Go Memphis

Bill Plympton — longtime artist, cartoonist and filmmaker — embraces his reputation as "the king of indie animation. "I'm sort of like the David Lynch or Jim Jarmusch of animation," says Plympton, who will be in Memphis today and Tuesday for two public events. What pleases Plympton as much as his reputation is that he actually makes a good living with his short and feature-length cartoons. Full story »

The outdoor Indie Memphis Film Festival screenings of “Elvis: ’68,” “Memphis Music at SXSW” and “The Big Lebowski” scheduled for tonight at the Levitt Shell in Overton Park have been canceled due to rain. Full story »

The Invention of Lying (PG-13, 105 min.) Star Ricky Gervais co-wrote and co-directed this comedy about the only man who knows how to fib in a world of truth-tellers. Stage Cinema, Collierville Towne 16, DeSoto Cinema 16, Cordova Cinema, Paradiso, Hollywood 20 Cinema, CinePlanet 16. Full story »

With his new and most ambitious feature, "Cigarette Girl," which has its "U.S. premiere" Thursday at Malco's Studio on the Square, Mike McCarthy is eager to affirm his value as a filmmaker whose passion for punk rock, comic books, monster movies, pinup girls and Elvis is the stuff of art as well as exploitation -- or, in this case, "smokesploitation." Full story »

"Humpday," the edgy and acclaimed new film from Seattle director Lynn Shelton, makes its Memphis debut at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 31 in a free "members only" screening at the Malco Studio on the Square, sponsored by Indie Memphis. Full story »

On Location: Memphis is now accepting entries for its 11th annual International Film Festival, to be held in April at Malco’s Ridgeway Four. Entries are being accepted in the categories of feature film, documentary, animated film, live-action short, music video and student-created film. Past festival guests have included Morgan Freeman, Holly Hunter, Isaac Hayes, Cybill Shepherd, and directors Craig Brewer and Ira Sachs. Full story »

Two filmmakers have teamed to form Paper Moon Films, a Memphis production company preparing to launch three low-budget features, including one from buzz-generating local director Kentucker Audley and one co-starring Memphis songstress Amy LaVere and New York-based singer/actress Ann Magnuson. Full story »

If you're just wild about Harry (Potter), odds are that you know about his new movie, that opened in theaters Wednesday. And odds are you've read all the books, seen the other movies, played the games. But how much do you really know about the minutiae of Harry Potter? Author J.K. Rowling worked an amazing amount of tiny detail into her saga. Take our quiz and see how you fare. Full story »

When a young model and novice actress (and future Elvis co-star) named Millie Perkins was cast in the lead role in 20th Century-Fox's 1959 production of "The Diary of Anne Frank," the heartbreaking journal that inspired the film was not a staple of high school reading lists, nor was it regarded as a key historical literary work of the 20th century. Full story »

"The Hangover", the sometimes tasteless, frequently hilarious comedy about three best buds who take a road-trip to Vegas for an overnight bachelor party, is still playing. But if you are looking for something the kids can enjoy too, the sixth installment in the "Harry Potter" series opened Wednesday with the second-highest debut ever for a movie opening on that day, and will likely continue to draw huge crowds to theaters this weekend. Full story »

Movies opening today include "Brüno," Sacha Baron Cohen's follow-up to "Borat" with this button-pushing "documentary" about a flamboyant gay Austrian; "Chéri;" "Moon;" and "I Love You, Beth Cooper," starring Hayden Panettiere as the hottest girl in high school who decides to show a lovestruck nerd (Paul Rust) the best night of his life; Full story »

Julia Donner spent nearly 11 weeks here as an unofficial ambassador of cinema, working to connect the historically significant and still-thriving movie culture and business of Germany with the emerging film industry of Memphis. Full story »

A pair of lauded movie makers will be in Memphis this month to host free screenings and workshops for aspiring local screenwriters. The filmmakers -- producer Mike S. Ryan and writer-director Barry Jenkins -- will review and discuss script "treatments" in afternoon workshops on July 18-19. Attendance will be limited, to keep the groups manageable, and is restricted to residents of Shelby County. Full story »

Much of Memphis knows the story of Michael Oher, the African-American teen who grew up in an unstable one-parent home but was taken in by the white, well-to-do Tuohy family. He became a football star at Briarcrest Christian School and Ole Miss, then was drafted in April by the NFL's Baltimore Ravens. Now, thanks to "The Blind Side," the movie based on the book by Michael Lewis, Oher's story will become familiar to the general public. My wife, 16-year-old son and I have each worked as extras on "The Blind Side." Full story »

Movies opening today include "Easy Virtue," a 1920s comedy starring Jessica Biel; "Management" a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston and Steve Zahn; "The Proposal" a romantic comedy starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds; and "Year One," a prehistoric comedy starring Jack Black and Michael Cera. Full story »