sxsw in 60 seconds Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The Paramount Theatre hosted several notable screenings on the last day of the 2009 SXSW film festival, including the HD Premiere of Al Reinert's 1989 documentary For All Mankind. Audience members reported being thrilled that Gene Krantz, former NASA Flight Director, was on hand to answer questions after the screening of the film, which tells the story of the Apollo space missions.

Wavy Gravy was seen leading an anti-war march down Congress Avenue, reported Neil Miller of Film School Rejects, in advance of the final screening of Michelle Esrick's doc Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie. Director Jonathan Demme was in town for the World Premiere of his music doc, Neil Young Trunk Show. Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were expected to be in attendance for the local debut of Sundance hit 500 Days of Summer.

Volunteers Kill It! We noted well-deserved praise for SXSW Producer Janet Pierson yesterday, and that applies to the entirety of the festival staff, who work long hours to little reward or recognition, except for a job done extremely well. Many thanks are also due to the more than 250 hard-working volunteers and theater managers, who had to deal with long lines of sometimes-grumpy, sometimes-pushy attendees, yet remained unfailingly polite, courteous, and attentive. Everyone working behind the scenes deserves some serious love as well.

Cinematical Coverage. Gary Hustwit made the fascinating, well-received doc Helvetica, and so expectations were high for his latest, Objectified -- perhaps too high. Kevin Kelly wrote in his review: "If you're into industrial design, you'll probably enjoy Objectified as it is, but I was left wanting more."

You can browse all of our 2009 SXSW coverage by checking out this handy link right here.

I returned home from Austin yesterday and am still suffering from SXSW Separation Anxiety. Shawn Levy of The Oregonian sums it up well: "Frankly, music people are nuts compared to the film people (who are nuts compared to the interactive people). And as Austin seems genuinely nuts itself, the whole thing works out nicely."

SXSW kept rolling along, even without me and Shawn. While downtown streets were filled with crowds and music, the film venues had somewhat lighter attendance, making it easier for out of town visitors and local residents to catch up with repeat screenings of buzz titles like Alexander the Last, Goodbye Solo, My Suicide, Made in China, and Humpday.

Tonight, an attendee exulted over getting into the Playboy party and seeing Jane's Addiction, while a film critic observed "people in pirate gear blasting 'Kickstart My Heart' in front of [the] Austin Hilton," and another writer "accidentally had another five-movie day." And you wonder why some of us are addicted to Twitter?

Cinematical Coverage. Eugene Novikov called The Slammin' Salmon, the latest project from the Broken Lizard comedy troupe, "90 minutes of truly inspired comic mayhem." Speaking of mayhem, this critic felt Australian revenge flick The Horseman was brutally effective: "It's a testicle for a vagina instead of an eye for an eye."

Eric D. Snider says that Craig Johnson's True Adolescents is "an acerbic but realistic coming-of-age story ... the tone gradually shifting from hipster-funny to hipster-introspective." Mark Duplass and Melissa Leo star. Jette Kernion liked Tommy Pallotta's documentary American Prince even more than American Boy, the 1978 Martin Scorsese doc that featured the same subject, Steven Prince, "probably because I preferred watching the older Prince over the younger one."

You can check out all of our SXSW 2009 coverage right here.

Yay! The sun broke through the clouds on Sunday, brightening up the afternoon even as temperatures remained a bit chilly. The day concluded well past midnight with a "work in progress" screening of Sam Raimi's new horror flick, Drag Me to Hell, which drew a huge crowd that started lining up more than two hours in advance. Shortly before that craziness started, a smaller group enjoyed a sneak peek at footage from Sacha Baron Cohen's upcoming comedy Bruno.

Mumblecore Matures? For better or for worse, Andrew Bujalski's Funny Ha Ha in 2002 is cited as the first "mumblecore" movie, a designation that most indie film lovers are probably tired of hearing. In any event, Bujalski's third feature, Beeswax, had its US premiere at the festival this weekend, and Jette Kernion described it as "a good movie that does some surprising things in a quiet way." I was at the same screening and completely agree with her assessment of the film's strengths. My review of the French-language crime thriller Black was also posted; I called it "gloriously lunatic."

More reviews and coverage from the Cinematical crew are on their way, and you can quickly access it all by clicking here.

Blog Talk. Filmmaker Magazine has a very nice section at their site devoted to SXSW coverage; of special interest is Scott Macauley's recent blog post on "fair use" and its effect on documentary filmmakers. Anne Thompson has a great, two-part, on the street interview with Alexander the Last director Joe Swanberg and star Jess Weixler: "Like other actresses at her level, Weixler is being championed by casting directors who recognize how good she is."

Cold winds and torrential rainfall did not dampen the spirits of attendees on the first day of SXSW in Austin, Texas. Cinematical writers traveled from near and far to cover the annual celebration and eat some barbecue. It's only my second SXSW experience, but seeing so many writers, film critics, and bloggers whose work I read and respect has inspired me to quit the business. No, no, I meant to say: it's cool seeing so many Twitterers in person.

Good Buzz: The film festival proper got underway with some serious man love, as the opening night presentation of John Hamburg's bro-mantic comedy I Love You, Man was unveiled at the historic Paramount Theater, with stars Paul Rudd and Jason Segel among hundreds in attendance. Simultaneously, a slew of films began screening at other venues; William Goss said Nash Edgerton's Australian thriller The Square was unexpectedly good, I heard very good things about Eric Kutner and Adam Goldstein's snarling comedy The Snake -- presented by Patton Oswalt, who was in the house -- and I enjoyed a wild and wacky program of music videos.

Midnight Gets Crazy: To cap the evening, most of the Cinematical crew gathered for the first evening of SXSW Presents Fantastic Fest at Midnight, the international festival premiere of Ong Bak 2. The directorial debut of martial artist supreme Tony Jaa features numerous insanely awesome fight scenes and, er, elephants. Before the film rolled, new SXSW Producer Janet Pierson introduced Alamo Drafthouse impressario Tim League, dressed for some reason in a Roman toga, who kicked things off with a contest that I'm not sure I should describe in detail. (Hint: it involved beer. And men. And drinking.) A good time was had by all.