Film & TV
April 11, 2022
The Most Authentically Texan Movie You’ve Never Heard Of
Eagle Pennell’s ‘The Whole Shootin’ Match’ sets the standard for showing Texans who they are instead of who they’re supposed to be.
Filmed in Texas
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 22, 2022
Four New Movies Texans Won’t Want to Miss
The Lone Star State was well represented at this year’s SXSW, and these films feature settings, accents, and subject matter to remind you of home.
Film & TV
March 21, 2022
‘What We Leave Behind’ Was the Surprise Masterpiece of SXSW
El Paso filmmaker Iliana Sosa’s feature documentary debut follows her Mexican grandfather, reflecting on life, legacy, and connection.
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 16, 2022
A Reconsideration of ‘SubUrbia,’ One of Richard Linklater’s Least-Loved Films
Richard Linklater’s ‘SubUrbia’ is ‘The Last Picture Show’ of the nineties.
Film & TV
January 5, 2022
‘Yellowstone’ Is the Country’s Biggest TV Sensation. Why Are Critics Shrugging?
The Yellowstone prequel series ‘1883’ was a smash hit—and just the beginning for Taylor Sheridan’s western empire. Only viewers seem to care.
Film & TV
December 8, 2021
‘The Chosen’ Is Christian TV That Even Heretics Can Get Behind
The streaming phenomenon, produced just outside of Dallas, is winning converts with its ‘Friday Night Lights’ spin on faith.
Film & TV
December 3, 2021
Filmed During Lockdown, ‘Red Stone’ Is a Return to Normal, Mediocre Thrillers
Fort Worth writer-director Derek Presley overcame unprecedented odds to make his otherwise unremarkable thriller about a tormented hit man.
Film & TV
December 1, 2021
Sean Baker’s Provocative ‘Red Rocket’ Gets Down and Dirty in Texas City
The latest from the director of ‘The Florida Project’ sees a scheming former porn star wash up along Texas’s Gulf Coast.
Film & TV
September 14, 2021
‘Necessary Roughness’ Made Texas Football Into a Joke. But It Also Moved the Chains.
Kick off the football season with this underappreciated, Denton-filmed comedy, which captured some truths about Texas football that later, more-serious movies would expand on.
Film & TV
July 20, 2021
Thirty Years After ‘Slacker,’ the Film Is an Austin Time Capsule—And a Hopeful Tribute to Its Spirit
Richard Linklater’s film belongs in the canon of great Texas cinema.
Film & TV
June 11, 2021
‘12 Mighty Orphans’ Is the Cornball Texas Football Movie We Need Right Now
The film, based on a true Fort Worth story and starring Dallas native Luke Wilson, is a welcome post-pandemic balm.
Film & TV
June 7, 2021
Everything We Know About Robert Rodriguez’s Austin Film With Ben Affleck
Prepare for paparazzi photos of Ben wistfully vaping near Lady Bird Lake.
Film & TV
May 18, 2021
‘The Get Together’ Throws a Party Even Shakey Graves Can’t Save
Texas filmmaker Will Bakke’s latest movie offers only a glimpse of the joys and pains of young adulthood.
Film & TV
October 12, 2020
As ‘Dazed and Confused’ Gets Older, the Spirit of the Film Stays the Same
During a live reading on Sunday night, many of the original actors brought the same chemistry that has made the film such a joy to rewatch for 27 years.
Film & TV
September 27, 2019
Texas Is Inextricable From Film Festival Darling ‘The Vast of Night’
Andrew Patterson’s small-town science fiction standout was filmed in Whitney, Texas.
Film & TV
July 9, 2019
The ‘Red Headed Stranger’ Rides Again: Here’s What We Learned
We watched the recently restored 1986 film with Willie Nelson and fans in Luck, where it all happened.
Film & TV
March 6, 2019
Inside the Futuristic Set of the Most Expensive Film Ever Shot in Texas
'Alita: Battle Angel'—and its $200 million budget—offer hope to the local film industry.
Film & TV
February 26, 2019
‘My Stretch of Texas Ground’ Is the Very Bad Movie We Didn’t Know We Needed
“Two men, both alpha males, from vastly different cultures, are about to collide. . . HARD.”
Film & TV
January 24, 2019
What the Writer Notes for ‘Urban Cowboy’ Teach Us About The Making of the Film
Journalist Aaron Latham donated his daily journals he kept on the set of 'Urban Cowboy,' among other papers, to UT's Harry Ransom Center.
Film & TV
August 13, 2018
This Map Offers a Road Trip to Texas’s Most Famous Film Locations
The Texas Film Commission wants you to hit the road this summer.
Film & TV
December 21, 2017
The Wildcatters
Can a 1960s novel with a cult following finally become the blockbuster film its fans believe it should be?
Film & TV
January 21, 2013
Lights, Camera, Carthage!
Nearly fifteen years after Richard Linklater and I started talking about turning a Texas Monthly story into a major motion picture, it’s finally hitting the big screen, with a little help from Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey, Shirley MacLaine—and a seventy-year-old retired hairdresser from Rusk named Kay Baby Epperson.
Film & TV
January 21, 2013
The Spirit of ’76
How Matthew McConaughey got discovered, why Renée Zellweger’s part is so small, why some of the actresses can’t eat ketchup to this day, and everything else you didn’t know about the making of the classic high school flick Dazed and Confused.
Film & TV
January 20, 2013
The Making of Lonesome Dove
You can lead a herd to water, but can you make a miniseries faithful to Larry McMurtry’s Texas classic?
Film & TV
January 20, 2013
Picture Perfect
Why Peter Bogdanovich filmed in black and white, who discovered Cybill Shepherd, which onetime soap opera diva read for the role of Jacy, and other secrets of the making of ‘The Last Picture Show.’ Plus: A few words from the late Ben Johnson.
Film & TV
March 31, 2011
Elizabeth Taylor’s Summer in Marfa
One Texan’s tribute to Liz.
Film & TV
November 1, 2004
They Came. They Sawed.
And they most definitely conquered. The inside story of how a ragtag bunch of hippies made the wildest Texas movie ever (and spilled no more fake blood than was absolutely necessary).
Film & TV
June 30, 1997
Stick a Rourke in It—It’s Done.
Most nights it’s an ordinary shopping center, but during the months of May and June, Fort Worth’s Town Center Mall became a war zone. That was the principal location where Mickey Rourke, the brawl-prone star of 9 1/2 Weeks and Diner, knocked out the indie feature Recoil. Rourke plays a
Film & TV
November 1, 1996
Disunion
The Texas film industry’s labor pain.
Film & TV
July 31, 1996
Shooting on the Border
THERE IS AN OBLIGATORY SCENE in every movie about the border between Texas and Mexico: A man draws a line in the dirt with his boot. The line means something different in each movie, and yet, there it is, a narrow little rut in the ground that the characters gesture
Film & TV
February 1, 1996
Star Gazing
Snow business comes to Houston.
Film & TV
September 30, 1992
Take Two
Made on a shoestring, Slacker was a hit. Now fans wonder if Hollywood money will change Rick Linklater’s style.
Film & TV
May 1, 1986
How Bad Were They?
Larry Buchanan made movies that were so cheap, so incredibly flawed, and so dumb, they’re lovingly celebrated as the worst movies ever made. And he made them all in Dallas.
Film & TV
February 28, 1974
Leavin’ McMurtry
Leaving Cheyenne, which may be Larry McMurtry’s best novel, is made into a miserable movie. This is how it happened.