Day 8: Friday, March 14

We figured that a good way to spend our last day at the festival would be to go watch “Doomsday” at a multiplex somewhere. It opened in wide release today without having been screened for critics, and it had to do with a deadly virus and a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and what the heck, why not? It’s not like we were already at a film festival or anything.

I suggested last night that we catch today’s noon showing, as this would enable me to be back downtown in time for a 3:30 SXSW film I wanted to see. But Weinberg insisted noon would be far too early, considering we were about to stay up too late watching movies, so we planned on the 2:30 showing instead. Indeed, noon came quite early after our 4 a.m. bedtime. Honestly, even 2:30 was pushing it. Also honestly, why were we in such a hurry to see “Doomsday”? We make no sense.

Weinberg, Eugene, Goss, and I took a cab to a multiplex a few miles south of downtown. We did indeed watch “Doomsday.” This happened without incident.

Continue reading…

Happy spring! And happy Easter! And hey, what about Passover? Happy that too! I hope you weren’t planning to celebrate any of these things by going to the movies!

“Drillbit Taylor” is lousy, and “Shutter” (review is at Film.com) is even worse. The third wide release, Tyler Perry’s “Meet the Browns,” wasn’t screened for critics, and you know what that means. (You probably also know what Tyler Perry’s name in front of it means.)

In other news, I promise to have the final installment of my SXSW diary posted today, a mere seven days after the day it covers. If you knew how busy I’ve been this week, you’d stop hassling me (RANDY TAYLER!!) to get it done. I wish I had more time during the festivals to work on these reports, because I really enjoy writing them. Each one is like a mini-”Snide Remarks,” with the hard part done by having the topic assigned to me.

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