Paula Patton has signed on to star in Mission: Impossible 4, the sequel that Paramount will not be calling Mission: Impossible 4. Patton won the role shortly after Jeremy Renner was picked to appear in the ongoing franchise as a fellow young agent.

M:I Goes Fourth is aimed to be a sort of reboot, with Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec's script seeing Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt pass the baton down to Patton and friends. Directed by Brad Bird, and produced by JJ Abrams, the $140m sequel will involve Cruise taking on another somewhat unfeasible task with a team that also includes Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg.

You will have last seen Patton in Precious, where she played an ultra-thin lesbian role model teacher - a natural pre-cursor for this part. You will have also seen her in Deja Vu and Mirrors, if you like to watch bad movies.

Patton will presumably play Cruise's love interest in the movie, which begs the question: what happened to that wife he was so keen about last time round?

The Impossible Mission: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire starts shooting this autumn.

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).

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. 

Director: Lee Daniels
Cast: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz
Certificate: 15

Life is hard when you come from a broken home. Especially one where your mum ritually beats you, your dad raped you and you're vastly overweight. For Precious (Sidibe), this is life. Then, to top it all off, she discovers she's pregnant with her father's baby again. So she gets kicked out of school and into 'alternative' education, where she can become an educated woman - all is not lost, it seems, because she's good at Maths. Can you feel your heart warming yet?