LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 02: Actor Benedict Cumberbatch attends the UK Premiere of "Star Trek Into Darkness" at The Empire Cinema on May 2, 2013 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)

British actor Benedict Cumberbatch is the villain in the new Star Trek movie released today (Star Trek Into Darkness).

So who is he?

What else has he been in?

Why is his face vaguely familiar?

Cumberbatch rose to fame over the last couple of years. He's been playing the lead role in BBC's Sherlock , he had a role in the 2011 reboot of Tinker, Tailor Soldier Spy as well as appearing in War Horse (2011) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012).

Here's a full breakdown - I guess we will be seeing more of him in the future!
SHERLOCK (2010- )
Based on the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Cumberbatch currently stars as the title character, Sherlock Holmes, in this BBC mini-series alongside fellow Brit, Martin Freeman. The contemporary spin on the legendary series and character has become a resounding success with critics and fans alike hailing Cumberbatch’s performance. Though only in its third series (currently in production), it has already won numerous awards including three BAFTAs with Cumberbatch earning two nominations and an Emmy nomination too! It is both wonderful and frustrating that we have to wait so long for the next series. But this guy is certainly worth waiting for!
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (2011)
Following the success of Sherlock, Cumberbatch followed up with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. One of a cast of supremely talented actors (including Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, and Tom Hardy), this film received three Academy Award nominations and became a hit both critically and commercially.
WAR HORSE (2011)
Directed by Steven Spielberg, War Horse became the second film in 2011 to add to Cumberbatch’s list of critical and commercial success. Telling the story of a teenage boy and his horse during the harrowing events of the First World War, War Horse was hailed as a gripping and beautiful film. Perhaps that is why it earned nominations for six Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, and five BAFTAs.
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY (2012)
The first in Peter Jackson’s new trilogy stars Cumberbatch’s Sherlock co-star Martin Freeman in the lead role as Bilbo Baggins. For his role as The Necromancer of Dol Guldur, Cumberbatch was required to provide performance-capture for his brief appearance in the film and will voice the character for the upcoming films also. Featuring a familiar cast, The Hobbit grossed over $1 billion dollars at the box office.
STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS (2013)
Now with this incredible success comes Cumberbatch’s next venture as villain John Harrison in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek: Into Darkness. Described as “one of the Starfleet’s top agents”, pictures released from the set depict Cumberbatch’s character engaged in a battle with Spock (Zachary Quinto). With the budget reportedly a whopping $185 million and JJ Abrams at the helm, we think this will be yet another sure hit for Cumberbatch.

With the growth in streaming services such as Netflix and iTunes, combined with Spotify and other services, how much space there was in the market for physical DVD rentals and sales is hard to know, but one would assume it wasn't growing.

The company, which currently employs over 1000 staff in 152 outlets nationwide, entered receivership at the end of last month.

Today's announcement, as reported by The Journal, is that the company will be closing 9 outlets immediately and laying off around 50 staff.

The affected outlets are:

•  The Square, Tallaght (seven employees)
• Rathmines, Dublin 6 (eight employees)
• Baggot Street, Dublin 4 (seven employees)
• Swords, Fingal (six employees)
•  Ongar, Dublin 15 (five employees)
• Sandymount, Dublin 4 (seven employees)
• Phibsborough, Dublin 7 ( six employees)
• Carpenterstown, Co Dublin (four employees)
• Roscrea, Co Tipperary (four employees)

High street retailer HMV closed its doors in recent months though the company has since been acquired by Hilco who are planning to restructure it. Their plans for Ireland are still not clear.

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• Fresh gloom on high street after film rental chain Xtra-vision enters receivership (belfasttelegraph.co.uk)
• Over 1,000 jobs at risk as Xtra-Vision goes into receivership (independent.ie)
• Movie rental chain Xtra-vision which employs over 200 staff in Northern Ireland enters receivership new Movie rental chain Xtra-vision - which employs some 242 staff in Northern Ireland - has gone into receivership. (belfasttelegraph.co.uk)
• Xtra-vision appoints receivers (irishtimes.com)
• Xtra-vision stores shut in digital bid (independent.ie)
• Xtra-vision enters receivership (mcvuk.com)

Since there's so much media attention around the film at the moment there's also a lot of really cool content being produced.

So here's a really nice graphic showing the evolution of Iron Man's armour:

The evolution of Iron Man's armour

1963 - Original Armour (First Appearance: Tales Of Suspense #39)

1963 - "Golden Avenger" Armour (First Appearance: Tales Of Suspense #40)

1963 - Proto-Classic Armour (First Appearance: Tales Of Suspense #48)

1965 - Classic Red & Gold Armour (First Appearance: Tales Of Suspense #66)

1974 - Nose Modification Added (Happened In: Iron Man (Vol. 1) #68)

1976 - Nose Modification Removed (Happened In: Iron Man (Vol. 1) #85

1985 - Silver Centurion Armour (First Appearance: Iron Man (Vol. 1) #200)

1988 - Modern Red & Gold Armour (First Appearance: Iron Man (Vol. 1) #231)

1992 - War Machine Armour (First Appearance: Iron Man (Vol. 1) #281)

1993 - Telepresence Armour (First Appearance: Iron Man (Vol. 1) #290)

1994 - Modular Armour (First Appearance: Iron Man (Vol. 1) #300)

1995 - "The Crossing" Armour (First Appearance: Iron Man (Vol. 1) #319)

1996 - Prometheum Armour (First Appearance: Iron Man (Vol. 2) #1)

1998 - "Heroes Return" Armour (First Appearance: Iron Man (Vol. 3) #1)

2002 - Prometheum II Armour (First Appearance: Iron Man (Vol. 3) #50)

2003 - Proto-Extremis Armour (First Appearance: Iron Man (Vol. 3) #72)

2006 - Extremis Armour (First Appearance: Iron Man (Vol. 4) #5)

2008 - Movie Armour (MK III) (First Appearance: Iron Man (Movie))

2010 - Bleeding Edge Armour (First Appearance: Invincible Iron Man #25)

2013 - "Iron Man 3" Armour (MK XLII) (First Appearance: Iron Man 3 (Movie))

Via

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Magic Mike  (Coming 9 May)
Magic Mike is a 2012 comedy-drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh.  The plot revolves around Adam (Alex Pettyfer), a nineteen-year-old who enters the world of male stripping, guided by Mike Lane (Channing Tatum), who has been in the business for six years.   Mike Lane teaches the younger performer how to party, pick up women, and make easy money. The film also stars Matthew McConaughey as Dallas, the owner of the club.

Eat, Pray, Love  (Coming 7 May)
Eat Pray Love is a 2010 drama film starring Julia Roberts as Elizabeth Gilbert, based on Gilbert's best-selling memoir of the same name.  A married woman realizes how unhappy her marriage really is, and that her life needs to go in a different direction. After a painful divorce, she takes off on a round-the-world journey to "find herself"

Friends with Kids
Best friends Jason and Julie decide that the way to have kids without sacrificing their social lives or careers is to raise a child together platonically. But romance and other complications interfere with their perfect plan. (Stars Chris O’Dowd)

Killing Bono
Dublin schoolboy Neil McCormick is determined to be one of the great rock stars of the 1980s, and is so confident he'll succeed that he prevents his brother from joining a band being formed by a classmate -- a band called U2.  Stars Robert Sheehan and Ben Barnes.

Veronica Guerin
Director Joel Schumacher's brisk thriller stars Cate Blanchett as unrelenting Irish journalist Veronica Guerin, whose single-minded investigation of Dublin's underground drug trade gives rise to shocking consequences.

War of the Worlds
Ray (Tom Cruise) is a divorced dockworker whose children are staying with him when a fleet of spaceships appears. Forced to become the protective father he's never been, Ray scrambles to usher his kids to safety in this loose adaptation of H.G. Wells's novel.

Borgia (Season 2)
The name Borgia stands for betrayal, intrigue and corruption in the Vatican, which was the centre of the world during the Renaissance. Rodrigo Borgia -- later Pope Alexander VI -- embodied the spirit of the time with its unimaginable contradictions.

Portlandia  (Season 3)
Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein send up the righteous, artistically inclined and 100% organic residents of Portland, Ore., in this sketch-based comedy series. Typical targets include artisanal light bulbs, feminist bookstores and indie rock.

Arrested Development  (Season 4 Available - 26 May)
The highly anticipated fourth season of cult comedy Arrested Development is coming exclusively to Netflix on 26 May.    If you missed seeing the series, first time around you can catch up on series 1-3 now on Netflix.

Luckily the History Channels has published a handy graphic to help make sense of them:

Via

Hannibal Lecter is back, or at least a new imagining of the character is being brought to the small screen.
NBC will start screening their TV series in the US from next week. The trailer (below) gives a taste of the show and it looks like the kind of thing that wouldn't be shown before any watersheds over this side of the pond.

The show's cast includes Mad Mikkelsen, who you may remember from Casino Royale, Hugh Dancy and Laurence Fishburne.

Here's the trailer - but be warned, it's not for the faint-hearted:

The video cannot be shown at the moment. Please try again later.

Enjoy!

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

via

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• Father Ted - all three seasons. Craggy Island and its priests are sure to bring a smile to your face
• Killnascully - seasons 1 to 5.
• Mattie seasons 1 and 2
• Tommy Tiernan - they've got "Something Mental" and "Crooked Man"
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - starring Danny DeVito. More Irish American than anything else, but worth including
• Once - the award winning film set in Dublin.
• Sensation - After the death of his father, socially awkward Donal (Domhnall Gleeson) decides to put his inheritance into a brothel business venture with a Kiwi call-girl.
• Ordinary Decent Criminal - based loosely on the life of Martin Cahill (aka The General) this version of the tale stars Kevin Spacey as Michael Lynch

Tom Riley is Leonardo Da Vinci in Da Vinci's Demons

"Da Vinci's Demons" is another one of those "mega" productions from Starz, the television studio behind Spartacus. This time round, however, they've teamed up with BBC Worldwide to make a show based on the early life of Leonardo Da Vinci.

The new show will debut on Starz on April 12 2013 with its UK and Ireland debut scheduled for 10pm on April 19th.

Picture shows: Leonardo Da Vinci (TOM RILEY) and Lucrezia Donati (LAURA HADDOCK)

The show is meant to be a "re-imagining" of Da Vinci's early life and since it's Starz then you'll probably get plenty of sex and violence ..

Here's a "first look"

The video cannot be shown at the moment. Please try again later.

Mila Kunis & James Franco in Oz: The Great and Powerful

Mila Kunis stars alongside James Franco in Oz: The Great and the Powerful, so there's a lot of media attention at the moment.

In this rather amusing interview Kunis practically takes over from the interviewer and the entire thing is almost done before the film even gets mentioned.

Enjoy!

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

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