Fantastic Fest 2016

[tyree]

Socky ! I am so jealous but taking The Wife to Austin ? So there goes boffing a UT gal. Hook em !
Also, I was shocked to hear you thoughts on Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance . That is my favorite film from that director.
But man, the new Benson/Moorehead ? Sa-WEET ! and I have seen a lot of the films now but the main one I wanted to see
was Synchronic the new Anderson plus the Mickle film.
I lived in Texas for years. Wish I still did. I'd just pack a cooler, hit the road, tell my boss to fuck himself end up in Austin in a beery haze sitting on the grass watching all the bats...

[Martin]

It is that time of year again!!!

In about four weeks, I'll be headed back to Austin, Texas to assault my eyes and brain with more Fantastic Fest goodness.

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This will be my third time attending and like both of the times prior the wife and I will be doing the second half of the festival. Though I'd like to do the full eight days (and was supposed to in 2017 until life got in the way), the price gets up there for tickets and accommodations. And it truly is a grueling process. I'm looking to try to get 16 movies in over four days. It's super fun, but tiring.

They have announced two waves of titles so far with at least a third on the way along with the short film and various activities announcement. Here a links to the two announcements and one for the all the films so far if anyone is interested in checking it out:

http://fantasticfest.com/news/entry/...t-wave-is-here
http://fantasticfest.com/news/entry/...st-second-wave
http://fantasticfest.com/films/features


Movies that I'm pretty excited for:
1. Colour Out of Space from Richard Stanley, starring Nick Cage

2. Fractured from director Brad Anderson (I love The Machinist and Session 9, so I'm happy for a new film)

3. In the Shadow of the Moon from director Jim Mickle (Seriously, you haven't seen Cold In July yet...)

4. In the Tall Grass, adapted from the King/Hill collaboration

5. Synchronic from directors Benson and Moorehead (Resolution, Spring, and The Endless)

And that's just trying to keep the list short...

Opening night film is JoJo Rabbit and closing night film is Knives Out, which both look fantastic as well.

Have fun!

[Sock Monkey]

One of these years, I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and join you for this. It's literally right down the road.

Oh, man...if it's close then you absolutely have to do it one of these years. It's a lot of fun.

[Brian861]

One of these years, I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and join you for this. It's literally right down the road.

[Sock Monkey]

It is that time of year again!!!

In about four weeks, I'll be headed back to Austin, Texas to assault my eyes and brain with more Fantastic Fest goodness.

ff_2019_poster__full.jpg

This will be my third time attending and like both of the times prior the wife and I will be doing the second half of the festival. Though I'd like to do the full eight days (and was supposed to in 2017 until life got in the way), the price gets up there for tickets and accommodations. And it truly is a grueling process. I'm looking to try to get 16 movies in over four days. It's super fun, but tiring.

They have announced two waves of titles so far with at least a third on the way along with the short film and various activities announcement. Here a links to the two announcements and one for the all the films so far if anyone is interested in checking it out:

http://fantasticfest.com/news/entry/...t-wave-is-here
http://fantasticfest.com/news/entry/...st-second-wave
http://fantasticfest.com/films/features


Movies that I'm pretty excited for:
1. Colour Out of Space from Richard Stanley, starring Nick Cage

2. Fractured from director Brad Anderson (I love The Machinist and Session 9, so I'm happy for a new film)

3. In the Shadow of the Moon from director Jim Mickle (Seriously, you haven't seen Cold In July yet...)

4. In the Tall Grass, adapted from the King/Hill collaboration

5. Synchronic from directors Benson and Moorehead (Resolution, Spring, and The Endless)

And that's just trying to keep the list short...

Opening night film is JoJo Rabbit and closing night film is Knives Out, which both look fantastic as well.

[Sock Monkey]

Very interesting thread. I don't see too many films nowadays, but because of the Internet, I tend to enjoy reading about films, their concepts/spoilers. So, with that in mind, knowing I probably won't track down School's Out, and not seeing an entry for that project at Wikipedia, would you mind revealing the ending and what it was all about? I've read some reviews, and am curious.

Sure! I'll throw it in some spoiler tags in case others don't to stumble across information:

Spoiler!

Ultimately, the lead teacher discovers that the students are nihilistic and believe that there is some kind of disaster headed their way, preparing themselves in rather disturbing way (beating each other up, almost drowning another). The movie positions the teens as being disturbed, but there is an undercurrent that the adults are oblivious to any serious issues around them, choosing rather to spend their time partying at a bar. This culminates in the students stealing a school bus while on a field trip and attempting to kill themselves, but are stopped. The movie ends with a scene of the students seemingly finding peace at a park, while the lead teacher looks on. The idyllic day is shattered as sirens from the nearby nuclear plant start going off and the students and lead teacher stand staring as the plant explodes into flames or explodes. I can't quite remember the specifics.

The movie which originally positions itself as an "evil kids terrorize teachers" story winds up resolving itself as reflection of modern society where a new generation feels hopeless to stop the destruction of their world as the adults around them choose to ignore any of the world's problems. The students give up their position believing that they were wrong and accept that the world isn't as bad as they had feared, only for that rug to be pulled out from beneath them.

Like I stated in my original post, the movie was interesting and I enjoyed it, but it's moral quandary didn't quite stick with me as the had the directors previous film. Highly recommended, though.

[JJ123]

Very interesting thread. I don't see too many films nowadays, but because of the Internet, I tend to enjoy reading about films, their concepts/spoilers. So, with that in mind, knowing I probably won't track down School's Out, and not seeing an entry for that project at Wikipedia, would you mind revealing the ending and what it was all about? I've read some reviews, and am curious.

[Sock Monkey]

If you haven't seen THE PACIFIC, you should check that out. Why this guy isn't a household name is a mystery......
He was also in IRON MAN 3, but his role was nothing to write home about.

I've been meaning to catch THE PACIFIC for years and keep putting it off. Maybe this will give me the push to finally get around to it.

[dannyboy121070]

If you haven't seen THE PACIFIC, you should check that out. Why this guy isn't a household name is a mystery......
He was also in IRON MAN 3, but his role was nothing to write home about.

[Sock Monkey]

Thanks for the in-depth reporting, Sock Monkey. I watched APOSTLE on Netflix last night, and really enjoyed it. I probably would have passed it right by if not for your review. My wife watched it with me, and called me a "Sick Bastard!" for enjoying it.

I'm glad you enjoyed APOSTLE. Surprisingly, my wife really enjoyed this one as well and it is not her typical cup of tea. My mother-in-law watched it and was texting us in the middle asking us if it gets worse. Not even a minute later, she sends another one saying, "Yeah it does!"

I watched HOLD THE DARK last night, and I was kind of perplexed by it. Maybe I missed something, but it all seemed like a pointless, drawn-out, pretentious series of events that had no meaning.
I did enjoy seeing James Badge Dale, though. I remember seeing him in THE PACIFIC on HBO, and thinking that he was going to end up being a huge star.

I can see your viewpoint on HOLD THE DARK. This has become a pretty divisive film among viewers. I agree about Badge Dale. I wasn't familiar with him prior to this year's Fantastic Fest, but after seeing the three films he was in, I will be seeking out more of his work.

[dannyboy121070]

I watched HOLD THE DARK last night, and I was kind of perplexed by it. Maybe I missed something, but it all seemed like a pointless, drawn-out, pretentious series of events that had no meaning.
I did enjoy seeing James Badge Dale, though. I remember seeing him in THE PACIFIC on HBO, and thinking that he was going to end up being a huge star.

[dannyboy121070]

Thanks for the in-depth reporting, Sock Monkey. I watched APOSTLE on Netflix last night, and really enjoyed it. I probably would have passed it right by if not for your review. My wife watched it with me, and called me a "Sick Bastard!" for enjoying it.

[Sock Monkey]

Fantastic Fest Day IV:

My wife bounced back for the last day of the festival and we managed to see another three movies:

Starfish: is a post-apocalyptic story about a young woman dealing with the recent death of her friend. Locked in her recently deceased friend’s apartment, she discovers that her friend was involved with a group who were piecing together some of puzzle of the events that eventually led to the Lovecraftian creatures coming into our world.
More a meditative look at love and loss than a horror film, Starfish does have a couple of tense moments. The cinematography is beautiful and the lead actress, Virginia Gardner, does a great job. I did find myself a little disconnected from the character’s grief at times due to lack of context; merely telling me that they were close friends was not enough to invest me in their relationship and wished that there had been more to anchor the emotions.

Overall, while the film didn’t set my world on fire, I enjoyed it enough to see what the director has up next. Grade: C+

Feral: I have a deep affinity for faux documentaries. When done properly, I think there is an interesting dynamic established with the audience about what is real and what isn’t. One of my favorites is Lake Mungo, a faux documentary about the drowning death of a teenage girl, the repercussions of her death amongst her family and possible supernatural incidents beginning to occur afterwards. It’s creepy and hits its emotional beats well. I now have a second favorite with Feral, though it supplants the supernatural thrills with religious obsession.

Set in the hills of Oaxaca, the film follows the attempts of a former priest to rehabilitate first one, then three wild children found in the forest. It is the ex-priest’s belief that the children can be taught how to be civilized, to fit in with society. And for a while it seems that he might be right, but then things begin to go awry.

Presented through interviews and coupled with footage that the priest had taken to the show the progress of the rehabilitation of the wild children, the movie slowly builds to its crescendo though never fully giving away all of its secrets. Not horrific in the traditional sense of the word, the movie is unsettling not in just its subdued thrills but also in the questions it asks about faith, society and human nature. Grade: B+

Hold The Dark: Director Jeremy Saulnier’s Green Room is one of my all-time favorites and when I heard that his new film would be playing at the festival prior to its release on Netflix, I knew I had to attend. While this indeed now playing on Netflix, the cinematography was amazing to see on the big screen.
The plot revolves around a wolf expert, Russell Core, going to Alaska to help locate a missing child that the mother believes has been taken by wolves. When the child’s father returns home from the Iraq war (an amazing Alexander Skarsgard), events begin to spiral towards a violent and bloody end.

That above description is a very simplified synopsis of a film filled with complicated characters. Saulnier and screenwriter Macon Blair are not interested in holding the audiences’ hand when it comes to characters’ motivations. This is movie that demands your attention and pays it off in bloody fashion.

The cast is uniformly great, but I do have to give special kudos to Mr. James Badge Dale for his performance and pulling out a trifecta of great movie moments at the festival. I almost didn’t recognize him from the previous two films and his performance as a local cop who has recruited Russell Core to help him stop the spreading violence is fantastic, a performance that is understated and likeable in a film where the characters can be as cold and ruthless as the scenery that surrounds them.

Though not quite on par with Green Room, I thought this was another great film by Mr. Saulnier and look forward to what he has up his sleeve next. Grade: A-

[Sock Monkey]

Fantastic Fest Day III

On our third day of the festival, my wife got very sick and had to spend the day in the hotel room battling a cold. The brave movie soldier that I am, I made sure she had everything she needed and headed back to the festival (She pretty much kicked me out of the room). I was able to check out three movies that day:

Werewolf: After being liberated from a Nazi concentration camp, a group of children are moved into a makeshift orphanage. Food is scarce and life is hard, but there’s hope. That is until soldiers come and decide to take what they decide is theirs. And then a pack of attack dogs used by the Nazis arrive…

The titular creature is missing from this film so if anyone hoping for lycanthropic action will be sorely disappointed as were a couple of viewers that I overheard talking about the film (seriously guys, at least read the small blurb of the film...). The “werewolf” of the title is the savage creature we have all have inside that we battle to control. As do the children in the orphanage as bad goes to worse.

The movie has some tense sequences unfortunately for a movie about concentration camp survivors battling a pack of bloodthirsty dogs it also lacks bite. There is a moment where the movie leads you to believe it just did something rather brutal only for it reveal moments later that it didn’t. It was at that point that I realized the movie was going to pull its punches and for the most part it does. This isn’t a bad film—and I do recommend it to those who like thrillers—it just plays it a little too safe at times. Grade: C+

Donnybrook: A spiritual cousin of sorts to No Country For Old Men, this is a bleak, cold film about a bleak, cold world and lost people—some good, some bad, most somewhere in-between—making their way to…something. Hope? Happiness? Destruction? Death? Everybody is moving towards one or the other, some at the same time.
Donnybrook is a no-holds-barred illegal fight where the last man standing gets the winnings and this is exactly what ex-Marine Earl (played by Jamie Bell) needs to get his family out of poverty and his wife into rehab. Chainsaw Angus (Frank Grillo at his most brutal) is a meth dealer overflowing with anger and violence. Margaret is broken young woman, lost but not without heart that is teamed up with Angus, but might be looking for another way of life. Police officer Whalen (James Badge Dale in another great performance) is going off the rails, but might just be able to stop the destruction that Angus leaves in his wake. How all these characters cross paths and the final confrontation at Donnybrook plays out makes for a cold hard ride. One that that I was more than happy to take.

The movie currently sits at 50% on Rotten Tomatoes and I can see why. This movie isn’t for everyone. This isn’t a feel-good movie where you embrace life and loved ones afterward. Walking out of the theater from this one is like being punched in the gut and kicked in the teeth. While I wished some of the characters were more fully fleshed out and subplots more developed, overall it really stuck the landing. The movie is based on a book by the same name so I'm hoping to pick it up soon. Grade: B+

Terrified: This is one of the few straight out horror films that I saw at the festival this year and I was very much looking forward to it. The teaser image they used of an old naked man crawling out from under the bed really stuck with me. Unfortunately while there were some great moments, the movie failed to gel for me as a whole.

One of my issues was that the movie feels very episodic and switches protagonists throughout the film. The movie starts off with a husband coming home from work and his wife telling him that she’s been hearing voices coming from the drain all day. When he asks her what the voices are saying, she replies “That they are going to kill me”. How this scenario plays out sets the stage for the rest of the movie and it is a great start. Unfortunately at that point we get a flashback to another character and some creepy goings on at their house before moving forward to another story that culminates in the third act.

There are some great set pieces and jump scares and I really enjoyed the reveal of what was going on, it just didn’t all piece together in a satisfactory manner, leaving me a little disconnected.

This will be debuting on Shudder (a great horror streaming service) on October 11th, so I’ll probably check it out again to see if my opinion changes more to the better. Grade: B-

[HumphreyBear]

Thanks for sharing SM. I'll be keeping an eye out...