The perfect selection to get the 2012 Glasgow Film Festival off to a strong start, Lynn Shelton’s Your Sister’s Sister is a warm hearted treat. The story of three unhappy individuals attempting to rediscover themselves in a remote island bungalow, the film takes the potential makings of melodrama and uses them to craft something unexpectedly enjoyable. Fuelled by consistently excellent dialogue and anchored by a thoroughly likeable leading trio, it should leave even the cynical feeling warm and fuzzy inside.

A bleak look at the unravelling life of a New York sex addict, Shame showcases brave work by director Steve McQueen and his second time collaborator, Michael Fassbender. Expertly shot and powerfully acted, the film takes an affliction often the subject of ridicule and uses it to tell an affecting story of vice and isolation.

Loosely based on true events, this South American horror promises “real fear in real time”, with its action purportedly playing out in a single, uncut take. Delivering for the majority of its running time, the film is let down most by its conclusion; a sigh that undermines the shocks. Yet for genre fans, The Silent House remains a curio that deserves to be watched – especially before the American remake arrives.

At 2000’s Cannes Film Festival, Lee Chang-Dong’s film Peppermint Candy was the talk of the Director’s Fortnight. In 2007, he assisted Jeon Do-Yeon to a Best Actress award at the same event for her role in Secret Sunshine. And last year, the writer-director picked Best Screenplay for his latest film, Poetry. Opening here on July 29th, it will be Chang-Dong’s first UK release A powerful look at an older woman’s struggle to retain both her moral compass and her sense of self – all we need say is that it’s about time.

Excellent performances from Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams carry Derek Cianfrance’s romantic drama Blue Valentine; an intense and saddening portrayal of a couple’s courtship told in conjunction with scenes of their marriage’s potential breakdown. If only some time had been spared to show us what happened in between…

The casting for Marc Webb’s Spider-Man reboot continues, with Martin Sheen in negotiations to play our hero’s Uncle Ben and double Oscar winner Sally Field in talks for the role of Aunt May.

In 2012 Batman will return in The Dark Knight Rises, but with no Riddler, who the fudge will he be doing battle against?!

Our coverage of the Across the Street, Around the World Festival continues with a look at the Best of the West, an event that celebrates West London’s rich filmmaking history and the part it has played in the progression of black British representation. The main event? A special screening of Horace Ové’s 1987 TV comedy, Playing Away, followed by an interview session with both the man himself and young British filmmaker, Kolton Lee.

It may have only been two days since we reported the heavily spoiler guarded news that Mel Gibson was set to make a guest appearance in Todd Phillip’s sequel to last year’s hit comedy The Hangover, but now it appears that Mr. Gibson has gotten all Keyser Soze on us. Why? Because just like that – *poof* – he’s gone.

A recent Vulture interview with Armie Hammer may have unearthed some more clues about the direction our favourite Kryptonian will be flying in. Could this be the good news that Jon Hamm has been waiting for?