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Movies This Week: Horror, Nostalgia and Picks of the Week

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What a week: rain showers, downtown Austin disrupted by Machete's Chop Shop, and a new event calendar on Slackerwood (see that little marquee on the left? Yeah, that). Movies this Week is changing too -- focusing on new releases in town and personal picks.

Four major releases are opening in town this week, including an exclusive engagement.

New Releases

Mystery Team (pictured above) is billed as a group of former Encyclopedia Brown-style child-detectives struggle to solve an adult mystery. It's exclusively at the Alamo Ritz, which had a special screening with Derrick Comedy last night, and will also host most of Derrick Comedy tonight. Tonight's guest-laden screening is sold out, but it has a full engagement this week. As Max P., who was at last night's premiere, describes it, "funny lines and great writing/performances, and you grow to enjoy/ignore the limitations of their low budget."

Taking Woodstock is Ang Lee's latest, a very nostalgic look at how the single most well-known concert event ever came about.  Debbie has a review.

The Final Destination is the fourth installment in a franchise that really should have been a one-off.  It didn't have advance screenings in Austin, and my Twitter feed has a lot of avid horror fans bemoaning their lost dollars.

Halloween II is getting a whole lot of marketing, and a whole lot of snark online.  I wasn't impressed by Rob Zombie's first "re-imagining" of the Halloween franchise, so this is a wait-til-DVD for me.

For special events and film series, check out our Events Calendar. You can see daily, weekly and monthly views. Click on an event to see details, and click on the title of the event to see the whole post, including any comments.

Personal Picks

Here's what some of us at Slackerwood are thinking about seeing next week, or recommend you check out.

Debbie: I'm excited to see my favorite horror parody, Motel Hell, is this week's selection for Terror Tuesday at Alamo Ritz. As if the "man as meat" on the screen won't be enough, there will be free sausage for attendees. Farmer Vincent's motto? "Meat's meat, and a man's gotta eat."

Jette: I'm embarrassed to confess that I've never seen Amadeus. I was always told the 1984 drama would be so much better on a big screen. The Paramount is giving me that chance next week -- Milos Forman's film about Mozart is playing Wednesday and Thursday night.

Jenn: Emancipet's 3rd Annual Fur & Film Fete is top on my list. The event takes place on Thursday night, and features vintage animated pet cartoons with food, drink, and live music. It sounds like a lot of fun, and for a great cause.  If you buy two or more tickets, you get a significant discount.