Hey folks, Harry here... prepared to collapse for the next 5 hours and enter my own dreamland, but before I do there is some wild monkey business to take care of, and I'm not talking about a Harpo, a Chico, a Groucho or even a Zeppo... Nope, I'm talking about our very own simian spy... MONKI. So far he's beating all of the other AICN spies out in the field... where's Quint? Robogeek? El Cosmico? Tom Joad? Annette Kellerman? Have they all just disappeared from the planet earth? Has Monki poisoned them all? What of Peter Blood, Flesh Gordon or even Baby Face Nelson? And what about ol Father Geek? I guess the only two with stamina are the Harry-est types.. Well, here's Monki... God Forgive Your Soul my primate apprentice...
I managed to get into a few more movies at SXSW this fine evening. It seems as though standing only 2 feet tall with fur and a tail allows me to slip into some interesting situations and also allows me past black-light weilding SXSW ticket people!
I got myself into two and a half screenings tonight the first was that of Down From The Mountain. I honestly had no clue as to what the hell this movie was about when I walked in. When I was alerted that it was about the music to O Brother, Where Art Thou? I flipped. I love O Brother and it rests as one of my favorite movies of all time. Down From The Mountain is a documentary from D.A. Pennebaker about a charity event that was held sometime last May to earn funds for the Country Music Hall of Fame or something along those lines. The actual artists who did the songs from O Brother performed them live before an audience and this movie shows the rehersals and the final performance.
Some really interesting scenes are some backstage interviews and peering into the ready rooms as Emmylou Harris, for example, frantically receives baseball scores a pager type device to keep her in touch with the sport or listening to the amazing voice of one of the Fairfield Fours' vocalists. (These are the guys who were digging the graves in O Brother)
Overall an excellent film although be prepared for quite a bit of music. There is no clipping of songs, they are played completely from start to finish. (I can only stand those little "Highways in the Hedges" girls for so long....) Check this one out.
Immediately after Down From the Mountain I managed to secure a seat for the Ozzy Ozbourne's Ozzfest documentary entitled We Sold Our Souls for Rock 'N Roll. I'm not going to write too much about it because unfortunately the Paramount managers found me and kicked my monkey-ass out only halfway through the movie. I will definately check this one competely out when it hits the drafthouse next saturday. So, I recommend it! (At least the first 45 minutes of it)
Although booted out, I vowed to find something to do. So I swung my way down to the Drafthouse and caught the midnight screening of Super Troopers. This is a really fricken funny movie. It is about a group of State Highway Officers who just love screwing around with people. Their shenanigans brought quite a few laughs to the audience and kept this movie moving along nicely. Oddly enough this movie reminded me a bit of the old flick Ski School althought MUCH MUCH better. We have the same type of Group A. vs. Group B. type warfare here between the Highway Patrolmen and the Local Police force. That, mixed in with high speed chases, pot-swallowing teens, ultra-hot female cop, and perhaps the best useage of a movie quote within in a movie I've heard ("The snosberrys taste like snosberrys!") equate to this being an excellent comedy in a recent trend of really crappy comedies. This one is definately worth checking out if you can into the Alamo early to get in line, or when it hits theatres much later in the year.
So, another SXSW day finished, expect more freshly made dung heaved at you soon from this here furry bastard!
-Monki
