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Film & TV
March 15, 2024
How ‘Civil War’ Managed to Thread an Impossible Needle
Alex Garland’s film, which premiered in Austin during SXSW, accomplishes something few movies have.
Film & TV
March 14, 2024
How Jesse Plemons Came to Star in, Well, Pretty Much Everything
Turns out the most powerfully restrained actor of his generation is an open book. He and his wife, Kirsten (Dunst—you may have heard of her), welcomed us into their L.A. home and then had us down to Mart, Texas (population 1,748), to meet his folks, who thought he had promise,
Film & TV
March 14, 2024
Jesse Plemons’s 13 Most Unforgettable Roles
Martin Scorsese, Kirsten Dunst, and other collaborators on what makes the Texas-born actor so in demand.
Film & TV
February 22, 2024
What ‘God Save Texas’ Gets Right About the Border
El Pasoan Iliana Sosa, who directed a border-themed episode of the HBO documentary trilogy, speaks with Texas Monthly about the unique challenges of capturing “in-betweenness.”
Film & TV
February 6, 2024
Why a German First-time Filmmaker Spent a Decade Making a Comedy About Willie Nelson
For ‘Willie and Me,’ Eva Hassmann enlisted an Elvis impersonator, Peter Bogdanovich, and Willie himself to tell a story of how Willie’s music crosses cultures.
Film & TV
January 23, 2024
How a West Texas Cowboy Ended Up in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’
Ty Mitchell has been a Navy sailor, a saloon owner, and a rancher. He’s also a scene-stealing part of Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-nominated epic.
Film & TV
January 23, 2024
Seven Texan Stories at Sundance 2024
Texan talent has descended on Park City. Here’s our guide to the Texan entries in this year’s film festival, and how to watch from home.
Film & TV
December 15, 2023
Where Are All the Great Texas Christmas Movies?
Christmastime in Texas has inspired countless songs, but when it comes to classic holiday movies, we’ve long been left in the cold.
Film & TV
November 16, 2023
Four Reasons December Will Be a Great Month in Texas Culture
The Von Erichs get the Hollywood treatment, Tomball raises its stein, Beyoncé resurrects the Renaissance tour, and a Houston artist is golden.
Film & TV
October 11, 2023
The Movie That Shattered the Dallas Cowboys Myth
‘North Dallas Forty’ revealed the ugly truths behind America’s Team. But nearly 45 years later, it inspires more nostalgia than outrage.
Style & Design
September 8, 2023
Back to (Art) School: Try One of These Crafty Adults-Only Classes Across Texas
We’ve rounded up the state’s A-plus offerings, from flower arranging inspired by ‘Gilmore Girls’ to tufted rugs made famous on TikTok.
Film & TV
August 17, 2023
‘Blue Beetle’ Dumped El Paso for Palmera City. Here’s Why I Think It Works.
Batman, Superman, and the Flash live in fictional cities. The first Latino superhero needed his own.
Film & TV
August 1, 2023
Justin Simien’s ‘Haunted Mansion’ Is Cursed at the Box Office
The Houston director’s big-budget debut flopped—but it wasn’t set up to succeed.
Film & TV
July 31, 2023
How Paul Reubens’s ‘Pee-wee’s Big Adventure’ Defined Texas for Non-Texans
“There’s no basement at the Alamo!” and other lessons on the state from the late Paul Reubens.
Film & TV
June 28, 2023
‘Dazed and Confused’ at 30: Wooderson Gets Older, but His Philosophy Stays the Same Age
Richard Linklater didn’t set out to make a Texas film, but Matthew McConaughey’s iconic character feels like somebody every Texan knows.
Film & TV
June 23, 2023
Wes Anderson’s ‘Asteroid City’ Made Me Feel Like I’m From Another Planet
The 1950s-set comedy is being hailed as the director’s best work in years, and I can’t figure out why.
Film & TV
June 22, 2023
The Future of Texas Film Is $200 Million Brighter
The Lege approved the highest film incentives budget the state has ever seen. Here's what that massive check means for productions and the biz overall.
Film & TV
May 4, 2023
How Elizabeth Olsen and Holly Hunter Captured the Not-So-Quiet Desperation of Texas Women
What makes the Texas woman unique? What makes her distinct from the demure Southern belle or the rugged, rifle-toting frontierswoman of the American West? As the novelist and Texas Monthly contributor Sarah Bird suggests in her 2016 essay collection, A Love Letter to Texas Women, maybe
Film & TV
April 21, 2023
A Radical New Eco-Thriller Film Asks: Does the Climate Crisis Justify Blowing Up an Oil Pipeline?
The movie uses a classic heist format to tackle the hot topic of climate change.
Film & TV
April 11, 2023
How ‘Hud’ Began Texas’s Love Affair With the Bastard
Paul Newman plays a brutish, morally repugnant monster in the classic anti-western. So why do Texans admire him anyway?
Film & TV
April 4, 2023
‘Blue Beetle’ Belongs in El Paso, No Matter What DC Brass Thinks
A new trailer reveals that the Mexican American superhero will live in a fictional city, breaking with canon. Comic book fans are not happy.
Film & TV
April 4, 2023
The Best Books, Films, TV, Art, and More Coming to Texas This Spring
We have seven words for you: Owen Wilson in a Bob Ross wig.
Film & TV
March 14, 2023
Why 1980 Was the Year Texas Went Worldwide
The current Yellowstone-fueled “Westerncore” aesthetic is little more than a cultural blip compared to what Dallas and Urban Cowboy unleashed in 1980.
Film & TV
March 7, 2023
When Texas Took Over the Oscars
Forty years ago, a crop of films led by ‘Terms of Endearment’ and ‘Tender Mercies’ reimagined the way we see Texas.
Music
February 10, 2023
Chanda Dancy, a Fearless Houston Violinist, Is Breaking Boundaries in Hollywood
The film composer behind the scores for ‘Devotion’ and ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ has never bought into the rigid rules of classical music.
Film & TV
February 1, 2023
In ‘Magazine Dreams,’ Jonathan Majors Builds Himself Up to Fall Apart
The Texas-raised actor returned to Sundance for the premiere of his latest film—a brutal, impressive character study of a troubled bodybuilder.
Film & TV
December 29, 2022
Ten Notable Performances From Texan Actors in 2022
From ‘Stranger Things’ to the Sex Pistols, from the Houston suburbs to the outskirts of Texas City, these were the actors who got our attention.
Art
December 27, 2022
The Best Texas Art, Movies, Music, and TV of 2022
This is the year that returned Beyoncé to our ears and Beavis and Butt-head to our screens.
Art
December 21, 2022
The Best Books, Film, TV, Art & More Coming to Texas This Winter
From Bruce Springsteen to Ballet Austin, there are plenty of ways to break out of the winter doldrums this season.
Film & TV
October 28, 2022
How Gen Z Women Found Their Joker in ‘Pearl’
The titular character of director Ti West’s latest horror movie, ‘Pearl,’ is a young Texan who’s had it with the people and society that keep her repressed.
Film & TV
September 30, 2022
Robert De Niro Wants You to Analyze His Personal Archives at Austin’s Harry Ransom Center
The legendary actor was feted at a glamorously hammy gala celebrating the Center’s collection, which is a treasure trove of film history that every good fella should study.
Film & TV
September 30, 2022
At Fantastic Fest, the Sick Get Sicker and the Rich Get Eaten
The Austin-based film festival returned for another round of horror and fantasy, now tinged with some distinctly real-world anxieties.
Film & TV
September 27, 2022
The Film That Set the Standard on How Not to Portray Texas
A Larry McMurtry adaptation directed by Sidney Lumet and filmed entirely in Bastrop—what could go wrong? For ‘Lovin’ Molly,’ it began with the boots.
Film & TV
September 19, 2022
Seven Texan Performances at Fantastic Fest, Ranked by How Weird They Are
Fantastic Fest returns with another selection of out-there curios, but with some familiar local faces to keep you grounded.
Film & TV
June 17, 2022
A Dare (and a Tweet) Started Texas’s Next Great Director on His Hollywood Journey
Filmmaker and Dallas native Cooper Raiff is only 25, but his second film, ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth,’ should establish him as Texas’s next great director.
The Texanist
June 6, 2022
The Texanist: Would There Be a ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Without Texas?
Moviegoers have returned to theaters in droves to see the long-awaited sequel—and we have Texas to thank.
Film & TV
May 6, 2022
HBO Announces New Series Based on Texas Monthly Story
‘King Rex,’ based on Lawrence Wright’s 1980 article about millionaire turned drug kingpin Rex Cauble, will star Henry Winkler.
Film & TV
April 26, 2022
Bill Paxton’s ‘Frailty’ Was Nervy, Blasphemous, and Just About Perfect
The storied actor and Fort Worth native always wanted to direct. His gripping debut, released twenty years ago, showed us why.
Film & TV
April 25, 2022
The World if Tommy Lee Jones, Instead of the Rock, Starred in ‘Fast Five’
Vin Diesel, in a long, feelings-heavy Instagram post, revealed how close the venerable Texas star came to playing Lucas Hobbs.
Film & TV
April 5, 2022
Glen Powell Is (Finally!) Ready For Takeoff
After a two-year pandemic delay, the Austin native will appear in ‘Top Gun: Maverick.’ But that’s only one of his recent projects to launch.
Film & TV
March 25, 2022
“This Is The Hardest Film I’ve Ever Made”: ‘Selena’ Turns 25
Ahead of its April rerelease, members of the 1997 biopic's cast and crew recall a set overcome with emotion as loved ones grappled with Selena's tragic death.
Film & TV
March 21, 2022
Three Must-Watch Texas Documentaries
SXSW showcased a bevy of films by or about Texans this year. Two sports legends and a disabled Texan were the subjects of three that stood out from the pack.
Film & TV
March 15, 2022
‘X’ Is a Fun, Funny—And Feminist—Slasher
Writer-director Ti West’s return to horror is set in a creepy house in rural Texas. But that’s where the similarities with classic slashers ends.
The Texanist
February 16, 2022
The Texanist: What Movies Get Texas Really, Really Wrong?
As it turns out, even the best films and TV shows about the Lone Star State have their share of gaffes. (Yes, even ‘Lonesome Dove.’)
Film & TV
February 9, 2022
Houston’s River Oaks Theatre Escapes Demolition—And Will Probably Get a Better Cocktail Menu
A grassroots campaign—and a multibillion-dollar corporate real estate acquisition—kept the bulldozers away.
Film & TV
December 21, 2021
Ten Notable Performances From Texan Actors in 2021
From newcomers to reliable veterans to a pop star remaking her TV career, these were the actors worth watching this year.
Film & TV
November 16, 2021
The Legendary Flop of ‘The Legend of the Lone Ranger’
How an Amarillo oilman stole the mask right off the Lone Ranger’s face, and made one of film’s most infamous failures in the process.
Film & TV
November 11, 2021
How the Pandemic Showed Me a Different Way to Watch Movies
Over one hundred movies later, a virtual movie club learned some surprising things about classic movies—and about friendship in dark times.
Film & TV
October 28, 2021
‘Student Bodies’ Remains Texas’s Strangest Contribution to Horror Movie History
The 1981 slasher spoof prominently features Houston and a future Texas politician, but that’s not all that’s notable about it.