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Showing in competition, domestic drama The Past is the follow-up to Oscar-winning A Separation by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi. A devastating tale of secrets, lies and scalding, squirm-inducing truths, it will surely feature come awards time. Set in Paris, it sees Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) return from Tehran after a four-year absence to sign the divorce papers on his marriage to Marie (The Artist`s Berenice Bejo), a French woman who balances motherhood with a job in...

Wow. Christopher Nolan's made no secret over the years of his love of the James Bond franchise; he named it as an influence on his first two "Batman" movies, directly paid homage to "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" in "Inception," and has often said that he's like to direct a film in the franchise at some point. But given that he's one of the few directors who could greenlight absolutely anything, we'd always wondered if it was something of a pie in the sky idea, despite his enthusiasm -- especially given that many, including Sam Mendes, talked about Nolan's influence ...

When "The Past" opens, we see a couple communicating through a thick pane of glass at an airport. They can't hear each other, but through gestures and mouthed words, they can get the gist of what the other is saying, but between them is an immovable object that prevents a full understanding of what they mean to say. And it's an apt visual metaphor with which "A Separation" director Asghar Farhadi's opens his latest film, a picture that finds four lives thrown into turmoil over hidden feelings, confused emotions and a dark secret that could change everything.When Ahmad (...

Given his status as the UK`s premiere director of large-scale event cinema, it was perhaps inevitable that Christopher Nolan would become linked to the vacant director`s chair on Bond 24, and sure enough, that`s exactly what`s happened. The Daily Mail`s Baz Bamigboye reports that Nolan is in early talks with Bond bigwigs Barbara Broccoli and Michael G .Wilson, with a view to the director stepping into the position recently vacated by Sam Mendes. Our instant reaction to this one would be that with Nolan embarking upon pre-production on his forthcoming sci-fi film Interstellar, the likelihood o...

The recent behind-the-scenes featurette for apocalypse comedy This Is The Endmade much of its wide array of celebrity cameos, and the latest clip follows a similar pattern, with Emma Watson shacking up with the boys at James Franco`s house. With all of LA seemingly a burning wasteland outside, Watson tips up clutching an axe and talking about an impending zombie holocaust. Naturally, this is disturbing news, although Franco seems more concerned about how the sleeping arrangements are going to pan out... Take a look, below... Hopefully the slew of cameos won`t become too indulgent, but when the...

Sylvester Stallone has taken to Twitter to tease forthcoming sequel The Expendables 3, confirming Mickey Rourke`s return before hinting at some other new arrivals. "Mighty Mickey is back" tweeted the action star, revealing that Rourke will return to reprise his role as tattoo artist, Tool. However, Stallone didn`t stop there, hinting that both Jackie Chan and Wesley Snipes are officially on board...Mighty Mickey is back............ -...

A new red-band trailer has arrived forThe Hangover Part 3, in which Alan reminisces about the adventure so far, before revealing that he must leave the Wolfpack for good. Naturally, this resolution lasts for all of five minutes, as it isn`t long before the boys are on the road again, in over their heads in another outlandish adventure. This time, their troubles are all the work of Leslie Chow, who owes a lot of money to some very angry people. One of who, pleasingly enough, is "Black Doug"! Take a look, below... We`ve said it before, but we`re still not sure about beefing up Chow`s involvement...

CANNES -- Switching gears after several surrealist comic features and medium-length works, French filmmaker Alain Guiraudie delivers a dark and at times, absorbing contemplation on love, sex, desire and murder with the minimalist homoerotic drama, Stranger by the Lake (L`Inconnu du lac). Set entirely in one summery location, this not-very-straight story of a man`s infatuation with a local killer is at once lighthearted and gloomy, passionate and pared-down, and despite some longueurs, it provides a powerful critique on the dangers of social isolation and carefree living. A longtime vetera...

With superhero sequels ten a penny these days, its somewhat surprising that we`ve yet to see a follow-up to 2004`s The Incredibles, although according to Brad Bird, there could yet be a sequel coming our way. "I have been thinking about it," admits the director. "People think that I have not been, but I have. Because I love those characters and love that world. I am stroking my chin and scratching my head." "I have many, many elements that I think would work...

Michael Meyer is joining Good Universe, the motion picture financing and production company, as executive vp of international. He previously served as executive vp of international business and legal affairs at Lionsgate. In his new post, he will partner with Helen Lee-Kim, president of international, to grow Good Universe's international film business, including aligning the company with third party producers and financiers, creating co-financing opportunities, and developing new business. His responsibilities will include oversight of business and legal affairs and overall administration ...

Image Entertainment has picked up North American rights to Last Love, the drama from Mostly Martha director Sandra Nettlebeck starring Oscar winner Michael Caine. Image plans to bow the film, which Global Screen is selling in Cannes theatrically this Fall. Global Screen has already locked up multiple presales on the title, with deals for Germany (Senator), Spain (A Contracorriente) and Benelux (A-Film) signed ahead of Cannes and new territories including Hong Kong (Edko Communications) and Turkey (MIR Productions) recently boarding the project. The German sales agent said it expects to se...

The Weinstein Co. has inked a deal for Stephen Frears` Philomena paying $6.5 million for the U.S., Canada and Spain. The film stars Judi Dench as Philomena Lee, an Irish woman who searches for her son that she was forced to give up for adoption as a teenager, and is based on BBC correspondent Martin Sixsmith's 2009 book, "The Lost Child of Philomena Lee." British comedian Steve Coogan stars opposite Dench in the film which he co-wrote with Jeff Pope and stars as a journalist who helps Lee search for her son. The title is being shopped to distributors at the Marche du Film by Pathe Internat...

HONG KONG - International Film Festival Rotterdam will award 50,000 euros to the Dutch producers of Paraguayan director Pablo Amar`s La ultima terra and Chilean filmmaker Niles Atallah`s Rey as part of its initiative to encourage co-productions in the Netherlands. Fortuna Films, joint producers of La ultima terra with Sapukai Cine from Paraguay and also co-producers alongside France`s Mandra Films and Brazil`s Bananeira Filmes, is one of two recipients of this year`s Hubert Bals Awards Plus as announced by the IFFR in a statement on Thursday. The other winner is Circe Films, who are co-prod...

Dev Patel will star in The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan for producer Edward R. Pressman and Prashita Chaudhary`s Cinemorphic Entertainment Company. Patel, star of Slumdog Millionaire and...

Veteran independent film executive Cassian Elwes and Robert Ogden Barnum are teaming to form new financing and production company e2b Capital, with an eye to working on 10 to 12 films annually. Working with producers, talent agencies and foreign sales companies, e2b will arrange equity financing, gap financing and other debut solutions. The Los Angeles-based operation is a natural extension of the collaboration between Elwes and Barnum on a number of films,...

Southern Europe continues to face economic challenges, which have affected the film-market presence and activity of buyers and sellers from traditional cinema powerhouses Spain and Italy. Box-office revenue declined 8 percent in Italy and 6.5 percent in Spain last year, according to the European Audiovisual Observatory. The first quarter showed a further 7 percent drop in Spain and 6.8 percent decline in Italy. The crisis is expected to again cast a shadow over Cannes. At the American Film Market in November, major di...

A review of "The Office" series finale coming up just as soon as I sell ceramic tile out of Newark... "There's a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn't that kind of the point?" -Pamela Beasley HalpertEarlier today, I published a long appreciation of "The Office" and the volatile mix of elements that could often make it one of the great comedies of our era, and then at times make it an unwatchable mess. One of the things I really admired about the Greg Daniels-penned "Goodbye Michael" - which for a long time felt like it should've been the series finale - was how it manage...

I may need to lie down. The season finale of "Scandal" was so packed with ups and downs and twists and turns I may be a little sick to my stomach. Some story lines were tied up with a neat little bow, while others were clearly left in a big, knotted mess for next season. Of course, spoilers galore. I'm just hoping I can keep track of them all. Olivia and the gladiators (someone needs to create a retro doo-wop band with that title) spend a considerable amount of time trying to unravel the whole Cytron card mess. In short, they discover what we already knew (David Rosen!)...

Syfy's "Warehouse 13" is being closed up for good - at least after next season. The network has renewed the sci-fi series for an abbreviated fifth and final season, according to Deadline. The final six episodes will go into production this summer and air in 2014. "'Warehouse 13' has been an incr...

A few quick thoughts on tonight's "Hannibal" - and other recent developments on the show - coming up just as soon as I take a hammer to my chimney... Other end-of-season bits of work have gotten in the way of me writing anything about the previous two episodes of the show - both of them dealing with Dr. Lecter's side career as the Chesapeake Ripper - which is a shame, as they were two of the strongest episodes so far, and boasted fine guest performances by Eddie Izzard and Gillian Anderson (who continued tonight as Lecter's therapist). My hope is that once most of the ne...