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In any given year, British TV can be relied on to provide plenty in the way of crime drama, and 2023 was no different. Between these returning series and newcomers A Town Called Malice, Blue Lights, Marlow, Payback, Rebus, Steeltown Murders, The Gold, The Sixth Commandment, Wolf and more, crime continued to flourish on the small screen.

Happily though, that was far from all that UK TV offered this year. There was fantasy too, in the form of Netflix’s South London super-powers drama Supacell, ghost detective series Lockwood & Co., Greek and Roman mythology series Kaos, and sci-fi in Prime Video’s The Rig.

Add to all those the romances, dramas inspired by real-life, and several other book adaptations, period and otherwise plus music-based dramas Champion and This Town, and it was a pretty full slate.

January Stonehouse

Succession‘s Matthew Macfadyen and Crossfire‘s Keeley Hawes star in this three-part ITV drama,...

Take a look at actress Vanessa Kirby (“Napoleon”) posing for "Harper's Bazaar" (UK) magazine, photographed by Scott Trindle:

In 2011, Kirby made her television debut in the BBC's "The Hour".She then played 'Estella' in the BBC's mini-series adaptation of "Great Expectations", followed by the film "About Time ".

In 2012, Kirby filmed "The Rise", followed by film roles in "Kill Command", "Jupiter Ascending" and "Queen and Country".

In 2015, she appeared in "Everest", followed by "The Dresser" and May 2015, she was cast as 'Princess Margaret' in Netflix's first original British series "The Crown", winning the 'British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress'.

Kirby gained wider recognition for her roles in the action films "Mission: Impossible – Fallout" (2018) and "Hobbs & Shaw" (2019), winning a Venice Film festival 'Best Actress' award for her performance in the drama "Pieces of a Woman" (2020).

Click the images to enlarge...

Starz will take viewers into the early years of Queen Elizabeth I.

The premium cabler announced today a Sunday, June 12 premiere date for Becoming Elizabeth, its upcoming Tudor drama exploring the fascinating, untold story of the early life of England’s most iconic Queen.

On linear, it will debut on Starz at 9:00 Et/Pt in the U.S. and Canada.

Here's the logline:

Long before she ascended the throne, young Elizabeth Tudor, played by Alicia von Rittberg, was an orphaned teenager who became embroiled in the political and sexual politics of the English court.

The death of King Henry VIII sees his nine-year-old son Edward, played by Oliver Zetterström, take the throne and sets into motion a dangerous scramble for power when Elizabeth, Edward and their sister Mary, played by Romola Garai find themselves pawns in a game between the great families of England and the powers of Europe...

The untold story of the early life of England’s most iconic Queen has set its release date and issued the trailer and key art.

Starz will bow the drama at midnight on Sunday, June 12 on its app, all streaming and on-demand platforms, and internationally on the StarzPlay premium streaming platform across all territories.

On linear, it will debut on Starz at 9 Pm Et/Pt in the US and Canada.

Long before she ascended the throne, young Elizabeth Tudor, played by Alicia von Rittberg (Fury, “Charité,” “Genius”), was an orphaned teenager who became embroiled in the political and sexual politics of the English court.

The death of King Henry VIII sees his nine-year-old son Edward, played by Oliver Zetterström (The Midnight Gang, “The Romanoffs”) take the throne and sets into motion a dangerous scramble for power, when Elizabeth, Edward, and their sister, Mary, played by Romola Garai find themselves pawns in a game between the great families of England and the powers of Europe who vie for control of the country.

Additional key players include King Henry’s widow, Catherine Parr, played by Jessica Raine, Thomas Seymour, played by Tom Cullen, the new King’s uncle, who quickly marries the widowed Catherine, but soon takes an interest in the teenage Elizabeth and Duke of Somerset, played by John Heffernan (“The Pursuit of Love,” “The Crown”), who loses no time in claiming the position of Lord Protector for himself when the old King dies.

The upcoming drama series also stars Jamie Blackley, Alexandra Gilbreath (Tulip Fever, RSC’s “Provoked Wife”), Jamie Parker (1917, “Harry Potter and The Cursed Child”), Leo Bill (Rare Beasts, In Fabric), Oliver Zetterström (The Midnight Gang, “The Romanoffs”), Bella Ramsey (“Game of Thrones,” “The Last of Us”), Ekow Quartey (“This Way Up,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Shakespeare’s Globe), Alex Macqueen (“Sally4Ever,” “Peaky Blinders”) and Olivier Huband (“I Hate Suzie,” “A Discovery of Witches”).

Becoming Elizabeth is created and written by playwright and television screenwriter Anya Reiss who also serves as executive producer with The Forge’s George Ormond and George Faber with Lisa Osborne producing.

Watch the trailer below.

I did a double take when I saw the headline myself. Despite only launching a week ago, a not inconsiderable number of titles will be leaving HBO Max at the end of June. Logically, distribution contracts that were already running out weren’t going to stop running out just because Warner launched their new service, so you best get on these quick.

Here’s the list of all the movies leaving HBO Max on June 30th:

The Abyss

Akeelah and the Bee

American Wedding

An Ideal Husband

Arthur

Asylum

The Beverly Hillbillies

The Big Green

Blindspotting

Bye Bye, Love

Empire of the Sun

Glengarry Glen Ross

Grandma’s Boy

Great Expectations

A Handful of Dust

Head Full of Honey

Heaven & Earth

Hellboy

The Hoax

I Love You Phillip Morris

Indignation

Jiminy Glick in Lalawood

Jobs

Johnny English

Keeping Up with the Steins

Kin

Les Miserables

Hellboy Gallery 1 of 6

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Spencer Mullen Dec 4, 2019

Portrait of a Lady on Fire, A Christmas Carol, The Mandalorian, and more in today's daily Link Tank!

Scientists have discovered a massive black hole within the local universe.

"In a galaxy 740 million light-years away, there lies a monster. The galaxy, Holm 15A, is one of several that make up the Abell 85 galaxy cluster. It is the brightest galaxy in Abell 85, and one of the brightest in our corner of the universe. But in its center, there is a darkness: The region has very low surface brightness — a signature often left by the collision of two supermassive black holes."

Read more at Inverse.

Period drama Portrait of a Lady on Fire is one of the strongest movies of 2019.

Director Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire dazzled at Cannes, and now we’re just days away from the film’s limited Us release on December...

While Netflix continues to tell the tale of Queen Elizabeth II with “The Crown,” Starz is bringing the story of the first Queen Elizabeth to a small screen near you with a series order for new drama “Becoming Elizabeth.”

Created and written by award-winning playwright and television screenwriter Anya Reiss, “Becoming Elizabeth” is the “fascinating story of the early life of England’s most iconic Queen,” according to Starz. “Long before she ascended the throne, young Elizabeth Tudor was an orphaned teenager who became embroiled in the political and sexual politics of the English court. With no clear heir, the death of King Henry the VIII sets into motion a dangerous scramble for power. His surviving children find themselves pawns in a game between the great families of England and the powers of Europe who vie for control of the country.”

“Elizabeth struggles to control her own destiny and take...

Titan Comics has announced Adler, a five-issue miniseries starting in February 2020 starring the only woman to ever best Sherlock Holmes, teaming her up with “famous Victorian heroines from science, history, and literature… such as Jane Eyre, Lady Havisham, Marie Curie, Carmilla, and Ayesha” to defeat Moriarty.

Comics Worth Reading has a preview and a recap of who’s who:

Irene Adler, the only woman to outwit Sherlock Holmes, appeared in one 1891 story, “A Scandal in Bohemia”. She’s been a favorite ever since, particularly with people who want to pair Holmes up romantically in a traditional fashion.

Lady Havisham is from Great Expectations, the crazy spinster in her wedding dress in a ruined mansion. Carmilla is a vampire who appeared 26 years before Dracula. Ayesha is the She written by H. Rider Haggard.

If you need me to explain Jane Eyre or Marie Curie to you, you are clearly not the audience for this story.

Alec Guinness would’ve celebrated his 105th birthday on April 2, 2019. The Oscar-winning performer excelled in comedy, drama, and most famously, science fiction, starring in dozens of movies before his death in 2000 at age 86. But how many of those titles remain classics? In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1914, Guinness got his start in theater, winning a Tony for his performance in the Broadway play “Dylan.” He adapted and starred in a stage version of Charles Dickens‘ “Great Expectations,” playing the role of Herbert Pocket. Among the audience members was David Lean, who brought the book to the screen in 1946 and cast Guinness in his first movie.

SEEDavid Lean movies: All 16 films ranked worst to best

He would go on to make five more films with Lean, including the Oscar-winning “The Bridge on the River Kwai...

Alec Guinness would’ve celebrated his 105th birthday on April 2, 2019. The Oscar-winning performer excelled in comedy, drama, and most famously, science fiction, starring in dozens of movies before his death in 2000 at age 86. But how many of those titles remain classics? In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1914, Guinness got his start in theater, winning a Tony for his performance in the Broadway play “Dylan.” He adapted and starred in a stage version of Charles Dickens‘ “Great Expectations,” playing the role of Herbert Pocket. Among the audience members was David Lean, who brought the book to the screen in 1946 and cast Guinness in his first movie.

He would go on to make five more films with Lean, including the Oscar-winning “The Bridge on the River Kwai” (1957) for which he won Best Actor playing the crazed British military officer Col.

Stars: Ralph Richardson, Ann Todd, Nigel Patrick, John Justin, Dinah Sheridan, Joseph Tomelty, Denholm Elliot | Written by Terrence Rattigan | Directed by David Lean

David Lean is well known for his romantic dramas (Brief Encounter) and literary adaptations (Great Expectations, Doctor Zhivago), which is why The Sound Barrier, his 1952 semi-biographical portrait of the British struggle to surpass the speed of sound, seems like something of an oddity.

The story focuses on the relationships between an ambitious Raf pilot Tony (Nigel Patrick), his military bride Susan (Ann Todd) her father, John (Ralph Richardson), a wealthy plane manufacturer who has lofty goals and doesn’t mind risking human lives to reach them. A brief prelude sees Susan’s brother Christopher – a small but welcome appearance from Indiana Jones’ Denholm Elliott – attempt to join the air force, despite both a lack of interest in and aptitude for flying. This ominous complication, paired with the...

Brief Encounter was laughed at by audiences when first released, and Dr Zhivago was scorned by critics. Now, argues Michael Newton, we can appreciate them as two of the greatest love stories committed to film

David Lean’s Brief Encounter (1945) and Doctor Zhivago (1965) both came into the world looking likely to fail. The British critics loved Brief Encounter, while audiences let it pass by; the critics savaged Zhivago, though the public adored it. The reputations of both films remain mixed. It is striking how many of the legends about Brief Encounter involve people finding it ridiculous. While Lean was filming Great Expectations in Rochester, Kent, Brief Encounter was screened to a predominantly working-class audience; one woman at the front started giggling during the love scenes, and pretty soon most of the audience were laughing with her. At a preview, the critic James Agate loudly provided a running commentary on the film’s faults.

Robert Mitchum ca. late 1940s. Robert Mitchum movies 'The Yakuza,' 'Ryan's Daughter' on TCM Today, Aug. 12, '15, Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” series is highlighting the career of Robert Mitchum. Two of the films being shown this evening are The Yakuza and Ryan's Daughter. The former is one of the disappointingly few TCM premieres this month. (See TCM's Robert Mitchum movie schedule further below.) Despite his film noir background, Robert Mitchum was a somewhat unusual choice to star in The Yakuza (1975), a crime thriller set in the Japanese underworld. Ryan's Daughter or no, Mitchum hadn't been a box office draw in quite some time; in the mid-'70s, one would have expected a Warner Bros. release directed by Sydney Pollack – who had recently handled the likes of Jane Fonda, Barbra Streisand, and Robert Redford – to star someone like Jack Nicholson or Al Pacino or Dustin Hoffman.

David Stratton is the curator and patron of the inaugural Great Britain Retro Film Festival. Nineteen classic British films, rarely seen on the big screen, will feature in the festival from August 6-19 at the Hayden Orpheum Cremorne, Melbourne's Cinema Nova and the Windsor in Perth. Stratton says there will be many highlights, not least the opportunity to see some of these classic films painstakingly digitally restored and presented for the first time in Australia in the 4K format. .I.m really excited about this retrospective film festival, particularly as I spent my first twenty years in Britain and have always been very fond of British movies. To see this collection of films, on the big screen, as they were intended to be seen, is indeed a rare pleasure," he says. Highlights of the inaugural Great Britain Retro Film Festival include:

. Australian premiere screenings of The Tales of Hoffmann (1951), the...

Best British movies of all time? (Image: a young Michael Caine in 'Get Carter') Ten years ago, Get Carter, starring Michael Caine as a dangerous-looking London gangster (see photo above), was selected as the United Kingdom's very best movie of all time according to 25 British film critics polled by Total Film magazine. To say that Mike Hodges' 1971 thriller was a surprising choice would be an understatement. I mean, not a David Lean epic or an early Alfred Hitchcock thriller? What a difference ten years make. On Total Film's 2014 list, published last May, Get Carter was no. 44 among the magazine's Top 50 best British movies of all time. How could that be? Well, first of all, people would be very naive if they took such lists seriously, whether we're talking Total Film, the British Film Institute, or, to keep things British, Sight & Sound magazine. Second, whereas Total Film's 2004 list was the result of a 25-critic consensus,...

Stage and screen actor who excelled in playing authority figures and appeared in TV shows such as Brookside and Lovejoy

Malcolm Tierney, who has died aged 75 of pulmonary fibrosis, was a reliable and versatile supporting actor for 50 years, familiar to television audiences as the cigar-smoking, bullying villain Tommy McArdle in Brookside, nasty Charlie Gimbert in Lovejoy and smoothie Geoffrey Ellsworth-Smythe in David Nobbs's A Bit of a Do, a Yorkshire small-town comedy chronicle starring David Jason and Gwen Taylor.

Always serious and quietly spoken offstage, with glinting blue eyes and a steady, cruel gaze that served him well as authority figures on screen, Tierney was a working-class Mancunian who became a core member of the Workers' Revolutionary party in the 1970s. He never wavered in his socialist beliefs, even when the Wrp imploded ("That's all in my past now," he said), and always opposed restricted entry to the actors' union,...

The inimitable Terence Davies gets his first Criterion treatment this month with his 1992 title, The Long Day Closes, a superb memory poem drenched in melancholy nostalgia. A follow-up to the much more dark and brutal Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988), Davies returns once more to the memoirs of a ravaged childhood, further expanded upon from his first three short films which comprised The Terence Davies Trilogy (1976-1984). Swimming freely between quiet fantasy sequences and recollections of free associations as we drift in and out of abandoned ramshackle buildings of the past like a restless spirit, there is a delicate and fragile longing in Davies’ second feature, a ruminative exploration absent from the pained dirge of his previous film.

Bud (Leigh McCormack) is a bright and lonely 11 year old boy growing up in 1950’s Liverpool. Absent a father figure, Bud spends most of his time at home with his mother (Marjorie Yates...

When Steven Spielberg handpicks an actor to hang an entire movie on, there are great expectations placed upon their performance and subsequent success. Luckily for us all, Jeremy Irvine's post-War Horse career has been as gripping and exciting as his Oscar-nominated, tear-inducing film debut.

Following the little-seen, but simply wonderful, Now Is Good, Irvine stars as Pip in Mike Newell's retelling of Shakespeare's Great Expectations. And while the film is set in the 1800s, there's a marvelous modernity infused throughout that elevates it above your standard classic literary adaptation. ETonline chatted with the rising star about taking on this iconic role, how he brought something new to the seventh version of Pip and which of his upcoming roles he's most excited for audiences to see.

ETonline: What appealed to you about this incarnation?

Jeremy Irvine: There have been a few TV adaptations, and that modernized movie, but there hasn't...

John Wilson, a British-born animator who worked with Walt Disney, David Lean, Igor Stravinsky, and Billy Wilder in the course of a remarkably long and varied career, has died at the age of 93. Wilson’s first published work consisted of cartoons he had scribbled down while in a Cairo hospital, recuperating from wounds sustained while serving with the London Rifle Brigade during World War II. Discharged from the Army, he moved to London and eventually took a job in the art department at Pinewood Studios, working on such films as Lean’s Great Expectations (1946) and the lavish fantasy ...

His first column appeared in April 1963 and he would become the doyen of UK film critics. Having announced he will soon file his last column, he talks about meeting Chaplin, and Hollywood's greatest canine actors

Philip French's international reputation as a film critic is unrivalled. As recently as February, after a career with the Observer that began in 1963, an American film journal rated him as Britain's "greatest living movie analyst". But at the end of August he is to file his last column as this newspaper's film critic. After an illustrious half century, French, who was honoured with an OBE in January, has decided to step down following his 80th birthday the same month.

In his first column for the Observer, he bemoaned the lack of British films offering a believable picture of criminathe underworld. He noted "the tired vignettes of sub-Runyon characters" in The Small World of Sammy Lee starring Anthony Newley.

Made in 1946 in a peak period for British cinema that remains unmatched, Great Expectations is the masterpiece David Lean made as (his biographer Kevin Brownlow suggests) a way of stepping up and away from his years as Noël Coward's collaborator. It is a succession of magnificently achieved scenes from Dickens, shot in stylised, Cruickshank-influenced black and white with a cast that has made an indelible stamp on several generations.

This new adaptation, scripted by David Nicholls and directed by Mike Newell, doesn't attempt to imitate Lean, something it announces by shooting the opening encounter in the graveyard on the gloomy marshes between the convict Magwitch (Ralph Fiennes) and the young Pip in broad, blue-sky daylight. The character are more lifesize than conventionally Dickensian: wisely, Helen Bonham Carter and Robbie Coltrane don't attempt to compete with Martita Hunt's Miss Havisham and Francis L Sullivan's Jaggers.

Newell and Nicholls have...

Amour | The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 | Mental | Up There | Hit So Hard | Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet | Happy Happy | The Pool | Son Of Sardar

Amour (12A)

(Michael Haneke, 2012, Aus/Fra/Ger) Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, 127 mins

Most romantic stories are beginnings; this is the endgame – the "till death us do part", as experienced by a cultured, elderly French couple after the wife's stroke. Call it a last slow dance in Paris. Watching body, mind and possibly love slowly diminish in their claustrophobic apartment, Haneke's gaze is stately and unflinching. However, there's also a slight remove, making this less emotional than you'd expect but rich in deeper themes.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (12A)

(Bill Condon, 2012, Us) Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner. 115 mins

The love/hate teenage supernatural saga comes to a spectacular/preposterous climax, for better or worse. Bella's enjoyment of her newfound vampire skills is dented...

David Nicholls, author of the hit novel One Day, has always loved Dickens's novel. As the film version is about to be released, he reveals how he set about his adaptation

Read a book at the right age and it will stay with you for life. For some people it's Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights, but for me it is Great Expectations. I first read it at 14 or so and, apart from some infatuations with Orwell, Fitzgerald, Salinger and Hardy, it has remained my favourite novel ever since. By some miracle, a story written in the mid-1850s had captured much of how I felt in a small provincial town at the end of the 1970s.

Yet if I saw myself in the book, it wasn't a particularly flattering portrait. It's clear why a young reader might aspire to be Elizabeth Bennet, but who would want to be Pip Pirrip?...

Directed by Crispian Mills, Chris Hopewell

Written by Crispian Mills, based on the story by Bruce Robinson

Featuring Simon Pegg, Amara Karan, Clare Higgins, Paul Freeman

Ever since Shaun of the Dead, Simon Pegg has become an unlikely, quirky leading man. Sure he has had big roles in films like Star Trek but his lovable loser persona is the one that he is most associated with and that is front and center in his latest film (as both the star and Executive Producer) of A Fantastic Fear of Everything.

Based on the novella Paranoia In The Launderette by Bruce Robinson (writer and director of Withnail and I), film follows a former children’s author named Jack (Simon Pegg) that has recently also become a crime novelist. While researching the lives of Victorian serial killers, he unleashes a wave of paranoid fears that stem from his abandonment as a child. He...

Best film award goes to Jacques Audiard production while Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter are made BFI fellows

Rust and Bone, the dramatic and gruelling love story starring the Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard, has won the best film prize at the London film festival. The French-Belgian production, directed by Jacques Audiard, is the first to be honoured with the top award at a ceremony revamped this year as a more fitting finale for the annual festival.

Audiard's victory was announced by Sir David Hare, president of the competition jury, who said Audiard "has a unique handwriting, made up of music, montage, writing, photography, sound, visual design and acting. He is one of only a very small handful of film-makers in the world who has mastered, and can integrate, every element of the process to one purpose, making in Rust and Bone a film full of heart, violence and love.

The programme for the 56th BFI London Film Festival launched yesterday under the new creative leadership of BFI’s Head of Exhibition and Festival Director, Clare Stewart, bringing a rich and diverse programme of international films and events from both established and upcoming talent over a 12 day celebration of cinema. The Festival will screen a total of 225 fiction and documentary features, including 14 World Premieres, 15 International Premieres and 34 European Premieres. There will also be screenings of 111 live action and animated shorts. A stellar line-up of directors, cast and crew are expected to take part in career interviews, master classes, and other special events. The 56th BFI London Film Festival will run from 10-21 October 2012. This year sees the introduction of several changes to the Festival’s format. Now taking place over 12 days, the Festival expands further from its traditional Leicester Square cinemas – Odeon West End, Vue West End, Odeon Leicester Square...

Announced yesterday, the programme for the 56th BFI London Film Festival brings a rich and diverse programme of international films and events from both established and upcoming talent over a 12 day celebration of cinema. The Festival will screen a total of 225 fiction and documentary features, including 14 World Premieres, 15 International Premieres and 34 European Premieres. There will also be screenings of 111 live action and animated shorts. A stellar line-up of directors, cast and crew are expected to take part in career interviews, master classes, and other special events.

This year sees the introduction of several changes to the Festival’s format. Now taking place over 12 days, the Festival expands further from its traditional Leicester Square cinemas – Odeon West End, Vue West End, Odeon Leicester Square and Empire – and the BFI Southbank to include four additional new venues – Hackney Picturehouse, Renoir, Everyman Screen on the Green and Rich Mix, which join existing London venues the Ica,...

One of the clear victors emerging out of Telluride was Ben Affleck‘s The Town follow-up, the political hostage thriller Argo. Featuring a great ensemble including Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin and John Goodman, the film received top-notch reviews for its mix of thrillers and comedy and now we’ve got word it’ll be showing at another prestigious festival.

BFI London Film Festival announced their promising line-up today, which includes Argo, as well as Michael Haneke‘s Amour, Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths, Michael Winterbottom’s Everyday, Sally Potter’s Ginger and Rosa, Jacques Audiard’s Rust and Bone and much more. Check out the complete line-up below, as well as WB’s first TV spot for Argo.

London, Wednesday 5 September: The programme for the 56th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express launched today under the new creative leadership of BFI’s Head of Exhibition and Festival Director,...

The line-up to the 56th London Film Festival has just been announced and you can see the list of movies coming to the greatest city in the world below. We already knew that Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie and Mike Newell’s Great Expectations would open and close the festival respectively but now we have the rest of the movies coming to London Town.

Let us know your thoughts on the line-up below in our comments section.

The Festival itself runs from October 10th to October 21st and we’ll be doing our best to bring you reviews from as many films as we possibly can!

London, Wednesday 5 September: The programme for the 56th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express launched today under the new creative leadership of BFI’s Head of Exhibition and Festival Director, Clare Stewart, bringing a rich and diverse programme of international films and...

Green Film Festival, Nationwide

Grass roots, green shoots and other verdant analogies are appropriate to describe this festival's expansion, from five UK cities last year to 12 this year, from Inverness to Leicester, Cardiff to Cambridge. The emphasis of the documentaries is broad brush rather than local interest, although most venues have added their own distinctive stamp to the core programme. Big issues on the agenda include Big Oil (tackling corruption within the fossil fuels industry with the entirely unpartisan title Greedy Lying Bastards); food waste (just why we waste so much, and what we can do to stop it, in Taste The Waste); light pollution (The City Dark offers a globe-trotting study of what the stars mean to us and how artificial light affects our health); vegetarianism (following three carnivore New Yorkers as they turn vegan for six weeks in Vegucated); and, possibly the biggest issue of all, human happiness...

My friend the actor John Forrest, who has died aged 80, combined a distinguished film career with work as a stage magician. He had his first success as a child actor, in David Lean's classic movie Great Expectations (1946), as the "pale young gentleman" – the young Herbert Pocket.

Known later for his many supporting roles playing very "British" characters such as Grassy Green in Very Important Person (1961), he was in fact born in the Us, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His English mother, an artist, had married an American lawyer, and when the marriage broke up after a few years, she brought John and his sister to England where they lived in the village of Cookham, Berkshire. Their neighbours were the painter Stanley Spencer and his equally eccentric brother, Horace, who taught John magic.

Following his early film success, John acted alongside such distinguished actors as David Niven, in Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948), Richard Attenborough,...

We chat to director Cary Fukunaga about adapting a 150 year old story, casting Michael Fassbender, and his upcoming projects…

Cary Fukunaga’s bleakly beautiful Jane Eyre sits comfortably amongst the best cinematic adaptations of Charlotte Brontë’s novel, and features an outstanding lead performance from Mia Wasikowska. Only its director’s second feature (the first being 2009 Spanish-language immigration drama Sin Nombre), Jane Eyre is now out on DVD in the UK.

We spoke to the film’s young director Cary Fukunaga, about how he avoided making a “cheeseball” glossy period drama, Michael Fassbender’s teeth, his upcoming sci-fi and Us Civil War projects, and why he wants to fit a horse with rubber shoes…

This interview contains potential spoilers for Jane Eyre.

You had to cut a lot from the story so you could make the film, can you please make my day by telling me that there’s going...

London, Nov 18: Writer David Nicholls has revealed that he has given a new ending to 'Great Expectations' for his movie "thriller" version of the Dickens classic.

The film directed by Mike Newell, is currently being shot in the UK and stars Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham and Ralph Fiennes as Magwitch.

The BFI season is described as the largest retrospective of Dickens on film and television ever staged.

"The David Lean film is a masterpiece and always will be a masterpiece," the BBC quoted Nicholls as saying at the launch of the BFI's Dickens on Screen season.

He said that Dickens wrote 'great action' which.

BFI plans comprehensive season celebrating most adapted author of all time in early 2012

From Alec Guinness as Fagin to Miss Piggy as Mrs Cratchit, the BFI is staging a three-month retrospective of Dickens on film and TV on London's South Bank from January, to mark the novelist's bicentenary.. The season is curated by Michael Eaton and Co-curator Adrian Wootton, said Dickens's influence on cinema and TV had been immense and continues right up to the present day, with Mike Newell's Great Expectations the next movie outing for Dickens. "It demonstrates that he is not a dead, grey old man sitting on dusty shelves who nobody reads, he is a living breathing artist whose work just keeps on rippling and resonating through our culture."

All the novels have been adapted to some degree. There are around 100 silent films, of which around a third still exist, "although we keep finding new...

The first pictures have emerged of the Corpse Bride actor as Dickens' celebrated jiltee in Great Expectations. Is she too young for the role? Or has she goth what it takes?

Is this the most glamorous ever Miss Havisham? The first pictures have emerged of Helena Bonham Carter in the role of the celebrated jiltee in the upcoming Great Expectations adaptation, directed by Mike Newell. At 45, Bonham Carter is by some distance the youngest actor to play Havisham in recent times – you have to go back to David Lean's 1946 adaptation to find a comparable figure, in the shape of then 46-year-old Martita Hunt.

Even though Havisham's age is not explicitly stated in Dickens' novel, did he have Bonham Carter's cobweb-laden crypto-goth look in mind for the mansion-dwelling recluse, as she holes up with only her rotting wedding cake and pliable niece Estella for company? Whatever else, Bonham Carter is...

Founded by J Arthur Rank, the studios are home to 007, Harry Potter and American blockbusters – but still invest in UK talent

The horizon at Pinewood alters every month as sets and scaffold towers go up and down. This weekend a visitor told to present themselves at the "main gate" might face a moment's confusion. By far the biggest gate, dwarfing everything else at the entrance to the film studios in Buckinghamshire, is a huge wooden affair, reached by a drawbridge.

A portcullis is suspended above it and a pair of crenellated stone towers stand on either side. It is part of the set constructed for Snow White and The Huntsman, one of a succession of big budget films that have queued up to get inside a production centre that is unrivalled, not just in Britain, but across the world.

The film, directed by Rupert Sanders, will star Charlize Theron as The Evil Queen,...

Johnny Depp and Jerry Bruckheimer reassure fans by insisting possibilities for Pirates of the Caribbean are 'endless'

• Pirates of the Caribbean fervour briefly – and bafflingly, given the poor reviews for the fourth instalment – swept through Cannes at the weekend, with security guards in the Palais des Festivals flinging themselves at crowds rendered hysterical at the presence of Johnny Depp (below) – "Johnny! Johnny!" they screamed, with the desperation of drowning men.

If some had wished this fine actor to announce his and fellow seadogs' retirement from the high seas, they were disappointed. The possibilities, he said, for Pirates were "endless", while the producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, claimed that there "is much more fun to be to be had. As long as the scripts are good and we're working with film-makers such as Rob Marshall, we're all good".

• Gemma Arterton is certainly having her hour: aside from her forthcoming role in Neil Labute...

Cinematographer known for his work on the Carry On films

Despite, or because of, the ancient, dirty jokes, schoolboy humour, double entendres, and a string of hammy actors tele- graphing each jest with pursed lips, rolling eyes or a snigger, the Carry On films have an army of devotees. Among the most regular actors were Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Sid James, Joan Sims and Kenneth Connor, and behind the camera, on almost all of the 30 Carry On movies, was the cinematographer Alan Hume, who has died aged 85.

Hume started as camera operator on the very first, Carry On Sergeant (1958), soon becoming director of photography (Dp) on Carry On Regardless (1961), and continuing as Dp until Carry On Columbus (1992) ended the franchise. Though few would make any artistic claims for the films, they were competently shot, rapidly, on a shoestring. Because of the rapport Hume built up over a long period with...

Alan Hume, one of the most accomplished directors of photography has died aged 85.A veteran of over 100 films, Alan Hume began his career as a clapper boy on David Lean's In Which We Serve, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. He progressed up the ranks to focus puller by his third film with Lean. When Our Girl Friday (starring a young Joan Collins) came along in 1953, Hume was promoted to camera operator and shot 27 more films as camera operator in 7 years. He gained a reputation for being fast, efficient and a brilliant photographer - which deeply impressed Carry On producer Peter Rogers, who put Hume under contract and offered him the chance to become a director of photography in 1960 on No Kidding. Over the next forty years, Hume lit over 150 films and TV shows.Among his credits were fifteen Carry On films, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Stepping Out,...

I shall have many young kings with round, strong arms.

And when I am tired of them, I shall whip them to death.

Last week, controversy developed over reports that Angelina Jolie has been cast to take the lead role in a biopic about Cleopatra, the historical Queen of Egypt whose reputation over the centuries has developed to nearly legendary proportions. While I think Ms. Jolie has the perfect blend of beauty, attitude and screen presence to pull off a job that’s served as a platform for silver screen goddesses of decades past, critics take issue with the fact that a Caucasian woman is once again being awarded the opportunity to play one of history’s most noteworthy African female characters. Despite the legitimate argument that Cleopatra’s lineage included European ancestors, I understand the sensitivity of their concern. Similar objections have been voiced about the upcoming The Last Airbender,...

Producer, director and cinematographer of many well-loved British film classics, including Oliver Twist, Tunes of Glory and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

The producer, director, writer and cinematographer Ronald Neame, who has died aged 99, played an important role in British cinema for more than half a century. The critic Matthew Sweet once called him "a living embodiment of cinema, a sort of one-man world heritage site". Neame was assistant director to Alfred Hitchcock on Blackmail (1929), the first British talkie; he was the cinematographer on In Which We Serve (1942), Noël Coward's moving tribute to the Royal Navy during the second world war; he co-produced and co-wrote David Lean's Brief Encounter (1945) and Great Expectations (1946); and he directed Alec Guinness in two of his best roles, in The Horse's Mouth (1958) and Tunes of Glory (1960). As if this wasn't enough, Neame also conquered Hollywoo d with one of the first and most successful disaster movies,...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Ronald Neame, the legendary cinematographer-turned-screenwriter-turned producer-turned director, has died from complications from a fall. He was 99 years old. Neame's impressive resume goes back to the early days of sound films, having worked on on Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail. The multi-talented Neame also took up screenwriting and earned Oscar nominations for co-writing the scripts for the classics Brief Encounter and Great Expectations. He was considered a pioneer in the use of Technicolor and was so revered in the British film industry that he was made a Commander of the British Empire. Neame represented the by-gone era of gentleman directors who generally dressed nattily on film sets and brought a wealth of culture to their productions. He directed such high profile films as Tunes of Glory, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Chalk Garden, Gambit, Scrooge, The Odessa File and the blockbuster 1972 hit The Poseidon Adventure. For more...

By New York Times 

Ronald Neame, who directed movies including "The Poseidon Adventure" and "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," died Wednesday in Los Angeles. He was 99.

The cause was complications from a fall, grandson Gareth Neame told the New York Times.

Neame worked in various areas of the movie business, including writing and even visual effects.

He was nominated for three Oscars: In 1947 and 1948, he shared screenwriting nominations with David Lean and Anthony Havelock-Allan for, respectively, "Brief Encounter" and "Great Expectations.&...

He died Wednesday in Los Angeles after failing to recover from a fall, according to news reports. He was 99. A cinematographer, writer, director, and producer, Ronald Neame has more than 70 films to his credit. From a showbiz family, Ronald Neame went to work for the UK's famed Elstree Studios at 16 and began as an assistant cameraman on Alfred Hitchcock’s first sound film. He became a leading cinematographer by age 30 working closely with Noel Coward and David Lean on Blithe Spirits and Brief Encounter and Great Expectations and eventually started a production company with them. But then [...]...

Film director Ronald Neame has died at the age of 99, it has been announced. The British star, most notable for helming 1972 movie The Poseidon Adventure, passed away in hospital in Los Angeles on Wednesday, BBC News reports. Family friend and BBC correspondent Peter Bowes said that the filmmaker never recovered after suffering a fall. Along with The Poseidon Adventure, Neame's directing credits include 1958's The Horse's Mouth and 1969's The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, which earned Maggie Smith a 'Best Actress' Oscar. He had earlier worked as a cinematographer on a number of films, and also had screenwriting duties on 1945's Brief Encounter and 1946's Great Expectations. Neame was awarded a CBE for his contribution to the film industry in 1996.

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Bronson Bronson made my Top 25 of 2009 coming in at #7 and it's a film I find immensely watchable and rewatchable. While a few people disagreed with my "A" review, they all loved Tom Hardy in the lead role. Be sure to check this one out. A Serious Man The Coen brothers' latest film also made my Top 25 of 2009 coming in at #25 and I also just recently reviewed the Blu-ray edition. My opinion says buy it, but you may want to give my review a read if you are on the fence. The Time Traveler's Wife I actually don't mind this movie all that much. When it comes to schmaltzy melodramas some can be overbearing and some can actually work... for the most part this one falls into the latter category. This one drew some negativity for the rather creepy idea...

The late actor was celebrated for her beauty and talent, but she had a streak of mischief that made her unforgettable

Jean Simmons was only 12 years older than me, and as I grew up I cut out a lot of pictures of her from magazines like Picturegoer and the Sunday papers. Can you credit that in those days – the late 40s and the early 50s – there were Sunday papers in Britain (such as the Pictorial, the Graphic, the Dispatch) that ran pictures of pretty movie stars in their underwear or swimsuits?

Well, Jean was pretty; I believe the captions also added that she was "saucy" (and I supposed they knew). The big picture for Jean's fans, who had scissors and a scrapbook ready, was The Blue Lagoon. That was 1949, and it had Jean and Donald Houston washed up on a desert island, doing their best for clothes and falling in love.

Jean Simmons, the English actress known primarily for her role alongside Marlon Brando in the 1955 musical Guys and Dolls, has recently passed away. She was 80 years old, and her death has been attributed to lung cancer. Simmons made her film debut when she was 14 years old, with the British production of Give Us the Moon. Two years later, she landed the role of Estella in 1946's Great Expectations. A number of films led her to her next big role in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet in 1948, for which she won an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. The actress then moved from Britain to Hollywood in 1950, where she garnered another Oscar nomination for best actress for The Happy Ending in 1969, and ended up winning an Emmy Award for The Thorn Birds, a 1980s miniseries. "Simmons is one of the most quietly commanding actresses Hollywood has ever trashed," film critic Pauline Kael...

Like most film buffs, I was upset to hear about Jean Simmons’ passing over the weekend…but I felt incredibly lucky to have met her at the Telluride Film Festival over Labor Day Weekend in 2008. In his program notes for her tribute, Scott Foundas wrote, “It is one of the few serious shortcomings, don’t we all agree, of David Lean’s otherwise exemplary version of Great Expectations (1946) that Jean Simmons leaves the screen much too soon, to be replaced by Valerie Hobson as the grown-up version of the Estella character. Martita Hunt and Jean Simmons in David Lean’s Great Expectations.…...

Cinema lost another lovely and classic face over the weekend, as actress Jean Simmons passed away, according to the New York Times. She was 80.

Simmons' career often reads like a lesson in what might have been. She rose to early success in films such as David Lean's Great Expectations and Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (which earned her an Oscar nomination) before running afoul of her contract holder, Howard Hughes. After rejecting his advances, he attempted to ruin her career and cost her the lead in Roman Holiday. Simmons held out, and managed success with roles in Young Bess, Footsteps in the Fog, Guys and Dolls, and The Actress.

Due to financial strain, she quietly accepted any role offered, and Simmons became known as the quiet lady who supported great men in films like The Robe, The Egyptian, Desiree, Elmer Gantry, and Spartacus. She always rose above the material, and...