Movies this Week: Julie, Julia, Trains and Getaways

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Chalk

Next week will be absolutely crazy, with two red-carpet events in four days. But we've already had a red carpet in Austin this week, for Bandslam, which Debbie will tell you about soon. There's plenty this week in theaters to keep you busy.

Opening this Week
Let's just say that Julie & Julia is one film that will leave you salivating. The Alamo Drafthouse had one feast scheduled that sold out in 20 minutes, so they've added two more (8/10-12). Check out our group review, where Jette and Jenn's take on Julie & Julia.

A Perfect Getaway is a serviceable chiller from the man who brought you Below and Pitch Black. It's flawed, but worthwhile. For more, check out my review.

O'Horten, Little Ashes, and The Cove all open at the Arbor today. Unfortunately, we weren't able to review The Cove prior to release, but it's gotten a lot of positive attention. Little Ashes, with Twilight heartthrob Robert Pattinson, wasn't available either. But you can read about the trains and life transitions that make up O'Horten in my review.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra caused a bit of a brouhaha when it was announced that press and their family members could not attend any of the advance preview screenings -- the only pre-release reviews are from a very select few, including AICN's Harry Knowles, who were permitted to attend private screenings. I'm a bit disappointed; I don't expect it to be Transformers: Rise of the Fallen bad, but I'm not very likely to pay to see it if that's true. If you've seen it, let us know.

Other multi-day events to be aware of include the Bicycle Film Festival, which continues through Sunday. Alamo Summer Kids Camp has Speed Racer at Lamar, and The Princess Bride at the Village. The series is free and first come, first serve Monday-Thursday. Kyle Movies in the Park continues, but the next screening isn't until next week.

It seems that the other summer film series aimed at children have all ended this week, including the Regal Free Family Film Festival, the Cinemark Summer Movie Clubhouse, and the AMC Summer Movie Camp.

Friday 8/7
The Alamo Ritz recently showed the director's cut of Alien, and you can still see the next two films -- Aliens and Alien 3 -- as part of the Paramount Summer Film Series.

Saturday 8/8
Take a break from movies; Cinemapocalypse is next week, so rest up, ok?

Sunday 8/9
Twice the screenings, twice the fun: both The Day the Earth Stood Still and Forbidden Planet each screen twice at the Paramount. No excuses for not seeing these two classic sci-fi films. And if you're one of the first 50 people to say "Klaatu, barada, nikto!" at the Merchandise Cart, you can receive a free gift.

There's a lot going on at the Ritz tonight, including Andrew Shapter's Happiness Is, in which the director of Before the Music Dies explores happiness.

The documentary Nollywood Babylon, about the third largest film industry in the world in Nigeria plays tonight and twice more this week at Ritz.

And lastly, but hardly leastly, the World's Best Commercials, "including 50% more Harry Egipt," and other commercials from around the world in this occasional compilation event at Ritz. Some of the Harry Egipt commercials are included in the Alamo pre-shows.

Monday 8/10
Movies in the Park at Central Market continues with a free outdoor screening of Iron Man.

The Day the Earth Stood Still and Forbidden Planet play the Paramount again, but no free gifts, alas.

Austin Public Library wraps up the Postcards from Audrey series with Breakfast at Tiffany's. Free at the Hampton Branch of the Austin Public Library at Oak Hill.

Music Monday at the Ritz has Bela Fleck: Throw Down Your Heart. If you can't imagine "jazz banjo" then this is a must-see. Nollywood Babylon continues at the Ritz as well.

The Alamo Village is presenting the second of three free screenings of The Thick of It, an award-winning Brit TV show which is the basis of the upcoming In the Loop. Torchwood: Children of Earth fans will recognize the incredible Peter Capaldi in another civil servant role. The trailer for In the Loop looks amazing, so be in the now and watch the original series first.

Tuesday 8/11
Beaches and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Paramount. I can easily skip Beaches, but Fried Green Tomatoes is one of my favorites.

Hey Homo! presents Pedro Almodóvar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown at the Ritz. I'll take an Alamojito with that; less staining than a Bloody Mary.

Terror Tuesday has cult classic Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

Wednesday 8/12
Austin Film Festival's Made in Texas Film Series presents the Austin film Chalk (pictured above) at the Texas Spirit Theater with screenwriters Mike Akel (director) and Chris Mass (lead actor) in attendance. Akel and Mass both taught briefly, and it's filmed primarily in Austin, at a local high school with many local extras, so this is a must-see. This mockumentary is a smashup of Real World micro-interviews and The Office style narrative that's not just funny once, but every time I see it. Try to catch it with the live Q&A, but if you absolutely can't, it's in rotation on Sundance channel this month. Read Jette's review at Cinematical.

Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund presents two films at Alamo South Lamar: Treeless Mountain and The Guatemalan Handshake. Directors of these films are serving as panelists for TFPF 2009. AFS has awarded 265 grants totaling $850,000 in cash and $80,000 in goods and services to 250 film and video projects to Texas film projects through the fund.

More Fried Green Tomatoes and Beaches at the Paramount.

Your last chance to catch Nollywood Babylon is at the Ritz, followed by Weird Wednesday's presentation of Snake in the Eagle's Shadow starring Jackie Chan.

Thursday 8/13
This month's Nueva Onda screening is an Austin-made comedy, Sno-Cone Inc., at 8 pm. The cast includes Morgan Fairchild.

The Ritz cranks it up to 11 with One-Hit Wonders of the 80s Sing-Along along with a This is Spinal Tap Sing-Along.

The next week is going to be insanely busy, so watch this space.