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Fantasia 2014: ‘Crows Explode’ surprisingly punches its way near to the top

Following in the footsteps of Takashi Miike is a frightfully unenviable position to find oneself in. Outdoing him in terms of audaciousness is a ludicrous goal to aim for, as few ever could. Even so, director Toyoda offers a rather strong piece of entertainment that bizarrely finds a middle ground between telling an overarching story of misguided teenagers, who view beating each other to a pulp as a viable technique to socialize, and delving into their more troubled personal lives, thus providing the picture with a speck of gravitas. What’s more, the film looks very handsome; further indication that the filmmakers took this premise quite seriously and wanted to give audiences the best picture possible. Crows Explode is a strange mix of ingredients but disproves the odds. It might not be the king of the heap, but prince is not a bad second place.

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Fantasia 2014: ‘The Suspect’ entertains primarily due to its unabashed relentlessness

Director Won Shin-yun’s The Suspect is a generally fan-pleasing, sometimes rousing entry in the genre. It boasts tremendous energy, showcasing the amazing tailspin of a chase the anti-hero finds himself caught in with enviable vim and verve. The movie doesn’t trot, it races at the speed of light to the finish line, which is an impressive feat considering it runs just over two hours long.

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Fantasia 2014: ‘Life After Beth’ entertains, but fails to truly rise from the grave

Twenty years ago, if someone said that ‘zombie romantic comedy’ was going to become an actual cinematic sub-genre, they’d have been called a witch and burned at the stake. And yet, they would have been right, and Fantasia 2014 has seen the unveiling of yet another film in the rapidly expanding genre, Life After Beth. Starring Aubrey Plaza of Parks and Recreation and Dane DeHaan, recently of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Life After Beth is best described as a zombie breakup comedy. It’s also best described as “decent, but not amazing”, a serviceable enough zom-rom-com kept afloat mostly by the supporting cast.

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Fantasia 2014: ‘Han Gong-ju’ is a quiet, strong meditation on painful memories

Both the victim and perpetrator of a crime must live with the consequences of the events they were intricately involved in. For the guilty party, provided they possess an inkling of remorse in their body, the stigma carries over an extended period of time, with reminders coming in all shapes and sizes to reiterate that they did bad in the past and that society does not look kindly to them.

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Fantasia 2014: ‘The Zero Theorem’ undermines its satire with muddy ideology and philosophy

Stop me if you’ve heard this one already: a low-level cog in a comically large bureaucratic environment in a grotesque-looking “future” dystopia struggles in the face of obsolescence and oblivion. The character in question is fundamentally good, but incredibly weedy, their resolve and spirit having been ground to stumps by the world around them.

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Fantasia 2014: ‘Faults’ has that good kind of sadistic feeling

The irony of the penniless cult and mind-control expert is not lost on us. Ansel Roth’s got the tools to get your loved ones back within your grasp, he’s written them down for all to read, but here he is selling copies of his latest book one hotel conference room at a time, living out of an AMC Gremlin, fishing meal vouchers out of the trash, and shoveling ketchup in his mouth with a fork.

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Fantasia 2014: ‘Cold Eyes’ is a fun, jacked-up blockbuster with energy to spare

The one popular term to describe the picture is ‘badass’. It isn’t a very professional or literarily apt word to summarize what a film comes across as, but as a succinct bit of praise it fits the bill perfectly. One has to be especially averse to modern filmmaking techniques in order to come away disliking the directorial choices exercised in Cold Eyes. Yes, the editing is as rapid as that of so many of today’s thrillers, but the key is know why to cut to another frame and how. Judging by this film, Cho Ui-seok and Kim Byung-seo know just how to proceed. Cold Eyes is easily one of the year’s best action films.

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Fantasia 2014: ‘Boyhood’ transcends one life

When a filmmaker perfectly aligns the technical and the artistic, we’re reminded of the transformative power of cinema. Lost amid the genre clichés and computer-generated extravaganzas lies an expansive battlefield called ‘the human condition’, where moments of great power co-mingle with insignificant monotony to shape our lives.

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Fantasia 2014: ‘The Mole Song’ marches along to Miike’s unique tune, for better or worse

This latest effort is very much a hodgepodge of various ideas to shock and awe all cobbled together to make a two-hour long festival of insanity. In other words, Miike and the writers throw everything they can think of on the wall and leave it up to the audience to see what sticks and what does not. With a film that tosses in gags, both visual and verbal, at the rapid pace evidenced here, it comes as no surprise that not everything will land.

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Fantasia 2014: ‘I Origins’ asks questions of science and spirituality

The movies have long had an intimate fascination with the human eye. They’re the tools with which we absorb film, we view them as a window to our soul, and they’re one of the most romantic parts of the body. No one ever romanticized an ear.

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Slamdance winning doc ‘Kung Fu Elliot’ added to Fantasia

Just when you thought all the announcements for the Fantasia International Film Festival were done, they’ve come through with one more high profile get. The Slamdance winning Grand Jury Prize documentary Kung Fu Elliot will screen July 30 as part of its Quebec premiere during the festival. The film borders the line of a mockumentary …

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Fantasia Film Fest announces full line-up

  Following previous announcements of their film lineup, the Fantasia International Film Festival has released their full lineup of movies to be shown at the 18th Annual festival, starting July 17. New additions to the lineup include 2014 Cannes Selection When Animals Dream, directed by Jonas Alexander Amby and the return of Fantasia’s showcase of …

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An interview with Don Mancini, writer-director of ‘Curse of Chucky’

Don Mancini’s Curse of Chucky had its world premier at the 2013 Fantasia Film Festival. As part of the event, the writer-director and stars of the film sat down for interviews about the project itself. What follows is the interview conducted with writer-director Don Mancini. Curse of Chucky arrives on DVD and Blu-ray on October …

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‘The Machine’ Movie Review – brilliantly combines a heartfelt story and high-minded sci-fi

The technological advancement witnessed in the fabrication of robots of all kinds has been extraordinary over the past few decades. What appeared as far fetched and clearly ahead of its time in the 1980s and 1990s is commonplace today. Film has often tackled the issue of high-tech progression in several sci-fi related genres, from schlocky horror to high minded psychological drama. With The Machine, Writer-director Caradog W. James puts his spin on a familiar if endlessly fascinating topic of machines replicating human behaviour.

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‘Les 4 soldats’ Movie Review – is about the unseen, quiet war soldiers face

There are war films and then there are war films. The former are of the traditional variety that follow an individual or group of soldiers that form a platoon and train, learn to grow as a team and then suffer the inevitable consequences of battle. The latter follow a different battle plan, pardon the pun. Their interests lie in the more esoteric, psychological aspects of warfare, studying the toil combat takes on everyone affected by it, either directly or otherwise. Robert Morin’s latest endeavor, Les 4 soldats, initially appears to adopt the first of those two identities only to slowly calm its pace down and become a studious character piece.

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‘The Killing of America’ Movie Review – Can Exploitation be Profound?

The Killing of America is an impassioned and emotional showcase of violence in America from the period of the early 1960s into the early 1980s. Resting on the thesis that the society quickly devolved into increasingly acts of senseless violence, the film utilizes rare and disturbing footage of both familiar and unfamiliar events. Rift with a somewhat confused ideology, the film nonetheless packs a punch and suggests where many others haven’t that access to guns are part of the problem, an issue that continues to be debated within American society to this day. Is this little more than a parade of greatest hits for snuff fans or does it reaches deeper, revealing darker truths and realities that we are unwilling or unable to face.

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‘Curse of Chucky’ Movie Review – comfortably extends Chucky’s warranty

Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and Child’s Play. Which one of those franchises should not belong? The first three feature tall, powerful, humanoid, seemingly immortal foes that have struck fear and admiration in the minds and hearts of horror movie fans for decades already. Each has proven so successful that remakes of all three have already been attempted.

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‘Saving General Yang’ Movie Review – is a fine update of classic Shaw

Ronny Yu’s journey as a director of feature films is eerily reminiscent of that experienced by John Woo. After early success in their native land, Yu and Woo, albeit at different times in their careers, ventured into the Hollywood system with mixed results at best. Action movie legend John Woo returned to Hong Kong and made an extraordinarily grand scale period piece in the mainland, Red Cliff. After Bride of Chucky and Freddy vs Jason, Yu headed back home and made one of Jet Li’s greatest films, Fearless. Now, after a seven-year wait, he returns with a epic period story of his own, Saving General Yang.

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‘A Company Man’ Movie Review – takes care of business, badass style

Who hates their employer? A cursory survey amongst friends, relatives and co-workers may reveal that, while ‘hate’ is perhaps too strong a term, they feel a level of dissatisfaction with their job. Some might even consider their superiors to be aggravating, power-hungry, selfish, annal-retentive demons (and exhale).

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‘I’ll Follow You Down’ Movie Review – is an emotionally satisfying entry in the time travel genre

I’ll Follow You Down Written by Richie Mehta Directed by Richie Mehta Canada, 2013 What of the marvelous qualities a human being can display is the ability to overcome deep regret or sorrow. Everyone lives through a dark chapter in their lives, but the key is to take the time necessary to overcome the emotional …

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‘Missionary’ Movie Review – holds promise but fails to deliver on its mission statement

In today’s modern, self-declared sophisticated age people in the Western world seem to consider it fashionable not merely to proclaim that theological principles do not dictate their lives, but to openly scoff at the very notion of practicing religion. That said, applying the word of an all powerful deity to better oneself most certainly does not sound like a laughing matter and probably is not for the actual people who embrace the concept. Misinterpretation of ‘infallible’ texts however can lead to many an ugly scene, as brutally exemplified in Anthony DiBlasi’s Missionary.

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