All posts tagged movies

Remember the Alamo

by Drey on July 14, 2007 in Life, Movies with No comments

I have now visited every Alamo Drafthouse here in Austin. There were four when I arrived, but now there are only three, and in a few months there will be four again. Sadly, the original Alamo closed at the end of June. I was able to attend a few of the farewell events such as Quentin Tarantino’s Last Night at the Alamo Grindhouse as well as Half-Ass-A-Thon. Before living in Austin, I had attended Butt Numb-a-Thon twice, so I was already convinced of the Drafthouse’s awesomeness. I am sad to see the original go. But it will be reborn a few blocks away as the Alamo at the Ritz. This old movie house is being restored and updated into a state of the art theater.

For those of you who have not enjoyed the Alamo Drafthouse experience, let me describe it for you. First off, it is best to arrive at least an hour before your film begins. This is not so you can wait in line or get a good seat (though those can be factors). No, it is so that you can order your food and drink while you enjoy the pre-show. The pre-show consists of a thoughtfully edited presentation of clips relating somehow to what you are about to see. For instance, before the latest Die Hard film they showed a behind the scenes feature about the previous Die Hard movies, clips from Moonlighting and the famous Seagram’s Golden Wine Cooler commercials starring Bruce Willis (or “Bruno” as he preferred to be called).

In front of each row of seats is a sort of platform where you can place your food and tasty beverages. The food at the Alamo is prepared by actual chefs and is delicious. You cannot order a nasty greasy hamburger there, but you can definitely order a gourmet Royale with Cheese and a $5 milk shake to wash it down. There are often themed feasts to go along with movie premieres. You can also order buckets of beer. And the movie has yet to begin.

Before the trailers, you are likely to see advertisements for upcoming special events at the Alamo. They have monthly sing-a-longs, Saturday morning events for kids, a Mystery Science Theater 3000-style series, special guests, and more. They make their own “Turn off your cell phone and shut up during the movie” segments. My favorite is the cleverly-edited Star Wars clip with the Imperial officer taking a call at the meeting with Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin. “Don’t talk on your cell phone or we’ll throw your ass out.”

At this point, it almost doesn’t matter what movie you’re going to see. You’re surrounded by people who love film and you can order food and beer until halfway through the movie. The Alamo Drafthouse is the greatest movie theater in the country.

The official site: http://www.originalalamo.com/

How to be Part of the Solution: Freedom to Fascism

by Drey on October 31, 2006 in Life, Movies with No comments

Aaron Russo’s documentary, America: Freedom to Fascism is now available on DVD at his website: FreedomToFascism.com. You can also watch it for free on Google video.

While the first half, having to do with the income tax law, is debateable, the second half has very important info about the national ID card and RFID tags.

Done the Impossible

by Drey on September 6, 2006 in Movies with 1 Comment

I finally got around to watching my copy of Done the Impossible. I guess I had put it off because I knew it would just make me sad, and it did. But it also evoked such wonderful feelings and thoughts. I’ve never been as affected by a TV show as I was with Firefly. I think it is due to the way it resonates with people and connects on this deep level. It’s not just a show. It’s important. It’s art. I can’t fully account for this passion for fictional characters. I feel like I somehow know the actors and Joss, like we could sit down and have a beer. I have these fantasies of winning the lottery and giving the money to Joss so he can keep telling the story.

Flooded

by Drey on August 14, 2006 in Life, Movies with 2 Comments

Last night I went to see “An Inconvenient Truth” with some friends. We were about 10 minutes into it when the movie stopped, alarms went off and lights started to flash. We scurried outside, back into the rain. It had been raining for quite some time. I’ve lived here for around 8 years and I have never seen it rain so much. We huddled under the awning with the other theater goers, wondering what was happening. Some fire trucks had blocked off Central and 1st. TV news crews buzzed around.

John went to investigate. “Guys, you have *got* to come check this out!” We followed him out to the intersection. At first I didn’t know what I was looking for. My eyes tracked down from the train on the bridge down to Central, which seemed oddly level. Then I realized that there used to be a dip in the road where Central went under the bridge. That part of the street was completely under water. The tip of a truck’s roof could be seen poking above the water line. The firemen broke out a raft to paddle down Central River to investigate. Albuquerque isn’t set up to handle this much rainfall and the storm drains were erupting.

We got a refund and went to grab something to eat. The streets were flooded everywhere I drove and emergency vehicles splashed red and white light across the drowned landscape. It continued to rain most of the night.

My back yard is overgrown with plants. The entire city is becoming greener and the sky is often saturated with clouds. Eventually I’ll get to finish watching “An Inconvenient Truth,” but Al Gore is already preaching to the converted.

Welcome to Fight Club

by Drey on March 5, 2006 in Movies with 3 Comments

This Is Your Life

- Tyler Durden

And you open the door and you step inside
Where inside our hearts
Now imagine your pain as a white ball of healing light
That's right, your pain
The pain itself is a white ball of healing light
I don't think so

This is your life, good to the last drop
Doesn't get any better than this
This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time

This isn't a seminar, this isn't a weekend retreat
Where you are now you can't even imagine what the bottom will be like
Only after disaster can we be resurrected
It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything
Nothing is static, everything is evolving, everything is falling apart

This is your life, this is your life, this is your life, this is your life
Doesn't get any better than this
This is your life, this is your life, this is your life, this is your life
And it and it's ending one-minute at a time

You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake
You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else
We are all part of the same compost heap
We are the all singing, all dancing, crap of the world

You are not your bank account
You are not the clothes you wear
You are not the contents of your wallet
You are not your bowel cancer
You are not your grande latte
You are not the car you drive
You are not your fucking khaki's

You have to give up, you have to give up
You have to realize that someday you will die
Until you know that, you are useless

I say let me never be complete
I say may I never be content
I say deliver me from Swedish furniture
I say deliver me from clever art
I say deliver me from clear skin and perfect teeth
I say you have to give up
I say evolve, and let the chips fall where they may

This is your life, this is your life, this is your life, this is your life
Doesn't get any better than this
This is your life, this is your life, this is your life, this is your life
And it and it's ending one minute at a time

You have to give up, you have to give up

Welcome to Fight Club
If this is your first night, you have to fight

Narnia

by Drey on December 9, 2005 in Movies with No comments

I simply cannot be objective about this movie. I have *always* wanted to go to Narnia and those books are forever imprinted on me. They are important and formative works for me. Even as the opening credits started, my eyes were already welling with tears. As best as I can recollect, nothing was left out. Several dramatic sequences were added, but they seemed entirely appropriate. The movie took its time to tell the story. All the perfect, holy moments were unchanged. And there were gryphons! My heart filled to the brim with joy for the entire movie. At the end I had to go to the restroom to compose myself. And then Stavros asked me what I thought of it and I just started blubbering, unable to speak. I eventually managed to say, “I can’t talk about it right now, but it was perfect.”

The movie spoke to a part of me that doesn’t often get to come out so fully and express his deep childlike wonder and innocence.

Serenity

by Drey on September 23, 2005 in Movies with No comments

Thanks to a heads up from Stavros, I now hold a pass to the advance screening of Serenity on the 28th! Yes!

Hastings = Evil

by Drey on June 21, 2005 in Movies with No comments

Here’s why I should not be allowed to enter Hastings. When confronted with cool designer magazines and bargain DVDs, my willpower withers like a marshmallow tossed upon flaming coals and I will gladly spend my grocery money on these “necessities”. I was doing some shopping at Hobby Lobby, you know, crafts and such. Upon exiting, I felt the magnetic pull of Hastings, right next door, as though its very structure were composed of oppositely charged Drey particles.

The design section of the magazine sector was choked with slick European graphics magazines, AKA designer porn. I feel as if the mere presence of such a magazine near my computer will substantially increase my mad skillz. And then Cinefex decided to cram Sin City, Constantine, Revenge of the Sith AND Hitchhiker’s Guide into a single issue. Bastards.

I could have just made a break for the checkout aisle, but no, I completed a circuit of the entire store. Near the home stretch they have this new section of DVDs: Buy 2, get 1 for 1 cent. When I looked down, I was somehow carrying a copy of Sideways, The Life Aquatic and House of Flying Daggers (for about $7 each!).

At the checkout counter, I avoided the cashier’s gaze. I might as well have been buying a six pack of dildos and a tub of Vaseline. I then fled the scene, lest the temptation to reserve a copy of Harry Potter overwhelmed me (besides, I already reserved it on Amazon.).

Sin City

by Drey on April 1, 2005 in Movies with No comments

If you’ve come within a stone’s throw of any press about Sin City, you already know Rodriguez hit a home run. I don’t have to tell you it’s fantastic.

I love Rodriguez’ maverick style and his way of making films. He writes and directs. He uses his own cameras, he shoots and edits the thing himself and usually writes a good deal of the music. Nothing compromises his vision. And when he wanted Frank Miller as co-director, he resigned from the Director’s Guild to make it happen. He cares more about the art and staying true to the source material than anything else. Rodriguez reminds me that it is still possible to do fantastic, large scale creative things if you are passionate enough.

What I expected from Sin City was a dazzling demonstration of digital technology, a la Sky Captain. What I got instead was fantastic storytelling supported by a mature and painterly use of what digital can deliver. This is not a living graphic novel. For that, you’ll need to hold out for Linklater’s Scanner Darkly (2006?! WTF?).

This is a film noir Pulp Fiction, completely confident and unapologetic. Everyone you see on screen is either rough and used or beautiful as a diamond knife. It’s violent on a Tarantino scale, even with most of the blood colored white. The anti-heroes you meet are such badasses that you can’t kill them by running them down or merely shooting them. No, you have to be really dedicated to taking them out. And when I say “anti-heroes” I mean that not a one of them is pleasant. Mickey Rourke was my favorite as “Marv.” His exploits cross over into the realm of superheroics and anime. When you meet the villains, the slimy and soulless cretins of Sin City, you almost don’t care how the heroes take them down. If anyone was concerned about Elijah Wood being typecast as Frodo, you can put such fears to rest. He is freakish and utterly evil as the silent assassin, Kevin.

Fun, dark and brutal. That’s Sin City.

Episode 3

by Drey on April 1, 2005 in Movies with No comments

When I went to see Sin City today, the excellent Hitchhiker’s trailer had just finished when that slightly-too bright digital green of the next trailer warned me even before I saw the Lucasfilm logo. There was a flash of a spaceship before I shut my eyes and tried to cover my ears as best as possible. Yes, my resolve was tested for what seemed like five minutes. I could still hear some of the dialogue, so I had to kind of hum inside my head so as not to disturb the other movie-goers.

I am on a complete media blackout for Star Wars Episode III. I don’t want to know anything about it until I see it. I feel guilty for seeing cereal boxes with Darth Vader on them. I don’t want to see the toys or video games or anything else until after May 19th.

One more chance, George. You’ve got one more chance.

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