Tom Wilkinson

It's hard to go wrong with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen in a movie together. The two starred in Closer as a couple in a toxic marriage. This time around they play two corporate spies who are intoxicated with each other. The sexy part comes from the way they look (Owen is tan, Roberts is back with that big ol' movie star smile) and the fact that the characters' day jobs make it hard for them to trust each other, despite the longing between them.

I was expecting Duplicity to be the kind of movie at which I could kick back and enjoy the chemistry between the two stars. You know, the kind of movie in which double-crossing is just a spy's way of flirting, and covert operation lingo is laced with innuendo. I'm sad to report that's not the movie I viewed at all. I'll tell you why if you read more

Julia Roberts and Clive Owen joined up in London last night for the premiere of their film Duplicity. Clive and his wife Sarah-Jane walked the red carpet together, but Julia was rolling without her husband Danny. She recently opened up about all the fun she had working with Clive, and her affection for him was on display as they posed for photos. He saved the real loving for his wife, giving her a big kiss in front of the cameras. We'll be seeing more of Clive and Julia as they gear up for their movie's March 20 release stateside.

To see more from the evening, just read more

While there are a zillion World War II movies out there already, I kept an open mind going into the Tom Cruise star vehicle Valkyrie. Sure, this is a movie that has been dogged by bad press from start to finish (even due, in part, to the fact that Cruise is a Scientologist) but I can see that there is a fascinating movie to be made out of a German resistance movement involving Nazi officers in Adolf Hitler's inner circle.

High-ranking, aristocratic officers attempting to assassinate Hitler? There's so much to explore here! Were these men heroes? Or was it a desperate and calculated power grab when it was clear the Germans were losing the war? What did these men know about the mass murders of Jews that had taken place and when did they know it? Did any of them, including Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise) who led one of the most daring plots to kill Hitler, have a genuine crisis of conscience? And if so, what does that kind of moral awakening look like?

In a war that is often depicted very starkly as good vs. evil, within the German rank and file there were shades of gray and this makes for interesting psychological thriller fodder for sure. So why did Cruise and director Bryan Singer forego that kind of film in favor of a totally reductive, shallow, glossy, big-budget flick that will leave you feeling underwhelmed and a little icky because you just spent over an hour rooting for Nazis? I really don't know, but let's talk about it. Just read more

The next project from Tony Gilroy, writer and director of Michael Clayton, is Duplicity, a spy thriller with a sexy couple at the heart of it. Clive Owen and Julia Roberts play two corporate spies with a romantic past who "hook up to pull off the ultimate con job on their respective bosses." Paul Giamatti and the awe-inspiring Tom Wilkinson also star.

I watched the trailer a few times because I'm easily distracted by how good-looking Clive Owen is, but in the end I think it looks like an intriguing enough film. There's not a lot of chemistry going on with the main duo, but the premise seems fun. And I think the song used in the second part of the trailer is that Bitter:Sweet tune used as the theme song for Lipstick Jungle (it drove me a little crazy at first trying to figure that out). Duplicity opens March 20. To check out the trailer, read more

RocknRolla is extremely similar in tone and format to director Guy Ritchie's other films, and I must say I'm starting to think that his movies are only as good as the actors in them. Snatch is a good ensemble piece overall, but the most memorable parts are due to standout performances by actors like Brad Pitt and Alan Ford. Though not as good a film as Snatch, RocknRolla similarly benefits from some fine performers, in this case Tom Wilkinson, Mark Strong, and Toby Kebbell, among other members of the extensive cast in this convoluted story.

And by convoluted I mean I'm not sure I can even get into the plot here without writing another six paragraphs or so. Suffice to say there are a couple high-level criminal guys (played by Tom Wilkinson, Mark Strong and others), a resourceful accountant (Thandie Newton), a few bumbling low-level thugs (Gerard Butler, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy), and a druggie rock star, Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell) all chasing around large amounts of money and/or a beloved painting. There are a lot of men behaving badly because they had cruel fathers. There's a good amount of violence (often paired with great music) and torture mixed with dry, dark humor. It's funny and exciting — but not consistently so. For more on what I mean, read more

The title of this movie doesn't have an exclamation point at the end — I added that to the headline on account of my extreme enthusiasm for the RocknRolla trailer! As a huge fan of Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, I am positively giddy to see a trailer for another movie in that same vein. Plus, the cast rocks. There's Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Jeremy Piven, and, well, Ludacris. There's also Hottie McManly himself, Gerard Butler.

The trailer shows a supernatural aspect to this movie, along with the same old violence and that kind of wry, dark humor that permeates Snatch and Barrels. The plot description states: "London's criminal underworld takes notice of a Russian mobster's shady land deal, a scam that puts millions of dollars up for grabs."

If you are already a fan of director Guy Ritchie's style (we can ignore that he ever had anything to do with Swept Away for now), you might swoon at this trailer just as much as I am. The movie opens in the UK September 12, and then we'll get it October 31. Until the video becomes embeddable, you'll have to check out the trailer over on Empire where it premiered. Enjoy! And let me know what you think.

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