[  Mood: Happy ]

The eagerly awaited Fantastic Fest 3 finally started last night as I managed to not see either film I planned on, saw several people I knew and had a hell of a time.

My film day actually started much earlier on Thursday as the new Austin Chronicle came out with my review of King Kung Fu.

While this had nothing directly do with FF3, it left me eager to see some GOOD movies.

Arriving a bit later than I expected to the Festival, the line for George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead wrapped around the building with well over 300 people in line! I wasn’t too terribly shattered since I knew Diary will get a wide release and my chance to see it will come. After Diary ended, I did speak to Austin Chronicle reviewer Marc Savlov, who sputtered excitedly about the film saying something about it being a biting social commentary and the best Romero yet. Chris Cox (aka Cyrus) of Spill relayed similar sentiments and promised to post the entire post-film Romero discussion on the site (not up yet).

Instead of Diary I attended the screening of Wicked Flowers, a surrealist Japanese film about slackers and video games. Attending movies at the Alamo Drafthouse is unlike anywhere else. First off, they have an entire menu. You aren’t stuck with just popcorn and candy. The menu offers some twenty different types of beer, wine, burgers, pizza, fancy desserts, and the like. (Course that means I have to be careful. I could go broke eating at this festival!). The other oddity is that when you enter the theater, there are NO slides with bad trivia and no commercials. No piped in commercial music. They show clips that somehow relate to the movie you are about to say. In the past, they’ve had an Elvis concert playing before Bubba Ho-Tep and the Japanese Spider-man before the Spider-man 2. You get the idea.

My first image related to Wicked Flowers was what appeared to be a Japanese version of a US-style family sitcom complete with laugh track. The characters spoke to one and other in both English and Japanese interchangeably. When English was spoken, Japanese subtitles appeared below the text. The family for some reason were trying to act "ghetto", using the word "nigga" a lot. Some bizarre shit there.

Following the sitcom, there was a series of strange (well to this American) Japanese commercials including one with a dude in a cape and helmet, a stuffed monkey (in a similar outfit) resting on his shoulder. I can’t remember what he was promoting.

In a scene out of Lost in Translation, one of Charles Bronson’s Mandom commercials played next. I couldn’t find the exact commercial on You Tube, but this one was close.

NEXT: I see some movies.

My final day (Thursday, Sept. 27) at the Festival begins with the very unusual anime feature Princess, an exploration of the sleazy world of the porn industry. This one promises to disturb and titillate within an orgy of violence and blood. This should be interesting.

A Chilean martial arts film is a must see especially one that combines South American verité film styles and spaghetti westerns with a heavy dose of Hong Kong influence. Kiltro, a box office and critical success in its native land, stars fighter and stuntman Marko Zaror in this action thriller. Star Marko Zaror, producer Derek Rundell and director Ernesto Díaz Espinoza will be there live in person!

After starting my day with those two features, I know I’ll need something a little more "innocent" and calm. So rather than take my chances with the mysterious Closing Night Film, I chose the safer The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Winner of the 2007 Japanese Academy Award for Best Animated Film, this recounts the story of Makoto, a girl who can journey through time. Based on the popular YA novel, the talent for this feature includes art director Nizou Yamamoto (Princess Mononoke) and character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Neon Genesis Evangelion).

Is there a more perfect ending to this festival than with a good old fashion, loud, fast, action-packed, adrenaline-pumping, and explosive Hong Kong action film? Invisible Target promises just that with a frenetic pace and energy using better CGI, better wirework, better sound effects than the older action films.

Next: SHOWTIME!

An odd film in a festival full of oddities, Sex and Death 101, starring Simon Baker, Winona Ryder, and Patton Oswalt, has perhaps the best chance of any film this week of appearing in your local cineplex. Baker plays a successful engaged man who receives a mysterious e-mail containing the names of every woman he has had sex with and, eerily, every woman he will have sex with in the future. To make matters worse, he encounters a femme fatale (Ryder) who targets men guilty of sex crimes against women. This strange film was directed by Daniel Waters, writer of the magnificent Heathers. Director Daniel Waters and star Patton Oswalt will be there live in person!

Considering my previous misgivings, attending the Ain’t It Cool News Secret Screening #3 might be pushing my luck. But what the hell, you only live once.

Part of the No Borders, No Limits: 1960s Nikkatsu Action Cinema Retrospective, Toshio Masuda’s 1967 Japanese thriller, Velvet Hustler aka: Kurenai no nagareboshi, recounts the story of a Tokyo hitman who likes his women like he likes his cars: fast and dangerous. He embroils himself within some gang activities and must flee Toyko. Film noir Japanese style. What’s not to like?

Tomorrow.. The Preview Finale!

My Tuesday starts with an old fashioned low-budget horror film, Five Across The Eyes, a tale of lost cheerleaders and blood. The description claims that directors Ryan Thiessen and Greg Swinson have a "fresh vision." I guess I can ask them since the duo plus actress Sandra Paduch will be there in person.

While working with Mojo Press, I had the honor of editing a collection of Moebius’ classic Blueberry comic. Now I get to see a retrospective of this amazing artist’s life and career. Moebius Redux: A Life in Pictures really brings out my inner geek unlike any other film in the Festival. Director Hasko Baumann and editor Martin Eberle will be there in person. Too bad Jean "Moebius" Giraud couldn’t make it himself.

I’m a sucker for a well done time-travel thriller. If Timecrimes aka: Cronoscrimines is as half as interesting as the description makes it sound, I’m in for a hell of a good time. If not, I can complain to Director Nacho Vigalondo and producer Nahikari Ipiña who will be there in person!

What would a sf film festival be without at least one post-apocalyptic thriller? My second zombie feature of the festival, The Cold Hour aka: La Hora Fria tells the tale of seven adults and two children trapped in a huge building confronting mindless and not so mindless mutants. Promises to be a story of style. We’ll see.

Three days until the Festival starts and two days left to preview…

The Ferryman from New Zealand looks to be one creepy and scary horror film. I think this description is far better than I could do.

The Entrance, a good vs. evil story with origins in the early 17th century that plays out in contemporary Canada, was nominated for three Canadian Leo awards, and is supposedly based on actual events. Director Damon Vignale will be there in person!

And now for a change of pace… The comedic The Rug Cop features a police detective who harnesses the power of his ill-fitting toupee in a parody of 70s cop dramas. I kid you not! Saying this looks a little odd is an understatement. But after the previous two selections, I welcome some comedic oddness.

The new film from the always controversial Uwe Boll closes out my Monday at the Festival. Postal, perhaps Boll’s most absurd, schlock-filled, and vulgar film yet, stars Zach Ward and Dave Foley. This almost indescribable comedy features a frontal nude shot of former Kid in the Hall Dave Foley, Boll appearing on screen gleefully claiming to finance his films with Nazi gold, and the World Trade Center hijackers attempting to change course because there’s a shortage of virgins in the afterlife. Social satire at its strangest. Director Uwe Boll and star Zack Ward will be there in person to try and make sense of it all.

More Fantastic Fest next time!

Sunday will be a full day with four movies starting at 12:30 with the Festival premiere of Shusuke Kaneko’s screen adaptation of the popular manga Desu nôto, Death Note. I’m not huge manga fan but this one does sound fascinating. The story elements that could emerge from the discovery of "a magical book that has the power to kill anyone who’s name is written inside" are practically endless. Better see this one now before someone makes a bad American remake ala The Ring.

Yesterday, I discussed my concerns surrounding an AICN Secret Screening, but it isn’t stopping me from going to the second such event of the Festival. Curiosity wins out again. Hope I don’t end up like the damn cat.

One of the more hyped events and my first documentary of the Festival, Blood, Boobs, and Beast chronicles the career of legendary low-budget genre-filmmaker Don Dohler, the brains behind exploitation fare such as The Alien Factor (1978), Fiend (1980), Blood Massacre (1991), and everyone’s favorite Vampire Sisters (2004). I tend to like this sort of documentary. And, oh yeah, director John Paul Kinhart will be there live in person!

Beginning with the great Cagney films of the 1930s through to the Godfather and The Sopranos, I’ve had a real weakness for gangster flicks. So imagine my thrill when I spotted the acclaimed Korean gangster flick A Dirty Carnival on the Festival schedule. Acclaimed for it’s fantastic action sequences, elegance of style, and fascinating story, I am looking forward to this one.

Next… Monday’s selections

Friday begins with The Sword Bearer aka: Mechenosets, an impressionistic Russian film with noir elements, about a hero along the lines of the Punisher. Lots of action and violence promised in this one.

Gary Oldham takes a break from playing psycho villains in American films to portray the possibly sympathetic protagonist in The Backwoods. A European Deliverance or Straw Dogs, the movie recounts the tale of a Spanish hunting trip gone terrible wrong. Director Koldo Serra will be there live in person!

Saturday’s Ain’t It Cool News Secret Screening #1 leaves me with some trepidation and curiosity. I’m not always a fan of what those boys like but I figure at least it will be interesting.

The Danish Offscreen, a reality story gone awry, won several awards including Young Cinema Award: 2006 Venice Film Festival and Best Actor: Danish Film Critics Association 2006 Bodil Awards (for star Nicolas Bro). From the description:

Due to the Yom Kippur holiday my Friday and Saturday selections are limited. But don’t worry, everything of note that I wanted to see on those days is being shown later in the Festival.

Still more to come…

[  Currently: Watching baseball ]

Fantastic Fest 3, a week-long festival featuring the best in new science-fiction, fantasy, horror, animation, crime, Asian, and all around badass cinema, starts on September 20 and runs through the 27th. With over 60 premiere genre features and 30 shorts, it is impossible to see it all. Over the next week, I will discuss several of the movies I plan on seeing. Once the festival starts, expect daily (or sometimes more) recaps of the movies I saw and what I thought.

One of the many things that makes Austin, TX cool, all the Festival’s films are shown in one theater, the Alamo Draft House South, over a span of eight days! I dare anyone to find such an incredible collection of genre films showcased in one theater over a similar period.

My festival begins on Sept. 20 at 6:45 with George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead complete with a Q&A sessions with Romero himself!

Following the opening movie excitement is The Last Winter with Writer-Director Larry Fessenden live in person. I have hopes for this eco-horror thriller from the creator of Habit and Wendigo

More later…