August 4, 2024 • 35 mins
Cinephile Rob Saucedo is already well known to movie fans in Texas for his 13 year tenure as Manager, booker and creative director at the popular upscale Alamo Drafthouse Theater chain.
Now Rob has taken on a new challenge. When the effects of covid shut down the legendary
Ricer Oaks theater, passionate Houston film fans were devastated. This landmark venue had been playing movies in Houston since November 1939. It appeared it would not survide the covid era.
But now, a new company has rescued the property and hired Rob Saucedo to put the River Oaks theater back on the map with all the flair he demonstrated in his previous position at the Alamo Drafthouse.
If you're a film fanatic you'll enjoy this 35 minute journey into film with host John Wesley Downey and author/cinephile Rob Saucedo. Please like, share and follow for the latest uploads of True film Fan.
Don't forget to like, subscribe (follow) for the movie podcast all of Houston is talking about,
TRUE FILM FAN.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, this is John Leslie Downey and this is the
maiden voyage of the True Film Fan Podcast. Welcome to
the program. We're going to be doing a lot of
very interesting and creative things as we explore the world
of movies, and this particular interview has been in the
works for months, and it's only appropriate that since this
is a podcast for film nerds, that we begin with
(00:22):
probably the Texas champion film nerd of all time, and
that is Rob Saceto. He's somebody that I just met
when he came to the studio, but I've been aware
of him for quite a few years. And Rob has
just gone from one super cool job as a movie
nerd to another super cool job as a movie nerd,
and we'll talk about both of them in a moment. Rob,
(00:43):
Welcome to the program.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I'm going to begin with a question I ask of
a lot of people, which is what is your first
memory of seeing a movie and how did it affect you?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Sure, well, this is gonna be a weird one, but
the first movie that I vividly remember seeing was actually
in a movie theater and it was the movie house.
To the story, it's a I think nineteen eighty seven
sequel to the you know, horror comedy a film, and
I remember being in a theater watching this movie as
probably like a three or four year old and seeing,
(01:13):
you know, these strange monsters on screen, Hunt did Cowboys
and this thing called a Catterpuppy, which is part caterpillar,
part puppy. And I know for a fact that watching
that movie at a young age completely warped my mind
in a good way and kind of opened me up
to be like this, you know, lover of weird cinema,
and so I've been chasing that high ever since I
(01:35):
was a little kid, trying to find the weirdest and
strangest movies to watch.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Did your parents frequently take you to strange movies or
horror movies?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
No, I think they were.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Thought was probably, well, he's too young to be paying attention.
He's probably just going to sleep through this film. And
that was probably true before, but I something changed in
watching that film, and like, I have vivid memories and
seeing it and now it's not like it's a hardcore
horror film. It's probably was rated PG or PG thirteen,
But there was just something in that film that just
(02:04):
awoke in the cinephile on me. Of all movies, it
could have been a Gadard or a Hitchcock or a
true faux film, but no, it was House to the
Second Story.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
No, no Little Mermaid or a Laddin for you.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
I would eventually see those. I would definitely see those
on the big screen when they came out. And I
have great memories of seeing all the Disney cartoons that
came out in the late eighties and early nineties because
it was this renaissance of children's films. But you know,
they're on the corner of my mind. I was always
still remembering the Counterpuppy.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Okay, what did that lead to? I mean, into your
teens and twenties, did you just become more and more
addicted to films?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Well, you know, weirdly enough, as a young kid, I
wasn't really into movies, you know, a house to side.
I was a big reader, like I would never go
anywhere without bringing least a couple of books with me.
I was constantly going to the library and checking out,
you know, five to ten books every time I visited.
And I was a voracious reader. But in nineteen ninety nine,
(03:02):
I was in high school, and it was such a
great year for films. There's these amazing movies being released,
everything from The Matrix to The Blair Witch Project, American Beauty,
Three Kings, being John Malcovic Fight Club, and.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
It was kind of like nineteen thirty nine was.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, yeah, no for real.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
It was just this tremendous output of adventurous, eclectic cinema.
And I also coincided with my sister getting a job
a Blockbuster and having limited free rentals, and so you know,
those two things combined, and I was just send my
sister to work every day with a list of movies
to bring home for me to watch, and I just
(03:40):
became this, you know, obsessied movie obsessive. I would go
online and like talk on forums to other movie fans,
and they would give me recommendations for older movies to
go check out. And so my like obsession with film
went in two different directions, where I was watching these
classic movies for the first time and discovering things like
you know, Lawrence Arabia and The Godfather and Seven Samurai,
(04:03):
but then also keeping abreast with all these like really
great independent films that were being released in the early
two thousands and it was just this awakening of a
movie obsessive in me.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
I see, how did you go? Okay? For some because
this is heard everywhere, it's on the internet, there may
be some people who aren't going to be familiar with
the theater chain I'm about to mention, But somehow you
went from where you just described to being the booker
at one of the coolest movie chains in the world
called Alamo Draft House, which is kind of legendary among
(04:36):
people that love films. It's always been near and dear
to my heart because they don't let anybody talk in
the theaters, and of course it's a place where in
addition to seeing the movies you can also have a
good meal and some good food. But in addition to that,
y'all did special programming. So how did you end up
with this sweet job behind the scenes at the Alamo
Draft House? Basically a movie fan running a movie theater.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
It was pure will power.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
So I moved back to Houston in two thousand and eight,
and I was working at a job I really didn't
like and was going to the movies pretty much every night,
and a big chunk of those visits were to the
Alamo Draft House. Over at West Oaks Mall in Houston,
and so I would go to the theater and I
just had this amazing time. I had never experienced a
(05:21):
movie theater like this before, and so I think it
was like probably the third or fourth visit. I just
started bringing my resume with me and I would leave
it at the theater. And I did that for about
a month, just really literally bringing a copy of my
resume every time I went to the theater for two
or three times a week for a month.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
And finally they gave me a call back.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
And they didn't really have any open positions in like
the programming side, but I told them I would take
any job that they had to offer, and so I
joined the company as a assistant to the local franchise
owner but also doing some accounting support. And I was
not very good at either of those jobs, but luckily enough,
they saw the potential in me. I realized just how
(06:01):
much of a fan I was at the company and
of movies, and so they allowed me to kind of
find my niche and eventually that was, you know, in
the film programming in film booking world, and so I
worked for the ALBUMA for thirteen years after that.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
So The key word that comes across to me there
and I run into it a lot is passion. And
so in the job that you just described, what were
your duties as far as doing programming, particularly special programming
for and when I say special programming, having a movie.
You book a movie for a night, maybe something that
(06:36):
isn't going to have a long run like a regular movie,
but something that you know will attract a lot of affictionados.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Well, during my time of the album, I had so
many different responsibilities and roles. I literally had a great
chance to learn every aspect of the business, which was great.
But you know, to what you're asking about is the
special events. You know, it went from contacting the studios
to see if the rights were available to show a
certain film, arranging for the film to be played at
the theater, arranging for the film to be shipped to
(07:04):
the theater, promoting the event on social media and through
community connections, press outreach, then actually once the film is
on screen, figuring out how to turn it into an event.
Sometimes that means having like fun props and giveaways or
contests before the screening. Sometimes it meant contacting somebody who
was involved with the making of the movie to come
out to the screening and do a Q and A afterwards.
(07:27):
Sometimes it meant being really an outside the box thinker.
So for example, we showed the you know, classic creature
feature Alligator once at the theater, and I arranged for
actual real life alligators to come to the theater and
be available for people to touch and hold and take
pictures of before the movie showed. And then I think
(07:47):
we also served fright alligator on the menu, which was
a little probably poor taste, but that's part of the
Alamo too.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
That's true. Well, that's see, that's just so much fun
to do stuff like that, and that just gets people
excited even more to enjoy the experience. You're listening to
the True Film Fan podcast. I'm John Wesley Downey. My
guest today is Rob Sorceto. He died in the Wool
Film Fan. As you're hearing, I remember a friend of
mine that had seen Fight Club on video but had
(08:17):
never seen it on the big screen, and y all
booked it and he was just absolutely thrilled that he
could see that movie on a big screen. Because this
brings up an interesting question. Once VHS and DVD and
Blu ray came along, a lot of people might have thought, well,
a theater like yours, why should I go to the
theater to see it. I can go get it at
(08:38):
Blockbuster or Criterion or something. So I guess you really
do have a challenge if you do book one of
those movies. And it is always exciting sometimes to see
a classic on the big screen you've never seen. But
you are in competition with the home video market.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Sure, well, you know, I don't really like to think
of like movie theaters as competition with watching movies at home,
because the fact of the matter is, if you're one
of out, you're going to go out. If you want
to stay at home, you're going to stay at home.
You know. I really think more and more of what
our competition is is going bullying, going to mini golf,
going to see a concert, going out to eat, and
giving people a chance to like what to do once.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
They're out of the house.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
So I watch a lot of movies at home, but
I love watching movies in the theater, and I think
it's that transformative communal experience that comes with seeing a
movie with an audience. I remember seeing The Fly, the
David Kernenberg, Jeff Goldblum, nineteen eighty seven remake and watching
that with an audience in the theater, and I had
seen this film, you know, a dozen times or so
(09:34):
at home, but hearing the audience laugh and squirm and
feeling their energy as like Jeff Golblum started to transform
into this human fly, it was like I was watching
the film for the first time.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
It was just this magical experience.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Where I felt like I was part of a larger
organism and that we were all just experiencing the same
things together in one And that's really the true power
of seeing a movie on the big screen.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Sure, the things we're still in your Alamo draft house
phase where you were working there. One of things I've
always thought was interesting is that y'all didn't just show
especially films or classics or cult films or whatever. You
still showed the mainstream films every week that we're coming
out at all the other theaters. Kind of an interesting mixture.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, well, you know, that's our bread and butter.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
So you know, I always tell people you show movies
like Deadpoll and Wolverine so that you can afford a show,
you know, a cure Saw retrospective the next month. The
movies that are the new releases that people were excited
to see, bring people into the theater for the first time,
and then once they're in there to see Twisters or
Inside Out to or you know, whatever it might be
playing at the time, you're able to introduce them to
(10:42):
the cool programming that you're doing on the side. And
so they'll come and see a movie like Deadpool and
Wolverine and have a great experience, and then they'll look
on the website and say, oh wait, they're showing Fight
Club next week, or they're showing you know, the Texas
Chainsaw Massacre, and so it's just a great way to
kind of bring people in, give them a little taste
with something that they know about because they've seen media
(11:04):
ads all over TV and on the radio. But then
you get them excited about the cool stuff under the
radar that the theater is doing too.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
And sometimes you have the filmmakers come out with their film.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Right, Yeah, we've been really fortunate or I've been really
fortunate enough to have like chances to meet some of
my heroes. You know, this is really bizarre to watch
a movie as a kid and be obsessed with this
film and then twenty years later you have, you know,
this director or this filmmaker or an actor that influenced
your childhood to have the matha theater and you're on
(11:33):
stage with them and you're asking them questions about this movie.
It's a surreal experience that I have to sometimes pinch
myself and remind myself that I'm not dreaming.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
But it's been amazing opportunity.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Who's maybe or name a couple who were a couple
of the biggest people you met that were the most
exciting to meet.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Well, you know, when we opened up the Alma draft
House finished Park in North Houston, we had a couple
of filmmakers out that just really blew my socks off.
One was a Jason Schwartzman, the actor, and we showed
Rushmore and Jason was the nicest guy, you know, very
very kind, kind of just showed up at theater by himself.
I didn't even know how he got there, I mean
(12:14):
beyond just we invited him. But I think he took
like a taxi to the theater and wanted to talk to
every single person in the audience, took photos with anybody
who asked him for a photo. Did this really great
extended Q and a before the screening, shared all these
great memories of making Rushmore and it was.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Just that was that was shot here in Houston, correct, Yeah,
and the filmmaker was Wes Anderson. Houston was Anderson. Yeah,
went to Saint John's right down the street from us.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
So yeah, No, it was this great experience to be
able to share this movie, but Houstonians are very passionate
about and to have one of the actors who you know,
made this movie as legendary as it is in the audience.
And then a week later we had Robert Rodriguez come
to show a screen of El Madiacci. And Robert Driguez
is one of those filmmakers I was obsessed with as
a teenager. I remember doing a PowerPoint presentation about his
(13:06):
films and one of my speech in debate classes because
I was just so enamored with his movies, and so
being able to meet Robert and have him at the
theater and to screen this film in a thirty five
millimeter with him in attendance and do a Q and A.
It was just this great experience that I had to
just remind myself was actually happening, and I wasn't just
to kind of candy induced fever dream.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, aside from El Mariachi, which is what put him
on the mat, why don't you tell the audience, who
maybe isn't quite as much of a centophile what some
of Robert's other movies were.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Sure, Yeah, you know, Robert Riguez has done everything from
horror movies like From Dust Till Dawn to action movies
like Desperado. He's made a whole industry of kids films
with the Spy Kids Franchise and Shark Boy and Lava Girl.
He revolutionized digital filmmaking with the movie Sin City, and
most recently he did a lead a Battle Angel, which
was this great fun sci fi for Fox.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
He's also done some episodes of the Book of Boba
Fette for Lucasfilm. So yeah, he's definitely a kind of
a Texas legend. So you did this for all these
years at the Alamo draft House and then apparently something
happened this spring, because not only did Alamo Draft House
go through a transition, but so did you.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Yeah, you know, it definitely one didn't cause the other,
but you know, it was just an interesting time and
to be in the movie theatrical industry. So the Alma
Draft House. Of course, most recently was it was announced
that they've been purchased by Sony Entertainment, which is of
course one of the biggest entertainment companies on the planet,
and the Alma Draft House is now a part of
(14:41):
the Sony family, which is very exciting because what that
means is that Sony is basically has a much larger
wallet than the Alamo has had over the last couple
of years, and they're going to be able to expand
and do all these really amazing things to revolutionize the
theatrical industry and the way they have been doing for
the last you know, twenty five plus years. And so
(15:02):
that week I had already made up my decision to
take a new opportunity, and so it was very bittersweet
to be in the room as they announced this new
chapter in the Alama Draft House life, that they were
going to be going on this new adventure, and to
know that I wasn't going to be a part of it.
But at the same time, I was just very excited
for this other opportunity.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Let's transition. By the way, there's something before we finished it,
I do want to talk one more time about that
home versus theatrical experience. And I had a particular incident
with a friend that had only seen two thousand and
one on a small screen and then saw it on
a big screen instead. It was like a different movie.
But anyway, so here you are at the end of
the draft house experience and what door opens for you
(15:47):
is just amazing to me as a native Ustonian and
who is well aware of the legendary river Oaks Theater
on West Gray. I grew up there, and not just there,
there's other theaters I went to. But isn't it It
is absolutely a Houston landmark and has a lot of
history and story and mythology about it.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
So the river Oaks Theater first opened in November twenty eighth,
nineteen eighty nine, nineteen thirty nine, so it's just been
this amazing eighty five year history of the theater.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
But it opened the year the Wizard of Oz and
gone with the Wind Game.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Correct. Yeah, it's astonishing.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
But unfortunately what happened is a couple of years ago
during COVID, the theater was unable to stay open and
they closed, and many people thought that the theater was
gone forever. It just seemed like this theater was just gonna,
you know, maybe be bulldozed to make room for apartments
or a new restaurant, and that was very sad. But
this locally owned, locally operated company, an amazing company called
(16:51):
Culinary Concepts, who own and operate the Star cin mcgrill brand,
the real luxury cinemas restaurants like State Fair and Liberty
here in Houston. They actually stepped up and took over
the lease of the river Oaks Theater and had spent
the last two and a half years spending a lot
of time, effort, and money into remodeling, renovating, and preparing
(17:14):
this theater be reopened in a glorious new fashion. And
so when we talked about potentially joining the river Oaks team,
it only took me a little bit to realize that
this was an opportunity I couldn't say no to. To
be just a small part of this historic Houston theater's
legacy was an incredible honor, and I'm very much looking
forward to, you know, helping be a part of the
(17:36):
reopening of the river Oaks Theater and hoping, hopefully, hoping
to ensure that the theater lasts another eighty five years longer.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Now, are you going to be booking some of the
same type of things you did as you did at
the Alamo.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Yeah, So the River Oaks Theater is going to be
a little bit different than people might remember it from,
you know, ten years ago or even five years ago.
So the theater will still play great independent art house
film like it had been previously before COVID, but we're
also going to have a screen that's entirely dedicated to
classic films, and so you'll be able to see, you know,
(18:09):
movies like Wizard of Oz, Casablanca two thousand and one,
a Space od to see even like some really great
cult films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or a Fight.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Club or Rocky Art Picture Show.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
But with the exception of Rocky Our Picture Show, which
will stay at midnight, you know, these screens are gonna
happen throughout the entire day, so you won't have to
wait until midnight to see classic films on the big screen.
You'll be able to see them at four o'clock on
a Sunday or eight o'clock on a Tuesday. And in addition,
we're gonna be doing a lot of live events and
special events. We already have some filmmakers booked for the
(18:41):
opening of the theater to come out and show showcase
their films. We're gonna be doing cool events with local
community partners, like we're bringing in author Daniel Kraus, who
wrote a book posthumously with Georgia Merrow, and we're teaming
up with Browse's Books to bring the author out and
to do a book signing and a screening of one
of Romero's films in October. We're gonna be working with
(19:04):
some really great musicians and comedians and performers to do
live events. So it's just going to be this really
great mixed you space where we'll show movies every day
of the year. You'll be able to see a movie
on the big screen, but you're also going to maybe
have a chance to do other cool experiences as well.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
You know, let's talk. Let's just have a little fun
here and talk for a few minutes. Here's a question.
One of the things I do is teach voiceover, and
I always ask this question to begin to get into
people's heads about their feelings about entertainment and things like that.
So I'll say, Okay, you're gonna go to a Desert Island.
(19:43):
You're gonna be there three years. You've got a Blu
ray player and enough batteries to run it for that time.
If you could only take three movies with you, what
three movies would you take?
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Rob That's a really great question.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
You know. The pragmaticy would be like, okay, which are
the longest movies so I can enjoy them the most?
But no, I think it has to be movies that
are like really rewatchable for me, and there's not a
lot of movies like that. I like to savor movies
like I'll watch a movie then wait another five years
before I watch it again. But there's a handful of
movies that I will always watch if they're on. One
(20:18):
is An Observant Report, which is this really great comedy
from about ten years ago directed by Jody Hill, where
Seth Rogan plays a mall security guard who's losing touch
with reality.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
It's like taxi driver and a mall.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
It's very very funny, very weird, very kind of scary,
and I very much enjoy that film. I have to
have some classic cinema to keep me going, so you know,
something like The Third Man, which is great orson Wells
starring noir film You got to have a little bit
of you know, vegetables with your.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Dessert eye, which is a observant report.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
That's the movie where he tells the story about the
cuckoo is right. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
And then you know, one of my favorite movies, a
movie that I can watch over and over and over
again and never get tired of, is raf Botski's American Pop.
It's this movie from nineteen eighty one. It's an animated
film showcasing three generations of musicians throughout American history. It
opens in the early nineteen hundreds with a Russian immigrant
becoming a cabaret performer, and it ends with his great
(21:25):
grandson becoming a rock and roll musician in the eighties.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
And I love.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Movies, but as much as I love movies, I love music.
So I would bring American Pop just so I could
have a great soundtrack to listen to even if I'm
watching the movie while I wait on this desert island.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
So those are some eclectic and interesting choices. You know.
Something I want to bring up is there is something
that I have seen and I know you'll want to
comment on this, and also, as kind of a person,
who studied film history. The movie business has been over
the past what do you want to say, now, one
hundred and ten years, whatever you want to call it,
(22:01):
has been amazingly resilient. And you know, if you look
at the different I'm thinking in these terms, like a
lot of people felt like when sound came in, that's
the end of the movies. When TV started cranking up
in the late forties and early fifties, the movie business
panicked and they said, we got to be bigger and
(22:21):
better and more expensive, and otherwise people are never going
to come out of their houses. Then in the sixties
there was a downturn in the industry when the home
video industry took out. Everybody thought it was going to
kill the theaters, and instead it fostered more interest in
movies than ever. And it seems like and then COVID
(22:42):
came along, and there's an article, there's almost a generic
article that you see about every fifteen years where somebody
at a publication says, it's just too expensive to go
to the movies by the time you pay for the
babysitter and the food and the parking. And I think
there's only one theater in Houston that charges parking, but
people say it just costs too much. And yet you
(23:05):
put a good top gun movie in after COVID and
people will go see it if they think it's going
to be good enough to leave the house for sure.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
I think the major issue is that studios sometimes forget
what audiences want to see. They think they know what
audiences want to see because they're looking at an algorithm
that's been put in front of their faces as well.
Audiences are really into these type of movies, but they
forget that audiences don't care about formulas. They care about
like just good entertainment, entertainment that reaches them on an
(23:35):
emotional level, but also entertainment that they're aware of. And
so I think the movies that are doing really well
this year, and there are movies that are doing very
well this summer, are in a very eclectic bunch. You
have like a family movie like Inside Out Too, which
has quietly become I think the highest grossing animated film
of all time, which is crazy. Then you have Dead
(23:56):
Polton Wolverine, which has become the highest grossing R rated film.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Of all time.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
But then you also have a movie like Long Legs,
which is this really dark very sinister horror film from Neon,
a very much smaller distributor than some of its Hollywood contemporaries,
and that movie has just become this tremendous hit. And
it was entirely down to a marketing campaign that you know,
teased audiences with what they were going to see. It
didn't show a way give away the entire movie and
(24:20):
the trailer. They were very careful about like letting information
out about the film. And I think that when it
comes down to it, audiences are passionate about seeing movies.
That's not going to change. I don't think ever. I
think audiences will always want to be entertained because it's
great escapism, it's great a feeling of community. It's a
great way to get in touch with who we are
(24:42):
as you know, both Americans and citizens of the world,
and what we're afraid of and what we're find funny
and what makes us fall in love. All those things
bring us together in movies. By the same time, you know,
I think people will celebrate movies as long as there's
good movies being made and studios are make yes aware
of those films in entertaining ways like they did with
(25:02):
the Neon campaign for long legs.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, you know, I've noticed. Maybe it's it's it's it's
more and more saturating the culture. But I notice now
more than I used to. If I'm watching an interview
with a business person who's become successful, or a politician
or a sports person, the number of references I here
(25:25):
to movies seems to be going up. It's like everybody
uses it as a common reference point. It's like, you know,
like if I say I see dead people, most of
the people listening are gonna know what I'm referring to.
Sure the line. And it seems that we've become It's
almost like now the tail is wagging the dog because
(25:47):
we're such a movie saturated culture. Not that I'm complaining,
but I see that that happening. I had a surprise recently.
I took a relative to lunch. She's in her seventies.
I hadn't talked to her in a ages, don't have
a strong connection to her, so we're kind of catching up.
She's seventy eight years old. And I said, well, what
did you and uncle so and so do this weekend? Oh,
(26:10):
we went and saw a Deadpool and Wolverine. And next
weekend and we saw the trailer for Twister and it
looks as good as the first one. And I'm sitting
there with my jaw hanging open, and she goes, we
just got to get out of the house. And she said,
and that dead Pool is so funny, And it just
goes to show you you're we all have expectations of
(26:31):
people thinking, oh, they would never be interested in that,
and that's not the case at all. People are people
want to know what's going on. They wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
You know, movies are so interesting in that they're like
a very personal thing that you experience. You know, you're
not talking to anybody hopefully while you're watching a movie.
You're engaged in it on a very one to one basis,
but you're also like engaging with culture at large. You know,
you're both like having this personal connection with a film,
but you're also having this community connection with the film.
(27:02):
Movies unite us. You know, some of my best friends
are people who I've met because I met them at
the movie theater. You know, when I was a kid,
you would go up and you would meet a new
friend by you know, quoting a movie you liked or
talking about a Saturday morning cartoon or a video game
you played. Entertainment as a whole is what brings us
together as a culture, and I think it's it's great
to remember that and realize that, like you said, we're
(27:23):
not too different because if an entire country you can
get together and be like, yeah, dad, pull's a pretty
fun movie. I think that says a lot about how
undivided as a country we can be.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
And how people are open.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
You know.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Sometimes one of my favorite all time favorite movies is
The Elephant Man. And I was telling a friend of
mine about I said, I think this is the greatest
movie about the topic of compassion that was ever made.
He goes, oh, really, when did it come out? And
he's in his twenties, and it so well, it came
out in nineteen eighty nineteen eighty, well, and I said,
and it's in black and white. And it wasn't until
(27:56):
I said, David Lynch made it that he was interested.
So it's himself through it. Okay, I'll watch it. And
first few minutes, first ten or fifteen, maybe too into it.
And by the end of it he was like many people, sobbing,
and he said, I would have never thought an old
black and White movie could affect me. I said, yeah,
(28:17):
but you'd never seen it. You didn't know the context
of it. You didn't know John Hurt was delivering this
amazing performance. And sometimes sometimes people don't know what they
want until they see it and then they go, oh,
that was better than I thought. You know.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Well, that's why I think it's great for like these
these subscription services like Netflix. You know, movie theaters sometimes
can be a little afraid of, you know, streaming services,
but I think it's great because they help introduce people
to movies that they wouldn't otherwise watch. You know, also
movie pass and those subscription services in a theater, giving
people a chance to like experiment with what they're seeing
(28:54):
and what they're watching and stick, like walk a little
bit outside their comfort zone only helps people getting introduced
to things that they would never have seen, like The
Elephant Man, or like you know, these foreign shows like
Squid Games that would never have reached an American audience
ten years ago been put into front of them. I
(29:15):
don't think there's any there's not any doubt in my
mind that you know, a movie like Parasite winning Best
Picture at the Academy Awards, in Squid games, I think
a year or two later becoming such a worldwide phenomenon.
There is one and the same. You know, people will
step outside their commer zone watch a foreign film for
the first time, and that opens them up to watch
(29:35):
other things that are in languages besides English.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
We're talking with Rob Sorceto. He was the longtime booker
and chief movie nut over the Last at the I
keep wanting to say Last Night at the Alamo. That's
an old Texas independent film at the Alamo draft House.
He's just left them as they've been bought by Sony.
But he is the new creative director of the River
(30:01):
Oaks Theater, which is being revived and resurrected to the
delight of many people locally. And I hope you're going
to check that out. Yeah. Two thousand and one is
a movie that was designed to be seen in cinerama
format that no longer exists. And I showed it to
a friend of mine a while back and they said, well,
it's kind of an amazing movie, and I said, you
can't imagine what it was like seeing it when I
(30:21):
was a young teenager on a screen the size of
the astrodome. You know, it was a different movie, and
I got him to go see I think somewhere somebody
showed it in Imax and he got to see it,
and it was like, wow, it was a completely It
was almost like the movie engulfed you, you know, because
of the size of it.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
Well, some of these four kre restorations that are happening
now are also just astonishing. I saw Oklahoma for the
first time a couple of years ago via a four
kre restoration in a movie theater, and I had never
seen this movie before, and they're during the opening shot
as you're coming through the wheat fields and like just
getting immersed in Oklahoma landscape. I started to get like
(31:02):
a little bit of anxiety and hyperventily a little bit
because I felt like I was in Oklahoma and I
wasn't ready for that experience.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Well, yeah, it's just remarkable what they're doing technically. I was,
this is a brief aside. I'm working on a project
right now. And I was talking to my DP one
day and I had mile my mind on other stuff,
and she said one day she said, we're shooting in
five K and I went, five K do we really
need that much for firepower? Why didn't you tell me.
(31:33):
But and yet, like you said, it just looks. I
love the technical advances, but it still comes down to
a story. It still comes down to a story. Let's
take a little side trip. Not only do you do
all the amazing things we've been talking about, but you've
recently completed your own creative project. So let me give
(31:54):
you a little plug here at the end so you
can let people know what else you do.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Well. Yeah, So during COVID, when movie theaters were shut
down across the country, I, like a lot of my colleagues,
found myself with free time for the first time in
a long time, and so not wanting to just waste
that free time, I decided to do something I'd always
wanted to do, which is write a comic book. And
so I sat down and I wrote a graphic novel
and spent the next year or two after that getting
(32:20):
it illustrated with an artist out of Italy and getting
it published.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
And it's called Werewolf.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
It's a horror comedy graphic novel, where as in like
W H E R. And it's about a journalist to
us to go undercover at a furry convention to stop
a werewolf from eating all the attendees.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
So it's a humor, it scares.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
It's a set in College Station, Texas, which is a
very weird place that we've ever been. There the perfect
place for this kind of event to go down. And
I've just had this tremendous experience releasing the graphic novel.
I went on this twenty city book tour last year
and going to all these different movie theaters and showing
where Wolf films, and uh signing copies of the book
(33:02):
and meeting horror fans from everywhere from Brooklyn to Raleigh
to Omaha. And uh, it was just this amazing experience,
and uh, you know, I look forward to hopefully doing
something again soon when I put on my next book.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Wow, okay one more time. It's by Rob Saceto and
it's called were Wolf And how do you spell it.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
As w h E R E space wolf w O L.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
It's it's a terrible name I've learned from for a book,
especially what you're talking about on the radio.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
But uh, yeah, no, just and it's a graphic novel.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Cool, all right, Well, can you, uh, as we wrap
up here, can you can you give us a little
glimpse of what's coming At first? As we reopened the
River Roks Theater.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Yeah, so we're just starting now to finalize some of
our programming for the fall, but you can expect to
see all kinds of great things. Speaking of David Lynch,
We're gonna be doing a four week series of David
Lynch films, including Eraserhead and mahalland Drive and Uh Lost Highway.
We're going to be doing a nineteen ninety nine tribute
(34:05):
for films that had their anniversary this year, showing everything
from Fight Club to Ten Things I Hate About You
to The Blair Witch Project, which of course had a
historic run at the Landmark owned River Oaks Theater in
nineteen ninety nine. But we're also going to be showing
all kinds of really great independent films. We have this
amazing movie called In the Summer's Book, which is made
(34:27):
by this really fantastic Latin American filmmaker, and it's about
a father who's struggling to keep a relationship going with
his two young daughters.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
And we also have a.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Movie called Dali with a multiple a's in there, but
it's an absurdist comedy about Salvador Dali that you have
to see.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
It's very funny, very.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Weird, and where else could you see that but the
River Oaks Theater. Hey, this was cool and fun and
I enjoyed it and the kind of a person that
could talk about films for days on end. Maybe we'll
do this again in the future, and I wish you
the best of luck in your new position.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
All Right, we've been talking with Rob Soceido. He's the
new creative director of the River Roads Theater and obviously
a movie fan. You've been listening to the very first
interview to be heard on True Film Fan, and we'll
be doing lots more in the future. I'm John Wissey Downey,
and thanks for listening.
Hello, this is John Leslie Downey and this is the
maiden voyage of the True Film Fan Podcast. Welcome to
the program. We're going to be doing a lot of
very interesting and creative things as we explore the world
of movies, and this particular interview has been in the
works for months, and it's only appropriate that since this
is a podcast for film nerds, that we begin with
(00:22):
probably the Texas champion film nerd of all time, and
that is Rob Saceto. He's somebody that I just met
when he came to the studio, but I've been aware
of him for quite a few years. And Rob has
just gone from one super cool job as a movie
nerd to another super cool job as a movie nerd,
and we'll talk about both of them in a moment. Rob,
(00:43):
Welcome to the program.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I'm going to begin with a question I ask of
a lot of people, which is what is your first
memory of seeing a movie and how did it affect you?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Sure, well, this is gonna be a weird one, but
the first movie that I vividly remember seeing was actually
in a movie theater and it was the movie house.
To the story, it's a I think nineteen eighty seven
sequel to the you know, horror comedy a film, and
I remember being in a theater watching this movie as
probably like a three or four year old and seeing,
(01:13):
you know, these strange monsters on screen, Hunt did Cowboys
and this thing called a Catterpuppy, which is part caterpillar,
part puppy. And I know for a fact that watching
that movie at a young age completely warped my mind
in a good way and kind of opened me up
to be like this, you know, lover of weird cinema,
and so I've been chasing that high ever since I
(01:35):
was a little kid, trying to find the weirdest and
strangest movies to watch.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Did your parents frequently take you to strange movies or
horror movies?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
No, I think they were.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Thought was probably, well, he's too young to be paying attention.
He's probably just going to sleep through this film. And
that was probably true before, but I something changed in
watching that film, and like, I have vivid memories and
seeing it and now it's not like it's a hardcore
horror film. It's probably was rated PG or PG thirteen,
But there was just something in that film that just
(02:04):
awoke in the cinephile on me. Of all movies, it
could have been a Gadard or a Hitchcock or a
true faux film, but no, it was House to the
Second Story.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
No, no Little Mermaid or a Laddin for you.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
I would eventually see those. I would definitely see those
on the big screen when they came out. And I
have great memories of seeing all the Disney cartoons that
came out in the late eighties and early nineties because
it was this renaissance of children's films. But you know,
they're on the corner of my mind. I was always
still remembering the Counterpuppy.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Okay, what did that lead to? I mean, into your
teens and twenties, did you just become more and more
addicted to films?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Well, you know, weirdly enough, as a young kid, I
wasn't really into movies, you know, a house to side.
I was a big reader, like I would never go
anywhere without bringing least a couple of books with me.
I was constantly going to the library and checking out,
you know, five to ten books every time I visited.
And I was a voracious reader. But in nineteen ninety nine,
(03:02):
I was in high school, and it was such a
great year for films. There's these amazing movies being released,
everything from The Matrix to The Blair Witch Project, American Beauty,
Three Kings, being John Malcovic Fight Club, and.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
It was kind of like nineteen thirty nine was.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, yeah, no for real.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
It was just this tremendous output of adventurous, eclectic cinema.
And I also coincided with my sister getting a job
a Blockbuster and having limited free rentals, and so you know,
those two things combined, and I was just send my
sister to work every day with a list of movies
to bring home for me to watch, and I just
(03:40):
became this, you know, obsessied movie obsessive. I would go
online and like talk on forums to other movie fans,
and they would give me recommendations for older movies to
go check out. And so my like obsession with film
went in two different directions, where I was watching these
classic movies for the first time and discovering things like
you know, Lawrence Arabia and The Godfather and Seven Samurai,
(04:03):
but then also keeping abreast with all these like really
great independent films that were being released in the early
two thousands and it was just this awakening of a
movie obsessive in me.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
I see, how did you go? Okay? For some because
this is heard everywhere, it's on the internet, there may
be some people who aren't going to be familiar with
the theater chain I'm about to mention, But somehow you
went from where you just described to being the booker
at one of the coolest movie chains in the world
called Alamo Draft House, which is kind of legendary among
(04:36):
people that love films. It's always been near and dear
to my heart because they don't let anybody talk in
the theaters, and of course it's a place where in
addition to seeing the movies you can also have a
good meal and some good food. But in addition to that,
y'all did special programming. So how did you end up
with this sweet job behind the scenes at the Alamo
Draft House? Basically a movie fan running a movie theater.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
It was pure will power.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
So I moved back to Houston in two thousand and eight,
and I was working at a job I really didn't
like and was going to the movies pretty much every night,
and a big chunk of those visits were to the
Alamo Draft House. Over at West Oaks Mall in Houston,
and so I would go to the theater and I
just had this amazing time. I had never experienced a
(05:21):
movie theater like this before, and so I think it
was like probably the third or fourth visit. I just
started bringing my resume with me and I would leave
it at the theater. And I did that for about
a month, just really literally bringing a copy of my
resume every time I went to the theater for two
or three times a week for a month.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
And finally they gave me a call back.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
And they didn't really have any open positions in like
the programming side, but I told them I would take
any job that they had to offer, and so I
joined the company as a assistant to the local franchise
owner but also doing some accounting support. And I was
not very good at either of those jobs, but luckily enough,
they saw the potential in me. I realized just how
(06:01):
much of a fan I was at the company and
of movies, and so they allowed me to kind of
find my niche and eventually that was, you know, in
the film programming in film booking world, and so I
worked for the ALBUMA for thirteen years after that.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
So The key word that comes across to me there
and I run into it a lot is passion. And
so in the job that you just described, what were
your duties as far as doing programming, particularly special programming
for and when I say special programming, having a movie.
You book a movie for a night, maybe something that
(06:36):
isn't going to have a long run like a regular movie,
but something that you know will attract a lot of affictionados.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Well, during my time of the album, I had so
many different responsibilities and roles. I literally had a great
chance to learn every aspect of the business, which was great.
But you know, to what you're asking about is the
special events. You know, it went from contacting the studios
to see if the rights were available to show a
certain film, arranging for the film to be played at
the theater, arranging for the film to be shipped to
(07:04):
the theater, promoting the event on social media and through
community connections, press outreach, then actually once the film is
on screen, figuring out how to turn it into an event.
Sometimes that means having like fun props and giveaways or
contests before the screening. Sometimes it meant contacting somebody who
was involved with the making of the movie to come
out to the screening and do a Q and A afterwards.
(07:27):
Sometimes it meant being really an outside the box thinker.
So for example, we showed the you know, classic creature
feature Alligator once at the theater, and I arranged for
actual real life alligators to come to the theater and
be available for people to touch and hold and take
pictures of before the movie showed. And then I think
(07:47):
we also served fright alligator on the menu, which was
a little probably poor taste, but that's part of the
Alamo too.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
That's true. Well, that's see, that's just so much fun
to do stuff like that, and that just gets people
excited even more to enjoy the experience. You're listening to
the True Film Fan podcast. I'm John Wesley Downey. My
guest today is Rob Sorceto. He died in the Wool
Film Fan. As you're hearing, I remember a friend of
mine that had seen Fight Club on video but had
(08:17):
never seen it on the big screen, and y all
booked it and he was just absolutely thrilled that he
could see that movie on a big screen. Because this
brings up an interesting question. Once VHS and DVD and
Blu ray came along, a lot of people might have thought, well,
a theater like yours, why should I go to the
theater to see it. I can go get it at
(08:38):
Blockbuster or Criterion or something. So I guess you really
do have a challenge if you do book one of
those movies. And it is always exciting sometimes to see
a classic on the big screen you've never seen. But
you are in competition with the home video market.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Sure, well, you know, I don't really like to think
of like movie theaters as competition with watching movies at home,
because the fact of the matter is, if you're one
of out, you're going to go out. If you want
to stay at home, you're going to stay at home.
You know. I really think more and more of what
our competition is is going bullying, going to mini golf,
going to see a concert, going out to eat, and
giving people a chance to like what to do once.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
They're out of the house.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
So I watch a lot of movies at home, but
I love watching movies in the theater, and I think
it's that transformative communal experience that comes with seeing a
movie with an audience. I remember seeing The Fly, the
David Kernenberg, Jeff Goldblum, nineteen eighty seven remake and watching
that with an audience in the theater, and I had
seen this film, you know, a dozen times or so
(09:34):
at home, but hearing the audience laugh and squirm and
feeling their energy as like Jeff Golblum started to transform
into this human fly, it was like I was watching
the film for the first time.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
It was just this magical experience.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Where I felt like I was part of a larger
organism and that we were all just experiencing the same
things together in one And that's really the true power
of seeing a movie on the big screen.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Sure, the things we're still in your Alamo draft house
phase where you were working there. One of things I've
always thought was interesting is that y'all didn't just show
especially films or classics or cult films or whatever. You
still showed the mainstream films every week that we're coming
out at all the other theaters. Kind of an interesting mixture.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, well, you know, that's our bread and butter.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
So you know, I always tell people you show movies
like Deadpoll and Wolverine so that you can afford a show,
you know, a cure Saw retrospective the next month. The
movies that are the new releases that people were excited
to see, bring people into the theater for the first time,
and then once they're in there to see Twisters or
Inside Out to or you know, whatever it might be
playing at the time, you're able to introduce them to
(10:42):
the cool programming that you're doing on the side. And
so they'll come and see a movie like Deadpool and
Wolverine and have a great experience, and then they'll look
on the website and say, oh wait, they're showing Fight
Club next week, or they're showing you know, the Texas
Chainsaw Massacre, and so it's just a great way to
kind of bring people in, give them a little taste
with something that they know about because they've seen media
(11:04):
ads all over TV and on the radio. But then
you get them excited about the cool stuff under the
radar that the theater is doing too.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
And sometimes you have the filmmakers come out with their film.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Right, Yeah, we've been really fortunate or I've been really
fortunate enough to have like chances to meet some of
my heroes. You know, this is really bizarre to watch
a movie as a kid and be obsessed with this
film and then twenty years later you have, you know,
this director or this filmmaker or an actor that influenced
your childhood to have the matha theater and you're on
(11:33):
stage with them and you're asking them questions about this movie.
It's a surreal experience that I have to sometimes pinch
myself and remind myself that I'm not dreaming.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
But it's been amazing opportunity.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Who's maybe or name a couple who were a couple
of the biggest people you met that were the most
exciting to meet.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Well, you know, when we opened up the Alma draft
House finished Park in North Houston, we had a couple
of filmmakers out that just really blew my socks off.
One was a Jason Schwartzman, the actor, and we showed
Rushmore and Jason was the nicest guy, you know, very
very kind, kind of just showed up at theater by himself.
I didn't even know how he got there, I mean
(12:14):
beyond just we invited him. But I think he took
like a taxi to the theater and wanted to talk to
every single person in the audience, took photos with anybody
who asked him for a photo. Did this really great
extended Q and a before the screening, shared all these
great memories of making Rushmore and it was.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Just that was that was shot here in Houston, correct, Yeah,
and the filmmaker was Wes Anderson. Houston was Anderson. Yeah,
went to Saint John's right down the street from us.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
So yeah, No, it was this great experience to be
able to share this movie, but Houstonians are very passionate
about and to have one of the actors who you know,
made this movie as legendary as it is in the audience.
And then a week later we had Robert Rodriguez come
to show a screen of El Madiacci. And Robert Driguez
is one of those filmmakers I was obsessed with as
a teenager. I remember doing a PowerPoint presentation about his
(13:06):
films and one of my speech in debate classes because
I was just so enamored with his movies, and so
being able to meet Robert and have him at the
theater and to screen this film in a thirty five
millimeter with him in attendance and do a Q and A.
It was just this great experience that I had to
just remind myself was actually happening, and I wasn't just
to kind of candy induced fever dream.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, aside from El Mariachi, which is what put him
on the mat, why don't you tell the audience, who
maybe isn't quite as much of a centophile what some
of Robert's other movies were.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Sure, Yeah, you know, Robert Riguez has done everything from
horror movies like From Dust Till Dawn to action movies
like Desperado. He's made a whole industry of kids films
with the Spy Kids Franchise and Shark Boy and Lava Girl.
He revolutionized digital filmmaking with the movie Sin City, and
most recently he did a lead a Battle Angel, which
was this great fun sci fi for Fox.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
He's also done some episodes of the Book of Boba
Fette for Lucasfilm. So yeah, he's definitely a kind of
a Texas legend. So you did this for all these
years at the Alamo draft House and then apparently something
happened this spring, because not only did Alamo Draft House
go through a transition, but so did you.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Yeah, you know, it definitely one didn't cause the other,
but you know, it was just an interesting time and
to be in the movie theatrical industry. So the Alma
Draft House. Of course, most recently was it was announced
that they've been purchased by Sony Entertainment, which is of
course one of the biggest entertainment companies on the planet,
and the Alma Draft House is now a part of
(14:41):
the Sony family, which is very exciting because what that
means is that Sony is basically has a much larger
wallet than the Alamo has had over the last couple
of years, and they're going to be able to expand
and do all these really amazing things to revolutionize the
theatrical industry and the way they have been doing for
the last you know, twenty five plus years. And so
(15:02):
that week I had already made up my decision to
take a new opportunity, and so it was very bittersweet
to be in the room as they announced this new
chapter in the Alama Draft House life, that they were
going to be going on this new adventure, and to
know that I wasn't going to be a part of it.
But at the same time, I was just very excited
for this other opportunity.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Let's transition. By the way, there's something before we finished it,
I do want to talk one more time about that
home versus theatrical experience. And I had a particular incident
with a friend that had only seen two thousand and
one on a small screen and then saw it on
a big screen instead. It was like a different movie.
But anyway, so here you are at the end of
the draft house experience and what door opens for you
(15:47):
is just amazing to me as a native Ustonian and
who is well aware of the legendary river Oaks Theater
on West Gray. I grew up there, and not just there,
there's other theaters I went to. But isn't it It
is absolutely a Houston landmark and has a lot of
history and story and mythology about it.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
So the river Oaks Theater first opened in November twenty eighth,
nineteen eighty nine, nineteen thirty nine, so it's just been
this amazing eighty five year history of the theater.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
But it opened the year the Wizard of Oz and
gone with the Wind Game.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Correct. Yeah, it's astonishing.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
But unfortunately what happened is a couple of years ago
during COVID, the theater was unable to stay open and
they closed, and many people thought that the theater was
gone forever. It just seemed like this theater was just gonna,
you know, maybe be bulldozed to make room for apartments
or a new restaurant, and that was very sad. But
this locally owned, locally operated company, an amazing company called
(16:51):
Culinary Concepts, who own and operate the Star cin mcgrill brand,
the real luxury cinemas restaurants like State Fair and Liberty
here in Houston. They actually stepped up and took over
the lease of the river Oaks Theater and had spent
the last two and a half years spending a lot
of time, effort, and money into remodeling, renovating, and preparing
(17:14):
this theater be reopened in a glorious new fashion. And
so when we talked about potentially joining the river Oaks team,
it only took me a little bit to realize that
this was an opportunity I couldn't say no to. To
be just a small part of this historic Houston theater's
legacy was an incredible honor, and I'm very much looking
forward to, you know, helping be a part of the
(17:36):
reopening of the river Oaks Theater and hoping, hopefully, hoping
to ensure that the theater lasts another eighty five years longer.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Now, are you going to be booking some of the
same type of things you did as you did at
the Alamo.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Yeah, So the River Oaks Theater is going to be
a little bit different than people might remember it from,
you know, ten years ago or even five years ago.
So the theater will still play great independent art house
film like it had been previously before COVID, but we're
also going to have a screen that's entirely dedicated to
classic films, and so you'll be able to see, you know,
(18:09):
movies like Wizard of Oz, Casablanca two thousand and one,
a Space od to see even like some really great
cult films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or a Fight.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Club or Rocky Art Picture Show.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
But with the exception of Rocky Our Picture Show, which
will stay at midnight, you know, these screens are gonna
happen throughout the entire day, so you won't have to
wait until midnight to see classic films on the big screen.
You'll be able to see them at four o'clock on
a Sunday or eight o'clock on a Tuesday. And in addition,
we're gonna be doing a lot of live events and
special events. We already have some filmmakers booked for the
(18:41):
opening of the theater to come out and show showcase
their films. We're gonna be doing cool events with local
community partners, like we're bringing in author Daniel Kraus, who
wrote a book posthumously with Georgia Merrow, and we're teaming
up with Browse's Books to bring the author out and
to do a book signing and a screening of one
of Romero's films in October. We're gonna be working with
(19:04):
some really great musicians and comedians and performers to do
live events. So it's just going to be this really
great mixed you space where we'll show movies every day
of the year. You'll be able to see a movie
on the big screen, but you're also going to maybe
have a chance to do other cool experiences as well.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
You know, let's talk. Let's just have a little fun
here and talk for a few minutes. Here's a question.
One of the things I do is teach voiceover, and
I always ask this question to begin to get into
people's heads about their feelings about entertainment and things like that.
So I'll say, Okay, you're gonna go to a Desert Island.
(19:43):
You're gonna be there three years. You've got a Blu
ray player and enough batteries to run it for that time.
If you could only take three movies with you, what
three movies would you take?
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Rob That's a really great question.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
You know. The pragmaticy would be like, okay, which are
the longest movies so I can enjoy them the most?
But no, I think it has to be movies that
are like really rewatchable for me, and there's not a
lot of movies like that. I like to savor movies
like I'll watch a movie then wait another five years
before I watch it again. But there's a handful of
movies that I will always watch if they're on. One
(20:18):
is An Observant Report, which is this really great comedy
from about ten years ago directed by Jody Hill, where
Seth Rogan plays a mall security guard who's losing touch
with reality.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
It's like taxi driver and a mall.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
It's very very funny, very weird, very kind of scary,
and I very much enjoy that film. I have to
have some classic cinema to keep me going, so you know,
something like The Third Man, which is great orson Wells
starring noir film You got to have a little bit
of you know, vegetables with your.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Dessert eye, which is a observant report.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
That's the movie where he tells the story about the
cuckoo is right. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
And then you know, one of my favorite movies, a
movie that I can watch over and over and over
again and never get tired of, is raf Botski's American Pop.
It's this movie from nineteen eighty one. It's an animated
film showcasing three generations of musicians throughout American history. It
opens in the early nineteen hundreds with a Russian immigrant
becoming a cabaret performer, and it ends with his great
(21:25):
grandson becoming a rock and roll musician in the eighties.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
And I love.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Movies, but as much as I love movies, I love music.
So I would bring American Pop just so I could
have a great soundtrack to listen to even if I'm
watching the movie while I wait on this desert island.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
So those are some eclectic and interesting choices. You know.
Something I want to bring up is there is something
that I have seen and I know you'll want to
comment on this, and also, as kind of a person,
who studied film history. The movie business has been over
the past what do you want to say, now, one
hundred and ten years, whatever you want to call it,
(22:01):
has been amazingly resilient. And you know, if you look
at the different I'm thinking in these terms, like a
lot of people felt like when sound came in, that's
the end of the movies. When TV started cranking up
in the late forties and early fifties, the movie business
panicked and they said, we got to be bigger and
(22:21):
better and more expensive, and otherwise people are never going
to come out of their houses. Then in the sixties
there was a downturn in the industry when the home
video industry took out. Everybody thought it was going to
kill the theaters, and instead it fostered more interest in
movies than ever. And it seems like and then COVID
(22:42):
came along, and there's an article, there's almost a generic
article that you see about every fifteen years where somebody
at a publication says, it's just too expensive to go
to the movies by the time you pay for the
babysitter and the food and the parking. And I think
there's only one theater in Houston that charges parking, but
people say it just costs too much. And yet you
(23:05):
put a good top gun movie in after COVID and
people will go see it if they think it's going
to be good enough to leave the house for sure.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
I think the major issue is that studios sometimes forget
what audiences want to see. They think they know what
audiences want to see because they're looking at an algorithm
that's been put in front of their faces as well.
Audiences are really into these type of movies, but they
forget that audiences don't care about formulas. They care about
like just good entertainment, entertainment that reaches them on an
(23:35):
emotional level, but also entertainment that they're aware of. And
so I think the movies that are doing really well
this year, and there are movies that are doing very
well this summer, are in a very eclectic bunch. You
have like a family movie like Inside Out Too, which
has quietly become I think the highest grossing animated film
of all time, which is crazy. Then you have Dead
(23:56):
Polton Wolverine, which has become the highest grossing R rated film.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Of all time.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
But then you also have a movie like Long Legs,
which is this really dark very sinister horror film from Neon,
a very much smaller distributor than some of its Hollywood contemporaries,
and that movie has just become this tremendous hit. And
it was entirely down to a marketing campaign that you know,
teased audiences with what they were going to see. It
didn't show a way give away the entire movie and
(24:20):
the trailer. They were very careful about like letting information
out about the film. And I think that when it
comes down to it, audiences are passionate about seeing movies.
That's not going to change. I don't think ever. I
think audiences will always want to be entertained because it's
great escapism, it's great a feeling of community. It's a
great way to get in touch with who we are
(24:42):
as you know, both Americans and citizens of the world,
and what we're afraid of and what we're find funny
and what makes us fall in love. All those things
bring us together in movies. By the same time, you know,
I think people will celebrate movies as long as there's
good movies being made and studios are make yes aware
of those films in entertaining ways like they did with
(25:02):
the Neon campaign for long legs.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, you know, I've noticed. Maybe it's it's it's it's
more and more saturating the culture. But I notice now
more than I used to. If I'm watching an interview
with a business person who's become successful, or a politician
or a sports person, the number of references I here
(25:25):
to movies seems to be going up. It's like everybody
uses it as a common reference point. It's like, you know,
like if I say I see dead people, most of
the people listening are gonna know what I'm referring to.
Sure the line. And it seems that we've become It's
almost like now the tail is wagging the dog because
(25:47):
we're such a movie saturated culture. Not that I'm complaining,
but I see that that happening. I had a surprise recently.
I took a relative to lunch. She's in her seventies.
I hadn't talked to her in a ages, don't have
a strong connection to her, so we're kind of catching up.
She's seventy eight years old. And I said, well, what
did you and uncle so and so do this weekend? Oh,
(26:10):
we went and saw a Deadpool and Wolverine. And next
weekend and we saw the trailer for Twister and it
looks as good as the first one. And I'm sitting
there with my jaw hanging open, and she goes, we
just got to get out of the house. And she said,
and that dead Pool is so funny, And it just
goes to show you you're we all have expectations of
(26:31):
people thinking, oh, they would never be interested in that,
and that's not the case at all. People are people
want to know what's going on. They wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
You know, movies are so interesting in that they're like
a very personal thing that you experience. You know, you're
not talking to anybody hopefully while you're watching a movie.
You're engaged in it on a very one to one basis,
but you're also like engaging with culture at large. You know,
you're both like having this personal connection with a film,
but you're also having this community connection with the film.
(27:02):
Movies unite us. You know, some of my best friends
are people who I've met because I met them at
the movie theater. You know, when I was a kid,
you would go up and you would meet a new
friend by you know, quoting a movie you liked or
talking about a Saturday morning cartoon or a video game
you played. Entertainment as a whole is what brings us
together as a culture, and I think it's it's great
to remember that and realize that, like you said, we're
(27:23):
not too different because if an entire country you can
get together and be like, yeah, dad, pull's a pretty
fun movie. I think that says a lot about how
undivided as a country we can be.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
And how people are open.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
You know.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Sometimes one of my favorite all time favorite movies is
The Elephant Man. And I was telling a friend of
mine about I said, I think this is the greatest
movie about the topic of compassion that was ever made.
He goes, oh, really, when did it come out? And
he's in his twenties, and it so well, it came
out in nineteen eighty nineteen eighty, well, and I said,
and it's in black and white. And it wasn't until
(27:56):
I said, David Lynch made it that he was interested.
So it's himself through it. Okay, I'll watch it. And
first few minutes, first ten or fifteen, maybe too into it.
And by the end of it he was like many people, sobbing,
and he said, I would have never thought an old
black and White movie could affect me. I said, yeah,
(28:17):
but you'd never seen it. You didn't know the context
of it. You didn't know John Hurt was delivering this
amazing performance. And sometimes sometimes people don't know what they
want until they see it and then they go, oh,
that was better than I thought. You know.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Well, that's why I think it's great for like these
these subscription services like Netflix. You know, movie theaters sometimes
can be a little afraid of, you know, streaming services,
but I think it's great because they help introduce people
to movies that they wouldn't otherwise watch. You know, also
movie pass and those subscription services in a theater, giving
people a chance to like experiment with what they're seeing
(28:54):
and what they're watching and stick, like walk a little
bit outside their comfort zone only helps people getting introduced
to things that they would never have seen, like The
Elephant Man, or like you know, these foreign shows like
Squid Games that would never have reached an American audience
ten years ago been put into front of them. I
(29:15):
don't think there's any there's not any doubt in my
mind that you know, a movie like Parasite winning Best
Picture at the Academy Awards, in Squid games, I think
a year or two later becoming such a worldwide phenomenon.
There is one and the same. You know, people will
step outside their commer zone watch a foreign film for
the first time, and that opens them up to watch
(29:35):
other things that are in languages besides English.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
We're talking with Rob Sorceto. He was the longtime booker
and chief movie nut over the Last at the I
keep wanting to say Last Night at the Alamo. That's
an old Texas independent film at the Alamo draft House.
He's just left them as they've been bought by Sony.
But he is the new creative director of the River
(30:01):
Oaks Theater, which is being revived and resurrected to the
delight of many people locally. And I hope you're going
to check that out. Yeah. Two thousand and one is
a movie that was designed to be seen in cinerama
format that no longer exists. And I showed it to
a friend of mine a while back and they said, well,
it's kind of an amazing movie, and I said, you
can't imagine what it was like seeing it when I
(30:21):
was a young teenager on a screen the size of
the astrodome. You know, it was a different movie, and
I got him to go see I think somewhere somebody
showed it in Imax and he got to see it,
and it was like, wow, it was a completely It
was almost like the movie engulfed you, you know, because
of the size of it.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
Well, some of these four kre restorations that are happening
now are also just astonishing. I saw Oklahoma for the
first time a couple of years ago via a four
kre restoration in a movie theater, and I had never
seen this movie before, and they're during the opening shot
as you're coming through the wheat fields and like just
getting immersed in Oklahoma landscape. I started to get like
(31:02):
a little bit of anxiety and hyperventily a little bit
because I felt like I was in Oklahoma and I
wasn't ready for that experience.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Well, yeah, it's just remarkable what they're doing technically. I was,
this is a brief aside. I'm working on a project
right now. And I was talking to my DP one
day and I had mile my mind on other stuff,
and she said one day she said, we're shooting in
five K and I went, five K do we really
need that much for firepower? Why didn't you tell me.
(31:33):
But and yet, like you said, it just looks. I
love the technical advances, but it still comes down to
a story. It still comes down to a story. Let's
take a little side trip. Not only do you do
all the amazing things we've been talking about, but you've
recently completed your own creative project. So let me give
(31:54):
you a little plug here at the end so you
can let people know what else you do.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Well. Yeah, So during COVID, when movie theaters were shut
down across the country, I, like a lot of my colleagues,
found myself with free time for the first time in
a long time, and so not wanting to just waste
that free time, I decided to do something I'd always
wanted to do, which is write a comic book. And
so I sat down and I wrote a graphic novel
and spent the next year or two after that getting
(32:20):
it illustrated with an artist out of Italy and getting
it published.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
And it's called Werewolf.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
It's a horror comedy graphic novel, where as in like
W H E R. And it's about a journalist to
us to go undercover at a furry convention to stop
a werewolf from eating all the attendees.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
So it's a humor, it scares.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
It's a set in College Station, Texas, which is a
very weird place that we've ever been. There the perfect
place for this kind of event to go down. And
I've just had this tremendous experience releasing the graphic novel.
I went on this twenty city book tour last year
and going to all these different movie theaters and showing
where Wolf films, and uh signing copies of the book
(33:02):
and meeting horror fans from everywhere from Brooklyn to Raleigh
to Omaha. And uh, it was just this amazing experience,
and uh, you know, I look forward to hopefully doing
something again soon when I put on my next book.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Wow, okay one more time. It's by Rob Saceto and
it's called were Wolf And how do you spell it.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
As w h E R E space wolf w O L.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
It's it's a terrible name I've learned from for a book,
especially what you're talking about on the radio.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
But uh, yeah, no, just and it's a graphic novel.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Cool, all right, Well, can you, uh, as we wrap
up here, can you can you give us a little
glimpse of what's coming At first? As we reopened the
River Roks Theater.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Yeah, so we're just starting now to finalize some of
our programming for the fall, but you can expect to
see all kinds of great things. Speaking of David Lynch,
We're gonna be doing a four week series of David
Lynch films, including Eraserhead and mahalland Drive and Uh Lost Highway.
We're going to be doing a nineteen ninety nine tribute
(34:05):
for films that had their anniversary this year, showing everything
from Fight Club to Ten Things I Hate About You
to The Blair Witch Project, which of course had a
historic run at the Landmark owned River Oaks Theater in
nineteen ninety nine. But we're also going to be showing
all kinds of really great independent films. We have this
amazing movie called In the Summer's Book, which is made
(34:27):
by this really fantastic Latin American filmmaker, and it's about
a father who's struggling to keep a relationship going with
his two young daughters.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
And we also have a.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Movie called Dali with a multiple a's in there, but
it's an absurdist comedy about Salvador Dali that you have
to see.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
It's very funny, very.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Weird, and where else could you see that but the
River Oaks Theater. Hey, this was cool and fun and
I enjoyed it and the kind of a person that
could talk about films for days on end. Maybe we'll
do this again in the future, and I wish you
the best of luck in your new position.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
All Right, we've been talking with Rob Soceido. He's the
new creative director of the River Roads Theater and obviously
a movie fan. You've been listening to the very first
interview to be heard on True Film Fan, and we'll
be doing lots more in the future. I'm John Wissey Downey,
and thanks for listening.
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