Austin360 blogs > Austin Movie Blog > Archives > 2006 > June
June 2006
Hollywood independents
— TCM kicks off a tribute to some of Hollywood’s most independent spirits on Wednesday with the original documentary “Edge of Outside.” According to the network, “Edge of Outside” “features original interviews with Martin Scorsese, Peter Falk, Ed Burns, Spike Lee, Henry Jaglom, Arthur Penn, Gena Rowlands and John Sayles as well as friends and crew members who worked with classic filmmakers, including Nicholas Ray, John Cassavetes and Sam Peckinpah.” It airs at 7 p.m.
Then, after the documentary, and continuing every Wednesday through July, TCM will show works by filmmaking mavericks from Charlie Chaplin to Robert Altman.
— If Jack Black were a bird.
— Johnny Depp says Jack Sparrow might be … curious.
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The best 48-hour films
See the best of this year’s 48 Hour Film Project on July 15 at the Alamo Downtown. The top 10 films of last week’s competition will screen, and the overall winner will go on to compete nationally. The screenings start at 3 p.m. Tickets are $5 and wil be available starting July 5 at originalalamo.com. The event is presented by Reel Women.
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Linklater in Moviemaker
— Look for a story about Richard Linklater in the Future of Filmmaking Special Edition of Moviemaker magazine, which is hitting newsstands now.
— Word is Danny Leiner, director of “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,” is in town scouting locations for a future movie. Could it be “Gary the Tennis Coach,” which IMDB.com says is Leiner’s next project.
— Here’s a photo from last month’s “Spirit of Place” gala that raised almost $300,000 for the Southwestern Writers Collection and Wittliff Gallery at Texas State University.
From left are Sally Wittliff, Bill Wittliff, Dawn Jones, Tommy Lee Jones, Sam Shepard and John Graves, seated. (Photo courtesy of Robert Godwin)
— “Screen Door Shorts” tonight at Emo’s.
— Texas Film Hall of Famer Marcia Gay Harden co-stars with her daughter.
— Maybe it’s just that draggy point the afternoon, but I’m tired just thinking about this.
— Quite possibly the worst thing I can imagine happening on one’s honeymoon: Eva Longoria shows up.
— And more still on “Gretchen” from Slackerwood.
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More on Austinite’s big win
Here are some excerpts of the L.A. Film Festival’s news release about the Target Filmmaker Award, won by Austinite Steve Collins.
2006 LOS ANGELES FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES TARGET AWARD WINNERS AT SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE EVENT
Target Filmmaker Award (for Best Narrative Feature)
Winner: “Gretchen” written/directed by Steve Collins Credits: Producers Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Anish Savjani Cast: Courtney Davis, John Merriman, Steve Root, Becky Ann Baker
LOS ANGELES (June 29, 2006) – Film Independent announced the winners of the Target Filmmaker Awards at the Los Angeles Film Festival’s Spirit of Independence event honoring Charlize Theron on Wednesday, June 28. These awards, presented by Virginia Madsen and Jimmy Smits, include the Target Filmmaker Award (for Best Narrative Feature), which went to Steve Collins for “Gretchen,” and the Target Documentary Award (for Best Documentary Feature), which went to Amy Berg for “Deliver Us From Evil.”
This year the Festival received more than 4,300 submissions from filmmakers around the world with the final selections representing several World, North American, and U.S. premieres.
“We are honored to award Steve Collins’s ‘Gretchen’ and Amy Berg’s ‘Deliver Us from Evil’ with this year’s Target Filmmaker Awards, as these films exemplify the talent, diversity and uniqueness that make the Los Angeles Film Festival a world-class event,â€? said Festival Director Rich Raddon. “We greatly appreciate Target for their continuing support of the festival and the filmmakers.â€?
In Steve Collins’s “Gretchen,” the title character has bigger problems than abysmal fashion sense: She’s 17, painfully awkward and stuck in the most unforgiving place on earth — high school. When her obsession with school bad boy Ricky gets out of hand, her mother sends her to an emotional treatment center to recover. She has to travel elsewhere, however, to truly begin to understand why she fixates on the wrong kind of guy. Starring Courtney Davis as the perpetually uncomfortable Gretchen, Steve Collins’ first feature is a humorously deadpan yet poignant reminder of how the smallest moments can lead to extreme adolescent drama.
In awarding Gretchen with the Target Filmmaker Award for Best Narrative Feature, the jury stated that they chose the film for its “distinctive vision and truthfulness to its characters, which makes us really want to see what the director will do next.�
The Narrative Feature Competition jury was comprised of Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan (director, Torino Film Festival), David Gordon Green (director, “George Washington”), and Danielle Renfrew (producer, “Groove,” “November”).
The Target Filmmaker Award carries an unrestricted cash prize of $50,000 funded by Target, offering the financial means for filmmakers to transfer their vision to the screen. The award recognizes the finest American narrative film in competition. The award is given to the winning director of the Narrative Feature Competition.
Austinite wins big at L.A. film fest
Great news from the Los Angeles Film Festival, via Matt Dentler’s blog: Austinite Steve Collins won the Target Filmmaker Award — and $50,000— for his film “Gretchen.” The cash prize is the largest awarded by a U.S. film festival.
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‘United 93’ on DVD
“United 93,” one of the year’s most talked-about films, will be released on DVD on Sept. 5.
Special features will include a documentary about family members of the flight’s real-life passengers.
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Notes from the ‘Scanner’ premiere
Wednesday night, director Richard Linklater showed “A Scanner Darkly” to Austin fans at the Paramount Theatre. Afterward, producer Tommy Pallotta and actor Rory Cochrane joined Linklater for a Q&A session with the audience. Here are some of the topics discussed:
— For the most part, the Orange County you see in the film is Austin, although there was some second-unit shooting in California. Keanu Reeves’ character’s house is in Southeast Austin.
— “This movie is my view on drugs,” Linklater said in response to audience questions. He thinks drug abuse should be treated as a social and health problem, not a criminal one.
Later, he talked about meeting with “Scanner” author Philip K. Dick’s family and how they wanted to make sure “Scanner” remained a cautionary tale about drug abuse.
— In writing the film, Linklater wanted to stay faithful to Dick’s original work. “I always respond to this novel because it felt the most personal to him,” he said. Linklater said he felt obligated to Dick’s family and fans to “get it right” in his adaptation.
— The DVD release of “Scanner” won’t contain the original unanimated footage, although Linklater said it’s not bad to look at.
Central Texas Capote film to open Venice fest
— “Infamous,” the Truman Capote film shot in and around Austin, will open the Venice Film Festival. More on the film here.
— The fashions of “The Devil Wears Prada,” are getting panned by Elle magazine’s Anne “I don’t like anything” Slowey. Gratuitous “Project Runway” mention alert: Slowey was a judge in Season 1 and came back for a terrible episode in Season 2 where she accused sweet designer Emmett of showing “too much tootey” with his creation. No word on how she feels about the levels of tootey-ness displayed by Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep in “Devil.”
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‘Clerks II’ Austin premiere
After last night’s Austin premiere of “A Scanner Darkly” (more on that later) at the Paramount, the Austin Film Society already has another big event lined up. AFS will host the Austin premiere of “Clerks II” with writer-director Kevin Smith presenting a Q&A after the film.
The screening will be at 7 p.m. July 13 at the Paramount. Tickets go on sale Monday for AFS members ($25) and July 6 to the general public ($30).
Tickets are available through the Paramount box office, 472-2901, and GetTix, (866) 443-8849, www.gettix.net. To get the AFS member discount, you have to buy through the Paramount box office.
“Clerks II” is set to open in theaters on July 21.
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‘Pirates’ preview
Intrepid intern Sarah Frank is just back from the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” preview. She reports that it does the job as a summer blockbuster and features such icky monsters she had to avert her eyes. Sounds pretty cool.
Meanwhile, Slate has a piece on another highly anticipated film (especially in Austin), “A Scanner Darkly.” Writes Joshua Glenn: “In (Richard) Linklater’s ‘Scanner,’ that is to say, audiences may finally catch a glimpse — even if through a glass darkly — of the director’s own paradoxical worldview, one in which slacking is not only a form of political activism but the only possible activism.”
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Loving ‘Footloose’
So, the Sinus Show is making fun of “Footloose” this weekend. This is one of the best shows I’ve ever seen them do, and it’s well worth checking out.
Do not let the wisecracks, however, distract you from the masterpiece that is unspooling before you on the screen. Consider this a companion commentary to your Sinus Show experience.
Sarah’s Case for the Greatness of ‘Footloose’
Point No. 1. Kevin Bacon. Hot.
2. Lori Singer. As preacher’s daughter Ariel, she’s not just bad, she is bravely and epically bad. You can tell she is utterly convinced the performance will make her a James Dean-caliber icon of teen rebellion. Instead, she’s just annoying. Singer took a lot of risks with how she approached this part and the fact not one of them really paid off doesn’t change the fact that she was fearless enough to take them. If “Footloose” were made today, Mischa Barton would sleepwalk through the Ariel role. Thank God we got Lori.
You also have to love the character’s quotability. Look for my favorite Ariel moments, “My daddy hates it when I wear these red boots” and “I’m not even a virgin!”
3. Chris Penn. Because you want to remember him as Willard, not as sad, bloated latter-day Chris Penn.
4. Sarah Jessica Parker. Her crowning moment as Rusty, best friend to Ariel and girlfriend to Willard, comes when the gang sneaks across the river to go to a honky-tonk (a scene, by the way, that I thought at the time embodied how totally awesome being a grown-up was). Willard does not want to dance, but Rusty really, really REALLY does. So much so that she starts bopping up and down in her chair until she can control it no longer and springs onto the dance floor with a man who is not Willard.
5. The names. Ren. Ariel. Rusty. Willard. Shaw. Burlington. When we find out that Ariel has a dead brother named Bobby, it actually seems kind of weird.
6. The locale. OK, it may not be the same town where “Napoleon Dynamite” takes place, but I bet the two schools play each other in football. And it’s easy to picture Uncle Rico as a cohort of Chuck Cranston.
7. The profound political and social implications. “Footloose” follows Ren (dreamy, dreamy Kevin) as he tries to loosen up a small town that has banned rock ‘n’ roll, dancing and, apparently, attractive clothing. It supported my young self’s world view that any threat to rock was an attack on democracy. In fact, I’m pretty sure Al Gore made up this global warming business to distract attention as Tipper relaunches her war on rock.
8. The prom. You can love the finale of this movie on so many levels, There’s its prescient resemblance to the dance in — again — “Napoleon Dynamite.” There’s the fact that you will never see such a concentration of dowdy dresses again in your life. And then there’s its simple perfection. All the kids are standing around moping, as if they simultaneously realized that they’re probably never getting out of that lousy town after all, but then Ren arrives and … PARTY! Suddenly, everyone knows how to dance — well, more or less — and there’s glitter raining down from the ceiling and no one in the history of fun has ever had more fun than this.
It kind of gives me chills.
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The view on movies
A few things to keep you busy while we wait for the movie version of “Barbara vs. Star.”
— Austin Outsider unveils the Asphalt Planet Web site.
— Austinist is giving away tickets to the “Quality of Life” screening tonight.
— A look ahead to “Wassup Rockers,” set to open in Austin on July 21, and “Who Killed the Electric Car?,” slated for July 28.
— Wired time-travels to the future, when all commercial theaters are closed and we’re nostalgic to re-create the moviegoing experience of yore: “This module provides one of the most vital aspects of the early 21st-century movie experience: the thrilling chirps and trills of ringing cellular phones. We’ve programmed the generator with over three hundred authentic antique cell-phone alert signals, or ‘ringtones,’ including ‘Laffy Taffy,’ ‘My Humps’ and ‘Please Let Me Touch Your Secondary Sexual Characteristics.’ “
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It’s bird! It’s a plane! … It’s a dog?
You know what would make “Superman Returns” better? Pets.
There is much giggling here — although of a professional, journalistic nature, of course — as Joe and Chris have found more pictures of caped animals than I even knew existed.
I give you Krypto the Superdog.
Oh, but there’s more. Meet the Super-Pets Now you’ve got horses and monkeys and some other indeterminate animal getting in on the act.
But my favorite is here, where Krypto builds a Doghouse of Solitude. I apologize to Joe for initially accusing him of making this up.
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‘Pulse’ moves
The release date of teen horror film “Pulse” has moved from July 14 to Sept. 8. The movie, a remake of the Japanese film that played in Austin early this year, stars Kristen Bell of TV’s “Veronica Mars.” It’s the second move for “Pulse,” which was originally slated for March release.
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Update on ‘Scanner Darkly’ premiere
As of the Austin Film Society’s last count Tuesday, there are just 49 tickets left for tonight’s Austin premiere of Richard Linklater’s “A Scanner Darkly” at the Paramount Theatre. The tickets available are for obstructed-view seats. They’re for sale at the Paramount box office at $8 for AFS members and $12 for nonmembers. For more information, visit austinfilm.org.
‘Stolen’ moment
— “Stolen” — a “mystery documentary” about stolen art — will be the Texas Documentary Tour film for July. The event is at 7 p.m. July 12 at the Alamo Downtown and features a Q&A with producer/director Rebecca Dreyfus. For more information, visit the Austin Film Society Web site.
— More AFS news: Member Dorian Ramirez was announced as a runner-up in RES Magazine’s “Scanner Darkly” trailer remix contest.
— Look for high-school sports doc “The Heart of the Game” to open in Austin in the first part of next month.
— Bide your time until “The Devil Wears Prada” opens with hideousskirt.com.
— As Jack Bauer says on “24,” “YOU ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME” … if you want to see “The Lost City,” “Sketches of Frank Gehry” and “I Am a Sex Addict.” The first two will be gone from the Arbor as of Friday, while “Addict” is leaving the Dobie.
— From 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Regal Gateway theater (9700 Stonelake Blvd.) presents family activities to celebrate the opening of “Superman Returns.’ Kids’ events include a moonwalk obstacle course and a “pin the hair on Lex Luthor” contest. For the adults, there’s Superman karaoke and trivia.
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Locals’ doc coming to DVD
— “Burning Man: Beyond Black Rock” will be out on DVD in August. It’s the maiden project of Gone Off Deep Productions, based on South Lamar Boulevard. The Austin-based filmmakers are producer Mike Wilson, director-editor Damon Brown and producer-story supervisor William Haskins.
— The 13th Annual Slamdance Film Festival wants your entries. Early deadline is Aug. 28. The festival is Jan 18-27 in Park City, Utah.
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Talking ‘Grind House’
— Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino talk about “Grind House” and their friendship at ew.com.
— Scientists give high marks to “An Inconvenient Truth.”
— Out & About goes to “The Proposition.”
— El Arroyo gets into the spirit for the 48 Hour Film Project. Don’t forget about the screenings of the films tonight and Wednesday at the Arbor. Photo by Angela Lee.
— John Hawkes of “Me and You and Everyone We Know” is in town with his band.
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DeLay doc in Austin on Tuesday
“The Big Buy: Tom Delay’s Stolen Congress” is getting an Austin screening Tuesday.
The film will be shown for free at 7 p.m. at the AFL-CIO hall auditorium (capacity is about 150) at 11th and Lavaca streets. Tom “Smitty” Smith of Public Citizen and Suzy Woodford of Common Cause will lead a discussion after the film. The screening is sponsored by the AFL-CIO, Public Citizen and Common Cause.
According to the Web site for the film, “The Big Buy” is screening at house parties around the country Tuesday for “Clean Money Day,” to promote public-financed political campaigns.
“The Big Buy” has already had theatrical runs in other cities, including Dallas and Houston. You can read Chris Garcia’s interview with the filmmakers here.
For more information on Tuesday’s screening, call Smith at 477-1155 or 797-8468, or Suzy Woodford, 474-2374 or 971-4839.
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Locals at L.A. film fest
SXSW’s Matt Dentler, who’s attending the Los Angeles Film Festival, was nice enough to send us a list of Austin-connected filmmakers who are there:
“There’s Steve Collins and John Merriman from ‘Gretchen.’ Mike Akel and Angie Alvarez and the whole gang from the film ‘Chalk.’ There’s Leah Marino here with Brad Beesley’s new doc, ‘The Creek Runs Red.’ There’s Alan Berg, 88, who has a new film here called **’A Place to Dance.’ And then, of course, Rick Linklater is here with ‘Scanner Darkly.’ “
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Girls on film
Girl power is the theme of Mary Celeste Kearney’s new book “Girls Make Media,” which casts a clear, intellectual light on young creative (and female) minds and the stuff they’re making in our tech-driven world, be it movies, Web sites or zines. Kearney knows from what she writes: She’s an assistant professor in UT’s radio-television-film department and the director of Cinemakids, a filmmaking program for youths.
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Peek at ‘Pirates’
— Now you can have Johnny Depp for breakfast. Delicious and prevents scurvy!
Meanwhile, get a sneak peek at “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.” Although the prose will provoke “arrggghs” …
— Dear Steve Carell: We’re not too sure about this “Evan Almighty” business, but will give you the benefit of the doubt.
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‘Devil’ is stylish fun
Future fashion journalists of America, take note: Your dream jobs are waiting.
Sure the positions might first be filled by boring Midwesterners like me, but gals like us, well, we don’t know couture from poly-cotton blend, so heck, we won’t last long.
Your dream will come true in no time. And us? Well, shucks, we’ll find a nice little newspaper and follow our dreams, too.
That’s the world of journalism according to “The Devil Wears Prada,” a film adaptation of the 2003 novel of same name. It opens Friday.
There’s little in “Prada” that hasn’t been covered in any other working-girl-chick-lit-turned-movie, but the delivery of some witty one-line zingers and a few priceless sneers by the “Devil” herself are tiny gems in an otherwise flat coming-of-age tale.
It’s the story of Andrea Sachs, one of those dull Midwestern gals (they always are) who moves to New York City (they always do) to become a journalist and change the world.
When The New Yorker doesn’t want her, Andrea (an uglified Anne Hathaway) interviews for a position as an assistant to Miranda Priestly, the editor of Runway magazine played by a soft-spoken yet intensely intimidating Meryl Streep.
Your dream job is Andrea’s nightmare.
From day one, Andrea (Andy) is nothing more than a note-taking, dog-walking, skirt-fetching, purse-holding doormat for her boss.
It doesn’t help that Andy is fashionably challenged (She asks, “Can you spell Gab-ba-na?”) and, dare I say, a size 6.
Streep is stunningly scary as she manages to bark Miranda’s devilish demands barely louder than a whisper, punctuating each page-long list of orders with an almost sweet-sounding yet condescending “That’s all.”
These orders of Miranda’s are nothing short of impossible tasks, like tracking down the unpublished manuscript of the new Harry Potter book for the editor’s twin brats. But Andy digs in her heels, doing her best for the Cruella DeVille of fashion editors, hoping her good deeds won’t go unnoticed when it’s time to get a real job.
Hathaway is adorable to watch as she remains an idealist, telling everyone that her job as Miranda’s dutiful servent is only temporary and how she dreams of one day writing about politics and foreign affairs.
It’s when the head of the art department Nigel (a pink shirt-wearing Stanley Tucci) helps Andy with a makeover, that she finally realizes happiness does come in the form of Marc Jacobs handbags and Manolo Blahnik strappy sandals. Who knew?
That’s naturally when Andy and her dream-chasing boyfriend Nate (“Entourage’s” Adrian Grenier) get all “I don’t even know who you are anymore!” (Cue tears, now a sappy pop song … and, scene.)
When a trip to a Paris fashion show is dangled in front of her eyes, Andy faces a conundrum: Stay in fashion and get free Hermes scarves for life or quit and follow her dreams of exposing the injustices of janitors’ unions?
“Wow, I’m like, totally gonna be her,” journalism undergrads everywhere will coo as they exit theaters. Yeah, and I’m the next Helen Thomas.
But I must confess I was rooting for Andy the whole way, hoping she would see the light and get out of the Vogue-like offices and start pounding the pavement and chasing ambulances for a city newspaper.
My only question for director David Frankel is, where was the scene of Andy running between taxis and gleefully tossing a Chanel cap into the air a la Mary Tyler Moore?
Isn’t that exactly what dull Midwestern girls do when they realize they’ve made it, after all?
Three stars.
Sarah Frank is a summer intern at the Austin American-Statesman, where she has not been asked to hunt down “Harry Potter” manuscripts or wear designer clothes. (Darn!)
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‘Superman Returns’ doesn’t quite fly
Superman’s a super drag. You think Clark Kent is a tedious milquetoast, try talking to the Man of Stone — that is, Steel. He’s a cold, witless young man with pronounced pecs and a foppish cowlick curling just-so down the middle of his blemishless forehead. We’ll allow that he’s rescued the world on numerous occasions (yawn, stretch), and that he has an intriguing spandexy fashion sense. But his presence is that of a slab of granite chiseled into a Platonic ideal of truth, justice, virtue. He’s the Barbie doll of superheroes, stolid and emasculated, sheer plastic perfection.
Yes, Superman is supposed to be perfect, yet he’s also supposed to be flesh and blood, charming, disarming, pumped by his need to do good, surging with passion when saving the day and poignantly troubled by the Earth’s ambient evil. No matter his interplanetary origins, Superman feels our pain.
In the serviceable but rarely fun “Superman Returns,” Superman returns, limply. We don’t blame former soap star Brandon Routh for this one-note figure, though the actor is something of a blank. Fingers point at director Bryan Singer, who reveres the old-school rudiments of the Christopher Reeve “Superman” (1978), while hoping to reinvent the franchise with computer-animated overkill and big ideas sunk by the absence of logic. He wants his Superman pure and manicured, and curiously sexless.
Approaching the task like a world-on-shoulders burden, Singer’s missteps are clear. To achieve an epic texture, he’s inflated the film with gassy longueurs and slowed the pace; he’s miscast his Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth); doesn’t give Kevin Spacey’s sparkling Lex Luthor enough screen time; and plays up Superman and Lane’s romance without recognizing they have as much chemistry as an overtrained Labrador (Superman) and a spayed, fixed-eyed terrier (Lois).
With the zooming blue credit titles and John Williams’ hummable theme from the ’78 film, “Superman Returns” begins with a flourish. And then it promptly slogs. Superman has left Earth for five years, revisiting his destroyed home planet Krypton. This also means Clark Kent has been gone for five years. Still, no one seems to notice the odd synchronicity of Superman and Kent returning to Metropolis on the same day.
Another tidy coincidence: He returns the same week Lane is receiving the Pulitzer Prize for her nicely loaded editorial in the Daily Planet, “Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman.” Why did she write this so many years after he vanished? We don’t know what the essay says, but the title suggests a passive-aggressive retort by a lover scorned. (Recall, Superman, like Spider-Man, cannot commit to the woman he quietly loves for a complex of reasons.)
So he’s back. So is Lex Luthor, played bald and with the film’s only organic zest by Spacey, who, when not stuck in the script’s Bad Guy banalities, gets off some spittling histrionics that make you grin. Suffering an incurable God complex, Luthor’s big plan is to steal Superman’s “crystal technology” from the Fortress of Solitude — Superman’s bachelor pad, a cavernous ice palace totally unfurnished except for a big screen TV from which the late Marlon Brando intones oracular solemnities. (Never mind.) Luther gets the goods and goes forth with his convoluted, totally illogical scheme.
Singer saw in Routh a calming likeness to Reeve, who died in 2004. When he smiles, Routh shows an eerie resemblance to Reeve, with the razor lips and dimpled chin. His features also bring to mind Jason Schwartzman, although Routh, at 6-feet 3-inches, has about a foot on the “Rushmore” star.
If Routh isn’t commanding as the all-American savior — he’s supposed to be lost in brooding, but comes off more as an egoless vault — Bosworth is simply dull. She plays Lane uptight and humorless. Unlike Margot Kidder’s ’78 Lane, a sort of screwball ditz who could toss a one-liner (“You’ve got me? Who’s got you?”), Bosworth’s is a sober career woman with an out-of-wedlock little boy (cutely annoying Tristan Leabu), who could be the link to the inevitable sequel.
Singer prefers making spectacle over making sense, but at this point some of us are suffering CGI fatigue. The soft edges of digital animation are an upgrade from the hard lines of blue-screen effects in the original movie, and now we can hear the shower-curtainy rustle of Superman’s cape.
What hasn’t evolved is airtight storytelling. Logic holes riddle the movie, not the least of which is why Superman keeps busy with house fires and deli holdups while the world is being riven by famine, war and terrorism.
“Superman Returns” has been compared to the recharged “Spider-Man” and “Batman” franchises, wrongly. The movie isn’t nearly as thoughtful and moving as “Batman Begins” or as darkly exhilarating as “Spider-Man 2.” Let’s tiptoe on a limb and say it’s also not as interesting or intense as Ang Lee’s underrated “Hulk.”
Singer is an avowed comic book fan — his “X-Men” films strike an exemplary balance of action, gravitas and wit — but his resolve not to tinker with the basic recipe creates a stuffy, self-conscious air that muzzles playfulness.
Not only is joy and fun lacking in this superhero tale, but so is toughness, a dramatic urgency for the stakes on screen. It feels flabby and toothless. I hardly buy into the subtext of America needing a superhero for these imperiled times. That’s silly. What America really needs is a good summer movie, a layered divertissement with grit and life and wholly new excitements. We need to laugh and be thrilled. This Superman doesn’t quite come to the rescue.
Two stars
“Superman Returns” opens Wednesday at Westgate 11, Tinseltown Austin, Alamo South, Barton Creek Square, Alamo Village, Gateway, Tinseltown Pflugerville and Lakeline Mall.
Rodriguez-arama!
— It’s a Robert Rodriguez special today on Cinematical with news on “Grind House” and “Sin City.”
— Selma Blair and Ahmet Zappa split.
— Just when you thought you couldn’t feel worse for Jennifer Love Hewitt …
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A killer time
— Assassination H20, a citywide watergun assassination tournament, kicks off Monday at 7 p.m. with a screening of “Gotcha” at the Alamo Downtown. For more information, contact organizer Ty Pearson at 423-7912 or assassinh2o@hotmail.com.
— The 48 Hour Film Project is this weekend, and you can see the results of the 26 local teams’ hard work Tuesday and Wednesday at the Arbor. Screenings start at 6 each night, and admission is $7.
— Austin screenwriter Bonnie Orr speaks at Reel Women’s “The Network” mixer Wednesday night at Mother Egan’s.
A few other Reel Women dates to keep in mind: “First Monday Mix” (this time on the second Monday because of the July Fourth holiday) is 6-8 p.m. July 10 at the Opal Divine’s at Sixth and Rio Grande streets. Screenwriting instructor Suzanne Weinert speaks at the meeting at 7 p.m. July 19 at Austin Filmworks. And July 29 is the deadline for the script competition.
— Opportunities to combine rock and thrift are always good, and the Alamo South has one for you. On July 5, the Alamo screens Dick Rude’s Joe Strummer documentary “Let’s Rock Again” for only $1. And you get to see a second Rude feature, “La Punk.” And you get an invitation and the all-important drink tickets for an after-party at the Beauty Bar. For more information, visit the Alamo Web site.
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McConaughey lands ‘Grackle’
Hmmm, a movie starring our favorite man about town, Texas Film Hall of Fame inductee, sports fan and philosopher Matthew McConaughey but named after a loathsome bird? Now that’s confusing. TMZ is reporting that McConaughey will star in and produce a film called “The Grackle” for New Line.
According to the Web site, “One source tells TMZ that McConaughey plays a human version of ‘The Grackle,’ essentially a Southern jack-of-all-trades hired ‘by those who have trouble fighting for themselves.’ ”
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Want to make films like this?
The Austin Film Festival’s Cinema Television Summer Camp workshops are under way, and if you need proof of the cool stuff they do in this program, check out this short film from alumnus Wade Mitchell. Wade, who’ll be a senior at Austin High this fall, attended the camp last summer.
You can register your budding filmmaker for the “Funny Shorts” class starting July 10.
In the meantime, watch Wade’s film “Bodacious Bros.” And while you’re at it, send us clips of your own films. We love showing you off.
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‘Cavite’ is coming
The intense little thriller “Cavite” — notable not only for winning honors but for landing a distribution deal thanks to the efforts of John Pierson’s UT film class — is coming to the Dobie and DVD. This is after it took a Special Jury Prize at the 2005 SXSW and got its creators Someone to Watch recognition at the Independent Spirit Awards.
It opens July 14 at the Dobie and comes to DVD on Aug. 8. Mark Cuban’s Truly Indie is putting it in theaters and his Magnolia brand is releasing the disc.
Made with spectacular resourcefulness by tyro filmmakers Neill Dela Llana and Ian Gamazon, who also stars as a tourist in the Philippines tormented by a sadistic terrorist, “Cavite” is a pressure-cooker of sweaty tension, taut, timely and dripping with dread. See more at the film’s site.
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Peek inside Kelso’s garage
— Paul Bright’s debut feature, “Angora Ranch,” has just about sold out its showing tonight at 7 at the Arbor. The film has a distribution deal with Water Bearer and will be out on DVD this fall.
The filmmakers ventured into our own John Kelso’s garage for props, a mission you can see here.
— Out & About weighs in on “Fall to Grace,” which ends its run at the Dobie tonight.
— Harry Potter eyes the magic of IMAX 3-D.
— Ew! Stanley Tucci sounds like he escaped from a very special episode of “The Office” about sexual harassment.
— Look at those zombies, wouldja? Why not send us your own pics from your film productions or events? They don’t even have to feature the undead.
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Musical monsters
As mentioned a few blogs ago, Joe Ely, Sara Hickman and other Austin music stars made a cameo Wednesday in “Z: A Zombie Musical.”
Dan Eggleston, the film’s music coordinator, sent over this picture from the set of the locally-made zomedy.
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From script to screen
OK, so you’ve got a script. Now how do you turn it into a movie? The Bastrop nonprofit Upstart presents a daylong workshop called “Breaking Down a Script” with Sidney Brammer of Alleywood Studios.
The workshop, which runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 8, is $60 For more information, e-mail upstart@austin.rr.com or call (512) 321-2496.
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Hoffman has a baby on the way
— Philip Seymour Hoffman is expecting his second child with his longtime girlfriend, Us Weekly reports. We had no idea that a) he has one child already, b) he has a longtime girlfriend and c) that Us Weekly reports on anyone who doesn’t have a feud with Lindsay Lohan.
— The latest on the whole “Is Superman gay?” brouhaha.
— Filmmaker Caveh Zahedi will be at the Dobie for Q&A’s after the screenings of “I Am a Sex Addict” at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
— Disney will Webcast the “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” premiere.
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Justin, Cameron are over
— Justin Timberlake is coming to town a single man.
— “Big Lebowski” overrated? Those are fighting words!
— Sure, it may seem like a frivolous lawsuit, but as one who has also been falsely accused of having a baby bump, I want Reese Witherspoon to rip the Star to shreds, star as herself in the film based on her brave battle and win another Oscar for it.
— The winners of the “Snakes on a Plane” soundtrack contest.
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Screenings Marx the spot
A bona fide Marx Brothers festival is happening at the San Antonio Street Cafe at the Texas Hillel (2105 San Antonio St.), with “Monkey Business” and “Horse Feathers” next up at 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Shows continue Wednesdays through Aug. 2, with special introductions by local experts. Along with titles like “Duck Soup,” “Coconuts” and “A Night at the Opera” is a Marx Brothers exhibit at the cafe. Call 476-0125 or hit www.texashillelcafe.com.
Former Texan Scott Mechlowicz co-stars in the Nick Nolte drama “Peaceful Warrior,” and will do a Q and A following the 7 p.m. screening this Friday at the Dobie.
Undead? This ‘Zombie’ is alive and well
Austin music mainstays Joe Ely, Michael Fracasso, Sara Hickman and Jimmy Lafave are getting green and gooey today for their cameos as zombie guitarists in the big local production “Z: A Zombie Musical”, which keeps drawing local luminaries to the set.
So far, Dale Watson, Austin Symphony conductor Peter Bay, the Tosca String Quartet and Mayor Will Wynn and former mayors Bruce Todd and Jeff Friedman have joined the undead fun. Wheelchair rugby player Mark Zupan of “Murderball” is slated to play a small role as well. The movie’s written and directed by John McLean. Check out www.azombiemusical.com.
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Timberlake and Fergie in Austin
Ryan Phillippe, Justin Timberlake and Abbie Cornish are set to star in the briefly stalled Kimberly Peirce project, which begins shooting this summer in Austin and El Paso. Location scouting is under way around town for the Paramount-produced war drama.
At the Internet Movie Database page for the still untitled movie — which you can peruse here — the plot is distilled to this: “Back home in Texas after fighting in Iraq, a soldier refuses to return to battle despite the government mandate requiring him to do so.”
In case you missed this, the currently shooting Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino horror movie “Grind House” will hit theaters April 6, 2007, according to Dimension Films.
Rodriguez is still shooting his half, the zombie freakout “Planet Terror.” Tarantino will start shooting his part, the slasher flick “Death Proof,” in August. Of course, all of this is happening right here in Austin.
Though QT’s cast hasn’t been named yet, “Planet Terror” stars Naveen Andrews (“Lost”), Freddy Rodriguez, Rose McGowan, Josh Brolin, Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas and others.
Free movies, cool junk and a surprise
— Free stuff at Alamo South: “Shrek” at 1 p.m. Friday, “Batman the Movie” at noon Saturday and classic “Superman” cartoons at 1 p.m. next Monday through Thursday.
— The British version of the MPAA wants to rate Internet content.
— More movies at the Cathedral of Junk this Saturday.
— There’s a surprise in “Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” and you shouldn’t click here if you don’t want to know it.
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Movies on iTunes?
It could happen by this fall. The New York Times is reporting that Apple Computer Inc. chief executive Steve Jobs is in talks with studios. Movie sales have been discussed in the past, the story says, but studios are now more receptive since TV shows have done so well online. Studios aren’t keen on Jobs’ proposal to charge just $9.99 for movies already available on DVD, the Times says.
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The Bollywood Superman
— The Indian super-hero movie “Krrish” is set to open Friday at the Tinseltown Austin theater. Here’s a link to more info about the “masked man who leaps from skyscraper to skyscraper, saves the world and suddenly breaks into song.”
— Halle Berry gets a kitten. No, that’s not really news, but the pictures are cute.
— The Movie Binge looks ahead to “Wordplay,” opening Friday in Austin, and “The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green”, set to open here July 28.
— Tinkerbell will finally speak and when she does, she’ll sound a bit like Luanne Platter.
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Hurry …
The Austin premiere of Richard Linklater’s “A Scanner Darkly,” is almost sold out, the Austin Film Society reports. Tickets are available only through the Paramount Theatre box office for the event, which will be 7 p.m. June 28 at the Paramount.
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Back at the ‘Ranch’
On Thursday, the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival presents the world premiere of novice filmmaker Paul Bright’s locally produced, feature-length film, “Angora Ranch.” The film follows a young salesman who meets a handsome rancher old enough to be his father. As he falls in love with the older man, the salesman confronts his family’s secrets and discovers his true purpose. A Q&A session with the cast and crew takes place following the screening with a reception at Manuel’s Restaurant. 7 p.m. Arbor Cinema, 9828 Great Hills Trail. $6-$8.
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Angelina meets Anderson
Here’s a pic from Angelina Jolie’s interview with Anderson Cooper set to air Tuesday night on CNN.
Meanwhile, talk of Jolie in the “Sin City” sequel is getting revived. Think, if you will, what this means for the city. Are you prepared to see Mad and Brad on the hike-and-bike trail?
— Austinist reports that the Indiana Jones anniversary screenings at the Paramount have been postponed until early September. The Summer Film Series was disrupted because of the flooding at the State Theatre next door.
— Submit your film for Nueva Onda movie nights.
More on ‘The Quiet’
A “Lifetime movie on crack”? Now we’re talking! Cinematical reports on the Burnt Orange Productions film.
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Fat tax on theaters?
Are movies making you fat?
In an article from the Associated Press, experts say our society needs to be redesigned to battle obesity.
James Sallis, a San Diego State University psychology professor, “contends change will come only when the public demands walkable development, more federal money for parks and bike paths and even a tax on industries that promote sedentary lifestyles (he pointed to video game makers, movie theater chains and even electric Segway scooters).”“
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Don’t take candy from ‘Strangers’
It’s such a bummer that the combined talents of Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert and several alums from Comedy Central’s cult TV comedy “Strangers With Candy” can’t make the movie version work that you almost wish the long-delayed movie had stayed on the shelf, the object of speculation and hope instead of the shambling mess that limps along on the big screen.
The movie, which is set to open in Austin on July 21, has more dead spots than a cemetery, and despite the obvious comedic genius of Sedaris, she’s funnier on David Letterman’s couch than in this movie. Colbert sparks the movie back to life whenever he appears, but flat, minuscule set-pieces and even flatter directing sink the film. Cameos from Sarah Jessica Parker (looking like she crammed her appearance in between In Style photo shoots), Matthew Broderick, Iam Holm (!), Philip Seymour Hoffman (!!) and Allison Janney don’t help much.
The only real bits of amusement are throwaway lines of absurdist dialogue (mostly delivered by the spot-on Colbert). You know your ironic, smarter-than-the-mainstream movie is in