8 Women
8 Women 2002, NR, 108 min. Directed by François Ozon, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Béart, Virginie Ledoyen, Fanny Ardant, Danielle Darrieux, Ludivine Sagnier, Firmine Richard. In the tradition of George Cukor’s The Women, this French import features an all-female cast. Not only that, but it showcases several…
Will it Snow for Christmas?
Will it Snow for Christmas? 1996, NR, 90 min. Directed by Sandrine Veysset, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Alexandre Roger, Jessica Martinez, Daniel Duval, Dominique Reymond. Winner of both the Prix Louis Delluc, the most venerable French film award, and the Cesar for best first film, Veysset’s film tells the story of several…
Day of the Animals
Day of the Animals 1977, PG, 97 min. Directed by William Girdler, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Christopher George, Leslie Nielsen, Lynda Day George, Richard Jaeckel, Ruth Roman. Hikers dropped off by helicopter discover that the destruction of the Earth’s ozone layer has caused animals at high altitudes to run amok.
Back to the Future
Back to the Future 1985, PG, 111 min. D: Robert Zemeckis; with Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd. One of the most beloved movies of the Eighties (helmed by the future director of Forrest Gump), Back to the Future entertainingly deals with the child’s eternal question: If my parents had never met, where would that leave…
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
Pennebaker’s documentary captures the final concert of the Ziggy Stardust tour at the Hammersmith Odeon outside London on July 3, 1973.
The Righteous Babes
The Righteous Babes 1998, NR, 50 min. Directed by Pratibha Parmar, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . This documentary explores the intersection between feminism and popular music, and focuses on the role of female recording artists in the 1990s and their influence on modern women. Among others weighing in on the topic are…
The Battle of Canudos
The Battle of Canudos 1997, NR, 165 min. Directed by Sergio Rezende, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring José Wilker, Cláudia Abreu, Paulo Betti, Marieta Severo. Based on historical facts that are still shrouded in some mystery, Battle of Canudos is an epic drama about the bloodiest conflict in Brazil’s history. It was a…
Holiday Gift Guide
When the Sun Goes Down: The Secret History of Rock & Roll(Bluebird) True to its description as “100 Pioneering Blues Classics,” the 4-CD When the Sun Goes Down is a choice sample of blues and other related African-American styles from the vaults of Bluebird, one of the more productive roots labels of the past century.…
Naked City
Sophia King Update: In a Nov. 26 decision, District Judge Paul Davis ruled in favor of the Austin Police Assoc., blocking an independent investigation into the June shooting death of Sophia King until a contract dispute between the city and the APA, over how such an investigation is to be handled, can be worked out…
Another Blow to Damsels-in-Distress: ‘Jen Saves Ben’
Talk about a hella-cool pre-wedding gift: Director Kevin Smith recently gave Hollywood über-couple and stars of his forthcoming film Jersey Girl Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck their own personal video game kiosk. And not just any video game, either, but one featuring J.Lo and Affleck themselves, created entirely by Austin’s Powerhouse Animation Studios. The game,…
Holiday Gift Guide
New OrderRetro (Warner Bros./Rhino) “Ceremony” is both the living end of Joy Division and the grand beginning of the New Order. It holds the amazing distinction of being perhaps the ultimate offering from not one, but two of the premier groups of the past 25 years. It almost has to lead off any New Order…
Holiday Gift Guide
Capitol Records 1942-2002(Capitol) What’s the proper way to evaluate this ambitious, self-congratulatory 6-CD vanity project? If it’s signature artists — Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, Beastie Boys, Radiohead — then Capitol rates very high indeed. But what about songs that came out of nowhere to help define their…
Naked City
Gay rights advocates scored a precedent-setting victory this week with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear a challenge to the age-old Texas sodomy law. Attorneys from the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund will present oral arguments this spring outlining how the Texas law does not apply equally to all people and violates Constitutional…
Short Cuts
It’s official: Ethan and Dennis are in.
Holiday Gift Guide
The Complete Monterey Pop Festival(Criterion Collection DVD) D.A. Pennebaker’s Monterey Pop has always been considered one of the finest music documentaries ever made. The festival itself, in June 1967, was a charity event helmed by record producer/label head Lou Adler and John Phillips of the Mamas & the Papas, and everyone who was anyone in…
Box Sets
Dwight YoakamReprise Please Baby: The Warner Bros. Years (Reprise/Rhino) Of all the artists associated with the “New Traditionalist” country movement of the mid-to-late Eighties, Dwight Yoakam stands alone. Dubbed early on as the “James Dean of country,” the Kentucky-bred, Ohio-raised singer-songwriter has always been a rebel, achieving success on his own terms. Reprise Please Baby…
Naked City
Friday, Dec. 6, is the first-ever regional environmental summit to discuss issues related to the Edwards Aquifer, convened by Austin City Council Member Daryl Slusher and Hays Co. Judge Jim Powers, at the Palmer Events Center. See p.23 for more info. The first workshop for the Central Austin Combined Neighborhood Planning Area will take place…
TV Eye
The story CNN broke, and the story that broke CNN into the big leagues of television journalism.
Holiday Gift Guide
Ed Sullivan’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Classics(Rhino DVD) It’s amusing to think that in another 20 years David Letterman’s Late Show, which is taped at the Ed Sullivan Theater, might be reduced to a 9-DVD box set of its live musical performances. After all, The Dick Cavett Show was recently telescoped down to a sole DVD…
Holiday Gift Guide
FannyFirst Time in a Long Time — The Reprise Recordings (Rhino Handmade) Fanny has all but fallen out of the popular consciousness, and that’s a terrific shame. They were the first all-female rock band who played their own instruments. Signed to Reprise from 1969 to 1973, the quartet (each of whom sang and wrote songs)…
Naked City
Either bad luck or a well-organized opposition campaign has placed another stumbling block in front of plans to build the Hill Country Galleria, a proposed $250 million shopping center in the Village of Bee Cave. Last week, the May Department Stores Co., which owns Foley’s and Lord & Taylor, notified mall opponents led by the…
Video Reviews
“Ever since my voice changed, I wanted to be in the company of the newspaper greats,” thinks investigative reporter Johnny Barrett to himself early on in Fuller’s predecessor to The Naked Kiss. “And this long corridor is the magic highway to the Pulitzer Prize.”
Holiday Gift Guide
Sam Cooke With the Soul StirrersThe Complete Specialty Recordings (Specialty) The end felt so tragic because the beginning sounded so pure. When Sam Cooke was murdered in a Los Angeles motel in 1964 while allegedly attempting to rape a woman, fans mourned the loss of a bona fide soul singer whose mesmerizing high tenor and…
Second Helpings: Edible Presents
Give the gift that could go in five minutes or that could last until Armageddon, in this week’s “Second Helpings.”
Holiday Gift Guide
Iron MaidenEddie’s Archive (Columbia Legacy) Honestly. The box should have been lead. Or better yet, pewter, like the Eddie shot glass inside (“please hand wash” polites the sticker), and the pewter Eddie seal ’round the Maiden family-tree parchment scroll. Tin?! What were they thinking? The Trooper would not be pleased. Fortunately, the sounds sealed inside…
Naked City
With the fledgling Envision Central Texas effort enjoying a good run with regional participation, two area officials representing different ends of the political spectrum are rolling the dice on another rare endeavor: a regional environmental summit. The free event, the first of its kind, takes place Friday, Dec. 6, from 8:30am-3:30pm at the Palmer Events…
Page Two
Seton’s sabotage, unintentional or not, of the ongoing planning for a hospital district is barely a street sign on the road of potential social deterioration. The problem is that, though it’s a tiny step, it’s another one in the wrong direction, and those steps have become strides.
Holiday GIft Guide
Herbie HancockHerbie Hancock Box (Columbia Legacy) More than any other jazzman of his generation, pianist/keyboardist/ composer/bandleader Herbie Hancock took the baton handed to him by Miles Davis and sprinted into the future. A member of Davis’ incomparable mid-Sixties quintet, Hancock, who stayed active long enough to absorb the famed group’s electric experimentations, forged a highly…
Screens String
Screened Out: Playing Gay in Hollywood From Edison to Stonewall by Richard Barrios Routledge, 320 pp., $29.95 A lighter cousin to Vito Russo’s groundbreaking The Celluloid Closet, this chronicle of gays and lesbians (fictional and real) in Hollywood is exhaustive and well-researched, as well as a compulsively fun read. Barrios is not an academic, but…
Arias From Death Row
In conjunction with its production of the opera Dead Man Walking, Austin Lyric Opera will present a seminar focusing on the unlikely journey of her story about providing spiritual counsel to a convicted murderer on death row to the operatic stage.
Box Sets
Camper Van BeethovenCigarettes & Carrot Juice: The Santa Cruz Years (Pitch-a-Tent) When you look in the dictionary under “alternative rock,” there should be a picture of Camper Van Beethoven. They fit the definition of undefinable so perfectly it’s uncanny, what with their use of Eastern European ethnic rhythms, classic punk rock covers, and on-our-sleeves eclecticism.…
Naked City
The GOP’s sweep of all statewide offices, takeover of the Legislature and U.S. Senate, and the poor showing of the Democratic “Dream Team,” Election Night 2002 left many progressives crying in their beer (or spirulina smoothies). But the folks at the newly created Texas Public Interest Research Group have eschewed crying towels and pessimism in…
Mr. Smarty Pants
ZZ Top has been known to shop at the Kroger’s on Buffalo Speedway in Houston.Two of 50 states will not allow you to pump your own gasoline: New Jersey and Oregon.The naturally occurring compound, 2-aminoacetophenone, helps give taco shells and beer their smells. At high levels, it might be a problem, as the compound also…
Holiday Gift Guide
Jeff BuckleyThe Grace EPs (Columbia) It’s easy to be cynical about Columbia’s release of these five EPs culled from Jeff Buckley’s sole proper album. When the singer drowned in May 1997, his recoupable expenses to Sony Corp. had reached nearly $2 million, and his death has prompted lawsuits to mitigate these losses under the guise…
A Time for Magic
The State Theater Company feels the time is right for magic, and so has a gift to offer this holiday season: the tale of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince told in story and song by John Scoullar and Rick Cummins.
Dancing About Architecture
The new noise ordinance goes to council as Jupiter Records goes round the clock.
Naked City
Look at it this way: If you owed the state several thousand in refunds, interest, and fines on ill-gotten gains, and they declared a Christmas amnesty and let you off for a few hundred bucks — to be paid at your convenience — you’d be happy too. So it’s easy to understand the elation of…
Day Trips
Taiwan might be more than a day trip, but it sure is an experience. Recently, I traveled to Taipei to attend the wedding of my stepson, Chris Rydburg. It was a trip of a lifetime that opened my eyes and heart to another world. For the first time in my life I have a passport.…
Holiday Gift Guide
Grant Green1961-66 Retrospective (Blue Note) Grant Green didn’t live long (1931-79), yet he still established himself among the most gifted and versatile jazz guitarists. He played with a bevy of blues-oriented bands, often including organists, but never gave in to the temptation of using funky clichés. In fact, the keyboardists and hornists who played with…
Articulations
A scorecard of changes in the January arts calendar owing to, um, difficulties in the economy, as well as scheduling conflicts and new bookings.
You Go to Jupiter
Plenty of free live music to be had this weekend, with Jupiter Records at the corner of 41st and Red River in the Hancock Center kicking things off. For 24 hours, starting midnight Friday and continuing nonstop until midnight Saturday, local acts will perform live every hour on the hour in celebration of Jupiter Records…
Naked City
During a press conference on Nov. 20 in San Diego, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration head Asa Hutchinson announced his drug warriors will be stepping up efforts to bust Ecstasy users and dealers. As reported by the Drug Reform Coordination Network, Hutchinson told the crowd that Ecstasy is “the Y generation’s cocaine,” and its use is…
After a Fashion
Oh, you know it’s the season when everyone gets on the First Thursday bandwagon. Plus, this week, our Style Avatar goes to jail. You’ll just have to read about it.
Exhibitionism
In Bash, a collection of monologues by Neil LaBute, the protagonists appear to be considerate, decent people, but in the stories they share they prove themselves capable of committing crimes straight out of Greek tragedy, and the dirigo group production achieves a breezy intimacy with the audience, engaging us so thoroughly that when the darkness…
Thou Shalt Not Sue?
Van Orden’s suit against the Ten Commandments is no slam-dunk.
Naked City
Hoping to rustle up supporters to fight the anti-choice ambush expected during the upcoming Legislature, the Women’s Health and Family Planning Association of Texas organized a free women’s health workshop and advocacy training session two weeks ago at the Texas Medical Association. The all-day conference included a review of the legislative and budget process and…
To Your Health
Several years ago I stopped eating alfalfa sprouts when there were reports of bacterial contamination. Are there safe sprouts on the market now?
Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights
Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights 2002, PG-13, 70 min. Directed by Seth Kearsley, Narrated by , Voices by Adam Sandler, Jackie Titone, Austin Stout, Rob Schneider, Kevin Nealon, Jon Lovitz, Starring . Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights seems to be fashioned around the idea of making fun of as many body parts as possible –…
Exhibitionism
Curieosity, writer-director-choreographer Sharon Sparlin’s original work about Marie Curie and her physicist husband Pierre is an energetic collage of performance styles, with actors on the go like atoms smashing inside a supercollider and spraying their sub-atomic anatomies in every direction, in all manner of presentational genres.
Supreme Entanglements
Homeless Austin lawyer Thomas Van Orden takes the state to court over the Ten Commandments
Austin @ Large: Austin at Large
Even if a current criminal probe turns up no fire, Austin’s minority contracting program has never lacked for smoke and heat.
About AIDS
FDA Approves Rapid HIV Test — Finally! The Federal Drug Administration has approved OraQuick, a rapid HIV antibody test kit that provides results in 20 minutes, made by OraSure, which also makes the HIV test performed with a swab from the mouth. The new rapid test is just as accurate as any other testing technique,…
Extreme Ops
Extreme Ops 2003, PG-13, 93 min. Directed by Christian Duguay, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Rufus Sewell, Devon Sawa, Rupert Graves, Heino Ferch, Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, Joe Absolom, Jana Pallaske, Klaus Lowitsch. Hey dude, ‘sup? Just chillin’ here with a brew and surfing the Net after seeing this really kewl movie Extreme Ops tonight.…
Seton’s Latest Surprise: Jesus Rises!
Seton Healthcare Network hires former City Manager Jesus Garza — and shifts the odds in its dispute with the city over Brackenridge Hospital.
The Hightower Report
Corporations launder money to cheat the IRS; Homeland Security makes for good comedy.
Gourmet Gadgetry
The Food staff offers some ideas on stocking stuffers for the kitchen enthusiast on your list.
Wes Craven Presents: They
Wes Craven Presents: They 2002, PG-13, 90 min. Directed by Robert Harmon, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Dagmara Domincyzk, Jon Abrahams, Marc Blucas, Jay Brazeau, Ethan Embry, Laura Regan. Robert Harmon’s 1986 film The Hitcher is a classic of nail-gnawing suspense (with vague supernatural overtones) that the director, unfortunately, never quite topped. He’s…
It’s the Thoughts That Count
Comics to cut through everything
Your Neighbors, Your Money: ACC Looks for Support
Austin Community College seeks to build support for a tax referendum even as a state audit blasts ACC leaders.
Bright Lights, Little City
It’s maybe silly to fix a personality on a place, but something happens when you hook a left onto Austin Ave. and drive into Georgetown’s historic district. Everything slows down, just a little bit, and then there’s that marquee, neon and spangly, lighting up downtown. Welcome to the Palace.
Food-o-File
Austin cannot live on Bread Alone, alone, in this week’s “Food-o-File.”
Das Experiment
Das Experiment 2001, R, 113 min. Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Justus von Dohnanyi, Maren Eggert, Wotan Wilke Môhring, Oliver Stokowski, Christian Berkel, Timo Dierkes, Moritz Bleibtreu. Big Brother meets Survivor at Heinrich Himmler’s house. Loosely based on Mario Giordano’s novel Black Box (which was itself taken from the…
It’s the Thoughts That Count
To essay meaning
Toothless Ethics
The Texas Ethics Commission has its own ethical problems, a fired staffer says.
Movies at the Palace
Amélie: Dec. 5-6, 7pm; Dec. 8, 2pm My Big Fat Greek Wedding: Dec. 12-13, 7pm; Dec. 15, 2pm Sweet Home Alabama: Dec. 19-20, 7pm; Dec. 22, 2pm Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams: Dec. 26-27, 7pm; Dec. 29, 2pm
Mini-Review
MM Pack throws “so-called journalistic objectivity out the window,” and reviews Chronicle contributor Wes Marshall’s The Wine Roads of Texas; also, we excerpt it.
Empire
Empire 2002, R, 100 min. Directed by Franc Reyes, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring John Leguizamo, Delilah Cotto, Peter Sarsgaard, Denise Richards, Nestor Serrano, Treach, Fat Joe, Sonia Braga, Isabella Rossellini. “If only I knew then what I know now,” laments former South Bronx street pharmacist Victor Rosa (Leguizamo) in his bookend voiceover,…
It’s the Thoughts That Count
Franzen after the frenzy
A Drip of Progress for Northridge Acres
The state questions why the plan to provide water to Northridge Acres costs so much.
Tech Toys
Gift guide for the tech-minded.
Excerpt From the Introduction to Pleasant Hill Winery, Brenham, Texas
It was a warm Saturday afternoon when I first met the Cottles. Jeanne and her son Jason were taking care of customers while Aunt B. worked behind the counter. Bob was downstairs, leading a nursing home tour-group through the cellar. In between customers, Jeanne started telling me a little about the winery and how they…
It’s the Thoughts That Count
The folklore of love
‘Tis the Silly Season: Give the Gift of Politics!
Gift Guide recommendations from the Chronicle news staff
Screens Feature
XBOX LIVE$49.99 Microsoft For an interminable year, a dust-collecting ethernet port on the backside of every Xbox game console in North America lay dormant like a Cold War sleeper agent. Xbox owners consoled their consoles, housed inside faux oak entertainment cabinets or perched perilously atop HDTV sets, with promises of expanding their matrices beyond current…
Holiday Gift Guide
Elvis PresleyToday, Tomorrow & Forever (RCA/BMG Heritage)Elvis PresleyElvis: The Great Performances (Rhino DVD) For those Elvis fanatics on your holiday list who won’t be satisfied by 30 No. 1 Hits, here are two high-end products for your consideration. Today, Tomorrow & Forever is a 4-CD set containing 100 previously unreleased Elvis cuts. That may sound…
Naked City
Breaking news from Austin, Central Texas, and the world
Flesh & Blood
The Drafthouse thinks you could do with a little more Udo. That’s why they’re bringing in German legend Udo Kier for the weekend.
Holiday Gift Guide
EnyaOnly Time: The Collection (Rhino/Reprise) Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, better known as Enya, is the unchallenged New Age crossover queen. Of course, “New Age” is often a convenient slot for artists too pop to be classical, and Enya is too eclectic to be either. The regal presentation of this 4-CD box set — a deep purple…
