 Much like last year, since there’s no official Awards Circuit presence over at the Cannes Film Festival, I plan to bring you the initial reactions to some of the high profile movies making their debuts. First up we have Sofia Coppola’s latest film The Bling Ring, which stars Emma Watson and features in its cast folks like Kirsten Dunst, Leslie Mann, and more. So far, it’s opened to a mixed bag of initial reactions on Twitter (along with a few officially posted reviews). You can find a sample of those quick responses after the jump (Thanks to Matt Singer at Criticwire for finding these for his initial report), but stay tuned for much more on The Bling Ring…
Read more on Twitter Reactions Erupt for Sofia Coppola’s ‘The Bling Ring’ From Cannes!…
 It’s no secret around these parts that Terrence Malick frustrated me more than he pleased me with ‘The Tree of Life’ last year, which basically has been the way his whole career has gone in my eyes (short of ‘Badlands’, which I love). However, I’ve been looking forward to seeing ‘To the Wonder’ more than I usual in regards to a Malick film, since it seemed like this could be the type of project to bring him back more to his roots. Apparently though, he’s taken the style of his last flick and run with it, leading to an even more mixed reaction at the Venice Film Festival this weekend than he had at Cannes last year. From adoring words to boos from the audience, there have been some lovers, but plenty of haters as well it seems. After the jump you can see a sampling of some of the early reactions, but in my humble opinion I think we can cross this one off as a major Oscar player. It’s not out of the hunt yet, but a Best Picture or Best Director win? Nope, that’s not happening. Read on below to find out why…
Read more on Early word paints ‘To the Wonder’ as being just as divisive as ‘The Tree of Life’!…
 Last night, a lucky group of audience members in Santa Monica were treated by none other than Paul Thomas Anderson himself to being the first to see his latest film ‘The Master’. It came after a screening of ‘The Shining’ and was in 70mm, no less. Sites like The Playlist (here) have collected some of the early words on the flick, and suffice to say that they’re through the roof for pretty much all involved. After the jump you can see some of the first reactions that hit the web, and take not that they’re not from my colleagues in the business but just film lovers who were in the right place at the right time. That makes this very interesting in my eyes. Read on below for more on the movie…
Read more on First Reactions to ‘The Master’ are in!…
 I’ll be seeing ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ tomorrow, but late last night (3AM here on the East Coast, though it was midnight over in Hollywood when the embargo came down) the first critical response to Christopher Nolan’s conclusion to the Batman trilogy came in, and they’re about as enthusiastic as you’d expect. There are some mentions of small flaws, but for the most part just about everyone is raving about this flick. I wasn’t sure the anticipation level could rise (no pun intended) any higher than it’s already been at for what feels like months now, but this first batch of reviews has seemingly done that. I’ll be chiming in on Wednesday with my take on the film, as will Clayton, but for now you can see what some of my fellow critics are saying after the jump, and yes, I’ve made sure not to include any spoilers, so fear not. Behold the initial reactions below and let the countdown continue…
Read more on The first reviews for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ are in!…
 I may not be among a huge group of people, but I’m someone who’s actually excited for Marc Webb’s upcoming reboot of the Spider-Man franchise next month. I liked what I saw earlier in the year, and the rumors I’d been hearing were encouraging as well. Critics in England however, have actually seen the movie, and some have put out their early reviews already. You can get a sense of some of them after the jump, but they’re mostly on the positive side. It looks like Andrew Garfield at the very least is a success story. Read on below for more…
Read more on The first reviews for ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ are in!…
 I’m not a Lee Daniels fan at all, having not cared for either of his first two films, and finding his direction to be distracting and often porous. That all being said, I’m always open to a filmmaker surprising me. ‘The Paperboy’ has an intriguing cast (including John Cusack Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, and Matthew McConaughey) and plot, so I was hopeful that Daniels could finally sway me here. The early word from critics is incredibly divided, though most agree that the film is trashy and not especially great…they’re just undecided on how intentional that is (they also are rather obsessed over a certain scene I won’t mention here involving Efron and Kidman). After the jump I’ll share some reviews with you, but it doesn’t look like Daniels has another date with Oscar. Take a gander below…
Read more on Did The Paperboy deliver at Cannes?…
 Continuing our pseudo-coverage of the Cannes Film Festival, we now can report on the first reviews for ‘On the Road’, a film that we at The Awards Circuit have been keeping an eye on for years now. Perhaps not surprisingly, the film is getting a mixed response from critics (also as noted by Pete Hammond on Deadline here), with some falling under its spell and others being left rather cold overall. Clayton and myself are certainly looking forward to seeing this one and deciding for ourselves (though he’s slightly more skeptical of its Oscar hopes than I am…not that either of us are predicting an awards powerhouse), but after the jump you all can see what the early word is on the flick. It’s probably going to be a rather divisive one in general release, and so far that’s been the case over in Europe as well. Check out what some of the reviews said below…
Read more on What path has “On the Road” taken at Cannes?…
 Not only has Andrew Dominik’s film ‘Killing Them Softly’ been going over fairly well so far at Cannes, it’s also been the first flick to stir up some controversy. Star Brad Pitt has had to defend the film against the perception that it’s anti President Obama, according to The Hollywood Reporter here. Apparently, the crime story we all know it to be is also peppered with a number of campaign speeches of Obama’s during the 2008 election season, leading some to insinuate that the story is a critique of that. Pitt says otherwise (and from what I’ve read it seems to go either way), but I suppose we’ll just have to decide for ourselves in a few months. As for the film itself, the reviews have been on the positive side so far, and after the jump I’ll share a few with you, but we might just have a bigger Awards contender on our hands than previously expected (I know I was mildly skeptical of its chances in my Awards Profile of it here one the site). Check out the early word below…
Read more on Killing Them Softly lands hard at Cannes!…
 Those lucky enough to be at the Cannes Film Festival got a nice preview of three of Harvey Weinstein’s big Oscar contenders this year. Select audiences saw a few minutes of ‘The Master’, basically a trailer for ‘The Silver Linings Playbook’, and around 7 minutes of ‘Django Unchained’. While the early word on the two former films has been positive (with ‘The Master’ getting the more effusive praise), it’s the latter flick that’s gotten the most write-up so far. There have been a number of initial responses about Quentin Tarantino’s western, and after the jump you can read a few of the Django specific-ones, courtesy of a piece by Criticwire here. I know we’re all excited about the flick, and as a tease…apparently it’s vintage Tarantino. Read more below!
Read more on What’s the word on the 7 minutes of Django Unchained shown at Cannes?…
 This year’s Opening Night Film at the Cannes Film Festival was Wes Anderson’s new movie ‘Moonrise Kingdom’. I’m not a huge fan of his, but I’m intrigued about this flick. So far, the early word from the fest has been somewhat expected…this is Wes Anderson doing exactly what Wes Anderson specializes in. Criticwire has a piece here that collects the immediate reactions to the film, and those who have seen it seem to all thing about the same of it. After the jump I’ll share some of those quick responses that Matt Singer kindly compiled in his article, but for now we now seem to more or less know what we’re getting with ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ when it opens in theaters stateside next week…
Read more on Moonrise Kingdom debuts at Cannes…what’s the Early Word?…
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