Film Series

This month's Hey Homo! selection is the delightful 1994 film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, wihch stars Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce and Terence Stamp ... definitely cast against type.

Since Stephanie Rothman will be at Alamo for a special screening of The Student Nurses, Weird Wednesday decided to extend the fun and show another of Rothman's films, Group Marriage, from 1973. Rothman will stick around for this movie too -- a great deal for $1 ($2 online).

This week's Terror Tuesday selection is the 1976 film Grizzly, which is being shown in a rare 35mm print. Admission is a mere dollar -- two bucks if you buy online. Here's what Zack Carlson has to say:

"If you loved our screening of Girdler's DAY OF THE ANIMALS, you can not miss '15-feet of gut-crunching, man-eating TERROR!' The ill-fated director truly established himself in the PG horror arena with this achievement that would be widely considered his artistic pinnacle: GRIZZLY. An indestructible, two-story-tall grizzly bear has realized that human beef beats the hell out of nuts and berries, and it's up to Ranger Mike (GATES OF HELL's Christopher George) and hotheaded gunman Don (Andrew Prine of SIMON, KING OF THE WITCHES) to bring the carnivorous menace to its hairy knees. But when a couple dozen drunk-ass hunters enter the forest on a suicide mission to nail the beast...count on a tidal wave of pine-scented bloodshed. There's no disputing...GRIZZLY is the third most upsetting PG movie ever made!"

This month's Girlie Night selection at Alamo is the 1988 comedy Big, directed by Penny Marshall. Here's what Girlie Night programmer Sarah Pitre has to say about the evening's festivities:

"Since Girlie Night is all about the squee, I couldn't be more excited to watch BIG with an audience who wants to hug Tom Hanks as much as I do. You better believe we'll be playing 'Chopsticks' on a floor piano (I am not even kidding!) and eating baby corn in the most mature way possible. I read it. I said it. I stole my momma's credit! I'm cool. I'm hot. Sock me in the stomach three more times!"

As part of its monthly Made in Texas series, Austin Film Festival is screening the 1991 film Rush, which was shot in Houston. Admission is $5 for the general public and free to AFF and Texas State History Museum members.

As part of its exhibition "Manuel Álvarez Bravo and His Contemporaries: Photographs from the Collections of the Harry Ransom Center and The Blanton Museum of Art," the Blanton Museum is screening the 1947 film La Diosa Arrodillada. Admission is $5 for the general public and $3 for museum members and UT faculty, students and staf.

As part of its exhibition "Manuel Álvarez Bravo and His Contemporaries: Photographs from the Collections of the Harry Ransom Center and The Blanton Museum of Art," the Blanton Museum is screening Luis Bunuel's 1950 film Los Olvidados. Admission is $5 for the general public and $3 for museum members and UT faculty, students and staff

This month, Austin Film Society's Avant Cinema series focuses on the work of Caroline Koebel. From the AFS website:

"Avant Cinema features Flicker On Off, her [Koebel's] current series re-purposing big-budget movies as a platform to engage world affairs, including global warming, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, and the Haditha Massacre. Flicker On Off has been presented at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the European Media Art Festival, Scope Art Fair, Video Art Festival of Camagüey, and the Festival of (In)appropriation. Also showing is a survey of titles -- in both 16mm and digital projection -- selected by the filmmaker for how they interact with Flicker On Off."

Alamo Drafthouse has decided to start a new Alamo Jazz Brunch series, and is kicking it off with Woody Allen's 1973 comedy Sleeper, which has a terrific jazz soundtrack including music from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

Stanley Smith and the Jazz Pharoahs will perform live in the theater before the film.

This month's Austin Film Society Doc Tour screening is Mine, which won an audience award at SXSW 2009. The movie is about pets who were rescued after Katrina and the ensuing floods, and the situations that develop between their original owners and the people who adopted them. It's a tough movie to watch, but rewarding. Read my review for more details. Bring Kleenex.