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DVD/Blu-ray: The Artist (PG)

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The hype and awards have slightly diminished the impact of Hazanavicius's adroit homage to Hollywood's silent era, and the first 20 minutes are a bit so-what-ish, but then, suddenly, everything – the acting, the melodramatic score, the dog (Uggie), the gorgeous faded black-and-white look – kicks in.

DVD/Blu-ray: Klitschko (12A)

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

This erratic documentary tries to shine some light on the two enigmatic Ukrainian man mountains that have dominated heavyweight boxing in recent times.

Intruders (15)

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Two imaginative children, Mia (Ella Purnell) in London and Juan (Izá* Corchero) in Madrid, are haunted by Hollow Face, a beast who steals children's faces.

DVD/Blu-ray: The Bridge (15)

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Martin is a bulky, scruffy Copenhagen cop whose "nether regions hurt" due to a vasectomy (Morse never had this trouble); Saga is a slim, un-feeling detective in Malmö.

Is Ridley Scott the most macho man in movies?

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Sir Ridley Scott starts his day like a CEO. Wherever he is in the world, he's on the phone at 6am, to his offices in London, Los Angeles, New York and/or Hong Kong. If he's in LA, he talks to London for two hours. If he's in London, say, making a movie, he calls LA for an hour in the morning from the back of his chauffeur-driven car, customised to contain the essential fixtures of an executive suite.

Films of the week: Hawks, Humph and a hard-boiled noir original

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Film choice

Snow White and the three-and-a-half-inch Lavender Hill Mob

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Eddie Marsan is starring as a dwarf with fellow dwafes Ray Winstone and Bob Hoskins in Snow White and the Huntsman.

Bruce Willis: The all-action hero who's coming to the rescue again

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Bruce Willis is a career cop. From the career-making (Die Hard) to the near career-breaking (Cop Out, anyone?), over a 30-year career he has played the long arm of the law as many as 20 times. There's no one who delivers a bloodstained wife beater and lacerated feet better than Willis.

Cannes: Too much rain, too few women, but great movies

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Every year, around 1,800 films are considered for the main competition in Cannes. It's easily the most prestigious film festival in the world and slots are very keenly sought after. That's why festival director Thierry Frémaux 's choices are so keenly scrutinised. This year, Frémaux made a bad start by announcing a 22-strong competition without a single female director. The din created when the festival started last week has never quite died down. When 2012 is looked back on, the lack of women film-makers will be remembered – and so will the rain that started in earnest at the weekend and didn't let up for several days.

Observations: Looking on the bright side of a Dark Horse

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Given Todd Solondz's reputation for controversy, his sidestepping of provocative subject matter makes his new film, Dark Horse, seem almost quaint in comparison with his masterwork, Happiness.

Screentalk: Cameron Diaz show she's still hot property

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Cameron Diaz, having played a bad teacher, is about to tackle another unlikely profession.

Luke Blackall: Those Cannes yachts miss no opportunity to be over-the-top

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Pictures of me aboard yachts in Cannes have been the subject of humour and ridicule among my colleagues this week, and helped disabuse them of any notion that I was doing serious work out there.

Keira Knightley engaged to rock star boyfriend James Righton from Klaxons

Fri, 25 May 2012 16:42:06 +0100

Hollywood star Keira Knightley is to marry her rock star boyfriend, James Righton from Klaxons.

French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy calls for West to intervene in Syria

Fri, 25 May 2012 14:30:16 +0100

Bernard-Henri Lévy is calling for France and the West to intervene in Syria as his new documentary The Oath of Tobruk debuts at the Cannes Film Festival tonight.

Fury at Obama over filmmakers' access to Bin Laden kill team

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The White House has denied putting politics before national security after it was revealed to have offered the makers of a high-profile Hollywood film access to the Navy Seal team which killed Osama bin Laden.

Move over Brangelina, this night belongs to Kingston Bagpuize

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The tree-lined streets and well-manicured lawns of Kingston Bagpuize would normally hum with gossip from the village fête. But this week parochial chatter gave way to more glamorous talk – as the Oxfordshire village was electrified by thoughts of red carpet dresswear, multiplex distribution deals and Hollywood remake rights.

What to Expect When You're Expecting (12A)

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

"A miracle is happening inside me," coos one of the pregnant women who squat on this ensemble comedy about the joys and sorrows of parenting. The miracle happening inside me was that I managed to sit through the whole film without throwing up. But it was a close thing.

Free Men (12A)

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Resistance under the Nazi occupation has become such a hot topic among the French that one sometimes wonders if they're protesting too much. There weren't that many heroic Maquis.

Men in Black 3D (PG)

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Surprise of the week. Perhaps it's only because expectations were so low going in that this second MiB sequel felt like, at times, improbable fun. The return of Smith and Jones as Agent J and Agent K seemed destined to be a matter of duty rather than pleasure, which may be why the older partner, looking his years, spends so much time offscreen. No matter, as it happens, because this film is borrowing from Back to the Future and sending Agent J on a rescue mission.

Moonrise Kingdom (12A)

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Wes Anderson's films are as formally distinctive as Peter Greenaway's, and sometimes as maddening. They are pictorial things, but less in the way of a film than, say, a graphic novel. Where Greenaway thinks like a painter, Anderson uses the camera like a cartoonist, each frame hyper-composed in colour and composition, an eccentric mini-work of art in itself.

Tales of the Night 3D (NC)

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Michel Ocelot's suite of animated fancies is like a child's diorama transferred to the screen.

Personal Best (12A)

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Sam Blair's documentary, timed for the run-in to the Olympics, considers the prospects of four British sprinters.

First Night: Paperboy, Cannes Film Festival

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Lee Daniels is proving himself to be a bombastic film-maker. His directorial debut, Precious, mixed fantastical dream sequences with social realism. At Cannes he unveiled a crime drama, mixed with blaxploitation and a coming-of-age tale. It's as if Daniels has been schooled in Bollywood, so much does he adhere to the Indian film-making philosophy that the more genres the merrier.

Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels says there are not enough roles for African American actors in films

Thu, 24 May 2012 18:26:48 +0100

The Oscar-nominated director of Precious said today that there are not enough roles for African American actors in films.

Alec Baldwin launches foul-mouthed tirade at producer Harvey Weinstein

Thu, 24 May 2012 16:30:28 +0100

Calling the all-powerful film mogul Harvey Weinstein a “douchbag” at a party packed with his movie peers is not a recommended formula for anyone wishing to thrive in Hollywood.

Contenders compete for Cannes top dog award

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:55:15 +0100

Never mind which film will take home the top Palme d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival this year, the real competition is for the top dog prize.

Kanye West's Cruel Summer premieres at Cannes

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:11:57 +0100

Kanye West and girlfriend Kim Kardashian lit up Cannes as the American rapper premiered his debut film.

From fashion to film: Jean Paul Gaultier on his week as a Cannes juror

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

On the top floor of world cinema's most famous bunker, the Palais des Festival, Jean Paul Gaultier, the French designer renowned for Madonna's cone bra, bringing man-skirts into the style lexicon and the torso-shaped bottles of his successful fragrance line, ushers me into the private sanctum for this year's Cannes competition jury.

Language: The cussing room floor

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Ken Loach's long and illustrious showreel contains vivid scenes of animal cruelty, terrorism and domestic abuse. Yet when the firebrand director was asked by British censors to make cuts to his new film The Angels' Share, it was for the mundane crime of containing too many swear words. To achieve a 15 certificate, Loach claimed at Cannes this week, "We were allowed seven 'cunts'." The quota system for bad language, he said, is "surreal".

Want to see a dirty movie? Not that kind

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

I fear that someone has been having our Gallic friends across la Manche on. Somehow, they've come to believe that the pasty-faced, soap-dodging would-be troubadour that is Pete Doherty is not only cool, but that he is a sensible choice for the romantic lead in a period film.

James Bond is back to help loss-making Pinewood Shepperton

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Pinewood Shepperton tumbled to a loss after a year that saw the film studios taken over, but it still has James Bond for company.

On the Road, Cannes Film Festival

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Walter Salles takes an orthodox approach to Jack Kerouac's classic text. As with his adaptation of Che Guevara's Motorcycle Diaries, Salles seems as preoccupied with the mundane as he is with the tales of threesomes, drugs and broken friendships.

Cannes Film Festival charges Canadian journalists to interview stars such as Brad Pitt

Wed, 23 May 2012 18:11:24 +0100

Interviews with Hollywood’s top stars can be staid affairs. Reined in by a host of publicists and PRs, very rarely do they let slip anything of great interest. But now Canadian journalists at the Cannes Film Festival have been told they must pay for the privilege.

Trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby released

Wed, 23 May 2012 13:04:37 +0100

A two and a half minute first trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s highly anticipated film adaptation of The Great Gatsby has been released.

Rapper Kanye West premieres Cruel Summer at Cannes Film Festival

Wed, 23 May 2012 09:56:43 +0100

American rapper Kanye West will premiere his debut art film Cruel Summer at the Cannes Film Festival today.

First Night: Killing Them Softly, Cannes Film Festival

Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Andrew Dominik's Killing Them Softly is a mobster thriller that takes a worm's eye view of its subject matter. The protagonists – including Brad Pitt's über-cynical enforcer Jackie Cogan – are brutish types who inhabit a world so sordid that it makes Goodfellas seem glamorous in the extreme.

'Killing Them Softly' is 'about modern living', says film's star Brad Pitt

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:54:52 +0100

Brad Pitt's role as a brutal mob enforcer is not just a gangster story but a commentary on modern living, he said today.

Love is in the air for film festival jury

Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Members of the jury, from left, Haitian director Raoul Peck, British actor Ewan McGregor, Palestinian actress and director Hiam Abbass, US director and producer Alexander Payne, Italian director and president of the jury Nanni Moretti, French actress Emmanuelle Devos, British director and scriptwriter Andrea Arnold, French designer Jean Paul Gaultier and German actress Diane Kruger arrive for the screening of Amour (Love) presented in competition at the 65th Cannes film festival.

Gun? Check. Tuxedo? Check. Therapist? Er...

Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The first minute-and-a-bit teaser trailer for Sam Mendes's Bond movie, Skyfall, has just premiered online. Here are 007 things we've learnt from it:

First Night: The Angels' Share, Cannes Film Festival

Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The venerable British director Ken Loach has a reputation as a dour social realist. Even fervent admirers sometimes need to brace themselves for his latest polemical blast. What can be overlooked is the humour and tenderness.

Amour, Cannes Film Festival

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:46:58 +0100

Michael Haneke is now a firm favourite to join the illustrious list of two-time Palme d’Or winners thanks to this heart-breaking tale about the dying weeks in the relationship of an octogenarian couple.

Hollywood bound after making a splash on Cote d'Azur

Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

While the box office names pose on the red carpet at the 65th Cannes Film Festival, industry experts are eagerly scouting films showing on the Croisette for the stars of tomorrow.

Family seeks to block Hamas film

Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The family of a slain Hamas agent is seeking to block the release of a film being made in Israel about his assassination in a Dubai hotel in 2010.

Trending: Shining a light on conspiracy theories

Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Stanley Kubrick's horror masterpiece The Shining is the director's take on the Holocaust. Or is it about the treatment of Native Americans? Or numerology? Or how Kubrick – fresh from filming 2001: A Space Odyssey – was behind the faked filming of the moon landings?

First Night: Confession of a Child of the Century, Cannes Festival

Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Tabloid bad boy Pete Doherty is perfectly cast in French director Sylvie Verheyde's Alfred de Musset adaptation, Confession of a Child of the Century.

DVD: Haywire

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:18 +0100

Steven Soderbergh’s post-Bourne spy movie is – in spite of the presence of Antonio Banderas and Michael Fassbender – a showcase for Gina Carano, a mixed martial arts champ who’d never done any acting before.

Hockney joins battle to save derelict cinema

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

In the long list of architectural treasures gracing Britain's towns and cities, Bradford Odeon, a derelict Art Deco cinema, is not one that immediately springs to mind. But plans to demolish the building that once played host to The Beatles and the Rolling Stones have sparked an angry campaign led by prominent artists and performers, including David Hockney, Michael Palin, Jenny Agutter, Alan Bennett and Barbara Windsor.

Messy, dirty, rough. 'Lawless' in Cannes...

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The Prohibition gangster thriller unveiled at Cannes yesterday was a strong draught yet not intoxicating enough to liven up what's so far been a sluggish Film Festival. Set in early 1930s Virginia, Lawless is as American as it gets, yet is a largely Australian undertaking, with a couple of major British names and a few from the US making up the numbers.

Blade Runner with a female lead: All-action gals... just like mother

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Women, one American female actor (Yancy Butler) famously said, have been kicking ass for centuries. Her point was that it is only relatively recently that they have been allowed to do so on the blockbuster screen, and not often at that. Perhaps more than any other action director, Ridley Scott can be credited with beginning to change that.

Heads up: Cosmopolis

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

What are we talking about? A new film adaptation of Don DeLillo's 2003 novel Cosmopolis, following a young billionaire asset manager as he tries to make his way across Manhattan in a very swish limo, in order to get a haircut.

The Dictator, Larry Charles, 83 mins (15) 2 Days in New York, Julie Delpy, 91 mins (15) The Raid, Gareth Huw Evans, 90 mins (18)

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Anyone who's seen both Borat ... and Ali G Indahouse will assume that Sacha Baron Cohen is a lot more entertaining when he's bouncing off unsuspecting members of the public than he is when he's working from a proper screenplay. But anyone who's seen The Dictator will revise that assumption, pronto. Tightly scripted by Baron Cohen and three alumni of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, it may well be his best film, as well as the year's best comedy.

Cannes round-up: Rust and Bone, Paradise: Love, After the Battle, Broken and Mekong Hotel

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

It's the rule in Cannes: arrive champing at the bit for drop-dead masterpieces, and be prepared to swallow a few disappointments before things really warm up.

Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson, 100 mins, 12A

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

We can expect great things of Cannes – but not, it's a safe bet, too many laughs. You think the likes of Michael Haneke are here to amuse us? So, we'd best grab our merriment while we may, with Wes Anderson's opening film Moonrise Kingdom. Anderson's precise aesthete humour isn't to all tastes. But if it's not his best (that's surely The Royal Tenenbaums), Moonrise Kingdom is Anderson's most enjoyable film for a while. Following his animated Fantastic Mr Fox, it's the second time that Anderson has let out his inner child – in this case, his inner boy scout.

No better escape than a trip to the end of the world

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:56 +0100

Cinemagoers, it seems, are obsessed with the impending downfall of mankind. Since Fritz Lang's Metropolis imagined a cheerless post-industrialisation future in 1927, Hollywood has churned out films detailing our demise by the bucket-load, from Brave New World and Blade Runner to War of the Worlds and Wall-E.

Val Kilmer - The Hollywood bad boy done good

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:56 +0100

Val Kilmer has been looking for a part to give him a career resurrection, a role that would remind the world of his talent, a part only he could do justice. In The Fourth Dimension, the Top Gun star has finally found such a role: he plays Val Kilmer.

Observations: The latest child star with brains to back up their movie career

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:35 +0100

Kara Hayward is the latest in a line of child actresses who have brains as well as talent. The 13-year-old star of Cannes opening-night film Moonrise Kingdom has been a member of Mensa since the age of nine. Some of the Massachusetts native's artwork and poems have been published. So she looks odds-on to join the club of brainy actresses who, having taken Hollywood by storm, decide to take a career sabbatical to study.

DVD/Blu-ray: The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (U)

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:13 +0100

Ealing Studios' jaunty 1947 take on Charles Dickens's tale of child abuse, a stolen inheritance and avarice flies by at a fair lick, with three astounding performances from Cedric Hardwicke as the despicable Uncle Ralph, Stanley Holloway as garrulous theatre manager Vincent Crummies and Alfred Drayton as the sadistic Wackford Squeers.

DVD/Blu-ray: The Descendants (15)

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:12 +0100

“I'm the back-up parent, the understudy,” explains George Clooney's complacent family man and workaholic Hawaiian lawyer.

A bus ride that started in the Bronx and – four years later – arrived in Cannes

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:10 +0100

Four years ago a group of teenagers from the Bronx joined a bus ride that would take them to Cannes. None of them had left America until they hit the Croisette this week with the new movie by Green Hornet director Michel Gondry.

DVD/Blu-ray: The Grey (15)

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:09 +0100

“I'm calling on you,” pleads Ottway (Liam Neeson) to the heavens, but God isn't listening in this grisly, gripping Alaskan horror.

The Dictator, 83mins (15)

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The latest character to give Sacha Baron Cohen the license to say outrageous and offensive things is General Aladeen, the composite ruler of an oil-rich Middle Eastern country, as despotic as he is idiotic.

Luke Blackall: Cannes isn't just about the beach front parties, you know. There's the yacht ones, too

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

And so I'm back at the International Festival of Big Yachts and Parties, also known as the Cannes Film Festival. I may sound as if I'm mocking it, but it really is one of the very nicest things about a very nice job that I have been able to come here regularly for the past few years.

Films of the week (19/05/2012): The future is bleak in Scott’s definitive cut

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Film choice

New film releases this weekend

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

2 Days in New York (15)

Cannes Diary: Atwell will soon be a $10m-a-movie star, says director Junger

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Atwell will soon be a $10m-a-movie star, says director Junger

Sacha Baron Cohen: UN was scared of my 'dictator'

Fri, 18 May 2012 19:01:26 +0100

An unmasked Sacha Baron Cohen has revealed that the United Nations barred him from shooting The Dictator at its New York headquarters because his comic portrayal of a Middle East tyrant would embarrass the heads of member states.

New film about Roman Polanski will be 'opinion changing'

Fri, 18 May 2012 15:32:26 +0100

A new film about controversial director Roman Polanski will be "opinion changing" and allow audiences to hear about his turbulent life in his own words, its director said today.

Paul Greengrass shoots and scores with Barcelona film Barça

Fri, 18 May 2012 09:30:01 +0100

Barcelona's footballing style has been compared to high art, and it emerged yesterday at the Cannes Film Festival the team will become the focus of a "cinematic portrait" by blockbuster director Paul Greengrass.

Cannes Diary: Harry Potter magic leads to film debut

Fri, 18 May 2012 09:30:01 +0100

Crispian Mills, the lead singer of Kula Shaker, can thank a bit of Harry Potter magic for getting him into films, which has culminated in his directing a "semi-comedy" starring Simon Pegg.

Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie reunite for Oscar Wilde family

Fri, 18 May 2012 07:58:54 +0100

Stephen Fry will be reunited with comedy partner Hugh Laurie in a new animated film based on the work of Oscar Wilde, it has been announced.

The Dictator, 83 mins (15)

Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The first laugh comes before the film has even started. "In loving memory of Kim Jong-il" reads the dedication title. It pretty much sets the tone for The Dictator, a broad, hit-and-miss satire about an Arab tyrant's indulgence of his capricious – and murderous – will. While Kim Jong-il may get the opening nod, Sacha Baron Cohen's lavishly bearded despot, General Aladeen, is more obviously inspired by Gaddafi and Saddam, who cosied up to the West even while they were torturing and killing their own people. "Broad" hardly covers it. This is a man who orders the disappearance of minions, aides, even a wife, with a surreptitious finger swiped across his throat.

Also showing (18/05/2012)

Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The Raid (18) ***

Pixar's billion-dollar delete button nearly lost Toy Story 2 animation

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:00:01 +0100

If you've ever lost, say, an unfinished work spreadsheet or a uni essay you were working on to the technological abyss, you'll be well versed with the panic that ensues. Imagine, though, losing an entire film.

Nicola Horlick: From hedge funds to Hollywood

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:00:01 +0100

Readers of the financial pages will be well aware of Nicola Horlick, the superstar fund manager who landed the nickname "superwoman" as she juggled a high-powered career with raising six children. She appears less regularly in the arts section, but that is set to change as her new money-making venture has Hollywood in its sights.

Cannes Film Festival: A woman flies the flag in a 'man's world'

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

A female juror at the Cannes Film Festival spoke out yesterday against the lack of women film directors, days after a row erupted over the absence of female nominees for this year's Palme d'Or prize.

Cannes Diary: The next best thing to Orson Welles

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Ed Norton invoked the spirit of one of Hollywood's greats in praising Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom. "Wes has put together one of the great troupes," he said, before adding that anyone who knew about Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre had "the dream of being in such a company".

First Night: Moonrise Kingdom, Cannes Festival Opening Film

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The polite applause at the end of the press screening of Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom was in keeping with the subdued opening to this year's Cannes. In spite of the controversy about the lack of women film-makers in the programme and the usual publicity stunts, this has been a surprisingly muted festival. Anderson's new film – like every other Wes Anderson film before it – is mannered in the extreme.

Cannes opens with Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom

Wed, 16 May 2012 16:32:27 +0100

The sunbaked Cannes Film Festival got under way with Wes Anderson's “Moonrise Kingdom,” whose carefully composed whimsy stood in stark contrast to the zoo-like atmosphere at the annual French Riviera extravaganza.

Sacha Baron Cohen's 'Dictator' takes his camel out in Cannes

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:13:02 +0100

'The Dictator' knows how to make a scene.

Model Agyness Deyn lands farmer role

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:10:59 +0100

Model Agyness Deyn is to play a farmer in a bleak drama set in rural Scotland.

Tarantino of the 2000s who's out of this world

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom opens the Cannes Film Festival today, putting the 43-year-old Texan in rarefied company: the last two Croisette curtain-raisers were Woody Allen and Ridley Scott.

Hollywood stars to hit French Riviera as Moonrise Kingdom opens Cannes

Tue, 15 May 2012 18:45:56 +0100

Hollywood stars including Bruce Willis and Edward Norton will tomorrow hit the French Riviera, as their film Moonrise Kingdom opens the 65th Cannes Film Festival.

Martin Scorsese breathes new life into gangster classic Once Upon a Time in America

Tue, 15 May 2012 09:00:01 +0100

As Martin Scorsese puts it, "the great Sergio Leone's epic cinematic canvas of the 20th century, Once Upon a Time in America" has now been "reconstituted." Next week in Cannes, audiences will have the chance to a savour a new 245-minute cut of Leone's gangster masterpiece. Twenty-five minutes of extra footage will be included.

Women directors are out of the picture at Cannes

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The super yachts have only just begun to moor up along the French Riviera but already the Cannes Film Festival has been plunged into controversy over the complete lack of female directors vying for this year's coveted Palme d'Or.

Trending: Who's really in the billion dollar club?

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Call me old-fashioned, but when I heard that Disney was developing a movie version of The Avengers, my mind immediately turned to Joanna Lumley with a pudding-bowl haircut, legs up to her armpits, and a highly improbable day job which involved saving modern civilisation from a series of comically evil geniuses intent on world domination.

Lottery pledges £285m to boost British film industry

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Cinemas outside London will receive financial support to show films other than the latest Hollywood blockbusters as part of a £285m National Lottery investment in the British film industry.

The Avengers film takes $1 billion worldwide in first 19 days

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:11:51 +0100

The Avengers movie has topped the American box office for the second week in a row, taking $1 billion in its first 19 days.

DVD: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (Warner)

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:15 +0100

Guy Ritchie’s second Sherlock Holmes film improves on his first in every respect.

Cannes Film Festival: An old lady not to be messed with

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Don't be fooled. The word "festival" doesn't mean that anything goes. Cannes has always been governed by protocol – as any man can tell you who's turned up for an evening gala in tux and dicky bow, only to be turned away for wearing the wrong shoes. And these days, the festival has a touch of the iron fist about it. Last year, after making his "I'm a Nazi" wisecracks, Lars von Trier found the festival declaring him persona non grata – which surely carries a certain prestige, a sort of auteur Asbo.

Cannes Film Festival: Guide to this year’s shenanigans

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Controversies

'Inbetweeners' film boosts Channel 4's profits

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Channel 4's annual results tomorrow are expected to show it has received a major boost from The Inbetweeners Movie.

All In Good Time, Nigel Cole, 93 mins (12A) How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Adrian Grunberg, 96 mins (15) Jeff, Who Lives At Home, Jay and Mark Duplass, 83 mins (15)

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The question that's usually prompted by the British film industry's more feeble offerings is, "How did this get funded?" But All In Good Time must have seemed a safe bet. It's directed by Nigel Cole, who made Calendar Girls, and it's scripted by Ayub Khan-Din, who wrote East Is East, so the producers must have assumed it would be ... well, a colourful, crowd-pleasing comedy drama. They wouldn't have expected a film as boring and hollow as this one.

Film agents win life of Busby

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

London-listed Intandem Films has been named as sales agent for a movie loosely based on the life of the late Manchester United manager Sir Matt Busby.

Dark Shadows, Tim Burton, 113 mins (12A)

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Don't think Tim Burton doesn't know that his Dark Shadows is creaky – it's designed to be as creaky as the coffin that Johnny Depp's vampire hero is forever rising from. Burton's gothic comedy is based on an American TV classic – or so we're told, since the supernatural daytime soap Dark Shadows ran in the United States from 1966 to 1971 but is largely unknown in Britain. Having taken the trouble to exhume the series from its cobwebbed vaults (at least, watched clips on YouTube), I can tell you it looks cobwebby indeed, like Edward D Wood trying his hand at Douglas Sirk melodrama, or Peyton Place gone Transylvanian.

The Avengers: Superheroes unite to conquer cinemas

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

They have saved the world many times over. Now, not content with unleashing their heroics on the universe, the Avengers are flying, leaping and swinging to the rescue of Walt Disney.

DVD: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (20th Century Fox)

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

This shoddy melodrama draws tenuous parallels between two women in 19th-century China, and two more in present-day Hong Kong.

DVD/Blu-ray: Shame (18)

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:00:57 +0100

After their outstanding alliance on Hunger, Steve McQueen again coaxes a hugely committed turn out of Michael Fassbender in this tale of a desensitised sex addict who unravels when his damaged sister (Carey Mulligan) comes to stay in his flash Manhattan apartment.

Screentalk: Romcom respite for Ashley Bell

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:00:55 +0100

Ashley Bell is swapping horror for romantic comedy.

Cultural Life: Susannah Harker, Actress

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:00:40 +0100

DVD/Blu-ray: A Good Old Fashioned Orgy (18)

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:00:13 +0100

"This is the worst orgy ever," moans neurotic Adam in this awkward sex comedy about a group of old friends struggling with being thirtysomething.

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DVD/Blu-ray: The Artist (PG)

DVD/Blu-ray: Klitschko (12A)

Intruders (15)

DVD/Blu-ray: The Bridge (15)

Is Ridley Scott the most macho man in movies?

Films of the week: Hawks, Humph and a hard-boiled noir original

Snow White and the three-and-a-half-inch Lavender Hill Mob

Bruce Willis: The all-action hero who's coming to the rescue again

Cannes: Too much rain, too few women, but great movies

Observations: Looking on the bright side of a Dark Horse

Screentalk: Cameron Diaz show she's still hot property

Luke Blackall: Those Cannes yachts miss no opportunity to be over-the-top

Keira Knightley engaged to rock star boyfriend James Righton from Klaxons

French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy calls for West to intervene in Syria

Fury at Obama over filmmakers' access to Bin Laden kill team

Move over Brangelina, this night belongs to Kingston Bagpuize

What to Expect When You're Expecting (12A)

Free Men (12A)

Men in Black 3D (PG)

Moonrise Kingdom (12A)

Tales of the Night 3D (NC)

Personal Best (12A)

First Night: Paperboy, Cannes Film Festival

Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels says there are not enough roles for African American actors in films

Alec Baldwin launches foul-mouthed tirade at producer Harvey Weinstein

Contenders compete for Cannes top dog award

Kanye West's Cruel Summer premieres at Cannes

From fashion to film: Jean Paul Gaultier on his week as a Cannes juror

Language: The cussing room floor

Want to see a dirty movie? Not *that* kind

James Bond is back to help loss-making Pinewood Shepperton

On the Road, Cannes Film Festival

Cannes Film Festival charges Canadian journalists to interview stars such as Brad Pitt

Trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby released

Rapper Kanye West premieres Cruel Summer at Cannes Film Festival

First Night: Killing Them Softly, Cannes Film Festival

'Killing Them Softly' is 'about modern living', says film's star Brad Pitt

Love is in the air for film festival jury

Gun? Check. Tuxedo? Check. Therapist? Er...

First Night: The Angels' Share, Cannes Film Festival

Amour, Cannes Film Festival

Hollywood bound after making a splash on Cote d'Azur

Family seeks to block Hamas film

Trending: Shining a light on conspiracy theories

First Night: Confession of a Child of the Century, Cannes Festival

DVD: Haywire

Hockney joins battle to save derelict cinema

Messy, dirty, rough. 'Lawless' in Cannes...

Blade Runner with a female lead: All-action gals... just like mother

Heads up: Cosmopolis

The Dictator, Larry Charles, 83 mins (15) 2 Days in New York, Julie Delpy, 91 mins (15) The Raid, Gareth Huw Evans, 90 mins (18)

Cannes round-up: Rust and Bone, Paradise: Love, After the Battle, Broken and Mekong Hotel

Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson, 100 mins, 12A

No better escape than a trip to the end of the world

Val Kilmer - The Hollywood bad boy done good

Observations: The latest child star with brains to back up their movie career

DVD/Blu-ray: The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (U)

DVD/Blu-ray: The Descendants (15)

A bus ride that started in the Bronx and – four years later – arrived in Cannes

DVD/Blu-ray: The Grey (15)

The Dictator, 83mins (15)

Luke Blackall: Cannes isn't just about the beach front parties, you know. There's the yacht ones, too

Films of the week (19/05/2012): The future is bleak in Scott’s definitive cut

New film releases this weekend

Cannes Diary: Atwell will soon be a $10m-a-movie star, says director Junger

Sacha Baron Cohen: UN was scared of my 'dictator'

New film about Roman Polanski will be 'opinion changing'

Paul Greengrass shoots and scores with Barcelona film Barça

Cannes Diary: Harry Potter magic leads to film debut

Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie reunite for Oscar Wilde family

The Dictator, 83 mins (15)

Also showing (18/05/2012)

Pixar's billion-dollar delete button nearly lost Toy Story 2 animation

Nicola Horlick: From hedge funds to Hollywood

Cannes Film Festival: A woman flies the flag in a 'man's world'

Cannes Diary: The next best thing to Orson Welles

First Night: Moonrise Kingdom, Cannes Festival Opening Film

Cannes opens with Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom

Sacha Baron Cohen's 'Dictator' takes his camel out in Cannes

Want to see a dirty movie? Not that kind