Sony to give us back our money

Following a recent court case in which Sony Pictures owned up to carrying quotes from an imaginary film critic - one "David Manning of the Ridgefield Press" - on posters for such unlovely product as The Animal and Vanishing Man, the company has agreed to set up a $1.5 million (€1.2 million) fund to provide disgruntled punters with a refund.

You'd have thought that anybody hoodwinked into seeing a Rob Schneider film would also be due compensation for emotional distress, but apparently not. If you think you may be eligible, the claim form can be downloaded at www.bamlawca.com/class-action.asp. Sadly, it seems Paul "Greatest Film Ever" Ross does exist.

Quincy Jones in Irish cameo

Reel News's sources report a sighting of Quincy Jones in the region of Merrion Square last week. What gives? Apparently the legendary composer, trumpeter and producer has been hired by Jim Sheridan to provide the music for the director's upcoming 50 Cent vehicle, Get Rich or Die Tryin'. It is rumoured that Jones, who produced Michael Jackson's Thriller album, will be teaming up with Irish musicians Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer on the project. What a deliciously peculiar combination of talents.

Nixon on the brain

Watergate is everywhere again. Michael Bay's big, dumb The Island, which goes on general release this week, features Steve Buscemi as an oily snitch named James McCord. Readers as obsessive about the conspiracy as Reel News will recall that James W McCord was one of the men caught breaking into the Democrat National Committee suite in 1972. Now news reaches us that Ryan Murphy, creator of Nip/Tuck, is to direct a film focusing on the women caught up in the scandal that brought down Richard Nixon. Annette Bening will play White House correspondent Helen Thomas and Gwyneth Paltrow will star as Maureen Dean, wife of Nixon's personal counsel John Dean. Most intriguingly Meryl Streep is due to give breath to Martha Mitchell, the formidably eccentric spouse of Attorney General John Mitchell. Meryl will have to go some to improve on the late Madeline Kahn's cracking Martha in Oliver Stone's Nixon.

No Bonds for new Casino

Sadly we have yet again failed to overhear any preposterous gossip on the subject of who is to play James Bond in the upcoming remake of Casino Royale. We can, however, reveal that David Walliams, the tall one from television's Little Britain, is due to take a cameo role in Martin Campbell's film. Will he be a lady?

Smoking turns you bad

Growing suspicion that only the depraved, depressed or socially excluded are still allowed to smoke in mainstream films has been confirmed in a study carried out for the American medical journal, Chest. Scientists examined the habits of the leading characters in all top-10 box office movies since 1990 and concluded that, while nearly 36 per cent of the villains smoked, only 20 per cent of the heroes lit up. The boffins also discovered that about 48 per cent of movie puffers came from the lower socioeconomic classes. So there you have it. Fags make you poor and evil.

His dark directorial CV

The many fans of Philip Pullman's extraordinary His Dark Materials trilogy were not entirely overjoyed at the news that Chris Weitz, co-progenitor of the American Pie films, was to helm the movie adaptation. Weitz subsequently decided that he wasn't quite up to the task. The latest uninspiring name to be mentioned in connection with the project is one Anand Tucker. Apparently the powers-that-be interviewed 50 applicants before settling on the director of the distinctly ho-hum Hilary and Jackie. We reserve judgment.

Ten steps to success

Brendan Muldowney's fine short The Ten Steps continues to pick up awards around the world. Last month the film won the best short gong at the ninth Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea. This is the fifth award The Ten Steps has received this year. If you want to see what the fuss is about, Muldowney's short will screen as part of the Diversions: Stella Artois Short Film Award event in Dublin's Meeting House Square on August 20th.

The rest of the excellent Diversions programme can be perused at www.temple-bar.ie/culture_ diversions.asp