Sarah Ball

The New York Times Is Shocked That People Actually Saw Kevin James' New Movie.  "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" was the runaway box-office winner over the four-day weekend, earning $39 million and stunning other recent comedic releases like "Yes Man" ($18.2 mil).  Or, as the Times put it: "Prolonging the biggest inaugural weekend surprise since William Henry Harrison declined to wear an overcoat, the underdog comedy "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" (Sony Pictures) continued to dominate the box office on the...

Sully might have a gazillion airline-safety gold stars, but Anna Paquin has a Golden Globe. 

Don Cheadle Must've Thought He Signed On for a 'Hotel Rwanda' Sequel. Instead he's opening today in kiddie flick "Hotel for Dogs" -- joined at the theaters by "My Bloody Valentine 3D," an in-your-face horror experience; "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," in which Kevin James manuevers a Segway in the suburbs; and "Notorious," the B.I.G.

  Last week was a major sweep for football: 26.8 million viewers tuned in for the BCS National Championship game between Florida and Oklahoma.  And the Fiesta Bowl (Texas vs.

The Eighties Get Some Love from the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame.  Run DMC and Metallica are up for induction in April, the Hall of Fame announced Wednesday, along with a handful of others.  And for the first time ever, you can watch them accept honors live: a limited number of tickets will be sold to watch the induction.  Through the Cleveland-based foundation's box office, Jan. 24, and via Ticketmaster on Jan. 26. [New York Times]Josh Schwartz Has Plumbed the Depths of...

 Remember Angie Martinez, the Brooklynite radio host and aspiring hip-hop artist who became American Idol's original fourth judge back in 2002? Yeah, neither did we. Martinez departed after only five days on the job, issuing a statement claiming she "decided to leave the show because it became too uncomfortable for me to tell someone else to give up on their dream."

Last week in our Newsmakers section of the magazine, we ran an item about buzz surrounding Nicole Kidman's down-under press tour for "Australia" -- specifically, about quotes of hers from an Australian radio interview that subsequently ran in the Sydney Morning Herald, in which she claims she was "not proud" of her performance.But New York Times blogger Michael Cieply came to Nicole's defense with a post on Carpetbagger about how Kidman meant that she squirms while watching all her performances...

Sundance to Be Sleepy This Year.  The first film festival to hit since the recession started will be low-key, with fewer splashy parties and a more subdued theme in its 25th anniversary year when it opens tomorrow.  The festival's famous "gifting suites," with the free, high-end swag that usually includes designer clothing, jewelry and electronics, will be filled with less expensive wares; as was the case with awards' show swag, there will be an opportunity to re-gift the haul to charity....

Obama, Coming to Theaters Near You.  The president-elect will take to the widescreen, sooner than we all thought.  MSNBC.com will distribute free tickets to see the inauguration and parade in 27 theaters nationwide.  Here's hoping it can revive a stale January B.O.

The day is over, and the judgmental blogosphere that Tina Fey so roundly (and hilariously) critiqued last night has spoken.  Here, the PopVox judgment on which of those next-day fashion critiques are worth reading, and why:Judgiest Judge(s): But of course.

Maybe the crow's-nest hair was a Tippi tribute?

  If you watched the red carpet show last night, you know that every man dressed exactly like the Jonas Brothers—slim suit, skinny black tie—with the exception a few traditional, bowtied gents (...and an actual Jonas.  Trying to be clever, are you?!)  At the expense of the bow, the slim four-in-hand has made a huge comeback in men's formal wear, says neckwear expert Jerry Andersen—though, he adds, it's "sometimes not even fully drawn up to the collar."  The horror!  Three reasons...

Last hours of the work week, one task to go: plunk some cash down on the Golden Globes.  Who cares if they're a poor man's Oscars (...or a rich man's People's Choice Awards?).  And the contenders are...

    The Carrie Bradshaw crew will flock to "Bride Wars" this weekend -- even if critics are slamming the chick flick as tiered-tulle tripe. (The main B.O.

The case for Mickey Rourke; why Sally Hawkins is a shoe-in and other Globes predictions from NEWSWEEK's Devin Gordon and Ramin Setoodeh.

Is this Tina Fey's year? Can "True Blood" really win? NEWSWEEK's Joshua Alston and Marc Peyser make their picks for the awards show. Disagree? The comments are all yours.  

Introductory blog posts kind of make my skin crawl.  "Join me as I peel back a batik peace-sign curtain to reveal my moody thoughts, which I 'll be transcribing and creatively punctuating three times a day."  Eesh.  I'd rather get your bile gurgling with too much cheese than too much whine (badabing!

Harvey Milk wouldn't be too proud of California voters right about now—but he might be glad to know that their doings have blessed his biopic with Oscar buzz aplenty.Since the passage of California's Proposition 8, banning gay marriage, protesting crowds in the tens of thousands have flooded the streets—and the producers of "Milk" aren't shy about calling the film about the assassinated gay activist a celluloid rallying cry."At this moment in time, in 2008, [Harvey Milk's] kind of...

Kehinde Wiley is an art-world darling. So why doesn't he tip his hat to an obvious inspiration?

Don't call him washed up—at 48, Jean-Claude Van Damme is back with a new indy film called "JCVD," about … himself. He's passionate about it, and about so much else.

When Phil Donahue met paralyzed Iraq veteran Tomas Young, he was shocked—and angry. So he made a film.

HBO thought it was making "Sopranos" fans an offer they couldn't refuse: "The Sopranos: The Complete Series," due out Nov. 11, is a 33-disc, 86-episode cinder block of a DVD set, handsomely housed in a black-linen-backed book that tips the scale at 10 pounds.

The veteran Nick News anchor talks about the importance of not condescending, the enthusiasm kids have for this election, and what it means that both Obama and McCain wanted to be pirates at Halloween.

On 'Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team,' the scariest person doesn't cheer.

Filmmaker David Zucker on his new satire, 'An American Carol,' and why he converted to conservative politics.

Michael Cera is a hottie. Don't take our word for it. Ask a group of shrieking girls.

Gorgeous George wasn't just the country's first wrestling king. He changed pop culture.

From the pundits who brought you "thrown under the bus," "taking the gloves off" and sundry other sports analogies in electoral politics comes the latest irritating game in town: the "game changer." Back in March, Sen.

How do you hawk a film to a mainstream audience when even the meaning of the title is too illicit to explain? Simple—you make it look like something else.

When Dawn Harvey leans back on her elbows, legs outstretched, rapidly pedaling, she's not just toning her abs—she's kicking Satan in the head. And when she and her Camp Springs, Md., aerobics class of 12 women stretch their palms to the sky, pumping them upward in cadence, it's not just for their triceps' benefit—it's a come-hither to their celestial inheritance. "Don't think about the pain—think about how much you love him!" screams instructor Melanie Kelly, over organ-trilling gospel...