Firth goes forth

The last time filmmakers went up the River Kwai, it earned the leading actor an Oscar. That was 55 years ago when Alec Guinness took home the statuette for his role as pig-headed Colonel Nicholson in David Lean's POW epic, The Bridge on the River Kwai.

Now Firth is hoping that lightning might strike twice as he embarks on his latest film, The Railway Man, based on the real-life experiences of Eric Lomax who endured the hardships of working on the Thai/Burma railroad during World War Two.

Firth, who won his own first Oscar last year for recreating a Royal life in The King's Speech, says he's feels "overwhelmed by the enormity" of the story in which he co-stars with Nicole Kidman (with whom he's pictured below at the film's press launch in Edinburgh), Stellan Skarsgard and War Horse's Jeremy Irvine, as the younger Lomax.

The Anglo-Australian film, based on the award-winning book by Lomax, who's still going strong at 92, is currently shooting in Scotland, Thailand and Queensland.

Screen gems

Good to see accident-prone Lindsay Lohan bounce back after her various local difficulties in Hollywood.

The 25-year-old, who's been a star for 14 years, has just completed her first film for a couple of years - InAPPropriate Comedy, opposite the deeply uncharismatic Rob Schneider.

However, Lohan is now set to top the bill again in a couple of intriguing biopics. First off is Inferno, in which she will recreate the tortured life of porn icon Linda Lovelace.

After that comes Liz and Dick ... no, not another searing glimpse inside the hard-core industry, but our gal as none other than the late Elizabeth Taylor. The 'Dick' in question is, of course, Taylor's two-time spouse, Richard Burton.

Everything's Super

As Marvel's expensively assembled Avengers power their way into UK cinemas there's but one question on every comic book fan's lips:

Who would win on the big screen if Marvel's Iron Man, Captain America, Incredible Hulk, Black Widow, Thor and Hawkeye ever had to face off against that other intrepid band of superheroes?

Yes, we're talking DC Comics' Justice League of America, featuring Batman, Superman (Henry Cavill, below, as the latest Man of Steel incarnation), Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Flash, Green Lantern and Aquaman.

The general feeling is that the DC lot would probably shade it. "Superman would have the beating of Thor, Wonder Woman at least matches the Avengers' other big gun, the Hulk, and Batman probably has more smarts than his opposite number, Iron Man. That leaves three Avengers without super powers against the fastest man alive, a galactic policeman, a hugely powerful alien and the King of Atlantis," notes a perceptive Guardian reader.

One thing is for certain: it would make for not only one of the most entertaining but also quite definitely the priciest movie spectacles of all time. Bring it on!

Fury for Ruth

It's not just the Aussie soaps that are fuelling the new wave of Hollywood 'Youf' (see Chris Hemsworth, Isla Fisher, Melissa George, Ryan Kwanten etc etc).

The popular C4 drama series Misfits is also proving a fertile university for young actors and actresses developing an international profile.

Latest graduate is Irish-born Ruth Negga, Nicki in the hit teleseries, who now stars alongside Samuel L Jackson and Tom Wilkinson is a hard-hitting US thriller Fury.

Negga, 29, who also gained fame playing singer Shirley Bassey in a BBC biopic, plays Iris, a young woman caught up with Jackson's tough ex-con, who's trying for one last score against drugs boss Wilkinson.

Mind you, the beautiful actress is't a complete newcomer to the big screen. She also appeared in Colour Me Kubrick and Breakfast on Pluto.

Feed the Hunger

Movie memorabilia comes in many and varied ways, ranging in price from the odd few pence to several millions.

However, one of the, arguably, strangest and, possibly also one of the most expensive, collectibles has just come on the market: the North Carolina burgh of Henry River Mill Village which doubled as District 12 in the current box office hit The Hunger Games.

For a mere £885, 000 ($1.4m) you can snap up the entire 72 acres of the abandoned town in which our heroine Katniss Everdeen strutted some of her stuff.

Mind you, you will also have to put up with the offshoots of an already burgeoning film franchise - like Hunger Games Fan Tours, in which takers get a chance to participate in survival skills of the sort that have already made Katniss (as played by Jennifer Lawrence) a global hot property.

Back from the dead

When Sparkle is released in October, there will be the eerie sight of Whitney Houston co-starring in this musical drama about a young woman (Jordin Sparks) trying to make it big during the Motown era in Detroit.

Houston (pictured below), who plays a single mother, sadly died in February aged 48, her accidental drowning in Beverly Hills caused by heart failure and cocaine use.

The one-time warbling great isn't, of course, the first star to have died before her final film was released.

In fact, she joins a distinguished international A-list who can boast this tragic tag.

Back in 1955, James Dean perished in his sports car before he could see the fruits of both Rebel Without a Cause and Giant. 18 years later, kung-fu master Bruce Lee predeceased the success of his most famous film, Enter the Dragon.

In 1994, Lee's son Brandon tragically died on the set of what would be his last hurrah, The Crow.

More recently, Heath Ledger, like Brandon Lee just 28, died prematurely after an acccidental drugs overdose before the world would see The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus and The Dark Knight, which earned him a posthumous Oscar.

 

Sandler's record ten-fer

Many critics have been saying it for years, but now it's official: Adam Sandler is the Worst Actor in Hollywood.

And now, after the latest edition of The Razzies, the annual antidote to the Oscars, he is also Worst Actress and Worst Screenwriter.

The reason for all this opprobrium was the whiny New York star's unspeakable cross-dressing comedy, Jack and Jill, which also managed a Razzies' first - a 10-trophy clean sweep of the unenviable awards.

Sandler himself featured in two more: as part of Worst Screen Couple and Worst Ensemble. To Al Pacino went Worst Supporting Actor, playing himself, while David Spade was Worst Supporting Actress in another cross-dressing role.

The organisers also cited another Sandler film from 2011, Just Go With It. For that and for Jack and Jill, Worst Director went unexpectedly to former comic actor Dennis Dugan.

Sandler, who, it seems, didn't turn up at the ceremony to receive his clutch of awards, probably had the last laugh. Jack and Jill may have riled the critics but like so many of the star's equally ghastly so-called comedies, it performed very reasonably at the box office.