7th Inning Stretch

I love this time of year. Love it. It's like the 7th Inning Stretch of the seasons. Summer is taking it's time to close its sunny doors, yet winter is still a ways off. Halloween is quickly approaching. Fall is soon upon us.

And it's my favorite movie time of the year. Typically, of course, Summer and Christmas are the 'big' movie release seasons...blockbusters fill the cineplexes. Oscar candidates begin their campaign. But for me, this time of year rocks. Film Festivals abound (or have just completed, with critical acclaim or disdain following quickly in their tracks), which inevitably birth the best of the best indie, cult and horror films. Fantasia Festival looked ace as usual with a tonne of international flavour making its North American or World premiere. TIFF is happening as I type this, which has morphed into arguably the largest and most important festival of the year (it's generally considered a sounding board for Oscar noms).

This year has certainly spawned some doozies that are making their mark quickly and smashingly - Von Trier's Anti-Christ, Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, Park Chan-wook's Thirst, Herzog's redux of Bad Lieutenant, Romero's Survival of the Dead, Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Heath Ledger's final film)......and on and on and on

Horror films are typically 'dumped' this time of year. Those with lower expectations are shown. And, hence, the movies I love the most are most likely to appear this time of year. Of course, you have to wade through the shit too...Zombie's Halloween 2 was a veritable abomination (it showed promise, but that's hardly saying anything as it's the director's 4th major release...he 'showed promise' with The Devil's Rejects as well...hmmm). And even the DVD shelves are loaded with great releases and sales just in time for October 31st.

There's a certain amount of 'rounding out' i think. I can tolerate the giant blockbusters as long as the quiet, poignant movies are given their due. It's like the karma of filmdom...I put up with all that garbage most of the time, but I figure that I dedicate enough of my life to watching this type of cinema and the universe owes me a Fantasia Festival now and again...