The Artist is a silent film, black and white, in Thirties style.

It features a Valentino type star too proud to talk on screen while at the same time being fascinated by a woman who becomes a star because she will talk.

Many of the effects of the film rely on sight and not sound. This puts even more focus on the actors and their acting which is superb. There are also a whole host of great visual gags including a cute dog.

It is a story of change, adaptation and attraction.

Don’t miss it. Stylish, funny, classy and moving.

Don’t be driven by your preconceptions – go and see Senna.

This stunning documentary shows how the Brazilian Aryton Senna fought his way to being Formula 1 world champion. The impact of pride, the will to win and his battles with Alain Proust

However this is more than a film about fast cars. Senna shows how he was able to inspire a nation and give it confidence. Also that there was more to him than you might imagine.

It is hard to believe that the clips shown existed as some of them are heart rending in the context of Senna’s final end.

The Courtauld Gallery have produced a real gem with Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril, beyond the Moulin Rouge.

This exhibition is full of fascinating background both on Toulouse-Lautrec, Jane Avril, the Moulin Rouge and French society ‘fin de siecle’. It becomes clear how Jane Avril was a muse for Lautrec.

The first room includes some great paintings, posters, sketches by Lautrec as well as lots of background on Jane Avril. The second room has some wider background and more information on some of the other dancers at the Moulin rouge that Lautrec also admired.

A small and perfectly formed show.

The idea behind the High Society exhibition at the Wellcome Collection is sound. To show the wide variety of legal and illegal drugs, chemicals, substances that have been used and abused. Also, as importantly, how their acceptance and usage have changed over time.

For example find out about the links between Alice in Wonderland and drugs; when was opium legal in this country and a major part of our overseas trade; Al Capone and alcohol.

So pretty interesting content and free. Only drawbacks – busy – and odd layout with notes in a booklet numbered by rooms. It confused me without drugs.

I was slightly sceptical about The King’s Speech: can a film about a stammering king be interesting. Well it is gripping and often brings a lump to the throat.

Featuring a career best performance by Colin Firth as the afflicted Duke of York, later George VI. The story how ‘Bertie’ struggles to find his voice with a wacky Australian voice coach Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) is by turns dramatic, funny and moving.

The whole story is linked to issues surrounding the abdication of his brother (Guy Pearce) due to Wallace Simpson; and the lead up to the Second World War.

Gauguin – maker of myth at the Tate Modern is excellent. The strength of this exhibition is its depth and organisation by themes.

There are eleven rooms packed full of drawings, paintings, sketches, models and carvings. Do not miss the two middle rooms with the documentary background which help put Gauguin in context.

The thematic structure means that similar kinds of paintings are grouped together so the thinking behind them becomes clearer. Credit to the Tate for making it a lot easier to understand how Gauguin mythologised about himself and the things he painted.

So great painting and great explication.

Made in Dagenham is a rather good, inspiring film, so ignore the posters which are very misleading.

The film stars Sally Hawkins as a machinist in a Dagenham Ford factory who reluctantly leads a small strike in 1968 which leads to historic sexual equality legislation. The main events are true though obviously broadly embellished for comic and cinematic effect.

There are excellent performances all round from Hawkins, Bob Hoskins, Miranda Richardson and the underated Rosamund Pike (equally good in An Education).

So if you are interested in economic/social history and also want to be entertained/moved you should really see this film.

Whatever ever made them do it: Juliet Binoche and Abbas Kiarostami Certified Copy is unwatchable. I know that Binoche won an award for best actress but sorry it is an embarrassing film to watch.

The whole story is contrived, a antiques shop owner driving around an author of a book about copies of object d’art which just happens to be in lovely Tuscany. Half way through they start to act out their own lives. Terrible, awful, dire and cringe worthy.

Not sure why other critics rate it – they seem to have lost touch with reality as with The Red Balloon.

The Royal Academy have a lovely exhibition at the moment about John Singer Sargent and his paintings of the sea. The paintings range from some of his earliest attempts at painting when travelling with his mother to full blown glossy ‘Academic’ works.

Sargent clearly spent a lot of time observing children at the beach, sailors, ships and ports. There are some delightful images of limpid blue French coasts; but equally crowded ports with sail and ropes criss-crossing each other. Also there are some very atmospheric pictures of rising and swelling expanses of waves.

A superb quality show of Sargents.

I was really looking forward to seeing Jackson Browne at the Royal Albert Hall as I love Running on empty; Doctor my eyes; Fountain of sorrow.

However something was wrong with the sound as all the music was so loud that it distorted his voice. He did not seem to know what he was going to sing; he had hardly got going before a break came up but before that we had to listen to a poor song by David Linley.

I decided to leave to avoid being more disappointed. Listen to Lastfm and hear his classics!