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Gothic shocker: Lars von Trier is up to his old tricks

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

A colleague of mine is convinced that Lars von Trier makes films for one reason alone: to antagonise critics. This would be a reckless and expensive hobby. But if it were true, and if the Danish director truly is the arch-manipulator he's widely considered, then critics are always liable to fall into his trap. Damn a Von Trier film to hell, and you give him what he wants; rave about it, and he's also won. The only appropriate response, my friend argues, is to wax lukewarm, to award a cautious three out of five each time. But while you might regard the devious Dane's films as masterpieces or monstrosities, no one ever seriously considered a Von Trier film merely not bad.

Ryan Reynolds - Canadian beatific

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Sandra Bullock knows exactly who to thank for the most successful American opening of any of her films ever ($33m plus). Women of most ages are lapping up The Proposal, in which Bullock's Devil Wears Prada-esque Canadian boss dupes her American assistant into marriage to avoid deportation. It's not that they don't still appreciate the slightly daffy Bullock, but they seem to like her assistant, played by the 32-year-old, effortlessly winning, Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds even more.

Meet the squeaky clean movie teens

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

I don't drink, I've never smoked a cigarette in my life and I don't take drugs. I tried a drink a few years ago but it just wasn't my thing so I simply stopped. I prefer to go out clubbing without having a drink," says Harry Potter newcomer, Freddie Stroma, 22, matter-of-factly over salad at the sedate Mulholland Tennis Club in Los Angeles.

Party Of The Week: Raindrops and broomsticks

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Umbrellas were the fashion accessory of choice at the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in London this week.

Live fast, act young: The stars who don't act their age

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:00:46 GMT

Childhood has always been a negotiable concept for Hollywood marketing chiefs.

Sodankyla: Films where the sun never sets

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

In faraway Finnish Lapland, around 120km from Rovaniemi (the official residence of Santa Claus), and above the Arctic Circle, sits the village of Sodankyla. It is not an especially prepossessing place. It's here that 24 years ago, the Midnight Sun Film Festival was set up. The name refers to the fact that in June, it never gets dark. Even at midnight, the skies have the greyish pallor of an English winter afternoon.

The ten best: Bollywood movies

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:27:34 GMT

I love Bollywood. I remember being twelve, standing in front of the mirror, physically dressing up in a Shalwar Kameez, lip synching to a song picturised on Shahrukh Khan and dreaming of becoming a Bollywood star.

Close-up: Teddy Nygh

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The youth of today: hoodied thugs standing threateningly on street corners... and making rhymes. Which is exactly the urban sub-culture of poetry and beats that first-time film-maker and hip-hop artist Teddy Nygh has spent the past three years documenting in Britain and further afield.

Cad files: Sam West turns supervillain in a new play about the collapse of energy titan Enron

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

What must it be like to have achieved all one's ambitions? Sam West has just turned 43 and discovered he has done everything he thought he had wanted: "I've played Hamlet, been in Doctor Who and read the shipping forecast. I'm having to draw up a new list." Luckily, there is plenty he still wants to do (including the shipping forecast on Radio 4 proper, as his first go was only in a play).

Credo: Ron Jeremy, porn star, 56

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Shane Meadows: All you need to make a movie...

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

What can you do in five days? Play a game of test-match cricket, maybe, or take a city break to Europe. If you're Shane Meadows, you could crank out a film. The Uttoxeter-born director unveiled his latest work, Le Donk & Scor-Zay-Zee, at the Edinburgh International Film Festival two weeks ago. Meadows shot it for around £30,000, and he claims the film took less than a week to make. If not quite a record – Roger Corman shot his 1960 version of The Little Shop of Horrors in two days and a night – it's a breakneck pace at which to shoot a movie. But, as far as Meadows is concerned, this shouldn't be a one-off: in his mind, anyone with a camera, an idea and some willing volunteers can do the same.

Observations: A band of two halves

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Football is a game of two halves, and now a Mancunian quartet are releasing their debut album in two parts. Like many north-west brethren, Kid British, aptly named given their fresh-faced youthfulness, share an unhealthy interest in the beautiful game.

Keanu Reeves - An A-list slacker grows up

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

It's quite disconcerting meeting Keanu Reeves in the flesh. The 44-year-old looks at least a decade younger than his age, with his prominent cheekbones, flowing locks and smooth, other-worldly complexion. Deflecting questions with a mysterious gleam in his eye, there's something of the teenager about him.

Observations: Clint Eastwood, a fistful of muscle cars...and that pink Cadillac

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

If you are the kind of gnarly old Hollywood grand-daddy who seems to have been hewn from the very rock on which America was built – in other words, Clint Eastwood – your film career can probably be oversimplified to three or four props. In his case these might be: horses, guns, stubble and cars. Automobiles have always been central to Eastwood's machismo, as important to his masculine image as the once-ever-present cheroot hanging from his mouth.

Whatever happened to the great American film director?

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

This summer, among all the anonymous blockbusters, remakes and sequels filling the multiplexes, only one American movie will open on the strength of its director – Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. Yet even as Tarantino continues to be feted – first at Cannes and soon in cinemas across the world – there's a creeping, worrisome sense that a dearth of young American directors have the necessary clout to open a movie. At this year's Tribeca film festival in New York, it was the endlessly prolific Woody Allen, Steven Soderbergh and Spike Lee who made the headlines as they each unveiled yet another film. Not one director was being pushed as their natural successor.

Peter Tatchell: 'Brüno will both incite homophobia and make bigots squirm'

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Sacha Baron Cohen's movie Borat was a masterpiece of comedy; arguably the most inventive satire for many years. Its unique genre of wicked, sophisticated parody set the bar very high; so high that Cohen's latest comedic outing, Brüno, is something of a letdown. After all the hype, I feel cheated.

Toby Young: How Brüno creates his buzz

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Is there anyone better at creating buzz around his own movies than Sacha Baron Cohen? He did a good job of publicising Borat three years ago, but it was nothing compared to his efforts to promote Brüno. His surprise appearance at the MTV Awards earlier this month was watched by 100 million people – and countless more on YouTube.

Credo: Guillermo del Toro

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The heat is on: Our essential summer arts guide

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Screen Talk: 'The Ward' goes to...

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Horror hit-maker John Carpenter is lining up a bevy of beauties for his latest psychological fright-fest.

Blake Lively: 'I felt like I fooled them'

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

When the actress Blake Lively arrives to meet me, she's flushed and breathless, having been marshalled through a mob of screaming fans camped outside the hotel she is staying in. Lively is in town to promote her new film, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, but they're not here because of that. They're here because Lively is one of the stars of the hit US teen drama Gossip Girl. If you're unfamiliar with it, think Sex and the City (satirical, inappropriate, fabulously fashionable) meets The O.C. (genetically blessed teens who run amok) meets Dynasty (OTT storylines). The show is a look at the debauched lives of moneyed teens at a private high school in Manhattan. Lively plays Serena van der Woodsen, one of the queen bees.

Burma VJ - Candid cameras

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The first film ever to be screened at No. 10 Downing Street was not an exclusive preview of the next summer blockbuster.

Party Of The Week: The credits roll, and the stars roll up for Shane Meadows' Edinburgh credit crunch party

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Most parties at the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) are prim and held in hotels – but not director Shane Meadows' party. After the screening of his new mockumentary, Le Donk & Scor-Zay-Zee, the party on Tuesday night at St Peter's Church Hall was just plain silly. Invitations were sent out from Le Donk, a rock roadie, played in the film by Paddy Considine, inviting everyone to his credit crunch party. Considine, in character, arrived at the party in a rickshaw, while the Nottingham rapper Scor-Zay-Zee (aka Dean Palinczuk), who plays himself, pulled up in a pink limousine. Guests paid 75 pence to get into the party and the BAFTA-winning director Meadows took on the role of DJ. The tombola had a variety of prizes, including a hamburger in a can and a blow-up banana.

Cultural Life: Ralf Little, actor

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Guy Adams: Weinstein denies cutting Tarantino’s 'Basterds'

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:48:26 GMT

Few of this summer’s upcoming films have quite so much riding on them as Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, which could end up making or breaking the finances of its colourful producer, Harvey Weinstein