El Paso Herald-Post El Paso News & Opinion
An eerie feeling is lingering around Alamo Drafthouse Cinema at Montecillo and the infamous sinister clown is about to make your worst nightmares come back to life again.
Pennywise is back to terrorize Derry, Maine, and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Montecillo during the premiere of IT CHAPTER TWO on Thursday, September 5, 2019 at 5:00 p.m.
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema at Montecillo has every week of September packed with adventurous Movie Parties, including the BLAZING SADDLES MOVIE PARTY on Sunday, September 1, 2019, with a very special in-theater guest, actor Burton Gilliam, aka Lyle The Cowboy.
Take a ride in the DeLorean Time Machine at the Back to the Future Movie party on Saturday, September 14, 2019; or just ‘take it easy’ and sing along to the classic Summer of ’76 soundtrack at the Dazed and Confused Movie Party on Thursday, September 26, 2019.
BLAZING SADDLES MOVIE PARTY WITH BURTON GILLIAM
Sunday, September 1
7:00pm
Meet one of the stars of one of Mel Brooks’ most searing send ups of the American racial divide, as Burton Gilliam, aka Lyle The Cowboy joins us for a special in-theater appearance at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Montecillo.
Saddle up for one of the most irresponsible Movie Parties the Alamo has ever produced – BLAZING SADDLES. Make sure you bring along plenty of “harumphs!” because you’ll definitely need them. Then get ready to quote-along with some of the best no-holds-barred dialogue that has ever been put to celluloid!
Not only does Mel Brooks’ film spoof the westerns of the mid-20th century excellently, it manages to talk about race and equality issues in a manner that is at once horrific and hilarious.
The frank nature of the racial slurs reminds you how intolerant people back then really must have been, but then the over the top Looney Tunes inspired comedy shows just how ridiculous that kind of ignorance really was.
Join us for one hell of a vulgar, crude, and occasionally scandalous and politically incorrect Movie Parties as we shoot along with Black Bart and the Waco Kid!
MURDER IN THE FRONT ROW: THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA THRASH METAL STORY
Monday, September 2
7:30pm
In the early 1980’s, a small group of dedicated Bay Area headbangers shunned the hard rock of MTV and Hollywood hairspray bands in favor of a more dangerous brand of metal that became known as thrash!
From the tape-trading network to the clubs to the record stores and fanzines, director Adam Dubin reveals how the scene nurtured the music and the music spawned a movement. MURDER IN THE FRONT ROW is told through powerful first person testimony and stunning animation and photography.
The film is a social study of a group of young people defying the odds and building something essential for themselves. Featuring interviews with Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, Exodus, Testament, Death Angel, Possessed and many more! Narrated by Brian Posehn
ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER
Tuesday, September 3
7:30pm
Though Pedro Almodóvar’s films have pushed the boundaries of cinema as far back as the mid-1970s, it wasn’t until 1999’s ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER that the Academy Awards finally took notice, naming it the Best Foreign Language Film of the year. And it serves as a perfect encapsulation of his enduring power as an artist: it’s colorful, dynamic, emotional, darkly funny, and imbued with profound empathy.
When tragedy strikes, Manuela (Cecilia Roth, PEPI, LUCI, BOM) travels to Barcelona for the first time in years in search of someone from her past. But she is waylaid by her old friend Agrado (Antonia San Juan), a transgender sex worker, as well as new friends, such as Hermana (Penélope Cruz, PAIN AND GLORY), a nun with a secret, and Huma (Marisa Paredes, THE SKIN I LIVE IN), an actress performing in town.
Together, the women form a unique bond that carries them through the challenges that life throws at them. ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER showcases the humanity of these women at their best and worst, their highest and lowest, resulting in a portrait of friendship, family, and love that is singularly Almodóvar.
Film Club: TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID
Wednesday, September 4
7:30pm
With a mixture of supernatural imagery and brutal authenticity in the tradition of Guillermo Del Toro’s PAN’S LABYRINTH, writer, director, and recipient of over 55 international awards, Issa López cements her status as one of the most exciting new filmmakers.
Young Estrella (Paola Lara) ends up on the street following her mother’s mysterious disappearance and joins a gang of children in order to survive. When the group ends up on a local drug gang’s bad side, they have to make a run for it. But as they try to evade their attackers, Estrella is presented with supernatural visions that may point to her salvation… or something else.
Led by a stellar cast of young actors, TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID wowed audiences at Fantastic Fest and received public praise from the likes of Stephen King and Guillermo Del Toro himself.
IT CHAPTER TWO
Premieres Thursday, September 5
It’s been 27 years since the Losers’ Club had their traumatizing clash with the inhuman, child-eating clown from Derry, Maine – and they’ve since grown apart. But battling an unspeakable circus evil tends to bond people together, and they find themselves reunited in their hometown, unearthing a sinister history that threatens both their lives and their sanity.
The original cast will reprise their roles in flashbacks, with their avenging grownup counterparts played by the likes of Jessica Chastain (MAMA), James McAvoy (SPLIT, GLASS), Bill Hader (BARRY), and more.
And of course, Bill Skarsgård is back as Pennywise, the smirking, sunken-eyed harlequin stalking the sewers of our worst nightmares. He’s here to show us that it’s not funny anymore.
GREASE Sing Along
Friday, Septmeber 6
7:30pm
We’re hopelessly devoted to GREASE, with its lovable characters, its doo-wop style, and, of course, those endlessly catchy tunes. To celebrate this timeless classic, we’re putting together an interactive, prop-filled, hand-jiving Sing-Along for all you T-Birds and Pink Ladies out there (beauty school dropouts also welcome).
We’ll kick things off with a pre-show hand jive contest before we start the interactive show, where you’ll have some candy cigarettes to help you look like a greaser, a comb so that you can comb-along to the action, balloons, bubbles, and more.
And because this is a Sing-Along, we’ll have the lyrics up onscreen to help every Danny, Sandy, Rizzo, and Kenickie in the audience get in on the fun. So roll up the cuffs on those jeans, grab your respective black leather and pink satin jackets, theatrically comb your hair, and cruise on down to join us for the most rockin’ Sing-Along eve.
ZZ TOP: THAT LITTLE OL’ BAND FROM TEXAS
Monday, September 9, 2019
7:30pm
ZZ Top is part of American music history. With song’s you’ve heard a million times including ‘Legs’, ‘Tush’, ‘Sharp Dressed Man’, ‘Cheap Sunglasses’ and their oh-so memorable videos, ZZ Top is a band that has built and sustained a career that continues to thrive and grow.
Produced by the Emmy award-winning Banger Films, ZZ TOP: THAT LITTLE OL’ BAND FROM TEXAS tells the story of how three oddball teenage bluesmen – Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard – became one of the biggest, most beloved bands on the planet, all while maintaining a surrealist mystique that continues to intrigue fans and entice onlookers 50 years after the band’s inception.
WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN
Tuesday, September 10
7:30pm
Even in his darkest films, Pedro Almodóvar never shies away from peppering whimsy and fun into his explorations of the fringes of the human psyche. With his 1988 classic WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN, he delightfully flips that equation, resulting in a hugely funny and whimsical film that lightly peppers human insight throughout.
Actress Pepa Marcos (Carmen Maura, MATADOR) is, well, on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Having been abandoned by her lover, she embarks on a quest to reestablish contact with him, all the while navigating the stresses of live animals, answering machines, apartment fires, a girlfriend with accidental ties to terrorism, her ex-lover’s son (Antonio Banderas, PAIN AND GLORY), sleeping pills, and inquisitive detectives. WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN takes the pain of heartbreak and wrings every last laugh out of it.
Film Club: BUÑUEL IN THE LABYRINTH OF THE TURTLES
Wednesday, September 11
7:30pm
Paris, 1930. The infamous surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel is left penniless after the scandalous release of L’Age d’Or leads to a falling out with collaborator Salvador Dalí. On a whim, Buñuel’s good friend, sculptor Ramón Acín, buys a lottery ticket and promises to devote his winnings to fund Buñuel’s next film.
Incredibly, Ramón wins the jackpot, sending the two friends to the remote mountains of their native Spain to film the documentary Las Hurdes: Land Without Bread.
Driven by mad artistic impulse and haunted by childhood memories, Buñuel must confront the specter of mortality looming over the lives of his subjects –and his own. In a stranger-than-fiction tale befitting the master filmmaker, Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtlestells the true story behind a fascinating episode in cinematic history, utilizing sensitive performances as well as excerpts from Buñuel’s filmography to present a deeply affecting and humanistic portrait of an artist hunting for his purpose.
PULP FICTION Movie Party
Friday, September 13
7:15pm
PULP FICTION shook audiences around the world when it first arrived 25 years ago, lifting elements from a wide array of time-worn stories and weaving them together into something truly new. And considering its impact on film history, you know we can’t just let that anniversary pass us by.
That’s why we’re throwing a PULP FICTION Movie Party, where we’ll have Red Apple (fake) cigarettes so you can puff along with Mia, cap guns so you can shoot along with Jules and Vincent, and, of course, a pretty f*cking good $5 milkshake. We’ll even have a Jack Rabbit Slim’s Twist Competition beforehand (black wigs encouraged).
So don’t be a square, daddio. Grab your honey bunny and cruise on down to the most fun, most bloody, most groovy Movie Party in town.
QUADROPHINIA
Friday, September 13
10:00pm
A new restoration of The Who’s epic teenage riot! It’s the mid-1960s and Jimmy (Phil Daniels) is a reckless young mod in London with a dead-end job, a rad scooter, and two fists that are ready to fight.
But after a gang brawl, Jimmy’s arrest makes him lose his girlfriend (Leslie Ash) and discover that his rude-boy idol, “Ace Face” (Sting in his debut role), isn’t what he seems.
Inspired by The Who’s landmark concept album of the same name, QUADROPHENIA is an astonishing snapshot of youth in revolt, filled with punk grit, anxious energy, and drop-dead-cool fashions.
BACK TO THE FUTURE Movie Party
Saturday, September 14
7:30pm
“1.21 gigawatts!” Over 30 years ago, Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd took us on an era-hopping adventure with BACK TO THE FUTURE as the ’80s raddest time travelin’ teen and his unlikely sidekick – a crazy, wild-eyed, wild-haired scientist.
What rose from those flame trails is the heaviest sci-fi comedy ever made – one that is often considered “the perfect movie” without hyperbole. Now, you’re invited to get even heavier with us at these fourth wall-busting celebrations of time-hopping DeLoreans, life jacket vests, and oedipal overtones.
Come floor it with us right to 88 MPH with a Johnny B. Goode air guitar contest before the show, and themed props to bring the movie magic to life. What’s more, you’ll even SMELL the flaming tire tracks, manure truck and more with our exclusive scratch ’n’ sniff cards! It’s all included in your ticket. It’s the raucously fun celebration you might not be ready for, but your kids – your kids are gonna love it.
Champagne cinema: STEEL MAGNOLIAS Movie Party
Sunday, September 15
6:00 pm
A MOVIE PARTY WITH BIG HAIR, BIG LAUGHS, AND A FEW TEARS. Join us for a trip to the best place on earth, home of big hair and even bigger gossip: Truvy’s Beauty Spot. In this charming little parlor, you don’t just get your hair and nails did — you get vital life lessons, like the fact that there’s no such thing as natural beauty. Thanks, Truvy Jones (Dolly Parton)! Then there’s Clairee Belcher (Olympia Dukakis), reminding you that the only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize.
And without Ouiser Boudreaux (Shirley MacLaine), how would you discover that it’s possible to be in a bad mood for 40 years? So tease up your hair, grab your bestie, and join us for this special interactive screening of STEEL MAGNOLIAS, where you can laugh and cry along with the fiercest females in the South.
We’ll have bird-scaring poppers, “hairspray,” and, of course, tissues to help you get swept into this beloved ’80s gem. It’ll be even better than a slice of armadillo cake.
CLUE Movie Party
Thursday, September 19
7:30pm
You’ve done it in the library. You’ve done it in the dining room. You’ve even done it with a candlestick in the kitchen. That’s right, at one time or another, we’ve all killed Mr. Body. And this month we’re celebrating the hilarious film adaptation of the board game CLUE.
Quip along with Wadsworth (Tim Curry), scream along with Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan), and feel the flames on the side of your face with Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn). We won’t be handing out ropes or lead pipes, but we will be giving you props to intensify your evening at Mr. Boddy’s manor.
Movie Parties are always interactive, but this show takes audience participation to a whole new level. (Although you won’t have to move any dead bodies… or will you?!) Whether you’ve seen this movie a thousand times or never before, it’s no mystery that you’ll have a ridiculously fun night. And remember, Communism was just a red herring.
Champagne Cinema: PRACTICAL MAGIC Movie Party
Friday, September 20
7:30pm
What happens when you get Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Stockard Channing, and Dianne Wiest together in a story about family, love and magic? You get one of the most spirited witch movies of the ’90s next this side of HOCUS POCUS! Throw in that it’s directed by AMERICAN WEREWOLF star Griffin Dunne from a script by LITTLE WOMEN screenwriter Robin Swicord and you’ve got yourself a coven of rom-com greatness.
At this Halloween edition Champagne Cinema, we’ll raise glasses full of intoxicating draughts and heady potions to the greatness of the Owens Sisters, the power of true love, and the hotness of Aidan Quinn and his dreamy eyes.
Plus, thanks to themed props and Smell-Along cards, we’ll bring the witchy action to life inside the theater — with all the conjuring, swooning, cheering you can handle. Spoiler alert: We’ll even doing a little sweeping after that no-account Jimmy gets his ever-loving due.
THE ULTIMATE WILLY WONKA PARTY WITH LIVE Q&A
Saturday, September 21
2:30pm; 7:00pm
With Paris Themmen and Julie Dawn Cole live in person. All guests are encouraged to dress up as their favorite character, set-piece, or prop from the film. And show up early for a scrumdiddlyumptious karaoke contest! Come with me, and you’ll be in a wooorld of pure imagination… and you’ll also be in a theater with two of the original kids from WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY!
We’ll have a full Q&A after the screening, so you can ask Paris Themmen (Mike TeeVee) what it was like to be so tiny and ask Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt) what happened after she got dumped down the Bad Egg chute.
Plus, each member of the audience will receive a special edition Wonka poster signed by Paris and Julie! And for this screening, we’re pulling out all the stops with bubbles, candy (of course!), sniffable wallpaper, a pre-show karaoke contest, and more. We’d hate to ruin it all for you, so sign the contract on the bottom line and enter the magical world of Willy Wonka.
MUBI FREE VICTORY SCREENING: REAR WINDOW
Sunday, September 22
6:00pm
Admission is free for Victory members, but you can reserve your seat in advance with a $5 food and beverage voucher. With its blend of humor, heart, and chilling suspense, there may be no better showcase for Alfred Hitchcock’s legendary style than REAR WINDOW.
James Stewart (VERTIGO) stars as L.B. Jefferies, a photographer who normally spends his days traveling into dangerous situations to get the pictures no one else dares take. But one of his adventures temporarily lands him in a wheelchair, forcing him to while away his days watching his colorful assortment of neighbors in the apartment building across the street.
It all seems harmless enough, until he begins to suspect one of his neighbors has committed a murder. Co-starring Hollywood icon Grace Kelly (DIAL M FOR MURDER) and the magnificent Thelma Ritter (ALL ABOUT EVE), Alfred Hitchcock’s REAR WINDOW stands as a master class in filmmaking.
By putting the audience in Stewart’s shoes, he both engrosses and implicates the viewer in his tawdry, wickedly entertaining peep show, resulting in one of the greatest films ever made.
THE OUTSIDERS
Monday, September 23
7:30pm
Francis Ford Coppola’s “A-Side” to his gang war films and S. E. Hinton adaptations (with RUMBLE FISH being the “B-Side”) remains one of the defining films of an alternate-Brat Pack and ’80s masculinity.
A teen gang in rural Oklahoma, the Greasers, are perpetually at odds with rival group the Socs. When Greasers’ Ponyboy (C. Thomas Howell) and Johnny (Ralph Macchio) get into a brawl that ends in the accidental death of a Socs member, the boys go on the run.
Soon, Ponyboy and Johnny, along with the intense Dallas (Matt Dillon) and their other Greaser buddies, must contend with the consequences of their violent lives. Starring a veritable who’s who of ‘80s heroes and heartthrobs — Swayze! Cruise! Lowe! Estvez! And more! — in some of the earliest roles of their careers.
SHAUN OF THE DEAD Movie Party
Tuesday, September 24
7:30pm
When SHAUN OF THE DEAD came out 15 years ago, it was instantly recognizable as a cult classic in the making. With its hilariously quotable dialogue, gory action, and genuinely endearing characters, it has inspired a whole genre of ZomRomComs in the intervening years.
So to celebrate the film that launched Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright into superstardom, we’re throwing a splat-tacular Movie Party. We’ll provide inflatable cricket bats so you can smack your neighbor every time Shaun smacks a zombie onscreen, a packet of bar snacks to keep your strength (which always pairs well with a pint or two), and your very own Shaun-esque name tag.
While you can’t smoke at Alamo Drafthouse, it’s still a pretty decent place to hole up for a couple of hours and wait for this whole thing to blow over.
Video Vortex: Extra Terrestrial Visitors
Wednesday, September 25
10pm
You may have seen classic E.T. rip-offs like MAC AND ME, BADI, and NUKIE. But you haven’t truly LIVED until you’ve watched EXTRA TERRESTRIAL VISITORS! After a meteor crashes, a rock band takes a camping trip.
Meanwhile, an alien egg hatches and reveals “Trumpy” — an extraterrestrial that looks like ALF with a miniature elephant trunk for a nose. Trumpy befriends a kid named Tommy, and it’s only a matter of time before our heroes have a showdown with some evil poachers and their shotguns.
Written and directed by Juan Piquer Simón (PIECES, SLUGS), EXTRA TERRESTRIAL VISITORS is a three-beers-and-a-pizza bullseye that was made for children, but should never be shown to them under any circumstances.
DAZED AND CONFUSED Movie Party
Thursday, September 26
7:30pm
When DAZED AND CONFUSED hit the big screen in 1993, it made every living teenager wish they could go back in time to 1976. That was the year when a 14-year-old could buy alcohol without getting carded; when high school seniors could paddle the crap out of freshmen; when people could cruise around town with their trunks full of beer and their brains steeped in pot.
If you’ve ever wanted to discuss George Washington’s alien obsession with Slater (Rory Cochrane) or cruise along with Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey), here’s your chance to party 1976-style with our DAZED AND CONFUSED Movie Party!
Let it all hang out as we scream at freshmen with Darla (Parker Posey), praise Martha Washington for being such a hip, hip lady and sing along with the classic soundtrack. Freshmen, beware, because we’ll be passing out paddles and other interactive props (but no weed, sorry). This cinematic flashback will be more than just alright – it’ll be alright, alright, alright!
LA BAMBA Movie Party
Friday, September 27
7:30pm
The biographical story chronicling the brief life of Ritchie Valens, a rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, whose eight-month career ended after he died in a plane crash with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper.
Lou Diamond Phillips, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for his lead performance, stars as Valens. Director Luis Valdez infuses the film with a sentimentality, ultimately stopping short of putting Valens up for sainthood.
In the hands of a lesser actor, Valens could have come off as bland and uninspiring; Phillips, however, gives his Valens a humanizing level of sincerity that helps his character leap off the screen. Keep an eye out for the smaller moments in the film — it shines when it shows everyday life: interactions between mother and son, siblings who both duel for attention, but also deeply love each other.
These moments, more than the concert scenes that cover his rocket-rise to fame, bring a rich humanity to the life of Ritchie Valens.
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH Movie Party
Saturday, September 28
7:30pm
For our HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH Movie Party, we’re inviting anyone who has ever felt like they don’t fit in to join us and embody that spirit of punk rock pride.
With our foam wigs and inflatable microphones, you and your friends will feel just like Hedwig as you belt out Stephen Trask’s rollicking, endlessly catchy songs. We’ll even provide you with a temporary version of Hedwig’s tattoo.
So put on some makeup, turn up the 8-track, and come rock out with us at the most glam movie party in town.
