Was It Good for You?

The year in books

"...cultural signifying to dig into. Alice Munro's Too Much Happiness: Stories (Knopf) tucks into a different brand of subterranean..."

Jan. 1, 2010 Books Feature by Cindy Widner

Outrage

The objective of this documentary by Kirby Dick is to out closeted gay and lesbian policymakers, whose hypocrisy harms the GLBT community.

"...and Outrage argue that the closet suffocates decency and happiness, and the film ends with a freeze-frame of the..."

May 29, 2009 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Right to Own Guns Runs Deeper Than the Second Amendment

"...ones with final responsibility for our own safety and happiness (as in the pursuit thereof). I don't see how..."

Feb. 27, 2009 Postmarks

I've Loved You So Long

Kristen Scott Thomas is unforgettable in this French film about a woman who has to live with her self-hatred after committing a heinous crime.

"...just as there’s something gratifying in suffering, reaching for happiness comes with pain all its own. For Juliette, getting..."

Feb. 27, 2009 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

Happy-Go-Lucky

British director Mike Leigh's latest is an uncharacteristic story about an indomitably joyful woman – a lovely state of being, perhaps, but not necessarily of dramatic interest.

"...deeper psychological meaning if you want to, but Poppy’s happiness isn’t a defense mechanism or a coping device or..."

Oct. 31, 2008 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

Faded Love

Sybil Rosen reveals what it was like to be Living in the Woods in a Tree with Blaze Foley

"...we both had this experience of eight months of happiness."..."

Oct. 31, 2008 Music Feature by Doug Freeman

At Home in the World of One's Woes, And It's a Wide, Wide World

The nitty-gritty of what speaks to us and why

"...poetically – our inability to find love, to find happiness, to find fulfillment and some way of reconciling the..."

Oct. 17, 2008 Screens Post by Kimberley Jones

Towelhead

Alan Ball's film is guaranteed to discomfit and dismay with its dangerous plunge into an adolescent girl's discovery of sexuality and self-identity.

"...predation recalls the discomfiture provoked by Todd Solondz in Happiness, but Towelhead tells the story from the young girl’s..."

Sept. 26, 2008 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Austin Film Festival Announces Full Lineup

AFF's finalized lineup

"...“Happiness Is...” (USA, 90 min.) Director: Andrew Shapter Cast: Willie..."

Sept. 24, 2008 Screens Post by Kimberley Jones

The Common Law

Citizenship and the Selective Service

"...States, and well disposed toward the good order and happiness of the United States...."

Sept. 12, 2008 Column by Annie Schwartz

TV Eye

The new new media, plus David Simon to speak at UT, and more questions about the switch-over from analog

"...Small Bits of Happiness: A dark comedy about a mom-and-pop suicide-prevention business...."

March 14, 2008 Screens Column by Belinda Acosta

One Missed Call

This American horror remake of Takashi Miike's eponymous Japanese original is a dud.

"...the triple-mindscraping of Audition, Ichi the Killer, and The Happiness of the Katakuris is the stronger for it, although..."

Jan. 11, 2008 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

A Cry for Deliverance

"...Western world have pulled humanity ever higher in enlightened happiness. It is time Louis and all of us embrace..."

Sept. 7, 2007 Postmarks

Bamako

This Malian courtroom drama is like nothing you've ever seen: The people put the institutions of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on trial.

"...like this one by Mauritanian filmmaker Sissako (Waiting for Happiness, Life on Earth). Set in the neighboring African country..."

June 22, 2007 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Glass Menagerie

Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie may have been done to death, but the strong cast of the Austin Shakespeare Festival production makes this masterpiece come alive again

"...promise of the Gentleman Caller: Amanda's fast track to happiness for her daughter and herself. ("Girls that aren't cut..."

March 9, 2007 Arts Review by Clayton Maxwell

The Serene Life

David Lynch meditates on Inland Empire

"...– unwaveringly – to meditate and to find the "happiness within" that is obtained through the state of knowing..."

Jan. 19, 2007 Screens Feature by Mark Fagan

The Pursuit of Happyness

Will Smith plays a self-made success who trains as a stockbroker even though he is homeless and raising a young son on the streets of San Francisco in this movie based on the true-life story of Chris Gardner.

"...have a college degree to achieve wealth and, natch, happiness. So he obsessively focuses on getting accepted into an..."

Dec. 15, 2006 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

Shortbus

John Cameron Mitchell's sophomore film effort asserts – with great gusto and even a brass band – our universal right to sexual happiness.

"...fat or weird or different. The quest for sexual happiness is a radical notion in these repressive times, as..."

Oct. 13, 2006 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

ACL Music Fest Preview

"...philosophy, The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart, continues his work with Farm Aid;..."

Sept. 15, 2006 Music Feature

Homemade History

Las Manitas, the Pérez sisters, and a usable past

"...And, you can just feel Austin's unique sense of happiness with who and what it is...."

July 21, 2006 News Feature by Katherine Gregor

Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy

More a meditation than a traditional documentary, Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy beautifully employs direct cinema techniques to transport the viewer into the world of an exiled culture.

"...subtitle “May all beings attain union with the perfect happiness,” you can’t help but calmly reply with an internal..."

May 26, 2006 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

Naked City

"...It grades Austin-Travis County on three criteria: child healthiness, happiness, and intelligence. The area got a grade of C..."

April 7, 2006 News Feature

Unknown White Male

The ambitions of this intriguing documentary about one man’s amnesia far outweigh its accomplishments.

"...the same time. And of course, money can’t buy happiness, but independent wealth can assuage any problems that arise..."

March 24, 2006 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Hey Willpower! Can I Get a 'Hell Yeah!'?

Imperial Teen’s Will Schwartz goes solo, Top 40, and asks, “Why the Hell Not?” with his new thing, hey willpower!

"...of Faith No More (Roddy Bottum) and Sister Double Happiness (Lynn Perko). It was love at first listen, confirmed..."

March 10, 2006 Features Feature by Kate X Messer

The Lone Ranger

The legend of Jerry Lynn Williams

"...I believe in it 1 million percent, and the happiness I feel, I want to give to other people."..."

Jan. 27, 2006 Music Feature by Bill Bentley

The World

Using a sleek visual style and bits of animation, this elegant Chinese film explores the effects of modernism, globalism, and international commerce upon its culture and society.

"...Park sells tourists the simulacra of excitement, enrichment, and happiness, Jia’s characters are able to find those things themselves,..."

Jan. 13, 2006 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

Bigger Stakes

Richard Linklater on remixing 'The Bad News Bears'

"...but it always comes back to that question. "What's happiness"? You work your ass for all the years you're..."

July 29, 2005 Screens Feature by Raoul Hernandez

Page Two

An oceanside contemplation of the Declaration of Independence

"...among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted..."

June 24, 2005 Column by Louis Black

Letters at 3AM

As the semester begins, I present my high school seniors with the words of our great American authors and hope they provide a road map or the bread crumbs that can lead them through the journey of their lives

"...want them to have a way to value their happiness. And their unhappiness. And I want, so very much,..."

May 13, 2005 Column by Michael Ventura

Palindromes

Nominally the story of a 13-year-old girl who longs for a baby, Todd Solondz's latest is provocative, wicked, even bleakly funny, and ultimately empty.

"...half as absorbing as Dylan Baker’s pederast from 1998’s Happiness, who truly embodies the moral ambiguities Solondz strives so..."

May 6, 2005 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

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