In a move that surprised absolutely no one, the New York Film Critics Circle gave their Best Film award to Sideways, the movie that just this weekend won the Los Angeles Film Critics' top honor and dominated this morning's Golden Globe nominations. The indie comedy, which is cementing its Oscar chances as the days go by, also took home Best Screenplay and Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress honors for Paul Giamatti and Virginia Madsen, respectively. In a bit of a surprise, however, Sideways' Alexander Payne lost the Best Director award to Clint Eastwood for his boxing drama Million Dollar Baby. Most of the other Gotham awards, however, were highly predictable, with Imelda Staunton winning Best Actress for Vera Drake, The Incredibles winning Best Animated Film, Fahrenheit 9/11 nabbing Best Nonfiction Film, and Maria Full of Grace named Best First Feature. In the not-quite-predictable but no-surprise-either category, Clive Owen won Best Supporting Actor for Closer and Bad Education took home the Best Foreign Language Film honor; last but not least, Hero was the winner for Best Cinematography. --Prepared by IMDb staff

Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman has left the big screen adaptation of hit Broadway musical The Producers because of scheduling difficulties. The svelte actress was set to don fake breasts to play busty Swedish secretary Ulla in the film version of the Mel Brooks musical, opposite Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane. According to Variety magazine, Kidman left the production, due to start filming February, because her hectic schedule would not give her enough time to practice the singing and dancing the role requires. Kidman is currently shooting a film adaptation of '60's TV series Bewitched and plans to star opposite fellow Antipodean actor Russell Crowe in Eucalyptus next year.

Lindsay Lohan's father Michael has checked himself into a New York rehab facility after pleading guilty to assaulting family members. Lohan was arrested last week for violating a protection order filed by his estranged wife Dina, Lohan's manager and mother. Earlier this year Lohan attacked his brother-in-law at a family party and he verbally attacked his daughter as she fought a mystery illness in a Los Angeles hospital, blaming her partying ways for her bad health. Lindsay will next be seen onscreen in the comedy Herbie: Fully Loaded and made an appearance this weekend opposite Colin Farrell on Saturday Night Live.

Road trip comedy Sideways triumphed on both of America's coastlines on Saturday, when it was named Best Film by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. The film picked up five awards at the Californian critics' awards, including Best Director for Alexander Payne; Best Supporting Actor for Thomas Haden Church; Best Supporting Actress for Virginia Madsen; and Best Screenplay for Payne and Jim Taylor. Imelda Staunton had a very successful day - besides picking up Best Actress from the Los Angeles critics, she was also honored in the same category in New York and at the European Film Awards for her starring role in Vera Drake. Meanwhile Liam Neeson was named Best Actor for his portrayal of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey in controversial biopic Kinsey. Other winners on the night included House Of Flying Daggers as Best Foreign-language film, The Incredibles for Best Animation and Best Music Score and Collateral for Cinematography. Entertainment veteran Jerry Lewis was recognized for his Career Achievement.

John Travolta's latest movie premiere has been hit with security problems over fears the actor and his co-star Scarlett Johansson could be targets of crazed fans posing as press. Travolta became the subject of a hoax death threat when he attended the Hollywood Film Festival gala in October and his handlers aren't taking any chances as he launches his new film A Love Song For Bobby Long tonight. A spokeswoman says, "We've had to slash back the red carpet because of security fears." As a result, many press crews who had been given permission to cover the premiere have now been told they won't be able to attend.

Actor Jamie Foxx, director Martin Scorsese and the stars of Sideways were among the winners at this year's New York Film Critics Online awards on Saturday. Road-trip comedy Sideways was named 2004's Best Film, while zast members Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen, won the supporting acting categories. Actor and singer Foxx was honored with the Best Actor accolade for playing Ray Charles in biopic Ray, while Imelda Staunton received Best Actress for her performance in Mike Leigh's 1950s abortion drama Vera Drake. Scorsese triumphed in the directing category for his Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator and Charlie Kaufman picked up recognition for his screenplay for Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. Other winners include The Incredibles as Animated Film of the year, The Motorcycle Diaries in the Foreign Language categories and Topher Grace for Breakthrough Performance in P.S. and In Good Company. Michael Moore's anti-George W Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 tied with Broadway: The Golden Age in the Documentary honors.

Funk superstar James Brown is battling prostate cancer and will undergo surgery next week. The 71-year-old hitmaker, who also has diabetes, has a fighting spirit and hopes to make a healthy recovery. He says, "I have overcome a lot of things in my life. I will overcome this as well." It is believed that Brown, who has a reputation as the hardest working man in show business, knew he was sick two weeks ago but kept it secret while he completed his Canadian tour, which ended Thursday night. He plans to take three weeks off after his operation and then release his autobiography I Feel Good: A Memoir Of A Life Of Soul in January as scheduled. He will travel to Australia and Asia for his Seven Decades Of Funk World Tour.

Teen millionairesses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen demanded retail giant Wal-mart provide female factory workers in Bangladesh with maternity leave and benefits in New York Thursday. The Full House stars, 18, were horrified to discover the workers creating their Olsen Twins clothing line, which is sold in Wal-Mart stores, were working in poor conditions. Just hours after a protest by members of America's National Labor Committee (NLC) began at Washington Square Park near New York University, where the sisters are studying, Mary-Kate and Ashley signed the petition for Wal-Mart to give workers the "legal right to maternity leave with benefits". Their spokesman, Michael Pagnotta says, "Both organizations are talking and we hope it will come to a positive result. We certainly take the issue of fair treatment for workers seriously." A Wal-Mart statement regarding general sweat-shop allegations reads, "We feel that our program is helping to improve working conditions and create economic opportunity for workers around the world."

Cameron Diaz is fighting back at the paparazzi who make her life hell by hiring her personal trainer to take video images of them when they hound her. The actress is currently being sued by two Los Angeles snappers after allegedly beating them when they jumped out to take pictures of her enjoying a night out with boyfriend Justin Timberlake last month - and then taking a camera with her. But she's planning to fight the photographers with her own camera and has been spotted around Hollywood with her trainer capturing the swarm of snappers who follow her everywhere. Insiders claim Diaz will use the footage to show just a jury just how terrifying her life can be at the hands of photographers - if she's ever called to trial for attacking them. Diaz's publicists maintain the actress was acting in self defense when she attacked the snappers. They insist she took the camera in a bid to identify the snapper. She later handed it over to police.

Flamboyant singer Sir Elton John cancelled a second concert in his native Britain Sunday night as he fails to combat a throat infection. The hitmaker, 57, pulled the plug at his Nottingham, England gig on Friday after he woke up earlier in the day with no voice. In a statement today, John regrettably announced he was still ailing and could not perform at Glasgow's Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre. He says, "I've been doing all that I can to try to get my voice back and I've seen a throat specialist again today and he's advised that it would be foolish to go ahead with tonight's show."

Hollywood star Gwyneth Paltrow is waiting for the finished script of a planned Marlene Dietrich biopic to arrive before she researches the part. The Shakespeare In Love beauty is so enthused about starring as the late German icon, she wants to start the project afresh without any preconceived ideas about her role. The 32-year-old says of the project, "That is something that I got involved with a long time ago, before I got pregnant. So we've been developing it and it's being written now. It's based on a couple of biographies, I think. Her life was so incredible. I mean, all of the things that she did and all of the lovers and the boys and the girls and the wars and the singing and the activism. It's just incredible. But I mean, I had never thought of it and then I was approached with the project and I started to understand it, because I didn't really know anything about her; I still don't know very much about her because I haven't done all the research yet. I want to see when the script comes in how it is as a script, as opposed to, 'Oh, this detail wasn't in there.' I don't want to be an expert on her life until the script is right."