In the movie “21,” opening in theaters Friday, Jim Sturgess plays an MIT student and math whiz who learns the ways of card-counting and joins an elite gambling club so that he can pay his tuition. The movie is based on a book called “Bringing Down the House,” and the book is based on the [...]

 
Abby Mann, writer of socially conscious scripts for movies and television and winner of the 1961 Academy Award for adapted screenplay for “Judgment at Nuremberg,” has died at 80. if(window.yzq_d==null)window.yzq_d=new Object(); window.yzq_d['yayar0LEYrQ-']=’&U=127hbtc8h%2fN%3dyayar0LEYrQ-%2fC%3d-1%2fD%3dRMP%2fB%3d-1′; if(window.yzq_d==null)window.yzq_d=new Object(); window.yzq_d['yqyar0LEYrQ-']=’&U=128q8o0jh%2fN%3dyqyar0LEYrQ-%2fC%3d-1%2fD%3dSIPR%2fB%3d-1′; if(window.yzq_d==null)window.yzq_d=new Object(); window.yzq_d['xayar0LEYrQ-']=’&U=13bhajse8%2fN%3dxayar0LEYrQ-%2fC%3d619213.12054948.12500301.1442997%2fD%3dLREC%2fB%3d4919452′;
Writers Guild of America spokesman Gregg Mitchell said Mann died Tuesday. [...]

WPvideo 1.10

Elizabeth Banks is going from the world of adult films to the White House.
The actress, who recently wrapped shooting Kevin Smith’s comedy “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” is in final negotiations to portray first lady Laura Bush in “W,” Oliver Stone’s biopic on the life and presidency of George W. Bush.
Josh Brolin (”No Country [...]

Heeeere’s Johnny!
Hundreds of fans, some of whom waited hours outside the Old Lake County Courthouse and jail hoping to catch a glimpse of movie star Johnny Depp despite word around the set that filming would be taking place solely indoors. They were rewarded late Monday morning when Depp showed up.
The crowd erupted into loud cheers [...]

 
Richard Widmark, who created a villain in his first movie role who was so repellent and frightening that the actor became a star overnight, died Monday at his home in Roxbury, Conn. He was 93
His death was announced Wednesday morning by his wife, Susan Blanchard. She said that Mr. Widmark had fractured a vertebra in [...]

 
He’d never been to Vegas and he’d never played blackjack. Gambling meant “the horse races and the dog track … and fruit machines (slots),” and Vegas was an “iconic place” of casinos and indulgence.
But for 26-year-old British actor Jim Sturgess, the role of Ben Campbell, an MIT student who hustles casinos for hundreds of thousands [...]

WPvideo 1.10

In the Orson Welles classic Touch of Evil, the director’s opening scene was a long, elaborate tracking shot famed for its intricate choreography. The feat was later duplicated in Goodfellas and The Player.
Writer/director Aram Rappaport is taking the idea and blowing it up for his new thriller, Helix. Plans are under way to shut down [...]

The wave of euphoria that swept over Hollywood following the end of the WGA strike has been replaced by a whole new set of emotions: anxiety, depression, fear, nervousness — and anger.
One month after scribes put down their pickets, a March malaise has set in, with folks in town wondering when — or if — [...]