Helen Mirren Is A Cenobite: The Tempest

This will be a short review as I have not quite understood all that was going on in this film. Shakespeare's play The Tempest is proving a tough one to adapt. Over 21 years ago, Peter Greenaway tried it with Prospero's Books and it was widely regarded as his worst film, mainly because of his over-ambitious and misguided use of (at the time) groundbreaking CGI. And now Julie Taymor has tried (and failed yet again) to transpose it to the screen in a satisfying way. Interestingly the best, if slightly loose adaptation of the Bard's less known play remains the classic sci-fi Forbidden Planet.

The "I'm Not Watching The Prometheus Trailer" Challenge

Unless you have lived under a rock for the last year or so, you will know by now that Ridley Scott has decided to make a good film again, after a 21 years break. He got really excited seeing Noomi Rapace in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, got excited about 3D, and has made a prequel of some sort to his masterpiece, Alien. Prometheus indeed, is quite possibly the film I have been anticipating the most for as long as I can remember. A couples of appetising teasers got me foaming at the mouth and it promises to be a mix of cerebral yet visceral space horror, the sort that very few have managed to pull off. And the scale is much, much bigger than its original source material. (Please do not mention Sunshine or I'll laugh. Then stop laughing and look at you with utter contempt). Yet, I have decided to resist the urge and not to watch the full trailer that has just been released.

LLGFF 2012: The Perfect Family/Mother Tongue

Sunday proved to be one of the sunniest weekends we have had in London for a while, and I managed to get a bit of time outside in between films at the LLGFF this weekend. The two films I saw - 'The Perfect Family' and 'Mother Tongue', both had a common theme - mothers coming to terms with their daughters sexuality, but how the subject was dealt with was completely opposite. 

Damsels in Distress Screening + Whit Stillman Q&A Competition

After a hiatus of more than 14 years, director Whit Stillman is finally back. The master of subtle and witty indie comedies such as The last days of disco and Metropolitan has a wonderful new film out, Damsels in Distress. It follows a trio of sorority girls and their honest but misguided attempts to help out fellow students. The film is out on the 27th of April in the UK but if you enter the competition below you have a chance to see it at a special preview screening followed by a Q&A with the director. Read on!

This Is Not A Film Review

This documentary about award winning director Jafar Panahi (Offside 2006, The Circle 2000 & The White Balloon 1995) is an intelligent and thought provoking insight into his current life in Tehran. Filmed over the course of a day whilst under house arrest in March 2011, some of the footage was shot on an iPhone, and had to be smuggled into France in a cake for last minute submission to Cannes.

The Lair Of The White Worm At The Horse Hospital

Scala Forever, a retrospective for the late and infamous British director Ken Russell who passed away recently, is taking over London at the moment. Over two weeks, several of his films are being shown in various venues across the city, including the lesser known The Lair of the White Worm, which was shown at the Horse Hospital last week. The film is not available on DVD and that I had always promised myself to watch ever since I caught a glimpse of it on late night TV as a horror-fan teen.

#MovieMinusLastLetter: Raiders Of The Lost Ar

Where are the pirates?

Ah Twitter's pun games! My favourite time wasting activity. Somebody starts it off with a hashtag, say, food film (Pan-Fried Labyrinth) or cat films (The Divine Secrets of the Meow-Meow Sisterhood) and then a whole avalanche of wit follows. The latest one, movie minus the last letter in their titles, particularly inspired me. You had to remove the last later from an existing film's title to give it a whole new meaning. And I dreamed up not only new titles but also possible storylines, or just comments. So here they are... These are ALL mine. Some are obscure, many are cringe-worthy... but I hope they will make you laugh! And feel free to add your own in the comments box.

"He's just not that into Yo": You can't force him to like rap if he doesn't

"The Woman in Re": Who cares about the red dress if the lady knows her music

"Sex, lies and videotap": Film yourself tapdancing and spice things up in the bedroom

"My Bloody Valentin": The Artist's sequel took an unexpected turn