Behind the Candelabra

Steven Soderbergh Movies

Steven Soderbergh Movies

My post on Steven Soderbergh movies is the first Director Spotlight I’ve done of filmmaker who’s no longer actively making movies, but with Soderbergh’s retirement so new and so odd (at least to me), it doesn’t yet feel like he’s gone away. Steven Soderbergh started making movies around the same time the Coen Brothers did, […]

The Best Movies of 2013 So Far

The Best Movies of 2013 So Far

It’s been an OK movie year so far. I’ve given a number of titles 3.5 stars; just one movie earned 4 stars. Yet, when I look over this list, I can’t help but think most of these films miss out on my end-of-year top ten list. I’m just not over-the-moon about many movies this year […]

Sunday Afternoon with Criterion: George Washington Edition

Sunday Afternoon with Criterion: George Washington Edition

I: Intro II: Steven Soderbergh and the Criterion Collection III: George Washington IV: What’s New? V: Links Intro Welcome to Sunday Afternoon with Criterion, a series of weekly posts on JohnLikesMovies.com covering everything Criterion—the company’s newest releases, just announced projects, reviews, lists, links, and more. With the debut of Steven Soderbergh’s final feature film, Behind […]

Behind the Candelabra Review

Behind the Candelabra Review

RATING: (3.5 STARS) For his feature film swan song, director Steven Soderbergh has elected to tell a sordid tale about sex, drugs, plastic surgery, possible incest, and shattered dreams. Behind the Candelabra also happens to be a biopic chronicling the latter years of music legend Liberace. Dubbed (by himself and those around him) “Mr. Showmanship,” […]

10 Things We Learned from Cannes 2013

10 Things We Learned from Cannes 2013

10.) The Coens can do no wrong. Of course you knew that already, right? Wait, you didn’t?!? Well Inside Llewyn Davis was one of the best received films of the festival, and it took home the Competition’s Grand Prix award. So let me reiterate: The Coens can do no wrong. They are the best filmmakers […]

And the 2013 Palme d’Or Goes To…

And the 2013 Palme d’Or Goes To…

Everyone in Cannes will be wearing blue tonight. Abdellatif Kechiche (and in an unprecedented move, his two lead actresses, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux) took home the coveted Palme d’Or at this evening’s Cannes Film Festival closing ceremony for his newest film, Blue Is the Warmest Color. It was arguably the best received film of […]

2013 Cannes Awards Predictions

2013 Cannes Awards Predictions

Now that every Competition film has screened, we have but 24 hours to wait for the Palme d’Or and Cannes’ other big awards to be handed out. Here’s where I’m thinking the Spielberg jury might land: Palme d’Or (Best Film): The Past This is arguably the most wide-open Palme race in a number of years. […]

The 2013 Cannes Lineup

The 2013 Cannes Lineup

Looking over the 2013 Cannes lineup, which was announced this morning, it’s hard to identify the “big story.” The Competition lineup contains a good mix of the expected and some pleasant surprises (Roman Polanski’s Venus in Furs being the most high-profile of those surprises). No stunning omissions or head-scratching inclusions. Just a rock-solid-sounding group of […]