AltWeeklies Wire
Hunting for Imaginationnew
The animated Open Season is long on manic energy and bathroom humor, but short on real storytelling, emotion, or characters.
Austin Chronicle |
Josh Rosenblatt |
09-28-2006 |
Reviews
Fancy Footworknew
Jet Li's final martial-arts epic is fittingly peripatetic, finding the Hong Kong superstar ricocheting across the screen from action set-piece to emotional overload and back again.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
09-28-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Ronny Yu, Jet Li's Fearless
Groundednew
This story of the Lafayette Escadrille squadron, who become the first U.S. fighter pilots, is surprisingly inert.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
09-28-2006 |
Reviews
A Long Night's Journeynew
William H. Macy stars in this film penned by David Mamet about one man's long night's journey of the soul.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
09-28-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Stuart Gordon, Edmond
Reports From the Frontnew
As raw and disturbing as it is wry and satirical, this film gives voice to U.S. National Guard soldiers in Iraq.
Austin Chronicle |
Toddy Burton |
09-22-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Deborah Scranton, The War Tapes
Creepy Weepienew
This oddly dispassionate film about a young man dying of cancer is the French antidote to those Hollywood weepies in which the heroine courageously faces her own mortality with every hair in place.
Austin Chronicle |
Steve Davis |
09-22-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: François Ozon, Time to Leave
The Unkindest Cutsnew
Everyone complains about the perceived shortcomings of the MPAA, but nobody did anything -- that is, until activist documentarian Kirby Dick.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
09-22-2006 |
Reviews
Dream Loversnew
Michel Gondry's film is messy, confusing, painful, and ultimately utterly rewarding, thanks in no small measure to the unfettered talents of Gael García Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
09-22-2006 |
Reviews
Socially Trangsressive Living Artnew
Strange as it may be to say, Jackass: Number Two is just the kind of vicarious excitement for which the movies were invented.
Austin Chronicle |
Josh Rosenblatt |
09-22-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Jackass: Number Two, Jeff Tremaine
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
The Emperor Has No Clothesnew
It's astonishing how bad this movie is despite an A-list cast and director.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
09-22-2006 |
Reviews
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
Gonzo Gearheadnew
Ron Mann's Tales of the Rat Fink is an ebullient survey of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's life that revs along with the zest a souped-up hot rod.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
09-17-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Ron Mann, Tales of the Rat Fink
An Anti-Love Storynew
Jan Svankmajer's creepy-crawl slowly becomes one of the most mordantly beautiful of the director's films, an asylum-set anti-love story with mobile body parts and splashy theatrics.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
09-17-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Jan Svankmajer, Lunacy
Lovers Quarrelnew
You could say Paul Haggis' script for The Last Kiss is something of a Garden State redux, but Zach Braff's character here is less fanciful, less melodramatic, and far more prone to doing the thoughtless things men tend to do.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
09-17-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: The Last Kiss, Tony Goldwyn
