If there’s one thing that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has given us (and I’m including both the Swedish original and David Fincher’s recent blockbuster when I say this) it’s a new Goth poster-girl for the 21st century. Lisbeth Salander has not only shown the world that girls with ropey piercings and Misfits haircuts are hot, it’s that they can kick ass as well.

You know what’s going out of fashion like there’s no tomorrow? Renting DVDs from an actual physical store. In fact, it’s so out of fashion it’s retro. And retro is fashionable. HUZZAH! Check out the top 5 places to rent films in the UK and amp up your awesome points, asap…

On the day where Wikipedia has been blacked out for the good of free speech and an unregulated world wide web, today will be a celebration of half-forgotten GCSE history facts, vague references to “that guy… you know, that one,” and regret at not having found out more about Fidel Castro when you had the chance. TOO LATE NOW. Might as well go to the cinema, eh? Two for one! Who needs knowledge when you have FREE?

This month sees the release of Thatcher-fest The Iron Lady, much to the chagrin of David Cameron, and rather than being what we all want it to be – a cross between Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man and Ted Hughes’ not-quite-as-good-as-Iron-Giant-but-still-pretty-good The Iron Woman – it is, in fact, another boring, by the numbers, Oscar hounding biopic, no different to any that have come before. Sigh, does the biopic genre show that the film industry is running out of ideas?

Did you know Benedict Cumberbatch spent a year teaching English to Tibetan monks? That he sent himself on a secret mission to Morocco in order to prepare for his role in Tinker Tailor? That his air miles must be stacking up by now? Cheat Sheet! Sherlock Cheat Sheet! Is this pure indulgence? Yes. But he shouts a bit in War Horse, so that counts as relevance.

Not Monday! Anything but Monday! Today is, according to science, the most depressing day of the year, except for that time you woke up naked in that barn. So, luckily for you we’re all about making your faces do the happy stretch. This week, get your French TV on with the the first ever French And British TV Festival at the Institut Français. Mon Dieu!

This Wednesday marks the release of Steven “I’m definitely going to stop being a director soon and paint pretty pictures” Soderbergh’s new film, Haywire, which stars Mixed Martial Arts champion Gina Carano. Presumably she spends the film going around beating up loads and loads of people with her martial arts skills. We literally can’t wait for that. Especially if she roundhouse kicks Ewan McGregor in the face. Anyways, to celebrate the release of this film, BFF has compiled a list of the top ten women who would kick you into next Tuesday if you tried to hold the door open for them. Enjoy!

War Horse is out – it’s time to get pissed and watch films about war! And horses! And horses in war! But if there’s one thing war horses love, it’s rules; rules like ‘every horse gets a sugar cube after a hard day’s war’ and ‘no matter how long the war goes on, don’t eat your horse’. If you need some horse/war-related rules, you’ve come to the right place.

Another week of 2012 ebbs away, and the offerings at your local gigaplex are still distressingly dull – basically, it’s sugar-coated biopics of female politicians or bust. Still, if there’s one thing we know how to do it’s make the best of a bad situation – all you need is to go on and on about The Artist even though it came out last week! Yay!

Everyone loves Stanley Tucci. You know him, he’s the little bald chap in The Devil Wears Prada. And the little bald chap in Julie & Julia. And the little bald chap in Burlesque. And the not-bald paedophile in The Lovely Bones. See? That’s how good an actor he is – sometimes he acts HAVING HAIR. He’s not actually gay, either. Feeling ignorant? Come inside…