Love at first bite.

Romance and vampires do the trick in Stephenie Meyer's best-selling Twilight saga and its latest movie adaptation New Moon.

There's something about an ordinary girl falling for a drop-dead-gorgeous vampire who's willing to sacrifice himself for her love that makes teens go gaga.

In fact, Twilight vampires sacrifice their thirst for blood in return for a highly romanticised concept of love that makes good girls go bad.

But there's no need to lock up your daughters when RPattz's in town as Meyer's vampires get little wish-fulfilment. They may well be the ultimate sex icons but they can't enjoy any of it.

Twilight is for many a Mormon's tale that boils in desire but remains disturbingly unconsummated in an attempt to promote chastity and abstinence.

There's gorgeous Edward and a whole bunch of shirtless werewolves but none of them would dare to touch the film's heroine, Bella. This ain't Gossip Girl!

At the end of the day, this vampire romance is written by a straitlaced Mormon who doesn’t drink alcohol or smoke and had never read a vampire book or seen an R-rated movie prior to the release of Twilight.

As film critic Andrew O'Hagan explains "the fundamental problem lies in the film’s philosophy, which hankers constantly after a creepy purity imposed from above."

In Meyer's world the young and beautiful are doomed and love seems unobtainable. But for thousands of adolescents across the world abstinence has never been so sexy.

No matter how dangerously patronising or ridiculously puritanical the Twilight phenomenon may seem it's here to stay...And fans can't get enough of it!

Keep reading "No sex in New Moon please, we're vampires", here.

Photo Credit: Vanity Fair magazine outtakes.

Images by © Peggy Sirota/Corbis Outline

James Cameron works his Avatar magic!

The countdown for the 3-D epic blockbuster Avatar is finally on and James Cameron's fans are already hyperventilating.

Avatar is surely the season's hottest ticket for both movie goers and critics alike. The hype around it grows bigger by the day and it's rather contagious.

The reasons behind the euphoria are fairly simple; Avatar is James Cameron's first movie after his smashing hit Titatic that won him 11 Oscars and made a colossal £1.8 billion worldwide box office.

Will Cameron produce something as big and exciting? Can he please both the critics and his legions of fans? Will it be both cash and kudos for Avatar?

An eye-popping, heart-stopping, jaw-dropping scifi adventure that will take 3D movies to a whole new level and may well be the industry's ultimate weapon against piracy.

Avatar is a $500 million big-screen extravaganza that will play on over 8,000 3D screens worldwide and more than 16,000 2D cinemas across the globe.

It is the most expensive Hollywood blockbuster ever made that is bound to revolutionise cinema after a long ten year in-the-making process combining top digital 3D imagery and live action.

Avatar tells the story of Jack Sully; a paraplegic ex-marine war veteran sent to establish a human settlement on the distant planet of Pandora.

But the blue-skinned, 9ft tall alien N'avi natives make this task rather complicated and Sully must infiltrate in their community transplanting his human DNA into N'Avi "avatars.

However things don't go as planned when Sully falls in love and goes local fighting against human destruction.

Avatar hits theatres worldwide December 18.

The stars of Nine are Vogue Ladies

US Vogue goes behind the scenes of the upcoming musical Nine with the film's leading ladies Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard and Kate Hudson looking picture perfect.

They talk movies, dance routines, fashion and living la dolce vita in this new adaptation of Federico Fellini's iconic film 81/2 .

Hollywood royalty brought together by Chicago's director Rob Marshall to play the roles that made Marcello Mastroianni and Claudia Cardinale international stars during the sixties.

This all-star cast is completed by Daniel Day-Lewis, Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie, Judi Dench and Italian diva Sophia Loren looking better than ever. Talk about a Hollywood overdose.

Nine is the story of famous film director Guido Contini as he suffers from director's block and struggles to put his personal life back on track.

He tries to balance his creative troubles and the many women in his life, including his wife, played Cotillard, his mistress, played by Cruz, his muse, played by Kidman, and his agent played by Dench.

Contini is also confronted by a journalist played by Hudson, a prostitute, played by Fergie, and his omnipresent mamma played by Loren.

Read the complete Vogue interview here.

Zac Efron is still a High School sweetheart

Surely London girls are going gaga over Hollywood's leading men; first it was the Twilight gang and now it's the High School Musical star Zac Efron!

The 22-year-old worked the red carpet in true Hollywood style during the Leicester Square UK premiere of his latest film Me and Orson Welles.

The perma-tanned Efron proved once again that, when it comes to keeping fan girls happy, no one does it better than him.

The former Disney star was all smiles as he signed autographs for an army of hyperventilating teens while posing for the cameras outside the cinema entrance.

He was joined by co-stars Claire Danes- who plays Efron's love interest- and Christian McKay who steals the show as the iconic Orson Welles in this coming-of-age period drama set in 1937 New York.

Me and Orson Welles is the story of a teen actor who stars in Welles' Julius Caesar theatre production and ends up falling for a rather ambiticious assistant.

Bite me, RPattz!

Thousands of Twilight fans flocked to the New Moon premiere at London's Battersea Evolution arena attended by British heartthrob Robert Pattinson.

Damsels in distress, sexy vampires and hot werewolves made the day for thousands of schoolgirls who queued for long hours just to catch a glimpse of the saga's leading man.

The 23-year-old RPattz was all smiles while working the red carpet in true Hollywood style in front of his GCSE fan base screaming their hearts out "Bit me, Rob!".

Pattinson's co-star and onscreen werewolf rival- the 17-year-old Taylor Lautner- seemed to enjoy the attention of his UK Team Jacob fans. New Moon's leading lady Kristen Stewart did not seem as happy but that's not unusual really...

The Twilight Saga: New Moon opens across UK cinemas this Friday. Lock up your daughters, the sexiest vampire in town is back!

Exclusive Steven Soderbergh film preview

Ocean's Twelve director Steven Soderbergh's new movie premieres next month but you can now catch a glimpse of his upcoming The Girlfriend Experience at the BFI Southbank venue today.

As part of this exclusive BFI preview, Londoners will get a first look of Soderbergh's new drama set in the days leading up to the 2008 US Presidential elections and meet the film's star Sasha Grey.

The Girlfriend Experience tells the story of a Manhattan call-girl (played by adult film star Sasha Grey) as she encounters broke bankers, erotic bloggers and a sexy personal trailer.

An experimental film shot and edited by Soderbergh where he explores "the fraught relationship between our professional and personal lives" in the age of post-crisis.

As if credit crunch drama wasn't enough, we get to see a porn star hitting the big screen making this movie a rather hot ticket!

Meet Sasha Grey:

You better not mess with Sir Michael Caine!

Michael Caine's new movie hits the screen with a bang as yobs, hoodies and druggies from London's worst council states give him a really, really bad time.

Caine is Harry Brown, an East-London pensioner who sees how lifelong friend Len is savagely murdered by a bunch of blood-loving yobs.

Police becomes increasingly inefficient and Len's death is likely to be soon forgotten. This is when Harry Brown steps in and decides to take matters into his own hands.

Good-old Harry rescues his long-forgotten rough ways as a former Royal Marine and the hunt begins...Justice has never been so bloody and fun to watch!

Described as a modern urban western, this indie thriller from first-time director Daniel Barber is a shocking and brutal portrayal of the hoodie sub-culture in the so-called Broken Britain.

Michael "King of Cool" Caine on Harry Brown:

11th BFI International Film Festival

The 11th BFI International Film Festival- the UK's largest Black world cinema event- kicks off today at the BFI Southbank venue for the second year running.

The festival opens with the award-winning documentary Good Hair-produced and narrated by US comedy star Chris Rock- where he attempts to answer his 4-year-old daughter -How come I don't have good hair?-dilemma.

By good hair she means long, straight and shiny hair as opposed to her natural curly African and apparently impossible to manage hair.

Rock then embarks on a mission across hair salons all over America in an attempt to answer his daughter's question and find out why out why Afro-American women spend more than $ 9 billion a year in weaves, extensions and wigs chasing after good hair.

A provocative documentary that will surely spark controversy with comments such as "It's [grooming] kinda like a torture session", "sex with a weave is a little awkward" or a scene where a women asks herself "so my nappy hair isn't worth anything?".

This celebration of black cinema continues with titles such as Dennis Dortch's A Good Day to be Black and Sexy or Stascha Bader's study on Jamaican society and politics in Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae.

For further information, click here.



Chris Rock on Good Hair:

BFI Europe Since 1989

It's been twenty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the British Film Institute celebrates this key event in European history with a series of films exploring the continent's identity since the collapse of the Eastern Bloc.

Europe Since 1989 starts today at the BFI Southbank venue offering a pan-European collection of films covering issues such as the fall of communism and the re-shaping and formation of contemporary Europe.

The main titles include the German Oscar-winning picture The Lives of the Others, Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem's drama Mondays in the Sun and French director Jean Renoir's The Land is Mine amongst others.

BFI Europe Since 1989 also features a series of documentaries such as the Czech Dream- a satire on Euro-consummerism- and classics such as Vincente Minelli's musical An American in Paris.

For further information about the programme, tickets and dates, click here.

Hollywood stars light up the capital.

Hollywood funnyman Jim Carrey turned on London's biggest-ever coordinated Christmas lights switch-on themed after Disney's upcoming A Christmas Carol .

Jim Carrey turned on Oxford Circus' emblematic lights simultaneously joined by his fellow co-stars Colin Firth and Bob Hoskins who did the honours at the nearby Regent Street and St Paul's Cathedral respectively.

The 47-year-old actor who voices Scrooge in Disney's animated version of the classic Charles Dickens tale celebrated London's Christmas spirit as he switched on the Oxford Circus lights.

He said:" I want to thank the people of Britain for the legacy of Charles Dickens and the chance to tell this story. It feels great to be a part of all this tradition."

Asked about London's decorations Colin Firth, who voices Scrooge's enthusiastic nephew, said: "Well I think it's all a bit tacky and over the top quite frankly but why not?

"That's what Christmas is all about."

The film stars later attended A Christmas Carol world premiere at Leicester Square breaking the Guinness record for the largest 3-D film premiere.

Take a look at Robert Zemeckis' upcoming A Christmas Carol:

A further first-look featurette:

French Film Festival UK

The 17th edition of the French Film Festival UK continues at South Kensington's Cine Lumiere venue running until December 6.

This year's edition includes Jacques Audiard's Cannes Grand Prix winner A Prophet and a special section dedicated to comedy genius Jacques Tatti featuring a newly restored version of the classic Mr Hulot's Holiday.

The festival will also showcase seven Cesar award winning film Seraphine and director Pierre Marcel will present his latest documentary Tabarly based on sailor Eric Tabarly's true story after he disappeared on his way to the Fife Regatta in Scotland.

For more information, click here.