Getting High at the Ritz

HIGH FOR THE HOLIDAYS at the Alamo Ritz!

Maybe you're stuck in town this Holiday season, or maybe your whole family's in town, but you can't stand to be around them, or maybe your whole family's in town and you're all raging party-people. Whatever the situation, you're in Austin, you're high and you're on the prowl for some good old fashioned Holiday cheer. This is exactly why we started HIGH FOR THE HOLIDAYS. Every year around this time we turn the Alamo downtown into THE place to shed the stress of the season, to sit back, tune in and drop out.

We'll be bringing back popular favs from HftH's past, like DARK SIDE OF THE RAINBOW (WIZARD OF OZ with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon sync'd- it works!), HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE with all-you-can-eat sliders and an eating contest before the movie, BEERFEST with Beer-lympics (beer pong is the reason for the season) and (GOOD) FRIDAY, FRIDAY with all the profanity dubbed over with Buzz Moran's squeaky-clean alternate track rollin' up fatty [tobacco cigarettes].

This year, we're also bringing in the power of POOTIE TANG to lift some spirits, with a danger-infused belt-whipping competition and ice cold Pootie's Malt Liquor. For the more discerning drinker, we'll be serving up White Russians and the immortal classic BIG LEBOWSKI. And for the psychedili-oids, we dare you dive deep into the Flaming Lips' intergalactic trip CHRISTMAS ON MARS or Music Monday Presents WONDERWALL, a surreal '60s mind-blow featuring plenty of free love and even more Jane Birkin.

So pack up Grandma and head to the Ritz this week and next for some grade-A escape.

See the line-up and get your tickets here.

XMAS POPS SING-ALONG at the Ritz!

The XMAS POPS Sing-Along
Thursday, December 19 & Sunday December 21 at the Ritz
Get your tickets here

Please Note: While the holiday season is a magical time for everyone, this show may not be. Some of the videos included in this collection are decidedly PG-13. Which is to say there may be some singing about private parts in boxes...

I've confessed so many embarrassing things about myself in my write ups for shows in the past that adding one more can't really hurt, can it? So here it is - when I was in high school, I was in choir. And yeah, when I was in high school choir, I thought that the caroling trips we took through my suburb every December were loads of fun. But I was wrong. Because what's REALLY fun is taking a group of people from the theater down Sixth Street and into the bars throughout the month of December, with all of us singing from our carol book of modern Christmas Classics, with songs like LAST CHRISTMAS by Wham. Standing in front of the Beauty Bar at 10pm on a Saturday night with a group of people from the Alamo all singing Wham at the hipsters during the middle of December? That kind of moment would make Bill Maher think that Jesus was the son of God, put on the earth just so the beauty of that instant could occur.

Of course, the caroling after the show is only a small part of our annual XMAS POPS show. We'll have trivia, videoke, a host of new videos along with favorites from last year, and so, so much more. Don't be left out of our reindeer games this year; get your tickets early, and come on down to the Ritz for the greatest holiday party of the year. Whether you're Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or Atheist, the XMAS POPS SING-ALONG will have you holding your neighbor's hands, singing in unison, and celebrating Festivus with the rest of us.

Tonight! SANTA VS. SATAN in Foleyvision!

Foleyvision: SANTA VS SATAN
Wednesday, December 17, 7:00pm & 9:45pm, Alamo South Lamar
Get you tickets here

The world's most unique film-viewing experience is returning to tackle jolly old Saint Nick in the most riotously bizarre holiday movie you'll see in this lifetime! This holiday season, Foleyvision takes on an incredibly ludicrous Christmas movie from south of the border that features your favorite laughing fat man in a red suit versus your favorite laughing skinny man in a red suit. And this time, it's personal. But when this turf war is over, the only casualty will be your abdominal muscles, sore from laughing for over an hour an a half straight. Watching this movie at Christmas time with the full Foleyvision treatment is one of the most extravagant joys those of us with hopelessly warped minds can hope to experience.

ROBOCOP!!!!!!!!!!

Big Screen Sci-Fi Classics: ROBOCOP
Monday, Dec 15 & Tuesday, Dec 16 at the Alamo Ritz
Get your tickets here.

Science meets violence when the absolute ultimate crime fighting weapon is unleashed on a world gone wrong: ROBOCOP! The most adrenaline-inducing '80s actionstorm to not star Kurt Russell, this thundering tale of bionic justice vaulted mankind into the 21st Century in a hail of bullets and splintered bone! ROBOCOP!! See a quasi-human officer singlehandedly bring a bloodthirsty crime wave (led by the dad from THAT '70s SHOW) to its knees. The pinnacle of sci-fi urban warfare, filmed in Dallas TX (here called 'Old Detroit?) and bursting with villainy, hostility, firepower and hyperaction taken completely over the edge of all reason! ROBOCOP!!!! I'd buy that for a dollar!!

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE opens this weekend at Lamar

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Opens December 12 at Lamar
Get your tickets here.

"Best Film of the Year" - National Board Of Review

Four Golden Globe Nominations including Best Picture

From director Danny Boyle (28 DAYS LATER, TRAINSPOTTING) comes a surprising and brilliant excursion into Bollywood.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is the story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"

But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show's questions.

Intrigued by Jamal's story, the jaded Police Inspector begins to wonder what a young man with no apparent desire for riches is really doing on this game show?

When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out...

"Driven by fantastic energy and a torrent of vivid images of India old and new, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is a blast. As drama and as a look at a country increasingly entering the world spotlight, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is a vital piece of work by an outsider who’s clearly connected with the place." - Todd McCarthy, Variety

"Danny Boyle's most ambitious film to date is also his greatest. Simply put, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE in one of the best -- if not the best -- films of 2008, as teeming with life as the slums it depicts." - Boxoffice Magazine

"A sharp, teeming, dark, very romantic film. Despite its elements of brutality, this is a buoyant hymn to life, and a movie to celebrate." - Richard Corliss, Time

"There's never been anything like this densely detailed phantasmagoria -- groundbreaking in substance, damned near earth-shaking in style." - Peter Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

COOL HAND LUKE at the Alamo

Big Screen Classics: COOL HAND LUKE
Get you tickets here.

With a Hard-Boiled Egg Eating Contest before the show!

Everyone knows the line, "What we have here is a failure to communicate". Even if you think it comes from some Guns 'n Roses song and not COOL HAND LUKE, it's burned into your brain. And you may have heard about the hard-boiled egg scene and that George Kennedy won an Oscar. All of those are fine reasons for knowing COOL HAND LUKE, but the real reason to see it again (especially on the big Alamo screen) is because of Paul Newman. The late, great Paul Newman, it pains us to say, to whom this tribute screening is dedicated to. Even though he had a career filled with brilliant work in classic films like HUD and THE HUSTLER, this is - without question - the definitive Paul Newman movie and performance. Most Hollywood movies about anti-authority figures often lack authenticity because, well, they're from Hollywood, but COOL HAND LUKE is the real thing because Newman was the real thing, a guy who gladly and purposefully did things his own way, even at the risk of his career. It became one of his defining features and one of the things that endeared him to audiences, especially when LUKE was released in 1967, and it holds up today as a testament to not only a great actor and humanitarian, but also as a terrific piece of entertainment. It's the one we'll always remember him by.

NEW 35mm Print!!!

MILK: now playing at the Ritz

MILK
Opens Friday at the Alamo Ritz
Purchase your tickets here

"The best live-action mainstream American movie that I have seen this year. MILK is accessible and instructive, an astute chronicle of big-city politics and the portrait of a warrior whose passion was equaled by his generosity and good humor. Mr. Penn, an actor of unmatched emotional intensity and physical discipline, outdoes himself here, playing a character different from any he has portrayed before." - A.O. Scott, New York Times

"Once in a while, a movie arrives at such a perfect moment, its message and meaning so finely tuned to the current zeitgeist, that it seems less a cinematic event than a cosmic convergence, willed into being by a once-in-a-lifetime alignment of the stars." - Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

"A magnificent, career-topping performance by Sean Penn, who disappears into the title role." - Claudia Puig, USA Today

"Penn goes way deep and soulful in a highly ingratiating performance that's the one to beat for the Best Actor Oscar." - Lou, Lumenick, New York Post

In 1977, Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming the first openly gay man to be voted into public office in America. His victory was not just a victory for gay rights; he forged coalitions across the political spectrum. From senior citizens to union workers, Harvey Milk changed the very nature of what it means to be a fighter for human rights and became, before his untimely death in 1978, a hero for all Americans.

Sean Penn stars as Harvey Milk under the direction of Gus Van Sant in MILK, filmed on location in San Francisco. MILK charts the last eight years of Harvey Milk’s life.

While living in New York City, he turns 40. Looking for more purpose, Milk and his lover Scott Smith (James Franco) relocate to San Francisco, where they found a small business, Castro Camera, in the heart of a working-class neighborhood. With his beloved Castro neighborhood and beautiful city empowering him, Milk surprises Scott and himself by becoming an outspoken agent for change. With vitalizing support from Scott and from new friends like young activist Cleve Jones (Emile Hirsch), Milk plunges headfirst into the choppy waters of politics.

Bolstering his public profile with humor, Milk’s actions speak even louder than his gift-of-gab words. When Milk is elected supervisor for the newly zoned District 5, he tries to coordinate his efforts with those of another newly elected supervisor, Dan White (Josh Brolin). But as White and Milk’s political agendas increasingly diverge, their personal destinies tragically converge. Milk’s platform was and is one of hope – a hero’s legacy that resonates in the here and now.

MILK Opens at the Ritz this weekend!

MILK
Opens this Friday at the Alamo Ritz
Advance tickets available here

If you're in the mood for a great, inspirational uplifting film, full of great performances - and who isn't? We've got one for you.

"The best live-action mainstream American movie that I have seen this year. MILK is accessible and instructive, an astute chronicle of big-city politics and the portrait of a warrior whose passion was equaled by his generosity and good humor. Mr. Penn, an actor of unmatched emotional intensity and physical discipline, outdoes himself here, playing a character different from any he has portrayed before." - A.O. Scott, New York Times

"Once in a while, a movie arrives at such a perfect moment, its message and meaning so finely tuned to the current zeitgeist, that it seems less a cinematic event than a cosmic convergence, willed into being by a once-in-a-lifetime alignment of the stars." - Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

"A magnificent, career-topping performance by Sean Penn, who disappears into the title role." - Claudia Puig, USA Today

"Penn goes way deep and soulful in a highly ingratiating performance that's the one to beat for the Best Actor Oscar." - Lou, Lumenick, New York Post

In 1977, Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming the first openly gay man to be voted into public office in America. His victory was not just a victory for gay rights; he forged coalitions across the political spectrum. From senior citizens to union workers, Harvey Milk changed the very nature of what it means to be a fighter for human rights and became, before his untimely death in 1978, a hero for all Americans.

Sean Penn stars as Harvey Milk under the direction of Gus Van Sant in MILK, filmed on location in San Francisco. MILK charts the last eight years of Harvey Milk’s life.

While living in New York City, he turns 40. Looking for more purpose, Milk and his lover Scott Smith (James Franco) relocate to San Francisco, where they found a small business, Castro Camera, in the heart of a working-class neighborhood. With his beloved Castro neighborhood and beautiful city empowering him, Milk surprises Scott and himself by becoming an outspoken agent for change. With vitalizing support from Scott and from new friends like young activist Cleve Jones (Emile Hirsch), Milk plunges headfirst into the choppy waters of politics.

Bolstering his public profile with humor, Milk’s actions speak even louder than his gift-of-gab words. When Milk is elected supervisor for the newly zoned District 5, he tries to coordinate his efforts with those of another newly elected supervisor, Dan White (Josh Brolin). But as White and Milk’s political agendas increasingly diverge, their personal destinies tragically converge. Milk’s platform was and is one of hope – a hero’s legacy that resonates in the here and now.

Tonight: RUDY RAY MOORE Tribute!

The great Rudy Ray Moore, nightclub comedian extraordinaire, Godfather Of Rap and a friend of the Alamo, has died. We were sad for a while and now we're ready to celebrate his life and work.

Rudy Ray Moore's films are cheap, quickly made and technically disastrous. But they have something that Hollywood can't buy - they are really, really funny.

Tonight DOLEMITE!:

In the original classic DOLEMITE, in which the greatest pimp of them all, Dolemite, comes home from prison only to find the neighborhood under siege as the mob tries to move in on his turf. When they go to far it's up to Dolemite to win back the streets with his (admittedly poor) kung fu and his (sparklingly excellent) verbiage. You'll laugh 400 times at this amazing classic. Watch the trailer now!

With 40 oz. SCHLITZ MALT LIQUORS available for this show only!

Buy tix here for the original DOLEMITE!