Me and Slackery News Tidbits

I thought we were having a slow news week, but the local film news really added up. Here are some of the highlights:

• The Statesman's Out and About blog released the results of the newspaper's "Best Austin Movie Theater" poll. No surprise: All four Austin-area Alamo theaters were in the top four slots, although we're a bit disappointed that Village and its snazzy 4K digital didn't rate a bit higher. Bigger surprise: Tinseltown Pflugerville tied for fifth place with the Bob Bullock IMAX theater. Jette saw a movie at the Pflugerville theater in June and found the picture and sound quality atrocious -- some of the speakers weren't working at all. Readers, what charms of Tinseltown Pflugerville are we missing?
• Richard Linklater's latest film, Me and Orson Welles (pictured at right), now has an Austin release date of December 4. If you want to see it sooner, the movie will play the Houston Cinema Arts Festival on Nov. 11, as the opening-night film, with Linklater attending.
• The first speakers for the SXSW 2010 Film Conference were announced this week: Argentine musician/composer Gustavo Santaolalla (Brokeback Mountain, Babel) and comic-book artist Gilbert Shelton, a former Austinite who is currently involved in adapting his Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers into a movie.
• Speaking of SXSW, if you didn't catch We Live in Public at the 2009 fest or during this week's limited run, it's playing in Austin for another week, daily at Alamo Ritz. Wish we'd thought of this sooner, but Alamo totally should host a Tweet-Along night for this documentary.
• Tickets are now available for two Texas Motion Picture Alliance (TXMPA) events: a workshop on "Surviving Legal and Business Pitfalls and Navigating Incentives" on Oct. 31; and the annual Spaghetti Western fundraiser on Nov. 1.
• If you're in a spendy mood today, you also can buy a badge for the Austin Asian American Film Festival, which runs from Nov. 12-15 at Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar, the Texas Union Theater and the Mexican American Cultural Center. The festival's schedule is available on the website. An all-access badge costs $50 through the end of this month.
• Wait, one more fest! Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek's Dismember the Alamo Zombie Film Festival runs from Oct. 29-31 this year, and the full lineup has been published. Dead Snow, the "zombie Nazi" film that's been making the festival rounds, will have its Texas premiere. The fest will hold its traditional "Zombie Lurch to the Capitol" downtown on Sunday, Oct. 25 at 5 pm -- we may have to take a short Austin Film Festival break and walk over there to see the undead in action.
• Finally, Salvage Vanguard Theatre is presenting a stage production of Evil Dead: The Musical this month. Austinist has a review. Groovy, baby.

In addition, check our Event Calendar for more information about upcoming movies and related events.