Blogs and Stories
Cannes' Eight Buzziest Films
Broken Embraces
Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar, who won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Talk to Her in 2003, returns to the Croisette with a valentine to frequent muse Penélope Cruz, who plays a first-time actress torn between her possessive sugar daddy and her charismatic director. Cruz barely recovered from a bout of food poisoning to soldier through her PR paces Tuesday.
The Buzz: Early reviews of the Spanish director’s latest are of the modest “good, not great” variety. Still, Sony Pictures Classics will release it stateside November 20.
Taking Woodstock
Returning vet Ang Lee took a chance returning to the Cannes competition, 12 years after The Ice Storm, with Taking Woodstock, a mildly comedic behind-the-scenes look at some of the people involved in staging that event. A sprawling ensemble led by Comedy Central’s Demetri Martin as real-life Catskills motel proprietor Elliot Teichberg is hit-or-miss; the low-budget movie earned mixed reviews, partly because Lee keeps his distance from the stage of the iconic 1969 event. Liev Schreiber pops as a cross-dressing ex-Marine.
The Buzz: The movie will need to stage a recovery before its August 14 release. Focus Features chief James Schamus, who also wrote the screenplay, promises to learn from Cannes and retool the marketing campaign to manage audience expectations.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
Obama, the Un-decider
Lee Siegel has written about culture and politics and is the author of three books: Falling Upwards: Essays in Defense of the Imagination; Not Remotely Controlled: Notes on Television; and, most recently, Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob. In 2002, he received a National Magazine Award for reviews and criticism.
Tarantino’s 'Biggest Hit' Ever
Anne Thompson launched the daily ThompsononHollywood blog in March 2007, when she joined Variety as a columnist. Previously, she was deputy film editor of The Hollywood Reporter, where she wrote the weekly syndicated column "Risky Business" and the Riskybizblog. She has also served as west coast editor of Premiere and Film Comment, and senior writer at Entertainment Weekly.
Seth Rogen's Monster Year
Anne Thompson launched the daily ThompsononHollywood blog in March 2007, when she joined Variety as a columnist. Previously, she was deputy film editor of The Hollywood Reporter, where she wrote the weekly syndicated column "Risky Business" and the Riskybizblog. She has also served as west coast editor of Premiere and Film Comment, and senior writer at Entertainment Weekly.
Is Watchmen the Next Dark Knight?
Anne Thompson launched the daily ThompsononHollywood blog in March 2007, when she joined Variety as a columnist. Previously, she was deputy film editor of The Hollywood Reporter, where she wrote the weekly syndicated column "Risky Business" and the Riskybizblog. She has also served as west coast editor of Premiere and Film Comment, and senior writer at Entertainment Weekly.
Thanks Anne, Just the sort of useful summary that we need But only this few so far??Makes me want to know more about Bright Star-- since Campion has been out of the competition for so long.
In Tetro, the female star's name is Maribel Verdu, not Carmen Maura
That is true, but the part that Javier Bardem was going to play was the literary critic played by Carmen Maura.
I can't wait to see Cornish and Whishaw in Campion's new indie film Bright Star when it opens in theaters Sept. 18th. The visuals looks stunning, and the story sounds interesting, too. If you haven't seen the trailer for Bright Star, you can find it here on the updated official site.
brightstar-movie.com
Thank you.
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