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Dan Mecca
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Dan Mecca is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of The Film Stage. He both makes and writes about movies.

Blog Entries by Dan Mecca

Boo Birds, Line-Cutters and Other Jerks You'll Meet at Cannes

(0) Comments | Posted May 28, 2012 | 12:09 PM

Embattled, tired and bittersweet, the final days at Cannes slow down to a mild jog, allowing those who've watched the films and interviewed the filmmakers to take stock in all that's just happened. In short, it's a time to play it all back and reflect on what was seen and...

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Cannes Review 2012: The Paperboy

(1) Comments | Posted May 24, 2012 | 7:28 PM

[Millenium Entertainment ; 2012]
Director: Lee Daniels
Runtime: 107 minutes

Operating on a level of ridiculousness so high it suggests possible intention, Lee Daniels' The Paperboy is a trash pile packed high, high and higher still. Adapted from the Pete Dexter novel of the same name and...

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How to Network at Cannes: 5 Musts for Aspiring Filmmakers

(0) Comments | Posted May 24, 2012 | 10:18 AM

How To Network At Cannes: 5 Musts for Aspiring Filmmakers
By Dan Mecca

As someone who's been there before and learned a whole lot from the experience, I decided to put together some simple tips for networking at the world's premiere film festival.

Call it a blueprint for what...

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On the Road Wanders Aimlessly

(0) Comments | Posted May 23, 2012 | 1:40 PM

On the Road
[IFC Films; 2012]
Director: Walter Salles
Runtime: 137 minutes

The problem with On the Road, directed by Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries), is that it wanders, and in no real direction. Of course, that's the whole point, true to Jack Kerouac's seminal American novel....

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Killing Them Softly: Cannes 2012 Review

(0) Comments | Posted May 22, 2012 | 4:25 PM

Killing Them Softly
[The Weinstein Company; 2012]
Director: Andrew Dominik
Runtime: 104 minutes

Opening and ending with speeches about these United States and the sameness of our promised land, writer/director Andrew Dominik paints his America with blood and cash and well-worn leather. Brad Pitt stars as Jackie...

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Too Much I, Not Enough We in The We and the I

(0) Comments | Posted May 22, 2012 | 10:29 AM

The We and the I
[Next Stop Production; 2012]
Director: Michel Gondry
Runtime: 103 minutes

With each new film, Michel Gondry falls further and further away from his Charlie Kaufman-scripted opus, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Here in Cannes with his new chamber movie of...

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Cannes Report: As the Market Grows, We Wait for the Great One

(0) Comments | Posted May 21, 2012 | 11:36 AM

The press rooms reek of coffee and cigarettes (though they're smoked outside these days), while most films are referred to by the names of their directors, because few have mastered the proper pronunciations of their titles. Yes, France is a country that loves its filmmakers, and those that come to...

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Product of a Super Environment: The Film That Made 'Pretty Good' Good Enough

(12) Comments | Posted May 9, 2012 | 6:37 PM

Up to this point, Marvel's The Avengers has grossed an amount of money that feels unreal. And the worst part? It's pretty good. Fanboy lothario Joss Whedon dutifully delivered a piece of entertainment that appeases the vast populous, young and old, boy and girl. It's just enough to keep us...

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