Oz: the Great and Powerful, the prequel to 1939’s The Wizard of Oz that everyone has been clamouring for these past 70-odd years (ahem), is most surprising in that it’s nowhere near the mess it promised to be. Luridly colourful and garish, but filled with likable performances and some excellent 3D. But while it may not be a total mess, but that’s not to say that it isn’t still wildly inconsistent at times.

Yup. The writer of ‘Pride & Prejudice & Zombies’ has had his way with the Marvel superheroes…

Clarke among the Apes.

Persepolis meets Johnny Depp? Please NO.

It’s happening right now! Our haphazardly maintained Oscars liveblog is bringing you all the news on this year’s nominations, as it happens. Just refresh for the latest info… and if you don’t like the results then remember that Shame got no nominations last year and Transformers: Dark of the Moon got 3. It’s all nonsense, but it’s exciting nonsense.

Gender bending is one of the lost arts. There was a period in the 90s when you couldn’t move in Hollywood for transvestism. It sort of became the default mode for any comedic scene. Chuck in a corset and a couple of fake boobs and BAM! You’ve got cinema gold. Although the subject of emotional turmoil, sexual identity and gender reassignment has been covered sensitively and dramaticly by some amazing films, you’re not going to find The Crying Game on this list. No, we’ve cobbled together our favourite horrifying gender bending scenes from film. Get out the fishnet stockings, folks!

We’ll be the judges of a film’s greatness and power thank you very much.

With Jack Reacher hitting cinemas this Winter, it’s only right we honor the crazy stunt-monster himself. Say what you like about his personal life, but Tom Cruise is undeniably a fantastic screen presence. Whether you’re watching him mixing drinks (Cocktail) or drinking drinks (The Last Samurai) or demanding drinks (Tropic Thunder) or getting his eyeballs removed (Minority Report), there’s a jolly good reason for everyone to toast our favourite psychopath!

After an all-too-long absence, the weary defenders are once more hauling themselves to the turrets and parapets of Best For Film Towers to boom their cinematic advice across the snowy wastes of Internet. What will you be seeing this week – the whimsical horror-themed animation, or the other whimsical horror-themed animation? Or ParaNorman?

The annual BFI London film festival has arrived to cheer away the doom and gloom of the coming months. Giving Londoners the opportunity to get a look at films they might not ordinarily get the chance to appreciate, the festival has an array of unique and exciting features on offer. We know we say this every week, but this is one experience you really will not want to miss.