Special Screenings and Events

We're big fans of The Simpsons TV show around here, or at least the earlier seasons. Somewhere around Season 7 or 8 the episodes became less interesting to us, and we have a horror of "New Simpsons." So we approached The Simpsons Movie with trepidation, and decided the best way to ensure our enjoyment was to splurge on Alamo Drafthouse's multi-course Simpsons Feast. Afrer all, even if the movie turned out to suck, at least we'd be enjoying bacon-wrapped pork chops. My husband and I have never tried one of the full-fledged feasts at Alamo, although I've enjoyed some of the smaller movie-and-food events. It would be a challenge for us; the event didn't start until after 8:30, and we tend to be early diners, so we had snacks after work and tried to stay strong until the event. After all, there was that Ultimate Donut dessert to look forward to, even if it did sound a bit scary.

Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar was decorated beautifully for The Simpsons Movie. We didn't see a lot of it on our way into the theater, because the lobby was so crowded. Even on a Wednesday night, Alamo on South Lamar is very popular. But to set the mood, I'll show you the photos we took in the lobby after the movie. The counter where you can buy drinks, etc. was set up to look like a Kwik-E-Mart. Since Austin didn't get one of the Kwik-E-Marts transformed from 7-Eleven, we were happy to see an appromixation in the lobby (photo after the jump):

I've been hearing about a lot of interesting screenings and events around town this week, so I thought I'd share a list of the highlights. If I'm missing anything, feel free to promote your own movie-related event in the comments section.

• Tuesday night, Austin Film Festival kicks off their new seminar series, Conversations in Film, with a panel called "Script to Screen: Making the Short Film." Panelists include Steve Collins (who expanded his short Gretchen and the Night Danger into the LAFF-winning Gretchen), Jenn Garrison (Prizewhores), and Scott Rice (Perils in Nude Modeling and the very funny Script Cops shorts that preceded films at AFF last year). The seminar takes place at Coldtowne Theater at 6 pm, and you can buy tickets from the AFF site, or call the AFF office if you're eligible for the member discount. I'm amused that two of these three panelists have directed shorts that feature the acting talents of AFF Membership Director John Merriman. That's coincidence ... or is it?
• Also on Tuesday, if you are a Filmmaker-level or higher member of Austin Film Society, you can attend the Docs-in-Progress screening of Best Kept Secret, directed by PJ Raval and Jay Hodges. Reserve seats through AFS. Best Kept Secret is about the transformation of Trinidad, Colorado, into the "sex change capital of the world." You might know Raval primarily as a cinematographer, who's photographed a number of local films such as Room, The Cassidy Kids, and the aforementioned Gretchen. Hodges is a book editor who has also worked with the Cinematexas film festival. (I really wish these AFS and AFF events weren't competing with one another -- it would be fabulous to attend both.)

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If I don't write about it, it didn't happen, right?

If I don't make a big deal about it, next week, I'll stroll up those steps and see all the regulars and we'll all go back into our little attic theatre and watch some messed-up exploitation film and have a blast, right? Then we'll come back the next night for Terror Thursday, right?

Ever since a Weird Wednesday midnight showing of Drum with Warren Oates, the Original Alamo Drafthouse has been a big part of my life. Most Wednesdays you could find me catching the free show having a blast, hanging out with the regulars and having all sorts of fun. Weird Wednesday will continue on at Alamo South Lamar, but most of the regular programs are on hiatus until we get the Ritz going, along with the specialty programming. No Terror Thursdays, Music Mondays, sing-alongs, Foleyvision, etc. Too many shows to list.

It still doesn't feel real. I was at the last show, I watched the sign come down (Pics here), but it still doesn't feel like it was something that happened. I haven't been back to 409 Colorado and seen the empty building yet, so that helps.

[Scott Henderson ­reports on one of the last unique film events at the now-closed Alamo Drafthouse Downtown on Colorado.]

There was something particularly apt that screening a film which heralded a new beginning in cinema might also hark the beginning of the end for the original downtown Drafthouse. And so it was that, despite the health warnings, Jean-Luc Godard’s timeless À Bout de Souffle (Breathless, 1960) played to a full house of nicotine-addicted patrons gleefully breaking the law for the special "Thank You for Smoking" event.

More than simply apt though, there was also something romantic about the penultimate night at the Alamo Drafthouse -- a dirty kind of romance for sure, but romance nonetheless. Wisps of cigarette smoke illuminated the projector beam overhead and the flicker of lighters sparked delight amongst the audience as old anti-smoking public service announcements preceded the main attraction. Who says Americans don't do irony?

­The Harry Ransom Center on the UT campus is hosting a "Silent Silver Screen" series this summer, featuring three classic silent movies with live music accompaniments. Best of all, composer/musician Graham Reynolds and some of his­ friends (to be named later) will be providing the music. If you have never heard Reynolds performing behind a silent film, either by himself or as part of the Golden Arm Trio, you are missing one of the big advantages to living in Austin. You might also have heard his scores for A Scanner Darkly or for Gretchen  (which needs to be screened again in Austin someday please).

The series kicks off Thursday night (June 7) with Orphans of the Storm, a 1921 silent starring Lillian and Dorothy Gish. I am wondering if I did something wrong in a past life, because I can't go -- I have to watch and review Surf's Up instead. Life can be so cruel. However, I'm hoping I can make one or both of the other screenings: Buster Keaton's amazing film The General on June 28 and The Big Parade, a King Vidor film from 1921, on July 19.

Admission to these films is free, amazingly enough, but seating is limited so get to HRC early. On Thursdays, the museum is open late, so you could check out HRC's "The American Twenties" exhibition beforehand. All films start at 7 pm.

A couple of weeks ago, Alamo Drafthouse Downtown decided to hold a cop-movie marathon, the Hot Fuzztival -- that name ought to give you a big hint as to what the centerpiece movie of the marathon would be. (I noticed that other cities also did Hot Fuzztivals in preparation for this particular movie.) I have a confession to make: I went to the Hot Fuzztival not because I was psyched about Hot Fuzz, although I was looking forward to the cop-movie spoof from the Shaun of the Dead guys. I figured I'd have plenty of chances to see Hot Fuzz.

I went to the Hot Fuzztival primarily to see one of my guilty pleasure movies, which isn't available on DVD and which is very hard to get to see: Freebie and the Bean. I was amazed that Alamo was able to find a print. I rented the VHS copy at Vulcan Video last year (right before Alamo's Richard Rush double-feature, in fact -- Rush also directed this film) and the video quality was poor, but the film was still hilarious. The storyline is sexist and homophobic and some scenes don't make any sense to me, but James Caan and Alan Arkin are so wonderful together that it makes up for everything.

I did not mean for this article to be a love letter about Freebie and the Bean, but the point is that I spent nearly $40 to see that particular movie, and considered the other films to be lagniappe, if top-notch lagniappe. I was also looking forward to seeing the Hot Fuzz filmmakers/stars in person at the Alamo -- they were scheduled to appear right before Hot Fuzz, which was the last film to be shown in the five-movie marathon.­

Austin Film Festival (AFF) is starting a monthly film series at Alamo Lake Creek, which kicks off Thursday night at 7:30 pm with a screening of Trading Places. It's a great chance to see Oscar-nominated Eddie Murphy in one of his early film appearances ... not to mention Dan Ackroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis in a fabulous wig, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, and the usual complement of odd cameos that you find in comedies directed by John Landis.

Plus, Trading Places writer Herschel Weingrod will be in attendance and will hold a Q&A after the movie. Alamo Lake Creek will offer a "prince and pauper" style menu, and I'm wondering what in the world that even means. Caviar and ramen? I'm not sure I'll be able to go, so if you do, report back and give us the scoop on the evening. Admission is only $4 (free if you're an AFF member).

Hearing someone's script read is a lot more fun than it might sound. At least, it is if you have a number of actors taking all the parts, as opposed to a very nervous screenwriting student muttering dialogue in a monotone. I went to a script reading at Austin Film Festival (AFF) a few years ago, for that year's winner in the comedy screenplay category, and had a great time.

So I would definitely recommend the script reading that AFF is hosting for Anne Rapp's latest screenplay, Double Wide. Rapp, who lives in Austin, previously wrote two scripts for films directed by the late Robert Altman: Cookie's Fortune and Dr. T and the Women.

The actors reading Double Wide include Johnny Hardwick, the writer/actor from King of the Hill that all the female writers were crushing on at AFF one year (he does not look or sound like Dale Gribble in person); local disc jockey Dale Dudley, whom I think was reading at the AFF script reading I mentioned above; actress Kit Gwin; and Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel.

The script reading will take place at Capitol City Comedy Club on Sunday, Jan. 28, and admission is free.

That touring cavalcade of animated perversion known as Spike & Mike's Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation is coming back to the Alamo Drafthouse downtown. This is one of my favorite events of the year, and it may actually inspire me to hire a babysitter and get our butts to the theater.

Unlike other animation events that have gone before it Spike & Mike celebrates the bizarre, the disgusting, the just plain weird and wonderful. Without it I might not have discovered Dr. Tran or Don Hertzfeldt, and how sad that would be!

The fun begins Thursday, January 18th and continues through the 28th.

Yeah, I should have done a Movies This Week on Friday and given you a bit of notice about some of the great film-related events going on tonight (Monday) in Austin. But that didn't happen ... and I didn't know about at least one of these until today. Take your pick:

• Letters from the Other Side—I reviewed this documentary at SXSW, about families in Mexico who struggle to survive when the husbands/fathers cross the border to find better-paying work in the U.S. If you haven't seen this yet, tonight's the night, because director Heather Courtney has finally succeeded in obtaining visas for the women featured in the documentary to visit the U.S. and attend this screening. Reception at 5:30, free screening at 6:30, following by a Q&A with the women from the documentary.
• Mouchette—Austin Cinematheque is hosting a free screening of Robert Bresson's 1967 film, tonight at 7:30 pm at UT's Texas Union Theater. Austin Cinematheque prides themselves on obtaining first-class 35mm prints of classic films. If you miss tonight's film, they're also showing Love Streams on Nov. 27, and ooooh! The Conformist on Dec. 4.
• Two at Alamo—Over at Alamo Downtown, you can catch Jonestown: The Life and Death of People's Temple tonight at 7 pm ... or Tuesday and Wednesday at 9:45 pm. (I'm tempted to make it a double-feature on Tuesday with Porco Rosso.) I've heard good things about this documentary, although I'm not sure it's in the best taste for Alamo to serve free Kool-Aid with every admission. At 9:45 tonight, the Music Monday selection at Alamo is All Kindsa Girls, a documentary about the band The Real Kids, with $2 admission.