It’s from the seemingly unglamorous station of a handmaiden that co-writer/director Benoit Jacquot presents an alternate perspective on a historical event on the brink of artistic saturation. Instead of the rise and fall of the famously decadent Marie Antoinette (Diane Kruger) we’re presented with the perspective of Sidonie (Léa Seydoux), the Queen’s reader, and the rest of the ‘help’, squirming as the Bastille is stormed and irrevocably triggers an encroaching French Revolution.

The film resonates most in the moments that Versailles’ seclusion and world of royalty figuratively comes crashing back to earth. Jacquot portrays the bowels of the palace like an ant nest that’s being prodded by a sadistic child. The workers are abuzz translating panic of the French Monarchy and the machinations of France in turmoil. Traditional formality and acceptable behaviours collapse in the scramble for self-preservation. It’s a terrific insight into the usually voiceless scaffolding protecting and holding these dilapidated hierarchical structures together. Whilst behind closed doors the collapsing monarchy is trying to bandage the fatal bullet wound of revolution. The cinematography by Romain Winding frantically stalks Sidonie through the halls of the palace. There’s a palpable panic emanating from the sycophantic servants and court hovering in the orbit of this supernova. With the production shot on location in Versailles, and the costuming and make-up sparing no expense, it’s an extravagantly detailed period piece.

The portrayal of Marie Antoinette however, did feel more human and sympathetic in the hands of Jacquot. Despite the fact that you’re seeing her aloof behaviour and nanosecond attention span (portrayed by a veritable army of servants and distractions); there’s a distinct vulnerability and passion for her station that was absent from Sofia Coppolla’s Marie Antionette.

Sidonie is hopelessly infatuated with the queen. As she sits at her bed side reading novels and plays allowed; Jacquot tightly frames her supple and buxom frame while she delivers the words with husky tones and sensuous intent. All the while Kruger’s Antoinette causes scandal by elevating the beautiful Gabrielle de Polignacinto (Virginie Ledoyen) into court and reciprocates the descent into infatuation in the face of usurping. The emphatic (if misplaced) bi-curious tension can be cut with a knife.

That leads me to the film’s major flaws. The focus on Sidonie’s unique perspective discounts those other historically significant moments in favour the subjective pining for, or fawning over the Queen. In a moment that Sidonie is about to see King Louie, modestly addressing his people outside the confines of the Versailles gates, we’re kept outside only to have Sidonie (who sneaks into the address)recount and reframe the significance of the event for what it means for the Queen. There’s a repetitiousness of the stylistic choices as the camera languidly obsesses over the Queen, or snaking through the halls that should garner praise, but happens so frequently that it becomes tiresome

Farewell, My Queen is a sanctification of history’s most gluttonous figures, though the eyes of an obsessed handmaiden. It should be retitled; ‘Sidonie, Marie Antoinette’s just not that into you.’ 

Blake Howard - follow Blake on Twitter here: @blakeisbatman and listen to the audio review on That Movie Show 2UE here or on top-rating film podcast Pod Save Our Screen, available now on iTunes.

The post REVIEW: Farewell, My Queen (2012) appeared first on Graffiti With Punctuation.

The emotional shrapnel of a divorce scars a family of writers in A Place for Me.  An acclaimed author (Greg Kinnear) and his teenage children (Lily Collins and Nat Wolff) are silently suffering after mum (Jennifer Connelly) leaves for another man.

Across three generations of writers, success seems to come easily and publishing deals are handed out like hotel biscuits.  The main characters have an air of pompousness and talk like they’ve got all the right answers, but none of it seems genuine and it’s superficial. These are people with big houses and even bigger problems and it’s hard to feel sympathetic.  Sure, the characters have the Hollywood flawed virtuoso gene, but they are always one wine glass swivel away from complete arrogance.  There is no sense of the process for these characters to channel their anguish and everything is taken for granted behind a haze of entitlement.  When debunking the myth that writing is easy, screenwriter/novelist William Goldman said, “the one thing we have, everyone who writes or paints or composes, is our pain – pain that we deal with by huddling away in our pits and getting through the best we can”.

The cast delivers tiny bites of charm, mainly in the form of Kinnear and a brief appearance from Logan Lermann as a love interest.  Elsewhere, it’s mostly a mediocre walk through the breakdown of a marriage; dad can’t move on, the daughter avoids intimacy and the son does drugs.  These are the obstacles that need to be overcome and the solutions stick out like bright flashing neon signs, pointing to the obvious, and thus making A Place for Me as dysfunctional as its family of scribblers.

Cameron Williams - follow Cam on Twitter here: @popcornjunkies

The post REVIEW: A Place For Me (2013) appeared first on Graffiti With Punctuation.

The last Five Star Film I wrote about,

1. THE CAST

The Roman Holiday cast are so perfect, headed by some extraordinary actors. Fabulous leading lady Audrey Hepburn, in her first major film role, plays the adorably endearing Princess Ann (AKA ‘Smitty’). Just twenty-three years old at time of filming, Hepburn was new to Hollywood. She wasn’t the first choice for casting, but the decision certainly paid off. Absolutely delightful and luminous in this role, her unforgettable entrance into the Embassy Ball early in Roman Holiday is now considered one of film history’s most iconic introductions. Hepburn also went on to win a number of awards for this role, including an Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe.

The leading man is a post-Hitchcock, pre-Atticus Gregory Peck. Peck, with all his be-still-my-beating-heart charm, divine speaking voice and tall-dark-and-handsome-ness is right on the money as American newsman Joe Bradley. [Side note: seriously, was there ever a more swoon-worthy man than Peck?…. sorry, I digress]. Accustomed to dramatic roles, this more comedic one was a new thing for Peck, and it worked so well.

Rounding out the Roman Holiday principal cast is Eddie Albert, twelve years before his most famous role: his six-year run as Oliver Wendell Douglas on TV’s Green Acres, opposite screen wife Eva Gabor (Zha Zha’s sister). Albert plays Joe’s friend, photographer and cheeky ladies’ man Irving Radovich, with great charisma.

2. THE CITY OF ROME

Roman Holiday was shot entirely on location in Rome. And how beautiful the Eternal City looks! The black and white photography works stunningly well. All the locations, both famous and pedestrian, are shot exquisitely. There’s something quite magnificent about the whole look of the film: from the ornate palatial embassy interiors, to the gorgeous street exteriors, and even Joe’s tiny apartment.

3. THE HUMOUR

There’s a lot of humour the film. And not just one type either. Case in point: the ‘take you by surprise and give you a fright kind’ in the famous ‘hand in the lion’s mouth’ scene; the endearing kind when Ann’s hopeful beau combs her hair on the dance floor at the barge; the slapstick kind in the café scene where Joe and Irving are at cross-purposes; further great physical comedy in the staircase scene where Joe and a drugged Ann are negotiating the stairs up to Joe’s apartment; and of course so many witty scenes and ingeniously funny lines of dialogue all through the screenplay.

[Side note: the actual principal screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was unable to be credited at the time, due to his blacklisting by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Trumbo was one of the infamous alleged communist sympathisers who refused to ‘name names’ and were dubbed the ‘Hollywood Ten’. In 2011, his name was officially posthumously credited by the Writers Guild of America.]

4. RETROSPECTIVE CONSIDERATIONS

Though Roman Holiday wasn’t necessarily setting out to make a huge political statement about the media, privacy, celebrity and fame, it’s interesting to consider these things in hindsight. At the time the film was made, even though there was public interest in the private lives of famous people, there certainly wasn’t the same level of deep intrusion into their privacy that there is now. And sixty years on, when considered from our current-day perspective, Irving’s prophetic line ‘it’s always open season on princesses’ rings particularly true.

5. EVEN THE BAD BIT IS GOOD

Roman Holiday is such a joyous delight that even the one ‘flaw’ is somehow endearing. I’m talking about the extremely feeble attempt to disguise Peck and Hepburn’s stunt doubles. It’s hilarious how NOT seamless the transitions between the principal actors and stunt doubles are in the ‘runaway Vespa’ scene. It’s funny to watch, but I don’t mean this in a patronising ‘how crap is that compared to what’s possible today’ way. I actually look upon it with warmth, and with a certain nostalgia for a time when stunts (and indeed many other parts of film-making) were actually less slick and required more of a suspension of disbelief.

Roman Holiday certainly deserves its place in the canon of great classic films, and is an absolute treat to experience.*

Lisa Malouf - follow Lisa on Twitter here: @lisamalouf

[* for reasons including, but not limited to, Gregory Peck]

The post FIVE STAR FILMS #45: Roman Holiday (1953) appeared first on Graffiti With Punctuation.

As my friend’s alarm clock signalled the start of another Cannes day, I tentatively opened my eyes, scared to feel the presence of a hangover. There was none, and I was relieved that I had enough sense to stop after a few glasses of champagne last night, which was flowing freely at the Weinstein party.

The parties in Cannes are held in giant marquees alongside the beachfront, one after another, on the opposite side of the street to the hotels which own them. With their white tents, moody lighting, questionable dance music and guests in their best formal attire; these parties could be mistaken for some sort of elaborate destination wedding. Scanning the room for familiar faces, I was grateful to have my mate Will with me, as I saw the mix of flashy Europeans, impossibly beautiful locals, VIPs behind obnoxious velvet ropes, fabulous nobodies and nobody fabulous. Seeing a face I knew, I smiled, started to open my mouth to form a ‘Hi!’ when I realized… it was Clive Owen. Ah, don’t really know you then…

Finally getting myself out of bed and presentable, I rushed back to the Majestic Hotel for an exclusive (for Australia) interview with Keanu Reeves. The sun was out again; along with le wind (which played havoc with le hair, I know, boo hoo for me) and I noticed how the umbrella sellers had transformed themselves, now hawking possibly dodgy sunglasses and hats. They are a resourceful bunch.

Keanu Reeves spoke to me about his directorial debut, ‘Man of Tai Chi’, a kung fu film in English, Cantonese and Mandarin, which he admitted, “wasn’t the easiest sell”. I asked if working on the documentary “Side By Side” (which you should watch if you’re a film geek, it’s great) had been almost like doing film school for him, and he said it had, and also helped him to make the decision to shoot digitally (on the Alexa – for any camera nerds out there). Keanu said he enjoyed his time in the director’s chair, particularly setting up the shots, and took five years developing the story with Chen Hu. Chen is a stuntman who worked with Keanu on ‘The Matrix,’ they became friends and wanted to work on a film together. Chen stars in the movie as a Tai Chi guy (what’s the correct term? Master?) who is forced by Keanu’s character to fight kung fu in order to save his temple. The movie is a co-production with China, and Australia put in a bit of cash and some crew members too, who Keanu gave a shout out to during the interview… “Hi Sharon!”
“Shazza, you mean…” I corrected him

“Oh yes,” he said, laughing, and tried his best Australian accent, “Shazza!”

As soon as I said “thank you!” to Keanu I had to run to my next interview, weaving my way through the chaotic Croisette. Where have all these people come from? I pondered, as I narrowly missed being run over by a motor scooter. Between the cars, the hordes of people, the paparazzi, the stars and the gawking onlookers, I’m surprised I haven’t died yet.

Getting to the Carlton hotel in one piece, I went straight to a TV interview with Oscar Isaac from ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’. Well, if he isn’t the nicest guy in the world! I told him how I always think of him as an Aussie, because ‘Balibo’ was the first film I remember seeing him in. He wasn’t playing an Australian, but it’s a very Australian story, so I always make that association. He laughed and said how he has only been to Darwin, but really wants to visit the rest of the country soon.

After Oscar, it was time for my four minutes with Justin Timberlake and Carey Mulligan, who also star in ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’. I’ve interviewed them both before, and I swear, Carey gets more beautiful every time. Today she was resplendent with her blonde hair in waves and a chic black suit. Justin Timberlake is all well-dressed swag and southern manners, though can be a little tough to interview. But on speaking about this film, his eyes lit up as he explained it was like, “so many different dreams I would have for myself all happening at the same time, I’m getting to rearrange songs with T-Bone Burnett, I’m getting to work with the Coen brothers, there’s music and film and they’re happening at the same time…”

“And excellent sweaters…” I offered.

“Excellent sweaters…” he repeated.

“Great facial hair…” offered Carey.

“Avant garde facial hair…” he continued, “What more could a girl ask for??”

After a quick break and cheeky glass of wine in the sun, I was back at the Carlton for another interview with Oscar Isaac, this time for print. He charmed the pants off me (not literally) and I left feeling a little in love with him. He’s genuine and warm, and made the interview into a real conversation, considering the questions and giving his honest answers. He spoke about how he has been playing music since he was 13, mentioning his former unsuccessful bands, “Paper Face, The Petrified Frogs, The Closet Heterosexuals, The Worms, The Blinking Underdogs…” Brilliant. Oscar admitted working with the Coens had been a dream of his, he had a poster for ‘Miller’s Crossing’ on his wall during high school, and if he could just work with them forever, he would be happy. He said they’re like “one brain in two places” and are the warmest people, citing an example where some children walked past the set and they let them watch a scene on the monitor. And in speaking about the cat and how it relates to the story in the film, Oscar enjoyed when I pointed out how it’s like the literal version of the screenwriting term “To Save The Cat”, the theory that you should make your character do something nice (like save a cat) early in the film so the audience likes them.

Late, late tonight, I’m seeing James Franco’s ‘As I Lay Dying’, the movie he directs and stars in, which is playing as part of the Un Certain Regard section. Franco is a jack-of-all-trades, who apparently has more time than anyone else on Earth to do a million things. I will ask him how he does it when I interview him tomorrow. Also on tomorrow are interviews with Clive Owen from ‘Blood Ties’ and Michael Douglas (yeah!) about ‘Behind The Candelabra’, which I’ll see at 8:30am in the morning. Keep an eye on my twitter for all my reactions, or critweets (critic tweets) as my friend Scotty likes to call them.

Alicia Malone - For more from Alicia visit her official website here or follow her on twitter here.

The post Alicia Malone’s Cannes Diary: Day 6 appeared first on Graffiti With Punctuation.

It’s amazing how the weather can affect your mood. Walking out into the sun this morning, seeing the rain cleaned streets sparkle in the sun, I almost wanted to kick up my heels, pull out some jazz hands and possibly break into song. If only I could sing.

The sun warming my face I walked up to the fancy Majestic hotel for a special breakfast, put on by the Weinstein Company to get international buyers jazzed about Tim Burton’s next film, ‘Big Eyes’, and the sequel to ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’. Sitting next to a lovely buyer from South Korea, I helped myself to the croissants and coffee, explaining to him that I was press from Australia, not here to buy the film, just to listen.

Tim Burton and Christoph Waltz took to the stage to explain ‘Big Eyes’. It’s based on the real life relationship between painters Walter and Margaret Keane, and the controversy that surrounded the Walter’s kitschy paintings of children with giant eyes. Margaret said she did them, and the two had a public “paint-off”. Christoph will be starring as Walter, with Amy Adams as Margaret. Christoph said he’s had a crush on Amy Adams for a long time, and though he has “had a good run with Quentin Tarantino, he has wanted to work with Tim Burton since Beetlejuice.”

Christoph prickled at a question from one of the potential buyers demanding to know “what else is it about, I can’t sell this just on the relationship!” with Harvey Weinstein stepping in to finish the argument, saying “It’s a Tim Burton film, starring Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams. It’s a love story, a detective story, a thriller… if you can’t sell it you’re not the right guy.” To which the room burst into applause and I sat up in my seat, thinking how things had suddenly got really interesting. Burton says he doesn’t think of himself as having a particular style, but compares ‘Big Eyes’ to Edward Scissorhands or Ed Wood (this one is also written by the Ed Wood screenwriters) rather than the effects driven films he’s done in the last few years. And that made me excited. Shooting starts in July in Vancouver, San Francisco and Hawaii.

Nothing really could be said about ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2: Green Destiny’ as they’re all sworn to secrecy, but we did meet director (and legendary fight choreographer) Yuen Woo-Ping, Chinese superstar Donnie Yen, and got a video greeting from Michelle Yeoh. They talked about how they think this one will top the first, without actually saying anything about it.

Straight afterwards I rushed off to the press conference for the Coen brothers’ ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ where star Oscar Isaac was met with rapturous applause by the press. Could we see Oscar buzz for Oscar? Quite possibly, with Ethan Coen saying they were “screwed until they met Oscar” as they needed an actor who could not only pull off the role, but sing and play guitar live on set at the same time. All the music was recorded on set rather in studios… with the folk music being only slightly less Miserables than ‘Les Miserables’. Justin Timberlake was also at the press conference, and he kept things light when a reporter asked him “How was it for your vanity to play this goateed guy?” (and I thought, his beard now kinda looks the same…) Justin replied that he “enjoys looking ridiculous on a daily basis” and he laughed about a question to the Coens about German humor vs Jewish humor (something about the holocaust was mentioned there too) saying “Woah, that’s a small trap!”

After a quick lunch in the sun with my friend Alex who decided to come to Cannes two days ago, a spur of the moment trip to fulfill a two-year long adventure involving Steven Spielberg, (more on that another day!) I squeezed two films in back to back. First, the Dutch movie ‘Borgman’, directed by Alex van Warmerdam. This movie was not on my radar at all, until I saw some positive tweets after the morning screening. One in particular said it was like “a comedic version of Funny Games” which I completely agree with. It’s about a mysterious homeless man who takes over a house with his mates, putting everyone under some kind of spell. It’s insanely dark, brutal and surprisingly funny. It seems strange to say I enjoyed watching a film where many people were killed… but I did. I doubt ‘Borgman’ will see the light of the cinema screen in Australia or the US, but if you stumble across it in the future on iTunes or Netflix, I recommend!

‘Blood Ties’ was next, a 70’s NY set action thriller(ish) about two brothers – one who is a cop (Billy Crudup) and one who is a criminal (Clive Owen). Zoe Saldana, Mila Kunis, James Caan and Marion Cotillard are also in the cast doing a whole variety of Brooklyn accents. The action scenes are excellently tense, but the rest… it’s a two and a half hour snoozefest. Shame, given the performances. I almost felt like with a recut to trim it down to the essentials, it would work. But as it is, I was just hoping someone would do something… I dunno, speed in your car! Have a fight! Something.

I’ll have to figure out what to ask the cast when I sit down with them on Tuesday! Tomorrow… I have interviews with Keanu Reeves, who is here for ‘Man of Tai Chi’ and the Coen Brothers. Yep pretty awesome. Add in the sun and I’m a happy chappy. And my trip is only half way through…

Alicia Malone - For more from Alicia visit her official website here or follow her on twitter here.

The post Alicia Malone’s Cannes Diary: Day 5 appeared first on Graffiti With Punctuation.

It’s testament to the ‘storytelling’ that the plots of the five previous films can be summed up in a two minute opening credits montage. The complexity *cough* of six is no exception. After pulling off a $100M heist, Brian (Paul Walker) and Toretto (Vin Diesel) have pledged to leave their old lives behind them because Mia (Jordan Brewster) spat* out a baby. But when the walking penis in a vest that is Hobbs (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson) shows up on their door with proof that Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) is alive and running with a dangerous new crew, Toretto and Brian have no choice but to reassemble the gang for a chance at saving her. Because FAMILY.

The crew you’re probably familiar with by now: the token Asian Han (Sung Kang), the two Spanish mamas Elena (Mrs Chris Hemsworth, Elsa Pataky) and Gisele (Gal Gadot) who alternated between the role of token tough chick in Rodriguez absence, Roman (Tyrese Gibson) and tech whiz Tej (Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges) whose purpose in the film is to say sentences like: “Daymn. That mobility unit is the truth. We’re talking vehickular warfare.” That last word is Ludacris’ attempt at saying the word vehicular, if you were wondering. Chuck in two new faces with wrestling-turned-movie star Gina Carano (making a disappointing follow up to Haywire) and Luke Evans as the British bad guy and that’s your cast.

Despite an injection of new talent, the comfort of familiar faces and some ritzy action sequences, the most exciting thing about Fast and Furious 6 is Rodriguez’ return as Letty, a character who can be summed up by the line: “Tough chick, dark hair, mean streak.” That also describes Rodriguez’s entire repertoire, but there’s something to be said for the tough-as-nails femme who can not only hold her own with the boys, but gets to wear a fairly decent amount of clothing (in contrast to the side boob, ass cheek requirement of other characters). The fight scenes between her and Carano are genuinely awesome and some of the most entertaining in the film. Besides that . . . look, you don’t see a Fast and Furious film for the plot. But when you shift the action to London city at least have some consistency. For instance, standard police aren’t allowed to carry guns in the UK. Therefore it’s ill advised to have a patrolman leaning out the side of a moving car firing a MACHINE GUN at an enemy vehicle. Follow it with Brian schooling out wisdom to the crew later – “It’s illegal to carry a handgun in the UK” – and that only confirms the stupidity. Add some rambling about the ‘bad’ crew out to get an army crippling gadget called Nightshade (because ominous mythological names for evil devices like Project Zeus were already taken by other Rock franchises) and you can check your brain at the foyer.

Then there’s the dialogue. Diesel rumbles through his lines better than some of the car engines, but The Rock gets the worst of it. You could play a shot game for every time he mutters “Come on you bastard” while starring through a pair of binoculars. Other Hobbs-isms include: “They hit like thunder and they disappear like smoke.” Even though thunder doesn’t hit anything, it’s just noise and moving particles. Maybe he means lightning? And smoke doesn’t really ‘disappear’. Anyone who has ever burned pancakes in a frying pan and spent the next 10 minutes frantically fanning the smoke alarm with their arms knows that shit does not just ‘disappear’.

The Fast and Furious franchise has the fist-bumping revhead market cornered. There’s nothing else in existence that you can compare it to except, well, itself. So on a Fast and Furious scale of just how Fast and/or Furious number six is . . . it’s not 2 Fast 2 Furious or Tokyo Drift bad. It’s not The Fast and Furious or Fast 5 good either, which are enjoyable in the same way leaping around on a dance floor to All The Small Things is. Numero six is on par with the last time Rodriguez was in the franchise, number four, where they reverted back to just calling it Fast and Furious. It’s meh. There are some great tent pole action scenes, but the story (HA!) isn’t looped together with as much taffy and Diesel growling as it needs. Side note: I look forward to not typing out another fucking awful movie title until F7ast Fur77ious7 hits cinemas like AIDs did the eighties.

At the conclusion, Phallic McBaldy 1 (The Rock) stares deep into the eyes of Phallic McBaldy 2 (Diesel) and whispers: “Until next time” (which is echoed back in an equally masculine whisper). You can’t help but wonder: how much faster or furiouser can this series can get? And when, pray tell, will this idling Skyline of a franchise end up on bricks in the overgrown front yard of Hollywood? Soon. The answer is SOON.

Maria Lewis - follow Maria on Twitter here: @moviemazz

*Technical medical term.

The post REVIEW: Fast and Furious 6 (2013) appeared first on Graffiti With Punctuation.

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I kind of like the person I am in France. Here, I am direct. I am ‘un journaliste pour l’emission sur le cinema’. I am confident. That’s mainly due to the fact that my limited French (enough to get by and nod blankly through conversations) forces me to speak in demands. Table for two! I want a croissant! I’m a journalist for a TV show about cinema! (I’ve never been quite so sure of myself in my life) The bill! I’m cold! I’m really into rap music! I can’t quite remember how to say that last one, but a few years ago I spent a month in Paris and was determined to learn, and use, a new French phrase everyday, which I would say to a surprised and frightened man at the local patisserie. Here in Cannes of course everyone speaks English, especially when I persist in my obvious tourist French. I’ll only switch to English to ask how to say something… “How do you say, holy hell it looks like it is about to storm?!”

I never got my answer, and within ten minutes it went from beautiful sun to sideways rain, and everyone scurried off to take shelter. I was running from one side of the Croisette, the street that runs alongside the beach, to the other, going from interviews with the cast of ‘The Bling Ring’ to interviews with the cast of ‘Fruitvale Station’ and back again, my look slowly deteriorating from done up to disheveled chic, ending somewhere in drowned ratsville.

At the press junket for ‘The Bling Ring’ I chatted to the cast about the irony of doing a big splashy Cannes premiere for this film. They all agreed that there is something strange about doing publicity and looking perfect in designer clothes for a movie about kids being obsessed with celebrity, perfection and material things. Emma Watson was just delightful as always, she said she was never tempted to take anything from Paris Hilton’s house, and no, Alicia, it doesn’t matter if Paris wouldn’t notice.

Meanwhile, over at the interviews for ‘Fruitvale Station’, everyone was blown away by the ten minute standing ovation they received at the screening the night before. In Cannes, things can go either way. If an audience hates it, they enjoy some very vocal booing (instead of simply walking out early like at other festivals) if they love it, like ‘Fruitvale Station’, they will stay, sitting silently through the credits, then get to their feet and erupt in applause at the end. That is my favorite moment of any film festival. To be there in a screening with the cast, and watch the reaction on their faces as the crowd keeps on clapping… that is incredible. I joked with director Ryan Cooger and Octavia Spencer about how, if there was a film made about their last 24 hours, it would be totally normal, right? They were so excited and surprised by the reaction, it was infectious. Forget franchises and big blockbusters… this is what cinema is all about. Films that have been made with blood, sweat, passion and tears. Films that move you and you can’t shake, even a full day later. “Here’s to more Oscar buzz for the film about Oscar!” I said to Michael B Jordan, who gave me a high five and said he was going to use that one from now on.
(Look out for these interviews soon on Foxtel Movie Show in Australia!)

The interviews ran long so I couldn’t get to any actual screenings, but I went along to The Weinstein Company’s 2013 Presentation. There they rolled out the stars, like Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara, Naomie Harris and the ‘Fruitvale’ cast, to show 2-5 minutes of their upcoming movies. And from what I saw, they are really pushing for the 2014 Academy Awards, with plenty of star driven dramas, a couple of edgy movies and a good few biopics.

We saw a trailer for ‘The Butler’, which you can watch online. This is the one with Forest Whitaker playing a real life White House butler, and an all-star cast playing former presidents Then there was a clip from ‘Aint Them Bodies Saints’ with Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck as outlaws (Rooney produced the film, Harvey Weinstein said she is “as good in the edit room as she is on screen”, and Rooney declined to reply, she’s shy). We saw a trailer for ‘August Osage Country’, based on a play by Tracy Letts and produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov. The cast list for this one reads like an Oscar nominee list – Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Ewan McGregor, Abigail Breslin, Juliette Lewis, Chris Cooper, Sam Shepard, Dermot Mulroney and… Benedict Cumberbatch!

‘Salinger’ is a fantastic looking mystery documentary, about the reclusive author JD Salinger and what happened to him after he wrote ‘The Catcher In The Rye’. The trailer looks very dramatic and full of big names from the literary world. James Gray’s ‘The Immigrant’ is playing at the festival next week, it’s a period drama and we saw a quick clip showing a rage-filled Joaquin Phoenix scaring Marion Cotillard. I’ll be speaking to Marion and James hopefully next week; kind of relieved it won’t be Joaquin… that guy scares me! About 5 minutes of ‘Grace of Monaco’ was shown, with Cannes jury member Nicole Kidman as Princess Grace Kelly. It’s a biopic, about the time when Grace wanted to star in ‘Marnie’ for Hitchcock, but it clashed with the “greatest role of her life”… being the Princess of Monaco. Nicole has altered her voice for the film, and looks beautiful during the long, languishing slow zooms. From the little I saw, it feels like an old school movie, the score all strings and dramatic orchestral music underneath it all.

We saw a brief clip from ‘Only God Forgives’ which I CANNOT wait to see here next week. Once again Ryan is completely silent. I half expected a spoon of cereal to come from one of the sides of the frame. Kristen Scott Thomas was not silent, this is a role unlike any we’ve seen her in, all shocking crude dialogue and American accent. I’ll give you my thoughts on the film when I see it! There was an uplifting trailer for ‘One Chance’ a film based on British Got Talent winner Paul Potts, he of the unassuming face who busted out some brilliant Opera. The trailer for ‘Fruitvale Station’ was shown, then lastly, a trailer to a film that just screams Oscar… ‘Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom’. As the title suggests, this is a biopic of Nelson Mandela’s life, starring Idris Elba, and had me yelling “WHY has it taken this long for this to be made??” on the inside. It’s a perfect story for a movie – inspiring, sad, a true journey. Producer Anant Singh spoke briefly and said it has taken him years to get it going.

Mark my words, I thought, as I headed out into the cool night… people will be talking about Idris Elba and ‘Mandela’ come say… March next year.

Alicia Malone - For more from Alicia visit her official website here or follow her on twitter here.

The post Alicia Malone’s Cannes Diary: Day 3 appeared first on Graffiti With Punctuation.

In this episode of Pod Save Our Screen, Maria and Blake break down one of the great T.V shows – BBC’s Luther, and get moist over Idris Elba.

WARNING: Our honesty contains some f*cking profanity. 

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The post POD SAVE OUR SCREEN #18: LUTHER SEASON ONE appeared first on Graffiti With Punctuation.

Thanks to Roadshow Entertainment we have 5 copies of The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler to giveaway (5 DVDs).

Official Synopsis:

Changing the world through war and suffering, how did a man such as Hitler dominate a nation of people? Award-winning historian Laurence Rees reveals the reasons behind Hitler’s unlikely appeal.

Adolf Hitler was, arguably, the most extraordinary leader who has ever lived. No one else so changed the state of the world and left behind such a wake of ruins as he did. Yet crucially, there has been no proper attempt to examine how and why so many people followed Hitler – ultimately to the destruction of their own country. These three films examine the key decisions Hitler took during the Second World War, to find out why others decided to push forward and achieve his goals, how Hitler manipulated existing beliefs in Germany, and why his leadership was so compelling.

How do you win? 

Comment: Seductive Evil

*Note you must be in Australia to win (as the DVDs are Region 4) See our full giveaway terms and conditions here.

The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler is available 1-05-13 on DVD

The post The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler DVD GIVEAWAY appeared first on Graffiti With Punctuation.