Hey folks, Harry here - with Billy Sunday's look at a pair of Fantastic Fest flicks! Here ya go...

Day One of Fantastic Fest is now in the books, here's how it shaped up for me:

ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO - Note: Even the Paramount marquee had this spelled as Zach, but I made sure to double check when the credits rolled and it's Zack with a K.

Let's put the bottom line out here right from the get-go…this movie is great. Arguably Kevin Smith's best. Obviously, it's funny, it is Kevin Smith after all. There are at least 10 minutes of this movie that were inaudible because we were all still laughing over the previous jokes, so it's probably even funnier than I thought it was.

There's a great cast on display here. Is it Apatow's cast with porn stars? Well, not exactly. There's a lot of cross-over with the actors and some people will think that everyman movie with dick and fart jokes and a heart of gold sounds like an Apatow movie, but it didn't feel that way to me at all. This is a Kevin Smith. Period. No mention of Judd necessary. But since I already brought it up, let's start with Rogen. You remember when you were a kid and you used to listen to FM radio? There would be this great new song that you loved…until you started hearing it over and over and over again so many times that you kind of started to hate it? Well as much as I love Seth Rogen (especially UNDECLARED and FREAKS & GEEKS Seth Rogen) it seems like the guy is in every new comedy these days.

But here's the thing….even if it's starting to grate on you seeing Rogen all the time playing basically the same character, don't let that scare you away from this. He's not playing Rogen here, this character is like seeing a wiser slightly more mature Rogen character 5 years from KNOCKED UP. He's not a complete idiot, he catches on to the subtle hints that Miri is dropping. He knows there's something between them before she really lets herself believe that it's true. And lo and behold he puts himself out there emotionally and it's fucking powerful. There's some serious weight behind two scenes with Zack and Miri in particular that hit me like a punch to the gut. Look, any jackass can throw two people together and try to make it look like they have feelings for each other. 9 times out of 10 it's not going to work. And this wouldn't work if it wasn't for Elizabeth Banks. The first time she blew me away was in a small indie called HEIGHTS, which you should go rent sometime. This is her best work since then, but it could just be it was her first chance since then to actually, you know, act (no SPIDER-MAN sequels and SLITHER don't count). But she shines here and deserves just as much credit as Rogen for making the story work. And while the rest of the cast is just as good, Mewes in particular really knocked it out of the park, none of them deserve the lion's share of credit which clearly goes to Kevin Smith. This felt a lot like CHASING AMY to me, and while I still prefer AMY as my favorite film of his, ZACK AND MIRI is a close second. That said, he's definitely matured as a filmmaker. The scenes are very well shot and put together and it just felt like he had a better handle and what he was doing in each shot and how that fit together to help him tell the story he wanted to tell. ZACK AND MIRI has that same faint hint that first wafted through the air in CHASING AMY, the hint that this was not totally fiction, that there were some elements of personal experience being thrown into the mix. It's a weird feeling to watch that, almost like you're invading someone's private thoughts and memories. It's a bit unsettling to feel that vulnerability of a guy really putting himself out there on film, it's one of the things I loved about CHASING AMY and while it's a little more subtle here, it's still there somewhere, lurking just beneath the service and I love it. There are so many things you could talk about after seeing this movie, and Kevin came out after with Mosier and answered all sorts of insightful questions about MPAA ratings boards and fake excrement. I feel like I've just touched the surface of everything that's going on in this film and there were a few things I could nitpick at but the truth is I can't wait to see this again!

AIR SEX:
Lots of fun as always even though I couldn't stay for the whole thing, but I realize it isn't a movie so I'll just say a few words for those who missed out: Sarah Palin with John McCain, her daughter and several animals.

FANBOYS:
OK, everyone's heard of this by now and all the back and forth about different versions, drama over the cancer storyline, and general debate about whether this thing would ever actually see the light of day…or to be more accurate the darkness of a movie theatre. From what I heard, it sounds like this will end up getting some sort of release in the near future. Which is good, because this is a hell of a lot of fun. More devoted fans than I can spend days arguing the merits of the film, and even within my group of friends there were those that hated it. But I thought it was great, a perfect reminder of the mindset we all had seeing a brand new STAR WARS movie in 1998.

Episode IV was the first movie I ever saw and I remember being absolutely captivated, mesmerized even, not just with that movie but with the idea of movies in general. Lots of people out there have strong feelings about the original trilogy, and I would encourage you to give this a chance. Hopefully, you'll be able to remember a bit of the magic that was still there when the original trilogy was all we had and the excitement that a whole new trilogy was starting. And yes, the cancer storyline was intact in this print. It seems like there wouldn't be much motivation for any of the characters if it wasn't. It rang true to me and I had a lot of fun with it. It's not a perfect movie and it probably won't win many awards, but dammit I had a good time, and frankly, that's why I started watching movies in the first place.

There's a long week ahead of us and I for one can't wait to get started!

Billy Sunday