Short Cuts

Grammy Hall Dept.: It came as much of a surprise to them as it likely will to everyone else, but in retrospect it just goes to show that the Latin Grammys are considerably more hip than their counterpart in el norte. Of course we're talking about local animator/artists Jason Archer and Paul Beck's recent nomination (along with video producer Kathee Schneider) for a south-of-the-border Grammy for their music video for Mexican hip-hop-metal group Molotov. The video for bilingual track "Frijolero" was shot here last year (in one afternoon, no less) while the band was visiting town and employs the groundbreaking animation software that Flat Black Films' Bob Sabiston developed for Richard Linklater's Waking Life. The video (which, by the way, is miles ahead of the generic MTV fodder out there these days) is nominated in the Best Music Video (1 Song)/Mejor Video Musical (Solamente Una Cancion) category and is up against the likes of Ricard Arjona's "El Problema," Chayanne's "Torero," Frejat's "Segredos," and Jarabe De Palo's "Bonito," none of which we've seen, unfortunately. Archer and Beck, whose most recent screening at Gallery Lombardi a few weeks back resulted in something of a microfracas when an unsympathetic audience member took it upon himself to vehemently declare the duo's work as "not art!," will be jetting off to Miami for the Wednesday, Sept. 3, event. Rock that shit, homies... In other Linklater news, the Austin-based director is wrapping up postproduction on the Jack Black-starring School of Rock (of which advance word on Harry Knowles' Ain't It Cool News is downright ecstatic), slated for an Oct. 10 release, before heading off to Paris to begin shooting the sequel to 1995's Before Sunrise with Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke reprising their roles as love-struck train strangers Jesse and Celine. Out of all of Linklater's films, the smart, sexy, achingly romantic Before Sunrise is the one that has seemed most likely to warrant a follow-up of some sort (a one-scene reunion of the characters in 2001's Waking Life was a tantalizing tease), and the film, which has become something of a cult movie since its release (as have several other Linklater works), is, for our money, one of the best romance-not-romance films ever made. There's no release date for part deux yet, of course, but in the meantime, we can content ourselves with knowing that Linklater will be doing his bit to repair the fragile Franco-Texan relationship so recently manhandled by our former governor... The 10th annual Austin Film Festival has announced the first batch of films they'll be screening at this year's fest (Oct. 9-16), including Clint Eastwood's Mystic River, Peter Hedges' Pieces of April, Prey for Rock & Roll with Gina Gershon, and the Charlie Chaplin documentary Charles: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin, narrated by the essential Sydney Pollack. Panelists on board for this year include, among many others, Bill Broyles, the Weitz brothers, Brian Helgeland, Ted Elliott, and David Benioff. For registration info and all else, check out www.austinfilmfestival.com... Last but very, very far from least, Robert Rodriguez has pulled something of a hat trick with the release of Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over -- the final installment of the Spy Kids series took in a whopping $32.5 million on its opening weekend, $6 million more than the first Spy Kids and fully double that of the second. That opening take nearly recoups the film's $38 million budget in a record 72 hours, a feat more or less unheard of at that budgetary scale (or any other, for that matter). Miramax/Dimension heads the Weinstein brothers are doubtless exuberant, and you can bet the feeling is echoed in the Rodriguez household. Still no word on what alliterative moniker will be affixed to the Robert Rodriguez/Elizabeth Avellán upcoming biological release, though.