Author: Mark Saldana

Austin Film Festival 2014: Competition Winners

AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF 2014 SCREENPLAY & TELEPLAY COMPETITION, FILM COMPETITION, AND AUDIENCE AWARDS AUSTIN, Texas— Nov. 4, 2014— Austin Film Festival (AFF) is pleased to announce its 2014 Screenplay & Teleplay Competition winners, Jury and Audience Award Winners in Film. Awards recipients received an array of cash prizes, travel expenses, industry recognition and… Continue reading Austin Film Festival 2014: Competition Winners

Movie News: LONDON HAS FALLEN

“LONDON HAS FALLEN” BEGINS FILMING   GERARD BUTLER, AARON ECKHART, MORGAN FREEMAN, ANGELA BASSETT, MELISSA LEO REPRISE STARRING ROLES LONDON – Principal photography has begun on Millennium Films’ and Focus Features’ London Has Fallen, the sequel to the worldwide smash hit “Olympus Has Fallen.” Gerard Butler again stars as Secret Service agent Mike Banning, alongside Aaron Eckhart as… Continue reading Movie News: LONDON HAS FALLEN

Review: INTERSTELLAR

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) Director Christopher Nolan, the man who reinvented the comic book hero movie, set his ambitions and sights higher with his follow up film to The Dark Knight Rises.  After his brother Jonathan wrote the initial script, the two collaborated in further developing the story and screenplay… Continue reading Review: INTERSTELLAR

Spanish Review: NIGHTCRAWLER

Por Liz López Rating :A Para el viernes, 31 de octubre, conocido como Halloween en nuestro país, hay una cantidad de opciones para celebrar, incluso ver películas si es su gusto. Dentro de las producciones que se estrenan es el largometraje Nightcrawler en el cual protagoniza Jake Gyllenhaal como el personaje Lou Bloom, desempleado y… Continue reading Spanish Review: NIGHTCRAWLER

Fantastic Fest 2014 Review: NIGHTCRAWLER

By Mark Saldana Rating: 4 (Out of 4 Stars) 2014 has been quite the year for biting satires (Birdman) and films portraying sociopathic behavior (Gone Girl).  Dan Gilroy’s Nighcrawler does an exceptional job of combining these two elements in an intense and disturbing crime drama setting.  This closing night feature of this year’s Fantastic Fest… Continue reading Fantastic Fest 2014 Review: NIGHTCRAWLER

AFF 2014 Review: DAWN PATROL

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) Directed by Dan Petrie, Jr. (Toy Soldiers) and written by Rachel Long and Brian Pittman is an Austin Film Festival success story. Long and Pittman caught the attention of Dan Petrie, Jr. at the Driskill Hotel bar with their screenplay about a surfer-turned-Marine coping with the… Continue reading AFF 2014 Review: DAWN PATROL

AFF 2014 Interview: DAWN PATROL

By Mark Saldana At the 2008 Austin Film Festival and Conference, Rachel Long and Brian Pittman caught the attention of director Dan Petrie, Jr.(Toy Soldiers) with a screenplay for a film titled Stranded.  It is now six years later and Stranded is now titled Dawn Patrol and is a marquee screening at this year’s Austin… Continue reading AFF 2014 Interview: DAWN PATROL

AFF 2014 Review: THE HUMBLING

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) Based on the novel by Philip Roth, Barry Levinson directs this often hilarious adapted screenplay by Hollywood legend Buck Henry.  The film served as the opening night film of the 2014 Austin Film Festival and kick off the event with an entertaining and poignant movie that… Continue reading AFF 2014 Review: THE HUMBLING

AFF 2014 Interview: THE SUICIDE THEORY

By Mark Saldana It gave me great pleasure to speak with Dru Brown, director of The Suicide Theory, a film which will most definitely be one of my top favorite films of this year’s Austin Film Festival.  The Australian native spoke with me briefly about his sophomore feature and how he discovered the incredible and… Continue reading AFF 2014 Interview: THE SUICIDE THEORY