It is said that there is one being out there in this grand universe that is the perfect compliment to our person; a "twin flame" of sorts, and only when we meet shall our fires burn the brightest. Well, we think we have found our soul mate and its name is the 6th Annual Austin Film Festival Film & Food Party. We're serious. Basically, if we were reincarnated, we think we would come back as the AFF Film & Food Party, because this event brings together what really defines who we are at our core: people who live to eat delicious food, and people who love to watch flickering lights on cinema screens. Truly, that is pretty much all we need to survive. The great news is that since the AFF F&F Party, which will be shaking up the Driskill Hotel on Wednesday, October 15 at 7pm, is really just a concept as opposed to a physical being, you can also share in the joys of its bountiful awesomeness. We'll try to conceal our jealousy.... [continue]

Austin Kiddie Limits at the 2008 ACL Music Festival had plenty of cool stuff to keep the little ones jamming, including breakdancing lessons.... [continue]

There is something so magical about taking an inanimate object and breathing life into it—willing something that wasn't there before into being. Puppetry has survived for thousands and thousands of years not only as a form of entertainment, but also as an outlet for interpersonal communication. This beautiful and nuanced art form is powerful enough to mesmerize children and adults alike (hey, Fraggle Rock and The Muppet Show aired in prime time, and now look at the success of Avenue Q) and, since puppets don't have human lips, they also carry the unique capability of bridging the language barriers of the world by being incredibly dubbable. Tonight, in the first offering of their second wave of the Avant Cinema experimental filmmaking program, the Austin Film Society highlights the works of two puppetry and animation whimsicologists: Jeanne Stern and Paul Tarrago. ... [continue]

So, it is the middle of the week and you are just now leaving your bland, cubed-in day job, and you're thinking, "Man, I wish I had something rockin' to do tonight, you know, like a disco/spandex/musical/biblical allegory party to go to....." Well, dear reader, you may not believe it, but you are in luck, because tonight at 11:59pm, The Apple is going to change the course of human life. Sure, we have a tendency towards hyperbole, but this time we are serious. Made by the same geniuses who brought us Over the Top—yeah, the Sly Stone trucker arm wrestling extravaganza—The Apple is the 80s musical version of Adam and Eve, only with more glitter. And hair products. And terrible singing.... [continue]

The fact that Ninja Annihilation War was discovered by the industrious diggers over at the Alamo Drafthouse doesn't surprise us. In fact, we think that, much like a ninja, the movie laid in wait for its perfect victim, knowing that when the handsome programmers happened upon its steely case that the catastrophic awesomeness contained within would slay their minds.... [continue]

Shot in Austin, Kabluey is one of those films that you may not have heard a lot about, which gives it the unique capability to sneak up on you and snatch your heart away. Granted, it does exist in a seemingly alternate universe with a penchant for absurdity, but it has heart. After winning the 2007 Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival, Kabluey has gone on to acclaim in New York and LA, and thankfully opens to the Austin audience tonight at the Landmark Dobie Theater, with Predergast in attendance! We recently had the chance to chat with Prendergast about creating isolation, winning the lottery and trying not to die inside a big, blue mascot suit in the heat of a Texas July.... [continue]

Suspense, people! Suspense is what makes life exciting—the hollow, wrung out pit in your stomach and the stinking jitters of an overactive imagination. A world of confusion is jumbled before you, tiny mismatched puzzle pieces of tension and worry, and in order to get to the end of this, your very own choose-your-own-adventure, you must sleuth and scheme to finally turn over that missing piece. The Paramount knows how to create dramatic, palpable tension and they plan to do it with vigor tonight and Friday with their screenings of two salacious flicks that will sucker punch you in the anxiety glands with a double shot of Robert Redford. Thankfully, your banker won't slip into payment paranoia as you can get the double feature for a cool $7.... [continue]

Tum (Lalita Panyopas) is having a totally crap week. She has lost her job as a bank teller, but can't bring herself to tell her family, as they are all depending on her for survival. For a brief moment, Tum contemplates pulling the trigger on her hopeless life, but thinks better of it, and soon thereafter discovers a noodle box on her doorstep, filled with cold hard cash. Now, you would think that the first thing she would do with her windfall is fix that stupid number on her door that keeps swinging around, but she is soon distracted by more, um, pressing matters.... [continue]

Henri Verdoux, of course played by Chaplin, is a Perraultian Bluebeard, who, after being nixed from his job as a bank teller, provides for his ailing wife and young child by charming, marrying and subsequently offing independently wealthy femmes, collecting the spoils in the wake of their wakes. You see, Mr Verdoux sees murder as nothing more than a business proposition, and if large corporations can fill mass graves and their pockets at the same time, then why shouldn't he be able to follow in lock-step, albeit on a much smaller and more personal scale?... [continue]

Who knew that an emoting robot could steal your heart so quickly and effortlessly? It only takes a moment for your eyes to meet those of Wall-E, the newest pipsqueak of a trash compactor from the magicians at Pixar. But in that moment, gazing into the mechanization of his little binocular face, you realize that you could love his bleeping robot heart your whole life long.... [continue]

There are a million ways to be, you know that there are. Some people look at the world through dark, cloudy glass, and some through rose-colored; amazingly love can still be seen and had through both. With that in mind, the Paramount will be putting a little black into their red this week as they continue their 33rd annual Summer Classic Film Series with two sets of amorous flicks, one pair with its sights on Park Avenue and the other buried six feet under. And remember, films are only $7, and if you go to the first film in the double feature, you get the second one for free!... [continue]

When CRAWFORD screened at SXSW, we were incredibly impressed with the level of intimacy Modigliani had with the townspeople, relationships with whom he had built and nurtured well in advance of the flood of media scrutiny. By doing so, he gave Editor and Austinite Matt Naylor, of super awesome 501 Post, a rich palette of original and archival footage that he could pare down, crystallizing each individual's experience over the course of the last two presidential terms, which would altogether tell the story of the boom and bust of W era Crawford. Luckily, we had the chance recently to talk with Naylor over the wonderful world of email about political stagecraft, tolerance of beliefs and the benefits of being a film editor. ... [continue]

When Head Coach Cliff Gustafson resigned in '96, he was the winningest coach in Division I history and we weren't sure what to expect from his replacement, until we found out that it was to be Cal State Fullerton ace Augie Garrido. Then we knew what to expect: Championships.... [continue]

Austinite Mike Judge, creator of that cultural zeitgeist and all-around-super-cool-guy, got his start on the art house circuit with traveling animation compilations and in turn has cultivated The Animation Show, a blitzkrieg of independent animation talent, the 4th annual edition of which will have its world premier tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse. Featuring a wide range of styles and narrative structures, including repeat appearances of some jail-bait bunnies, a Teletubby like crotch-cruncher and a couple of wacky, half-witted Australians, our eyes were glued to the screen for the full hour and a half.... [continue]

After taking a short pause in their bi-monthly schedule to allow everyone a full recovery from the nine day movie marathon that is SXSW, the Avant Cinema Series is back with a bullet. The series featuring short experimental, avant-garde films and videos by regional filmmakers, curated by Austin Film Society programming director extraordinaire Chale Nafus and local filmmaker Scott Stark, presents its second night of films-that-you-won't-see-in-theaters tonight, yes tonight. A Dazzling Trio highlights the works of three prominent Austin filmmakers: Samantha Krukowski, PJ Raval, Rick Reed.... [continue]

Basically, the consumption of food is an inescapable facet of life; there are those to whom the act gives not even the slightest pause, but for some people it consumes every moment of conscious thought, whether it be avoiding caloric intake or hoarding it. Members of the later group, three women to be exact, are the focus of the dark and whispery Malos Hábitos (Bad Habits), the feature film debut of Mexican director Simón Bross, which is screening tonight at the Alamo South Lamar as part of Cine Las Americas. ... [continue]

For some reason, we as a culture have spawned an entire generation of college aged people who have all of the opportunity in the world, but absolutely no direction or decision making skills. The four characters in Box Elder fall into familiar archetypal roles: the ladies man, the idiotic ape, the sweet hearted romantic and the wise sage (well, as wise and sage-like as an early-to-mid-20s dude can be), but none of them are particularly noteworthy or spectacular. Think of them as Animal House meets Clerks, with even slightly less ambition. At some point they realize that they cannot continue just coasting through life, but not before many sammiches and beers are consumed and many hilarious moments brought on by everyday situations have occurred. If you are a dude, or an appreciator of dudeism, then this film is for you.... [continue]

Tipping their hat to this immortal glory of fluorescent heartache that was the New Wave Scene, the Alamo Drafthouse debuts their newest concert/theater/dance explosion this Thursday evening, promising such running-in-place classics as Whip It, Rio, and, well, I Ran (So Far Away). If you have never been to an Alamo sing-along, then we can personally assure you that it will be just like heaven. ... [continue]

Beaufort, an Academy Award nominated narrative, follows the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Southern Lebanon, 18 years after the occupation began. As opposed to rooting out terrorists and massively destructive (and non-existent) weapons, the Israelis had come to Lebanon in 1982 to secure their purported birthright—the land of their forefathers, or, the Abraham side of the coin—and did so by bombing the hell out of Beirut and anything else they could hit, forcing their mortal enemies, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, to retreat. Granted, Lebanon was not necessarily the land of Abraham, but since the PLO was camped out and had attempted to assassinate the Israeli ambassador to the UK, we suppose Israel figured that whatever place Palestinians chose to inhabit was fair game for bloodshed. Clearly, we are oversimplifying this and depending on which side of the strip you stand on, the view may be very different. ... [continue]

Tonight, the Alamo Ritz will be holding a free screening of the award winning documentary For the Bible Tells Me So, a film that digs into the basis of this hate filled view and how five God fearing families reconcile their faith with the realization that one of their members is gay. Featuring the families of former House Majority leader Richard Gephardt and Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, we will be led through a conversation of healing, offering clarity and understanding to a topic that is seldom spoken about sans fire and brimstone.... [continue]