Having recently delivered middlebrow stodge like Invictus, Hereafter and J. Edgar from the director’s chair, it’s been a while since Clint Eastwood has had a chance to chew some scenery. With directing duties left to longtime collaborator Robert Lorenz, Eastwood steps in front of the camera once more, finding the same ardent growl that made Gran Torino such an enjoyable boilermaker of a film. Unfortunately, Trouble with the Curve is as toothless as the man himself, a catatonic baseball drama that suffers from the same mouldy traditionalism championed in Eastwood’s cranky talent scout.

Clint Eastwood is a man whose name you should know. Even if he occasionally has no name. He is a bona fide, genuine legend of the big screen. And he has 12 different Wikipedia pages. Trouble with the Curve, released on Friday, resurrects Eastwood’s now traditional persona of grizzly-pensioner-with-hidden-depths in his first acting role in a film he hasn’t directed since 1993. Growl.

The Million Dollar Baby actress to hopefully deliver another knockout performance.

Yes he played the idiot in 8 Mile but try to not to hold it against him.

Ever wondered whether innocent midwives seriously questioned their careers after watching that alien explode from John Hurt’s chest? So have we. Some careers and films just don’t go together – and we’re here to make sure your movie-watching practises don’t get you scarred for life. Especially if you’ve carved a brilliant career in scar detection or something. SPOILERS AHOY!

Everyone loves to hate the sports movie. Oh it’s so predictable, oh it’s so dull, oh it’s so boyish. But now that the Oscars are routinely rewarding boxing films for being rather good, and Sandra Bullock walked away with a Best Actress nod for her part in a film about American Football, we decided it was high time to celebrate the great and good of sports movies. Because they do exist. Honest.

As we gaze in wonder at the firm physique of the multi-talented Miss Portman in Black Swan, Best for Film feels it’s worth paying respect to those actors who don’t shy away from a challenging transformational role.

Ten years of film all neatly rolled into one awesomely epic list of greats! Feast your eyes on the Top 30 Films of the Decade.

Morgan Freeman has been awarded the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award. Quite right too.

Gran Torino is vintage Clint Eastwood at his best. From Dirty Harry to Million Dollar Baby, he’s made his signature character into an art form, a hypnotising, hardened beast of a human that you can’t take your eyes off, and yet one that’s never without redeeming qualities either. In this self-directed tale of a bigoted retiree coming to terms with his Asian neighbours in middle America, Eastwood gives us enough bad-ass attitude, along with poignant drama to stand Gran Torino alongside his earlier Oscar-winning efforts.