The 2017 Dallas International Film Festival brought many amazing films and documentaries to DFW, but few hit as close to home (musically speaking) as Matt Schrader‘s feature, SCORE: A Film Music Documentary. Schrader’s film profiles various personalities and titans in the industry to chronicle the history of film music, reaffirm its importance in our culture, and attempt to explain why certain scores continue to resonate decades later. I can honestly say I’ve been a music fan longer than I’ve been a film fan, and as such, forgive the pun, this doc was music to my ears. We spoke to Schrader in 2015 while he was in the middle of interviewing the composers for…
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Video Interview…Nacho Vigalondo On the Large and Small Themes of ‘Colossal’
For years, Fantastic Fest has been a venue for independent and auteur filmmakers to showcase their latest features. 2016 was no different, as we saw stellar debut efforts from some talented directors (Nicolas Pesce for instance) and welcomed back friends of the Fest. Chief among them is a genre filmmaker so famous and beloved, he has been dubbed the unofficial mascot of Fantastic Fest. I’m not sure that anyone ever sets out to be a “mascot”, but Nacho Vigalondo is happy to oblige…he’s even gotten two themed tattoos while at the Fest if that tells you anything. Vigalondo’s style has endeared himself to many a genre fan, but he’s also…
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Video Interview…Tim Burton Talks Music and Creativity in ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children’ at Fantastic Fest
In the days before the theatrical release of Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, we interviewed director Tim Burton on the red carpet at Fantastic Fest. While this was far from the definitive interview we would have liked to have with such a visionary filmmaker, Burton is the eccentric genius of our time so we were happy to get just a few moments with him. We talked, briefly, about working with composers Michael Higham and Matthew Margeson, advice for finding your own way creatively, and Tim’s favorite scenes from movies. Enjoy! Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children is directed by Tim Burton, and stars Asa Butterfield, Eva Green, Judi Dench,…
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[Fantastic Fest Review]…Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Tim Burton provides such a distinct look, feel, and texture to every one of his films — regardless of how you might feel about them — that he’s very much a genre unto himself. Taking a heavy influence from landmark German Expressionist films, he’s pioneering this generation’s brand of wacky, dark-tinged cinema as his creations have danced across the screen for more than a quarter of a century. Yet, as we’ve seen in his recent efforts, a little too much creative freedom — as in all of it — can yield the most unwieldy or disastrous of narratives. For his latest effort, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, the eccentric director gets to do what he…
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Interview…Director Sarah Adina Smith on Rami Malek and ‘Buster’s Mal Heart’
When it comes to head-scratchers, Buster’s Mal Heart is certainly one of them. So, when given the opportunity to speak to filmmakers about their craft and their project, we jumped at the chance. At Fantastic Fest we sat down with writer-director Sarah Adina Smith to talk about her second feature. While many answers to questions we had after the screening weren’t given, sometimes getting to know where someone is coming from gives a better understanding of why they put on screen what they did. Buster’s Mal Heart stars Rami Malek (in an incredible performance) and the film has just as many humorous moments as unexpected ones as his character seeks to find a better life for his…
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Interview…Director Nicolas Pesce on ‘The Eyes of My Mother’
For as quaint and economical as it comes across, The Eyes of My Mother is a pull-no-punches horror film. This debut effort shows that Nicolas Pesce is not just a talent to watch (with your hand over your eyes) but his attention to details make this effort as striking as it is horrific. In the film, a traumatic event befalls a young girl and her family. Soon after, she begins to associate pain and death with love and friendship in increasingly dangerous ways. At the festival, we spoke candidly about the elements and plot points in Pesce’s film. So, be advised, this interview contains spoilers. GoSeeTalk: Nicolas, I have to…
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[Fantastic Fest Review]…The Young Offenders
“There are two things you need for a good adventure: a treasure map, and someone dumb enough to go with you.” If you were to read that, you might just be inclined to follow the person who said it. If not, you might just miss out on one hell of a wild ride. The Young Offenders, the debut feature from Peter Foott, is a story about never-do-wells just trying to get ahead despite being completely out of options. Essentially, this can be seen as a comical call to action for those with zero opportunities. As someone once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” And these…
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[Fantastic Fest Review]…They Call Me Jeeg Robot
If you’re just about numb to comic book films these days, then allow this quaint Italian picture to cleanse your palette. The debut feature-length effort from from Gabriele Mainetti seems like a fresh yet familiar take on this type of film; it also reminds once how much fun this type of story can be sans all the machismo and infighting. They Call Me Jeeg Robot is an impressive piece of work, with violence to spare, but it doesn’t glamorize heroes or villains. That’s an important thing to note because it also earns points for originality even if the story is of the passé “hero born of toxic waste” variety. It’s rare to pair the words “origin…
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[Fantastic Fest Review]…A Dark Song
At Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the United States, you tend to get two types of films. First, there’s the wacky, chimerical, excess-for-the-sake-of-it, ratings-be-damned insanity. Then you get the very pensive, David Fincher- or David Lynch-type narratives. A Dark Song, the debut effort from Irish film director Liam Gavin, is very much the latter. An expertly constructed film, and one that moves at a snail’s pace, asks you to not just have the patience of the main character, Sophia (Catherine Walker), but also have faith that the payoff is worth all the prep. A Dark Song is a claustrophobic picture about a woman who, following the traumatic loss of her son, has…
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[Fantastic Fest Review]…Terry Teo
Four years ago, Danger 5 screened at Fantastic Fest to a welcome response. In 2014, Wastelander Panda was met with similar acclaim. Now, a similarly entertaining and fairly wacky television show arrives, this time from Housebound writer/director Gerard Johnstone no less. We’d like to introduce Terry Teo. Whether you’re familiar with book series that inspired this (and the popular ’80s children’s television series it spawned) is irrelevant. In less than 60 seconds, we learn a whole lot about Terry, the teenage cat burglar, as soon as he opens his mouth. After entering a property that is clearly not his dwelling, Terry takes off his shoes and proclaims, “I know I’m robbing the place, but that’s no reason to be disrespectful.” And so…
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[Fantastic Fest Review]…Dearest Sister
People say that there is art through adversity. As such, to begin, it’s worth stating that Mattie Do‘s latest feature is the 13th film to come out of Laos… in its history. Furthermore, it is worth noting that she is a female filmmaker in a Marxist state. So while the country is fraught with local censorship, Do is able to deliver quality films in a place where there is no film industry or infrastructure for that kind of entertainment. Creative struggles are one thing, but judging the finished product, Dearest Sister is an admittedly hard film to review. The premise seems straightforward, yet vague enough to pique your interest: “After moving to the city, a poor…
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[USA Film Fest Interview]…’Gallows Road’ Star Ernie Hudson
It’s been 30 years since Ernie Hudson starred in Ghostbusters and even today, he’s still working non-stop. After all, he has the tools and he has the talent, right? He’s also got a heart as big as Texas and Hudson’s latest role finds him starring in Gallows Road. Bill McAdams Jr.’s film is a modest effort, but one filled with a lot of heavy issues. Religion, anger, abuse, etc. it’s all in there, but it’s ultimately about compassion and acceptance. As the tag line says, God forgives…Can you? In the film, Bob Collins (Ernie Hudson) finds his faith tested when a night of racially motivated violence takes the lives of his…
