Better late than never: PODCAST part 2

Following on from the first podcast post yesterday, here's parts three and four of "Shut the Hell Up, We're Talking Movies".

A big thanks also to Kevin MacLeod for the nifty title music.

Again, difficulty in actually getting the videos embedded from YouTube unfortunately means I must point you here for Part 3 and here for Part 4. 

Better late than never: PODCAST

So, as you may or may not recall, I mentioned a few months back that I was looking at getting a podcast up and going. Well, way back at the start of the year my friends Rajeev, Chris and I sat down and recorded the first (and, so far, only) episode of the Rockets and Robots "Shut the Hell Up We're Talking Movies" podcast. Unbeknownst to me, finding a suitable (and free) place to host the podcast seemed all but impossible and the enterprise got dropped by the wayside. 

But thanks to the tenacity of Rajeev, the podcast (or vodcast? It's video, so... I dunno) has the first two parts up on YouTube and you can watch them here! The other two parts should be up sometime tomorrow, and I'll be posting them here too. 

Let me know what you think - this is obviously a little out of date (being a wrap-up of 2011) - but any feedback would be helpful. I'll look around at other hosting options before recording anymore podcasts but hopefully they'll be a little more regular. 

On with the show!

(and, apologies, but this is only the first part. Blogger/YouTube is being a shit and not allowing me to find/link/upload Part 2. Direct link to it on YouTube here though)

Seriously, big ups to Rajeev for getting this up and in a watchable form. I'm just here nattering away and taking all the credit here. 

2011: MY FAVOURITES

Before I get into the rundown of my favourite films of 2011, there's something I just have to get off my chest. It is the end of the year and, as such, there are are a lot of these sorts of lists coming out now. Fair enough. What really annoys me though, what really grinds my gears, is the constant and lazy bagging of all Hollywood fare. It happens every year and it's the same complaints - sequels, comic-book movies blah blah blah. While there is a fair share of cinematic dreck every year, there's just as much nonsense coming from the low budget independent end as the big ole' blockbusters. There is nothing, nothing, wrong with a well made & intelligent Hollywood film. There doesn't always have to be a deeper meaning to the events on screen; don't forget that movies can be fun.

And gods, please don't think for a pico second that I am somehow advocating for all the product that comes out of Hollywood. There is a fair amount of it that is dreck - unimaginative, cash-grabbing, insulting garbage. I just think it's important to acknowledge those big movies that still worked, dammit. To tar all of them with the same brush in a wrap up of the year is lazy and insulting writing.

And I keep saying this, but I'll repeat it again: the reason I watch movies in a cinema is for the experience. And who says you can't have an equally valid experience/response to a well made blockbuster?

Ok, now that I've got all of that hullabaloo off my chest let's move it along to my favourite films from the past year (note: these are not the films I deem to have been the "best". These are merely my own personal favourites and, as such, this list is entirely subjective and doesn't aim to be anything more). All titles link to my original write-ups.

Boil the kettle and make a cup o' tea now. This is gonna be a big 'un.

True Grit

It's true that most people would consider the Coen Bros. Oscar nominated Western a film from 2010; the Yanks certainly would. But with the way international distribution worked with it, Mattie Ross and Rooster Cogburn didn't wander over our way until early this year. The brothers Coen crafted a Western that proved to be the exception to the "all remakes/rehashes are bad/pointless" rule.

Young actress Hailee Stienfeld all but up and stole the film right from under The Dude's nose, as she proved to be as fearless as her character, Mattie Ross. This mismatched pair, joined by a comedic Matt Damon as the puffed up Texas Ranger LeBouef, are as infused with oddity and compassion as any Coen pure-bred character.

And wrapping around those characters like a small-pox infected blanket are musings on vengeance, hardship and violence. This is ground familiar to the Coen brothers but it never feels like a retread of previous work or the Coens settling for something easy.

True Grit is a film I have been looking forward to revisiting and revisiting soon.

If God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise

Spike Lee's HBO documentary focusing on the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, When the Levees Broke, gets something of a sequel in this 4 hour, 2 part examination of New Orleans and Louisiana 5 years on.

In the first half Lee revisits interviewees from the previous film, finding out about where they are now and how they're coping. He has a vast array of people on camera here; from regular folk trying to get their lives back together, to those who lost loved ones, to mayors, journalists, actors and more. It was almost like Lee felt the need to get all of this oral history on film, to have it be a part of recorded history and for these stories to reach out. There is anger, frustration, grief, art, laughter and hope.

The second half shifts its focus to a more recent disaster for the Gulf of Mexico: the BP oil spill. Just when the state was down, BAM, they get kicked in the nards with another horrendous disaster. As New Orleans was devastated by human error and mismanagement during a natural disaster, so too was the wider Gulf area utterly let down by these same factors during a man made disaster.

If God is Willing... played as part of the Documentary Edge Festival and was seen by me and the handful of people in the theatre with me, which is a damned shame. This is a film worthy of your attention and I encourage everyone to seek this out.

X-Men: First Class

Poster by Phil Noto

I really wasn't sure that Matthew Vaughn and co. could pull this off. Not only was this a reboot/prequel to a film franchise that screwed away most of it's good will with two rank sequels (X-Men 3 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine) but it was also an early tent-pole release with a truncated schedule. Vaughn was supposedly working on it right up until the premiere and the marketing materials (usually premiered at the previous year's Comic-Con for these types of films) didn't surface until early this year and were easily some of the worst of the year. So where the hell does Vaughn get off on releasing a fun, engaging and smart comic-book adventure like this?

Yes, fair cop, I'm a huge X-Men geek but, again, there was no guarantee this film was going to be any better than what came before. At best, I was cautiously optimistic. And then, after finally watching it, I was utterly energised. First Class is by no means a perfect film; the rush to completion is all too readily apparent in some FX work and the occasional slip back to an Irish brogue from the otherwise top-form Michael Fassbender. So too does the early relationship between McAvoy's cheekily laddish Xavier and Fassbender's embittered and vengeful Erik suffer; being otherwise impeccably played until having to rush players into their known positions come the end.

But what the film gets right, it really gets right. There's a sense of fun and adventure to this film reminiscent of the early comic-books themselves, with Vaughn indulging his Bond appreciation and setting us up for a sequel (I hope).

Captain America: The First Avenger

Poster by Kevin Howdeshell

Ok, so Marvel have been moving towards something huge in their last few films and we finally get to see the results of that grand plan in next year's The Avengers. But all of that work would be for naught if the films leading up to this all-star team-up (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, this year's Thor and Captain America) didn't work or worse, didn't connect.

That was a particularly troubling issue given the name and flag wearing costume of one of Marvel's oldest characters. In the time in which Captain America was first created, World War II, he was a character that made sense: an all-American good guy socking Nazis on the jaw. Bam! Take that Hitler! In the decades since, however, the world has moved on from looking to America's might with many instead looking upon the land of the free disdainfully and seeing her inhabitants as shallow, obese and arrogant.

Thankfully Marvel and director Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer) set the film in Cap's original era of Nazi bashing, with added retro-futuristic gadgetry, and really get the fun adventure aspects of Cap, as he faces up against the dastardly Red Skull. In a time when the majority of genre and comic-book releases are unnecessarily "gritted" and darkened up, mistaking po-faced seriousness for depth, Captain America was a blast of unwinking, rock 'em sock 'em fun.

Though come the closing credits Cap wakes up in a world not his own (i.e. ours) in time for next year's team-up, I hope Marvel find more stories within his World War II exploits. The Star Spangled Avenger is a far more interesting character than his costume would suggest, and I hope to enjoy more of his adventures soon.

The Tree of Life

Terence Malick's Cannes winning meditation on nothing less than life, the universe and everything proved to be a divisive opening night film for the New Zealand International Film Festival. Some audience members, both here and overseas, were obviously put out by Malick's insistence on not crafting a typical dramatic film. Instead, his grand but imperfect film played out more like an epic, lyrical, visual poem or a massive cinematic Led Zep jam.

Taking in small town American life in the 50's, the creation of the universe, meditations on nature and grace and much more besides, there's a heady mix of imagery and narrative wandering. It feels very much like a kaleidoscope of life and experience. Accusations of pretension and needless noodling away are fair enough, but the sheer scope of Malick's ambition cannot be belittled or derided.

The Tree of Life is a film that can really only be fully experienced in a cinema, in the dark, with an audience. You have to allow yourself to be swept up in Malick's vision and be smacked in the gob with wonder and awe. Not getting up and pausing to make a cuppa, or watching on a ridiculously tiny in-flight screen (as it was available on my flight home from the States). Delicate, intimate, flawed and epic, The Tree of Life is the type of film becoming ever rarer nowadays. I was moved and utterly enthralled.

13 Assassins

Takashi Miike's epic was not the greatest viewing experience I've had this year (thanks to a thoroughly bored neighbour, obviously keen to leave and light up a ciggie) but the film itself was elegant and epic, allowing us time in this world of honour and duty before unleashing the unrelenting carnage Miike is known for.

Set at a time when the era of the noble samurai is coming to an end, a rare few dare to stand up to a corrupt, sadistic and power hungry young Lord before he consumes Japan. They are but a small band of warriors, voluntarily standing up to an army of hundreds. Death is not only on the cards, death is all the cards. These 13 warriors have a daunting task ahead of them but none of them flinch away from it, preferring to die with their brothers in battle than living a dishonoured life without them.

These are men bound by their task and Miike allows their humour and humanity to come through, before they come to the small village they plan to use as a bottleneck. This village is where the final, bravura, carnage soaked confrontation takes place. It's an exhausting assault but Miike knows how to construct a contained and extended action sequence.

This is Miike's most mature work by far and my hands-down favourite. Another film that really benefits from being seen on the biggest screen possible, 13 Assassins swept me up and was elegant, visceral, bloody and, surprisingly, quite touching.

I Saw the Devil

Poster by Kevin Tong

Holy shit, South Korea eh? There have been a number of outstanding and brutal films from South Korea in recent years; a trend perhaps set into high gear by the remarkable success of Oldboy.

I Saw the Devil is an intense, gripping and profoundly disturbing ride through the sweaty obsession with vengeance. After his pregnant fiancee is murdered by a notorious serial killer, a special forces cop hunts him down and exacts brutal, lengthy punishment. But this is merely the beginning and what develops is a cold, escalating game of cat-and-mouse with the roles constantly shifting between the cop and the killer.

The photography is arresting and the two leads are attention worthy presences. This film about the ugliness inside is often visually beautiful, with some of the most arresting shots of the year. Min-sik Choi gives a fascinating and disturbing portrayal of the serial killer, while Byung-hun Lee is an emotionally restrained machine.

Director Jee-woon Kim daringly provokes the audience into response at every turn, even going so far as to dare the audience to empathise with the hunted serial killer. A violent meditation on violence, the lengths and futility of revenge and the cost of it all, I Saw the Devil is the height of confrontational cinema and demands an intellectual as well as emotional response. It was an experience I am unlikely to forget.

The Giants

This Belgian coming-of-age film was a NZIFF film that caught me utterly by surprise and that doesn't happen often. The Giants was one of those delightful and all too rare surprises at Film Festival - a previously unknown gem tucked away in the massive programme just waiting to be noticed.

I went into film skeptical, cautious of whether I would be in for a treat or an overly-serious and self-conscious bore-fest. Thankfully, this tale of two abandoned brothers and their new-found friend is unhurried, charming, thrilling and something of an adventure. Much like growing up then.

The three boys are left very much to their own devices for the summer - mum and dad have taken off on a foreign trip, leaving the brothers with their grandfather. Unfortunately, he's dead and because mummy dearest is too busy to return any messages, the lads have to come up with... less than legal (albeit fun) means to get food and money. They get into mischief, laugh and fight and generally act like brothers. Running out of money they get together with their friend and organise the rental of their grandfather's house to a local drug-dealer. Getting into far more trouble than they bargained for, the boys end up living rough.

The Giants is a delicate wee gem of a film. Never hurried or fussy, it weaves its tale of three boys and one summer with a deft touch, never becoming sentimental or melodramatic. And that's why it makes it into my Favourites of 2011.

Martha Marcy May Marlene

This examination of a young girl escaping from a cult and recuperating with her older sister is one I was glad not to have heard much about.

Of course, if you've heard anything about it now, it's likely the breakout turn from Elizabeth Olsen as the titular escapee. She is an incredibly strong and assured central presence holding the delicate balance of the character's psychology (and by extension, the film) on her young shoulders. She is a profoundly damaged character, held in the thrall of John Hawkes' quietly menacing cult leader for gods know how long. Early one morning she escapes and is picked up by her older sister, who takes her in and tries to help heal her.

Writer/director Sean Durkin should be earning equal amounts of positive attention for crafting an intricate, stunning debut feature film. Martha Marcy May Marlene is at times challenging, tense and frightening, guided by a sure hand that never feels forced. I was just as impressed with this debut as I was with David Michod's Animal Kingdom last year - to show such intelligence, restraint and inherent knowledge of how to really wind up an audience in a debut film is nothing short of staggering.

I'm hopeful for some sort of release for the film here in NZ next year. Get out and see it if you can.

Troll Hunter

A found footage film that, after a deluge of them, really works. Beginning with three students making a documentary about a number of suspicious bear killings, things quickly take a dramatically bizarre turn when they decide to follow a suspected poacher.

Troll Hunter is, no doubt, one of the best genre films of the year. Effortlessly blending the fantastical with believable characters, humour, horror and excitement the whole film is a ride you don't want to get off of. You know how some films are often called roller-coaster rides? It's generally used in fairly lazy terms to describe a film with moments of excitement or loud explosions. But Troll Hunter is a film that really lives up to the label - it knows when to slow things down and let you catch your breath... before BOOM! More troll action!

Troll Hunter is smart and fun. It works by making you actually give a damn about the naive students caught up in the fantastic action. It is an increasing rarity in these types of films, usually populated with arrogant and stupid teenagers. It also helps to have everything centered around a grizzled and embittered Hunter named Hans (Otto Jespersen), one of the great fun characters of 2011. There's talk of a Hollywood remake (of course) but absolutely don't bother. Troll Hunter is where it's at and after 2010's Rare Exports (and the yet to be seen by me Valhalla Rising) offers further proof of a thriving genre presence in the old countries of the Vikings.

Tyrannosaur

Paddy Considine is an actor I appreciate seeing in pretty much anything he appears in. From his nervy journalist in The Bourne Supremacy to the surprisingly hilarious tough-guy farce of Detective Andy Wainwright in Hot Fuzz, Considine is an actor who has no troubles owning the screen. He comes across as an actor of deep intelligence, with a wicked sense of humour. I was anticipating his directorial debut Tyrannosaur not for anything I had heard about it, but simply for coming from Considine.

I was not disappointed. Tyrannosaur is an impressively powerful film relying on none of the camera tricks prevalent in young indie filmmakers’ works. There are some who may look at it as “poverty porn” or as just yet another lower English class kitchen-sink drama, but those people would be missing something altogether more than that. Yes it is a brutal, depressing watch at times but there is something more beneath that calloused surface.

Peter Mullan (a fellow actor-turned-director) is a frightening presence as Joseph, a volatile man consumed by rage and grief who constantly drinks himself into trouble. Olivia Colman is something of a surprise as a Christian charity store worker who's life is far from the suburban perfection Mullan assumes. Her is a performance that pretty much devastated me.

Tyrannosaur is a hard film to really recommend, as it's as far from a pleasant Saturday-night film as you can get. But it is the first film from a very assured director, who I cannot wait to see more from.

Melancholia

Whatever you may think of Lars von Trier as a person or provocateur, you cannot argue that he is a filmmaker with his own unique voice. While the ballyhoo surrounding his appearance at Cannes (and subsequent banishment) is a load of old nonsense, his latest exploration of depression is anything but.

Completing some sort of strange thematic throughline at the Festival (art-house science fiction from a noted director; The Tree of Life and with an approaching planetary body promising death or redemption; see Another Earth) Melancholia is a beautiful, depressing, confounding, daring and frustrating work of art.

Separated into two halves with each half focusing on a different sister as a strange new planet inexorably approaches the Earth. Up-front is the wedding day of Kirsten Dunst's Justine and it quickly devolves into a depressing mess, with the bride going MIA and the family constantly bickering. Her marriage is over before it begins. Charlotte Gainsbourg's Claire, and her family, are the focus of part two. Justine, still suffering from crushing depression, comes to stay with Claire, her son and her husband (Kiefer Sutherland). Oh, and then the world ends.

Melancholia is a film of big ideas and explorations but never loses sight of the micro; the muck and mire of humanity that these ideas spring from. Off-putting for a lot of people, Melancholia and von Trier have no interest in making things easy or offering answers. It's a film you just have to give yourself over to and allow yourself to be gobsmacked.

Hanna

Joe Wright is some sort of chameleon. His first film was the Jane Austen adaption Pride & Prejudice, which he then followed up with the celebrated World War II period film Atonement and then set off to the States for the contemporary but unsteady The Soloist. And then, as if to blast all the cobwebs away, he shoots out Hanna; a sort of art-house pre-teen spy thriller in the Bourne mold.

I'm fairly surprised to, a few months after seeing it, be looking back at Hanna as one of my favourite movies of the year. Especially over films like Drive and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. But for some reason or another, it is a film that sticks out to me and has captured some strange part of my imagination. Wright took a slew of disparate elements and blended them into some sort of intoxicating cocktail of cinema. Hanna is a cracking coming-of-age fairytale paranoid spy-thriller music video of dizzying skill.

Working once again with Saoirse Ronan (a chameleon equal to Wright) as the eponymous young girl assassin on the run, Wright also drafts in Eric Bana (who is sorely underused in most other films) and the frightening but bewitching Cate Blanchett. That is a trio of scarily excellent talent, in addition to the Chemical Brothers on score.

Hanna deserved more than the brief, almost perfunctory release it received in New Zealand. A film of stylish intelligence and it is a singular film in a world of franchises.

Milocrorze: A Love Story

Unfortunately, I have no idea as to whether anyone is going to get a chance to see this wonderfully oddball Japanese film because as much as I loved it, I just don’t see it having an incredibly wide audience. But then, this is exactly why I took the utterly mad step of going to Fantastic Fest this year – to see films like this that I otherwise wouldn’t get the chance to.

Milocrorze is not a perfect film but it so very much its own thing I really don’t mind that much. Telling three stories all about love in some way or another that carry only the loosest connective tissue, they are all told in their own style. The tale of  Ovreneli Vreneligare and his love of the Great Milocrorze is a live-action cartoon with colours that sear your eyeballs; the story of “relationship expert”  Besson Kumagai is a tongue-in-cheek 60’s influenced musical while the epic tale of Tamon and his quest for his kidnapped love takes the largest stylistic detour and becomes some sort of neo-futuristic samurai romance capped off by a stunning one-take slash-fest.  Unfortunately, it is this quest that proves the films biggest weak point coming as it does after two energetic and wild segments. But it's an important part of the overall picture

It's a stunning triumph of style, with an overflow of ideas, pastiches and fizzing fun. For being a perfect summation of why I quit my job and traveled thousands of miles to the capital of Texas, Milocrorze makes it to my Favourites of 2011. 

Clown: The Movie

As sure as I am that Milocrorze won’t get any sort of showing over here, I have to wonder at the possibility of even this film getting any sort of release without a couple of significant cuts. Clown is a comedy that has absolutely zero problems in taking a giant flying leap over the boundaries of acceptability. There is an unfortunate censorship aspect that may rear its head with respect to a couple of the choicest gags in the film and cuts would severely affect the humour.

Which is an absolute damn shame, as this is easily one of the funniest films I have ever seen. And I’m sure a large part of that is due to my complete and utter surprise – I wasn’t even planning to see this at Fantastic Fest! I’m no fan of clowns, the brief synopsis I had read did nothing for me and there were so many other films vying for attention at the time. It was only due to a lucky conversation where it was enthusiastically endorsed that I caught it. Thankfully, there are no clowns and the story is an excuse to hang a whole bunch of awkward and rude humour. I guess the quickest explanation of Clown can be: it's like a sex-comedy influenced by the awkward documentary style of The Office but with no sense of restraint.

And really, in the lucky happenstance you do get to see Clown I should shut-up about it; nothing hurts a comedy like built up over-anticipation. And if you really want to see what I’m gushing about, there are six seasons of Clown on DVD available (in Dutch though). This is the film something like The Hangover doesn't dare to be.


And that's it; my 2011 wrapped up. I'd love to hear about your favourite films of 2011 in the comments. Did you go for a Drive with Ryan Gosling? Did you feel like you were worthy enough to possess the power of Thor? Or were you one of the Bridesmaids? (a film I missed at the cinema unfortunately but one that would likely find itself on this list). Or was there a film you discovered this year that was a delightful surprise you can't wait to tell everyone about?

Thanks for reading. 

2011: CLASSICS & ALSO RANS

Before we get into the big, meaty wrap up of my favourite films from 2011 I thought I'd give a quick run down of those films that didn't quite make it into the final cut. In addition I'll quickly run through those cinematic classics I was lucky enough to catch, for the first time, on the big screen.

Catch-up Classics
The Dreadnaught
Lawrence of Arabia
An American Werewolf in Paris
La dolce vita
Singin' in the Rain

As I'm sure I've mentioned many, many times before I absolutely LOVE seeing classic films at the cinema. It really is the best way to watch a movie, and the best way to watch a bona-fide, slice of fried gold classic. I'm interested as to how the continuing digitisation of the cinema-going experience affects this - positively or negatively? Are we going to be more or less likely to see these films the way they should be seen - on the big screen?

And, without any further faffing about, those films that almost but didn't quite make my list of Favourites of 2011.

The Films Of 2011 That I Really Rather Liked, But That Didn't Quite Make the Top (Despite Being Really Rather Good)

Black Swan
Tangled
Rango
The Disappearance of Alice Creed
The Yellow Sea
The Man From Nowhere
Arrietty
Tiny Furniture
A Separation
Drive
Extraterrestrial
Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Contagion
Midnight in Paris
Real Steel
Headhunters
Thor
Source Code
Get Low
The Fighter
Warrior
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil
The Innkeepers
Senna
Hobo With a Shotgun
Attack the Block
Manborg
Bullhead
Elite Squad II: The Enemy Within
The Man From Nowhere
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Some controversial choices in there, I'm sure. Ok, I'm fairly certain there are a number of folks who will be upset that Drive isn't in the top lot. I also wrestled with the placement of Attack the Block and Rise of the Planet of the Apes they could have both easily made my Favourites list. The Iranian drama A Separation was also a close almost-addition to that final list; it was specific and universal and surprised me with its almost delicate power. And all of these films listed here are films I absolutely enjoyed and would encourage anyone and everyone to get out and see them.

But I had to ensure my Favourites of 2011 were those cinematic experiences that were just that extra little bit special; those films that really struck something with me.

And I'll be bringing you those Favourites of 2011 very, very soon - there are still a couple of days left in the year and there's still movies to see!

2011: THE WORST

It can't be helped. Every year, no matter how hard you try, you're bound to see at least a few pieces of crap at the cinema. You may have the best intentions and all the excitement in the world going in, only to be beaten about the head with shoddy storytelling, idiotic and unbelievable characters, cheap special effects and boredom. Oh yes. It can be a tough time going to the movies. Generally speaking, I am able to steer myself away from the craptitude of the likes of Alvin & the Chipmunks 3: Chipwrecked - one of the rare times I'm thankful I don't do this professionally and have to see this type of soulless cinema as part of my job. But it's impossible to come away unscathed.

Often these sorts of lists have more than their fair share of Hollywood blockbuster cinema-destroyers and no-one is more shocked than I that I don't have more of them on this list. But I've really tried to limit this list to those films that really got to me, in the worst way possible. And this often comes from disappointment. It comes from expecting something great or different or even, heck, fun and getting served up something utterly lacking. That's why films like Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Transformers: Dark of the Moon aren't on this list; I wasn't expecting much from them in the first place. They are of typical modern day blockbuster, in that bad they may be and filled with little more than sound and fury, but I can barely remember anything from them. They were basically white noise, with the occasional moment (good and bad) jumping out.

The following films, however, left me feeling despondent and disappointed. Films that I have absolutely no regard for and would warn ye off from. Abandon all hope ye who continue reading. The titles link to my original reviews.

Battle: LA

Aggressive stupidity on a massive scale. How stupid did I think this film was? Its on here and Transformers !!! isn't. Taking two things that are currently en vogue - alien invasions and shakey cam action - this was an ADHD mess, anchored by a solid Aaron Eckhart. He is the honest-to-gods best (and only good thing) about this film. This film that, with its shooting choices, was striving for realism in a fantastic situation was entirely let down by its unbelievably cliche characters.

The "shakey cam" effect in these types of films is quickly wearing out its welcome and Battle: LA may very well be the nadir. The effect is here overused to nauseating and headache inducing results, with the cinematographer seemingly unable to frame a shot or keep anything in focus. An utter failure on just about every level - story, character, camera and even FX - this was the big budget mess of the year.

Space Battleship Yamato

Continuing the theme of stupid sci-fi... Y'know, I was fairly excited for this adaptation of an old Japanese anime. The far flung future, with humanity fighting it out in space against aggressive alien invaders? And the spaceships all look like battleships with jet engines? That sounds like a slice of fried gold to me! I like some crazy Japanese films as much as the next guy (Karate Robo Zarbogar, Milocrorze: A Love Story) but Space Battleship Yamato is poorly paced, cheap and zero fun.

And that's the biggest problem with Space Battleship Yamato: it's no fun. I could have forgiven this film a lot if it had only been something approaching the lowest order of exciting. I'll happily wave away poor visual effects work, cheap sets and nonsensical story if I get the feeling people are having fun with it. But they weren't. So, instead Space Battleship was inert and childish.

Another Earth

This is, frankly, a big shock for me. I would have initially expected Another Earth to at least make it to the "also-rans" column when wrapping up the year. But, much like last years Splice, it instead falls into the Blog Post of Cinema Awfulness. I dearly love me some intelligent, small budget science-fiction filmmaking. I bang on about it often here on the blog and there have been a number of truly great examples of this type of work in recent years.

Unfortunately, Another Earth, really isn't one of them. Understand, I went into this with high hopes and an open mind. But this trite and immature dwelling on grief, with the spectre of a newly discovered parallel and identical Earth slowly growing, is obvious and maudlin. Toss in even more unnecessary "shakey-cam" and, hey presto! Welcome to the bottom of the heap Another Earth. An absolute shame to have you here.


The Devil's Business

An unfortunate entry from Fantastic Fest, I've seen films from high-school kids with more atmosphere and more to interest me than this utter bore. I had no expectations for The Devil's Business, as it was one of those many festival films I hadn't heard about.

Two English gangster cliches - the cold old hand and the over-eager new guy - hang about in the house of their intended target. Snore, bore. The majority of the film's time is taken up with these two uninteresting characters blathering away at one another. There's some attempt to build up an atmosphere and lead us toward the spooky finale but... nope. Didn't work.

The central idea may have worked as a mildly entertaining short film, but inelegantly stretched out to feature length it instead becomes a deflated slog. By the time of the (long seen) reveal, I was totally uninterested. One of those films where I couldn't wait for it the end to come, just so I could leave.

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame

The most recent entry in this year's list and yet another film I initially would not have expected to have on this list. But then, that's often how they wind up here isn't it? I don't go into films expecting to be disappointed!

As I mentioned in my review, I was expecting Detective Dee... to be some sort of martial arts Sherlock Holmes adventure (and distinct from Guy Ritchie's martial arts Sherlock Holmes). Instead, it was a fair bit of a mess, never happy to settle being on thing or another; whether that be palace intrigue, supernatural mystery or kung-fu film. The great Sammo Hung choreographed the fight scenes but they're all unfortunately limp and uninteresting with director Tsui Hark over-relying on CGI.

For something that could at least have been a little bit of fun, Detective Dee instead bored me with its overly complicated plot, wildly uneven tone and weightless action.


So there you have it, my least favourite films of 2011. You can also read my break down of my least favourite films from 2010 here and I'll be posting the Runners-up for the Favourite Films of 2011 list in the next day or two.

A PEEK AT SOMETHING NEW

Well, as I am currently caught up on all my film reviewing (for the first time in, yes, months!) and currently working away at my wrap-up of 2011 and a longer, more generalised piece I thought I'd post a peek at something else I'm currently working on and hope to have going live soon.

That thing would be a podcast. I'm hoping to not only have an audio version of the podcast you can listen to on your iThingamajig but also an animated version! It won't be a fully animated kinda version, simply because I just don't have the animatey skills but hopefully something a little different and interesting. I am currently open to possible podcast names.

So! Concept sketches ahoy!

The beginning of sorting out how an animated "me" will look.
It can be a little strange drawing a cartoon version of yourself
- you have an idea of what you look like generally but it's
important to get the defining specifics too.

Getting a rough idea of the standard layout. I'm hoping to
have a couple of guests on the first 'cast.
I'm also not terribly great with hands obviously.

Just some doodles. A dinosaur, why not?

Really just trying to get a sense of movement. I have
no idea why I'm telling off Clint Eastwood.

So I hope that gives you a tasty taste of something new coming to rockets and robots are GO!

FANTASTIC FEST: THANK-YOU

Making it to Fantastic Fest was one of my goals for this year (in addition to, among other thins, writing a feature length script) and, thanks in no small part to a lot of support from my friends and family, I made it. I travelled 7,000 odd miles and quit my job to get here, but get here I did. I may have missed out on the signature events of Fantastic Fest (such as the Debates, the Awards and the Feuds) but I packed most of my days with amazing, crazy, unmissable movies which is really the whole point to me. I'll get into my overall experience of the Fest in a separate post soon but first I wanted to thank all of the people who helped me get here. 

First, to my amazing, wonderful, loving and supportive partner Sarah who has encouraged me to go on this crazy adventure since Day One. I doubt I'd be here without her as she's been a constant source of suggestions and support. Second, thanks to my amazing family - my mum and dad, my brother and sister, my grandma and grandad, my aunts and uncles Anne, Don, Jamie & Pauline - who all supported me far more than I would have ever asked for or expected (financially, as my family has always been really good with being there and supporting). I am really lucky to have such a supportive family - they may not all understand this crazy love/obsession I have for films and genre films in particular but they have recognised the necessity of it for me and supported me above and beyond. A huge thanks to all of my friends who also helped me along the way here: Mez for taking the fantastic promo photos (that I'm still using around the place) for free; my fundraising supporters Rebecca, Ben, Meera, Chris H, Sarah-Rose, Alexis, Chris T, Patricia; Rajeev for the awesome poster (which you can check out as my twitter account background) and badge I wore every day of the Fest promoting this blog.

I'd also like to say a huge thanks to Tim League and the staff and volunteers of Fantastic Fest and the Alamo Drafthouse - these guys worked their collective asses off to provide an awesome Fest experience. From programming to ushering to wait-staffing to the intros before each film and the Q&As after these guys really helped to ensure a great time for all. Also a big thanks to all the fellow attendees of Fantastic Fest; I have never experienced such a friendly, communal vibe at a film festival before. While there is a sense of exclusivity surrounding some of the events at Fantastic Fest what it all comes down to in the end is the films, and everyone was really there for those great, crazy and wild films and it was never too difficult to start chatting with someone. And also a thank-you to the kind, helpful people of Austin, Texas. I've often been waylaid because I've just ended up chatting to someone, about politics, travel and whatever. This is, from my experience, a friendly city with a lot of great folks in it and, no joke, the most courteous drivers I've ever seen.

And to you guys, out there reading this blog. I know I don't have the biggest audience but I truly love writing this thing and I'm going to keep on doing it and I hope you keep on enjoying it (and sharing it with your friends!). I've got a few reviews to catch up on from between the NZIFF and Fantastic Fest and I hope to have separate entries for all films I saw at Fantastic Fest too. I'll also be bringing you tales of my further adventures in the States (I'm off to San Francisco tomorrow and then LA on Wednesday before flying back home on Friday).

Cheers.

FANTASTIC FEST: DAY EIGHT: FINAL FEST: REQUIEM

I consoled myself with a "Michael Jackson" cupcake
- chocolate with cream-cheese icing.
Soon afterwards I sunk into a sugar coma.

So this is it. The end of the journey. This was my final day of Fantastic Fest and it would end, not with a bang, but with a whimper. With no sort of announcement that I could find anywhere the 1:00pm screening of The Loved Ones was pulled and a 12:45pm repeat screening of the award-winning Bullhead playing instead. What this meant, then, is that the ticket queue opened 15 minutes earlier than I thought it would. Meaning when I actually logged on to book my tickets EVERYTHING (that I hadn't already seen) was Sold Out, including a repeat screening of the popular A Boy and His Samurai. I was well pissed off. This was the final day of Fantastic Fest and I was going to spend it NOT watching movies?! Well that's not how I wanted to finish things. So, I was going to have try my luck with standby tickets and hope against hope I'd make it in to something.

Well, lucky I was at my motel catching up with some writing and had twitter open - the folks at Fantastic Fest opened up a second screen for Morgan Spurlock's Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope and I managed to score a ticket. Watching Comic-Con, a documentary on the annual San Diego Comic-Con, with a Fantastic Fest audience was pretty frakking great. The doco is no snide look at the world of geeks and their passion, but rather follows geeks on their way to Con for various reasons: there's two guys hoping to get work in comic-books, hauling their portfolios around the Con taking alll criticism on the chin. There's the obsessive toy collector who simply must get the new Galactus toy and that's all he's there for (thankfully, this is a very short segment). There's the cute couple who met at the previous year's Con and the guy's efforts to propose to her at the Kevin Smith Q&A. There's the owner of Mile High Comics - the largest retailer of comic-books in America - and who helps provide an insight into the diminishing "Comic" aspect of Comic-Con. And then there's the costume designer who works out of her garage with a small team making incredible, professional-level costumes from Mass Effect 2 who is there to enter the Masquerade and hopefullly score some work from it. These stories are intercut with talking head interviews; some are fellow Comic-Con attendees but the majority are, for lack of a better term, celebrity geeks: the likes of Joss Whedon, Kevin Smith, Harry Knowles (also a producer on the film), Stan Lee, Paul Dini, Matt Fraction, Seth Green, Guillermo del Toro and more. The documentary is, in fact, something of a celebration of all things geek and is a light look at the defining place of fandom in popular culture now and how the Con has become so diversified with it's pop culture the comic-book section of it is the smallest part. But it does go to show that what some of these fans create with passion, talent and hardwork is nothing short of phenomenal. Comic-Con is a movie I can't wait to see on DVD, as I hope there are oodles and oodles of more interviews - with the regular Con attendees and the "geek gods" - and seeing it with the Fantastic Fest crowd was an enormous amount of fun. 


And that's it. That's the end of my first Fantastic Fest. I'm glad I got to something on the final day and I'm pleased it was something as enjoyable as Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope. I missed the Closing Night party due to my continuing sickness but I know for a fact this will not be my only Fantastic Fest. And heck, I want to get to San Diego now too.

FANTASTIC FEST: DAY SEVEN

Jo's - where I get coffee every morning

This is it, the penultimate day of the Fest. And my first film of the day is the bonafide classic (and never-before-seen by me) An American Werewolf in London. I assume everyone who really wanted to see the film were lucky enough to nab tickets to the earlier screening with the Rick Baker Q&A as the theatre was all but empty for this screening. An American Werewolf was fucking fantastic and I'm psyched I got to see it on the big screen. I was surprised by the streak of humour throughout but seeing as how it was directed by John Landis (the guy behind one of my all-time favourite comedies, The Blues Brothers) I shouldn't have been. The relationship between David and his buddy Jack is quickly and gracefully established; these guys have the easy chemistry of old friends. And then of course they don't keep to the roads and are attacked on the moors. The creature effects by Baker are astonishing work and he and Landis are really working together to build the best effect possible, Landis often cutting away to something mundane but still surprising. Also, Nazi demons! Crazy.

Taking a chance with my next screening I opted for The Devil's Business, a film I knew almost nothing about. An unmitigated bore is what I turned out to be watching. Two English gangster cliches arrive at a house to lie in wait to whack someone. Things start getting a little spooky but the action consisted chiefly of these two blokes nattering away at one another. Despite writer/director Sean Hogan's best efforts there was no tension, horror or surprises to this film. It felt cheap, derivative and talky. It may have been a half-decent idea for a short film, but stretched out to feature length it (and I) suffer for it.

As my preferred option of Summerland was, once again, sold out I took another chance on my selection and chose the late-confirmation Love. This was billed as something of an experimental sci-fi film, part of a larger work by band Angels & Airwaves (from ex-Blink 182 frontman Tom Delonge). It begins in the American Civil War with a young soldier sent off to see and catalogue some strange sight many miles away. It then cuts to the ISS in the near future, staffed by lone astronaut Capt. Lee Miller. The majority of the film is then taken up with Miller isolated and slowly going insane, as all communication is cut off. The last few minutes then go all 2001 on your head. I can definitely see what everyone involved was going for, aiming to tackle some big themes, but it does become tedious and feels a lot longer than it actually is. 2001: A Space Odyssey becomes a transcendent piece of cinema but Love, though it tries, cannot reach these stunning heights. I'm still unsure how the Civil War ties in to it all as well. But they did apparently get a lot of right with regards to the ISS - the spirit of at least, if not the absolute details.

Rounding out my day was the final selection from the Hong Kong genre vault. Unfortunately, I can't really talk about it as the distributor is one of those crazy, kooky types who doesn't actually want the film screened anywhere. I will say this though: it was truly awesome and Grady Hendrix as the host for these events is a firecracker of excitement and knowledge and the Q&A with him afterwards was hilarious and informative. 

There was the second Secret Screening tonight as well, at midnight. Again, it was a sellout and the security surrounding it as intense: all electronic devices had to be turned in and attendees had to pass through a metal detector. What was the film in the end? Paranormal Activity 3. Woop-de-doo. I'm sure the folks enjoyed it but not really my cup of tea. And again, I had to skip a night of drunken revelry at the Highball (with a prom theme) as I was feeling really, really fuckin' sick. 

One day to go.

FANTASTIC FEST: DAY SIX

The storm clouds a-gather.

Fuck yes. After my two film day yesterday, today was packed with awesomeness. PACKED. I got to one of my most anticipated films at the Fest: Nacho Vigalondo's Extraterrestrial! HUZZAH! I have spent the entire day watching movies. I am exhausted, a little sickly, sore and I feel fuckin' FANTASTIC. Let's kick this shit off. 

The first film of my packed day was the night-club set French thriller Sleepless Night. It's a tight film, chronicling one corrupt cop's fight to rescue his son from drug dealers he stole from. Things are kept taut throughout, as the corrupt cop has to deal with the drug dealer and his crew, the buyer, his equally corrupt partner, an Internal Affairs investigator and one honest cop. They all collide in a massive and packed nightclub over the course of one night. It's an economical thriller that sets up a goal for the protagonist and then goes about placing obstructions and complications in front of him - and keeps on throwing them at him. It manages to make you feel some sympathy towards this corrupt jerk of a cop - mainly due to the unbelievable amount of violence and pain he has to go through to get his son back.

Next up was an interesting Korean take on individuals with superpowers, Haunters. It's a much smaller film than I initially thought it would be, focusing on two individuals with extra-normal abilities who are as opposite as is possible. the one-legged Cho-In has had a brutal childhood, moreso after his parents discover his freakish ability to control anyone he can see. His father tries to kill him but instead ends up dead himself and Cho-In on his own. 20 years later, he's alone and living from hotel to hotel and taking money from loan offices to live. Kyu-Nam works at a scrap-metal yard with his two best friends, Bubba from Ghana and Al from Turkey. After miraculously surviving being hit by a truck, he's fired from his job but gains employment at a loan office. And that's when Cho-In and Kyu-Nam come into conflict; Kyu-Nam is the only person that Cho-In cannot control. This is the set up for the rest of the film as Kyu-Nam takes it upon himself to stop Cho-In and their conflict escalates further and further with Kyu-Nam's amazing ability to heal and Cho-In's ruthless control of people. It works, for the most part, although the tone veers wildly from serious & creepy to cheesy and humorous.

After Haunters, and Day Six of the Fest, I was really feeling the fatigue. I felt like I'd hit a wall - my brain was sludgey and sparking off in random directions, my limbs felt heavy and I just wanted to sleep and sleep and sleep. But I've got three films to go! Also, it rained briefly. I love the smell of rain on hot concrete. I loaded up on caffeine and sugar and headed into my next screening.

Director Nacho Vigalondo answers questions
from Ain't it Cool News honcho (and Fantastic
Fest co-founder) Harry Knowles

Finally. This is one of the films I have been hanging out for all Fest and could not be happier I was getting into: Nacho Vigalondo's Extraterrestrial. This is the follow-up film to his debut Timecrimes, which blew me away a little bit when I caught it at the NZIFF a couple of years ago. But Extraterrestrial is an entirely different film to that, while still feeling like a Nacho Vigalondo film. Where Timecrimes was very serious and complex, Extraterrestrial is a rom-com... that just happens to unfold while a giant UFO hovers over Madrid. It pretty much all takes place in and around one apartment as Julio and Julia wake-up after a particularly drunken one-night stand together. They've been passed out for the entire day and soon notice something's wrong: there's no-one around anywhere and all cellphone and TV reception is cut off. Oh hey, that's why - there's a ruddy great flying saucer hanging out over downtown! Things become even more complicated for Julio and Julia when Angel, Julia's neighbour who carries an obsessive torch for her, and Carlos, Julia's boyfriend, show up. There are lies and fast-talking in an effort to cover things up and they spiral out of control, just like in a typical rom-com. The film is carried largely by it's charm, both from director Vigalondo and the two leads: Michelle Jenner as Julia and Julian Villagran as Julio (he also took out Best Actor at the Fantastic Fest Awards). Extraterrestrial is a very different film to Timecrimes but still not what you'd expect. I'm looking forward to seeing it again and what Vigalondo brings out next.

Actor, producer & Elijah Wood ass-kicker Dominic
Monaghan chats to Hitfix.com's Drew McWeeny

Careening straight from the Q&A with Nacho and Knowles I headed straight into the Dominic Monaghan starring (and produced) post-apocalyptic film The Day. Another film set almost entirely in one location, The Day finds five survivors of the unnamed apocalypse holed up in an abandoned farmhouse. However, all is not as it seems and they're soon under attack by bloodthirsty (quite literally) cannibals. It's a very low budget affair, and it unfortunately shows in some pretty terrible digital blood FX. I kind of hope this type of thing is in an "unfinished" stage and with the film having been recently picked up for distribution by WWE (yes, the wrestling guys) they can go back and touch this stuff up. The Day is ok, everyone involved obviously believing in the project in one way or another though the script could have perhaps been tighter, with some pretty obvious attempts at increasing the tension standing out. Although I appreciated that we are all but dropped into this post-apocalyptic landscape with no explanation given as to the mass-extinction event that led us here; for these types of films, I don't believe the reason behind the existing world is necessary or all that important. They're about survival and what people are ultimately willing to do to survive. The ass-kicking Ashley Bell is the odd-one-out in this otherwise tight group, carrying around a history she'd rather not reveal or revisit. It's a noble effort, especially with such a low budget and for being shot in 13 days, but it needed a little more tightening and cleaning up to really hit home.

After The Day I'm feeling a little post-apocalyptic myself. I'm definitely getting sick. I can feel it - exhaustion, throat closing up... but dammit! I'm not going to let a little thing like that stop me! No, I've still got the midnight show of Zombie Ass to go! Noboru Iguchi's Zombie Ass is exactly the type of film I would only expect to find at Fantastic Fest. This is a bizarre horror sci-fi comedy fetish film about five young people coming across a village infested with zombie-alien-parasite-butt-worms. Heroine Megumi lost her younger sister Ai when she committed suicide after being bullied at school; since then Megumi has studied karate continuously and is still getting over her guilt. Heading off on a camping trip with a bizarre collection of friends in an effort to out-run her guilt, they stumble upon the weirdest zombie infestation ever filmed. Iguchi indulges his obvious love for the female bottom (as he put it: "I love ass") and poop and fart jokes. This is a schlock Japanese exploitation flick, with Iguchi championing his own fetishes and wicked sense of humour, carried through with a crazy digital score and outrageous over-the-top, well, everything. I have to say, I enjoyed Zombie Ass, just for the fact that it is so out there and very much for a particular audience. A singular film.

FANTASTIC FEST: DAY FIVE

Post-card painted on a wall. Just because.

Wow. This was my smallest day at the Fest to date. By the time I managed to get through the online ticketing queue system, most sessions were sold-out, let alone the ones I wanted to get to. So, no Juan of the Dead or A Boy and His Samurai (which won the coveted Audience Choice Award at the Fantastic Fest Awards) for me. Even the Animated Short film programme was sold out! So I was absolutely unable to get into the two big events today - The Fantastic Fest Awards and the Fantastic Feud and only got to two, two, films. 

The first of those movies was Clown, an outrageously hilarious comedy from Denmark. And just like New Kids Turbo this is a movie based on a popular TV show. Frank and Casper are heading off on a canoe trip, to get away from their girlfriends and to undertake "Tour de Pussy" down the river. Casper is the smooth-talking, ultra-cool guy with the great house and Frank is, well, a bit of a schmuck. He's not that good looking, or much of a snappy dresser. He and his girlfriend Marie have been asked to look after Marie's nephew Bo, while her brother is on his honeymoon. And Frank has just found out she's preganant, though she's doubtful about his father potential. So of course, he kidnaps Bo and brings him on the canoe trip to Casper frustration and anger. Things gro from bad to worse and even more worse. Clown is a comedy that pushes right up against the line of acceptability and often does a silly little dance over it. There are very smart choices made with the characters and story, every joke or set-up not merely being outrageously hilarious but also adding to the overall picture. With comedy, especially one using already well established characters, it can be hard to travel - whether it be national differences in terms of humour or "inside" jokes it can be difficult to get it over to a new audience. Clown suffers none of those problems. It's smart, taboo-pushing and, most importantly, funny. I can only wonder if the TV show is as out there.

If there simply must be a Robocop remake (and it seems ever more likely), Jose Padilha is one of the directors I would trust with it. His Elite Squad II: The Enemy Within is a cry against corruption in Brasil, masquerading as cop-action genre fare. I'll own up straight away: I haven't seen the first Elite Squad but then you don't really need to to enjoy this sequel. This is a muscular, violence soaked film with plenty of smarts hidden away there. Lt. Colonel Nascimento is the head of BOPE, the shoot-first ask questions later Elite unit of the police. Diogo Fraga is a noted human rights campaigner, often railing against the conditions in prison and the violence of BOPE. These are two men on opposing sides of an ideological divide that are in constant conflict (Fraga even marrying Nascimento's ex-wife), but have more in common than they would have ever thought. Nascimento, for all his badass attitude, is a man who believes in justice. Cartels of drug dealers and the usual street level criminals are not the targets here; instead the targets are far more dangerous men: those in elected office whose pockets swell with the money of the poor. It's a tight film, with fascinating characters at the centre of it all and is not afraid to show the ugly side of Rio. Padilha is a man with a lot to say about his country; a man who is rightfully angered at the corruption he sees around him and that comes across in ever frame.


Even though it was a smaller day of films for me, it was still an awesome day. Clown was easily the funniest film I've seen in a long time and Elite Squad II had a lot to recommend it. Perhaps it was a good thing to have something of a rest day? Nah. I would've preferred to see more! More! Bring on tomorrow!

FANTASTIC FEST: DAY FOUR

Film geeks await their next screening

Day Four of Fantastic Fest marks the half-way point. Already?! Wow. Scary to think I left reality behind a scant four days ago and will have to return to it in four more. I don't know that I want to. Why the hell can't I keep watching 3 or more movies a day?

One of the more interesting challenges here in Austin has been, as a Wellington caffeine snob, getting my fix of java. Finding it isn't too much of a problem - Jo's Coffee is less than a minute from my room and they serve up pretty good coffee (though if I'm needing a coffee between screenings at the Alamo my only choice is the drive-thru-servicing Starbucks. I've relented once and it was awful - weak and atomically hot). It's the drinking it in the heat. Hot coffee on a day so hot I can feel the sweat pooling in my shoes? Only in an air-conditioned cafe thanks!

My day at the Fest began with the film talked of as Switzerland's first horror, Sennentuntschi: Curse of the Alps. But first, a quick word on the pre-show. When you walk into a theatre at the Alamo, as I think I've previously mentioned, there are no ads but instead a pre-show collection of random clips and trash trailers. It just so happened that one of the best of these played before Sennentuntschi; an 80's instructional guide to the more common carvings found on a Satanic sacrifice. Presented by a bald guy with glasses, mustache and loud shirt and with random pink lighting it was a bizarre pleasure. As for Sennentuntschi I'm not really sure as to how much of a "horror" film it really is - there are some horrific scenes and images but it's almost more of a mystery film than a horror. Set in a small village high up in the Alps, it begins in the present day with the discovery of three skeletons by a girl and her mother out collecting mushrooms. Once the police arrive, the mother begins the story from 1975 when she was a little girl herself. From there, the film essentially plays out in two parallel timelines in 1975. During the funeral for a priest who had mysteriously hung himself, a dirty and barely clothed girl appears from nowhere and promptly collapses. She is mute and is taken in by the local policeman plod, Reusch despite the villagers superstitious suspicions. Playing out at the same time, but set days before, the same young girl appears to three men at a farm even higher in the Alps. They believe her to be the Sennentuntschi: a demon gifted to them in an absinthe soaked haze. The truth, of course, is something more than that and the fun to be had is in the teasing out of the mystery and the way the film plays with the concepts of local myths, legends and the mob mentality of a village. 

Moving on from death in the mountains, I had the unexpected surprise of Headhunters. This is a film that was not on my initial list of ones to see, but after hearing some positive things out of the earlier screening I decided to give it a shot. I was thoroughly entertained. This Norwegian black comedy is about Roger Brown - he's 1.68m tall, has a statuesque Nordic beauty for a wife and lives in a house far beyond his means. As he earns barely enough to cover his expenses at his day job as a recruitment specialist - he's constantly feeling like he has to over-compensate for his height - he moonlights as an art-thief. He's meticulous in his methods (replacing the stolen works with forgeries) and uses the interview process at his day job to gather information for his thefts. But even with his second job he's needing more money. And that's when he's introduced to a prime target - a man with a painting worth tens of millions. Except this is a guy you really don't want to fuck with and it all ends up going horribly, horribly wrong for poor Roger. He starts the movie as an insufferable little jerk and there is a kind of perverse pleasure to be had in watching this guy get put through the ringer. The script by Lars Gudmestad and Ulf Ryberg, from the novel by Jo Nesbo, is tight and just keeps on at a constantly building pace. Headhunters is fun, engaging and inventive; pretty much everything you want from a night out at the movies.

From the black comedy of Norway to the out of control, un-PC comedy of the Netherlands and New Kids Turbo. The New Kids started out as a series of web-videos, before becoming a TV series and, now, a movie. It's fantastically over-the-top and ridiculous, with five delinquent central characters replete with mullets and mustaches. All five end up fired from their jobs, and with their unemployment benefits cut off, make the pronouncement to not pay for anything anymore. These guys are obviously having a lot of fun and have a love for extreme physical violence for comedic effect. If you're easily offended by... anything really, then I wouldn't recommend New Kids Turbo as they take a kind of anarchistic glee in stomping all over political correctness. The film ends up just building and building, growing ever more over-the-top and ridiculous. I don't know how well the comedy, with it's heavy reliance on surprise, would work in a second viewing but New Kids Turbo was a riotous ride around with five sympathetic jerks who enjoy calling everyone they come across a cunt.

Wrapping up my Day Four (no midnight screening or Chaos Reigns Karaoke for me tonight - I'm feeling like I have a cold starting up that needs to be fought down. Die cold die! [Read that as English or German]) I seated myself for the first of four secret Hong Kong action films. Given an enthusiastic introduction by a man in a bright pink suit from the NY Asian Film Festival (who's name escapes me right now, sorry), this was one of many films recently saved from having their prints destroyed by a going-out-of-business distributor. For our viewing pleasure we had one of the earliest films to be directed by action-choreographer extraordinaire Yuen Wo Ping: The Dreadnought. Even after watching the film I have no idea what the title has to do with anything that happens on screen, but ok. A violent criminal, The White Tiger, is on the run and winds up in a small town. Mousey has a laundry business he runs with his sister, and he's something of a coward preferring to run away than fight and collect debts owed to them. Mousey's friend Leung Foon is a pupil of the old and still spry master Wong Fei-Huang. I'd just like to point that the actor playing Fei-Huang, Tak-Hing Kwan, was nearing 80 at this point but he displays more moves than most young action stars today. The Dreadnought is one of those great kung-fu films where everyone seems to know kung-fu of some sort and the plot is merely a means to getting to the next fight scene. These are all inventive, often moving as more of a dance than a fight, with a couple of standouts being a showdown between a Chinese Dragon and a Golden Lion, and a theatrical showdown in the town opera house. A hell of a lot of fun, with a better sense of fight choreography and geography than pretty much any Hollywood actioner you'll see in the cinema these guys are the real deal. I'm hoping I have time in my schedule for the other surprise Hong Kong films.

And that's Day Four ladies and gentlemen. Only at Fantastic Fest: Swiss horror, Norwegian black comedy, Dutch gutter comedy and classic Hong Kong action.