Fantastic Fest 2009 - Day One

Just like everyone else, film festivals have been hurting from the economic downturn. A piece of advice for all you ailing fests: give Tim League, co-founder of Fantastic Fest, a holler. Now in its fifth year League has created a monster of an event where I, the fan, am the most important person in the theater. You know you're doing something right when next year's VIP seats sell out in a matter of minutes which is exactly what happened earlier this week. You hear that? Sold out one year in advance! Aside from the typical horror genre they cover other stuff related to action, fantasy, sci-fi and anything else that falls under the moniker of "fantastic". You'll get your dose of blood and gore but the fest has surprised attendees with the world premieres of films like Apocalypto, There Will Be Blood, and Eagle Eye. And guests have included folks like Mel Gibson, Bill Murray, Kevin Smith and George Romero.

Most of the festival's films are screened at the Alamo Drafthouse, arguably the greatest theater in the country. Oh, yeah--that was also co-founded by Tim League along with his wife Carrie. In these specially designed theaters you can order food and alcoholic beverages while watching movies. How cool is that?

The official opening film of the festival was Gentleman Broncos. League used the opportunity to have a grand opening of his "Highball Lounge" located next to the Alamo. The bar/cafe/bowling alley/karaoke emporium is a huge hit, and it seemed that every night and day this week they had some kind of party going on--ranging from Japanese Karaoke night where during the "Samurai Call" competition you could find Tim League in a Sumo diaper hollering in front of a delighted Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News to The Fantastic Feud where host Scott Weinberg presided over an international bout of horror trivia.

Director Jared Hess will forever be known as the Napoleon Dynamite guy. His 2004 breakout hit became a film phenomenon with devoted followers quoting most every line of dialogue. So we excused his slight digression into mediocrity (Nacho Libre). Now comes Gentleman Broncos, a film with a Napoleonesque character, Benjamin (Michael Angarano), who aspires to be a fantasy sci-fi writer. But when his hero, the acclaimed author Ronald Chevalier ("Flight of the Conchords"' Jemaine Clement) steals his story it's just another setback for Benjamin's dreams. A few things save Gentlemen Broncos in spite of a slightly anemic script. First, there's the performance of Sam Rockwell as Bronco, the star of Benjamin's book who we see in fantasy sequences that are played out intermittently throughout the film. Bronco's bizarre battles with killer stags are strangely entertaining. That, combined with Clement's narcissistic portrayal of Chevalier, gives Gentlemen Broncos just enough booster power to make Pedro smile--a little.