Searching for New Heights at Film Fests Reel Rock 14 and Reel Plastic

Two rock-climbing film fest come to Austin

"...Founded in 2005, Reel Rock has grown into the world's biggest climbing media..."

Nov. 15, 2019 Screens Feature by Beth Sullivan

Plastic Platoon

Paul Hanley and Kieran Healy on their 10-year tour of duty to make a stop-motion Vietnam epic starring action figures

"...unmistakable London After Midnight garb) to more flesh-and-blood (but plastic) icons like Hunter S. Thompson, who gets into a..."

Jan. 22, 2010 Screens Feature by Marc Savlov

Every Little Step

This pleasingly meta documentary about the 2006 Broadway revival of A Chorus Line intersperses clips from Michael Bennett's original interviews with key players with scenes from the exhaustive search for a new cast.

"...production A Chorus Line, armed with enduring stories of plastic surgery and sexual confusion and a by-any-means-necessary religiosity about..."

June 5, 2009 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

UglyDolls

Ugly is as ugly does in this animated toy movie

"...there are the moral qualms about disguising a merchandising reel as a movie; but since just about every film..."

May 10, 2019 Movie Review by Richard Whittaker

Video Box Sets

"...the warning signsare here: brightly colored lights on houses, plastic Kris Kringles leering from roofs, endless repetitions of "Silent..."

Dec. 11, 1998 Screens Feature by Jerry Renshaw

Nights in White Satin

Streaming Spotify all the way back to the reel-to-reel

"...my parents gave me a portable tape recorder with mini-reels, opening a new chapter in my life. I fashioned..."

Aug. 5, 2011 Music Feature by Margaret Moser

The Chumscrubber

Teens, suburbia, five sets of dysfunctional parents, and the suicide that looms over it all.

"...fit when the filmmakers attempt to puncture the adults’ plastic facades with the occasional stab at profundity. The kids..."

Aug. 5, 2005 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Record Reviews

"...care" (navel-gazing maneuvers, one presumes) on the opener, "Virginia Reel Around the Fountain." "Your Asterisk," for comparison shoppers, ventures..."

April 3, 1998 Music Review

Postmarks

VanScorned

"...mini film fests (like "Attack of the Fifty Foot Reel") is to inspire filmmakers to work their craft and..."

Jan. 23, 1998 Column

Estate Sale Roundup: October 3-5

Ready, set, rummage!

"...Kenwood 50 A speakers, assorted vintage microphones, Teac R-1000 reel to reel. Militaria: uniforms, flight suits, insignia, patches, aviation..."

Oct. 3, 2014 Design Post by Anne Harris

Natrix Natrix

The Basement Tapes

"...art of the album. Histories are bound within the plastic and vinyl itself, a comfort in the low hiss..."

Oct. 19, 2007 Music Feature by Doug Freeman

Paradise

Ten years after Gravity, Alejandro Escovedo finds his "Paradise."

"...of everyday life competes with nonexistent decibels. For every reel-to-reel tape player, there's a clothesline of paper cutouts stretched..."

June 28, 2002 Music Feature by Raoul Hernandez

Architecture & Lodging

"...drinking and leaving. If you had a time-lapse film reel that presented the last five or 10 or even..."

Sept. 15, 2000 Best of Austin Feature

From Hollywood to Sporting Wood

"...back of Rogue or Swank to get a cheap plastic projector and a flimsy three-minute-long 8mm reel of some..."

Aug. 11, 2000 Screens Review by Ken Lieck

Film Reviews

Recommended

"...his possessions and tosses some of it into large, plastic trash bags that he leaves at the curb and..."

Jan. 5, 1996 News Feature

Building the Perfect Beast for Skylines

Director Liam O'Donnell on evolving the Skyline aliens

"...so it was kind of a Power Rangers-y hard plastic face. I thought it would be cool in this..."

Dec. 17, 2020 Screens Post by Richard Whittaker

How Robert Rodriguez Saved Alita: Battle Angel From the Scrap Heap

After a decade and a half, the legendary manga's battle dreams are made real

"...hometown interviews before heading to the airport again. He reeled off the list of destinations: "Korea, London, Paris, Berlin,..."

Feb. 15, 2019 Screens Feature by Richard Whittaker

Do We Really Need More Superhero Movies?

We asked local artists if we're approaching Peak Cape anytime soon

"...true nature as a superhero movie until the final reel...."

April 25, 2018 Arts Post by Wayne Alan Brenner

Letters at 3AM: Musicians of Behavior

Actors are musicians of behavior

"...overwhelming fantasies that appear real? To share in these plastic movements, to change our own lives, to encourage the..."

May 2, 2014 Column by Michael Ventura

Do Not Try This at Home

Tom Six on the surgical horrors of The Human Centipede

"...we're shocked, shocked we tell you, that the current reel unspooling up in that dark, dank projection booth has..."

May 7, 2010 Screens Feature by Marc Savlov

Be Real

Sound Team's major label debut has Capitol

"...is all in the details: Tape slipping off the reel creates a natural song ending for the short "Get..."

June 9, 2006 Music Feature by Darcie Stevens

Into Thin Air

The already under way adventures of Austinites at the Dances Sun and Slam, and what they might mean for the local scene

"...the World." Then, in the Sundance Documentary Competition, there's Reel Paradise, concerning the Fijian adventures of John and Janet..."

Jan. 21, 2005 Screens Feature by Spencer Parsons

Short Cuts

Spongebob and the Lips converge on Austin Studios, and the local IMAX pumps up its technology for 'The Polar Express'

"...and company broke out the props, costumes, and gigantic plastic hamster balls in earnest for the weekend shoot. The..."

Oct. 22, 2004 Screens Column by Marc Savlov

Spacing Out in Round Rock

Carter, Paige, Christi, Doug, and two homeowners on 'Trading Spaces' in Central Texas

"...and inviting. It just scares me when things are plastic and chrome, and there's no comfort involved...."

Feb. 6, 2004 Screens Feature by Kate X Messer

That Other Hunger

The writing -- and much, much more -- is on Ryan Richardson's wall.

"...Onto the Velcro-covered wall he has gently pressed 350 plastic-covered volumes of lesbian-oriented paperbacks from the 1960s, the tip..."

Aug. 23, 2002 Books Feature by James McWilliams

Hiiiiiiiii-Yah!

Austin foley artist Buzz Moran strips the sound out of a forgotten kung fu flick and redubs it live at the Drafthouse. The result? Something to chop about it.

"...on occasional detours into light mockery (with members crinkling plastic bags whenever the print gets particularly scratchy), superimposed catch..."

May 17, 2002 Screens Feature by Will Robinson Sheff

Critic's Picks

Food & Drink

"...want to drink it. The mouth waters. The senses reel. The parched lips crack a smile. It's summer and..."

Oct. 5, 2001 Best of Austin Feature

Live at Liberty Lunch

The Neville Brothers

"...a music fan. Just for this night, though, I reeled out of the Lunch, happy and drunk as a..."

July 23, 1999 Music Feature

America's Ethnic Music Mantle

"...it's strung with Christmas lights and softened by a plastic geranium on each table. A ring of backlit advertisements..."

Oct. 30, 1998 Music Feature by Jay Hardwig

SXSW Film Conference and Festival '98 Further Reflections

"...a girl learning to be a woman and the plastic perfections of a grown-up doll. But, at some point,..."

March 27, 1998 Screens Feature

1   2     NEXT ›    2 »