Signs of the times at Cannes

May 11, 2009 Walking down the Croisette on Monday in the eerie calm before the storm, it's striking, amid all the prepping of official fest venues, how few posters line the normally marketing-manic street. There are to be sure the inevitable come-ons for Jean-Claude Van Damme pics Karate and The Eagle Path as well as for George Gallo's Middle Men, an otherwise respectable looking drama that boasts this excruciating logline: Business is a lot like sex. [...] the Carlton, the traditional hub of promotional hoopla, already sports colorful banners mounted like movie screens over the driveway for Pixar's opening-night pic "Up" as well as panels on the side of the building for Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds."

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