Taken Friday night on Barcelona’s La Rambla, maybe six or seven blocks north of the harbor.

My son Dylan and I happened to be standing on 6th Ave. and 36th Street around 7:35 or 7:40 pm when President Barack Obama‘s motorcade came howling by. He and Michelle had been to dinner at a West Village restaurant called Blue Hill, and were on their way to the Belasco theatre for a performance of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.

I didn’t know what was up at first. Something obviously was with all the cops around and the cross streets blocked off. More and more people began to congregate on both sides of Sixth Avenue. The word got around fast. By the time the motorcade made its way through the area it almost felt like we were watching the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Lots of sirens, a good 20 or 30 motorcycles, eight or nine cops cars vans and SUVs came before and after the two Presidential limousines. People clapped and cheered when they finally came by. Which one carried Barack and Michelle? Most likely the second.

With all the hullaballoo over the last several months about John Madden‘s Killshot being delayed, regionally released (barely) and generally being shown little love by the Weinstein Co., you’d think there’d be a bit more reaction to this adaptation of an Elmore Leonard thriller coming out four days ago on DVD. Apparently it’s a bit underwhelming, but are there any HE reader reactions?

“Killshot hasn’t enjoyed the easiest road to a suitable release,” wrote DVD Talk‘s Brian Ondorf. “Filmed nearly four years ago, the picture suffered through endless rounds of editorial indecision, reshooting, and the embarrassment of a pathetic five-screen theatrical release earlier this year. While the feature’s unpleasant personal history shouldn’t be at play during a viewing, it’s hard not to spot the sloppy stitch marks on the motion picture. While certainly endowed with a few startling moments of tension, Killshot is messy and unfocused, taking the stinger out of this Elmore Leonard adaptation.”

This is going to be a super-busy catch-up weekend watching this one plus Drag Me To Hell and Pontypool in theatres.

The first message I read after landing this afternoon was from former Newsday film writer Lewis Beale, to wit: “Don’t know if you’re back, but you should check out Pontypool, a Canadian low budget zombie flick. It plays like a horror film written by a semiotician. Utterly unique.”

N.Y. Times critic Stephen Holden wrote that “when one infected character is reduced to spouting gibberish as she suicidally hurls herself at [a] glass booth that has become a fortress against the zombie terror, the notion that we are all being driven mad by an incessant verbal deluge makes nasty comic sense.”

Got into JFK from Barcelona around 1:30 pm. Currently sitting in the terminal that houses Iberia Airlines, waiting for son Dylan’s plane to arrive at 4:07 pm. Sitting next to a Starbucks, a Subway and other manifestations of corporate sterility. It was awfully nice to be away from all that. Yes, corporate chain branding is ubiquitous worldwide, but the climate feels a tad earthier and more home-grown in Europe.

JFK Terminal 7 — Saturday, 5.30, 2:40 pm.