Thursday, January 29, 2009

Crash The Gridiron With Us This Weekend! PUPPY BOWL 2009 at the Ritz!



The Puppy Bowl
(plus another big game)
This Sunday 3pm
Alamo Ritz, FREE!

Each year, there's one event that makes the blood flow through the iron heart of every American. Where fierce gladiators meet face to face on the playing field, vying for the ultimate honor. The game of kings...the sport of gods...

P U P P Y B O W L !!!

For the first time in history, the Puppy Bowl will be brought to you on the big screen, complete with every epic, gritty play as sinews strain against flesh in the ultimate combat ...there is no test of endurance or strength to compare to this.

Bring all your fellow sports enthusiasts down (humans only, please) to the Alamo Ritz, to eat, drink and celebrate these true champions. Eat, drink, root for your favorite team and/or breed, revel in the explosive Kitty Halftime Show and immerse yourself in the heady stew of macho competition, adrenaline and cuddliness that is PUPPY BOWL 2009!!!

Stick around after Puppy Bowl 2009, because we'll roll right into the next major sporting event on that day- the one where the big dogs come out to play (you know: the one whose name we can't legally mention here). Keep your seat, or run home to watch reruns of past Puppy Bowls- your choice.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Marx Brothers DUCK SOUP Wednesday Night at Lamar



DUCK SOUP with Duck Feast
Wednesday 7:00 At Lamar
Tickets (Feast or Movie-Only) Here.


As our deep recession keeps looking more like a Depression we look back on the really hard times of the '30s when people learned the value of laughter through the anarchic comic stylings of the Marx Brothers. The inimitable Groucho, with his leer, his cigar and his mustache; Chico, who unraveled the English language like no one else; Harpo, who brought the brilliant comedy of the silent era into the talkie age; and of course Zeppo, who was always on time with a pressed shirt.

DUCK SOUP is their greatest comedy and we'll take the nonsensical title as all the excuse we need to prepare an opulent duck feast including the savory soup of the title. And after eating the rest of the duck we're sure you won't even mind the bill. Check out this menu:

1st
Duck confit, fresh flax cracker, strawberry-garlic jam, aged gruyere

2nd
Duck soup ala Groucho

3rd
Seared duck breast-meyer lemon glaze- wild mushroom barley and braised kale

4th
Duck egg-goats milk ice cream with coco nib-peanut crisp

I THINK WE'RE ALONE NOW



I THINK WE'RE ALONE NOW
Tuesday and Wednesday at the Ritz
Click here for advance tix


Many people are familiar with American pop singer Tiffany, who had a number of hit songs during the 1980s, including "I Think We're Alone Now" and "Could've Been." Less known is the story of two of Tiffany's most devoted stalkers: Jeffery Deane Turner, a 50ish man with severe Asperger's Syndrome, and hermaphrodite-in-transition Kelly McCormick. Sean Donnelly's documentary I THINK WE'RE ALONE NOW tells the stories of these obsessed fans.

Turner serves as an elder statesman of celebrity stalkers; he has been engaged in a pointless, multi-decade pursuit of Tiffany's attentions. In one famous incident during the late 80s (which is documented in the film) Turner showed up at Tiffany's emancipated minor hearing with a samurai sword and five white chrysanthemums.

Like Turner, Kelly McCormick is completely obsessed, which is evidenced by the dozens of Tiffany images that paper the walls of her barren apartment, and McCormick's disturbing, profane rants about being united with the pop singer. McCormick's obsession, however, exists in an entirely different space than Turner's and seems to be rooted in a big tangled knot of psychological and physiological dysfunction that defies glib descriptions.

I THINK WE'RE ALONE NOW packs enough mystery, horror, science-fiction and human intrigue into 100 minutes to fill a number of feature-length films. Everything in this film is completely true, however, and it's so strange that many will have a hard time believing it's real. (Rodney Perkins)

Monday, January 26, 2009

Tonight: THE MOST DANGEROUS COMEDY IN THE WORLD



THE MOST DANGEROUS IMPROV COMEDY IN THE WORLD
with Les McGehee, Owen Egerton, Megan Flynn and Friends
Tonight, Alamo Ritz, 7:30
Buy your tickets here!

Tonight, laugh your face off as legendary improv fanatic Les McGehee brings you the cream of the local improv crop, special guest stars from TV and film, and...The Most Dangerous Improv Comedy in the World!

Les McGehee has performed a ridiculous amount of improv comedy- 6000+ shows in the US, 13 other countries, in theaters and clubs, also on boats, ships, planes, trains, and helicopters, TV, radio, under a table, and in other languages. For The Most Dangerous Improv Comedy in the World, Les presents the best guests from Chicago/LA/NYC, and...The Most Dangerous Improv Comedy in the World!

Featuring improv challenges that can literally hurt, maim, cause baldness, or kill. Only the finest improvisers with fire in their bellies will survive games like "Oxygen Deprivation," "Mousetrap," and "Swinging Pendulum of Death." You might even be asked to join a game so don't pee yourself you scaredy chicken. For this very special show, Les (and his Danger Crew) play improv like only they can, then they debut a short comedy film, attempt "The Most Deadly Game," and shave the loser's head. With guest stars Megan Flynn (GirlsGirlsGirls!, ComedySportz), Owen Egerton (Mr. Sinus, Austin's Best Author) and, live music, and...The Most Dangerous Improv Comedy in the World!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Your Amazing Weekend at the Alamo!



This weekend at the Alamo South Lamar you can see Stephen Soderbergh's CHE with a special Cuban menu that will rock your plantain. Or you can watch Mickey Rourke's devastating Oscar nominated performance as the washed up Randy The Ram in THE WRESTLER, now playing at the Ritz and Village. And SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, recipient of 10 Oscar noms, is playing loud and proud at South Lamar.

To cap off the night, you can catch the fusion of Oz and Pink Floyd in DARK SIDE OF THE RAINBOW at the Ritz. The Friday and Saturday Night Master Pancake MATRIX shows are sold out but as of press time there are still tix available for the big CHOOSE YOUR OWN PANCAKE spectacular on Sunday night. But save your energy because the Air Guitar Championships are next. You can sign up to compete or just enjoy the show. See you soon.

Friday, January 16, 2009

TIMECRIMES Opens at Village!



TIMECRIMES at Alamo Village
Get Your Tickets Here


We are all pumped up with excitement about Nacho Vigalondo's great sci-fi mind twister TIMECRIMES, which opens today at the Village. But we're not the only ones. The Austin Chronicle has made it the AC Pick of the Week, and Marc Savlov positively enthuses about the film, "Timecrimes is a tremendously entertaining bit of Kafka that whirlpools down into The Twilight Zone." And: "One helluva blast to watch." That's news we can use!

About TIMECRIMES:

Lauded short film director Vigalondo makes his feature debut with this tense, unstoppable vision of science and natural law gone awry. An incredibly well crafted time-travel story, TIMECRIMES doesn't spend money on extravagant effects, although the visual style of the film is great. Instead, the layered science-fiction plot is created through fabulous writing and solid acting from a very small cast of characters.

Though not much can be said about this time-travel thriller's plot without giving too much away, here's a cryptic synopsis from Vigalondo himself:

"A man who accidentally travels back into the past and meets himself. A naked girl in the middle of the forest. A mysterious stranger with his face wrapped in a pink bandage. A disquieting mansion on the top of a hill. All of them pieces of an unpredictable jigsaw puzzle where terror, drama and suspense will lead to an unthinkable crime. Who's the murderer? Who's the victim?"

Also, after the 9:50 show on Friday, January 16 on the opening weekend of TIMECRIMES at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, you are all invited for a karaoke party in honor of our favorite Spanish director, Nacho Vigalondo. Nacho's karaoke performances are legendary, and it only seems fitting on the Austin opening night of his feature TIMECRIMES to break out the synthesized beats and wireless microphones for a song party in his honor. Fantastic Fest veterans, this is the show to come to. Bring your friends and share the rare and potent blend of time-travel suspense thrillers and spirited renditions of 80s pop classics.

With an amazing preshow of Nacho Vigalondo's best short films for your amusement. Here's one of his shorts we really love, 7:35 In The Morning.

Friday, January 9, 2009

THE WRESTLER and GRAN TORINO


THE WRESTLER at the Alamo Ritz
Get your tickets here
GRAN TORINO at the Alamo Village
Get your tickets here

Two of the most highly acclaimed films of the past year (if not years) are now playing at the Alamo. Though they are completely dissimilar in story, they are bound together by a truth inherent their central characters- old men can kick your ass. These two fundamentally flawed, aging icons of masculinity face off against their own pasts by thumping some skulls in the present in what are the two most unmissable films currently playing in theaters.

THE WRESTLER
At the Alamo Ritz

"As far as I’m concerned, you can keep your Sean Penns and your Brad Pitts and your Frank Langellas; if there’s any justice in the world, this year’s best actor Academy Award will be going home with Rourke." - Josh Rosenblatt, Austin Chronicle

"A kind of harmonic convergence of player and part that happens once in a blue moon- the actor vanishing so completely inside a role that our sense of his "real" identity is permanently altered."
- David Ansen, Newsweek

This may be the first time we've ever seen the toughest critics and fans unanimously deem a new film perfect. With his battle scars and failing heart, retired professional wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke) jumps back into the squared circle to prove to himself that he's more than just a used-up piece of meat. A simple premise, but apparently Rourke's performance and the script are so strong, compelling and real that audiences across the world are going haywire, calling this the best film in the critically acclaimed director's entire career. There hasn't been a new American drama this exciting since the WWF was king!

GRAN TORINO
At the Alamo Village

"Eastwood plans to go on making more movies, but it's doubtful any will be as satisfying a career culmination as Gran Torino."
-Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle (read the 4-star review here)

The film has been garnering such attention and praise, it could possibly be Eastwood's finest achievement in decades. And the fact that it's a gripping, two-fisted, down-to-earth story of a flawed man facing off against the world makes it all the more exciting.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

THE WRESTLER with ACTUAL UNHINGED LIVE PRO WRESTLING!!!


There's one movie that we've been holding our breath for until our veins bulged and our biceps burst, anticipating the greatest cinematic experience possible: Darren Aronofsky's THE WRESTLER. It's got more hype behind it than a pay-per-view pro-wrestling smack-down (especially Mickey Rourke's career-defining performance)...but it's looking like this one's actually going to live up to every ounce. Critics across the board are calling the film a marvel, and Rourke the master.

THE WRESTLER opens for a full run at the Alamo Ritz on Friday, January 9 (tickets are now on sale) but we are so excited for this film that a simple screening alone could never satiate our overwhelming lust for sweet, sweet brutality. So, we're teaming up with The Texas Wrestling Federation to bring you ACTUAL LIVE PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING preceding the Thursday, Jan 8 midnight opening of THE WRESTLER! For the price of your ticket, you'll have a seat for Austin's premiere screening of this flawless cinematic suplex, PLUS you'll have a top-notch seat for an exclusive pre-screening, full-scale, white-knuckle WRESTLING EVENT to take place nearby, where REAL LIVE PRO WRESTLERS will be having a no-holds-barred BRAWL for your entertainment! This is clearly the only way to experience the greatest thing to happen to wrestling since the Hulkster slammed Andre the Giant!

Award winning cinematic brilliance + live bone-crunchingly extreme physical spectacle makes for the best damn day we'll have all '09. Be there.

Act fast to get your ticket to the show. Click here.

Monday, January 5, 2009

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK at the Ritz


Big Screen Sci-Fi Classics: ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK
January 5 & January 7 at the Alamo Ritz
Grab your tickets here

Snake Plissken is the ULTIMATE Sci-Fi Badass. Why? Because he's played by ultimate real life Badass Kurt Russell, who was at the height of his effortlessly steely machismo when he teamed with ultimate filmmaking Badass John Carpenter for the first (and many say greatest) of several flawless collaborations. So if you love BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA and THE THING - and you sure as hell do - this is the unshaven, post-apocalyptic blowtorcher that started it all! The year is 1997 A.D. Cold-blooded criminal Snake has 24 hours to enter the lawless, bloodthirsty prison island known as "Manhattan" and rescue the nationĂ¯¿½s president (HALLOWEEN's Donald Pleasance) from the clutches of a crazed gang leader played by the late, great Isaac Hayes! Along for the explosive destruction, mayhem and grit are Harry Dean Stanton, Lee Van Cleef and Ernest Borgnine. A beautiful '80s sci-fi masterpiece packed with testosterone-fueled violence and tough guy rage. Watching this movie on the big screen will make you a man, even if you're a woman!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

THE BIG LEBOWSKI at the Ritz


THE BIG LEBOWSKI with White Russians
January 1, 2 & 3, Alamo Ritz
Get you ticket here.

It’s not a secret that THE BIG LEBOWSKI ranks #1 in the Alamo’s list of all-time great films, and we couldn’t think of a better way to ring in 2009 than with this masterpiece on the enormous Ritz screen and a White Russian in hand. 365 more days to abide, made infinitely easier under the tutelage of The Dude.

2008’s been a great year in film, but BURN AFTER READING didn’t quite live up to expectations on the heels of NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN…which itself (don’t hate me) didn’t quite live up to LEBOWSKI. The Coen’s have made more perfect films than you can count on two hands, but somehow, it’s this crime-thriller-comedy that seems to be the most flawless. Everything works, everything fits and nothing could be left without.

We want to make it a new tradition among the ranks of eating black-eye’d peas. Good fortune to all who work off their Holiday hangover with a White Russian, Walter, Donny, The Dude and Jesus.

THE BIG LEBOWSKI will play at the Ritz on New Year’s Day, January 2nd and January 3rd only. Get your ticket here.