A few months ago, a colleague asked me what movies I wanted to see over the weekend.

This was a casual question, but I quickly felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment. Yes, I was working on a film, and yes, I had what I thought was a sizable DVD collection and what my non-film friends would consider pretentious film taste, but dear reader, I could not name a single movie that I was looking forward to. The truth is, I do not watch Apple trailers. I do not read Variety, and at the point in time when my coworker asked me, I didn't have the slightest idea that there was a film called "The Social Network".

A few weeks later, I started to do social networking for Film Annex on the weekends. I couldn't keep my eyes off of the feed. Intrigued by tweets discussing "Inception", "Piranha 3D", and "I'm Still Here", I found myself clicking through the summer's most anticipated films, one bit.ly link at a time. Soon I started to keep a running list of the films that I planned to see and when they were playing so that I wouldn't miss them. There's a reason why the never ending list of tweets is called a feed: I was hungry. And I wanted more.

Soon I was secretly logging in to Film Annex's account on the weekdays. I couldn't wait until Saturday to know what movies were coming out and what the most important critics (Film Annex followers) had to say about them. No, I was not stupid. I knew there were more efficient ways of finding out what movies were playing. There was something special about tapping into a collective conversation. I was learning more about what the film community really wanted to see; about what I wanted to see.

Now I avoid embarrassment, join in on the collective conversation, and never have to wait for my Netflix account to suggest the movies that I missed at the theater.


Want to know what I mean by awesome film news? Here are just a few of the most recent tweets from the users that we're following:

@markromanek: Here's an interview I did with Kristen McCracken for TribecaFilm.com: bit.ly/a2fpdi
ohman4

@ohman4 ET's Preview Of THE SOCIAL NETWORK bit.ly/akvaUR

@YahooMovies #MichaelDouglas walks the red carpet at the New York City premiere of his latest #WallStreet movie on Monday. yhoo.it/b858Nt

@indywoodFILMS I saw a FACEBOOK the movie trailer today... wasn't sure if it was for real or not... haha @Big_Jim
(That's what I said when I first started using Twitter!)

@blackfilm If u can't make NYFF, David Fincher/Jesse Eisenberg will be at Apple Store in SoHo on Sept.23 to talk about Social Network fr 5:30-6:30.
(Do you see what I mean about "The Social Network"?)

@rosemcgowan: saw Th Town last nite Ben Affleck killed it Directing & acting wr fntastic Jeremy Renner 2 The nun msks terrifed me