The Screening Room

Herewith the award winners for this year's VideoFest, with comments from the judges. Congrats, and spoils, to the victors.

Best feature documentary
Glass House
Hamid Rahmanian
With a virtually invisible camera, The Glass House takes us on a never-before-seen tour of the underclass of Iran. This groundbreaking documentary reflects a side of Iran few have access to. It introduces us to a group of courageous women working to instill a sense of empowerment and hope into the lives of otherwise discarded teenage girls.

Best Narrative short
Sleet Snow
Daniel Laabs
Casual acquaintances, Robert and Marian, travel to Odessa, TX to pick up a painting and along the way develop a unique relationship.

Best Comedy short
Start a Band
Daniel Laabs
Charlie and Becca have a boring relationship, so they decide to start a band.
Best Narrative feature
The Toe Tactic

Best experimental film
Dropping Furniture
Paul Horn, Harald Hund
What remains when nothing more remains and life is literally turned upside down? In this film, the furniture of an obviously old-fashioned, middle-class living room is disposed of, smashing on the floor, orchestrated by an echoing sound track synchronized with the decelerated image. Finally, the wreckage fills the room with the spreading waste of its own history.

Meta Media Award
Anders Østergaard
Burma VJ
Armed with video cameras, Burmese reporters expose the repressive regime controlling their country. In 2007, after decades of silence, Burma became headline news when peaceful Buddhist monks led a massive rebellion. Foreign news crews were banned, the Internet was shut down, and Burma was closed to the outside world. So how did we witness these events? Enter the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), aka the Burma VJs.

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?

I dig Paste magazine. It's hip without being hipper than thou, and the staff tends to have good tatse (meaning their interests coincide with mine). So peep Paste's tally of the Top 50 films of the decade (yeah it's about that time). No. 1: City of God. The rest? Keep reading.

The Couch Potato got so excited about this week's DVD releases that he wrote way over his allotted space. (Cursed newshole). Here's what got cut. Enjoy.

Gone but not forgotten

The best impressionists don't turn into carbon copies of their subjects; they take a trait or two and accentuate to hilarious proportions. That's what Will Ferrell does in You're Welcome America, his Tony-nominated one-man George W. Bush show captured for posterity by HBO.

Ferrell's Bush is the swaggering, eager-to-please frat boy more comfortable with bestowing jocular nicknames than conducting foreign policy. The anger of You're Welcome America -- and it's there if you look deep enough -- is wrapped snugly inside the comedian's art. And if you want a little bit of inexplicable full-frontal nudity, they got that, too. This is, after all, Will Ferrell.

Also this week

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 -- Underrated Tony Scott remake in standard and Blu-ray.

G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra -- The cobra rises. Filmmaking falls.

The Watchmen: Ultimate Blu-Ray -- Apparently even more ultimate than the previous Blu-ray.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Season One -- Love me some General Grievous.

Bela Fleck: Throw Down Your Heart -- Acclaimed documentary on the banjo maestro and the instrument's African folk traditions.

Twilight fans are getting another addition to the empire with news out today that a "family restaurant" called Volterra will open in Forks, Wash., where the vampire book and movie series is set.

So, now there's a TV show, a lounge, several homes on the Web and so on and so forth.

Turns out the folks in charge of opening this restaurant didn't check with another place called Volterra in Seattle. But owners Annette and Tim Root say that "Volterra" is just a working name.

Stay tuned.

(Photo of Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen and Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan by Kimberley French for Summit Entertainment)

Movie critic Chris Vognar is at the Austin Film Festival through Oct. 29. Follow him for updates at twitter.com/guidelivemovies.

Michael Jackson's This Is It opens at 11 p.m. Tuesday in area theaters, though the movie's official opening date is Wednesday. Tickets are widely available, including at www.thisisittickets.com and at individual theaters and movie Web sites such as Fandango.

The movie's running time is 1 hour and 51 minutes, for those of you wondering just how much of the reported 120 hours of footage made it onto the screen.

I'm sure the DVD will be ready for purchase during the holiday season. Aren't you?

So the marketing-savvy folks at Disney have unleashed a combo DVD/Blu-ray package edition of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. A few thoughts:

The film looks remarkably clear - almost too clear. There's something about the old-fashioned Disney animation style - 1937, in this case - that's a little jarring in Blu-ray. The line looks harder than ever; you half expect Her Fairness to jump of the screen and sing in your ear.

It is indeed a pioneering work of narrative feature-length animation: strong story arc, vivid characters, everything we would come to take for granted in animated movies.

Speaking of song: When I think back to the satiric slings and arrows hurled by Shrek, I think of Snow White. Spontaneous treacle abounds. This is one happy chick.

Finally: What's with the "fair" obsession? Why is the queen so color-conscious? Of course nine years later Disney would remove all subtext with Song of the South. Snow "White?" Hmmm. Better get Undercover Brother on the case. In the meantime, The Princess and the Frog await.

I've always had a thing for American movies of the '30s. The period is right up there with the early-to-mid '70s in terms of artistic creativity; the coming of sound and the turmoil of the Great Depression combined to yield some of the most bracing work to emerge from American pop culture. Now I've got an extra reason to indulge my habit. I'm almost done with Dancing in the Dark, Morris Dickstein's addictive cultural history of the Great Depression (which I'll be writing about soon in the DMN). So I've been staying up way too late digging into the world of '30s comedy, a field always worth revisiting.

Here are some more tidbits from Drew Barrymore's visit to Dallas. Her film Whip It opens today.

On Austin, the city where much of Whip It is set (though most of was it was shot in Michigan): "When I go to Austin I hang out on South Congress and go to the Alamo Draft House. I live for Waterloo Records. We did this thing at the bat bridge that got cut out. When we scouted it the bats came out but when we got there to shoot it was too late in the season and it was night time and then it became a night scene instead of a day scene and everything got screwed up. I have a real love and affinity for Texas in general but I'm, madly in love with Austin."

On roller derby: "The sport went through a lot of evolutions. It was fake and then it was staged, and then it became a competitive sport again. They started forming leagues, and the legend is that it re-ignited in Austin. A lot of the girls in the movie came from the roller derby world, including the doubles because we had to do second unit. I put the actresses through an intensive training camp because I think it's important that actors do their own stunts. The real players trained the actresses. We Worked a lot with the LA Derby Girls, and the Austin girls, and the Detroit girls. I've gotten to know a lot of derby girls."

On getting older and wiser: "When I was in my 20s I was obsessed with happy endings. Now, in my 30s, I just like a good day. I know life goes on. There is no ending except when we pass on to the other side. It's an ongoing process. Life is a beautiful 'dot dot dot' if you're lucky."

Want to meet up with some real roller derby vixens before seeing Drew Barrymore's Whip It tonight?

Well, skaters from the Assassination City Roller Derby will be at the Magnolia tonight. They'll be signing autographs and taking pictures.

They will also introduce the film for the 7:15 and the 9:50 shows.

The league is home to three teams -- the Deadly Kennedys, Lone Star Assassins and Bombshell Brigade -- and a travel team. They've named Barrymore "Motley Drew," in honor of the occasion.

(Photo by Darren Michaels/Fox Searchlight)

From The Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Michael Jackson is still playing to sellout crowds.

Advance screenings to the music documentary "Michael Jackson: This Is It" sold out within two hours early Sunday as fans who began lining up three days earlier snapped up all 3,000 tickets to the Los Angeles shows.

The documentary opens nationwide Oct. 28, but fans will get a sneak peek the night before in screenings at the new Regal Cinemas Stadium 14. For the theater's grand opening, the cinema will show "This Is It" on all 14 screens that night.

Directed by longtime Jackson collaborator Kenny Ortega, "This Is It" draws on hundreds of hours of footage as Jackson prepared for a series of London concerts for which he was rehearsing before his death on June 25.

Critic Stephen Holden wrote in The New York Times that The Age of Stupid, screening at 6:30 p.m. Monday as a one-night engagement in the United States and Canada, is a "frightening jeremiad about the effects of climate change."

The film features British actor Pete Postelthwaite (right) and is set in 2055. Postelthwaite plays an old man, an archivist, who's watching footage from 2008 while bemoaning the preventable damage done to the environment. Thus, it's what he calls "The Age of Stupid." You can see this film all over the Metroplex, including three screenings in Dallas: Cinemark 17; UA Galaxy Stadium 10; AMC NorthPark 15.

The filmmakers are doing their part by sending the movie via satellite from a "solar-powered cinema tent" in downtown New York City.

For more information, go to www.ageofstupid.net.

Joy Tipping reports in the Get Out There! calendar that Drew Barrymore will be in town tomorrow, rockin' the new blond bob with black tips, no doubt (I may be in the minority here, but I like the new 'do). Here's the scoop---

Whip It director-actress Drew Barrymore will make an appearance from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday (Sept. 16) at Urban Outfitters in Mockingbird Station. Members of the Dallas Derby Devils roller-derby league will also be on hand, and a DJ from "Kiss FM" KHKS-FM (106.1) will host the event. Wristbands for a meet-and-greet with Barrymore will be given out starting at 5:30. The movie, which opens Oct. 2, stars Barrymore, Ellen Page and Kristen Wiig as competitive skaters. 5331 E. Mockingbird Lane. Free. 214-821-4371. www.urbanoutfitters.com.

(The photo's from the Associated Press)

Really? They don't have even one Oscar betwixt the three of them? Lauren Bacall, Roger Corman and Gordon Willis will receive honorary Oscars at a gala to be held Nov. 14. Little Shop of Horrors has always been my favorite play, my favorite movie, with my favorite songs. I figured the Academy wouldn't see the genius there, but, really, you would've thought that with all the films that Bacall and Corman made that they would have at least stumbled on an Oscar. Really.

Bacall, Corman, Willis to get honorary Oscars
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Actress Lauren Bacall, producer-director Roger Corman and cinematographer Gordon Willis are the first Oscar winners of the season.
The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Thursday that the three will receive honorary Oscar statuettes.
Bacall made her screen debut with Humphrey Bogart in "To Have and Have Not" in 1944. She went on to star in more than 30 films, including such classics as "The Big Sleep" and "Key Largo." Corman has directed more than 50 films and produced more than 300 during his five-decade career, including "It Conquered the World" and "The Little Shop of Horrors (1960). Willis is a two-time Academy Award nominee for "Zelig" and "The Godfather, Part III."
The board also voted to present the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to producer-executive John Calley. His producing credits include "Postcards from the Edge," "The Remains of the Day," for which he earned a Best Picture Oscar nomination, "Closer" and "The Da Vinci Code."
All four awards will be presented at the Academy's inaugural Governors Awards gala event on Nov. 14 in Hollywood.

Well, well ... we have two offenders this week. Rumer Willis' star turn as a damsel in a bit of distress isn't going to get the critic treatment in time for opening night. Ah, well. We've got you covered until the review hits Guide Daily and dallasnews.com.

Sorority Row doesn't allow critics
By Robert W. Butler
The Kansas City Star
SORORITY ROW
Rated R
Time: 1:41
What is it? After one of them dies in a prank gone wrong, sorority sisters try to keep the death a secret ... but find themselves stalked by a murderous stranger.
Why didn't Summit Entertainment show it to critics? Hollywood has realized even positive reviews can't help exploitation efforts like this one.
What others are saying: "Boasting a welcome sense of tongue-in-cheek humor and girlsploitation heroics (all the product placements get a bit much, though), Sorority Row isn't just another brain-dead and bloodthirsty exercise in macabrely entertaining those who like to watch people die in gruesome, graphic ways," says EmpireOnline.co.uk.
Why we'd see it: There's a big shower scene, right?
Why we wouldn't: No-name director and cast don't inspire confidence.

(Photo by Michael Desmond/Summit Entertainment)

Tyler Perry, once again, isn't showing his latest movie to critics. We probably couldn't sway you one way or the other about his film anyway. But the headline on the explanation below says it all. So check Guide Daily and dallasnews.com on Saturday for a review.

I Can Do Bad All By Myself, without any help from critics
By Robert W. Butler
The Kansas City Star

TYLER PERRY'S I CAN DO BAD ALL BY MYSELF
Rated PG-13
Time: 1:53
What is it? Madea (writer/director Tyler Perry in full-bosom drag) practices tough love on miscreant kids, putting them in the hands of their aunt (Taraji P. Henson), a nightclub singer struggling to get her own life together.
Why didn't Lionsgate show it to the press? It's been several years since Perry has shown his work in advance.
Why we'd see it: Perry's work is hugely popular, and Bad looks to have his trademark blend of raunch and moral uplift -- with musical numbers, too (Mary J. Blige and Gladys Knight are in the cast).
Why we wouldn't: Seems to some of us that Perry keeps remaking the same movie.

(Photo of Taraji P. Henson from Lionsgate)

If you hurry, you can catch a wax figure of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine as it hits the Dallas stop on its five-city tour in anticipation of the Sept. 15 release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine on DVD and Blu-ray. The wax figure is at the Blockbuster Video at 3501 McKinney (McKinney and Lemmon) until 7 p.m.

If that's too much information too late, then you can wake up early tomorrow morning and head downtown to WFAA studios in Victory Park (3030 Olive St.). The wax figure will be there at 8:15 a.m. Sharp. (LOL ... I crack myself up!)

Tussauds spokesman Neil Linssen, who is also a sculptor and artist, is riding shotgun withthe statue. He'll talk about the sculpting process. The head of this particular figure took more than six weeks so that they could get an accurate likeness of Jackman.

I'll race you there! (And, um, yeah. That's the wax figure to your right ...)

The Toronto International Film Festival opened Thursday. In its 33rd year, the festival boasts 335 films from 64 countries. Creation, starring Paul Bettany and wife Jennifer Connelly as Mr. and Mrs. Charles Darwin, opens the 10-day fest.

Pull out your awards card and start taking notes: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' best picture, Slumdog Millionaire, won the People's Choice award at last year's edition.

Stars will be all over, and that includes the Queen of All Media, Oprah Winfrey, who will attend in support of Push, which is already garnering Oscar mention.

Follow movie critic Chris Vognar as he wades through the sea of celebrities (and their movies) @guidelivemovies and here at the Screening Room.

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