As we wait for the flood of Oscar bait (which starts to really kick up next week), we get one more week that has its fair share of niche releases. The Drafthouse has some more popular 2011 Fantastic Fest titles to screen at the Alamo South Lamar, while the Violet Crown brings us an acclaimed French film fresh off a held over month-long run at New York's Film Forum. more ›

We're a few weeks away from the onslaught of Oscar bait that will soon be drowning area screens, so this is a good week to catch up on movies you may have missed or check out two intriguing foreign films that will likely just have one week runs. more ›

While we're not yet in full-fledged awards season mode, it's right around the corner. Festival favorites are steadily hitting area screens and there's a nice variety of films being released in the next few weeks. This week, the return of Almodovar will gain the attention of many local film buffs. more ›

We know that many of you will be spending the weekend at Auditorium Shores for the annual Fun Fun Fun fest, but if you aren't going to be rocking out in a park for the next few days there is plenty to see on area screens. more ›

The weeks ahead will bring new movies from Almodovar, Von Trier, Eastwood and Herzog, indicating the arrival of awards season movies to the area. If you're not in a post-Austin Film Festival coma after the last eight days, we've got a few good reasons to visit your favorite area theater this weekend! more ›

There are not a lot of smaller films opening this weekend, but we can easily grant our highest recommendation to Weekend. Also, if reading about Margaret last week piqued your interest, you better make plans to see it by Thursday night. It's already down to two screenings a day at the Regal Arbor and is unlikely to make it to a third weekend in town. more ›

A few of the movies opening this week are more notable for how long they've been unreleased. Throw in a few microscopic releases and what may be the most disgusting film of all time and you have more than enough choices to get you through the next couple of days, especially if you're lucky enough for Columbus Day to actually bring you a day off on Monday. more ›

We're still recovering from Fantastic Fest, but Austin screens are filled with some truly original indie films playing this weekend that you should take a chance on. There's a little something for everybody, so check out these descriptions and take your pick! more ›

With 75,000 people expected to fill Zilker Park this weekend for the 10th Annual Austin City Limits Music Festival, there's a lot of interesting counterprogramming going on at local theaters. Drive is actually one of the widest releases of the weekend, but don't let the screen count fool you. This is not your average action film, rather it's a noir-inspired tale filled with lots of double crossing and bad decisions. We imagine most mainstream audiences will be left puzzled, but for adventurous film lovers, it's easily your best choice for a trip to the theater more ›

There are plenty of films opening in town this weekend, but nothing much to get excited about. The highest profile film on area screens is Steven Soderbergh's Contagion. With an all-star cast and the backing of Warner Bros., this is the kind of film that consistently alternates within Soderbergh's filmograhphy. He does a studio picture and follows it up with an indie picture. Rinse. Wash. Repeat. more ›

Point Blank (Regal Arbor, Violet Crown Cinema) This relentless thriller from French director Fred Cavaye wastes no time throwing you into the action. The movie begins with a chase scene and barely stops to let you catch your breath over the course of its 84-minute running time. more ›

It may be stretching the definition of "indie" to include our main pick this week, but Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark is our favorite film in release this weekend and it's a castaway from the now-defunct Miramax library being released by upstart company FilmDistrict. Ultimately, it's a high quality, low budget flick that just happens to be getting a wide release. more ›

As we struggle through another summer of record-breaking high temps here in Texas, our local theaters are doing their best to provide a safe haven from the heat. Some of our recent favorites like Attack The Block, Another Earth, Beginners and Tabloid are still playing in Austin and all of those films share something in common with both of this weekend's picks: all of them debuted during the SXSW Film Festival earlier this year. Consider this a friendly reminder to start saving your pennies for a SXSW pass in 2012. You could've seen all these great movies (and lots more) six months ago! more ›

We caught this terrific documentary from Errol Morris when it screened during SXSW earlier this year. It takes a Rashomon-style approach to unraveling the story of Joyce McKinney, a former Miss Wyoming winner who was accused of abducting a man she had been dating to bring him back to the United States from a missionary trip overseas. Long before the News Of The World scandal, this story exploded in the British tabloids and made Joyce a sensation. Tabloid is genuinely outrageous and unexpected. more ›

The directorial debut of Joe Cornish, this British sci-fi flick already stirred up audiences at South By Southwest earlier this year. In recent weeks, it's seen a series of free promotional screenings in town as well to gauge audience reaction beyond the initial cult fans. It seems as though things are going outrageously well in terms of word of mouth, but Sony's Screen Gems division is also testing the waters very slowly, opening the picture in a mere seven U.S. markets this weekend. more ›

Summer blockbusters are still taking up most of the area's screens, but a handful of micro-indies are hitting town this weekend. We would certainly encourage adventurous film lovers in Austin to give one of these smaller pictures a shot and support the booking of movies that don't have the advantages that promotional budgets can bring. more ›

The Trip (Violet Crown Cinema) The Trip was an award-winning television series that aired on BBC Two last year in England. The original six episodes of the program, directed by Michael Winterbottom (9 Songs, The Killer Inside Me), have been edited down into a feature film. more ›

As we head into a holiday weekend, there aren't many new openings in town because the films that are currently playing have been doing so well. Malick's The Tree Of Life has already crossed the $6 million mark at the box office while playing in fairly limited release. Woody Allen's Midnight In Paris has hit $30 million, becoming his most successful film in the United States since 1986. more ›

Beginners (Alamo South Lamar, Regal Arbor) This is only the second feature film from Mike Mills, whose 2005 debut was the delightfully oddball Thumbsucker. Chances are, this film took some time to come together because it was an intensely personal story. When Mills' late father was 75, he came out to his son. Mills has said that his dad had "five very intense, brand-new years of being gay and being very free." more ›

First-time director Richard Ayoade honed his skills in television comedy with hit British shows like The Mighty Boosh and The IT Crowd. More recently he's crossed the pond to direct a few episodes of NBC's Community. more ›

The latest film from Woody Allen is on track to be his biggest hit since 2008's Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Last week, the film made it to number seven on the box office charts while only on 58 screens. This weekend, Sony Pictures Classics boosts the screen count to almost 1000 theaters and you can catch it at multiple theaters across town. more ›

One week after debuting in New York and Los Angeles, Austin is one of just a handful of markets that The Tree Of Life is expanding to in its second weekend. This makes sense because director Terrence Malick calls Austin home these days and the movie was mostly shot around our area (mostly in Smithville, but Bastrop and Austin too). Last weekend's release in just four theaters broke a box-office record for distributor Fox Searchlight, averaging $88,080 per screen. more ›

On the cusp of the big summer movie season, this weekend does not provide much in the way of new options for film lovers in Austin. The Violet Crown is doing very well with their exclusive 3D run of Cave Of Forgotten Dreams, so it holds on two of their screens. It remains your best bet for the weekend. The Drafthouse locations are mostly filled with blockbuster fare, although Hesher holds for a third week at South Lamar if you haven't checked that out yet. more ›

Two of the best documentaries of the year are hitting town this weekend. Mainstream theaters are overloaded with bloated 3D action films these days, but for the arthouse crowd, any extra dimensionality usually comes from well-crafted dialogue and performances. Werner Herzog and Violet Crown Cinema are about to change the local landscape, at least for a few weeks. more ›

Yuen Woo Ping hasn't directed a film since 1996, but his groundbreaking fight choreography has been featured in movies like The Matrix, Hero and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. This film was picked up by newcomers Indomina Releasing after Fantastic Fest last year and this weekend it becomes their first theatrical release. more ›