picture in picture

Mix fanboys, LucasFilm, and conspiracy theory, and you've got something of a perfect storm, which is what's been brewing over at Harry Knowles' Aint It Cool News site. Readers have been sounding fury ever since Knowles' pan of the upcoming animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars was pulled from the site. Actually, "pan" is pretty gentle – a copy of Knowles' review was re-posted in the forums over at fark.com, and after some dilly-dallying and a lustful aside about Hasbro's new Millennium Falcon toy, he finally gets down to business: "I hated the film. HATED IT. REALLY HATED IT." The famously un-self-censoring TalkBackers (commenters in AICN's online forum) speculated wildly about the review's abrupt disappearance, and the story quickly caught on in the blogosphere. AICN's Moriarty responded yesterday evening, saying that Knowles pulled the review voluntarily after he was "was contacted and told about the embargo by [distributor] Warner Bros." Another review, this time by Massawyrm, was posted Tuesday morning, and it too was pulled shortly afterward. Moriarty chalked the situation up to "poor communication behind the scenes" and stressed that, as he understood it, "LucasFilm did not directly contact the site." Read More | Comment »

HBO's Hard Knocks series did something last year that I thought would never happen, it made me interested in the Kansas City Chiefs. While that feeling didn't last long, this year's installment follows media darlings the Dallas Cowboys as they prepare for their 2008-09 campaign and should entertain their fans and detractors equally. The first episode aired Wednesday night at 9pm (its standard time slot) and is being rebroadcast during the week leading up to episode two. Hard Knocks lives up to the high standard viewers expect from HBO and should be added to any NFL fan's TV schedule posthaste. Read More | Comment »

Mamma Mia! is the gayest portrayal of heterosexuality this side of Pirates of Penzance. (Officemate and Arts Editor Robert Faires makes a case for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, aka Seven Brides for Seven Brides, but my Pirates reference point is Rex Smith, so I am sticking with it.) Trust me. It's gay. It's so gay, with it's breaking out into song and heroes swinging in on ropes and all around prancing about that it actually makes heterosexuality look almost tolerable. Almost desirable. Dare we say, romantic? This week, Read More | Comment »

I enjoy tennis. I enjoy playing tennis. I enjoy watching tennis on TV. I even enjoy play tennis video games (VituaTennis anyone?). That said, 2K Sports' TopSpin 3 is a whole 'nother story.

With a ridiculous learning curve and unexceptional graphics and presentation, it was impossible to stay interested in this game long enough to actually get good at/master it. I did manage to get the knack of it (I could at least win a couple of points versus the computer) after a day or so of playing but this game lacks the addictive pull I feel with my favorite sports video games (MLB The Show, Madden). Those games are borderline relationship-killers with the amount of time that I spend playing them but I could hardly motivate myself to play this game at all with all of the entertainment options that I have at my fingertips.

Considering the number of stellar titles available for video-game lovers, I can see no reason to recommend this game which features clunky/awkward gameplay, graphics that are neither that great nor incredibly awful, and a learning curve so steep that even tennis nuts will get frustrated and bored and revert back to mastering the vocal nuances of the Police's "Roxanne" on video-game sensation Rock Band. Read More | Comment »

Got my first taste of the new Start Over feature offered by Time Warner Cable. If you’re a TWC customer, you’ve been channel surfing, and happened to land on a channel where this service is available, you will see a window pop into your screen from the left asking if you want to “Start Over.” You push the Select button on your TWC remote and presto! The program starts at the very beginning. A great little service for those who forgot to set up their DVR in advance. Read More | Comment »

The word just came down: Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog that wacky web musical penned by Joss Whedon and reviewed on these fine web pages, will be carried by Hulu for your viewing pleasure. That means it's free! It's only a four month offer. Joss Whedon talks pretty about the arrangement at the Hulu site. Read More | Comment »

During one of the four Q&A sessions at last night's Spaced Numb-a-thon at the Alamo Ritz, one fan asked Spaced co-creator and star Simon Pegg how it felt to have his very own action figure. Without missing a beat, he shot back, "pretty fucking cool" – and I think it's safe to say that the sold-out audience felt pretty much the same about the eight-hour-long event. Fresh off a Comic-Con appearance (although "fresh" might not be the right word to use for the bleary-eyed star), Pegg and director Edgar Wright stayed for the entire marathon and helpfully translated some of the Britishisms. Case in point, not only did the pair explain bogling – "booty dance, like grinding" – they demonstrated it, too. (Pegg also re-enacted his sweet breakdance moves from the show, and Wright commanded the stage with a rock-star split.) Read More | 1 Comment »

"I really had no desire to do a horror film," Monte Hellman says re: Silent Night, Deadly Night III: Better Watch Out!, his one and only and very faux-serious contribution to the American slasher genre. Which makes sense, even if the movie doesn't, always. "It was a film that I kind of backed into. I didn't want to do it, I turned the script down, but one of my best friends [Arthur Gorson] was producing it as his first movie, and he finally wore me down. We threw the script out and wrote another one in a week, and then I brought in some friends and added a lot of jokes and I just did it as a lark, you know? "It was just kind of a way to poke fun -- or pay homage -- to the genre. That whole scene with the tape recorder was, in my mind, Touch of Evil." Suffice to say, it's not Two-Lane Blacktop, but so what? Wednesday night's Alamo Ritz triple-bill scored a perfect trifecta on the Blown-Mind Scale: cowboys, cars and crazed killers? It's the American way. Read More | Comment »

The Austin Film Festival just announced this year's Distinguished Screenwriter Award will go to Sam Shepard, the Pulitzer Prize-winning giant of American theater and Oscar-nominated actor (for 1983's The Right Stuff).
(Yes, yes, that's all very impressive – but have you seen 1987's Baby Boom? Oh my, how my 9-year-old self swooned for the kindly country vet...)

A good chunk of Shepard's screenwriting work consists of adaptations of his own plays, but he also penned such originals as Paris, Texas and Don't Come Knocking (both for director Wim Wenders), Dylan art film Renaldo and Clara, and Zabriskie Point for Michelangelo Antonioni.

The 2008 Austin Film Festival runs Oct. 16-23. For more info, visit www.austinfilmfestival.com. Read More | Comment »

If you’re a Joss Whedon fan (Firefly, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and countless comic books), you’ve come to appreciate the stable of actors he’s worked with over the years. You recognize them and can’t wait to see what he’ll have them doing next. Such is the case with his fun little jaunt known as Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

Nathan Fillion (Firefly) and Felicia Day (who played small, but memorable roles in several of Whedon’s series) are two of the featured players in this three-part tragicomedy. The surprise in the mix is Neil Patrick Harris, who stars as the titular Dr. Horrible, a bumbling, D-grade villain with ambitions to break into the big leagues. He’s infatuated with gadgets and believes if he can get his freeze ray gun working, that will be his ticket to A-list status. He’s trying, he’s really trying, viewers learn from reports on his sad little video blog postings. It’s just that he has so many distractions: Penny (Day), the comely woman he sees weekly at the neighborhood laundrymat but can’t make himself talk to; his own ineptness; and worst of all, his foil, the cocky Captain Hammer (Fillion), who decides he has a thing for Penny as well. Read More | Comment »

Filmmaker Magazine just announced its annual 25 New Faces of Independent Cinema, and while there's a whole host of SXSW 08 alum on the list (including Benh Zeitlin, Barry Jenkins, Joshua Safdie, and Tom Quinn), it's the inclusion of a pair of fraternal filmmakers that's special cause for cheer: Austin's the Zellner Brothers. Their feature film Goliath went over big at SXSW and got a lot of buzz in the blogosphere, but fact is, they've been around a long time – something writer Scott Macaulay points out in the profile's first graf:

"With this inclusion on the 25, Filmmaker is officially adding a new subcategory to its yearly survey of breaking talent: the 'filmmakers who should have been on the list in the five previous years but inexplicably weren‘t.'”

The piece continues:

"Goliath... feels like something new while retaining the duo‘s boho absurdism. The tale of an emotionally distraught office worker recovering from a divorce and searching for his lost cat, Goliath is funny, unexpectedly violent and emotionally devastating."

Goliath is available on demand from IFC Festival Direct. Read More | Comment »

It's official. Roger Ebert, the longtime film critic and co-host of the syndicated series, At the Movies, has decided to leave the show after 23 years. Ebert made the announcement on his website yesterday.

Ebert started the series with Gene Siskel and hobbled along solo for a while following Siskel's death in 1999. Others auditioned for the vacant chair left by Siskel – including local Internet film geek Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News. The search ended with the decidedly safe selection of Richard Roeper. The sparks between Roeper and Ebert never reached the intensity that Ebert and Siskel reached. That pairing was the best thing to happen to films, I think. Watching Siskel and Ebert spar over a film was like waiting to see who would throw the first punch. That's how adamant, devoted, and, well, cocky they each were. But it wasn't just cocky for their need to preen – you really got the sense that they each thought film was a vital part of expressive culture and they were devoted to honoring, celebrating, and defending it.

In later years, Ebert's own health problems curtailed his appearances on the series. While no one is saying, it's hard not to wonder if Ebert's health issues precipitated the final separation from the show.

As it turns out Roeper is leaving At the Movies as well. Couldn't hammer out a new contract with Disney-ABC Domestic Television. He leaves the show after eight years.

At the Movies will continue with new hosts Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz, according to Variety.com. Lyons has covered film and entertainment online and on TV for E!, MTV, Access Hollywood, and TMZ. Mankiewicz is the more seasoned of the pair, known for his satellite radio program "The Young Turks." He was recently named the new daytime, weekend host for TCM (Turner Classic Movies) and begins that gig in September. And yes, he is one of those Mankiewicz's -- the grandson of writer Herman Mankiewicz and great-nephew of director Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Citizen Kane (1941), All About Eve (1950), Guys and Dolls (1955), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), Dinner at Eight (1933) and Cleopatra (1963) are a few of the films that have the Mankiewicz name attached to them.

Along with new hosts, At the Movies is going for a newer, fresher look. No word on when the new rendition of the series will launch. Read More | Comment »

The first (and only) time I met movie reviewer/critic Elvis Mitchell, I was so tongue-tied that I said something doofy – so doofy that I’ve blocked it from my memory. After this cringy experience, there is something comforting in seeing Mr. Mitchell appear somewhat starry-eyed in his very own one-on-one interview show, Elvis Mitchell: Under the Influence on TCM (Turner Classic Movies). For those familiar with Mitchell from NPR, he brings the same genial and erudite approach to this chat show, but this one focuses on a solitary guest. Sidney Pollack and Bill Murray were early guests. Laurence Fishburne and Quentin Tarantino are on deck.

What makes this show so engaging is that Mitchell is thoroughly prepared (as usual), yet does not sound so rehearsed as to make the conversation wooden (my only complaint with James Lipton, who hosts Inside the Actors’ Studio on Bravo). As each guest talks about his favorite films, clips and stills are shown when possible, giving some extra oomph to the chat, and giving some intriguing insight into how the guest/artist thinks. This is not an overview of the guest’s career (as in Actor’s Studio); it’s an overview of the films he saw, the actors, writers, and directors he admired, and how he works in the present day “under the influence” of those works.

Missed the Pollack interview. The first episode I happened upon featured Bill Murray. I’m ambivalent about Murray, but I found myself mesmerized by his interview — so much so, I watched the episode twice! That’s a rare occurrence for someone who rarely watches anything live and erases episodes as the credits are rolling. I wasn’t so surprised that Murray was a Marx Brothers fan and admired Cary Grant’s versatility, but hearing that he got weak-kneed over funny women (Gilda Radner made him swoon) was downright endearing.

Only a handful of episodes are scheduled, according to the TCM website. Hopefully, many, many more are on their way. Elvis Mitchell: Under the Influence airs Mondays at 7pm on TCM. Encores occur at 9:30pm. Read More | Comment »

Richard Roeper has made it official: He's leaving At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper after eight years. It really never was the same without Roger Ebert. For that mater, it was never the same without Gene Siskel. There was something about the way the two grated on each other. It was easy to choose sides. Siskel was too mean; Ebert was too soft. But they were the guys whose opinions about movies were both entertaining and realistic. We could trust their opinions to be consistent. That counts for a lot. Roeper seemingly knew he was a pale replacement for the late Siskel. Now with Roeper gone and Ebert likely never to return to the screen after prolonged illnesses and surgeries, it's time to face facts. The show is dead. Thanks, guys, for all the fun. Read More | Comment »

Apple's got a fancy new trailer for In Search of a Midnight Kiss up, and I highly recommend you go check it out right-this-very-second, and then thrum your fingers anxiously until IFC Films finally announces an Austin release date. (It opens in New York and L.A. on August 1.) In Search... is the third feature from former Austinite Alex Holdridge, and it's been getting massive buzz since it premiered at Tribeca in 2007. (It also screened at last year's Austin Film Festival, a place near and dear to Holdridge's heart as he won the Audience Award in 2001 for his first feature, Wrong Numbers). In Search... is terrifically funny and bawdy and romantic and angsty and makes Los Angeles look like a million bucks – on a shoestring budget no less. I watched my preview screener so many times it won't play anymore. Read More | 1 Comment »

"Dees Condorman – he is not agent of CIA. He is writer of comic book!" Last night's Film Fight Happy Hour, film screening, prize giveaway, etc., was a lovely time all around – and thank you to the equally lovely people at the Art Authority for making it happen. I will say this – I know now that the fastest way to clear a room is to show a giggling Eighties kids' flick about mistaken identity and KGB spies. Whatever – it ruled. And hats off to those five or so people who actually sat through the whole thing. We'll announce next month's Film Fight topic in the next couple of weeks, so keep checking back in. Read More | Comment »

By most accounts, the video-game conference nonpareil, E3, has been a wash this year. Resident Evil 5, Gears of War 2, etc., etc. all met expectations, although I would have enjoyed them just as much during my usual clicks around IGN.com.

So, why bother wasting your precious blog-reading time? Because in case you didn't feel the shift in the Dark Side of the Force toward the west, Rick Perry was in LA for E3 to remind everybody that Texas is handing out money to gaming firms who are willing to brave the unrelenting heat. Heat that is clearly getting to Perry's head as he uttered groaners like, "I congratulate this growing industry on its success, and invite further expansion in Texas where the barbecue is hot and the video gaming is even hotter." Ugh! Read More | Comment »

Last week was all brawl, but this week, in the spirit of reconciliation (and, well, spirits at Happy Hour pricing), Josh "Lickin' His Wounds" Rosenblatt and I will be hosting a get-together at the United States Art Authority. I suppose we might talk about comic book movies some more, but honestly, neither one of us wants to go anywhere the subject ever again (or at least until the lines for Batman: The Dark Knight thin out some). So join us tomorrow night (Thursday, July 17) at 7pm at the Art Authority (2908 Fruth St.) for good drinks and good company, some prize giveaways, and (fingers crossed) a very special cinematic treat.** Read More | Comment »

Well, if the numbers hold, it looks like I'll be doing a victory lap at the Art Authority next Thursday, but who knows – maybe your troops will rally over the weekend. The polls will be open until Sunday at midnight, but as for you and me and this crazy experiment we call Film Fight goes – I think we're done. At least until we start all over again next month. What's your prize, you ask? (I'm sorry, for losing?) This press release arrived in my in-box a few days ago: "A DEFINITIVE ANTHOLOGY FROM THE MASTER OF SUSPENSE: THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK PREMIERE COLLECTION." You get to sit and watch all 8 discs with me. Punishment in your mind, maybe, but just you wait – I'll make a believer of you yet. It's been a pleasure. Read More | Comment »

From the archives: June 20, 2008 From: Kim Jones To: Josh Rosenblatt Re: First Film-Fight Topic Resolved: Kimberley Jones is a rank sentimentalist Pro: Josh Con: Kim So what's my prize? I'm hoping for a bowlful of chocolate-covered Brussels sprouts. Or the 32-DVD set of the Complete Works of Alfred Hitchcock. Though I'd settle for a signed copy of Limahl's Greatest Hits. It's been a pleasure fightin' you. How's this for next month's topic: Resolved: Yasujiro Ozu's use of mise en scene in the early 1950s was as much an aesthetic response to innovations in color cinematography in the work of Sergei Eisenstein as it was a reaction to the encroaching tides of Western colonialism in post-war Japan. I'd like to see you argue against that one. Read More | Comment »