Netflix Instant: Movies & TV Picks - Fantastic Fest 2012 Edition

Next week is Fantastic Fest and in keeping tradition, here are some of the movies from last year's festival that are currently streaming. Look out for Jonesy and I's most anticipated movies early next week and check out our coverage of the festival as it happens. For now, check out these movies after the break.

Drafthouse Films to Release Fantastic Fest Favorite: I DECLARE WAR

You know, it's a shame I never got around to writing that review of my favorite movie from last year's Fantastic Fest, I DECLARE WAR. The movie has a lot of heart, a great sense of humor, and tells a compelling story about the meaning of friendship. The film follows a group of friends in an innocent game of capture-the-flag and quickly begins exploring the boundaries of loyalty and trust.

It blew us away at Fantastic Fest, ended up being one of this site's favorites, and now, Drafthouse Films has acquired this gem of a film. Thank goodness. Seek this film out later this year. You won't regret it.

Check out all the details after the break.

Fantastic Fest 2012 Review - Short Fuse: Severe Fantastic Fest Shorts

Concluding my segments of the shorts, I'll be highlighting my favorite "Short Fuse" shorts. I'll refer to the official FF website to explain what this block is all about: "The best short films can pack in more adrenaline, creativity and flat-out insanity than a million big-budget blockbusters. Or they can show you something so ambitiously horrendous that you beg for mercy. Your intrepid FF programmers have scoured the international celluloid goldmines for the most skull-bursting, taste-annihilating and eyeball-destroying shorts in existence, and this program is truly the motherlode." As before, I'll showcase my favorite five shorts. Check them out after the break.

Fantastic Fest 2012 Review: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER ROLLED

THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER ROLLED

Directed by: Ryan Polito

Starring: Doug Benson and Graham Elwood

Synopsis: Doug Benson decides to make a movie about going on tour to make money to make a movie about going on tour. 

Fantastic Fest 2012 Review - Drawn and Quartered: Animated Fantastic Fest Shorts

Continuing my post from yesterday, I'll be highlighting my top five favorite animated shorts from the Drawn and Quartered block of programming during Fantastic Fest. As always, these are my favorites and don't necessarily reflect badly on any of the other films. Check them out after the break.

Fantastic Fest 2012 Review: Fantastic Shorts

As always, I am the big fan of the shorts programming of most movie festivals that I attend to. This year's DIFF roster as really great, and I was very excited to see what my friends in the shorts programming panel would have in store for me. As I always like to do with shorts programs, I will only highlight five of my favorite segments. Check them out after the break.

Fantastic Fest 2012 Review: MY AMITYVILLE HORROR

MY AMITYVILLE HORRR

Directed by Eric Walter

Starring: Daniel Lutz and Laura DiDio

Synopsis: A look behind the story of the Amityville hauntings through the eyes of the eldest Lutz sibling, Daniel. 

Fantastic Fest 2012: THE AMERICAN SCREAM

THE AMERICAN SCREAM

Directed by Michael Stephenson

Starring: Matthew Brodeur, Victor Bariteau, Manny Souza, Lori Souza, and Richard Brodeur

Synopsis: A documentary about three home Haunters in New England. 

Fantastic Fest 2012: NEW KIDS NITRO- He Said/She Said

NEW KIDS NITRO

Directed by: Steffen Haars and Flip van der Kuil

Written by: Steffen Haars and Flip van der Kuil

Starring: Huub Smit, Tim Haars, Wesley van Gaalen, Steffen Haars, and Flip van der Kuil 

Synopsis: Our favorite five dutch friends are back for more drinking, crazy antics, and zombie fighting. 

Fantastic Fest 2012 Review: SINISTER

Directed by: Scott Derrickson

Written by: C. Robert Cargill and Scott Derrickson

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Clare Foley, Michael Hall D'Addario, James Ransone, and Vincent D'Onofrio

Synopsis: A man moves his family to a house where a murder took place in order to write his next best seller, but strange and eerie events begin once they move in. 

Fantastic Fest 2012 Review: ROOM 237- He Said/She Said

ROOM 237

Directed by: Rodney Ascher

Starring: Bill Blakemore, Geoffrey Cocks, and Juli Kearns

Synopsis: A documentary dealing with different interpretations and hidden facts about Stanley Kubrick's classic Stephen King adaptation, THE SHINING.

Fantastic Fest 2012 Review- DOOMSDAY BOOK

DOOMSDAY BOOK

Directed by: Kim Jee-Woon and Yim Pil-Sung.

Written by: Kim Jee-Woon and Yim Pil-Sun

Starring: Kim Kang-Woo, Kim Gyu-ri, Park Hae-il, Ryoo Seung-bum, Koh Joon-hee, Song Sae-byeok, Jin Ji-hee,  and Bae Doon-Da

Synopsis: Three looks at the way that the world will end. 

Fantastic Fest 2012 Review: MIAMI CONNECTION

MIAMI CONNECTION

Directed by: Richard Park and Y.K. Kim

Written by: Richard Diamand with story concept by Richard Park and Y.K. Kim

Starring: Y.K. Kim, Vincent Hirsh, Richard Diamand, Maurice Smith, Angelo Janotti, and Kathy Collier

Synopsis: A motorcycle ninja gang terrorizes Miami with their stupid cocaine, and it's up to synth rock band, Dragon Sound, to stop them with the power of friendship and tae-kwon-do.

Fantastic Fest 2012 Review: LOOPER- He Said/She Said

LOOPER

Directed by: Rian Johnson

Written by: Rian Johnson

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano and Piper Perabo

Synopsis: A Looper, an assassin that murders people from the future for the mob, has to fight his future self while running from his employers. 

Fantastic Fest 2012 Review- AMERICAN MARY

AMERICAN MARY

Directed by:  Jen and Sylvia Soska

Written by: Jen and Sylvia Soaks

Starring: Katharine Isabelle, Julia Maxwell, and Paula Linberg

Synopsis: A medical student gets involved in the world of body modifications.

Fantastic Fest 2012 annouces their Fantastic Fest Award winners

Even though I am insanely jealous of all our friends and colleagues that are still down in Austin for Fantastic Fest, I wanted to post about the award winners that were honored yesterday. I am very happy with a lot of the selections especially with the Audience Award Winner which is my favorite movie of the festival so far. Just as a heads-up, we will be having more reviews for the rest of the week and up to next week followed by a "best of" article from both Jonesy and I. For now, check out the award winners after the break.

Fantastic Fest 2012 Review: DREDD 3D

DREDD 3D

Directed by: Peter Travis

Written by: Alex Garland

Starring: Karl Urban, Lena Heady, and Olivia Thirlby
Synopsis: Two Judges are trapped in a tower block and must fight through 200 floors of thugs to take down the head of a ruthless drug gang.

Fantastic Fest 2012 Review: FRANKENWEENIE

Directed by: Tim Burton

Written by: John August

Starring: Charlie Tahan, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, and Martin Landau

Synopsis: A young boy loses his dog, but with his aptitude for science, he is able to bring his dog back from the dead. 

Fantastic Fest 2012 Review - THE HISTORY OF FUTURE FOLK

THE HISTORY OF FUTURE FOLK

Directed by: John Mitchell and Jeremy Kipp Walker

Written by: John Mitchell

Starring: Nils D'Aulaire, Jay Klaitz and Julie Ann Emery

Synopsis: Aliens come to earth to save their own planet, form an acoustic guitar/banjo duo instead. 

Fantastic Fest 2012 Review: TOWER BLOCK

TOWER BLOCK

Directed by: James Nunn, Ronnie Thompson

Written by: James Moran

Starring: Sheridan Smith, Jack O'Connell, Ralph Brown, and Russell Tovey 

Synopsis: After a young boy is beaten to death, the residents of a soon-to-be-demolished tower block are assaulted by an unknown sniper.