News

The International Jury for this year’s Venice International Film Festival has been finalized after the previous confirmation of French actress Isabelle Huppert as its chair.

Now, American director and screenwriter James Gray, British director and screenwriter Andrew Haigh, Polish director, screenwriter, and producer Agnieszka Holland, and Brazilian director-screenwriter Kleber Mendonça Filho are the latest additions to the jury. They will join Mauritanian director, screenwriter and producer Abderrahmane Sissako, Italian director-screenwriter Giuseppe Tornatore, German director-screenwriter Julia von Heinz and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi.

The prestigious Golden Lion for best film and other awards will be revealed during the festival’s closing ceremony on Sept. 7.

Gray made his directorial debut in 1994 with Little Odessa, which received the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. His other projects include The Yards (2000), starring Joaquin Phoenix, Two Lovers (2008) and The Immigrant (2013). The Lost City of Z had its world premiere at the New York...

Italian production designer Tonino Zera will receive the Campari Passion for Film Award at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Zera — whose works include production design for Giuseppe Tornatore’s The Unknown Woman (2006), Paolo Virzì’s Like Crazy (2016) and Michele Placido’s Caravaggio’s Shadow (2022) — most recently created the sets for Roman Polanski’s The Place, which will have its world premiere at the 80th Venice Film Festival next month. The dramedy, set in a luxurious Swiss hotel on a fateful New Year’s Eve in 1999, stars Oliver Masucci, Fanny Ardant, John Cleese, Luca Barbareschi and Mickey Rourke. It will screen out of competition in Venice.

Zera will receive his award Sept. 2 ahead of The Palace premiere.

“To receive the prestigious Campari Passion for Film Award during the Venice Film Festival is not only a personal honor, it is also a recognition of the importance of set design in the world of cinema,...

Sony Pictures International Productions and Italy’s Colorado Film have teamed up on Italian comedy/road movie “50km per Hour” which has started shooting with multi-hyphenate Fabio De Luigi directing and starring.

The film is an Italian remake of Sony’s 2018 German box office hit “25 Km/h,” written by Oliver Ziegenbalg and directed by Markus Goller about two estranged siblings who reunite at their father’s funeral and make a spur of the moment decision to fulfill their childhood dream of driving across the country on their old motorbikes. It has also recently been remade in Mexico with the title “A Todas Partes” (“All the Places”).

De Luigi, who is among Italy’s most bankable talents, recently starred in “The Worse Week of My Life” and “When Mom is Away,” which was Italy’s top grossing local title during pandemic-stricken 2019. De Luigi on this film is pairing up with another top local box office draw,...

Barcelona-based Filmax has picked up international sales rights to psychological thriller “Girl Unknown” (“La desconocida”), the sophomore film by Spanish director Pablo Maqueda (“Dear Werner”).

The film is based on the hit play “Grooming,” penned by Paco Bezerra, which has been adapted in more than 10 countries. Filmax is launching the film with a first promo at the European Film Market.

“Girl Unknown,” a Spanish co-production from Fórmula Cine Aie in association with Elamedia Estudio and La Fragua Producciones, shot on locations in Madrid and Albacete, and is currently in post.

Maqueda, Bezerra and Haizea G. Viana wrote the script, which retains the play’s cat and mouse element, as well as the constant plot twists.

The story follows Carolina, a seemingly naive and charming young girl who meets Leo, an adult man passing himself off as a 16-year-old boy, online. But when they meet in a remote city park, Leo...

It’s something completely different . . . a genuine obscurity, a Swiss spy fantasy from the 1960s with major appeal to fans keen on (not in this order) art cinema, Fritz Lang, superspy romps, surreal silent serials, Eurocult actors, and visuals with a New Wave-ish flair. Teams of assassins vie for an atom secret held by mad scientist Daniel Emilfork. The spies target his gorgeous, innocent daughter Marie-France Boyer, but she’s obsessed with a romantic memory from ‘last summer in Shandigor.’ Jean-Louis Roy’s unique, precision-crafted gem evokes the graphic-novel pulp appeal of Dr. Mabuse, Alphaville, Judex or Diabolik — yet it is unlike any of them. It’s comic nonsense, but also earnest and original.

The Unknown Man of Shandigor

Blu-ray

Deaf Crocodile Films

1967 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 90 min. / Street Date January 22, 2022 / L’inconnu de Shandigor / Available through Vinegar Syndrome / 34.98

Starring: Marie-France Boyer, Ben Carruthers, Daniel Emilfork, Jacques Dufilho, Serge Gainsbourg,...

This Star Wars: The Bad Batch review contains spoilers.

The Bad Batch continues to fill in details about the transition from the Republic to the Empire. As the episode title “Replacements” might suggest, the Empire’s new elite troops are here. Or, at least, a squad of recruits who might mark the beginning of the death trooper program. With the new troopers, Tarkin, and a new Imperial Vice Admiral on the stage, there’s a distinct Rogue One feeling in the air. Meanwhile, the Bad Batch try to get themselves out of trouble on an airless moon.

These storylines lead to a few easter eggs and references that go back to the Original Trilogy and even a few Legends stories. Let’s take a look at all the hidden (and not-so-hidden) connections to the rest of the Star Wars saga:

The Desolate Moon

– The emergency landing on the desolate moon...

The Filming Italy — Los Angeles fest, which runs March 18-21, is a bridgehead between Italy and Hollywood. Here are some of the event’s highlights:

‘The Life Ahead’ panel

“The Life Ahead” director Edoardo Ponti, which is an Italian Netflix Original, will hold an online conversation with Diane Warren, who wrote the film’s theme song “Io Si (Seen).” “The Life Ahead” will be the fest’s opener.

‘It Was Spring Outside’

This life-in-lockdown doc by Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores will have its U.S. premiere at Filming in Italy after launching at the Rome Film Festival. Using material from social media and cellphone videos sent to Salvatores and other sources, this collective project assembled by the prolific helmer, who won an Academy Award for “Mediterraneo,” provides a tapestry of fresh first-hand accounts of how Italians experienced the coronavirus crisis — from empty piazzas to the heroes on the front lines...

Available in Blu-ray & DVD, the 1958 Science-Fiction Cult Classic Giant From The Unknown Returns in Limited-Edition. Giant Cult Film Collector’s Box Set for the Holidays; General Release Scheduled for Jan. 19th. Check out the Trailer:

The Film Detective (Tfd), a classic media streaming network and film archive that restores and distributes classic films for today’s cord-cutters, announces the release of Richard E. Cunha’s science-fiction classic, Giant from the Unknown(1958),on limited-edition Blu-ray and DVD. The Giant from the Unknownrelease comes as the latest in a series of restorations in collaboration with The Wade Williams Collection.

For the first time ever, Tfd presents film fans with the ultimate cinematic experience, offering Giant from the Unknown in a Limited-Edition Giant Cult Film Box Set, available to order now through Nov. 13 from Tfd store via Imagen, delivered by Dec. 17 in time for the holidays.

Cult classic fans who order the Limited-Edition...

Please welcome guest contributor David Rush...

Our Dancing Daughters

If an actress is to remain a star for six decades, she must expect some fluctuations in her career trajectory. This was most certainly the case for Joan Crawford, whose cinematic legacy – rather overshadowed in the years after her death for reasons we are all more than aware of – is currently showcased on The Criterion Channel.

The first two decades of Crawford’s stardom saw her go from strength to strength: her breakthrough role opposite Lon Chaney in The Unknown (1927); a series of flapper delights in Our Dancing Daughters (1928), Our Modern Maidens (1929) and Our Blushing Brides (1930); a key supporting role in Best Picture winner Grand Hotel (1932); her numerous popular collaborations with Clark Gable; and most importantly, the rags-to-riches vehicles that held particular appeal for aspirant young women during the Great Depression...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Creepy (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

One has to appreciate Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s winking self-awareness in calling his new feature Creepy. It’s as if the Coen brothers released a film entitled Snarky, or Eli Roth named his next stomach-churner Gory. Kurosawa, who’s still best known for Cure (1997) and Pulse (2001), two rare outstanding examples of the highly variable J-Horror genre, instills a sense of creepiness into virtually anything he does, regardless of subject matter. His latest, which sees him return to the realm of horror after excursions into more arthouse territory, certainly lives up to its name and has a lot of fun doing so. – Giovanni M.C. (full review)

Where...

David Letterman took to Twitter Saturday to remember Regis Philbin’s illustrious television career. Philbin was a frequent guest on Late Night and Late Show with David Letterman tallying 150 total appearances, more than any other guest in Letterman’s talk show history.

“In the same category as Carson. Superlative,” Letterman said in a statement. “He was on our show a million times, always the best guest we ever had, charming, lovable and could take a punch. When he retired I lost interest in television. I love him.”

Regis is in the same category as Carson. Superlative. He was on our show a million times, always the best guest we ever had, charming, lovable and could take a punch. When he retired I lost interest in television. I love him.

— Letterman (@Letterman) July 25, 2020

Philbin and Letterman were close colleagues with Philbin guest-hosting for Letterman’s Late Show program during his absence...

Hammer’s copycat Quatermass picture stands apart from similar ‘mystery sci-fi monster’ thrillers by virtue of its serious tone and realistic presentation. Talk about a sober semi-docu style: there are no major female roles and the leading character is a mass of radioactive mud. (Is there an election year joke in that?) Hammer found a new writer in Jimmy Sangster, imported the Yankee name actor Dean Jagger, tried to hire the expatriate director Joseph Losey. Former child actor Anthony Newley has a small part, but he doesn’t get to sing X’s theme song: “Who can I turn to, when nobody needs me, because the flesh is melting from my skull?”

X The Unknown

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1956 / B&w / 1:75 widescreen / 80 81? min. / X…the Unknown / Street Date February 18, 2020

Starring: Dean Jagger, Edward Chapman, Leo McKern, Anthony Newley, William Lucas, Michael Ripper.

Cinematography: Gerald Gibbs

Film Editor: Philip Leakey

Makeup:...

Italy’s Minerva Pictures is ramping up its sales side, having acquired international distribution rights to veteran auteur Gianni Amelio’s anticipated “Hammamet,” a biopic of disgraced late Italian prime minister Bettino Craxi. It’s also taken rights to period drama “Aspromonte,” starring Marcello Fonte, winner of last year’s Cannes best actor award for “Dogman.”

“Hammamet,” which portrays Craxi’s final years in the Tunisian seaside villa where he fled from Italian justice, stars Pierfrancesco Favino, who will be in Cannes as the lead actor of Marco Bellocchio’s competition title, “The Traitor.” Now shooting, “Hammamet” is produced by Pepito Prods. and Rai Cinema. Amelio’s previous features include “Lamerica”; “Stolen Children,” which took the Cannes Grand Prix; and “The Way We Laughed,” which won Venice’s Golden Lion.

“Aspromonte” is helmed by Mimmo Calopresti, whose first feature, “The Second Time,” competed in Cannes. Fonte stars as a poet...

YouTopia centres a young woman who makes money through videochat stripping shows.

Italian sales company Tvco has announced two additions to its line-up: the long-gestating Gianni Versace biopic that Billie August will direct, and Youtopia.

August was preparing to direct the film about the murdered Italian fashion icon with Antonio Banderas before the star dropped out last year. Oberon Productions and Tvco are producing and casting is underway.

“To me, as an outsider – a non-Italian – Versace seemed to capture everything I admire about Italy,” August said. “Its warmth and colour. Its culture and history. Its drama and gutsy zest for life. That ineffable ‘thing’ that is Italy seemed to be bound up in everything that was the Versace persona. But Versace is also an enigma. And enigmas make the best stories.”

Tvco is also kicking off sales on Youtopia, a drama centered on this year’s Berlinale Shooting Star Matilda De Angelis (Italian Race) that stars Donatella Finocchiaro (The Wedding...

The double-Palme-winners’ latest is a study of a guilt-stricken doctor digging up information about a dead immigrant, but it lacks the Dardennes’ usual brilliance

The Dardenne brothers are double-Palme winners at Cannes, justly renowned for their moving and socially acute realist dramas. Everything they do has to be of interest, and their latest work here, The Unknown Girl, has moments of insight, flashes of perception. But it is not their best work, and very far from the heights achieved in 2014 with their blistering workplace picture Two Days, One Night. The Unknown Woman is an odd, dramatically stilted and passionless quasi-procedural concerning a mysterious death; it depends on a series of unconvincing, and in fact borderline-preposterous, encounters and features a bafflingly inert performance from Adèle Haenel, whose usual spark appears to have been doused by self-consciousness.

Related: Personal Shopper review: Kristen Stewart's psychic spooker is a must-have

Continue reading...

New York, August 13: A Chinese couple had a close shave with death, after the two were left dangling from a balcony, following a heated argument.

The unknown woman was on her fifth-floor balcony window when the fight occurred with her boyfriend, who was on the floor below, the New York Daily News reported.

The lady had apparently slipped from her floor and when her beau tried to grab her, the velocity of the fall dragged him over the edge too.

A CCTV camera caught the pair, from Harbin, Heilongjiang province, hanging for their dear lives on the ledge.

The footage showed that a neighbor rushed over to the apartment's balcony and grabbed the man's legs as other neighbors joined to push the couple back inside.

Firefighters.

Celebrated Italian filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore doesn't exactly crank them out, and while he made waves on American shores in the late '80s and '90s with "Cinema Paradiso," "The Star Maker," "The Legend Of 1900" and "Malena," it has been over a decade since the latter and the subsequent movies -- "The Unknown Woman" and "Baaria" -- have made the same splash.  But his next effort is gearing up, and drawing upon two well-known names, it could see him once again back in American arthouses in bigger form.

Geoffrey Rush and Jim Sturgess are set to star in "The Best Offer." Details are pretty scarce, but the film is said to be an "art auction world drama" set in Vienna and the Alps that will start shooting at the end of the month. But adding a bit of excitement to the news is the mentoin that 83-year-old master composer...

By Scott Mendelson

HollywoodNews.com: “The Town” is a film that is crippled by its own fairytale desires. While the picture pertains to be a character-driven drama about a Boston bank robber and his desire to go straight, it is undone by a refusal to even acknowledge that its lead character has anything to truly atone for. It is one thing to have a sympathetic portrait of an anti-hero as he struggles to be decent in a world that values his indecency. But it is another to take a straight-up criminal and convince us that he is actually some kind of hero. As a result, the key relationships don’t work, the action scenes lack suspense, and the audience is left with no reason to care about the outcome.

A token amount of plot: Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) is a brains behind a four-person robbery team that operates in Boston.

Chris Brown has been forced to cancel upcoming European Fan Appreciation Tour dates after British officials refused to grant him a work visa. The denial was based on Brown’s 2009 conviction for beating former girlfriend Rihanna in a domestic assault.

Chris Brown (Photo: Joel Telling - Wikimedia Commons)

“We reserve the right to refuse entry to the U.K. to anyone guilty of a serious criminal offense. Public safety is one of our primary concerns… Each application to enter the U.K. is considered on its individual merits,” the British Home Office said in a press statement.

Brown had the right to appeal the visa denial and tour promoter Sjm is advising fans to hold on to their tickets for “possible re-arranged dates.”

Responding to the visa denial, Brown Tweeted to fans: “Sorry to all the fans in Europe! My tour is cancelled … I’m pretty sure y’all know.

Chicago – “Mother and Child” is an intense exploration of the various stages of motherhood, through the performances of Annette Bening, Naomi Watts and Samuel L. Jackson. Leading the eclectic cast through their paces is director Rodrigo Garcia.

Garcia, the son of famed author Gabriel García Márquez, has carved his own artistic niche in a career directing both prestige television and film. Besides sheparding the HBO’s favorites “The Sopranos,” “Six Feet Under” and “Carnivále” at various points, Garcia also produced and help develop the HBO adaptation of “In Treatment.”

His films are characterized by their human relationship elements, including “Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her’ [2000] and “Nine Lives,” which Garcia also wrote. Mother and Child is his fourth film directed from his own screenplay.

Scene from ‘Mother and Child’ featuring Samuel L. Jackson as Paul and Naomi Watts as Elizabeth

Photo Credit: Ralph Nelson for © 2009 Sony Picture...

Former Buffy The Vampire Slayer actress Emma Caulfield has filed for divorce after almost four years of marriage.

The star, 37, wed Cornelius Grobbelaar in August, 2006 but the couple officially split on 7 May.

Caulfield has since moved to make the separation official after citing irreconcilable differences in legal papers filed last week (ends14May10) at Los Angeles Superior Court.

The actress is the second former Buffy castmember whose marriage has hit the headlines in recent weeks - earlier this month, David Boreanaz confessed to cheating on his wife of nine years, Jaime Bergman, with an anonymous mistress.

The other woman has since been revealed as nightclub hostess Rachel Uchitel - one of the many women linked to disgraced golfer Tiger Woods during his affair scandal.

"Today" host Matt Lauer and his wife, Annette, are outraged over allegations that Lauer has left his family over infidelities, calling the tabloid story "a work of fiction."

"I am living in my apartment with Annette and my children as a family and a couple," Lauer tells People.com in an interview from France, where he's been co-anchoring the NBC morning show from the Cannes Film Festival. "I have never moved out. I am not moving out.

Studio Canal Among the Cannes selected items, prestige outfitter Studio Canal has a pair of mention-worthy titles in the five plus hour offering from Oliver Assayas and perhaps this year's Battle of Algiers in Rachid Bouchareb's Outside the Law. Among the films they'll be selling in a non-completed stage are Rowan Joffe's Brighton Rock (see pic of Sam Riley) and Joe Cornish's Attack the Block – both of these should be Venice and/or Tiff bound. - Studio Canal Among the Cannes selected items, prestige outfitter Studio Canal has a pair of mention-worthy titles in the five plus hour offering from Oliver Assayas and perhaps this year's Battle of Algiers in Rachid Bouchareb's Outside the Law. Among the films they'll be selling in a non-completed stage are Rowan Joffe's Brighton Rock (see pic of Sam Riley) and Joe Cornish's Attack the Block – both...

Studio Canal Among the Cannes selected items, prestige outfitter Studio Canal has a pair of mention-worthy titles in the five plus hour offering from Oliver Assayas and perhaps this year's Battle of Algiers in Rachid Bouchareb's Outside the Law. Among the films they'll be selling in a non-completed stage are Rowan Joffe's Brighton Rock (see pic of Sam Riley) and Joe Cornish's Attack the Block – both of these should be Venice and/or Tiff bound. Brighton Rock by Rowan Joffe - Post-Production Carlos by Olivier Assayas - Completed My Afternoons With Margueritte by Jean Becker - Completed The Princess Of Montpensier by Bertrand Tavernier - Completed The Two Deaths Of Quincas Wateryell by Sergio MacHado - Post-Production And Soon The Darkness by Marcos Efron - Completed Attack The Block by Joe Cornish - Production Beyond Suspicion (Insoupconnable) by Gabriel Le Bomin - Post-Production Bruc by Daniel Benmayor...

According to a new report, Mel Gibson cheated on his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva while she was pregnant with the couple's child. Oksana and Mel broke up with last month, and soon after, Oksana cryptically hinted that the break-up wasn't exactly amicable. "I can tell you that ... we have split up, suddenly and recently," Grigorieva said. "Unfortunately, I cannot give you the reason. But you will find out everything quite soon." Maybe we just found out.The other woman in question is a 26-year-old Polish porn producer named Violet Kowal, who sold the story of her affair with Mel to the National Enquirer. Maybe Mel can team up w ...

You’ve got an awesome job and a man you absolutely adore. Things are going swimmingly. Then one day, Bam! — a hot Russian chick shows up and ruins everything. Your name is Pepper Potts and you’ve just fallen prey to…The Other Woman.

For an industry obsessed with perfection, there’s this radical idea in Hollywood that says things cannot go smoothly in movies, especially when it comes to love. Crazy, I know.

Of course, in comic book films you have supervillains to create instant drama for you — but when it comes to sequels and subsequent follow-ups, creators always feel the need to add more fuel to the fire. And as a sexy spy/assassin, Scarlett Johansson’s character in “Iron Man 2,” Black Widow, is practically plutonium.

"I was more concerned about the interpersonal dynamic and how the presence of [Johansson's character] would affect Tony and Pepper," director Jon Favreau told MTV News.

The Italian Film Festival, Scotland

No gimmicks here – just the chance to see some world-class Italian films from directors old and new. From veteran Enzo Castellari, director of the original Inglourious Basterds, comes Eagles Over London, the film that invented the "macaroni combat" genre by dazzlingly recreating the Battle Of Britain. There's also a four-film tribute to legendary actor Vittorio Gassman – Il Mattatore, as he's affectionately known – with screenings of the little-seen swashbuckler For Love And Gold and the original Scent Of A Woman, which won Gassman the Best Actor award in Cannes. More recent titles include director Federico Bondi's Mar Nero, a touching tale of the relationship between an elderly lady and her youthful carer, and Cinema Paradiso director Giuseppe Tornatore's dark, modern thriller The Unknown Woman. And, for the more traditional, there's a screening of everyone's favourite Italian classic, La Dolce Vita.

Various venues, Fri 16 to...

Michelle "Bombshell" McGee has two choice words for Sandra Bullock: "I'm sorry." In a new interview with Australian TV show Today Tonight, Jesse James's alleged mistress apologizes for her involvement in the actress's marriage crisis - but says ultimately James is to be blame. "Sandra, I'm sorry for your embarrassment," McGee says in the interview. "I'm sorry all this is public. I'm sorry for everything." "I feel bad for Sandra," she adds. "I want to give her a heartfelt apology." Photos: The Other Woman: Then and NowStill, McGee says that James, 40, led her on - and told her that he and Bullock,...

In the same trip to the library as my last post, I picked up The Other Woman, a breezy-read anthology of 21 essays that explore various sides of non-monogamous relationships from a female perspective. Some of America's top writers candidly discuss Jezebels, Loreleis, bitches, vixens, and home-wreckers. The essays explore deeply personal experiences, from heart-wrenching anguish to light-hearted humor to full-throttled rage, in order to show that, in the end, neither the mistress nor the wife is entirely responsible or free from blame in the destruction of a relationship.

Every "other woman" is enticingly multi-faceted: mistress, wife, girlfriend, lover, daughter, mother, co-worker, neighbor, escape, confidante. Each essay sheds a glimmer of perceptive, and often sensible, recognition of the complexity of love and devotion.

Pam Houston's essay "Not Istanbul" illuminates how destructive obsession with an affair

ooze[s] into every nook and cranny of your cerebrum, until you won't be able to think of anything else.

50 Films in and 200 films to go!

So far so good with the IMDb250 project with little problem so far getting the films from the list and a whole lot of fun watching them. Barry has been making great use of his films recently by watching his movies in categories with the New Hollywood and War sections being brilliant to read.

It’s something I wish we planned at the start as putting the films in some sort of order or genre category would have made connecting the films really interesting but on the other hand watching such a random collection of films in a short space of time really is fascinating to experience different actors in different genre’s lead by different directors proving why they apparently deserve to be in the top 250 films of all time.

My next five films showcase the pleasure in my randomness of choice as...

Every time another celebrity cheats, we go through the same cycle: We're shocked and appalled -- and then we lap up every detail.

Diana Landen: Our husbands ogle the pictures of the Other Women (a.k.a. tramps), then reassure us that Ashley Dupre -- or Michelle McGee -- isn't really pretty.

Experts give us advice on how to keep our men faithful. You would think that advice for our husbands would be more useful. (On the other hand, would men read "Comparing You to Gandhi is a Sign of Insanity, Not Love," or "How to Keep 13 Mistresses Happy and Quiet"?)

Eventually, we hear from the excuse-makers: "Everybody cheats," "Monogamy is unnatural," "Males need to spread their seed" and "It's just evolution."

Gentlemen, we have evolved, too. Women who accepted cheating died out a long time ago. The Other Woman is, quite simply, a threat to our children.

Sex makes babies.

Baby boys who are looked after by nannies are more likely to womanise, a psychiatrist has claimed. Dr Dennis Freidman, author of The Unsolicited Gift, said that the practice introduces young boys to the concept of 'The Other Woman', equipping them with life-long double standards concerning the opposite sex. Dr Freidman, 86, told The Daily Telegraph: "It creates a division in his mind between the woman he knows to be his natural mother and the woman with whom he has a real hands-on relationship: the woman who bathes him and takes him to the park, and with whom (more)...

Doc Jensen learned two very important lessons this week. The first? Limit yourself to just one sentence per column that refers to yourself in the third person, because it’s super-annoying. The second? Perhaps I should spend less time looking outside of Lost for insight and more time looking within the show for insight. Take my recap of “Recon” from Wednesday. It’s filled with references to The Fisher King, The Book of Judges, and Jean-Paul Sartre. If I had more time, I would have larded it up further by arguing that the mythic one-eyed monster Cyclops (Homer edition) and...

In my fantasy of the cheated upon (i.e. Elizabeth Edwards), she has escaped to Tahiti and is enjoying tanning and pure pleasure -- while "other woman" Rielle Hunter stays here and takes all of the crap.

Diana Landen: It's easy to hate Rielle Hunter. She won't "emasculate" John Edwards by telling the truth, but she's happy to publicly slam a dying woman. She justifies her own cruelty with some warped concept of "force fields" of love. Easy to hate her ... but not good for me. I'm trying to figure out why I obsess over her. My husband gets offended: Am I suggesting that he would act like John Edwards? He reminds me that this doesn't have anything to do with my life. But it does.

A good friend of mine from high school -- someone I truly respected -- had an affair with a much younger employee. His marriage broke up,...

Ryan Bingham lives like a man in transition–he has no wife, no home, or familial trappings. His work consists of visiting employees at their workplace and firing them on behalf of their employer, a big firm who doesn’t want to handle the un-pleasantries.

In some sense, he’s a corporate ’sin eater’–carrying a mantle others would rather pass on, and becoming a kind of social pariah as a result. But Bingham flourishes at his work and and even gives inspirational speeches about how to thrive in the industry. He’s the heartbeat of Jason Reitman’s Up In The Air, a charming pic about a less than charming man that wants to position itself as the new ‘American movie’. It misses this mark, and ends up being simply a good film with a great cast and an ambitious director.

Taking place largely in the confines of airports,...

Will audiences ever tire of the documentary-style horror film? The success of "Paranormal Activity" proved that ten years after "The Blair Witch Project," people are still into the format, which employs a false sense of authenticity that makes the events appear more real and seem more plausible -- and are therefore scarier. But no film can ever be more frightening than "The Exorcist," right? Well, how about a film that's like "The Exorcist" shot in the style of "Paranormal Activity"?

That's one way of describing "The Last Exorcism," a new horror film produced by Eli Roth ("Hostel") that has just been picked up for distribution by Lionsgate, according to Variety. Formerly titled "Cotton," the film, which premieres at SXSW next month, brings the faux-doc method to a story of an Evengelical priest (Patrick Fabian) who invites a film crew to document his final exorcism. According to a Lionsgate executive, "audiences...

Even though Eli Roth is starting to develop himself as an actor (Inglourious Basterds) and a director of other things besides just horror (with Endangered Species), he still loves horror, and he's been producing films in that genre recently as well. He has an exorcism film called Cotton that is shot and finished. Variety reports that Lionsgate just picked up the Us rights to the film, which will be called The Last Exorcism. On top of that, Roth just closed a new deal with StudioCanal and Strike Entertainment to produce another psychological horror/thriller called The Other Woman. Wait till you hear what Roth has to say about it. The Other Woman, also written by Cotton co-writers Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland, is about a scorned mistress who makes a film for her ex-lover. That's it? Oh no, there's more. Roth says the film will delve into "the worst nightmares...

Meanwhile, horror writer/director/producer Eli Roth will reteam with StudioCanal and Strike Entertainment to produce a psychological thriller titled The Other Woman. The film will be directed by Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland, who are currently writing the screenplay. Botko and Gurland also wrote The Last Exorcism (previously known as Cotton), which they had originally planned to direct. Variety describes the plot of the film as follows: "A scorned mistress who makes a film for her ex-lover, is set to shoot in late spring. Roth said the pic will delve into "the worst nightmares of those who have had extramarital affairs, and the sickest fantasies of those who have been scorned." StudioCanal is trying to sell the film at Berlin's film marketplace this week.

Amazing. We don't hear anything from Eli Roth for moths and now - Bam! Three news items in one day! Good thing we love that truly inglourious basterd!

Variety reports that Studio Canal, Strike Entertainment, and Eli Roth are teaming up to bring us the psychological thriller The Other Woman. The film will be helmed by Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland, who are currently writing the screenplay.

The Other Woman, centering on a scorned mistress who makes a film for her ex-lover, is set to shoot in late spring. Roth said the movie will delve into "the worst nightmares of those who have had extramarital affairs and the sickest fantasies of those who have been scorned."

StudioCanal is presenting the pic to buyers at Berlin's Efm this week. Botko and Gurland also wrote The Last Exorcism (previously known as Cotton), which they originally were slated to direct.

- Uncle Creepy

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Included in the announcement of Lionsgate acquiring Studio Canal's The Last Exorcism, it was also announced that the French studio will reteam once again with Strike Entertainment and Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever) on psychological thriller The Other Woman. The pic will be helmed by Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland, who are currently writing the screenplay. Woman, about a scorned mistress who makes a film for her ex-lover, is set to shoot in late spring. Roth said the pic will delve into "the worst nightmares of those who have had extramarital affairs and the sickest fantasies of those who have been scorned." StudioCanal is presenting the pic to buyers at Berlin's Efm mart this week. Botko and Gurland also wrote The Last Exorcism (previously known as Cotton), which they originally were slated to direct.

If you're a Lost fanatic like me, you were likely as glued to the television screen as I was last Tuesday night when the final season of this magnificent sci-fi show premiered. Like many of you, I was scratching my head as to what the hell the writers are up to for this season, and was rabidly speculating theories with my friends.

Amidst the brain melting scrutinizing, however, I found the time to geek out over two guest stars I love: the always likable John Hawkes (Deadwood, Eastbound & Down) and Japanese badass Hiroyuki Sanada (Ring, The Twilight Samurai, Sunshine).

Over the years, many recognizable actors have stopped by to do guest spots on the show, to compliment the already spectacular regular cast. While revisiting all five previous seasons of Lost in anticipation of the sixth and last season, I made a point to note all the known guest stars I spotted.

George Clooney gives his best performance yet as a hired business gun with lessons to learn

One of the most painfully memorable days of my life was spent in a variety (or lack of variety) of small industrial towns in south Lancashire just after the ­second world war. I was 12 and accompanying my father on a delicate assignment for the insurance company he worked for. His task was to obtain the resignations of five employees involved in a minor form of fraud, whom his bosses didn't wish to proceed against in the courts. Each man was persuaded to sign. ­Having done so, several of them, their lives ­shattered, their pensions gone, came out of the offices, smiling wanly, to shake my hand as I waited in the car and to see my father on his way.

That experience long ago returned vividly this week seeing Jason Reitman's outstanding Up in the Air,...

It's easy to write off a married celebrity's lady-on-the-side as a simple, stamped tramp. It's much tougher to understand the rigorous training and dedication required to properly carry out the role.Case in point: Rachel Uchitel, the recently Lax-landed Celebstress of world premiere golfer, Tiger Woods. Uchitel obviously read "The Other Woman" handbook.  She didn't just arrive, she arrived ready, with key elements of her rise-to-fame plan already in place.1.  The Denial.  Extremely important, but so often overlooked, the key to building an affair with that "sell-ability" factor is the firm and blanket denial of any and all rumors. Rielle Hunter...

The Tiger Woods story has been building in a slow boil, beginning with the National Enquirer's expose of another woman allegedly involved in the mystery early morning domestic disturbance between the billionaire golfer and his ex nanny/model wife and mother of his two children, Elin Nordegren. Once again, the Enquirer was on the story well before anyone else, as the story morphed from Woods being rescued by Elin with his golf clubs breaking out windows to save him, to apparently an alleged classic "wife on the warpath" twist, with an allegedly enraged Elin chasing her Tiger out of the home in the wee hours of the morning with the golf club as an alleged weapon. The other woman...

The "Getting Lost" series is about a Lost newbie's attempts to watch all five seasons of the show for the first time, just as the sixth (and final) one rolls along.

What I Watched on Week 12: Season 4, Episodes 6-10 ("The Other Woman", "Ji Yeon", "Meet Kevin Johnson", "The Shape of Things to Come" and "Something Nice Back Home")

Surely you used the six days in between initial broadcasts of Lost to ponder what you just saw. Oddly for me, the opposite is the case. I mean, if I don't watch an episode for more than a couple of days, I find myself going "what?" all over again. That's exactly what happened when I resumed watching last week, after a week-long break which saw me fly to Singapore amazed at "The Constant". I felt a bit disengaged, to be honest.

The other woman at the center of the Kanye West Video Music Awards shout-out scandal is finally speaking out. Beyoncé Knowles, whose loss to Taylor Swift in the Best Female Video category prompted West to storm the stage and steal the microphone from Swift at the Sept. 13 ceremony, says she understands the rapper's motivation. "Well, I knew his intentions, and I knew he was standing up for art; and he told me before, when they said the nominees, he's like, 'You have this award,'" she told O: The Oprah Magazine editor-at-large Gayle King. Related: Kanye West: I'm Just...

Rome -- Giuseppe Tornatore's epic coming-of-age story "Baaria" has been selected as Italy's hopeful for a 2010 foreign-language Oscar nomination, the Italian cinema and audiovisual association Anica said Tuesday.

It is the fourth time Tornatore has had a film tapped for the honor by Anica. Three years ago, Anica selected Tornatore's "La sconosciuta" (The Unknown Woman) as Italy's hopeful, and in 1995 it selected "L'uomo delle stelle" (The Star Maker), though it was not chosen as a candidate by the Academy either time. But in 1990 his "Nuovo Cinema Paradiso" won the foreign language honor.

"Baaria," the most expensive Italian film ever made, has already had a banner year, as the first Italian film in a generation to open the storied Venice Film Festival, where is screened in competition and won the coveted Pasinetti collateral prize.

  The film tells the story of three generations in Tornatore's hometown of Bagheria in Sicily (the...

James Bond and Mr. Darcy were just the beginning for Meryl Streep. "Turns out [she's] a bit of a slut." In Nancy Meyers' It's Complicated, the Mamma Mia! star juggles Jack Donaghy and a mild-and-crazy guy. In the film's trailer, Streep's bitter divorcee becomes The Other Woman when she and her remarried ex (Alec Baldwin) renew their passions. Caught in between is Steve Martin's sweet, square architect. My first thought when I saw this was, "Wow, Meryl Streep's going to star in two $100 million hits this year." (I don't mean to jinx Julie & Julia.) What a run for the actress who, in her "Hollywood prime," flailed in attempts to prove her stardom with misses like The River Wild and Death Becomes Her. What she's doing now is unprecedented for an actress of her...experience. What did you think of the trailer, PopWatchers? Too much Something's Gotta Give? Which...

After two seasons, ABC comedy Samantha Who? bids farewell to its few but dedicated fans as it airs back-to-back episodes in its series finale tonight 8:30pm on ABC.

On "The Other Woman," Samantha (Christina Applegate) starts to vaguely remember something about her and billionaire Winston Funk's (Billy Zane) ex wife Gigi before the accident, and that she might have played an important role in her life.

Try to imagine this DVD release roundup in 3-D for maximum enjoyment.

What's new on DVD Tuesday? We'll bookend this roundup with the two best releases. Links to add them to your queues provided because I'm sweet and helpful like that.

Coraline - I loved the use of 3D in Coraline so I'm wondering how it will transfer to the flatter world of home entertainment: Will that tunnel into Other Mother be as beckoning? Would the transformative acrobatic sister act pay off quite so well? Even if they won't, the film's imaginative visuals and fun character play will pull you into its rewarding tale of a bored little girl suddenly fighting for her soul and her parent's lives in a fantasy world that's not quite like her own. Coraline's journey is often compared to Alice's trip through the looking glass or down the rabbit hole. Miyazaki's Spirited Away was also described that way.