This theatre kind of sums up everything I love about Austin. The owners clearly show that they love movies, in their own whacky way. The main concept is simple: it's a movie theatre, but instead of the usual stadium-style seating, each row has a bar-like table in front of it. Waitpeople circulate before and during the movie (unobtrusively) to take food and drink orders.(Yay! Alchohol at the movies!)
But there are so many even cooler things about the Alamo:
- No stupid commercials and trivia before your movie. Instead, there is some funny clip playing that is somehow related to the movie you are about to see. Watching some big-budget, overblown Movie Star vehicle? Get in the mood by watching the cheesy commercials that the same Movie Star did before he or she was a famous! Maybe even rare footage of them in a high school play! And stuff like that.
- Three words: No babies allowed. (No kids even!) Wonderful. To keep the place from getting burned down by angry parents, they have special matinees where they encourage kids to come. But that’s the only time they are allowed.
- Free movies in the park. The Alamo tries to recreate the old “drive in” experience by setting up a huge inflatable screen in a local park and inviting the community for free movie fun.
- Rolling Roadshow: This is incredibly cool. The Alamo plays a movie in an environment that brings out what you are seeing on the screen. The classic example is “Jaws.” Scary movie, but even scarier when the audience is watching it while floating in inner tubes, at night, in a lake. They showed the recent “horror in a cave” movie “The Decent” actually IN the pitch blackness of a cave. I believe they showed “Close Encounters” at the base of Devil’s Tower.
- Road Rallies: I participated in one of these myself, for the horrible “Dukes of Hazzard” movie. It’s part scavenger hunt, part road race, part puzzle. For “Dukes,” they had everyone dress in costume, decorate their cars as the General Lee, and set us loose on the streets of Austin in a Duke Boy adventure. The day lead us through several tasks, including shooting a bow and arrow, singing our own words to the “Dukes of Hazzard” song on one of Austin’s famous music venue stages, and searching for an “Uncle Jesse” look-a-like. Each task earned us some points, and making it through in a certain amount of time earned us some more. Unfortunately, the day ended with having to watch the movie. Oh… one more thing. Throughout, no one was allowed to open a car door… everyone had to go in or out of the car through the windows. And the driver was required to slide across the hood every time he or she got in the car. Yee haa!
All the above covers all of the theatres in the chain… there are currently Alamo Drafthouses located in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio. But the original Alamo, located in downtown Austin, is even more special. It never plays any new releases, focusing instead on classics and “original programming.” For instance, “Weird Wednesday” covers little-seen, bizarre films (“Erotic Adventures of Superknight?”) “Terror Thursday” covers campy horror and slasher pics, and the rest of the week is filled with other fun stuff. Often they have an actor or filmmaker in the theatre to watch the movie with the audience and answer questions—watch “Different Strokes”… WITH WILLIS! Or watch all of “The Godfather” films, back to back, while eating Italian food. Most weekends, a comedy troupe named “Mister Sinus Theatre” picks a classic 80’s movie and mocks it “Mystery Science Theatre 3000” style. Sometimes there are singalongs to musicals, or Disney movies, or collections of “so bad they’re good” music videos. I could go on and on… just check out the current calendar for the downtown location at the link above for more of what they have in store.
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This theatre kind of sums up everything I love about Austin. The owners clearly show that they love movies, in their own whacky way. The main concept is simple: it's a movie theatre, but instead of the usual stadium-style seating, each row has a bar-like table in front of it. Waitpeople circulate before and during the movie (unobtrusively) to take food and drink orders.(Yay! Alchohol at the movies!)
But there are so many even cooler things about the Alamo:
- No stupid commercials and trivia before your movie. Instead, there is some funny clip playing that is somehow related to the movie you are about to see. Watching some big-budget, overblown Movie Star vehicle? Get in the mood by watching the cheesy commercials that the same Movie Star did before he or she was a famous! Maybe even rare footage of them in a high school play! And stuff like that.
- Three words: No babies allowed. (No kids even!) Wonderful. To keep the place from getting burned down by angry parents, they have special matinees where they encourage kids to come. But that’s the only time they are allowed.
- Free movies in the park. The Alamo tries to recreate the old “drive in” experience by setting up a huge inflatable screen in a local park and inviting the community for free movie fun.
- Rolling Roadshow: This is incredibly cool. The Alamo plays a movie in an environment that brings out what you are seeing on the screen. The classic example is “Jaws.” Scary movie, but even scarier when the audience is watching it while floating in inner tubes, at night, in a lake. They showed the recent “horror in a cave” movie “The Decent” actually IN the pitch blackness of a cave. I believe they showed “Close Encounters” at the base of Devil’s Tower.
- Road Rallies: I participated in one of these myself, for the horrible “Dukes of Hazzard” movie. It’s part scavenger hunt, part road race, part puzzle. For “Dukes,” they had everyone dress in costume, decorate their cars as the General Lee, and set us loose on the streets of Austin in a Duke Boy adventure. The day lead us through several tasks, including shooting a bow and arrow, singing our own words to the “Dukes of Hazzard” song on one of Austin’s famous music venue stages, and searching for an “Uncle Jesse” look-a-like. Each task earned us some points, and making it through in a certain amount of time earned us some more. Unfortunately, the day ended with having to watch the movie. Oh… one more thing. Throughout, no one was allowed to open a car door… everyone had to go in or out of the car through the windows. And the driver was required to slide across the hood every time he or she got in the car. Yee haa!
All the above covers all of the theatres in the chain… there are currently Alamo Drafthouses located in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio. But the original Alamo, located in downtown Austin, is even more special. It never plays any new releases, focusing instead on classics and “original programming.” For instance, “Weird Wednesday” covers little-seen, bizarre films (“Erotic Adventures of Superknight?”) “Terror Thursday” covers campy horror and slasher pics, and the rest of the week is filled with other fun stuff. Often they have an actor or filmmaker in the theatre to watch the movie with the audience and answer questions—watch “Different Strokes”… WITH WILLIS! Or watch all of “The Godfather” films, back to back, while eating Italian food. Most weekends, a comedy troupe named “Mister Sinus Theatre” picks a classic 80’s movie and mocks it “Mystery Science Theatre 3000” style. Sometimes there are singalongs to musicals, or Disney movies, or collections of “so bad they’re good” music videos. I could go on and on… just check out the current calendar for the downtown location at the link above for more of what they have in store.
Posted by M-I-K-E to the Seay | February 28, 2007 12:48 PM
Posted on February 28, 2007 12:48