We’re pleased to announce that Austin’s own rockin’, honky-tonkin’, roots-raging superstars THE DERAILERS will be playing at The Highball LIVE! following a screening of CRAZY HEART.

The film starts at 7 PM, and the band will hit the stage at The Highball around 9:30 PM, giving you plenty of time to knock back a few and lace up your dancing shoes. Tickets are available for both the show & the movie, or you can just go see the band! Either way, it’s the Texan thing to do.

The film: Four-time Academy Award nominee Jeff Bridges stars as the richly comic, semi-tragic romantic anti-hero Bad Blake in the debut feature film CRAZY HEART from writer-director Scott Cooper. Bad Blake is a broken-down, hard-living country music singer
who’s had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times. And yet, Bad can’t help but reach for salvation with the help of Jean (Golden Globe nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal), a journalist who discovers the real man behind the musician. As he struggles down the road of redemption, Bad learns the hard way just how tough life can be on one man’s crazy heart.

“It’s a juicy, career-crowning role, and Bridges – a master of subtle brilliance – plays the hell out of it.” - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

It’s no secret that we take food and movies very seriously, but occasionally we like to get a little lovey dovey with both of those things. Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to bust out our chefs’ mad skills, tasty foods and romantic movies, so just like every year, we have three Valentine’s Day Feasts for you and your chosen V Day partner to celebrate with.

TICKETS FOR ALL FEASTS GO ON SALE THIS FRIDAY, JANUARY 15TH AT NOON! TICKETS WILL BE $75 FOR ALL COURSES PLUS WINE PAIRINGS.

GONE WITH THE WIND Valentine’s Day Feast at the Alamo Ritz

This is the quintessential American story, and it is portrayed through the most memorable love affair to hit the movies. Bring a loved one and snuggle up as Rhett frankly doesn’t give a damn. Kiss over champagne and eat our fine feast as Scarlett promises, “As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again!” Enjoy the beautiful color cinematography, grand orchestra score, and enthralling love story with us on Valentine’s Day. But be warned: buy your tickets quick, as they will soon be Gone with the Wind.

Menu and wine pairings prepared by Ritz chef Elijah Horgan!

CHARADE Valentine’s Day Feast at Alamo South Lamar

Hepburn is delightful here as a young wife who gets wrapped up in a tale of espionage, deception, mystery and, of course, romance. Cary Grant delivers what very well may be his final great performance as the smooth-talking charmer he perfected in Alfred Hitchcock’s celebrated films (SUSPICION, NOTORIOUS, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, etc). This film is remembered for having an interesting reversal of gender roles. Audrey Hepburn, rather than the handsome Cary Grant, is the pursuer in their relationship. She comes on strong as Grant tries — unsuccessfully of course — to avoid her advances. This is one of the main reasons we are showing it as part of our special Valentine’s Day Feast series. Ladies, come on strong to your sweethearts at this screening, cooing and lash-batting your way to a romantic holiday. Men, come for Cary Grant’s great suits, come for the hilarious repartee between the two leads, or come to get cooed at.

Five-course feast menu and wine pairings prepared by Alamo executive chef John Bullington!

AMELIE Valentine’s Day Feast at the Alamo Village

If not the most charming movie of all time, AMELIE is certainly one of the top 10. The title character (the bashful and impish Audrey Tautou) is a single waitress who decides to help other lonely people fix their lives, but in her own unusual ways. Her widowed father yearns to travel but won’t, so to inspire the old man she sends his garden gnome on a tour of the world. With whispered gossip, she brings together two cranky regulars at her cafe. She reverses the doorknobs of a grocer who’s mean to his assistant. Gradually she realizes her own life needs fixing, and a chance meeting leads to her most elaborate stratagem of
all.

It’s hard to believe that a stop motion animated Belgian film about
a reckless Cowboy, his best friend the Indian, a super cool horse, and larcenous underwater gill-men could cause all the hard-boiled,
seen-it-all programmers at the Alamo and Fantastic Fest to fall all
over themselves, but that’s exactly the case. We laughed so hard and long at this movie that when it was over, we knew we had to bring it to Austin. The problem was, they weren’t planning on releasing it in Austin. So we have jumped through flaming hoops to bring it to you. Would we do that if this movie were anything less than an ATOMIC BOMB of righteousness?

Series creators Stephane Aubier and Vincent Patar are surely two of the most manic animators of our times, completely and utterly in touch with their inner children. No joke is too silly, no gag too bizarre for this pair. They’ve reined in their stream of consciousness urges slightly for the feature – PANIC started life as a series of five minute shorts for Belgian television – but just barely, oddity heaped upon oddity as though the two were engaged in a non-stop game of one-upmanship throughout the entire production cycle. Juvenile and absurd are perfectly good descriptors when talking about PANIC, though only if accompanied by ‘brilliant’ and ‘hysterical’. It’s time for the cult to cross the ocean. (Todd Brown)

Enter the TOWN CALLED PANIC stop-motion filmmaking contest to be part of the film’s video release next year! Details HERE!

YOUTH IN REVOLT is a coming-of-age comedy that puts a fresh and
outrageous stamp on a tale of adolescent obsession and rebellion.
Starring Michael Cera (JUNO, SUPERBAD) and based on the acclaimed novel by C.D. Payne, YOUTH IN REVOLT is the story of Nick Twisp – a unique, but affable teen with a taste for the finer things in life like Sinatra and Fellini – who falls hopelessly in love with the beautiful, free-spirited Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday) while on a family vacation. But family, geography and jealous ex-lovers conspire to keep these two apart. With Sheeni’s encouragement, Nick abandons his dull, predictable life and develops a rebellious alter ego: Francois. With his ascot, his moustache and his cigarette, Francois will stop at nothing to be with Sheeni, and leads Nick Twisp on a path of destruction with unpredictable and uproarious consequences.

With Zach Galifianakis, Justin Long, Fred Willard, Steve Buscemi, Jean Smart and Ray Liotta.

For a two-week limited run encore, 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. (John)

MASTER PANCAKE IS PROUDLY PRESENTED BY KERBEY LANE CAFE.

Immediately after we finished putting the 1997 Sing-Along together,
Caitlin and I were perusing the hit songs of other years in the ’90s
and realized that as amazing as 1997 was, 1999 was just plain
incredible. Holy crap. Not only did 1999 give birth to almost all of
the pop music of the next ten years by giving us Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time” and Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way,” but the cheese element was in full effect with the Goo Goo Dolls, rap was awesome with “Back That Ass Up” AND Will Smith’s “Wild Wild West” AND Jay-Z’s “Can I Get A…” Plus we got Beck’s “Sexx Laws,” Lauryn Hill, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Hot damn. So join us at the Ritz this January while we go back to a time when we weren’t sure if there was ever going to be a 2010 because we still weren’t sure if Y2K would kill us all. Save tonight!

Get tickets to the Thursday Ritz showing HERE!

Get tickets to the Friday MIDNIGHT Village showing HERE!

Win tickets to LE GARAGE SALE at every show!!

Le Garage Sale is a two day shopping event of Austin’s coolest independent boutiques all under one roof  at awesome clearance sale prices!!! “It’s the SXSW of local rocking shopping!” Happy LGS Shopper.

Most of our Quote-Along shows in the past have been comedies, because saying punchlines out loud with a room full of other fans is just plain fun. But even though PULP FICTION is classified as a crime thriller, it’s some seriously funny shit and obviously full of tons of amazingly quotable lines.

We’re going to subtitle all of our favorite lines karaoke style, then we’re gonna fill the audience with cap guns so after you yell out, “And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee!” we can turn the show into a Shoot-Along as well. And of course we’ll have plenty of Royale With Cheese burgers available all night long, and you can walk into a movie theater in Austin and buy a beer. But if you put mayonnaise on your French fries we’re still gonna make fun of you, because we’re in America.

Our names don’t mean shit, but we might accidentally shoot you in the face anyway. (Henri Mazza)

The Quote-Along series is brought to you in part by THE NEW MOVEMENT. Wanna learn to write your own quotable material? Come out to the show for a chance to win $50 gift certificates for improv and comedy classes with TNM!

Get tickets to the Thursday Ritz showing HERE!

Get tickets to the Wednesday Village showing HERE!

Star Emily Hagins in person for Jan 17 show!

“It’s rare that a film can capture both the passions of our youth and the passions of our adult lives. But this heartwarming and nerve racking documentary captures all of the stress of low-budget indie filmmaking and all of the wonder of childhood ambition and excitement.” – Sam Roberts, Director of Film Competitions, Slamdance

Winner of the Spirit award at the 2009 Slamdance Film Festival, ZOMBIE GIRL is a documentary about the making of the no-budget zombie movie PATHOGEN. What truly makes the subject of this documentary special is the fact that PATHOGEN is directed by Austin-native Emily Hagins, a resourceful, driven and talented 12 year-old filmmaker. Her
story is beautiful and touching, and truly comments on the nature of independent moviemaking as well as what “coming-of-age” means for the YouTube generation.

In a post-World War III world, war has become outlawed and disputes between the super powers are now settled by genetically enhanced super soldiers known as Robot Jox who operate skyscraper-sized robots that combine to become the ultimate killing machines. Stuart Gordon’s entry into the way-too short-lived subgenre of robot warrior movies of the early 1990s has all the flash and bang of a young Michael Bay on a shoestring budget. Joe Haldeman, whose sole film credit is this movie, creates verbal poetry with lines like “I kill you already… (points to head) in here.,” and “You make my drink taste like blood!” Audio pearls fly at you fast and furiously as the world’s two biggest super powers, The Market (good) and The Confederation (bad), face off in a battle for Alaska. A film about gigantic robots battling it out in exotic locales can’t be bad, and that’s why it makes for a perfect billing for this month’s Hecklevision! Gordon tried to make a live action anime, and I dare say he more than succeeds. Throw in an over the top Texan named “Tex” (duh!) who serves as a glorified one man cheerleading squad, and a menacing evil Russian bad guy named “Alexander”(double duh!) whose robot has a gigantic chainsaw penis, and you got yourself a party. So come on out, arm yourselves with your texting devices, and call yourselves “Techno Jox” as you battle it out for the best Heckle, because in this new age of war, it’s not over until somebody wins.
(Greg MacLennan)

This is Peter Jackson’s masterpiece. Pauline and Juliet, two young New Zealand schoolgirls, share an undeniable bond from the moment they meet. Bored with their families and small town, the girls dream up brilliant fantasies and passionate romances that provide them with a more colorful (and often animated) landscape. Eventually, all the sleepovers and handholding is enough to arouse not only the girls, but the eyebrows of their moralistic parents. Threatened with permanent separation, Pauline and Juliet would do just about anything to keep their love intact. That’s when things get nasty. This movie has everything that Hey Homo! has ever hoped to deliver to our audience: hot schoolgirls (and their burning desire for one another), animation and murder. (Kayla Williams)

ALAMO IRON CHEF VI: THE BATTLE FOR SIXTH STREET
TICKETS ARE $80 AND THEY ARE ON SALE NOW RIGHT HERE!

For years, we have been producing food-and-film-themed events at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. Probably our favorite yet is the Alamo Iron Chef competitions, in which we have pitted our chefs against each other or against a local fine-dining establishment, with the proceeds going to charity.

The stage is now set for Iron Chef Alamo Round VI, in which the Alamo chefs John Bullington and Elijah Horgan will team up at the Ritz against the acclaimed kitchen of Parkside Austin, located just across the street. Bullington and Horgan are experienced pros at creating movie feasts but Parkside chef Shawn Cirkiel and his staff are no amateurs. It should be a mighty battle. The film will be the classic New Orleans heartbreak gumbo, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE starring Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden. Alamo founder Tim League will be donning the red kimono of Chairman Kaga.

The premise is similar to the popular TV show but the secret ingredient in this battle is not green peppers or foie gras, it is celluloid. Each contestant will deliver to each of the 100 attendees a series of 4 dishes (that’s 8 dishes in all folks!) themed to a film. 4 wine courses will also be provided. At the end of the show, the audience will decide whose meals were tastier and more cleverly matched and timed to the movie.

Proceeds from this evening will benefit 6ixth Street Austin, a non-profit organization that aims to preserve and enhance the district’s unique historic character and create a vibrant cultural community for today’s and future generations.

NERD ALERT!! Normally, we take on full-length movies, but for one night only, Master Pancake will be boldly mocking the greatest sci-fi
Television series of all time: STAR TREK. And because Master Pancake couldn’t agree on which is the best iteration of the TV series (John is a fan of original STAR TREK, Joe loves NEXT GENERATION) we’ll be showing – and mocking – one episode from both eras. John will finally get to satisfy his Shatner boner; Joe will finally get to unleash all his pent-up Tasha Yar jokes; and the audience will reap the rewards of our collective nerd juice. The only losers tonight will be fans of the lame-ass VOYAGER and DEEP SPACE NINE. This will be the most memorable meeting of Enterprise captains since GENERATIONS! ONE NIGHT ONLY!! (John)

MASTER PANCAKE IS PROUDLY PRESENTED BY KERBEY LANE CAFE.

Sponsored by Austin’s greatest music store, End of an Ear Records, and Austin’s most essential vintage furniture and decor store, Room Service.

Less than 24 hours after Martin Luther King’s assassination the city of Boston was in a state of turmoil. When James Brown arrived at the airport to play his already scheduled show he was warned that the mayor, fearing further unrest among the African American community, planned to cancel the show. Brown assured the mayor that the consequences would be much worse if the concert was called off. Not only did the show go on as planned, public television station WGBH broadcast the whole thing. It’s an incredible historical document and a fantastic performance by James Brown, who dedicated the show to Dr. King’s memory and brought the raw emotions within himself and his
community to a searing head. At one point the restless crowd swarms the stage and amidst the mayhem James Brown tells the cops to stay back and calmly talks the crowd back into their seats. “This isn’t how black people should act.” Riveting.

Pure pulse-blasting entertainment for only a buck! SPONSORED BY VULCAN VIDEO!!!

A physically fit alien warrior delights in harvesting human victims
until he’s engaged in a major volley of explosive, lethal firepower by
an Eastern European bodybuilder. No, I’m not talking about the movie PREDATOR. This film–from the second unit director of the movie PREDATOR–stars Dolph Lundgren as a narcotics officer who goes chin-to-chin with a ‘roid-raging albino drug dealer from the outer reaches of the universe. This unearthly heroin vampire is armed with a wide assortment of impossible weapons, from his head-splitting fist spike to a series of razor-lazer frisbees that whiz through the night and straight into your jugular. Lundgren is aided in his interplanetary Aryan-vs-Aryan deathmatch by a long-haired alien cop and an FBI goofball who makes wry comic observations while our species teeters on the brink of extermination. Filmed in entirely in Houston, TX, which was unfortunately not actually half-obliterated by the futuristic arsenal of a psychotic space jerk. (Zack)

PRESENTED BY I LUV VIDEO!

A quick glance at the marketing materials for LORD LOVE A DUCK would probably give the impression of another teen-appeal 60’s beach party movie, but a closer look at the tagline, “An Act Of Pure Aggression” is sure to leave viewers confused. And sure enough, there’s far more here than meets the eye. I’ll just dive in. Roddy McDowall plays a sort of genie or guardian angel named Mollymauk, after a type of extinct bird. He magically appears to beautiful, mixed up cheerleader Tuesday Weld and offers to grant her wishes. They all come true – for instance she is cast in a movie called BIKINI WIDOW and lands the man of her dreams,
but then they take a bad twist like the fingers on a monkey’s paw. Along the way, every aspect of modern American society circa 1965 is bitterly ridiculed. And while such sitting targets as psychoanalysis, bikini beach movies and car culture weren’t exactly sacred cows even then, the machine-gun quality of the satire and the churning bile underneath the humor is notable. Writer/director George Axelrod described it as “a non-optimistic get well card. LORD LOVE A DUCK is against teenagers, their parents, movies, cars, school and several hundred other things.” The cast is brilliant, with Tuesday Weld in particular giving the performance of a lifetime. Also with Lola Albright and the great Ruth Gordon. (Lars)

Director Nancy Schiesari and singer/songwriter James Collette in attendance.

Through an exploration of the tattoos on the bodies of American
soldiers, Nancy Schiesari looks into the psyches of young men and women before they leave for Iraq and/or Afghanistan and after they return from deployment. The tattoos they get after their return are often quite different from the ones they got before going into battle. The images on their bodies tell us so much about their states of mind and the changes in their views, both positive and negative. It is a brilliant film which takes us beyond the evening news, the statistics, and the talking heads. Unfortunately TATTOOED UNDER FIRE has achieved a different kind of relevance from being set at Ft. Hood before a terrorist’s attack made even that refuge not so safe as before.

Tickets are available at www.austinfilm.org or at the door.

Ohhh LORDY! The final season is coming so so soon, so to prep up we’re showing the ridiculously stressful Season 5 Finale at the Village a week before the Season 6 Premiere! We want to get you into the LOST groove ahead of time so you can prepare yourself mentally and physically. Shit’s gonna get stressful, y’all. Get ready.

LOST has become our most popular TV @ the Alamo Presentation. As such we highly advise that you get to the theater 45 minutes before our showtime so you can get a good seat. These shows are all FREE, but you can purchase a $5 food and beverage voucher online to reserve your
seat. If you choose to “walk-up” instead, be advised that you still need to go by the box office to get a ticket, and that it may be full ahead of time.

With special prizes and giveaways from VICE Magazine.

A dramatized portrait of West Virginia’s “Dancing Outlaw,” Jesco White (Edward Hogg), who turned his back on a misspent youth to learn an Appalachian tap-dancing style called “mountain dancing” made famous by his father, D. Ray White.

When his dad is murdered, Jesco uses mountain dancing to exorcise his impulse to get revenge, but soon his thirst for justice becomes too strong to dance away.

Carrie Fisher co-stars!

We all know that parking downtown can be a small hassle. While there’s usually some meter parking a few blocks from the theater, driving around and searching for that can be tiresome, and what if you’re carrying a cinder block with you to the theater cause you want to use it as a booster seat? That block is HEAVY!

Which is why we’ve partnered with the parking garage at 7th and San Jacinto and convinced them to open on days they were previously closed, as well as to provide a $2.00 discount from their regular rates to anyone who returns to their car with an Alamo ticket stub. Just pay the
full price on your way in, then stop by the attendant with stub in hand on your way back to your car, and you’ll get a $2 refund. Easy parking, good deals, and all just a block away from the Ritz.

At this point that discount will unfortunately NOT apply on Friday and Saturday, but if we show them how loyal Alamo customers can be, we might be able to swing a discount on the weekends at some point in the future as well. Look for the Alamo sign on the parking garage in the next week or so, and we’ll see you downtown!

The garage is on 211 E. 7th St, Southwest Tower garage.

Big thanks to HOSPITALITY PARKING for helpin’ us out!

We here at the Alamo love the internet. It’s got all sorts of cool things on it! Sometimes we want to share that stuff with you! Also, we like to let you know when shows are on sale, surprise screenings, and general fun things that we do. Follow us to get up-to-date and instantaneous Alamo news (and general personal information about our fantastic Programming Dept.). All the cool kids are doing it!

Tim League: @TimAlamo (Founder/Owner)
Henri Mazza: @HenriMazza (Creative Director/Programmer)
Lars Nilsen: @LarsAlamo (Programmer/Weird Weds Coordinator)
Brad Parrett: @AlamoBrad (Programmer/Booking)

Caitlin Stevens: @CaitlinEStevens (Programmer/Promotions)

Sing-Along/Quote-Along info: @TheActionPack
Alamo Drafthouse information: @Drafthouse
Fantastic Fest information: @FantasticFest
MondoTees information: @MondoNews

The Bootstrap Experience Subgroup enjoys exploring various Austin businesses known for creating lasting, favorable experiences for customers. We’ve investigated the world of improv theatre downtown at the Hideout, the epicenter of Austin’s run/walk scene at RunTex with founder Paul Carrozza, and next will delve into one of Austins best-known experiences: The Alamo Drafthouse.

Join Bootstrap founder Bijoy Goswami, Experience Subgroup lead Heather McKissick and SPECIAL GUEST Alamo co-founder Karrie League at the Alamo South Lamar as they explore the Bootstrap Experience model and talk about how the Drafthouse has earned its reputation as one of the best movie-going experiences in the nation.

Understanding how to apply the Bootstrap Experience Model is important for anyone who creates or wants to enhance the customer experience. The model is relevant for all types of organizations.

When: Thursday, July 23 from 4:00PM to 6:00PM
Please arrive early for a 4pm sharp start. Informal happy hour to follow at Maudie’s on South Lamar.

Where: Alamo Drafthouse – South Lamar
1120 South Lamar Blvd
Austin, TX 78704

Please note: there will be a $10 minimum charge per person, to be applied toward any food or beverage on the Alamo menu.

Pre-registration recommended: www.budurl.com/dxvs

Last year’s Fantastic Fest bumper contest was such a raging success, we simply cannot wait to get moving on the 2009 edition. The runner up film I LOVE YOU JEAN CLAUDE was featured on G4’s Attack of the Show and subsequently went on to become something of a viral video sensation. The winning film REPORT CARD by HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN auteur Jason Eisner still brings a smile to my face with each viewing.

The 2009 competition is very much like last year’s contest, but the
theme is more narrow in focus. The short still needs to be no longer than 30 seconds long, has to feature a child under the age of 18 in some way, shape or manner, and the last line of your video has to end with the word “fantastic.” The refinement this year is that each film must contain…. a monster. Other than that, we want to see anything and everything you can come up with.

The top Fantastic Fest 2009 Frenzy videos we get will be screened in front of an unsuspecting audience during Fantastic Fest (September 24-October 1). Each of those audiences will include visiting filmmakers from around the world, press from the likes of IFC TV, G4, Fangoria, Film Threat, Spout, Ain’t It Cool News, Variety, and USA Today, plus a legion of the most devoted and intelligent genre film fans on the planet.

If that isn’t enough for you, there will be other prizes as well:

Our top ten favorite films, as picked by the Fantastic Fest programming staff, will each win $100 Alamo prize packs that can be redeemed anytime for movies, merchandise, food or drinks.

And the number one film as picked by the voting members of the Filmmaking Frenzy community will receive two VIP badges to this year’s Fantastic Fest – badges that will allow you to meet and mingle with the stars of Fantastic Fest. These badges sold out before the end of Fantastic Fest 2008, but we held a couple just for you.  If you are a filmmaker outside of Austin who can’t make it in for Fantastic Fest, you can swap out the goodies above for $250 cash. But you should really just find a way to get here if you win, because it’ll be soooo worth it.

“If it’s romantic (and it is), it achieves that as only a byproduct of something else, something deeper, something bigger, something even more beautiful than the standard boy meets girl tale. It’s creative, surprising, insightful, and a must see for any lover of great film.”
-Josh Tyler, CinemaBlend

This film takes off at breakneck speed into a funny, true-to-life and unique dissection of the unruly and unpredictable year-and-a-half of one young man’s no-holds-barred love affair.

Tom, the boy, still believes, even in this cynical modern world, in the notion of a transforming, cosmically destined, lightning-strikes-once kind of love. Summer, the girl, doesn’t. Not at all. But that doesn’t stop Tom from going after her, again and again, like a modern Don Quixote, with all his might and courage. Suddenly, Tom is in love not just with a lovely, witty, intelligent woman — not that he minds any of that – but with the very idea of Summer, the very idea of a love that still has the power to shock the heart and stop the world.

Return to the thrilling days of yore, when Kevin Costner was box-office gold and Bryan Adams wrote stirring cinematic prom ballads, as Master Pancake Theater skewers the worst Robin Hood adaptation ever: ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES!

Costner plays Robin Hood, a man on a quest to find his missing British accent, and Morgan Freeman is – surprise! – his Magical Black Helping Figure. Together they team up to fight the evil Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Rickman channeling equal parts Hans Gruber and Wile E. Coyote). Director Kevin Reynolds (WATERWORLD) adds visual flair with the pointless yet nauseating P.O.V. technique of Arrow-Cam. You won’t want to miss a single merry minute as Master Pancake buckles the swash out Sherwood and makes much ado about Notting. (John)

Master Pancake Theater is proudly sponsored by KERBEY LANE CAFE!

Hey folks, don’t forget to vote for the Alamo’s in-house movie mockers, Master Pancake Theater, in this year’s Austin Chronicle “Best of Austin” poll. If you’ve enjoyed at least one of their shows over the past year (The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, The X-mas Show, Jurassic Park and many more) please give them a vote for best “Comedian/Comedy Troup” in the “Arts & Entertainment” section of the poll. Last year the Pancake boys tied for first place in the poll. This year they’re looking to break ahead of the pack and claim the #1 spot all by themselves. VOTE BEST OF AUSTIN NOW!

English dub version.

Directed by animation legend Hayao Miyazaki, SPIRITED AWAY is the tale of Chihiro (voiced by Daveigh Chase), a young girl who is taken down an unusual road by her parents while moving to a new home in an unfamiliar town. The curiosity of Chihiro’s mother (Lauren Holly) and father (Michael Chiklis) leads the reluctant child into what appears to be an abandoned amusement park. Soon her parents are greedily feasting on various delights from an enticing food stand and are literally turned into pigs. The frightened and bewildered girl then encounters a young man named Haku (Jason Marsden), who explains what she must do to
navigate this strange and magical realm. Finding employment in a bathhouse for spirits and other odd characters–including kimono-wearing frogs, lumbering tentacled monsters, and a mysterious apparition named No Face — Chihiro attempts to figure out how she can
free her parents from the clutches of the resort’s owner, a powerful witch named Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette). In the process, she makes some very eccentric friends and has to deal with some notoriously stinky customers.

A surreal adventure reminiscent of Lewis Carroll’s ALICE IN WONDERLAND, SPIRITED AWAY continues Miyazaki’s streak of groundbreaking animated films that also includes PRINCESS MONONOKE and MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO. Succeeding MONONOKE as the most successful film in Japanese cinema history, this charming movie follows its own bizarre yet engaging logic as it reveals a cast of fascinating characters and jaw-dropping settings through stunningly beautiful hand-crafted animation. A movie experience like no other, SPIRITED AWAY is sure to enchant audiences of all ages, leaving viewers grinning with a giddy sense of wonderment.

Director Marcel Sarmiento in attendance on July 24!

DEADGIRL earned a special prize and distinction from Fantastic Fest
jury-member Chris Gore last year because he believed so strongly that the film deserved to win Best Picture, but ultimately did not- a
testament to this film’s equal measures of brilliance and cringe. Love or revulsion, you can’t take your eyes off of it. Genre filmmaking at its finest and we couldn’t be happier to bring it back to the Alamo for one more go.

Many horror films feature teenage characters but these people are generally nothing more than corpses in waiting and might as well be replaced by showroom mannequins. This is a shame as teenagers face unique psychological and physiological disruptions that are ripe for tales of horror. Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel apparently understand this; their film DEADGIRL mines the recesses of the hormone-wracked adolescent mind to create one of the most original American horror films in recent memory.

Brand new 35mm film print!!!

This is the movie that defines why we love doing these Big Screen
Sci-Fi classics at the Alamo. At home, ALIEN is still a fine movie and
worth a few good jolts, but on a big screen it is unquestionably one of the most nerve-wrackingly fun experiences you’ll ever have. The use of massive, cluttered, lived-in sets and utterly brilliant widescreen photography creates a unique vision of horror that only the theatrical experience can do justice to, while the superb Jerry Goldsmith score creates nonstop fear and dread that turns ALIEN into as much of an
audio nightmare as it is a visual one. So many of the film’s classic moments that you know and love take on a terrifying immediacy on the big screen, while the creature itself has never appeared more frightening than it will here. We’re running a brand new print of the
original theatrical version for its 30th anniversary, so you’ll never have seen ALIEN looking or sounding this good before. (Matthew Kiernan)

Inspired by a chance conversation with fellow filmmaker and mushroom buff Jim Jarmusch, director Rom Mann (GRASS, GO FURTHER) sets off to the annual Telluride Mushroom Festival in Colorado. It was there he encountered the unique sub-sub-subculture surrounding fungi that includes an unlikely assortment of nerds, nuts, hipsters, tripsters, artists, chefs, musicians, foodies, foragers, and seekers all paying homage to the mighty mushroom.

Combining material filmed at the Mushroom Fest with animation and archival footage along with a neo-psychedelic soundtrack by The Flaming Lips, KNOW YOUR MUSHROOMS opens the doors to perception, takes the audience on a longer, stranger trip and delivers them to a brave new world where the fungi might well guide humanity to a saner, safer place…with extra cheese. This 2008 SXSW favorite comes back to Alamo for this once-in-a-lifetime mushroom-inspired, consciousness-expanding feast
prepared by Alamo chef Trish Eichelberger!

THE MENU

I
Mushroom and goat ricotta galette with a micro green salad and bell pepper confetti

II
Hanger steak with mushroom demi glace, asparagus and morels with porcini wild rice pilaf
Vegetarian option will be stuffed Portobello in place of the steak

III
Black truffle dark chocolate truffles, sea salted shortbread and meringue mushrooms

Each course will be paired with the perfect wine!

Vegetarian? Please email the chef at trish@originalalamo.com to let her know! We’ll assume you want the Hanger Steak if we don’t hear from you! Thanks.

Note: “Consciousness Expanding” used here metaphorically.

Mel Brooks’ STAR WARS parody is soooo much more than just a parody film, and filled with the sorts of jokes that the writers of all the recently (and horribly) made “spoof films” wish they could dream up. If your Schwartz is as big as mine, you’re probably uncomfortably excited with just the prospect of this show happening. Somewhere in space, Dot Matrix’s virgin alarm is ringing loudly. (Henri)

Alamo Quote-Alongs on Facebook

Okay, I’ll admit it: when they played We Are the Champions as
the last song last dance of my senior year in high school and all the
seniors made a big circle the middle of the dance floor as we linked up arm-in-arm and swayed, I got teary-eyed. And that summer as we drove around from 7-11 to a coffee shop to some party at a kid’s house with a pool and a trampoline, my friends and I listened to Bohemian Rhapsody and pretended like we were in WAYNE’S WORLD. Why am I confessing to all this? Crying in high school and imitating WAYNE’S WORLD isn’t cool at all. But then, that’s the thing about Queen – as pioneers of arena rock, their hits have a way of making you feel cool no matter what you’re doing, I’m listening to We Will Rock You as I’m writing this, so I feel invincible.

This is one of our favorite Sing-Along shows to do, partly because we painstakingly took the time to edit live performances and videos together with scenes from some of the movies that have made generous use of Queen songs in the soundtrack, and partly because we like coming up with new prop ideas every time we do it. But mostly it’s because people tend to get dressed up, and we LOVE having an army of Freddie Mercurys come up to the stage to show off their mustaches and microphone poles.
(Henri)

Presented by Rainer Management! Plan for a Freddie Mercury Strut Contest and a Fat Bottom Girl Dance Off! YEA-OW!

Alamo Sing-Alongs on Facebook

This summer, the Alamo Drafthouse will give kids and parents a chance to take a relaxing break with Free Movies every week at the Alamo South Lamar and Village. Movies screen at 11 AM.

Seating is on a first come first served basis so be there early for the best seats.

HAPPY FEET plays at South Lamar this week!

In the great nation of Emperor Penguins, deep in Antarctica, you’re nobody unless you can sing-which is unfortunate for Mumble (ELIJAH WOOD), who is the worst singer in the world. He is born dancing to his own tune…tap dancing. Though Mumble’s mom, Norma Jean (NICOLE KIDMAN), thinks… In the great nation of Emperor Penguins, deep in
Antarctica, you’re nobody unless you can sing-which is unfortunate for Mumble (ELIJAH WOOD), who is the worst singer in the world. He is born dancing to his own tune…tap dancing.

SPIRITED AWAY plays at the Village this week!
Visit HERE for details!

We here at the Alamo love the internet. It’s got all sorts of cool things on it! Sometimes we want to share that stuff with you! Also, we like to let you know when shows are on sale, surprise screenings, and about general fun things that we do. Follow us to get up-to-date and instantaneous Alamo news (and general personal information about our fantastic Programming Dept.). All the cool kids are doing it!

Tim League: @TimAlamo (Founder/Owner)
Henri Mazza: @HenriMazza (Creative Director/Programmer)
Lars Nilsen: @LarsAlamo (Programmer/Weird Weds Coordinator)

Caitlin Stevens: @CaitlinEStevens (Programmer/Promotions)

Alamo Drafthouse information: @Drafthouse
Fantastic Fest information: @FantasticFest
MondoTees information: @MondoNews

Wanna know what you absolutely can’t miss in the next couple months? Hate the feel of paper in your hands? Well we got something for you! Check out our July/August Alamo Guide in PDF form. We worked long and hard on it. And there’s like, a million things in here that are going to be a-ma-zing. Check it out online and download a PDF of the July August Guide right here!

Whether it’s a company outing or a get-together with friends, forget standing in line to buy tickets or waiting outside for everyone in your group to arrive! Instead, rent your very own private theater – let us handle the details and sit back, relax and enjoy the show!

When renting a private theater to watch a new release movie you can also request custom pre-show entertainment, have a short presentation if you’d like, make announcements, select your own menus and much more! Private theater rentals are available at any time, and for groups of all sizes!