Dragon Ball Z Uncensored

Spamdini · (Tue Jul 12, 2011 11:12 pm)

Kyo ho ho! The festival begins Thursday with my first two films being this Friday. I'll try to continue the tradition of reviewing them in the vain hope of one day getting some of you fine folk to join me.

http://fantasiafestival.com/2011/en/films/

Friday July 15: Attack the Block (UK), Deadball (Japan)

Monday July 18: Ip Man: The Legend is Born (Hong Kong), Superheroes (USA)

Wednedsay July 20: Bullhead (Belgium)

Thursday July 21: Super (USA)

Friday July 22: Clown (Denmark)

Saturday July 23: Monster Brawl (Canada), True Legend (Hong Kong, China)

Wednesday July 27: 13 Assassins (Japan)

Thursday July 28: Gantz (Japan, duh)

Sunday July 31: Redline (Japan), Battlefield Heroes (Korea)

Monday August 1: Bangkok Knockout (Thailand)

Tuesday August 2: Last Days Here (USA)

Friday August 5: Burke and Hare (UK)

Sunday August 7: DJ XL5’s Mexican Zappin’ Party (Mexico, Canada)
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My Head Hurts 90 · (Wed Jul 13, 2011 6:07 am)

Oh wow, I didn't know the festival ran that long. Is it usually like that?

ALDP · (Wed Jul 13, 2011 8:20 am)

When are the tickets sold? Maybe I'll buy them early next near so I won't get lazy and not go.

Spamdini · (Wed Jul 13, 2011 9:21 am)

They go on sale two days before the festival begins, so that was yesterday. I'm always a keener and line up way in advance.

It usually goes on for 3 1/2 weeks. It's not any longer this year, but it did start a week later than usual.
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Spamdini · (Sat Jul 16, 2011 1:15 am)

Attack the Block (UK)
http://fantasiafestival.com/2011/en/films/film_detail.php?id=663
****

A gang of south London youths are in the process of mugging a young woman when an alien lifeform careens down from the stars and into a parked car. The ruffians decide to prove how badass they are by curbstomping the dang thing to death, but discover not long after that their neighborhood is being invaded by dozens of larger, hairier, more toothed aliens. So to prove they own this turf, they prepare to wage war. Features Simon Pegg's ol' chum Nick Frost (fat guy from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) in a supporting role.

Goonies meets Aliens, it's like a more coherent and entertaining version of Super 8. The whole thing is in a somewhat humorous tone due to the cheeky adolescent protagonists, whose inner city accents and use of British slang make them near unintelligible at times. However, there are some very nice action and suspense sequences that make the movie genuinely entertaining as a thriller as well. The aliens themselves are some scary stuff too, sitting halfway between a bear and a bulldog and are extremely well animated and lifelike.

The actors who play the kids do a fantastic job, with all of them being endearing in one way or another. They are able to come off as both those asshole punks you wouldn't want to run into alone on the street and as scared kids you want to sympathize with.

Some of the messages the movie tries to get across in regards to the treatment of poverty stricken areas of inner cities come off as clumsy and illicit a bit of eye rolling, but this is also due in part to the fact that there's so little of it. The vast majority is a well executed piece of entertainment that I thoroughly recommend.
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Spamdini · (Sat Jul 16, 2011 1:27 am)

Deadball (Japan)
http://fantasiafestival.com/2011/en/films/film_detail.php?id=590
***

After murdering his father with an atomic pitch, a young boy vows never to use a baseball again. Now in his teens, the boy is sent to prison for delivering vigilante justice to those who wrong society. Once in prison, the only way to survive as well as to find out more about his missing brother is to play baseball...to the death! And so with his team of fellow prisoners (which include a rat boy, a boy with a baseball lodged in his face and Kamiyama from Cromartie High School), he wages war against the evil nazi warden and a bunch of hot chicks with deadly baseball arts.

A Japanese comedy that's actually funny! What a concept! In true Japanese fashion, the whole thing loses steam towards the end, but this is salvaged somewhat by the appearance by the leader of a certain country whose hair style is compared to pubic hair. The ultra gore is comparable to Riki-oh with terrible CG portraying exploding heads in epic fashion. The real seller here is that there are several very funny gags that are used and goes beyond the usual lameness of your average Japanese attempt at humor. Not fantastic, but if you enjoy Cromartie High School then you should be able to appreciate this.
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ALDP · (Sat Jul 16, 2011 10:34 am)

Spamdini · (Sat Jul 16, 2011 2:05 pm)

*dog winks and points finger like it was a gun*
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ALDP · (Sat Jul 16, 2011 3:15 pm)

THAT DOG IS CHILL

Spamdini · (Tue Jul 19, 2011 1:47 pm)

Ip Man: The Legend is Born (Hong Kong)
http://fantasiafestival.com/2011/en/films/film_detail.php?id=495
***

A prequel to the first two Ip Man movies, The Legend is Born tells the beginning of Ip Man's road to being an awesome badass. He trains at a Wing Chun school along with his adoptive brother, taught by a wise old master (Sammo Hung, playing a completely different character than he did in Ip Man 2). He grows up, goes to Catholic school and learns some variations on his martial art from a kooky old pharmacist. Also, bad Japanese people are the villains again.

Not nearly as many fist-pumping moments as the first Ip Man, it's still a well told story. It could afford to be a little more generous with the action since it is supposed to be a martial arts flick, but what action is present is very good. The melodrama involved leads me to leave that maybe 1% of this is actually based on Ip Man's life, though.

The movie is worth if only for what I like to believe is a tribute to the dear departed Macho Man Randy Savage during the climax.
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Roy · (Tue Jul 19, 2011 2:03 pm)

IP Man? Intellectual Property Man? Is he some kind of MPAA and RIAA backed assassin?

Spamdini · (Tue Jul 19, 2011 2:09 pm)

Superheroes (USA)
http://fantasiafestival.com/2011/en/films/film_detail.php?id=462
****

A documentary following the lives of real-life superheroes (as in people who actually dress up in costumes with the intention of fighting crime). The focus is different heroes/groups from around the US. This includes Mr Xtreme, a shy, overweight and awkward man from San Diego dedicated to stopping a serial molester to the chagrin of his parents; The New York Initiative, a gang of four pretty hardcore people in NYC who bait muggers into showing themselves so they can stop them; Master Legend, a over-the-top Jack Black-ish character who hydrates himself with Bud Light before going out on the prowl in Orlando (by that I mean hitting on chicks), and some other guy whose name escapes me, but is a martial arts expert and patrols the street with his sidekick The Cameraman to hassle drug dealers with the threat of having video evidence of their crimes and telling their to get out of his neighborhood. Also, there's Apocalypse Meow.

What makes this documentary interesting is the high road that the creators seem to have taken with it. Some of these people are a bit off the wall and some of these use being a superhero as an outlet for their rage issues, but most of them are regular people who have just had enough with not caring about the people around them. Case in point, there is a large focus towards the end of the movie about how many of these superheroes help the homeless in their neighborhoods, giving them supply packs filled with necessities such as toilet paper and medicine. Yeah, they may wear pretty silly costumes, but are ultimately good people and aren't crazy enough to bust in to mafia hideouts, Kick-Ass style.

Even the Initiative, their moderately intense training and more ambitious plans for stomping out crime, are shown as being fairly simple folk who stop to administer first aid to a man struck in a hit and run and escort him home. While the idea of being a costumed hero prancing around town seems like lunacy when they are first introduced, these real0life heroes prove that in a way it is possible and maybe not all that crazy.
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Ryoko's Biatch · (Tue Jul 19, 2011 2:30 pm)

Nah, it's crazy.

Servbot · (Tue Jul 19, 2011 4:05 pm)

Why can't they do it in regular clothes?

Derek Payne · (Tue Jul 19, 2011 4:39 pm)

You should tell us more about Apocalypse Meow.

Spamdini · (Thu Jul 21, 2011 8:54 am)

Apocalypse Meow is a fat chick who wears an eyemask and a t-shirt that has a cat and dumbbells. She helps out her husband, Zetaman.
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Spamdini · (Thu Jul 21, 2011 9:23 am)

Bullhead (Belgium)
http://www.fantasiafestival.com/2011/en/films/film_detail.php?id=721
***1/2

Bullhead is the story of a gangster involved a cattle hormone ring, a family tradition. Not only that, but he is a frequent user of steroids and hormones himself, making him an even more imposing character. That said, he's under a lot of stress due to the police closing in on their operation and an incident from his childhood that still lingers to this day. In the meantime, he and his childhood friend are reacquainted, though the latter is a police informant.

There seems to be a bit of a missed opportunity with the idea of cattle gangsters, which could have been a fun movie in of itself. Instead, the movie focuses far more heavily on the main character and his past, leaving the organized crime aspect as a bit of an afterthought. Nevertheless, the main character is quite interesting given the amount of emotional damage that he can't cope with in spite of being a juiced up maniac. Scenes from his past are incredibly disturbing, and you care enough about him to forgive the less than stellar pace.

Also a good movie to watch if you have never seen a cow Caesarean before.
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ALDP · (Thu Jul 21, 2011 9:50 am)

I have, but I'm curious to see somebody else's take on it.

Spamdini · (Thu Jul 21, 2011 9:41 pm)

Super (USA)
http://fantasiafestival.com/2011/en/films/film_detail.php?id=495
****

A diner cook's junkie wife leaves him for a shady dealer, but a vision from God (or at least God's superhero counterpart) convinces him to take her back by becoming a costumed superhero. Wielding his trusty pipe wrench, he bludgeons justice into those who do wrong! Eventually, he teams up with a geeky and hyperactive comic store clerk (Ellen Page in spandex, ooh la la!) and they aim to fight the evil drug lord who stole his wife.

This is probably old news to some of you because it had a theatrical release in the US, but this is a first for us Canadians! It's another take on Kick-Ass that focuses more on one man's personal vendetta and religious conviction rather than any sort of sense of comic book justice. Just as gory as Kick-Ass, it is both funnier and darker by having everything stay within the realm of realism. Page's character is absolutely adorable, but a little grating on the nerves. The hero, the Crimson Bolt (The Office's Rainn Wilson) is a much better character who walks the line between honest but awkward and full-on psychotic. They do work together along with some of one of the most beautiful rape scenes I've had the pleasure of witnessing.

So yeah, Ellen Page acting slutty in a tight suit. Yes.
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Spamdini · (Sat Jul 23, 2011 10:59 pm)

Clown (Denmark)
http://fantasiafestival.com/2011/en/films/film_detail.php?id=655
**1/2

Two friends plan a canoe trip which includes a side trip to a brothel. However, one of them decides to take his girlfriend's nephew along for the ride to prove he's worthy of being a father. Wackiness ensues.

There were a few laugh out loud hilarious moments, including grandmothers getting blinded by jizz intended for younger women, but overall the movie was a fairly average comedy. Not bad by any means, but it was boring at times and fairly unremarkable as a whole.
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