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This year's Cannes hosts an extraordinary lineup of the world's greatest auteur directors. Who will carry off the big prizes? Peter Bradshaw gets ready to step into the ringVariety is calling it a 'heavyweight auteur smackdown' and having unveiled his competition list, the festival's mandarin president, Gilles Jacob, agreed: 'The only question I find important is that of the future of auteur, independent cinema.' At Cannes this year, the A-word is back. The festival has unveiled an extraordinary list of auteurs, including Pedro Almodóvar, Ken Loach, Quentin Tarantino, Francis Ford Coppola, Jane Campion, Lars von Trier, Michael Haneke, Ang Lee, Chan-wook Park, Ming-liang Tsai, Terry Gilliam and many more. Martin Scorsese will be there, too, as president of the Cannes Classics, introducing a restoration of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Red Shoes. Perhaps most startlingly, there is the Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi, famed for his spare and poetic films. His partner

Helen Phillips, a 48-year-old mother of three, fended off fierce competition and prevailed on "The Biggest Loser: Couples" finale live from Hollywood on Tuesday night. Read on for the full recap, including the surprising winner of the at-home challenge! Helen won the title of "Biggest Loser" and the $250,000 grand prize after narrowly edging out Mike Morelli (at 18 the youngest player in the show's history) and former model Tara Costa, who rounded out the finale's Top Three. Helen scored the big victory by losing the highest percentage of starting body-weight. Entering the competition at 257 pounds, she shed 140 to finish at a trim 117 pounds -- cutting 54.47% of her weight. Mike lost 53.35% of his beginning weight, 388 pounds, and ended up at an impressive 181 pounds. And Tara melted off 52.72% of her starting 294 pounds to finish at 139.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Imax Corp said on Tuesday its 'Star Trek' screenings grossed a record $8.5 million during the film's first weekend, even as some purists complained that the company's big screens were not big enough.

CANNES, France (Reuters) - The Cannes film festival marks a first on Wednesday when it opens with 'Up,' an animation comedy that may help lift some of the recessionary gloom overshadowing cinema's biggest and glitziest gathering.

Nicole Kidman was just one of the big names in the all-star lineup for Woody Allen's latest untitled project -- but it seems the actress has changed her mind about the film. The 41-year-old actress will not be in the film, and there is no word yet on who will replace her, Variety says. The movie is set to start shooting this summer in London and will star 'Slumdog Millionaire''s Freida Pinto, as well as Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, Josh Brolin, and Naomi Watts, the trade paper says.

On a spring day in 1953, two girls were born at Pioneer Memorial Hospital in eastern Oregon. They grew up happily, got married, had kids and became grandparents. Then last summer their lives were turned upside down. Kay Rene Reed Qualls found out that she and...

Film Reviews: Odd little indie 'The Big Shot-Caller,' starring writer-director Marlene Rhein and her brother David, is based on a true story (guess whose).

wondering what shoes are hot this summer? Here is a snap shot of the biggest trends in footwear for summer 2009.Source: Heather ConePublished: May 12, 2009

Impact of Telegraph papers' revelations on MPs' expenses 'better than any marketing promotion', say industry insidersThe Daily Telegraph's exclusive revelations about MPs' expenses boosted circulation by nearly 100,000 copies on Friday, giving the paper a bigger boost than a promotional DVD giveaway.On that day, when the Daily Telegraph published the first of its series of exclusives with details of the expenses of the prime minister, Gordon Brown, and other Labour cabinet ministers, circulation rose by 93,000 copies above that on the previous Friday, according to unofficial figures seen by MediaGuardian.co.uk.Sales of Saturday's Daily Telegraph, with its revelations about other government ministers, and the Sunday Telegraph, with its revelations about Sinn Fein, were also up tens of thousands of copies on the previous weekend, but precise figures were not available. Web traffic to Telegraph.co.uk has also surged, according to Telegraph Media Group insiders.Further revelations followed

TV News: Show moves to two anchors, changes name -- 'The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer' is making some big changes effective September.