The Nanny Diaries (directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini) For a while there it seemed like the book-reading public couldn't get enough of those thinly veiled New York-centric roman à clefs. There weren't very well-written but hoo boy were they juicy. Fortunately as these fluffy chick novels and insider smack downs like The Devil Wears Prada and now The Nanny Diaries have begun to make their way to the silver screen, they've proven......

If you haven't heard about Christina Ricci, Samuel L. Jackson and Justin Timberlake's Southern Gothic exploitation movie, Black Snake Moan, you may have been living under a movie-free rock. Ricci plays a bad, bad girl who must learn to mend her ways under the racially and sexually fraught tutelage of jazz musician Jackson. How shall he do that? Why chain her to the radiator until she repents of course. One of this movie's key words......

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......

Remember the loony Saturday Night Live commercial parody about male infantile baldness, and the new market for baby toupees? Well, now there is a company selling celebrity wigs for the non-walking set. Yes, your baby can have hair like Donald Trump or Samuel L. Jackson - or L'il Kim or Bob Marley. Hey, what about "The Rachel" - Jennifer Aniston's hair circa 1995-1996? Clearly this is perfect for Halloween, or really wanting to spook......

Those mother-bleeping snakes. That mother-flipping plane. You know what we're talking about. This weekend marks the premier of the film that blog buzz built, Samuel L. Jackson's action adventure Snakes on a Plane. Hopefully it will be as cheese-tastic as it seems from the trailers and the title. However, whether you're first in line tonight at a midnight screening or not, there's still loads coming up to see at the movies. As for the other......

With the vice president shooting people in the face and everyone still getting over their chocolate hang over from Valentine's Day, this week it's hard not to feel a general malaise and slight discomfort about the new releases line up. However as always, New York's repertory film scene comes through in the clinch keeping Gothamist inspired when it comes to movie viewing. The bad news first, ie new wide releases out this week: Our former......

The stabbing brawl that occured in a men's bathroom during Sunday's New York Jets game was actually sparked by the Jets' terrible playing. The Post reports that Thomas Conwell saw Shawn Hundley wearing a Chad Penninton jersey, so Conwell told him he was a "f---ing p--sy" for wearing it. Pennington was injured last season, and then again at the beginning of this season! He's like the Samuel L. Jackson character in Unbreakable! The two men......

Writing sketch comedy is not an easy skill. Appealing to a wide audience, writing a good ending for each sketch, and rehearsing your material are not always taken into consideration. Which is why Gothamist loved the new sketch show The Incorrigible Mr. J, now up at the PIT [154 w. 29th Street]. Matt Donnelly, Rebekka Johnson and Jim Festante of the improv group Possible Side Effects, have created a world where reclusive hermits, “dynamic choreography”,......

Gothamist can't wait to hear Billy Joel's latest excuse for crashing his car into a HOUSE yesterday. Sure, the road was wet in Long Island, and the police say there were no drugs or alcohol involved, but come one - this was his third accident in two years. His car insurance must be crazy. It was after his June 2002 car accident, the first publicized one, that Joel checked himself into the substance abuse center,......

The Hollywood Reporter says that Showtime has ordered a pilot for a show called, Make Me Cool: [A] squad of hip African Americans helps terminally uncool individuals -- not just Caucasians -- overcome their obstacles. Though a reality show, this sounds more like a public service, although there actually needs to be a S.W.A.T. team that stops white teenagers from copping too much hip-hop style, like Seth Green in Can't Hardly Wait. Fo' shizzle, my......

The next Pixar animated film, The Incredibles, has been eagerly anticipated since the teaser was shown before Finding Nemo this summer. You can see the teaser, but there's also a new John Ratzenberger introduced "Making of" preview of sorts online. (What's with John Ratzenberger, he's like a studio player for Pixar these days? Will the Pig be in The Incredibles?) Cool things Gothamist didn't realize: Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jason Lee provide voices,......

"I come from the theater. I believe in talent. So, no, I don't see Paris Hilton going anywhere in Hollywood." - Samuel L. Jackson to E! Online. From your lips to God's ears, Sam, from your lips to God's ears. And speaking of Samuel L. Jackson, a new Kangol store opened on the Upper West Side, next to the at around 190 or 194 Columbus Avenue. Gothamist was momentarily tempted to buy a Kangol cap,......

Upon first looking at this list of 50 ways to fix the movies, you might think, anybody could have thought of it. But that's the brilliance - it's what we all think. And leave it to two Canadians to put it to paper in the Toronto Star. Gothamist heartily agrees with many entries, especially these: 9 Roger Ebert and his new sidekick Richard Roeper should be required to wear condoms on their thumbs. They've become......

In the Hindsight is 20/20 department, one sign that lets you know this company is doomed: Basing your company on AOL Time Warner. Hollywood talent agency The Firm laid off most of its staff last Friday according to a Variety article by Dana Harris. Harris also writes, "Firm co-chairman and CEO Jeff Kwatinetz once claimed that he wanted his company to be a model of multimedia synergy not unlike AOL Time Warner." Hee hee. The......