WHEN WE WERE LIVE MOVIE REVIEW

In his documentary about Public Access Television in Austin, Texas in the 80s and 90s, director John Spottswood Moore had a LOT of material to sift through. Austin’s station was by far one of the most prolific in the country (second only to NYC, I believe). Let me tell you, there was some seriously wacky stuff on there. The doc When We Were Live not only covers the bizarre programming on the channel but also uses its choice of shows to feature to echo the tumultuous times, with the KKK still trying to march through town, the AIDS crisis still in full effect, and more. Even though multiple award winning Austin Public Access show The Reel Deal wasn’t featured in the film (which we do not begrudge John for at all), two of its cast had to weigh in here on the film, as well as their own experiences with their show and with making something at that crazy studio during these times. Chris Cox and Martin Thomas are here to represent, along with Martin’s daughter Guinevere, who may have been just a tiny kid when they were doing the show, but is working on films in Hollywood now. Oh, and also Wright (who to be fair, also worked on public access but at the University of Texas’ station so it doesn’t count).

FANTASTIC FEST PAGE

DIRECTED BY: John Moore

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 



Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Deliberations of Doom)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar and theater management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others).

 



Wright Sulek (The Other Boss, Trash in the Can, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, One Man’s Trash, Screener Squad)

Wright hails from the northern suburbs of Dallas, Texas. His passion for filmmaking brought him to Austin to study and make movies. Since then he’s had his hand in acting, writing, and directing his own short films with numerous like-minded film geeks he’s met along his journey. His newest interest has brought him into the podcasting world. He co-hosted a few different movie related podcasts such as ‘And Now This’ and ‘The Match Cut’. He currently co-hosts with longtime friend, Eric Samaniego, where they talk shop about the grimiest, trashiest, lost gems of movies on their show, ‘Trash in the Can’. Wright also guests and hosts reviews on Screener Squad and Highly Suspect Reviews as well as co-hosts Digital Noise with Chris Cox. As of 2024, Wright has now been inducted into the Austin Film Critics Association as well as co-owns the One of Us network with Chris Cox.

 



Martin Thomas (Highly Suspect Reviews, The Original Gentlemen)

In addition to having been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king…Martin Thomas has also been a professional comic book artist (Marvel, DC, First Comics, etc.),