IMDb's 2024 Cannes Cheat Sheet

You can almost smell the diesel and feel the heat radiating off of the engine block in legendary director George Miller's prequel to 'Mad Max: Fury Road'. Here, the protean Anya Taylor-Joy takes on the earlier iteration of the one-armed avenger of the Wasteland, first played by Charlize Theron. 'Fury Road' blew the doors off the Lumiere Theater when it showed here in 2015 and, from the preview that was shown at Cinema-Con in Vegas, which brought the usually-moribund crowd to its feet, Miller has done it again. Chris Hemsworth gets to play against type as Dementus, an adversary of a villain from 'Fury Road,' a younger Immortan Joe. Immortan is played by Lachy Hulme and not Hugh Keays-Byrne, who assayed him in 'Fury Road,' as Keays-Byrne passed away in 2020 at 73 (and likely couldn't have convincingly played the pre-Immortan anyway). - Out of Competition

In 2013 I talked with Costner at a Critics Choice Awards event, where he was nominated (and won) for the "Hatfields and the McCoys". The mini-series had been a bright spot in a decade of mediocre for the proud star. I told him I was a fan of 2003's 'Open Range' (which he directed & starred in) & asked when he was going to make another Western, knowing the genre was a tough sell with the studio suits & that I might be poking the bear. "I've got one I'm trying to make," he said/sighed, "but I don't know when or how it's going to happen. It's called 'Horizon.' But I'm trying." He seemed determined but also a bit defeated. Now, the film he couldn't get anyone to make 10 years ago makes its debut in front of the Cannes elite, with 'Chapter 2' to follow in August & two more if those films are hits. So, there's my lesson in stick-too-it-tive-ness for this year. - Out of Competition

Hooo-boy, what to make of this trailer? Well, for starters, this film was co-written by Lanthimos & his long-time collaborator, Efthimis Filippou. Together they wrote Lanthimos's early, unique, disturbing, lyrical successses: 2017's 'Killing of a Sacred Deer', 2015's 'The Lobster', & 2009's 'Dogtooth'. So, it's quite likely that this film won't hew to the more approachable narrative tacking of 2018's 'The Favourite' or last year's 'Poor Things', even though 'Kinds' has many of his 'Poor Things' collaborators (Stone, Dafoe, Qualley). Prepare to be disquieted.

Here are writer/director Sean Baker's last three feature films: 2021's 'Red Rocket', 2017's 'The Florida Project', 2015's 'Tangerine'. If you haven't seen them, you should. They are all that's needed to understand the inclusion of 'Anora' on this list.

Francis Ford Coppola ('The Godfather', Apocalypse Now), arrives in Cannes with an impressive cast & plenty of buzz, both good & bad, the latter mostly that the film is so obscure that no major studio will touch it. As Coppola said in an interview with Vanity Fair he based this story, about an architect who wants to rebuild New York after a disaster, upon legendary producer Alexander Korda's 'Things to Come'. That 1936 film looked forward 100 years to 2036, where Space Guns catapult the wealthy to the moon while the poor scrape out a living in devastated, post-war streets. In this recently released clip of 'Megalopolis', it appears that time itself is able to be managed as well. Once again Coppola lays it on the line. The film's entire $120 million budget was financed out of his own pocket, mostly by the sale of some of his winery lands. However the movies plays or doesn't, one has to admire the commitment.

If the poster chokes you up, wait until you see the trailer. Director Ron Howard brings this insider biography (it was done in consultation with Henson's children) to Cannes Classics (and shows up on Disney+ on May 31st). Cannes Classics, which typically shows restorations (such as a new, 4K treatment of 'Paris, Texas') & movie-themed docs (such as 'Faye', about the legendary actress (& legendary handful) Faye Dunaway), is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. I kinda hope Paul Williams shows up for the 'Idea Man' premiere. Heck, he co-wrote 'Rainbow Connection' for 'The Muppet Movie'.

Director/writer David Cronenberg usually delivers movies that get under the skin (both figuratively, and, in his films, literally). His last few Cannes feature outings were muted. 2022's 'Crimes of the Future' and 2014's 'Maps to the Stars' didn't create much of a stir after their May debuts. Perhaps 'The Shrouds' will change all that.

Andrea Arnold's 'American Honey' was an overlooked great work of 2016, likely because of its 163 minute running time. Here's to hoping that Arnold and her editor, Joe Bini, employ a little more rigor, though Bini also edited 'Honey.'

Zhangke Jia also directed 'A Touch of Sin', a much admired, sometimes loved film that won Jia the Best Screenplay award at Canne in 2013. His other films In Competition for the Palme d'Or include 2018's 'Ash is the Purest White' and 2015's 'Mountains May Depart' so 'Tides' is a strong contender for the top prize.

A horror film In Competition? With Demi Moore, Dennis Quaid & Margaret Qualley? Here's to catching director Coralie Fargeat's latest.

I root for Michel Hazanavicius: 'The Artist' won him the 2012 Oscar and made him famous worldwide. and 2014's 'The Search' nearly destroyed him. Then he made underseen, excellent films in 2017's 'Godard Mon Amour' & 'Final Cut', which debuted at Cannes in 2022, based upon a 2017 Japanese film. 'Precious''s animation looks gorgeous and the story heart-rending.

I adore Sorrentino's 'The Great Beauty' and was quite taken with his auto-biographical 'Hand of God'. But then again there's been some misses: 'Youth' and 'This Must Be the Place,' in particular. Let's hope for the best.