Dino Days
Through March 22, Zilker Botanical Gardens
At this point, my love for dinosaurs is so well known to the Almighty Algorithm that I regularly get served ads on multiple online platforms for fossil beds at national parks. Starting this Saturday, you, too, can join me in learning about our fore-fossils at Zilker Botanical’s Hartman Prehistoric Garden. They’re celebrating ye REALLY olde flora and fauna every weekend through to March 22 with scavenger hunts, a dig pit, paleontologist presentations, a make-and-take prehistoric planter workshop, and much more. Plus, this is all included in your ZBG admission price – which, need I remind y’all, is only $6 for adult Austin residents and just $3 for any Austinite 17 or younger. – James Scott
Twin Peaks Night
Monday 24, Hotel Vegas
This Feb. 24 tradition feels heavier following the loss of the late, great David Lynch, but if you take one message away from his beloved series Twin Peaks – and there are many – it’s that no one ever really dies; their souls linger, change form, and maybe take the body of a tulpa or two. Candy Whiplash, Past Model, haha Laughing, Queen Serene, and special guests Hell God Baby Damn provide the music at this costume party, which promises coffee and donuts, a Twin Peaks-themed photo booth and cocktail menu, vendors, and even a damn fine pie baking contest. Give yourself a present by coming out on a Monday – it’s what DKL would’ve wanted. – Carys Anderson
Make Way for Tomorrow
Monday 24, Alamo Mueller
In 1937, the Depression was still very much a thing, though you’d never guess it from Leo McCarey’s frolicking screwball comedy The Awful Truth. That wasn’t the case with the director’s other 1937 release, Make Way for Tomorrow. After a long-married couple loses their home to the bank, they’re forced to separate when their adult kids won’t take both parents as a package deal. This sad slide for the senior couple – still very much in love – is gutting to watch, but Make Way was McCarey’s favorite of his films. Indeed, when he won the Oscar for The Awful Truth, he scolded the audience: “Thanks, but you gave it to me for the wrong picture.” – Kimberley Jones
Words and Wonder: Rediscovering Children’s Literature
Tuesday 25, Harry Ransom Center
One of the pleasures of having a first-rate research center and archive in town is how the Harry Ransom Center will regularly comb through its own vast holdings and hand-pick gems to present in a new context. Hence the HRC’s latest exhibit, “Words and Wonder: Rediscovering Children’s Literature,” which pulls from its manuscript, art, photography, film, and performing arts holdings to spotlight early 20th-century authors and illustrators catering to a young readership. The exhibit includes magic lantern slides from Aesop’s Fables, John Tenniel’s illustrations of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and Ernest H. Shepard’s indelible images from the Hundred Acre Wood, among other treats. Runs through August 17. – Kimberley Jones
Kids Create: Yarn Art Mice
Tuesday 25, Terrazas Branch Library
One thing about arts & crafts that can be a real deterrent from getting started is the volume and variety of supplies required and the space needed for those supplies. That’s why it’s so great the library takes care of that part, so kids can just step in and let their imaginations roam for a bit. For this one, they’ll have everything set up to make adorable mice with felt, yarn, and cardboard. Stop by from 3:30 to 4:30 for crafting, and if you want to pick up a complementary book, they’ve got plenty, including If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, What Will Fat Cat Sit On? and Maisy’s Big Book of Kindness. Recommended for kids 5 and up. – Kat McNevins
The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
Tuesday 25 – Wednesday 26, Alamo Slaughter Lane, Lakeline & Mueller
Finally, they’re screening the GOOD version! Just kidding, just kidding: Don’t want the real cinephiles and Universal-Monster heads to come for me in the Feedback letters. (Just kidding, again, let’s duel at dawn.) Back in the Aughts, Andrew Lloyd Webber hand-picked the man to make his gothic stage adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s serial horror into a film, and boy, did he choose well. Webber and Warner Bros. snagged camp legend Joel Schumacher for their musical drama after his song choice in The Lost Boys showed promise. His flair for lavish practical sets, over-the-top camera work, and handsome-if-underperforming male leads is on full display in this picture, with Gerard Butler struggling through his solos proving no deterrent for 13-year-old me finding him a magnetic presence. Drafthouse offers both movie party and regular-degular screening options. – James Scott
The Wasps
Wednesday 26, Violet Crown Cinema
Is “the stuff of Greek tragedy” a thing? Definitely. But the ancients weren’t averse to humor; look no further than Aristophanes, the so-called Father of Comedy. His comic play, The Wasps, satirizes the judicial system of the time with a story about a son trying to keep his unruly father in check. It’s also the inspiration for this micro-indie written and directed by Austin filmmakers Jake Binstock and Parker Rouse and executive produced by Richard Linklater. Want to know how the filmmakers reimagined ancient Athens in the backyard of a Cherrywood neighborhood home? They’ll be on hand to introduce the film and answer questions afterward. – Kimberley Jones
Dolemite Is My Name
Wednesday 26, Alamo Mueller
Happy Oscar season, y’all. Go ahead and revisit one of the most egregious Oscar snubs with what should have been Eddie Murphy’s triumphant awards return – his portrayal of Rudy Ray Moore creating crime-fighting pimp Dolemite. If there was any justice in this world, Murphy would have a Best Actor trophy, and definitely Wesley Snipes would have a Best Supporting one. Because man, Snipes’ eccentric take on actor D’Urville Martin delivers. It’s a stacked cast all around, featuring Keegan-Michael Key, my beloved golden-voiced Tituss Burgess, Snoop Dogg, Bob Odenkirk, and Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph. So hold on to your seats, and hold on to them tight, ’cause you better be getting ready to see the story of DOLEMITE! – Cat McCarrey
Weird Wednesday: Love on a Leash
Wednesday 26, Alamo South Lamar
Rising to the level of modern B-movie legends The Room, Birdemic, and A Talking Cat!?!, 2011’s Love on a Leash opens with adorable scenes of a golden retriever frolicking around a park, sunbathing, chasing ducks, eating trash – you know, dog stuff. But then the audience is treated to the dog’s inner monologue, revealing he’s actually just a horny guy trapped in a dog’s body. A stranger at the park pets him, prompting him to think, “Lay off man, I’m not gay,” perfectly teeing up this bizarre Beauty and the Beast-inspired fable marked by stilted dialogue, inept craftmanship, and perplexing artistic choices. Try to stay tethered to reality, because this will make you question what that even is. – Kat McNevins
The Parent Trap
Thursday 27, Hyperreal Film Club
I could tell the story of my childhood through The Parent Trap anecdotes. Watching the 1998 remake at afterschool day care, sat on one of those rugs with a map of the city on it; my dad calling me from his house (shout-out children of divorce) to let me know it was on cable by simply saying “Sistahs are on” in Halle’s British accent; just generally being stoked that this children’s movie is over two hours long, and giddily exclaiming during every viewing, “We haven’t even gotten to the camping part yet!” I’m gonna need some Oreos and peanut butter for this Hyperreal event. – Carys Anderson
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 February 21 • 2025.
