Fool's Views (3/25 - 3/31)

Howdy, folks!

Returning home to Chicago after the adventure that was SXSW, it was but a short week to put all affairs in order and do the laundry before it was time to hit the road once again. This time, our destination was HorrorHound Weekend Cincinnati, where IFC had teamed with our festival programmers to preview several of their upcoming releases. Despite the blizzard that waylaid us on the way home, it was a truly joyous gathering of fellow fiends, many of whom I met for the first time online and with whom I was only now making a flesh and blood acquaintance. My Kryptic Army obligations rounded out the rest of the week, along with a few worthy (and in some cases overdue) civilian viewings.

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

MANBORG (2011) review

Manborg (2011) d. Kostanski, Steven (Canada)


I was fortunate enough to catch Manborg on the big screen at the 2012 Fantasia film festival this past summer amidst a capacity crowd of like-minded, enthusiastic blood brothers and sisters, which is the best possible way to see this hilariously nutty sci-fi actioner. If it’s true that director Steven Kostanski (who is also credited with the screenplay alongside Jeremy Gillespie) created this slice of celluloid insanity for a mere $1000, then Canadian filmmaking collective Astron-6 (Father’s Day) needs to be running the world because they know how to do “more with less” better than anyone else. While less energetically offensive than their breakout effort, it’s an inspired and affectionate tribute to the schlocky futuristic cheapjack action pics of the ’80s that hits on all cylinders and never lets up.

In a not-so-distant dystopian future, humans are waging a losing battle against hellspawn of every stripe. After one brave soul (Matthew Kennedy) dies in the service of his species, he awakens as a cybernetic construct in the top secret laboratory of the duplicitous Dr. Scorpius (Adam Brooks). Together with three other humanoid survivors, Manborg is forced to fight as a gladiator in a Thunderdome-type arena as the fate of the world lies in the balance.

Manborg is great campy fun that never takes itself seriously, with (intentionally) cheap looking and amateurish set pieces, over-the-top performances, stop-motion beasties, sassy heroines, romantically conflicted mutants, hilariously dubbed martial artists (a joke that never, ever gets old), and digital explosions by the score. Anyone who loves low budget cinema, on either side of the camera, needs to see this movie now.

Fantasia Day 2 (Friday, July 20)

The day started with me waking up (as most do – it’s the days where I don’t that get me a little worried) and heading over to the press office to check out their digital screening room, hoping to figure out – due to my overcrowded viewing schedule – which films I might be able to catch on the small screen. Good news is that pretty much everything on my wish list can be accommodated, and really, if they can’t, it’s no crime. (If all goes as planned, I’ll leave Fantasia with 100-110 more features under my belt.) One that I’m particularly interested in is Jaume Balaguero’s latest, Sleep Tight, which is slated for Fantasia’s last day, Aug 9. Due to the organizers adding two days onto the schedule at the last second, my flight leaves that morning, so I would not have been able to catch it. Looks like that’s less of a problem now.