Cannes 2016 critics choices

Cannes has come and gone again but the life of the films that played the festival is just beginning. The awards only tell part of the story. Critic's reviews, word-of-mouth buzz and festival play will tell another story and then distribution will have the final say.

Here is the biggest critical consensus.

Here is the IndieWire critical ratings for best films.

Here is the Screen Daily critics scorecard.

Here is something I put together - it's the ratings rankings of the Cannes films from users on Letterboxd.

DGA Best 80

This DGA list here is why I have mostly stopped reviewing movies. It's like no matter how many great old classics that me and my fellow bloggers blog about the information just falls into a black hole and we end up with a list of bland, predictable, standard 'classics'.

The news isn't only that one female director makes the list; the news is that when film directors are polled about what they consider the best films directed [worldwide] over the past 80 years they put films like BIRDMAN and AVATAR on the list.

Old movie discoveries 2015

 watched well over 200 movies last year. Many were older movies that I discovered or finally caught up with.
Here are twelve I enjoyed.

CHAMPAGNE FOR CAESAR [1950] Ronald Coleman, the smartest man in the world, takes on Vincent Price, the most arrogant CEO in the world.

WILL PENNY [1967] Charlton Heston as a lonely ranch hand drifter.

GAMBIT [1966] Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine plan a heist and nothing goes as planned.

TRAPEZE [1956] Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Gina Lollobrigida swing from the trapeze – with no net!

WOMAN ON THE RUN [1950] A San Francisco noir in which a woman looks for her husband who is a suspect in a murder.

THE KING OF COMEDY [1982] Robert DeNiro is funny crazy not funny ha ha.

LONELY ARE THE BRAVE [1962] Kirk Douglas is a cowboy off-the-grid in a desperate way.

SUNFLOWER [1970] Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren get married and then war pulls them apart.

THE QUIET AMERICAN [1958] - Michael Redgrave gives the film the weight it needs to be tragic and memorable.

STARS IN MY CROWN [1950] Joel McCrae is a sheriff and a preacher; say your prayers!

YO YO [1965] Pierre Étaix and his excellent comedy of manners.

RED SKIES OF MONTANA [1952] Richard Widmark is a smoke jumper who might also be a coward.