YOU MUST SEE THESE MOVIES!

I'm a huge fan of HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY and BABY MAMA looks to be a lot of fun. These both open at the Alamo this week, but I'm not here to talk about those films. This weekend, there is a moral imperative that has been issues. Two films are hitting the Alamo - 1 at the Ritz and one at Lamar that are so fresh and original that you simply must come out to support them. I don't often make a personal request, but I'm doing it today... twice.

Film #1: BIG MAN JAPAN opens Friday at Lamar. This film capped my list of personal top 10 cinematic highlights of 2007. The film stars Hitoshi Matsumoto, the biggest star in Japanese television. Imagine the headliner of a stranger Saturday Night Live and a kinder, sweeter Jackass crammed into one titan of comedy, that's him in Japan. BIG MAN JAPAN, his first feature is a mockumentary with the premise that the giant monsters that come down from earth and the men who electrocute themselves to super-human size to fight those monsters are real. Matsumoto plays the last in the legacy of the dying tradtion of giant monster fighters, and he's really bad at his job. Magnolia Films is testing the water and opening this film exclusively in Austin before the Los Angeles and New York release, to my knowledge a first for a non-Austin film. Check out the web listing for more reviews and quotes as well as details on the special Japanese menu. I've also added a Youtube Playlist of some of Matsumoto's TV clips from over the years to give you a little background. I've been championing this film for a long time and I would greatly appreciate it if you gave this film a chance. Matsumoto is one of the most creative stars of comedy alive today. Really try to make it out this week to see this.

Film #2: Don Hertzfeldt and Mike Judge teamed up with MTV to present the greatest, most wildly entertaining collection of animated short films of all time. We are world premiering the 2008 ANIMATION SHOW at the Ritz this weekend and it looks to be the strongest show ever. On Friday night, we'll have special guest animators, DJ manny will be spinning live between sets and after the 7:00 show we are all heading over to the Jackalope for the after-party.