I attended a few films of Actionfest last year, and could tell I wanted to be a bigger part of it this year. So when passes went on sale I jumped on them. The advantage of the pass is it gets you into everything! If theres a film in the lineup you want to see you can do it. And you can go to the parties at night, or to the awards show. The biggest benefit of the pass has to be the vip lounge. Tucked away upstairs at the Carolina Cinemas is a nice home theater set up running films from years past in really comfy couches. It gives you the chance to wind down between films, chat with other festival goers and the best part, get some great and varied food from local sponsors. The fact that one doesn’t have to sustain the film fest on popcorn alone makes it so you can stay on site and enjoy as many movies as you want. So you can see already how much I enjoyed the festival. Let’s talk about the films. I saw 12 total, here they are from my favorite to my least favorite.

Goon.
Completely blow away by this film. Easily had the best audience reaction of any during the weekend and I was watching it with the second crowd on Sunday. I’ve never cared for Sean William Scott but here he is sincere, and absolutely hilarious. It is easily a great hockey movie, and it may just be the best comedy to be released this year. If you can find it in a cinema near you, please do, it deserves to be laughed at with friends, and enjoyed by all.

Let the Bullets Fly.
China’s highest grossing film ever. I can tell you why. If you can read subtitles quickly or know Chinese, this film is slick, sarcastic, beautifully shot, and contains one of the best titles used in a film within the first five minutes. From the title you’d think this was a gunplay movie. It’s more of a dueling of the minds, and Chow Yun Fat has never been more unique than in this role. A plus.


The Lost Bladesmen
I’m torn between choosing this or Wu Xia as my next favorite. Both star Donnie Yen. This one is just a little more cinematic in its scale and presentation.

Wuxia. So good martial arts film. If you like Kung fu, both of these films should be on your list.

Bad Ass
Danny Trejo’s ultimate film. It’s funny, it has a few brutal moments, and he wears a fanny pack. How can you not think this movie is great?

Sleepless Night. This was a secret screening of the french film that supposedly already has a hollywood remake in the works. It really works as it uses one single setting of a night club for the majority of the movie and pulls out rabbit after rabbit to keep the tension going. The last 4 star film of the fest for me.

Man Borg
Not that you need to be 4 star to be great. This film shot for 1,000 is hilarious great eighties cheese and was the perfect midnight showing piece. The rest of the festival people screamed MANborg before every show. MANBORG!

Wonder Women. A ‘wonder’ful documentary pairing Wonder Woman’s comic and media history along the lines of feminism. A strange addition to Actionfests lineup, but I’m super glad they included it. Should be seen by all comic and media fans. Lots of good questions to consider.

The Day. Do not watch this is you are prone to being scared at night. Non stop tension, and really a surprise. The main actress Ashley Bell in this is truly kick ass in a way most actresses only hope to be.

And the not so great.
Solomon Kane. Ok. Terrible ending cgi.
Sinners And Saints. Was o.k. on Friday night. By Sunday didnt seem like it matched up well compared to everything else I had seen.
And Transit. The ultimate dud of the festival, terrible screenplay, terrible direction, and hokey acting. Skip it.

So there’s my brief review of what I saw. So many great films I didnt get to catch. Make sure you put Actionfest on the calendar, because it is the film festival to have a bloody good time at.