Mother! has arrived ~ La Pfeiffer in Venice

by Nathaniel R

Mother! arrives in movie theaters in just one week and people are calling it "insane". So YOU are if you think I'm reading any festival reviews before laying mine own Pfeiffer-deprived eyes upon it. Oh sure I've watched the trailer and the head-tilt clip a million times (good call, Murtada) but that's enough until the whole 121 minutes unspools before me.

Nevertheless we must celebrate the RePfeiffal which gets its first big red carpet outing in Venice. I mean just look at her...

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Venice Lineup 2017: mother!, Bardem & Cruz, and more...

Fall Film Festival season is rapidly approaching. TIFF let us know their "special presentations" with many more announcements to come and now Venice (which actually starts sooner at the tail end of August) has announced its whole lineup. The films, including out of competition reunions of two iconic screen couples (Javier Bardem & Penélope Cruz / Jane Fonda & Robert Redford), are after the jump...

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Q&A: Best Musicals, Pick of Ensemble Litter, Jamie Lee Curtis, Etc...

I promised a round of reader questions a couple of weeks back and here's the first round of answers. Ready? Let's go.

JAMES FROM AMES: Thoughts on the four musicals up for the Tony this year (editors note: TONIGHT)? What's your favorite musical from this century? 

Alas, I cannot answer part one of this question as I've only seen one of them (Groundhog Day) which I thought was very well staged with a sensational lead performance by Andy Karl but the best score nomination feels... let's say "generous". But we have reviewed a few of the nominated productions right here. Funds have been terribly tight this year so not much theater. The other part of the question is (slightly) easier to answer. The best new musicals of the new century... don't make me pick just one. My top 12 in alpha order since I couldn't decide which to jettison. I wish they could all be movies... or most of them, that is. If they already have a film adaptation they're marked with an asterisk.

The list and questions about Gosford Park, color vs black and white cinema, and more after the jump...

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Missing Italy

by Eric Blume

We’re not far from crowning a new Palme d’Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival, and part of the fun and excitement for international film lovers is seeing which country takes the top prize.  The last ten years has marked three winners from France (The Class, Blue is the Warmest Color, and Dheepan), and in fact France has won ten times since 1955 when the prize has been named the Palme d’Or (there was a ten year gap in 1964-74 where the top prize had a different name, for those into these technicalities).   

Winning just under that number, with nine trophies, remains Italy.  Once a mighty force on the international film scene, Italy seems to have fewer major filmmakers emerging.  The last Italian film to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes was Nanni Moretti’s film The Son’s Room in 2001...   

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Cannes Poster Unveiled

Claudia Cardinale is this poster girl for the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival (May 17th-28th). 

The Italian star, whose credits include classics like 8½, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Leopard, Big Deal on Madonna Street, and Rocco and His Brothers is 78 now. She's still a regular on film festival red carpets. This photo of her was taken in 1959 when she was just 21 (and people are not happy that it's been reportedly airbrushed to make her thighs smaller.)

More news: Another Italian goddess Monica Bellucci has been named the Mistress of Ceremonies; Romanian auteur Cristian Mungiu (4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days,  Beyond the Hills) will preside over the Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury; and the Main Competition Jury president is Spain's Pedro Almodóvar. We don't yet know what the films he'll be judging are (and who will be on his jury) but speculated titles include Alexander Payne's Downsizing, Todd Haynes Wonderstruck, Michael Haneke's Happy End, and Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled.