Zhao Tao in "A Touch of Sin."

Credit: Office Kitano

(Welcome to Cannes Check, your annual guide through the 20 films in Competition at next month's Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on May 15. Taking on a different selection every day, we'll be examining what they're about, who's involved and what their chances are of snagging an award from Steven Spielberg's jury. We're going through the list by director and in alphabetical order -- next up, Jia Zhang Ke's "A Touch of Sin.")

Terrence Howard and Oprah Winfrey in a scene from Lee Daniels "The Butler."

Credit: The Weinstein Company

The first trailer for Lee Daniels' "The Butler" arrived Tuesday and it's a little all over the place while trying to make one thing clear: this movie has lots of familiar faces.

The biopic centers on Eugene Allen, a real butler who served in the White House for over 34 years until he retired during President Reagan's second term.  Allen worked under seven presidents and witnessed some of the darkest days in Presidential history up close and personal.  The film was independently financed, but picked up for domestic distribution by the Weinstein Company and because of its pedigree has to be considered a conversation starter for the upcoming awards season. Why might you ask? Well, "The Butler" has an all-star cast of former Oscar winners and nominees including Forest Whitaker as Allen, Oprah Winfrey as his wife Gloria, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, Robin Williams and Vanessa Redgrave. The ensemble also includes Alan Rickman, Live Schreiber, John Cusack, Alex Pettyfer, James Marsden, Jesse Williams and Mariah Carey. The script is by Emmy-winner Danny Strong ("Game Change") and is Daniel's follow up to the controversial "Paperboy."  Yep, that's first class Oscar bait people.

A scene from "Inside Llewyn Davis."

Credit: CBS Films

After initially being something of a question mark on the schedule (remember when IMDb rather unconvincingly asserted that it was being released in February?), the Coen Brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis" now seems to be falling into the prestige groove we expect for the directors' work these days. A high-profile premiere in Competition at Cannes is just around the corner, while last week, an awards-friendly release date of December 6 was announced for the period folk-music drama. CBS Films may not be terribly experienced in this game, but they sure are aware that three of the brothers' last four films nabbed Best Picture nominations.

Ben Affleck winning the Best Picture Oscar for "Argo." 

Credit: AP Photo/John Shearer

After Ben Affleck won the Best Picture Oscar for "Argo" -- and, apparently, the admiration and sympathy of the industry at large -- at February's Academy Awards ceremony, he could probably have persuaded Hollywood to greenlight just about anything he felt like making. Those on the lookout for a grand, overreaching folly in the actor's fourth outing behind the camera, however, may be disappointed to hear he'll be on familiar turf: like his 2007 debut "Gone Baby Gone," "Live By Night" will be an adaptation of a Dennis Lehane novel.

Reese Witherspoon at this year's Academy Awards.

Credit: AP Photo

Her recent run-ins with the law may be mildly tarnishing her name at the moment, but the question of what's up with Reese Witherspoon has been on my mind for several years now -- and it has nothing to do with any offscreen activities. Rather, the decline of Witherspoon as a vital screen actress -- all while she's held onto her stardom with impressive ease -- has been far more troubling to witness than any standard-issue TMZ fodder.

Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston in "Only Lovers Left Alive."

Credit: Recorded Picture Company

(Welcome to Cannes Check, your annual guide through the 20 films in Competition at next month's Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on May 15. Taking on a different selection every day, we'll be examining what they're about, who's involved and what their chances are of snagging an award from Steven Spielberg's jury. We're going through the list by director and in alphabetical order -- next up, Jim Jarmusch's late entry, "Only Lovers Left Alive.")

Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Great Gatsby"

Credit: Warner Bros.

Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby" is hitting theaters this week in advance of opening the 66th annual Cannes Film Festival on May 15. If you'll recall, the film was all set to open last December amid the awards season glut as part of an already packed Warner Bros. slate. But it was shuffled on to a summer 2013 release to allow more time for post-production and, surely, to have a fighting chance at making some money.

I saw the film a few weeks back and, even as a Luhrmann fan, I was prepared for the worst. Why? A mixture of advance buzz, a trailer indicative of a film that could fall on either side of the line and even that rescheduling scenario, which is the kind of thing that rarely spells much more than trouble. After struggling for about a half hour to get into the film (Luhrmann's usual largesse really takes some getting used to when married with 1920s New York), it settled in and a simple fact took hold: it takes a lot to ruin a story this great. F. Scott Fitzgerald keeps it on an even enough keel, I think.

A scene from "Grigris."

Credit: Pili Films

(Welcome to Cannes Check, your annual guide through the 20 films in Competition at next month's Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on May 15. Taking on a different selection every day, we'll be examining what they're about, who's involved and what their chances are of snagging an award from Steven Spielberg's jury. We're going through the list by director and in alphabetical order -- next up, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun with "Grisgris.")

Bright ideas from the Academy...well, one, anyway.

Credit: AP Photo

There's really only one thing to report out of today's big AMPAS conclave: the entire membership of the Academy will now be able to participate in the final vote for all 24 categories at the Oscars. And that wasn't even part of the business at hand, it was something the Board of Governors had decided upon, so they just went ahead and announced it in tandem.

Scott Cooper accepts the award for Best First Feature at the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards. How will he follow it up?

Credit: AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

Scott Cooper's slate of upcoming projects is about as impressive and varied as fellow Cooper Bradley's as of late. Three years removed from his debut film, "Crazy Heart" (which earned Jeff Bridges an Oscar for Best Actor), the writer/director is set to traverse the nation, from the streets of New York to Depression Era Central California, the Tidewater of Virginia to the blast furnaces of Pittsburgh.