Movies This Week and Other Austin Film News

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Let's see what's going on in Austin theaters in the next week.

  • I've reviewed two movies opening locally this weekend, over at the recently revived Celluloid Eyes: Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Young@Heart. Neither movie especially grabbed me, but would be fine for one of those weekend afternoons when you just want to go to a theater and see something mildly entertaining, and have no expectations.
  • Movies currently playing that I haven't yet seen, but might like to watch, in order of preference (this is mostly meant as a handy checklist for my husband and I to use for one of those weekend afternoons etc.): The Counterfeiters, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? (which we ended up seeing today), Penelope (still at Cinemark in Round Rock!), The Unforeseen, In Bruges, Leatherheads, Run Fatboy Run, and maybe Zombie Strippers if we were in that kind of mood.
  • Cine Las Americas started earlier this week, and the festival runs through April 24 at assorted venues.
  • You can see Shine a Light, Martin Scorsese's documentary about the Rolling Stones, all week long at the IMAX theater.
  • Stoner doc Super High Me is playing at Alamo Ritz a few times this week -- most notably a free screening on this Sunday, 4/20, at 4:20 pm. Alamo Lake Creek is also doing a free 4/20 screening at 7:30 pm.
  • The Mayor's Book Club is hosting a free evening of two documentaries, Cry Freetown and Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone, on Monday night at Alamo on South Lamar. More details available here.
  • Filmmakers: If you're interested in applying for a Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund grant, you can attend an informational session on Monday night. More info available on the AFS website.
  • Since I was out of town, I wasn't able to tell you about the Beat Film series that the Harry Ransom Center has been running over at Alamo Ritz. The last part is this Wednesday night and includes Kenneth Anger's Scorpio Rising as well as a film I've wanted to see since I was in high school, Roger Corman's A Bucket of Blood. The series is part of the HRC "On the Road with the Beats" exhibition, which runs through August 3.
  • The Austin Film Society series "Ascending Dragon: Films of Greater China" is also continuing this week with Goodbye, Dragon Inn, a 2003 film from Taiwan. The movies screen on Tuesday nights at Alamo on South Lamar.
  • Alamo South Lamar is serving a pretty sweet feast along with a screening of La Dolce Vita on Wednesday night. That movie always makes me feel guilty because I didn't like it at all -- when I saw it in college, I thought it was ending and it went on for another hour or so. That menu sounds great though.
  • Austin Film Festival will screen the documentary Two Days in April, about college football players trying for the NFL draft, on Thursday night at Alamo Lake Creek.
  • Finally, if you're feeling too lazy to leave the house, you can catch the Austin-made film The Cassidy Kids on IFC on Friday afternoon at 2:10 pm CST (or record it to watch later). I wrote about this deal earlier in the year.