I've done reports on the After Dark horror series, the Asylum assembly line, and the monumentally moronic Maneater collection -- so I see nothing all that strange about throwing a little genre love towards Magnet's new Six-Shooter Series. (The only difference this time around is that we're going to be talking about GOOD genre films.)

To those who demand to know what the hell phrases like "Magnet Six-Shooter" mean, here's an explanation: Magnolia Films recently kick-started a genre-intensive division (called Magnet Releasing), and the guys are pretty psyched about their next six flicks. There, I've just demystified the phrase "Magnet Six-Shooter." You all owe me three dollars. And here's what's coolest about a six-flick genre series that's run by Magnolia Pictures: You'll actually get something EXOTIC out of the mix.

To use the finest example imaginable, it is Magnet Releasing that was lucky enough to land U.S. distribution rights for the stunningly awesome Let the Right One In, which is dazzling people all over the festival circuit. (And that was a great roll of the dice, as Magnolia grabbed it well before it was earning 5-star reviews across the board.) The film will open in limited release on October 24, but be sure to keep an eye out for the DVD as well. This flick is a keeper for sure.

The last time I saw my awesome amigo Nacho Vigalondo, it was at a Sundance party during which he was A) very thrilled to have his film play the festival, B) mega-elated that writer/producer Steven Zaillian would be involved in the English-language remake of his film (Timecrimes), and C) seriously drunk and hanging out with an overworked karaoke machine. When I pressed him for additional details, he said something to the effect of "I don't know yet, but .... Steve SALE-IAN, man! He wrote Bobby Fischer and Gangs of New York, man..." To which I responded, "Yeah, dude. Damn good writer. Plus Schindler's List, A Civil Action, American Gangster, and the awesome Falcon and the Snowman!"

The drunken Spaniard's eyes went absolutely wide: "Steve SALE-IAN is remaking my movieeeee!" He was like a little kid on Christmas morning, I swear. It was an awesomely sweet thing to see. But since we weren't really sure about Mr. Zaillian's specific attachment to the remake, this fresh news is also pretty exciting. Wouldn't it be cool if the Timecrimes remake had a Steve Zaillian screenplay and a director named ... David Cronenberg?? (I've seen Timecrimes more than once, and I think Mr. Cronenberg would be a perrrrrrrrfect fit for this time-travel / serial killer material.)

The United Artists re-do is still in the very early stages, so we could see a lot of personnel changes before the American version of Timecrimes hits the scene -- but given how positive the reaction has been among festival audiences, flick-buyers, and remake makers, we might just see it a little sooner than later. In the meantime, keep an eye out for the original film, which is a favorite among the Magnolia gang, and should be getting a release some time later this year.

Gracias: Shock and Blogdecine

One of my favorite films at this year's Philadelphia Film Festival, which is wrapping up now, was the Spanish time-travel thriller Timecrimes. (Yes, yes, I know, all of you saw it months ago at Fantastic Fest, or Sundance, or whatsuch. Bully for you.) We've known for a while that an American remake is in the works, courtesy of United Artists, and having seen the film, it's obvious why -- it's a brilliantly conceived, perfectly high-concept crowdpleaser. And now the remake seems to have revved up in earnest: The Hollywood Reporter says that Children of Men screenwriter Timothy J. Sexton has been hired to write the English-language screenplay.

The biggest pitfall here, as I see it, is that the original film is so simple, almost personal. That's part of its charm. The time travel is a matter of hours, not eons, and the main crisis implicates two guys, not the entire universe (though there are hints of possible larger implications). I hope that Sexton doesn't try to translate the epic scope of Children of Men -- more epic, as I understand it, than the P.D. James novel on which it was based -- to this very different project.

Sexton is also attached to the beleaguered Logan's Run remake, but who knows what's going on with that one.

The inaugural AFI Dallas International Film Festival got the city excited about movies last year. True, the purist in me felt it wasn't the most adventurous of programs, and I wish there was a wider range of docs and foreign-language titles, but the festival did stretch the boundaries of what normally plays in the multiplexes. Celebrities like David Lynch (Inland Empire), Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz), and Morgan Freeman (10 Items or Less) grabbed the attention of the local media, and it felt like "the thing to do" for people seeking a night out. I've lived here for years, but I was frankly surprised at how many folks turned out for little-known, unheralded pictures -- staying respectfully right to the end -- as well as the star-driven buzz titles.

The challenge now is to build on that success. Dallas Observer film critic and blogger Robert Wilonsky at Unfair Park posted the news that the festival has announced the first 15 selections for its second edition, which will be held from March 27-April 6. Two of the films are playing at Sundance: Nacho Vigalando's Timecrimes, a time travel suspense drama I loved when it premiered at Fantastic Fest (Jette liked it too, Kim wrote about the wild Sundance party, and Scott interviewed the irrepressible Nacho), and Alex Gibney's doc Gonzo: The Life & Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.

Other docs include the US premieres of Scott Hicks' Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts and Michael Albright's Sonic Youth: Sleeping Nights Awake as well as Robyn Bliley's Circus Rosaire, Helen Hood Scheer's Jump! and Robert Patton-Spruill's Public Enemy: Welcome to the Terrordome. Narrative feature highlights include Helen Hunt's Then She Found Me, Stuart Gordon's Stuck (based on a true story that took place in nearby Fort Worth), and the world premiere of Jeffrey Goodman's "noirish thriller" The Last Lullaby. As we did last year, we'll be covering the festival at Cinematical, so stay turned for regular updates.

When the new year hit, and the strike continued, the interim agreements started to get made. Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner's United Artists made one with the WGA, and now The Hollywood Reporter has listed the first deal to be signed since that agreement was reached. UA has picked up the remake rights to the Spanish film Los Cronocrimenes. Scribe Steven Zaillian, who won an Oscar for his work on Schindler's List, is set to produce the feature, although sources say that he probably won't be writing it -- just overseeing, and possibly preparing the outline.

Now, the film, which translates into Timecrimes, was written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo, and THR describes it as "a jigsaw-style thriller about a man who accidentally travels back in time one hour and finds himself facing multiple dangers, including his own doppelganger." You'd think that between old-school challenges like dinos and samurai, and the butterfly effect, bigger jumps would be riskier, but I guess that's not the case! If the flick doesn't sound familiar, that's because it's all sorts of new. Cronocrimenes is scheduled to play at Sundance, and will get North American distribution by Magnolia.

A few months back I was fortunate enough to meet up with a powerfully friendly Spaniard called Nacho Vigalondo. He was attending the Fantastic Fest in Austin, and he was there with his first feature film, the very well-received Timecrimes. How well-received? Strong enough that the Sundance programmers took note and snatched the flick for one of their Park City at Midnight slots! (Plus Jette liked it!) So we figured we'd grab a quick chat with Nacho before he becomes the next big Spanish sensation. Here's what the award-winning filmmaker (and passionate horror geek) had to say on the eve of Sundance 2008:

Cinematical: OK, let's start off with the biggie: What's it feel like to get nominated for an Academy Award?

NV: I used to say that that wasn't a dream come true, because I never even dreamed about going to the Oscars! If you check my short films, or if you read my scripts, you'll think I'm not the kind of director that you attach to the Oscars. Having said that, being an Oscar nominee was one of the most incredible and amusing things that has ever happened to me. And it gave me the possibility to shoot a feature film.

Cinematical: Timecrimes was your first feature after a series of well-received short films. What made you switch to long-form storytelling for this particular movie?

NV: The script. I fell in love with the idea. When the Oscar thing happened, and I started thinking of myself as a feature filmmaker, I decided to shoot the impossible film, the movie you couldn't shoot in other conditions. If Timecrimes is not a common film in the US, just imagine Spain, where we don't even have a genre films market.

Cinematical: Timecrimes had its world premiere at the aptly-named Fantastic Fest in Austin last September. Since then you've screened at Sitges in Spain and several other international film festivals. What's the general reaction been so far?

NV: The movie seems to be working. We won another prize in Trieste, Italy: The "Golden Asteroid" in a science fiction festival. I love to see how the people react to the little comedy elements. And the silence of the last quarter-hour, more into suspense and horror ... What I'm most grateful about is that people keep talking about the movie after watching it, discussing what has happened on screen.

Nacho Vigalondo's Timecrimes, which won the top prize at Fantastic Fest, has been picked up for distrib by Magnolia Pictures. The film, Vigalondo's feature film debut, explores the idea of time travel through a tale about a man who travels back in time and runs into himself, thus setting in motion a chain of events with consequences he never imagined. Vigalondo's 2003 short film, 7:35 in the Morning, was Oscar-nommed, but lost out to Wasp by Andrea Arnold (who went onto make the critically acclaimed Red Road, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2006, along with a bevy of other awards).

Jette Kernion, who reviewed the film for Cinematical during Fantastic Fest, enjoyed it as much as the rest of the audience; she added the film to her viewing schedule after hearing from folks who attended the first screening that the film -- and the Q&A with Vigalondo -- was a must see. Kernion's take on the jigsaw-puzzle plot of the film:

"Many time-travel films seem to work only on that level -- when you try to think about them too hard, the premise crumbles. Timecrimes, however, is so tightly and intricately scripted that upon reflection, everything fits logically. you have to pay close attention, because every scene ends up being re-referenced later in the film. It's the kind of movie where more than once, you end up thinking, 'Oh! So that's why we saw -- ah, I get it now.'" Magnolia will release Timecrimes in 2008; in the meantime, you can read Jette's full review right here.

One of the most pleasant surprises of Fantastic Fest this year was Timecrimes (Los Cronocrimenes), which had its world premiere at the Austin fest -- and won the top prize. I went to the second screening at the festival after the audience at the first screening urged the rest of us not to miss it. Not only was the movie itself supposed to be good, but Spanish writer/director Nacho Vigalondo's Q&A was also getting buzz. (The funniest parts are unsuitable for family reading.) The movie lived up to the hype, although the plot was almost too clever for its own good.

As you might guess from the title, Timecrimes does involve time travel, but first and foremost it's a suspense thriller. Hector (Karra Elejalde) and his wife are spending a routine afternoon unpacking furniture at their new house in the country, but things aren't quite perfect. First, Hector receives an odd phone call. Then as he lounges in the backyard with binoculars, he catches a glimpse of a topless woman in the woods behind the yard. He decides to explore the wooded area, perhaps hoping for more salacious peeks, and that's when everything starts to go wrong. A man with a bandaged face seems to be attacking him, and Hector escapes to a very strange scientific facility manned by a lone scientist (Vigalondo). I can't say any more without spoiling the plot ... I hope I haven't revealed too much as it is.

In comparison with film festival veterans, I'm a newbie: I've attended all or part of about two dozen over the past five years. I've yet to make it to Cannes, Toronto or Sundance, but I've gone to regional fests, Asian fests, homegrown fests run entirely by volunteers and big city fests sponsored by large corporations. With all these fests, I've come to expect different things: red carpet premieres and well-known stars at the bigger ones, great enthusiasm and excitement for the films at the smaller ones. Fantastic Fest in Austin, which concluded its third edition this past Thursday, walks another line entirely.

Our own Scott Weinberg described it as "the slickest, screwiest, most user-friendly genre festival this side of the continent." (We'll get to Scott and the unexpected pleasures of the game show he hosted later in this article.) Allow me to explain further: the festival is held at the Alamo Drafthouse (South Lamar location), a multiplex where, yes, you can order food and drinks from your seat, but, more important, all the auditoriums are superb screening facilities. Any projection glitches are fixed quickly and the sound is cranked up as loud as it should be.

Three of the six auditoriums were set aside for the festival, and clearly marked lines were set up in the lobby so you knew where to stand while waiting for your next movie. The staff and volunteers are friendly, well trained, knowledgeable and willing to share opinions on movies if they can spare a moment. It's a huge advantage to have all the festival screenings at one location, especially an exceptionally well-run facility with plenty of free parking. This gives Fantastic Fest a tremendous leg up on other well-meaning though poorly-organized festivals I've attended.

Some of the biggest buzz at Fantastic Fest this year was for the movie Timecrimes (Los Cronocrimenes), a Spanish science-fiction film about a man who more or less stumbles upon time travel and has to deal with its unexpected effects on his life. In addition, director Nacho Vigalondo was in Austin for most of the festival and held two delightful Q&A sessions after the Timecrimes screenings -- he even showed off some dance moves. At the awards ceremony on closing night, therefore, the audience was thrilled to learn that Timecrimes won the "Best Feature" prize, although Vigalondo wasn't there to accept the award. The film also won a silver medal in the Audience Award competition.

A full list of award winners is available after the jump, but I need to explain at least one aspect of the Fantastic Fest awards ceremony. The top winners all receive beer mugs -- short film awards had half-sized mugs -- and the winners who were present at the ceremony were required to chug after receiving their awards. You don't get fun like this at Cannes and Sundance. A special award was given out for emcee of Fantastic Feud, a game-show event that was new to the festival this year, and was such a hit that it was rated higher by Fantastic Fest attendees on the fest website than any of the actual movies. The emcee, who also wrote all the trivia questions, was Cinematical's Scott Weinberg. That's why the photo at the top of this entry shows Weinberg (in a Cinematical shirt) about to chug a beer -- he's actually accepting an award, not promoting irresponsible drinking habits.