Blog News & Blogging Around 5/7/12

Well, the summer blockbuster season has finally arrived and what a way to kick things off with The Avengers which is right now the best film of 2012 so far.  Of course, there's other summer releases I'm looking forward to see in blockbusters like Prometheus and The Dark Knight Rises to indies like Moonrise Kingdom.  That's pretty much it as there's probably some films out there in the summer to look forward to but I would rather stay home and focus on other projects.  Including some of my screenplay projects as I've finished an outline for a prologue to a main project that I'm doing while I've brought back another due to some new ideas.

In the meantime, I'm set to release the next essay of my Favorite Films series in 24 Hour Party People that was a bit unexpected.  I'm just trying to find pictures and clips to support the essay.  It was supposed to be Y Tu Mama Tambien but I couldn't come up with anything about the film as I'll probably do it another time.  I've already decided to do Morvern Callar as the next essay but I'm going to write it later this month though I have already prepared the next part of my Auteurs series in Nicholas Winding Refn.  That I'll also do later this month as I'm getting ready for my annual Cannes Film Festival Marathon.

For anyone that hasn't followed my work in the past, the Cannes Film Festival marathon is essentially a marathon where I watch films that have played at the Cannes Film Festival.  Last year, I watched 15 new films while re-watched 2 films as I made a list of the best films of that marathon along with some fictional awards.  The choosing of what films and performances/technical prizes get awards was in tune to what was happening at the marathon that I hadn't done with previous marathons.  Another thing that I did differently was choose more films and do different types of films.  In tune with what was happening at last year's festival that had four women directors competing for the Palme D'or, I ended up doing watching films by women directors and all of them ended up topping the list of the 15 films I saw.

This year's marathon unfortunately, like the Palme D'or competition line-up, won't have women directors to profile.  It was something I didn't mean to do as I just selected the films that were on TV and that I could record along with a few DVDs and a couple of films that I decided to download via torrent that I could watch on my laptop.

For the 2012 Cannes Film Festival Marathon.  I present to you 16 films that I will watch for duration of May 16 to May 27 during the duration of the entire film festival.  Three of which will be re-watches as I will open the marathon with the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival in Monty Python's the Meaning of Life.  Closing the marathon will be Moulin Rouge! that played in competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.  Another film I will re-watch somewhere in the middle of the marathon will be Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing which played in competition at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival.  And here are the 14 films that I will be seeing for very first time for this marathon: (update 5/8/12:  Due to some unfortunate circumstances of my own mind, Monty Python's the Meaning of Life was not in my DVR hard drive as I thought it was.  Instead, I will have Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, which premiered in competition at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, to open the marathon while add Alejandro Amenabar's Agora to the line-up for competition).

Missing

Gangs of New York

Of Gods & Men

Welcome to Sarajevo

Precious

Agora

Andrei Rublev

Dead Man

Thirst

The Knack... and How to Get It

Silent Light

Rome, Open City

Brief Encounter

3 Women

These 13 films will be competing for fictional prizes for the marathon's duration.  I hope everyone will enjoy when the marathon begins on the 16th.

Now let's see what is out there in the blogosphere.

James @ Cinema Sights is currently exploring the world of Iranian cinema (something I'm also interested in) as he begins with a review of The Cow. A film I've never heard of but if this is the key to be introduced to Iranian cinema. Then I will totally start with this.

Bill of Bill's Film Emporium has a great review of David Cronenberg's Spider which I think, unless you're a Cronenberg fan, is a film a lot of people should see as it's a superb drama.

Courtney of Big Thoughts from a Small Mind & Ryan of the Matinee are both covering the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto as each has some reviews to check out.  Courtney has a fun review of Beware Mr. Baker about Cream's Ginger Baker while Ryan has a wonderful review of Stacy Peralta's Bones Brigade.

Stevee of Cinematic Paradox has a review of Richard Linklater's Me & Orson Welles which is a film I've been dying to see.

David of Taste of Cinema has a great piece about Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To that I think people who aren't familiar with To should read.

Alex of And So It Begins... has a great piece about his 11 Favorite Cinematographers as well as a great follow-up piece about the short number of Female Cinematographers that I think should get more mention.

Tyler of Southern Vision has a great piece on a filmmaker I've recently discovered in Chris Marker. If you haven't seen either La Jetee and Sans Soleil. Check those out right now.

Finally, there's a slew of superb reviews of The Avengers that I think should be read from Dan @ Dan the Man's Movie Review, Ryan @ the Matinee, Andy @ Andy Buckle's Film Emporium, Stevee of Cinematic Paradox, Sati @ Cinematic Corner, Leysa @ Eternity of Dream, Sam of Duke & the Movies, Movienut14 @ Defiant Success, & Diana @ Aziza's Picks. Read these reviews. They pretty much explained why the film is a must-see for the summer blockbuster season.

Well, that is all for now.  For the days preceding the marathon, I'll be re-watching some films and post old reviews of films by Werner Herzog and whatever films I had seen in previous Cannes marathons.  In tribute to Adam Yauch aka MCA of the Beasties Boys, I want to post one of my favorite Beasties Boys video as I think they're one of the best groups out there and Yauch will be missed. Not for his skills on the mic but also for creating Oscilloscope Films that is among one of the best indie film studios out there. Thanks Adam Yauch.