Tropic Thunder, Ben Stiller's Vietnam-film-within-a-film, has a lot of gags to get through in its two-hour running time – the self-regard of actors; the greed and ruthlessness of Hollywood producers; a raft of 'Nam movie clichés – and yet it still seems at least 20 minutes too long, with all the best jokes used up in the first act (including a terrific trio of spoof trailers).

Antonio Banderas is in talks about playing the lead role in a forthcoming Salvador Dali biopic, sparking a rivalry between the Spanish actor and another Hollywood giant, Al Pacino, who is playing the surrealist painter in another film.

This summer's second most acclaimed superhero blockbuster stars Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark, playboy industrialist turned one-man weapon of mass destruction.

"Ben Stiller's performance is easily the weakest element: like his 'Zoolander' character, he has a handful of exaggerated expressions and cycles through them on cue. But it's easy to forgive, given how thoroughly enjoyable 'Tropic Thunder' is on virtually every other count." - Tasha Robinson, www.avclub.com

The new adaptation of Brideshead Revisited is yet to be released, but already one of the film's main stars, Ben Whishaw, has upset fans of the venerated 1981 version.

Lost in a moral maze

Robert Downey Jr is suited and booted in what may be the best blockbuster of the summer – but it's not as good as the trailer

'Crash' star Terrence Howard has a theory about everything – including the hidden meaning of his new film 'Iron Man'. Stephen Applebaum tries to keep up

The British R&B star Jamelia took time out to have children and now returns with her best album yet.

KHYENTSE NORBU, DIRECTOR OF THE CUP, WHICH IS RELEASED TODAY, ON HIS IDEAL CINEMATIC PAIRING

THOSE OF us who weren't there will never forget it, that sultry evening in Rome when a stocky figure steamed into the Borussia Monchengladbach penalty area and headed Liverpool into a 2-1 lead in the European Cup final, and Barry Davies shrieked: "It's Tommy Smith!"

The Gingerbread Man, Broadway, Nottingham (0115-952 6611) 8pm

Here is the fons et origo of all those fairy films. But the story behind this book is far more interesting than the sad and credulous tale contained within it.

Howard Langston (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a nice guy who spends just a little too much frazzled time at the office and not enough quality time with his charming wife, Liz, and their young son Jamie. Why, he's so busy chasing sales on the last day before the Christmas break that he even misses Jamie's final karate class. No wonder Jamie can scarcely stand to look at him when he eventually comes home that night, and that Liz is quietly furious. Howard tries to apologise to his son, but Jamie won't listen. So Howard tears the little snot's arms off and stuffs them down his throat, sticks Liz's head in the microwave, blows up the house and travels back to the 21st century, where the machines are hunting mankind to extinction. Oh, all right, I dreamt the last bit.