As seen in the image above, every day seems like Independence Day in Benh Zeitlin's "Beasts of the Southern Wild," which opens this Friday. Until, that is, nature takes a disastrous course. And since the film is one of the most lauded independent movies of the year, it seems appropriate to celebrate the 4th with these interviews by our contributor Jake Mulligan with Zeitlin and cast members Dwight Henry and Quvenzhané Wallis.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY (cited on A-Word-A-Day by Anu Garg):

"It is well to know something of the manners of various peoples, in order more sanely to judge our own, and that we do not think that everything against our modes is ridiculous, and against reason, as those who have seen nothing are accustomed to think."

It's a shame that the world, according to Rapture experts, ends May 21 because that means we'll miss some interesting end of the world movies. Not necessarily films in which the world ends with a bang, like "Armageddon" or '2012," but more the whimper kind-- reflective and philosophical.

Like Lars Von Triers's "Melancholia," which just premiered at Cannes.

The Cannes Film Festival started yesterday, and our crack correspondent Lisa Nesselson is on the scene. Here's her first dispatch:

There are people who don't much care for Woody Allen, but is that any reason for U.S. Navy SEALS to track him down and kill him?

Allen's latest romp, "Midnight in Paris" opened the 64th Cannes Film Festival on the night of May 11th.