Let's see: a serious, multigenerational, semi-autobiographical family drama starring Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson and Julia Roberts -- it sure sounds like Oscar buzz for Fireflies in the Garden should have gotten turned up to 11 by now. There hasn't really been any; the bad reviews from the film's out-of-competition premiere at Berlin probably didn't help. Still, that cast is tough to beat (there's also Ryan Reynolds, Carrie Anne-Moss and Hayden Panettierre), and the movie should be able to land with at least a minor splash if its eventual US distributor puts in a bit of effort.

There's now a full international trailer up at one of the film's websites. If the movie does indeed suck, the trailer doesn't telegraph the suckage -- it makes the film look solid, respectable. The reviews, on the other hand, make it sound embarrassing, with the sort of logistical difficulties (Texas failing to stand in for Chicago; implausible casting of younger and older versions of the same characters) that shouldn't really plague a production this high-profile.

Director Dennis Lee is making his feature debut after directing a well-received short film called Jesus Henry Christ. It's a heck of a pedigree for a first film, though the scenario and the reviews (and the director's last name) make me think of Jieho Lee's The Air I Breathe -- a feature debut by a director with a strong short on his resume, and a spectacular cast, that turned out to be completely unwatchable.

One of my dreams for when I'm a millionaire is to spend a year crisscrossing the globe, just traveling from one film festival after another. I've already got the major ones lined up: Sundance in January, South By Southwest in March, Tribeca in April, Cannes in May, Toronto in September; the rest of the slots are still to be determined. I bet if you had unlimited resources, you could literally spend every day of the year at some film festival somewhere.

Well, the helpful folks at Variety have got my back. In Monday's issue, they have an article called 50 Unmissable Film Festivals, and it reads like a wish list for avid film lovers. They list the "Big Five" -- Berlin, Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, and Venice -- right off, then list the rest alphabetically, from Adelaide to Warsaw.

Some of the ones you'd expect to see are on the list. South By Southwest, Telluride, AFI, CineVegas. And then there are others, mostly foreign fests, that I'd never heard of. And I am intrigued!

Camerimage, held in Lodz, Poland, is where "cinematographers are given the rock-star treatment"! What about Courmayeur Noir, at the foot of the Italian Alps, where the focus is mysteries, horror, and suspense films? I've never been to Iran, and can't imagine ever going -- so perhaps my future millionaire self, flanked by dozens of bodyguards, will visit some February for the Fajr Film Fest.

From Guadalajara to Eastern Europe to Seoul to Nantucket (I once knew a man from there!), there's a cool-looking film festival in just about every corner of the world. If you love movies and traveling, check out Variety's list and feel jealous about what you're missing.

The man behind both my beloved Basquiat and 2000's Before Night Falls has a few movies coming down the pike. Our James Rocchi already reviewed Julian Schnabel's Le Scaphandre et le Papillon, which comes out in December, from Cannes and said: "I staggered into the light awestruck, a little moved, my heart and mind both racing with the excitement and power of the film I'd just seen." With a review like that, it seems like enough, but that's not all! There's also another film on the way, and while it hasn't premiered yet, Variety reports that Fortissimo Films has already grabbed its international sales rights.

The movie is Berlin, and it's a concert film featuring Lou Reed. See, there's this concept album he released in 1973 called Berlin. While it was a commercial failure, it has since been hailed as a masterpiece -- yet Reed had never brought it to a live audience. Schnabel, however, had a hand in getting it out there -- he built the shows sets and recorded Reeds first forays in performing the songs live. Now, while Reed takes the show around the world, Schnabel's film is headed for both Venice and Toronto. There's no trailer out for the film yet, but if you're interested in Reed's live show, you can check out a clip here.

Flimmaker Arthur Penn, who will receive an honorary Golden Bear at this year's Berlin Film Festival, talked about his career in a new interview with the Hollywood Reporter. Sounding crusty but cheerful, he calls his noir Night Moves (1975), starring Gene Hackman and a young Melanie Griffith, his best work. He acknowledges the influence of Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and says that Little Big Man (1970) was his most difficult film to make. He says he hated Hollywood in the 1950s and left for Broadway; his successful production of The Miracle Worker led him back to direct the movie version in 1962.

In his fifty-year career, Penn has completed about a dozen feature-length, theatrical films, including The Left-Handed Gun (1958), Mickey One (1965), The Chase (1966), Alice's Restaurant (1969) and The Missouri Breaks (1976), the latter a much-publicized teaming of top stars Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando. But his most recent feature film was the underwhelming Penn and Teller Get Killed (1989), although his television movie Inside (1996) showed at the San Francisco International Film Festival concurrently with Penn winning that festival's lifetime achievement award.

But Penn still goes to the movies, praising "British films," like Venus and The Queen and directors like Jim Jarmusch, Wes Anderson and Stephen Frears. And he says he's still available for work. Just imagine: instead of hiring Brett Ratner or Edward Zwick or McG or Ron Howard, or some music video director or those guys who did Deck the Halls or The Hitcher, we could hire Arthur Penn, the guy who did Bonnie and Clyde. Wouldn't that make sense? I mean, c'mon!

Screen legend Lauren Bacall has never been one to keep her opinions to herself. At a press conference in Berlin for her new film, The Walker with Woody Harrelson, about a high-class male escort, Bacall spoke about the negative impact that television has had on the movie business. Bacall was quoted as saying, "I think there are still people who really want to do good work. Unfortunately, in television, sometimes they want to do good work but a lot of the time they're doing terrible work - and I think that has affected moviemaking badly." Bacall never quite explained what that effect was, and as much as I hate to argue with a screen icon, personally I would disagree.

TV shows like 24, LOST, and The Sopranos have definitely raised the bar on what to expect from a television show. In some cases, critics think that TV might even surpass Hollywood fare. Whether Bacall is debating what makes a legend or standing up to the House of Un-American Activities, she isn't afraid to speak her mind. When you've managed to survive for over sixty years in the movie business, you have probably earned the right to. What do you think -- is the proliferation of bad television hurting the movies?

It started shortly after the opening credits; small groups of folks began heading for the door. It got worse when the main villain appeared on screen and all the audience could do was laugh. And, yes, it ended when whatever was left of a packed house booed Zack Snyder's 300 as the end credits scrolled up the screen -- once and for all squashing all rumors that this film would sparkle, dazzle and unite moviegoers from around the globe in the belief that 300 would be the first great flick of 2007.

I will admit that I was one of those people throwing buckets of hype at 300 well in advance of its debut. The trailers sure did look pretty enough, and so what if the thing was entirely filmed in front of a gigantic green screen. It had guts, strength and a powerful underdog story -- what more could you want? Well, I was certainly expecting a lot more ... as was the European audience in attendance. Sure, Europeans might not gobble up Snyder's vision in quite the same way us Americans will, but I feel pretty confident in saying this flick will hit the States with a huge thud ... and not even the 300 muscles of its cast will be able to save it from the imminent death handed out by a slew of eager critics. Stay tuned to Cinematical as I'll have my review of 300 up shortly.

Edit: The review is now up.

Note from Erik: This was a press screening. This was not at the premiere of the film which took place later that day.

It's taken seven days, but members of the press here in Berlin finally got the chance to stand up and cheer for a competition film following this afternoon's press screening of Irina Palm. Since I arrived here last week, I have not heard the Berlinale Palast crowd sound quite as enthusiastic, as the films screening during the first half of the festival left little to be desired.

It couldn't have come at a more perfect time -- this morning's offering, The Other, was yet another snooze fest, and the vibe around Potsdamer Platz on this, the seventh straight day of rain, was dreary, anxious and fed up. What's sure to become one of the best reviewed films Berlinale has offered thus far, Irina Palm follows the misadventures of a widowed grandmother who takes on a job at a sex shop in order to help pay for her terminally ill grandson's medical expenses. Not only is it funny (the crowd erupted in applause several times throughout the film), but its cast, led by the subtly charming Marianne Faithfull, delivers one knock-out punch after another. Stay tuned to Cinematical, as I'll have my review of Irina Palm up at some point today ... hopefully.

From the outset -- slanting credits in white over grainy, shuddering stock-footage -- The Good German declares itself a product of a bygone age. And we're seeing an age gone by; Berlin, June, 1945, as broken people walk broken streets and an uneasy peace is built while fighting in the Pacific goes on. Army journalist Capt. Jake Geismer (George Clooney) is here to report on the Potsdam conference, as Stalin, Truman and Churchill meet to partition Germany. Before the war, Jake was in Berlin; it's a different city now, rubble run by guys like his motor pool driver, Tully (Tobey Maguire). Tully's having fun and making money, playing everyone in the city for a patsy aided by the air of chaos and doom: "The whole city spread its legs for you -- that whole eat, drink and be merry bullshit, seize the day -- It didn't make anyone smarter. ..."

Tully doesn't think of himself as such a bad guy; he's more than willing to help the girl he pimps get out of the country. Maguire's work -- coupled with Paul Attanasio's screen adaptation of Joseph Kanon's novel -- make it clear that Tully is one of those men who finds in war a chance to be someone -- or something -- that peace would not afford him. And, as fate would have it, Tully's new girlfriend is Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett, eyes dark and voice husky), a German who used to work for Jake when he was in Berlin. Jake and Lena were also lovers; now, they're just two people who used to know each other.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh, The Good German isn't a badly-made film; just the opposite. The problem is that it's so well-made -- camera work, vocal recording techniques, process shots and film stock are all carefully manipulated to make The Good German look as if it was made around the time it's set -- that every time I felt The Good German's story and characters pull me in, some incredibly movie-conscious movie moment would be so strongly crafted and cut that it would make me acutely aware I was watching a movie; it's hard to be enmeshed in a character's emotional journey when your brain is screaming out what a great, retro-styled insert Soderbergh (who also served as his own director of photography) just put into the scene.

According to director Robert Greenwald, the sale of the distribution rights to Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price after its Berlin screening have come despite the fears of some distributors that the mega-retailer will retaliate against them by refusing to sell their other films in its stores. A Wal-Mart spokesperson, of course, poo-pooed the very idea: "To say that we'd retaliate against a distributor for carrying this film is simply preposterous." Does that make you feel better, European distributors? Interestingly, Wal-Mart stores in the US are carrying neither Greenwald's film nor its company-sponsored response, Why Wal-Mart Works: And Why That Drives Some People C-r-a-z-y.

As a result of its well-received screening, Greenwald has arranged distribution for his film in Germany, the UK, and New Zealand and Australia, and a representative told reporters that "he expects to close on Spain, Benelux and France this week." According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film's subject matter is of great interest to much of Europe, where Wal-Mart is already massive retail force.