The Screening Room

Have you been itching to catch 1982's First Blood on the big screen? Me neither. But that's not going to stop 430 theaters nationwide from showing the original Rambo at 7:30 Thursday night in a digitally remastered print. The screening will be followed by an onscreen interview with Sylvester Stallone as well as an alternate ending. For a list of theaters, go to http://www.fathomevents.com/.

The clock is ticking on registration for the Video Association of Dallas' 24-Hour Video Race. But there's still time. Register in person from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at Magnolia Lounge in Fair Park, or online at www.24hourvideoracedallas.com. If you do it in person you can watch the winning videos from past races. Registration fees start at $50. The race itself is next Friday night. For more information call 214-428-8700.

Dallas author Harry Preston has been known to offer his screenwriting courses through Richland College's continuing education department. But this summer the college seems to have run out of classroom space. Yeah, things are tough all over. If you still want to take his course this summer, give the man a shout at 972-276-5427.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

If you were planning your spring schedule around the USA Film Festival - hey, it's possible - please take note: the dates have been changed from April 24-May 1 to April 21-27. Maybe they decided they wanted to be closer to AFI-Dallas (which runs March 27-April 6), or at least steal some thunder with an announcment. Maybe they just wanted to avoid any conflict with potential May Day celebrations. In any case, them's the new dates.

Right now, in a room across the hall from where I'm sitting right now, Mark Cuban is moderating a discussion with Michael Eisner. So why am I sitting in here instead of over there? Because the room is at capacity, and about 30 people are waiting in a line outside the door in attempt to get in as people leave.
I've been to many a panel here at SXSW, and the procedure has always been just show up and walk in. This one's the first one that I've ever seen closed off to more viewers.
So I'm sorry, dear readers, to be failing you today. But the good news is that the festival will release video and audio of all the panels on its Web site in the near future. Maybe me and the rest of the poor souls who didn't get in will get together for a watching party.

If Carrolton's John Gordon III isn't the youngest filmmaker at South by Southwest this year, he's got to be close. The 15-year-old R.L. Turner sophomore's short film, To the Ends of the Earth, was accepted into the Texas High School Shorts competition and screened to a packed house of parents and students on Friday night at the Dobie Theater.
The five-minute film follows a father (John's father, John Gordon II) and son (John's younger brother, Taylor) as they travel to the airport, where the boy wanders off and gets lost. There's no dialogue in the film; instead, a contemplative narrator speaks of the uneasiness of separation.
"The film comes from the feelings that you have when something we value is lost," John said during an interview Monday morning, his beaming mother, Benita, sitting near by. "It really came from my younger brother, who gets lost all the time. It's such a deep impact -- I know how I feel."
You can catch a trailer for it here.

I just got back from a nice chat with the co-directors of Bi the Way, Brittany Blockman and Dallas' Josephine Decker. For their film, the pair took a roadtrip across the country exploring what they thought was a shift in how American viewed bisexuality.
"We set out in the middle of a cultural war. The country was really divided," Ms. Decker, a 1999 Higland Park High School graduate, says of their feelings when they set off to make their film in 2005. "I was expecting to hear people say, 'No way! Those people are going to hell!' and then other people to say, 'whatever.' But people were more centered. I was more surprised to how open America was."
Almost more amazing was that the women, who met on their first day of school at Princeton University, were able to spend several months in a car together and remain friends in the end. They'll be celebrating their film (and friendship) tonight at its premiere and later a party at The Enchanted Forest that they say will feature burlesque dancers, beatboxing and body painting. What's not to like? As for the premiere, Ms. Blockman says they are trying to get 100 people to makeout before the film. Unfortunately I'm going to miss that spectacle (I'll be watching Helen Hunt's directorial debut, Then She Found Me) but I'm going to the party tonight, so I'll be sure and investigate how they, um, madeout in that endeavor. Sorry.

Star power doesn't hurt when it comes to getting people out to a film festival, and the crew over at AFI-Dallas has certainly recognized that. The festival announced this morning that it will present its Star Award to festival attendees Helen Hunt, Mickey Rooney, Todd Wagner and Charlize Theron. Jack Lemmon will also receive the award, accepted by his widow, Felicia Farr.

I got an e-mail today from the governor's office of New Mexico bragging about the fact that the upcoming Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins will be filmed in New Mexico from May through August this year before a theatrical release in May 2009.

I wonder if Texas was ever in the running for this project?

A few years ago, I wrote an article about how Texas was trying to get more competitive with New Mexico and other states to lure movie makers.

But there was a good bit of skepticism about whether Texas had the financial will to outbid other states, and I wonder if the Lone Star State was ever in the running for this film.

I also wonder, speaking as a fairly hardcore Terminator fan, whether this movie will suck.

The realist in me says yes, since Ahhnold will have, at best, a cameo appearance. But then again, Christian Bale is starring as John Conner, and I don't think he's made a bad action movie yet.

The AFI-Dallas International Film Festival has announced that Then She Found Me, Helen Hunt's directorial debut, will play as the opening night film on March 27 at the Majestic Theatre downtown. The Oscar-winning actress will be in attendance to walk the red carpet. The film previously played at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and will also screen at South by Southwest in March.

Good story this week in USA Today, which profiles Marfa, Texas, where both No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood -- both nominated for Best Picture -- were filmed. It was hilarious to hear what the locals had to say from this ranching town, whose population hovers around 2,000. They still prefer the 1956 James Dean classic Giant, which was also shot in the desolate West Texas town. My favorite quotes were from local resident W.E. "Chip" Love, whose grandmother was an extra on Giant. The Coen brothers talked him into being one in No Country for Old Men. "They said all I had to do was get killed with a stun gun and fall down," the 50-year-old president of the Marfa bank told USA Today. "I figured I could do that. I could fall down." But a two-minute scene involved a lot more work than he thought it would. "They must have had me killed eight different ways. Heck, I had a stunt double — for falling down. It's funny how much it means to movie people."

Spike Lee is coming to North Texas. The two-time Oscar nominee will discuss his life and career at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, at Texas Hall, 701 W. Nedderman Drive, on The University of Texas at Arlington campus. Tickets for the event are $15, $10 for faulty, staff and UT Arlington Alumni Association members and $5 for UT Arlington students. A $50 ticket, which includes a reception with Mr. Lee, is available in limited supply. Call 817-272-2963 or visit www.utatickets.com to purchase tickets.

Our neighborsgo.com site features a reader observation of the Paris craze the night of The Hottie and the Nottie premiere at Regent Highland Park Village. The short of it: Paris = gracious, her boys = faux thuggy.

• Neighborsgo reader review of the scene
• Stephen's 1/23 story on the scene

No, we're not talking golf. A Fair to Remember, Allen Mondell and Cynthia Salzman Mondell's ode to the Texas State Fair, has won the prestigious CINE Golden Eagle Award, recognized internationally as a symbol of the highest production standards in filmmaking and videography. Huzzah to it and them. Find out more about the company behind the film, Media Projects, here.

OMG, Paris Hilton was in Highland Park on Tuesday, and we've got video to prove it. The celebutante is in town for a screening of her new movie, cleverly titled The Hottie and the Nottie. Did you go to the screening? What did you think?

We’ve all seen Paris Hilton on TV and in magazines, but how does she look in the flesh? Find out Tuesday, as the celebutante conducts a whirlwind publicity tour in Dallas for her new film, The Hottie and the Nottie. Your first chance at a live sighting comes at 6 p.m. at the Regent Highland Park Village movie theater, where she will walk the red carpet at the movie’s Dallas premiere. Then it’s off to the Ghostbar at the W for an after party. Say, “hi” to Tinkerbell for us if you see her.

Got an old formal dress in need of a new home? The first 27 women wearing a formal dress they are willing to donate to Thursday night's advance screening of 27 Dresses at the Cinemark Legacy in Plano will receive a Palm Centro smart phone and plum seats for the movie. The dresses will then be donated to the Princess Project, an organization that distributes prom dresses to high school girls who would not be able to afford them. The event starts at 6:30 p.m., and passes are available at the Sprint stores located at 921 N. Central Expressway; 7615 Campbell Road, Suite 100; 2811 Craig Dr., Suite 104; and 913 Preston Road, Suite 100.

IMAX and AMC theaters have struck a deal to install 100 IMAX screens in 33 markets around the country, and one of them is coming here. The Mesquite 30 will be the home to the area's newest gigantic screen, which should be in place by June 2008. That means it will be ready just in time for the animted Kung-Fu Panda and The Dark Knight, the next installment of the Batman franchise -- both of which will be shown on IMAX screens.

One of Quick's online movie reviewers is up for a pretty big prize given out by VH1. Read all about it over on Quick's blog here.

$1 million may have been a paltry punch line in Austin Powers, but it's a major boon for the AFI-Dallas International Film Festival. That's the amount that Dallas philanthropist Nancy Hamon recently bestowed upon the festival, which will launch its second installment March 27 of next year. The gift is the largest in the festival's brief history.

Festival artistic director and CEO Michael Cain says that “Mrs. Hamon’s support will allow us to focus on many of our objectives including year-round screenings and intensive educational programs in Dallas schools and universities.” Mrs. Hamon says the decision was easy when festival founder, chairman and director Liener Temerlin called her for help. "I wanted to do what I could to help this great film festival become one of the best in the country," she said in a statement. "Dallas deserves it."