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  Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition (2001)

  “The world has changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost…” If those sentences sent an electric jolt through your entire soul, well, let’s be friends. And let’s also go to the Alamo Drafthouse this weekend to remember that good can vanquish evil. With this extended edition, spend three and a half hours reveling in a land of magic, where the noble fellowship (and Boromir) quest to keep darkness out of Middle-earth. Peter Jackson’s stunning visuals and Howard Shore’s stirring soundtrack deserve to be seen on the big screen. I can’t think of any better self-care than escapism with LotR. – Cat McCarrey

  Jan. 24-28

  Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline, Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane, Alamo Drafthouse Village, Alamo Drafthouse Mueller

• Film

  Special Screenings

  

  Mulholland Drive (2001)

  The Chronicle staff is absurdly packed with film buffs – then there’s me. My favorite movies are Friday the 13th, Midnight in Paris, The Secret Life of Pets, and Mulholland Drive. It makes no sense. But please allow this non-expert to convince you Mulholland Drive is one of the best movies ever made – right up there with Secret Life of Pets! This film is not for your conscious mind. It’s like dipping into our collective dreamscape. You could say it sticks with you, but more accurately it existed within you before you watched it: reached into you, and pulled out memories you didn’t know you had. Plus, it’s got one of the best lesbian makeouts of all film history, and that’s something I actually am an expert on because I grew up queer with access to YouTube. – Maggie Quinlan Read a full review of Mulholland Drive.

  Jan. 23-26

  AFS Cinema

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  Special Screenings

  

  Roadkill (1989)

  Spoiler alert: If you’ve ever watched the end of cult Canadian horror Pontypool and wondered, “Wait, how did this cunning story of a virus communicated by language suddenly become, well, this???” then you probably don’t know the work of director Bruce McDonald well enough. Much as Re-Animator madman Stuart Gordon’s horror work was always informed by his background with the game-changing Organic Theater Company, so too McDonald was forged by the experimentalism of Toronto New Wave. Catch his early wildness with the feature debut of the man once dubbed the Bad Boy of Canadian Cinema – a bizarro road trip with a mixtape soundtrack including the Razorbacks, Nash the Slash, and the Ramones. – Richard Whittaker

  Sat., Jan. 25

  AFS Cinema

• Film

  Special Screenings

  

  To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

  There are select seminal texts we may want to keep close to hand over the next four years. Dario Fo’s chillingly comic Accidental Death of an Anarchist; Bertolt Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, which follows a petty little gangster’s ascent to terrible power; Erik Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts, a text on the normalization of fascism. And To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s drama about racism in the Deep South, and how much moral resilience it takes to stand up to ubiquitous evil in your own community. As portrayed by Gregory Peck in Robert Mulligan’s 1962 film version, lawyer Atticus Finch is not a hero because he’s perfect, but because he fights for the right reasons, even when it seems the battle is inevitably hopeless. But hope – as another author you should keep on hand, Studs Terkel, once wrote – dies last. – Richard Whittaker

  Jan. 25-27

  Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline, Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane, Alamo Drafthouse Village, Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar

• Film

  Special Screenings

  

  Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory With Wonka Kids Q&A (1971)

  Gene Wilder’s grounded whimsy and ability to craft wonder with a glimmer of his eye has kept fans coming back to this psychedelic romp for half a century. Perhaps it’s because of Mel Stuart’s cult classic that we remember how precious time is and how terrible children can be – with one exception (here’s looking at you, Charlie Bucket). These Drafthouse screenings include a pre-recorded Q&A with several of the actors who portrayed those not-so-lovable scamps. – Mattea Gallaway Read a full review of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

  Jan. 25 & 27

  Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane, Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline

• Film

  Special Screenings

  

  Footlight Parade (1933)

  Busby Berkeley was doing sexy work in the early Thirties. Maybe the finest example of his lurid choreography comes from the “By a Waterfall” sequence in 1933’s Footlight Parade. Berkeley sent 100 chorus girls in skin-tight swimsuits splashing into a crystal pool for the three-minute number, strangely suggesting a journey into the female reproductive system, through the cervix, into the womb, ending with the impregnation of a kaleidoscopic ovum – or have I lost my mind? The rest of Footlight Parade is rather carnal too, with several humorous references to prostitution. – Brant Bingamon

  Jan. 21 & 25

  AFS Cinema

• Film

  Special Screenings

  

  Central and Remote (2025)

  First-time feature filmmaker Andreas Streuli calls Austin home, so his debut being set in Bat City makes sense. So too does the choice to premiere the film with cinema-for-the-people screen Hyperreal Film Club, whose clubhouse opens to all who appreciate good kino. A taut little romantic drama, Streuli’s picture follows a couple dealing with an interloper’s effect on their relationship. Struggle, strife, and ATX landmarks abound, so really what more could a local-film enjoyer ask for? – James Scott

  Sat., Jan. 25

  Hyperreal Film Club