Iron Man opens this week, and thus the summer movie season has officially arrived. I love a good summer movie as much a the next guy, but this morning I found myself looking back at some of the little films that cropped up during the summer; some of them managed to get a "summer" feel on a much lower budget and without all the advertisement and hype. My absolute favorite summer art house movie has to be Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run (1999). I saw it three times that summer, and each time I clutched my seat, my heart pounding. I was amazed at how brilliantly Tywker had mapped out his three possible storylines and how lovely the small, quiet interludes were. I loved Franka Potente, and I loved his throbbing score, which practically entered into your bloodstream and pumped up your adrenaline by hand. Every color, movement and cut was designed for maximum effect (I've always been puzzled how Tykwer's movies since have seemed so long and sluggish.)

Also that same summer, John Sayles delivered his baffling adventure/suspense film Limbo, which had several people trapped on an island awaiting rescue and stalked by bad guys. The ending had everybody in an uproar and caused the film to die a quick death. The summer before that one, Darren Aronofsky's debut feature Pi gave me a good dose of sci-fi thrills, as well as a few head-scratching puzzles (which were actually real). 2000 was a particularly bad summer, but John Waters' Cecil B. DeMented provided a mischievous little oasis in the middle of it all. In that film, renegade filmmakers kidnap a Hollywood starlet and force her to be in their indie production; each team member has a tattoo of a maverick filmmaker's name. (I've often wondered which filmmaker's name I would pick for a tattoo? Maybe David Cronenberg...)

I just got back from a brief Christmas holiday to the distant land of relatives and limited Internet access, so my column is just a tad late this week. Nevertheless, I'd like to pick up where I left off last week, in my celebration of those smaller films that lost their way in 2007, either misunderstood, or misjudged, or just never found.

I saw Hal Hartley's Fay Grim in May as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival. It was a sequel to his 1998 film Henry Fool and it had one of those strange near-simultaneous releases in which it debuted on DVD just a few days after it opened in theaters. This technique didn't work at all for Steven Soderbergh's superb Bubble last year, so I can't imagine why anyone would try it again. I found Henry Fool too long with too much navel gazing to be of interest, but somehow Fay Grim worked for me. I felt it was all a huge, deadpan joke that these pathetic writer-types would now be involved in international intrigue. And who is better for a deadpan joke than Jeff Goldblum, with his glaring eyes and sharp delivery?

I do love a good trailer. I'm one of those people who gets to the theater in plenty of time for the previews, and if I see a movie that has one or fewer trailers playing with it I feel gypped. It's as much part of the experience as overpriced popcorn and ill-timed cell phone usage. Man, did I see a lot of trailers this year. 2007 was my first full year of doing the Trailer Park feature here on Cinematical and the experience has strengthened my appreciation for the form. I'm not placing these in any particular order, but here are ten trailers that really got my attention this year. Some of the movies I've seen, some I haven't, some have yet to be released, but all (in my humble opinion) do an exceptional job of selling the film. My choices, of course, are purely subjective and will undoubtedly conflict with yours, so please add a comment and let us know what your favorite trailers of 2007 were.


Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (teaser)
This one may have dropped in late 2006, but I''m including it here for two reasons: I mentioned it in a Trailer Park last January and it kicked serious ass. Sure, the full length trailer had a little more meat on its bones, but it's the teaser trailer for the Fantastic Four sequel that had people talking, myself included. The wedding of Mr. Fantastic to The Invisible Woman (a pivotal moment from the early Lee and Kirby issues of the Fantastic Four comic) is interrupted by the arrival of The Silver Surfer. The Human Torch gives chase across the skies and through the tunnels of New York. One of the first movie's biggest problems was that the Torch wasn't able to fully exercise his powers until near the end of the film, but this time we get it up front in the trailer.

Cloverfield (teaser)
No one knew what to expect when this trailer showed up with Transformers last summer, but it has since inspired all kinds of speculation as to what this movie is all about. A hand-held home video of a farewell party in New York City is interrupted by a power failure. A massive roar can be heard off in the distance and a gigantic fireball engulfs a large chunk of the city. Huge pieces of shrapnel fly everywhere, including a large chunk of metal that turns out to be the Statue of Liberty's head. This is one of those trailers that is so good you find yourself saying, "the hell with that movie I just paid to see, I want to see this one right now." To further tantalize audiences, producer J.J. Abrams and company didn't even tell anyone what the title was at first. The full length trailer that followed added more footage, but failed to be as engaging as the original teaser.

It was almost precisely a year ago that Kimi V. and I climbed into a few balcony seats to enjoy a very well-attended screening of Black Sheep at the Toronto Film Festival. And we had a very good time with Jonathan King's wild and (ahem) woolly comedy/horror concoction. Although the New Zealand import didn't make all that much of a splash following its June 22 release date -- IFC released it in all of eight theaters -- an unrated edition is hitting DVD shelves on October 9, courtesy of the Weinsteins' Dimension label. (Horror fans should absolutely give it a rental.)

So now comes the unpleasantness: According to a report at Fangoria, the producers of Black Sheep might be getting sued by an aspiring screenwriter named Rafael Toba, who claims that his 2001 "Killer Sheep" screenplay was blatantly plagiarized by King & Company. Given that the 'nature run amok' sub-genre has been going strong for several decades now, couldn't it just be a case of coincidence? Nope, says Mr. Toba: "If it were any other animal, it could be so ... but sheep? Come on." Fango cites a Spanish newspaper where they say that legal proceedings are already underway.

Now, I know this probably wouldn't stand up in court, but Mr. King told me himself that "there are ten sheep to every one person in New Zealand." But I'm sure Spain has a lot of sheep as well. Regardless, the volume of sheep in each filmmaker's country is kind of beside the point, isn't it? I don't think Mr. Toba has much of a case, frankly, but I'd welcome another "killer sheep" movie any time. Lord knows I've seen enough Killer Croc flicks by this point. And I've long since lost track of all the bat, rat, spider and shark movies I've seen.

Is there any creature on earth less scary than a sheep? When I think "sheep," I think bland, mild-eyed creatures growing furry coats of wool for all those wool sweaters sold in LL Bean catalogs, not blood-thirsty freaks of nature, but when a film about sheep has the tagline, "There are 40 million sheep in New Zealand ... and they're pissed off!" -- you know you're in for something different.

Black Sheep, written and helmed by Jonathan King, takes perhaps the most innocuous creatures in the animal kingdom, and turns them into blood-thirsty, viscous monsters who can either eat you for dinner, or bite you and turn you into one of them. The film starts out at beautiful Glenolden Station, farmed for over a century by the Olden family. Elder brother Angus (Peter Feeney, who some might recognize from his roles on Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules on television), who's been pathologically jealous of his younger brother Henry (newcomer Nathan Meister) since childhood, has turned the family sheep farm into a cutting-edge, scientifically-focused business focused on breeding the perfect sheep. Henry hasn't been home to the family farm in years; he suffers from a crippling sheep-phobia that was caused by Angus horrifically killing Henry's pet sheep when they were young boys.

I've been told more than once that I have a passion for the bizarre. The subject usually comes up when someone asks about the life-size statue of Anson Williams in my living room, or why my rottweiler is wearing a French maid costume (it's only when he's vacuuming). Donnie Darko and the films of David Lynch are great for many reasons, but I love the fact that they're so unabashedly weird. They wear their weirdness like a red badge of -- well, weirdness. None of the trailers in today's Trailer Park are quite that odd, but each has a quality that puts it about half a bubble off center.

Reno 911: Miami
I know what you're thinking. What's so weird about Reno 911? Isn't that the Cops parody show from Comedy Central? True enough, but if you've ever seen Thomas Lennon as Lieutenant Jim Dangle wearing those horrifically tiny shorts, you wouldn't be asking "what's weird about this one?" If you like the series -- and I think it can be hilarious at times -- I imagine you'll like the film as well. The incompetent members of the Reno Nevada Sheriff's department are invited to a police convention in Miami Beach. When a biological threat quarantines the entire Miami Beach Police Department, our heroes (such as they are) are pressed into service. Amping up the weird quotient is the fact that there's an option to view the trailer with audio commentary from the cast, speaking in character. Martha Fischer first mentioned this film here on Cinematical about a year ago. The film opens February 23.

Kaw
I suppose it speaks well of Alfred Hitchcock's talent that his films are still being ripped off so long after his death. Sean Patrick Flannery of Boondock Saints fame plays a small town sheriff with only one day left on the job when his town comes under attack by a conspiracy of ravens (not to be confused, mind you, with a murder of crows). Much pecking and gouging ensue. Seagulls they ain't, but this still plays a lot like The Birds. Strictly B-movie fair, the trailer has a dark creepy look to it, and I suspect this will go straight to DVD.

Kimmy V. and I saw Jonathan King's Black Sheep at a rather raucous and enthusiastic midnight screening during last September's Toronto Film Festival, and we were both pretty sure that the comedy/horror confection would be purchased by the end of the week. Well, it took a little longer than that, but IFC and Los Weinsteins both enjoyed the flick enough to invest some cash in it.

Now comes an all-new trailer for Black Sheep, and trust me on this: If the trailer does nothing for you, then you probably won't like the movie. If, on the other hand, the trailer had you chuckling a little, odds are you'll have a good time with King's "sheep gone psycho" exploits. The New Zealand import opens in its native land on March 22, and I've no idea when IFC plans to release it in North America, but since the Weinsteins have DVD rights for Black Sheep, expect some sort of theatrical release this year. (Probably fairly limited.)

Ah, and in case you forgot: Black Sheep is about a scientific experiment gone horribly wrong, a massive flock of rabidly infected quadripeds, and some well-intentioned (but stupid) hippie-types who end up as sheep zombie mega-monsters. It's all very insane, trust me.

A few days ago I shared the news that IFC and WeinsteinCo had paired up to bring Jonathan King's Black Sheep to cinemas / video stores -- which is pretty good news for people who enjoy movies about mutated killer sheep. (People like me.) To celebrate the good news, I decided to finally get off my ass and transcribe an interview I did with Mr. King at this year's Toronto Film Festival. So here it is!

Cinematical: At the premiere last night we talked about this: In New Zealand, the sheep outnumber the humans by about a 10:1 ratio. But beyond the idea that "Hey, we could make a horror/comedy about sheep!" -- beyond that, what was it that made you think "Hey, we can do this."?

Jonathan King: Well, the idea came, and I thought it worked. You can imagine me pitching this idea, just using the sheep. But what was cool about it was all the stuff we came up with later: The settings around the farm, the shed, the offal pit, where across the landscape the sheep would come from....

Cine: I made a special mention of that in my review. Practical or FX-wise, I've never seen anything that looks like the New Zealand countryside. Watching the film, the backgrounds are almost too beautiful. I found myself wondering if it was a practical shot, CG, a matte...

JK: Yeah, one of the things we're pleased about is that I think it's a view of New Zealand you haven't seen before. It's not like The Piano. It's not the snowy mountains of Lord of the Rings. It's kind of a rugged-but-beautiful look.

I just now realized that it wasn't all a dream: I really did interview a bunch of sheep a few months back. What a strange thing to do. But hey, it was all in support of a very entertaining little horror/comedy called Black Sheep, which hails from New Zealand and focuses on the activities of SEVERAL mutated killer sheep -- were-sheep! -- and the people they eat.

Back at Toronto we expected the flick to get snatched up right quick, but the back-room machinations took longer than previously anticipated. And now some good news: The movie will be hitting theaters (thanks to IFC) and DVD (courtesy of Los Weinsteins) relatively soon. That's right: We don't have release dates just yet, but they're the next logical step after a distribution deal is inked. Hopefully we won't have a Feast-style delay on this one.

I'd been hoping for a Lionsgate logo to grace this particular flick, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, LG dropped out of the bidding not too long ago. Ah well. Here's hoping writer/director Jonathan King got a decent price for his ovine-laden monster movie. He's a really nice guy.

When I cover a film festival, I usually do a small handful of interviews for various publications. In nearly every case, the sit-down is with a young filmmaker or some indie actors. When I was asked if I'd like to spend a half-hour with the Midnight Madness Guru for the Toronto International Film Festival, I figured it'd be a whole lot of fun. I mean... the guy's job is to pick through the world's newest wierd movies and pick his ten favorites! Now that's a guy you want to drink a coffee with! Here now is a conversation between Colin Geddes, filmmaker J.T. Petty and yours truly. And I had to snip about 35% of this chat session because it often devolved into a really nerdy conversation between three hardcore genre geeks. Obviously it was a lot of fun.

Cinematical: How important is a "midnight movie" slate to a festival like Toronto?

Colin Geddes: The Midnight Madness category was originally devised as a spot for films that didn't really "fit in" with a traditional festival agenda. We're talking back in, say, 1988, when genre films didn't necessarily "belong" at a film festival. So the category gave us a chance to introduce quality genre films to an appreciative audience. Plus these movies often work as a "gateway" for new audience members. With the festival being so huge, it's sometimes overwhelming. And if you're an 18-year-old kid coming to Toronto, like I was, where are you going to start? You're probably going to start in the horror stuff, the weird stuff. The rest of the film festival gets the "art," and I get the "fun." And the art. And what we see now is that, of all the different slates, Midnight Madness is one that almost always sells out, ticket-wise. From an industry standpoint, these are quite often the films that sold -- and seen.

Cine: And they're not always horror films either. You have seven or eight of 'em, but then something like Borat makes the cut as well...

CG: Yeah, it's a mixed bag. Now, Borat is an outrageous comedy, but I also knew it would it would bring a lot of attention, and it's great to have that kind of "hook" sometimes. If I can get an 18-year-old kid who'll come and see Borat, and then he comes back to see The Host from Korea or Princess from Denmark, I've done my job there. Borat is kind of the "anchor." On the other hand, I like to take a chance with one or two selections. Two years ago I programmed Calvaire (The Ordeal), which was ... an out-there film. Half the audience was truly perplexed by that one, but it's an excellent film and precisely the kind of title we like to "introduce" to our viewers. This year we have J.T. Petty's S&MAN, which is in a similar vein. Something that's going to be confrontational; something that might divide audiences.

Cine: Something that's going to get people talking. ...