The American mythologist Joseph Campbell is to blame for the rise of moral relativism in the movie world — as Thomas Mann observed

This summer's dire Hollywood offerings are helping to cement the TV box-set's status as king

The po-faced Man of Steel isn’t nearly as absorbing as Soderbergh’s portrait of the Man of Rhinestone

Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby is a treat for the eyes but cannot escape its flimsy source material

Judi Dench's embattled M in Skyfall at one point reaches not for a Beretta or one of Q's exploding pens but a few lines of Tennyson. Would the words of Carol Ann Duffy work as well?

All-too-predictable sci-fi and tired post-modern campery imply that original cinematic ideas are rare

The cult of the auteur lets Steven Soderbergh and Danny Boyle get away with self-indulgence

Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty deserve awards, Hitchcock is dull and Les Miserables in unbearable

The author of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit was a great conservative writer

A glut of superb performances in 2012 reflects a rising general standard in the actor’s craft