Austin is a good town

I went to the Austin Film Festival with my film Blood Car and saw some movies and i'll tell you what I think of them and my trip and the town without ruining the movies or going on and on:

First the movies

Chicago 10: I hate this movie. If I was 17 I would say "Hell Yeah" and hold my fist in the air and protest and be politically charged. But I wasn't feeling like a kid at this screening and the filmmaking in this "docu-drama" is really appalling. (I think docu-drama is what you call someone lying to you in documentary form) basically the sound is punched up for dramatic effect and serious liberties are taken with the performance of the court transcripts. But the film parades as a Doc because of the subject matter and archival footage (tons stolen from a movie with real balls- Medium Cool)the music choices are very MTV with even Eminem and they are really loud-so loud I was unable to hear dialogue. I was angry after the screening and felt the film was manipulative when it had all the material to be Hearts and Minds. I'm for the cause, just not this film.

Juno Great film. At first I thought, awww another Rushmore rip off. The editing is quirky the main character is too smart to be in high school and so on. But its not that at all. the first scene just gives you a feeling that the film is going the wrong way, it has Rainn Wilson (that weird guy from the American Office) in it as a cashier and he shouldn't be in the film. It is a great film. It is so god that Jennifer Garner made me shed a tear. Really funny and sweet and great characters. Better than Thank You For Smoking which is the director's previous work. I think the film will do very well with a wide audience.

Control i didn't know anything about Joy Division (nor have I seen 24 Hour Party People) and I LOVED this movie. It is really hard to believe that its the first feature from a music video director because it is not style over substance. Just see it. I'm probably in the minority on people who aren't into Joy Division liking it but I think its great. And so wonderfully shot (except for the 360 dolly shot, why is that in every director's first feature?)

The Living Wake It's the most original comedy I have ever seen. Seriously. These guys jump head first into such an absurd world and character and really pull it off. it runs a little long at 90 minutes but it doesn't matter because when the lead in this film is on, he's on fire. I don't know when you're gonna get a chance to see this, but if you do, watch it. Its another movie made with Original Media. They did The Squid and the Whale, Half Nelson and the horrible reality show I worked on Miami Ink. They're great people and they make great films, keep it up.

Yeti in the City you'll never get to see this movie. fucking crazy is all I can say. If you get your hands on it, take drugs and then maybe it will pull it all together. This film has really amazing moments, like a Yeti break dancing and cops with dog heads (like mcgruff), talking flies, French monkeys, random animated sequences (yes the previous things were not animated) and a ton of reflexive elements and the filmmakers purposefully muck up the plot and story just to....well I don't know why but its really experimental and i'd even watch it again just to see someone else's reaction. And to take the drugs.


Gimme Green this is a short about lawns. It is awesome. Check out its site HERE the movie played everywhere on the festival circuit and rightly should. It is wonderful. Really funny and addresses what no one thinks is a serious problem. Grass. its about more than that but basically grass. You can see it on the Sundance Channel real soon, check the gimme green site for times. I saw some other short docs but forgot them after I saw this.

I also missed a few movies. 2 of them I will see this week and post about, STREET TEAM MASSACRE and BEYOND THE PALE. I missed LARS AND THE REAL GIRL and I heard it sucks shit from everyone who I listen to. RANDY AND THE MOB was there but I'd rather chew glass than watch that turd again. I had to leave before THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY and I wanna see that. I saw Born on the 4th of July and saw Oliver Stone talk after. I don't really like Born on the 4th of July. I can just watch BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES which is infinitely better. I just don't like the acting or editing or script or choices in music, so I pretty much just don't like it. Oh, I don't like the sound design either. Honestly, i laughed at the acting in the family breakdown scene. But I saw an Oliver Stone Q&A and I even got him fired up with a question about satire. And he and John Milius talked about war films for 90 minutes at another thing. That was cool. I also saw a ton of other great panels that i'll put in my blog.

All in all, Austin is a great town with what looks like 3 great film festivals. I hung out with folks from the Ann Arbor Film Festival (that needs your help, click here to learn more) the guys at Bside and bunches of random filmmakers and folks.