“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.

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)

We’re very excited about opening THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED this coming Friday at the Alamo South Lamar. This movie is a rock-solid thrill ride. It’s got so many twists that even M. Night Shyamalan felt a little carsick watching it. Alamo Drafthouse/Fantastic Fest founder Tim League has this to say about the film:

“No question, if this British chunk of C-4 weren’t being released next month, you can be damn sure it’d have a spot on the Fantastic Fest 2010 roster come September. Writer/director J Blakeson has managed to distill the suspense-thriller genre down to a 150-proof EverClear-like annihilator, then blend it perfectly with… assorted mixers and twists to create a surprisingly smooth and unsuspecting cinematic cocktail you won’t soon forget. And the super-secret ingredient is bombshell Gemma Arterton (QUANTUM OF SOLACE, PRINCE OF PERSIA), who turns in a career-defining performance as the titular Creed who won’t let a little kidnapping spoil her day.”

He’s not the only one who’s nuts over his picture. Frank Scheck of Hollywood Reporter calls the film “taut, superbly executed and consistently engrossing,” and “thrillingly old-fashioned in the best sense.” Similarly, our very good friend Scott Weinberg from FEARnet sees it as a new approach to a subgenre that we all love but which sometimes comes off as stale, “When someone is able to re-tell the old “hostage” story using only three actors, four locations, and (at least) five nifty twists, then I say that’s a low-budget import that’s worthy of some attention.”

Simon Jablonski fromFilm4 praises up one of the best parts of the film, the gorgeous and intensely simple beginning: “The opening sequence is one of the more impressive in British cinema for a good while. Without any dialogue, save the screams of Alice Creed, the first ten minutes sets out the situation brilliantly. Two men, Danny and Vic, kidnap a girl (Gemma Arterton), tie her naked to a bed and take photos of her. In the silence you’re never sure what the men are thinking or aiming for.” Also addressing this scene, Christopher Kelly from the Victoria Advocate says, “The first-time director, J Blakeson, adopts a methodical, but brisk pace, steadily deepening the sense of dread with the help of the superbly moody music by Marc Canham. It’s an extraordinary feat of visual storytelling, showing us everything, telling us nothing.”

Peter Bradshaw, of the Guardian, gives the film four stars and expresses his excitement for the visual, narrative and performative flourishes of the film: “There’s twist and counter-twist, cross and double-cross, and with each narrative reveal comes a firework display of Big Acting. It’s taut, claustrophobic and very well put together, with nice performances all round” He also singles out the director, saying, “Blakeson is a name to watch.”

All in all, this picture is a great, compact genre film, exactly the kind of thing we program for Fantastic Fest. Marshall Fine of the Huffington Post captures this quality perfectly: “THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED is edgy fun, a kind of miniaturist thriller that keeps its focus tight and its aim high. And it hits the bulls eye every time.”

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED opens this Friday at the Alamo South Lamar.

We are very excited to open THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT Friday at the Alamo South Lamar.  It was a breakout hit at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was one of the most celebrated and sought after pictures on display.  Since then, it’s been knocking the socks off of almost every critic across the country, getting top honors and raves from even the most cynical of reviewers.

Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle gives the film four stars, and calls it “one of the most honest and painfully, hilariously accurate portraits of an American marriage and its resultant, tumultuous family ever put on film. It may be the most honest.”  This sums up the film perfectly, but much of the beauty of THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT comes from its individual parts.

The film’s all star cast is led by Annette Bening and Julianne Moore, who play a married lesbian couple with two children.  Their performances are fantastic.  Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal, who calls the film “thrillingly funny and casually profound,” describes the women as “played to perfection” by the talented actresses.  “Foreign-language films have subtitles; this film has subtexts that enhance every scene between the two women—unspoken anxieties, insecurities, vulnerabilities, comical but corrosive hostilities.”

Into the lives of this happy and distinctly modern family comes the previously-anonymous sperm donor, sought out by the two curious children.  This donor is played by the ever-cool and charming Mark Ruffalo who, according to Ann Hornaday at the Washington Post, “draws on every ounce of his considerable sex appeal to play Paul, a mellow, somewhat feckless restaurateur who can seduce just about everything he sets his sights on.”

Hornaday also notes the very strong performances by the children, newcomers Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson.  She especially praises Wasikowska, writing, “Within an ensemble of consummate pros, Wasikowska shines as a young woman grappling with the push-and-pull of a lovingly enmeshed family and forging her own fragile identity.”

This film, more than anything, is a refreshing change of pace from the typical heart-warming indie films that clutter the American landscape.  Rather than focusing on the torment/redemption of the severely dysfunctional family, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT is about a well-adjusted clan with healthy and good natured children whose hearts are in the right places.  The fact that the film is about an alternative family, led by two Sapphic matriarchs, makes it all the more exciting.  In the USA Today, Claudia Puig describes this uplifting quality:  “What makes this story so effective is not that it strives to be relevant in its depiction of a gay couple raising children but that it captures real-life rhythms and sincere concerns — both everyday and existential — experienced by families of all kinds.  Theirs may be an unconventional family, but the quandaries and problems are the same as in most families.”

This is a film for those adults who are looking for an escape from the blockbusters of this season.  Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times writes, “Whatever your politics, between peerless performances, lyrical direction and an adventurous script, this is the sort of pleasingly grown-up fare all too rare in the mainstream daze of this very dry summer.”

You should see this movie this weekend at the Alamo South Lamar, so that you have a chance to love it and see it again.  We’re opening it at the Lake Creek theatre next Friday for you North Austinites, too.

August 1-8, the Alamo is presenting a series of shark-related films that will get you out of the water and into a movie.

Every year, a certain nerdy TV channel stops airing clips of lions making love and boosts its ratings by devoting every moment of seven glorious days to nature’s rudest fish. The shark is like the Superfly of the sea, and the species’ amazing feats are as hypnotizing as they are horrifying. A couple of months ago we were talking about the sharkiest movies ever and we decided we should have our own Shark Week and to hell with everybody else.

On their Shark Week no one leaves the house. Everyone is glued to their sets, watching those damn teeth regenerate and those fins squirm. Well, not ours! We’re going to have a little fun this year, in what promises to be the first annual Shark Week at the Alamo. Now you can leave the house, have a burger or pizza and a couple of beers, and enjoy the glory of the toughest creature in the ocean.

The whole extravaganza starts next weekend with three (sold out) Rolling Roadshow encore presentations of the big daddy of all shark-pictures, JAWS. Somewhere on the dark …Lake Travis, we’ll be watching Steven Spielberg’s horrifying film while floating in inner-tubes, our legs dangling freely in the water for any predator to easily snap up… These shows sold out so fast that we’re going to make this a regular recurring tradition.

Also on the lineup:
8/2 and 8/8: THE SHARK IS STILL WORKING, a great documentary about JAWS featuring star-studded interviews and some behind-the-scenes info you’ve only had nightmares about. Ain’t It Cool News’ own ‘Quint’ will introduce the 8/2 screening with producer James Michael Roddy in person.

8/3: Terror Tuesday: ZOMBIE, Lucio Fulci’s classic undead thriller that features the Ultimate Shark VS. Zombie Death Match. An unofficial sequel to George Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, but with a shark!

8/4: Master Pancake: DEEP BLUE SEA, LL Cool J don’t stand a chance against our hilarious film-mockers. Oh, you’ve got sharks that can cure Alzheimer’s, oh ok…

8/4 Weird Wednesday: MAKO JAWS OF DEATH, a special Weird Wednesday presentation of one of the great shark exploitation films. A man is given a necklace with the power to befriend sharks, and he uses it for revenge against the shark’s greatest enemies, fat men.

8/5: CABIN BOY Quote-Along, the greatest quote-along of all time, featuring Chris Elliott saying “These pipes are clean!”

8/8: Hecklevision: MEGA SHARK vs. GIANT OCTOPUS, a battle for the ages in the horrible, horrible movie. Text your taunts or get bit.

All shows at the Ritz except for the Floating Roadshow. Wake up and smell the sharks, Austin!

Romance is a time-consuming proposition. We all want to treat our loved one to a lovely dinner and a perfect night out but sometimes it’s hard to find the time. That’s why we’re offering a new, ongoing series of feasts just for you.

This is like the Alamo-plus, a take on the dinner-and-a-movie formula but with more elegance.  Date Night is especially set up for those interested in fine food and great films, and sharing them with the people they love.  It’s like this: one of our fabulous chefs is going to prepare a delicious meal inspired by a romantic film, pairing each

course with the perfect wine in order to create an atmosphere of drunken passion.  This is a smaller and more intimate version of our signature feasts, and purposefully so.  The aim here is to make this an informal, cozy affair you can share with your special one on a regular basis.

For our first event, we’re showing the wildly romantic CHOCOLAT.  Vianne (Juliette Binoche) moves to a small French village with her daughter to open a chocolate shop, but the repressed townsfolk take offense to her sticky-fingered disregard for small town mores. But soon her cocoa concoctions turn a lot of frowns upside down. Add Johnny Dep

p as a sexy river Gypsy to this sumptuous confection and you can’t lose.

Pairing with this delicious film is a menu by our Executive Chef John Bullington, a list of courses so delectable you’ll be crying chocolate kisses by the time you finish reading:

- Provencal Tomato Soup with Prawns with shaved dark chocolate

- Richardson Farms Chicken Breast draped in bittersweet chocolate with flageolets and haricots verts

- Chocolate surprises throughout!!

Mmmmm.  Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp, and chocolate.  I don’t think there could ever be a better night.  Grab your darling and race to the theatre for this special night of love.

Advance ticket available here.

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.

This Sunday July 18 at 10pm, Monday at 7 and Wednesday at 10:15, we’re playing a film called DADDY LONGLEGS. You may not have heard of it. That’s ok. You’re here now, and you can thank us after you see this film that has been wowing audiences at the prestigious Cannes, Sundance, and Vienna film festivals. It’s a remarkably powerful and beautiful film, the kind of wonderful piece of art that comes to the cinema once every few years. This limited, Austin exclusive engagement could be your only chance to see what many are calling the best film of the year.

The film centers on a father, played by underground filmmaker Ronald Bronstein, who has a few weeks visitation time with his two sons. Michael Phillips for the Los Angeles Times tries to describe the character: “Scrambling through his own life like a human incarnation of Godard’s BREATHLESS, the protagonist of the terrifyingly funny independent feature… is a moth as well as a flame, a havoc generator with unlimited, unfocused energy and a staggering lack of reliable parental instincts.” This almost indescribable persona is at the heart of why this film is so provocative and lasting.

Roger Ebert tries to explain why this amazing character works: “Bronstein’s performance is crucial. It’s difficult to make a manic character plausible, but he does. He never goes over the top. His mania seems devoted more to lifting off from the bottom.”

It’s not just the character the makes the film so tremendous. Writers/Directors Benny and Josh Safdie (this is a semi-autobiographical film about their childhood) are master filmmakers, able to make their camera expose things no actor could.  Mark Feeney in the Boston Globe describes it: “DADDY LONGLEGS is all jangly and raw. The hand-held camera is almost as much of a presence in the film as Lenny is. He’s all edges and exposed nerves, and so’s the camera. The movie is one long explosion seemingly waiting to happen, and the camera’s the fuse.” J Hoberman of the Village Voice likewise expresses the power of the film’s style, “Naturalistically spontaneous, DADDY LONGLEGS is astute behavioral direction…But for all the vérité slam-bang, it’s more a grungy form of magic realism. Day and night are elastic concepts…the movie is filled with matter-of-factly absurd episodes.”

Most of all, this character study is going to shake you to your core. It questions the friend/authority balance so many young parents struggle with. Writes Jennie Yabroff in Newsweek, “DADDY LONGLEGS may shock you, but it will also make you reexamine your ideas about parenthood, and what it means to be a father.”

If you’re a parent, or if you’ve ever struggled with your parents, this film is a much-needed therapy session. It is one of the most provocative and beautifully-made films of our time, and any cinephile will feel great regret if she/he misses this film. Support independent filmmaking!

See DADDY LONGLEGS this Sunday at 10, and see it again Monday at 7 and Wednesday at 10:15. Advance tickets available here.

Tomorrow, the Alamo South Lamar is opening a film called PLEASE GIVE. It’s one of those critically lauded films that comes out in the summer and is overshadowed by the bigger pictures like SEX AND THE CITY 2, THE A-TEAM, and GET HIM TO THE GREEK. Basically, it’s a much appreciated respite from the explosions and gut-laughs that the mainstream fare offers us in the hot months.

You should see this movie. Starring indie darlings Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt, Amanda Peet, and Rebecca Hall (who wowed us all in 2008’s VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA), PLEASE GIVE tells the story of a couple of New Yorkers who own two apartments. When they want to occupy one of their abodes, they realize that the current tenant standing in their way, an elderly matriarch, is a tough bird to defeat. Making matters worse, her two daughters are feisty and cynical, providing comic obstacles and guilt-ridden stumbling blocks.

The Austin Chronicle gives the film a very respectable three and a half stars. Marjorie Baumgarten sees the film as a feminist triumph from director Nicole Holofcener, “From the very opening images of Please Give, it is clear that Holofcener is determined to show us aspects of women’s lives rarely explored in feature films.” Ty Burr of the Boston Globe echoes this sentiment, writing, “It’s the rare film to be owned by its women, both before the camera and behind it, and its emotional barometer is one of infinitely fine gradations.”

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone calls the film “rare and remarkable.” He describes the pictures as “an unnervingly hilarious and heartfelt comedy of bad manners.” That’s a pretty good compliment, but nothing compared to the praise dished out by Ann Hornaday in the Washington Post, which honored the film with its “Critics Pick” distinction. She writes: “PLEASE GIVE is one of those movies that can be enjoyed simply for its funny portraits of human foibles and fumbling grasps at intimacy — but it’s also deceivingly profound. Holofcener has a knack for soothing viewers with the rhythms of quiet jokes and mordant moments and then ambushing them with scenes of breathtaking sweetness and meaning.”

Roger Ebert offers us a fine overview of the whole picture: “The movie is about imperfect characters in a difficult world, who mostly do the best they can under the circumstances, but not always. Do you realize what a revolutionary approach that is for a movie these days?”

Ok, you’re convinced to see it. Good. It starts tomorrow at Alamo South Lamar. Skip on work, take a long lunch break, schedule your date as a dinner and a movie, whatever, just see PLEASE GIVE.

THE REINACTORS
Wed 9:30 at The Ritz!

This incredible, critically acclaimed doc interweaves the disparate lives of film character impersonators and celebrity look-a-likes on Hollywood Boulevard over the span of a year. Recognizable characters and stars of movies are portrayed by anyone who chooses to buy the costume and brave the mean streets of Hollywood.

These self-employed rogues forge a living one dollar at a time, posing for photos with tourists in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater. These street characters have big dreams of breaking into the big-time as they struggle to make ends meet. Freddy Krueger works alongside Superman, Marilyn Monroe, Shrek, Batman, Borat and Lucy Ricardo. Competing Chewbaccas, Spidermen and Captain Jack Sparrows vie for a spot on the limited real estate of The Walk Of Fame.

The story unfolds through their colorful day-to-day lives and incredibly dramatic back-stories. Director Markey says, “The doc plays like a great depression era Hollywood classic retold for the new millennium. It’s also a film about the cutthroat nature backstage and behind the scenes of show business. A statement on where we’re at culturally. An American Idol on crack, if you will.”

Get your tickets here…cheap!