The Local Haps: Monday, April 6th - April 12th

This is a busy time for movie lovers in Dallas. We've got loads of film screenings and a film festival starting this week. Check out some of the best screenings including my pick of the week after the break. 

The Local Haps: March 16th- March 22nd

Spring Break happened for some last week but is happening for others this week. Whether you're off this week or sad to be back in school this week, there are plenty of great movie events to get you through the dull of March. 

The Alamo Experience: 90s Will Make Love to You

*Note: this article originally ran on CentralTrack.com.

As a franchise, the Alamo Drafthouse is fairly notorious for its special presentations. They really do it all in this regard: They show old films, they bring in comedians to mock bad movies, and they even have a running series called The Action Pack, through which the theater presents quote-along and sing-along screenings every month. 

Over the years, I've heard a lot in particular about these sing-alongs, where music videos are shown in all their glory and with the closed-captioning on -- y'know, so you can properly learn that it's "hold me closer, tiny dancer" and not "hold me closer, Tony Danza." 

Having never been myself, though, one thing that I didn't quite understand was how these sing-alongs jived with Alamo's no talking policy. But now all of my questions and speculations have finally been answered.

Last week, I went to my first sing-along.

The Local Haps: March 2nd - March 8th

I know 75% of you have got some bad cabin fever. So get out of the house and go see some movies!!!!


Monday, March 2nd
Alamo Drafthouse:  Tonight's main event is the thankfully early monthly AGFA Secret Screening at 7:00 pm. As always, you don't know what you're going to get but it will be fun as hell.

Texas Theatre: The documentary SONS OF LIBERTY screens at 6:00 pm. It deals with the way that corporations control all of the information in this country. Very scary stuff.



Tuesday, March 3rd
Alamo Drafthouse: Tough Guy Cinema presents one of the best movies of the 90's, director John Woo's perfect distillation of crazy Nicolas Cage and John Travolta performances, FACE/OFF. It all goes down at 7:00 pm.


Texas Theatre: Tuesday Night Trash returns with the grimy cyberpunk movie, DECODER at 9:15 pm. It's a semi-adaption of a William S. Burroughs story, The Electronic Revolution. As always, TNT is free. You can check out the trailer here.

Before that at 7:00 pm, they'll be hosting the SHOW US YOUR SHORTS! showcase of local filmmakers' shorts all competing for a prize! Admission is $5.



Wednesday, March 4th
Alamo Drafthouse: One of my favorite movies of all time, GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH is screening at 9:00 pm. If nasty little green creatures aren't up your alley, how about you dance and sing along to some of New Wave's greatest hits at the next Sing-Along at 8:00 pm?


Thursday, March 5th
Alamo Drafthouse: As if you would want to miss this CLUELESS quote-along at 7:40 pm?

Granada Theater: In an interesting turn of events, it seems my favorite music venue in all of DFW, the Granada Theater is starting to show cheap movies with drink specials. This week's offering are HEAVY METAL at 7:00 pm and then SUPERBAD at 9:00 pm. Both are a mere $3 per ticket.

Texas Theatre:  It's actually the whole night at the Theatre. Starting off at 7:00 pm, there's a screening of the music doc RECORDS COLLECTING DUST and then at 9:30 pm, there's the monster movie by director Adam Green, DIGGING UP THE MARROW.



Friday, March 6th
Texas Theatre: PICK OF THE WEEK! The traveling EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE! video tour comes to Dallas tonight at 8:00 pm. For those not in the know, EIT is a bizarre found footage collective who compile all of this weird stuff they find on VHS tapes, DVDs and all sort of assorted media. It's awkward and funny and a little disgusting but it's never boring!



Saturday, March 7th
Alamo Drafthouse: PARTY TIME! EXCELLENT! is what you will be saying if you go to the WAYNE'S WORLD quote-along at 7:15 pm. Or if you prefer your evening to be a little classier and a lot more British, you can check out the next installment of the Bondthology series with 1987's THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (aka the first movie with Timothy Dalton) at 7:00 pm.

Texas Theatre: There's a one-time screening of director Joe Lynch's EVERLY at 7:00 pm with a director Q&A over Skype right after the movie. I got to catch this movie at last year's Fantastic Fest and I have to say that despite some of the questionable sexual politics it's implying, I had quite a good time with it. Salma Hayek is such a bad ass action star in this and she carries most of the movie like a boss.



Sunday, March 8th
Alamo Drafthouse: If you've never seen Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller VERTIGO, you can cross it off your shame list at 1:00 pm. Then, continuing the Avenge the Alamo series, is THE INCREDIBLE HULK, the really underrated movie starring Edward Norton. And finally, the masters of cinematic comedy, Master Pancake will be lampooning the very lampoon-able FIFTY SHADES OF GREY at 5:00 pm and 8:15 pm.



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The Local Haps: February 3rd- February 9th

It's the season of love and assorted chocolates, and that makes you sick, then there are always a great selection of movies playing around DFW to keep your mind off of it. Yes, there are romance movies here, but there are plenty of other films including Oscar contenders, secret screening, and my pick of the week, a musical (of the non-romance variety)!

The Local Haps: January 26th - February 1st

This is one of those weeks where I'm totes excited for my Pick of the Week. check it out after the break along with other rad screenings.  

Monday, January 26th
Alamo Drafthouse: Weird Al Yankovic's box office bomb, UHF, is screening tonight at 7:00 pm.  It's co-hosted by friends Devin Pike and Mark Walters of BigFanBoy.com!


Tuesday, January 27th
Alamo Drafthouse: One of the most popular sing-alongs is the PITCH PERFECT one and there just happens to be one at 7:15 pm tonight! Then later, as part of the Shiner Soundtrack Series, there's an 8pm screening of WILD STYLE, which is considered one of the first movies about hip-hop including appearances with many hip-hop legends like Grandmaster Flash,  


Texas Theatre: In what may be one of theater's most successful runs, it seems A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT is back for a round of screenings. Then in new movies, there's THE BALLAD OF SHOVELS AND ROPE about the band by the same name. I'll be honest, the band sounds so damn phony and manufactured, unless every recent poppy acoustic band like the Lumineers and Shovels and Rope out there just happened to be salt-of-the-earth types making their own butter and drinking out of mason jars.


Wednesday, January 28th
Alamo Drafthouse: Quentin Tarantino's JACKIE BROWN based on Elmore Leonard's RUM PUNCH screens at 8:00 pm.

Texas Theatre: The second part of GANGS OF WASSEYPUR screens tonight. The first part screened on Sunday, but it should be awesome! Movie starts at 7:00 pm.

Sundown At Granada: As always, there's the free screening on the rooftop with half off whiskey. This week's movie will be COOL RUNNINGS. Movie starts around 8:00 pm or whenever it gets dark.


Thursday, January 29th
Alamo Drafthouse: I can't stand FIREFLY mostly because of the attitude of the fans, so I don't really care that there's a SERENITY quote-along at 7:00 pm but maybe there's some of you that will?
And for the 80's pop fans, there's a Madonna sing-along at 8:00 pm.


Friday, January 30th
Texas Theatre: The S&M-dark comedy R100 starts playing this weekend at 7:00 pm. I'll be honest, it's a really weird movie. I've seen it twice already and I'm not sure if it still makes sense to me. And before that, there's a singular screening of SUBURBAN GOTHIC at 5:00 pm. To be honest, it looks....lame. but choose for yourself!


Saturday, January 31st
Alamo Drafthouse: PICK OF THE WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MAN I'm so peanut butter and jealous of anyone that can make this. There's a cartoon cereal party called JAPANESE MONSTER MADNESS. It stars Godzilla, Leopodardon, Ultraman and many other Japanese icons. It sounds so awesome, plus there's a bunch of cereal to eat!


Sunday, February 1st
Alamo Drafthouse: This is essential. There's a screening of the classic CASABLANCA at 12:30 pm. I first saw it at the Drafthouse and it's an amazing movie to see on the big screen.



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Alamo Drafthouse Opens Fourth DFW Location In the 'Burbs

Why, I remember when we Dallas film nerds were complaining about not having a Drafthouse here. Driving down to Austin to see Master Pancake shows or even some of the special screenings was fun, but it sure is nice to just have to drive 15 minutes up north to go to a special screening or not be bothered by talkers during the movie. 

Now, a year and a half after the first location, we have word that there's going to be a fourth location, this time located in the suburb of Little Elm. Check out the details after the break. 

The Local Haps: December 1st - December 7th

I'll be honest, while I love Halloween time much more, I'm always more interested to see what theaters program during Christmas. Do they go for standard holiday fare, or do they dig into the surprisingly numerous Christmas slasher sub-genre or movies that just happen to take place during Christmas. That all goes to say, that there's quite a bit of Christmas related programming this week in Dallas. Check them out after the break as well as my Pick of the Week!

The Local Haps - Turkey Week Edition

After having Jonesy do a great job with Local Haps in my absence, I'm back during this short Thanksgiving week. Thankfully (hahaha) there's a few really good screenings this week. Check them out after the break.

The Local Haps: November 11th - 16th

The polar vortex has set into Dallas, which means it's the perfect time to stay inside and watch some great movies! There are tons going on this week including various science fiction films, documentaries, and my pick of the week, a live script reading. Enjoy!

The Local Haps: October 20th- October 26th

As always, there are some awesome movie events happening this week including a showing of a stage play, a dance party, classic horror films, and an opportunity for a drive-in experience!

The Local Haps: October 14th - October 19th

Do you have your Halloween costume picked out yet? Only a couple more weeks left. In The Local Haps for this week, there are a plethora of Halloween movies to see, a shorts feature, and, in my pick of the week, a classic film playing in glorious 35mm.

Enjoy!

The Local Haps: October 6th- October 12th

Now that the storms are over here in Dallas (hopefully), it's time to get out to the local theatres and enjoy some great events. There are plenty of great films going on this week, with my pick happening on Wednesday.

The Local Haps: September 30th- October 5th

We're back! Thanks for putting up with us as we took a little break to be down in Austin for Fantastic Fest, and then have to get acclimated back into the real world. But now I have this week's Local Haps for you to check out with some awesome documentaries, dance parties, and a one-of-a-kind viewing experience (also the pick of the week) that you can only find in Dallas. Enjoy!

The Local Haps: September 8th - September 14th

I hope everyone had a lovely and nice short week last week, and also got tons of football watching in this past weekend. I know I did. This week has so much movie goodness going on, which is great because September is usually a pretty slow month. 

Here are the Local Haps with my pick of the week happening on Tuesday!

The Local Haps: September 2nd - September 7th

Yet another look at the rad film events going down around the DFW area. This'll be a rad week with lots of 35mm prints going around and repertory screenings. As always, look out for my personal Pick of the Week after the break.

The Local Haps: The Alamo Drafthouse DFW Announces a THIRD Location!

This is such exciting news! We just heard that a new Alamo was coming to Dallas a little over a month ago, and we just received news that another location will be coming to Los Colinas! The Drafthouse has been doing so well in Richardson this past year, and it's wonderful that we are getting two new locations so soon.  

Coupled with this announcement, The Alamo is celebrating with a Rolling Roadshow presentation of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, which we highlighted in yesterday's The Local Haps. 

The Local Haps: August 27th - August 31st

Hello everyone! I know Javi usually has this column out by Monday, so I apologize for the delay. For the next few months I will be taking over The Local Haps. So, I will continue to bring the fun movie events going on around the DFW area, plus giving you my pick of the week!

Now, onto the events.

The Local Haps: August 17th - August 23rd

Yet another round of awesome movies all around our gorgeous Metroplex. Check them out after the break! Starting next week, I will be in serious study mode which means my awesome partner will be filling in for me when I'm not available.

The Local Haps: August 4th - August 10th

Check out the various Dallas events going on this week!