“The only constant is change.” Like most clichés there’s truth behind that rather rote sentiment, and nowhere is that truth more evident than within the realm of technology - specifically for Twitch folk in the subsets of film-going and production. While sea changes like sound, CGI, and home video are few and far between, a robust volley of incremental shifts are fired out each year. Some stick, some don’t. Of course there are ways to gauge what might work and what might not, but you wouldn’t have so many people rolling million-dollar dice if they didn’t think they were on to the next truly big thing. With all that in mind, this ToM will veer slightly from the pack to address not specific films or filmmakers, but a few shifts in technology that might mean big things… or might end up the next Divx (not the codec, but the hair-brained disposable DVDs).
Continue Reading "The Shape of Things to Come"...
[REC] lives up to the hype and then some. I went into the film highly skeptical and came away a believer. The co-directors of the film mix horror, zombie and sci-fi themes and devices much the same as the band Arcade Fire mix various expansive types of music and instruments into something fresh and new that isn’t afraid to kick down conventional doors and walls. While I would consider Hot Fuzz the funnest film I’ve seen this year, [REC] isn’t too far behind. This movie is so much fun - I can hardly wait to see it again for a 3rd time. Full review coming soon. Until then I can breathe a sigh of relief that I wasn’t busted on that audience trailer jumping and screaming!
The film has some beautiful tempestuous twists and the absolute best scares in horror cinema you will this year (well if your lucky enough to catch it).
View the Twitch exclusive 20 picture image gallery of [REC] cast and crew at the 40th Sitges Film Festival
If you read me, Peter or Josh’s AFFD 2007 coverage then you already know what a great festival The Asian Film Festival of Dallas is. Now this is really exciting news, ror late 2007 and all of 2008 and beyond the festival has even bigger plans - it wants to bring to the Dallas and North Texas area regular screenings on the big screen of the latest in Asian cinema. I think this step is incredibly exciting as many US fans of Asian cinema only experience movies on the small screen. If like me you want to see the latest in Asian cinema on the big screen then I highly recommend you support this cause and sign up for one of their membership packages. If you don’t care where you sit then I recommend the Leading Roles package. If you do care where you sit then take the Associate Producer package. If you really really love Asian cinema then take the higher packages. Their first screening to kick off this new campaign is Miike’s Zebraman. If you need a refresher on this film read Todd’s review (here).
AFFD Special Presentation of ZEBRAMAN by Takashi Miike
Asian Film Foundation of Dallas is launching its Membership Program in November 2007. To celebrate launching of our membership, we are holding a special exclusive presentation of ZEBRAMAN by Takashi Miike.
Date: Thursday, November 8, 2007
Location: Angelika Film Center - Dallas, 5321 E. Mockingbird Lane, Dallas, TX 75206
Time: 7:30p.m.
Cost: FREE when you become a member. Otherwise $9
*Join the membership or purchase tickets online www.affd.org. Cash only at the door.
A special presentation of Enzo G. Castellari’s 1990: The Bronx Warriors just wrapped here at the 40th Sitges Film Festival. The film screened at the three story balcony movie theater the Cinema Prado. Mr. Castellari himself was on hand to both introduce the film and for a lively Q&A. I have no idea what was said but I can tell you Mr. Castellari bounces with more life and gusto than a 4 year old. He’s a walking Red Bull can full of charm and apparently funny stories (everything was in Spanish so I have no idea what was said). Bronx Warriors is a pretty fun and outrageous Escape from New York-ish cult film. I mean with a film with characters named Leech, Hot Dog and Trash you expect it to be a good time. Not to mention Fred Williamson plays the character The Ogre in the film who is the ruler of the Bronx and The Riders. He also has a private make shift abandoned building palace complete with zebra skins all over the walls, a private piano player and a intruder alert alarm that sounds like a dying bird. Mr. Castellari holds a special place in my cinema heart for starting off the boom of Italian crime films in the 70’s with his ripping and rocking Franco Nero film, ”High Crime!”
As a side note to this on the way back to post this I ran into Timecrimes director and the Fantastic Fest big winner Nacho Vigalondo sporting an Alamo Drafthouse t-shirt. If your at Sitges and reading this definitely be sure to check out Timecrimes with screenings on the 11th, 12th and 13th.
Pictures of the Castellari screening and Nacho follow after this link bump.
Minutes ago I got a brief chance before running off to interview Alex Proyas (on Dark City directors cut and more) to sit down and briefly chat with super producer and director Matthew Vaughn at the 40th Sitges Film Festival. I count myself as a huge fan of Layercake and have near endlessly re watched the opening sequence (fake drug store, sweeping helicopter shot with the kick ass song blasting). It’s such a perfectly realized set up and introduction into the world and characters the film is about to explore. So it was a huge honor to sit down and chat on his latest film Stardust, his upcoming film Thor and even on Jackie Brown of all things. His latest film Stardust is a highly charming adult kids movie (if that makes sense) that to me worked. I do wish Claire Danes had showed more passion in her performance. Perhaps I just don’t get her at all. She seems too cold to me as if she has a jealous boyfriend who is standing offset. Everything else in the film rolled along. Though I did have to adjust my perception afterwards. Regardless of the very small gripe of Miss Danes I do think this film will go onto a great cult following. (Now onto the brief interview.)
Continue Reading "40th Sitges - Matthew Vaughn Talks Thor, Jackie Brown and of course Stardust"...
Greetings from an overcast Sitges, Spain. I’m currently out covering the 40th Sitges Film Festival. Sitges is normally a warm and sunny place. The light of the sun typically bounces Mediterranean water all across the coastal town as film lovers from all over Spain and the world descend for 10 plus days of the best genre film has to offer. This year marks a special place with the festival celebrating 40 years of cutting edge genre cinema. Past titles that have debuted here have been Robocop, Hellraiser and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. Glancing back to their programming in their debut year in 1968 they had: Devils of Darkness, Fearless Vampire Killers, Kuroneko, King Kong Espaces, Alphaville, Devil-Doll, Nosferatu, Metroplis and Planet of the Vampires (just to name a few). I wonder how many expected it would be around 40 years later as this giant kicking ass monster that feels fresh as ever with such strong genre and fantastic titles as Timecrimes and Inside, that are just waiting to be unleashed on filmgoers here. Can’t think of many other film festivals where you would have Zoë Bell, Ruggero Deodato and Michael Rooker as your main jury (among others)! Whether you can make it out here or not, it’s time to raise a toast and hope for 40 more years!
This year the festival has expanded to now have 5 different movie theaters and more screenings and events than the fastest of sprinters could keep up with, let alone filmgoer. Few festivals I’ve been to feature nearly 10 plus days of 23 hour programming in such lush settings with such rampant film lovers. The big films this year are The Orphanage, Rogue, Rec, Timecrimes, Frontiere(s), Grindhouse (only European screening of both films I think), Sukiyaki Western Django, Teeth, Sword Bearer and a special screening of the Blade Runner: The Final Cut (with Rutger Hauer in attendance).
VIEW 40TH SITGES PHOTO GALLERY
Continue Reading "40th Sitges Film Festival Underway - El Orfanato, Stardust and Pictures"...
I’m terribly disappointed to tell you that the first film I saw at Fantastic Fest displayed none of George A. Romero’s masterful directorial touches, the English dialogue was horribly dubbed, and there weren’t even any zombies.
Of course, that’s became I was enjoying the outdoor “opening day festivities”—which included a “gore cannon” with human targets, a contraption that shot flames into the air, numerous blindfolded participants attempting to destroy pinatas containing candy and cans of beer, and goat meat tacos—and was tardy in lining up for George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead. Have I mentioned that people take their movies seriously in Austin? Folks were lined up by 3:30 pm for the 6:45 pm screening, and the buzz only intensified when The Zombie Man himself appeared, looking taller and wiser than I expected.
I’m sorry I missed the film, but it’s a festival, so you roll with the punches, and soon enough the “Romero Zombie overflow crowd” spilled into one of two other movies that were starting a few miutes later. The one I saw, Hell’s Fever, is an Italian production that, let us say, did not translate very well. The lack of zombies was only the beginning. But rather than recite the alphabet of its limitations, allow me to praise a man named Nacho.
Yes, Academy Award-nominated short filmmkaer Nacho Vigalondo has made his first feature, Timecrimes, and it is a lean, mean marvel.
Continue Reading "Fantastic Fest Report: Diary of the Dead, Hell’s Fever, Timecrimes, The Ferryman"...
As a new and exciting series of Midnight Madness (be sure to check out its blog for lots of goodies) is about to be unleashed we take a look at one of the hits from last year, ”The Abandoned.” Nacho Cerdà’s film about dealing with the past, emotional dependency and forging your own identity in the world. With so many horror films these days either carbon copy knock offs of ”The Ring” and ”Saw” it really is refreshing to get a horror film with such an unique voice and as it unfolds you really don’t know where it will take you. Dark atmosphere and nightmarishly styled settings that feel eerily similar to the grim haunted house that Dario Argento created in ”Deep Red” fill the frame through most of its running time. If you need a fresh breath of air with horror then this movie is your ticket.
Awhile back at the 25th Brussels International Film Festival, I had the chance to chat with Mr. Cerdà on ”The Abandoned.” An interview and a 30 image gallery for the film follows.
Continue Reading "The Abandoned Interview - Identity Horror, Midnight Madness and More!"...
At the 25th Brussels International Film Festival I had a chance to sit down with Andreas Prochaska on his Austrian slasher film ”Dead in 3 Days” aka ”In 3 Tagen bist du tot.” Me and Todd (Fantasia notes) both seemed to be pleasantly surprised with this film. A real gem of the 2007 films I’ve seen and it didn’t feel like a throwaway ”I Know What You Did” type movie. For my tastes it was a horror movie with a beating heart that I could get into with a leading character in Sabrina Reiter that I really cared about. Having a chance to chat with Mr. Prochaska on this film was a real highlight of me for this year. He is a director that isn’t about maintaining the status quo or not taking risks, he wants to use cinema as his expression for his own personal stories and in his own exploration of it without being confined to regional commercial demands. I would put him in the current crop of directors taking risks like 70’s directors did in not conforming and in pushing the limits of what good cinema is one picture at a time, regardless what genre it fell into. ”Dead in 3 Days” while not a classic is certainly a good film for those willing to give it a chance and the start of a filmmaker giving it a go with something new for Austrian filmgoers.
Note from Christian of the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation (EFFFF):
Dead in Three Days will be screened at Lund International Fantastic Film Festival, and director Andreas Prochaska will attend. The film won the Méliès d’Argent at BIFFF and will as such compete for the Méliès d’Or - Best European Fantastic Film 2007 at the Award Ceremony in Lund on September 16th.
And now onto the interview (SOME SPOILERS)…
Continue Reading "AUSTRIAN SLASHER CINEMA - Interview with Andreas Prochaska"...
