Jybil - a film blog

"All good things must come to an end."

Whoever wrote that was sadly mistaken. Aren't there some great things in life that last forever? I don't know, because I personally haven't experienced any, but I'm sure that there's someone, at least one person out there, who is still enjoying something that has been lasting & lasting longer than his or her expectations.

Regardless, this 2005 Austin Film Festival must come to an end tonight, and all's well that end's well. (okay, that one was Shakespeare.) So tonight, I'll be attending the Closing Film @ the Paramount:

7:30 PM The Squid and the Whale w/ Actor Jeff Daniels in attendance

It's been a great ride, everybody! Thanks for a wonderful festival! Would love to go to the Closing Party tonight, but we'll see. I will definitely be out & about in the downtown Austin area gettin' my drink on, well, because Halloween weekend starts...right...now!

Only One Day Left! Tomorrow's the Closing Film @ the Paramount. And tonight I will see:

7:00 PM Transamerica w/ Writer/Director Duncan Tucker

and I haven't decided on my 9pm festivities yet.

It's always a sad time when festivals come to an end, any sort of festival--if you have ever attended one, worked one, or volunteered for one. Sure, you're exhausted and ready to not step foot into a movie theater for at least a month! But at the same time, it's like Summer Camp...and it's over. And all the friends you have made, strangers you have met in line or at parties, and all the creative energy that is just so thick in the air you could cut it, this all comes to an end as quickly as it overwhelmed you the week prior. And in that distant jukebox in the sky, you hear "Tuesday's Gone" playing in the background as in the end of Dazed & Confused when the party's over, the keg's floated, and everyone's drifting away back to where they came from.

But after it's over, don't forget what inspired you. After it's over, don't think you won't have anything in common anymore with the people who have briefly touched your life. When it's all over, don't let all the great ideas you have brewing around in your brain that are crammed into that creative blender in your skull, don't let those brilliant ideas disappear as you sink back into your chair behind your desk Monday through Friday, and don't put all your creative juices on hold. Don't think for a minute that the drive and desire that you're stifling aren't burning a hole in your soul as you swallow down that screenplay that keeps crawling itself back into your brain, keeping you up at night, trying to force you to finally just write it down. Don't let that "you can't make a career out of this" attitude stop you from dreaming and following that which truly gives you that umph for life. Don't stop observing the interactions of people in their daily lives, and the loves you encounter and the pain that surrounds you, and the normality & miracles of your everyday life. Do not forget. Do not let it die. This, my friend, is why we gather for brief moments in our life: to inspire, to be inspired, and to transcribe it all down so we can share with others that which inspires us.

Good luck to you and all your endeavors.

After tonight, only two nights of film left...

7:00 PM Prime w/ Writer/Director Ben Younger
9:00 PM Life on the Ledge w/ Writer/Director Lewis Helfer (?)

I wish I had more time to better describe what I've seen the last couple of nights. My notes are all over the place, in emails and scribblings on my desktop. Check back in next week? I know, the moment will be lost...but maybe it will be sweet memories?

Monday night was a little sketchy at the Dobie. They were unfortunately experiencing some "technical difficulties," which was kinda disappointing because I had been wanting to see Runaway, as well as a couple of shorts. (My bad for not seeing Runaway on Saturday as I had intended though). Oh well, at least it allowed time for me to make it over to the IMAX for Three...Extremes!

But seriously folks, we need to get some AFF technical people onsite. There was no audio for the video for one short, then there was no video for the audio for the second short. I congratulated the writer Bill True for his win in the narrative feature competition for Runaway, but then apologized that I would be departing before they could get the equipment working in time for his film so I could go catch Three...Extremes.

Runaway plays one last time this Thursday October 27 - 9:00 PM @ Regal Arbor Theater...go see it!

In case you're a little film'd out and want to enjoy the company of 3-dimensional people for a little while this evening over cocktails, there is a Film Mixer tonight:

--

Come out and join us for an Austin community-wide film mixer during the Austin Film Festival! NO BADGE REQUIRED!

WHERE: SABA BLUE WATER CAFE
208 W 4th St

WHEN: MONDAY, OCTOBER 24th
7:00PM — 9:00PM

This is a fundraising event benefitting the AUSTIN CHILDREN'S SHELTER. SABA will be donating 10% of all proceeds during this time! Come eat, drink, network, and help make a better home for abused and neglected children in Travis County.

--

I am probably still going to try to catch Runaway @ the Dobie, then Three...Extremes @ IMAX. Happy Film-Goin'!

Look, here's an absolutely frightening picture of me attending Bad Girls Behind Bars at the AGLIFF film fest last month. I should really always be ready for the cameras! Because I'm so famous, you know!!

(p.s. i'm the one on the right in the huntin' cap. i look scared. and i was riding on no sleep from the night before, so be nice.)

Well, now, today I'm faced with a dilemma...I no longer know what I want to see tonight. Abnormal Beauty is a new addition (since R-Point was lost in transit, which is a sad thing for Tartan films to have lost) and looks quite appealing. BUT I had also wanted to see that Oregon documentary, Clear Cut: The Stoy of Philomath, Oregon. Sisters also looks good. AND they just added the narrative winners to be played again tonight @ the Dobie. I had really wanted to see Runaway, but alas I couldn't get off my ass early enough Saturday night. But then, I wanna run over to the IMAX to catch Three...Extremes: "Using distinctive cinematic styles that span dream-like minimalism, savage comedy and baroque horror, these cutting-edge directors penetrate the dark heart of desire, examining the ghastly urges that transform ordinary people into monsters. Stylish, twisted and laced with haunting imagery, Three... Extremes breaks the bounds of genre cinema, confirming the visionary talent of three master directors."

So...I'm thinking~

7:30 pm Narrative Winners @ Dobie
9:10 pm Three...Extremes @ IMAX

but Special Thanks to Roy London sounds wonderfully inspiring also.

Last night, I didn't make it to the first movie I had wanted, but I did make it to Bloodrayne and Unknown White Male. I have so much to say about both, I really wish I didn't have to work right now. But I do. So stay tuned...

Today, I was trying to go to:

5:00 Going Through Splat
7:00 Bloodrayne w/ Director Uwe Boll & Actor Will Sanderson
9:15 Unknown White Male

Unfortunately, though, I can't turn off the television. Bravo is showing AFI's Top 100 Movie Quotes.

To name a few:

They're here...
I'll be back.
Here's looking at you, kid.
Show me the money!
What we have here is a failure to communicate.
I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
I coulda been a contender.
Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

Now, name that tune...

So, last night I only made it to Backseat & the Backseat after-party, which was at the Sweet Leaf Tea headquarters, and it was a LOT of fun. Not only was it a serve-yourself bar with free Skyy vodka, Tequila, tea, juice & mixers, but we met a lot of great people there and had a silly time dancing. I really hope no pictures were taken of me on the dancefloor cuz I'm a total goof. We even rode the limo back to the hotel after 2am. Spoke with the director Bruce Van Dunsen, and he was a great guy. Good party you guys, thanks a lot!

Last night in the Stephen F. Austin bar, I unfortunately watched the Astros lose the first game of the World Series. Still, I have hope. haha. Turk Pipkin was in there drinking, even though I thought he was a cancellation. Well at least UT beat Texas Tech, so go Texas! Okay then, gotta get ready for another night of films. Oh, there was also a Ghostbusters after-party at 219 West. I bet that was a great time as well, but we were having too much fun with the Backseat peeps to leave.

Check out the Austin Film Festival Blog for their daily coverage. It's time to head downtown now so I'll make the 6:30 movie. Today I'm gonna double feature it at the Stephen F. Austin.

6:30 Runaway w/ Writer Bill True

8:30 Backseat w/ Writer Josh Alexander and Director Bruce Van Dusen

(There's a Backseat after-party following the screening. If you're nice to me, I'll let you know where it is. Think Sweet.)

Here's where I think I'll be for the rest of the Fest: zenbetty's calendar

7:45 The Ice Harvest w/ director Harold Ramis

Well, the movie was sort of exactly what I expected. However, Oliver Platt stole the movie for me. Perhaps it was his jovial drunken state (which I like to think of myself as a happy drunk) or perhaps it was merely the way he delivered the monologue to the Christian bartender on Christmas Eve. Director Harold Ramis was quite a delight. He was humorous, charming, modest, and endearing. He spoke after the film (and briefly before as well). Since I liked hearing him speak so much, I was a little disappointed that I just didn't fall in love with his movie as much as I fell in love with him. Still, it was good, but I had just wanted to like it a little more.

I had wanted to see The Dying Gaul afterwards, but I decided to go over and drink cocktails the rest of the night away at the Driskill bar. Patricia Clarkson stars in The Dying Gaul, and I fell in love with her a couple of years ago at the 2003 Austin Film Festival after seeing her in Pieces of April (hey! that's where I fell in love with Oliver Platt, too!) and I know she was in plenty of movies before, but seeing her just this past year when I watched The Safety of Objects for the first time, I fell in love with her again...and I really wanted to see her in this movie last night. Alas, the feeling of Friday was in the air and I needed to appease my desire towards an enticing cold cocktail instead. But during the Pieces of April screening in 2003, I liked what the writer/director Peter Hedges had to say, how the story had evolved, and how he put his own heart into into the story even moreso after it was almost done. (I'm not including any spoilers, in case you haven't seen the movie yet). Katie Holmes didn't bug me, so do go rent it if that is the only factor holding you back. It is a great holiday movie, a great feeling of community movie, and a great forgive your parents and forgive yourself because you both are only human movie. Patricia Clarkson had me in the restaurant scene. I wanted to run away with her and never look back.

In Rose Troche’s film of The Safety of Objects, this scene at the mall becomes part of a sequence that creates something that didn’t exist in the stories. The scene builds to a stunning moment when the car contest and the lives of all the characters explode into an incredible, terrifying recognition of just how interwoven all of our lives are. The commonality of our needs, desires, circumstance and passion become one—when I see it on screen, I know it. I know it from the inside out and I cry.

yeah...i was crying, too. i love glenn close.

Oh, we also met Will Janowitz last night at The Ice Harvest screening. He was nice. Go see their movie Backseat - Saturday 8:30pm @ Stephen F. Austin.

10:20 pm Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

7:50 pm Shopgirl w/ Claire Danes & Jason Schwartzman in attendance, and director Anand Tucker


(Photo credit: Jack Plunkett)

check out other pictures on Austin Film Festival's Flickr photo blog

-->Austin Film Festival, Oct 20-27

okay now, there will be a ton of ramblings and in no particular order, because it will follow the path that my brain will follow, which is no particular path at all. so...starting with, i have to finish that fantastic fest entry. i did make it to sin city (extended) and it was great! also, i still need to update boocoo (which is really beaucoup) information regarding the QT fest. but, since i'm slow & delayed, you will get a semi-update of the Austin Film Festival which starts tomorrow!

i've gotten cable. and it's great. and it's awful. i watch a ton of great stuff now. but i also can't turn off the TV. ever.

a great series on AMC right now is Movies that Shook the World. Friday night I watched it about 2001: A Space Odyssey.



"Kubrick's vision resonated with more than just drug-addled hippies. It predated NASA's Apollo projects by years and offered a captivated public the earliest and most realistic vision of what the earth might look like from space offering a fantastic blueprint for the fledgling agency's mission. The film also predicted the penetration of computers into everyday lives and offered an enduring testament to mankind's desire to explore the unknown."

also on AMC this month, they're showing 200 Nightmarish hours of House of Horrors / MonsterFest movies 24 hours a day!! from Sun Oct 23 to Mon Oct 31. WHAT A GREAT SCHEDULE! (I'm never going to be able to turn off the television this month!

and then on Turner Classic Movies this month, they're playing 36 Hitchcock films, from Oct 24 to Oct 30! as well as five scary movies on Halloween night. (p.s. the original Haunting is great.)

Damn, I LOVE Halloween!!

Well, unfortunately, I cannot afford a movie pass to Fantastic Fest! this weekend at Alamo South Lamar (4-day badges are $125! damn you!)

But...I figured I'd transcribe here all the movies they're screening, and that way, we can have a Fantastic Fest of our own some weekend. I still might wanna go see the Sin City extended trilogy Saturday or Sunday at noon (individual screenings are only $8-$12). I'm leaning towards Sunday...why don't you join me?!

AGLIFF is this week/end, too, so I'll definitely be catching a few of those flicks. Probably, Friday Night Oct 7 triple feature, all at the Arbor:

7:00 pm El Favor
9:30 pm Bad Girls Behind Bars (WOoHOo! hopefully BigSleep666 & SuperHotGirlfriend666 will join me for that one)
11:30 pm Hellbent! (gay slasher flick, yea!)

and the Austin Film Festival is this month, too. (I heart Austin!) I think the 8-day film pass is only $30. Well...I think they are, and I can afford that. Oct 20 - Oct 27. (and they're playing movies at the IMAX this year, too, cool!)

File Under:

Fantasy
Strings, 2004, 88min. Strings is a dramatic tale of adventure, bondage, and liberation; of love and war, destiny and vitality, identity and common humanity.

Horror
The Big White, 2005.
Pulse, 2001. Often referred to as one of the scariest films ever made...

Sci-Fi

Post-Apocalyptic
The Last Wave, 1997, 106min, Dir Peter Weir.