Do you dare go toe-to-toe with PREDATORS (2010)?
Dir. Nimród Antal
Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, 7/8/2010, 7:30
[Warning: CONTAINS SPOILERS!]
Predators doesn’t waste any time getting straight into the action. Though it does not begin en media res, it surely begins “in the middle of things.” The film opens on a free falling Adrien Brody who, after waking from unconsciousness, pounds at the beeping, glowing, Iron [...]
TOY STORY 3 (2010): two movies in one
Dir. Lee Unkrich
Alamo South Lamar, 6/19/10, 1:45pm
Increasingly, the discourse surrounding Pixar films suggests that they truly are “family” movies, in that they contain something for the kids and something for the adults in the audience. To a certain extent, this has been true of films like Finding Nemo and Up, which featured heroes for [...]
Side effects of the BACK TO THE FUTURE TRILOGY (1985, 1989, 1990) may include frequent deja vu
Dir. Robert Zemeckis
Alamo Ritz, 6/13/10, 11:30am
On Sunday at the Ritz, Christopher Lloyd arrived at the Alamo Ritz in a DeLorean to kick off a day-long marathon of the Back to the Future trilogy. Like most aging, disinterested guests, Lloyd did not have much to contribute to the experience beyond an interesting anecdote or two, [...]
I wouldn’t mind picking up THE HITCHHIKERS (1972)
Dir. Beverly and Fred Sebastian
Alamo Ritz, 6/9/10, 11:59pm
This rough and tumble quickie is really good. Directed by the husband and wife time of Beverly and Fred Sebastian, who pleased me very much with their ‘Gator Bait, this picture’s got it all: women, women, women. But also crime, hippies, cars, guns, and did I [...]
Why would anyone want to leave CASABLANCA (1942)?
Dir. Michael Curtiz
The Paramount, 5/20/10, 7:00pm
When talking about classic film like Casablanca, the word “timeless” is often applied. But what do we mean when we say that Casablanca is timeless? After all, this is a film set in a very specific place and time (Vichy-controlled Morocco in the early 1940s), with characters dealing [...]
A tragic realization upon seeing GET HIM TO THE GREEK (2010)
Dir. Nicholas Stoller
Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, 6/5/10, 11:05am
Well, it’s early June, and that means that comedy fans are at their yearly crossroads. The TV season is over. That means that sitcoms and cartoons are done until September, and the boob tube is a wasteland of nothingness. Where can we, as a nation, [...]
Mink was here for PINK FLAMINGOS (1972)
Dir. John Waters
Alamo Drafthouse Ritz, 5/16/10, 6:45pm
We were lucky enough to have been visited by screen legend and trash queen Mink Stole last weekend. As I wrote about a few days ago, she was here with drag queen Peaches Christ to premiere their new film, All About Evil. As a bonus, we were [...]
Let me tell you ALL ABOUT EVIL (2010)
Dir. Joshua Grannell
Alamo Drafthouse Ritz, 5/15/10, 7:00pm
This weekend was surely a moment to remember in the Austin Texas film scene. We were visited not by one but by two screen legends: Cassandra “Elvira” Peterson, of Movie Macabre fame, and Mink Stole, the Dreamland doll who played Connie Marble, Taffy Davenport, and Peggy Gravel, among [...]
Madames are made in MOONLIGHTING WIVES (1966)
Dir. Joseph W. Sarno
Alamo Drafthouse Ritz, 5/12/10, 11:59pm
As I noted a few weeks ago, famed sexploitation filmmaker Joe Sarno passed away on April 26. The Alamo and Weird Wednesday hosted a memorial screening for the director this week, showcasing one of his best loved films, Moonlighting Wives. Unfortunately, the mechanical and proletarian Iron [...]
IRON MAN 2 (2010) launches the summer movie season
Dir. Jon Favreau
Alamo Ritz, 5/12/10, 8:45pm
In 2008, Iron Man shocked moviegoers and box office prognosticators alike when a superhero without much established buzz wowed the crowds and delivered big bucks back to the studios. Similar to Johnny Depp’s mega-star turn as Jack Sparrow in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Robert Downey Jr. [...]
