IRON MAN 2 ADVANCE SCREENING IN AUSTIN TX!

So anyone who knows me knows I attended an early screening of Iron Man 2 at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX, where I live, last night. Needless to say, the evening was AWESOME. So allow me to go into some details of what my night was like.

It all started over the weekend, when my friend and colleague, Audree http://elizagolightly.blogspot.com/, alerted me to this tweet from John Favreau, director of Iron Man and Iron Man 2.

"First fan screening of Iron Man 2 will be that the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX. RSVP here."

Needless to say, I jumped on that as soon as humanly possible. Luckily, I was able to get in, as only the first 200 people to RSVP actually got in. Got an informational email on Monday confirming that I had gotten into the RSVP list for the screening. Commence loud joyous "WOOT!"

So yesterday was the big day. Put on my badass Iron Man chest armor t-shirt to be properly geeked out.

Around 5pm, I left my apartment, and boy was traffic a bitch. I was c

ussing so much at other drivers I would have made a sailor blush. If there's one thing and

one thing only I hate about a city like Austin, it's that the drivers here are universally STUPID.

Luckily, I got to the theatre in time to get my ticket.

After getting there, I think we were standing around in line for probably a good hour or so. Luckily there were fellow fans and such in line to chat up about the movie, comic books, etc. Believe it or not, the event was not a total geek thing/sausage fest. There were plenty of women, rest assured. Hell, no one can avoid Robert Downey Jr./Tony Stark's charm. All in all, the wait in line portion went by pretty quickly. Soon though, Paramout security came out and said that we had to put all cameras, cell phones, etc, back in our cars or whatever or we wouldn't be allowed into the theatre. Fair enough. Decided to snap one last photo before putting my iPhone away.

Afterwards, we were all shuffled into the theatre, with security scanning all of us for secret devices and such. Needless to say, security was tight as hell. They even had those night vision binoculars inside the theatre you hear about from people at Comic Con San Diego, but think are urban legend. Boy are they real.

So we all sit down, and who is sitting next to me in the wheelchair section? None other than Harry Knowles of http://www.aintitcool.com/ This guy is like the lord of all film/comic book geeks. Imagine Kevin Smith's geekiness on steroids. Then you have Harry Knowles. Meeting the biggest and most famous geek on the planet was pretty damn surreal if you ask me. Alas, no pictures, as our cameras had been placed under house arrest. Oh well. But the guy was so nice and great and easy to talk to. I only wish I could just sit down and talk to him and soak up all the knowledge and whatnot in a more casual setting. Maybe some day.

Anyhow, the great thing about the Alamo Drafthouse is that while you wait and during a movie, you can order food and drink, including beer and wine. Ordered myself some chips and queso with a pint of Shiner Bock. Oh sweet lord it was delicious. I've had similar meals at the Drafthouse a million times, but something was extra delicious this time. After about 30 minutes to an hour, things finally settled down, cue the madatory coming to the Drafthouse events reel with awesome music. Then there was a hilarious http://redvsblue.com/home.php skit involving the Sgt. thinking they could fly like Iron Man. It was funnier than it sounds, trust me.

After that, Knowles took the stage and the mic and did a short little intro, and told us there was a little video for us to see.

And then, this happened.

Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. at the Alamo Drafthouse from DG on Vimeo.

OH. MY. GOD. Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. were in the same room as me. HOLY SHIT. Robert didn't get to stick around, whereas Favreau stayed and watched the film with us.

HOWEVER. Fate is a funny thing. I had to pee really bad and decided to get it done before the film started so I raced out to to the restroom, took care of business, when who do I see in the hallway? None other than ROBERT DOWNEY JR. himself! Ever heard of getting butterflies in your stomach? I had that tenfold. I managed to gather up the courage to approach him and introduce myself and shake his hand! I managed as well to simply congratulate him on the film and something along those nervous lines. He was so sweet and nice about it. He just smiled, said thank you, and that us fans made it possible. He said he had to leave, but as he was doing it, he did a total Tony Stark thing and blew kisses like he does in the trailer at me and the people near me. After taking a moment to recover from my starstruckness, I remembered that I had to go back inside and watch the movie, so I raced back to my seat and watched as two hours of pure awesomeness unfolded before me.

I won't get too much into the film itself, as I want to see it again, and I don't think it would be fair to those who haven't seen it yet. As tactful as I am, I fear I may unknowingly reveal spoilers.

So the bottom line is that the movie fucking rocks. After the film was over, Jon Favreau did a short Q&A with us. Luck was on my side tonight because I was the first person to have a question answered in a raise your hand type discussion. I asked him why he chose not to go with the Demon in a Bottle storyline for the sequel. For those unfamiliar with the Iron Man comics, that storyline deals with the darkest part of Stark's life, where he grapples with alcoholism. He responded by explaining that it was for a number of reasons, a few of which I wont reveal until next week as, again, they would be spoilers. The non-spoiler stuff included the fact that he felt Hancock had beat him to the punch with the imagery of a drunk superhero flying through billboards and such, and that he also felt it was a little too dark to be consistent with the tone of the franchise as established in the first film, especially in the wake of The Dark Knight, which he felt had kind of cornered the market on dark, disturbing comic book films dealing with intense psychology of the characters and really heavy subject matter. He said that he loved Nolan's film, but that it wasn't the direction he wanted to go in for this franchise.

There were some other tidbits of info, but much of it was too spoiler filled.

After the Q&A we all received one of these bad boys upon leaving.

Awesome stuff, as usual. After that, we were all given a small ticket that entitled us to one free drink on the house at the High Ball bar in the same shopping outlet at the theatre, where the after-party was being held. This was, without a doubt, the party of the century, even though I didn't know anyone there, nor did I get to bring anyone with me. At first, Favreau was sitting in a booth, waiting for things to get going. Like with Robert Downey Jr., I nervously approached him, and managed to thank him for the event, and congratulate him on the film. Again, like Downey and Knowles, a very nice, very approachable guy. He thanked me, shook my hand, and smiled. After a few minutes, Favreau took the stage and was our DJ for the party! Believe it or not, he was one hell of a great DJ, playing all kinds of hip hop, r&b, soul, rock, metal, and what have you in awesome remixes that just made everybody come alive. Again, party of the century.

Once things winded down, Favreau had to leave, and I decided it was time to go home as well. By the next morning, my voice was hoarse, my throat is still sore, my feet and legs were killing me, and I was hung over. But it was all soooooooooooooooo worth it. Bottom line, events like these are part of why Austin is such a kickass city. You don't get to do shit like this anywhere. As for the movie itself, all I can say is go see it next week. I for one can't wait to see it again. It kicks so much ass.