Ah, how Hollywood presents so many possibilities. Its two biggest child stars, Dakota Fanning and Abigail Breslin, in the one film? Sounds intriguing enough, and for My Sister’s Keeper it looked to be a go, but Fanning eventually pulled out (allegedly for refusing to shave her head) and the dream pairing was gone. The first Jodi Picoult novel to be adapted for cinemas has more than its fair share of A-listers, and as one of her biggest sellers the film has fielded high expectations. As an adaptation it will satisfy most fans, and as a stand-alone film it is beautifully crafted.

Films within cinema’s spectrum that have the most interesting of back-stories are more often than not forgotten over time. This doesn’t exclude the Australian industry, where unless there is a large public interest the stories remain largely untold. Thankfully, the National Film and Sound Archive has taken an interest in resolving the issue and has stepped forward with the digital restoration of Wake In Fright. The history behind this film is remarkable, and audiences deserve to know what a shame it would’ve been had this film been destroyed.

Fans of Chinese cinema will understand that Western influences are often woven into Eastern features and that history is integral to their storytelling. With so much culture behind them, it’s easy to get lost in the possibilities for movie ideas – so it makes sense that Asia’s most famous novel now gets a look in for international audiences. Romance of Three Kingdoms, Luo Guanzhong’s 14th century novel, has remained a huge influence in China throughout history both as a historical and romantic tale but the film adaptation presents us with what’s expected out of China – action, and lots of it.

Within the first five minutes of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth film to be adapted from J.K Rowling’s ultra-successful series of novels, a trio of Death Eaters cause London’s millennium bridge to come crashing down into the river Thames. “Surely everyone would have survived,” was my immediate thought, as I reminded myself that this film franchise began with a children’s novel. Yet when a close up is given on the following day’s newspaper, the headline unmistakeably reads ‘Death Toll Rises in Bridge Collapse’.

If you thought seeing British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen wrestling a fat naked man in 2006′s Borat was shocking, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Cohen’s latest character Bruno, a flamboyant Austrian ‘fashionista’, manages to make Harvey Milk look like a giant prude in comparison. In fact, Bruno’s quest to become the most famous Austrian star “since Hitler” is shocking, vulgar and shamelessly defamatory. It’s also downright hilarious.

But who’d expect anything less from the man who brilliantly characterised Borat, a Kazak reporter whose ignorance and intolerance was matched only by the American public featured in the faux documentary, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. When the film went on to make a box-office return as sizable as its title, it was only a matter of time until the next character from Cohen’s British TV series, Da Ali-G Show, was given the cinematic treatment. Four years later, and Cohen is back serving up monstrous laughs in a far more outrageous, yet decidedly more calculated, film than Borat.

‘Hilarious’ isn’t usually a word I’d associate with a hangover. Laughing, I can promise you, is the last thing you’ll see me doing when experiencing the throbbing headache and god-awful queasiness that comes the morning after a big night out. That said, ‘hilarious’ is by far the best word used to describe director Todd Phillips (Old School, Road Trip) latest lowbrow comedy The Hangover. Don’t be put off by its clichéd Vegas bachelor party premise; The Hangover boasts a script that bleeds more humour than a clown with haemophilia. Even at the peak of its vulgarity, which certainly sees the film make good use of its MA15+ rating, this is a solid comedy binge-fest you won’t regret in the morning.