Cinematographer Tat Radcliffe’s gray Turin sets the monotone of The Double Hour, while director Giuseppe Capotondi softens promising material to mush for the refined digestion of sophisto audiences. Guido (Filippo Timi, Vincere’s Mussolini), a retired policeman turned security guard, is a habitué of speed-dating events, where he meets Sonia (Ksenia…
Since most of your favorite shows have already aired season finales, you’ll probably be spending your weeknights going through your Netflix queue, but why sit at home when you can enjoy free screenings of films in the Arts District? AT&T Performing Arts Center and Dallas Film Society are kicking off…
A short film by two Texans that’s played on the festival circuit from San Francisco to Sarasota, including South by Southwest and Dallas International Film Festival, is a finalist for Oscar’s little brother, the Student Academy Awards. Fatakra (Firecracker in Gujarati), the brainchild of writer/director Soham Mehta and producer Ninaad…
Nancy Kwan was hot. She’s in her 70s now and still very beautiful, but when she started her film career at 20 years old, playing a prostitute in The World Of Suzy Wong, her hotness positively sizzled off the screen. Same thing in her next movie, the Flower Drum Song,…
One of my favorite things about seeing a film on its first weekend of release is the trailers that play before it. I normally try my best to avoid trailers at all cost because I hate seeing too much — I want the full surprise. When I see a film…
(PPT won the theme song contest for the 2006 Playoffs, and it’s still awesome.) More Mavs talk on the Mixmaster? Yes, but we’re not here to talk about statistics or match-up breakdowns or any of that mumbo-jumbo. We’re here to take a look at some of the finest Dallas Mavericks…
If you grew up dreaming of partnering up with The Duke for shootouts in the Old West or battles in Japan, you’ll probably want to rethink what you’re going to do with your 401(k) fund. After John Wayne passed away in 1979, his family donated much of his film memorabilia…
A nebbishy screenwriter who longs to publish a novel, Gil (Owen Wilson) is tentatively working on a book set in a nostalgia shop—much to the open frustration of Inez (Rachel McAdams), his all-too-modern rich-girl fiancée, who has a tendency to talk about him in catty, judgey tones as if he’s…
Playing an emotionally asphyxiated illustrator whose cancer-stricken dad comes out of the closet at age 75, Ewan McGregor looks positively yummy in Beginners, a gay-is-OK dramedy from the distributor that brought us The Kids Are All Right. In fact, this semi-autobiographical movie by SoCal skater-boy-turned-graphic-designer-and-filmmaker Mike Mills has no shortage…
Sure everyone wants to make movies but it takes more than a YouTube account and a dad with connections to the cyber police. Enter the Dallas Film Society. It’s offering a Summer Film Camp for kids 14 to 18 that will show them the ropes of filmmaking. Students will learn…
Back in December, the stunningly gorgeous trailer for Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life arrived and blew some minds. Somewhere in between the montage of space, rivers and birth was a brief shot stained-glass ceiling of the Chapel of Thanksgiving in Dallas. It got Unfair Park editor Robert Wilonsky wondering:…
We’ve got a government- and corporate-sanctioned holiday today, so we’re taking it. Except we’d have a serious guilt complex if we didn’t give you something entertaining and um, questionably educational for the end of the day. And obviously it should involve cats. So, enjoy…
Since Silkwood was the first major motion production filmed at The Studios at Las Colinas, the Muller Film and Television Education Foundation is hosting a mixer and special screening tonight. And by mixer they mean the 1983 drama will be playing in the background while you sip a drink, nibble…
Kung Fu Panda 2 opened yesterday, just in time for the big box office Memorial Day weekend. The sequel to the charming martial arts cartoon will no doubt do massive ticket sales, but it won’t be the first time an Asianploitation picture cleans up at the movies. Asian culture has…
There is a large spot in my soft heart reserved for the X-Men. Growing up, my Saturday mornings weren’t spent playing in the dirt and being a stereotypical boy, but glued to the TV watching the X-Men cartoon. I collected all the action figures and my favorite was Gambit. You…
This latest blast of unwavering miserablism from Denis Villeneuve, Oscar-nominated and everything, reaches for something deeper than mere stroppy melodrama. Adapted from a 2003 play by Wajdi Mouawad, Incendies (“scorched”) obliquely chronicles the adult life of Nawal Marwan (Lubna Azabal), an Arab woman living in Canada whose sudden death sends…
Famed martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-ping (The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) melds his trademark wire-work with gonzo CGI fantasy in directing True Legend, a dizzying action-packed tale of familial treachery, sacrifice and loyalty. In countless over-the-top set pieces, Yuen delivers striking combat clarity without sacrificing the visceral editing and…
Most sequels are born of good box office rather than good ideas, but it’s hard to imagine a more calculating, creatively bankrupt piece of real estate than The Hangover Part II. Trade out Las Vegas for Bangkok, a tiger for a monkey, a lactating hooker for a trannie stripper, a…
L’amour fou opens with unbroken footage from designer Yves Saint-Laurent’s 2002 speech announcing his retirement from fashion, after 40-plus years at the helm of the massively important label bearing his name. It’s a stunning performance, flowing from naked confessional (“I have known the false friends of tranquilizers…and emerged dazzled but…
One of the best things about going to film festivals is taking a chance on a movie you know almost nothing about and coming out hours later inspired, broken, or slack-jawed; it’s the indie gems that make the exhaustion well worth your time. Yes, attending the premieres of the big…
In a confluence of events that involved meat helmets, gorilla suits and balls, Dallas Observer’s Mixmaster (hey, that’s us!) made an entry into the 24 Video Race last week. The race, as the name indicates, messed with our circadian rhythm enough to construct a film around not going to the…
A week ago today, Oliver Peck and the gang at Elm St. Tattoo were all in the middle of this year’s Friday the 13th tattoo marathon. Surely by now, Oliver and friends are fully recovered from their 24 hour non-stop inking crusade, and those on the sharp end of the…
