Local Cast and Crew

SXSW Review: Where Soldiers Come From

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Where Soldiers Come From

The most moving documentary I saw at SXSW this year is from Austinite Heather Courtney, although it's primarily shot in her hometown, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula: Where Soldiers Come From. I had more or less decided after The Messenger that I'd had enough of war-related features and documentaries, but I don't regret seeing this movie, not for a minute. The film had its world premiere at SXSW 2011.

Where Soldiers Come From follows three young men from their decision to enroll in the National Guard after high school, through their deployment overseas, and what happens post-deployment. Dom is an artist, and we see a lot of his graffiti-like art on the walls of an abandoned building in his hometown, before he leaves. He hangs out with his friends Cole and Bodi, and they all end up in the same National Guard unit, sent to Afghanistan to find IEDs (improvised explosive devices; aka bombs).

SXSW 2011: Day Two

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Some days even seeing just two films feels like an accomplishment. I only saw two today, but they were both so powerful, it made for a full day. And I have to set my clock's back?  It's gonna be a rough morning in a few hours.

I got up too late to get to the first movie I planned on seeing, so I wandered around a bit, picking up a Dublin Dr Pepper at the Royal Blue Grocery on Congress before heading over to the Paramount.  If you're an outsider who likes fizzy drinks at all, if you've never had a Dublin Dr Pepper, you have never had a real Dr. Pepper.  The bottle may be small, but it's delicious stuff. [Jette's note: Alamo Ritz has Dublin Dr Pepper now, too.]

I was in line early for my film, but I was anticipating a full house, since the subject relates to current events.  But everyone else was in line for the State theater's screening of The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway.  This year is a great year for free food, and thanks to the food trailer phenomenon, they keep on bringing it right to the lines.  This time it was ice cream treats, making for a very happy crowd.  And apparently post-screening, Pee-Wee himself was handing out ice cream treats. 

Photo Essay: 'A Splice of Life' in the Barbecue Capital of Texas

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Yes, we have another set visit for you. Jette and I braved the Texas highways to go all the way to Lockhart to visit the production of the latest Singletree Productions comedy, A Splice of Life. It was a tough drive, and Jette and I had to recuperate before getting to the set by stopping by Smitty's for some barbecue. So yeah, later on we had to explain why we smelled like smoke. It's like crack, but better. But that's not why we were there. No, we were there to see some moviemaking.

Austin at SXSW 2011: Clay Liford's 'Wuss'

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Clay Liford

Congratulations to filmmaker Clay Liford, whose latest feature Wuss will have its world premiere in the Lone Star States category at SXSW 2011 next month.

Remember Clay? Last year at SXSW, My Blackberry Ate My Clay Liford Interview when I talked with him and producer Barak Epstein about Clay's cerebral science-fiction genre-crossing movie Earthling, and touched briefly on his 2008 short My Mom Smokes Weed. The man is batting a thousand -- getting two features into SXSW two years in a row is no mean feat. He spent a Sunday brunch at Olivia a couple of weeks ago chatting with Jette and me about his latest projects -- we all ate smoked gouda grits, and the Blackberry did not eat the interview this time.

As it happens, My Mom Smokes Weed star Nate Rubin plays the lead in Wuss. Rubin stars as Mitch, a high-school teacher who can't seem to escape the fate of the eponymous archetype the title implies, being repeatedly bullied by his own students until an unlikely alliance results in a "friendship that stretches the use of the word 'inappropriate'." Wuss also stars Tony Hale (Arrested Development, Chuck) and local actor/filmmaker Alex Karpovsky (Lovers of Hate, Tiny Furniture) among others.

Finding Austin in the Academy Award Nominations

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John HawkesLast year, the Austin connections at the Oscars were easy to spot: actress Sandra Bullock and musician Ryan Bingham, both of whom brought home the little gold guys. This year, Austin is a little less obvious in the Academy Award nominations, but you can still find local connections if you poke around a bit. Let's hope some of these folks walk away with awards next month:

  • John Hawkes: Supporting Actor, Winter's Bone -- Hawkes (pictured at right) started his career in Austin before his role in this excellent movie, which played SXSW 2010. You can find him in a couple of Austin-shot movies, too: he's in Eve's Necklace and going back a few years, plays a liquor-store clerk in From Dusk Til Dawn.
  • Dogtooth: Foreign Language Film, Greece -- One of the film's producers is Athina Rachel Tsangari, a filmmaker who divides her time between Greece and Austin. She was an executive producer on Bryan Poyser's film Lovers of Hate, and her 1997 film The Slow Business of Going won a Texas Filmmakers Production Fund grant in 1997. Dogtooth played SXSW in 2010.
  • True Grit: 10 nominations including Best Picture and Directing -- This Western was partially shot in Austin, as well as in nearby Granger. In addition, co-director Joel Coen attended grad school at The University of Texas at Austin (after which he and Ethan Coen shot Blood Simple in Austin). (Mike's review)

Review: True Grit

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True Grit

Joel and Ethan Coen make films that, love 'em or hate 'em, everyone loves to talk about. There's no question, Coen films are a polarizing force. They number among my favorite of all time (The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?), my guilty pleasures (Fargo, A Serious Man), and some of my least favored (Raising Arizona, No Country for Old Men) ... yet every one of these is an object of both critical acclaim and derision.

The Coens' latest film is True Grit, opening in theaters today. This retelling of the 1969 movie and the 1968 Charles Portis novel stands out as one that will be almost universally loved. Almost the entirety of the die-hard film-loving audience with which I attended Butt-Numb-a-Thon 12 chose it as their favorite selection. Westerns aren't my first love in film, but I will list the Coen brothers' True Grit among the best ever made.

True Grit hooks the audience from the very first scene with 14-year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) holding her own in business dealings with men four times her age. The dialogue is electric, intense and in a perfectly convincing period dialect. The closest thing I've seen to this magic was the scene where Tom Hanks met Philip Seymour Hoffman in 2007's Charlie Wilson's War.

AFF 2010 Review: The Spirit Molecule

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The Spirit Molecule

One of the best things about attending film festivals is that while seeing a lot of interesting films, you also learn a lot of interesting things. For example, thanks to the intriguing documentary The Spirit Molecule, I now know that dimethyltryptamine is one hell of a great drug.

Better known as DMT, dimethyltryptamine is the subject of Austin filmmaker Mitch Schultz's über-trippy examination of a drug found in nearly every living organism and considered the world's most powerful psychedelic. Combining stunningly psychedelic animation with thoughtful interviews, The Spirit Molecule is a paean to psychedelic drug use that also asks a lot of questions about the nature of human consciousness.

AFF Adds 'The Company Men' and 'Boxing Gym' to Lineup

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AFF 2010 logoIt's been an unusually exciting afternoon here at Slackerwood headquarters, and no, it's not because the Saints won. Austin Film Festival has announced its Centerpiece film for 2010 as well as a TBD selection that I have been waiting to see for months and months and some other additions/changes to the schedule.

The Company Men will be AFF's Centerpiece film, screening on Saturday, Oct. 23 at 6 pm at the Paramount. Writer/director John Wells will attend. He's currently the president of WGA West, and after the movie, former WGA West President Dan Petrie, Jr. will moderate a Q&A with Wells. The Company Men is about three guys working for a company that's seriously downsizing, and the cast is truly stellar: Tommy Lee Jones, Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper and Kevin Costner.

Another new title announced for the festival is Frederick Wiseman's documentary Boxing Gym, which premiered at Cannes this year. The film is a look at Richard Lord's Boxing Gym here in Austin, and I am probably disproportionately excited about this because I used to work out there and miss it very much. (Even now I am trying to rework my schedule in my head to see if I could make time to go back ...) Richard Lord will be at the screening. You can see Boxing Gym on Wednesday, Oct. 27 at 7:30 pm at the Texas Spirit Theater (Bob Bullock Museum) -- yes, you have to decide between this film and Black Swan, and thank goodness Jenn Brown is a huge Darren Aronofsky fan so Slackerwood can cover both.

Quick Snaps: The Red in 'Red White and Blue'

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Since Simon Rumley's Red White & Blue will be returning for a screening at Fantastic Fest this week, I felt it was high time I shared an exclusive behind-the-scene photo I'd taken during the shoot at our house, where part of the film was shot. Nick Ashy Holden ("Alvin") was taking a coffee break while Emmy award nominee makeup artist Meredith Johns (off-screen) put, the finishing touches on his special effects makeup. 

With all the new media nowadays it's increasingly difficult for filmmakers to keep a lid on their projects, but it's also a great way for filmmakers to promote their films with less money and effort if done properly. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger are not only free, but can have a viral effect if fans help promote a film. Red White & Blue was able to secure locations and extras through the Alamo Drafthouse blog, and is how our house was selected as a filming location. Check out more behind-the-scenes photos after the jump.

DVD Review: Temple Grandin

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Temple Grandin on DVDThe life story of Temple Grandin is one of hardship and triumph. Grandin was diagnosed with autism as a young child in the early 1950s, an era when her condition was not well understood. With help from her exceptionally patient mother and a few insightful teachers, Grandin overcame most of her autistic limitations. She struggled to get an education, but earned a doctorate and is now an autism treatment advocate, Colorado State University professor, and renowned expert in animal husbandry.

Such an inspirational and thoroughly unique story is, of course, tailor-made for a cinematic treatment. Fortunately, this treatment is Temple Grandin, a much-lauded HBO Films biopic nominated for an astounding 15 Emmy Awards. Released this week on DVD, the movie is an effective take on Grandin's long struggle with autism and the cruel treatment and blatant sexism that often hindered her education and career.

The film opens in 1966 as a teenage Grandin (a barely recognizable Claire Danes) arrives at the Arizona ranch of her Aunt Ann (Catherine O'Hara) and Uncle Mike (Michael Crabtree), who are caring for Grandin to relieve her exhausted mother, Eustacia (Julia Ormond). Grandin exhibits many classic autism symptoms: She constantly repeats random phrases, fixates on objects, is extremely sensitive to stimuli, has trouble interacting with people and confronts new experiences with fear and confusion. But while at the ranch, she also demonstrates an unlikely talent for designing and building mechanical devices and an innate understanding of animal behavior.

Grandin blossoms at the ranch, and being far more comfortable around animals than people, she wants to stay. Despite her protests, however, Eustacia enrolls her at Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire. Her introduction to college life is mostly disastrous, and in a prolonged flashback to her childhood and high-school years, we learn why.

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