Reviews

Theatrical and DVD reviews.

SXSW Review: Mars

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The animated feature debut of Austin filmmaker Geoff Marslett, Mars, is a refreshing antidote to the dark and provocative films that usually crowd out the less dramatic films.

Mars is the story of has-been astronaut Charlie Brownsville (Mark Duplass), whose fame is in decline but still valuable enough to be included in the crew of the first manned mission to the red planet.  Literally there as a backup and PR frontman, Brownsville is merely a talking head while Casey Cook (Zoe Simpson) and Captain Hank Morrison (Paul Gordon) do the real work, trying to beat the second unmanned mission to Mars to find out the fate of the first.

On the surface, Mars looks like science fiction, but in reality, it's a lighthearted love story. Brownsville may be a showman with his bedazzled and Western-yoked suit, but despite his bravado, he actually does have a valuable speciality. Cook, like any intelligent woman, has little patience for a wastrel, but eventually realizes there's more to Brownsville. 

Blu-ray Review: Days of Heaven

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Days of HeavenNo one would argue that director, writer and producer Terrence Malick is a prolific filmmaker. Since directing his first feature, Badlands, in 1973, he has directed a mere three more. Four, if you count the upcoming The Tree of Life, which has been in production for two years. Malick is not one to be rushed. But what Malick's career lacks in quantity, it more than makes up for in quality. His first two films, Badlands and Days of Heaven, are considered classics; his third, The Thin Red Line, was a critical darling when released in 1998.

Given Malick's auteur reputation, it's no surprise that Days of Heaven has achieved an honor bestowed on a relative handful of films: It's now available on a stunning new Criterion Collection Blu-ray Disc, starting today. Released to wide acclaim in 1978, Malick's second feature is a fine example of his visually poetic, deliberately paced style.

Set in the Texas Panhandle at the dawn of World War I, Days of Heaven is the story of Bill (Richard Gere), a Chicago steelworker who, after killing his boss in a fight, flees to Texas with his girlfriend, Abby (Brooke Adams), and young sister Linda (Linda Manz). The three find work harvesting wheat in the fields of a stoic Panhandle farmer known only as The Farmer (Sam Shepard).

When the harvest ends, the farmer -- in love with Abby but unaware that she and Bill are a couple (they have been posing as brother and sister) -- invites them all to stay on at the farm. In quintessential Malick fashion, the story then becomes a study -- a thoroughly poetic one, of course -- of human nature's dark side. The love triangle turns from merely complicated to completely sinister, as Abby marries the farmer in a cynical scheme to inherit his assets. The scheme goes awry, and the characters' underlying tensions explode against a biblically disastrous backdrop of locusts, fire and death.

SXSW Review: Tucker & Dale vs Evil

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Rednecks versus college kids? That's a horror genre cliche. In the case of Tucker & Dale vs Evil, it's 88 minutes of horror comedy gold. 

Tucker and Dale are two rednecks complete with an old truck and possibly older overalls who are going to their new vacation cabin for the weekend. Unfortunately, it's Spring Break, so an SUV-load of college kids are heading the same direction. Things get bloody when a coed nearly drowns.

The best comedy exposes truths and flips stereotypes on their proverbial ear, and that's the power of Tucker & Dale vs Evil. In this case, the college kids keep flipping out, assuming the earnest and philosophical Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and the soft-hearted Dale (Tyler Labine) are straight out of Deliverance.  Tudyk and Labine have an onscreen chemistry that belies the fact it's their first film together and not a life-long bromance like their characters. 

SXSW Review: This Movie is Broken

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This Movie is Broken

You can read more of contributor Laurie Coker's SXSW reviews and features at True View Reviews.

I do not like watching concerts on film or television. Just ask my husband. Unless the movie has some special draw, like that I want to share the experience with him because he loves music, I avoid concerts that are not live. I also have a huge problem with most music videos. This Movie is Broken, which is having its world premiere at SXSW, is basically a long, long music video with a tiny, interesting but all too brief story woven in between songs, performed in concert format by Toronto's famous indy rock band Broken Social Scene.

Directed by Bruce McDonald and written by Don McKeller, This Movie is Broken had me engrossed in the story of its characters, but since the film's main footage shows the band in performance, I felt frustrated and dissatisfied. However, I did like the story, what little there was of it.

SXSW Review: The Runaways

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How perfect is it that a headliner film at SXSW would be a biopic of a groundbreaking all-girl rock band that jump started the careers of rock-and-roll legends? Maybe not perfect, but certainly entertaining.

Floria Sigismondi, a veteran of music videos, penned and directed the biopic of The Runaways, a 1970s band that included Joan Jett and Lita Ford. Jett (Kristen Stewart) is the focus along with lead singer Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning), and the movie follows them in the classic rise and fall expected in most rock-and-roll tales. 

One would think that a film that starts off with a graphic punctuation of coming of age would be more risky. After so many rock films, especially Sid and Nancy, it's hard to be shocked anymore. The closest thing to shock value is the raw sexuality of Jett and Currie, singularly and together.  Joan Jett apparently hasn't publically declared her sexuality (although she's been seen with "Dykes Rule" slogans), and Sigismondi's script doesn't try to categorize it while playing up the attraction between Jett and Currie. The disturbing part of the film is the sexualization of Currie, who at 15 becomes a sex symbol onstage and off despite being underage, and neither Fanning nor Sigismondi back away from any line. Fanning is disturbingly sexual, emphasizing the underage aspect to the sexuality and the exploitation of a girl in the name of success.

Review: A Prophet

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Director Jacques Audiard's follow up to the memorable The Beat That My Heart Skipped (De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté) has finally reached Austin, nearly a year after taking Cannes by storm.

A Prophet (Un prophète) is a complex prison tale that both condemns the system in all its forms and celebrates the perverted way it transforms lives. Nineteen-year-old Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim) is sent to prison for attacking a cop. Friendless, with no family and fewer clues, Malik quickly finds himself faced with committing a terrible crime or die. The reward is the dubious protection of a Corsican kingpin (Niels Arestrup) who takes Malik under his wing, but like an abusive father, this boon comes with a hefty price tag.

While Arab in ethnicity, Malik has little cultural ties with other Arabs, making him a man without any affiliations other than what he forges. His only resources are his mind, his resilience and his patience, and his evolution is marked by chapters most often associated with the people in Malik's life.

SXSW Review: For The Sake of The Song: The Story of Anderson Fair

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Anderson Fair

The documentary For The Sake of The Song: The Story of Anderson Fair tells the tale of Anderson Fair Retail Restaurant, the renowned Houston more-charity-than-business venue that has anchored the Texas singer/songwriter circuit for decades. Beloved Texas musicians from Lyle Lovett to Townes Van Zandt have honed their craft on its stage -- which, in its earliest days, was more cleared corner than actual stage.

The film opens with a shot of the Anderson Fair sign being ripped off the face of the building. That bit of dramatic tension creates some misdirected expectations. The film really is about capturing a moment in time, when Anderson Fair became the home base for Texas' most revered folk singers. The story is told through interviews with both musicians and staff, with many musical performances interspersed.

The movie will be a treat to fans. The production is beautiful and the sound is lovingly produced. Numerous performances are complemented by an original soundtrack from Austinite Gurf Morlix. Even the archival footage was crisp and clear on the Paramount big screen (and sound system).

SXSW Review: Monsters

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Monsters

Writer/director Gareth Edwards makes his feature film debut with Monsters, which premiered at a sold-out midnight screening at SXSW Presents: Fantastic Fest at Midnight. The English filmmaker and his cast and crew traveled in a van for several months throughout Central America to create a tale that is more of a road movie than simply another alien invasion. Through a combination of CGI effects created on his own laptop and natural settings, Edwards establishes a plausible reality.

Monsters is based on a simple premise: Six years ago, NASA discovered the possibility of alien life within our solar system. A probe was launched to collect samples, but crashed upon re-entry over Central America. New life forms began to appear there and half of Mexico was quarantined as an infected zone. The American and Mexican military still struggle to contain "the creatures."

SXSW Review: Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission

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Soyuz Meal

Richard Garriott: Man on A Mission is an inspiring full-length documentary by local filmmaker Mike Woolf that chronicles Austin serial entrepreneur and game developer Richard Garriott as he becomes the first second generation astronaut to travel into space. The film takes viewers on a detailed countdown to launch as Garriott makes his way through his year of training. From Star City, Moscow, to NASA, to Yuri Gagarin’s original launch pad -- viewers are Garriott's co-pilot in his journey to the stars. Through Garriott's experiences, the audience not only gets a fresh look at the under-appreciated history of the Russian space program but also is exposed to never-before-seen footage from inside the re-entry capsule.

The liftoff to space seen in Man on a Mission was a lifetime in the making. Garriott built his fortune as one of the founding fathers of massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORGs), most notably his first game Ultima. From his first game sale in high school to his millions with Ultima Online, he has invested in private space travel including the Spacehab modules. He is a primary funder of the X-Prize and Space Adventures, the only company that can take private citizens to the ISS -- Garriott is the sixth one to fly to orbit.

SXSW Review: Barry Munday

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Barry Munday

You can read more of contributor Laurie Coker's SXSW reviews and features at True View Reviews.

One of the things that never fails to surprise me for good or bad, when I attend SXSW or any other film festival, is the fact that some extremely crappy films, like say last year's Observe and Report, can get funding and distribution from the likes of Warner Brothers and other far better films have to seek private promoters or never get released at all. Barry Munday, a movie from filmmaker Chris D'Arienzo, making his delightful directorial debut, still waits to be picked up by a major studio. It is a remarkably simple and entertaining film about a man who, after waking up to find his testicles gone, discovers what it really mean to be a man. It is a coming of age for a thirtysomething-year-old and it is good.

Patrick Wilson (Watchmen, Hard Candy), whom I had the pleasure to interview at SXSW, plays the titular character, a fellow who envisions himself as a real ladies man and who appears to be perpetually stuck in the 90s. Wilson himself refers to Barry as "definitely douchey, but not a bad guy." And he's right.

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