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    At the Movies

    Good times ahead on track when Big Easy Express with Mumford & Sons arrives onwhistle stop tour

    Joe Leydon
    Oct 24, 2012 | 6:50 am
    • A scene from Big Easy Express
      Big Easy Express/Facebook
    • Big Easy Express director Emmett Malloy speaks at SXSW this spring.
      Big Easy Express/Facebook

    Emmett Malloy’s exuberantly entertaining Big Easy Express — an infectiously joyful account of a 2011 whistle-stop tour by the indie folk ensembles Mumford & Sons, Old Crow Medicine Show and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros — has been available on DVD, Blu-Ray and iTunes for the past several weeks. But, trust me, you don’t want to see this good-time flick for the first time on any of those platforms.

    No, what you really want to do is see it the way God — and Malloy — intended you see it: On a big screen. With a lot of people. Where there’s plenty of room to spontaneously clap your hands, sway in your seat and maybe, just maybe, dance in the aisles.

     

      What you really want to do is see it the way God — and Malloy — intended you see it: On a big screen. With a lot of people.

      A place like Austin’s Paramount Theatre, where I fell in love with the movie last spring on closing night of the SXSW Festival. Or a place like… like… well, gee, I don’t know, maybe a place like 14 Pews, where they’ll be hosting the H-Town premiere of Big Easy Express this week at 7 p.m. Wednesday and Monday, and 4 p.m. Sunday.

    Malloy, who also directed the acclaimed White Stripes documentary Under Great Northern Lights, went along for the ride to record the music, merriment and misadventures when the three bands banded together aboard a 14-car train for a six-city, Oakland to New Orleans tour. Judging from his film, there was a minimum of drama on board – the groups evidently formed a mutual admiration society while jamming together until the wee small hours during their cross-country journey – and an abundance of high spirits during each performance at every stop.

    Indeed, Magnetic Zeros lead singer Alex Ebert occasionally appears possessed by Pentecostal fervor as he hops about barefoot on stage during songs, to the delight of cheering crowds. And during a stay-over in Austin, Mumford & Sons shake the rafters while performing their hit “The Cave” with a little help from the Austin High School marching band.

    Right from the start, Malloy lets you know you’re in for a good time with a breezily cheery credits sequence that follows the lithe and lovely Magnetic Zeros singer Jade Castrinos as she drifts – no, make that dances – from car to car aboard the train, introducing the audiences to each of the bands.

    It’s a scene that’s nothing short of delightful. And according to Malloy, it very nearly didn’t happen.

     CultureMap: There’s something almost intoxicating about your opening scene. It seems totally spontaneous and unplanned. But, of course, nothing’s ever that simple, right?

     Emmett Malloy: That was actually kind of the biggest learning curve for me while making this film. Because we were really restricted by the rules and regulations of the railroad. It was like, we could never really plan anything, because we never knew for sure when the train was going to stop, or when we could get off and on.

    So even though I had all these ideas conceptually in mind for the film in general, most of them went out the window when I realized how difficult it was to co-ordinate three bands, and figure out just when we could get off the train.

     CM: So how did you make the magic happen?

     EM: That opening shot, it was just something I got the idea to do because I thought it would be a great way to kick things off. But, you know, these weren’t small bands. These were bands with a lot of moving parts, so to speak. So we only got one opportunity to do it.

    We had all three bands, each in their respective cars, and we got it all organized on the morning we were heading into Austin. Everybody agreed and liked the idea. But there was no way for us to communicate with one another between cars. We had no walkie-talkies or anything. So when you went from one car to the next, you might as well have been going to the other side of the world.

    We decided to have Jade move along because she was one of the few females in the movie, and we felt she would give that opening shot a different spirit. So we set everything up, and ran up and down the cars to let everybody know we were about to begin. We didn’t have any special rigs or anything. It was just me and the cameraman – me holding his shoulders and getting the doors for him while we were moving along.

    And we got about midway through Mumford & Sons’ car – and then the train stopped.

     CM: Oh, no.

     EM: Yeah, and everybody said, “C’mon, let’s just keep doing it.” But I felt the shot just didn’t work that way, because the train wasn’t moving. It wasn’t interesting to me – it didn’t feel like we were going anywhere. It looked like we were on a studio set or something. So I just kind of threw in the towel, and said that was a good try, but we’d figure out a different idea for this opening. So all the bands started to scatter a little.

    And then the train started moving again.

     CM: Well, of course.

     EM: So I started running like a bat out of hell up and down the train again, trying to get everybody back in their spots. And I have to say, some of them were a bit reluctant, and saying things like, “Oh, why don’t we just go ahead and get breakfast or something?” But finally, everybody decided to give it just one more shot.

    And literally, everybody had to just anticipate us coming, because once I yelled “Action,” I had to kind of just let things be and take them as they were while we were moving. So that’s what we did. We just bounced around and followed Jade.

     CM: Do you wish you’d had another take? Or are you wholly satisfied with what you got?

     EM: There are some things, some minor things, that I didn’t like, that bothered me. Nobody else would notice them, but I do.

    But once I got the credits placed over the scene, I realized that it would work, that it would really grab the audience. And that it was a cool way to introduce the audience to the cast of characters that are going to be stars of this journey ahead.

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    Movie Review

    New Superman movie forges into the future while honoring the past

    Alex Bentley
    Jul 11, 2025 | 3:30 pm
    David Corenswet in Superman
    Photo by Jessica Miglio
    David Corenswet in Superman.

    When the character of Superman was invented in 1938, it was perhaps easier to see the world in good and bad terms. Fascism was already on the rise in Germany under Adolf Hitler, and the idea of an all-powerful superhero who stood up for people in need was a welcome one. In the nearly 90 years since, though, the world and the character have undergone multiple evolutions, and the thought of someone who is purely good is often met with cynicism or worse.

    The new Superman, written and directed by James Gunn, puts the superhero (or metahuman, as the film calls him and similar creatures) squarely in the midst of the modern world, with geopolitical conflicts, mega-corporations, and social media all combining to make the altruism of Superman/Clark Kent (David Corenswet) questionable. That skepticism even extends to his coworker/girlfriend Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), whose knowledge of his exploits puts her in a tricky position personally and professionally.

    Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) is out to dominate the world and take down Superman, with his eponymous corporation and vast group of underlings dedicated to doing both. Superman is generally a one-man fighting crew, but he’s occasionally aided by a group calling themselves the Justice Gang, comprised of heroes many have never heard of like Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), a version of Green Lantern; Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), a flying metahuman; and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), who knows all kinds of technology.

    One of the best things about this new version of Superman is that it mostly dispenses with introductions, putting the audience in a world where Superman is already a well-known quantity who’s adored by many and hated by some. Gunn has used his new position as co-CEO of DC Studios to honor the past of the hero and take him into the future. With the 1978 John Williams theme song echoing throughout and Corenswet giving off Christopher Reeve vibes, it’s clear Gunn wants audiences to feel nostalgia while still getting something new.

    He also appears to want viewers to fight against the negativity that the modern world can bring. The plot involves manipulation of the public, usually at the hands of Luthor, through bombastic talk shows, political theater, and social media, the latter of which — in a great joke — comes to involve hundreds of typing monkeys. The film could be read as a rebuttal of many real-world ills as, despite Luthor’s machinations, many choose to continue to believe in the goodness of Superman.

    There is a lot going on in the film, but somehow it never comes off as overly complicated. Superman’s relationship with Lois Lane and Luthor’s attempts at taking him down are given the most prominence, with everything else supporting those two main things. The Justice Gang is a fun addition, with Mr. Terrific becoming the breakout hero of the group. The addition of the (CGI) dog Krypto provides levity, poignant moments, and unexpectedly great action scenes. The only part that gets somewhat short shrift is the crew of The Daily Planet, with everyone besides Lois and Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) getting little more than face time.

    Being the new Superman is a lot to live up to, but Corenswet is completely up to the job. He, like Reeve, plays the character as someone who is earnest but not naive, a quality that comes through even when he’s in the middle of fight scenes. Brosnahan is also fantastic, providing a nice balance to the relationship while also proving the character’s own worth. Hoult makes for a great new version of Luthor, and Gathegi nearly makes the case that Mr. Terrific should get a starring film of his own.

    Just as he did with the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, Gunn has shown that success can be found through making characters people want to see. Not everyone in this Superman will be familiar to viewers, but in the end a group of people working together toward a goal that serves the common good is one worth watching and cheering for.

    ---

    Superman is now playing in theaters.

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