Extreme
Extreme 1999, NR, 40 min. Directed by Jon Long, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . The Imax camera seems tailor-made for extreme sports. Here we see clips of champion athletes doing such things as climbing the highest mountains and surfing the biggest waves. For ticket prices call 936-IMAX or 936-TSHM or see www.thestoryoftexas.com.
Down by Law
Down by Law 1986, R, 107 min. Directed by Jim Jarmusch, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Tom Waits, John Lurie, Roberto Benigni, Ellen Barkin. Jarmusch’s third feature is a black-and-white road movie/odd buddy picture about three losers who escape jail together. This is the movie that introduced Benigni to American audiences, and Waits…
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier 1989, PG, 106 min. Directed by William Shatner, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Deforest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, David Warner, Laurence Luckinbill. Widely regarded as the worst of the Star Trek movies, this Shatner auteurist work (his debut…
The Longest Day
The Longest Day 1962, NR, 180 min. Directed by Ken Annaqkin, Andrew Marton, Gerd Oswald, Bernhard Wicki, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring John Wayne, Rod Steiger, Robert Ryan, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Richard Burton, Richard Beymer, Jeffrey Hunter, Sal Mineo, Roddy McDowall, Sean Connery, Robert Wagner, Stuart Whitman, George Segal, Jean-Louis Barrault, Paul…
Mikey & Nicky
Mikey & Nicky 1976, R, 106 min. Directed by Elaine May, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, Ned Beatty, Rose Arrick, Carol Grace, William Hickey, Sanford Meisner, Joyce Van Patten, M. Emmet Walsh. Mikey & Nicky is commonly, and unfairly, categorized as a John Cassavetes knock-off, which diminishes the originality…
Austin Star Trek: Voyager Fans
Austin Star Trek: Voyager Fans NR. Directed by Various, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . The final episode of Star Trek: Voyager is being shown on the big screen of the Alamo, now that UPN has pulled up stakes and moved off the Austin dial. The local fans have spoken, and the screening…
Through the Looking Glass: Super-Eight Film Festival
Through the Looking Glass: Super-Eight Film Festival NR. Directed by Various, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Through the Looking Glass: Super-8 Film Festival consists of screenings of 20 locally made Super-8 films that explore fantastical otherworlds. The films run no longer than four minutes each and contain less than four splices. Most…
The Toxic Avenger: The Unrated Director’s Cut
The Toxic Avenger: The Unrated Director’s Cut 1985, NR, 101 min. Directed by Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Gary Schneider, Robert Prichard, Jennifer Babtist, Andree Maranda, Mitchell Cohen. This is the main movie that built the house of Troma, Lloyd Kaufman’s production company devoted to low-budget camp. The Toxic…
Exhibitionism
In Hyperzoo, an installation featuring historical and mythological figures in cages, director Chad Salvata and his artistic team juxtapose ghastly horror with great beauty in a series of dreamy, stunning images.
To Your Health
I am watching my grandfather fade away because he is losing his eyesight to macular degeneration. He was always the healthiest of my grandparents, but now he can’t drive or read, and he is too proud to take advantage of the services available for the blind. Is there any hope for a cure?
Record Reviews
RC BanksConway’s Corner (Loudhouse) There’s a certain gritty soulfulness that imbues the music of RC Banks and brings to mind the old adage coined in the George Jones song title “Ragged but Right.” Banks is one of the countless musical emigres who left the windswept high plains of Lubbock not long after the Ely/Hancock/Gilmore exodus,…
Naked City
The old Cinema West is back on the leasing block; meanwhile, its former tenant, now Megaplexxx, has moved south and is doing better than ever.
Bloody Angels
Bloody Angels 1998, R, 147 min. Directed by Karin Julsrud, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Laila Goody, Bjorn Sundquist, Kare Conradi, Beate Bruland, Stig Henrik Hoff, Trond Hovik, Gaute Skegstad, Reidar Sorensen. No, it’s not Roger Corman’s “lost” sequel to The Wild Angels, though I’ll wager I’m not the only one who wondered…
Exhibitionism
Austin Lyric Opera’s latest staging of Bizet’s Carmen is such a refreshing and vivid presentation — and at the City Coliseum, no less — that this tale of a gypsy love-sorceress and her jealous soldier-lover should smolder in audiences’ imaginations well after this production’s last embers have flickered out.
Coach’s Corner
Coach rates the announcers on the NBA playoff broadcasts.
Record Reviews
Sister SevenLive (DualTone) It’s not until the conclusion of Sister Seven’s bootleg-quality live epitaph that one starts missing the disbanded local institution. One of Austin’s most popular bands of the Nineties, Sister Seven’s marquee status as last surviving jam band from the formerly scene-defining Steamboat/White Rabbit/Black Cat Sixth Street circuit resulted in two major-label opportunities…
Naked City
City attorney Andy Martin retires after nearly seven years of service.
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor 2001, PG-13, 183 min. Directed by Michael Bay, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Cuba Gooding Jr, Jon Voight, Alec Baldwin, Ewen Bremner, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, Ben Affleck. Is it wrong for me to love the catastrophe ballets of Michael Bay? I feel so dirty coming home to my A Bout…
Texas Tales
For those of you who are still pondering the eternal question that seems to arise wherever beer and English majors appear together in the Lone Star State, the answer is: Texas does indeed have a separate and distinctive literature, Tom Doyal writes. If you have been arguing the other side of this proposition, the writers…
The 2001 Austin Chronicle Restaurant Poll
What an incredible rush the past 12 months have been for the Austin restaurant industry. As the Chronicle’s 2000 Restaurant Poll went to press, we were still riding the crest of the high tech financial wave. A new crop of good Italian eateries (La Traviata, Asti, Siena) was just opening, an interesting group of fine…
Record Reviews
Prescott CurlywolfArkadelphia (Summer Break) Grandiose and primitive, rambling and precise, the long-awaited new release from Austin rock veterans Prescott Curlywolf is a trove of two-minute masterpieces that show this local foursome to be, after all this time, at the very top of their game. Twenty-two songs in 44 minutes. Therein lies the beauty of Arkadelphia,…
Naked City
While the Chamber woos AMD in hopes that it will build its new chip fab plant here, the council stays coy.
Sordid Lives
Sordid Lives 2001, NR, 111 min. Directed by Del Shores, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Rosemary Alexander, Olivia Newton John, Kirk Geiger, Leslie Jordan, Ann Walker, Beth Grant, Delta Burke, Bonnie Bedelia, Beau Bridges. Playwright Del Shores’ Daddy’s Dyin’, Who’s Got the Will? made it to the screen in 1990 with Raggedy Man’s…
Postscripts
Upcoming literary events in Austin.
2001 Restaurant Poll Index
Amaya’s Taco Village, 5405 N. I-35 Capital Plaza, 458-2531CRITICS ENCHILADAS, CRITICS TEX-MEX (TIE) Amy’s Ice Cream, various locationsREADERS ICE CREAM Aquarelle, 606 Rio Grande, 479-8117CRITICS DESSERT Artz Rib House, 2330 S. Lamar, 442-8283, www.citysearch.com/aus/artzribhouseCRITICS BARBECUE (TIE) Asti Trattoria, 408 E. 43rd, 451-1218READERS NEW RESTAURANT (TIE) Austin Land & Cattle Co., 1205 N. Lamar, 472-1813FAVORITES (32)…
Record Reviews
The ApplicatorsWhat’s Your Excuse (Cornerstone R.A.S.) Coming and going in less time than it takes Robert Downey Jr. to score drugs, the Applicators’ What’s Your Excuse takes a mere 25 minutes to remind us all why girls kick ass. In this case, it’s because they pair schoolgirl skirts with fishnets, write songs with titles like…
The Hightower Lowdown
Bush’s Little Helpers; The Drug War’s Dr. Strangelove
Readings
Gabriel’s Eye A Novel by C.W. Smith Winedale Publishing, 352 pp., $25 In Gabriel’s Eye, Texas writer C.W. Smith goes all Law & Order on us, with a story ripped from today’s headlines: Female Teacher Sleeps With High School Student! The consequences are, as they must be, tragic. But Smith, who teaches creative writing at…
Favorites
1. Castle Hill Cafe 2. Z’Tejas 3. Suzi’s Chinese Kitchen 4. EastSide Cafe 5. Fonda San Miguel 6. Chuy’s 7. Trudy’s 8. Curra’s Grill 9. The Salt Lick 10. Cafe Spiazzo 11. Basil’s 12. Jeffrey’s 13. Mirabelle 14. Saccone’s Pizza 15. Vespaio 16. Shoreline Grill 17. Sullivan’s 18. Pho Công LY` 19. Hudson’s on the…
Record Reviews
The Crack PipesEvery Night Saturday Night (Sympathy for the Record Industry) How nice of Ray Colgan and the Crack Pipes to throw this record player party and invite us along. Record players are these archaic devices that people used to listen to music on before the digital age; distinguished by a warm hiss, frequent popping,…
Summer Film Previews
Interviews and features on Pearl Harbor, Planet of the Apes, AI, and The Golden Bowl.
Readings
Robo sapiens Evolution of a New Species by Faith D’Aluisio; photographs by Peter Menzel MIT Press, 240 pp., $29.95 Last year a customer in a San Francisco Sony store grabbed an Aibo robot dog and proceeded to smash it to smithereens. No explanation was given for this act, but it illustrates the paradoxical feelings many…
Readers Poll
AppetizersSaba Blue Water CafeRUNNERS-UPVespaio, Z’Tejas, Malaga HONORABLE MENTIONCafe Spiazzo, Castle Hill Cafe, Mother Egan’s Irish Pub, Hula HutBarbecueThe Salt LickRUNNERS-UPRudy’s Country Store & Bar-B-Q, Ruby’s, the County Line, Stubb’s HONORABLE MENTIONGreen Mesquite, Artz Rib House, Iron Works Barbecue, Sam’s BBQHamburgerHut’s HamburgersRUNNERS-UPCasino el Camino, Dan’s Hamburgers HONORABLE MENTIONDirty Martin’s Kum-Bak Place, EZ’s, Burger Tex, Sandy’sSteakSullivan’sRUNNERS-UPRuth’s Chris…
Record Reviews
FiveheadBig Mistake Factory EP (Tight Spot) The casual saunter of “Cape Codders,” the opening track on Fivehead’s new EP, kicks Big Mistake Factory off on a quiet tone, with singer-guitarist John Hunt’s vocals so close to an amplified murmur that the song seems an internal conversation. But then the second track, “Mo Elling,” jumps out…
Summer Film Previews
Everything about Pearl Harbor is epic: the movie’s historical source material (December 7, 1941: the “day of infamy,” when the Japanese navy and air force assaulted the American fleet in Hawaii in a devastating surprise attack), the movie’s budget ($135 million), its running time (three hours), the filmmaking styles of director Michael Bay and producer…
Readings
It Takes a Village Idiot Complicating the Simple Life by Jim Mullen Simon & Schuster, 288 pp., $23 Did you know you may already be a regular Jim Mullen reader? Each week the It Takes a Village Idiot: Complicating the Simple Life author writes the “Hot Sheet” column for Entertainment Weekly. In one of his…
Critics Picks
AppetizersVespaioBarbecueSam’s for BBQ, Country Pork Ribs at Artz Rib HouseHamburgersCasino el CaminoSteakHangar Steak with Demiglace & Pommes Frites at Jean-Luc’s French BistroChicken-Fried SteakR.O.’s OutpostChile Pepper DishCamarones à la Plancha at Polvo’s, Shrimp al Diablo at Evita’s BotanitasChips & Hot SauceEvita’s BotanitasSoupLobster Bisque at Emilia’s, Crawfish & Asparagus Bisque at Kaya Blue CafeSaladThai Beef Salad at…
Record Reviews
The New YearNewness Ends (Touch & Go) It’s such a treat to hear that sound again, the crushing power of restraint, the celebration of the commonplace that marks the gorgeous music of Bedhead’s Matt and Bubba Kadane. The Dallas band’s 1998 breakup after their final album Transaction de Novo left a void that could only…
Summer Film Previews
When Austin-based screenwriter William Broyles was first offered the chance to tackle a 21st-century version of the 1968 sci-fi classic Planet of the Apes, his first instinct was a firm thanks, but no thanks. At the time, Broyles was in the middle of writing Cast Away, and Apes was drifting around Hollywood with neither a…
Local Bestsellers
Local bestsellers are based on recent sales at Austin bookstores selected to reflect varied reading interests.
The Graduates
Sarah Hepola goes back to Connally High School to find out how some of her ex-students are doing, now that they are preparing to graduate.
Record Reviews
The Kiss OffsRock Bottom (Peek-a-Boo) The majesty of rock, the mystery of roll. Austin’s Kiss Offs always seemed too good to last, too fragile to endure the day-to-day bothers of the rock & roll lifestyle, and too smart to keep blowing up their amps forever. So they broke up, necessitated by singer/organist Katey Jones’ move…
Summer Film Previews
Runaway robots, flooded cities, and a June release date — sounds like just another garden-variety, CGI-heavy, summer sci-fi blockbuster. But few such entertainments come with this pedigree: Cinematic titans Steven Spielberg and the late Stanley Kubrick. A film from Spielberg and Kubrick together?! Isn’t that like teaming Apollo, god of the sun, with Pluto, lord…
In Person
“When I was talking to my wife about coming to speak at the conference I told her that I expected to be pelted with rotten tomatoes,” environmental journalist Michael Pollan said at the opening session of the Organic Trade Association’s (OTA) first annual All Things Organic Conference & Trade Show, held in Austin last week.…
The Graduates
Michael On the first day of school, I asked students to write their response to this old standard: “If you could have dinner with three people, living or dead, who would it be?” All day I read the same names: Cindy Crawford and Mariah Carey; Leonardo DiCaprio, God, and Gandhi. Michael’s read: T. Leary, B.…
Record Reviews
Salvage Vanguard Theatre The Cry Pitch Carrolls (Salvage Vanguard Theater) Losing your bearings on reality in a darkened theater is one of life’s great treasures. Being in the moment with the actors, close enough to reach out and touch it, can never be replicated. Herein lies the challenge of listening to the Salvage Vanguard Theater’s…
Summer Film Previews
Looking for an antidote to the summer blockbuster? Merchant/ Ivory, the filmmaking team whose very name has become synonymous with a particular brand of period film — very British, very artsy — have a suggestion. Their latest, The Golden Bowl, is an elegant adaptation of Henry James’ 1904 novel, thick with broken hearts, broken marriages,…
Page Two
City Manager Jesus Garza has one of the toughest jobs in town. When things go well, nobody can remember his name; when they go badly, he receives the blame.
The Graduates
Lizette The school dress code outlawed spaghetti strap shirts, but girls wore them anyway. They wore them because the shirts were in fashion and because they were teen girls — rebellious and foolish and insecure. They wore them to get the attention of the boys; more often, they got the attention of the faculty, who…
Record Reviews
Marilyn RuckerTea Pot Lady (Furry Gecko) While longtime Austinites may know Marilyn Rucker from the Therapy Sisters, this is her first solo album, just released after much previewing locally on KUT and nationally on Dr. Demento’s syndicated radio show. Backed by her own keyboards and full band, Rucker bounces through a clever set of tunes…
Screens Feature
Classic films at the Paramount, all summer long
Public Notice
Things are gearing up in public service-land for Austin’s sizzling summer. Here are a few things to do this weekend, plus a jump on next, to boot.
The Graduates
Steve Steven was the first student I ever sent to the office. He was also the second and, most likely, the third. On the first day of class, he gave me the wrong name. For his independent reading project, he gave a report on The Odyssey, the book we’d just finished in class. For about…
Record Reviews
Gals of the Big D Jamboree(Dragon Street) It’s no surprise that the liner notes to Gals of the Big D Jamboree were written by Dallas rockabilly kitten Kim Lenz; it’s easy to hear the influence of these women on latter-day rockin’ gals. Back in the Fifties, the Big D Jamboree at Dallas’ Sportatorium, a wrestling…
Summer Film Calendar
Your month-to-month guide to summer film
‘Great’ Gen an’ Their ‘Good’ War
“Don’t believe that crap, kid, that they talk about the war. Don’t you believe it. You’re either scared shit or bored shit — that’s war.” A man named Marty Ring told me that, about 36 years ago. Marty was a combat veteran who’d lived through D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge — a big,…
The Graduates
Edward & Jeni In fourth period, Jeni and Edward were inseparable — and impossible. “Me and Jen-ay are like peas and carrots,” Edward used to say. That’s a line from Forrest Gump, a character Edward loved to imitate. His favorite, though, was the dull-witted Charly from Flowers for Algernon. When I assigned students to write…
Record Reviews
Mark Jungers Black Limousine Mark Jungers has been a part of the Austin music scene on and off since the late Eighties. Having played in bands that never really made a name for themselves (Hell’s Cafe, the Masons), it’s no surprise if his name isn’t instantly recognizable. Black Limousine, Jungers’ debut as a solo artist,…
The Girls on the 50-Yard Line
Documentarian Mylène Moreno always wanted to be a professional athlete. Instead, she made True-Hearted Vixens, a film about women who did. Moreno brings Vixens, documenting the attempt to create a women’s professional football league, and her short “Cormac’s Trash” to the Alamo Drafthouse this Wednesday.
The Golden Bowl
The Golden Bowl 2001, R, 130 min. Directed by James Ivory, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Uma Thurman, Kate Beckinsale, Jeremy Northam, Nick Nolte, Anjelica Huston, James Fox. Perhaps The Golden Bowl, the new Merchant-Ivory joint, is itself a bit like the titular symbol of the film (and of the 1904 novel by…
Mr. Smarty Pants
A dollop of creme de la trivia atop your weekly data eclair.
Welcome Wagon
Doyle Bramhall II, classic rock’s most promising new blood
Record Reviews
DJ AccucrackSorted (Emagine) Lazing through an Austin summer, with a typical complement of house-grooved park parties, venued rave events, and the general laid-back chill that comes from living in a place with ridiculously high temperatures and a highly evolved electronica scene, it’s easy to forget there’s still a hard-core audience for the darker side of…
Short Cuts
News of local film interest.
The Artists’ Guide to the Galaxy
Three Austin visual artists — Steve Schwake, Clare Christie, and Marie Parker — share their impressions of life in Austin and the development of their work, defining the orbit success for their respective worlds.
Day Trips
Sandora’s Box in Dallas fixes up some mighty fine vittles.
Dancing About Architecture
Willie Nelson, not burnt down
Jesus Saves
With the city facing its biggest budget crunch in a decade, city manager Jesus Garza has begun to make some tough financial choices.
Video Reviews
They don’t make ’em like this anymore. And thank God they don’t!
Articulations
Frontera names Subterranean Theatre Company the new producing company in residence at Hyde Park Theatre.
After a Fashion
Personal style in the eye of the beholder? No way, baby.
Record Reviews
Charlie RobisonStep Right Up (Lucky Dog/Columbia) The right man for the job? Sony’s Nashville brass certainly hope so, because their balance sheets have lately been about as appetizing as a platter of day-old quesadillas. Funny how it’s always Texans (Willie, George Strait) who come to the rescue when Music City’s fortunes go in the toilet.…
Naked City
Local news this week in Austin.
Video Reviews
Jean Harlow was never sexier than in this pre-Hays Code comedy, risque even by today’s standards.
Exhibitionism
Margaret Edson’s drama Wit could be just another story about someone dying of a dreadful disease, but director Michael Bloom stages the State Theater Company production with the skilled and experienced hands of a surgeon and Megan Cole’s striking performance as the terminally ill poetry scholar makes us face our own mortality and makes two…
About AIDS
Pokeweed protein kills HIV without harming sperm.
Record Reviews
ShaverThe World Rolls On (New West) The world rolls on, and nothing stays the same. Billy Joe Shaver’s had a mighty rough spell the last few years, and this last album with his son Eddy, who died of a drug overdose last December, couldn’t be a better coda to their time together. It’s recorded perfectly,…
Naked City
Sheriff’s department officers raid a Hazy Hills woman’s backyard seeking phantom pot.
TV Eye
Now that the writers’ strike has been averted, the networks feel secure announcing their fall television seasons. Here’s a look at what’s in store.
