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Cannes 2013: Surprises & Notable Absence ...

The obsessives' guide to contemporary cinema via film discussion, news, reviews, features, nostalgia, movie music, soundtracks, DVDs and more.

Interviews

Charlie Kaufman To Co-Direct Animated 'Anomalisa,' Jennifer Jason Leigh & David Thewlis Among Voice Cast

By Kevin Jagernauth
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May 13, 2013 9:01 AM
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2 Comments

News

It's funny how the complaints subside if a Kickstarter project is taken on by someone you like. For example: last summer screenwriter/director Charlie Kaufman and former "Community" writer/producer Dan Harmon (two pretty successful guys in their own right) hit the crowdfunding site looking for backers to help get the stop-motion animated "Anomalisa" off the ground. And they certainly didn't face Zach Braff-ian levels of discontent and went on to quietly double their $200,000 goal. And with some cash already in hand, they're headed to Cannes hoping that the movie industry will now front the rest.

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 11, 2013 10:03 AM
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0 Comments

News

We haven't seen much of Jennifer Jason Leigh on the big screen in the past few years. Her most recent outing was in Noah Baumbach's "Greenberg" and since then she's largely laid low, appearing only on the small screen in "Weeds" and "Revenge." In January she made a splash at Sundance with parts in two buzzy, upcoming films "The Spectacular Now" and "Kill Your Darlings" and perhaps most exciting of all the lead in the new drama "The Moment". The first poster from the flick promises to be a showcase part for an actress we could always use more of.

By Kristen Lopez
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March 11, 2013 1:16 PM
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0 Comments

News

The Tribeca Film Festival is rolling out more first-looks. First off, is director Steph Green’s latest endeavor, entitled "Run and Jump." The film marks Green’s return to Tribeca after winning in the Best Short Narrative category in 2008 for her film "New Boy." "Run and Jump" stars "Saturday Night Live" alumnus Will Forte in a rare dramatic turn (perhaps a preview of things to come in Alexander Payne's "Nebraska"), Ruth McCabe, and Edward MacLiam. It follows an Irish wife and mother who find herself having to band her family together after her husband suffers a stroke.

By Rodrigo Perez
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January 19, 2013 1:13 PM
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2 Comments

Reviews

Sutter Keely (Miles Teller) is the charming, good time guy who lives in the moment. Self-assured, he’s the life of the party, popular and he and his girlfriend Cassidy (Brie Larson) breeze through their high school experience. Sutter and Cassidy are like a teenage power couple that rule parties thanks to their appeal and all the social lubricants at hand. But, writing an admission letter to the Dean of a university, Sutter reveals his life is at a crossroads. Thinking she's caught him with another girl, Cassidy has dumped him, when the truth is that Sutter was using his good-time skills to help get his timid friend Ricky (Masam Holden) laid. But Cassidy isn’t having it and Sutter can’t see why this is the straw that broke the camel’s back with her.

By Simon Dang
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August 28, 2012 12:37 PM
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5 Comments

News

There's quite a cast building for the upcoming adaptation of "Bug" and "Killer Joe" scribe Tracy Lett's Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning play, "August: Osage County." Of course, there's the powerhouse teaming of Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, but on top of that, names like Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Cooper, Dermot Mulroney, Margo Martindale, Abigail Breslin, Juliette Lewis and Andrea Riseborough are also on board the film, which will see John Wells ("The Company Men") direct.

By Oliver Lyttelton
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August 13, 2012 1:02 PM
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0 Comments

Features

One of the trickier genres to get right is the teen comedy. Walking the line between not condescending to a high-school-age audience and yet also not alienating them is a difficult balance, let alone making a film that doesn't age, feels truthful, and can be smart and funny as well. And one of the finest examples of the genre remains to this day, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."

By Oliver Lyttelton
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February 21, 2012 4:41 PM
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19 Comments

Awards

Well, we've taken a look at the leading men, now it's time to look at the actresses who have also fallen outside of the Academy Award radar. While there is no Gary Oldman-esque story of recognition this year at the Oscars for the ladies, these five names will hopefully be a reminder that there are more women out there other than Meryl Streep who deserve to put that funny gold statue on their mantle.

By Simon Dang
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February 13, 2012 12:15 PM
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1 Comment

News

With Walter Salles' adaptation of the most iconic Beat generation work, Jack Kerouac's "On The Road," getting closer to an expected 2012 Croisette premiere, there another project in the works set in same era involving the same characters that's quickly gaining momentum. John Krokidas is set to helm a script he's co-written with Austin Bunn titled "Kill Your Darlings" which is set to star Daniel Radcliffe as Allen Ginsberg, Dane DeHaan as Lucien Carr, Elizabeth Olsen playing Edie Parker and Jack Huston as Kerouac.