Angelina Jolie dazzles at premiere

She made it. No one was sure whether Angelina Jolie would show up in Cannes for the premiere of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds which stars her partner Brad Pitt. After all, the rumours of their relationship being on the rocks had not abated and, anyway, she was busy filming the thriller Salt in upstate New York.

In the event, the queen of Hollywood turned up on the red carpet in a floor-length skin-tone gown, slashed even higher on the thigh than Rachel Weisz's dress had been a few days earlier.

Jolie had flown in by way of The Hague where she spent part of Tuesday at the International Criminal Court, watching the trial of the Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dylio, accused of using child soldiers.

The actress told reporters: "After watching the proceedings from the viewing booth, I stood up and found Thomas Lubanga Dylio looking at me. I imagined how difficult it must be for all the brave young children who have come to testify against him."

As for Tarantino's new film, a 'spaghetti-western' version of a war movie, it is having a rough time with the international court of film critics. It follows the fictional story of a band of Jewish American soldiers who go hunting for Nazi scalps in wartime Germany.

While Tarantino's fans have once again praised his ingenuity and creativity, his detractors have found it over-indulgent and even plodding at more than two-and-a-half hours - and unlikely to win its director another Palme d'Or.

"History will not repeat itself for Quentin Tarantino," said the Hollywood Reporter. "While his Pulp Fiction arrived late at the Festival de Cannes and swept away the Palme d'Or in 1994, Inglourious Basterds merely contributes to the string of disappointments in this year's competition."

Screen International says the film "offers considerable challenges to the attention span of mainstream audiences" and is unimpressed by Pitt in the lead role, branding him "one note" in his heavy Tennessee accent.

In the Guardian, critic Xan Brooks calls it "an obese, pampered adolescent of a film that somehow manages to be both indolent and overexcited at the same time. Oh sure, this adolescent is talented and has ambition and moxy to burn. But he's so bumptious, brattish and full of himself that it becomes a little wearing." ·