I just got back from Fantastic Film Festival in Austin, Texas. First time in Austin, first time at Fantastic Fest. It’s one of the geekiest, nerdiest, and intense film festival experience ever imagined and I loved it. If you love horror, then you must come to this festival one day. They held it at the famous Alamo Drafthouse theater aka “BADASS CINEMA” where all the seats had tables in front of you to order food and drinks (even beer) throughout the screenings. Of course, every seat (besides the front row) still had a great view of the screen. My one big lesson in horror that I learned was that I averaged seeing one penis getting cut off a day. I guess its the norm. WOW! The fest wasn’t totally filled with horror but also many other genres so I’d thought I would share with you of what I thought were some great films that I saw. Of course, don’t consider me a true critic who uses confusing big words to sound like a genius but merely a fan of cinema. Here we go.

A TOWN CALLED PANIC
This French stop-motion feature won the Audience Award at the festival and it was well deserved. A very simple story about a Horse, a Cowboy, and an Indian living together and following their struggles and just their downright weird sense of thinking. There were so many great moments in this movie and although it’s not your typical Hollywood blockbuster movie, it still had love, drama, and comedy all in one. The most memorable scene is when Horse’s neighbor comes in and devours his breakfast and coffee like he was on crack. I still can picture the scene in my mind even five days after I’ve seen it and it still makes me laugh. If you ever get a chance to watch it on the big screen or on dvd, DO IT!

HOUSE OF THE DEVIL

A very well made period piece of a 70’s horror flick where strange things happen on the night of an eclipse. A young college female takes on a babysitting job because she’s broke like all of us in real life. What was amazing was that the filmmaker got the tone, pacing, and scariness perfectly. It was as if you were at home back in the days watching a random horror flick at 1am when you can’t fall asleep. I loved this movie because overall it probably didn’t have too many “AHHH” moments but damnit, it had me squinting more than usual just waiting for those moments to come up. Another must see for horror fans. Comes out on VOD in October.

FISH STORY
Probably my favorite movie of the festival. We luckily got in through the standby line to see this gem. Its a story about a struggling Japanese punk band (pre-Sex Pistol’s) in the 70’s, because basically who the hell listened to punk back then, staying true to their passion to record their last and only song called “Fish Story”. The story opens in a deserted Tokyo in the year 2012 with a huge comet on a crash course into Earth to end the world. And these two music lovers share their last moments listening to this song, Fish Story. Thereafter, it goes into the story of how the song came about and so on. Bascially a THAT THING YOU DO trying to save the world, in Japanese. Its got comedy, lotsa heart, and the song becomes so catchy, you can’t deny it. And that’s why I loved it.

100 BEST KILLS
This wasn’t a movie, but only a program of the festival. Basically the programmers started this tradition a few years ago to celebrate with other horror geeks the 100 BEST KILLS of all time in movie cinema. Of course, everyone has their own but these guys went pre 1990’s and showcased some AWESOME kills! Finally, a place where I can be accepted. This one was my favorite at about 4:55 on the youtube clip.

PRIVATE EYE

South Korean film that every film lover must see. No, not a typical OLD BOY revenge plot. But a whodunit period piece set in the 1910 in Korea with beautiful cinematography and brilliant acting by the entire cast. A med student stumbles upon a dead corpse and takes it home to practice his dissecting skills. But later finds out its the dead body of the son’s notorious town gangster. He then hires the witty and street savy private investigator to save his butt. The duo go on case solving frenzy and entertains the pants off you. Almost like a Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, Korean hottie mix. BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT. You just have to take my word for it.

TOY STORY 1 & 2 3D DOUBLE FEATURE
Well, its in 3D. What more can I say? Except when it got to part 2, I think I took a 45 minute nap. Those glasses can really get you tired. But the 3D experience looked out of this world. And they didn’t over do it which was what I liked.

NINJA ASSASSIN
If you plan on watching this movie, DO NOT MISS THE FIRST SCENE. Why? Because I deem it the best scene of the movie, if not the best scene of all Ninja movies. You’ll know why when you watch it. But basically, as a ninja fan all my life and dressing up as a ninja for most of my childhood halloweens and just normal days in general, it was a must watch for me. Great special effects, AMAZING ninja scenes, and Rain actually speaks decent English. It made me wanna take off my shirt and use it as a ninja mask immediately. But that’s all I can really say about this movie.

ZOMBIELAND
I didn’t want to claim this as the best movie of the festival since it is a Hollywood blockbuster but damnit, this movie is AWESOME!!! If you are a firm believer such as myself that zombie domination will one day happen, then you must watch this movie. Why? Because this is the how-to of survival in a zombie infested planet. Sure, this movie may sound scary since it has zombies but quite the opposite. It has a few “AHHH” moments but its purely an entertaining, super comedic cast, and worth every penny of my bargain matinee movie. You won’t be disappointed. And super cool intro sequence. They were even doing a free makeup trailer for whoever wanted to look like a zombie for the day of the screening. How cool is that?

And some notable mentions – GENTLEMEN BRONCOS: the new film from the director of Napoleon Dynamite. Honestly, if you thought Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre was the best movie ever w/o jumping on the bandwagon at the time, then you probably will like his new film. Moving on. BRONSON: superb acting but please more story, less yelling. The guy who plays Bronson looks nothing like himself in the movie. LOVE EXPOSURE: 4 hour long Japanese flick. First two hours are AWESOME and hilarious. Then the third act gets a little challenging. But overall felt like I was just watching a TV show. If you got 4 hours to kill, Love Exposure is perfect. THE CHILDREN: if you want nightmares and always dreamt of a flick where kids get totally killed, this is your movie. Its a love/hate situation. I also really wanted to watch BREATHLESS, another South Korean movie, which everyone was saying was AWESOME but it was sold out twice. Luckily BREATHLESS, PRIVATE EYE, & LOVE EXPOSURE will be screening at the San Diego Asian American Film Festival and Hawaii International Film Festival this month.

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District 9 Full Trailer from Zac Oldenburg on Vimeo.

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“I Got Five On It Too” continues the hilarious adventures of Barney Bumble and the gang and their “high times.” As the guys plan a house party complete with liquor, girls and weed, their “best bud” Barney Bumble gets set-up by his new rival Larry Poppins and gets busted by the cops for selling marijuana, Jimmy, Oscar and Arnie have to come to the rescue and get some payback against the new neighborhood drug dealer who’s been trying to move in on Barney’s turf.

Written by www.pumpkinpatchpictures.com

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Let this baby load up all the way and enjoy!

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I know most of us are tired of war movies and Talibans tallying my bananas, but this new movie THE HURT LOCKER just comes off with a different vibe. Gritty, violent, maybe even piss in my pants action pack but surely entertaining. Something perfect for the summer time flick we all need. Check out the trailer and see for yourself. You can watch Optimus and a bunch of humans talking too much. Or maybe something a little more in your face, WATCH OUT NOW, type movie. But if you just wanna watch Megan Fox for 25 minutes, well…I can’t blame you.

And here are some clips from the film that I found on RottenTomatoes. You can find more here too. And if you only rely on critics, then peep it. And the official website.

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You know the name and seen his work.  Justin Lin is back and ArowanFilms is celebrating the release of  the latest Fast and Furious with a caption contest.  For Details on how to enter the FREE Contest….Below is a still from F&F and we’re looking for the best caption to go with it.  Put down that remote and start brainstorming.  The winner will receive this signed Fast & Furious movie poster by Director, Justin Lin!

(no entry limit, come up with as many comments as you can, ANYTHING GOES!)

Here it is:

ex: "Look what you got us into DOM! I told you, only rich people get away with stealing!"

Comments for contest should be entered below.

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When you first experience Where the Wild Things Are, you are blown away by its’ vivid imagery. Usually at an age where dinosaurs dominate attentions spans, most everyone discovers this book in grade school.  The cover wears a Pulitzer sticker so you know it means business, and each page is sparse with words.  But those few words were all powerfully chosen to mesmorize when read.

‘His mother called him WILD THING!’  

And Max said, ‘I’ll eat you up!’

 

At his age, we all had an inner rascal similar to Max, so its easy to feel for the kid when he was sent to his room without dinner.  And thanks to the Muppet Babies and their ‘close your eyes and make believe and you can be anywhereeee’ philosophy we can journey with Max when his room transforms.

But when the Wilds entered the picture and, ‘Roaaaarrrrrred their terrrrrrrible rrrrrrrroooooaaaarrrrrr,’ things got hectic quick. And thats the queue where the teacher or whomever is reading starts speaking slooooww and it looks like its overs for Max.  By the time this fool shows up gnashing his terrible teeth, most everyone is ready for recess!

You gotta give it up to the kid, instead of running from the Wild Things, he confronts them to claim that he, alone, was the Wildest of the Wild.  

Spufford reveals that this story is a look at ‘behavior as well as psychology.’ The young Max embraces his inner wild rumpus and learns that there’s a place for it but that place is lonely.  These are some heavy undertones for kids, especially at an age where velco shoes are preferred for their ease of operation. But the great thing about this story is that it can be returned to at any age.  

We’re excited to see Spike Jonze’s direction of Where the Wild Things Are.  Adaptation and Being John Malkovich were fun stories, and who doesn’t love his music video work?  There’s something unique about his vision that runs wild in alternate worlds.  Spufford took notice that the child like ego of Max revealed much about his author.  Sendak was once asked why he never had any children himself and answered because he ‘couldn’t take the competition.’    This story was meant to be told by someone who can take viewers to that fantasy world alive in the minds of children.  We believe Spike Jonze is the right story teller for the job.  Where the Wild Things Are hits theaters October 16th 2009.  Heres the trailer:

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Universal premiered its fourth film in its franchise, Fast and Furious, last thursday at Gibson Amphitheatre. The movie saw the revival of characters Dom (Vin Diesel), Brian (Paul Walker), Mia (Jordana Brewster), Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), the arrival of Giselle (Gal Gadot), as well as the return of director Justin Lin. The evening also included a red carpet event that welcomed stars such as Pharrell Williams, John Singleton, Lorenz Tate, James Kyson Lee, Bai Ling, etc. The movie is set to open at theaters globally April 3rd.  

Check out the last pic! Arowana represent! By far the best installment out of all four!

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