SXSW Film Festival Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Music, by and large, can be seen as autobiographical; it’s far from uncommon for songwriters not to draw from any number of personal experiences encompassing, say, the lows of heartbreak and loss to life’s triumphs, all of which and more could easily reside within the average person as distant memories but attain a sort of immortality once this narrative is set to music.

For anyone in the midst of, or having previously endured, the pains associated with the salad days of youth, that time-honored tradition of finding one’s unique voice while attempting to entrench oneself within the local population of similarly-aged peers as new feelings and emotions emerge on a seemingly daily basis is, at best, an uphill battle. At worst, it can serve to cripple a developing soul in ways adults may struggle to comprehend fully; it is for these reasons that any successes along the way need not be ignored but celebrated; friendships with like-minded individuals and membership in groups catered to one’s passions are more than a hallmark of these undeniably short years and could be seen as wholly necessary to a developing personality.

Given some of the star-studded titles that have closed out SXSW in previous years, a romantic comedy that could best be described as Harry Styles Wish Fulfillment might seem like an odd choice to round out the festival. But “The Idea of You,” a Michael Showalter adaptation of Robinne Lee’s book of the same name, proves that romantic comedies, when done well, are every bit as deserving of the red carpet rollout.

Look, let’s be honest. From the opening seconds of its debut trailer, we all knew that Alex Garland’s “Civil War” would not be a pill that went down easily.

Very obviously trying to emulate the DIY approach of producers Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, Michael Felker’s lo-fi mind f*ck “Things Will Be Different” is both a fascinating debut and somewhat derivation of the filmmakers’ body of work. Clearly influenced by the Benson/Moorhead aesthetic and style, and sometimes slavish to their approach in a way that makes the film feel fairly familiar, this tiny, one-setting film may bring up more questions than answers.

It’s unlikely that two shows exist that are as wildly different as these. As the trio behind Duplass Brothers Productions continue to spread their combined wealth of talents over film, television, and streaming, the experience of taking in the pilots to their two latest series, “Ryley Walker & Friends” and, “The Broadcast, “offers a glimpse at projects loaded with as much promise as they are dissimilar.

In the introduction to the SXSW premiere of his movie, Dev Patel joked that he had recently stumbled across an internet article asking where he was now. According to Patel, that answer is simple: he’s been working on “Monkey Man,” the Mumbai-set actioner he wrote, directed, and starred in.

From the basement of dingy jam sessions in Akron, Ohio, to arena rock success, a multiplatinum career, and multiple Grammy wins, “This is a Film About The Black Keys” tracks the unlikely rise of one of rock’s biggest duos. Directed by Jeff Dupre (“Soundtracks: Songs That Defined History,” “Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present”), the largely conventional rock doc doesn’t break the mold but engages, nonetheless, telling a captivating story of brotherhood, slow-grinding perseverance, weathering many personal storms, and the heavy tolls that success enacts.

It’s so hard to crack the black comedy nut, which can shatter with too little or too much earnestness, trauma, chuckles, and/or heavy thematic considerations. Gasps and giggles are needed in perfect balance to keep the pressure on without fragmenting the object, and it’s a trick “Audrey” pulls off with seeming ease.

Confusion and how information is communicated, relayed, and delayed in a thriller can be a fantastic artistic weapon in the filmmaker’s toolkit. With his mathematic precision, filmmakers like Christopher Nolan can understand the Swiss watch nature of perfectly timed breadcrumbs of info that can preserve the mystery and keep an audience enraptured and on the edge of their seats.

Nicolas Cage (“Dream Scenario,” “Mandy”) clearly likes his “The Trust” director Benjamin Brewer as they’ve reunited for “Arcadian,” a post-apocalyptic thriller that will make its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival on March 11 and arrive in theaters on April 12 via RLJE Films who picked the film up for distribution earlier this year.

Best known for his popular comedy skits on social media and his musical puppetry work on the YouTube channel “Awkward Puppets,” Rudy Mancuso could end up more than just a cult online figure soon. He’s about to star in the semi-autobiographical “Música,” which he co-wrote, directed, directed, choreographed, and composed the score for—a serious multi-hyphenate.

The 2024 SXSW Film Festival is just a month away and today 50 new films and television programs were added to its slate. This is after the festival already revealed that highly anticipated projects such as “The Fall Guy” with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, “Road House” with Jake Gyllenhaal, “Inside of You” with Anne Hathaway, and Netflix’s “3 Body Problem,” among others.

What a way to start your marketing campaign. The poster for Amazon Studios/Prime Video’s “Road House” movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal was released today, the trailer arrives tomorrow, and the always-mercurial director of the film, Doug Liman, has unfortunately picked the worst time to announce he’s boycotting the movie.

Well, it’s that time of year again, isn’t it? The Sundance Film Festival hasn’t even happened, the Berlin Film Festival line-up is not even out or complete, and we’re already looking ahead to March and the SXSW Film & Television Festival. There’s no rest for the wicked.

Larrimah, the small Australian town that gives Thomas Tancred’s documentary its title, has a population of 11. Or, at least, it had 11 people until one, Paddy Moriarty, went missing along with his dog in 2017.