Fest News: Overlook 2019 Part 1 – How To Survive The Overlook Film Festival

Okay, so I love New Orleans. And I love horror. Combining the two? A match made in heaven y’all. (Or lower, depending on what you consider a high compliment. Do you.) The Overlook Film Festival 2019 was an absolute blast, with a crackerjack staff and volunteer crew delivering lots of spooky fun for four glorious days. Did I see as much as I would have liked? Nope – there’s no way anyone could have gotten to everything they wanted to, Overlook had just too much fun available! But I did get a whole lot of fun in, and I’m gonna tell you how to enjoy Overlook, and what I personally enjoyed, each in their own post. Part 1 right after the jump…so let’s do this!

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Fest News: Overlook Film Fest announces their 2019 Awards!

Holy blip it was an incredible lineup at this year’s Overlook Film Festival! And it was really hard trying to rate all these wonderful films and shorts…but rate we did. And tada; here are the winners from this year’s films!

The American Graffiti-meets-War of the Worlds vibe of The Vast of Night took the Jury Award for feature films, and One Cut Of The Dead got an Honorable Mention, because it’s absolutely fabulous and everyone should see it. The Audience Awards were swapped, with Dead nabbing the main prize and Night getting runner-up. Looks like horrorhounds of all levels know what fun is, amirite?

Read all the 411 after the jump!

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Gus Writes: “Rocketman”!

Gotta love when Gus Russo takes the lead here at AFan – herewith, his excellent review of Rocketman!

With Rocketman, director Dexter Fletcher is the now the official king of the pop music biopic. Right on the heels of his exhilarating Bohemian Rhapsody, Fletcher tackles another iconic pop sensation, Sir Elton John, albeit with a different approach. Instead of a movie with song performances, Fletcher does the Jersey Boys thing with Elton’s extravagant life story. And it was a brilliant choice because it’s quite possible that Sir
Elton imagines his larger-than-life songs as part of his own unending, madhouse Broadway musical. The costume designer must have had a blast. Continue reading

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“Godzilla” King of the Monsters”: a passable but messy second outing

“May God have mercy on us all.”

Story: After the destruction of 2014’s Godzilla , a group of folks get together to try to stop more Kaiju Titans from awakening and wreaking havoc. (Does that read like a lazy effort? I’m just setting the mood for the film itself.)

Genre I’d put it in: Sadly Overhyped American Kaiju Stories

Remake, Sequel, Based-On, or Original: Based on the Toho Studios series. Part of the Legendary/Warner Bros. MonsterVerse.

Gotta say: What the hell happened? This was one of the most anticipated films in my 2019 roster. The trailers looked incredible. The CGI was outstanding. So again, what happened? Continue reading

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Baltimore Screening Pass-palooza: “Late Night”!

Ready to bow down to the greatness (greatness-es?) that are Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling? Let’s do this. Synopsis!

Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson) is a pioneer and legendary host on the late-night talkshow circuit. When she’s accused of being a “woman who hates women,” she puts affirmative action on the to-do list, and—presto!—Molly (Mindy Kaling) is hired as the one woman in Katherine’s all-male writers’ room. But Molly might be too little too late, as the formidable Katherine also faces the reality of low ratings and a network that wants to replace her. Molly, wanting to prove she’s not simply a diversity hire who’s disrupting the comfort of the brotherhood, is determined to help Katherine by revitalizing her show and career—and possibly effect even bigger change at the same time.

Ready? Let’s go!

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TrailerWatch: get a big dose of cute from “Abominable!”!

OMGOMGOMG how cuuuuute!  I just love big fuzzy animated things, don’t you? Synopsis!

When teenage Yi (Chloe Bennet, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) encounters a young Yeti on the roof of her apartment building in Shanghai, she and her mischievous friends, Jin (Tenzing Norgay Trainor) and Peng (Albert Tsai), name him “Everest” and embark on an epic quest to reunite the magical creature with his family at the highest point on Earth. But the trio of friends will have to stay one-step ahead of Burnish (Eddie Izzard), a wealthy man intent on capturing a Yeti, and zoologist Dr. Zara (Sarah Paulson) to help Everest get home.

Abominable hits theaters September 27th, 2019.

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Game of Thrones Season 8: A Song of Idiosyncrasy and Furor

Originally published at The Green Man Review!

Beware: this review is dark and full of spoilers. As this is a critique, I’m assuming you’ve watched, so there’s plenty of specifics here. You have been warned.

Here we are, walking through the smoking wreckage of Game of Thrones. We’ve had seven seasons filled with almost every emotion possible; some moments were excellent, some simply got us to the next point, and a few that were downright exasperating. Season 8 is all of that, writ in six episodes. Continue reading

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Baltimore Screening Pass-palooza: “MA”!

Ready to get spooky? Well Octavia Spencer is coming, so get ready… Synopsis!

Everybody’s welcome at Ma’s. But good luck getting home safe.

Oscar® winner Octavia Spencer stars as Sue Ann, a loner who keeps to herself in her quiet Ohio town. One day, she is asked by Maggie, a new teenager in town (Diana Silvers, Glass), to buy some booze for her and her friends, and Sue Ann sees the chance to make some unsuspecting, if younger, friends of her own.

She offers the kids the chance to avoid drinking and driving by hanging out in the basement of her home. But there are some house rules: One of the kids has to stay sober. Don’t curse. Never go upstairs. And call her “Ma.”

But as Ma’s hospitality starts to curdle into obsession, what began as a teenage dream turns into a terrorizing nightmare, and Ma’s place goes from the best place in town to the worst place on earth.

Ready? Let’s go!

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Baltimore Screening Pass-palooza – “Men In Black: International”!

New MIB film! With fantastic on-screen buddies Hemsworth and Thompson! Plus, another Thompson! Synopsis!

The Men in Black have always protected the Earth from the scum of the universe. In this new adventure, they tackle their biggest, most global threat to date: a mole in the Men in Black organization.

Ready? Let’s go!

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Baltimore Screening Pass-palooza: “Godzilla: King of the Monsters”!!!

Gaaaaaah!!! Ready for kaiju action? ME TOO. Synopsis!

The new story follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah.  When these ancient superspecies—thought to be mere myths—rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity’s very existence hanging in the balance.

Yeah, I used the Japanese poster for this post. BECAUSE IT’S FREAKIN’ AWESOME. Ready? Let’s go!

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