The Internet seems eerily quiet today, which is probably due to all the blog writers being miles above wifi signals, flying towards Austin for SXSW. Of course, there are some posts here and there discussing rumors about Jon Favreau directing The Avengers and continued commentary on Watchmen’s box office future and Joaquin Phoenix’s “brawl” in Miami, but there’s not much new news to get excited about.
So, I’ve decided to highlight some recent SXSW-related posts from other blogs in anticipation of the festival. I won’t be there this year, and the Bloggery posts will be taking a week off in order to let SpoutBlog focus on film reviews, interviews and other SXSW goodies, so this is my one chance to be a part of the SXSW fun, albeit from a very cold, very jealous perspective up here in NYC.
I wish everyone down in Austin a good time and, more importantly, a lot of good movies.
- Pop Candy’s Whitney Matheson, who is attending SXSW, but not the film portion, reminds us homebound movie lovers that we (and she) can watch SXSW films, including Joe Swanberg’s Alexander the Last, on IFC’s Festival Direct channel this week.
- Anne Thompson notifies us that we can also watch some of last year’s films on Hulu.
- Lewis Wallace at Underwire directs our attention to SXSW Bingo, which should be played by any of you down in Austin. Not only does it look fun, but you can actually win an Amazon Kindle 2. Please let us know if you do play so we may follow your gaming via Twitter.
- I also hope to hear about more film critic fights, though if the guys at Pajiba aren’t kidding, I may not have to worry:
There are several Southerners on staff. When we drink, some of us may get carried away by the atmosphere of our motherlands and start shit-kicking other movie bloggers. We apologize in advance (except for you, Harry Knowles. You had it coming).
- In honor of the festival’s attention to both film and music, The Screengrab will be taking a look at some favorite movies about music, any of which we should be able to rent in our respective neighborhoods. Here’s a bit from Andrew Osborne’s list, specifically his appreciation for Stop Making Sense:
I never got a chance to see David, Tina, Chris & Jerry play live — not all at the same time, anyway — but dancing in the aisles with dozens of fellow Head-heads during the classic concert film’s theatrical run was the next best thing…kinda like Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience without the special glasses and shitty music. Indeed, Demme makes his subjects pop off the screen without 3D technology, pyrotechnics or any of the usual rock-doc clichés: all he needed was a lamp, a big suit, a good shot list and one of the best rock bands of all time.
- And of course there will always be the reviews, from which we homebound film fans can find out what films to check out — if they ever make their way to our respective necks of the woods, that is. Michael Tully of Hammer to Nail gives us an interesting disclaimer for his site’s forthcoming reviews:
No contributor is allowed to write a review of a film that he or she worked on in any capacity.
However, if a writer genuinely responds to a film made by someone else on the HTN team, this is fair game.
We are here to primarily write about low-budget, under-the-radar films that might otherwise slip through the cracks, and to exclude a film from consideration for these tenuous reasons seems to betray the mission of our site. Our friendships with and connections to individuals within the indie film world shouldn’t be crosses to bear. If anything, they are proof that we are engaged and involved participants in this community. If you think this is all some incestuous circle jerk, read my review of Treeless Mountain or David Lowery’s review of Silent Light or Cullen Gallagher’s review of Billy the Kid.
We love movies, and we’re here to write about them.
Originally posted on:
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