Movies With Butter

From smartphone videos to in-screening tweets and blog-wrecked review embargoes, technology can be a pain in the neck for today's modern movie director -- so we have to applaud Looper's Rian Johnson for continually making technology work for him.

The latest example: Johnson has recorded a free, downloadable commentary track for Looper -- one which he hastens to point out will stand separately from anything he does for the movie's DVD/Blu-ray release.

"This is an odd thing I tried with Bloom, and have gotten a few requests for it again, so here it is," explained Johnson in a Tumblr post that details how the track should be "downloaded, put on an iPod and listened to in the theater."

Of course, Johnson realizes that asking your audience to whip out its iPods during a screening of anything is asking for trouble, so he took pains to clarify that "this is NOT to be listened to on a first viewing, or before you’ve seen the film. Also, please work it so that a glowing screen is never out of your pocket during the movie."

It seems likely that the number of people willing to spring for a ticket so they can go back and watch Looper while listening to Johnson share technical details from the film must be fairly small -- but this is still a generous move on his part, and perhaps a small glimpse of where theaters should be headed if they want to hang onto those first-run dollars.

Check out the track below. Will you be listening while you watch?

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