The posts have been building slowly for a few weeks now, but we may as well warn you now that our coverage of Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the United States put on by the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX, is only going to get bigger from here.  The fest doesn't start for another three weeks, but when it does you can count on us for reviews of all the insane indie and international horror/sci-fi/action films that people will be talking about in the near future (Seriously, FF is like a trend setter of what's going to be popular in genre cinema for the next year or so). Fandango is the official ticketing partner for FF and we'll also be co-sponsoring all the official videos. Until then, however, we'll be sharing news of what to expect at the festival.

Every year one of FF's wildest events are the Fantastic Debates.  Basically, two people, be they members of the press, filmmakers or just random film geeks with an opinion, stand at podiums and debate a topic.  Then once the talk is done, the two step into a real boxing ring and actually fight.  Yep, Fantastic Fest has a decidedly more relaxed atmosphere than most film festivals.
 
Last year FF and Drafthouse co-founder Tim League fought Michelle Rodriguez (pictured below).  The year before that, League went toe-to-toe with notorious filmmaker/ex-boxer Uwe Boll.  This year, however, he might really get his butt kicked: Mr. League will be going up against James Quinn McDonagh, the Irish bare-knuckle fighter who is the star of the newly announced Fantastic Fest selection Knuckle, a documentary about a generations-long feud between rival Irish Traveler clans (think Brad Pitt in Snatch and you're in the right ballpark).
 
We just hope McDonagh doesn't do permenant damage to our favorite movie theater owner.  After all, he and his wife are expecting twins right around the time of the festival.  I can picture it now: Tim's bloodied head is going to pound into the mat right when Karrie's water breaks.  It's going to be a grand 'ole time!
 
 

 

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