good night, starlite

it was the second anniversary of our starlite cinema series tonight.

and it was a bit of a bittersweet experience. we put up the screen at the crestland arcadium for the last time tonight. the smiths are moving, so this wonderful location that has been home to so much cinematic fun for us will be no more. fittingly, we close up this shop as we hit a milestone and with a perfect title, robert altman's the long goodbye (1973). it was a beautiful night out and i couldn't think of a much better way to go out than with one of my absolute favorites. as long as we're feeling wistful let's take a look at what we've seen together this year:

seven samurai (1954)
the adventures of prince achmed (1926)
the thief of bagdad (1940)
m. hulot's holiday (1953)
rope (1948)
acrobatty bunny (1946)
mst3k: here comes the circus (1946)
la strada (1954)
night of the vampire (2006)
to die by your side (2011)
thirst (2009)
holiday for drumsticks (1949)
food (1992)
home for the holidays (1995)
rare exports: a christmas tale (2010)
the dentist (1932)
the barbershop (1933)
county hospital (1932)
mush and milk (1933)
it's a gift (1934)
the three inventors (1980)
l'atalante (1934)
slick hare (1947)
the big sleep (1946)
the long goodbye (1973)

once again, we circled the globe to bring the world of cinema to our little corner of texas. this time around we visited japan, germany, france, italy, korea, the czech republic and finland. we had our first kurosawa, fellini and hitchcock, plenty of looney tunes, classic slapstick, fairy tales, luminous romance, seasonal madness and more innovative animation. it was a great year.

we are going to take the month of may off so that the smiths can settle in to their new home and the band can go out to west texas to make our new record. in the meantime, we are going to mull over our options for keeping the tradition of starlite alive. chances are we are going to have to move indoors so a new name will probably be in order. other details we will figure out. we will definitely be back, though. we really love putting these on and starlite by any other name will be just as much fun. we'll keep you posted as soon as we work it all out. thanks to everyone who came to the arcadium all year and we hope to see you at the new spot!

hardboiled starlite

the first starlite cinema series installment of this spring is now in the books.

we kicked off our two-part walk down raymond chandler's dark alleys with howard hawks' the big sleep (1946). bogie and bacall (in addition to ray miland, the marx brothers and others) also made cameo appearances in our opener, the looney tunes short, slick hare (1947). it was a beautiful night under the stars for classic film and lauren, as usual, made it that much better with her culinary contributions. first, she started with mounds of fresh fruit.

next, she took that action to the grill.

and, as if that weren't enough, she made whipped cream, drizzled it all with honey and topped it with mint fresh from her garden. hardboiled detective stories and fresh, fire-grilled fruit makes for a fine way to spend a spring evening with friends, new and old. fellow paramount theatre devotee, giraldo barraza, dropped by. he writes the excellent blog, the united states of cinemerica, which everyone should check out, especially if you love the paramount like i do. on top of that, my friend liz, whom i haven't seen in the flesh in years, made it out, which i hope is a regular occurrence now that she lives in austin again. more film, more food, more friends - our motto as we approach our third year of doing these screenings.

speaking of milestones, we celebrate our second starlite anniversary with next month's screening. i always like to make these special so we are going to conclude our first two-part program with a film that is in the running for the movie i have seen more times than any other, robert altman's the long goodbye (1973).

we pick up with chandler's knight-errant detective with elliott gould playing him as if he has been in hibernation since the big sleep, waking up in the sun-dappled, early seventies los angeles that is now populated by yoga enthusiasts and two-bit hoods who are armchair pop psychologists. the list of things i love about this movie is long, and one day i will write a vital-graph piece all about it, but until then, join us on saturday, 4.28.12, at 8:30 p.m. to celebrate our anniversary and catch an underrated american classic. here is the facebook event page. feel free to rsvp there or just send me a note and i will make sure you get all the pertinent information. come early, come late, bring food, don't bring food. as long as we get to see your face it's o.k. with me.

starlite by lamplite

all this rain in the last 48 hours made our usual venue a little swampy so, for the first time, we moved starlite cinema series indoors. much like most things starlite, things worked out just like they ought to.

the inclement weather and other obligations also kept attendance down this time but even that worked out in our favor. it resulted in an evening of interesting conversation and a cozier atmosphere in which to take in a program of belated valentines. we started things off with michel ocelot's intricate papercut animation, the three inventors (1980), which we were able to enjoy that much more thanks to some translation help from lara wakefield and christophe borgnon. from there, we went on to our feature for the evening, jean vigo's l'atalante (1934), a film that may have benefited from the more intimate setting even more than i could have anticipated. in retrospect, it's a film that seems best shared in small groups, passed along like a confidence. a cool night, a fire in the hearth and one of world cinema's loveliest experiences - forget virginia, starlite is for lovers.

next month promises to be very exciting, as we are undertaking our first two-part program. in march we begin a journey into the hardboiled world of my favorite knight-errant private eye, philip marlowe, with howard hawks' the big sleep (1946).

bogart and bacall's chemistry is off the charts and raymond chandler's dialogue (with a script assist from william faulkner) is whip-smart and razor sharp. it is one of the undisputed classics of the genre and kicks off our first multi-installment program in style. we are going to slate this one for 3.24.12 to give everyone time to catch their breath after all the sxsw craziness. showtime will be at 7:30. here is the facebook event page if you'd like to rsvp there. if you need more info just let me know. part two of the marlowe double bill will coincide with our second anniversary screening in april and will feature one of my favorites of all time. hope you can make it to one or both.

having a field(s) day with starlite cinema

the january edition of starlite cinema is in the books and it was sorely needed.

let me tell you a little about why starlite cinema is so important to me and why i hope everyone can find the time to come out one of these evenings. it has been a difficult beginning to this new year. still in mourning for one friend, yesterday my friends and i lost another one. i keep thinking that someday soon we are going to wake up from this collective bad dream that has been 2012 so far and everything will be set right. i know a lot of people must be feeling similarly. i busy myself with work but that's not always enough and, as it goes when you lose someone, what you love about them and the void that is causing pain and grief are inextricably bound up in one another. it's sad and difficult to see the friends you have in common but, simultaneously, all you want to do is be there for whatever they need. i am a fairly solitary person, and it feels like that is only going to become more pronounced for the forseeable near future, but, in the wake of these terrible things, the thing that has made all of us feel a little bit better is how much everyone we know is coming together and helping each other. i read an interview with tom waits some years ago in which he mused about this life being a constant war between the light and the dark and the nagging suspicion that maybe the dark has just one more spear. well, as hard as these three weeks have been on everyone, at least it has shown me that that fear is unfounded. i have watched my friends pick each other up, lock arms and stare that dark right in the eye and the numbers are on our side. tonight was a perfect example of that.

knowing that these have been trying times, lauren went out of her way to find out what my most favorite dish is and to have that surprise on the stove when i arrived to start setting up for the screening tonight. it was one of those little things that means the world. she and stephen are always so gracious to us, sharing their home for these. this is more than that, though. your friends tell you they love you in all kinds of ways, some of the most important being just doing what they can to offer you simple comforts, a modicum of relief or just a place to set everything down for a little while. i appreciate it more than i can say. it will always be the best mushroom matar i have ever had. and, in typical above-and-beyond fashion, there was also blueberry pie and ice cream. in return, i offered an evening of some of my favorite things. our feature was the w.c. fields vehicle it's a gift (1934). since that's relatively short we also had a large program of two-reelers prior to the main attraction that included more fields in the dentist (1932) and the barbershop (1933), laurel and hardy's county hospital (1932) and the little rascals in mush and milk (1933), which includes this inimitable moment from tommy bond.

dear lord, that never fails to make me cry with laughter. these are the things that happen at starlite cinema. it's about so much more than watching movies. it's about being together, sharing moments that we're going to think about, with any luck, for the rest of our lives. i am fortunate to be rich with such friends. you should come spend these evenings with us, if you can.

our next program is going to be in mid-february and we will be screening jean vigo's luminous l'atalante (1934) in honor of valentine's day. this feverish romance is a milestone of french cinema, far ahead of its time. uncommonly sensuous and poetic, it was the last film vigo made in a career cut tragically short by tuberculosis. this also marks our first foray into high-definition projection so you will get a chance to see this film looking better than it has looked since 1934. our screening date is saturday, 2.18.12 at 7:30 p.m. you can rsvp via facebook here. if you're not facebook-enabled just get in touch and i will get you the particulars. i hope to see you there. until then, take care of one another.

season's greetings by starlite

what to our wondering eyes did appear tonight? starlite cinema series' christmas program, that's what!

we had a lot better weather this time around than we did last year. summer can be rough but it certainly is a nice trade off to be able to comfortably do these outdoor shows this late into december. in anticipation of st. nick's arrival, tonight we screened jalmari helander's rare exports: a christmas tale (2010) and the pair of shorts from 2003 and 2005 that spawned the feature. appropriately, lauren made ginger snaps with which to keep an army of homicidal father christmases at bay so we made it out alive and full of cookies. at starlite we keep things merry and bright year-round.

we will be back in late january to redeem a rain check from last year. in the time that we have been doing this we have had to cancel one show and shorten another, leaving us with a short list of films that we had to abandon. last january we had to cancel the program that included, among other things, norman z. mcleod's it's a gift (1934), a problem we are going to happily rectify next month.

what better way to ensure a great year than to begin it with the great man himself, w.c. fields? this is one of - maybe tops on the list - my all-time favorite comedies. it is relentlessly funny, filled with gags and bits of business that fields had honed to a razor's edge over a lifetime on the vaudeville circuit. he paid attention to language in a way that no comedian has done before or since and every aside and oath muttered under his breath is a victory for literate, beleaguered everymen, everywhere. combine that with an unerring instinct for physical comedy and you can't miss. if you like to laugh this is one you shouldn't miss. our program will begin at 7 p.m. on saturday, 1.21.12. here is the facebook event page if you would like to rsvp via that. if facebook is not an option, just let me know and i will get you the details. it would be great to have you there to kick off 2012 with us. upcoming screenings in the new year are going to include a return to france (of course) for valentine's day and spring is going to see our first two part program that spans march and april with one of my favorite cinematic gumshoes. lots of good times ahead. come and see.

starlite advisory: you'd better watch out

prepare for starlite cinema to deck your halls! our december program is going to feature a holiday confection unlike any you've seen before, jalmari helander's rare exports: a christmas tale (2010).

a group of finnish reindeer herders find their holiday disturbed, first by ominous, mysterious excavations on their mountain and then even more so by what the excavations have seemed to unleash upon the countryside. santa claus has come to town and has set his sights on the naughty. in the finest brothers grimm tradition, this digs back through centuries of christmas tradition (with nods to the pagan forebears they stole their ideas from) and unearths for us a most dangerous, blackly comic lump of coal. it's actually a feature-length expansion of a pair of short films from a few years ago. they will give you an idea of what sort of holiday cheer you have to look forward to. they aren't necessarily all that spoiler-ish. sort of apples and oranges to the feature film, if those apples and oranges were put in a sock so as not to leave bruises. enjoy!

the festivities begin at 7:30 p.m. on saturday, 12.17.11. here is the event page if you would like to rsvp there. if you're not facebook enabled and you would like to attend, just let me know. i will get you the pertinent information. we hope to see you there!

p.s. HE SEES YOU WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING!

thankfully, starlite

our hardy band of cinephiles reconvened this evening for this year's thanksgiving edition of the starlite cinema series.

it was an unseasonably warm (as if that exists in central texas anymore) evening for late november so it didn't feel as much like thanksgiving as it might have. the smiths didn't let that slow them down, though, as they made a batch of the best apple cider i have had in my life.

a beautiful evening, excellent company, the house full of the smell of apples, cinnamon, citrus, clove and nutmeg. what else do you need? movies, that's what. we started our program with the looney tunes cartoon, holiday for drumsticks (1949). then, in keeping with our gustatory theme, we took in a short from czech animator, and vitagraph favorite, jan svankmajer. for those of you unable to make it tonight, i can't show you the feature or make your house smell as good, but i can pass the short along. here, for your enjoyment, is svankmajer's food (1992)

we then moved on to our feature for the evening, jodie foster's home for the holidays (1995). we were fewer in number this time around, what with a lot of our friends being on the road, but a good time was still had by all. tonight also marked a milestone for us as it was exactly a year ago that lauren and stephen first opened their home to us, providing us with a perfect space in which to get together and watch films. thanks to everyone that comes out, we're always glad to see you, and happy anniversary to my partners in cinema!

i am putting together our late december program right now. expect to see that information in the next week or so. if you're not overwhelmed with holiday demands, or especially if you are, you should come by, relax and take in a movie with us. there's always room for one more.

starlite spooktacular

the starlite cinema series took it all the way up to the witching hour tonight with our halloween spook show.

tonight's program was a celebration of the undead, the bloodsucker. we started things off with a pair of animated shorts. first up was alê camargo's highly expressionistic night of the vampire (2006) followed by spike jonze and simon cahn's to die by your side (2011). for those of you that couldn't make it, here's a halloween treat for you.



then it was on to the feature, park chan-wook's thirst (2009). the stephens went above and beyond to get everyone into the spirit of this one. stephen orsak brought a delicious pot of traditional spicy korean soup. stephen smith, not to be outdone on his home turf, kicked it up a notch and added to the sanguinary delights with his own unique contribution.

it's not halloween unless a little blood is spilled. not to worry. he is alright. the pumpkin pie (with ginger snap crust!) that he and lauren made for us took some of the sting out of it. lauren also turned these tangerines into sweet li'l jack o'lanterns!

this is the kind of loving attention to detail that you find at every starlite screening. i'm very lucky to have the smiths as my partners in this endeavor. who else would be so willing to share their blood, sweat and citrus? check in with us next month as we bring you jodie foster's overlooked gem of a thanksgiving picture, home for the holidays (1995). as always, there will be a couple of surprises on the bill and it would be great to celebrate the beginning of the holiday season with you. the screening will be on saturday, 11.19.11 at 7:30 p.m. here's the event page if you'd like to rsvp there. if you're not facebook-enabled just let me know. i will get you the information. these screenings are always free and very casual. join us if you can.

starlite cinema series - halloween spook show

the return of october means the return of the starlite cinema series halloween spook show!

this is always the hardest bill for me to put together. i think about it all year. how do you decide which of your kids is your favorite? i mulled over themes, odd combinations and scoured the dark, musty corners of the internet looking for just the right tricks and treats until i had bats in my belfry. in the end, the bats won out. we are devoting our entire evening's programming to the cursed undead. our feature presentation is going to be park chan-wook's south korean import, thirst (2009).

it is the tale of a priest who is devoted in his service to his fellow man. his dedication compels him to participate in a deadly medical experiment which has two unfortunate side effects: one - it kills him. two - it infects him with the virus of vampirism. newly resurrected, he attempts to continue his ministrations only to find himself afflicted by strange and powerful new desires. a need for blood turns out to be the least troublesome one. posing more of a problem is his coveting of his neighbor's wife. they enter into an illicit affair and he reveals his true nature to her, which acts as the catalyst that frees her from the life of misery she has been silently suffering through, married to a simpleton, living like the family dog in her mother-in-law's house. what follows is a twisted take on the likes of the postman always rings twice (1946), replete with bloodsuckers. it has all the requisite noir elements - a fundamentally good man in the wrong place at the wrong time, done in by desire for a woman who, once unleashed, pays no heed to whom she destroys as long as it gets her what she desires. as much a meditation on the destructive nature of need as it is a standard horror film, it combines this walk down the dark end of the street with park's usual servings of sex, violence and left-field black comedy. it is beautifully shot as well. along with let the right one in (2008), it artfully demonstrates that there is still new territory to be staked out (hey-o!) in a film genre that is now over a century old.

showtime will be at 7:30 p.m. on saturday, 10.29.11. this is a little bit earlier than they have been lately, so plan accordingly. there will be a few preliminary entertainments as well, so come early and wear your best cape. here is the facebook event page if you would like to rsvp there. if you can't access that, let me know and i will get you the information. as always, these screenings are completely free and very casual. hope to see you there.

big top starlite

we had a beautiful night tonight for this month's starlite screening. lauren made perfect end-of-summer skewers of grilled fresh pineapple, strawberries and nectarines and our three ring extravaganza started with robert mckimson's looney tunes classic acrobatty bunny (1946), followed by mystery science theater bringing down the tent on the short here comes the circus (1946). our main attraction was federico fellini's la strada (1954).

giulietta masina's face has to be considered one of the greatest in cinema history, so expressive and odd and beautiful. it struck me this evening while watching the film how unfair and inaccurate it is that her character in this film is so often described as simple. i think the more appropriate word would be pure, an angel inhabiting the body of harpo marx. as always, it was great to share this with an audience and i am eternally grateful to my friends for being such thoughtful and attentive viewers. you guys are wonderful to share movies with. double thanks to lauren this evening for being worth two smiths all by herself!

i am still working on the halloween edition of starlite. if you know me, you know i have made and remade the lineup in my head about a thousand times by now. halloween is always my favorite and i promise an excellent double feature for the occasion. as soon as we can nail down a date and i can commit to a program i will make sure and post all the pertinent details here and on the facebook page. i look forward to seeing you guys there.

starlite under the big top

last night we held the last starlite cinema of what is officially summer. i hope the next one looks more like this.

ok, so maybe snow is out of the question, but give us a break. more than two straight months of triple digit temperatures is ridiculous. when the sun sets for movie time and it's still 95 degrees, and it feels like relief, things have gone too far. we forged bravely on, though, keeping it mercifully short this time around. in celebration of alfred hitchcock's birthday, we screened my favorite film of his, rope (1948). i have seen it countless times now and still find something new in it every time. i wish jimmy stewart was allowed to give vent to the darker aspects of his character more often. he never did better work than when hitchcock let him break out of that staid everyman bit and indulge in some minor key business. a good time was had by all and, as always, thanks to everyone who came and to stephen and lauren for the space to make it happen.

next month, we focus on life in the center ring with a program devoted to the circus. our feature presentation will be federico fellini's landmark, la strada (1954).

when i was a fresh-faced undergrad english major at oklahoma state, i took a film as literature class from a professor named leonard leff and it turned out to be a pivotal experience. the very first film i saw under his tutelage was la strada and, twenty-two years down the road, i remember it like it was yesterday. he showed me a vast new horizon, taught me how to read a film and provided me with the tools to dig as deep into the world of cinema as my meager abilities would allow. i owe him an inestimable debt for that. the very least i can do is pass it along and possibly provide that experience for someone else, so, in that spirit, we will be watching this jewel as the centerpiece of our late september program. it is the bridge from fellini's earlier, more neo-realist work to the later, more idiosyncratic and fanciful fables he would indulge in to varying degrees of success. it is the story of a brutish traveling strongman and the womanchild he purchases to act as his assistant as they take their paltry show on the road. it's a grim life, meandering through the barren italian countryside, putting on shows for practically no one, but giulietta masina is an undeniable light in that darkness. she takes the simple joy you find in the expression of the great cinematic clowns like chaplin and imbues it with such radiance that sometimes it is hard to believe. she is one of cinema's greatest faces. even her angelic simplicity is not enough, however, to stave off tragedy. come see the whole beautiful and sad thing unfold with us. there will be a couple of other circus-related visual treats and i have it on good authority that lauren will be working on a themed menu for the occasion as well. it is going to be a great night for children of all ages. here is the facebook event page if you would like to RSVP. hope to see you there.

p.s. while we're on the subject of leonard leff, and still in hitchcock's birthday month, i would be remiss if i didn't mention that, among other great books, my old professor has written the definitive study of hitchcock's complicated relationship with oft-times maniacal titan/producer, david o. selznick. no hitchcock enthusiast's bookshelf is complete without it.

starlite, with a hitch

the starlite cinema series returns to austin on saturday, 8.20.11!

we return from a lovely engagement in virginia just in time to celebrate alfred hitchcock's birthday. in honor of the master of suspense's 112th we are going to be screening what is probably my favorite, and most underrated, of his films, rope (1948).

two school chums, proponents of the nietzschean concept of the superman, decide to make their notion of the moral superiority of a select few into a concrete reality by murdering a friend. their perfect crime is a work of art, their hiding the body in a chest in that sits at the center of a dinner party is their most artistic flourish, their serving dinner from their friend's grave is the grisly signature on their masterpiece. not satisfied with pulling off the perfect crime, they invite the only man they think could understand their particular genius, their former schoolmaster, and engage in a taunting game of wits with him throughout the evening. based on patrick hamilton's play from from 1929, which, in turn, was based on the sensational leopold and loeb murder case in 1924, the film is hitchcock's boldest experiment in both theme and execution. it plays as one long continuous take, with only ten clever cuts in eighty minutes. the soundstage was a massive hive of activity, with the set walls on wheels so that prop department could constantly move them and the furniture around as the camera wove among them and the players to give the illusion of one uninterrupted piece. the backdrop of the manhattan penthouse was a marvel in and of itself - an exact miniature reproduction of 35 miles of skyline containing 8000 incandescent bulbs, 200 neon signs requiring 150 transformers and 26,000 feet of wire all perched among voluminous clouds made of spun glass. as audacious as it was technically, the subject matter was just as brazen. in 1948 you didn't often see, and by that i mean ever, homosexual lovers who had just committed a thrill killing arguing their moral superiority with america's everyman, jimmy stewart, with the corpse sitting ten feet away. i find it fascinating and i hope you will too. we're going to keep this one short and cross our fingers that the next time we convene the temperature will be more in our favor. can't wait for autumn. showtime is at 8:30 p.m. on saturday, 8.20.11. the facebook event page is here if you'd like to rsvp. if that's not an option, just get in touch with me and we'll get you there. as always, these shows are completely free. bring a lawn chair or blanket if you like and feel free to bring friends.

in preparation for september, i was looking back over the list of what we've shown in the past year and a half and was amazed to find no entries from either italy or sweden. that means no fellini, no bergman and on and on. regular starlite goers, or irregular, for that matter, where would you rather visit? feel free to weigh in either here or on the facebook page and i will begin rectifying this next month. see you soon.

starlite a go go: summer tour - mclean

the july installment of our starlite cinema series in austin was an impossibility, what with all the moving and traveling. we don't give up that easily, though. we just moved our shindig fifteen hundred miles or so down the road and put up our screen in mclean, virginia. last night we held a post-music screening of one of my favorites, and an essential summertime classic, jacques tati's m. hulot's holiday (1953).

one of the few physical comedies that doubles as art film, this never fails to put a smile on my face. it's the first of four films that tati made with the hulot character and it remains my favorite. tati trains his gently observant eye on france's middle class as they begin to emerge from the shadows of world war II and go in search of leisure and relaxation. he gradually, gracefully introduces us to a number of vacationers, waiters and proprietors and the cheerful hurricane that is hulot. i love this film for a number of reasons. the physical comedy in it is brilliant. hulot lurches his way through the film like a giant bungling bird, alternately wreaking havoc on the more uptight travelers and completely endearing himself to everyone else who doesn't take themselves so seriously. it is a precise and subtle pantomime that opts to invest in the small joke that establishes character, rather than an ever-growing series of gags scrambling to keep your attention by making each punch line bigger than the last. it is a patient film that is as interested in the quizzical look on someone's face as they try to tune in a radio as it is a sight gag. it lingers on people strolling as long as it does a pratfall. my favorite aspect of the film is tati's generosity with his comedy. where other silent clowns, from keaton to atkinson, make themselves the center of the action almost constantly, tati willingly and regularly relinquishes the spotlight to these other minor characters. some of his best bits occur in the background of a scene and he is often not present at all. it typifies the gentleness and compassion with which he treats the objects of this sweet satire. he never adopts a mocking tone. it is obvious from the first frame to the last that he has a deep affection for these characters and he never treats them with disrespect. it is a film that could not be made today, it seems, as the comedy of awkwardness has become so inextricably linked with the comedy of cruelty. it's a wonderful tonic for those ills and a perfect film to share on a summer night with a group of new friends.

many thanks to my bandmates for making room in our tour schedule to allow me to do this and i want to extend my deepest gratitude to my friend eric and the kind community of folks at the mutated red barn for both hosting our band and allowing me to share my love of cinema with them. i hope we get to do it again some time soon.

starlite cinema returns to austin in mid to late august to celebrate alfred hitchcock's birthday so stay tuned for that. details coming soon. until then, i hope your summer is as full of good friends, music and film as mine has been.

starlite on the go

our band, some say leland, will once again take to the highway this summer. in the last two weeks in july we will be headed to new hampshire and back again, playing sixteen shows along the way. last year this required the suspension of our starlite cinema series for a month. this year, i am taking it on the road!

in addition to playing shows, i will be screening films chosen to go with each particular location, given the time and the space to hang a screen. here is the rundown:

7.15.11 - dallas, texas; tender mercies (1983)
7.16.11 - memphis, tennessee: mystery train (1989)
7.17.11 - likely knoxville, tennessee: cat on a hot tin roof (1958), tennessee williams, see what i did there?
7.18.11 - thomas, west virginia: the night of the hunter (1955)
7.19.11 - mills point, west virginia: matewan (1987)
7.20.11 - long island, new york: jaws (1975)
7.21.11 - likely new york city: manhattan (1979)
7.22.11 - boston, ma: gone, baby, gone (2007)
7.23.11 - burlington, vermont: the trouble with harry (1955)
7.24.11 - lowell, ma: the friends of eddie coyle (1973)
7.25.11 - portsmouth, new hampshire: the devil and daniel webster (1941)
7.26.11 - likely washington, d.c.: mr. smith goes to washington (1939)
7.27.11 - greenville, south carolina: slither (2006)
7.28.11 - macon, georgia: the general (1926)
7.29.11 - lafayette, louisiana: hush...hush, sweet charlotte (1964)
7.30.11 - likely houston, texas: blood simple (1984)

fair warning: this is an extremely tentative schedule, at least as far as the movies go. some of these towns we'll only be in for a few hours at a time, so i am sure some of these will go by the wayside. that's just how it works out. i will try to do as many as i can, though, so if you're going to be in any of these places, come out and see us. if you've never heard what we do, here is a nice clip our friend, robert steel, shot for us a little while back.

looking forward to seeing your faces out there this summer.

starlite cinema series birthday bash

we ushered in the second year of our starlite cinema series tonight. happy birthday to us!

we've now been keeping the drive-in spirit alive since last may. in an effort to make things suitably epic, i wrote werner herzog a while back to invite him to our shindig. file under: you never know until you try. he sent me a very nice note politely informing me that he would be unable to attend. not to be dissuaded, we went epic anyway and all convened to watch akira kurosawa's seven samurai (1954).

it was a great way to start our second year because a) the film is flawless and b) wherever those guys go, it's a party. much birthday cake was consumed and we had ice cream courtesy of the fine folks at chozen and film movement, both of whom i heartily recommend. the sweltering texas afternoon heat gave way to a lovely, breezy evening and we had our best turnout yet. we really couldn't ask for more. thanks, as always, to the smiths for opening their home to all of us and thanks to everyone who came to share the movie.

the starlite summertime schedule is looking top notch, if i do say so myself. here is what we have to look forward to:

the program for late june is going to be 1001 nights in one, with two selections inspired by that timeless collection of stories. first up will be lotte reiniger's the adventures of prince achmed (1926).

it is a stunning, enthralling piece of silhouette animation. intricate and captivating, it is the oldest known surviving animated feature film and is like an hour-long trip inside the genie's lamp. you simply won't believe what someone was able to do with cardboard cutouts. it is astounding. the main feature of the evening is going to be michael powell, tim whelan and ludwig berger's the thief of bagdad (1940).

if you think you know jaffar because of disney, come see the real deal. it is a lavish technicolor sirocco.

in july the band will be on tour, so the austin edition will be suspended for a month. the good news, however, is that we are going to try to take starlite on the road. have projector, will travel. washington, d.c. looks like a distinct possibility, along with other tour stops. i am working right now to coordinate films with geographical locations. once the tour itinerary is completely set i will have a better idea about which days look like we can squeeze films into and in which cities that might happen. if you're coming to see us play you might get a free movie out of the deal, as well.

starlite returns to austin in august with a special program in honor of alfred hitchcock's birthday. there are a couple of my favorites of his lesser known films vying for the top spot there. that one is going to be a great night.

i'll be back soon with more specifics about the june installment, so stay tuned. hope to see you guys some time this summer.

a year's worth of starlite

next month will mark a year that we have been recapturing that drive-in feeling by turning backyards in austin into outdoor theaters once a month for our starlite cinema series.

we tested out the idea back in may of last year with the fine folks of the annie street arts collective and did a number of shows there before moving to our new home at the smith residence, newly re-christened as the crestland arcadium. with every screening, things just seem to get better. for instance:

that's right. for our screening of a taxing woman (1987) tonight there was grilled sweet corn and lauren spent all day baking some incredible challah bread. this is the kind of thing you miss out on when you skip starlite cinema. you have also missed a lot of fine film. here's a rundown of what we have shown this past year:

forbidden passage (1941)
a gun in his hand (1945)
detour (1945)
off the charts: the song-poem story (2003)
monster road (2004)
alma (2009)
simon of the desert (1965)
spirit of the beehive (1973)
the amazing screw-on head (2006)
the mysterious geographic explorations of jasper morello (2005)
journey to the center of the earth (1959)
swing you sinners! (1930)
the legend of hell house (1973)
troll 2 (1990)
a charlie brown thanksgiving (1973)
big night (1996)
sherlock jr. (1924)
metropolis (1927)
the lost thing (2010)
madagascar, a journey diary (2010)
logorama (2009)
mst3k: what to do on a date (1950)
gregory's girl (1981)
beauty and the beast (1946)
master of the flying guillotine (1977)
iron monkey (1993)
a taxing woman (1987)

and due to time constraints we twice had to cut films this year. my apologies to misterios de ultratumba (1959) and the adventures of robin hood (1938).

so in the span of a year we have visited spain, australia, the UK, germany, africa, france, china and japan. we have seen some silent classics, old favorites, perplexing documentaries, badass kung fu, dark proto-noir and groundbreaking animation. in the year to come, we look forward to bringing you more variety and hope to introduce you to exciting, challenging and fun films, both new and old. we are kicking our second year off in epic fashion with akira kurosawa's landmark, seven samurai (1954)!

we are devoting the entire evening to the emperor's masterpiece so make sure you clear your calendar on saturday, 5.28.11 and join us at 8 p.m. for kurosawa and starlite birthday cake. here is the event page for those of you that are on the facebook. the rest of you can get in touch with me if you would like further details. let's get year two off to a great start. hope to see you there.

starlite cinema's kung fu is strong

we just wrapped up the first spring 2011 installment of the starlite cinema series and it was top notch!

our first kung fu night was wall to wall action with the one-two punch of master of the flying guillotine (1977) and the hong kong edition of iron monkey (1993). the smiths' cuisine reigned supreme once again as well with edamame and the best miso soup i have had in a while.

plus, lauren made sushi!

to say it was a great evening would be an understatement. our next installment falls on friday, 4.15.11, tax day. to celebrate, we are offering a program with some of the finest tax evading ever put on screen. we begin the evening with jūzō itami's a taxing woman (1987).

itami is an interesting case. he didn't start making films until he was fifty and the success of his debut bumped him into a higher tax bracket, inspiring the tale we will see on the fifteenth. it follows the cat and mouse battle between a doggedly determined auditor and her counterpart, a hotel owner who is a virtuoso when it comes to keeping revenue streams off the books. as they develop a respect, even an affection, for one another, it becomes more and more complicated for each one to do what they deem necessary. oddly funny and sharply observed, it cleaned up at the japanese academy awards that year.

next up, michael curtiz's the adventures of robin hood (1938).

this one is always fun. if you would like more detail about just why i like it so much, go here. this one is always best when viewed with an audience, so come out and see it with us. the facebook event page is here if you'd like to go there and rsvp or invite other folks. we have a lot of great things planned for 2011 and this is just the beginning. the may installment is the first anniversary of starlite, so we are coming with something epic and i have all sorts of other great selections in store for you guys for summertime and beyond. thanks to everyone who comes out to these. it's always good to see you.

starlite kung fu night!

our starlite cinema series returns with a special kung fu edition in march!

in case you are unfamiliar with the starlite cinema series, here's the deal: i love the drive-in movie theater. i think it's a real shame that generations of kids aren't going to know the joys of spending a summer evening that way. in a nod to these slowly, sadly disappearing outposts of all the fun you can have for five dollars a carload, once a month we turn someone's backyard into a movie theater and revel in the pleasures of watching something great with your friends, outside under the stars. this month, our kung fu is stronger than yours!

the evening will begin with yu wang's master of the flying guillotine (1977). in this sequel to one armed boxer (1971), the blind assassin fung sheng wu chi is the last remaining member of a group of killers whose aim was to eradicate any ming-allied rebels. his main tool for the job? a weapon that is part saw blade, part beekeeper's helmet and all decapitation. the aforementioned one armed boxer is responsible for dispatching the rest of fung's crew of assassins, so fung, disguised as a monk, sets out to track him down and exact his revenge. he's not exactly discriminating, so woe unto you if happen to be missing an arm. the boxer he seeks is actually in charge of a martial arts academy and accepts an invitation to a tournament. perfect! we'll get to see a variety of styles in combat. i wonder if a certain blind, angry "monk" with a head-chopper-offer is going to show up? holy cats! right on time! this movie is a blast and is chock full of the things that made the shaw brothers' seventies era the gold standard of kung fu cinema.

next up, yuen woo ping's superlative iron monkey (1993).

this is one of a handful of truly great contemporary kung fu films. it does everything kung fu is supposed to do. yuen woo ping is probably the most legendary fight choreographer alive and his collaborator on the film, tsui hark, was instrumental in pushing the boundaries of hong kong cinema during its salad days in the eighties and nineties. on top of that, you have donnie yen. if you know me, you know i am a big fan of the man. often, with such stellar parts, the sum fails to live up to expectations but that is definitely not the case here. the story is engaging and the action set pieces build and build until the jaw-dropping finale. it is clever, inventive and the execution is top notch.

i am also pleased to tell you that we will be viewing the hong kong edition of the film, with its original, intact fight sequences, undercranked spots and original score. when the weinsteins and miramax decided to finally distribute the film in the u.s., eight years after its initial release, they made a bunch of significant changes. in trying to capitalize on the success of crouching tiger, hidden dragon (2000), they set about to "americanize" the film. they removed some of the more overt political references and dumbed down the subtitles to downplay that content in other places. what they did is akin to trying to make the adventures of robin hood (1938) without any references to the throne of england. preposterous. they also removed the original score featuring the wong fei-hung theme in favor of a classical score similar to crouching tiger. wong fei-hung is a chinese folk hero and is central to the story. his theme is as recognizable to hong kong audiences as "yankee doodle dandy" is to you or me. over 100 films have been made about him, but harvey scissorhands didn't think he was that important. a lot of the comic relief in the film - again, a staple of the genre - was cut because they thought it wouldn't have played well for american audiences. well, bollocks to all that. we're watching it the way master yuen intended it to be seen.

in addition to our two features, i am also putting together assorted kung fu related treats for before, after and between the films. it promises to be an action packed evening. the facebook event page is here if you would like to rsvp or contribute to the conversation. if you are not facebook enabled and would like to come, just send me a message. i will make sure you get the pertinent details. hope to see you guys there.

starlite recap

last night heralded the triumphant return of the starlite cinema series after taking the month of january off.

we returned to the lovely smith residence and once again transformed the backyard into the crestland arcadium for a belated valentine's day program that included bill forsyth's charmer, gregory's girl (1981) and jean cocteau's visual poem, beauty and the beast (1946). in keeping with the valentine's day theme we also watched mystery science theater 3000's deflating of the short what to do on a date (1950). and, since oscar fever is already sweeping the land we added a mini-program of animated shorts with two of this year's nominees - andrew ruhemann and shaun tan's the lost thing (2010) and bastien dubois' madagascar, a journey diary (2010) - and last year's winner, the we-dare-you-to-sue-us masterpiece, logorama (2009) from the french animation collective H5. as if all this wasn't enough, once again, lauren outdid herself in the kitchen, especially with the homemade thin mints. a grand time was had by all and i want to extend a sincere thank you to everyone who came. if you run into stephen or lauren tell them how incredible they are for hosting us. these couldn't happen without them.

next month is a program that vitagraph is already delirious with anticipation over. the march installment of starlite cinema will be freaking KUNG FU NIGHT!

oh dear lord. if you know me, you know how excited i am about this. i am working on whittling down the list to two features but that is going to be difficult. there are so many choices. new school? old school? wire work? swordplay? shaolin? this could take forever. you can count on a few things, most likely - some beautifully awful english dubbing, a dead master or two that must be avenged and some incredible beard/eyebrow combinations. our tentative date right now is the last friday in march, 3.25.11, so keep it free if you can. i will be back with an update soon outlining the films and confirming the date. i promise this one is going to be worth your while. hope to see you then.

starlite is for lovers

our starlite cinema series returns in february with a special valentine's program for you.

the first film of the evening will be bill forsyth's gregory's girl (1981). it's an old favorite of mine and one of the most genuine and smart films about adolescence i have ever seen. i wrote a bit about it here a few months ago if you'd like to take a look. it has a charm its american contemporaries could just never get right.

the second film in our double feature is going to be jean cocteau's beauty and the beast (1946).

it is cinematic magic of the highest order and one of only a handful of films that i truly think everyone ought to see. i am especially pleased to offer this one to you guys. it is a film i never tire of and i cannot think of a better way to see it than out under the stars with my friends.

the program will begin at 7 p.m. on friday, 2.18.11. the facebook event page is here if you would like to rsvp or get further details. if that's not an option for you and would like to attend just send me a note and i will make sure you get the particulars. we're looking forward to this one a great deal. hope you can make it out.