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Ronan Vibert, a veteran film and television actor who worked with some of the top directors and talent during his long career, died last night at age of 58 after a short illness, according to his management.

Vibert grew up in South Wales before gaining a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, and lived most of his life in London. In recent years, he had relocated to Florida.

His many films include The Snowman with Michael Fassbender, Saving Mr Banks with Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson, Dracula Untold with Luke Evans, Shadow of the Vampire with John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe, The Cat’s Meow, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, Tomb Raider 2 with Angelina Jolie, Tristan and Isolde with James Franco, and the Oscar-winning The Pianist, directed by Roman Polanski.

Notable TV credits include Rome for HBO, ITV’s Poirot, two series of The Borgias for Showtime, the Emmy...

Henry Cavill has become one of the biggest and beefiest action stars on the planet in recent years. After receiving his big break on the BBC's The Tudors, the muscled British actor would go on to receive the iconic role of Superman and cement himself in the public eye.

Despite being known primarily for playing the Man of Steel, Cavill has taken on a variety of different roles that have showcased his versatility as an actor, including in some films that proved to be the very highest-rated of his career so far, according to the review website Rotten Tomatoes.

Updated October 20th, 2022 by Jordan Iacobucci:

Henry Cavill continues to prove himself to be one of the most beloved actors working today, garnering a passionate fanbase that follows his career with great interest. The actor's upcoming appearance in Enola Holmes 2 and recent rumors that he will soon return to...

Seeing "Star Wars" when it premiered was a career-altering experience for Ridley Scott. Although his admiration for the film ensured his next project would be in the realm of sci-fi, he also felt despair over having to distinguish it from the instantly iconic imagery of directors who got there first. It helped that the "Alien" script Scott inevitably fell in love with lent itself heavily to horror. Something it had in common with early sci-fi films from studios like Universal that helped the genre gain traction. It's also no coincidence that many of those initial projects — and more still today — are adapted from novels. After all, the veritable grandparents of the whole genre are science fiction writers from Mary Shelley and H.G. Wells to Arthur C. Clarke.

This explains why the visual aesthetics for most movies considered sci-fi appear based mainly on the 20th century's collective imaginations. Even today, everything...

ABC has ordered the American adaptation of “The Baker and the Beauty” to pilot.

Based on the Israeli romantic comedy series of the same name, the series tells the story of the unlikely romance between a blue-collar baker and an international superstar. Theirs is a relationship that not only upends their own lives, but the lives of their two very different families.

Dean Georgaris will write and executive produce, with David Frankel set to direct and executive produce. Avi Nir, Alon Shtruzman, Peter Traugott, and Rachel Kaplan of Keshet Studios will also executive produce along with original series creator Assi Azar. Universal Television and ABC Studios will produce in association with Keshet.

Georgaris most recently worked on the screenplay for the hit film “The Meg.” His other feature credits include “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life,” “Paycheck,” the 2004 remake of the “The Manchurian Candidate,” and “Tristan + Isolde.

ABC has given a put pilot commitment to an American adaptation of the Israeli series “The Baker and the Beauty,” Variety has learned.

The new version of the one-hour romantic comedy series follows the Miami love story between a simple baker and an international superstar. Noa Hollander has it all: she’s the most famous woman in the country, the beautiful daughter of a real estate magnate, a successful model with an international career and – up until now – one half of a Hollywood power couple. The son of Cuban immigrants, Daniel is a simple guy who still lives with his parents and works at the family bakery. A chance encounter at a fancy restaurant leads to unexpected sparks and an even more unlikely love story.

Dean Georgaris will write and executive produce, with David Frankel set to direct and executive produce. Avi Nir, Alon Shtruzman, Peter Traugott, and Rachel Kaplan...

The Met Opera 2016-2017 season kicks off in Cineplex theatresThe Met Opera 2016-2017 season kicks off in Cineplex theatresJenny Bullough9/21/2016 9:59:00 Am

There’s nothing quite like experiencing the pageantry, beauty, and incomparable vocal performance of live opera. But one thing comes very, very close: The Met Opera in Cineplex theatres. Only at Cineplex, you can take in the full spectacle of the Met’s 2016-2017 season, filmed in breathtaking HD. The Met Opera Live in HD offers benefits you can't get even at the Met itself: closeups of the performers, the rich detail in every costume, and the intricate choreography required in staging a grand opera are all showcased by the filming technique. Featuring world-renowned classics such as Don Giovanni, La Traviata, Tristan and Isolde, and much, much more, performed by stars such as Placido Domingo, Renee Fleming and many others, the Met Opera Live in HD series...

Making movies is a tough business, but it's also an artistic endeavor, and, like most such enterprises, inspiration plays an important part in the process. As filmmakers tend to be people who love movies, they also find motivation in the work of others, and Ridley Scott just revealed how Star Wars compelled him to make Alien. Talking to Deadline at the Toronto International Film Festival, where he is hyping his latest space odyssey, The Martian, Scott talked about the first time he saw Star Wars and the transformative impression it left on him. He said: I never saw or felt audience participation like that, in my life. The theater was shaking. When that Death Star came in at the beginning, I thought, I can't possibly do Tristan and Isolde, I have to find something else. By the time the movie was finished, it was so stunning that it...

'Humoresque': Joan Crawford and John Garfield. 'Humoresque' 1946: Saved by Joan Crawford Directed by Jean Negulesco from a screenplay by Clifford Odets and Zachary Gold (loosely based on a Fannie Hurst short story), Humoresque always frustrates me because its first 25 minutes are excruciatingly boring – until Joan Crawford finally makes her appearance during a party scene. Crawford plays Helen Wright, a rich society lush in love with a tough-guy violin player, Paul Boray (John Garfield), who happens to be in love with his music. Fine support is offered by Paul's parents, played by Ruth Nelson and the fabulous chameleon-like J. Carroll Naish. Oscar Levant is the sarcastic, wisecracking piano player, who plays his part to the verge of annoyance. (Spoilers ahead.) Something wrong with that woman The Humoresque scenes between Paul and his mother are particularly intriguing, as the mother conveys her objections to Helen by lamenting, "There's something wrong with a woman like that!

If you’ve fantasized about one of them, two of them, or all of them together, you’re not alone. They’re Hollywood brothers. And at one point or another, they’ve made us thank our lucky stars that talent and good looks can come in multiple forms.

We may find ourselves comparing sexy siblings that are in the spotlight, such as Casey and Ben Affleck, Shawn and Marlon Wayans and the Jonas brothers. But don’t be fooled, there are often times yet another brother in the family we don’t know about, and sometimes, they’re even the hottest. Take a look at these sets of hunky Hollywood bros and see who we thought lucked out by scoring the most attractive genes in the family.

The Franco Brothers

Dave Franco: The gorgeous Neighbors star reminds us of a modern day James Dean. Anyone?

James Franco: This...

If you’ve fantasized about one of them, two of them, or all of them together, you’re not alone. They’re Hollywood brothers. And at one point or another, they’ve made us thank our lucky stars that talent and good looks can come in multiple forms.

We may find ourselves comparing sexy siblings that are in the spotlight, such as Casey and Ben Affleck, Shawn and Marlon Wayans and the Jonas brothers. But don’t be fooled, there are often times yet another brother in the family we don’t know about, and sometimes, they’re even the hottest. Take a look at these sets of hunky Hollywood bros and see who we thought lucked out by scoring the most attractive genes in the family.

The Franco Brothers

Dave Franco: The gorgeous Neighbors star reminds us of a modern day James Dean. Anyone?

James Franco: This...

Before we get into it, let me answer my own question: Yes. Yes it is.

(Major spoilers follow. For earlier recappage, check out our piece on the first two episodes.)

When word was first announced of Showtime’s period “psychosexual horror” series Penny Dreadful, no one was sure what to expect. The best guess was that it would be a handsomely-shot mashup of a handful of big-name genre icons… with copious close-ups of boobies. But I don’t think anyone expected the full-on monster mash that we have seen in the season’s first four episodes: Dr. Frankenstein is canoodling with Ludwig Van Helsing in an attempt to stop Dracula; Frankenstein’s Monster is playing Phantom of the Opera at the Grand Guignol Theatre, and the Wolf Man just banged Dorian Gray.

Yes, you read that right: at the end of last Sunday’s episode, Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett) – an...

As reported back in January, Warner Bros. have finally hit on an idea for King Arthur that they like. Word that Guy Ritchie has returned to the project, having left it once before, is this morning thoroughly borne out by the fact that his King Arthur now has a release date. Warners have nabbed the otherwise unoccupied tentpole summer slot of July 22, 2016, proving by divine providence (or at least studio edict) that Guy Ritchie is to carry Excalibur.Back in 2010 when he was working on it before, Ritchie's thrust was thought to be very much based on Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur, the 15th Century text that assembled most of the popular tales of Arthur (the Knights of the Round Table, the Holy Grail, Merlin, Gareth, Lancelot and Guinevere, Arthur's battles with Rome, Tristan and Isolde and so on) into a single narrative. The implication was that, in contrast...

Opera has always been a reflection of the cultural zeitgeist of Western society. Historical events, popular stories, real people—they’ve all inspired musicalizations which allow patrons to connect directly with cultural moments in artistic ways.

But while opera may have stopped being the most popular art form, it never stopped being a relevant one. Hats off to the contemporary composers who continue to devote themselves to breathing life into the art form (because if they don’t, who will?). Opera is an endangered species, much like pandas or stenographers, and it continues to thrive creatively by reflecting the pop culture moments—movies,...

Everyone’s favorite parlor game — “Who should play Christian Grey in the Fifty Shades of Grey Movie/trainwreck/the cinematic experience of our time” — just got another celebrity participant. If one Ms. Britney Spears had her way, sexy, dominating businessman Christian Grey will be played by James Franco.

“I love James Franco,” Spears replied when asked about her pick. “I think he’s really cool.” That kind of teenspeak is Spears gushing! She’s all in!

It’s easy to dismiss her remarks with a laugh (and you can get a second chuckle picturing Spears reading Fifty Shades of Grey...

Continuing to promote his new flick “Man of Steel,” Henry Cavill attended a press conference in Shanghai, China on Friday (June 21).

The 30-year-old hunk look handsome in a dapper ensemble as he chatted about the successful super hero flick with the excited press.

In related news, James Franco recently opened up about the small feud between himself and Henry and why he stayed in the background during the London premiere of “Man of Steel.”

“I don’t think Henry Cavill would have wanted to see me there,” James told Inquisitr.

“Not that we’re enemies. Years ago we worked on a film together called Tristan and Isolde. I played Tristan and he played my backstabbing sidekick. My hunch is that he didn’t like me very much. I don’t know this for certain, but I know that I wouldn’t have liked myself back then because I was a...

Looks like James Franco may not be on the best of terms with Hollywood's current Superman.

Franco recently reviewed Man of Steel for Vice magazine, and reminded readers that he actually worked with Henry Cavill on 2006's critically panned Tristan & Isolde. Though Franco attended Man of Steel's London premiere, he writes that he remained incognito "1) because it wasn’t my film, and 2) because I don't think Henry Cavill would have wanted to see me there."

Pics: Five Actors Who Have Played Superman

But Franco puts the blame for their less than close relationship on himself.

"Not that we're enemies. Years ago we worked on a film together called Tristan and Isolde. I played Tristan and he played my backstabbing sidekick," he explains. "My hunch is that he didn't like me very much. I don't know this for certain, but I know that I wouldn’t have liked myself back then because I was a difficult young actor...

James Franco has previously criticized the decision to reboot the Spider-Man franchise so quickly after Sam Raimi's third and final entry in the series, and in an op-ed for Vice.com the actor has a little more to say on the matter. Franco attended a screening of Man Of Steel so he could give his take on it, and while he seems to have loved the film, he reveals that he went incognito because he feels there might be some tension between he and Henry Cavill after working on Tristan And Isolde together! Here are the relevant excerpts. On The Amazing Spider-Man: "I too have been in comic-book films—the Spider-Man trilogy directed by Sam Raimi. I mention the director because this distinction is now necessary in the wake of the new Spider-Man series that arose even before there was time to bury the corpse of the old...

Multi-hyphenate James Franco has more jobs (and hobbies) then one can count, but it's his latest piece of work that's buzzing around the web. Franco wrote a critical take about "Man of Steel" for Vice, but much of the attention on the piece  is actually based on what he said about Spider-Man, not Superman. Franco, who attended the "Man of Steel" premiere incognito because he believes Henry Cavill does not like him based on their history filming "Tristan and Isolde," says he really enjoyed "Man of Steel." But that's perhaps the least...

Henry Cavill Man of Steel to trail Robert Downey Jr in Iron Man 3 [See previous post: "Man of Steel Weekend Box Office: June Record May Not Be Broken."] As long as it grosses at least $100 million by Sunday evening — and that’s a given — Zack Snyder / Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel will boast the second-biggest opening of 2013, behind only Shane Black / Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man 3, which collected $174.14 million in early May according to Box Office Mojo. As mentioned in the previous post, Man of Steel is expected to score anywhere between $115-$140 million. Note: Figures for both Man of Steel and Iron Man 3 include Thursday evening shows. (See updated posts: “Man of Steel trailing Original Iron Man” and “Man of Steel vs. Superman movies of years past.”) (Photo: Henry Cavill Superman in Man of Steel.) For comparison’s sake: without the advantage of box-office-inflating 3D surcharges or Thursday evening screenings, the Jon Favreau-directed Iron Man debuted with $98.68 million...

Today is the birthday of the famous and controversial German composer, Richard Wagner. Known for his numerous operas (as well as his anti-Semitic views), the mastermind behind works like "Tristan and Isolde" and "Tannhäuser" would turn 200 years old if he were still alive today.

Born in Leipzig in 1813, Wagner lived a life in the spotlight, whether he was premiering blockbuster dramas at concert halls across Europe or palling around with historical figures like King Leopold II. Drama seemed to follow the composer wherever he went, from his tumultuous marriages and affairs to his extreme political views. Yet amidst celebrity and infamy, Wagner managed to produce 113 works, listed in his Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis (Wwv) catalog. Two centuries later, symphonies and opera singers are still performing his pieces.

To celebrate Wagner's 200th birthday, concert halls across the world are hosting homages to the controversial musical great. In addition, New York Public Radio...

Sophia Myles, best known for appearing in the first two Underworld movies, as well as playing Isolde in Tristan and Isolde, will reportedly appear in an important supporting role in Transformers 4. Myles joins an all-star cast which already includes; Mark Wahlberg, Kelsey Grammer, Jack Reynor, Nicola Peltz and Stanley Tucci. According to The Wrap, [...]

Read Sophia Myles added to Transformers 4; Tyrese Gibson may return as well on Filmonic.

Whether you love, hate or couldn’t give a monkeys about Transformers 4, the ever-growing bizarre list of actors attached to star is too intriguing to ignore. Last week it was announced that Kelsey Grammer had signed on as the film’s human antagonist. Now, The Wrap reports that British actress Sophia Myles has clambered aboard the fourth instalment.

According to the report, her role is being kept secret for now but The Wrap’s source who has read the script believes she is to play a scientist. She’ll join an entirely new band of cast members for what is being touted as a reboot to the franchise.

Myles’ breakout role was in 2002′s Underworld. She’s since followed that up with leading roles in Tristan and Isolde alongside James Franco, and the Jamie Bell vehicle, Hallam Foe. As the Transformers: Dark Of The Moon cast have been given the heave-ho,...

Washington — Hip-hop artists including rappers Nas and Somalia-born K'naan will take center stage in an unexpected place next year, highlighting their generation and art form alongside opera, ballet and theater at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The center, a memorial to President John F. Kennedy, announced Tuesday that its 2013-2014 season would include the weeklong festival "One Mic: Hip-Hop Culture Worldwide." It also plans to feature an international theater festival with works from at least 10 different nations and new American works commissioned in theater, opera and music.

The 2014 hip-hop festival will open with Nas rapping with musicians from the National Symphony Orchestra on music from his classic debut album "Illmatic." The festival will also feature Puerto Rican musicians Calle 13 and a graffiti exhibition.

The mix of rap, DJing and graffiti with more traditional arts at one of the nation's busiest performing arts centers will make the year unique,...

Previously on Merlin, the series, realizing it will soon be entering its last season, quickly ticked off the mythical legends of Tristan and Isolde, the Sword in the Stone, and a Congress able to actually make a decision on anything (now that’s really fantasy fiction!), Arthur had yet another crisis in confidence (I’m sorry, but if I had Bradley James’ body my crises would be more likely to involve public nudity than waning confidence). Nonetheless, he rallied in time to defeat Morgana (again) who had invaded the kingdom (again) and restored Camelot (again) to its usual air of peace and prosperity (again, until next week.) Arthur married Guinevere/Gwen (which means Kate Middleton will be the second commoner to be Queen of England) and an injured Morgana was saved by being breathed on by a deformed hairless Chihuahua (funny, when my dog breathes on me all I get...

I can't think of anything I'd rather do less than watch The Hobbit. Haven't we put Peter Jackson's six-hour Crayola still-lifes behind us yet? These movies look like Lisa Frank folders come to life, and if Peter's not going to include magenta unicorns and rainbow clouds in his adventures, he doesn't care about anyone having a good time. 

Meanwhile his star Cate Blanchett, which is Latin for "cheekbones of corundum," is a damn treasure. I want her in everything: movies, TV shows, flash mobs, yo' face, etc. And if I'm going to spend my holiday season with Cate Blanchett, I'm going to do it via Notes on a Scandal, the perfect camp trifle. Do you like illicit affairs, scheming lesbians, and bastardly quotes? Then you should really read up on Lillian Hellman. Oh, and watch this week's Best. Movie. Ever! selection. 

Here are five dandy reasons Notes on a Scandal...

Across the country, classical music festivals are filling the summer air with symphonies, but none can compete with the long-distance run of festivals -- Tanglewood -- which runs from the first day of summer all the way through the unofficial end of it, Labor Day weekend.

Celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, the festival held in the Berkshire hills of Western Massachusetts is releasing a soundtrack, if you will, of its musical history, with releases from their archives from 1937 to 2009. We've teamed up with the people at Tanglewood to bring you a sampling of these pieces, whittled down to two minutes apiece. From Mozart's Symphony No. 25, performed in 1937, to Foss' nine-minute opera from three summers ago, some have the feel of an old record, while others a "thereness" unique to live classical performance. Listen carefully for the audience members' coughs, seat shiftings and throat clearings, especially when the sound drops...

Rufus Sewell vowed to give up playing bad guys and cads, then found himself out of work for months. So now he's back – in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter – as a 5,000-year-old bloodsucker

Three years ago, Rufus Sewell gave up bad guys for good. After an early career steaming up teatimes in Middlemarch and Cold Comfort Farm, he slipped, in his 30s, into a rut of rotters – cruel toffs on horseback in films such as A Knight's Tale, The Legend of Zorro and Tristan and Isolde. At 40, he renounced them for better men. Men with names like Tom Builder (from HBO's The Pillars of the Earth) and Dr Jacob Hood (police procedural Eleventh Hour), and Zen, the cool Italian detective from the Michael Dibdin books adapted for the BBC.

Next week Sewell, now 44, can be seen as "Adam, lead vampire" in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, a 3D film from Timur Bekmambetov,...

Fictionalised account of animator's life, one of nine new productions to be staged by the company, will present a 'nightmarish' vision of Walt Disney

A new work by Philip Glass about Walt Disney will have its UK premiere at English National Opera (Eno) in June 2013. Glass's opera – his 24th – is based on Peter Stephan Jungk's 2004 novel The Perfect American, a fictionalised account of the final years of Walt Disney's life, described by Glass as "unimaginable, alarming and truly frightening". The novel, narrated by Wilhelm Dantine, a fictional Austrian cartoonist who worked for the animator in the 50s, mixes fact and fantasy, including meetings with Andy Warhol and Abraham Lincoln, to discover Disney's delusions of immortality and glimpse into his murky private life. He is controversially depicted as a racist, a misogynist and an antisemite.

La Times reviewer Richard Schickel called the book a "partially successful fiction ... [that asks us to] reflect on fame and...

James Franco has been very vocal about dismissively waving off the projects he participated in before evolving into an Oscar-nominated, General Hospital co-star. Now, in a new interview with Newsweek, he really lays into one of those films: 2006's Tristan and Isolde.

Video - James Franco Can't Stop Singing

"It was a big mistake. I was an overzealous young actor and wanted to make great movies. I read the script and wasn’t sure about it, but my acting teacher said it was a role that a young Brando or Olivier would do. I thought, 'Ok…I guess,'" he says, before going on to detail how the hellish production landed him in a European hospital that boasted a strange affinity for Twin Peaks.

Click here to read his recounting!

On TV this Friday: Nikita heads to Russia with little love, the Fringe team tracks a bitter killer, Spartacus rallies the troops and more. In addition to TVLine’s original features (linked in red) and March Madness taking place on CBS, here are seven programs to keep on your radar.

8 pm Who Do You Think You Are? (NBC) | Mad About You‘s Helen Hunt learns of the trials and triumphs of her paternal ancestors, including her great-great-grandfather’s involvement in launching Wells Fargo and her great-great-grandmother’s role in the fight for women’s rights.

8 pm Nikita (The CW) | Michael...

Our critics' picks of this week's openings, plus your last chance to see and what to book now

• Which cultural events are in your diary this week? Tell us in the comments below

Opening this weekTheatre

A Provincial Life

Russia comes to Wales as Peter Gill returns to the city of his birth to christen the rebuilt Sherman theatre with his own adaptation of Chekhov's short story. The 17th National Theatre Wales production is about the search for equality in a world of rich and poor. Sherman, Cardiff (029-2064 6901), Thursday to 17 March.

The Lady from the Sea

Joely Richardson follows in the wet footsteps of both her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, and her sister, Natasha, in playing Ellida Wangel, Ibsen's mysterious heroine haunted by memories of a sailor and the sea. Rose, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey (0844 482 1556), tonight to 17 March.

Film

Rampart (dir. Oren Moverman)

James Ellroy is the screenwriter of this...

Kirsten Dunst greets the apocalypse

“Melancholia” is Lars von Trier’s intelligent, melodramatic, achingly beautiful and wickedly funny new film. It tells the story of Justine (a transcendent Kirsten Dunst), a severe depressive, and her doting and practical sister, Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg). Justine’s depression takes the corporeal shape of a planet called Melancholia, which is on a steady collision course with Earth. In the film’s stunning prologue, Mr. von Trier tactfully relieves the audience of any suspense concerning Earth’s fate, allowing the tone to shift from an end-of-the-world thriller to a character and relationship study. “Melancholia” uses the premise of an apocalypse to expose the frays in familial bonds — specifically, the intricate bonds and dynamic between two sisters; a bond that is both affectionate and cruel, supportive and insensitive.

The film is divided into two parts named after each of the sisters. Although part one is named after Justine,...

Lars von Trier is a filmmaker given to excess and therefore tends to elicit extreme reactions from his viewers. He was co-founder (with Thomas Vinterberg) of ‘Dogma 95’ an avant-garde filmmaking movement, which set new ‘rules’ for filmmaking – eschewing elaborate special effects and technology and deliberately opting for a rough look partly through the use of the hand-held camera. The purpose was to rely on the resources of the plot entirely and get the required effects with the means available.

Lars von Trier initially attained renown for his three female-centered films – with Breaking the Waves (1996) being the first – and in all of them he does virtually the same thing, which is to place a defenseless woman in circumstances where she is gravely endangered and then show people taking advantage of her helplessness in the most selfish, brutal and hypocritical way possible. Whenever storytellers make us despise characters in their books or films,...

As 2011 comes to a close it’s time to look back on the year in movies. It’s always tough for me to come up with a yearly best movie list because I never feel I’ve seen everything by Jan. 1. By this time of year I’m still trying to finish watching the award contenders (still on my list: Hugo, War Horse, Moneyball, Tinker Tailor Solider Spy, The Help).

So here are 10 movie moments from 2011 (in no particular order) that have stayed with me.

“I Want You To Help Me Find A Killer of Women”

I know you’re probably tired of hearing this line as it’s in all the TV spots and trailers for David Fincher‘s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but after seeing the movie there was no better moment for me than when Mikael seeks out Lisbeth for her help. The look Rooney Mara...

Most moviegoers can agree on one thing: there were way too many movies this year. If you’re (un)fortunate enough to live in New York, you had the opportunity to see around 600 new features come and go; the rest of us didn’t get that many fewer. That means that anyone who’s been put in a position to make a top 10 (or top 15, or top 20…) had to make some sad cuts. So we thought it appropriate to highlight some of the year’s most memorable individual moments, scenes, and sequences, from movies that may or may not have made our individual year-end lists. Some were from movies we didn’t love; some are from movies we didn’t even like, but all stood out. Which is no small feat considering just how insane the release calendar has become.

We are keeping out credit sequences since we feel it is an artform in itself,...

Chicago International Film Festival 2011

Melancholia

Directed by: Lars von Trier

Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland

Running Time: 2 hrs 15 mins

Rating: R

Release Date: November (Chicago)

Click Here for complete coverage of the Chicago International Film Festival (Ciff 2011)

Plot: A planet named “Melancholia” is expected to crash into ours. A young bride (Dunst) has her wedding day, and she is not too thrilled about it.

Who’S It For? If you like von Trier, don’t miss this – even if it’s a toss-up as to whether this will make you “happy” or not. If you like visually beautiful movies, Melancholia is one of them. Don’t come to this movie expecting to find an enjoyable experience.

Overall

Lars von Trier’s latest film, Melancholia is the definition of a broody movie. Its title comes from a planet that is on its way to crash into our earth. But...

Nearly every weekend since its premiere in Cannes, Lars von Trier's Melancholia has opened in theaters in this or that country around the world, and today it hits the UK. It's also screened at a good number of festivals, including Toronto, and sees its first date in the States at the New York Film Festival on Monday. The following Friday, it'll be available on demand from Magnolia before finally opening in Us theaters in November.

When and wherever you catch it, you may, like Farran Nehme, find the experience "unexpectedly marvelous. Divided like Gaul into three parts: a magnificently surreal flash-forward to the apocalypse that is about to hit in the form of a planet colliding with our own; a midsection showing the slow-motion cataclysm that is the wedding of Justine (Kirsten Dunst) to Michael (Alexander Skarsgård); and a finale focusing on Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg), Justine's sister, as the...

On this episode of the Sound On Sight podcast, special guests and SoS contributors Julian Carrington and Eduardo Lucatero join Ricky D and Justine Smith to discuss three of the highlights from the Toronto International Film Festival: Starting with Take Shelter, the sophomore fort by director Jeff Nichols, moving on to Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia and ending with Sean Durking’s outstanding directorial debut Martha Marcy May Marlene.

Download the show in a new window

Music playlist:

“Toronto Sucks” – Three Dead Trolls In a Baggie

“Schizophrenia” – Sonic Youth

“Tristan and Isolde” – Wagner

“Marcy’s Song” – John Hawkes

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A forest boy strives to save his girlfriend and an imprisoned unicorn from an evil demon.

Remember the little origami unicorn in Blade Runner, and the longstanding rumours that the film was intended to contain a unicorn dream sequence? Whilst he was making that film, Ridley Scott was working on the script for another, the fairytale known simply as Legend. He'd already struggled to adapt the story of Tristan and Isolde, finally abandoning it, but he remained intrigued by the idea of creating a fantasy film and decided it would be easier if he...

British television is showing Gremlins, The Goonies, Blue Thunder, Red Heat, Tango & Cash and Innerspace this week. How can you argue with that?

Unless you're a fan of Warehouse 13, which starts its third season on Syfy this coming Thursday, August 4th with The New Guy, the summer lull continues through the next seven days, with an absence of brand new shows on the schedules.

That leaves only series that are midstream, such as Torchwood: Miracle Day, which nears its halfway mark between ten episodes on Thursday August 4th as well, with episode 4, Escape To La on BBC1 at 9:00pm. You can follow our coverage of the show here.

Also on BBC1, the repeat of the final episode of Sherlock's first series, The Great Game airs on Wednesday, August 3rd at 8:30, if you want a refresher before the second series launches this autumn. We have a few details...

After its much-praised prologue of mostly stills that prefigure the film’s narrative arc, Melancholia becomes a brilliant study of how the troubled, disintegrating state of mind of one character, Justine (a brilliant Kirsten Dunst), echoes the demise of the world as we know it. With his characteristic jump cuts and ellipses, and seemingly random camera movement, augmented by rich Wagnerian music (the prologue to Tristan and Isolde), von Trier shifts ...

After its much-praised prologue of mostly stills that prefigure the film's narrative arc, Lars von Trier's "Melancholia" becomes a brilliant study of how the troubled, disintegrating state of mind of one character, Justine (a brilliant Kirsten Dunst), echoes the demise of the world as we know it. With his characteristic jump cuts and ellipses, and seemingly random camera movement, augmented by rich Wagnerian music (the prologue to Tristan and Isolde), ...

After its much-praised prologue of mostly stills that prefigure the film’s narrative arc, Melancholia becomes a brilliant study of how the troubled, disintegrating state of mind of one character, Justine (a brilliant Kirsten Dunst), echoes the demise of the world as we know it. With his characteristic jump cuts and ellipses, and seemingly random camera movement, augmented by rich Wagnerian music (the prologue to Tristan and Isolde), von Trier shifts ...

After its much-praised prologue of mostly stills that prefigure the film’s narrative arc, Melancholia becomes a brilliant study of how the troubled, disintegrating state of mind of one character, Justine (a brilliant Kirsten Dunst), echoes the demise of the world as we know it. With his characteristic jump cuts and ellipses, and seemingly random camera movement, augmented by rich Wagnerian music (the prologue to Tristan and Isolde), von Trier shifts ...

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"It's the end of the world but also the start of something new for Lars von Trier, whose mind-blowing Melancholia offers perhaps the gentlest depiction of annihilation one could imagine from any director, much less the Danish provocateur," begins Peter Debruge in Variety. "If Antichrist was the needle in the eye von Trier needed to shake a bout of pulverizing depression, then Melancholia serves as his unexpectedly lucid response, blending grand-scale Hollywood effects with intimate, femme-focused melodrama. Think The Celebration meets Armageddon."

"It takes a baffling, almost bone-headed premise, the stuff of schlocky genre movies, and from it creates a mesmerizing, visually gorgeous and often-moving alloy of family drama, philosophical meditation and anti-golfing tract," writes the Telegraph's Sukhdev Sandhu. Kirsten Dunst "is Justine, an advertising copywriter who's about to get married (to a sweet, but rather out-of-his depth chap played Alexander Skarsgård) at a remote and lavish castle. The...

Hop led another ho-hum weekend at the box office as the four new nationwide releases were modest at best. The animated Easter comedy fell 42 percent to an estimated $21.7 million. With a $68.2 million tally in ten days, it continued to track closely to Rango at the same point. That is to say, it's been solid but not exceptional. Arthur (2011) opened in second with an estimated $12.6 million on approximately 3,700 screens at 3,276 locations, but the less-hyped Hanna and Soul Surfer were relatively more impressive. Its start paled compared to Mr. Deeds but was bigger than Alfie, among comparable titles, and it was a step backwards from star Russell Brand's last vehicle Get Him to the Greek ($17.6 million). Arthur (2011) marked Brand's first top-billed role, and its rampant marketing campaign was all about Brand's random antics. That was problematic because Brand has not developed a rapport with American audiences, and the elements that could have drawn in moviegoers,...

James Franco plays the swashbuckling and sexy Prince Fabius in the upcoming Your Highness. When his lady love is kidnapped by an evil wizard, he and his ne'er-do-well brother, played by his former Pineapple Express costar Danny McBride, set out on a quest to rescue her. Hijinks, sword fights, and stoner humor ensue. James was on hand for the movie's recent press day in Beverly Hills, where he talked about gearing up for the movie's fight scenes, the secret to a solid bromance, and why he's still pursuing his college career despite his success as an actor. Here are some highlights: On the attention his college career has gotten: "Well, it's hard. It's out of my hands, really. I really went to school for myself, and sometimes I forget that it's not actually a public act. I'm there to learn and better myself and that part of my life is not a performance,...

*Full disclosure: a screener of this film was provided by writer Brandon Slagle.

**Here be some spoilers.

Director: Wolfgang Meyer.

Writer: Brandon Slagle.

15 Till Midnight definitely belongs in the sci-fi genre, as the script twists and turns between parallel worlds. Some know about these other worlds, while others go about their daily lives. Lukas Reyes (Brandon Slagle) is one such "Knower" (15) and he spends much of his time trying to track his evil duplicate, or recovering his pregnant wife. Other Knowers interfere, until 15 Till Midnight explodes, like two crashing celestial bodies. Soon to be available to sci-fi fans everywhere, 15 Till Midnight generates interest through a complex story, while the pacing sometimes threatens to derail this independent feature.

Much of the story has been broken down above and the parallel world theme has been used in such features as Dark City, Alice in Wonderland and Jumanji. Each of these films...

James Franco’s performance in 127 Hours was rightly praised, but what of his earlier, less prominent roles? Ti takes a look back…

James Franco has just been nominated for Best Actor for his role as Aron Ralston in 127 Hours, a film for which he is receiving high praise. Not just that, but he's co-hosting the Academy Awards ceremony (alongside Anne Hathaway) and is rapidly becoming Hollywood's leading man of choice, thanks to his comedic and dramatic acting chops.

He will soon be seen in Your Highness ("Handle your shit, Fabius, please.") and Rise Of The Apes, all while finishing a PhD in English Literature at Yale.

Clearly, his star wattage is at its zenith, but it wasn't always so.

Fresh off his success as Harry Osborn in the Spider-man movies, Franco was cast as the lead in a number of films, many of which failed spectacularly at the box office...

As you've probably heard over the course of this weekend, Henry Cavill is Zack Snyder's "Superman." But then you might find yourself wondering, who in the world is Henry Cavill? If you've heard his name tossed around, it's probably because of his work on Showtime series "The Tudors," the fact that he was "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer's idea of a perfect Edward Cullen, or because he was reportedly one of the lead contenders to play Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins."

Cavill has had a handful of film roles over the course of his 10 year career, but the 27-year-old Brit is best known for his role as Charles Brandon in "The Tudors." He got the role back in 2007 and, barring roles in Joel Schumacher's horror flick "Blood Creek" and a bit role in Woody Allen's "Whatever Works," has not had a breakout film role since.