No doubt Lord of the Rings geeks worldwide already worship him as a god among men, but Peter Jackson will henceforth be known by a more concrete title – he’s been knighted in New Zealand’s latest New Year’s Honours list.

It was about time Sherlock Holmes got the Hollywood treatment – audiences have been continually fascinated with Arthur Conan Doyle’s series of short detective stories through the years, yet they undoubtedly needed a little sexing up to succeed with a modern audience. Enter Guy Ritchie, whose new action-packed adaptation is certainly a departure from the original series, but nonetheless entertaining in its own right. The screenplay has enough intelligence not to completely insult fans of Conan Doyle’s stories, and it’s perfectly complemented by Downey Jr’s sarcastic, slightly camp take on Sherlock. This adaptation won’t set the world on fire, but it’s a fine two hours entertainment for a dreary winter’s night.

After the surprising success of the first St. Trinian’s reboot in 2007, a sequel was always a risky proposition: will it surpass the original and cement the franchise as a bona fide modern classic or sully the occasional chuckles of the original and sink the whole thing.

The buzz around Avatar has been almost unprecedented – James Cameron’s long-awaited return to sci-fi has been panned, praised and everything in between even before it was released. Approaching Avatar with an open mind, we discovered one of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful and immersive films of recent years.

No – scratch that. One of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful and immersive films ever released.

Hollywood actress Brittany Murphy, best known for her roles in Clueless and Sin City, has died at the young age of 32. Murphy was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles early Sunday morning after her mother found her unconscious in the shower.

Hold on to your ten-gallon hats and strap on your spurs (actually don’t, some things really are best left to the privacy of your own home), because Paramount’s planning to revamp the western genre in a big way.

In this week’s Face/Off, we turn our attention to Christmas films. Classic feelgood fare or cynical attempt to convert a religious holiday into sweet sweet cash? Our dedicated team of writers take up the stance: optimism vs. pessimism, festive joy vs. humbuggery, Santa vs… well, Satan, we guess.

In what may turn our to be a groundbreaking case surrounding internet movie piracy, Gilberto Sanchez (aka “SkillFulGil”, possibly the worst villainous pseudonym since Rainbow Rider) has been charged with uploading a workprint of Wolverine to Megaupload in March of this year.

Hollywood screenwriter Dan O’Bannon has died in an LA hospital following a short illness. He was 63.

Tobey Maguire has denied rumours that he will be playing Hobbit Bilbo Baggins in Guillermo Del Toro’s forthcoming adaptation of the Tolkien classic. The rumour – which we reported two days ago – originated on Latin Review.