Richard Linklater

Just a quickie to let you know that now you can watch the film that inspired the name of this website, Richard Linklater's indie sensation Slacker, on Hulu.com. In addition, Hulu's blog includes a tribute to the film from filmmaker Kevin Smith.

Cinetic Media is responsible for Hulu getting posting rights for Slacker -- former Austinite and SXSW Film director Matt Dentler now works in their digital-rights management division. So I'm sure we have Matt to thank at least partially for this free treat.

Photos of Matthew McConaughey, even when he's wearing a shirt, never do grow old, do they? Of course not. That's why I knew you wouldn't mind waiting for me to put together this little photo essay from the Surfer, Dude premiere.

The thing to realize about red-carpet events is that they truly can be a circus, but that this is not always a bad thing. Some people go to giant malls on the day after Thanksgiving, some people go to Mardi Gras in the French Quarter, and some of us go to red-carpet events. I have to wonder -- if they get this crowded and chaotic in Austin, how is it in New York or LA? Or perhaps in those big cities they're a lot more blase about it. This event was called a "green carpet" but it was as red-carpet-y as we get in Central Texas.

I arrived at the Paramount and was assigned a spot not far from the door into the theater, next to Cole and Bobby, who write for (natch) Cole and Bobby at the Movies, as well as Study Breaks magazine. We were joined shortly thereafter by Statesman arts and entertainment editor Michael Barnes, who positioned himself right next to the door, so he could do some short interviews for his Out and About column and blog. This was great for me because I could take photos while the guys were interviewing people.

UT prof and filmmaker Spencer Parsons bangs out a bit of retrospective prose for Film in Focus on whether Austin is as cool as it used to be.

Move to Austin, and you're likely to hear from people that you just missed it. Upon arrival, I took the laments for what had just been snuffed out more seriously than I do now, not because I've discovered the complaint to be untrue or found peace with the ultimate franchising of America, but ironically because I now so often find myself telling newcomers the same thing. Austin was way better before this legendary club closed, or that dollar cinema with Bollywood Fridays lost its lease to CVS, and of course it was better before all the fucking condos. Not that there isn't much to be missed, but on the whole, the city's been good at holding onto its identity, and whenever I travel to other American cities, I find that, for instance, our Starbucks saturation appears to remain at a national low.

Read "The Once and Future Austin" at Film in Focus.

Austin Movie Blog is reporting that tickets are selling fast for the local premiere of A Scanner Darkly on Wednesday 6/28 at The Paramount. (I guess the SXSW screening didn't count as a premiere ... the movie wasn't quite finished then.) So if you're planning to attend, buy tickets ASAP. The screening will be followed by a Q&A from director Richard Linklater and other cast/crew members.

Here's the difficulty, for me: Austin Film Society, one of the premiere's sponsors, isn't selling the tickets through its usual online service. You have to buy the tickets through The Paramount's box office, which means you have to drive downtown to The Paramount during its (limited) box-office hours. And park downtown to do it, too. The AFS online ticket service has had its problems over the years, particularly with large or in-demand event (most memorably, the server crashed during QT 6 sales), but right now I would really appreciate using it to buy tickets for this premiere. Even a phone option would be nice. The Paramount's usual ticket service may work well for theater and live performances, but many moviegoers are spoiled by the ease of online purchases for screenings. At least I am.

I've already seen A Scanner Darkly at SXSW and previewed it for Cinematical. I'd like to see the movie again, completed, outside of festival crunch mode. And I would certainly recommend the film, whether you catch it at the local premiere or after it releases on July 7. You may not actually like the movie, but it's fascinating.

I'd been wondering why Richard Linklater decided to flash the "Hook 'Em Horns" sign during Cannes last week. Perhaps it's because the local director has been filming a documentary about the Longhorns baseball team, as the Austin American-Statesman reports today. The documentary's been following the college team for the last seven months. The Texas baseball team has won six national championships, but none consecutively -- the documentary will focus on the team's efforts this year to become champions two years in a row. UT gets copies of the footage once shooting is complete. No word yet on the potential audience/distribution: could be theatrical, cable, or PBS.

[via Matt Dentler's Blog]

I was reading an AP wire story about Richard Linklater at the premiere of his film A Scanner Darkly at Cannes, and was a little surprised by the accompanying photo. Go have a look.

The photo caption begins: "American director Richard Linklater gestures as he attends a press conference ..."

Pop quiz: What exactly is that gesture? And how difficult would it be for the photographer or writer to figure it out? Couldn't they have asked Linklater?

If you're not a University of Texas sports fan, you might not know that the gesture is in fact the "Hook 'em Horns" sign made by loyal Longhorns everywhere. But I can't imagine that the Longhorn sign is unknown outside the state of Texas. You'd think after the U.S. President flashed the "Hook 'em" sign last year and was misinterpreted, that reporters would have learned about it by now.

I would love to know exactly why Linklater was making the sign during a Cannes press conference. Was it a little secret cheer that he figured only the Austinites would understand? Or was there some other context involved?

Obviously the point of this story is that someone needs to send me to Cannes the next time Linklater, or any other Austin filmmaker, happens to be there.