David Berman, the head honcho behind the massively influential Silver Jews, made a turnaround these past couple of years that has both shocked and delighted his many loyal fans. While Berman became renowned through Silver Jews releases like The Natural Bridge and American Water, not to mention a turn at poetry with 1999’s Actual Air, he more recently experienced a religious rebirth and crawled out of his “hell-hole life,” as he described it, discovering an only hinted-at passion for Judaism as well as a renewed appreciation for everyday life....

Are you tired of the same old narrative structure in todays Hollywood and/or Independent Films? Thirsty for the more challenging side of cinema? We're happy to tell you that your welcome glass of avant-garde respite is about to be served up by the good folks over at the Austin Film Society. In keeping with the more artistic nature of our fair city, AFS boldly bounds into the world of the other with their new bimonthly Avant Cinema series, with the first installment Going Nowhere Slow scheduled for next Wednesday, January 30th at the Austin Studios Screening Room....

Here in Austin, we're all about the environment and stuff. Right? Damn right! So this year's AFF Green Cinema Showcase should go over especially well with all you envirothusiasts out there. This year's program will feature three films that explore topical environmental issues like global warming, industrial hemp production and renewable fuel sources. Oh hey--if you're interested in these films, you might also want to check out Gimme Green, a short documentary exploring America's obsession......

Arthur Seaton (a young, bright Albert Finney) reminds us of ourselves--a hard working man that refuses to let the daytime sweat on his brow dictate his ability to personify something more grand in the twilight hours. (Granted our job doesn't necessarily make us "sweat" in the conventional definition, and we are actually of the female persuasion, but that's all semantics really.) He cares not what toll his rabble rousing may bring upon those around him,......

Burma continues to adopt China's interpretation of "restraint" when it deals with protests. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf continues to be the bee's knees of Pakistan with the recent ruling from Pakistan's Supreme Court. Jena 6 Defendant Released on Bail. Holy crap! The FDA is understaffed and overwhelmed. Laura Hall's attorney asks to be replaced in order to appear as witness for the defense. If Gov. Rick Perry lives outside Austin city limits, are we......

One truly is the loneliest number. We prefer things in multiples: beers, potato chips, orgasms (was that taking it too far? Eh, fugetaboutit.) And we definitely enjoy the chance to experience two landmark films in one compact bundle. Tonight, the Austin Film Society presents not one, but two sensational films as part of their gritty Essential series Blokes 'n' Birds: British Realist Cinema (1958-1965). In the past several years, you may have noticed that a......

Tuesday night, the Austin Film Society presents Girl with Green Eyes, a tale of the naive-girl-in-the-big-city and the second offering in their Essential Cinema Series "Blokes 'n Birds: British Realist Cinema, 1958-1965." Rita Tushingham plays Kate, a quiet, wide-eyed rural Irish girl thrust into the hustle and bustle of metropolitan Dublin and into the bombastic presence of the worldly Baba, played by Lynn Redgrave. While Baba may have plenty of verve, she is brushed aside......

Tomorrow, as part of the new AFS Essential Cinema series "Blokes 'n Birds: British Realist Cinema, 1958-1965", Look Back in Anger will bring its critique of postwar British identity to Alamo South Lamar. Richard Burton stars as a disaffected, angry, undirected young man stuck in a flat and bullying his wife for an outlet--as clearly shown in the above still. (Too bad he didn't happen to live in America...the Beats had an excellent road-n-drugs cure......

ACL Previews Interview: Ghostland Observatory Previews: The Broken West, Big Sam’s Funky Nation & Rose Hill Drive Previews: Billy Joe Shaver and Fionn Regan Previews: Brandon Rhyder and Ocote Soul Sounds Interview: The Broken West Previews: Sylvia St. James, Jeffrey Steele, and Amy Cook Interview: Bloc Party ACL Fest Updates: Google Mashup, Contests, Eco-Chic Previews: Augustana, Amos Lee Interview: Peter, Bjorn, and John ACL Band Clash, Round 3: Wilco Vs My Morning Jacket Travis......

Just hours before venerable Hoboken indie rock institution Yo La Tengo descend upon The Parish on September 17th, they'll be all up in your Alamo as part of the Alamo's Cinema Under the Influence Series. In a dazzlingly cross-referency evening, Yo La Tengo will present Four Flies on Grey Velvet, the Dario Argento flick that most influenced them as a band. Also on the bill is Cockaboody, an animated film drawn by YLT drummer......

The New Pornographers Challengers (Matador) Once in a while, you walk into a bar, and you order a martini. You know what a martini is, you've drank dozens of martinis in your life. Maybe you have a martini recipe you make at home and particularly love. Maybe you're even the sort of person who can say smart things about the differences in various gins. But, on occasion, you order a martini, and it's not just......

Captivating, stereotype-busting material centered on the theme of disability often comes in the form of poignant documentaries (although the possibilities are endless in this genre, we recommend checking out Sound and Fury and 2003 Sundance favorite My Flesh and Blood). When it comes to feature films, it may take you a while to cite more than a few decent offerings that revolve around a character with a disability or a theme of disability. The......

Okay, as much as we love Beverly Hills Cop (and Family Guy), we've actually got a more important topic to cover here. The Austin Film Festival is continuing its popular Conversations in Film series this Sunday, August 5th, with a special session on Story and Structure: What to Think About Before You Write the Script. Leading this conversation is none other than Dan Petrie, Jr., who's worked on such top films as Turner and Hooch,......

I Know Who Killed Me: Oh LiLo, you are such a desperate mess. Shouldn’t the name of this movie be “I Know Who Killed My Career – Me!” There is a joke here somewhere about Lohan portraying a stripper, but we can’t quite put our finger on it…. No Reservations: Yes, Hollywood has absolutely no reservations about continuing to make trite, cliché rom-coms. This one is about two chefs and (GASP!) one of them......

Highlights from this week's IST List: Folk-pop crooner Page France brings the sparkling jingle-jangle of Page France and the Family Telephone to Emo's, alongside Bishop Allen, The Teeth, and Frank Smith Sidebar's turning three, and they're buying you a drink on the house to celebrate. Join them for Ruby's BBQ, DJ Supafly, and giveaways Alas, one of our favorite social butterflies is flying away to--where else?--New York City. Before he leaves, join Dave "KidIndie"......

As part of their summer Global Minds, Other Worlds: Global Sci-Fi Cinema series, the Austin Film Society presents Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978). In this masterful remake of the '50s original, director Philip Kaufman confirms once and for all that soulless pod people are, truly, a mass-anxiety filmic allegory for the ages. The first Body Snatchers (1956) saw alien seeds drifting to a small California town, quietly killing off its inhabitants and hatching......

Oh hey, have you heard? The Original Alamo Drafthouse is closing. Closing! Well, closing and, in a few weeks, re-opening mere blocks away, but whatevs: This is the END of a glorious era in Austin movie-going and communitas. Memo to all you bloggy, film nerdish, or just share-a-holic types: It's time to take to the Internets and divulge your fondest memories from the venerable old building at 409 Colorado. Did Harry Knowles' hair brush your......

Friday night's Glorium reunion show marks the final pinnacle of Emo's 15th anniversary celebration. Glorium are one of the vital pages in Austin's long musical history. The band originally formed in San Antonio in 1991 and immediately began to make a name for themselves by using avant-garde aesthetics with lessons learned from the hardcore punk scene. The result was an explosion of emotional and musical creativity; pushing the boundaries of lyrical imagery and human......

Whether you like Michael Moore or think he's an anti-American nutjob, the guy's coming out with a new movie. Sicko is a study of America's (failing) health care system. Moore talks to victims (like a man who had to choose which of his two severed fingers to reattach, because he couldn't afford both) and perpetrators (oft-repentant health insurance agents) of the U.S. health care system, then trots (okay, maybe plods) around the globe in search......

If the Italian name of the vampires-in-space sci-fi movie playing tonight at the Alamo Downtown (that would be "TERRORE NELLO SPAZIO") doesn't give you a thrill of glee, how about this line of the description? "...the crew soon discovers the crashed Argos—and learns that her crew died fighting each other!" No? You have a hard and boring heart, my friend. This film, part of the AFS' summer foreign scifi series, "Other Minds, Other Worlds: Global......

Calling all 2.0 auteurs: Have you been sleeping on the SXSWclick! Festival deadline? You best get your ten-minute video in the mail by Friday, June 15th--tomorrow--so you can get in the running to win a veritable cornucopia of glittering prizes, including tons of slick production software AND a MacPro Workstation with an Apple Cinema display from iThentic! Just make sure your masterpiece is ten minutes long or shorter, and enter it in one of five......

Slide, slide, slippity-slide, hittin' switches on the block in a '65... oh, sorry, wrong kind of voyage. Anyway, this Cosmic Voyage promises to be pretty much as rad as anything Coolio's ever done. Based on early space travel theorist Konstantin Eduardovitch Tsiolkovsky's novel Beyond the Earth, Cosmic Voyage (Kosmicheskiy reys: Fantasticheskaya novella) portrays humans in space 25 years before Yuri Gagarin's historical journey. It's presented as part of the Austin Film Society's Other Minds, Other......

If your first thought upon hearing of the new movie I'm Reed Fish is "Who's Reed Fish?" you're certainly not alone. Who is Reed Fish? Is that even a real name? How could his (her?) parents be so cruel/awesome? Why don't more people have animal last names (we want to meet a Mr. Platypus)? Shouldn't Reed Fish & Co. be the name of a hedge fund company? And are there real live "reed fish"? (Yes,......

As part of the "Last Month at the Original Alamo" festivities, Ain't It Cool News and Fantastic Fest have just announced a special sneak screening of Eli Roth's highly anticipated new horror film Hostel Part 2 this coming Sunday night. A longtime friend of the Alamo, Roth will be in attendance to introduce the film, and the AICN announcement suggests that there'll be some other fun surprises as well. Though we have no idea what......

We love a good cry, and we are expecting a Niagra Falls worthy Wednesday night, as Austin Film Festival brings us Away From Her, the directorial/screenwriting debut of Canadian powerhouse Sarah Polley. You may remember Polley from Dawn of the Dead, My Life Without Me and of course, the Road to Avonlea series. (Come on, we know you have the entire Anne of Green Gables spinoff on VHS right next to your NKOTB action figures.)......

Still not sure what to do for Mom for Mother's Day? No worries—there are plenty of filmtastic options. First, the Alamo Drafthouse is coming to your rescue with a Sabrina Mother’s Day Feast! The classic film starring Hepburn and Bogart (not the remake with Harrison Ford) is sure to be one of your mom’s faves, and even if it’s not, it will be soon—thanks to romantic tale and the delicious food set to accompany......

Qué tan lejos | How Much Further Regal Metropolitan #11, 7 PM Qué tan lejos narrates a journey of self-discovery, as two girls in their mid-twenties travel through the Ecuadorian mountains and coastline. Esperanza and Trizteza will not find postcard views or true love, but their journey will open them to a world beyond such illusions. Tania Hermida was born in Cuenca, Ecuador. From 1988 to 1991 she studied Film Direction at the San......

EL VIOLÍN | THE VIOLIN (Mexico) Paramount Theater, 7 PM "Pure and emotive cinema that shakes you with its honesty" – Guillermo del Toro Cine Las Americas is honored to present Francisco Vargas Quevedo’s award winning drama El Violin at the historic Paramount Theater in downtown Austin. El Violin won the Knight Grand Jury Prize for Ibero-American Cinema at the Miami International Film Festival in 2007, where it was called “a perfect film, perfectly......

This Sunday, March 18th, the Austin Film Festival and 'Specially for Children will present a free sneak screening of New Line Cinema's family sci-fi film, The Last Mimzy. The screening (which will take place at the Regal Arbor Cinema as part of the AFF's Target Family Film Series) will help raise funds for a film-themed infusion room for teenagers with cancer and blood disorders at the Children's Ambulatory Blood and Cancer Center. Based on the......

TUESDAY [30] books • Amy Wallen presents Moon Pies and Movie Stars at BookPeople (7:00pm) music • Dodo Bird, W-S Burn, Pink Nasty, The Easies at Emo's music • Stickman, Distant Seconds, The Late Fees at Beerland film • The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown film • The One-Man He-Man Show at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown film • AFS Essential Cinema Series: Vertical Ray of the Sun at Alamo Drafthouse South......