"I'd forgive you if you were crazy, but you're not..." Radius-twc has finally debuted a full trailer for Blue Ruin, the slow burn revenge thriller that has received endless praise from critics at numerous film festivals. It premiered in Cannes, played at Tiff, and is currently playing at Sundance. I saw it at Tiff and called it "one of the best damn revenge films of 2013." Macon Blair (Gretchen, 7 Couches, Hellbenders) stars as a "mysterious outsider" whose life life is turned upside down when he returns to his childhood home to carry out an act of vengeance. It's brutal and bloody, but a sleek thriller, one of the best I caught last year. This trailer gives a good impression of the tone of the film, but there's much more to it than it shows. Take a look. Here's the teaser trailer for Jeremy Saulnier's Blue Ruin, direct from Apple via...
- 1/17/2014
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
With all the hype surrounding Breaking Bad, the final episode had to be one of the most hotly anticipated series finales of all-time. It’s a great episode, although perhaps not in the highest tier for Breaking Bad standards. Anyone tuning in tonight just to see what all the fuss was about might not even have thought too much of it at all, but Felina isn’t for them. For all the fans who have stuck with the show since the beginning and withstood its heartbreaking emotional unpredictability, Felina is a welcome, satisfying conclusion.
At the end of the episode, a title card even thanks the fans for helping make the show what it was. The show’s been good since long before it had a big fan base, but in later seasons especially it really did grow into a juggernaut partly due to the eager recommendations of its fans.
With all the hype surrounding Breaking Bad, the final episode had to be one of the most hotly anticipated series finales of all-time. It’s a great episode, although perhaps not in the highest tier for Breaking Bad standards. Anyone tuning in tonight just to see what all the fuss was about might not even have thought too much of it at all, but Felina isn’t for them. For all the fans who have stuck with the show since the beginning and withstood its heartbreaking emotional unpredictability, Felina is a welcome, satisfying conclusion.
At the end of the episode, a title card even thanks the fans for helping make the show what it was. The show’s been good since long before it had a big fan base, but in later seasons especially it really did grow into a juggernaut partly due to the eager recommendations of its fans.
- 9/30/2013
- by Kyle Schmidlin
- Obsessed with Film
Fantastic Fest is a good time for me to watch movies that I worry will be outside my comfort zone. People who sit next to me may be amused to notice me peeking through my fingers a lot during the gorier scenes. I want to look away -- I can't. And then I go home and have to read M.F.K. Fisher or Jane Austen so I don't have nightmares about whatever I watched at the festival that day.
Austin connections of any kind help push me into movies I might not normally pick. Blue Ruin is a great example. The description made it sound a little too intensely bloody/violent for me. But then I learned that former Austinite Macon Blair stars in the movie. I'd seen Blair in a couple of Steve Collins films (Gretchen, You Hurt My Feelings) and felt I should give Blue Ruin a try.
Austin connections of any kind help push me into movies I might not normally pick. Blue Ruin is a great example. The description made it sound a little too intensely bloody/violent for me. But then I learned that former Austinite Macon Blair stars in the movie. I'd seen Blair in a couple of Steve Collins films (Gretchen, You Hurt My Feelings) and felt I should give Blue Ruin a try.
- 9/25/2013
- by Jette Kernion
- Slackerwood
You may remember Ya'Ke Smith's 2010 short Katrina's Son from Austin Film Festival, where it won Best Narrative Short. Smith, who is not only a filmmaker but an Assistant Professor at The University of Texas at Arlington, is back with the controversial feature Wolf, premiering in the Emerging Visions category. And check out the top-notch cast, listed below.
Slackerwood: Describe your film for us in a couple of sentences.
Ya'Ke Smith: A family is shaken to the core when they discover their son has been molested. As they struggle to deal with the betrayal, their son heads toward a total mental collapse because of his love for his abuser, while his abuser attempts to exorcise his own past demons. The film stars Irma P. Hall (Soul Food, Collateral, The Ladykillers), Eugene Lee (Lackawanna Blues, Coach Carter) and newcomers Mikala Gibson (Gretchen), Shelton Jolivette and Jordan Cooper.
What’s one...
Slackerwood: Describe your film for us in a couple of sentences.
Ya'Ke Smith: A family is shaken to the core when they discover their son has been molested. As they struggle to deal with the betrayal, their son heads toward a total mental collapse because of his love for his abuser, while his abuser attempts to exorcise his own past demons. The film stars Irma P. Hall (Soul Food, Collateral, The Ladykillers), Eugene Lee (Lackawanna Blues, Coach Carter) and newcomers Mikala Gibson (Gretchen), Shelton Jolivette and Jordan Cooper.
What’s one...
- 3/1/2012
- by Jenn Brown
- Slackerwood
Baby, I would catch a grenade for you, as Bruno Mars wrote in his international smash hit song Grenade, recently nominated for a Grammy, and, so, too, would Joe Dimaggio catch a grenade for Marilyn Monroe, and, maybe - just maybe - married Broadway star Michael Swift Will Chase will cross the line into the danger zone and rekindle his romance with former flame similarly, married with children Julia Debra Messing, half of the songwriting team responsible for the spectacular musical-within-the-show on NBCs Smash. Yes, the third episode of the new musical drama series was a much different experience from the first two shows, with Karen Katharine McPhees journey back home to Iowa - complete with down-home karaoke baby shower and Gretchen Wilsons Redneck Woman - and the introduction of Broadway star Will Chases character and the subsequent exploration of his prior trysts with Julia, as well as detailing more...
- 2/21/2012
- by Pat Cerasaro
- BroadwayWorld.com
Here's the latest Austin film news, with a great short film at the end.
Production company Parts and Labor, founded by former Austinites Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen, has signed an output and development deal with German-uk sales and production group K5. The agreement covers all current productions in development, such as Red Light Winter, set to star Kirsten Dunst, and The Womb. Parts and Labor produced the movie Beginners, for which Christopher Plummer has received a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination. (Before being known as Parts and Labor, Van Hoy and Knudsen also produced local films Gretchen and I'll Come Running.)The Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program, a Texas Film Commission production incentive, distributed $25 million in state funds to 177 film, television, commercial, and video game projects last year, such as Friday Night Lights and Predators, according to an Austin American-Statesman article. To qualify for incentives, production...
Production company Parts and Labor, founded by former Austinites Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen, has signed an output and development deal with German-uk sales and production group K5. The agreement covers all current productions in development, such as Red Light Winter, set to star Kirsten Dunst, and The Womb. Parts and Labor produced the movie Beginners, for which Christopher Plummer has received a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination. (Before being known as Parts and Labor, Van Hoy and Knudsen also produced local films Gretchen and I'll Come Running.)The Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program, a Texas Film Commission production incentive, distributed $25 million in state funds to 177 film, television, commercial, and video game projects last year, such as Friday Night Lights and Predators, according to an Austin American-Statesman article. To qualify for incentives, production...
- 2/6/2012
- by Jordan Gass-Poore'
- Slackerwood
The 18th Austin Film Festival is almost here. To help celebrate all the locally connected movies at this year's fest, we've reached out to a number of filmmakers to find out about their Austin and Texas-tied films screening at Aff, and to hear about what they're looking forward to doing during the festival.
Former Austinite Steve Collins has written and directed You Hurt My Feelings, which had its world premiere at Los Angeles Film Festival this summer. You may have seen his last feature, Gretchen, which also starred Courtney Davis and John Merriman. Collins may be living in Connecticut these days but you can tell he sure misses Austin. And he has some ideas about the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue.
Slackerwood: Describe your film for us, in a quick and dirty paragraph.
Steve Collins: It's about a damaged guy who uses his job as a nanny to prove to...
Former Austinite Steve Collins has written and directed You Hurt My Feelings, which had its world premiere at Los Angeles Film Festival this summer. You may have seen his last feature, Gretchen, which also starred Courtney Davis and John Merriman. Collins may be living in Connecticut these days but you can tell he sure misses Austin. And he has some ideas about the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue.
Slackerwood: Describe your film for us, in a quick and dirty paragraph.
Steve Collins: It's about a damaged guy who uses his job as a nanny to prove to...
- 10/20/2011
- by Jenn Brown
- Slackerwood
In celebration of Slacker's 20th anniversary, local filmmakers are re-creating scenes from the Richard Linklater movie for Slacker 2011, a fundraising project benefitting the Texas Filmmakers Production Fund (Tfpf). As we await the August 31 premiere, we're chatting with some of the filmmakers participating in one or more of the short films that will comprise the project -- check out our interviews so far.
Today's interview is with Austin cinematographer and filmmaker Pj Raval. He's directed several short films as well as the feature documentary Trinidad, about the "sex-change capital of the world." His cinematography credits include local movies such as Room and Gretchen, as well as the Academy-Award nominated documentary Trouble the Water and Kyle Henry's Fourplay shorts.
Slackerwood: Which scene from the film did you re-shoot?
Pj Raval: The scene I directed is lovingly referred to as "Rantings" or Scene 22, which originally featured a young woman...
Today's interview is with Austin cinematographer and filmmaker Pj Raval. He's directed several short films as well as the feature documentary Trinidad, about the "sex-change capital of the world." His cinematography credits include local movies such as Room and Gretchen, as well as the Academy-Award nominated documentary Trouble the Water and Kyle Henry's Fourplay shorts.
Slackerwood: Which scene from the film did you re-shoot?
Pj Raval: The scene I directed is lovingly referred to as "Rantings" or Scene 22, which originally featured a young woman...
- 8/17/2011
- by Jette Kernion
- Slackerwood
Director: Steve Collins Writer: Steve Collins Starring: John Merriman, Courtney Davis, Macon Blair, Lily Collins, Violet Collins Writer-director Steve Collins’ (Gretchen) You Hurt My Feelings begins in the winter as John (John Merriman) takes care of two young girls -- Lily (Lily Collins) and Violet (Violet Collins). John’s rapport with the toddlers is not quite fatherly. It is more like that of a favorite uncle -- someone with whom the girls can climb all over and play doctor, someone who is willing to make compromises with the girls in the hope that they will listen to his commands when necessary. As it turns out, John is a male nanny, a job that serves two purposes for him: a source of income in a dire economic environment and a desperate ploy to win his ex-girlfriend Courtney (Courtney Davis) back. Courtney -- a disgruntled waitress with some seemingly hefty emotional baggage...
- 7/18/2011
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
Updated through 6/27.
This year's Los Angeles Film Festival, running through June 26, opens tonight with the latest from Richard Linklater, and Steven Zeitchik talks with him for the Los Angeles Times: "'It was my most difficult one to get made,' he said flatly. 'It took 12 years to happen, and even then it was tough. People can say shooting in 22 days makes a movie better. It doesn't.' … Bernie is a shaggy, idiosyncratic work, possibly the strangest yet in a career full of strangeness. Set in the small town of Carthage, Texas, it tells of an effeminate, musical-loving mortician named Bernie Tiede [Jack Black] who befriends and then commits a horrible crime against a repressed wealthy matriarch [Shirley MacLaine], leaving him to face the wrath of a local prosecutor [Matthew McConaughey]. The movie is a dramatization of an actual case — the script was based on a 1998 Texas Monthly article about Tiede, and Linklater, who attended Tiede's trial,...
This year's Los Angeles Film Festival, running through June 26, opens tonight with the latest from Richard Linklater, and Steven Zeitchik talks with him for the Los Angeles Times: "'It was my most difficult one to get made,' he said flatly. 'It took 12 years to happen, and even then it was tough. People can say shooting in 22 days makes a movie better. It doesn't.' … Bernie is a shaggy, idiosyncratic work, possibly the strangest yet in a career full of strangeness. Set in the small town of Carthage, Texas, it tells of an effeminate, musical-loving mortician named Bernie Tiede [Jack Black] who befriends and then commits a horrible crime against a repressed wealthy matriarch [Shirley MacLaine], leaving him to face the wrath of a local prosecutor [Matthew McConaughey]. The movie is a dramatization of an actual case — the script was based on a 1998 Texas Monthly article about Tiede, and Linklater, who attended Tiede's trial,...
- 6/27/2011
- MUBI
Steve Collins' tender drama "You Hurt My Feelings" revolves around three characters stuck in a solemn mood. Collins' second feature after "Gretchen," which was well-received on the festival circuit, "You Hurt My Feelings" adopts a patient, at times unbearably depressingly tone heavily based in inference. Despite a prolonged, aimless trajectory, Collins' minuscule cast helps contain the drama, bringing its themes to life with an enthralling collage of small moments. The ...
- 6/19/2011
- Indiewire
The Los Angeles Film Festival has a heavy dose of Austin in its lineup this year. Not only that, but I've counted at least three films involving local actor John Merriman (pictured above with Kerri Lendo at Aff 2010). Is there some sort of conspiracy afoot? Is he becoming the Austin version of Dick Miller? Along with the films playing at Laff, I've been on set visits this year for two upcoming movies with Merriman in them, and he was in one of the SXSW bumpers this year. I think someone needs to look into this before something tragic -- or very funny -- happens.
Merriman aside, here are the Austin-connected features and shorts popping up all over Laff in June:
In the narrative competition, the latest feature from Mike Akel (Chalk), An Ordinary Family, is premiering. The locally shot movie is set at a family reunion where one man shows up with his new boyfriend.
Merriman aside, here are the Austin-connected features and shorts popping up all over Laff in June:
In the narrative competition, the latest feature from Mike Akel (Chalk), An Ordinary Family, is premiering. The locally shot movie is set at a family reunion where one man shows up with his new boyfriend.
- 5/4/2011
- by Jette Kernion
- Slackerwood
Laura Gabbert, Scott Hamilton Kennedy, Caroline Libresco, Doug Pray, Heather Rae, Eddie Schmidt, Aj Schnack to Serve as Lab Mentors .
Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, has launched a new Documentary Lab, sponsored by Latino Public Broadcasting, with 14 filmmakers and 9 projects participating. Documentary Lab is an intensive seven-week program, with a main focus of assisting documentary filmmakers on their works-in-progress and providing creative feedback. All of the Film Independent Labs are designed to support strong, original voices develop their filmmaking careers in a nurturing, yet challenging creative environment. Documentary Lab Mentors include filmmakers Laura Gabbert (No Impact Man), Scott Hamilton Kennedy (The Garden), Doug Pray (Art & Copy), Aj Schnack (Convention),Sundance Film Festival Senior Programmer Caroline Libresco, and producers Heather Rae (Frozen River) and Eddie Schmidt (Troubadours). filmmakers Jen Arnold (A Small Act), Jeff Malmberg (Marwencol), Chicken & Egg.s Julie Benello,...
Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, has launched a new Documentary Lab, sponsored by Latino Public Broadcasting, with 14 filmmakers and 9 projects participating. Documentary Lab is an intensive seven-week program, with a main focus of assisting documentary filmmakers on their works-in-progress and providing creative feedback. All of the Film Independent Labs are designed to support strong, original voices develop their filmmaking careers in a nurturing, yet challenging creative environment. Documentary Lab Mentors include filmmakers Laura Gabbert (No Impact Man), Scott Hamilton Kennedy (The Garden), Doug Pray (Art & Copy), Aj Schnack (Convention),Sundance Film Festival Senior Programmer Caroline Libresco, and producers Heather Rae (Frozen River) and Eddie Schmidt (Troubadours). filmmakers Jen Arnold (A Small Act), Jeff Malmberg (Marwencol), Chicken & Egg.s Julie Benello,...
- 3/16/2011
- by Melissa Howland
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Quickcard Review
The Happy Poet
Director: Paul Gordon
World Premiere
Emerging Visions
Complete Coverage of SXSW 2010
Synopsis
Bill, an out-of-work poet, puts his heart, soul, and last few dollars into starting an all-organic, mostly-vegetarian food stand. New friend Donnie promotes the business and helps Bill pursue Agnes, a poetry-lover who frequents the stand. Curtis, an enigmatic life-philosopher, buoys Bill’s spirits with his positive attitude and love of vegetarian food. Complications with the business jeopardize these budding friendships and threaten Bill’s dreams for a hot dog-free future.
Director Bio
Paul’s debut feature film, Motorcycle, made in three parts during film school, premiered in competition at the 2006 Slamdance Film Festival, and went on to play at film festivals around the world, including Thessaloniki, SXSW, and Rooftop Films.
In addition to writing, directing and starring in The Happy Poet, Paul also acted in Gretchen, and Mars, which is also premiering...
The Happy Poet
Director: Paul Gordon
World Premiere
Emerging Visions
Complete Coverage of SXSW 2010
Synopsis
Bill, an out-of-work poet, puts his heart, soul, and last few dollars into starting an all-organic, mostly-vegetarian food stand. New friend Donnie promotes the business and helps Bill pursue Agnes, a poetry-lover who frequents the stand. Curtis, an enigmatic life-philosopher, buoys Bill’s spirits with his positive attitude and love of vegetarian food. Complications with the business jeopardize these budding friendships and threaten Bill’s dreams for a hot dog-free future.
Director Bio
Paul’s debut feature film, Motorcycle, made in three parts during film school, premiered in competition at the 2006 Slamdance Film Festival, and went on to play at film festivals around the world, including Thessaloniki, SXSW, and Rooftop Films.
In addition to writing, directing and starring in The Happy Poet, Paul also acted in Gretchen, and Mars, which is also premiering...
- 4/1/2010
- by Jeff Bayer
- The Scorecard Review
SXSW 2010 – Day Three
The little gem and a film stopping short.
Complete Coverage of SXSW 2010
I’ve been taking the bus to the festival. Sure, I could sit here and describe the things I am seeing during the bus ride like McM (Mole Cheek Man) or .. well, I should describe him. He had this big mole on his cheek. Not so much wide, as it was tall. I couldn’t help but think about shaving. He had some significant stubble, so you know he’s stuck shaving twice a day at the least. How. How? How has he avoided the temptation of just taking the razor and slicing it off? I was stuck on that thought for a solid 25 minutes. Morbid? Not enough sleep? Sure, these are possible excuses for this train of thought, but really I just want a straight-edge and two minutes with that mole. Apparently this is...
The little gem and a film stopping short.
Complete Coverage of SXSW 2010
I’ve been taking the bus to the festival. Sure, I could sit here and describe the things I am seeing during the bus ride like McM (Mole Cheek Man) or .. well, I should describe him. He had this big mole on his cheek. Not so much wide, as it was tall. I couldn’t help but think about shaving. He had some significant stubble, so you know he’s stuck shaving twice a day at the least. How. How? How has he avoided the temptation of just taking the razor and slicing it off? I was stuck on that thought for a solid 25 minutes. Morbid? Not enough sleep? Sure, these are possible excuses for this train of thought, but really I just want a straight-edge and two minutes with that mole. Apparently this is...
- 3/15/2010
- by Jeff Bayer
- The Scorecard Review
DVDs may be sooner or later drummed out of existence -- by online downloads, at first, I'd guess, reducing movie "releases" to nothing more than press announcements of availability -- but for now they're still "things" you can buy or rent, physical manifestations of the art form, not just the opportunity for access. In the process, they're continuing as our default B-movie distribution stream, offering up indies and foreign films and unforeseen archivals that had a snowball's hellbound chance at finding theatrical screentime. These are still not eligible for any year-end toasts, absurdly enough, and so here's my list of the best of the year's straight-to-digi-vid, for which the only qualification is being entirely overlooked, this year or ever, by our theatrical distribution wimps, and being new to U.S. home video of any stripe.
15. "Absurdistan"
(Veit Helmer, Germany/Russia/Azerbaijan, 2008)
A bawdy Caucasus folktale, Helmer's nutty yarn visits a...
15. "Absurdistan"
(Veit Helmer, Germany/Russia/Azerbaijan, 2008)
A bawdy Caucasus folktale, Helmer's nutty yarn visits a...
- 12/22/2009
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
Slamdance Film Festival has just released their list of competition features for the 2010 fest, and two titles popped out at me. These are both films that Slackerwood reviewed (and liked) during Austin Film Festival 2009, and both of them have Austin connections.
Cummings Farm is a comedy about several couples planning an weekend orgy outing on a farm. Actor/screenwriter Ted Beck is from Austin, and actress Yasmine Kittles was also in the Austin-shot 2006 film Gretchen. In her review, Jenn Brown called Cummings Farm "raunchy and insightful" and was impressed with Beck's performance.I called The Scenesters a "noir-mumblecore-l.A. homage comedy" in my review. The film is about some would-be auteurs who are shooting crime scenes and stumble across what they think is a serial killer murder mystery. Actor/writer/director Todd Berger and actor Kevin Brennan are both former University of Texas at Austin film students.
read more...
Cummings Farm is a comedy about several couples planning an weekend orgy outing on a farm. Actor/screenwriter Ted Beck is from Austin, and actress Yasmine Kittles was also in the Austin-shot 2006 film Gretchen. In her review, Jenn Brown called Cummings Farm "raunchy and insightful" and was impressed with Beck's performance.I called The Scenesters a "noir-mumblecore-l.A. homage comedy" in my review. The film is about some would-be auteurs who are shooting crime scenes and stumble across what they think is a serial killer murder mystery. Actor/writer/director Todd Berger and actor Kevin Brennan are both former University of Texas at Austin film students.
read more...
- 12/14/2009
- by Jette Kernion
- Slackerwood
After wishing for more than three years that Gretchen would become publicly available so I could persuade people to see it, I'm happy to report that the locally made feature is now available on DVD. Watchmaker Films, with its usual attention to detail, has given the film a very nice release with some meaningful extras.
Gretchen premiered in 2006 at SXSW, then won director Steve Collins the Best Dramatic Feature award at Laff that summer. It's appeared on the Sundance Channel and was screened here as part of Austin Film Festival's "New Directions Summer Film Series" this year.
The title character (Coutrney Davis) is a tragically awkward high-school girl, out-of-step with the world in her turtlenecks and heavy sweaters and plastic hair ties. Gretchen likes Ricky Marichino (John Merriman), who envisions himself as a rebellious biker dude, but he treats her like dirt and eventually her temper flares in a destructive way.
Gretchen premiered in 2006 at SXSW, then won director Steve Collins the Best Dramatic Feature award at Laff that summer. It's appeared on the Sundance Channel and was screened here as part of Austin Film Festival's "New Directions Summer Film Series" this year.
The title character (Coutrney Davis) is a tragically awkward high-school girl, out-of-step with the world in her turtlenecks and heavy sweaters and plastic hair ties. Gretchen likes Ricky Marichino (John Merriman), who envisions himself as a rebellious biker dude, but he treats her like dirt and eventually her temper flares in a destructive way.
- 11/18/2009
- by Jette Kernion
- Slackerwood
Goodness gracious, this is turning into a big week of distribution news about films I've enjoyed at SXSW, some of which have Austin connections. Is it coincidence, or what? That's not the only news I have, but it's certainly news I'm happy to share.
Medicine for Melancholy, which played SXSW 2008, is now available on DVD. This lovely film is one of my top-ten films from that year, and as soon as I'm finished writing this paragraph, I'm buying a copy. Seriously, this is a lovely film about two people who meet in San Francisco ... find a way to watch it, this weekend. One of the film's stars is Wyatt Cenac, whom you might recognize from The Daily Show. Another favorite SXSW film of mine, Gretchen from 2006, has also been released on DVD this week. Gretchen was shot around Central Texas and while its director and stars may not live here now,...
Medicine for Melancholy, which played SXSW 2008, is now available on DVD. This lovely film is one of my top-ten films from that year, and as soon as I'm finished writing this paragraph, I'm buying a copy. Seriously, this is a lovely film about two people who meet in San Francisco ... find a way to watch it, this weekend. One of the film's stars is Wyatt Cenac, whom you might recognize from The Daily Show. Another favorite SXSW film of mine, Gretchen from 2006, has also been released on DVD this week. Gretchen was shot around Central Texas and while its director and stars may not live here now,...
- 10/29/2009
- by Jette Kernion
- Slackerwood
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