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Cinema Weekend: Cows on Drugs, Deep Space, and Non-Sparkling Vamps

Two limited release features open in Austin this weekend, while a third installment of a violent fantasy series caters to its fans.

The Alamo Drafthouse is having another big weekend, with two notable premieres. While "Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission" has screened in Austin during South by Southwest, it begins a limited theatrical run tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar.

A prodigious video game designer, Garriott used his wealth to partner with Russia’s space agency and rocket into orbit. The Austin Chronicle profiled the documentary back in 2009. In a blog post on the eve of the release, the Chronicle notes the Austin-based production team behind the project, Beef and Pie, inked a unique distribution deal:

Beef and Pie's late-breaking distro deal is something of a coup, incorporating not only First Run Feature's ten-city theatrical release but also video on-demand through Warner Brothers Home Video/Gravitas. Which means you can watch it in the luxury of your own cockpit via Netflix, the iTunes Store, etc. (Although we highly recommend you hit the Alamo screenings as there is presently no Sputnik in your 'fridge.)

"Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission" premieres tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse South, 7pm.

Another Alamo coup: Continuing the company’s foray into film distribution, Drafthouse Films distribution acquired rights to "Bullhead," a tense thriller documenting, of all things, the illicit cattle hormone trade in Belgium.

Austin360.com’s Matthew Odam notes the film may receive an Academy Award nomination for best foreign language film. He also says, “Director Michael Roskam’s noir thriller about the illegal cattle steroids trade and one man’s crippling secret blends stylistic elements of the Coen brothers and Scorsese while representing a unique and powerful new voice in film.”

The film is receiving a very limited showing this weekend, but you can look for tickets here. View the trailer below (potentially not safe for work due to brief, subtitled naughty language).

If that’s not enough to satiate a jonesing for creepiness, there’s always the latest installment of the Underworld franchise, "Underworld Awakening," which wasn’t screened in advance for critics, but currently has an 89 percent audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Wells has been a part of KUT News since 2012, when he was hired as the station's first online reporter. He's currently the social media host and producer for Texas Standard, KUT's flagship news program. In between those gigs, he served as online editor for KUT, covering news in Austin, Central Texas and beyond.