I'm re-posting and amending this rundown of what I've covered so far. I'll be completing my coverage of Fantastic Fest 2008 into next week due to the sheer volume of stuff I saw, interspersing that coverage with the first non-festival week of my full-fledged return to writing for Hollywood Elsewhere covering the "middle coast" that is Austin.
Zack & Miri was a lot of fun. If you like Kevin Smith's previous work, odds are you'll love it. Justin Long on his own was more worth the price of an admission to me than most of the major releases that have come out this year. The rest of the movie plays really sympathetically to the circumstances working people find themselves in these days. I think it's gonna play like gangbusters (or gangbangers) at the end of October.
Fanboys' shortcomings I forgave, but many outside real Star Wars geeks woudn't, but I still have a lot of respect for the fact it finally at long last got finished.
Jean-Claude Van Damme literally gives the performance of his life in JCVD. It's a lot better than you may think from reading a synopsis.
Terra is far and away better than all of the generic "insert cute animal here" family-friendly CGI movies released these days. An inspired, independently-produced CGI feature that does Star Wars better than Lucasfilm seems to of late. I'll go a bit more detailed on it when it approaches general release, hopefully in the currently-planned 3D iteration.
Fear(s) of the Dark and Jennifer Lynch's Surveillance didn't thrill me overall, but parts of Fear(s) are excellent depending on your taste, and Surveillance could do with some trimming of the out-of-left-field cop dialogue. It's otherwise a pretty good serial killer flick with some people chewing up dialogue and parts they don't routinely get.
Let The Right One In is as good as everyone says it is, but just trust all the positive reviews we all know are out there and avoid getting anything spoiled for you by not reading too much about the film in advance. This movie, Chocolate, and La Creme are my three favorite non-special screenings I saw all week. I'll settle on a final Best of the Fest list early this week. Trying to decide if a couple movies kept me as engaged long-term as they did the day I saw them, which takes some time for reflection. Horror/genre films are easy to jump into loving, only to find you've mostly forgotten them shortly afterward. I'll invent some awards or distinctions to give all the best stuff once all's written and posted.
The Closing Night Film, City of Ember, is no mere "kid movie" especially thanks to when it's being released (about a week after Sarah Palin gets trounced by Joe Biden in the VP debate). No sooner did I joke about them probably not pitching the marketing toward the empty spin coming out of certain candidates' mouths, but they air a "campaign" ad for the movie following the McCain-Obama debate last night, which I juxtaposed with some real-life meaningless buzzwording by Governor Snowmoose Squareglasses.
Completely missed:
Seventh Moon
Deadgirl
Eagle Eye
The Brothers Bloom
Appaloosa
Role Models
Write-ups forthcoming:
RockNRolla
The Short Films of Nacho Vigalondo
Zombie Girl: THE MOVIE
Muay Thai Chaiya
Donkey Punch
Santos
I Think We're Alone Now
footage from Disney's Bolt
more movies, don't have the list handy at the moment
an interview with Nacho Vigalondo
some extra stuff I'm working on lining up to cap off Fantastic Fest 2008
It looks like a lot, but it'll all be posted and finished by mid-week. Of course that means give me until the end of this week, just to be safe. It's good to be back.