Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist  has been the darling of the festival circuit, beginning with Cannes last may where its star, Jean Dujardin, won the award for Best Actor and the film was snapped up by Harvey and The Weinstein Company tout de suite.  It's essentially a story along the lines of any of the incarnations of A Star Is Born, but the hook is that it’s a silent movie and it’s in black and white. That's right, someone made a silent movie in the second decade of the 21st century and critics and filmgoers alike are all bonkers for it.

The official synopsis: Hollywood, 1927: As successful silent movie star George Valentin (Dujardin) wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion, he sparks with Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), a young dancer set for a big break and for whom sky's the limit. 

Dujardin is French, Bejo speaks Spanish and a lot of the rest of the cast (including John Goodman, James Cromwell and Penelope Ann Miller) are Americans. That's the beauty of a silent film, just as it was when the world first fell in love with them. There are no language barriers and no one's accent gets in the way and jerks you out of the moment. I'm curious about the soundtrack, wondering if they used classic jazz like that in the trailer (although to be honest, "Sing, Sing, Sing" by Benny Goodman is the wrong era.) Ludovic Bource is credited with the score. He scored Michel Hazanavicius' two previous films: OSS 117: Cairo Nest of Spies and OSS 117 – Lost in Rio.

Much like Scorsese’s Hugo, The Artist looks like a beautifully crafted love letter to the movies, designed to remind us all why we first fell in love with them all those years ago. Without having yet seen The Artist, I can’t help imagining a double feature of those two films.  The Artist just opened today in New York and LA, and will go wide in January in the US and UK. Enjoy the pics!

Another Thanksgiving is behind us and as you relax amid your Black Friday purchases and reach for another piece of leftover pie, I thought I'd give you something to look at. There was a lot of filler in the 85th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, as there usually is, from singers you never heard of nor care about lipsynching forgettable songs (some of them botching their cues, others looking bored. It could have used more Muppets. And could someone explain Johnny Weir to me? And oh wouldn't I have loved to be anywhere near a parent explaining the number from "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" to the kiddies. LMAO!) to floats and balloons that all seem to be commercials for something. That still leaves an awful lot to enjoy, and it was a beautiful day for a parade! My personal favorites were the Julius the Monkey balloon and the 610 Stompers.

Here are some of the highlights.

Hilary Duff and husband Mike Comrie hit Coldwater Park in Los Angeles with some friends where she not only looks adorable rocking her baby bump, she looks to be loving playing ball with that little dog.

I love how Mike is rubbing the back of Hilary's neck. He's a good man for being so attentive to his woman. You must admit, pregnancy looks amazing on Hilary, doesn't it?

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British songstress Lily Allen 26, is a first-time mom to a bouncing baby girl with her hubby Sam Cooper after she gave birth Friday night. About a year ago she suffered a miscarriage when she was six months pregnant with a baby boy. 

Back in June Lily and Sam got married in London, England where she announced in addition to becoming Mrs. Sam Cooper that she was pregnant.

This is such wonderful news for this couple! We send our sincere best wishes to this family!

There’s a new poster for Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus. This one’s Russian and once again it gives us a bloody image of the title character, post-battle. The last time we saw this image it was on the UK Quad poster and it had Coriolanus’ mother Volumnia (Vanessa Redgrave) just behind his shoulder. In this Russian poster, it’s Coriolanus’ arch-enemy Tullus Aufidius (Gerard Butler) who appears behind him, looking equally fierce. (*swoon*)

Fiennes’ chose one of Shakespeare’s lesser known plays for his directorial debut, but it’s a play that he has a deep connection to. He played Coriolanus on stage in 2000 in London’s West End. (Gerard Butler made his professional acting debut in a different production of the play, directed by Steven Berkoff, also in London in 1996.) In a nutshell, the play is the story of a banished hero of Rome who allies with a sworn enemy to take his revenge on the city. Of course there’s much more to it than that.

Cate Blanchett, Fiennes costar in 1997’s Oscar and Lucinda, had this to say about her friend’s directorial debut as part of Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series: "In order to tackle Shakespeare, one needs to understand stakes. The worlds he creates, although readily identifiable, are never domestic or petty. As an actor, both on stage and screen, Ralph's choices are always rich and surprising. He is an actor of great understatement and power. This power comes from an innate insight into what is at stake for the characters he portrays (and there have been a remarkable array) but also for the project as a whole. Only Ralph, in his infinite capacity could embrace the near impossible task of directing and acting in one of Shakespeare's most challenging plays and pull it off with aplomb. As the director of 'Coriolanus,' Ralph has discovered a modern immediacy without compromising either the classical power of the language or the grandeur of the characters' lights. As an actor, he has yet again delivered another brilliant, searing performance in the order we have come to expect. I saw him perform 'Coriolanus' on stage 10 years ago and the role has quite simply become his. Definitive and historic. He is an actor who always risks everything and in doing so, raises the bar for us all."

Coriolanus opens in NY and LA next Friday, December 2 for an awards qualifying run before opening wider January 20 in the US, Canada and the UK.  This calls for some more pics as well, don’t you think?

Selena Gomez 19, has announced that she is going to be a big sister! She announced on Twitter earlier today:

"Momma and Brian are finally letting me share the news," "My mommy's carrying my baby brother or sister. I'm the happiest girl in the world!"

In 2006 her mother Mandy Dawn Cornett married Brian Teefey after Selena's parents divorced when she was 5 years old. This will be the first child for Mandy and Brian.

That is wonderful news! You just know Selena will be a great big sister, but I have to say her mom looks SO young! No word on how old her mother is but whatever she is doing is working!

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