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SXSW Review: 'Cheap Thrills' Is Like 'The Hangover' Taken To An Absurdly Nihilistic Degree

  • By Drew Taylor
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  • March 18, 2013 8:00 PM
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  • 1 Comment
Reviews
It was only a matter of time before the recent hyper-raunchy comedy style exemplified by "The Hangover," would take a dark, seedily indie-movie turn. And that's what "Cheap Thrills," which was one of the few movies to acquire distribution at the South by Southwest Film Festival, really is: it's the hysterical, son-of-"Jackass" tomfoolery of "The Hanger" taken to an absurdly nihilistic degree. For the most part, it works, despite some tonal wobbliness, although it should be noted that "Cheap Thrills" is not for the squeamish or easily offended.
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More: Cheap Thrills, Pat Healy, David Koechner, Sara Paxton, South By Southwest Film Conference and Festival (SXSW), SXSW Film Festival, Reviews, Review

SXSW Doc Review Recap: Snoop Lion In 'Reincarnated,' Alex Winter's 'Downloaded' & More

  • By Drew Taylor
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  • March 18, 2013 7:48 PM
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  • 0 Comments
Reviews
If the South by Southwest Film Festival was burdened by anything this year, it was an abundance of quality documentaries. It seemed that, while the narrative side of things was surprisingly sparse (where was the "21 Jump Street" or "The Raid" of this year?), the documentary selection was stronger than ever – there were more buzzed-about entries than we had time for, quite frankly (sorry "Medora!"), and almost everything we saw impressed us to one degree or another. Here is a quick rundown of a handful of key SXSW documentaries – "Lunarcy!," about people obsessed with the moon; "Downloaded," which aims to be the definitive documentary about file sharing program Napster; "Twenty Feet from Stardom," which charts the history of pop music from the backup singers' point of view; "Reincarnated," about Snoop Dogg's transformation into reggae titan Snoop Lion; and "I Am Divine," about director John Waters' corpulent muse, cross-dressing sensation Divine.
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More: Downloaded, John Waters, Snoop Dogg, Reincarnated, Alex Winter, SXSW Film Festival, South By Southwest Film Conference and Festival (SXSW), Review, Reviews

SXSW Review: 'You're Next' Isn't Exactly A Next-Level Genre Triumph (But It's Still Pretty Fun)

  • By Drew Taylor
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  • March 18, 2013 2:19 PM
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  • 2 Comments
Reviews
When low budget horror movie "You're Next" premiered back at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, it received a rapturous response and set off a small scale buying war (Lionsgate, home to the "Hostel" and "Saw" franchises, and savior to Joss Whedon's marooned masterpiece "Cabin in the Woods," eventually won out). It played Austin's Fantastic Fest later that same month, to equally enthusiastic crowds and then…nothing. The movie is finally going to be released in August of this year, and in anticipation, the movie came back to Austin, this time for SXSW. And while it isn't quite the genre breakthrough many, at the time, were claiming it was (a prominent blogger provocatively asked if it was the next "Scream" -- it's not), it's still a fun, bloody, occasionally scary home invasion romp.
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More: Adam Wingard, Simon Barrett, SXSW Film Festival, South By Southwest Film Conference and Festival (SXSW), Review, Reviews, You're Next

SXSW Review: 'Milius' Is A Rousing Tribute To The Warrior Poet Of Mainstream Hollywood

  • By Drew Taylor
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  • March 17, 2013 1:26 PM
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  • 8 Comments
Reviews
In the opening moments of “Milius,” a hellzapoppin’ new documentary about John Milius, a genius tyrant and warrior poet of '70s and '80s mainstream Hollywood who wrote and directed testosterone-soaked epics like “Conan the Barbarian” and “Red Dawn,” Sam Elliott, in the same laid back butterscotch drawl he used to narrate the adventures of The Dude, sums up the filmmaker thusly: “He doesn’t write for women and he doesn’t write for pussies. He writes for men. Because he’s a man.” And as “Milius” (the documentary) elaborates on Milius (the man), this was his biggest strength and his greatest weakness – at some point the persona he fashioned for himself, festooned with his fondness for cigars, right wing politics, and guns, would become too much of a liability, ultimately leading to his undoing.
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More: John Milius, Milius, South By Southwest Film Conference and Festival (SXSW), SXSW Film Festival, Review

SXSW Review: VHS Doc 'Rewind This!' Is An Affectionate Tribute To A Bygone Era

  • By Cory Everett
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  • March 16, 2013 10:41 AM
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  • 8 Comments
Reviews
DVDs are filling up bargain bins everywhere, Blu-ray never really took off the way it was supposed to and digital streaming and downloads will soon usurp all physical media for film the way it has for the music industry. And though VHS remained in production as recently as a few years ago, it seems like it could require some kind of archeological dig to uncover these forgotten artifacts, so far removed are we now from them. That dig is part of what fuels the new documentary "Rewind This!," a love letter to the VHS cassette and the many wonderful and forgotten oddities it brought along with it.
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More: SXSW Film Festival, Reviews, South By Southwest Film Conference and Festival (SXSW)

Video: Gillian Jacobs & Ken Marino On Why ‘Milo’ Is Just “Good Butt Fun”

  • By Kristin McCracken
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  • March 15, 2013 12:40 PM
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  • 0 Comments
Interviews
Unfortunately, when we talked to Ken Marino at SXSW earlier this week, the “Veronica Mars” Kickstarter campaign had not yet been announced, so there’s no word yet on whether Vinnie Van Lowe will return for the movie, already greenlit for this summer. What did we talk about? Marino’s gross-out monster movie – he describes it as “good butt fun” – which premiered in Austin this week.
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More: Ken Marino, Gillian Jacobs, Milo, SXSW Film Festival, South By Southwest Film Conference and Festival (SXSW), Interviews, Interviews, Interviews

SXSW Review: 'I Give It A Year' Is A Woefully Inept Deconstruction Of Romantic Comedies

  • By Drew Taylor
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  • March 15, 2013 8:58 AM
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  • 2 Comments
Reviews
There's a certain amount of winky irreverence built into "I Give It A Year," based on its title alone, which is something that people snarl, usually at the weddings of people who they feel are fundamentally incompatible. The title suggests that, while it might appear to be a bouncy romantic comedy, it has some seriously acidic undertones. This sensation is solidified once you know that Dan Mazer, one of Sacha Baron Cohen's confederates and a co-writer on both "Borat" and "Bruno," wrote and directed "I Give It A Year." Maybe it's the "Cabin in the Woods" of romantic comedies – something that simultaneously deconstructs the genre while celebrating it (and ultimately elevating it to the next plateau). Unfortunately, "I Give It A Year" is a woefully inept, unfunny, unsexy romantic comedy that falls into all the pitfalls and clichés that it willingly tries to avoid.
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More: South By Southwest Film Conference and Festival (SXSW), SXSW Film Festival, I Give It A Year, Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Stephen Merchant , Minnie Driver, Simon Baker, Review

Video: Joe Swanberg Talks His "Breakthrough" Feature 'Drinking Buddies' Starring Olivia Wilde, Anna Kendrick & Jake Johnson

  • By Edward Davis
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  • March 14, 2013 6:27 PM
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  • 0 Comments
Interviews
Joe Swanberg, the indie director arguably responsible for the DIY aesthetic known as "mumblecore" (though don't fully blame him, he didn't coin the term) is the most prolific filmmaker alive. OK, maybe not quite, but since 2005, the filmmaker has made about 14 feature-length films. That's not quite an average of two films per year between 2005-2013, but it's close (and it doesn't even include the shorts he's made). His debut, "Kissing on the Mouth" kicked off this movement when it was heralded as a hit at SXSW and since then he's become known for micro-budgeted indies like "Hannah Takes The Stairs" (which helped launch Greta Gerwig's career), "Nights & Weekends" and "Alexander The Last."
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More: Joe Swanberg, Drinking Buddies, SXSW Film Festival, South By Southwest Film Conference and Festival (SXSW), Interviews, Interviews

Video: Brie Larson Talks 'Short Term 12,' Her Upcoming Bollywood Musical, Being SXSW's "It Girl" & More

  • By Edward Davis
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  • March 14, 2013 5:00 PM
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  • 3 Comments
Interviews
Brie Larson, the 23-year-old actress known for roles in "The United States of Tara," "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," and "21 Jump Street" is having a moment. In fact, she's been crowned the unofficial "It Girl" of the 2013 SXSW Film Festival by us and many others. Why exactly? She had (count 'em) four films at the festival this week. They include the Sundance hits "The Spectacular Now" and Joseph Gordon Levitt's directorial debut, "Don Jon," her second co-directed short film, "The Arm" and lastly, "Short Term 12," the movie which won SXSW's coveted top Grand Jury prize this week.
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More: Brie Larson, Short Term 12, SXSW Film Festival, South By Southwest Film Conference and Festival (SXSW), John Gallagher Jr

SXSW: Brie Larson Starring Drama 'Short Term 12' Wins Grand Jury Prize

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • March 13, 2013 9:02 AM
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  • 0 Comments
News
...and just like that it's all over. The ribs, beer, parties and oh yeah, movies, are put away until next year as the 2013 SXSW Film Festival has come to close. Last night, awards were handed out in Austin, with a number of films getting a boost as they leave Texas.
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More: Short Term 12, SXSW Film Festival, South By Southwest Film Conference and Festival (SXSW)

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