World Cup fever isn’t only striking sports fans, it’s got cinephiles in a competitive mood as well.

Movie Web site TheAuteurs.com is running a competition that sees national and regional film cinemas face off against each other.

What are your favorite hidden film masterpieces? Tell us in the comments below

Quarterfinals for The Auteurs World Cup kick off today. The contest, which began in September, is organized by members of the film site, which bills itself as an "online cinematheque."

During each round of the film competition, a team manager selects three movies to represent a country or region. Those selections are then pitted against three films of a rival team.

Members of the The Auteurs community determine who wins the match by voting for their favorite in each film pairing. Newcomers are invited to get involved in the tournament, but in order to vote participants must have watched the films in each pairing.

Many of the films representing the final 16 teams are obscure - “Aaltra” from Belgium and “Crazed Fruit” from Japan are just a sampling – but the film site hopes the tournament will reveal cinematic gems to more viewers.

The countdown to the release of James Cameron’s 3D sci-fi epic thriller “Avatar” has started.

Twentieth Century Fox has announced that the movie will have its world premiere in London’s Leicester Square on December 10.

A few lucky audiences have already caught a sneak peek at snippets of the highly-anticipated film, which is tipped as having the potential to change the face of cinema.

Do you like 3D films? Are you planning to watch "Avatar"? Tell us in the comments below

A 25-minute preview was screened at Comic-Con in July to glowing reviews, and a 15-minute clip of the movie was shown to sold-out audiences in select theaters around the world on “Avatar Day” in August.

In a year of big 3D releases, including Disney’s "Toy Story" and Pixar’s "Up," "Avatar" - which tells the story of a war between humans and the native species of the jungle planet Pandora - is turning into the year’s most hyped.

The movie, which combines digital 3D technology with Cameron’s trademark epic storytelling, is being hailed as revolutionary. That it is Cameron's first film since record-smashing "Titanic" more than a decade ago is only serving to increase the feverish anticipation.

"Avatar" is released worldwide on December 18

Tired of getting short-changed by DVD extras? So is cult film authority Xavier Mendik.

Features where everyone just grins into the camera and talks about how great the production was are superficial, he says. Moreover, they “don’t do fans justice.” What extra features do you want to see? Tell us in the comments below

Mendik, the director of Cine-Excess, an international conference and festival on cult film, is doing something about it by partnering up with distributor Nouveaux Pictures to re-master cult horror movies.

Besides giving fans a chance to see cult classics for the first time on DVD, the label – whose slogan is “Taking Trash Seriously” – sets itself apart with extra features created by academics, he says.

The label has already re-released 1980s favorite “Amsterdamned” and in January 2010 comes a remastering of “Suspiria,” Dario Argento's stomach-turning horror set in a ballet academy.

The restoration on the Blu-Ray and DVD release of "Suspiria" will include four new documentaries that examine everything from gender controversy in the film to its style and politics in Italy in the 1970s.

“It will be the ultimate DVD,” says Mendik, who says the label is responding to what fans want.

Cult devotees have more to look forward to.

Cine-Excess has been given rights to a catalog of 300 movies owned by B-movie producer director Roger Corman and is planning to release 15 films in the next 12 months with Nouveaux Pictures, says Mendik.

The label is aimed at both the everyday cult fan as well as the growing educational market that has emerged around cult, says Mendik, who teaches cult film and TV at Brunel University in the UK.

With all this in mind, we asked Mendik to list his top five horror cult movies of all time. His picks and comments are below:

1. “Suspiria” (Dario Argento, 1977): “Being in the position to re-release this film is phenomenal.”
2. “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (Tobe Hooper, 1974): “It remains a profoundly shocking film.”
3. “Deranged” (Jeff Gillen and Alan Ormsby, 1974): “For its gore and gross out factor – a look at depravity with a wonderful, near hysterical performance by the central lead.”
4. “Venus in Furs” (Jesus Franco, 1969): “A psychedelic dream scene horror with a freestyle jazz structure.”
5. “Cabin Fever” (Eli Roth, 2002): “A new talent in the horror field to keep an eye on.”

More than movies are hitting the big screen these days. Sony is offering gamers a chance to play at its hotly anticipated new PlayStation3 game “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” at  four digital cinemas in the U.S. today and tomorrow.

The sneak peek comes a week before the game’s official launch in the U.S. on October 13.  And with the theater experience offering image resolution that Sony says is four times better than most high-def TVs, it's easy to see why gamers are excited. 

But Sony, which also sells digital cinema systems to theaters, thinks cinemas should be celebrating as well. Would you go to cinema to see anything other than a movie? Do you think cinemas will become digital destination centers? Tell us below.

As the electronics giant sees it, gaming events like the “Uncharted 2” preview are just one example of how so-called alternative programming – basically anything other than film - can help movie theaters fill their seats during non-peak times.

Sony foresees an age where theaters  regularly screen everything from sporting events to music concerts, and there are already signs of theaters branching out. In England, a movie chain is planning to show the country's upcoming World Cup qualifier match against Ukraine, which isn't being aired on TV, live in cinemas across the country.

Not sure what to see at the movies Friday night? If you’re like most people nowadays, chances are you go online.

Nearly all people who watch movies, regardless of their age, are online, and an overwhelming 93 percent use the Internet to find out information about new movies that are out, according to Moviegoers 2010, conducted by entertainment marketing firm Stradella.

For instance, the average moviegoer spends nearly six hours more a week on the Internet than they do watching TV, while 73 percent of respondents have profiles on social networking sites.

Sites like Facebook and Twitter may play a particularly important role for younger moviegoers, the study said: 74 percent of teens and young adults enjoy sharing their thoughts and opinions on movies with others, and 75 percent of them trust a friend’s take on a movie over a critic’s.

Now it’s easy to be cynical about the findings of the survey of nearly 4,000 moviegoers – it was, after all, sponsored by several big online media companies, including AOL, Facebook, Google and Microsoft.

But there is one indisputable fact - movie content has been behind some of the more pioneering Web sites of the past decade, including reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, info center the Internet Movie Data Base and geek news center Aint It Cool.

Each proved a benchmark with its coverage of the movie world that was noted, copied and built on, often by bigger and more mainstream media. Part of their success is down to the fact that they recognized public appetite for movie content online – and exploited this to best effect.

Where do you get most of your movie news and reviews from – friends, magazines, critics or online? Post your comments below.

Designer Tom Ford has made the move from runway to the big screen with a flourish with his directorial debut “A Single Man,”  a highly stylized account of a gay college professor dealing with the loss of his lover.

Colin Firth has sparked Oscar buzz with his performance, which won him the Best Actor award at the Venice Film Festival, and the Weinstein Company bought distribution rights for the movie at Toronto. That means the public will soon get their own chance to judge whether designer-turned-director Ford is as successful behind the camera as he was in bringing sexy silhouettes to the catwalk.

The former creative head at Gucci isn’t the only one to find a second calling in the movies. He joins a long list of "hyphen" directors - musicians, journalists and artists who have switched careers to become filmmakers.

Singers alone could fill up a list. Madonna made her directorial debut last year with "Filth and Wisdom," which was received with about as much as enthusiasm as her earlier attempts at acting, while heavy metal rocker Rob Zombie, who revived the "Halloween" franchise and is reportedly lined up to remake "The Blob," has made a name in horror films.

To be sure, some have been far more successful than others. One of the most notable crossovers of late has been British artist and Turner Prize winner Steve McQueen, who made a splash at Cannes last year with "Hunger." His picture about an IRA hunger striker won the Camera d'Or for best first feature film at the fest.

Former entertainment journalist and film critic Rod Lurie, who broke out with his 2000 film “The Contender” starring Joan Allen as a Vice President nominee under scrutiny, has also developed credibility as a director of political films.

The most successful crossover of all? Perhaps Woody Allen, who started out as a stand-up comic before taking up position behind the camera. But you tell us, who do you think are the best film directors to cross over from other fields? Tell us in the comments below.

"This Is It," the documentary that follows pop star Michael Jackson in the months before his death, will have a global launch in 25 cities on October 27-28, according to the film’s distributor. Are you planning to watch the Michael Jackson documentary? Tell us what you think about the movie in the comments below.

A 6 p.m. PT event in Los Angeles on October 27 will launch premieres of “This Is It” worldwide. Simultaneous debuts will be staged in 15 cities, including London, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, Johannesburg and Seoul, Sony Pictures said.

The documentary chronicles Jackson’s rehearsals for concerts that were scheduled to have taken place this past summer at London’s O2 Arena.

Directed by Jackson’s choreographer and creative director Kenny Ortega, the film draws on more than 100 hours of footage shot between March and June.

The public will be able to view the film, which will have a two-week run in theaters, three hours after the red-carpet premieres. Tickets go on sale September 27.

If you’ve ever been fired or found yourself to be the casualty of a corporate downsizing, George Clooney’s latest film “Up in the Air” could ring all too true.

Clooney stars as a so-called “career transition consultant” who crisscrosses the country firing people in the Jason Reitman film, which has been generating buzz at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. 

Are you ready to watch films about the recession or is the stress still too close to home? Share your comments below.

Toronto, which started September 10 and runs until September 19, is one of the key fall film festivals that can shape the race for film awards.

Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a man who does his job with a remote coolness and revels in racking up air miles. But his elite business traveler status comes under threat when a new colleague proposes firing people via video conferences instead of in person.

The drama is the third film directed by Reitman, who was behind “Thank You for Smoking” and indie hit “Juno,” and is one of a number of films at Toronto this year to reflect on the fallout of the economic turmoil.

But while films like Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story” take a provocative look, “Up in the Air” angles for a more introspective examination that goes beyond the pain of job loss.

“The connective tissue is that this is a movie about a man who is searching for purpose in his life, and what seems to be the most heartbreaking result of losing your job is people in the middle of their life searching for purpose,” Reitman told reporters at a press conference during the festival.

Reitman said he started writing the script as a satire, but over the six years it took him to write the movie, the world changed. He realized what once were humorous scenes about people getting fired weren’t funny anymore and decided to take a dramatic approach.

If the film gives off an air of authenticity, that’s because Reitman took out an ad seeking real people who were out of work and filmed those who responded talking about what it was like to lose their job. He said there was a “heartbreaking” response and he ended up featuring 25 real voices in the film.

Clooney said that while working on the film, which is one of two movies he has at Toronto, it became clear that it was less a comedy and much more about real people, and it suddenly felt more timely than ever.

“We ended up I think, fortunately, being able to tell a story that’s sort of important to talk about right now,” he told reporters at a press conference.

For his part, he's earned glowing reviews for his performance. “Clooney has scarcely ever been more magnetic onscreen than he is here as Ryan Bingham,” industry magazine Variety said, while Reitman referred to Clooney’s turn as one his most “vulnerable” performances to date.

We’ll be watching to see if viewers think the same. Like the rest of the films in the Toronto line-up, “Up in the Air” is in contention for the People’s Choice Award at the festival, which is voted on by festival audiences and will be announced September 19.

For more on the Toronto Film Festival, watch The Screening Room on CNN at the following times: Wednesday 23 September: 0930, 1730, Saturday 26 September: 0930, 1800, 2130, Sunday 27 September: 0630, 1830, Monday 28 September: 0400 (all times GMT)