Monthly Archives: May, 2011

Like anyone else we look forward to the heavyweight selections in the Main Competition this year --- but what about the other sections? Blake Williams and I have our alternative lists ready for you --- a top 20 list of films that have caught our attention for reasons X, Y and Z. Without further ado, here is the list:

With many journalists making yesterday's Wednesday their travel day to the Cannes, the festival kicked off with a pair of screenings for Woody Allen's continued foray into Europe, this time France. While this is no Vicky Cristina Barcelona, a good number of our critics gave favorable ratings for the comedy that takes place in the city of lights setting. Later int the day, Julia Leigh's much anticipated Sleeping Beauty received an early press screening and some grades trickled in for this film as well ---- it appears to be a like it/hate it type of response so far.

Along with this comprehensive coverage we have the pleasure of hosting what we already anticipate will become an annual tradition on the site: a twice daily critical snapshot of the Main Competition selected films and their bid at claiming the grand-daddy prize of them all, the Palme d'Or.

Well over a decade ago, we acknowledged that Allen had lost his edge, or part of his arsenal of brushstrokes, or something, but in the meantime, he's balanced his output between the daringly out-there, and the bizarrely vanilla.

Its visual immediacy amplified by often-expressionistic black & white cinematography, this genuinely disturbing, often moving epic depicts the “Rape of Nanking,” the ruthless 1937 siege of the Chinese capital city by the invading Japanese Imperial army