Every fall, Austin looks forward to ACL Fest, and each year, there's always a point where two of your favorite bands are playing on different sides of the park at the exact same time. ACL Band Clash is a weekly series in which Austinist scribes Paige Maguire and Tom Thornton examine the worst ACL scheduling clashes, and try to provide good advice on finding a resolution. Well, good advice might be a stretch, but... more ›

We all know which movie you're going to see this weekend, so let's just cut the chit-chat and get down to it. *Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby Hotly anticipated, highly hilarious, and rife with corporate logos, this flick is about as "All-American" as you can get without draping yourself in Old Glory, stuffing your face with apple pie, and using insider trade information to pad your personal bank account while denying health... more ›

And in the spirit of slackerdom, today we’re just recommending every new release that doesn’t star a Wilson brother. *Clerks 2 Austinist review As is the case with most sequels, we’re not really sure why this one is necessary. But Joel Siegel walked out of a screening, so that’s just as good of a reason to see it as any. *Lady in the Water Judging by the past, there’s a really good chance this... more ›

Okay, we must take a quick moment here to talk about Pirates of the Caribbean Part Deux, which we should have talked about sooner but didn’t because, well, quite frankly, we kinda forgot we’d seen it until two hours ago, when yet another preview came on TV and we said to ourselves, “Hey, didn’t that scene come after that other scene and hey, how do we know that? Oh right, we saw that movie... more ›

More summer blockbusters are coming your way, friends. Don't forget your eyepatch! *Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest It seems like forever ago that Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl took the world by storm. Depp was nominated for a friggin’ OSCAR, for Jeebus’ sake. We’re almost positive that won’t happen again, but we’re not ashamed to admit we’ll pay full admission price for this fluffy bit of high... more ›

To sum up today's releases: a few big stars, fewer hopes. more ›

It's pretty slim-pickins this week folks. Might we suggest getting out and enjoying some live music and one of our many swimming holes? more ›

We were tickled to read about the premiere of Robert Altman's latest, Prairie Home Companion, at Salon.com. The film premiered at SXSW, of course--Friday night, in fact. Salon's Andrew O'Hehir was on hand remarking on the heat and tank tops. Here's a snippet: From the stage of the Paramount, a gingerbread-laden movie palace (originally built in 1915 and remodeled in the '30s) that has been lovingly preserved, festival director Matt Dentler told us that... more ›

The complete list of films for the 13th Annual SXSW Film Fest has been released. As we told youd in January, the Fest will kick off with the world premiere of Robert Altman's "A Prairie Home Companion." Paul Weitz's "American Dreamz" will close the fest. And in between there will be 115 feautres, including 50 world premieres, and of course a bevy of wonderful shorts. The list of shorts will be released February 13th. more ›

Film and public radio fans rejoice; legendary Director Robert Altman (M*A*S*H, Nashville, Short Cuts) will open the SXSW Film Festival this March with the North American premiere of his new film “A Prairie Home Companion,” the feature-length adaptation of the wildly popular public radio presentation from original American voice Garrison Keillor. The premiere is a boon for the fest, which has establishied itself as one of the country’s premiere film festivals. The film, penned... more ›

Thursday night we took in the preview of Violet Crown Radio Players' lost and restored Lux Radio Theater adaptation of KING KONG, at the Hideout Theatre. First, a little full disclosure: we won a book during intermission called Mouth Sounds, authored by none other than Fred Newman! He's the guy who does all the cool sounds on Prairie Home Companion. Yes, we're excited. Yes, we're geeks. But do you know how to do a... more ›

Don’t freak out on Sunday morning, folks. You did not drink so much on Saturday night or stand too close to the speakers that you are now permanently deaf. And, no, the Bush administration did not ransack the public radio stations across the country in search of Communist hippies to hang from the gallows. KUT is making tower and transmitter upgrades this Sunday and, therefore, will have some dead air. From the KUT e-newsletter: more ›