GUNS N' Roses fanatics who can't get enough of the band's sold-out comeback shows at Hammerstein Ballroom can take solace in the fact that Axl Rose may be moving to town. The formerly reclusive rocker, who's become a fixture on the Manhattan club scene in recent weeks, is rumored to be looking to buy a posh downtown pad.

At Monday night's show, Rose told the crowd that no matter how he tries to disguise himself here, "I'll be in a cab and some guy driving a dump truck will go, 'Hey Axl!' How do they [bleeping]motherfucking know it's me?"

British rockers RAZORLIGHT are baffled by the hype surrounding rock newcomers ARCTIC MONKEYS, insisting they know a string of bands who are better than the teen group. Frontman JOHNNY BORRELL cites the I BET YOU LOOK GOOD ON THE DANCEFLOOR band as inferior to most of their contemporaries, and slammed British music magazine NME for giving them rave reviews. When asked whether the group think Arctic Monkeys are better than his band, Borrell says, "What? Of course I f**king don't. I wouldn't say they're better than the YEAH YEAH YEAHS, either. Or THE STROKES, or even like THE LIBERTINES were for those five minutes when they were brilliant. "But they deserve it because the door was open for them and they blew the hinges off." Borrell insists he still feels like a superior musician, saying, "When I said it, I certainly felt like more of a genius than the awful bands NME were championing... And a lot of the bands around now are pretty average. "So, if you ask me if I feel like a genius compared to them, then yeah, I do. I feel like a genius more than most people, that's for sure."

Here's one thing control freak Tom Cruise can't control - the ghost that's said to be roaming around his Beverly Hills mansion.

Producer Jon Peters once lived there with his teenage daughter Caleigh, who described the place as "creepy" and "haunted", telling friends she heard "strange noises" inside several of the rooms.

Rachel Griffiths is helping US ABC TV to launch a big autumn assault.

Ted Danson, Taye Diggs, Calista Flockhart, Anne Heche, David Arquette and Griffiths are among the stars that will appear in new ABC series, the network announced today.

A new drama Brothers & Sisters stars Flockhart and Griffiths as two members of a maladjusted family.
It was given the coveted Sunday night time slot behind Desperate Housewives.
The network is moving its hottest show Grey's Anatomy, to Thursdays in September as part of an aggressive schedule that will bring at least 15 new series to the air next season and leave no night unchanged since last northern autumn.
ABC is the only one of the major networks to increase its ratings over last year on the strength of hits Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and Lost. But the rest of its schedule was weak, forcing the network to make an uncommonly large number of pilots.

The risk in introducing so many new shows is that viewers will be overwhelmed and some series will get lost in the shuffle. But Steve McPherson, ABC entertainment president, said the network will strategically try to introduce the new series at different times.

"Yes, it's aggressive, absolutely," he said. "But it's all about how much you believe in your development."

"The Da Vinci Code" drew lukewarm praise, shrugs of indifference, some jeering laughter and a few derisive jabs Tuesday from arguably the world's toughest movie crowd: critics at the Cannes Film Festival.

The year's most anticipated movie, "The Da Vinci Code" was a generally faithful adaptation of Dan Brown's monster best seller, spinning a murder thriller that stems from a cover-up of secrets about Christianity's roots.

While readers worldwide devoured the novel, reaction from Cannes critics ranged from mild endorsement of its potboiler suspense to groans of ridicule over its heavy melodrama.

"It's a movie about whether the greatest story ever told is true or not, and it's not the greatest movie ever screened, is it?" said Baz Bamigboye, a film columnist for London's Daily Mail. "As a thriller, well," he continued, shrugging.

"Maybe the next day I'll forget about it," said Igor Soukmanov of Unistar Radio in Belarus. "But today for two hours it was good entertainment. ... As a Hollywood movie, it's a very nice picture."

Critics got their first look at "The Da Vinci Code" a day before its world premiere at Cannes on Wednesday, when it also debuts at theaters in France and some other countries. The film opens worldwide over the following two days, including the United States on Friday.

Directed by Ron Howard, the movie stars Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou as strangers hurled together on a frantic quest for the Holy Grail after a series of murders is committed.

The filmmakers add some twists and variations here and there, but the general thrust of the novel remains intact, including its theory that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene were married and had a child, which has prompted denouncements from many Christians.

The Cannes audience clearly grew restless as the movie dragged on to two and a half hours and spun a long sequence of anticlimactic revelations.

"I kept thinking of the Energizer Bunny, because it kept going and going and going, and not in a good way," said James Rocchi, a film critic for CBS 5 television in San Francisco and the online outlet Cinematical. "Ron Howard makes handsome films. He doesn't make bad ones, but he doesn't make great ones."

One especially melodramatic line uttered by Hanks drew prolonged laughter and some catcalls, and the audience continued to titter for much of the film's remainder.

Some people walked out during the movie's closing minutes, though there were fewer departures than many Cannes movies provoke among harsh critics. When the credits rolled, there were a few whistles and hisses, and there was none of the scattered applause even bad movies sometimes receive at Cannes.

Critics singled out co-star Ian McKellen, playing a wry Grail enthusiast who joins the search, as the movie's highlight, injecting hearty humor and delivering the most nuanced performance. Paul Bettany added a seething mix of tragic pathos and destructive zealousness as a monk assassin who carries out the slayings.

Bamigboye said all the actors were solid, but enthusiastically added, "I've got to tell you, Ian McKellen steals it. He slices all the crap away."

Jamie Foxx leads the field with five nominations for the 2006 BET Awards. Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott and Busta Rhymes are tied at four nominations each. Now in its sixth year, the ceremony will shift from the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles to the neighboring Shrine Auditorium when the live telecast airs June 27. Comedian/actor Damon Wayans will host for the first time.

Additional multiple nominees include Kanye West and Mariah Carey, as well as hot newcomers Chris Brown, Keyshia Cole and Ne-Yo. Legendary vocalist
Chaka Khan is this year's BET Lifetime Achievement Award honoree, while singer/actor/activist Harry Belafonte will receive the BET Humanitarian
Award.

In honor of the relaunched adult-oriented sister network BET J (formerly BET Jazz), a new award has been added: the BET J Cool Like That Award. Among the nominees in that category is U.K. newcomer Corinne Bailey Rae.

Jackie Chan and Jet Li — two of the biggest names in action films — plan to co-star in a new movie, a news report said.

A formal announcement will be made at the Cannes Film Festival, the Chinese news Web site Sina.com said Tuesday. The festival, which opened Wednesday, runs through May 28.

Chan and Li are still brainstorming about the plot for their first collaboration, which will begin shooting next year, the Web site said.

Publicists for the actors didn't immediately return calls from the Associated Press seeking comment.

The actors made their names as action stars in Hong Kong before moving on to Hollywood. Trained in Peking Opera, Chan pioneered his own comedic fighting style. Li is a former martial arts national champion in China.

Chan's Hollywood credits include the Rush Hour series and The Tuxedo. Li starred in Lethal Weapon 4, Romeo Must Die and Cradle 2 the Grave.

Ridley Scott's Oscar-winning 2000 film "Gladiator," which featured enough slaughter to fill the Tiber River with blood, is being converted into a stage musical, London's Daily Telegraph reported.

The show is begin prepared for a West End berth. William Nicholson, the Shadowlands and The Retreat From Moscow playwright who co-penned the screenplay, is working on a storyline for the musical.

"It's a terrific story which, with the right songs, will be a great show," an associate of the producer Brian Eastman told the Telegraph. The show will feature much of Hans Zimmer's original film score. According to the New York Post's Liz Smith, Brian Stokes Mitchell is being sought for the role of Maximus Decimus Meridius, played by Russell Crowe is the movie.

The film tells of Roman general Maximus, who is promised the stewardship of Rome by dying Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Upon hearing the news, however, Marcus' spoiled and decadent son Commodus orders his rival killed. Maximus escapes, but his family is murdered. The soldier is then sold into slavery and trained to be a gladiator. Excelling at his new and bloody trade, Maximus makes it all the way back to the ultimate gladiatorial forum, the Coliseum in Rome. There, he begins to plot his revenge.

Robbie Williams has said that his current world tour, which finishes in December, will probably be his last.

He said: "I'm not going to tour for a long time after this tour. For me this tour is a year-long celebration of what I've achieved as a solo artist. It comes in the form of getting on stage in stadiums", he said.

"After that I'll say thank you very much. It's not something I want to do again for a long time".

The tour will finish in December in Australia. Robbie was invited to go on further tours with former band Take That, but has declined.

Halle Berry has hinted that X-Men III: The Last Stand may not be the last movie in the comic book franchise.

Berry said that if there was strong enough demand she can definitely see another X-men movie being made and she would drop practically anything to play Storm again.

The actress said: "There is no real significant talk about it, but I think if this one did well it would warrant a fourth one. I am sure the studio would be thinking that the franchise is not dead and people love X-Men and want to see another one and I think they would [do another one]. I would [do it] as long as I could.

"I have got some projects now that should keep me busy for the next two or three years if I am lucky. It is a franchise that I love and a character that I love and now that I have a voice in the movie I really love it.

"If another great X-Men came along I could probably change my plans."