Comic-Con is a fun event for film fans hoping to get their first peek at upcoming blockbusters and the stars behind them, but I’ve always been a lot more partial to film festivals. Why? Because film fests are all about actually watching films. (Yes, I know studios have recently started hosting screenings during Comic-Con but they still number in the single digits and they’re always future wide-release movies anyway.) Trailer previews and scenes are fun to watch at the Con, and while I won’t be attending this month I hope to get back again with the FSR crew next year. But a solid film festival trumps everything the Con has to offer by virtue of the number and variety of films available. The best fest, hands down, is Austin’s Fantastic Fest (which I’ll be eating, drinking, and breathing this September), but it’s not the only one worth watching…

If there is any kind of common thread in the work of Takashi Miike, it would have to be that they are all either just a little or, in some cases, immensely loony. Enter Yatterman, a superhero’s tale…

The second round of entries into the Fantastic Fest 2009 line-up have been released this morning. And it’s not the sort of thing you’re going to want to miss.

Even though we are not wandering the halls of the New York Comic-Con event happening this weekend, we do have a lot of friends and neighbors who are covering the event.