The Alamo Drafthouse has quickly garnered a reputation as one of the greatest movie theaters in the history of mankind…or at least the history of movie theaters. With their signature events, ample food and drink selection, and strict no-talking policy, they make obsolete all tawdry multiplexes and completely redefine the movie-going experience. Here’s what they’re up to this week!
Thursday November 24th
UT Football
Alamo Ritz 7:00pm
“The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is the premiere spot for watching UT Longhorn football in Austin. We feature the games on our movie screen with state of the art video projection. With the *possible* exception of live in the stadium, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is the best spot for the serious football fan. All eyes in the auditorium are focused on the movie screen, where the action on the field will be larger than life! This show is free, but you can guarantee yourself a seat by purchasing a $5 Food/Beverage voucher here. Doors open one hour before kick-off!”—Drafthouse.com
Friday November 25th
Master Pancake Celebrates Hanksgiving
Alamo Ritz (thru 11/26) 7:00pm; 10:00pm
“This November Master Pancake feasts on America’s most beloved actor, Tom Hanks, with a smorgasbord of his best and worst: it’s the first ever Master Pancake HANKSgiving! Love him or hate him (and who hates him?) you won’t want to miss this comic retrospective of the T-man’s oeuvre, because for every Saving Private Ryan under his belt, there’s a Turner and Hooch lurking in his closet. We’ll be roasting clips from both of those gems, as well as The Da Vinci Code, Cast Away, Toy Story, The Green Mile, Mazes and Monsters, Bosom Buddies, Apollo 13 and many, many more! Come out to the Alamo this November and show how Hankful you are as Master Pancake lovingly eviscerates the most prolific actor of our time!”—Drafthouse.com
Saturday November 26th
Free Kids Club: Freaky Friday (1976)
Alamo South Lamar 11:00am
“Annabel Andrews (Jodie Foster) and her mother, Ellen (Barbara Harris), don't always see eye to eye. After a particularly frustrating argument on Friday the 13th, the two simultaneously wish they could switch places -- and suddenly their wish is granted. Each discovers how difficult it is to be in the other's shoes, with Ellen causing chaos at Annabel's school, and Annabel unable to deal with her mother's domestic duties. The two learn a lot about themselves and their relationship in the process.”—Drafthouse.com
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Alamo Village 11:55pm
Thrill to all the cheap laughs, cheap women, and cheap production values of one of the world’s premier bad movies. Watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show in-and-of-itself is an event, but it takes on a whole new life when witnessed within the walls of The Alamo Village with loads of audience participation, dressed-up patrons, and general wickedness that has become a vital component to the film’s meteoritic rise to cult film legend.
Sunday November 27th
Lord of the Rings Trilogy Hobbit Feast
Alamo Ritz 11:00am
“One our biggest, bestest, and certainly our most hobbit-est feast is back for 2011! Come, friends, and join us in this fellowship recounting the epic quest of the brave hobbit Frodo and his merry band of dwarves, wizards, and Viggos. We'll snuggle up together and brave our way through the ENTIRE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY - nearly 12 hours - all while devouring food and imbibing drink inspired by Tolkien's Middle Earth! Each of the seven(!) courses is served during each Hobbit meal time! By the time the King (spoiler alert!) ascends to his rightful throne, you too will be ready to return to the Shire and be greeted as a hero by your loved ones who didn't think you would make it all the way...and then pass out in a blissful food and film induced coma. The cost of the food and wine option will be $129, food only option will be $94.”—Drafthouse.com
The Nightmare Before Christmas Sing-Along
Alamo Lake Creek 7:00pm
“We've got to find Jack! There's only 11 months left until next Halloween! Halloween may have come and gone but it's never too late to start preparing for next year. And the best way to start preparing? By visiting Jack Skellington, the King of Pumpkintown of course! Let us follow Jack as he discovers Christmas Town, a place where smiling children throw snowalls instead of heads. It's peculiar isn't it? We've known we wanted to do a Nightmare sing-along for a while now, but we weren't sure what season worked best. Is it a Halloween movie? A Christmas movie? Should we put it in around Thanksgiving and split the difference? In the end, we decided we didn't really care and we don't need a reason to celebrate the greatest Halloween/Christmas hybrid movie of all time. Oh, how HORRIBLE THIS November WILL BE! All the beloved songs will be subtitled on the screen for your singing pleasure and The Action Pack will be handing out all sorts of delightfully awful goodies that'll make you belt out ‘WHAT...IS...THIS!?’”—Greg MacLennan via Drafthouse.com
Cinema Club: Seconds with Wiley Wiggins
Alamo Ritz 7:00pm
“Banker Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph) gets a call one day from a friend he thought was dead. It turns out that the friend is not a ghost, but was simply faking all along, and was placed into a new existence by a company who can give you a completely new face and life. Hamilton decides to undergo the procedure himself and becomes Tony Wilson (Rock Hudson), an artist who lives in Malibu. He is given a manservant to help him adjust but soon finds that adjusting will be the least of his worries.”—Drafthouse.com
Master Pancake: Choose Your Own Pancake
Alamo South Lamar 8:00pm
If you thought the Master Pancake troupe had a tough job before, mocking movies they’d seen a million times with pitch-perfect comedic timing, wait until you see them mock films they may never have even heard of! Bring your favorite DVD and the Master Pancake gents will narrow them down by audience vote. They will then adlib quips throughout the whole film and even make up a skit on the fly. Holy Whose Line!
TV at the Alamo: AMC’s The Walking Dead
Alamo Lake Creek 9:00pm
“Season One of The Walking Dead established the series as yet another top-notch program from AMC right along with Breaking Bad and that other one with Christina Hendricks. The show has already taken huge U-Turns from the plot of the graphic novels and proved that it is capable of making its own compelling and exciting character-driven storylines, so the anticipation of season 2’s upcoming 13 episodes is huge. Where will they go next?! Come watch it with your fellow zombie fans in the fortified safety of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.”—John Gross via Drafthouse.com
Alamo Survivor’s Tip: Singing along with the visually stunning and wickedly offbeat Christmas classic The Nightmare Before Christmas is the perfect way to get into the holiday spirit once Thanksgiving is over.
Monday November 28th
A Very Green & Lynch Christmas
Alamo Ritz 7:00pm
“Just in time for the holidays, writer/directors Adam Green (Hatchet 1 & 2, FROZEN) and Joe Lynch (Wrong Turn 2, the upcoming Knights of Badassdom) are coming to the Alamo Ritz for one night only to carve up and serve you an unhealthy amount of movie cuts with all the artery-clogging trimmings. We are calling it A VERY GREEN & LYNCH CHRISTMAS. Throughout the night, these two gents will be showing short films featured in their horror anthology, Chillerama, batshit crazy trailers they've edited that have never seen the light of day, promos from their upcoming TV show, Holliston, a new teaser and exclusive clip from the upcoming Knights of Badassdom, and will close with a 90 minute slasher that Lynch claims "[is] fucking one for the books. Might even rival Troll 2!" WHHHHHAAAAT!???!!! To make things even more awesome, the boys will be giving away a whole bunch of posters, DVDs, Blu-rays, and soundtracks. Nobody leaves empty-handed or sober! Proceeds will go to help fund the American Legion Hall's quest to build an elevator for disabled veterans.”—Chase Whale via Drafthouse.com
Music Monday: ACL Reel Rarities: Loretta Lynn
Alamo Ritz 7:30pm
“So far our ACL Reel Rarities series has featured classic performances from some iconic gentlemen (Tom Waits, BB King, Willie Nelson), but that makes us long overdue on spotlighting a great female performer. And where better to start than with one of the absolute first ladies of country music, Loretta Lynn. This episode from the 1983 season of Austin City Limits showcases the down-home songstress who is always rich in vocal form and long on country charm.”—Drafthouse.com
The Big Lebowski Quote-Along
Alamo South Lamar 10:20pm
If you love the Cohen Brothers’ tribute to shiftless losers with mad bowling skills and penchants for Creedence Clearwater Revival, this is the place to be. All your favorite one-liners from The Dude will flash across the screen to prompt your collective vocal worship of this masterful comedy.
Alamo Survivor’s Tip: Adam Green and Joe Lynch are two very good friends of the Alamo Drafthouse and the mind boggles at the surprises they may have in store for attendees of the Very Green & Lynch Christmas. What can almost be guaranteed however is that this event will not be for the easily offended.
Tuesday November 29th
AFS Essential Cinema: The Palm Beach Story
Alamo South Lamar 7:00pm
“Seeing her husband frustrated by a lack of cash necessary to turn his invention into reality, a loving wife divorces him in order to raise the money by marrying a millionaire. Claudette Colbert helped launch screwball comedy in Capra’s It Happened One Night, but it was writer/director Preston Sturges who took screwball to an alternate, exalted plane of lunacy. TheWeenie King, the Ale and Quail Club, and the Princess Centimillia are a few of the chorus members accompanying Colbert’s Gerry Jeffers on her flight to Palm Beach to get a quickie divorce from her devoted but down-on-his-luck husband (played by Sturges favorite Joel McCrea).”—Drafthouse.com
Celluloid Handbag: Heathers
Alamo Ritz (thru 11/30) 7:30pm
“CALLIN’ ALL MEGA BITCHES!! I want ya’ll ta’ take all that hair on ya head an pull it back into a blood red scrunchy, pull up ya’ white tights, slip on ya’ attractive flats, hit some croquet balls through tha backyard while chewin’ on some corn nuts and then wash it ALL down with a hefty mug a’ liquid drain cleaner cuz CELLULOID HANDBAGs gotta bomb ret ta’ go off with our November screening of Heathers!!! This is THE high school mega movie that’ll take all this Glee crap and grind it down to a pitiful, bruised mess, people! Winona Ryder, Christian Slater SHANNEN DOHERTY, and some of tha’ best one liners ever ta’ leave a bully’s mouth! Bring ya’ best and let ya’ hostess REBECCA HAVEMEVER pay ya’ back in puke, cuz ya’ ALL worth it!”—Rebecca Havemeyer via Drafthouse.com
Terror Tuesday: Phantasm
Alamo Ritz 10:20pm
“Very few contemporary horror movies are strong enough to be considered “great art” by uptight, fun-free, anti-horror movie scholars. The Shining, the original Dawn of the Dead and Let The Right One In are on this very short list, but Phantasm’s ingenuity and unique mythology definitely earn its inclusion. The plot sounds like something that you’d find scribbled on Charles Manson’s bedsheets: A teenage boy discovers that an indestructible grandpa is harvesting the dead to transform them into dwarves that will serve him in another dimension. Luckily, the local marijuana- loving ice cream man is willing to join in the battle against the paranormal retiree. Shotguns and shapeshifting take center stage as unholy darkness threatens to swallow the town alive. Writer/director Coscarelli creates an impossibly absorbing otherworld ruled by one of cinema’s all-time greatest villains, and the unparalleled score will haunt you for decades. Truly one of the most effective reality-liquefiers in horror history!!”—Zack Carlson via Drafthouse.com
Alamo Survivor’s Tip: Phantasm is a truly remarkable horror film that sits on the same shelf as classics like Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Being able to see the film in 35mm is an opportunity not to be missed.
Wednesday November 30th
Girlie Night: When Harry Met Sally
Alamo Village 7:00pm
“For me, the real question of When Harry Met Sally isn't ‘Will sex ruin a friendship?’ The big question is actually, ‘Why can't this movie be my life?’ Sure, it takes Sally an hour and a half to order a sandwich, and Harry is a bit of a talker, but together, these two share one of the greatest love stories in cinematic history. The witty banter! The New York autumn! The classy Harry Connick Jr. soundtrack! Don't even get me started on the old couples talking about how they first met, because even after a hundred viewings, I still tear up over ‘nine extra floors.’ This Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron masterpiece takes romance to the next, hilarious level, and we'll celebrate (and envy) it at Girlie Night. Pull on your days of the week underpants, add some pepper to your paprikash and let's all have what she's having!’’—Sarah Pitre via Drafthouse.com
TV at the Alamo: Glee
Alamo Village 9:45pm
“Man you guys are CRAZY about this show! We’ve tried to feed your obsession with a few Glee Sing-Alongs (that sell-out every single time) but that just wasn’t enough! So we caved and now we’ll be showing every new episode of the season where you can get giddy with your fellow Gleeks weekly. So start practicing your Schuester dance moves, warm up your vocal chords to out-sing Rachel, and get fabulous like Kurt, ‘cause we’re bringing the Glee.”—Drafthouse.com
Weird Wednesday: The Working Girls
Alamo Ritz 10:20pm
“Exploitation film has a reputation of being unkind and unfair to women, both onscreen and off, but a closer look at the landscape reveals that more female directors worked in exploitation films than in studio films. While big Hollywood may pat itself on the back about Katherine Bigelow's (well-deserved) success, many other worthies cut their teeth and learned their trade in low budget genre films and never got a helping hand from any of the major producers. A case in point is the highly talented Stephanie Rothman. While her friends, peers and film school classmates like Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and others moved from cheap drive-in films to the next level, she never caught the break she needed.”—Drafthouse.com
Houston
Big Screen Classics: Planes Trains and Automobiles
11/24 7:00pm
“Hollywood has provided us with no shortage of classic Christmas films, but there is only ONE great Thanksgiving epic, and it is HERE. No fibbin'...this is the flat-out funniest holiday feature ever made, and deserves to stand tall in the ranks of Perfect Movies! John Candy gives his best-ever performance as shower curtain ring salesman Del Griffith, a carefree loser who takes uptight businessman Neal Page (Steve Martin) on the misadventure-ride of a lifetime. Thrill to flaming cars, maniacal hijinks, emotional blowouts and a faceful of really big, really dirty underwear.”—Drafthouse.com
Action Pack: The Running Man
11/26 10:00pm
“Set in a totalitarian future society, AHNULD Swarzennegger stars as Ben Richards who has been falsely imprisoned for a massacre he didn't commit. After some careful planning and skull-cracking, Richards finds himself on the lamb before being apprehended and cast on The Running Man, the TV show of the future wherein convicted felons are provided with a chance at freedom provided they can outrun and outlive their heavily armed and completely badass stalkers. Who would host such a macabre and awesome show, you ask? None other than the Kissing Bandit himself, Mr. Richard Dawson.What follows is a nonstop barrage of fisticuffs, machine guns, flamethrowers, opera singing, and THE BEST one-liners ever put to celluloid. And if you ever wondered who would win in a fight between Predator teammates and future politicos AHNULD and Jessie "The Body" Ventura, wonder no more as they square off in a hand-to-hand cage match to the DEATH! So load up your provided cap gun with as many rounds as it holds, sit back, hold on tight and prepare for the LIVE PYROTECHNIC Action Pack presentation of The Running Man. And, if you order some food, I hope you leave enough room for my fist because I'm going to ram it into your stomach and break your goddamn spine!”—Greg MacLennan via Drafthouse.com
TV at the Alamo: AMC’s The Walking Dead
11/27 7:00pm
Only at the Alamo: Anime
11/29 7:30pm
The Alamo Drafthouse provides a welcome haven for fans of Japanese animation. Samurai swords must unfortunately be checked at the door.
The Nightmare Before Christmas Sing-Along
11/30 7:30pm
Kid’s Club: The Wizard of Oz
11/26 11:00am
“Follow the Yellow Brick Road the the Alamo Drafthouse for a FREE Kid's Club screening of this classic! The Wizard of Oz is near everybody's cherished favorite and the chance to see Auntie Em, Toto, Dorothy, the Wicked Witch and the rest on the big screen is a treat not to miss!”—Drafthouse.com
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
11/26 10:00pm
Girlie Night: When Harry Met Sally
11/29 7:00pm
San Antonio
Big Screen Classics: Planes Trains and Automobiles
11/24 4:30pm; 7:30pm
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
11/24 10:30pm
TV at the Alamo: AMC’s The Walking Dead
11/27 7:00pm
Only at the Alamo: Anime
11/28 7:30pm
Action Pack: The Running Man
11/29 7:00pm
Labyrinth Sing-Along
11/30 7:00pm; 9:55pm
“Come on people – do I really need to say anything more than that to convince you that this LABYRINTH SING & QUOTE-ALONG is not to be missed, no matter what the goblins tell you they’re going to do to your little brother? David Bowie, Jim Henson, and Jennifer Connely created an unsurpassed work of young adult cinema in the 1980s, and somehow it’s never been properly celebrated until now. We’ll have subtitles on the screen for all of our favorite lines and every single song, so the whole crowd can yell them all out in unison. We’ll also have an assortment of goodies in your prop bag, including bubbles to transport us to the magical land of Sarah’s dreamy ball, balloons to pop around the theater while we sing the fireys’ song, and best of all – Whoopee Cushions to fart along with the Bog of Eternal Stench. Smells bad!! Suffice to say, if you miss this show, you most definitely have no power over me. YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME!”—Henri Mazza via Drafthouse.com
Big Screen Classics: Planes Trains and Automobiles
11/29 7:00pm; 9:45pm
Only at the Alamo: The Polar Express
11/28 3:00pm; 6:00pm
“Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Cast Away) reunite for The Polar Express, an inspiring adventure based on the beloved children's book by Chris Van Allsburg. When a doubting young boy takes an extraordinary train ride to the North Pole, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery that shows him that the wonder of life never fades. We'll have a $5 optional package including hot chocolate, holiday cookies, coloring sheets and a commemorative ticket! A live conductor will welcome guests at every show!”—Drafthouse.com
Only at the Alamo: The Polar Express
11/29 Noon; 3:00pm; 6:00pm
Only at the Alamo: The Polar Express
11/30 10:30am; 6:00pm; 6:10pm
The YE-Z In Love Sing-Along
11/30 8:30pm
“Jay-Z and Beyonce married and created a harmonious union of love and incredible music. And when they're not collaborating on a track they're collaborating in the sack as they await the 9-month bundle that will no doubt be a super human of musicality. Jay may be married to Beyonce but he has been bromancing all over the world and going H.A.M. with his boy Kanye. And with that we bring you Ye-Z in Love: The Beyonce/Jay-Z/Kanye West Sing-Along where we jam all our favorites music videos from each artist and as many collaborations into two hours as we possibly can. As always, we will have ALL of the lyrics up on the screen for you to sing-along to, light up rings, and so much more! Slap on some shudder shades and grab a bottle of champagne, but I don't think anything can get you ready for this jelly.”—Greg MacLennan via Drafthouse.com
