Superman-Ia
Superman-Ia NR. Directed by Richard Donner, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring George Reeves, Christopher Reeve. Superman-ia is a tribute screening of everything Superman. Highlights include Superman’s “Join the Air Force’ commercial, Max Fleischer’s animated Superman cartoons from the Forties; George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, TV episodes, and the original 1978 big-screen epic feature directed…
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky 1989, NR, 91 min. Directed by Lam Ngai Kai, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Frankie Chin, Siu-Wong Fan, Ho Ka-kui. Reported to be the most quintessentially over-the-top kung-fu flick ever made, Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky combines images of violent excess with generous amounts of humor. Gory things…
Valley of the Dolls
Valley of the Dolls 1967, NR, 123 min. Directed by Mark Robson, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Patty Duke, Barbara Perkins, Sharon Tate, Susan Haywood, Lee Grant, Joey Bishop, George Jessel. As a special treat, this camp classic is being presented as a drive-in movie event. Using the sloped parking lot of downtown’s…
Boudu Sauvé Des Eaux (Boudu Saved From Drowning)
Boudu Sauvé Des Eaux (Boudu Saved From Drowning) NR, 87 min. Directed by Jean Renoir, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Michel Simon, Charles Granval, Marcelle Hania, Sevverine Lerczynska. One of Renoir’s very best films, Boudu skewers class distinctions with its hand outstretched with a joy buzzer. The great French comic actor Michel Simon…
The Gates of the Alamo Reviewed
Mark Busby reviews Stephen Harrigan’s The Gates of the Alamo.
Class Credit
When the venerable H.E. Butt Corporation opened Central Market in Austin several years ago, little did we know that a grocery store would become a serious foodie tourist attraction, a popular local music venue, and a nationally respected cooking school all under the same roof. Chronicle food writers review recent Central Market cooking classes.
SXSW Live Shots
The Ex-HusbandsOpal Divine’s Freehouse, Saturday, Mar 18 Weather — the wild card at South by Southwest. You may recall the torrential storm that rained out BR5-49 at Stubb’s last year, the winds that nearly blew Hank Williams III all the way to Ben White this year, or the downpour that found the Waco Brothers playing…
SXSW Live Shots
Li’l Band O’ GoldContinental Club, Thursday, Mar 16 With their debut release on Shanachie Records only weeks away, this band of Louisiana All-Stars blew through the jam-packed Continental Club like a Gulf Coast cyclone. Fronted by roots-drenched guitarist C.C. Adcock and button-accordionist Steve Riley from Mamou Playboys fame, with swamp-pop legend/drummer Warren Storm and a…
Fanning the Flames
It was an unseasonably warm Wednesday evening in late February when a shy and embarrassed high school student nervously walked into a house north of Hyde Park. His dour-faced mother stood a few steps away and watched. She had learned, just days earlier, that her son is gay — Hispanic, Catholic, and gay. The house…
Reflections
Latino Filmmaking Panel Gregory Nava, Guillermo del Toro, Ray Santisteban, Carlos Avila “There’s a wonderful phrase in Hollywood,” says Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Cronos, Mimic). “It’s your movie — but can you do it this way?” Doing it his way is an ongoing quest for del Toro, as well as for U.S. Latino filmmakers…
Reflections
WONDERWALL Dir: Joe Massot; Scr: Guillermo Cabrera Infante; Prod: Andrew Braunsberg; Exec Prod: J. David Bertram; DP: Harry Waxman; Music: George Harrison, featuring Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar, Ringo Starr; Cast: Jane Birkin, Jack MacGowran, Iain Quarrier, Irene Handl, Richard Wattis. 35mm, 75 min., 1968 (RP) Pitting a typically proper, mild-mannered British professor against the ever-changing…
The Speed of Technology
Report from the Adult World Presentation and discussion with Danni Ashe Five years ago, the blonde and foxy Danni Ashe was a stripper earning a modest $1,500 a month. She’d organized, too, a fan club for all the hot-and-bothered bargoers who’d fallen in love with her, um, dancing, and she made some extra cash by…
Excerpt from The Gates of the Alamo
In this excerpt from The Gates of the Alamo, the Texian forces at the Alamo, under the command of Jim Bowie and William Travis, have suffered the first cannon attacks from the newly arrived Mexican army.
Class Credit
Introduction When the venerable H.E. Butt Corporation opened Central Market in Austin several years ago, little did we know that a grocery store would become a serious foodie tourist attraction, a popular local music venue, and a nationally respected cooking school, all under the same roof. The cooking school went through a series of transitions…
SXSW Live Shots
Michael Ullman’s PartySomewhere in West Lake Hills, Sunday, Mar 19 Sunday is the day of South by Southwest when everyone packs their bags and goes back to where they came from (or in our case, back to their day jobs), nursing hangovers, and looking ruefully at their depleted wallets. Though a handful of bands play…
SXSW Live Shots
JapancakesThirty Three Degrees In-store, Thursday, Mar 16 One of South by Southwest’s open secrets is that between a myriad of in-store performances, barbecues, private parties, and showcases, music hounds can see music almost 24 hours a day. The day after playing their official slot at Emo’s on the conference’s first night, Japancakes joined Dressy Bessy…
The Schoolfield Of Hard Knocks
At News 8 Austin, as at KVUE-24, there was a rushed search for a point of view opposing the possibility of AISD providing Out Youth information to teens. According to education reporter Phil Kahn, his assignment editor said, “I know a Republican who’s running for State Board of Education. Let’s try him.” They phoned Bob…
Reflections
8 1/2 WOMEN Dir/Scr: Peter Greenaway; Prod: Kees Kasander; Exec Prod: Terry Glinwood, Bob Hubar, Denis Wigman; DP: Sacha Vierny; Ed: Elmer Leupen; Cast: Polly Walker, Amanda Plummer, Toni Collette, Vivian Wu, John Standing, Matthew DeLaMare. 35mm, 121 min., 1999 (USP) Whores, earthquake fetishism, bizarre film compositions, and an unsettling tribute to Fellini: the newest…
Reflections
The American Tapestry Dir: Gregory Nava; Prod: Barbara Martinez Jitner; Ed: Sandy Guthrie; Music: John Adams. 35mm, 96 min., 1999 (TP) In weaving The American Tapestry, Gregory Nava (Mi Familia, Selena) sets out to capture some hint of the diversity that defines the modern family in the United States. Such a feat could conceivably mean…
The Speed of Technology
Animation, Gaming & Comics: Telling a Story on the Internet David Collier (gamelet.com) Patrick Farley (e-sheep.com) Xeth Feinberg (mishmashmedia.com) Lev (ingredientx.com) Taylor, mod. (Undo Animations)Despite the Internet’s free and easy access to pornography and other lewd materials to any minor with the ability to click a mouse, this panel of storytellers unified in its support…
Waking the Dead
Waking the Dead 2000, R, 103 min. Directed by Keith Gordon, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Lawrence Dane, Sandra Oh, Janet Mcteer, Molly Parker, Hal Holbrook, Jennifer Connelly, Billy Crudup. Director Keith Gordon, who will be forever stuck in my mind as the shrill, cursed protagonist of John Carpenter’s Stephen King knockoff Christine…
Postscripts
The politics of the new publishing.
Class Credit
Cooking for Love with Mary Perna Saturday, February 5 This is supposed to be a story that offers a new way of thinking about Central Market’s well-known and wildly popular cooking school. A story about gathering a group of friends — as few as five or as many as 25 — and embarking on a…
SXSW Live Shots
Hoot Nite FeverHole in the Wall, Sunday, Mar 19 Given the way oil prices have shot up lately, ending South by Southwest 2000 with a nod to disco was a nice way of returning things to normal. “Normal,” of course, would be shirtless table-dancing revelry, a packed stage, and a Chronicle writer shaking both his…
SXSW Live Shots
DJ ShowcaseSpiros, Thursday, Mar 16 When it’s all said and done, it comes down to two silly words: “What Happened?” After last South by Southwest’s blazing, eclectic, electronica/DJ showcases-cum-extravaganza, this year’s alleged festival blowout showstopper just plain fizzled, like a soggy firecracker that sat out in the rain too long. The proverbial downpour, in this…
Naked City
kaye trybus tries to save tree, neighbors try to keep home depot out of their Woodward neighborhood, becky motal and alan sager square off april 11 for gop county chair, linda curtis is running for city council.
Reflections
AMERICAN PIMP Dir: Allen Hughes, Albert Hughes; Prod: Allen Hughes, Albert Hughes, Kevin J. Messick; Co-Prod: Spencer Franklin; Ed: Dan Lebental, Doug Pray; Cast: Rosebudd, Schauntte, Bradley, C-Note, Ken Ivy, Charm, RP, Fillmore Slim, Sir Captain, Payroll, Gorgeous Dre. 35mm, 86 min., 1999 (RP) Think platform shoes, garish Cadillacs with wide whitewalls, gold jewelry, and…
Reflections
The Ballad of Ramblin’ Jack Dir/DP/Prod/Scr: Aiyana Elliott; Prod: Paul Mezey, Dan Partland; Co-Prod/Scr: Dick Dahl; Exec Prod: Hunter Gray, Tyler Brodie, Jesse Crawford; Ed: David Baum, Susan Littenberg; Music: Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. 35mm, 105 min., 1999 (RP) Ramblin’ Jack Elliott is a folksinger in the mold of Jimmie Rodgers and Woody Guthrie; indeed, Guthrie…
The Speed of Technology
Syndication of Content Bill Childs (Hole City), Thomas Lakeman (DNA Studio), Ali Muney (Epicenter) “It’s hard for writers to make money on the Web right now.” … Bill Childs, Hole City Confusion reigned at the “Syndication of Content” panel, where three unlikely experts fought to discover why they were behind the dais and why the…
Romeo Must Die
Romeo Must Die 2000, R, 118 min. Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Anthony Anderson, Jon Kit Lee, Edoardo Ballerini, D.b. Woodside, Henry O, Delroy Lindo, Dmx, Russell Wong, Isaiah Washington, Aaliyah, Jet Li. Despite the cagey titling, Hong Kong action star Jet Li’s first stateside leading role has little…
Off the Bookshelf
Starstruck Photographs From a Fan by Gary Lee Boas Dilettante Press, 320 pp., $27.95 (paper) Being in love with your idols is not what it used to be. The mad hyperventilation and tears still come for sure, but all the hugs and kisses in the relationship between celebrities and fans are clearly gone. Gary Lee…
Class Credit
Winter Roasting & Braising with Bruce Aidells Tuesday, February 15 Bruce Aidells is a tall, portly man with a ruddy face that’s etched with the kinds of lines only lots of smiling can produce. He’s influenced the life of most foodies, whether they know it or not. He was the editor of the chapters on…
Dancing About Architecture
Punk rock rough stuff; Emo calls it quits; Tenacious D seems to be the shit.
SXSW Live Shots
Therapy?Gallery Lombardi Lounge, Thursday, Mar 16 With a violent, bed-shaking spasm, the dormant beast reawakened. Belfast’s Therapy?, in stateside remission since 1995, stormed the Gallery Lombardi stage like a group of escaped convicts releasing years’ worth of festering tension. Frontman Andy Cairns was a spasmodic freakshow unto himself, wrapped in lumberjack flannel and wool cap,…
Naked City
Cap Metro’s light rail proposals clear a major hurdle after receiving a “recommended” rating from the Federal Transit Administration.
Reflections
THE BIG KAHUNA Dir: John Swanbeck; Scr: Roger Rueff; Prod: Kevin Spacey, Elie Samaha, Andrew Stevens; Exec Prod: Gerard Guez; DP: Anastas N. Michos; Ed: Peggy Davis; Cast: Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito, Peter Facinelli. 35mm, 90 min., 1999 (RP) The American salesman has inspired the American theatre’s greatest playwrights, from Miller to Mamet. Based on…
Reflections
Exiles in New York Dir/Scr: Eduardo Machado; Prod: Betty Ann Besch Solinger; DP: Todd Liebler; Ed: Davey Frankel; Cast: Elzbieta Czyzewska, Eileen Galindo, Heather Hill, Rogelio Martinez, Jim Simpson, Ed Vassallo. 35mm, 88 min., 1999 (RP) Eager Juan (Quintero) from Guatemala is willing to work hard to earn everything he’s heard about the American dream.…
The Speed of Technology
eBooks and eStories Mod: Judy Bryan (Wired Digital) Panelists: Lynn Bender (ibooks.com), Marcus Colombano (Nuvo Media), Chris Noessel (US Web/CKS), Patricia Ricks (Pemberly Press), Joe Nick Patoski (Texas Monthly) Conventional wisdom was the eBook was a loser … you couldn’t curl up with one, and book publishers feared delivering entire narratives online. That was then,…
The Wilgus Stories
The Wilgus Stories 1999, NR, 60 min. Directed by Andrew Garrison, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Ned Beatty, William Johnson, Christopher Berry, Robin Mullins, Frank Hoyt Taylor. Based on stories from Gurney Norman’s book, Kinfolks, this touching rural road triptych visits three crossroads in the life of Wilgus Collier (Johnson), a young man…
Off the Bookshelf
Run by Douglas E. Winter Knopf, 288 pp., $24 Another entry into the literary canon of brazenly foolish titles, Run dares the reader to do just that. Douglas E. Winter’s debut novel wastes 100 pages with a tedious buildup to an illegal arms exchange, then shifts gears with a briskly plotted buddy story. Written in…
Class Credit
Spicy Foods From Hunan & Sichuanwith Barbara Tropp Thursday, January 21 Barbara Tropp is a diminutive fireball. She’s tiny in stature but gargantuan when it comes to the whys and wherefores of Chinese cuisine. With close-cropped hair and sparkling eyes, she peered over the top of the reading glasses perched on her aquiline nose as…
1999-2000 Austin Music Awards
An All-Star Line Up, Back Stage and Center Stage
SXSW Live Shots
MarahStubb’s, Thursday, Mar 16 “This is like Woodstock,” exclaimed Marah frontman Dave Bienlanko as he stepped on the Stubb’s outdoor stage. It was wet, and due to the heavy rains, the crowd had thinned out worse than Gavin McLeod’s hair. Because of the lighting, Marah’s set was delayed, and under such conditions, the set could…
Naked City
Five Austin campuses make Newsweek’s list of the “best” schools based on AP course offerings; but some say the results are skewed.
Reflections
BLINK Dir/Scr/Prod: Elizabeth Thompson; DP: Michael Anderson, Adam Beckman, Thomas Harting; Ed: Elizabeth Finlayson; Music: Spencer Critzhley, Marco D’Ambrosio. 16mm, 60 min., 1999 (WP) In the Eighties, Greg Withrow made appearances on shows like Donahue and PM Magazine to share his story: The former KKK leader had renounced his racist roots and embraced love after…
Reflections
The Filth and the Fury Dir: Julien Temple; Prod: Anita Camarata, Amanda Temple; Exec Prod: Eric Gardner, Jonathan Weisgal; Ed: Niven Howie; Music: Sex Pistols. 35mm, 105 min., 1999 (RP) … and the Freak Show, don’t forget that, Mr. Temple. The Sex Pistols, arbiters of all that was crude and punk in England from 1976…
The Speed of Technology
An Interview with Janelle Brown Janelle Brown has been writing about Internet culture, entertainment, and technology for over five years — first for HotWired and now, for Salon magazine. She was at SXSW both covering the conference for the magazine and as a panelist on two seminars — “What the Film World Can Learn from…
Off the Bookshelf
The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead Anchor Books, 256 pp., $11.95 (paper) This remarkable debut novel arrives in paperback following an avalanche of accolades upon its initial publication last year. On the surface it’s the story of Lila Mae Watson, the first black female elevator inspector, who, following a mysterious elevator accident, becomes the central figure…
Food-o-File
In this week’s edition of Food-o-file, Austin Chronicle Food editor Virginia B. Wood clarifies some earlier statements she had made about the Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival.
1999-2000 Austin Music Awards
Kerry and Paul Comic Kerry Awn and emcee Paul Ray standing at attention backstage
SXSW Live Shots
Wanda Jackson Continental Club, Thursday, Mar 16 Wanda Jackson can’t say Austin doesn’t love her. Though the undisputed “First Lady of Rockabilly” had just finished a two-night Continental Club stand the week prior to South by Southwest, that didn’t stop the faithful from packing the South Congress nightspot to capacity for another audience with the…
Naked City
Rank, School, District 17, Lyndon B. Johnson, Austin 48, Westwood, Round Rock 65, Westlake, Eanes 116, Dripping Springs, Dripping Springs 192, Austin, Austin 244, McCallum, Austin 328, Johnston, Austin 398, Anderson, Austin
Reflections
BUDDY BOY Dir/Scr: Mark Hanlon; Prod: Cary Woods, Gina Mingacci; Exec Prod: Elliot Lewis Rosenblatt; DP: Hubert Taczanowski; Ed: Hughes Winborne; Cast: Aidan Gillen, Emmanuelle Seigner, Susan Tyrrell, Mark Boone Jr., Harry Groener. 35mm, 103 min., 1999 (USP) Not everything is what it seems in the paranoid Buddy Boy. Its tormented protagonist, Francis, lives in…
Reflections
Original Diner Guys Dir/Prod: Barry Levinson; DP: Wayne Ewing, Bob Dorsey, Boots Shelton, Ed: Neil Kirk, Wayne Ewing; Cast: Larry Becker, Ed Childress, Edward “Jake” Jacobson, Barry Levinson, Stewart Reichlyn. 35mm, 75 min., 1999 (RP) If you thought the buddies-for-life friendships of the five guys in Barry Levinson’s 1982 film Diner were too good to…
Short Cuts
Upcoming events and workshops of interest to the Austin film community.
Local Bestsellers
Local bestsellers are based on recent sales at Austin bookstores selected to reflect varied reading interests.
Mini-Review
Tocai 601 W. Sixth, 457-8880 Mon-Sat, 11am-2pm; Mon-Thu, 6-10pm; Fri-Sat, 6-11pm When someone names a restaurant for a wine grape, you can assume he or she has some serious thoughts about how wine will meld with food. Tocai, an obscure Italian varietal, is also the name of a local restaurant owned by Anthony Garcia, a…
1999-2000 Austin Music Awards
Kelly and Bruce Best Female Vocalist and Album of the Year winner Kelly Willis flirts with her husband Bruce Robison backstage
SXSW Live Shots
Calexico, Ranchero BrothersCherilyn diMond’s House, Thursday, Mar 16 Private parties, club parties, label parties, dot-com parties, release parties — bollocks! Ain’t no party like a backyard party, and South by Southwest is no exception. Ex-Meat Purveyor Cherilyn diMond opened the doors to her house off North Loop one fine South By afternoon, and the bands…
Naked City
Election Day held few major surprises, except for the increasing strength of Republican candidates in Travis and the surrounding counties.
Reflections
CAMERA OBSCURA Dir/Scr: Hamlet Sarkissian; Prod: Tassos Kazinos; Exec Prod: Albertino Abela; DP: Haris Zambarloukos; Ed: Andrea Zondler; Music: Tigran Mansurian; Cast: Adam Trese, Ariadna Gil, Cully Fredricksen, VJ Foster, Kirk Ward. 35mm, 114 min., 2000 (USP) Intentionally vile, Camera Obscura hearkens back to the sickening glut of bad-cop movies that dominated the Eighties. As…
Reflections
Price of Glory Dir: Carlos Ávila; Scr: Phil Berger; Prod: Moctesuma Esparza, Arthur Friedman, Robert Katz, Exec Prod: Loretha C. Jones, Carolyn Manetti, Stephanie Striegel; Co-Exec Prod: Morris Ruskin, Laurie Wagman; DP: Affonso Beato; Ed: Gary Karr; Cast: Jimmy Smits, Jon Seda, Clifton González González, Maria del Mar, Ernesto Hernández, Paul Rodriguez, Ron Perlman. 35mm,…
Video Reviews
(“Video Reviews” wishes to thank Encore Movies & Music, I Luv Video, Vulcan Video, and Waterloo Video for their help in providing videos, laser discs, and DVDs.) NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD D: Tom Savini (1990); with Patricia Tallman, Tony Todd, Tom Towles, McKee Anderson. DAWN OF THE DEAD D: George Romero (1978); with Ken…
Book Reviews
God’s Favorite: A Novel by Lawrence Wright Simon & Schuster, 356 pp., $24 In one of the many wickedly hilarious episodes of this entertaining novel, the author takes a moment to ponder fate, or at least the fate of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega: “The size and number of a man’s enemies say something…
Mini-Review
Tocai: Picks of the List Zardetto Proseco, $19 Pra Soave, $26 Franz Kunstler Riesling, $23 Seresin Sauvignon Blanc, $29 Domaine De La Garrigue Vacqueyras, $25 Seghesio Zinfandel, $23 Seghesio Barbera D’Alba, $32
1999-2000 Austin Music Awards
Shawn, Augie, and Shandon Sons of Sahm Shawn and Shandon flank Augie Meyers, whose Texas Tornados were winners again
SXSW Live Shots
Waco BrothersYard Dog Gallery, Friday, Mar 17 Late Thursday night, the Waco Brothers’ set at Scholz Garten was cut short by a sudden deluge of rain that left both the band and their hearty fans less than satisfied. Jonboy Langford and company more than made up for the interruption the following afternoon at their label…
Naked City
The filing deadline for the May 6 City Council election was 5pm on Wednesday, March 22. Of the four positions on the ballot, two — Place 2, being retired by Gus Garcia, who has served on the council for nine years, and Place 5, being vacated by UT professor Bill Spelman after statewide voters rejected…
Reflections
DROPPING OUT Dir: Mark Osborne; Scr/Cast: Kent Osborne; Prod: Neil Machlis, Michelle Imperato-Stabile, Steve Kalafer; Exec Prod: Daniel M. Stillman; DP: Brian Capener; Ed: Kris Cole; Music: Jack Pendarvis; Cast: Adam Arkin, Vince Vieluf, David Koechner, Katey Sagal, John Stamos 35mm, 109 min., 1999 (RP) Dropping Out has all the satirical verve of The Simpsons…
Reflections
A Sign From God Dir/Scr/Prod: Greg Watkins; Prod/Ed: Caveh Zahedi; Exec Prod: Richard Clark; DP: Jennifer Jew; Music: Jonathan Richman; Cast: Laura Macias, Caveh Zahedi, Celia Gamburg, Ester Mammet, Francisca Schneider, Sarah K. Trelaub. 35mm, 73 min., 1999 (RP) “Either everything means something or nothing does,” declares Caveh Zahedi, the aloof protagonist of A Sign…
TV Eye
Now in its 15th year, the Independent Spirit Awards were created to recognize the so-called “indie” filmmakers who get by with low budgets, favor originality over the formulaic, and feature lesser-known or unknown talent in front of the camera. Well, that’s what it used to be like.
Book Reviews
The Fifth Elephant: A Novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett Harper Collins, 323 pp., $24 There was a span in my life of about 20 years or so — post-Dungeons and Dragons, post-Tolkien — when I became a bit of a fantasy snob, the kind of guy who was more than happy to pick up…
Mini-Review
Culinaria: The United States: A Culinary Discovery Edited by Randi Danforth Konemann Publishers, 509 pp., $39.95 Every time I pick up my 10-pound copy of Culinaria: The United States: A Culinary Discovery, I get hopelessly distracted. Paging through its large-format glossy pages, I’ll start reading about the development of New York’s luncheonette culture or the…
1999-2000 Austin Music Awards
Kevin, Sandra, and Bob 107.1 KGSR’s Kevin Connor yuks it up with Sandra Bullock and mega-Award winner Bob Schneider.
SXSW Live Shots
Supersuckers, Nashville Pussy, Hank Williams III Stubb’s, Friday, Mar 17 In a matter of 10 minutes, a line formed from Stubb’s entrance to the end of the block, all craning to get in before Hank Williams III took the stage at 10pm. The panicky feeling set in for those of us still on the outside…
Naked City
After nearly three months of City Council-ordered negotiations, Hyde Park Baptist Church, whose property covers several city blocks in the heart of the historic Hyde Park neighborhood, filed a site plan on March 3 for a garage that would be five stories high, have minimal or no setbacks from its front wall on Ave. D.,…
Reflections
THE EXORCIST: THE VERSION YOU’VE NEVER SEEN D: William Friedkin; with Linda Blair, Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty Winn. 35mm, 131min., 2000 (WP) If the sight of Linda Blair crawling down the stairs like a giant tarantula with blood gushing from her lips isn’t enough to raise every hair…
Reflections
Spectres of the Spectrum Dir/Scr/Prod: Craig Baldwin; DP: Bill Daniel; Music: John Waterman, Korla Pandit, Dominic Frontiere, Isaq Tomita, DJ Spooky, et al; Cast: Sean Kilcoyne, Caroline Koebel, Beth Usick. 16mm, 88 min., 1999 (RP) “There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission.” This…
West Beirut
West Beirut 1998, NR, 105 min. Directed by Ziad Doueiri, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Leila Karam, Liliane Nemry, Joseph Bou Nassar, Carmen Lebbos, Rola Al Amin, Mohamad Chamas, Rami Doueiri. Among the worst-damaged during wartime are a battle zone’s children. Cut loose from school, nurtured by antagonisms, and seasoned by deprivation, these…
Second Helpings: Mediterranean/Middle Eastern
Chronicle writer Greg Beets serves up local meditteranean and Middle Eastern cuisine in this week’s Second Helpings.
Page Two
Imagine working on a meal for a year …
Mini-Review
The Rose Pistola Cookbook: 140 Italian Recipes From San Francisco’s Favorite North Beach Restaurant by Reed Hearon and Peggy Knickerbocker Broadway Books, 276 pp., $35 Want to know how to shave artichokes? Skillet roast mussels? Cure fresh sardines? Turn vegetables into a savory bread pudding? The Rose Pistola Cookbook unlocks these culinary secrets and presents…
1999-2000 Austin Music Awards
John and Margaret John Cale and Margaret Moser, natch
SXSW Live Shots
SupagroupGallery Lombardi Lounge Friday, 17 Thank you, Supagroup, for officially ending my alt.country romance. The split is amicable, but the divorce is final thanks to the 40 minutes of blinding, fist-pumping fury Supagroup (re)converted me with to the cause of rock & all its life-changing glory. And to my new partner I will be true.…
Naked City
Ed Begley Jr., nominated for an Emmy for his role as Dr. Victor Ehrlich on St. Elsewhere, will speak at 7pm Friday, March 24, in Jones Auditorium of the Ragsdale Center at St. Edward’s University. The topic of the free lecture will be “Live Simply That Others May Simply Live.”
Reflections
HAMLET Dir/Scr: Michael Almereyda; Prod: Andrew Fierberg, Amy Hobby; Exec Prod: Jason Blum, John Sloss; DP: John de Borman; Ed: Kristina Boden; Music: Carter Burwell; Cast: Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan, Sam Shepard, Diane Venora, Bill Murray, Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles, Karl Geary. 35mm, 113 min., 2000 (RP) If you thought Cruel Intentions unjustly butchered a…
Reflections
Steal This Movie! Dir/Co-Prod: Robert Greenwald; Scr: Bruce Graham; Exec Prod: Jon Avnet; Co-Prod: Robert Greenwald, Jake Rose, Liz Selzer; DP: Dennis Lenoir; Ed: Kimberley Ray; Cast: Vincent D’Onofrio, Janeane Garofalo, Kevin Pollak, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Kevin Corrigan, Donal Logue, Troy Garrity. 35mm, 103 min., 2000 Greenwald’s Abbie Hoffman biopic has a pretty wishful title: Overwrought…
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Jarmusch’s film is a tone poem about a contemporary hitman nicknamed Ghost Dog (Whitaker), who is steeped in the code of the ancient Japanese samurai.
Speaking in Tongues
When Dan Dietz ‘lets go,’ he turns gibberish into art. And he proves it in the Salvage Vanguard Theater production of MacWellman’s nonsense play Terminal Hip.
Public Notice
“Public Notice” is the sassy yet totally sincere public service column of the Austin Chronicle. This week is Part One of a list of community groups that need YOU!
Adventures in Backpacking
While traversing the globe in search of enlightenment, writer Mary Fitzgerald finds something altogether different: the steadily growing tribe of the full-time traveler. Outfitted to the teeth with Stussy, batik, Birkenstock, and the latest John Grisham novel, these nomadic wanderers have an entire culture all their own.
1999-2000 Austin Music Awards
Christa and Shandon 8 1/2 Souvenirs babe Christa Bell smooched by Shandon Sahm
SXSW Live Shots
Made For You and Me: Woody Guthrie’s Dustbowl Legacy PanelAustin Convention Center, Friday, Mar 17 I always consider it a good sign when the dean of rock scribes, Dave Marsh, is on a South by Southwest panel. In the past three years, he’s walked off in a huff in the middle of a panel on…
Land Lock
from east to west, land use a hot topic
Reflections
HIGH FIDELITY Dir: Stephen Frears; Scr: Nick Hornby, DV deVincentis. Steve Pink, John Cusack, Michael Rosenberg; Prod: Tim Bevan, Rudd Simmons; DP: Seamus McGarvey; Ed: Mick Audsley; Music: Howard Shore; Cast: John Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Jack Black, Todd Louiso, Lisa Bonet, Joan Cusack, Sara Gilbert, Tim Robbins, Lili Taylor, Catherine Zeta-Jones. 35mm, 114 min., 2000…
Reflections
Too HIgh, Too Wide, and Too Long Dir/Prod: Karen Dinitz; DP: Bill Daniel; Ed: Keefe Boerner. Video, 52 min., 1999 Who better to herald the cultural creativity of Texas than Bob “Daddio” Wade, the creator of really big art, whose works include story-high cowboy boots, giant iguanas, and Mexican Combination Plates? Documentarist Dinitz accompanies Wade…
Erin Brockovich
Erin Brockovich 2000, R, 131 min. D: Steven Soderbergh; with Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart. Erin Brockovich may well be Julia Roberts’ best film to date, or at least the film that finally puts the lie to critics’ assertions that she’s less an actress than a leggy, eye-rolling smile with a good agent and…
Exit ‘Downtown,’ Right on Sunset
In her latest project, singer Petula Clark sets aside her image as chirpy pop starlet to play mad screen diva Norma Desmond in the musical version of Sunset Blvd. Clark tells Stephen MacMillan Moser how she came by this radical departure in roles.
After a Fashion
Why so much black clothing at SXSW? It was the only color that went with those garish lanyards.
Traveler Meccas
Khao San Road, Bangkok Where it all begins. Sit back, have a dubious-tasting Singha beer, and watch the latter-day lotus-eaters kit themselves out in tie-dye for their world tour. Most likely the only Thais you will actually meet here amongst the 7-Elevens, blaring rock music, and stalls selling rip-off designer clothes, watches, and CDs will…
1999-2000 Austin Music Awards
John, Alejandro, and Tosca A little bit of rock history being made in tribute to the Velvet Underground’s Sterling Morrison as “Waiting For My Man” is performed by John Cale and Alejandro Escovedo with Tosca on strings
SXSW Live Shots
Daniel Johnston/Beachwood Sparks/Guided By VoicesConvention Center, Friday, Mar 17/Launch.com Party at La Zona Rosa, Friday, Mar 17/Revolver Party at Millennium Hall, Saturday, Mar 18 It’s always a bit hit or miss with Daniel Johnston, and though an intrusive cameraman buzzed too closely around him, he played a short but untraumatized set. Pulling songs from his…
Media Clips
San Antonio Express-News pays its editor an amount “in the millions”to hire new reporters, open new bureaus, and try to improve its notoriously mediocre coverage.
Reflections
DIE HOCHZEITSKUH (THE WEDDING COW) Dir/Scr: Tomi Streiff; Scr: Ela Thier; Prod: Susan Schulte; DP: Johannes Hollmann; Ed: Roswitha Gnädig ; Music: Oliver Kuka, Hulger Nesweda; Cast: Isabella Parkinson, Oliver Reinhard, the Cow Hannah, Maria Schrader, Dani Levy. 35mm, 87 min., 1999, English subtitles (USP) Flora is a librarian traveling to the city to join…
Reflections
The Wilgus Stories Dir/Scr/Prod/Ed: Andrew Garrison; Scr: Gurney Norman; DP: Nancy Schreiber, Stephen Lighthill, Peter Pearce; Music: Morgan Sexton, Nick Stump, and Kate Larken; Cast: Ned Beatty, William Johnson, Christopher Berry, Robin Mullins, Frank Hoyt Taylor. 16mm, 60 min., 1999 (WP) Based on stories from Gurney Norman’s book, Kinfolks, this touching rural road triptych visits…
Final Destination
Final Destination 2000, R, 180 min. Directed by James Wong, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Kristen Cloke, Daniel Roebuck, Amanda Detmer. As incorrigibly dark-hearted as you’d expect from a brainchild of two veteran X-Files writers, this flawed but often entertaining teen horror flick dishes out more of…
Articulations
The sophomore production for the Actors Repertory of Texas theatre company.
Mr. Smarty Pants
Sex in space!
Why San Marcos?
Joe Hauer defends his town just south of Austin
1999-2000 Austin Music Awards
Peyton and Kyle Peyton Wimmer and Kyle Ellison accept KGSR’s donation to the SIMS Foundation
SXSW Live Shots
The ProcessGaby & Mo’s, Saturday, Mar 18 Of the 13 acts scheduled for the longest of Gaby & Mo’s Grrl by Grrl Fest, the Process came dead center in Saturday’s lineup. There were only 15-20 or so audience members milling about the back tent area at dusk; some left over from the previous set, some…
Coronation Coverage
The groundhog has seen his shadow, so to speak, and now we’re guaranteed eight more months of George W. Bush plastered across our TV screens, magazine covers, and newspaper front pages. With this much media scrutiny, one has to wonder how much longer Bush can keep the lid on how little substance he would bring…
Reflections
THE OPERATOR Dir/Scr/Prod: Jon Dichter; Co-Prod: Doug Bruce, Betty Buckley; Exec Prod: Jay Barnet; DP: Bert Guthrie; Ed: Michael Coleman, Darren Kloomok; Music: Victor Zupanc; Cast: Michael Laurence, Jacqueline Kim, Brion James, Stephen Tobolowsky, Christa Miller. 35mm, 101 min., 1999 (RP) If there was a prize for best concept, The Operator would take top honors.…
Reflections
The Young Unknowns Dir/Scr/Prod: Catherine Jelski; Prod: Eric M. Klein, Kimberly Shane O’Hara; Co-Prod: Dan Shaner, Michael Testa; DP/Ed: Gabor Szitanyi; Music: Hypnogaja; Cast: Devon Gummersall, Arly Jover, Leslie Bibb, Eion Bailey, Dale Godboldo. 35mm, 86 min., 1999 (WP) The twentysomethings in The Young Unknowns navigate life with such aimless delusions that they may be…
Around the Fire
Around the Fire 1998, R, 107 min. Directed by John Jacobsen, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Stephen Tobolowsky, Lisa Burgett, Charlayne Woodard, Colman Domingo, Eric Mabius, Tara Reid, Bill Smitrovich, Devon Sawa. Simon (Sawa) has landed in strict rehab and he’s barely out of high school. That’s how Around the Fire opens, and…
Exhibitionism
Using their intimate knowledge of dance and knack for slapstick physicality, the men of the Ballet Trockadero de Monte Carlo lampooned the dance world from Swan Lake to Balanchine, and won the laughing adoration of a packed Paramount Theatre, including reviewer Dawn Davis.
Coach’s Corner
Longhorns bow out of the NCAA basketball tourney in disappointing fashion; what happened to Chris Mihm?
SXSW Live Shots
Americana Town Hall Meeting PanelConvention Center, Saturday, Mar 17 At last year’s South by Southwest, a meeting of people working in the Americana/alt.country side of the music business was called to discuss the possibility of forming a trade organization with the idea of better promoting the music to the general public. The result of that…
1999-2000 Austin Music Awards
Terri Hendrix An exuberant Terri Hendrix won Best Folk Act and kicked off the evening
SXSW Live Shots
To Live Is to Fly: The Townes Van Zandt Story PanelConvention Center, Saturday, Mar 18 When KUT deejay and panelist Larry Monroe played a segment of an interview he did with Townes Van Zandt just before he died, the latter’s voice booming off the room’s high ceiling and blank walls, it did for a moment…
The Horror, the Horror
William Peter Blatty, author of The Exorcist and screenwriter of the infamously terrifying film, discusses the recently released The Exorcist: The Version You’ve Never Seen and his life on both sides of the camera.
Reflections
UNIVERSITY, INC. Dir/Prod/Ed: Kyle Henry; Ed: Spencer Parsons; Music: Takako Minekawa, Laurie Speigel, Pauline Oliveros. Video, 54 min., 1999 What defines a higher education in these heady days? According to Kyle Henry’s documentary University, Inc., greed, dispassion, and a singularly callous attitude toward the student body are the name of the increasingly popular game from…
The Speed of Technology
SXSW Interactive
Exhibitionism
In the Actors Theatre of Austin production of James McLure’s The Day They Shot John Lennon, reviewer Ada Calhoun finds the work of a fine cast undone by profoundly self-absorbed characters and inconsistent direction.
Day Trips
The bluebonnet might be the state flower of Texas, but it’s iris fields forever at the Rainbow Iris Farm outside of Schwertner.
SXSW Live Shots
The Causey WayAtomic Cafe, Saturday, Mar 18 There’s nothing lonelier than an empty fetish hangout. And when I hobbled into the Atomic Cafe at 7:45pm and Austin’s home for the profoundly pierced was positively vacant, it seemed hard to fathom that the dark, dank evil that permeated the black walls of this near-empty bondage crib…
SXSW Live Shots
Steve Earle’s Keynote AddressAustin Convention Center, Thursday, Mar 16 Welcome to the South by Southwest 2000 dot-commie branding soiree and its opening address. These things are always curious affairs, if for no other reason than musicians are asked to write something besides three minutes of verse-chorus-bridge, and typically they respond by just winging it. A…
SXSW Live Shots
South Austin Roots CrawlThe Zipcode, Saturday Afternoon, Mar 18 Call me old-fashioned, but each year the Texicalli Grille’s laid-back, Western swing and honky-tonk jamboree is still one of my favorite events of SXSW, both for the music and for the old Austin ambiance. Outdoors in the parking lot under bright, sunny skies, the usual cast…
All the Gory Details
The Maestro of movie make-up Tom Savini talks about George Romero, the increasing popularity of CGI, and what it felt like to shoot a crotch-gun.
Reflections
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU Dir: Jeff Stolhand; Tony Hewett; Co-Prod: Merle Bertrand; Jimmy Jongebloed; DP: William Ambrico; Music: Karen Jacobs; Cast: Marie Black, Ryan Wickerham, Cameron Johnson. 16mm, 90 min., 1999 Well-meaning but ultimately disappointing, What I Like About You is a film that comes unglued because too many elements seem at odds with…
The Speed of Technology
Keeping the World Safe for Internet Time Stewart Brand Keynote Address Nothing is more exhausting than hearing “cool” come out of the mouths of members of the interactive community every other sentence. It immediately activates my slap reflex. This is a meme I can live without. But hearing Stewart Brand say cool, in his lecture…
As Much Magic as Fact
In the month since the much-hyped publication of Stephen Harrigan’s historical novel The Gates of the Alamo, a visible restructuring of the public notion of the fort has seized the imagination of Texas. Chronicle writer David Garza explains why.
About AIDS
Complacency about HIV invites high-risk choices
SXSW Live Shots
John Paul JonesLa Zona Rosa, Saturday, Mar 18 “It’s really good to be back in Austin. I mean, that’s the truth.” Austin-stroking from none other than noted musician, arranger, producer, and Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones. These heartfelt words came after Jones, Nick Briggs, and T. Bryant tore through “Zooma” and “Grind,” opening…
SXSW Live Shots
War Stories Panel Austin Convention Center, Thursday, Mar 16 Stanley Booth’s hands are as beautiful as his Southern prose. Tennessee-born, Georgia-bound author of what most likely remains the best book written on the World’s Greatest Rock & Roll Band, The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones — due for reissue later this year according to…
Little Hotel on the Prairie
Proposed hotel and golf course would be constructed on city-owned parkland.
Further Reflections
Film Reviews and reports from the SXSW Film Festival 2000
Reflections
WILDFLOWERS Dir/Scr: Melissa Painter; Prod: Zachary Matz, Tom Garvin, Christine Vachon, Tim Bird, Daryl Hannah; DP: Paul Ryan; Ed: Brent White; Cast: Daryl Hannah, Clea DuVall, Eric Roberts, Tomas Arana, Irene Bedard. 35mm, 97 min., 1999 (RP) In late summer, senses are heightened — the air is redolent with the fragrance of ripening harvests, the…
The Speed of Technology
Blaming the Messenger Mod: Heather Gold (Subvert.com) Panelists: Clive Thompson (Shift), Matt Heimer (SmartMoney), Cliff Blanchard (Austin Police Department) Leave it to the press to look for easy answers. When the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., catapulted geek culture into mainstream American consciousness, traditional print and electronic media started scrambling for explanations,…
