To prove that we’re down with the kids and their handheld convergence devices, the NOW film team (Glenn, Susan and myself) has been instructed to tweet. So I’m tweeting.

It’s kind of inane, but I think that may be the point. You can find our tiny, pointless musings here — if you’re already on Twitter, the follow code is @nowfilm. Is that what they call it? A follow code?

Anyway, if you’re curious, try to figure out which posts are mine. The zombie one is a given, obviously. And then, when you’re ready to read something moderately more substantial, check out my latest MSN Movies gallery, which uses “Whiteout” as a springboard to look at thrillers set in remote locations. (I’m particularly proud of the “Snakes on a Plane” item.)

And now I’m off to bag more interviews, starting with Joel and Ethan Coen. Yes, really. Some days are just more awesome than others, you know?

How busy, you ask? Check out my appearance on CTV News Channel yesterday, shot between the “Defendor” interviews and the “Up in the Air” screening. That faraway look in my eyes? It’s because I couldn’t focus on anything.

But that’s because I’m working very hard to make sure good movies get seen. Here’s my interview with director Philip Hoffman, whose film “All Fall Down” premiered earlier this afternoon. There’s another show scheduled for tomorrow, so if it sounds like something you’d want to see … well, go see it! Seriously, you don’t need me to tell you this stuff.

… and festival or no festival, movies are opening. But of the three new theatrical releases, only one was screened for the press, and I was watching something else at the time, because there’s a festival on. Still, here’s what I know about ’em:

“Sorority Row”: Celebrity spawn Rumer Willis and Briana Evigan are among the potential targets (or potential killers) in Stewart Hendler’s remake of “The House on Sorority Row” — which, if we’re being honest, has a reasonable chance of improving on the original.

“Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself”: The lovely and talented Taraji P. Henson is front and center on the poster for Perry’s latest, but don’t be fooled — it’s another Madea movie. Still, if you’re into that sort of thing …

“Whiteout”: Kate Beckinsale investigates a murder in the Antarctic. Although this is a Dark Castle production, the makers of “House on Haunted Hill”, “Ghost Ship” and “Gothika” do not appear to have gone in a supernatural direction with this one — thought I’m still hoping a herd of Yeti turns up for the final reel.

And now I’m off to another string of interviews and screenings, because there’s a film festival on. If you need something to listen to on the way to and from your TIFFery, do check out NOW’s annual preview podcast, available here (MP3 link) for your enjoyment. And yes, I really do love the Coen brothers movie that much.

It’s only the first day of the festival — the first hours, really — but apparently I already look like death warmed over. Or at least that’s how the HD camera sees me. You can see it, too, if you’re near a television at 5:30 EDT, when I’ll be appearing in a Global National business piece about TIFF.

Also, that interview I mentioned with Woody Harrelson? Yeah, that’s not actually happening until tomorrow. It seems I’m a little more overworked than I thought. But not to worry, the bowls of Lindt chocolates scattered around the press room are perking me right up …

Here we go: The 2009 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival is underway, and I’m scurrying out the door for the first day of interviews (Woody Harrelson! The other Philip Hoffman!) and screenings.

Susan had the lion’s share of work in this week’s edition, but I’m in there plenty, with about a dozen new capsules — I filed numbers 36 and 37 last night — as well as a piece on the music of TIFF and a related interview with “Suck” writer-director-star Rob Stefaniuk. I also had a Q&A with Udo Kier about his roles in a couple of TIFF movies, but apparently that hasn’t made it online yet.

I’d really rather just be listening to The Beatles in Mono all day, but I guess that’ll have to wait another week. But hey, at least I snagged one.

“The Final Destination” held the top box-office spot for a second week, easily trouncing the trio of newcomers with its $15.4 million gross. “Inglourious Basterds” was a close second with $15 million.

Seriously, though — what’s the appeal? I don’t remember the previous “Final Destination” sequels doing quite this well, fond as I am of Part Two. Is it the 3D that’s packing in the crowds? Is it the spectacle of a NASCAR crash flying right at you? Or just the promise of another string of elaborate Rube Goldbergian death traps?

Is it just that people want to end their summer with the total escapism of a horror movie? Because I could totally get that. A dead-teenager flick would go down a treat right now, as I’m in the middle of a pre-TIFF wave of documentaries and Latin American art films.

Pity no one’s figured out how to combine the disciplines, huh? Well, someone tried, but it didn’t quite take. Maybe it was the European disconnect.

Okay, so “Gamer” isn’t exactly a movie about virtual reality — the whole point of the film is that Gerard Butler’s character is a real person, being cybernetically controlled by a kid in a gaming room — but from the kid’s perspective, it’s totally a virtual experience, right?

That thin conceptual thread was good enough for this week’s MSN Movies gallery, which examines earlier attempts by dopey studio suits to bring the bleeding-edge awesomeness of Virtual Reality to the screen. And yes, I know I left “Brainscan” out; you can’t really get into that one without blowing the twist.

My life is hard.

Labor Day weekend is, historically, the year’s slowest weekend for movies. Which is fine by me, since the film festival is taking up all the space in my brain, and if there were six or eight new openings to be dealt with today, my head would explode.

Instead, there are just three, and we’ll run through them quickly.

“All About Steve”: Sandra Bullock stalks Bradley Cooper across America in this romantic comedy, which was pushed back from its original March release date and now arrives as Bullock and Cooper come off their respective summer hits “The Proposal” and “The Hangover”. Andrew kinda liked it, but I’m content to wait for the DVD.

“Extract“: Mike Judge’s flat new comedy takes a strong comic cast — Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, Kristen Wiig, J.K. Simmons, David Koechner, Ben Affleck — and wastes every last one of them in a shabby, relentlessly unfunny workplace farce. My review’s in the current issue of NOW, but for some reason it hasn’t made it to the website. I’ll see what I can do about that. UPDATE: There is is!

“Gamer”: In a world where people are turned into human puppets, to be remote-controlled by anyone with the right PlayStation, a prisoner (Gerard Butler) must fight his way to freedom, or something. This is the new film from Neveldine/Taylor, who made the glorious “Crank” … but also made the decidedly glory-free “Crank 2: High Voltage”. I want to believe, but I’m worried.

Welp, I’m off to another day of screenings. Catch you on the weekend …