Re: the post’s title — no, not Springsteen’s band. Definitely not.

I’ve been waiting for about two years to see Bubba Ho-tep, and whadda you know — when it finally premieres in Washington DC it’s on the first day of business at the new state-of-the-art Landmark theater at 11th & E St. NW. With Bruce Campbell doing a brilliant Q&A session after the show! And just a few blocks from my office! In fact, the E St. theater has only been open for two days now, and I’ve already seen four films there (the other three: Monster, Girl With a Pearl Earring and My Architect: A Son’s Journey).

I’m now officially in love with E Street Cinema — which even usurps the place in my heart previously held by Landmark Bethesda Row (and AFI’s Silver Spring theater). It’s beautiful. And sorely needed in downtown DC (if I never sit through another film projected on those postage stamp-sized screens at Dupont Circle and Inner Circle, it’ll be too soon).

Landmark owner (and Dallas Mavericks owner) Mark Cuban rhetorically asked Wired magazine:

Why can’t I preorder a DVD and receive it the day the film is released in theaters? Or buy it on my way out of the theater if I liked what I saw? One thing I learned from the Mavs is that you can watch the game on TV, but you’ll still go to the game, because it’s a different experience.

I asked Mark on the pho list how soon we’ll get to start buying DVDs of the movies we just watched as we walk out of the theater. His response:

We are doing test w dvd,s as you leave

So far so good

(If I were a billionaire, I probably wouldn’t bother with punctuation or spelling out every word, either . . .)

Things are looking up for indy film. At least a little, in at least one regard. I think I’ll spend a Saturday there later this month, just watching every screening of The Triplets of Belleville — I caught it at Cinema 21 in Portland over Christmas vacation and it’s my second-favorite movie of 2003. Bigger pointless list of favorite films coming soon . . .