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 »
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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 »
In the movies, when good guys get mixed up in drugs, it’s a recipe for disaster. And while that’s the basic drive of both Sleepless Night and El Narco, one does it on a very small scale with big results and the other does it on a huge scale with lesser results.
Sleepless Night, which just got purchased by Warner Bros. for a remake, is a French action film about two police officers who moonlight as drug enforcers and the madness that happens over the course of one night when they lose their merchandise. El Narco is a controversial Mexican gangster film about a failed middle age American immigrant who is forced to join an organized crime family because it’s the only work available. One of these films is a best of the year contender. The other is a solid, but slightly empty, attempt at the crime genre. Read which is which and more after the jump. Read More »
Fantastic Fest is filled with so many consecutive movies that writing timely, full reviews of each without losing a considerable amount of sleep or sanity would be difficult. There are writers out there who will do it and I salute them. But for me, being the lone wolf for /Film in 2011, I’ve decided to provide mini-reviews of most things, with the occasional video blog, full review and interview thrown in. This way you hear about everything. So here’s a pair of mini-reviews: A Boy And His Samurai directed by Yoshihiro Nakamura and Let the Bullets Fly by Wen Jiang.
A Boy And His Samurai combines time travel, samurais and baking reality shows into a perfect little package that will have you smiling ear to ear. Let the Bullets Fly stars Chow Yun Fat as a local crime boss who engages in a battle of wits and bullets with a notorious con-man. It’s a tad confusing but constantly entertaining. Read more about each after the jump. Read More »
While Fantastic Fest brings in some of the biggest and baddest genre films the world has to offer, it’s also well-known for giving a shot to the ultra small budget features. Two examples this year are Manborg by Steven Jon Kostanski and Invasion of Alien Bikini by Oh Young-doo. The former is like Robocop or The Terminator if those were made for Arnold’s lunch money and the main character was battling demons from Hell. Invasion of Alien Bikini is about a deadly alien trapped in a beautiful girl’s body who attempts to steal the sperm from a real-life superhero. Only at Fantastic Fest. Read more on each film after the jump. Read More »
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