- Repo: The Genetic Opera
This Generation's Rocky Horror? Not quite sure what to make of this yet, but it looks totally strange in a good way. I'll try to ignore the "from the producers of SAW" bit. - The 2008 Fantasia Film Festival
I wish I had an unlimited supply of time and money. This year's Fantasia Film Festival looks pretty unbelievable. If you live anywhere near Montreal, you should go. - The Ultimate Dark Knight Adventure
This may be the coolest movie adventure yet–a trip to Bracken Bat Cave, followed by a screening of Dark Knight. I've been to Bracken, and it's amazing on its own–you've never seen this many bats in your life. Literally; it's the worlds largest colony. - Clive Barker On Lionsgate’s Mistreatment of Midnight Meat Train
I have to admit, the title "Midnight Meat Train" isn't as appropriate for a movie as it is for a short story. But I'm still jazzed about seeing this–the first in a series of adaptations based on Barker's brilliant "Books of Blood".
Link Roundup for June 17th through June 18th
- ‘Passchendaele’ to open Toronto
Early news from TIFF. The website (with more info, I hope) goes live on June 27th. I was just talking to Chris about what an amazing lineup TIFF had last year. - Movies about Making Movies
Austinite and all-around cool person Jette Kernion has put together a list of seven great movies about making movies. It's a great list, and it's actually realy fun to try and think of more. - David Sedaris @ Bookpeople This Thursday
Because I'm going to be out of town, David Sedaris will be reading at Bookpeople this week. - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
A good quality English trailer for the new David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac) flick starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. I'm pretty psyched about it.
By Way of Explanation – The Link Roundup
I guess I never explained this “link roundup” thing.
Here’s the deal: it takes me a really, really long time to write anything at all. And at such a sluggish pace, I can’t cover a tenth of the interesting junk I run across during the course of a day. So rather than let post after post of unfinished full-length commentary languish in draft, I attached my del.icio.us account to this blog and started publishing my bookmarks in chunks of 4 or 5. This way, my commentary is necessarily limited to 250 characters, and I’m pretty much forced to keep things simple. Which is best for both of us.
This is not to say I won’t also be writing full-length posts any more–but there’ll probably be lots of supplemental content in between. Hooray?
Link Roundup for June 14th through June 16th
- Hitchens on Bohemia
It's not about movies or music or Austin. But I like Hitchens a lot, and he's right: "on the day when everywhere looks like everywhere else we shall all be very much impoverished, and not only that…we will be unable to express or even understand or depict what we have lost." - Special-Effects Pioneer Stan Winston Dies at 62
The world just got a lot less awesome. - Trailer for Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna
Lee's newest follows Buffalo Soldiers trapped behind enemy lines in Italy during WWII. The trailer looks good… release is set for the fall. I think it's about time I watched Do the Right Thing again. It's probably time you did too. (via Ain't it cool) - Alamo July/August Calendar Available
Some really fun stuff in the next few months, including a Spaced marathon hosted by Edgar Wright, a trip to Bracken Bat Cave for the Dark Knight opening, a Monte Hellman triple-feature, a Slapshot roadshow and Guillermo Del Toro live to open Hellboy 2. - The 50 Worst Sex Scenes in Cinema
Some with clips. Howard the Duck = agreed.
Link Roundup for June 12th through June 13th
- The Siskel & Ebert YouTube Guide
This has been up for a while, so you may have seen it, but part-time Austinite and popular movie critic Scott Weinberg has a fantastic collection of old Siskel & Ebert reviews. Definitely worth a browse, but be prepared to lose some productivity. - Speaking of Vampires… The Lost Boys 2 Trailer
The long-unwanted sequel to the absolutely amazing vampire flick Lost Boys is going straight to DVD in the near future. Who'd have guessed? I've got to admit though… I'm a little curious to see the Coreys battle vampires again. Kind of. - Twilight Is the Hot New Vampire Movie for Teens
I must be way out of the Young Adult horror/fantasy loop, because I'd never even heard of Twilight until a few months ago. But apparently it's a wildly popular series of vampire novels. Some even call author Stephenie Meyer the "American J.K.Rowling". - Paramount Summer Classic Film Series Gets its Own Website
Finally, there's a decent way to browse the Paramount's Summer Classic Film Series schedule. The website looks great… and you can finally buy tickets online! - Blogopticon Map Includes Gothamist
Vanity Fair puts the Gothamist network (Austinist's publisher) in a reasonably non-insulting spot on their "Blogopticon". We're apparently slightly less newsy than Salon, yet more scurrilous. Which I thought was complimentary until I looked it up.
Baghead Interview and Giveaway
Back in March, I did an email interview with Mark and Jay Duplass, the super cool ex-Austinites behind the new comedy/thriller Baghead, which got tons of positive press from Sundance and Tribeca this year. The SXSW screening was so jam-packed, I didn’t even come close to getting in… and I got there an hour early.
Anyhoo, Baghead will open in Austin this Thursday (long before anywhere else in the country) with an outdoor screening at Star Hill Ranch. Im’ pretty psyched about it. Over at Austinist, we’re giving away a couple sets of tickets to folks who email us a “Baghead” photo of themselves.
Link Roundup for June 4th through June 5th
- Plexifilm’s Free Streaming Movie of the Month
The staggeringly cool DVD label Plexifilm has introduced a Free Movie of the Month feature on their website. Every month, you can stream an entire movie for free. They're kicking it off with the doc "Spend An Evening With Saddle Creek". - The War on Photography
This is so dead on. A few years ago, I had a scrape with a security guard in Chicago while taking photos near the Boeing building. I was simply standing on the sidewalk, taking photos AWAY from the building itself. Sometimes, people can be total idiots. - Shearwater’s Rook Gets a Pitchfork 8
Austin-based Shearwater's last record, Palo Santo, is one of my favorite albums in recent years. And though I rarely read Pitchfork any more, I'm glad to see that the band's new record, Rook, got a glowing review. - Austin City Limits Releases 2008 Schedule
The schedule for ACL 08 is online. This'll be the first year I actually go. Looking forward to lots: David Byrne, Band of Horses, M. Ward, Del, Hot Chip, Spiritualized, Neko Case, Okkervil River and City and Colour
Link Roundup for June 2nd through June 3rd
- Weird Wednesday Blog!
Weird Wednesday is an incredibly popular, incredibly awesome weekly film series hosted by Lars Nilsen at the Alamo Drafthouse. Every week, he showcases bizarre, rare and/or fantastic movies you might not otherwise see. And now, he’s writing about them. Which is great, because I don’t get to go to Weird Wednesdays very often (they’re all Midnight shows), and Lars has a superhuman knowledge of cinema. - NPR: Tom Waits Interviews Tom Waits
I heart Tom Waits. - NY Times Piece on the “Reverse Rollout” of Baghead, Which Opens in Austin Before NYC and LA
The Times has a piece about the unconventional rollout for the new Duplass Bros. flick Baghead. I tried to see this at its single SXSW screening and was totally shut out, along with about 150 others. All early word suggests it’s awesome. - Watch Online, Through Your TV
This is the appliance that lets you stream Netflix “Watch Instantly” titles right to your TV. For $99, it’s beyond awesome. It’s not HD yet, but Netflix says it’s HD-ready, and they’ll have some fancy high-def content up soon.