Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a ton of BNAT coverage if you are one of the many unfortunate souls not to make it this year... or if you're an attendee wanting to relive the experience already... Don't know why you'd want to do that right now... my brain is still fried from the experience, but for posterity if nothing else, right?

I had a great time at the fest this year. I got to introduce some close friends to the fest this year and see some BNAT regulars I only ever see at the Alamo during the fest.. I've already written up my reviews for BLACK SNAKE MOAN, 300, ROCKY BALBOA and DREAMGIRLS (click here for that!) and I still have a few to write up, but in the meantime we have at least 4 accounts of BNAT below.

Kicking things off is Nordling, a long time BNAT attendee and some times contributor to this very site. He's also one of the purest geeks you'll ever meet. This man would dress cinema up in a dolly dress and twirl around with it all day if he could. Enjoy!

Hey Harry, Nordling here, recuperating from massive cocaine overdosage and dropping a line about BNAT 8 - the Octo-Butt-Numb-A-Thon!

I say it every year - Best. BNAT. Ever. I swaer to Christ I'm just gonna get a tattoo on my chest, if you want to look past the yeti hair. But enough about me. I'm gonna kick this off.

"Chirpy" - That bird took that horse cock like a pro. The bird's vagina twisted and bent the space-time continuum. Thanks for that.

BLACK SNAKE MOAN - Craig Brewer ain't fucking playing. His Faulkneresque, Flannery O'Connor (Saffy called that) iinspired Blues gothic is nothing short of a Southern masterpiece, and we can only hope that Samuel Jackson will at last receive the Oscar he so richly deserves. This is a story about a father and a daughter. Maybe not by blood, but through the soul and through the blues. A truly wonderful movie. Christina Ricci was tremendously sexy and vulnerable. The thunderstorm scene alone will inspire people for years. Afterwards Craig Brewer hung out with the BNAT crowd, a class act all the way.

DREAMGIRLS - Give Eddie The Oscar, indeed. But furthermore, give Jennifer Hudson the Oscar. A fantastic musical with serious umph and power. My friend Michael and I were like two girls at this point, tearing up at every high moment. Bill Condon also did a brief Q&A and he has made a terrific film. Sorry, honey, I know you're gonna be pissed for me seeing it early but we'll see it later, I promise.

ONCE UPON A GIRL - Well, at least Harry played this Mother Goose meets a dildo Hanna Barbara movie early, so this didn't disturb me in sleepy mode later on. For some reason I really enjoyed this, which says something about my perverted stae of mind.

INHERIT THE WIND - A genuine classic that I've managed to miss until now. Goes with the theme of fighting the good fight, no matter the cost or the loss. Spencer Tracy, man. Spencer fucking Tracy.

ROCKY BALBOA - Hearkens back to the original ROCKY in tone and emotion. The montage still works, man. I really enjoyed this and I thought Stallone made a really good movie here. As ROCKY movies go, this ranks after the first and third for me, but it has deep emotional truth to it and a very poignant end to a mostly terrific film series.

KNOCKED UP - I havent laughed so hard in a movie theater in a long, long time. Dear Mr. Apatow - please do not cut out Cirque De Doleil on mushrooms. Afterwards, Seth Rogen did a bried Q&A and was a genuinely cool cat. This opens this coming summer, a terrific comedy.

BLACK BOOK - When Paul Verhoeven is given a decent script he is quite an impressive director. This story of a woman serving two masters, the Resistance in Holland and her Nazi boss, is very effective. Multidimensional characters populate this story, which I appeciated that it wasn't cookie cutter villains or heroes.

THE INFORMER - John Ford's classic film. Well worth seeing on the big screen, although at this point the Cocaine was seriously fucking with my stomach.

RAW FORCE - Tits, ass, and zombie samurai getting blown up. What more do you want?

SMOKIN' ACES - A pure shor of adreanline to the movie geek heart. When Shug from HUSTLE AND FLOW unloads with the .50 you will be blown through the back of the theater. A terrific action ensemble from Joe Carnahan, with one really great performance from Ryan Reynolds, of all people. Impressive as all hell, well worth seeing.

300 - This is a fucking cathartic masterpiece. Sorry Harry, I was the guy who yelled out "FUCK YOU!" when the Persiam emissary got kicked down the well. I couldn't help it. This film builds and builds, with action setpieces that would make any geek multiple orgasm in their goddamn pants. Zack Snyder is amazing, and WATCHMEN is in good fucking hands. I was utterly spent after this movie.

Octo-BNAT was like being righteously fucked by great movies. Best BNAT ever, man. I'm gonna get that fucking tattoo. Thanks again, Harry - they really don't get any better than that. I'm gonna let BLACK SNAKE MOAN digest some more and then I think I'm gonna hit you with a full-blown review. This by far was the roughest BNAT on my physically, but that's because instead of peaks and valleys it was constant peak, peak, peak. I survived it though. If you want to try to kill me with movies, I can't imagine a batter way than BNAT. Love you, man, and happy birthday.

Nordling

"The Space Jew" wants to fill you in, too.

Dont know if you want more fan BNAT reviews, but here's another one
for you if you do. I suppose I'll go by the unlikely to offend moniker
of The Space Jew. (I'm Jewish, I'm allowed to use "the J word",
dammit.)

BNAT 8, OctoButt Numb A Thon, this year's BNAT, whatever you want to
call it, it was good.. A quick recap for you poor souls who didn't get
in, or had to bow out. I hope it makes your blood boil with envy.

Not officially part of the BNAT lineup, but screened while the last of
the people and the lucky standby winners were seated was a crudely
animated short called "Chirpy". A cute yellow bird named Chirpy
wanders through a forest of flowers and hearts, eatin worms. Seems
harmless enough. Until Chirpy swallows some shrooms.....and the rest
of the film is the most explicit horse on bird action you've probably
never seen. I hear the short is on youtube, and or elsewhere on the
net. Want something beyond fucked up to show to friends and say "This
is the kind of stuff you see at BNAT!"? Look it up.

The first official BNAT film was BLACK SNAKE MOAN (one of four movies
I accurately predicted this year, a new record!). It stars Christina
Ricci and Sam Jackson, which should be enough to seat most geeks and
other audience members. One of the best films of the fest, it's got a
killer blues soundtrack, a mammoth heart, and more importantly, Ricci
in the nude through most of the movie. Some may call it "brave", but
there's nothing brave about choosing to do something harmless and
being paid top dollar for it. It's like Ben Affleck whining to a
nation of McJobs about how "humilating" dressing up as Daredevil was,
as if he didn't know what was coming....but Affleck will get his later
in the BNAT reviews. I don't want to go into huge spoiler details, but
Justin Timberlake haters will be pleased to see that he gives an
accurate performance as a giant pussy; and one character gets to live
out the secret dream life of many geeks (such as myself):visiting Sam
Jackon's house and being raped by horned up chained up Ricci.

So, two movies in with deviant sexuality. Surely it's out of the way
by now, right? You'd think so, but our next movie is just a tease
before Harry throws us back into the smut. DREAMGIRLS showed next. Not
a bad movie in any sense of the word, but not my cup of tea. Some
excellent faux Motown stuff, the soft safe white "rock" imitation is
hilariously accurate. My gripes? With several reviewers proclaiming
this the return of Eddie Murphy, I was excited. The truth is....the
guy who doesn't make funny movies? THAT Eddie Murphy? He's still
alive, and starring in this movie. Eddie has ONE funny moment in the
movie, the rest is pretty straight stuff. He DOES give a killer
performance, and if THIS is what got him interested in doing things
other than kids movies, great. But it's not any kind of return to form
for Murphy-it's simply a solid performance. My other gripe....modern
R&B singers, such as the lead Beyonce. All of them in this movie.
Learn to hold a goddamned note. Please. Prog rock gets boring and the
solos lose impression because that's all they are, warbling every
syllable through the scale gets boring. You girls have more talent
than most people, learn to control it. If you're into musicals,
stories about second chances, all that good shit, DREAMGIRLS is for
you. It's certainly more watchable than Phantom Of The Opera.

ONCE UPON A GIRL.....the "B" in BNAT doesn't stand for butt, it stands
for Boob. We return in full force to the smut parade here, with an
animated porn. Yes. Porn. I believe we had one underage attendee?
Anyway. Three stories, Jack And The Beanstalk, Cinderella, and Little
Red Riding Hood all get the XXX treatment, narrated by Porky Pig. Some
funny stuff and very quoteworthy. Not much to say on this one, really.

INHERIT THE WIND, however, I could....COULD....say loads about. I saw
part of this many many years ago on TV, when I was but an
impressionable young lad starting to question the world around me. All
I saw and remembered was an old lawyer grilling a preacher on the
stand and really giving it to God. A great classic. Don't read my
review for it, just go find it and watch it. Now. Or when you finish
the article. Boobs were present here in the form of voluptous, sweaty
manboobs.

We're brought back into another slew of new movies with call number 2,
ROCKY BALBOA. I didn't expect much, honestly, except for it to be
better than Rocky 5. It's been a long time since I've watched the
first few, but I'd rank this as one of the best (maybe THE BEST?)
Rocky movies. A movie about letting go of your past and finding new
roles in life. Beautifully shot, acted, written (hilarious!). A
shocking minimum of boxing, basically confined to the very very end of
the movie. The trailer for Rocky 5 burned up before the screening, the
"Dolby Shit Sensor, which detects bad movies before they can be
played" would not have it's hunger satiated for long....

Anyone who loved The 40 Year Old Virgin is anxious to see KNOCKED UP
(third call!), the next movie by Rogan/Apatow and company. It was
still a work in progress, so I wouldn't be surprised if my desires to
call it less funny and more shallow than 40YOV turn out to be
incorrect. As it stands, it's short on comedy but has the very real
heart that won audiences to the characters of 40YOV. Sharp eyed comic
fans will spot an old 2099 comic in one shot. It's unfair to make huge
judgements of a movie still so deep in production, but I'm going to go
ahead and say it's worth seeing. A severe lack of boob, compared to
some of our other movies, and most disappointing that our main heroine
never bares all. HOW many sex scenes does she have with bra and
underpants on? More than can be expected. Maybe nudity IS a "brave"
thing, it's apparently harder to do than wearing a pregnant belly. Or
maybe she's afraid of box office gold-I still maintain that Sin City
would have done twice the business if it had been genuine about
emulating the book.

TEEN WOLF would have played next, but the Dolby Shit Sensor had
another meal. It did meet the minimum boob requirement before flaming
out, though, by showing us several close ups of Michael J Fox. The guy
is clearly faking his condition, he looks perfectly healthy in this
movie and is even playing basketball at the beginning. Or maybe it was
the shame of making this movie that put a gypsy curse on his health.
(don't get pissy with me, I know his illness IS real and he was fine
in the 80s.)

Paul Verhoeven is a love him or hate him guy, likely because of the
spelling of his name. I almost want to hate him because I have to open
up another Firefox tab to check the spelling, but I just don't care
that much if it's right. BLACK BOOK is being regarded as his first
attempt at making a "real" movie, and if tits and gore cause you to
lose "real" movie status, he still hasn't made it. He HAS crafted a
jewel, though. A story of a Jewish resistance movement, of spies and
revenge. A Jewish Lady Vengeance of sorts, how can I not love to see
my people vicotorious and their enemies defeated? An excellent
companion piece to other brutally real WW2 movies, one that should be
shown in classrooms for it's refusal to simplify issues. In a twist
sure to offend some, a later portion of the movie portrays freed
citizens as would be fascists themselves in their treatment of anyone
associated with the Nazis. Any high school grade historian knows that
it wasn't just the Nazis themselves that got it in the end, but people
as low on the ladder as secretaries and janitors were tortured,
humiliated, berated, etc without question. Our heroine, a Jewish spy
who posed as a copy clerk, is guilty by association. Conforming to
Verhoeian standards, the violence is bloody, many breasts are bared,
and legs spread; with the attention to detail and historical accuracy
even applied to pubic hair fashions of the time. Unkempt savages!

Continuing the theme of old world betrayal, THE INFORMANT is next.
You've probably seen it on AMC. Solid flick, but you're really not
here to read about the classics-you want to know about the new stuff!
Which is really too bad, because next up isn't something new, but
instead is.....

RAW FORCE. A painful 70s kung fu knockoff. Plenty of boob, plenty of
bad "didn't make contact by a mile" white guy kung fu, exciting
promise of a sequel....to be watched with audience only.

At this point in the fest, eyes are getting droopy.....good thing that
pure ass kicking dominates the next two titles, with noises so loud
you CANT sleep through them. SMOKIN ACES, another decietful film. It
starts off kinda funny, and ben Affleck is playing a serious role, you
know it HAS to be a comedy crossed with generic "mob guy in hiding and
everyone is after him" setting. Wrong, wrong, wrong. SPOILERS! From
the moment Affleck is gloriously and deservedly gunned down from
behind-ok, a few minutes after he's gunned down-the movie takes a
seriously intense turn. Ticking clock plot device? This movie will
become the dictionary definition. You see the dominoes all start to
fall and know whats coming, but you just can't predict how fucked up
the results will be. The big chaos action piece at the end is
incredible, beautiful, raw violence. There's a few revealations in the
ending moments that will be seen 'em a mile away moments for some, but
it doesn't erase any of the real world relevance and truth. Action
fans, highly recommended. Smarter than the average bear, but pulls no
pretentious punches. Jeremy Piven, as always, a top notch star.
Contains prequisite boobs, to make sure it gets it's R rating. The
tons of profanity and obscene bloodshed (death by anal chainsaw?!)
must not have been enough for the MPAA, bless em.

Our final film, and my final call, 300. A word of warning, if you're
homophobic in the slightest, you'll probably want to avoid this movie.
It's very very gay. Maybe the gayest thing I've seen all year, and I
watched some episodes of Torchwood. Seriously. The entire movie is
bodybuilders in their underwear thrusting their hardened spears into
other men and telling their comrades how much they love them, as they
gently wipe blood and grime off of each other. Beyond that, though,
the movie kicks ass (and yes, breeders, meets and exceeds the boob
requirements. The redheaded dancer girl at the beginning is worth
buying the DVD for.). The digital intermediate work is beyond
incredible, giving this movie the truest "painting come to life" feel
I've ever seen. The plot is simple-300 warriors fight an army. The
action is almost like a dance, form before function. I think they may
have tied the record with Peter Jackson for slow mo shots. The faux
heavy metal soundtrack didn't quite mesh, but at least someone's
thinking of the children. Comic fans, Gladiator fans, LOTR fans, let
us unite and bow to the almighty altar that is 300. The version we saw
was "%99 complete", and despite what some audience members (who were
either seated too far back or were overridden with glee) say, it
showed. You've shot someone with a nerf dart before, right? A number
of shots had CG arrows/wounds that weren't fully rendered and tracked,
there were some shots that still needed composite work, that sort of
thing, but this thing was more than watchable, almost pristine. It's
already a beautiful sight.

If you read this, it probably means you didn't make it in, but I hope
these reviews light a fire under your ass for NEXT year. It's a
helluva ride. Thanks for BNAT, Harry, happy birthday! Next year, give
us nudity with a 21st century sense of hygiene! Please?

Now with maria von Trapp, to get the lady's opinion of this most boob-filled of BNATs!

Hey there, Maria von Trapp here. Another BNAT has come
and gone, and Liesl and I are very sad. Not only was
this another year of wonderful movies, old and new,
but over the past few years we’ve truly grown to love
this group of people with which we annually spend 24
hours in movie-watching bliss. It is sad to think we
will have to wait another year to have such an
experience and to see many of these folks again.

The line-up of movies and special guests was truly a
treat. I’m not including the special screenings of
Pan’s Labyrinth because, even though I really loved
that movie, but it was covered at Fantastic Fest.
Children of Men, I am looking forward to, but haven’t
seen yet, so no review. I’m just doing the 24-hour
traditional BNAT thing. As always there was something
for everyone. The early part of the event was flavored
heavily with what Harry so appropriately labeled “sick
and wrong” that I was rather distressed and somewhat
grossed out by what I hoped was not going to be a
theme for the entire evening. I was greatly relieved
to find this was merely an impish trick on Harry’s
part to shock us into a wakeful state for the
remainder of the 24 hours….a trick usually reserved
for Tim League’s choice in the wee hours of the
morning with such infamous selections as Toys are not
for Children and Teenage Mother.

I’m assuming you’ve heard many folks speak of the
line-up and synopsis of each movie, I will focus only
on my favorites. I liked Dream Girls, Inherit the Wind
(a gorgeous print of a wonderful movie and stage
play), Black Snake Moan, Knocked Up, Rocky Balboa,
Smoking Aces, Black Book and 300. I actually enjoyed
every movie except the two movies I clearly, as a
parent, was not supposed to have enjoyed, but somehow
sat through in stunned disbelief.

My two favorite new movies were Black Snake Moan and
Rocky Balboa. Black Snake Moan was the real surprise
because I was misled by the synopsis. The story seems
to center around Rae (Christina Ricci), who is a
nymphomaniac. Frankly, I would not feel at all
inclined to see a movie about a nymphomaniac. However
the real core, the heart and soul of this movie is the
blues and feeling them, facing and acknowledging the
real blues…portrayed in this movie by a powerful
performance by Samuel L. Jackson, Ricci, the title
song and a thunderstorm, the path to redemption
begins. Those who know me, know I hate spoilers or
revealing the plots of movies. Director Craig Brewer
has proven that he has real talent which, has, IMO,
been refined since Hustle & Flow. Can’t wait for
Soundtrack on this one.

Rocky Balboa…gosh, what can I say? I’m biased from the
get go, ‘cause I’m from Philly.
But, in all honesty, I was just hoping the movie
didn’t stink. When I saw the trailer about a month
ago, I got goose bumps and I was really hoping the
movie wouldn’t bomb. This movie isn’t high art or what
I’d call a great movie, but it tells a simple story
with a lot of heart and the BNAT audience was a great
audience to see it with, cause this is the movie you
have to let yourself believe in and then you just sort
of lose yourself to being entertained for duration. If
you believe, then the movie magic happens, and during
the fight scene, I found myself saying “keep your
hands up!” and I wasn’t alone: the audience was no
longer watching a movie, we were watching a fight.
This was one of the most fun experiences I’ve had with
an audience.

The last movie I want to comment on was the lovely
print of Inherit the Wind. This is a great stage play
and a wonderful movie about bigotry and
small-mindedness that remind us that, whether the turn
of the century or present times, we need to always be
mindful of being educated and thinking for ourselves.

Thanks to Harry, Tim and the special guests for a
great BNAT experience. Happy Birthday Harry! And to
all BNATers…it was great to see you all and I hope to
see you next year!

This last review is the most detailed on the fest... at least from this round of updates!

I finally have to face the music: OBNAT is over and done. I'm glad that there was the Pan's Labyrinth warm-up and the Children of Men cool-down, as having the whole thing relegated to a single day may have left me with the kind of cold-turkey feeling usually reserved for people who see babies crawling across the ceiling. I truly didn't want this to end, since I've been looking forward to this since I first ever read about it on the site years ago. Thanks for having me along, truly.

That being said, don't think I'm going to swallow the spoonful of cinema without wanting to savor the flavor, let it digest, and see what comes back up in the middle of the night. I just don't think I can say that I had the full experience if I'm not willing to examine that experience and give you the chance to decide if you made the right choice in inviting me in the first place. No 3 pager here; just my thoughts on the show:

First off, I can't convince myself that there is a list to be made of most of the films where I could say one was my favorite, then next, next, etc. just because so damn many of them stand on their own, separate but equal, so different from one another. Excellence is a common denominator here, which is not exactly common at all. Chronological listing it is, then:

1. Chirpy - Kitschiness of bird on 'shrooms screwing Mr. Ed wears thin visually, but lines like "oh yeah, right in my egghole" and "chirp me, I'm gonna chirp" stand out. Welcome, Virgins!

2. Black Snake Moan - I didn't see Hustle & Flow until it was out on dvd, but I'm sooo glad I saw this one in the theater (with the director, no less). I was, like others, worried when I heard a brief kind of one-line description of this movie that I was going to be seeing an exploitation kind of film, but this is so much more. THIS is the BLUES and it's men and women and reality and charged. This isn't Sam Jackson yelling "haven't you seen any of my movies?!?" - this is Best Actor calibre Sam. Though it's not a response to the movie, I have to take one issue up with Quint's "nymphomaniac" label for Rae: she isn't. Her life of sex is more irresponsible, repressed pain, and how she's the reluctant junkie. It's akin to someone who has epilepsy feeling a seizure coming on and wishing to God that it would spare them just this once, please. If sex makes the pain go away, even temporarily, then that's what you do. It's not simple, and it's a false choice. Fantastic direction (and the guy is so modest!).

3. Dreamgirls - I wouldn't have seen this movie had it not been for BNAT, but that's sorta the point, right? That said, I still didn't like it. I'm not saying I didn't applaud performances - Eddie Murphy acted his ass off, and I can see why Condon said Eddie felt a little outside his safe-zone. Mr. Murphy, it was worth it. Jennifer Hudson's acting anchored the movie, which is good for the movie since she's up-front-and-center the majority of the film. Others were let downs: Jamie Foxx? There wasn't enough real depth to the character for me and I didn't feel like he brought anything that anyone else couldn't have brought to the movie. Oddly enough, that's about the same feelings I had for the movie in general - it could have been directed by anyone familiar with static music scenes (it's not like there were choreographed dance scenes with camera movement, was there?) and the band/singer-makes-it-to-the-top montage that I knew to expect. Honestly, the 30 second response Condon gave in the Q&A about the original stage production's inventive set design had me more interested in the property than the preceeding 2 1/2 hours of fleshed out film.

4. Once Upon a Girl - At this point I realized I should have appreciated Chirpy more. It was shorter and had less repeating animation.

5. Inherit the Wind - I'd never seen this before, and as I watched, I couldn't believe how funny and smart a biased film about the infamous Monkey Trial could be. Biased, but in a good way because the liberals win, right? Still, the writing is sharp, and the range of acting from each of the three main performers kept me entertained the entire time. It occurs to me that perhaps it won't be so hard to make it through the night after all.

6. Rocky Balboa - I said I couldn't rank the films I saw, but that's more due to the fact that I couldn't pick 2nd or 3rd, etc. Rocky Balboa is my favorite of BNAT, and I couldn't be more surprised. It's not like I wasn't planning on seeing it Christmas Day (I probably still will!), but this just seemed better for not having let me or anyone else in the room down. More than that, though, it's just that good. I had such an emotional response to the movie, to the character, and I was constantly surprised to find myself pumping my fist, smile beaming, chanting "Rocky! Rocky!" with the rest of the crowd. When the projector went haywire just before the fight I wasn't as upset about what was actually going on as how it was going to affect the crowd; I really didn't want any of us to be taken out of the moment. Thankfully when everything kicked in again it was like the snafu had never happened. Stallone says that Talia is all over this movie, and I see that, but more importantly, Stallone the man is all over this movie, in sincerest form. Totally restores my faith in Rambo IV.

7. Fanboys - Yeah, I'll be there, dammit. But only if AICN screens it. The rest of the world will mock me.

8. Knocked Up - Yeah, I'm a big ol' Apatow nerd, "Freaks and Geeks" being my bread and butter. Watching the movie makes me yearn for the Randomized DVD version already because I sense genius in it. Overall it runs a big long (not that there's anything wrong with that), but I suspect that's just so everyone can find out what really works, trim 20-30 minutes, and re-insert those bits into the DVD. I can't really imagine what hits the editing floor in these A-Troupe (like F-Troop only funnier and fewer Indians) movies, but I'll bet not much. Rogan being there was icing on the cake.

9. Zwartboek (Black Book) - Finding out this was about to show and realizing I'd submitted my first R movie as Robocop seemed kismet to me. My wife asked me just before this one began what it was about, like I'm supposed to know everything all the time. I only knew it was a Verhoeven film, so from that I formulated this answer for her: "My guess is drama. With sex and violence." Well, yeah, duh. What I didn't know is how incredibly good this was going to be. This was the point where too many people around me were feeling the time, so maybe when those folks talk to the ones that managed to stay awake they'll kick themselves extra hard. There have been so many WWII films over the years, so finally one comes along about Dutch Jews at the end of the war and makes the whole era dangerously fresh again. In the beginning of the film you're introduced to Rachel/Ellis at a future point, so I thought I could relax since I already knew she survives. Thankfully, the film never let me. Strong characters, excellent direction.

10. The Informer - Look, I stayed awake, but this didn't help things out a damn bit. Finding out afterwards that this movie won all kinds of awards in 1935 made me wonder just what the hell was going on in 1935. It's not the worst movie I've ever seen by far, but I just couldn't reconcile the accolades this movie got with what I saw. Apparently I have no contextual conception of the times and/or filmaking philosophies. That being said, I really shouldn't pass any kind of judgement until I see a few other also-rans from the era.

11. Raw Force - You know how they used to have that little Intermission jingle and people got up and left for bathroom breaks, snacks? Well that little jingle popped into my head and before I knew it I found myself in the lobby on extended leave. AWOL at BNAT, but I'll say this: I was not alone. Raw Force felt like it was embraced by a club I wasn't in, and being an outsider amongst outsiders was tough for my tired brain to wrap itself around...

12. Smokin' Aces - Is this a short movie or just incredibly paced? So incredibly distant from NARC, and while good, it isn't great the way NARC was. Definitely much more whimsical, but the action was there. 50 cal from 200 yards away? Shiiiiiiiiit, man. Some genius shots, for sure (Liotta elevator shoot-out, anyone?) Word of mouth on this one will spread because of the Affleck-puppet scene, though, don't you think? Funny that Seth Rogan goes on about Matthew Fox needing a ass-beating just hours before and then blam-o, your wish is granted. Fun stuff, and the intro was hilarious.

13. 300 - Ah, 300. Thou shalt defend the great state of Box Officeth for a greateth while. Whenst thou falls, you will not be mourned; thou shalt be celebrated on dvd-eth. Snyder's fav shot is the apple scene and several agree - for me it's the first push over the cliff. The way that scene is shot (and spoilers be damned - it's in the trailer), so much like a silouette, it looks like it could be a still shot of an ancient cave drawing come to life. The entire movie was art stills woven together, and I mean that in the most congratulatory way. The palette of colors, amazing fight choreography, awesome score (I was so afraid seeing the trailer that it was going to be this great film with a crap modern rock soundtrack - though I love NIN) all add up to a win. Hell even the credits (which reminded me of The Incredibles) are awesome. The only unintended chuckle 300 got out of me was during the Queen's speech where she says (quite seriously) "Freedom isn't free" Am I the only one who thought "it only costs a buck o' five" right then and there? Still, yet another film in this lineup that I'll see again at release. The only downside to seeing this last is the Snyder Q&A afterwards - not that I didn't think it was cool he was there and willing to talk, but the man has a voice and delivery like opium. I know everyone seeing this is excited to hear about Watchmen, but I almost wish those questions would have been left for another time. The guy's telling us he's spent a year in editing already for a movie not due until March - shouldn't he get to enjoy what he's doing now first? Eh, I get cranky after 29 hours.

The post-BNAT beer was good, the cameraderie even better (hi John, Mindy, Alex), and I got to take home Starscream, plus my wife won a Yoda light saber replica. I'm still high on BNAT 2 days later, and Children of Men didn't help (it's a disservice to sum it up in few words, so hopefully you'll write something amazing on my behalf at some point).

Thanks, again, for this incredible opportunity.

Jason