At The Movies: Indie Picks This Weekend

It's a big weekend for indie film here in Austin with the fine folks at the Alamo Drafthouse officially releasing their first film. We hope to see lots of sold out screenings of Four Lions over the next few days to support all of the hard work that went into it. Also, be sure to spread the word to friends in New York, Los Angeles, D.C., Seattle, Philadelphia, and Cambridge, where the film is also launching today!

Four Lions (Alamo South Lamar)
Chances are, you've read all about Four Lions by now. This weekend is your chance to check it out if you didn't catch it earlier this year at SXSW. Hell, even if you were already lucky enough to catch a festival screening of the debut feature film from Chris Morris, it's time to get out and pay to see it this weekend to support the first foray into film distribution from the Drafthouse. Earlier this week, Four Lions was nominated for five British Independent Film Awards including Best British Independent Film and Best Debut Director.

Fair Game (Regal Arbor)
This film debuted locally last month at the Austin Film Festival and is sadly not an updated version of the Cindy Crawford/Billy Baldwin flick from 1995. Here, Doug Liman (the director of Swingers and The Bourne Identity) takes on Valerie Plame's memoir Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House in this acclaimed drama. Naomi Watts stars as Plame with Sean Penn as her husband, Joseph C. Wilson.

Inside Job (Regal Arbor)
Sony Classics has cleverly promoted this film about the recent financial crisis as "The Documentary that Cost $20,000,000,000,000 to Produce." Narrated by Matt Damon, it examines the factors that led to the worst recession in the United States since the Great Depression and how it has effected the world's economy.

Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt & Magnetic Fields (Alamo Ritz)
For fans of the Magnetic Fields, this is an incredible booking. Strange Powers just opened last weekend at Film Forum in New York and this is a rare opportunity to see it on the big screen. Co-directors Kerthy Fix and Gail O'Hara spent ten years working on this film, gathering interviews and behind-the-scenes footage with the intensely private Merritt. It's screening at the Alamo Ritz for just three shows—catch it on Sunday, Monday, or Wednesday night.

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