CATFISH opens at the Alamo South Lamar September 17.

Hello everyone, Alamo Drafthouse founder and CEO Tim League here. I saw two incredible films at Sundance this year. Both were documentaries and both were wildly unique. The first, EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP starts out as a simple chronicling of the street art scene. What I thought was going to be just a biography of the infamous Bansky turned out to be so much more. The film is itself an art installation as it gleefully dynamites the foundations of modern art criticism. At this point, EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP is my favorite film we have shown at the Alamo all year.

All that may change on September 17th because the other film that I saw at Sundance was CATFISH. Although the subject matter is very different, CATFISH also starts with a straightforward linear documentary premise before completely derailing, sending the audience on a wildly unexpected journey that delivers far more emotional wallop than one could ever imagine from the simple premise of the film.

In CATFISH, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost document a story involving Ariel’s brother, Nev, a 24-year-old New York-based photographer, and Abby, an 8-year-old girl from rural Michigan who contacts Nev via Facebook, asking for permission to make a painting from one of his photographs. Nev is fascinated by this 8-year-old artist and begins to commission and collect her work and get to know her through Facebook. My description ends there. The less you know about the story, the better. Don’t read reviews, don’t ferret around. Just walk in and see it and let the adventure wash over you.

I VERY rarely pound out a heartfelt recommendation for a film, maybe 3-4 times a year max. I’m doing it now. This is a fascinating little film, you have never seen anything like it and I’m pretty sure it might just blow your mind. Like I say, it is a small film, and a challenging one to market, so after you go and see it, please encourage all of your friends (and Facebook friends) to check it out too. If I were running the Oscars, this would be a sure-fire bet to be in the running for best documentary of the year.

Check out the trailer here, and prepare to be haunted by one of the most fascinated movie experiences you’ll ever have.

Action blitzkrieg The Expendables will hit screens at the Alamo Drafthouse on August 13. We are already gearing up our celebration for this event. Our thought: an all night adrenaline cocktail of the best of the best action movies from the stars of the Expendables: Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis (we can also take from Eric Roberts, Steve Austin and Mickey Rourke I suppose). Of course, before each feature we would offer a robust selection of action trailers from the American Genre Film Archive collection.

I know people have strong opinions on this subject, I certainly do. We want your input. If you were tasked with programming a quadruple feature of action movies that would nitro-boost your excitement levels the weekend before The Expendables, what would it be? Would you limit to the 80s? Would you slip CRANK 2: HIGH VOLTAGE in there? Would you sample from Hong Kong and if so, would you delve into Jet Li’s kung fu repertoire? Let us know this week. In your comment, please list your hometown and your choices. If we choose your exact lineup for the show, you will get a four-pack of tickets to the event and a $20 Alamo Gift Card.

To get you in the mood, enjoy this compilation of the top 160 one-liners from Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I’m not sure if you are excited about the new PREDATORS film, but I’m here to tell you it is time to start! We had the chance to see some exclusive scenes of the film at SXSW this year and it looks great! I personally haven’t been engaged with this franchise since my junior year of high school when the original first hit the screen. Rodriguez wrote the script and is aiming for a sequel in the vein of what ALIENS was to ALIEN. Check out the official trailer below, but first listen to the man himself, Robert Rodriguez, talk about the genesis of the project, dating back to a writing assignment he completed before directing Desperado in 1994.

Predators opens at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on July 9th and I for one will be in a seat at the first show. (Tim League, founder Alamo Drafthouse Cinema)

A VERY SPECIAL EPISODE
Monday, 7:30 at The Ritz

A special one-time-only brainwrecker from the mad geniuses at The Cinefamily!

It’s an all-too-familiar moment: the commercial fades, a somber piano line is struck, and in a low, austere rumble the announcer says “On a very special episode of…” Many a TV sitcom has been hazily defined in our memories by its “very special episodes”; the installments in which the monotony of lameness is broken by a confusing left turn into cheap, sappy dramatics. One of the ensemble cast gains a drug addiction, has a brush with death, experiences violence that hits close to home, etc.

Most often, these episodes have only the power to make one retch with their saccharine lip service to the “cause of the week” — but then there are those rare occasions when, due to the intervention of the TV gods, things go off-the-cliff bat-shit crazy! Come see five of the finest examples of what happens when a Very Special Episode gets waaaaay too special, with child molestation, death scenes, cast members getting backhanded across the room by drunken guest stars, prostitution and more! The heart bleeds with excitement!!!

Cheap cheap cheap tickets HERE!

Hey guys, I’ve been working on this deal now for more than a year now, and today is the day that we can finally announce it!  I start a new job today as CEO of the merged Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.  We start work immediately merging the websites, the preshow development and the menu and will start making plans to roll out these changes along with our signature Alamo programming to the other locations shortly after that.  Stay tuned to the blog and Facebook for details as they progress.  The news is so important, I asked Mary Sledd to take a fancy new headshot (left).

Full news post below.

Alamo Drafthouse Founder Returns to Spotlight as New CEO

Cinema-Eatery Concept Creator Tim League Returns to Roots, Looks to Expand Cinema Programming to New Markets

(Austin, Texas)—The creator of what Texas Monthly has dubbed “the most important film festival in America” announces he is returning to his starring role as CEO of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema brand, effective immediately. Tim League, founder of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and mastermind behind the nationally acclaimed Fantastic Fest film festival, will assume brand and creative leadership for the company after a five-year hiatus. He will replace former Alamo Drafthouse CEO John Martin. Martin is transitioning to the role of area developer and plans to continue the expansion of the concept outside of Texas.

Brand expansion has been a key growth strategy for Alamo Drafthouse Cinema since League founded the concept in 1997. Opening as a single-screen theater in downtown Austin, Texas, the company has grown to include nine locations throughout Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Texas and Winchester, Va., for a combined total of 55 screens with an average unit sales volume of $5.8 million per location. Average weekly same-store-sales grew 11.5% in 2009 versus 2008. Named best theater in America by Entertainment Weekly, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema built a reputation not only by combining food and drink service with the movie-going experience, but also introducing unique programming and high-profile, star-studded special events.

And it’s those special events—such as the fantasy, horror and genre-driven film festival Fantastic Fest—that League hopes to give more national play.

“We are looking at expanding some of the signature programming that has been developed over the past few years in Austin and expanding it to our franchised locations,” League says. “There is the possibility of expanding programming opportunities and leveraging those events in new markets.”

League, 39, sold the company in 2004, but retained ownership and operation of three Alamo Drafthouse locations in Austin.

“When I decided to sell the company in 2004, I was more focused on the hands-on development of programming, preshow entertainment and the nuances of the Alamo experience. I have since grown the infrastructure of my creative team, and I feel ready to share the results of our Austin ‘incubator’ with the rest of the country,” he says.

In returning to his role as CEO, he will oversee the programming, creative vision and the next wave of expansion for the company. Currently, Alamo Drafthouse has additional locations under development in San Antonio and Austin and is actively seeking expansion beyond Texas and Virginia.

“The Alamo Drafthouse has a unique operating strategy different from any other exhibitor in the market today,” League says. “We have a direct relationship with our audiences, are intolerant of advertisements before movies, offer fresh food and demand technical excellence. I envision the Alamo Drafthouse making a significant change in what it means to go the movies.”

The new CEO adds that there has never been a more opportune time for his return to the company spotlight—especially since the movie industry clocked a record year of $10.6 billion tickets sales in 2009. His new role will allow him to capitalize on a fresh-styled cinema experience that is fun and, well—fantastic.

“The time is right to expand the Alamo brand and its unique programming to the appropriate markets across the United States,” League says.

The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is currently seeking qualified franchise area-development partners in select markets. For more information about Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, please visit www.drafthouse.com.

ZZANG!!!!: VALLEY GIRL
Sunday – 10 PM – Ritz – Totally.

About ZZANG!!!: There is absolutely no disputing that the ’80s were The Decade of FUN. Neon-streaked good times exploded worldwide in the form of celebrities (Pee-Wee, Mr. T, Max Headroom), music (punk, new wave, metal) and — in an epic lightning bolt of unrelenting wildness — MOVIES! Well, local spazzmatics Zack Carlson and Bryan Connolly demand that YOU join us in hailing the Power of the ’80s in the Alamo’s newest monthly 35mm screening series: ZZANG!!!

About the movie!: We’re kicking off our first show with what may be THE towering classic of the new wave era: Martha Coolidge’s unstoppable masterpiece VALLEY GIRL! It’s absolutely the first, last and most hilarious word in Punk Heartbreak, as a Hollywood streetcrawler (played by a young-and-still-human Nicolas Cage) falls dyed-hair-over-heels for cute-as-a-button Valley girl Julie (Deborah Foreman). Their worlds collide, their peers take sides, and everyone from hippie parents to jock boneheads get caught up until the massive prom meltdown.

An incredible cast + a whip-cracking new wave soundtrack = a genuinely flawless foray into the blazing mega-reality of Youth Gone Wild! ZZANG!!!

Tickets are HERE!

I love a Raging Bull pizza and a $5 milkshake as much as the next guy, and I’m not about to tell you guys that the Alamo is going to go completely “lean cuisine.” Lately, however, I’ve been trying to eat a bit more healthy and lose a few pounds.  Since starting that quest, I’ve noticed that our menu is much more robust in the cheesy deep-fried department than it is in healthier options.

We are currently working on our next menu revision.  Just this week with the “End of Lines” blog post, we found that Alamo customers can provide a lot of insightful feedback, so I’m looking to go back to you guys for suggestions.

1) We’d like to find a healthy side-dish option that could be substituted for french fries on all sandwiches.  We’ll still have fries of course (to eliminate them would be sacrilege), but we’d like to find a tasty healthy alternative other than a side salad that would be cool too.

2) If there is any general feedback on healthy items you would like to see on the menu, please let us know and we will take your comments into account.  If we use one of your suggestions, we may invite you to our next private food tasting to give our execution of your idea a try.

Feel free to post any suggestions in the feedback below and we will be monitoring them.  Thanks in advance for your help!

For the last couple of months, everyone in the office has had their eyes open and their ears to the ground seeking out Japanese oddities to fuel the upcoming Super Happy Fun Monkey Bash. Lars just dropped an atom bomb that shredded my entire inbox this afternoon. Behold the Wii game splendor that is MUSCLE MARCH:

Now I don’t own a Wii currently, but there is only a sinewy strand of self-discipline holding me in my office chair and away from a new console at Fry’s so I can download this odditiy.

If you think this is the evolution of humor, the pinnacle of what modern man can achieve on this planet, then please join us for the maiden voyage of Super Happy Fun Monkey Bash on Monday the 25th. This year’s show is roided-out with an intensity much akin to the biceps of Muscle March.

Check it out folks! I just finished editing the 2010 Super Happy Fun Monkey Bash show and trailer. The show is under wraps until Monday, January 25, but you can get a taste by watching the embedded trailer below:

After the opening show on the 25th, join us at Domy Books (913 E Cesar Chavez) for giveaways, drinks and music.

Tickets and info here.

I’m a big fan of David Edelstein.  He’s smart, perceptive and usually steers me in the right direction.  I’m pleased with myself when my personal tastes align with his.  He just posted an article on some of the year-end releases with oscar potential and issued a rave about the Fantastic Fest Audience Award Winner A TOWN CALLED PANIC:

“The Belgian animated feature, A Town Called Panic, plays as if one day its directors, Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar, smoked very strong hashish and stumbled on a chest of old plastic toys—a little cowboy and an Indian in a headdress, a horse, some cows and pigs and a farmer (and his wife), and piles of other bric-a-brac—and free-associated a demented scenario against cutout scenery about roommates Cowboy and Indian wanting 50 bricks for a barbecue for Horse’s birthday and accidentally ordering 50 million and wrecking their house and rebuilding it but having the walls stolen every night by sea creatures and chasing them underwater and getting captured by mad scientists and on and on ad absurdum … and hilarium. The blurty voices and jerky animation recall South Park (which I mean as a high compliment), but the film has a transcendent silliness all its own. Kids might not go for it; all the subtitled French babble could be bewildering. The rest of us will want whatever Aubier and Patar were smoking.”