Monthly Archives: April 2024

Here Is The Official Cannes Lineup!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The lineup for the Cannes Film Festival has been announced.  After a rather subdued Sundance, film lovers like me are desperately looking to Cannes to add some excitement to 2024.  Considering that Cannes is going to see the premiere of new films from Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Schrader, Sean Baker, Kevin Costner, Andrea Arnold, George Miller, David Cronenberg, and Yorgos Lanthimos, it might do just that!

In the past, Cannes has always been hit-and-miss when it comes to the Oscars.  But lately, films like The Zone of Interest, Parasite, and The Tree of Life have followed success at Cannes with success with the Academy.

With that in mind, here’s the lineup.  If you’re going to Cannes in May, you’re going to have a good time!

Full lineup of the 2024 Cannes film festival.

The Second Act Quentin Dupieux (Opening Film) (Out of Competition)

Competition

L’Amour Ouf Gilles Lellouche

All We Imagine As Light Payal Kapadia

Anora Sean Baker

The Apprentice Ali Abbasi

Bird Andrea Arnold

Caught by the Tides Jia Zhangke

Emilia Perez Jacques Audiard

The Girl With the Needle Magnus von Horn

Grand Tour Miguel Gomes

Limonov: The Ballad Kirill Serebrennikov

Marcello Mio Christophe Honoré

Megalopolis Francis Ford Coppola

Motel Destino Karim Ainouz

Oh Canada Paul Schrader

Parthenope Paolo Sorrentino

The Shrouds David Cronenberg

The Substance Coralie Fargeat

Wild Diamond Agathe Riedinger

Kinds of Kindness Yorgos Lanthimos

Out of Competition

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga George Miller

Horizon, an American Saga Kevin Costner

Rumours Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, Guy Maddin

She’s Got No Name Chan Peter Ho-Sun

Un Certain Regard

Armand Halfdan Ullmann Tondel

Black Dog Guan Hu

The Damned Roberto Minervini

L’Histoire de Souleymane Boris Lojkine

My Sunshine Boku No Ohisama

Norah Tawik Alzaidi

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl Rungano Nyoni

Le Royaume Julien Colonna

Santosh Sandhya Suri

September Says Ariane Labed

The Shameless Konstantin Bojanov

Viet and Nam Truong Minh Quý

The Village Next to Paradise Mo Harawe

Vingt Deux! Louise Courvoisier

Who Let the Dogs Bite? Laetitia Dosch

Midnight Screenings

The Balconettes Noémie Merlant

I, The Executioner Seung Wan Ryoo

The Surfer Lorcan Finnegan

Twilight of the Warrior Walled In Soi Cheang

Cannes Premiere

C’est Pas Moi Leos Carax

Everybody Loves Touda Nabil Ayouch

The Matching Bang Emmanuel Courcol

Misericorde Alain Guiraudie

Rendez-Vous Avec Pol Pot Rithy Panh

Le Roman de Jim Arnaud Larrieu, Jean-Marie Larrieu

Special Screenings

Apprendre Claire Simon

La Belle de Gaza Yolande Zauberman

Ernest Cole, Lost and Found Raoul Peck

Le Fil Daniel Auteuil

The Invasion Sergei Loznitsa

Music Video of the Day: Hot and Bothered by Cinderella (1992, directed by Nigel Dick)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Oh look, it’s another Nigel Dick-directed hair metal video.

And it’s another Cinderella video featuring the band doing their version of rocking while being watched by a bunch of hot woman who were probably hoping Bon Jovi would show up instead.

But wait?  Who’s that?  It’s Wayne and Garth!

This song appeared on the Wayne’s World soundtrack and the video was shot to promote the film.  Dana Carvey and Mike Myers show up as the duo who, at the time, were America’s favorite cable access hosts.  Wayne and Garth were Cinderella fans?  Guys, even Beavis and Butthead knew better than that!

Enjoy!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Monsters 2.3 “A Bond of Silk”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing Monsters, which aired in syndication from 1988 to 1991. The entire series is streaming on YouTube.

Never jump on a spider web!  Seriously.

Episode 2.3 “A Bond of Silk”

(Dir by Ernest D. Farino, originally aired on October 15th, 1989)

Nash (Marc McClure) is an oilman who has just married Portia (Lydia Cornell) and is taking her on a New York honeymoon.  A travel agent has arranged for them to be picked up at the airport in a limousine and driven to a posh hotel.  Sure, it’s strange that the hotel appears to be completely devoid of staff and other guests but Nash and Portia just assume that’s a part of the ambience.  As Portia puts it, they don’t have anything like this back in Lubbock!

(And right there is where I massively rolled my eyes.)

The honeymoon suite is in the basement of the hotel.  It doesn’t look like much.  Oddly, the closet is full of clothes from previous guests.  And, in the bedroom, there is what appears to be a giant web.  Nash declares that it must be a hammock and he jumps on the web.  He soon discovers that the web is sticky (duh!) and he’s stuck.  Portia correctly deduces that that web must have been spun by a giant spider.  She also figures out that no one who has ever checked into the room has ever left.  The travel agent, the limousine, the hotel …. they’re all a part of plan to keep the spider fed.

Nash insists that he’ll figure out a way out of the web but the more he tries to escape, the more stuck he becomes.  Finally, it falls to Portia to figure out a way to safely cross the web, free her husband, and get out the room.  Unfortunately, as Portia quickly realizes, the spider is waiting for her to attempt just that.

There was a lot about this episode that worked.  The hotel was a creepy location.  Nash’s struggle in the web was frightening and the visual of him getting more and more stuck in the web was effectively claustrophobic.  By today’s standards, the special effects were not particularly impressive but still, they were good enough to not totally take me out of the story.

That said, this was yet another episode where all of the action was dependent upon the characters acting in the dumbest ways possible.  Eventually, Portia reveals herself to have a lot of determination and to be a lot more clever than she originally came across.  Nash, however, remains an idiot through the entire episode and it’s hard to have sympathy for someone who sees a giant spider’s web and automatically thinks, “Hey, let’s jump into it!”  While neither spoke with a convincing Texas accent, both Marc McClure and Lydia Cornell were likable but the actions of their characters requires a bit too much suspension of disbelief.

As for next week’s episode, it appears that college students will be raising the dead!  Uh-oh.

Film Review: Berlin Correspondent (dir by Eugene Forde)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In the 1942 film, Berlin Correspondent, Dana Andrews plays Bill Roberts.

Bill is an American journalist, working out of Berlin.  Because the film takes place before America’s entry into World War II, Bill pretends to report only what the Germans want him to report.  Even while there are bombs exploding outside of the studio, Bill and his fellow correspondents report that everyone in Berlin is happy and that the German government is doing a great job.

However, Bill fills his reporting with code words, which are then interpreted by listeners in the American Intelligence service.  They understand that when Bill says that the people are happy, that means that they’re actually miserable.  When Bill says that the weather in Berlin is cloudy, that means that there is dissent brewing in the government.

Still, Captain Von Rau (Martin Kosleck) comes to suspect that Bill might be sending out secret messages and he decides to send someone to not only compromise Bill but to also discover who is feeding Bill information.  Von Rau sends his own fiancée, Karen Hauen (Virginia Gilmore), to seduce Bill.  Little does Von Rau suspect that Bill’s source of information is Karen’s own father (Erwin Kalser) and that Karen herself is going to end up falling in love with Bill.

Berlin Correspondent is typical of the films that were made to try to build support for the American war effort during the Second World War.  The hero is a tough and cynical American who pretends to not care about what is happening in the rest of the world but who eventually reveals himself to be an idealist with a strong sense of right and wrong.  Bill may say that he’s only in Berlin to report the news but, when Karen’s father is sent to a concentration camp, Bill proves himself to be willing to risk his own life to help the older man make it to Switzerland.  Karen’s father stands in for the members of the German resistance who worked from the inside to bring down the Nazis.  Bill and Karen’s love serves as a reminder that the world can come back together but only after Hitler has been defeated.

The two main Nazi villains are played by Martin Kosleck and Sig Ruman, two German actors who immigrated to the United States to escape the real-life Nazis.  Kosleck and Ruman play their characters as being buffoonish bullies who are easily outsmarted by street smart Americans like Bill.  It’s the film’s way of saying to the audience, “Are you really going to let these idiots think that they can defeat America?”  Still, a scene is included in which a crippled girl is described as being someone who should be put to death.  It’s a necessary reminder that the Nazis may be idiots but they’re also a legitimate threat.

Berlin Correspondent clocks in at a brisk 70 minutes and it features a typically strong leading performance from Dana Andrews.  If you needed someone to fight for America, 40s-era Dana Andrews would definitely be a good pick to go with.  It’s a joy to watch him outsmart the Nazis.

Law of the Canyon (1947, directed by Ray Nazarro)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

When a gang of outlaws starts hijacking freight wagons and then ransoming them back to their owners, government agent Steve Langtry (Charles Starrett) is sent to investigate.  He both goes undercover as an inexperienced traveler and as the masked Durango Kid.  As always, he is accompanied by Smiley Burnette.  In this installment, Smiley tries to invent a machine that can find silver and he also sings a few songs.  His backing band, The Lone Star Cowboys, follow him everywhere that he goes but they don’t actually get involved in the action.

This is another Durango Kid movie, with all of the usual horse chases and shootouts.  The same action montage that started Phantom Valley also starts this movie.  As always, Charles Starrett is convincing when riding a horse or shooting a gun.

What sets this Durango Kid movie apart from the others is the main villain.  Dr. Middleton (played by a regular member of the Durango Kid stock company, Fred F. Sears) appears to be a kindly man who serves as a middleman between the citizens and the outlaws.  Actually, he is working with the outlaws and receives a commission of every ransom that he negotiates.  The reason he can get away with it is because he’s drugged the Sheriff (George Cheseboro)!  He attempts to drug Durango too but luckily, Smiley drinks the water instead.

While it won’t convert anyone who isn’t already a fan of the genre or the character, this is another entertaining outing for the Durango Kid.

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 4.11 “That’s My Dad/Captive Audience/The Captain’s Bird”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing the original Love Boat, which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986!  The series can be streamed on Paramount Plus!

Merry Christmas!

Episode 4.11 “That’s My Dad/Captive Audience/The Captain’s Bird”

(Dir by Allen Baron, originally aired on December 20th, 1980)

It’s time for the Love Boat’s annual Christmas cruise and, appropriately enough, this cruise is all about family.

For instance, Captain Stubing has decided that the perfect Christmas gift for Vicki would be a parrot.  After the bird is brought on board, Stubing decides that the perfect place to hide it would be in Gopher’s cabin.  Gopher goes along with this because it’s something of a miracle that he hasn’t been fired yet.  I mean, when you’ve screwed up as much as Gopher has, you’re not really in a position to argue with your boss.  The only problem with all of this is that the parrot won’t talk.  Stubing isn’t happy about that so Isaac and Gopher try to teach the bird to sing a Christmas carol.  Instead, the bird starts saying, “Captain Stubing is a jerk!”  Uh-oh!

Meanwhile, singer Bobby Braddock (Jack Jones, who sang The Love Boat theme song) boards the ship with his wife, Susan (Laraine Stephens).  What Bobby doesn’t know is that his father, Richard (Allan Jones), and his mother, Lil (Dorothy Lamour), are also on the ship.  Bobby got his start as a part of Richard’s act and Richard has never forgiven Bobby for going solo.  Julie, Lil, and Susan all hope that they can bring father and son back together again.  Needless to say, Richard doesn’t appreciate being tricked into boarding a boat with his son.  He grimaces while listening to Bobby sing Winter Wonderland and then storms out of the lounge when Julie asks him to join his son on stage.  Merry Christmas, I guess!

Still, as bad as Bobby Braddock has it, it’s nothing compared to what’s going on with young Scotty (Meeno Peluce).  Looking to escape an abusive life at home, Scotty sneaks on board the ship by telling the crew that another passenger, Jeff Dalton (Dirk Benedict), is his father.  Scotty then proceeds to follow Jeff around the boat.  Jeff has no idea that everyone thinks that he is Scotty’s father.  When Jeff meets a woman and politely tells Scotty to scram, the crew is scandalized.  When Stubing sees the bruises on Scotty’s back, he assumes that Jeff is responsible.

Well, don’t worry.  Things may look bleak at the halfway mark but everything works out in the end.  Jeff realizes that maybe he would like to be a father to a random runaway.  Richard realizes that he can forgive his son for wanting to make his own way.  Crew members dress up like Santa Claus and Vicki has a happy holiday on the ocean.

You know what?  This was a silly episode but I enjoyed it.  I’m a sucker for Christmas episodes and this one had enough comedy and drama to keep me entertained and the story involving Scotty and Jeff even touched my heart a little.  This was definitely a cruise worth taking.

Music Video of the Day: Serenity in Murder by Slayer (1994, directed by Jon Reiss)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

 

Serenity in Murder was the first single released off of Slayer’s 6th studio album, Diving Intervention.  Tom Araya said that the songs on the album were largely inspired by what he was watching on television at the time.  Both the song and the video for Serenity in Murder appear to have been inspired by the crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer.

Director Jon Reiss also did videos for Nine Inch Nails, Type O Negative, Danzig, and Diamanda Girls.

Remember when everyone’s parents were scared to death of finding cassettes from bands like Slayer and Anthrax in their child’s music collection?  

Enjoy!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Baywatch Nights 1.21 “A Closer Look”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Baywatch Nights, a detective show that ran in Syndication from 1995 to 1997.  The entire show is currently streaming on You tube!

Mitch has yet another old friend who needs help!

Episode 1.21 “A Closer Look”

(Dir by Bernard L. Kowalski, originally aired on May 11th, 1996)

Another old friend of Mitch’s had a problem.

Seriously, how many old friends does Mitch have and why are all of them always getting involved in something dangerous?  And why is it always Mitch’s responsibility to help them out?  I mean, doesn’t Mitch ever just want to tell them to take care of their own problems?  Mitch isn’t Superman, after all.  He’s a middle-aged guy who is already struggling to balance his day job with his night job.  STAND UP FOR YOURSELF, MITCH!

Anyway, Dewey Morgan (Gary Collins, looking like Robert Redford in All Is Lost) is worried that his model wife, McKenna (Lisa Schad), has been replaced by an imposter.  As he explains it, she’s been different ever since she returned from a health spa.  She looks the same but there’s just all sorts of little differences.  It’s the type of things that only an intimate acquaintance — like a husband, for instance — would notice.

Mitch is skeptical.  He thinks that maybe Dewey is just upset because McKenna has recently left him and is now finding success as a model.  Still, Mitch decides to investigate because Dewey is an old friend.  It’s never really made clear how Mitch and Dewey became friends in the first place but Dewey does spend a lot of time in a wet suit and on a surf board.  So, I guess having a shared love of having a mid-life crisis on a beach is the bond that holds Mitch and Dewey together.

Personally, I think it would have been interesting if Mitch and Ryan had discovered that McKenna actually was McKenna and Dewey really was some sort of unbalanced stalker.  That would have been a nicely unexpected twist and it would also have forced Mitch to reconsider his loyalty to all of his old friends.  It would have given the show a chance to say something about the dangers of a beach bum having a mid-life crisis.  But that’s just not the Baywatch Nights way.  It turns out that the real McKenna is dead and the woman claiming to be Dewey’s wife is an imposter.

Usually, I enjoy melodramatic nonsense like this but this episode featured both a murder and an attempted murder and all of that violence felt somewhat out-of-place.  Baywatch Nights works best as goofy fun.  Having people actually die kind of takes away from the goofiness and it makes me wonder how Mitch is holding up mentally.  I mean, he just wanted to make some extra money as a private investigator.  Instead, he’s being regularly exposed to the worst that humanity has to offer.

The first season is nearly over and that’s good because, as this rambling review might indicate to the careful reader, I’m getting kind of bored with it.  The second season is a lot of fun because Mitch and Ryan spend 22 episodes dealing with aliens, vampires, and Vikings!  But, before we can get to all that, there’s one more first season episode to go.

We’ll deal with it next week.