As promised

Here's a clip from the Uwe Boll/Zack Ward Q&A:

Wow wow wow wow wow. Definitely a highlight of the fest so far. Zack Ward isn't perfect, okay? But you can suck his balls anyway.

Truly F@#$ed!

After the Sex & Death Q&A, I sat down with Patton and Daniel and Simon to talk about the screening, the movie, and other stuff. In this clip Daniel talks about alternate titles to the movie, which I gave away already with the title of this blog post. I couldn't help it though, because I had to follow my own advice.

Stay tuned for more from the Super!Alright! produced interview over at the Dell Lounge.

Henri makes Richard Kelly talk about Justin Timberlake

This is a super brief excerpt of a fairly brief interview I got to do yesterday afternoon with Richard Kelly, the director of DONNIE DARKO and the soon-to-be-released SOUTHLAND TALES. Really, this was just an excuse for me to try to make him talk about Justin Timberlake, but then he wanted to talk about the entire cast and how he wanted to cast people against type and all of that "directory" stuff. But he agrees that getting Justin to lip sync The Killers was the greatest thing ever. Oh man, I wish I could just watch that scene over and over again.

38 BR - Time stands still...

The countdown has been taking a hit lately, mainly a result of me listening to rumors. On the last post the countdown barely moved at all because I heard a rumor that the Ritz would be opening on Oct. 17. I heard this rumor from a couple of sources, plus was shown an internal calendar with plenty of evidence the programming team has been working on a Ritz schedule. So I decided to ask Tim if an opening day had been decided. He told me that we wouldn't be opening on Oct. 17, but we would be opening before Halloween. He also said that he plans to announce an opening day after Fantastic Fest. Exactly when after Fantastic Fest, he did not elaborate. But keep your eyes and ears to the ground. Meanwhile, I have to defend my countdown to the Ritz's ever chipper site manager. Subjected to his ribbing the last time I saw him, he essentially characterized my countdown as an exercise in futility as I would have to constantly change the countdown.

As for the Ritz schedule, I can't divulge any specifics as everything is pretty much in limbo without a firm opening day. But it is clear from what I've seen that the spirit of downtown will be very much alive. And as for the grand opening, Tim was able to give me one little nugget: "We haven't decided on everything that is going to be part of the opening night festivities, but I can divulge that the "food" event for opening night is going to be MATANGO: ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE with a 5 course mushroom feast."

Leaving the land of speculation and rumor and into hard and cold fact, we enter the lobby of the Ritz. So much has taken shape in that space, it is getting really exciting because we are beginning to see some of the design ideas that will make it a most distinctive Alamo lobby: Both the bar area and Mondo Tees storefront are taking shape, sporting arches. And as it is now, the stairs up from the lobby have this kind of Clone Trooper visor thing going. I don't know, you tell me:




























Oh, and for the Hoek's Pizza fans in the house, I don't mean to stoke the flames, but the last remnants of that pizza window are gone:


Check out the photo set for more info and pics.

Uwe Boll and Zack Ward talk POSTAL

Saturday night at Fantastic Fest we got to screen POSTAL, the new Uwe Boll masterpiece that starts off inside the cockpit of a plane that's going to smash into the World Trade Center where there are two terrorists arguing about whether or not there will actually be enough virgins left in paradise for them and what to do with one of the virgins once they're virgins no more. From there, the movie gets kind of offensive.

Not wanting to be outdone by their film, Zack Ward and Uwe Boll made sure to keep parts of the Q&A offensive as well. We didn't get to see the two of them box, but it was pretty close for a while there...

We'll have some clips from that Q&A up later, but first, here's a bit of me talking to Uwe and Zack before the movie screening on Monday night. Zack seems to be attempting to offend people whenever he talks, doesn't he? In this clip I think he manages to be offensive to scientists and mentally disabled people in the same sentence. That's talent.

Miragemen!

Zack and Lars have already talked about the awesomeness that is MIRAGEMAN over on the Fantastic Fest Blog, but let me reiterate: After seeing that movie, I don't care who shows up for the Secret Screenings. Even if Harry has somehow managed to get his hands on experimental genetically modifying technology and created a one man conglomeration of Steven Spielberg, George Romero, Lucio Fulci, Quentin Tarantino, and Sergio Leone into a new sentient being known only as THE DIRECTOR, who has secretly made a movie called INDIANA STAR WARS ZOMBIE, it won't matter. MIRAGEMAN will still be the film I remember from this festival. Take that, THE DIRECTOR! Even if you don't have a badge to the festival, you will most likely be able to secure a ticket to the encore showing (Wednesday night at 9:35pm). Do it!

To warm you up, check out this vlog entry where Marc Savlov and I talked to Ernesto Díaz Espinoza and Marko Zaror, the director and star of MIRAGEMAN, on Friday night in front of the dancing fire machine. I hadn't seen the movie at this point, but Savlov had seen it and loved it, so I invited him to come on camera to help get this conversation about cinematic influences and high kicks going. Meet the Miragemen:

As usual, thanks to Super!Alright! for helping on the filming on this one, and be sure to check out the Dell Lounge later on for a more complete version of this interview along with dozens of other Fantastic Fest recaps.

Henri and George Romero

Last night I got the chance to sit down with the one and only George Romero to interview him on camera for just this little ol' blog (and eventually the Dell Lounge), and wow. Awesome. I was a little sad at first because I had to be sitting and talking to him about DIARY OF THE DEAD at the exact same time as DIARY was up on the screen in another auditorium, but then I figured I'll have another chance to see the movie. Another chance to sit down with Romero? Unlikely.

Super!Alright! did the camera work and gave me this first quick edit of part of the interview, in which George talks about his love for the Bush administration, and, ironically, how he thinks that people who blog about life instead of just living it are kind of zombies already. Dang it! Check it out:

Vlog: Bruce Lee Look-Alike Contest!

So for tonight's first screening of FINISHING THE GAME, we had been working with the Austinist to put together a Bruce Lee Look-Alike contest. The idea wasn't to have the person that automatically looked like Bruce Lee win just because he was the coolest motherfucker in the room, though, but rather to encourage people to come out to the movie dressed up as their favorite Bruce Lee persona.

This concept made sense, see, because FINISHING THE GAME is all about the search for a new Bruce Lee to be the body double for the studio that needed to finish shooting THE GAME OF DEATH after Bruce Lee's own demise.

Anyway, it turned out that not a lot of people wanted to dress up for one of the many movies they planned on seeing that night, so Lars had to think on his feet in order to give away the fabulous prizes we had available from Hog Wild Toys, Backspin Records, and the Austin Kung Fu Academy. Instead of having people look like Bruce, Lars decided to make them scream like Bruce. I think it made for a more entertaining show...

Gore Cannon!

Okay, there'll be better video of this later, and there's a LOT more craziness to go into in the first few hours of Fantastic Fest (already! How is it possible?), but I had to share some of the video of the opening party as soon as I possibly could. Remember how we told you there would be a gore cannon? We weren't lying! But what we didn't even know when we told you that was that it would be shot at our own Zack Carlson who would be standing in his underwear! Hot mess! Check it out:

Casey Affleck at Alamo Lamar Wednesday!

Aint It Cool News and Fantastic Fest are proud to present a special free screening for badge holders only: The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford with star Casey Affleck Live In Person on Wednesday, September 19! Tickets to the screening are free, but badgeholders may reserve a seat for this highly anticipated advance screening by purchasing a $10 Food and Beverage Voucher at the Alamo Drafthouse website. The remainder of the seats will be available at the door, first come, first serve.

Aint It Cool News and Fantastic Fest are proud to present a special free screening for badge holders only: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford with star Casey Affleck Live In Person! Tickets to the screening are free, but badgeholders may reserve a seat for this highly anticipated advance screening by purchasing a $10 Food and Beverage Voucher at the Alamo Drafthouse website.

Note: this screening is only available to Fantastic Fest badge holders! To purchase a badge or to check out the full festival line-up, click here Seating is limited and this show is expected to sell out soon, so if you want to come, act quickly!

About the film:
Jesse James (BRAD PITT) was one of the country's first bona fide celebrities.

There have been countless books written and tales told about America's most famous outlaw--all of them colorful and fascinating, all focused on his larger-than-life public persona and daring exploits, and most of them bearing only incidental reference to the truth.

To those he robbed and terrorized, and to the families of those he admittedly killed, he may have been just a criminal, but in the sensational newspaper articles and dime novels chronicling the James Gang throughout the 1870s, Jesse was the object of awe and admiration. He was a Robin Hood, they suggested, targeting railroad owners and banks that exploited poor farmers. He was a man with a tragic cause, a wronged and wounded Confederate soldier striking back against the Union that had ruined his life. Most importantly, to an increasingly buttoned-down and citified population leading ordinary lives, he was the last frontiersman--a symbol of freedom and the American spirit, a charismatic rebel who flouted the law and lived by his own rules...by all accounts, a legend.

Foremost among his admirers was Robert Ford (CASEY AFFLECK), an idealistic and ambitious young man who had devoted his life to the hope of one day riding alongside his idol. He could never have imagined that history would ultimately mark him as the "the dirty little coward" who shot Jesse in the back.

But who was Jesse James, really--behind the folklore and the selling of newspapers? And who was Robert Ford, just nineteen and a member of Jesse's inner circle, who was able to bring down such a formidable figure when lawmen across ten states had tried and failed? How did they come to be friends and what happened between them in the days and hours leading up to the gunshot that would end one man's life and become the definition and sum total of another's?

No one will ever know the whole truth.

Based on the novel by Ron Hansen, THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD delves into the private lives of America's most notorious outlaw and his unlikely assassin to offer a new perspective on a legend and address the question of what really may have transpired in the months before that infamous shooting.

The year is 1881 and Jesse is 34 years old. As he plans his next great robbery, he continues to wage war on his enemies who are trying to collect the reward money and the glory riding on his capture. But the greatest threat to his life could come from those he would trust the most.

48 BR - Stairway to heaven

*collective groan* Alright, the title is cheesy, but I had to do it.

It has been a while since I've been to the Ritz, and even longer since I've posted an update. Sorry about that. But a lot has been accomplished.

One big deal is that the stairs to theaters 1 and 2 have been built. Both of the theaters have also had significant work done as well. In theater 2 we have seen the building of the soundproof wall AND the screen wall. When I was there today, finishing touches were being applied to the entrance area of this theater. In theater 1 much of the wall structure work for the back of the theater, manager's office, runner's station and customer and employee entrances have been completed. Most notably in Theater 1, however, has to be the balconies: They have had railings and necessary sheetrock installed. They are almost completed.

The kitchen and bar areas have all had FRP installed on the walls. And when I was there today there were a couple of guys installing vent hoods and stainless in the kitchen. It looks like pretty much all of the wall structure work for the bar, kitchen, server area and bathrooms have been completed.

And even the elevator shaft was getting some attention today as rails are being installed. Check out the pics for more!


Alamo @ The Ritz set 4

Or get caught up by checking out my Alamo Drafthouse collection.

Quentin Tarantino's uncut DEATH PROOF moves to larger auditorium, that means more seats for everyone! Come join us this Monday 9/17!

This upcoming Monday at 10pm we will be offering a 35mm film screening of Quentin Tarantino's uncut DEATH PROOF absolutely free. This is a rare opportunity to see the version that premiered at Cannes with 23 minutes of restored footage and we hope you'll take advantage of it. Initially, this screening was only open to Fantastic Fest members but demand was so great that we have moved it into the biggest auditorium at the Alamo South Lamar, thus freeing seats for all, badgeholders or not. But space is still limited and this will fill up. The way to reserve your seat is by purchasing a $10 Food and Beverage voucher here. We'll see you there. Special thanks to the Weinstein Company and the man himself, QT.

If you want to make it a true classic Grindhouse Double Feature, check out the 7:30 show first: Dario Argento's FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET introduced by rock legends (and gigantic fans of the Ennio Morricone soundtrack) YO LA TENGO! Also at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar.

Vlog: Shoot 'Em Up with Live Human Targets

So that word "vlog" has been around for a long time now, but it still sounds sort of lame. I think in the future when I've got a video blog entry to post I'm just going to give you the word "video" before the real subject line. You already know that it's a blog post, because you're looking at our blog reel online; it's just the video that's an extra feature not in every post, so that's all you need to learn in a quick snapshot view, right?

Anyway, this vlog is for the Shoot 'Em Up premiere party we had at the Alamo Village a couple of weeks back. We sent Caitlin Stevens up with a camera and asked her to capture the violence as we had the entire audience pile out of the theater and into the alley around the side to shoot at live human targets and a toy baby. It was just your run of the mill shooting spree until Tim League got suited up and went out to be a target... Check it out:

Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof extended cut at the Alamo!

Monday, September 17
Alamo South Lamar
10:00 PM

We have another special opportunity exclusively for Fantastic Fest attendees: a 35mm sneak-preview screening of the extended director's cut of Death Proof. This is the version of the film that premiered at Cannes in May and personally, I am more than a little bit excited to get an early crack at checking out the extra 23 minutes of footage.

This screening is free, but to reserve your seat you can pre-purchase a $10 food and drink voucher on our website. This promotion is ONLY open to 2007 Fantastic Fest badge holders. The only other way to win tickets is through radio giveaways on 101X. Prior to the screening, we'll roll a reel of 35mm grindhouse-era trailers from the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema vault to get you in the right frame of mind.

Special thanks to the Weinstein Company for arranging this event. Death Proof on DVD hits stores on Tuesday, September 18.

Fantastic Fest is an 8 day genre film festival taking place at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema South Lamar September 20-27. The festival features 60 premiere horror, sci-fi, fantasy, crime, animation and generally badass movies. Complete lineup and schedule is available at fantasticfest.com


Although VIP badges are sold out, there are still a limited number of regular Festival badges still available here for Fantastic Fest 2007. We expect to be sold out soon, so if you want to go to the Death Proof special event and Fantastic Fest, act now or you may miss out in 2007.

Remember the Alamo, 1997 style...

I just took a little walk down memory lane and found some real embarrasing images, the web equivalent to the parachute pants and mini-mullet I sported in 1984. A friend told me about the Archive.org time-capsule of the Wayback Machine, an archive that sucks down websites each month and stores them for posterity, like snapshots in time. You can trace the evolution of a website over the years and see how it changes with the times. I took a trip back to March of 1997 on the original Alamo Website, 2 months before we opened and the pixels on my screen leapt out and jabbed my eyeballs like white-hot pokers. Font abuse! A freaking popcorn background! Bad clip art! A crazy Alamo logo I don't even remember! It's hard to read, has bad link colors but at least it's optimized for Mosaic browsers. Check out your own websites from 10 years ago, but be forewarned, history is sometimes very ugly.