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Woody Allen's ‘Rainy Day In New York' Rumored to Premiere at Venice Film Festival

Good news for Woody Allen’s currently-in-limbo “Rainy Day in New York.” It has been confirmed that an October 3rd Italian release date has been stamped on the film [via Italy’s Lucky Red]. This has led to speculation about a potential Venice Film Festival premiere, which happens a month before the Italian ‘Rainy Day’ release date. This could potentially be a seismic-like, earth-shaking event for the movie world, as Allen has been, by all accounts, unfairly, blacklisted in Hollywood due to Mia and Ronan Farrow taking advantage of the #MeToo movement to exact the revenge they’ve always wanted to perpetrate on Allen. If Venice head Alberto Barbera has the guts to defend Woody Allen, there wouldn’t be a better defense than having “Rainy Day in New York” play at Venice. This isn’t a far-fetched theory either — Variety’s Nick Vivarelli has also mentioned this theory in his piece about the newly announced Italian release date.

Terrence Malick's Latest Should Not Be Taken For Granted

We should take Terrence Malick’s latest film seriously. There are whispers here and there that the Cannes committee was absolutely floored by “A Hidden Life.” This could spell a return to form for Malick. The filmmaker mentioned late last year that he was actually using a script while shooting “A Hidden Life,” — something that he hasn't done since, probably, "The Tree of Life."

Cannes 2019: Abdelatif Kechiche's New Movie May Prove to Be Controversial In More Ways Than One

The news that Abdelatif Kechiche’s “Mektoub: Intermezzo” was chosen today as part of the Cannes lineup was not surprising. I don’t think many in France are complaining about it, but, yeah, it will not doubt be a point of contention here in the U.S. since Kechiche has a serious, year-old sexual assault investigation that was levelled against him.What I have been told is that this latest film features a 25 minute cunnilingus scene. This film is, no doubt, meant to provoke reaction. Cannes will, supposedly, be screening it the last day of the fest, when most American journos are already gone. Then again, would our current-day, social media culture even care about an Abdelatif Kechiche? Probably not. The “uncultured American” has very much turned into an epidemic in the states. You can just see it in the kinds of movies that make the big bucks nowawdays

Indiana Jones 5 To Be Written By ‘Life Itself' and 'This Is Us' Screenwriter Dan Fogelman?

Slash Film has published a reliable-enough-sourced rumor that Indiana Jones 5, starring a 70-year-old Harrison Ford, will be written by Dan Fogelman of “Life Itself” and “This Is Us” fame. If true, I worry.

Fogelman was the scribe of witty pop-culture-oriented fare such as "Crazy Stupid Love” and the somewhat underrated Disney animated flick “Tangled.” However, his screenwriting filmography does also include below-average entities such as "Danny Collins," "Last Vegas," "The Guilt Trip" and "Cars 3.”

I do need to mention this film again, but Fogelman is coming is just coming off it; Life Itself,” which is, honestly, one of the absolute worst big-studio screenplays of the last few years. Critic April Wolfe described the movie quite well, actually, in her review: "The Crash-meets–Collateral Beauty false-gravitas joke of the year."

If the rumor is correct that he has been hired to rewrite the Indy 5 script, which had previously been worked on by David Koepp and Jonathan Kasdan, then this is a major change in plans Howere, one must logically think that, by hiring him, supposed-director Steven Spielberg and Producer George Lucas have enough confidence in Fogelman, and the pitch that he surely gave to them, so as to know that this cannot, under any circumstances, be another ‘Crystal Skull”-level fiasco. Indy fans have suffered enough since the release of that film.

As mentioned, Spielberg is set to direct, this would be his next film immediately following the currently-in-production “West Side Story.”

Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' Confirmed for Cannes; Other additions Include Gaspar Noe, Abdelatif Kechiche and Patricio Guzman

Well, I did tell you people not to worry. Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” was very much going to be included in this year’s Cannes competition — Tarantino desperately wanted to be there. It was finally confirmed today that, along with Abdellatif Kechiche‘s “Mektoub My Love: Intermezzo,” Tarantino’s movie will indeed play in competition at Cannes in two weeks. It will screen on May 21st, which would mark exactly 25 years since Pulp Fiction had its Cannes debut.

Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux: The film is a “love letter to the Hollywood of his childhood, a rock music tour of 1969, and an ode to cinema as a whole.”

As for Mektoub, which, I was told, includes a prolonged sex scene, Kechiche-style, Fremaux said he “saw the film last Thursday, as it was still being edited, and definitely right in the middle of edits.” Running four effing hours, Intermezzo will screen at the end of the festival “so the DCP has time to get there.”

Gaspar Noé’s “Lux Aeterna” and Patricio Guzmán’s “La Cordillera de los sueños “were also note-worthy additions in today’s lineup announcement. The Noe is supposed to be 50 minutes in length and is a midnight screening. Wowza.

The Most Important Movie of the Quentin Tarantino's Career?

I will be at Cannes next week, but they still haven't announced Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood," despite the fact that, from what I've heard, it will indeed premiere there. I'm just thinking they are taking their sweet-ass time to announce it because this will be such a game-changer for them, in terms of much-needed EXPOSURE in the States. So sad, how American interest in Cannes is waning, to the point where people are complaining there aren't enough movies from the U.S. premiering there -- I mean, how culturally ignorant a nation? Has it stooped that low since Marvel/Disney took over the entire industry?