Richard Whittaker

Austin

Culture Editor at The Austin Chronicle

Award-winning journalist and reviewer. Rotten Tomatoes critic. Vice-president, Austin Film Critics Association. Yes, I married above me.

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Articles

Tribeca Dispatch: The Inquisitor

1 week ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker

Is it possible to be a radical in elected office and still keep your political powder dry? It’s the perpetual conundrum of politics, of how when and why to take a principled stand, and it’s the unstated core of The Inquisitor, Angela Lynn Tucker’s documentary about Representative Barbara Jordan.
Text, Subtext, and Brecht in Celine Song’s Materialists

1 week ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker

How a giant of theatre influenced the director’s romantic drama Writer/director Celine Song on the set of Materialists, starring Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans, in cinemas from A24 now. Movies rely on love. It’s the constant, from Agnes Ayres swooning over Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik to Han and Leia’s barbed flirtations. But movies about love, where eros is the text? For the last few decades it’s been rom-coms or nothing.
Ken Burns Ensures the Revolution Will Be Televised

2 weeks ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker

Ken Burns at a June 4 panel in Austin The story of the American Revolution isn’t just one of political revolution or tax avoidance. It’s also one of distance, of the challenges of getting on foot or horseback across the 13 colonies, and how close and how far they were from Europe. Living in Paris, Benjamin Franklin didn’t find out that Philadelphia had fallen until well after the fact, while George Washington was fighting unaware that the French had signed a treaty and were sending troops.
Movie Review: How to Train Your Dragon

2 weeks ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker

It’s a good time to be Dean DeBlois. First, Disney makes a box office juggernaut live action remake of his 2002 hit, Lilo & Stitch. Now Universal Studios brings him in to helm the live-action remake of another of his beloved animated features, How to Train Your Dragon. Retaining DeBlois for his live-action narrative debut as director may seem risky, but the reality is that no one knows the Viking settlement on Berk and its fire-breathing pests better than DeBlois.
Tribeca Dispatch: Our Hero, Balthazar

2 weeks ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker

Before he slaughtered 21 people at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Salvador Ramos DMed a girl he had met and only knew online and told her he was going on a killing spree. Even though there was little she could have done, and even less reason to believe she took him seriously, she was charged with failure to report planned crimes.
Tribeca Dispatch: Long Live the State

2 weeks ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker

Inside the sketch comedy troupe that changed the game … eventually Eleven heads, one heart: The comedy ensemble the State, the subject of Tribeca Festival documentary Long Live the State It’s funny that Long Live the State, Matthew Perniciaro’s history of groundbreaking 1990s comedy ensemble the State, begins and ends in Austin.
Tribeca Festival Dispatch: Hal & Harper

2 weeks ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker

Cooper Raiff’s indie TV family drama expresses childhood trauma Lili Reinhart, Mark Ruffalo, and Cooper Raiff in Hal & Harper. The independently-produced TV show screened this weekend at Tribeca Festival ahead of its release via Mubi. “You really had to grow up way too fast.” That’s the apology that comes to Harper (Lili Reinhart) from her dad (Mark Ruffalo) in lo-fi indie TV series Hal & Harper. He’s utterly wrong.
Texas Performing Arts Summons All the Muses for its 2025-26 Season

2 weeks ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker

Jazz masters, puppet pioneers, and comedic brass for the new year Living legend of jazz Wynton Marsalis, just one of the era-defining and radical artists featured in the lineup for Texas Performing Arts' 2025-26 season The nine muses of Greek mythology, the goddesses who inspire the creative arts, are once again sending their acolytes to grace the multiple stages overseen by Texas Performing Arts, as the organization releases its 2025-26 season lineup.
Getting Wet and Wild With Dangerous Animals

3 weeks ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker |Sean Byrne

Yellowstone's Hassie Harrison swims with sharks for her new horror “This is two apex predators, and he’s met his perfect match.” Zephyr (Hassie Harrison) goes fin-to-fin with cunning killer Tucker (Jai Courtney) in Dangerous Animals, out now from the Independent Film Company and Shudder. “It’s not the shark’s fault.” With that one line in Dangerous Animals, cage-diving boat operator and stealthy serial killer Tucker deflates the underlying sickness about sharksploitation flicks.
The Gruesome and the Infernal Bring Her Back

3 weeks ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker

The Philippou brothers discuss staying small for their big movie Foster mother doesn't know best in Bring Her Back, starring Academy Award nominee Sally Hawkins and newcomer Sora Wong. What’s the secret to really disturbing horror? “It’s about tapping into things that make you personally squeamish or uncomfortable,” said writer/director Danny Philippou, co-creator with twin brother and director Michael of supernatural shocker Bring Her back.