*"The Beguiled" has earned Sofia Coppola the BEST DIRECTING award at the 2017 Cannes Festival* Ever since “Marie Antoinette” filmmaker Sofia Coppola has seemed to suffer from indolence, and that was the case again with “The Beguiled,” her new film debuting today in Cannes. I could not get into this movie in spite of its bravura visual palette, its many funny moments and primo cast composed ... more >
ARCHIVES

CANNES FESTIVAL, “The Beguiled”

CANNES FESTIVAL OPENING, the star-studded red carpet
It would be hard to imagine the Cannes Festival without its coterie of stars, from Paris to Hollywood and points in between (but mostly from those two places). Yesterday's premiere of “Cafe Society” included castmembers Blake Lively and Kristen Stewart, as well as members of this year’s competition jury. ... more >

We’re there | INSTAGRAM
ScreenComment is now on the mobile image-sharing service Instagram. We've been looking for a way to easily share images derived from films with our fans and determined that in addition to using our Facebook Fan Page, sharing photos on Instagram was a great way to spread the love. The idea behind having the account was manifold: to share enjoyable images with our fans while building our own base of ... more >

Bachelorette
Bachelorette is a total mess and I mean that as a compliment. It’s in the hysterical, drug-laced vein of “Pineapple Express,” in which none-too-bright, self-obsessed characters not only dig themselves deeper into a hole but are too intoxicated to notice their own descent. Advertised as a darker take on the girls-can-be-gross-too humor showcased in last year’s hit "Bridesmaids," "Bachelorette," ... more >

Melancholia
Lars von Trier doesn’t like his film Melancholia. He says he is actually a little ashamed of it, finding it bombastic, slick, and Wagner’s music overwhelming. That is just the von Trier way. After the fact, he only sees problems, as he did at the last Cannes Festival after his much reviled pro-Hitler rant of which he still feels the sting despite having apologized a hundred times. Regarding his ... more >

How to lose friends and alienate people
How does such a proven genre-deflater as Simon Pegg fall into such conventional quicksand? Pegg undid the undead in the zombie film parody Shaun of the Dead. He uncuffed the cop action blowout in Hot Fuzz. So what happens when he tries to de-celebrate the celebrity culture in How to Lose Friends and Alienate People? Nothing quite so deflating. Which is deflating for the audience. While it has ... more >