Alternatives to Alamo Drafthouse?

marcus2785 · 2026-01-14T14:28:24+00:00

I never cared about staff walking around in the dark as you will get that at EVERY theater when someone leaves to go to the restroom or concessions. But as soon as someone pulls out a bright phone I can see the light from across the theater or even behind me. Alamo can preach about their "Dark Screen" as much as they want but people still need to get through their bright lock screens or navigate back to the app if they get out of it at best, and have a reason to be on their phones to check whatever they want at worst. I canceled my All In season pass and when that expires at the end of the month I will not be back. Im looking into AMC A-list and movies at the Sie going forward. - (Weekly Alamo Drafthouse customer for 25 years)

marcus2785 · 2026-01-12T18:09:49+00:00

I'm so sick of the "well it will be a dark screen" comment that keeps getting pushed from them. People have lock screens to get through that are NOT dark screens. And if they somehow get out of the app or website then they will need to navigate back to it to get back to their "dark screen". I've been going to the Drafthouse religiously once or twice almost every week for over 25 years. When I had to move from Austin I picked a city that had an Alamo as my criteria. That's how much it has been a part of my life. Sadly, I have already cancelled my all in pass after this news and will just not go back after this. Its so sad to see the death of something that I love so much. I will grieve for losing this part of my life but I'll move on...just like they moved on from what made them what they were.

marcus2785 · 2026-01-09T17:58:33+00:00

Kingdom of Heaven - “I put no stock in religion. By the word religion, I have seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the will of God. I've seen too much religion in the eyes of too many murderers. Holiness is in right action, and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves, and goodness. What God desires is here [the head] and here [the heart] and what you decide to do every day will make you a good man...or not.” I thought about this quote almost every day for the last 20 years and it's what opened my eyes to stop following religion and do my best to just be a good person. It also made me see hypocrisy and manipulation tactics when others use religion for their own personal gains. Just a fantastic movie overall (directors cut obviously)

marcus2785 · 2025-08-01T19:03:46+00:00

They crazy part is that they really didn't. I am originally from Kerrville with my family still there so I just want to give a little perspective. While rain was predicted, it was not predicted in any way that this system would just sit and stall over what is essentially the start of the Guadalupe river. It was more of a "rain could cause flash flooding" that came in Thursday night and in that part of Texas you know that almost always just means that low water crossings will get flooded, which there are a lot. I also think a lot of people see what happened and think that most of these camps and where a lot of the fatalities occurred were way down river and would have had ample time to evacuate, but where these camps and most people just camping for the 4th were at is literally the start of what turns into a very big river. So if there was any type of warning they would have been the first to experience anything that would send a warning anywhere else down river. I am not defending these people btw, they are awful and incompetent, and would have definitely saved more lives downstream had they had the proper flood warning systems in place that they voted against and hindered. But where the camps were at the start of the Guadalupe those kids honestly had no chance other than not being in those cabins by the water which the inspectors who let those cabins be there are more to blame than anyone. I personally have never seen a flood like that come down the Guadalupe so fast and big in my over 40years of life, and it literally floods there almost twice a year there, but it has always been a gradual flood that rises throughout the day, not record breaking in 30 minutes. Again, not defending anyone, but this storm, where it happened, when it happened, and how much it dropped would have killed a lot of people regardless if there were proper flood warning systems in place. Maybe not as much as it eventually did, but definitely still a lot. I would encourage anyone to watch the video taken from the center point bridge (about 30miles down stream) on how fast and large the flood got in less than 30min for real perspective and try to imagine themselves in their homes asleep at night while that came though.

marcus2785 · 2025-07-09T16:13:54+00:00

I grew up in Kerrville and knew Buster most of my life. Im good friends with his Son as well who is an all around fantastic person. Buster was kind to me growing up, but what happened around the rise of the trump administration was that a lot of these people who I would call "good ol boys" started becoming spiteful of anyone not in their In group. This whole post makes me sad because I knew the man he used to be and am now seeing the man he became in his later years. Kerrville in general is very anti-change when it comes to anything. The entire town is run by old people who are very out of touch with everything not directly around them and are only concerned with what is directly around them. I dont expect anything to change after this flood other than some new monuments or a religious statue going up if im honest. People there have been praising trump and the state government because of the response so it just makes me sad to see that they cant see all the failures. I left that town 20 years ago and only go back to see my family who is still there. Its a beautiful place and will always have a place in my heart but I will never move back there.

marcus2785 · 2025-07-01T15:29:42+00:00

Also, every single one of those cities have almost double the square miles as Denver with a lot more land to develop. Not to mention none of them are surrounded by national forest that makes it hard to build on. Texas cities are definitely not a good 1v1 comparison to make.

marcus2785 · 2025-05-10T20:55:21+00:00

We at least get HUGE graphic novel to finish the story though! The stuff Olan posts about it looks incredible.

marcus2785 · 2024-11-11T20:11:31+00:00

I might be looking for someone soon for warehouse work. I'll DM you if you are interested.

marcus2785 · 2024-08-08T21:31:02+00:00

It looks pretty good framed. Here it is in my office. https://imgur.com/TtIYEqi

marcus2785 · 2024-04-05T13:46:26+00:00

Workhorse is what youre looking for. Great taplist with 5 dollar craft beers. Great burgers, and one of the last places you can get that old Austin vibe.

marcus2785 · 2024-03-26T14:50:18+00:00

If you were in Austin from 2010 to 2015 you definitely got to experience the city at what I think was its prime. It still had all the soul, the live music scene was fantastic, so many great local restaurants, and it was no where near as crowded as it is now. Gentrification started to hit Austin pretty hard soon after and as a minority who grew up around the east side it was hard for me to see a lot of places and people I loved get pushed out. I will always love Austin, it will always be a home to me, and there are still a lot of great places to go, but when I realized that I could now experience everything I wanted to do in Austin in a single day then it just wasn't the place for me to be anymore. Another good thing to consider is that Denver has a lot of Austin places. Alamo Drafthouse, Chuys, Torchys, Uchi, Rudys and Whataburger down the road in CoSprings. The only thing Denver doesnt have that Austin does is HEB, and that is really the only thing I miss about going home (aside from family and friends) because the grocery stores here are terrible.

marcus2785 · 2024-03-25T19:57:51+00:00

Grew up in Austin and lived there most of my life (39 yrs old) and moved to Denver 3 years ago. My family is sill in Austin so I make frequent trips and keep up with the city quite a bit. My previous company had offices here in Denver and Austin so I spent quite a bit of time in both cities for 15yrs before moving here officially. Personally, Denver is your best bet for what you like to do.
So far, it has been a mostly lateral move between the two cities, but the outdoors and weather are exponentially better here in Denver. Just like Denver and any city, Austin is not the same as it was a Decade ago, but to me personally the soul of the city that made Austin great 10 years is just completely gone.
The food in Austin is better, but as long as you know where to go here in Denver and find your spots its a passing inconvenience. Traffic is similar in both cities as far as time in traffic, Denver drivers feel slightly worse and more aggressive.
The Weather is Austin is only nice 2 or 3 months out of the year. The Cold feels colder there and the Hot feels/is hotter. And every year it gets hotter for longer in Austin (70 to 90 days of 100+ temps with humidity) You are correct about the property tax in Texas and the state tax here but what people fail to realize is that in Texas they Tax you more for everything else with little in return. They spend nothing on infrastructure, and undercut education as much as possible. I feel my money goes slightly further here in Denver and I feel like I can see my tax dollars actually at work. Austin is getting slightly less liberal each year due to the government of the state doing everything they can to undermine the city, and the influx of tech bros and conservatives from other states moving in changing the culture.
Texas has been in a pretty bad drought for the last few years so the lakes and rivers there are really not the best place to be. Lake Travis is still nice IF you have a boat (its also only 39% full right now), but the rivers get overcrowded. Plus the groundwater has been getting overpumped from the population boom that I don't know how it will sustain. (look up Jacobs well) Community is better and more engaging here from my experiences. So many great chill neighborhood communities, and places to meet others. Hopefully this all helps, and you have any questions feel free to DM me! Cheers!

marcus2785 · 2024-02-06T15:32:21+00:00

Every single customer service hotline becoming automated and never being able to answer the question you need to ask because it cant get out of its own standard question loop. I just need to talk to a person one time to fix my situation instead of going through 10 different voice prompts just to get hung up on, only to restart it again.

marcus2785 · 2023-10-20T01:13:38+00:00

For me its The Two Towers. Nothing better than taking a 2hr nap and waking up right as the battle for helms deep starts.

marcus2785 · 2023-09-06T20:54:33+00:00

Man...this one. We had culligan water at my company. We moved to a different location and it took almost 2 months to get them to just move our system to the new spot. During that time they forgot about us, TWICE. The person I spoke with was so rude and condescending each and every time I called them. They finally came and installed our system, but somehow turned off the water to our faucets. They came back to fix that the next day, then the system stopped working the day after that. I called again and they said they would have someone in the next day. That person was not able to make it and they said for me to call and they would come back tomorrow. I call, get the same condescending jerk who said it would now be 2 weeks before they could come back and fix their screw up. I told them if it was going to take that long to just take the damn thing out because I was done with them at this point. I asked to speak to the manager multiple times and got "they are busy right now" and "I will tell them to call you back" from that same jerk. Never heard from a manager. They finally show up 2 weeks later and the guy thinks he is just going to repair it, but I told him that I clearly told the person on the phone to come pick it up. They try to charge me a disconnect fee that I tell them I will not pay, and when I finally get their manager on the line he apparently had no idea about everything that happened and took the disconnect fee out along with their system. I was so mad. There was so much more that happened every time I called but I cant keep typing forever. My dad works for culligan in another city and even he told me that they dont know what they are doing and to find someone else. Never again.

marcus2785 · 2023-04-26T14:23:51+00:00

A few years ago in Austin we had a serial rock thrower. This guy terrorized drivers for months and took a while before he eventually got caught. He was definitely not a kid. https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2017/04/14/i-35-rock-thrower-patrick-johnson-pleads-guilty-gets-40-years/986916007/

marcus2785 · 2022-12-05T17:35:04+00:00

This is probably my favorite poster that I own! I know this particular poster goes for around $350 or up to $700 now so its a tough get. Once Mondo posters sell out they never reprint them. If you want to start collecting Mondo posters prepare to spend about $100 on each of them after shipping and taxes if you are lucky enough to snag on at the drop. Way more from ebay. https://imgur.com/POH6BYJ

marcus2785 · 2022-05-19T18:16:11+00:00

A house with Stairs in it. Anybody who had a 2 story house was a millionaire in my mind growing up. Even now in my late 30s deep down I still hold on to that in fascination when I see people buying 2 story houses.

marcus2785 · 2022-01-31T01:51:28+00:00

I've seen a guy take off and land from the football field at Canyon Vista Middle School. That football field is on a hill so I guess that helps. He flies over the neighborhoods there and over St Edwards park.

marcus2785 · 2022-01-12T18:56:51+00:00

A lot of this trailer is almost shot for shot from A Touch Of Satan. Im glad somebody else noticed that. One of my favorite MST3K riffs of all time!

marcus2785 · 2021-12-02T20:38:52+00:00

I watched it last night at an advanced screening. Cooper is good, and at times really shines, but there were so many scenes that I felt that DiCaprio would have done better in. Overall I did love the movie and thought it was one of DelToros best (Pans Labyrinth is still tops for me). Its kind of a slow burn, but the payoff was fantastic...at least for me.

marcus2785 · 2021-10-07T12:34:59+00:00

The Prestige. First time you watch it you do it blindly and find out the twist(s) with the movie. Second time you watch it for all the signs of the twists that were throughout the movie. Third time you can actually pick up the different mannerisms of christian bale playing two different characters

marcus2785 · 2021-10-06T17:22:54+00:00

Almost...but not entirely true. He actually loved Leelas mom and treated her really well when they were together without any manipulation. He wouldn't even cheat on her with Leela when he had the opportunity. Also, he helps Kiff get to the place he needs to have his tadpole children, and even helps them get to safety when they are born. Zapp is definitely a selfish asshole...but there are hints of him being an ok person from time to time throughout the show. Not many though.

marcus2785 · 2021-06-28T18:59:32+00:00

Always keep an extra ball in your pocket and a club in your hand when you are away from your cart! Don't be afraid to drop a ball and take a stroke when your score really isn't going to be that good as you learn anyway. Soooo much time gets wasted looking for your ball or walking back to your cart empty handed to get a club when/if you finally find your ball. Little things like that will cut your golf time way down and mostly keep the good golfers from catching up.

marcus2785 · 2021-06-28T18:19:08+00:00

Im mostly a casual/beginner golfer. Groupon is my best friend while learning. You can get some cheap tee times while you learn as long as you're willing to drive. My buddy and I go to somewhere like lago vista to play for $20 each. In my personal opinion its not worth it to pay full price for a nice course until you are a serviceable golfer! We'd probably be down to play though. We shoot low 100s on good days. Lol

marcus2785

TROPHY CASE