Director: Adrian Grunberg
Cast: Mel Gibson, Kevin Hernandez
Certificate: 15
Trailer

Has there ever been an actor harder to like off the screen but so easy to like on it? The world is all too familiar with Mad Mel’s meltdown, but old Gibson just keeps on going, popping up in front of the camera to remind us why we all used to love him. You know, before he was so racist.

Like The Beaver, Get the Gringo is a film that comes surprisingly close to Gibson’s real life controversy. Perhaps that’s why it’s been renamed for UK audiences to How I Spent My Spent My Summer Vacation – a title so inoffensive you expect Cliff Richard to turn up halfway through. Don't worry, he doesn’t.

There's nothing like watching Mel Gibson put his hand up Jodie Foster's beaver to get you in the mood for some hardcore puppetry action. 

Team America aside, there have been puppets in movies for years - way before old Mel went mental and grabbed the nearest woodchuck he could find to help him through his problems.

There's that demented (and seriously disturbing) bit in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 where Freddy Krueger strings up a kid and controls him using his innards, not to mention every single movie that Jim Henson has ever had a hand in. 

Here's a look back at some of the greatest hand-jobs in the history of cinema.

Director: Jodie Foster
Cast: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence
Certificate: 15
Trailer/Clips

Brave. Bold. Brown. Furry. All of these words could be used to described Jodie Foster's Beaver. But it's not as warm and fuzzy as you might expect. In fact, Jodie Foster's Beaver is an untidy mess.

We first meet Walter (Mel) at the height of his depression. His career has gone down the pan, his son (Yelchin) worries he's turning into his dad, and his life is an ink stain that blackens everything. We even get a voiceover to tell us exactly that: "Walter's life is an ink stain that blackens everything," it drones, over an unsubtle shot of an ink stain blackening everything.

Director: Jodie Foster
Cast: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence
Certificate: TBC
Release Date: Friday 17th June

Two-time Academy Award® winner Jodie Foster directs and co-stars with two-time Academy Award® winner Mel Gibson in THE BEAVER - an emotional story about a man on a journey to re-discover his family and re-start his life.

Plagued by his own demons, Walter Black was once a successful toy executive and family man who now suffers from depression. No matter what he tries, Walter can't seem to get himself back on track...until a beaver hand puppet enters his life.

Well, the voting closed yesterday and after a full two minutes of counting your votes, I can confirm that the inaugural i-Flicks Falling Star Award has been decided.

2011's Falling Star is...

After The Last Airbender's paltry £4.2m takings in the UK, it's safe to say that The Sixth Sense director won't be given another franchise to start up any time soon. Ever since Signs, Shyamalan's been a bit pants, but Airbender (*fnarf* BENDER) put the final downward swing on his career. Unless Devil (aka HELLEVATOR) and the rest of the "Night Chronicles" (he used his name!) do ridiculously well on DVD. Spoiler: they won't.

Not happy with the result? Check out the other Falling Star nominees. For everyone else, don't worry: there's always the Orange Wednesdays Rising Star Award...

After the slight backlash on t'internet about the BAFTA Orange Wednesdays Rising Star Award, some wise person on The Twitter suggested they do the opposite. Instead of people who have "captured the imagination of the British public", why not reward the people who have taken the public's imagination and exchanged it for All About Steve?

These are the nominees for the inaugaral i-Flicks Falling Star Award. Their careers are all on a downward trajectory, as demonstrated by a critical/box office flop in the past year.

Email your chosen winner to iflicksfallingstar@gmail.com.

Voting for the Falling Star Award closes midnight Saturday 12th February.

After the slight backlash on t'internet about the BAFTA Orange Wednesdays Rising Star Award, some wise person on The Twitter suggested they do the opposite. Instead of people who have "captured the imagination of the British public", why not reward the people who have taken the public's imagination and exchanged it for All About Steve?

So here I give you some suggested nominees for the inaugural i-Flicks Falling Star Award. Their careers are all on a downward trajectory after a rubbish film in the past year and/or a box office flop (each film's total UK gross is listed).

Who else should be up for the prize? Julia Roberts for Eat Pray Love? Robert De Niro for Machete? Johnny Depp for The Tourist? What about a writer? Or even a composer? 

M Night Shyamalan The Sixth Sense helmer has been cooking up cold crud ever since Signs, but The Last Airbender's naffness has put an end to any studio prepared to risk pinning a franchise on him. Still, he's always got Devil (first of the "Night Chronicles" - Ha! He used his name!) to keep him company.     The Last Airbender £4.23m		Mel Gibson An easy target, but I'm lazy. His work rate's slowed since Passion of the Christ and while Edge of Darkness was solid stuff, Mel's credibility went mid-2010 along with his ex-girlfriend and her tape recorder. The Hangover 2 rejected his cameo so his hopes hang on a beaver to stop him falling any further.   Edge of Darkness £2.65m		Tom Cruise Knight & Day was more fun than The Tourist, but Cruise's decreasing box office isn't doing him any favours (M:I 3 opened with twice as much money). A quick look ahead shows no roles to rival Magnolia any time soon. Unless you count Les Grossman or Mission: Impossible 4. Most wouldn't.    Knight & Day £9.07m		Brendan Fraser I enjoyed Journey to the Centre of the Earth, but Brendan's career now seems to revolve around Mummy sequels and CGI animals (hello, Furry Vengeance). What happened to the Gods and Monsters star who stole scenes from Michael Caine in The Quiet American? Seconds of Pleasure may give us an answer in 2012. I hope so. Furry Vengeance £3.3m		Cameron Diaz After Shrek Forever After, Knight & Day counted as a good role for Hollywood's formerly highest paid actress. But look at her recent output: What Happens in Vegas? My Sister's Keeper? Even The Green Hornet gave her no character to play with. Bring back the days of Being John Malkovich and Gangs of New York.   The Green Hornet £3.8m (running total)

Either this trailer's been really well cut or it's my lemur hand-puppet talking, but this is looking rather good. Yes, I'm talking about the trailer for the film about Mel Gibson's beaver.

We all thought it had been put back by Summit Entertainment after the recent, erm, incidents, but now The Beaver is on its way to US cinemas in Spring 2011. Hooray for anti-Semites and their therapeutic puppets!

Has Mel gone gonzo (puppet pun ahoy!) and pulled a Joaquin Phoenix on us? Was all that racist and misogynistic stuff just a marketing ploy to build up to Jodie Foster's film? Is Ben Stiller going to pop up any minute and play himself again?

No. His beard's not big enough. And the trailer's too sentimental towards the end to have ever been coincidentally parallel to real life. Plus there's no way anyone could pretend to be that mental. Mel's just not that great an actor. I mean, look at Braveheart. Or, more preferably, don't. 

Mel Gibson's got a beaver. And we all get to meet him. The Beaver is his prescription hand-puppet, which Mel is given to help express his feelings. Because doing that has worked out fine so far for the actor.

The black comedy will see Anton Yelchin and Miss Winter's Bone (Jennifer Lawrence) dealing with the depressed Walter Black (Gibson). It's also directed by Jodie Foster.

No sign of a release date yet, unsurprisingly. If this doesn't get into cinemas for another year because of Mel's recent outbursts, I'm hoping the project will morph into a TV show - starring an ultra-racist, misogynistic Basil Brush.

The poster is clearly the picture of the day. Read on to see why.

Imagine you're Mel Gibson. You're in a bit of hot water after some questionable outbursts of violent, sexist and/or racist behaviour, and you want to rehabilitate that old twinkly Mel image. Where do you turn to? The Hangover 2, of course.

Yes, Mel Gibson is reported to have a cameo appearance in the sequel to Todd Phillips' comedy hit - an interesting choice of guest roles, given the lack of political correctness from the cast the first time round.

Still, turning up as a tattoo artist in the film will boost the box office takings. And it'll give Gibson a chance to remind people that he has a sense of humour. Just hopefully not the kind of humour that involves beating up women and insulting religious groups.

Mel will film his part in two weeks time.