Tai Chi Zero is stuck in an East-meets-West, Old-meets-New conundrum.  From a filmmaking perspective, it’s a perfect blend.  Director Stephen Fung has taken a dull kung-fu tale, and imbued with modern sensibilities that playfully break the fourth wall, and use video game and anime inspirations in the visual style.  However, Fung can’t reconcile his style with the script’s anti-technology themes.  Tai Chi Zero can be light, goofy fun, but it’s eventually dragged down by its familiar story, paper-thin characters, and confused subtext.

Director Stephen Fung’s Tai Chi Zero is set to make its U.S. premiere at Fantastic Fest this weekend in Austin, TX, and we here at Collider are happy to debut one of seven character posters for the film.  The pic, which is the first in a planned trilogy, is described as a stylish pop-art take on the life of Yang-lu Chan and stars Yuan Xiaochao as the founder of the Yang school of tai chi.  Yang-lu Chan and his knowledge of Tai Chi is a small village’s only hope when they are overrun by an army of steampunk soldiers bearing strange machines.  The steampunk vibe is strong in this character poster for “The Rising Son,” a dude who is equipped to the max with a variety of machinery.

Hit the jump to check out the poster.  Tai Chi Zero will debut at Fantastic Fest before opening in theaters on October 19th.

We’ve already seen two waves of film announcements for the upcoming Fantastic Fest in Austin, including Dredd 3D, Room 237, The Shining, Looper, Sinister, The ABCs of Death, and Red Dawn as the festival’s closing film.  Now the festival has announced the final wave of films including the world premiere of the horror film The Collection. This final wave of films also includes Brandon Cronenberg’s Antiviral, the remake of Pusher, and the bizarre World War II film Danger 5.

Hit the jump to check out the press release, which includes the full final wave of film announcements.  The 2012 Fantastic Fest will take place September 20 – 27 in Austin, Texas at the Alamo Drafthouse.

The line-up for the 2012 Venice Film Festival has been announced and it’s a surprisingly lean year.  Usually, there’s a lot of overlap between the Toronto International Film Festival and Venice, but the only major crossovers are Terrence Malick‘s To the Wonder, Robert Redford‘s The Company You Keep, Ramin Bahrani‘s At Any Price, Mira Nair‘s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and Ariel Vromen‘s The Iceman.  Venice does have a few standout exclusives this year, most notably Brian De Palma‘s new film, Passion, starring Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace.  Other notable exclusives include Abdallah Omeish‘s Witness: Libya (executive produced by Michael Mann) and Harmony Korine‘s Spring Breakers.

Hit the jump for the full line-up.  The 2012 Venice Film Festival runs August 29 – September 8th.