Austin360 blogs > Austin Movie Blog > Archives > 2006 > June > 13
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Flood washes out Paramount films
The flood at the State Theatre is forcing the Paramount Theater next door to make changes in the Summer Film Series. The movies “The Man Who Would Be King” and “Gunga Din,” which were to show tonight and Wednesday, have been canceled. The Indiana Jones program originally planned for this weekend will be rescheduled. Things should be back to normal for the film series by Monday.
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‘Scanner’ is excellent, plus Linklater’s latest
Moving at a clip comparable to Werner Herzog, Woody Allen and Michael Winterbottom, Richard Linklater is averaging two movies a year and not slowing.
He’s working on a documentary about the Longhorns baseball team, continuing his untitled multiyear feature project — in which he follows a little girl as she grows up in real time — and has begun production on “Last Flag Flying,” the 2005 sequel to 1973’s classic military dramedy “The Last Detail,” starring a young, profane Jack Nicholson and directed by Hal Ashby.
Linklater is adapting Darryl Poniscan’s novel and will, of course, direct. So far, Morgan Freeman and Randy Quaid, who played the young sailor heading to prison in “Last Detail,” have been cast. Freeman plays an older version of the character played by Otis Young. No word yet if Nicholson will return as foulmouthed Billy Buddusky. The war in Iraq is the backdrop this time.
Linklater will have two films on screens this year, starting with “A Scanner Darkly” on July 7, followed by “Fast Food Nation” in the fall. The good news is “Darkly” is excellent, despite the first wave of bad reviews from Cannes. The rotoscope animation totally suits the dystopic Los Angeles, which is plucked from Philip K. Dick’s sci-fi novel, and the performances are screaming good.
What’s surprising is how funny the movie is, at least the first two-thirds. Woody Harrelson and Robert Downey Jr. make a crackling comic team, riffing, dissing and sparking off each other like ornery brothers. The drug-filled story hints at the privacy-invading aspects of today’s Patriot Act, though its done with a rapier, not a bludgeon.
Critics have griped about the film’s talkiness. Geez, it’s a Linklater film. You get what you pay for. And I like what I got.
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Look! Out at the Bullock!
The IMAX 3D version of “Superman Returns” will open at the Bullock Texas State History Museum’s IMAX theater on Aug. 4, the museum announced today.
Select scenes from the movie will be in digital 3D. According to IMAX.com, “on-screen cues will alert moviegoers when to place the 3D glasses on, and when to take them off.”
The film opens in wide release on June 28.
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Film with UT ties gets release date
“The Quiet,” the debut feature from the University of Texas Film Institute and Burnt Orange Productions, will be out Aug. 25 in New York and L.A. Austin will get the film sometime in September, according to information from Sony Pictures Classics. The thriller stars Elisha Cuthbert, Edie Falco and Camilla Belle and was shot in Austin in fall 2004. It made its world premiere at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival.
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‘Truth’ more convenient for South Austin
“An Inconvenient Truth,” now playing only at the Arbor, expands Friday to the Alamo South.
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Papa Jack Black
— “Nacho Libre” star Jack Black is a new dad.. Says Black: ““I’m going to be the best daddy on the planet, and I’m going to enter the best daddy competition. And I’m going to win it.” So you know what we need right? Daddy brackets. Black takes on fellow new dad Adam Sandler, and the winner plays the victor in the Ben Affleck-Matt Damon matchup. Take it all the way, Jack. And when you smite Tom Cruise, smite him hard.
— Willie Nelson will be back as Uncle Jesse in the straight-to-DVD “Dukes of Hazzard” sequel.
— Awards for movie trailers. Who knew?
— Eminem as a bounty hunter?
— Some people are thinking about the Oscars already. And they’re thinking that the top five contenders are Clint Eastwood’s “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Red Sun, Black Sand,” “Dreamgirls,” “The Good German” and “The History Boys.” Richard Linklater’s “Fast Food Nation” is in the list of other possible contenders.
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An evening of green screenings
If “An Inconvenient Truth” (which is excellent, BTW) has whetted your appetite for environmental docs, check out “Green Screen: Films From the Environmental Front,” a series that runs the third Wedneday of every month at the Alamo Downtown.
That means the next installment is coming up next Wednesday, June 21. On the bill is “The River,” a 1938 doc about the Tennessee Valley Authority’s management of the Mississippi. Its narration was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry. The evening also features 1983’s “River of Innocence,” about the history and geology of the San Marcos River. The soundtrack includes music by Shake Russell, Dana Cooper and Jack Ingram, and director Ron Coley will be in attendance.
The films start at 7 p.m., and admission is free. The event is sponsored by Save Our Springs Alliance, Save Barton Creek Association, Environment Texas, Eco-wise, GEAR Rentals, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Austin Chronicle, Austin Film Society, Miscellaneous Rentals and Turnkey Rentals.
