It's been said that India is full of beggars. I became one of them, before I even arrived My assignment - for CNN's 'My City_ My Life' travel program - was to fly to Mumbai to film with the Bollywood legend Anil Kapoor. He's currently starring in the hit film 'Slumdog Millionaire', that's sweeping the boards with award success. The shoot very nearly didn't happen. My flight from London Heathrow was cancelled - hence the begging. After much coercion, ...

As the clock ticks down to the 81st Academy Awards Sunday, audiences could be forgiven for losing interest. On the face of it, apart from Hugh Jackman hosting, this year's Oscars doesn't look like it will offer many thrills. Sure, the once-yearly opportunity to poke fun at an ill-judged Oscars dress or a super-gushy acceptance speech there (gather, Kate, gather) is a welcome prospect in these dreary days of economic doom and gloom. But, if you are looking ...

The hero of "Slumdog Millionaire," a poverty-raised teaboy seeking his lost love, works his way through the questions on the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" knowing that, at any time, he can lose and walk away with nothing. At this point, the movie appears unlikely to face the same fate. The crowd-pleasing rags-to-riches story has been the winter's surprise winner, racking up victories at practically every juncture. The Golden Globes gave "Slumdog" its top award; so did ...

On a winter evening in early 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first black performer to win an Oscar, a best supporting actress honor for her performance as Mammy, the servant in "Gone With the Wind." She accepted her award at the Academy Awards ceremony at the Coconut Grove, a nightclub in Los Angeles' Ambassador Hotel, where she was seated in the segregated section at the rear of the room. Though her win was played as a sign of progress for ...

It's 11 days before the Academy Awards, and Kate Winslet is giving her third best performance of the year. The occasion is a lunch at New York City's Oak Room at which 100 or so invited guests have gathered to honor her performance in Stephen Daldry's The Reader. This particular publicity event, orchestrated in the 26th mile of the Oscar marathon, has multiple purposes: it's designed to entice any wavering voters in the few days before the last postmark lands ...

First came the iPhone. Then, there was the "iFart" flatulence noise download. Now, there's "Pull My Finger" -- and next could come the lawsuits. Once described as "the man with the golden gut," Bruckheimer's movies have earned more than $15 billion in box office, fueled by a potent mix of fast-moving action, big bangs and even bigger stars. Over the span of almost four decades, Tinseltown's reigning king of action has credits including, 1980s classics "Top Gun" and "Flashdance," high-octane ...

Hollywood uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer is famous for his almost uncanny ability to recognize a potential hit movie. Once described as "the man with the golden gut," Bruckheimer's movies have earned more than $15 billion in box office, fueled by a potent mix of fast-moving action, big bangs and even bigger stars. Over the span of almost four decades, Tinseltown's reigning king of action has credits including, 1980s classics "Top Gun" and "Flashdance," high-octane action movies "The Rock" and "Con ...

Playing Rebecca Bloomwood, the blissfully clothes-crazy heroine of "Confessions of a Shopaholic," Isla Fisher walks around with the mad gleam of a true believer. She's utterly rational as well (you can't talk her out of buying things -- she's too busy trying to talk herself into them), and it's that flaky combination that makes her an addict for our times. When Rebecca goes into a store, preferably of designer vintage, she's in her own yum-yum version of paradise. ...

Actor Derek Mears has a big hockey mask to fill. Mears was cast as the iconic boogeyman Jason Voorhees in the new "Friday the 13th" movie. A remake of the original 1980 film, the new movie aims to breathe life into the former franchise about a psychopathic killer who preys on a group of young people at the fictitious Camp Crystal Lake. Mears is no stranger to the horror genre, having co-starred in "The Hills Have Eyes II." His career ...

Controversial Dutch filmmaker Geert Wilders condemned as "crazy and cowardly" Britain's refusal to let him enter the country Thursday. Wilders, a Dutch lawmaker who produced a much-criticized film about Islam last year, flew to London for a screening of the movie despite being told a day earlier he would not be admitted. "I still believed and hoped that they would change their tune," he told CNN by telephone, saying he was speaking from a detention room at London's Heathrow Airport. ...