Results of the 82nd annual Academy Awards… Kathryn Bigelow made history last night as she became the first woman to receive the prestigious Best Director Oscar for her work on the 2009 Iraq War thriller The Hurt Locker, beating out ex-husband James Cameron who was nominated in the same category for box office juggernaut Avatar. […]

As has becomes customary the day before the Academy Awards, yesterday played host to the 30th annual Golden Raspberry Awards – honouring the very worst in cinematic achievement in 2009. Worst Picture was presented to Michael Bay’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (which also picked up Worst Screenplay and Worst Director) although the biggest news […]

Gary Collinson selects his Five Essential Films of Ridley Scott… In a journey that’s taken him from South Shields to Hollywood, Ridley Scott has earned a reputation as one of the most accomplished visual filmmakers working today. The founder of advertising agency Ridley Scott Associates (responsible for the classic 1974 Hovis advert) and production company […]

Trevor Hogg profiles the career of filmmaker Tim Burton in the second of a four part feature… read part one. As a high school student, Tim Burton came up with a story concept which would serve as the basis for Edward Scissorhands (1990). A creator (Vincent Price) dies before he can complete Edward (Johnny Depp), […]

Santosh Sandhu discusses the Hong Kong Film Industry… Hong Kong has a population of about 7 million people. Despite its small size, Hong Kong has been a major player in world cinema for many years. Up to the mid 1990s, Hong Kong was the world’s third largest film producer, making 300 films a year in […]

The One That Got Away, 1957. Directed by Roy Ward Baker. Starring Hardy Krüger, Colin Gordon, Michael Goodliffe and Terence Alexander. SYNOPSIS: During the Battle of Britain a Luftwaffe plane is hit and plunges down into the British countryside. Although the pilot is captured, he is extremely confident and focussed on his plan: to escape […]

Trevor Hogg profiles the career of filmmaker Tim Burton in the first of a four part feature… Growing up in Burbank, California, Tim Burton found himself living in a suffocating environment. “There’s something about suburbia,” stated the American filmmaker of his childhood home, “it’s really a place to hide. Or people use it as a […]

The biggest night in the British film industry took place in London’s Royal Opera House tonight as the 63rd annual BAFTA ceremony honoured outstanding achievement in film from 2009. Carrying British hopes for glory was coming-of-age drama An Education (dir. Lone Scherfig), tied with Hollywood heavyweights Avatar (dir. James Cameron) and The Hurt Locker (dir. […]

Trevor Hogg profiles the careers of filmmaking siblings the Coen brothers in the fourth of a four part feature… read parts one, two and three. Working once again with celebrity actor George Clooney, Joel and Ethan Coen found themselves being accused of having “gone Hollywood” with the release of Intolerable Cruelty in 2003. Morally compromised […]

Gary Collinson selects his Five Essential Video Nasties… In the early 1980s the rise in popularity of the VHS cassette was met with concerns from some quarters (namely morality crusaders such as Mary Whitehouse, religious groups and media organisations looking to stir a moral panic) about the content of the unregulated home video market in […]