Featuring a very talented cast of comedic talents (including Compliance‘s Dreama Walker in a refreshingly breezy role), Ishai Setton‘s The Kitchen takes the party-where-everything-goes-wrong to a new level. It’s Jennifer’s (Laura Prepon) thirtieth birthday, and the last thing she wants to celebrate is her life, considering she’s saddled with a scheming ex-boyfriend (Bryan Greenberg), a sister who can’t manage to filter any of her thoughts and opinions (Walker), and a best friend who might be throwing her said party out of more than just the goodness of his heart (Matt Bush). Set entirely inside Jennifer’s kitchen, The Kitchen looks to be a clever, tightly-wound, and amusing comedy of manners (or, non-manners in some cases). In fact, our own dear leader Neil Miller loved the film when he saw it back in October at the Austin Film Festival, writing that the “entire film works on the economics of scale, in which a great deal of energy is created by leaving us, the audience, in one room of the house. We see characters and stories move in and out, leave and return and ultimately develop into a satisfying final act. It sounds frantic, and it can be at first, but it ultimately gives The Kitchen a good pulse.” He also wrote that “Prepon and her co-stars give this story of love, loss, unrequited love, party shenanigans and hurt feelings a great deal of charm and verve, reminiscent of  ’90s ensemble comedies like Empire Records. Clever and fun, The Kitchen sets itself apart from other indie comedies by

The first five days of the 2012 Austin Film Festival have been a challenging frame. For a festival with such a rich history and strong commitment to promoting the work of great storytellers, the overall line-up has been anything but noteworthy. The fest’s biggest (and arguably best) film, Silver Linings Playbook, is an obvious stand-out. But I’ll have more on that later. For now, we’re going to take a look at three comedies that have emerged as clear reasons why there’s hope for the Austin Film Festival programming staff. While much of the rest of their line-up underwhelms, they’ve provided their audience with a number of gems, all of which are sure to make us laugh.

As the leaves begin to turn (not really) and the temperature begins to cool (again, not actually happening), it’s clear that fall is upon us here in Central Texas. But even more so than the slightly reduced electric bills due to being able to turn your AC off for one day, there’s no better sign that fall is here than to see the Austin Film Festival and Conference roll into town. It’s the third of the major festivals on Austin’s yearly film calendar, and like its brethren SXSW and Fantastic Fest, has a unique appeal. It is first and foremost a conference for industry folk, namely screenwriters, that often brings the likes of Mitch Hurwitz, Shane Black and this year, Sopranos creator and Not Fade Away director David Chase in to talk to crowds of industry hopefuls. They also do show a number of films, which is ultimately what has our interest. Sure, there may be a lot to learn in the “Improving Your Logline” panel, but we’re not sure that too many of you would want to read the resulting article. So we’ll stick to the films, as we’ve done since 2006 when AFF became the first festival we ever covered as a site. As we look down the line-up of AFF 2012, it’s hard not to think that we’re seeing the festival equivalent of a rebuilding year. The entire line-up of films is undoubtedly lean, with only a few hot titles. What once was a refuge for Toronto Film Festival hold-overs has become a mish-mash of