If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or get my blog updates by email. Thanks for visiting!

Venice Film festival opens with George Clooney and Brad Pitt all set to grace the carpet with their new movie with the Coen Brothers Burn After Reading. But other than this movie there is nothing from Hollywood that can be talked about.

This year it could be another clean sweep by the Asian countries. This will be the fourth year running for Asian cinema if it wins another Golden Lion. There are three big Japanese entries this year including the animation Hayao Miyazaki “Pony on the cliff by the sea” which has just made 10 billion yen in just 31 days in its home country.

Italy also has a fair representation in the 21 films with four films vying for the top prize. This festival is one of the oldest festivals and also is major proponent in the upcoming Oscar race next year.

Burn After Reading that is out of competition this year is one of the films that is sure to outdo the director combos early work No Country For Old Men. No Country had taken four Academy Awards last year including the Best Picture and Directing.

The film follows two gym employees who chance upon a disc that contains memoirs of a sacked CIA analyst but the events spiral out of their control.

Kathy Bigelow directs Iraq drama “The Hurt Locker,” a year after Brian De Palma’s “Redacted” stunned audiences in Venice with its brutal construction of real-life events from the war.

Then there is the much talked about Darren Aronofsky film The Wrestler. There is also the debut feature of the acclaimed screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga called “The Burning Plain” starring Oscar Winners Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger.

Festival director Marco Mueller said the lighter Hollywood presence this year was partly due to disruptions caused by a 14-week writers’ strike that ended in February.

The film festival will also have another animation by Mamoru Oshii called The Sky Crawlers while Takeshi Kitano will present Achilles and the Tortoise.

Also out of competition is an documentary on the life of fashion designer Valentino and also a film with Emmanuel Beart starring called Vinyan.