--> It's been a long time since one cast member on Saturday Night Live has grabbed almost all the attention focused on the show and Tina Fey technically isn't even a cast member right now. But for the third time in four weeks since the show returned, Fey was front and center in the opening sketch as the doppelganger she seems to refine and heighten a little every week, Sarah Palin. While Fey will deservedly......

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (directed by Shekhar Kapur) Ever since she dazzled audiences in 1998 with her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I, it's been hard not to think there's something naturally regal about actress Cate Blanchett. Now Blanchett has returned to her Oscar-nominated role in a sequel Elizabeth: The Golden Age with the same director and a similar cast. But will lightening strike twice? Maybe the expectation level was too high, but while Elizabeth the......

We'd expect a lack of municipal fealty from most people in show business, but we were disappointed to hear that Al Pacino and Robert De Niro would be turning up a chance to shoot in the city in exchange for a building in Connecticut with a NYC backdrop behind it. The New York Post reported briefly that some scenes of the in-production film "Righteous Kill" will be posing scenes set in NYC in Stamford,......

In advance of an official press conference at The Palace Theater today, The Times and The Post have reported that Spike Lee will be make his Broadway debut next spring with the 1951 play Stalag 17; a dramedy about camaraderie and betrayal between American airmen stuck in a German P.O.W camp (later made into a film by Billy Wilder.) Sources say that Clive Owen will once again be Spike’s inside man on the project. (Though......

Black Snake Moan (directed by Craig Brewer) Your movie contains the song "It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp," and wins an Academy Award for it. How do you follow up the crowning achievement of writing and directing Hustle and Flow, a movie about the mid-life crisis of a Memphis pimp? If you're Craig Brewer, the obvious answer is to write and direct Black Snake Moan, a movie about a drugged-out nymphomaniac (Christina Ricci) who......

It's that time of the year again: When Hollywood honors its moviemaking the way it knows (and not always in equitable ways, given that Alfred Hitchcock nor Robert Altman, to name a few, have never won Directing Oscars) and America gets to watch hours of pre-show hosted by idiots. Giving commentary for Gothamist this year, Karen Wilson, Margaret Harper, and Jen Chung. 7:06PM First thoughts: Gael Garcia Bernal is so cute. Ryan Seacrest is an......

André 3000 and Big Boi bring their Grammy-winning mojo to the big screen this week with their much anticipated musical, Idlewild. Set in a '30s speakeasy complete with marcel wave hairdos and juke joint stepping, the movie also coincides with the release of a new OutKast record featuring songs from the flick. Hopefully director Bryan Barber has made something be more substantial than one terribly long, theme music video. Some might argue drinking lots of......

It's all about Brokeback these days: This morning, Kate Beckinsale, Mark Wahlberg, and Steve Carrell announced the 63rd Annual Golden Globe nominations, and Brokeback Mountain walked away with 7 nominations, including Best Picture (Drama), Director, Actor, Supporting Actress (Michelle Williams). Match Point, the unreleased Woody Allen movie, also got nods in Picture and Director, plus Supporting Actress Scarlett Johnanssen. As for the TV nominations, the ladies of Wisteria Lane took four leading actress nominations, giving......

Does FreshDirect explain its "no tipping" policy to its employees? Because Tessa on Metroblogging recounted getting mugged by her FreshDirect delivery guy last week:The delivery guy who was a cross between Mark Wahlberg and Kevin Federline told me tipping was optional. I told him I knew. He then said "Where's my tip?" Aghast. I immediately decided not to tip him. Wrong answer. The guy put his foot in my door and would not let me......

The city released its plans for its vision of a new West Side (centerpiece being a stadium for the Jets), called Hudson Yards. The city has a snazzy Hudson Yards website, complete with its vision, mission, proposal, photographs of the neighborhood, and a timeline. But Gothamist was struck by this photograph of the railyards the new development would replace, because there's something beautiful about this mass of trains in the middle of the city.......

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has put all 5,201 entries for the WTC Memorial online at www.wtcsitememorial.org. We liked the concept for greg.org's entry - following the paths of people on September 11, which was an event for the victims as well as the survivors. greg.org also pointed out designs by architect Antoine Predock (above), artist Ross Bleckner and Tribute in Light collaborators John Bennett and Paul Myoda. The Times David Dunlap wonders why no......

It's good to know that Winona Ryder is basically like the Welcome Wagon for any semi-cute up-and-coming would-be rocker - at least someone is looking out for the lads. That's why she was the focus of a VH1 All Access:Winona Rules! Truly, it makes sense for Winona to be featured, because as Courtney Love says, as quoted on the show's site, "You’re no one in music until you have feuded with me or until you......