THE MONOLITH MONSTERS by John Sherwood
The Monolith Monsters (1957)
Director: John Sherwood. Screenplay: Norman Jolley and Robert M. Fresco, from an original screen story by Fresco and Jack Arnold. Cast: Lola Albright, Grant Williams, Les Tremayne
By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
Perhaps it is all because of Grant Williams. Williams was a B-film actor who was best known for his starring role in [...]
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT by Frank Capra: DVD Review
It Happened One Night (1934)
Director: Frank Capra. Screenplay: Robert Riskin, from Samuel Hopkins Adams’ short story "Night Bus." Cast: Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable
By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
It is a very rare thing when a light-hearted comedy, something that is quintessentially the stuff of a ‘good movie,’ breaches into that territory where the term ‘good film’ [...]
TOOTSIE: Great To Be Nominated
Sydney Pollack’s 1982 Best Picture nominee Tootsie, one of the funniest comedies of the 1980s, is the next feature in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences‘ "Great To Be Nominated" series. The comedy about an unemployed actor who goes to gender-bending lengths to land a role, will screen on Monday, June 4, at [...]
Cannes 2007 Winners
"Cannes is the heart of world cinema. The Oscars are very important in the United States, but globally, it’s Cannes," declared Honorary Palme d’Or winner Jane Fonda upon arriving at the closing-night awards ceremony hosted by German actress Diane Kruger.
Indeed, winners and presenters from around the globe went up onstage at the Grand Théâtre Lumière [...]
Cannes Palme d’Or Winners (1939 - )
1939
Union Pacific (Cecil B. DeMille)*
1946
Brief Encounter (above, David Lean), Maria Candelaria / Portrait of Maria (Emilio Fernández), Velikiy perelom / The Turning Point (Fridrikh Markovitch Ermler), La symphonie pastorale (Jean Delannoy), Die Letzte Chance / The Last Chance (Leopold Lindtberg), Muzi bez krídel / Men Without Wings [...]
Italian Youth, Family & Politics at Cannes
Via Boyd van Hoeij’s european-films.net:
"The Italian Un certain regard title and local boxoffice hit Mio fratello è figlio unico (My Brother is An Only Child) is a fun panoramic snapshot of politically engaged Italian youngsters in the 1960s and 70s that is not only a portrait of its time but also, be it in diluted [...]
Catherine Breillat’s MISTRESS at Cannes
Lisa Nesselson reviews Une vieille maîtresse / An Old Mistress in Variety:
"Catherine Breillat [right] has spent more than 30 years showing a knack for directing individuals wearing no costumes at all, so it’s doubly heartening she knows precisely what to do with lovesick characters in lavish costumes in An Old Mistress. Splendidly cast tale of [...]
LILIES of the Festival
In The Advocate, Michael Glitz interviews Céline Sciamma (right), screenwriter-director of Naissance des pieuvres / Water Lilies (screened in the Un Certain Regard sidebar), the story of a teenage girl who falls in love with another:
"So whoever you are, you have to identify with a 15-year-old girl. I wanted everybody in the audience — [...]
PERSEPOLIS’ Possible Palme
Angela Doland interviews Persepolis co-director Marjane Satrapi (right) for The Associated Press. Via the Kansas City Star:
"’What we wanted to say is, if these people [Iranians, Muslims] scare you, look closer: They have parents, they have lovers, they have hope, they have stories,’ Marjane Satrapi told The Associated Press in an interview at a [...]
Cannes ‘07: Go Abel, Go
Xan Brooks in The Guardian:
(After reading the paragraph below, all I could think was, Bresson, le pauvre…)
"Abel Ferrara makes movies marinated in Catholic guilt, soaked in blood and frequently undulating with semi-naked women. These have sometimes been likened to the work of Martin Scorsese, although Scorsese never went so far as to have Harvey Keitel [...]
Cannes 2007: Four Funerals and an Orphanage
Thomas Sotinel on funereal films in Le Monde (Google translation):
"Maybe it’s age, but I spend my life at funerals. At least in Cannes, whenever I go watch a film. If this trend toward the funereal film (two ceremonies alone in Fatih Akin’s Auf der anderen Seite / The Edge of Heaven, this morning) catches on, [...]
Student Academy Award - 2007 Winners
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences‘ has announced the list of winners of the 34th Annual Student Academy Awards competition. They are (listed alphabetically by film title within category):
Alternative
Fission, Kun-I Chang, School of Visual Arts, New York
Animation
Art’s Desire, Sarah Wickliffe, New York University
A Leg Up, Bevin Carnes, Ringling College of Art [...]
Cannes ‘07 Reviews
Yannick Vély reviews Béla Tarr’s The Man from London at Film de Culte:
"Béla Tarr’s The Man from London was a sensation. From its sumptuous initial sequence, the Hungarian director attempts to put the viewer under hypnosis."
Justin Chang reviews Julian Schnabel’s Le Scaphandre et le papillon / The Diving Bell and the Butterfly in Variety:
"The [...]
Angelina Jolie and Film Restoration at Cannes
© 2007 Paramount Vantage
Kenneth Turan interviews A Mighty Heart star Angelina Jolie for the Los Angeles Times:
"Jolie, whose forceful, immediate performance as Mariane Pearl is the heart of [Michael] Winterbottom’s taut, involving film, is seated on the nearly deserted terrace of the Hotel du Cap, displaying the same level-headed focus and intelligence that enables her [...]
Cannes 2007 Tidbits
Thomas Sotinel reviews Raphaël Nadjari’s (above] Tehilim in Le Monde:
"The decapitated family is a representation of Israeli society, the disappearance of the father symbolizing the traumas that the country has endured since its creation … Nevertheless, Tehilim doesn’t see itself as an allegory waiting to be deciphered, but as a heart-rending tale of a forced [...]
Cannes 2007: Polanski, DiCaprio, and Dumb Journalists
Liam Lacey’s "Cranky Polanski a centre of attention" at the Toronto Globe and Mail:
"[Roman] Polanski’s tantrum [in reaction to journalists asking stupid questions] was the big awkward moment at an event [a q&a with about thirty directors who contributed to the omnibus film Chacun son cinéma / To Each His Own Cinema] that was otherwise [...]
Cannes 2007 and Religion
Via 7 Days:
"Iran has protested to France over the screening at Cannes of an animated film about a woman growing up in revolutionary Iran, slamming the movie as a ‘political act,’ local media reported. Persepolis, which stems from a best-selling comic book series by Iranian emigre Marjane Satrapi [right], shows its heroine struggling with the [...]
More Cannes 2007 News
Via Monsters and Critics:
Shown at one of Cannes’ special screenings, The 11th Hour "uses multiple images and interviews with the world’s top environmental scientists to paint a scary yet somewhat optimistic picture for the planet." Directed by Nadia Conners and Leila Conners Petersen, the documentary "stars" Leonardo DiCaprio.
Michael Moore’s Sicko via The Associated Press:
"Lost in [...]
Cannes 2007 - Day 3
Considering that U.S. headlines have focused on American celebrities Pamela Anderson being booed and Jerry Seinfeld donning a bee outfit, you wouldn’t believe it that they have actually been screening movies at Cannes. But they have.
Here’s some commentary from people who are in Cannes to actually watch films.
John Harkness at Now Toronto:
"Irony Free — [...]
Cannes News Via the SUNDAY TIMES
Cannes news via the London Sunday Times:
There are currently four competing (potential) productions on the life of Salvador Dalí. Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, and (inexplicably) Peter O’Toole have been mentioned as (potential) stars.
Cannes news via the London Sunday Times Part II:
American actresses Michelle Williams, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Evan Rachel Wood are supposed to star [...]
REDS: Great To Be Nominated
Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, and Warren Beatty are stylish — even if incongruously dressed in white — ideologues in Reds
Warren Beatty’s Reds, the best of the five 1981 Academy Award nominees for best picture, will be screened as the next feature of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences‘ “Great To Be Nominated” series. [...]
Barbara Stanwyck Academy Celebration
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences celebrated Barbara Stanwyck’s centennial on Wednesday, May 16, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Participants included TCM host Robert Osborne, several Stanwyck co-stars, and assorted celebrities.
Before the event, guests were treated to a reception featuring the Academy’s new exhibition, "Presenting Miss Barbara Stanwyck: Film [...]
28 WEEKS LATER by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo: Film Review
28 Weeks Later (2007)
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Screenplay: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, JesÁºs Olmo, Enrique López Lavigne, and Rowan Joffe. Cast: Catherine McCormack, Robert Carlyle, Imogen Poots, Mackintosh Muggleton
In 28 Weeks Later, the Rage virus turns British zombies into hip-hopping artists.
INFECTIOUS HORROR
Darkness and suspense prevail in 28 Weeks Later, a terrifying sequel to Danny [...]
60th Cannes Film Festival - Cinéfondation
Cannes 2007 - Cinéfondation Line-Up
A Reunion directed by HONG Sung-Hoon (South Korea)
Aditi Singh directed by Mickael KUMMER (France)
Ahora todos parecen contentos directed by Gonzalo TOBAL (Argentina)
Berachel bitha haktana / Your Younger Daughter Rachel directed by Efrat COREM (Israel)
Chinese Whispers directed by Raka DUTTA (India)
For the Love of God directed [...]
Cannes 2007 - Special Screenings
Cannes 2007 - Out of Competition Line-Up:
Michael MOORE, Sicko (United States)
Steven SODERBERGH, Ocean’s Thirteen (United States)
Michael WINTERBOTTOM, A Mighty Heart (United States / United Kingdom)
Johnnie TO, Triangle (Hong Kong)
Closing film: Denys ARCAND, L’Âge des ténèbres / The Age of Ignorance (Canada / France) (Out of Competition)
Midnight Screenings:
Olivier ASSAYAS, Boarding [...]
