The Case of Hana & Alice (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

Posted on July 19, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

Shunji Iwai’s “The Case of Hana & Alice” is apparently an animated prequel and adaptation of a much beloved indie titled “Hana and Alice.” The pair of women are almost like pop culture’s most iconic best friend in its home country, and this film chronicles how they met and became the best of pals. You really don’t have to see the original film, claims much of the press releases, but I’ll say that it might just help. Surely, there aren’t many references to the original film, but the original actresses return to voice their younger selves, and this might be exciting to folks that love the original film. For me, it was just a nice little bit of lip service and nothing more.

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Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966) [Fantasia Film Festival]

Posted on July 18, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

“Plan Nine” is often cited as the worst film of all time, but I tend to disagree. Say what you want about Ed Wood’s schlock disaster, but it at least has a narrative to it. It’s a pitiful narrative, it’s unnecessarily convoluted, but it’s something. Hell, even “The Room” has some kind of narrative to it that resembles the worst romance melodrama seemingly derived from a Spanish novella. “Manos The Hands of Fate” (or in English: Hands The Hands of Fate?) is the template of how not to make a movie.

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Crimson Whale (2014) [Fantasia Film Festival]

Posted on July 18, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

I was completely mixed with “Crimson Whale” as a feature, because when you get down to it, it feels like it pads its run time. It’s only seventy minutes in length, and a lot of it feels like its treading water to get to the inevitable confrontation with its titular foe that happens to be anomaly of nature. “Crimson Whale” isn’t the worst anime film I’ve ever seen. It just isn’t all that good. It gets the distinction of being middle of the road mainly because it’s just so damn gloomy and mean spirited. It’s violent, and dark, and definitely does not thrive on supplying a happy ending. It barely has an ending, when you cut to the chase.

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Emilie Black at the Horrible Imaginings Film Festival San Diego

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Emilie Black

October 11th-13th 2014

For the last 5 years, San Diego has had the luck of getting a great horror film festival for 3 days every fall. This year’s was not exception. Horrible Imaginings is brought to San Diego by a madman and a movie lover known as Miguel Rodriguez. His passion for film is clear in every introduction he makes for the festival, every film or piece being given it’s proper attention and the public getting a class in cinema and cool nerdiness from the man. For those who go to Fantasia or are familiar with its own madman of movies, Miguel reminds one of Mitch Davis in passion and how they present movies with the utmost excitement. You can feel their love for the medium and for their chosen favorite genres.

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The PC Thug: Slamming Sundance

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Felix Vasquez

2005’s “Mad Hot Ballroom” was the hit of the year. The Nickelodeon/Paramount owned documentary featured three Public Schools in New York, all of whom were taught the art of ballroom dancing and ultimately experienced a coming of age with their skills that took them in to a major competition by the end of the film. The film grossed a total of over nine million dollars, screening on theaters in the double digits. 2007’s “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” about the inadvertent rivalry between two master gamers competing to obtain the world record Donkey Kong made the top ten lists of over a dozen critics in 2007, and garnered immense buzz over the course of the year from news companies alike. 2009’s “Paranormal Activity” was made on a micro budget and filmed in generally one location.

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