HIGH for the HOLIDAYS

The holidays are in full swing, and so is the annual HIGH FOR THE HOLIDAYS festival at the Alamo Ritz Theatre. We've brought back a lot of last year's favorites, including HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE featuring all-you-can-eat White Castle-style burgers, DARK SIDE OF THE RAINBOW, the classic pairing of Pink Floyd and the Wizard of Oz, and BEERFEST featuring live Beerlympics before the movie. But the runaway new hit premiere of the season is undoubtedly (GOOD) FRIDAY.



(GOOD)FRIDAY does what USA's Up All Night was always too scared to even try - we've taken the most profanity-laced film of all time and redubbed the audio so that all the bad words and drug references are gone. In their place we've added the most family-friendly white guy voice you've ever had the pleasure of hearing. Now, changing the dialogue from original lines like, "I don't give a f*ck" to the new, friendlier, "I don't really mind either way!" will, from time to time, change the entire meaning of the scene. But that's exactly what makes this new version of FRIDAY even funnier than the original. So grab a 40 oz of milk and head down to the Alamo Ritz this holiday season.

Sweeney Todd meat pies!

This weekend we've got a ton of great movies opening: JUNO at South Lamar will blow minds. Plus, we can't wait to see WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY and CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR at Village. But the food/movie pair-up of the season is SWEENEY TODD at South Lamar.



Johnny Depp plays a murdering barber who grinds up his victims and makes meat pies out of them! So of course we've got a phenomenal selection of meat pies for you to eat while enjoying the film.

Here's what John Bullington has pulled out of his giant chef hat for the occasion:

Hare Pie
Roasted rabbit with carrots, parsnips, potatoes and celery root in a rich baked into a rosemary crust 10.99

Shepherds Pie
Ground Thunderheart Bison with wild mushrooms topped with mashed yukon gold potatoes and Gloucester cheese. The Bison is all natural and grassfed, so tasty and so good for you! 9.99

Duck Pie
Confit of Duck with fennel, quince, leeks and turnips in a thyme cabernet sauce baked in a peppercorn crust 10.99

And for Dessert:

Blood Orange Pie 9.99
Chocolate Pecan Crust filled with a tangy blood orange filling and topped with honeyed mascarpone.

All savory pies served with fresh greens and white balsamic vinaigrette.

And here's what the critics are saying about SWEENEY TODD:

"Scary, monstrously funny and melodically thrilling. And Depp is simply stupendous." - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"The performances are pitched at just the right scale: theatrically exaggerated but untainted by "Broadway" bombast. Who knew Burton would have such an uncanny feel for how to film a musical?" - David Ansen, Newsweek

Now Playing at Lamar - WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY?

Ah, the season of Jesus, and also the season of shopping. It's the perfect time to check out award-winning doc and SXSW fave WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY. Follow Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir on a cross-country mission to save Christmas from the Shopocalypse (the end of humankind from consumerism, over-consumption and the fires of eternal debt)!

As a special bonus, director Rob VanAlkemade will be live in person to introduce the shows on Saturday and Sunday nights!

Take heed brothers and sisters! The shopacalypse is upon us! America is fat with greed and addicted to shopping. Luckily, Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir are here to save our souls from overspending!

In the weeks leading to Christmas, Reverend Billy and the Choir board a bus headed from advertising-thick Times Square through the heartland’s shopping malls to the commercial mecca—Disneyland. Part performance art, part spendthrift evangelism, they cross the US singing and preaching to spend gently. With the average American holding about $8,500 in credit card debt, his work is overdue.

Reverend Billy is serious in his message. He doesn’t preach the impossible task of never buying again, but encourages us to be mindful of where our dollars go. We visit a Main Street men’s clothing store struggling for customers against the Wal-Mart up the road and a line of Christmas shoppers waiting to buy an Xbox 360 lest they feel the wrath of their consumption-addicted children.

Billy and the choir go caroling to incite ‘change-a-lujah!’ along front porches in gated community and from church pulpits. They’re making trouble, evading Mall of America security, and just like the rest of us, they’re fighting the urge to buy for the sake of spending. By the time they get to Disneyland, you may find yourself converted, ready to buy American and swear-off big box stores in favor of your local merchants.

Official Site
Tickets and additional information

Now Playing - John Turturro's ROMANCE & CIGARETTES

"John Turturro's ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES is the real thing, a film that breaks out of Hollywood jail with audacious originality, startling sexuality, heartfelt emotions, and an anarchic liberty." - Roger Ebert

"There is more raw vitality pumping through ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES, John Turturro’s passionate ode to the sensual pulse of life in a working-class neighborhood of Queens, than in a dozen perky high school musicals." - NEW YORK TIMES

Part comedy, part romance, part drama, part musical, John Turturro’s ROMANCE & CIGARETTES teeters on the brink of collapse at every single moment, just like the filmfragile characters that inhibit the film’s frantic, manic world. The result is an unsettling, exhilarating, and thrillingly alive spectacle of a motion picture.

Nick Murder (James Gandolfini) is a blue-collar worker who falls under the spell of the gorgeous redhead Tula (Kate Winslet). But when his frustrated wife, Kitty (Susan Sarandon), finds out, the Murder family begins to short circuit. Of the three daughters--Constance (Mary-Louise Parker), Rosebud (Aida Turturro), and Baby (Mandy Moore)--Baby appears to be next in line for love, though no one approves of her choice of mate, the goofy Fryburg (Bobby Cannavale). Kitty’s absurd Cousin Bo (a hilarious Christopher Walken) helps her to track down Tula, but that proves to be a futile exercise as well. Along the way, there are crude coworkers (Steve Buscemi), annoying neighbors (Amy Sedaris), and brash in-laws (Elaine Stritch) to add even more zaniness to the proceedings. To make matters more bizarre, characters break out into song-and-dance routines whenever the fancy strikes them.

ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES blew audiences away at the Toronto Film Festival, but the studio has had a hard time figuring out what to do with this quirky, unclassifiable little gem. You may not yet be familiar with this movie, but take it from us, John Turturro has delivered a welcome breath of fresh air with ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES, now playing at the Alamo Downtown

Thursday: THE ARMY OF DARKNESS Quote-Along!

Recently, we've heard a few mumblings and mutterings of questions about our new Quote-Along series. "How do those work?" people ask. "Do you just yell? Are there subtitles? What else?" We figured that with this Thursday's ARMY OF DARKNESS Quote-Along being right around the corner, now was probably as good a time as any to answer some of those questions.

First off, yes, there are subtitles for some of the biggest quotes so that we can make sure that we all yell out the right phrase at the right time. But we generally let people yell out whatever quotes are they're favorites, whether they're titled or not, because we know that even though *we* think "Gimme some sugar, baby" is one of the greatest lines in cinematic history, other people might prefer "It's a trick, get an axe," and we don't want those people to be silenced.

But just as yelling out lines is an important part of a Quote-Along, there are still moments when Silence reigns supreme. That's because a Quote-Along is *not* a Heckle-Along, or a chance for that one jerk to ruin the movie for the rest of us by yelling out answers to all the lines. The Quote-Alongs are for the serious fanboys in all of us, those of us who think of the movie theater as our church, and so we yell out "Amen!" when the time is right, but we do not chit chat throughout the sermon that is the film.

Most of the Quote-Alongs also get jazzed up with some props. The first 96 people to this Thursday's ARMY OF DARKNESS Quote-Along, for instance, will be rewarded with their very own Boomstick to shoot throughout the show. We'll also be handing out sugar and unveiling a whole new line of props and toys that we can't talk about for fear of ruining some awesome surprises, but trust us when we say that we will be bringing the action from the screen right out into the theater.

Of course, reading about a new type of show is one thing, but the best thing to do is to come out and experience it for yourself. There is just no way for us to put into words the feelings of absolute joy and communion that can come from yelling out, "This... is my... BOOMSTICK!" in a darkened room full of other people who love every second of the same films you do. You will believe in love again. You will never fear death. The colors in the world around you will be a little bit brighter, and the food you taste will all be sweeter. Grab your tickets to the show either this Thursday or next, and we'll prove it to you.

Advance tickets to the Army of Darkness Quote-Along are available here.

THANKSGIVING WEEKEND AT THE ALAMO

Thanksgiving week is always a huge week for new release movies, and this year is no different. You can come out this weekend to get ENCHANTED, you can catch THE MIST, or you can see the new Todd Hayne's Bob Dylan biopic, I'M NOT THERE. But I've already talked about ENCHANTED in a video blog entry in the "Alamo News" section of this website. And THE MIST is the first pairing of Stephen King and Frank Darabont since THE GREEN MILE and SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, so if you don't already know that you should go see that then you're probably suffering from some sort of tumor. So I'm going to use the rest of this space to tell you why you should see I'M NOT THERE this holiday weekend as well.

Reason #1 - Haynes's decision to cast multiple actors as Bob Dylan in various periods of his life. That's right, instead of doing the regular movie tradition of casting one talented actor and then putting old guy make up on him for scenes from his later years, I'M NOT THERE casts - count 'em - SIX different actors to portray Dylan as the story moves from his early folk beginnings to his electric period and beyond.

Reason #2 - The actors cast as Dylan aren't just a bunch of ho-hum TV stars. Instead, you get Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, and in the most talked about turn, Cate Blanchett.

Reason #3 - Sorry, but I'm still on the cast here, because maybe even more exciting than seeing Blanchett as Dylan, you also get to see David Cross (from MR. SHOW if you're a comedy nerd like me, or the Never Nude from ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT if you were late to the awesomeness of Cross) as Allen Ginsberg. Yes!

Reason #4 - Todd Haynes actually managed to get Dylan's permission for the film, and his permission to get song rights.

Reason #5 - Stop listening to my reasons, and check out NPR's interview with Todd Haynes instead.

So there you have it. ENCHANTED, I'M NOT THERE, and THE MIST. A cornucopia of new movies that will be a feast for your eyes and ears and every bit as filling as the turkey or ham or cranberry sauce that will soon be oozing out of your pores.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN - Now Playing at the Ritz!

The best movie you will see all year is playing at the Alamo Ritz Theatre. This is no exaggeration, because this Friday we're opening NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, the newest film from the Coen Brothers, and the one that all of the critics are saying hearkens back to their glory days of BLOOD SIMPLE and FARGO and delivers the Coen Brothers movie we've wanted to see for years. But don't take my word for it, watch the trailer posted above, and check out some of the reviews that have come in from advance screenings:

"A return to glory for the Coen Brothers, a revisiting of the formula that worked so well for them in Fargo, but with a darker, more cynical twist." (Cinemablend.com)

"An intense, nihilistic thriller as well as a model of implacable storytelling, this is a film you can't stop watching even though you very much wish you could." (Los Angeles Times)

"For formalists -- those moviegoers sent into raptures by tight editing, nimble camera work and faultless sound design -- No Country for Old Men is pure heaven." (New York Times)

"A brilliant example of how plot devices as simple as murder and money can be used to explore larger sweeping themes of mortality, morality and more -- while still delivering rousing, intelligent pure entertainment." (Cinematical)

This was the first new release film we screened at the Ritz, and for good reason - this is the Real Deal. Not only that, but it's one of those films that you NEED to see as soon as possible, because if you overhear people talking about it there are all sorts of spoilers that will start creeping into your subconscious no matter how much you try to keep yourself protected.

As always, it's more than just movies at the Alamo, and NCFOM is no exception. We'll have onscreen Coen Brothers trivia before the show, a barrage of vintage 35mm Coen Brothers trailers and there's even a rumor of a NCFOM inspired skull-crushing piston, courtesy of DorkBot. We'll also be the only theater in the country featuring a new 35mm trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson's THERE WILL BE BLOOD. Unlike the other trailer, this one was cut by the director himself and is only available at the Alamo.

If you've never been there before, check out the info section of the website for more details about parking at the Ritz.

Grab your tickets online here and head down to the Ritz this weekend. You'll thank me. You'll thank yourself. You'll thank the Coen Brothers. Tickets are already starting to go fast and seating is limited at the Ritz, so we highly encourage you to get tickets early.

Don't Miss the BLAZING SADDLES QUOTE-ALONG!

If you aren't offended by Mel Brooks' 1974 masterpiece of racist anti-racist comedy gold, then you probably haven't been paying attention. Blacks, whites, Jews, Native Americans, gibberish-spouting frontiersman - they all get what's coming to them in one of the greatest Westerns ever made. Featuring a black sheriff who teams up with the town drunk to win the heart of the German songstress who was supposed to use him and abuse him, BLAZING SADDLES goes beyond the definition of a classic.

Join us this Thursday and Saturday nights for the premiere of the brand new BLAZING SADDLES QUOTE-ALONG, which besides offering you the chance to yell out your favorite non-PC movie lines of all time will also be completing the package by giving you a whoopee cushion so you can fart along with the fart jokes, a big pot of beans that may make the whoopee cushions unnecessary, and a fully-functional cap gun so you can shoot at the screen like the cowboys did in the early days of the Ritz.

Plus, if you feel like really getting into the spirit and living your Western life to the fullest, you will NOT want to miss the BLAZING SADDLES BBQ RUN. We've rented a bus from Fluid Party Bus and will be filling it with two kegs of beer and driving all over the Central Texas area to fill up on the best BBQ in the world. Featuring stops at Smitty's in Lockhart, City Market in Luling, Gonzales Food Market in gonzales, and Big Oak Barbecue in Buda. The bus will depart from the theater at noon and we'll spend the next five hours drinking and watching special meat movies on the DVD players on the bus while we get chauffeured around to the best meat you'll ever eat in your life. This trip is sure to be the epitome of Texas Living.

Get tickets to just the Quote-Along here, or grab your tickets to the Quote-Along plus the BBQ Run here, and we'll see you at the Ritz!

Weds - The Upright Citizens Brigade TourCo!

The first weekend at the Alamo Ritz Theatre was a resounding success, and now we're in full swing with a full schedule of original programming you can't find anywhere else. This week we're stepping the insanity up even more with live improv on the stage, so we'll get to see how well that theatre can handle the likes of Coldtowne and the Upright Citizens Brigade.

On Tuesday night, Coldtowne will make their return to the Alamo with another performance of 3, 2, 1 Kill!, an improv comedy show that blends scenes on the stage with movies that are made instantly by comedians running around town with video cameras, dropping a tape off with the projection booth, then running around to film more. It's all written, directed, and edited on the spot, and it's all based around one audience suggestion. Tickets for Tuesday night's show can be found right here.

On Wednesday night we welcome our first touring comedians to the theatre when we bring in the UPRIGHT CITIZENS BRIGADE TOURING COMPANY. As a long time comedy nerd who used to sneak back downstairs after my parents were asleep so I could watch The Kids In the Hall and early Letterman, I'm incredibly excited about this show. Over the past ten years, the UCB Theatre has started to move up the ranks and has gotten to a point where, in my mind, they're on equal footing with Second City and the Groundlings. Their programs have trained all sorts of nationally famous comedians and a whole bevy of Daily Show reporters, and I can't wait to see what their long-form improv shows are like. If you've seen any of the local improv groups and been amazed at what they were capable of, don't miss this first chance to see what the national groups are like and how they stack up. Tickets for Wednesday night's UCB shows are available here.

Saturday - Confessions of a Superhero

After a rocking radical opening night, the Alamo Ritz Theatre is now officially open for a business. Our first official special guest was Quentin Tarantino, who stopped by to introduce WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS as the very first Terror Thursday at the new theatre.

Our next live guest comes in this Saturday night, as we present the amazing and stupendous documentary about ordinary people dressing as people with extraordinary powers, CONFESSIONS OF A SUPERHERO. The film follows the dreams and adventures of four struggling actors who find themselves spending most of their days outside of Mann's Chinese Theater instead of on the screen inside. They don't just wander around in a daze looking for agents or producers, though; instead they earn their living by dressing up a superheroes and taking pictures with tourists. More than just scenery, though, these are method actors who take their roles seriously.

And none of them take their role more seriously than Superman, aka Christopher Dennis. Dennis lives and breathes Superman, with a home full of collectibles and an attitude that is determined to take his status as a role model seriously. How does he feel about the dichotomy of earning his living on the streets while still managing to feel super? Ask him yourself this Saturday night, when he and the producer/director of photography will be live in person at the 10:30 showing.

Tickets are available to all shows of CONFESSIONS right here.

The Alamo Ritz Opening Week!

After four long months of waiting, the Alamo Ritz Theatre will finally open its doors to the public this week. We’ll have brand new seats, brand new screens, and VIP balcony seating for the first time ever. But even though our upstairs isn’t at all the same as the old Ritz upstairs, and even though we’ve never had a theater that combines first run programming with aggressive amounts of Alamo originals and small scale indies, the newest Alamo will be firmly connected to more than 75 years of history.

The Ritz Theatre opened on Sixth Street on October 13, 1929, and was the first theatre in Austin specifically designed for the talkies (that’s movies with sync sound, for those of you who don’t speak ‘20s). Even though Sixth Street had begun its life as a hustle and bustle hot spot for shopping and entertainment due to its proximity to the trains and ease of transportation, the Sixth Street of the 1930s had been eclipsed by Congress Avenue ever since the opening of the Capitol building in 1888. To compete with the Paramount, which was renovated and designed for talkies in 1930, the operators of the Ritz decided to specialize in first-run Westerns, which it supported by bringing in stars of the genre and booking live country music acts before the featured film. Genre stars? Live music in a movie theater? Damn it. We thought we were originators…


Inside the Ritz, 1932

Like so many other movie houses before it, the Ritz Theatre eventually fell to the increased popularity of television, and in 1964 the original theatre was closed. Six years later it re-opened as an “adult theater,” but not in the same way that we’re an adult theater (they served porn instead of alcohol). Sixth Street itself had been a bit of a No-Man’s Land since the 1940s, when the streetcars that used to service it were dismantled and turned to scrap to aid in the war effort, and it wasn’t until the mid-1970s that entrepreneurs decided to take advantage of all of the empty buildings and started developing the area into the entertainment district it would eventually become famous as. The Ritz joined in and became a music venue in October of 1974, initially programming an eclectic mix featuring everything from classical to rock and including live theater and movies. But the real music era for the Ritz began on May 7, 1982, when Black Flag played there, inaugurating the Ritz’s Punk Era. Since that time, the Ritz has been known as a music venue, bar, and pool hall. But all of that is about to change.


Minor Threat plays the Ritz, 1982

Since last April, we’ve been hard at work completely remodeling and renovating the Ritz Theatre to create a fresh two story space for movies, live comedy, interactive events, and just about anything else we can dream up. We’ll have Westerns that point back to the beginning of the theater, we’ll have hints of adult programming every Wednesday, we’ll have punk rock on the screen and in the theater, and we’ll also be doing things that we can guarantee that building has never, ever seen before. The new chapter of the Alamo Ritz Theatre begins as a new chapter in Austin’s history is ramping up as well, with a new downtown that will inevitably give rise to a new Sixth Street, and it all starts this Thursday, November 1, 2007. Check out the theatre's home page on our site, or head to the Ritz calendar page to see everything we've got coming in for the next two months.

Inside Theater 1 at the Alamo Ritz Theatre, October 25, 2007 (one week before opening)

Halloween at the Alamo!

Holy crud, we love this holiday. It's got something for everyone, you know? Are you a little kid? You get to go around taking candy from strangers! Are you a college student just starting to experiment with alcohol? You get to dress up in those store-bought novelty costumes and actually still think it's HILARIOUS that you're dressed as a plug and your girlfriend is dressed as a socket! Are you a film geek? Then you get to come to the Alamo and melt your brain with delicacies for your eyes, ears, and taste buds!

First up, we've got four more shows of MASTER PANCAKE THEATER's mockery of John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN. I know, I know - John Carpenter is a master. That's true. But so is the Pancake crew. With two geniuses like that paired together, you get to laugh and get scared, all at the same time. Your bowels may never recover.

On Halloween night itself, P. Kellach Waddle and his PKW Productions will attack the Alamo South Lamar with an orgy of horrific sounds when they present THE EXORCIST with a live chamber concert featuring performances of that film's score as well as several other pieces too chilling to play in any other month but October.

Or if you've had your appetite whet by Master Pancake's showings of the first HALLOWEEN, maybe you're ready to come out to our second annual Alamo Halloween party hosted by Owen Egerton. Owen is a FIEND for HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS, and if he had his way every day would be Halloween and every night we would show this movie. But because we only let him share it with you one night a year, he's going to make sure you remember it forever. Expect live appearances from monsters along with staple Alamo Halloween party games and a costume contest before the movie, then stick around to have a beer with Owen afterward and tell him how much you appreciate him turning you on to what just may be the greatest horror sequel of all time.

Thursday at Lamar: THE BIRDS FEAST

If Alfred Hitchcock's THE BIRDS has one lesson to teach us, it is this: we are lucky. We're lucky that the birds in our world haven't decided to attack us, because there's no way we'd be able to fend them off. Avian flu? Please. It's kinda scary, but it will only kill MOST of the humans on the planet. Angry avians? They would be unstoppable. Sure, if you were stuck in a room with only one or two of them, you'd probably be able to survive. But birds are like zombies; they travel in flocks and they attack en masse. And even if we did somehow manage to kill them all off, then here in Austin we'd just be overrun by crickets. It's a lose/lose situation.

But again, we're lucky. We have dominion over the birds, and because they allow us that luxury, we are going to take FULL advantage of it on Thursday night. Chef John Bullington has put together an amazing all-avian feast that will let you taste a little bit of all of the fowl on screen and remind you that we live in a world where instead of being constantly pecked to death we are free to indulge in delicacies like the incredible Emuquaipartsantgoo, five different birds all stuffed inside the other and available for you to cut into and feast on. I can't wait.

Tickets to THE BIRDS All-Avian Feast are $60 and include admission to the movie, five courses of fowl, and each course served with a matching wine flight. Grab your tickets here, and we'll see you on Thursday!

Saturday Night: MASTER PANCAKE: HALLOWEEN

A boy risks life and limb to return to the only home he's known... A teenaged girl is looking for something to break her out of her rut and give her the courage she needs to experience life to its fullest... When their paths cross on Halloween night, together they'll learn that sometimes love is the trickiest treat of all.

If you haven't seen HALLOWEEN with the live comedy commentary that only Master Pancake Theater can provide, then you haven't seen the real HALLOWEEN. As always, Kerbey Lane Cafe will be on hand with a pancake flipping contest at the beginning of the show and the Pancake boys will break up the action with a live re-enactment scene. Joining Master Pancake for the mockery will be very special guest MARY JO PEHL, one of the writers and performers from the original Mystery Science Theater 3000 TV show!!!

Grab tickets for this weekend's shows at the Village here.

Tickets for the following weekend's shows at South Lamar are right here.

Now Playing at Lamar: WEIRDSVILLE

The Mondrian mosaic of miscellaneous elements from some of the best films of the past 15 years makes the beginning of WEIRDSVILLE a little strange to watch. Your thought process might go something like this: "Hey! It's the gnome from AMELIE! These druggies probably hang out with the guys from TRAINSPOTTING! I wonder if HAROLD & KUMAR will show up? And seriously, where are the nihilists from THE BIG LEBOWSKI? I know they're right around the next corner..." But as dizzying as some of the similarities can be, by the time you get to the medieval weapon wielding midgets, you're fully immersed in an entirely new world. And when all of those seemingly incongruous "wacky" elements start coming back together and flying into place like a game of Tetris played by this guy? You'll wander out of the theater shaking your head a little bit, putting the pieces back together a few hundred times, and ready to watch and re-watch this soon-to-be cult hit over and over again.

Allan Moyle (PUMP UP THE VOLUME, EMPIRE RECORDS) directs this latest entry into the slacker buddy movie canon, and with this film he appears to be setting himself up as the Quentin Tarantino of stoner comedies, right down to the part where he takes underappreciated actors that haven't had a chance to shine in a while and puts them front and center to show us just how wrong previous casting directors have been. Scott Speedman shows more charm than he had as the guy who started it all in FELICITY, and completely makes up for his turn as Michael Corvin in UNDERWORLD. But the real reason to check out the cast in WEIRDSVILLE this weekend at Lamar is to see Wes Bentley as the stoner buddy. Bentley first came across most of our radars as Ricky Fitts, the drug dealing waiter/videographer of beautiful trash bags in AMERICAN BEAUTY, and thinking of this film as a sequel to that? Completely sublime. Of course, it helps if you're under a little bit of an influence, but that would be wrong, so don't do it.

Darjeeling Limited opens October 12!

While I wasn't a HUGE fan of Life Aquatic, I am still a big, big, big fan of Wes Anderson. He's always visually stunning and his storytelling aesthetic is right up my alley. For that reason, I am marking the days off my calendar in very heated excitement awaiting the first midnight screening of Darjeeling Limited. Tickets are on sale now for all of the regular shows on opening week as well as the multi-course Darjeeling Limited Indian Feast being prepared by executive chef John Bullington.

FANTASTIC FEST presents MIRAGEMAN!

We're on Day Five of FANTASTIC FEST now, and that means we've begun encore screenings of a bunch of the movies. If you don't have a badge but are still interested in seeing the best movies of the year before they come out for a full theatrical run, keep checking our main website for recommendations on what to check out. First off? MIRAGEMAN.

There's always a certain amount of buzz for the Ain't It Cool News Secret Screenings at these festivals, as that's how Mel Gibson showed up with APOCALYPTO last year, and it was really amazing to see SOUTHLAND TALES and meet Richard Kelly this year. But after checking out MIRAGEMAN Friday night, I don't care what the remaining Secret Screenings are this year. Even if Harry has somehow managed to get his hands on experimental genetically modifying technology and created a one man conglomeration of Steven Spielberg, George Romero, Lucio Fulci, Quentin Tarantino, and Sergio Leone into a new sentient being known only as THE DIRECTOR, who has secretly made a movie called INDIANA STAR WARS ZOMBIE, it won't matter. MIRAGEMAN will still be the film I remember from this festival. Take that, THE DIRECTOR! We've got an encore showing this Wednesday night at 9:35pm at the Alamo South Lamar, and you should really, really see it. Do it!

To warm you up, check out the vlog entry posted below, where Marc Savlov and I talked to Ernesto Díaz Espinoza and Marko Zaror, the director and star of MIRAGEMAN, on Friday night in front of the dancing fire machine. I hadn't seen the movie at this point, but Savlov had seen it and loved it, so I invited him to come on camera to help get this conversation about cinematic influences and high kicks going.



As usual, thanks to Super!Alright! for helping on the filming on this one, and be sure to check out the Dell Lounge later on for a more complete version of this interview along with dozens of other Fantastic Fest recaps.

Fantastic Fest Continues!

Wow wow wow. Eleven hours in, and Fantastic Fest is... well, it's making me say "fantastic" more than I have all year. The festival title is really meant to convey a sense of fantasy, of things that are larger than life, and all of the awesomeness that the genres of the films tend to be filled with, but I keep using it as a way to just say, "Neat!"

I posted these videos in our regular blog already, but in case you don't like clicking on those links over there and still want to see a little bit of what went down, check it out.

First up, Terror Thursday host Zack Carlson, along with Bob in a hazmat suit, getting decimated by the gore cannon (yes, that's a cannon that shoots blood and guts at live human targets):




Secondly, Lars hosted the first screening of FINISHING THE GAME with what was going to be a Bruce Lee Look-Alike contest, but things got complicated:




There's more craziness to come throughout the day, with the first screening of NEVER BELONGS TO ME in the fest (that's the penis gun movie we talked about in the trailer), the premiere of the BEST OF BLOODSHOTS 2007, of MIRAGEMAN, and so much more. We'll have more videos posted throughout the day to try to bring some of the fun to you, but you should come out to as much of it as you can.

TONIGHT - Fantastic Fest!

Holy smokes, we are just HOURS away from the launching of Fantastic Fest 2007! We're brimming with excitement here at Festival HQ, so I figured I'd share some of the planned highlights for tonight's opening party...

Our opening night party on tonight at Alamo South Lamar will be packed with enough insanity to choke a maniac. We're going to have the Austin chapter of mad technomachinobionic geniuses DORKBOT presenting unlikely inventions and post-apocalyptic electronic miracles including (but not limited to):
SINGING TESLA COILS and the much anticipated GUT CANNON, which shoots ENTRAILS up to 50 FEET at LIVE HUMAN TARGETS! Can you think of a better invention? Me neither.

The opening night party will also give guests the opportunity to participate in the wanton destruction of half a dozen MALFORMED CELEBRITY PINATAS (identities to be revealed only on site), fill your stomach with the magic of Mexican style crucifixionesque CABRITO GOAT SMOKING, and -- last but not least -- take part in a nigh-nuclear EXTREME HOT SAUCE CHALLENGE that will allow you to sample Texas' hottest offerings from Mild to MegaMaliciousMeltdown! Never fear, to clear your scalded palate, we will have passed appetizers and beer available.

Wanna meet Casey Affleck tonight?

Tickets are now available to the general public for the sneak preview screening of THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema South Lamar at 8:30 PM on Wednesday, September 19. Star of the film Casey Affleck will be on hand to introduce and answer questions following the film. The screening is free, but you can reserve a seat by pre-purchasing a $10 food and drink voucher online. The remainder of the tickets will be given away at the door, first come, first serve.

This special screening is made possible by Warner Brothers, Ain't It Cool News and Fantastic Fest. Fantastic Fest is an 8 day festival of the best in now action, cult, horror, sci-fi, fantasy and all-around badass cinema. Check out the full lineup of films at the official website. Opening night of Fantastic Fest features George Romero live in person for the U.S. premiere of Diary of the Dead on september 20. the Festival runs through September 27.

Coming Soon: FANTASTIC FEST 2007!

There are still badges left for this year's most bad ass film festival in Austin and the United States in general: FANTASTIC FEST. Films scheduled to appear include AACHI & SSIPAK, the bizarre animated action movie about a couple of two-bit cons trying to make it big in a dystopian future where the earth's sole energy source is human feces, along with films featuring penis gun revenge, zombies on planes, murderous hair extensions, and more surprises than a truck full of Crackerjacks boxes where all the toys have been replaced by actual rattlesnake eggs.

And if the films themselves aren't enough for you, come out for the people: there will be dozens of filmmakers on hand to answer questions in Q&A's or to hang out and geek out with over a couple of beers at an after-party. Even if you can't get a badge this year, it's worth just loitering in the parking lot as if the theater was a 7-11 and you were a goth kid in the suburbs circa 1997, just to mill about and be close by for all the geeked out genre action.

If you haven't already, head over to FantasticFest.com to check out updates with all the confirmed film titles and special guests!

TONIGHT - No End In Sight

Join us for an advance Screening of NO END IN SIGHT, hosted by Dan Grant, on Thursday August 30, 2007 at 7pm at the Alamo South Lamar.

The advance screening will be hosted by Dan Grant (get more info on Dan here), who served as a civilian in Iraq for eighteen months. While there he was an advisor to the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, and was a consultant to international military forces and local leaders in Baghdad, Basra, Fallujah, and Mosul. Dan's experience on the ground in Iraq gives him an insider's perspective on the war and its effects.

NO END IN SIGHT is an award-winning, critically lauded documentary that chronicles the reasons behind Iraq's descent into guerilla war, warlord rule, criminality and anarchy. Hailed as "without question the most important movie you are likely to see this year" by Time, the film is a jaw-dropping, insider's tale of wholesale incompetence, recklessness and venality.

Master Pancake: THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW

Tonight at South Lamar! Master Pancake Theater is bringing back their production of THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. Global warming is out to get Jake Gyllenhaal, but Dennis Quaid won't give up! As a paleontological climatologist (or something), Quaid is obviously uniquely qualified to lead an expedition of his friends through the frozen tundra of the eastern seaboard so they can save Gyllenhaal and a bunch of extras that no one really cares about. Ahh. Global warming is finally funny!

Advance tickets are usually recommended for Master Pancake shows, as they tend to sell out. Grab your DAY AFTER TOMORROW tickets here.

Register for BLOODSHOTS!

AMD & Fantastic Fest present

BLOODSHOTS 2007

the 48 hour horror filmmaking contest returns!

Of course we like watching movies; we're a movie theater, so that basically goes without saying. But even though it can often turn into a collossal pain in the butt, we also like to make movies. We used to compete in some of those general Make A Movie In A Weekend contests, but then at the screenings we noticed that there were always some genres that were just plain boring to watch. But you know what's never boring? Horror movies! Somehow if you pour enough fake blood into a scene you get instant entertainment value. Plus, when you're making a movie in just 48 hours you don't have a lot of time to really fine tune a script. But if you just have a movie about people dying? Easy! That's why they can churn out 15 SAW sequels every year!



So this will be the fourth year we've done BLOODSHOTS, and this one promises to be the strongest yet because for the first time we're making it part of our Filmmaking Frenzy series and we're giving away $2,000 in cash and a brand new supercharged AMD-powered editing suite PC. Plus, ROBERT RODRIGUEZ will once again be on board to view the finalists' films and choose the ultimate winner (but it remains to be seen if the higher-valued prizes this year will make Robert go mad with the extra power).



You can reserve your spot and get more information on BLOODSHOTS and REEL HEROES now at FilmmakingFrenzy.com, so get your space saved before they're all gone!

BLOODSHOTS - Registration now open!

AMD & Fantastic Fest present

BLOODSHOTS 2007

the 48 hour horror filmmaking contest returns!

Of course we like watching movies; we're a movie theater, so that basically goes without saying. But even though it can often turn into a collossal pain in the butt, we also like to make movies. We used to compete in some of those general Make A Movie In A Weekend contests, but then at the screenings we noticed that there were always some genres that were just plain boring to watch. But you know what's never boring? Horror movies! Somehow if you pour enough fake blood into a scene you get instant entertainment value. Plus, when you're making a movie in just 48 hours you don't have a lot of time to really fine tune a script. But if you just have a movie about people dying? Easy! That's why they can churn out 15 SAW sequels every year!



So this will be the fourth year we've done BLOODSHOTS, and this one promises to be the strongest yet because for the first time we're making it part of our Filmmaking Frenzy series and we're giving away $2,000 in cash and a brand new supercharged AMD-powered editing suite PC. Plus, ROBERT RODRIGUEZ will once again be on board to view the finalists' films and choose the ultimate winner (but it remains to be seen if the higher-valued prizes this year will make Robert go mad with the extra power).



You can reserve your spot and get more information on BLOODSHOTS and REEL HEROES now at FilmmakingFrenzy.com, so get your space saved before they're all gone!

Master Pancake Theater: The Day After Tomorrow

This Wednesday night at the Village, Master Pancake Theater is bringing back their production of THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. Global warming is out to get Jake Gyllenhaal, but Dennis Quaid won't give up! As a paleontological climatologist (or something), Quaid is obviously uniquely qualified to lead an expedition of his friends through the frozen tundra of the eastern seaboard so they can save Gyllenhaal and a bunch of extras that no one really cares about. Ahh. Global warming is finally funny!

Advance tickets are usually recommended for Master Pancake shows, as they tend to sell out. Grab your DAY AFTER TOMORROW tickets here.

TONIGHT - Trapped in the Closet DVD Release!

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"Just don't forget about Roxanne and Tina..." Those were the last mysterious words R. Kelly told us during the credits after TRAPPED IN THE CLOSET chapter 12, and tonight we can finally find out what it was we were supposed to not forget about them. Because tonight, at long, long last, chapters 13-22 will finally be released on DVD, and we teamed up with Waterloo Video for a late night release party that will be sure to blow our minds. We're starting with TRAPPED chapters 1-12 at 11:15, then examining some of the other brilliance in R.'s canon, then rolling straight into the brand new chapters at midnight. If you've only seen TRAPPED IN THE CLOSET online, then you really need to come out to the theater to see what you've been missing.

The show is totally free and seats will be given away on a first come, first served basis, but if you'd like to reserve a seat for yourself you can prepurchase a copy of the new TRAPPED IN THE CLOSET DVD here and we'll hold a seat for you and make sure you get one of our handy "Oh my god, a rubber!" R. Kelly condoms, too.

King of Kong - Steve is going for a world record!

Late breaking news!!!
Arcade Champ Billy Mitchell has allegedly reclaimed his Donkey Kong world record holder status last week at a convention in Orlando. In a bold and daring move, Picturehouse has flown in an official referee to oversee a world record attempt by Steve Wiebe in the lobby of the Alamo Drafthouse. If you have a vintage, regulation, mint-condition machine and want Steve to set a world-record on your game, please email us.

There are still tickets available for the two Sunday evening shows with Steve Weibe live in person. Following the shows, stick around for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see him attempt to reclaim his title.

About King of Kong;
This weekend it is LITERALLY "on like Donkey Kong" at the Alamo South Lamar, as we go ape for the opening of the greatest documentary of the season and quite possibly the decade: THE KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS. To celebrate the premiere of this heartwarming film about a middle school science teacher battling against a hot sauce mogul for world record domination of Donkey Kong, we're driving in a vintage Donkey Kong machine from Arkansas and giving it away to whoever can post the highest score in our on screen Donkey Kong challenge before the evening shows this weekend.

And not only that, but on Sunday night we're bringing the star of the film, the middle school science teacher and Donkey Kong master himself, Steve Wiebe, out to the Alamo to tell us all about how he makes "jump man" (cause Mario didn't have a name back then) go all the way. If you miss this, you'll never know what to do when you're suddenly confronted with a monkey at the top of a construction site who's hellbent on throwing barrels at you. Get your advance tickets here.

STARDUST - opens Friday at the Village!

I was fortunate enough to be in the audience at the HALF-ASS-A-THON at the Colorado Street location when STARDUST was screened, so this week is one of those rare occasions where I can recommend a new release movie to you and actually know what I'm talking about. There were some jaded cinephiles in the audience that night who didn't think it was perfect, but I'd been putting together the PRINCESS BRIDE QUOTE-ALONG back then and I think that had me in the perfect frame of mind for STARDUST, because in many ways it really is the heir to the PRINCESS BRIDE throne (after all Cary Elwes looks like this now, so his time as a heartthrob is definitely over). But STARDUST has that same sense of magical escapism and winking good fun, and while it sadly doesn't have Andre the Giant, it does have Ricky Gervais as a shady merchant and Robert DeNiro as a sky pirate that's not unlike the Dread Pirate Roberts. At any rate, when I'm a grandpa I'll totally read the STARDUST graphic novel to Kevin Arnold when he got sick, and then I'll download the movie to my iHologram and watch it again and again.

August 8 - No Reservations Feast

I told you a little bit about the NO RESERVATIONS feast last week, but way back then I couldn't say much more than the fact that we were going to be having it. That was all well and good, but unless you're throwing a pot luck it's always weird to invite people to a dinner party without letting them know what they can expect to eat. So now I'd like to introduce... the NO RESERVATIONS feast menu:

We start with Kate's Seared Scallops with Saffron Sauce (seen in the trailer being eaten by her therapist, Arvin Sloane). Then we have Nick's Spaghetti with Grandma's Red Sauce (also in the trailer, this time going into the tummy of Little Miss Sunshine). But you aren't even close to done yet, as we then will be bringing out Nick's Free-form Pizzas with Salad and Grissini. I haven't seen the movie yet (why would I skip out on seeing it with the food?) and I don't remember the pizzas from the movie, but I did have to Google grissini to find out that that means breadsticks, so if you had to look it up also you don't have to be discouraged. You do, however, have to remain hungry, because we've still got two more courses to get through, starting with Kate's Stuffed Quail with Truffle Sauce and then Zoe's Miniature Pancakes with Fresh Organic Fruit, dusted with powdered sugar. All of that food, plus wine pairings with each course, and the proceeds benefit Capitol Area Food Bank. Advance tickets are recommended and available here.

Thursday at Lamar - MC Chris!

MC Chris has his nerd street cred in spades. He's done voice work for all of your favorite Adult Swim shows and he's toured the country performing his nerdcore rap to thousands of screaming fanboys. But besides that, he knows his 80s movies.

He's been by twice before, with GHOSTBUSTERS and INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, but this time the MC is outdoing himself by hosting the one and only film to feature the kid from E.T. as a daydreaming videogame nerd who realizes that his dad is the only hero he needs, CLOAK & DAGGER. Unlike a lot of the other movies you saw as a kid, you probably haven't rewatched this gem since 1987. That's a shame, if only for the fact that it was filmed in San Antonio and features Henry Thomas shooting at people on the River Walk. Plus they go to that other Alamo for a key kidnapping scene! And there's a creepy lady with two fingers missing! And they have to play an Atari game to help save us from a national security emergency!

If you miss this you might as well hang up your pocket protector forever and go join the football team, cause no self-respecting nerd could possibly stay away.

The show is Thursday, July 26, at midnight at South Lamar. Advance tickets are still available right here.

Master Pancake at the Lamar on July 25!

MASTER PANCAKE THEATER returns to the Alamo screens this month with perhaps the ultimate summer movie of all time - CONAN THE BARBARIAN. Now, I know, CONAN might not have as many explosions as other movies. And there aren't giant robots, either (but can you imagine how awesome it would be if Conan did fight a Transformer?). I stand by the claim of CONAN as an ultimate movie of the summer, though, because no one in the movie bothers with those pesky "shirts" that we're all burdened with whenever we aren't at Barton Springs.

Of course, a lack of clothing isn't the only requirement when you're cooking up an ultimate summer movie; you also need plenty of quotable lines. And 25 years ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger said one of the greatest lines of movie history:


"Top 3 things in life: To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women."

Ahhhh. What more can you want? Oh! How about if this month's rotating cast member to join John and Joe was actually TWO cast members? And what if they're Mac Blake and David Jara, all around funnymen and award-winning filmmaker duo responsible for the number one BLANKS ON A BLANK film, RACCOONS ON A SPACE SHUTTLE?

MASTER PANCAKE will be rotating between the Village and South Lamar every Wednesday during the interim while we await the construction to finish at the Ritz, starting July 11. Don't miss it!

Tickets to Lamar showings available here.

Tickets to Village showings available here.

Monday, July 2 - AT&T and 101X present Robosaurus!!!

Amazingly enough, as of this writing, there are still tickets available to next week's ULTIMATE TRANSFORMERS EXPERIENCE! We are excited beyond belief to be soooo close to having Robosaurus live in our parking lot, and if you accidentally do something else with your first Monday night in July, you're probably going to have a tough time forgiving yourself. Grab your tickets online now, or head in to any AT&T location and sign up for new service from them and they'll GIVE YOU TICKETS FOR FREE. Autobots, roll out!

Miss the AV Geeks tonight and Sorry You Will Be!

It's Wednesday night, a mere 8 days from closing down the original Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. Tonight we are bringing back one of our oldest friends, a long-time collaborator in crime, Mr. Skip Elsheimer, founder and chairman of the AV Geeks.

Formerly a mild-mannered computer tech support technician, Skip Elsheimer now spends most of his time and money collecting, archiving and presenting old 16mm educational films. What started as a hobby fifteen years ago has blossomed into a magnificent obsession, and the collection has grown to over 18,000 films gathered from school auctions, thrift stores, closets and dumpsters. Skip and his films occupy an old boarding house with eight bedrooms - five of which are filled to the ceiling with films. He presents monthly themed film shows, tours occasionally, runs a burgeoning stock-footage clearinghouse and lives the life he loves. He is one of our heroes. If youve never seen an AV Geeks show before, thats OK. Theres a first time for everything. Expect a program of several amazing, funny and interesting vintage short films in spectacular speckled, scratched 16 millimeter. To get the crowd in the mood, Skip always leads off with a filmstrip, which the audience reads aloud, classroom style. Its a blast and, well, its educational. This show offers us an amazing collection of films that teach us why we love to fill ourselves with the unhealthiest, greasiest, most terrible foods. Because theyre delicious!! Health? Bleccch!!!

Tuesday - Coldtowne presents 3, 2, 1 Kill!

Okay, this is a REALLY hard show to describe, but basically it's long-form improv done with the help and hindrance of video cameras instead of all being performed on stage. That makes the performers need a little more of an A game and it adds a fun technical challenge and creates a whole lot of dynamic watching experiences for the audience that brings it up above and beyond the general night out at improv. Plus, the kids over at the Coldtowne Theater really are some of the best improvisers we've seen in this town, so we're all about having them come out to wow audiences with this show.

I know, I know - you think you hate improv because you're eternally mad at Whose Line Is It Anyway? for forcing Wayne Brady into our psyches. But that isn't improv's fault, it's ABC's. And yes, every other improv show on TV sucks, but that isn't improv's fault, either; it's all just TV's bad decisions. Don't believe me? Grab your tickets to Tuesday night's show at the Alamo Downtown and prepare to have your mind blown out of your ass.

Joe Bob Briggs invades the Alamo one last time!

In this last month at the Alamo, we have asked some of our favorite guests of all time to come back, hang out, drink a few beers and savor the flavor of the original Alamo Drafthouse one last time. When asked, fellow Texan and cult movie afficionado Joe Bob Briggs responded quickly in the affirmative. We'll have two shows on Saturday, June, 16, both hosted by Joe Bob.

First is THE TEXAS SHOW with Joe Bob and eminent Texas historian Don Graham. Through film clips, the two will discuss two kinds of Texas history: the real story and the "reel story." The two will provide info and patter on a series of stills and clips from Texas movies going back to the silent days and forward into the 1980s. Forgotten stars, forgotten films, and a history of a time when Texas was bigger than life itself. It will be a snappy overview/history of the image of Texas & Texas in the movies, from prehistoric times to the 1980s...

For the late show, Joe Bob will introduce and explain the legacy behind the legendary sexploitation classic MOM AND DAD. One of the oldest and most influential roadshow exploitation movies of all time, MOM AND DAD toured the drive-ins and rural theaters for nearly 40 years, making it one of the most profitable films of all time.

Join us for a night of humor, rare film, education and maybe even a little debauchery as we welcome back Joe Bob Briggs to the theater... one last time.

Joe Bob Briggs official site

Saturday Night - Jonesing for Indy!!

If you haven't been into one of our theaters in time for the video trailers over the past couple of weeks, do yourself a favor and spare the 45 seconds that it will take to watch the trailer for the RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: THE SHOT-FOR-SHOT REMAKE show that's all YouTubed onto this page.


DAAAAAAaaaang! Right? Not only did three kids make a feature length movie, but whereas most 20-something indie directors shooting without resources and a low budget will make a movie about two 20-somethings sitting in a coffee shop and talking about their relationships or something, these kids tried to take on one of the most complicated live action Hollywood blockbuster of their time. And so it's more than just watching a movie when you watch their adaptation; it's watching an obstacle course, and seeing how they're going to possibly attempt the NEXT scene. Because, if you didn't notice, they BUILT THEIR OWN GIANT BOULDER. And then they set their house on fire!


If you haven't treated yourself to this show yet, you have GOT to come out on Saturday night to meet the adults who used to be these kids and who have become some of our favorite special guests of all time. Grab advance tickets here, and we'll see you Downtown.

Screen Legend Tab Hunter live in person tonight!

The Austin Film Society & BookPeople present
Iconic American heartthrob TAB HUNTER Live in Person at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Downtown on Sunday, June 3!

All attendees will receive scratch and sniff 'Odorama' cards. Just follow the onscreen instructions and you will actually smell the filth!

John Waters' first "mainstream" film stars Divine as a suburban housewife who is driven to the point of distraction by her family and her surroundings and is susceptible to the overtures of the handsome drive-in owner played by Tab Hunter. In addition to scoring Hunter to star in his movie, Waters released the film in Odorama with scratch and sniff cards that contained such odors as human fecal smells and other bodily aromas. When we interviewed Waters while he was in town in '99 for aGLIFF, the director described how he felt upon seeing an audience of people all dutifully scratching off their cardboard fart smells: "The thrill of actually seeing people doing it and having it work was certainly one of the high points of my life." (Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle)

TAB HUNTER will be signing copies of his autobiography TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL with co-author Eddie Muller before the screening!

Double-bill tickets that include both Tab Hunter shows (as well as double-bill tickets that include the book) are available through the 'TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL' page here.

Eli Roth Live--Hostel: Part II June 3

Ain't It Cool News and Fantastic Fest present
Eli Roth live in person
with a sneak preview screening of
HOSTEL: PART II

For many years, we have been friends with the new crown prince of modern horror, Eli Roth. Harry, Eli, Kier-la and I all met at the Sitges Film Festival in 2001 after an early screening of Cabin Fever. We bonded over cool T-shirts, 80s horror and all things that movie nerds hold near and dear.

Eli has been back to the theater many times over the years: the insane asylum horror all-nighter, QT Fest, multiple Butt-Numb-A-Thons and most importantly, his hosting gig at the Mary Kate and Ashley 18th Birthday Celebration. In short, we go way back. We consider him a very dear friend of the original Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

When word of the closing of the theater came down, Eli jumped at the chance to say farewell one more time to our beloved cinema playhouse. He is taking a break from his very busy promotion schedule to present a special advance sneak-peek screening of his new film, HOSTEL: PART II, to his downtown Alamo Drafthouse extended family.

Reservations for the event become available on Monday, May 28 at noon exclusively to Fantastic Fest badge holders and Heroes of the Alamo members. The screening is free, but you can reserve a seat by pre-purchasing a food and drink voucher. Remaining tickets will be made available to the general public on May 30 at noon. (Tim)

Special thanks to Lionsgate for making this event possible.

HOSTEL: PART II opens in theaters (including the Alamo Drafthouse) on Friday, June 8.

(Note: This show is 18 and up, no children are allowed to this screening)

Saturday! The Godfather of Gore, Live!

In 1963, it took one enterprising Floridian filmmaker to realize that scary films could be made a hundred times more stomach-churning with just a splash of red. Hell, why not gallons of it? When BLOOD FEAST debuted that year, theaters were packed, audiences turned green, and a bold new genre was created: the gore film.

With 2000 MANIACS and beyond, Lewis continued to quite literally push the limits of the drive-in movie circuit with ragged, two-fisted terror tales made to nail the everyman right in the gut. His unique movies are always unforgettable and outrageous, and his creativity and voraciousness have made him a B-movie deity, second to none in the great hall of shoestring budget entertainers. Austin is impossibly lucky to host this living legend for the most mammoth ultimate Rolling Roadshow horror event EVER, presented at an actual secret ghost town just outside of the city!!! Truly, an event like this comes along once (or less) in a lifetime!

Grab your tickets now, and we'll see you in splatterville!

Tonight - Jiggy Crunk!

Last week's Jiggy Crunk shows were AMAZING. We had spontaneous acts of clothing removal, more booty shaking than I've ever seen in a movie theater before, and old school - no, actually *middle* school style dance circles at the front of the theater where people were showing off their long dormant skills at the Running Man and the Roger Rabbit. And that's just the stuff that happened offscreen. Up on the screen were some of the most amazing videos we've ever played, and a lot of videos that you can't see anywhere else. I loved it, and I can't wait for tonight's shows.

Get your advance tickets here, and in addition to giving yourself a chance to do the Humpty Dance in public again, you'll also get to say word to your mother with Vanilla Ice, you'll bust a move with Young MC, LL Cool J, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Will Smith (cause, you know, he was a totally different rapper on Big Willie Style than he was on Homebase) - and we'll have the ladies represented, too. Salt 'N Pepa, Neneh Cherry, TLC - they'll all be there, along with Puff Daddy (before he was a Diddy) and Big Punisher and Outkast and more. Stop! Hammertime!

Sat, May 26 - The Godfather of Gore Live!

In 1963, it took one enterprising Floridian filmmaker to realize that scary films could be made a hundred times more stomach-churning with just a splash of red. Hell, why not gallons of it? When BLOOD FEAST debuted that year, theaters were packed, audiences turned green, and a bold new genre was created: the gore film.

With 2000 MANIACS and beyond, Lewis continued to quite literally push the limits of the drive-in movie circuit with ragged, two-fisted terror tales made to nail the everyman right in the gut. His unique movies are always unforgettable and outrageous, and his creativity and voraciousness have made him a B-movie deity, second to none in the great hall of shoestring budget entertainers. Austin is impossibly lucky to host this living legend for the most mammoth ultimate Rolling Roadshow horror event EVER, presented at an actual secret ghost town just outside of the city!!! Truly, an event like this comes along once (or less) in a lifetime!

Grab your tickets now, and we'll see you in splatterville!

Tonight - Open Screen Night w/ Free Beer!

Wanna win $100 for drinking a free beer? Tonight’s Open Screen Night is the show for you!

See, here’s the deal: at every Open Screen Night, we play whatever people bring to the theater with them, and we buy everyone who brings a video to play a free beer just for helping out with the show. At the end of the night, the audience votes on their favorite video of the evening and then the winner gets $100 in cash. Usually, the competition for the money is pretty fierce, with filmmakers from all over Austin bringing in their most recent work, collectors bringing in their favorite oddball finds, and oddballs bringing in their favorite episodes of Friends that they think it’d be funny to make us watch on the big screen. But this month, most of the filmmakers who would normally come out are all busy trying to finish up their Unnecessary Sequels projects, so the number of people who will have something to bring to Open Screen Night will probably be much lower than usual. That’s bad for us, but it’s good for you! The $100 prize has never been easier to grasp!

Of course, now that I’ve let the cat out of the bag, maybe all sorts of new people will come out to show their videos, but even if that makes the $100 harder to win, it should make for an even more fun show than usual, so go shoot a quick video, bring it down to the theater, and prepare to have your mind ripped open by the most free-form short film contest of all time.

Get advance tickets here and we'll see you at the show!

Tonight - Jiggy Crunk!

Last week's Jiggy Crunk shows were AMAZING. We had spontaneous acts of clothing removal, more booty shaking than I've ever seen in a movie theater before, and old school - no, actually *middle* school style dance circles at the front of the theater where people were showing off their long dormant skills at the Running Man and the Roger Rabbit. And that's just the stuff that happened offscreen. Up on the screen were some of the most amazing videos we've ever played, and a lot of videos that you can't see anywhere else. I loved it, and I can't wait for tonight's shows.

Get your advance tickets here, and in addition to giving yourself a chance to do the Humpty Dance in public again, you'll also get to say word to your mother with Vanilla Ice, you'll bust a move with Young MC, LL Cool J, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Will Smith (cause, you know, he was a totally different rapper on Big Willie Style than he was on Homebase) - and we'll have the ladies represented, too. Salt 'N Pepa, Neneh Cherry, TLC - they'll all be there, along with Puff Daddy (before he was a Diddy) and Big Punisher and Outkast and more. Stop! Hammertime!

Tuesday - John Erler's One-Man He-Man Show!

John Erler's been working overtime lately. In addition to heading up Master Pancake Theater's presentation of PRETTY WOMAN, he's been burning the midnight oil to put together his One-Man He-Man show, completely rewriting all of the dialogue for THE SECRET OF THE SWORD, the originally-made-for-TV-but-then-theatrically-released-anyway He-Man and She-Ra movie. John's been making Skeletor voices for years, and if you saw any of the Sinus Christmas shows back in the day, you've seen him redub cartoons before (pudding... butter...) but combining those two talents into one feature-length combination? That's like chocolate and peanut butter, like Milli meeting Vanilli, like Prince Adam and Cringer... By the power of Grayskull, don't miss it!

Advance tickets avaiable here.

Tonight-a taste of PRARIE HOME COMPANION live!

FRED NEWMAN, the man of 1000 voices and sounds from A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANIONwill be live in person, providing all the sound effects for a very special Foleyvision performance of the Japanese Spiderman. to help them out. Fans of NPR's acclaimed Prarie Home Companion should not miss this one-time chance to experience live sound-effect storytelling in the intimate space of the original Alamo Downtown.

Foleyvision is definitely one of the feathers in our Alamo cap, and if you haven’t been to one of those shows yet, let me be the first to tell you that the technically amazing feat of performing all of the music and sound effects live in the theater while simultaneously re-dubbing all of the dialogue live, in sync with the movie, is really only the tip of the iceberg. Because when you’re turning down the soundtrack to the original movie and making your own sounds, you get to play around with everything, making some characters sound like Jack Bauer and others make creaking sounds when they walk and others having operatic themes that come out of nowhere and follow them around for the whole film. Really, anything can happen. This Saturday, the Foleyvision gang will get to play with THE JAPANESE SPIDERMAN.

Fred Newman from Prarie Home Companion isn’t the only special guest we have this week, of course, and I’m surprised to be able to tell you this, but at the time of this writing there are still some tickets left to QUENTIN TARANTINO’s LAST NIGHT AT THE ALAMO GRINDHOUSE mini-festival, featuring QT live in person. And next Wednesday we’ll also be welcoming Mr. Willy Wonka to the Alamo Downtown for our special four course chocolate feast! Before that, of course, we’ll be having the most special guest of all, your mom, come by for the Mother’s Day Feasts at the Lamar and Village this Sunday. Should be tasty business all around!

Tonight at the Alamo Downtown!

No offense, and we're looking forward to the new PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN movie as much as everyone else, but there are some things that Johnny Depp isn't the best at. Okay, maybe that's not true... Really though, why did he feel the need to improve on absolute perfection? We love you, Johnny, but Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka was chocolate-covered delicous.

Fun fact: did you know that the somersault fall Wonka does when he makes his entrance in front of the candy factory was Wilder's idea? And that not only was it his idea, but that he said that if the director didn't let him add that movement in, he wouldn't do the movie? It's true. Wilder said that from that moment on, we'd never be able to know when he was lying and when he was telling the truth, and he was so dedicated to the idea that he would have let the role pass him by if he couldn't keep us on his toes by falling off of his own.

Join us this Wednesday night for our first WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY party us as we celebrate this ode to chocolate and childhood and morality, and we'll give everyone who comes through the door their very own Wonka bar; one of them will even have a lucky golden ticket in it!

Brought to you in part by Holland Photo, who'll have all sorts of prizes on hand!

Eastbound and Down!

If you don't love SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT, I'm going to have to ask you to leave America. Burt Reynolds' mustache alone makes this THE cinematic tour de force of the late '70s. Tonight we'll express our undying love and devotion for Burt at the SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT Extravaganza at the Alamo Downtown. We've got a mountain full of cold Coors beer in the lobby, L'il Cap'n Travis playing live before the movie, and plenty of lyric sheets so everyone can sing along to Eastbound and Down.

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Nine years ago, Austin Film Society intern Kris Deforest, also an Alamo Drafthouse employee at the time, first introduced us to Quentin Tarantino. At that meeting, we stayed up until the wee hours watching exploitation trailers from the Alamo archives, a night that remains a highlight of our closeted fanboy lives. That relationship grew into the AFS-sponsored “annual” QT Fest at the Alamo Drafthouse, 9 days of exploitation double and triple bills that is hands down our absolute favorite series in ten years of running the theater.

When we made the final decision to shutter the doors of the original Drafthouse location, we put the word out to many of our favorite guests to come back, hang out and raise a glass to the memory of the old place. One of the first to respond, despite being swamped with pre-release obligations for Grindhouse, was Quentin.

Quentin Tarantino will be returning to the original Alamo Drafthouse Cinema one final time. We are dubbing this final series "Last Night at the Alamo Grindhouse." Sure, our weekly Weird Wednesday and Terror Thursday screenings will continue the tradition at the new Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz, but to me the original Alamo will always be our Grindhouse theater.

For those who haven't been to any of the QT Fest events, here's the ground rules: Quentin is joining us as a fellow movie nerd to hang out and share some of his favorite films with us. He's very approachable to talk, before and after the movies, but all any of us want to talk about is the movies we are watching. The vibe is all very low-key and casual. There's no autographs, and for the love of God, don't even think about bringing a copy of that script you've been working on.

Granger the Stranger!

Farley Granger is a strange sounding name. But strange isn't always a bad thing. Sure, we all had a parent or a teacher who warned us not to take candy from a stranger, but did you ever actually have some random stranger come up to you and try to give you a lollipop when you were a kid? Who knows how you would have reacted in the heat of the moment, right?

But even though you'll be hard pressed to find a stranger handing out candy, there are still strangers all over the place. On a bus. On a plane. Or, of course, on a train. Farley Granger met a stranger on a train once, and things didn't work out so tidy.

Check out the trailer for tonight's BookPeople sponsored showing of STRANGERS ON A TRAIN with Farley Granger himself live in person.





Mr. Granger will be live in person at the Alamo Downtown tonight to sign copies of his book and to talk about what it was like to work with Hitchcock, to fight his way out of his contract with Samuel Goldwyn , and to be a bisexual in the golden age of Hollywood and beyond.