Fantasia Film 2021 Review: Wonderful Paradise

Was looking forward to this one too. Yeah, it just couldn't live up to its trailer in Masashi Yamamoto's Wonderful Paradise. The film's basic premise is that on the last day of the Sasaya family home still belonging to them, the family's daughter, Akane, posts on social media they're having a party. And what follows is a bunch of different surreal developments of strange party guests. What we don't stick to is the family learning or changing from these guests, no real change comes to any of them.

 

From the trailer, I was anticipating a fun, strange film with the promises of ghosts, sexy time and some blood and yes, all of those things are in the film, but at such a strange pace and not building off each other. It's just waiting on what strange thing will happen in the next scene. Oh, look a kaiju is in it now. Look a man in a dress. Oh, what's up with that cat.

Though a festival forms in a backyard and a lot of fun strange moments come about like a boy turning into a stick or a double ice pick wedding ceremony covered in blood, none of it seems earned. We get a Bollywood dance number, but because...the director thought it would look cool in that part of the movie?

We get drama smooshed in about the Sasaya family and why it has so many problems and other guests
problems, but really nothing comes of it. We follow a dirty old monk who appears to be homeless for most of the film with nothing to really show for it.

I've seen many Japanese films with large casts like this, but all of them have an ending to go to or a point. And were a lot weirder or sillier.  There nothing really here for this one to stick out.

 

It has a few laughs in the start, because of it's randomness, but that randomness gets annoying by the end.

Halloween 2021:70's SHOCKERS: A 16mm Horror Movie Marathon

 Yeah, we know it's early, but things are selling out for October. Ughh, we're gonna have to do a Halloween list before the end of this month, because haunts start this September. And this horror film festival is half-way sold out.

 

70's SHOCKERS: A 16mm Horror Movie Marathon

Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 2:00 PM

Dynasty Typewriter at The Hayworth

2511 Wilshire Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90057

$30

18+

A shocking spree of sensational Seventies horror — screened from lovingly rescued 16mm prints.

We forever love the genre’s vibe from that time for its backwoods grit, Gothic grandeur and just plain bugnuttery. This era’s indie visions and exploitation hybrids have never stopped delivering on their grimy promise. Don’t miss these six far-out features ruled by folk curses, desert disasters, ancestral torments, orphaned teens, demented hillbillies and telekinetic murderers!

The Secret Sixteen mission: to project horror/cult rarities from the portable, wonderous 16mm format. Hints are dropped, but titles aren’t revealed until they unspool onscreen.

Come scare with us... Knott's Scary Farm is hosting a job fair on Friday, August 6, from 9:30 am - 4:00 pm for characters, maze blackout, and guest control. An appointment is required and can be made online - https://t.co/on0y8SEhkj
#ScaryFarm #NowHiring pic.twitter.com/pFjCdxjM7d

— Knott's Scary Farm (@knottsscaryfarm) July 27, 2021

The Day Dumbo Died, Say Good-bye To The Hollywood & Highland Elephants

 

The elephants that adorn the Hollywood and Highland Center are coming down as the new owners of the shopping center think they're in some way too linked to the racism of director D.W. Griffith who did the super racist film, Birth of A Nation in 1915. Though, the elephants didn't appear in that film and were in another film of Griffiths, Intolerance, the new owners decided to take them down. In Intolerance, the film depicts intolerance in 4 different stories and the point of the film is to actually teach tolerance. Sadly, none of the stories are about slavery in the US. And with getting rid of the elephants the new owners are putting a cool $100 million into a new makeover to get rid of the eye-catching Mesopotamian look.

Maybe it's to grab headlines, as it did here, because I don't remember anyone looking up and saying, "Look at those racist elephants!" Though the owners of Hollywood and Highland have stated they're doing it because of racism, no organization has come out about the elephants being seen as racist or even applauding them in getting rid of them.

 

It's really kind of just stupid and bad marketing to use fighting racism as part of their makeover. The owners should just be selling the fact that they're changing up the look of Hollywood and Highland which many just know as a over-priced tourist trap and not a local hang out.

We wonder if any black people at Hollywood and Highland Center are even involved with the elephants coming down or it's just a couple of white people doing this all.

It's much more fascinating to learn about the films of D.W. Griffith and their history in Hollywood and how the affected cinema then just saying, "We got rid of those elephants finally."  There's so much more to unpack. 

 

This is one of the dumbest things I've had to write about in some time when it comes to LA, just a makeover for a shopping area that wanted more press. If DJM and Gaw Capital Partners, who know own it, want to fight racism, they should give their money to organizations that fight it.

via Variety

via LA Times

Fantasia Film 2021 Reviews: Alien on Stage & Strawberry Mansion

As we've already written, Fantasia Film 2021 has quite the collection this year. Here's some of the films we've seen so far.

 

Alien on Stage

It's such a different world in England from what I know, even after watching quite a lot of contemporary  British television. Did you know they have Christmas plays that have nothing to do with Christmas?  No, me neither. And if you did, well aren't you special. But, for the rest of us; called pantomimes, they just do a fun play for charity. And we follow a group of bus drivers, of all people, as they try and pull of a stage play of Alien. And it's just a silly romp of seeing them trying to get their play ready for England's version of Broadway. Not the biggest theater there, but way more than an amateur adaptation of Alien might get.

What an easy-going experience of a documentary. No big problems with the actors or in-fighting or drug problems, though these bus drivers do smoke quite a bit. But really, it's a just a charming adventure to see an amateur group pull of a genuinely funny adaption of Alien and for charity. The biggest problem might be just remembering their lines.

Also, just a pleasure to see the handwork that went into make the props and sets, but you can tell that the people making it just enjoyed doing it.

I mean, I can't think of a documentary I've seen with such little drama. And that's not bad, it's kind of refreshing.

Before you ask. You have to wait to the end to see the key scenes of Alien, but they're all in there and hilarious to watch.

Strawberry Mansion

Oh, boy did I want to love this movie. The trailer made it look like so much fun. I watched Videodrome right after it with a friend to see a far better version of it made almost 40 years ago. Great concept with middling results has us in a world where dreams are taxed. It's a world where 1950's style doesn't seem to have stopped. Your dreams are recorded in you sleep. Now they record them on mini SD cards, but before that, you're dreams are taped on VHS. And it's quite a fun start. Then, you really don't connect with the characters and it ends like a forgettable dream.

 

Enter taxman James Preble (Kentucker Audley) who has to tax a woman who hasn't been paying her dream taxes possibly all her life. Bella played by both Penny Fuller (old) and Grace Glowicki (young) takes James through her dreams to a realization that seemed pretty obvious that something isn't right with people's dreams now-a-days.

So many problems arise from this film that make it mostly kind of a slog and not even as so-bad-it's good film. The actors either by script or by their own ability aren't memorable. The film doesn't want to lean into being either too serious or too silly. And there doesn't seem to be a payoff to a realization of bad dealings in dreams.

 

I'm not gonna give credit past the start for the dream sequences, because some just fizzle out, while other just had me bored and wanted them to end. And it has nothing to do with cost. Either something is entertaining or it isn't and the previous film Alien on Stage did far less than this film when it came to art direction.

There's great ideas in the film like dream advertising being popped into your head as a friend. And then, what if that malfunctions, like an Adblocker tries to get rid of something on your screen, but can't right away. That just gets muddled into some sort of dream logic scenario that is neither clever or makes me care more about the film.

And the one bit of commercialism for a horrible KFC knock-off was a delightful concept at the start, but there's no payoff.

Even the title is a poor choice as strawberries and a small "mini-mansion" are in the film, but don't really reflect much to the actual story. I wanted to enjoy this film, but go to far into it and your dreaming of Videodrome, which is a much better watch than this.

TV & Movie Hype: How To with John Wilson, Jellystone!, Cooking With Paris & Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two

We totally missed it when it came out last year, but the 6 episodes of How To with John Wilson are hilarious mini-docs that twist into something else from their start. Probably the only good thing that came out in 2020. It should be no surprise that Nathan Fielder of Nathan for You is producing the show. If six episodes aren't enough (we want more and have to savor them) a second season is due this year. Check all the current episodes on HBO Max.

 

Another one we gave a chance was the brand new Jellystone! a new take on all the anthropomorphic Hanna-Barber characters living in a town together. It's great for kids and the adults who grew up on them. Tons of call backs from all the old cartoons. The characters are totally lovable nincompoops and they've updated them to be modern. Check all the current episodes on HBO Max.

 

 

Is your brain working too much. Shut it off with what is sure to be a dumb fun idea. Cooking With Paris is out August 4th on Netflix. It's Paris Hilton cooking with rich celebrity friends and it looks like time to just turn off any sort of ideas or thought process. Did everything coming out on Fox just go to Netflix? Possibly, we mean, this is just, whatever, it's not worst than what else is on TV.

Also, out now, on streaming or home media Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two. Some great animation starts off this second film. 

 

Then, we really don't know who is clamoring for these rated R super hero films. The over-the-top violence just doesn't make it any better. And it would make more sense to make it for a broader audience.

 

Overall, after seeing it, we were like, well, another one.

 

The only time we see WB animation doing it right is for the Mortal Kombat animated films, which are supposed to be ultra violent. Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms comes out August 31st and this is where it should be crazy violent, because that's what happens in the game and movie.

Film Hype: Loz Feliz 3 Back Open August, Gunnzo for James Gunn & Academy Museum Opening Day News

 

Los Feliz 3 Theatre is back this August, check the American Cinematheque site for tickets and dates.

"We're opening! 7 days a week. Multiple screenings a day. 75 shows in August. 50 films on 35mm. Tickets available now through the weekend for Members Only – join now! Tickets will be open to the general public starting Monday, August 2."

Oh and

GUNNZO: The Spectacular Chaos of @JamesGunn begins 8.3 wi. a FREE screening of #thesuicidesquad courtesy of @wbpictures at Aero Theatre. Then SLITHER, DAWN OF THE DEAD & THE BELKO EXPERIMENT at Los Feliz3 throughout August all wi. @am_cinematheque
Tix go live here tmrrw @ noon pic.twitter.com/k8oCgQeBlE

— Beyond Fest (@BeyondFest) July 30, 2021

GUNNZO: THE SPECTACULAR CHAOS OF JAMES GUNN

8/8/21 - 8/22/21

Los Feliz Theatre

1822 N Vermont Ave Los Angeles, CA 90027

Hilarious, operatically violent, and completely gonzo, the films of James Gunn were made for the big screen. Beyond Fest and the American Cinematheque present some of his finest and wildest work. Overdose on the cinematic madness of James Gunn and celebrate the release of his lastest sensorial overload, THE SUICIDE SQUAD a pitch-perfect culmination of 25 years of cinematic excess.

Here's a bunch of news from the opening day of the Academy Museum, happening September 30th, let's hope the Delta variant and Covid is back under control by then. Timed admission tickets to the Academy Museum will be on sale to the general public beginning August 5, 2021. Tickets will only be available through advance online reservations via their website.

 

Press release:

 

Los Angeles, CA, July 21, 2021―The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures today announced its schedule of inaugural in-person screenings and public programs, which will begin on September 30 when the museum opens. The Academy Museum is the largest institution in the United States devoted to exploring the art and science of movies and moviemaking.

During the first three months of the Academy Museum’s opening, the museum will offer the public a robust, dynamic, and diverse slate of over 115 film screenings, discussions, and programs for film lovers of all ages, beginning with two special presentations of The Wizard of Oz (USA, 1939) featuring live musical accompaniment by the American Youth Symphony conducted by Academy Award®-nominated composer David Newman.


Other highlights of the museum’s first few months of in-person programming include the launch of ongoing series:

• Stories of Cinema: featuring screenings of films highlighted in the museum’s core exhibition, including Real Women Have Curves (USA, 2002) and The Way of the Dragon (Hong Kong, 1972).
• Oscar® Sundays: held every Sunday evening in the David Geffen Theater, this series celebrates films that have been honored at the Academy Awards®. For the series’ first iteration, we are celebrating the work of women directors, including Harlan County, U.S.A. (USA, 1976) and Seven Beauties (Italy, 1975).
• Family Matinees: held every Saturday for families of all ages, screenings will include Moana (USA, 2016), The Book of Life (USA, 2014), and Labyrinth (UK/USA, 1986).
• Legacy: launching with a discussion between Laura Dern and her parents Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd.
• In Conversation: launching with a discussion of how to contextualize cinema, featuring producers Effie T. Brown and Heather Rae.
• 
  Special series and standalone screenings for our opening months include:
• Malcolm X in 70mm: a screening for Academy Museum Members of the seminal film, with special guests Spike Lee and Denzel Washington.
• Oscar® Frights: featuring screenings of Oscar®-winning and nominated horror films, including Get Out (USA, 2017) and Psycho (USA, 1960).
• Hayao Miyazaki: in conjunction with the Academy Museum’s landmark exhibition on Hayao Miyazaki, the Academy Museum will screen the filmmaker’s complete body of work as a feature director, including My Neighbor Totoro (Japan, 1988) and Spirited Away (Japan, 2001).
• Imperfect Journey: Haile Gerima and His Comrades: following honoring Haile Gerima at the Academy Museum Opening Gala, the museum is thrilled to present this series focused on Haile Gerima’s work as a director and the work of some of his mentees and comrades, including Malik Sayeed, Bradford Young, and Arthur Jafa.
• Sound Off: A Celebration of Women Composers: in honor of the Academy Museum’s gallery created with composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, Sound Off will feature screenings of films scored by women composers, including Joker (USA, 2019), scored by Guðnadóttir and Tron (USA, 1982), scored by Wendy Carlos.
• Retrospectives of films by Jane Campion and Satyajit Ray, the latter of which draws from the Academy Film Archive’s rich holdings of Ray’s films.
• Beyond the Icon: Anna May Wong: which celebrates the early film star’s work and legacy and includes screenings of Piccadilly (UK, 1929) and Shanghai Express (USA, 1932).
• Special screenings, including the 20th anniversary of Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (Canada, 2001).

Weekly What To Do: Art All Over The Place

Army of the Dead - Viva Las Vengeance: A VR Experience

July & August 2021

Westfield Century City

Rooftop 5th Floor Parking Garage

10250 Santa Monica Blvd, Century City

$tarting at $24

 

*The movie might have sucked, but the experience might be fun

"Viva Las Vengeance, a new immersive experience based on the Netflix original film Army of the Dead by Zack Snyder, allows you to take on the role of a mercenary and fight your way through hordes of zombies in mixed reality. This experience will be touring around the US and will be in Los Angeles for a few weeks only!"

 

Frieze Viewing Room Los Angeles Edition

July 27 – August 1

Multiple Galleries

 

Frieze Viewing Room, Los Angeles Edition brings together 47 leading galleries from Los Angeles and around the world. The initiative will run concurrent to the first-ever Gallery Weekend Los Angeles and offer a city-wide program of events.

 

The fourth edition of Frieze Viewing Room will feature 47 leading galleries and reflect the vibrant cultural landscape of Los Angeles with a line-up of the city’s defining spaces: Blum & Poe, Château Shatto, Jeffrey Deitch, Kayne Griffin, David Kordansky Gallery, L.A. Louver, Regen Projects and Various Small Fires (VSF), alongside major international exhibitors: Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Karma, Lehmann Maupin, Nara Roesler, Thaddaeus Ropac, Venus Over Manhattan and White Cube. The Viewing Room platform will benefit from enhanced search, filter, navigation and content curation features, elevating visitor experience and promoting discovery.

 

 

 

 

Gallery Weekend Los Angeles

July 28–August 1, 2021

Multiple Galleries

 

The first iteration of Gallery Weekend Los Angeles intends to be the inaugural edition of an annual summer moment to make art more accessible while celebrating the experience of viewing art in-person once again. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The LA Art Show

July 29th - August 1st

WEST HALL
LA Convention Center West Hall 
1201 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90015

$33.03

The LA Art show is thrilled to present a special Summer Edition. In the show's 26th year, the LA Art Show remains one of the most popular art shows with 65k visitors per year. The show has pivoted with a hard focus on what's now, taking a closer look at some of the latest technological trends in the art world, while still offering a traditional lens for art from around the globe. 

 

Felix Art Fair
July 29 – August 1, 2021
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
Cabana 110
$75

Featuring works by Dominic Chambers, Lenz Geerk, Wangari Mathenge, Collins Obijiaku, Betye Saar, Taylor White, Brenna Youngblood and Zhao Zhao. An exhibition built on the suggestive power of the hotel room, the works, and their staging, chart the ease with which people slip into different personas once they inhabit temporary spaces. As an in-between space that highlights the tensions between individuals in different settings, or changing moods evoked by the passing of time, the hotel room frequently implies the transitory nature of contemporary life. 

KCRW’s Summer Nights at CAAM with 

KCRW DJs Aaron Byrd + Novena Carmel

Friday, July 30th - 7:00 PM - 11:00 PM

Free, Register 

Postponed

It’s back! Enjoy a warm night and cool vibes with CAAM and KCRW, featuring live sets from KCRW DJs Aaron Byrd and Novena Carmel, after-hours museum access including to CAAM’s newest exhibition, Sanford Biggers: Codeswitch, food trucks, a beer garden, and more at this summer’s best dance party! Party on the courtyard, but don't forget your masks, which are required inside the museum.

Largo, known for comedy shows, is back open and selling out shows. Grab some tickets before everything sells out.

 

 

Kayak Tours- LA River Expeditions

Summer

Film 

 

LUPIN THE 3RD: THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO

July 30-Aug 1

The Landmark Westwood

$

 

Academy Award-winning director Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, The Wind Rises) made his animated feature film debut with this beloved chapter of the Lupin the 3rd saga, now presented in a new 4K digital restoration. In the twilight of his career, master thief Lupin III’s (voice of Yasuo Yamada) latest and greatest caper has hit a snag. What should’ve been bags of cash from a national casino turns out to be expert counterfeits! Together with his partner-in-crime Jigen (Kiyoshi Kobayashi), Lupin heads to the remote nation of Cagliostro to exact revenge. Not everything goes as planned; the two encounter Clarisse, a royal damsel in distress being forced to marry the sinister Count Cagliostro against her will. Saving her won’t be easy, however, as Lupin and Jigen—together with the unpredictable lady thief Fujiko (Eiko Masuyama) and the swordsman Goemon (Makio Inoue)—must fight their way through a trap-filled castle, a deadly dungeon, and an army of professional assassins!

 

American Cinematheque

Melrose Rooftop Theater

 

 

Cinespia

 

Secret Movie Club

Rooftop Cinema Club
 

 

Cinelounge Drive-In

 

Street Food Cinema

 
 

Electric Dusk Drive-In 

 

 

Hollywood Legion Theater Drive-in  

 

Poolside Dinner & a Movie

Mini Motorways Review: An Addictive Little Road-maker

 

Of course, it starts in LA. Mini Motorways, finally came to Steam a week ago and it's hard to stop playing it. Just played another game before going to bed, last night. Why can't I make it to a thousand travelers in Beijing? Is the game telling me it's just that overpopulated or am I just not good yet? I've done it in Manila, Munich and Moscow, red-tinted, I might add. This addictive, easy-going, road-making game with tender bits of music from Disasterpeace is hard to stop playing.

From the, I need a t-shirt of, Dinosaur Polo Club, makers of Mini Metro, comes it's latest cute mobile
game, Mini Motorways. And mobile might be fine for the Apple Arcade version, but I meant it in the sense of making roads or rails for cars, trains and automobiles. 

In Mini Motorways you make roads from point A to B in a colorful world that looks like a board game of Google Maps. As time goes forward more points of different colors are needed to be connected. It of course grows more and more complex, just like the city of LA. Which, is known the world over for its traffic and huge highways; a perfect starting city for the game.

Different levels are different cities around the world and they all have their own look and maybe an iconic waterway. They wouldn't be that identifiable based on a real map, but each has it's own feel. More cities are to be added on over time, probably free of charge, like DPC's last game. Different locations have different problems like needing the upgrades of bridges or tunnels to get around or through or over. It was still nice to visit Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro and add as many motorways, and roundabouts before losing control.

 

You see the game spaces out time by having you set-up your roads in a week, really a few minutes. And every week you get a beneficial upgrade like traffic lights or a motorway. And if you're not British, you might think of motorway as just highway, which might confuse you, as it did me, for a second.

And this game doesn't want to confuse you. I haven't seen one (a game) give so many options to chill you out with night mode, colorblind mode and even turning off scene transitions, because there's some slight movement on screen when that happens.

Though, it looks like it would play nice on an Apple Phone or tablet, I like relaxing and trying to manage my streets on my PC. The cities with simple looks, look great on an HD monitor or TV. Cute car sounds connected with the bits and bops of Disasterpeace draw you in.

And yes, your city grows as the game goes on, like a zooming out a camera shot on a map.

 

It's hard to describe, but I would put it on par with building with Legos or making stuff in Minecraft; it's just fun to make roads. Seeing a colorful metropolis pop-up around you and having to be an Uber or Lyft  app and get cars places as fast as possible just gives you bliss.

 

Mini Motorways had me just jumping into game after game as they usually don't last that long. I just
wanted to see if a I could make my roads a little bit better or finally get the achievement for Zurich. Damn, you Zurich!

For hours of easy to get in an out of fun that doesn't requite Lego clean-up, I suggest grabbing the game and trying to get as many cars on the road as you can.

Get it on Steam

or Apple Arcade

*You can hear the game doesn't like it when you get rid of trees.

Game provided by publisher for review purposes

Updated The Local Arcade and Video Game Stores Lists

 

Yo Gamers,

We just updated the Local Arcade List & Video Game and Board Game Store List found on the right side of the site. Some places have passed on, but other arcades have been added .Same for video game stores. There's quite a few places to eat and drink while gaming as well, so don't pass out on it if you want to play some games again.

 

 We suggest only heading out if fully vaccinated and having plenty of hand sanitizer per gaming session.

Friday Posters: Pointy Posters, Jackass Forever, Jellystone! & The Suicide Squad

 

Malignant is out September 10th on Max and in theaters.

And Ridley Scott is still alive and grouchy as ever and has The Last Duel in theaters October 15th.

A simple poster to convey the fun stupidity. Jackass Forever is also out Oct 22nd with quite a lot of other films.

The new cartoon cavalcade from C.H. Greenblatt (Chowder), Jellystone! comes out HBO Max on July 29th.

 

The Suicide Squad comes out next month, Aug 6th.

Halloween Hype: Halloween Horror Nights Tickets On Sale Now, Home Depot’s 12-Foot Skeleton Back In Stock

Can't believe we're covering Halloween in July, but that's the game now with tickets. 

It's crazy, but just like Delusion, tickets are on sale now for

Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood

September 9-12, 16-19, 23-26, 30 and October 1-3, 7-10, 14-17, 21-24, 28-31

 

Also, just coming out our even more news on the latest mazes announced: 
 

“The Exorcist” maze, often revered as the most terrifying movie of all-time, as they live the tormented aberrations experienced by Regan and her determined mother.

Horror also re-emerges in ultraviolet with the addition of the original concept maze, “The Curse of Pandora’s Box.” Inspired by the most fearsome creatures in Greek mythology, this disturbing experience transports guests from the land of the living to the nightmarish netherworld of Hades where the demonic temptress Pandora serves as their guide.

“Halloween Horror Nights” also features the previously announced line-up with more mazes and experiences to be announced soon:
· “The Haunting of Hill House,” based on Netflix’s critically-acclaimed supernatural thriller.
· “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” a chilling maze featuring a demented Leatherface and his unrelenting chainsaw.
· “Universal Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein Lives,” inspired by Universal Pictures’ cinematic monsters with an all-original story about one of the studio’s most infamous creatures. 

 

Home Depot’s 12-Foot Skeleton is Back for Halloween and This Year There’s an “Inferno Pumpkin” Version!

Also odd for July, the Home Depot’ 12-Foot Skeleton the people loved sharing in awkward positions during and after Halloween online is ready for purchase and he brought a weird friend, Inferno Pumpkin. The Skeleton might be sold-out again as of writing this though, but put in a pre-order or whatever to snag it before Halloween.

Tickets are also already on sale for

HALLOWEEN RISING: A Stranger Experience

Sat, Oct 2, 2021, 8:00 PM

Catch One

4067 West Pico Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90019

$20 – $500

"Last year we lost many things from live entertainment to comic cons to Halloween itself. But... WE. ARE. BACK. It's been over a year and now it's time to celebrate in your favorite costumes with your favorite people! Enjoy a full night of live entertainment, libations, and immersive decor as we take scenes from some of your favorite fandoms and give them a Stranger makeover. When you hit the dance floor, you'll be entering the Upside Down so get your groove on, but beware the Demogorgons and mind flayers!"

Movie Hype: The Fantasia International Film Festival 2021

The Fantasia International Film Aug 5-25 is just burning on all cylinders to basically put to shame all other film festivals in 2021. Sure, there's Fantastic Fest, but it might not even hold up to the unrelenting amount of films being shown at this fast. Check out the list of films. We'll be going over a few were the most interested in.

 

Sadly, there's a few in-person screening in Montreal and other films are geo-locked online to Canada, meaning if you're internet address from your computer doesn't say you're in Canada, you can't watch the film. 

 

First off, we're extremely jealous that the fest is getting restored virtual screenings of both FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT (2005) and THE WARPED FOREST (2011), which are totally surreal WTF Batsh*t insane Japanese movies. We've never even seen The Warped Forest as it's never gone to home video or streaming and only played and a handful of film festivals in the U S.

Here's more info from Error_4444 (Real name) who will be releasing both on Blu-ray.

*Not sure how they're claiming these are premieres

of the films at fest as they premiered in other festivals already.

FUNKY is making its world premiere at this year’s festival while WARPED is making it’s North American premiere. Both films are playing the Fantasia Retro section to celebrate the festival’s 25-year lifespan. This is a bit of a coming-home party as both films played the festival back in 2006 and 2012 respectfully, so we’re very excited to bring them back and set them loose again to confuse you, amuse you, repulse you, excite you, and just plain freak you out. This year’s festival officially begins on August 5th! Virtual tickets go on sale this Saturday.

Screenings are only available to Canadian viewers only, but we plan on releasing both films physically in just a few months! So if you’re in Canada, check these virtual screenings out! If you’re not in Canada, hold tight, we’ll have more announcements on our Blu Ray release shortly.

Funky Forest: The First Contact: https://fantasiafestival.com/.../funky-forest-the-first...

The Warped Forest: https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/the-warped-forest

 

We also have the North American Premiere of The Sadness, a ball-to-the-wall, over-the-top violence zombie movie out of Taiwan.

 

 Aliens on Stage caught our eye.

"A high-spirited group of British bus drivers set their minds to launching a homemade stage play adaptation of Ridley Scott’s ALIEN in Lucy Harvey and Danielle Kummer’s debut documentary"

 We'll be going over more films as the fest draws close and more when it's happening this August.