Austin Film Festival 2010!

So, I am currently attending the Austin Film Festival, which has been GREAT so far this year. I've already seen 4 films - 2 of them are so new they don't even have a trailer, 1 you may have heard of (Blue Valentine) and 1 was a special screening of a movie back from the 90's (12 Monkeys, and the director was there to talk about it afterward!). This is only my 2nd year to go, and I originally had some high hopes to see many more films than I did last year (which was 3). So far, after 4 days of the Festival, I've seen 4 films! And I still have 3 more days to go, so I'm definitely getting my $40 worth. It's nice to just show my film pass and walk in the theater without having to pay anything.

1.  "Exporting Raymond" - this documentary film kicked off the Festival with a hilarious start!  It's about the creator/writer of "Everybody Loves Raymond" Phil Rosenthal, who travels to Russia in order to make a Russian version of the show.  Mr. Rosenthal is just as awkward and funny as Raymond on the show, and it was endearing and hilarious the entire time.  I really hope this gets released to some big audiences, because it was great! 

2.  "Peep World" - about the rich and highly publicized Meyerwitz family, of which the youngest son writes a tell-all book about his family and calls it fiction, despite its authenticity.  Between the depressed and tired-of-being-in-charge oldest son (played by Dexter's Michael C. Hall, who is GREAT in everything he does), the bumbling idiot 2nd son who can't get anything in his life together for very long (played by Rainn Wilson, who also stars as everyone's favorite idiot Dwight K. Schrute on The Office), and the first and only daughter who is flaky and outspoken about everything (played by the hilarious Sarah Silverman) this movie was fantastic!  It really made me laugh and was even touching at times.  Again, I hope it gets a bigger release!

3.  "Blue Valentine" - which is so good it deserves it's own post... to be posted soon.

4.  "12 Monkeys" - presented by the Director David Peoples, originally released in 1995.  I'd never seen it before and thought it was GREAT!  Kept me guessing until the very end!