Today began Shmuel's Film Festival.

I hadn't seen a movie since Shakespeare in Love back in February, due to a combination of not having enough time and not having enough money. And while I still couldn't really afford to go see any more, I did have the money on hand, so I'm afraid prudence was cast to the wind, and off I went to the cinema.

I started with Muppets from Space, at the local dive. I had not previously seen anything at the local dive, and therefore was not fully aware that "the local dive" was the proper appellation for it. But it is. About the only good thing I can say for the place is that it's cheap; student admission was just $4.50. And it's just a few blocks from my apartment.

On the other hand, I discovered that while I'd thought I'd been in small theatres before, they were expansive compared to this place, which, in subdividing into six theatres, cut the one I was in down to about a dozen rows. With perhaps eight seats on each side of the center aisle. Then there was the fact that the door was pointed directly at the outdoors, letting in quite a bit of light for the first ten minutes of the film, after which somebody finally closed the thing.

None of that, however, is what motivated me to put this theatre on my blacklist. For that, we need to consider what happened at the end of the film. See, I like staying until all the credits are done. For one thing, I want to get my money's worth. For another, I figure those who made the film deserve to have their contributions noted. For a third, it's fun to speculate as to what the "Second Best Boy's Key Grip" actually does. And for a fourth, I just like soaking in the feeling of being in a theatre, okay? And, besides, there are sometimes amusing credits, or little extra bits tacked on all the way at the end, and it's nice being there for them.

So, as was my wont, I was watching the credits for Muppets from Space, and, not atypically, everybody else filed out. Annoyingly, the lights came up, and a worker came in and began cleaning the room, but I resolutely ignored that and continued watching the credits.

Then the worker informed me that the movie was over, and that I had to leave. While the credits were still rolling.

So I slung on my backpack and stalked out of the theatre, muttering dire imprecations towards the theatre's management under my breath. Last time I go there.

As for the previews... Elmo in Grouchland looks promising, but could go either way. As for Stuart Little, E.B. White is unquestionably spinning in his grave. But it just might work, on its own terms.

Well. I loved this film. Admittedly, it was no better than a good episode of the TV series (based on the few such episodes I've seen, mostly through the magic of RealVideo), but that's saying quite a bit. Great stuff, really, with improved animation to boot. (There's a little two-second bit where Satan walks out onto the balcony, and the entire perspective rotates around him, which I thought was really cool. Okay, so I'm impressed easily.) And its soundtrack has quite easily vaulted to the top 5% of my List of CDs to Buy Once I Win the Lottery.

My one disappointment was that Chef -- the real star of the TV series -- got short shrift, without a single musical number to call his own (unless I missed it at the very beginning). I'm still surprised at that. I don't know what they could have been thinking. And, yes, the war sequence in the end did drag just a bit. On the other hand, the constant barrage of profanity, which others complained about, didn't bother me at all, and didn't seem at all gratuitous; the plot pretty much demanded it, in fact. But, then, I've always found profanity more interesting than offensive, so that's quite possibly just me.

Oh, and there was a short cartoon bit with Ike after the credits finished. I can't say I understood it, but that's beside the point. :-)