Tim Burton
The Site: TimBurton.com
Design: An absolute knockout. The gothic director’s site is navigated by directing an animated version of his Stain Boy character around a simple haunted house. 5/5
Content: Slightly lacking – the site’s seems to have been setup to promote the director’s Art Of Tim Burton book, and it’s never really filled in the gaps. 3/5
Star Input: Stain Boy is a beautiful touch, and Burton-penned art litters the page. There’s nothing current from him, though. 3/5
Originality: The only site we know where you virtually browse a gallery of Burton’s art with a cape-wearing three-haired boy. 5/5
Zach Galifianakis
The Site: ZachGalifianakis.com
Design: Stark and straight to the point – the website’s only message is presented front and centre in clearly legible type. 5/5
Content: A single joke, as befits a Hollywood comedian: “Weclome to zachgalifianakis.com. New version coming 2023.” 1/5
Star Input: Who knows? It certainly doesn’t look like more than a one-man job. 3/5
Humour: Doesn’t hold a candle to SteveMartin.com, the motto of which is “Just to spite other guys named Steve Martin.” 2/5
Zooey Deschanel
The Site: ZooeyDeschanel.tumblr.com
Design: Exactly the sort of tumblr you’d expect a smiley, quirky indie princess lady to have – one with pencil illustrations of ships and dragons. 4/5
Content: A random stream of consciousness. Basically the inside of Zooey Deschanel’s brain. Her pretty, pretty brain. 4/5
Star Input: The whole thing’s hers. 5/5
Cuteness: You won’t love her any less. 4/5
David Lynch
The Site: DavidLynch.com
Design: The surrealist director’s long-running online lair is typically lush, with photography from Lynch’s films blown up in the background and Angelo Badalamenti scores playing mournfully on top. 4/5
Content: Just last month the site was radically redesigned to focus more on Lynch’s musical work. The old web-only shorts, comic archives and everything else apart from a small news strip are gone, replaced by a streaming selection of music. 3/5
Star Input: The site feels absolutely like a Lynch piece of work, though without his regular weather-in-LA videos there’s little of the man himself on show. 3/5
Dreaminess: With ghostly images from Lynch’s movies floating under bluesy sadness? High. 5/5
Stephen Tobolowsky
The Site: The Tobolowsky Files
Design: Veteran Hollywood funnyman Tobolowsky (memorably smacked in the face in Groundhog Day) doesn’t have a website as such, but does have an ace, long-running podcast on top blog Slash Film. N/A
Content: Tobolowsky, talking. The guy’s a great storyteller, and shares anecdotes on the work he’s done in Hollywood and life in general. 4/5
Star Input: It’s pure Tobolowsky. And a co-host. 5/5
Freeness: It’s totally free, which is unusual for such a well put-together podcast from a high-profile actor. 5/5
Russell Brand
The Site: RussellBrand.tv
Design: There’s only one word to describe the online home of Britain’s crotchiest export: swanky. 3/5
Content: Not bad – the blog is regular if not prolific , there are audio clips from Brand’s Booky Wook and links to the star’s social media outlets. 3/5
Star Input: There are plenty of video clips of Brand doing podcasts and the press circuit, but no sign of the man himself. 1/5
Flirtatiousness: Everything from that mast picture down is red hot. 4/5
Ian McKellen
The Site: www.McKellen.com
Design: The affable knight’s online trove is... basic, with mixed fonts, clumsy colours and tough to navigate sections. 2/5
Content: Which is a shame, because what’s here is fascinating. As well as archives of all McKellen’s work, and a decades-spanning catalogue of photographs, there’s the actor’s own blog, on which he often posts while on-set. 4/5
Star Input: The blog is very much McKellen’s work, and so well written and regular that much of the news from The Hobbit has come directly from it. 5/5
Wizard Hats: Couple of corkers on the blog pages, but overall not as many as we’d have liked. 3/5
Joss Whedon
The Site: Whedonesque.com
Design: The closest thing the Buffy maestro has to an official site is a big wall of black with posts stretching down the page. Heavy on the eyes, but fast and functional. 2/5
Content: Comprehensive and right up to the minute. Basically consists of a constant stream of information regarding Joss Whedon and the people he’s worked with as they stretch across showbiz. 4/5
Star Input: Whedon does semi-regular guest-posts and interviews. If he has a missive to fire into the internets, this is how he usually does it. 3/5
Brown Coat Factor : Strongest in the Verse. 5/5
Helen Mirren
The Site: HelenMirrenOfficial.com
Design: Sleek and straightforward, with an attractive blog layout and a lovely picture of Mirren at the top. 3/5
Content: Semi-regular news and up-to-date information on Dame Helen’s latest projects and releases. 3/5
Star Input: Mirren’s personal note welcomes visitors, and she also contributes an occasional diary and answers reader questions. 4/5
Queenliness: Huge, obviously. 5/5
Jackie Chan
The Site: JackieChan.com
Design: A bright and breezy layout with a massive picture of Chan himself doing the world’s biggest smile. 4/5
Content: Heartwarming. Jackie Chan is apparently the nicest superstar in the world. Aside from all the usual self-promotion there’s a scrapbook with pictures of Jackie being nice to sick children, and a down-to-earth diary of his engagements. 3/5
Star Input: The site has excellent access to JC, but he’s clearly too busy singing, dancing, fighting and being an international peace envoy to touch it himself. 2/5
Smiles: Stay for five minutes and you’ll see two dozens shots of Chan lighting up the world with his smile. 5/5
