Yo, bitches. I am back as promised. Alot been going on in the last few weeks. The almighty Cleveland International Film Festival announced it's schedule and it's pretty damn badass. I weaseled myself a press pass this year (I am going to write a story about the fest for KFC Cinema) so I am going to catch a record 17 films this year. Crazy, huh. I can't wait. Who knows I may catch more. Like last year, I am going to take the week off of work So I will pretty much have free reign to see whatever. I am even dragging Chiaki to 7 films. Can you believe it? Here is breakdown of the flicks I plan on catching.

From around the globe:
Transylvania - France
The Old Garden - South Korea
Paprika - Japan
Severance - United Kingdom
Cold Prey - Norway
Angosto - Spain
Taking Father Home - China
Invisible Waves - Thailand
Opera Jawa - Indonesia
Sway - Japan
Angel-A - France
Red Road - United Kingdom

A few from the US:
Fay Grim
First Snow
The Ten

And some documentaries:
Punk's Not Dead
Liquid Vinyl

Some others are tentative and still up in the air so we will see what happens. Man, I can't wait. I am probably post pumped for The Ten the latest from David Wain, one of the man geniuses from The State, and the co-writer/director of Wet Hot American Summer. This time around David wrote the script with Ken "I'm going to dip my balls in it, Louie" Marino. Its gotta be some good stuff. Check out the teaser trailer. If you are a fan of The State, the trailer may make you chuckle, if not sorry for waste 56 seconds of your time. Moving On.

I told you all before I would say a few words about The Aura, so here it goes. Do what you can to see this damn film. It's amazing. I fell in love with this flick. It's so original and caught me completely off guard. A true wonder to watch. I don't want to spend the time explaining the plot cause it honestly won't do the film justice. Seriously, would you go see a film about a daydreaming taxidermist. No, of course you wouldn't so please just watch it. You can dig up a Spanish dvd version of it online by now and even download a illegal torrent the film if that's your thing. Its about in April in the US, so if you want to wait, be my guest. It is definitely worth it. Lead actor, Ricardo Darín is spellbinding. I true wonder to watch. It is a damn shame that director Fabian Bielinsky died last year after only making two films (his first being the excellent Nine Queens).

Speaking of extraordinary lead actors, Chiaki and I had the privilege of seeing The Lives of Others, yesterday. It is the German film that took home the surprise win for Best Foreign Language Film at this year's Academy Awards. I must say it was well deserving (even though you all know I truly adore Pan's Labyrinth). Not to sound overly cheesy but actor Ulrich Mühe is a heaven send. They guys is exceptional in this film. He has become one of my new favorite actors just from is performance in this film. I can't wait to watch some of his earlier stuff, which includes a few older Michael Haneke films, the director behind one of my favorite films from last year, Cache. Anyways, The Lives of Others was top rated. Aside from the from a handful of Rainer Werner Fassibinder and Haneke films, I had never really seen any German films, but I must say it was a absolute pleasure to watch. Please, do yourself a favor and check it out when you get a chance.

So as I talked about from time to time in the past, I am attempting to get my own international film website off the crowd. My friend, Jeff and I talk about it from time to time and we are pretty serious about getting it off the ground in the next couple months if all goes well. In the meantime I have been in contact with a few companies who have been kind enough to send me a few films to review until the site gets off the ground.

So I have decided to welcome you guys with some lengthy reviews in the coming months of some great new upcoming dvd releases. The find folks at Film Movement has sent me a copy of their March film The Bothersome Man, a film from Norway which will also being screening at the Cleveland International Film Festival. I also plan on review First Run Features release of The Bridesmaid, the latest film released on US shores from French legend Claude Chabrol. Expect me reviews of these films in the new few weeks.

I hope you all are excited as I am...