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The Vintage Tempest’s Picks on What to See at Fantasia Fest 2021

Fantasia Fest 2021 is now half-and-half, offering in-person and online screenings! People living in Canada have the option to either travel to the East Coast for this genre film celebration or stay at home. The pandemic is still lingering around, and we don’t need real life zombies roaming the streets of Montreal.

Please be aware there’s limited seating options for the in-person events, especially James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad (also opening theatrically at the same time). These are bound to sell out fast as sales opened yesterday. Online, most screenings are on demand, with a select group scheduled to broadcast at a select time. These details will be noted as needed.

In this two-part article are my top picks on what to see. There’s a lot to explore, as this festival is very diverse and month-long! I’m including seminars since this year will be honouring Phil Tippitt with a Lifetime Achievement Award (event ticket here). There’ll also be a masterclass with this legend too, where he’ll explain the deeper roots of his art. The bonus is that the online discussion is free to view!

(to note, at time of writing, not every work has a promotional poster to go along with)

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Walking on Air with Tasomachi: Behind the Twilight

Yukumo’s tasks are to find enough ‘Sources of Earth’ to repair her airship, and to restore the sacred trees that protect the local towns. It also keeps the fog at bay.

TASOMACHI: Behind the Twilight launches this spring, limited-time demo now available - Gematsu

By Shawn Trommeshauser

Disclaimer: Review copy was supplied
Played for over 8 hours
Located 201/244 sources of Earth

Developer: Playism
Available on Steam for the PC.

Tasomachi: Behind the Twilight is a fairly simple platforming game which is visually gorgeous. You play as Yukumo, a young adventurer who journeys around the world in her airship. Unfortunately it takes some damage and crashes in a region covered in an oppressive fog. She soon meets a Nezu, a little fox-like being (named Kogara) who tells her that all the people have fled. He becomes Yukumo’s guide for the journey ahead, giving the exposition she needs to find her next challenge.

Yukumo’s tasks are to find enough ‘Sources of Earth’ to repair her airship, and to restore the sacred trees that protect the local towns. It also keeps the fog at bay.

There are three types of gameplay: Exploring, airship flight, and restoring the Tree Sanctuaries.

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Star Wars The Bad Batch Isn’t Without Its Rough Spots

I suspect the series will be about this team thwarting every attempt the Emperor has planned to extend his reach. The trade wars are over.

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Dave Filoni’s love for Star Wars makes this latest instalment, The Bad Batch, a must watch. One reason is simply because it’s a continuation of the ongoing narrative which started in the animated Clone Wars series, and another is how the psychological action-adventure drama sees the loss of freedom (and will of an individual) a permanent theme. It’s safe to say knowing the movies, Episodes 2 “Attack of the Clones” and 3 “Revenge of the Sith” will do more to establish the backdrop for anyone needing a refresher.

The first ten minutes of the pilot reveal when this tale takes place in that timeframe. One detail to take note on is that Caleb Dume, a.k.a. Kanan Jarrus of Star Wars Rebels is a Jedi in training who’s escaped death.

A hundred eighty rotations later, the team of Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, Crosshair finished their mission and are headed home to Kamino. They are still wondering what Order 66 is supposed to be about and whether that kid died “a long time ago.” When they land, the newly minted Empire is setting up shop. The passage of time is perplexing because, according to most resource guides, a cycle is often in reference to a day instead of an hour. Unless we’re dealing with a theory that there’s 42 hours in a cosmic day (aka rotation), not much time has really passed.

The team soon has Grand Moff Tarkin wanting to see how well they function. Their way of independent thinking is a result of their faulty programming. They are one of the first batches of clones created for the Republic’s War against a Phantom Menace, and since their introduction in The Clone Wars Season Seven, I’m enjoying this look at the war from a conscript’s perspective (even though they’ll eventually turn into mercenaries).

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Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans Teaser Trailer & Thoughts

One expectation is certain: someone has to claim the sword Excalibur. None of the current heroes can pull it from the ground.

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans will release July 21, 2021, and the three series which make up the Tales of Arcadia will truly come together. Princess Aja and Prince Krel Tarron barely had a presence in the third arc, Wizards. I hope they are more involved in the film. The teaser trailer which dropped this week suggests big things.

The title brings to mind the Greek giants of yore. Executive producer Guillmero del Toro loves playing with mythology, and we may see all twelve “titans” and the mother of them all–Gaea (Earth)–as this series antagonists. She represents more than just creation. Some see her moods shifting with the seasons, and I feel the life, death and rebirth cycle also factors in. One of the monsters they face looks like a giant-sized cross between a Heatran and Gigalith from Pokemon GO, and I doubt the combined team want to catch this mad beast.

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The Details are on The Last Action Hero 4K Release this May!

There’s all new features included in this 4K release! The blu-ray edition had none and anyone who has been patiently waiting will be glad to find this definitive edition will have everything you’d want, including an alternate ending!

RELEASE DATE:
May 18th, 2021

Available to preorder on Amazon USA

The magic of action cinema can’t look any more pristine in this remaster of an 80s classic which stars Jack Slater (Arnold Schwarzenegger). All those explosions and crazy stunts is sure to colour this release–and we get a well-meaning fantasy to boot!

This movie is cheesy in its tribute to the many action adventure films this era is famous for. In reality, the movie is about a young boy who doesn’t have a father-figure in his life. We can relate in how this boy retreats to a movie house in order to live out a fantasy. He finds solace and a strength to be his own hero by the film’s end.

SYNOPSIS
Young Danny Madigan (Austin O’Brien) is a lonely 11-year-old boy who escapes from his bleak reality by watching the action adventure movies of his favorite film character, Jack Slater (Schwarzenegger). When his best friend, Nick the projectionist, gives him a special ticket to the new Slater film, Danny is magically transported into Jack’s world, where the good guys always win. Danny becomes his helper as Jack battles a trio of nefarious bad guys, Benedict (Charles Dance), Vivaldi (Anthony Quinn) and The Ripper (Tom Noonan). But things get out of hand when Benedict steals Danny’s magic ticket stub and transports himself into the real world, where crime can, and often does, pay. Jack and Danny must leave fictional Los Angeles for real-life New York and battle the villains without the aid of movie magic or stuntmen.

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Star Wars: The Bad Batch Psychoanalyzed!

Star Wars: The Bad Batch is set to debut May 4, with a special 70-minute premiere, and may well prove to be the new Rebels of a growing Alliance.

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Disney+
May 4th, 2021

Star Wars: The Bad Batch will debut with a special 70-minute premiere, and this team may well prove to be the new “Rebels” to join a growing Alliance. That’s my take on this renegade team of Clone Troopers with genetic defects who have broken their programming. They are the only warriors willing to take on dangerous missions, ala Mission Impossible, for the glory of the Empire. This tale takes place in the aftermath of the Clone Wars. Somewhere along the line will be a breakdown of their conditioning so they can be totally independent, true to the spirit of this franchise.

The action is more in line with Fast and the Furious, but for the characters involved. They’re generally well adjusted-well sort of. Whatever’s wrong with their neural pathways can’t be fixed in Kamino since being activated. I’m betting there was subterfuge to cause this group to be what they are. That’ll be revealed in later episodes when we look to their past. Hunter, Echo, Tech, Wrecker and Crosshair aren’t Transformers. They’ve earned their nicknames because each member is talented in their own unique way.

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