REPO! Review

My review of REPO! The Genetic Opera finally went up!

Link is here.

Fantasia Fallout

So, Fantasia officially wrapped up on Tuesday and I've only just managed to find time to write about it. Not much to say really. Things went out on kind of a whimper with closing film Dying Breed, a fairly standard inbred cannibals in the woods terrorize naive city folk flick that gets points only for properly taking advantage of their Tasmanian location.

Movies I did get to were kind of hit and miss. Sadly going to Vancouver in the middle of the fest really screwed with my momentum and I only got to 21 of the 25+ I was planning on seeing.

Really enjoyed Sukiyaki Western Django, [REC] and Ex Drummer. Didn't like Let the Right One In as much as I thought I would, probably because I was so fekkin' tired. Remind me to rewatch it after I get some sleep... I've already forgotten Truffe. Both docs I saw (Second Skin & I Think We're Alone Now) were surprisingly great, very eye opening. Who Is KK Downey? managed to live up to expectations. Le tueur & La creme were sort of disappointing despite having some really good performances. Sparrow was fun and light. Sasori was ridiculous, but fun. Timecrimes was fun and smart. Before the Fall was very disappointing. The Echo & Midnight Meat Train were underwhelming, but not terrible. REPO was fascinating, but not for the right reasons. I remember really liking What We Do is Secret, but I was still kinda drunk and ended up vomiting after the film... And the less we say about Mother of Tears the better.

I guess the biggest thing I'll take away this year is the people I met, being that it's the first year I've actually had the time to try to network. In some ways it was a great event for me to take part in being new to a city because I met a lot of like-minded people in a very short amount of time, and it was the sort of ego boost I needed to get back into the film writing thing.

Which reminds me. Film Threat finally got around to posting six more of my reviews, which I have linked to for you:

Who Is KK Downey
The Echo
Sparrow
La creme
I Think We're Alone Now
After the Fall

I've got three more I'm working on and two that are pending. I'll post links as soon as they go up.

A Tale of Two Musicals...

Or Why You Should Ignore REPO! and Watch Dr. Horrible Instead.

So, like I told you on Thursday, I got into a press screening of REPO! The Genetic Opera since a) the official Fantasia world premiere screening on Friday night was TOTALLY sold out and b) L and I went to George Michael on Friday.

When I first heard about the project I have to say I had my doubts, but coverage on io9 and in Rue Morgue had piqued my interest. Also, the wacky casting was intriguing and I love me some Anthony Stewart Head. Let's just say that I wasn't entirely surprised with what I saw, just a little disappointed. Which isn't to say it's terrible, it just isn't very good. You can read what I have to say in more detail on Film Threat whenever they post my review.

However, on Friday I also discovered that Joss Whedon's writer's strike project, Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog, was in full swing with two of the three acts already available online (click the pic below to watch). Part three went up on Saturday and all three parts still seem to be available on iTunes and streaming on www.drhorrible.com.

I had some time to kill at work so I watched the first two parts and it was very interesting to compare the two projects. While REPO! is more of a full fledged opera, Dr. Horrible is definitely the stronger of the two lyrically and even possibly musically. And this despite Dr. Horrible being a comedy and REPO! aiming for tragedy. Of course it helps that I love all three of the leads (Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion & The Guild's Felicia Day) almost equally (although I think Neil Patrick Harris wins, but only because of that scene in Harold & Kumar where he does blow off a stripper's ass).

Or maybe I'm just more of a closet comic book nerd than I am a closet goth?
What do you think?

Back to the Grind

Okay, so I survived my visit to Vancouver and I'm back at work and reviewing for Fantasia (a.k.a. the film festival that never ends). Only made it to one film yesterday, a press screening of REPO! The Genetic Opera, before meeting L for dinner and almost passing out in my Pho. I'm pretty happy with the review for that one, so I'll be linking to it as soon as it goes up later this week.

Also, thanks to everybody who caught my first movie night column in three years (yikes). If you didn't see it I've linked to it here.

And because I mentioned it earlier, I did managed to record a commentary for Purple Rain with BJ and Damon (no Robin) during my marathon visit to VanCity. If and when it gets posted on the internet I will let you know.

Fantasia: Day 5

Reviewing and working a day job is definitely starting to take a toll on me. I've been averaging two movies a day, but I think I'm only going to make it to The Sparrow tonight, being that I still need to get a hold of people out West and pack for my trip on Wednesday.

Films so far have been more hit than miss, with the biggest miss of all being Mother of Tears on Saturday. Actually, it almost qualifies as so bad it's good, which I'm sure isn't much consolation to Argento fans. L remarked on the fact that everyone who was leaving the theater had the same stricken look like their dad had just died. It really is saying something that the best part of the film, and everyone seemed to agree with me on this one, is the monkey. If you have a chance to see this movie, do yourself a favour and skip it, lest you break your heart. Or at least make sure you've got one hell of a buzz going on.

The other miss was opening film Truffe, which despite some cool visuals and uniformly good performances wasn't quite weird enough for me to recommend. It's unusual for a Quebecois film, but the thin story probably would have worked better as a short.

Surprises so far were MMORPG documentary Second Skin and Miike Takashi's Sukiyaki Western Django, which is way more entertaining than it had any business being. Strange? You bet, but rather accessible by Miike standards. Still, I'd be damned if I could have understood the English dialogue without the English subtitles.

Three of the stronger films I've seen so far were all Spanish: indie horror [REC], which is far more effective than it could have been (I screamed out loud more than once), sci-fi who done it Timecrimes and apocalyptic crime thriller Before the Fall (3 Dias). Out of the three, Before the Fall was my least favourite, due largely to an over reliance on cliche and Hollywood style plotting and character development.

Also good were Who's that Knocking on My Door, a quiet revenge film from Korea and Germ's biopic What We Do is Secret, although I'm going to have to meditate a bit more on this last one. Parts of it reminded me of 24 Hour Party People it the way it captured the energy and excitement of a scene, but some parts were playing it a little safer than maybe they should have.

Another highlight was watching Gordon Liu tear up during the multiple standing ovations he received before and after the screening of Disciples of the 36th Chamber, an airy and infectiously fun Shaw bros kung-fu pic.

I've got to hang out with a bunch of cool people so far, including festival programmers Mitch, Simon, Mi-jeong and King-wei, Simon and Rick from The Naked Lunch radio show and Jason and Rob of Hobo with a Shotgun fame.

And for those who are interested, Film Threat has already posted some of my reviews:

Truffe
Sukiyaki Western Django
[REC]
Who's that Knocking at My Door

And Jeremy and I also collaborated on a pre-festival piece.

My new movie night column, Meeko's Movie Night Massacre will go online tomorrow.

Ooh, and if you wanna check out the Fantasia Trailers, go here. And there are video recaps of each day of the fest on YouTube.

Update

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. Things have been hella busy with Kat & Doug in town last week and my impending trip to Vancouver.

And Fantasia is in full swing and I'm going to be reviewing for two sites: Film Threat and Oddity Cinema.

Also, I started a new movie night column with Film Threat which should be posted to the site early next week.

Upcoming: Commentary for Purple Rain with BJ, Robin and Damon.

Stay tuned.