SHARKWATER opens at the Alamo Ritz

“The most awesome documentary ever”
Moon Yun, Ain’t It Cool News

“A contemporary masterpiece, combining modern-day ecological drama with some of the most provocative shark footage to ever see the light of day”
Mongo Nikol


“Impassioned and strikingly beautiful”
Eye Weekly

In an effort to protect sharks, director Rob Stewart teams up with renegade conservationist Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Their unbelievable adventure together starts with a battle between the Sea Shepherd and shark poachers in Guatemala, resulting in pirate boat rammings, gunboat chases, mafia espionage, corrupt court systems and attempted murder charges, forcing them to flee for their lives.

Through it all, Stewart discovers these magnificent creatures have gone from predator to prey, and how despite surviving the earth's history of mass extinctions, they could easily be wiped out within a few years due to human greed. In just the last 30 years, the world's shark populations are believed to have been diminished by 90%.

Stewart's remarkable journey of courage and determination changes from a mission to save the world's sharks, into a fight for his life, and that of humankind.

Filmed in visually stunning, high definition video, SHARKWATER takes you into the most shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world's shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.

For info and tickets, click here.

AUSTIN AIR GUITAR 2008...get ready to SHRED!!!

Now with a $100 cash prize for the thrillingest shredder!!!

Compete in (or just sit back and revel in) the Austin Air Guitar Championships, Tuesday, Jan 29 at the Ritz, 9:45 PM. Contestants choose a track with hot licks, crank on the fog machine, grab their air-axes and ROCK OUT! Fabulous prizes, a trophy with an actual air guitar on the top and the green light with flocks of air-guitar groupies are yours if you win.

Details on the contest can be found here or check out the Austin Air Guitar Facebook Group.

AUSTIN AIR GUITAR PRELIMINARY ROUNDS ARE HELD ON THE LAST TUESDAY OF THE MONTH AT THE ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE CINEMA AT THE RITZ FROM JANUARY - MAY.

The top three winners of each of the Austin Air Guitar preliminary rounds will be eligible to compete in the Austin Air Guitar finals (date TBA). The winner of the Austin finals will be flown to New York for the U.S. Finals. The winner of the U.S. Finals will be flown to Finland in June to represent America in the 2006 World Finals.

An amazing spectacle for both performers and spectators alike, Air Guitar has reigned supreme at the Alamo Drafthouse since 2005. We are looking for the next air guitar savant who will represent Austin on the world stage and finaly make our town the "Air Music Capitol of the World."

The 2008 Austin Air Guitar Final Round will be posted as soon as details are announced.

It's free to compete, plus as an added bonus, each competitor will get 4 free tickets to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. If you want to compete, bring a CD of your 60 second performance track to the Alamo Drafthouse on the night of the show or you can email it in advance to brad@originalalamo.com.

Each competitor has 60 seconds to perform air guitar to a song they either choose before the competition or bring with them. Contestants are judged on the 4.0-6.0 figure skating scale. Costumes are highly recommended as is a little practicing in the mirror, although we have had many amazing walk-up competitors over the years.

Before the show, we'll have ROCK BAND set up for a pre-air guitar jam session. After the show, join us for the jackalope for the after-party featuring $1 "remember the Alamo" shot specials.




The 2008 Austin Air Guitar Championships are sponsored by




Austin American Statesman article on Austin Air Guitar (with instructional video!)


Austin Air Guitar Facebook Group

AIR GUITAR USA WEBPAGE

AIR HALEN: THE STATE OF AMERICAN AIR GUITAR

BBC Article on Air Guitar Phenomenon

THERE WILL BE BLOOD

"THERE WILL BE BLOOD is Anderson's CITIZEN KANE."
Scott Foundas - LA WEEKLY

"Intelligent, audacious and intense, with images that will linger in your mind long after you've left the theater."
Stephen Pizello - American Cinematographer

"A monumental display of evolution for director Paul Thomas Anderson."
Scott Weinberg - CINEMATICAL.COM

"An American Primitive, Forged in a Crucible of Blood and Oil."
Manohla Dargis - The New York Times

The critics have spoken, and god damn if THERE WILL BE BLOOD doesn't turn out to be THE movie of the year, and from what we hear, Daniel Day-Lewis is a lock for every award that's ever been invented.

And when you're going to see the best movie of the year, why see it anywhere else but the best movie theater in the world? THERE WILL BE BLOOD opens with Thursday midnight screenings on January 17 at the Alamo Ritz Theatre. Tickets are available now - grab yours and don't miss out!

The REAL GENIUS Quote-Along

When we do a Quote-Along at the Alamo Ritz, we're not happy with just saying, "Hey, here's a movie. Let's all yell out our favorite lines!" We want to do more, and we want to try to one-up ourselves each and every time. And so that's how we got to the point we're at this week, where way too much of our valuable work hours have been consumed with trying to figure out how to get the maximum amount of popcorn to explode from the sky during the finale scene in REAL GENIUS when popcorn is destroying Jerry Hathaway's house. Check out our first attempt in this video blog:



Since the filming of that video, we've come up with several other methods that should be much more of a spectacle, but you'll have to come out to one of the REAL GENIUS QUOTE-ALONG parties this month at the Ritz to see how it all comes out. We're giving away free lasers and rainbow glasses and having naked Jell-O eating contests before each movie, too, so even unless you're allergic to popcorn or fun, you should come out this Thursday or next week and get your geek on. Grab tickets here, and we'll see you at the show.

See the most controversial film of the year starting Friday at the Alamo Ritz!

REDACTED, the newest film from master director Brian De Palma (SCARFACE, CARRIE, FEMME FATALE) has been a pretty hard film to see, largely due to picketing campaign led by Bill O'Reilly. O'Reilly and company are upset about the behavior of American soldiers depicted in the Iraq war film. We wouldn't recommend REDACTED for everyone - it's pretty strong stuff, the language and situations contained in the film are not toned down for family audiences - but we don't want Bill O'Reilly or anyone else telling us what we can or cannot show. It's Un-American. So if you are interested in seeing the film that has drawn the most fire and some of the best reviews of the year, see REDACTED at the Alamo Ritz, this week only.


What they're saying about REDACTED:

"AN AMAZINGLY VIGOROUS WORK AND De PALMA's STRONGEST CINEMATIC STATEMENT SINCE 'CASUALTIES OF WAR'." - Richard Corliss, Time

"ANGRY. POWERFUL. INCENDIARY." - David Ansen, Newsweek

"THE MOVIE EVERYONE WILL BE TALKING ABOUT. I hope that it makes people livid, that it's furiously debated. De Palma makes me proud to be an American." - David Edelstein, New York Magazine

"THE ONLY IRAQ FILM I WOULD RANK ALONGSIDE 'NO END IN SIGHT' IN THE CATEGORY OF ESSENTIAL VIEWING." - Scott Foundas, LA Weekly

"De Palma's anger and frustration with the media course through 'Redacted' like an electrical current." - Stephanie Zacharek, Salon

"A SENSATIONAL FILM. De Palma's filmmaking skills have seldom been as razor sharp." - Ray Bennett, Hollywood Reporter