Archive for the ‘Film’ Category

The Latino Cultural Center is offering two free screenings.
2600 Live Oak St. Dallas, TX 75204
www.dallasculture.org/latinocc

El Topo
Saturday, October 18, 2008
2:00 PM
Admission: FREE to the public

The gunfighter El Topo (”The Mole”) and his young son ride through a desert to a village, whose inhabitants have been massacred. Bandits are nearby, torturing and killing the survivors. Directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky (1970). This film has English subtitles, is rated NR and lasts 124 mins.

Frida Naturaleza Vida
Saturday, October 25, 2008
2:00 PM
Admission: FREE to the public

This film is a chronicle of painter Frida Kahlo, and her encounter with the personalities of her time. Despite being confied to a wheelchair as a result of polio, operations and amputations, she faces and traces some of the most colorful and controversial aspects of Mexican history. Directed by Paul Leduc (1984). This film has English subtitles, is not rated and lasts 108 mins.

Check out the free digital screenings of classic films at The Magnolia Theater in West Village, courtesy of Turner Classic Movies.

The Magnolia Theatre
West Village
3699 McKinney Ave.
214.520.0098

Admission is free.
Tickets will be available at the
Box Office on the day of the screening.
www.landmarktheatres.com

Thursday 10/16 9:00pm
The Thief of Bagdad
United Artists / 1940 / 105 minutes
Directed by Ludwig Berger
starring Conrad Veidt and Sabu

Wednesday 10/22 7:00pm
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
RKO / 1939 / 116 minutes
Directed by William Dieterle
starring Charles Laughton

Tuesday 10/28 7:00pm
Sunset Boulevard
Paramount / 1950 / 110 minutes
Directed by Billy WIlder
starring William Holden and Gloria Swanson

Frank Campagna from Kettle Art Gallery in Deep Ellum is promoting the “Max Payne” movie.

I know you want to meet Mark Wahlberg and Ludacris, stars of the upcoming feature, they will be at the Door promoting the new flick at 5pm tonight.

ACHTUNG: Do not call him Marky Mark, he does not dig it!

The Angelika Film Center is offering you the chance to win $100 in Cinemoney just for being creative with your grocery bag!

BAGHEAD, a witty, tongue-in-cheek horror story from PUFFY CHAIR writer-director duo Mark and Jay Duplass, centers on a stalker whose favorite method of enforcing terror is no more complicated than lurking around with a brown paper bag covering his face.

The folks at Angelika think that there is genius in simplicity, and that said, have launched their very own Baghead contest.

They are basically looking for a photo or video of the most creative Baghead you can think of. Wear one to work, shop at the grocery store, recite a poem about your groceries - whatever you want to do. Just remember, they can’t be held responsible for any less-than-desirable reactions!

Send your submissions to angelikasubmissions@gmail.com by 11:59pm on Thursday, August 7th for a chance to win, and become an Angelika blog star! (Albeit, if you’re following the contest rules, no one will know who you are…) And oh yeah…the winners will be selected by the Duplass brothers themselves!

It’s a well known fact that when the economy gets tight, coupon usage and efforts to save money increase.

So the ever festive Entertainment Book which is crammed full of savings, is now FREE for Dallas 2008 - all the coupons are valid at least through 1 November 2008. They do charge a $4.99 shipping fee but you would have paid that anyway had you bought the book at the original price of $25.

This also gives you access to their website where you can find even more cost savings on everything from food to films to personal services like manicures and dry cleaning.

You will also need to agree to buy the 2009 book at full value ($25). Just use a couple of the 2-for-1 dinner coupons and the book pays for itself.

Note: This fantastic article about the legacy of the Dallas TV show is copyrighted and was written by Jake Batsell of The Dallas Morning News.

He hangs his hat almost 5,000 miles from Southfork, but Colin Hunter has rounded up a huge herd of fans still infatuated with Dallas.

Never mind that the iconic television show has been off the air since 1991. Each day, some 23,000 people visit UltimateDallas.com, the fan site Mr. Hunter produces out of his north London home.

“There are people from everywhere — Romania, Japan, the U.S., Indonesia,” Mr. Hunter, 36, said in a telephone interview. “We’ve got this whole new fan base, some people as young as 12 and 13.”

Three decades after J.R., Sue Ellen and company began bickering on prime-time TV, Dallas remains an unstoppable force in popular culture.

The show that epitomized American grandeur and greed during the Reagan years is still syndicated in dozens of countries. Southfork Ranch in Parker draws more than 300,000 visitors a year. Diehards and new fans devour episodes on DVDs and cable soap channels.

“Dallas is not a phenomenon of 30 years ago, but actually is continuing to bring in new viewers,” said Janet Staiger, curator of Dallas: Power & Passion on Primetime TV, a new exhibit at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin.

The exhibit, which runs through Sept. 14, chronicles how the show’s memorable characters, scandalous storylines and TV firsts — most notably the “Who shot J.R.?” cliffhanger — spawned a global juggernaut that continues to fascinate legions of fans.

Boosters of modern Dallas, meanwhile, often cringe at the show’s over-the-top stereotypes and the lingering perception that the city remains a mecca for big hair, 10-gallon hats and cutthroat capitalism.

“It’s a blessing and a curse,” said Phillip Jones, president and chief executive officer of the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The show’s persistent popularity makes it more challenging to promote Dallas as a progressive, ethnically diverse city with plentiful options for culture, dining and commerce, Mr. Jones said.

On the plus side, he said, “everywhere you go in the world, people know Dallas.”

“The curse is, everywhere you go in the world, people know Dallas from 30 years ago,” he said. “People think if they come to Dallas, they’re going to see J.R. Ewing walking down the street.”

First of its kind

When the show first aired on CBS in April 1978, Dallas chiefly was known as the site of the Kennedy assassination. The Dallas Cowboys, fresh off their second Super Bowl victory, weren’t even America’s Team yet.

Then came the TV series, which suddenly recast Dallas as a glitzy universe of shimmering skyscrapers, slick oil barons and gorgeous women clad in fur coats and showy jewelry.

“It was, of course, not a totally accurate image,” said Dr. Staiger, a professor of film and television studies at the University of Texas at Austin. “Not all women dress as beautifully as beautifully as Pamela Barnes and Sue Ellen did when they went to lunch. But it gave Dallas an image of richness.”

By the end of the second season in spring 1980, the show gave America its first prime-time cliffhanger when an unknown assailant gunned down J.R. Ewing in his office.

The scheming, sharp-tongued oilman — played by Fort Worth native Larry Hagman — had a long list of enemies. A prolonged actors strike forced fans to wait eight months before finding out the answer to the now-historic marketing slogan: “Who Shot J.R.?”

In November 1980, roughly 360 million viewers worldwide finally discovered who pulled the trigger. At the time, it was the most heavily watched event in television history.

The success of Dallas also elevated the soap-opera plot formula — serial narratives featuring multiple, intertwined story lines — into prime time.

“Now, you can hardly find a drama on prime-time that doesn’t have this format,” Dr. Staiger said.

The show inspired a crush of merchandise, some of which is on display at the Austin exhibit — puzzles, albums, even J.R. beer in pull-top cans.

Hollywood’s efforts to remake Dallas into a movie have sputtered. Janis Burklund, director of the Dallas Film Commission, said studio executives recently told her that the project is still alive but on hold as writers rework the script.

Actors still pleased

Susan Howard-Chrane accepts that her public persona will always be intertwined with her Dallas character, Donna Krebbs.

George W. Bush, then governor, appointed Ms. Howard-Chrane to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission in 1995. During her confirmation hearing, the room went silent when Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, accidentally called her Donna.

“It wasn’t any big deal,” said Ms. Howard-Chrane, a Boerne resident who now serves on the Texas Commission on the Arts and is still constantly recognized by Dallas fans.

“I am never offended by someone calling me Donna — ever,” she said.

Ms. Howard-Chrane said viewers kept tuning in to Dallas because they related to the personal stories of each character — a rare occurrence in today’s prime-time lineup of reality shows and crime dramas.

“It was probably the last of its kind,” she said. “It primarily was a show to entertain, and to showcase actors and pretty clothes and attractive people and relationships. It was entertainment. I think we’ve kind of gotten away from that.”

The show’s success surprised actor Steve Kanaly, who played Ray Krebbs, Donna’s husband and the Ewings’ ranch foreman. Mr. Kanaly, who now grows avocados and citrus crops in Ojai, Calif., said he expected a quick exit after filming the first five episodes.

“I never believed the show had a chance to be successful,” he said. “I did five shows with everybody and thought, ‘Well, this is great; it’s been fun working with you, see you later.’.”

In retrospect, Mr. Kanaly said, the show may have caught on because it provided an escape from real-world issues like inflation, unemployment and the Iran hostage crisis.

“There were a lot of negative things going on,” he said. “And then this show pops up that doesn’t have anything to do with anything except a bunch of rich people in Texas and their crazy, mixed-up lives.”

Worldwide reach

Shady deals, boozy carousing and messy family politics may have been off-putting to some, but the program showed the world that America was a land of big dreams, Cadillacs and swimming pools.

Just ask Tomas Spilacek. During a visit to Southfork last month, Mr. Spilacek remembered watching Dallas in communist Czechoslovakia 20 years ago.

“Every person was watching this movie because Dallas is like all life in the U.S.,” he said. “Over there, communism. Over here, Dallas. Every Saturday night watching this movie is beautiful.”

Sally Peavy, the ranch’s tourism sales manager, hears stories like that all the time. Roughly two-thirds of the visitors who show up to tour Southfork are international.

“I would’ve thought that maybe it would have died down by now,” Ms. Peavy said. “But it’s amazing to me that people are still intrigued about the show, want to come see it, want to come experience it.”

Colin Mallon, a Southfork visitor hailing from Kent in the United Kingdom, said he got hooked on Dallas in the 1980s because “the storyline was brilliant, had a good laugh in it. It’s just something that made you watch every week.”

“Some of the things that happened in the show were just kind of bizarre,” added Angie Green of Wapakoneta, Ohio. “You couldn’t wait until the next week to see what was going to happen with J.R. and Cliff and all the characters.”

Still holds up

On UltimateDallas, the Web site Mr. Hunter started with two friends in 1997, fans interview the show’s stars, debate old plot twists and answer poll questions like: “Which forbidden love would you have liked to see?”

Mr. Hunter runs the site and attached fan forum with help from fellow fans in London, Canada and the United States. He said interest in the show has endured because its human storylines held such universal appeal.

Viewers could relate to Bobby and J.R.’s sibling rivalry, Sue Ellen’s alcoholism, Pam’s insecurity about her inability to have children and the family squabbles between the Ewing and Barnes clans.

“It was a character-driven show in a way we don’t tend to get now,” Mr. Hunter said. “It still kind of holds up, even nowadays.”

This month’s Friday Night Late Night at the Dallas Museum of Art is TONITE June 20 and is based on the opening of the exhibition, The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy.

The schedule of events is as follows:
Late Nights at the Dallas Museum of Art presented by Starbucks Coffee
Friday, June 20
6:00 p.m.–midnight

Be transported to the roaring twenties as we celebrate the fabulous life of Sara and Gerald Murphy. Enjoy cocktails, tributes to Cole Porter, films, and more.

CONCERTS AND PERFORMANCES
Happy Hour featuring Bar Flair Demonstration
6:00–7:00 p.m., Atrium
Bar Flair Champion Ed Blake showcases his award-winning bartending skills while visitors enjoy signature cocktails such as the “juice of a few flowers” (Gerald Murphy’s original recipe). Cocktails available for purchase.

Performances in the Galleries
7:00 p.m.
A Reading of the Murphys’ Letters, Regan Adair & Jessica Turner, Level 2 Landing

9:00 p.m. & 11:00 p.m.
Cole Porter on Keyboard, Roger Boykin, Level 4 Landing

Late Night Main Stage featuring Trella Hart
8:00–9:00 p.m., Atrium
Trella Hart, one of Dallas’s finest song stylists, sings the music of Cole Porter, who was friends with Gerald Murphy.

Late Night After Hours with White Ghost Shivers
10:00–11:00 p.m., Atrium
Revel in music from the 1920s and 30s that mixes early jazz, vaudeville, ragtime, western swing, and hillbilly, performed by the White Ghost Shivers.

SPECIAL EVENTS
Dallas Observer Appearance
6:00–11:00 p.m., Concourse
Register for a Dallas Observer electronic subscription or e-mail blast and receive a great gift.

Late Night Open Mic
10:30–11:30 p.m., Theater, Center for Creative Connections
Hear Dallas’s hottest poets or share some of your own verses. Hosted by Tisha Crear of Reciprocity. Readings may contain adult themes and language. Spoken word performances only; no instruments allowed.

FILMS
Late Night Double Feature: The Philadelphia Story and High Society

The Philadelphia Story
8:00 p.m.
This film is not rated; 112 minutes.
High Society
10:00 p.m.
This film is not rated; 107 minutes.
Part of Sara and Gerald Murphy’s glittering circle of friends, playwright Philip Barry was inspired by the glamorous and leisurely life at Villa America, the Murphys’ home at Antibes. Enjoy the classic 1940 film adaptation of Barry’s play The Philadelphia Story, starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, followed by the 1956 musical film version, High Society, with Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra, featuring the music of Cole Porter.

TOURS
Making It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy
7:00 p.m., Meet at the main Visitor Services Desk
Tour the exhibition Making It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy with Scott Winterrowd, Assistant Curator of Education, Meadows Museum.

Insomniac Tour
9:00 p.m. Meet at the Visitor Services Desk
Tour the collections with the Dallas Museum of Art’s resident night owl, Director Bonnie Pitman.

FAMILY ACTIVITIES

Late Night Creations
6:00–10:00 p.m., Center for Creative Connections
Explore the exhibition Making It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy, and then come to the studio to create your own cut-out cubist collage!

Yoga for Kids!
6:30–7:00 p.m., Center for Creative Connections
Join our resident yogini, Michelle Mock, for meditation, relaxation, and some very pretzel-like poses.

Bedtime Stories with Arturo
7:30 p.m., Theater, Center for Creative Connections
Kids, wear your pajamas and bring your pillows to hear Bedtime Stories with Arturo, told by our award winning storyteller, Ann Marie Newman.
FOOD SERVICE, EVENTS, AND TASTINGS

Atrium Cafe
Food service until 11:00 p.m.
Bar service until 11:30 p.m.

Complimentary Starbucks Beverages
6:00–11:30 p.m., Atrium
Enjoy a tall Starbucks beverage of your choice.

Don’t Forget
Shop at the Museum Store and exhibition store for unique gifts and merchandise inspired by Making It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy

Become a member tonight and get in FREE!
• FREE admission for two when you join
• DISCOUNTS in the store and cafe
• Your $5.00 parking fee back (Museum garage parking only)
• FREE access to all Late Nights for a full year!
As a thank you for joining tonight, you’ll receive a special gift!

Save the Date for the next Late Night!
July 18
Kick off the closing weekend of Bluebonnets and Beyond with an evening of Texas music, family experiences, and country western dancing.