Back before there was Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, or Meg Ryan and virtually any other male lead, there was Kate Hepburn and Cary Grant, Kate Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, Kate Hepburn and – well, you get the idea. Never seen the inimitable Ms Hepburn on the silver screen before? Now’s your chance: she and a host of other sharp, witty, irrepressible, and, of course, gorgeous comedic heroines will......

It's officially Spring and by Pisces it's lovely out there in the sunshine. Crocuses have been spotted in Highbury Fields so our biggest recommendation for expenditure light trips this week is get to the parks and into the gardens and witness the miracles of the changing seasons. If you're in need of more artificial stimulation, however, and are squirrelling all your spare cash into your ISA before the end of the tax year then......

There are moments where London can be proud of its diversity. This is just one of them. The London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival - the annual feast of the best gay cinema - is shortly upon us. This year's gathering in the capital will be the 22nd time it has been held in London, and each year it seems to attract more films and popularity. Our sizable gay community and London's film and......

Swanning About Not one, but two Swan Lakes swim into town this week. Take your pick from The Russian State Ballet of Siberia's version at the New Wimbledon Theatre, or the Moscow City Ballet at The Hackney Empire. Expect world-class dance interpretations this classic love story to Tchaikovsky's sublime score at both. Topsy-turvy Theatreland Liverpool comes to Hampstead (in 3 Sisters on Hope Street), Hollywood hits Stratford (Marylin and Ella), and an Asian Tempest......

Okay, first of all, the bad news: both the opening and closing previews at the Barbican's London Korea Film Festival are already sold out. Boo! If you were hoping to check out Park Chan-wook's latest I'm A Cyborg, But That's Okay, or the Cannes-pleasing Breath (pictured left) by Kim Ki-Duk, then you're out of luck. The sell-out is testament to the reputation for excellence that Korean cinema has gathered in the last decade, and......

Your mother might well have said ‘that you never should/Play with the gypsies in the wood’, and she would probably advise you to give a wide berth to the begging variety in most urban high streets today as well. But this is just so much social stereotyping, and the Romany culture is a rich and interesting one, certainly worthy of more respect than it usually garners. Londonist has exciting news for those of you who......

The breathlessly international Bicycle Film Festival is seven years old this year and it is rolling into London with a string of cool films and even cooler parties and exhibitions, from Wednesday 17 October to Sunday 21 October. Films about two-wheel transport range from modern-day radicalism in Canada to gruelling fundraising cycle hikes over the Alps, from the factory floor in America to changing lives in Ghana, a helmet-camera tour of several international cities......

Judging from the deluge that hit parts of the capital Monday morning, a rain dance is the last thing soaked Londoners need this week. Lucky, then, that we're actually talking about the Raindance Film Festival, which opens on Tuesday night. Now in its fifteenth year, Raindance has matured from a youthful dalliance as the edgy alternative to the LFF to become one of Europe's most highly respected film festivals, and a proving ground for......

Almost time for the London Film Festival again! This year the event is opened by David Cronenberg's London-set Eastern Promises - Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen following up A History of Violence with this violent tale of Russian organised crime, penned by Steve Dirty Pretty Things Knight. One to watch for sure. Closing the festival is the new Wes Anderson movie, The Darjeeling Limited. In between there are some 180+ feature films and 133 shorts,......

If you were up in Edinburgh for the first week of the festival or are just back from that hedonistic week away then you’re probably feeling the pinch. You’ll not be able to go naughty Monday indie clubbing at Durr at The End. You can’t fork out to go to Cadogan Hall and watch the Charlie Chaplin triple bills with live music and celebrity hosts. Neither will you be getting a last minute ticket......

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank. Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their......

What with Paris Hilton's release earlier this week and the upcoming celebration of American Independence (sorry, Londonist!), we've been thinking a lot about freedom. Freedom to vote, freedom to choose, and most importantly, freedom to blog. Here are a few things we're happy we've been free to blog about this week. Being the nation's capital, DCist felt especially proud to let freedom ring this week by exposing the really important issues, like how sad they......

Seattlest has a talk with the photographer from last week's "Segway Mom" and then experiences some dissension in the ranks over the question of wine vs. beer. It's not West Side Story, but about as close as they'll get. They're also still waiting on some inbox relief after a spammer is arrested. As Chicagoist counts down the days to its third anniversary party, they found all-organic pizza to be underwhelming amidst the hoopla, tried......

Spring is when we get busy here in the Ist-A-Verse. Very busy. But, after staying bundled-up indoors all winter, it's nice for us to be out, about, and collecting things to write about for you. Here's a glimpse at what's been keeping your favorite citybloggers busily away from home and out of bed. For LAist, strong winds attacked LA on the same day the Feds raided the Crips. Not to fear, though: the Japanese version......

The Constellation Change Film Festival is all about showcasing dance on film and opens jazz hand style on Monday with the classic musical "West Side Story". People who don’t like musicals like "West Side Story" and we reckon it will be cracking on the big screen. The film positively sizzles with Jerome Robbins’ fantastic choreography, especially the kick ass gang battling routines and the sizzling and sassy Latin styled "America". Go see! If you......

We do enjoy a good debate here at Londonist HQ so were pleased to be asked along to last night's Guardian/BAFTA Film Forum entitled The Role of the Film Critic in the Digital Age: It is easy and inexpensive for anyone to set themselves up as an internet authority on film - and online film reviews, blogs and podcasts are widely available at the click of a button. Does the internet threaten the role......

This Day In London’s History 1825: The Grosvenor Canal is opened. In 1723 the Chelsea Waterworks were constructed to supply water for parts of West London. Part of these works included a small tidal inlet on the Thames, just east of Chelsea Bridge, which became the entrance to a canal that ran about a mile to Grosvenor Basin (where Victoria Station currently resides). The Grosvenor Canal was opened on 5th March 1825 and was......

We love BBC America's anglophenia because it's always interesting to see what the other side of the pond thinks about the happenings in our own little goldfish bowl. This post, however, tackled a more serious subject than the usual pop culture geography when anglophenia popped over here for a visit: The next 20 minutes or so I spent were both familiar and frustrating. I stood alongside Shaftesbury Avenue with my arm extended nearly vertically,......

Funnily enough we rewatched the 1936 adaptation of HG Wells' The Shape of Things To Come over the weekend and were looking fior a way to mention it on Londonist because of the striking similarities between Everytown and here. Then we got an email informing us that a digitally restored version of the film is to open the Sci-Fi London Film Festival in May. The new version of the film is also the longest......

We saw this movie back in 2005 at the London Film Festival and have been desperate to see it again and drag everyone we know along. Now it's finally got a brief release in London we've dusted off our review... Hands up if you saw Noi The Albino. It didn't get a huge release here, but was a cracking little film (probably find it in Fopp for a tenner). Dark Horse is by the......

Shown previously as part of the 2006 London Film Festival in October, there is a special screening of Nick Broomfield's new film Ghosts at 6.30pm tonight at the Renoir, prior to the film's general release this Friday. Ghosts is Broomfield's second fictional film that draws on his strengths as a documentary maker but exerts a different and more intriguing power than a straightforward documentary. The film follows an impoverished Chinese mother who pays an......

It's a kid-friendly crawl this weekend, by which we mean there's lots of stuff to see and do that would please children and the perpetually nostalgic. Get your scarf, woolly hat and mittens and go out to play. Until 3 December Toys@Oxo 2006 is the annual show from the British Toymakers Guild and everything on display is also for sale. The automata, dolls, teddy bears, puzzles and games, glove puppets, hobby horses, wooden toys......

Bethnal Green's Working Men's Club is ace. We can give you all the 'we were there before everyone caught onto it' spiel, but well we were, and anyway how can anyone refuse to love a place where the bar staff don't really seem to know how much to charge for drinks leaving them getting progressively cheaper as the night goes on. This Sunday, Londonist favourite and recent iTunes celebrity Rod Thomas celebrates the success......

We've just got time to mention that in a couple of hours Tony Benn will be introducing Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory for the cheap cheap ticket price of six quid (or less). It's a Socialist Worker event, but no matter what your politics it's a great film. Full details here. Quite a different target audience for the London Children's Film Festival that runs from the 18th until the 26th of November - make......

There's a chill in the air and the nights are getting longer but though it is tempting to stay indoors, with pipe and slippers (perhaps a slumbering medium-sized dog and roaring log fire too), to wait patiently until spring brings back some colour to the trees... you really mustn't. No, really: don't. Put on a sensible coat and start crawling with us... Today and tomorrow The Radox Experience the Elements event in Russell Square......

Let's take a look back at a week that raised this Zen koan: if Kevin Federline got into a wrestling ring with a wrestler, who would you root for? Austinist was in an entertainment state of mind as they covered the dickens out of the Austin Film Festival, depicted all the Big 12 football coaches as South Park characters, and interviewed Jose Gonzalez. Chicagoist talked about the passion as they bid adieu to Bell......

Due to a particularly vindictive university timetable scheduler, today and henceforth Friday Film News is upping sticks and moving to the so far uncharted territory of the weekend! This week's housewarming will include a look at the reviews of Marie-Antoinette, The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael and Gypo and if you are lucky, a look at what's worth going to see this week at the London Film Festival. I hope you'll join us, bring......

While the London Film Festival was having its gala opening in Leicester Square, a decidedly less glitzy and less James McAvoy-related film gathering was taking place down at BAFTA headquarters over on Piccadilly. Just Watch Me: Award Winning Canadian Short Films brought together some classic National Film Board cartoons with newer shorts by David Cronenberg, Guy Maddin and Chris Landreth (who won the Oscar in 2005 for his animated film Ryan). Also, there was......

Enfield proves it's not just famous for its Ikea riots, as The 2nd Edmonton African Film Festival kicks off next Monday 23rd October, as part of Black History Month. This week-long event will showcase a wide variety of films focusing both on issues in contemporary African society and on events that have shaped the history of this continent in the last decade or so. "From Tsotsi to Kirikou and the Sorceres’ there’s something for......

Note: 'Fingerfucked by the Prime Minister' is now our favourite song. Of course the Times London Film Festival is yet to start and there's a kabillion and one screenings ahead of us but Joachim Trier's Reprise is going to be hard to top for sheer freshness and warmth. Simply put it's a brilliant piece of film making. A group of friends whose lives revolve around literature and music unravel a charming punkrock story through......