LOCAL EVENTS
Davenport puts spirited twist on a movie night
Film lovers, mark your calendars — every other Monday at 8 p.m., The Davenport will be screening popular movies, complete with trivia and free drinks for movie buffs with the correct answers.
“It’s not just watching a movie quietly, it’s an event,” said Movie Nights Host Atom Von Arndt. “We want you to be loud and have fun and carry on and drink delicious Davenport beverages.”
When the idea came to Davenport Owner Duane Bradley, he shared it with fellow cult cinema enthusiast Arndt, who was eager to host.
“We’re trying to do a fun thing where it’s kind of like a Mystery Science Theater 3000 where we’re not just watching the movie, per se,” Arndt said. “You know people that go watch a movie, and then they just talk over it the whole time — That’s my job; I’m just going to talk over the movie the whole time for you.”
During screening, Arndt makes quippy comments about the film and shares a bit of history with his microphone. He also asks trivia questions that are rewarded with special themed drinks that complement the movie of the night.
“If you get these questions right, then you’re going to get a free drink at the bartender’s discretion,” Arndt said. “For example, we watched “The Big Lebowski,” and the drink was the good old fashioned White Russian that The Big Lebowski is so fond of.”
According to Arndt, his love of movies started in childhood, when he watched “too many” of them.
I was raised in New Braunfels, where there was a local TV station called KABB,” Arndt said. “On Saturday mornings, they would show the cartoons there, which I would watch. And afterwards, in the afternoons, they would show movies, all kinds of ridiculous movies — Godzilla movies, action movies, kung fu movies, horror movies.”
That healthy dose of film cultivated a passion that has since stretched out to several facets of his life.
“I have a bizarre knowledge of film,” Arndt said. “I’ve been doing a podcast for close to 10 years now, called “The Not for Everyone” podcast, where we review really bad movies.”
Although, he said for The Davenport, he plays only the best movies.
The next films on the schedule are John Carpenter’s “They Live” on March 30, Paul Verhoeven’s “Robocop” on April 13 and Sam Raimi’s “Army of Darkness” on April 27.
