Cinema is Dope

[ View Image (1024×729) ]
[ View Image (1280×911) ]

Classic image of Frank (Henry Fonda) and (Charles Bronson) in Sergio Leone’s rousing spaghetti western, “Once Upon a Time in the West” aka “C’era una volta il West.”

(Read more…)

Share on Facebook

[ View Image (1024×693) ]
[ View Image (1280×866) ]

In honor of the closing of the original Alamo Drafthouse Downtown and in looking ahead to the grand opening of the Ritz (construction images on FLICKR; vintage Ritz pics on FLICKR), I proudly offer up this classic image from the Buster Keaton film, “The General.” As they say in boxing: let’s get it on, bring it on… The Ritz baby, yeah!

(Read more…)

Share on Facebook

In the coming days ahead I will be posting images from:

* Five Superfighters (1978)
* Pretty Maids all in a row (1971)
* Z.P.G. (1972)
* Dark of the Sun (1968)
* Airplane! (1980)
* Out of the Past (1947)
* The General (1927)
* Dragon vs. Needles of Death (1982)

Plus other Shaw Brother surprises and various imagery from Japanese cinema.

Share on Facebook

Freddie Avalos posted pics of the famous original Drafthouse Downtown marquee being taken away this Thursday morning.

::: Last Night at the Alamo

Over at his blog Dentler (SXSW, Fantastic Fest) has posted his thoughts and pics from last night.

Source: Slackerwood

Share on Facebook

[ View Image (1024×578) ]
[ View Image (1280×722) ]

Easily one of the funnest and jaded films I’ve seen so far in 2007. It features a fair share of cute and cuddly romanticism of hair cutting, disturbing child abuse, an over the top cross dressing villain that sings his own pop songs (not sure if I’ve ever seen a villain sport hair extensions in a film before) and another strong performance by Chiaki Kuriyama (Battle Royale, Kill Bill Vol. 1). The real highlight of the film is the incredible horror set pieces where hair extensions gets fully realized onscreen as a scary monster and the outstanding direction of filmmaker Sion Sono mixing many contrasting themes together into one big bang of a perhaps new breed of J-horror that most won’t see coming! Consider this film perhaps J-horror new wave. And after seeing this film you will never one to piss off a hair extension ever again. Definitely check it out at Subway Cinema or Fantasia if you get a chance!

The previous Sion Sono film I’ve experienced was “Strange Circus” (at Sitges last year) which is truly one hell of a macabre art house film. Mr. Sono makes films you don’t merely see but fully experience. Though he gets a super big budget and stars to work with his filmmaking spirit is only getting stronger and more outrageous, while never losing touch with his very personal themes.

Screening at Subway Cinema (www.subwaycinema.com) & co-presented by Japan Society (www.japansociety.org):

Thursday, July 5
8:30
Director Sion Sono Introduction and Q&A

Saturday, July 7
3:30
Director Sion Sono Introduction and Q&A

::: Their rundown of the film

July 10th, 2007
7:15 pm
Hall Theatre
Screening hosted by director Sion Sono

::: Mitch Davis simply fantastic take on Exte (I read it 3 times in a row when I first came upon it)

(Read more…)

Share on Facebook

Wiley (News of the dead) has twenty three classic images from the closing of the Drafthouse last night. Love the touch of the yellow Alamo hard hats!

::: Last night of the Alamo Downtown
News of the dead

Share on Facebook

Over at the official Drafthouse blog (link) they have just posted a link to a new set of pictures they have posted to Flickr (courtesy of Dave Garaway). These images (view set here) are some truly fascinating images from day one of the original Alamo Drafthouse Downtown being built (and Tim looking like a much younger version of the demented grandpa from Silent Night, Deadly Night “if you see Santa Claus boy…“).

For those like me that can’t make it tonight for the farewell, Jette has pointed me to David Hill’s immortalization of the location with a near complete panoramic tour of the entire venue (view here). Bonus points if you can find Tim and Karrie in it ;-)

To the annoying night club next door. Buddies you will be owned by an EARTHQUAKE tonight (cue evil laugh).

Alamo Downtown Blog-a-Thon official listing via Slackerwood (www.slackerwood.com).

Share on Facebook

I don’t even live in Austin but I have hundreds of fave memories of the joint. I distinctly remember walking up those stairs the first time and just feeling at home. Then again home to me has always been strange and wonderful single screen cinemas.

Top Ten Personal Memories.

#1 Getting Tim rip roaring drunk and wrestling him in front of his frightened staff, then threatening to burn the mangy old black curtains. Well I thought it was funny.

#2 Getting Udo Kier absolutely sozzled on vodka/redbulls before his Q&A eventually carrying him back to the Driscol on my back. Pouring Udo drinks at the bar while a strange and busty chick came up to Udo
and ‘accidentally’ let her boobs fall out onto the bar. Udo didn’t even blink. Marvellous!

#3 Tim graciously let me get Bo Svensen in for the NIGHT WARNING’ event, we decided to show Bo a montage of scenes from his films and ask him to narrate his memories of the films… Bo’s classic reply while watching the clips. “I was in these movies???”

#4 Tim doing one of the greatest opening monologues for the World Premiere of our film THE DEVIL DARED ME TO - and making the entire audience shotgun a lonestar. Unbelievable.

#5 Watching the crowd go gaga and catch the fever when Tim and Harry let me play the Stunt Rock trailer for it’s first ever BNAT screening. It began a revolution that saw the band Sorcery expecting a big comeback from it.

(Read more…)

Share on Facebook

The last movie theatre that I loved that is no more was the legendary Northpark 1 & 2 in Dallas. This is where I met AFI Dallas programmer James Faust for the first time at a midnight screening of Pulp Fiction, where the sound system was jacked up to the 9’s in apocalyptic surround sound. Seeing a movie inside Northpark 1 was just an amazing experience. The local legend was always that George Lucas himself brought out a special team from Skywalker Sound to install the sound system there. Whether that was true or not I may never know. What I do know is outside of the Melia movie theatre in Sitges it as by far the richest and most visceral sound systems of all times to experience a movie in. Seeing a movie there made gave the movie going experience a whole new meaning and depth you couldn’t find in the haphazardly large movie chain theatres (that just never cared if the film was out of focus, the sound to soft, etc.,). I especially remember one day going to see the first screening of Robert Zemeckis’s Contact. I had a full day ahead of running errands and trying to get caught up. However, that AMAZING opening sequence where we crawl backwards through space and history combined with the amazing trip through space at the end was just jaw dropping to experience in Northpark 1. Those sequences were an absolute rush. I had chills sitting there experience those moments. I wound up spending the entire day there watching Contact, again and again until its very last showing that day.

(Read more…)

Share on Facebook

So me and Jette are doing the Alamo Downtown Blog-a-Tho­n. The main post for this is at her site on Slackerwood (www.slackerwood.com) with links to all those participating and their stories. The communal collection of imagery can be found on Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/tags/alamoblogathon).

It certainly wasn’t the most ideal place by any stretch of the imagination one would think a movie theatre could thrive in, but the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown did. Give any other movie chain big or small the same space and I doubt it would last a month. For Tim and Karrie League, showing movies weren’t enough. They wanted to bring movie magic to audiences that packed their theatre. Continually they worked over the years to cultivate the movie going experience to be richer and more diverse. The fruits of their labor were the expansion of other theatres but more importantly an expanded movie going consciousness and renewed love of cinema in all that went through its doors throughout the years. It brought people together, gave little heard of films a chance to shine and gain new fans and most importantly provided movie going experiences of a lifetime that were simply priceless and wouldn’t work in any other setting but there in its theatre with its Austin crowds. The downtown location maybe moving but the original location on Colorado will live on in movie lore history and our movie loving hearts.

(Read more…)

Share on Facebook

[ View Image (806×1000) ]

One of my all time favorite films. Bonus points if you can quickly name all seven of the faces of Dr. Lao that Tony Randall plays.

(Read more…)

Share on Facebook

[ View Image (1024×554) ]
[ View Image (1280×692) ]

Now out in US theatres in limited release is the brilliant anime, “Paprika.” I’ve never really gotten into anime. Going across the film festival circuit I see quite a bit but most leave me a bit cold. Rare is the anime that really gets me involved and entertained. I love “Paprika” and would consider it the best anime I’ve ever seen. When I watched it for the first time at the 39th Sitges Film Festival at the Prado last year I was absolutely floored. It was a trippy, kinetic and highly enjoyable fever dream of a film. Best yet you don’t really even have to like anime to like “Paprika.” If you like fever dream type films like say Richard Rush’s classic “The Stunt Man“, then this film will be right up your alley.

One of my favorite parts of the film is everytime the parade would come crashing in with the brilliant parade theme by Susumu Hirasawa. Throughout the film I couldn’t wait for the parade to come crashing back in as it was such a cinematic rush every single time it happened.

(Read more…)

Share on Facebook

[ View Image (1024×686) ]
[ View Image (1280×858) ]

Look!!!

(Read more…)

Share on Facebook

[ View Image (1024×436) ]
[ View Image (1280×545) ]

Mia and August enjoy the park in “Princess.” I originally saw this film for the first time at the Sitges Film Festival last year and loved it. While it’s basically a feature film version of Anders Morgenthaler’s short “Araki: The Killing of a Japanese Photographer” it certainly adds to that and provides one of the most thought provoking films I’ve seen this decade.

“Princess” will be screening at Fantastic Fest 3 this year.

(Read more…)

Share on Facebook

[ View Image (1024×682) ]
[ View Image (1280×853) ]

“Ong-bak” and Tony Jaa give the term bone crunching a whole new meaning in action cinema.

(Read more…)

Share on Facebook