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Michael Biehn and his Blanc Biehn production company have been working on their remake of the Chilean horror Hidden In The Woods for some time now, and here, on its way to the American Film Market, is the first trailer. Biehn himself stars, and he's joined by William Forsythe, Electra Avellan, Jeannine Kaspar, Mma fighter Krxysztof Soszynski and Jennifer "Mrs Biehn" Blanc.The original Hidden In The Woods (which got a poisonous response at last year's FrightFest) is a slice of reprehensible gonzo sleaze, involving two sisters, their monstrous inbred brother, and their brutally abusive father. From the trailer, that set-up looks to have been toned-down, with the brother at least a normal kid who hasn't been sired by his own grandfather. First time around, the youngsters turned to cannibalism when left to fend for themselves following Dad's arrest, but that aspect would also appear to have been dropped.What remains,...

For many, Christopher Eccleston is one of those actors who people tend to forget about until he turns up in a movie with the unbridled intention of showing them what real acting actually looks like. That he hasn’t quite established himself as a constant presence or force in Hollywood goes without saying – he’s better-defined by the variable and unpredictable nature of his work. One minute Eccleston might turn up as the villain in a huge blockbuster, and then all of sudden he’s treading the boards somewhere, or helming a brand new mini-series for American television.

What remains consistent, though, is Eccleston’s stature as an actor of undeniable talent, confidence and respectability. A true thespian in every sense of the word, there have been very few instances of this deftly underrated actor phoning it in for a quick buck, though there are certainly performances that one could...

BBC One has released its first action shot from the set of The Musketeers.

Billed as a "fresh and contemporary take" on Alexandre Dumas's classic novel, the drama stars Skins actor Luke Pasqualino as D'Artagnan.

The 23-year-old is seen at the forefront of the newly released image, alongside Merlin's Santiago Cabrera (Aramis), The Hour's Tom Burke (Athos) and theatre actor Howard Charles (Porthos).

Filming has recently wrapped on the ten-part series from Primeval co-creator Adrian Hodges, which is set to launch in early 2014.

Hodges said: "I'm thrilled we can finally release the first image since wrapping filming on The Musketeers. I hope the picture gives a good idea of the look and intensity of the Musketeers themselves, and a hint of the excitement of each powerful, dramatic and action-filled episode."

Upcoming Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi will also feature in the series as the shadowy Cardinal Richelieu.

I didn’t pick up or play Animal Crossing: New Leaf this year, and I’m still not entirely sure why. It’s definitely not anything specific that the series did to wrong me or turn me away – I’ve been a fan since the original GameCube entry, after all, and I don’t think there will ever come a time when I completely tire of what those cute little anthropomorphs have to offer. Despite rumblings that New Leaf was the best Animal Crossing to date, and that it offered endless charm and amusement, I just couldn’t… pull… the trigger. Maybe I was tired of Tom Nook’s antics. Maybe my tree-chopping, bell-hoarding, material wealth-gathering alter ego needed some time off. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s that this year, I was meant to try Rune Factory 4 instead.

Now don’t get me wrong – I don’t mean to...

★★☆☆☆ Ripped from newspaper headlines that are still fresh in the memory, Bill Condon's The Fifth Estate (2013) is a studio-financed, heavily dramatised account of the controversial WikiLeaks site's publicised quest to expose corruption and deception at the highest strata of political and economic authority. With Wilde's "Give a man a mask and he'll tell you the truth" as its mantra and following an ostentatious exposition charting the evolution of news reporting, The Fifth Estate begins with the orchestrated release of classified Us military information by The Guardian, The New York Times and weekly German magazine Der Spiegel.

Based on two novels - one by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's former colleague Daniel Domscheit-Berg, the other by The Guardian journalist David Leigh - we're presented with the torturous working relationship shared between Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brühl). Not dissimilar to David Fincher's The Social Network (2010), Condon's film traces...

"He was very torn on the matter," Jett Lucas revealed when asked how his father felt about handing over Lucasfilm to Disney for a whopping $4 billion, before adding that George had been actively researching and writing a new movie well over a year before the sale took place. What remains now are "guidelines" for J.J. Abrams to follow...if he chooses to do so presumably! Apparently, "He's constantly talking to J.J. Abrams. Obviously J.J. was handpicked. He is there to guide, whenever, he'll help where he can. At the same time, he wants to let it go and become its new generation. Apparently, Jett is "happy with what's going to happen" in Episode VII, but would reveal no more than that! You can check out the interview in full in the video below.

The X Factor attracted over 9 million viewers for its third Sunday episode on ITV, according to overnight figures.

The talent show was up over 400,000 from Saturday's edition to 9.08m (34.7%) at 8pm (561k/2.4% on +1). However, it was down around 30k from last Sunday.

Holly Willoughby's new series of Surprise, Surprise entertained 5.09m (23.1%) at 7pm (249k/1.0%).

The final Vera of the series interested 4.64m (22.2%) at 9pm (274k/2.1%).

On BBC One, Countryfile appealed to 6.11m (27.5%), followed by Antiques Roadshow with 5.26m (20.1%) at 8pm. The final What Remains gathered 4.27m (17.9%) at 9pm.

BBC Two's final Dragons' Den of the current run attracted 2.21m (8.5%) at 8pm.

On Channel 4, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost movie Paul brought in 2.58m (12.4%) at 9pm (385k/2.9%). On Channel 5, Will Smith's Hancock thrilled 1.18m (4.9%) at 7pm (117k/0.5%).

BBC Three topped the multichannels with Family Guy at 10pm with 958k (4.7%). ITV2's The Xtra Factor was seen by 804k (3.4%) at 9pm.

Oxhide II

Written and directed by Liu Jiayin

China, 2009

Liu Jiayin, only in her early thirties and with two features films, has already become a darling of the art house cinema crowd — her work traveling the festival circuits, winning awards, and establishing her name among the ranks of Tarr and Benning as well as drawing comparisons to Bresson and Ozu. However, the awards and name-dropping come with the territory of making a niche film, partially tailored to a mentality of extreme minimalism including long takes, little action, and much experimentation. If not already alienating, her second film, Oxhide II, is a mere nine shots, each in 45 degree increments around a work table in a cramped living space featuring only the director and her parents (!) as actors and the preparation and eating of dumplings as the only action. While maintaining her rigorous attention to detail, composition, and blocking to make any...

As season 1 of Under the Dome begins to draw to a close, it's becoming increasingly unlikely that we're going to get any real answers about the dome this year. What remains to be seen, then, is whether or not this show has asked the right questions: will viewers ponder the significance of pink stars for months? Are we invested in Barbie enough to keep him on our minds through the winter? Are we even confident that this story is going anywhere? I certainly had those concerns on my mind during this week's episode, and I can't say I I found much to reassure me.

The X Factor climbed back up the ratings on Sunday evening, according to overnight data.

The second arena audition episode of the series was up by over a million from the previous evening to 9.11 million (35.5%) at 8pm. A further 525,000 (2.3%) tuned in on +1. This is down by 100k from last Sunday.

Later, Brenda Blethyn drama Vera dipped by over 100k to 4.72m (23.5%) at 9pm (293k/2.3% on +1).

On BBC One, Countryfile attracted 5.22m (22.9%) at 7pm, followed by Antiques Roadshow with 4.93m (19.2%) at 8pm. The latest What Remains gathered 3.70m (16.0%) at 9pm.

BBC Two's latest episode of Dragons' Den interested 1.90m (7.4%) at 8pm.

On Channel 4, documentary Hitler's Rise: The Colour Films appealed to 1.33m (5.2%) at 8pm (187k/0.8%). The premiere of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy scored 1.13m (6.2%) at 9pm (144k/1.3%).

Channel 5's latest Celebrity Big Brother entertained 1.76m (7.5%) at 9pm (143k/0.8%).

On BBC Three, a new Family Guy amused 1.07m (5.5%) at 10pm.

ITV...

★★★★★ Following an almost decade-long absence - his last film, the controversial Birth, was released in 2004 - director Jonathan Glazer returns with his third feature, Under the Skin (2013), which joins a strong raft of British films in competition at the 70th Venice Film Festival. Scarlett Johansson stars as the woman who fell to Earth, Laura, an alien who - assuming the form of an alluring temptress - lures men into her van with promises of sex, only for them to befall a terrible fate. Although based on Michael Faber's 2000 novel, Glazer's film dumps much of the plot and the more obvious factory farming-targeted satire of the latter section.

What remains is an impressionistic piece of Martian poetry, viewing Scottish roads, shopping centres and scenic vistas as an alien planet. The utter strangeness of the world is seen through Laura's eyes as she wanders past football crowds and into nightclubs. As with...

BBC has released a trailer montage from several of the series they produce that includes Ripper Street, The Musketeers, The Great Train Robbery, Quirke, The Escape Artist, What Remains, and a little new glimpse at the upcoming third season of Sherlock, and anything is better nothing. As you'll see in this trailer montage, the BBC has got some great stuff brewing!

Feature Louisa Mellor 2 Sep 2013 - 11:31

We investigate complaints that the BBC autumn drama trailer neglects to feature women characters...

“What a sausage fest”. That was the opinion of one commenter underneath yesterday’s BBC autumn drama trailer. For anyone unfamiliar with the term, it notes that the ninety-second ad for nine of the BBC’s new original dramas (The Musketeers, Quirke, The Great Train Robbery, Ripper Street, The Escape Artist, Good Cop, Quirke, What Remains, By Any Means, and Sherlock) was heavy on men and distinctly lacking in women.

We can’t see what the problem is. After going through each of the ninety seconds armed with the pause button, we found plenty of women featured in the trailer. Sixteen in fact. That’s a lot of women by anyone’s standards. Too many, if anything.

What’s more, these women are depicted running the full gamut of female...

The X Factor climbed in the ratings for its first Sunday show on ITV, according to overnight data.

The talent show's second episode of the series climbed by almost 500,000 viewers from the previous night to 9.21 million (36.2%) at 8pm. A further 729k (3.0%) tuned in on +1.

Later, Brenda Blethyn's Vera also saw a rise, climbing by 300k to 4.89m (22.9%) at 9pm (336k/2.4% on +1).

On BBC One, Countryfile attracted 5.36m (24.4%) at 7pm, followed by Antiques Roadshow with 5.16m (20.3%) at 8pm.

The second episode of What Remains dropped over 700k viewers from last week's opener to 3.73m (15.6%) at 9pm.

BBC Two's Dragons' Den dipped to 1.77m (7.0%) at 8pm. Documentary The Story of the Jews was seen by 2.19m (9.2%) at 9pm.

On Channel 4, 9/11 documentary Rebuilding the World Trade Centre interested 890k (3.6%) at 7.45pm (247k/1.0%).

Channel 5's Celebrity Big Brother continued with 1.75m (7.3%) at 9pm (237k/1.3%).

On BBC Three, Family Guy topped the multichannels with 932k (4.6%) at 10pm.

The BBC has released a new trailer for their upcoming original drama schedule, giving sneak peeks at several shows, including the highly-anticipated Series 3 of "Sherlock." Missing from the video is any mention of "Doctor Who," though former star David Tennant and future Doctor Peter Capaldi are both present.

In one of the quick moments from "Sherlock," Benedict Cumberbatch's famous detective tells John Watson (Martin Freeman), "The thrill of the chase, the blood pumping through your veins. Just the two of us against the rest of the world." There's still no premiere date for "Sherlock."

Tennant can be seen as lawyer Will Burton in "The Escape Artist," while Capaldi is shown as Cardinal Richelieu in "The Musketeers," which will air in 2014. Other shows getting the spotlight include "The Great Train Robbery," "Quirke," "Ripper Street," "What Remains" and "By Any Means."

Fans will have to continue waiting for a glimpse of...

BBC One has previewed its upcoming dramas including the new series of Sherlock.

The Great Train Robbery, written by Broadchurch's Chris Chibnall and starring Jim Broadbent, and David Tennant's The Escape Artist - written by Spooks creator David Wolstencroft - also feature in the new Original British Drama trailer.

Other series showcased include The Musketeers, Quirke, What Remains, Ripper Street and By Any Means.

The Musketeers, a new ten-part series from Primeval co-creator Adrian Hodges, stars Skins actor Luke Pasqualino and Doctor Who's Peter Capaldi in a "fresh and contemporary take" on Alexandre Dumas's classic novel.

By Any Means stars Luther's Warren Brown as Jack Quinn, leader of an elite team of mavericks who bring criminals to justice.

BBC One's new British drama trail airs on TV for the first time tonight (September 1) at 9pm.

Skins star Alex Arnold has insisted that he was not disappointed to see the show's third generation case left out of its final series.

Cassie (Hannah Murray) from the E4 drama's original cast, plus Effy (Kaya Scodelario) and Cook (Jack O'Connell) from the second generation ensemble, were the stars of the show's final six-part run.

Arnold, who played Rich in series five and six, told Digital Spy that it was important to give fans "closure" on these characters.

"I think i'm probably done with Rich," said the 20-year-old. "With Generation Three… some things weren't completely finished, but most of the cast had a happy ending.

"Rich was going off to Cambridge and was going to do super-well, so I don't think it really needed anything else."

While the Cook, Cassie and Effy two-parters were billed as the final Skins episodes, Arnold told DS that it would be "great" to see...

Chennai Express, which officially releases today, had special previews last night in many parts of India. However, the unique aspect about Chennai Express' paid previews was that, where certain big films have 3-4 shows in previews, Chennai Express had nearly 10-12 shows on Thursday night at major multiplex chains. As expected, the collections of paid previews of Chennai Express have been huge with the film collecting Rs. 6.75 cr nett (India). With this, the film beats the highest paid record of Rs. 2.7 cr that was held by 3 Idiots till now. As today is a public holiday in India, it made sense to have maximum paid previews in multiplexes to pull crowd to the cinemas. What remains to be seen now is whether Chennai Express goes on to break other Bo records.

99%: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film

Directed by Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell

USA, 2012

In 2009, filmmakers Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell presented Until the Light Takes Us, an enlightening – excuse the pun – exploration of Norway’s black metal movement, a scene that picked up steam in the 90s and became inundated with controversy surrounding church burnings, murders and satanic posturing. The filmmakers brushed aside the media outcry that had tarnished an initially forthright youth rebellion, opening up the process of how these young, isolated individuals had pushed back against the crushing cultural hegemony of globalisation through the power of their music, and had the odds increasingly stacked against them by the many who endeavoured to draw a line under the movement and pervert its meaning, ironically adding fuel to the fire in sustaining the vehemently opposed satanic elements. The film achieved what all good documentaries should, challenging preconceptions and...

Like some chewed up roadkill that just won’t die, Victor Crowley is once again haunting Honey Island Swamp for yet another Hatchet sequel, but this time with a new director at the helm. Bj McDonnell, a camera operator on both Hatchet and Hatchet II, is passed the directorial torch from creator Adam Green, leading his crew directly into the Louisiana swamps for some down-home shooting for Hatchet III. The bugs were ferocious, climate exhausting, but everyone involved favored the great outdoors over some La sound stages. Would their bug-spray covered efforts be enough to continue the gory legacy of horror icon in-the-making Victor Crowley? Or would all the cuts, bites, and poisonings be squandered on nothing but a sub-par horror sequel.

To put it simply, the Hatchet franchise has not aged like a fine wine. I witnessed Hatchet break onto the horror scene as an outstanding old-school 80s slasher homage which absolutely floored viewers,...

You recognize the warning from the fine-print at the bottom of every financial investment mailing you’ve ever received: “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.”

It applies to Hollywood, too. Tom Hanks made The Terminal, Harrison Ford did K-19: The Widowmaker, and Julia Roberts starred in The Mexican (a romantic comedy with Brad Pitt!) — three disappointments that featured huge stars in vehicles tailor-made for their proven brand of character. No one is immune to an inevitable hiccup, and last weekend, it was Will Smith’s turn.

After Earth, Smith’s futuristic science-fiction adventure, was pronounced a flop after...

The New York Times takes notice of the new wave of black filmmakers releasing movies this year. What remains to be seen is how the critics, then the industry voters...

At this point it's no secret that Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) will be making an appearance in this summer's Hugh Jackman reboot "The Wolverine." What remains less clear is what role, exactly, the seemingly-deceased mutant will be playing in the story. Director James Mangold sort of answers that question in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly (via the Playlist), in which he tells the magazine that Grey will be a "shadow presence" who "pops up to mock, comfort and advise Logan much as Number 6 tortured Gaius Baltar on 'Battlestar Galactica.'” (Note: For further clarification on that rather-complex reference, go here.) In addition to...

Manifest Film's What Remains is a web series that is based on Naughty Dog's The Last of Us. The eerily creepy series has released the first episode which focuses on three friends who venture through a world that has been wiped out from a new strain of fungus. Read on to learn more.

About What Remains

What Remains is an epic live action series produced by Manifest Film. The web series is not endorsed by or affiliated in any way with Naughty Dog or any Sony company. What Remains is a unique piece of content chronicling the journey of three unlikely friends as they attempt to survive in a world 10 years after a new strain of fungus as all but wiped out the human race. This series asks the question: "What does it mean to be human when humanity's time has passed?"

Introducing the Characters

David

David is one of...

Stars: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, John Cho | Written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof | Directed by J. J. Abrams

J. J. Abrams’ 2009 reboot of the Star Trek franchise was, in my opinion, a success. It was an entertaining, exciting slice of space shenanigans which managed to cleverly acknowledge the much loved franchise that came before it, without feeling like a tired retread or overly reverential re-imagining.

2013 sees the arrival of Star Trek Into Darkness, the second entry in the new franchise, with Abrams once again at the helm. Does it succeed as well as the first? Sadly not.

The cast from the first film are all present and correct. Chris Pine returns as Kirk, Zachary Quinto dons the fake ears again as Spock, and Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, and John Cho all don their appropriately...

In case you needed one more Star Trek Into Darkness character poster to get you through the weekend, Paramount Pictures has released a new one-sheet featuring Alice Eve as Dr. Carol Marcus. What remains to be seen is how much "romance" will sprout up between the good doctor and Chris Pine's Captain Kirk, especially with Zoe Saldana's Uhura on board. Check out the latest poster for director J.J. Abrams' sci-fi sequel, opening in IMAX 3D theaters May 15 before debuting nationwide May 17.

Star Trek Into Darkness comes to theaters May 17th, 2013 and stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Karl Urban, Chris Pine, Alice Eve, Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin. The film is directed by J.J. Abrams.

The Chicago Sun-Times film reviewer, who has died aged 70, had an open, personal approach with an unadorned writing style

The last email I received from Roger Ebert was a brief note three years ago, after I had written about his remarkable courage and candour in revealing to the world the effects of surgery on his jaw, following a cancer operation. I had also included his 1988 book Two Weeks In The Midday Sun: A Cannes Notebook in my top 10 list of books about the Cannes festival – it's a tremendously engaging and readable memoir about Cannes and the south Of France; incidentally, it includes Ebert's own line drawings. "I hope Chaz and I run into you at Cannes in May," he wrote – Chaz of course being his wife, and the absolute bedrock of his personal and professional life. Sadly I never did get to see him, or rather I saw him only from afar,...

“Pain and Gain,” “Transformers” director Michael Bay's new low-budget crime movie starring Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson, looks like it could be one of the sleeper hits of the spring. The trailers promise a wild, darkly tinged comedy about some Florida bodybuilders who decide to get into seedy criminal activity. But what isn't so clear is that “Pain and Gain” is based on a real life incident and the victims of those crimes aren't particularly happy with their goofy Hollywood reenactment. “Pain and Gain” is based on a series of 1999 Miami New Times articles by Pete Collins, detailing the misadventures of the Sun Gym gang, whose eventual criminal activities led to murder. (The Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Mackie characters are currently sitting on death row in Florida.) Both police investigators privy to the case and family members of the victims are speaking out against the movie, (which, it should be noted,...

Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) is seen flanked by James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) and Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) in the new international poster for Iron Man 3. The one-sheet is actually a more expansive version of the Pepper Potts character poster that debuted back in February. What remains to be seen is how much damage is actually inflicted upon Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) after his mask was sliced through. Will the billion-dollar face of Tony Stark actually be disfigured after his battle with The Mandarin? (Ben Kingsley)? We'll find out when director Shane Black's superhero sequel hits theaters one month from today on May 3.

Iron Man 3 comes to theaters May 3rd, 2013 and stars Robert Downey Jr., Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Kingsley, Paul Bettany, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau. The film is directed by Shane Black.

Greed (1924) is considered one of the greatest silent films ever made, although the film was a box-office failure at the time. Greed is an epic morality tale about how three people are dehumanized by the influence of money upon their lives. They are the simple, uneducated former miner and dentist McTeague (played by Gibson Gowland) in turn of the century San Francisco, his miserly, vulgar and pathological wife Trina (Zasu Pitts), and their mutual friend and McTeague’s ultimate nemesis Marcus (Jean Hersholt) – who all are caught up by their greed for riches. What remains of the film was directed by the ambitious, extravagant, stubborn and independent-minded Erich Von Stroheim – he spent nine months shooting the film and a total of fifteen months writing and editing it (from 1923-1924). Production costs were close to half a million dollars. Von Stroheim, who is best known for his role as Gloria Swanson...

Twentieth Century Fox is putting the tease in teaser this week, with a three-day long rollout planned for the new "The Wolverine" trailer. On Monday, the studio released a Vine clip of the trailer (Vine is a social networking site that allows users to share six-second videos to followers); Tuesday will bring a 20-second glimpse of the new clip, followed by the whole megillah hitting the Internet on Wednesday. That's a lot of "Wolverine," but did Fox reveal too much?

Potential "Wolverine" spoilers ahead. As many fans noted, the six-second Vine clip features a shot of Famke Janssen, best known as the dearly departed Jean Grey from the "X-Men" franchise. Jean and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine had quite an entangled relationship in the original "X-Men" films, but she "died" in "X2" and then, after being reborn as Dark Phoenix in "X-Men: The Last Stand," was killed by Wolverine's claws. Janssen's...

Randeep Hooda, whose last release Murder 3 met with mixed response at the B.O., has now been replaced by Abhimanyu Singh in Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Again. Abhimanyu, who has films like Rakht Charitra and Gulaal to his credit, will now be seen playing a cop in the film. What remains to be seen is whether he will be able to do justice to the character that Randeep played in the first part of the film. Well, we will have to wait and watch to find out.

ABC's crime drama, "Body of Proof," is ready to return for Season 3 after an extended hiatus. During that time, however, several changes were made to the show. What has changed in the season premiere? What remains the same? Find out here.

The first episode back on the air is a two-parter called "Abducted." In the first part, airing on Tuesday, Feb. 19, Dr. Megan Hunt (Dana Delany) returns from forced leave to track down a serial killer who seems to be targeting veterans

The more things change...

Ethan (Geoffrey Arend) has a haircut.There's a new medical-legal investigator, Charlotte (Erin Cahil). Megan doesn't have much use for her after the death of Peter last season. Especially when she talks a lot.The old cops left to join the FBI and to take care of a baby. Don't expect to see them at all.The new cops are Adam Lucas (Elyes Gabel...

This time next week, Oscar nominees will know their fate, whether they've tearfully brandished a statuette and spoken over the music, or whether they've had to test their best losing smile. Ahead of Sunday's ceremony, here's a quick review of who's up for Best Picture, so you can cast your vote below, before seeing how your favourite fares on the night.

The first three (in alphabetical order to avoid any hint of bias) as follows:

Amour:

Michael Haneke's intimate study of love in old age has already collected awards, most significantly the BAFTA Best Actress gong for 85-year-old Emanuelle Riva. She is the oldest ever nominee for the Oscars, but Haneke has already pocketed the Palme d'Or for this unflinching study of what remains when glamour, lust and youth are long gone. What remains? Esteemed critic Roger Ebert has saluted that "a film like "Amour" has a lesson...

So this was WWE’s final PPV before the build to Wrestlemania begins for real was it? I wonder how many people were put off parting with their hard earned Dollars and Pounds after another lacklustre offering from the première wrestling company in the world?

The show opened with Team Rhode’s Scholars against Brodus “I should have had a King Kong Bundy gimmick” Clay and Tensai. As ridiculous as it is to see Clay and the former Prince Albert dancing in the ring they were actually pretty good as a big man team. We’re not sure why WWE decided to split up Rhode’s Scholars only to reunite them a week or so later because they’ve no singles programmes for either man heading into ‘Mania. Surely leave it until after Wrestlemania 29 to give Damien Sandow his big singles push. The only saving grace for Rhode’s Scholars...

Feature Seb Patrick Feb 1, 2013

As Wesley Stick's script from Tim Burton's ill-fated Superman Lives appears online, Seb finds out what the movie might have looked like...

As we gear up for the release of Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot-slash-revamp Man Of Steel later this year, it’s interesting to note that an earlier, aborted cinematic take on the Man of Tomorrow – the late 90s Superman Lives project – seems to be rearing its head online once more.

First came the news that one enterprising fan is looking to make a feature-length documentary about the whole sorry saga – seeking funding on Kickstarter – and now, all of a sudden, the fabled script draft that would have most likely been filmed by director Tim Burton has finally emerged, courtesy of The Superman Homepage.

Some history, then. In the mid 1990s, Warner Bros were frantically trying to capitalise on the success of their new...

The Batman franchise in all its forms has unquestionably had its ups and downs; the highs of Christopher Nolan’s masterful recent trilogy, and the punishing lows of Joel Schumacher’s horrendously camp take on the material. What remains consistent throughout, however, is the odd abundance of cringe-inducing moments, even in the very best Nolan films, that seem to creep in. Only two Batman films to date – Tim Burton’s Batman and The Dark Knight Rises – managed to escape without a single mention (though Jack Nicholson’s dancing to Prince in the former nearly made the cut), and perhaps most surprising is the amount of times Christopher Nolan’s classic films show up in this list.

Here are the 10 most cringe-worthy moments from Batman films…

10. “It’s Not Who I Am Underneath, But What I Do That Defines Me” – Batman Begins

If there’s something filmmakers love doing, it’s...

David Threlfall co. Channel 4

N Conrad

Some of the biggest stars of British TV are coming together to start work on a new BBC drama called What Remains. The series is based around residents of a block of flats within which a decaying corpse is discovered. There are no signs of foul play and it appears as if the deceased woman was just a lonely soul whose death went unnoticed for 24 months. However, a soon-to-be retired detective is eager to ensure that nobody else had a hand in the woman’s death and his relentless investigation has a dramatic impact on the lives of the other residents.

Shameless lead actor David Threlfall plays the detective at the heart of the drama while the residents of the flats include Luther veterans Steven Mackintosh and Indira Varma. The cast also features Russell Tovey (Being Human), David Bamber (The Hollow Crown), Victoria Hamilton...

David Threlfall is to lead the cast of BBC One's new drama What Remains. In his first role since wrapping on Shameless, Threlfall will play Detective Inspector Len Harper in the four-part thriller. Russell Tovey (Being Human), Steven Mackintosh (Criminal Justice) and David Bamber (The King's Speech) will also appear in the serial, written by Inside Men's Tony Basgallop. Victoria Hamilton (Lark Rise To Candleford), Indira Varma (Luther) and Claudie Blakely (The Night Watch) make up the rest of the cast. Described as a "thrilling state-of-the-nation whodunnit", What Remains will see a young couple - played by Tovey and Amber Rose Revah - uncover the corpse of (more)...

Orson Welles Week! continues at Trailers from Hell with director and Tfh creator Joe Dante introducing Welles' "The Lady from Shanghai," drastically recut prior to its 1947 release by Columbia president Harry Cohn. Dante calls the film "a shell of what might have been a classic." What remains of Orson Welles' fourth Hollywood effort is dazzlingly inventive and narratively jumbled, due to Columbia prexy Harry Cohn cutting Welles' version by nearly an hour. Still considered a key film noir, Dave Kehr once called it "the weirdest great film ever made". The last few cards of most surviving versions of this trailer are replaced with a Columbia logo.

The sultry singer has switched up her look yet again, debuting a long blonde ‘do–what do you think of the look? Sound off below!

Rihanna, 24, is quite the chameleon when it comes to her appearance! In the past year we’ve seen every style from long and red to curly and pixie! Now, platinum blonde seems to be her hue due jour! She was seen recently sporting white hair and bangs.

Rinanna’s beauty evolution

Perhaps the singer was trying to go incognito in a blonde wig or maybe she’s trying out a new hue? Whatever the reasoning, we love that Rhi is willing to switch things up. What remains constant however is her amazingly perfect complexion. Her makeup artist Mylah Morales has revealed Rihanna secret is Per-fékt Skin Perfection Gel, a multitasker that preps skin for makeup and leaves it radiant. The lightweight gel works to even-out skin tone and conceal blemishes,...

Expectations? This is my first Sundance Film Festival, so the only things I know I’ll encounter are movies, cold snow, overpriced sandwiches, and familiar faces. It should be a great time provided the movies are good, the snow is outside my boots, the sandwiches are tasty and the faces are friendly. Prepare for some very disgruntled tweets otherwise. Looking through the list of titles playing Sundance this year, I tallied a whopping thirty-eight films that I want to see. Kate Erbland said that made her too nervous, presumably because it’s so close to her age (something she’s very conscious of, Edit: not even close, Hunter!), so she asked me to drop it to a more youthful number. It wasn’t easy to do, but through a complicated series of algorithms and drinking games, I knocked off twenty-eight. What remains are my ten most anticipated films of Sundance 2013! Read them, and...

Looking back at 2012 on what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2012—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2012 to create a unique double feature.

All the contributors were asked to write a paragraph explaining their 2012 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.

How would you program some...

It was a bit of a surprise when it was first announced that Jason Segel would not be returning for a follow-up to The Muppets (not even in a creative capacity), but he has since explained that he was happy just to bring the characters back into the spotlight and that his job was effectively done. Fortunately, with Segel's writing partner Nicholas Stoller and director James Bobin both returning and Flight of the Conchords member Bret McKenzie once again writing the music, the project still seems to be in good hands. What remains to be seen is whether another actor can bring the same sense of wide-eyed wonder and innocence to the sequel. Oddly enough, it seems like Disney is going in a completely different direction this time around by approaching prickly British comedian Ricky Gervais to potentially headline the film. Can he possibly hope to carry a Muppet movie...

Local pride may have caused problems for the much-awaited feature – but is it the start of a new phase for the Gulf film industry?

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In December 2011, at a cinema on the edge of Hyde Park – a stone's throw from Edgware Road, London's Arab quarter – 300 punters were filing out of a test screening of Djinn, the United Arab Emirates' first horror film and the eighth full-length Emirati feature to date. Image Nation Abu Dhabi, the government-backed company who made it, had scored a coup: persuading Texas Chainsaw Massacre legend Tobe Hooper to direct. And it seemed to have paid dividends. "It's the return of the master," crowed one viewer at the screening.

Then Djinn vanished. It didn't appear at the Dubai film festival, where it had been offered a red-carpet premiere. Promised spring and summer 2012 release dates came and went. It was...

Québécois wunderkind Xavier Dolan returns to the fold with Laurence Anyways, a weighty and sprawling three-hour opus that picked up the Queer Palm award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Illustrating a marked improvement in substance over the writer-director’s previous efforts, Laurence Anyways takes its viewers on an intense emotional voyage as Laurence (Melvil Poupaud), a teacher, makes the tough decision to – in the narrow-minded 90‘s – follow his heart and reveal himself as transgender.

His revelation – one that has brewing for many years, coming to a head in a fiery outburst of emotion set within the claustrophobic space of a car wash – comes as a shock to those around him, not least his long-term partner Fred (Suzanne Clément) and steely mother (Nathalie Baye). It’s perhaps the relationship between Laurence and Fred that’s the most striking here. Initially, and after a period of doubt and self-blame, Fred...

Since his first appearance halfway through season one of "Boardwalk Empire," Jack Huston's disfigured Richard Harrow has been a fan favorite. Whether its the way his loyalty to Jimmy Darmody (Michael Pitt) has led him to take care of the man's son Tommy in the wake of his shocking murder at the end of the last season, or how he's dealt with his own demons, Huston has given the Wwi veteran-turned-hitman/bootlegger an unusual charm that's instantly appealing. Plenty of viewers thought they'd see Harrow on a bloody rampage to avenge Darmody in season three, but showrunner Terence Winter and his writers have instead shown us a more subdued Harrow. Having always longed for a connection with a woman, he begins a tentative romance with Julia Sagorsky (Wrenn Schmidt), daughter of a fellow vet Harrow met at the American Legion. What remains to be seen is how much longer...

Dr. No

Directed by Terence Young

Written by Richard Maibaum & Johanna Harwood

1962, UK

Author Ian Fleming had been seeking out a movie deal for nearly a decade until the rights for his novels were finally bought by producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli. Little did they know they would change the landscape of spy-action cinema forever with the release of Dr. No.

Dr. No was the first James Bond novel turned into a film, though it was the sixth novel in the book series The film was adapted by Wolf Mankowitz (who went uncredited by request, fearing the film would bomb), Johanna Harwood (the first and only women screenwriter of the franchise), Berkeley Mather, and long time contributor Richard Maibaum. Arguably Dr. No is one of the closest cinematic interpretations of any Bond novel in tone and plot. The changes they made were mostly cosmetic save for some minor...

Is it just me, or does "The Vampire Diaries" feel like a whole new show this season? After the heavy melodrama we were dealt at the end of Season 3, with Alaric's death and Elena's choice looming, last week's Japanese lanterns almost gave our characters permission to breathe again. Of course, things aren't easy by any means, and there are still plenty of burdens to bear. But there's a certain refreshing lightness to the show right now.

Part of that is because things have been simplified to a degree. At this time last season, we were dealing with Klaus, the unknown factor of his family, the ghosts being manipulated by Esther, and Stefan's ripper side, which was a threat in itself. Right now, there's one key villain in Connor and one key mystery as we look for answers about Pastor Young and the council. The back-to-basics dynamic allows the writers to...

Sensation touches down in America on Halloween weekend, bringing some 25,000 all-white wearing revelers to Brooklyn's shiny new cultural touchstone, the Barclays Center.

The crowd will be heading, on Friday and Saturday nights, to take part in a long-running ritual of celebration. Sensation, the global dance event put on by ID&T, is a party which places the emphasis on environments, visuals and performance. That's a departure from many of groups that would, at first glance, be in Sensation's peer group. Though Festivals from Electric Daisy Carnival to Ultra Music Festival are also heavy on Led walls, fireworks and stage production, they essentially focus on the headliners -- culled from a relatively small selection that runs from trance heavyweights like Armin van Buuren to progressive house party rockers like Afrojack.

Sensation flips the script by creating shows that tour the world with DJs that swap in and out. In a sense,...