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Austin
Chronicle "Best Of 2001" Poll
 http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2001-10-05/boac_test2.html
Best Reinvention of a Lost but Not Forgotten
Theatre
The Conversion of the Village Into the Alamo
North
For the Village Cinema, the end was looking
sad indeed. The once-vital North Austin arthouse had been relegated
to third-run obscurity when Regal Cinemas finally announced its
closing. Those who cared were mostly too tired to fight, resigned
to another Starbucks, another monster multiplex courtesy of the
Stepford Wives. Yawn, stretch, another beloved Austin location
goes down. But wait: The show wasn't over yet. In a last-minute
save worthy of the silver screen, Tim and Karrie League bought
the Village in order to open a second location for their venerated
Alamo Drafthouse. A few months later, it's all dolled-up with
new seats, new sounds, and new smells. Not so much arthouse as
cinema funhouse, the Alamo North is programmed with first-run
movies and still subscribes to that comfy, suds & grubs ethos
of the original Alamo. Now, if the Village had to go and shut
down, we couldn't have written a better ending.
Best Movie Theatre
Alamo Drafthouse
Why is the Alamo Drafthouse the coolest? And
why do our readers and critics go so nuts for it? Number One:
Because they are a community place, a happening center like no
other for Austin film folks, music folks, art folks, and just
plain folks to make and experience aesthetic collisions and events
they may have thought could only exist in their wildest imaginations,
and to do it together. For example, they reach out and incorporate
the music side of Austin by getting bands to score silent films
live -- like that Golden Arm Trio/Battleship Potemkin thing
and ST-37/Metropolis thing, and other history-making episodes
of which you are only dimly aware. Number Two: Tim and Karrie
League are the most creative theatre operators/party throwers
who ever have or ever will exist. They create and host multitudinous
happenings: the "QT" Tarantino series, SXSW film fest,
premieres of locally made movies such as Bob Ray's Rock Opera,
not to mention the wildly popular Mr. Sinus Theater and Something
Weird Wednesdays, and of course, the supremely original notion
of providing the audience the option of a top-notch salad with
their movie. Lastly, these Alamo Drafthouse people are discerning
students of film who gently guide their patrons toward an appreciation
of filmic endeavor the likes of which may seem trivial, profane,
or rightfully obscure, and thus enhance and broaden the minds
of their clients. Plus, they took the old Village Theatre on
Anderson Lane and turned it into the new Alamo North, expanding
their bookings to first-run titles. How cool is that? So if you
haven't yet got on the bandwagon, climb aboard now.
Recapping, the Alamo Drafthouse is the coolest
ever because:
1. They have a sublime community consciousness;
2. They show creativity in all their endeavors;
and
3. They demonstrate a critical integrity in
their movie bookings.
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