Free Movies

There are many, many people lamenting not having fast enough fingers to get tickets for Cinemapocalypse yesterday. Thankfully, all three of us Slackerwood gals managed to snag our tickets in the one minute before the dusk-til-dawn festival sold out yesterday (a record time, even by Alamo standards). We'll do our best to make you feel like you were there without feeling left out. Tickets are still available for the VIP feast and Q&A simulcast of just Inglourious Basterds, however.

The Austin film scene has a lot going on this weekend, including Lights! Camera! Help!, a local festival showcasing non-profit efforts through film, which starts tonight. Debbie will be covering the festival for us, so keep an eye open for that.

Opening this Week

Funny People is the subject of our group review this week. Will Adam Sandler fans like this comedy from Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up)? It'll be interesting to see how well it does this weekend.

Austin has so many free movie options -- we wrote up a whole guide to free summer films, after all -- that you wouldn't think the city had room for more. But a new source for free films this summer has appeared on the scene -- BookWoman, on N. Lamar near 2222, has launched "An Evening for the Ladies Film Series" on Fridays at 7:30 pm this month.

The series actually started July 10, but here's the info on the other three films for July:

Friday, July 17: She Likes Girls, Vol. 3 -- A 2007 collection of lesbian-themed short films from filmmakers such as Guinevere Turner, Julie Goldman, Cassandra Nicolaou and Tina Scorzafava.

Friday, July 24: Women in Love -- In this 2005 film, Karen Everett creates a documentary about her own love life and her circle of friends, as she reaches age 40.

Friday, July 31: The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love -- The title says it all in this romantic 1995 film from writer/director Maria Maggenti.

With record-breaking temperatures all week, staying in the delicious chill of AC is ideal. Austin offers plenty of movie events to keep you busy this week.

Opening this Week
Many Austin film film fans ave been waiting impatiently for Moon to open locally after a very successful SXSW premiere, and our patience is finally rewarded. Director and co-writer Duncan Jones, along with Nathan Parker, have penned an old-fashioned science-fiction tale, the sort that utilizes an unfamiliar landscape to explore the human condition and social vistas. In this case, Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is at the end of three-year stint alone on the moon, and has clearly been there too long, when he has a very personal encounter. It's the type of movie that screams for lengthy discussions after viewing, but works best the less you know.

Needless to say, it's not a typical post-millennium Hollywood movie, but one that is destined to become a classic. The underrated Sam Rockwell finally gets a lead role that really allows him to show his chops, far beyond his comedic turn in Galaxy Quest, or the shamefully under-viewed Joshua. It's playing at Dobie and Arbor, and if you don't see it, turn in your sci-fi geek card immediately. It's not quite a shame it's not playing at the Alamo, as you don't want to be distracted during this quiet, thoughtful, cerebral film.

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.

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.

The famous Isaac Newton quote about standing on the shoulders of giants is about how we create better science by using the works of people that come before us. But when it comes to art, some say that's not better art -- it's stealing.

Remix culture is creating new forms in video and music, but traditional copyright holders are often hostile to these efforts. New movements such as Creative Commons try to find a balance between the rights of original content creators and those who want to build on their works.

The documentary RiP: A Remix Manifesto explores the movement towards remix culture ... and you can see this movie in Austin tomorrow night. The free screening is sponsored by ChannelAustin.

Thanks to the Harry Ransom Center, we'll have even more free summer movies to choose from in Austin. The Orientalist Silents Film Series is part of an HRC exhibit called "The Persian Sensation: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in the West" that will run through August 2. The exhibit is also free -- and is open right before the screenings in case you want some context and culture.

The Orientalists Silents series begins this Thursday at 7 pm with the notorious Rudolph Valentino film The Sheik from 1921. The HRC theater isn't large, so get there early if you want a seat.

The film series will continue on June 25 with The Thief of Bagdad, the 1924 version that stars Douglas Fairbanks. And on July 23, you can see the 1926 German silent The Adventures of Prince Achmed, one of the first animated feature films, based on the Arabian Nights stories.

DVD rentals are pretty cheap these days, especially if you use a monthly online service like Netflix. You can also watch some movies online for free -- legally, I mean, like through Hulu and YouTube. I don't want to encourage the other thing.

But you may not have discovered a great source for watching DVDs for free ... the Austin Public Library. With a library card, you can borrow up to 5 DVDs at a time, for a period of 7 days.

When I first moved to Austin last millennium, I learned how deeply Austinites and Texans love film. People I worked with talked about going to high school football games because they liked playing "fantasy scout" and predicting which players would become star players in college, and potentially move on the the NFL. Film geeks get to do a variation on that theme with the Oscars, as well as the student filmmaker and shorts categories at film festivals, something that many of the Austin film festivals do.

Austin is a town proud to celebrate film, and Austinites are starting young. AISD is hosting the Austin Student Digital Film Festival, and this year it's on Saturday, May 30 (tomorrow!) at Reagan High School, from 5:30 to 6:30 pm. The showcased films by students from elementary, middle, and high schools around Austin include the following titles:

Lost, The Halls, The Facts on Paper, The Attack of Fire Breathing Lizard, Gone Fishin', Keeping It Real, Ha Ha, The Adventures of Traveling Allie, Brotherly Love, Cubical Cowboys, Frenemies, Rain, Playing Around the Soccer Field, Beauty is Bravery

You can find a map and directions to the theater on the Austin Student Digital Film Festival website. The screenings aren't expected to take longer than 90 minutes, and the event is free. Support Austin's youngest filmmakers, and start deciding which ones are going to the be the next Zombie Girl or Robert Rodriguez, and who is most likely to thank the Academy in the future.

There's a lot going on in Austin for movie fans this weekend. Two big films opening, including Pixar's latest success, Up, which has been wowing audiences at sneak-peek screenings, and Sam Raimi's return to form in Drag Me to Hell. But there are others out there that you might want to check out.

Raimi brought Drag Me to Hell as a work-in-progress to SXSW this March, and wowed the audience at the single sold-out midnight show. The advance screening hosted by AICN proved that the SXSW screening wasn't a fluke. Raimi, best known for the Evil Dead franchise, returns to the style of filmmaking that made him famous, complete with body humor, gross-outs, ridiculousness, and likable characters stuck in impossible situations. If you don't like the style of the Evil Dead franchise, you probably won't like this, either. But Raimi's films are fun, and he's the master of horror comedy. Just don't bring a PETA supporter with you.