Cutaways, Take 13

Let us bow our heads and offer a solemn goodbye to one of the great movie directors of yesteryear, Robert Wise, who left this mortal coil yesterday at age 91.

A versatile and dependable craftsman, Wise helmed some terrific spookers, thrillers and sci-fi of the Forties, Fifties and Sixties, most notably 1944's The Curse of the Cat People (his directorial debut), 1945's The Body Snatcher, 1951's The Day the Earth Stood Still (Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!), 1963's The Haunting (pound for pound, the undisputed champion of haunted house flicks) and 1971's The Andromeda Strain.

Unfortunately, it might not be for those films he is best remembered, but rather a pair of big-budget musicals from the Sixties, West Side Story and (gulp) the saccharine-heavy The Sound of Music. In the humble estimation of this cinephile, there is a special place in hell for that latter film, a movie that my dear departed grandmother worshipped and watched repeatedly, over and over and over, for weeks on end.

"One of us, One of us ..."

I suspect now, thinking back on it, that the von Trapp family was busy transmitting clandestine messages through that old Zenith television set and into the mothball-scented confines of my grandmother's North Miami Beach condominium. I think the von Trapps told her who killed JFK and when to expect the Rapture. I think "My Favorite Things" was code for something that had to do with Sharon Tate.

But I digress. At any rate, R.I.P., Robert Wise.

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If Philip Seymour Hoffman is not the finest American character actor working in film today, he's mighty close. His performance in the upcoming Capote, which chronicles Truman Capote's penning of the true-crime classic In Cold Blood -- click here for the trailer -- promises to be captivating.

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Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are gearing up for their next biopic together: The story of Teddy Roosevelt. We love the idea of Scorsese and screenwriter Nicholas Meyer being on board, but we're not on DiCaprio as TR. The guy was surprisingly good as Howard Hughes, sure, but let's not press our luck here.

Incidentally, this would be the fourth film to team Scorsese and DiCaprio (in addition to The Aviator and Gangs of New York, the pair is currently working on The Departed). When did Leonardo DiCaprio become Scorsese's Bobby De Niro bitch for the Golden Years?

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Finally, our friends over at Egotastic! deserve a raised glass (among other things) for their up close-and-personal pics of Jessica Alba and Eva Mendes.

Me-yowzah.