I find it necessary to watch the trailers before seeing any Fantasia movies because they can go a long way towards indicating the production value, style and concept of any given film. But sometimes, as we are all aware, a trailer does nothing except spoil a movie-going experience. “Robo Rock” is a case in point. The trailer was hilarious so I was looking forward to the whole thing and it’s not that all the best parts were revealed in the trailer but all the “big” moments, all the plot twists and turns were revealed. Well, not all, but the big payoff was. I mean, the trailer completely revealed the climax of the film. A climax that would have been much funnier and more enjoyable had I not been waiting for it the whole way through.

“Robo Rock” is a typicall quirky and amusing Japanese movie but I can’t help wondering how much more enjoyable it would have been if I hadn’t been so spoiled. This makes it difficult for me to review it because yes, I did enjoy it, but I was also disappointed because the ending was so totally ruined for me.

So whatever you do don’t watch the trailer! Otherwise, fun times. Fun, Japanese times.

3 1/2 niqueheads [rating:35]

Nothing blows up in this movie but it was still patented quirky Japanese. More subtle though than those explody ones. It’s the touching story of a debt collector who kills his wife and the man he roughs up to pay his debt and later bribes into accompanying him on a trek across Tokyo. There’s not much I can say because not much happens. There is a lot of food, a lot of conversation and a lot of weirdness (nothing unrealistic though, unless you can’t believe that a teenaged girl would have no knowledge of her aunt’s husband and son – something I found slightly odd). But I was never bored or uninterested. The low-key story is wholly compelling, quietly amusing and equal parts heart-warming and sad.

Thumbs up.
[rating:40]

Phil tells me I’m weird but I have a pet peeve about movies randomly set in the ’60s or ’70s. I mean, I don’t mind it if that particular time period is integral to the plot but if the story could work in modern times then why the hell set it in the past? WHY? It’s so pointless! What is this goddamn obsession with the ’60s/’70s? It’s so obviously a result of screenwriters and/or directors being infatuated with the decades in which they grew up and so they set their stories during those times. But they need to stop being so self-indulgent and update their fucking work! (I don’t mind other decades because the market is not so saturated with movies about other time periods).

Ok, so all that to say it bothered me that “Let the Right One In” was set in the ’70s. Especially because the movie had a very distinct feel to it, a nice style resulting from being Swedish and being set in winter. The lamo decade was not necessary. But it was still a good movie. I mean can you really go wrong with Swedish vampires?

I don’t want to give anything away but this is an excellent addition to the vampire genre. As far as the vampire lore goes, there is nothing revolutionary, which is good; just subtly fresh takes on the old myths. Other aspects of the story were also subtle and things were often left to the viewer’s interpretation. It was slow paced but that wasn’t a problem for me. People who scare easily might disagree with me but I didn’t view this film as a horror movie. In fact it is a character piece that revolves around the relationship between the two protagonists, one of whom just happens to be a vampire. Not that there aren’t any good scenes of bloody vampire action, because there certainly are. In the end I was left wanting more, which makes “Let the Right One In” a success.

[rating:40]

I take back everything I said about Spanish cinema. I am absolutely thrilled to report that it is still possible to make a genuinely scary and exciting horror movie.

Recently the zombie genre has become a bit saturated with even the legendary Romero’s work turning to suck. Romero’s latest was called “Diary of the Dead” and the concept was a zombie apocalypse as caught on videotape. Unfortunately it was embarrassingly bad. Excrutiatingly, painfully awful.

REC utilizes basically the same concept but co-directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza have done things exactly right. The camera POV adds to the sense of claustrophobia that is aleady delivered by the setting, which I don’t even want to go into because it would be a shame to give anything away. All I can say is this movie wins. It wins Fantasia, it wins horror, it wins zombie and it wins my jaded, cynical, Spanish-cinema-poopooing heart. See this movie. Right now. Do it. That’s an order. Before the US remake, which is currently in the works, comes out.

5 righteous niqueheads [rating:50]