versiunea 1.3. redux (incl. ROCKLAND & alinland)
All nominations out, Awards on Jan. 11th 2026.
https://celebmix.com/the-2026-golden-globe-nominations-are-here-see-the-full-list/#google_vignette
Tops, Sinners, One Battle After Another, Frankenstein, The Secret Agent, and Sirat, mostly Sirat ;)
Sentimental Value, Hamnet, Park Chan-wook's No Other Choice remain to be seen.
I guess The Voice of Hind Rajab as the Panahi, not my faved at all, due to their own political agenda that is not Cinema for some of us.
Such are the moments of Cannes !
Honorary Palme d'Or to Robert De Niro !!!
At the peak of the evening, a standing ovation greeted Leonardo DiCaprio’s entrance. The American actor, who owes his breakout and his encounter with Martin Scorsese to Robert De Niro, expressed his admiration before presenting him with an Honorary Palme d’or:
“Tonight, I have the immense honor of standing before you to pay tribute to someone who is our model. Robert De Niro’s legacy lies in how he inspired actors to treat their craft not just as solo performance but as transformation. Robert De Niro is not just a great actor—he is The Actor. With Martin Scorsese, they told some of cinema’s most legendary stories, uncompromising stories. They didn’t just make movies—they redefined what cinema could be. They elevated the actor-director relationship into a crucible of risk-sharing.”
In response, the cinema legend addressed the Grand Théâtre Lumière with a call to action—for freedom and democracy, without delay:
“My sincere thanks to the Festival de Cannes for creating this community, this universe, this ‘home’ for those who love telling stories on the big screen. The Festival is a platform for ideas, a celebration of our work. Cannes is fertile ground for new projects. (...)
In my country, we are fighting tooth and nail to defend democracy—something we once took for granted. This concerns everyone. Because the arts are, by nature, democratic. Art is inclusive; it brings people together. Art is a quest for freedom. It embraces diversity. That’s why art is a threat today. That’s why we are a threat to the autocrats and fascists of this world.
We must act—now. Without violence, but with passion and determination. The time has come. Everyone who believes in freedom must organize, protest, and vote in elections. Tonight, we reaffirm our commitment by honoring the arts—and liberty, equality, and fraternity.”
To conclude this opening ceremony and launch twelve days of screenings for the 78th edition, American director Quentin Tarantino took the stage and, with full voice, declared: “IT’S MY HONOUR TO DECLARE THE 78TH FESTIVAL OPEN!!!”
Warfare, Alex Garland's follow-up to last year Civil War, team him with Iraq war veteran Ray Mendoza, his military advisor on Civil War, to tell the story of a f**ked up Navy Seals mission in 2006's Ramadi, Iraq. It's the grittiest battle of that war and this is a small vignette of an isolated team stuck in the chaos. The film plays in real time !
Tough, gritty, realistic, treated as a documentary, Warfare is a standalone piece of cinema, on the footsteps of Black Hawk Down and The Hurt Locker. Also it had 1/3 of their budgets.
No music on 90 minutes of carnage and chaos, just an end credits song by Low ("Dancing and Blood", from 2018. Fantastic sound design from Glenn Freemantle (Oscar for Gravity).
Gene Hackman, one of the greatest Actors there ever was, (it's said he could play Anyone and Antything), died on Tuesday Feb. 26th. He was 95. He died suddenly along his wife and their dog ! His wife (the 2nd, married in 1991), the pianist Betsy Arakawa, was 64 ! The Police of Santa Fe discovered all three of them....
During the last 3-4 years I re-saw /saw again some of his films with the fear he'll die any moment. So, there was him at his most funniest in Get Shorty, the neo-noir Heist, action mentoring channeling The Conversation part -Tony Scott's Enemy of the State (2 bad it had Will Smith as a lead, if could've been Denzel or Jamie Foxx it'll rock more today), more good action thriller-The Package and the comedy I caught up Heartbreakers. Forgot he had a cameo in The Mexican when I gave that film another shot (totally hated it when it came out), tried to see again The Royal Tenenbaums but remembered how he quarreled with Wes Anderson (which I find completely overrated) and paused it. It's a great part but not a lengthy on. Also discovered some gems like The Hunting Party (1971), The Split (bit cop part) when Jim Brown died and recently, when Kris Kristofferson passed I saw Cisco Pike (1971). Brilliant wicked part for Gene Hackman, probably last seen by me.
He was retired since 2004 after the lesser comedy Welcome to Moosesport. He was painting and writing thriller noir/ history fiction novels.
My faves after the obvious characters of Popeye Doyle, Harry Caul, Little Bill Daggett and Lex Luthor are Crimson Tide, Prime Cut, The Scarecrow, French Connection II (he's better in Frankenheimer's sequel than in Friedkin's hit, it's harder bit too imo) , Bite the Bullet, Night Moves, Eureka, Under Fire, so on...
Most amusingly he played the blindman in Mel Brooks' parody Young Frankenstein, in 1974, uncredited. It's kind of a cameo but now every obit mentions it as an important part. Come on, you AI generation morons...
As a kid I saw him first in cinemas in Superman, The Poseidon Adventure, The Domino Principle, Marooned, Zandy's Bride, The Gypsy Moths (that on TV). Then later his breakthrough part in Bonnie & Clyde.
He was a superb villain always, suave and smiling. Also he could play men in uniform, military authority at best. And grand in westerns. But his secret gift was comedy. He Is, was and will be one of my favorite Actors. And as far as I checked everyone says he was the Best Actor that ever IS !
"If you look at yourself as a star, you've already lost something in the portrayal of any human being."
Gene Hackman (1930-2025)
Coraline Fargeat's second feature The Substance (after her thriller Revenge in 2017), won best screenplay in last year's Cannes Film Festival. Should've won best actress for Demi Moore but they gave that for ensemble to Emilia Perez. No comments. But now Demi has won the Golden Globe, will be nominated for an Oscar and I hope she wins, she deserves that totally and More than that.
Note on Jan. 23d: Nominated for 5 Oscars, Coraline Fargeat for Directing and original screenplay, Demi Moore for best actress, make up and hair stilling and Best Picture ! My predictions, Demi and maybe best screenplay !
Also Margaret Qualley is great in it (and stunning). You've seen her in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Lanthimos' Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness and Drive-Away Dolls. Her future is Bright !
Dennis Quaid plays cartoonlike a caricature of a manager, Ray Liotta was supposed to play this part but he died before the film production. I think Quaid is better, 'cos he played a lot of straight characters, while Liotta was lampooning himself in a lot of his films.
Fargeat's film I found more digerable than Julia Ducournau's exploits, Grave /Raw and Titane, which are overdone and overbearing. Keep in mind, if a male director would've done this film in 2024, no festival would've touch it and he would've been "luggered" (or lapidated). Anyway, I don't think a man could've done the same kind of approach and message, it's a woman's film about women's condition in the showbiz industry, and not only, about aging and about the compromises you make in order to be noticed. It's a very superficial world and it fades out quickly, but the subject is treated with acidity, irony and black humor. And great body horror gore practical effects. The whole thing could've been summarized in the opening and closing of the film, with the story star on the Hollywood Boulevard (a great short imo).
The music is by British artist Raffertie (Benjamin but it's more like a sound design, pounding and very effective. Can't be listened separately tho.
See it in a cinema, for the sound design, set design, bright costumes (that yellow coat, that pink bodysuit), the cinematography (by Benjamin Kracun) and the visceral effect.
Also warning, not for the faint at/of heart, and sensible stomachs !!!
Die Theorie von Allem /The Universal Theory is a very strange little film. Deutsche Timm Kröger s third feature, after The Trouble with Being Born (2020) and The Council of Birds (2014).
Premiered in Venice 2023 fest and won Bisato d'Oro award, won the Jury Prize in Sitges and best visual effects and cinemtography at German Film Awards 2024.
Gorgeous black and white cinematography in 2.35.1 widescreen (shot in SudTirol by Roland Stuprich, in the splendor of a white majestic winter)
Found the whole soundtrack on youtube here.
Though there is terrible boredom in between and the film has no rhythm, could've been 15 mins. shorter, would've helped. A lot, IMO. Even flawed, it's a unique kind of film and deserves to be seen on the big screen (which in very limited release happens now in Romania, brought by Cay Films (Red Rooms, Oddity, The Apprentice), in what it is the most Curio of the year!-well, when I saw it there was no one in the theatre, so hurry up).
Mixed reviews complain about the third act mostly, which I think was the best.
Mixing quantum physics with a Multiverse plot thriller its not easy. 1962 feels like 1930s here, the atmosphere is very in the inbetween wars (interbelique). The actors might be the week link, or such are they supposed to be (the lead, Jan Bülow as physician Johannes Leinert is like an alien, French Olivia Ross as Karin, the pianist, is like a Nouvelle Vague apparision (Karina?). There are the two scientists, dr. vs prof., Hanss Zischler (Munich), acting at his most severe and Gottfried Breitfuss, a grotesque character. The two cops (kommisaren) are out of a Billy Wilder picture.
References, subliminal or on purpose: Hitchcock, Lang, Wilder, Orson Welles The Trial, The Third Man, best B & W compared with Schindler's List, Cold War, Mank and Kafka (Soderberg's). People mention Lynch and Polanski, but all there it's way older. I bet.
Thomas Mann's Der Zauberberg / Magic mountain (obvious reference of the hotel Esplanade) mixes with The Lady Vanishes and Orson Welles' The Trial, Reed's The Third Man, reminded me also of 1964' odd thriller 36 Hours.
”A strange place between nostalgia and paranoia” (Timm Kröger)
interview with Kröger here:
7 out of 10 / 3 1/2 out of 5 !
"You can't kill Rock'n Roll. "
Just as Paul Di'Anno died at 66
Ozzy Osbourne was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame y-day in Cleveland, for the 2nd time, 1st as a member of Black Sabbath in 2016. Jack Black said his introduction, naming Ozzy "the jack Nicholson of rockn'roll". Various musicians played afterwards three songs (Crazy Train, No More Tears), featuring Chad Smith, Robert Trujillo, Zack Wylde, Billy Idol, Wolfgang Van Halen. Ozzy mentioned in his speech Randy Rhoads and his wife, Sharon.
Ozzy is 75 and retired, his last album to-date was the 2022, Patient no. 9.
Canadian thriller/horror/psychological drama in French (shot in Montreal) screening now in Romanian Theaters (very selected;). Distributed by Cay Films (their best entry on their roaster)
Sitges and Fantasia entry, awarded at various film fests of last year, this film deserves to be better known. I had an inner feeling seeing the poster but had no clue about it. So, I was happy I went to see it in the cinema, it was an imersing experience.
A twist on the serial killer game, focusing on their groupies, and a descent into "The Dark Web" more realistic than any I've seen so far.
It' s also a first fare into the genre (cross-over) by writer/director Pascal Plante, Les Chambres Rouges/ Red Rooms -in Romanian it's "Camera rosie" (singular instead of plural!)
Great score (John Carpenter style by Dominique Plante, I guess it's the director's wife), sound design, acting (Juliette Gariepy is sensational as Kelley-Anne!, she looks alike a young Madeleine Stowe but with an uncanny glance intensity, then there is big-eyed Laurie Biron as Clementine ), masterfully shot (a lot of long takes, the first one in the courtroom is quite a tour-de-force), interesting choice of framing (1.50:1), atmospheric and mysterious, with high tension psychologically and emotionally.
Reminded me of David Cronenberg and a bit of Repulsion.
See it in a cinema if you can ! Also not for the faint of heart (rated R-N 15)
I was expecting Jonathan Glazer's fourth feature with much anticipation. He doesn't make a a lot of films, four in over 20 years...the 1st one, Sexy Beast (2000) stuck with me from the first frame, Birth (2004) so and so and last one ten years ago , Under the Skin (2013) was an UFO of the foremost cinematic kind (in my Top of 2014 films and soundtracks). So, when I first about the plot of his new film that took ten years to make, The Zone of Interest, the fact that is shot in German and on location in Poland's Auschwitz-Birkenau made me want to see it more than any film in last year's Festival de Cannes. I am now totally convinced it should've won Palme d'Or more and much more than Anatomy of a Fall, which is for me one of the most overrated films of 2023. Zone won Cannes' Prix du Jury in 2023, the FIPRESCI prize and two tech awards, Johnnie Burn for the sound and Mica Levi for the music (the Cannes soundtrack award).
One of last year's best and most powerful films (also in cinematic language) , where what you hear is more important than what you see-and go and see it in a cinema, it plays now near you.
Will definetly win the Oscar for the best foreign film and sound, it's nominated for 5 categories including best film and best direction. More than Nolan and Scorsese Glazer's direction is topnotch, original, artful, an observational film, experimental, in many ways avant-garde.
no surprises here, 13 nods for Oppenheimer (14 at BAFTA's), 11 for Poor Things & 10 for Killers of the Flower Moon.
but
just obscene to have Barbie nominated for adapted screenplay...not to mention "best film". It's not that I'm sexist, but also this is not That Feminist Movie (TFM) that changed the world. Just the Box Office, as in "the most succesful film directed by a woman". Well, if Bigelow, Kathryn would've directed Avatar 2 or something, this would've been done b.fore..
my bets are on those I put on Bold and Italics.
