These are already old news, but I never got around to posting them on Friday:

Basic

The Core

Aside from a couple guys from The Reel Deal cable access show, I don't pal around much with the Austin film press, but one of Harry Knowles' Ain't-It-Cool minions is a chatty fellow who cornered me at the The Core screening and asked if I'd seen Basic a few days earlier. I replied in the affirmative and was all set to commence with the eye-rolling when he said, "Wasn't it great? I thought it was the best movie so far this year!" Clearly the man had been struck by lightning on the way to theater. I should have just quietly agreed and gone back to my magazine, but Basic got so far up my nose, I felt compelled to tell the guy I hated it and explain why. Before I knew what was happening, he'd launched into an earnest and lengthy explanation of why McTiernan's previous movie, Rollerball, had been a failure. (Short answer: It wasn't McTiernan's fault!) I wanted no part of this. Now I gotta actively avoid this guy at every screening, lest he decide I'm his movie-chattin' buddy. I just want to sit and read my magazine before the movie starts. (Which brings me to another gripe -- whatever happened to having the house lights on before a movie starts? Some of the local theaters are phasing out this practice, presumably so I can’t read my magazine and am forced to watch the ad display on the screen. If this keeps up, I'll have to figure out how to play the games on my cell phone and pass the time that way.)