Opportunities for the Week of 2/26-3/4

Posted by Austin Cinephile

Time for the weekly roundup of Weird Wednesday, Terror Tuesday, special events and outstanding new releases that you will not want to miss this week. Only the best selections here, aiming to ensure you see at least one great film every day.

Friday 2/26-Thursday, 3/4
Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar and Regal Arbor, THE GHOST WRITER
Roman Polanski is back, this time with more bona fide movie stars per square frame than any other movie he has ever made. Surprisingly, or I guess unsurprisingly given how talented a filmmaker Polanski is, he has corralled these talents into a film that critics are declaring his finest since 2002’s Academy Awards party crasher The Pianist. I won’t give you a synopsis here, mostly because I myself have avoided learning any information about what promises to be another of Polanski’s signature twisting and turning cinematic thrillers. What I do know is that you will see Moulin Rouge’s megawatt smile Ewan McGregor, the “real” James Bond (for anyone born in the mid to late 80s) Pierce Brosnan, and a host of others including Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall, Timothy Hutton, Eli Wallach, Rushmore beauty Olivia Williams, and Tom Wilkinson, who, it is said, has never been in a bad movie. If there isn’t at least one actor there that you like, may I direct you to Paul Blart: Mall Cop, showing all week on Starz?

Friday 2/26-Thursday, 3/4
wide, COP OUT
The Austin Cinephile jury is still out on this one. Initial trailers had us worried that, despite the great pool of comedians that have been assembled for this film, Kevin Smith may have an unfunny dud on his hands. But, at the last minute, the restricted trailer swept in and gave us a glimmer of hope. Former comedic actor Bruce Willis (sure, you remember Moonlighting. Don’t you?) and leader of the oddballs Tracy Morgan join Kevin Pollak, Jason Lee, Rashida Jones, Curb Your Enthusiasm’s foul-mouthed Susie Essman, and the legendary Seann William Scott in the buddy comedy to end all buddy comedies. Or at least remind us of all them.

Friday 2/26-Thursday, 3/4
wide, THE CRAZIES
Why not let Daniel tell you why this movie may be worth a look? Daniel joins a number of other critics in agreeing that this film may be, gasp, better than the Romero original. I’m sure you’ll join me in disagreeing that it is better than The Road.

Friday 2/26-Thursday, 3/4
The Dobie, POLICE, ADJECTIVE
Finally, one of 2009’s most widely acclaimed films comes to Austin. The latest in a series of films that has critics across the globe hailing an ascendant New Romanian Cinema, this latest movie follows in the footsteps of its predecessors in exploring one particular segment of the threatening, often violent Communist regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu and the fallout from his being overthrown and executed in 1989. Where The Death of Mr. Lazarescu deals with a failing hospital system and 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, considered one of the best films of the last decade, focuses on a young college student who is desperately trying to arrange an abortion, which was illegal in Ceauşescu’s Romania, Police, Adjective follows a by-the-book policeman as he relentlessly pursues a teenage boy who was apparently seen smoking marijuana, all the while wondering if there aren’t worse people who have committed worse crimes. If you want to see what has the whole moviegoing world in a frenzy, you won’t want to miss this one.

Sunday, 2/28, PICK OF THE WEEK
7:00pm, Alamo Drafthouse Ritz, THE UNKNOWN w/ a live score!
Do I even need to tell you that this almost illegally glorious 1927 masterpiece starring Lon Chaney is our PICK OF THE WEEK? Chaney plays a circus performer named Alonzo. He throws knives. And has no arms. Joan Crawford also travels with this circus, and do you know what her biggest turn-off is? Men’s hands. Now’s your chance, Alonso! This is only the beginning of this wild and crazy trip through the mind of director Tod Browning, who cornered the market on circus maniacs with this film and Freaks, which speaks for itself. If this movie was being shown with a soundtrack culled entirely from weekly phone calls with your mother, it would still be the best movie playing in Austin this week. But the Alamo has gone the extra mile to provide this screening with a unique score from local group The Invincible Czars, performed live in the theater along with the movie. If you miss this event, I will throw knives at you. And I do have hands.

Tuesday, 3/2
7:00pm, Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, AFS Essential Cinema: EMPIRE OF PASSION
The Austin Film Society continues its series on Oshima Nagisa with Empire of Passion, another movie about dangerous sex. This time, a man has an affair with an older, married woman, and the two decide to kill her husband and toss him down a well. Naturally, he returns as a ghost to haunt them. This is a rare and unique film series, especially for the city of Austin, so don’t miss out on this opportunity.

Tuesday, 3/2
7:00pm, Alamo Drafthouse Ritz, BIRDEMIC: SHOCK AND TERROR w/ director and stars
Have you seen The Room? If not, I pity you. If you have, you apparently have an idea of what you will be getting into when you go to see Birdemic: Shock and Terror. Director James Nguyen used the money he earned as a Silicon Valley software salesman to create this, his homage to Hitchcock’s The Birds. Judging from the trailer, this film will not encourage many young people to seek employment as a Silicon Valley software salesman. You can see the trailer and learn more about the film and this event here.

Tuesday, 3/2
10:00pm, Alamo Drafthouse Ritz, Terror Tuesday: THE BEAST WITHIN w/ director and star
In this very special episode of Terror Tuesday, we have not only a classic horror film from the 1980’s but also the film’s director Philippe Mora and its lead actor Paul Clemens. Clemens plays a 17-year-old whose experience with puberty is considerably worse than anything the rest of us went through. Apparently, the last half hour of this movie is so vile, so grotesque, that the drunkards won’t be the only ones throwing up on Sixth Street this Tuesday night. Won’t you come vomit with us?

Wednesday, 3/3
11:55pm, Alamo Drafthouse Ritz, Weird Wednesday: MAD DOG MORGAN w/ director
Philippe Mora returns to the Ritz on Wednesday night to help clean up all that vomit (see above) and talk about another one of his films, Mad Dog Morgan. The film follows real-life Australian outlaw Dan Morgan, played by Dennis Hopper, as he rambles through the Outback drinking every whiskey and shooting off every loaded gun in sight. Apparently, Hopper got into character by also drinking every whiskey and shooting every gun in Australia, so Mora will no doubt be ready to unload some of his filmmaking woes with a few choice Dennis Hopper stories. A few months ago, Film Comment noted the all-new DVD release of this film and declared it a must-see. Film Comment is a legit movie magazine, everybody! Weird Wednesday has the goods this week.