How would you like it if the entire research of your lifetime were reduced to a single footnote on page 700 of some published journal? This is what has happened to Eliezer Shkolnik a professor in Talmudic research in the Israeli dramedy Footnote. Meanwhile his son Uriel has achieved a level of scholastic success that eludes Eli leading to a comic yet sometimes mean spirited resentment among three generations of the Shkolnik family. Under the direction of Joseph Cedar, whose previous film released domestically was the war allegory Beaufort (2007), Footnote moves with a funny oscillation between serious scholastic dialogue and ... Read More »

By Jack Daniel Betz As Ramon so kindly reminded you all in this week’s preview, Big Star Bar will be visited by a representative from Corwood Industries this Sunday afternoon. I am speaking of none other than the least accessible musician in all of Houston music history, the arcane, abstruse, artist himself: Jandek. I felt compelled to write this little piece because I’ve run into an unbelievable amount of people my own age who have no idea who Jandek is. This includes people who are into way weirder music than I am, like power noise and pedal noise stuff. Stuff ... Read More »

A mix of about 70 students, academics, and activists braved stormy weather yesterday to attend Dr. Norman Finkelstein’s talk entitled “How to Solve the Israeli Palestinian Conflict,” organized by the Rice Progressives at Rice University. Read More »

The Raid: Redemption has to be hands down one of the most action packed movies ever made. That’s just a fact. Free Press Houston caught up with director (also writer and editor) Gareth Evans, along with the film’s composers Mike Shinoda (also a founding member of Linkin Park) and Joe Trapanese at SXSW on March 12, in the back of a bar on 6th Street. The Raid follows a team of policemen as they enter a very secure multi-story building to arrest a kingpin. At first the battle occurs with guns, but after bullets are exhausted machetes are brandished. That ... Read More »

This Week’s Featured Show Saturday, March 31 The Energy (tour kickoff) with Mound Carmel Black Congress Peasant @ Walter’s (1120 Naylor) Oh good gracious, The Energy are going on tour.  We are taking bets as to which band member will be a victim of cannibalism when they return from their expedition.  Seriously though, you can’t have a better group of rock and roll ambassadors than these guys.  The band cranks out spastic, driving punk that gets the audiences riled-up like sharks in blood red water.  What I find most amusing about them live is the contrast of the music and Arthur Bates as frontman.  Maybe it’s ... Read More »

There’s a joy in watching Blu-Ray discs of classic films. Sometimes for the restoration they knock it out of the park as with the Paramount release of To Catch A Thief, starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. While the movie is middle league Hitchcock (all his other films from the early 50s through the early 60s were superior) you can’t help but be astonished at the color photography, which itself won that year’s cinematography Oscar. The point being that in the last few weeks I watched Blu-Ray direct to disc releases like A Lovely Place to Die or The Terror ... Read More »

Shushana and Jack Castle are on a mission, one that involves social awareness and cinema. This weekend, Friday and Saturday March 30-31, they will present Mountainfilm on Tour – Houston at the Rice Media Center. The couple are curating select films and shorts from the Mountainfilm in Telluride film festival that unwinds every year during the Memorial Day weekend in May. The Castles divide their time between homes in Telluride and Houston. Jack built the successful franchise Castle Dental Centers and Shushana has a career as a bonds trader and with Mountainfilm in Telluride they’re putting their money where their ... Read More »

FPH Podcast comes in strong this week with issues like voluntary extinction, racial identity, and we attempt to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict in 4 minutes or less ( easy answer is demography ). Guest this week is Honorary FPH Mideast correspondent Jackson Allers. Subscribe to FPH’s weekly podcast via iTunes or directly through any RSS reader, or download now. Read More »

Want a chance to win free passes and swag from Free Press Summer Fest? Then put together the most bizarre, silly, and stupid commercial advertising FPSF 2025! You don’t need to have a good camera or pro editing skills. All you need is to goof off with your friends and make a short video and upload it to YouTube. PRIZE PACKAGES 1ST PRIZE 4 FANCY PANTS WEEKEND PASSES, 4 T-SHIRTS, 4 OFFICIAL 2025 FPSF SCREEN PRINT POSTERS, AND YOUR VIDEO WILL BE FEATURED ON FRONT PAGE OF FPSF WEBSITE. 2ND PRIZE 4 GENERAL ADMISSION WEEKEND PASSES, 4 T-SHIRTS 3RD PRIZE 2 ... Read More »

Houston-area schoolteachers Augustine Laredo and Lupe Mendez smuggling “banned” books. Read More »