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Writers: Roger Bohbot and Michael Collins

Director: Erick Zonca

Cast: Tilda Swinton, Saul Rubinek, Kate del Castillo, Aidan Gould

Studio: Magnolia Pictures

Rating: 7.5/10

In the world of bad decisions, I wonder what the percentage is between those that are just plain bad and those that are made because you’re broke, desperate, or drunk (or all three) and the decision seems wise given your state of mind. I mean yeah, we all just plain screw up or make a bad call or pursue an idea that’s just flat out wrong, but the human ability to fuck up big-time quadruples when you’re broke, drunk, and/or desperate. You’ve got nothing to lose so you just let it fly and before you know it, you’re in deeper dutch than you were in before. Such is one of the many premises embedded in one of the best “lost gem...

Uncaged: Nicolas Cage in Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. With a month to go before the Oscar nominations are even made public, the victors in the acting categories have virtually already been decided. The best actor race isn’t much of one thanks to the consensus that Jeff Bridges is “due” an Oscar and Crazy Heart is the vehicle that’ll deliver it. Meanwhile, supporting categories are historically kind to fresh faces, and thus outsiders Mo’nique and Christoph Waltz have their two races on lockdown, without even showing up to campaign. That so much seems to have been preordained in the preseason takes a lot of the fun out of watching the races unfold. It also all but ensures that the two best performances of the year, committed to celluloid by two previous Oscar winners lacking the heat of the new or the weight...

So much for stereotyping all online critics as fanboys. Good set of nominees this year, veering from the usual suspects in a couple of key ways that are rather interesting.

Like Avatar for Director, but not Picture. No acting nominations that seem like completely lazy voting -- i.e. no one is getting nominated strictly because they were cast in a musical or a Clint Eastwood picture. Though I guess one could argue that three acting nods for Inglourious Basterds might be the online equivalent of those default kind of choices.

But most of all it's nice to see some critics group finally wising up about Tilda Swinton in Julia. I'm so proud of the Ofcs today that I'm wishing I was a member but I have sadly never applied.

Since Moses brought the tablets down from the mountain, lists have come in tens, not that we couldn't have done with several more commandments. Who says a year has Ten Best Films, anyway? Nobody but readers, editors, and most other movie critics. There was hell to pay last year when I published my list of Twenty Best. You'd have thought I belched at a funeral. So this year I have devoutly limited myself to exactly ten films.

On each of two lists.

The lists are divided into Mainstream Films and Independent Films. This neatly sidesteps two frequent complaints: (1) "You name all those little films most people have never heard of," and (2) "You pick all blockbusters and ignore the indie pictures." Which is is my official Top Ten? They both are equal, and every film here is entitled to name itself "One of the Year's 10 Best!"

Alphabetically:

¶ The Top 10 Mainstream Films

Bad Lieutenant.

Well, the lack of screenings last week allowed me to take in a lot more films at home, on top of being able to show my family some they had yet to see over the holiday weekend. So, without further delay let's dig in as I have nine films to talk about this week and I have spread them out over two pages.

Julia (2009) Quick Thoughts: There have been a few folks around the Internet cheering for Tilda Swinton's performance in Julia as the best lead female performance of 2009. After finally seeing the film I am willing to concede it is definitely a good performance, but I can't quite understand where the over-the-top adulation from some corners is all about. The film itself is also quite entertaining, especially considering it is too long. However, I realize now the best way to fill your film with Tons of cliches is...

Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds (François Duhamel / The Weinstein Co.) Summer Hours Best Film of 2009 – indieWIRE Poll Top choices in the indieWIRE annual poll’s other categories include Kathryn Bigelow as best director, the Coen brothers‘ A Serious Man screenplay, Tilda Swinton as best performer in a leading role for Erick Zonca’s Julia and, unsurprisingly, Christoph Waltz as best performer in a supporting role for his evil Nazi in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. Mo’Nique was a distant second for her mean mom in Precious. Sacha Gervasi’s rockumentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil, about a Canadian heavy metal band that doesn’t quite make it to the top, was voted the best documentary of 2009. Agnès Varda’s autobiographical The Beaches [...]...

I’m slightly disturbed by this whole Tilda Swinton thing. I know she’s been getting raves for her performance in Julia. This has been going on all year long.

Just recently New York Times critic Manohla Dargis made some waves with an interview she gave using some salty language and calling out a few people here and there. Today she delivers a list of her favorite films of 2009.

While beating the dead horse that is the hatred for such films as G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen she also has a few kind words for some films that didn't make her ultimate list such as Star Trek, Julie and#038; Julia (agree keep the Julie), Duplicity, A Perfect Getaway, Up and A Single Man.

I have listed her top 13 directly below as she listed them, "in order of their domestic release" with links to my reviews where available. Following that is a list of her "other favorites." Like I said when I linked to her interview, "I have mixed feelings when it comes to...

The film is pure bliss, Tilda Swinton is not surprisingly, spot on and who knew, fluent in Italian and as I had remarked and so does this Magnolia Pictures press release, it falls into Visconti territory (The Leopard/Death in Venice). - Thanks to a couple of buyer friends and our West Coast correspondent Yama Rahimi for sending me into the last screening for Luca Guadagnino’s I Am Love - the film is pure bliss, Tilda Swinton is not surprisingly, spot on and who knew, fluent in Italian and as I had remarked and so does this Magnolia Pictures press release, it falls into Visconti territory (The Leopard/Death in Venice). Magnolia Films (who've worked with Swinton this summer with the difficult to market title Erick Zonca's Julia) have picked up the rights to the pic - another post-tiff pick up that demonstrates the new wait and see trend in buyers.

Glenn here from Stale Popcorn here to discuss one of my favourite films from 2003, Patty Jenkins' Monster. Earlier this year when Courtney Hunt's Frozen River was released here in Australia I wrote in my review that It's a shame that Courtney Hunt's Frozen River is so good. It's unfortunate because now I will most likely be incredibly disappointed when this debut director falls between the cracks of the lead performance she helped create. I then went on to cite Boys Don't Cry's Kimberley Pierce (9 years between films) and Monster as examples.

Patty Jenkins has yet to make a second film after her Monster debut and there has never even been any word on her wanting to make another film. That is such a shame since she brought such fascinating sense of place to the Aileen Wuornos film and her twists on the idea of "American Gothic...

Here are some of the memorable quotes from female actors Back Stage spoke to in the past year:"I was very surprised to realize the poverty of her family and her situation. The fact that she had no education and was able to achieve so many creations is very, very surprising."—Audrey Tautou on playing Coco Chanel, "Coco Before Chanel""My love and passion for acting has remained the same from the very beginning. Then there are other things you have to learn to deal with if you become successful. There are things that are sometimes uncomfortable. But my love for acting is always the same."—Penélope Cruz, "Broken Embraces," "Nine""I don't know how to get into a role and keep it with me, because I just don't have any real [training]. I wasn't sure about going, because I had to cut class in order to go. I walked into this audition,...

.

... than Tilda Swinton in Julia this year.

Ja from Mnpp here. You show me an actress' performance from 2009 and I will show you the shadow that Tilda's Julia casts across it, engulfs it with, and then takes it down in three swift gulps, perhaps letting out a valiant belch in a vague and half-remembered recognition of their effort.

I was reminded of this while reading Glenn's piece on the film at Stale Popcorn this morning and it made me angry. Angry! Angry that she's really nowhere near the Oscar's already insane echo-chamber of self-propelled hype this year. "Oh she won two years ago." "Oh her film opened way back in nowhere-land."

And? Tilda's Julia rips the cooking sherry out of Meryl's Julia's hand and bashes her in the head with it. She climbs into bed with Abbie's Fanny and invites that whinging Keats over for threesies (but then just...

Fin de Cinema appreciates Tilda in Julia. More people need to

Spiegel Online "we make lists because we don't want to die" Good point. But also because they're fun

In Contention the animated shorts finalist list

Movie|Line interviews Hal Holbrook for That Evening Sun. The performance of his career?

Hollywood Elsewhere asks an understandable question regarding The Twilight Saga: New Moon's box office numbers

Awards Daily wonders whether Sandra Bullock is a safer bet than previously thought for The Blind Side

Vanity Fair handicaps the Oscar race and makes a case for Fantastic Mr Fox costumes (hmmm) but falls into the age old lazy schpiel about "not enough best actresses to fill a category". I swear to god that people say this every f***ing year and it is never ever true. You just have to be willing to look at performances that people aren't talking about for...

On the same day I sat in the presence of Tilda Swinton (which I already told you about), I also attended the similarly formatted Stanley Tucci event at the New Yorker festival. You can read my article about the experience over at Tribeca. I love that they festooned it with an old Levi's ad of Tucci's. So weird to see him like that.

As you may have noticed in past conversations, I'm fairly fond of Tucci and I've been happy to see his (supporting) star rising. I knew nothing about him personally so the event was my first reveal of what he was like off stage: serious but funny (and punny as the case may be). He's often referred to as a Character Actor which he dubs a redundant term. What they mean is you're not a leading man. It's like saying that someone is heavyset or 'she's a handsome woman!

This weekend I had the opportunity to listen to cinephile actress Tilda Swinton reminisce about her career at the New Yorker Festival. I covered that beat (thrilling, rapid fire... oops, that was that my heart) for Tribeca Film. Naturally, wrestling the goodies down to article form was a mite troubling, because she was so candid, interesting and worthy of plunking down money for... though I guess with these new blogging laws I should indicate that my ticket was comped.

I always love hearing Tilda talk about her first collaborator Derek Jarman (which she did, a lot... there wasn't much discussion of her recent forays into mainstream fare) but one of my favorite bits was her story about meeting Eric Zonca, her Julia director, in Cannes. He was drunk and they tried to sneak into a party that they were both turned away from... even though they were both Cannes officials.

Every year good films show at the Toronto Film festival that never open anywhere near you. This year some good films played that may never open anywhere, even if you live in Toronto--or New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Austin or upstairs over a Landmark Theater multiplex. Toronto is traditionally a lively marketplace for the purchase of film rights for new non-studio product: Indies, docs, foreign films. This year Harvey Weinstein paid $1 million for "A Single Man," and that was that. One sale, one movie, one million -- probably as little as Harvey has paid for a movie in some time.

Stands at yellow, rising toward orange

The makers of independent films don't have to send to learn for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for them. The bottom fell out of the market. That doesn't mean there were no other offers, but it means there were none that...

British actress Tilda Swinton has displayed elegance at the red carpet of Toronto International Film Festival at the Elgin Theater. The "Julia" star wore soft silk Lanvin at the premiere of the Coen Brothers' "A Serious Man."

The 48-year-old actress was wearing a beige Lanvin long-sleeve silk satin top and a black wash satin skirt for the night. She completed the ensemble with an amber resin choker and a multi-color striped satin fold-over clutch.

It wasn't just Swinton who turned to Lanvin for a stylish outfit.

"Mad Men" star Jon Hamm took the red carpet at the Creative Arts Emmy's in Los Angeles wearing a crisp Lanvin anthracite gray-one button wool tux jacket and matching tuxedo pants from the French clothing company's Fall 2009 Evening Collection.

The words Tilda Swinton and knockout performance are nearly always within the same sentence these days. Powerful and complex roles, including a career best (and Oscar winning) performance in the excellent Michael Clayton, are coming thick and fast for the Scottish wonder woman. However, the unconventionally beautiful, almost androgynous, actress was hand picked by director Erick Zonda for the role of a down and out self obsessed, alcoholic, one night standing tumbleweed because “She resembles a broken bird..." Watching his third film, the Cassevettes inspired Julia, you begin to realise exactly what he means. The film opens in bar where the lanky red headed Julia prowls and grinds awkwardly around the place, picks a man and wakes up with him in his car. We instantly get the feeling, which is backed up over the films first 20 minutes, that this is par for the course for old Julia and she's shortly...

Chicago – Tilda Swinton, Oscar winner for “Michael Clayton,” gives the best female performance of the year to date in the riveting, thrilling, excellent “Julia,” now available on DVD and one of the best films of 2009 that you probably haven’t seen. The lack of special features on the Magnolia-produced DVD (and its lack of existence on Blu-Ray) is a bet of a let-down but the film is an underrated gem that should find a loyal audience on the home market.

DVD Rating: 4.0/5.0 Swinton plays the title character, a woman who has turned alcoholism, self-pity, and general confusion into an art form. Julia is the kind of raging drinker who regularly blacks out and wakes up half-dressed in a stranger’s car. She’s one of those women who always blames the world for not giving her a lucky break but doesn’t recognize that her own decisions are tearing her life apart.

One of the unwritten rules of the crime genre is that the more pathetic and desperate your perpetrator is, the worse things will invariably work out for them, and as the shambolic, self-centered drunk at the center of French helmer Erick Zonca’s overwrought kidnap caper, Tilda Swinton’s titular protagonist is so low she is practically underground. But having forced his audience to endure her antics for the better part of 150 minutes Zonca decapitates the story with an ending so arbitrary that it robs the viewer of the payoff they have waited so patiently (being the operative word) to see.

A spiteful alcoholic, Julia crashes around the remnants of her life from one blackout drunk fuck to another with any random stranger who will refill her glass. Her only friend at this point is Mitch (an underused Saul Rubinek), who has been bribing her with rent money (which she...

London - The Mutant Chronicles unleashes cannibalistic humanoids into a steam punk World War I world. The movie features Thomas Jane (Hung), Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Devon Aoki (Sin City), Sean Pertwee (Doomsday) and John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich) as the only defense against these ungodly creatures in the CGI enhanced environment. Can Aoki cut them all down with her cool sword?

Director Simon Hunter took nearly two years to adapt the role playing game into a cinematic universe. You can get great sense of what he undertook for his first major motion picture on the Two-disc Collector’s Edition DVD and the Blu-ray recently released by Magnolia Home Entertainment. I had a chance to swap questions via email with Hunter. Here’s the Q&A action:

Joe Corey: Have you played the game?

Simon Hunter: Yes I have played the game and enjoyed it very much - the...

Julia

Directed by Erick Zonca

2008, 144 Minutes, In English and Spanish

How did The Dreamlife of Angels director Erick Zonca, working from a script he cowrote with Aude Py, think that the typically reserved, sophisticated Tilda Swinton could so convincingly step into the shoes of a despicable, loudmouthed floozy? An unhinged character study that drunkenly stumbles into an accidental thriller, Julia is shouldered as much by Zonca's instinctual filmmaking as it does on Swinton's intense, knock-out performance:

Julia, 40, is an alcoholic. She is a manipulative, unreliable, compulsive liar, all strung out beneath her still flamboyant exterior. Between shots of vodka and one-night stands, Julia gets by on nickel-and-dime jobs. Increasingly lonely, the only consideration she receives comes from her friend Mitch, who tries to help her. But she shrugs him off, as her alcohol-induced confusion daily reinforces her sense that life has dealt her a losing hand and that she is...

Here’s a list of some of the new movie and TV shows coming to DVD and Blu-ray this week that we’re looking forward to seeing. Also, there’s some classic movies hitting Blu-ray for the first time this week as well.

Of all the new releases, we’re particularly interested in the Blu-ray version of The Last Starfighter, Dexter Seasons 1-3 on Blu-ray and the debut of season one of Sons of Anarchy on DVD.

Check them out.

Movies

The 5 Deadly Venoms ~ Five Deadly Venoms (DVD)

Hannah Montana The Movie (3-Disc Combo Pack Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy) ~ Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus, Lucas Till, and Emily Osment (Blu-ray)

Husbands (Extended Cut) ~ Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, and Jenny Runacre (DVD)

Julia ~ Tilda Swinton (DVD)

Kagemusha – Criterion Collection ~ Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kenichi Hagiwara, and Jinpachi Nezu (Blu-ray)

Last House on the Left (2009) ~ Garret Dillahunt, Monica Potter, Tony Goldwyn...

Movies DVD: Julia Tilda Swinton gives a riveting performance as an alcoholic who kidnaps a child for ransom. "Just try to take your eyes off her," says EW's Owen Gleiberman. Read our review TV Flipping Out season premiere (Bravo, 10 p.m. Edt) Season 3 of the hit series begins on Bravo. The network claims that, because of the economic downturn, obsessive-compulsive star Jeff Lewis actually has to be nice to people. What? He'll also be helping his beloved housekeeper Zoila date and "empower his assistant Jenni" (that's rather cryptic, yes?). Read EW's review of Sean Paul's last album Books The White Queen, Philippa Gregory Lose yourself in Gregory's famed historical royal fiction with her latest novel, about a queen whose two sons mysteriously disappear. It's fit for, well, a queen. Read EW's review of Gregory's 2006 book, The Boleyn Inheritance Tech Game: Wolfenstein A lot of us grew up on the Nazi-battling...

The Last House on the Left

A remake of Wes Craven's 1972 film, starring Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter, Sara Paxton, and Garret Dillahunt, the film is a harrowing look into how a family reacts to the crimes played out on their daughter. In his review, William Goss said: "for those who willingly subject themselves to the harsher experiences that storytelling has to offer, this version is a capably, confidently, and chillingly effective opportunity to place ourselves in the worst possible shoes for a length of time." Rent it. Also on Blu-ray.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Hannah Montana: The Movie

Miley Cyrus' Disney icon finally made her way to the big screen. In his review, Nick Schager said: "and the nicest thing one can say about the film is that at least it's not The Suite Life of Zack & Cody: The Movie." I highly doubt anyone who...

DVD Links: DVD News | Release Dates | New Dvds | Reviews | RSS Feed It's nice to see we have a pretty decent week for new releases after a couple of awful previous weeks. From two new Criterion Blu-rays, to "Dexter" and even The Last Starfighter on Blu-ray in 25th Anniversary format. On top of that, there are a few titles in the new release date section I am sure many of you will be interested in saving up for. Lots to talk about, let's get into it... Criterion Collection Blu-ray

Kagemusha and Play Time It's hard for me not to simply tell you to rush out and buy both of these right now, but if you were to confront me with the question of "Buy? Don't Buy?" that's exactly what I would tell you to do. I just posted my separate reviews for both Akira Kurosawa's samurai feature Kagemusha and Jacques Tati...

This week, get your Miley Cyrus fix with Hannah Montana's feature-length trip to the big screen (Hannah Montana The Movie), or do a complete 180-degree turn with the latest Hollywood horror remake (Last House on the Left). Director James Toback goes the documentary route with boxing's Iron Mike (Tyson), while David Lynch's daughter Jennifer continues the family legacy for eccentric thrills (Surveillance, starring Julia Ormond and Bill Pullman). Actress Lori Petty makes her directorial debut with a personal indie drama (The Poker House) while Tilda Swinton turns in a powerhouse performance as an alcoholic kidnapper (Julia). An '80s sci-fi gaming...

DVD Playhouse—August 2009

By

Allen Gardner

Watchmen—Director’S Cut (Warner Bros.) Director Zack Snyder’s film of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ landmark graphic novel is as worthy an adaptation of a great book that has ever been filmed. In an alternative version of the year 1985, Richard Nixon is serving his third term as President and super heroes have been outlawed by a congressional act, in spite of the fact that two of the most high-profile “masks,” Dr. Manhattan (Billy Cruddup) and The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) helped the U.S. win the Vietnam War. When The Comedian is found murdered, many former heroes become concerned that a conspiracy is afoot to assassinate retired costumed crime fighters. Former masks Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman) and still-operating Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley, in an Oscar-worthy turn) launch an investigation of their own, all while the Pentagon’s “Doomsday...

John Flahive's article is articulate and informative. The comments it elicits are as interesting as his article e.g., one in its reference to Peter Broderick who is devoted to filmmakers' finding their way to online profits. His model is always tailored to the particular film, and is successful for those taking the time and interest in undertaking their own hands-on distribution.

Another most interesting comment is that the bridge between online exhibition and profits are the social networks. This is the key. The recent studies on social networking and participatory (pop) culture as formulated by Henry Jenkins, at USC this fall, and formerly Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program, whose book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide are now defining this new paradigm.

They are worth looking at unless you are one of the old school who is satisfied believing there is no money in...

John Flahive's article is articulate and informative. The comments it elicits are as interesting as his article e.g., one in its reference to Peter Broderick who is devoted to filmmakers' finding their way to online profits. His model is always tailored to the particular film, and is successful for those taking the time and interest in undertaking their own hands-on distribution.

Another most interesting comment is that the bridge between online exhibition and profits are the social networks. This is the key. The recent studies on social networking and participatory (pop) culture as formulated by Henry Jenkins, at USC this fall, but formerly Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program, whose book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide are now defining this new paradigm. They are worth looking at unless you are one of the old school who is satisfied believing there is no money in...

As last year, I want to use this space to highlight some terrific films that came down the pike in the first six months of the year -- and merrily continued down the pike without anyone giving much of a damn. This happens to a host of deserving movies every year; given how much of a miracle it is when an indie actually takes off, there's no avoiding it. But these seven are eminently worth your time; at the very least, I promise they're interesting. Give them a shot.

1. Two Lovers (James Gray) -- Actually my favorite film of the year, this melancholy character study is carried out with such painstaking attention to detail that it becomes akin to one of Henry Selick's stop-motion miracles -- watching it inspires a sort of awe. This is James Gray's follow-up to We Own the Night, and Gray has announced himself...

Congratulations to Kyra Sedgwick who just got her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!

Remember when it looked for a millisecond like she might get an Oscar nod for playing Julia Robert's sassy sister in Something to Talk About back in 1995? Stealing scenes from Julia might seem like a hard thing to do and commendable, too, but it pisses Academy voters right off. One must not pull focus from their Pretty Woman!

Future Julia Roberts co-stars consider yourself forewarned! If you steal a movie from the billion dollar grin, you will get media attention. You will get a Golden Globe nomination. But, come Oscar nomination morning, The Big Snub Awaits You.

the case evidence:

Sally Field, Steel Magnolias (1989)Hector Elizondo, Pretty Woman (1990)Dustin Hoffman, Hook (1992)Sophia Loren, Pret-à-Porter (1994)Liam Neeson, Michael Collins (1996)Kyra Sedgwick, Something to Talk About (1995)Rupert Everett, My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)Hugh Grant, Notting Hill (1999)Yes...

Season two of the hit A&E original scripted drama series The Cleaner, starring Benjamin Bratt, Grace Park, Amy Price-Francis and Esteban Powell premieres Tuesday, June 23 at 10Pm Et/Pt. The second season will feature thirteen one-hour episodes.

In its first season, on a weekly three telecast cume basis, The Cleaner averaged 4.2 million total viewers, 2.4 million adults 25-54 and 2.2 million adults 18-49 in primetime, becoming the number one original drama in A&E history.

Inspired by the true story of real life "extreme interventionist" Warren Boyd, who also co-executive produces the series, The Cleaner stars Bratt as William Banks, a recovering addict who must balance his unwavering dedication to helping others get clean with an increasingly rocky personal life and the ghosts of his addictions. Banks and his teammates Akani Cuesta (Park) and Arnie Swenton (Powell) employ an unconventional - and often by any means necessary - approach to getting...

When I interviewed Tilda Swinton a few weeks ago for her new movie Julia, she mentioned that she was planning a collaboration with Morvern Callar director Lynne Ramsay. Now, at Cannes, the details on that film are starting to come together. Swinton will star as an overwhelmed New York City mother in We Need to Talk About Kevin, an adaptation of Lionel Shriver's novel. The movie sounds insanely dark, even by Swinton's own standards of taking on unusual and challenging projects. According to Variety, Swinton's character is coping with her troubled son Kevin, who causes her a mental breakdown before going on a killing spree at his high school. Yeah, ouch. But Swinton's customary and intensity and dedication can make even the most difficult films watchable-- like Julia, for example, a brutal story about an alcoholic who kidnaps a child. Movies like this need Swinton to come in and...

Oh yeah... it's on.

They've rolled out the rouge carpet in Cannes for the opening of the über film festival of film festivals, now in its 62nd year.

Asia Argento was a camera hog (I trust you not to be surprised) at the jury press conference in a white and black dress. Aishwarya Rai absorbed the light of every flashbulb on the croisette for the opening film, Pixar's Up. Jury member Shu Qi started the day in a simple champagne dress but switched to flowing teal for the opening ceremonies. We'll see the Three Times star next in the omnibus film New York, I Love You. Her fellow juror and NY... cast member Robin Wright Penn, recently interviewed in Gotham Magazine which went to press before Sean Penn filed for divorce, started Day One in a white pantsuit but switched to this shimmering gown later. She's starring in The Private...

The key players from the indie film world will be gathered together in Cannes for the next 10 days. Look for our daily roundups of news each night, titled "Cannes in 60 Seconds." But first, what's been happening during the past week?

Deals. Oliver Hirschbiegel's drama Five Minutes of Heaven, starring Liam Neeson, has been acquired by IFC Films, according to indieWIRE. IFC will release the film, which "explores aspects of Northern Ireland's 'Troubles,'" simultaneously in theaters and VOD in August. Michael Meredith's drama The Open Road has been picked up by Anchor Bay, again per indieWIRE. Justin (Motherlover) Timberlake stars as a man who tries to effect a reconciliation between his dying mother (Mary Steenburgen) and his estranged father (Jeff Bridges). Release plans have not yet been announced. I Love You Phillip Morris, a gay con man prison romance, has secured distribution via the fledgling Consolidated Pictures Group,...

"I always had a fantasy," Tilda Swinton says. "I'd always wanted to play an alcoholic who was energetic and fancy-filled and fun, because most of the drunks I know..." She pauses, "And it so happened that [Erick] Zonca came with this character. It was pretty close to the person I'd been visualizing."

The woman dominating every scene of Zonca's new film, Julia, released Friday, is a foul-mouthed, hard-partying force, a dynamic fuckup in heels. She lets it all hang out, literally, and she's a major departure from the poised, icy martinets for which the Cambridge-educated Swinton is better known. (The wicked queen of Narnia and the conniving lawyer in Michael Clayton, a role that won her an Oscar, come to mind.) As Swinton puts it, "You work a muscle, and you want to work another muscle."...

One of the most diverse and celebrated talents of her generation, the directors on Tilda Swinton's CV represent a veritable who's who of independent cinema and include David Fincher, Spike Jonze, Cameron Crowe, the Coen Brothers and Jim Jarmusch. Few who've seen Sally Potter's adaptation of Orlando, with Swinton in the title role, will forget the power of her performance, a power she brings to every role she tackles, from Constantine to Burn After Reading. Her supporting role in Michael Clayton earned her an Oscar, but her performance in Julia, out now on DVD, went largely unnoticed despite its impact...

If an alcoholic wreck ever looks you in the eye and says, "Trust me," one word of advice: Don't, especially if her name is Julia Harris. Even if that clear-eyed glint appears genuinely sincere, and a wave of empathy impulsively washes over you for the magnificent woman who may still be residing deep within her soul, try to resist, because Julia will let you down every single time, the same way she's let herself down for her entire life.

Of course, when Julia is careening out of control in the person of Tilda Swinton, it's a much dicier proposition to turn your back on her. Swinton gives another odd, strangely magnetic performance in Julia, directed by Erick Zonca (The Dreamlife of Angels), which opened yesterday in New York. She's alternately a repulsive leech and a charming sexual creature, driven by her primal desires. She resembles a giant bug with corrosive acid running through her veins,...

I love Tilda Swinton more than I can express in words. I would possibly need finger paints. You must read this interview on IndieWire from her appearance at the Apple Store wherein she said Recently I’ve been working as a kind of industrial spy in Hollywood. The truth is… It’s over. Choice quotes throughout. I had no idea she was such an 8½ girl but it makes sense. I must see Julia soon. Here's the trailer.

"Julia" - Tilda Swinton official Trailer Kinowelt 08

Uploaded by avalonanjel - Full seasons and entire episodes online.

Your Reel Talk reviews have arrived just in time for the start of the weekend. “Star Trek” may be the talk of the town but do Alison and Jeffrey think it’s worthy of all the hype? They also review a handful of limited releases including ”Rudo y Cursi,” “Outrage,” “Julia,” “Little Ashes” and, this week’s Websclusive, “The Garden.” You can also enjoy Jeffrey’s entire interviews with Zachary Quinto and Tilda Swinton.

After you figure out which film you’ll see this weekend, visit us on Twitter and tell us about it! Just click here.

Tilda Swinton has built an impressive resume of taking on unconventional or downright weird movie roles, from her early work in Orlando to even the spooky White Wtich in The Chronicles of Narnia. But after she won an Oscar for Michael Clayton, the world was open to her, and she could have taken on any big-budget character study or action movie role she wanted. Instead, she made Julia, an extremely low-budget indie that's the first film in 10 years for French director Erick Zonca. Swinton stars at the title character, a Los Angeles alcoholic adrift in a meaningless life and motivated only by money and alcohol. When an acquaintance hatches a scheme to kidnap back her own son, Julia gets involved and takes matters into her own, unqualified hands, kidnapping the kid, attempting murder on a man and taking off to Mexico. Slowly Julia and the child (Aidan Quinn) develop a...

• After watching Eric Zonca’s new film: Julia, you probably won’t feel joy, sorrow, anger, hate or happiness. You certainly won’t feel anything but compassion for the characters and you might actually have to work hard to understand why it’s worth spending two-plus hours in the theatre watching the follies of the despicable, alcoholic Julia. The Dreamlife of Angels, Zonca’s first film, made a huge splash on the international film scene in 1998; ten years later his sophomore effort is serving up quite a different cinematic dish. Julia, portrayed by indie ice-goddess Tilda Swinton, is about a woman whose life is so far-gone from her control that her pattern of self-destructive, self-serving, decisions serves to barely keep her head above water. So why bother going to see this on a spring weekend in May? I think maybe because we all know somebody like Julia (whether we

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'Julia," one of those "Pay attention, I'm giving a tour de force" movies, stars Tilda Swinton being very pleased with her "unflinching" portrait of a slutty alcoholic American party girl who turns kidnapper.

Picture "Fargo" played with no sense of comedy, and you'll get some idea of the absurdity of this drunken floozy, clicking and wobbling on high heels, often with bits of her anatomy hanging out, trying to pull off the perfect crime.

Desperate for martini money, she gets talked into the kidnapping by a shrieking Mexican woman whose son, a 9-year-old boy,...

Tilda Swinton has delivered several stellar supporting performances over the past few years in movies as diverse as The Chronicles Of Narnia and Michael Clayton, so it’s high time she got a leading role as strong as the colossally self-absorbed alcoholic she plays in Julia. It’s also great to see another film written and directed by Erick Zonca, who impressed with The Dreamlife Of Angels a decade ago but has been largely idle since. Like Zonca’s earlier success, Julia follows its own unsteady rhythm, careening from comedy to suspense to pathos so heedlessly that some audience members ...

Tilda Swinton tested her acting skills to the limit playing a hard-partying alcoholic in new movie Julia - because she usually falls asleep after a couple of drinks.

Swinton plays an out-of-control drunk in the film, but was worried she would be unable to pull it off convincingly because booze usually leaves her feeling sleepy or sick.

So she studied her own circle of friends to give her inspiration for the part.

Swinton explains, "If I get drunk, I throw up or I go to sleep. But once I started, I realised that I've actually been doing that for years because my friends are drunk and I pretend to be drunk.

"I'm so aware very often when you see alcoholism in films, people tend to emphasise something that I don't really recognise in the alcoholics I know and love, which is a kind of loser quality.

"I don't think of alcoholics as losers, particularly. Alcoholics tend to number the most energetic and fantastic people I know. So I was always thinking it would be nice to look at that kind of portrait."...

Tilda Swinton has proved herself to be one of the most versatile and talented actresses in Hollywood. She won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2008 for “Michael Clayton” and has starred in box office hits including “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “The Chronicles of Narnia” and “Burn After Reading.” Swinton expands her repertoire with “The Limits of Control,” which had a limited release last Friday and “Julia,” which Alison and Jeffrey will review on this week’s show. Tilda dropped by the Reel Talk set to chat with Jeffrey about her role in “Julia,” an unpredictable alcoholic who kidnaps a young boy. Click here to see a clip of Tilda talking to Jeffrey about getting into character and here to see what the actress finds funny.

There are certain roles that scream out for a Tilda Swinton. You imagine the British actress playing characters who are sophisticated and wise, or luminous and otherworldly, which means you'd never have guessed she'd be the right choice to lead French filmmaker Erick Zonca's latest, "Julia." Being brilliant at what she does, however, Swinton indeed transforms into the titular bar floozy, a barely in control alcoholic who bullshits her way through every selfish, reckless moment of her day. Acting on an addled survivor's instinct, Julia stumbles down a convoluted rabbit hole of increasingly horrific events, from an unwise scheme to kidnap a neighbor's eight-year-old son (Aidan Gould) away from his grandfather to an illegal trip into Mexico, where a second kidnapping takes place. It's a distressing but often thrilling film, Swinton's nine-volt performance being the charge that powers the whole thing. Sitting down at the Magnolia offices, Swinton and I talked about self-destructive behavior,...

[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] “Julia” is your typical tale of redemption, even as it thrashes against the sentimentality such a designation implies. As fearlessly played by Tilda Swinton—so often cast in roles for her androgynous appeal or otherworldly, reptilian bloodlessness, but here afforded leeway to get down and dirty—the titular protagonist is a full-blooded human yet completely unsympathetic at first. Self-destructive Julia sees herself as mere victim of a …...

[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] “Julia” is your typical tale of redemption, even as it thrashes against the sentimentality such a designation implies. As fearlessly played by Tilda Swinton—so often cast in roles for her androgynous appeal or otherworldly, reptilian bloodlessness, but here afforded leeway to get down and dirty—the titular protagonist is a full-blooded human yet completely unsympathetic at first. Self-destructive Julia sees herself as mere victim of a …...