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Whisky Galore! screens Friday, May 19th through Sunday May 21st at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood). The movie starts each evening at 8:00pm.

Review by Mark Longden

“Whisky Galore!” is a beloved movie from 1949, one of the Ealing comedies that define a specific moment in post-war British culture (my personal favourite is “The Ladykillers”). Based on the 1947 novel of the same name, with a script written by the novelist, it was a lot of fun; presumably, the list of “movies people loved from long ago” was running a little short of ones that hadn’t already been remade, so almost 70 years later, we come to this.

During World War 2, and for a surprisingly long time afterwards (it didn’t fully finish until the 1950s), Britain went through rationing. Families were given set amounts of various products and expected to make do, although there was a black market for certain products,...

The actor on her new film, a fairytale for adults, her creepy character in Happy Valley and feeling lost in drama school

Shirley Henderson, 50, has starred in numerous television, film and theatre productions, including Wonderland, Topsy-Turvy, Happy Valley, Southcliffe and Hamish Macbeth. She plays Jude in the Bridget Jones films, and Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter franchise. She studied drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and lives in Fife with her partner. Her new film, Tale of Tales, is directed by the Italian Matteo Garrone (Gomorrah, Reality) and also stars Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel and Toby Jones. It’s based on a trio of Neapolitan poet Giambattista Basile’s ancient fantasy morality tales, which predate the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. Henderson plays Imma, an old woman who yearns to be like her sister, Dora, who has been transformed by magic into a beautiful young maiden, who has beguiled the king.

Tale of Tales is Matteo Garrone’s first English-speaking film. How did you find working with him?

Fascinating. Obviously there’s a language barrier, but he knows enough. He doesn’t tell you too much until you begin, then he’s very clear about what he wants. It was an Italian set, and you think everybody’s shouting at you, but they’re not – it’s just a hyped-up atmosphere. He’s very exciting to work with and I’d jump at the chance again.

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What made Trainspotting so special? We take a look back at Danny Boyle's classic, as it heads towards its 20th birthday...

Trainspotting, by Irvine Welsh, was first published in 1993. The novel grew from a series of short stories into a collection of non-linear connected vignettes based around a group of heroin addicts from Leith and their acquaintances. Parts of the novel – which grew from Welsh's diaries after being inspired by the early Nineties rave scene – were published in a variety of journals and pamphlets across Scotland, including New Writing Scotland and Rebel Inc. One of these publishers passed on the work to Secker & Warburg, who published it despite not feeling it had much commercial value (though they had previously put out works by Orwell, Kafka, and Simone de Beauvoir).

Written from multiple characters' perspectives in a variety of accents, it was longlisted for the Booker Prize...

If you're a young film-maker, here are my tips on creating a calling card that will open doors to a job in the industry

Film and TV have always been highly competitive industries, and no doors have ever opened without some serious pushing. And my sense is that the odds are longer these days for prospective new entrants. So that's partly what the Intergenerational Foundation/Nus/Guardian short film competition is about: no one can stop you making a little film and flexing your storytelling muscles. And a good short is a great calling-card.

Making drama and telling stories is a strange calling, and "calling" is the right word: the work chooses you. If you're reading this, and you're interested in entering the competition, you'll probably know what I'm talking about. Something drives you to tell stories even before you know what the stories are.

My own story is this.

This Year's superhero releases are not all about rising, avenging or web-spinning. Don't forget Griff The Invisible, which materialises on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK on April 16.

By day, Griff is just a shy, socially inept office worker, easily bullied and ignored. By night, he turns into a dark-suited vigilante to go fighting crimes and righting wrongs.

Unaware of this dual identity, his brother Tim (Patrick Brammall) is concerned about his behaviour and while trying to get him to socialise more, Griff meets the beautiful but obsessive scientist Melody (Maeve Dermody), who has discovered a way of walking through walls.

It's a dynamic team-up that unexpectedly unleashes new-found powers that will transform all their lives.

A quirky caped comedy that blends superheroics with romance, Griff The Invisible is the feature film debut of Leon Ford, a former actor who has appeared in The Pacific and Hex.

Shot on location in Sydney,...

Her tiny frame and bubble-light voice have made Shirley Henderson a shoo-in for roles such as Harry Potter's Moaning Myrtle – but don't be fooled she's a tough cookie

The first thing you notice about Shirley Henderson is that no one else notices her. Dressed in a demure, plain-coloured shift and clutching a handbag too small to carry more than a lipstick and purse, she slips quietly through the half-empty Glasgow cafe in which we've arranged to meet. She slides stealthily into the seat next to mine. An attempt at a kiss – air or cheek – would, I sense, be an error; Henderson prefers the professional formality of an army officer's handshake.

It would be a mistake to interpret Henderson's understated appearance as the attention-avoiding tactic of a mildly famous celebrity, though she has certainly taken roles that have granted her a modicum of fame – many will know her as the downtrodden...

Through being an English major, working in publishing and going to library school I have discovered an interesting thing about most serious book lovers: they have some sort of semi-secret trashy tendency. For some its romance novels, for others it is crime thrillers, or sci-fi. But almost every person I have met seems drawn to one genre of "pop" fiction or another. These are the kinds of people who will happily discuss Goethe or Delillo for hours, however, when they think no one is looking, they pick up a mass-market paperback. I do not exclude myself from their ranks. I love detective novels. This is a subject I briefly touched on before. When I am sick, stressed, or traveling I will always pick up a few.

This being the end of the semester with all the projects and presentations that always entails, I skittered over to the library and selected...

Scottish-born character actor Robert Carlyle is one of the most versatile thespians you're likely to meet. He's played a cold-blooded killer on the classic UK crime drama Cracker (1990), a police officer in the BBC drama Hamish Macbeth (1995-97), a psychopath in Trainspotting (1996), a strip-teasing steelworker in The Full Monty (1997), an international terrorist who feels no pain in the Bond film The World is Not Enough (1999), and an intelligence operative in 24: Redemption (2008).

And those are just a few highlights.

Inspired to take up acting after reading Arthur Miller's "The Crucible", the graduate of Glasgow Arts Centre probably never imagined, however, that a journey that began in Scotland's largest city would one day take him to distant worlds aboard an ancient starship. Yet, it is aboard the starship Destiny in a distant corner of the universe where Carlyle now finds himself, as he dons the persona of Dr. Nicholas Rush in Stargate Universe,...

SYDNEY -- Scottish producer Scott Meek has been appointed head of drama at the government-funded Australian Broadcasting Corp., which also announced Wednesday four key creative appointments to positions left vacant by resignations in recent months. Meek, currently CEO of Deep Indigo Prods., was for 14 years CEO of Zenith Prods., during which time it produced the hugely successful U.K. series Hamish Macbeth and Inspector Morse. He takes up the Sydney-based position in October.