Sofia Coppola's Somewhere has scooped the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The bittersweet drama sees Hollywood actor (Stephen Dorff) attempting to connect with his estranged daughter (Elle Fanning) amidst his LA lifestyle.

Picking up the Festival's top prize, the vote for Venice's top film came as a surprise to many - it got mixed reviews, but was highly regarded by the jury. Led by Quentin Tarantino, Coppola's former boyfriend, the panel included Danny Elfman, screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga, and director Arnaud Desplechin.

Accepting the award, Sofia Coppola said she was "so proud to win the Golden Lion," before thanking her father for teaching her. In response to suggestions of favouritism, Tarantino commented: "Sure, I created guidelines but she won it fair and square and unanimously. The other members of the Jury don't know her at all. They just loved the film. We kept coming back to it, as one of us said, because "it's a great fucking movie", all right?"

Coppola's victory follows Kathryn Bigelow's triumph at the Oscars this year. But Avatar still won something here: it took home the all-new high-definition Persol 3D Award for The Most Creative 3D Film of the Year. Or something.

Read on for a full list of Venice Film Festival awards.

It's not looking good for The Hurt Locker on Sunday. Not only has one of its producers been banned from the ceremony (due to over-soliciting votes from Academy members), but now, according to The Guardian, Kathryn Bigelow's intense war film is faced with a lawsuit. 

38-year-old Serfeant Jeffrey Sarver, member of the army's Explosive Ordnance Disposal team, has claimed that Jeremy Renner's chraracter, Will James, is based on him. Summit Entertainment have responded that the character is purely fictitious despite Sarver's lawyer's argument that his life has been stolen.

The key is Mark Boal's screenplay, which he wrote after a 2005 stint in Iraq as a journalist for Playboy magazine. The lawsuit states that Sarver gave Boal details like the call-sign "Blaster One", which were then incorporated into the film. Sarver argues that Hollywood has "made billions exploiting veterans", but held off his lawsuit until after the Academy's voting period had finished.

Whether this backlash against Bigelow's movie - made for much less than its heated rival, James Cameron's Avatar - is a result of the contest between the two lead films is a matter of opinion. Bad-mouthing other contenders is a commonplace tradition (although The Hurt Locker seems to have been punished more than most), but a lawsuit is a new form of attack.

Ironically, alongside Sarver's claims that the realistic Hurt Locker is a little too realistic, other soldiers have stepped forward and criticised Mark Boal's screenplay in the LA Times for being "inaccurate" and "sloppy". Last year, Slumdog Milllionaire was heavily slated for supposedly exploiting Indian child actors. It ended up winning Best Picture.

Oh, what a night for British film! The BAFTAs got handed out to a gaggle of great talent tonight. Not only did Duncan Jones get his welcome reward for his Outstanding British Debut, but Colin Firth and Carey Mulligan waltzed off with the Best Actor prizes - a nice score for the home crowd, with both of them fully deserving the win.

Meanwhile, An Education got beaten to Costume and Make-Up by the equally English Young Victoria, spreading the national love around a bit - Fish Tank got a nice surprise as Outstanding British Film, again trumping Lone Scherfig's favourite. Other obvious victories came for Christoph Waltz and Mo'Nique as Supporting Actors, with Up bagging both Best Score and Best Animation.

But it was The Hurt Locker which emerged at the top of the heap. Capitalising on its 8 nominations, it wiped the board with rival flick Avatar, nicking the well earned technical awards for Editing and Cinematography, alongside Sound and Original Screenplay (Adapted went to the lovely Up in the Air).

Avatar got Visual Effects and Production Design, but that was it for Cameron's blue box office horse. And rightly so. The Hurt Locker, which won Best Director with ease, ended the night crowned Best Film. There wasn't a single person in the room who could argue with that one.

Kristen Stewart, naturally, won the Rising Star Award - mostly thanks to the frantic support of her fans, all of whom were able to have their say in the public's vote.

Now the attention goes to the Oscars, where tonight's results may foreshadow (but not influence) the outcome across the Atlantic. For America's Academy, Jeff Bridges may be a better fit than Colin Firth and Sandra Bullock has a high chance of winning for The Blind Side. And, even more crucially, Cameron's financial success may well earn Avatar's producers Best Film (although Bigelow's Best Director is pretty much guaranteed now).

But before we get carried away, it's worth reading on for the full list of all our glorious British winners. Or even checking out the (semi-)live tweeting that we were bored enough to bring you. And then you can wonder about who'll win the Oscar. It certainly won't be Kristen Stewart.

Ok, so it's a little late in the day for this - in fact, the awards are already actually happening - but I'm avoiding any live feeds and sticking with the BBC coverage like the rest of the public (I wasn't allowed into the ceremony this year after I assaulted James McAvoy two years ago).

But with the Writers Guild awards giving the goods to The Hurt Locker and Up in the Air, James Cameron's hold on the evening is looking a little less firm. Will Avatar take home the big awards? I really hope not. And I don't think it will so far from its home shores; this is Britain's Academy and I like to think it's a little less swayed by box office takings.

On that naive note, here's a brief rundown of my predictions for tonight. Best Film and Director will hopefully go to The Hurt Locker and Kathryn Bigelow, with Cameron picking up the visual effects award - Hurt Locker will take all the technical visuals, because it's such an impressive piece of art. Avatar just has blue people in it.

Outstanding Debut will obviously go to Duncan Jones for the incredible Moon, which doesn't get much of a look in otherwise. Best British Film will head to An Education (but Fish Tank is the film that should really win it). As for writing awards, it's all about Up in the Air and The Hurt Locker (but I'd love it if A Serious Man and In The Loop won instead). I want Let the Right One In to get Best Foreign Film, but it will most likely go to A Prophet - Haneke triumphed in Cannes, but us Brits prefer prison flicks that are gritty and stylish. With Up scooping Best Animated and Best Score, the only other place where an upset might happen is Best Actor; could Colin Firth unsettle the near-certain Jeff Bridges? Not in America, but on his home turf? It's quite possible. As for Carey Mulligan? Well, she's clearly the Best Actress around (a special thank you to Sandra Bullock for not being nominated).

And finally, the Orange Rising Star? Well, I want Carey Mulligan to carry as many masks home as possible, but with all the fans of Twilight taking over the country, I can imagine that Kristen Stewart is a tiny bit of a favourite. Did you know Robert Pattinson will be there too? Commence screaming now. Then read on for the full predictions (in italics).

Jeremy Renner, Oscar nominated star of The Hurt Locker, has been a busy boy on the awards circuit. But now, after gaining some well-deserved attention for his role in Kathryn Bigelow's intense war film, Renner's been raking in offers non-stop.

First up is The Raven, from Ninja Assassin's director James McTeigue, which is an attempt to mash up Edgar Allen Poe's life (that'll be fiction, then) with a murder-mystery. That has Ewan McGregor lined up for it too.

The second is Peter Berg's Battleship, which would be a fairly high profile blockbuster turn. The sci-fi action flick, based of course on the board game, will no doubt involve ships battling it out against aliens in some kind of battle of ships. That'll be turning up in 2012.

But the most intriguing offering is a third, unknown project, which Renner isn't revealing. All we know is he's had 5 meetings about it, and that it will most likely clash with Battleship. No word on what it is yet. But I'm still hoping it might be Captain America...

Director: Tom Ford
Cast: Colin Firth, Nicholas Hoult, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode
Certificate: 15
Trailers and Clips

It's hard not be completely enraptured by some films. Detailing a single day in the single life of Professor George Falconer (Firth), A Single Man sees the Brit dealing with the loss of his long-term partner Jim (Goode) in a car accident. Standing in class, staring at nothing, George is lonely, sad, and incredibly sexy. It's hard not to notice that. The sexiness.

It's only a matter of days before Tom Ford's visually sumptuous tale of grief and sexy glasses hits the big screen. But don't dawdle about daydreaming of Colin Firth and his poor bereaved soul - check out these two exclusive new clips from A Single Man, featuring Matthew Goode, Colin Firth, BAFTA Rising Star Nominee Nicholas Hoult and Julianne Moore.

Check back on Friday for our review but until then, head over to our videos section for the glamorous trailer. Or read on for a brief look at the stunning world debut director Tom Ford has managed to capture on camera.

They're in. They're here. They're predictably all pointing towards Avatar and The Hurt Locker. Shame about the first bit there, but Cameron and Mrs Non-Cameron are squaring up with nine nominations apiece for their movies. And maybe, just maybe, The Hurt Locker might bag the majority of those.

Naturally, they're both up for the two biggies, but it's nice to see Kathryn Bigelow's brilliant war film pick up a Best Actor nomination for Jeremy Renner too. Although with Jeff Bridges in there for Crazy Heart, it's likely the Oscar is going his way - sorry, Colin Firth, but it's not a year for British actors.

British Actresses, on the other hand. Well, we've got Helen Mirren for The Last Station, as well as Carey Mulligan for An Education. Neither will get it with Sandra Bullock up for grabs, but hey, it's good to have our ladies honoured in passing at least. As for Supporting Actors, those are pretty much a given, too, with Mo'Nique and Christoph Waltz both nominated for their award-winning roles.

The best news for me is Best Adapted Screenplay, which sees not only Nick Hornby pick up his first nod for An Education, but also Armando Ianucci for In the Loop. I'll just repeat that again: In the Loop. Armando Ianucci. It's worth repeating, partly because it's brilliant but also because Academy President Tom Sherak can't pronounce his name correctly. Once again: Ianucci.

Anne Hathaway had no problem reeling off the other names on the list, with Costume and Art Direction seeing The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus receive some worthy creative attention - alongside Avatar, of course. Visual Effects obviously also mentioned the blue people (who thankfully didn't get any writing nominations), but it's stuff like Editing where Avatar might easily lose out to Bigelow's The Hurt Locker; while each have a raft of contenders, some of the technical categories could easily swing any which way.

Animation, naturally, sees Up at the front of the pack - with Fantastic Mr Fox, Coraline and even Princess and the Frog, but curiously no Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. But Up is also now playing with the big boys over in the Best Picture arena. Yes, with the major Oscar now extended to 10 entries, there's a chance for the more audience friendly fare to get a look in. Naturally, that means that Moon, Star Trek, A Single Man and (500) Days of Summer are nowhere near any of them. Instead we have Avatar, Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds (which is too heavily nominated with 8), Up in the Air (a solid 6 nods), Precious, A Serious Man, An Education, District 9 (a pleasant inclusion), Up and The Blind Side. Yes, The Blind Side. The Sandra Bullock thing.

So with no Moon, no Road and no (500) Days of Summer anywhere on the list, this year's Oscars are the usual mix of America-friendly biopics, box office smashes and heartfelt dramas. It's great to have an outsider like District 9 step into position, not to mention the wonderful A Serious Man, but if Young Victoria and Coco Before Chanel can get in there for Costumes, it seems unfair to completely dismiss Clint Mansell's score for Moon, or (500) Days' screenplay. Still, Jason Reitman's nominated for stuff. So I'm happy. The rest I blame on Sandra Bullock.

The Oscars will be happening live here on Sunday 7th March - expect big, multi-platform, cross-blogging coverage - in the wee small hours of the morning. I'll put up my predictions in the interim weeks. Until then, read on for the full list of nominees. And then leave your angry comments below. 

It was cold, it was dark - we don't blame you for not being there. But it was a classy affair when Colin Firth stepped out in Mayfair last night for the premiere of his BAFTA (and now Oscar) nominated film, A Single Man.

Detailing the grief of a bereaved college professor after his male partner passes away, it's a sad and nuanced performance from the lead man, which will see many swoon even more than before. Especially given that the film's set in the 60s and directed by fashion legend Tom Ford.

Stylish suits, glamorous dresses, shiny cars - it's a pleasure to behold the period glitz. But why wait for two weeks until the film comes out? Get your fix now with the exclusive video highlights of last night's premiere. And try not to dribble too much. Colin wouldn't approve.

Read on for the super pretty footage, or head over here to see the movie's trailer. And don't say we don't spoilt you.

The Golden Raspberry Awards - the definitive celebration of all things cinematic and shambolic - have announced their nominations for 2010. With 2009 full to the brim of terrible movies, there's a lot for the Razzies to pick from. And of course, in any contest the one mostly like to win is the giant robot. So Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is leading the pack with 7 nominations, also joined by the dreadful Will Ferrell film, Land of the Lost. Just behind on six? Why, it's G.I Joe! It's all obvious stuff to point out, but this is what the Razzies do so well: point at the festering turd in the room and laugh.

The winners are announced on the eve of the Academy Awards - Saturday 6th March - and ever since Halle Berry turned up to collect hers, there's always that outside chance that some game star will attend the ceremony. Here's looking at you, Michael Bay. Read on for the full list of stinking crap.