Drones: Go humans
My boyfriend asked me to be home by 5pm yesterday and did not tell me why. He likes his mysteries. When I got home shortly after 4, he asked if I'd ever heard of the movie Drones, then said we were going downtown to watch it and attend a meet and greet with the directors, Amber Benson and Adam Busch, aka Tara and Warren from Buffy. I made a quick supper, and we took off for downtown, planning to go to the flagship Half Price Books a few blocks away before we got to the theater. We didn't feel like we had time, though, after being caught up in the meat grinder of 5pm traffic, so we parked at Mockingbird Station, home to the Angelika Theater where the USA Film Festival that showed the movie was taking place, across the street from Keith's Comics. We ran to the comic book shop for a moment, found that half of it was roped off and the shop was busy and cramped and hot as hell, then ran back to the theater and stood in line for an hour.
For most of that time, we were in a line in front of a group of people who must have been in their 60s at least, all talking about their grandkids and driving around the country to see them. The man in the group got really grumpy and started asking people in the line and at the volunteer table what was going on, grousing loudly and within earshot of people who walked up to the table to ask about the festival and for their tickets, as he thought they were trying to cut in line. He finally got disgusted with a rumor that they were letting people in already and charged toward the entrance to the theaters to see what was going on. It was both alarming and the most entertainment we had in that hot, dull waiting period. A moment after he came back, and possibly due to someone demonstrating such unhappiness with the situation, a volunteer came out and announced we could pick up our tickets and get into the second line, for our individual movies. The older people did not go to see Drones, thankfully. I'm pretty sure the event was somewhat understaffed, and I felt sorry for the volunteers for not having things a little better under control. One of my friends plead for volunteers for the festival on Facebook a few days ago; I'd briefly considered it, but I would have had to change my work shift this entire week. I ran into her a couple of times, and she promised to try to snag me a film festival t-shirt.
In the theater, we sat one row behind a group of 4 people, two guys and two girls. The guys kept talking and talking and talking, and one of them kept cracking little jokes and enjoying how enormously clever he thought he was being. He was telling one of the girls about Equus and Daniel Radcliffe. "I didn't see it myself, so I can't tell you how hairy his Potter was," he said, chuckling at his own humor. Oh my god, shut up.
The movie Drones was absolutely fantastic. It was a little dry sometimes, deals with awkward humor, has aliens masquerading as humans. The cast includes James Urbaniak, Dave Allen, Samm Levine, Jonathan Woodward. Dan Bern collaborated heavily on the soundtrack and performed with Adam Busch's band, which made me happy; I saw him touring with Ani Difranco back in '96 or '97, have always had a soft spot in my heart for him, and am glad to see him get feature film work that doesn't involve writing songs for a character named Dewey Cox.
Great evening overall, and I'm going to harass everyone I know about seeing this movie when they have the chance. It comes out on DVD in 6 months or so, so look for it.
For most of that time, we were in a line in front of a group of people who must have been in their 60s at least, all talking about their grandkids and driving around the country to see them. The man in the group got really grumpy and started asking people in the line and at the volunteer table what was going on, grousing loudly and within earshot of people who walked up to the table to ask about the festival and for their tickets, as he thought they were trying to cut in line. He finally got disgusted with a rumor that they were letting people in already and charged toward the entrance to the theaters to see what was going on. It was both alarming and the most entertainment we had in that hot, dull waiting period. A moment after he came back, and possibly due to someone demonstrating such unhappiness with the situation, a volunteer came out and announced we could pick up our tickets and get into the second line, for our individual movies. The older people did not go to see Drones, thankfully. I'm pretty sure the event was somewhat understaffed, and I felt sorry for the volunteers for not having things a little better under control. One of my friends plead for volunteers for the festival on Facebook a few days ago; I'd briefly considered it, but I would have had to change my work shift this entire week. I ran into her a couple of times, and she promised to try to snag me a film festival t-shirt.
In the theater, we sat one row behind a group of 4 people, two guys and two girls. The guys kept talking and talking and talking, and one of them kept cracking little jokes and enjoying how enormously clever he thought he was being. He was telling one of the girls about Equus and Daniel Radcliffe. "I didn't see it myself, so I can't tell you how hairy his Potter was," he said, chuckling at his own humor. Oh my god, shut up.
The movie Drones was absolutely fantastic. It was a little dry sometimes, deals with awkward humor, has aliens masquerading as humans. The cast includes James Urbaniak, Dave Allen, Samm Levine, Jonathan Woodward. Dan Bern collaborated heavily on the soundtrack and performed with Adam Busch's band, which made me happy; I saw him touring with Ani Difranco back in '96 or '97, have always had a soft spot in my heart for him, and am glad to see him get feature film work that doesn't involve writing songs for a character named Dewey Cox.
Great evening overall, and I'm going to harass everyone I know about seeing this movie when they have the chance. It comes out on DVD in 6 months or so, so look for it.