Thursday, October 06, 2005

Fantastic Fest report #1

3:55 p.m.

It turns out that the wireless connection I was able to pick up outside the theater doesn't penetrate inside. Unfortunately the South Lamar Alamo either doesn't have wi-fi or it isn't working. So these updates may come to you later than I'd hoped, unless I'm able to duck outside between films to catch some signal. As I mentioned previously, at this point the only thing I'm really concerned about getting into is the first screening of Zathura with the Favreau/Billingsley Q&A. After glancing at the schedule, just about everything else has a couple of screenings, so there seems to be plenty of opportunity to see everything I want to see. Granted, there are probably some films I just don't know I want to see yet (having not yet scrutinized the synopsis of every picture), but I'll be able to hit the highlights at least.

A fun little side note: the badge holders for the festival double as flat-card flashlights, which comes in handy when you want to take notes or read the program guide in a darkened theater. I long ago started carrying a keychain flashlight for these circumstances, but it's a thoughtful extra.

I'm seated for the 4:10 showing of Strings, with the short Moon Girl preceding it. And hey, they just started up the trademark Alamo pre-film shorts beginning with an excerpt from Goliath and the Dragon, so I'm going to wrap it up now.

'Til later.

6:04 p.m.

Strings taught me that marionettes are creepy when they're not in comedies. I mean, they're creepy when they are in comedies, but outside comedies they're even creepier. I'm sure I'll come up with something more cogent later, but for now that's my first impression.

The lobby of the theater is now decked out in full Zathura mode, with a robot and spaceship from the picture prominently displayed; looks like it'll be a cool time. You can check my Flickr photostream for pictures until I can make a full report.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home