Thompson On Hollywood

Cannes Wrap: Best of Fest

1. Paolo Sorrentino's Il divo (Italy): concise, focused, accessible, fascinating and entertaining despite arcane Italian political setting, this portrait of Giulio Andreotti won the jury prize. I can't wait to see Sorrentino's next. (Il divo has no stateside distributor.)

2. Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York (USA): utterly disciplined, Kaufman did what he set out to do, brilliantly, with humor. (Still for sale in North America; Sidney Kimmel may not make back his $20 million.)

3. Steve McQueen's Hunger (UK): this masterful directorial debut deservedly won the Camera d'Or and pushes Michael Fassbender toward stardom. (IFC will distribute.)

4. Ari Folman's Waltz with Bashir (Israel): authentic and emotional, this hybrid docu-drama shows that there's a future beyond Persepolis for stylized animation in service of powerful story-telling. (SPC will release.)

5. James Gray's Two Lovers (USA): this director-on-the-rise is back on track and elicits one of Joaquin Phoenix's best perfs. (If 2929 Entertainment doesn't get the deal it's seeking, its own distrib Magnolia will release.)

6. Clint Eastwood's Changeling (USA): the only potential best picture Oscar contender at Cannes this year (among many likely foreign film candidates); Angelina Jolie should land a nom. (Universal will likely take it on the fall fest circuit.)

7. Kim Jee-Woon's The Good, The Bad and the Weird (Korea): this stunning Oriental Western homage to Eastwood and Leone boasts high-speed action like you've never seen before: think Stagecoach meets Jackie Chan meets The Road Warrior. This broad action comedy could be hugely commercial.

8. Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona (USA): thanks to Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz's entertaining hijinks, this is Allen's best film since 1997's Deconstructing Harry. With Harvey at her back, Cruz is on her way to a supporting Oscar nod.

9. James Toback's Tyson (USA): this psychologically intimate interview with an iconic figure who is not all that he seems is not just for fight fans. (SPC will release.)

10. Atom Egoyan's Adoration (Canada): yet again, brainy auteur Egoyan explores the faulty fiction of family, history and memory. (SPC picked it up before Cannes.)

11. Barry Levinson's What Just Happened? (USA): as expected, this edgy Hollywood comedy showcasing Robert DeNiro's best role in ages (channeling writer-producer Art Linson) played better in Cannes, where it should have debuted all along. (2929's own Magnolia will most likely distribute.)

Mainstream commercial triumphs:
Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (USA): Spielberg and Co. took the gamble that the movie would score at Cannes and sure enough, it did.
John Stevenson and Mark Osborne's Kung Fu Panda (USA): DreamWorks and Paramount launched yet another global animation juggernaut out of the Cannes fest, which loves Jolie and Jack Black.

Noble Failure?
Steven Soderbergh's Che (Spain): there's a potential masterpiece buried within this sprawling, unfinished bio-epic (in which Benicio del Toro delivers a subtle, non-showy performance which was rightly rewarded with the best actor Prix). Whether Soderbergh will try to find it is another question. At this point HBO would be best suited to handle the film at its current four-hour, 18-minute length.

Cannes: Woody Speaks

The press lunch at the Martinez Palme d'Or was rushed and fun. (Everyone was running off to see Indy 4.) Here's Mike Jones' video of our roundtable with Woody Allen on one of the few sunny days here.

Cannes Watch: Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Slashfilm has a first look at Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona. UPDATE: Here's what the guys are really interested in: a lesbian sex scene between Scarlet Johannson and Penelope Cruz.

Woody Allen Films Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood

Karina Longworth reveals this frightening photo from the set of Woody Allen's latest picture, starring Larry David as the latest in a long line of Woody substitutes. (I have long wished that Allen would bring back my fave, Bullets Over Broadway's John Cusack.) I find David hard enough to take on the intimate home screen; I can't imagine what it will be like to be assaulted in large-scale mode.

Cannes Fest Lineup Includes Americans Eastwood, Soderbergh and Kaufman

The Cannes Film Fest announced its lineup Wednesday, and lo and behold, Steven Soderbergh's two Che films were included in the competition after all, as one four-hour entry. There had been some question if Soderbergh could finish the pics in time. Clint Eastwood's The Changeling and Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut Synecdoche, New York are the three American films in the competition. Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda will show out of competition. Spielberg will return to the Croisette for the first time since The Color Purple in 1986. New films from Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Walter Salles, Wim Wenders and Atom Egoyan will also be in competition. The opening and closing films have not been announced--Fernando Meirelles' Blindness, an Agnes Varda doc and Barry Levison's What Just Happened? were expected to be in the line-up.

Sean Penn will lead the main jury, comprised of Sergio Castellitto, Natalie Portman, Alfonso Cuaron, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Alexandra Maria Lara, and Rachid Bouchareb. UPDATE: Penn has programmed a U.S. film by Alison Thompson, The Third Wave, as a special jury president presentation. Interestingly, Penn won an Oscar for Mystic River under the direction of competition director Eastwood, so that complicates the jury/competition dynamic just a tad.

Americans Abel Ferrara, Kelly Reichert and James Toback have films in the official Un Certain Regard selection, while David Lynch sprig Jennifer Lynch of Boxing Helena fame is in the midnight category.

The full line-up is on the jump:

Stateside, the Tribeca Film Fest kicked off Wednesday night in New York with Tina Fey's comedy Baby Mama. Still to unspool are David Mamet's jujitsu drama Redbelt, Errol Morris's Abu Ghraib doc Standard Operating Procedure and the Wachowski's family FX adventure Speed Racer.

Weinsteins Acquire Woody's Next

The Weinstein Co. has acquired another Woody Allen film--despite the meager returns so far on Cassandra's Dreams. (Here's Variety's story.) No Country for Old Men Oscar nominee Javier Bardem talks about his role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona here.

UPDATE: There's much Internet debate on the pic's title, which does seem like a mouthful.

The full release is on the jump.

Summer Reading: 1001 Books to Read Before You Die

I have no idea how many books I've read in my life. When I was a kid I'd read six library books a week (granted there were rereads in there). These days I read more mags, rags and blogs than books; I probably read 20 books a year at most. So the length of this list depresses me. But it will give my book group something to discuss.

We loved our last book, Michael Chabon's alternative fiction The Yiddish Policemen's Union, something even Scott Rudin won't buy. (I'd love to see what Woody Allen or Paul Mazursky would do with this colony of Jews in Alaska.) Rudin's production of Chabon's more accessible (but expensive) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay has run aground at Paramount. (Stephen Daldry moved on to direct The Reader for Harvey Weinstein.) Unfortunately, Gail Berman was its champion.

Allen's Dream For Sale

The Cannes Film Festival offered Woody Allen's new film Cassandra's Dream the closing night slot, which Allen refused, hoping for a better offer. None came. The film was selling in the market, quietly, and word on the Croisette was that The Weinstein Co., which went after Match Point a few years ago and released Mighty Aphrodite and Bullets Over Broadway at Miramax, was interested. Dark Horizons wonders what's up?

Meanwhile, Allen is prepping his fourth film to be shot outside the United States, this time in Spain, starring his current muse, Scarlett Johansson, who is the first actress since Mia Farrow to star in more than two Allen films. She stars opposite the very hot Javier Bardem, who scored in Cannes in the Coens' No Country for Old Men. UPDATE: The Weinstein Co. has picked up the movie, which they will release by year's end.