The Other Austin Film Festival: Building Community Through Film
A curious girl undone by a simple straw, a maid with chess chops, a 93-year-old sex columnist who’s direct, funny and uncannily insightful. Just a few of the characters moviegoers met at this year’s Indie...
The Answer Isn’t Blowing in “Wind River”
"Wind River" is the directorial debut of Taylor Sheridan, the writer behind "Sicario" and "Hell or High Water," two films I find nearly perfect. For a first go in the captain's seat, perhaps it was wise...
The Makings of a “Lady Macbeth”
"Lady Macbeth" doesn't take place in Scotland, but an un-romanticized Victorian England, in which charming orphans and blushing debutantes are nowhere to be found. Nor does it star a ruthless, calculating Queen, but the young Katherine (Florence...
Just Like A ‘Wonder Woman’
In her fantastic 2003 film, "Monster," Patty Jenkins undertook the herculean—or should I say Amazonian—task of humanizing a serial killer, and somehow pulled it off. Her task with "Wonder Woman" is just as complicated, maybe...
“It Comes at Night” Is Horror Done Right
It may be true that there is nothing to fear but fear itself, but as "It Comes at Night" proves, fear itself is nothing to sneer at. In small doses, fear might produce involuntary spasms or mild...
‘Alien: Covenant’ Is Refreshingly Thoughtful Sci-Fi
If you think about it, space is the ultimate haunted house. It's dark, quiet—too quiet, some might say— and isolated. Things are likely to go bump in the night, because it is always night. No matter...
Tune In To ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2’
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" feels like it could be the B-side to the first film. It's a little bit weirder, a little less commercial (Baby Groot aside) and a little less catchy. The...
Award Winning Documentary To Debut In Houston
Maria Sotolongo got her start in TV in Houston as an entertainment reporter and then moved to Dallas where she worked as a meteorologist for FOX News, but Breathe: The Home Birth Documentary is her...
Playing with ‘Free Fire’
It's a simple weapons deal. The meeting place is an abandoned warehouse. One party has the guns, and the other, the money. They are to change hands and--whoops, there's the kicker: the hands. The hands are attached...