Fantastic Fest 2009: What I've Seen So Far

It's super late (for me) so I'm going to do this quick and dirty. Refer to the official web site for synopses and more info about the films.

Van Diemen's Land - a slow burn about Australian prison camp escapees who become cannibals in the 1870s. Good family fare.

Gentlemen Broncos - should be a hit with the Napoleon Dynamite crowd. Didn't quite tickle my funny bone as much as others in the crowd but I quite liked Sam Rockwell and the ending was sweet.

AntiChrist - I may not like Lars von Trier's movies but I totally respect his ability to get them made. This was hideous and I strongly warn parents and those with weak stomachs against seeing this movie.

Kamogawa Horumo - Battle League in Tokyo - predictable and tedious in character development but sheer joy in the action sequences. To tell you more would spoil it. A great romp. I'm so glad I went into this without knowing anything about it other than it's Japanese and it's wacky.

Animated shorts - so much fun! The Austin premiere of Pigeon Impossible!

Zombieland - Exactly the movie I wanted it to be. A spiritual successor to Shaun of the Dead and quite possibly the greatest cameo in a movie. Ever.

Secret Screening #2 - Men Who Stare At Goats - not bad but in an unfair comparison I will say that George Clooney's work is stronger in Up in the Air, also due out this fall.

The Highball lounge - the perfect Fantastic Fest party venue. Bowling, karaoke, themed food, skee-ball, and seating that is both comfortable and plentiful. A joy to behold and to inhabit.

SxSW MADNESS!

If things have been a little quiet, it's because I'm swept up in the South By Southwest film festival. Check out the coverage over at Slackerwood and, for you filmmakers in the crowd, Film Festival Secrets.

100 days, 100 movies and Film Festival Secrets.

As you probably know, Stomp Tokyo is currently in hibernation while Scott and I recharge our mental batteries. Back in November we decided it was time to formally acknowledge the fact that we were on a break from the b-movie biz and pursue the other projects on our plates.

Scott has reverted to type and is passing the time on his blog with a concept that is, admittedly, 100% Awesome: 100 days, 100 movies. In his own words:

My plan is to watch a movie a day for at least the next 100 days, and write something, however brief, on each one of them. Movie will mostly be on DVD, though I imagine I’ll get out to theater every now and again. There will also be a few digital download movies in there too.

For my part, I'm doing a bunch of writing on the small corner of the film world that has become my professional life: film festivals. After talking with hundreds of festival directors and staffers, I realized that every day they receive a deluge of questions from filmmakers -- the same questions, over and over again. And so I started the Film Festival Secrets blog with an eye towards answering those questions, eventually in the form of a book.

So now you're caught up on what we're up to at the moment. Look out, world -- it's gettin' crazy up in here.

Here comes the Austin Film Festival 2007

My first preview posted to Slackerwood for the Austin Film Festival 2007 -- American Fork, which I liked quite a bit.

Austin festival roundup for Fall 2007

Fall is a good time of year for movie geeks in Austin. Read my roundup of the big three film festivals in my town over at Slackerwood.

Toronto After Dark Film Festival - final deadline approaches

Attention Filmmakers, this is your LAST CHANCE to submit your Horror, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Action, and Cult feature and short entries to the 2007 Toronto After Dark Film Festival, Canada’s premier festival of international thrilling cinema. Full details and the online submission form are available at their website.

Science Fiction Short Film Festival 2007

If you're in the Seattle area you might want to check out the 2007 Science Fiction Short Film Festival, playing this Saturday at the Cinerama Theater. I haven't seen any of the films in question but that's the nice thing about shorts – if one sucks, it'll be over soon and something better will come along.

Cinematical spins off independent film news as CineIndie

It's a great idea with a terrible name – separate your independent film coverage from your mainstream/studio coverage so the two camps can be free of the news that doesn't concern them. Hopefully this will allow for more in-depth coverage of the independent scene as well – not that Cinematical was lacking in depth, but clearly there's a lot more going on in independent film than the articles that grace their pages each week.

CineIndie (ugh - I might even have preferred IndieMatical) begins its run at just the right time as the Sundance Film Festival begins. (A nicely calculated move.)

Visit indie.cinematical.com now.

Technorati Tags: cinematical, independent film

Toronto After Dark Film Festival - October 20-24

Now I'd never steer you away from attending the Austin Film Festival running at the same time, but if you were, say, already in Toronto in late October and Daddy had revoked your private jet privileges, then Toronto After Dark would be an acceptable alternative. This brand spanking new film festival promises a premier showcase of international sci-fi, horror, and fantasy cinema and it looks like they're going to deliver.

Check out their full schedule now online including Retribution, Shinobi, Night of the Living Dorks, and one of my personal favorites, Special (also playing the Austin Film Festival). Plus, the additional burn in my personal craw is the fact that they're playing Funky Forest, the film I missed in favor of the surprise screening of Apocalypto at Fantastic Fest. Don't make the mistake I made - go see Funky Forest regardless of what's playing opposite. Fortunately it looks like you won't have to make that choice, as it appears from the program guide that there's only the one screen at TAD. Good choice.

If you have to live outside of Los Angeles or New York – and let's face it, most of us do – then there are few places as good as Toronto for a film scene. (Fortunately for me, Austin is one of them.) Toronto After Dark is a solid addition to the ever-growing annual film festival roster.