James Mottram on the Bond star playing Aung San Suu Kyi in a new biopic

Following her success with the first instalment of The Twilight Saga, the director Catherine Hardwicke has given the old fairy tale a modern makeover, casting the doe-eyed Amanda Seyfried (last seen singing her socks off in Mamma Mia!) as the hooded Valerie, and roping in Julie Christie for support as her grandmother.

If the tragic events of Hudson's life don't need spelling out, then neither do the reasons why she's called her comeback album "I Remember Me".

The man behind Take That's successful comeback live shows will be in charge of the closing ceremonies at the London 2012 Games, organisers announced today.

I associate Christmas with pressure mostly – pressure to see people I don't really want to see, pressure to buy things that people don't want for people you don't like, pressure to give your kids the full "Christmas experience", bah humbug.... This was why I found myself in the admittedly glorious Mandarin Oriental hotel in London – slap bang in between Harrods and the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. The last time I was at this hotel, I was outside as a paparazzo, waiting for Pierce Brosnan to emerge. When he eventually did, he stamped on my foot and called me an "annoying fat fuck" while still smiling sweetly for the camera.

Playing Simon Doyle in the 1978 film version of Agatha Christie's Death On The Nile opened the door for Simon MacCorkindale to join a spate of British actors who found fame on American television in the early 1980s.

A topical DVD this, considering that Roman Polanski’s film of Robert Harris’s political thriller revolves around Blairish memoirs.

“Do you know what I smell in this room?” bellows Adam Riches. “Fear!”. It’s little wonder. Audiences at this character comedian’s show rarely get off lightly. This year, those foolish enough to sit on the front row are invited/ forced to pose for pictures with a deadly beetle, shoot imaginary guns and, probably the worst option, become a milkmaid. Even those who aren’t pulled up on stage find themselves liberally spritzed with spit.

Take the world’s most popular undead actor and the worst member of the cast of Lost, throw in Pierce Brosnan’s impression of a Wall Street banker imitating Vito Corleone and what do you get? Very little, it seems, as this lightweight romantic drama depicting the tangled lives of two New York students goes to show.

"My father's Poseidon? Why didn't anyone tell me?" Yep, hokum. And Chris Columbus-directed hokum to boot.

Hollywood star Meryl Streep is in discussions to play Baroness Thatcher in a new film, it was confirmed today.