No bike rally this week, so it's safe to be back on the streets again. Well, relatively speaking. It's certainly quieter, isn't it?

Opening this Week

Away We Go is the first-run film to see this weekend. It's a sweet, snarky, and smart road trip romantic comedy about a young couple (Maya Rudolph, John Krasinski) expecting their first baby. Unhappy in their living situation, and suddenly with no local connections, they embark on a transcontinental journey to find the perfect place to raise their child, near either friends or family. The film unfolds as a caustic examination of family value archetypes.

From Allison Janney's caustic (and hysterically funny) negligence to Maggie Gyllenhall's excessively new-age parenting philosophy, there's a lot to see that's both obvious and subtle. While Krasinski frequently falls into a Seth Rogan impersonation, Maya Rudolph steals every scene she's in, even if she's only widening her eyes -- whether it's a 'in-law' with belly appropriation issues or judgmental airline reps. This is one you'll regret not seeing in theaters, as it's bound to be on a lot of "Best of" lists. It's already topping my mental list for the best releases this year.

An Austin-based filmmaker has made it to the semifinals of the Netflix Find Your Voice film competition sponsored by Netflix and Film Independent.

Robbie Pickering is eligible to win $350,000 to make his feature film Natural Selection. If he wins, Pickering is hoping to shoot the movie in Texas. The premise is that a barren housewife discovers her husband has been making deposits at a sperm bank for nearly 25 years. If that doesn't sound like an Austin sort of weird, I don't know what would.

For more information about Pickering and the competition, and to watch a clip from his film, go to the Netflix Find Your Voice website. You can vote for him there.

Every spring, John Pierson teaches a master class at The University of Texas in which filmmakers, actors, producers, and other film-related professionals chat about the work they've been doing. And in the summer, KUT broadcasts many of the best moments from these classes so we all can enjoy hearing these professionals.

The excerpts will play on KUT's show "The Best of Public Radio" starting on Sunday, June 21 at 11:30 am. The Austin Chronicle film blog, Picture in Picture, has posted a tentative schedule of the shows. You can hear Pierson and his class talk with Harvey Weinstein, Morgan Spurlock, Mike Judge, Ellen Kuras, and local film critics Marjorie Baumgarten and Chris Garcia. I've attended Pierson's classes in the past and the discussions are always lively and interesting.

One of Pierson's classes that isn't making it to KUT this year is his conversation with novelist and screenwriter Tom Perrotta (Little Children). However, Austin Kleon drew one of his cool "mind maps" of the session, which I've included above -- a visually engaging way of taking and sharing notes. Thanks very much to Austin for putting a Creative Commons license on his illustration so I could share it here. And if you want to see a photo of Pierson and his guests in action, here's an entry with photos I took from the class with Matt Stone in 2008.

Writing about Weird Wednesday last week, especially Richard Rush's film Psych-Out, made me think about the time Rush was in town for some special screenings of his films at Alamo Drafthouse. This was in August 2006 at the old theater on Colorado. I brought my old camera that night and the photos are terribly grainy, but I still like them. At the time, I started to write about the evening, but never got it done (a placeholder was notoriously in the Slackerwood queue for about two years).

With the recent funding of film incentives in Texas, and the re-opening of Austin Studios after much-needed infrastructure upgrades in January, a lot of attention has focused on bringing new film business to Austin.

Right now there is brewing concern within the local film community over a potential five-year sub-lease to Soundcheck Nashville, a music recording/rehearsal studio and equipment/instrument renter. That's not a film-specific organization, which has lead to fears that progress that's been made will be eroded by this five-year commitment that will take up 28,000 square feet of Austin Studios stage space.

After hearing feedback about the potential lease, Austin Studios/AFS had scheduled a community forum for this Thursday. The forum has been pushed back a week to Thursday, June 25, to avoid a time conflict with a City Council meeting that will include a vote on Austin Studios' own lease renewal. Austin Studios is run by Austin Film Society, but it is also a city project. The city lease vote is not related to the potential sub-lease, which will also have to be approved by the city.

On Saturday, the Splash Party Movie Nights return to Deep Eddy Pool, just in time to cool off from the triple-digit temps predicted for this week.

The series runs every Saturday excluding Independence Day through the first weekend in August, starting at dusk. You can chill in the spring-fed pool, picnic on the lawn, and buy snacks from the refreshment stand.

The lineup includes six family-friendly movies:

• The Tale of Despereaux: June 20
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (the only PG-13 film): June 27
• Madagascar 2: July 11
• Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3-D: July 18
• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory: July 25
• Kung Fu Panda: August 1

You might note that some of these same titles are playing at other kid-friendly summer film series around town, and Willy Wonka is also featured at a special rooftop screening at Whole Foods on Friday. So you have options when it comes to venues. In this heat, having the water to cool off in while getting your film geek on seems like a good option.

The movie nights are covered under the regular pool entrance fee, which varies from $1-3 and does not include parking fees. Call 472-8546 for more information.

[Photo credit: "Deep Eddy" by Portal and Friends. Found on Flickr, used under Creative Commons license.]

Austin's horror fans were either at Alamo Ritz Saturday night, or lamenting how quickly the tickets sold out for a special screening of Night of the Creeps, celebrating its pending release on DVD on October 19. If you weren't there, you missed a great screening, worth even having to wade through crowds of motorcycle enthusiasts and hundreds of bikes revving loudly all night long.

Old-time Alamogoers would've easily noticed a welcome difference from the old location; no external sound bleed at all. Walking to the Alamo, I was nearly deafened by the sound on the streets. Even some of the motorcycle attendees themselves were covering their ears as they walked down Sixth Street. In the bigger theater at the Alamo Ritz, it was a different world.

It's Monday morning and we've got your hot exciting local film-related news for you! It's also too damn early for exclamation points and excitement. But, you know, some of this news is almost as energizing as coffee.

• Austin Chronicle writer Marc Savlov asked Tim League exactly what in the world is going on with Alamo Drafthouse these days, and got some happy news. The Leagues are turning the old Salvation Army space near Alamo South into a bowling alley/private karaoke/fun space where you can wait to see a movie at Alamo or chat about one afterwards. I admit I got a little misty when I read that the bowling lanes are from the old Rock'n'Bowl in New Orleans. I assume this space will be ready in time for Fantastic Fest. Yay!

This weekend, downtown Austin is home to a biker rally, and the roaring of motorcycles is already filling the city. Luckily, there's plenty of movie action to keep you off the streets.

Tony Scott's re-imagining of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 opens today, putting his Dramamine-inducing spin on the 1974 classic. Scott replaced transit cop Walter Matthau with demoted control man Denzel Washington, making for a filler movie. Normally I don't mind Scott's overly kinetic shooting style, but it was often unnecessary and the changes to the story that seem to exist because the filmmakers don't trust an audience to have the attention span or brain capacity to appreciate a slower, more deliberate film.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is not bad, but it's just not memorable. Supporting characters that made the original interesting, like Hector Elizondo as Mr. Grey, are marginalized and replaced with non-speaking characters who, in this post-9/11 world, are of apparent Middle Eastern descent. The decorum of Robert Shaw's Mr. Blue is trashed by John Travolta's tattooed and retro facial hair as the foul-mouthed Ryder. In fairness, Scott did not introduce swearing to the script; it was in the original, although uttered by different characters.

On KGSR morning radio earlier this week, the hosts were complaining about an problem one of them had at Alamo Ritz when he saw The Hangover last weekend. He was annoyed that he couldn't hear the pre-show. For The Hangover, the Alamo Ritz pre-show consisted of stand-up comedy clips, and this guy felt that part of the Alamo experience is getting to watch the pre-show in relative peace. Instead, the pre-show comedy was drowned out by audience members were "shouting at the top of their lungs."

The morning-show hosts felt that people should keep their voices down as soon as they enter an Alamo theater -- make the minimum noises needed to get into seats and order food, but then treat the pre-show like it was the actual movie.

I have to disagree. When people go to movies in groups, they like to chat and have social time before the movie starts -- it's part of the fun of going to movies in groups. I think of the Alamo pre-show as a conversation piece, like a coffee-table book or the thing your aunt gave you that you don't know what it is. I do agree with the KGSR guys that you should use your inside voice in the movie theater, but I think that's true generally.