Summer’s winding down but there’s plenty to watch
THE PALE DOOR
In theaters, on Demand and Digital August 21, 2020 from RLJE Films/Shudder
Mixing the genres of horror and westerns in one indie package, The Pale Door is the newest feature from Aaron Koontz. After starting off squarely in the world of the wild west, before long the action turn to matters more akin to The Crucible. The supernatural gives way to gore as this action-packed flick barrels to a harrowing conclusion. The cast is absolutely superb. Melora Walters eschews her normal arthouse fare for a role that vacillates between proper and fractured. Pat Healy isn’t an actor I would have ever seen as fodder for a western, but he pulls it off as the brains of the operation. Even the little parts excel in the casting department with Austinites Jonny Mars and Peggy Schott overshooting their small roles.
DESERT ONE
Watch via Violet Crown Cinema
Many count Argo as the ultimate comment on the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979, but two-time Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple’s new film, Desert One, explores one of the more harrowing events of that period. The film looks at the secret Delta Force mission put together by the Carter administration to go and rescue the 52 American hostages held prisoner in the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Featuring interviews with hostages, captors, members of the Delta Force, their families and even President Jimmy Carter, Kopple offers up an in-depth look at the events leading up to the audacious mission as well as the heavy risks involved. Both a carefully researched look at a part of American history never fully explored until now and an emotional, gut wrenching cinematic experience, Desert One is one of the most compelling documentary offerings of the year. — Frank Calvillo
SON OF THE WHITE MARE
Watch via Austin Film Society
One of the great psychedelic masterpieces of world animation, Son of the White Mare is a swirling, color-mad maelstrom of mythic monsters and Scythian heroes, part-Nibelungenlied, part-Yellow Submarine, lit by jagged bolts of lightning and drenched in rivers of blue, red, gold and green. A massive cosmic oak stands at the gates of the Underworld, holding seventy-seven dragons in its roots; to combat these monsters, a dazzling white mare goddess gives birth to three heroes — Treeshaker and his brothers — who embark on an epic journey to save the universe.
From the same distributor that released Belladonna Of Sadness, Son of the White Mare is trippy cornucopia of colors, story, and fantasy. If this isn’t the craziest movie you see all summer, I’ll have some of what you’re having.
CREEM: AMERICA’S ONLY ROCK ’N’ ROLL MAGAZINE
Watch via Violet Crown Cinema
This documentary is going to make some (old) people very, very happy. I kid! This is some seminal rock and roll history, told through the history of one of its most important magazines. Rolling Stone is for squares. Creem is/was where it’s at. The home of the infamous Lester Bangs, this publication overlapped with every big act of the 70’s. The personalities behind the pages are as fascinating as the subject matter. Produced by people involved in the magazine, the film can occasionally be a bit myopic, but there’s enough goodness to overcome this.