Considering that most smokers pick up the nasty habit during their impressionable adolescent years, it makes sense to put off exposing the tykes to the temptation until they're old enough to poison themselves. Riding that puff of thought, the State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines wrote an open letter earlier this month to film makers this week asking them to refrain from including smoking scenes in G, PG, and PG-13 rated movies. The (Health) Commish......

Recently at one of our sister sites, LAist's Julie Wolfson spent an afternoon with Cloverfield director Matt Reeves. In the interview that follows he spills some juicy details about the film, including what the title really means, which will be in theaters this Friday. Over the years you have been very selective in your choice of projects. What made you want to direct your first monster movie? Well, I guess it had to do......

MUSIC: If you see a lot of guitar-toting ladies and gents around the Puck Building right now, that's because CMJ has officially begun. This means there is a ton of music happening (including at our own Gothamist House starting tomorrow). Tonight we suggest hitting up Brooklyn Vegan's show at Bowery Ballroom: Voxtrot, The Rosebuds, Dean & Britta...and so many more. 6pm // Bowery Ballroom [6 Delancey St] // $16, or free with badge THEATER: A.R.......

Yesterday morning, Mayor Bloomberg was on the Today Show, chatting with Meredith Vieira about the 40th anniversary of the Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting and puffing his chest about NYC's role in the film and TV community. Then he scooted back to City Hall to announce new leglisation to penalize movie piracy. The press conference was full of factoids:The MPAA estimates that New York City theaters are the origin of 43% of camcorder-source pirated......

As the summer season winds down over this Labor Day weekend, there's a few more big budget blockbusters vying for your attention. Nicolas Cage travels to a creepy island where a young girl has gone missing in Neil Labute's The Wicker Man. If you've ever seen the kitschy '70s original, you know this seems like an odd horror movie for a remake but maybe provocative Labute will make it more interesting than horrific. Playing a......

It's been a busy week out in Park City, Utah as the 2006 Sundance Film Festival draws to a close this weekend. Most New Yorkers are uninterested in the daily screenings and sales at Sundance unless you're in the "industry," but Gothamist finds the whole spectacle sort of fascinating because the festival is such a great prognosticator of what will be hot in indie cinema in the coming year. A few premieres we've been excited......

Roger Ebert answers many interesting movie-related questions every other Sunday as "Movie Answer Man" but this week, his second question-and-answer is particularly revealing: A reader asks if ultra–gory Kill Bill is rated R, why is Lost in Translation R also and why Whale Rider is one level lower than Kill Bill with a PG–13. Ebert starts his explanation with "The MPAA rating system is guided by the greed of the movie industry and its fear......

The Washington Post's Beltway gossip Lloyd Grove gets ready for his new gig at the Daily News by going heavy on the D.C. screening circuit today. First, he leads with a screening of The Passion, with director Mel Gibson present, for insiders to quell rumors. The invitees skewed to the conservative: Matt Drudge, Peggy Noonan, Cal Thomas and Kate O'Beirne; conservative essayist Michael Novak; President Bush's abortive nominee for labor secretary, Linda Chavez; staff director......