FANTASIA 2009 teases us!

This year's Fantasia International Film Festival is almost upon us, 21 days of genre cinema in the great city of Montreal. The full line up will be announced on July 3rd, but until then they've given us a taste. Here's what caught my eye:

DREAD



CRYPTIC



CANARY



YATTERMAN



THE CHILDREN



WHITE LIGHTNIN'



DEAD SNOW



LOVE EXPOSURE



THIRST



TRICK 'R' TREAT




I hope to take in a weeks worth of films this year, reviews to found here and at Quiet Earth. Check out all the films announced so far right here.

Kids need hugs, not drugs

Here's something I'd really like to see. Screened at the EIFF yesterday was the latest colaberation between Shane Meadows and Paddy Considine, an improvised faux-rockumentary called LE DONK & SCOR-ZAY-ZEE, which was shot in just 5 days, for 30,000 pounds, without any script to speak of. The film follows Le Donk's quest to find fame through his one client, rapper Scor-zay-aee, by getting him an gig opening for the Arctic Monkeys.

Eternal Sunshine of Being Paul Giamatti?

Watch the trailer for COLD SOULS and it's easy to see where the knee jerk Charlie Kaufman comparison comes from. Paul Giamatti plays an actor named Paul Giamatti, struggling with his upcoming performance in an off-Broadway production of "Uncle Vanya", he decides after reading an article in The New Yorker about soul removal to undergo the procedure. Hijinks ensue? I'm intrigued to see where this all goes.

8-Bit Schlock!

Remember those classic NES movie games, like Gremlins 2 or Dirty Harry? Me neither. But someone clearly does, so Something Awful's Photoshop Phriday is running with the idea of some not-so-blockbustery games that could have been, check out the 8-bit schlock!

Nic goes "FULL CAGE" for Herzog!

Witness the first trailer for BAD LIEUTENANT : PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS.

There are no words.

The Most Important Movie Of The Year?

Well, Esquire Magazine seems to think so. Check out the first trailer for THE ROAD over at Yahoo.

English Blood

While cruising around the always fantastic TWITCH site I see that there is finally an English trailer for BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE. Pretty sweet, but what's with using that same bit of music that was in the IRON MAN trailer? That was only LAST YEAR! Lazy.

Welcome to District 9

Back in July I noticed that the viral marketing had begun for DISTRICT 9, and today we finally get our first look with this teaser trailer. Click the ship below to check it out in glorious HD!


It was a couple of years ago now when Peter Jackson was involved in adapting the wildly successful XBOX game HALO into a feature, and had chosen Neill Blomkamp to direct. When financing fell through they decided to turn Blomkamp's short film, ALIVE IN JOBERG into a feature, and thus we have DISTRICT 9.

An extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth suddenly find a kindred spirit in a government agent that is exposed to their biotechnology.

I love the look of this so far, the documentary feel, the slow reveal, plus I'm a sucker for a good viral, and the sites they've set up are massive. This is one of the few 'bigger' summer films I'm really looking forward to.

TOKYO! comes to Toronto

If you're lucky enough to be in Toronto this May you might want to check out Over The Top, a 4 day music, theatre, and film festival that has just announced it's first 3 flicks: the Zach Galifianakis comedy VISIONEERS, the Viking adventure SEVERED WAYS: THE NORSE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA, and a flick I've been most keen to see, the three story omnibus TOKYO! Check out the trailer and official synopsis below.




In TOKYO!, three visionary directors (Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon-ho) come together for an omnibus triptych examining the nature of one unforgettable city as it’s shaped by the disparate people who live, work (and run amok) inside an enormous, constantly evolving, densely populated Japanese megalopolis — the enchanting and inimitable Tokyo.

INTERIOR DESIGN (Michel Gondry).
A young couple tries to set themselves up in Tokyo. The young man's ambition is clear — to become a film director. His girlfriend, far more indecisive, cannot escape the vague feeling that she's losing control of her life. Directionless, both are beginning to go under in this vast city until the young woman, utterly alone, becomes the object of a bizarre transformation...

MERDE (Leos Carax)
A mysterious creature spreads panic in the streets of Tokyo by means of his provocative and destructive behavior. This man, dubbed "The Creature of the Sewers" by the media, arouses both passion and repulsion...until the moment he is captured...

SHAKING TOKYO (Bong Joon-Ho)
For more than 10 years, he's been a hikikomori. He lives shut up in his apartment, strictly limiting all contact with the outside world to an absolute minimum. When a pizza delivery girl faints in his home during an earthquake, the unthinkable happens — he falls in love. Shortly after, he learns that the girl has in turn become a hikikomori. Will he dare cross the threshold that separates his apartment from the rest of the world?

Wild Things are here!

The trailer has finally arrived, in HD! Run to it! RUN!

Tree of Life?

Hardly a fan per se, but very intrigued by this first pic from Lars Von Trier's ANTICHRIST, starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Nabbed from indieWIRE.

Noticed while cruisin' by the interweb

So IRON MAN 2 is apparently casting Mickey Rourke as a 'Russian villian' and Scarlett Johannson as the Black Widow. Guess who's picture I'm gonna post?


Finally a poster and trailer for Park Chan-Wook's THIRST.




Here's what the David Fincher produced animated film version of the Dark Horse comic THE GOON will look like.

YES!

Yes!

Empire has the first look at Olga Kurylenko in Neil Marshall's latest film CENTURION.

“Etain is kind of revenge incarnate,” says the writer/director, speaking to Empire exclusively on set. “Her family were butchered by the Romans, she had her tongue cut out by the Romans, she’s had a hell of a time and she’s out for Roman blood.”

So far, I'm in love!

You've got red on you

Edgar Wright has taken over the Bloor Cinema for THE WRIGHT STUFF, presenting a selection of his favourite movies every week from March 1st through April 12th, check out all the deets here.

I'm having trouble deciding which films I won't be attending. There's RIKI-OH: THE STORY OF RICKY, which has been described repeatedly to me as one of the goriest films ever made, there's the film that REPO wished it was anywhere near as good as, Brian De Palma's PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE, plus a dose of CanCon with David Cronenberg's uber-creepy THE BROOD, just to name a few.

And it all starts with the Wright double bill of SHAUN OF THE DEAD and HOT FUZZ. Sweet.

Check out the cool promo put together by The Bloor Cinema Street Team.

The films of Yuki 7

If only these films actually existed! Check out more work by artist Kevin Dart here.

Here's Johnny!

Check out more here.

Really [REC]'ed again

It's just a tease, and it looks like at least part of the sequel takes place directly after the events of the first film.

Femmes de Pilgrim

So we all know that Edgar Wright is in my home town doing pre-production on SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD, based on the Scott Pilgrim comics, and has recently been teasing us with pics of the cast. Above is Mary Elizabeth Winstead who plays Ramona V. Flowers, and below is Ellen Wong who plays Knives Chau.


There are some guys in the movie too. If you wanna follow this production with the obsessive eye of a stalker I suggest Wright's Flickr set entitled Edgar's Photo A Day 2009.

Berlin controlled by aliens!

Someone take away John Nada's bubblegum!

Via SUPERPUNCH.