It’s taken 30 years for John Carpenter’s film biography of the King to arrive in Britain. It’s a strange fact that just as Elvis Presley fans in Britain hoped to see their hero perform here, but were repeatedly denied the chance, so most of them have never seen a hugely popular American biopic that covers the first half of his astonishing career. Elvis, as the film was simply called, was broadcast on ABC-TV in the US in February 1979, to g ... Jump to full article >>

Come June 1, the ball fields and other areas of Hackett Hill and Pinewoods parks where children play will be off limits for smoking. The name’s Depp, Johnny Depp. That was probably the phrase going through Johnny Depp’s head as he shot scenes for new film The Tourist in Venice yesterday. Depp appeared to be channeling 007 in a white tuxedo and black bow tie, but somewhat ruined the desired effect with scruffy hair and a cigarette. [c ... Jump to full article >>

Cafeteria manager Ahmet Kara has shot a 24-minute-long film depicting the difficulties faced by the establishment and its employees as a result of the new cigarette-smoking prohibition. Despite being an important step to promote a healthy society, the prohibition of smoking in enclosed public locations, which went into effect on July 19th, 2009, has created difficulties for café operators. The reality of the dropping number of customers and th ... Jump to full article >>

The top-grossing film in movie history is No. 1 again. The James Cameron epic Avatar, which has earned more than $2.7 billion in theaters worldwide since its Dec. 18 release — nearly 50% more than the previous record holder, Cameron’s Titanic — went into video stores yesterday and sold about 4 million copies. That established new standards for sales of both DVDs (topping Twilight as the year’s top seller) and Blu-ray discs (smash ... Jump to full article >>

After every Oscar ceremony, observers traditionally attempt to distil a zeitgeisty trend from the proceedings, and the one available here would appear to be obvious. Yesterday, on International Women’s Day in fact, we woke up to hear that Kathryn Bigelow had become the first woman to win the best director award in the Oscars’ 82-year history. Women have, of course, been extravagantly admired as prizewinning actors at the Oscars and a ... Jump to full article >>