Celebrity Sightings

On Thursday night, Austin Film Festival screened its opening-night movie, Serious Moonlight, at the Paramount. Director Cheryl Hines, pictured above, attended the screening and held a Q&A afterwards. The movie stars Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton, Kristen Bell and Justin Long, and was written by the late Adrienne Shelly (Waitress).

A number of film-pass holders were lined up for the film -- it turned out to be a good-sized audience, but everyone was able to get in.

I'm feeling lazy this week, and the idea of writing capsule reviews of every movie I saw at Fantastic Fest, plus descriptions of the events and parties, sounds overwhelming. Therefore, I've taken the slacker's way out, fittingly enough for Slackerwood, and am offering a photo representation of my Fantastic Fest experience. Later on, perhaps I'll have enough energy to tell you how much I liked Bronson and Private Eye, although I'm not sure how long it'll take for me to clarify my thoughts about The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

What was I doing during Fantastic Fest, you may ask?

Pushing my way to the front of a crowd of Gentlemen Broncos:

It's over a week after Fantastic Fest, why are we still writing about it?  Because it was Fantastic Fest, and Chaos Reigns.

You may have heard that even Variety picked up on the Chaos Reigns meme.  Chaos did reign, from a sexy Swede turning grown women and a few men into quivering fans, to Zack Carlson's amazing save of a Yatterman screening by split-screen magic to show subtitles from a screener with the actual film. We had traditions continued, from David Strong nudity (you had to be there, but if you've been to a Fantastic Fest related event, this is not shocking) to the extreme, watching Tim League in a patriotic unitard battle Uwe Boll in the boxing ring (Boll politely didn't wipe the floor with League). 

I finally understood the draw to karaoke, watching Matt Dentler belt out "Paper Planes" and Nacho Vigalondo going all out on classics, with poses that would put Elvis to shame. Tiffany Sullivan, new mom and Fantastic Fest veteran, even got a "Chaos Reigns" onesie for her infant son, photos of which are now plastered all over the Internet.

My biggest regret was missing the Fantastic Fest Awards, and the amazing flip done by Mandrill star Marko Zaror. And missing Mandrill as well.   If you want to get a sense of the actual experience, it's been posted on YouTube. I highly recommend you go to the Fantastic Fest YouTube page to catch most of the Q&As, and some of the special events, like the Fantastic Feud fights, as well as a brilliant compilation of "Chaos Reigns" chants. I think between Nacho Vigalondo and Tim League, the Alamo Army is alive and well, and ready to do their bidding.

The out-of-town fans, actors, filmmakers and film critics have gone home, the parties are over and the post-fest colds are slowly fading after Fantastic Fest 2009. It seems like a good time to reflect over and share my personal festival experience this year, including some films you might want to check out.

Movie highlights:

Solomon Kane - The talented and charismatic British actor James Purefoy portrays the title fictional character created by pulp-era writer Robert E. Howard, best known for his Conan the Barbarian series. Sword and sorcery adventure takes a twist, set in the Puritan era in a grim time portrayed through rain and snow. Despite all the action that packs a wallop in this film, what is truly the core of Solomon Kane is the vision of one man's path to redemption, found in an unlikely manner. The supporting characters in the Crowthorn family were well-cast, with Pete Postlethwaite and Alice Krige as the protective parents and siblings Rachel and Patrick Hurd-Wood as two of the Crowthorn children. Max Von Sydow also makes an appearance.

Q & A highlight: I especially enjoyed writer/director Michael J. Bassett talking about the process of determining the effects of certain weapons, which I described in our latest podcast. It's a technique that will make me question every action film I see involving a weapon from now on.

Television and theater star Rue McClanahan was in Austin last weekend for the Breast Cancer Resource Centers of Texas (BCRC) annual benefit. She kept several hundred attendees entertained and engaged with stories about acting onstage, how she met her current husband Morrow Wilson, and how she discovered that she had cancer.

Although best known for her role as Blanche Devereaux in Golden Girls, McClanahan has also appeared on the big screen throughout her acting career including the comedy Out to Sea (1997) and Starship Troopers (1997).  I asked Ms. McClanahan about her Starship Troopers experience, and she stated that she'd loved working with that nice Dutch director, Paul Verhoeven.

At the end of the keynote speech, the audience and Rue participated in the creation of a new "no talking during the movie" bumper for the Alamo Drafthouse. I won't reveal the details, but suffice to say Rue handled it firmly and elegantly.

This year's Fantastic Fest has featured several gala events that brought all kinds of people to the historic Paramount Theater. Last Friday, Zombieland was the featured premiere. Moviegoers could be "zombified" by makeup artists from Eerie Industries, which also assists with the special effects for Zombie Manor, a haunted adventure in Arlington. Zombie Manor brought along some of their star zombies, who walked the red carpet before the living celebrities arrived. Director Ruben Fleischer and co-stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg and Emma Stone were in attendance for the special screening. The event was open to the public as well as Fantastic Fest attendees.

The horror comedy Zombieland focuses on two men -- Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) and Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) -- who have found a way to survive a world overrun by zombies. I saw a press screening earlier in the week, and had to resist referencing Columbus's "Zombie Rules" afterwards.

Every film festival welcomes filmmakers who attend in support of their projects, but Fantastic Fest offers an unique experience for visitors from the film industry. Tim League, founder of both the festival and Alamo Drafthouse, presents various events that reflect Texas, including a filmmakers luncheon prepared by Chef John Bullington and sponsored by the Texas Film Commission, BBQ runs to Smitty's and Muellers, and the popular annual shotgun event.

Filmmakers from as far as New Zealand and Japan participated in the event this year, which took place at the Capitol City Trap and Skeet Club. After donning safety protection and listening to a thorough safety orientation from experienced shooters, the guests took turns at a walk-through sporting clay course. Each shooting station simulates different hunting situations, and it was interesting to watch the different techniques. Even the novices had a great time on the course, and everyone was cheered on.

Alexander Skarsgård is a consummate gentleman. The True Blood star --who lent his voice to competition narrative feature Metropia -- flew in for the evening to support director Tarik Saleh. There were no handlers protecting him from a swarm of women, several of which were very demonstrative. It was kind of embarrassing to watch. After a nearly 30-minute Q&A, and at least 30 more of autographs and pictures, he managed to make his getaway.

Skarsgård and Saleh ended up over at the Highball, and while the crowd was much better behaved, it was hard not to get caught up in the fervor, although only one woman was clutchy at that point. The man handled it very graciously, and my Grandma would be impressed with his manners; he stood up every time someone approached him. And he was constantly approached.  He shook hands with me no less than a dozen times. It was fun watching people watch and talk to him.

Even though Skarsgård (Zoolander, Generation Kill) won't be at the second screening of Metropia, I highly recommend the film. My screener only had the first 30 minutes and I was hooked. The detail is incredible, and the animation is outstanding. I think it's my favorite film of the fest so far, as I found it mesmerizing.

Last night, I worked the red carpet for a premiere of Gentlemen Broncos, the opening-night film for Fantastic Fest. Gentlemen Broncos is a comedy from the director of Napoleon Dynamite, Jared Hess, who wrote the movie with Jerusha Hess. They were at the screening along with several of the film's stars. Here are some of my favorite photos from the event.

A long line formed at the Paramount of Fantastic Fest attendees and people who had just bought tickets to this movie. It was a good audience -- I can't tell if it was a full house, but from the front of the theater, the balcony looked pretty crowded.

Normally, we post Movies This Week every Friday at this time. And I diligently worked on a snappy and amusing Movies This Week for about a half hour last night.

Then the Internet ate my entry. And it was 1 am, so I went to bed.

Because of Fantastic Fest, I don't have time to re-create the entry, not to mention that Jenn's comment under the Personal Picks section was, "Don't make me think." The one movie opening this week that I do want to see is Bright Star, Jane Campion's film about the love affair between poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, and I hope it'll play in Austin for more than one week so I get the chance.

Instead, I'm referring you to the very fine Screens section of the Austin Chronicle for info on movies opening in Austin this week, and to our own Event Calendar for details about other screenings around town. Movies This Week will return next week.

In the meantime, please enjoy this lovely photo of Dennis Quaid from the Texas Film Hall of Fame in March. Quaid stars a film opening today in theaters, Pandorum, about two astronauts stranded in a spaceship. And speaking of astronauts, that reminds me of Moon, which stars Sam Rockwell, and Slackerwood will have some photos of Rockwell from last night's Gentlemen Broncos premiere up soon.