Cannes Diary #7: Park and Cronenberg are back with incredible movies

by Elisa Giudici

The masters are back with masterful movies! Seeing Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave followed by David Cronenberg’s Crimes of future with only a 20 minutes break between them seemed almost a waste. These two are among the most (rightfully) hyped movies of the entire year and of this Cannes edition. I really wanted some time after the first especially to think fully on what I had just seen, savoring the first impression instead of deep diving into an equally immersive but radically different film experience. Especially considering that one of the two is a perfect movie, a rare five out of five stars, 10 out of 10, or whatever other token of appreciation you can imagine.

Those two films and a new French movie after the jump...

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Cláudio's Best Shot Pick: Ex Machina (2014)

The next episode of our series, 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot,' arrives Tuesday night. Since Alex Garland's Men is upon us, this week's selection falls on the director's breakthrough feature – the Oscar-winning Ex Machina. You still have time to participate! Here's Cláudio's entry:

Even though one tries to avoid the online discourse around Men – at least until everybody has had a chance to watch it – some grumblings are rather hard to block off. If that wasn't enough to affect the expectations going into the new movie, this look back at Ex Machina certainly does. The sci-fi chamber drama is a formidable reminder that Alex Garland is a better director than a writer, colligating blunt ideas and blunter dialogue with spellbinding form. Within the realm of glances refracted through glass labyrinths, insinuating architecture and eerie eroticism, Ex Machina triumphs. It's when its characters open their mouth to blabber on that the appearance of cinematic greatness gets spoiled. 

Thankfully, Hit Me with Your Best Shot is about visuals, so we're in a safe place with Ex Machina. Whatever misgivings I might have, the film looks impeccable…

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Weekend Box Office

by Nathaniel R

Downton Abbey: A New Era didn't open half as well as its predecessor which is a pity since it's a better film and a great night out for fans. Perhaps it's true that adult audiences just aren't returning to the theaters in the way younger audiences have? Still there was one piece of good news this weekend for fans of adult-oriented movies...

Weekend Box Office May 20th-22nd 🔺 = new or expanding /  ★ = Recommended links if we've written about it
WIDE (OVER 800 SCREENS)	PLATFORM RELEASES
DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA	HAPPENING

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SoCal Journalism Nominees 2022

by Nathaniel R

Congratulations to the journalists, critics, and cultural commentators nominated for the 64th annual SoCal Journalism Awards (mostly for articles from 2021). The winners will be announced on June 25th. You probably read some of the people! There are dozens upon dozens upon dozens of categories covering all fields, but we thought you might like seeing some that are related to screen entertainment. So after the jump, seven of those categories...

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Cannes Diary #6: Something weird this way comes

by Elisa Giudici

This (unconscious?) cosplay of Jesse Buckley doing Paul Verhoeven’s The 4th Man during the Q&A session for Men made my day!  After the jump some surreal comedy, a horror oddity, a terrifying thriller that might contend for awards, and a directorial debut... 

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