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  Special Screenings

  

  Barry Lyndon (1975)

  In December 2021, X (né Twitter) user dotflan posted a 26-second video that would forever change how internet denizens interpreted period piece Barry Lyndon. By combining the thumping lyricism of 21 Savage’s “a lot” with Ryan O’Neal as perfect imbecile Lyndon failing up social classes before failing right back down to abject poverty, the once-thought-tedious historical epic finally reads to everyone as hilarious as it truly is. Pull on up to any Austin-area Drafthouse and join the growing Kubrick-funny reclamation movement. – James Scott

  May 3-7

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

• Film

  Special Screenings

  

  AFS Doc Days

  Austin Film Society’s annual spotlight on new nonfiction films presents a real conundrum: Which of the 10 selected works are you going to prioritize? Because they all sound pretty terrific. How about opening night selection Middletown, about high schoolers investigating an environmental scandal, from the Boys State filmmakers? (Bonus: They’re doing a post-film Q&A with KUT’s Jerry Quijano.) Or Friday’s Mistress Dispeller, Elizabeth Lo’s documentary tracking a wild-sounding quadrangle: a husband, his mistress, his wife, and the woman she hires to go undercover and break up the affair? Or Sunday’s Architecton, an A24 art film about concrete? Excellent choices, all. Maybe go for the win and hit all 10. – Kimberley Jones

  May 1 - 4

  AFS Cinema

• Film

  Special Screenings

  

  Scream (1996)

  Revisionism is rife in film appreciation. Sometimes it’s deserved (no, Birth of a Nation didn’t invent cinema). Sometimes it’s just contrarianism (of course Avatar has fans). But sometimes it’s just insane – like the idea that any of the post-Scream teen-friendly slashers were anywhere near as good as Wes Craven’s horror landmark. No one else could combine both brilliant scares and academic commentary so seamlessly, and his dismantling of all those well-worn terror tropes is what made them fresh again. From casting America’s sweetheart Drew Barrymore as the first to be dispatched to its convention-busting denouement, it’s clear why it’s so many people’s favorite scary movie. – Richard Whittaker Read a full review of Scream.

  May 4 & 7

  Violet Crown Cinema