It has been an exciting couple weeks at the Cannes Film Festival, which a number of talented filmmakers showcasing a high number of films to be excited for.  Last night, the official jury for the 64th Festival de Cannes revealed the prize winners during the closing ceremony.

Some highlights from the list include Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life winning the most prestigious award, the Palme d’Or, despite half the crown booing at the screening while the other half cheered with enthusiasm, Kirsten Dunst winning Best Actress after her film’s director Lars von Trier made some anti-Semitic comments at a press conference earlier this week, and Nicolas Winding Refn winning best director for his film Drive, starring Ryan Gosling, proving that he is one of the most prominant up-and-coming directors.

He previously directed Bronson, starring Tom Hardy. Take a look at the full list of winners and award winners after the jump.

What do Will Ferrell, Danny McBride, Elijah Wood, Jack Black, John C. Reilly, Will Arnett, Susan Sarandon, Rainn Wilson, Seth Rogan, Ted Dansen, Stanley Tucci, and a whole bunch of other named celebrities have in common?

They’re all in a brand new semi-biographical, semi-science fictional short film by The Beastie Boys, about The Beastie Boys, titled Fight For Your Right-Revisited.

The film is done in conjunction with the trio’s highly anticipated eighth album, “Hot Sauce Committee Part Two”, and has got Ferrell, McBride, Black, Reilly, Rogan, and Wood playing both the Beastie Boys from the past and the Beastie Boys from the future.

Expect zany, wacky, convoluted awesomeness when the 30-minute film hits DVD (as well as the the web) when Hot Sauce Committee Part Two hits music stores on May 3. In the meantime, check out the star-studded trailer after the jump.

More and more movie studios are using unconventional methods to distribute their movies, and it gives us a lot more options than we ever had before.  It used to be that if you didn’t live on one of the coasts, or in a huge city, you could never catch an independent or arthouse film while it ran in theaters.  You had to wait months and months for the film to be released on DVD.

Now, we are seeing more and more movies getting a “pre-theatrical release” via On Demand.  You can choose an outlet, pay a minimal fee, and watch the movie in the comfort of your home.

Ryan Gosling’s latest film, All Good Things, will make it’s debut On Demand on November 5, a full month before it shows in theaters. The movie also stars Kirsten Dunst, Kristin Wiig, Frank Langella, and Philip Baker Hall.

Andrew Jarecki (Capturing the Friedmans) directs and produces the film.  Jarecki also produced this year’s Sundance hit Catfish.

Synopsis: Inspired by the most notorious missing persons case in New York history, All Good Things is a love story and murder mystery set against the backdrop of a New York real estate dynasty in the 1980’s.

You can watch the official trailer embedded after the jump.  The movie will be available On Demand via Amazon, Play Station 3,  ATT Uverse, Xbox 360, and more.  For a complete list of available outlets, visit the Magnolia website.

With the fourth installment of Spider-Man slated for production in early 2010, Sony Pictures has shown a solid commitment to expanding the franchise even more by signing screenwriter James Vanderbilt (The Losers, Zodiac) to write the Spider-Man 5 and Spider-Man 6 sequels

Vanderbilt was the first writer on Spider-Man 4, but director Sam Raimi brought on David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole) to rewrite him, and Gary Ross is currently rewriting that script. According to Variety, Raimi didn’t embrace all of Vanderbilt’s ideas, but execs at Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios have. The fifth and sixth Spider-Man movies will have an interconnected storyline, which was originally discussed when Vanderbilt was signed on to write Spider-Man 4, but the idea of shooting a fourth and fifth film back to back with the original cast was scrapped.

Currently, it is unclear whether Raimi, Tobey Maguire or Kirsten Dunst will be back for future installments. If they aren’t, Vanderbilt’s script would most-likely be the blueprint for a franchise reboot with an all-new cast. Regardless of the established talent’s future involvement, Sony’s priority will be to release Spider-Man films on a more frequent basis. The lapse between films has grown with each installment. The second film came only two years after the first, but it took three years for a third installment, and four years will have passed when Spider-Man 4 opens in May 2011.

Stay tuned to The Flickcast for future developments on the Spider-Man franchise.

Will all the speculation of late on the identity of the villains, if Mary Jane would be back and what the story is of Spider-Man 4, its nice to get at least some kind of confirmation on something regarding the film. What am I talking about? At least now we know Mary Jane will be in the film and Kirsten Dunst will be playing her.

According to an interview with the New York Post while doing press for The Taking of Pelham 123, Spider-Man 4 producer Todd Black was asked a few questions about his other upcoming movie that fans are, shall we say, a bit more enthusiastic about. According to Black in the interview, here’s a few tidbits of info about Spider-Man 4 he was able to drop:

Kirsten Dunst is definitely on board. Last month, director Sam Raimi said in another interview he didn’t know if the actor was going to sign up to play Mary Jane again, but according to Black, she has. Also, the movie will most likely not have a wedding between Mary Jane and Peter Parker. According to the Post, Black had no knowledge of that subplot. Also, the villain will not be Morbius the vampire. Black squashed that rumor completely in the interview.

As for who will be the villain, Black had this to say in the interview: “We’re just coming up with who the villain’s going to be now. We’ll be shooting in New York again. Trust me, people will appreciate who we pick, because it’ll be a big part of New York.” Black also confirmed in the interview that the villain will be one from the comics and not a character invented for the film.

So, now that we know that, who could the “big bad” be? Even with those clues its still pretty much a mystery. However, if I had to guess, I would go with the Kingpin, just as the writer of the Post article suggested. It seems plausable and he does have ties to New York, so he might just fit the bill. Anyone else have any suggestions?