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

TV Legend David E. Kelley to Receive ATX TV Festival's First Showrunner Award

6 days ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker

Plus indie TV gets the spotlight at this year's fest Time for a celebratory cigar? Boston Legal, one of the many series that has led to David E. Kelley being the winner of the inaugural Showrunner Award at this year's ATX TV Festival. The inaugural winner of any honor says a lot about its prestige. So the first winner of the ATX TV Festival Showrunner Award marks this as a major plaudit, with the first recipient being TV legend David E. Kelley. What’s a showrunner?
Fight or Flight - Movie Review - The Austin Chronicle

1 week ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker

Remember Bullet Train? Remember how much fun it was to watch a movie about a fast-moving and functionally sealed environment where everyone is a killer? Well, it seems like the team behind Fight or Flight liked it so much that they decided to basically remake it. Instead of a train it’s a plane, and instead of Brad Pitt as a lackadaisical mercenary it’s Josh Hartnett, who is kind of a discount Brad Pitt these days anyway.
“Economic Censorship”: The Devastation of the NEA Grants Cut Grows

1 week ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker

After Trump administration rule change, fears mount for future of arts The Paramount Theatre, operated by the Austin Theatre Alliance, is one of over a dozen Austin arts groups and thousands nationwide who have had their National Endowment for the Arts grants arbitrarily terminated.
Arts Groups Lose Promised Grant Money in Friday Night NEA Massacre

1 week ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker

Leading Austin cultural institutions face slashed finances Scrooged by the NEA: Arts organizations like ZACH Theatre (where productions of Charles Dickens' anti-greed fable A Christmas Carol, shown here, have become a seasonal fixture) have had a hole blown in their finances.
ATX TV Festival Hits the Road With Max's Duster

1 week ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker

Plus The Gilded Age panel and the Ted Lasso crew Josh Holloway and Rachel Hilson in the new period crime series, Duster. The show gets a special preview, complete with cast and crew Q&A, at this year's ATX TV Festival. ATX TV Festival's guide gets even more packed this morning with news that audiences will be hitting the road for a preview screening of Duster, the new show for Max from co-creators/executive producers/writers LaToya Morgan and J.J. Abrams.
Thunderbolts* - Movie Review - The Austin Chronicle

1 week ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker

How was Hawkeye in the Avengers? That’s always the old joke, that some guy with a bow and arrow shouldn’t be sharing Quinjet space with super soldiers and sorcerers. Yet the genius of the original run of Marvel films was how it melded the cosmic and the street level, making characters like Black Widow mortal and yet still invaluable to the team. That’s where Marvel has struggled in recent years, as the two halves of its identity have increasingly diverged.
Abrupt Changes in SXSW Executive Leadership Mark New Era

1 week ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker

President and two VPs are among those exiting Former President Hugh Forrest (left) and Jenny Connelly, who is taking over There’s been a major shake-up in leadership at South by Southwest, as some of the most familiar faces behind the festival and conference are out. On April 25, SXSW President Hugh Forrest, who has been with the festival since 1989 and also served as head of programming since 1994, exited the company.
Cinema, Comics, and Crafts in This Week’s Arts Events

1 week ago | austinchronicle.com | James Scott |Katherine McNevins |Richard Whittaker |Cat McCarrey

Weekday nights are for arting Monday 5, St. John Branch LibraryHESS HIVE RISE! Awkward absurdist auteur Jared Hess might be rolling in the dough with Minecraft’s continued box office dominance, but nothing beats his Napoleon Dynamite follow-up: the tale of orphan friar-turned-luchador, Nacho frickin’ Libre. Forget Steve and his chicken jockeys, Nacho is Jack Black’s ultimate role – and his personal favorite, so there.
SXSW Announces Penske EVP as New Festival Head

2 weeks ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker

Jenny Connelly replaces ousted longtime head Hugh Forrest Jenny Connelly, EVP of Product & Technology at Penske Media Corporation, who is taking over as director in charge of SXSW. She replaces President and Head of Programming Hugh Forrest, who was ousted on Friday.
Huge Changes in SXSW Leadership

2 weeks ago | austinchronicle.com | Richard Whittaker

Fest boss Hugh Forrest among several high-profile departures Hugh Forrest, a guiding light at South by Southwest since he joined the team in 1989, is one of several senior leaders within the company who have unexpectedly left the company as of Friday Major changes and departures have just hit South by Southwest, as several senior members of the leadership team were forced out of the company as of Friday.