Johnny Depp made a special appearance at Columbia University last night to promote his latest movie, The Rum Diary, an adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's early novel about a young journalist ensnared in a web of capitalist exploitation in Puerto Rico in the 1950s. Depp, director Alex Gibney (who made a documentary about Thompson called Gonzo), and Rum Diary director Bruce Robinson participated in a panel discussion prior to a screening of the film (which opens Friday). Thompson’s childhood friend and former editor of Rolling Stone Porter Bibb was also on hand, and recalled that Thompson was so worried about the book being tampered with that he wrote "contaminated with semen” on each galley copy. more ›

Hey, you know where hurricanes are pretty common? Puerto Rico. And you know who once spent a brief, hallucinatory stint in Puerto Rico while working for a newspaper? Hunter S. Thompson. He wrote a book about it in the early '60s, called The Rum Diary, when he was just 22. And now they've gone and turned Thompson's semi-autobiographical tale of treachery, booze, and the newspaper business into a movie, starring longtime Thompson pal Johnny Depp. Check out his very best mumbly Thompson impression! (As first seen in Fear and Loathing.) more ›

If there's ever a motion picture produced about the life of Broadway musical theater star Carol Channing, eternally cool actor Johnny Depp would very much like to be considered for the lead role. How perfectly deranged would that be? In an interview with the Mirror in UK, Depp strayed off the topic of Public Enemies to reveal his burning passion for Channing, who is now 88 years old: "My dream role would be to play musical legend Carol Channing in a biopic of her life. I love her, I really do. With all the digital technology available these days I could probably pull it off." But who needs special effects? This the guy who brilliantly nailed such disparate roles as Hunter S. Thompson and Ed Wood. Red lipstick and a little tuck is all would take. Still, Depp may need a little post-production help to pull off his other weird fantasy role: "I'd have a go at playing a 12-year-old girl if they asked me to." Uh, that's where he loses us. But for fun, here's Channing's wacky cameo in Alice in Wonderland; coincidentally, Depp is playing the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's forthcoming 3-D adaptation of the Lewis Carroll novel. more ›

My endorsement of this measure, issued in blue covers, first referred to as the “blue Bills”, have come to be known, on late night Talkshows, as “The Blue Balls.” This, while accurate, is disrespectful to my Office. more ›

Due to the Writer's Guild of America strike, Hollywood's party, the Golden Globes Awards were transformed from a boozy, fun dinner party to a press conference where presenters from entertainment programs like Extra! and E! News got to announce the winners. Yes, it was as painful as it sounded (Giuliana Rancic, it's not about you); many said they couldn't believe they were announcing the winners but said they would prefer it with the stars. Inside Edition's Jim Moret struck a classy note when he acknowledged the Hollywood Foreign Association (the organization that doles out the Golden Globes) President Jorge Camara. more ›

Prestige filmmakers take note: If you want the Times critics to really love you, what you need to do is put the fear in them. At least it worked for Tim Burton; his adaptation of Steven Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd gave reviewer A.O. Scott nightmares. And for that, Scott deems the film “close to a masterpiece, a work of extreme – I am tempted to say evil – genius.” (Current Rotten Tomato rating: 88% fresh.) One big question was whether the non-singing actors cast in the film would be able to pull it off; according to Burton the film is almost 90 sung. Well, it worked for Scott:

Johnny Depp’s voice is harsh and thin, but amazingly forceful. He brings the unpolished urgency of rock ’n’ roll to an idiom accustomed to more refinement., and in doing so awakens the violence of Mr. Sondheim’s lyrics and melodies.

SHOP: Tonight head to Dumbo for an “Evening of Cheer,” where three neighborhood events coordinated by the Dumbo Improvement District will be taking place. "The night’s events combine Dumbo’s monthly cultural event, First Thursdays, with extended shopping hours and promotions by local retailers and the illumination of the Empire Stores in Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park by famed lighting designer Brendon Boyd." 6pm // Various location details here EVENT: Tonight some experts gather around to celebrate... more ›

Today marks the grand opening of the Moscot Museum. You know Sol Moscot, the lens shop with giant yellow bespectacled signs that look over the streets of New York like Dr. Eckleburg's eyes? Apparently they're not much less symbolic -- sticking around New York for the past 100 years is no small feat, and must stand for something. But a museum, really?The Moscot Museum will showcase never before released, historic black & white photographs of... more ›

On Wednesday night Tim Burton gave the Film Society of Lincoln Center a 17-minute taste of Sweeney Todd, his film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s macabre musical. The 1979 Broadway hit was inspired by Victorian folklore about a crazed London barber who slits his customers’ throats and, in some versions of the story, colludes with his lover to bake the corpses into meat pies – which become wildly successful! (Ah, the culinary possibilities before rogue... more ›

While the literary set continues to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, the fashionistas are joining in on the fun. Neatly tucked in to every post-college kids backpacking across Europe adventure bag -- and most likely on your bookshelf -- the dharma bum bible just keeps on giving. more ›

, a collection of short stories that's humorous, disturbing, poignant, and a must read for any lover of great fiction. more ›

A Bourne, a Cloon and a pirate, oh my...with the Memorial Day holiday this weekend, we're entering the prime summer movie season and it's time to get psyched. Psyched! Here's just some Hollywood flicks we're awaiting between now and Labor Day. With all of these things to see, it's probably time to spring for the econo tub of popcorn and a bucket of soda to get through it all. more ›

he succeeds. more ›

Action adventure, animated sci-fi, iconic '80s actresses and French sexual intrigue—this weekend is a good one for movie going in New York. Draw your swords landlubbers, Gore Verbinski's sequel to his bombastic film based on an amusement park ride is out this weekend, . In this installment, shot at the same time as the forthcoming part III, Johnny Depp's brilliant Jack Sparrow searches for Davy Jones's chest to free himself from some sort of curse. There's a boat-load of twisty-turning plot in this 2 hour and a half movie but fortunately there's also tons of great action, Kiera Knightley looking adorable in pirate gear and a huge tentacled man eating beast. So basically, something for everyone. more ›

This week’s new movie releases are all about men behaving badly, and of course the women who put up with their crap. Though if that's not what you're into there's always some good Irish beer or Korean kimchee to tempt your movie palate. more ›

- Nicolette Sheridan does not look over-Botoxed with fish lips! more ›

The holiday movie season is officially upon us. In fact, it started yesterday. We already spent more than enough time mentioning some little musical that will likely see its box office hopes dashed by the continuing dominance of screenwriter Stephen Gaghan. We caught it Monday and were incredibly disappointed (not to mention bored and annoyed) mostly due to the constant proselytizing and exposition which lacks any nuance. A phenomenal cast performs more than admirably even if few of them are given much in the way of actual definitive character in order to fulfill their small role in this overly-complex story. more ›

Besides the Calvin Klein live perfume ad, there's some interesting action in Times Square today: FDNY firefighters will be at Duffy Square (the TKTS island) between 11AM-3PM autographing copies of the new 2006 Calendar of Heroes! There are apparently some firefighter models in their 40s in the calendar (hey, George Clooney, Johnny Depp, and Brad Pitt are all in their 40s) for the calendar to have a broader appeal. Sigh, we guess we'll get one of these for our mom. Gothamist wonders if the Naked Cowboy will be upset that the Bravest are invading his turf? more ›

Like many others, Gothamist headed to the movies this weekend. We saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the Oompas Loompas rule), and to our surprise, more disturbing than Johnny Depp's characterization of Willy Wonka was the behavior of some of our fellow moviegoers. During the afternoon showing full of adults and children alike, a young girl start to bawl during the movie. Not fun for the rest of us, but it happens. Except usually parents will usher a child out of the theater if the crying is excessive. But these parents let her cry for at least 10 minutes, before other moviegoers of the aggro kind started to scream, "GET HER OUT!" repeatedly. So the bawling girl's father takes her down to the middle of the theater...but doesn't take her out, letting her cry there longer. That's when an angry patron trying to get his $10.50 worth stood up and got in the father's face. After a few moments of the two men staring each other down (some possible pushing might have occured but we were trying to watch the movie), the father took his daughter, plus his wife and other child, out of the theater. more ›

Ed Halter, Writer/Film Curator more ›

Secret Window opens this Friday. more ›

Whitney Pastorek, Writer/Etc. more ›

The show opens with Sean Connery introducing a montage of films, "Blah blah blah film blah humanity blah blah." Luckily, he is not wearing a puffy shirt, the way he did last year. Gothamist happens to like the Chuck Workman film montages. Unfortunately, it's not a Chuck Workman film montage but a film with Billy Crystal inserted into various Oscar nominated films from 2003. There's too much naked Billy, from the T3 spoof to Something There's Gotta Give. Lesson to anyone: Naked Billy Crystal can maybe be funny once. But more than that, people will demand their money back. He does mention A-Rod going to the Yankees and Michael Moore makes an appearance in the film, but still, it's going to be a long goddamn night. more ›

Also, doesn't it feel like Barbara Walters is scraping the bottom of the barrel with this year's special? Matt LeBlanc, Diane Keaton, Billy Crystal? Gothamist can read about Matt, who is the LEAST controversial of all Friends with Lisa Kudrow (where's the Percoset addiction? Pregnancy woes? Marriage to Brad Pitt?), in People and US and In Touch. Diane Keaton, she's cool, but we knows she's walks to the beat of her own drummer with wacky fashion sense. And Billy Crystal...wouldn't it have been more apropos to interview him while he was pimping 61*? more ›

The Post comes up with a few ideas for Oscar drinking games during the ceremony: more ›

If it involves movies or television, Gothamist is interested. And if it's the tiniest bit related to the Oscars, then we're all over it. That's why Gothamist has produced a Golden Globes commentary similar to our Oscar commentary from last year. Yes, awards shows are self-congratulatory and ridiculous, and the Golden Globes are not a reliable predictor of the Oscars (which aren't that great anyway but their usefulness as a marketing tool cannot be denied), but it's just become a part of our DNA to enjoy an evening of watching, wondering, and whining. more ›

In the television category, kudos to our favorite cops and lawyers for getting an ensemble acting nomination. Also, Mariska Hargitay of Law & Order SVU was nominated for lead actress in a drama. And while snubbed for a Golden Globe, our friend Justin Kirk was nominated for best actor in a TV movie for his amazing work in Angels America; Al Pacino, Jeffrey Wright, Meryl Streep, Mary-Louise Parker, and Emma Thompson were also nominated for their roles in Angels. To bring it full circle, Ben Shenkman, who also starred in Angels, played the defendant's lawyer on Law & Order last night. more ›

At this point, Gothamist will speculate about the Best Picture Oscar nominations. We expect to see "Seabiscuit" to fall out; technically excellent but less than full blooded. "Mystic River" might be too dark, but Clint is Hollywood royalty. The 8 nominations gives "Cold Mountain" some momentum, but if audiences don't respond, it's unlikely that it will be nominated for as many. It seems a given that "Lord of the Rings" will be the top nomination getter, as it will be nominated for pretty much every single technical category. So for Best Picture come Oscar time, we expect to see "Lord of the Rings," "Master and Commander," most likely "Cold Mountain," probably "Mystic River," and fifth slot is a wild card: "Lost in Translation" is a possibility (could be too precious for some), as is "Finding Nemo" even though it's a cartoon (it's one of the few consensus good films of the year). Gothamist will continue to look at different categories leading up to the Globes and Oscars. Stay tuned. more ›

It's official: People's Sexiest Man Alive this year is Johnny Depp. During the segment with a People editor on the Today show this morning, Katie Couric expressed disbelief at the selection of dirty Depp, saying she just wants to "give him a good scrubbing." Precisely the point, Katie, precisely the point. more ›