Close up: Guardian film news, reviews and much, much more

The big story The trouble with Harry is that he's just everywhere . The seventh instalment in the boy wizard's adventures, the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, finally hit cinemas last Friday. By Monday it was clear writers the world over were going to have to dust off that "audiences have fallen under his spell" cliche yet again. So, let's keep this brief: it broke five records this side of the pond, another couple in the States . For more details, try Charles Gant's UK box office analysis and Jeremy Kay's Hollywood report . And if you want to discuss whether or not it revives the sequel as a format, check out David Cox's blog . Last Friday, too, James Russell wrote a really interesting piece about whether David Cameron was right to cite Harry as the model for British film-makers . The next biggest story Great news: Buffy the Vampire Slayer is going to be resurrected! But without Joss Whedon. Or Sarah Michelle Gellar. And, to make things worse, Whedon demonstrated afresh what a great writer he is with this brilliant email complaining . RIP Ingrid Pitt Hammer horror's favourite heroine (and the author of one of the finest-sounding books ever, The Ingrid Pitt Book of Murder, Torture and Depravity) died earlier this week . Sad news indeed, but it was undeniable fun assembling the gallery and clip blog celebrating her career. On Thursday we also learnt of her last project: a movie about her childhood spent partly in a Nazi concentrarion camp . In the news • Cambodian locals rename historic Ankor site the Angelina Jolie temple • Tim Burton asks Twitter for script advice • Johnny Depp confirmed as Tonto in Gore Verbinski's Lone Ranger film • Adrien Brody wins battle to block US sale of Dario Argento's Giallo • India planning starry remake of The Italian Job • Andrea Arnold has cast a black actor as Heathcliff in her remake of Wuthering Heights • Leonardo DiCaprio's going to play an FBI informant in a new JFK assassination drama • Lindsay Lohan apparently sacked from the Linda Lovelace film • And Daniel Day-Lewis will be Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's biopic (this one broke on Friday night, but it makes it into the weekly newsletter because it's just so damn exciting). On the blog • Scepticism about both the proposed casting of Matthew Good e and the reliance on special effects in Zack Snyder's reboot • What's with all the sex? Stuart Heritage on the trailer for Catherine (Twilight) Hardwicke's Little Red Riding Hood • Clip joint faced up to thorny morality • We loved this YouTube medley of Nic Cage rage moments • Diana Quick wrote about the transition from acting to programming a documentary film festival • Matt Ford investigated the new wave of Pakistani film-making Other site highlights • Oscar-winning producer Jeremy Thomas and actor Marina Hands joined Jason Solomons on the podcast , as did Peter Bradshaw, who was on hand to help review the week's big releases. • Jason also spoke to Anton Corbijn in the director's chair • Andrew Pulver met Patrick Keiller , film historian behind the Robinson and London films • Paul MacInnes digested the screenplay for Sex and the City 2 ( and created a speaking part for one special bit of Kim Cattrall's anatomy ) Coming up in the paper Tomorrow's Film & Music has reviews of all the new releases, including George Clooney in The American and Keira Knightley and Colin Farrell in London Boulevard, plus an interview with American director Anton Corbjin, Jude Rogers on public information films and David Thomson's biographical dictionary of film entry on Tina Fey. Stand by also for a first review of Cher and Christina Aguliera's diva smackdown Burlesque, and a feature about Bollywood and irony. On Saturday the Guide runs its hands over improvised weaponry in film, inspired by Robert Rodriguez's Machete, while on Sunday in the Observer Jason Solomons rounds up those films already attracting awards buzz. Online tomorrow Danny Leigh, fresh from the Film 2010 sofa, will be blogging on Alex Cox's "lost" 1987 punk rock spaghetti western Straight To Hell, which has just been reissued, while Ben Child will be writing about chameleon actors and Mike McCahill introduces those most mysterious of awards, the Irina Palm d'Or. Plus, we've a Reel review of runaway train drama Unstoppable, and an exclusive clip from Sofia Coppola's Somewhere. Thanks for reading; do email in with comments and suggestions. Somehow come to this page but not through your email? Here's how to sign up to Close Up Still want more? You can go on a two-day film appreciation course with speakers including Xan Brooks and Danny Leigh, run from Guardian HQ in Kings Cross. And you can follow @guardianfilm on Twitter