Sharks have always held a strong affinity with the big screen, ever since Steven Spielberg created Jaws and had people running out of the cinema in shock and horror, breaking box office records in the process. An obsession with these beasts lurking beneath the surface of the water, rising up from the shadows, has given great subject matter for film directors all over the world.

Now a new shark infested instalment is ready and waiting to be released, with a brand new trailer, and that film is Darktide. From the directors of Blue Crush and Into The Blue, comes another sub aquatic mega film starring Halle Berry as the leading lady and Olivier Martinez in support.

The trailer is extremely ambiguous, but hints upon a life changing experiences with a shark of Halle Berry's character Sara. The adventurous heroine is enamoured with the thrill of close encounters with the Great White swimming around the remote Guadalupe Island. She does this without the protection of a steal cage, swimming freely with the monsters with just a snorkel.

However, a grave error on the part of her husband leaves his wife's safety in jeopardy and a close meeting with the jaws of death leaves the marriage near breakdown. Swimming with these fierce and beautiful creatures is put on hold all of sudden.

Looking back over the list of former presidents of the United States, there are many names which immediately jump out for their notoriety today, none more so than Abraham Lincoln. There are many strange facts about honest Abe, one being he remains to this day the tallest man ever to be elected President, having stood at 6”4. Strangely for a nation shrouded in Religious fervour, Lincoln also had some rather supernatural beliefs in the occult.

This latest film centres around the plight of the 18th President, as he discovers the existence of a race of vampires, who seek to overthrow the United States and feast on the blood of the living. Abraham Lincoln makes it his sole mission to prevent this from happening and slay as many of the critters as he possible can in the process.

Burton is revered the world over for the obscure themes and dark overtones of his films, and he is a long-time collaborator with Johnny Depp. However, a new collaboration could be in the pipeline with rising star Benjamin Walker in the lead role. It is not easy to wear the huge hat of Abraham Lincoln while fighting Vampires and saving the world from total dissolution, but Walker excels.

Much of the recent positive attention lavished upon British director Steve McQueen's latest movie Shame has focused on the continuing, fruitful relationship between McQueen and leading man Michael Fassbender. Shame is the second collaboration between the pair, who worked together on McQueen's acclaimed debut Hunger and are set to join forces once more on his third film Twelve Years A Slave, due out sometime later this year.

The general consensus is that working in tandem brings the best out of both artists, which makes one think about the other great directing and acting duos of cinema history. The obvious place to begin is, of course, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro who, over a remarkable 22 year period teamed up to produce 8 films, many of which are commonly cited as being amongst the best of all time. With work such as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas on their collaborative CV, Scorsese and De Niro have claim to being the most extraordinarily consistent director- actor partnership in the history of cinema.

Yet there are many other partnerships which challenge for the title. What about Tim Burton and Johnny Depp whose shared sense of humour and pathos so enriched Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood, amongst other titles? Or Alfred Hitchcock and Cary Grant, whose partnership produced suspense classics like North by Northwest and To Catch a Thief? More recently David Fincher has done much of his most potent work in collaboration with Brad Pitt, who brought a sense of likability to his hard edged thriller Seven and a sense of raw physicality to his anarchic Fight Club.

A new, potentially explosive, addition to the dirty cop genre of procedural crime movies Rampart will be landing on UK screens in February of this year. Starring Woody Harrelson, Steve Buscemi and Sigourney Weaver and helmed by Israeli writer/ director Oren Moverman (whose debut film The Messenger earned Harrelson an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 2009) Rampart is based on the true life story of the fallout which followed the notorious LAPD Rampart scandal of the late 90s. That scandal, in which a group of LA Detectives were accused of everything from drug peddling to armed robbery to involvement in the Biggie Smalls shooting , had plenty of material for an exciting movie so fans of the genre would appear to have plenty to look forward to.

Adding more intrigue to the story is the presence of the famously cantankerous crime novelist James Ellroy on the credits as a co-writer. Ellroy, whose formidable body of work includes classics like LA Confidential, American Tabloid and My Dark Places, has had a somewhat difficult relationship with Hollywood during his long and storied career and has never been shy about criticising the film industry. However, it is his original draft of the screenplay that Moverman took on and shaped into the finished film and, apparently, the easily displeased Ellroy is happy with the results.

Further flavour is added to the film by the reaction of Harrelson to the final cut. Harrelson professed to be unhappy with Overman's finished cut on first viewing but on second viewing came to the conclusion that it was “one of the greatest things to ever happen to me in my career.”

It is common to hear critics on the more self-consciously “serious” edges of film journalism accuse modern cinema of being, creatively, on its knees. Usually this is argued by citing the box office Top 10 populated, as it generally is, with CGI heavy Hollywood fare. “Where are the great artists of the1970s?” they have asked repeatedly to the point that it has become a kind of accepted truth: that movies are just not as good as they used to be and there is no longer an audience for creatively interesting filmmaking.

Yet, when looking back at film in 2011, one is struck by just how many brilliant and brilliantly creative movies were released and how many of them broke through at the box office. Think of things like Black Swan, True Grit, 127 Hours, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Drive – all praised by critics, all true expressions of their directors' artistic visions and all, crucially, box office hits. None of them looked in anyway compromised by commercial concerns nor “dumbed down” to appeal to the lowest common denominator. 

A glance at the more definitively arty end of the spectrum in the last year also reveals a great richness in the vision of today's filmmakers – We Need To Talk About Kevin, La Quattro Volte, Kill List, Animal Kingdom and Cave of Forgotten Dreams are just a few examples of the truly maverick nature of so much that came from cinema's periphery in the last year.

And then look at the box office Top Ten itself, the list that we are so often told represents all that is wrong with modern filmmaking. With, The King's Speech, The Inbetweeners' Movie, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Bridesmaids on the list it can hardly be considered lacking creative merit. Plus, the fact that the top 5 of last year all took more than 50 million in the UK alone is further testament to just how healthy and thriving the industry is.

So, huge audiences in the multiplexes, big name directors taking massive risks on interesting, popular movies and a thriving art house scene.

New movies are produced every day worldwide; featuring big and small names, as well as new up-and-coming actors. Movies are all made with different budgets, which depend on varying factors such as the requirements of the film and the amount of money available. Plenty of films do make a substantial loss, but often they can make a significant profit. There is one thing that is rarely achieved and that is hitting the BILLION Dollar mark.

This 2008 movie features Christian Bale as Batman, as well as Aaron Eckhart and Heath Ledger among other well-known faces in the supporting cast. The budget for this movie is estimated to have been $185,000,000.

There are several films in this series, including At the world's end, On stranger tides and Dead Man's Chest. Out of all these, it is the Dead Man's Chest that reached the billion dollar club. Its budget is estimated to have been $300,000,000.

3. The Lord of the Rings (2003) – ($1,129,219,252) 

This movie had an estimated budget of $94,000,000. Just like the Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings was a series of films and it was The Return of the King that proved to be the most successful and reach sales of over a billion dollars.

The sole romantic movie that has made the list, produced with a budget of $200,000,000, Titanic, featured one of the highest paid actors of all time, Leonardo DiCaprio, in his biggest ever movie.

If you are a child of the 90s you might have watched some of the great kung fu films. Today such movies are hard to find. The video libraries seem to get rid of the old movies and in the near future you may struggle to easily find a “Shaolin Temple” DVD. For those from the 90s generation, there are times when you need a good old kung fu film.

1. Drunken Master. This is probably one of the lowest budget movies that Jackie Chan ever acted in. As successful as it is, there are neither explosives nor guns involved. This is a movie you want to watch right to the end. Jackie Chan is sent to his uncle who teaches him kung fu as a punishment. He hates every moment of it, but when a renowned killer beats him up, he uses his new skills to get revenge.

2. Fist of fury. Also called the Big Boss. For those who have watched Bruce Lee movies, you must agree that none of his movies can be underestimated. This movie was released in 1971 and was a common household name. Bruce Lee promised his uncle that he would live a life free of violence, but all that changes when his cousins go missing.

3. Seven Samurai. This 1954 movie is one that you will not want to miss. The story, which will keep you hooked until the end, is about seven samurai fighters who are hired by a small village for their protection. A problem occurs when a group of bandits outnumber the samurai fighters and the only thing for them to do is to teach the villagers how to defend themselves.

The competition in Hollywood is always high. You never know who has made the most money in a particular year until it is over and all the films have been released. A movie is brought out and you may think that some is going to earn the most money. But, before you realise, another blockbuster has been released and somebody else is edging up the list.

1. At the top of the list is the creator of Avatar, James Cameron, of the Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Unsurprisingly, he got to this position because of Avatar. He made $ 248 million out of the film. In addition to that he landed a $5 million deal for the toy licensing. As well as $4 million from previous film projects. That brings his earning total to a staggering $257 million.

2. In second place is Johnny Depp. His estimated earnings in 2011 were $100 million. He works exclusively with United Talent Agency. As you may notice the difference between Johnny's earnings and that of James Cameron is quite substantial. He was paid $40 million for starring in “Alice in Wonderland” movie and then $35 million as an up-front payment for “Pirates of the Caribbean”. He also received $20 million for acting in “The Tourist”, then $5 million from previous projects.

3. Third in the list is Steven Spielberg. A Director and producer with CAA. His 2011 earnings are estimated to be around $80 million dollars. $50 million of that was from consultation fees, $20 million from producing and directing “War Horse” and from previous projects he earned an estimated $10 million.

First dates are traditionally used as a way of getting to know somebody that you like a little bit better. Although, this is not 100% true today. Technology has done its part to quicken the process and made getting to know one another a lot easier. Due to the availability of mobile phones and the internet, most people nowadays only meet each other when they know literally know everything already. Because you already know so much about your date, meeting for a movie is a great idea.

If you have ever fallen in love, you know that the beginning of a relationship is the part that you will never forget. For this reason, when considering the right film, you want to keep things positive and happy. You don't want to watch something that will make either of you sad, scared or embarrassed.

Before choosing the movie, have an idea of what you want to watch, and make sure you know all about it. It is a wise idea to watch a movie you have already seen before. This way, you will know what happens, and you won't be taken by surprise and end up ruining a perfect evening.ou sad, scared or embarrassed.

Get to know each other's likes and dislikes. Many romantic movies are mixed with other scenes. Take for example “The Pirates of the Caribbean”. It is a love story that also contains scenes of adventure and comedy that anyone can enjoy on the first date. But this will only work if you both like Hollywood blockbusters. When choosing a movie, keep the other person's passions in mind. One way to see what they like is to check their Facebook page, where people often list their favourite movies. 

It seems like every time a film does well at the box office, movie studio executives want to make a sequel, or even a prequel out of it to earn some extra cash. The problem is that it is sometimes tough to follow a really good film with another. Out of all the sequels that have ever been made, it is much easier to list the weakest than the good ones.

Titanic II - The first Titanic film was one of the highest grossing blockbusters of all time. Titanic II did not even make it to the cinemas; instead it went straight to DVD. While most people saw the first Titanic when it was released, very few have seen its sequel. 

Saw III to VI - What started out as a horror movie with a refreshingly different plotline has become a redundant series of films. On the success of the first Saw movie, there have been 5 others made since, released annually. The plot has not been injected with new life since the first sequel and the originality of the movie has long disappeared.

Sex and the City II - Millions of women, and some blokes too, around the world spent years following the love and sex lives of Carrie Bradshaw and co. during the television series' many years. Once the show finished, a movie was made based with the same characters and actors. But, the second instalment of the film did not live up to expectations, despite the big budget, exotic location and designer clothes.