There's seems to be a new wave of woman directors -- Sarah Polley, Julie Delpy, Lena Dunham, to name a few -- who have put a subversive spin on the romantic comedy, turning out frequently scatological, often hilarious twists on the reigning female stereotypes. Joining them is first time director Lelye Headland, a playwright who has turned one of her stage works, "Bachelorette," about a trio of friends who lose their shit the night before they are to attend a wedding,

And this year's award for promising new editor goes to...

South by Southwest is just picking up speed in rainy Austin, and Boston has already made the news. Just ahead of the film festival's award ceremony on March 13 came the announcement that the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship will be given to Lindsay Utz, editor of the controversial "Bully" documentary that is currently fighting with the MPAA over its recent rating ruling.

One of the trickier things about interviewing Steve McQueen is researching him on Google. You tend to get a lot of references to that other Steve McQueen. But the director of "Shame" has his own impressive resume to offer.

He's one of the world's most celebrated artists, the winner of Britain's prestigious Turner Prize in 1999.

I suppose this is good news, but after reading this item about how the Weinstein Brothers managed to get the MPAA to change the rating from "R" to "PG-13" on Julian Schnabel's "Miral," a drama about a young Palestinian girl trying to survive the Arab-Israeli conflicts, I'm wondering if some kind of deal was made.

When the MPAA relented a while back and changed its absurd NC-17 rating for "Blue Valentine" to an R, it looked like the insidious studio self-regulating group might be trying to reform. But never underestimate the power of studio greed, cowardice, and hypocrisy when it comes to covering its assets and infantilizing mainstream commercial movie-making.