Since it premiered at SXSW in 2011, word of British filmmaker Ben Wheatley's unconventional and unsettling horror flick Kill List has been zipping around the Internet, and the film opened in the U.S. at last on Friday, February 3rd. Kill List begins in the tense suburban home of Jay (Neil...

2011 was the rare and beautiful year that was so packed with surprising and innovative films, it was seriously difficult to boil it down to just ten. It was a particularly fruitful year on the domestic front; beside the American films both independent (The Future, Take Shelter) and big-budget mainstream...

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I could never get into the whole Twilight thing, and not because I'm impervious to the charms of youth-oriented fantasy and sci-fi. Harry Potter? Magical. Hunger Games? I'm ravenous for more. Twilight? A glorified dime store novel with low...

A good character arc with a life-changing event and a hint of nostalgia can be a powerful thing, regardless of how mediocre the film that enables it may be. Coming-of-age films generally blossom from the crossroads of youth and adulthood, so the SXSW Film Festival, with its tradition of supporting...

The nice man with the cowboy hat and the stacks of beers was asking me if I smoke. Well, when you're in a limo in Texas with Longhorn antlers on the hood and a furry zebra-print interior there is really only one appropriate answer to that question. It was SXSW-eve...

This past year saw many critics complaining about the lack of good film out there, but with a little digging, I found a lot to love. From old masters to first time filmmakers, tiny documentaries to wide release narratives, films both American and international, click through the slideshow to see...

As the promotional materials for Four Lions will express to anyone willing to take a gander, the film is seriously funny - and eager to prove it. Crowning the absurdist image of a crow with a bomb strapped to its tiny, feathered chest on the poster is a...

In 2008, IFC acquisitions executive Jeff Deutchman curated dozens of first-person accounts of the historic election of Barack Obama to make his film 11/4/08, and a forward-thinking interactive website which allows people to upload, access, and edit related footage. In honor of the midterm elections, I talked with...

Somewhere between a visit to the shooting range and floating down Ladybird Lake on a Viking Boat Party, I realized that Fantastic Fest is not your average festival experience. I sat down with Austin film fixture Tim League, who launched the festival with wife Karrie, to talk about their special...

When it comes to monster movies, novelty is not the be-all end-all; there is always room for a splashy new death or a witty recontextualization, but there are benefits to sticking to the formula. There are certain rules -- zombies rely on numbers rather than speed, vampires must be staked...

What does Ryan Reynolds have in common with a rubber tire? A promising acting career and a nose for risky but rewarding roles -- not, I hope, homicidal tendencies.

After ten solid minutes of watching Ryan Reynolds scream and writhe around in a box in the just-released thriller Buried...

I am sitting in Austin's Paramount Theater, a former opera house and one of the most beautiful Classic Revival venues in the country, holding a test tube full of green liquid I can only assume (and hope) is Jell-O and very strong booze, watching several grown men in Viking costumes...

The first time I walked into the Alamo Drafthouse, I really had no idea what I was in for. I was a fresh-out-of-college intern at a distribution company, paying my own way to the South by Southwest Film Festival on a whim, and decided to book it directly from the...

"Men Lie. Women Lie. Numbers Don't." So says one of the ebullient interviewees in Jeff Deutchmann's interactive documentary 11/4/08, which follows the activities before, during, and after the historic presidential election of Barack Obama. The sentiment easily applies to this year's South by Southwest Film Festival, and Austin in...