Trash
Trash NR, 110 min. Directed by Paul Morrissey, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Joe Dallesandro, Holly Woodlawn, Jane Forth, Bruce Pecheur, Michael Sklar, Geri Miller, Andrea Feldman, Diane Podlewski. “Little Joe never once gave it away,” go the song lyrics, but Joe gives it his all in this Andy Warhol production of Paul…
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver PG, 89 min. Directed by Andy Cadiff, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Christopher McDonald, Janine Turner, Cameron Finley, Erik Von Detten, Barbara Billingsley, Ken Osmond, Frank Bank. Some things never change – and we think that’s good.
Escape to Witch Mountain
Escape to Witch Mountain 1975, G, 97 min. Directed by John Hough, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Eddie Albert, Ray Milland, Kim Richards, Ike Eisenmann, Donald Pleasence. One of Disney’s best and most popular live-action movies, this one is a favorite among those who grew up in the Seventies. The story involves two…
Well-Founded Fear
Well-Founded Fear 2000, NR, 118 min. Directed by Shari Robertson, Michael Camerini, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Ever wonder how the decisions are made to grant political asylum? Well-Founded Fear is an intimate portrait of the decisions that are made by officers of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The filmmakers…
There’s Always Tomorrow
There’s Always Tomorrow NR, 84 min. Directed by Douglas Sirk, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Fred Macmurray, Joan Bennett. Fred MacMurray plays a prosperous businessman and husband whose life is in a rut and considers throwing his middle-class life overboard for his old flame Stanwyck. The most vocal objections come from…
Window Water Baby Moving
Window Water Baby Moving NR, 13 min. Directed by Stan Brakhage, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . One of the most influential figures of the American avant-garde, Brakhage is a technical innovator who uses the intimate details of his own life ñ and that of his family and pets ñ as his frequent…
Super Speedway
Super Speedway NR. Directed by Stephen Low, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Paul Newman. Michael and Mario Andretti test a new race car and reflect on the craft of building them. (NR, 40 min.) All seating is assigned and may be purchased in advance. Other daily Imax shows include Island of the Sharks…
Rebecca
Rebecca 1940, NR, 130 min. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson. Hitchcock’s first American film remains one of his creepiest. This Daphne du Maurier story relates the plight of a new bride who lives in the shadow of her husband’s former wife.…
The Terminator
The Terminator 1984, R, 108 min. D: James Cameron; with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton. Of all his film roles, this is the one that has come to define Arnold Schwarzenegger. As the cyborg from the future, the bodybuilding actor scores by combining his iconic physique with a compellingly told story that requires him…
Book Reviews
Pastoralia: Stories by George Saunders Riverhead Books, 224 pp., $22.95 A Dr. Robert Provine published a study on laughter in the January 1996 American Scientist that threw important light on the enigmas of risibology (the science of what is risible). For one thing, he tracked down the essence of laughter. A laugh, he usefully defined,…
Day Trips
The live oak tree at the top of Enchanted Rock, which has inspired religious devotion for centuries, is now in a fight for its life.
Record Reviews
Duke EllingtonThe Duke: The Essential Collection 1927-1962 (Columbia) How did someone who knows as much about jazz as he does, say, maritime law wind up with this cherry 3-CD anthology? Just lucky, I guess. Up until now, my most personally significant Duke was the star of Rio Bravo, The Searchers, and The Shootist, so if…
Naked City
Shane Phelps resigns from the AG’s office to run as a Republican candidate for Travis County District Attorney; Community leaders ask Dell Computer to reconsider moving into the Drinking Water Protection Zone
Instant Classic
PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (1975) D: Peter Weir; with Rachel Roberts, Dominic Guard, Helen Morse, Anne-Louise Lambert, Christine Schuler, Karen Robson, Margaret Nelson, John Jarratt, Vivean Gray. (PG, 110 min.) It’s impossible to ignore the steamy, subverted, subtextual yumminess strewn about Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock — unless, of course, your corset’s strapped a…
Dinosaur
Dinosaur 2000, PG, 82 min. Directed by Eric Leighton, Ralph Zondag, Narrated by , Voices by D.B. Sweeney, Alfre Woodard, Ossie Davis, Julianna Margulies, Della Reese, Max Casella, Hayden Panettiere, Samuel E. Wright, Peter Siragusa, Starring Joan Plowright. Dinosaur purists were up in arms some months back when they suddenly realized that Disney’s highly anticipated…
Book Reviews
The Feast of Love: A Novel by Charles Baxter Pantheon, 320 pp., $24 Ooooooh, what a little moonlight can do. Charles Baxter’s wonderful new novel, A Feast of Love, is drenched in it. The novel gives alternating chapters to four main characters, allowing each to describe their love stories from beginning to end. Thus, without…
About AIDS
Since 1987 self-styled “AIDS dissidents,” led principally by Peter Duesberg of UC-Berkley and David Rasnick, have said variously that (1) HIV does not cause AIDS; (2) AIDS is not a contagious disease; (3) HIV is a harmless retrovirus; (4) AIDS treatments are poisons which themselves cause the disease; (5) AIDS-related immune destruction is caused by…
Record Reviews
Johnny OtisThe Johnny Otis Rhythm & Blues Caravan: The Complete Savoy Recordings (Savoy Jazz) Although generally best known to the masses for his 1958 hit with the Bo Diddley beat, “Willie and the Hand Jive,” Johnny Otis has had a remarkable career. For more than 50 years, Otis has been a drummer, vibraphonist, bandleader, record…
Naked City
Applications for the state’s tax-credit housing allocations are in, and once again, Austin will have to compete with surrounding bedroom communities for affordable housing tax credits.
Instant Classic
REAR WINDOW (1954) D: Alfred Hitchcock; with James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter, Raymond Burr, Judith Evelyn. (PG, 112 min.) Hitchcock shoots virtually every scene in Rear Window from the vantage point of temporarily wheelchair-bound Jimmy Stewart, which is one reason this classic’s nerve-jangling suspense is so memorable and pleasantly confounding. Stewart spends…
Beyond the Clouds
Beyond the Clouds 1996, NR, 113 min. Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Kim Rossi-Stuart, Ines Sastre, Chiara Caselli, Peter Weller, Jean Reno, Sophie Marceau, Vincent Perez, Irene Jacob, Fanny Ardant, John Malkovich. Italian film director Michelangelo Antonioni has always been haunted by unseen realities. Essential though they are, images…
Book Reviews
The Runner by Christopher Reich Delacorte Press, 440 pp., $26.95 Christopher Reich has followed up his New York Times bestselling debut Numbered Account with The Runner, a slick cat-und-maus thriller set against the battle-torn cities of post-WWII Germany. It’s a tautly written effort, though it never generates the jaw-clenching tension that the best of the…
Defining World-Class
When Cuisines editor Virginia B. Wood moved to Austin 30 years ago, the Driskill was a run-down, pitiful shadow of a formerly grand hotel threatened with foreclosure and destruction. Now its new owners want it to be a world-class destination. How does the Driskill Grill define “world-class”?
Record Reviews
Stevie WonderMusic of My Mind (Motown)Stevie WonderTalking Book (Motown)Stevie WonderInnervisions (Motown)Stevie WonderFulfillingness’ First Finale (Motown) Richard M. Nixon was still president when Stevie Wonder hit his groove on 1972’s Music of My Mind. The Vietnam War wasn’t over, but the Sixties were, and Music of My Mind closed the chapter on Wonder’s career as a…
Naked City
Austin 1. Pioneer Villas, NE corner of Samsung Blvd. and Braker Ln. 2. Timbers at Creekside, 1000 block of Clayton Lane 3. RIverstone Townhomes, 6300 block of E. Riverside 4. Montopolis Townhomes, 2701 Montopolis Dr. 5. King Fisher Creek, 4601 E. St. Elmo Rd. 6. Villas of Cordoba, Intersect. of Jimmy Cay Dr. & E.…
Instant Classic
REBECCA (1940) D: Alfred Hitchcock; with Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, Judith Anderson, George Sanders. (NR, 130 min.) When Joan Fontaine failed to win an Oscar for her lead role in Hitchcock’s Rebecca, the biggest sigh of relief came from her sister, actress Olivia de Havilland. The elder de Havilland was still smarting from her Gone…
Up at the Villa
Up at the Villa 2000, PG-13, 115 min. Directed by Philip Haas, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Sean Penn, Anne Bancroft, James Fox, Jeremy Davies, Derek Jacobi, Massimo Ghini. Visiting Up at the Villa is a pleasant enough experience, although you might find yourself wishing there were a little more…
Book Reviews
The Buddha From Brooklyn by Martha Sherrill Random House, 392 pp., $25.95 The fact that Catherine Burroughs, who was born Alyce Zeoli to an abusive Italian-Jewish-Dutch family in working class Canarsie, Brooklyn, was able to transform herself into a spiritual leader of any magnitude represents a contemporary act of reinvention nearly worthy of St. Paul’s.…
Food-o-File
In this week’s edition of Food-o-file, Austin Chronicle Cuisines editor Virginia B. Wood explains why the Capital Area Food Bank staff are Bruce Springsteen’s best fans and updates readers on local culinary news.
Record Reviews
Kate WolfWeaver of Visions: The Kate Wolf Anthology (Rhino) The poetry that fills the songs of the late Kate Wolf hearkens unmistakably, for followers of Texas music at least, to the songs of Townes Van Zandt. The lyrics are gorgeous verse, at times florid and at others stark, set to timeless folk melodies infused with…
Naked City
In a reversal of the city’s previous plan, the City Council has decided to send two-thirds of Austin’s waste to Texas Disposal Systems and one-third to BFI.
Instant Classic
REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955) D: Nicholas Ray; with James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Jim Backus, Ann Doran, Dennis Hopper, Edward Platt, Nick Adams. (PG, 111 min.) James Dean died at 5:45pm, September 30, 1955, when his Porsche Spyder 550 collided with another car at the intersection of routes 466 and 41 outside the…
Book Reviews
Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope by Jonathan Kozol Crown, 400 pp., $25 Jonathan Kozol has dedicated his life to the mostly forgotten children by educating them, getting to know them, and writing eloquently about them. He expressed joy for the smallest of victories in his earlier books Savage Inequalities, Rachel’s Children, and…
Mini-Review
Cafe at Central Market Westgate 4477 S. Lamar, 899-4300 Sun-Thu, 7am-10pm; Fri-Sat, 7am-11pm Did South Austinites eat lunch prior to the opening of the second Austin location of Central Market in the Westgate Shopping Center one year ago? From the steady stream of customers that regularly flock to the cafe it seems not. Or maybe…
Record Reviews
Emmylou HarrisCimarron (Eminent)Emmylou HarrisLast Date (Eminent) Some guys drool over Cameron Diaz, for others it’s Gwyneth Paltrow, but should it ever be this wayward scribe’s lot to take a wife, all he asks is that his future bride resemble Emmylou Harris as much as possible. Razor-sharp intellect, unflagging passion for music, and a voice like…
Naked City
The city decides to award the contract for its emergency radio system to Motorola, raising questions about how Motorola secured the contract.
Instant Classic
THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965) D: Robert Wise; with Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker, Richard Haydn, Peggy Wood, Charmian Carr, Daniel Truhitte, Heather Menzies, Angela Cartwright, Nicholas Hammond. (G, 177 min.) The Riviera Theatre was a palace of dreams — a one-screen, velvet-curtained, marquee-blinking cavern of film fantasy where, as a wee child, I…
Book Reviews
Ladysmith: A Novel by Giles Foden Knopf, 304 pp., $25 The violent clash of cultural forces in South Africa during the Anglo-Boer War provides the subject matter for Ladysmith, the second novel from Giles Foden. Whereas in his first novel, The Last King of Scotland, the evil wreaking havoc in Uganda came from the inside…
Mini-Review
This Can’t Be Tofu!: 75 Recipes to Cook Something You Never Thought You Would and Love Every Bite by Deborah Madison Broadway Books, 144 pp., $15 (paper) What a delight to find a book of tofu recipes that is packed with good basic information and recipes that don’t try to disguise tofu as something that…
Record Reviews
Flying Burrito BrothersHot Burritos! The Flying Burrito Brothers Anthology (A&M) Gram Parsons was overrated. Listen closely and you can hear the howls of outrage, but think about it for a minute: His voice was gentle and clear, but not particularly strong; he was no guitar whiz, playing mainly acoustic rhythm; and songwriting was his forte…
Naked City
A landslide at Freeport’s Grasburg mine raises questions about the company’s practices in Indonesia.
Instant Classic
THE SHINING (1980) D: Stanley Kubrick; with Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers, Barry Nelson, Joe Turkel. (R, 146 min.) Stephen King hated it, and moviegoers weren’t too sure what to think either when Kubrick’s take on that author’s bestselling haunted hotel opus opened 20 years ago. Time has given us some perspective…
Postscripts
Details on how to enter the Ninth Annual Austin Chronicle Short Story Contest and more Texas Writers Month events.
The Language of Light
There’s a slide projector beaming an image onto the white screen in Patricia Nuñez’s third-grade classroom at Andrews Elementary. There are two kids in this image: two little boys standing on the asphalt near the school’s playground, their eyes covered by oversized safety goggles. These two kids (now sans goggles), and maybe a dozen others,…
Record Reviews
The ByrdsUntitled/Unissued (Columbia/Legacy)The ByrdsByrdmaniax (Columbia/Legacy)The ByrdsFarther Along (Columbia/Legacy)The ByrdsLive at the Fillmore — February 1969 (Columbia/Legacy) As appropriate as it may seem, the silver death mask that adorns 1971’s Byrdmaniax did not signal the Byrds’ demise. That came the following year with Farther Along, but Columbia Legacy’s latest batch of Byrds reissues does cap off…
Naked City
A workshop for neighborhoods citywide, dubbed “Neighbor to Neighbor: Solutions for a New Austin,” will be held this Saturday, May 20, from 8:30am-2pm at Martin Middle School, 1601 Haskell. The charrette-style workshop will focus on creating neighborhood-based solutions to city problems, providing information on how neighborhoods can work more effectively within the city process, and…
Instant Classic
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951) D: Elia Kazan; with Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden. (NR, 122 min.) “I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers” is a very difficult line to read convincingly. Recent years have brought us a plethora of Blanches DuBoises. Just ask Jessica Lange or Ann-Margret how hard that…
Off the Bookshelf
M The Man Who Became Caravaggio by Peter Robb Henry Holt and Co., 570 pp., $30 With all their flesh and cool suspension of breath, the paintings of Caravaggio are a call to sheer intoxication. But Peter Robb, in his attempt at piecing together the mysterious plot lines of the artist’s scandalous life as a…
From Here to Eternity
The only punk rock band that mattered, and why they still do
Record Reviews
Old 97’sEarly Tracks (Bloodshot) Taken from scarce or unreleased material going back as far as 1995, this Bloodshot disc explores the Old 97’s roots and finds the band sounding a bit more like a country band or even a rockabilly outfit at times. The kickoff, “Ray Charles,” combines Western-movie guitar with a train beat befitting…
Council Watch
City Council members award themselves a raise; neighborhood residents protest looser rules governing backyard cottages; and the council approves a convention center parking lot on property whose owner doesn’t want to sell.
Instant Classic
TO SIR WITH LOVE (1967) D: James Clavell; with Sydney Poitier, Judy Geeson, Christian Roberts, Suzy Kendall, Lulu, Michael Des Barres. (NR, 105 min.) This movie is about many things — teen angst, race relations, and poverty. But what it’s really about is teased hair, heavy eyeliner, and miniskirts. And the title song, of course.…
Off the Bookshelf
Shrub The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush by Molly Ivins with Lou Dubose Random House, 179 pp., $19.95 Early on in Molly Ivins’ playful yet incisive dissection of Mr. Bush’s career as a businessman and politician, we are given the key as to why this son of privilege has gotten to…
Lubbock Calling: Joe Ely Remembers the Clash
The only punk rock band that mattered, and why they still do
Record Reviews
Stevie Ray VaughanBlues at Sunrise (Epic/Legacy) Stevie Ray Vaughan could play the blues. Unfortunately, just like Jimi Hendrix, an artist to whom he was often compared and who also died relatively early into his career, it seems that the Austin guitarist’s music is due for constant compiling and recompiling. The concept of Blues at Sunrise…
Instant Classic
Paramount Theatre’s annual feast of over 80 classic films proves there actually is a cure for the summertime blues.
Instant Classic
WALKABOUT (1971) D: Nicolas Roeg; with Jenny Agutter, Lucien John, David Gulpilil, John Meillon. (PG, 95 min.) The Australian outback as seen through the eyes of stranded school kids Agutter and John (Roeg’s son) is a crawling bipolar disorder of breathtaking beauty and remote, inhospitable inhumanity. Very much of its time, Walkabout reminds you of…
Second Helpings: Local Pizza Chains
Chronicle writer Greg Beets surveys local pizza chains in this week’s Second Helpings.
Off the Bookshelf
Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine Stories by Thom Jones Little, Brown & Co., 312 pp., $12.95 (paper) From risk-taking, highly acclaimed Thom Jones comes another collection that won’t lie down. Jones revisits familiar haunts — the boxing ring, Vietnam, occupational hazards — revealing an unmerciful and quirkily ugly world. Yet there is a…
The Magnificent Seven
Why three records are better than two
Record Reviews
The WhoBBC Sessions (BBC/MCA)Small FacesThe BBC Sessions (BBC/Fuel 2000/Varése Sarabande) Who says a top-down socialist broadcasting model never leads to anything good? If it weren’t for the Musicians’-Union-backed “needle time” rules limiting the amount of recorded music played over BBC airwaves in the Sixties, we wouldn’t have a treasure trove of unreleased radio sessions from…
Instant Classic
The Paramount Theatre’s Summer 2000 Classics Su 5/21 Suddenly Last Summer, 2:30 & 7:15pm Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 4:55 & 9:35pm Tu 5/23 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 7:15pm Th 5/25 The African Queen, 7:30pm Casablanca, 9:55pm F 5/26 Casablanca, 7:30pm The African Queen, 9:45pm Sa 5/27 The African Queen, 7:15pm Casablanca,…
Short Cuts
Upcoming events and workshops of interest to the Austin film community.
Triumph in River City
With The Music Man, Austin Musical Theatre creates a River City that’s bigger than some by-god real Texas towns. But it’s a show whose heart may be the biggest thing of all.
Local Bestsellers
Local bestsellers are based on recent sales at Austin bookstores selected to reflect varied reading interests.
Dancing About Architecture
A recap of the first Austin Music Commission Town Meeting; the Antone’s Blues Festival looks to have a bright future.
Record Reviews
MC5The Big Bang! Best of the MC5 (Rhino) Nostalgic books and TV movies have inundated the current generation with you-had-to-be-there visions of the Sixties. Yet missing from oft-told tales of love-ins and California dreamin’ are the exploits of a group of Detroit hoodlums known as the Motor City Five. “Rock & roll, dope, and fucking…
Instant Classic
ALTERED STATES (1980) D: Ken Russell; with William Hurt, Blair Brown, Charles Haid, Bob Balaban, Drew Barrymore. (R, 102 min.) Although it’s hard to believe now, there once was a time when no one under 17 was admitted into films rated R. In 1975, for example, the campaign I waged to get my father to…
Video Reviews
THE Outlaw Josey WalesD: Clint Eastwood (1976); with Clint Eastwood, Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Bill McKinney, Sam Bottoms, Will Sampson. A nearly perfect Western, Outlaw combines Eastwood’s character-driven (rather than story-driven) sensibility and the Western cynicism he learned from Sergio Leone with screenwriter/original director Philip Kaufman’s sharp narrative compulsion accompanied by a mystical bent.…
Articulations
This year’s recipient of the UT College of Fine Arts’ E. William Doty Award.
Page Two
Two things are clear from the recent election. First is that the old-line environmental organizations (including the Chronicle) have lost their clout. This is not due to a dramatic shift in the voting population but because the issues they’ve championed have so completely passed into the mainstream. Where only a few seriously advocate “No Growth,”…
Record Reviews
DevoPioneers Who Got Scalped: The Anthology (Rhino) “When a problem comes along … ” In all likelihood, your doctor, your grandpa, even your preteen daughter can most likely finish that sentence with, “You must whip it!” The odds are good that any or all of them can further identify the source as Devo, even though…
Record Reviews
MudhoneyMarch to Fuzz: Best of and Rarities (Sub Pop) Seldom has so little been put to such good use. That’s the nature of punk rock, and in this idiom, few bands were better at it throughout the rollercoaster Nineties than Seattle’s Mudhoney. Four guys, two distortion pedals, and one scrawny, wise-ass singer with a sneer…
Instant Classic
ANNIE HALL (1977) D: Woody Allen; with Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, Paul Simon, Christopher Walken. (R, 94 min.) MANHATTAN (1979) D: Woody Allen; with Allen, Mariel Hemingway, Diane Keaton, Marshall Brickman, Meryl Streep, Anne Byrne. (R, 96 min.) Choosing your favorite Woody Allen film is like picking your favorite Beatle — it…
TV Eye
George Clooney’s return to ER for Julianna Margulies’ final episode left many viewers divided — but not “TVEye” columnist Belinda Acosta. Also, Michael J. Fox exits Spin City, and the latest news from HBO.
Make a Film in a Weekend Screenings
Make a Film in a Weekend Screenings NR. Directed by , Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Make a Film in a Weekend are screenings of the film projects sponsored two weekends ago by the Cinemaker Co-op in which 45 participants had 48 hours to make three-minute-long, one-reel, in-camera-edited Super-8 films. These screenings…
Exhibitionism
Not Quite Myself: Uh, Yeah, ExactlyThe Off Center, through May 27 There are some theatre companies that carry a chip of rebellion on their collective shoulders. They’re here to push the envelope, to expand the literal and metaphorical stages of possibility; they don’t want to break a leg unless they’re using that leg to break…
Public Notice
This week’s benefits and fundraisers are burning up, flying high, and a she thang.
Record Reviews
Machine Soul: An Odyssey Into Electronic Dance Music(Rhino) If for no other reason than to have the single greatest party CD of the new millennium (so far), this 2-CD set from Rhino is indispensible. Twenty-eight tracks tracing the evolution of electronica from the man-machine music of Kraftwerk’s “The Robots” to Brian “BT” Transeau’s “Godspeed,” this…
A Work in Progress
East Timor begins the process of reconstruction in its struggle for independence.
Instant Classic
BARRY LYNDON (1975) D: Stanley Kubrick; with Ryan O’Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Hardy Kruger, Steven Berkoff. (PG, 184 min.) Barry Lyndon is slow as molasses in January and just as sweet, with a camera that lingers, soulfully kissing and savoring each moment. With immaculate precision of detail, Kubrick constructs his story of the hapless…
Held Up
Held Up 2000, PG-13, 91 min. Directed by Steve Rash, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Jamie Foxx, Barry Corbin, Nia Long, Jake Busey. The talented people in front of the camera fail to bring anything original, interesting, or even funny to this tedious would-be comedy. Jamie Foxx, who was always at least entertaining…
Road Trip
Road Trip 2000, R, 93 min. Directed by Todd Phillips, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Amy Smart, Tom Green, Rachel Blanchard, Andy Dick, Fred Ward, Paulo Costanzo, D.j. Qualls, Seann William Scott, Breckin Meyer. Teen sex farce meets teen gross-out comedy, which I suppose makes this a sexy movie for gross teens, or…
Exhibitionism
Seven thirtysomething friends converge on a Texas beach to party, party, party, in the comedy Angel’s Balcony, and with playwright Blake Yelavich providing an abundance of pop-culture references and witty banter, it’s a good bet the rhythm is gonna get you.
After a Fashion
TBA The exploding fashion and design scene in Austin begs for some sort of organizing to occur. There are probably dozens of serious design professionals out there who feel like they are marooned on some deserted planet with no other designers around with whom to have an intelligent conversation. But on a recent evening, 10…
Record Reviews
Herbie HancockFuture Shock (Columbia)Herbie HancockSound-System (Columbia)Herbie HancockPerfect Machine (Columbia) An enormously gifted and creative musician, Herbie Hancock has brought off just about everything he’s attempted in the numerous phases of his 40-year career. At the height of his popularity in the Seventies and Eighties, when he began these popular, and in some ways innovative, funk…
Realpolitik
Indonesia has ties to Austin through Jim Bob Moffett’s Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold
Instant Classic
EASY RIDER (1969) D: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper; with Fonda, Hopper, Jack Nicholson, Luke Askew. (R, 94 min.) 1969’s Easy Rider became so synonymous with redneck rage that it is still used to describe Southern intolerance. That’s a shame, because the story of two young men (Fonda and Hopper) and their trek across America is…
Battlefield Earth
Battlefield Earth 2000, PG-13, 117 min. Directed by Roger Christian, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring John Travolta, Barry Pepper, Forest Whitaker, Richard Tyson, Sabine Karsenti, Kim Coates, Maria-Josée Corze, Kelly Preston, Shaun Astin-Olsen. Simply put, Battlefield Earth is the worst film I’ve seen in over 10 years, and believe me, that’s saying a…
Screwed
Screwed 2000, PG-13, 90 min. Directed by Larry Karaszewski, Scott Alexander, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Norm Macdonald, Dave Chappelle, Elaine Stritch, Daniel Benzali, Sherman Hemsley, Danny Devito, Sarah Silverman. “Stop. Don’t shoot. They’re stupid and confused,” yells a character (it doesn’t matter which one) toward the climax of Screwed. A meta-commentary expressing…
Exhibitionism
It may be too early for most of us to really care about the baseball season, but the Subterranean Theatre Company production of the comedy Bleacher Bums is a near-perfect game that’s worth catching.
Mr. Smarty Pants
What Americans call a condom is known in England as a “French letter” and in France as “une capote anglaise” (“English coat”).On three occasions during debate on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, Senator Edward Kennedy referred to its Stockpile Stewardship Program as the “Stockpile Stewardess Program.” Aides quickly removed references from the Congressional Record.Cuba is…
Record Reviews
Miles Davis with John ColtraneThe Complete Columbia Recordings (Columbia) Miles Davis’ quintet and sextet recordings with John Coltrane are among the most important in jazz history. Davis’ leading role in so many movements — bop, cool, post-bop, modal, fusion, and the unnamed genre he created with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock — is amazing. On…
Going Public
A new Sunset Commission report recommends opening Texas’ public lands to use by the public as parkland.
Instant Classic
FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH (1982) D: Amy Heckerling; with Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Robert Romanus, Brian Backer, Phoebe Cates, Ray Walston, Forest Whitaker. (R, 92 min.) “That was my skull! I’m so wasted!” “I don’t hear you unless you knock.” “All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and…
The Big Kahuna
The Big Kahuna 1999, R, 90 min. Directed by John Swanbeck, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Kevin Spacey, Danny Devito, Peter Facinelli. He’s directed (Albino Alligator), he’s starred in the Academy Award-winning American Beauty, and now Kevin Spacey dons the producer’s mantle with this David Mamet-esque study (based on Roger Rueff’s play Hospitality…
Book Reviews
Book ‘Em
Coach’s Corner
Please forward this column to NBA Commissioner David Stern. His sport is in dire need of Coach’s advice.
Record Reviews
Sonny RollinsThe Freelance Years: The Complete Riverside & Contemporary Recordings (Riverside/Contemporary) As Sonny Rollins fast approaches his 70th birthday in September, he remains the one towering standard-bearer of the saxophone, with a prolific recording career spanning the entire last half of the 20th century and jaw-dropping live performances that continue to amaze audiences worldwide. Few…
Land of the Free: the History of State-owned Lands in Texas
The University of Texas has several icons that endure. From the animal kingdom, there’s Bevo. From the coaching kingdom, there’s Darrell Royal. Among athletes, there’s Earl Campbell. But when it comes to money, the icon that reigns supreme on the Forty Acres is Santa Rita No. 1. Until that famous oil well erupted with black…
Instant Classic
THE LADY VANISHES (1938) D: Alfred Hitchcock; with Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas, May Whitty, Cecil Parker, Linden Travers (PG, 97 min.) If you need to vanish, do it like Dame May Whitty does: with panache, a bit of worldly humor, and the tendency to always return in the most beguiling, befuddling ways. Bound…
Small Time Crooks
Small Time Crooks 2000, PG, 95 min. Directed by Allen, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Woody Allen, Tracey Ullman, Hugh Grant, Elaine May, Michael Rapaport, Tony Darrow, Jon Lovitz, Elaine Stritch. Woody Allen returns to slapstick comedy in this new movie that’s a throwback to the days of his early film features. With…
