Last year during Austin City Limits, The Sessions reached out to Fitz and The Tantrums to collaborate on filming the band's after party show at La Zona Rosa. The team jumped on board as soon as Michael Fitzpatrick and the gang gave their okay
As massive fans of Fitz and The Tantrums, this shoot was unforgettable, but it was also special because famed music venue, La Zona Rosa, is on the cusp of closing its doors forever. This warehouse building feels more like a dive bar than a music venue, but after seeing a show, you'll quickly realize that it's easily one of the best places in Austin.
Producers Lauren Bucherie and CJ Vinson have included this exclusive footage on a video pilot called "Sound Tracks with The Sessions," a music-inspired travel series that explores American cities. What better city to start out in than our beloved Austin?
Check out this sneak peek of Fitz and The Tantrums, and stay tuned for more footage. With ACL Fest just around the corner, you never know where The Sessions will be filming next!
Producers CJ Vinson and Lauren Bucherie are musical tastemakers based out of Austin, Texas. They built their company around a simple wish: To diminish the boundary between art and audience. Their unwavering style and eclectic creative collaborations have made The Sessions sought-after team for musicians around the world. CJ and Lauren have worked with everyone from local favorites Cowboy and Indian, Suzanna Choffel and Dan Dyer to internationally-renowned acts like Fitz and the Tantrums and two-time Grammy award winners The Civil Wars.
Toothless and Mason Thames in How to Train Your Dragon.
Let’s get it out of the way right at the top: The new live-action How to Train Your Dragon, coming a mere 15 years after the original animated film, serves no real purpose other than to make more money for Universal Pictures and Dreamworks Pictures. However, unlike Disney’s approach toward remaking their animated movies, this attempt manages to succeed on its own merits instead of being a half-baked vessel for nostalgia.
As fans will remember, Hiccup (Mason Thames) lives in Berk, a town on a remote island populated by Vikings who constantly have to defend themselves against rampaging dragons. Hiccup’s dad, Stoick (Gerard Butler), is the community’s vaunted leader, with a legacy that seems impossible for Hiccup to measure up to, especially since he’s stuck in the armory alongside Gobber (Nick Frost).
But Hiccup has a knack for inventions, and his use of one new weapon during a dragon attack takes down a feared Night Fury. Finding the wounded dragon deep in the forest, Hiccup decides against killing it, leading to an unexpected bond between the two of them. Most of the film shows Hiccup trying to prove himself to his townspeople, including the fierce Astrid (Nico Parker), while also nursing the dragon he dubs Toothless back to health with the help of another one of his ingenious creations.
Written and directed by Dean DeBlois (who’s had the same roles on all four HTTYD films), the film is most notable for how engaging it is despite it retelling a story many already know and love. The biggest reason for this is a pivot away from telling a story mainly for kids toward one that feels like an extremely light version of Game of Thrones. Almost right away, there are real stakes for the people in the film, and the way DeBlois and his team stage the scenes, the danger can be felt by the audience.
This sense of “realness” comes through especially well in the scenes between Hiccup and Toothless. The design of Toothless is faithful to the original, but the CGI makes the dragon feel amazingly believable. And when they start flying, the film literally and metaphorically takes off. At multiple points, the camera seems to have trouble keeping them in frame, a smart move toward verisimilitude when the filmmakers clearly could have made it an overly smooth watching experience.
Even though it’s more serious than the original, the film still has plenty of fun to offer. Characters like Gobber (who replaces his two missing limbs with odd contraptions) and the ragtag group of teenagers who come to be in awe of Hiccup’s skills at taming dragons provide more than a few laughs. Hiccup isn’t quite as goofy as he was when voiced by Jay Baruchel, which turns out to be a good thing as his sense of purpose amps up the drama of the story.
Thames’ performance gets better and better as the film goes along, as Hiccup goes from town whipping boy toward hero. He really shines in the last act when he’s given a few scenes that show off his acting range. Parker is equally good, demonstrating the girl power needed for the role, but also the softness of a potential love interest. Butler, the only actor reprising their voice role, is a great presence who sells the outsized personality of Stoick.
Against the odds, this new version of How to Train Your Dragon is equal to the success of the first film, accomplishing the goal of making it feel like you’re watching the story for the first time. If live-action remakes are going to continue to come out, future filmmakers should study this film for how to respect both the history of the franchise and the audience paying good money to be entertained.
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How to Train Your Dragon opens in theaters on June 13.