Dinos in the Wild
Through August 17, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Created by renowned dino dab Don Lessem – also an adviser on Jurassic Park – animatronic prehistoric animals have taken over the Wildflower Center. Around every corner of the gorgeous gardens are life-sized creatures said to be “the most scientifically accurate robotic dinosaurs ever made.” Kids and adults will enjoy discovering animals from across the ancient eras, from the iconic plates of Stegosaurus to the prominent crested Parasaurolophus, as well as the lovely flora characteristic of this local garden. – James Scott
Weird Sisters Women’s Theater Collective Presents Calm Your T!ts!
Through July 12, the Vortex
Calm Your T!ts! No, I’m not giving you orders. I’m telling you, the Weird Sisters are relaunching their satirical musical Calm Your T!ts! Because nothing, nothing I say, is funnier than breasts gone bonkers. And why wouldn’t the cleavaged populace run crazy? It’s not the best time to be a woman in Texas (*cough* poor health care, less overall rights, increased childbearing pressure, *cough*). But there are two options. One: Scream and cry until you’ve completely depleted any hydration resources. Or two: Laugh in the face of tyranny. Join the Weird Sisters in the latter. – Cat McCarrey
Phantom Thread
Thursday 3, Paramount Theatre
In October, Daniel Day-Lewis breaks his acting fast with a film co-written with his son, but until then, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread holds the distinction of being the last time the three-time Oscar winner was onscreen. He – and it, and especially co-star Vicky Krieps – are magnificent. DDL plays a dressmaker in 1950s London creatively inflamed when he meets Krieps’ much younger Alma; their shifting power dynamic supplies the drama but also a surprising amount of playfulness, too. The score (by Jonny Greenwood), the couture, and a genuinely romantic message that love is letting your freak flag fly – it all adds up to one of PTA’s finest. Screens in 70mm. – Kimberley Jones
Reds, Whites, and Bunnies
Thursday 3, Austin Winery
Some of the best times at the Chronicle office are bunny-spotting moments, when we can watch out the window as rabbits munch on the grass outside like a real-life Animal Planet doc. Those bunnies are wild, but rabbits can also be great pets! Pflugerville-based nonprofit House Rabbit Resource Network is the No. 1 place in the area to get info on and help with pet bunnies, and this evening is a great way to learn more and donate to help the org. Austin Winery will guide the discovery of some terrific Texas wines available in a commemorative glass to take home, and HRRN will be on hand with all the bunny business. – Kat McNevins
Divine Carnival: Reimagining the Odyssey
Thursday 3 – Saturday 5, Ground Floor Theatre
Before Mr. Nolan brings his interpretation of Homer’s epic to the big screen next year, take in a totally new vision from Fly Unfeathered. This aerial, pole, and movement arts event collective – having previously reenvisioned such totemic works as Dante’s Inferno – turn their creative eyes to Odysseus’ journey home, blending “circus, storytelling, and shadow” via daring dance and suspended stunts. Reinterpreted to be from the perspective of gods Athena and Poseidon, you’ve never seen this story told as it will be this weekend. – James Scott
Keep Austin Fluttering
Thursday 3, Zilker Botanical Garden
As butterfly populations continue to decrease nationwide, learn how to conserve these delicate flyers with the Austin Butterfly Forum. The group will work with volunteers to keep the Zilker Botanical Garden beautiful and enjoyable for our fluttering friends. Just a little space for butterflies can help these dwindling numbers as the city continues to expand. And this won’t be a one-time thing, as the cleanup happens every first Thursday of the month. – Blake Leschber
Jackass 3D
Thursday 3, Hyperreal Film Club
My love for and enjoyment of this homosocial stuntacular series began when my middle school crush showed me the first Jackass in some misguided attempt to gross out the “girl” who kept following him around. He faded in my memory, as most youthful loves do, but Jackass remains eternal – as great art always does. Hyperreal screens this three-dimensional franchise entry with a limited number of special spectacles, so all fans of Johnny Knoxville getting gored by angry bulls should snag their tix quickly. Also: I have been asked by programmer and frequent daredevil Ziah Grace to please mention that he will be “doing a human piñata thing,” if that sweetens the deal for y’all. – James Scott
Glizzmas in July
Friday 4, Tiny Minotaur Tavern
Ahh-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-me-en. Peace be with you, fellow hot doggers, and here I’ll pause so you can say “And also with you” to your newspaper. Done? Okay, well: Here’s a time of fellowship, celebration, and glizzies at Austin’s only access point to the Rift – aka, the fictional portal on which LARP bar Tiny Minotaur exists. In the realm of Karth – also fictional, also accessible via the Rift @ Minotaur – Glizzmas comes but once a year to celebrate “the only food that nobody in Karth is allergic to (and is also the cheapest).” Find a hot-dog topping potluck, hot-dog contests, and plenty of warm wishes that your Glizzmas will be blessed by the Holiday Frank. – James Scott
School in the Crosshairs
Friday 4 – Saturday 5, AFS Cinema
Anyone who has seen the baffling yet beautiful – I guess you could call it a horror film – House might reasonably expect that the director was never allowed to make another film. But Nobuhiko Obayashi was a wild mainstay of 1980s Japanese cinema, combining genre elements with pop culture fascinations and the graceful aesthetics of a perfume commercial. AFS Cinema’s series Nobuhiko Obayashi: Kodokawa Superstar celebrates his inimitable sensibilities, beginning with School in the Crosshairs (aka The Aimed School), in which schoolgirl Yuka (pop idol Hiroko Yakushimaru) deals with high school politics, her budding psychic powers, a fledgling romance with her classmate, and an interplanetary invasion by piano-playing Venusians in this mix of Heathers and Scanners. – Richard Whittaker
Art From the Streets Summer Show
Saturday 5, Canopy
Art is everywhere in Austin, and it emerges from artists of all kinds. Art From the Streets is one of the most unique nonprofits ensuring Austin stays that way. They work to build autonomy and community for Austin’s homeless and at-risk artists by providing space and support to help build self-determination through artistic expression. This year’s summer show was assembled by guest curator Kevin Ivester of Ivester Contemporary, a fine art gallery located in the Canopy complex. Rooted in color and compassion, it’s a collection of original works that vary across style and medium. – Caroline Drew
The Rocky Horror Picture Show With Live Shadowcast
Saturday 5, Lake Creek 7
Rocky Horror was the first movie I watched when I figured out I was gay. It felt like a rite of passage, so I was simply following the rainbow-painted steps laid out before me. But what I got was so much more (and so much weirder) than a But I’m a Cheerleader vibe, or any other classic queer film resembling the closet-to-out-of-closet canon. Because not only will “Dammit Janet” be forever stuck in my head, but the magical weirdness of experiencing the fantastical energy of Eighties sci-fi/horror in person will forever be etched to my interior. O’Brien’s Orchestra will accompany the show with $5 prop bags available at the door. Costumes are, of course, encouraged. – Levi Langley
2001: A Space Odyssey
Saturday 5, Paramount Theatre
As humanity grapples with artificial intelligence’s exponential pace of expansion, it seems fitting to rewatch a film that dealt with these formerly sci-fi concepts at the very precipice of their introduction into the real world. Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 classic was chillingly prescient in its introduction of HAL 9000, whose extent of intelligence is slowly revealed to the astronauts aboard the Discovery. As we increasingly interact with HAL’s great-great-grandchild, ChatGPT, maybe Kubrick’s vision will be a good refresher of what a human can offer in terms of existential understanding. – Lina Fisher
Matilda
Saturday 5, Paramount Theatre
I have to be real, even if I risk being raked ’cross the coals: I find the original British source material of Matilda much less engaging than its 1996 Americanized film adaptation. Perhaps this is my own American bias coming out, rare as that is with films, or maybe I’ve just been stewing on Roald Dahl’s anti-margarine stance ever since I read the novel. But Danny DeVito’s direction of a young Mara Wilson captured me so entirely as a child watching another child overcome her circumstances through telekenesis, kindness, and a refusal to bend to authority no matter how loud it screams. Put me in the chokey if you must, but I cannot tell a lie: I love Matilda (1996) over all other iterations. – James Scott
An Afternoon With Kat Fajardo: Miss Camper
Sunday 6, BookPeople
Self-proclaimed “shy, artsy goth kid” Kat Fajardo turned her life experience into a bestselling middle grade graphic novel called Miss Quinces, about a teen named Sue who’s whisked away to Honduras with family for a surprise quinceañera when she’d rather be at camp with her friends. Highly anticipated follow-up Miss Camper follows Sue to Camp Willow for adventures in LARPing, archery, and comic-making. Get a personalized copy at this conversation with the author moderated by Gabriela Epstein, creator of a bestselling graphic novel adaptation of Baby-Sitters Club title Claudia and the New Girl. – Kat McNevins
This Is Spinal Tap
Sunday 6 – Monday 7, Alamo Slaughter Lane
Did Sabrina Carpenter really copy the cover of Spinal Tap’s controversial album, Smell the Glove? That we’re still talking about the greatest metal band of all time says that she may be right to follow in their stomping footsteps. Forty-one years after the release of Rob Reiner’s never-bettered documentary about the Tap as they try to come back from county affair oblivion, get a glimpse of what it takes to be a true rock god and mourn their terrible track record of dying drummers ahead of their onscreen reunion for the upcoming Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. – Richard Whittaker
Inspire Victorious Presents: Possessed by Ecstasy of Gold
Sunday 6, Empire Control Room
It’s a battle of the meme-able stars at the next show from Austin’s oldest running wrestling promotion as the king of call and response, Delynn Cavens, takes on the moonwalking Santana Jackson in his Inspire debut. But stick around for the whole nine-match card, including the continuing failed retirement of T-Ray, Undefinable champion Exodus Prime putting his belt on the line against Lady Bird, and newly minted and freshly bloodied Best of Austin winner Dimitri Alexandrov taking on the masked menace that is the Great Depression. – Richard Whittaker
To Catch a Thief
Sunday 6, Paramount Theatre
Hitchcock rarely did a straight-ahead rom-com, but To Catch a Thief is the closest to one with its gorgeous leads: Cary Grant as a suave cat burglar John Robie, and Grace Kelly as Francie, a rich girl with a fabulous jewel collection (and an annoying mother). Along the picturesque French Riviera, Robie – retired from the thieving game – must clear his name when a copycat commits a string of robberies in his signature style. What better way to prove his innocence than to keep an eye on Frances – undoubtedly the burglar’s next target – with the added perk of spending a lot of time with her at glamorous masked balls. Hitchcock still delivers some high-wire tension though, as Robie stalks and unmasks the true burglar. – Lina Fisher
Disability Pride Showcase
Sunday 6, Alienated Majesty Books
The Coalition of Texans with Disabilities and Art Spark Texas have hosted their monthly Lion & Pirate open mic series for over a decade. This month’s reading, in partnership with the Thunder & Lightning Poetry Collective, spotlights four prominent local social activists and artists: host Sueitko Zamorano-Chavez focuses on mental health awareness in their visual art, writing, and event producing; Jennifer Toon’s experience as an incarcerated woman informs her prison abolition work; Benny Kolbeson works in autism advocacy; and Christina Culverhouse boasts 20 years of experience in the visual and written arts. – Carys Anderson
Dirty Dancing
Sunday 6, Violet Crown Cinema
Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey are on the big screen? Must be summer! A classic for anyone who appreciates romance, dancing, and surprise dark themes, this late-Eighties tale of a rich daddy’s girl learning about the real world while also falling in love with a working-class pretty boy stands the test of time better than many of its ilk. How many other dance dramas deal with abortion in as serious and sensitive a manner before waltzing right into possibly the greatest ending dance number of all time? Violet Crown screens this on Sunday afternoon as a perfect pre-dinner show with your mom, best friend, or just your own special self. – James Scott
For a Few Dollars More
Sunday 6 & Wednesday 9, AFS Cinema
The Man With No Name has many names. Clint Eastwood’s iconic antihero from his career-making spaghetti Western series is known as Joe, or Blondie, or – as in the second film in the series – Manco. A ruthless bounty hunter, here he forms an uneasy alliance with Lee Van Cleef as Colonel Douglas Mortimer as they track down the vicious El Indio (Gian Maria Volonté). The other star of the film? The merciless heat of Southern Spain filling in for Mexico, and those roasting temperatures are the subject of Audible Heat, a Milo Thesiger-Meacham travelogue that has been paired with the film for a post-screening Q&A and pop-up store, courtesy of Alienated Majesty, after the Sunday showing. – Richard Whittaker
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.
This article appears in July 4 • 2025.