Two guys who use their heads for very different things are the stars of Headhunters and Aardvark, another pair of films playing at Fantastic Fest 2011. Headhunters is about a job recruiter who also steals art on the side. He is forced to use all his wit and skill to compete against his latest mark, played by the man best known as Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. As for Aardvark, Larry Lewis Jr. is a real-life blind man who plays himself in a movie that combines his aptitude for jiujitsu, inability to see and a murder mystery. Read about each after the jump. Read More »
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Though Fantastic Fest still has three days left packed with movies, the best of the best have been revealed. Monday night, the awards for the best films, actors, writers and directors of the festival were announced in several different categories. Some of the winners are films I’ve already reviewed and loved. The Audience Award went to A Boy and His Samurai by Yoshihiro Nakamura, the AMD Dell Next Wave Spotlight Competition winner was Bullhead directed by Michael R. Roskam (review coming soon) and You’re Next by Adam Wingard swept nearly all the horror awards. Read all the winners after the jump. Read More »
I’d be willing to be a very small percentage of you have heard of either New Kids Turbo or Penumbra, which makes sense as neither is from a huge hot bed of film. New Kids Turbo is hard-R rated, gross out comedy from the Netherlands based on a successful sketch TV show and Penumbra is an Argentinian film about a real estate deal gone horribly, horribly wrong.
So why should you care about these films? Besides the obvious – they both made the cut to screen at Fantastic Fest 2011 - New Kids Turbo is the Avatar of its country, one of the most successful films in Dutch box office history. As for Penumbra, its intriguing premise unfortunately doesn’t build to a very satisfying conclusion. Read more after the break. Read More »
Where do you stand on World of Warcraft? If you’re a fan of it, you’re in Dominic Monaghan‘s corner. If you hate it, you’re in Elijah Wood‘s corner. And if you have no idea what I’m talking about you probably aren’t the only one.
One of the signature events at Fantastic Fest every year is the Fantastic Debates. This is where various actors, writers, and general well-known movie people verbally debate over an issue, then really settle the matter with their fists in a legitimate boxing match. This year’s Fantastic Debates was presented by the documentary Knuckle and the main event featured Fantastic Fest co-founder Tim League fighting the star of the film, James Quinn McDonagh. The undercard featured the two Lord of the Rings co-stars debating on the merits of World of Warcraft before slugging it out in front of a packed house.
Watch highlights from both fights and more after the jump. Read More »
When Lars von Trier‘s last film, Antichrist, played at Fantastic Fest, it unknowingly birthed the festival’s unofficial mantra: “Chaos Reigns.” Chaos reigns again in von Trier’s latest film, Melancholia, which is about two deeply depressed sisters and their personal trials during the end of the world. It stars Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg as the sisters as well as supporting roles by Kiefer Sutherland, Stellan Skarsgard, Alexander Skarsgard, John Hurt, Charlotte Rampling and more.
Chaos also reigns in a less impressive, more action-packed, take on the end times, The Day. Directed by Doug Aarniokoski and starring Dominic Monaghan, Shannyn Sossamon, Ashley Bell and Shawn Ashmore, The Day is a snap shot of 24 hours in a post-apocalyptic world. Read more about each film after the jump. Read More »
You all know who Olly Moss is. We’ve written about him extensively, from his humble beginnings with Threadless up through his Mondo prints and the epic Paper Cuts gallery show. Moss’s latest print was revealed at Fantastic Fest this weekend, as part of a screening of the 1981 cult classic An American Werewolf in London and – as usual – Moss doesn’t disappoint. The poster subtly makes the United Kingdom into a monster and got a huge round of applause when it was revealed after a Q&A with the film’s Oscar-winning effects guru, Rick Baker (more on that in the coming days). After the jump, check out both the original and variant editions of the soon-to-be-highly sought after poster. Read More »
After an much buzzed about world premiere in Toronto, Adam Wingard‘s action horror film You’re Next had its U.S. Premiere early Sunday morning at Fantastic Fest 2011. In its most basic terms, You’re Next is about a family reunion gone horribly wrong when a gang of animal-masked men invade a home and Lionsgate just purchased the rights for domestic distribution. So, sometime next year, everyone will get a chance to see it. Some people who won’t get a chance to see it just yet, though, are the majority of Fantastic Fest attendees because Lionsgate pulled one of the two scheduled showtimes making the late night screening one of the festival’s hottest tickets.
So did it live up to the hype? What makes You’re Next so different from other home invasion movies? Is this the next Scream? Watch a video blog featuring myself and Erik Davis of Movies.com for the answers. Read More »
Other than its title, Juan of the Dead only has one thing in common with George Romero’s films and Shaun of the Dead: zombies. Dawn of the Dead is a subtle social message wrapped in a violent horror film, Shaun of the Dead is a romantic comedy with zombies and Juan of the Dead is an overt political statement with a zombie story stuffed in the middle. Director Alejandro Brugués has a lot to say and some very cool zombie effects to say it with, but when the characters are so obviously speaking of issues that aren’t on screen, some of the fun of the film is sucked out.
After premiering at the Toronto Film Festival, Juan of the Dead had its U.S. Premiere Friday night at Fantastic Fest 2011. Read more after the jump. Read More »
