The Screening Room

After working Saturday night's red carpet, the fourth one I've done in the last nine days or so, I was a little AFI'd out -- so much so that I was planning to skip the closing night party at the House of Blues. But that would have been a mistake. The Polyphonic Spree took the stage about 11:15, clad in their new all black military inspired uniforms and put on a show full of the band's usual joyous energy.
And this being a film festival party, the band included a nod or two to the cinematic landscape. First, frontman Tim DeLaughter said they were going to play a song from "one of the world's great bands" before launching into "About the Movies" from his previous act, Tripping Daisy. Then he announced they would play a song from another of the world's great bands, Wings, before ripping through "Live and Let Die."
But the highlight was during the encore, when the band returned to the stage clad in their original choir robes for a take on "Lithium." If Nirvana were the masters of the soft-loud-soft dynamic, the Spree proved the perfect successors with Mr. DeLaughter leading the crowd through the verses before being overtaken by the wall of sound from the 25 members onstage.
At other times during the show, the band froze in place, Mr. DeLaughter invited anyone with a camera to join him onstage and he offered a warm hug to really just anyone who felt like venturing up the steps toward him. It made for an energetic, communal and, most fitting, cinematic night.

The final red carpet for AFI Dallas on Saturday night at NorthPark featured plenty of famous faces, highlighted by the night's Star Award recipient, Charlize Theron. Though previously announced attendees Woody Harrelson and Andre Benjamin (a.k.a. Andre 3000) were no-shows, Ms. Theron was joined by her Battle in Seattle co-stars Michelle Rodriguez and Martin Henderson, Battle's director (and Ms. Theron's longtime significant other) Stuart Townsend, Jewel and Ron Livingston.
Battle in Seattle, which centers on the massive protest in 1999 of the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, has been making the festival circuit rounds since playing at last year's Toronto Interntational Film Festival. So I asked Charlize how AFI Dallas so far had compared with the reception they had gotten from previous stops. But before I asked the question, she was bombarded with a multiple male chorus of "WE LOVE YOU CHARLIZE!" from the upperdeck at NorthPark. She gamely blew a kiss upstairs and made a few guys' weeks.
"There's been a great energy in the audience, so we'll see how Dallas does tonight. But I have a feeling it's gonna be good. People are yelling they love me, so it can't be that bad, right?"