Father Geek here, after the 1st full day of SXSW I've seen 4 wildly different, but excellent examples of the motion picture arts.
First was the outlandishly over the top send up of the "Evil Dead," "Wrong Turn," "Hills have Eyes" type horror genre... THE CABIN IN THE WOODS, a must see "as virgin as possible" film.
Next was the beautiful & emotional pseudo doco... TRASH DANCE with its great score by Graham Reynolds, once again as with ALL of these don't read about it just go experience it.
Third was a delightful Scifi/Mystery/Romantic Comedy concerning (sort of) Time Travel that simply defies genre-fication(?)... SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED.
Fourth, but far from least was Billy Friedkin's incredible "sooo dark its jet black" adult trailer trash crime comedy... KILLER JOE. Annnd what followed that could possibly be the best Q & A olde Father Geek has EVER witnessed. Stars Matthew McConaughey, Gina Gershon, Emile Hirsch, writer Tracey Letts, the great cinematographer of THE RIGHT STUFF Caleb Deschanel and my son Harry all gathered on the grand stage of Austin's Paramount Theatre, annnd were joined by live long distance phone from Vienna for a 1 1/2 hour informative, frank, & witty interaction with the 1000+ member audience. Real once in a lifetime stuff!!!
Saw four feature films today, my second day at SXSW, enjoy'n them all on a variety of levels.
Started off with DECODING DEEPAK, a doco-esque detailed look at the iconic Deepak Chupra, my least fave of today's flicks.
Next up was my favorite of the day's motion pictures Willem Dafoe & Sam Neil's beautifully shot Tasmanian wilderness mystery/adventure, the character driven THE HUNTER, a perfect double bill for "The Grey."
Third on today's lineup was the 2 1/2 hour long doco that looks deep into the life, music, & career of MARLEY, whose son "Ziggy" was just one of the famous family members, along with some former "Wailers" to grace the 100 year old Paramount Theatre's stage before & after the film.
Then 4th, the ACTION-PACKED cops vs drug lord, blood & sweat drenched, hand-to-hand combat opus that is this Indonesian masterwork of the genre, THE RAID: REDEMPTION. Simply kicks ass all over the place!
Then just tonight I experienced the feature length comedy/action reinvention of the popular TV undercover cop series 21 JUMP STREET. Tonight in the jam packed 1200 seat former vaudeville & silent film palace, The Paramount Theatre. This cops vs. drug dealers flick is the exact polar opposite of last night's rip snort'n actioner, The Raid: Redemption. This is total over the top, pull no punches comedy, annnd if that's what you're look'n for it satisfies totally. As is the usual for this venue's SXSW movies there was a delightful Q & A afterwards feature'n the director, writer, annnd stars Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, & Dave Franco... and to allow the motion picture's twists, turns, & jokes to give you their FULL effect stop read'n NOW !!!
