Stage Fright
Stage Fright 1950, NR, 125 min. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Marlene Dietrich, Jane Wyman, Richard Todd, Michael Wilding. This British Hitchcock film is generally regarded as one of the director’s least successful films. It has a classic Hitchcock scenario in which a man is mistaken for a murderer,…
Pflugerville Pfilm Pfestival
Pflugerville Pfilm Pfestival NR. Directed by Various, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . All the Way is an Australian independent film making its U.S. premiere to benefit the upcoming pfestival. It tells the story of a group of squeaky clean friends who conspire to produce a porn film to raise funds in order…
Kentucky Fried Movie
Kentucky Fried Movie 1977, R, 78 min. D: John Landis. John Landis got his first crack at directing with this skit-based comedy film that was written by Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker (Airplane!).
Old Yeller
Old Yeller 1957, G. Directed by Robert Stevenson, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Dorothy Mcguire, Fess Parker, Tommy Kirk. Closing out the Summer Splash Parties is this granddaddy of all boy-and-his-dog movies. You’re guaranteed to cry yourself a river but since you’re already at the pool and wet, who’ll be able to…
The Silver Streak
The Silver Streak 1976, PG, 113 min. Directed by Arthur Hiller, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor, Jill Clayburgh, Patrick Mcgoohan, Ned Beatty, Ray Walston, Scatman Crothers, Fred Willard. One of the very best pairings of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, this movie is a fun blend of comedy and…
The Tougest Boat Race to Document
The Tougest Boat Race to Document 2001, NR, 120 min. Directed by Hoyt Moss, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . This digitally shot documentary captures the Texas Water Safari races held annually on the San Marcos River. Showing before the feature-length documentary is the half-hour short “Dora’s Salon Salon,” directed by Melissa Taylor.…
National Velvet
National Velvet 1944, NR, 125 min. Directed by Clarence Brown, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp, Angela Lansbury, Anne Revere. This time-tested family film is deservedly a classic. Twelve-year-old Elizabeth Taylor is in top form here as young Velvet Brown, a girl who is determined to enter the…
Trailerthon
Trailerthon 2001, NR, 180 min. Directed by Various, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . The Incredibly Strange Film Festival presents a three-hour package of trailers from more than 100 exploitation movies. The showcase includes trailers culled from the archives of private collectors around the globe.
An All My Relations, Grown Upd Surface Drive
An All My Relations, Grown Upd Surface Drive NR, 19 min. Directed by Joanna Priestley, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Priestley’s three animated works are made from drawings and paintings on paper, as well as object animation and other techniques. Her work has a lovely, playful style and derives from a distinctly…
Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund Panelist Screenings
Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund Panelist Screenings NR. Directed by Various, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . The Panelist Screenings are two evenings of films presented by the visiting panelists for the Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund, who are presently in town to select the winners of this year’s awards. This year’s panelists include filmmakers…
Spy Kids: Special Edition
Spy Kids: Special Edition 2001, PG, 95 min. Directed by Robert Rodriguez, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Alexa Vega, Carla Gugino, Antonio Banderas, Daryl Sabara, Alan Cumming, Teri Hatcher, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, Robert Patrick, Tony Shalhoub. Robert Rodriguez has raised the bar for what’s cool and acceptable in the all-too-placid world of…
He’s Got a Little List
Key highlights and lowlights of the proposed city budget
Jump Tomorrow
Jump Tomorrow 2001, PG, 95 min. Directed by Joel Hopkins, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Tunde Adebimpe, Hippolyte Girardot, Patricia Mauceri, James Wilby, Natalia Verbeke, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Abiola Wendy Abrams. Jump Tomorrow is a genial indie-film-world take on the “a funny thing happened on the way to my nuptials” genre. Writer-director Joel…
Mr. Smarty Pants
Detours on the roadmap to data Nirvana
Record Reviews
Kirsty MacCollTropical Brainstorm (Instinct) Despite the cruel irony of its title (MacColl was decapitated by a reckless speedboat in Mexico last year shortly after completing the album), Tropical Brainstorm is as delightful as anything to come from the underrated English singer and songwriter. Though this is supposedly her “Cuban” album, MacColl is as ever a…
Naked City
Clean Campaigns heat wave, Alcoa’s new problems, No Pipeline solutions at AAS, Personnel puzzles at AISD, City resignations, Mueller redevelopment candidates, Hyde Park meets again & Ed Herman’s letter to the Times
Original Sin
Original Sin 2001, R, 112 min. Directed by Michael Cristofer, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Gregory Itzin, James Haven, Pedro Armendariz Jr., Thomas Jane, Allison Mackie, Joan Pringle, Angelina Jolie, Antonio Banderas. Although his name is somewhat less well-known than some of his more famous contemporaries, author Cornell Woolrich is regarded by many…
Second Helpings: Chinese
In the first of a two-part special, “Second Helpings” guru Greg Beets informs readers about Austin’s Chinese restaurants and the cutthroat world of Chinese lunch specials.
Day Trips
By the books: two new tomes to whet your traveler’s appetite for adventure
Record Reviews
Moreno Veloso + 2Music Typewriter (Hannibal)Caetano VelosoNoites do Norte (Nonesuch) No surprise 27-year-old Moreno Veloso has a Ph.D. in physics. It had to be easier than trying to fill the hand-tooled footwear of his father the maestro, Caetano Veloso. As poet laureate of Brazilian pop in the mid-Sixties, Veloso Sr. and like-minded musical adventurers like…
Naked City
The Travis County District Attorney’s office promised Bernie Durst immunity, but is apparently reneging.
Shivering the Timbers
On September 17, 1998, a 24-year-old activist named David “Gypsy” Chain was killed in the Headwaters Forest in Northern California: This is a matter of public record. But had the falling redwood that killed him been cut by an angry logger? Was it murder? Was it accidental? And why was this young man — a…
To Your Health
Is there any meat that is safe from contamination by the “Mad Cow” disease agent, or is there any way to protect against it?
Record Reviews
The Beta BandHot Shots II (Astralwerks) Too many people have tried to slap the electronica/ambient label on the Beta Band, but their music is far more complicated than that. These Scots belong to the class of Brit-poppers (Gomez, Radiohead) who defy categorization, the foursome tweaking and toying with form in each progressive song on Hot…
Naked City
Big events such as concerts and fun runs may soon disappear from Auditorium Shores.
Articulations
More bouquets for Lipstick Traces in The New York Times, and Austin theatre critics continue to take over the world
Serve Chilled
Summertime, and the living is sweaty, temps are jumpin’, the thermometer’s high! Though the days of summer are dwindling down to a precious few, there are still weeks of murderously hot weather to somehow avoid. We suggest you put on some light-colored, natural-fiber clothing, position yourself near an A/C unit, under the ceiling fan, or…
Record Reviews
Gorillaz(Virgin) The question is, should one review the Gorillaz themselves, or those shadowy figures lurking just out of sight behind them? Since Murdoc, Russel, 2D, and Noodle are animated non-entities seen only in their Jaime Hewlett-directed videos, I suppose it’s best to stick with the latter. In this case, that’s Blur frontman Damon Albarn and…
The Hightower Lowdown
The Army cares about residents near its waste incinerator, the post office is watching you, and Americans are overworked.
Beat Currencies
In a look at some recently reprinted classic works by the Beats, Chronicle writer Dale Smith examines why being on the road was such a dangerous place — and why it no longer is.
Serve Chilled
A Goose in Toulouse and Other Culinary Adventures in France by Mort Rosenblum Hyperion, 320 pp., $25 Great human events are fine, but let’s not forget lunch. — Anthelme Brillat-Savarin I had just about decided that there was not much left to be said about French cuisine. Yeah, we all know that the French are…
Record Reviews
The ShinsOh, Inverted World (Sub Pop) At some point it began to dawn on bands; just because a CD holds 70-plus minutes of music doesn’t mean you have to fill the damn thing up. Compact discs have all but killed the concept of “the album” with their dilution, which makes the sharp focus of Oh,…
Capitol Chronicle
GOP redistricting plan targets progressive Democrats
In Perfect Alignment: The Ransom Center Beat Holdings
Gary Snyder’s “Manzanita,” a poem from 1974’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Turtle Island, begins with this: “Before dawn the coyotes/weave medicine songs/dream nets — spirit baskets–/milky way music/they cook young girls with/to be woman;/or the whirling dance of/striped boys — …” While he’s no doubt kissing you hard with a Native American tongue, Snyder’s deceptively idyllic lilt…
Serve Chilled
French Lessons Adventures With Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew by Peter Mayle Knopf, 256 pp., $24 The French have a love-hate relationship with Peter Mayle, the British-born, French-resident author of the bestselling books A Year in Provence, Toujours Provence, and Encore Provence. As a general rule, they love that Mayle loves France and that through his…
Record Reviews
Built to SpillAncient Melodies of the Future (Warner Bros.) Built to Spill have produced their fair share of great pop tunes — the Boise band is an indie rock institution, after all — but the genius of singer-guitarist Doug Martsch’s musical vision has traditionally lived in the exploration of melody and theme, often at great…
Will Pay Cash for Film
Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund underwrites independent film and video
Postscripts
A new Texas publisher intends on becoming the largest for-profit publisher in Texas.
Serve Chilled
Paris in a Basket Markets: The Food and the People by Nicolle Aimee Meyer and Amanda Pilar Smith Konemann Press, 352 pp., $19.95 The title is an apt metaphor for this book’s contents — a huge, beautiful basket of fresh and lively information about the open-air markets of Paris. And just as a shopping basket…
Record Reviews
Q-Burns Abstract MessageInvisible Airline (Astralwerks)Basement JaxxRooty (Astralwerks) If this were a contest, the belt would go to Q-Burns (née Michael Donaldson) for über-funky knockout punch “You Are My Battlestar,” which coddles Lisa Shaw’s ethereal vocals in a housey, spun-sugar groove so sweet you’re likely to need a dentist appointment after listening to it. In fact,…
The Devil Online
Is online gaming phenomenon Diablo II: Lords of Destruction (Expansion Set) selling kids violence?
Readings
Underground The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche by Haruki Murakami Vintage, 366 pp., $14 (paper) Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami Knopf, 210 pp., $23 Aboard four separate Tokyo subway cars on Monday, March 20, 1995, members of a Buddhist cult punctured medical bags of liquid sarin wrapped in newspaper with the sharpened tips…
Serve Chilled
How to Read a French Fry and Other Stories of Intriguing Kitchen Science by Russ Parsons Houghton Mifflin, 334 pp., $25 Even though the summer-reading season tends to be dominated by “light, breezy fare” — glorified airport serials and easily digestible novellinis, mostly — I like to spend the hot months digging into meaty, functional…
Record Reviews
Low & the Dirty ThreeIn the Fishtank (Konkurrent) You put your Low in my Dirty Three! Or was it the other way around? Dutch label Konkurrent has developed this nasty habit where they kidnap bands who happen upon their Netherlands neighborhood, throw them in a recording studio, and give them nothing but baked apples, tulips,…
Short Cuts
Austin mourns the death of filmmaker David Boone.
Readings
Lili A Novel of Tiananmen by Annie Wang Pantheon, 320 pp., $24 Lili: A Novel of Tiananmen tells two stories. Narrated by the brash young woman of the title, who has just been released from prison after serving time for “corrupt life-style and hooliganism,” the first tells of Lili’s struggle to put a life together…
Serve Chilled
Le Cordon Bleu Wine Essentials Professional Secrets to Buying, Storing, Serving, and Drinking Wine by Stephen Brook, Patricia Gastaud-Gallagher, Peter Howard, Graham Latham, Wink Lorch, and Margaret Rand John Wiley & Sons, 192 pp., $30 With hundreds of wine tomes on the market, how does a book distinguish itself from the hoi polloi? In this…
Record Reviews
Scott Miller & The Commonwealth Thus Always to Tyrants (Sugar Hill) Scott Miller is from Virginia and very proud of it. A onetime member of the late, lamented V-Roys, he’s named his solo debut after the Virginia state motto, “Sic Semper Tyrannis,” and since Virginia refers to itself as “the Commonwealth,” he’s adapted that too.…
Video Reviews
Part action movie, part absurdist comedy, part protest piece, this film (based on Patty Hearst’s abduction) has everything that makes a John Waters movie great.
Readings
Pronoun Music Stories by Richard Cohen Pleasure Boat Studio, 240pp., $16 (paper) With a clinically hip title like Pronoun Music, I expected Richard Cohen’s collection of family-oriented stories to be the Bronx-born, Austin-residing author’s tip-of-the-dark-bowler to the existentialism of Martin Buber’s I and Thou (1923). Since the concept of subject-object relations recently renewed its ka-chingability…
Serve Chilled
The Sweet Potato Queens’ Book of Love by Jill Connor Browne Three Rivers Press, 228 pp., $12.95 (paper) God Save the Sweet Potato Queens by Jill Connor Browne Three Rivers Press, 261 pp., $12.95 (paper) On the off chance I wasn’t absolutely the last woman in America to read failed Mississippi belle Jill Connor Browne’s…
Record Reviews
Clarence “Gatemouth” BrownBack to Bogalusa (Blue Thumb) There’s no doubt Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown is a living legend. That he’s still making music at the age of 77, touring the world, and releasing albums is in itself admirable. Unfortunately, his latest release Back to Bogalusa finds him slipping. His last outing, American Music, Texas Style, focused…
Video Reviews
Serial Mom allows John Waters to explore his darkest interests, but his version of a suburban mother gone haywire is striking on a few levels.
Check It Out
Local bestsellers are based on recent sales at Austin bookstores selected to reflect varied reading interests.
Serve Chilled
The Culinary Classics Food writing seems to be everywhere these days. Not just restaurant reviews but also memoirs, food histories, and even food novels are beginning to crowd the shelves of libraries and bookstores. (The Modern Library, in fact, has recently published a series of eclectic, classic books about cooking.) It seems as though the…
Record Reviews
Echo & The BunnymenCrystal Days 1979-1999 (Warner Archives/Rhino) Echo & the Bunnymen are the second most successful rock & roll band from Liverpool, but exist today in the same limbo occupied by OMD and the Pet Shop Boys as retro-night regulars. Their career isn’t technically over, but they’re nonetheless fated to be forever associated with…
Video Reviews
Cry-Baby is definitely one of the better Fifties flashbacks, thanks to Waters’ flair for visuals and a vivid memory of the Eisenhower era.
The Princess Diaries
It’s the movie that turned Anne Hathaway into a star, and the ordinary girl she plays into a princess.
Page Two
Looking forward and backward on the eve of the Chronicle’s 20th anniversary; a farewell to influential local filmmaker and friend David Boone, who died unexpectedly last week
Food-o-File
On select Saturday nights for the past 16 months, an adventurous group of Austin diners has gathered in a chef’s test kitchen to taste a cookbook in progress.
Record Reviews
ECM New Series ECM — “Edition of Contemporary Music” — holds a unique position in the helter-skelter record label world. Founded more than 30 years ago by German Manfred Eicher, the Teutonic indie has thrived thanks to Eicher’s vision and producing talents; ECM is known for releasing quality improvised music, often based on jazz and/or…
TV Eye
The legend of James Dean, and TNT’s take on it
A Love Divided
A Love Divided 1999, NR, 98 min. Directed by Sydney Macartney, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Orla Brady, Liam Cunningham, Brian Mcgrath, Ali White, Tony Doyle, Peter Caffrey. The “love divided” that the title so soppily refers to is the one between Sean and Sheila Cloney (Cunningham and Brady), a real-life married couple…
Public Notice
Our weekly calendar of activist and volunteer events and fundraisers
Blow Up Your Video
MTV forces American youth to sell their souls, but has Joan Jett in a bikini!
Mercury, Cadmium, Arsenic, Grease …
The Fish & Wildlife Service faults the EPA for failing to protect the Barton Springs Watershed.
Letters at 3AM
The total absence of popular backlash to the paganism of The Mists of Avalon shows that the American fundamentalist influeunce has begun to ebb.
MTV Is Evil
Edna Gundersen of USA Today asked what I thought about the 20th anniversary of MTV. I am free, bright, and 51, so I hadn’t thought about it at all. But my newspaper roots kicked in, and there I was at 7am, putting together about five times as much as Edna could conceivably use. In the…
The Signs of Degradation
Key findings from the Fish & Wildlife Report on Barton Springs
About AIDS
Fighting for medical use of marijuana
Where Are They Now?
The future of Music Televison
‘Endangered Aquifer’
The Barton Springs watershed, also referred to as the Barton Springs segment or zone of the Edwards Aquifer, spans roughly 240,000 acres of contributing and recharge areas in southwestern Travis and northern Hays counties. The contributing zone (light green), the larger area, includes creeks and rivers that eventually drain and flow across exposed surface areas,…
Our Song
Our Song 2000, R, 96 min. Directed by Jim Mckay, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring The Jackie Robinson Steppers Marching Band, Kim Howard, Ray Anthony Thomas, Marlene Forte, Melissa Martinez, Anna Simpson, Kerry Washington. Three girls in their mid-teens are growing up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the best they can. Part of growing…
After a Fashion
Our Style Avatar turns Japanese.
Dancing About Architecture
The Live Music Capital threatens another stake in the heart of live local music.
Lean and … Leaner
A preview of the city’s proposed (and shrinking) budget
