Sleep, precious sleep. The day ended with a real high…after 3am.

• Terra – This stunning work of computer animation is unfortunately delivered via sledgehammer. The story is about humans who have destroyed, not only their own planet, but Earth’s two closest planets, are searching for a new planet, and start killing the current peaceful inhabitants of an alien planet to make room for themselves. One alien and one human meet and make friends, then turn around and start fighting in the war and it all ends — I am not joking here — with a suicide bomber showing them the importance of sacrifice for peace. Yeah.
• Fighter – This is my second time seeing this amazing film that everyone should see, but particularly anyone with a teenage daughter (along with anyone who loves the Fu, since it was choreographed and co-stars Xing Gao — the man behind the action in Crouching Tiger.) The Danish story about a Muslim Turkish immigrant girl who loves practicing kung fu more than school or boys is forced to choose whether it is more important than family. It breaks my heart to know that the national karate champion lead actress is going to pharmacy school instead of continuing her acting career.
• Zombie Girl: The Movie – I can’t objectively discuss this documentary about a local girl who at 13 years old made a feature length zombie movie because I’ve seen Emily and her mother Megan at so many film events in Austin over the last 3-4 years that I think of them as distant well-loved family. After watching this unexpectedly professional documentary, I am ashamed that I haven’t even been able to finish a script even…much less a feature. I hope someone at a non-profit for girls sees this film at helps to get it distributed widely.
• Aie! – This short about a strange vampire searching for prey at a carnival is bizarre and wonderful.
• South of Heaven – When the producer at the Q&A promotes this film by dissing his last film, The Wackness (one of my favorite movies this year — I’ve seen it twice even), calling it “too normal” then it confirms what I’ve felt the whole movie. It is too odd to find purchase in the wider cinema community but it is odd enough for festival attendees to brag about. This highly stylized, in both visuals and script, movie is a full-on “festival” film. I doubt that its live-action Tex-Avery-styled noir crime-spree story will be seen outside of festivals, but if you’re into this type of avant-garde cinema then you’ll probably want to find a copy.
• Cargo 200 – This bleak Russian — is that redundant? — film is hard to describe as it involves several family members, former prison inmates, the people they meet at a roadhouse, several murders and a few w-t-f violent and gross moments. It is supposedly based on a true story so maybe the screen writer doesn’t get a lot of credit for the intricate intertwining of the plot points, but the complexity pays off in the last few minutes of the film…more or less.

• Fantastic Feud! – O.M.G. Known as the best party of the week, this evening started out as a chaotic gameshow with everyone (except for 15 year old Emily Hagins and teetotaler Zack) holding holding a beer, and ending with some awesome karaoke. Check out some videos of the craziness after the break.

p.s. Yes, I’m behind on reviews…I hope to catch up later today.