Mystery event... coming to Austin!

If you open up the Austin American Statesman on Friday, February 29th, Wednesday March 5th and Thursday March 6th, and you might see what I find to be a very tantalizing advertisement. I've reproduced the ad here on this blog post to save you a bit of effort. I am not at liberty to divulge the details at this time, but suffice it to say, I am excited and I will be there to pick up my ticket! This screening is sponsored in party by Fantastic Fest, SXSW and Ain't It Cool News.

We love Danny McBride... and so should you!

For those fortunate enough to catch the screening of THE FOOT FIST WAY that Patton Oswalt brought to the theater last year, you are already in the Danny McBride Fan Club. Will Ferrell considers him to be the funniest actor working in Hollywood today and has chosen him to costar in the upcoming LAND OF THE LOST remake. We'll be opening THE FOOT FIST WAY later this year, but on the more immediate horizon is another supporting character role for Mr. McBride. He'll be playing Don, the self-proclaimed sex symbol vagrant in the Seth-Rogan-penned, Owen-Wilson-starring Drillbit Taylor which opens at the Alamo on March 21. Check out this new clip above, just released by Paramount. It's a glimpse into the future, see America's next comedy megastar: Danny McBride. Enjoy!

Air Guitar Premilinaries Report by Chris Trew

I was out of town for Air Guitar this week for only the 2nd time in 4 years, but our good friend Chris Trew, head honco of Coldtowne Theater, adeptly guided the show as the guest master of ceremonies. Below is Chris's blog account of the show:

While tonight’s Air Guitar match at the Alamo Drafthouse didn’t have as much creativity and skill as previous matches, it more than made up for it with crowd intensity. I had my hands full as host as did the celebrity judges (Johnny Walker, Arthur Simone, and Buzz Moran).

Muff Dreamy, Hans Fretman, Master of Destruction, Firestorm, Sunbeam, Guitarmageddon, Johhny Chaos, and Rock Sack (a former champion - he finished third tonight) all turned in decent shows - but it was appetizer for the Buck Nasty vs. The Guardian main course. The crowd was split and calling for it all night - often times interrupting our celebrity judges (you don’t interrupt celebrities, especially local celebrities) and myself. Cookies were stolen and cuss words were chanted, and in the end Buck Nasty edged last month’s first place finisher The Guardian.

The lobby was crazy with activity post show with audience members loudly voicing their approval/disapproval of the decision. It was a good night - I scratched two things off my big to-do list:

1. Toss someone in the front row of the most popular movie theater in the world a warm cookie
2. Announce a big one-on-one main event ala’ professional wrestling

There’s only a couple of things left to go and then I’ll need to make a new list.

You, buy your tickets to next month’s show here!

(Chris Trew)

Red Carpet Bash 2008 at the Alamo Village!

Wow, the stars were certainly at their best at last night's Red Carpet Bash at the Village! For proof, check out these glamorous photos on our Alamo Flickr page!

Ah, the glamour! The glitz!

Austin Rock Band Championships Mar 19!

No, this is not a call out to find hot new "musical" talent. This is a call to Playstation 3 and XBox 360 owners. There's a new breed of Rock Band and we may just wipe actual musicians off the planet. Since Christmas, we've been nothing less than ADDICTED
to Rock Band. But now we're tired of keeping the party in our living room and the basement at our parents' house, and we want to bring it out into public and see what you can do. So in the spirit of rock that started with AIR GUITAR, we invite you to form a band, come up with some costumes, and come down to the theater to show us how you rock.



It's free to compete, but only the top 12 bands who apply will be invited to perform. Post a video of your band performing to the Austin Rock Band Championships Facebook Group or email a Youtube link to brad@originalalamo.com. We will notify accepted bands by March 16. We'll also be posting updates, videos and photos to this Facebook group, so please join if you are a Rock Band enthusiast.

We'll have great gear and prizes for the winning teams, who will be judged by an aggregate of actual game score with bonus points for stage presence and costumes.

The Rock Band Championships are sponsored in part by Coleandbobby.com. Not only are they obsessed with film, they are, like us, addicted to Rock Band.

New frenzy announced: BPM Music Video Contest

Filmmaking Frenzy is proud to announce our next action-packed filmmaking competition, the 2008 edition of BPM (Beats Per Minute), a 48 hour filmmaking competition. At the beginning of the contest teams will be given a song from one of the artists performing at the Red Bull Moon Tower. Once everybody's checked in, we'll say "Go!" and immediately you and your team start scrambling: listening to the song, decoding the lyrics, making the shot list, borrowing and stealing guitars, wigs - whatever it takes to make the most entertaining video of them all.

Grand prize for this Frenzy is an AMD-based Dell laptop loaded up by Guitar Center with a music editing package, second prize is an AMD-based Dell laptop and third prize is an Epiphone guitar provided by Gibson. The top 40 films will also be posted on the Red Bull Moon Tower Facebook page., and the top 40 teams will be invited to the Red Bull Moon Tower where their videos will be played in between the live sets of the bands from the competition.

Teams have from between Friday, Feb 29, 7:00 PM and Sunday, Mar 2, 7:00 PM, to produce a music video for a band that will be performing at the Red Bull Moon Tower. All films will be posted online for voting by March 5 at 5:00 PM.

Sign up for a team and see all the rules and info here.

Do you have the crazy? THE SIGNAL opens today at The Alamo South Lamar.

Austinites, consider yourselves lucky, as if you didn't already. You can check out one of the best sci-fi-horror-action movies we've seen in years starting today at the Alamo South Lamar.

if you liked PLANET TERROR, you have an idea of the speed and tone of THE SIGNAL. It's an unabashed brain-smashing good time at the movies. Oh, we won't tell you who the killer is but here's a hint - IT'S YOU!

Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle nailed it in his glowing review here.

Buy your ticket and find out more about THE SIGNAL here.

Clinton vs. Obama: Watch the debate with us at the Alamo South Lamar!

There's been such a huge demand for this ticket we've added more seats and more fun!

Lately, the gloves have been coming off between the neck-and-neck democratic hopefuls, and we expect this debate on the eve of the Texas Primary to be a democratic bare-knuckle brawl.

See all the action unfold live on screen as we simulcast the Austin Texas debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama at the Alamo Drafthouse. We'll be dividing the theater in half: Barack supporters on one side, Clinton supporters on the other. We'll also be serving beer, so we ask that the Alamo attendees please keep the spirits high but the gloves on while in our building. We've held parties for the Superbowl, the NCAA championship, the Final Four and the World Cup. Believe it or not, the most spirited crowds and energized fans are those of the sport d'jour: presidential politics. This is one show you do not want to miss!

The show is free, but you can reserve your seat in advance by pre-purchasing a $10 food and drink voucher below. You can indicate your candidate preference when choosing the voucher: Undecided, Clinton or Obama.

Vouchers for sale here. So far, Obama has a slight lead on Hilary. But they say you can never count out the Clintons.

This just in: National Public Radio microphones will be in the house, covering our debate party and interviewing attendees. Be here!

ALAMO EXCLUSIVE TROLL 2 FEARFEST POSTER!

As you may know, we're bringing the Rolling Roadshow rig up to Dallas on March 7th for an INSANE quadruple feature of horror films. The topper for the evening will be our midnight TROLL 2 35MM screening, with several of the stars in attendance. Troll 2 is the BEST/WORST film in history! The last time we screened it at the old Alamo downtown, the sold out show had a standby line around the building! So to mark this landmark event, we've commissioned a new poster as part of our ongoing Rolling Roadshow poster series!


The Regular edition (brown/green) is limited to 110 copies worldwide. The Variant edition (black/blue/silver) is limited to 30 worldwide. Both posters measure 24x36 and are hand
pulled silk-screen art prints, printed on 100lb white art paper. Signed and Numbered by the artist, Tim Doyle (that name seems familiar to me...)! And best of all BOTH POSTERS GLOW IN THE DARK! Yes, I know that's an awful lot of awesome for one piece of paper, but I think you, the Alamo public, not only can handle it...but deserve it.

You can pre-order on-line right now at Mondotees.com for delivery (shipping is world-wide) or pick it up at the Fearfest this March!

Photos from the Will Ferrell Semi Pro event

Nothing makes me happier than a room/theater/field full of Alamo patrons dressed in silly outfits. With that in mind, Saturday was a mighty fine day. Will Ferrell came to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and was a great sport as we slogged through a bunch of team photos at the end of the Q&A to commemorate the evening.

I have now received the full roster of team and candid photos from our shutterbug pal David Hill (www.davidhillphoto.com). You can download hi-resolution versions of the files at his Flickr site. If you would like professionally printed copies of these photos, you can contact David through his website.

In addition to the Semi-Pro sneak preview photos, we have photos from a bunch of the past Alamo Drafthouse/Fantastic Fest/Ain't It Cool events on our Flickr site and are adding more all the time.

Semi-Pro opens at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on Friday, February 29 (although there are rumors of a February 28 midnight show...). I was one of the yellow-headbanded masses last Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed the film. It's a Will Ferrell comedy classic on par with Anchorman. Now that we've seen it, we'll be throwing out a few extra special Alamo surprises come opening weekend. We hope to see you there!

Red Carpet Feast Menu Now Online

You probably know about our (rapidly filling up) Red Carpet Bash, taking place this Sunday at the Ritz and Village. At those parties, the participants dress up, drink champagne and enjoy any trademarked awards telecasts that might happen to be on that night.

But you may not know about the Red Carpet Feast, in which chef John Bullington prepares a multi-course feast, with each dish representative of one of the Best Picture nominees.

Here's the menu, a little food for thought when you're thinking about this Sunday night and all the trademarked award ceremony fun you could be having:

JUNO
Breakfast for Dinner
Beef tartar with quail egg yolk on Belgian Ale waffle with truffle butter and Sunny D.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Coffee rubbed and seared venison on heirloom tomato salad with toasted peanut vinaigrette.

MICHAEL CLAYTON
Manhattan style lobster chowder in baguette bowl.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Pecan, sage and onion stuffed quail with a whiskey cream sauce, with wildcatter rice and blood orange seared spinach.

ATONEMENT
A child’s chocolate fantasy
Warm raspberry stuffed chocolate cake with layers of chocolte mousse topped with ganche alongside chocolate ice cream.

And here's where you buy those tickets you know you want.

The new March/April Alamo Guide

We just wrapped up production on the new Alamo Drafthouse Cinema printed calendar for March and April. Over the next few days we'll be uploading the shows to the website, but in the meantime, if you want to download the guide, we've posted it to the website as a PDF.

Highlights in this issue include a musical performance by Negativland and a visit by Bud Cort, the star of Harold and Maude and Brewster McCloud. We're hosting our first big screen classics series at the new Alamo Ritz, 35mm prints of Blade Runner, King Kong, The Thing and 2001; the Alamo Pirate Party; a new edition of Super Happy Fun Monkey Bash, mind-melting Japanese TV:; a beat film retrospective sponsored by the Harry Ransom Center; the latest installment of Iron Chef Austin, a throwdown of Alamo vs. Roy's; the big Lebowski 10th anniversary bowling party and much, much more.

Check back towards the end of this week for more details on the web, but for those who just can't wait, you can download it here.

Join us for the Obama / Clinton Austin debate!!!

Lately, the gloves have been coming off between the neck-and-neck democratic hopefuls, and we expect this debate on the eve of the Texas Primary to be a democratic bare-knuckle brawl.

See all the action unfold live on screen as we simulcast the Austin Texas debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama at the Alamo Drafthouse. We'll be dividing the theater in half: Barack supporters on one side, Clinton supporters on the other. We'll also be serving beer, so we ask that the Alamo attendees please keep the spirits high but the gloves on while in our building. We've held parties for the Superbowl, the NCAA championship, the Final Four and the World Cup. Believe it or not, the most spirited crowds and energized fans are those of the sport d'jour: presidential politics. This is one show you do not want to miss!

The show is free, but you can reserve your seat in advance by pre-purchasing a $10 food and drink voucher HERE. You can indicate your candidate preference when choosing the voucher: Undecided, Clinton or Obama.

There will be a God in our presence next Wednesday night.

There's a shocking article in the Austin Chronicle this week about Davie Allan, the guy who created the music for many, many biker movie soundtracks in the '60s.

I read it with great interest since I am a gigantic fan of his supernaturally perfect fuzz tone. I've watched a lot of biker movies and all the best of them feature Davie on guitar. His sound just seems to incite every cell in your body to brawling, rebellion and motorized hell-raising. So understandably, I could barely believe the words I was reading. How could it be?

He will be joining us on Wednesday February 20 to bring his biker guitar rumble to the stage of the Ritz before a screening of the not on DVD American International Pictures motorcycle gang classic DEVIL'S ANGELS. Davie Allan is truly one of the gods of this thing we call coolness and it's a huge honor to have him perform on the Ritz stage.

Here he is in a recent performance, sounding GREAT:



Please join us: tickets and more information here.

The Golden Power Glove

Last weekend we finally got to have one of our dreams come true, when we presented THE WIZARD on the big screen at the Ritz with Todd Holland, Luke Edwards, and Fred Savage all their live in person. At the Q&A for the 10pm show, Princess Peach joined Luigi and Mario on our stage and presented the director and stars with a special token of our appreciation for how awesome they are: a golden Power Glove. I sat in the front row and took this low-quality video.

REWIND KINDLY: Swede filmmaking competition now online at FilmmakingFrenzy .com

Okay... wow. When we first put out the call for people to create their own BE KIND REWIND inspired 5 minute remakes of beloved Hollywood classics, we knew that filmmakers all over town would have a blast. We didn't realize that there would be four different teams that would create their own version of THE KARATE KID, or five remakes of TOP GUN. And then the fully-animated BAMBI remake that was created in just three weeks?

Like I said, wow.

We've been incredibly entertained and floored by the talent and creativity on display in this latest filmmaking contest, and if you would also like to be entertained and floored you can do so over at www.FilmmakingFrenzy.com. Not only that, but if you want to create a user profile, you can also comment on your favorite films and vote for the ones that you like best to become the ultimate winners of a Quad-Core AMD-powered system from Dell. I know a lot of the filmmakers over there would appreciate your vote, so stop worrying about Obama or Hilary or McCain or your disbelief at Romney's exit and vote for something that really matters - lovingly crafted Hollywood remakes.

I'm still taking as many breaks throughout the day as I can so that I can watch all of these masterpieces, but if you just want to get a quick taste you can start with any of the TOP GUNs or KARATE KIDs or BAMBI that I mentioned above, or take a second to check out:DIE HARD or one of the many JURASSIC PARK swedes*.

If you've got another favorite video you find on the site, leave a link to it in the comments! I want to make sure I don't miss a thing, cause I'm just like Aerosmith.
_____________________________________________________________

* - 'Sweding' is term defined in the film BE KIND REWIND as the practice of re-creating something from scratch using commonly available, everyday materials and technology.

Come See Fantastic Fest Face-Burner SPIRAL at the Alamo Lamar starting this weekend

If you wondered why so many people were wandering around shaking their heads and muttering to themselves at Fantastic Fest last year, it's probably because they had just seen a screening of the terrific, suspenseful thriller SPIRAL. This time HATCHET director Adam Green has taken on an all new challenge and once again he succeeds with edge-of-your-seat excitement.

And now, by popular demand, we are thrilled to bring it back for everyone to enjoy.

Buy your tickets now HERE.

"A Hitch-cocktail of precision direction, deft pacing, startling imagery and clean style. The undercurrent of sly suspense never subsides in this teasing psychodrama packing a final shock punch." Alan Jones, FrightFest

Portland in the fall is a solitary city. A city where a lonely man can lose himself, insulated beneath the cold, and the clouds, and the rain. Mason (Joel David Moore) is just such a man. A gifted artist, Mason is never-the-less neurotic and reclusive, living a life of anonymity, working from a drab cubicle in a florescent-lit phone bank, repeating the same meaningless conversation with faceless strangers ad nauseam.

Mason is never truly noticed by anyone, save his boss, Berkeley (Zachary Levi), not quite a friend, but a sole source of companionship in an otherwise isolated existence. That is, until he meets a gregarious co-worker named Amber (Amber Tamblyn), a girl struggling with her own loneliness and need to define herself. Amber's jovial demeanor and seemingly carefree attitude provides a sort of catharsis for Mason, and allows his true gifts to come to light as she poses for his art.

It is an unlikely, and unusual courtship that helps Mason find peace for possibly the first time in his life. But as Mason's defenses lower, and the man inside is revealed, there may be something behind the surface darker than anyone expected. For not everything that is hidden should be found, and not every love is meant to be. And you can't paint over your past...

Will Ferrell live in person, February 16!

Ain't It Cool News and Fantastic Fest have an unbelievable special event happening an February 16 at 7:00 PM. The titan among modern-day comedy giants, Mr. Will Ferrell, along with director Kent Alterman will be live in person at the Alamo South Lamar for a special sneak-preview screening of his new comedy feature: SEMI-PRO.

We are making this special available exclusively to 2008 Fantastic Fest badge holders. Fantastic Fest badge holders will have first crack at the tickets until Friday, February 8 at 5:00 PM, after that, the remaining tickets, if any, will be made available to the general public.

If you haven't committed to Fantastic Fest 2008, now is the right time. Because of the high demand for these tickets, we don't expect these to last until Friday. Complete 2008 badge options are available on the Fantastic Fest website.

Admission to this event is free, but here's the catch... in order to gain entrance to the theater, all attendees MUST be wearing a Flint Tropics uniform. No uniform, no entry; you're going to have to show your dedication to get through the door.

To enter, you must be wearing ALL of the following:
sneakers
white tube socks with gold rings
gold, white or aqua shorts
a white Flint Tropics tank top jersey complete with team logo and number
a gold terry cloth headband

You can hand-craft your own uniform, but it must be complete. We also have available a licensed uniform set at Mondo Tees which includes everything but the shorts and sneakers (tube socks, headband and Flint Tropics tank top complete with your name ironed-on the back of the jersey in 70s style fuzzy letters).

It should go without saying that afros, 70s hairstyles in general and a very tight cut of shorts are all highly encouraged.

Before the film, we'll have a granny-style free throw competition, plus we'll take a group photo of everyone from the audience in their Flint Tropics gear. This photo will be posted to the web at high-resolution for everyone to download and print.

Fantastic Fest badgeholders are entitled to 1 ticket per badge, and as this show will sell out quickly, we will be scrutinizing the list carefully to ensure that all confirmed attendees are in fact Fantastic Fest badge holders. If your badge was purchased by another individual and you confirm for SEMI-PRO, please email the ticket-purchaser's name to brad@originalalamo.com.

Tickets to this show will be activated online at 1:00 PM on Thursday, February 7 for Fantastic Fest badge-holders only. Tickets will be open to the general public on Friday, February 8 at 5:00 PM.

TEXAS FEARFEST: Monsters + Movies = Mandatory Mayhem!!

GOREMASTERS and GUTBLASTERS!

There are very few events that can really bring out the little kid in you. But only one tears that little kid directly through your sternum and holds it up to the scorching light of pure horror insanity:

T E X A S F E A R F E S T !!!

If you've ever shrunk in terror from a shadow creeping across your window...if you've ever shivered at a cold wind passing through a darkened woods...if you've ever watched a goddamn horror movie, NOW IS THE TIME TO INDULGE IN YOUR OWN FRIGHT!

The central US' most major celebration of terror -- and the largest in our state's history -- THE TEXAS FEAR FEST will be upon us soon! On March 7 through 9, Dallas will be flooded with more b-movie royalty and big-scream celebrities than your wildest nightmares would ever allow. Everyone from JOHN SAXON to LINNEA QUIGLEY to MICHAEL BERRYMAN to ROBERT "FREDDY" ENGLUND to the cast of TROLL 2 will be there, waiting to shake your hand and manifest your deepest fears in the flesh!!

And the Alamo Drafthouse's own Rolling Roadshow will also be there on opening night to present outdoor 35mm SPECIAL GUEST SCREENINGS of gut-churning classicks including A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, FRIGHT NIGHT, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER and (last but certainly not least) TROLL 2!! Each of these unforgettable back-to-back films will be hosted by a major group of cast and creators LIVE IN PERSON, and I guarantee that this is the closest you will ever get to seeing these films in unfettered '80s drive-in glory!


For details on the screening event, CLICK HERE!

And to purchase a ticket for the entire Fear Fest weekend, CLICK HERE!

Honestly, there's never been such a massively huge assemblage of high-grade horror luminaries and unadulterated hack-n-slash excitement under one roof. If you miss this event, you may as well spend the weekend sucking bullets out of a shotgun.

Crispin Glover: The Live Appearance starts Saturday at The Ritz!

Hopefully by now everyone knows that Crispin Glover will be appearing live in person at the Ritz, performing a theatrical reading and slideshow and screening two of his highly personal films, IT IS FINE! EVERYTHING IS FINE and WHAT IS IT?

His performances and screenings, complete with Q&A sessions, are pretty special, and you won't see the films anywhere else so you owe it to your grandchildren to catch Crispin while he's in town so you can make them feel bad about all the great stuff they missed by not being born much later.

Each show includes a 1 hour slideshow performance, called The Big Slide Show, plus a screening of one of his films - IT IS FINE! EVERYTHING IS FINE on Saturday and Monday and WHAT IS IT? on Sunday - plus a Q&A afterwards. Crispin will also be signing copies of his books after each show.

Click here for tix to IT IS FINE! EVERYTHING IS FINE.

Click here for tix to WHAT IS IT?

Oh, and don't worry, he won't bite you. He's very nice.

Here's a little sample of the slide show:



And just because we can't resist, here he is singing the Michael Jackson hit BEN: