A couple days ago we were fortunate enough to premiere the one-sheet for Woody Allen's new offering Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Now Yahoo! has the second trailer for the movie, and the first one with any dialogue.

I reserve judgment on the film (since, uh, I haven't seen it yet), but I already know that Rebecca Hall deserves an Oscar just for her delivery of "Look, señor, maybe in a different life..." And it's good to see Javier Bardem playing a normal, non-homicidal, fully ambulatory human being.

The most interesting thing for me is that Vicky Cristina Barcelona doesn't fit the mold of anything Woody Allen has churned out in the 21st century: it looks to be neither a goofy screwball comedy nor a slow-burn, class-conscious thriller. Instead, it seems like a perfectly earnest, if idiosyncratic, love triangle. And that's an interesting move at this point in his career.

The plot: A hotshot artist (Javier Bardem) invites two young women (Hall and Scarlett Johansson) on vacation in Barcelona to spend the weekend with him, but his ex-wife (Penelope Cruz) becomes determined to ruin the fun. It must have been a fun shoot for Bardem and Allen, I'll tell you that much.

Cinematical is very happy to bring you this exclusive poster for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (click to enlarge), written and directed by one of my favorite New Yorkers, Woody Allen. Starring the crazy sexy cool trio of Penélope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall, VCB follows two American tourists (Johansson, Hall) on holiday in Spain who find themselves drawn into a series of unconventional romantic entanglements with Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a charismatic painter who "pursues passions and ardently seeks the meaning of love," according to Kim's very positive review of the film from Cannes. Things become a bit complicated, however, when Juan Antonio's nutty ex-wife (Cruz) enters the picture.

I'm a pretty big fan of this poster as it kinda clues you into the plot of the film without hitting you over the head with it. Obviously the three key players are featured, and Cruz has her arms wrapped around Bardem as if he's her property -- while he and Johansson keep their eyes down as if they're hiding something. I dig it when the poster paints a story ... and I can't be the only one who's interested in seeing this one explored more.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona arrives in theaters on August 15.

The press conference for Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona was a packed affair. Buzz on the film has been mostly positive, and most of those trying to get in were, unfortunately, shut out. The line of press trying to get shots of Allen and the cast walking in was an utter madhouse; picture something akin to a prison riot, with a mob of press stomping on feet, shoving with elbows, and generally doing their damnedest to jostle into position in the hopes of scoring one or two decent shots in the 15 or so seconds you have to point and click.

I had my foot crushed by a large Belgian woman who muscled her way to the front of the pack on my right, and got smacked quite hard in the head by a Chinese photojournalist's video camera. Working a film fest isn't always quite the glamorous event one might imagine.

I've said before that a new film from Woody Allen is something like getting a Christmas gift from your eccentric aunt; you never know if you'll get a crocheted toilet paper cozy, or a piece of priceless heirloom jewelry. Fortunately, Allen's newest film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, turns out to be more like the latter. The story opens with Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson), two best friends heading to Barcelona for eight weeks of fun.

Vicky's distant relations Judy (Patricia Clarkson) and Mark (Kevin Dunn) live in Barcelona, and have invited the girls to spend the summer there, where Vicky will do research for her Masters and Cristina will soak up the local culture. Vicky is engaged to be married to Doug (Chris Messina), a stalwart, likable, but rather boring young man, and Cristina is recovering from her latest breakup and looking for an artistic outlet for her pent-up creativity.

Last month, he gets replaced by a woman. This month, he's just too tired to go on. Variety reports that Javier Bardem is backing out of his lead role in Rob Marshall's upcoming musical, Nine. They say: "Though his camp said that Bardem loved the script and the idea of working with Marshall, he pulled out because he is exhausted from work and awards seasons, and will take as long as a year to recharge his batteries."

I'm sorry, but that seems like overkill. Getting tired is understandable, as is needing a break. But let's recap. In the last few years, there was Goya's Ghosts, No Country for Old Men, and Love in the Time of Cholera. He's topping that off with two more -- Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Killing Pablo. Needing a year break after this seems like overkill. I mean, in the same amount of time, Peter O'Toole has taken on 12 roles (being 37-years Javier's senior), Scarlett Johansson, his Vicky co-star, has nine roles, a TV gig, and a directorial gig, Robert Downey Jr. has 11, and so on and so forth.

If this handful of roles and awards has worn him down too much, I have to wonder if he will be able to continue this career for many years to come. Then again, maybe he isn't tired of working, but just tired of the big-name system. Since he got his first credit role in The Ages of Lulu in 1990, he's had at least one gig a year, except for 2005, which remained Bardem-free. It's not like he's a complete newbie. Oh well. At least we still have Vicky and Pablo on the way.

They're still in talks, but everyone is reporting the deal as done, so I will too. Nicole Kidman and Judi Dench are joining Nine, Rob Marshall's film adaptation of the 1982 Broadway musical. The Hollywood Reporter says they'll be joining the already impressive cast of Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard and Sophia Loren.

Bardem will be playing the lead, a film director juggling the demands of several women in his life. The musical is an adaptation of Federico Fellini's autobiographical 8 1/2. Shooting was supposed to have begun in March, but due to the recent loss of Anthony Minghella, it has now been delayed to September. As Kidman is due to become a mother this summer, it would give her a nice maternity break.

When you look at Javier Bardem, do you think: "Gee, he'd look great in a dress!" or, "Gee, he'd make a good woman?" No? Well then, you're right in line with Francis Ford Coppola. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he's made a big change in his upcoming film, Tetro, giving what he calls a "sex change" to the character Bardem was set to play. So, Bardem is out and fellow Spaniard Carmen Maura (Volver) is in.

During rehearsals for the shoot, Coppola realized that things needed to be changed: "One of the important roles in the script is a mentor and teacher to Tetro (Vincent Gallo), and I originally wrote it for a man. As I read and reread (the script), I felt that the interaction between the two characters would be far more intriguing if they were of the opposite sex." However, other sources have told THR that Bardem "became unavailable." This could be true, as the actor wasn't available for the rehearsals in Buenos Aires. But if it is, why not say as much?

Whatever the case, you can be sure that Maura will give a very different performance than Bardem would have -- just like Gallo will definitely bring something very different to the table than Matt Dillon. The film follows Tetro, a man living in Buenos Aires and being mentored by Maura's literary critic, when his estranged younger brother (Alden Ehrenreich) comes to find him. Production began on March 31.

Despite all the awards attention it received, Joe Wright's Atonement still sounds too much like a lushly romantic period melodrama for my personal taste. Still, it's one of those movies you probably need to experience yourself before deciding if the praise was too lavish (Ryan Stewart thought it was a "stunning achievement") or the criticism too harsh. The DVD from Universal Studios includes deleted scenes, two "making of" features, and an audio commentary by the director.

From all that I've read, Southland Tales sounds like an astonishing train wreck. Nick Schager began his review for Cinematical by writing: "Let me present Exhibit A in the case against granting talented young filmmakers extensive creative autonomy." Given my perverse nature, that makes me want to see Richard Kelly's futuristic epic even more. The DVD from Sony Pictures includes a "featurette" and an animated short.

Steep presents thrilling footage of big mountain skiers who swoosh down incredibly steep slopes. As I noted in my review, though, I felt it raised more questions than it wanted to answer. The DVD from Sony Pictures includes an audio commentary by director Mark Obenhaus with some of the skiers, photo montages, and an additional interview with one of the sport's masters.

Though it was ignored during last fall's awards season, Mike Newell's Love in the Time of Cholera might be ripe for discovery. (On the other hand, Jeffrey M. Anderson really didn't like it.) Javier Bardem and Benjamin Bratt star in an adaptation of the novel by Gabriel García Márquez. The DVD from New Line includes an audio commentary by Newell, a "making of" feature, and deleted scenes.

My indie pick of the week is Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited; which our own Monika Bartyzel has already reviewed elsewhere. My next pick is a film that Cinematical's Scott Weinberg recommended: Death at a Funeral. The title may be misleading: it's a comedy directed by Frank Oz (Little Shop of Horrors, What About Bob?) and Scott described it as "a very broad, very British and very funny farce ... that will definitely appeal to people over the age of 30." MGM's DVD includes an audio commentary by Mr. Oz, another by screenwriter Dean Craig and actors Alan Tudyk and Andy Nyman, and a gag reel.

New Oscar winner Javier Bardem also starred in last year's Goya's Ghosts, a bio-pic directed by Milos Forman; Ryan Stewart wrote: "It just comes across as odd and indicative of a serious lack of directorial focus." He further stated: "If it were not the work of a major director, it's hard to imagine why anyone would suffer the mental agitation of trying to figure out how its various pieces fit together ..." Ryan explained his disappointment very well, but if you're a glutton for punishment -- or a huge, huge fan of Bardem and co-star Natalie Portman -- you might decide to rent the DVD from Samuel Goldwyn, which includes a behind-the-scenes featurette.

Well, the Oscars are a wrap. You can see all the winners right over here.
Cinematical staff did pretty well with our predictions, and so did our readers. You guys picked the winners for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Adapated Screenplay -- the same categories we got right. We missed Best Doc and both actress categories. Not bad overall.

What do you think about this year's Oscars? Did you think Jon Stewart did a good job with the hosting? Aside from the part where he kind of disappeared for the last hour, but I guess they usually do that towards the end when everyone wants to wrap it up already and get to the parties. What were the big surprises of the night? Any huge disappointments? (Go ahead, anti Diablo Cody contingent. You can say it.)

Oh, and who looked awesome, and who didn't? I thought Marion Cotillard, Helen Mirren, Jennifer Garner and Anne Hathaway had the best looks of the night among the ladies. On the guy's side, Johnny Depp and George Clooney both looked hot, and so did Denzel Washington. And Glen Hansard ... yeah, he was adorable too. I'm just saying.

Time for your thoughts on Hollywood's big night -- discuss away!