Cannes Film Festival

Cannes Festival, after 65 years, is still a mecca for film lovers and critics because of the high calibre of films chosen. In addition to the high quality films chosen, it another event for celebrities to get glammed up to attend the screenings.

With previous attendees including Grace Kelly to Pamela Anderson it is a chance for actresses to get out their glitzy dresses, best jewellery and fabulous hair accessories to wow the paparazzi. But I’m sure our friends over at Gossip Fever will cover all the glitz and glamour at the event! So enough of them, what about the film choices?

Here is a full list of all the contenders in this years awards:

Opening Night

Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson

In Competition

Amour, Michael Haneke
The Angels’ Share, Ken Loach
Baad el mawkeaa, Yousry Nasrallah
Beyond the Hills, Cristian Mungiu
Cosmopolis, David Cronenberg
Holy Motors, Leos Carax
The Hunt, Thomas Vinterberg
Killing Them Softly, Andrew Dominik
In Another Country, Hong Sang-soo
In the Fog, Sergei Loznitsa
Lawless, John Hillcoat
Like Someone in Love, Abbas Kiarostami
Mud, Jeff Nichols
On the Road, Walter Salles
The Paperboy, Lee Daniels
Paradies: Liebe, Ulrich Seidl
Post tenebras lux, Carlos Reygadas
Reality, Matteo Garrone
Rust and Bone, Jacques Audiard
Taste of Money, Im Sang-soo
You Haven’t Seen Anything Yet, Alain Resnais

Out of Competition

Hemingway & Gellhorn, Philip Kaufman
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath, Conrad Vernon
Me and You, Bernardo Bertolucci

Un Certain Regard

7 Days in Havana, Benicio del Toro, Pablo Trapero, Julio Medem, Elia Suleiman, Juan Carlos Tabio, Gaspar Noe, Laurent Cantet
11.25 The Day He Chose His Own Fate, Koji Wakamatsu
Antiviral, Brandon Cronenberg
Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin
Confession of a Child of the Century, Sylvie Verheyde
Despues de Lucia, Michel Franco
La Pirogue, Moussa Toure
La Playa, Juan Andres Arango
Laurence Anyways, Xavier Dolan
Le grand soir, Benoit Delepine, Gustave Kervern
Les Chevaux de Dieu, Nabil Ayouch
Loving Without Reason, Joachim Lafosse
Miss Lovely, Ashim Ahluwalia
Mystery, Lou Ye
Student, Darezhan Omirbayev
Trois mondes, Catherine Corsini
White Elephant, Pablo Trapero

Midnight Screenings

Dario Argento’s Dracula, Dario Argento
The Legend of Love & Sincerity, Japan, Takashi Miike

Special Screenings

A musica segundo, Tom Jobim, Nelson Pereira Dos Santos
The Central Park Five, Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon
Der Mull im Garten Eden, Fatih Akin
Journal de France, Claudine Nougaret, Raymond Depardon
Les Invisibles, Sebastien Lifshitz
Mekong Hotel, Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir, Laurent Bouzereau
Villegas, Gonzalo Tobal

Closing Night Film

Therese D, Claude Miller

This year has come under some scrutiny by feminist group Le Barbe because of the lack of female directors. They are so passionate about it that they have written an article for Le Monde and created a petition to increase the awareness of women in the film industry and that their voices matter. The discussions continue…

The 2012 Cannes Film Festival begins May 16 and will run through May 27 along the French Riviera.

Who would you like to see win? Which films have you seen or want to see? Let us know…

So without futher ado, let’s see what the theatre has in store:

The Dictator

I remember seeing the trailer for this at the cinema a couple of weeks ago, and audibly wincing at how close to the bone the jokes were. With the downfall of Gaddafi still fresh in everyone’s mind, I don’t know if many people will find this offensive and/or badly timed.

However, the critics seem to like it (well most of them, anyway. I’m looking at you, UltraCulture). The film is quite funny, even though you might feel really guilty for laughing. But let’s face it, if you’re easily offended, you surely should know to stay away from the works of Baren Cohen by now.

The Raid: Redemption

This bad boy made quite a splash at the Imagine Film festival in Amsterdam a few weeks back, and is now about to go mainstream.

So what’s the deal? Well, 20 elite cops have to battle their way through 30 floors of horrors and henchmen in order to bring down a ruthless drug lord. The film comes from the same people who brought you Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Kung Fu Hustle, so you can be guaranteed a action-packed feast if you trust these guy’s track record.

2 Days in New York

However, if you prefer witty romantic comedies, then you should definitely consider seeing 2 Days in New York. The sequel to 2 Days in Paris, French photographer Marion (played by filmwriter Julie Delpy) is now living in New York with her current boyfriend Mingus (Chris Rock). However, chaos and hilarity ensues when her French family descends for a visit.

The trailer looks pretty funny and the reception has been pretty good. To be honest, it will probably be the film that I will be going to see this weekend.

What movies to you fancy seeing in the coming week? Give us a shout out in the comments section below!

Image by Chvad SB

So what’s the deal?

In its third year, the Las Vegas Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest sets out to find the best Elvis impersonator in Nevada. The participants will fight it our for a chance to proceed to the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist semi-finals during Elvis Week 2012 in Memphis.

However, if you reckon you can give the competitors a run for their money, you can join in with the Elvis karaoke that opens up to punters after the main performances have finished.

To give to a taster of what is in store, here is a clip from the first contest back in 2010:

If you’re not already in sin city, then you might be a bit late for catching this year’s contest. But now is the time think about booking a trip if you’re wanting to get in on next year’s action. Kuoni do great package Las Vegas holidays and are definitely worth a look if you want to travel stateside in search of the king!

Reckon you could cut it as an Elvis impersonator? Give us your best “uh-huh-huh” in the comments section below!

Dodge Challenger

CC 'house_of_ddd' (Flickr)

Most recently Dodge Challenger (specifically the 1970 vintage) had a staring role in the brutal and exhilarating Death Proof. Director Quentin Tarantino included the car partly as a reference to the cult classic Vanishing Point.

In Vanishing Point a delivery driver is taking a 1970 Dodge Challenger to San Francisco. In order to stay awake he stops by his drug dealer to purchase some illegal stimulants, and then makes a bet with him that he can make it to SF in record time.

The film is very popular among petrol heads – it is basically just one long car chase. Scottish psychedelic rockers Primal Scream were also fans of Vanishing Point, with their album of the same name being a themed tribute.

DeLorean

CC 'Collector Car Ads' (Flickr)

In the original script for Back to the Future the time machine was going to be a refrigerator. The film makers became worried by this plan however, fearful that it could lead children to emulate the on screen action, become trapped in the ubiquitous domestic appliances. A re-write changed the time machine to something less common, and even cooler, a DMC DeLorean.

The original DeLorean was built in Northern Ireland. It was notorious for issues with build quality and performance. Nevertheless the  Back to the Future franchise led to it being one of the most iconic vehicles ever produced. Now there is even a state of the art electric vehicle based on it (flux capacitor not included).

Plymouth Fury

CC 'Hugo90' (Flickr)

An adaptation of the book by horror legend Stephen King Christine is a spine chilling story about a haunted car. The car quite literally has a mind of its own, and it is very jealous. Unable to tolerate any rivals to her owners affections, the titular tyrant murders his girlfriends.

Lincoln Continental Mark III

CC 'DVS1mn' (Flickr)

Another film where a possessed automobile wreaks havoc is The Car. The 1977 movie is not especially well remembered today – but it was taken off in a brilliant episode of Futurama. In the episode the foul mouthed and drunken robot, Bender, is bitten by a ‘were-car’ and transforms into a car resembling the Mark III Continental.

Trans Am

CC 'me and the sysop' (Flickr)

Yet another car with a ‘personality’, Kit the Trans Am from Knight Rider could actually talk. In this case the car itself had a computerised artificial intelligence. And some weird red lights on the front.

VW Beetle

CC 'exxodus' (Flickr)

A slightly less terrifying possessed car, Herby was a VW Beetle. Although his wilfulness could cause trouble the ‘love bug’ always muddled through in the end.

Mini

CC 'The Pug Father' (Flickr)

A small car, the Mini has never let that stand in the way. Whether it was success on the rally circuit or the screen, the unique looks and excellent manoeuvrability of the Mini always showed star quality.

Perhaps the most famous, but certainly not the most flattering, outing for a Mini on film was as the ride of choice for the bumbling and inept Mr Bean. A more generous portrayal of Mini owners was painted in The Italian Job where the compact hatchbacks were instrumental in pulling off an audacious heist. In the remake the action was inexplicably transposed to Los Angeles, but the Mini remained. In this case it was the new, larger, BMW produced Mini that was shown, similar to that shown in the picture below (courtesy of Windmill  Car Leasing).

Dodge Charger

CC 'dave_7' (Flickr)

Famous amongst other things for being the ‘General Lee’ out of Dukes of Hazard the Dodge Charger is one of the all time top muscle cars. Welding the doors shut and entering and exiting exclusively through the windows will likely lead to an MOT fail though, if you choose to drive one of these yourself.

Ford Mustang Mach 1

CC 'Joost J. Bakker IJmuiden' (Flickr)

No list of great cars would be complete without at least one Ford. In both the original and the remake of Gone In 60 Seconds a Ford Mustang Mach 1 is the ultimate vehicle. A beast that must be tamed, a lady that must be wooed. A lady named ‘Eleanor’.

Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth perform ‘Defying Gravity’. Following this, Menzel spent a few seasons on Glee, playing Rachel Barry’s mum. With THE most phenomenal voice on the big stage she deserves major kudos for her role as Elphaba in Wicked! The Musical. (skip into about 6.00 for the best bit!)

Christopher Sieber and the cast of Chicago sing ‘We Both Reached for the Gun’ in this 2011 Broadway production. Most of you have probably seen the most recent adaptation with the lovely Catherine Zeta Jones as Velma Kelly, Renee Zeweger, who gives a flawless performance as glamour-puss Roxie Hart and of course Mr Richard Gere as Billy Flynn. In this number, Roxie acts as Flynn’s puppet, as she learns to take his advice and fool the jury in her murder trial.

Maureen Nolan famously played the role of Mrs Johnson in the heartbreaking musical Blood Brothers. Mrs Johnson arrives home to find both her twins sons dead. I’ve seen 9 adaptations of this… yes 9, and this performance by Pierrot Productions is the best I’ve seen. In the final scene, Mrs Johnson sings “Tell me it’s not True”.

West End hit Les Miserables last year celebrated it’s 25th Birthday with an anniversary concert. This performance of ‘In My Life/ Heart Full of Love’ by Nick Jonas (cringe) and the very talented Katy Hall who gives a very vulnerable performance. The movie adaptation is set to hit our movie screens this year, starring Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Sasha Baron Cohen and the wonderfully creepy Helena Bonham Carter (with a name like that you were born to be on the stage).

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats became an overnight sensation in 1981 when it first opened on the West End. The London Production ran for a staggering 21- years and who could forget Elaine Paige’s unbelievable performance as Grizabella, one time glamour cat whose fame was dashed, and the song that made Cats famous, ‘Memory’.

Last but not least, recently named the highest earning show in Broadway’s history, Disney’s The Lion King boasts figures of £536.7 million sales since its opening in 1997. With phenomenal costumes and master puppetry, there is no best scene, it’s all brilliant, check this out!

Whats your favourite musical moment of all time? Don’t forget to let us know in the comments box below!

Film

The Avengers – Out Now

We have just recently reviewed this film and you can read it all about it here. If you like superhero films, this is an absolute must, it is an epic film!

American Pie – The Reunion- 2nd May

It’s back!! The story is that all your favourite characters get back together for their 13-year high school reunion with all the usual antics you would expect from them.

The Reunion via Eva Rinaldi

Safe – 4th May

Jason Statham returns in another classic Statham film! If you have seen ANY of Jason’s previous films then you will know exactly what to expect and won’t be dissopointed. But the man himself is well aware of what he is good at. In interview today with the BBC he said that: ”Doing something different is for great character actors. I don’t see myself as a great character actor… That’s not what my strength is.” But to be honest, we love him for what he does, being the rough tough guy!

Dark Shadows – 11th May

Johnny Depp, Tim Burton & Helena Bonham Carter as well as Eva Green and Michelle Pfeiffer join together to create this gothic comedy. Barnabas (Johnny Depp) breaks the heart of a witch (Eva Green) who turns him into a vampire and has him buried alive. Fast forward to 1972 and the vampire is awoken into a new world to find his family home in ruin and his descendants harbouring their own dark secrets. Sounds great, a typical Burton film!!

Men in Black III – 25th May

Will Smith returns in Men in Black III which sees ‘J’ being forced to time travel back to the 60′s to meet young ‘K’ and ultimately save the world! Should be quite a fun movie.

Want to see any of these trailers, check out our YouTube Playlist for these top trailers and a couple of additional extras. Also, we have made a bundle of upcoming films and reviews and posts discussing them.

TV

War Hero in my Family – 1st May

A new programme to Channel 5 this May. This programme looks at celebrities tracing their family history to find long lost relatives and their contributions to during the World War. The first episode sees Chris Tarrant and Lisa Faulkner tracing their family trees.

Flashpoint – 1st May

Back for a second series, the first episode features a criminal shoots two police officers and takes a teenager hostage but Ed discovers that his brother Roy may be responsible for one of the officers being shot.

The Killing – 2nd May

A new series for this programme, starring Mireille Enos, Billy Campbell and Joel Kinnaman. The first episode sees Detective Linden cancelling her plans to relocate to California on hold so she can investigate a teenager’s murder. During her investigations she discovers a conspiracy attempt to keep the truth hidden.

Awake – 4th May

A brand new series for Sky Atlantic stars Jason Isaacs and Laura Allen. The first episode sees detective Michael Britten traumatised after his family are involved in a car crash. The rest of the episode sees him flipping between two realities with him dreaming one reality and when he awakes, he lives another. This is a brand new series so we will be interested to hear what you think of it.

Want to know what else is coming up this month? Check out your TV guide which can tell you all you need to know!

What are you looking forward to this month? Let us know in the comment section…

Image by: Pinned by Tatjana P via Picturestoexe.com on Pintrest

1.  The plan

Set up a list of movies that you know you can gain access to and divide them into groups. Probably no more than 3 a group. Each group can be themed and you can assign a theme a week or a theme per fortnight so that you have an automatic movie marathon on your hands. Here are some movie theme ideas:

• Decades: think it’s all been downhill since Casablanca? Pick your favourite era and bask in the nostalgia.
• Thriller: gather your jumpiest friends and horror-fy your home to set the scene.
• Wartime: make your friends think about death and feel sad and stuff.
• Jungle adventure: seems specific, but it’s not hard to think up a bunch great flicks happen in the trees!
• Super cool spies: for added effect, leave a series of clues for your friends telling them to show up to your place at nineteen-hundred hours with ‘the package’ (containing enough snack food to shut down all non-essential brain function)
• Action heroes: POW! ADVENTURE.
• Dark comedy: because everyone should see In Bruges at least once. A day.
• Fantasy, Quest and Magic: everyone pick a character to dress as and watch every LoTR back to back, including the DVD featurettes.

These are just a few ideas. Let us know in the comment section below which themes you are planning to find movies for after you finish up here.

Image by: Pinned by Cassie Odell via iPhone on Pintrest

2.  The set up

• The source: Now while DVD stores are an option, movies on demand streamed from sites like Lovefilm and Netflix are not only accessible 24/7, they have a lot of films that aren’t always in store. That and you don’t have to worry about scratched DVDs and possible DVD zoning issues. If you need fast, reliable broadband to stream films then take advantage of things like 6 months’ free broadband deals and see which movie streaming site is offering the best starter deal as you may get a month free on online movies too.
• The device: A tablet is great for couples viewing as it can be set up in its stand in bed or on a coffee table; this is also great if you’re streaming off an app. If your summer film festival is for a group based around the country (or the world!) then ensure everyone who is screening should have a really fast PC for online viewing, or a reasonable TV screen and DVD player if you’re kicking it old school.
• The snacks: You may want to read back to our Movie Snacks for a rainy night in post for some gourmet ideas on 3 course movie snack ideas but at the end of the day, as long as you have something to crunch on and something to slurp on you’re sorted. You could match your snacks to your theme and depending on your audience number, you could all bring something to the TV table for a group pick n’ mix chow down while you tackle your movie marathon.

Image: Pinned by Amy Simon via ballarddesigns.com on Pintrest

3.  The invite

Setting up your own summer film festival needs to be an organised affair before you can pop back in your chair and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Start with a Facebook group and set up a calendar with themed movie marathon events. Invite everyone you’d like to come and get going on which films to source and what snacks to get making before the big sesh begins.

Make sure people actually can make it before you go all out and start setting things up. This is probably the most taxing part of setting up your festival but getting it right could save you a lot of re-organising later.

Make sure you have your venue, films and viewing rig secured prior to each session and perhaps even get people talking on your Facebook page on what they liked and didn’t and suggestions for next time as this could lead to more interest in your movie sessions.

Tell us if you’re convinced to go about setting up a summer film festival after reading this and if so tell us your plans in the comment section below!

Avengers via marvelousRoland

The film was being billed as a huge film from Marvel, possibly the biggest film ever, and it really was epic! The film brings together some of the biggest Marvel action heroes from previous films to protect the Earth from Loki and his army.

As the film is not out in the US till 4th May, we will not know its true success but we do know that it has received rave reviews across all the main newspapers, blogs and fans alike: Den of Geek says: “It was totally worth the wait”, Total Film says the film is “Big, brash and very funny” and Crave Online have said the film “Captures the essence of what makes the Marvel Universe great”

If you haven’t seen it yet, this trailer tells you all you need to know to go and see it!

The film very cleverly not only brings these characters together in one adventure, but it also gives them all their own ‘moment’ so they can shine on their own as well as part of the team. They all have their own issues to tackle through the film, and with each other, and each are dealt with cleverly to make them a bit more human.

Allow me to take a minute to discuss the new hulk which is one of the biggest talking points of the film…

Mark Ruffalo as Hulk is a winner! He uses motion capture to create the character which shows features of Mark’s face, through the Hulk – very clever. I think what Joss Whedon has done with the Hulk’s character is so clever. The character is presented throughout the film as being an uncontrollable monster, but when he does emerge he has a classic comedic element which has the whole cinema roaring in laughter. A great job!

Tom Hiddleston has to be praised for his theatrical take on Loki. Unfortunately his presence seems to teater off as the film goes on but he played his part well.

One criticism I do have is of Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow. She is in a lycra suit with two hand guns so she looks a bit out of place stood next to Captain America, Iron Man and Thor!

A note for you before you go to the cinema,  remember to stay behind after the ‘end’ of the film to get the Marvel additional extra clip to get the taster for the next film… of course there will be another one!

Worried you are going to get separation anxiety from the characters after this leaves our screens? Have no fear there are a load of new films coming up from Marvel…

• The Amazing Spider Man: 3rd July 2012
• Iron Man 3: 3rd May 2013
• Thor 2: 2013
• Captain America: The First Avenger Sequel – 4th April 2014 (All about him joining S.H.I.E.L.D and struggling with his role in the modern world)

Finally a new addition to Geek Overture film reviews will be our rating system! So for Avengers Assemble we give it 4.5 Geeks out of 5!

What did you think of the film? Let us know in the comment section…

Lockout is a sci-fi film which sees leading man Guy Pearce’s character Snow (a government agent) convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Meanwhile, the President’s daughter is taken hostage, by the worst criminals in the world, in a prison set in space. Snow is then offered freedom if he rescues the damsel in distress. He also needs to go for his own personal benefit, as one of the inmates has information to the location of a briefcase he needs.

Having seen Guy Pearce star in other good movies such as L.A Confidential and Memento (one of my favourite films) I was interested to see this film.

Half way through the film, I suddenly realised where I had seen a similar plot unfold before: a man who is less than friendly guy but is a good person deep down; the funny quips; the bad guys holding people hostage; crawling through vents and trying to save the girl. Yes, it’s Die Hard, but set in a prison in space instead of the Nakatomi plaza. Well, I didn’t say it was exactly like Die Hard did I?

Image Via Lockout

They’ve also taken other ideas from other films. Accused of a crime he didn’t commit, the love/hate relationship but you know they’re going to end up together and only one man who can save her. At many times throughout the film, it relies on ‘getting away in the nick of time’ scenarios.

And that’s possibly why I liked the film. Despite its predictability, it’s followed successful formulas. It’s taken the best story lines and mashed them up into one. But rather than creating one super movie, you’re left feeling like you’ve seen it all before. At times, the comedy saves the film; without it, it would be a rather bland sci-fi movie.

Guy Pearce is excellent in the role; the right amount of a tough facade balanced with a caring nature. The funny lines are akin to House from the TV show. There’s a certain amount of snarl that should make you dislike him but you can’t help but laugh.

The actors aren’t going to win any Oscars for their performance and the film will definitely not win Best Original Screenplay. And I’m not surprised by some of the negative reviews it has received, but it’s a film that doesn’t take itself too seriously and if you can get past that, you’ll like the film just fine.

Have you seen Lockout? Does it deserve the negative reviews? Tell us in the comments section below.

This heartwrenching tale stars Timothy Spall (aka Wormtail from the Harry Potter series), who plays a man whose son is killed in a tragic road accident.

We defy you not to cry at this movie.

The film has a very strong Olympic theme throughout, mainly because Puwanarajah was able to produce the film by winning British Airways‘ Great Briton’s competition.

As a result, he was able to produce the film under the watchful eye of mentor Richard E. Grant, who was won over by the film’s clear concept and moving script.

The film has already been shown at British Airways’ BA2012 exhibition, and it will also be shown on flights in the run up to the Olympic games over the summer.

You can find out more about the film’s production, along with other Great Briton winners over on British Airways’ Facebook Page.