One of the great perks about working out of the Alamo Drafthouse's next door hangout spot The Highball between SXSW films? Listening to the dynamic stylings of Cuban-born musician CuCu Diamantes during her soundcheck on the back room stage. The Grammy-nominated singer is in town with a pseudo-doc/fiction film in which she stars as herself, filmed with live concert footage; just listening to her rehearse bumped Amor Cronico onto my want-to-see list. Trailer after the jump!
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Three days into SXSW and the biggest winner so far has been Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard’s geek-pleasing meta-horror pic Cabin in the Woods, which Lionsgate releases in April. But also in town in search of a SXSW buzz bump is Lionsgate/Summit's Ethan Hawke-starring haunted house pic Sinister, which debuted as a “secret screening” Saturday night – not the most spectacular secret title possible, especially in contrast to hopeful speculation for a sneak Avengers or Hunger Games debut, and not entirely secret, but fine enough.
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Last night at SXSW, Broken Lizard alum Jay Chandrasekhar debuted his latest comedy, The Babymakers, which features Olivia Munn as a woman whose not-so-potent husband (Paul Schneider) breaks into a sperm bank to retrieve his own, um, donations so they can get pregnant. Given the film's balls-out embracing of sex jokes and a subplot concerning racy photographs, one could view those recent hacked photos of Munn in provocative poses as brilliantly conceived viral marketing, a fact that hasn't escaped Chandrasekhar. He offered Movieline his two cents on the matter with a nod to Munn's own recently-released photo response.
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Filmmaking brothers David and Nathan Zellner (Goliath) tackle the isolation and discovery of childhood in Kid-Thing, a naturalist East Texas-set fable about Annie (Sydney Aguirre), a lonely ten-year-old tomboy who discovers a mystery woman at the bottom of a well while playing by herself one day in the woods. Lending her distinctive voice to the proceedings is Oscar-nominated cult actress Susan Tyrrell (Forbidden Zone, Cry-Baby, Fat City) as the woman in the well, who may or may not be real – or harmless. Movieline spoke with Tyrrell and the Zellner bros. about their Sundance, Berlin, and SXSW selection, which screens in Austin today.
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It's too rare that we get to bring the tunes around here, so Movieline is extra-pleased to debut three songs from the soundtrack to the SXSW premiere Daylight Savings — all featuring singer/songwriter (not to mention the film's leading man) Goh Nakamura.
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Talking about Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard’s savvy and surprising genre deconstruction Cabin in the Woods, the opening night film of SXSW 2012, is a tricky thing partly because nobody involved wants any part of the film spoiled for their opening weekend audience and also, more importantly, because those surprises really are best left discovered by virgin eyes. So rest assured: All spoilery plot details, character developments, casting choices, kills, and surprises that follow in this piece have been redacted for the preservation of discovery, leaving only all the vital bits of information up for discussion. Like, after filming in 2009 and being delayed for so long that star Chris Hemsworth is now kind of famous, is Cabin in the Woods actually any good?
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Each year SXSW plays host to a slate of risk-taking fare of all kinds, from true indie offerings to upcoming studio releases geared to a slightly more open crowd, and the 2012 film line-up features no shortage of movies poised to earn that precious film festival commodity: Positive buzz. But some projects have more at stake than others -- say, Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard's long-awaited Cabin in the Woods, Will Ferrell's Spanish-language comedy Casa de mi Padre, or the directorial debut of actor Matthew Lillard. On the eve of SXSW 2012 (which runs March 9-17 in Austin, Texas), check out the ten SXSW titles with the most to prove going into their festival debuts.
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While some marketing efforts demand a close read, others allow no margin for misundertanding what they are, where they come from, or what they portend. Take writer-director Jordan Roberts's comedy Frankie Go Boom, which premieres this weekend at South By Southwest with arguably the best tagline of any festival film in history and the promise of Ron Perlman in full transgender mode. Get your first look at the poster — and a tagline translation — after the jump.
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SXSW routinely boasts the most varied and neverending film line-up of the year, and the just-announced 2012 behemoth of a roster is no exception. So let's make it a wee bit easier to take in, shall we? After the jump find the buzzworthiest titles among the 100+ features and documentaries debuting this March in Austin, from major upcoming studio peeks (21 Jump Street) to docs (a new Jessica Yu!) and much smaller (but potentially completely awesome) fare.
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After debuting to geek enthusiasm at Butt-Numb-a-Thon in December, Joss Whedon's long-awaited Cabin in the Woods will have its official world premiere at SXSW 2012 this March, the festival announced today. Also on deck to headline the film portion of the annual Austin conference are Jonas Akerlund's Small Apartments, Kevin MacDonald's music documentary Marley, and Lena Dunham's post-Tiny Furniture, Judd Apatow-produced HBO series GIRLS, which will preview its first three episodes. More details after the jump.
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Brit Marling studied economics at Georgetown and might have been an environmental activist or banker in another life if she hadn't answered the siren call of Los Angeles and moved west to risk it all as an actor. And what a payoff: having co-written, produced, and starred in two critically acclaimed films at Sundance (the sci-fi romance Another Earth and the wonderfully hard-to-define cult drama Sound of My Voice), Marling's smack dab in the middle of her well-deserved breakout moment. Movieline caught up with Marling at SXSW to discuss borderline illegal guerrilla filmmaking tricks, taking professional risks, and avoiding the "morally-corrupt swamp" that is Hollywood.
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When Harmony Korine's short film Umshini Wam screened alongside the latest from Korean filmmaker Park Chan-Wook (Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Thirst) at SXSW, both efforts had an unproven element to unveil. For Korine, the wild cards were his stars, the South African hip-hop act Die Antwoord. But for Park, it was something even more groundbreaking: he filmed the mystical, spiritual ghost story Night Fishing entirely using the iPhone 4.
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The psycho-sexual anthology Little Deaths made a minor splash at SXSW as the Serbian Film of this year's fest, leaving many searching for the film most analogous to Ben Wheatley's even better-loved SXFantastic buzz film Kill List. But while parallels to previous SXSW hits like Monsters and Wheatley's own Down Terrace have been drawn, another entry from last year's festival circuit instead comes to mind: Yorgos Lanthimos' crazypants domestic drama Dogtooth.
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Evan Glodell's nihilist love story/vengeance tale Bellflower is a dangerous piece of must-see American indie filmmaking for Mad Max fans and, in a way, the same crowd who can't wait to see Quentin Dupieux's killer tire flick Rubber. After premiering at Sundance, where Oscilliscope snapped it up for a summer 2011 release, Bellflower blazed a diesel-fueled trail through SXSW treating attendees to a glimpse of the heavily modified Buick Skylark that Glodell transformed into the flame-throwing beast known as the Mother Medusa.
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"We need to keep it gangsta and take our sh*t to the next level," pleads Die Antwoord rapper Yo-Landi to Ninja, her partner in crime in the Harmony Korine-directed short Umshini Wam. And just how do the South African zef hip-hoppers do just that? By pimping out their wheelchair rides, shooting guns in empty suburban parking lots, smoking comically large joints, and dreaming of life as "Gang$ta number one." Watch the entirety of Umshini Wam (translation: 'Bring me my machine gun') after the jump.
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