The Screening Room

Calling all local thespians: There's a casting call for a local production, Killing Holly, this Sunday afternoon. Keep reading for the specs, courtesy of the Dallas Film Commission.

I'm not a Grey's Anatomy fan, but I've gotten to like Katherine Heigl anyway. She has smarts, an Everygirl attractiveness and a goofy sense of humor that just might make her the Meg Ryan of the decade. I also like the fact that she hasn't found it necessary thus far to get nekkid on the screen, yet she doesn't exude a cloying good-girl aura, either.

That said, I wonder why she chose to do this movie? 27 Dresses (out on DVD today) doesn't give Ms. Heigl much to do from a comedy standpoint, except to (a) parade in a series of horrible bridemaid's frocks and (b) lead a booze-fueled, sing-along version of Bennie and the Jets in a bar.

A live broadcast from quirky public radio show This American Life will be onscreen on Thursday (May 1) at more than 300 movie theaters, including 11 locations in the D-FW area. My favorite thing from the press release? It'll feature two Wisconsin convicts who "gain local fame for almost escaping from prison using dental floss."

Click here to find a theater near you. For tickets to get your Ira Glass fix, go here.

Steven Soderbergh is set to make his second feature for Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment. The first, Bubble, painted a sufficiently creepy love triangle amongst workers at a doll factory. The new joint is called The Girlfriend Experience. Like Bubble, it will be released simultaneously in theaters, on DVD, and on HDNet. Read the Variety story here.

It's National Cubicle Day, a tounge-in-cheek celebration of your office space. In honor of the occasion, EW.com has put together quotes from Office Space. After all, everyone eventually wonders why it says paper jam when there is no paper jam.

What does winning the Audience Choice Award at Texas Frightmare Weekend get you these days? A nice little run at the five local Studio Movie Grills. Dallas filmmaker Anthony Brownrigg picked up a small distributor, Kurv Entertainment, for his dark comedy Red Victoria, and now he's looking to gauge further audience interest. The screenings run May 4-8, at the various SMGs, and, glory be, they're free. Get all the info at the official Website here.

VENICE, Italy (AP) -- "Burn After Reading," a dark spy-comedy by Oscar-winning directors Joel and Ethan Coen, will open this year's Venice Film Festival.

The movie, which stars George Clooney, John Malkovich, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton, will have its world premiere Aug. 27, festival organizers announced Monday.

"Burn After Reading" is the story of an ousted CIA official whose memoir falls into the hands of two gym employees.

The festival will run through Sept. 6, when the prestigious Golden Lion will be awarded. The official lineup will be announced in late July.

I approve.

Hellboy is one of the great unappreciated action/comic book movies of all time, and I think del Toro has the chops to pull this project off (although I'm still a little nervous about the so-called "Hobbit 2").

Two thumbs way down, though, for the rumored release dates of 2011 and 2012.

On the other hand, my 4-year-old son may be old enough at that point to watch the movies in the theater, which would be a great way for me to ensure that my nerd-dom will live on in future generations.

Also, I may have missed this elsewhere, but there's no word in the linked article about which actors from the Rings movie trilogy will reprise their roles in The Hobbit.

No Ian McKellen would be a very bad thing.

• Baby Mama (B)
• Deception (C)
• Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (C)
• The Life Before Her Eyes (C+)
• Priceless (B)
• Deal

Due to the shortage of classrooms, Richland College is unable to offer continuing education classes this summer, including Dallas screenwriter Harry Preston's Writing for Film and TV. However, Mr. Preston is planning to teach the class at his Garland home on Friday nights at 7:30. For details and directions, call 972-276-5427.

Dynamic duo
A pair of martial-arts masters helped push overall box-office grosses to the first up weekend in four weeks when compared with the same time period last year. The Forbidden Kingdom, the first pairing of Jet Li and Jackie Chan, pulled in $20.8 million to take the top spot, while the R-rated Forgetting Sarah Marshall also opened impressively at No. 2 with $17 million.

One of the biggest cheats of 2007, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, arrives on DVD today. Run, don't walk, away from this one, which is likely to gobble up prime display space at the video store. You may recall its big Christmas Day opening and its lavish ad campaign heralding the final showdown between two icons of sci-fi/horror flicks. If you didn't catch it then, you might think you missed something. You didn't.

On Wednesday, the Dallas Food and Wine Festival will present Gourmet Cinema at the Dallas Angelika Film Center, 5321 E. Mockingbird Lane. The event includes a special dinner menu prepared by chef Richard Chamberlain at 6:30 p.m. ($65 per person) and an 8 p.m. screening of the wine-centric film Sideways ($9 for just the movie). For additional information and to purchase tickets, go to www.dallaswinefest.com or call 214-741-6888.

For those of you who went to see "Shelter" at the Regent Highland Park Village over the weekend, and sat through hangups and skips and, for one audience, only half a movie, the theater now has a new copy of the movie.

So dig out that free pass, if you received one, and hit the beach.

Cinematographer William Fraker is best known for his work on Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby, and he'll be at the Angelika 7 p.m. Thursday to discuss the film after the USA Film Festival's screening. But he also has vivid memories of shooting Bullitt, the Steve McQueen film with one of the greatest chase scenes ever.

On your marks. Get set. Shoot. It's time for another 24-Hour Video Race, sponsored by the Video Association of Dallas. Peep the official press release below for all the details on how to spend a sleepless night making movies.

Opening today:

• Forgetting Sarah Marshall (B)
• 88 Minutes (D-)
• The Forbidden Kingdom (B-)
• My Blueberry Nights (C-)
• Young at Heart (B+)
• Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? (B-)
• Shelter (C+)
• Zombie Strippers (D)
• Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (F)
• Pathology

In My Blueberry Nights Dallas' Norah Jones plays Elizabeth, a heartbroken traveler with a taste for blueberry pie. Audiences might have a hard time figuring out what makes the character tick. At first, so did the star.

The Beast in Space is a cheesy Italian oddity from 1980 rescued by Severin Films and landing at video stores April 29.

It's built around the stunt casting of Sirpa Lane, a Finnish ingénue who gained notoriety five years before in Walerian Borowczyk's La bête (The Beast), in which she carried on ferociously with a half-man, half-animal. Roger Vadim, who knew his ingénues, called her "the next Bridget Bardot." Guess not. She headlined this strained semi-sequel, again the object of affection of a libidinous monster. This time the half-thing is the physical manifestation of Zocor, a supercomputer that rules the planet Lorigon, not the cholesterol-lowering drug.

The Beast in Space was the last of a number of Star Wars knock-offs by director Alfonso Brescia (anglicized as Al Bradley). They feature no-budget effects, heroines swathed in skintight jumpsuits and heroes with pressed hair and assertive sideburns. Beast adds several sex scenes filmed in a Howard Johnson orange haze.

The DVD extra is an interview with Venantino Venantini, who plays a roguish black marketer. He contributes little except the tidbit that he once starred on All My Children.

Here's some good movie stuff from the folks in Metro and Religion about Ben Stein and his film Expelled. Thanks guys.

Just got off the phone with the great William Fraker, cinematographer of classics such as Bullitt and Rosemary's Baby. He'll be in Dallas next Thursday when the USA Film Festival presents a 40th-anniversary screening of Rosemary. We'll have a feature on Fraker this Sunday at Guidelive.com.

One theme that emerged a few times during our conversation: the art of concealing rather than revealing. Rosemary's Baby is a classic example in that you never actually see the baby - yet it's still my favorite horror film. "He has his father's eyes." Gives me chills just thinking about it. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and take advantage of this rare big-screen opportunity.

Blood bath
Prom Night, the horror fest loosely based on the 1980 film by the same name, cashed in on the impending high-school formal season with $20.8 million and a victory at the box office. The scarier scene came from the overall box-office picture, however, as the industry suffered a fourth consecutive down weekend when compared with the same period last year.

Vampire fans, take heed: Filming is underway for the big screen adaptation of Stephanie Meyer's popular teen novel, Twilight. As of now, it's slated to open Dec. 12.

Vampires aren't supposed to see the light of day. But the sun keeps shining on the set of Twilight, an adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's popular teen vampire-mortal love story.

It may be classified as teen, as any horror reader knows, good vampire fiction is hard to come by. I'll admit I haven't read it yet, but it's about #6 on my Big Stack of Books to Read.

Here's one for the roundball junkies: Adam "MCA" Yauch has made a basketball documentary called Gunnin' For That #1 Spot. The films zooms in on 24 of the top high school players (now in college) as they hoop it up at Harlem's legendary Rucker Park in 2006. Featured ballers include UCLA's Kevin Love, Arizona's Jerryd Bayless and K-State's Michael Beasley. I'm optimistic; Spot will be released by the new Oscilloscope Pictures, a company started by my boy David Fenkel. Fenkel used to be at Think Films, and he knows from hoops. Spot will hit theaters this summer. Lace 'em up. And peep the press release below.

• Street Kings (B-)
• Smart People (B-)
• Prom Night
• Persepolis (A-)
• The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (B)
• Chaos Theory (C+)
• Flawless (C+)
• Chapter 27 (D)
• The Grand (D)

Trailers | Find all movies

If you missed the great animated film Persepolis and subtitles challenge your faculties, you're in luck. A dubbed version is rolling into theaters this weekend. I'm not sure if this sublime look at growing up in the Iran and Europe of the '70s and '80s would have made my Top Ten in a dubbed version - dubbed foreign films make my skin crawl - but hey, different strokes.

I wish I still had the minor health concerns of my teen years, but this sounds pretty cool: 140 teams of Tarrant County teens have put together videos targeting important health issues. Read below for the press release. And stay off the Big Macs.

Beware if you have a chimp in your movie: PETA is watching. In the last week I've received two E-blasts from the animal rights organization, one concerning the new documentary Circus Rosaire (just played at AFI-Dallas; check the earlier post here), the other condemning the upcoming adaptation of the anime TV icon Speed Racer (which I'm tempted to condemn just because of its live-action format, but I digress).

Keep reading for the full text of PETA's Speed lament.

In case you missed Alan Peppard's column this morning, he got into how the script is shaping up for the George W. Bush movie that Oliver Stone is working on. You can real all the details here.
When I talked to Josh Brolin at the AFI Dallas screening of Then She Found Me, I asked him how the movie was going so far, but he was pretty mum on all of it. Granted, he hadn't started filming his parts yet, but you can bet he already must be mulling how he will prortray one of the most visible men in the world. Here's betting he plays it pretty straight.

Ripped from yesterday's newscasts and available on DVD today, Lions for Lambs attempts to be a talker about the Iraq war but winds up a big snoozer instead. The star-studded cast (Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise and Robert Redford) tries to deliver the goods, all three looking as if they believe the preachy lines they spout, but in the end there are no goods to deliver. Just talk, talk and more talk. It's not so much a movie as it is a panel discussion, the kind one could catch on Fox News or CNN last year, before the elections and the economy claimed the spotlight.

You'll likely see this one given prime display among the new releases at the video stores, and with the three stars featured prominently on the DVD cover, it's tempting not to bite. After all, with Streep, Cruise and Redford, who did double duty as director, how bad can it be? Well, that depends on how bad you think boring is. If you could use a good night's sleep, this film could get you there. If you think a film should engage the viewer and deliver something resembling a plot, stay away.

Disney announced today that all of its animated movies beginning next year will be released in 3D. To accomplish that feat, Disney will partner with Fox, Universal and Paramount to update more than 10,000 theaters across the country in a project that will take three years. The takeaway here: 3D is here to stay.
But why is everyone all of the sudden jumping on the 3-D bandwagon? I mean, the technology has been around in one form or another for more than 50 years. The answer seems pretty simple: money (I'm sure you could have guessed that). Theaters can charge about $3 more per ticket on a 3D movie, but more importantly, 3D-movies draw more moviegoers and offer an experience that can't be replicated, even in souped-up home theaters.
The big winner here seems to be the exhibitors -- the studios are footing the bill for the conversion, so why wouldn't they say yes?

Check out Nancy Churnin's roundup of summer movies that might be of interest to kids and teens here. It ran as part of Guide's Parents' Guide to Summer (and, hey, while you're there you can check out listings for more than 200 camps and activities for the youngsters).

What summer movie are you most looking forward to?

Oh, Apple.com/trailers, what would we do without you?

Apple has an exclusive clip from the delighfully geektastic Iron Man, which opens May 2.

Watch "Run Before You Can Walk."

Awards season is done. Let's get on to summer movie season with its adventure and ear-shattering explosions.

Hit me again
Critics booed it, but audiences doubled down last weekend for 21, which remained atop the box-office charts with $15.3 million. The tale of Las Vegas card counters edged out two new releases: the family flick Nim's Island ($13.2 million) and the George Clooney football comedy Leatherheads ($12.7 million).

Did you catch Food Fight at AFI Dallas? It's a work in progress doc about the sustainable agriculture movement (or lack there of), and it caught the attention of our restaurant critic Bill Addison. He says over on the food blog that there's a lot to be learned from the film.

So on Saturday I moderated an AFI Dallas panel at the Nasher with the esoteric title "Listening to the Crowd: How Much Does the Audience Influence the Artist's Voice?"
My co-panelists were Michael Addis, who made the documentary Heckler; Jewel, who is featured in said documentary; and the great Dolph Lundgren, killer of Apollo Creed and the man behind the new film Missionary Man.

There were some interesting moments.

Did you miss any of our coverage from AFI Dallas International Film Festival? Want to catch up? Relive the glory? You'll find all of our coverage below, in one easy-to-access location. Click "Continue reading: AFI Dallas: Wrap up" to read the stories.

Blog: AFI Dallas on The Screening Room

Video: AFI Dallas opens with bright lights and a red carpet

Video: On the red carpet: Charlize Theron

Slideshow: Through The Lens Clearly: Icons and Images from the Harry Ransom Center

After working Saturday night's red carpet, the fourth one I've done in the last nine days or so, I was a little AFI'd out -- so much so that I was planning to skip the closing night party at the House of Blues. But that would have been a mistake. The Polyphonic Spree took the stage about 11:15, clad in their new all black military inspired uniforms and put on a show full of the band's usual joyous energy.
And this being a film festival party, the band included a nod or two to the cinematic landscape. First, frontman Tim DeLaughter said they were going to play a song from "one of the world's great bands" before launching into "About the Movies" from his previous act, Tripping Daisy. Then he announced they would play a song from another of the world's great bands, Wings, before ripping through "Live and Let Die."
But the highlight was during the encore, when the band returned to the stage clad in their original choir robes for a take on "Lithium." If Nirvana were the masters of the soft-loud-soft dynamic, the Spree proved the perfect successors with Mr. DeLaughter leading the crowd through the verses before being overtaken by the wall of sound from the 25 members onstage.
At other times during the show, the band froze in place, Mr. DeLaughter invited anyone with a camera to join him onstage and he offered a warm hug to really just anyone who felt like venturing up the steps toward him. It made for an energetic, communal and, most fitting, cinematic night.

The final red carpet for AFI Dallas on Saturday night at NorthPark featured plenty of famous faces, highlighted by the night's Star Award recipient, Charlize Theron. Though previously announced attendees Woody Harrelson and Andre Benjamin (a.k.a. Andre 3000) were no-shows, Ms. Theron was joined by her Battle in Seattle co-stars Michelle Rodriguez and Martin Henderson, Battle's director (and Ms. Theron's longtime significant other) Stuart Townsend, Jewel and Ron Livingston.
Battle in Seattle, which centers on the massive protest in 1999 of the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, has been making the festival circuit rounds since playing at last year's Toronto Interntational Film Festival. So I asked Charlize how AFI Dallas so far had compared with the reception they had gotten from previous stops. But before I asked the question, she was bombarded with a multiple male chorus of "WE LOVE YOU CHARLIZE!" from the upperdeck at NorthPark. She gamely blew a kiss upstairs and made a few guys' weeks.
"There's been a great energy in the audience, so we'll see how Dallas does tonight. But I have a feeling it's gonna be good. People are yelling they love me, so it can't be that bad, right?"

As promised, here are some more golden nuggets from the great Martin Scorsese. His latest, the Rolling Stones concert movie Shine a Light, opens today.

Looking for the promised blog post from Chris Vognar concerning some outtakes from his Martin Scorsese interview? Well....its on the way, but Chris er, um, sort of forgot. But he promises me he's bringing the goods this afternoon just as soon as he gets out of a screening of Where in the World is Osama bin Laden, Morgan Spurlock's latest doc. And you can bet that it'll be a good post. Until then, feel free to hum "Gimmie Shelter" as I have been doing after reading Chris' story in today's paper.

Not a lot of choices this weekend, so maybe its time to head out to AFI Dallas International Film Festival for its closing days.

But if you do head out to the multiplex or art house cinema this weekend, why not stop by here and tell us what you thought. The Ruins wasn't screened in advance for critics, so share your thoughts. Should fellow moviegoers head out? Or save their $8?

• Leatherheads (C)
• Shine a Light (B)
• Nim's Island (C)
• Snow Angels (B)
• The Ruins

The star of the AFI Dallas International Film Festival Wednesday night at the Magnolia was not an actor, or a filmmaker, or even a person. It was a chimpanzee named Rickey.

Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert says he will get back to writing reviews shortly after his upcoming film festival, to be held later in April.

But because his cancer surgeries have left him unable to speak, Mr. Ebert won't be returning to Ebert & Roeper, the syndicated TV show that made him a household name. Richard Roeper (who replaced the late Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune) has kept the show going by teaming with substitute critics, most recently with the Trib's Michael Phillips.

If Mr. Ebert had to retire from his TV gig, we were pulling for the Dallas Observer's Robert Wilonsky as his successor. After all, Big Bob did a great job filling in on the show for eight weeks over the past year.

But Mr. Phillips, being a Chicago guy and all, seems to have the inside track to replace Mr. Ebert permanently as co-host. BTW, he has a Dallas connection, too: He used to be the drama critic at the Times Herald.

Here's something wacky: a non-AFI blog item. I just got back from talking to one of my favorite actors, Chiwetel Ejiofor. He's exuded intelligence and range in Dirty Pretty Things, Talk to Me and American Gangster, among others, and now he's in David Mamet's upcoming Jiu-Jitsu film, Redbelt. The strongest impression from a 30-minute chat: This is a very international dude.

Public Enemy (minus Flava Flave) was in town yesterday to promote the documentary Public Enemy: Welcome to the Terrordome playing at AFI. And as long as they were here, they decided they may as well play a set, which is exactly what they did Tuesday night at the Ghostbar.
As someone who grew up during a time when Public Enemy was at its peak, it was a thrill to see Chuck D busting out those 20-year-old rhymes on stage with DJ Lord providing the backing tracks. The hourlong set covered most of the PE catalog, though some songs only got the snippet treatment. But the most refreshing thing to see was at the end, when Chuck plopped down on the edge of the stage to meet fans, pose for pictures and generally hang with his public. Nice to see the star of the show also play a gracious host.

Read about and see images from "Through The Lens Clearly: Icons and Images from the Harry Ransom Center," which is on exhibit through April 12 at the downtown Neiman Marcus.

Click here to catch up on more video and stories of AFI Dallas International Film Festival, which runs through Sunday.

Has it really been 20 years since Public Enemy was the most incendiary and relevant thing in pop music? Damn you, old age. But you can relive the glory days, kind of, with the documentary Public Enemy: Welcome to the Terrordome. It shows tonight at 7:15 at the Angelika, and Chuck D is slated for a red carpet walk earlier in the evening at North Park. Chuck will also rock Ghost Bar after the movie with PE's prime provocateur, Professor Griff, and DJ Lord. (Where's Terminator X at?).

As for the film, I wanted a little more. The interviews are candid enough, but I wanted to be picked and put back down in the late '80s/early '90s Fear of a Black Planet days. The live footage is mostly from the last few years, well after PE's heyday, and the editing is pretty pedestrian. Still, this is PE, and I'll be raising my fist tonight in the presence of the great Chuck. Too black. Too strong.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner
Despite sub-par reviews, the blackjack drama 21 proved to be a winning hand for Sony, taking in $24 million and the top spot at the box office. Meanwhile, Horton had a tough time hearing those Whos as more coins clinked into its coffers, bringing its three-week total to $118 million.