Movies This Week: The Greatest Big Happy American Cats

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It may still be early spring, but we're definitely seeing summer weather, which means people are going to the movies to cool off. A whole lot of films are opening in Austin this week, see for yourself. In addition, Cine Las Americas is underway all week at Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar and -- screenings are free at this venue -- the Mexican American Cultural Center. Read my preview for details.

Movies We've Seen:

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold -- Morgan Spurlock, the man who took on McDonalds and super-sized meals, now takes on product placement, with the help of POM Wonderful in this SXSW 2010 selection. Read Mike's SXSW review. (Arbor, Alamo Lamar)

Echotone -- Jette says: This AFF 2010 documentary about the Austin music scene and how it's affected by local development is back in town for a four-night run. It's also a very lovely movie with some great music. Read Debbie's review from AFF or my review for Cinematical. Don't miss seeing it in a theater. (Alamo Ritz)

Other Movies Opening in Austin:

African Cats -- Capitalizing on Earth Day, yet another nature doc reminding us of the importance of life far away. (wide)

American: The Bill Hicks Story (pictured above) -- This SXSW doc about the caustically insightful Hicks focuses on the people who knew him and less on his performances as a standup comic. One of the ‘outlaw comics’ of the late 20th century, Hicks was a righteously angry rabble-rouser in the Jesus in the temple with the money changers spirit, whose provocative humor is still relevant today. Hicks performed often in Austin, and even though he lost his life to cancer in 1994, he's still revered as an oustanding comic today. (Alamo Lamar, Alamo Village)

Dum Maaro Dum -- This Bollywood thriller doesn't have a description on IMDb, and is even showing as being still in production. But it's had its premiere cancelled to "preserve the suspense" according to one source. (Tinseltown South)

I Am -- Tom Shadyac's doc about what's wrong with the world and how we can improve it ... am I the only one who's tired of hearing what's wrong with the world? Although if you're going to try to do something about it, Spring is it, I suppose. (Arbor)

Potiche -- Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu star in this comedy about a trophy wife who proves to be more than up for the task of handling the family business when her husband is taken hostage. But then her ex shows up. (Arbor)

Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family -- I have to wonder how many more apostrophes will be appearing in future Tyler Perry movie titles. This I'm sure is another in a long series of films with a built in audience. When your film's title length creeps to twitter limits, it may be time for a change, hmmm? (wide)

[Photo courtesy Variance Films]