Now from £18: Where is the cheapest place to buy Google Chromecast?

Google Chromecast has been discounted to as little as £18 in the UK.

The streaming media device, which launched earlier this year, lets you stream (“cast”) content live from your mobile device onto your TV over a Wi-Fi connection. The … Read More

RIP Richard Attenborough

Lord Richard Attenborough has passed away. The 90-year old filmmaker stunned as violent gangster Pinkie Brown in 1947’s Brighton Rock, but like his ruthless character was only just getting started: he went on to star in The Great Escape, The … Read More

Screaming in your living room: How VOD is changing the horror industry

FrightFest has hit London once more this weekend – but for many around the country, it began on Monday, when the shortlist of films in the Shortcuts to Hell II contest were released on-demand, ahead of the finalists’ premiere during … Read More

17 animals you didn’t know were voiced by celebrities

17 animals you didn’t know were voiced by celebrities

This weekend sees the release of Netflix’s new animated series BoJack Horseman, which stars the ever-hilarious Will Arnett as a washed-up 90s sitcom star… who also happens to be a horse. … Read More

Match of Yesterday: Can the Premier League really stop people tweeting football clips on Vine?

Match of the Day turns 50 years old this weekend, celebrating five decades of selecting clips, sharing them with audiences and commenting on them. After tonight’s programme finishes, it will not be on BBC iPlayer.

Why? Because it never has … Read More

Infographic: The Raid 2 body count

What is the body count in The Raid 2? We went through Gareth Evans’ uber-violent sequel and attempted to keep track. The last time we did this, we ended up with a total of 121 bodies on the kill list. … Read More

Why live TV isn’t going anywhere… yet

New research shows that while VOD usage continues to climb in the UK, live TV remains a staple of viewing behaviour.

89 per cent still regularly use their telly to watch things live, a study by BroadStream (and YouGov) has … Read More

RIP Lauren Bacall

Lauren Bacall has passed away at the age of 89.

The legendary actress made her debut in To Have and Have Not at the age of just 19. The film paired her with Humphrey Bogart, whom she would go on … Read More

RIP Robin Williams (and a list of his films available on Netflix UK, Prime and NOW TV)

“No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.”

That was Robin Williams in 1989’s Dead Poets Society. 25 years later, the actor and comedy has tragically passed away – but if there was one thing he was never short of, it was words.

His unique motormouth comedy soon won him fans on the stand-up circuit and that manic energy translated perfectly onto the screen in a storm of hyperactive roles, from a rapid-fire radio DJ in Good Morning, Vietnam to the Genie in Aladdin. Williams improvised 16 hours’ worth of material for Disney’s classic – so much that the Academy reportedly refused to nominate it for Best Original Screenplay. “You never had a friend like me,” he sang. Everyone believed him.

That universality was equally mind-boggling. Even though his trademark was spouting barely comprehensible nonsense at an almost inaudible speed, people around the globe connected with Robin Williams. When his death was reported last night, Twitter exploded into endless tributes from accounts the world over. The trending topics were solely comprised of Robin Williams references, but what was telling was the variety of them. Mrs. Doubtfire, Good Will Hunting, Dead Poets Society, Hook. Even Patch Adams and Bicentennial Man. Robin Williams wasn’t just a versatile performer; he was a versatile performer whom people loved in everything he did. Just Google “Mrs Doubtfire hello” and marvel at how many have recorded their own version of his frosted fridge door greeting.

His dramatic roles were as moving as his silly ones were side-splitting. In the second half of his career, he stunned those who had grown up with his cross-dressing granny and magical blue guy with silent turns in Insomnia and One Hour Photo, that twinkling smile given an unnerving stillness. For all his exuberance, he had brilliance in his quiet moments; his bearded professor lecturing Matt Damon’s student on experience vs knowledge would reduce anyone to tears, while his
Carpe Diem lesson passed on to students at Welton Academy never fails to inspire. But he brought a humanity to each performance, whether finding a heartfelt note in a comedy or using humour to hold back the darker elements of life.

That range and sincerity makes it impossible to pick a favourite moment from his career; even his impression of a hot dog is laugh-out-loud funny. Patch Adams’ message that laughter can sometimes be the best medicine might have been hailed as too saccharine – and offered a tragic contrast to his own off-screen battle with depression – but when Williams was switched on, his infectious, impossible wit could make you forget about everything else and stand up on your desk. He was a whirlwind of giggles and ideas contained in a human. And that genius continues to be bottled in every film; a creative force waiting to be unleashed at the rub of a lamp.

“No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world,” he said 25 years ago. If there was one thing Robin Williams was never short of, it was words. And as tributes continue to pour in from fans everywhere, you can see how much his actually have changed the world. Not in a big, political way, but in a smaller, arguably more important way. We never had a friend like him.
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James Franco: Mainstream cinema’s great contradiction

Dreamer. Stoner. Intellectual pretender. Franco doesn’t just want to have his cake; he wants to have his cake, eat the damn thing whole, and then afterwards produce a hard-hitting, feature-length documentary about the cake’s digestion from a Gender Studies perspective. … Read More