Michael Connelly was known for his detective, Harry Bosch, until the success of The Lincoln Lawyer and its protagonist Mickey Haller, says Declan Burke

The ailing sex life of the over-fifties is not a subject often played out on the big screen, but, says Will Lawrence, charting unknown landscapes is nothing new to Meryl Streep.

Lindsay Lohan has been jailed and blacked by film directors, but are her parents to blame? asks Suzanne Harrington

The Drop

WHILE the Oscars is an overblown act of worship of Hollywood by Hollywood, where the stars and directors are perceived as gods, the Cannes Film Festival is a bit more European.

FRANCE’S first lady is making her debut as an actress, filming this week in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris.

France's first lady is making her debut as an actress, filming this week in Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris".

Woody Allen has given French First Lady Carla Bruni a starring role in his next film, according to reports.

Paul Newman, the Academy-Award winning superstar who personified cool as an activist, race car driver, popcorn impresario and the anti-hero of such films as 'Hud', 'Cool Hand Luke' and 'The Colour of Money', has died, a spokeswoman said today. He was 83.

Oscar-winning director Sydney Pollack, a Hollywood mainstay who achieved commercial success and critical acclaim with 'Tootsie' and period drama 'Out Of Africa', has died of cancer at 73, his agent said today.

Robert Altman’s 'Streamers' (Metrodome; €24.99) is an infuriating film.

COLIN Farrell and Ewan McGregor were in Venice yesterday for the premiere of their new Woody Allen film Cassandra’s Dream.

Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell were in Venice today for the premiere of their new Woody Allen film Cassandra’s Dream.

'The Lord of the Rings' star Liv Tyler suffers from fainting fits.

In Kansas City (Cinema Club, €19.49) Blondie O’Hara’s (Jennifer Jason Leigh) husband Johnny (Dermot Mulroney) is kidnapped by gangsters, so in desperation she kidnaps the wife of a politician in an attempt to get him to use his influence to free him.

It took 26 years, six directing nominations and two screenplay nominations, but Martin Scorsese finally has his Oscar.

Another wonderfully observed ensemble piece – and what an ensemble – from director Altman as several stories weave themselves in and around the coming together of a group of musicians for an all-star C&W radio show … that of the film’s title.

Lindsay Lohan's publicist has hit back at the press after journalists mocked a message the actress wrote following the death of film director Robert Altman.

ROBERT ALTMAN, the acclaimed director of M*A*S*H, Short Cuts and Gosford Park, has died, aged 81.

Robert Altman, the caustic and irreverent satirist behind M*A*S*H, Nashville and The Player who made a career out of bucking Hollywood management and story conventions, died at a Los Angeles Hospital, his Sandcastle 5 Productions Company said today.

Mariah Carey, Sean 'Diddy' Combs and Jamie Foxx are among the celebrities who will receive stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next year.

Sean “Diddy” Combs, rock disc jockey Rodney Bingenheimer and Barbara Walters have something in common: They will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Kevin Spacey has insisted he is "in it for the long haul" as head of London's Old Vic Theatre - and plans to star in one of the theatre's forthcoming plays.

Forthcoming productions at Kevin Spacey's London theatre have been axed for five months following weeks of poor audience ratings and dismal critical reviews.

Sideways star Virginia Madsen has come out in defence of teenager Lindsay Lohan, insisting she has to answer unsavoury questions the media would never ask of boys.

Gay cowboys, country singers, literary lions, a bullheaded CIA agent and a transsexual on a road trip are among the likely cast of characters for Academy Awards nominations today.

Lindsay Lohan was released from the hospital today after being treated for an asthma attack, her publicist said in Miami.

American pop superstar Justin Timberlake will move to London next summer so he can star on the West End stage.

Teen star Lindsay Lohan is fed up with the press only being interested in her wild social life, because she's desperate to be taken seriously as an actress.

HOLLYWOOD veteran Clint Eastwood contemplated how deserving he was to come away with his second best director Oscar for boxing tale Million Dollar Baby, which also won best picture.

Oscar-nominated actor Stephen Rea is to become a pantomime dame this Christmas, it emerged tonight.

Dance, in all its forms, is one of the fastest-growing artforms in Ireland. Everybody seems to be stepping out.

Mary Selway, a casting director who matched actors with roles in films from Raiders of the Lost Ark to Gosford Park, has died at the age of 68.

A gala screening of John Sayles Casa De Los Babys will open this year's Belfast Film Festival - the fourth - on March 25.

British screenwriter Julian Fellowes, who won an Oscar for his script for Robert Altman's Gosford Park, makes his directing debut on Monday when he begins filming A Way Through The Woods from his own screenplay.

ACTOR Dustin Hoffman has become the latest US star to voice his opposition to war with Iraq.

Martin Scorsese, who won a Golden Globe on Sunday for directing Gangs of New York, has been nominated by his peers for the Directors Guild of America Award.

Actress Cate Blanchett is to play Mata Hari in a TV film about the infamous First World War spy, it emerged today.

Lord Of The Rings has won five honours at the Orange British Academy Film Awards - including best film.

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring led the way with 13 nominations, including best picture, as the nominations for the 74th annual Academy Awards were announced today.

The hyperactive musical, Moulin Rouge, was named best musical or comedy movie and took two other awards at the Golden Globes ceremony in Hollywood, while the schizophrenia drama A Beautiful Mind also claimed three.

Hollywood glamour is coming to the UK as movie stars troop up the red carpet for Britain's answer to the Oscars - The British Academy Film Awards.