Brian D. Johnson reports from the Croisette
Brian D. Johnson on what to see this weekend
The hat, the whip, the scar: What does it all mean?
Prince Harry has a new gal, Thailand elects a woman, and at least one Canadian mayor will march at Pride
Whatever happened to Harrison Ford? That look of righteous, paranoid intensity has become a stock gesture
As Ricky Gervais tears a strip off Hollywood, the stars strive for sincerity at a bash overshadowed by Haiti.
How might Mel Gibson’s split stack up against some of the biggest celebrity divorces?
Opening Weekend: Film reviews of “Crossing Over,” “Gomorrah” and “Rip: A Remix Manifesto”
For two weeks each May, a quaint town on the French Riviera becomes a Hollywood fantasy in the flesh. Throughout the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, I blogged video clips. In the aftermath, I’ve edited a montage of highlights, an impressionist trip through the beauty, vulgarity, hysteria and chaos that is Cannes.
Only a few days have passed since Sunday’s Indy IV premiere in Cannes, but it already feels like eons. And I’ve already spilled a fair amount of web ink on this mega blockbuster in previous blogs— Indy vs the indies: Indiana Jones in the Kingdom of Cannes and The Second Coming of Steven Spielberg: Indy Encounters of the Fourth Kind — so forgive me if I betray signs of Indy fatigue.
Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett et al face a horde of professional fans at the press conference for the Cannes premiere of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull:
There was the predictable mob scene as the media horde surged between narrow barricades, clamoring to get into Indy IV. I got in without being crushed and can report that the movie went over pretty well with the crowd. But some of those same journalists who fought so hard to get a seat began their exodus as early as 20 minutes before the end of the film—so they could beat the mob scene that would converge on the Indy press conference after the screening. I stayed to the end. I’ll save a full scale review for the eve of the movie’s May 22 opening. But in a nutshell I can say that I enjoyed first half hour, a pastiche of witty touches and old-fashioned chase scenes; I got a bit dozy in the middle as the plot churned through the kind of byzantine details that are de rigeur with this franchise; then I got re-engaged towards the end.