This year, I got to attend the film portion of the SXSW festival. It was a great experience, the whole festival is just really cool, and Austin was an awesome city. These are the specific highlights in terms of what I saw at the festival.“Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey”

This is probably the feel good documentary of all time. “Being Elmo” is the touching story of Kevin Clash, the man behind Sesame Street’s potentially most popular character. This Sundance favorite is guaranteed to bring a tear to your eye, but also to make you smile. In the world of documentary filmmaking, where bleak is usually the norm, “Being Elmo” is definitely a nice change of pace. A release date is pending

“Super”

Like a nastier version of last year’s “Kick-Ass,” “Super” is about the delusional Frank D’Arbo (Rainn Wilson) and his quest to become a superhero called The Crimson Bolt after his wife (Liv Tyler) falls into the clutches of a drug dealer named Jacques (Kevin Bacon.) Wilson is great in the film, but the show is undoubtedly stold by Ellen Page as Frank’s sidekick Libby, aka Boltie. It’s a very amusing, ridiculously dark comedy. However, “Super” occasionally forgets to be funny, and it ultimately suffers from tonal inconsistencies; even in dark comedy, the comedy part is key. “Super” opens at the Music Box on April 8th.

“Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop”

This was my absolute favorite thing I saw at the festival. More than just a great portrait of a great entertainer, “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop” is also an excellent documentary and film all around, regardless of whether you’re a Conan fan. This intimate portrait of an infinitely fascinating entertainer follows O’Brien on the concert tour he launched after his very public exit from The Tonight Show. It’s not always a flattering portrait, but it’s honest, and depicts Conan as the most hardworking man in show business, despite his often manic personality. It recently picked up a distribution deal, so I highly recommend you go see “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop” as soon as it hits theaters.

“The Greatest Movie Ever Sold”

Another great documentary I saw at the festival, “The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” follows “Supersize Me” director Morgan Spurlock on a quest to investigate product placement and advertising. If you like Spurlock, and the approach he takes as a documentarian, it’s top notch. Occasionally the whole thing feels a bit too clever for it’s own good, and it gets hard to take Spurlock seriously. But overall, “The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” is another very interesting, and very funny movie from this talented filmmaker. The film opens in limited release on April 22.

“Hesher”

I’d heard about this film ever since it premiered at Sundance in 2010, so I was very curious to catch it by the time it arrived at SXSW. “Hesher” stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the titular role as a freakish metal head who decides to move in with a young boy named T.J. (Devin Brochu) and his family after they have a random encounter one day. It’s a very interesting film, and writer/director Spencer Susser certainly has a unique voice. It’s a mix between comedy and drama, yet somehow it all basically works. The ending of the film feels a bit heavy-handed, but thanks to great performances by not only Gordon-Levitt and Brochu, but also by supporting players Rainn Wilson (in his second appearance at SXSW), Piper Laurie, and recent Oscar winner Natalie Portman, “Hesher” is definitely worth catching. The film is slated to get a limited release sometime this month.

“Bridesmaids”

This was definitely another highlight of the festival. “Bridesmaids” stars SNL favorite Kristen Wiig as Annie, a woman who can’t quite seem to get her life together, and has equal trouble in being a successful maid of honor to her friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph.) Directed by “Freaks and Geeks” creator Paul Feig, and co-written by Wiig, “Bridesmaids” is yet another great comedy produced by the prolific Judd Apatow. The difference is that as opposed to Apatow’s male-centric other films, “Bridesmaids” shows that women can be just as and often more funny than men; it completely smashes down all the walls to the boy’s club that often is comedy. “Bridesmaids” arrives in theaters on May 13.

“Hobo with a Shotgun”

Based off the winner in a short film competition that played before Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s “Grindhouse” opus, the plot to “Hobo with a Shotgun” is basically all in the title. The film stars the legendary Rutger Hauer as the hobo in question, and he delivers a deliciously absurd performance. The rest of the film is fairly standard fair as far as the vulgar, violent, and way over the top content one would expect from an exploitation movie tribute. However, the film rarely breaks through from the expected crazy, to the all out, balls to the wall, total insanity that I was hoping for. That being said, “Hobo with a Shotgun” is still way more ridiculous than most other film you’re likely to see this year, and as far as giving us a hobo and a shotgun? Well, it pretty much delivers on that. A release date for “Hobo with a Shotgun” is pending.