAST WEEK AFTER THE MILK SCREENING NO-ONE SAID A WORD. WE ALL (IT WAS A FULL HOUSE) EXITED IN SILENCE. HOPE AND OUTRAGE WERE RINGING IN MY EARS.
In the wake of an historic world economic disaster, the N.Y. Times in an article on their front page this morning posed this question: as Americans have watched their 401(k)’s shrivel in recent weeks, how should entertainment executives best reflect the global economic crisis in movie and television story lines, or should they not bring the topic up at all?
SURVEILLANCE
Someone very much loves winter...
