I'm going to do capsule writeups of whatever I can and plow through my backlog tonight at the hotel. This is absurdly late by my standards, but here goes. Screenwriter Scott Frank's directorial debut opened the 2007 South by Southwest Film Festival with a bang, literally and figuratively. Featuring moments that made me jump out of my seat and others that made me rest my hands on my palms and steady my gaze, this is a movie that really keeps you with it the whole way through. Joseph Gordon-Levitt isn't just a face on the poster, he really headlines this movie and shows impressive levels of nuance that tons of actors of any age (not just others in their mid-twenties) should be jealous of, and that's no understatement. The Lookout follows Chris Pratt (Levitt), a young man who used to be the "big man on campus", but following a car accident, is left a shadow of his former self, socially awkward and unable to properly sequence his daily life. He lives with Jeff Daniels, a wisecracking blind man who is much more than that simple description can communicate. Chris works as a janitor at a bank and falls in with some shady people led by Matthew Goode, last seen by many as the uppercrust brother of Emily Mortimer in Match Point. Goode plays a dark, hard-edged guy in this film, and gets past thug stereotypes to present a bad guy who has given himself over to the wrong side of the tracks. Isla Fisher shows up as a young woman who admired Chris during his glory days as a varsity hockey player and runs in the wrong circles, though she may or may not be aware of that fact. The Lookout is a heist movie, but unlike a number of the ones we've seen in the last decade, moves along at a steady clip and drops in its big bangs right where you aren't set to expect them. Levitt's performance is one of my favorites of the festival, showing no shred of pretentious mugging or desire to crowd out the actors or scene that surrounds him. Levitt turns in a distinctly "un-Hollywood" performance that truly shows us a young man who thought he was mighty, but has fallen a long way...so far that he may never recover unless he can summon the necessary resolve from within to make his life better. He gives us this broken person (who he must see in various incarnations in the industry around him) with such authenticity that it would be a shame to miss this very well-made film if only for his performance. Beyond the ever-sharpening (makes him sound more deadly) Levitt, lots of people are going to be talking about Jeff Daniels' companion/live-in roommate character stealing the show, and he does in a lot of places. You're probably going to see some morons out there going on about "Funnyman Jeff Daniels sends me rolling again", and though he cracks the jokes and makes you want to shoot the shit with a "cool guy" like him, he does some really delicate, tender work here that acts as a great reminder of just how fucking good he is at what he does. Regardless of what you know Jeff Daniels from, whether it's that Farrelly Brothers movie everybody saw, or Fifth of July, or some other humbling, powerful piece he did in the theatre, you've gotta respect what he does here and the fact he chose to do this flick, and he chose it for a reason. The script is solid, the people are good at what they do, and barely anyone even tries to do what Sydney Pollack has said you have to do: "make good movies". I like very much when screenwriters "go hyphenate" and direct (as in this case), because you get meaty, fleshed-out characters and in Frank's case here, a great example of how to really make a movie that surprises people. It would be a shame for you to miss one of the smartest films of 2007 thus far by any stretch, especially because of the forgettable, disposable, not-worth-recycling pieces of shit coming out the same day as The Lookout.

I'll post a more complete writeup in the morning, but this will have to suffice for now: The Lookout is excellent, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt has his first mall cinema-distributed, typecast-defying role. Good night indeed.

Finally arrived in Texas (way later than anticipated). Gonna catch The Lookout at 9 and probably call it a night after that. Elsewhere Ally Joe Leydon's on a panel, I find...more developments as I find them in The Book.

Ashley and I leave for Texas soon, and before we even arrive, comes word of an advance screening of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie with the director in attendance, limited to a select number of passes. My younger brother Eddie and I spent many, many hours of our childhood glued to the cartoon and movies, so as unsophisticated as it may sound, I'm incredibly excited to see this, if only for the nostalgia. Say what you want, your childhood years are sacred, no matter what you had marketed at you

If Sondheim signed off, then that's the only blessing I need to trust the potential of his performance. I never know what's going to come from a Burtonization. Generally, I love his films, but I have so much affection for the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, I'm cautiously optimistic and will probably be there opening day.

Ashley and I will be attending SXSW 2007 this year, representing Hollywood Elsewhere in all its Eddie Murphy-dogging, Munich-taking-down glory (that was sarcasm). We'll be there most of the week this year, technically through closing night, but we'll see how weary we are by then. Opening night is The Lookout, directed by Scott Frank, the screenwriter of Out of Sight, Get Shorty, and Minority Report (go to hell, I liked it). The Ain't It Cool dudes have Disturbia going a couple hours earlier a few blocks away at the Alamo Drafthouse, and it'll be tough making both. It's a rough choice, but I'm probably gonna go with The Lookout in the end. If you're going, drop me an email. I'll say this: if I don't get to hear Scott Weinberg trash something in current release that's utterly horrible, I won't have had fun. Below are the films screening that I'm interested in at this point. I'm sure I'm missing some, and I haven't looked at everything, but these all look like I could theoretically see them all: The Lookout* Disturbia* Running With Arnold Steal a Pencil for Me Flakes The Ten* Manufacturing Dissent (which I may see familiar people in...I'll detail this when I write it up) The Prisoner, Or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair What Would Jesus Buy? Blackbird Knocked Up* Scott Walker: 30 Century Man Confessions of a Superhero Undead or Alive: A Zombedy 638 Ways to Kill Castro A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar... Reign Over Me* Bella Elvis & Annabelle I'm a Cyborg, but That's OK* (probably won't happen) * = denotes movies there's only one shot to see Also...we're driving it.

Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella to remake The Lives of Others in English with the producing might of the Weinsteins. Is it me, or does anyone else wonder what the point of doing a Nazi German....wait wait. They're going to set it during in Cold War Russia or something, aren't they? Apparently the deal isn't done yet, but...how odd.

One of the featured players in last year's most frightening horror film, Jesus Camp, Former Reverend Ted Haggard, also former President of the National Association of Evangelicals has finally emerged a "completely heterosexual" man after a rehab stint in Arizona.

What would you say if I told you that no one has ever made a film dedicated to the composer of musicals Guys & Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, or the man who wrote "Heart and Soul" or "Baby It's Cold Outside"? First off, I bet you didn't know the same man wrote all of the above along with many more songs that remain old standbys, including "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition". After seven years of exhaustive work and research, Producer/Director Walter Gottlieb has delivered Heart & Soul: The Life and Music of Frank Loesser, a comprehensive documentary about the composer and lyricist currently airing on (some) PBS stations nationwide (more on that later). Other notices I read about the doc before seeing it criticize an assertion I don't think is in there: that the filmmakers portray Frank as some sort of undiscovered talent. I think what they're going for is that Frank Loesser touched musical pop culture in many more ways than many people, even his fans, have imagined. The doc itself is primarily composed of interviews with everyone who he touched or touched him: original and revival cast members of his Broadway shows (Matthew Broderick and Charles Nelson Reilly among others), both of his wives, and his children, along with many, many more. The anecdotes are plentiful, so much so that their original cut came in just shy of three hours. Loesser was never the easiest man to work with, and wasn't always pleasant, but his work lives on indelibly not only in the frequent productions of his shows by regional, community and school theatres, but in the countless up-and-coming artistes his work has inspired. One of the most prominent (and probably surprising to some) among them, is Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz. To hear the librettists of Singin in the Rain (Comden & Green) and The Pajama Game (Richard Adler) talk about his mentoring them in the same 90 minutes as the guy who composed uber-budgeted new-school Wicked going on about how crucially influential Loesser was is fascinating in itself. A few favorites include one story about Frank slapping the taste out of a principal actress's mouth still make me chuckle, thinking about how that among other encounters with talent would have spurned copious lawsuits had they happened a few decades later. Charles Nelson Reilly's story about his experience as a member of the original cast of How to Succeed is enjoyable, which he goes into further detail on in the DVD supplements. Based on what I saw in The Life of Reilly at last year's South by Southwest, I'm sure Charles gave them about 6 hours of material to cut from (all of which would have been useable, more than likely). The frank (no pun intended) discussion of Loesser's personal life is a little sugarcoated, as one would expect, coming from the mouths of his wife and children, but none of his significant skeletons are completely ignored, from his tendency toward (at the most tame) verbal mistreatment of loved ones to serious anger control issues. Speaking of anger...for as long as I can remember, I've personally wondered what kind of relationship Loesser had with Brando, both of them known for being demanding and difficult, and especially mercurial. Surprisingly, they evidently got along great, Loesser coaching Brando as a singer the whole way through. This brings me to the elephant on Loesser's resume: Guys & Dolls. Working as a theatre actor, I lose count of how many times I've heard "oh, not another production of Guys & Dolls" or something to that effect. I admit a preference of Sondheim and Jason Robert Brown to Disney's Broadway, but I also admit an equal love for Guys & Dolls that makes me shake my head when someone groans the above. The thing is, it's still a good (great, to me) show. It's full of memorable characters and beautiful songs that make it worth pulling out the movie every once in a while (and I stand by the movie, regardless of what people say of Brando) or going and seeing a solid live production. Though pulled from the Age of Anti-Feminism...ahem, The Golden Age...it features assertive female leads that don't fall prey to what we see in musicals like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, where the Weak-Willed Woman stereotype is alive and submissive. The brainless waifs and "dancing girls" along with other un-feminized types you find in other shows from the same era are indeed found here and elsewhere in Loesser's work, but the way he writes lyrics for them is something I'm not sure Broadway "got" until his shows were revived. The women don't just have a couple of lovelorn ballads and duets to look pretty singing, they have some upbeat stuff with which to assert themselves. Well, except for the original act II opener for How to Succeed, "Cinderella Darling"...don't Cinderella Darling, don't turn down the Prince... got replaced with a female version of the titlular song in the revival... ...but I digress. Watching this documentary brought back all sorts of memories for me, as I'm sure it would for many fans of musical theatre. I've performed in a production of H2$, and the first musical I ever saw live was a local production of Guys & Dolls back in Texas. I sang "Heart & Soul" for a choral competition in middle school, and Ashley and I both have a deep affection for "Baby It's Cold Outside". I have to admit bias going in because I liked what I knew about him. The documentary itself, however, opens up a breadth of knowledge I would never have come across, short of doing an extremely thorough job researching him myself. Clips from the first full production of Senor Discretion Himself and the 50th Anniversary of Guys & Dolls accompany the interviews and few instances of "re-enactment" and completes a very intricate picture of the legacy of a great artist. Anyone teaching Music Theatre History or a comparable subject would do well to show this to their class, as they would certainly learn more seeing this before or after Guys & Dolls than they would seeing the movie by itself and listening (sleeping or skipping) through a lecture. The biggest problem I have with the film is one that is not the fault of the filmmakers. They've crafted a documentary for public TV that manages to cover a lot of ground in under two hours on one of the most influential composers in American history, but no one's getting to see it on TV. I don't know why our local station hasn't (yet?) aired this, but the greater Tallahassee area is missing out as a result. I suppose station management assumed not many people would care about a well-made documentary in a city full of patrons of the arts, but speaking as a board member of Tallahassee Little Theatre, Loesser isn't "uninteresting" enough to stop us from adding Guys & Dolls to our 2008 season, because we did. Oddly enough, in TLT's nearly 60 year history, we've never produced a single production of this show since 1949. Without the limited clout of an online film writer, I wouldn't have gotten a chance to see this movie as an ordinary resident of Tallahassee (who also happens to donate to his local PBS station). WFSU is one of many stations across the country that is choosing not to carry the program, even though if you look at the website, it's popping up in big cities like NYC, Dallas, Denver and Phoenix, but also in smaller cities like Topeka, Bowling Green (Ohio and Kentucky), Chattanooga, and...Gainesville, FL! Editor's Note: According to the producer, most (90% of) PBS markets will get to see the film, but it'll be the 60-minute cut-down version. I stand by no one getting to see it, relatively speaking, due to the limited airings. Your most likely shot at seeing this if you haven't seen it yet, to me, is buying a DVD. It'd be nice to see it air in a few more cities or repeat-air...but that's just me. You can snag a copy of the DVD on their website. The disc features some excellent interview material that was understandably cut for time. All of the additional footage is worth a look, and the commentary is informative on how much work it really takes to complete a documentary made for public TV (did I mention it took 7 years?). Like I said, anybody teaching related material owes it to their students (whatever the age) to show this. It was especially touching to see some of the last interviews given by participants like Cy Feurer and Betty Comden, which I'd almost forgotten noticing until Walter Gottlieb (the director) brought it up on the comment track. Gottlieb also laments the struggle to find decent elements on some of the older films that they used clips from (they eventually did), and reveals that a Where's Charley? DVD is finally on the way sometime soon, which is good news indeed. Film preservation is a good thing, folks. Buy catalog titles like this instead of the latest straight-to-DVD aberration. Give it a look if it's on your local station, and if you're in the mood to make some station programmers' heads explode, bug them to put it on the air. If Topeka gets to see it, so should you. No offense to Topeka, my mother's from Kansas, and it's a lovely state.

I've seen a couple of direct-to-DVD movies, one worthwhile if you like animated superhero stuff, and yet another laughable Disney franchise sequel. Where to begin, really. The Invincible Iron Man or Cinderella III: A Twist in Time? I have to pick the biggest train wreck, and guess which one that is? To preface, one lazy afternoon a friend and I gave in and watched a Disney straight to video sequel. My younger brother is autistic, and he is an obsessive collector of various things. One of those things happens to be the Disney video library. The straight-to-video sequels of The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, and so on are so bad in so many ways, it is truly remarkable. Morbid curiosity turned into a bad habit, and I've been hooked to bad Disney sequels as if to black tar heroin: they can cause nothing but pain and suffering, but you can't stop once you get started. Under some miraculous circumstance, I have seen the third entry in the Cinderella series, coming straight to DVD within the next couple of weeks. The short verdict is: it's cringe-inducing and horrible. If your morbid curiosity matches mine, the guy who sacrificed his time to it willingly, then read on. Apparently Cinderella II: Dreams Come True was a failed TV series-turned "DVD movie", featuring "episodes" cobbled together as a sorry excuse for an anthology story about Cinderella's first days after getting married to Prince Prince (I call him that since he is still without a name). One of the mice gets turned into a human, Cinderella has trouble adjusting, and her wicked stepsister gets to find a love of her own. [As a side note, this is similar to how Cruel Intentions 2 came into existence. It was to be the pilot for a series called Manchester Prep, itself a TV series stretching-out of the movie, which then had some gratuitous nudity and language added so it could be a "movie". I can only imagine how much better Cinderella 2: Cinderelly Gone Wild could have sold.] Aw. I wish all this nonsense had ended there, but it didn't. Not only did we need this third entry, it disregards the already shoddy continuity of the first craptastic "sequel". We open on the 1-year anniversary of Cinderella and Prince Princestein's wedding, and boy howdy is the wicked stepfamily up to their old tricks again. Mysteriously, whichever stepsister found true love the last time Disney wanted to make a buck is without her man. Golly, it's like it never happened. Cinderella and Prince vonPrince dance around in the forest, with Old Lady Bippitty Boppitty (Fairy Godmother) doing all sorts of magic as everyone sings and dances around the CGI. Somehow, Anastasia (the redheaded stepsister) finds them and sees that the reason Cinderella was able to get her hands on Mr. McPrince was thanks to that wand and Bippitty Boppitty Boo-ing. So she steals the wand and Wicked delaStepmother uses it to turn back time so that Anastasia can marry O'Princey. Here begins the greatest overuse of a catchphrase ever, the result being you never want to hear "Bippitty Boppitty Boo" again after seeing this. How is it that the Wicked Stepfamily are the only ones who retain their knowledge of the future, you ask? How does the frozen-in-stone Fairy Godmother no longer appear in The Past? Silly rabbit! Remember what movie we're talking about here! So, Mr. Prince is BippittyBoppittyBooed into thinking he danced with the annoying redhead at the ball instead of Blondie McPerfectgirl, who he no longer recognizes. Apparently, touching her hand makes him sort of kind of remember who she is. The Very Special Disney Lesson: nothing stops true love, not even evil devil magic, just hold hands and everything will be all right. Cinderella and the mice almost succeed stealing the wand from the Stepfolks, but alas Cinderella is captured by guards and banished (emphasis on the -ed, like in Shakespeare). She is sent to a ship that will take her Far Farther Away, but wait--the hench-mice sing a song explaining everything to El Prince Muy Macho! After calling for the guards, he rides off on his noble steed to save her, but the ship has just left port! Zounds! Not to be so easily beaten, MC Princealot spies a lighthouse on a cliff that conveniently hangs over where the ship is headed! Will he make it in time? Will he be thrown off his horse directly in the path of the ship, and then, grab hold of a swinging rope, which then in turn allows him to snag the main sail with his knife and then plop down right in front of Cinderella so that he can ask: Prince: [reeking with cheese] "Remember me?" ...and then embrace her lovingly? Ahem. Not to be outdone, the villains have teleported away from the guards that were sicced on them, and Evil Stepmommy has a plan! She makes Anastasia look exactly like Cinderella to trick Princerelli! You thought they couldn't use every cheap fairy tale princess cliche, but they did and more! In the end, we get a standard "Villain Thinks Better of Their Choice to Betray the Heroine" resolution and everyone who should be is happy. Do they undo all of the continuity-bending of the original film's timeline to restore the sanctity of the original classic? Oh, dear reader, I hope you know the answer already. The voice cast does an excellent job with bad dialogue on top of the scripting, and they certainly can't be blamed for a movie that they were probably contractually indentured to doing. In all seriousness, as much as I enjoy the idea of continuing the adventures of beloved characters and fantasy worlds, this crap has to stop. I love Reba McEntire, but snagging her was not reason enough to make The Fox and the Hound 2 (review forthcoming). I'd rather see Disney spend time and resources into properly restoring and releasing their classic catalogue to DVD than this, but money is money. The "25th Anniversary" edition of The Fox and the Hound is cropped square from the original widescreen master (and muddy/unrestored as I've seen a "restored classic"). The sound mix on Mary Poppins, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid "Special Editions" is actually inferior to the original no-frills DVD releases of them all. Hopefully as this last (I hope) wave of the Eisner profiteering era at Disney makes its way out the door, the John Lasseter (Mr. Pixar, and the new head of animation) era can rectify some of the glaring omissions we've seen from this company. In the meantime, we can look forward to The Little Mermaid III, set chronologically before the first film, coming to DVD early in 2008. And yes, I'm serious, it's real. The ads are on the Mermaid DVD I shouldn't have bought. Iron Man is quite good, but this has taken a lot out of me, so I'll write it up over the weekend.

A cinema in Illinois is refusing to screen Stomp the Yard as a result of violence breaking out following a screening of Black Christmas a few weeks ago that was allegedly between some black patrons. Not only is Black Christmas a horror film with no principal (if any at all) characters who are black, but the owner of the chain refers to his African American customers as "that crowd". He also think he can just wait a few weeks "until interest dies down".

In one of the biggest news stories of today, football (soccer as it should be called if you don't want to get punted by most Americans) megastar David Beckham has signed with MLS' L.A. Galaxy in a five-year deal. Will this raise the profile of pro soccer in the States? I hope so...I'm tired of Digital Cable/Satellite being the only place you can reliably watch matches.

Meryl Streep is headlining the film of the ABBA-scored musical Mamma Mia!. I was never too interested in the musical because it sounded like the main character of Muriel's Wedding (as played by Toni Collette) came up with it while on a wicked drug trip.

Alan Cumming is off the market.

CHUD's Devin Faraci gets Peter Bart and good. That's what happens when you diss new media and your old media writers rip off someone else's story to the point of paraphrasing it down to the humor. As a result, it reads like a snootier, less-witty Devin instead of whoever the drone is who wrote Variety's "version" of the story.

The unstoppable machine that is CHUD's Devin Faraci has just posted a very interesting piece on We Are Marshall director McG.

The AP's David Germain with a sharp, to-the-point piece on the road back to the ring for Stallone's Rocky Balboa.

The AP's Christy Lemire has posted her list of 2006's best and worst in film. Lemire stands out in two respects: one, her review of Wong Kar-Wai's 2046 (one of the very best movies I saw that year) was one of the most even-handed I read, and two, she's one of the easiest journalists on the eye at unshaven male-friendly film festivals. I agree on some of the points in her gimmicky list, but some of it bugs me enough to write about it. To be precise, nobody takes a cheap shot at Rocky Balboa. "Most ill-advised reprise of an iconic role: Tie between Sharon Stone, "Basic Instinct 2," and Sylvester Stallone, "Rocky Balboa." Has Christy seen Rocky Balboa yet, or is she dismissing it out of hand as many have, sight-unseen? She lists Sly as tied with...yeesh Sharon "Basic Instinct 2" Stone for "Most ill-advised reprise of an iconic role". Are we calling Sharon's vagina iconic, really? Just as big and tough and inspiring as Balboa? I don't think so. I believe in Rocky and Stallone. Will Smith might have edged him in the "rebuilding your life" publicity department this year, but I'd bet money RB pays off just as well in a slightly different way than Happyness. "Best sex scene: The entire opening sequence of "Shortbus" _ because they're really doing it." Haven't seen it yet, but this reminds me that onscreen, non-simulated sex is all the rage these days. It's the new shaky-cam. Then again, multiple actors over the years have been quoted saying a lot more real sex exists on film than has been reported openly. "Biggest waste of Scarlett Johansson: "A Good Woman." So, Home Alone 3's Scarlett Johansson is the next Bacall/Hepburn/de Havilland? I worry about the implication that she's the next great thing. "Best excuse for a good cry: "Lassie" I just yesterday recommended a woman get this movie, sight unseen, for $20 at Target instead of a double feature of Sky High and The Pacifier for a total of $20. Any publicists wanna send me a screener so I can actually watch it, endorse it, and spread the good word? Kudos for putting a mention of this in here, Ms. Lemire. "Guy with the most movies: Hugh Jackman ("X-Men: The Last Stand," "Scoop," "The Prestige," "Flushed Away," "The Fountain," "Happy Feet")." Let's give Jackman a rousing notice for bucking the trend and doing a pile of excellent movies and excellent individual performances. I refer to The Prestige, The Fountain, and Happy Feet as whole movies, and all of the above listed for strong performances. Take a look at her whole list, which is commentary and cheap shot snarking more than hard-hitting journalism. You'll see tons more of these from today through around Oscar time. As for my list, I've got a lot of movies to see before I compile a Best of 2006. I'll add Year in the Rearview featurettes as they come...

Reader Jose Hernandez fixes an error in my post from last Thursday: "If i remember correctly, recently, Soderbergh was nominated for best director for Traffic and Erin Brockovich at the same time, he won for Traffic, and sure that it has happened in the past.". Good point. I can't believe I forgot that. Regardless of the fact that it could theoretically happen, I still don't see double noms for Eastwood and DiCaprio come OscarTime.

Circuit City has a deal this week catering to their "urban consumer demographic". If you buy any of the DVDs specially-priced at $7.49 you get a Dreamgirls lithograph. All titles are listed after the jump, but in short...a bunch of movies featuring black folks plus Minority Report, A Night at the Roxbury, Saturday Night Fever, School of Rock, and American Beauty. Who makes these decisions? $7.49 each: (Circuit City Exclusive: Receive a Free limited edition Dreamgirls lithograph with purchase of any of these DVD listed in this section. Dreamgirls opens in theaters nationwide on Christmas Day. Lithograph available while supplies last. Minimum 50 per store) The Fighting Temptations Lady Sings The Blues The Warriors: Ultimate Director’s Cut A Night At The Roxbury Coach Carter Save The Last Dance: Special Collector’s Edition Saturday Night Fever School Of Rock The Manchurian Candidate (2004) The Original Kings Of Comedy The Honeymooners (2005) Minority Report American Beauty Coming To America Eddie Murphy: RAW A Vampire In Brooklyn Twisted Biker Boyz Collateral Jay-Z: Fade To Black