Dynamic Duos: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 1 & 2

The summer of superheroes may be over but for the Alamo Drafthouse, crime never sleeps. That’s why we’re teaming up with Ain’t It Cool News and 8th Dimension Comics & Games to present a new monthly series — Dynamic Duos.

Once a month, we’ll screen a double feature of two-fisted justice. That’s double the heroes, double the villains and double the capes and tights. From classics to forgotten gems, we’ll provide you with your superhero film fix until the summer of ’12 — where we have some great surprise lined up for the new batch of superhero films.

Cowabunga, dude!

From their early appearances in the ‘80s to their most current CGI animated television show (premiering this month on Nickelodeon!), the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have prevailed in staying relevant and hip to today’s youth where so many other pop culture juggernauts have fallen in the past. Anybody still remember Biker Mice from Mars? That's what I thought.

This March, celebrate those heroes in a half-shell with a radical double-bill featuring all-you-can-eat pepperoni pizza.

The event will include a 35mm screening of the 1990 film directed by Steve Barron and a screening of its 1991 sequel TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES II: THE SECRET OF THE OOZE. Living under the sewer and emerging only to fight crime and eat pizza, the Turtles fight an inner-city ninja gang led by the evil Shredder and his henchman Sam Rockwell! While Judith Hoag and Elias Koteas appear as the turtles’ human sidekicks April O’Neil and Casey Jones, the real star of the film is the amazing creature effects work by the Jim Henson Company. The special effects used to bring these turtles to life still holds up 20 years later. In the sequel, things get, well, silly with the introduction of two new super powered mutant bad guys and a musical performance by Vanilla Ice. Recapture your childhood with an afternoon of ninja power and pepperoni pizza. Go, ninja! Go, ninja, go! (Robert Saucedo)