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My father kept a “Family Book” on me, ever since I was born – and in the first 3 years of my life… apparently my favorite thing in the world was SPEED RACER. I have zero recollection of this – but it’s been in that book as long as I have memory – but honestly, I haven’t really gone back to that series since the age of three. I’ve tried, but the animation was just too crude for my tastes – but I do love it’s addiction to speed, badass technology and stylized vehicular and physical violence. Oh… and the monkey.
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How much awesome was tonight’s screening of IRON MAN at the Alamo Drafthouse South with Jet Pack Man? It was like freebasing pop tarts. Ridiculously Fucking Awesome Fun.
At 1:42pm – I called Tim League to ask when Jet Pack Man was going to be doing his test flight. Tim responded flatly and to the point with, “25 minutes!”
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Hey folks, Harry here… Boy – I tell you what… if I never have another week like this one, I’ll be a happy camper. My grandmother’s in the hospital. My wife’s grandmother is in a hospital today for surgery. And I got diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Which resulted in me buying workout clothes, vitamins, a gym membership and hiring a personal trainer to whip my ass for not talking all you good folks advice for years.
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Films about our current situation in Iraq are not necessarily why we go to movie theaters. We’ve seen recent films on Iraq fail repeatedly at the box office and there is a reason. We generally go to theaters to escape reality, not to confront it. Right now there’s a goodly portion of the current election hinging on a stance regarding what we do in Iraq. There is no easy answer.
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On the last day of SXSW – I was depressed… the flu killed SXSW as an experience for me. And once you’ve been spitting up nasty chunks of lung slime – the sorts of films that play SXSW – just isn’t what I needed on that last day.
I wanted to see a movie, but what?
Then RAV popped up on AIM and asked, “Have you seen DOOMSDAY yet?” – To which I responded that my ass has been sick – and he said I should see it cuz it’s ridiculous fun.
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Tomorrow night at SXSW we have the world premiere of Steven Conrad’s THE PROMOTION – this directorial debut is from the screenwriter of THE WEATHER MAN & THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS. Two films that were small films about struggling with one’s position or lot in life. THE PROMOTION very much continues his work in that oeuvre.
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Wow.
Before I begin this review – I need to clarify my use of the word… RETARDED. This is, by no means to infer that I am talking about those with actual mental handicaps. Rather – I’m using the word to describe the relaxed mental faculties willingly exercised via apparent influence by huffing paint or markers… possible addiction to crack… or an apparent ether binge. This is self-inflicted retardation.
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I’ve been looking forward to seeing THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL. I’m a fan of the these sorts of films and the cast… well who doesn’t love and adore Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson… I like Jim Sturgess – and Eric Bana can be great, but he’s an actor that needs solid direction to deliver.
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Comedy is a strange thing – it makes one man weep and another man scream. We all have favorite comedians and ones we hate. I prefer Chaplin to Keaton, I prefer Laurel & Hardy to Abbott & Costello … What makes you laugh… makes you laugh. And Will Ferrell makes me laugh. He’s 6’ 2” of adorable dorky gigglstuff… and as Jackie Moon – owner, promoter and power forward of the FLINT TROPICS – the ABA team on the cusp of the NBA or non-existence… he punches my comedy buttons.
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I honestly believe I have just seen my favorite film of 2008. There will, no doubt, be folks that think I’m utterly bonkers – but having just seen JUSTICE LEAGUE – THE NEW FRONTIER – I’m in awe.
This is everything I had hoped for.
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About 6 months ago I received a package with what felt like over a dozen different books on THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES. I’d heard there was a movie by Paramount coming, but they sent so many books and guides and the art of books – that it just seemed like everything, but the kitchen sink.
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Last night AICN hosted a screening of RAMBO. There doesn't seem to be a lot of screenings of this out there - but we filled two theaters loaded with people eager to see a RAMBO movie - and man... afterwards - we all had these goofy grins. In our Q&A with Stallone - he stated that his opinion of what an Action film is supposed to do, is to tighten the abdominal muscle group and be a visceral ride.
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Hey folks - Harry here... Ya know... I really can't believe this. On Friday - I got sent 32 DVDs from all different companies to review. It was an unbelievable wave of materials that I was expected to get through - in addition to the regular pile of 6-9 dvds that arrive every day.
But one title jumped out at me... TUROK: SON OF STONE.
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You know – for a movie about a tooth filled vagina that bites fingers and penises off – this film plays a lot like a Cronenberg-esque HEROES episode about a young girl with a strange power and a lot of awkward, vulnerable and heart-achingly true scenes of what it is like to be an innocent girl coming to terms with her budding sexuality and the inherent power of the vagina.
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Utterly Brilliant.
What is CLOVERFIELD?
For the past year or so, that’s been the question that everyone has been asking. Well… they also wanted to know: What was that trailer? What’s the name of this movie? Who are those actors? What is a SLUSHO? What does any of this mean?
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Do you remember YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES?
For me, it’s a perfect juvenile adventure film. It has a tragic weight to it and a spirit of great adventure, but in many ways – we were like young Watson, not understanding the brilliance that was inherent even to the youthful Sherlock Holmes.
THE GOLDEN COMPASS is an evolutionary leap from that film, but without the ultimate courage that YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES had at the end of its tale.
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Have you ever felt completely ENCHANTED by a movie? I have, many times and tonight at the screening of ENCHANTED, its spell wrapped me up from beginning to end and made me so blissfully happy and aglow.
It’s a daring film to make – something that tries to marry the world of childhood wonder to the cynically bitter world of reality. But the filmmakers and producing team behind Disney’s ENCHANTED didn’t walk that line, they danced it, twirled around it, picked it up and sewed a perfect pattern of a movie that left me humming, singing and goofy in love.
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When I first heard the story of THE MIST it was with the stunning innovation of 3D sound. After I bought that cassette (remember those) – I read the novella. This wasn’t a high-minded Stephen King story… what it reminded me of was those wondrous B-movies of the 50s. Films like INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and MONOLITH MONSTERS or INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN. It had elements of my favorite horror film for most of my life (and some days, it still holds the top spot), I am referring to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.
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There are some weeks as a film fan where I genuinely feel blessed. This week was one of those. It started off this Monday with a screening of BEOWULF in 3D, then came THE MIST and then finally this morning with a digital screening of the final fondling of BLADE RUNNER.
Now I know BEOWULF’s characters have looked less than life like – and the overall look isn’t quite the FRANK FRAZETTA painting that we had hoped for, but here’s the secret of this film.
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SWEENEY TODD is Tim Burton’s best film since ED WOOD – which I consider to be his very best film to date. That said, upon multiple viewings it is possible this film will become my favorite Burton film.
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As one of the programmers of FANTASTIC FEST, working hand in hand with Tim League, Matt Dentler and all the others – it's not often when you know you’ve hit the jackpot. About 3 weeks ago, we realized that we were going to be the first place on Planet Earth to screen THERE WILL BE BLOOD, based upon Upton Sinclair’s novel OIL! and adapted for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson.
As a genre festival – it didn’t entirely seem appropriate that the film would play, but Tim, Dentler and I discussed – at length – what this festival means to us. The tag line, “A Film Festival With The Boring Parts Cut Out” was coined by me. Our goal is to create a film festival made up of fantastic experiences, fantastic screenings and fantastic guests. Playing a film like PERSEPOLIS – an animated tale about growing up during the last 30 or so years in Iran… Doesn’t necessarily fit, but the film is FANTASTIC.
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Babies. Pregnant bellies. Now that I’m married, I get asked “when’s the baby?” “Thinking of kids?” I’m pretty sure all married couples get asked these post wedding questions. But tonight, Yoko and I saw the film that ensured that we didn’t want to pursue the reproductive Olympics for a while.
The Weinstein Company has a new French Horror film called INSIDE. It was first being discussed around the time of Cannes – then when it got scheduled for the Toronto Film Festival’s Midnight program… well, you read Copernicus’ review… right? Right.
INSIDE is an intruder film. A home invasion flick. And it’s BRUTAL. Last year’s INSIDE by Jeff Mahler was intense in a psychological manner, this French INSIDE – oh, the psyche gets plenty beat up, but the French are just many times more fucked in the head than the TEEN WOLF lovin’ Mahler.
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Harry here, taking a break from Fantastic Fest to let my brain recharge – to process what I’ve seen today… to update you on a fantastic film that I’ve just seen.
The film, SON OF RAMBOW is due out for a limited release in the United States some time in 2008. It has played at Sundance, Seattle and Toronto thus far, but it’s the latest film from the director of THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, a Garth Jennings… and with this film, he seriously hikes it up several notches.
I really enjoyed his take on HGTTG, but that was one of those films that could never really compare to the brilliant book. At least for me, I’d read the book several times and while I very much enjoyed the film, it was an echo of the tale I’ve played in my mind, countless times.
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Until just a few years ago, I didn’t really consider Chile as a place to watch for film, but recently they’ve really sort of demanded my attention.
It all began with Nicolas Lopez’s PROMEDIO ROJO and SXSW. So when I got an email from him telling me that his fellow countrymen had made a low budget Superhero Martial Arts movie that I should consider – I decided to give it a try. That film was MIRAGEMAN.
What I discovered may very well be one of my favorite Superhero movies of all time.
It isn’t about showy effects – there are none.
It isn’t about a character that I grew up reading rabidly and have nostalgic juvenile memories of.
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There are few films at FANTASTIC FEST that I’ve been looking forward to more than SEX AND DEATH 101. It has been hyped as the reteaming of Daniel Waters and Winona Ryder – last we saw of them was HEATHERS – a film that was a clarion call for the teenage genre. SEX AND DEATH 101 isn’t a teenage film. And Daniel Waters wasn’t the director of HEATHERS – so in advance of this film – I had high hopes, but I did have them guarded with uncertainness.
Having Daniel Waters and Patton Oswalt hitting the stage before the film… well it’s kinda meta-perfect. Instantly they put you in the mood for giggles and silliness – but what followed wasn’t a film about cotton candy lightness.
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