Tuesday, September 30, 2008

THE BLUES BROTHERS Quote-And-Sing-Along!



THE BLUES BROTHERS QUOTE-AND-SING-ALONG
Featuring Free Hats and Shades for Everyone!
Alamo Ritz :: Thursday, Oct 2, 6:15pm


Join the Blues Brothers on their mission from God this Thursday night at the Ritz for our newest Quote-Along movie party, and become a member for a one night only revue by your very own black hat and black sunglasses.

The cops will chase them. The Illinois Nazis will hunt them. And the Good Ole Boys will hate, hate, hate them. But you'll love every moment.

Dancing in the aisles is, of course, a must. Grab your tickets here, and come see us if you want to volunteer to do flips on the stage during James Brown's song.

Monday, September 29, 2008

The Return of OPEN SCREEN NIGHT!



OPEN SCREEN NIGHT
Alamo Ritz - Tuesday, Sept 30, 10pm

We haven’t had an Open Screen Night in well over a year now, so we’re hoping that you’ve had a chance to shoot some new movies, or find some new videos, or have a new favorite oddity that you want to share with the crowd. But because it’s been so long, there could also be some people reading this that have no idea what the heck I’m talking about.

So here’s the gist of the show: we play anything you bring to the theater with you. It’s like open mic night, but for filmmakers, and we don’t censor or prescreen or have any idea what we’re going to be showing until it’s up on the screen. All you have to do is show up, bring a DVD or video of something you want to see up on our screen, and we play it.

Well, we play two minutes of it, anyway.

Because sometimes people bring videos that are kinda… bad, we bring out the gong and allow our gonger the exclusive right of taking videos off the screen. Everyone has to listen and be nice for the first two minutes, but then we’ll have 10 second booing pockets where the audience can say yay or nay to your video. If they say nay loud enough, the gonger will be convinced, and your movie will be taken off screen.

If, however, the audience says only yay, and your movie is their absolute favorite of the night, you’ll not only get to screen the entire thing, bask in the glow of audience love, but you’ll also walk out of the theater with $100 in cash.

So go shoot something, or dig through your video collection, or steal a DVD from the bargain bin at Fry’s, and we’ll all watch it together Tuesday night.

Get your tickets here.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

See the BEST OF FANTASTIC FEST!



On Sunday, September 28, Fantastic Fest is hosting the BEST OF FANTASTIC FEST at the Alamo South Lamar, featuring screenings of three of the most popular films of the festival. These screenings are 100% free, first come, first serve. The shows are open to badge holders and the general public alike, badge holders do not get priority seating. They are truly first come, first serve.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
9/28 4:05 PM
An awkward, introverted boy (Oskar) befriends a new neighbor girl (Eli) who helps him to confront the bullies at school. Eli, however, has a dark secret, and there are bodies piling up at the local morgue.

CHOCOLATE
9/28 7:00 PM
The director of ONG BAK returns with his new protégé, who was in training for five years for this role. Jeeja Vismistananda portrays an autistic girl who learns martial arts from watching Tony Jaa and Bruce Lee films so as to exact revenge on those who bankrupted her mother.

DONKEY PUNCH
9/28 10:00 PM
Seven sexy young Brits are hanging out on a "borrowed" yacht for a day of drugs, debauchery, and ultimately donkey punching. It's the last activity causes everything to unravel.

For details on these screenings, check out www.originalalamo.com. For more information about Fantastic Fest, check out the official website, www.fantasticfest.com. Film Badges are currently on sale for Fantastic Fest 2009.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

MASTER PANCAKE ridicules FORREST GUMP!



Master Pancake Theater presents FORREST GUMP
Friday and Saturday at the Ritz
Tickets available here for all four shows

Warning: Despite lovable titular Gump, the content of this show may not be suited for little ones.

Beginning this September, Master Pancake is going to boil, bake, batter and fry the beloved 90's classic FORREST GUMP. Featuring Tom Hanks (THE MONEY PIT, JOE VS. THE VOLCANO) as a good-hearted shrimp-baron whose hobbies include jogging, playing ping-pong, eating chocolate and telling long boring stories. Also featuring Sally Field (THE FLYING NUN, GIDGET GOES HAWAIIAN) as momma Gump, Gary Sinise (CSI, that kidnapping movie with Mel Gibson) as Gump's "bosom buddy" Cap'n Dan and Robin Wright Penn (THE PRINCESS BRIDE) as Gump's baby momma. Come join Master Pancake as they give new meaning to "Run, Forrest, Run" and gleefully pursue this overrated icon.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

STREETS OF FIRE with lead cast members LIVE this Monday!

This show is a BIG DEAL. A big, fun, incredible, action-packed, stars-in-attendance for only two dollars-type deal.

Music Mondays were created by former Alamo lead programmer Kier-la Janisse, who is no longer a US resident but will be returning to the Alamo Downtown stage to host the greatest Music Monday EVER!!!

And as if that's enough, it'll be presented by the film's stars MICHAEL PARE and DEBORAH VAN VALKENBURGH live!

How are we getting away with only charging $2 for this show? I DON'T KNOW! But we are, and TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE HERE!

Let's see what Kier-la has to say about this rocking, raging, blazing MASTERPIECE:

"STREETS OF FIRE is quite simply my favourite film of all time. It's been said that Walter Hill is a real 'man's director'; but this is belied by the cross-gender, cross-continental cult appeal of his rock n' roll masterpiece of vigilante justice. Originally intended as a trilogy until American audiences broke Hill's heart with poor box office, STREETS OF FIRE stars heartthrob Michael Pare (notice I didn't say former heartthrob) as Tom Cody, a soldier of fortune who is summoned by his sister (THE WARRIORS' super-tuff Deborah Van Valkenburgh) to rescue his old flame, rock goddess Ellen Aim (a 19-year old Diane Lane) from a pack of PVC-clad bikers from the wrong end of town (who are headed up by Willem Dafoe and Fear's Lee Ving). Add to this mix Rick Moranis as Ellen's current boyfriend/manager Billy Fish, a tough-as nails Amy Madigan as Cody's sidekick McCoy, an early appearance by Bill Paxton, and the always effervescent '80s staple E.G. Daily and you’ve got yourself a movie that can pretty much do no wrong.

The merits of STREETS OF FIRE are many: its stunning production design, its no-fat dialogue, its crew of rotating editors who set the standard for modern editing techniques (for better or for worse), and of course, the music - courtesy of songwriters Jim Steinmann and Stevie Nicks, and amazingly bolstered by The Blasters as the house band at Torchie's Bar (Torchie's itself being a consistent character in Hill's early films). Don't miss this rare big-screen celebration of everything that is good and right about movies. After all, tonight is what it means to be young!" - (Music Monday creator Kier-La Janisse)

...also (and this news is JUST IN), this screening will be followed by a special work-in-progress screening at no extra charge, which also happens to be the WORLD PREMIERE of STREETS OF FIRE's brand new companion film ROAD TO HELL, also starring Michael Pare and Deborah Van Valkenburgh! Be among the first to ever see this film, which will be presented by some very special guests. Visit the official ROAD TO HELL site HERE!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

IT HAS BEGUN.



AIR SEX



For the past year, we've been hosting Air Sex Championships at the Alamo Ritz. Thursday night, we're bringing the winning competitors from each of those nights to the historic Paramount Theater for the soon-to-be legendary Air Sex World Championships. Whichever air humping finalists goes home with the crown tomorrow night will also be winning a free trip to Reno and a free gift certificate to the Bunny Ranch for some Flesh Sex - but before we get there, we're giving you one last chance to qualify for the finals.

Tonight at the Ritz, we're holding a "dark horse" last minute, last ditch effort qualifying round to get you into the Air Sex finals. Come on out to watch the action, but plan on joining in yourself, if only for the chance to make sweet love to some of the air at the Paramount tomorrow night.

This is it, people. Your last chance to be part of the first year of Air Sex. Don't miss it.

Tickets to tonight's show are available right here.

Tickets for tomorrow nights finals are SOLD OUT. We're hoping to have a small number of tickets available at the door after Fantastic Fest's screening of ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO, but the only way to guarantee that you'll get into that show is by competing and winning. Now is the time for glory.

To help you in your quest for inspiration, here's a look at the first ever Air Sex USA contest:

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Crack some Creme Brulee tonight at the Ritz!!!

Looking around the programming office of the Alamo recently, I noticed that we-re a bit of a sausage fest these days. As I looked around at all the stubble and receding hairlines, I thought that maybe, just maybe, all that testosterone was having an effect on our programming. Then I looked at the line-up of genre films in this year's Fantastic Fest and the sheer number of horror films we're cramming into October, and I knew it to be a total and complete fact. Now, I'm not saying that girls don't like horror. I'm not saying that guys don't like romance. I'm just saying that it's high time we all appreciated the more feminine side of our nature. So from now on we're taking at least one Tuesday night a month and turning it over to the Girlie side of life, to films with relationships, and kissing, and all of those other things that will probably give us cooties. Fortunately, we've got our circle circle dot dots ready, so what better film to launch this series than AMELIE, the charmingly sweet tale of one girl who enjoys the simple things in life, but still dreams of discovering more of the world's complexity?

We'll have free creme brulee for everyone in attendance at these screenings, plus a our bartenders have put together a special French Martini that will ONLY be available for these shows! Enjoy a vodka martini with raspberry liqueur and pineapple juice, served in a chilled glass w/ a sugar rim.

Get your tickets here.

Monday, September 15, 2008

HUMBOLDT COUNTY Free Screening Tonight!




Join us at Lamar for a free screening of HUMBOLDT COUNTY tonight at the Alamo South Lamar at 7pm with directors Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs in person!

It was the toast of SXSW and is poised to break wide as a slacker classic of all time.

Grodsky and Jacobs’ affectionate nod to 1970s American filmmaking brings together an ensemble of established actors including Brad Dourif, Frances Conroy, Peter Bogdanovich, Fairuza Balk; rising stars Jeremy Strong (THE HAPPENING, upcoming on Broadway, “A Man For All Seasons” opposite Frank Langella), Chris Messina (Woody Allen’s VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA) and youngster Madison Davenport (KIT KITTREDGE: AN AMERICAN GIRL).

Located on the far North Coast of California and on the margins of society is a region nicknamed “The Lost Coast” but geographically known as Humboldt County.

It is there, amongst the state’s breathtaking Redwood forests that marijuana farmers co-exist peacefully within the rural community. It is there that Peter Hadley (Jeremy Strong), a promising but tightly-wound UCLA med student, finds himself stranded when he’s deposited at the multi-generational family home of the free-spirited Bogart (Fairuza Balk), following a drunken one-night stand.

Frustrated and disillusioned with his life after his professor/father (Peter Bogdanovich) fails him on an important exam, the unworldly Peter at first rejects the welcoming yet eccentric pot-smoking strangers, along with their eclectic group of friends and fellow farmers, but soon allows himself to be embraced by their ideals and begins to see life a bit clearer: despite the smoke.

HUMBOLDT COUNTY is a story of the human soul in search of happiness and the unexpected places we can sometimes call home.

Opens for a full run at the Alamo South Lamar on September 26.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Tonight - DODGEBALL with Dodgeball!



It's been called the most dangerous game ever played, as players are pushed to the very limits of human endurance. DODGEBALL. That red orb whizzing like a bullet past your temple and honing in on the target, sweat stings your eyes, your teeth grind as you lunge forward to take hold of what's yours: VICTORY.

The Alamo knows the hunger for glory, and that's why we're preceding this modern day sports-comedy masterpiece with an all-out dodgeball showdown, where YOU can participate in the noblest sport ever devised. Muster up your strength in the Alamo Village parking lot, face the Wall of Combat and show that villainous opponent the true meaning of POWER!

Then go inside, knock back a beer and watch Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller do the same damn thing!

Tickets are $10, and available right here. Tournament starts at 5:00 in the parking lot. At around 6:30, we'll start seating in the theater so you can cool down with a few beers and enjoy the movie which will be starting around 7:00.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

BURN AFTER READING Now Playing At Village and Ritz

A new Coen Brothers movie is a drop-everything event. BURN AFTER READING now playing at Ritz and Village.

"A blackly comic illustration of Murphy's Law, set in the Washington world of CIA espionage, and populated with a cast of delusional dunces who are a wonder to behold." - David Ansen, Newsweek

"The new Coen Bros classic that you'll be quoting ad nauseum for the next decade." - Devin Faraci, CHUD

The Coen Bros, fresh off their NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN Best Picture/Director/Screenplay sweep at last year's Oscars, take a U-turn back toward LEBOWSKI territory with this new dark crime comedy/thriller.

At the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in Arlington, Virginia, analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) arrives for a top-secret meeting. Unfortunately for Cox, the secret is soon out: he is being ousted. Cox does not take the news particularly well and returns to his Georgetown home to work on his memoirs and his drinking, not necessarily in that order. His wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) is dismayed, though not particularly surprised; she is already well into an illicit affair with Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney), a married federal marshal, and sets about making plans to leave Cox for Harry.

Elsewhere in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, and seemingly worlds apart, Hardbodies Fitness Centers employee Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) can barely concentrate on her work. She is consumed with her life plan for extensive cosmetic surgery, and confides her mission to can-do colleague Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt). Linda is all but oblivious to the fact that the gym's manager Ted Treffon (Richard Jenkins) pines for her even as she arranges dates via the Internet with other men.

When a computer disc containing material for the CIA analyst's memoirs accidentally falls into the hands of Linda and Chad, the duo are intent on exploiting their find. As Ted frets, "No good can come of this," events spiral out of everyone's and anyone's control, in a cascading series of darkly hilarious encounters.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Free Outdoor Screening of Mad Max tonight!


Tonight's (Friday 9/12) free outdoor screening of MAD MAX at the parking lot of the South Lamar Alamo is brought to you by Fantastic Fest - week-long festival featuring the best in new science-fiction, fantasy, horror, animation, crime, Asian, and all around badass cinema. Fantastic Fest 2008 takes place at the Alamo South Lamar from September 18-25. Check out the amazing schedule and buy badges for Fantastic Fest at www.fantasticfest.com.

This year Fantastic Fest takes a look at Australia's cinema of blood and gasoline with our NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD Retrospective series. In addition to MAD MAX on September 12 we will screen the sequel, THE ROAD WARRIOR on Friday September 19, also at the parking lot of the South Lamar Alamo. Both of these screenings will feature authentic Australian food, including delectable Shrimp on the Barby and Australian meat pies. We will also have a Vegemite-eating contest for those who think they can handle it.

Click here for the full slate of "Ozsploitation" titles, including the awesome and unmissable new documentary about the golden age of Aussie mayhem NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD.

The movie starts at sundown (about 8PM). Remember - bring your own folding chair!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Shake Your Booty Down to the Ground



THE DISCO INFERNO SING-ALONG

Thursday, Sept 11, 9:30pm at the Alamo Ritz

The singing part of any Sing-Along show is always a given - we subtitle music videos to pop songs we all know and love, and the entire audience comes together in one voice of ecstatic pop orgasm.

Some of the Sing-Alongs, of course, become more than just a singing party, and there are moments when the force of the beat gets people in the crowd to stand up, leave their seats behind, and start dancing at their table, or in the aisles, or up on the stage. For one night only this month, we're going to take our Sing-Alongs and really turn them into a proper dance party - a Dance-Along, if you will. And you will. Because you won't have any choice.

We're mixing together the best disco dance videos from the 1970s with the dance hits that that era spawned in the 80s and 90s. And we've got disco balls going up just for these shows. Just try to stay in your seat.

PLUS - before the show we're going to have a disco fashion and dance contest, and the winners will receive passes to this year's FUN FUN FUN FEST - so put your boogie shows on and we'll see you at the Ritz.

Get tickets to this Thursday's DISCO INFERNO MIX-TAPE SING-ALONG right here.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT THE RITZ



We've got three completely different comedy offerings for you this Wednesday night at the Ritz. You like cartoons? Cartoon-like violence? Nudie Magazine Days? You're covered.

At 7 and 9:30, BRAD NEELY returns for another animation showcase featuring the best of The Professor Brothers, George Washington, and more. He'll be at the theater live in person to answer your questions after the show, and maybe you can persuade him to perform one of Baby Cake's songs for you from the stage.

At 7:30pm, martial arts maniac/legend Jackie Chan is at the ultimate peak of self-destructive daredevilism in THE LEGEND OF THE DRUNKEN MASTER, his epic of alcohol-fueled goofball violence.

Or come by at 10pm for some back-to-school quoting with the BILLY MADISON QUOTE-ALONG. It's still too damn hot for a penguin to just be walkin' around, but Adam Sandler has never been better than his initial feature film starring role as a hotel heir who repeats first through twelfth grade to save his father's company. Come for the penguins, but stay for Chris Farley topless.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Big Screen Sci-Fi Classics:



TRON
Sept 8, 9 & 11 at the Ritz

Attention all Users! Follow us back to a beautiful page in history, before computer games required a two-week vacation from work and digitally-generated special effects were the new star of Hollywood. When the visual magic of TRON hit the screen in 1982, every jaw in the world hit the theater floors. And for our money, CGI hasn't been this good since. Join synaptic superwarriors Clu (Jeff Bridges), Tron and Ram as they wage their epic battle against the wicked Master Control Program in the only high-impact/low-tech epic of good versus evil to predict the modern age, kind of.

ALSO!: new local funtime heroes ARCADE UFO will be on hand at both screenings to celebrate the grand opening of Austin's most raging arcade with free tokens for all in attendance!

Monday, September 1, 2008

TV at the ALAMO



GOSSIP GIRL
premieres Monday night at the Village

90210
premieres Tuesday night at the Village

The Hollywood blockbuster season is winding down to a close, but the TV blockbuster season is just beginning. To celebrate, we're bringing back TV at the Alamo screenings of some of our favorite series from last year, as well as trying out a couple of new ones for the new fall season.

Join us Monday nights at the Village for season 2 of Gossip Girl, where we'll find out how the Upper East Siders spent their summer vacations. We'll start with the season finale from last year at 7pm, to help remind us of how crazy things got at the end, then move right into a commercial-free presentation of tonight's episode.

On Tuesday night, we're rolling out the series premiere of 90210, which may prove to be a huge mistake, but damn it - all of the promotional push for that show has gotten to us, and there's no way we can help but to check it out. We're going to start that show with a screening of the first fifteen minutes of the original series premiere, then move into the new series premiere, so we can really do a fair compare and contrast afterward.

Both shows are 100% free, and seating will be done on a first come, first served basis. If you'd like to guarantee yourself a spot at the shows, though, you can purchase a $5 food and beverage gift card, which will serve as your reserved ticket and ensure that no one else takes your spot.

Reserve your seats at Gossip Girl here.


Reserve your seats for 90210 here.