50th Anniversary: the 20th Annual Cannes Film Festival

by Nathaniel R

Franco Nero and Vanessa Redgrave at Cannes '67Fifty years ago on this very day over in France the 20th annual Cannes Film Festival opened with the French film I Killed Rasputin directed by Robert Hossein. The jury was headed by the influential Italian director Alessandro and featured both Shirley Maclaine and Vincente Minnelli, two of our favorites.

When the festival closed that year the awards were spread out (as they should be) with lots of countries winning something. The Palme d'Or went to Michelangelo Antonioni's brilliant Blowup at the end of the festival (a film we tried to interest y'all in a few years ago to crickets. *sniffle*). Check out Vanessa Redgrave's frankly awesome full-body get-up on the red carpet with her then brand new lover Franco Nero (of Camelot fame). They finally married 11 years ago!

Both of the acting prizes went to young actors...

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Paul Verhoeven Sticking To Dark Habits, Making Erotic Nun Movie

Paul Verhoeven is a walking, talking trigger warning; it’s not difficult to imagine him sitting behind an Inside Out-style control center smashing his fist on every red button in sight, cackling with perverse glee as he crawls under your skin like a psychologically disturbed porcupine with a bad case of rabies. Fresh off the especially spiky heels of last year’s Elle – his infamous “rape revenge comedy” that catapulted légende française Isabelle Huppert onto the stages of American awards ceremonies, better late than never – Variety reports that the Dutch provocateur plans to grind out a 17th century nunsploitation flick entitled Blessed Virgin as his next feature, replete with Sapphic undertones and hellish visions of religious erotica; a series of descriptors that should surprise approximately no one when it comes to all things Verhoeven.

After all, this is the same director who obliterated the military-industrial complex with giant man-eating space bugs, exposed the American entertainment industry with pole-licking showgirls, and, yes, drove a hatchet through the contemporary French bourgeoisie with a number of problematic sexual assaults.

Based on the book Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy, Blessed Virgin tells the sordid true tale of Sister Benedetta Carlini’s subversive exploits as the Christ-communicating, same-sex bedding abbess of an Italian nunnery. Going straight from one hyper-religious sister to another, Elle star Virginie Efira is set to reteam with Verhoeven to play the lead. Do Paul Verhoeven’s (intentionally) problematic visions delight or disgust you? 

Tribeca 2017: Pilgrimage

Jason Adams reporting from the Tribeca Film Festival

There is a real interest at times in wrestling with faith and violence and the intersection of the two in Pilgrimage, director Brendan Muldowney's post-Crusades action film starring Tom Holland and Jon Bernthal, that is reminiscent of Scorsese's Silence. Unfortunately Muldowney's ultimately a bit too infatuated with the violence - in the squalor of grinding organs and bashing heads - at the near obliteration of anything concrete to say about faith. Of course what is faith but a question mark? Some spilled brains?

It's the 13th Century in Ireland and a band of not-so-merry monks are living along the remote coast protecting a most holy relic, and also doing some light gardening....

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"Praised Be": Or, The Handmaid's Tale

By Spencer Coile

Mad Men ended almost two years ago. For many fans, it was the end of an era as we watched Don Draper spiral out of control, while Peggy Olson climbed the ladder to success. It was a story many of us cherished for its seven year run. Importantly, though, it was the series that catapulted Elisabeth Moss to stardom. Sure, she had stints on The West Wing and later found success in film and on Broadway, but it was Mad Men that helped pave the way for Moss to be where she is now. For many fans (myself included), we found ourselves wondering when Moss would claim another role that used her incredible, chameleon-esque acting abilities the same way Mad Men did. 

And then Hulu ordered a straight-to-series 10 episode adaptation of Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel, A Handmaid's Tale. After its premiere (today), it is safe to say that Elisabeth Moss is back. And better than ever. Of course, she is not the only stellar quality to the series. After the jump, a review of the first two episodes of The Handmaid's Tale. And boy, are they doozies... 

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Jeff Goldblum Returns for "Jurassic World 2"

Park guest Robert here! When the Jurassic Park franchise was rebooted in 2015 reception was mixed. There was surely lots of dino chaos to behold, but the movie lacked the spark of the original trilogy.

I was personally horrified that they brought on beloved character actress Judy Greer only to have her be relegated to the worst kind of "worried mom crying on the phone" role. That being said, I love the Jurassic Park films and will no doubt be seeing every sequel that gets ground out of the Hollywood script machine for years to come. I wouldn't say that I was hype for the next installment until I laid my eyes upon the news that JEFF "DR. IAN MALCOM" GOLDBLUM HAS SIGNED ON FOR JURASSIC WORLD 2...

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