If you’ve never heard of director Shane Meadows, I highly suggest rushing out and renting, if nothing else, Dead Man’s Shoes. His films often employ a healthy dose of humor, but I don’t believe anyone would characterize him as a comedy director; enter Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee.

I am a comic book geek. I won’t fight it. Call me a nerd, and what have you. Those of you who know and love comic books though, probably realize how big of a deal that Mark Millar is. What you may not know though, is that he is one of the nicest and most passionate people I have ever met.

Centurion weaves the epic tale of Rome’s 9th legion. This was a legion stationed in the northernmost portion of the empire; modern day England. Rome found some of its greatest adversaries in the Pict tribe that inhabited this region. Masters of guerrilla warfare, the Pictish tribes attacked Roman garrisons in the dead of night and caused innumerable casualties.

There was this super secret screening of a film last night here at SXSW. Eveyone No one knew anything about it, or what film it even was. It ended up being an exclusive engagement, and a lucky night for the people who had their eyes filled with Neil Marshall’s Centurion.

Bad guy steals nuclear weapon. Government calls in a top secret operative. A Saturday Night Live sketch is stretched to its limits.

With movie websites getting clogged with stories and reviews about movies that will never reach the public, are film festivals more ado about nothing than we’d like to admit?

You don’t have to be a child of the 70′s to understand the phenomenal impact of Star Wars. The career of creator George Lucas has been nothing short of mercurial since the release of the first Star Wars film in 1977. But as the years passed, Lucas made a series of decisions that, well, to say these decisions upset fans would be a massive understatement.

Outcast is the twisted tale of a nomadic tribe in Ireland. A young female member of the tribe harbors a secret shame that forces her into exile with her young son. While they settle into their less than pristine accommodations, and while the boy struggles to connect with his peers, the mother hones her skills in a dark, ancient breed of magic in an unsettling display of concern for her family’s wellbeing.

One of the most highly anticipated films at SXSW 2010 is The People vs. George Lucas, a documentary that looks to be a raw and honest examination of the relationship between George Lucas and his fans who adore, abhor or sometimes share both feelings for the filmmaker and his treatment of the Star Wars saga. Director Alexandre Philippe’s passion for the subject has only been matched by his commitment to the project that was spawned from the idea, and we were lucky enough to get to chat with him as he prepares for the world premiere at Austin’s SXSW Film and Music Festival.

Hopefully they’ll all happen at once. But something tells me we’ll have to experience them separately. And in movie form.