Dragon Ball Z Uncensored

[Spamdini]

That Demon Within (Hong Kong)
** 1/2

http://fantasiafest.com/2014/en/films-schedule/174/that-demon-within

A police officer with behavioral issues gets involved with a ruthless gang of armed robbers who kill his partner during a heist. Worse yet is that he gave a blood transfusion to one of these robbers a day earlier, and he feels guilt for his actions. His mind already frayed by childhood trauma, he attempts to personally turn the gang against each other and take them down while his superior officer, a classmate from the academy, tries to find him and stop him before he goes over the edge.

The trailer seriously misled me here. I expected a story of a corrupt cop who uses his job in order to exact his sick desires to kill and cause harm to others, like a more evil Dexter. Instead, what's here is slightly more cerebral, but poorly executed. Flashbacks and what is happening in current time are sometimes not clear and the plot was hard to follow. Even once I pieced it together in the end, there was a layer of cheese that seemed to be preventing the movie from reaching its lofty ambitions. Worst of all is the recurring theme of people lighting on fire. What was supposed to be a tragic event in the protagonist's life that keeps haunting him ended up seeming a lot more like this.

The potential for an interesting movie was there, and it was a neat twist on the cop out to avenge his partner trope (MENDOZAAAAAAAAA!), but needed to be a lot more organized in how the scenes were shown. I think the director overreached on this one.
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[Spamdini]

Final notes:

Feels good to be posting and doing one of these again! This year I saw a lot of movies, a luxury afforded by the downtime at work and my willingness to stay out of the sun. Of the movies I saw, very few were below average (only 3 of the 21 I saw got two stars or less), but fantastic movies did not seem as prevalent either.

Coolest experience: Cheatin' and getting to meet Bill Plympton after the show and get an autographed hand-drawn picture of the dog from Guard Dog/Guide Dog/Hot Dog as well as a postcard with a sketch he drew of a fish saying my name. So rad!

Best movies: Zombeavers and Boss Nigger got my highest ratings so I'll stick with them, giving the edge to Zombeavers for being easier to say in public. But I am a Knife With Legs was probably the most memorable and such a pleasant surprise given the fact I had no expectations going in. Stereo, Rurorun Kenshin and Once Upon a Time in Shanghai were also movies I'd easily watch again.

Worst movie: Suburban Gothic hands down. Wetlands and Guardian were the other below average movies I saw, but I could see some people loving Wetlands and Guardian gets a bit of a pass for being from freaking Indonesia. Suburban Gothic had no redeeming value.

Biggest pleasant surprise: As I said before I am a Knife with Legs. I bought the soundtrack and it's so bizarre and funny.

Biggest letdowns: That Demon Within and DJ XL5's Blaxploitation Zappin Party. Anyone want to make a movie about a guy who wants to become a cop just to kill people? Johnnie To, I'm looking at you!

Biggest regret: Boyhood will probably be in theatres and Netflix soon so no regret there. Welcome to New York has a good chance too, though I do kinda regret not seeing it. The winner of this award would probably have to go to Yasmine because when am I gonna get the chance to see something from Brunei again? Kundo also got high praise and I missed it.

Critic buzz (movies I saw): Reading post-Fantasia reviews, a lot of the critics raved about In Order of Disappearance, which I gave a favorable review to. It seemed to be the consensus non-Asian movie of the year and was praised by nearly everyone who wrote about Fantasia. A good place to start for you guys! I am a Knife with Legs was the other movie I saw that got high marks and To Be Takei won the people's choice for best documentary, though there were only three of those at the festival. The Chaperone won best short feature.

Critic buzz (other movies): Fuku-chan of Fuku-Fuku Flats, Metalhead and Miss Granny got some strong praise from several sources, particularly the humor of the former. Dead Snow 2 apprently lived up to the hype as well.

Absentees: No classic kung fu, no Mexican wrestling movies, no old kaiju movies. Oh Fantasia, what have you become?!

Grain of Salt awards: As I mentioned in my AVGN review, the fans in the theatre seemed less receptive than me. A friend of mine saw the second showing and hated it so much that he left the theatre. I could chalk it up to him never seeing the videos or even liking video games, but I didn't think those would be prerequisites for enjoying it. I might be the outlier on this one so temper expectations accordingly. Zero Theorem also received almost no mention by critics after the festival, leading me to believe it was less well received than I thought.

Final thoughts: This year's Fantasia seemed more packed than ever. More showings sold out than I can ever remember, leading me to believe that this was the most successful iteration to date. It's good for the festival and I'm happy for it, even if selling out shows makes it harder for casual people to grab tickets. I saw several movies alone because I would harp on people to get their tickets early, only for them to look at me crooked when I suggested they buy movie tickets two weeks in advance.

More upsetting though is the crowd behaviour. The first few years I went to the festival had a much rowdier vibe with crowds that would hoot and holler, openly heckle bad movies, and show up to midnight movies with booze and drugs in hand. Now the audience is mostly that of the hipster and geek variety, who laugh and guffaw and even the corniest of jokes and politely sit through each movie with reverence. Is it more proper behaviour? Yes, but it's not fun. It's the same thing you get at any stuffy film festival where snobs get together to jerk each other off about how they're attending true cinema. Well guess what? Watching Japanese movies about gorillas playing baseball does not make you any cooler than a kid who watches Air Bud! Get over yourselves, Fantasia crowd! Bring back the days where "Suck a dick!" could be heard with gusto and pride.

Time to enjoy the rest of the summer by hiding inside and playing video games.
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