Photograph of Kathy Bates and AMPAS President Sid Ganis announcing the nominations by Chris Pizzello/AP While the writers' strike continues and prospects of an awards ceremony are unclear, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences went ahead and announced the contenders for their 80th annual back-slapping ceremony. Oscar-winning friend of the academy Kathy Bates was on hand to announce this year's golden picks. From Bob Dylan to Michael Clayton, many of the nominations......

Last November American Gangster went head-to-head with Bee Movie at the box office, but now the film faces an off-screen battle. The NY Sun reports that Former DEA agents are suing NBC Universal for being falsely depicted on-screen. They feel their characters were portrayed as villains and the lawsuit, filed yesterday in federal court in Manhattan, claims "the movie defamed hundreds of DEA agents and New York police officers by claiming at the end that......

In November, Charlie Rose sat down with rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z. The musician is originally from Brooklyn and late in the interview Rose queries about the expected success of the Nets once they move to Kings County. Jay-Z is very enthusiastic about the potential of the team and the virtues of the borough, as he prefaces every statement about Brooklyn with the words "we" and "ours." It is unintentionally comedic then when Rose immediately......

Early this morning Hayden Panettiere and other Hollywood elite looked ready to hit the town for a night out even though it was 5:30am. They were announcing this year's Golden Globe nominees, often a good sign for who will be nominated for that other gold statue. All in all New York-based shows and movies fared well as the envelopes were opened sheets of paper were read from. 30 Rock (Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical......

The holiday-time movie releases are starting to pile up with their usual feverish frequency. Some have Christmas themes, like the widely reviled Vince Vaughn vehicle Fred Claus that’s already roadkill on the lost highway of cinema history; others, like Ridley Scott’s American Gangster, are timed to make an impression as close to Academy Award-voting season as possible. Here are some of the biggest gorillas set to dominate New York’s screens in the next six......

Two movies set in New York are coming out today, and both are getting a lot of press, promo and opined upon. American Gangster is set in 1960-70s New York and stars Russell Crowe as a detective working to take down a real-life heroin kingpin, Frank Lucas (played by Denzel Washington). Lucas claimed to gross $1M a day on 116th Street dealing drugs, which he got to the States by smuggling in the coffins of......

Move over, remake of The Warriors: Variety (subscription required) reports that Denzel Washington will star in the Tony Scott-directed remake:Washington will take on the role of Zachary "Z" Garber, which was played by Walter Matthau in the original 1974 Joseph Sargent-helmed film. The story, based on a novel by John Godey, also spawned a 1998 TV movie starring Edward James Olmos. The latest incarnation takes place in contemporary New York and is set in motion......

New York city's streets are a favorite location for filmmakers. Anyone who's ever turned the corner in their neighborhood only to be confronted by a giant trailer or cherry picker rig, knows this. Even as it gets colder, there's still lots of movie being filmed in the city. For instance, the last week or so 2nd Avenue in the East Village has been home to one of the many local film or TV productions. Earlier......