When I first started preparing my year-end lists for 2013, I knew for certain that I was going to continue my trend of creating one post with my favorite theatrically released narrative films of 2013 and a separate post with my favorite documentary films of 2o13. This is because I have a difficult enough time ranking films that share no common elements other than they were all shot on a medium that can capture both moving images and sound. The ranking of anything (especially art) seems completely arbitrary to me and the fact that most year-end lists focus on the "top" or "best" really makes no sense. While I guess there are certain basic mechanisms of filmmaking that can be done well (thus making a "good" movie) or can be done poorly (thus making a "bad" movie), for the most part it is all just personal opinion. I prefer to approach talking...
- 12/26/2013
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
Austin, Texas filmmaker Don Swaynos’s howlingly funny surrealist comedy Pictures of Superheroes is now available to rent and buy on VOD. You can stream the film on Amazon, as well as get the film via outlets such as iTunes, Google Play and other outlets.
The film stars a fantastically deadpan Kerri Lendo as Marie, a professional cleaning woman who gets dumped by her boyfriend, Phil (Byron Brown) and hired by a manic entrepeneur, Eric (Shannon McCormick), on the same day. While cleaning Eric’s suburban home, Marie discover that the businessman has a hidden, child-like roommate, Joe (John Merriman), who may or may not have romantic notions towards her.
Have You Seen This Movie? Available On: Amazon
Lendo, a stand-up comedian and filmmaker in her own right, makes her feature film acting debut here and carries the film perfectly as a stranger — riddled with her own pent-up neuroses — navigating...
The film stars a fantastically deadpan Kerri Lendo as Marie, a professional cleaning woman who gets dumped by her boyfriend, Phil (Byron Brown) and hired by a manic entrepeneur, Eric (Shannon McCormick), on the same day. While cleaning Eric’s suburban home, Marie discover that the businessman has a hidden, child-like roommate, Joe (John Merriman), who may or may not have romantic notions towards her.
Have You Seen This Movie? Available On: Amazon
Lendo, a stand-up comedian and filmmaker in her own right, makes her feature film acting debut here and carries the film perfectly as a stranger — riddled with her own pent-up neuroses — navigating...
- 10/17/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Here's the latest Austin film news.
FilmBuff has announced it will release Austin filmmaker Don Swaynos's flick Pictures of Superheroes (Debbie's review and Jette's interview), which screened at last year's Austin Film Festival, on Oct. 15 via iTunes, Amazon, Vudu and other online streaming outlets. To celebrate, the cast and crew are hosting a special screening at Violet Crown on Thursday, Oct. 17 at 8 pm, with a post-film Q&A. The quirky comedy follows Marie, who, after being dumped and fired on the same day, takes a housekeeping job with an overworked businessman and the messy roommate he's forgotten about.Harry Ransom Center is planning a 2014 exhibition around the movie Gone With the Wind, but is asking for help to raise the necessary $50,000. The Hrc houses the archives of the film's producer, David O. Selznick -- and several gowns from the film.Austin-based documentarian Heather Courtney's Emmy-nominated film Where Soldiers Come From...
FilmBuff has announced it will release Austin filmmaker Don Swaynos's flick Pictures of Superheroes (Debbie's review and Jette's interview), which screened at last year's Austin Film Festival, on Oct. 15 via iTunes, Amazon, Vudu and other online streaming outlets. To celebrate, the cast and crew are hosting a special screening at Violet Crown on Thursday, Oct. 17 at 8 pm, with a post-film Q&A. The quirky comedy follows Marie, who, after being dumped and fired on the same day, takes a housekeeping job with an overworked businessman and the messy roommate he's forgotten about.Harry Ransom Center is planning a 2014 exhibition around the movie Gone With the Wind, but is asking for help to raise the necessary $50,000. The Hrc houses the archives of the film's producer, David O. Selznick -- and several gowns from the film.Austin-based documentarian Heather Courtney's Emmy-nominated film Where Soldiers Come From...
- 10/7/2013
- by Jordan Gass-Poore'
- Slackerwood
The 2nd annual South Texas Underground Film Festival, running Oct. 3-6 in Corpus Christi, Texas, is a massive celebration of international alternative cinema, including plenty from Texas filmmakers, of course.
The fest opened on the 3rd with the drop-dead hilarious comedy Pictures of Superheroes by Austin filmmaker Don Swaynos.
But, there’s still plenty more to see throughout the jam-packed weekend wherein films screen from morning until, well, early into the next morning.
The film that’s absolutely not to be missed is the screening on the 6th at 10:30 a.m. of Savage Witches, the amazing celebration of the art of filmmaking by British directors Daniel Fawcett & Clara Pais. A colorful spectacle of multiple filmmaking styles, Savage Witches is a real joy to experience.
Also to be on the lookout for are on the 5th at 11:00 a.m. is the new rockin’ documentary Mondo Fuzz: Twilight of the...
The fest opened on the 3rd with the drop-dead hilarious comedy Pictures of Superheroes by Austin filmmaker Don Swaynos.
But, there’s still plenty more to see throughout the jam-packed weekend wherein films screen from morning until, well, early into the next morning.
The film that’s absolutely not to be missed is the screening on the 6th at 10:30 a.m. of Savage Witches, the amazing celebration of the art of filmmaking by British directors Daniel Fawcett & Clara Pais. A colorful spectacle of multiple filmmaking styles, Savage Witches is a real joy to experience.
Also to be on the lookout for are on the 5th at 11:00 a.m. is the new rockin’ documentary Mondo Fuzz: Twilight of the...
- 10/4/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 7th annual Sydney Underground Film Festival, which runs this year on September 5-8 at the Factory Theatre, opens with a real bang when they will screen cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky’s latest cinematic odyssey, The Dance of Reality. This is Jodorowsky’s first film in over twenty years and is an imaginative and playful quasi-autobiography.
The rest of the four-day celebration is packed with more film oddities and excursions into surreal and transgressive territory. One particular highlight that is not to be missed is Don Swaynos’ incredibly crowd-pleasing comedy Pictures of Superheroes, about a slacker cleaning woman’s descent into an absurd world she can’t escape. Read the Underground Film Journal’s review of Pictures of Superheroes here.
Other twisted fiction films screening include Drew Tobias’s sick and twisted See You Next Tuesday, Cody Calahan’s apocalyptic Antisocial and Lloyd Kaufman’s highly-anticipated sequel Return to Nuke ‘Em High: Vol.
The rest of the four-day celebration is packed with more film oddities and excursions into surreal and transgressive territory. One particular highlight that is not to be missed is Don Swaynos’ incredibly crowd-pleasing comedy Pictures of Superheroes, about a slacker cleaning woman’s descent into an absurd world she can’t escape. Read the Underground Film Journal’s review of Pictures of Superheroes here.
Other twisted fiction films screening include Drew Tobias’s sick and twisted See You Next Tuesday, Cody Calahan’s apocalyptic Antisocial and Lloyd Kaufman’s highly-anticipated sequel Return to Nuke ‘Em High: Vol.
- 8/15/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
In the classic underground movie book Visionary Film, historian P. Adams Sitney coined the term “trance film” to describe the primary type of post-wwii avant-garde cinema that was in vogue at the time. In Sitney’s view, short movies such as Maya Deren‘s Meshes of the Afternoon, Kenneth Anger‘s Fireworks and Stan Brakhage‘s Flesh of Morning all feature somnambulist protagonists wandering through surrealist nightmare worlds of their own psyche.
Movies featuring sleepwalking main characters are, of course, the antithesis of popular mainstream entertainment, which at all times attempts to thrill the masses with tales of heroes of extraordinary abilities doing amazing things.
Flash forward about 70 years and Don Swaynos‘ debut feature film, the surrealist comedy Pictures of Superheroes, doesn’t quite fit Sitney’s “trance” mold, but it’s main character, professional cleaning woman Marie (Kerri Lendo), does appear to be sleepwalking through her life. The film...
Movies featuring sleepwalking main characters are, of course, the antithesis of popular mainstream entertainment, which at all times attempts to thrill the masses with tales of heroes of extraordinary abilities doing amazing things.
Flash forward about 70 years and Don Swaynos‘ debut feature film, the surrealist comedy Pictures of Superheroes, doesn’t quite fit Sitney’s “trance” mold, but it’s main character, professional cleaning woman Marie (Kerri Lendo), does appear to be sleepwalking through her life. The film...
- 12/3/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
I had an excellent Saturday at Austin Film Festival, with three good movies and a bit of a party. I even found downtown parking on a Ut home football game day for $7, at St. David's.
I got downtown later than I wanted to see Pictures of Superheroes at Alamo Drafthouse Ritz. I like to get to Ritz super-early during Aff because it's such a popular venue. In fact I'd thought about seeing Hyde Park on Hudson earlier in the day and realized it would draw such a crowd at Ritz that I'd have to get there 90 minutes early, and I was simply too lazy at that hour of the morning.
At any rate, I found my miraculously affordable parking (since I'd be down there until midnight, it was cheaper than a meter) and made it to Ritz in plenty of time to get a good seat for the movie. I...
I got downtown later than I wanted to see Pictures of Superheroes at Alamo Drafthouse Ritz. I like to get to Ritz super-early during Aff because it's such a popular venue. In fact I'd thought about seeing Hyde Park on Hudson earlier in the day and realized it would draw such a crowd at Ritz that I'd have to get there 90 minutes early, and I was simply too lazy at that hour of the morning.
At any rate, I found my miraculously affordable parking (since I'd be down there until midnight, it was cheaper than a meter) and made it to Ritz in plenty of time to get a good seat for the movie. I...
- 10/29/2012
- by Jette Kernion
- Slackerwood
My apologies to everyone who’s missed these links posts that I’ve been slacking off on recently, which is the result of a combination of things — being out of town, being busy and being brain-fried again. Mostly the last option, though, in all honesty.
If you love classic ’70s movie posters, then you absolutely have to read Temple of Schlock’s interview with Mort Künstler who painted posters for The Poseidon Adventure, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and more. Plus, Joshua and the Blob?The Austin Statesman interviewed filmmaker Don Swaynos about his directorial debut, Pictures of Superheroes. Most interestingly, why did Don, an awesome professional film editor, direct a feature film? Well, out of a fear of going blind! That’s motivation for you! P.S. Pictures of Superheroes is an amazing comedy — To be reviewed on Bad Lit soon!The One+One Filmmakers Journal takes...
If you love classic ’70s movie posters, then you absolutely have to read Temple of Schlock’s interview with Mort Künstler who painted posters for The Poseidon Adventure, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and more. Plus, Joshua and the Blob?The Austin Statesman interviewed filmmaker Don Swaynos about his directorial debut, Pictures of Superheroes. Most interestingly, why did Don, an awesome professional film editor, direct a feature film? Well, out of a fear of going blind! That’s motivation for you! P.S. Pictures of Superheroes is an amazing comedy — To be reviewed on Bad Lit soon!The One+One Filmmakers Journal takes...
- 10/28/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
I admit I couldn't help but be excited about a movie that was primarily shot in my neighborhood, although you couldn't tell from watching Pictures of Superheroes. Much of the film takes place in a house where filmmaker Don Swaynos was living at the time, which is several blocks away from my own home. You wouldn't know it without his telling you, though.
I saw Pictures of Superheroes on Saturday at its world premiere, and afterward, emailed Swaynos a few questions about the movie. The answers are below. Don't worry, they're not spoilery. I liked the movie very much and encourage you all to see it at Austin Film Festival tonight at 7 pm at the Texas State Theater in the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum. Swaynos and probably some other cast/crew will be there and you too can ask him questions. Check out Debbie's review for more details.
Slackerwood:...
I saw Pictures of Superheroes on Saturday at its world premiere, and afterward, emailed Swaynos a few questions about the movie. The answers are below. Don't worry, they're not spoilery. I liked the movie very much and encourage you all to see it at Austin Film Festival tonight at 7 pm at the Texas State Theater in the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum. Swaynos and probably some other cast/crew will be there and you too can ask him questions. Check out Debbie's review for more details.
Slackerwood:...
- 10/25/2012
- by Jette Kernion
- Slackerwood
Like an absurd psychological study of the multiple personalities of modern life in Austin, writer-director Don Swaynos’ Pictures of Superheroes cleverly juxtaposes a slackerish man-child with a self-absorbed entrepreneur. Joe (John Merriman) and Eric (Shannon McCormick) reside in the same house together but have grown so far apart that Eric no longer recognizes Joe’s existence. Literally, Eric is so busy that forgets that he has a roommate; all the while, Joe stays around the house all day, haunting Eric by perpetually messing up the house. On one fateful day, Eric discovers Marie (Kerri Lendo) hopelessly wandering down the street while donning the maid’s uniform in which she lives, sleeps and dreams. Eric hires Marie as his personal maid, thus dragging her into the absurd world in which he exists.
- 10/25/2012
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
Much like Austin music, the local comedy scene has seen its ups and downs through the last couple of decades. Lately Austin comedians have received more recognition not just on stage but onscreen. Sometimes the writing and delivery of stand-up doesn't translate well to the silver screen. However, this year Austin Film Festival features Pictures of Superheroes, a local movie that not only showcases great comedic talent but congeals their multiple personalities in a humorous and insightful tale written and directed by Don Swaynos.
Pictures of Superheroes drops viewers into the humdrum life of maid-for-hire Marie played by Kerri Lendo (Sleep Study) as she deals with her insensitive boyfriend Phil (Byron Brown) and even sleazier boss Gil (Chris Doubek) who runs the French Maid "Cleaning" Service, which fronts as a prostitution store. After being fired from her job and breaking up with Phil, Marie is hired off the street by...
Pictures of Superheroes drops viewers into the humdrum life of maid-for-hire Marie played by Kerri Lendo (Sleep Study) as she deals with her insensitive boyfriend Phil (Byron Brown) and even sleazier boss Gil (Chris Doubek) who runs the French Maid "Cleaning" Service, which fronts as a prostitution store. After being fired from her job and breaking up with Phil, Marie is hired off the street by...
- 10/23/2012
- by Debbie Cerda
- Slackerwood
Like an absurd psychological study of the multiple personalities of modern life in Austin, writer/director Don Swaynos’, Pictures of Superheroes cleverly juxtaposes a slackerish man-child with a self-absorbed entrepreneur. Joe (John Merriman) and Eric (Shannon McCormick) reside in the same house together but have grown so far apart that Eric no longer recognizes Joe’s existence. Literally, Eric is so busy that forgets that he has a roommate; all the while, Joe stays around the house all day, haunting Eric by perpetually messing up the house. On one fateful day, Eric discovers Marie (Kerri Lendo) hopelessly wandering down the street while donning the maid’s uniform in which she lives, sleeps and dreams. Eric hires Marie as his personal maid, thus dragging her into the absurd world in which he exists. Swaynos’ script is saturated with dry and subtle humor built upon the surreal situation of someone no longer realizing that they have a roommate. Pictures...
- 10/22/2012
- by Don Simpson
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Like an absurd psychological study of the multiple personalities of modern life in Austin, writer-director Don Swaynos', Pictures of Superheroes cleverly juxtaposes a slackerish man-child with a self-absorbed entrepreneur. Joe (John Merriman) and Eric (Shannon McCormick) reside in the same house together but have grown so far apart, that Eric no longer recognizes Joe's existence -- literally, Eric is so busy that forgets that he has a roommate. While Eric never stops working, Joe never works. Joe has a job as a bus boy at a restaurant, but he has not worked there for several weeks. So Joe presumably stays around the house all day, haunting Eric by perpetually messing up the house. This is precisely where Marie (Kerri Lendo) comes in.
- 10/20/2012
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
The Robert Zemeckis-directed drama “Flight” will have the centerpiece slot at the Austin Film Festival in October, while “It’s A Disaster,” “Free Samples” and “Shadow Dancer” will also screen during the annual screenwriter-focused event. In addition, festival organizers announced Tuesday that “The X-Files” creator Chris Carter will be honored with the Outstanding Television Writer Award this year. Other features in the program from an initial batch of ten released by the fest include “Rising From Ashes,” a documentary about Rwanda’s national cycling team; “To Kill A Memory,” an indie western; “Spinning Plates,” a documentary that looks at restaurant culture; Pictures of Superheroes, a locally crafted comedy written and directed by Don Swaynos; and “Last Will & Testament,” a documentary about the debate over...
- 8/29/2012
- by Jay A. Fernandez
- Indiewire
Pictures of Superheroes is the debut feature comedy by Austin-based filmmaker Don Swaynos, who previously has directed numerous music videos, short films and documentaries.
Marie (Kerri Lendo) is hired as a maid by businessman Eric (Shannon McCormick) who also asks her to pretend to be his wife to seduce his clients. While cleaning Eric’s home, Marie becomes close to Joe (John Merriman), an aspiring superhero artist who also lives in Eric’s house, although unbeknownst to Eric.
Swaynos first came to the attention to Bad LIt: The Journal of Underground Film with his hilarious short film In Defense of Definitions, which screened at the 2007 Austin Underground Film Festival. Bad Lit also favorably reviewed the compelling Iraq war documentary Year at Danger that Swaynos co-directed with National Guardsman Steve Metze.
To learn more about the film, please visit the official Pictures of Superheroes website. Plus, check out Don Swaynos’ official website.
Marie (Kerri Lendo) is hired as a maid by businessman Eric (Shannon McCormick) who also asks her to pretend to be his wife to seduce his clients. While cleaning Eric’s home, Marie becomes close to Joe (John Merriman), an aspiring superhero artist who also lives in Eric’s house, although unbeknownst to Eric.
Swaynos first came to the attention to Bad LIt: The Journal of Underground Film with his hilarious short film In Defense of Definitions, which screened at the 2007 Austin Underground Film Festival. Bad Lit also favorably reviewed the compelling Iraq war documentary Year at Danger that Swaynos co-directed with National Guardsman Steve Metze.
To learn more about the film, please visit the official Pictures of Superheroes website. Plus, check out Don Swaynos’ official website.
- 1/19/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Last year the Slackerwood gang declared it the Year of (Chris) Doubek, seeing the local actor everywhere in numerous films. This year it seems to be the Year of Merriman, even if several of the movies in which he appears won't hit screens until next year.
If you played the six-degree game, you'd have plenty of degrees left over to connect to John Merriman in the Austin and indie film scene. He's acted in at least six feature films in the last year, including You Hurt My Feelings and An Ordinary Family, which are playing Austin Film Festival this week. He's also in the cast of the upcoming Pictures of Superheroes, Cinema Six, The Man from Orlando and Loves Her Gun, all shot locally this year. Merriman has been in countless shorts including his own Sleep Study (co-written and co-directed by Kerri Lendo), which played Aff last year, and Scott Rice...
If you played the six-degree game, you'd have plenty of degrees left over to connect to John Merriman in the Austin and indie film scene. He's acted in at least six feature films in the last year, including You Hurt My Feelings and An Ordinary Family, which are playing Austin Film Festival this week. He's also in the cast of the upcoming Pictures of Superheroes, Cinema Six, The Man from Orlando and Loves Her Gun, all shot locally this year. Merriman has been in countless shorts including his own Sleep Study (co-written and co-directed by Kerri Lendo), which played Aff last year, and Scott Rice...
- 10/20/2011
- by Jenn Brown
- Slackerwood
The Paul Sharits memorial website, run by his son Christopher, is looking for articles to post on art and music. Congrats to Stuart Simpson’s fantastic El Monstro Del Mar!, which has been picked up for distribution by IndieFilmNet. Careful, this one’s “dirty”: The great cartoonist/reviewer Rick Trembles covers Usama Alshaibi’s hilarious short film The Amateur. Then, Usama Alshaibi tackles the myth about Muslims not being able to render images of the prophets. J.J. Murphy tackles one of the most controversial movies of the last year or so, whether you knew it or not: Harmony Korine’s Trash Humpers. Always a cause for rejoicing: Jonas Mekas announces a new film debuting in Feb.: Sleepless Nights Stories! A little background on the film from Jonas here. SXSW interviews fellow festival founder Lisa Vandever of Cinekink four questions about her upcoming interactive panel in Austin, TX. Professor...
- 1/23/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
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