The much anticipated Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey starrer, Mud, closed out the Cannes Film Festival where it received a largely positive response from critics who deemed it an effective tear jerker from director Jeff Nichols. The film is a coming-of-age drama about two young boys in the South who find a fugitive man named Mud living on an island in Mississippi. What transpires between them as Mud reckons with a beautiful bounty hunter forms the emotional arc of the story.
Here’s what some of the critics had to say:
A well carpentered piece of work marked by some fine performances and resilient thematic fiber[Hollywood Reporter]
Sturdy turns from Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon[Variety]
An engaging and good-looking picture with two bright leading performances from Sheridan and Lofland.[The Guardian]
Well, it finally happened. And it only took Will Smith returning to the box office after a four year hiatus, a comic book alien villain, and a %200 million budget (give or take) to make it happen: The Avengers has been toppled from its pedestal at the domestic American box office! Dun dun dun!!!
Taking in a better than expected $55 million, the third installment of Men In Black topped not only the American box office, but the marquee lines in over 100 countries across the globe, proving that what Hollywood makes, the world shall watch. Its three-day international gross comes to over $200 million. Not bad, considering it’s not even Memorial Day yet. Expect more of the same throughout the rest of the month, especially since the next BIG summer blockbuster isn’t expected until Pixar’s Brave releases June 22.
The Avengers is still shattering records, becoming the fastest grossing film to cross the $500 million mark in box office history. It managed this cool feat in 23 days, breaking the previous 32-day record set by Avatar in 2009.
The top five films this weekend were as follows:
1. Men In Black III - $55 million
2. The Avengers - $37 million
3. Battleship - $10.7 million
4. The Dictator - $9.6 million
5. Chernobyl Diaries - $8 million
Vanessa Hudgens was in Monaco at the Le Meridien Beach Plaza Hotel for the Amber Fashion Show and Charity Auction. Basically it was an event with Formula One racers and their families walking the runway for charity. We assume that Vanessa was solo at the event since there were no sighting is of (probable freeloader) boyfriend Austin Butler. Our guess is that Vanessa didn’t feel the need to foot the bill for Austin to tag along; she’d probably end up having to get him a suit too.
Anyways, before Vanessa gets to her 2013 release of Spring Breakers, she’s got two more films to be released some time in 2012. She plays the lead in Gimme Shelter, also starring Rosario Dawson and Brendan Fraser while having a main role in the thriller The Frozen Ground starring Nicolas Cage and John Cusack. By the way, The Frozen Ground is co-produced by Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent.
Mud is an upcoming film starring Reese Witherspoon, Matthew McConaughey, and Tye Sheridan; directed by Jeff Nichols. Making its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, Mud has been selected to compete for the Palme d’Or. Aside from that we don’t have a release date, official website, or trailer but here’s the plot line:
Two teenage boys encounter a fugitive and form a pact to help him evade the bounty hunters on his trailer and to reunite him with his true love. [IMDb]
Absolutely amazing! In what was the first of a total of four Memorial Day performances, Beyonce helped celebrate the luxurious new Revel casino’s official opening in Atlantic City last night (Friday, 5/25). I don’t know what’s more shocking: Beyonce’s ability to rock a leotard in front of thousands only 5 months after giving birth to daughter Blue Ivy or the fact that people still visit Atlantic City. Major props to Lady B & her army of personal trainers, surgeons, & therapists.
If you still want tix, you can bag a couple cheap seats for as low as $170 for Monday’s show. Check Stubhub.com for more juice!
Footage from her over the past few weeks as she prepared for the big shows…
Kristen Stewart absolutely killed it on the red carpet premiere for director David Cronenberg’s latest film “Cosmopolis,” starring her boyfriend Robert Pattinson. I can’t believe she kept it simple for her own film’s premiere yesterday & then dropped the red carpet nuclear bomb for her boyfriend’s film! How sweet of her.
She was wearing a dangerously low-cut, red dress & walked the red carpet with her “On The Road” co-star Tom Sturridge. The way these two were stapled together on the red carpet, you’d think they were sleeping together, but then again, who really knows, right? Maybe Kristen & Rob have an open relationship?
We’ll have more the film when we cover others on the red carpet. In the meantime, check the trailer below.
while thinking about eating a Bastardly Certified lunch by Moe0
Here’s something you probably weren’t expecting from Robert Pattinson in David Cronenberg’s new film, Cosmopolis: the dashing hero spends the day trying to get to . . . a haircut. Yup, you read right. It’s about how he must be perfectly coiffed at all times. No, he’s not playing a matinee idol, he’s not a vain vampire, he’s not even gay in the movie! He’s just the most pretentious, hedonistic, and clueless twat you’ve ever had the displeasure of encountering on film. Or any medium, to be perfectly frank.
The critical consensus from Cannes has been mixed, to put it politely. To wit, read what some prominent reviewers have had to say about the movie, in particular why Pattinson, despite his rosy red cheekbones, may have been the wrong choice to play the lead.
Heartthrob Robert Pattinson fails to deliver in Cronenberg’s ‘Cosmopolis’[France 24]
Robert Pattinson Starrer ‘Cosmopolis’ Gets Mixed Cannes Reception[Wall Street Journal]
Robert Pattinson gives a sensationally controlled central performance in David Cronenberg’s film Cosmopolis[The Telegraph]
while thinking about eating a Bastardly Certified lunch by Moe1
French buddy comedies are so . . . not popular in the United States. Which is a shame, really, or so you’ll be thinking when you see the stellar and superb new film, The Intouchables, from directors Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache. The film has been a massive, record-breaking success in Europe (a continent which needs some good news these days, we have to admit) and it’s not hard to see why: it’s a masterful convening of brilliant storytelling, innovative direction, and enthusiastic performances. What’s not to like? (Reading subtitles, maybe, if you don’t speak French).
The movie is not unlike some of the most popular American “buddy” comedies (say Thelma & Louise or Toy Story) but its aims are entirely different. It’s not about just bringing two people together who are from completely opposite ends of the social spectrum: it’s about how collectively we have, for some reason, agreed to suffer in isolation. Sounds hilarious, right? Believe me: it is.
The two brought into an unlikely union are an ex-con named Driss (a superb Omar Sy) and a handicapped millionaire named Philippe (Francois Cluzet). Philippe has suffered grave injuries in an accident and hired a known ex-con to be his caretaker. Why would he do such a thing? In short, he’s tried of feeling like somebody else’s ward: he doesn’t want pity or sympathy, he wants confrontation and wit, and this Driss provides in spades. Soon, the two are bonded in unexpected but magical ways.
The film goes to great lengths to show that those of different races, religions, and socio-economic backgrounds are at times more different than they are similar – and that’s great. We needn’t pretend that such differences are outweighed by what is common to all humans. What we do need to do, the film implies, is prevent those differences from keeping us away from one another.
This isn’t the stereotypical French movie shot in black and white and featuring intermittent dialogue in smoke-heavy scenes. It’s fun, light, hip, irreverent . . . and dare I say joyous? One of the best movies to come out of Europe in a long, long time, it deserves as much attention as it can get outside of Paris.
