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.
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