Yesterday I thought I had a pass for a preview screening of Danny Boyle's Sunshine. What's even better is that it would be held at the lovely new Landmark theater in LA, one of the few with a handful of 4K projectors and swanky stadium seating. But after cursing my way through a standstill of traffic, I found no line at the theater. I looked down at my pass.

July 19.

Oops. I blame the steady diet of decongestants which have left me with crazy dreams for several days now. I haven't had such a disorienting stretch since the last time I was on malaria medicine.

With half an hour to spare, my buddy and I rushed across town, me at the wheel, cursing and driving like a maniac, in the hopes of catching a 7:40pm showing of Rescue Dawn at the Arclight instead. We arrived exactly 10 minutes after the movie had started.

The lady behind the counter shook her head at me. Apparently the Arclight does not sell tickets to a movie beyond 10 minutes past the start time. Thwarted again. I was more demoralized than upset.

We scanned the board. Between the two of us, we'd seen most everything on the board. Except for Once. I'd missed it at Sundance in January, but while there I ran into a friend who'd seen and loved it.

So this story has a happy ending because Once is one of the better movies I've seen this year. Most fans of The Frames have already seen the movie and know the back story, but for those who don't, the director John Carney once played bass for them, and he directed Frames lead singer Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, Hansard's collaborator in his solo effort The Swell Season, in this indie film about the joys of artistic collaboration.

I don't really like musicals, and this movie technically is not a musical, but if this was a musical, then I would like musicals. The music in the movie is actually the music the two of the leads wrote together, and the way it's woven into the movie feels organic. You can hear some of the lovely tunes at the movie's official website or on the charming soundtrack.

The movie put me in enough of a musical mood that meeting up with some classmates for a farewell karaoke session (a couple of them are headed overseas on a travel video internship) was more enjoyable than I remember karaoke could be. If you are going to sing karaoke, by all means, take it seriously.

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