Steve James Tagged Articles at Cinematical

On the subject of the death penalty, there are reasonable arguments to be made on both sides. But even those who support capital punishment in theory must concede that it's perilously difficult to administer it in practice. It's only defensible if there isn't the slightest doubt whatsoever that the person is unequivocally guilty -- and how many cases are that clear?

The documentary At the Death House Door doesn't take a firm stance against the death penalty altogether, but it sure makes a strong case for exercising caution. It does this through the poignant, heart-rending story of Rev. Carroll Pickett, a soft-spoken Texas man who served for 13 years as chaplain at the notoriously execution-happy Huntsville Prison. Here he counseled with 95 prisoners during their final hours, and the experience changed his life.

It seems like just a few months ago we were enjoying the sights, the sounds, the smells and the cinema of South By Southwest 2007, but guess what? Now that it's January, the festival's only about nine weeks away! Awesome! So today we caught some slightly early news on what SXSW is cooking up for this March, and I must say I'm pretty impressed with what they snagged for their opening night film.

And that film is: Robert Luketic's 21, which is based on the book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. (You may remember Mr. Luketic from flicks like Legally Blonde, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, and Monster-in-Law.) Adapted by Ben Mezrich's book by screenwriters Peter Steinfeld and Allan Loeb, 21 stars Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bosworth and Jim Sturgess. (Check out the trailer right here.)

And if that world premiere isn't cool enough, festival chief Matt Dentler has also divulged the following titles for SXSW '08:

At the Death House Door (Steve James & Peter Gilbert) "A sobering and powerful story of the wrongful execution of Carlos DeLuna and the Death House Chaplain, Pastor Carroll Pickett, who spent the last day of DeLuna's life with him."

Dreams with Sharp Teeth (Erik Nelson) "A documentary portrait of acclaimed author Harlan Ellison, as he looks back on his fabled and influential career as one of the world's top science fiction writers."

Flawless (Michael Radford) "In 1960s London, a talented but overlooked diamond executive (Demi Moore) is convinced to participate in a jewelry heist when a veteran janitor (Michael Caine) hatches a plan."

Run Fatboy Run (David Schwimmer) "An out-of-shape divorced father (Simon Pegg) makes one last attempt to win back the respect of his son, his ex-wife (Thandie Newton), and the community around him. All he has to do is finish his first marathon."

Wild Blue Yonder (Celia Maysles) "Celia Maysles had no idea her father and his brother Albert were pioneers of verite documentary filmmaking. Determined to uncover the secrets surrounding her background, Celia sets out on a quest to rediscover her father by using his own artistic process."

Expect a few more flashy surprises before the full SXSW slate is announced on February 5! Until then, feel free to browse through the SXSW website and decide if THIS is the year you're finally going to take my advice and attend the dang festival. (You do know it's a movie AND music fest, right? Interactive, too, and I do believe I've mentioned the indigenous BBQ more than once.)

I don't know what is worse, that Steve James (Hoop Dreams) hasn't already been a member of the Academy all this time, or that Simon West (Con Air) is now allowed to take part in the Oscar voting process. Both directors are part of the list of 115 individuals who have just been invited to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Unlike last year's list, which seemed to be gearing for younger influences (like Dakota Fanning), this year's is pretty normal, and consists of a lot of people nominated for awards back in February. These include actor Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson), supporting actress Adriana Barraza (Babel), supporting actress Jennifer Hudson (winner, Dreamgirls), suporting actor Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children), supporting actor Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls), director Paul Greengrass (United 93), foreign film writer-director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (winner, The Lives of Others), screenwriter William Monahan (winner, The Departed), screenwriter Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine), foreign film producer Agustín Almodóvar (Volver), composer Javier Navarrete (Pan's Labyrinth), composer Gustavo Santaolalla (winner, Babel and Brokeback Mountain), composer Alexandre Desplat (The Queen), animator Torill Kove (winner, The Danish Poet), production designer Eugenio Cabellero (winner, Pan's Labyrinth) and documentary filmmaker James Longley (Iraq in Fragments).

A lot of non-nominees were invited, too. Some of those included are Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell, Daniel Craig, Aaron Eckhart, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Danny Huston, Christopher Plummer (you'd think he was already in there, too), producers Jonathan Glickman (The Pacifier) and Jane Rosenthal (The Good Shepherd), directors Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) and D.J. Caruso (Disturbia), composer Carter Burwell (Kinsey), animation cinematographer Sharon Calahan (Finding Nemo), documentary filmmaker Brett Morgen (nominated in 2000 for On the Ropes) and, as mentioned, Steve James (nominated in 1995 for editing Hoop Dreams) and Simon West (shockingly no Oscar noms nor any Razzie noms). This is only the fourth year the Academy has made the list public, and you can see all of those invited here. All of the new members will be officially welcomed at a ceremony this September.

There aren't too many movies that necessitate sequels. Unless a movie is part of a pre-proposed series or is an adaptation of a series of books, it should probably be able to stand alone. But a lot of sequels come from movies that are perfect by themselves -- sometimes the sequels compliment nicely; sometimes they are easily ignored; occasionally they actually take away from the previously regarded original.

It isn't often that a movie screams out for a sequel, but I think I've come up with seven that at least whisper a request for one. Two actually have source sequels that they would be adapted from. One has a lot of history to mine material from. Three of them have been discussed at length at different points in time by makers of the original(s). The problem is that none of these sequels is likely to ever grace your DVD player let alone your local theater. For whatever reason, they simply have too much against them in the minds of studio execs. For now, though, we can dream.

1. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (sequel to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

Even with the incredible cast and the surprisingly faithful-enough script, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was not the epic that I was hoping for. It also wasn't the blockbuster that Disney was hoping for. The filmmakers, Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith (aka Hammer and Tongs) and the necessary actors had signed on for the sequel, to be adapted from Adam's follow-up, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, but it appears to be dead in the water. Despite my few reservations with the first film, I would love to see the sequel, as well as the rest of the series (they could end before The Salmon of Doubt, I guess). I remember being bored with some of the prehistoric Earth sequences in Restaurant, but I think they'd make for great cinema. In any event, I think Martin Freeman and Mos Def were a great duo in the original, and they alone should have been propelled to stardom following its release. Maybe they can appear in something else together.

I believe the title of this entry tells you everything you need to know about the variety of films screening in Austin this week. In addition, there seem to be more free-admission films than usual this week, so if you're worried about scraping up money for your taxes, you can still see some good movies around town.

• Austin filmmaker Kyle Henry's film Room, which screened at Sundance and Cannes last year, will be playing all week long at Alamo on South Lamar. This week's Austin Chronicle includes an interview with Henry and actress Cyndi Williams.
• That quirky documentary about Texas sex-toy laws, Dildo Diaries, is getting a short run at Alamo Village, from Friday-Sunday 4/7-9. It's not only a fun movie, it's a good reminder of how insane the Texas Lege can be.
• All I know about Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo is that the sequel title has spawned more silly parody titles than any other film I can think of, including Highlander 2: The Quickening. If you're a fan of these movies, Alamo Downtown is showing them on Saturday 4/8 with actor Michael "Shrimp" Chambers and producer David Zito both making appearances.