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Our journey through Michael Caine’s 80s work reaches one of his best: Educating Rita, co-starring a powerhouse Julie Walters in the title role.

Michael Caine showed no sign of slowing down as he entered his third decade as a leading man. The 1980s would see him win his first Academy Award (Hannah And Her Sisters), tackle new genres such as horror (The Hand) and shark-based revenge movie (Jaws The Revenge) while continuing to work with interesting new auteurs like Brian De Palma (Dressed to Kill) as well as old friends from classic Hollywood such as John Huston (Escape To Victory).

Film by film, I’ll be taking a look at Caine’s 1980s filmography to see what hidden gems I can unearth alongside the more familiar classics…

Spoilers for Educating Rita ahead…

Directed by: Lewis Gilbert

Tagline: Frank Bryant is a professor of literature. And Rita is his newest student.

Maleah Joi Moon has become the 101st performer to win a Tony Award for their first outing on a Broadway stage for her performance in the musical “Hell’s Kitchen.”

She won Best Actress in a Musical at the 77th Tony Awards for portraying Ali, a 17-year-old girl searching for her place in the world while living in the titular New York City neighborhood and also being restrained by her overbearing mother. She is the 10th person to win the category for her Broadway debut. She joins:

Elizabeth Seal, “Irma La Douce” (1961)

Anna Maria Alberghetti, “Carnival” (1962)

Liza Minnelli, “Flora the Red Menace” (1965)

Leslie Uggams, “Hallelujah, Baby” (1968)

Alexis Smith, “Follies” (1972)

Natalia Makarova, “On Your Toes” (1983)

Lea Salonga, “Miss Saigon” (1991)

Catherine Zeta-Jones, “A Little Night Music” (2010)

Cynthia Erivo, “The Color Purple” (2016)

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Other performers who pulled off this accomplishment in recent years include...

Twenty years ago this month, the fairy tale-like romantic comedy “13 Going on 30” starring Jennifer Garner made its way into cinemas. The actress played Jenna Rink, a socially awkward soon-to-be 13-year-old who quickly realizes that she “hates being 13.” She makes a birthday wish to be “thirty, flirty and thriving.” With the little help of some wishing dust, she wakes up the next morning to discover that her wish has come true.

It was a defining moment in Garner’s early career. Her role as Sydney Bristow in the television action thriller series “Alias” had made her a breakout star (including at awards shows) just a few years earlier. She won the Golden Globe for Best Drama Actress in 2002 and had competed again in 2003 and earlier in 2004. She had also been nominated for two Emmy Awards one Screen Actors Guild trophy.

While Garner already had a number of film credits on her resume,...

We are still approximately six weeks away from learning the nominees for the 77th Tony Awards, but across the pond the finalists for the 2024 Olivier Awards were just announced. A radical new remounting of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard” directed by Jamie Lloyd and starring Nicole Scherzinger is the most nominated show of the year with 11 citations. Another musical revival is nipping at its heels: the immersive “Guys and Dolls” scored 10, as did new play “Dear England,” which centers on England’s national men’s football team and stars Joseph Fiennes as Gareth Southgate. Scroll down to see a complete list of 2024 Olivier Awards nominations.

American audiences will be familiar with many of the plays, musicals and performers nominated this year. The Best New Musical category includes Tony Award-winning shows “Next to Normal” and “A Strange Loop,” while Best Musical Revival boasts productions of “Groundhog Day” and “Hadestown.” Caissie Levy,...

Jodie Comer has become the 100th performer to win a Tony Award for their Broadway debut for her performance in the play, “Prima Facie.”

She won Best Actress in a Play for portraying Tess, a lawyer who concentrates in providing legal defense for men who are accused of sexual assault but soon has the unthinkable happen to her. She is the 11th person to win the category for her first outing on a Broadway stage. She joins:

SEE2023 Tony Awards: Every winner (and nominee) in all 26 competitive categories

Martita Hunt, “The Madwoman of Chaillot” (1949)

Beryl Reid, “The Killing of Sister George” (1967)

Phyllis Frelich, “Children of a Lesser God” (1980)

Jane Lapotaire, “Piaf” (1981)

Joan Allen, “Burn This” (1988)

Pauline Collins, “Shirley Valentine” (1989)

Janet McTeer, “A Doll’s House” (1997)

Marie Mullen, “The Beauty Queen of Leeane” (1998)

Jennifer Ehle, “The Real Thing” (2000)

Deanna Dunagan, “August: Osage County” (2008)

Below are the Broadway debuts in the seven other...

Marilyn Bergman, the Oscar-, Emmy- and Grammy-winning songwriter whose lyrics written with her husband, Alan Bergman, graced such hits as “The Way We Were,” “The Windmills of Your Mind,” “In the Heat of the Night” and the songs from “Yentl,” has died. She was 93 years old.

Bergman was the first woman president and chairman of the board of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), a post she held from 1994 to 2009. She and her husband and lifelong writing partner Alan Bergman wrote the words to some of the most popular film and TV songs of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, and continued to write together well into the 2000s.

They were Oscar nominated 16 times, and won three. The Bergmans were frequent collaborators with composers Michel Legrand and Marvin Hamlisch (“The Way We Were”).

The Bergmans were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980 and received its Johnny...

Not only is the 25th James Bond film “No Time to Die” the last 007 adventure thriller starring Daniel Craig, it’s also the first one directed by an American: Cary Joji Fukunaga. The 44-year-old filmmaker won the Sundance dramatic directing award in 2009 for “Sin Nombre,” was the first Asian-American director to win an Emmy for directing in 2014 for “True Detective” and earned a Peabody in 2015 for “Beasts of No Nation.”

He joins other cutting-edge filmmakers to direct Craig as Bond including Oscar-winning English director Sam Mendes (“American Beauty”) who helmed 2012’s “Skyfall” and 2015’s “Spectre” and indie German filmmaker Marc Forster (2008’s “Quantum of Solace”), who had directed Halle Berry to an Oscar for 2001’s “Monster’s Ball” and Johnny Depp to a nomination for 2004’s “Finding Neverland.”

These three are a far cry from the early Bond directors who were British and had worked their way up the ranks...

Not even remotely interested in seeing Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes or The Weeknd do their thing at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium?

We’ve got you. Instead of watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs go helmet-to-helmet for a shiny Vince Lombardi, head to these platforms and channels to get your Sunday evening fix of series and flicks.

All showtimes listed below are in Eastern Standard Time.

Streaming Alternatives Netflix

Shows: “Kid Cosmic,” “Firefly Lane,” “Hache” (Season 2), “Invisible City,” “The Sinner” (Season 3)

Films: “The Bank Job,” “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “Zathura: A Space Adventure,” “Shutter Island,” “The Patriot,” “Little Big Women,” “Space Sweepers,” “Strip Down, Rise Up,” “The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity”

Amazon Prime

Shows: “Little Coincidences,” “What’s New, Scooby-Doo?,” “Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men,” “The White Princess” (Season 1), “Billions” (Seasons 1-3), “Black in Latin America” (Season 1), “Finding Your Roots” (Season 1)

Films: “Kiki,” “Dazed and Confused,...

Hey, remember when they released that picture of the CGI movie Sonic the Hedgehog and it was so freakish and unnerving that animators had to work overtime to fix it? Anywho, Sonic the Hedgehog is coming to Hulu this month.

The heroic blue hedgehog who just wants to go fast is far from the only exciting new film or TV show coming to Hulu in February 2021. The library titles are unusually packed this month. In addition to Sonic, the sublimely goofy Mars Attacks!, 2020 horror film Possessor, and the first six Star Trek films all arrive on Feb. 1. Later on in the month are Antebellum (Feb. 5) and Nomadland (Feb. 19).

It’s a good thing that the library titles are strong because Hulu isn’t brining many originals of note to the table in February 2021. Into the Dark continues on its spooky mission with the Valentine-centric Tentacles dropping on Feb. 12. That will...

Welcome to an April that’s sure to be unlike any other. Usually this time of year means getting outdoors in the nice weather or catching a baseball game or two. Obviously 2020 had different plans for us all. Now Amazon Prime has unveiled its new releases for April 2020 to give us an idea of what indoor entertainment options we have.

April 2020 is pretty thin on original series for Amazon Prime. Thankfully two of the few launches are big ones. Sci-fi anthology series Tales from the Loop launches on April 3 and looks to be quite bingeable. Amazon Prime is no stranger to sci-fi anthologies thanks to Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams but this one seems to kick it up a notch. Arriving on April 17 is the sixth season of Bosch as well.

April 1 sees the mass availability of a new crop of stock films for the service. Notable options include...

Good news for those in self-isolation — Amazon Prime Video is out with its list of everything new coming to the streaming service in April.

There are a handful of new Amazon originals to look forward to. “Tales from the Loop,” out April 3, explores the people who live in a town above ‘The Loop,’ a machine built to unlock the mysteries of the universe. Season 6 of “Bosch,” starring Titus Welliver, comes April 17. Original Amazon films include “Les Miserables,” “Invisible Life,” and “Selah and the Spades.”

Recent releases coming next month also include “The Lighthouse” starring Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe, “Rambo: Last Blood,” and “Hotel Artemis.” Other highlights include several classic James Bond films.

Also Read: AMC Furloughs 600 Corporate Employees, Including CEO

Here’s the full list of everything new coming in April:

April 1

Movies

A View to a Kill (4K Uhd) (1985)

Bangkok Dangerous (2010)

Bird Of Paradise (1932)

Blind Husbands (1919)

Broken Blossoms...

Hulu is out with its list of everything that’s coming and going from the streaming service in April, which should come in handy assuming we’re all still in isolation next month due to coronavirus.

The third and final season of “Future Man,” which stars Josh Hutcherson, Eliza Coupe, and Derek Wilson, will be available on April 3.

That same day, a new episode of Hulu’s monthly episodic anthology “Into the Dark” drops. April’s installment is called “Pooka Lives,” and follows a group of thirty-something friends who create their own Creepypasta about Pooka, but don’t like what they find once the thing goes viral.

Also Read: Why Disney Tied the Knot Between FX and Hulu

This year’s Oscar best-picture winner “Parasite” will also start streaming April 8.

Some good ones leaving in April are “My Best Friend’s Wedding” starring Julia Roberts and Dermot Mulroney, and “Bridget Jones’s Diary” starring Renee Zellwegger,...

Not to get too bleak at the outset here, but it could be a rough month for many people. As huge swaths of the world stay inside to self-isolate and exhibit social distancing from the Covid-19 pandemic, streaming options will be more useful than ever. Now Hulu is the first to release its new options for April 2020 to help schedule some time in.

Hulu’s only $5.99/month now, grab the deal here!

The biggest get for Hulu and Hulu-users this month is undoubtedly last year’s Oscar winner, Parasite. Bong joon-ho’s masterpiece arrives on April 8 so the late adopters can finally see what all the fuss is about.

Should you want to enjoy something a little less stressful, new seasons of Future Man (April 3) and What We Do In the Shadows (April 16) arrive this month as well. No need to wait for the middle of the month for entertainment...

‘Coming of middle age’ tales are rare. Normally, we follow a more youthful character on a journey of self-discovery to (hopefully) enlightenment at the end. Chilean director Sebastian Lelio’s 2013 Gloria starring the delightful Paulina Garcia in the title role has had a Hollywood A-lister makeover. Fans of the Spanish original might be asking why, as Garcia epitomises the ordinary single woman in the Fall of her adult life, reliving the dating and relationship pitfalls of bygone years.

Except Lelio has been extremely thoughtful about the casting for his American remake. Even though the new film pretty much follows the same narrative as the former, it is Julianne Moore as Gloria Bell who manages to silence the cynics.

Moore cannot – and does not – hide her film-star looks but bringing her usual sensitivity to a role and beguiling sexuality, she subtly and effortlessly down-plays a woman fighting daily for peace, happiness...

For only the third time this decade, none of the acting winners at this year’s Tony Awards did so for their Broadway debut. This is the 21st time that this has happened over the 73-year history of these top theater honors. Most of the winners were actually on the opposite end of the spectrum, winning for the first time after years of Broadway experience and several nominations to their name including André De Shields, Celia Keenan-Bolger and Stephanie J. Block. Check out the complete list of winners here.

The previous instances of Broadway debuts being shut out at the Tonys were in: 1948, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1959, 1960, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1990, 1991, 1994, 2001-2003, 2012 and 2017.

Below, you can see the names of all 96 people who have won Tonys for their debut on the Great White Way.

SEE2019 Tony Awards: Best Musical ‘Hadestown’ sweeps with 8 wins, ‘The Ferryman’ takes Best Play

Best Actor In A Play: 16 winners

Paul Scofield, “A Man for All Seasons” (1962)

Cliff Gorman,...

This article marks Part 19 of the Gold Derby series analyzing 84 years of Best Original Song at the Oscars. Join us as we look back at the timeless tunes recognized in this category, the results of each race and the overall rankings of the winners.

The 1989 Oscar nominees in Best Original Song were:

“After All” from “Chances Are”

“Kiss the Girl” from “The Little Mermaid”

“Under the Sea” from “The Little Mermaid”

“I Love to See You Smile” from “Parenthood”

“The Girl Who Used to Be Me” from “Shirley Valentine”

Won and should’ve won: “Under the Sea,” The Little Mermaid”

Howard Ashman is, quite simply, one of the greatest and most influential lyricists of all-time.

Ashman, who initially left an immense impression not on the big screen but on stage from the late-1970s, through the mid-1980s, with colorful, idiosyncratic efforts like “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater,” “Smile” and Little Shop of Horrors,...

Ari’el Stachel became the latest person to take home a Tony Award for their Broadway debut. This victory puts him in a freshman club that now has 96 members. Watch him discuss his victory in the Tonys press room in the video above.

Stachel, who won Best Featured Actor in a Musical for playing Haled in “The Band’s Visit,” is the ninth person to claim that particular honor for his first Broadway outing. He joins:

Harry Belafonte, “John Murray Anderson’s Almanac” (1954)

Sydney Chaplin, “Bells are Ringing” (1957)

Frankie Michaels, “Mame” (1966)

Wilson Jermaine Heredia, “Rent” (1996)

Dan Fogler, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” (2005)

Levi Kreis, “Million Dollar Quartet” (2010)

John Larroquette, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” (2011)

Daveed Diggs, “Hamilton” (2016)

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Below are the Broadway debuts in the seven other acting categories that claimed Tony Awards.

Best Actor In A Play: 16 winners

Paul Scofield,...

Lewis Gilbert, the Oscar-nominated British filmmaker whose credits include “Alfie” and three James Bond titles, died on Feb. 23, according to multiple media reports. He was 97. Gilbert’s Bond titles include “You Only Live Twice,” “The Spy Who Loved Me” and “Moonraker.” “Alfie” won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966 and scored five Oscar nominations including Best Picture. His other films include “Sink the Bismark,” “Educating Rita” and “Shirley Valentine.” Born in London in 1920, Gilbert became a child actor in the 1920s and 1930s, landing a role in Victor Hanbury and John Stafford’s “Dick Turpin” in...

Despite solid work by Joan and Pauline Collins, this tale of a fading film star fails to fly

Joan Collins plays Helen, a self-absorbed former movie star who sees a funeral in France as an opportunity to network and undo past mistakes.

Pauline Collins revisits Shirley Valentine territory as Priscilla, the browbeaten wife whom Helen bullies into accompanying her. It’s a rickety Zimmer frame of a plot, but both actors deliver memorable turns in a largely forgettable film.

Continue reading...

Joan Collins and Pauline Collins play silver-years friends on a jolly to a funeral in France, in a sentimental comedy that tests indulgence to the limits

There is a creeping and depressing awfulness to this sentimental silver-years comedy, whose silly and twee style of humour and cardboard characterisation jar with its strained moments of attempted poignancy. It stars Joan Collins as the former movie star Helen, now washed up in a retirement home, who bamboozles an unhappy grandmother (Pauline Collins) into travelling with her to France for her ex-lover’s funeral. There, they have adventures with a gallant Italian artist (Franco Nero). Pauline Collins plays a next-gen variation on her Shirley Valentine persona, just as she did in a comparably terrible Brit film called Mrs Caldicot’s Cabbage War, from 2002. Writer-director Roger Goldby has a great track record in television and, incidentally, executive-produced Rebecca Johnson’s tremendous urban drama Honeytrap.

Exclusive: Sales deal for Paul Hyett’s recently wrapped sci-fi produced by Bill Kenwright.

UK sales outfit The Salt Company has boarded sales on sci-fi conspiracy thriller Peripheral from director Paul Hyett (Howl).

Hannah Arterton (Burn Burn Burn) stars as a young writer who enters into a Faustian pact with her publisher. Convinced to use a new smart editing software she stumbles upon a conspiracy of social control. As her mind unravels she finds herself going head to head with an artificial intelligence that is determined to write her book for her.

Producers on the feature, which wrapped in the UK this week, are UK theatre mogul Bill Kenwright and Craig Tuohy of Bill Kenwright Productions.

Co-starring are Jenny Seagrove (Local Hero), Tom Conti (Shirley Valentine), Elliott James Langridge (Northen Soul). The writer is Dan Schaffer (Doghouse).

The Salt Company, which is handling world sales for the film, is also at the Afm with Miss You Already starring...

Exclusive: Filming has commenced on The Time Of Their Lives, also starring Franco Nero and Joely Richardson; Sir Tim Rice to oversee the soundtrack.

Shoot is underway in France on road-trip-comedy The Time Of Their Lives, starring Golden Globe-winner Dame Joan Collins (Dynasty) and BAFTA-winner Pauline Collins, OBE (Shirley Valentine).

In writer-director Roger Goldby’s (Call The Midwife) feature, a former Hollywood siren Helen (Joan Collins), who is determined to gatecrash her ex-lover’s funeral, escapes her London retirement home with the help of Priscilla (Pauline Collins), a downtrodden English housewife trapped in an unhappy marriage.

Franco Nero (Django Unchained) will play Alberto, a famous and eccentric Italian painter. Alberto becomes entangled with the two ladies and inspired by their madness, joins their road trip and, in turn, becomes part of an uneasy love triangle between Helen and Priscilla, who both vie for his attentions.

The main cast are joined by Joely Richardson (101 Dalmatians) and Ronald Pickup (Best...

Exclusive: Filming has commenced on The Time Of Their Lives, also starring Franco Nero and Joely Richardson; Sir Tim Rice to oversee the soundtrack.

Shoot is underway in France on road-trip-comedy The Time Of Their Lives, starring Golden Globe-winner Dame Joan Collins (Dynasty) and BAFTA-winner Pauline Collins, OBE (Shirley Valentine).

In writer-director Roger Goldby’s (Call The Midwife) feature, a former Hollywood siren Helen (Joan Collins), who is determined to gatecrash her ex-lover’s funeral, escapes her London retirement home with the help of Priscilla (Pauline Collins), a downtrodden English housewife trapped in an unhappy marriage.

Franco Nero (Django Unchained) will play Alberto, a famous and eccentric Italian painter. Alberto becomes entangled with the two ladies and inspired by their madness, joins their road trip and, in turn, becomes part of an uneasy love triangle between Helen and Priscilla, who both vie for his attentions.

The main cast are joined by Joely Richardson (101 Dalmatians) and Ronald Pickup (Best...

Joan Collins in 'The Bitch': Sex tale based on younger sister Jackie Collins' novel. Author Jackie Collins dead at 77: Surprisingly few film and TV adaptations of her bestselling novels Jackie Collins, best known for a series of bestsellers about the dysfunctional sex lives of the rich and famous and for being the younger sister of film and TV star Joan Collins, died of breast cancer on Sept. 19, '15, in Los Angeles. The London-born (Oct. 4, 1937) Collins was 77. Collins' tawdry, female-centered novels – much like those of Danielle Steel and Judith Krantz – were/are immensely popular. According to her website, they have sold more than 500 million copies in 40 countries. And if the increasingly tabloidy BBC is to be believed (nowadays, Wikipedia has become a key source, apparently), every single one of them – 32 in all – appeared on the New York Times' bestseller list. (Collins' own site claims that a mere 30 were included.) Sex...

In a sort of super-literary-hero mash-up, filming has just begun on Dickensian, an ambitious 20-part BBC One period drama that brings together some of Charles Dickens’ most iconic characters. Stephen Rea has joined the cast as Inspector Bucket from Bleak House while Shirley Valentine Oscar nominee Pauline Collins is Mrs Gamp from Martin Chuzzlewit, and Caroline Quentin (Dancing On The Edge) plays Oliver Twist’s Mrs Bumble. Spooks‘ Peter Firth and The Imitation Game‘s Tuppe…...

From a range of eras and genres, here's Jenny and Alex's light-hearted pick of 50 great opening title sequences from the movies...

Odd List

We don’t go to the cinema much, because we hate people. We also don’t go because there’s always the risk of accidentally going to see the wrong film. It's not helped by the fact that there's no way of telling until it’s too late, because there are no bloody opening credits on lots of modern films. And by the time you do realise, you’ve eaten all your popcorn and you can’t be bothered to move.

The movies on this list won’t give you that problem. These opening credits are perfect scene setters for the movies that follow, so you won’t have to worry about awkward popcorn wasting moments. It's not a top 50, rather a selection of 50 interesting credits sequences,...

The actors will star in The Time of Their Lives, a film that's 'Thelma & Louise with a hint of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' according to Joan Collins

• Stuart Heritage on which other same-surname movies should be greenlit

From Lethal Weapon to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the buddy movie has long been dominated by men – but thanks to Joan Collins and Pauline Collins, all that is set to change.

The British actors will star in The Time of Their Lives, a road movie in which Joan plays a former Hollywood star who escapes her London retirement home and travels to France for her ex-husband's funeral. Pauline plays a housewife with a failing marriage who joins the trip, and the pair become romantically embroiled with a reclusive Frenchman played by Franco Nero.

"I was very excited by the script, which was sent to me about one month ago,...

Exclusive: Franco Nero, lyricist Tim Rice, designer Eve Stewart also attached to Roger Goldby project.

Joan Collins, Pauline Collins and Franco Nero are attached to star in UK road movie The Time of Their Lives, from The Waiting Room writer-director Roger Goldby.

Former Dynasty star Collins is set to play Helen, a former Hollywood siren determined to gatecrash her ex-husband’s funeral at a glamorous French hideaway. Helen escapes her London retirement home with the help of Priscilla (Pauline Collins), a repressed English housewife stuck in a bad marriage.

Nero, whose prolific career includes the starring role in 1966 Western Django, will play a famous French recluse who becomes part of an uneasy love triangle with the two women.

Sarah Sulick produces for Bright Pictures, the company she set up with Roger Goldby to make his debut feature The Waiting Room, which premiered at Edinburgh and sold to Lionsgate in the UK, IFC Films in the...

Cinematic portrayals of the trials and tribulations of a more mature love saga usually go hand in hand with an obvious comedic sentiment that forgives any flaws or misdemeanours in the actions of the older protagonist. In 1989’s Shirley Valentine, say, the middle-aged heroine played by Pauline Collins was mocked for having a mid-life crisis, complete with one last fling in the sun. Things improved for the older actor with the more recent The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) exploring the relationship dramas of a bunch of retired Brits, but it was still cloaked in humour.

The striking difference with Chilean writer-director Sebastian Lelio’s engaging and often dark Gloria is how the lead role of the same name could be played by any aged woman. Also, how events unfold very matter of fact in navigating the rocky relationship scene – the comedy is subjective and subliminal, if at all. With the...

Poirot

Kieran Kinsella

Acorn Media have released numerous Agatha Christie tales on DVD but this month they are upping the ante by releasing a box set that is like manna from Heaven for fans of Britain’s favorite mystery writer. Their six disc, 16 hour long, January 29 release contains some of the best loved stories involving both Marple and Poirot. Two super sleuths squeezed into one novel sized box.

The six Poirot tales include my personal favorite – The ABC Murders, and Christie’s best loved tale – Murder on the Orient Express. I had never seen Four and Twenty Blackbirds or The Mysterious Affair at Styles before but both were very good. The former revolved around the double murder of two elderly brothers while the latter involved the murder of an early 20th century “cougar” who may or may not have been “done in” by her toy boy. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas...

Pauline Collins and Maggie Smith in Quartet

Not everybody would enjoy getting whacked over the head with a bunch of flowers by a furious Maggie Smith.

But for Pauline Collins, it was her favourite part in filming Quartet, the directorial feature debut from Dustin Hoffman.

.She didn.t hit me hard enough to start off with. but I said, .you.ve got to really go for it Maggie,. and she did,. Collins says.

Also starring Billy Connolly and Tom Courtenay, Quartet delves into the joyful madness that is life in a home for retired opera singers. But existence in Beecham House is about to be turned on its head with the arrival of egotistical opera diva Jean Horton (Smith).

Collins, best known for her award winning performance in the 1989 feature Shirley Valentine, once again brings a lovable character to the silver screen with her portrayal of Cecily .Cissy. Robson, a...

Catch up with the last seven days in the world of film

The big story

It's that time of year again… the awards season. They've been dribbling along for a couple of weeks now, with the likes of the National Board of Review and the La Film Critics Association dishing out their gongs.

But with the Oscars hovering in the far distance like some desert mirage, things have finally got serious. The Golden Globes are the first awards of serious substance to declare their nominations, and one or two things have clicked into focus. First, after a lean spell with Tintin and War Horse, Steven Spielberg has roared back into awards favour: Lincoln leads the Globes field by a significant distance, and is on course to replicate the effect at the Academy awards.

Second, Quentin Tarantino has, against all the odds, become serious awards bait too; despite Django Unchained being...

Pauline Collins has just had another big break – playing an ex-opera singer with dementia in Dustin Hoffman's directing debut. She talks to Simon Hattenstone about her mother, escaping Shirley Valentine – and the baby she gave up

"Surprises," says Pauline Collins. "That's what I love about this business. Even at my age, you can get surprises." The surprise in question was a request from Dustin Hoffman to star in Quartet, his debut as a director. "I thought, he doesn't even know me." And actually he didn't. But Maggie Smith and Tom Courtenay had recommended her, and Hoffman watched her give an interview on the red carpet for some movie event and decided he wanted her.

He phoned her and they chatted for two hours, and then he offered her the part. Collins plays Cissy, a former opera singer with vascular dementia living in a home for retired musicians, in this gentle,...

Two-time Oscar champ Dustin Hoffman makes a strong directorial debut with "Quartet" which world premiered at the Toronto filmfest Sunday. -Insertgroups:5- Oscar winner Ronald Harwood ("The Pianist") adapted his play about a group of retired opera singers who reunite for one final performance. The Weinstein Co. is rolling out this performance piece, which could appeal to the academy's aging demographic, as a Christmas treat. Hoffman handled helming duties with aplomb, helped along by the stellar cast. Two-time Oscar winner Maggie Smith ("The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," 1969; "California Suite," 1978) plays the diva at the center of the action. Oscar nominees Pauline Collins ("Shirley Valentine") and Tom Courtenay ("The Dresser") and Billy Connolly round out the foursome. Smith, who has racked up six Oscar bids dating back to 1966, has not contended since her 2001 scene-stealing turn...

Fancy getting a copy of Albert Nobbs on DVD? Of course you do. To celebrate Albert Nobbs coming out on DVD on September 3rd, we have some copies to give away. Fill in your details below. Winners will be chosen at random. Nominated for 3 Academy Awards including Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs) gives an “Oscar worthy performance” (BBC) as a woman who passes as a man in order to work and survive in 19th century Ireland. Some thirty years after donning men’s clothing, she fi nds herself trapped in a prison of her own making. Also starring a prestigious cast including the Oscar nominated Janet McTeer (Tumbleweeds), BAFTA nominated Brendan Gleeson (The Guard), Golden Globe winner Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors), Ifta nominee Maria Doyle Kennedy (Downton Abbey) and Academy Award winner Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot), alongside the multi-award winning Pauline Collins (Shirley Valentine...

The 78-year-old Britsh actor, whose 1957 film Woman in a Dressing Gown is being re-released, talks about her rebellious past, why she's not dame material – and what she'd love to do next

Sylvia Syms sits in her lovely flat in west London explaining how she avoided being treated as a piece of meat in the 1950s. There was an "assumption that because you were blond and an actress, you were available," she says. Determined not to be "pretty, available and treated like shit", she took inspiration from Dame Sybil Thorndike.

"I thought, that's what I want," says Syms, who seems to have worked with every British screen legend – from Dirk Bogarde to Michael Caine – during her seven decades in film, TV and theatre. "I want to go on working when I'm an old lady and have that kind of jolliness and respect, which she had. She was just incredible."

Syms turns on me like a hawk.

Having wildly out-grossed expectations after banking more than $122 million worldwide, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has shown the box office drawing power of the such seasoned stars as Maggie Smith and Judi Dench. It stunned box office analysts by becoming the highest grossing specialty film of 2012, neatly proving there is a market for movies that don't star physically flawless twenty and thirty-somethings. So there's really no better time for Dustin Hoffman to unveil his trailer for his first directorial effort Quartet, which stars the remarkable Smith along with Oscar nominees Pauline Collins (Shirley Valentine) and Tom Courtenay (The Dresser), as well as the ever-charming Billy Connolly, who can now be heard as the rambunctious King Fergus in Pixar's Brave. Check out the first trailer below: Based on Ronald Hardwood's play, Quartet begins at the Beecham House: Home for Retired Musicians, where Cecily (Collins), Wilfred (Connolly), and Reggie (Courtenay), three former...

Scottish actor Tom Conti has made a public plea to his soccer star neighbour in London to abandon plans to demolish and rebuild his home as the project will cause "such destruction".

The Shirley Valentine star is angry that former Arsenal captain Thierry Henry is planning to knock down his sprawling Hampstead property and rebuild it in order to accommodate a giant fish tank, and he is now urging the sportsman to rethink the proposed renovation.

Conti tells London's Ham & High newspaper, "If someone wants a larger house why do they not just buy one somewhere else? Why do they have to knock it down? It causes such disruption.

"The noise will just be colossal because he will have to drill down for his basement. It's an absolute nightmare. The problem is he wants to build this enormous fish tank and I suppose he is going to have to build a whole new house so he can house that."

Speaking to Britain's Daily Mail, he adds, "There are a lot of retired people round here or people like me who work from home - I write - and it's a terrible disturbance.

"I've never met Thierry Henry and I've got nothing against the man at all. I'm sure he's a very nice man and he's welcome to build whatever he likes. But please not here, not next to me, with all the noise."...

Scottish actor Tom Conti received some shocking news when he took part in a project to track down his ancestors - he's a descendant of Napoleon Bonaparte.

The Shirley Valentine star agreed to have his DNA analysed to discover his roots as part of the Scotland'sDNA initiative in his native country.

He was aware his dad Alfonso had moved to the U.K. from Italy, but was stunned to discover one of his forefathers had founded the Bonaparte family in the military leader's native Corsica.

Conti says, "Some friends said they weren't surprised to find out that Napoleon and I were related, but it came as quite a shock to me. In fact, I didn't believe it at first. I burst out laughing when they told me. But I've got used to it now - and am really rather pleased."...

The veteran Scottish actor has always been a smoothie, and now he's showing off his moves in Streetdance 2. He talks to us about salsa, stardom – and being the oldest person on set

In the middle of Streetdance 2, a breakdance crew storms a Parisian bar to show off their moves. They flex and writhe as the music thumps. On the edge of the circle, away from the sweat and the fury, Tom Conti leads a partner through a gentle spot of salsa.

"It really wasn't about dancing," says the 71-year-old of his awkward turn on the boards. "It was about the connection between man and woman. The streetdancers don't connect with each other, they just do phenomenal acrobatics. There's no sex, really."

Conti doesn't like to dance. He has trouble with the tango, spurns the quickstep. He turned down Strictly Come Dancing ("I'd make a total arse of myself"), but he likes music,...

Consumers looking to view one of the best performances of the year will have a chance to see Glenn Close in the celebrated three-time Oscar® nominee Albert Nobbs for a limited two week engagement on Video On Demand and Pay-Per-View beginning April 10th through April 24th. The sneak peek will come one month ahead of the film’s debut on Blu-ray Disc, DVD and Digital Download May 15th.

The drama stars six-time Oscar® nominee* Glenn Close, who gives a “powerhouse performance”. (New York Post), as Albert. An impressive supporting cast includes two-time Academy Award® nominee** Janet McTeer, along with Mia Wasikowska (The Kids Are All Right), Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass) and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Showtime’s “The Tudors”.). Directed “with grit and grace”. (Rolling Stone) by Rodrigo Garcia (Mother and Child), the film is based on the novella by Irish author George Moore and features a story by Istvan Szabo and screenplay by Gabriella Prekop,...

The ventriloquist on her life with dummies and the film that pays tribute to her mentor and former lover, the late Ken Campbell

So you're eating oatmeal in Austin, Texas, the morning after the premiere of your first film, Her Master's Voice, at South by Southwest. You look happy. Are you?

Well, I had six heart attacks before it started. With every new trailer I was like: that's not my film! But they seemed to like it. For the Q&A I brought along Monkey (1), so I just went into standup gig mode. Then afterwards I thought: that was my opportunity to be a serious director. For a long time I thought I could edit the whole thing myself. I went on a course for frontline journalists that taught you how to send back video from a war zone. I was the only ventriloquist.

Why do dummies get such bad press at the cinema?...

Put down those Pop Rocks and Diet Cokes. We’ve got some A-list myths to examine! Ahead of this Sunday’s Oscars, we’ll be taking a look at some of the most famous myths to rise out of the annual awards ceremony. Want to know if being nude will get you a Best Actress statue? Or if the Best Supporting Actress trophy is indeed a curse? You’re in luck – we’ll be investigating one Oscars-related urban legend each day this week. Today, we investigate one of the most common myths: Going nude will get you a Best Actress Oscar.

Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut, Quartet, now boasts an acclaimed quartet of actors. The film, which kicks off principal photography today, will star Maggie Smith (Harry Potter), Tom Courtenay (Doctor Zhivago), Billy Connolly (The Last Samurai), and Pauline Collins (Shirley Valentine). It’s quite a list — there are nine Oscar nominations among the four of them, and two wins. (Though, you must mostly credit Smith, who has been nominated six times and won twice.)

Also starring in the feature: Sheridan Smith (Legally Blonde, The Musical) and Michael Gambon (Harry Potter). Quartet follows a group of retired opera singers whose relationships...

127 Hours and the other nominations for the 2011 Holiday Extras Customers Film Awards have been announced. The 2011 Customers Film Awards are presented by Holiday Extras, “a travel company based in the UK.” SInce Hoilday Extras is a travel company, they only have one category for their annual awards: Most inspirational travel film. The full listing of 2011 Holiday Extras Customers Film Awards is below.

Most inspirational travel film:

127 Hours

Around the World in 80 Days

Lost in Translation

Roman Holiday

Sex and the City 2

Shirley Valentine

The Beach

The Talented Mr Ripley

Thelma and Louise

Into the Wild

It may just be me, but I personally wouldn’t put 127 Hours on that list. Not only do you have to spend an excruciating hour watching a guy in unbearable pain cut off his own arm, but the idea of this being based on a true story just reinforces the conviction that its...

More casting news for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises has surfaced, and rumours of a teaser trailer pop up, too…

Currently shooting in the UK, Christopher Nolan is hard at work on the final part of his Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. And he's added a few faces to his cast, too.

Variety has revealed that Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket, Cuttroat Island), Tom Conti (Shirley Valentine, Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence) and Joey King (Ramona And Beezus) have all signed up for the movie.

Modine is set to play a character by the name of Nixon, although who or what Nixon is has not been disclosed. And the exact roles of Conti and 11-year-old King are unknown at this stage. No doubt we'll all find out in due course.

Meanwhile, rumours are surfacing that the first teaser trailer for the film might be arriving as early as July.

By Michael Pellegrini

As filming gets under way on the climax of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, three more names have been added to the epic's star-laden cast.

And it looks like the Joker is back, though not in the way you might expect.

Matthew Modine and Tom Conti (both pictured above), along with 11-year-old actress Joey King (right) are reported by Variety to have joined the production.

Modine, known for playing Pvt Joker in Stanley Kubrick's 1987 Vietnam War film Full Metal Jacket, is taking on a character named Nixon. More recently, the actor was in Transporter 2.

Conti (Shirley Valentine, Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, Reuben, Reuben) and King (Ramona and Beezus, Battle: Los Angeles) have yet to see their parts revealed.

There's no reason to think any of them will be taking on a major role. Nolan has cast well-known actors as minor characters in the previous two...

Hype is rising more this week for Christopher Nolan's 'Batman' trilogy finale The Dark Knight Rises, with filming well underway, and of course the first official still revealing 'Bane.' And now, Variety has revealed three latecomers to the ensemble cast. Matthew Modine & Tom Conti have joined “The Dark Knight Rises,” Variety's Jeff Sneider exclusively reports. In keeping with the Christopher Nolan tradition, there wasn't a chance in hell we were going to be able to figure out who they'd play. Kid actor Joey King has also joined the cast. More on that in a bit. Matthew Modine, 59, is known for Full Metal Jacket and his Oscar-nominated performance in Reuben, Reuben. And Tom Conti, 69, has appeared in vintage flicks - Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, Shirley Valentine and more recently Blind Revenge. And rising star Joey King, 11, has appeared in this year's Battle: Los Angeles. With little to speculate...

Making her Broadway debut Sunday in the second rialto revival of the 1946 comedy "Born Yesterday," Nina Arianda wowed the critics. The original production of this Garson Kanin laffer starring Judy Holliday as the quintessential dumb blonde who proves to be one smart cookie debuted a year before the Tony Awards were created. In 1950, Holliday recreated her role for the film version and won the Best Actress Oscar over strong competition including Bette Davis ("All About Eve") and Gloria Swanson ("Sunset Boulevard"). And the 1989 Broadway remounting earned a Best Play Actress bid for Madeline Kahn; she lost to Pauline Collins ("Shirley Valentine"). While New York Times reviewer Charles Isherwood expressed reservations about the 65-year-old play, he was enthusiastic about this newcomer: "With her luscious pout and sweep of peroxide curls Ms. Arianda banishes Holliday’s pop-eyed, chirpy naïveté to evoke the surly molls of...

Veteran British actor Tom Conti had a ghostly encounter when he stayed at a spooky hotel on a movie shoot. The "Shirley Valentine" star was filming scenes on the U.K.'s Isle of Wight and unknowingly checked into a guest house rumored to have a resident specter.

The actor had two eerie experiences in the dead of night but eventually performed his own mini-exorcism - by trying to engage the apparition in conversation. Conti, who also has enjoyed recurring roles in U.S. TV shows "Friends and Cosby", says, "I was shooting a movie and I woke up in the early hours... and I heard somebody walking up and down beside the bed. (I) turned around. No one."

"And so I tried to go back to sleep but they started again. Turned around again - nothing. Closed my eyes. And the next thing I felt was 10 fingers (pressing) into my shoulder.