barnesgonzo: Close up: Back in the Hobbit

Catch up with the last seven days in the world of film

The big story

Is there any more eagerly anticipated film that The Hobbit? If so, this week go down as a bit of a downer in the blockbuster annals, for footage unveiled at CinemaCon - a starry jamboree in Vegas for multiplex owners - has been found slightly lacking. Ten minutes shot in the hot potato 48 frames-per-second format (for which Peter Jackson cheerleads) left some punters unconvinced.

"It reminds me of when I first saw Blu-Ray, in that it takes away that warm feeling of film," one chain owner said. "It looked to me like a behind-the-scenes featurette."

"It looked like a made-for-TV movie," another projectionist told the LA Times. "It was too accurate – too clear. The contrast ratio isn't there yet – everything looked either too bright or black."

Some good pointers there for Jackson, who still has half a year to tinker or even reshoot, ahead of a December 2012 release. That's not the case for Christopher Nolan, whose The Dark Knight Rises wasn't enormously happily received at the end of last year when its opening scenes were screened in for happily-excited fanboys, only for them to complain they couldn't understand a word of what Tom Hardy's was saying. That film opens here on 20 July, but a sizzle reel aired at CinemaCon was deemed much cleaner, and "inarguably epic". You can't argue with that.

In the news

Charlie Kaufman to adapt The Knife of Never Letting Go

Mel Gibson in talks to join Machete sequel

Michael Moore predicts phone-hacking scandal will spread to Fox News

Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street book to become Virgin feature film

Cannes 2012: festival jurors announced

Pixar hoping Day of the Dead will offer a new lease of life

Charlotte Gainsbourg signs up for more controversy with Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac

Twickenham Film Studios gets a lifeline

Philip K Dick estate to revive legal battle over The Adjustment Bureau

Lindsay Lohan to play Elizabeth Taylor in new film

On the blog

Week in geek: Can The Dark Knight rise to the task?

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen reels in older viewers at the UK box office

Avengers Assemble disarms the critics

Indonesian cinema: primed for action

Think Like a Man devours The Hunger Games at US box office

Cine-files: The Cube Microplex

Clip joint: Maniacal laughs

Watch and listen

Glenn Close as Albert Nobbs: watch an exclusive clip

Avengers Assemble cast: 'They're like one big, dysfunctional family'

Avengers Assemble: watch the trailer

Flick teaser: Magic Mike seeks to uncover the naked truth about stripper movies

Elfie Hopkins: watch the trailer

In the paper

In Film & Music on Friday, find out what Peter Bradshaw thinks of Avengers Assemble, Damsels in Distress, Albert Nobbs and all the week's film releases. Plus Eugene Levy talks about returning as Jim's dad in American Pie: Reunion, Steve Rose reports from the set of Ben Rivers's Two Years at Sea and we spend 30 minutes with Kevin Clash; aka the man behind (or beneath) Elmo. Plus in the news section, Andrew Pulver reports from Sundance London in the O2 centre. In the Guide on Saturday, there's a feature on She Monkeys and John Patterson sings the praises of Jason Statham, while in the Observer New Review on Sunday, there's a Q&A with Mia Hansen Love, director of Goodbye First Love.

On the site tomorrow

Stand by for our inaugural video Film Show, in which Xan Brooks and Peter Bradshaw discuss the week's new releases, we meet the stars of the big new films, and much much more. One colleague called it "hugely distracting" when we shot some of it in the office this morning. Will you be similarly gripped? Plus, news, galleries and David Cox on whether Avengers Assemble is the most dreadful title of all time.