movies this week: screw that, I’m going

One line stood out in the weekly email newsletter from Alamo Drafthouse this week:
“And there you’d been thinking that SXSW was the only big film event you had to look forward to this month. Ha! If you do it right, you’ll be exhausted before South By Southwest even starts.”
Yes, I will.
March is starting to look downright insane. I bought my SXSW film festival pass on Tuesday night. Every year, the department where I work gets terribly busy right around SXSW time, and so I decide I really can’t make the time to go. I’ve seen coworkers buy festival passes that they aren’t able to use. I didn’t want to deal with the frustration and I always said, “Maybe next year.”
This year, I said, “Screw that. I’m going.”
I am taking some time off work in the middle of a hectic time at work, which is pretty dumb, but I don’t care. You cannot plan your life around product release schedules, mainly because they always seem to shift so that the vacation you’ve been planning for months suddenly occurs in the middle of crucial beta testing.
I would take the whole week off work if I could, because I want to see manymany movies and write about them and it would be nice if I could get to the gym at least once during a week when I will spend a lot of time with my butt parked in theater seats … but even working half-days will probably create some deadline difficulties.
And I should work this weekend to make up for the time lost, but I want to see Bride and Prejudice and I’m going to a wedding and did I mention I am auditing a class at UT? It’s a film class so I have to make time for screenings, too. I can’t go to The Muppet Movie sing-along on Sunday night because I need to watch a film for the class.
And there are other various personal projects that I decided to undertake and can’t back away from right now.
So I think that Alamo Drafthouse is being downright mean, opening their new Alamo South theater (on S. Lamar) this weekend and showing all kinds of interesting movies next week before the SXSW film festival starts. I can’t see The Iron Giant because I have a class. If I see Rashomon I will miss the only opportunity all week to work out. (Fortunately, the Rashomon is a little too pricey for me.)
Under the circumstances, perhaps you understand why I cannot even deal with a movie titled Be Cool. And I don’t need The Pacifier, either. (What is this, Dumb Titles in New Releases Week? They’re all two words long and laaaaame.)

New movies in Austin this week:
Bad Guy—Korean film about love and obsession directed by Kim Ki-duk. Released in Korea in 2001 but just getting to the US now.
Be Cool—The long-unawaited sequel to Get Shorty, with John Travolta reprising his role as Chili Palmer. Directed not by Barry Sonnenfeld, who did the original, but F. Gary Gray, who directed The Italian Job. So far the buzz is not good. And one wonders if Uma Thurman was cast just so they could riff on the dance scene from Pulp Fiction.
Do any of F. Gary Gray’s relatives own car dealerships? First it was the Mini in The Italian Job. Now I hear that he and Travolta had a big product-placement promotional deal with Cadillac for this movie. Geeeez. What’s next for him, one of the Bourne movies?
Bear Cub—No, it’s not a nature movie from Disney. We’re talking about the other kind of bear here. This sounds a lot like a Spanish Big Daddy with a gay main character, but I could be underestimating its charms.
The Jacket—No, it’s not a fashion-inspired vehicle for Lindsay Lohan. Or even Jackie Chan. This is a time-travel suspense movie starring Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley. I’m trying to muster any interest in this whatsoever (look, Kris Kristofferson! Jennifer Jason Leigh!) and failing (yawn).
The Pacifier—No, it’s not about Maggie Simpson. (That, I would go see.) Vin Diesel gets saddled with a bunch of kids he’s supposed to be protecting from something-or-other. Wacky hijinks, etc. Poor Lauren Graham, whom we liked so much in Bad Santa, is stuck in this mess.
Sky Blue—Korean animated film, set in the dystopian future. I haven’t ever seen Korean anime so this sounds interesting.
Notable events/revivals in Austin:
The most notable event right now is the SXSW film festival, which starts next Friday, 3/11 for eight days. But you knew that. You can get a film festival pass at Waterloo Video, or try to buy tickets for individual screenings. The schedule looks fascinating. I couldn’t resist.
But as Drafthouse Henri tells us, non-SXSW film events are going on all week long all around town, some of which are cheap or free. So if you can’t afford the time or money for SXSW this year, you can still find lots to do.
Bird People in China—Playing at Alamo Downtown on Sat. 3/5. Free admission to this Takashi Miike film, which complements as the Austin Film Society’s series.
Dazed and Confused and Waking Life—Playing at Alamo South on Tues. 3/8. Wiley Wiggins and animator Bob Sabiston will be there.
Duck Soup—Playing at Alamo South on Thursday 3/10. Alamo is serving a four-course all-soup meal, courtesy of The Soup Peddler, as part of admission. Yes, I bought tickets already. This should be great fun.
An Evening with Evelyn—Playing at Harry Ransom Center on Sun. 3/6. As part of the Evelyn Waugh exhibition, the Ransom Center is showing clips from interviews with Waugh and from a silent film he worked on, as well as the entire movie The Loved One. The Loved One is one of my favorite books, ever, and I hate the movie, which is way too early 1960s for my taste.
Get Carter—Playing at Alamo Downtown on Thurs. 3/10 as part of the Brit Noir series in conjunction with the Ransom Center. Young Michael Caine. Mmm.
Happiness of the Katakuris—Playing at Alamo Downtown on Tues. 3/8 as part of Austin Film Society’s series of Takashi Miike films. This is the Miike film that several people have recommended I see, because it is considered his lightest, wittiest film. It’s a violent musical comedy horror movie, I am told. Sounds like fun to me. (I got my ticket for this one too.)
The Iron Giant—Playing at Alamo South on Mon. 3/7. My boyfriend and I keep saying we need to see this underrated film, directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles). He may go to Alamo without me. Tim McCanlies, who wrote the screenplay, will be attending.
The Muppet Movie with sing-along—Playing at Alamo Downtown on Sun. 3/6 and 3/20.
Phantasm—Playing at Alamo South on Wed. 3/9. Actor Michael Baldwin will be there. (I wish it were Don Coscarelli.)
Rashomon—Playing at Alamo South on Wed. 3/9 as part of the Eat Drink Watch Movies series. Admission is $50 a head, which includes a lavish seven-course meal from Uchi and a $25 gift certificate for Uchi.
Shinjuku Triad Society: Part 1—Playing at Alamo Downtown on Sun. 3/6. Free admission to this Takashi Miike film, which complements the Austin Film Society’s series.
Spike & Mike’s Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation 2005—Playing at Alamo South at 10 pm all week long.
A Star is Porn—Playing at Alamo Downtown at midnight Fri-Sat. 3/4-5. A fun collection of non-sexual clips from porn movies with titles based on Hollywood blockbusters. Hee.
Valley Girl—Playing at Alamo Downtown on Mon. 3/7 for $1 admission. This week’s Eighties Night offering is that crazy 1983 film with the Frank Zappa theme and the young Nicolas Cage. I should see this sometime. But not this week.
Meanwhile, I have thought of the perfect way to calm my stressful little self. I normally dislike the idea of buying things to feel better, but in this case I am making an exception. I am going to buy the new Classic Comedies Collection boxed set from Warner, which includes some films I have been waiting for ages to see on DVD: Bringing Up Baby, Stage Door, and To Be or Not To Be. It also includes a nice new transfer of The Philadelphia Story. And that’s not even all that’s in there! This feels like a big present to me from Warner (although I have to pay for it, of course). Amazon has a waiting period so I may just toodle over to Waterloo Video.
If you enjoy movies like these, I once again want to stress (for the millionth time, I know) that the only way we can influence studios to release more of them on DVD is to buy DVDs of similar movies. Or at least rent them. I particularly recommend Stage Door, which you think is going to be a romantic comedy and … isn’t. And the cast is simply smashing.
Anyway, I am buying them. When will I have time to watch them? Hah.