Thelma, Louise, Musketeers, and More Queer Films Headline Our Week in Events

Queer Film Theory 101: Footloose

Monday 19 & Wednesday 21, Alamo Slaughter, Lakeline, Mueller, South Lamar

Footloose celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, so it's as good a time as any to revisit the Kevin Bacon classic or see it for the first time through a queer lens. Taking place in a town with a ban on dancing, the storyline about a teenage newcomer from Chicago (Bacon) who rejects small-town conventions resonates today with its themes that parallel current issues like the right wing's fear of drag. Hear about all the queer subtext in a prerecorded intro for this series curated by Micheal Foulk, local film expert and co-host of the I’m Not Busy podcast with fellow funny Austinite Vanessa Gonzalez.   – Kat McNevins

Paint Lab for Kids: Summerween

Monday 19, Yarborough Branch Library

Ghosts, goblins, perhaps even a ghoul: These are all subjects you might find in this month’s Austin Public Library paint lab. Kids from 2 to 7 can experiment with different painting materials, media, and techniques at this event. Mess? Encouraged. Art? Guaranteed. A little scary fun during the hottest month this year? Yeah, that’s definitely on tap.   – James Scott

Wine Night: Pop!

Monday 19, First Light Books

The event copy for this vino vibe says “We’re ending the summer with a POP,” which says to me that whoever wrote the copy is maybe not from Texas? Or maybe they are, and summer ending by this coming Monday is a truth they’re trying to speak into the world. Look, I also hope this season’s heat dissipates once we flip from August to September, but even in the hottest of times we can all enjoy a cold glass o’ fermented fizz. This week First Light features poppy book picks to go with their sparkling wine selections, plus bubbly tunes and light snacks. Perhaps a good time is all that’s needed to give this summer the send-off it deserves.   – James Scott

Terror Tuesday: The Hunger

Tuesday 20, Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar

You may not be ready for summer to end, but Alamo Drafthouse clearly is, as evidenced by the goth and glamorous Terror Tuesday pick: The Hunger. Your second option for basking in the hotness of Susan Sarandon this week (Thelma & Louise plays at the Paramount the same night), The Hunger follows immortal vampire power couple Miriam (Catherine Deneuve) and John (David Bowie) through the New York club scene, until John suddenly begins to age rapidly, leading Miriam to set her sights on innocent doctor Sarah (Sarandon). “A chilling art-horror film that sparkles with early MTV vibes, skin-tight black leather, and gorgeous humans, The Hunger is an essential snapshot of 1980s decadence,” writes the Drafthouse.   – Lina Fisher

Thelma & Louise

Tuesday 20, Paramount Theatre

It’s rare that a film can encapsulate both tragedy and comedy, hope and despair, young Brad Pitt and young Susan Sarandon. But Thelma & Louise manages to serve us just that, wrapped up in the best road movie of all time, according to this critic. It follows underappreciated housewife Thelma (a dazzling Geena Davis) and her sardonic waitress friend Louise (a steely Sarandon) as they decide on a lark to get out of dodge in a 1966 teal T-Bird. When a terrifying honky-tonk parking lot encounter brings a would-be rapist to justice the old-fashioned way, they hit the road for real, hightailing it around the American West on the run. With a stellar cast, soundtrack, costumes, and script, Ridley Scott’s feminist classic is best seen on the big screen, and you’ll get a chance this Tuesday at 7:30, at the beautiful Paramount Theatre as part of its Summer Classic Film Series.   – Lina Fisher

Rocky

Wednesday 21, Central Machine Works

If you only know Rocky as a monolith – a five-decades-running film franchise of waxing and waning degrees of cheesiness – then this series starter may drop your jaw. It’s practically an art film. (An extremely lucrative one – 10 Oscar noms and the biggest box office of 1976.) Sylvester Stallone wrote the script and cut his fee for the chance to star as a down-on-his-luck Philly southpaw who takes on heavyweight boxer Apollo Creed. Bill Conti’s theme song “Gonna Fly Now” is pure rocket fuel injected in your veins. Allay the adrenaline with one of Central Machine Works’ house drafts and a signature pie or charcuterie board.   – Kimberley Jones

I Am Love

Wednesday 21, Paramount Theatre

Luca Guadagnino’s self-described “Deie” trilogy starts here, with the story of a wealthy family of Milan industrialists. I Am Love (2009) opens in snow-swept winter – the chilly gray a startlement when you think of the sun-blasted eroticism of follow-ups A Bigger Splash and Call Me by Your Name – but things heat up considerably when family matriarch Emma (Tilda Swinton) slides into an affair with a young chef. She’s seduced by his food first, naturally. This was Guadagnino’s international breakthrough, and its casual gorgeousness – in composition, faces, and the unbounded luxury the Recchi family so takes for granted – will look like dynamite screening in 35mm at the Paramount.   – Kimberley Jones

Rent Free (Courtesy of aGLIFF)

PRISM 37: aGLIFF’s LGBTQ Film Festival

Wednesday 21 - Sunday 25, Various locations

First: aGLIFF stands for All Genders, Lifestyles, and Identities Film Festival. Second: This is the longest-running film festival in Austin, Texas. Now that you’ve got the basic facts, you’re more than ready to enjoy five full days of film screenings, Q&As, panels, and parties hosted by aGLIFF. Highlights include opening night, where a red carpet reception at AFS Cinema precedes Rent Free, screening for its Southwest premiere; directed by Fernando Andrés, this Austin-set dramedy follows best friends Ben and Jordan trying to survive the rapidly changing city. There’s also aGLIFF’s Queer Black Voices dinner where winners of the Queer Black Voices Fund – æryka jourdaine hollis o’neil, Brandon R. Nicholas, Deshon Leek – will have their films screened. Grab your badge or individual tickets for this year’s fest at agliff.com/prism-37.   – James Scott

Ob-la-di Ob-la-DAC Dance Night

Wednesday 21, Dougherty Arts Center

After getting past my initial disappointment that this wasn’t a completely Beatles-centric dance night – my controversial opinion is that “Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da” is among Paul’s finest work – I got way too excited about this all-inclusive grooving event. Cha-cha real smooth with dance instructor Jack Monzingo’s refresher course on all things party dance. I can’t speak to whether there will be any Boot Scootin’ Boogies, but the Cupid Shuffle and Copperhead Road have been confirmed. Electric Slide is still on the “maybe” list. Sweat out your frustrations and joys while getting down with your bad self.   – Cat McCarrey

Steel Magnolias: 35th Anniversary

Thursday 22, Paramount Theatre

Thirty-five years hasn’t lessened the incredible mom energy radiating off this classic play-turned-movie. Maybe I see it as the quintessential maternal flick because it was my own mom who first showed it to me and then took me to a dinner theatre performance of the play. Dinner was subpar, but the play works no matter how rubbery your chicken cutlet is. Enjoy the schmaltz in a much more classy establishment for this screening, with Paramount’s beautiful building proving a perfect time machine to 1989’s big hair and big feelings. Now let’s talk about the injustice that is Dolly Parton going Oscar-less despite stealing the screen as Truvy...   – James Scott

The Three Musketeers

Through Sept. 22, Austin Scottish Rite Theater

Reenter the world of “all for one and one for all” with this collaboration between the Archive Theater and Austin Scottish Rite Theater. It may have been a while since you’ve seen any of the movie adaptations of Alexandre Dumas’ classic tale, but witnessing the swashbuckling adventures of D’Artagnan and his trio of mentors live onstage is a much better way to revisit these fearless Frenchmen. Archive specializes in taking classic stories from page to stage. In their hands, the musketeers are sure to be spellbinding. Besides, any excuse to see a show at the gorgeous and historic Scottish Rite is a good one.   – Cat McCarrey

Want to see all of our listings broken down by day? Go to austinchronicle.com/calendar and see what's happening now or in the coming week.