Q&A with Chris Holland re: last night's Star Trek event

Q. So, you're a nerd. A geek, even. You love all that Star Trek crap.

A. Yes.

Q. And you live in Austin, TX?

A. Yes.

Q. But -- even though you pre-purchased a Fantastic Fest badge just so you could attend these sorts of things -- you didn't go to last night's screening of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan?

A. No.

Q. The one that turned out to be the sneak World Premiere of the new Star Trek film, which looks massively awesome and may well reboot the franchise for a new generation of fans?

A. Yes.

Q. And I understand Leonard "Spock" Nimoy was there in person to deliver the print of the new film?

A. Yes.

Q. So hundreds of your fellow geeks got to watch a crazy great new movie while you stayed home to watch TV with your wife?

A. Yes.

Q. Dude. You're getting old.

A. That's not a question, but . . . Yes.

SxSW MADNESS!

If things have been a little quiet, it's because I'm swept up in the South By Southwest film festival. Check out the coverage over at Slackerwood and, for you filmmakers in the crowd, Film Festival Secrets.

Showing of The Wizard at Alamo Drafthouse Ritz

super mario brothers and their princess
Originally uploaded by sarah pants

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is but one of the reasons that the Alamo Drafthouse kicks ass. A showing of "The Wizard" with cast and crew present. Staff members in costume. And the presentation of a golden Nintendo Power Glove to the lucky crew. If only I'd been there!

John C. Reilly - Walks Hard, Rocks Hard

John C. Reilly was in town to rock the legendary Stubb's BBQ as Dewey Cox, the subject of Jake Kasdan's new film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. I got a chance to see the film and the performance, and both were excellent. See the full report over at Slackerwood along with some video of the concert.

NY Times on the recent changes at Troublemaker Studios

Rumor flies around in every town, big or small -- Austin is no exception. So when Rose McGowan was on the arm of Robert Rodriguez in the place of Rodriguez' wife, Elizabeth Avellan, the city's film community took notice.

The New York Times doesn't lower itself to salacious details, thank goodness, but it does provide a solid article on what happens now for the team that produced Spy Kids and Desperado. I'm looking forward to seeing the individual output of both halves of the team. I'm hopeful it will be less like Spy Kids 3 and more like Planet Terror.

Read the full article on Rodriguez and Avellan at the NY Times web site.