Cannes 2017

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Precious Doll
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Re: Cannes 2017

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Here's a link to a website that is keeping a tab on the ratings given by a group of film critics on the films screenings at Cannes:

http://www.todaslascriticas.com.ar/cannes/2017

Really bummed that Jupiter's Moon turned out to be pretty bad.
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Re: Cannes 2017

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Best reviews out of all the titles so far seem to be for Faces, Places, a docudrama from Agnès Varda and the artist JR.
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Re: Cannes 2017

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Okja (Bong Joon-ho) In Competition

The Bottom Line: Fantastic beasts and how to kidnap them. (Lukewarm but much praise for the technical aspects of the film).

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw (who's day job must be a clown in a circus) give's Okja 5/5

Lover For a Day (Philippe Garrel) Don't know in what context this is playing at Cannes, perhaps the Market Place.

The Bottom Line: Minor but still fascinating Garrel.

Barbara (Mathieu Amalric) Un Certain Regard

The Bottom Line: She was one sing-ular sensation. (Fair review)
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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Re: Cannes 2017

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Jupiter's Moon (Kornel Mundruczo) In competition

The Bottom Line: We believe he can fly — but not quite everything else. (Meddling)

Blade of the Immortal (Takashi Miike) Out of Competition

The Bottom Line: Takashi squared. (Fair)
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Re: Cannes 2017

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Usually a good way to extrapolate the American critical consensus I find is to just average the judgments of the three main trades - Variety, THR and Screen Daily.
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Re: Cannes 2017

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From The Hollywood Reporter

Loveless (Andrey Zvyagintsev) in Competition

The Bottom Line: An enigmatic fable about familial pain and institutional failure. (Very good review)

Wonderstruck (Todd Hayness) in Competition

The Bottom Line: The title is no idle boast. (A rave)

Let the Sunshine In (Claire Denis) Director's Fortnight

The Bottom Line: Denis and Binoche ask what women want. (Favourable)

Sicilian Ghost Story (Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza) Critics week

The Bottom Line: A love story stronger than death. (Favourable)

I only tend to read The Hollywood Reporter reviews on-line, so I will post these overviews as the show up. Shame the imdb boards are no longer about as they were a good source to get an idea of the overall reaction to films. Can't blame imdb really given the amount of racism not to mention liable on those boards, but those people ruined it for everyone else who conducted themselves in a reasonable manner. At the end of the festival there is generally a round up of the films ranking all the films in competition, director's fortnight, un certain regard, critics week (?) & special screenings so if I come across it I will post it here.
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Re: Cannes 2017

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This kicked off today with a warm reception for Arnaud Desplechin's out of competition entry Ismaël's Ghosts.
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Re: Cannes 2017

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I would expect a rather conservative safe choice with most of this jury but you never know.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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Re: Cannes 2017

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Jury lineup announced.

Will Smith? Oh, boy. What would he be like during deliberations?
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Re: Cannes 2017

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Precious Doll wrote:I think it is harder now than at any other time in my life to see everything I want to see.
I wish I had the time, means and energy to see the number of films you still manage to see despite your plea here that you want to see more ;)
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Re: Cannes 2017

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Beasts of No Nation also played theatrically in the UK. It was distributed through Curzon Cinemas on Oct. 16, 2015.
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Re: Cannes 2017

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Big Magilla wrote:Netflix, if they could, would bypass theatres altogether. None of their films, and only one of their series (Grace and Frankie) as far as I can tell, has been released on DVD and that through Lionsgate.
Several of their TV series have been released--in fact, I think most have. But a lot of those are produced in some type of partnership with other companies, so I'm sure a physical release is part of the deal there. I suspect there's some type of exclusivity window for their films, similar to how retailers like Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy have exclusivity windows with some DVD/Blu-Ray releases. Don't know how long it is though--we're past 18 months with Beasts of No Nation.
Amazon, however, is a different thing altogether. Roadside Attractions handled the theatrical release of Manchester by the Sea in the U.S., Universal in other parts of the world, but Amazon handled the distribution of the DVD itself although Lionsgate appears to have been the actual manufacturer of the discs. As far as I know, Amazon still makes more money from distribution than it does from streaming, so they're not going to screw up a good thing by limiting access to streaming on the films they produce. TV shows are another thing, though, at least so far.
Amazon also stands to profit from selling physical copies of their films. That's an incentive to release them in a physical format soon after their theatrical release. Their distribution model is very different though; their films end up on Amazon Prime's streaming service quicker after the release, but it essentially functions the same as HBO or Showtime; there's a few months from theatrical to DVD, then a few more months before they show up on Amazon.
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Re: Cannes 2017

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We're talking about two different companies here.

Netflix, if they could, would bypass theatres altogether. None of their films, and only one of their series (Grace and Frankie) as far as I can tell, has been released on DVD and that through Lionsgate. Beasts of No Nation was released theatrically by Bleecker Street Media, which sometimes also handles DVD releases of films they distribute (Eye in the Sky), while other times they go through Universal (Trumbo), but they were only licensed by Netflix for the limited theatrical distribution of Beasts of No Nation in the U.S. It was not shown theatrically anywhere else in the world. I agree with Precious and the French on this one.

Amazon, however, is a different thing altogether. Roadside Attractions handled the theatrical release of Manchester by the Sea in the U.S., Universal in other parts of the world, but Amazon handled the distribution of the DVD itself although Lionsgate appears to have been the actual manufacturer of the discs. As far as I know, Amazon still makes more money from distribution than it does from streaming, so they're not going to screw up a good thing by limiting access to streaming on the films they produce. TV shows are another thing, though, at least so far.
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Re: Cannes 2017

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I had hoped as the passing of time goes on that cinema, in any form, would become easier to see. I think it is harder now than at any other time in my life to see everything I want to see.

The streaming companies are holding onto dear life to the product that the acquire and produce themselves. The list of material that I would like to see, or to put more bluntly would be prepared to purchase on DVD (or preferably a Blu Ray) is growing year by year.

I either sign up to streaming, purchase a pirated copy, which I will NOT do or simply not see the film. I'm opting for no. 3 - not seeing the film. At least the films that Amazon release at the cinema they also release on DVD, just wish they would do the same for the TV productions (notably Transparent).

The other disturbing development is that Fox are now starting to release certain titles exclusively on Blu Ray in the US and know where else on the planet on DVD and/or Blu Ray. So if you missed I, Origins, Demolition, Mistress America, True Story, amongst others at the cinema you have so join a streaming service that provides those films.

I've always bemoaned change going all the way back to VHS, Cable TV, DVD, Blu Ray, etc only to end up embracing it. This time I don't think so. I have a collection of nearly 8,000 films on DVD & Blu Ray and most I'm eager to watch again and again and if these streaming companies don't want to make it easier for me to watch their films, well I can live with that. I'll never get to see Ernst Lubitch' The Patriot or F. W. Murnau's Four Devils both of which are lost so that is what films like Beasts of No Nations, Tallulah , 13th, Amanda Knox, etc will become for me. Lost unseeable films.
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Re: Cannes 2017

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Beasts of No Nation (Netflix) ran for two weeks in 2015 @ 31 theaters the first week, 21 the next.

Manchester by the Sea (Amazon) ran for 21 weeks last year and this in a peak of 1,213 theaters.

They do release their films theatrically, otherwise they would be ineligible for Oscars.

I'm not saying that either distribution model is perfect or that they don't need to do a better job, but I'm guessing Beasts wasn't very popular and never earned an Oscar nomination, so they have no reason to expect it to sell well and mitigate the costs of a DVD.

Of course, what hurt Beasts most was not necessarily Netflix, but that AMC, Carmike, Cinemark, and Regal refused to show the film because of the short release window, which forced them to release it more narrowly.
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