Hey folks, Harry here with the latest set of reviews from an enthusiastic film fan having the time of his life at FANTASTIC FEST! Here's a look at a whole host of films - and his reactions to the Fest overall. Here ya go....
Fantastic Fest 2009 This year I was very fortunate enough to attend my first Fantastic Fest for three eventful days. Here are some thoughts I whipped up from the movies I have seen there(with some, very little mild spoilers): Van Diemen's Land I was very interested in this movie prior to seeing it. I always enjoy true life survival stories(especially when they involve cannibalism). Van Diemen's Land is set in the Australian wilderness in 1822. The land is a place of gorgeous scenery but with harsh conditions and pretty much devoid of any life. We follow a band of escaped convicts as they try to find a new beginning. Pretty soon it becomes clear that no one knows where they're headed. We know from seeing similar movies where this story is going. There in lies the initial disappointment, the film never really does anything new that we haven't seen before. Not sure how closely this movie follows the real life events(couldn't stay around for the Q&A), but overall the movie is very dry and slow paced. Imagine a Terrence Malick film, but with less engaging characters, in fact, the two people I had wished the film would focus on, exited early on. Not to say the cast featured bad performances. In fact, quite the opposite. I can call out the cast and the gorgeous sights are the two things I like most about the movie. I was just underwhelmed by story and characters. -I could not stay for the Q&A as I had to hurry over to the Paramount for premiere of: Gentlemen Broncos Before the movie was a great introduction with the cast and crew, which was highlighted by an in-character piece done by Jemaine Clement as Ronald Chevalier. When it came out, I was a part of the crowd that loved and in turn loved quoting Napoleon Dynamite. Less so, was my reaction to Nacho Libre, but overall I did like the movie. Seeing the trailer and the great cast assembled for Gentlemen Broncos I was really hoping this was the movie Jared Hess that would cement him as a great and orginal comedic force. For some inexplicable reason, I had looked at Jared Hess as a Wes Anderson(no real reason, other than I was hoping he'd take a similar career path), so I had hoped this would be his Royal Tenenbaums. Lofty aspirations sure, but I root for the underdog. So begins my time with the movie. Halfway through the film, I had already deemed it funnier than Nacho Libre. Everyone was pretty much bringing their A game to this film. This being a Jared Hess movie, the cast definitely fit along with the tone and the spirit. While the plot doesn't take any major turns and twists(the trailer pretty much tells the whole story) it just kind of plays out. It tells the story with a good mix of humor and heart. Something I felt was missing from Nacho Libre and only liberally implied in Napoleon Dynamite. The I can't call this his Royal Tenenbaums, but I can definitely say Jared Hess is an original comedic voice in film. -Another Q&A I could not stay for as I wanted to head over and enjoy the opening night party at the Highball. Really great new place from Tim League. I wish and hope that when it's fully open, it becomes the gathering place and bar/lounge of choice for movie geeks everywhere. After an all too short stint at the party it was time for: Rec2 I was not one of the lucky ones to get a ticket for the first night midnight showing of Paranormal Activity. It had been long sold out before I got to the ticket booth. However, luckily the movie playing at the same time was a movie I had long been anticipating. Having been a huge fan of the first movie, I had big expectations for it's sequel. I am happy to say, with a few gripes here and there, I did thoroughly enjoy Rec2. It's not quite the Aliens to the original movies' Alien, but it starts out that way. The first third of the film begins with a bang and never let's up as a small SWAT team storms the building and visits many first movies memorable set pieces. The 2nd act of the film however, takes a slight dip as we're introduced to another group of characters. Not to say I hated this part, but the relentless pace built up so far hits a speed bump in this section. Luckily we're getting a nice new twist in the mythology of the movies and an interesting perspective on the original. The last third of the film features a majority of my gripes. It is here that the movie asks alot of suspension of disbelief from the audience. If you buy into what is going on, you're along for the ride. If you cannot accept at all, what is going on, there's nothing left for you to enjoy. I'm 50/50 here. The last act has enough suspense to keep me tense(not nearly as much as the original's night vision sequence though), but I was also questioning it's logic. I just couldn't get passed it. By the end of the movie, I found myself thankful that they maintained much of the "balls" of the first movie, and gave me enough suspense and action that made it a worthy sequel. While I didn't exactly buy the logic presented here, I will say it's a nice new addition to what's going on and if there is a third movie, it'll be all kinds of batshit insanity. -That was my first day of the Fest and my introduction to the festival as a whole. It was everything I had heard it was and the Alamo Drafthouse has offically become my favorite movie theater. The opening night party and Tim League's new venture, the Highball, was a blast. The highlight was getting to meet Timecrimes director, Nacho Vigalondo. I guess he had become something of a Fantastic Fest legend as everyone loved him and he definitely was the life of the party. My second day begins with: Zombieland Another gala presentation at the Paramount. For this one I was blessed with a seat only a few rows from the stage(I had an upper mezzanine seat for GB). I was thankful for that, as this was one of, if not my favorite film that I got to see in my brief 3 days at the fest. I had to miss Secret Screening #1, which I hear was Robogeisha, but like Paranormal Activity the day before, it was long filled up before I had a chance to get a ticket. I didn't mind so much as I've been wanting to see Zombieland for awhile and I was not disappointed. It had actually exceeded my expectations, which were that this was at the very least a very fun movie. I did not expect to love the characters, actually get involved with their day to day struggle to survive and deem this movie one of my favorite of the zombie genre(of which there are many). There are those that will compare to this Shaun of the Dead and that's fine, I chose to look at Shaun as the loving tribute to Romero films and their shuffling zombies. Zombieland for me, is firmly set in the modern zombie genre with their fast running zombies. None too soon as well, this year's fest itself as it's share of zombie movies. The cast is more than comedicly up to the task and the much talked about "cameo" hit's all the right notes and is destined to become a classic scene in cinema. First time director, Ruben Fleischer, has knocked it out of the park with this and I can't wait for his next. So glad to see this in a huge theater and full of zombie fans(I saw Jemaine Clement in the audience), the way it was meant to be seen. -As I was not able to get into Secret Screening #2 as well, I opted to see Trick R Treat, perhaps it's last in a long line of screenings(2 years worth I believe), before being tragically dumped to DVD in a couple weeks. Trick R Treat I've been hearing so much about this film over the last couple years that anticipation for me has kind of waned. I always enjoy horror anthology movies, but they never make it into my favorites lists. The reason being that there's always the chance I'll enjoy some stories and not others, so ultimately the movie ends up being disjointed for me. Trick R Treat is no different. However, that isn't damning to the movie, I liked much more than I didn't and judging by the audience reaction, the film worked like gangbusters. If anything I truly believe director Michael Dougherty suceeded in his plan to create a movie that truly celebrates and revolves around Halloween(he pointed out that the Michael Myers films, is more about the character and not the holiday). It's steeped in Halloween conventions and atmosphere. The segment involving Dylan Baker and his son is my favorite, but also the shortest of the segments. The one about children playing a prank involving a local urban legend is my least favorite. With the other ones equally in the middle. This is undoubtedly one of the better horror anthologies I've seen, ranking up there with The british Tales from the Crypt and the two Creepshow movies for me. -I had a ticket to see Doghouse, but seeing Trick R Treat and staying for the Q&A ate into the seating time for the film. Having had to sit in the very front of the theater for Trick R Treat I didn't want to risk an even stiffer neck for the next movie. I had an already great time the night before at the Highball, so my friend and I decided to check out the "Meet the Japanese" party instead. Another great time and I got to meet and get posters signed by the directors and cast of Robogeisha and Vampire Girl VS. Frankenstein Girl. My 3rd and final day begins with: Yatterman It's fitting that my first ever Miike movie on the big screen turned out to be a bizarre way to see a movie. The screening had been delayed and during the intro, it had been explained to us that the print they recieved for the fest came without any subtitles. So we were going to see the film on about 4/5's of the screen and on the bottom of the screen would be the Japanese DVD copy, playing simulataneously but cropped to only show the English subtitles...like I said, bizarre and very fitting for a Miike movie. Also fittings was Miike's own taped intro for the film that he did, exclusively for the fest. He sums my reaction to the film when he said "This is a very weird film. If you feel it's too dumb in the middle, feel free to leave and grab a cold beer." While no, I did not leave the film, he was right, it was completely weird and sure, maybe even dumb. However, I can't call the film boring as there's so much going on, perhaps too much with a subplot or 4 too many. It also doesn't help that I know very little of the original Yatterman anime. So these character's don't do anything for me, but I can see where Miike definitely plays with the genre, and those are my favorite moments with the movie and got the biggest laughs. Another downside, is that the movie is too long. It has one of those "Superman Returns" and "Return of the King" endings that go on forever. I may have gotten up to leave like 4 or 5 times only to realize he had more to show us. One of my least favorite films that I got to see at the fest, but I can now say I got to see a Miike movie on the big screen...at the same time I got to see a Miike movie on DVD projected on the big screen as well. -Sadly, the next film I get to see would be my last of the fest. I was only able to go for 3 days(hoping to go for at least 4 next year) and the next film would again stop me from seeing another film(the Revenant). But this next movie will also allow me another first, the chance to meet a legend and a hero of mine, George A. Romero: Survival of the Dead Sadly, I did not get to meet the man, despite standing right next to him. When it was my chance to get my ticket stubbed signed, he was bum rushed by another 20 fans and being hurried into the theater. No biggie, I was there for the movie anyway. His Q&A came before the movie, rather than at the end. Immediately I was worried that he did not want to face the fans after the film. Even he closed with "...Remember, there are some laughs and cheesy moments here, so it's okay to laugh." I'm parapharsing, but it didn't leave a promising first impression and seemed to support all the negative word of mouth I had read going into this. Well, I can say it's a better movie than Diary of the Dead. For the most part there's generally better acting here than the previous movie, which was my #1 gripe. It also helps that the characters are more engagaing. Something I couldn't say about Diary either. He was right though, there were laughs and you got to see a couple in the clips posted online, but they didn't work. Perhaps he was influenced by Shaun of the Dead(he had said in the Q&A and in other interviews, it's his favorite zombie movie that's not his own) to throw in these moments, but they totally take the piss out of any tension built up. Also disappointing is the gore level. It's suprisingly quite low in the this film to the point where I felt some might be cut? For example, there's one brilliant setup involving a zombie and a human hung from the ceiling by their feet...this is never paid off. I would have loved to see an upside down eating! At any time a zombie was beginning to eat, the audience applauded it, but Romero immediately cut to something else, killing the applause just as quickly. There were also some crazy ideas he threw in here, perhaps to further his zombie world and set up what he revealed in the Q&A as a 4 movie plan that revolves around following minor characters from Diary of the Dead. Survival would be 1st of these films. These ideas that he introduced is interesting in theory, but for me did not work in the film, in fact it only illicited some unintentional laughter from the audience. I'm hoping Romero gets to make those next 3 movies and that they're leagues better than this or Diary of the Dead. But I'm also hoping he creatively finds better characters to tell stories about and definitely get's the funding for them and let''s the gore fly more liberally next time. -Another late end to a screening and again I'm not able to make a movie I had wanted to see, The Revenant. Thankfully the Highball is there, so I can close out the night and my time at Fantastic Fest with another party. An amazing 3 days(albeit, very short), and now I know what to expect next year and to better plan. Can't wait for the next 360 days to fly by! If you use this, I'm JoeInTheBox
