Despite what I’m hearing has been a lukewarm reaction to James Gray’s “Armageddon Time,” the L.A. test-screening that occurred on Tuesday night was obviously not filled with Gray’s cabal of fans.

James Gray’s “Armageddon Time” was screened last night in L.A. This is his first movie after the long-delayed “Ad Astra” finally hit theaters two Septembers ago to positive reviews.

Never discount a true filmmaker, even with studio interference. The obvious comparisons are “Hamlet,” “Gladiator,” and with a dash of “Game of Thrones” for good measure.

This year’s Berlinale winner, Carla Simón’s “Alcarràs” was just bought by the streaming service MUBI. It is now set for a brief theatrical release in late 2022 before going to streaming.

Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale” will not be at Cannes. The film is “simply not ready.” This opens the door now for Aronofsky to yet again compete at Venice in September, it would mark the fifth of his last six movies to have its world premiere at the Venezia.

What do you do after you’ve embarrassed yourself in front of a worldwide audience of millions? You escape to Dubai and lay low with your best friend the Crown Prince.

I’ll take this Iranian court ruling with a major grain of salt, thank you very much.

Just as last night’s Malick report went live, a screenwriter friend emailed me this bit on the whereabouts of “The Last Planet”:

Alright, so here we are and the Cannes Film Festival still has no jury president announced, let alone a jury. The majority of the lineup isn’t even ready, even though it is set to be revealed next Tuesday. That’s how Cannes does it, they live for drama and controversy.

I have given up, for now, on gathering any kind of intel on Terrence Malick’s “The Last Planet.” A major film Festival boss recently confided that there is a “big circle of silence” going on with the film.

Valérie Lemercier, a Céline Dion superfan, has made a touching biopic of the Quebec singer, in which she embodies the artist, flesh and blood; her rise from poverty to the glory of musical superstardom.

Yes, 87-year-old director Roman Polanski keeps making movies, and all the better for it. Americans have never seen the incredible “An Officer and A Spy,” Polanski’s last movie, because no American distributor would dare touch it in this the #MeToo era.

It pains me to state that Judd Apatow’s “The Bubble” is easily the worst film of his career, but it is. In fact, it’s unwatchable, a film filled with annoying characters and a pandemic-era premise that just doesn’t really feel fresh or original.

With the Will Smith backlash growing on a near-daily basis, and the actor even quitting the Academy (before an inevitable expulsion would have happened), Apple TV must be quite nervous right about now.

When Joel Coen did publicity on “The Tragedy of Macbeth” late last year he had mentioned that his brother Ethan was done making movies and would concentrate on theatre.

The first three months of the 2022 movie year have been pretty horrid. That stops, for at least a moment, today with the release of Justin Kurzel’s “Nitram,” The Daniels’ “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” and Richard Linklater’s “Apollo 10 1/2.”