The allure of superstar Nicole Kidman was not enough to salvage "Grace of Monaco" from the scathing wrath of critics Wednesday, just hours before the movie opens the Cannes Film Festival in a star-studded world premiere.

Kidman, "Gravity" director Alfonso Cuaron and Chiara Mastroianni are just some of the big names due to walk up the red carpet under what promises to be a clear, sunny sky as the 12-day film fest officially gets going in the glamorous Riviera resort.

Swedish director Malik Bendjelloul, who won an Oscar for his 2012 documentary "Searching for Sugar Man", committed suicide in Stockholm, his brother said on Wednesday.

"I can confirm that it was suicide and that he had been depressed for a short period," the 36-year-old film-maker's brother Johar Bendjelloul told newspaper Aftonbladet. "Life is not always so easy."

Actor Alec Baldwin took to Twitter to vent his anger on Tuesday after being detained by police in New York for riding his bicycle the wrong way down a street.

The 56-year-old star was left furious after an altercation with police on Fifth Avenue Manhattan's Flatiron district following the traffic stop.

A great or glittering life is no guarantee of a gripping biopic, say film-makers, as the Cannes Film Festival prepares to open Wednesday with the first big screen adaptation of the life of Monaco's Princess Grace.

From Alexander the Great to Princess Diana by way of Jerry Lee Lewis, Amelia Earhart and J Edgar Hoover, cinema is littered with biopic turkeys that promised much but fell flat at the box office.

Self-styled King of Pop Michael Jackson is back from the grave again this week with a second posthumous album of songs recorded before his death in 2009.

"Xscape" went on sale in the United States on Tuesday, after being released in various European countries at the weekend and on Monday.

Swiss surrealist designer Hans Ruedi Giger, who won an Oscar for the monster he created for Ridley Scott's "Alien", has died, a museum dedicated to his work said Tuesday.

The HR Giger Museum in the central Swiss village of Gruyere confirmed that the 74-year-old artist had died, but provided no further details.

Written by Anthony Sargon

The “Godzilla” hype machine has been relentless. The trailers have been incredible, and every new bit of footage released is better than the last. But I’ve been fooled before. Does the movie actually live up to the gargantuan amount of hype surrounding it? Absolutely. “Godzilla” is an insanely entertaining summer spectacle that manages to pay tribute to the character’s historic cinematic run while also establishing a much darker and serious tone. The film is certainly flawed, but that’s easy to overlook given how awe-inspiring and immersive the overall experience can be.

When Ellen DeGeneres decided to executive produce a new comedy for NBC, she clearly didn't take the job lightly.

In fact, the cast said Monday at NBC's presentation to advertisers that she warmed up the audience before the taping of the pilot.

The ABC News headquarters in New York has been named in honor of Barbara Walters, who's retiring after a storied television reporting career that has spanned five decades.

ABC News says the 84-year-old Walters was honored on Monday in a ceremony dedicating The Barbara Walters Building in Manhattan.

The Standard Hotel in New York City says it is investigating the leak of a security video that appears to show Beyonce's sister, Solange, attacking Jay Z.

Asked about the video on Monday by The Associated Press, the hotel issued a statement saying it is "shocked and disappointed that there was a clear breach of our security system."