Evie writes: German movie mag 'Cinema' asked their readers to send in their 10 suggestions for the "100 Best Films of all Times", as they do so every six years. Back in 2000 the winner was "Schindler's List", followed by "Titanic". Interesting enough, no German film has made it onto the list this time. Results were published in print issue #338, July 06. Online version will be updated in a few days. Here is an excerpt from this list:

#43 King Kong (2005)
#27 Star Wars Ep. 2
#18 Satr Wars Ep. 1
#14 Sin City
#12 Star Wars Ep. 3
#4 Matrix
#3 Pirates of the Carribbean
#1 The Lord Of The Rings trilogy

A Wellington tour allows Leeane Templer to follow in Peter Jackson's footsteps. I gaze at the abandoned industrial site in amazement. How could New York's sprawling cityscape have been squeezed into this tiny section? But tour leader Ted reassures me this is where King Kong's New York scenes were filmed. This is the first stop of a Wellington movie tour. Like Gollum to the Ring, my fellow travellers and I are drawn to the sites where The Lord of the Rings and King Kong were created. The set on the Seaview industrial area was only four blocks long and one storey high, and the film background was added digitally, Ted explains. Pedestrians and cars were doubled or even tripled in large scenes. Digital New York was so detailed it contained 90,000 separate buildings. [More]

The special effects wizards at Wellington's Weta Workshop have picked up another top international honour, this time a Banff Rockie award for television programme animation. Weta, along with Canadian co-producers Nelvana, won the animation prize at the Banff World Television Festival in Alberta, Canada, for Jane and the Dragon: Shall We Dance. The Jane and the Dragon children's series is based on Martin Baynton's books about the adventures of a 13-year-old girl and her pet dragon in medieval times. Weta boss Richard Taylor has won five Oscars for work on the Lord of the Rings and King Kong film productions. [More]

LOS ANGELES — Jack Black and his wife, Tanya Haden, are parents of a baby boy, the actor said. "I'm going to be the best daddy on the planet and I'm going to enter the best daddy competition. And I'm going to win it," Black said in a story posted on the Web site of the magazine Us Weekly. The couple's first child was born on Saturday, Black told "Access Hollywood" Monday evening at the Mann Grauman's Chinese Theatre premiere for his new movie, "Nacho Libre." [More]

Jack Black is slated to be a guest tonight on 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' on NBC. He is there to promote his latest film 'Nacho Libre', out this Friday. 'The Tonight Show' airs on NBC at 11:35PM EST. Watch this space for a clip!

This week we have a few selections for you to choose from, take a look at details and order links for the NZ made 'The World's Fastest Indian', actioner '16 Blocks', 'Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang', 'The Pink Panther' and Elijah Wood's film 'Green Street Hooligans'. [More]

A repeat airing of Colin Hanks on 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien' airs tonight on NBC. If you missed it the first time it's new to you! If you can't stay awake that late check out our link with the entire clip here! [More]

The Lord Of The Rings director Peter Jackson is reportedly close to signing a deal with celebrity spoon-bender Uri Geller to turn his novel into a movie. Ella, which charts the story of a young teenager who discovers she has psychic powers, will be a low-budget British-based project, Geller hopes. The psychic met the New Zealand film-maker last month (MAY06) to discuss the venture, and wowed the director with his trademark metal-bending powers. [More]

Saturday Night Live is airing a repeat performance of Jack Black from his December 17th appearance. SNL airs on NBC at 11:30PM tonight (June 10th). You can catch all of Jacks skits here, plus the very funny 'Skull Island Tourism Bureau' skit. Take a look! [More]

SI writer Richard Deitsch spoke with Jack Black for the magazine's Q&A this week. The 36-year-old actor plays a cook in a Mexican orphanage who moonlights as a wrestler in Nacho Libre, which opens June 16. Here are additional excerpts from their conversation. [More]

Kong aficionado nessa writes: In the second part of TwitchGuru's feature on Peter Jackson's "King Kong" the interview continues and explores the pressure of remaking a classic film and living up to the original's legacy, the challenge of making a faithful video game adaptation alongside a blockbuster film and the growing synergy between games and movies. The interview can be found [here].

More than 80,000 pirate DVDs were shredded on Castle Street this morning, as part of an amnesty to raise awareness of film piracy. Trading standards officers from the council took along the massive haul of pirated discs, which they had collected through raids in the Capital since Christmas. And members of the public were bringing along their own pirate DVDs to put in the shredder, with genuine copies of films such as King Kong being given out to those who came along. [More]

Rob writes: Here is a feature story from TwitchGuru that includes an extensive interview with Michael Pellerin of the production diaries and Xavier Poix of the video game company Ubisoft. The two discuss the making of the film and the King Kong video game and discuss how the two forms of media are coming closer together. [More]

Paul Davids, Director of THE SCI-FI BOYS writes: Film effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen (JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD) was recently awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in Character Creation at Universal Studios at a special screening of THE SCI-FI BOYS. At the event, Ray Harryhausen and other attendees gathered to send their special greetings to Peter Jackson in New Zealand. Peter Jackson is the "host" of THE SCI-FI BOYS (DVD from Universal), which, with Dennis Muren, Leonard Maltin and Rick Baker, takes us through the history of special effects. In addition to Harryhausen, those sending greetings to Peter Jackson included director John Landis (ANIMAL HOUSE, BLUES BROTHERS, AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON), Anne Robinson (star of the 1953 WAR OF THE WORLDS George Pal film), Bob Burns (who appears in PJ's KONG and owns the original 1933 KONG armature) and SCI-FI BOYS music composer Brian Lambert, who declares PJ to be the "King of the Spirit of Fun!." You can now see streaming video of their greetings, plus the presentation of a Lon Chaney statuette to Harryhausen at THE SCI-FI BOYS website. At the site, you'll also see video of Peter Jackson's message about THE SCI-FI BOYS, and a historic 20 minute panel discussion between Forrest J Ackerman (editor of FAMOUS MONSTERS), Rick Baker, Steve Johnson (creature creator of ROSWELL alien) and Basil Gogos, who painted almost all the early covers of FAMOUS MONSTERS magazine.