Editor’s Note: We’d like to introduce our newest contributor, Atlanta-based cinephile Alex Spivey covering this year’s Fantastic Fest. Hi, everyone! Alex here, bringing you all the fun and mayhem happening in Austin this Fall. 2023 marks the 18th year that the best damn fest in the world has been celebrating and pushing genre cinema. Over the years, I’ve been here to witness the calamity, insanity, brutality and hilarity from filmmakers like Scott Derrickson, Bong Joon Ho, David Gordon Green, Rian Johnson and many, many others. This year Austin is again flooded with spectacular titles (and Secret Screenings!) that pull no punches, and the opening night film of this year’s fest…
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G-S-T Review…’A Million Miles Away’
In the past ten or so years, one of the more resonant film quotes that I hope rings out to young children across the globe is from Disney’s Zootopia. You have to love that inspiring and simple phrase, “anyone can be anything!” Well, when it comes to movies, especially fanciful children’s yarns, not everybody gets to live out their dream, find the treasure, or have an ambitiously emotional dance number to save the farm. But whoever says dreams don’t come true has never heard of one Jose Hernandez – the astronaut and real life hero highlighted in Prime Video’s A Million Miles Away. The words “unforgettable” and “inspirational” get thrown…
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Music Review…’Severance’ Soundtrack Is Chock-Full of Lumon Goodies
If you’re a fan of soundtracks and film scores, the team at Mondo has you covered. They take great pride in crafting physical media, they produce vinyl with audiophiles in mind, and they also care about the packaging. Like a lot! In fact, their slipcases have just as much detail as their amazing posters. Yet the cool thing about their albums is that the team gets to do way more than silk screen their work on foil variants. Albums give these artists/creatives a smaller yet more complex canvas than a poster and the team tries their darnedest to use every square inch (inside and out) to tell their story. The…
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Interview…Producer/Director Natalie Metzger on Film, Fun and Charting Her Own Course
When you meet someone who is passionate about their work, you tend to see them coming a mile away. Two very good examples are writer/director/producer Natalie Metzger and her husband/producing partner Matt Miller who founded Vanishing Angle. Their production company nurtures the freshest voices in the independent film community with award-winning films and series, taking projects from script through distribution. We first got to meet them at Fantastic Fest in 2022 and were blown away by their unsettling family drama, Spoonful Of Sugar. We knew we needed to keep any eye out for anything they did in the future. And they’re also a super fun team to chat with. Today,…
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Interview…Composer Doyle Donehoo Talks Big Scares in Space with ‘Aliens: Dark Descent’
Doyle Donehoo is a rocker-turned composer who gets to live out one of his greatest scoing gigs to date. He grew up with the Alien franchise and that certainly made an impact. Starting with Ridley Scott‘s masterpiece – which he saw in the theater – he’s lived in this world. Ask his about his memorabilia and that would start quite a conversation. Years later, like a kid in a candy store, he gets to expand the palette established by Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Elliott Goldenthall and others while adding his own spice to the mix. The difference in his efforts here is that his music is crafted for a video…
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Interview…Kilamanzego on Identity, Electronic Sounds and ‘Black Weirdo’
If you’re on the hunt for new music, and are open to a palette expanding paradigm shift, you can’t do any better than Kilamanzego [“kill-a-man’s-ego”]. The moniker for Kay Oko (an experimental electronic music producer, vocalist, and visual artist based in Philadelphia) becomes her performer name – which initially was almost “Kilimanjaro” to pay homage to her African culture – that playfully and confidently makes a bold statement of women’s empowerment as a unique force in the electronic scene. We first heard her work on Bandcamp and were instantly hooked. After per-ordering her newest work, the pull-no-punches album called “Black Weirdo” has been playing non-stop in the car, my headphones…
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Sweet Trailer…Stallone and Team Are Back in ‘Expend4bles’
One of our very favorite actors of all time is Sylvester Stallone. Yes, you read that right. The man has seen it all and done it all. He’s risen, fallen and risen again and continues to show us what happens if you just keep punching. True, not everything he’s done will be remembered for all time (and some titles are probably better forgotten) but he’s shown us for six decades that he cannot be counted out. So here we are with the next installment of the ‘Expendables‘ series and that’s worth a pause to celebrate. Why? Well, a couple reasons. First is that few thought we’d ever seen another as…
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Interview…John Powell Composing the Score to ‘Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie’
While technically Canadian, Michael J. Fox is one of America’s most beloved actors. Fueled by an inability to be still, he’s been moving since the day he was born. That tenacity propelled him through his childhood and, years later, the difficult and nebulous waters of Hollywood. Rejections would have sent many young hopefuls packing…but not Mike. Perseverance and attitude prevailed and Fox was rewarded with film and TV work that charted an unparalleled course few actors have been able to replicate or even follow. One of the best words that could describe this pint-sized Canuck is “joyful” – his delivery and smile elicits a laugh every single time. Fox may…
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Sweet Trailer…Kenneth Branagh is Back in ‘A Haunting In Venice’
If you thought 2023 didn’t have any more surprises, then how about this?? To help wind down a banner year for films, here’s an old-school murder mystery from Kenneth Brangagh. Just in time for Halloween, the Oscar-winning thespian/director once again dons his famous mustache in his third outing playing celebrated sleuth Hercule Poirot. This film sets him in an unsettling supernatural thriller based upon the novel “Hallowe’en Party” by Agatha Christie. And per usual, the locations are dreamy (or nightmarish in this case), the wordplay is razor sharp, the costumes are stunning and the all-star cast is a yet another brilliant ensemble. Have a look and get ready for another…
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Interview…Composer/Music Editor Robinton Hobbs on Score Production and Joy House Music
These days, regardless of the industry, we all need a little help. Whether that is outsourcing entire productions or a few hours of assistance and consulting, we can all use a support system. As the world grows ever more hungry for entertainment, the talented tradespeople making movies/shows, games, and music are in a flurry trying to deliver what’s needed. So to help with that project flow, Joy House Music has helped plenty of features and shows get the musical attention needed to finish the job. JMH is a woman-lead business working towards innovating the world of score production with a commitment to community, diversity and equality. Their company is a…
