THE FRIEDKIN CONNECTION
A few weeks ago, director William Friedkin, the maverick maker of The Exorcist and The French Connection, came to Texas to premiere his new film, The Hunted, which stars Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro. The event was held at Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse, and a rabid audience interrogated Friedkin after the film. As fanboys…
NEW REVIEWS
AGENT CODY BANKS Dir. Harold Zwart; writ. Ashley Edward Miller; feat. Frankie Muniz, Hilary Duff, Angie Harmon (PG) The motif of the unflappable hero’s alter-ego being a milquetoast is a timeless one for a reason: It makes us real-life milquetoasts feel as though we, too, could be heroes, albeit less attractive ones going about our…
STILL PLAYING
ABOUT SCHMIDT Dir. Alexander Payne; writ. Louis Begley (novel), Payne; feat. Jack Nicholson, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, Kathy Bates (R) Schmidt is a road movie set on the other end of life’s cycle from Nicholson’s Easy Rider, as full of metaphoric ambition and as devoid of solid meaning. The actor is utterly convincing as a…
SHOW TIMES
FRI 3/14 – THU 3/20 These show times are provided by the theaters and are subject to change. The Current includes show times submitted by press deadline, and is not responsible for the changes in the ever-morphing film industry. All times are p.m. unless otherwise indicated. DOWNTOWN AMC RIVERCENTER 9 Rivercenter Mall, third floor, 558-9988…
BROKEN PROMISES
Ojeda never consumed flames, but she has a fiery spirit. Her remarkable personal odyssey – from maquila worker, to union organizer to law school graduate to her current position as the executive director of the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras – gives her perspective on NAFTA and its promises. She bitterly recalls those NAFTA…
SAFE PASSAGE
The United States’ reception of these migrants was never warm. Today it is overwhelmingly hostile. Steel fences topped with electrified barbed wire, guard dogs, and soldiers carrying high-powered rifles drive them ever farther from the ford, with many dying of dehydration, hypothermia, and heat stroke in the desert, or drowning in fast-flowing water downriver. Still…
DEATH ON THE BORDER
Shooting outside Anunciación House leaves one man dead Witnesses at Anunciación House reported that Peraza was walking out of the building to the parking lot to take out the garbage on Wednesday, February 26, when two Border Patrol agents grabbed and searched him. When one agent turned away, Peraza ran, for unknown reasons. Four border…
OUT OF THIS WORLD
A strangely hip lounge/bingo act begs the question: From whence come the El Orbits? Drop enough quarters in Bar America, and you begin to get a feel for the music of the El Orbits – the music that sprang up south of the I-10 corridor. A few rounds of bingo don’t hurt, either. Because bingo,…
FAR FROM ANONYMOUS
Maybe John Doe gave himself this moniker because he knew what his career was going to look like by the year 2000. A look at his history in film supports this theory: After an auspicious acting debut in Oliver Stone’s Salvador, he went on to a B movie where he was credited only as “Drunk…
SPURS TO SIGN POWER FORWARD LUCIANO PAVAROTTI?
The SBC Center? Has the legendary opera singer Luciano Pavarotti added an athletic component to his performance? There are rumors that during his show, the portly tenor will furiously race down the court with a basketball Luciano Pavarotti; 40 years at the top. LUCIANO PAVAROTTI 7pm Thursday, March 19 $40-300 SBC Center 1 SCB Center…
HOW THE HELL DID WE GET IN THIS MESS?
Federal indictments, an eroded trust in City government, lifeless politicians, apathetic voters: With a Council election two months away, these are not the best of times for San Antonio politics. Heading into the May 3, 2003 municipal election, City Hall reeks of scandal. District 5 Councilman David Garcia resigned over charges that he misappropriated campaign…
SOUND AND THE FURY
A WEEK ON THE SCENE San Antonio bands represent at the South by Southwest music showcase in Austin. ACCORDION TO PONTY BONE As a kid, Ponty Bone used to ride the Zarzamora Street bus every day to Stark Brothers Studio to take accordion lessons. A half-century later, Ponty, now a revered Zydeco accordionist, and his…
CAN’T TOUCH THIS
Paper ballots are an antiquated voting method, but critics say touch-screens are open to abuse Election reports estimated that more than 20 percent of last year’s voters used modern, touch-screen voting machines. It’s a percentage that continues to increase with last October’s passage of the Help America Vote Act, which provided states with nearly $4…
ACOSTED
When Will Smith categorically listed everything dope about Miami in his song of the same title, he left out George Acosta’s Miami trance. GEORGE ACOSTA 9pm Sunday, March 16 $10 21 and up, $15 16 and up ($3 more after 11pm) Far West Rodeo 3030 NE Loop 410 646-9378 someone synonymous with South Beach: trance…
VISITING ART
American Impressionists take over San Antonio museums Jacques Chirac’s opposition to American foreign policy has prompted a boycott of all things French. In a paroxysm of culinary patriotism, a few restaurateurs have even renamed their potato side dish “freedom fries.” Although it is possible to imagine abstaining from champagne, camembert, and Chanel No. 5, the…
VISITING ART
American Impressionists take over San Antonio museums Jacques Chirac’s opposition to American foreign policy has prompted a boycott of all things French. In a paroxysm of culinary patriotism, a few restaurateurs have even renamed their potato side dish “freedom fries.” Although it is possible to imagine abstaining from champagne, camembert, and Chanel No. 5, the…
ALL EARS: SXSW GOES POP!
They are coming from the most unlikely places, like New York City. Unlike The Strokes, New York’s official ambassadors of debauched retro rock, the four members of Palomar couldn’t muster enough attitude between them to make the chess club feel uncool. Their second release, imaginatively titled Palomar II (Self-Starter Foundation), is an instantly addictive piece…
A FABULOUS DISASTER
Filmmaker Joe Gibbons’ ‘Confessions of a Sociopath’ screens at ArtPace Joe Gibbons’ semi-autobiographical Confessions of a Sociopath is carefully constructed to blur the boundaries of film reality and historic fact. Gibbons narrates as his younger, onscreen persona spirals in and out of trouble. His narration is detached and dry, presented as an older and wiser…
ARTIFACTS
News and notes from the San Antonio art scene The Spring 2003 installment of the ArtPace International Artists-in-Residence (IAIR) Program opens Thursday, March 13, with a reception from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Current residents Brian Fridge, Paul Pfeiffer, and Susan Philipsz were selected by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Chief Curator of the Castello di Rivoli in Turin, Italy. On…
