The Screening Room

One more reason to hope Tuesday's weather isn't too apocalyptic: I am scheduled to join Fort Worth Weekly's Kristian Lin for a discussion of all things Oscar. The event, slated for 7 p.m. Tuesday, is part of the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History's PUBlic Knowledge series, which features experts discussing various topics in an informal setting over a few beers.

We'll gather at the Magnolia Motor Lounge, a car-savvy bar that makes a seriously tasty burger, and hope the skies don't fill with ice. Admission is free, the conversation will be lively, and there will be prizes. If the Great Freeze prompts cancellation we'll let you know.

We reported that the Highland Park Village Theatre would open Friday. Their bad. We were contacted after the post went up that the opening date is being pushed back to Saturday.

The phone numbers are: Recorder Movie Line (214) 443-0222; Theater Direct (214) 443-6035.

Opening movies are Tron: Legacy, Megamind and Morning Glory, with Little Fockers opening at the theater Wednesday.

This just in from Hillary Artzt, director of marketing for Highland Park Village. The theater is considering this a "soft opening." (I'd write more, but really, why should I even try to put words in her mouth?):

After much anticipation, the Village Theatre in Highland Park Village will open this Friday .... Opening movie is Tron: Legacy 3D and will show at 4:25, 7:15 and 10:05pm. Morning Glory and Megamind will also be showing this weekend, leading up to Dec. 22nd when the theater will be showing Little Fockers.

Website and phone number are still to come ... Tickets for this weekend can be purchased beginning Friday afternoon at the theater. Online ticket sales will be up and running in the next couple of weeks. A grand opening celebration is currently planned for mid-January.

Marquee, the new restaurant next door to the theater, is planned to open mid-March and will be led by Chef Tre Wilcox.

Tomorrow the movie theater opens up a renovated wing where people can get "restaurant cuisine and cocktails with AMC's noted immersive movie theatre experience and hit movies." Kinda like what Studio Movie Grill locations offer, AMC Grapevine will offer two meal-and-a-movie options inside 13 newly renovated auditoriums, a bar and a lounge.

If you want to keep away from the diners while watching your movie, there's still room for you in the 17 traditional auditoriums featuring stadium seating.

Does this sound like an experience you'd try? Keep reading to see the AMC Dine-In Theatre options and pricing.

What are the odds? This week brings both Don Michael Corleone and Consigliere Tom Hagen to town. Mafia convention? Nope, just a couple of high profile personal appearances to make film buff hearts flutter.

We like Fort Worth around here; none of that intercity rivalry stuff for us. So we urge you to head west over the next few days and check out the Lone Star Film Festival, rolling out up the road through Sunday.

Highlights include the new Mike Leigh film, Another Year, which screens Friday night; and a whole slew of movies featuring Jeff Bridges, recipient of the festival's life achievement award. And here's a treat: Bridges will perform with his fellow Crazy Heart Oscar winner T Bone Burnett at the closing night party on Saturday.

This just in from Joe O'Connell, who writes the monthly GuideDaily column "Shot in Texas":

Bob Hudgins confirmed today that he will resign as head of the Texas Film Commission effective Nov. 30, citing job burnout and a need to spend more time with his family.

"It's not any one thing," said Hudgins, who noted that he spent his daughter's fifth birthday at a Houston film festival.

Hudgins, a Wichita Falls native, oversaw the creation of an incentive program that resulted in a surge of filming here. Current Texas-filmed TV and movies include Dallas' The Good Guys and Chase, and the Christmas-timed remake of True Grit.

He said he expects to remain in Texas as an active participant in the Texas Motion Picture Alliance. He has no immediate job plans, but is open to returning to the film industry. He previously worked as a locations manager.

October is over, but thank you Blood Bath folks for understanding that doesn't mean we need to put horror films to bed till next Halloween. Oak Cliff's historic Texas Theatre gets a little gory November 13-14 when Blood Bath 2: The Film Festival puts on two days of "a celebration of independent horror cinema showcasing feature and short films from around the world." The festival is the world premiere for the feature films Kodie, filmed locally in Dallas by Abel Berry and Jennifer Stone, and The Super. It's also the American premiere of feature film Fell.

There's an after party Saturday night at the Muddy Waters (4314 Live Oak St.) with special musical guests Jack O'Hara Harris, The Lash Outs, and The Whiskey Folk Ramblers starting at 10 p.m. Tickets to the fest are $7 per feature-length film, $15 per day, or $25 for the weekend.

Get amped with the fest's trailer below, and click through to the jump for details on what Kodie, The Super and Fell are all about.

Studio Movie Grill harbors a concept that a lot of folks enjoy -- watch a movie on a big screen, with Dolby Digital sound and order a meal and/or drinks (as in alcohol) at the same time. Beats the heck out of popcorn and sugary, sticky soda. Taking it one step further, Studio Movie Grill is making its big-screen, big-sound alternative available to Texas Rangers fans starting tonight. It's offering free admission to anyone wanting to see the World Series. They're hoping, of course, that fans order food and drink, and duh, I'm sure they will. Catch the details here via this Web link. Just "choose your location" and go from there. Tonight's telecast starts at 6:30, with the first pitch at 6:57.

Photo: Josh Hamilton waits his turn during batting practice in San Francisco

Staff writer Howery Pack wrote about two made-in-Dallas films celebrating their 50th anniversary, with their trailers part of "It Came From Dallas" tonight at Dallas' Studio Movie Grill. The story introduced to some and reminded some others about "frugal" director Edgar G. Ulmer, who directed the films: The Amazing Transparent Man and Beyond the Time Barrier. Ulmer led quite an interesting life. Here's his tale:

. Edgar George Ulmer was lauded in a book by Peter Bogdanovich: "What he could do with nothing (occasionally in the script department as well) remains an object lesson for those directors, myself included, who complain about tight budgets and schedules."
In the 2004 documentary Edgar G. Ulmer: The Man Off-Screen, directors Bogdanovich, Roger Corman, Joe Dante, John Landis and Wim Wenders sing the praises of Ulmer, who died at age 68 in 1972. Landis and Dante point out that Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard were also fans.

His career had been variegated, to say the least. Among his directorial efforts were Damaged Lives (1933), a drama that warned of the dangers of syphilis; Moon Over Harlem (1939), with an all-black cast; four Yiddish-language movies, made in New York and New Jersey and released between 1937 and 1940; two Ukrainian-language films ('37 and '39), also made in New Jersey; Carnegie Hall (1947), a drama that featured the musical talents of Jascha Heifetz, Lily Pons, Arthur Rubinstein, Leopold Stokowski, Bruno Walter and Harry James; and a nudie called Naked Venus (1958). "Ulmer made one of everything," Dante said.

If you happened to be driving by the north end of downtown Dallas between 7 p.m. and midnight Saturday night, you might have see this. Confused at all?

Well, you can stop scratching your head now. It's not meant to put to text that the Winspear Opera House is still a big red drum alongside the highway. The spotlight "RED in theaters 10/15" is promoting the action film Red, starring Helen Mirren, Bruce Willis, John Malkovich and Morgan Freeman as retired CIA agents who are firing up the guns again.

Had you heard of the film before seeing this?
Photo by David C. Harrison

Both the Dallas and Plano Angelika Film Centers have started up their "Hitchcocktober" celebration in honor of the master of mystery himself, Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock.

This file picture taken in 1963 shows the British film director during the shooting of The Birds. Hitckcock directed his first film in 1925 and rose to become the master of suspense, internationally recognized for his intricate plots and novel camera technique.

A classic Hitchcock film will be featured every week throughout October: each Thursday night at Dallas location, and each Tuesday night in Plano.

Angelika - Dallas
The Birds (1963) - 8 p.m. tonight
Rear Window (1954) - 8 p.m. 10/14
Strangers on a Train (1951) - 8 p.m. 10/21
North by Northwest (1959) - 8 p.m. 10/28

Angelika - Plano
Shadow of a Doubt (1943) - 7:30 p.m. 10/12
Notorious (1946) - 7:30 p.m. 10/19
Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) - 7:30 p.m. 10/26

The Dallas screenings will be shown in the outside atrium of Mockingbird Station and are free to the public. There is a special admission fee of only $5 for all films at the Plano location.

What's your favorite Hitchcock film?

For film lovers, one of the best events Dallas offers each year is the Jewish Film Festival, sponsored by the Jewish Community Center. Last year's films were amazing, some of the best I've seen in years. This year's collection is also quite good. The best of the bunch in my view is the Israeli film Seven Minutes in Heaven, a riveting drama that's so poignant and so topical when it comes to what's happening right now in the Middle East. It's a psychological thriller with a memorable, eerily unusual love story running through it. Galla is a young woman struggling to reclaim her memory of the events surrounding a suicide bombing, in which, say the liner notes supplied by the festival, she was left clinically dead for seven minutes. The same attack fatally wounded her fiance. A mysterious stranger appears to be stalking her, and I will tell you no more than that. After Tuesday's 7 p.m. showing of Seven Minutes in Heaven at the Dallas Studio Movie Grill (Royal Lane at North Central Expressway), the festival continues Saturday night at the Angelika Plano, with A Matter of Size, and Sunday night at Angelika Plano with a fantastic German film Among Farmers: Saviors in the Night, before finishing Tuesday, Sept. 28, at Angelika Plano with Nora's Will (a Mexican film). But Seven Minutes in Heaven is one that figures to stay with you for a good long while. Like last year's festival gem, Lemon Tree, which got wider commercial release, this one is easily worthy of the same. For festival details, click here.

Photo: A scene from Seven Minutes in Heaven

Sorry, Addison, you'll have to go someplace else to have a black bean burger and beer with your favorite flick. We just learned this morning that the Addison location for the ever-expanding Studio Movie Grill -- one of its first in the Dallas area -- will close after Thursday night's screenings. Brian Schultz, the president of Studio Movie Grill, hopes to open more locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to complement the four he still has, in Arlington, Plano, Lewisville and Dallas. "To be quite frank," Schultz said Wednesday, "in this competitive landscape, five screens just isn't enough." Addison had only five, compared to the eight to 10 Studio Movie Grill has in Plano, Dallas and Arlington. And, of course, the latter two are state-of-the-art venues with large seating capacities. The decision to close Addison was, for Schultz, not without emotion. "What was fun about that location," he said, "was that it was the first premier movie restaurant that carried first-run movies -- in the world. The first. But as we grow, with the latest technology and all those things, it's important that we provide the best customer experience possible." Schultz paused and said, "This is a big deal for me personally, but you've got to do what you've got to do to keep going."

Photo: A crowd gathers at the Arlington Studio Movie Grill.

Since its release July 23, the new Angelina Jolie movie Salt has grossed more than $71 million in the U.S. alone. It's even a hit in Russia, which brings us to a rather curious local connection. Less than 15 minutes after its dramatic opening, Salt takes us into an interview room, where a recently apprehended Russian spy is filling us in on some startling Cold War details. He calls it "a plan to destroy America," saying: "It had all started with an American named Lee Harvey Oswald. In 1959, he immigrated to Russia. Three years later, he returned home, but the man who came back to America was, in fact, a Russian spy named Alek. On Nov. 22, 1963, Alek became the first success of the new program and a hero of the Soviet Union" -- for, according to Salt, masterminding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Elm Street in Dallas. Turns out that this is actually a recycled -- and dramatically disproved -- conspiracy theory.

Photo: Angelina Jolie

I just got off the phone with Gary. He's excited for his new opportunity and grateful for his 24 years at WFAA. I'm working on the longer story; here's what we have so far.

Gary Cogill has been reviewing movies at WFAA-TV (Channel 8) for 24 years.

Now he's ready to make some.

Cogill announced that he will leave the station when his current three-year contract expires Oct. 31. His new endeavor: LasCaux Films LLC, a new film production company he has started with anesthesiologist Richard Toussaint and Derrick Evers, managing partner of the Neal Richards Group.

"I've had an amazing first half of my career," Cogill told me. "Now I'm excited to find out how creative I really am. You spend your life talking movies, but deep down inside I've always wanted to make movies."

UPDATE: Read the full story.

Movie critic Gary Cogill confirmed to TDMN movie critic Chris Vognar that he will be leaving WFAA. The station also confirmed it, saying that Cogill's last day will be sometime in October.

Cogill is leaving for "a great opportunity" and told the staff last week, according to WFAA vice president Dave Muscari. Cogill has been the station's film critic for more than 20 years, also covering other performing arts around town during that time.

Movie critic Chris Vognar will have the full story later.

Want to enter your film in the 2011 Dallas International Film festival? Now's the time to start. The festival runs March 31 to April 10. Click here for all the info you need on jumping into the ring.

Movie critic Chris Vognar has let you in on his favorite places to catch film in the Metroplex in the latest installment of the Best In DFW series.

Here's the intro. And here's the list of Best In DFW: Movie Houses.

Now, it's your turn. Tell us your favorite places to go catch a movie. Your comment could be published in Guide on July 30.

The Asian Film Festival of Dallas has been among the best-run film fests in town for eight years now. Today AFFD announced the full lineup for its 2010 installment, scheduled for July 23 - July 29 at the Magnolia and the Angelika. The big dates on the slate:

Opening night (7 p.m. July 23, Magnolia): Au Revoir Taipei, a Taiwanese comedy about a guy brushing up his French before heading to Paris to see his girlfriend.

Centerpiece Film: IP Man 2 ( 7:30 p.m. July 25, Magnolia): A Hong Kong action sequel set in the 1950s.

Closing Night Film: The People I've Slept With (7:30 p.m. July 29), a Canadian drama about an unapologetically promiscuous woman.

The ninth annual festival includes 33 features and 21 shorts from ten different countries.

By Joy Tipping
Published 6-25-2010 in The Dallas Morning News' Guide

As you no doubt are aware -- provided you haven't been on an extended trip to, say, Siberia -- the third Twilight saga movie, Eclipse, opens Wednesday. Leading up to the opening, lots of folks are providing opportunities for you to jump into the game, if you've somehow escaped the madness thus far, or to simply refresh your fond memories of lovelorn teen Bella (Kristen Stewart) and her two supernatural crushes, Edward (Robert Pattinson) the sparkly vampire ("Ooooh, he glitters!") and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) the hunky werewolf ("Real men don't sparkle."). The Twilight films are based on the book series by Stephenie Meyer.

Continue reading for some of the events planned around town, then click here for more.

Photo: Jodelle Ferland (Bree, a newborn vampire and the subject of Stephenie Meyer's novella The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner) and Tyson Houseman (Quil, a member of the Wolf Pack) will be the cast members attending Twilight Night this Saturday at the AT&T Plaza at American Airlines Center.

As Robert "Fingers of Fury" Wilonsky reported on Unfair Park the space currently occupied by the AMC Grand may not be empty for long after the theater shutters. AMC, as you may have heard, has chosen not to renew its lease and must be outta there by Nov. 30. According to a press release, Leaseholder EPR "has entered into a letter of intent with another operator for the renovation and re-lease of the Grand 24 in Dallas, Texas, which AMC elected not to renew." (What's better than business speak? Press release business speak, of course). We will try to keep you updated on further details. Good times.

It was quite the festive scene at Cinemark 17 at Webb Chapel Thursday afternoon as Will Smith made a surprise appearance on the red carpet to celebrate his 11-year-old son Jaden's first starring role in The Karate Kid in advance of a free screening at the theater. The 800-plus kid-crowd, courtesy of local schools and organizations like the YMCA and Big Brothers Big Sisters, was already jazzed about Jaden and the great Jackie Chan who plays the wise mentor to Jaden's karate kid role.

Then Dallas Mavs owner Mark Cuban came by with his daughter Alexis clinging to him and former Dallas Stars goaltender Marty Turco with his two daughters and their best friends. But when emcee Rickey Smiley started playing Will Smith's "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" theme song it was clear that royalty was in the house. And when Will waxed ecstatic about the "fantastic" new film and introduced his son, it was clear that a new prince, Jaden was being groomed.

PHOTOS: (TOP) Will Smith greeted fans while on stage near the red-carpet before a screening of The Karate Kid at the Cinemark 17 in Dallas, (BOTTOM) Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan on the red carpet, photos by Andy Jacobsohn/The Dallas Morning News
ANDY JACOBSOHN/Staff Photographe

Will Smith, Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan were on hand Thursday for the premiere of The Karate Kid, which opens in theaters June 11, at the Cinemark 17 in Dallas.

Watch the video

Looked like a lot of fun. I'm actually a bit excited about this remake, thinking I might like it better than the 1984 original. What do you think? Is it a film worth remaking?

Photo by ANDY JACOBSOHN/DMN

The Texas Theatre holds a place in the national imagination as the place where Lee Harvey Oswald was cornered after the Kennedy assassination. But Howard Hughes opened the place for business way back in 1931, and now it's jumping again.

The Texas is now running a weekday series of classic American films and a Sunday series devoted to Latino films. Tonight at 7:30 it's the Coen Brothers' first (and possibly best) film, the neo-noir Blood Simple. This Sunday at 3 p.m. you can see the U.S./Mexico co-production Sin Nombre (Without a Name). There's even a nod to Hughes in store: The May 27 double feature showcases Hughes' Hell's Angels and Martin Scorsese's Hughes biopic The Aviator.

Click here for more information on this Lone Star landmark's latest happenings.

As 3-Dot king James Faust just observed the Dallas International Film Festival is about half-way history. And if you want my advice on how to see a good movie in the next few days it's pretty simple: Go to a documentary.

As you may have heard the Dallas International Film Festival starts tonight with an Angelika-full of screenings, many of which appear to be down to rush ticket status. (Great for the fest, bad for walk-up customers). In the good timing department, the power went down in the area around and including Mockingbird Station last night, during the media party at the Palomar (a more down-to-earth spot than the W, former festival HQ). Good to get the lights-out done with before the Big Event commences.

The party itself was, well, a film festival party. Chris Howell, director of the buzzy Dallas boxing doc Sweet Science, asked me early in the evening what one does during these things. Eat and drink, I replied. Sounds doable.

Fort Worth's Bill Paxton, a friend of the festival since its inception, was in the house and quite approachable. I had a good talk with him about A Simple Plan, the 1998 film starring Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton and Brent Briscoe and directed by Sam Raimi before he became the Spider-Man God. Paxton told me he thought Briscoe should have gotten a supporting actor nomination, and I had to nod in agreement - it's a wrenching performance. Also learned that Paxton's dad is in all three Spider-Man movies. So these parties can be educational and fun. Who knew?

I'll be on the case tonight and faithfully Twittering at twitter.com/chrisvognar.

With more than 65 features on tap, the Dallas International Film Festival offers choices galore. Here are 10 titles that movie critic Chris Vognar either recommends or can't wait to see.

American: The Bill Hicks Story - Documentary about the late Houston-born comedian and deep thinker.

Casino Jack and the United States of Money - Oscar-winning documentary maker Alex Gibney turns his attention to Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

City of Life and Death - Epic drama about the Japanese invasion of Nanking.

Earthling -This sci-fi indie from Dallas' Clay Liford got big buzz at South by Southwest.

No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson - Steve James ( Hoop Dreams) looks at the 1993 trial and imprisonment of the future NBA star.

Obselidia -A Sundance favorite, co-produced by Dallas' Ken Morris, about a librarian, a movie projectionist and a Death Valley road trip.

Shirley Adams - A South African drama about a mother at the breaking point.

A Surprise in Texas - A documentary look at the 2009 Van Cliburn competition.

Sweet Science - Dallas filmmaker Chris Howell's years-in-the-making look at amateur boxing.

Thunder Soul - Houston's Kashmere Stage Band brings in the funk and revolutionizes the high school band world in this doc.

- Chris Vognar

Got back from Austin Sunday after ten days of SXSW-ing. Good times. But now it's time to gear up for Dallas' own big movie shindig - the Dallas International Film Festival.

DIFF runs April 8-18 (here's the full schedule). You may remember it as the AFI Dallas International Film Festival. But the AFI licensing agreement done expired, so Dallas International Film Festival it is.

I've been able to see a few of the featured titles, including City of Life and Death, Thunder Soul (which won the SXSW Lone Star States award) and American:The Bill Hicks Story. Those were stellar, and I'm looking forward to seeing more. We'll be covering DIFF cover to cover (reel to reel?) so keep it right here and look for blow-out-the-budget preview coverage in the very near future.

You may have noticed recently a few changes to guidelive.com/movies. Click the link, then scroll down a bit and you'll find links to the most recently added critic reviews, along with bylines and given star ratings. If you're more interested in how you and your friends have been rating films, there's a new module to the left just for you. These star ratings in the left rail are separated between critics' reviews and users' reviews to help make your searching easier. (The image below shows what I'm talking about.)

Another new area of interest is at the top of the left rail. Here are quick links to what's currently playing, kid-friendly films, and a directory of area theaters and showtimes.

Remember, film buffs, you can leave your own movie reviews on GuideLive.com too. Just register (or log in with your DallasNews.com account information), find a film, and rate and review away! Ever have any questions with movie listings on GuideLive.com? Let us know.

You've been part of our live chat series the past month, and now the big day is almost here! We know you're totally stoked, so here are some fun local events to help you celebrate:

The Angelika Film Center presents Oscars on the Big Screen

Studio Movie Grill's Oscar Night America

The Magnolia features the Best Animated Short Films

The Magnolia features the Best Live Action Short Films at the Magnolia

AMC Theaters showcase the 10 Best Picture nominations

Attend an Oscars watching party

View interactive videos of the nominees and learn Oscar facts

Re-create red-carpet fashions with these expert tips

Get the family out this Saturday and Sunday to the Angelika Film Center on Mockingbird for the 26th annual KidFilm Festival, presented by the USA Film Festival.

For just $3 per movie ($2.50 for USA Film Festival members), you and the kiddies can experience both classics - such as The Muppet Movie and The Wizard of Oz - and newer kid flicks - The Secret of Kells and Barbie and the Three Musketeers - on the big screen.

From the schedule: "This year's program is all about journeys, both earthly and otherwise, and learning that with a positive spirit and a little tenacity, one can accomplish most anything -- Whether climbing a beanstalk, thwarting crime, helping a lost friend find her family, or following dreams of stardom all the way to Hollywood!"

Though organized for children in mind, all ages could find this local fest of interest. Also on the agenda are prize giveaways, a tribute to author and Illustrator Mo Willems, an Aardman Animations tribute (Wallace and Gromit anyone?) and more. Tickets go on sale at the theater at noon Saturday. Call 214-821-3456 for more info.

New Moon actor Charlie Bewley was at a Dallas screening last night, and we got video!

Also, in case you haven't read it yet, read the movie review.

No, video is not dead. You may have your swank DVD's and Blu-rays piled high around your TV, but the art of video-making continues strong. VideoFest (that Bart Weiss-driven thing known as the Dallas Video Festival for the past 21 years) is going on right now at the Angelika Film Center.

With screenings through Sunday, you have plenty of time to make it down to Mockingbird Station and check out some of the local and international films. Scope it out before you go with these details from movie critic Chris Vognar.

Program schedule (.pdf)

Tell us, which videos did you see? Any low-key artists from the festival we should watch out for?

Dolby 3D has arrived. It made an impressive debut on Friday at Studio Movie Grill -- the only place in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that has Dolby 3D at the moment -- in the form of X Games 3D: The Movie. The film itself is not exactly my vision of cinematic heaven, but it offered a good showcase for an amazing new technology, which is vastly superior to any 3D I've ever seen. Maybe it's the glasses. They're hardly the cheap, roadside-gas-station-like sunglasses you're used to wearing for 3D movies. Each pair of the Dolby 3D glasses costs $28. Brian Schultz, the owner and founder of Studio Movie Grill, told me he purchased 900 pairs for each Studio Movie Grill. That's $25,000 per outlet, and the cost is increasing, since Studio Movie Grill is now available in Dallas (Royal Lane and Central), Addison, Plano, Lewisville, Arlington and at two locations in Houston. It was really cool to watch Dolby 3D previews of A Christmas Carol (starring Jim Carrey) and the Alice in Wonderland movie starring Johnny Depp that won't arrive until 2010. Lynne McQuaker, director of creative affairs at Studio Movie Grill, says one of the boldest examples of Dolby 3D promises to be the highly anticipated Avatar, director James Cameron's first feature film since Titanic. It opens Dec. 18. Studio Movie Grill will also show live concerts in Dolby 3D in the coming months. You can read all about it in this story, which appears in the GuideSunday section of The Dallas Morning News.

Photo: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will make its Dolby 3D debut on Sept. 18

You can meet one of the co-stars of The Time Traveler's Wife tonight at Cinemark Allen. Brooklyn Proulx will be at the opening of the movie tonight at Cinemark Allen around 6:30 p.m.

She'll sign autographs, and she won't duck out the side door when the lights go down. Proulx and her family are going to stay to watch the movie. The now 10-year-old actress, who lives in North Texas, plays the 8-year-old version of star Rachel McAdams' character in the movie that also stars Eric Bana (Troy) and is produced by Brad Pitt.

Dakota Fanning-dom, here she comes ...

The Regent Highland Park Village theater will close after today's movie showings.

Regent Entertainment took control of the theater in 2001. The theater had been showing award-winning films of late, causing cinephiles to take notice. Movies such as the Cannes-winning Tokyo Sonata and the Oscar-winning Departures in recent weeks had heads scratching as to the quality of the movies that were being brought in to the theater by Regent and if that quality would continue. (Remember: Paris Hilton had the Dallas premiere of The Hottie and the Nottie at the theater, so there was cause for concern.) The theater always had a mix of wide releases and art films from Regent.

That would be a "no." According to the press release, "Regent has enjoyed being a part of the Highland Park and Dallas community."

It ends with "Please note: We don't know the future of the theater."

But what we know, as our Metro staff writes in today's paper, is that the theater will reopen in May with new, wide seats and dining. The story says the theater will be converted to an all-digital format. The new owner of Highland Park Village, Ray Washburn, also confirmed the closing.

(Photo of Paris Hilton at the premiere by Special Contributor Rex C. Curry)

I caught wind from our Garland blog that a movie called Breaking the Press would be filmed at Lakeview Centennial High School, and all Garland ISD students were allowed to attend and be extras. So, of course I called all my friends and told them this was our big shot at being movie stars.

It was a far-fetched idea.

My friend, Vishal, joined me at 10 a.m. to the Lakeview gymnasium to find a sea of people wearing red and blue. They were filming a basketball state championship game, Wildcats vs. Patriots.

So what was our job?

Brüno made its way into theaters today, so now we can see whether it passes the box office test. Sacha Baron Cohen's previous guerilla effort, Borat, earned $260 million worldwide. Having seen the new movie, I'm amazed by his utter fearlessness in going after such targets as a real terrorist, not to mention incting a near riot in Fort Smith, Ark. Baron Cohen uses Brüno to make a bold statement about homophobia, as Borat attempted to pull the mask off racism. But already, Brüno has its critics. Salon suggests in its review that gay-rights groups may be less than thrilled with the movie, and Newsweek quotes sources in Arkansas who question the authenticity of scenes filmed there. I wrote this story last Sunday that quoted two women who attended the taping of a fake Brüno talk show in Carrollton about a year ago and who were less than thrilled with what went down.

Photo: Sacha Baron Cohen as a gay Austrian fashionista in the new movie Brüno.

Brace yourself is right. Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen's latest entry in guerilla filmmaking, arrives in theaters July 10. As I have written about before (in this story), Baron Cohen came here a year ago and filmed scenes at an office park in Carrollton. He lured in the unsuspecting by having his production team recruit audience members for a new TV talk show on family values. What ensued was pretty wild. You can read more about it on Sunday, when I offer my latest on Bruno's escapades (and how he offended a whole bunch of local people). I just got back from Baron Cohen's native London, where he is wildly popular. Mention his name at a pub and they start telling their favorite stories from Da Ali G Show, especially the one where he duped soccer star David Beckham and his wife, ex-Spice Girl Victoria Beckham. As Mike Bell, the colorful owner of Portobello Gold in Notting Hill, London's best pub-hotel, told me, he thinks Baron Cohen is "brilliant." My own favorites were his Da Ali G Show interviews with former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Bruno is apparently so wild that in England, it got an 18 rating, meaning that no one under 18 can get in to see it. Period. You can read about that in this story.

Photo: The one and only Sacha Baron Cohen

Community activist Jason Roberts is doing some cool things at the storied Texas Theatre, and Saturday night promises to be one of the coolest. At 7 p.m. Saturday, he and the Oak Cliff Foundation are showing the legendary movie Bonnie and Clyde at the Jefferson Boulevard theater, where, of course, Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested in 1963. The Oak Cliff Foundation has renovated the Texas Theatre and is trying to do more. They have shown the movies Oswald's Ghost and JFK, and the Dallas Summer Musicals would eventually love to use it as one of its venues. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker hailed from West Dallas and undoubtedly spent plenty of time in Oak Cliff, maybe even at the Texas Theatre, which opened in 1931. Saturday marks the 75th anniversary of the ambush that killed the lawbreaking pair, whose exploits are chronicled in the 1967 movie, directed by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. (Please click below to read on.)

Photo: Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde

The 13th Annual International Jewish Film Festival of Dallas is coming to a close, and for aficionados of alternative cinema, it has been a venture worth celebrating. Its best offerings were Lemon Tree, which chronicles the struggles in the Middle East as well as any film I've seen; The Debt, a Holocaust thriller that may soon morph into an American version starring Tom Wilkinson and Helen Mirren; and A Touch Away, a terrific serial produced by Israeli television that may soon land on HBO in its own Americanized version, in the same way an Israeli television success story became the HBO hit In Treatment. The crowd loved Beau Jest, a light comedy that could have been called Surely You Jest but which managed to generate a whole bunch of belly laughs. (The other films veered toward the very heavy; Beau Jest was like the whipped cream on top of dessert.) And now the festival closes with Letters for Jenny. (Please click below to read on!)

Photo: A scene from Letters for Jenny

If your taste in movies runs more to the Magnolia or the Angelika than to the popcorn-littered aisles of your local multiplex, the 13th Annual International Jewish Film Festival of Dallas offers a treasure trove of superb foreign films. It doesn't take much, of course, to top the mainstream drivel that shows up in commercial theaters these days. And yet, these have been extraordinary films, from Lemon Tree to the terrific Israeli television series A Touch Away to -- OK, I'll admit it -- the crowd-pleasing juggernaut Beau Jest. Lost Islands is the latest entry, screening at 9 p.m. Saturday at the Angelika Plano (which, for my money, is the coolest theater in the Dallas-Fort Worth area). Lost Islands is a coming-of-age story set in 1980, with the Levis living in Israel. (Please click below to read on!)

Photo: A scene from Lost Islands

Jason Roberts is doing some cool things at the Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff. I wrote about Jason last September; you can read all about him and his efforts to revitalize the aging theater right here. This Friday night, the theater will show the 1923 silent classic, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, with a live orchestra led by KERA's Paul Slaven. It's the version of the film that catapulted Lon Chaney to stardom for his role as Quasimodo. The show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $8 for adults and $4 for children under 12 and are available at the door or online at this Web site. Those who arrive on bicycle get a $2 discount. The theater's address is 231 W. Jefferson Boulevard in Oak Cliff. For those who don't know, the Texas Theatre was where Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested after allegedly killing both President Kennedy and Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit.

Photo: Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff

OK, so it won't win any Oscars, and it often feels like the Jewish version of Rhoda, but Beau Jest, the latest entry in the 13th Annual Jewish Film Festival of Dallas, is the token entry in the Comic Relief category. It's a feel-good yarn about a young Jewish woman who's nervous about having her parents meet her Gentile boyfriend, whose name is -- and I'm not making this up -- Chris Kringle. So, she hires an unemployed actor (who also happens to be a goy) to masquerade as a Jewish doctor and have dinner with her and her parents. You can only imagine the kind of oy gevalt shenanigans that ensue from there. Robyn Cohen is quite fetching as Sarah Goldman, the young woman whose stories have more holes in them than a baker's dozen of bagels.

Photo: A scene from Beau Jest

That crazy Sacha Baron Cohen came to North Texas last June and punked dozens of unsuspecting citizens at a Carrollton office park by inducing them to show up as the audience for a "new television talk show." I wrote a column about it (click here to read it) because my son was among those who showed up for the $50 cash they were giving out. It turns out Cohen was using this local audience as comic fodder for his next movie, which features the gay Austrian fashionista Bruno. We have seen Bruno before, in the Da Ali G series on HBO, but apparently, few of the folks who showed up at the office park had ever heard of him. Well, now the London Times has an "exclusive" trailer of the Bruno movie on its Web site. Click here to view it. Bruno is scheduled for a July release.

Photo: Sacha Baron Cohen invades the catwalk in Milan, Italy, to film a scene for his forthcoming Bruno movie

Filmmakers Channing Godfrey-Peoples and Reginald T. Dorsey will be at the Black Academy of Arts & Letters' 24-Hour FilmFeast on Saturday from noon to 4:30 p.m. at the Clarence Muse Cafe Theater (corner of Canton and Akard streets). The best part: It costs only $5 for the screenings and the panel discussion.

The "feast" starts with a screening of Jeanette McDuffie's short, Darkness, and ends with Dorsey's King of the Evening.

When it comes to art films, Dallas is truly blessed. We have not one but two Angelika theaters, plus the Magnolia, plus the Inwood. Truly an embarrassment of riches. At the risk of offending those of you who dig such commercial fare as Miss March, I contend that art houses offer the best cinema by far. We're also in a cool position these days when it comes to film festivals. We have the AFI Dallas International Film Festival, the Dallas Video Festival and the Jewish Film Festival of Dallas, whose season opens at 9 p.m. Saturday at Studio Movie Grill Dallas. I have seen all eight movies in this year's festival, and they're terrific. More than that, however, I want to commend the 18 people who screen the movies under the direction of Trace Ordiway, who, along with his wife, Lori, volunteers his services to the Jewish Community Center of Dallas. They also deserve credit for their artistic bravery. (Please click below to read on!)

Photo: Secular Jewish boy from Moscow falls in love with Orthodox Jewish girl in the Romeo-and-Juliet-like story at the heart of A Touch Away

You may have just finished your cool-down from the AFI Dallas International Film Festival, but it's time to start warming up for the USA Film Festival. The schedule is out and it looks pretty interesting with some definite bright spots.

This year's big-ticket appearance, depending on your perspective, is stare-down star Ray Liotta (Good Fellas, of course, but also Field of Dreams and Something Wild), barrier- and heart-breaking actress Juanita Moore (Imitation of Life), actor Brian Cox who seems to be in everything big screen and small these days (from the first two Bourne movies to his fabulous counterpoint to Al Swearengen on Deadwood) or the great character actor M. Emmett Walsh (two words: Blood Simple).

If that's not enough, there are also plenty of films, too. Click here for a pdf of the complete schedule.

Note: Schedule subject to change. Guests listed are confirmed at press time.

Tickets for all programs $10. Advance tickets will be available through Ticketmaster beginning April 16.

AFI announced The Brothers Bloom as the opening-night gala presentation. The film, directed by Rian Johnson and starring Adrien Brody (right) and Rachel Weisz, will kick off the Dallas film festival, which is scheduled to run from March 26-April 2.

(Find the complete schedule here.)

Brody will be honored with the AFI Dallas Star Award before the opening-night screening of Bloom. Other honorees include Kathryn Bigelow, Robert Towne and a posthumous award to Rita Hayworth. Hayworth's daughter, Princess Aga Khan, will receive her mother's award before a special screening of Gilda.

Henry Selick, the director behind The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline, will receive the Texas Avery Animation Award.

The opening-night screening will be at AMC NorthPark 15 on Thursday, March 26. The festival will feature 173 films and shorts with 150 screenings.

(Photo by Lucas Jackson)

Kathy Goolsby just shared this sweet story she found in the HPISD newsletter about the unusual and lovely red dress that 1988 Highland Park grad Megan Mylan wore when she accepted the Oscar for her documentary Smile Pinki, about a young Indian girl whose life was changed when her cleft lip was repaired.

Her grandmother, Julia Principe, designed the dress back when she was a fashion illustration student at the Pratt Institute in the 1930s. Megan had promised that if she were ever nominated for an Oscar, she'd have that dress made. And she did. Her grandma died five months before at age 95. Kathy writes that before she knew the story, when she and her daughter were watching the Oscars, her daughter said, "I like the dress, but what's up with those wings on the back?"

But now, knowing who designed it, and who was watching the telecast from a higher place, it all makes beautiful sense.

Major development on the Jonas Brothers' weekend plans: Contrary to a previous announcement, there will NOT be a public red-carpet event locally to mark the opening of their new film, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience.

On Tuesday, a publicist had said that fans were encouraged to watch Kevin, Nick and Joe walk the red carpet after a private screening of the movie in Grapevine. Today, however, Disney let it be known that it's absolutely NOT open to the public. So, fans, our advice is to head to your local theater for your JoBros fix this weekend and be content with that.

Among the Hollywood bold-face names of this year's Academy Award nominations is one that deserves special mention: Megan Mylan.

O.K., not all all the offerings from the SMU Japan Club's Film Festival 2009 are for kids, but this weekend's films are, and they're all free and in Japanese, with English subtitles. Here's the line-up:

Love Com The Movie (2006) Friday. Based on the comic by Aya Nakahara, it's the story of Risa Koizumi, the tallest girl in class, who develops an unexpected friendship with Atsushi Otani, the shortest guy.
My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999) Saturday. Episodes about the life of the Yamadas, a middle class Japanese family in Tokyo.

Next weekend, the films are aimed at adults:
Zatoichi (2003) Feb. 27. An R-rated move about a 19th century blind master swordsman who travels the country as a gambler and masseur.
Densha Otoko (2005). Feb. 28. A date movie about a geeky computer engineer who saves a young woman and falls for her, then seeks out Internet dating advice on how to pursue her.

All films are held in the Theater of Huggs-Trigg Student Center basement at SMU at 6:30 p.m.

AFI Dallas announced that its third film festival will go from March 26-April 2 and announced a new presenting sponsor, NorthPark Center.

NorthPark Center has hosted several central films in the first two years of the festival. Now, as a presenting sponsor, they will hold more screenings and it's also where you will find the the AFI DALLAS box office, a film festival lounge, galas. NorthPark will also host some red-carpet and other events.

Victory Park will again serve as the "epicenter" of the festival, with some screenings shown on its big screens.

The documentary Darius Goes West: The Roll of His Life will screen at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 26 at the Lakewood Theater in Dallas. All proceeds of this movie and t-shirt sales will be donated to Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy research in hopes of finding treatment or a cure for this disease.

Plot synopsis from IMDb.com:

Darius Weems, a 15-year-old with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, had never left his hometown of Athens, Georgia. In the summer of 2005, he and a group of young college students traveled across the country in a wheelchair-accessible RV to test accessibility in the United States. Their ultimate goal was to reach Los Angeles and convince MTV's hit show, Pimp My Ride, to customize Darius's wheelchair. Along the way, they found joy, brotherhood, and the knowledge that life, even when imperfect, is always worth the ride.

A lot more people are going to get to know Big Tex. A documentary by local filmmakers Allen Mondell and Cynthia Salzman Mondell has been selected by the U.S. State Department for its 2009 American Documentary Showcase. A Fair to Remember captures the traditions and history of the State Fair of Texas.

According to program director Betsy A. McLane, the showcase is "is intended to offer a broad and diversified look at American life, and the values of a democratic society, as seen by American documentary filmmakers." The Mondells' film was the only Texas project chosen.

Dallas-based Film Unit Productions will screen Suitable for Murder at 7 tonight at the Studio Movie Grill on Royal Lane. It's free and open to the public. Check out the synopsis below:

"Could you shoot to kill?" That is the question posed in the crime thriller Suitable for Murder. Veteran actor Jackson Bostwick (Shazam's CAPTAIN MARVEL) plays JOE MONDRAGON, a veteran cop who gets things done, forms an unlikely partnership with Samantha Baines. She is attached to Police Intelligence Division and feels more comfortable handling a computer than a gun. Samantha's computer skills are needed to help hack into and track two serial killers who get their victims from Internet Chat Rooms. Joe pays the ultimate price during a fire fight with the two killers when his partner is unable to fire her weapon. Riddled with guilt, Samantha seeks the help of Mimi, a fiery red-head who knows a thing or two about taking charge. With Mimi's help and some guidance from the Chief of Homicide, Samantha reinvents herself and avenges Joe after a relentless chase of the killers.

One of the finest documentaries I've seen in years is Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father, which had an enthusiastic reception last March at the South By Southwest Film Festival in Austin. The filmmaker is Kurt Kuenne, whom local audiences may remember as the director of the heavily Texas-flavored Drive-In Movie Memories, produced by Don and Susan Sanders of Grapevine. Mr. Kuenne informs me in an e-mail that Dear Zachary, now being shown theatrically in various cities (thus making it eligible for consideration in the upcoming Academy Awards), will make its national television debut on MSNBC on Dec. 7. No dates yet for any theatrical showings in Dallas, so don't miss the showing on MSNBC. The story is nothing short of amazing.

Photo: The late Andrew Bagby, left, with filmmaker Kurt Kuenne

To watch a trailer of Dear Zachary, click the play button below:

The Hot Topic at Dallas Galleria opened its doors at 6 this morning for the raving fangirls (and exhausted parents) who wanted a chance to meet Twilight's own Edward Cullen. Were you one of the lucky 500 to score a wristband? Tell us about this morning, and what you expect tonight.

And watch Channel 8's video from this morning newscast to see if you were caught on film.

Angelika Dallas and Mockingbird Station continue the Hot Holiday Happenings film series tonight at 7 with a free outdoor screening of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The series continues every Monday and Friday through mid-December. Patio heaters and chairs will be available or you can bring blankets and seat picnic style. Concessions and hot drinks available, but make sure to visti the ATM first: Cash only.

Okay, this? This is cool:

"B-Movies Shot in Big D" is the theme for a two-day film festival next week at Southern Methodist University.

Admission is free to the screenings, each of which will be introduced by a member of SMU's cinema-television department. The event, presented by SMU's Fondren Library and Friends of the SMU Libraries, is from 7 to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday in Dallas Hall's McCord Auditorium.

On Wednesday, festival-goers can see Logan's Run and The Amazing Transparent Man. Thursday's offerings will be Mars Needs Women and Gas!, or, It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It.

For more information, call 214-768-4397.

Some sci fi geek I am; I thought Logan's Run was totally shot in Fort Worth. It was, but according to good ol' IMDb, it was shot in a LOT of places around our beloved metroplex.

Z: A Zombie Musical, billed as "the first zombie musical feature film" (I have a feeling they're right about that), will have its Dallas premiere at Studio Movie Grill on Oct. 29. It was filmed in Austin, and it features some familiar faces.

Austin Mayor Will Wynn (and former Austin mayors Bruce Todd and Jeff Friedman) play zombie highway bums. Mark Zupan, from the Oscar-nominated documentary Murderball, also plays a zombie. Musicians Joe Ely, Michael Fracasso, Jimmy LaFave and Sara Hickman perform as a zombie guitar quartet. (Having trouble picturing this? The Austin Chronicle has a pic.)

According to the release, the plot features "three nuns who are transformed into zombies by a pug dog."

From Sept. 25-28, the Omni Theater in Fort Worth will roll back prices to 1983 levels in celebration of the 25th anniversary of its opening. That means ticket prices will be $4 for adults and $2.50 for children 3-12 and seniors 60 and up. IMAX films showing at the theater include Dinosaurs Alive!, Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs and Deep Sea.

Buy tickets here.

War movies are tough. But when they're good, they bring home the sacrifice on the ground like nothing else.

Beaufort, nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2008 Academy Awards, won four Israeli film awards for its unflinching portrayal of a 22-year-old Israeli outpost commander and his troops, who fight hard to occupy a fortress inside the Lebanon border, only to be told afterwards to destroy and leave the place.

This Dallas premiere continues the International Jewish Film Festival of Dallas Saturday at 9 p.m. at the Angelika Plano. Tickets $10 in advance, $12 at the door. 214-739-2737.

She's Jewish, he's Muslim and their baby will be what? Check it out when the 12th Annual Jewish Film Festival of Dallas continues with the Dallas premiere of Bad Faith, a 2006 French comedy with its own unique Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? moments tonight at 7 p.m. at the Studio Movie Grill Dallas.

The couple is easy on the eyes, too. Cécile De France, who won the best actress Étoile d'Or prize co-stars with Roshdy Zem, who also wrote and directed the movie. Tickets are available online, at the Aaron Family JCC, by phone at 214-739-2737 or at the theater one hour before showtime.

The 12th Annual International Jewish Film Festival continues with Secrets tonight at 8 p.m. at the Angelika in Plano. And boy, does this film live up to its title. It begins quietly as the story of a very serious, very observant young Jewish woman who wants a little more time to study at a religious school before marrying the rabbinical student selected by her father.

Then as she learns secrets about a rebellious roommate and a poor and emotionally needy woman near her school, she discovers secrets in herself that make her question who she is, what she wants and what she had previously thought of as right and wrong.

This one is for adults only, with some nudity and gay themes. If anyone sees it, I'd love to know what you think. It was nominated for eight Israeli film awards. $10 in advance at 214-739-2731 or www.jccdallas.org, $12 at the door.

First it was Mike Modano in The Mighty Ducks. Now recently acquired Sean Avery hits the big screen. Well, sort of.

From Reuters/Hollywood Reporter:

New Line Cinema will presumably answer that question in a romantic comedy feature about professional hockey player Sean Avery's experiences as an intern at the fashion bible Vogue.

A member of the NHL's New York Rangers at the time of the internship, he has since signed with the Dallas Stars. He told The Hollywood Reporter he's always been a fashionista. "I was always trying to be the best-dressed kid in school," he said.

Continue reading at Reuters.com.

Exit Speed, an action movie filmed primarely in Coppell and Carrollton, will have its red carpet debut Tuesday night at the Studio Movie Grill on Centrail Expressway and Royal Lane. Walking the carpet will be cast members of the film including Lea Thompson, plus Bob Hudgins of the Texas Film Commission and Janis Burkland of the Dallas Film Commission. The film was produced by Sally Helppie, a Dallas lawyer who is president of Sabbatical Pictures.

Such an embarrassment of Jewish film riches. Just two nights before the 12th Annual International Jewish Film Festival opens with the affecting Sixty Six, a story inspired by a real-life bar mitzvah, 3 Stars Cinema is presenting a different kind of story, Praying with Lior. It's an award-winning documentary about a boy with Down syndrome and his journey to study for his bar mitzvah.

It's a one-night only showing Thursday, Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. at the Angelika Film Center. Tickets are $9 and are available here.

Finding it hard to resist belting out "The Winner Takes It All" or dancing to "Dancing Queen" with Meryl Streep at Mamma Mia!? Resistance is futile and actually detrimental at a new sing-along version of the hit movie opening Aug. 29 at AMC NorthPark and Cinemark Legacy in Plano.

It's part of a limited national release for this cleverly plotted cornucopia of ABBA songs, boisterously performed on a lush Greek island and which despite the scoffing remarks of some (mostly males, ahem!), has already scored more than $320 million worldwide.

Cool thing is, with the words on the screen, you don't have even brush up on the lyrics (as if you didn't know them all). Well, that takes care of our plans for Labor Day weekend...

And if you will be away for Labor Day weekend, look here to find out your closest sing-along location.

I.O.U.S.A., a documentary that inspects the financial troubles facing the country, officially opens on Friday, but a special presentation of the film will be shown Thursday. After the screening, a panel discussion featuring Warren Buffett and other financial leaders will be shown via satellite. All screenings will be held at 7 p.m.; for a list of participating theaters, go to www.fathomevents.com.

Over on the Dallas City Hall Blog, Dave Levinthal has an interesting post on the topic. Dallas Film Commission director Janis Burklund suggests that the two venues would make great places to blow up in a movie.

Ping Pong Playa, which I wrote about in yesterday's paper, opened the Asian Film Festival of Dallas on Thursday night at the Magnolia Theatre. Afterward, everyone headed across McKinney Ave. to The Fish for a little opening night revelry.
In town for the event was Jimmy Tsai, who plays the lead role, C-Dub, in the film. To watch him on screen, you'd never know that it was his first film, or that he's not even an actor by trade. His primary job is serving as an accountant for Cherry Sky films, which produced Ping Pong Playa.
As you might expect from someone making a jump like that, he was bathed in a very happy to be there glow last night, happily mingling with festival goers and posing for pictures. It looked like a gig he could get used to.
"I'm mostly a behind-the-scenes guy," he told me last night at the party. "But if something else in front of the camera comes along, I'd be crazy not to pursue it."
If Ping Pong Playa does well when it is released in September, those offers may come knocking.

Support? System Down, a documentary exploring the short comings of the country's child-support system, will screen Thursday night at the Angelika Film Center in Plano (7205 Bishop Road). Following the film, audience members are encouraged to stay and discuss the topic further. Tickets are $8; for more information on the film, go to www.supportthemovie.com.

Landmark Theatres Film Club is offering a little extra incentive to sign up by the end of the month. Anyone who wants to take part in the free club -- basically an e-mail blast of screening information, filmmaker appearances, etc. at the Inwood and Magnolia Theatres -- will be entered into a drawing to receive CDs, DVDs, books, movie passes, stuff like that. You can register for the club here. At the very least, you'll know what's going on at those theaters.

There's still time to enter the Angelika Film Center's Baghead contest. Contestants can enter a photo or video of the most creative baghead, either you or someone else, to angelikasubmissions@gmail.com by 11:59 p.m. Thurs., Aug. 7.

First places snags $100 in Angelika Cinemoney and a spot on the Angelika Blog. Second and third place get $50 and $25 in Cinemoney, respectively. (Cinemoney can be redeemed for movie tickets and concessions.) Wanna know more? Visit www.angelikablog.com.

Baghead, which opens Friday, is a tongue-in-cheek horror story that centers on a stalker who inflicts terror by lurking around in a brown paper bag.

Fifteen Dallas teens had a week to cast, produce, shoot and edit Saturday, their entry in Samsung Mobile's Fresh Films contest. The script and music were created by teen winners from separate competitions.

Watch the video: Trailer promotes Dallas teens' entry

Read the story

Watch the films at Fresh-Films.com

CLICK HERE TO VOTE at Fresh-Films.com. Voting ends at 3 pm.m. Wednesday.

The film department at The Art Institute of Dallas will hold its third annual student short film festival on Tuesday. The films are the product of a five-day student video race, in which each three- to five-member team wrote, shot and edited their five-minute film. The only boundary was that they had to use the same prop, line of dialogue, theme and location for the film. The films will show beginning at 6 p.m. at the new Studio Movie Grill at Central and Royal Lane, with an awards ceremony to follow.

The Angelika Dallas and the Video Association of Dallas are pairing up Thursday night for a special screening of The Puffy Chair, the feature debut from writer-director duo Mark and Jay Duplass. The comedy, which screens at 7:30, centers on a a man's cross-country mission to deliver his father's birthday present, the title chair.
Before the film, the Duplass Brothers' short This is John will screen. The 8 minute film, about a man trying to record the perfect outgoing message on his answering machine, put the filmmaking brothers on the map when it earned a place in the Sundance Film Festival
I talked to Video Association of Dallas head honcho Bart Weiss this afternoon, and he had high praise for the short, saying it goes to show that you don't need high-tech production value to make a good film -- sometimes simple is best.
So why all the hubub about the Duplass Brothers? Their latest film, Baghead, hits the Angelika on Aug. 8. To get ready for its arrival, the Angelika is holding a baghead contest, looking for the most creative baghead. The winner gets $100 worth of Angelika Cinemoney. Entries must be submitted to angelikasubmissions@gmail.com by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, August 7.

The Omni Theater reopens Saturday, Aug. 9, with three films: Dinosaurs Alive!, Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs and Deep Sea. Museum members can preview Dinosaurs Alive! on Aug. 8 during Members-Only Day.

Get tickets beginning August 1 online at fortworthmuseum.org, by phone at 817-255-9540 or at the box office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Ticket prices are $7 for adults; $6 for children (ages 3-12) and seniors (60 and older). Admission is free to Museum Discovery Plus Members and $2 off for Museum Discovery Members.

Magnolia at the Modern will present "Still Moving: Classic Films from MoMA," a wide-ranging film series curated from the 21,000 titles in New York's Museum of Modern Art, from Aug. 14-17 and 21-24.
The series kicks off Aug. 14 with Street Angel from 1928 and will show 14 films over its two-weekend run. Other films that caught my eye are His Girl Friday (Aug. 17), The Boy with Green Hair (Aug. 24) and On the Waterfront (Aug. 23). The series focuses on films from 1928-54; a complete schedule can be found here. Guest speakers and other events tied to the series will be announced later.
Overall, it looks like a good chance for a lot of us who haven't seen some of these classics on the big screen to take a look.

If you had plans to catch either Gunnin' for that # 1 Spot or Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, better make like the wind. Both of them will play through Thursday before leaving local screens. Chris Vognar really liked Gunnin' (he said so himself in this review). Of course, he is a basketball nut of unnatural proportions. Meanwhile, Gonzo scored 86 percent positive reviews over at Rotten Tomatoes and is directed by no less than this year's Oscar winner for documentary filmmaking, Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side).
So if you are a fan of the doc, you may want to make it over to the Dallas Angelika (for Gunnin') or the Magnolia (for Gonzo) by Thursday night, lest you have to wait for the DVD.

Tired of waiting in that line at the Dallas Angelika that can stretch all the way to Margarita Ranch? Starting today, you have another option. The Angelika Film Centers in Dallas and Plano have partnered with online ticket seller Fandango to sell advanced tickets to Angelika shows. To purchase the tickets, go to fandango.com or call 1-800-Fandango. Then you can skip the lines by picking up your tickets from kiosks located inside the theaters.

If you're having trouble getting a ticket to The Dark Knight (I know a lot of you are), you can at least see his car on Friday. The Batman "Tumbler" car will be at the Cinemark Imax theater (LBJ @ Webb Chapel) from 1-4 p.m. I doubt they'll let anyone drive it, but if it's any consolation, that thing must get horrible gas mileage.

The Dallas Video Festival is experimenting with its format for its 21st edition, going with two series instead of its traditional four-day run.
The first series, called The Program, will feature video art and begin July 26. It continues for five consecutive Saturday evenings (times vary) at Conduit Gallery, 1626 Hi Line Drive.
The formal festival will run Oct. 3-5 at the Angelika Film Center at Mockingbird Station (5321 E. Mockingbird Lane) and will show the usual wide assortment of video programming from around the world that the festival is known for.
For more information, go to www.videofest.org.

What goes on inside Eddie Murphy's head? Find out Wednesday as a 15-foot-tall explorable version of it will make an appearance outside Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The event is part of the Meet Dave tour, publicizing the movie in which Mr. Murphy plays a human-shaped spaceship piloted by tiny aliens. The head will be parked on Nolan Ryan Parkway before the Rangers game with the Atlanta Braves beginning at 4:30 p.m. Admission is free (though you'll have to pay to park).

If you didn't make it out to the AFI Dallas International Film Festival this spring, the organization is offering a second chance to see its best films.
AFI Dallas will begin a four-week series on Thursday that showcases the "Best of the Fest." The free event will take place each week at the Studio Movie Grill in Dallas at Royal Lane and Central Expressway. Audience members will have the chance to enter a drawing for a variety of prizes, including passes to the 2009 festival.
Thursday's screenings include:
Fields of Fuel -- The winner of the Current Energy Earth Friendly Award, this documentary looks at U.S. dependence on foreign oil and offers a plan to solve the problem. 5:30 p.m.
Amal -- When a rickshaw operator in New Delhi allows a man to skip his fare, both of their lives are changed. 7:30 p.m.
Shorts winners -- Winners of the festival's shorts program screen. 9:30 p.m.
For more information, go to www.afidallas.com.

The e-mails began circulating last Wednesday. An invitation was being sent to anyone who wished to join the audience of a new TV talk show being taped in the Dallas area that night. The precise address was on International Parkway in Carrollton, near Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano. Anyone who agreed to participate would get $40. So, I told my 23-year-old son about it. Ted recently moved to Dallas and is looking for a job. Soon after he got there, he thought he recognized the host, who, in his words, was trying hard to provoke people. My son now believes the so-called talk show host was none other than Sacha Baron Cohen, who must have been filming a new movie. (Please click below to read more!)

Photo: Sacha Baron Cohen during his Borat period