For 20 years, the best collection of genre film experiences has been shared with the world in Austin, TX at Fantastic Fest. This beloved institution celebrates two solid decades surprising, entertaining and delighting festival goers, and you can be sure they always deliver the goods. Great credit goes to the organizers who not only set up the festival, but pick and choose from a number of dizzying, demented, and otherwise gonzo films. So let’s just say that if the staff says it’s worthwhile, then it is sure to please. One such devilishly handsome, charming, and comedic entry into this year’s lineup is the world premiere of a shockingly good, hilariously…
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G-S-T Review…’Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie’ – A Definitive Road Trip Documentary That Truly Has It All
What makes you laugh? Is it absurdist humor, pointed and clever observations, sarcasm, social commentary or something else entirely? Well, no matter your preference, it’s certain that Cheech & Chong have something in their arsenal to tickle your funny bone. The iconic duo has been a massive hit with audiences for more than 50 years, and the legendary stoners have gotten back together for a highly entertaining, tell-all documentary. From director/producer David Bushell comes a surprising and hilarious trip down memory lane that, like the two subjects, is anything but conventional. It’s actually quite baffling that there hasn’t been more documentation or something to chronicle their amazing career and ascendancy in comedy legend. Hat…
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G-S-T Review…Tina Romero’s ‘Queens of the Dead’ Has Comedy, Commentary and Heart To Chew On
There’s a lot to love about Tina Romero‘s Queens of the Dead. In fact, the list is almost as long as the receipt for the sequins and shoes purchased by the costume department. That’s written in playful jest, but the number of topics that present themselves in her feature length debut deserve a round of applause for boldness, cohesion, conviction, and execution (in story and in zombie kills). What sounds like a ludicrous idea on paper turns out to have a lot of heart, and the relationships in Tina‘s film are just as strong as those in her legendary father’s work nearly sixty years ago. The set up is unconventional,…
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G-S-T Review…Scott Adkins Dances With the Devil in ‘Diablo’
Although we’re a couple weeks away from F1: The Movie screaming into theaters, if you want white-knuckle excitement, we’re gonna highly recommend Diablo as one of the best films of the year. It sure is tops in our book. From Chilean director Ernesto Díaz Espinoza comes another gritty action-packed feature full of flying fists and high kicks. Herein, he re-teams with martial arts master and genre phenomenon Marko Zaror (marking their sixth picture together). But when you throw in the absolute adrenaline machine that is Scott Adkins, you get nothing short of fireworks. Whether seen as a genre film or not, Diablo is just an incredible picture. It’s trope heavy,…
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Podcast Review: ‘Black Mirror’ Season Seven
Charlie Brooker is a social critic and storytelling dynamo who, time and again, has given us harrowing visions of the near-future, and glimpses into multiple worlds where we are overcome by the trials and terrors of technology. Whew, that sentence was almost as exhausting as any of his episodes of Black Mirror. In his phenomenally prophetic and sensationally bleak show, he takes society to the brink of madness and/or destruction in small-scale stories about how the tech in our lives ultimately becomes our undoing. The series is impossibly grim, however, Brooker is our modern-day Paul Revere. His message is jaw-dropping, thought-provoking, and highly entertaining as it sports stylized and inventive…
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G-S-T Review…’Lazarus’ Is Ultra Cool As This Generation’s ‘Cowboy Bebop’
When anyone mentions Shinichirō Watanabe, the GoSeeTalk crew cracks a big smile. It’s that same grimace we get listening to the first few bars of “Tank!“. So when it was announced he had a new show coming, we jumped right out of our chairs. What could the future hold from this legendary storyteller?? Well, if you’re a fan, you can bet on a few certainties: it will be thrilling, funny, emotional, put great music at the forefront, and be cool. Very, very cool. Then what can we expect with Lazarus? In the year 2052, the painkiller drug “Hapna” brought humanity to the verge of unprecedented peace and stability. But three…
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G-S-T Review…’Paddington In Peru’
Ten years ago, the UK’s most cuddly (and perpetually hungry) little bear jumped onto the big screen in a huge way. Paul King gave the beloved literary characters such tangible vibrancy, and with his 2017 follow up succeeded in enchanting the entire world again. Now, a decade on, Dougal Wilson takes the helm (for a jungle cruise, how fitting) in this third entry of the Paddington series; one with a rather logical and obvious goal. The characters have grown over the last two films and Paddington is, now, officially a citizen of Great Britain. Huzzah! This new outing is most definitely a road trip movie (or as close as you…
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‘Hans Zimmer Live’ In Texas Is Big Beyond Words
World-renowned composer Hans Zimmer recently came to Texas with Hans Zimmer Live (or, simpler, HZL) and their stop in Ft. Worth rocked the house. Zimmer’s music is magical, soul touching and earthshaking. As one of the most powerful and influential figures in music, his band’s talent is eclipsed only by their diversity. It’s safe to say that their live show is like nothing else, and you can never truly capture the sound of the experience through headphones or a turntable. It bears repeating, but HZL is a one-of-a-kind concert, and one which runs the gamut of crowd-pleasing favorites, notable pop culture hits, and themes/tunes which truly mean a lot to…
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G-S-T Review…’Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ is Gravely Funny
People complain about sequels, but let’s get this out of the way. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is good. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice works. And that’s because the story works. It’s a semi-charming set up – replete with familiar Burton oddities – about a bio exorcist who is less than charming. The story by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar cleverly weaves older characters back into the sequel, and the best thing the team does is that they don’t try to explain too much. The ghost with the most has endured because he is mysterious. What are his powers, why and how does he do what he does? Unclear. Do we care? Not really. The point…
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G-S-T Review…’Alien: Romulus’ Is A Triumph
“In space, no one can hear you scream.” Those words have echoed in film and pop culture circles for decades. And rightly so. Space is the perfect setting for high stakes stories with little hope for safety or rescue. Read: the ultimate pit of despair. But does it have to be? Well, in the Alien universe, the answer is always yes! To add comic insult to xenomorph injury, there’s another quote that resounds just as well (albeit from a more lighthearted sci-fi film), “this will all end in tears.” And coming from Fede Alvarez, that couldn’t be more true. With Alien: Romulus, Alvarez and co-writer Royo Sayagues have done fans…
