Festival Detox

This March, SXSW gets older, but the Alamo Drafthouse stays the same age

March is probably going to be a busy month for just about everyone out there. The coming weeks will be super frustrating with traffic at nearly all times of day, crowds holding up lines everywhere and outsiders overstaying their welcome.

But the last thing you should consider is leaving town to escape the insanity, because then you are admitting defeat. What should a local do instead? How about taking refuge at your local Alamo Drafthouse? While some locations will host screenings during SXSW, grab your tickets to these top, upcoming events and revel in the fact that, unlike the visitors, you can enjoy these exclusive events year round.

The Action Pack presents Dazed and Confused Quote-along

This year marks the 20th anniversary of beloved local, coming-of-age cult comedy, Dazed and Confused. Richard Linklater’s early hit will be garnering plenty of honors thanks to the Texas Film Hall of Fame and a director by the name of Quentin Tarantino, but regular fans can pay their own tribute several times this month.

All of your favorite lines will be subtitled, so anyone can scream at those freshmen or channel McConaughey and make creepy comments about how those high schoolers stay the same age. You can even sing the lyrics to the film’s classic '70s soundtrack. There’s no confirmation if there will be a pre-show paddling, but you never know what to expect from the Action Pack!

Kids’ Camp featuring luck dragons and tiny kids

Parents these days are probably sick about every kids’ movie being a 3D, CGI romp of celebrity voices. The Drafthouse would like to teach them about a time when kids also had the option to watch live-action sci-fi/fantasy films chock-full of practical effects and Rick Moranis.

The Drafthouse’s Kids’ Camp is completely free, with seating limited to a first-come, first-served basis. This month’s selections include Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and The Neverending Story and are located at theaters far away from the downtown insanity, so find your own perfect time to take the young ones, but prepare to provide counseling after the Artax scene.

Celebrate Peckinpah’s masterpieces of cinematic mayhem

Nobody has been able to make an action movie quite like Sam Peckinpah. Peckinpah revolutionized the language of action films with his ability to convey tension that built up to explosions of choreographed violence. His characters were violent bastards who could still emotionally appeal to the audience.

Now you can enjoy two of the auteur’s masterpieces. Tough Guy Cinema presents his immensely important The Wild Bunch; Badass Digest will introduce the new monthly series with Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, a film that was a self-reflection on Peckinpah’s darker, later stages in life.

March Madness at the Drafthouse

The end of March is a magical time for many sports fans. In a tournament consisting of 64 of the top teams in college basketball, the true passion of the sport issues forth as players give everything they got to reach the summit and declare themselves the best in the nation.

The pandemonium of the first round will be the featured highlight at the Lake Creek Drafthouse, with free admission, allowing any passionate basketball fan to sit their butt down and enjoy the Dance from noon until the final buzzer.

Master Pancake and Doug Benson mock Leprechaun

There are other ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day than just getting unimaginably shit-housed on green beer. Since the holiday falls on a Sunday this year, you may want to consider easing back on the green beer for Monday’s sake.

Lucky for you, Master Pancake and regular guest mocker Doug Benson will provide a night of laughs as they guide the audience through the horror sort-of-a-classic Leprechaun, starring Warwick Davis and Jennifer Aniston. You can still enjoy beer, but please realize that these guys don’t mess around when it comes to booting the obnoxious drunks. Maybe Benson will be nice enough to provide you with something that won’t give you a Monday hangover.

Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused

Photo courtesy of Alamo Drafthouse

Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused

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Movie Review

Jude Law faces white supremacy in The Order, inspired by a true story

Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

Jude Law in The Order.

White supremacy has long been a stand-in for evil in movies, with the correlation easy to make with through well-known archetypes like those of Nazi Germany. Whether a film puts forth white supremacists as its main characters or supporting ones, their usefulness in a story is as people who are easy to hate and that deserve to be held to some sort of justice.

While that idea holds true in the new film, The Order, the nature of the group featured is somewhat muddled. The central figure is FBI agent Terry Husk (Jude Law), who essentially sets up a one-man task force in the Pacific Northwest to track a group known as The Order. Husk is convinced that the group, which is an offshoot of a larger white supremacist organization, is behind a series of bank robberies to fund anti-government schemes.

Husk recruits local police officer Jamie Bowen (Tye Sheridan) to help follow the group, which is led by Bob Mathews (Nicholas Hoult). The two, joined occasionally by FBI agent Joanne Carney (Jurnee Smollett), do their best to keep up with The Order’s increasingly bold crimes, which morphs from “just” bank robbery to murder.

Directed by Justin Kurzel and written by Zach Baylin, the film is at its best when it delves into the personalities of its characters. Husk’s monomaniacal nature is great for his job, but not so much for his family life. Bowen has a solid bond with his wife and kids, but his greenness in law enforcement leads to some questionable decision-making. Mathews, like many cult leaders, is a charismatic person with very misguided tendencies.

The filmmakers set up the plot (which is based on a real-life story) well, but the details get a little loose as the film goes along. While The Order has a hatred of Jews, a plot against radio personality Alan Berg (Marc Maron) doesn’t make much sense in the context of the film. The geography of the group’s operations is also confusing; they’re located in Washington, but they range out as far as Colorado and California to commit their crimes.

Still, the inherent appeal of good-vs-evil keeps the plot mechanics going, and the side stories of the main characters give them a depth that makes up for other faults. The filmmakers also make sure to demonstrate how the scourge of white supremacy has never been limited to one particular era, and continues to infect American society to this day.

Law commits fully to the lead role, giving a performance with a convincing American accent that is far from the suave British parts which have dominated his filmography. Hoult proves equally believable, giving his character a nuance that somehow makes him more detestable. Sheridan adds another interesting role to a career that would be enviable for any other young actor.

While The Order doesn’t rise to the level of an awards contender, its story is still relatively compelling with antagonists that, unfortunately, never go out of style. A great cast playing characters with engaging lives keeps the film watchable even when it goes into some odd detours.

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The Order is now playing in theaters.

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