AltWeeklies Wire
American Dreamersnew
This ensemble piece set in a rural mobile-home park has a solid emotional center despite some dramatic mood swings.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
11-30-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Dreamland, Jason Matzner
Art and Politicsnew
Documentarian Freida Lee Mock presents her subject as a play in three acts, but the academic and fragmented structure obscures the warmth of this playwright.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
11-22-2006 |
Reviews
Road Trippingnew
Old Joy is an accurately observed moment between post-adolescence and parenthood, when friends cling or scatter, and circumstances force buried feelings to the fore.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
11-02-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Kelly Reichardt, Old Joy
A Postgrad State of Mindnew
Writer/director/actor Bujalski has been branded the “emo Cassavetes”: His movies have an astoundingly lifelike rhythm full of small moments that only add up to something bigger later on.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
10-27-2006 |
Reviews
Wigging Outnew
Don't fear the film's early reviews from Cannes, which too often slighted it for being fluffy (it isn't, though its heroine is) or ahistorical (it isn't, though it is contemporary).
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
10-20-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Marie Antoinette, Sofia Coppola
The Joy of Sexnew
John Cameron Mitchell's sophomore film effort asserts -- with great gusto and even a brass band -- our universal right to sexual happiness.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
10-12-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: John Cameron Mitchell, Shortbus
Never Too Young to Choose Sidesnew
This film is not a freak show or expose, but rather a call to arms to pick sides in the deepening cultural, political, and spiritual schism between the two Americas of the 21st century.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
10-06-2006 |
Reviews
Matrimonial Affairsnew
Even if it's not quite an affair to remember all year, this BBC Films mockumentary about three wacky weddings is pleasant and enjoyably diverting.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
09-22-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Confetti, Debbie Isitt
For Whom the Bong Tollsnew
Chong cuts a hugely sympathetic figure in the story of his legal troubles after Operation Pipe Dreams, an anti-paraphernalia sweep that specifically targeted his bong business.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
09-22-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: a/k/a Tommy Chong, Josh Gilbert
Landscapes of the Heartnew
The House of Sand is a quintessentially moderate art film: panoramic and symbolic, epic in scope, technically accomplished, and miraculously acted by the mother-daughter team of Fernandas Montenegro and Torres in showy dual roles.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
09-17-2006 |
Reviews
Familiar Playsnew
The Rock's moral football tale is a pleasant surprise: a swift, sure-footed, and gritty melodrama that plays to the strengths of its formula and elicits empathy for its kids.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
09-17-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Gridiron Gang, Phil Joanou
Tone Deafnew
Perhaps future generations of film scholars will embrace the film as a B-movie that problematizes the oppressive gaze, but for now, it's a misfire.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
09-01-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Jamie Babbit, The Quiet
Without Bordersnew
Don't confuse this Sundance charmer with My Big Fat Mexican Debut, for its farcical scenes of high hair and waltzes form a light-comic prism for watching race, age, class, and sexuality collide.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
08-28-2006 |
Reviews
Dance Lessonsnew
This snooty-dancer-meets-street-dancer musical romance is so painfully intent on teaching its characters life lessons every few minutes that it forgets to be trashy.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
08-13-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Anne Fletcher, Step Up
World Beatnew
This trip through musical Istanbul is a little prettier than it is deep, but it provides a window into the variegated subcultures of a city one musician calls "a bridge crossed by 72 nations."
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
08-13-2006 |
Reviews
