Features
Megan Fox may be an airhead and Shia LaBeouf may be a lightweight, but when it comes to speaking the truth, they deserve credit for having far more bracing honesty than most of the suck-ups who rule the business. Only in Hollywood is calling a lousy movie a lousy movie considered an act of sedition. […]
Entries from May 2010
One more round
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 4:40 pm · May 20th, 2010
Filed in: Daily
SHORT TAKE: “Fair Game” (***)
Posted by Guy Lodge · 11:17 am · May 20th, 2010
Cannes Film Festival The presence of Doug Liman’s name in the Cannes competition lineup has inspired many an unkind crack from an idle critic — this writer couldn’t resist a couple himself. There can’t have been many filmmakers to enter that lofty club immediately after a film as uniformly reviled as “Jumper,” an inept high-concept […]
Filed in: Reviews
LIFE WITHOUT OSCAR: 1947 and 1948
Posted by Chad Hartigan · 3:56 pm · May 19th, 2010
Catch up with the idea behind this series here. 1947 kept the preachy, socially conscious train rolling at the Oscars with “Gentleman’s Agreement” taking the top prize. Anything exposing anti-Semitism was going to be hard to beat in the post-World War II period and the fact that it was actually well-made didn’t hurt either. More […]
Filed in: Life Without Oscar
Tension between Scott and Crowe on ‘Robin Hood’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:44 am · May 19th, 2010
We’ve already pointed out the long, destructive development process of “Robin Hood” and how it yielded a Frankenstein assemblage due to multiple rewrites. So it’s a full nine graphs into this Vulture “exclusive” before you get to the actual exclusive material: the film apparently almost splintered Crowe and Scott’s relationship forever. Writes Claude Brodesser-Akner: With […]
Filed in: Daily
‘Another Year’ goes to Sony Pictures Classics
Posted by Guy Lodge · 7:40 am · May 19th, 2010
Mike Leigh’s latest, easily the consensus critical darling of Cannes thus far, was never going to have trouble finding a U.S. distributor — the only question was whether it would be the equally plausible candidates Focus or Sony who got there first. As ScreenDaily reported earlier today, it’s the latter: Sony Pictures Classics has acquired North American […]
Filed in: Daily
CANNES: ‘Blue Valentine,’ ‘Tamara Drewe,’ ‘Film Socialisme’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:19 am · May 19th, 2010
Sadly, this is looking like a second consecutive day of minimal film viewing — thanks to the scheduling of my morning roundtable interview with the “Blue Valentine” team of Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams and director Derek Cianfrance, I had to forgo this morning’s screening of Lee Chang-dong’s “Poetry,” of which I have rather high expectations […]
AMPAS will vote on expanding visual effects category to five
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:58 am · May 18th, 2010
Expansion is the thing these days. And after last year’s shift from five Best Picture nominees to 10, it’s looking like the wheels are in motion to finally cough up another two slots in the category of Best Visual Effects, a move I think many will agree is a long time coming. But we’re not […]
Filed in: Daily
Letters from Cannes
Posted by Guy Lodge · 8:41 am · May 18th, 2010
Today’s Cannes schedule has only allowed for one-and-a-quarter films, which at least means I’ll be able to catch up on yesterday’s review backlog later. For now, though, it’s off to one function I didn’t have to work very hard to get invited to — the London Film School (my alma mater) reception, with Mike Leigh […]
Filed in: Daily
CANNES: ‘Certified Copy’ and other adventures
Posted by Guy Lodge · 4:24 am · May 18th, 2010
By the halfway-mark of the festival, Cannes can do irrational and frankly cruel things to your head. Having slunk back to my apartment at 3am after a merry night of wine and pizza some fellow bloggers — only to find myself locked out of said apartment in a cheap sitcom twist — I planned to […]
Dweebs vs. Hot Dog Eaters
Posted by Guy Lodge · 1:04 am · May 18th, 2010
(UPDATE: While he’s good and fired up, Jeff takes the opportunity to slam the “effete critics” who don’t like “Biutiful” as “coming from a stifled and constipated place.”) Hot dog eaters? Hey, you asked for more double entendres, though I’m guessing Jeff Wells doesn’t quite mean it that that way. I’ve been a fan for […]
Filed in: Daily
The Dark Knight on the Croisette
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:31 pm · May 17th, 2010
Being the Bat-geek that I am, I couldn’t resist posting this image, stolen from The Film Experience’s Cannes correspondent, Julien. I guess this is one of the advert stills being used before screenings? Guy? Either way, love it:
Filed in: Daily
SHORT TAKE: “Biutiful” (**1/2)
Posted by Guy Lodge · 1:11 pm · May 17th, 2010
Cannes Film Festival “How much does life weigh?” asked Alejandro González Iñárritu’s sophomore feature “21 Grams” – and while the literal answer was there in the title, it’s been clear from the rich buffet of human suffering in his films thus far that he believes it weighs rather a lot indeed. Brace yourselves, then, for […]
Filed in: Reviews
‘Biutiful’ reactions reflect a tale of two movies
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:04 am · May 17th, 2010
Guy hasn’t pulled his full review of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Biutiful” together yet, though he will shortly. Directly after this morning’s Cannes screening, he Tweeted that the film was “critically unfocused and emotionally muted,” and that “Inarittu clearly needs to kiss and make up with Arriaga.” And judging by some of the reactions coming out […]
Filed in: Daily
CANNES: ‘Outrage,’ ‘The Princess of Montpensier,’ ‘Black Heaven’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 7:18 pm · May 16th, 2010
Nothing quite clicked into gear today, I’m afraid – the one screening I really wanted to make, Xavier Dolan’s warmly received sophomore feature “Heartbeats,” filled up before I could get in the door, while the films I did see made for a pretty uninspiring day’s viewing. I’m usually quite a stickler for taking notes during […]
Filed in: Reviews
SUNDAY CENTS: Taking ‘Hood’ stock
Posted by Chad Hartigan · 4:16 pm · May 16th, 2010
*All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars. Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott helped steal $37.1 million from the poor on behalf of the rich as “Robin Hood” enters the chart in second place this week. The humorless duo courted the older adult audience, and in that respect, this is a solid enough debut. […]
Filed in: Box Office · Sunday Cents
LaBeouf on dropping the Indy ball
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 2:04 pm · May 16th, 2010
I have a new special place for Shia LaBeouf after reading his fearless ribbing of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” at Cannes. Via 24 Frames, the money quote: I’ll probably get a call. But he needs to hear this. I love him. I love Steven. I have a relationship with Steven […]
Filed in: Daily
‘Nottingham’: How a hot script became a forgettable film
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 1:26 pm · May 16th, 2010
Screenwriter blogs can often reward with a refreshing take on the film industry, even if they are at times flavored by the requisite misanthropy of those of us with visions of slug lines dancing in our heads. Josh Friedman’s I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing was a good read for a time, though it […]
Filed in: Daily
‘Inception’ TV spots
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 12:40 pm · May 16th, 2010
Something else I happened across while playing web catch-up this morning. You’ve probably seen them on the tube plenty of times by now, but since it’s a hotly anticipated summer title, I thought I’d offer them up for commentary here. Two more after the jump.
Filed in: Daily
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