Jybil - a film blog

"Ethan Hawke's earnest, talky film THE HOTTEST STATE, which he adapted from his own semi-autobiographical 1997 novel, doggedly peels away the gloss to dive into the emotional swamp where two young people get lost in each other."
- Stephen Holden, New York Times

"Hawke, who is the first cousin once removed of Tennesee Williams, proves himself to have a good eye for the small world of big love."
- Linda Stasi, New York Post



Anyone who's suffered through the inferno also known in Texas as "summer" would probably have to concur with that title's declaration, voiced by the actor-novelist-screenwriter-director and perennial Austinite Ethan Hawke, who's come a long way since his days as a fresh-faced child actor. Since 1985, we've seen the now thirty-seven-year-old literally come of age on the silver screen, from precocious young sidekick to leading man in his collaborations with another Austin-based filmmaker-made-good, Richard Linklater. In Hawke, Linklater found the perfect actor to embody his quintessential American dreamer in BEFORE SUNRISE, the nomadic twenty-something adrift in Europe playing opposite Julie Delpy and discovering love. By the time these two characters met again ten years later in BEFORE SUNSET, Ethan Hawke had already become a bona fide movie star, with roles in high-profile studio films like SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS and TRAINING DAY. But his heart still clearly lay in those small, intimate dramas, perhaps best exemplified by his own first film as director, CHELSEA WALLS.

Hawke's debut behind the camera was a bold and sprawling, borderline experimental look at the poets, artists, musicians and journeymen that have at one time or another called New York's famous Chelsea Hotel home, and it showed a surprising amount of promise and resourcefulness for a first-time filmmaker with no budget in a film-unfriendly city, boiling over with boho and bonhomie, earnestness and eccentricity, set in a place where the ghost of Dylan Thomas and a legendary blues singer would sometimes share a room. One of the colorful characters residing behind its walls happened to be played by an up-and-coming young actor, Mark Webber, whose low-key supporting roles in films like Alison Maclean's JESUS' SON, Todd Solondz's STORYTELLING and Jim Jarmusch's BROKEN FLOWERS suggest an ideal stand-in for Ethan Hawke's own scruffy, brooding persona. So it is perhaps not too surprising that for THE HOTTEST STATE Hawke chose him to play the male lead.

Adapted from the director's loosely autobiographical novel of the same name, THE HOTTEST STATE is paradoxically more commercial and more personal than his first. It still retains the experimental, semi-improvisational tone that gave CHELSEA WALLS the flavor of an early Rudolph or Altman film. This time around, the scope seems larger while the focus narrower. The story concerns a young actor named William Harding who journeys from the "hottest state" to the "coldest," heading northeast to New York in hopes of making a name for himself. He first encounters Sara Garcia (played by Catalina Sandino Moreno, responsible for the awe-inspiring lead performance in MARIA FULL OF GRACE) in a bar near his apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and the two quickly find solace in his bed. At this point, it becomes apparent that the film also has to do with another kind of "hottest state," that particularly heated state of mind that young lovers so often find themselves in before the chill of winter arrives, along with its accompaniment, discontent.

The film is a roadmap of emotional landscapes as well as geographical ones, charting the peaks and valleys of their relationship from New York to Texas to a spur-of-the-moment trip down Mexico way. In the course of the film, they laugh and flirt, scream, argue and occasionally make love. They act out roles and scenarios for each other, some of which come uncomfortably close to foretelling their soon-to-be doomed love affair. In the end, what keeps them from each other is the one roadblock they can't seem to ever surmount. Both, it seems, moved to New York to escape essentially the same thing - their past. And once they leave, they have no choice but to face it. The brief glimpses of wrecked families and abusive caretakers, like the father who first abandoned Harding and his lonely, bitter mother, are especially moving, undoubtedly from the well of troubled personal histories shared by both Ethan Hawke and Mark Webber (before becoming an actor, Webber grew up homeless with his mother on the streets of Philadelphia). The realism of these defining moments in time, where the past informs the present, manages to move beyond the fictional framework of the storyline into the realm of something you see far too little of in American cinema these days - truth.

-- Jameson West, Associate Programmer, Austin Film Society

Fifteen geek movies to see before you die

Eva (Moreau) is a notoriously expensive and sadistic prostitute, who makes powerful men beg for but an evening to sample her magic. Completely spoiled and yet totally fascinating, Eva charts her own course through a succession of older men who momentarily satisfy her needs in Europe's finest casinos and hot spots. Despite her clear warning, a hapless Welsh novelist (Baker) foolishly falls in love with Eva and quickly discovers the limits of his masculine charms and bravado. With Eva's striking mise-en-scene and quirt-perfect direction of Moreau, Losey became an essential player in the European art-house revolution of the amazing 60s.

France/Italy, 1962, b&w, 107 min. Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Stanley Baker, Virna Lisi, James Villiers. Tonight @ Alamo Downtown, 7pm. Dir Joseph Losey.

AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM
"The Scariest Goddamn Film You'll See This Year"
-CBS News

Hello Austin! Your 2006 Summer Classic Film Series is now posted online.
I will probably find myself in a dark theater quite a few times this summer. Join me?

What a beautiful film. I finally saw it; checked it out from the library last week. I cried like a little baby along with the lead character. Chicks Rule!

I remember quite a while ago Dano telling me how good it was - it played a film festival a few years ago and I didn't make it. Yes, it was good. So rent it, if you haven't watched it already.

"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.

seen a slew of sneak preview movies these past couple of weeks, and going to one more tonight...

hustle & flow
the wedding crashers
me and you and everyone we know
murderball
the island

what the HELL was i talking about?!? *spoilers* punch-drunk love was sooo not based on a novel. i was loving the entire thing and then when i got to the end & was watching for who wrote the novel, then damn, it hits me like a stupid ton of idiot bricks

-paul thomas anderson-

well shit yeah, i was wondering about luis guzman and philip seymour hoffman all hangin out & looking cool. the lights & colors. the music & sound. the car crashes. good shit.

i was about to sit down and watch Solaris (1972) but damn! it's a 2-hr-49-min movie! and it was 11:30 so i started sandler instead. (95min)

damn, idiot, what be i babblin bout. wonder what book my sister was waiting to come out. maybe it was the hours and i'm just totally confused. i was sitting there after the film watching the credits, p-t-anderson, 2002, and thinking where the hell was i?

then it hit me, i sorta checked out for a couple of years. i forgot about that. i was sort of preoccupied. then after that i was sort of numb for a year or two. and now i've sort of woken up. and i don't really know who/what/where i'm supposed to be now. i'm already freaking out about a job i'm supposed to have in four months from now. where i'm gonna live seven months from now. i can't do the day-to-day thing anymore. i feel as if i need some sort of plan. is it cuz i'm finally growing up a little? or just plain getting old?

or is it that i'm not just clinging on to every last breath, every last day, every last minute. i'm back in the land of the living again...yet i've almost forgotten how to *live* if that makes any sense at all. to live the daily life without the fear of i don't know, death, sickness, sadness. this daily life without the opportunity to run away without a care and deal with it tomorrow. well it's tomorrow, and now i have to deal.

perhaps i'm letting my head clear out a little too much (hadn't had a drink since saturday). not like it's that odd, but it's more like reality is seeping in and i'm not taking care of anyone and i'm not destroying myself so who am i supposed to be? this healthy girl who stays in and doesn't go out every night and saves money and knits? i don't know what's going on. i think i need a vacation...

so anyways. liked punch-drunk love. hadn't heard a thing about (not even that it was paul thomas anderson, duh! but what a treat to watch & like & then to realize!) i don't think it even had opening credits. but i'd recommend it if you haven't seen it. it's low-key, but nice. and makes me appreciate my sister a zillion times more. (those four brothers in the truck, i think were actually four real-life brothers~ha!) i even can appreciate my mother more. those sisters were harsh!

okay then, going to see the woodsman tomorrow (tonight) and gonna try to watch solaris on sunday night or sometime when i'm well rested and can endure a three-hour russian subtitled film (i might have to watch that one in the solitude of my room and not take over the common area for 170 minutes).

oh, sunday, we're having a Flicker Film Fest meeting at 3 o'clock at MoJo's, if anyone is interested in just hanging out, wants to see what Flicker is all about, or is eager to get more involved in running a local film fest. we're gonna be planning some events, fundraisers, and trying to figure out how to draw larger audiences to each screening, with more publicity, live bands, whatever else we can think of. your ideas would be truly appreciated. if you can't attend but your head is spewing over with brilliant brainstorms of incredible edible information, please feel free to email me: jiltron@hotmail.com or cory the flicktress of flicker: flicker@flickeraustin.com.

on saturday afternoon, post-errand running, i think i'm gonna indulge myself in a little Dodgeball humor to get me pumped up for a saturday night, whatever may happen...

okay then. oh, i watched The Name of the Rose last week. omigoodness, christian slater is like 15 years old/young in this film! there's a lot more to it (i actually liked it more than i thought i would) but i don't want to spoil anything for you. so if you're ever bored, check it out from the hancock library (aka yarborough branch) some night (free rental, for one whole week). or request it to be delivered to the library closest you.

library is closed next monday for Martin Luther King Day. the onion is so wrong but unfortunately so terribly dead on.

next monday in respect of MLK day, i'm going to see this:
MLK DAY JAMES BROWN - BOSTON GARDEN 1968

i might even buy my ticket in advance because i would hate for it to sell out without me...wanna go too? only $2 (if buy online). let me know...yeah, i think i'm gonna buy five tickets; let me know if you want one of them.

and shauna, call me, i need to also get my crispin glover ticket now! i unfortunately have to work every saturday in february, so i wanna plan ahead somehow...for crispin, my dear.

what *was* i thinking?? paul thomas anderson?! how did i not know. y'all are sweet for not rubbin my face in it...yet. at least not before i watched it. thanks!

oh, did i fail to mention that i searched NetFlix for about four hours sunday night when i got it, and ended up with over 250 movies in my queue?! yeah, that's not very healthy.

Barry: I'm lookin' at your face and I just wanna smash it. I just wanna fuckin' smash it with a sledgehammer and squeeze it. You're so pretty.
Lena: I want to chew your face, and I want to scoop out your eyes and I want to eat them and chew them and suck on them.
Barry: OK. This is funny. This is nice.

there's a cold blowin' in right now. sounds a little spooky actually. i should go to sleep...

my NetFlix came in! my NetFlix came in!

damn, that was quick! one-day turnaround. had i known that, i would have ditched you guys and left early...just kidding!

happy birthday to ennea! lookin' great for any age! and she gave me a damn good spanking...hey, how did that happen?!

well Punch-Drunk Love is for wed night, unless i go see Dig at the alamo at 9:45, but i haven't decided yet. i'll have dodgeball around for the weekend, if anyone's interested in some silly Ben Stiller/Vince Vaughn fun.

thursday night, i'm going to a sneak preview of the woodsman. looking creepy. got a sleepers feel to it...but trying not to read the reviews yet.

p.s. for future reference, this blog is riddled with spoilers...fyi.

six degrees of kevin bacon. six degrees of separation. if you know me, you're only two degrees from the president, on two sides of the coin, and that's no lie.

tonight at the alamo drafthouse downtown as part of the AFS Essential Cinema Series on African directors, i watched Faat Kine. i loved it, wanted to hang out with this strong independent woman, and chat about safe sex. i could not imagine being someone's THIRD wife...much less a wife at all.

more about the director Ousmane Sembene.

and i get 6 more African director films! (alas, i may have to miss 1 due to work mtg)

okay. i just watched the insider, and yeah i know i'm a half-decade late, but still, people, i do *not* see why it was nominated for 7 academy awards! (and won none.) it's sort of like, you throw al pacino in a movie and somehow it's a given that it's gonna be up for multiple award nominations. whatever, no thanks.

but still i don't see how i could have missed at least hearing about this movie. (but then again, i didn't see the crying game till years after it was out and i was like, that is soooo totally a dude...do y'all mean to tell me you really didn't know?!) i did however miss out (on purpose) the whole russell crowe fad. but i gave this movie a chance because i just watched Proof of Life this weekend and it didn't suck. both Russell Crowe & Meg Ryan didn't bug the bejesus out of me, so i was gonna give russell crowe movies a chance, finally. i never even saw gladiator.

i did see romper stomper when it came out at the dobie (yes, years & years ago, when i was but a wee lass) and i loved it. i didn't realize that it was a young russell crowe at the time, not till later (and i did love him then, that character). but...but then russell crowe & his 40 ought knots whatEVER band were playing at stubb's and the whole meg ryan thing and i can't remember, but i just wrote him off at that time.

oh i see here, i was too busy watching the matrix and american beauty. and it was my birthday. (where was i in the year 2000 for my birthday??) well that makes sense. i usually only see a couple of award-nominated films a year, seriously. i probably won't have seen more than 2 that are nominated next month for best of '04. hurry & catch up!

so sunday morning i watched My Life without Me, starring Sarah Polley. and i really liked it, more than i thought i would. and i like sarah polley more than i thought i would. just now, on the insider, they had a preview for a movie Guinivere with her that looked good.

oh but my BIG movie news, is that UberShauna gave me a gift of two free months of NetFlix! now, i know you know i am all about local video stores (and independent films) but you can't look a gift horse in the mouth! i sat up sunday night, trying my damnedest to figure out what i was gonna rent, how many movies (shipped at 3 at a time) can i feasibly watch in two months? wanna watch me go? it might make you seasick. but my first delivery (due wed 1/12) is Dodgeball, Punch-Drunk Love, & Solaris (1972). dodgeball, well i just wanted to see it again. it really really made me laugh in the theater when i saw it one unemployed friday afternoon with my friend taminatrix. and punch-drunk love, i haven't seen yet. i believe it's based on a book, and i believe my sister said the book was good and that she was looking forward to seeing the movie (at the time it was coming out). unlike me, she probably reads a book a week, if not more. and Solaris. well...i'm on this mission to watch every original movie that was remade and then watch the remake. i really don't know what the intent of this research is, but plainly said, it's just research. so anyway Solaris was remade in 2002 by soderbergh and starring george clooney. so we'll see. the original is foreign, russian maybe? (i don't even know if they're the same premise.) anyway, if you are on netflix, you can now be my friend and we can share movie suggestions & reviews. you can find me by my other [realname] email address. but hurry! i'm only on NetFlix thru March 9! and then it's back to the library for me...

NetFlix is kinda cool. you can search by genres, and even subgenres within the genres. i've gotten a lot of classic horror and foreign films lined up, if anyone's interested in joining me. i'm trying to rotate my three-at-a-time as (1) happy/funny (2) serious/sad (3) classic/foreign/thriller, so i will always have one movie onhand to suit whatever mood i'm in.

tonight i checked out from the library:
The Insider
Tigerland
Smoke Signals

i hadn't seen any of these (just watched insider and not too terribly impressed). great story, though. everyone should stop smoking, though, starting NOW.

(i think a bldg alarm is going off behind my house. and it's loud. and it's 2am and i need some sleep)

*found in a draft dated 12/23/04*

i've caught quite a few flicks this past month:
The Green Mile
Hearts in Atlantis

i had a garage sale or two at this rental house my mom owns in Round Rock, but i kept all the old videos rather than selling them. cuz i'm a pack rat like that. the two above were from the donated collection, and oddly enough, both are based on stephen king stories. i loved green mile...had never seen it before.

with friends & family, i've watched:
There's Something about Mary
GoodFellas
Something's Got to Give
Grace of my Heart (you should rent this if you've never heard of it)

recently checked out from library & watched:
The Pianist (excellent! I knew, but I didn't know. loved it!)
WarGames - "would you like to play a game?"
Wolfen

checked out & watched from the library, a paul newman double feature:
The Hustler
The Color of Money

about a month ago:
Saw
Donnie Darko, Director's Cut, with the writer/director in attendance

did i mention:
Dodgeball
Anchorman
Starsky & Hutch (remake)

at the alamo village:
Coffee & Cigarettes
Shaun of the Dead

40s @ 5 recently:
Space Camp (drink! props to mecca & mike!)
Coyote Ugly

recent AFS viewings:
Undertow (with the screenplay writer Joe Conway in attendance at the Dobie)
(my boyfriend Josh Lucas was in this film)
Lovers of the Arctic Circle
Goya in Bordeaux
Solas

and last but not least:
Flicker Film Fest!
Santa vs Satan...in FOLEYVISION!

butt-numb-a-thon was this past weekend and no we did not get in. i feel bad for UberShauna cuz she loves bnat. i probably would have passed out halfway through it. and wasted my precious seat. alas, she doesn't sound too disappointed because they didn't play anything too sneak preview-esque (which is good to know you didn't really miss anything too much, like peter jackson or mel gibson in attendance).

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

I just found out that Harold of Harold and Maude played the accountant stooge. awesome.

House of Flying Daggers

Tonight! Special advance screening for AFS members (Free!)

I have a +1, if you call me before 6pm. @ the Dobie.

so let's see...i'll now be updating this movie blog more and adding less movie entries to my zenbetty blog to make everyone happy, or at least less bogged down (or "blogged" down ~ ha!) with my infatuation with films...

this week, i watched:

Love Story (waaah!)

What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl who died? That she was beautiful and brilliant? That she loved Mozart and Bach, the Beatles, and me?

Powder (double waaah!)

And how beautiful they really are. And that there's no need to hide, or lie. And that it's possible to talk to someone without any lies, with no sarcasms, no deceptions, no exaggerations or any of the things that people use to confuse the truth.

yesterday i checked out from the library:

Adaptation (i love it. i should just buy it & own it. i love Spike Jonze.)

i love it mostly because that is exactly how my brain works, at times, exactly like this:

Do I have an original thought in my head? My bald head. Maybe if I were happier my hair wouldn't be falling out. Life is short. I need to make the most of it. Today is the first day of the rest of my life. I'm a walking cliche. I really need to go to the doctor and have my leg checked. There's something wrong. A bump. The dentist called again. I'm way overdue. If I stop putting things off I would be happier. All I do is sit on my fat ass. If my ass wasn't fat I would be happier. I wouldn't have to wear these shirts with the tails out all the time. Like that's fooling anyone. Fat ass. I should start jogging again. Five miles a day. Really do it this time. Maybe rock climbing. I need to turn my life around. What do I need to do? I need to fall in love. I need to have a girlfriend. I need to read more and prove myself. What if I learned Russian or something, or took up an instrument. I could speak Chinese. I'd be the screenwriter who speaks Chinese and plays the oboe. That would be cool. I should get my hair cut short. Stop trying to fool myself and everyone else into thinking I have a full head of hair. How pathetic is that. Just be real. Confident. Isn't that what women are attracted to? Men don't have to be attractive. But that's not true. Especially these days. Almost as much pressure on men as there is on women these days. Why should I be made to feel I have to apologize for my existence? Maybe it's my brain chemistry. Maybe that's what's wrong with me. Bad chemistry. All my problems and anxiety can be reduced to a chemical imbalance or some kind of misfiring synapses. I need to get help for that. But I'll still be ugly though. Nothing's going to change that.

the movie spoke to me. cuz that's how i think, how i ramble in my head constantly. and with similar ideas even. speaking of which, i'm going to learn how to knit this sunday. yep, the writer who knits. watch out! wanna join me?

Devil's Playground (which looks like this great documentary about the Amish kids and how they're allowed to "experience" the other world outside of their community at the age of 16 for a year to see if they want to resist these temptations of the modern-day world and commit to the Amish ways for the rest of their lives...)

Freaky Friday (the original, 1976, with little hottie Jodie Foster)

Tatum O'Neal was on Oprah yesterday [rerun]. man, she hates her father (& Farrah Fawcett) but it nicely tied in with my Love Story theme of the week (Ryan O'Neal). i've seen Freaky Friday, but it was a looong time ago. and if i watch the original then i can watch the remake with Lindsay Lohan and call it "film research" ~ ha! i really do want to rent Mean Girls someday soon though, perhaps i'll have a Lindsay marathon. and no, i am *not* obsessed, thank you very little...

The Name of the Rose (an old Sean Connery classic, i swear it was just an answer on yesterday's Jeopardy! and i had never heard of it before)

Shine (i haven't seen it yet, yeah i know, academy award winning film & all)

i bought fake meatballs from HEB last night. i'm gonna go make me a "meatball" sub and watch me a couple of movies. only one more day off work, then it's back to the ol' grindstone again on monday. i think tonight UberShauna & i are hittin' the alamo downtown for Drunken WuTang @ 9:45. join us if you'd like!

i added the comments field to this blog. it only went back a few entries though.
we'll see if they work (i.e. test them out!)

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

movies to rent:
Les Rivières Pourpres (Crimson Rivers)
The Professional (2003)

i've watched so many movies recently, i don't even remember which ones or how to begin listing them.

my friends shauna, tami & i are about to submit our entry for butt-numb-a-thon tickets.
wish me luck!

Last night, I watched Kill Bill, Vol. 2 & Wonderland. How hot is Val Kilmer? Not to mention Uma Thurman as well. I highly recommend both. Also, I think I'm sort of in love with Josh Lucas. Anyway, Wonderland should have gotten a better rap. The direction was great (James Cox), at least I thought so. Rather innovative. It seems as if his only other real movie so far is Highway, starring three of my beautiful babies: Jared Leto, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Selma Blair. Perhaps I'll have to rent it someday. Highway was written by Scott Rosenberg, who also wrote High Fidelity & Beautiful Girls. Liked both. Natalie Portman.

IMDB trivia: Scott Rosenberg was arrested for a bar brawl while out with Vince Vaughn and Steve Buscemi, the latter of which was stabbed three times during the scuffle. [April 2001]

Wonderland was good except for Dylan McDermott's sideburns were horribly fake. And he wasn't too convincing as the awful bad dude. Sorry Dylan. You're more convincing in a suit.

Kill Bill, Vol. 2 kicked ass. I do believe I liked it better than the first, but now I definitely do want to watch the full running from beginning to end.

I believe that IMDB is one of the coolest sites in the world.

Saturday, I went to see Ju-On at the Alamo Village. It was by the same director of the Japanese version of the Ring (Ringu). Creepy, good story, decent. But I want to be scared out of my socks.

Please email me the scariest movie you can recall. Still looking forward to seeing the prequel to the Exorcist. Seriously, I want something to haunt me with nightmares in the middle of the night. I want to scream out loud in a theater with fear. Is that possible anymore? Is that possible now that I'm no longer 15 and the horrors of real life are worse than any scary effects used in a late night movie? Perhaps, but try, I have heard CandyMan recommended twice, but I think I've seen that and it was just sort of scary. But maybe I'll give it another try...

Friday, I went to see Garden State. I loved it. Went by myself. Wanted to bawl my eyes out, yet I have become somewhat numb. I am trying to work on that. So I didn't cry to myself in the theater. But yes, now I am officially in love with Zach Braff, writer/director. I think I might get the soundtrack. I think I might get the Wonderland soundtrack as well. I love soundtracks. I know it's somewhat cheating the artists of their full cd buying potential, but hey, at least if I love one of their songs, maybe I will consider buying the entire album. Just know you're contributing to my sanity and back off already, k? Thanks.

I have checked out Ordinary People from the library. I can't really recall the premise of this movie, but I know it caught me off-guard one time when I watched it prior and I need that again. I haven't had a good cry (or a good scare) in awhile. I did get caught off-guard yesterday when my sister spoke to me about what a loser I was for not working and she said out loud everything we already know, but hey, I know what I'm doing even if it's just the fact that I know I have no idea what I'm doing. Isn't it the journey that matters anyway?? Or are we all just telling ourselves that to make us feel better about being lazy?

"Good luck exploring the infinite abyss."

okay, so it seriously has been a while. i have a heck of a lot of new movies to post. last night i watched LOTR III, Morvern Callar, and 21 Grams. Unfortunately, all three were somewhat of a disappointment to me. Please feel free to disagree and convince me that they were the much better films I had heard about than the ones I watched last night.

At my mom's this weekend, (cable of course), damn the multi-HBO thing is a grand thing. I was simultaneously watching five movies at once! Okay 3 out of 5 were probably bad, but it was good to catch them all:
Nuts
Frailty
Just Married
Tales from the Darkside
Mr. Wrong
Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken

and the 1st half of the made-for-TV-movie Salem's Lot, starring Rob Lowe, until it failed to tell me it was a two-part series continued the next night and i don't have freakin' cable to watch it!

oh! I watched Auto Focus (the Hogan's Hero Bob Crane movie), and it was good! but i watched it subtitled because it was too late at night and i didn't want my mom to hear a sex movie blaring from the TV downstairs on a sunday night.

then when i woke up, i proceed to watch Muriel's Wedding and Volcano and Living Dolls: The Making of a Child Beauty Queen. oh and Down With Love. then i finally decided it was time to turn off the TV once & for all and head back to Austin.

on the plane to Costa Rica, I watched Miracle, and on the way back i watched 50 First Dates, and i recommend both.

i saw The Day After Tomorrow before i left, and it was exactly what i expected. but i really liked it for some reason. and no, it wasn't all because of jake. and he's a decade younger than me *and* with kirsten dunst so that one's really not an option now is he?!

oh, i also watched some Big Daddy & Zoolander on TBS, USA, or one of those great cable movie channels that i would not have a life if i had in my own living room...

for one week only, and i want to go see it:



A deranged plastic surgeon (Pierre Brasseur) obsessively removes the faces of kidnapped women, grafting their flayed skin onto the rotting countenance of his beloved young daughter (Edith Scob), who had been disfigured in an automobile accident. Director Georges Franju's terrifying, gothic horror film is invested with a weird poetry, elevating his variation on the mad-doctor story to the level of Cocteau and the best of early German cinema. Alida Valli (The Third Man) co-stars. New, uncut 35mm print featuring a new translation and subtitles. Official Web Site

Director: Georges Franju

Cast: Pierre Brasseur, Edith Scob, Alida Valli, François Guérin, Alexandre Rignault, Béatrice Altariba, Juliette Mayniel, Charles Blavette, Claude Brasseur, Michel Etcheverry, Yvette Etiévant, René Génin

MPAA Rating: NR
Run Time: 1hr 28mins
Release Year: 1959
Country Of Origin: France/Italy

Tuesday, January 27, 2004

Neo-Realism: a movement especially in Italian filmmaking characterized by the simple direct depiction of lower-class life

Il Grido (The Outcry)
Michelangelo Antonioni, 1957, 35mm, B&W, 115 min
Cast: Steve Cochran, Alida Valli, Betsy Blair, Gabriella Pallotta, Dorian Gray

Overjoyed that Irma's husband has died in a distant land, Aldo assumes that now they will marry and raise the daughter they already have. However, Irma reveals that she now loves another man. Aldo takes their daughter and begins a journey through the Po Valley, drifting from place to place, job to job, stopping for occasional affairs but mainly trying to care for his daughter. When the obligation proves too much, she is returned to her mother. Aldo finally gives up and returns to the factory town where he lived with Irma and the girl--to an unexpected conclusion. Stunningly and evocatively photographed, this film brought Antonioni, the poet of space, composition, and emptiness, to the attention of global audiences.

-Thanks to Austin Film Society for these FREE Essential Cinema Series every Tuesday at the Alamo ($4 for general public)

-And thanks to the Alamo always, well, for just being the Alamo

"Your sadness is lovely."

Adaptation is genius.

library excursion. round 4:

Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Adaptation
Chicago
Quitting
Narc
The Never-Ending Story

unemployment sets in

at my mom's house sunday night, poor selections on my part. i just couldn't turn off hbo,
even though there wasn't anything worth watching...

life or something like it
the sweetest thing
wisegirls
gia
breaking up
beautiful girls
white oleander

i'm going out there again this weekend. will me the strength to just turn the television off!

library excursion. round 3:

run lola run
down with igby
girl, interrupted
the great gatsby
man of la mancha
the royal tenenbaums

library excursion. round 2.

so upon leaving all my halloween rentals at my friend's house, i had to find other ways to amuse myself. solution: another trip to the library.

well seeing how i took monday off work, a long stay at the library (and use of the internet) is just what the day-off-doctor ordered (that would be 'me' by the way). self-subscribed medication. the fake form of splurge shopping: renting!

so...i proceeded to check out four more movie classics, which included:

Night of the Hunter
Bluebeard
Fahrenheit 451
Silence of the Lambs

i'm also in a weird state of confusion: lost and searching. searching for what? i don't know. the answer to life. the answer to what i'm gonna do next, where i'm gonna work and where i'm gonna live. the answer to the ultimate question that i don't even know what it is.

so i tend to check out other enlightening forms of media, in hopes that my answer will be found. that great Here It Is. although i have *yet* to find that answer, i continue to seek. and when that search is done, hopefully that will be the end of my journey.

Theories of the Universe, Stephen Hawking
Sayings of the Buddha
The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran
Still the Mind, Alan Watts

i'll let you know if i find enlightenment this weekend...

halloween horror

well...i didn't make it to the midnight movie wednesday night. so i will be trying to rent All the Colors of Darkness somehow soon. ended up staying at my friends' house after we all had been carving pumpkins (well, they carved. i watched.), eating toasted pumpkin seeds, drinking wine, and sitting 'round the campfire. (we would have been telling ghost stories, but none of us knew any.)

as time passed, and midnight neared, the thought of trekking downtown and back seemed less appealing. thus, we popped in The Changeling. Unfortunately, the warm wine and the lazyboy sucked me into a dreamlike state instead of keeping me awake through the entirety of this movie. however, it started mighty fine. nothing i like more than an intro scene that tugs at your heartstrings and gets the gore introduced immediately! (have you seen Identity? yeah, rent it.) but alas, the ways of wine were stronger than my will. thus, i will have to watch The Changeling fully another day.

i did however check out from our own austin public library (yes, my friend, check out movies and some dvd's for FREE for one whole week, because i know we are all broke out there. and if you're not broke out there, then take me to more movies!) this fine selection from the favorite classics to choose from:
The Birds
The Shining
Rosemary's Baby
and The Omen

so yes, if i am unable to drag myself out tonight, not exactly in the halloween spirit, i will be o.d.'ing on classic horror and missing out on live austin action, but oh well.

last night, i went to the austin museum of art. there was a lecture by the director of the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. and, i hadn't been to the Warhol exhibit yet, so i figured this was a good a night as any to go. (i also have a $1 off coupon, and saved 20% off the entry fee. man, i'm a cheapskate lately. i could tell you 20 reasons why, too, though.) so anyway, as i was driving by the Paramount to the AMOA, their marquee sold me...Double Feature: Frankenstein (7:15), Frankensten Meets the Wolfman (8:45). Okay, i really wanted to see the original Frankenstein, but i had already planned to attend this lecture, so i was just gonna see how i was feeling after i left the museum.

and yes, the feeling was still there. the desire to be: all alone, the night before halloween, munching popcorn in a dark theater, watching an old black-n-white horror film (that was sort of good, sort of bad, wrapped up all in the same movie). anyway, the mood was perfect. the film couldn't have been any better. bad accents (might have been her real one, but it was still bad), gypsies, beerfests, yes, this was the feeling i wanted to achieve, and i achieved it. i went home last night satisfied. and it couldn't have turned out any better had i had planned it...

free midnight movie



Anyone up for the free midnight movie at the alamo drafthouse downtown tonight?

...Edwige Fenech graces the screen as a woman who is having uncontrollable nightmares, fits of paranoia, and all-out depression. Her neighbour has great advice - join a Satanic cult! Of course, as her new hobby begins to spiral downward into a world of murder, conspiracy, and inexplicable stalkings, her husband tries to figure out what's behind all the madness... (Sam McKinlay)

so i actually did it. i pretty much saw all of the films i set out to see in
the 8 days of the austin film festival last week. grand total: 15 films.

there were a few that i wanted to see, but i wasn't able to because of
location or schedule. or because i was just too damn tired. so if you see any
of these films listed at dobie or somewhere, let me know and i'll go with ya:
(or if you see them listed on ifc or trio, invite me over, cuz i don't have cable)

Alien: The Director's Cut
The Barbarian Invasions
Breakfast with Hunter
Broadway: The Golden Age
The Failures
The Movie Hero
Undermind

there were some shorts and documentaries that i really wanted to see,
and i don't know if i'll ever have the opportunity to now that they're no
longer in a festival:

An Unlikely Friendship
(USA, 35min.)
Director: Diane Bloom
An Unlikely Friendship is the riveting film account of the remarkable
relationship between an outspoken black woman activist and an
embittered Klansman. The story of the altogether unexpected alliance
and life-long friendship between these two antagonists is moving, comic
and inspiring.

Ferry Tales
(USA, 40 min.)
Director: Katja Esson
The film is a sneak peak into a culture that only happens 30 minutes
a day in the women's bathroom...a place where no men are allowed.
As they put on their make-up, they are transformed from housewives
to businesswomen, from mothers to lawyers, from sisters to socialites.
This is a story of the vibrant life that goes unnoticed in a place that
goes ignored.

other than that, i did pretty good, all in all, seeing the 15 films listed below.
i was gonna write out a little blurb for each one, but i didn't want to include
any spoilers. most of the links below will already have a spoiler or two, so
don't read too much if you like to be surprised at all.

also, i have a tendency to not like the films that most other people like, and
then like some (pretty bad) films that no one else seems to like. hence, we
all have our quirky opinions. but at least now i know when i'm liking a bad
film...and enjoy bragging about how awfully wonderful it was!

p.s. on another note, i loved Kill Bill! we went to the premiere at the alamo
and i got a badass Kill Bill t-shirt!

i also recommend Lost in Translation.

very different movies. both, very good.

next on my list: School of Rock.

or Kill Bill again.


--> austin film festival: oct 9-16

7:00 Off the Map w/ actor: Sam Elliott
9:45 Sunset Story

Wednesday, October 15
7:00 Particles of Truth

7:00 Ash Tuesday
9:30 Love Object

Monday, October 13, 2003
7:15 Happy Hour with writer/director: Mike Bencivenga
9:45 Shattered Glass

4:30 Elf
7:00 Girl with a Pearl Earring
9:30 Klepto

Saturday, October 11, 2003
6:30 Mystic River
9:30 Bukowski: Born Into This

Friday, October 10, 2003
7:15 Pieces of April with writer/director: Peter Hedges
9:45 Swing

Thursday, October 9, 2003
7:15 Prey for Rock and Roll w/ director: Alex Steyermark


--> austin film festival: oct 9-16


Wednesday, October 8, 2003
Kill Bill

Thursday, October 2, 2003
Flicker Film Fest

Thursday, September 25, 2003
Lost in Translation