Movie Notes: "Blindness" hits Cannes

The Cannes Film Festival opened today with Brazilian director Fernando ("City of God") Meirelles' "Blindness" starring Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo about a plague of blindness sweeping the world. No word yet on how the film was received.

To the relief of absolutely no one and the costernation of quite a few, Michael Moore is working on a followup to "Fahrenheit 9/11" for no apparent reason except he hopes it will bring him back into the spotlight. He plans to release it next year, which, of course, means it will have absolutely no impact on the presidential elections. The film does not have a title yet.

I guess this means we can definitely call "Speed Racer" the first major flop of the year. And just when I thought the movie-going public had lost all semblance of taste.

Three of the four stars of "Sex and the City" make their home in New York. The TV series and the film that spun off from it are set in New York and were shot in New York. So where was the film premiered this week? London. Go figure.

"Maverick" was one of my favorite television shows from my high school years. But only when James Garner appeared as Bret Maverick. Jack Kelly as his brother Bart didn't do that much for me. Bret Maverick actually helped pay my way through college with his "Maverick Poker" (bet someone you can make five pat poker hands from the first 25 cards off the top of a shuffled deck) scam. Made a lot of money off that one. So it's hard to fathom James Garner now at the age of 80, especially when word comes in that he had a minor stroke last week. I understand, however, that the prognosis is good and he should be going home from the hospital in a couple of days, but still, I'm just not ready for Bret Maverick to fold his hand.