Monday, May 28, 2007 - 09:16:30
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The Romanian film topped the Coen Brothers popular film No Country for Old Men, David Fincher's Zodiac and Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. .
Many at the festival predicted that 4 Months would be one of the top contenders for the big prize.
Going strictly by the critics' polls here, the top-rated pictures on the Croisette in 2007 are No Country for Old Men, 4 Months and Zodiac ; reaction to Zodiac confirms the view of some industryites that Paramount should have waited to premiere the film in Cannes and waited until September to release it, notes Todd McCarthy .
Manohla Dargis and A.
O. Scott where they both agree that it was the strongest field in more than a decade. Dargis, , Whether because of happenstance or hard work, the 60th Cannes Film Festival has presented attendees with an embarrassment of riches.
The competition lineup has been notably strong, on occasion galvanizing, resulting in more cheers from the international press than jeers (a beloved tradition) than I rsquo;ve heard in the past decade.
Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 12:47:36
The boys are back in Ocean's Thirteen which screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Variety's Todd McCarthy , As smooth as a good mojito, as stylish as an Armani suit and as meaningful in the grand scheme of things as yesterday's Las Vegas betting odds, Ocean's Thirteen continues the breezy good times of the first two series entries without missing a beat.
In the year of third installments, it's a pleasant surprise if this film is decent considering what's happened thus far. Spider-man 3 was awful. Shrek the third was tired by most accounts (and outpaced at the box office by Once if you look at per-screen averages) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is getting cooked by critics (it currently has a 45% Cream of the Crop rating at ).
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone , Producer Jerry Bruckheimer does deserve a shoutout: It takes a kind of genius to sucker audiences into repeatedly buying the same party tricks. Know what? There really is no legit way to review Pirates 3.
It's not a movie at all, it's a business proposition.
Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 12:12:50
Lots of enthusiasm on webs for the french language film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly which screeened yesterday in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The film, an adaptation of the best-selling memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby, who was editor in chief of Elle magazine in France before suffering a stroke at 42.
After the stroke Mr. Bauby had to endure full consciousness and complete immobility, apart from the ability to open and close one eye.
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times exuberant as well as poignant, and remarkably unsentimental given the subject and declares it to be moving and gorgeously shot.
Anne Thompson of Variety achingly sad and beautiful, and notes there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Glenn Kenny of Premiere pretty solid contender for this year's Palme d'Or.
North American rights to the film were sold to Miramax yesterday for $3 million.
A Best Foreign Film Oscar campaign is sure to follow. .
Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 17:49:57
No Country for Old Men, seems to be the odds-on favorite to win the Palme d'Or, although 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days really impressed.
Gus Van Sant's Paranoid Park seems to be better than Elephant which won the top prize a few years ago. David Fincher's Zodiac which has already screened in American theatres continued to impress. Wong Kar Wai's My Blueberry Nights didn't wow Cannes audiences, but it is likely to find a strong audience in America as a result of a cast that includes Norah Jones, Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Natalie Portman and David Strathairn.
Quentin Tarantino's extended Death Proof only got better, but we may not see it until it arrives on DVD.
Remaing on the Cannes competition schedule is James Gray's We Own the Night starring Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix, which came to Cannes without a distributor and was purchased for $11.5 million before it was ever seen.
Out of competition, Michael Moore didn't appear to disappoint with his latest assault Sicko and Angelina Jolie seems poised for an Oscar run for her role in A Mighty Heart. Leonardo DiCaprio's documentary The 11th Hour which he produced and narrates will scare the hell out of us. Ocean's Thirteen screens on Thursday.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 06:36:35
Gus Van Sant's latest film Paranoid Park screened yesterday morning in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Manohla Dargis , With an intimate character study of an accidental killer, has returned to Cannes with one of the most moving and delicately felt films of his fascinating career. .
.The film rsquo;s visual beauty is so striking mdash; in one shot Alex skateboards against a midnight-blue light, framed by glossy green shrubbery mdash; that it takes a while to appreciate that the images are doing most of the narrative work.
Variety's Todd McCarthy , Paranoid Park is a deeply subjective portrait of a teenager's state of denial about a death he has inadvertently caused.
Through immaculate use of picture, sound and time, the director adds another panel to his series of pictures about disaffected, disconnected youth. Kirk Honeycutt of Hollywod Reporter one of his best movies yet, recapturing the magic of his fine earlier works such as Mala Noche and Drugstore Cowboy.
Monday, May 21, 2007 - 09:10:08
The second week of the Cannes Film Festival opened this morning with some exciting films on the schedule.
A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis , including a brief review of the Coen Brothers well received No Country for Old Men.
I didn't realize the Coen's had so much past success at Cannes.
Michael Winterbottom's latest film A Mighty Heart about the kidnapping and subsequent death of journalist Daniel Pearl starring Angelina Jolie screened this morning. Justin Chang , The sad saga of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl has made it to the bigscreen with facts, figures and beating heart intact in A Mighty Heart.
He further notes, But this is ultimately -- and very intimately -- Mariane Pearl's story, and much of it rests on Jolie, who fits comfortably into the naturalistic mold that shapes the entire ensemble. Though Jolie sports a big belly, a high-coiffed hairstyle and a very challenging accent (raised in France, Mariane is of Afro-Cuban and Dutch descent), this isn't the sort of commanding star turn in which the performer vanishes behind a well-known celebrity mask, but rather a subdued, carefully considered portrait of a woman caught between premature grief and persistent hope.
Sunday, May 20, 2007 - 09:40:43
The Little Rock Film Festival, which wraps today, has announced the
You can catch Little Birds at 11:00, the narrative shorts 2 program which includes best short film winner Ein, Zwei Dinge at 5:30 at the Riverdale Cinema.
Best of Arkansas winner, Where's My Closeup, Mr. Thornton? will screen prior to the festival's closing event Casablanca at the Riverfest Amphitheater at 7:00.
Saturday, May 19, 2007 - 14:39:26
The first winner at the Little Rock Film Festival has been announced.
Where's My Close Up, Mr. Thornton?
has been selected as the Best of Arkansas. . The film is directed by Tim Jackson of Bryant, Arkansas.
As a result, this 28-minute film, which turned away lots of people on Friday, will have an encore screening on Sunday evening prior to Casablanca which is presented by
Saturday, May 19, 2007 - 10:45:33
No Country for Old Men, the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel by Ethan and Joel Coen (they share writing and directing credits) screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival Saturday morning. Early reviews are spectacular.
A scorching blast of tense genre filmmaking shot through with rich veins of melancholy, down-home philosophy and dark, dark humor, No Country for Old Men reps a superior match of source material and filmmaking talent.
Cormac McCarthy's bracing and brilliant novel is gold for the Coen brothers, who have handled it respectfully but not slavishly, using its built-in cinematic values while cutting for brevity and infusing it with their own touch. Result is one of the their very best films, a bloody classic of its type destined for acclaim, writes Todd McCarthy .
Glenn Kenny, , calls No Country for Old Men, three quarters of a masterpiece, but also notes, Even as I'm chewing on it while typing this, I've got a feeling I may be calling Country a full-fledged masterpiece after I catch it a second time.
Or maybe even before then.
Anne Thompson notes, It's going to be hard to beat for the Palme d'Or. Unless Miramax messes up the movie's fall release (it will need delicate handling, although it will earn rave reviews, because it is not overtly commercial), I see a strong Oscar run.
Saturday, May 19, 2007 - 10:02:38
I spoke to several this morning who said that hundreds turned out for the Little Rock Film Festival Gala last night and that many more have been turned away from several of the films. You can bet that Riverdale will be hopping tonight with the screening of Knocked Up. Also the LRFF screening of Towncraft happens today as well.
Old Joy, Killer of Sheep, Blue State, Towncraft, Knocked Up, The Iran Panel at the Clinton School, The Accountant and Where's My Close Up, Mr. Thornton? are all options for festivalgoers today.
Again, I'm sick that I missed this festival. Craig, Brent, Owen and Jamie have done a great thing.
Friday, May 18, 2007 - 08:05:42
The Banishment and Les Chansons d'amour screen in competition today at the Cannes Film Festival.
Jay Weissberg of Influenced by Tarkovsky and heavily loaded with religious metaphors, pic's examination of a family's banishment from a domestic paradise that was never Eden anyway feels both indulgent and pseudo-deep, leaving auds cold rather than devastated. Regarding Les Chansons d'amour, , Likeable film doesn't measure up to helmer Christophe Honore's previous Inside Paris, stumbling a bit in capturing the genuine grief that sits at its heart, though once again his feel for family is unerring and some of pic's greatest charms come from the warmth they inspire.
Anticipation on the web by those in attendance continues to build for Ethan and Joel Coen's latest film No Country for Old Men, which screens .
Anne Thompson notes , The buzz on the Coens' No Country for Old Men (Scott Rudin's Paramount Vantage/Miramax co-production) is building to a roar off the high praise it got from an early screening for New York Film Fest programmers. It's in the league of Miller's Crossing, folks say. With My Blueberry Nights opening to luke warm reviews (characterized by A.
O. Scott of the New York Times as hyperbolic snap judgments ), David Fincher's Zodiac and Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days appear to be leading the competition pack.
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