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Things to Do: Film Fests

The New York City Horror Fest starts off tomorrow with the Kick Off Party at BLVD, Five bands / 11 Films / One hour free beer!, and runs through the 22nd. One of the interesting things they are doing is the Killer Shorts Sudden Death Film Competition in cooperation with the Monster Mania Collectibles Con held semi-annually in NYC. The opening band has songs called things like “Video Vixen Vampire”, “Mermaids in Outer Space”, and “Spooks on the Loose”; I would probably have spent more time watching Witches In Bikinis than the actual movies.

I should also mention that the Sundance Film Festival (No, that is NOT this weekend) just announced the Sundance Film Festival U.S.A., where they will be presenting festival films in other cities around the country on the 28th of January.

Things to Do: Movies

Just a reminder that tomorrow, 17Nov09, is the last chance for quite a while for anyone to see The Wizard of Oz on the big screen. And it is nice to finally have this classic available on DVD for the small screen (or not so small these days).

It was supposed to be out on July 24th, but Planet 51 finally hits the theaters on Friday. This alien invasion animation looks like it will be a lot of fun, with plenty of humor and the usual world-class animation this team leads you to expect.

The live-action film for this weekend is of course The Twilight Saga: New Moon. If you need to have this one explained to you, nothing I can say could help, but you could try their IMDP page, where you will find new news stories being cranked out at the rate of one every few minutes.

Things to Watch: DVDs and TV

Obviously, the number-one DVD release for this week is Star Trek the reboot. I thought Simon Pegg was brilliant as Scotty, Zachary Quinto likewise for Spock, and Bones was also better than the original. If you have the device, don’t forget to grab the Phaser app for your iToy.

Two other movies may be interesting; Thirst is a Korean Vampire movie from the people who created The Host. And the spoof Vampire Party could be amusing, if a little over the top.

For TV series, both Farscape, the complete series and Farscape Season 4 get re-released this week.

The main Anime release is Evangelion: 1.01 You Are [Not] Alone, the first in the new series of Evangelion animated movies. Also out this week is the Blue Drop: Tenshi-tachi no Gikyoku complete series, and Polyphonica, again the complete series.

On the TV front, the new version of The Prisoner kicks off tonight on AMC; they are also hosting the complete original series for online viewing if you want to catch up before the new one starts.

Things to Do: Film Fests

The Lone Star International Film Festival runs from the 11th to the 15th in Fort Worth, TX. The two films that look most interesting at this event are Ichi, not The Killer but another incarnation of Zatoichi, this one female, and Miracle Fish, a fantasy with a dark side. This is also the first festival where I noticed they were playing Herpes Boy, possibly the first big-screen movie to start life as a series of YouTube videos.

The 32nd Starz Denver Film Festival runs from November 12th to the 22nd in Colorado. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus tops the offerings at this festival, as it has at so many others this fall. The other film that looks to have the makings of a cult classic is Who’s Afraid of the Wolf?, a Czech fantasy/family drama. Two films not getting the same widespread festival play but worth noting are The Revenant and Zombies of Mass Destruction, each with a unique take on the undead.

Things to Do: Movies and TV

Probably the most anticipated release for this week is 2012, an end-of-the-world epic based on the Mayan calendar (although the marketing team for this movie hopes you think it is predicted in many additional cultures). It has the budget and star power to actually be a quite entertaining film, which would be a surprise for a disaster flick. I look forward to finding out if they pull it off or not.

The one I think will be the winner this time is The Fantastic Mr. Fox, with folks like George Clooney and Meryl Streep doing the voiceovers for this Film Fest favorite. While only in limited release this weekend, next week it will be playing everywhere.

While not speculative fiction of any flavor, in fact a film based on real life events, I am looking forward to Pirate Radio. I was involved with the American version of a similar radio movement that decade, and expect to enjoy it for personal reasons.

In the week’s strange releases, none stands out so much as The Flying Scissors, a mockumentary about the intensely competitive world of Rock-Paper-Scissors.

In the TV department we have The Prisoner (the new version) launching on AMC on Sunday. There is a very interesting reaction to last week’s V; except it is not about V, but rather SGU. Go figure.

Film Fest/DVD/Con updates

I had to include the video of Terry Gilliam Introducing The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus at the AFI Film Fest in LA, and I can’t wait to get to see the movie myself (the trailers are wonderful). And then of course there is the Fantastic Mr Fox, also making the festival rounds.

A detail I missed this week was the the release of Ki Gai on DVD. This series is a live action story line of classic manga-anime proportions, involving giant birds, aliens, daemons, dragons, and so much more! There was also the 10th Planet Con Event happening tomorrow at the The Broadway Theatre, in Barking, Essex, with a bunch of Doctor Who/Torchwood actors ready to contribute, including Nick Briggs.