Special Screening

Alamo Village has started showing "digital packages" of Universal films on its spiffy 4K digital screens. This week, the theater has a restored version of Scarface, Brian De Palma's 1983 remake of the Thirties gangster film, starring Al Pacino.

Alamo Village has started showing "digital packages" of Universal films on its spiffy 4K digital screens. This week, the theater has a restored version of Scarface, Brian De Palma's 1983 remake of the Thirties gangster film, starring Al Pacino.

Alamo Village has started showing "digital packages" of Universal films on its spiffy 4K digital screens. This week, the theater has a restored version of Scarface, Brian De Palma's 1983 remake of the Thirties gangster film, starring Al Pacino.

Alamo Village has started showing "digital packages" of Universal films on its spiffy 4K digital screens. This week, the theater has a restored version of Scarface, Brian De Palma's 1983 remake of the Thirties gangster film, starring Al Pacino.

To prepare you for the MC Frontalot concert that evening at The Highball, Alamo Drafthouse is showing the 2008 documentary about the musician, Nerdcore Rising. It's a fun look at the "nerdcore" genre of hip-hop. Read my review of the film from SXSW 2008 for more details. Admission for the film is $5, not at all bad for a Saturday matinee.

To celebrate Earth Day, Austin Film Festival is hosting a special screening of the 2008 documentary The Garden, about the fate of a large community garden in the Los Angeles area. Admission is free, but you must RSVP by April 20.

Alamo is showing the 1994 Jean-Claude Van Damme film Street Fighter in "Hecklevision" -- here's how Alamo describes the proceedings:

"Pull out your phone and you won't even need to remember any special combinations of half circles and strong punch buttons - just type in your heckles and they'll appear on screen right below M. Bison. You can launch your textual fireballs from the comfort of your seat throughout the whole movie, and afterward we'll all go out into the alley behind the theater and uppercut each other until the pain goes away."

Filmmaker Stephanie Rothman will be at this special screening of her 1970 film The Student Nurses. Attendees can keep their seats after the film and see another of Rothman's films, Group Marriage, at no extra charge. Let's just let Lars Nilsen describe the film and filmmaker, I'm not sure I could do it justice:

"This is a jaw-dropping social, cultural and political document about contemporary attitudes toward medical ethics. Oh, and there are sexy nurses too, you can't have one without the other. Like many films produced by Roger Corman's New World pictures it's kind of an ideological trojan horse. Men who were lured in by the sight of four doe-eyed young nurses on the poster ended up receiving a massive injection of social awareness courtesy of Dr. Stephanie Rothman, one of the few women working as a writer and director in the 1970's. While the novelty of a female working in what was perceived as a man's game has interest for us, her gender isn't even the most interesting aspect of Rothman's films - it's a sensitivity to all her characters, of both genders - her conflicts are always human, never schematic. This film is structured like a soap opera with several character arcs dramatically intersecting as we peek in on the day to day trials and tribulations of a group of student nurses. Rothman and company touch on themes that are still controversial today -- abortion, euthanasia, inequality of health care and more. The left-wing stance might seem strident if the film weren't so entertaining on its own terms. You'll enjoy it so much you won't even noticed you've been radicalized."

Alamo Village has started showing "digital packages" of Universal films on its spiffy 4K digital screens. This week, the theater has a restored version of the 1978 John Landis comedy Animal House, a great movie to watch with a crowd. Have you seen our photos of Tim Matheson and Bruce McGill reunited at last month's Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards?

Alamo Village has started showing "digital packages" of Universal films on its spiffy 4K digital screens. This week, the theater has a restored version of the 1978 John Landis comedy Animal House, a great movie to watch with a crowd. Have you seen our photos of Tim Matheson and Bruce McGill reunited at last month's Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards?