Articles about Movies
Local Newspaper Awkwardly Stretches For Dallas Angle on Oscar Nominations
I spent a number of years writing for community newspapers. I understand that sometimes you’ve got to try to shoehorn national stories into your coverage by dressing up a lede or writing a headline to suggest an AP-written story has more local significance than it really should. But look what DallasNews.com has done with this morning’s Oscar nominations:
By that headline, you might think that Dallas expat actor Owen Wilson were himself nominated for an Academy Award. Though I think his performance might have been worthy, he’s not. Midnight in Paris really only has that single, tenuous local connection.
So it’s a stretch. Which wouldn’t be so bad except that there’s another film on the list of Best Picture nominees that actually had segments filmed in downtown Dallas: Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. The Chapel of Thanksgiving and Reunion Tower can both be prominently seen in the movie.
Plus Art and Seek notes a local nominee in the Best Animated Short category.
But yes, I know, Owen Wilson has got more star power.
Primer Director Shane Carruth Films New Project in The Colony Aquatic Park
Way back in 2004, an engineer-turned-filmmaker from Richardson named Shane Carruth won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival with his head-scratcher of a $7,000 science fiction film, Primer. D Magazine explained how the project came to be.
Since then, not much has been heard of Carruth, though he apparently is still working on his next project. IMDB says he’s in preproduction on something called Upstream Color. This week, The Colony Courier-Leader reports, Carruth was visiting family in The Colony and Frisco, and decided to get a little work done on his film at the The Colony Aquatic Park. The crew consisted of just Carruth, his producer, and a “well-known actress” from the Dallas area whose name the newspaper was asked to withhold from the article:
Attired in a one-piece, modest, black swimsuit, she worked tirelessly diving to the bottom of the pool, performing an action that may have been pretending to pick up things. She and the director did this over and over.
All of this went on for several hours after the pool closed. The Colony Aquatic Park Manager Elise Knox stood by to make sure the trio had everything they needed. Lifeguard Josh Naph also was on hand, just in case.
Knox said she thought at first Carruth was doing a film project for school, but was delighted to discover she had seen his first film, “Primer.”
She charged them the same rate a small group renting the pool for a party would be charged. She also showed the director other locations he could use. She said he would consider The Colony for other projects.
“It took two hours and we got about 10 seconds of film we’ll use,” Carruth said as he dried off.
Things to Do in Dallas This Weekend: January 6-8
Let’s get right to it:
Friday
I’ll start by noting that if you still want to go to the game out in Arlington that’s not really the Cotton Bowl, there are tickets available online. And if you’re a fan of Anderson Cooper’s favorite “comedian,” she’s in town too.
Those who prefer a higher brow evening should hit the First Friday at the Modern in Fort Worth. I know, I know, it’s such a long drive to get to Cowtown, but where else are you going to be able to enjoy cocktails, dinner, jazz by the group Outer Circles, a docent-led tour of the museum galleries, plus a movie about the Shakespeare of Germany, Young Goethe in Love? Yep, nowhere else.
FrontRow Live’s Lineup Expands as Violinist, Buskers Join Nov 3 Mayhem
I hope you’ve already secured your FREE tickets to FrontRow Live, which will take place at the Dallas Contemporary on November 3, from 8 p.m. until midnight. If you haven’t, you can get them right here. If your response to that sentence was, “what the what?” then allow me:
FrontRow Live is something we’re calling the “one night high brow, low brow blowout,” and all that means is that we have created an event at the Dallas Contemporary that will bring together an eclectic mix of all sorts of cultural exploits.
Like what? Jump
Casting Film Adaptation of 2011 World Series
Pinch hitter extraordinaire Allen Craig bears a striking resemblance to Luke Wilson. And Cardinals third base coach Jose Oquendo reminds me of Luis Guzmán.
You guys fill in the rest of the cast.
DJs, Dancing, Live Theater, Art, Movies, Food, and More: FrontRow Live Kicks Off on November 3
Do you like great music? Great art? Short films? Live theater? Break dancing? Live screen printing? Tattoos? Great food? Wait. Free beer? Everyone likes free beer, right?
Well then, you won’t want to miss what is sure to be one of the most exciting, entertaining, and unique events to hit Dallas this year: FrontRow Live at the Dallas Contempoary on November 3 from 8 p.m. to midnight, brought to you by Chevy.
Headlined by Grammy Award-winning producers and DJ duo Play-N-Skillz, the event we’re calling the “one night high-brow, low-brow blowout” will feature three DJs, a live theater performance to kick off the evening, screen-printing by The Public Trust’s Brian Gibb, a pop-up screening room featuring short films, a pop-up coffee shop provided by The Pearl Cup, food trucks, free beer provided by Michelob Ultra, and more. And here’s the best part: it is all FREE!
You want details? You want free tickets right now? Then get over to our FrontRow Live page.
Bacon Nixed Role in Footloose Remake
Actor Kevin Bacon says he was asked to appear in director Craig Brewer’s soon-to-be-released 
remake of Footloose–the 1984 film that made Bacon a star–but turned down the offer because he wasn’t impressed by the role. Speaking in Dallas to a packed house last night for the Nasher Sculpture Center’s NasherSALON series, the Golden Globe winner said of the redo, “They wrote a part for me, and it just wasn’t that good a part. I honestly felt for me to be in the movie would be doing the movie a disservice. … But, I wish them the best. The only downside [for me] is, you wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and say, ‘Eww, they’re remaking your movies!’ ” The 53-year-old actor (pictured in photo by Jeanne Prejean) said a remake of his 1990 Flatliners flick is also in the works.
Larry McMurtry Has A Bone to Pick with John Ford
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Larry McMurtry is currently working on five movie scripts, ![Larry McMurtry IMG_6027[11]](http://c0415030.cdn2.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Larry-McMurtry-IMG_602711-210x300.jpg "Larry McMurtry IMG_6027[11]")
including the film adaptation of S.C. Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon about the legendary half-white/half-Comanche chief Quanah Parker. So when McMurtry (shown in photo by Randy Hunter) made a rare appearance in Snyder, Texas, Labor Day weekend to take part in the first-ever John Wayne Film Fest, you knew he would speak with authority introducing The Searchers, director John Ford’s classic western. The 1956 flick, which starred Wayne, Natalie Wood and Jeffrey Hunter, was said to have been based on the kidnaping of Parker’s then-9-year-old mother by Comanches in the 1830s–in what’s now the state of Texas, not Monument Valley in Utah and Arizona, as depicted in Ford’s masterpiece.
Dallas Legend L.M. Kit Carson Joins Bill for Thursday’s Paris, Texas Screening at the Kessler Theater
This Thursday FrontRow will close out its latest film series, “Dallas, Outlaws, and the American Dream,” with a screening of Wim Wenders Paris, Texas, a movie that was written by Dallas’ L.M. Kit Carson and stars his son, Hunter Carson. We have just confirmed that both Hunter and Kit will join us for the screening on Thursday, and we’ll chat with the pair in a post-film Q&A.
But that’s not all, as with all of our Kessler Theater screenings this summer, the night will be opened with a performance by Barry Kooda. Then, before the feature, we’ll screen the short film “For Rent” by local director Madison Liane and staring none other than Paris, Texas star Hunter Carson.
Doors open at 6 p.m. You won’t want to miss this. Here’s all the info you need.
More Tickets To This Sunday’s Closing Celebration for Martin Creed at the Nasher
Yesterday’s we gave away a few passes to the Nasher Sculpture Center’s celebration for the closing of the Martin Creed exhibition, and they went fast. If you missed out, here’s a second chance: we have EIGHT pairs to giveaway over on FrontRow, so head over there an find out how to win.
And while you over on FrontRow, check out some of today’s highlights, which include an article on singer Johnny Mathis; five questions with charismatic heavy metal bass player/Boiler Room owner Stevie Benton of Drowning Pool; an interview with artist/filmmaker Miranda July, whose The Future opens tomorrow (check back tomorrow morning for reviews of all of this week’s movie releases); a recap of last night’s appearance by Ken Burns sponsored by the Dallas Bar Association, where the filmmaker talked about his new documentary on prohibition; and another giveaway, tickets for Johnny Mathis at the Meyerson.
Local Editor Gives Opinions About Movies on Television
Our own Peter Simek from FrontRow fame was on Good Morning Texas this morning, running down his picks for the worst movies of the summer. Be amazed:
Come in Costume to Bottle Rocket Tomorrow and Win Tickets to Paris, Texas
We hope you are planning on joining us this Thursday at the Kessler Theater for our screening of Wes Anderson and the Wilson brothers’ debut, Bottle Rocket, the latest in our “Dallas, Outlaws, and the American Dream” film series. And if watching a great movie with a live audience on a big screen — not to mention an opening performance by Texas singer-songwriters Kevin Deal and Miles Penhall in the Kessler’s bar — wasn’t enough, we’re now adding an extra twist to the evening. Show up tomorrow night in a costume inspired by Bottle Rocket and win free tickets to our screening of Paris, Texas, which will close this summer’s series in August.
And speaking of Paris, Texas, we’ve added to that bill. Dallas’ own Hunter Carson, who stars in Wim Wenders’ 1984 Palme d’Or-winning masterpiece, will join us on August 25th. We’ll screen the new short film, “For Rent,” which stars Hunter, before the feature, and then Hunter will join us on stage for a post-film Q&A. You won’t want to miss it.
Where You Should Be This Thursday: Watching Bottle Rocket at the Kessler Theater
This Thursday evening we’ll continue FrontRow’s latest film series, entitled “Dallas, Outlaws, and the American Dream,” with a screening of Wes Anderson’s debut film, Bottle Rocket. Doors open at 6 p.m. and before the screening, there will be live music from Kevin Deal and Miles Penhall.
Now, assuming you have all seen the comic masterpiece commonly referred to as “the best movie ever made in Dallas” (because if you haven’t, you need to be there Thursday), ask yourself:
When was the last time I saw Bottle Rocket on a big screen?
When was the last time I saw Bottle Rocket with a live audience?
When was the last time I hung out at a restored movie theater/music venue, caught performances by a pair of Texas singer-songwriters, and then watched one of the funniest movies ever made, which just happens to star Dallas’ own boy wonders, Owen and Luke Wilson, not to mention the great Bob Musgrave and James Caan?
Never? Been a while? Right. See you Thursday.
Larry McMurtry Rips The Last Picture Show
It was the book that thrust Larry McMurtry, the dean of Texas literature, into the American mainstream. And it was the movie that, in 1971, garnered eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. And now McMurtry says it was a “spiteful” book that took just three weeks to write and was intended to “lance some of the poisons of small-town life,” and that Cybill Shepherd, the young (in 1971) chest-bearing star of the film, “couldn’t act a lick.” He did note, however, that she was “real pretty.” More, including video of McMurtry talking before a recent screening of the film in Archer City, here.
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