For Dallas film-lovers, the end is just a beginning.

The last day of the AFI International Film Festival was as fun as the beginning.  The bittersweet ending of the final late screenings was a perfect end to another successful year.

AFI ended with some "gigantic" independent films such as Moon and Gigantic.  And to prove that this is such a small world (all things are a circle friends), my former high school theater teacher, Cliff McClelland, ended the festival screening his teen horror flick, From the Dark.

March was a difficult month for me.  I love watching film after film (don't get me wrong), but you know it wears you out.  However, this year out of all the movies I went to at SXSW and AFI, there was really only one that I didn't like.  That's pretty good.  Props to the folks who selected the films.

I mentioned before that Moon is a masterpiece.  It is a quiet little science fiction film with great actors and an interesting plot.  But the last night of AFI I skipped Moon (because I saw it in Austin) and saw Gigantic instead.  Do you remember that creepy kid from Little Miss Sunshine, Paul Dano?  Well, he produced and starred in the film Gigantic.  Other major players included Zoey Deschanel, John Goodman, Ed Asner, and Jane Alexander.  This quirky romantic comedy reminded me of Punch Drunk Love only funnier (not as slow).

And the last movie of the night was my prof's horror flick, From the Dark.  He conjured up the horror movie gods and threw in everything from bloody guts to naked babes.

Later this month--the USA Film Festival.

For reviews and pictures go to BigDPlace.