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......

Broadway’s blackout grew blacker still Sunday night when talks between the stagehands’ union and producers broke down again. Around 9pm, after two days of negotiations averaging about 12 hours a day, the league of producers reached the end of their patience. A spokesman for the union, Local One, issued a statement saying that “producers informed Local One that what Local One offered was not good enough, and they left.” This despite the intervention of Disney’s......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: brush fires in Jamaica caused delays and suspensions on the LIRR west of Jamaica Station (it's okay, just booze up) - there may still be some delays; a water main break on 3rd Ave at 86th Street; and found DOA on the Belt Parkway. Being the head of a crime family isn't easy these days. Danny "The Lion" Leo, the reputed head of the Genovese crime family was arrested......

Just like Factory Girl, Across the Universe, the $45 million hippie, trippy love story set to the music of 35 Beatles songs, is going through some rough times. Seems the director Julie Taymor and the studio are battling it out. Upon completing her version of the movie, Taymor found out Joe Roth (the film executive whose production company is making the film) had created his own version. He even tested his version last week, leading......

Last night, a man carrying two handguns and over 100 rounds of ammunition shot and killed a pizzeria employee in Greenwich Village and fatally shot two unarmed auxiliary police officers, before responding police officers shot him on Bleecker Street. The slain counterman at DeMarco's Pizza is being described as Romero Morales or Alfredo Romaro (we will refer to him as Romaro). The auxiliary police officers were identified as 19-year-old Eugene Marshalik, a NYU student,......

New York City still can't enough of Wesley Autrey's subway heroics. Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg awarded him with the city's highest honor, the Bronze Medallion, and said:Wesley's astonishing bravery - saving a life in the face on an oncoming subway car - is an inspiration not just to New Yorkers, but the entire world. His courageous rescue of a complete stranger is a reminder of how we are surrounded by everyday heroes in New York......

New York mid-December always smells vaguely of pine and peppermint, despite our recent springtime temperatures. Bring that cozy holiday feeling with you into the cineplex for a couple of new feel-good holiday movies. Will Smith will tug at your heart strings big time as the struggling dad trying to become a stockbroker in The Pursuit of Happyness. Set in the '70s in San Francisco, Smith plays Chris Gardner, a door to door medical equipment salesman......

Gothamist is feeling a bit under the weather today, literally and figuratively, so we'll just get straight to it, if you don't mind: Monday it's singer-songwriter night at Bowery Ballroom, with Vic Chesnutt, David Bazan (of Pedro The Lion), Mark Eitzel, and Will Johnson (of Centro-Matic) all playing each other's songs together, as the Undertow Orchestra. That's a lot of emoting on one stage, folks. For the ultimate in lameness, check out INXS at Avery......

Here we go: it's a huge weekend for year-end Oscar-bait and questions abound. Will audiences flock to see the "forbidden" love of Brokeback Mountain? (And was anybody else as disturbed at Focus Features' obvious attempts to downplay the male love story as much as possible and feature the relationships with the respective wives in every trailer?) Will fans who made worshipped the bestselling novel approve of Chicago director Rob Marshall's retelling of Memoirs of a......

ART: papermag.com celebrates it's 10th year with Manhattan! We recently had a chance to stop by this group exhibition which features over 75 Big Apple-based artists from past to present, and have never enjoyed a gallery show more (of course, it was the opening and they were passing out champagne with Red Bull in it.) The loose theme of the show is "People of New York." To the right is the Yeah Yeah Yeah's Nick......

Incase you woke up this morning thinking you'd like to buy something totally impractical with your rent money, then have we got good news for you. Designer Bob Mackie joins up with Christie's to auction off his "scene-stealing" fashions. They've been draped over stars like Sharon Stone, Carol Burnett, Cher, Brooke Shields, Sir Elton John and Diana Ross, and his costumes have been in some of the most popular Broadway shows. Now you can own......

CONTEST ALERT: Win tickets to see Michael Penn @ Joe's Pub this Saturday night! Gothamist loves Joe's Pub, it's intimate and has an old charm to it, plus there is seating. We enjoy seating. And we hear this Michael Penn isn't so bad either. CLICK HERE TO ENTER! Winners will be notified by tonight or tomorrow morning. PARTY: Zero Transportation is a fitting party for tonight, coming on the cusps of the terror threat targeting......

Kelly Ann Martin, Forensics Files Senior Producer...

Gothamist must applaud the local papers are getting to the heart of the matter when it comes to the Republican National Convention delegates. The Daily News led their story about a Kentucky delegate couple with "Frank and Cathy Anderson were flashed by a pervert downtown, pegged as marks by a subway hustler in midtown and treated to culinary delights uptown." The flashing occured at the South Ferry subway station, with Anderson saying, "I wouldn't mind......

Yesterday, as the Republican National Convention officially started, protests got a little more in your face as more "underground" events are coming to head. In one incident, an undercover police offier was knocked off his scooter by protesters and momentarily lost consciousness. Of course, there's some debate between cops and protesters over whether or not the officer was knocked off or actually fell off the scooter, as the crowd could have overwhelmed the police. And......

With protesters downtown marching to their hearts content, members of the Republican National Convention were watching Broadway shows, with plenty of protection from the NYPD. Hours before delegates were to leave a NY Times sponsored screening of The Lion King, demonstrators, police, and busses were outside the New Amsterdam Theater. Republicans all over New York? New Amsterdam indeed. With our super Gothamist hearing abilities, we found out that the show was letting out at......

- The New York Times is sponsoring a welcoming party for the GOP, which will be a "Salute to Broadway." Mayor Bloomberg said this would be instead of "bad cocktail receptions" that are usually held. The Times, emphasizing their commitment to the arts (especially near their Times Square office), will be giving the 13,373 delegates and their guests tickets to musicals like The Lion King, Wonderful Town, 42nd Street, Fiddler on the Roof, Bombay Dreams,......