WINNERS OF THE 2022 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

The 2022 Cannes Film Festival has ended and they have given out some prizes. The Swedish filmmaker, Ruben Östlund received his second Palme d'Or for his new feature film, "Triangle Of Sadness". This English-language dark satire follows two young models (Harris Dickinson and Charlbi Dean) who are invited on a luxury cruise for the ultra-wealthy in exchange for access to their social media followers. Östlund, who previously won the Palme for his 2017 feature, "The Square", targets the rich in a playfully comic yet stinging way. "Decision to Leave", the latest from Park Chan-wook, about a detective who falls for the widow of a murder victim after she becomes the prime suspect in his investigation won the South Korean filmmaker the Best Director award.

The other two top prizes both had ties as the winners. Clare Denis, with only her second time in the Main Competition since her debut film, "Chocolat" in 1988, won the Grand Prize (which is the runner-up award) for "Stars At Noon", a romantic thriller with Margaret Qualley and Joe Alwyn that is the French director's second film in English. Lukas Dhont, the Belgian filmmaker who had won the Caméra d'Or for his debut, "Girl" in 2018, also won the Grand Prize for his follow-up feature film, "Close" about two teenage boys whose close friendship is suddenly threatened by the prospect of adolescence.

The Jury Prize went to "EO", a drama from Jerzy Skolimowski that follows the life of a donkey in a Polish circus (inspired by Robert Bresson's 1966 film, "Au Hasard Balthazar") and features French acting legend, Isabelle Huppert and "The Eight Mountains" from Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch that explores the friendship between two children in a remote Alpine village who reconnect later as adults. And the Belgian directing brothers, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne received a special prize to celebrate the 75th edition of Cannes for their latest drama, "Tori and Lokita"

Palme d'Or: "Triangle Of Sadness"
Grand Prix (Grand Prize) (Tie): "Stars At Noon" and "Close"
Prix du Jury (Jury Prize) (Tie): "EO" and "Le otto montagne (The Eight Mountains)"
Best Director: Park Chan-wook, "헤어질 결심 (Decision To Leave)"
Best Screenplay: Tarik Saleh, "Boy From Heaven"
Best Actress: Zar Amir Ebrahimi, "Holy Spider"



Best Actor: Song Kang-ho, "브로커 (Broker)"
Best Documentary: "All That Breathes"
Special Jury Prize: "Mariupolis 2"
Camera d’Or: "War Pony"
Camera d’Or (Special Mention): "Plan 75"



Short Film Palme d'Or: "The Water Murmurs"
Special 75th Anniversary Prize: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, "Tori And Lokita"

2022 SUMMER MOVIE PREVIEW

It has been two years since I have done a summer movie preview, largely due to anxious studios reluctant in committing to release movies in an uncertain climate. With the world settling closer to normalcy, there now seems like there will be an actual summer movie season that will finally take place. And while the number of releases still doesn't appear to be nearly as robust as summer seasons past, I have managed to find a number of movies that I'm looking forward to see over the next few months.

All release dates are subject to change:

"FIRE ISLAND"

Release date: June 3, 2022

With a gay twist on "Pride & Prejudice" by Jane Austen, comedian Joel Kim Booster stars and wrote the screenplay for "Fire Island", a romantic-comedy set in the hedonistic gay vacation destination off Long Island. Two best friends (Kim and his real-life buddy, Bowen Yang of "Saturday Night Live") head to Fire Island for a week looking for love and adventure with their small group of friends. Andrew Ahn directs with Conrad Ricamora and Margaret Cho co-starring.



"LIGHTYEAR"

Release date: June 17, 2022

"Lightyear" is a spin-off of the "Buzz Lightyear" action figure in the "Toy Story" animated franchise. This movie creates the origin-story of the movie in which the toy is based upon. With this adventure, Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Chris Evans) attempts to rescue his crew after being stranded on a hostile planet yet winds up time travelling years into the future and must find a way to return home. Keke Palmer, Uzo Aduba, Taika Waititi and James Brolin also lend their voices to the film.



"MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON"

Release date: June 24, 2022

"Marcel the Shell with Shoes On" was originally a series of whimsical short films created by Dean Fleischer-Camp and Jenny Slate about a cute seashell with a single googly eye who wears a pair of little shoes. They have come together to create a live-action/animated feature film with Fleischer-Camp directing and Slate (who voices Marcel) and Nick Paley co-writing the screenplay with him. In this story, Marcel decides to search for his family with the help of a documentary filmmaker who follows the shell on the journey.



"THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER"

Release date: July 8, 2022

After having made 2017's "Thor: Ragnarok" stand out by delivering a solid super-hero adventure with plenty of unexpected humor, actor/director, Taika Waititi has returned to direct the follow-up, "Thor: Love and Thunder". In this film, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), struggling with a mid-life crisis, is forced to return as a hero with Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), his former girlfriend-turned-the Mighty Thor, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and the Guardians of the Galaxy to stop Gorr, the God Butcher (Christian Bale) with his plan to destroy all gods.



"MRS HARRIS GOES TO PARIS"

Release date: July 15, 2022

Lesley Manville, who received a well-deserved Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her brilliant turn in "Phantom Thread", has a leading role in the comedy-drama, "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris". Set in 1950's London, she plays a widowed cleaning lady who becomes obsessed with owning a Dior dress and after receiving some unexpected funds, embarks on an adventure to Paris to have one custom-made for her. Anthony Fabian directs and co-wrote the screenplay with Carroll Cartwright which is adapted from the novel by Paul Gallico.



"BULLET TRAIN"

Release date: August 5, 2022

Based on the Japanese novel "Maria Beetle" by Kōtarō Isaka, the action-comedy, "Bullet Train" follows a trained assassin named "Ladybug" (Brad Pitt) who wants out of the profession yet is pulled in to complete another job involving the collection of a briefcase on a train from Tokyo to Kyoto. However there are a large number of shady and deadly characters on board also trying to get their hands on this bag. The impressive cast includes Brian Tyree Henry, Zazie Beetz, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon and musician, Bad Bunny. Stuntman-turned-filmmaker, David Leitch directs.

2022 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

After the pandemic caused the disruption of the festival over the past two years, the Cannes Film Festival will finally be back in it's complete glory and perfectly timed to celebrate this international cinematic event's seventy-fifth anniversary. The fest is also back in it's usual time period in May, running from the 17th to 28th, with an exciting collection of new films premiering in the Main Competition. As to be expected, anticipated work by some of the best filmmakers in world cinema will be featured and will include Valeria Bruni Tedeschi ("Les Amandiers"), Claire Denis ("Stars At Noon"), David Cronenberg ("Crimes Of The Future"), Arnaud Desplechin ("Frère Et Soeur"), Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne ("Tori and Lokita"), James Gray ("Armageddon Time"), Ruben Ostlund ("Triangle Of Sadness"), Kelly Reichardt ("Showing Up"), Hirokazu Kore-eda ("Broker"), Cristian Mungiu ("RMN") and Park Chan-wook ("Decision To Leave").







Vincent Lindon, who co-starred in last year's Palme d'Or winner, "Titane", will be the Main Jury President presiding over the Fest. Joining the French actor to select the winners of the prizes will be British actor/filmmaker, Rebecca Hall; Norwegian filmmaker, Joachim Trier; Swedish actor, Noomi Rapace; American filmmaker, Jeff Nichols; Indian actor, Deepika Padkone; Iranian filmmaker, Asghar Farhadi; Italian actor/director, Jasmine Trinca and French actor/director, Ladj Ly.

"Coupez! (Final Cut)", from the Oscar-winning director behind "The Artist", Michel Hazanavicius, has been selected to open the festival Out of Competition. A French remake of the 2017 Japanese film, "One Cut of the Dead" features Romain Duris and the director's wife, Bérénice Bejo in this horror-comedy revolving around a crew remaking the film depicted in the original film. Other films making their world premieres out of competition will include "Top Gun: Maverick", the sequel to Tom Cruise's star-making 1986 thrilling drama. Directed by Joseph Kosinski, this new film has Cruise returning as test pilot, Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, who has purposely avoided advancement for thirty-six years, being put in charge of training a group of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission. Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer and Jennifer Connelly also star.



It's been eight years since George Miller's last feature film with "Mad Max: Fury Road" and the Australian director is finally back with "Three Thousand Years Of Longing". This fantasy romantic-drama features the inspired casting of Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba in this story about an encounter in Istanbul between a scholar and a djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom, leading to consequences that neither would have expected.



And "Elvis", the latest from Baz Luhrmann, will make it's world premiere at Cannes. This visually bold bio-pic on the "King of Rock & Roll" (which has received the blessing of his former wife, Priscilla Presley) will examine the life and music of Presley (played by Austin Butler) seen through his complicated relationship with his perplexing manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). "Elvis" is due to be released in U.S. theaters on June 24th, two days after the rest of the globe.



Forest Whitaker will be the recipient of the honorary Palme d’or this year. The Oscar-winning actor ("The Last King of Scotland"), director ("Hope Floats", "Waiting to Exhale") and producer ("Fruitvale Station", "Passing"), previously winning the Best Actor award at Cannes for his breakout performance in Clint Eastwood’s "Bird" in 1988, will have his latest feature he has produced, "For the Sake of Peace" from Christophe Castagne and Thomas Sametin, screened at the Fest on May 18th.

1982: THE SUMMER OF MOVIES

Forty years ago in 1982 is now considered by many to be a landmark year of summer movies. American Cinematheque and Beyond Fest have put together a festival called "1982: The Summer of Movies" that will screen some of the films that were released that year beginning on Tuesday, May 3rd through May 13th. The screenings will be held at the Los Feliz 3 Theatres in Los Angeles and the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.

The films that will be part of this celebration will include sci-fi thrillers ("Blade Runner"; "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan"; "The Road Warrior"; "Tron"), comedies ("Night Shift"; "Dead Men Wear Plaid"), teen comedies ("Fast Times at Ridgemont High"; "The Last American Virgin"), musicals ("The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas", "Grease 2", "Pink Floyd: The Wall"; "Annie"), horror ("Poltergeist"; "Friday the 13th: Part Three": "The Thing"; "Cat People") animated features ("The Secret of Nimh"; "The Last Unicorn") and action-adventure ("Conan the Barbarian"; "The Beastmaster"; "Rocky III").

All screenings will include exclusive clips from the upcoming documentary, "1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever!". For additional information and to purchase tickets, please click below:

1982: The Summer of Movies

I was almost twenty years old at the time and looking back at some of the films that were released over this three month period is actually quite mind-blowing: although varied wildly in style and quality, most of these movies have gone on to become true classics of cinema. Here are a few trailers of a few of my favorites: