Take cover! The Pacific is the new 10-part World War Two epic from executive producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, a follow-up to their 2001 series Band of Brothers. It was commissioned by HBO, who will premiere it in the States on March 14, and comes to Sky Movies HD in the UK over Easter.
film buzz
Adam Sweeting
A tiny incidental pleasure in a movie that could use a few more of them is the Mystery Telephone Voice in Tom Ford’s directorial debut, A Single Man. It’s the moment when college professor George Falconer (Colin Firth) gets some… er… very bad news over the phone.
sheila.johnston
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, today announced a new initiative, London Film Day. Sunday 21 March will see 15 simultaneous world premieres at suburban cinemas across the capital from Wood Green and Wandsworth to (stretching the definition of London somewhat) Romford and Croydon. The film in question is admittedly one for families more than cinephiles: Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, the second comedy scripted by Emma Thompson from the Nurse Matilda books. Thompson also reprises her role as the officious magical nanny.
sheila.johnston
Pop-up cinemas, like restaurants, shops and galleries, are, well, popping up all over the place these days, but one of the pioneers has been Secret Cinema. This outfit claims, grandly, to have been "revolutionising the traditional cinematic experience" ever since December 2007 and its Facebook page boasts over 26,000 fans. It would seem that the secret is out.
sheila.johnston
Although the UK Film Council lost no time in firing out the usual self-congratulatory press release, it has been a thin year for British nominees at this year's Oscars. And, as Kim Newman, my colleague from the London Film Critics' Circle, points out, there is worse, much worse: home-grown talent is virtually absent from the list of nominees for the Razzies, or Golden Raspberries, the parallel event dedicated to celebrating the very worst of the cinematic year.
sheila.johnston
Eric Rohmer, who died yesterday in Paris aged 89, was famed for elegant, literate, yet profoundly romantic and erotic dramas such as La Collectionneuse, My Night With Maud and Claire's Knee; and for a style that helped define the French Nouvelle Vague and that he pursued with distinction in some 50 films over the next half century (his last, The Romance of Astrea and Celadon was made two years ago).
theartsdesk
theartsdesk received a New Year's gift last night when we were given a significant accolade from BBC Radio 5 Live. In Web 2009 with Helen and Olly, the station's podcasters and self-styled "internet obsessives" Helen Zaltzman and Olly Mann recognised theartsdesk as one of the five "essential sites of 2009" in a series of awards to the "cream of weblebrity".
theartsdesk
The morning after the day before has dawned. If you're not inclined to join the shopping queues, theartsdesk is happy to suggest alternatives. Our writers recommend all sorts of cultural things you could get up to in the next week.
sheila.johnston
Sir Michael Caine and Daniel Day Lewis were the headline honorees at the 12th British Independent Film Awards in London last night, while Moon, an ultra low-budget sci-fi movie directed by Duncan Jones, David Bowie's son, was named Best Film. The full list of nominees and winners follows below. The winning candidates are in bold typeface.
joe.muggs
"Depeche Mode," says Jeremy Deller, "have always been seen as a bit naff in this country, at least in the media. They could never shake off the image of their earliest Top Of The Pops appearances, so no matter how musically exploratory they got, they tended to be seen as this jumped-up rather silly pop band.