SXSW Presents: DOGTOOTH – Tuesday 9/7 and Wednesday 9/8 at 7pm, and Sunday 9/12 @10:15pm – @Ritz
Advance tickets available here

The Cannes Film Festival, arguably the world’s fanciest film festival, awards the Prize Un Certain Regard every year to a film they find innovative, daring, and different, promising a bright future for a new filmmaker with fresh vision. Last year, that prize went to a Greek satire titled KYONDONTAS, or in English – DOGTOOTH.

DOGTOOTH is a dreamy film, brilliantly directed and acted, and unfolding a story so bizarre and creepy that it’ll scare you. The parents of a pack of young people intentionally shelter their offspring from the outside world, forbidding them from leaving their home with lies and the threat of danger. So deep is their shielded life that even vocabulary is changed to continue the illusion of isolation (“Zombie” is a yellow flower, “Pussy” a big light, “Telephone” a salt shaker). This project of ignorance seems like a deranged social experiment, but plays as a profound indictment against civilization and its need to condemn itself.

This seemingly bleak scenario is full of the stuff that makes cinema great: the attention to detail in the script and the performances are astounding, the direction and camerawork gorgeous, and the psycho-sexual ideas behind the film (and it cannot be ignored that this is a deeply sexual film) are as poignant as they are socially/politically critical.

The film inspires endless interpretations and discussions, and its perplexing scenario opens up more and more as it moves around in your brain. A.O. Scott of the New York Times calls the film a Conversation Piece: “Are mom and dad conducting some kind of perverse behaviorist experiment? Are they determined to shelter the younger generation in a world gone mad?…“Dogtooth” supplies no such explanation and at times seems as much an exercise in perversity as an examination of it. Mr. Lanthimos’s ends may be obscure, but his means can be seductive.”

Karina Longworth of the Village Voice calls the film “hyperrealist sci-fi detailing an (anti)social experiment gone awry,” and Wesley Morris of the Boston Globe warns, “Nothing in this weird, watchable, blasé black comedy from Greece stays innocent for long.”

The only sure thing about this picture is that it is absolutely great. Director Yorgos Lanthimos is a new filmmaker, but he is already a master. Roger Ebert expresses his take on the style brilliantly: “Lanthimos tells his story with complete command of visuals and performances. His cinematography is like a series of family photographs of a family with something wrong with it. His dialogue sounds composed entirely of sentences memorized from tourist phrase books.”

This is my favorite film of the year, hands down. If that means anything, you need to get to the Ritz next week to see DOGTOOTH as many times as possible. Bring your overprotective parents, your sheltered children, and all of your Greek friends.

Get your tickets for this great show now.

“Black Francis’s GOLEM” a Starving Art world premiere art and film event in collaboration with Alamo Drafthouse Rolling Roadshow.

Black Francis, the musical-genius frontman of highly influential alt-rock band The Pixies, has created a new score for the German Expressionist silent masterpiece DER GOLEM. A recording of this new film score will be spun along with the movie at the Starving Art Drive-in. Accompanying the music/film presentation, Francis’s related art work will be on display at the Starving Art Gallery.

“A silent classic and an exemplary specimen of German expressionist cinema, DER GOLEM is set in 16th century Prague. A rabbi fashions a proto–Frankenstein’s monster, sculpted from rough clay and brought to life through sorcery, to protect the Jewish ghetto from a Christian emperor’s decree that it be dissolved. Through means both surprising and charming, the creature manages to stave off the wrath of the emperor and his court. But it eventually goes haywire, as the rabbi’s jealous assistant turns the golem toward evil. A true juggernaut, the golem destroys everything in its path.

The last in a trilogy of films on the golem myth, all cowritten and codirected by Paul Wegener, The Golem depicts the labyrinthine ghetto as a baroque and anxious world of secrets and magic capable of producing amazing discoveries as well as horrific power. Wegener, who had a long career as an actor, plays the title character with odd grace. Photographed by master cinematographer Karl Freund (METROPOLIS, THE LAST LAUGH, DRACULA), the film…remains visually stunning.” (Sean Uyehara, San Francisco Film Festival)

The location: Starving Art and EAT – 2326 East Cesar Chavez, Austin
Starving Art Studios and EAT Park and Eatery. A place where people can see, take part of, purchase and even eat, some of the unique creative aspects of Austin, Texas. We have brought together various aspects of our creative community into one place so that people can come and enjoy.

Check out this great article about STARVING ART in Austin360 this week!

Friday, September 3, Rolling Roadshow Presentation at Starving Art and Eat, 8pm. Be there.

Austin’s favorite sci-fi radio thriller comes to life in a entirely new form! Three actors once again portray a variety of characters as sludge-monsters from the Planet Zygon invade the earth. Only this time, their adventures are accompanied by more 1200 drawings by graphic wizard Tim Doyle, projected on the Long Center’s huge screen and accompanied by Graham Reynolds’ original score.

Friday, Sept. 3 and Saturday, Sept. 4 at 8 PM at the Long Center for the Performing Arts.

If you didn’t happen upon performances of selected chapters of THE INTERGALACTIC NEMESIS before screenings at South Lamar, let me clue you in to all the hub-bub. THE INTERGALACTIC NEMESIS is a graphic novel serial performed LIVE. Three actors perform dozens of characters. One Foley artist creates hundreds of sounds. One keyboardist plays thousands of notes. All while more than 1000 hand-drawn full-color high-resolution mind-blowing multiply-hyphenated comic-book images blast from the screen.

“When a Pulitzer-winning reporter and her intrepid assistant stumble across a mysterious map, they uncover what might just be the story of the century: an invasion of sludge-monsters from the planet Zygon. With the help of a librarian from Flagstaff AZ, our heroes race against time to defeat Mysterion the Magnificent and his minions before they destroy Earth forever.”

You’ve seen chapters at various shows at the Drafthouse over the past year. Now see it all come together for a glorious performance at the Long Center this weekend. Don’t Miss It!

The Alamo Drafthouse & Fantastic Arcade announce the 2010 “Movies in the Park” lineup of free outdoor screenings in Republic Square, in partnership with theThe Austin Parks and Recreation Department. Republic Square Park is located at 4th and Guadalupe.

Check out the fantastic line-up of movies and fun! Bring your family and come enjoy a new twist on Austin night-life. All movies are free. Amusing pre-show antics start at 7:30 p.m. and movies start at dusk. Arrive early and have a picnic! Alcoholic beverages, glass and styrofoam are not permitted in the park. Please bring your own chair or blanket. For more information visit the Movies in the Park page.

Movies in the Park: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
Wednesday, September 1st at 8:00 PM (Republic Square Park)
Presented by Downtown Austin Alliance
Steven Spielberg’s RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK plays like an anthology of the best parts from all the Saturday matinee serials ever made. It takes place in Africa, Nepal, Egypt, at sea and in a secret submarine base. It contains trucks, bulldozers, tanks, motorcycles, ships, subs, Clippers, and a Nazi flying wing. It has snakes, spiders, booby traps and explosives. The hero is trapped in a snake pit, and the heroine finds herself assaulted by mummies. The weapons range from revolvers and machine guns to machetes and whips. It’s a Boy’s Own Adventure, a whiz-bang slam-a-rama. It’s done with a kind of heedless joy. Spielberg was old enough (34) to have the clout to make the film, and young enough to remember why he wanted to. (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times)

Movies in the Park: THE WIZARD
Wednesday, September 8th at 8:00 PM (Republic Square Park)
Presented by Fantastic Arcade
In this ode to 8-bit gaming, Fred Savage takes his emotionally stunted, virtual-savant younger brother across the United States to play in the video championships. He’s competing to be the top gamer in the world, and to prove it he’s got to play a brand new game no one’s ever heard of: Super Mario Bros 3.

While it’s hard to imagine a world in which SMB3 didn’t exist, this movie actually introduced our country to the wonder that was this great adventure. Warp Whistles, the Raccoon Suit, the Koopa Kids, Chain Chomp, whatever the heck a Tanooki Suit is; all of this and more were first just dazzling images in this wonderful movie about the true love of video games. So strap on your Power Glove (“It’s so…bad!”) and come remember when video games were still imaginative and when a 12-year old boy could star in a movie that was actually good.

Movies in the Park: THE LAST STARFIGHTER
Wednesday, September 15th at 8:00 PM (Republic Square Park)
Presented by Fantastic Arcade
What sweaty-browed video game aficionado hasn’t pretended, while feverishly pounding away on their Playstation control, that they were actually saving the universe? That’s the conceit employed in 1984’s THE LAST STARFIGHTER, a lightweight yet wholly entertaining sci-fi adventure that’s come to command a special place in the heart of my disaffected generation. Our hero is the mild-mannered and anxious trailer-park denizen Alex Rogan. After mastering the local Starfighter video game, Alex is visited by an interstellar messenger who delivers a curious message: The game Alex has been dominating is much more than a simple plaything; a planet desperately in need of savvy star pilots has planted these games on Earth in an effort to find new recruits. Imagine that! Excel at a video game and you’re drafted to save a distant planet! How very cool. (Scott Weinberg)

Movies in the Park: PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE
Wednesday, September 29th at 8:00 PM (Republic Square Park)
Presented by Mellow Johnny’s
There is only one truth in this life: PEE-WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE is the FUNNIEST MOVIE EVER MADE. If anyone tells you different, they’re just trying to start trouble. Watch the most entertaining man who has ever roamed the earth embark on a cross-country quest to reclaim his kidnapped best friend: a bicycle. Along the way, ol’ P.W. will encounter tough-as-nails bikers, giant dinosaurs, wild animals, ninjas, chubby billionaires, escaped convicts, buckin’ broncos, tone-deaf hobos, unwanted romance, fibbing gypsies, clumsy Godzillas, basement-less Alamos, vengeful boyfriends and even an undead trucker! Fun didn’t exist until Pee-Wee invented it, and now the most funrocious, funtacular, fungorious funsplosion in the history of FUN will be presented on the big BIG screen in a gorgeous 35MM print!

Movies in the Park: POLTERGEIST
Thursday, October 14th at 8:00 PM (Republic Square Park)
Presented by Fantastic Fest
This partnership between Steven Spielberg, Frank Marshall and Tobe Hooper is the great real estate horror film of all time. Starring Craig T. Nelson as a partriarch in charge of a haunted household and featuring some of the creepiest supporting characters of the ’80s (little blonde-haired Heather O’Rourke as Carol Anne, little raspy-voiced Zelda Rubinstein as Tangina Barrons), POLTERGEIST is a ghost story for our generation, hitching up the Indian burial ground angle with a more current medium – they come through the TV! The film that made us all afraid to watch the tube will give you bumps on your arms and static on your set. Make sure to unplug your TV before the show!!

Movies in the park is sponsored by the Downtown Austin Alliance, Mellow Johnny’s, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Fantastic Fest, Fantastic Arcade, and The Austin Parks and Recreation Department.

Troublemaker Studios, the Austin Film Society and The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema are excited to announce an explosive sneak preview of MACHETE directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis, with Danny Trejo and Michelle Rodriguez leading an all-star cast, on Thursday, September 2 at 8 PM at The Paramount Theater (713 Congress Avenue). All tickets include admission to the official explosion-filled after-party at Austin Studios (1901 E 51st Street).

About the film:

He looked like just another day laborer from the streets, and the perfect fall guy for a crooked political assassination. But he turned out to be Machete (Danny Trejo), a legendary ex-federale with a deadly attitude and the skills to match. Left for dead after clashing with notorious Mexican drug kingpin Torrez (Steven Seagal), Machete has escaped to Texas, looking to disappear and forget his tragic past. But what he finds is a web of corruption and deceit that leaves a bullet in a senator and Machete a wanted man.

Machete sets out to clear his name and expose a deep conspiracy. Helping Machete even the odds are Luz (Michelle Rodriguez)—a sexy taco-truck lady with a rebellious spirit and revolutionary heart, and Padre (Cheech Marin)—a priest who’s good with blessings, but better with guns. Carving a path of bullets, blood, and broken hearts, Machete’s quest ultimately leads him back to Torrez for an epic battle of revenge and redemption.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public on at 12 PM Saturday, August 21 through (866) 9PROTIX, protixonline.com or the Paramount Theatre box office. Visit HERE for a direct link to tickets!

All tickets include Q&A with the filmmakers and entrance to the official after-party at Austin Studios.

Special thanks to Troublemaker Studios, The Paramount Theater and The Austin Chronicle.

Proceeds from this event benefit the Texas Filmmakers Production Fund and the Texas Motion Picture Alliance (TXMPA).

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.

King of the A/V Geeks, Skip Elsheimer, is our hero.  He’s your hero too, maybe you don’t know it yet, but he is.  As far as the entire Alamo crew is concerned, he’s living THE dream: he collects bizarro old films reels, watches them all day long, categorizes and catalogues little cinematic abnormalities and offers them up to weirdos in dire need of stock footage insanity. When he’s not living it up in his sanctuary of celluloid, he’s on the road bringing specially curated shows across the country to share with all of us fellow film geeks.

Well that train’s a-comin’ through, and if you’re not on it when it stops, you made some poor life choices.

He’s bringing his show ALCOHOL IS DYNAMITE! to four, count them FOUR, Alamo Drafthouses, so if you live anywhere within 100 miles of Alamo Park North in San Antonio, Alamo Lake Creek and South Lamar in Austin and/or Alamo Mason in Katy, GO SEE SKIP WORK HIS MAGIC! The educational value of his programs is always only slightly less than the pure entertainment value. So, whether you’re in it to learn or laugh, you are guaranteed satisfaction.

Check it:

8/22 at 7pm: Alamo Drafthouse Park North (San Antonio, TX)
8/23 at 7pm: Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek (Austin, TX)
8/24 at 7pm: Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar (Austin, TX)
8/27 at 7pm: Alamo Drafthouse Mason (Katy, TX)

This show of 16mm films about the drink that makes you crazy is hilarious.  Some of our favorites are:

Curious Habits of Man (1972) – A puzzling film where a Canadian party overlaps with a nature documentary.

A Case for Beer (early 1970s) – A guide for convenience store owners on how to cash in on beer profits while looking out for under-aged customers.

Alcohol is Dynamite (1958) – Tragedy-monger Sid Davis demonstrates to teenagers the slippery slope of alcohol and its ability to destroy lives.

At both of the Austin shows, there’s going to be a special beer bucket option for $25, including:
Satan Red Belgian Ale
Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout
Brooklyn Brown Ale
Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
Anchor Steam
and Blue Moon

And that’s not even all.  On 8/26 at 7pm at The Highball (Austin, TX), the Action Pack and AV GEEKS are partnering to do a special Highball Prom!

Skip will be showing his program YOUR PROM DATE, which includes the hysterically funny films:

As Others See Us – The Dairy Council shows us how to behave when at a social event.

Getting Closer – Will young Greg make it to the dance tonight or will his shyness keep him at home with his lizard?

It’s a Thought – A junior high girl imagines what it would be like to be a popular kid at the school dance.

And after the film show, starting at 8:30 we’ll be dancing the night away in our Highball Prom.  You’re encouraged to dress up in your best fluffy outfit/tuxedo, they’ll be a king and queen crowned by the end of the night, and spiking the punch is encouraged.

So come see some great, weird, funny, and bizarre films from some of the most forgotten corner of history:

ALCOHOL IS DYNAMITE!

8/22 at 7pm: Alamo Drafthouse Park North (San Antonio, TX)
8/23 at 7pm: Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek (Austin, TX)
8/24 at 7pm: Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar (Austin, TX)
8/27 at 7pm: Alamo Drafthouse Mason (Katy, TX)

YOUR PROM NIGHT w/Action Pack Prom

8/26 at 7pm at The Highball (Austin, TX)

Lovers of Austin! The Alamo’s new series, Date Night, offers an intimate and romantic dinner-and-a-movie scenario with gourmet cuisine. Our first event, for the mouthwatering CHOCOLAT feast last month, was a huge success, and we’re pushing forward. Our second Date Night brings us ANNIE HALL, the classic romantic pairing of a jew and a goy as they hurdle through a 1970s Manhattan in their memories. The film perfectly captures every landmark in a relationship’s trajectory, from first date and first kiss to meeting the parents, taking trips together, and even the fighting.

And while Woody Allen might not be the traditional matinee idol-type romantic lead, Dianne Keaton as the titular Annie Hall more than makes up for his nebbishness. Her beauty is matched only by her distinctive style, her tie/vest ensemble single-handedly defining a trend in fashion that still persists today.

With this tender film, Alamo Executive Chef John Bullington and Village Head Chef Brandon Hanna will be preparing a succulent menu to get you going. Drawing inspiration from the film, they’ve created this marvelous feast:

“I need it to get in the mood”
A Blue Point Oyster with fresh garlic on the half shell with micro-arugula in champagne vinaigrette

Dynamite Ham
Jamon Serrano, Prosciutto d’Parma, Jambon de Bayonne, grilled fig, smoked carrot-mustard glaze

Catch It If You Can
Steamed Lobster on boggy creek arugula, caramelized tomato, truffled squashes in garlic-brown butter vinaigrette

We Hope Jew Like It
Chocolate Blintz, Honeyed Cheese, Port Strawberries, cayenne pinenut

So, whether you’re falling in love, already madly enraptured, or maybe just starting out, this Date Night: ANNIE HALL dinner is the perfect thing for your beating heart.

Date Night: ANNIE HALL – Alamo Village, Thursday August 26, 7pm.

Mon Chéri! Cara mia! Ohh la la! Le Alamo is bringing forth a whole new series designed specifically for lovers. Finally a safe place for sweet romance, tender embraces…all that stuff. Have a glass of wine, cuddle up, and celebrate your amour with some of the silver screen’s greatest passions. We’ll be dishing up a mini-feast with each film in this series, so that you lovers can come for a special date and enjoy a fabulous meal from some of the top Alamo chefs. For couples, for lovebirds, for hopeless romantics and for the casual friends that need a little pressure to get to the next level, this is your series.

Did you know that at ancient Greek and Roman marriages the brides carried bouquets of garlic instead of flowers? Did you know that April 19 is National Garlic Day? How about that it was once used to treat acne, warts, and toothaches?

Chances are, you didn’t know any of those things. You should free up your calendar, grab some stainless steel object (that’s the only material that takes the smell of garlic off the hands), and plan to have THE ULTIMATE GARLIC EXPERIENCE at the Ritz tomorrow night.

You probably won’t learn any other fun facts about garlic, but you won’t care. Why would you? You’ll be watching two of the most seasoned docs in cinematic herb history: Les Blank’s GARLIC IS A GOOD AS TEN MOTHERS, the poetic picture of the history, consumption, cultivation and culinary/curative powers of the “Stinking Rose,” and WERNER HERZOG EATS HIS SHOE, a film by Blank of famed German director Werner Herzog eating his shoe (after boiling it in garlic first, of course).

The best part, though, is the garlic feast. Check out this menu!:

I – Watermelon Insalata Caprese
with heirloom and roma tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, whole roasted garlic and garlic infused balsamic vinaigrette

II – Lobster Fritters
with red pepper garlic aioli and pickled garlic

III – Braised Pork Roll
stuffed with garlic, prosciutto and parmesan with penne pasta and garlic meat sauce

IV – Chocolate Tartlet
with roasted banana and garlic-orange caramel and candied truffled whole garlic

Drink pairings are as follows…

First Course:
Bacardi Rum, Maine Root Lemon-Lime soda, sour mix with cucumber garnish

Second Course:
2008 Selbach Riesling

Third Course:
2008 Cycles Gladiator Pinot Noir

Fourth Course:
Croft Tawny Port (dessert wine)

You know you love garlic. It can spice up even the most bland of dishes. For instance: Do you want to eat bread? No, of course you don’t want to eat bread. How about garlic bread? Exactly.

So put your money where you mouth is and come out to THE ULTIMATE GARLIC EXPERIENCE, Wednesday at 7pm at the Ritz. What else are you going to do, eat an onion?

“THE KILLER INSIDE ME may be the darkest film noir ever made”
-Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

The haunting new film THE KILLER INSIDE ME has been on our minds for months now.  It inspired some controversial write-ups after its screenings at the Sundance, Berlin, and Tribeca Festivals, and once we saw it we couldn’t forget it.  After some wrangling, we’re finally able to bring this film to Austin the way it deserves, with some late night screenings all throughout next week.  It’s the perfect after-dinner film, played during the dark hours when good seems boring and bad seems…well, not so bad.

THE KILLER INSIDE ME tells the story of a small-town Texas Deputy Sheriff who’s got evil inside him that is just itching to get out. He walks the streets with a quiet cool, a sophisticated but distant man who is gentle but harbors the violence of a serial killer. Although his sadism was dormant for many years, the film begins with the resurfacing of his “sickness,” and his life begins to shake up.

Based on the notorious pulp novel by America’s dime-store Dostoyevsky Jim Thompson, THE KILLER INSIDE is a brutal and fantastic new film starring the dreamy-yet-menacing Casey Affleck. Directed by Michael Winterbottom, the director famous for controversial but beautiful films like TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY, 9 SONGS, WONDERLAND, and 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, and also starring Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson, the film is a neo-noir with a calculated and striking tone unlike any film this year.

At the premiere at Sundance, this psycho-sexual drama drew controversy when many audience members, including the film’s star Jessica Alba, walked out of the screening due to the graphic violence. You’ve been warned.

Come see THE KILLER INSIDE ME at the Alamo South Lamar starting Friday and playing all week around 10pm. It’ll give you the creeps, but in a good way.