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Shoot rocks, watch Rock Jocks at Alamo Sunday

There's no better way to celebrate a geek movie about shooting asteroids out of the sky than getting a bunch of geeks on stage to show off their skills doing that exact thing. No surprise, then, that the Alamo Drafthouse's Action Pack team will be doing exactly that Sunday, Jun...
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There's no better way to celebrate a geek movie about shooting asteroids out of the sky than getting a bunch of geeks on stage to show off their skills doing that exact thing. No surprise, then, that the Alamo Drafthouse's Action Pack team will be doing exactly that Sunday, Jun 30, at a special screening of Rock Jocks, a new film starring geek icon Felicia Day. Before the film, local rock jocks will get a chance to test their mettle in a vintage Asteroids competition while Action Pack director Henri Mazza emcees and provides color commentary on their skills, or lack thereof.

See also: - Apocalypse how: Your guide to handicapping the end of the world - Jay and Silent Bob's POTcast: Jason Mewes talks about addiction, weed and getting old - Asteroid! A look back at the cinematic space-rock bombardment of the late '90s

"We're actually going to be doing it up on the big screen, with one of those all-in-one old-school controllers," Mazza explains. "It's more fun to imagine people standing there with the asteroids coming at them life size."

That means there's no place to hide -- when you jet out of center screen and straight into the biggest asteroid in the game, everyone in the place will know it. No pressure, though. After every potential savior of Earth has had their chance to shoot at rocks, the two highest scorers will come back up for a shoot-off, with one lucky winner finally being crowned the master blaster. Plus, there will be free pop rocks for everyone at the screening, so they can experience the wonder of asteroids exploding in their own mouths. And after the film, members of the cast and crew will join the theater via Skype for a Q&A about the movie.

The film itself is an ode to slackers and gamer culture starring Felicia Day, famous for her work on The Guild, her YouTube channel Geek & Sundry, and a decent run on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Joining her in her planet-saving endeavour are a host of character actors, including Jason Mewes (aka Jay of Jay and Silent Bob) and Robert Picardo (the holographic Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager). Not only does it offer geek culture and giant asteroids in a delightful pop-culture mixture that compares favorably to the wonderful matchup of peanut butter and chocolate, the movie does so without resorting to the typical nerdsploitation cliches.

"The geek culture is being represented by people that are members of the culture," Mazza says. "It's not just being pandered to the way some other stuff will do, like 'Hey, geeks like geek stuff!' A lot of this is really from the heart, and that's what I appreciate from the film."

The show starts at 7 p.m. Sunday, June 30 at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas Littleton. Tickets to the screening are $10.50. To buy tickets and for more info, visit the Alamo Drafthouse Denver website.


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